Cowboy Bush promised last week to demand a UN vote this week, regardless of the outcome. Something about "time for everyone to show their cards." Well, chalk it up as another broken Bush promise.

And the only reason the US and UK would pull the resolution is because the result would be horribly embarrassing and possibly fatal to Britain's war effort. I'm thinking a 4-11 vote. Perhaps 5-10.

Funny to think that yesterday Fleischer was strutting about, bragging that the US had eight votes. But the wheels fell off that cart -- Guinea announced that it would abstain (or at least hinted strongly), while Chile vociferously denied rumors it would back the US. So I guess we'll have "freedom pigs" and "freedom verde", huh?

The US also insisted Pakistan would support the resolution days after that country announced it would abstain. This game of charades couldn't last, and the Brits are obviously not amused. Unlike Bush, Blair wants and needs that resolution.