Senators were told Iraqi weapons could hit U.S. : U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said Monday the Bush administration last year told him and other senators that Iraq not only had weapons of mass destruction, but they had the means to deliver them to East Coast cities.

"This is not America" : In Miami, police unleashed unprecedented fury on demonstrators -- most of them seniors and union members. Is this how Bush's war on terror will be fought at home?

Cardinal Says U.S. Treated Saddam 'Like a Cow' : A top Vatican official said Tuesday he felt pity and compassion for Saddam Hussein and criticized the U.S. military for showing video footage of him being treated "like a cow."

The Right to Life: Is it acceptable to sacrifice thousands of innocent lives in Afghanistan and Iraq for a great and noble cause – cracking down on terrorists and eradicating terrorism? If this is the logic behind the US’s wars, isn’t this also the same logic behind “terrorist” attacks?

Blix sceptical on Iraqi WMD claim: Speaking to the BBC's World Service, Mr Blix said he was more certain than ever that there was no WMD in Iraq.

In case you missed it: "Good Genocide"(Practiced by the US,UK) VS "Bad Genocide" : US trained butchers of Timor :Exclusive: Washington trained death squads in secret while Britain has spent £1m helping Indonesian army

A Saddam Chronology : It is a matter of principle in Washington that Americans not be held to the same international standards as others.

Solider Dies In Husband's Arms In Iraq: According to Fahnestock, his daughter was critically injured in Fallujah when she approached a bomb on a telephone pole and it exploded before she could diffuse it.

Iraqi gunman killed in Falluja riot: An Iraqi gunman has been killed and a U.S. soldier wounded in an exchange of fire during riots in a restive town west of Baghdad, U.S. military sources say. Witnesses said hundreds of residents protesting the arrest of Saddam Hussein rioted in the town of Falluja on Monday night, overrunning the office of the U.S.-appointed mayor.

Pope Peace Message Takes Swipe at U.S. Over Iraq : Pope John Paul took a swipe at the United States and its allies Tuesday for invading Iraq without U.N. approval, suggesting they had succumbed to the temptation to use the law of force instead of the force of law.

The war we never should have fought: Most embarrassing for the present government of Israel, details of how Rumsfeld carried on his 1983 visit a letter from the then Israeli prime minister Itzak Shamir offering to sell arms to a man whose capture Israel now regards as great news "for the democratic world and for the fight for freedom and justice".

Bin Laden proves more elusive: More than two years and $20 billion after U.S. forces set out to find the mastermind of the Sept. 11 hijacking attacks, bin Laden remains as elusive as ever, officials said. "If they catch him, it will be by accident," said Gen. Hilaluddin Hilal, deputy interior minister in charge of security in Afghanistan.

Sky News fined for faking Iraq war report: The Independent Television Commission found that the report breached guidelines on accuracy and misled viewers.

Pro-Saddam rallies erupt, Iraqis killed: US forces have killed 16 Iraqis during separate incidents as demonstrations in support of Saddam Hussein erupted across the occupied country.

Anti-war MPs give Blair no respite over WMD hunt: While Saddam's arrest appeared to swing US public opinion behind the war, Mr Blair found that MPs who opposed the war were in no mood to tone down criticisms of his actions. Peter Kilfoyle, a former defence minister, said: "I don't think this makes a difference for us because the war was about WMD and the threat from them.

New powers, old habits in Iraq: They must have known it in Washington but, amazingly, by getting rid of Saddam, the Americans have seamlessly given birth to Islamic fundamentalists.

Pyhrric victory? : The "capture" of Saddam Hussein is being hailed as a great victory for President Bush. After all, who needs to worry about the missing weapons of mass destruction or the lack of ties between Hussein and the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks, now that we've caught the "Butcher of Baghdad"?

In case you missed it: How £1bn was lost when Thatcher propped up Saddam : For more than a decade, yellowing paper files in a government store have hidden the story of the way £1bn of Whitehall money was thrown away in propping up Saddam Hussein's regime and doing favours for arms firms.

