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Fact of the Week

**Fact of the Week**
What is it about Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and in-depth discussions? On 4 February, in an interview with Jim Lehrer of PBS, he likened the planned overhaul of American miltary forces to "when the Germans transformed their armed forces into the Blitzkrieg." For one thing, the German Army and Nazism were intertwined, so comparing any American institution to the Blitzkrieg is insensitive at best. For another, even putting any sensitivities aside, despite the vast power of the German Army in 1940, the Germans lost! In October, he told Wolf Blitzer of CNN that the United States would not rule out using nuclear weapons in Afghanistan. Thanks to the State of the Union address, we know now that our leaders distrust Iran, Iraq, and North Korea because of their weapons of mass destruction: yet none of these countries has "refused to rule out" nuclear weapons against its enemies. Sources: Newshour with Jim Lehrer, 4 February 2002; Department of Defense Transcript, 28 October 2001.

Armed to the Teeth: Is the American military too powerful for its own good? (Peter Beaumont and Ed Vulliamy, London Observer).
The Bottleneck: Humanity needs a universal environmental ethic to avoid wrecking the planet (Edward Wilson, Scientific American).
Scandal of Scientists Who Take Money for Papers Ghostwritten by Drug Companies: Doctors named as authors may not have seen raw data (Sarah Boseley, The Guardian).
Bush's Executive-Privilege Two-Step: He releases presidential documents, but only when they make Clinton look bad (Joshua Micah Marshall, Salon.com).
Axis Me No More Questions...: The State of the Union speech was entirely incoherent, but that's not what the pundits tell us (Eric Alterman, The Nation).
Money-Grubbing Games: The Bush administration continues to shortchange New York City on the money it promised (Paul Krugman, New York Times).
Binge at the Pentagon: Strengthening national security should not mean giving the military and its contractors everything they want (New York Times via International Herald-Tribune).
Patten Lays into Bush's America: A top European Union official railed against American unilateralism (Jonathan Freedland, The Guardian).

"Bear left!"/"Right, Frog!" (Kermit and Fozzie, The Muppet Movie)

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