Very interesting comment from former CIA Director James Woolsey, who says that the U.S. is engaged in World War IV. Regardless of how you feel about the current war in Iraq, we've been told that its goals were definite: to remove this dictator in this country. Woolsey's comments are the beginnings of non-speculative, insider commentary on what a long-term agenda might be. While Saddam is widely dispised as a threat to the U.S. as well as his own citizens, the administration has faced difficulty 'selling' the war to the international community. If the agenda is as broad as Woolsey predicts, what will the foreign reaction be when sights are pointed elsewhere in the middle east where there are no 'Saddams' to remove?

"As we move toward a new Middle East," Woolsey said, "over the years and, I think, over the decades to come ... we will make a lot of people very nervous."
Singling out Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the leaders of Saudi Arabia, he said, "We want you nervous. We want you to realize now, for the fourth time in a hundred years, this country and its allies are on the march and that we are on the side of those whom you -- the Mubaraks, the Saudi Royal family -- most fear: We're on the side of your own people."

Woolsey's comments also raise the question of whether an effort of this nature can withstand a possible change in administration. Is this a uniquely 'Bush' war, or is this an ideology that will work in a broader political context?