How long can we hold out for a retaliatory strike?  We as Americans are already sitting on the edge of our chairs waiting to hear news of a strike.  How long can we wait like this and when do you think we'll go?

Just a some food for thought.

DG84

From all that's been said by the folks who know, this is going to be big, it's going to be widespread and it's going to be done right. That all takes time to stage. I'd rather wait a week or two and have it done completely.

I bet someone is going to meet his creator soon.

I'm thristy for blood too, but we need to keep our heads and make sure the people we punish are the guily people. If we just start bombing and kill innocent people, then we are no better than the terrorists.

Don't forget we will loose more American lives when we are there.  They are not ants in the sand that you can just stomp out.  They still have SAM sites and other BIO weapons.  Plus they have (?) supporters here to fight back....  [rocket]

If it is true that those crazy Talibanis are behind all this, my proposition is to get some help from the ole of Ivan and kick them hard
and fast, before they manage to trick some other
fool into "suiciding" against the free part of the world.

IIRC, it took a while to stage US military assets in the Middle East even after the Iraqis were in Kuwait.  But that was for conventional war.  If Bush attacks quickly, even with a nuke, the American People will tolerate the time it takes to move the troops and equipment.  Bush can't afford to lose the momentum of public opinion.  He's got to strike while the iron is hot.

There is NO hurry!

Careful planning saves lives and assures TOTAL VICTORY!

Gestures, like "Monica's Missiles" hitting aspirin factories and empty training camps, are a waste of time and resources!

A well thought out, effective, sustained, and thorough response is needed!  Not some knee jerk "feel good" slap on the wrist!

DaMan

Public opinion or not, there are so much thing to considerate with every option, each with positives and negatives endings.
Surely, people will not forget those responsible, well, free people at least.

As being a prior Active duty service and now a member of the Air Guard I don't feel we're "gutted" at all.  "Make no mistake" our blade is as sharp as ever.

DG84

I've heard it mentioned repeatedly that we cannot really do much without mobilizing the reserves, which they're doing now.  I'm not sure how accurate that is, but if they're doing it then I would give it some merit.

God Bless Texas

Be patient.

While the president is obtaining authorization from the Senate and House the Military will be drawing up their attack plans, identifying their targets, and working with our allies to facilitate overseas operations.

Today the pres got authorization from the Senate. He should get authorization from the House on Saturday, watch for this in the papers if it hasn't already happened.

After the president has given the order, then it takes time for the military to get forces into position.

THEN THE ATTACK WILL BEGIN.

I hope, my friends, that Italy will answer the call, too.
Belive me, I have many friends in the military, law enforcement and the shooting sports community, ALMOST ALL ALWAYS SUPPORTED US, it is just that here in Italy there still are craps like mr.Cossutta, head of "comunisti italiani", who admittely took money from the URSS during the cold war, or mr.Bertinotti head of "rifondazione comunista"  who solidarizes with south american guerrillas, or mr.D'Alema, head of leftists democrats, who threw a bomb at the police when he was young, but he is a communist and for sure had to be forgiven.
Me, I would volunteer in no time for evry type of action needed to stop those Talibanis madmen: better to eradicate them now in their place before those rats come to infect others and even our countries.

We were not ready when World War II came looking for us at Pearl Harbour.  We are not ready now.  As a peace-loveing Democracy, we have always held the military theory that a small, well trained army will hold off agressors until a sufficient army can be raised.

War came looking for us at New York, Washing D.C., and the skies above Pennsylvania, and we are not ready.  It was a good thing to keep our economy and energy away from war and twards consumer goods in the years since Vietnam, as that made the country prosper, but now we must look to our fathers and grandfathers for instruction:  patience.

How long was it after Pearl Harbour that America first went on a creadible offencive action against any foreign agressor in early 1942?  If I can remember my history, around 6 months (discounding the Doolittle raid).  Like America during that era, we were farmers, not warriors.  Now fate calls us, but we must build an army.  So we must have patience.

The Terrorists know that we are a benevolant, forgiving country, but they also know that we are self-centered and forgetful.  They are relying on the media to forget all about this in six months, and relying  on Mr. American to forget just as fast.  As long as it does not affect us directly, we will not remember, and as long as we do not remember what happened here, it will come to us - to our homes, not through the TV but through the barral of a Terrorist's gun, hand grenade, car bomb, or even nuclear/biological/chemical device.

We must wait for a while.  We must have the patience and resolve our fathers and grandfathers had.  We must be  prepared to wait 6 months to rebuild the military and mount an offencive.  We must have the courage to endure a 1-2 year sustained offencive against Terrorism in all countries, even in countries that call themselves our friends - Saudi Arabia.  If we do not remember, if we get impatient and scream at the government for action NOW, the terrorists will survive and strike again and again.  If we don't, we lose.

Italy is already helping the cause my friend. The Unites States enjoys the use of the Naval base at Naples.....

Just wait until european leftists hear of "participation", then judge yourselves.

I would be interested to know what ordinary Italians think of this situation?

[size=2]... Let "them" writhe in worry and paranoia for awhile[/size=2]

I think GoatBoy is right on track.

ECS, ordinary people as You refer to, they were and are still shocked.
Down there in Italy we have quite an emergency with illegal immigrants and the last events do no good to solve the problem.
Muslim people are seen with increasing distrust.
Outside the big cities, Muslim immigrants are not seen as a big problem, for they do nothing to create trouble more than indigenous people do.
In the big cities, it is another thing.
Illegal immigrants turned criminals (sadly, I have to admit most are of Muslim religion for they came from Muslim countries) attacked even the police in more than one case while defending some drug dealer or other and have secured entire block of cities making good people fear for their lives (and good Muslim immigrants of course are considered by me to be part of the good people).
And let's not talk about albanian criminals, who, believe it or not, shine amongst the cruelst  criminals all over the world and have showed no respect for human life , and even LE officers deal with them very cautiously.
Free thinking people here (not those ultraleftists who cheered for a massacre or other who decided to remanin neutral)
think that if something so big could happen to the US, in Italy could have been 100 times bigger.
Finally, most people here does not want to talk about it, but they think something really bad is gonna happen and is unavoidable.

Revenge is a dish best served cold!!

Revenge is a dish best served cold

Better hurry or we'll
have some catching up to do.

[url]http://ak-47.gunsnet.net/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19705[/url]

I'm itching for a little payback too, but I see two things in the way right now:

First, Article V of the NATO Charter requires that the requesting nation to present evidence that points to the offender.  It's Ashcroft's job to build a criminal case against Bin Laudin and, if necessary, the Taliban.  Yes, it may have been an act of war, but the evidence is treated and presented like just like any criminal case.

Two, I agree with Malpaso.  Bush should take the time to collect the intelligence and assets to get it right.  Otherwise he could have a real 'charlie-fox' on his hands, blowing up trees and empty buildings and so on.