After American officials spent most of the afternoon bragging about the precision of their missiles and how the infrastructure of Baghdad has been deliberately left intact so as not to affect the civilian population, most of Baghdad is in darkness tonight, huge swathes of the city having lost power. "This is absolutely disgusting," complained reporters. "How are we supposed to get clear shots of the bombing raids if we can't fucking see them?"

Pentagon officials have spent considerable time over the last few months explaining to cynics how the Iraqi people want to be freed from oppression. The taking of Umm Qasr and the city of Basr, however, has proved to be considerably more difficult than first expected. Apparently large numbers of Iraqi fighters refuse to be liberated.

For several months now one of the main thrusts of the argument for war has been the insistance that the Iraq War will bring about an end to terrorism. As the push into Iraq continued this afternoon, realising they were overwhelmed Iraqi soldiers changed into civilian clothes and disappeared into the crowds. These none-liberated-and-quite-frankly-pissed-off-with-the-allied-invasion Iraqis are now free to form terrorist sleeper cells anywhere within the country and eventually, when the fighting is over, leave Iraq for Britain, America and Australia to cause untold chaos.

Well done.