Corporal Edward Chin, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, from New York
(from NY Times/AP)

One obvious question: During live coverage, viewers saw a US soldier drape over the face of Hussein a US flag, which was quickly removed and replaced with an Iraqi flag.

Commanders know that the displaying the US flag suggests occupation and domination, not liberation. NBC's Tom Brokaw reported that the Arab network Al Jazeera was "making a big deal" out of the incident with the American flag, implying that US television would -- and should -- downplay that part of the scene. Which choice tells the more complete truth?

It was, by any measure, an astonishing coincidence. As the biggest statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad was pulled down "spontaneously" in front of the world's media, the Stars and Stripes which flew on the Pentagon on 11 September was at hand to be draped over its face.

The US army denied that the toppling of the 20ft edifice by a tank tower was stage-managed. It was a coincidence, they said, that Lt Tim McLaughlin, the keeper of that flag, happened to be present.

And, it has to be noted, the commander of the US marines who completed the capture of Baghdad did express concern at the time that the use of the Stars and Stripes smacked of triumphalism. It was later changed to an Iraqi flag. But not before acres of TV footage had been shot.

Yesterday, the US army banned any display of the flag on vehicles, buildings, statues and command posts, halting its display almost everywhere but the US embassy in Baghdad.

Samantha Sheppard, British 2d Light Tank Regiment, Basra, April 8, 2003
(via Reuters/Yahoo)

"No, no, no," yelled Shaaban Mohamad, watching television at a Cairo bookstore. "If the U.S. really wanted democracy, they would have taken out just about every Arab leader we have. This is very suspect. The U.S. just wants to protect Israel and wants the riches in the region."
[emphasis added]

For the most part, the Marines [entering Baghdad's center] were treated as conquering heroes. Young Iraqis put flowers in the pockets of their body armor. Kids begged for money.

There was a lot of smiling and laughing. One Iraqi gave out high-fives to passing Marines and reporters.

There were some American and European "human shields'' at the rally, people who had come to put themselves in harm's way in hopes of stopping the shooting. They chastised the Marines for attacking Iraq and promoting war.

That angered some of the men. "I didn't bury two of my fellow Marines just so someone like that could call us murderers,'' said one Marine, angry and teary, referring to an Iraqi artillery attack that killed two of his colleagues on Monday. "They died for this country.''

Meanwhile, two Iraqis held up a sheet bearing the message: "Go home Human Shields, you U.S. Wankers.'' [emphasis added]

From Kuwait, which was occupied by Saddam's forces before the 1991 Gulf War, came one of the few statements of unadulterated support. Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, Kuwait's deputy prime minister and foreign minister, said, "Joy fills our hearts as we see our Iraqi brothers ... express their jubilation at victory."

[...]

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud, looking upset at a news conference, called for a quick end to Iraq's "occupation." In a rare departure from diplomacy, Saud responded to a question about Arab anger toward the United States with: "I don't want to talk about anger if you don't mind today."

When one of the few remaining "human shields" in Baghdad, Uzma Bashir, from Rickmansworth, baited the troops with shouts of "Yankee murderers", Cpl Ibrahim Rahim exploded: "I scooped up the brains of two young marines ... They died fighting to liberate Iraq. And you stand here insulting them with this shit." He added: "I am a Muslim ... and I know this region. That woman is seriously abusing her right of speech."

Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad's main square just before being torn down
(photo NY Times/AP, Laurent Rebours)

In one of many small-scale engagements in and around Baghdad on Tuesday, two Marine snipers on a rooftop and others in tanks and Humvees topped with machine guns killed approaching Iraqis one by one throughout the morning, often from hundreds of yards away.

[...]

At one point, a man in a black ski mask with a rifle in the bed of a truck pulled up behind a group of civilians. The snipers said they aimed high to scatter the civilians, then shot him.

As Hamblin and Cpl. Owen Mulder, 21, of Wilmont, Minn., continued to scan under the elevated highway, Marines in Humvees kept watch for suicide bombers.

About 7 a.m., a truck with a machine gun mount -- but no machine gun attached to it -- raced down the highway, and the Marines started firing, using machine guns, grenade launchers and their rifles.

The truck flew into reverse, racing back about 100 yards before stopping. One man opened the a door and fell out. Then another, apparently missing an arm, ran down the highway. Some Marines prepared to shoot, but their commanders stopped them.

"He's wounded, he's no threat to us. Why do you want to kill someone who's wounded?" Kelley asked.

A few minutes later, ambulances arrived to tend to the injured.

[W]hat distinguishes warriors from murderers is that warriors accept a set of rules governing when and how they kill. They must learn to take only certain lives in certain ways, at certain times and for certain reasons. Otherwise, they become indistinguishable from murderers. Individuals can fight for an objectively bad cause or a corrupt regime and still be warriors. But there can be no honor in any conflict for those who believe they have no moral obligation to restrain their behavior in any way.

One and a half weeks ahead of the EU poll the Hungarian police removed posters portraying a swastika, a red star and the EU emblem. Leaders of the Hungarian EU-critical movement who are believed to have disseminated the placards left their headquarter detained by police.

Hungarian Police Remove Symbols Of Tyranny

101st Airborne Division soldiers, Kuwait
(taken March 20, 2003, source ?)

By now, it should be clear to all that the use of war as a means of resolving disputes between States was rejected, even before the UN Charter, by the consciences of the majority of humanity, except in the case of legitimate defence against an aggressor. The vast contemporary movement in favour of peace - which, according to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, is more than "the simple absence of war" (Gaudium et spes, n. 78) - demonstrates this conviction of people of every continent and culture.

There is another point I wish to make. Peace is a precious and fragile gift which God entrusts to man, to his conscience and to his reason. For you, two equally necessary duties derive from this. The first is the duty to work through the formation of consciences in order to foster an authentic desire for peace. The second duty is to pray constantly for peace, that God will grant this gift to the people of our times. On innumerable occasions I have prayed publicly for peace and appealed for prayers for peace, most recently during the Gulf War and the conflict in Yugoslavia. "With God nothing will be impossible". When human efforts seem doomed to failure, the power of God's Spirit can work deep within people's hearts, to quench hatred and kindle love.

Last Thursday, chief spokespersons from all government branches convened and decided to introduce a new media policy, requiring that reporters appeal to relevant authorities for authorization to interview government officials.

The president focused his criticism on certain newspaper companies and their incessant attacks on his predecessor, former President Kim Dae-jung, which have since been redirected at him.

In response to Roh's speech, Rep. Rhee Q-taek, floor leader of the Grand National Party (GNP) denounced the President's view of the media.

"I personally get the impression he is trying to intimidate the press," Rhee said. "That's why the president's remarks triggered boos from the lawmakers with the GNP."

The GNP earlier criticized Roh's administration for putting a gag on the press by curbing reporters' meetings with government officials and only releasing information with a pro-government bias.

After finishing his official speech, Roh revealed that he intends to withdraw his appointment of former aide Seo Dong-ku as the new president of the state-run Korea Broadcasting System (KBS).

Seo's appointment ignited anger from the opposition parties and labor unions. They said the president is attempting to undermine fair broadcasting and impose his views on the press. Seo is reported to have tendered his resignation yesterday.

The main opposition Grand National Party said Monday that it would take active measures against a new civic group set up to campaign against the major newspapers. The Grand Nationals said the group, People's Power, which plans a movement to discourage people from marrying people who write for the Chosun Ilbo or their relatives, was engaging in action that endangers democracy.

1. the campaign, in which he suggested that the South might remain neutral in any dispute between the US and the North,
2. the troop dispatch bill, which I've mentioned before, and
3. this.

