History repeats itself

Daniel Ellsberg, he of Pentagon Papers fame, reflects on last week's speech by George W. Bush on Iraq. His conclusion?

"President Bush's explanation Tuesday night for staying the course in Iraq evoked in me a sense of familiarity, but not nostalgia. I had heard virtually all of his themes before, almost word for word, in speeches delivered by three presidents I worked for: John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon. Not with pride, I recognized that I had proposed some of those very words myself."

Dahr Jamail, meanwhile, one of the truly independent journalists writing about Iraq, reveals American attempts to censor his work in Turkish newspapers. It was the "wrong news", the former American consulate, Eric Edelman, told the country's Prime Minister. Writings by Robert Fisk and Naomi Klein were similarly smeared, though not banned.