News, 12-18/5/02 (1)

 

Hopefully this news service is getting back to normal. The week saw the

passing of a very much watered down version of 'smart sanctions'. CASI put

out an excellent press statement explaining why it will do very little to

improve the lives of ordinary civilians. I didn't see this reported anywhere

(but that doesn't mean it wasn't). There also seems to have been a

significant improvement in Iraqi/Saudi Arabia relations. Most recommended

articles are (under UN relations) 'Revised Iraq sanctions still US policy

tool' and (under New World Order) 'US has little reason to feel triumphant'.

 

IRAQI/UN RELATIONS

 

*Ý Iraq Sanctions Overhaul Postponed [Syria tries, unsuccessfully, to

establish the point that Iraq has a right, guaranteed by the UN Charter, to

defend itself.]

*Ý Iraq has been offered a chance to rejoin the international community

[Idiot level editorial from The Independent which has fallen hook, line and

sinker for the idea that a measure which continues to prevent Iraqi oil

money from being spent on Iraqi produced goods, thereby stimulating the

Iraqi economy, is good for Iraqi civilians. Of course they're all just Arabs

so The Independent probably thinks that living off foreign goods doled out

in handouts by the government is good enough for them. The Independent also

believes that, because a terrible evil has been slightly moderated, the

Iraqis are under a moral obligation to reciprocate by opening the entire

country up to minute inspection by enemy spies.]

*Ý U.N. panel votes to revise Iraq sanctions [It appears from this account

that the US has failed to secure the tougher enforcement of sanctions by

neighbours (Syria, Jordan, Iran) which at one point seemed to be the whole

raison d'Ítre of the exercise, leaving us feeling that the Americans are

only going through the motions on this one. It isn't necessarily a

comforting thought, since tougher measures against smuggling was touted as

Colin Powell's alternative to war.]

*Ý Sanctions altered to aid Iraqi civilians [Extracts giving the views of

Ari Fleischer, Jack Straw and Richard Perle.]

*Ý Iraq Accepts U.N. Sanctions Reforms [Curious remark from the Arab League

Secretary General, Amr Moussa, that "the sanctions issue is gradually

heading toward being solved."]

*Ý Revised Iraq sanctions still US policy tool [Thoughtful review from MERIP

member of the latest initiatives.]

 

URL ONLY:

http://cgi.wn.com/?action=display&article=13626296&template=baghdad/indexsea

rch.txt&index=recent

*Ý Iraq May Be Considering Inspections The Associated Press, 16th May [The

article appeared in many guises over the week but its only an opinion given

by the Deputy US Ambassador to the UN, James Cunningham, without anything to

substantiate it. We should note however the assumption that its only since

the US threats began that Iraq has considered letting inspectors in. In fact

Iraq has always been willing to let inspectors in so long as there are clear

guarantees that they won't be US spies and that the process will lead to a

lifting of sanctions and not simply, like UNSCOM, function as an excuse for

prolonging them indefinitely.]

 

NEW WORLD ORDER

 

*Ý US has little reason to feel triumphant [Not much about Iraq but a useful

summary of the present state of the 'War against Terror', surprising from

the normally quite belligerent Bangkok Post. Thanks to Felicity for sending

it to me.]

*Ý A question of faith [Nick Cohen is a supporter of 'universal human

rights' who believes that the US ‚ after Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Korea,

Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Panama, not to mention the road to Basra - has the

moral right to enforce them. Here he gives an account of a new book, a novel

about the Dome of the Rock by Kanan Makiya, who wrote The Republic of Fear,

a pre-Gulf War expose of the evils of the Iraqi regime. Cohen remarks that

although the Israelis (with US support) only destroyed 400 Palestinian

villages, Saddam (with US support) destroyed 3,000 Kurdish villages. A more

interesting comparison might be with the number of Kurdish villages

destroyed by the Turks (with US support). Difficult to see how it amounts to

an argument for a US right to intervene in Iraq ...Extract on Iraq, leaving

out Mr Cohen's views on the foolishness of religion in general and Islam in

particular (Mr Cohen is also a believer in 'the enlightenment'.]

*Ý On Atta, Prague and Iraq [Mainly notable for D.Rumsfeld's implicit

admission that there is no evidence for the Atta/al-Ani meeting in Prague.]

*Ý 'Start Wars' poster aims to highlight opposition to Iraq attack

 

IRAQI/MIDDLE EASTERN-ARAB WORLD RELATIONS

 

*Ý Iraq sends minister to S. Arabia

*Ý Iraq gives priority to Saudi Arabia to trade cooperation [The article

also refers to Iraq opening to the import of goods from Kuwait.]

*Ý Saudi importers allowed to re-export to Iraq

*Ý Spell out the goals for Iraq [Proposed constitutional arrangements for a

post Saddam Iraq aimed at the difficult job of reconciling the aspirations

of the Kurds and of the Turks.]

 

 

AND IN NEWS, 12-18/5/02 (2)

 

NORTHERN IRAQ/SOUTHERN KURDISTAN

 

*Ý Inside Iraq [Guy Dinsmore on the difficulties of getting into the Kurdish

autonomous zone. In the article he refers to 'the fighting that culminated

in the KDP inviting Saddam's tanks to attack the PUK in Arbil in 1996, again

with no response from the west'. Actually, the West did respond - by a spate

of bombing in Southern Iraq, as far away from the conflict as possible. The

problem was that the West wanted Saddam's intervention to succeed because

they didn't want the area, through the good offices of the PUK, to fall

under the domination of Iran. Dinsmore quotes a PUK supporter as saying

'privately' that Ansar-el-Islam is more likely to be Iran-backed than

al-Qaida-, or, by implication, Saddam-, backed. Another kick in the teeth

for William Safire's efforts to establish a Saddam-al-Qaida link?]

*Ý Iraqi Kurds treat Bush plans with suspicion [Guy Dinsmore's previous

article was on the difficulties of getting into the Kurdish autonomous zone

but this one, about KDP/PUK relations, is just a rehash of everything we've

been reading for the past couple of years and could have been written

without leaving the office computer. The extract given here concerns

relations with the rest of Iraq and leaves us wondering why, considering all

we've been reading about how much better life is in the Kurdish autonomous

zone, Kurds should want to go to the rest of Iraq for medical treatment.]

*Ý Saddam deploys tanks to avert Kurdish uprising [Interesting to learn that

the CIA wanted to establish bases in the Kurdish autonomous zone but have

been tuned down, for obvious reasons. The article also confirms what anyone

with any sense would already have figured out, that the main effect of all

the Bush-Blair sabre-rattling has been to tighten the repression in possible

centres of dissension within Iraq.]

 

INSIDE IRAQ

 

*Ý Licking Their Wounds [Difficult to imagine the mentality of a journalist

who, finding himself surrounded by the victims of his own country's policy

of mass impoverishment and murder, would choose to write an amusing piece on

the Iraqi taste for ice cream. Maybe Slackman isn't responsible for the

title but it is about as low in the taste stakes as you can get ...]

*ÝÝ Little by Little, Iraq Shows Signs of Economic Life [Extracts. This has

provoked some controversy on our list. Some contributors argue that the

attempt to give the impression that life is improving in Iraq is a US

propaganda ploy. Since, however, the US propaganda line is that Saddam is

deliberately starving his people and has done nothing to improve their life,

I tend to think it isn't. And the article as a whole gives more scope to the

anti-war argument than is usual for articles in the Washington Post.]

*Ý Mosque that thinks it's a missile site [on Saddam's mosque building

programme]

 

 

 

News, 18-25/5/02 (1)

 

This week has seen President Bush's visit to Europe overshadowed by what

looks like a minor revolt on the part of the American military leadership

against the idea of a war on Iraq. Some of the reasons look unconvncing. Its

difficult to believe that the mighty US military machine really is

overstretched by hanging around in Afghanistan and Bosnia and chasing a

couple of hundred bandits in the Philippines. Recommended articles this

week: 'America the Fearful' and Robert Fisk's 'There is a firestorm coming

...' both under New World Order.

