As [Carla] Gaviglio enters the room, the six-foot-two, 225-plus-pound [Sen. Ted] Kennedy grabs the five-foot-three, 103-pound waitress and throws her on the table. She lands on her back, scattering crystal, plates and cutlery and the lit candles. Several glasses and a crystal candlestick are broken. Kennedy then picks her up from the table and throws her on [Sen. Chris] Dodd, who is sprawled in a chair. With Gaviglio on Dodd's lap, Kennedy jumps on top and begins rubbing his genital area against hers, supporting his weight on the arms of the chair. As he is doing this, Loh enters the room. She and Gaviglio both scream, drawing one or two dishwashers. Startled, Kennedy leaps up. He laughs. Bruised, shaken and angry over what she considered a sexual assault, Gaviglio runs from the room.

This man was so much more than his image. While his vision soared, the power of his personality and the magnet of his intellect drew his colleagues to the table of compromise. It was there he did his best work. His love for the little guy and his affection for the underdog influenced everything he did. And importantly, his sense of humor and contagious laughter made him real and approachable in spite of his power and privilege.

Rantburg postings, March 20, 2003:
"Iraq fires Scud toward U.S. troops"
"U.S. missiles target Saddam"
Included here not for the articles themselves (though they are worth reading in their own right) but for the comment threads, which include live-from-the-scene reportage by Rantburg regular "Bodyguard."

Steve Smith, "WAR IN THE GULF: William Wallace leads ground war to liberate the Iraqis from Saddam" The Daily Record (March 20, 2003). -- "Scotland’s cavalry, the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, flew the Lion Rampant as the move forward began."

James Lileks, "The Daily Bleat" (March 21, 2003).

Brian Taylor, "A Frontline Account," The Wall Street Journal (serialized diary) Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Michael Kelly, "Across the Euphrates" (April 3, 2004) (LRR). -- The late writer’s last column; a vivid account of the 3rd Infantry’s attack out of the Karbala Gap into Baghdad.

Gethin Chamberlain, "Bagpipes play as the Black Watch takes Basra" The Scotsman (April 7, 2003). -- Attacking accompanied by bagpipes -- that, my friends, is class!

Vernon Loeb, "Thunder Run" Washington Post (October 13, 2003). -- The brigade-sized reconaissance-in-force that began the fall of Baghdad. One of history’s most audacious military actions.

"Baghdad Battles - A Frontline Report" Strategy Page. -- An account of the "Battle of the Three Stooges" along the airport road: "Can you imagine the cohesiveness of a unit where rather than move away from a tank attack the platoon sergeant drives out to draw fire away from his platoon leader?"

Adam Lusher, "The 10-hour battle for Curly, Larry and Moe" London Telegraph (April 13, 2003). -- More on the "Thunder Run" and the "Battle of the Three Stooges."

Mark Oliver, "Baghdad celebrates" The Guardian (April 9, 2003).

Richard Tomkins, "War Diary: Tales from the front" (March 22, 2003).

Ray L. Smith & bing west, The March Up: Taking Baghdad With the First Marine Division (book).

Peggy Noonan, "Eyes on the Prize" The Wall Street Journal (March 24, 2003).

James Lileks, "The Daily Bleat" (April 9, 2003) -- "Allied troops liberated a children’s jail today. I wish that sentence made no sense."

William Shawcross, "Baghdad Day" Wall Street Journal (April 10, 2003). -- "April 9 is not just spring, it is for Iraqis eternal spring."

Victor Davis Hanson, "Yesterday’s News" National Review Online (April 10, 2003).

Victor Davis Hanson, "Anatomy of the Three-Week War" National Review Online (April 16, 2003).

Robert Fisk, "Saddam’s masters of concealment dig in, ready for battle" (April 3, 2003) -- "The road to the front in central Iraq is a place of fast-moving vehicles, blazing Iraqi anti-aircraft guns, tanks and trucks hidden in palm groves, a train of armoured vehicles bombed from the air and hundreds of artillery positions dug into revetments to defend the capital. That a Western journalist could see so much of Iraq’s military preparedness says as much for the Iraqi government’s self-confidence as it does for the need of Saddam Hussein’s regime to make propaganda against its enemies."

Robert Fisk, "So where are the Americans?" (April 4, 2003) -- "Only three hours earlier, the BBC had reported claims that forward units of an American mechanised infantry division were less than 16km west of Baghdad -- and that some US troops had taken up positions on the very edge of the international airport. But I was 27km west of the city. And there were no Americans, . . ."

Robert Fisk, "Allies ’sieze most of Baghdad airport’" (April 5, 2003) -- "All that stuff I wrote the last two days--fugghetaboudit!"

Dan Plesch, "It’s Not Over Yet" The Guardian (April 9, 2003). -- Had the misfortune to be published in the same issue as "Baghdad celebrates."

Edward Said, "The Academy of Lagado" London Review of Books (cover date April 17, 2003). -- Begins with a paean to the "resistance and anger of the Iraqi population." That’s what happens sometimes when your publisher sets the deadline too early.

"Baghad Bob" fan site -- At least as accurate as Robert Fisk’s reporting!

Matt Labash, "The Hardest Job in the Army" The Weekly Standard (May 19, 2003). -- "Take up our quarrel with the foe:/To you from failing hands we throw/The torch; be yours to hold it high./If ye break faith with us who die./We shall not sleep, . . . "