The Final Countdown

So here I am in my office, waiting as the final hours tick away before the Americans unleash hell on Iraq. Being on a LAN is good, because I can stream video from the BBC straight to my desktop. Unfortunately, everyone else in the world is doing the same, and the result is pretty disjointed and jumpy. And I expect it'll only get worse as 1pm approaches. Will the internet be the first casualty of Bush's war?

I'm still convinced that what America intends to do is both immoral and a mistake, but at this stage all I can do is hope for the best - that they don't kill too many people, and that they actually try and make a proper job of rebuilding Iraq, rather than just installing a patsy and walking away like they've done with Afghanistan. At the same time, I also hope that they pay for what they're doing - that Saddam blows his wells, or contaminates them with radioactives so that Cheney doesn't get his oil, that things go wrong and the US takes heavy casualties, even that Saddam uses whatever WMDs he may have because he's backed into a corner and has nothing to lose. That's mostly pure spite talking, but also fear that the Americans will get a taste for this sort of hegemonic exercise, and a recognition that the only thing that might turn them from that path is lots of dead Americans.

That's an unpleasant thought, and its kindof depressing that Bush can make me hope for Americans in body bags...