I forgot to mention yesterday that Bjorn Staerk has maintained the tradition he started last year. I hope Alex Beam is reading.

Note that this story was written on the same day as the final push to Baghdad begins.

Three possibilities:

1) The story is bogus;

2) Russian intelligence is lousy;

3) the Russians are feeding the Iraqis deliberate disinformation, for reasons on which one can only speculate.

I decided to tot up the tally. Since 1940, the media have predicted seven out of the last one quagmires.

Look, I’m glad the POW was rescued, but am I the only one that thought this was vastly overblown as “big news” and “good news,” worth waking up reporters at 3 AM to announce? I was expecting Saddam’s surrender, or the fall of Basra, or even the release of all the POWs.

The fact that they only got the one back makes me feel all the worse for those still in captivity. And that includes the Iraqis that Saddam continues to hold hostage as a nation.

[Update a few minutes later]

It was Jessica Lynch. That is great, particularly since her status was unknown, but it’s still sad that she’s the only one.

Here’s a more expansive story on the Baghdad Peter saga.

NBC really didn’t want to have to can him.

Another NBC executive said that Mr. Shapiro had hoped that the Iraqis pressured Mr. Arnett in the interview and that he would say, “There was a guy behind this orange curtain with an AK-47.”

He couldn’t oblige them, though.

But during a phone call, Mr. Arnett told Mr. Shapiro that he felt no such pressure, a spokeswoman said.

Here’s my favorite part:

He complained: “The right-wing media and politicians are looking for any opportunity to be critical of the reporters who are here,” Mr. Arnett writes in the column called “This War Is Not Working.” “I made the misjudgment which gave them the opportunity to do so.”

He also wrote, “I’ll never stop reporting on the truth of this war.”

I believe you, Petie. It’s hard to stop something you’ve never started.

Japanese videogame makers are staging a futile effort to prevent hackers from coming up with patches to remove the clothing from CGI-generated female beach volleyball players. Apparently there are already such things for a nude version of Tomb Raider, with Lara Croft in the buff.

Seems like an oxymoronic use of the word “patch.”

Japanese videogame makers are staging a futile effort to prevent hackers from coming up with patches to remove the clothing from CGI-generated female beach volleyball players. Apparently there are already such things for a nude version of Tomb Raider, with Lara Croft in the buff.

Seems like an oxymoronic use of the word “patch.”

Japanese videogame makers are staging a futile effort to prevent hackers from coming up with patches to remove the clothing from CGI-generated female beach volleyball players. Apparently there are already such things for a nude version of Tomb Raider, with Lara Croft in the buff.

Seems like an oxymoronic use of the word “patch.”

The foreign minister of that mighty world military power, Belgium, says that US war planners “lack professionalism.”

Right. Next time we have to put together a plan for being a doormat to the Germans on their way to France, we’ll be sure to give the pros a call.

Perhaps we should aspire to a “professional” standard that allows thousands of Rwandans to be hacked to death with machetes while we stand by and watch.

In related news, the French foreign minister accused us of arrogance, and poor hygiene.

The DEA is finally going to quite wasting taxpayers’ money on those stupid drugs and terrorism ads.

I think they know they were getting laughed off the air.