 

PROSPECTS FOR WAR

 

*Ý US may attack Iraq with Kurds' assistance [Curious French prediction that

the US will attack but may not win. Also claims that the US have been

'nurturing' Kurdish forces. The Kurds of course have their own well

established military tradition but my impression is that over the past ten

years this has been discouraged rather than nurtured. Simply put, what

access do they have to arms and training?]

*Ý Toll could be high in Iraq strike [The New York Times argues that

possession of chemical and biological weapons is a necessary prerequisite

for any country that wishes to maintain its national sovereignty in the face

of possible US aggression: "Without question, it's the toughest nut to

crack."]

*Ý U.S. military action to oust Saddam reportedly on hold [This widely

diffused article states very bluntly that the Joint Chiefs of Staff are

opposed to a war on Iraq and even that the term 'Iraq hysteria'is current

among them.]

*Ý Iraq invasion would be error to rival Hitler's attack on Russia

[according to British general, Sir Michael Rose]

*Ý Bush backs off Iraq invasion

 

URL ONLY:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-306696,00.html

*Ý Pentagon retreats from plan to attack Baghdad

by Giles Whittell

The Times, 25th May

 

BUSH VISIT

 

*Ý Thousands join anti-war protests

*Ý Bush Urges Europe to Deal With Saddam [This article suggests a rather

cool reception for Bush in the Reichstag. In contrast to the headline in The

Washington Times, which read: 'In Berlin, stunned applause' -

http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20020524-99926062.htm]

*Ý U.S., Russia Sign Landmark Treaty [Includes the following surprising

statement from Bush, supposedly giving the Russians advice over Chechnya:

"The experience in Afghanistan has taught us all that there are lessons to

be learned about how to protect one's homeland and, at the same time, be

respectful on the battlefield."]

*Ý Tough talk from Bush on eve of summit [Extract on reasons for Russian

reserve with regard to the 'Axis of Evil' rhetoric.]

 

IRAQI/MIDDLE EAST-ARAB WORLD RELATIONS

 

*Ý Iraq blames Iran for failure to resume air link

*Ý Kuwait says Iraq not cooperating on POWs

*Ý Rafsanjani Blasts Western Policies Towards Iraq

*Ý MKO angrily denies US charges on Iraq links [Here is an interesting

point. Are the Mujaheedin al-Khalq 'terrorists' because they launch

guerrilla attacks in Iran? or only when they do such things at the behest of

the government of Iraq? Were the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan

terrorists?]

*Ý Iranian rebels in quandary [More of the same]

 

NO FLY ZONES

 

*Ý US Plane Attacks Iraqi Air Defense

*Ý 4 Hurt in U.S. Air Attack on South, Baghdad Says

*Ý Danger looms in Iraq no-fly zone

*Ý 4 U.S. planes attack 2 Iraqi weapons sites with missiles

 

 

AND, IN NEWS, 18-25/5/02Ý (2)

 

NEW WORLD ORDER

 

*Ý America the fearful [Excellent article on the culture of fear currently

being cultivated by the US government: 'The destruction of the twin towers

shows that there are things to be afraid of, but our government's mad

responses are making us more vulnerable to such things, not less.']

*Ý Iran, not Iraq, cited as top terror sponsor [State Department report on

terrorism. Includes the curious statistic that: 'the number of terrorist

attacks declined in 2001. There were 346, compared with 426 in 2000. And

more than half of the year's attacks were on an oil pipeline in Colombia ^À

not in the volatile Middle East or troubled South Asia.'. It leaves us very

curious to know how the term 'terrorist attack' is defined. For example: why

should an attack on an oil pipeline be regarded as 'terrorist'? And why

should the bombing of Afghanistan not be regarded as terrorist?]

* The schizophrenic Russian-Iranian nexus [Long, interesting article on

Russian-Iranian relations. Only an extract, on the dispute over oil

production in the Caspian Sea is given here, unbalancing the article

somewhat since the rest of it is on reasons for Russian/Iranian friendship

and cooperation.]

*Ý US "planned to attack Iran in 2003" : Mohsen Rezai

*Ý Iran Diary, Part 1: Sea of peace or lake of trouble? [Iraq isn't

mentioned in this article, but its Pepe Escobar on oil politics (in the

Caspian) so in it goes.]

*Ý Iran diary, Part 2: Knocking on heaven's doorÝ [Pepe Escobar meets the

Grand Ayatollah Sannei in the Holy City of Qom. Sannei tells him that all

human rights are guaranteed under Islamic law. So that's OK.]

*Ý Time to end cold war with Cuba [Well deserved praise for Jimmy Carter and

his visit to Cuba and equally well deserved scorn for the present

administration's attempt to trash it by suggesting that because the Cubans

have developed an impressive pharmaceutical industry they're probably

manufacturing chemical weapons, and probably selling thm to terrorists.

Though a little unfair to blame the Cuban government for the country's

poverty when they've been subjected to US embargo for 40 years ...]

*Ý There is a firestorm coming, and it is being provoked by Mr Bush [Robert

Fisk on the general none too encouraging state of the world]

 

 

 

News, 25/5-1/6/02 (titles)

 

One could almost start feeling sorry for Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz,

William Safire et al. A month ago they seemed to have the ball at their

feet. The world was divided neatly into two camps: good guys and bad guys,

and the good guys were about to knock hell out of the bad guys. Now the

world in all its complexity has managed to upstage the simplicities of the

'war against terror', and the prospects for a final solution of the problem

of Evil are fading fast. We could derive satisfaction from this except that

it has involved the destruction of all the paltry gains the Palestinian

people thought they had made through the wretched Oslo agreement; and an

imminent prospect of nuclear war in the Indian subcontinent.

 

News, 25/5-1/6/02 (1)

 

IRAQI/MIDDLE EAST-ARAB WORLD RELATIONS

 

*Ý Iraq's trade minister arrives in Damascus

*Ý Iraq, UAE signed joint cooperation agreements

*Ý Iraq Using Oil Pipeline To Sway U.S. Ally [Turkey]

*Ý Saudi- Iraqi border opened today

*Ý Iraq, Lebanon ink media cooperation protocol

*Ý Moroccan health minister expected Sunday in Iraq

*Ý Qatar's economy minister to visit Iraq in June

*Ý Iraq-Jordan pipeline work 'to start before year-end

*Ý Call for concerted GCC military efforts

*Ý American factor gains strength in Jordan

*Ý Iraq allowed to send ambassador to OIC (Organization of the Islamic

Conference)

*Ý Saudis channel anger into charity [Short extract on the rather obscure

distinction to be drawn between Saudi aid for victims of Israeli aggression

and Iraqi aid for victims of Israeli aggression. The article seems to be

suggesting - but surely I've misunderstood it - that the Saudis aren't

financing Hamas, well, not very much anyway ...]

*Ý Jenin families pocket Iraqi cash [Note that houses are being rebuilt in

Jenin with large sums of money from the United Arab Emirates. Has anyone

even suggested that Israel should pay - um - compensation?]

 

URL ONLY:

http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/fp.asp?layout=displaynews&doc_id=NR20020531670.4

_eb720015bbbd6cb8

*Ý Cairo government cashes in on linchpin role in the Middle East

Hoover's/Financial Times (from Lloyds List), 31st May

[Interesting piece on Egypt's debt problems and relations with the IMF.]

 

IRAQI/IRANIAN RELATIONS

[See also the Pepe Escobar supplement]

 

*Ý Iranian naval units trade fire with phony Iraqi fishermen [The article

claims that 'Iranian fishing boats have repeatedly been the target of Iraqi

aggressions in recent months.']

