It's more of a publicity stunt to rile up his people more than an attempt to 'intimidate the US'...
In my personal opinion I believe the situation is a lot less tense than everyone seems to believe. If we really really wanted to completely wipe them out, why would we go through all the trouble of announcing our plans to the entire world, with deadlines, giving him time to get ready? (and don't give me that bullshit about how 'evil and deceptive the US is trying to be) I think that the State Department is actually trying to work things out behind the scenes. We have to remember that everything we see is filtered 10 ways before it even gets to the TV stations for broadcast.
Hell, looking at some of the idiots that are looking to become candidites for the next presidential election, I'm sorta glad Bush is in office. Hell, imagine if Hilary was president.
Hilary: 'Fire up the nukes! Its time to blow the fuck out of Craplakistan'
General1: 'But Ms. President! What have they done to us?'
General2: *whisper to Gen. 1* 'Shhhh... its that time of the month again!
Hilary: 'JUST FOLLOW MY ORDERS DAMNIT, AND WHERES MY MIDOL!'
-Andy
/.
PPP... yes
'When you say 'I wrote a program that crashed Windows', people just stare at you blankly and say 'Hey, I got those with the system, *for free*'.' -- Linus Torvalds