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Iraq News_ / Archive
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2002
Iraq News
Christmas
News
- "At
Christmas Mass in Baghdad, worshippers offer special prayers for peace."
... "More than 100 Christians and peace activists gathered at a Catholic
church in Iraq's capital for Christmas Eve Mass Tuesday, offering special
prayers that war can be avoided." ... "Christians represent about 5 percent
of Iraq's 22 million population and live mainly in Baghdad and the north.
Iraq is predominantly Muslim and officially secular." -By
Nadia Abou El Magd -AP
via -SFGate.com
- "U.S.
Said to Ready Kurd Areas in Iraq for Possible War."
... "American intelligence officials have been working alongside Kurdish
officials in recent weeks, and recruiters for an American-sponsored opposition
group have been selecting candidates for a program to train scouts and
translators that one day may help American forces inside Iraq, according
to Kurdish and Western officials." ... "American military planners have
visited secluded corners of the country to examine potential basing sites
for use in a war, according to a Western expert familiar with the activity."
... "No American military forces are based here yet, Kurdish officials
say, and recent Turkish and Arabic news reports of sizable military deployments
appear unfounded." (1, 2)
-By C. J. Chivers -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- "US
agrees to share Iraq intelligence." ... "The United
States says it will share intelligence data about Iraq with United Nations
weapons inspectors following a request from chief inspector Hans Blix."
... "The agreement comes while the US is preparing for a rapid increase
in its military strength in the Middle East, almost doubling the number
of troops near Iraq." ... "Mr Blix told the BBC on Friday that, if US officials
knew where they thought Iraq was storing banned materials, he could send
his inspection teams to check." -BBC/News
- 
- "Blair
tells his forces to prepare for war, but Blix seeks data."
... "The United States and Britain should give United Nations weapons inspectors
more intelligence about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, chief
inspector Hans Blix said Friday." ... "Prime Minister Tony Blair, meanwhile,
told British troops he was making "all the preparations necessary" for
war." ... ""If the U.K. and the U.S. ... have evidence, then one would
expect that they would be able to tell us where this stuff is," Blix told
the British Broadcasting Corp. radio." -By Jill Lawless
-AP via -IHT.com
- "Iraq
to discuss missing Kuwaitis." ... "Iraq has agreed
to hold talks with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia next month to discuss the fate
of hundreds of people who disappeared during the Gulf War." ... "Kuwait
says more than 600 people, almost all of them Kuwaitis, are still unaccounted
for since the Iraqi occupation in 1990-91."-BBC/News
- "U.S.
Sets Late January Decision on Iraq War." ... "The
Bush administration has set the last week in January as the make-or-break
point in the long standoff with Iraq, and is increasingly confident that
by then it will have marshaled the evidence to convince the U.N. Security
Council that Iraq is in violation of a U.N. resolution passed last month
and to call for the use of force, officials said yesterday." ... "In a
boost to the administration's position, Hans Blix, the United Nations'
chief weapons inspector, plans to tell the Security Council today that
Iraq failed to account fully for chemical and biological bombs and warheads
it had assembled as well as materials it bought that could be used to produce
more of them, U.N. and administration officials said." -By
Walter Pincus and Karen DeYoung-WashingtonPost
- "U.S.
officials: Saddam ready to target his own country, blame U.S."
... "Iraq is preparing to destroy its own oil fields, food supplies and
power plants and blame the destruction on U.S. bombs during a war, U.S.
intelligence officials said Wednesday." ... "The officials, briefing reporters
at the Pentagon, said they have evidence Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
has plans to wreck his own infrastructure to foster a humanitarian crisis
and turn international opinion against any U.S. and British advance into
his territory." ... "Citing the need to protect intelligence sources, the
officials declined to describe that evidence. They spoke on condition of
anonymity." -By John J. Lumpkin
-AP via -SFGate.com
- "Iraqi
jet tried to trap U.S. jets." ... "An Iraqi fighter
jet attempted to lead two U.S. fighter planes over a battery of surface-to-air
missiles Friday in the no-fly zone over southern Iraq, Pentagon officials
told CNN." ... "Aware of the missiles' location, the U.S. planes turned
south to avoid the potential trap, a Defense Department spokesman said.
