“We Simply Go On. . .”

The words of Adel Abdul Mahdi, the Vice President of Iraq to reporters grilling him about what is happening in Iraq. Mahdi came to Washington to try to ascertain the intent of the United States. For while politicians and pundits here talk blithely about whether or not to withdraw US forces, there is no withdrawal for the people in Iraq.

The mostly bad news from Iraq this summer left a lot of people in Washington, including a few in the Bush administration, feeling confused, anxious and doubtful about whether the Iraqi government can deliver on its promise to stabilize the country. As it turns out, some of Iraq's most powerful leaders have had similar feelings as they have watched the news from Washington.

That was the message of a quiet pre-Labor Day visit here by Adel Abdul Mahdi, who has been one of America's key allies in the attempt to replace Saddam Hussein's totalitarianism with a democratic political system. Mahdi is now Iraq's vice president, but he called his meetings with President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and key senators and congressmen a "private visit."

In fact, he was here to deliver a message, and ask a question, on behalf of Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who remains Iraq's single most influential figure — and the linchpin of the past 40 months of political reconstruction. Sistani's message to Bush, Mahdi told a group of reporters I joined last week, was that "Iraqis are sticking to the principles of the constitution and democracy." But the ayatollah wanted to know if the United States is still on board as well.

"It's a critical moment. We want to be sure that we understand perfectly what's going on, and what is the real strategy of the United States in Iraq," Mahdi said. "We read in the press about different perspectives and attitudes. That's why we want to be clear — whether there is a Plan B."

We have in this country a vehement debate going on. I happen to be one of the people who firmly believe that pulling out of Iraq right now would be an unmitigated disaster for this country. Others have equally strong opinions in the other direction. Fine, we disagree. But (isn't there always a "but"?) what happens to those we leave behind if we leave? That, I think, is why Mahdi was here. Our press would indicate to anyone looking in at the US that we are in disarray and are failing open on our allies and those who depend on us.

If you believe, really believe, that we should not have gone to war in Iraq, fine. But do you really want the blood on your hands that a pullout would surely lead to? The Iraqis are asking, begging, for us not to leave them. They need time to make it work. The signals our own people are sending are killing them.

And may well kill us.

UPDATE: QandO with some parsing of the numbers.

The Wrong Fight

CBS huffs about First Amendment rights. The American Family Association huffs that it about responsibility to the public. Both are wrong.

The dispute is about the planned airing (actually re-airing since it has been televised without complaint twice before) of the documentary 9/11. The film was supposed to be just about following a rookie firefighter on an ordinary day. Only they happened to be filming it on 9/11/2201. The resulting film has some coarse language. Some CBS affiliates are refusing to air it for fear of being fined by the FCC. The AFA wants to send massed complaints against those stations that do air it.

"This is example No. 1," said Martin Franks, executive vice president of CBS Corp., of the decision by two dozen CBS affiliates to replace or delay "9/11" — which has already aired twice without controversy — over concerns about some of the language used by the firefighters in it.

"We don't think it's appropriate to sanitize the reality of the hell of Sept. 11th," Franks said. "It shows the incredible stress that these heroes were under. To sanitize it in some way robs it of the horror they faced."

….

On Friday, Sinclair Broadcasting became the latest company to say it was delaying the broadcast until after 10 p.m. on its stations in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Portland, Maine, saying it was concerned it could face fines.

The announcement came as the Tupelo, Miss.-based American Family Association readied its 3 million members to flood the FCC and CBS with complaints after the documentary airs.

"This isn't an issue of censorship. It's an issue of responsibility to the public," said Randy Sharp, director of special projects for the group, which describes itself as a 29-year-old organization that promotes the biblical ethic of decency.

First, CBS has no first amendment issue here. They are the holder of a Federal license that allows then to use public resources within certain limits. End of discussion - and they know it. Second, the AFA is being really short-sighted about this. The film is what it is, it is in historical context. It shows real people in a really hideous situation on a horrible day.

