INTENDED RESULTS

The suspension of the "all-terrorists-all-the-time" networks seems to be having a quick effect.

Al Arabiya has since pledged not to show footage of masked terrorists making threats.

"The Board of Trustees raised concerns and we have decided, with our news team, that we will not have these masked people again," said Walid al-Ibrahim, a 43-year-old Saudi media mogul who owns the bulk of the shares in Al Arabiya, which he launched in March.

"If they want to come and show their faces and give their names on TV, they are welcome to express their views. But we will not allow threats to kill people," Mr. al-Ibrahim said.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes diplomacy, and the President's refusal to retreat before the UN precede a softening of the French rhetoric.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with President Bush at the United Nations Tuesday, Chirac said his country supported the "symbolic transfer of sovereignty" to the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council. "Such a transfer would imply the responsibility of Iraqis be transferred gradually; the transfer cannot be abrupt."

Prior public French statements on the U.S. resolution did not make a distinction between the actual and symbolic transfer of authority. Chirac also said in an interview published Monday in the New York Times that he did not expect his representative to the United Nations would veto a U.N. resolution, suggesting France would likely abstain instead. France threatened to veto the resolution last March that would have authorized the war to topple Saddam Hussein.

While the Germans seem to be climbing on board as well.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder continued to make conciliatory tones ahead of an important meeting with U.S. President Bush, saying late Tuesday Germany would not vote against a new U.N. resolution on Iraq.

In an interview with German public television broadcaster ZDF in New York on Tuesday night, Schröder said he was optimistic the U.N. Security Council, of which Germany is currently a rotating member, would pass a new resolution on the stabilization of postwar Iraq.

“I think we’ll find enough common ground to work out a new resolution,” Schröder told the station, adding that he was looking forward to his first one-on-one meeting with Bush in 16 months. “It will be a good talk.”