So That's The Gambit:

Today William Safire offers a very interesting analysis of Turkey's role in the Iraq war and what consequences they might ultimately face. The piece is worth reading for his analysis, but also for this aside at paragraph three:

The missions of these coalition forces are to prevent Saddam from torching the Kirkuk-Mosul oil fields and to engage Iraqi troops that would otherwise join the defense of Baghdad. Top Baath Party leaders tell my Kurdish friends that Saddam's strategy is to use guerrilla tactics to give France and Russia two weeks to negotiate a truce.

This makes an awful lot of sense given what we've seen in recent days. And the French and Russians would love nothing more than to broker a peace to international acclaim. We'll see how it plays out ... but does Saddam have two weeks to spare?