*Ý On the Occasion of 20th Anniversary of Liberation of Khorramshahr [The

incomplete paragraphs come from the original but I thought the article worth

presenting anyway for some interesting insights into Western support for

Iraq during the Gulf War - the real Gulf War, not the subsequent massacre

that goes by that name. Pity the apparently very interesting quote from

Kissinger ("If Iraq had won the war, there would have been no concern and

fear in the Persian Gulf ...") is truncated.]

*Ý Daily on UN inaction towards production of chemical weapons [The Tehran

Times claims that 'Some 130,000 Iranians have been suffering from injuries

caused by dangerous chemicals used in the (Iran-Iraq) war.' Yet this is

rarely cited as among Saddam's crimes, perhaps because of course the

Iranians too are known to be evil.]

*Ý Islamic republic's drive to develop ballistic missiles boosts regional

tensions

*Ý Iranian Abandons Push To Improve U.S. Ties [Predictable consequence of

the 'Axis of Evil' rhetoric.]

 

IRAQI/US RELATIONS

 

*Ý Hesitant Hawks [I have a feeling that an article like this ‚ positively

mocking the Bush/Blair warmongering rhetoric ‚ couldn't have been published

in the Washington Post even a month ago.]

*Ý The confusion deepens over U.S. foreign policy [It is really very

encouraging, indeed heartwarming, to see articles appearing in the US press

which are beginning to treat the President and his war against terrorism

with the cool intellectual contempt that they deserve.]

*Ý U.S. fears Iraq could channel weapons into terrorist hands

*Ý Global Eye -- The Foggy Dew [If even the Moscow Times is publishing

cheeky articles about the US government things are really on the slippery

slope ...]ÝÝÝ

 

URL ONLY:

http://www.dawn.com/2002/05/29/int13.htm

*Ý Cold war won, can Nato fight terror?

by Peter Ford

Dawn (from Christian Science Monitor), 29th May, 16 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1423

['Since 1986, defence spending as a proportion of GDP has fallen from 5.3

per cent to 2.5 per cent in Britain, from 3.2 per cent to 1.5 per cent in

Germany and from 3.9 per cent to 2.7 per cent in France. The 48 billion

dollars increase in the Pentagon budget that Congress approved recently is

more than the total defence budgets of 12 Nato allies.' Savour this rare

opportunity to feel proud of being European.]

 

 

AND, IN NEWS, 25/5-1/6/02 (2)

 

NO FLY ZONES

 

*Ý US Drone Crashes in Return From Iraq

*Ý 18 Iraqis Hurt in Allied Airstrike

*Ý US jets strike air defence sites in southern Iraq

*Ý Iraq says it 'Forced down' Spy drone

*Ý Wisdom of Aerial 'Game' With Hussein Comes Into Question [Interesting to

note that the Turks too, like the Saudis, impose limitations on the

behaviour of US patrols from their territory.]

*Ý Iraq Says Over 1,140 Killed in US, British Air Raids

*Ý U.S. Planes Bomb Radar Site in Iraq

 

IRAQI/UN RELATIONS

 

*Ý Report: Iraq Earned $6B Illegally [Best news of the week. We may be

getting back to the pre-September 11th pattern in which with painful

slowness and considerable skill on the part of the Iraqi administration

sanctions fall away of their own accord as Iraq's neighbours summon up the

political courage to break them discreetly. If only they could summon up the

political courage to break them openly ...]

*Ý Iraq-U.N. Oil Price Dispute Bankrupts UN Goods Plan [This was forwarded

to the list by Drew Hamre who tells us that the full text of the document

referred to can be found at

http://www.un.org/Depts/oip/background/latest/bvs020529.html]

*Ý U.N., Iraq to Focus on Inspections

 

IRAQIS OUTSIDE IRAQ

 

*Ý Iraqis end hunger strike in Denmark

 

IRAQI/UK RELATIONS

 

*Ý Battle of SAS Gulf patrol gets bloody [Battle over veracity or otherwise

of A.McNab.]

*Ý British MP predicts revolution in Middle East [Very outspoken views from

G.Galloway, who makes clear his belief that to a large extent the Arab

leaders are to blame for the present mess: "Once you allow the elephant

through the door, you are no longer in a position to tell the elephant where

to sit."]

*Ý Navy frigate stops Iraqi smugglers [Mighty victory by 'crack team' of

'specialist Royal Marines' over 'shabby tanker'. And all in spite of the

heat.]

 

URL ONLY:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,482-308681,00.html

*Ý The world can be grateful Bush is a quick learner

by William Rees-Mogg

Times, 27th May

'The global dangers from terrorism are now a threat to our remarkable peace

and prosperity in Europe. The United States is the leader upon which we

depend for security. Some exaggerated US self-interest, a few rough edges of

diplomacy, a blunt Texan willingness to state uncomfortable truths, seem a

small price for Europe to pay.' The rest is in much the same vein.]

 

IRAQI/INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

 

*Ý Indonesian, Indian cos to carry out gas exploration in Iraq

 

URL ONLY:

http://atimes.com/c-asia/DE29Ag03.html

*Ý Caspian oil not seen to threaten Middle East

by N Janardhan

Asia Times, 28th May

[Mainly notable for the following amusing sentence: 'Once the Middle East is

no longer deemed important to meet the energy needs of the rest of the

world, there would no longer be a compelling reason for outsiders such as

the United States to ensure that most of it remains at peace.']

 

INSIDE IRAQ

 

*Ý Saddam's men kill 40 in mosque fight [There has been some dispute about

this on the list, but it seems to me a perfectly possible consequence of the

state of paranoia which is being deliberately and irresponsibly fostered in

Iraq by the US and UK governments.]

*Ý Saddam cries victory [Further to the list dispute over whether the

article LITTLE BY LITTLE, IRAQ SHOWS SIGNS OF ECONOMIC LIFE by Howard

Schneider (Washington Post, 17th May) is US propaganda or not. Schneider

quoted the CIA World Factbook as saying that 'per capita incomeÝ in Iraq now

stands at around $2,500 annually -- double that of Egypt'. And here is

Saddam saying that that proves what a good government Iraq has got, to

achieve this under such difficult circumstances.]

 

URL ONLY;

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20020527_73.html

*Ý Iraqi Kurds Worry About U.S. Action

ABC News, 27th May

[I haven't given this because it seems to me not very different from many

other accounts of 'the Kurdish problem'. It does however give the link to an

interesting, apparently basically Kurdish group called the Iraq Institute

for Democracy, accessible at: http://www.iraq democracy.org/.]

 

 

SUPPLEMENTS

NEWS SUPPLEMENT, 25/5-1/6/02 (1)

 

(1)Ý Articles by Pepe Escobar on Iran [Extract from Part 4: 'Shariatmadari

uses Francis Fukuyama and his thesis of liberal democracy as the end of

history to challenge the concept of liberal democracy itself. "I believe

that today Bush, after the accident of September 11, killed liberal

democracy in the US. He says that one of the main principles of execution of

liberal democracy is the building up of dialogue. But when he was asked if

al-Qaeda had perpetrated September 11, he said this was a time for building

up war. If someone is not with us, then he is our enemy, and we go to war

against him. I'd like to know whether Western theoreticians consider this as

liberal democracy." In the current climate of ideological confusion,

"Western intellectuals and official authorities don't know what liberal

democracy is anymore. So how do they want to transfer it to the whole

world?"']

 

NEWS SUPPLEMENT, 25/5-1/6/02 (2)

 

(2)Ý Articles by Jon Sawyer on Iraq [INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY ST LOUIS POST

DISPATCH: Washington Bureau Chief Jon Sawyer returned last weekend from a

10-day trip through central and southern Iraq, the first extended trip in

that country by an American newspaper journalist since before the terrorist

attacks of Sept. 11.

He traveled with two American groups opposed to the United Nations sanctions

against Iraq, the St. Louis-based Veterans for Peace and the Chicago group

Voices in the Wilderness. The two groups permitted Sawyer to accompany them

on trips to hospitals, water treatment plants, schools and markets. Iraqi

government officials were usually present but not always, reflecting an

apparent relaxation in control of foreign journalists.

