I said I'd return to it, so, page B7, March 31, 2003, by Judith Miller: "Special Team Seeks to Establish War Crimes." Filed from Tallil, Iraq (southwest of the town of Nasiriya), with the 75th Exploitation Task Force.

"The 75th Exploitation Task Force is the only mobile United States team not specifically charged with searching for germ, chemical or other weapons of mass destruction. Instead, it was formed and equipped to investigate other kinds of sensitive sites.

"It includes members of the Criminal Investigation Division, which usually investigates crimes within the military. The division's members are trained in forensics and in the chains of evidence required by American courts of law, and they are also sensitive to the need to preserve evidence in a combat environment. The unit recently added a pathologist to its team of experts and scientists."

I couldn't find anything online about the 75th Exploitation Task Force. Even the latest news on the U.S. Army's Web site makes no mention of it.

And my favorite quote from yesterday's Times, from Iraqi information minister Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf: "This American serpent, this boa, is stretched there, and we will cut it to pieces."

Such evocative imagery.