Saddam’s insurgency: Did the U.S. walk into a Saddam trap? I almost hope so at this point. Because that would indicate this is a primarily (and containable) Baathist insurgency. But the Sunnis are genuinely alienated and threatening to boycott the January elections. Not good. The Saddam-trap theory also doesn’t explain the crazy Sadr and Shiite resistance. But this is good news: Sadr’s fighters are turning in their weapons. ... Afghanistan continues to amaze. ... Just a thought: Has the anti-Iraq war sentiment peaked? There’s just enough good news out there to suggest things are calming down a bit. My hunch is that Bush is still leading -- and will still win in November. Perhaps big, electorally. He’s rightly taken a lot of overdue hits in recent weeks. Conservatives (true conservatives) are increasingly upset with him. But my gut tells me he may have seen the worst. Just a hunch. ... Kerry still has a lot to exploit on the Iraq front. Someone should haul out clips of the absurd talk by Bush, Rummy etc. about actually welcoming foreign terrorists into Iraq. You know, fighting them in Iraq rather than in Kansas, etc. Remember that long-ago all-over-the-rationale-map rhetoric?  ¶ 8:27 AM