"When I say I'm a patient man, I mean I'm a patient man," George Bush stated with regards his intentions to preemptively strike at Iraq, in a quest to avert Saddam Hussein's purported desire to take over the Middle East. Despite the fact that the majority of world leaders are perplexed as to how Hussein would be able to do that and are still awaiting America's much advertised but ever concealed evidence of Iraq's world domination capabilities, Bush remains anxious to attack as quickly as possible and may ask Congress to authorize military force within weeks.

One can speculate why Bush is so eager to wage war in such a fast and furious manner, with the answers being as numerous as they are varied. For example, Bush may want to divert attention away from the domestic economy, which lately has been taking the beating of its life. Alternatively, a president at war tends to be at the height of his power and popularity, and thus going to war against Iraq would allow him to maintain his striking popularity and silence those who are beginning to oppose some of his policies. Much analyses has been devoted to answering why Bush is so determined to attack Iraq, after all, it is difficult to see what has changed in Iraq over the past 11 years.

What has not been explained properly is why Bush, thus far, has been "patient". Partly, this is because of the lack of international support for an attack on Iraq. The US, while capable of unilaterally toppling Saddam, would much rather it had the support of the UN and certain key allies. Even the American Congress, which is predominantly in support of removing the Iraqi dictator, is demanding more evidence and justification for such action. However, the gravest consideration to an attack is the potential loss of American soldiers' lives. An invasion of Iraq would require ground combat and unlike Afghanistan, the US will have to do the ground fighting this time round.

The danger with fighting on the streets is that America's fearsome military, is ill equipped to wage war in cities. Americans would face enemies with a home-field advantage and their state of the art weaponry is, to a large extent, useless in such fighting. If many American troops should die that will also signal the death of Bush's presidency, and so, the administration, with the aid of the Pentagon, must insure a minimal loss of American life. "There are three issues here," the Defence Secretary stated. "There is the issue of what we know. There is the issue of what we don't know. And there is the issue of what we don't know we don't know." Such simplistic, childlike words would hardly comfort the parents of a dead American soldier.

So how is America preparing for field combat, by allowing Israel to carry out its ruthless militaristic methods of crushing the Palestinians, while silently observing these tactics for its own use. In effect, Israel is given a carte blanche to try out all methods of crippling its enemy, because it is a testing ground for the American military, as it aims to refine its street fighting methods. Hence, once in Baghdad, the Americans are most likely going to use the technique that Israeli forces employ, which is once inside a building, Israeli forces move to the next one by cutting holes in the adjoining walls. This means countless innocent Iraqis will have their houses destroyed in order to make a path for US troops. What's worse US troops could adopt the method Israel uses of cutting of water, food, electricity and communication, forcing civilians to flee their homes for the safety of refugee camps, while America takes out Saddam. The fact that this would victimize the 5 million population of Baghdad is an unfortunate inconvenience.

It is a scary thought that America is developing its military tactics by copycatting the ruthless and unrelenting Israeli military. One can only hope that America honors its long history of respecting human rights and not follow the same dark path Israel seems bent on taking. It would be regrettable if the lessons learned from 9/11 were attack and kill first, rather than to continue fostering the ideals of democracy and human rights. America must not succumb to notions of revenge, but instead uphold the values that have caused so many to be envious.