<Such is the scale of information the UN is demanding, Iraqi officials told Mr. Blix's team they may have difficulties meeting the 8 December deadline by which they must submit a detailed report.

Why?

The Iraqis, led by General Husan Amin, asked for "further clarification" of the terms of the US-sponsored UN resolution.

“US-sponsored.” A new media term to get used to. Just their way of saying that nobody else is to blame if it goes awry -- regardless of who actually sponsored the resolution with a vote of yes. It’s like “U.S.-led” for the “global” war of terrorism.

The focus on firing in the no-fly zones – a regular event since they were established after the Gulf War – was seized upon by the Iraqi government as an attempt by the Bush administration to scupper the UN mission.

Utterly hilarious. Iraq fires on U.S./British passive flybys (they really don’t care which), and it’s America’s fault they are fired upon.

An Iraqi Foreign Ministry official said: "This shows it is the Americans who are against the UN inspections, not us. They are trying to find pretexts to stop the mission and bomb us."

Yeah, that’s why America threw them out of Iraq in 1998.

It just keeps getting funnier. The only word available for Hussein’s regime is “bent.”

Well, when a leader is corrupt to the bone, but has no political out, he’ll take any straw.

And the propaganda flies (new species of bug?),
Dan