Ironically, American freelance reporter Steven Vincent, found dead in the southern Iraqi city of Basra this week after he and his Iraqi translator were abducted at gunpoint, and his In the Red Zone weblog, were featured July 29 in a Washington Times column penned by Diana West.

Two days later, in Monday's New York Times, Vincent charged that the police force in Basra, where he had been researching a book, was riddled with members of radical Shi'ite political groups who were behind the assassinations plaguing the city.

On Wednesday, we took one last opportunity to visit Vincent's blog, and saw where he had written most recently about these religious parties that dominate Basra.

"When you read this, keep in mind that for various reasons - not the least of which were safety concerns - the piece only scratches the surface of what is happening here," he began.

"Down Basra way, the country most preoccupying the locals is not Amrika, but that brooding, seething, over-cleric'd Mordor to the east, Iran. Whether it's supporting religious parties, smuggling oil and gas, sabotaging the energy infrastructure, orchestrating sectarian assassinations or other neighborly deeds, Basrawi detect the stealthy hand of Tehran in nearly every aspect of their lives.

"'We don't talk about this in public,' a professor at Basra U. told me. 'Get too explicit and you get disappeared.'"

'JIHADIST JANE'

So, Marine Corps veteran Oliver North, how do you really feel about Jane Fonda's upcoming bus tour opposing the U.S.-led war in Iraq?

"'Hanoi Jane' Fonda seems to have tired of her moniker. The wilted flower child who firmly established her place in American history when she mounted a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun has decided it's time to teach a whole new generation to blame America first. If she actually goes through with her plans for a new protest movement, she may well become known as 'Jihadist Jane.' It has a better ring. More alliteration."

SAUDI SALUTE

President Bush has designated his father, former President George Bush, as part of the presidential delegation to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to express condolences on the passing of the "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud." Accompanying the elder Bush is Vice President Dick Cheney, leading a delegation that includes former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia James C. Oberwetter, and Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

SHOOING HORSES