Hit them first, or wait to be hit?

9/11 Commission Report: "Once the danger has fully materialized, evident to all, mobilizing action is easier--but then it may be too late."

Kerry-Edwards book, "Our Plan for America: Stronger at Home, Respected in the World": The book's main text has one reference to pre-emption: "And his (Bush) doctrine of unilateral pre-emption has driven away our allies and cost us the support of other nations."

Driven away what allies and cost us the support of whom? No one about whom we should give a damn. We are supported in Iraq and Afghanistan by the likes of Australia, Japan, South Korea, Great Britain, Italy, Poland, Russia and many, many others.

As for those who do not support us, so what? Is France our ally, or is France our rival? France ceased to be our ally when DeGaulle marched into liberated Paris at the head of Free French forces (who did little to liberate it). France became our dependent, just as the rest of whimpering Europe did, protecting them from the Soviet bear. France ceased to be our dependent when the bear crashed and became our rival. Who cares? France was a useless ally in WWI, WWII and during the Cold War, effective only at blowing up isolated Pacific atolls and the occasional Greenpeace boat.

Gawd! Would I like to see someone with real international stature stand up and repeat what I just wrote. Rudy? Rummy? Slick Willy? (heh heh, just kidding, might hurt book sales). Joe Lieberman? John McCain? (naw, he's too busy trying to defend Kerry from a gathering avalanche). Who? Well, there is no one, I guess. Maybe Dennis Miller? Oops, he already has, repeatedly. It needs to be done, even if privately, by Colin Powell.

"Look, you guys (France, Germany, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, et al), we know and you know and we know that you know and you know that we know that you know that, in the end, you are irrelevant. We strike when we strike, where we strike and at whom we strike. Do not interfere in any way. Got it? Have a nice day."