The former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein will be hanged by the end of January, a senior member of Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa party predicted today....

--Times of London

Why, what an astonishing coincidence: If next year is like this year, that will coincide almost exactly with the convening of the new Congress -- quite possibly featuring one or both houses in Democratic control.

Why, you don't suppose they'd hang Saddam precisely when Nancy Pelosi is becoming Speaker, just to steal her thunder -- do you?

Naaah -- Tony Snow assured us that anyone who thinks these things are timed for partisan political advantage in the U.S. is "smoking rope." And we know he can be trusted, right?