The pilots knew the location of the missiles because of training and coalition
surveillance capabilities, the spokesman said." -By
Kris Osborn -CNN
/World
-
- "Report: Al
Qaeda deal for nerve gas: U.S. suspects nerve
agent VX was smuggled through Turkey." ... "The Bush administration has
received a credible report that Islamic extremists affiliated with al Qaeda
took possession of a chemical weapon in Iraq last month or late in October,
according to two officials with firsthand knowledge of the report and its
source. They said government analysts suspect that the transaction involved
the nerve agent VX and that a courier managed to smuggle it overland through
Turkey." ... "Even authorized spokesmen, with one exception, addressed
the report on the condition of anonymity. They said the principal source
on the chemical transfer was uncorroborated, and that indications it involved
a nerve agent were open to interpretation." -By Barton
Gellman -WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
-
-
"Why
the U.S. is Forced to Wait on Iraq: As long
as Saddam cooperates and the inspectors find nothing, it will be hard to
win UN backing for war." ... "If the U.S. were to walk away at this stage
from a UN process whose starting point is inspections to establish the
facts regarding prohibited weapons in Iraq, the net effect would be to
strengthen opposition to a war. UN Security Council Resolution 1441, which
among other things demanded the Iraqi declaration delivered last weekend,
makes clear that military action against Baghdad is contemplated by the
Council only if Saddam either refuses to allow unfettered inspections or
if those inspections turn up evidence of Iraq lying in its declaration."
-By Tony Karon
-TIME.com
- 
- "U.N.
inspects new Iraqi military factory." ... "With a
new group of inspectors at work in Iraq, bringing the total to 70, the
U.N. inspection teams visited six sites Wednesday -- including a military
factory built in 1999." ... "In other searches during the day, inspectors
continued their work at the al-Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center on the
south side of Baghdad and at the Akashat uranium mine, about 420 kilometers
(260 miles) west of Baghdad, near the Syrian border." ... "Several tons
of uranium have been under seal at al-Tuwaitha since the previous round
of inspections ended in 1998." -Contributed to by
Nic Robertson and Rym Brahimi -CNN
/World
-
- "Key
factor: Iraqi scientists: US dampens expectations
of 'smoking gun' on Iraq weapons and urges access to scientists." ... "...
increasingly, experts are pointing to only one sure way to reveal the true
scale of Iraq's weapons programs: talking to the Iraqi scientists who built
the programs." ... "The UN's ability to talk with Iraqi scientists may
turn on chief UN inspector Hans Blix's willingness to use a robust new
plank in the UN disarmament mandate that permits the UN to spirit out of
Iraq specialists and their families. The scientists could then speak freely
without fear of reprisal from Saddam Hussein's regime." -By
Scott Peterson -CSMonitor
-
- "U.S.
Warns Iraq It Has Nuclear Option." ... "The United
States raised the temperature in its confrontation with Iraq over weapons
of mass destruction, saying it could go nuclear if such weapons were used
against its forces or its allies." ... "Washington issued the warning Tuesday
as U.N. arms inspectors carried out the most intensive inspections in Iraq
of their current mission and the Iraqi Foreign Ministry accused Washington
of trying to find a pretext for war." -By Nadim Ladki
-Reuters /World
-
- "U.S.
Sees Nuclear Deterrence Against WMD Attack." ...
"The six-page strategy document says deterring attacks with the threat
of "overwhelming force" is an essential element in protecting America and
its allies from weapons of mass destruction, also known as WMD." ... ""The
United States will continue to make clear that it reserves the right to
respond with overwhelming force -- including through resort to all our
options -- to the use of WMD against the United States, our forces abroad,
and friends and allies," the strategy report said." ... ""In addition to
our conventional and nuclear response and defense capabilities, our overall
deterrent posture against WMD threats is reinforced by effective intelligence,
surveillance, interdiction and domestic law enforcement capabilities,"
it said." -By Randall Mikkelsen
-Reuters /World
- "With
forces at ready, war could be swift: US troop
counts in the Mideast rise, ready for a campaign very different from Gulf
War." ... "The hammer of US military force is almost ready for use against
Iraq, even as the diplomatic struggle between Washington and Baghdad continues."
