Also a good front-page Observer piece on the tight control of information by Bush politicos assigned to the Coalition Provisional Authority; no surprise that they deploy "media filters" when it suits them and deplore them when they don't.

It's hard to tell what this week's ahems and handshakes amongst Bremer and the Bush administration mean, but I have to say I get nervous when I hear someone refer to an intent to copy "the Afghanistan model." Is there enough of a there there to emulate? Of course, it's hard to imagine that any action could worsen the Iraq situation in the short run, though at least it was just Italians who died last night. Wait--are they New Europe?

Meanwhile, we can look forward to a semantic debate over what level of U.S. airstrikes return our combat operations to something one could call "major," thus indicating that the "mission" hasn't been "accomplished," whatever the hell they're saying this week it is.