Sawyer conducted independent interviews in Baghdad, Basra and Fallujah. He

also spent a day observing journalists from the al-Jazeera satellite

network, as they covered a story on demolitions experts collecting cluster

bombs dropped by U.S. and allied warplanes.]

 

 

 

News, 1-8/6/02 (titles)

 

The forces of darkness go back on the offensive with what might be called

the Bush/Rumsfeld/Tojo doctrine of the right to a pre-emptive strike (in

case anyone doesn't know, General Hideki Tojo was Prime Minister of Japan at

the time of the attack on Pearl Harbour. Actually it is profoundly unfair to

General Tojo to lump him together with Bush and Rumsfeld. The attack on

Pearl Harbour was a response to a US embargo which had had the effect of

'reducing Japan's foreign trade by three quarters and cutting off nine

tenths of her oil supply at source' (John Keegan: The Second World War,

p.203). One imagines how Bush would respond if anyone even thought of doing

that to him!). Rumsfeld has come to Europe to berate NATO countries for not

keeping up with the ludicrous US 'defense' budget. He boasts of what he's

done to Afghanistan and tells us there'll be lots more of the same, then

goes to India and Pakistan to council moderation and restraint. And 'the

world' continues to take it all seriously.

But, lest we despair, here is an encouraging quotation from N.Chomsky taken

from an interview published in the Croatian Feral Tribune early in May. The

whole interview can be found at

http://www.zmag.org/content/TerrorWar/chomskygab.cfm:

'More surprising, to me at least, was that the Sept. 11 atrocities had the

opposite effect among the US population [to the effect it had on the US

establishment and in the world at large - PB]. Very quickly, it was clear

that there is far more openness to critical and dissident analysis, and

there has been a remarkable upsurge of concern, often activism, about issues

that were pretty much off the agenda before - including, among others, the

US role in the Middle East. Naturally the media and journals of opinion

claim the opposite, hoping to still independent thought and impose

obedience. But people who have any contact with the general population know

better. Demands for talks have spiralled competely out of control, and the

scale and engagement of audiences is without precedent apart from the peak

moments of the anti-war movement in the late 1960s. The same is evident in

sale of books, and in fact by every other relevant measure. Even the media

have been to some extent effected, and though still highly restricted, are

more open than they have ever been in my experience over 40 years of

intensive activism.'

 

News, 1-8/6/02 (1)

 

FINGER POINTING AT IRAQ

 

*Ý Lesson of Iraq's Mass Murder [This article is an expression of

indignation over Iraqi use of chemical weapons and concern for its victims,

so long as they happen to be Kurdish. Iranian victims are only mentioned in

passing, but Iran, as we all know, is part of the axis of evil (so,

presumably, were the Kurds when they were allied with Iran in the Iran/Iraq

war). The authors complain that the gassing of the Kurds has never been

properly investigated because of the UN's respect for Iraq's sovereignty

over Southern Kurdistan. Which begs the question why the Americans and

British who, we all know, are 'protecting' the Kurds, haven't conducted

their own investigation. And also why Iran hasn't requested an

investigation, though perhaps most of the Iraqi chemical attacks on Iranian

soldiers occurred in Iraq, ie they were done in self defence. What means, we

wonder, would the US or British deploy if the Martians actually succeeded in

invading our territory? The indignation and concern (and frustration at the

lack of adequate investigation) expressed in the article rather resembles

the indignation and concern we express over US/UK use of 'conventional' (!)

weapons, including the consequences of depleted uranium. Perhaps we should

get together ...]

*Ý Czech Ambassador Defends Meeting [The Czech insistence on maintaining

this story is strange since none of these statements ever seem to bring

forward any new evidence. One feels its part of a need to render themselves

indispensable to the New World Order]

*Ý Report: Iraq Offered to Hand Over Terror Suspect [This and the next have

already been sent to the list by Drew Hamre, who makes the relevant comment:

'Television journalist Leslie Stahl strikes again ... Stahl, you'll recall,

was the journalist who elicited then-UN Ambassador Madeleine Albright's

infamous "price is worth it" comment about the death of 500,000 Iraqi

children associated with sanctions ... The 1993 WTC bombing is relevant to

current attack-Iraq hysteria, because several proponents - chiefly Laurie

Mylroie - has argued that Iraq was behind the bombing, or that it's

sheltered conspirators.Ý Stahl's report rips a hole in these arguments.' The

full transcript can be found on

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/06/02/60minutes/main510847.shtml]

*Ý US names 'mastermind' of twin tower attacks [This will almost certainly

reactivate the Laurie Mylroie thesis of an Iraqi connection to Sept 11 via

the 1993 WTC bombing. On the other hand it could imply the intriguing

possibility that OBL and Al-Qaida weren't in fact responsible for the US

Embassy bombings or for Sept 11.]

*Ý Delhi company fuelled Iraq's weapons system: Daily [This is the closest

I've yet seen to evidence that Iraq is developing a WMD facility. Why is

more not being made of it?]

 

IRAQI/INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

 

*Ý Iraq Says Kampala Government Paid US $1m Out of $10m Debt

*Ý Russia can't please Iran, Iraq and America [How Russia can crawl to the

US, betray its friends and still preserve some shreds of an appearance of

national dignity.]

 

IRAQI/MIDDLE EAST-ARAB WORLD RELATIONS

 

*Ý Iraqi aid money wins Palestinian hearts

*Ý MPs lead delegation on trip to Iraq

*Ý Pentagon to sell advanced missiles to Kuwait [A flagrant example of

weapons proliferation, justified because "Kuwait is threatened by hostile

neighbors with credible air, land and sea forces." Well, yes, it does seem

that Iraq still has two Scud missiles that haven't been accounted for ...

But perhaps the reference is to Iran. Is there any sign that Iran hjas any

aggressive intentions against Kuwait? Why should the Kuwaitis allow

themselves to play this idiotic and dangerous game?]

*Ý IRAN DIARY, Part 7: It's the economy, Ayatollah [Pepe Escobar.

Description of how the Iranian economy works and why it is unlikely that

Khatami will get very far in reforming it.]

*Ý New trade rules 'will transform Arab economy' [On the efforts to build an

Arab free trade zone]

*Ý Saddam Sends Telegram of Condolences to Syria Over Dam Collapse

 

 

AND IN NEWS, 1-8/6/02 (2)

 

NO FLY ZONES

 

*Ý 3 reportedly injured in US-British air attack

*Ý Radar system bombed in Southern Iraq

*Ý Coalition Forces on Alert as They Patrol Northern No-Fly Zone in Iraq

[Last week ('Wisdom of Aerial 'Game' With Hussein Comes Into Question',

News, 25/5-1/6/02 (2)), we were told that the Turkish government wouldn't

allow bombing raids out of Incirlik. But here, in an article on pilots

operating out of Incirlik, we're told that 'the F-16 pilot's main objective

is to hunt down active Iraqi launch sites for surface-to-air missiles, known

as SAMs, and to destroy these sites if possible.' The Kurds are almost

reproached for their reluctance to act as a proxy force in the event of a US

invasion despite being willing to shelter behind the 'protection' offered by

their kindly 'big brother' - the phrase is used by the commanding general of

Operation Northern Watch. The article begins with a reference to 'The U.S.,

British, and Turkish coalition enforcing the no-fly zone over northern

Iraq'. Does this mean that the Turkish military effort to bomb the Kurds is

now fully incorporated into the US/British pretense at protecting them?]

*Ý Iraq reportedly steps up bid to down U.S., British warplanes [Geoff Hoon,

justifying an earlier statement that Iraq is more of a threat than it used

to be.]