In case you missed it: Crude Vision: EXPOSED: How Oil Interests Obscured US Government Focus On Chemical Weapons Use by Saddam Hussein. Our examination shines a new spotlight on the incredible revolving door between Bechtel and the Reagan administration that drove U.S.-Iraq interactions between 1983 and 1985. The men who courted Saddam while he gassed Iranians

An ignominious end to America's creation : America, which pulled no punches when condemning the Iraqi government for showing footage of American POWs, had no such hesitation at showing Saddam being inspected like a prize cow. In the same way, after it had warned Al Jazeera not to show American dead, the US filled our screens with the mutilated and bloated corpses of Saddam's two sons.

Iraq's moment of joy will soon pass: It has suited the US to blame Saddam for the resistance to the occupation and to use him as a pretext for the continued occupation. There are no fewer than 15 organisations involved in the resistance, which enjoys widespread support.

Meanwhile, in Iraq the slaughter goes on: Yesterday's attacks appear to undermine the views of those who said that Saddam and his so-called "Baathist hold-outs" have been behind the wave of attacks against US targets.

Bush is still in a real hole : The US president is facing a financial nightmare of his own making, and needs all the good news he can get. The Bush administration must take care not to spend High Value Target Number One all at once by letting a mob hang him this week.

Consumer report jolts markets : "Consumer confidence came out and took the steam out of everything," said Peter Dunay, chief market strategist at Wall Street Access, a New York-based brokerage firm. "It all boils down to concerns about unemployment."

Halliburton gets more work in Iraq: The US military has said Vice President Dick Cheney's former company Halliburton was allocated $222 million more last week for work in Iraq, at the same time as a Pentagon audit found the firm may have overbilled for some services there.

Paul Krugman: Patriots and Profits: The point is that we've had an environment in which officials inclined to do favors for their business friends, and contractors inclined to pad their bills or do shoddy work.

Ex-Pentagon Officials Sentenced in Fraud: Two former top Pentagon officials each were sentenced Friday to 24 1/3 years in prison for taking more than $1 million in bribes and accepting prostitutes from government contractors.

In case you missed it: The U.S. Power Complex: What’s New: U.S. wardlordism doesn’t tolerate rivals, validates first-strike warfare, and spurns conflict-prevention strategies and negotiating frameworks. The new warlordism keeps counsel not with diplomats but with arms merchants.

Regime Change in Iran? One Man's Secret Plan: Iran's Chalabi? Manucher Ghorbanifar says he talked secretly with Pentagon officials about plans for regime change in Iran

U.S. Seeks Bases In Morocco, Tunisia: "The command is also looking at establishing basing arrangements in countries like Tunisia and Morocco so that U.S. forces can deploy to the continent more effectively if American troops are required,"

U.S. Hegemony: Continuing Decline, Enduring Danger : In 1950 the United States supplied half the world’s gross product, against 21 percent at present. Sixty percent of the world’s manufacturing production in 1950 came from the United States, 25 percent in 1999.

Israel Planned Hit on Saddam : The Israeli military planned a daring assassination attempt against Saddam Hussein in 1992 - a plot that would have involved landing commandos in Iraq and firing sophisticated missiles at him during a funeral, an Israeli newspaper reported Tuesday.

Pat Buchanan: Stand Up to Sharon: Israel is a “thunderously failed reality” that “rests on a scaffolding of corruption, and on foundations of oppression and injustice.”

Pat Robertson: Eliminate Arafat: US Christian leader Pat Robertson called Monday for the "elimination" of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat as a follow-up to the US capture of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Perpetual War, Perpetual Terror: We are told our nation is in imminent danger, that we are a mushroom cloud waiting to happen. And so we fear, transforming our mass uneasiness into nationalistic and patriotic fervor, wrapping ourselves up in the flag and the Military Industrial Complex. We have fallen into the mouse trap, becoming the subservient slaves of an engine run by greed.

'Musharraf faked bid on life': It was their suspicion that Musharraf may have used the 'bid on his life' to convince the United States that he was still their best hope in Pakistan and in the South Asian region for cooperation as far as tackling the menace of global terrorism is concerned.

