Ahh..finally! It's 3 pm and I can start to think about getting back home. Slow day at the office..tying up loose ends before I go for that course thing. Might even fly off early today..hmm...now that's an idea. Having too much time on my hands started me thinking..For all intents and purposes, the war in Iraq (what war?) is already drawing to a close. Looking at the images of Saddam's statue being toppled suddenly brings to mind a similar scene from the enhanced version of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. In the closing scenes, as the Ewoks and their allies celebrate their victory over the Empire, other planets also celebrate their deliverance. One particular shot sees a statue of the emperor being toppled in Coruscant, home of the Imperial Senate, in a strangely similar manner. Of course, it's only coincidence..but that particular war had an unfair advantage going for it: it was in a movie. This one here, however, in OUR universe, cannot end so cleanly, no matter how much we'd like to think so. There will have to be cleaning up and rebuilding..and also regoverning. All of which, if we are to believe the Cowboy President, will be taken care of. How? This was never really explained to us lay people. Maybe through the magic of good ol' America, the land of dreams, freedom and assorted bullshit.

We'll see.

If Afghanistan is anything to go by, Iraq will be nothing but a mere shadow of itself, run by a fictitious puppet government, which in turn will be put there by a man who won a fictitious election..in short, lies upon more lies. Not much we can do but look on and pray Mr Bush doesn't think to turn his pre-emptive strikes our way. What else is there to do? Go on with our lives, drink our Starbucks, rush on with our jobs and careers, drive our imported Volvos and Beemers and Saabs, come home to our spouses/partners/kids (some whose names and schools we already forget), and generally put this behind us..safely we think. Where it belongs, we think. As we sip our triple lattes and enjoy our pastries (Imported!.. they scream. Try us!!.. they plead) we rationalise our actions for the day and think..we've done some good.

I honestly hope we're right, for all our sakes.

Going off now..updates tonight. My head's spinning too fast.