And it needs to be seen by as many Americans as possible to remind them.

The AFA is out of line on this issue. I am not a big fan of obscene language and don't allow it here. But I am also not squeamish about it. I also see a huge difference between gratuitous use of bad language and the use of it by people in a hideous situation. I would urge the AFA to reconsider this effort and instead support the airing of something more people need to see and remember. CBS should also stop whining about rights it has never had - instead focus on the story that needs to be told. This is the wrong fight for both parties.

British Police Search 17 Homes

As part of the investigation into the most recent terrorism related arrests made in Britain, authorities are searching 17 homes in addition to the Islamic School they are already searching.

LONDON (Reuters) - Police investigating an alleged terrorist training network searched 17 homes in the British capital on Sunday and were granted more time to question 14 suspects, they said.

The police also searched a sprawling Islamic school in southern England for a second day.

A court gave the police until Wednesday to question three of the 14 people arrested this weekend as part of the investigation, the police said in a statement.

The police were given permission to detain the remaining 11 until Friday, by which time they must decide to charge or release them or seek more time to question them.

"Searches are being carried out at 17 residential premises in south, east and north London," a police spokeswoman said.

A police source said on Saturday the operation focused on the suspected training and recruitment of terrorists.

The Guardian newspaper said in its Monday edition that police were probing "an alleged network of terror training camps in Britain."

It said some of the arrested men had been under surveillance for months, including when they spent time at an alleged terror camp in the scenic Lake District in northwestern England.

Interesting development. They only arrested 14 and some presumably were from the school. This may be even more extensive than initial reports indicated.

Cop-Killer

New York State Trooper Joseph Longobardo has died from the wound he sustained while staking out the home of the girlfriend of an escaped convict. Ralph "Bucky" Phillips escaped from jail on what was actually a minor offense with a short sentence and has been on the run for five months. Phillips has been suspected of numerous break ins and other crimes, including the burglary of a gun store. He is considered armed and very dangerous.

Joseph Longobardo was shot in the leg Thursday night while staking out the property of a former girlfriend of Ralph "Bucky" Phillips.

The announcement came in the midst of one of the largest manhunts in New York history. State police warn that Phillips, who has been on the run for five months, could hurt anyone who gets in his way.

Longobardo, 32, died at Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo with his wife at his side, State Police Superintendent Wayne Bennett said. Longobardo's leg had been amputated Saturday after suffering severe blood loss, police said.

Troopers held a candlelight vigil Sunday for Longobardo and Donald Baker Jr., the other trooper shot in the woods of Chautauqua County. Baker, who was shot in the back, remained in critical condition in a medically induced coma, police said.

Here's an interactive map of the crimes and sightings of Phillips. Here is a link to a picture of this man. If you live in Western New York or Northern Pennsylvania, you really need to be watching out for this killer.

According to officials, Ralph "Bucky" Phillips fled from Alden County Correctional Facility in Western New York on April 2, 2006 by using a can opener to pry his way through a kitchen ceiling and out to freedom.

Phillips has been in trouble with the law for most of his life. His criminal history is pages long, and documents a life of burglary, car theft and stalking old girlfriends. But on June 10, 2006, police believe Philip's upped the ante.

Two New York State Troopers were driving down a rural road in the small town of Veteran, N.Y., about 70 miles south of Syracuse. Around 1:00 a.m., they signaled a dark green Ford Mustang that matched the description of a vehicle stolen earlier that day in Chautauqua County. The driver pulled over to the side of the road before the troopers had even turned on their emergency lights. As the two troopers approached the car, the driver– who police say was Bucky Phillips– pulled out a gun and fired out shots. One of the troopers was hit in the abdomen and seriously injured. Luckily after emergency surgery, the trooper survived.

Family Man?