Declassified Documents Show U.S. Support For Hussein: The National Security Archive at George Washington University has published a series of declassified U.S. documents detailing the U.S. embrace of Saddam Hussein in the early 1980’s. The collection of documents, include briefing materials, diplomatic reports of two Rumsfeld trips to Baghdad, reports on Iraqi chemical weapons use during the Reagan administration and presidential directives that ensure U.S. access to the region's oil and military expansion.

Iraqi Shi'ites hail "bright dawn" of Saddam capture : Iraqi Shi'ite Muslims on Monday hailed the arrest of Saddam Hussein but expressed their continuing deep resentment of his captor -- the United States.

Iraqi Missile Scientist Says He's Been Working With British Military and Had Not Fled to Iran: Modher Sadeq-Saba al-Tamimi said in an interview with The Associated Press that he tried several times to reach the American teams searching for weapons of mass destruction. Once, in July, he asked a friend who had already met with American missile experts to set up a meeting for him but the Americans never showed up.

Saddam a POW, Red Cross says: The international Red Cross said today it considers Saddam Hussein a prisoner of war and wants U.S. authorities to allow it to visit the ousted Iraqi leader to check the conditions in which he is being held.

Ex-U.S. Attorney General Ready To Defend Saddam: Clarke averred that neither the U.S.-installed Interim Governing Council (IGC) nor the occupation forces is eligible to try the overthrown president. "The IGC does not represent Iraq. It is Bush's council," said the former U.S. attorney general.

Annan Rejects Death Penalty for Saddam: The top U.N. diplomat said Monday he could not support bringing captured Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein before a tribunal that might sentence him to death.

In case you missed it: Saddam Key in Early CIA Plot : While many have thought that Saddam first became involved with U.S. intelligence agencies at the start of the September 1980 Iran-Iraq war, his first contacts with U.S. officials date back to 1959, when he was part of a CIA-authorized six-man squad tasked with assassinating then Iraqi Prime Minister Gen. Abd al-Karim Qasim.

Saddam's Sister Says U.S. Forces Drugged Him : He must have been drugged or injected with illegal chemicals. What happened is an insult to all Arabs and Muslims," the paper quoted her as saying as she wept

Senator Robert C. Byrd: Chellenging 'Pre-emption': "As each day passes and as more American soldiers are killed and wounded in Iraq, I become ever more convinced that the war in Iraq was the wrong war at the wrong time in the wrong place for the wrong reasons. "

12/15 Robert Fisk, Report From Tikrit: Chief Middle East correspondent for the London Independent reports from the site where Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. forces in the village of Dawr near Tikrit. Audio

Tehran to file complaint against Saddam : An international court "should determine who equipped this dictator to disrupt our region and impose three big crises on our region," Government spokesman Abd Allah Ramazanzadeh said on Monday

Britain Opposes Death Penalty for Saddam : Washington's closest Iraq war ally Britain said Monday it would play "no part" in any trial of Saddam Hussein that might lead to his execution.

Watchdogs afraid of war crimes show trial: Saddam Hussein will face war crimes charges in a special Iraqi court, despite international concerns that it will be a show trial leading to a death sentence.

Israel Shamir: Saddam Bound: - Turn on the TV, - my wife, alerted by a phone call, yelled from the kitchen. On the screen was George W. Bush's mug photo with a caption reading 'Bush - the former dictator is arrested'. I can't deny it was a moment of great elation. Indeed, Mr Bush deserved to be arrested and tried 

The Enemy Within: The NeoCon Hijacking of America: Deep in the halls of Washington a putrid wind of sweeping ideology festers.

Bush signs bill extending FBI powers: The bill expands the number of businesses from which the FBI and other US authorities conducting intelligence work can demand financial records without seeking court approval.

Eight killed in Baghdad suicide bombing : A suicide bomber today killed eight Iraqi police officers in an attack on a police station in Baghdad's northern outskirts.

Saddam's capture may bolster anti-US resistance forces: The people, who do not accept occupation, will be free to fight without being considered supporters of Saddam,"

We Never Had WMD, Former President Tells Interrogators: Saddam Hussein told his American interrogators that Iraq never had weapons of mass destruction, claiming that they were an invention of the US government to justify an invasion, it was reported last night.

