Join The Dots

The trick to understanding the news is usually about correctly joining the dots from one day to the next and one story to the next.



Mohammed Al-Sadr could be about to become the new face of evil on US TV. How did this come about?

First the US issued an arrest warrant against him and closed down his newspaper. Dot. This sparked an anti-US surge in violence that has continued for months. Realising al-Sadr had too much popular support to ignore, the new Allawi puppet government invited him to discussions, offering him a seat at the table with the big boys. Dot. Last week, while al-Sadr was considering the offer, troops surrounded his house and tried to arrest him again. Dot. But - whoops, another boo-boo! - al-Sadr wasn't home. Within minutes, Allawi's snake-like voice was on TV, lying that he had nothing to do with the attempted arrest and that al-Sadr would still be welcome as an important partner. Dot.

Today - dot - realizing that Allawi and the US really only want to make an example of him, Al-Sadr has declared he will fight to the death against US forces:

"I am an enemy of America and America is my enemy until the day of the last judgment," he said.

Al-Sadr's forces have also appear to have attacked an oil pipeline for the first time, instantly raising already dangerously high oil prices around the world. Join that dot to all the dots you see about economic data in the run-up to elections.

And now here's another interesting dot. Within hours of al-Sadr's declaration of a "fight to the death", the FBI was issuing a new terror alert:

World
6:14amFBI warns of new terror threats
5:59amSharon shelves plan for extra homes
5:44amAl-Sadr vows to fight on in Iraq

Along with planes, shoes, socks, trucks, cars, box-cutters, letters, white powder of any sort and Arabs in particular, we are now supposed to be scared of helicopters.

Was the new alert issued to keep Al-Sadr off the front pages today? Or was it in response to another dot: those new Iraqi torture allegations by Oregon guardsmen? Hey, it might even be real this time... nah...?!?

Certainly, Karl Rove wants the continuing violence in Iraq to stay off the front pages. He wants it to seem like the Iraqis are now in control, the US forces have done their job well and - after the re-election - we can all move on to the next war.

But if al-Sadr continues to disrupt those plans, Rove just might decide to make him the new face of evil on Western television. Hey, forget about bin Laden and Michael Moore! Imagine an election campaign with a new foe engaged in bloody, prime-time battles every night - gotta be a vote winner, right?