Before the war in Iraq there was widespread and unheeded criticism that launching such an action would set off a “powder keg” in the middle East and lead to all kinds of badness. I personally was suprised that such a powder keg seems slow in exploding. We have had a few bombings and attacks and everyone is all shocked and appaled at what was completely understood at the beginning of the war, but we haven’t had the kind of widespread casualties I and others had been expecting. What is interesting is that the countries that were angry at the US for starting the war that they knew would lead to more problems are, now that the problems have started, more angry at the actual perpetrators, the Arab terrorists, and not the US for tipping the first domino. This could mean that those countries that were less likely to want to help the US will now be more open to our involvement, which I would call an unexpected outcome. This is something to watch…