Fine With Us:

The South China Morning Post has a story noting that Saddam Hussein would "rather die" than go into exile. It's a subscription piece, so I'll post the whole text here:

Saddam Hussein has dismissed a proposal that he go into exile to avoid war, as US President George W. Bush warned that a new UN resolution was not a prerequisite for military action against Iraq. ''We will die here. We will die in this country and we will maintain our honour ... in front of our people,'' the Iraqi president said in an interview with America's CBS television network.

He denied Iraq had any links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, or that he had any intention of destroying his country's oil fields or dams should war break out. Mr Hussein also said Iraq had no missiles which exceeded UN permitted limits, implying he would rebuff a demand by chief UN inspector Hans Blix to begin destruction of all al-Samoud 2 missiles by Saturday.

The pressure on Iraq increased with the Turkish parliament expected to debate today on a bill authorising the deployment of 62,000 US troops, 255 warplanes and 65 helicopters. Military action appeared increasingly likely as US and UN officials expressed increasingly divergent views.

Mr Blix said his teams should be given ''a few more months'' and Iraq was beginning to show genuine co-operation, such as reporting the discovery of two bombs, including one which might contain a biological agent. But Mr Bush said Mr Hussein would try to ''fool the world one more time''. He said ''now is the time'' for the UN Security Council ''to honour its word by insisting that Saddam disarm''.

Predictable commentary from everyone, although Saddam Hussein speaking of honor makes my stomach churn. If he'd rather die than enjoy exile (likely at some Saudi Arabian palace), then by all means, let's oblige him.