Depression and disbelief is apparently sweeping the Arab World due to the ease with which an arab army was once again vanquished. There was an Algierian news editorial that stated Saddam MUST have made a deal with the Americans - how else could his entire army just disappear? The reality is now sinking in that Iraq has gone from a center of arab nationalism to a pro-american, Israel friendly regime almost overnight. And now a nearly invincible foreign army sits smack in the middle of the Islamic world, sending a political earthquake throughout the entire region. Other despots in the region are shaking in their boots. Syria and others know their armies are no match for American forces positioned in Iraq. We could be in Damascus in a couple of hours.

Furthermore, Iraq is the one nation in the Arab world in a true position to lead the region, having all the assets of power: oil, water, arable land, and people(literate, secular, not too many, and not too few). As a democracy they could really shake up the entire middle east.

I don't think this is what Bin Laden was counting on.