(no subject)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4185596.stm

A top US general has said al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, will try to relocate to the Horn of Africa if Iraq is stabilised.

...

"There will come a time when Zarqawi will face too much resistance in Iraq and will move on," Maj Gen Lute said.

I'm not sure what evidence he bases that assumption on; I see no sign that al Zarqawi is meeting much resistance.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4194214.stm

About 2,000 Sunnis in Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit took to the streets to voice their opposition to the [draft constitution].

Many waved pictures of the former Iraqi leader, and a statement was read out denouncing the constitution as a "Jewish" document that would divide Iraq along sectarian lines.

OK, yes, it's Tikrit, where people were more dependent on and beholden to SH than elsewhere in Iraq, but here we are about two years after the fall of SH and people are calling for his return. What a great job we've done...

...it is possible the document may never come into force. To be ratified, the constitution has to be approved by a majority of voters across the country - as well as not being rejected by two-thirds of voters in at least three or more of Iraq's 18 provinces.

The Sunnis are dominant in four provinces and thus in effect have a power of veto, correspondents say.

And the whole process would have to start over again.

I'm not sanguine about this. I wonder whether in ten years there will even be an "Iraq".