Courting disaster: The case against attacking Iraq

NEW YORK, March 18 — Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar, Ayman Zawahiri, and Taliban commander Saif Rahman Mansour, among many other key U.S. targets, are still at large. Al-Qaida forces are demonstrating surprising resilience in the field and appear to be regrouping in Pakistan. Violence is escalating in the Middle East. Our “homeland” remains woefully unprepared for another terrorist attack, which the government continues to assure us is likely. Meanwhile, Vice President Dick Cheney is in the middle of an 11-nation Middle East tour, trying and failing to round up support for a military action against Iraq. President Bush, however, remains undeterred. “We are going to deal with him,” he promises of Saddam Hussein, “All options are on the table.”