Saddam's Secret Dealings?

And now the most engaging two minutes in television, the latest from the wartime grapevine:

Saddam's Secret Dealings?

The Iraqi newspaper Al Mada says it has obtained documents it says shows Saddam Hussein (search) gave government officials around the world, including some from France, vouchers for Iraqi oil worth millions of dollars.

The newspaper calls it -- "the greatest bribery operation in history, buying souls ... and squandering the nation's resources." Officials from France, Russia, China and Syria -- nations initially opposed to the U.S.-led war in Iraq -- are named as some of the 270 beneficiaries.

Arab journalists around the world are also named. The French officials and the Arab journalists have denied the reports.

Base and Rock Reach

John Edwards' presidential campaign -- which is looking for a win in South Carolina next week -- has called black voters -- "the base... [and] the rock" in that state because they could account for as much as half of the Democratic voters.

But so far, Edwards has had trouble courting that vote. In yesterday's New Hampshire primary, nine percent of the black electorate voted for Edwards. More than five times as many voted for Kerry.

For the record, though, black voters accounted for only two percent of the New Hampshire electorate.

Criticism Coming from Within

ABC News has been accused of having a liberal bias, but now that criticism is coming from one of its own anchors. "20/20" anchor and correspondent John Stossel says most journalists at his network -- and other networks -- are leftists who view others as -- "selfish and cruel."

Stossel, quoted by the Cybercast news service, says -- "Everybody just agrees -- more safety regulation, gun control, higher taxes. ... Anyone who disagrees is seen as ... just wrong." What's more, Stossel -- a self-described conservative -- says all of his work has to be read by two ABC lawyers before being broadcast.

Bemiss-take?

Bemiss Elementary School in Spokane, Washington, has suspended three third-grade boys for bringing guns to school. The school district insists the guns violated its zero-tolerance policy on weapons, and, the school principal says, -- "you don't need anything that's going to make kids feel unsafe [at school]."

Thing is, the offending guns were for the boys' GI Joe dolls. Each gun is about two inches long and made of plastic.

— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report