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DrudgeReport.com

• Vatican Expresses ‘Deep Pain’

• 1,000 Demonstrators Arrested in San Francisco, More Elsewhere

• San Francisco Demonstrators Stage ‘Vomit In”

• Protestor Hanging Banner on Golden Gate Bridge Falls to Death

• Walter Cronkite Attacks War, Praises Jimmy Carter

• Boycott the Oscars

• National Guard Unit Assigned to Oscars Ceremony

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• Large Numbers of Iraqi Troops Are Expected to Surrender

• Delta Force Looking for Saddam

• Senator Robert Byrd Expresses “Anti-war” Sentiments

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Vatican: 'Deep Pain'...

This article doesn’t have the term “just war.” It looks like the Vatican is trying to ride the fence.

The Vatican expressed "deep pain" Thursday over the start of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, faulting both sides for failing to find a peaceful solution.

Pope John Paul II dedicated a dawn Mass in his private chapel to peace.

Later, the Vatican said it "lamented" the Iraqi's government failure to accept U.N. demands to disarm, noting the pope had appealed for compliance.

But the Vatican also said it "deplored" the interruption of negotiations for a peaceful solution.

PROTEST CREATES GRIDLOCK ON S.F. STREETS...

SHOCK AND HURL: San Francisco protesters stage a 'vomit in'...

In a unique form of opposition, some protesters at the Federal Building staged a "vomit in,'' by heaving on the sidewalks and plaza areas in the back and front of the building to show that the war in Iraq made them sick, according to a spokesman.

Many of the approximately 300 protesters demonstrating at the building at 450 Golden Gate Ave. attempted to block building entrances.

Seven anti-war demonstrators were arrested at mid-morning as they sought to block a group of about 20 federal employees and other visitors seeking to enter the building, Department of Homeland Security spokesman Ron Rogers said.

Rogers said all seven were charged with creating a disturbance and two were additionally charged with resisting arrest.

Protester Dies in Golden Gate Bridge Fall...

A man protesting the looming U.S. war on Iraq fell to his death from San Francisco's famed Golden Gate Bridge on Wednesday as he was hanging a banner, officials said.

CRONKITE: PRESS NOT PARTISAN; RIPS BUSH 'ARROGANCE'; CARTER 'SMARTEST'

• Cronkite played a major role in winning the Vietnam War—for the Vietnamese Communists.

• “The most trusted man in America” stopped reminding his viewers that the purpose of the war was to stop the Communists.

• The current operation to disarm Saddam can be tied to Carter’s Leftist policy to allow the Shah of Iran to fall.

• When the Shah fell, Iraq attacked Iran, starting a 10-year war that cost a million lives.

• The Islamic Republic that replaced the Shah was far more oppressive and made Iran a terror-sponsoring state.

The "most trusted man in America," retired CBS Evening News anchor Walter Cronkite, put aside his journalistic impartiality Tuesday night and issued a blistering dissent to President Bush's decision to wage war with Iraq.

At a Drew University forum, Cronkite said he feared the war would not go smoothly, ripped the "arrogance" of Bush and his administration and wondered whether the new U.S. doctrine of "pre-emptive war" might lead to unintended, dire consequences.

The 4-month-old Hollywood anti-war group, Artists United To Win Without War, isn't proposing an Oscars boycott. But it's vowing to keep its activism going.

The Weekly has learned that Artists United will be distributing its own lapel pin — a peace symbol inside a circle — to be worn at the Academy Awards. Dustin Hoffman, Ben Affleck and Julianne Moore are among those already committed to wear it.

"All of us support the soldiers so much we want them to come home," says one of the spokesmen, actor Mike Farrell (M*A*S*H). "We continue to believe the war is wrongly imposed, inappropriate and unnecessary. Having said that, we understand the duty of people in uniform is to obey their commander in chief. So we support the troops — in spite of the fact we believe the commander in chief to be wrong."

