I think you're right. Lawrence might get credibility if he were to refute Rand and General William Odom *specifically*. Anyone who thinks Iraq is a success isn't interested in reality. I was surprised that the Rand piece said what I've been thinking, that Iran is scared. Scared people do strange things. All we do is make them more scared. ----- Original Message ----- From: Mike Geary To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: 2/12/2006 2:22:02 PM Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: The Surgical Strike Option and the Missing Sponge I've decided that Lawrence Helm just likes planning wars, like I like writing my novel -- been doing it for 30 years, doesn't matter if it ever gets finished -- it's something to do that he gets a kick out of. And I've decided that it doesn't matter what we do about Iran -- we're going to fuck it up. It's inevitable, because we (the Bush boys) are so stupid about the whole rest of the world that we think they all think like we think they think. Think again, America. If so many people weren't killed and so much suffering involved, I'd be laughing. Actually at this moment I am laughing. I'm thinking what a great musical it would make. We could get JL to write the score, call it "Bush's Faulty Intelligence". Ah well. Mike Geary Memphis