Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, was arrested Saturday in one of the biggest catches yet in the war on terrorism, Pakistani officials said. A big fish. After "the professionals" have gotten all they can out of him, he should be handed over to one of those military tribunals; fairly tried; fairly convicted; and fairly hung from the top of the Empire State Building by a strong, long rope. And then if the folks at the Pentagon want a piece of him, hang 'im again.

Not in the habit of linking to Heritage Foundation material, but this is sorta interesting:

French President Jacques Chirac's furious assault last week on the Eastern European governments who are supporting the United States revealed the depth of the rift. French bitterness is so intense that commentators in the former Warsaw Pact countries are starting to ask themselves just what kind of club they'll be joining when they enter the European Union next year.

It means that Turkey just took decades of cooperation with the US and fed it through a paper shredder. This is not going to increase Turkey's standing, importance or value; it will guarantee a steep decline in all three. Turkey has angered the US government but won't reap any reward in any concomitant increase in regard by the Weasels. Their economy will tank and they're going to discover that international aid is much harder to come by. The Turkish parliament just made an extremely big and very expensive mistake, one which will affect Turkey for years and maybe for decades. They didn't just vote to prevent war; they just voted to make it so that Turkey will suffer as much as possible during that war.

But if you want some evidence of this administration's diplomatic incompetence, consider this. We publicly sold out the Kurds to get this deal. We really should have made sure we had a deal before we tipped our hands to the Kurds about the price we were willing to pay for it.

I feel as if the president is presenting us with a beautiful carved mahogany table — a big, bold, gutsy vision. But if you look underneath, you discover that this table has only one leg. His bold vision on Iraq is not supported by boldness in other areas. And so I am terribly worried that Mr. Bush has told us the right thing to do, but won't be able to do it right.

The economic rationale of the right is still trickle-down doctrine. Help the rich person and he will hire the poor person. Aggrieve the rich and the poor go jobless. Ergo forego taxing the better-off and the types of income they are wont to receive. Avoid burdening them with regulation. Prevent trial lawyers from harrassing them with lawsuits. I suspect many self-identified "conservatives" don't buy this at all.

Unfortunately, we don't have that choice. The administration has already done massive damage to our standing in the world. And they've managed to create facts on the ground -- intentionally and unintentionally -- which make pulling back arguably more dangerous than pushing ahead. The question is no longer what the ideal thing to do is. It's more aptly described as which of the really bad alternatives is best to choose given the jam the administration has backed us into.

What's grating about these neo-hawk liberals is the great measures of contempt they still express for the president, his advisers (except for Colin Powell, more about which anon), and conservatives in general. They may have rethought their position on Iraq, but they refuse to reconsider their disdain toward President Bush and those wacky neoconservatives--"imperialists" like Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle.... Well, fuck you Lee Bockhorn.

The officials say they believe that North Korea might time the move to coincide with the start of any military action against Iraq, a moment when the North may think that the United States is distracted. "Once they start reprocessing, it's a bomb a month from now until summer," he concluded. After impoverished North Korea has enough plutonium to create what it considers a credible nuclear threat, deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage warned Congress earlier this month, it could sell plutonium to "a nonstate actor or a rogue state."

Bush administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, may fly later to Moscow to present Washington's arguments again to Mr. Putin and Foreign Minister Igor S. Ivanov, who today in Beijing seemed eager to remind the United States that Russia has veto power in the Security Council, and may use it. The Americans face a Kremlin seemingly insistent that the interests of peace — and of Russia — can be met only through global consensus in bodies like the United Nations. "They do understand that how they decide on Iraq is going to have some consequences for U.S.-Russian relations," an administration official said this week of the Russians. Other American officials have stated — while insisting that there is no quid pro quo — that Iraq's $8 billion foreign debt to Russia and Russia's multibillion-dollar contracts in Iraqi oil fields are at risk should Russia block a Security Council resolution.

By resurrecting Mr. Bush's goal of a change of Iraq's government at this critical moment — when one of the chief United Nations weapons inspectors, Hans Blix, was reporting "significant" progress with the promised destruction of Iraqi missiles this weekend — the White House set the bar beyond the reach of the inspection force that is working on only half of the equation: disarmament. Thus on a day that the 101st Airborne took off for the Persian Gulf to join the forces coiled in the desert, the new White House formulation appeared as a significant shift, signaling that the timetable for war is all but set Then the president will have to consider whether it is better to go immediately into battle or to address urgently the rupture that will have opened among the major powers over the protocols of war-making in the new era. Most interestingly, the former president was defensive about any notion that his son was in a hurry to launch military operations and abandon major allies. "I know there's a false stereotype out there that our president wants to go it alone, rush into war," he said. "That is totally false." 41 sends a message.

