I have no idea if this story is true.
British soldiers on pre-war exercises at the Kuwait-Iraq border were stunned when about a dozen terrified Iraq soldiers surrendered because they thought the war had started.

A British Army source in Kuwait contacted me to explain how the extraordinary surrender bid unfolded. The source said: “The British guys on the front-line could not believe what was happening. They were on pre-war exercises when all of a sudden these Iraqis turned up out of nowhere, with their hands in the air, saying they wanted to surrender.

“They had heard firing and thought it was the start of the war.

“The Paras are a tough, battle-hardened lot but were moved by the plight of the Iraqis. There was nothing they could do other than send them back.

The British Ministry of Defense denied this story.

“They were a motley bunch and you could barely describe them as soldiers - they were poorly equipped and didn’t even have proper boots. Their physical condition was dreadful and they had obviously not had a square meal for ages. No one has ever known a group of so-called soldiers surrender before a shot has been fired in anger.”

Assyrians in Iraq
This article in the Japan Times asks a very simple question. Why are we not hearing about this group of forgotten believers and what they are going through? Take five minutes and educate yourself.

Assyrians have had a difficult life under the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Although they are not Arabs, they have been forced by the government to sign forms that require them to renounce their ethnic identity, religion and to declare themselves to be Arabs under a program aimed at “Arabizing” all citizens. Hania Mufti of Human Rights Watch has called this “a form of ethnic cleansing.”

Currently Iraq’s Assyrian Christians are in an extremely precarious situation. Unlike the Kurds of northern Iraq, who receive U.N. aid, and unlike the Turkoman minority, who are supported by Turkey, the Assyrians have received no outside support.

Martin Roth wrote about the Assyrians in January.

Vehicles
A bus carrying skiers plunged off a road in the Czech republic today killing 17 people and injuring several others. And 17 people were killed in a bus accident in India. Buses are the most popular means of transportation, and are poorly maintained and overcrowded.
British PM Tony Blair will be getting three Jaguars costing $523,080 each, that have a special filtering system to protect the occupants from poison gas attacks.

Leap-blogging
Cre8d looks at the interactivity/dialoging of blogging verus the monologue of sermons.

An imbalance in online/offline relationships can be destructive, just as destructive as imbalance of monologue/dialogue.

Anglicans in Australia launch an appeal to help citizens facing great hardship in drought stricken areas.
Link via CaNN

Flit is not at all happy with the Canadian media focus on Iraq when Canadian soldiers will be dying in Afghanistan.

So far, I have heard two of our most experienced senior Canadian officers, in frank moments, tell groups of soldiers that they fully expect our heading up the Kabul mission for the UN is going to expose Canadian troops to far more danger than anything the Americans would have let us do in Iraq. Our people are simply not confident they’re going to be bringing everyone home safe from this one. It’s hard to see at the moment how our soldiers won’t end up dying, whether in accidents or battle, at rates we’re simply not accustomed to in this country.

Connexions has an interesting article up on the Palestinians. What I find even more interesting is the almost discussion started in the comments section. Do some people have a knee-jerk reaction because it is Tony Campolo saying these things?

Ian’s Messy Desk has a hilarious food spoilage test for bachelors.

EGGS:
When something starts pecking its way out of the shell, the egg is probably past its prime.

CHIP DIP:
If you can take it out of its container and bounce it on the floor, it has gone bad.

There’s more. Head over and gag.

Me too.

And I agree with the reasons listed on the site.