An Iraqi Baath militia officer giving guns to his children.
(from NY Times/Agence France-Presse, Patrick Baz)

No estimates are available on the number of children who participated in the Iran-Iraq war, but Hojjatoleslam Hashemi Rafsanjani, later president, stated in 1982 that Iran's armed forces had been supplemented by 400,000 volunteers. An exiled source claims that since military service was compulsory from the age of 18, most of these "volunteers" were likely to be younger. Gulf war statistics about prisoners, casualties and their ages are unreliable, but according to the International Committee of the Red Cross at least 10 per cent of Iranian prisoners were under 18. Iranian officers captured by the Iraqis claimed that nine out of ten Iranian child soldiers were killed. According to one journalist, most recruits had between one and three months of military training before being sent to the front, but some had no training at all. Boys as young as nine were reportedly used in human wave attacks and to serve as mine sweepers in the war with Iraq. Many child soldiers were captured by the Iraqis and transferred to a special Prisoner of War camp for children. Some 300, most believed to be 15 or younger were held by Iraq in a special, separated compound at Al-Ramadi, about 60 miles west of Baghdad, where they were exploited by the Iraqi authorities for propaganda purposes.
[footnotes deleted, emphasis added - Tony]

During Gulf War One people called the conflict a “video game war,” and this always made me grind my teeth, because the sort of person most likely to use the term was least likely to have played a video game. When you saw that nosecone footage of a cruise missile dropping down, homing in and entering a dryer vent - someone said “it’s just like a video game!” you recalled the herkyjerky pixel-jumble on your PC and thought, I wish.

Fast forward ten years. I’ve played three games in the last ten months, each a first person shooter with all the usual flaws and uncomfortable moral dilemmas. I had no moral qualms with Return to Castle Wolfenstein - frankly, Nazis who are attempting to build an army of cyberzombies are just asking for some of that sweet, sweet lovin’ you only get from a Tesla-coil powered energy weapon. With Wolfenstein, Dark Forces 3 and Soldier of Fortune, there’s the same curious insta-decomp feature: clear out a room, leave your foes heaped in a pile, leave the room, return -

. . . and the bodies are gone.

Every day I watch the news, hours and hours of news, and I’ve yet to see one dead Iraqi soldier.

Now it’s a video game war.

Last night I saw some footage from a bunker some Marines had discovered - ammo, rockets, mines, all sorts of goodies. A secret area!

Now it’s a video game war.

3rd Infantry Division captain holding an AK-47 retrieved from a bunker in Baghdad
(from CNN/AP)

3rd Infantry Division soldiers at one of Saddam's palaces, Baghdad
(from CNN/AP)

Here at Amherst College, many students were vocally annoyed this semester when 40 professors paraded into the dining hall with antiwar signs. One student confronted a protesting professor and shoved him.

Some students here accuse professors of behaving inappropriately, of not knowing their place.

"It seems the professors are more vehement than the students," Jack Morgan, a sophomore, said. "There comes a point when you wonder are you fostering a discussion or are you promoting an opinion you want students to embrace or even parrot?"

Across the country, the war is disclosing role reversals, between professors shaped by Vietnam protests and a more conservative student body traumatized by the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Prowar groups have sprung up at Brandeis and Yale and on other campuses. One group at Columbia, where last week an antiwar professor rhetorically called for "a million Mogadishus," is campaigning for the return of R.O.T.C. to Morningside Heights.

Even in antiwar bastions like Cambridge, Berkeley and Madison, the protests have been more town than gown. At Berkeley, where Vietnam protesters shouted, "Shut it down!" under clouds of tear gas, Sproul Plaza these days features mostly solo operators who hand out black armbands. The shutdown was in San Francisco, and the crowd was grayer.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder for the first time called for the removal of Saddam Hussein in a speech to parliament on Thursday, dropping his objection to regime change as a goal of war.
[...]
Schroeder has condemned regime change as a war aim -- but Germany avoided the French predicament of having to declare that it hoped the U.S.-led coalition would win the war after remarks interpreted as rallying for an American loss.