Can you handle the Prettiest Girl Of All Time? The PGOAT, according to David Foster Wallace. I don't think so. You will fall. And fall hard. She will bewitch you. Cast a spell over you. You will be happy to exchange your life for hers, no matter what she does. There is no power like the power of the PGOAT. She will command your very Soul, and you will surrender it gladly. And you will Love Her Forever and Ever ... Don't say I didn't warn you.

It’s become almost certain that, like it or not, war is the answer. So now is the time to start praying that the Bushies wage war better than they forge arguments and allegiances for war. Jeez, ain't it the truth?

Extroverts are energized by people, and wilt or fade when alone. They often seem bored by themselves, in both senses of the expression. Leave an extrovert alone for two minutes and he will reach for his cell phone. In contrast, after an hour or two of being socially "on," we introverts need to turn off and recharge. My own formula is roughly two hours alone for every hour of socializing. This isn't antisocial. It isn't a sign of depression. It does not call for medication. For introverts, to be alone with our thoughts is as restorative as sleeping, as nourishing as eating. Our motto: "I'm okay, you're okay—in small doses." Sounds like me and "HER". Or, "HER" and me, that is. No, wait: that would exhibitionists vs. introverts, huh?

A few quotes, via Bartcop: "Bush is oil. His number one donor is the petroleum and energy industry. We didn’t hold an election. We held an auction, and they put up the money." --Greg Palast, interview with LiberalOasis, 02/25/03 Isn't that true of every election? "When the news media turn into a propaganda arm of the administration--as Fox News has shamelessly become--it makes it hard for democracy to work. “ --Jesse Jackson, Media give Bush free pass to Iraq,suntimes.com "Listening to Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly and Ann Coulter, among many other rightist media stars, you feel you've been transported to Berlin in 1938. The cultural atmosphere no longer feels American. In fact, it doesn't feel at all like a democracy -- which it is surely not, now that the Busheviks have taken over." --Mark Crispin Miller, The Bush Dyslexicon, Buzzflash interview, 02/23/03

God speaks! Seriously, B.O. is the very definition of the phrase "it's gone to his head".

Fred Rogers had an astonishing gift for knowing exactly what worried kids, and more than that, a gift for brushing away their concerns without at any time making it seem like there was anything wrong with that concern. Just try to strike that perfect tone. You probably can't do it, for the same reason you can't sing like Aretha Franklin. It's a glorious gift that God didn't hand out to everyone. Fred Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister. If he ever mentioned God on his show, I missed it. But he was one of the greatest witnesses to the power of a life of faith I've ever seen. Very nice tribute, Jeanne. I was a Captain Kangaroo kid. By the time Fred Rogers and PBS hit the airwaves, I'd already moved on to girls and rock and roll. But you didn't have to be a regular viewer to see the magical way he had with children. There was something ethereal about him; a gentleness not of this world. And so it wasn't ...

The study went on to claim that Donahue presented a "difficult public face for NBC in a time of war......He seems to delight in presenting guests who are anti-war, anti-Bush and skeptical of the administration's motives." The report went on to outline a possible nightmare scenario where the show becomes "a home for the liberal antiwar agenda at the same time that our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity." Oh, Lord no! Let's also hire Joe Scarborough and Michael Savage lest anyone get the wrong impression. Fuck it. MSNBC was always "news for the stupid", anyway. Just leave "Hardball" alone. Update: Eric, already time for an update.

Meanwhile, back in Afghanistan: There are disturbing reports that an extreme and strict interpretation of Islamic law, or sharia, is being nurtured in the post-Taliban era. Moreover, attempts are being made to include some of the harshest and most discriminatory elements of sharia in the new constitution and judicial system. The notorious Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which enforced religious conformity and meted out harsh punishments under the Taliban, has reemerged in a supposedly gentler guise. Abuses against women and girls continue, apparently with the support of police and the courts. Women and girls finally have the opportunity to go to school, but recent attacks and threats against schools for girls are keeping many away.

