Cursor's Media Patrol: 08/23/05

Iraqi leaders employed "a legal sleight of hand ... claiming they had met their deadline, but granting themselves another extension," as they submitted a constitution under which "no law may contradict" either Islamic or democratic standards.

The Times of London describes the maneuver: "To loud applause, the speaker announced that the deadline had been met. Then to stunned confusion, he dismissed parliament without a vote, calling for three more days of talks."

President Bush mentioned 9/11 five times in a 30-minute speech to the VFW convention "in the conservative bastion of Utah," and Norman Solomon warns that "the Bush administration may ratchet up the Iraq war."

"The time for the press to act, if it ever does, is now," says Editor and Publisher's Greg Mitchell, who notes that even the Dallas Morning News is "taken aback by the disconnect between Mr. Bush's oratory and the situation on the ground in Iraq."

As coverage of 'The "Big Lie" on Bush's Nightstand' "makes you wonder if the mainstream outlets are catching on, finally," a helpful editor suggests '13 Problem-solving Books for George.'

"The issues in the Iraq war are the structure of the Iraqi state, the respect of Iraqi nationalism, the constitutional and legal status of Islam, and the meaning of democracy," writes Olivier Roy, adding that "the terrorists have no interest in any of these issues." Read a review of books about Jihad that includes Roy's "Globalized Islam."

A previously secret group of U.S. and international scientists has reportedly eliminated "the biggest smoking gun that everyone was waving" as proof that Iran was making bomb-grade ingredients in a clandestine weapons program.