(from StrategyPage)

A car exploded at a special operations checkpoint in western Iraq, killing three coalition soldiers, a pregnant woman and the car's driver, the U.S. Central Command said Friday.
[...]
"A pregnant female stepped out of the vehicle and began screaming in fear," a Central Command statement said. "At this point the civilian vehicle exploded, killing three coalition force members who were approaching the vehicle and wounding two others." The statement said the woman and the driver also were killed.
[...]
The Iraqi government has said suicide bombings will be a "routine military policy" and has promised more attacks.

On the contested bridge in Hindiya, the captured town south of Baghdad, an American company commander, Capt. Chris Carter of Watkinsville, Ga., dashed to a wounded Iraqi woman in a black chador lying exposed to fire in the center of the span. Captain Carter crouched with his M-16 rifle to cover her position until medics could evacuate her by stretcher, according to journalists traveling with the unit.

Third Infantry Division, near Hindiyah, Iraq, March 31, 2003
(photo NY Times/AP)

Funk turned himself in to the Marines on Tuesday after being absent without leave since mid-February, when his support battalion was sent to Camp Pendleton near San Diego. He has been assigned desk duty in San Jose while his case proceeds.

(a) Any member of the armed forces who--
(1) without authority goes or remains absent from his unit, organization, or place of duty with intent to remain away therefrom permanently;
(2) quits his unit, organization, or place of duty with intent to avoid hazardous duty or to shirk important service; or
(3) without being regularly separated from one of the armed forces enlists or accepts an appointment in the same or another on of the armed forces without fully disclosing the fact that he has not been regularly separated, or enters any foreign armed service except when authorized by the United States;
is guilty of desertion.
[...]
(c) Any person found guilty of desertion or attempt to desert shall be punished, if the offense is committed in time of war, by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct, but if the desertion or attempt to desert occurs at any other time, by such punishment, other than death, as a court-martial may direct.

Completed or attempted desertion with intent to avoid hazardous duty (emphasis added) or to shirk important service: dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 5 years.
Other cases of completed or attempted desertion: only difference is length of confinement
In time of war: death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.

Any member of the armed forces who, without authority--
(1) fails to go to his appointed place of duty at the time prescribed;
(2) goes from that place; or
(3) absents himself or remains absent from his unit, organization, or place of duty at which he is required to be at the time prescribed;
shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

Absence from unit, organization, or other place of duty; for more than 30 days: dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 1 year.

Any person subject to this chapter who through neglect or design misses the movement of a ship, aircraft, or unit with which he is required in the course of duty to move shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

By design: dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 2 years.
By neglect: bad-conduct dischrage, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 1 year.

* Used their own people as human shields in countless instances.
* Engaged in acts of genocide against Shi'a Muslims in the south of Iraq.
* Forced Iraqi civilians to take up arms at gunpoint.
* Executed Iraqi civilians on the spot for any suspicion of disloyalty or even indifference.
* Cut off food and water to Shi'a Muslim urban populations.
* Used the most sacred shrines of Iraq's Shi'as as military strongpoints and arms caches. [on the news this morning, there was a report of snipers firing at US forces from a mosque in Najaf. - Tony]
* Used hospitals as military staging areas, fighting positions and arms storage depots.
* Took Iraqi family members, including children, hostage.
* Executed allied POWs in cold blood, while abusing others.
* Prevented the International Red Cross or Red Crescent from visiting allied soldiers taken as POWs.
* Fought in civilian clothes, in violation of the Geneva Convention and the Laws of War.
* Employed false surrenders to lure allied troops into ambushes, in violation of the same.
* Committed multiple acts of terrorism against Iraqi civilians and coalition forces.
* Forced unwilling soldiers to attack allied forces by executing some and driving the others forward at machine-gun point - far from patriotic resistance, this is the mass murder of Iraqis by Iraqis.
* Attempted to create an ecological and economic catastrophe in Iraq's Shi'a and Kurdish regions by rigging oil fields for demolition.
* Attempted to prevent relief supplies from reaching Iraqi civilians.
* Welcomed and harbored terrorists from abroad.
* Took practical steps to prepare Iraqi troops for the use of chemical weapons against allied forces.

