Move one step up in the business food chain from the shop floor, and that "bazaar mindset" is more or less how things are done in our parts of the world as well. And the same goes for politics and diplomacy and negotiating.

Lying, cheating, bullying, blackmail, pretending to break off negotiations, flying into a rage... Nothing alien about any of those.

The war with Iran was artificially induced by Saddam's regime, encouraged by the USA and its friends. An alliance between Iraq and Iran would make sense for both countries, and for the rest of us as well. And it would be the last thing that the Al Qaida version of Islamism would wish to see.