[casi] News titles, 24-31/8/02

[Peter Brooke <pbrooke@DELETETHISukonline.co.uk>]

News titles, 24-31/8/02

The week has seen Germany emerging as a potential leader of world opinion in
opposition to US imperialism. Its quite an exciting prospect. Otherwise
Richard Cheney's speech has had the effect of strengthening opposition but
for the most part this still turns more on the need to go through the
motions of a UN Security Council resolution than on the immorality of the
war in itself. And no-one in a position of power is raising the problem of
the immorality of the embargo. The problem with this, as Dan Plesch pointed
out a couple of weeks ago (10-17/8/02) is that the US might go for its UN
resolution, and then where would we be? But if the US continue to treat the
UN Security Council with the contempt it deserves then why shouldn't the
rest of us do the same? Why, for example, should we be obliged to respect
its resolutions enforcing the embargo on Iraq? For the moment, if what we
want is to see the development of a world opinion able to stand up in
opposition to US power then we must hope that the Rumsfeld, Cheney,
Wolfowitz line will prevail over that of the so-called 'doves' ­ of
Holbrooke, Albright and Kissinger Š

IRAQI/INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

*  Schroeder and Stoiber spar on TV over Iraq
*  Indian Firms Probed for Alleged Weapons Technology Sales to Iraq: Report
[The Tehran Times offers a rather good formula for the departure of R.Butler
et al in 1998: 'They fled the country in December 1998 on the eve of U.S.
and British air strikes'.]
*  Iraqi FM Visits Shanghai
*  Use of force unhelpful in solving Iraq issue: China
*  Belgium warns Blair over US relationship [Cheeky little Belgium!]
*  Germany Slams U.S. Remarks on Iraq
*  Stoiber attacks US Iraq policy [saying the US should go through the
UNSC.]
*  Annan snub for US  assault on Iraq [and India. And Japan.]
*  France, Netherlands Call for European Common Position on Iraq [but don't
tell us much about what it should be.]
*  Germany Steps Up Criticism of U.S. Call for Iraq Strike [Quite tough and
interesting remark from J.Fischer to the effect that the overthrow of
S.Hussein would necessitate a 'new order' in the Middle East and that
'Europe, being a neighbour to the Middle East, would be directly affected by
hasty action. "That is why we have made our position clear, that we reject
mistaken steps and will not take part in them."']
*  France shifting stance on Iraq [though the article rather implies that it
is a change in style rather than in substance: "We're driving the Pentagon
crazy by keeping silent." (trouble is, despite what they think, the French
aren't that smart.]
*  Japan, U.S. united on Iraq threat  [Richard Armitage visit. 'High-ranking
Japanese and U.S. officials agreed Wednesday to strengthen the bilateral
alliance to counter threats from Iraq'. Iraq in its weakened state poses a
threat simultaneously to the US and to Japan! S.Hussein may be a
megalomaniac but it appears that other people have even more exaggerated
notions of his prowess.]
*  Musharraf Critical of Attack on Iraq
*  Germany may remove tanks from Kuwait [Small as this may be it is the
first I've seen of any country actually threatening to DO something to
manifest its opposition in the event of a US attack.]
*  We'll send Australians home in bags, says Iraq [On the Iraqi/Australian
wheat dispute which, it seems, is continuing.]
*  Ukrainian help for upgrade? [of Iraqi armoury]

URLs ONLY:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/26Aug2002_news20.html
*  Studying an Iraq cancer operation
Bangkok Post, 26th August
['If the world is a body, Iraq is a cancer.' Includes the curious detail
that, during the Gulf War: 'The Iraq embassy hired and imported foreign
agents, planned terrorist activities and hoped to bomb foreign embassies and
Thai establishments. Thai and foreign intelligence agencies thwarted the
plot, arrested the terrorists and broke up the hostile ring. Hundreds of
Thai security troops camped out at embassies and other locations around
Bangkok, on 24-hour alert.']

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-398650,00.html
*  Germany at one in opposing Iraq attack
by Roger Boyes in Berlin
The Times, 30th August
[Edmund Stoiber is quoted as saying: "The Cheney speech changed the terms.
We have to speak out clearly now against a preventive war."]


INSIDE IRAQ

*  In Baghdad streets, they're not quaking in their boots [Declarations that
no support will be given to a US backed Quisling government. We can only
hope this will prove to be true since if a US imposed government is accepted
it will only encourage them to further adventures.]
*  Saddam's dark star rising [Another good article from Paul McGeough of the
Sydney Morning Herald on the present atmosphere in Baghdad, but its very
long so I'm only giving extracts.]