 

OIL/GAS POLITICS

 

*Ý BAGHDAD: Exports on hold

*Ý Pracsi set to commission $7m project in Iraq [Long overdue refurbishment

of the oil infrastructure. How long before it all gets blown up again? Not

that Pracsi will mind, so long as they get the contract to build it up

again.]

*Ý Iraq oil flows again

*Ý Interfax: Gazprom, SIBUR win tender to develop Iraqi gas field

*Ý Factors Pushing Iraq on Surcharges

 

IRAQI OPPOSITION

 

*Ý Iraqi Exile Groups Wary of U.S., Each Other [Usual conflicts as to who

best represents the Iraqi opposition. Usual failure to make sense of the

divisions. Includes reference to '1996, when the Clinton administration

abandoned a CIA plan to support an invasion of central Iraq by Kurds in the

north. Hussein's forces then invaded Kurdish areas with impunity.' We really

need a coherent account of the events of 1995/6 in the Kudish autonomous

zone, but it has to be constantly stressed that Hussein's forces entered at

the invitation of the KDP because the whole area was about to be overrun by

the PUK in alliance with Iran. And that the US was perfectly happy to see

the Iranian invasion stopped by the only means possible - Iraqi

counter-attack - despite the small detail of the number of US sympathisers

who got killed as a result.]

*Ý US drifts into chaos in Iraq [Nick Cohen defends the INC but one wonders

why the INC, unlike nearly every other substantial opposition group

throughout the world (the IRA for example) is so hopelessly reliant on US

financial support and so utterly unable to find its own sources of income.]

*Ý US plans meetings with anti-Hussein Iraqi group [The group in question is

the so-called Group of Four. No-one is yet explaining to us why the KDP, PUK

and SCIRI - 3 out of the 4 - are no longer connected to the INC. Or what is

left of the INC without them. Or what the Iraqi National Accord is. Or why

the KDP and PUK are publicly identified with this group which seems to want

war on Iraq when their public position is still that they don't want war on

Iraq ...]

*Ý U.S. plans for Iraq after Saddam [Money for the 'Iraqi Jurists

Association' and for the 'Iraqi National Movement', or is the INM another

name for the Iraqi National Accord? One wonders what kind of creatures these

can be who are prepared to accept money from the government that has

destroyed the industrial infrastructure of their country and reduced

millions of their fellow citizens to penury ...]

 

IRAQIS OUTSIDE IRAQ

 

*Ý Ethnic Kurd is not a refugee [Rather confusing and intriguing account of

recent Court of Appeal decision on refugee status of Kurd from the

Autonomous Zone. He is not deemed to be at risk, even though the US is

planning to use his homeland as a base to launch a new war against Iraq, and

even though the KAZ's legally recognised government is still in Baghdad, and

the Kurds cannot defend themselves against an Iraqi invasion and are being

given no guarantee of any defense from anyone else (the patrolling of the No

Fly Zones offers nothing as can be seen from the case of the Marsh Arabs in

the No Fly Zone in the South). Nonetheless, the only available route of

return to the KAZ is via Baghdad, and it is conceded that that that might be

dangerous. But the British government has given him a guarantee that he

won't be returned by that route (the only route available). So he's in no

danger. So he isn't a refugee. Got it?]

*Ý Immigrant plan assailed [US policy for fingerprinting and keeping tabs on

immigrants from the ever expanding axis of evil.]

 

URL ONLY:

http://news.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=598222002

*Ý 'They say we come here for a better life. What better life?'

The Scotsman, 3rd June

[Interesting article on the life of asylum seekers in Glasgow, one of them

being a Kurd from the Kurdish autonomous zone (who fled when his daughter

was killed by a rival Kurdish group so he can't possibly be a genuine

refugee since, as is well known, Kurds are perfectly safe in the Kurdish

autonomous zone).]

 

REMNANTS OF DECENCY

 

*Ý UW student groups plan Albright protest [Interesting anti-Albright

alliance between Muslims and Latinos in the University of Washington.]

*Ý MP berates Blair's leadership [Tam Dalyell reminds us that: "Harold

Wilson, alright he weaved and ducked, but he kept Britain out of the Vietnam

War."]

 

IRAQI/UN RELATIONS

 

*Ý UN appoints humanitarian official in Iraq

*Ý Iraq 'has no terror weapons' [Denis Halliday praises Boutros Boutros

Ghali above Kofi Annan. And at last someone says what I believe is most

important thing to say at the present time: "We have to reform the Security

Council. At present it's an old boys' club of the world's major arms

traders." But when he adds ""It needs a permanent voice from the developing

world, and probably only one European Union member. So either France or the

UK should go.", he seems to imply that the permanent member system should

remain. It should be abolished. But if it remains and if one European power

has to go then it should obviously be the UK, which isn't in any meaningful

sense a European power.]

 

 

AND IN NEWS, 1-8/6/02 (3)

 

PROSPECTS FOR WAR

 

*Ý Bush Warns Cadets of Unprecedented Threats [How is it that, after a

speech like this, the world continues to treat the US as a respectable

member of the family of nations? And that countries in difficulties, such as

India and Pakistan, should accept the US as an international authority with

a right to intervene diplomatically in their disputes? There is an answer to

that question, constantly hammered home by the US and British

establishments: 'Might is right'.]

*Ý Terror war must target 60 nations, says Bush [This article adds the

dimension that countries which tolerate the expression of anti-US sentiment

also need to be sorted out. And it includes the following amusing

observation, which could only surely be made in The Times: 'If the United

States decides to make surprise strikes on other countries, it will mark a

big change in strategy for the US military, which traditionally acts only in

self-defence.']

*Ý Weighing an Attack on Iraq . . . [Fred Hiatt eloquently lays out the

reasons why US citizens can never sleep easy in their beds at night so long

as any traces of evil remain in the world.]

*Ý Pro-Arab policy is to give Iraqis a new regime [Charles Duelfer, who was

pretending, while he was vice chairman of UNSCOM, to be some sort of

politically impartial technical expert, suggests that the Arab world will be

delighted to see the installation of a US puppet government in Iraq so long

as it resembles as closely as possible the existing Iraqi government, sans

Saddam, who, it is well known, is the source of all the sufferings and

tension in the region.]

*Ý . . . We've Too Much at Stake to Risk It [A further indication that its

becoming possible once again in the US to murmur a few words of dissent.

Though it has a rather naive attitude towards the US role in the world:

'Think of America not as the playground bully but as the well-muscled

mild-mannered good kid who finally hauls off and whacks the loudmouth

pipsqueak who won't stop bugging him.' 'Well-muscled' is one way of putting

it. Bristling with weapons of mass destruction is another.]

*Ý Gephardt backs offensive against Iraq [Democratic Party leader complains

that Bush isn't tough enough.]

*Ý US hawks embrace 'hot pre-emption' [A strange argument from former

secretary of State George Schulz which, if I've understood it aright, says

the War against Terrorism is necessary to create strong states throughout

the world. States have been weakened by globalisation and need to be

strengthened. One example given is the Palestinians. The weakness, or

absence, of a Palestinian state has allowed terrorism to flourish. The

conclusion is, presumably, that the aim of Israeli policy in the West Bank

is to create a strong Palestinian state (or is there something I haven't

understood??)]

*Ý Dems Look for Policy Position on Iraq

*Ý Hoon's talk of pre-emptive strikes could be catastrophic [The clear

message is that the UK and US are now willing to use nuclear weapons where

there is no threat of nuclear retaliation. The clear lesson to be drawn is

that all states should arm themselves with nuclear weapons if they do not

wish to be reduced to the status of US/UK satraps.]

*Ý The Bush doctrine makes nonsense of the UN charter [This article could

almost be read as a defense of the policy it is attacking and provides

enough information to show that the UN Charter has already - long - been

reduced to nonsense.]

