The New York Times and Los Angeles Times confirm today what Arabic stations said yesterday, that indeed an F-16 fighter jet (one?) was used in Falujah yesterday to drop bombs. If America plays by Israeli rules in dealing with Arabs it will only get the kind of status that Israel has in Arab (and Muslim) "hearts and minds." I find it hard to know really what is going on in Iraq. The US media are too close to the accounts provided by the US government, and the Arab media are too trusting of their Iraqi (Sunni and Shi`ite) sources. The vulgar Arab nationalist (pro-Saddam and pro-Bin Laden) Al-Quds Al-`Arabi operates as if the Iraqi resistance groups are about to defeat the US forces in Iraq. It reminds me of the notorious Egyptian media in the 1967 war, or of the Iraqi media before the fall of Baghdad last year. I still am a fan of British, French, and German media. They have the right balance and the right amount of skepticism. Al-Jazeera also needs to critically evaluate the information that it receives from its sources on the ground. Yet, you learn more from Al-Jazeera than from CNN. I also find that the Arabic website of AlJazeera is less professional than the broadcast. There was a solidarity demonstration in Baghadad today regarding the siege of Falujah. Sunnis and Shi`ites participated. The Minister of Interior of Iraq (appointed by Bremer) resigned today, and in a stunning statement to the Arabic press he said that Bremer asked him to resign because the new Minister of Defense is also a Shi`ite, and that this would be bad for "balance" in Iraq. The American Shi`ite problem in Iraq is growing by the day. I am very pessimistic about the future of Iraq, and do not see one glimmer of hope, especially if I think about the secular and leftist outlook of my dear Iraqi friend Sinan.