URL ONLY:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-397957,00.html
*  Secret files on Baghdad's weapons plans
by Michael Evans
The Times, 29th August
[This, and an accompanying 'dossier' purports to give us an insight into the
contents of the famous file which is being kept hidden in Whitehall and
which Mr Blair assures us is positively bulging with proof of S.Hussein's
efforts to get chemical and nuclear weapons etc. There is however nothing
here we haven't seen many times before.]


AND, IN NEWS, 24-31/8/02 (2)

NORTHERN IRAQ/SOUTHERN KURDISTAN

*  Turkey to complain about South Kurdistan to US  ['Turkey is to complain
to the US about Kurdish political parties ..... threats to its army.' Well,
if the USA can feel threatened by Iraq's 'weapons of mass destruction', I
suppose the Turkish army can feel threatened by the Kurdish political
parties.]
*  Turks and Kurds, Washington's Uneasy Iraq Allies [from the Tehran Times]
*  US to protect Kurdistan from any Iraqi or regional threats [Kurdish
report on Jalal Talabani's trip to Washington where he met all sorts of
Assistant this and Deputy Assistant that and came back convinced that
'Finally, the US has realised that the only remedy to eradicate the threat
of terror and terrorism against the free world is to let democracy and the
ideals of civil society take its course in the Middle East.' It doesn't
inspire confidence in Mr Talabani's judgment.]
*  Norwegian aid project in Iraq taken over by terrorist group [Ansar
al-Islam. With the added irony that the Ansar chief, Mullah Krekar, used to
live in Oslo.]
*  Over 300 Iraqi Refugees Return to Their Country [The refugees in question
are Kurds who had been living in Iran. It seems that the return was
negotiated by the Iraqi government and that they are going back to the area
still under Iraqi government control, though, we are told: 'the refugees
have returned to Iraq owing to the prevailing calm and stability in the
northern Iraq where the Kurds live.' One wonders if it makes much sense for
the UNHCR to help refugees return to parts of the world that are living
under threat of imminent massacre.]
*  Ankara stakes its claims in post-Saddam Iraq [Interesting discussion of
Turkey's ambitions for the Mosul-Kirkuk area, which it claimed as its own
until 1926.]

IRAQI/MIDDLE EAST-ARAB WORLD RELATIONS

*  U.S. Ally Turkey and Iraq to Work for Long-Term Economic Deal
*  Analysts seek clarity in Qatar's view on Iraq
*  Qatar's foreign minister says his country opposes attack on Iraq [He says
it rather weakly, but the fact that he's in Baghdad at all surely signifies
something.]
*  Saddam 'ordered Nidal killing' [because he refused to train Al Qaida
fighters in 'North Iraq' (Ansar al-Islam?), according to 'US officials' on
the basis of reports from 'opposition groups'. 'nuff said?]
*  Saudi trade fair in Iraq from Sept 9
*  Saleh defends Yemen about missiles: All Arab states to have Iraq's fate
[Washington has 'imposed sanctions against a Northern Korean company for
selling the components of Skud missiles for (to?) Yemen'. Apparently the
Yemen apologised to Washington for this. Why should they have to apologise
to Washington? In this article, however, the Yemeni President doesn't sound
very apologetic.]
*  Iraq, Kuwait Agree on Arrangements for Archives Returning
*  Iraq VP in Syria for New Trade Talks
*  Mubarak warns against attack on Iraq as Baghdad launches diplomatic
offensive [and Ramadan's visit to Egypt. And the agenda for the next meeting
of the Arab League. It seems Iraq has succeeded in fending off a resolution
calling for the return of weapons inspectors.]
*  Qatar rules out help for any US war on Iraq [The article contains other
bits of news concerning the Syrian President Assad's visit to Saudi Arabia
and Saudi relations with the US. It concludes with the following:
'Washington has named Charlotte Beers, a celebrated advertising magnate, to
the newly created post of undersecretary for public diplomacy and public
affairs, with priority on healing the post-Sept. 11 US-Islam rift.']
*  Why the Arabs Shun Bush on Iraq [Very short extract from an article in
Time which presents Arab opinion in an unusually reasonable light.]
*  Bush fails to sway Saudis on Iraq [The article also has John Negroponte
sounding like Jack Straw: "if they (the Iraqis) were to cooperate fully with
an international inspection regime," he said, "that could be an important
part of the resolution of this question of disarming Iraq of its weapons of
mass destruction."]
*  Riyadh has some tough choices to make [Extract from article suggesting
that Saudi Arabia has to re-think its ideas as to the nature of the state.]
*  Jordan set to support attack on Iraq [On the problems created by Jordan's
dependence on the US.]


