Building the beast of Baghdad: Saddam Hussein's capacity to unleash weapons of mass destruction is doubly horrifying when one considers that past administrations have helped him develop that technology. (Foreign Quarrels).

A few hours had passed since hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 had plowed into the Pentagon. Emergency operations continued at both the Pentagon and Ground Zero in lower Manhattan. Across the nation, Americans were still trying to digest the horrifying spectacle being replayed on their television screens. And Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, along with a handful of aides, gathered in the undamaged Pentagon National Command Center to begin planning for war against Iraq.

At 2:40 p.m. on September 11th, according to notes taken from a participant in the meeting, Rumsfeld told his subordinates that he wanted the "best info fast. Judge whether [it's] good ...