31.  Instead, scrutiny of American actions, past and present, is on the rise.

32.  It is the first veto of such American action, and the president is forced to plead with Congress for taxpayer funds to rescue our friends to the south.

33.  Iraqi officials, perhaps looking to stave off American action, have in recent months discussed with Secretary-General Kofi Annan the possibility of reopening the country to inspections.

34.  MacPherson has watched too many bad American action films, emulating their lame puns and Schwarzenegger-style taglines.

35.  Most worrisome, it appeared, was the possibility of American military action against Iraq, a move that has been threatened by the Bush administration.

36.  Musharraf, who spent Thursday in Beijing on the second day of an official visit to China, had no immediate comment on the American actions.

37.  No direct American action can force change in Russia, he argues, just as he scoffs at the notion that any political party won the Cold War.

38.  President Boris Yeltsin last week warned that American military action could lead to a world war.

39.  Should U.N. efforts fail, Daschle, D-S.D., said he would support unilateral American action.

40.  So perhaps, on the larger issue, he may still decide that compassion and self-interest both demand serious American action to fight the AIDS epidemic.