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Looting at Iraqi Weapons Plants Was Systematic - James Glanz and William J. Broad (New York Times)
    In the weeks after Baghdad fell in April 2003, looters systematically dismantled and removed tons of machinery from Saddam Hussein's most important weapons installations, including some with high-precision equipment capable of making parts for nuclear arms, in what appeared to be a highly organized operation that pinpointed specific plants, Sami al-Araji, the Iraqi deputy minister of industry, said this week.

Arafat's Money Bag - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)
    Arafat was in the habit of traveling with a suitcase full of cash for "emergencies" - to be used for gifts, bribes, and tips.
    On Arafat's last trip to Paris in late October, the bag contained $1.6 million, but when Arafat's coffin was returned to Ramallah two weeks later, many PA officials noticed that the suitcase was missing.
    According to Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda editor Hafez Barghouti, "Arafat's secret-keeper who carried the black bag has gone to work in the Palestinian embassy in Moscow and no one knows what happened to the suitcase."
    Barghouti accused the unnamed bag-carrier of stealing the suitcase and hinted at the involvement of many of Arafat's longtime aides in the theft.
    Barghouti said Arafat had for years surrounded himself with a group of arrogant, pompous officials, describing how one of Arafat's top aides "used to collect money from prominent businessmen for arranging meetings with Arafat."
    "He also used to take commission from the businessmen in return for getting Arafat to approve various financial deeds."

Hamas to Conduct Secret Primaries (AP/Jerusalem Post)
    Hamas will conduct secret primaries to choose its candidates for parliamentary elections in July, senior West Bank Hamas leader Mohammed Ghazal said Sunday.
    The Fatah movement's Old Guard has promised younger activists they would hold primaries as well.
    Hundreds of supporters of both movements clashed at Hebron University on Sunday, throwing punches, sticks, and stones during a Hamas rally for student council elections.
    At least nine people were injured. Student supporters of Islamic Jihad acted as a buffer.

Census Report on U.S. Arab Population - Genaro C. Armas (AP/ABC News)
    People of Arab descent living in the U.S. tend to be better educated and wealthier than other Americans, the Census Bureau says.
    There are about 1.2 million U.S. residents whose ancestry is solely or partly Arab, less than a half-percent of all Americans.
    The report released last week covered the 850,000 people who identified themselves in the 2000 census as having only Arab ancestry.

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The Lebanon Stakes: Hizballah Has a History of Killing Americans - Editorial (Wall Street Journal)

• The CIA station chief in Beirut, William Buckley, was beheaded by Hizballah on June 3, 1985. Robert Dean Stethem, a Navy diver, was murdered by Hizballah the same month aboard hijacked TWA Flight 847. This is hizb Allah, the Party of God, the spear of Iranian influence in the Levant and chief local enforcer of Syria's occupation of Lebanon.
• The dividing line in Lebanon, separating a pro-independence coalition of Druze, Christians, and Sunnis from the pro-Syrian Shiite Hizballah, has now become clear. As have the stakes.
• For Syria the stakes are economic and political. An estimated one million Syrian guest workers reside in Lebanon and remit their wages to relatives back home, and Syrian officials have plundered much of the international aid Lebanon received over the past decade. The Bekaa Valley also serves as a lucrative transit point for narcotics and other contraband. Without Lebanon, Syria's economy might collapse.
• For Iran the stakes are strategic. Its elite Revolutionary Guards operate terrorist training camps in the Bekaa. Iran has also placed upward of 10,000 missiles in Lebanon, including the medium-range Fajr-5 rocket, bringing half of Israel within their reach. It thus maintains the option of igniting a new Mideast war at any moment.
• During the years when Israel maintained a security zone in southern Lebanon, Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah could present himself as a patriot fighting occupation. But Israel removed its forces from Lebanon in 2000, and now Nasrallah's support for Syrian occupation exposes a different set of motives: not patriotic, but Jihadist. And the last thing the Jihadists want is for Lebanon to again become a flourishing, pluralist, cosmopolitan Arab state.
• Syria's withdrawal would likely precipitate a Lebanese decision to enforce UN Resolution 520, which requires the Lebanese Army to patrol its border with Israel, a function now performed by Hizballah. At length, it could lead to the disbanding of Hizballah as an independent militia, though its terrorist wings would likely continue to operate.
• The Cedar Revolution began as an outburst of rage against Hariri's killers. A joint Franco-American declaration that a crackdown in Lebanon would have serious consequences for Damascus would help give all Lebanese patriots the courage to move forward.