At the time of his escape, Phillips was less than a week away from completing a 90-day sentence for a parole violation. Family members claim the 44-year-old fugitive escaped in order to be present at the birth of a grandchild. On the run, police claim Phillips' family has assisted him. Phillips' daughter, Petrina Wright, was arrested the week of August 27, and authorities removed her three children from her care, saying she had endangered their safety by letting her fugitive father spend time with them while armed.

Police offered up what they considered proof that Phillips had been to the home shared by Wright and her mother; they say they retrieved  night-vision binoculars and a two-way radio, from the home. They also confiscated  pizza crust and beer cans that will be tested for Phillips' DNA.

Less than a week away from release. And now a young state trooper is dead and his wife a widow. For a while, the people in Western New York treated this as a bit of a joke wearing T-shirts that said, "Got Bucky?". I imagine they aren't laughing a whole lot right now.

UPDATE: Resurgemus has additional links to information including the NY State Police wanted poster.

Mexico Headed For Civil War?

This is really a very unhealthy situation for any nation. The leftist loser of the Mexican presidential election has proclaimed that he will never accept the electoral victory of his opponent and is setting up his very own government.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's leftist opposition leader said on Sunday he will never recognize his right-wing rival as president and vowed a "radical transformation" of the country by setting up a parallel government.

Mexico's electoral court is almost certain to confirm the ruling party's Felipe Calderon as president-elect this week, but Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador insists he was robbed in the July 2 election.

"We will never accept usurpation nor recognize a president-elect who is illegitimate," the former mayor of Mexico City told a rally of thousands of supporters in the capital's main square.

"We are going for deep change, root change, because that is what Mexico needs," he said. "It is a radical transformation. We are going for the construction of a new country that is fair and honorable."

For more than a month, his leftist supporters have been protesting the election result by occupying the giant Zocalo square, the symbolic center of power in Mexico since Aztec times. They have also taken over a long section of the main Reforma boulevard, paralyzing the city center and causing traffic chaos.

Lopez Obrador did not say how he plans to set up a parallel government but in the past he said his supporters could continue the current street protests for years if necessary. He has also promised to avoid violence.

This is a path to anarchy and destruction. AMLO simply does not care what damage he does to Mexico in his blind lust to be president. One wonders exactly how much cash he is getting from Venezuela right now to cause this unrest on the US border. Mark in Mexico notes that AMLO praised the "lawmakers" who silenced Vicente Fox by blocking his speech. Note that the Mexican government has not tried to stop the leftists. It is only the leftists who believe other's right to speech must be silenced.

Major NATO Offensive In Afghanistan

A major NATO operation in Afghanistan by NATO forces has killed a reported 200 Taliban fighters. Four Canadian soldiers have been killed in the fighting. The aircraft that crashed yesterday, killing 14 British servicemen was not shot down as the Taliban tried to claim. Then craft had reported a technical problem prior to the crash.

If the estimate is confirmed, the battle would be one of the deadliest since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban regime five years ago. Reporters could not reach all the combat zone because officials barred traffic from all but one road in this part of southern Kandahar province.

An Associated Press reporter who traveled to Pashmul saw warplanes drop five bombs within about 20 minutes on orchards where militants were believed hiding. The reporter was about 300 yards away.

Explosions echoed across grape and pomegranate fields and clouds of dust rose amid the greenery and dried-mud houses of the Panjwayi district, which is about 12 miles from Kandahar city.

Operation Medusa was launched Saturday to flush out Taliban fighters from Panjwayi and neighboring Zhari district. NATO spokesman Maj. Scott Lundy said alliance and Afghan troops had gained ground and disrupted the militants' command system so guerrillas were moving in confusion.

Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said Taliban casualties were high, but could not confirm the NATO report of more than 200 dead.

A NATO statement said its figure was derived from "surveillance and reconnaissance assets operating in Panjwayi and Zhari districts, as well as information reported by various Afghan officials and citizens living nearby."

About 80 other suspected Taliban were arrested by Afghan police and a further 180 fled the area, it said.

