Part 5 (1/2)

In addition, the President said, ”In a democratic Iraq, those who choose to voice their dissent by protesting will be recognized and listened to, not derided and ignored.”

While President Bush stopped short of saying that an Iraqi-style democracy could take root in the U.S. in the near future, he added hopefully, ”You never know-it could happen.”

Iraq could be a test case to determine whether democracy might eventually flourish in the U.S., Bush believes.

Immediately following his speech, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer tempered Mr. Bush's remarks somewhat, saying that the President ”was speaking metaphorically” about the prospects for democracy in the United States.

”The President does in fact believe that democracy will come to the United States after the war is over,” Mr. Fleischer said, ”but not a moment sooner.”

O.J. NO LONGER ”100 PERCENT SURE” HE IS INNOCENT

Calls Johnnie Cochran's Recent Statements ”Thought-Provoking”

Days after former O. J. Simpson defense attorney Johnnie Cochran admitted he is no longer 100 percent certain that his client was innocent, Mr. Simpson today said that his attorney had planted ”fresh seeds of doubt” in his own mind.

”For years, I've been pretty sure that I did not murder my wife,” Mr. Simpson said today at a golf course in Boca Raton, Florida, where he was taking a rare break from searching for the real killers of his wife. ”But if Johnnie's not 100 percent sure, I'm like, hey, maybe I better take another look at this.”

Mr. Simpson added that it would be ”crazy” not to be swayed by Mr. Cochran's new statements, which he called ”thought-provoking.”

”Look, you're talking about a guy, Johnnie Cochran, who is a pretty smart guy,” Mr. Simpson said. ”If he said maybe I did it, then maybe I did it.”

Mr. Cochran's doubts about Mr. Simpson's innocence may help resolve one lingering mystery for the former Heisman Trophy winner: why it has been so difficult for him to find his wife's real killers, whom he pledged to hunt down after his acquittal in 1995.

The former NFL star said that, in light of the new revelations, he may slow down his search, which he said has occupied almost every waking moment of his life for the past seven years.

Attorney Johnnie Cochran's comments have former NFL star O. J. Simpson (pictured) wondering if he might be guilty after all.

”If it turns out that I'm actually the one who did it, then looking for the real killers would be a big old waste of time,” Mr. Simpson said.

JOURNALIST EMBEDDED WITH FOX NEWS.

a.s.signed to Cover ”Fair and Balanced” Network for Duration of War As part of an experimental new program initiated by the Defense Department, a journalist has been embedded with the FOX News Network, giving him unique access to the ”fair and balanced” network for the duration of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

David Peterson, a reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal, will be the only journalist living, working and eating with Fox News staffers in the weeks to come.

Mr. Peterson said that although he felt very much ”like an outsider” at the beginning of his stint with Fox News, he said that a mutual respect has grown between him and his hosts.

”I think at first it was weird for them to have a journalist around,” Mr. Peterson said.

Mr. Peterson said that he does his best to stay out of the way of his Fox News comrades, adding, ”They have their job to do and I have mine.”

While the veteran journalist sail he was excited about being embeded with Fox News, he admitted that his first days at the news channel had provided him with more than a few hair-raising moments.

”You can prepare all you want to be embedded at Fox News, but until you're in the thick of it, you have no idea how scary a place Fox News can be,” Mr. Peterson said.

The journalist added that even with the unfettered access he has been given to Fox News, the news channel has been careful to protect him from situations that it deems too dangerous.

”I'm not allowed to talk to Bill O'Reilly when he's in the makeup chair,” he said.

A journalist said that being embedded on Fox News programs like Fox & Friends was a ”scary and lonely” experience.

TERROR STATUS REDUCED TO YELLOW; RIDGE URGES AMERICANS TO BUY SCOTCH TAPE.

New Tobacco and Alcohol Consumption Guidelines Released for Code Yellow The Department of Homeland Security reduced the nation's terror alert status from Orange to Yellow today, with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge urging all Americans to stock up on Scotch tape rather than duct tape and to immediately destroy half the amount of water and food they keep in their homes.

”Under Code Yellow, sealing a room in your house with Scotch tape will do the trick,” Mr. Ridge said. ”And if you run out of tape before you're done, don't lose any sleep over it.”

Mr. Ridge also gave a complete list of tobacco and alcohol guidelines for Code Yellow, urging Americans to cut back to two packs of cigarettes a day and one forty-ounce can of malt liquor before lunch.

In addition, Mr. Ridge said, Americans who have been irritably snapping at their spouses during Code Orange may now merely give them dirty looks and subject them to long, stony silences.

While the government said that the reduction in terror alert status came about because of a reduction in terrorist chatter in recent days, Professor Daniel Rutledge, chairman of the Department of Terrorist Chatter Studies at the University of Minnesota, disagrees with this a.s.sessment.

”Terrorist chatter always goes down at the end of the month,” Dr. Rutledge said. ”Al-Qaeda operatives are on a Friends and Extremists cellphone plan, which only gives them one thousand free minutes to make terror threats each month.”

Americans rushed to buy Scotch tape after Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge (pictured) issued his latest recommendation.

KIM'S BLOG One thing I don't understand about America-besides the lingering popularity of Whoopi Goldberg-is the Department of Homeland Security. Where did they dig up this Tom Ridge dude, that's what I'd like to know. Think about it-his main job, really, is to make Americans feel more secure. When I look at Tom Ridge, I'm like, who was their second choice for this job, a startled deer?

If I lived in America, I'd go out and buy duct tape and plastic sheeting, seal off a room in my house-and every time Tom Ridge came on TV, I would go into that room.

I've had a slightly different approach to homeland security in North Korea. I've told all of our citizens that in the event of an attack, they are to get out of their homes and run around outside in circles, like ants pouring out of an anthill that's just been smashed with a big stick.