The Political Grapevine

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Official Offer?

Former chief U.N. weapons inspector Rolf Ekeus says Saddam Hussein's regime offered him and other U.N. officials millions of dollars if they would alter their reports to suggest Iraq was following international law and free of illegal weapons. Ekeus tells Reuters that former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz tried to bribe him, but he told the Iraqi official, "That is not the way we do business in Sweden."

Ekeus, who served from 1991 to 1997, says he has informed international investigators about the former Iraqi regime's offers.

U.S. Imperialists?

The Washington Post's new managing editor says the U.S. should not be the leader of the world. In an interview with China's People's Daily, Philip Bennett said, "It is unhealthy to have one country as the leader of the world. People in other countries don't want to be led by foreign countries. ... If we are heading into another period of imperialism where the U.S. thinks [of] itself as the leader of the [world] and its interest[s] should prevail over all other interests of its neighbors and others, then I think the world will be in an unhappy period."

Car Trouble

For 10 years, the United Auto Workers Union in Detroit has let Marine reservists who work nearby park their cars in its lot. But then over the weekend, the UAW decided to ban reservists from parking there if their cars are imported or display pro-Bush stickers.

In a statement, the union said, "While reservists certainly have the right to drive non-union made vehicles and display bumper stickers touting the most anti-worker, anti-union president since the 1920s, that doesn't mean they have the right to park in [our lot] ... We do not think it unreasonable to expect our guests to practice the simple principle of not insulting their host." The move upset Marines, and many others spoke out against it. So now, the UAW has reversed the ban, saying it was "wrong," and not meant to disrespect marines.

Paper's Problem

Harvard's school paper, The Crimson, is urging students to boycott the new on-campus cleaning service Dormaid, launched by one of their fellow students a few weeks ago. The Crimson says Dormaid is "threaten[ing] our student unity" and "creating yet another differential between the haves and the have-nots on campus." The paper says, "Dorm life is one of the few common experiences left that all students, regardless of class or background, have to endure with a measure of equality. ... Hiring someone to clean dorm rooms is ... an obvious display of wealth that would establish a perceived, if unspoken, barrier between students of different economic means."

The student who started Dormaid calls that a "very uneconomic and narrow view." The call for a boycott stirred up reactions all over the Internet, with one blogger saying, "Yes, the collective good must always outweigh the individual's right ... to spend their own money however they wish."

— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report