Most people I know predicted this war would occur within a few months after George W. Bush took office. Junior cleans up the mess left by his father in Iraq a decade ago, and makes a few bucks for his friends in the oil business while he's at it. Possibly the Iraqis entertained the same hypothesis, and struck first, since they were going to get punished in any case. It's as plausible a scenario as any other. Old terms and wounds heal slowly in the Middle East.
Some zealots are dangerously banal.
Listening to Billy Graham's platitudes echoing through Yankee stadium the other night, I formed this picture of a Christian God turned out by Norman Rockwell, with one of those Lincolnesque chin whiskers pasted on to signify industrial strength patriarchy, a God dispatched from Central Casting with a homily to fit every occasion and any venue pinned to his tunic. My impression is the Moslem God looks pretty much the same to his true believing zealots, only he wears an ill-fitting brown suit and white cotton socks. Even with the chin whiskers, the pious bromides and rock star-billing, it's too heavy a load. New York's Mayor Giuliani is probably a few iotas closer to the truth of things than the religionists. Rudy underwent a miraculous conversion, from total creep and hypocrite to paragon, overnight.