AND, IN NEWS, 24-31/8/02 (3)

NO FLY ZONES

*  Iraq Says 8 Killed, 9 Hurt in Attack on South [Sunday, 25th August]
*  Iraq Says One Hurt in Western Air Strike on South [Monday 26th August.
The rhythm of these attacks does definitely seem to be increasing.]
*  Allied airstrikes reportedly wreck key Iraqi surveillance site in south
[An unusually full account of the raid on Sunday 25th August and of two
further raids, both on Tuesday, 27thAugust.]
*  Iraq says U.S. attacks civilian airport [Tuesday 27th]
*  Allied raid destroys Iraqi spying base [Account of Tuesday's raids as
seen by Iraqis on the ground.]
*  Allies Bomb Iraqi Military Site [Thursday 29th August (as we learn from
another account). The article includes a general discussion on the
effectiveness or otherwise of Iraqi defences and of the raids. One has the
impression that an order has gone out to abandon the usual rather laconic
way of reporting these things.]
*  America's undeclared war against Iraq [General account of Iraqi/US
exchanges in the No Fly Zones from Lebanon Daily Star]

NEW WORLD ORDER

*  Britain to back US on war crimes court [Continued controversy over US
insistence on its right to evade responsibility for war crimes before the
ICC. Wouldn't it be nice if the opposition to Mr Blair on Iraq could
mobilise on this one as well?]
*  US immigration assurances end Iraqis' protest [Hunger strike of refugees
wanting to be let into the US. Includes a horrendous account of the
experience of a refugee deported from Lebanon to the Kurdish Autonomous Zone
and from there back into Baghdad controlled Iraq.]
*  Record number of refugees removed [The British government boasts of its
prowess in expelling refugees who come from countries such as Iraq whose
governments they claim are so intolerable they can legitimately be
overthrown in war.]

URLsONLY:
http://www.dailystarnews.com/200208/30/n2083009.htm
*  Afghanistan On the brink of another disaster
by Robert Fisk
Daily Star, Bangladesh (from The Independent), 30th August
[Robert Fisk on the current state of Afghanistan: 'The truth is that
Afghanistan is on the brink of another disaster. Pakistan is now slipping
into the very anarchy of which its opposition warned. And the
Palestinian-Israeli war is now out of control. So we really need a war in
Iraq, don't we?']

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,630-394763,00.html
*  Iraq poses crude oil headache for the US
by Carl Mortished
The Times, 26th August
[Contains some interesting tidbits such as the following: 'The Iraqi
Government has been extracting kickbacks from shadowy intermediaries ‹ the
Russian Orthodox Church has been named as an Iraqi oil buyer ‹ who trade the
crude' and 'Washington lobbyists are now courting West African governments,
hinting to Nigeria that a decision to quit Opec might deliver debt relief as
well as love and friendship.']


IRAQI OPPOSITION

*  Iraqi exiles recruit rebel force in London ['Major-General Tawfiq
al-Yassiri ... said that as many as 200,000 Iraqis might join his ranks.'
The success or otherwise of this daring initiative will be a good measure of
Iraqi exile opinion. We should not automatically assume that those signing
up for this (presumably mainly Sunni) army are pro-US. Is it not easy to
imagine someone thinking that Iraqi will never be able to get its long
overdue vengeance on the US until the scarecrow Saddam is out of the way?]
*  Suspects Held in Iraq [Berlin] Embassy Grab
*  Exiles recruited as US steps up war of words [The US wants to mobilise
the Iraqi exile community in the crusade against President Hussein. Which is
presumably fine, so long as the Iraqis in question don't get too carried
away with any ideas and political aspirations they might have of their own.]
*  Iraqi opposition wants U.S. protection [for conference to be held in PUK
territory in Northern Iraq/Southern Kurdistan (though perhaps we now have to
add, Southern Turkey???).]