Ace of Spades merely a Joker: Even his teenage grandson, a mere boy, slain with Saddam's two repugnant sons during a military raid months ago, showed more courage in his final moments, never crying out for mercy, never surrendering. Saddam has not an ounce of that child's nerve.

In case you missed it: One rule for them : Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, "it is against the Geneva convention to show photographs of prisoners of war in a manner that is humiliating for them".

Iraq's guerrilla war is far from over experts say: Saddam Hussein's capture made one thing clear: The deposed dictator, found dirty, disheveled and disoriented, likely was not masterminding Iraq's guerrilla war.

Wolfowitz Beggars Belief And Country: It's not often someone writes a snotty five-page memo that ends up indirectly costing his nation upwards of $8.3 billion, but Paul Wolfowitz likely now has that distinction.

Iraq's Illegal Weapons Are Clear, Bush Says : The White House said in a year-end report released yesterday that the invasion of Iraq had produced "clear evidence of Saddam's illegal weapons program" and new intelligence about his ties to terrorist organizations.

Saddam could be offered deal : Deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein could be offered a deal in which he would give his captors information on if and how he hid weapons of mass destruction and if he smuggled some of them into Syria.

Michael Moore: We Finally Got Our Frankenstein... and He Was In a Spider Hole!: Thank God Saddam is finally back in American hands! He must have really missed us. Man, he sure looked bad! But, at least he got a free dental exam today. That's something most Americans can't get.

In case you missed it: U.S. support for Iraq in the 1980s : The U.S. provided financial aid, military intelligence, and actual military planning to Iraq at a time when the Reagan administration was well aware that Iraq was using chemical weapons against Iran.

In case you missed it: Gonzalez's Iraq Expose: Hill Chairman Details U.S. Prewar Courtship

A tale of two tyrants : "So who pocketed the US$25 million?" : In the 1980s Saddam himself was a great ally of civilization as he was needed to keep revolutionary Iran bogged down in an incredibly messy, bloody, costly war. When Saddam gassed the Kurds, the Pentagon dismissed it as "Iranian propaganda".

The Trial of Saddam Hussein: While I believe the charges may not stick, or the mass graves would have already been found, I think the exercise may produce an interesting and unwelcome result, especially if Saddam gets a fair trial, with judges not hand-picked by the occupying coalition.

Saddam's wife helped locate him: Well-informed Lebanese sources said today that former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's second wife supplied the US with "some information" about where her husband was hiding in Iraq.

Iraqi cheer fades into ire at U.S: Joy at the capture of Saddam Hussein has given way to resentment towards Washington as Iraqis confront afresh the bloodshed, shortages and soaring prices of life under U.S. occupation.

Notice to Iraq: Let us protect you, or be shot: "With a heavy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for projects, I think we can convince these people we are here to help them," said Lt. Col. Nathan Sassman, commander of a battalion keeping an eye on the village of Abu Hishma that's surrounded by barbed wire.

Umm Qasr -- From National Pride to War Booty: Umm Qasr, under the US military occupation of Iraq, has become war booty. It was the first Iraqi enterprise to be turned over, not just to a private owner, but to a foreign one.

Challenging the Justification of Killing: One who exults in the killing of men will never have his way in the empire. -- Lao Tzu

Welcome to America: Nine tales of a society scared into stupidity

Guantanamo UK : We damn the Americans for Guantanamo, yet we are doing exactly the same thing in south-east London

Karzai accused of attempting a dictatorship: President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan stood accused yesterday of weaving a "dangerous" path between democracy and tyranny as he sought a powerful new presidency unchecked by parliament.

Israelis kill unarmed Palestinians : Israeli soldiers have shot and killed two unarmed Palestinians, and were searching for a third in southern Israel.

Israel: Ghosts of a Dream: My parents rise up from the grave, demanding to know: How has it come to this? How did a great and persecuted people become the persecutors?

Robert Fisk: "The Tyrant Is Now A Prisoner" : Saddam has bequeathed to his country and to its would-be "liberators" something uniquely terrible: continued war. And there was one conclusion upon which every Iraqi I spoke to yesterday agreed.