The Race Is On

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs reports that Iraq is moving a lot of anti-aircraft missiles into the northern no-fly zone in an apparent move to threaten U.S. and British fighters patrolling the area.

Saddam Hussein gave a big speech which yielded no headlines, except for the fact that he wants Arab and Muslim oil producers to cut production by half.

Why is the 'big speech — no headline' equation important? Because Saddam is trying to demonstrate to the Arab world that he doesn't foam at the mouth and go into uncontrollable fits. He wants the Arab world to regard him as a leader — someone who's respectable and dignified and somebody they should protect from an American attack.

Saddam tried to stir up trouble in the Palestinian territories by offering another $25,000 to Palestinian families whose homes were bulldozed or blown up by Israeli troops. On top of the $25,000, he is offering money to those families whose teenagers blew themselves up to kill Israelis.

This trouble is designed to keep President Bush from mustering the Arab political strength — code word coalition — to attack Iraq.

Saudi Prince Abdullah, the architect of the so-called Saudi peace initiative, is going to Crawford, Texas to see President Bush.

What will he say to the president? Beats me, but I can't imagine that he's going to sanction an attack on Iraq.

He'll probably whine about that mean old Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and complain that the U.S. hasn't done enough for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat — the very guy who turned down a peace offer cobbled together by former President Clinton.

On this very program last Friday, Col. David Hackworth said that we have 100,000 or so troops in Kuwait. I've got reason to believe that he's either right, or will be right.

That sounds to me like President Bush is getting ready to break out of his Israeli-Palestinian malaise, and do something about Iraq.

Why? Because all of the best information indicates that Saddam is building a gigantic bomb — chem, bio, nuke… take your pick — but something big and nasty.

The race is on. Can President Bush beat Saddam to the bomb? Can the Arab-quisling states stall the U.S. long enough to let Saddam get his hands on that bomb first?

I think the president is back on track, focused where he should be focused… and that Iraq is, as we say in this business, booked.

That's My Word.

What do you think? We'd like to hear from you, so send us your comments at myword@foxnews.com. Some of your emails will be featured on the air or on our site.