Madam Arkin Sees All, Tells All

William M. Arkin, writing in the "Early Warning" column at washingtonpost.com, amid a tantrum of pessimism, and bile at the current administration and apparently everyone who serves in it, offers these interesting predictions for 2007:

"[T]he Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr will increasingly become a state-within-a-state Hezbollah-like force in Iraq, crowding foreign fighters out of the scene as al Qaeda recruits and begins to operate more amongst the Iraqi Sunni exiles who have congregated in great numbers in Syria and Jordan.
...
"[But Iran] will get a blow to their regional influence when Muqtada al-Sadr is assassinated."

[Y.H.S. steered in Arkin's general direction by Daimnation! blog]