(Many thanks to iraqbodycount.org for keeping tabs.)

(Many thanks again to Cursor.org for finding many of these articles. Also, many thanks to Voices In The Wilderness' Iraq Peace Team, an organization working to send people to Iraq to create first-hand reports and help deter violence against ordinary people in the country). An Iowan, Micah Shristi, recently finished a term in Iraq as part of one of these teams - read his reports here!

(Update: Cursor.org linked to our Iraq Myths and Misinformation dossier. Yeay!)

Heston Would Be Proud: Amongst the oranges and eggs, looted Iraqi weapons caches make their way into the hands of whoever wants one for bargain basement prices. "Every Iraqi I'd estimate now has two or three guns. And we will use these guns against Britons and Americans, if they do not go out of Iraq," car mechanic Dhiab Hamad Khaleifa said Wednesday.

Manufacturing The News: The World Socialist Website joins the fray of those commenting about a New York Times article by Judith Miller claiming a breakthrough, that an Iraqi "scientist" stated that Iraq had Weapons of Mass destruction, and were so trigger happy with them that they were willing to give them to terrorists, and, as they were about to be invaded by a hugely powerful foreign power, they destroyed them "to make the US look bad" (makes sense, right?); however, she was only allowed to see the "scientist" from a long distance, seing a man in nondescript clothes and a baseball cap - had to have her report censored by the US military - and had to not mention what chemicals were supposedly "precursors" that the person knew about. However, the WSWS offers this little gem - Judith Miller wrote the famous "covering for the US military" articles about the Dugway Proving Ground, our biowarfare site that tried to cover its tracks after the anthrax attack.

Oh, Why Would Someone Lie?: What motive would an Iraqi have to pretend to be a scientist? Perhaps it could be that *200,000 dollar reward* (scroll down).

'Mind' Yourself, Reporters: Ahmed Chalabi's "Free Iraqi Forces" who have taken over the Foreign Ministry have now re-adopted the Saddam-era practice of assigning minders to reporters. Plus: Free Iraqi Forces arrested for looting.

Botched Surrender Deal: The "Ace Of Spades", as they prefer not to use his real name any more, was attempting to surrender, according to a (now former) CIA operative who was in charge of the deal. But, according to him and the tribe who was working to arrange it, the deal fell through - when the US bombed the home of the tribal leader, killing the chief and 17 members of his family.

What On Earth??: Al-Jazeera reporters witness two strange things: 1) US forces have been barricading oil ministry workers from entering their offices, and US soldiers have booby trapped a Baghdad power station.

"Not One Day Longer": While the official mantra is that US troops won't stay one day longer in Iraq than needed, it looks like that mantra is about as true as the case with Saudi Arabia's base. Only, four times worse.

Fisk: For The People On The Streets...: Robert Fisk writes about what you see walking around the streets on Iraq, starting with an exchange where Iraqis and Americans cursed at each other; discussed how *both* sides have heavily armed checkpoints; the US declaration of lockdown; and more.

International Flavor To Protection: A picture is worth 1000 words, to quote the blogger "Counterspin", next to a picture of two US soldiers standing with guns ready in front of a hastily written posterboard "Museum Under Protection" sign. Written in *English*. Plus: A picture really is worth 1000 words.

Where are they?: The Independent asks: Where are the Weapons of Mass Destruction, who is lying?, and so, where are they? Plus: "You remember: Saddam Hussein was supposed to have a huge cache...which he was hiding from UN inspectors ... The military types who could not wait another week for UN inspectors to do their job are now saying their own WMD search will take weeks, maybe months."

Unfinished Business: Time reports on the severity of what we've done. To quote Joseph Cirincione, chief of the Non-Proliferation Project, "It may be that there aren't as many weapons as the President said, in which case we have a major intelligence failure, a huge embarrassment for the President and a huge blow to U.S. credibility - and that's the good news. The other option is that there are as many weapons as the President feared, and they're no longer under anyone's control."

Silence In The Wilderness: Less than 24 hours after issuing a press release critical of US attempts to oversee humanitarian intervention in Iraq, Voices In The Wilderness was banned from going to the Palestine Hotel (where all of the journalists stay).

Our Worst Fears: Photographer Michel Guerrin, embedded with the 3/4 Marines (3rd battalion, 4th regiment), watched and photographed them killing civilian after civilian. Meanwhile cluster bomblets litter neighborhoods and trees, and many Iraqis openly speak of wanting to kill Americans.

The War Of Liberation Begins: Robert Fisk writes an article titled "America's War of liberation may be over. But Iraq's war of liberation from the Americans is just about to begin.". There's not really any need to say more; as with all of Fisk's coverage of this war, it is amazingly detailed and evidenced. Plus: British troops greeted with smiles, address severe looting in Baghdad - in 1917.

He's Got Them!: In what is more and more appearing to be a worse falsehood than his oft-repeated "Triumvirate" lie, blogger Uggabugga won't just let the times Bush claimed in major speeches that Saddam Hussein has WMD drop.

Not The Information Minister!: The Iraqi information minister, who amused many with his dire predictions for coalition forces and ability to deny the obvious without flinching, has been (controversially) reported dead, by suicide. And he wasn't even in the deck!. Plus: From the horse's mouth, there were actually under 200 such "decks" printed, indicating that they were only for PR.

Free, Except For You, And You...: While thousands of Shiites protested, US troops ran the first steps of picking their puppet government to rule Iraq. Just outside, several dozen "uninvited" major political figures denounced the gathering as illegitimate. Most of the groups meeting under the tent (with an American flag) were exile groups. A special guest was the widely-hated felon head of the Iraqi National Congress, Ahmed Chalabi.

The Final Chapter on Sacking: Robert Fisk writes about the burning of the National Library and Archives and the Koranic Library, while US troops stood idle.

The Lynch Raid Mythos: Iraqi doctors at the hospital where Pvt. Lynch was "rescued" from solidly dispute the Hollywood-style raid story that has been floated in the U.S., stating "What the Americans say is like the story of Sinbad the Sailor - it's a myth." According to the doctors, Lynch had been receiving the best treatment in the entire hospital and had befriended one doctor, to the point where he put himself on the line such that, when fleeing Baath party members wanted to transfer her, he instead tried to transfer her behind US lines. US troops shot at the ambulance and it had to return. When the US raided, there were no soldiers, but the US troops nonetheless cut up beds, broke doors, and even handcuffed and interrogated an immobile patient connected to a drip.