Some argue now that, because Saddam Hussein has not in the intervening half-decade used his arsenal, Mr. Clinton was wrong and the world can rest assured that Iraq is adequately "contained." Given what we know about how containment erodes over time; about Saddam Hussein's single-mindedness compared with the inattention and divisions of other nations; and about the ease with which deadly weapons can move across borders, we do not trust such an assurance. Mr. Clinton understood, as Mr. Bush understands, that no president can bet his nation's safety on the hope that Iraq is "contained." We respect our readers who believe that war is the worst option. But we believe that, in this case, long-term peace will be better served by strength than by concessions. Yeah.

North Korea had previously announced that it would "resume normal operations" at the plant but had been warned not to do so by the United States and others. The satellite evidence that led to the American announcement tonight was the first sign that the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, had decided to ignore those warnings. The latest move, one American official acknowledged tonight, will make it harder for the Bush administration to "take the position that this isn't a crisis." That argument had already been contradicted by American intelligence officials in testimony to Congress earlier this month. "It's going to make this a significant test of how the president juggles this and Iraq at the same moment," a senior official said.

The fruitless manhunt serves as a reminder of the Bush administration's inability to achieve one of the main goals of its antiterror effort, the capture of Al Qaeda's leaders. Mr. bin Laden and Mr. Zawahiri are not only at large, but apparently are the sources of recent taped exhortations urging followers to carry out more violence. Who are these guys? Surely, if they were of any importance, President Hero would at least mention their names. Wouldn't he?

Turkish officials said they requested the guarantees, as a condition for opening their territory to U.S. forces, to ensure that an independent Kurdish state -- or even an autonomous Kurdish entity within an Iraqi federation -- does not emerge along Turkey's borders if a widely expected U.S. attack destroys President Saddam Hussein's central government. So now we've sold out the Kurds. Hitch! Uncoil yourself from Sully and come take another look at this! The plans to allow Turkish forces into Iraq already have provoked anger and concern among the 3.5 million Iraqi Kurds who since the 1991 Persian Gulf War have enjoyed a flourishing self-rule in northern Iraq under the protection of U.S. and British air patrols that keep out Hussein's military. A Bush administration envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, addressed Kurdish and other anti-Hussein Iraqi leaders in northern Iraq today, seeking to reassure them that Washington does not plan to sell them out. What credibility problem?

a) President Bush is right to take out Saddam b) President Bush is a fucking idiot c) President Bush is an arrogant, preening, prancing frat-rat scion of Eastern wealth and privilege – who never accomplished shit on his own in his life – playing at being what he thinks a Texas good ole’ boy is d) President Bush is dangerous, incompetent, in way over his head, but lucky in life … so far e) All of the above Like I said, go ahead, but God help us. The "fucking idiot" and "incompetent" are the qualities that scare me most. His wingnut staff actually comforts me some. Other than that, I have no opinion.

Lots of interesting tidbits in this NYT story: The political counselor at the American Embassy in Athens has become the first diplomat known to have resigned over Mr. Bush's Iraq policy. In a letter to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, the diplomat, John Brady Kiesling, said that "our fervent pursuit of war is driving us to squander the international legitimacy" built up since the presidency of Woodrow Wilson. There were also indications that close associates of the Bush family were expressing private concerns about the fissures that have opened between Washington and its major partners in Europe and Asia. -------------- "I think right now that anything that comes from President Bush is taken in the Middle East as camouflage or diversion, because the president has a credibility problem, not only in the Middle East, but throughout Europe," said an Arab who advises one of the governments allied with the United States in the region. That's because HE LIES constantly! Hasn't made up his mind; yeah, sure. Obviously I don't mind what he's going to do vis a' vis Iraq; I mind how he's doing it. Speaking of the American leadership, the official continued, "They have made up their minds to get rid of Saddam Hussein. If they withdraw their armies now, that means that Saddam has won. If you ask me, I would rather that Saddam not win. So I wish Mr. Bush luck, but he has locked himself into a new situation for Iraq, and the new situation is unknown. Anyone who tells you that he knows what will happen is a liar." God help us.

In Afghanistan, U.S. forces are now being sucked into a spreading, low-intensity guerrilla war, an ominous portent for America's coming occupation of "liberated" Iraq.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next year or so. Yesterday, just one day after the DNC meeting wrapped up, some of the party's most influential leaders, who were in town for the National Governor's Association meeting, were questioning if the party was drifting perilously to the left. Shit.