The alliance said it had no reports of civilian casualties, despite the heavy weight of fire being used. But a spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, Gen. Zahir Azimi, said earlier that an undetermined number of civilians were killed.

Jason Husiak, a spokesman at the Canadian Department of National Defense, said four Canadian soldiers died in Sunday's fighting and others were wounded.

NATO said seven soldiers in its International Security Assistance Force were wounded, one seriously. The other six were expected to return to duty within a few days, it said.

There was no word on any casualties among Afghan troops.

On Saturday, a reconnaissance plane supporting Operation Medusa crashed, killing all 14 British servicemen on board. NATO said the crash was not caused by hostile fire, saying the plane reported a technical problem before it went down. Investigators examined the wreckage Sunday.

Civilians have evacuated the areas of the offensive leaving only Taliban fighters according to reports from Afghan civilians.

Iran Spits On UN

All the wonderful spin that has been wasted on trying to portray Kofi Annan's visit to Tehran in the best possible light was completely undone at the end of his visit. The Iranians announced they would host a conference to "examine exaggerations about the Holocaust". Kofi Annan was left to make a hollow denunciation of that, but the Iranian president did not appear at a closing press conference with Annan.

TEHRAN, Iran - The U.N. chief got little satisfaction Sunday at the close of his trip to Tehran, snubbed by Iran's leader over international demands to stop enriching uranium and ignored in warnings not to incite hatred by questioning the Holocaust.

In a provocative move on the final day of Kofi Annan's two-day visit, Iran announced it would host a conference to examine what it called exaggerations about the Holocaust, during which more than 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis.

The move was sure to draw new international condemnation of Iran's stance on Jews. Hours after the announcement, Annan repeated his displeasure over an exhibition in Tehran of cartoons mocking the Holocaust that was opened as a response to Western caricatures of Prophet Muhammad.

"I think the tragedy of the Holocaust is an undeniable historical fact and we should really accept that fact and teach people what happened in World War II and ensure it is never repeated," Annan told reporters.

He commented after a meeting with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but the hard-line Iranian leader didn't accompany the U.N. chief to the news conference.

Ahmadinejad has drawn strong condemnations around the globe for calling the Nazis' slaughter of Jews a myth and saying Israel should be wiped off the map or moved to Germany or the United States.

The Holocaust exhibit is being held to underline outrage over Prophet Muhammad caricatures in Western media. Islam forbids picturing Muhammad at all, but Muslims also were angered by the cartoons' negative tone, such as one showing the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse.

Annan first raised his concerns about the exhibit during a meeting Saturday with Iranian Foreign Minister Manoucher Mottaki, according to the U.N. chief's spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi. He quoted Annan as saying that "we should avoid anything that incites hatred."

Yes, I'm sure that kind of reasoning reached Ahmadinejad. I diplomatic terms, Ahmadinejad sent Annan packing with a sneer. I'd be about willing to bet that a shipment of arms went out to Hezbollah shortly after Iran assured Annan they would honor the ceasefire, too.

Hate And Hope

The Ku Klux Klan held a rally, defiling the ground at Gettysburg. About 30 of them demonstrated for two hours our so where men ever so much better than them once stood, fought and died. This offends me, but it is their right to hold their misbegotten opinions and even speak them in public. In fact, the more they do, the less attractive groups like them look. So go for it.

On the other hand, other groups counter-demonstrated. They included Confederate re-enactors and representatives of a group people who have family ties to people who fought in the Civil War who denounced the Klan's subversion of the Confederate flag.

Confederate re-enactors from Virginia protested the Klan's adoption of the Confederate battle flag as an emblem and its claim to be a continuance of the Confederate cause.

"These guys don't stand for anything I stand for," said Tim McCown of Jefferson, Md. "And it's time we disengage our flag from what they stand for."

Representatives of the national Sons of Confederate Veterans also came to protest the Klan's efforts to identify with the Confederacy. In a nearby park, churches and other groups held a Unity Day rally.