The Second Wave: The Southern Baptist Convention has stated that they have an army of 25,000 evangelists ready to travel to Iraq to provide humanitarian assistance and what they call "spiritual warfare". Gee, this is going to play over well...

The Statue's New Clothes: While a blogger tears down the tearing down of the statue with long-range pictures, Indymedia has their go at it, the US denies that it state managed the event, and that it was just coincidence that the flag flown over the statue's face was the one on the pentagon on Sept. 11th, the soldier who flew it has stated that he was just doing what he was told.

Fisk: The Day After: Robert Fisk gives a detailed-as-ever account of the day after the US takeover of Baghdad - the ransacking of embassies, UNICEF, stolen busses packed full of stolen goods, and US soldiers publicly strip-searching every last person, in front of their friends and neighbors, just to get around town, while not doing anything about the looting. He also details the looting of one of the world's greatest treasures, and American art dealers call for lightened restrictions on imports from Iraq.

The Blessing Of The US: A little-known militia with US backing - the Iraqi Coalition of National Unity (ICNU) has been terrorizing a neighborhood in Najaf, riding on special forces vehicles. "They steal and steal," said a man living near the Medresa al Tayif school. "They threaten us, saying: 'We are with the Americans, you can do nothing to us'."

Is This Freedom?: An old man watches his electrical repair shop get looted, while a marine watching states, "Hell, it ain't my job to stop them." While some locals erected roadblocks to catch looters, the looters told US troops that the roadblocks were from militiamen, promting tanks to crash through and open fire on houses. In some places, the streets are literally lined with corpses; at the airport, soldiers have nicknamed one rotting corpse "Bubbling Bob".

Stripped Bare: Baghdad loot booty contains everything *and* the kitchen sink.

Myths And Misconceptions: Spinsanity details (with links) some of the myths and misconceptions that have occurred since the start of the war. Plus: The Toronto Star does the numbers, in a detailed way.

Heavy-Handed Imperialists: With a picture of a US soldier armed like some sort of bizarre imperial storm trooper, interviews with the British expose their puzzlement with how heavy-handed the US has been with Iraqi civilians. Plus: An Indian columnist lectures American to listen to the British and at least try to be "good imperialists".

Flooded With Patients: The ICRC has warned of Baghdad's hospitals being overwhelmed; one of the city's five hospitals alone was taking in 100 injuries an hour. There is no power, only sporadic generators, and no clean water. Meanwhile, there are too few anesthetics and antibiotics for during surgery and amputations. Plus: If Baghdad falls without a whimper, you'll want to tune out the "Liberation" propaganda for a few days and look to the countryside.

That Which We Condemn...: I know our leaders didn't serve in Vietnam, but one may at least wish they had read about it when they act shocked when a far weaker enemy melts into the civilian populace to try and level the playing field. But, to make it even more incredible that they'd be surprised, according to a Sydney Morning Herald reporter in Iraq, US special forces have been doing the same. He witnessed them seizing three secondary schools in a densely populated area, near a prominant Christian church and 200 meters from a UN complex.

Iraq Debts Add Up To Trouble: Paging Mr. Bush, paging Mr. Bush: You need to run the numbers if you think the war will pay for itself. Iraq's potential earnings for the first year or two after the war are 15-20 billion. 11 billion are needed for routine government spending. Iraq's reconstruction costs range from 25 billion to 100 billion, the country has 60-130 billion in debt (10 billion/annually in interest), and 200 billion in compensation claims.

Causing Trouble: US intelligence officials have been accusing Iran of sending irregular paramilitary units into Iraq to harass American soldiers after Iraq falls, to raise the cost of occupation. Meanwhile, Bush works on his plan to declare a "Rolling Victory" if top Iraqi figures are still at large and fighting continues in the country.

Introduction To Democracy: In Kuwait, the US, under Dep. Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, is busy planning the post-war transitional dictatorship in Iraq. Looks like the felon and INC head Ahmed Chalabi will be given a prominent role after all...

Excessive Force? Use Some More!: The British accuse the Americans of using excessive force in Iraq. Meanwhile, the Americans have been told to use tougher tactics.

One Children's Hospital Down...: Peace Team members on their way out of Iraq accidentally stumble into a small remote western desert town, and offer the first confirmation that just days before the US had bombed their children's hospital.

Fisk Writes: Robert Fisk writes about the effects of the bombing. Earlier: "Minute after minute the missiles came, with devastating shrieks.

Reuters Calls US On COW Numbers: Reuters has published a number explaining how the US has exaggerated the numbers in their "Coalition Of the Willing" (COW).

Bush Can Wage War, But CNN?: In Lou Dobb's "Moneyline", the host played a video montage of the song "Have You Forgotten" - a country song by Darryl Worley, who he commended, that confusingly suggests that Saddam and bin Laden are the same person - with clips of both Sept. 11th and soldiers preparing for the new Gulf War.

Angry Inspectors: Many UN weapons inspectors are furious with the Bush administration for cutting their work short, bad-mouthing their efforts, and making false claims. They have pointed out that none of the nuclear evidence Bush presented held up to scrutiny, and that many inspectors from the US arrived as hawks, but left as doves after seing how bad of shape their entire military programs - and the country as a whole were in.

Iraq, the 51st State: Matthew Engel writes satyrically about what Iraqis could expect under a US-style government. #6: "Saddam has been universally seen firing his gun indiscriminately and menacingly. Under the second amendment, this right would be extended to everyone." Plus: We're good people - a play in one act.

Deep-Fried Intelligence: Counterpunch reports on a German TV interview with a number of long-time CIA officers on the forced cooking of the CIA's books, so to speak.

A Tyrant *40* Years In The Making: By now, everyone in the peace community knows about the Reagan/Rumsfeld dealings and arms sales to Iraq in the 1980s. But did you know about the long declassified details of our dealings with him in the *1960s*? Includes another nice bit about France and Germany being right (they opposed the British/Israeli/American backed intervention that put him in power).

EU: You Bomb, We Don't Rebuild: The EU's External Relations Commissioner, Chris Patten, in addition to warning about what a war with Iraq would do to inspire terrorism and damage the world order, stated that the EU may withhold financial support for reconstruction if the US attacks without UN sanction.

*Our* Dirty Bombs: The radioactive DU munitions that the US is planning to use in Iraq may be literally hundreds of times more potent than those used in the first Gulf War and the U.N. campaign in Bosnia. Plus: Mark Herold's analytical take on the US use of DU munitions - trading health, human suffering, and the environment in exchange for saving us money.

