Scenarios for making the world safe: Middle East futures | csmonitor.com

The optimistic scenario for Iraq and the Middle East ignores the administration's announced post-war plans, at least what has been leaked since they are not telling, and ignores the lack of U.N. involvement. That leaves the writer's:

The war is longer and bloodier than expected. After initial relief at the removal of Hussein, Iraq's Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish factions fight for power. Large numbers of US troops are tied down preserving order. Lacking a UN flag, they're widely portrayed as imperialists. Terrorist attacks increase. Hard-liners in neighboring Iran, citing the American threat and taking heart from North Korea's unchecked progress, crack down on their democratic opposition and accelerate Iran's nuclear-weapons program. Syria hedges its bets. Citing continued violence in the region, the Likud government in Israel decides it cannot risk the establishment of a Palestinian state. Saudi Arabia asks the US to remove its bases. Terrorism increases in the Islamic world.

Making the Middle East safe for democracy is a worthy goal, but it will require patience and a wide range of instruments beyond military force. Risks and costs can be reduced only if the US builds a consensus, shares tasks with others, and resists the impatient unilateralist temptation to go it alone.

Sorry, building a concensus is not the Bush doctrine. Meanwhile, another U.S. diplomat resigns over Iraq as Britons see Bush as bigger threat than Saddam.

The rest of the world, like Papua New Guinea, is also descending into anarchy in keeping with Bush's strange Endtimes outlook.

Is the Bush scenario for the Middle East the Rapture?