... "There are now some 80,000 uniformed American personnel in the region,
counting troops deployed in Afghanistan. While an actual attack would likely
require a final sprint deployment of strike units, most of the elements
for war are now in place, as symbolized by this week's command-and-control
exercise in Qatar." -By Faye Bowers and Peter Grier
-CSMonitor
- "U.S.
begins war game in Qatar in possible preparation for Iraq war."
... A U.S. war game believed to be a rehearsal for an invasion of Iraq
began Monday in Qatar with senior commanders and battle planners conducting
a computer-assisted exercise to improve their ability to fight a war in
the region." ... General Tommy "Franks and his staff are controlling all
of Central Command's forces from a high-tech, portable headquarters set
up on Qatar's As Sayliyah army camp in the desert 20 miles outside of the
capital, Doha." ... "The modular, portable buildings and the high-speed
digital communications equipment, constructed by American defense contractor
Raytheon, is being used for the first time."
-AP via -USATODAY
-
- "Lack of evidence
hinders U.S. aims: Little expectation of actionable
‘smoking gun’ in declaration." ... "During his recent trip to Europe to
drum up support from the allies, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz
was asked by NATO ambassadors what it would take to prove that Iraq has
failed to give up its weapons of mass destruction. His reply illustrated
the subjective nature of the evidence against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein,
which depends on the eye of the beholder." ... "“It's like the judge said
about pornography,” Wolfowitz told the closed-door audience, according
to a participant. “I can’t define it, but I will know it when I see it.”"
... "While the Bush administration may need little convincing that Iraq
is in material breach of U.N. resolutions demanding its disarmament, a
much higher standard of evidence will be required to convince key U.S.
allies, including Turkey and Saudi Arabia, of the case for war." -Analysis
by Michael Dobbs -WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
- "Iraq
inspectors hit back at criticism." ... "UN weapons
inspectors in Iraq have defended themselves after accusations by Baghdad
of spying and suggestions by Washington that searches are not "aggressive"
enough." ... ""We believe we are doing the job we need to be doing. We
have been unannounced and thorough," said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman
for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), whose inspectors are
helping with the search." ... "Ms Fleming rejected allegations of espionage,
but added that if any inspector were found to be a spy, he would be immediately
dismissed." -BBC/News
- 
- "Iraq
criticizes surprise search at palace: U.N.
field chief defends team's work." ... "After a week of uneventful inspections,
U.N. weapons experts on Wedneday came under furious Iraqi attack for having
insisted on a no-notice search of one of President Saddam Hussein's palaces."
... "The harshest criticism came from Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan,
who asserted -- in language reminiscent of clashes with inspectors in the
1990s -- that the new teams of U.N. monitors are gathering intelligence
for Washington and Israel." ... "Ramadan, known for his fiery statements,
offered no evidence for his claim about the current inspectors, only citing
U.S. agents within the inspection agency of the 1990s."
-SHNS/Wire
via -Miami/Herald
-
- "Iraq
accuses inspectors of spying for U.S. and Israel."
... "Iraq on Wednesday accused U.N. arms inspectors of being U.S. and Israeli
spies and helping Washington prepare for possible war on Baghdad, but the
United States cooled any talk of imminent military action." ... ""The inspectors
have come to provide better circumstances and more precise information
for a coming aggression," Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan said,
speaking just after Baghdad promised to carry on cooperating with the United
Nations." ... ""This is not an accusation, because the inspectors, from
day one, their foremost work was spying. Their work was spying for the
CIA and Mossad together," he said, referring to the U.S. Central Intelligence
Agency and Israel's secret service." -By Nadim Ladki
and Carol Giacomo -Reuters
- 
- 
- "Antiwar
Effort Gains Momentum: Growing Peace Movement's
Ranks Include Some Unlikely Allies." ... "... [Daphne] Reed fretted over
the particular suffering that would befall Iraqi women; their sons and
husbands would be killed, she said, and the women would be left in the
rubble to fend off contaminated water and starvation." ... ""I said that
all mothers should automatically be against war," Reed said. "It was against
their nature to be violent instead of nurturing." Maybe, she said, it was
time to start a movement -- Mothers Against War." ... "Most members of
Mothers Against War are grandmothers in their seventies whose lives are
already full. Yet they spend hours a day on the Internet, reading and spreading
information on Iraq and the United States and planning for marches, e-mail
campaigns and teach-ins." -By Evelyn Nieves-WashingtonPost
- "Reporters
an early point of contention in Iraq inspections."
