I am experiencing quite a dilemma.

As you know I absolutely despise Shiites. They're good for absolutely nothing except target practice. Yet I must admit a begrudging admiration for Muqtada al-Sadr, who has proven himself to be quite a thorn in the Americans' side. Plus, there have been allegations he knocked off a rival cleric last year, so maybe the guy isn't all that bad after all.

Most importantly, Najaf is getting the holy crap pounded out of it. I mean, look at this photo!! Quite frankly, I don't think I could have done a better job myself!!

What? That's NOT a photo of Najaf!?! That's Florida!?! Well, why would Bush be bombing Florida? Did they screw up the election again, but this time in his opponent's favor? Never mind. I don't pretend understand the democratic process, and I hope I never do. Tyrannical rule is much simpler.

Anyway, my point is that I'm thoroughly enjoying what's happening with al-Sadr. The beauty of current situation is that there is no way the Americans can win this thing in the court of Arab public opinion. And if al-Sadr is killed, then he becomes a martyr not only in the eyes of his supporters, but in the hearts of everyone in the middle East.

On the other hand, if the Americans back off, then al-Sadr ends up winning a major victory! That, in turn, will only encourage further resistance to the occupying forces.

In the meantime, innocents will continue to die and carbombs will continue to explode. And with each subsequent incident, people will only come to further miss the good old days when I was running things!! Yeah, sure, occasionally my security forces would kick in the front door and drag someone's screaming relative off to prison, never to be seen again. But at least people could walk their dogs without having to worry about getting blown to bits in a drive-by bombing.

Plus, people knew what to expect in my prisons! Good old fashioned physical torture and a slow agonizing death! None of this foolishness about getting stripped naked while pregnant infidel women point at your naughty bits!!!