Though Bush has said a civil liability revamp, specifically his plan to limit medical malpractice awards, "is not a Republican issue, it's not a Democrat issue," Rove's claim of paternity suggests otherwise. As Slater and Moore write, Rove was then a consultant to Philip Morris, an advocate for tort reform.

Den Beste is thinking big again. It's part brilliant, part bullshit, but all compelling. Go take a look: But the real issue for most of them is the United States. It isn't Saddam; it isn't his nukes. It isn't the plight of the Iraqi people. It isn't terrorism. It isn't Islamic extremism. Those things are not necessarily good, but the danger of American military conquest is seen as being much worse. And that's what comes out once you really push the issues; when you encounter activists who seem to oppose the war in Iraq, you'll find them surprisingly uninterested in questions about the fate of Iraqis themselves, or the danger posed by Saddam's quest to develop nuclear weapons. Lordy, I'm a hawk! I don't feel any different.

As he has done often in recent weeks, Mr. Bush alluded to the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, declaring that the atrocities had made the United States "a battlefield in the first war of the 21st Century." Mr. Bush acknowledged tonight that rebuilding Iraq will require "a sustained commitment from many nations, including our own," and he promised that "we will remain in Iraq as long as necessary, and not a day more."

"I do not think I can say there is evidence of a fundamental decision" to disarm, the inspections chief, Hans Blix, said, though "there is some evidence of increased activity."

Turkey signaled today that it was prepared to allow more than 60,000 American troops to use its bases to attack Iraq. At the same time, the United States Army's top general said the military force for postwar Iraq could total several hundred thousand American soldiers to provide security and relief aid. ------ The assessment of a postwar force in Iraq from Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, the Army chief of staff, was far larger than estimates by other American officials and surprised lawmakers and senior Defense Department aides. Pentagon officials have suggested a postwar presence of about 100,000 Americans joined by tens of thousands of allied soldiers. ------ The measure would also authorize sending an unspecified number of Turkish troops into northern Iraq. The plan prompted a Kurdish parliament in the self-governing northern part of Iraq to appeal today to Washington to prevent Turkey's military from entering Iraq in any war. Relations between Turks and Kurds are clouded by mutual suspicions rooted in repeated conflict.

"Once Sharon gave up on the Labor party, he gave up on the peace process for the near future," said Gadi Wolsfeld, a political scientist at Jerusalem's Hebrew University. "I think what Sharon learned in the last 20 years is how to talk in a way that pleases the Israeli center and the American administration, yet continue with the same policy," he added, describing the policy as "settle, settle and settle."

Was spinning the radio dial late last night and came across this guy. Shudder. I bet the 'Little Green Footballs' folks think he's cool: "According to Allah the most vile of creatures is a peace-loving Muslim," said author and Islamic terror expert Craig Winn (teawithterrorists), Tuesday night's guest on the show. Winn said his study of translated versions of the Koran and the Hadif (book of Mohammed's teachings) show the manuscripts to be riddled with exhortations to commit violence and terror against those who don't follow their doctrine.

"The Israelis are counting on the lesson that will be learned from taking on Saddam Hussein," said Rep. Gary L. Ackerman, the Queens Democrat, who met here last week with some of Israel's security leaders. "This is the whipping boy theory." According to this theory, he explained, a prince who misbehaves mends his ways after courtiers demonstrate the possible punishment on a poor boy — Iraq — dragged off the streets. The problem, Mr. Ackerman said, is that mere examples and even saber-rattling may not do the trick. "What do you then do?" he asked. "March on Iran?" Good question. I think the Napoleonists in the administration had Damascus in mind, though.

President Bush recently told Sen. Peter Fitzgerald he would order the assassination of Saddam Hussein "if we had intelligence on where he was now and we had a clear shot," the Illinois senator said Monday.

We all know what this is about: the Jewish question. "For too many Europeans, Arabs are of no moral interest in and of themselves," observes the Middle East analyst Stephen P. Cohen. "They only become of interest if they are fighting Jews or being manhandled by Jews. Then their liberation becomes paramount, because calling for it is a way to stick it to the Jews. Europeans' demonstrations for a free Palestine — and not for a free Iraq or any other Arab country — smell too much like a politically correct form of anti-Semitism, part of a very old story." The truth is, France is not interested in promoting égalité, fraternité and liberté in the Middle East. It is primarily interested today in managing American power. It is primarily interested in positioning France to become the world's next great "Uncola," the leader of the alternative coalition to American power.