Gettysburg resident Steve Alexander, 52, shouted himself hoarse from the barricades, calling the Klansmen cowards and worse.

"I'm sick and tired of this," Alexander said.

Good for them.

Looking For Super-Thermite

Steven E. Jones, the physics professor who is heavily involved in the 9/11 moonbattery festivals was quoted today in the New York Times as saying that his group was looking into the possibility of "super-thermite", whatever the heck that might be. We here at Blue Crab Boulevard, in partnership with our staff investigative service, Magic 8-Ball Secret Agents and Used Car Sales, Inc., have found definitive proof that professor Jones has made a grave error. He misspelled the word. And they are very angry. Very angry indeed.

Sending Signals

The Washington Post has a long article about the trials of a number of people convicted of various terrorism related crimes. It is framed by the "Muslims worried about being targeted" story line that has become somewhat shopworn through overuse. Nonetheless, it offers a glimpse into what is driving and motivating some of these prosecutions. It also sheds some light on what is wrong with the mindset of some people - regardless of their religion.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, law enforcement officials pledged an aggressive effort to choke off future plots. People identified as security threats would be charged as soon as a crime could be proven, even if it was well short of a terrorist strike. The Washington area, where seven of the 19 al-Qaeda hijackers spent time before the attacks, became a focus of their investigations.

"Awaiting an attack is not an option," Paul J. McNulty, the deputy U.S. attorney general, said in a recent speech. He described the approach as "preventative prosecutions."

For prosecutors, that effort has been a success: Chandia was the 11th man convicted in what they describe as a "jihad network" in the D.C. suburbs dedicated to supporting military action on behalf of Muslims. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Muslims in the Washington area, even those unconnected to the defendants, wonder and worry about the implications of these cases for their community. Some feel that the prosecutions could increase the stigma Muslims have faced since Sept. 11. And many Muslims say the aggressive law enforcement has been far out of proportion to the offenses, which harmed no one.

Chandia's trial, for example, focused on favors he did for an acquaintance who belonged to a Pakistani group on the U.S. terrorist list. Chandia drove the visitor around the D.C. suburbs and helped him ship packages abroad.

For that, prosecutors sought 30 years to life. Some of the other defendants will spend decades in jail, including two who received life sentences.

"If this is how you deliver justice, you lose your trust in the justice system," protested Muddasar Ahmed, a Beltsville consultant who was among Chandia's supporters at his sentencing.

Ahmed and others have also argued that the prosecutions show a fundamental misunderstanding of Muslims in America: The local men wanted to help oppressed Muslims overseas, which isn't the same as backing bin Laden.

The article goes on to describe why some Muslims feel nothing the men did was really wrong. Even though some were training to fight against the Indian government in Kashmir and even against US and allied forces in Afghanistan. They also don't think that helping a man belonging to a terrorist group mail packages that contain supplies often used in military training is anything unusual. Which is frankly disturbing. The prosecutors maintain (and I believe they are stating fact here) that they are not targeting Muslims but they are trying very hard to send a message. But there does appear to be a mindset problem and some serious grounds for misunderstanding that need to be addressed. Signals are being sent in both directions that are being misinterpreted. I think it would be a helpful first step if some of the Muslim advocacy groups out there refrained from trying to play the victim card every single chance they get.

The problem with crying wolf all the time is that after a while, nobody believes you anymore.

Finally! Scientific Evidence!

At long last we have scientific proof that eating fruits and vegetable is bad for you! It's about time.

SUNDAY, Sept. 3 (HealthDay News) — Does your mouth get itchy after you eat fresh fruits or vegetables at this time of year? You may have oral allergy syndrome, say experts at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI).

OAS, also called pollen-food syndrome, is caused by allergens such as ragweed, which begins to bloom in mid-August.

