Alt.Muslim: "Poor Iraqi civilians. First they have to deal with 30 years of brutal, repressive rule by Saddam Hussein. Then they have to endure two wars with the most powerful military on earth, with 10 years of crippling sanctions in between. Now, to add insult to injury, the same fundamentalist Christian organizations that have beat up on Islam since 9/11 are massing on the Iraqi border, eager to provide relief to Iraqis and openly hopeful about their prospects of converting as many people as they can."

David Sanger: "Shortly after Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld issued a stark warning to Iran and Syria last week, declaring that any "hostile acts" they committed on behalf of Iraq might prompt severe consequences, one of President Bush's closest aides stepped into the Oval Office to warn him that his unpredictable defense secretary had just raised the specter of a broader confrontation. Mr. Bush smiled a moment at the latest example of Mr. Rumsfeld's brazenness, recalled the aide. Then he said one word — "Good" — and went back to work."

Body and Soul Weblog: Lots and lots of good reading.
Ha'aretz: "...resurrecting the pipeline to Haifa could save Israel the high cost of shipping oil from Russia. He is certain that the Americans would respond favorably to the idea, since the pipeline would bring Iraqi oil directly to the Mediterranean."

Asia Times: "Hence, unless the pipeline were redirected through Jordan, another country bordering Israel and Iraq with normalized relations with Israel, the pipeline project will require a different regime in Syria. In other words, regime change in both Iraq and Syria is the prerequisite for the project."

Rittenshouse Review: "I'm going to stick my neck out and make an audacious prediction: Saddam Hussein is alive and no longer living in Iraq and U.S. intelligence knows it."

Guardian: "Nearly 30 years after the Vietnam war, a chemical weapon used by US troops is still exacting a hideous toll on each new generation."