A Pentagon plan for invading Iraq, should the new U.N. arms inspection effort fail, calls for a land, sea and air force of up to 250,000 troops. Bush has approved the plan, but not yet directed its implementation.

Gary Hart, whose name has been bandied about as one who possibly is seeking to enter the presidential race sweepstakes, which would be his first attempt at elected office since his failed 1988 bid, had this to say about the invasion of Iraq this week:

"Hart argues that a U.S. invasion of Iraq will likely result in 5,000 to 10,000 American casualties and more Middle East chaos than ever, leaving the homeland even more vulnerable to terrorist attacks. He advocates U.S.-led inspections of Iraq accompanied by powerful international military escorts to ensure compliance and the dismantling of any weapons of mass destruction."

Eric Alterman's new column in the Nation is Bush Lies, Media Swallows. He asks you to ask yourselves, "who is being served when the media allow Bush to lie, repeatedly, with impunity, in order to take the nation into war?" As examples of Bush's lies, Eric points to these:

"Most particularly he has consistently lied about Iraq's nuclear capabilities as well as its missile-delivery capabilities. .... To cite just two particularly egregious examples, Bush tried to frighten Americans by claiming that Iraq possesses a fleet of unmanned aircraft that could be used "for missions targeting the United States." Previously he insisted that a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency revealed the Iraqis to be "six months away from developing a weapon." Both of these statements are false, but they are working. Nearly three-quarters of Americans surveyed think that Saddam is currently helping Al Qaeda; 71 percent think it is likely he was personally involved in the 9/11 attacks."

European Anti - War protestors streamed through Florence earlier today.

"More than 450,000 anti-war protesters from across Europe marched through this Italian Renaissance city on Saturday, denouncing any U.S. plans to attack Iraq."

"Fired with anti-American sentiment and angered by a tough new U.N. resolution to disarm Iraq, European activists joined forces in a carnival atmosphere and marched together singing Communist anthems and blowing shrill whistles. ``Take your war and go to hell,'' one of the colorful banners read. ``No to war,'' said another."

"The rally marked the climax of the first European Social Forum, which brought together anti-globalisation campaigners from across the continent for four days of talks and concerts."

"Authorities estimated more than 450,000 protesters were on the streets, and people were still streaming in from a fleet of buses and trains hired for the occasion. Organizers said the crowd could swell to more than a million people, making it one of the biggest rallies ever seen in Italy."

``The atmosphere here is wonderful. Absolutely perfect. It shows that a new young left is emerging,'' said Stavos Valsamis, a 27-year-old Greek activist from Athens."

We hope so.

We like Matt Yglesias' definition of a "chickenhawk" :

"One shouldn't advocate that your country go fight a war that you're not willing to fight in. If you told me, for example, that in order to invade Iraq successfully we were going to need to implement a draft and send fine young men such as Matthew Yglesias into combat, you can bet I'd start using my newfound free time to organize anti-war rallies. It's obviously a little hard to apply this line of thought to people outside a very narrow age-range, but since starting sometime in the early 1960s our country fought a very, very long war in Vietnam, we have a lot of historical examples of people's behavior we can look at. And we can see that Bush, Cheney, and many others in his administration failed it. They're "chickenhawks" because they supported that war, just not enough to actually go fight in it. That behavior, a willingness to sacrifice the lives of others for goals you recognize as not worth risking your own life over, is indicative of a reckless and immoral attitude toward war and peace in general, and that is a very legitimate issue to raise in this whole Iraq debate."

Here's a recap of Saturday's anti-war protests :

"Tens of thousands of anti-war protesters circled the White House on Saturday after Jesse Jackson and other speakers denounced the Bush administration's Iraq policies and demanded a revolt at the ballot box to promote peace. The protest coincided with anti-war demonstrations from Augusta, Maine, to San Francisco and abroad from Rome and Berlin to Tokyo to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Mexico City."

Protest organizers said 20,000 people showed up to protest in Washington and they stretched five blocks from the White House. Other media organizations have put the number between 80,000 and 100,000.

On the international scene, "In Berlin, an estimated 8,000 people, brandishing placards that declared "War on the imperialist war," converged on the downtown Alexanderplatz and marched past the German Foreign Ministry. Another 1,500 showed up in Frankfurt, 500 in Hamburg. Another 1,500 rain-soaked demonstrators gathered under umbrellas outside the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark. More than 1,000 marched in Stockholm, Sweden. "

If you've been wondering where Attorney General John Ashcroft has been lately, we have the answer, thanks to Buzzflash: On a tour of Japan, China and Hong Kong.

Ascroft is due in Beijing Wednesday (which is Tuesday, or today here). He is scheduled to annouce the opening of a Beijing FBI office on Thursday.

The tour is part of a joint anti-terrorism and crime-fighting drive between Washington and Beijing. Ascroft first stopped in Tokyo and will be going on to Hong Kong after Beijing.

It's not known who he's meeting with in Beijing, but it isn't Chinese President Jiang Zemin who left China Tuesday for Bush's Texas ranch.

After his meetings and speech in Tokyo, Ashcroft said Washington and Tokyo were "making progress in negotiating a treaty to hasten the exchange of information in legal cases, including the prosecution of terrorists." The treaty he is referring to is The Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT). According to Agence France Presse, it would allow US and Japanese authorities to pool information in criminal investigations without having to go through the normal diplomatic channels.

The treaty would be a first for Japan. Ashcroft said we already have such agreements with 40 countries.

Activist-Actor Tim Robbins addressed the protesters of the War on Iraq in New York's Central Park a few weeks ago. The text of his comments, directed against fundamentalism, both here and abroad, are online over at the Nation.

