two articles follow.

but also, don't forget how there are more troops in colombia.. some feel this is a sign of a new coup' in venezuela too.

powell and the neo-cons have been saying all along that they want to be able to fight on at least three fronts at once.

this is a reason for withholding equipment from the iraq war. they have to conserve because there are bigger plans.

www.menewsline.com/stories/2004/december/12_13_1.html

U.S. STAGES SIMULATED ATTACK ON IRAN

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The U.S. Defense Department was said to have completed simulated war games to determine the feasibility of destroying Iran's nuclear weapons program.

The Atlantic Monthly magazine reported in its latest issue that the Pentagon held simulations of a U.S. military strike on Iranian bases and nuclear facilities. The magazine said the recent war games also included a ground invasion of Iran.

The simulation envisioned a three-phase war against the Islamic republic. The first phase was composed of air strikes against bases of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, believed to control Iran's nuclear and missile programs.

U.S. intelligence sources were quoted as saying that such a strike would require one day and comprised the easiest part of any military campaign.



story.news.yahoo.com/news

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. trade deficit widened nearly 9 percent in October to a record $55.5 billion as sky-high oil prices helped propel imports into new territory, the government said on Tuesday.

October's unexpectedly large shortfall pushed the deficit tally for the first ten months of 2004 to $500.5 billion, surpassing the record of $496.5 billion for all of 2003.

Despite a continued slide in the value of the dollar, the trade gap grew by 8.9 percent in October from a revised $50.9 billion in September. The shortfall was much larger than a mid-point estimate of $53.0 billion from Wall Street analysts surveyed by Reuters.

News of the wider trade gap renewed pressure on the dollar and the number was expected to lead economists to trim estimates for U.S. economic growth. Treasury bond prices also fell.

These are big issues going forward. And this report will lower GDP (gross domestic product) forecasts a few tenths of a percent