Bill Safire is a man of such meticulous, journalistic brilliance that The Onion once ragged on his likeness ordering "Two Whoppers Junior" the day after he ran for the border for "Two Tacos Supreme." I reserve my right to amateur's prerogative in my disagreement with his assessment that John Ashcroft has anything other than an assertive desire to protect the nation from devil's advocates chipping away at law under the guise of protecting liberties.

But Safire, in times trying our souls, is unmatched. He presents a list of "Snap Judgments" today in the Times (registering takes no more than thirty seconds; I did it myself this morning). I agree with them all but will give Safire and his paper the luxury of a full offering; here are the standouts:

3. Best evidence of Saddam's weakness: his reliance on suicide bombers for media "victories." Individual self-destruction may or may not terrorize a civilian population but is not a weapon capable of inflicting decisive casualties on, or striking fear into, a powerful army. (It does vividly demonstrate the Baghdad-terrorist nexus.)

4. Most stunning surprise: the degree of intimidation of Shiites in southern cities by Saddam's son Uday's Gestapo. When Basra falls, however, fierce retribution on these thuggish enforcers by local Shia may send a message of uprising to co-religionists who make up a third of Baghdad's populace.

7. Most overdue revelation by the Pentagon: that Russia has long been smuggling sophisticated arms to Saddam's regime with Syria's hostile connivance. Who suppressed this damning data for a year, and to what end? And is the C.I.A. still ignorant of the transmission to Iraq through Syria of a key component in rocket propellant from China, brokered by France?

10. Worst mistake as a result of State and C.I.A. interference with military planning: fearing to offend the Turks, we failed to arm 70,000 free Kurdish pesh merga in northern Iraq. Belatedly, we are giving Kurds the air, commando and missile support to drive Ansar-Qaeda terrorists out of a stronghold, but better planning would have given us a trained, indigenous force on the northern front.

13. Greatest wartime mysteries: What tales of special-ops derring-do await the telling? Who, in the fog of peace, will honor Iraqis inside Baghdad spotting military targets to save civilians? Will we learn first-hand of the last days of Saddam in his Hitlerian bunker? What scientists, murdered lest they point the way to germs and poison gases, left incriminating documents behind? Where are the secret files of Saddam's Mukhabarat, detailing the venal transactions with Western, Asian, Arab and Persian political and business leaders — and connections to world terror networks?

My sentiments exactly. America and her allies are fighting an incredible, just war in the face of evil's most elaborate corporeal infestations yet. With faith and fortitude, we'll be victorious.

Safire, too, is winning quite a prize for journalism. If more so-called periodical chroniclers of history would take his lead for reasoned, objective analysis, the broader media might just win back a few shreds of credibility.