Do I Hear 24? 12?

That 72 hour ultimatum is now rumored to be only 48 hours:

President Bush said Monday Saddam Hussein must flee Iraq or face a U.S.-led invasion, abandoning U.N. diplomacy to brace Americans for war within days. Bush was giving the Iraqi leader 48 hours to comply, administration officials said.

If everything goes as expected — hah! — we could be at war sometime Thursday afternoon. Or perhaps as much as a day earlier. Or the whole damn thing is a ruse and “the bombing starts in five minutes,” although I rather doubt it.

Hunker down, kids.