Iraq conquered. Administration hawks push regime change in Iran and support direct military action there just in case the nuclear program at Natanz is not decomissioned. The force of this logic is staggering. Since Saudi Arabia rulers began their putsch six months ago of the most militant mullahs, just under 2000 of the 80,000 religious leaders have been fired. Officially they've been sent for "reeducation". This is the opening salvo in an as yet undeclared civil war in the kingdom. And should any in the ruling faction favor accommodation with the mullahs, the bellicose approach to Iran by the coalition will so inflame the militant mullahs that there will be no accommodation possible in Saudi Arabia. The more beligerent the coalition towards Iran the more impetus for an otherwise divided and/or uncommitted Saudi ruling class to exterminate militant Islam in their own backyard. It's a survival thing. Priceless.

The Treasury Department (news - web sites) had warned it needed the extension by next week "to preserve the confidence in the U.S. government and to prevent uncertainty that would adversely affect our economic recovery." The current $6.4 trillion limit was breached earlier this year, and Treasury paid its bills by shifting money from government retirement and other funds, maneuvers it said it could not make again. Ken Lay call your office

May 12, Bad Hair Day for House of Saud:

Zealot bombers killed 30+ souls at 3 kaffir housing compounds in Riyadh. The good news is that apparently more Saudi shadid died than American kaffirs. Will the princes send 25k to the families of the shadid as they do to the martyrs' families in Palestine? Nah. It's tough to make the case that the martyrs weren't fighting Zionist crusaders, so expect the checques to go out from the disloyal opposition.

So now it gets interesting...until recently according to the princes there weren't any militant zealots in the Kingdom. Only rival alcohol traders. Then all of a sudden, a week before the simulcast bombings there's a published alert to the populace by the police for 19 zealots which was immediately countered by fatwas from 3 mullahs opposing the princes that said explicitly that these 19 were to be sheltered. Expect the 19 to find lots of support on the ground. This all is an unpardonable affront to the princes.

Good. Now they'll have to take out the backers of the shadid. The dudes who should know better but are obsessed by the lure of real virgins left behind by the martyrs. These folks lurk in the security services, business elites, and radical mosques. The outcome of the pogrom to ensue is far from knowable. But count on it, lots of bad guys on both sides will be dead soon.

It's a perpetual motion machine now.

This calls for a drink.

Saddam Hussein's future is not bright. Assuming he's still with us he's now as dangerous as a wounded bear. All those microbes encased in tupperware avaliable for the asking to worthy holy warriors. And with this act come to peace with his maker and rival Sallauddin. Atone for a secular life and become an arab saint while offing the enemy by the tens of millions. A cancer on humanity, unleashing his malignancies in a cascade of violent insanity. That Iraq may soon become another proving ground for assymetry like Chechnya appears to be the least of our worries. What about the stuff that was in the mobile lab the coalition found recently? Whither to?

Makes you wonder.