THE new wave of pitched fighting in Iraq, a war in all but name, is washing over an unsettled America.

A US appeals court is hearing arguments today on whether the US government should be barred from seeking the death penalty for accused September 11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui because it refused a judge’s order to produce al-Qaida defence witnesses.

President George Bush may be following the course of least political resistance by lifting steel tariffs he imposed in March 2002.

ONE might call it the disaster scenario. The US goes to war with Iraq to rid Saddam Hussein of weapons of mass destruction, but North Korean leader Kim Jong-il launches an attack on South Korea, forcing America simultaneously to wage two major wars.