The Washington Post has a piece describing the overwhelming support for a multilateral approach to the war in Iraq, even in traditionally hawkish districts.

On the front page of the Washington Post this morning, somewhat surprising news that Arab leaders, grudgingly, are either supporting US action or willing to not stand in the way. This was foreshadowed by the testimony of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's testimony to the Armed Services Committee late last week.

The Washington Post is reporting that lawmakers are asking the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office for an estimate of the cost of war in Iraq. The Bush administration had floated numbers between $40 billion and $200 billion, but in his testimony to the Armed Services Committee last week, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld refused to commit to any specific numbers. Lawmakers are getting frustrated with the lack of specific estimates, and WaPo cites unnamed Congressional staff and military experts as being skeptical of any estimates when there are so few specifics to work with. Reconstruction of Iraq, on the other hand, has been estimated at $16 billion a year, and could be completely funded with the sale of seized Iraqi oil.

In a strangely timed announcement, amidst the accusations of biological weapons programs in Iraq, the Bush Administration told its allies that it would delay work on a Biological Weapons Convention until 2006, reports the Washington Post.

New York Times has an interesting piece about the dovish wing of the Democratic caucus -- two dozen strong. They all agree that Gephardt isn't strong-arming them, even encouraging them to "vote their conscience." They all seem to have Vietnam on their minds. Rep. Mary Kaptor (D-Ohio) declared "Naked aggression is not the American way," and encouraged America to "wake up."

The Defense Department has handed Bush the most detailed plans for attacking Iraq yet. For obvious reasons, everyone is light on details, but the New York Times asserts that the plans involve an extensive air campaign to eliminate the Iraqi command and control centers, as well as their means of delivering weapons of mass destruction, followed by a troop invasion from Kuwait.