Instant Response to Bush’s Punitive Damage Caps

As if on cue, a woman was mistakenly given a double mastectomy and sues her hospital just days after Bush says such a screwup is worth $250k in punitive damages. I'll get to my rant on this idiotic reform later. The woman had her pathology work mixed up with another woman's, which means there are two victims. The mastectomy patient suffers a final insult: the hospital only reformed their procedures 7 months later, once she sued. Who designed the new pathology procedures? The pathologist who made the mistake in the first place.

UN Passes Two-Step Resolution

The United Nations Security Council unanimously approved Resolution 1441 compelling Iraq to submit to UNMOVIC weapons inspections. Iraq is given seven days to agree to the resolution. The French and Russian proponents of the two-step process, as well as the one-step US delegation, claimed victory. The wording of the resolution was negotiated over two months, and each side was able to derive what they liked from the resulting language. Most significantly, the United States was able to retain the "material breach" language it wanted. The New York Times was good enough to provide the subsequent remarks from United States Ambassador John Negroponte.

Bush Pledges to Use Diplomacy

After a meeting with NATO Secretary-General George Robertson, President Bush pledged to give Iraq "one more chance," and pursue disarmament through the UN. The administration was quick to make clear that if the UN would not produce a tough and persuasive resolution, the US would lead its own coalition to disarm Iraq.

Iraq Empties Jails

At noon this Sunday, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein declared a general amnesty, releasing nearly every prisoner in the country. "It is the act of a father forgiving his children," one prison official said. Very few details are available, even days later. It was widely reported that the amnesty was not discharged in an orderly fashion. Crowds rushed into the prisons, and at the Abu Ghraib prison, many inmates were crushed or suffocated in the chaos.