Every day, yet another example of the lack of forsight, planning, common sense shown by the Bush postwar "plan." This is astonishing.

"Experts long feared the collapse of Saddam's rule could lead to the kind of scientific brain-drain the United States tried to prevent as the former Soviet Union collapsed. But the Bush administration had no plan for Iraqi scientists and instead officials suggested they could be tried for war crimes."

John Burns, the Times reporter in Baghdad before and during the war (he was never embedded), returns to Iraq after several months. His dispatch is both hopeful and full of concern.

There's good reason for that concern. It will be interesting to see the reaction of the "coalition" should an Islamic government be set up and Sharia law enacted. The key thing is to ensure that a constitution is drafted first and that it include guarantees for human rights and women's rights. The whole thing will have been a disaster if those rights aren't established.