"Bush-watchers are arguing whether the White House's renegade neoconservative PNAC pack has next targeted Syria, North Korea or Iran for regime change in 2005. The answer, according to Administration insiders, is apparently none of the above. "Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar represent a threat to the world, and they need to be destroyed and we believe we will catch them in the next year," U.S. Army spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty said in January.
Pentagon planners are weighing going back to the future--launching an election-year spring offensive in Afghanistan (news - web sites), followed by a full-fledged reinvasion next year. This time we'd send in the 100,000-plus troop complement that would have been required to do the job correctly in the first place.(emphasis added)
Afghanistan 2.0 would be a potent issue for Democrats if they were smart enough to do something with it. Refighting the war, after all, would be a tacit admission that Bush & Co. screwed up the first skirmish in the war on terrorism and let Osama, American Enemy No. 1, get away. Since a Second Afghan War would require an increase in overall combat troop strength, liberals could ask where Bush plans to find those extra soldiers. A draft? Two-year deployments of the reserves? Unfortunately guys like Kerry are too busy making fun of the red planet red herring to wave this chunk of red meat at voters."
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_5038.shtml