Saddam on a stick? I was hoping that when President Bush came on tonight, he'd be holding up a Polaroid with Saddam Hussein's head on a stick. No such luck. Maybe that quickie air raid at 9:45 p.m. got Saddam, but we likely won't know for hours, maybe days. It would be well worth it if it would avert a full-scale war.

William Saletan is blogging the war for Slate. Actually, he's supposed to be blogging, but is currently MIA. Bill! Wake up! The bombs are falling! Christiane Amanpour and Wolf Blitzer are standing on a rooftop! We all know what that means -- even if they are in Kuwait City, hundreds of miles away.

Take a look at the White House website. Yes, I know we're in a serious situation. But this is just over-the-top -- almost nothing but war messages and terror alerts. (Orange, Connie Chung's favorite color.) Bush comes off as the ruler of a national-security state rather than an elected (or whatever he was) president.

Here are his remarks from the Oval Office. The nut graf: "On my orders, coalition forces have begun striking selected targets of military importance to undermine Saddam Hussein's ability to wage war. These are the opening stages of what will be a broad and concerted campaign."

This is it. Despite my misgivings, I'm hoping for the best. It's in all of our interests for the US and Britain to win quickly, with as few civilian casualties as possible, and to begin the work of rebuilding the long-suffering country of Iraq.