Faux crow. Things are going rapidly from worst to yet worser in Iraq, with all the usual political implications there to be read.

Wild gunfire and anger erupted across the city of Fallujah yesterday during the burial of the US-trained paramilitary police shot by mistake in an hour-long gun battle on Friday. The latest tragedy comes on top of a rising death toll of ordinary Iraqis from lawlessness, banditry and American guns, which, according to an investigation by The Independent on Sunday's Robert Fisk, could be as high as 1,000 civilians a week.

The failure of the occupying forces to bring law and order to the country and the ability of the Iraqi resistance to strike with near-impunity are also galvanising international opinion against America and Britain.

If a new resolution is not agreed during further talks in New York this week, George Bush and Tony Blair can expect a month of public humiliation over the Iraq crisis. Washington and London had hoped the meeting of the veto-wielding members of the council would begin to draw the UN into the task of reconstructing Iraq. Instead, it produced a virtual replay of the pre-war rift.
President Bush is to address the UN General Assembly in nine days, where a majority can be expected to be loud and vocal in their opposition.

But Bush doesn't seem phased. Why might that be?

Mr Bush, however, is unabashed by either criticism from abroad or his tumbling popularity at home. Far from stilling disquiet, his televised address last Sunday saw his approval rates drop from 59 per cent beforehand to 52 per cent afterwards, according to a CNN-Gallup poll. Six out of 10 Americans believe the administration does not have a coherent plan for Iraq.

One reason might be that he is confident that no matter what the public polls may suggest, he's sure to return to office in 2004.

He has all the swagger of someone with inside information, someone who knows the score, or, possibly, what the score is programmed to be, As in, he has an ace-in-the-hole. Or perhaps, an ace-in-the-Diebold.