... "When the two leaders of the inspection program — Hans Blix and Mohamed
ElBaradei — met with Iraqi officials last week, they said they did not
want journalists tagging along, especially at suspected weapons sites."
... "But Iraq, which maintains one of the most restrictive press policies
in the Mideast, championed free access for journalists — at least as far
as covering the inspections is concerned." ... "U.N. officials appeared
concerned that reporters, lacking the inspectors' technical and scientific
expertise, might be too quick to report that no banned materials had been
before the experts had had time to draw their own conclusions."
-AP via -FreedomForum.org
- "Global
goofs: U.S. youth can't find Iraq: Young Americans
may soon have to fight a war in Iraq, but most of them can't even find
that country on a map, the National Geographic Society said Wednesday."
... "The society survey found that only about one in seven -- 13 percent
-- of Americans between the age of 18 and 24, the prime age for military
warriors, could find Iraq. The score was the same for Iran, an Iraqi neighbor."
-AP via -CNN
- "A
year after Taliban, little change: The US pledged
more aid to Kabul, but Iraq may distract from rebuilding efforts." ...
""The situation in Iraq has done no good whatsoever for the situation in
Afghanistan," says Charles Heyman, a defense analyst and editor of Jane's
World Armies in London, referring to a waning interest in solving the problems
of this war-tattered nation. "Afghanistan is beginning to be put in the
'too-difficult' box."" ... "Instead, the country's competing ethnic groups,
the enduring power of local warlords, and a reluctance on the part of participating
nations to expand the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) beyond
the capital has led to an approach Mr. Heyman defines as "covering over
some patches when its possible, until anyone has some time to sort it out
properly."" -By Ilene R. Prusher
-CSMonitor
| [PDF] - "Iraq: A strategic look. Iraq 101." 572k PDF via -CSMonitor |
 |
- "U.S.
Turns Horn of Africa Into a Military Hub." ... "For
the first time since American troops withdrew from Somalia after a bloody
firefight in the streets of Mogadishu, the United States military is rebuilding
its combat power in the Horn of Africa." ... "The main goal this time is
to put American forces in position to strike cells of Al Qaeda in Yemen
or East Africa. But the Pentagon has also begun to use Djibouti to train
its forces in desert warfare — skills that could be applied in Washington's
campaign against terrorist groups or on the battlefields of Iraq." ...
"France, which had colonized Djibouti (pronounced ji-BOOT-e) before it
became independent in 1977, still maintains a force of 2,800 strong here.
Djibouti, in fact, is France's largest foreign military base." ... "The
Central Intelligence Agency is flying classified missions from an airfield
in Djibouti using the Predator, an pilotless drone equipped with Hellfire
missiles, according to Western officers." (1, 2,
3)
-By Michael R. Gordon
-NYTimes via
-AltaVista-News
- "Clock
Ticks for Hussein After Security Council Vote." ...
"By all accounts, United Nations inspectors will do very little inspecting
and will base their appraisal of Iraqi cooperation on the accuracy of the
"confession" that Mr. Hussein will have to make about the weapons projects
whose existence he had denied and which administration officials have said
he has been hiding in secret bunkers, underground caves and mobile laboratories."
... "But if Mr. Hussein fails to meet the detailed demands of the United
Nations inspection force, or if his disclosures do not tally with information
supplied to inspectors by American and other Western intelligence agencies,
Mr. Bush made clear today that the United States would declare him in "material
breach" of the Security Council resolution." (1, 2)
-By Patrick E. Tyler -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
"U.S.
