I got a tip about a man in Basra who had had his tongue amputated for criticizing Saddam. He had moved away, but I found a friend of his, Abdel Karim Hassan.

"A thousand thanks to Bush!" he told me. "A thousand thanks to Bush's mother for giving birth to him!"

Hmmm. I hadn't expected a tribute to the Mother of all Bushes.

Then I heard about Mathem Abid Ali and tracked him down in the southern city of Nasiriya. .... Mr. Abid Ali deserted the Iraqi Army, was caught, taken to a hospital and given general anesthesia -- and woke up with no right ear.

"Children looked at me, and turned away in horror," Mr. Abid Ali said bitterly.

So I asked Mr. Abid Ali what he thought of the Americans.

He thought for a moment and said: "I'd like to make a statue in gold of President Bush."

(CNN) -- The CIA has in its hands the critical parts of a key piece of Iraqi nuclear technology -- parts needed to develop a bomb program -- that were dug up in a back yard in Baghdad, CNN has learned.

The parts, with accompanying plans, were unearthed by Iraqi scientist Mahdi Obeidi who had hidden them under a rose bush in his garden 12 years ago under orders from Qusay Hussein and Saddam Hussein's then son-in-law, Hussein Kamel.

U.S. officials emphasized this was not evidence Iraq had a nuclear weapon -- but it was evidence the Iraqis concealed plans to reconstitute their nuclear program as soon as the world was no longer looking.

HABANIYAH, Iraq (AP) In the back of a Bradley fighting vehicle, the still air soars to 130 degrees and sweat stains the soldiers' desert camouflage uniforms as they patrol central Iraq, hunting for insurgents.

When the ramp door drops, the soldiers scramble into the blinding sun and a hot wind fails to cool them through body armor and helmets. The only thing cold is the reaction of Iraqis whose cars they search.

The unrelenting heat, the ambiguity of their mission, the longing for home and the indefinite duration of their deployment has crushed morale, the soldiers say.

When, back in mid-April, the news first arrived of the looting at the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad, words hardly failed anyone. No fewer than 170,000 items had, it was universally reported, been stolen or destroyed, representing a large proportion of Iraq's tangible culture. And it had all happened as some US troops stood by and watched, and others had guarded the oil ministry.

...100,000-plus priceless items looted either under the very noses of the Yanks, or by the Yanks themselves. And the only problem with it is that it's nonsense. It isn't true. It's made up. It's bollocks.

Not all of it, of course. There was some looting and damage to a small number of galleries and storerooms, and that is grievous enough. But over the past six weeks it has gradually become clear that most of the objects which had been on display in the museum galleries were removed before the war. Some of the most valuable went into bank vaults, where they were discovered last week. Eight thousand more have been found in 179 boxes hidden "in a secret vault". And several of the larger and most remarked items seem to have been spirited away long before the Americans arrived in Baghdad.

Saddam jokes provided a furtive source of critical comment about a regime that brooked none. "Hey, there's a new show on TV," goes one, taking off on Saddam's multi-hour long orations that dominated the airwaves. "It's called, 'The President Sleeping'." This joke is usually told with a loud snore.
...
Granted, many of the jokes don't translate well. Perhaps you have to have spent time in Iraq to appreciate this one, which takes off on the president's constant and unpredictable changes of costume, from business suits to sheikhs' robes to combat fatigues. Izzat Duri knocks on the 20-foot-high front door of the palace and Saddam's wife shows up in a babydoll nightie, tells him Saddam isn't there, but holds the door wide open. The hapless Duri drags himself off and all night long he ponders whether she had been coming on to him. The next day Duri goes back and again the wife opens the door, this time only in her underwear. He may be slow, he may be thick, but he finally gets it. The third day, Duri returns to the palace in the buff, and knocks expectantly on the door. Saddam opens it. "Izzat, why are you naked?" "I, uh, Sir, I couldn't remember if we were supposed to wear civvies or military today."

Iraq's cultural treasures, recently ravaged by looting and war, could be virtually restored through an ambitious project outlined on Monday that would create an online panorama of the cradle of human civilisation.

The University of California at Berkeley is seeking $5 million over five years for a computer-based project to chronicle the Mid-East country's museums and archaeological digs, a university official said.

The resulting Web site would offer photographs, text and real-time details such as the humidity or earthquake activity at research sites. Sensors on key relics would even alert the network if thieves try to steal them.
...
"I am using Iraq as an opportunity for promoting the idea of a virtual heritage, cultural heritage encyclopaedia," said Bajcsy, who is from Slovakia.

The fragile state of Iraqi's rich cultural heritage was highlighted when looters stole items from the National Museum in Baghdad after US-led military forces toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein.

The former civilian head of the Army said Monday it is time for the Pentagon to admit that the military is in for a long occupation of Iraq that will require a major commitment of American troops.
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actor Sean Penn published a 4,000-word open letter in the front section of the New York Times on Friday defending his December trip to Baghdad and criticizing the U.S.-led war on Iraq.

Penn would not comment on why he chose to place the full-page advertisement, preferring to "let the essay speak for itself," the actor's publicist Mara Buxbaum said.

Penn wrote that he was moved by a sense of patriotism to question the underlying purpose of U.S. policy to force out Saddam Hussein, who he described as a "beast among men."

"Our flag has been waving, it seems, in servicing a regime change significantly benefiting U.S. corporations," said Penn, questioning whether rebuilding the nation would benefit the "people of either Iraq or the United States."

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