What will the military invasion of Iraq consist of? Lightning Strikes. To help war-challenged people like us understand what this means, here's a primer:

War plans call for simultaneous, lightning-quick operations by air, land and sea to overwhelm Iraq's shaky military forces. Heavy mechanized forces would speed toward Baghdad, bypassing Iraqi regular army units in a drive to reach the seat of President Saddam Hussein's power. The vanguard of the U.S. force would leave it to a second wave to engage those Iraqi forces. Special operations forces would parachute from helicopters deep behind enemy lines.

Whereas the United States took six months to position its forces for the 1991 Persian Gulf War and five weeks to bomb Iraqi targets before the ground war began, current war plans call for, at most, 48 hours of bombings — using tens of thousands of precision-guided munitions — before U.S. troops storm across Iraq's border.

Arranged across Kuwait to lead the charge are about 130,000 Americans, including 21,000 of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, more than 21,000 of the Army's 101st Airborne Division, about 64,000 Marines, 5,000 of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division and several thousand special operations troops. Also in Kuwait are headquarters elements of the Army's V Corps and about 25,000 British troops. About 1,100 military aircraft, ranging from land-based Air Force fighter jets and bombers to Navy and Marine fighter and support planes launched from aircraft carriers, are in the region.

We also read somewhere, can't remember exactly where right now, that Bush is going to ask Congress to authorize 90 billion dollars for the war.

There is no money for war in the huge deficit budget Bush proposed a month or so ago. 90 billion? Where's it going to come from?