quietly builds up around Iraq: Heavy equipment,
63,000 troops in position, awaiting word." ... "Throughout the region —
from the Persian Gulf to the Horn of Africa to Central Asia — there are
at least 63,000 U.S. troops." ... "While nearly 14,000 of those troops
are focused on operations in Afghanistan, the bulk of those forces is in
a position to participate should the decision be made to attack Iraq in
the weeks or months ahead." ... "The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier battle
group is in the area — and F14s and F/A18s are flying missions over southern
Iraq as part of coalition patrols of no-fly zones." ... "Those jets — along
with Air Force F16s flying from Kuwait — are striking Iraq’s air defenses
in the south in response to the firing of Iraqi missiles or anti-aircraft
guns at U.S. and British jets on patrol.." ... " ... by mid-December, four
carrier battle groups could all be in striking distance of Iraq." -By
Tammy Kupperman -MS-NBC
- "U.N.
passes Iraq resolution on weapons inspections:
Bush: 'All nations must continue to pressure Saddam'" ... "The United Nations
Security Council on Friday approved a resolution that demands unfettered
access for U.N. inspectors to search for weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq." ... "All 15 member states of the Security Council voted in favor
of the resolution." ... "Iraq has seven days to accept the resolution's
terms." ... "Within 30 days, Iraq must send the U.N. a list of its
weapons." ... "Within 45 days, Iraq must allow inspections to begin."
... "Iraq is accused of possessing weapons of mass destruction -- nuclear,
biological, chemical -- in violation of the ceasefire treaty it signed
when Baghdad lost the 1991 Persian Gulf War." -Report
contributed to by Jane Arraf -CNN
-
- 
- "US,
France agree on new Iraq resolution. " ... "The U.N.
Security Council set the vote for 10 a.m. EST after the United States and
its cosponsor Britain, at French urging, changed the wording in a key provision
that would declare Iraq in "material breach" of its U.N. obligations."
... "The change addresses concerns by France, Russia, Syria and others
that the original text would have let the United States determine on its
own whether Iraq had committed an infraction." -By
Edith M. Lederer -AP
via -Boston/Globe
- "U.S.
soldiers train for battle in streets of Iraq." ...
"Since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the Pentagon has been preparing soldiers
and Marines to fight battles in villages, towns and cities. Those cluttered
landscapes had been largely ignored as a training ground since the days
of World War II, when GIs slugged their way across Europe by seizing hundreds
of hamlets in close combat with the German Army." ... "The reason for the
renewed focus: By the end of this decade, three-quarters of the world's
population will live in metropolitan areas. And that's where the U.S. military's
top commanders expect to fight, in part because no conventional army would
want to battle America's high-tech, smart-bomb equipped force in the open."
... "At bases from Fayetteville, N.C. to Seattle, the Army and Marines
have built scale models of downtown areas to simulate the complexities
of urban fighting. Several blocks in size, these artificial cities are
used to teach soldiers and Marines a range of skills, from how to spot
booby-trapped buildings to fighting enemies who would have no qualms about
using civilians as human shields." -By Dave Moniz
-USATODAY
- "U.S.
and France Near Deal on Iraq Attack." ... "The United
States and France are moving toward a compromise on Iraq that would oblige
the Bush administration to consult the United Nations Security Council
before embarking on military action against Saddam Hussein but still leave
it the freedom to act alone." ... "American officials and foreign diplomats
said that under the proposed compromise, the United States would take part
in a Security Council debate if Iraq failed to comply with expected new
United Nations demands for the destruction of its chemical and biological
weapons." (1, 2)
-By Steven R. Weisman
-NYTimes via -Google-News
- "Congress
Passes Iraq War Resolution: Congress Approves
Use of U.S. Military Force to Confront Iraq, Send Resolution to White House."
... "Congress approved the use of America's military might against Iraq,
reinforcing President Bush's insistence that Saddam Hussein's government
had no other option but to disarm. "The days of Iraq acting as an outlaw
state are coming to an end," Bush said." ... "After days of solemn debate,
both the House and Senate passed and sent to the White House a resolution
authorizing the president to use military force, if necessary, to compel
Iraq to get rid of its biological and chemical weapons and disband its
nuclear weapons program." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-West
Coast Port Lockout
- "Bush
Invokes Taft-Hartley Act to Open West Coast Ports."
