Some new laws criminalizing offending of the Iraqi government or its officials are lifted from deposed dictator Saddam Hussein's old penal code, reports the NYT.

People don't drink horse urine in Kazakhstan or hold a Running of the Jews as some movies would have you believe. However, it does have real problems with corruption and authoritarianism.

Don't expect to hear Dubya talk much about that unpleasant stuff following his state dinner for President Nursultan A. Nazarbayev on Friday.

The Republican-dominated Congress has given Dubya most of what he wanted in terms of a terror tribunal bill.

The NYT describes the whole thing as a cynical political excercise that will rank as a legal low point in the history of the United States.