Sales of Maclean's set to rise in the USA

We suspect that there will be an extra copy or two of Maclean's at the White House Library next week, when the October 1 issue of makes it to the news stands.

In what will surely be a controversial cover story, Maclean's features George W. Bush dressed up as Saddam Hussein, going so far as to even feature the late Iraqi despots trade mark moustache.

The article as you can imagine is making the rounds of the American chattering classes, from Wonkette to Truthdig and even over to Bill Maher, who mentioned the cover on his Friday night show.

.

The Maclean's cover and the story that spawned it is most likely going to become a debating point in the US, once the big media players get wind of it. Just wait until Bill O'Reilly, Tucker Carlson, Wolf Blitzer or Keith Olbermann weigh in with their interpretations of what it all means.

As for the actual article, the slug line sets the tone for the Patrick Graham' s investigation of how Iraq has undergone a transition from pre and post Saddam eras: Its strategies shattered, a desperate Washington is reaching out to the late dictator's henchmen.

Graham who was a frequent visitor to Iraq in the Saddam era, compares life in Iraq today with what it was like before the dictator was toppled and seems to find that the Saddam loyalists of yesterday, who were dismissed early on as anti Iraqi have now joined been recruited by the US, to join in the fight for today's Iraq.

It makes for a situation that seems to have everybody looking over their shoulder wondering who you should trust and why. Graham tells a tale in the article about having little success contacting old friends and contacts in the country by phone, as nobody it seem answers the phone anymore. Too afraid of receiving a threat by telephone lest they find themselves marked for death, in his article Graham explains that according to Arab custom, if you warn your victim before an attack, it’s not a crime.

So, by not answering the phone, perhaps you're extending your life expectancy a little bit. It also provides for a handy way to avoid those MNBA telemarketers that just won't take no for an answers

While the tone of the Maclean's article doesn't seem all that incendiary, the cover will certainly send the likes of Fox and the right wing radio cabal into an apoplectic fit.

If nothing else it will all be good for publicity and good for a subscription bump and hey with the Canadian dollar on the rise, it could be a real money maker for the Canadian news magazine.

.

Though we suspect access to White House officials may be a little hard to come by over the next little while.