... "In seeking to suspend the shutdown for 80 days, Mr. Bush became the
first president to successfully invoke the Taft-Hartley Act emergency provisions
since President Richard M. Nixon sought to stop a longshoremen's strike
in 1971." ... "Mr. Bush said he was worried about the movement of military
supplies. The Pentagon often uses commercial shipping lines to send supplies
and equipment overseas, and those lines would undoubtedly fill that role
from the busy West Coast ports if fighting erupted in Iraq or elsewhere
in the Middle East." -By David E. Sanger with Steven
Greenhouse -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- "Clues
Suggest Iraq Has Smallpox: Some Clues, Including
Camel Virus Experiment, Suggest Iraq Has Smallpox, Experts Say." ... "Clues
include U.N. weapons inspectors' discovery of a machine labeled "smallpox"
and Iraq's experimenting with a related virus that infects camels. The
official U.S. position, shared by some experts, is that the evidence is
inconclusive." ... ""I don't believe the intelligence community has a smoking
gun that Iraq possesses the virus," said Jonathan Tucker, a former U.N.
biological weapons inspector. "My impression is they're erring on the side
of caution on these bits of circumstantial evidence that are troubling
but not conclusive."" -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Bush
faces crucial week in forging unity on Iraq:
Monday speech, likely vote in Congress, and UN maneuvering will test support
for US action." ... "The Senate's more guarded response on Iraq seems to
mirror the American mood. A poll released last week by the respected Program
on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland shows that
while a strong majority supports an invasion of Iraq if it is carried out
with multilateral support, only a small minority favors an invasion by
America acting alone." -By Howard LaFranchi
-CSMonitor/buy
- "Israel
Set to Use New Missile Shield to Counter Scuds."
... "Palmachim Air Force Base, Israel — Israel has deployed an operational
missile defense and is ready to use it to protect Tel Aviv and other major
population centers if they come under fire from Iraq's arsenal of Scud
missiles." ... "Known as the Arrow, the system is designed to avoid the
pitfalls of the American Patriot system, which Israelis say had little
success in stopping Iraq's Scud missile attacks during the Persian Gulf
war in 1991." -By Michael R. Gordon
-NYTimes via
-AltaVista-News
OPINION
- -
"Rule
of law or renegade? Iraq crisis will tell, ex-inspector
says." ... "The looming war in Iraq will define the United States either
as a democracy dedicated to the rule of law or a renegade empire, says
Scott Ritter, the controversial former chief U.N. weapons inspector in
Iraq." ... "He said the Bush administration has used the Sept. 11 tragedy
to further the right's agenda -- not to make the nation more secure." ...
"By accusing dissenters of being unpatriotic, he said Bush has created
a climate in America that stifles democratic values of free and open discussion
of issues." ... ""Democracy is about involvement, criticizing, debate,
that's what makes this country work," Ritter said." -By
Chris McGann -Seattle-PI.com.NWsource
Quad
Cities - 
-
- "Leach
says he will not back Iraq resolution." ... "U.S.
Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, said Wednesday he will break with the Bush administration
and oppose a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq." ...
"The Davenport native said there is too great a danger of such action resulting
in a biological weapons attack against Israel and an Israeli nuclear counterattack.
“This is a circumstance we should step back from,” he added." -By
Ed Tibbetts -QCTimes
- "Will
Germany shift Iraq stance? Reelected Sunday,
Schröder begins effort to mend divisions caused by anti-US campaign
rhetoric." ... "In the last weeks before Sunday's balloting, incumbent
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder sharply criticized President George Bush's
plan to oust Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Mr. Schröder's defiant
refusal to take part in military action against Iraq – even if the UN were
to approve it – broke a taboo. Never before in the postwar period had a
German chancellor so publicly defied a US president. Now the German leader,
whose ruling coalition was narrowly reelected Sunday, hopes to mend fences."
-By William Boston
-CSMonitor/buy
- "US
negotiates its line in Iraqi sand: A week of
tense talks begins at the UN, as the US pushes for inspection deadlines
and tough consequences." ... "Sixteen times in the past decade the UN Security
Council has passed resolutions on Iraq's weapons programs. But in just
the last few days, there's been a global shift in support of the US position.
And this time around, the US will be pushing for two elements missing in
the past: a deadline for admitting inspectors and concrete consequences
if Iraq doesn't comply." -By Howard LaFranchi
-CSMonitor/buy
- "Saudis
vow support for the UN on Iraq: U.S. could
use bases if Security Council authorizes attack, new stance suggests."