UK OPINION

* Hawks in the dovecot [Christopher Hitchens supports a US intervention to
overthrow S.Hussein provided it is a wholly altruistic, kindly gesture whose
only purpose is to help Kurds and other Iraqi peoples achieve a real,
democratic self determination. He also wishes it could be Christmas every
day.]
*  Doing nothing about Saddam is not an option [David Clark, a former
Foreign Office special adviser, holds that President Hussein has to be
contained so its either sanctions or war. He mocks at Jeremy Corbyn, who
supported sanctions against Iraq at the time of Halabja and now attacks
them. We see how much we have lost by allowing the use of the weasel word
'sanctions'. For what has been done to Iraq is nothing like 'sanctions' as
applied, for example, to South Africa. The right term for what has been done
to Iraq is 'embargo' or 'siege': it is more analogous to what the Serbs were
doing to Sarajevo. It is not a matter of refusing to trade with Iraq; it is
a matter of refusing to allow anything in or out of the country without
permission of the enemy. But this having been said, Clark is right to point
out that lifting sanctions now would be, or would look like, a huge victory
for Mr Hussein and, given Iraq's oil wealth, would put him very quickly into
a position of great power and influence (actually, even under the embargo,
he is in a position of great power and influence). And he might indeed think
of using this to inflict some sort of revenge for the wrongs that have been
done to his country and to his Palestinian allies. So might any Iraqi leader
- even one favoured by the US (as Saddam was once, from 1984 to 1990,
favoured by the US). The logic of smashing Iraq because it might pose a
danger in the future is a logic that leads to endless war because, so long
as any independent life exists in the world there will always be someone who
might pose a danger in the future. The thing is explained very well in
Dostoyevsky's reflections on freedom in his Letters from the Underworld.]
*  Blair faces defeat on Iraq [Results of a Guardian opinion poll. What is
most interesting is that 'Among Conservative voters disapproval is almost as
strong with nearly half - 49% - saying that Mr Bush is "on the wrong lines"
when it comes to Iraq. Only a third of Tory voters support an attack on Iraq
...']
*  UK could push for Saddam inspections deadline, Straw
*  Former ministers back Dalyell on Iraq [Tony Lloyd and Doug Henderson]
*  Opinion: I believe that our pivotal moment has now come [Charles Kennedy
used to share digs with an Iraqi engineering student. He doesn't want to
drop bombs on nice people like that. Though he continues to be a supporter
of the embargo, so he clearly doesn't mind depriving them of clean drinking
water and the means of earning a living. He presumably believes that between
1939 and 1945 only nasty people were living in Germany. His argument, in
other words, though its anti-war and should be welcomed as such, doesn't
amount to very much.]
*  Blair Could Lose Leadership over Iraq - Healey


AND, IN NEWS, 24-31/8/02 (4)

