[re an idea by Chan Wei Lik]
     
     First off, I think that this plan would be awfully impractical.  
     However, those impracticalities could also lead to some good stories.
     
     1)  How do we actually kill this despot?  Remember, the CIA tried for 
     years to kill Castro, with absolutely no success.  They even hired the 
     mafia once.  So [ANIME RELATED], what if they'd hired the dirty pair 
     instead? :-).  I like this idea--maybe I'll write it up.  (For 
     something more recent, nobody would even know where to find Saddam 
     Hussein if they wanted to kill him--never mind actually getting close 
     enough to kill him).  Actually [more ANIME REALTED :-)], I could see 
     this being an interesting job for Lupin III.
     
     
     
     >The US has learned a lot about war since Vietnam, as evidenced by 
     >Desert Storm.
     
     In this case, the US (correctly or not) wanted a limited war with 
     limited strategic goals--the exact opposite of what you're calling 
     for.
     
     >If I read the novel correctly, that doesn't matter. His death will be 
     >delivered, no matter where, not matter how long it takes.
     
     At some point, the guy would just die of natural causes.  This might 
     also make a good story-- the guy dies, and your agents have to cover 
     it up until they can make it look like they did it.
     
     
     >But supporting or infiltrating guerillas is useful only if you are 
     >planning to 
     >use it as a prelude to invading the target nation or controlling it 
     >as a puppet.
     
     This is just wrong.  I don't think that Syria supports Hizbullah 
     because they seriously believe that they can overthrow Israel.  (This 
     is just the first example that came to mind, since I'm living in 
     Israel).  But maybe you could have a story where the intelligence 
     agents in the home country have to prove that insurgents are actually 
     being sent in from outside.
     
     Gavin