Just some some crazy footage on CNN. The reports had no explanation about what was going on, so I'll just describe what they showed.

You see a car with a smashed window parked sideways on the street in the middle of a group of protestors in front of The Gap on Market Street.

A guy with a mohawk is taking swings at a number of protestors. A protestor reaches into the car and takes the keys, at which point he is tackled by about five people who proceed to beat and kick him until he gives the keys up. Mohawk guy takes the keys and gets into the driver's seat of the car. After he closes the door protestors proceed to kick the car.

Someone get fed up with the traffic jam and drive into a "blocked" intersection?

I'd be interested in any reports on this footage if they show up.

A good encyclopedic summary of Iraq's history, from Mesopotamia in 4000 BC to modern times, including all the messy power struggles along the way.

History of Iraq - Wikipedia

quoted:

As we shiver in the shadow of war, waiting to be shocked and awed by the malevolent magnificence of militarism in action, some in the antiwar movement are calling for "direct action." What this amounts to is what happened the other day in downtown San Francisco, when about 200 people marched to the Pacific Stock Exchange, and a few dozen of these sat down on the steps, refusing to move, while their brethren disrupted traffic and tied up the downtown area for hours. Why did they do it? Let Warren Langley, former president of the Pacific Stock Exchange, and newly converted to antiwar activism, explain it in his own words:

"It's my history and my lifetime. This war seems very wrong for the entire world. I decided I was willing to do whatever it takes to show a strong stand against it."

Me, me, me, it's all about Me! Langley's narcissism is embarrassingly apparent. Like someone standing there with his fly wide-open, happily unaware, he perfectly embodies the unabashed self-absorption of the "direct action" movement. In nominating themselves for sainthood, the direct-actionists are acting out their personal fantasies on the political stage. In their little morality play they are the stars, moral paragons who, by the sheer power of their goodness and bravery, will shut down the war machine.

This Isn't About You, by Justin Raimondo

] This war, should it come, is intended to mark the
] official emergence of the United States as a full-fledged
] global empire, seizing sole responsibility and authority
] as planetary policeman.

A number of interesting links here. I don't like the AJC, but its NOT a left wing journal.

ajc.com | Opinion | Bush's real goal in Iraq

If you need a laugh during all of this...

The Gulf War Drinking Game

] "This is a very intriguing decision (by Beers)," said
] author and intelligence expert James Bamford. "There is a
] predominant belief in the intelligence community that an
] invasion of Iraq will cause more terrorism than it will
] prevent. There is also a tremendous amount of
] embarrassment by intelligence professionals that there
] have been so many lies out of the administration -- by
] the president, (Vice President Dick) Cheney and
] (Secretary of State Colin) Powell -- over Iraq."

United Press International: Top White House anti-terror boss resigns

] On one extreme is the title of an editorial in the Syrian
] government daily "Teshreen," which characterizes the
] tripartite meeting in the Azores on Sunday as "The Summit
] of the Bloodthirsty." On the other extreme is an
] editorial in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Watan which calls on
] Saddam Hussein to "Leave or You Will be Dragged," a
] reference to a known event in Iraq's modern history when
] its leader's (Nuri Sa'id) corpse was dragged behind a car
] in the streets of Baghdad amongst the enthusiastic cheers
] of the crowds.

Translated excerpts of editorials about the war, pro and con, from daily newspapers in Kuwait, Syria, Libya, Iraq, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt.

MEMRI: '[Saddam] Leave or You Will Be Dragged' - Editorials in the Arab Press

] As one watches protest marches, antiwar advertising and
] local arts events, one has to wonder whether the left has
] really weighed the moral issues posed by the horrors of
] Saddam's regime -- weighed life by life the repression of
] the 24 million Iraqis who live in a ruthless police
] state, not to mention the thousands or tens of thousands
] who have been imprisoned without trial, tortured, exiled
] or killed. It sometimes seems that the left is so averse
] to war, especially war waged by America, that it is
] prepared to turn a blind eye to even the most ghastly
] realities. Perhaps it is because the left no longer sees
] these realities that its antiwar arguments tend to
] justify continuation of the status quo.
]
] That, too, is a form of paralysis. But it is emblematic
] of an evolution in leftist values that has occurred so
] gradually over a period of decades that the profound
] nature of the shift is often not noticed. Today, the
] political counterculture and the antiwar movement in the
] West often seem to be one and the same. Instead of
] fighting fascists or other genocidal tyrants as it might
] have during the Spanish Civil War or World War II or even
] during the Central American conflicts of the 1980s, the
] modern left fights war; because the United States is the
] world's most significant military agent, and because it
] has so often used military power to support
] anti-democratic governments, the left understandably fights the
]United States. Such opposition to war is reflexive, and too often
]outweighs its outrage on behalf of the oppressed. Its capacity for
]the kind of muscular empathy that leads to action has atrophied,
]leaving only the possibility of reaction, of opposition. The
]antiwar left does not mount massive protests against China,
]Pakistan or Egypt. Millions do not pour into the streets on behalf
]of the student-led democracy movement in Iran. And Saddam Hussein
]and Osama bin Laden are not angrily compared to Hitler -- that
]treatment is more often reserved for George W. Bush.

Salon.com | See no evil

Get Your War On; It's a go.

Catch the president at 10:15 ET.

U: OK, so NOW they are talking about how this might take longer then expected???

You've got ... War.

] If the nation escalates to "red alert," which is the
] highest in the color-coded readiness against terror, you
] will be assumed by authorities to be the enemy if you so
] much as venture outside your home, the state's
] anti-terror czar says.

politechbot.com: 'Red alert' means New Jerseyans may not leave their homes