Hold the Doritos, please

Surely most Americans, upon hearing that Saddam Hussein is now officially on another hunger strike, would say 'go ahead Butcher, do us a favor'. A large number of Iraqis might say the same. You'd also think Saddam might be aware of that sentiment, too.

So why would he think a hunger strike would do any good?

The most obvious reason might be the delusional theory--he still thinks his following is large enough to affect the stability of the nation should be die a martyr's death. Based on al-Maliki's recent most-wanted list filled with Ba'athists, and based on the current level of sectarian violence, Saddam might not be as delusional as we think. It's a mistake to treat him as just a run-of-the-mill fruit loop.

The somewhat darker theory is that his death could trigger some kind of pre-arranged retribution attack in America, Israel or other locations, possibly using some of those weapons we never found. That's pretty conspiratorial since it would require us to know (or at least reasonably think) that the threat was legitimate, thereby making his hunger strike something to take note of.

Of course, such a scenario would beg the question as to why the administration would downplay the very thing that would fully justify the war and potentially raise morale. Some might argue that the nature of such a threat would demand silence, while others might point to reasons involving sins of the past, so to speak.

But most Saddam experts agree if backed in the corner he's the type to take a few with him, so such plots cannot be dismissed out of hand. We have seen a number of clandestine surveillance projects launched by the administration since 9/11, yet amidst everything Saddam is still alive with no execution date in sight.

Occams' Razor points toward a simpler explanation, one where Saddam's minions help to foster escalating sectarian violence while his lawyers use the result to delegitimize the trial and get it moved out of Iraq. Tariq Aziz is doing the same thing, as both clearly understand that winding up in Iraqi custody would not be a good thing. For them it's always been about survival.

In retrospect perhaps our characterization of the whole thing as a card game was right on the mark.