Although the government still won comfortably - and the Commons alone has no brake on a prime minister's right to take the country into war, the triple-figure rebellion within the Labour ranks revealed to Downing Street exactly how isolated the Labour leader is within his own party.

The $95 billion would be to cover a war, its aftermath and new expenses to fight terrorism, officials told the newspaper. The total could be as low as $60 billion because Pentagon budget planners don't know how long a conflict will last, whether U.S. allies will contribute more than token sums and what damage Saddam Hussein might do to his own country to retaliate against conquering forces, the Journal said.

CalPundit does neocon research.

The "we'll look like idiots if we pull out now" argument is just a non-starter for me. No, Tom, we would look weak in the eyes of those who would destroy us. Remember bin Laden's "paper tiger" reference? No more paper fucking tiger. I'm sorry you can't comprehend this Hobbesian reality.

Saddam: “I've answered the hypothesis, but to indulge in the details: Iraq does not burn its wealth and it does not destroy its dams. We hope that, however, that this question is not meant as an insinuation, so that the Iraqi dams and the Iraqi oil wells will be destroyed by those who will invade Iraq in their possible invasion of the country…” Uh, dude! Nice try and I'm sure many will believe it, but we need those oil fields intact so that your successors can help repay us for our trouble.

The worst argument the left makes is that the public is stupid. And if someone not as well informed as the next believes that Iraqis were on the 9/11 planes, so what. That does not make the fact that the same person believes that the time has come to be proactive rather than reactive concerning international terrorism any less compelling to that person.I think the left's problem is that they simply cannot find any rationale for opposing the real reasons for neutralizing Iraq. That doesn't mean that there aren't good reasons for opposing the WOT policy in part or in whole for that matter. I think those good reasons will never be articulated by the left because the left has nothing to put up as an alternative consistent with their own fundamental belief that it is the administration that is the real enemy. Posted by: Gary on February 25, 2003 01:29 AM Touche'.

ARTIST: Marshall Tucker Band, Toy Caldwell TITLE: Can't You See Gonna' take a freight train down at the station, lord I don't care where it goes Gonna' climb a mountain, the highest mountain I'll jump off, nobody gonna know {Refrain} Can't you see, can't you see What that woman, she been doin' to me Can't you see, can't you see What that woman, she been doin' to me I'm gonna' find me a hole in the wall I'm gonna' crawl inside and die Come a lady now, a mean old woman, lord Never told me goodbye {Refrain} I'm gonna' buy a ticket now, as far as I can I ain't never comin' back Gonna take me a southbound all the way to Georgia now 'Till the train run out of track {Refrain}

But in eight of the intervening years Sen. Clinton's husband was president of the United States, and it can hardly have escaped her notice that he called several times for the forcible disarmament of Saddam Hussein, stated roundly that Saddam pursued the acquisition of weapons of genocide only in order to use them, bombed Iraq for its part in a murder-attempt on a former president, urged the passage of the Iraq Liberation Act (which carried the Senate nem con), and bombed Iraq again during every day of his own impeachment trial in the same deliberative body.

TO THE LIST of threats coinciding with the crisis in Iraq add the possibility that U.S. troops in Afghanistan will face an offensive this spring from revived forces of the Taliban and al Qaeda based in Pakistan. Already, in the past few weeks, American units deployed in the southeastern border provinces have been engaged in the heaviest fighting in nearly a year, and attempted ambushes of patrols and rocket attacks on bases have steadily increased. Senior officials of the Afghan government say former Taliban and al Qaeda militants have joined with those of another Islamic extremist, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and are amassing funds, weapons and communications for a concerted campaign once the worst of winter is over. The staging grounds are two Pakistani provinces populated by the same Pashtun ethnic group that dominates southern Afghanistan. Even more disturbing, several reports say that the regrouping has been supported by elements of Pakistan's military intelligence agency, which helped to create the Taliban and backed it until the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001....Sooner or later the administration must face the fact that Pakistan has become the base for terrorists who seek to undo everything that has happened since Sept. 11 in Afghanistan.

