Or should the fox remain in his den, might he not summon back to Baghdad star TV reporter Dan Rather and show him his written orders to the Iraqi Revolution Command Council not to resist the American-British invasion; anyone firing on the aggressor troops, arrested by Iraqi police. With Rather in the television studio, Hussein might appeal to Iraqis to go about their business, not forget their several daily prayers, and show the innocents abroad famous Arab hospitality.
After an American officer places a pliant Saddam Hussein under arrest, on what charge does the US bring him before a recognized court? Crimes against humanity might fly. But with Saddam so charged, what about the criminal head of state alphabet soup available to keep the Bush White House busy into 2005? Unfortunately for GWB the broth would include many rulers The White House calls friend and ally. With our bad friends imperiled, and good ones like British Prime Minister Blair and Spanish President Aznar in danger of seeing their governments fall, George W. Bush ends up destroying friends and foes alike, and turning the word "American" throughout the world into what "French" is here now.
Surely, unlikely scenarios, but stranger ones may unravel from carpets unfurled all over the Middle East, Pakistan, Turkey, China, and beyond. The shepherd has his staff, but the foxes have their own ideas.
March 8, 2003