"The military has paid money to try to place favorable coverage on television stations in three Iraqi cities." The military gave one station "about $35,000 in equipment," is "building a new facility for $300,000," and pays $1000 to $2400 a month "for a weekly program that focuses positively on U.S. efforts." An Army National Guard commander confirmed his officers "suggest" stories for the weekly program and review it, before it is aired. The payments are not disclosed to viewers.

Iraqi voters may not agree on much, but 99.5 percent of them agreed not to vote for Ahmed Chalabi in the country's December 15 election. Once hailed by U.S. neoconservatives as the "George Washington of Iraq," Chalabi's humiliating defeat at the polls makes him something of an embarrasment now. "The election results in Iraq may present Chalabi’s ardent U.S.

"Susan Finston of the Institute for Policy Innovation, a conservative research group based in Texas, is just the sort of opinion maker coveted by the drug industry," writes Philip Shenon. "In an opinion article in The Financial Times on Oct. 25, she called for patent protection in poor countries for drugs and biotechnology products.