*Ý Cheney urges action on Iraq

*Ý Rumsfeld's terror warning for NATO [Mr Rumsfeld says: "Literally the only

way to defend against individuals, or groups, or organisations, or countries

that have weapons of mass destruction and are bent on using them against

you, for example... then the only defence is to take the effort to find

those global networks and to deal with them as the United States did in

Afghanistan. Now is that defensive or is it offensive? I personally think of

it as defensive."Ý One wonders if this is the advice he is giving India and

Pakistan at the present time ...]

 

URLs ONLY:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/commentary/2002/jun/06/513544705.h

tml

*Ý Where I Stand -- Mike O'Callaghan: Looking at the Saudis

by Mike O'Callaghan

Las Vegas Sun, 6th June

[The US media reflect on the need for regime change in Saudi Arabia]

 

http://www.sunspot.net/news/opinion/oped/bal-pe.embargo02jun02.story?coll=ba

l%2Doped%2Dheadlines

*Ý Embargoes often fail to hit target

by Michael Hill

Baltimore Sun, 2nd June

[Academics arguing against the effectiveness of embargoes. Trade as a more

effective means of undermining regimes we don't like.]

 

http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20020605-98861273.htm

*Ý Hot and cold on Iraq

by Helle Dale

THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 5th June

[Complaint in wake of Chief of Staffs memo that Bush regime might be going

'wobbly' on Iraq. Nothing we haven't read before.]

 

 

 

News titles, 8-15/6/02

 

Another collection of outdated news (readers I hope understand that these

mailings are mainly intended as an archive). This time its comparatively

short since I've only given URLs and my own comments for the most

interesting items, in the 'General Paranoia' section. This week, Donald

Rumsfeld visited Kuwait, George Bush announced his new Homeland Security

Department, work began on the US 'anti-missile shield' project in violation

of the 1972 ABM treaty. Already, one can feel, the world is a safer place.

Thoroughgoing enthusiasts for the news mailing service will be pleased to

learn that a perfected version of News, 25/5-1/6/02, which got mangled in my

own mailing, can now be found in the discussion list archive on the CASI

website.

 

News, 8-15/6/02

 

FINGER POINTING AT IRAQ

 

*Ý Blind Anthrax Alley [Letter from Drew Hamre, replying to 'Weighing an

Attack on Iraq' by Fred Hiatt, Washington Post, 3rd June. See News, 1-8/6/02

(3)]

*Ý Bush reportedly tells [Japanese PM] Koizumi he's going to attack Iraq

*Ý Iraq attack is on ['Former paratrooper John Ringo', in trash novelist

style, predicts that war is inevitable because it would be embarrassing for

President Bush to give the next State of the Union address with President

Hussein still in power. He may have a point. But hundreds of thousands of

people killed to spare Mr Bush some embarrassment seems a high price to pay.

Here's a phrase to reduce those who have been trying so hard to keep the

historical record straight to despair: 'We've forgotten the arrogant nature

of the expulsion in 1998 ...']

*Ý Rumsfeld's tough talk on Iraq [Rumsfeld 'said to a room full of

reporters, including many in the Kuwaiti press, that he viewed that

reconciliation possibility as something like the lion inviting the chicken

into the den. [He created] a little bit of a faux pas, perhaps not realizing

that he was calling the Kuwaitis chickens.]

*Ý Rumsfeld tells U.S. troops Hussein is 'world-class liar'

*Ý Kristol's War will need better salesmanship [How a discourse that sounds

perfectly anodyne in the US ('first Iraq, then Iran and North Korea and even

the House of Saud') doesn't travel very well in Europe.]

*Ý Why a First Strike Will Surely Backfire [William Galston, a Clinton

adviser, has already gone so far with the Forces of Evil that his argument

against an intervention in Iraq sounds weak. It amounts to saying that,

unlike, er, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Panama, Afghanistan, such a war would

have been unprovoked so the rest of the world would oppose it and might do a

bit of sulking. But the rest of the world has already revealed its

prostitute status through its acquiescence in earlier adventures and its

continued willingness to treat the US as a respectable power. The Bush

administration would probably be able to live with a bit of sulking.]

 

INSIDE IRAQ

 

*Ý Hussein holds rare Q&A on Iraqi TV

 

IRAQI/MIDDLE EASTERN-ARAB WORLD RELATIONS

 

*Ý Morocco, Iraq to set up business council

*Ý Iran accepts refugees if war breaks out in Iraq, Pakistan

*Ý Iraq, Qatar sign free trade agreement

* [Lebanese] Parliamentary delegation returns from Iraq

*Ý Kuwait's age-old woes [Stagnancy of Kuwait under ageing leadership]

*Ý U.S. Iraqi Expert [Robert Deutsch] Assigned to Embassy in Ankara

 

OIL POLITICS

 

*Ý Refiners Learn to Live Without Iraqi Oil

*Ý Iraq Opposes OPEC Oil Output Hike

 

IRAQI OPPOSITION

 

*Ý Saddam's opponents claim attack on party chief [Islamic terrorism strikes

again, this time, as so often in the past, with US support. And, assuming

the story is true, may we assume that President Hussein's response will

resemble that of his soul-brother, Ariel Sharon?]

 

REMNANTS OF DECENCY

 

*Ý US artists damn 'war without limit' [Note at the end: 'It was announced

last week that Bill Maher, host of the television show Politically

Incorrect, has not had his contract renewed by ABC. Maher was criticised for

an exchange six days after September 11 in which he and a guest agreed that

whatever else the hijackers were, they were not "cowardly."' Nonetheless,

whatever else the hijackers were, they were not "cowardly."]

 

SIEGE OF IRAQ

*Ý Aussie warship intercepts 16 boats

*Ý US attacks Iraqi radar site

 

IRAQI/UN RELATIONS

 

*Ý Reporter owes reluctant thanks to Saddam Hussein [This article is of very

little interest and would hardly have been worth giving except for the clear

message, from a specialist in reporting UN affairs, that the UN is only

interesting when the US has a use for it.]

 

MARGINAL NATIONS OF NO IMPORTANCE

 

URL ONLY

http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/fp.asp?layout=displaynews&doc_id=NR20020611670.4

_61a8018dcab794fd

*Ý Europe Barks. But Does it Bite?: Its leaders criticize Bush and his

policy. But are they more nervous about their own roles?

by Stryker McGuire in London and John Barry in Washington

Hoover's-Financial Times (from Newsweek International, 3rd June), 11th June

[Long, wandering, impressionistic article about US/European relations which

concludes, probably rightly, that 'Europe' isn't anything in particular and

that there isn't much substance to its disagreements with the US.]

 

GENERAL PARANOIA

 

URLs ONLY:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/bw-wh/2002/jun/11/061102259.html

*Ý Bush Pledges Fight Against Evil

Las Vegas Sun, 11th June

[A rather indefinite account of Bush's proposed Homeland Security

Department]

 

http://www.canada.com/vancouver/story.asp?id={6BB5B429-75F7-48AF-9E35

0A7217CB7855}

*Ý War on terror will dominate G-8 foreign ministers' conference at Whistler

Vancouver Sun [?], 11th June

[Preparations for meeting of G8 foreign ministers in Canada, which could

have been, but probably wasn't, a chance for 'Europe' to assert strong

opposition to a war on Iraq.]

 

http://www.faz.com/IN/INtemplates/eFAZ/docmain.asp?rub={B1311FCE-FBFB-11D2

B228-00105A9CAF88}&sub=&doc={EF4A68EE-530E-4A8F-9715-00C8842E5C78}

*Ý Germany's Armed Forces in Dire Need of Modernization

by J¸rgen Jeske

Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung, 12th June

[Part of the sustained effort to increase the European defense budget at the

expense of the welfare budget. Somehow this is supposed to counter

'terrorism', though how it would have prevented September 11, or any half

way competent suicide bomber with access to a little fertiliser and sugar is

not explained. Rarely can it have been so obvious that there is a hidden

agenda to all this. Rarely can journalists have been so reluctant to seek it

out. It is in my view hinted at in the sentence: 'Germany will no longer be

able to keep up in the defense technology that, while perhaps done primarily

for military reasons, is well known to provide technological impulses to the

economy as a whole.']

