joe, as to your hopes that the 'Middle East bombs the fuck' out of the U.S., I have read that there has been talk in the inner circles of the Pentagon, that if a WMD ever did go off on US soil, then mysteriously a nuclear weapon would go off over Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city in Islam, the city of compulsary pilgrimage for Muslims. This would be chosen because of its symbolic nature and the relatively low casualty estimate of under 2 million. Now I wonder what these events would do for world stability. It would plunge into a dark age that would make everyone wish for the good days we have right now.