So Long Saddam

[bartelbyvqf at cs.com]

Folks,
Today on stratfor.com there is piece that while not specifically about Iraq gives some good background about the region. They went back to publishing a daily freebie analysis after 9-11. It should be taken with however many grains of salt you deem appropriate. Stratfor speaks to and for the ruling class and being aware of this is helpful. Sometimes they get rhetorical within that framwork arguing for the interest of one sector of the ruling class over another, and that is the main thing to watch out for with stratfor.
I think I agree with Hakki regarding the probability of the removal of Saddam. Though i will cop to not having the depth of knowledge I felt necessary to go out on such a limb and I do recall some Marxists arguing that the Gulf war would not happen way back when. 
My main gaffe was referring to the Kurds as the largest ethnic group without a country, more correct would be to call them the largest nation without a country, but some would argue that that honor goes to Black folk in the U.S.
But I suppose that the Kurds and Shi'ites are less able to resist the central Ba'athist, Sunnite govt. than ever before. Perhaps continuing to starve and make brutal war on them  will weaken them even further making the optimal date for replacing Saddam later rather than sooner. But later there may be less initiative for such a thing and the domestic antiwar movement may find its feet in the interrim. The sooner I can stop worrying about the rent for April the sooner I can deal with taking part in said movement.
mcapri