It sure isn't. But I do espy a kind of hope, as Friar Lawrence said. From other reports I have been hearing, I suspect that the Taliban may be at least considering the possiblity of handing bin Laden over. And I think that Sec. Powell's approach to the Pakistanis is to enlist them to put pressure on the Taliban to do that. The Taliban seem to be counting up their cards and may decide that bin Laden is not worth U.S. reprisals on an already impoverished country (partly their own work, but that's another story). If indeed bin Laden is the culprit, or one of them, that would be an optimal outcome. But we'll see.

Having said that, I must echo the comments of, I believe it was, Keiva. For all you pacifists there, I respect your opinions and your position, and your right to express them, but please try to exercise logic and make your arguments relevant. What the Israelis, Bush I, Nixon, et al. may do or have done, is irrelevant. And I don't accept your arguments that reprisal is a) subhuman, irrational or caused by excess of testosterone, b) what the terrorists want, c) some sort of vindication of the terrorists' positions or beliefs, d) doomed to failure, starting a new round of violence, etc. I take it that you believe we should do nothing except tut-tut like a bunch of schoolmarms. Well, we've been doing that too long and what has it got us? Pacifism is a noble philosophy, and would be preferable to 99.99% of all wars ever fought, but it is dangerous in the extreme in situations involving a real threat by the truly evil. If the pacifists had prevailed in 1939, 1940, 1941, what would the world be like now? No, my friends, face it -- there is such a thing as genuine evil, which must be resisted and crushed, even if it takes deadly force and mass destruction and the sacrifice of many innocent sons and daughters of innocent men and women. For evil to triumph all it takes is for well-meaning people to stand back and refuse to do what has to be done to end it. No same person wants war and its consequences (which always turn out worse than intended), but the alternative is unthinkable. I hope and pray we may yet be able, by measured and appropriate measures, to capture or neutralize the big scorpions wherever they have their nests and thereby deter or cripple the little ones. We'll never get them all, I suppose, but we can make a start.