Around six days ago the phone lines of the Iraqi air defense units were “attacked”. When you picked up the phone in some of the command units you didn’t get a dial tone but a male voice speaking in broken Arabic. What it said is close to what the infamous email said, don’t use chemical or biological weapons, don’t offer resistance, and don’t obey commands to attack civilian areas and so on.

...clambering into a UN inspector’s jeep on January 25 clutching a notebook and screaming “Save me! Save me!” in Arabic. A UN inspector sat motionless in the front seat as Iraqi guards pulled the 29-year-old man out of the car and carried him away by his arms and legs.

Powell said something else that was even more important: "I think there is also the possibility that success could fundamentally reshape that region in a powerful, positive way that will enhance U.S. interests, especially if in the aftermath of such a conflict, we are also able to achieve progress on Middle East peace." With this statement, Powell, in effect, flipped the most critical card in the deck. The administration has been consistent in defining the war as being about weapons and al Qaeda. For the first time, there has been a public admission that the war is about redefining the region in order that it might better serve American interests. In short, the war is about geopolitical and strategic interests...