The administration's efforts to rally support for war have been dangerously inept, and Rumsfeld has been a principal culprit. The administration's mistakes have now produced so much opposition that the United States will face serious political problems in the future, no matter how quick or decisive the victory in Iraq....To a world that is already suspicious of unilateral American power, these American ninjas -- licensed by the Pentagon to assassinate those who are deemed America's enemies -- will hardly be welcome. They are another sign of this administration's decision to treat the world as a global battlefield and to rewrite the rules with friends and allies accordingly. We may indeed be living in such a global battlefield, especially if the Iraq war goes badly. But to operate effectively against its enemies, the United States will need friends, and strong political support at home and abroad. That's the part that Rumsfeld, like McNamara before him, seems to have forgotten.

What Americans may not fully appreciate is the extent to which similarly unfounded claims have, in the eyes of much of the world, discredited the administration's foreign policy. Whatever the real merits of the case against Iraq, again and again the administration has cited evidence that turns out to be misleading or worthless — "garbage after garbage after garbage," according to one U.N. official.

Howie Epstein, who played bass and sang for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers between 1982 and 2002, died in a New Mexico hospital on February 23rd; he was forty-seven. Figured Howie was in trouble when TP canned him last year. So sad.

Saddam said he envisioned a live debate with Bush along the lines of those in a U.S. presidential campaign, CBS said on its Web site. You just can't make shit like this up! Ethan (10) said he'd like to see a no-holds-barred match between the two. (The boy is learning.) But I pointed out to him that this would be a contest we would actually like to see Bush win, and he backed off.

Attorney General John Ashcroft on Monday announced 55 people have been charged with trafficking in illegal drug paraphernalia as part of a nationwide crackdown. I feel so much safer now that Ashcroft has the head shops under control.

I'd like to believe that this is all some sort of deeply cunning plan on the part of the Bush administration, but I can't convince myself of it. What I think is that a lot of gullible people, mostly in the State Department, have let themselves be conned by their counterparts in other nations and convinced to advocate policies by us which left us vulnerable to diplomatic counterstrokes.

Those wild and wacky Republicans.

How does our modern world really work? Sweethearts like Scaife funnel money to “think tanks,” and soon public crackpots like Peggy Noonan are reporting on dolphins sent by God. Alterman describes the “masterpiece [Noonan] crafted during the Elian episode:”

The missile appeared to have been test-fired from eastern North Korea and fallen into the Sea of Japan some 60 kilometers away from the launch site, the JoongAng Ilbo said. (Kyodo News) I expected this would be next. But this is not good, not good. The little fucker is probably pissed off about our rather large bribe of Turkey and wants a piece of that. Not good.

Let's put this in the wink-wink language of gossip that the sleaze-mongers at the New York Post can understand: What big-city tabloid continued its long tradition of being an embarrassment to journalists everywhere by printing a completely unsubstantiated item alleging that one of the great sports icons of our time is homosexual?

Freepers begin to "get it".

Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst defied a Grammy ban on political statements by saying before he began his presenter's statement that he hoped "this war would go away". It has nothing to do with war or no war, but I've long been of the opinion that I wish Fred Durst and Limp Bizkit would go away.

As much as I'm unhappy about how the Bush administration has mishandled everything, backing out now could have disastrous consequences. And so we liberal hawks hold our noses and hope for the best. Ah, Kevin me lad ... I feel your pain, I really do.

"I think the administration took September 11 and used it as a blank check." -- Bruce Springsteen Absolutely. Without doubt. But doing Iraq is still a good idea.

Take your Darwin Award and shove it: Others have become aware of the sinister side of what some say they naïvely interpreted as a kind of extraordinary war protest. "I think the Iraqi government is potentially putting us in a dangerous position," said a young Australian who said he had decided to leave. Gee, ya think?

Finally, O'Reilly preposterously elevated our on-screen dispute to one of politics. Instead of responding to my charges -- that he's a belligerent blowhard -- he took the absurd position that the newspaper that had originally published my essay did so because it disagreed with his stance on a war with Iraq. Can you say "narcissist"? Sure, I've been in love with one for several years now.

Pollack's book is the definitive statement of the hawkish position on the coming war (but note that even he is infuriated with the Bush team's bungling of the whole affair). Yeah, well, I agree with Pollack. On both counts.