Tomorrow's (Friday) issue of Al-Hayat is reporting about a peace initiative by the Iraqi Shi`ite Ad-Da`wah Party. The initiative, which received the blessing of Grand Ayatollah Sistani--who has not left his house in 6 years--stipulates that US forces withdraw from cities and return to their bases, and that the issue of the arrest warrant of Muqtada As-Sadr be postponed until after the "surrender of power." It also includes the permission for As-Sadr to re-open his offices around Iraq, while withdrawing from government buildings. It adds that As-Sadr would moderate his rhetoric. US forces rejected the initiative, and I doubt that As-Sadr would have accepted, but I am not sure on this point. There is another significant development: a Sunni religio-political delegation met with Grand Ayatollah Bashir An-Najafi (one of the 4 Grand Ayatollahs in Iraq) who has been the most outspoken Ayatollah against the occupation, and recently in sympathy with As-Sadr's forces. I was surprised to read that there are Korean missionaries operating in Iraq. What? Why? I have urged every journalist I know to stay out of Iraq. The place is too dangerous, unsafe, and unpredictable--although Bush continues to make progress. Make no mistake about that. When my friend Marina (and she is from Sweden--and Swedes are loved around the world) went to Iraq with the UN team last year, I was quite concerned. She survived the horrific bombing in Baghdad, and has left the country. And when my friends Bassam and Sinan went to Iraq to shoot their great documentary About Baghdad (coming to a campus near you--and will be showing at Stanford and Berkeley this month) last summer, they asked to come along, and I felt that the situation is too dangerous, (and I was not sure that I would find the abundance of water I need for my showers, and the supply of soy milk that Angry Arab needs AND deserve.)