Almost Forgot This ...

BBC correspondent Rageh Omar was being interviewed on Radio Five (Julian Worricker) yesterday lunchtime. He was asked what he thought about Saddam. Hadn't he realised, as the US and British diplomatic offensive marched in step with the military buildup, that his regime was doomed ?

I haven't a transcript so I'll paraphrase.

"I think he (Saddam) lived in a world of self-delusion, of fantasy ... he only heard what he wanted to hear and his people only told him what he wanted to hear .."

"He had these ideas that his forces would fight the Americans to a standstill, there'd be a quagmire (sic) - or that the Arab street would rise up as one to support him ... the whole Middle East would be aflame ..."

"He would be able to strike at the Americans and Zionists with some deadly weapon .."

Wasn't a quagmire and the "Arab Street" exactly what the anti-war movement was predicting ?

And doesn't the description of Saddam's mental world match the anti-war movement pretty well ?