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Soon Artists United's membership expanded to 50, then 75, then 100, now even more. Its opponents argued that all this star wattage seemed childish, at best churlish. But they took notice when the actors' fortunes paid for newspaper pages and TV spots opposing a strike on Iraq, and their fame provided invitations to speak at anti-war rallies. Then cable called on Sean Penn, Jessica Lange and Janeane Garofalo — who came up with the Zeitgeist-iest zinger: "I would much rather they talk to Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn, who certainly know a lot more than I do, but I have access to the media."

People, Us and MTV led the glam clan clamoring for interviews with Young Artists United founders Jake Gyllenhaal, his girlfriend Kirsten Dunst and his sister Maggie, whose anti-war Sundance Film Festival chatter led to talk-radio comparisons to Jane Fonda.

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At the Grammys, musicians were warned to keep their mouths shut about politics, so Sheryl Crow had to content herself with a "No War" guitar strap. But this is the Academy Awards, where a long line of bigmouths have had their say on big issues, from Susan Sarandon (Haiti) to Richard Gere (Tibet) to Sacheen Littlefeather (Native Americans). And this is the sector of show biz that generates the most buzz.

National Guard in at Oscars, Will Smith Out; Some to Wear Peace Pins...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The state of California on Thursday assigned a National Guard unit to protect the Oscars, but at least one prominent star withdrew from the ceremonies, saying now was not the time to celebrate.

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Artists United to Win Without War -- a group of more than 130 celebrities who have campaigned against war -- has produced a special peace pin for the event. Artists including Dustin Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Jim Carrey, Ben Affleck, Michael Moore and Kirsten Dunst have agreed to wear it on awards night.

REPORT: Two-thirds of Iraq's conscript army are ready to surrender without a fight, according to US military sources in Kuwait...

Two-thirds of Iraq's conscript army are ready to surrender without a fight, according to US military sources in Kuwait.

PAPER: Delta Force on urgent mission to kill Saddam...

ELITE teams of US Delta Force commandos who have been inside Iraq for weeks are preparing to descend on Baghdad with the objective of capturing or killing President Saddam Hussein, US defence officials said yesterday.

Small, highly mobile units picked from the US Army’s most revered and secretive fighting force have been assigned a key mission of the war: to hunt down Saddam, his two sons and at least a “dirty dozen” of Iraq’s top military and civilian leaders.

The Delta Force, the US equivalent of the British SAS, has 306 men. It has been training for several years with the CIA for the specific mission of hunting down the Iraqi leader, officials said.

Sen. Robert Byrd: 'Today I Weep for My Country'...

"Today I weep for my country," said West Virginia Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd. "No more is the image of America one of strong, yet benevolent peacekeeper. ... Around the globe, our friends mistrust us, our word is disputed, our intentions are questioned.

"We flaunt our superpower status with arrogance," Byrd said, adding: "After war has ended the United States will have to rebuild much more than the country of Iraq. We will have to rebuild America's image around the globe."

Byrd, a leading foe on Capitol Hill of war with Iraq, spoke in a nearly empty Senate chamber about four hours before Bush's 8 p.m. EST deadline for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq or face a U.S.-led invasion.

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 OpinionJournal.com

• Dixie Chicks Learn Not to Mess With Texas

• Punish French With Green Cards

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After months of listening to Sheryl Crow, Martin Sheen and an army of second-rate poets bash President Bush and the war--with nary a peep of protest from fans--you might assume Americans no longer have the resolve to unite and tell their stars to shut up. Then again, you might not be a country music fan.

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It's no coincidence, for instance, that the first and biggest hit about 9/11 came from country music star Alan Jackson. Mr. Jackson won a Grammy for the emotional tribute, called "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)." It's also no surprise that as the Dixie Chicks were face planting, the country song soaring was Darryl Worley's "Have You Forgotten?" The unabashedly pro-war song isn't even for sale yet but is already No. 9 on the charts and climbing.

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She figured wrong. If the Dixie Chicks want the concert money and CD sales to keep churning out hits, they need their country base. And that base, while it may be willing to listen to "new country," still demands that its stars carry "old values."

