It is day fourteen in the war against Iraq, and U.S. troops are just miles from the center of the capital. With news headlines declaring the military is poised for the crucial first battle for Baghdad, it is easy to forget that there was a time when relations between the United States and Iraq were not so contentious, a time when handshakes and diplomatic agreements, not cluster bombs, and tanks ruled the day.

In 1979, when Saddam Hussein became president, he was seen as a potential ally. In the 1980’s, during the Iran-Iraq war, America placed its support discreetly behind Saddam’s regime, hoping to create a bulwark against the Islamic Republic of Iran. But like all relationships, things change.

Guests:

Judith Yaphe, Middle East Project Director at the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University in Washington D.C. and formerly a Senior Intelligence Offier in the CIA from 1975-1995 in the Office of Near Eastern and South Asian Analysis

Robin Wright, Diplomatic Correspondent for the LA Times and author of “Sacred Rage: The Wrath of Militant Islam.”

After softening up hot killboxes and deconflicting the airspace, American ground troops are now in the red zone. Translation? In the language of war, “softening up” means bombing, and “killboxes” are grids locating targets. “Deconflicting the airspace” means making sure American and British airplanes don’t crash into each other. And the red zone, a football term referring to the last 20 yards before the goal line, is the perimeter of Baghdad.

Every profession has its jargon. It lets insiders communicate. But every war also has language that dis-informs. George Orwell once said such language is “designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable and to give the appearance of solidity to pure wind.”

Guests:

James Dawes, Assistant Professor of American Literature at Macalester College and author of “The Language of War”

Robin Lakoff, Professor of Linguistics, University of California at Berkeley and author of “The Language War”

Nicholas Watt, political correspondent, The Guardian.

There’s one thing that’s certain about the future of Iraq, it’s this: To truly win the war, America must secure the peace. And as news comes today of a successful, stepped up American military offensive on the outskirts of Baghdad, the question of what comes next in Iraq, and who will lead the charge there, looms that much larger.

State Department and Pentagon plans differ on questions of personnel, but they share a vision in which a future interim government is led first by Americans, and later by members of the Iraqi opposition. Meanwhile, allies abroad clamor for a larger United Nations role. No matter who’s in charge, the challenges of reconstructing Iraq will be daunting. Securing peace. Establishing trust. And fixing what war ravaged.

Guests:

Jane Holl Lute, Executive Vice President at the United Nations Foundation

Daniel Serwer, Director for the Balkans Initiative at the U. S. Institute for Peace.

Welcome to the global village, just don’t forget to bring your face mask. The mysterious ailment that just a few months ago appeared to be a simple outbreak of pneumonia in a Southern province of China has since traveled to Singapore, Australia, Canada and the U.S. and has been declared a “world wide health threat.”

More than 1600 people around the world are now diagnosed with SARS, Severe acute respiratory syndrome, and about 60 have died as a result of the mysterious disease, including Dr. Carlo Urbani, the Italian physician who first identified the disease.

Today, the first cases of SARS in children were reported in Canada. In Hong Kong, sixty four new cases were found in a single apartment building and health officials warned of more cases to come. The new front in fighting infectious disease.

Guests:

Dr. Arthur Reingold, professor and head of epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health

Keith Bradsher, New York Times Bureau Chief in Hong Kong

Jan Wong, columnist and senior reporter with The Globe and Mail

David Ozonoff, is the Director of the Program in Public Health Preparedness for the School of Public Health at Boston University.

U.S. soldiers fired on a dusty Toyota yesterday, when it didn’t stop at a checkpoint. They killed between 7 and 10 people, among them five small children. The shootings came after a suicide bomber killed four American soldiers just days ago on that same strip of highway near Hilla in central Iraq.

In a war-fog eerily reminiscent of Viet Nam, U.S. forces are having trouble deciding just who the enemy is. Americans have accused Iraqis of breaking the rules of war by wearing civilian clothes, pretending to surrender, and using civilians as human shields. Iraqis have accused Americans of targeting civilians, homes and hospitals. Each side accuses the other of war crimes. But in a conflict where one force is bigger, stronger, and more technologically advanced, some say the old rules don’t apply.

Guests:

Scott Silliman, director of the Duke Law School’s Center for Law, Ethics and National Security, and retired colonel in the U.S. Air Force.