... "The Saudi minister, Prince Saud al Faisal, said that if there was
a Security Council resolution backing military action, all members of the
United Nations would have to honor it." ... "Senior Bush administration
officials reacted to Saud's comments on Sunday with both optimism and caution."
-By Todd S. Purdum -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
-
- "War
Could Unshackle Oil in Iraq: U.S. Drillers
Eye Huge Petroleum Pool." ... "A U.S.-led ouster of Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein could open a bonanza for American oil companies long banished from
Iraq, scuttling oil deals between Baghdad and Russia, France and other
countries, and reshuffling world petroleum markets, according to industry
officials and leaders of the Iraqi opposition." ... "The importance of
Iraq's oil has made it potentially one of the administration's biggest
bargaining chips in negotiations to win backing from the U.N. Security
Council and Western allies for President Bush's call for tough international
action against Hussein. All five permanent members of the Security Council
-- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- have international
oil companies with major stakes in a change of leadership in Baghdad."
-By Dan Morgan and David B. Ottaway
-WashingtonPost
-
- "Iraq
attack could alter world rules: Bush takes
his case for 'regime change' to the UN General Assembly." ... "Advocating
preemptive military action against Baghdad before it uses its alleged chemical,
biological, or nuclear weapons, Mr. Bush is challenging United Nations
rules on sovereignty and the acceptable use of force that have underpinned
global relations for three generations." -CSMonitor/buy
- "President
Bush's address to the United Nations. [CNN Full-Text Transcript]."
Highlights: "The history, the logic and the facts lead to one conclusion:
Saddam Hussein regime is a grave and gathering danger." ... "To suggest
otherwise is to hope against the evidence. To assume this regime's good
faith is to bet the lives of millions and the peace of the world in a reckless
gamble, and this is a risk we must not take." ... "The first time we may
be completely certain he has nuclear weapons is when, God forbid, he uses
one. We owe it to all our citizens to do everything in our power to prevent
that day from coming." ... "The United States help found the United Nations.
We want the United Nations to be effective and respectful and successful.
We want the resolutions of the world's most important multilateral body
to be enforced. And right now those resolutions are being unilaterally
subverted by the Iraqi regime." ... "My nation will work with the U.N.
Security Council to meet our common challenge. If Iraq's regime defies
us again, the world must move deliberately, decisively to hold Iraq to
account. We will work with the U.N. Security Council for the necessary
resolutions." ... "But the purposes of the United States should not be
doubted. The Security Council resolutions will be enforced, the just demands
of peace and security will be met or action will be unavoidable and a regime
that has lost its legitimacy will also lose its power."
-CNN
- "French
Leader Offers Formula to Tackle Iraq." ... "France
has a particular interest in the future of Iraq. France became Iraq's main
military supplier in the West and was building a nuclear reactor for Iraq
that was destroyed by the Israelis in 1979. As prime minister in 1975,
Mr. Chirac welcomed Mr. Hussein to France, referring to him as "a personal
friend" and inviting him to his home. France had the closest relationship
with Iraq of any Western country, but that ended when Iraq invaded Kuwait
in 1990, and France participated fully in the American-led coalition that
ousted Iraq. In recent years, French companies have received billions of
dollars in contracts in Iraq under a United Nations program."
-NYTimes via -AltaVista-News
- "Iraq
'Could Make' N-Bomb; [French President Jacques] Chirac Urges UN Deadline."
... ""I am totally against unilateralism in the modern world," Chirac said
in his interview, and proposed a U.N. Security Council resolution giving
Iraq a three-week deadline to readmit U.N. inspectors without restrictions
or preconditions." ... "If Saddam did not comply, a second resolution should
be passed, authorizing the use of military force, he said." -By
Edmund Blair -Reuters
via -Miami/Herald
- "Blair:
'Inaction not an option': The threat posed
by Saddam Hussein's programmes to develop weapons of mass destruction must
be tackled "one way or another," British Prime Minister Tony Blair has
said." ... "Pressed whether a new U.N. resolution was needed, Blair said:
"There's no doubt this issue has to be dealt with. The only decision that's
been taken at this stage is that inaction is not an option."" ... "While
he wants the "broadest possible coalition" for any action against Iraq,
he added: "We have however to make sure this issue is dealt with one way
or another."" -CNN
/Europe
ANTHRAX
NEWS
- "Uncertain
Ability to Deliver a Blow: Iraq Cobbles Together
Weapons Systems With Mixed Results, Analysts Say." ... "In the waning hours
of Operation Desert Fox in 1998, a British missile sheared off the top
of a military hangar in southern Iraq and exposed a closely guarded secret.
