Even as the fighting raged on the right bank of the Tigris yesterday, a strange gathering formed on the balcony of the Hotel Palestine, home to foreign journalists and their moustachioed monitors from the ministry of information. Wearing his black Ba'ath Party beret pulled down tight over his skull and even more agitated than usual, Mohammed Said al-Sahaf, the thin-lipped information minister, held an impromptu press conference. "The Americans claim their tanks are in the middle of the city. This is a lie," he huffed. "No American tank is in Baghdad. Never. They tried to get back into the city...