For those, like me, suffering from Rumsfeld fatigue, who just can't get interested in the latest twists and turns of the Bush administration's consequentialist explanations no matter how important it is to keep track of the lengths to which the truth was stretched to justify war, here is some light comic relief: an academic paper by one Dr. Michael E. Salla, entitled An Exopolitical Perspective on the Preemptive War against Iraq:

In conducting this analysis, this study examines the available evidence of an historical ET presence  in Iraq, and then applies this evidence to better understand the contemporary political situation in Iraq. The study will then analyze the motivations of the main political actors in the prospective                US led preemptive war against Iraq. The study concludes by making                some policy recommendations concerning how to respond to the legacy              of an ET presence in Iraq and its contemporary political relevance.

He concludes:

This  paper suggests that the best mechanism for responding to the existence  of ancient ET technology in the ancient Sumerian capital of Uruk and/or  elsewhere, is a willingness by major world governments and associated  clandestine organizations to share information and control over these  ET assets. A preemptive war conducted largely for the control of a  'Stargate' in Uruk which pits the US and its allies, against an Iraq  which is tacitly supported by key European nations, could be calamitous  if indeed the 'prophesied return' signified an actual physical event  involving the ancient ET race that played a role in the start of human  civilization. Competing clandestine government organizations struggling  through a proxy war over the control of ancient ET technology in order  to prepare for those events corresponding to the 'prophesied return  of the gods', would hardly send the best example of a mature humanity  responsible enough to continue to exercise sovereignty over the Earth's  resources. The Columbia Space Shuttle may well have been a high profile  victim of such a proxy war intended to send a message to US based  clandestine organizations over the preemptive war against Iraq. Human  sovereignty may therefore be at stake at the very time where there  exists an opportunity for a rapid movement forward in the evolutionary  growth of human consciousness. It is up to all humanity to decide  how we respond to the challenge posed by clandestine organizations  struggling over Iraq's historic resources to further their respective  secret agendas.

This makes as least as much sense as what's said at White House Press conferences these days, much which seems to come from Mars.

(Via Just As I Thought.)