Plainly visible in the rubble was a new breed of Iraqi drone aircraft --
one that defense analysts now believe was specially modified to spread
deadly chemicals and germs." ... "Up to a dozen of the unmanned airplanes
were spotted inside the hangar, each fitted with spray nozzles and wing-mounted
tanks that could carry up to 80 gallons of liquid anthrax. If flown at
low altitudes under the right conditions, a single drone could unleash
a toxic cloud engulfing several city blocks, a top British defense official
concluded. He dubbed them "drones of death."" -By
Joby Warrick -WashingtonPost
- "Bush
makes case to hit Iraq; Saudis still say no." ...
"... a Saudi spokesman, Adel al Jubeir, made the rounds on television shows
to
make it clear that the Saudi position about how to deal with Saddam was
unchanged." -By David E. Sanger
-NYTimes via -Miami/Herald
- "On
campaign trail, a call for US restraint grows louder:
Schroeder rejects Cheney's Iraq view." ... "German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
stepped up his opposition yesterday to any military attack against Iraq,
saying it was wrong to consider preemptive strikes against the country."
... "Fighting an uphill battle for re-election, Schroeder made it clear
in a campaign speech he did not support the ideas of US Vice President
Dick Cheney, who had laid out Monday the case for preemptive strikes against
Iraq." -Reuters
via -Boston/Globe
- "Police
storm embassy in Berlin." ... "News agencies quoted
German police as saying five hostage-takers were detained in the operation
and all of the five or six hostages released. Two were slightly injured
but no shots were fired."-WashingtonPost
- "Iraqi
Embassy Takeover Ends as Police Free Hostages:
Opposition Group Declared Goal of Liberating Iraq."
-AP via -WashingtonPost
- "US
worry over $40bn Putin deal with Iraq." ... "The
deal with Iraq increases the economic interests for which Russia could
later demand protection or compensation, potentially increasing Moscow's
interests in supporting the regime." -By Robert Cottrell
and Krishna Guha -FT.com
- "Russia,
Iraq near $40 billion pact." ... "Under Putin, Russian
foreign policy has sought to create a network of alliances to counterbalance
alleged U.S. domination of international affairs. Although Putin has moved
Russia closer to West including increasing contacts with NATO and not raising
objections to U.S. forces in Georgia and in former Soviet Central Asia
he also has pursued relations with countries that are anathema to the United
States." -AP
via -USATODAY
- "Envoy:
Russia, Iraq close to economic deal." ... "Iraq's
ambassador to Russia, Abbas Khalaf, said Saturday that Russia and Iraq
are planning to sign a five-year, $40 billion economic cooperation agreement."
-By Jill Dougherty
-CNN
- "Russia,
Iraq Plan Deal to Bolster Ties: Economic Pact
May Complicate U.S. Action Against Baghdad." ... "The five-year agreement
will deal with cooperation in a variety of fields -- foremost oil, but
also electrical energy, chemical products, irrigation, railroad construction
and transportation, according to officials here. Soviet or Russian specialists
built much of the infrastructure in Iraq, and so Baghdad wants Russian
expertise to help repair or upgrade it." ... "Russia has continued to strengthen
ties with all three of the countries branded the "axis of evil" by President
Bush: Iran, Iraq and North Korea." -By Peter Baker
-WashingtonPost
- "Sources:
Pentagon plans around Saudi bases." ... "Pentagon
war planning for Iraq includes options that rely on either limited or no
access to bases in Saudi Arabia, U.S. officials told CNN Wednesday, adding
that the United States expects to be given permission to fly through Saudi
air space if it attacks Iraq." -By Jamie McIntyre
-CNN
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