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The Dixie Chicks have the right to say what they want. And fans have the right to never buy their CDs, go to their concerts or listen to them on the radio. That's called living in a free society. The Chicks are learning that the hard way.

There's a better way to punish France. It's time to use immigration laws as an instrument of foreign policy, and Rep. David Dreier (R., Calif.), a respected internationalist who chairs the House Rules Committee, may introduce legislation to that effect.

Traditional responses to countries with which we are unhappy but not at war, such as raising tariff barriers to their goods, hurt U.S. consumers and violate our own goal of freeing world trade. Sweet reason and visits from a parade of U.S. diplomats clearly haven't produced results. France's desire to humiliate America, along with its longstanding business interests in Iraq--and perhaps fear of what a successful invasion will uncover about French companies and officials in that country's archives--loom larger in Paris's decision making. So perhaps it's time to consider using the immigration lever. The U.S. could creatively use its dynamic culture and economy to get the French and others to consider the costs of their actions.

By slightly loosening immigration rules, we could punish France by allowing more of its talented citizens into America. Immigration policy also could be used to open up trade in computers and medical technology and even help toughen patent and trademark protections.

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FrontPageMag.com

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Using two dozen reporters to cover the Augusta National Golf Club story sounds like gross overkill.

It sure sounds like Knut Hamsun was one of Quisling’s boys.

It became clear the nation was finally going to war with Iraq this week when the New York Times pulled two dozen reporters off the Augusta National Golf Club story. In a speech to the nation on Monday night, President Bush gave Saddam Hussein 48 hours to get out of Baghdad, warning that the American military was poised to remove him forcibly.

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Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said: "I'm saddened, saddened that this president failed so miserably at diplomacy that we're now forced to war. Saddened that we have to give up one life because this president couldn't create the kind of diplomatic effort that was so critical for our country." Mostly, the Democrats were saddened that America was about to win a war.

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There was no more eloquent testimony to what liberals mean by "American arrogance" than an article in the March 10 New Yorker, which nonchalantly quoted a Nazi in support of the proposition that Americans are jingoistic, imperialist rednecks. Amid page after gleeful page of European venom toward Americans, Columbia University professor Simon Schama quoted the anti-American bile of Norwegian writer and renowned Nazi-sympathizer Knut Hamsun.

Schama admiringly cited Hamsun's contempt for American boosterism, neglecting to mention that Hamsun went for Hitler boosterism in a big way. Beginning in the early '30s and until his death in 1952, Hamsun was absolutely smitten with Adolf Hitler. He exchanged gifts and telegrams with Goebbels and Hitler. Indeed, so enamored of Joseph Goebbels was he, that Hamsun gave Goebbels his own Nobel Prize medal.

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FrontPage

With the impending military action in Iraq I felt compelled to write this letter. As a member of the United States military I regret to inform you that, regardless of your race, sex, color, creed, age, national origin, political ideology, or any other delimiter, the actions that will take place against Iraq will be fully, undeniably, and irrevocably IN YOUR NAME. Despite of your signature on a piece of paper, this statement remains true.

Delegates to the Democratic state convention in Sacramento last weekend hooted any presidential aspirant who seemed pro-war: like Connecticut Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.

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The Democratic Party tore itself apart over Vietnam. It was a rotten war, and the protesters' cause was right.

But the party bloodletting elected Republican Richard Nixon president.

Democratic activists not only booed Nixon's 1968 Democratic opponent, Hubert Humphrey, "they sabotaged him in California," recalls Humphrey advisor Joe Cerrell. "That whole left crowd led by [then-Assembly Speaker Jesse] Unruh."

The Democrats' 1972 antiwar candidate, Sen. George McGovern, was trounced in a landslide -- nationally and in California.

"For 30 years, Americans have been suspicious of our party's commitment to national security," notes Democratic strategist Garry South.

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If the Green candidate, Ralph Nader, hadn't picked up 97,000-plus votes in Florida, Democrat Al Gore would have carried the state instead of losing by only 500-plus. He'd be sitting in the Oval Office and we wouldn't be having this debate.

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