WASHINGTON (CP) - A stunning spate of co-ordinated Baghdad suicide bombings was the work of "desperate terrorists" threatened by progress in Iraq, President George W. Bush said Monday.

Far from being "desperate," these acts seem well thought-out and planned - not to mention well funded and carried out in such a fashion as to get maximum coverage in the world press. Targeting the Red Cross headquarters, Paul Wolfowitz, and three police headquarters was guaranteed to get all the wire services' attention. Why is the Bush administration continuing to treat the press release as a vehicle for empty-headed sloganizing?