i have wondered about the sabre rattling myself. it seems insane but i welcome anyones thoughts as to its strategic value because quite frankly im real confused about it. i suppose a cynic would say bush does it to drive up oil prices for his buddies involved in the oil industry business. evans and o'neil seem to be incompetant in their roles. the "economic conference" was a non event really as it seemed to offer nothing. i might add that it seemed rather bizarre and strange. its a fact the greenspan can only do so much with monetary policy. obviously some sort of fiscal policy would be helpful as well. im convinced now that bush is as clueless as his detractors say and he is not fit for the job. al gore in 2004? wow that doesnt have much appeal either.