If Saddam is killed, captured or his remains confirmed...

I'll stick my neck out here a bit: I think he's still on the run and that's keeping the insurgency somewhat mild (yeeks!) for the moment. Once he's out of the picture, all of the true agendas will come out. What will those be? You tell me. I vote 1 or a violent version of 3.

Certainly, if it gets obviously worse, that'll obliterate the Junta's claim that it's all just these fiendish "dead-enders" causing trouble. (Since I just can't conceive of Huntz Hall and Leo Gorcey out running around in bernooses, I just don't buy it.)

I also wonder how seriously we're looking for him; there must be at least some trepidation in finding him, since that'll take away what little stability there is. Then again, I don't think we're all that clever; we ran an effective war, but that seems to be the only thing we do well. Surely all the press crap about being hot on his trail would make nothing but tinfoil sense if we're not actually looking for him, so that leads us to believe they're at least trying.

Your thoughts?

Right?

Oil.

Black Gold.

Texas Tea.

Which is bad for us if the occupation is not put under international supervision.

:-(

lest we forget.

There's bound to be some jockeying for position, between the very different cultures, but to what degree? Maybe they WILL all band together (like Chiang and Mao) until the invaders are gone, but there's bound to be some squabbling.

The big point is that for bad or good, Hussein's influence was much like Tito's, and in his absence...

Beats me. I guess we're gonna find out.

The Junta's in a bind. (Bummer)

Inevitably, he will be found or the issue will grow cold, but it just doesn't seem like that's going to just bring us to the promised land of bilk and money.

We kill Saddam, mission accomplished and we pull our troops out. Haliburton hires their own thugs to protect the oil and we let Iraq descend into civil war as each tribe and war lord fights for control. With a wink from the U.S. we let them fight it our an massacre the people as long as they don’t try and mess with the oil. Mission Accomplished!

Bush will also para- drop out of air force one and land on top of Saddam’s grave where he will write “Don’t Mess with Texas” in the sand with his piss.

edit to add: Mission accomplished, mission accomplished, mission accomplished.