Free Republic

• Did Iraq have WMD? No -- but Saddam wanted others, particular in the region, to think he did, so he maintained a calculated ambiguity on the question. In the last months before the war he realized that it was too dangerous to continue playing this double game and finally decided to cooperate fully with international inspectors. But at that point his track record of repeatedly lying meant that no one believed him....
• What made Saddam so complacent? His belief that the United States did not have the will to take casualties in a serious war and that if necessary France and Russia would keep him safe....
• Did Saddam plan the current insurgency? No. He thought the United States would never attack, and was confident that even if it did, the resulting war would follow essentially the same script as the first Gulf War in 1991, without a full-scale invasion all the way to Baghdad. He did preposition a lot of military materiel around the country before the war started, but only to disperse it and keep it safe, so that it would be available either in the later stages of a long and drawn-out campaign against the coalition, or to reestablish control at home afterwards (as he did in 1991, when the Kurds and Shia revolted)....
• How did Saddam think the war was going? Swimmingly. Because everyone knew that Saddam severely punished anybody who told him unpleasant truths, the entire regime was built on lies. During wartime, this meant that junior officers told senior officers that everything was going well, they reported it up the chain of command, and Saddam himself remained a prisoner of his delusions....

Flaccid Flowers Bloom on Viagra

An Israeli scientist has found a way to defer the droop in daisies and firm up flaccid freesia. He feeds them Viagra.

Guitarist-

There was a time when I had a lot of respect for Buchanan. There was a time when I had a lot of respect for Sullivan. For different reasons, my respect for each has diminished markedly; but they are both bright guys and I still read both with interest.

BUCHANAN ON UKRAINE: Buchanan cannot, I think, be described as a conservative. He's an economic leftist with social fascist tendencies. Hence his preference for Putin's power-grab over Yushchenko's electoral victory. This column is as fascinating as it is revealing.

We reserve the right to refuse service to you,
Take your business back to Walgreen’s,
Have you tried your local zoo?
Our quota’s filled for this year
On singing Texas Jews,
We reserve the right to refuse service to you.

WHAT HAPPENED AT TORA BORA; WORST HEADLINE EVER

The Times gives space on the oped page to General Tommy Franks, former Combatant Commander of CentCom, to answer the charges that Senator Kerry has been making on the trail regarding the conduct of the fighting at Tora Bora in Afghanistan. Why, in God's name, they title this piece, "War of Words," is anyone's guess.

I've heard him make these arguments in interviews, but it's useful to have him present them in a more accessible piece of real estate just the same. Actually, and oddly, I think he's been more effective in some of those interviews, because he's made additional arguments that are missing from the written version. Here he defends the actions that were taken. In interviews I've also seen him argue that trying to attack Tora Bora exclusively with large numbers of American troops would have failed.

It's also clear from what he writes here that he sees Iraq the way the administration does, as a second front in the GWOT, a battle in a larger war and not a distinct war...

A report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office

shows that Bush’s tax cuts have been "progressive" — that is, they have shifted the share of the overall federal income tax burden toward the wealthy and away from lower-income earners.

To be specific, the bottom three quintiles in terms of income each pay a lower portion of the total income tax burden under the Bush law than they did previously. The top two quintiles each pay a higher portion of the total income tax burden under the Bush law. And for the record, the top decile, the top 5% and the top 1% each pay a higher portion of the income tax pie under the Bush law.

You wouldn't know it if you get your news from network TV or the New York Times. Donald Luskin has the story on the Detroit News editorial page.

Read the article and check out this chart:

(Hat tip: Polipundit.)