Keeping The Peace: If recent peacekeeping missions are any example, it will take several hundred thousand soldiers to keep the peace in Iraq. Plus: A human shield heads home.

Where Are They, Then?: Like many, you may be wondering: How could a third-world banana republic like Iraq manage to hide many tons of WMD in such a way that, even with scores of defectors and the world's best intelligence agencies on the ground actively searching, that they have not been found in 12 years? Well, you can now add to that list that Air Force officers interviewed by the LA Times have reported that there is not a single chemical or biological target on their list of where to attack.

Not Surprising: Documents proporting to show that Iraq had attempted to purchase uranium from Niger have turned out to be forged, and other Bush deceptions - reported by the IAEA. "We fell for it", said one US official. "There is no indication of resumed nuclear activities", ElBaradei said. My response: This is a surprise??? Iraq's nuclear designs called for maraging steel, and they get uranium as a byproduct of phosphorous mining. Why on earth were intelligence agencies believing this in the first place?? Are they completely incompetent?

War From A Think Tank: The Sydney Morning Herald publishes a translation of a Der Spiegel article, detailing the (publicly available) 1997 Project For a New American Century proposal and 1998 letter to President Clinton calling for the overthrow of Iraq for US material gain. The authors of the letter (all PNAC members)? Dick Cheney, Lewis Libby, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Peter Rodman, John Bolton, Richard Armitage, Richard Perle...

Preemptive Surrender: A group of Iraqi soldiers attempted to surrender to British forces who were testing their weapons during a routine exercise, thinking that the war had started. The British had to send them back to Iraq. Plus: US striking 7 to 14 targets per week.

Cutting The Fence: While UN peacekeepers caught US marines cutting holes in a fence in the demilitarized zone for an invasion of Iraq, Jeremy Scahill of the excellent iraqjournal.org gives a deep report from the DMZ.

Vietnam Checklist: "Cabal of oldsters who won't listen to outside advice? Check. 2. No understanding of ethnicities of the many locals? Check. 3. Imposing country boundaries drawn in Europe, not by the locals? Check. ..."

Iraq Body Count: Striving to be like Mark Herold's excellent afghanistan dossier, iraqbodycount.org keeps track of casualties from this new war.

Postcards From Hell: The US has been littering Iraq with gruesome full-color photoedited cards. "If similar articles were dropped over the American heartland, it would be viewed as an act of war." Plus: (earlier): Operation Afghan Litterbug.

Osammadam: A new, popular country song that ignores the difference between Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden has gotten Ted Barlow to have the exact same reaction as me: "Is this a goddamn joke?"!!

Turkey Says No, But We Still Unload?: Islam Online, in a report echoed by the (subscription-only) Financial Times, is covering NTV (a Turkish news station)'s filming of US carriers continuing to offload equipment even after the Turkish parliament voted down the use of Turkey as a staging point.

US Insensitivity Led To Failed Vote: Many Turks cite U.S. insensitivity as the reason for voting down our aid package - which, to put into perspective, was the equivalent of the US getting 150 billion dollars immediately and 750 billion in loan guarantees. And some Turks have very harsh words for us. Cartoons of Turkey as a belly dancer or prostitute bargaining for money were, for many, a last straw.

We've All But Started: The US dramatically escalates "enforcement" of the internationally illegal "no-fly-zones", attacking targets without provocation of any kind, including targets that are incapable of causing such provocation (such as surface-to-surface systems).

We Admit It: U.S. officials acknowledged that thousands of Iraqi civilians will die in their proposed war. Of course, they don't miss a beat in blaming Saddam for it. They also state a quite bogus civilian death estimate from the first Gulf War, refuted by their own people and proved valid in a court of law (158,000 people, of which about 40,000 were military).

Book 'Em!: Bookies have been offering odds on a Saddam Hussein ouster.

Kamel's Bombshell: Hussein Kamel - Saddam Hussein's former son-in-law, and the highest profile defector since the inspections began - whose information pretty much rejuvenated the inspection process - dropped this bombshell to inspectors which was until recently kept hushed: They destroyed all of Iraq's WMD before the inspectors arrived, hiding documents and information about the process in scientists' homes so that they could restart the process if inspectors ever left. In short: the likely reason no WMD have been found is because there aren't any.

Winning Friends With Vinegar: In a move reflective of virtually everything the Bush administration has attempted to do on the international front, when the Iraqi opposition met to discuss the future in the post Saddam era with US support, armed US guards seized the compound and informed the Kurds what the US plans to happen to Iraq.

Jumping The Gun: The United States has been unloading arms in Turkey for well over a week, without their approval and an illegal move. Includes patriot missiles for Batman. Now that Turkey has voted down the aid package, will this be another delay for the US?

Another Protest Resignation: In an administration plagued with resignation of figures due to its heavy-handedness and radical-right policies, yet another resignation has taken place. This time, it's U.S. diplomat John Brady Kiesling, resigning over our push toward war with Iraq.

"Infidel" Rule: An anti-Saddam Shiite cleric in charge of 10,000 fighters has warned that rule by infidels (such as the planned US military, then civilian, occupation of Iraq) is religiously unacceptable and will be violently resisted.

The Peaceniks Arrive: Busloads full of peace activists of all stripes begin to show up in Baghdad. The article goes into everyone from human shields to Miss Germany to Gustavo the search and rescue dog, to Spaniards who took over the abandoned Spanish embassy to hang up a "NO SANCTIONS, NO WAR" banner.

No Hypocrisy Here!!!: Remember why we're pushing for war with Iraq - because they supposedly produced chemical weapons in violation of international law? Well, guess what? Donald Rumsfeld is asking for permission to *use* already developed chemical weapons (of the same style that Russia used in their hostage crisis) in Iraq. Remember the issue about the possibility of the unmanned L29 trainers being used by Iraq for such attacks? Rumsfeld wants to use our unmanned Predator drones. Chris Floyd editorializes on the revelation.

The Axis Of Peace: A new Franco-German proposal seems set to dash US war hopes, and throws a major wrench into the UN works. The resolution sets a timeline for Iraq inspections for Iraq to avert war. Poking a quick jab at Rumsfeld's dismissive "Old Europe" comments, Schroeder stated that the proposal represented the views of "good old Europe".

Inspectors: US Intelligence Is "Garbage": Weapons inspectors have been complaining about the disdainful accuracy of US intelligence information about Iraq, and how it has been sending them on wild goose chases. One inspector referred to the information as "[Garbage] after [garbage] after [garbage]" (using a less polite term).