Jim Wilkinson, a spokesman for U.S. commander General Tommy Franks in Qatar, said: "America doesn't leave its heroes behind. It never has, it never will."

Revolutionary War: 1,426
War of 1812: 695
Mexican War: 238
Civil War: >400,000 total POW/MIA
Spanish-American War: 72
WWI: 7470 total POW/MIA
WWII: 30,314
misc. Cold War: 343
Grenada: 4
USS Stark: 1
Gulf War: 52 total POW/MIA
Somalia: 2

Polish GROM commandos pictured together with U.S. Navy SEALs, Iraq
(photo Desmond Boylan/Reuters, via Poprostu)

"As you have seen in the case of Iraq, the United States will not make its decision on the North's nuclear issue on a moral basis," [President Roh] said. "Accordingly, for a peaceful solution to the nuclear issue, the strong alliance between South Korea and the United States is very crucial."

Funk is one of several service members in today's volunteer military who are seeking conscientious objector status.

The recruits say their idealistic expectations of military service -- travel, tuition and adventure -- jarred against the harsh realities of killing another human and ran afoul of deeply held religious, ethical or moral views.

"They don't really advertise that they kill people," Funk said. "I didn't really realize the full implications of what I was doing and what it really meant to be in the service as a reservist."

Lance Corporal Stephen Funk, USMC Reserve
(photo from SF Chronicle)

Under these circumstances, it is not difficult to imagine that, as an innate liberal, Roh now finds it even more difficult to explain why the nation must join forces for this war while most other nations - including other stalwart allies of the United States - try to stay away.

Is he going to say he is afraid that Bush may want to "liberate" the North Korean population after the Iraqis? Is he going to rhapsodize that the beauty of an alliance is in helping a friend in need?

At one camp, Camp 22 in Haengyong, some 50,000 prisoners toil each day in conditions that U.S. officials and former inmates say results in the death of 20 percent to 25 percent of the prison population every year.

Products made by prison laborers may wind up on U.S. store shelves, having been “washed” first through Chinese companies that serve as intermediaries.

Entire families, including grandchildren, are incarcerated for even the most bland political statements.

Forced abortions are carried out on pregnant women so that another generation of political dissidents will be “eradicated.”

Inmates are used as human guinea pigs for testing biological and chemical agents, according to both former inmates and U.S. officials.

American special operations forces have rescued an Army enlisted woman from a building in Nasiriya, in southern Iraq, where she was being held captive, the American military said.

The soldier, Pfc. Jessica Lynch, 19, of Palestine, W.Va., was part of the 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company ambushed in Nasiriya on March 23 after the military convoy she was in took a wrong turn in the dark off a highway en route to an antiaircraft battery in southern Iraq.

All told, officials later said, 15 soldiers were missing, captured or killed in the encounter, with Private Lynch's fate and that of seven comrades listed as unknown. She was not among five soldiers whom the Arab satellite news network Al Jazeera showed being interviewed in captivity.

PFC Jessica Lynch - chalk one up for the good guys
(photo Washington Post/AP)

The British colonel explaining how they were trying to secure Basra without blowing up buildings and causing a lot of civilian deaths, and remarking: "We don't want to go in and rattle all their teacups."

The two squaddies scoffing at Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon's explanation in Parliament that "Umm Qasr is a town similar to Southampton." "He's either never been to Southampton, or he's never been to Umm Qasr," said one soldier, informed of this while on patrol in Umm Qasr. The second added: "There's no beer, no prostitutes, and people are shooting at us. It's more like Portsmouth."

The U.S. Special Forces and CIA operatives are now spread throughout Iraq, from Baghdad to the borders. This morning, for instance, working off information from Special Forces, F-15 pilots attacked a two-story building near Basra where hundreds of ruling Baath party leaders were believed to be gathered.

"We can find that these terror leaders are in fact having a meeting, and then call in very precise strikes to destroy that. And I'm pleased to say the result of that, we believe about 200 leaders of these irregular squads and key leaders [were] destroyed last night," said Maj. Gen. Victor Renuart of U.S. Central Command in Qatar.

Since Friday evening, coalition air strikes have targeted nine different Baath party headquarters, and a leadership compound in Baghdad.

Also this weekend, Army Rangers operating in total darkness engaged in a ferocious firefight to take what they said was an Iraqi commando headquarters in the western desert.

"The raid was successful and resulted in the capture of over 50 enemy personnel, weapons, a large cache of ammunition, gas masks, and radios," said Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks.

For at least a week, CIA paramilitary teams have been trying to kill members of Saddam Hussein's inner circle and Iraqi miltiary commanders, using snipers and demolition experts, The Washington Post reported today.

"Any military commander, whether they be in the Republican Guard or the regular army, would be a valid target," said retired U.S. Army Gen. Bill Nash, an ABCNEWS consultant.

Only a few of these have reportedly been killed, but the military and CIA are continuing to hunt them down.

"In the research that we have seen," says Dr. Michael Bradley, a teen behavior psychologist in Philadelphia, "when kids watch real-life footage they are disappointed. There is no music, it is not in color and you don't have seven camera angles."

One of these airings was followed by an interview with a man named François Boo, a security expert. Mr. Boo said straight away that such parading of captured soldiers was a clear violation of the Geneva Convention, to which Iraq, I note with amusement, is a signatory. He appeared to have his head screwed on nice and straight. Then the female host of the show guided him toward the point she wanted made. But the United States, she asked, has also surely engaged in the techniques of psychological warfare? Ah yes, said Mr. Boo, and one of them -- I was so furious I can't remember which -- referred to the millions of leaflets the American-led coalition has dropped over Iraq, urging soldiers to surrender rather than fight.

You see? The sides in this war are indistinguishable, if not equally culpable of equal sins, at least equally capable of them.

That is the pervasive sense of phony egalitarianism nourished by the era of instantaneous communication and the absolute democracy of the World Wide Web: All war violence is the same, equally inexcusable; all news sources are equally trustworthy or not; American and British soldiers are as every bit suspect as Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard; every opinion is equally valuable, and there must be no judgment. Every life is worth the same as every other. Every sperm is sacred.

[...]

But America does not parade its prisoners of war on television, being asked questions while in a state of abject fear and humiliation. American soldiers do not conduct "search and rescue" operations for defenceless Iraqi soldiers by shooting up rivers and setting bushes on fire, as the Iraqis did in Baghdad yesterday, when they believed, apparently erroneously, that coalition pilots had been shot down and landed in the water. That was quite a splendid scene. American soldiers may whoop with excitement at the sound of a missile being fired, but you do not find them dancing, in celebration, at the deaths of civilians; the same cannot be said of the Arab world.

I simply cannot understand why anyone outside of Ba'ath Party headquarters imagines we would feel compelled to fight house-to-house in Baghdad, destroying the city, putting civilian lives at risk and throwing away our soldiers.

Certainly, we'll need to engage in some limited urban combat, for specific objectives - as the Brits are doing on the outskirts of Basra and the Marines have done in Nasiriyah. But there is no iron rule of warfare that says we have to take Baghdad block by block.

[…]

When the right opportunities present themselves, our forces will swoop in on pinpoint raids. And no, we're not talking about "Black Hawk Down II." Anyway, people tend to forget that, in Mogadishu, we actually won the tactical battle overwhelmingly - 20 dead Americans, a thousand dead Somali militiamen.

At the end of that fight, we had thoroughly broken "General" Aideed's forces. Then President Bill Clinton, the most frightened man on earth, declared defeat. The U.S. Army's Rangers were ordered home in humiliation, after winning a tough but enormous victory. President Bush may have his faults, but he ain't going to cut and run on our men and women in uniform.

The Defense Ministry had denied that GROM (Thunder) special forces were involved in combat, but on Monday it confirmed their participation after dailies splashed photographs of the soldiers in the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, where U.S.-led troops are battling pockets of Iraqi resistance.

[...]

GROM is an SAS-style commando unit which has seen recent action in Afghanistan. It is one of the few highly trained units in Poland's armed forces, which are mostly underfunded and still rely on outdated Soviet-era equipment.

[...]

The Reuters photographs showed masked GROM soldiers taking prisoners, scrawling graffiti on a portrait of Saddam and posing with U.S. Navy Seals holding up a U.S. flag.

"These photos shouldn't have happened," said [Defense Minister Jerzy] Szmajdzinski. "The next time it will definitely be with the Polish flag."

Polish GROM commandos, Umm Qasr, Iraq
(via Reuters)

"We saw some black berets hanging up in a tree, and we went to investigate and we saw all these uniforms hanging there. I figure half these guys you see walking around are soldiers. They've discarded their uniforms," the Marine [at An Nasiriyah] said. "They're out there, they're watching us and they're planning small counterattacks."

Marines escorting Iraqi prisoners
(via Washington Post/Reuters)

I’m not disheartened by the sight of what those motherless sons of bitches did to the captured troops - not in the sense of wishing we would curl up and whimper Mommy and scamper back home. My first reaction was to wish that we’d identify the location of a Special Republican Guard unit, replace the B in MOAB with P, and drop the Mother Of All Payback on them. This intemperate emotion conflicts with the advice of lumbering pseudoprole Michael Moore, seen earlier this week wearing a button that said “Shoot Movies, Not Iraqis.” Well, Mike, the Iraqis shot a movie about the shooting of Americans; what now?

BANK: Moore says North Country Bank & Trust in Traverse City, Mich., offered a deal where, "if you opened an account, the bank would give you a gun." He walks into a branch and walks out with a gun.

ACTUALLY: Moore didn't just walk in off the street and get a gun. The transaction was staged for cameras. You have to buy a long-term CD, then go to a gun shop to pick up the weapon after a background check.

But Jan Jacobson, the bank employee who worked with Mr. Moore on his account, says that only happened because Mr. Moore's film company had worked for a month to stage the scene. "What happened at the bank was a prearranged thing," she says. The gun was brought from a gun dealer in another city, where it would normally have to be picked up. "Typically, you're looking at a week to 10 days waiting period," she says. Ms. Jacobson feels used: "He just portrayed us as backward hicks."

A senior pentagon official has confirmed to Fox News on Sunday that coalition forces have discovered a "huge" suspected chemical weapons factory near the Iraqi city of An Najaf, which is situated some 90 miles south of Baghdad.

"It is Iraqi official position, we will respect carefully the international humanitarian law, and the Geneva Convention," he said. "I hope that the American army will respect also this Geneva Convention because I hope that what is happening in Iraq now, both parties will respect international humanitarian law.

The bodies, mostly still fully clothed but some with shirts pulled up, were shown on the floor in pools of blood. In the first room, at least two had wounds to the head, and another had a groin wound. In another room, an Iraqi uncovered more bodies, some with blackened faces.

In the end, all the Iraqi irregular forces are accomplishing is to make our troops more determined. The latest message I had from a friend serving in the war made it clear that our troops are enraged, not deterred, by Iraqi actions - not least by the execution in cold blood of American prisoners and the abuse of other POWs.