Wednesday digest

- Looks like Osama's running short of true believers. Why else would he say that Zacharias Moussaoui and the Gitmo gang are fringe players? Personally, I think this was a foolish attempt by bin Laden to try and cojole the US into releasing them all because he needs the manpower to replenish his ranks. (Not that such a thing would EVER happen, but after watching all those Michael Moore flicks, could you blame the big cheese for taking a shot and thinking that the American public would actually consider an appeal to open the prison gates?)

- Three informative and well-considered articles about Iraq, here,
here and here.

- Despite being in very dire straits financially, Hamas is still refusing to recognize Israel. The risk in the West's approach to Hamas' intransigency is that the lack of resources may cause even more Palestinians to turn to militant, radical Islam and end up as willing suicide bombers as a result. Hopefully Hamas will put a little water in their wine sooner rather than later.

- While Newsweek refers to Hugo Chavez as a populist (actually, he's a warmed-over Marxist, in my view), I'd say the problem with a lot of the countries mentioned in this article can be boiled down to two things: either corruption, not enough capitalism, or sadly, both.

- That Madge, always pushing the envelope. Riiiiight.

- Finally, is there a group in society with a more inflated sense of self-importance than Canada's national press gallery?