One More Week

Last week I put forth my election predictions. I don't really have anything else to say about the election just now. I'm reading the headlines and generally taking in every piece of election-related news I can, but I don't see much changing in the next week.

I really, really hope the voting goes smoothly a week from today. If massive voter turnout causes long waits then that will be a good problem to have.

Foreign policy could become a big issue very quickly. It appears that US forces launched a raid into Syria on Sunday, killing several people and possibly capturing a couple of others. Syria is saying we killed innocent people. Unnamed US military sources are saying we carried out a surgical strike against a terrorist cell that was helping to facilitate the entrance of foreign fighters into Iraq.

This comes at a time when we're trying to negotiate a Status Of Forces Agreement - yes, they call it a SOFA - with Iraq. If we can't get that nailed down before the end of the year then we have a problem.

At the end of this year the UN Mandate for our presence in Iraq expires. Again. It was going to expire at the end of 2007 but it was renewed. Maybe it will be renewed again if we can't find a way to share a SOFA with Iraq, but maybe it won't.

If the UN Mandate is not renewed, and the SOFA is not agreed upon, then we have to cease all US military operations in Iraq. I'm sure our troops will be allowed to defend themselves if attacked, but I don't believe they'll be able to patrol or otherwise continue the day to day security operations they've been performing until now.

Our news has been dominated by the election, and by the stock market and other economic matters. I'm hoping the outcome of the election is clear and uncontested so that we can move on to resolve the economic matters (as if that will be simple) while we turn our attention back to the Middle East.