At the end of our meeting, I asked Mahmud what would happen if the plant was sold despite their objections. “There are two choices,” he said, smiling kindly. “Either we will set the factory on fire and let the flames devour it to the ground, or we will blow ourselves up inside it. But it will not be privatized.” It was an early warning—one of many—that the Bush team had definitely overestimated its ability to shock Iraqis into submission.