One paragraph stood out to us in particlar:

"I do not like fundamentalism of any kind. Any movement that connects violence with God loses me, whether it's the murder of a doctor at an abortion clinic or the murder of busboys, firemen or businessmen in the World Trade Center. Radical fundamentalism at its core hates all the things I love: art, free expression, music, independent women, theater, good movies. We must be very wise in the way we frame our argument and how we proceed as we resist this new war."

Robbins goes on to discuss fundamentalism in our government and his belief that the war on Iraq is about business and oil, and about "distracting American attention from Enron and Halliburton, the financial scandals that directly connect this Administration to the heart of what is now wrong with the American economy."

We thought he was going somewhere else after the quoted paragraph. And since he didn't really go there, we will. We keep hearing people discuss the "religious right" and the "Christian right." There is nothing religious or holy or even Christian about these groups' political beliefs. By using these terms to refer to them, we endow them with a legitimacy to which they are not entitled. We would like to prevent them from connecting their radical political beliefs to religion.

Several years ago, we joined with other liberal groups in requesting people to stop referring to ultra-right wing fundamentalists as the Christian Right or Religious Right, and begin calling them what what they really are: "The Radical Right."

"Radical" does not convey a positive image to most Americans. Be it right or left, radicals are considered extremists and dangerous. Which is how we view, and want the public to view, right wing fundamentalists in this country.

Robbins is right that we have to be careful how we frame the argument. Since there is nothing religious about the "Christian Right," we hope to lessen their legitimacy in the eyes of the public by ceasing to use positive religious terms to describe or refer to them.

As to the fundamentalists who call themselves Islamic, we suggest we refrain from describing them as "Muslim" or "Islamic" and simply call them what they are, "radical fundamentalists."

Don't forget to go read Tim Robbins.

The Washington Post finds the President enhances his facts and stretches the truth in his arguments for a War on Iraq.

Missing Canadian Maher Arar has been located in Syria.

"The Foreign Affairs Department said Monday that it had just been informed by the Syrian government that Maher Arar had arrived from neighbouring Jordan. Spokeswoman Isabelle Savard said Canadian embassy officials were trying to meet with Mr. Arar, who works as a consultant in Ottawa. "She said she didn't know if he was under arrest and she had no details of when he left the U.S. or how he was sent to the Mideast."

"Canadian officials have said Mr. Arar was deported without benefit of a lawyer. The lawyer chosen by Mr. Arar on the advice of Canadian consular representatives didn't show up for the dual Syrian-Canadian citizen's immigration hearing Oct. 7 in New York, an official said last week."

"Normally, a U.S. immigration court would deport a foreign citizen back to his last point of departure — in this case Zurich — but Mr. Arar was ordered sent to Syria. Mr. Arar's supporters in Canada have said he could face severe punishment in Syria because he avoided compulsory military service before leaving the country for Canada as a teenager."

"New U.S. laws permit officials to detain Canadian citizens born in Syria and several other Middle Eastern countries, forcing them to provide fingerprints, be photographed and fill out a form detailing their travel plans. Canada says the law is discriminatory."

Arar came to Canada in 1987 and was naturalized in 1991. He was arrested at JFK sometime last month and wad only been allowed one phone call to his family on October 3. The family called the counsulate and an immigration lawyer in New York, who met with Arar on October 5. The immigration lawyer relates that Arar was "confused, scared and emotional" and that he told her "he was interrogated for several hours by U.S. immigration officials and FBI investigators, and refused to sign an agreement to be deported to Syria."

In case you missed our recent posts with the history of Mr. Arar's (to us) gross mistreatment by the U.S., go here and here.

Thanks to Damn Foreigner for leading us to the Globe article and for his clear explanation of the facts.

A large anti-war rally is planned for Washington, D.C. this coming weekend. The protest will coincide with others in San Francisco, London and Tokyo.

The march starts at 11 a.m. Saturday at Constitution Gardens, adjacent to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial near Constitution Avenue and 21st Street NW. It concludes at the White House. Speakers include Jesse L. Jackson, Al Sharpton, former attorney general Ramsey Clark and others, including singer Patti Smith.

"The aim is to get attention. Some protesters are planning to take off their shirts to protest President Bush's taking "the shirts off our backs" to pay for the war."

"Protesters believe that the Bush administration has manufactured a rush to war without sufficient cause and that the nation's foreign relations strategy is being driven by imperialistic impulses that infringe on the rights of other people. They said that a war on Iraq would hurt the Iraqi people more than it would hurt the Iraqi president."

While other rallies have been held around the country protesting the war, none have come close to matching one in London held Sept. 28 which drew 200,000 people. The organizers of the Washington march hope to match that number.

More than 250 buses will be arriving with protesters, about half from campuses around the country. One student activist said, "When you flood the streets in masses, you can't ignore the message. You have to see that people don't want this war."

Liberal Oasis is on top of the "Why Iraq and not Korea" question.

Saddam Hussein has pardoned all political prisoners in Iraq.

"Iraq began freeing political prisoners under an unprecedented amnesty by President Saddam Hussein Sunday in a move seen as an attempt to rally Iraqis behind his leadership against a possible U.S. attack."

"The amnesty, following Saddam's 100 percent victory in an uncontested election last week, was extended to Arab prisoners, including Kuwaitis, as well as most inmates held for criminal convictions, officials said."

"Relatives, some carrying large pictures of Saddam, flocked to jails in and around the capital to await the release of loved ones. "With our blood and souls we redeem you Saddam," prisoners chanted as they were freed. Overjoyed detainees danced and sang songs praising Saddam."