"Liberation"? Bah.: Why the claim of "liberation" of Iraq is bunk. Strangely includes a quote from "Shrek".

Picturing The Protests: Collections of protest pictures from around the world.

Millions Say "No!": Agence France-Presse's collection of official estimates of anti-war protesters (picked up by many other news agencies) is 8 to 11.5 million people. To put this in perspective, that means between 1 in 750 and 1 in 520 people *on the planet Earth* were protesting the war on the 15th. Antiwar.com breaks down the numbers.

Secret Pro-War Rallies!: "Millions of Warmongers Marched Secretly Over Weekend" (satire). Plus: GLAMericans For Peace.

CNN Censoring To Promote War: CNN issued a "transcript" of Blix's recent speech to the UN. They left out, however, a major portion of the speech - the part where he completely shoots down Powell's Iraq evidence. CNN since has filled in the gaps in the transcript; TakeBackTheMedia links to google's cache of the original transcript to prove the original, blatant omission.

Turkey's "Buffer Zone": One of the demands Turkey has insisted upon, for it to give support to the war, is the right to send 60,000-80,000 troops as a "security arc" 140-170 miles into Iraq (halfway to Baghdad). Kurdish leaders have stated that this would be viewed as "an invasion". Plus: The United States stabs the Kurdish opposition in the back with its recent plan for what will happen to Iraq afterwards; elsewhere, Kurdish leaders report that this will turn the US and Kurds into enemies "the day after" Iraq falls.

Iraq Kicks Out FauxFox News: In response to the United States kicking out an Iraqi journalist because they called his reporting "harmful to US interests", Iraq has kicked out Fox News. Gee, it's not like Rupert Murdoch has been making his "news sources" promote the war with Iraq or anything... Plus: Fox outfoxed by CNN (amusing).

The Silent Casualties: Stanly Heller wonders why the media is silent about the 220,000 allied casualties from the first Gulf War - those who came back often debilitated by Gulf War syndrome, an unheard-of percentage coming back disabled (and sometimes dying shortly after). Some of the suspect possibilities for what caused the problem are addressed - not a single one is being handled differently this go-round, so expect many more cases.

US Is Misquoting My Iraq Report!: Hans Blix has confronted the US for distorting his report on Iraq and the conclusions that can be drawn from it.

Mass Destruction Of Baghdad Planned: The US has launched a plan to launch 600-800 cruise missiles in the first 48 hours - more than were launched in the entire first Gulf War, and a rate of one hit every 4 minutes - whose predicted effect is being compared to Hiroshima. Plus: The nuclear option in Iraq.

Coalition Of The Unwilling: Of the 53 nations that the Bush administration has asked to join in the "coalition of the willing" against Iraq, only 3 have offered troops. But why wouldn't they join, so that we can make sure that they, too, are buried in mass graves like we've been planning for our troops?

May Is International Irony Month: Due to the UN's system of selecting committee chairs by alphabetical order, in May, Iraq is scheduled to chair the UN Conference on Disarmament. Joining Iraq as co-chair? Iran.

Weapons Of Mass Combustion: With the crisis in Venezuela crippling US oil supplies, not only has the Bush administration stopped the filling of the strategic reserve, but the US has doubled its imports from none other than Iraq to make up for it. Not surprisingly, the US has been shoring up plans to try and seize Iraq's oil fields in tact.

No 'No War For Oil'?: The Christian Science Monitor contends: "The well-rehearsed oil argument attempts to make war a simple issue of good versus evil... This presents the world as we might prefer it to be, where it's easy to know whom we should oppose, rather than as the world really is - where wars are weird, confusing, and often fought for no obvious material or economic gain.

Credibility Undermining With Aluminum: As the US claims yet again to have more secret evidence on Iraq that they can't share, but will share "very soon" (the same line we've heard for months), the "aluminum tubes used for making nukes" claim continues to undermine the credibility of US reports.

UN Force Not Likely: Given recent developments, it looks like the odds of the Bush administration winning a new UN resolution - this one, unlike the last, authorizing force - are slim. Plus: France and Germany react to name-calling from Donald Rumsfeld.

Iraq War Pretexts: The Maine. The Gulf of Tonkin. Cross-border Polish raids. All pretexts for wars that were either distortions or outright falsehoods. And yet, every nation needs a pretext, true or not, before its people will buy into war. The San Francisco Chronicle speculates on some possibilities that the US may use in Iraq.

Ari & I: Russell Mokhiber, at the last White House Press Briefing: "You and the President have repeatedly said that Saddam Hussein gassed his own people ... Why do you leave out the part that the United States in effect gave Saddam the green light?

UN Searches Creating Civilian Ire: Civilians in Iraq have begun complaining about the regressiveness of the UN inspection teams. Recently, one Iraqi broke into the UN compound armed with knives while another tried to hijack a UN vehicle.

A Surprising Ally: A new antiwar group springs up on the net: Garage Doors Against The War. Plus: A peace sign from Antarctica and Unreasonable Women Baring Witness.

Brits Want UN Support: A new British poll shows that 81% of British voters feel that a new resolution is essential before war with Iraq, and 47% outright oppose the war in any circumstance.

The Daisy Ad: MoveOn.org has revived the infamous "Daisy" ad campaign, with a remake suggesting that war with Iraq could lead to uprisings in countries that hold nuclear weapons. View the original and the remake.

The No-Fly-Zone Excuse: Airstrikes in the southern no-fly zone have essentially turned into bombing runs with an excuse behind them. No longer is what is firing the target, but command and control centers, communication centers, and other similar targets, often in populated areas. Just a reminder: The no-fly zones are not recognized by the UN.

Listening To What The IAEA Says: Time interviews Mohamed El-Baradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Association that has been in charge of Iraq's nuclear inspections. He solidly shoots down Bush's propaganda on the subject of Iraqi nuclear capability. Plus: Baradei talks about thealuminum tubes.

Attacked On The Way?: US military officials have been warning private airlines that ship equipment and people for the military that they have solid, specific information about at least one planned terrorist attack during equiptment/troop movements. There is also strong concern about rail shipments - there are 45,000 shipments of high-explosive munitions within the continental United States by rail or truck every year.

Jordanian Human Shields: 100,000 people from Jordan have reportedly signed up to be human shields in a war with Iraq. Plus: the ethical nightmare that Iraq's child soldier regiments - half of Iraq's population is under the age of 18 - would produce in US soldiers in the conflict.

