The Shia will now rise against the U.S.

[JCMach1]

Now that any fear of a Saddam return is out of the way...

That was the take of an Iraq expert (Iraqi) after yesterday's capture of Saddam.

[madfloridian]

1. Hi JC, I heard that today.

Are there problems where you guys are? I worry, but I am jealous at the same time when I see the school.
Hope all is well with your family.

I heard somewhere they are just telling each other to wait until the time. I am scared at what might happen, I really am. Our guys could be in real trouble.

[caledesi]

9. I am concerned as well. I think that things will be WORSE in

Iraq for our troops and they can't blame the Saddam Loyalists...Bring the troops home!

[maggrwaggr]

2. your post makes a hell of a lot of sense

we'll have to see what happens.

All I know is Bush and cronies always under-estimate what's going to happen there.

Surprises are in store, no doubt.

[sasquatch]

3. I'm afraid all Iraqi's are volunteering for hero/legend positions.

The way to get there is to kill our soldiers I'm afraid:scared:

[TacticalPeek]

4. From Poppy they learned not to stick their neck out. . .

until its their turn.

[goodhue]

5. yes

best to bring the troops home now

http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/

[Mattforclark]

6. Unfortunately that might very well be true

Which would suck. Massively.

[TacticalPeek]

7. I've always assumed this was on the way. Why not?

Its like there's these windows, see? And they keep closing up while our 'leaders' discuss proper deck-chair alignment, or attend fund-raisers.

Who controls the most ground in Iraq? The Shia.

[Mattforclark]

8. Yup...

If I had to guess I would say that it will make a relatively small number of Iraqis more likely to cooperate with us, will cause most people resisting out of some sort of loyalty to Saddam (these types would definitely be guys with rifles, not suicide bombers) to give up, and will result in a steady, possibly (quickly?) accelerateing rise in attacks by other Iraqis if we don't start doing things right, pretty fast.

But that's punditry all punditry, and I don't think we really know. It is hard to predict what will be the results of Saddam's capture. We're sure as h#ll going to find out though, one way or another.

[Scott Lee]

10. Say HELLO to Al-'iraq Al-Islaamiyu

I couldn't agree more. How bitterly ironic for the Warchimp that all his efforts will result in a more fertile ground for terror against the US and Israel than Iraq was before the invasion.

[PurityOfEssence]

11. All sorts of interesting things are possible

By what conceivable logic can we deny a plebiscite now? How can we be for democracy and not allow them a vote? What if they want a Theocracy? Hell, if that's what they want, that's what they want. It's not like it doesn't exist elsewhere. It's not like Junior has anything against government by god... Oh, that's right: wrong god, I keep forgetting that...

Sure, much of the rest of the world will support us in denying them what they unquestionably deserve; the Shiites are a very small minority in the Muslim world, and except for Iran--another pariah state--the other countries don't want them to have sway. So if we drag our heels, equivocate about method and generally try to run out the clock, we'll get a fair amount of support (or lack of opposition) from the rest of the world, but the locals will seethe.

Is it even possible to make a deal with the Sunnis to keep the Shiites down? Are the locals in any mood to WAIT right now?

Do we have any idea how to deal with this? I don't think we're going to have some showcase elections and scoot; we're there for the oil. If we try to make some kind of greasy deal to secure the oil in return for sovereignty, will they go for it? Will they go for it and then run us out anyway? It's not like we can hold them to it; it's not something we can actually admit having done.

It's fascinating.

We're idiots.

Saddam is already old news. Funny, isn't it?