 

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/134473670_abm13.html

*Ý U.S. to start anti-missile shield: Bush voids ABM treaty today;

construction begins Saturday

by Drew Brown

Seattle Times, 13th June

[Account of the current stage of the Star Wars project. Although I haven't

given it, it has its interest. The author is clearly suspicious that the

whole thing is pointless. It is so obviously pointless that the spending of

huge sums of money on it must be considered as an end in itself. Hence it

could be a useful starting point to understanding how the US economy as a

whole works.]

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/13/national/13CIVI.html?pagewanted=print&posi

tion=top

*Ý Echo of F.B.I. Abuses in Queries on New Role

by NEIL A. LEWIS

New York Times, 13th June

[On new information gathering powers of the FBI, with some information on

past abuses, notably the investigation into CISPES (the Committee in

Solidarity With the People of El Salvador)]

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,736400,00.html

*Ý Messy war on the new masters of Armageddon

by Hugo Young

The Guardian, 13th June

[Hugo Young joins Bush in defending the principle of the pre-emptive strike,

the principle of the attack on Pearl Harbour. This is because the threat of

'terrorism' has suddenly become so dreadful. It happens that I am that most

unpopular of UK citizens, an Ulster Protestant. But I don't remember this

type of language issuing from the pages of The Guardian (or indeed from

anywhere in the United States) at the time when we were living under

'terrorist' assault in the 1970s...]

 

 

 

News, 15-22/6/02 (titles)

 

This mailing brings us back up to date. The item of most immediate interest

to anti-sanctions activists is probably the prosecution of Bert Sacks in the

US (under 'Remnants of Decency'). There is also George Bush, licensing the

CIA to do 'such things/What they are, yet I know not, but they shall be/The

Terrors of the earth' (King Lear, II.iv), which is, if anything, reassuring,

though note the commentary (under 'License to Kill') by Scott Ritter. We

also now have the quote we want giving the precise nature of the Czech

'evidence' for the Atta/al-Ani meeting (under 'Finger pointing at Iraq').

Otherwise its the usual old mixture.

 

News, 15-22/6/02 (1)

 

FINGER POINTING AT IRAQ

 

*Ý Iraq accused of smuggling nuclear arms parts on aid flights [The Times

does its patriotic duty in relaying incendiary bits of anonymous

intelligence.]

*Ý U.S. agencies doubt terrorist Atta's meeting in Prague [This article at

last gives us the full story on the Czech sighting of Atta in Prague in

April 2001 (though really this has been obvious for a very long time): 'The

service based its intelligence on a recruited agent who identified Atta from

a photograph after September 11. The agent said he met both Atta and al-Ani

in the Iraqi Embassy in Prague but was not 100 percent confident about the

identities of the men ...' There is also a quote from the FBI which scotches

William Safire's claim (News York Times, 18th March) that the FBI had

concrete evidence that Atta visted Prague in April 2001. If readers are

curious, as I am, to know why the Czechs have been so insistent on the story

it may interest them to learn that the PM of the time, Milos Zeman, caused a

bit of a scandal in Czechoslovakia because he had said, in Jerusalem, that

the Israelis should deal with the Palestinians in the same way that the

Czechs (at a time when, if I'm not mistaken, Madeleine Albright's father was

in the Czech government) had dealt with the Sudeten Germans. Zeman's party

has since been re-elected, but without Zeman at its head.]

*Ý Al Qaeda find Iraqi escape [This article could more accurately have been

titled: 'Al Qaeda members might have passed through Iraq. But on the other

hand, they might not ...' But that wouldn't have had quite the same ring to

it.]

 

INSIDE IRAQ

 

*Ý Relics of Iraq's colonial past join the ghosts of other empires

[Impressionistic acccount of British/Iraqi relations with curious note at

end that the British Council is planning to resume activities (has no-one

told them...?). On the whole however the letter that follows this article

may serve as its commentary.]

*Ý Maintaining war graves in Iraq [Letter from the Director-General of the

Commonwealth War Graves Commission]

*Ý Saddam may hand power to his son [Qusay] to avoid attack [If this should

happen I predict that Mr Hussein will be indicted before a specially created

International Kangaroo Court and Iraq will move into the Serbia category.

The sanctions will be seasoned with bribes with a view to securing his

'voluntary' surrender.]

*Ý Iraq's tortured children [Preview of John Sweeney programme on Monday

24th. See note sent to list by Gabriel of Voices in the Wilderness, 22nd

June. Note also the following, from '100 MPs back protest over strikes on

Iraq ', article in the Daily Telegraph, 15th March (News, 9-16/3/02):Ý 'John

Sweeney, a journalist working for BBC Five Live, unearthed the fact that an

Arab from whom Mr Galloway received thousands of pounds in cash for expenses

in the 1990s was the same man who was named in an American court as the

purchaser of a satellite telephone used by al-Qa'eda in Afghanistan.' There

was also an enthusiastically pro-sanctions representative in Congress - Rep,

NY - called John Sweeney, but it could hardly be him, could it?]

 

URL ONLY:

http://atimes.com/front/DF21Aa01.html

*Ý Iraqis not ready to lie down just yet

by Kim Ghattas

Asia Times (from Inter Press Service), 21st June

[Account of life in Iraq. Seems fine as far as it goes but nothing we

haven't seen before.]

 

 

IRAQI/INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (RUSSIA, SUDAN, AUSTRALIA)

 

*Ý Russia May Reap Policy Dividends [Russia, appearing in this article as a

prostitute, haggling over the price.]

*Ý Sudanese VP Visits Iraq to Boost Ties

*Ý US 'Strike First' Strategy Gets Thumbs-Up From Australia

 

 

AND, IN NEWS, 15-22/6/02 (2)

 

LICENSE TO KILL [in self defense]

 

*ÝÝ CIA given powers to topple Saddam: WP [You and I probably thought this

was US policy already, even though it is presumably illegal under UN

principles, not that that matters. The license to kill clause, devised to

conform to US domestic legislation, is, however, quite amusing: 'Possible

use of CIA and US Special Forces teams, similar to those that have been

successfully deployed in Afghanistan since the Sept. 11 airliner attacks.

Such forces would be authorized to kill the Iraqi president if they were

acting in self-defence.']

*Ý Gunning for Saddam - but is the CIA capable of triggering his demise? [In

the light of the CIA license to kill President Hussein (in self defence)

this is a little roundup of CIA history for those who may not already be

familiar with it.]

*Ý Behind 'Plot' on Hussein, a Secret Agenda [Clearsighted explanation by

Scott Ritter of the license to kill announcement as a deliberate effort to

sabotage the effort to reintroduce weapons inspectors to Iraq. Discussion of

Iraqi fears - clearly not at all groundless - that the role of such

inspectors is to gather intelligence to aid an assassination attempt.]

 

NORTHERN IRAQ/SOUTHERN KURDISTAN

 

*Ý Islamist militants suspected behind Iraq blasts

*Ý Iraqi Kurds fear talk of war [Includes an interview with a retired bazar

salesman in Erbil called Jamil who seems a little confused: 'We don't want

the U.S. to bomb Iraq, because we're part of Iraq and we don't want the

Iraqi people to suffer ... If nothing like in '91 or '96 [when the US

betrayed two previous Kurdish efforts at revolt - PB] happens, then we'll

help [a U.S. attack]," Jamal said.' It is the same confusion (we support the

US war on Iraq so long as they don't kill any Iraqis) that exists in the

heads of some of the contributors to the CASI list.]

