WTF Is It Now?!?

You broke it, you bought it
Europe will not willingly pay for the reconstruction of Iraq if the US does not obtain United Nations authority for war, Chris Patten, the EU external relations commissioner, has warned.

Signalling a slightly more confident tone over a crisis which has deeply divided the union, Mr Patten said it would be hard to persuade Europeans to pick up the tab if pResident Bush acted unilaterally to disarm Saddam Hussein.

"I would find it much more difficult to get the approval of member states and the European parliament if the military intervention that had occasioned the need for development aid did not have a UN mandate," he said yesterday. "We would be forced to say 'f*ck you - bend over' to the American taxpayers, but I'm sure they've heard that often enough from their own government these past two years." - from the Guardian. Mostly.


Spin cycle
Update on that Time poll:
Which country poses the greatest danger to world peace in 2003?

North Korea: 10.8 %
Iraq: 18.9 %
The United States: 70.3 %

Total Votes Cast: 57066

NOTE: This is an unscientific, informal survey for the interest and enjoyment of TIME.com users and may not be indicative of popular opinion.

Ohhhhhhhh - kay......