At The End Of The Day, Bin

And I Think, In The End, That Is The Best Definition Of Journalism I Have Heard; To Challenge Authority - All Authority - Especially So When Governments And Politicians Take Us To War, When They Have Decided That They Will Kill And Others Will Die.

When I Arrived In Beirut From Europe, I Felt The Oppressive, Damp Heat, Saw The Unkempt Palm Trees And Smelt The Arabic Coffee, The Fruit Stalls And The Over-spiced Meat. It Was The Beginning Of The Orient. And When I Flew Back To Beirut From Iran, I Could Pick Up The British Papers, Ask For A Gin And Tonic At Any Bar, Choose A French, Italian, Or German Restaurant For Dinner. It Was The Beginning Of The West. All Things To All People, The Lebanese Rarely Questioned Their Own Identity.

President Bush Will Come Here And There Will Be New "friends" Of America To Open A New Relationship With The World, New Economic Fortunes For Those Who "liberated" Them.

The Dead Cannot Speak. But Hitherto Unknown Information Has Emerged From The Confidential Archives Of The Syrian Presidency And Foreign Ministry, Published In A New Book By Bouthaina Shaaban, Who Spent Ten Years As Hafez's Interpreter And Is Still An Adviser To His Son Bashar.

President Bush Cruelly Manipulated The Grief Of The American People - And The Sympathy Of The Rest Of The World - To Introduce A 'world Order' Dreamed Up By A Clutch Of Fantasists Advising The Secretary Of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld.