Since the weekend

* The Daily Star reports on the massive anti-Syrian demonstration in Beirut yesterday, where nearly one million demonstrators from across Lebanon jammed Martyrs' Square "to hear opposition leaders demand the sacking of Lebanon's top security chiefs, a total Syrian pullout, and an independent investigation into Hariri's murder." Pictures from the scene, here and here. Also see a timeline on Hariri's assassination, one month on.

* According to Robert Fisk, the UN's special investigation into the Hariri killing has found that the Lebanese are covering up evidence and President Bush is going to announce tomorrow that Syrian intelligence was involved in the bombing.

* "Despite conspiracy theories and grim assessments to the contrary," Laurie King-Irani writes, "something new, amazing, and precious is indeed being born in Lebanon: an indigenous, responsive, truly plural form of democracy that is not Made in the USA, but forged out of a long and difficult Arab experience. Apparently, many thought this would be a Caesarian delivery under strong anaesthia. Wrong: it will be a painful, protracted, and loud labor and birth. Although considerable debate is now heard inside and outside Lebanon about this baby's parentage, ideological DNA tests do not indicate that George W. Bush is the father."

* Onward to Iran? The London Times reports that "Israel has drawn up secret plans for a combined air and ground attack on targets in Iran if diplomacy fails to halt the Iranian nuclear programme." And, in a follow-up story, the Times relays that, while being "publicly committed" to the recently announced diplomatic efforts of the US and EU, Israeli officials "say the 'point of no return' will come later this year when they calculate Iran will be in a position to start processing uranium. They say Ariel Sharon’s inner cabinet has decided to act alone if the impasse has not been broken."

* Meanwhile, Iran has rejected the recent American overtures, dismissing them as "bribes" and "threats." In related news, US carrier groups are reportedly converging in the Mid East.

* Regarding the upcoming two-year anniversary of the Iraq invasion, Geov Parrish writes, "People in Iraq need to know that people in the U.S. oppose this war. That, as much as any changing of Bush Administration minds, is why the demonstrations scheduled across the country [this] weekend are so important. Go. Make your voice heard. Remember that war is not an abstract game. Remember that democracy cannot be installed at the barrel of a gun. Remember that this country belongs to us -- not to a tiny neocon cabal."

* Much to Byron York's chagrin, the NY Times follows up on its story about Al Qaqaa. Recent statements by Iraqi officials confirm that, following the fall of Baghdad, "looters systematically dismantled and removed tons of machinery from Saddam Hussein's most important weapons installations, including some with high-precision equipment capable of making parts for nuclear arms," in what was a "highly organized operation" that "pinpointed specific plants in search of valuable equipment, some of which could be used for both military and civilian applications."

* David Peterson asks, again: "Why do you suppose the American and British governments pay so little attention to how many Iraqis they are killing?"

* Asked to provide an update on Fallujah, Juan Cole is "sorry to say that there is no Fallujah to update. The city appears to be in ruins and perhaps uninhabitable in the near future. Of 300,000 residents, only about 9,000 seem to have returned, and apparently some of those are living in tents above the ruins of their homes. The rest of the Fallujans are scattered in refugee camps of hastily erected tents at several sites, including one near Habbaniyyah, or are staying with relatives in other cities, including Baghdad."

* Following up on the Scripps Howard investigation of a few months ago, Newsweek has discerned that, "as of last week 1,043 American children had lost a parent in Iraq. To put it another way, nearly two years after the invasion on March 19, 2003, among the 1,508 American troops who have died as of March 11 were an estimated 450 fathers, and 7 mothers."

* Hey, did you know children were held and abused at Abu Ghraib and that two detainees were tortured to death in 2002 at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan? If you missed these stories the first time around, you're in luck. They're being treated as "new" news, although, to be fair, the recent reports do flesh out a few details that were previously unknown.

* Teresa Whitehurst wryly notes, "You'd have to be crazy to disagree with the U.S. military." Literally.

* "Under the Bush administration," the NY Times reports, "the federal government has aggressively used a well-established tool of public relations: the prepackaged, ready-to-serve news report that major corporations have long distributed to TV stations to pitch everything from headache remedies to auto insurance. In all, at least 20 federal agencies, including the Defense Department and the Census Bureau, have made and distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past four years, records and interviews show. Many were subsequently broadcast on local stations across the country without any acknowledgement of the government's role in their production." Critical Montages has more on this.

* E&P summarizes some of the findings of the PEJ's "State of the American News Media 2005" study.