Who Falls Next?

St. Paul raised some good points below in his latest post on that nature of the Al Qaeda threat and the proper response to it. I think the only difference between those of us who are calling for immediate action against Iraq and those who wish to tackle Al Qaeda first (St. Paul, Brent Scowcroft, and Lee Harris) is just a matter of timing.

I've been in favor on taking out Saddam long before 9/11 when I first heard that he could have nukes by 2005. I certainly wish to continue the pursuit and elimination of Al Qaeda forces around the world but I don't think a major US military effort is required for it. To use Special Forces and air power in small regional actions should not limit our ability to take on Iraq at the same time. I too agree that the Saudi house needs to be cleaned out but I question whether that can be done while Saddam is still in power.

After a regime change in Baghdad and access to all that sweet Iraqi crude it would be much easier to turn up the heat on the Saudis or actually throw some heat their way if the need be. Our difference is over which domino we want to knock over first.