CARD WARS, BABY

First it was uggabugga, now Greenpeace has come out with its own retaliatory set of playing cards.

GENEVA (AP) -- In a play on the deck of cards distributed to U.S. troops in Iraq, anti-nuclear campaigners on Wednesday issued their own most-wanted list -- with President Bush replacing Saddam Hussein as the ace of spades.

"It's an exact copy (of the U.S. deck) in terms of the design and layout," said William Peden, spokesman for the disarmament campaign at Greenpeace.

But while the U.S. cards were meant to help soldiers capture America's most-wanted Iraqi leaders, the Greenpeace deck is meant to focus attention on the dangers posed by nuclear arsenals, Peden told The Associated Press.

Campaigners are handing out 600 decks to delegates at a two-week meeting on the 1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The conference precedes a review of the 188-nation accord in 2005.

"We haven't had any negative comments -- not even from the U.S. delegation," said Peden. "They're such a hot item."

Along with photographs of Bush and seven other leaders are details of the number of nuclear weapons their countries possess. The ace of spades notes that Bush has around 10,600 weapons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is the ace of hearts in the Greenpeace deck, with around 18,000 nuclear weapons.

French President Jacques Chirac is the ace of clubs, while Britain's Tony Blair is the ace of diamonds. The kings feature the leaders of China, Pakistan, India and Israel -- all countries with nuclear weapons.

Just a curious question: Why oh why might Saddam Hussein not be included among this new deck of cards? Well, perhaps because he doesn't have nukes and wasn't ever close to having them, despite the attempted lies of our fearless leader.

Anyway, this game also reminds me of a card game I used to play with friends, Nuclear War. Anyway, gotta jet.