“Before
the UN inspectors came, there were 47 factories involved in the
project. Now there are 64.” Saddam has made two atomic bombs, says Iraqi defector: “Saddam Hussein has two fully operational nuclear bombs and is
working to construct others, an Iraqi defector has told The
Telegraph…The fresh evidence comes only a week after President George
W Bush took office. In his inaugural address, he promised to
confront weapons of mass destruction, without mentioning Iraq.
Under Anglo-US policy, any attempt by Saddam to build nuclear
or biological weapons could lead to military action.

Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State and a Gulf war veteran,
and Vice-President Dick Cheney are both known to favour a
radical approach in dealing with Iraq.” How convenient this comes up just a week after the contentions ascension of Dubya, as the international consensus to maintain the pressure on Saddam is fading. His father did so well consolidating his leadership of the “Free World” with the demonization of the Iraqi Hun.

Dogs don’t kill people, people kill people?? Friends and neighbors saddened, angered over deadly dog attack. The San Francisco woman died in the hospital after being set upon by two dogs, each of which weighed more than she did, who bounded out of their owner’s neighboring apartment as she was putting her keys into her door. The dogs were a blend of the Canario, a Spanish fighting breed so ruthless that it was outlawed in Spain in the ’30’s, and the massive English Mastiff; the cross has been deemed irresponsible by some dog experts. Apparently the owner had only recently acquired them. How should we parse out the responsibility for this? SFGate

Start Paying for Napster in June. “Germany’s publishing powerhouse Bertelsmann said on Monday it was planning for an
early summer introduction of a subscription service of Napster music downloads over the Internet.” Wired And Gnutella is spreading itself thin. “Predictions that Gnutella would quickly offer an effective file-swapping alternative to
Napster have proven premature, with the technology’s own developers admitting
more work is needed before it will take off as a way to trade free music and other
digital wares. ” ZDNet

Nominees announced for National Book Critics Circle Awards: ‘Jacques Barzun, a best-selling author at 92, and Zadie Smith, a best-selling author
at 24, were among the nominees announced Monday for the National Book Critics Circle Awards. [Smith’s White Teeth is on the pile of pending books on my nightstand.]

Other finalists included four-time nominee Cynthia Ozick for her essay collection Quarrel & Quandary and Michael Chabon for his fanciful novel about
comic books, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. ‘ Nando Times

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