The "captured" pilot: The staunchly Republican paper owned by Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the "Washington Times", brings back the "captured pilot" story with the help of the defense department. If you'll remember, Capt. Speicher was classified as being dead for over 10 years before suddenly, and without warning or evidence of any sort, he was reclassified as "missing in action". Now his ghost is being used to demonize Iraq, stating that they have a "hostage" that they will "execute" if there is war.
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A Good Week: Antiwar.com discusses all of the events that occurred this past week to make it "a good week" for those opposed to war with Iraq.

The Spoils Of War: A number of White House officials have begun referring to Iraq's oil as "the spoils of war", and planning to use the money from it to pay for the cost of the occupation.

Hold On A Minute!: Britain has been pressuring the US to postpone the war, currently planned for February, to actually (*gasp*!) give the inspectors a chance to do their job. "The Prime Minister has made it clear that, unless there is a smoking gun, the inspectors have to be given time to keep searching.". Hans Blix: No smoking guns.

A Poet Joins The Fray: Poet laureate Andrew Motion writes a poem encouraging the anti-war crowd against Iraq.

Saddam's Bunker: A Yugoslav architect talks about the bunker that he and others built for Saddam Hussein, and how it was able to survive a direct hit during the first Gulf War. Many major components were made in America.

Propoganda Reversal: Alternet reports on how the US managed to turn what turns out to be an accurate claim by Iraq of the U.S. bombing a baby milk production factory, into making it seem as if Iraq was covering up the bombing of a chemical weapons plant. Plus: The entire history of the propoganda runup to the first war; includes mention of US Ambassador April Glaspie's statement shortly before the invasion that the US "had no opinion on Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait."

The Coming Humanitarian Emergency: A "strictly confidential" UN document written to assist with UN contingency planning in the event of war with Iraq, predicts high civilian injuries, an extension of the existing nutritional crisis, and "the outbreak of diseases in epidemic if not pandemic proportions". It estimates up to 500,000 people in need of treatment for injuries, 39% of the population needing water to be provided, and 2.03m malnourished children and 1 million malnourished pregnant women. Plus: The statistician hired to assess Iraq's population as part of her job for country-by-country estimates, and determined, in numbers that were never questions on the basis of accuracy, that 158,000 Iraqis (only 40,000 of them soldiers) died in the first Gulf War, was almost fired for doing her job when her report got leaked to the public.

Wooing The Tribes Not So Easy: Iraq's 150 major tribes, with about 2,000 smaller clans, may not be so easy to bribe away from fighting the US, an investigation reveals.

LiberationIraq and the INC: Remember a group called "Liberation Iraq" that formed a while ago, composed of right-wing Americans who want war with Iraq, as a PR firm? Some quick checks on their site (liberationiraq.org) reveal some interesting things.

HBO Adds Disclaimer To Gulf War Movie: A Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting campaign that we covered earlier - concerning how a documentary on HBO tried to portray the "baby tossing" lie that even the director admits never happened as being true, has added a (albeit feeble) disclaimer to the end, after the credits.

Call Off The War: The British newspaper 'The Guardian' posts as its leader a message calling on Bush to call off the war.

Half-Off Sale!: The White House slashed their estimated prices of the war in Iraq for a New Years Sale of the war. Only 50-60 billion! Buy now!

US Had Key Role In Iraq Buildup: The Washington Post gives front-page treatment to the level the US, and more specifically Donald Rumsfeld, had in arming Iraq to begin with, and how almost all of the atrocities cited as reasons to go to war with them occurred while they were our allies and were being shipped weapons throughout. Rumsfeld went to Iraq to normalize US and Iraqi relations and pave the way for weapons sales when Iraq was known to be using chemical weapons on an almost daily basis.

U.N. Split On Declaration: Russia, France, and China say they are not convinced that Baghdad's report on weapons fails to meet the resolutions demands, in sharp contrast with what President Bush has been stating. Some, such as Russia's foreign minister, made clear to point out that "Any action outside the framework of Resolution 1441 ... can do nothing but complicate the regional security situation.". Plus: Are the no-fly zones legal?

Material Bleach: The extent of the US's "editing" of the Iraqi weapons report is revealed to be about 8,000 pages of the original 12,000 removed. Criticism has even been levied against the US from the normally warm Kofi Annan. Many countries are unwilling to accept the US's "trust us!" approach to whether Iraq is in violation, but are now unable to check for themselves. Meanwhile, as Bush upped the US presence in the middle east by 50,000 troops, Pope John Paul II promised to offer prayers 'in the face of this horizon bathed in blood.'

AP: Many Bush Claims Not Backed By Evidence: The Associated Press, often criticized for parroting the US government line, reports on the lack of evidence behind many of the Bush administration's claims on Iraq.

Micah Writes (12/23): Micah Shristi writes from Iraq where he is a participant with Voices in the Wilderness.

Who Needs Generals In A War: While the Joint Chiefs are completely split over Wolfowitz's "race across the desert leaving your supply train behind in hopes that Saddam quickly falls" strategy, Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld are having none of that.

Two Thirds Don't Buy Into The War: In an encouraging sign, more than 2/3 of Americans don't believe George Bush has made his case for war, including 60% of Republicans.

Iraqi Weapon Parts, Made In The USA (Shhhh!!): Newsday reports on how the United States, which after taking control of the only copy of the Iraqi arms report, personally censored it before distribution to the rotating security council members, censored out the American companies that helped Iraq's old WMD programs - over 600 million dollars worth of sales.

Iraqi Arms revisited: Germany's Die Tagezeitung newspaper, in a report confirmed by the British government, lists 80 German and 24 US companies out of the 150 foreign companies that helped Iraq's WMD program. Since the US was given the only copy outside Iraq of the report, there is speculation that Iraq may have leaked another copy of it.

Lose-Lose Situation: The Independent comments on the lose-lose situation of weapons inspectors. "It's like a witch trial from the 12th century. If they're caught, they're guilty, if they're not caught, they must be guilty."

Lets Try Again!: The Bush administration tries another desperate attempt to link Iraq to al-Qaeda without evidence, this time claiming that Iraq is giving them VX smuggled through Turkey. All officials except one spoke on the condition of anonymity, and nearly all stated that it was uncorroborated and open to interpretation. Does anyone else find this reminiscent of when Rumsfeld talked about "bulletproof" evidence of Iraqi links to al-Qaeda that the CIA later admitted was simply a phone call from an al-Qaeda member stating that he was "passing through Baghdad"?

