Weapons Inspectors Leave for Baghdad on Monday NY Times. Since the “weapons of mass destruction” issue, however, is only a pretext for the Bush Administration’s planned prosecution of this war for its broader, insidious geopolitical objectives (Roger Trilling, Village Voice)

(as well as Bush’s emotional needs), Iraq’s efforts will be construed as provocative noncompliance regardless of the situation the weapons inspectors encounter on the ground. Going to the UN and deferring until the return of the inspectors was an inconvenience necessitated by the degree of domestic opposition (notably, that of the uniformed military) and international resistance, but will not make a war any less likely… And, of course, the purported bin Laden tape

(NY Times) serves as a bellwether of and a potential rallying point for the inflamed reaction we are likely to get from the Muslim world when we lay waste to the civilian Iraqi population and the country’s infrastructure.