A little under six hours until Bush's deadline for Saddam to leave the country, and some Iraqi soldiers are already surrendering.

As thousands of U.S. and British troops were poised to invade Iraq, 15 Iraqi soldiers dropped their weapons and surrendered Wednesday at the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border, U.S. military officials said. The Pentagon hoped tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers would follow suit in the face of war, which appeared imminent with the approach of the 8 p.m. ET deadline set by the United States for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq or face attack.

Yeah, I hope so too. More importantly, I hope some of the Iraqi military bigwigs defect very early, thwarting possible launches of chemical warheads at our troops or Iraqi civilians.