The Photocopier Technology Imbalance: America succeeded in getting a hold of the only available copy of Iraq's 12,000 page dossier, to redistribute to the rest of the security council, because "the US had the better photocopying facilities." Plus: swapping secrets for the arms report - "secrets" we should have given anyways if we actually cared about the success of the inspections.

US Set To Use Mines In Iraq: The United States is preparing to use anti-personnelland mines (of which 80% of their victims are civilians, and 1/3 children) in Iraq, despite international condemnation. Given the US's track record of cleaning up cluster bombs (which are effectively anti-personelle mines) in countries from Vietnam to Afghanistan, who wants to wager as to whether we'll bother to clean them up?

The Assassin Or The Spy: Depending on whether you listen to a captured Iraqi spy or a captured fundamentalist assassin, Abu Wael is either an Iraqi link to al Qaeda or a deep-seated opponent of Saddam Hussein. He was last seen either going to Afghanistan or in Kurdish territory in northern Iraq, or possibly dead.

The No Fly Zones: Jeremy Scahill reports on the history and present state of Iraq's "No-Fly Zones"

The Heckling Never Stops: As the US hunts for a single excuse to go to war with Iraq, the heckling from the US has intensified to the point where Blix had to respond to the US demanding that he abduct Iraqi scientists and their families for questioning by the US, "We're not going to abduct anyone." Despite touring everything from old nuclear facilities to a surprise visit on a presidential palace in the middle of reestablishing a forward headquarters, the US has accused him of not pursuing the first 10 days with sufficient vigor, while ignoring Blix's demand that if the US has evidence that Iraq retains weapons of mass destruction (which they keep publicly insisting), they should share it with the inspectors. (needless to say, this has not happened). Inspectors are currently simply hoping that Washington will actually give them time to complete their job.

Buy The Poor Medicine, Pay 20,000 Fine: Voices In The Wilderness was recently levied a 20,000 fine by the Treasury Department for bringing medication to Iraq where people are often unable to receive the most basic treatments. Voices In The Wilderness elects to pay the fine, with 6,750 Iraqi dinar (ID) - worth 20,000 before the sanctions, however now worth only about 3 dollars and 33 cents.

The Washington Post On Chemical Weapons: Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting, in their usual highly-referenced style, compares the Washington Post's apologetic reporting on Iraq's use of chemical weapons when it occurred to its harsh condemning of the event 15 years later. The Washington post at the time actually even hinted that the attacks may be justified. Ends with the line, in reference to Saddam gassing "his own people", "A casual reader might assume that Saddam Hussein is himself a Kurd; actually, the Kurds are only Hussein's "own people" in the same sense that the Cherokees were Andrew Jackson's "own people". "

HBO Recycling Gulf War Hoax: FAIR hits again, this time with an analysis of the new HBO documentary "Live From Baghdad". Live from Baghdad attempts to portray the "throwing babies from incubators" story as if it actually happened. For those who don't remember, that story was made up by a Kuwaiti-run PR firm; the "15-year-old Kuwaiti girl" who supposedly saw it was the US ambassador's daughter and had been coached by the firm Hill & Knowlton. Amnesty International, who initially bought into the story, eventually issued an embarrassing retraction when the investigation found it to be false. Even to quote the new documentary's producer, "That story turned out to be false..". You wouldn't know that from watching his documentary, however, leaving viewers to believe the freshly restated lie.

The Best Weapon Is Truth: Tired of hearing people claim that the new resolution authorizes force? Show it to them! The critical sections for breach and response to breach are are 4, 11, and 12 - and note that they explicitly require the Security Council to reconvene to decide a course of action.

The Best Weapon Is Truth: Tired of hearing people claim that the new resolution authorizes force? Show it to them! The critical sections for breach and response to breach are are 4, 11, and 12 - and note that they explicitly require the Security Council to reconvene to decide a course of action.

Nathan Writes: Nathan Mussleman, an Iowan, sends news from his arrival in Iraq,

Al-Qaeda in Kurdistan: Ansar al-Islam, an al-Qaeda backed faction, has taken up positions in Kurdish territory in Northern Iraq against PUK. Ansar is allied with Islamic Kurdish factions.

Smearing Blix: As Hans Blix begins to work in Iraq to disarm the country, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld have already begun trying to discredit him before he even starts.

War, Whatever: George Bush's top security adviser, Richard Perle, states that a clean bill of health from the weapons inspection process won't stop us from bombing Iraq. Plus: (last paragraph): Is Richard Perle common, every-day crazy, or a special breed of crazy? You decide.

Saddam's Slapstick Double: Ian Urbina, an Arabic translator famous for his Saddam impression, talks about his time under the employ of the embarrassingp, the PR firm famous for rallying public support for the first gulf war with tales like the "Iraqis throwing babies on the ground to steal their incubators". That one even fooled Amnesty international, who eventually issued a very embarassing retraction after finding out the speaker was a member of the Kuwaiti royal family and their US ambassador's daughter, who had no connection to the hospital. In this case, however, Rendon showed a near humorous level of ineptitude.

DU We Really Want This Again?: An interview I uncovered with Dr. Doug Rokke, a veteran from the first Gulf War who was in charge of depleted uranium (DU) cleanups. 2 of his 15 member team are already dead, and he suffers from a large amount of health conditions. The uranium level in his body is 5,000 times the acceptable amount - and these are the people who were supposed to be the *best* prepared to deal with the stuff. He has been refused all medical care by the army for his condition (and this was the director of the cleanups!). Also covers the fact that 70% of the uranium vaporizes on impact into the cloud of dust. Plus: Mark Herold's DU Dossier

Trading With The Enemy: IraqJournal reports on the annual Baghdad International Trade Fair, which had its largest turnout since the 1991 Gulf War, despite the constant complaints from business owners of how the sanctions make it near impossible to sell even the most basic supplies to Iraq. One company points out how his milk bottling line contract was held up for over 2 years. Another tells about how cancer medications containing radioisotopes with half lives of only a few days (worthless for weaponry) that, while approved, due to transportation bans take so long to get to hospitals that they expire before or as soon as they get there. Read more about IraqJournal at their site, an incredibly comprehensive Iraq news site with pictures, video, and articles; their staff includes a Democracy Now! reporter and a number of other journalists.

Tales of Atropine: Iraq is said to have tried to order over 1 million doses of atropine with autoinjectors from Turkey. Only one problem, though: Turkey's response to the news was, to paraphrase, Huh?

