Looking away from the Beeb for a moment, Andrew Sullivan has this analysis (originally in London Times) of the US domestic political situation and the Iraq situation in tandem. I like his guarded optimism:

'There is, in other words, no panic among senior officials. There is a deep sense that neither the war nor the election is lost; and that victory against the nexus of terror and tyranny in the Arab-Muslim world is still still within reach. In the president's words: don't mis-underestimate him. The gloomsters have overplayed their hand before; and they may well be doing so again.'