It's just that I feel a blend of fascination and amusement at the notion of futures contracts on the Butcher of Bagdad!

It's very interesting to follow the day-to-day fluctuations in the investors' expressed probability of Saddam's survival to March 31, or June 30. If I'm reading the table correctly, buyers believe there's about a 40% probability Saddam will be toast by the end of March, and about a 60% probability that he'll be consigned to the ashheap of history by June 30.

One things for sure - the people of Iraq surely would snap up as many March contracts as they possibly could, if only they could...