"Tokyo Taro", in a comment on Stephen Green's site, makes an excellent point:

Another intended consequence of Bush's war that hasn't gotten much attention yet is that it will undermine financial incentives to sell arms to rogue nations by, er, downgrading the credit rating of rogue regimes.

The temptation to make sweetheart deals with unstable dictators is obviously too much for many in the world (including some Americans) to resist. But now, worldwide arms dealers must be doubting whether they will ever be able to collect on any deal they're considering with, say, Syria or Iran.

(BTW, when you read the title above, did you hear, in your head, Alan Hale singing those words to the tune of "The Toreador's Song"? Yeah, me too. Damn you Sherwood Schwartz! You ruined both Hamlet and Carmen for a whole generation of TV viewers!)