This is depressing.

There is something vulger about the broadcast media's anticipation of 'Shock and Awe'. They seem to be treating it like a giant reality show.

I am very glad that Saddam will to be gone. I think whoever or whatever replaces him will be at least better than him and I hope that Iraqi people will have a better life than they do now. Salam Pax's post expresses that hope too.

I am under no illusion that the US administration is engaging in this war primarily to take out nuclear weapons. The recycled cold warriors that manage defence policy in this administration lost their souls a very long time back.

Be that as it may, Iraqi people will still have a much better shot at life after this. They may not be greatly better off. It is possible that the majority of their oil wealth will be sucked off by large US corporations rather than by Saddam's cronies. But I hope that they don't have to live constantly under fear after this.

The wreck of the international order, organizations, and protocols that follows this, will take years to heal. In that, the US government is not behaving very differently from the way the Romans or the Brits did before them or the Chinese may do 50 years down the line. I am not shocked into disbelief. But this cynic's heart still despairs.

What makes me feel really nauseous are remarks, comments like this quoted in Atrios: