U.S. Government

"While policy makers and analysts in Washington discuss curbing the spread of militant Islam in the abstract, a political struggle between the American military and hard-line Iraqi religious leaders is steadily intensifying in Iraq," reports David Rohde. U.S. Lt. Col. David Haight recently arrested Sheik Jassim al-Saadi, a young Islamic cleric accused of incitement against the U.S. military presence in Iraq. "Across the country, young American military officers are competing with young, politically savvy Shiite and Sunni clerics for popular support," Rohde writes.

Throughout the world, including Muslim countries, people place a high value on freedom of expression, freedom of the press, multi-party systems and equal treatment under the law, reports a 44-nation survey of world opinion conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. Support for the United States, however, is another matter. "The speed of the war in Iraq and the prevailing belief that the Iraqi people are better off as a result have modestly improved the image of America," states the survey summary. "But in most countries, opinions of the U.S.

Columnist Paul Krugman writes that "the public was told that Saddam posed an imminent threat. If that claim was fraudulent, the selling of the war is arguably the worst scandal in American political history - worse than Watergate, worse than Iran-contra. Indeed, the idea that we were deceived into war makes many commentators so uncomfortable that they refuse to admit the possibility. But here's the thought that should make those commentators really uncomfortable. Suppose that this administration did con us into war. And suppose that it is not held accountable for its deceptions, so Mr.

Lawmakers in both the House and Senate are asking the White House for more information behind its charges that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Reuters reports, "Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, a Virginia Republican, said his panel would hold hearings on the issue, possibly along with the Senate Intelligence Committee, because 'the situation is becoming one where the credibility of the administration and Congress is being challenged.' Rep.