South African writer says Bush, Blair facing "political fallout" over Iraq war.

(From BBC Monitoring International Reports)

Text of commentary by Allister Sparks in the "At home and abroad" column entitled "Bush and Blair are starting to hurt" published by South African newspaper The Star on 16 July; subheadings inserted editorially

It is not always gratifying to be able to say "I told you so", but the fact is there is a grim inevitability about the deteriorating situation in post-war Iraq and the political fallout that is beginning to hurt George Bush and Tony Blair.

One might be tempted to gloat, given the arrogance with which those leaders brushed aside world opinion, but the implications for global security and the danger of terrorism becoming more contagious are too serious.

It was predictable that the war would be quickly over. There was no way Saddam Husayn's rabble army could stand up to the military might of the US and Britain for more than a few weeks. The question was always: what would be the effect of a prolonged military occupation after the war on the deep sense of grievance that pervades the …