*Ý Kurds report ethnicity cleansing by Iraq [This article states that Kurds

can only stay in the area by declaring themselves to be Arabs. A previous

article ['Iraqi Kurds' story of expulsion' in Kurdish supplement,

3-10/11/01] stated that, on declaring themselves to be Arabs, Kurds were

liable to be displaced on the grounds that, as Arabs, they would clearly be

happy to settle anywhere in Iraq.]

 

IRAQI/MIDDLE EASTERN-ARAB WORLD RELATIONS

 

*Ý 3 new Israeli submarines may carry nuclear warheads [The article includes

an analysis by the Carnegie Endowment for International PeaceÝ on the

reasons why different countries in the area might want nuclear weapons. Only

Iraq (the country which above all has been the victim of a continual

international aggression over the past thirteen years) is accused of merely

aggressive intentions. With regard to US complicity in the Israeli

programme, the following is said: '"It is above top secret knowing whether

the sub-launched cruise missiles are nuclear-armed." Another former official

added, "We often don't ask."' And the world continues to accept the US as an

honest broker in international affairs including questions of nuclear

proliferation, and the Israeli/Palestinian dispute.]

*Ý Iraq is ready to discuss issues of the missing since the Gulf war [This

is a recurring item and I nearly didn't give it. The obstacle to this

co-operation taking place is, so far as I can see, the Kuwaiti insistence

that the US and Britain should participate in the discussions.]

*Ý Iran 'opposes US attacking Iraq'

 

NO FLY ZONES

 

*Ý U.S. Plane Bombs Iraqi Defense Site [Wednesday]

* ÝUS planes strike command center in Iraq [Thursday]

*Ý US-British raids kill four Iraqis in Baghdad [This refers to the Thursday

raid and actually occurred 366 km south of Baghdad.]

 

IRAQI OPPOSITION

 

*Ý US turf wars betray the Iraqis [Complaints about US failure to support

the INC. The article attributes this to the INC's 'pro-democracy agenda', ie

to the State Department's preference for a Saddam lookalike, a Sunni

strongman. But this doesn't explain why the INC also appears to have been

dropped by the KDP, PUK and SCIRI. Also the article (the title implies that

the Guardian supports the forthcoming war on Iraq) takes for granted the

reliability of the defectors that the INC has smuggled out of Iraq even

though being set up comfortably in the West is clearly being offered as the

reward for a good story ...]

*Ý Iraqi opposition to hold meeting in London [The longawaited meeting of

ex-army generals, calling themselves the 'Iraqi National Coalition'. A quick

search of previous news reports came up with only one reference to this

name, an obvious error for the Iraqi National Congress. Or is it another

name for the Iraqi National Accord?]

 

 

AND, IN NEWS, 15-22/6/02 (3)

PROSPECTS FOR WAR

 

*Ý Attack on Iraq may surprise everyone [This, suggesting that the war will

start out of the blue without any military buildup, I think, belongs to the

realms of fantasy, but with the current US leadership one never knows.]

*Ý Third time a charm for Albright [Madeleine Albright's latest reflections

on Iraq. She thinks a war would be a mistake (systematic reduction of the

population to a state of destitution is better) but that it will happen.]

*Ý U.S. Talks Iraq but Thinks Iran ['The application here would be that once

250,000 U.S. and British troops mass to strike in that festering part of the

world, they would hit in two quick blows at Iraq and Iran. I believe that's

the reason for the delay in striking Iraq.' This is what passes as

respectable political speculation in the USA today. Note the reference to

'that festering part of the world' and the way in which the 'and British'

part is taken for granted.]

*Ý Iraq Attack: Why an October surprise is likely" [Latest thoughts, or

rather, latest hopes, of James Woolsey and Francis Brooke, ie the white boys

of the INC. They seem to think, I don't know on what grounds, that the

demise of President Hussein will result in the establishment of democracy in

Iraq.]

*Ý Cheney Sees 'Gathering Danger' in Iraq

 

URL ONLY:

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Artic

le_Type1&c=Article&cid=1022100166362&call_page=TS_Editorial&call_pageid=9682

56290204&call_pagepath=News/Editorial&col=968350116795

*Ý Bush's scary Iraq policy

Toronto Star, 17th June

[The article boldly declares that 'Washington ought not act as if it were a

law unto itself', but the author has already swallowed so many outrages that

his whining over this matter carries very little weight.]

 

REMNANTS OF DECENCY

 

*Ý First US dissidents speak out against 'war on terrorism' [Text of

statement referred to in News 8-15/6/02, "US artists damn 'war without

limit'"]

*Ý The U.S. vs. Bert Sacks' principles on Iraq [Sympathetic account of

Voices activist Bert Sacks given in his local press.]

*Ý Treasury Department vows to prosecute Iraq activist [This version of Bert

Sacks contains an intriguing reference to the US Customs 'confiscating

illegal film from their (Voices' members) baggage.' One assumes they weren't

smuggling pornography but what other sort of film is illegal in the freedom

loving United States?]

 

IRAQI/UN RELATIONS

 

*Ý Iraq: UN Oil Pricing Threatens Program

*Ý UN Gulf war reparations panel approves $4.7b claimsÝ [One hopes that any

potential leader the US finds to replace Mr Hussein will insist as a

condition of taking office that this particular circus comes to an end. One

hopes, but its more likely that compliance with outrageous compensation

demands will be made a condition of being installed as leader of (the new,

democratic) Iraq.]

 

URL ONLY

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/business/index.ssf?/cgi

free/getstory_ssf.cgi?f0077_BC_WSJ--GulfWarReparatio&&news&newsflash-financi

al

*Ý Iraq presses firms to forgo billions in reparations

by STEVE STECKLOW and ALIX M. FREEDMAN

The Wall Street Journal, 19th June

[Readers will hardly credit it but this is a long article expressing moral

outrage that Iraq uses its economic muscle to prevent companies from jumping

on to the UN compensation scam: 'Saddam Hussein's regime - with the

complicity of major corporations and some governments - has repeatedly

subverted the international goal of forcing Iraq to take responsibility for

the losses it inflicted.' Well, that's one way putting it. The possibility

that firms may have made false compensation claims in order to oblige Iraq

to bribe them to drop them isn't, so far as I can see, considered.]

 

IRAQI/US RELATIONS

 

*Ý US says diplomat from Iraq is a spy [US demands expulsion of Iraqi

diplomat accredited to UN. This is the principle version of the story which

I've taken. The other related items give details that aren't given here.]

*Ý U.S. says Iraqi U.N. envoy was spying, seeks expulsion [Note on US

refusal to give Iraqi mission any detailed explanation.]

*Ý US orders Iraqi diplomat expelled from UN [Note on relations with UN]

*Ý Iraq: Expulsion of Diplomat is Revenge

*Ý Accused Spy for Iraq on Trial [It may be noted that there is no

suggestion here or in other accounts we've seen of this case that Iraq

accepted the offer Mr Regan is said to have made to them.]

*Ý Iraqi Diplo Credit Bill Hits 70G

*Ý Poll: U.S. should take military action in Iraq [But support for military

action is still declining.]

 

URL ONLY:

http://www.unfoundation.org/unwire/util/display_stories.asp?objid=27072

*Ý U.S.: Iraqi U.N. Envoy Ordered Expelled For Alleged Spying

UN Wire, 17th June

[This article refers to a previous case when an Iraqi official accredited to

the Algerian Embassy 'was expelled in 1994 for allegedly lobbying the U.S.

Congress illegally.']

 

COMIC CUTS

 

URLs ONLY:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,585-332916,00.html

*Ý Who's in charge here?

by Caitlin Moran

The Times, 20th June

[A funny article, for those who like that sort of thing. I don't, so I'm not

giving it.]

 

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2002/06/21/120.html

*Ý Global Eye -- Southern Cross

by Chris Floyd

Moscow Times, 21st June

[Another funny article for those who like that sort of thing. But this one

hides a serious point. It seems that Brazil is about to elect a Socialist

President, so Brazil might be next after Iraq (and Iran?) on President

Bush's hit list]