The U.S. Air Force announced today that senior U.S. Airman Ahmad al Halabi, a translator at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo, Cuba, had been arrested on July 10. He was described as a 24-year-old Muslim. No explanation was given for why two months passed before his detention was reported.

There are bad days and there are good days.

On bad days, events hurl the world into chaos as vicissitudes rip apart the conventions underpinning the international system. On these days, forecasting can often be a near-impossibility. No one with a functional mind seriously contends that Sept. 11, 2001, was anything but a bad day.

The Sunday Mirror, one of the less reputable newspapers in Britain -- and that's saying quite a lot -- published a story today claiming that the United States has been negotiating for nine days with representatives of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein about Hussein's wish to go into exile in Belarus.

It was quite a day, and most of the media missed it. The Washington Post published an interview with Jordan's King Abdullah II, and posted more on its website in audio form. Abdullah said, "Iran was a very pleasant surprise. They want to start a new page. At a minimum, the use of Jordan for terrorism is no longer an issue ...

There was a great deal of noise surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian situation on Wednesday, Sept. 17, as reverberations continued over Israel's supposed plans to kill Yasser Arafat -- a point the Israelis now are denying. Jordanian officials, for reasons not altogether clear, announced plans to unfreeze Hamas funds in the country.

Gen. Wesley Clark, the former NATO commander who ran the Kosovo war, will officially enter the Democratic presidential race on Wednesday, Sept. 17, bringing a very different dimension to the election campaign.

The Swedes have voted by about 56 percent not to adopt the euro as their national currency, making Swedish voters the first to reject the euro since it went into full circulation. The currency referendum was supported by the government of Prime Minister Goran Persson, who said the euro would not be reconsidered before 2010.

While combat continues at about the same level as before in Sunni Iraq, interesting events are unfolding in the Shiite regions. U.S. military spokesmen and Shiite leaders reported that an agreement was reached on the night of Sept. 13 on disarming of Shiite militias.

A major battle erupted in the town of Khaldiya on Thursday, Sept. 11. A U.S. Army truck broke down and was attacked while repairs were under way. Two U.S. tanks joined the fight, and heavy machine gun fire was exchanged. Two U.S. vehicles were destroyed and one soldier was wounded. The interesting thing is that the U.S.

Al Jazeera, the Arabic network based in Qatar, broadcast a previously unseen videotape of Osama bin Laden and his second in command, Ayman al Zawahiri, on Wednesday, Sept. 10. It wasn't clear when or where the tape was made, although the two can be seen taking a stroll on what appears to be a rocky, foliage-frocked hillside.