Not to worry about it being 3 a.m. and who you (US citizens) want answering the phone. That is hardly the point at this point of time!

Go by historical precedent (or should that by hysterical precedent?):

-- In 2000 the US voting public chose GW Bush (and Dick Cheney) over Al Gore!

(Yes, there seems to have been some dirty tricks played at the cross roads, what with chads and dimples and the Supreme Court and so on... but anyway, US citizens accepted GW Bush to be their legal President as did Al Gore - so what's to complain about?)

-- In 2004 the the US voting public chose GW Bush (and Dick Cheney) over John Kerry. No dirty tricks here, apparently (except the Swift boats and various 'scare stories' thought up by Karl Rove...and the wise US voting public bought enough of Karl Rove's stories to put the Great Decider back in as President of the YUSA!).

-- There was demonstrated malfeasance and incompetence on the part of GW Bush and Dick Cheney and the whole administration right from the start...

-- There was the foolish war launched on the Taliban in Afghanistan when there were very effective ways to have dealt with the malefactors who 'did 9/11'. (Check out 'Avoid Osama's Trap', by Richard Haykel - http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2001/09/25/stories/05252523.htm, which demonstrated a wiser option that could well have worked)

-- Then came the REAL criminality: a war based on lies and cheating, non-existent WMDs, lies to US citizens; lies to US Congress; lies to the world. True, the war was against a mini-monster Saddam, that is true enough - but there were far, far better ways of dealing with Saddam than this stupid war)

-- There was Katrina and "Heck of a job, Brownie!"

-- There has been incompetence and malfeasance right down the line!

-- And still the wise US public has not thrown the scoundrel out, has not put him and his entire Gang of Thieves up for impeachment, has not put the Gang of Criminals into prison!

Look at all of that hysterical precedent, and it seems to become clear that the great US public will now choose John McCain (because he will be backed by THE GREAT DECIDER HIMSELF!).

Whatever: at the end of it all, unless things change around pretty fast, the US will get the President it truly deserves... and the rest of the world will get the US it truly deserves.

-- GSC

And US citizens have STILL not impeached War Criminals GW Bush, Dick Cheney, and others; have not put them into jail where they should be. Now that is a crime, too, in my opinion.

--GSC

Omar Fekeiki's plan for Iraq omits a couple of crucial issues:

1) Adequate acceptance by the US (and the world) that the US (and the UN) had behaved criminally in Iraq right from 1990, by imposing sanctions on the Iraqi people for the crime that Saddam committed by invading Kuwait (and it should be noted that he did that invasion with direct US encouragement!) As Fekeiki observes: "Life in Iraq began to collapse in 1990, after the United States and the United Nations imposed crippling sanctions to punish Saddam for invading Kuwait. Fekeiki said the sanctions had catastrophic consequences. 'Everything that Iraq is going through right now is because of what happened during the sanctions...'

2) Adequate acceptance by the US that GW Bush and Gang have committed war crimes in Iraq - and by the world that we have not done enough to protest/prevent those war crimes. By acquiescing to the plans of that criminal gang, the US has also become a war criminal. By dealing with the war criminals who rule the US today, the rest of the world is also guilty of those war crimes. Until US and world citizens decide to impeach, throw out of power and adequately punish these war criminals who actually did the crimes, all US citizens, and all of us around the world, are guilty!

For instance, the article notes that "Fekeiki also pointed out that life under Saddam was not an unrelenting nightmare. 'Other than being afraid of saying the wrong thing in the wrong place, I had a pretty normal childhood.' "

Well then, just consider life now in Iraq under the merciful attentions of GW Bush and Gang:

IT'S AN UNRELENTING NIGHTMARE FOR EVERYONE THERE!

-- GSC

David Buckley has it spot on right:

Imprison the War Criminals, GW Bush and Gang, RIGHT NOW!

Things could perhaps start working out after that...