] Reaction has been coming in from around the world
] following US President George W Bush's deadline for
] President Saddam Hussein and his two sons to leave Iraq
] by 0100GMT on Thursday 20 March or face war.

Quotes from a variety of countries: France, Japan, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Mexico, Canada, China, Russia, Philippines, Iran, the Arab League, Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), New Zealand, and the Vatican. All over the scale, from "we're for it" to "we're against it," to "we're staying out of it and minding our own business".

BBC NEWS : In quotes: Reaction to Bush ultimatum

Trust Tony's judgment
by Bill Clinton

Tuesday March 18, 2003 - The Guardian

Last October, when I spoke at the Labour conference in Blackpool, I supported the efforts of President Bush and Prime Minister Blair to renew efforts to eliminate Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, and to try to accomplish this through the UN.

In November, the UN security council adopted unanimously resolution 1441, giving Saddam a "final opportunity" to disarm, after 12 years of defying UN resolutions requiring him to do so. The resolution made it clear that continued sanctions were not sufficient and that continued defiance would lead to serious consequences.

The credit for 1441 belongs in large measure to Blair, who saw it as a chance to disarm Saddam in a way that strengthened the UN and preserved the Atlantic alliance. Unfortunately, the consensus behind 1441 has unravelled. Saddam has destroyed some missiles but beyond that he has done only what he thinks is necessary to keep the UN divided on the use of force. The really important issues relating to chemical and biological weapons remain unresolved.

The Guardian | Bill Clinton: Trust Tony's judgment

quoted:

As a lifelong lefty of the commie- pinko-faggot variety, I was shocked to wake up one day and find myself just slightly to the left of far-far-right raving psycho superstar Ann Coulter. In a column she wrote for National Review Online two days after the September 11 attacks, Coulter suggested that the United States "invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity."

Someone at work handed me a copy of Coulter's infamous 9/11 column after listening to me rant about the attacks and what our response should be. Sitting in front of the television, watching the remains of the World Trade Center burn, I had been telling my fellow lefties that we no longer had a choice: We would have to invade the Middle East, depose absolutely everybody--the Taliban in Afghanistan, Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Saudi royals in Saudi Arabia-- and start all over again. My position was rooted, I felt, in a lefty analysis of September 11:
Our support for tyrants, dictators, and fascist monarchs created the anger and irrationality that led to the attacks. As Bob Kerrey wrote in the Wall Street Journal, "[I]t has been a terrible and tragic mistake for the U.S. to be in favor of freedom every place on earth except in Arab nations."

Against the War--For Now, The West made a mess of the Middle East, and one day the West will have to clean it up. But not today., by Dan Savage (03/13/03)

Elizabeth Smart found alive
Wednesday, March 12, 2003 Posted: 6:11 PM EST (2311 GMT)

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (CNN) -- Salt Lake City police said Wednesday that missing teenager Elizabeth Smart was found alive in a Salt Lake City suburb earlier Wednesday, and her uncle told CNN she has been reunited with her family.

"We just believe in miracles and thank God she's alive," Tom Smart told CNN by telephone.

He said the reunion involved her immediate family.

Sandy City Police Sgt. Michelle Burnette said two people called police with a tip that led them to a certain address.

"Two separate women called in and said they thought they had spotted `Emmanuel,"' she said. Emmanuel's real name is Brian David Mitchell. He is a drifter who had once done work on the Smarts' home.

Elizabeth, now 15, was wearing a wig when she was found, The Associated Press reported.

CNN.com - Elizabeth Smart found alive - Mar. 12, 2003

House cafeterias change names for 'french fries' and 'french toast'
By Sean Loughlin
CNN Washington Bureau
Tuesday, March 11, 2003 Posted: 5:45 PM EST (2245 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The cafeteria menus in the three House office buildings changed the name of "french fries" to "freedom fries," in a culinary rebuke of France stemming from anger over the country's refusal to support the U.S. position on Iraq.

Ditto for "french toast," which will be known as "freedom toast."

CNN.com - House cafeterias change names for 'french fries' and 'french toast' - Mar. 11, 2003

Body blow as human shields ordered out

March 8 2003
By Paul McGeough
Baghdad

The international "human shield" is on the brink of disintegration after some of its leaders - including Australian Gordon Sloan - said they had been ordered to leave Iraq.

Their numbers had been thinning as war becomes imminent, but on Thursday night came predictions that as many as half the 120 remaining "shields" would quit in the wake of a rowdy meeting with a senior Iraqi figure who they claimed had compromised the autonomy of their volunteer organisation.

Body blow as human shields ordered out - theage.com.au

Michelle Malkin:
Send the human shields 'home'

Posted: March 7, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

What color is a human shield? Crayola needs to invent a new hue weaker than lemonade and paler than jaundice: Traitor Yellow.

Showing the cowardice of their deluded convictions, dozens of Americans, Brits, Canadians and Australians who went to Iraq to protect Saddam Hussein's regime with their unshaven, Eddie Bauer-clothed bodies are now fleeing.

When Iraqi Republican Guards tried to move their pampered Western pawns in front of nuclear plants and electricity stations in preparation for impending war, the human shields buckled. Daniel Pepper, a 22-year-old Pennsylvania student, told the London Sunday Telegraph that he was appalled when Saddam's soldiers dispatched him to a yucky oil refinery.

WorldNetDaily: Send the human shields 'home'

] Last month, the Senate convened a hearing on the presumed
] problem of %u201Cpayola%u201D in the radio industry. The
] hearing followed the re-introduction of a bill by Sen.
] Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) to rein in the industry%u2019s
] %u201Cnew pay-for-play system.%u201D The legislation, in
] turn, follows a spate of media attention%u2014from the
] New York Times, ABC%u2019s 20/20, and PBS%u2019s
] Frontline%u2014on payola.

Washington City Paper Cover Story: Same Old Song and Dance

Dear President Bush, I write as a proud American and a resident of one of its many great cities: Seattle. You've probably heard of us; Space Needle, mountains, trees, salmon. Microsoft. When you owned the Texas Rangers baseball club, your team was in the same division as our Mariners. We stunk back then. We hope you remain grateful. Oh, and Boeing sends its deepest love.

Mr. President, I have an enormous favor to ask of you.

Could you bomb us?

Not just once or twice for show; I mean really bomb the city of Seattle, hard, like what you're planning for Baghdad, and probably for Pyongyang and Teheran and Damascas and whatever other 50 or 60 major world cities are on your Pentagon planners' current lists. I mean blast us back to the stone age. Make it hurt. Send us a message.

WorkingForChange-Please bomb Seattle

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, was arrested Saturday in Pakistan.

Pakistan Arrests Alleged 9/11 Mastermind