"The pollen released from ragweed is the airborne allergen most responsible for the onslaught of allergy symptoms at this time of year. In addition to sneezing and itchy, water eyes, and symptoms of OAS, ragweed allergies can take a heavy toll on the allergy sufferer's quality of life," Dr. Suzanne S. Teuber, chair of the AAAAI's Adverse Reactions to Foods Committee, said in a prepared statement.

OAS symptoms are the result of a "cross-reactivity reaction" between allergy antibodies directed toward target pollen proteins with similar proteins found in other parts of plants. Common symptoms of OAS included an itchy mouth and throat with mild swelling immediately after eating fresh fruits or vegetables.

So now you finally have a reason to refuse to eat your vegetables!

Flipper Flogging French Fishermen

My blogger friend from Thailand, Agam, tipped me to this post over at Tim Blair's place. It seems the French are also experiencing the animal uprising. Only this time its Flipper that's freaking out and flailing away at fishermen!

A vicious dolphin* torments French fishermen:

For several weeks, an enraged dolphin has been terrorising the French Atlantic coast, attacking boats and knocking fishermen into the sea, French media reported on Wednesday.

"He’s like a mad dog,” complained Henri Le Lay, president of the association of fishermen and yachtsmen of the port of Brezellec, in Brittany.

The dolphin, who has been named Jean Floch, has destroyed rowboats, overturned open boats, flooded engines and twisted mooring lines.

Worse, two fishermen were knocked into the sea after the dolphin overturned their boat.

"I don’t want to see any widows or orphans,” Le Lay warned. “This could end badly."

Le Lay’s solution:

"We put mad animals to sleep”, he was reported as saying. “I like dolphins, but this one should be removed or locked up very quickly”.

(*Note: Do NOT miss the Reuters of Beirut™ photo in the first link in Tim's post!)

Now, while I'm all in favor of flogging the French verbally, when it comes to attack dolphins, I have to draw the line. If it was a deranged penguin, that would be alright, though.

Important Arrest In Iraq

The Iraq government announced the capture of the second in command of al Qaeda in Iraq. They believe that the terrorist organization is suffering a severe crisis in leadership as the command structure is disintegrating.

BAGHDAD, Sept. 3 — Iraqi armed forces have arrested the No. 2 leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the country's national security leader said Sunday.

The leader, Hamed Jumaa Faris Juri al-Saaydi, was captured within the past few days near Baqubah, along with 20 other senior members of the Sunni Arab insurgent group, which was responsible for savage beheadings of kidnapped foreigners and suicide attacks that sometimes killed dozens of civilians in a single strike, said the security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie.

Saaydi was second to Abu Ayyub al-Masri, Rubaie said. Masri had succeeded insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in June by a U.S. airstrike on a safe house in Baqubah.

"We now think al-Qaeda in Iraq is suffering a great deal and disintegrating," Rubaie said in a news conference at the U.S.-controlled Green Zone that was broadcast live across the Middle East. "The al-Qaeda organization is suffering from a leadership crisis."

Saaydi, also known as Abu Humam or Abu Rana, ordered the February attack on the golden-domed Shiite shrine in Samara that ignited the ongoing ferocious wave of sectarian killings, Rubaie said. He accused Saaydi of trying to spark a civil war between Iraq's Sunnis and Shiite Muslims.

News like this is encouraging, but there is still a lot of work to do, of course. An enormous amount of the violence being stirred is the fault of Iran, of course.

An Important Nugget

Here's an interesting article that has an extremely important little nugget in it that really reveals the problems the Democrats are facing, especially if the netroots succeed in dragging the party hard to the left. The article describes how, despite all the cheer leading in the press right now, most Democrats are very reluctant to actually predict victory in November.

WASHINGTON - Call it the campaign with no margin for Republican error, in a nation that is war-weary and eager for change, yet seems wary of the Democratic option.

Even Republicans tacitly concede they will lose seats in both the House and Senate in Nov. 7 elections midway through President Bush's second term. Yet Democrats, long out of power, are loath to predict publicly they will gain the six Senate and 15 House seats they need for control of Congress.