Just Like A Product Rollout: The bush administration starts a public relations campaign to drum up support for a war with Iraq, starting with a group called "The Committee for the Liberation of Iraq". The head of the committee talks about the strong need for his organization, because Capitol Hill offices have been "getting a lot of calls against and not many for" the resolution.

The Thugs Bush Wants: The Sunday Herald goes into some of the people that may take over Iraq after the US destroys it, with US backing.

Changing The Story In Just Four Years: FAIR cites 10 different news agencies who back in 98/99 reported about how Butler pulled the weapons inspectors out, but now are saying that they were kicked out.

Is it all about oil?: The president of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation says that "If we go to war it's not about oil... But after Saddam, it becomes all about oil."

Bait and Switch: Why the US preaches about "Democracy in Iraq", but would never allow it - it would create a Shiite state which would strengthen Iran, completely unacceptable to both the US and our Arabian allies. Not to mention the staggering "democracy" we created in Kuwait, a country without these problems.

Dick Cheney, Iraqi Dove: Slate resurrects quotes from Dick Cheney about attempting to topple Saddam Hussein where he talks about how much of a disaster it would be, as recently as 1996. Excellent to cite to your hawkish contemporaries ;)

"I'm Not Sure Which Planet They Live On": Anthony Zinni joins a long list of major military officers opposing our war on Iraq.

Clean Lies, Dirty War: A weapons systems analyst toured Iraq after the end of the Gulf War and found Iraq trying to cover up the civilian casualties more than the US, due to the unpopularity of the war and fears of a coup, and was deeply disturbed by the scale of the destruction. An excellent read.

Pop Culture Becomes Of Use: Antiwar activists rush on stage during MTV's "Total Request Live" show, and give speeches before being dragged off by guards. Prompts a guest who was supposed to give a shout-out to Eminem to instead give it to "the people of the world".

Another Inspector Speaks Out: Yet another key figure in weapons inspections, former head Rolf Ekeus not only mentions how we spied on Iraq with inspections, but how we deliberately attempted to create incidents with Iraq to justify strikes, and at other times (the reason Ritter resigned) prevented them from doing their job to avoid incidents. In short: Utter sabotage of the inspection process for political gain.

UNSCOM 817, Iraq 2 (9?): From the admirably referenced Federation Of American Scientists WMD archives, the report on Iraqi delivery systems. Contrary to the White House's claims, UNSCOM reports that 817 out of 819 imported SS1's ("Scuds") are destroyed, and of the 7 internally produced missiles, it's questonable as to whether they ever actually were functional. In case you care about IAEA nuclear investigations, while they started with deception, they ended up with, effectively, case closed. Also: Defeating the myth that presidential sites were never inspected.

Tenet's Tenacious Stand: George Tenet, in a letter to the Senate, insists that the threat of Iraq launching an unprovoked attack on the US, is low. If we attack? High.

When The Truth Isn't Good Enough: The Guardian turns up extensive coercion on intelligence officials to skew, and sometimes outright lies, in their reports on Iraq. The Houston Chronicle turns up the exact same thing in their own investigations.

The One Trillion Dollar Question: With Iraqi foreign oil contracts worth 1.1 trillion, France and Russia aren't smiling about the US gaining complete control over them.

Would The Real Saddam Hussein Please Step Down?: More on Saddam's body doubles. Mentions why you rarely see him talking in videos.

Forgetting the Plot: US government officials claim that the same Al-Qaeda member has been harbored in a short period of time this year by the Iranian government, the Iraqi government, *and* Hizbollah. Wow, he sure gets around ;)

1.5 Million Protest in Italy: 1.5 million people in Italy took to the streets on Saturday (1 in 38 people nationwide, and a much larger percent than that of the voting-age population!) to protest Italian tentative support on Iraq; a large enough number to have major influence on the policies of the nation.

Poor-Welding Aluminum: Many intelligence experts contend that the high-strength aluminum was meant for use for artillery rocket launch tubes instead of gas centrifuge rotors, as it was ill-suited for welding (centrifuge rotors require high-strength welds)

The Stones of Baghdad: Nicholas Kristof, unescorted in Iraq, finds that while Iraqis generally intensely hate Saddam, the only thing they hate more is the American government and military.

Robert C. Byrd Speaks: Senator Byrd delivers a wonderful speech before the Senate, sharply criticizing both parties. More on the skill of this long-time politician.

Richard Butler Accuses US of Hypocrisy: "I sometimes felt I was speaking to them in Martian", said Butler, in reference to trying to get Americans to understand why it's hypocritical to condemn nations for wanting to own a tiny handful of WMD for national security when we own thousands of times more for the same reasons.

Powell Says, Ari Says: Colin Powell says that it's possible for Saddam to remain in power if he complies with weapons inspections. Ari says there's no way he can. Wait, if there's no way he can, aren't weapons inspections a farce? Where's the incentive to comply?

The Resolution They Want To Pass: What resolution does the US want the UN to pass? Why, one that makes it so we've already got our troops in the middle of the country in full deployment, on a hair trigger. Anyone surprised?

Refusing "Yes" For An Answer: Bush demands weapons inspectors get re-admitted. Iraq clears it. What does the US do? Answer: Send Colin Powell to state that we'll be working to stop the inspectors from getting in unless the U.N. passes our new resolution that lets us attack Iraq whenever we personally decide they're not in compliance.

The Myths Keep Flying: USA Today repeats the myths on Iraq by stating "Iraq expelled U.N. weapons inspectors four years ago and accused them of being spies.". USA Today need only have looked at its own papers from Dec. 17th, 1998 and August 1st, 1999 to realize A) They weren't kicked out, but were withdrawn, and B) the accusations of using the inspections to spy were true.

In War, Some Facts Less Factual: Lies, historically have justified many of our major wars. Here's one of the lies that got the first Gulf War going - the report that "up to 250,000 Iraqi troops and 1,500 tanks stood on the border" with Saudi Arabia.

Dubious Iraqi Link: How the Czech case fell apart, from both inside and out; especially important but not mentioned is the fact that, as far as everyone can tell, Atta was a sleeper inside the US at this point and did not travel at all.

Unasked Questions: A retired Marine colonel poses some questions to the new commander-in-chief.

