IRAQI DEPUTIES VOW TO DIE FOR IRAQ & SADAM
"Iraq's parliament held an emergency session on Wednesday with loyal deputies pledging to lay down their lives for President Saddam Hussein as a deadline for a U.S.-led attack neared." Link

Yeah, right. I'm sure that was of their own free will. Iraq is a part of a face-driven culture where what you say in public and what you actually do are two different things. And everyone agrees to function that way so it works. So I wouldn't take a legislative vote (even by the loyalists) as a bellwether of things to come. I am hoping that this will unfold more along the lines of what happened a couple of weeks ago when British troops, not yet in Iraq, were practicing with live fire, and nearby Iraqi soldiers crossed over the border with white flags. The Brits had to send them back telling them that the war hadn't really begun yet.

When this kind of thing happens it should not be seen as a sign of cowardice on the part of the Iraqis but more reflective of the fatalism that pervades their thinking. They are just going to go with whatever is inevitable.

Now, in regard to US relations with the other nations we’ve pressured to accept this route, it may not be so easy to patch things up. But even there they want to be on a winning side -- political realists. The French have softened their attitudes in the past couple of days and will probably get onboard at some point – unless they decide that we’re the one’s who have been tapping their phones.