Voters like Jim Meyer are part of the reason one party is scuffling, yet the other not completely confident.

"I think we're in a lot of trouble," said the 59-year-old resident of Greenhills, Ohio, a Bush voter in 2004. His reasons: "Our commitment overseas, using our National Guard as much as we're using it, calling back our troops" to duty.

Still, he sized up the political alternative in less-than-glowing terms. "I think a lot of Democrats come across as crazies." (Emphasis added)

It's an impression Democrats are determined to negate — and Republicans eager to reinforce — in the 10 weeks from the traditional Labor Day campaign kickoff until Election Day. In all, 33 Senate seats, the entire 435-member House, 36 governorships and hundreds of ballot questions will go before the voters.

That is an enormously telling comment, whether the Democrats choose to pay attention or not. This is exactly what myself and a lot of other people have been warning against. The further left the party staggers, the worse that perception will get to the average voter. That may very well be why Hillary is keeping her options open at the moment.

Don’t Hold Your Breath

Fred Barnes in the Weekly Standard has a rogues gallery of bad actors in the "Plamegate" non-scandal. It is quite amusing to see it all laid out in a national publication. But even Barnes acknowledges it would be unwise to wait for any of these folks to actually apologize. Or for the media to examine its own role in constructing the whole house of cards.

So instead of Cheney or Rove or Libby, the perennial targets of media wrath, the Plamegate Hall of Shame consists of favorites of the Washington elite and the mainstream press. The reaction, therefore, has been zero outrage and minimal coverage. The appropriate step for the press would be to investigate and then report in detail how it got the story so wrong, just as the New York Times and other media did when they reported incorrectly that WMD were in Saddam's arsenal in Iraq. Don't hold your breath for this.

Not everyone got the story wrong. The Senate Intelligence Committee questioned Wilson under oath. It found that, contrary to his claims, his wife had indeed arranged for the CIA to send him to Niger in 2002. It found that his findings had not, contrary to Wilson's claim, circulated at the highest levels of the administration. And Bush's 16 words in the State of the Union to the effect that British intelligence believed Saddam had sought uranium in Africa–words Wilson insisted were fictitious–had been twice confirmed as true by none other than the British government.

Worse, Wilson failed in the single reason for his trip to Niger: to ferret out the truth about whether Iraq had sought uranium there. Wilson said no, dismissing a visit by Iraqis in 1999. But journalist Christopher Hitchens learned the trade mission was led by an important Iraqi nuclear diplomat. And uranium, of course, was the only thing Niger had to trade.

The fascination in Washington with the idea of a White House conspiracy to ruin Plame's career and punish Wilson never made sense. If there had been one, it had to be the most passive conspiracy in history. The suspected mastermind was Rove, the Bush political adviser. But all Rove did was to acknowledge off-handedly to two reporters that he'd heard that Wilson's wife, whose name he didn't know, was a CIA employee. And the two reporters were more likely to agree with Wilson about the war in Iraq than with the Bush administration. The conspiracy charge, the Post rightly concluded, was "untrue."

A few diehards in the media have tried to keep the conspiracy notion alive. Michael Isikoff of Newsweek asserts that what Armitage did and what Rove did were separate, and thus a White House smear campaign could still have gone on. Yes, but it didn't. Jeff Greenfield of CNN recalled a Post story in September 2003 that said "two top White House officials" had contacted six reporters "and disclosed the identity and occupation of Wilson's wife." But the Post itself has in effect repudiated this dubious story.

There are, of course, any number of people still trying to flog this mess back to life. But even with Baron Samedi in the graveyard at midnight, I suspect this is one zombie that will not get brought to life. The press is already humiliated. It will not cooperate with the zealots on this any longer.

UPDATE: Tigerhawk and a detailed analysis on possible explanations on why Powell and Armitage did not come forward and stop this thing in its tracks.