Outlook for 2007: Potential nuclear 9 11

I think we are going to find that Saddam’s death irrelevant. Because he’s been replaced by a bigger force – Al Qaida and Islamism.

Forces larger than Saddam were unleashed when Bush & Co changed focus from Afghanistan to Iraq. Yes, our leaders finally got rid of Saddam, -- and ironically produced yet another one as a result of this war. The sad irony is that we may be getting only a new Saddam after spending hundreds of billions and over 3,000 American lives.

The name “Al Sadr” was shouted by Saddam’s death witnesses at his hanging. The sad irony is that Moquata Al Sadr is a Shiite killer and thug no different than Saddam, the Sunni killer and thug.

In Afghanistan, Osama had little to work with (land of rocks, few people, not much to blow up). When the war on Iraq began, it opened a new opportunity for Al Qaida (home of Babylon, epicenter of the Middle East and 26 million people divided into three groups who hate each other, and lots of stuff to blow up). Despite reports to the contrary about Saddam and Al Qaida, Saddam hated Osama bin laden and vice versa. Bin laden was a religious nut; Saddam was the non-religious nut. When the U.S. knocked out Saddam, it opened the door to Iraq’s wealth for Osama’s supporters that he didn’t have in Afghanistan.

So the violence in Iraq is now nothing about Saddam. His execution will do little to change things. It is about control and Sunni vs Shiite vs Kurd.

Worse, Al Sadr has Iran as a backer. Since Iran is headed by an extremist this does not bode well for 2007 and America in Iraq.

The timing of executing only Saddam --and not his two associates who were also sentenced to death -- on a Muslim religious holy day associated with Martyrs looked odd. It looked like hasty, frontier justice. Executing him and the only two after the holidays would have worked better and avoided another instance of cultural fumbling.

Iraq has now killed more Americans than 9 11. Yet it appears a greater danger has been generated as a result of the war, and from the continued silly mistakes made in running it…

We are heading for a nuclear 9 11 if our leadership doesn’t wake up and make some key changes soon. And the biggest threat isn’t even in the Middle East.