IS IRAQ part of the “global war on terror” or a diversion from it? Is the war over once we capture Osama bin Laden–or kill him–or will it continue after? Should America side with the reactionaries or the revolutionaries?

To say that the Bush-Kerry race is a referendum on Iraq misses much of the moment: It is really a Rorschach Test about the world of the early 21st century. What do we see when we look at the greater Middle East? Do a we see a region where a stable–but unfortunately autocratic order–is beset by violent religious zealots? Or do we see a region in the midst of a fundamental crack-up, the erosion of an ancien regime?