Shortly before the police came to al Arabiya's offices, Jalal Talabani cautioned journalists not to engage in \"incitement,\" saying the Governing Council would go after any media outlet -- \"even the BBC, if they encourage incitement.\" Qubad Talabani added CNN to the non-exempt list.

The Iraqis will be running their own country by June 2004....As the saying goes, if you believe this, then there's a bridge I know of that's for sale.

This latest pronouncement from the Bush administration regarding the situation in Iraq... illustrates to the world that the US continues to operate on the assumption that the Iraqi people are either stupid or naive. I... After all, even a cursory glance of history shows that the US is extremely unlikely (like it ain't gonna' happen) to allow a truly independent Iraq to exist any time soon. Those headlines about Iraqi transfer of power are just one more strand in the web of deception that Washington has spun to maintain its war over there.