War

Larisa Alexandrovna has an article posted on Juan Cole's site, Saddam's Execution and the Iran Option.

She believes the rush to execute Saddam is part of a strategy of escalation that will include a strike on Iran.

What the Bush administration appears to be waiting for, stalling for, while they allegedly mull over the Iraq question is for the naval carriers and other key assets to fall into position. This will happen in the first week of January. Saddam Hussein is being executed (and I would not be surprised if every major networked aired it) to enrage tempers and fuel more violence in Iraq. This violence will justify an immediate need for a troop surge, although I think it will be described as temporary. Remember too that the British press has for the past week done nothing but report that Britain will be attacked by the New Year. Clearly they are preparing themselves for a contingency and that contingency is the massive violence that will erupt across the Muslim world as they watch (and I really believe it will be televised) Saddam's hanging and just before the New Year.

This is all too plausible. The signals I've seen, the arrest of the Iranians in Iraq, Joe Lieberman's OpEd today in the WAPO, the constant drumbeat for war with Iran from outfits like the AEI all point to a concerted effort to blame Iran for our Iraq debacle, and if things get worse after Saddam's execution, we can expect that chorus to become deafening.

If this does come down, it's hard to imagine what the consequences will be.