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This Week | The Top 5 News Stories as measured by coverage in The Washington Post, USA Today, and NBC Nightly News over a one-week period from Aug. 21 to 27 | Tim Graham

1: deja vu all over again?

119 points If U.S. forces finally hit Iraq, the initial strike will have to be the most telegraphed punch in the history of modern warfare. A small media uproar surrounded TeamBush arguments that the president can launch an attack on Iraq without approval from Congress. Administration officials argued the 1991 Gulf War resolution authorized the use of force against Iraq to enforce UN Security Council resolutions on weapons of mass destruction, resolutions with which Saddam Hussein has failed to comply.

More than any other topic, the debate starred figures from the first Bush presidency, with old Bush hands like former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft and Secretary of State James Baker arguing against military action. In a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Nashville, Vice President Dick Cheney-defense secretary during the last war on Iraq-represented the hawkish view, saying that while some think "until he [Saddam] crosses the threshold of actually possessing nuclear weapons, we should rule out any pre-emptive action. That logic seems to me deeply flawed."