After Iraq Falls: A summarized version of The Fifty-first State, on what the end-game for Iraq will be like - you know, the subject the administration never talks about. Plus: Iraq, the day after

Not After Bush's Father?: The New Yorker republished an article from 1993 detailing how weak the evidence against Iraq plotting to assassinate George Bush Sr. was.

But He's The Enemy Of Our Enemy!: A careful analysis of the relationship between Saddam Hussein and radical fundamentalist groups.

Not The Usual Suspects: In Britain, hundreds of thousands take to the streets in protest of a war on Iraq. For a large portion, it's their first time in a public protest, including one Scott Ritter.

Reap What You Sow: If the US wants to know what biological agents we'll be facing in a war with Iraq, it simply needs to look at what agents it supplied Iraq with from 1980 to 1993.

Scott "Jane Fonda" Ritter: When the interview gets to the point where he's asked about what he'll call his exercise video, he responds, "If they want to have an exercise video then why don't they come here and say it to my face and I'll give'm an exercise video, which will be called, 'Scott Ritter Kicking Their Ass.'"

The Iraq Decision Tree: Ah, bloggers can be fun. Thanks uggabugga!

McCain: Iraq Meeting "A Joke": "It becomes almost insulting after a while", said McCain, a staunch supporter of Bush's Iraq policy. "Everyone that goes to them is frustrated."

Never Forget What: How the war on Iraq is being sold like a new SUV, more on the rank-breaking Republicans, and why it all probably doesn't matter.

Are Americans That Ignorant?: A Fox News poll determines that 69% of Americans think Iraq already has nuclear weapons.

Nothing New: Weapons experts surprised by lack of new revelations from the Bush administration's report.

Add Scott To The Axis: Who needs a government-run media when you've got CNN?

Let The Verbal Missiles Fly: Scott Ritter is my new hero ;)

U.S. Bombing Watch: When have we attacked? Find out!

Officials: No new evidence: "Do I have a smoking gun? No," said another U.S. official. "Can I tell you we've been looking like crazy? Yes."

Not Quite That Far Along, Mr. Bush: (Also: The original version): Bush and Blair take turns utterly changing the meaning of various groups' reports on Iraq.

Brought to you by...: Did you hear the one about Saddam's mistress? This interview was brought to you by and translated by the Iraqi Opposition.

Fool me once, shame on you... Fool me twice...: Some of the lies used to justify the original gulf war, and how we should be planning to see more of them. Plus: Beware of Babies in Incubators.

Who Needs Congress?: US and Britain a strike on Iraq with over 100 aircraft involved. Britain: Prepare for protests. America: Try to act surprised when noone's even heard about it.

Losing No Time: Just hours after the attacks on 9/11, when all evidence was pointing to Osama bin Laden, Donald Rumsfeld tried to launch a full invasion of Iraq.

The Enemy of My Enemy: Israel suspected of supplying Iran weapons for use against Iraq, ala the Iran-Contra scandal.

The Cheney Doctrine: Clever questions raised by things Dick Cheney said.

Selling To The Enemy: Has anyone stopped to consider the hypocrisy of Cheney continually calling Saddam Hussein all kinds of evil things, when his company rebuilt Iraq's oil fields which allowed him to fund any "evil" he might be working on?

Common Iraq Myths and Misconceptions: Where the case for war with Iraq falls apart (brief list of responses to common questions).

Iraq and Poison Gas: In case you've never seen it before, here's the full response to those who state "Iraq gassed its own people!' as an excuse to go to war. And that's simply neglecting the human rights records of some of our allies. UPDATE: Dead link.

Friend To Foe: How ~20 PR firms managed to turn Saddam Hussein from our great middle-eastern ally to the embodiment of evil, and Kuwait's democracy-opposing, dissident-suppressing emirs into pro-democracy heroes.

Where's Al-Qaeda Now?: According to the Kurds, many of al-Qaeda's members are at a new camp that they built for them, in the no-fly zone.

The Disturbing Trend: And it continues - Public: Why attack Iraq? Administration: Saddam is doing bad things. Public: Where's the evidence? Administration: Trust us.

Why News Stations Seem Obsessed With Attacking Iraq: More on Richard Perle, and nonprofit right-wing think-tanks. Curious where any of these groups got their funding? Check out this wonderful site.

Or was it?). Also neglects to mention how the Kurds are hosting al-Qaeda refugees, but that's another story all together :)

Odd News From The Administration: The Bush Administration tosses out a handful of dollars to relief agencies to work on humanitarian projects inside central Iraq.

Iraq's price tag: uponrds of 100 billion, with no allies funding the tab this time, while the US teeters on the bring of economic collapse without it.

No Big Shock There: Yet another military arrangement that went on with Iraq before, despite the fact that they were using chemical weapons. Oh, in case you didn't know, after the attack on Halabja, congress attempted to impose sanctions apon Iraq. Reagan vetoed them.

Not Liking Bush's Iraq Strategery: More and more top Republicans breaking ranks with the president.

Media Still Suffering From Amnesia: How USA repeated, again, the age-old myth that Iraq expelled UN weapons inspectors for accusations of them being spies. As reported by FAIR.org, a liberal media fact-checking organization.

Kurdistan's Wahabism: Saudi Arabia financed construction of as many as 1,000 mosques promoting Wahabi ideals in Kurdistan; explains the below article, "The Kurdish Jehadis".

Fending Off The Threat of Peace: Norman Solomon writes on the difficulties the government has to go through to make sure Saddam can't end up with a peaceful solution.

Who Wasn't Invited?: 3 of the most prominant people against war with Iraq weren't invited to testify in congress - including Scott Ritter, the hawkish former weapons inspections head who is a card-carrying Republican and voted for Bush.

The new Kaiser Wilhelm?: Military officers attack Bush's anti-Iraq strategy, comparing it with Wilhelm's neurotic obsession with "hostile encirclement" which culminated in a preemptive strike, leaving Germany the target of international aggression. Also: Bush as Cato the Elder, and as Emperor Hirohito

(Editorial): Why the Iraq attack arguments fail: An excellent analysis by Rahul Mahajan

Media Amnesia?: Who here remembers the fact that the US actually *did* use the weapons inspectors to spy on Iraq, to try and find out the location of Saddam, compromising the program?

The Kurdish Jihadis: With the only even remote Saddam/Al Qaeda link in tatters after the official disproval of the Atta/Iraq connection, news about the connections of our favored anti-Saddam forces doesn't dissapear as easily.

Administration officials' views on Iraq: Does anyone else find it odd that it's the *military people* in the administration who are forced to play the "reasonable doves" in this conflict?