Mark Tribe, a professor in Modern Culture & Media at Brown, and best known for creating the new media art news and archive Rhizome, has a project in which he recreates some of the anti-war speeches and demonstrations from the Vietnam era.

Does this offer a prism for rethinking Iraq, or is it a way of not contending with today's issues? Greg Cook writes about the topic in this week's Phoenix.

A local appearance tomorrow by former Army interrogator Mike Ritz is especially timely given fresh revelations about the Bush administration's support of waterboarding:

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration issued a pair of secret memos to the CIA in 2003 and 2004 that explicitly endorsed the agency's use of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding against al-Qaida suspects - documents prompted by worries among intelligence officials about a possible backlash if details of the program became public.

-- N4N says Sox beat the Rays in six, although I really have no gut feeling other than anticipating series of close and hard-fought games.

-- Machines with Magnets in Pawtucket has an opening tonight, the Museum of Small Finds, from 7-9.

-- The Dominican American National Roundtable's national conference takes place in Providence this weekend:

Roger Williams University is scheduled to receive a visit at 7 tonight by Tom Trento. Here's how the College Republican Federation of Rhode Island, which is sponsoring his appearance, describes it:

This Thursday Tom Trento will be heading to Roger Williams University to give a proactive presentation on Radical Islam, the angry left, and gutless citizens! Tom will be showing "Wild & Crazy" pictures and videos from the Democratic and Republican Convention!! ( You do not want to miss the "anarchists".

RI's senior senator, who may or may not wind up in an Obama administration, is slated to get his DNC spotlight tomorrow night, shortly before 9 pm, talking up the theme of "securing America's future."

Meanwhile, a Washingtonian magazine profile (by the ProJo's John Mulligan) calls him a key to what the Democrats will do to end the war.

In 2004, Democrats tried using the national security argument -- not very successfully -- against President Bush.

Now, with Obama taking Senators Jack Reed and Chuck Hagel with him to Iraq, Reed is once again getting the call to lend the respect that he commands in this arena.

Will this issue play differently in 2008?

A lot of folks are not exactly surprised at former White House press secretary Scott McClellan's realization that the run-up Iraq war came with an excess of hype and salesmanship. As former Bush aide Andy Card said back then:

``From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August.''

Dan Kennedy has browsed McClellan's book and he has a typically smart take.

The office of US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse just put out this release:

“Five years ago, President Bush told America its mission in Iraq was accomplished. Today, four thousand American lives and hundreds of billions of dollars later, our country is mired in a war this Administration refuses to end, a war that has damaged our security, our prosperity, and our standing in the world.

This from the RI Community Coalition for Peace:

Beneficent Church in Providence to bring the “Winter Soldier” testimony to Rhode Island. From March 13 thru 16, in Silver Springs, MD, members of Iraq Veterans Against the War(IVAW) spoke publicly and candidly of their service in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although this remarkable testimony was typically ignored by the mainstream media, two RI video journalists, Paul Hubbard and Robert Malin, have produced a DVD that captures the spirit of the Winter Soldier event and allows voices of veterans to be heard.

One of the more unusual professional turns is the one pursued by Josh Rushing, a former Marine captain who is now the Washington correspondent at Al Jazeera. At 5:30 pm today, he's the keynoter for a Roger Williams University colloqium, entitled Intellectual Freedom in the Middle East: Perspective and Opportunities

As the price of gas hits a local high, a coalition of groups plans to make a point tomorrow -- April 15, of course -- about the high cost of the war in Iraq. We at the Phoenix have previously written about that subject here.

Activists from American Friends Service Committee, the Campaign for Rhode Island's Priorities, Declaration of Peace Campaign RI, and Ocean State Action will speak out on the high cost of war to Rhode Island taxpayers.

Bob Herbert's view:

The U.S. seems almost paralyzed, mesmerized by Iraq and unable to generate the energy or the will to handle the myriad problems festering at home. The war will eventually cost a staggering $3 trillion or more, according to the Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. When he was asked on “Democracy Now!” about who is profiting from the war, he said the two big gainers were the oil companies and the defense contractors.

Maureen Dowd went to yesterday's US Senate hearing:

It’s hard to follow the narrative of our misadventure in Iraq. We went in to help the Shiites that we betrayed in the first Gulf War shake off their Sunni tormentors. But then, predictably for everyone except the chuckleheaded W. and Cheney, the Shiites began tormenting the Sunnis.

Earlier this year, there was a TV report from Afghanistan in which a correspondent from one of the big networks was traveling with US troops. As it happened, a favored officer among the Americans was shot dead in an ensuing firefight with Taliban forces, and it was hard to not empathize with the soldier's distraught comrades.

As part of the ongoing publicity rounds for his new book, Linc Chafee taped WPRI-WNAC's Newsmakers this morning. The show will be broadcast Sunday, at 5:30 am on Channel 12 and at 10 am on Fox 64.

Here's a short version of some of the highlights:

-- Why aren't people more upset about the Bush presidency? Chafee points to the lack of a draft and the lack of appetite for dissent following 9/11.