Iraq

Ayatollah Muhammad Bakr al-Hakim is dead.

Along with about 100 others dead and hundreds more injured.

Third car bomb in a month and they are getting bigger all the time.



The sharks are circling.

Pretty soon they will be in a feeding frenzy and then.... the Americans will get out of the water in a hurry.

That is what they do.

They probably wont stop spreading chum, though.



After 9-11, no introspection, no learning from mistakes in the past, no clear plan how to make the world safer.

Only this.



Who is going to clear this up??

Can this still be cleared up??



What do I think?

I expect the Turkish troops to invade the north some time around the elections in America in 2004.

When the political (on all sides) will to do anything will be zero.

I expect the rest of the country to fall down into internal strife.

I expect a "strongman" to take power.

One much like Saddam.

One friendly to the Americans.



I expect a much impoverished and looted country limping onwards and never truly recovering.

Call me a cynic but that is what I expect, UN or no UN involvement.