US OPINION

*  Police tackle war protesters after Bush dinner is disrupted
*  Teaching the Teacher [Glimpse of the relationship between a Jewish
teacher and her pupils, the sons of an Iraqi diplomat posted to the UN.]
*  Pentagon brief details Iraq's arms capability ['J.D. Crouch II, assistant
secretary of defense for international security policy' has been
commissioned to draw up a document justifying the contention that Iraq poses
such a dreadful threat that invasion is justified. Though surely all he has
to do is to ask our own Mr Blair for the document he says has already been
drawn up but which he is holding back until the right psychological moment.
Meanwhile the rest of us have to make do with 'outside analysts' who say
'Saddam may be two years away' from owning nuclear weapons (it used to be
five years. Then it became four years), and that Mr Hussein has '157 bombs
and 25 missile warheads suitable for germ agents anthrax, aflatoxin and
botulinum' (sounds like someone has been leafing idly through old UNSCOM
reports). It would be interesting now to learn what Israel has. Or what the
US have.]
*  Cheney Speech on Iraq (text) [This (only for readers with particularly
strong stomachs) is part of the text of Vice President Richard Cheney's
recent, much publicised speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars National
Convention: 'Today in Afghanistan, the world has seen that America acts not
to conquer, but to liberate. It remains in friendship to help the people
build a future of stability, self-determination and peace.' In the course of
the speech he refers to 'the Middle East expert, Professor Fouad Ajami.' An
apparently reasonably impartial article giving some idea of who Ajami is
(The media's favorite Arab expert by Eric Boehlert) may be found at
http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/12-21-2001-8389.asp?viewPage=3]
*  Key Bush ally urges cooperation with allies on Iraq [Baker is not
opposing intervention any more than Kissinger was. He simply wants more
effort put into keeping friends and allies. In itself, given the craven
nature of the world's current leadership, this shouldn't be difficult. The
difficulty is that Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz et al, not only don't want to do it -
they positively want not to do it. They want to prove that the US is
sufficient to itself and doesn't have to do it, ending all ambiguity as to
whether or not the US is bound by any sort of international law.]
*  Former US attorney general [Guess who?] backs Iraq's resistance against
war threats
*  Joe Conason's Journal: Cheney does a bad Churchill imitation. Plus:
Hitchens' Kissinger isn't any better [A good reply to the ridiculous
'appeasement' argument which also points up some of the weaknesses in
Christopher Hitchens' article (above, in the UK Opinion section,
appropriately or not). The 'revealing story in the Nation by Jason Vest' is
presumably 'The Men From JINSA and CSP', The Nation, 2nd September about the
influence of pro-Israeli and pro-military spending lobbyists. The article
was recently posted to the list but can be found at
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020902&s=vest]
*  Bush finds legal loophole for attack on Iraq [Why, one wonders, should
they want such a legal loophole when its quite clear that Congress could be
induced to support a war quite easily. It seems that in addition to proving
that the US is a free agent in relation to the rest of the world, the group
around George II want to prove that the President is a free agent in
relation to the rest of the American people. Its called 'arbitrary power'.]
*  The Terrible Logic of Nukes [Charles Krauthammer says: 'there is nothing
more dangerous than an inviolable aggressor.' Quite.]
*  Mark Shields: Bush's 'ouchless' war against Saddam Hussein ['Not since
the Mexican-American War nearly a century and a half ago has the United
States entered a war without either a military draft to provide manpower or
a tax increase to pay the costs, or both. This president asks us at home to
pay no price, to bear no burden, to accept no hardship other than -- in the
noble spirit of high national purpose -- to accept tax cuts.']
*  Gen. raps plans [Anthony Zinni, again mainly attacking projects that call
for a relatively light US commitment in support of native Iraqi forces.]
*  Activists worried about Iraq attack plan Las Vegas protest [Demonstration
by a group called moveon.org. Apparently they're not protesting against the
war as such but want a full congressional debate on the matter.]
*  Bush should seek Security Council approval [Richard Holbrooke has
developed great expertise in manipulating international law in pursuit of US
foreign policy objectives and one can understand his frustration that this
skill should be treated as obsolete by the group currently in power. But the
difference is only cosmetic. If approval is not secured, Holbrooke makes it
clear that military action should go ahead anyway: 'If, however, such a
resolution cannot be achieved, the administration, having made a best-faith
effort in the Security Council, will be in a much stronger position to
garner international and domestic support for action than if it had never
tried at all.' He is NOT arguing that the US should comply with the
requirements of international law.]
*  Cost of making war on Iraq needs a close look [Good article indicating
that through Gulf War illness the casualty rate of the 1991 'war' was much
higher than is generally assumed.]
*  The war with Saddam never ended [Straight from the shoulder military talk
from Alexander Haig. Iraq is in breach of its obligations to the UN. The UN
will be discredited if Iraq gets away with it, so the US should march in and
keep marching until Iraq agrees to let in the weapons inspectors. I have to
confess I find it rather difficult to know how those who believe in the UN
(I am not of their number) could argue with this. Though preumably mention
could be made of numerous unpunished US breaches of the UN Charter -
Nicaragua, Panama, Serbia etc]
*  Clinton Questions Attacking Iraq

URLs ONLY:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,782136,00.html
*  At last, a great debate is beginning in America
by Hugo Young
The Guardian, 29th August
[Hugo Young, impressed by the US's greatness as a military power, feels that
it should be the scene of a correspondingly great intellectual/political
debate so he tries to persuade himself that that is what is happening in the
current paranoia over the alleged threat posed by Iraq.]

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/features/30_08_02_a.htm
*  American activists put ignorance in the crosshairs
by George S. Hishmeh
Daily Star, Lebanon, 30th August
[Interesting account of Americans for Mideast Understanding and of the
individuals involved in it.]

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c
=StoryFT&cid=1028186165896&p=1012571727102
*  The divided west
by Michael Ignatieff
Financial Times, 30th August
[Michael Ignatieff on the breakup of the abominable 'us' and 'them'
mentality that the US tried to impose after Sept 11. He seems to regret it,
but he does have this interesting observation to make: 'September 11 has
highlighted the extent to which the US remains the last of the great martial
nation states, one that defines its sovereignty in absolute terms and
defends it with force of arms. European states think they are beyond this
adolescent stage in the development of nations. They believe they represent
the future: pooled sovereignty, reduced military budgets, foreign policy as
a branch of humanitarian social work. Americans believe just as firmly that
Europeans live in a dream world, made possible by American protection.']



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