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A few subscribers asked about my remarks on yesterday's site regarding Bin Laden and Saudi Arabia's efforts to lower the price of oil.

The US is the protector of the Saudi royal family. The deal is that the US backs the royals and keep them in power and in turn the Saudi royals will see that the US gets all the oil it needs at"reasonable prices."

Bin Laden believes the US is"robbing" Saudi Arabia, in that the US is paying far too little for Saudi oil. Consequently, Bin Laden's number one effort is to get rid of the royals and to get the US out of Saudi Arabia. Beyond that, Bin Laden would like to get the US out of the entire Mideast.

But the situation has gone further. Now we have the Islamic fundamentalists turning against the West, and the new"terrorism" has enveloped the globe. The Islamic fundamentalist want to seek revenge for the Crusades. They want to get rid of Americans and Jews. And their current weapon of choice is terror.

Can we deal with the terrorists, or have we entered"silent World War III"? I don't have the answer to this one.

Ex-KGB leader and now President Putin of Russia doesn't believe we can negotiate with the Islamic fundamentalist. In a meeting with journalists this week Putin was asked whether the West couldn't work out some kind of a deal with the Islamic fundamentalist. Sarcastically, Putin replied,"Why don't you meet Osama bin Laden. Invite him to Brussels or to the White House and engage him in talks? Ask him what he wants and give it to him so he leaves you in peace."

Obviously, Putin (a tough guy) doesn't think"negotiations" would work. And I wonder what would work? If nothing works (and that seems to be what's happening) then the battle against the terrorists will go on, and on, and on.

US casualties in Iraq hit a 1000 yesterday, and the tally made the headline in the newspapers today. The casualties are starting to sour a lot of Americans on the war in Iraq. And if the casualties continue, Bush will be put on the defensive.

So where is all this going? I honestly don't know. But it wouldn't surprise me if the next move was war against Iran. Or, if conditions worsen, a move into Saudi Arabia.

Kerry's answer to the mess is to say that he would pull US troops out of Iraq within four years. What the hell does that mean, and how does Kerry know where we'll be in four years? If Kerry has any hope of winning the election, he'll have to attack Bush head on -- and avoid offering dopey"solutions" to a growing problem, or I should say an expanding mess.

Behind it all is money, oil -- the West's dependence on oil. What do we do when another nation, ruled by US controlled royals, holds a key to our prosperity? Answer, it looks like we fight. And it looks as though the fighting may be just beginning.