Another interesting report, this one from debka, about exactly what we're offering Britain in exchange for joining in the war. If this report is correct (I'd give it about 80% odds, but Bush is prone to changing his mind at a moment's notice about these things) then we've offered them a chunk of land of their own in southeastern Iraq, including Basra and a good number of oil fields.
Now, the first instinct of a lot of people might be to say that this is horribly corrupt, but I'm actually thinking it may not be a bad thing. Put plainly: If we're going to be trying to hold an empire in this area, I'm going to feel about 20 times better if the British are around. Because they know how to keep an empire functional, and having their good sense around and right in the same place as we are may be the thing to save our ass if things start to go bad - a word of advice from a provincial governor in the right place may be the thing that staves off World War 3.
So I'll mark this as a temporary good thing in my book, and cheer on the Union Jack. I sincerely hope they come; it'll be good having at least one world leader involved in this who isn't a total lunatic.
