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]
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]
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.
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.]
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.'
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.]
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.
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...]
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.
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]