On:

We don’t mean cowardly people, we’re talking about real chickens. The Delta Company, now stationed in Kuwait near the border with Iraq, has been buying up local chickens that they hope will warn them if Saddam sends chemical weapons their way. Sgt. Rodney Brown used to raise organic chickens on a farm in upstate New York. He says, “I expected to see camels. I didn’t expect to see chickens here.” But he knows that, “Poultry have very weak respiratory systems. They’re like a canary in a coal mine. They’ll die first. So it’s a good indication of a gas attack.”
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Despite the recent breakup of the Columbia, astronauts are continuing their training, getting ready for future shuttle trips, although these may contain smaller crews. If you’ve ever gotten seasick, or airsick in a small plane, think of what astronauts go through. Before they get into the KC-135 weightless trainer, called the “Vomit Comet,” they come to NASA’s Dr. Pat Cowings for anti-nausea therapy. Astronauts call Cowings the Baroness of Barf. “I’m sort of proud of that nickname,? she says. “It lends a sort of prestige that I study throwing up in outer space.”
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CIA profiler Jerrold Post has developed a psychological portrait of Saddam Hussein from his biographies, speeches, policy decisions, and interviews with people who’ve met him. “This is not a madman. Let me be clear,” Post says. “This is a psychologically whole person in terms of not being insane, but he represents the most dangerous political personality type, what’s called malignant narcissism.”
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On:

Will Washington start a full-out war against Iraq this weekend? George Friedman, of Strategic Forecasting, says, “This is the best weekend militarily to do it. There is no moon, and if you ever have been on the desert in special operations, you know you don’t want a moon when you need to take bridges and other strategic posts?[The president] really has no choice. His biggest problem is that right after Sept. 11 (2001) he was decisive, and now he has dragged this out so long.” He’s dragged the stock market down along with him.
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