Coalition of the Willing? (Originally posted Mar. 15)

No need to worry about Spain's actions causing a rift in the "coalition of the willing". The rest of the foreign troops will also be departing Iraq shortly after it becomes a "sovreign nation" again. As a simple matter of saving their necks, the provisional government will have to require the troops to leave. This will be fine with the President Bush, for whom it was mission accomplished as soon as Saddam Hussein was no longer in power. It will also be a great relief to the U.S. Army, which will no longer face the logistical nightmare of trying to find troops to rotate into the combat area. It will, however, be an unhappy event for the President's cronies, whose aim from the beginning was to create a compliant state in Iraq. Nothing personal, Mr. Hussein - it's all a matter of dollars and dinars. Of course, if the President is reelected (a dismal but distinct possiblity), we can always reinvade and reoccupy Iraq. It will be but one more example of the George W. Bush foreign policy doctrine in action: Nothing matters but what I want, all else is irrelevant - The United Nations, Europe, International Law, norms of moral behavior, so forth. The next unilateral invasion will, however, spell the end of the government of Tony (George W.) Blair, and end any semblance of cooperation of other governments with the United States. Too bad the President detests the French language so heartily, else he might also claim "Apres moi, le deluge".