More stuff

* What is the significance of the Haditha Massacre? asks Michael Schwartz.

* On Counterpunch, Patrick Cockburn looks behind the Zarqawi myth and Dave Lindorff wonders why the "terror mastermind" was killed.

* Aww, PNAC is shutting down. Apparently, Kristol and the boys have reached their objective: the Republic has been sufficiently dissolved in a vat of militarism.

* For the first time in a few years, crime is up in the US.

* Allegedly, Karl Rove won't be charged for his role in the Plame leak case. This comes as a slight surprise, although a number of people are speculating that he's struck some sort of deal in return for the dropped charges. At this point, who knows.

* SIPRI's published its annual study on global military expenditures. Again, the trend is ever upward, with the US of course firmly in the lead.

* Henry Siegman points out in the Financial Times that the "need" for Hamas to recognize Israel is a major red herring. As he explains, "Israel exists and Hamas’s recognition or non-recognition neither adds to nor detracts from that irrefutable fact. But 40 years after the 1967 war, a Palestinian state does not exist. The politically consequential question, therefore, is whether Israel recognises a Palestinian right to statehood, not the reverse."

* David Peterson runs down the highlights of the recently released report of the Hans Blix-led Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission, which has been banished from any substantial press coverage.

* The problem of domestic abuse in military families is getting worse, reports Catherine Komp of the NewStandard.

* Here's a good interview with Norman Finkelstein.