Ding Dong The Bastard Is Dead

Ausitin Bay looks at Baghdad the day after Saddam is killed.

Here’s how the Iranians might see it:

But consider this brave new Baghdad from Iran’s point of view. Make no mistake, Iranians regard Saddam as the devil. The Iran-Iraq War, that World War I redux instigated by Saddam, deeply scars Iranian psyches. Tehran wants Saddam gone yesterday. Iranians, however, also fear what follows. There are already 7,000 American troops in Afghanistan, on Iran’s eastern border. Now there are two hundred thousand or so to the west. How would the United States respond to an Iranian heavy corps trouncing a noxious regime in Canada?

Yeah, and the Saudis won’t be too please, either. But really, what can they do? The Iranian Army not only can’t beat us, but a losing war would spell certain doom (or sooner doom) for the Mullahocracy.

I’m not as worried as Austin is, but I sure share his concerns. This war is a messy one, no doubt about it.

Also, the column is this afternoon’s Required Reading.