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In a musty temple far outside this ancient Tibetan holy city, a young monk ushered a visitor into a dark chapel lined with statues of Buddhist gods of protection.

Life for 2.2 million farmers and herdsmen in Tibet has markedly improved since the late 1970s, but a growing population and static land holdings pose problems for future generations, a new study showed on Tuesday.

This photo released by the White House shows US President George W. Bush (R) welcoming the spiritual leader of Tibet the Dalai Lama to the White House.(AFP-White House/Paul Morse)

President George W. Bush met the Dalai Lama at the White House, in defiance of China's protests that the Tibetan spiritual leader was using US soil as a launchpad for "separatist" activity.

Video image of the Dalai Lama during an interview with the Associated Press in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2003. The Dalai Lama, who implored President Bush to avoid a violent response after the terrorist attacks two years ago, said that the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan may have been justified to win a larger peace, but it's too early to say whether the Iraq war was warranted. He calls on Americans to channel their grief from Sept. 11, 2001 "into a source of inner strength." (AP Photo/Kevin Vineys)

The Dalai Lama said Wednesday that the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan may have been justified to win a larger peace but that is it too soon to judge whether the Iraq war was warranted.

The Dalai Lama has been here before. He has been to Bloomington, and countless other cities around the nation, to talk up the plight of his Tibetan compatriots, thousands of whom have lived in exile for nearly 50 years since a failed uprising against China.

The new Buicks on the Kang Da car showroom floor glisten like melted yak butter. The sheen, however, belies the grueling odyssey that each of the Shanghai-made sedans had to make to reach the biggest auto dealership in Tibet, the "Roof of the World."

The sixth session of the 13th Assembly of the Tibetan People's Deputies began yesterday here at the Assembly hall in the premises of the Central Tibetan Administration.

LHASA - The giggles and holiday chatter die down as visitors enter the small, lightly furnished room. Turning silently to the empty throne, they fold their hands in prayer, touch their heads three times and prostrate themselves on the carpeted floor.