[casi] News titles, 6/9-13/9/02

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

News titles, 6/9-13/9/02

This mailing is even longer than usual and has led me to conclude that I
can't continue with this method. I'll be posting an alternative proposal to
the list very shortly.

The week came to its shuddering climax with President Bush's speech to the
UN General Assembly. It was of course gracious on his part to bestow his
presence on this powerless and increasingly pointless body which once had
pretensions to being a Parliament for the World. He informed them of what he
intended to do about Iraq and invited 'the United Nations' to join him if it
so wishes. But by the 'United Nations' he did not mean the UN General
Assembly, the body he was addressing. He meant the UN Security Council. And
there was no suggestion that he was going before the UN Security Council
with a mere proposal ­ that he would not act on this proposal if it was
turned down. The US has never done this in the past so why should it start
doing it now? He simply offered the UNSC the chance to join in the
inevitable forward march of history - or not, as it chose.

The UN Security Council has largely brought this humiliating situation upon
itself. Bush's speech included a list of shameful resolutions passed by the
UNSC, proving that, since it has become free to act (since it was freed from
the mutually blocking US/Soviet impasse) it has been incapable of acting as
a brake on the actions of the only remaining superpower. It has most notably
made itself morally responsible for the genocide in Iraq. Insofar as the
'United Nations' means the United Nations Security Council, we should stop
blaming this genocide on the United States. It is a genocide that has been
authorised and organised by the United Nations.

Kofi Annan informed President Bush that the consent of the 'United Nations',
meaning the Security Council, was desirable (I don't think he went quite so
far as to say it was necessary) to confer moral legitimacy on his project of
war. But over the past ten years, the UN Security Council has squandered any
moral legitimacy it may once, in the abstract principle of things, have had.
It has none left to bestow. And let us note here that many of those who are
now urging Mr Bush to secure moral legitimacy through the UN Security
Council, were the very same people who only three years ago were urging his
predecessor to ignore the UNSC in the war against Serbia.

The UN Security Council has been broken by the demonic will of the United
States and the total lack of moral principle in France, Russia and China
(Britain is now, by its own free choice, a client state and cannot be
regarded in this matter an an entity with a mind of its own). It is
rigorously impossible for the UNSC to recover any shred of moral authority.
Consequently the only possible source of moral authority in the UN must be
the General Assembly. Those who believe in the United Nations as an
institution with a future must work for a clear, antagonistic separation
between the UNSC, as an engine of corruption, and the UNGA as, possibly, an
engine of hope. The necessary course of action was well expressed by Denis
Halliday (quoted by Jon Pilger in last week's mailing): 'This is where
democracy applies: one state: one vote. By contrast, the Security Council
has five permanent members which have veto rights. There is no democracy
there; it does not in any way represent the real world. Had the issue of
sanctions on Iraq gone to the General Assembly, it would have been
overturned by a very large majority. We have to change the UN, to reclaim
what is ours.'


News, 6/9-13/9/02 (1)

US OPINION

*  Feinstein blasts Bush's talk of war [Compendium of US voices opposing
unilateralism.]
*  Senator Levin on Saddam and Enron [Levin prefers the policy of slow
starvation of the society to the policy of its speedy massive destruction.]
*  Bush Calls World Leaders About Iraq [Short extract referring to an
article by Donald Rumsfeld defending the principle of pre-emptive action
against the Axis of Evil plus Libya and Syria. It was submitted to the
Washington Post then withdrawn at the last moment.]
*  Mohd Atta met Saddam before Sep 11: US [Richard Perle says the US has
hard evidence of a personal meeting between Atta and Saddam Hussein and that
this is one of the motives for the proposed war. So why is it this isn't
front page news, everywhere?]
*  Bush's aides press case against Saddam [Powell and Cheney presented as
speaking in tandem. Extracts.]
*  Our Insane Focus on Iraq [William Raspberry arguing that the attack on
Iraq could bring about the very horrors it is supposed to prevent. He
mentions in passing something I haven't noticed elsewhere, that 'The CIA was
monitoring hijacking leader Mohamed Atta in Germany until May 2000 -- about
a month before he is believed to have come to the United States to attend
flight school. Does it make sense that the monitoring stopped when he
entered this country?']
*  Bush opposes imposition of sanctions against Syria
*  Some Wonder Why Iraq Is Singled Out [Brief account of WMD capacity in the
rest of the world, from the Federation of American Scientists. Includes
former weapons inspector, David Albright, who seems to be coming up as a
more moderate version of Scott Ritter, saying: '"There's no urgent need to
go to war."]
*  American Church Leaders Debate Iraq ['Both Bush and Vice President Dick
Cheney are United Methodists' and Jim Wuinkler, who is something not very
clearly defined in the UMC says: 'no member state of the United Nations "has
the right to take unilateral military action without the approval of the
U.N. Security Council"' (thus either condemning every US military
intervention for the past fifty years with the exception of the 1991 Gulf
War, or else indicating that he hasn't understood very much about them). The
'governing Central Committee of the World Council of Churches' has also
opposed the war. The Southern Baptists (Carter? Clinton?) are said to
support it.]
*  Democrats Unconvinced On Iraq War [President Bush is urging Congress to
take a vote before the November elections. The Democrats of the title,
'after attending a classified briefing by national security adviser
Condoleezza Rice and CIA Director George J. Tenet yesterday', say nothing
has been presented that suggests it can't be put off to January].
*  Analysis Assesses U.S. on Iraq War [Anthony Cordesman of the CSIS (Center
for Strategic and International Studies), not to be confused with the IISS
(International Institute for Strategic Studies) concludes that 'the United
States is scarcely organized for an immediate war with Iraq'.]
*  Geopolitics have changed for the worse [William Pfaff sees the US drive
towards 'manifest destiny' to reorder the world as disastrous to its longer
term interests. Which is fair enough. But what does he mean when he says:
'However, Bush, unlike Germany's Wilhelm, has a powerful domestic political
opposition to deal with'. the German Social Democratic Party and the
Catholic Centre Party were an opposition of infinitely greater intellectual
and moral substance than anything George Bush has to cope with. Have they
been written out of history altogether?]
*  Administration hawks see win in Iraq as chance to remake region ["If we
can get a democracy in the Palestinian Authority, democracy in Iraq, get the
Egyptians to improve their human rights and open up their system, it will be
a spectacular change. After a war with Iraq, then you really shape the
region."]
*  W.Va. Congressman to Fly to Iraq [Courageous initiative from Rep. Nick
Rahall and Sen. James Abourezk.]
*  Greenspan Warns Congress of Budget Risks [Short extract saying a long war
could be harmful to the economy, but never mind.]

URLs ONLY:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51526-2002Sep7.html
*  Bush's Father Feared Expanded Role in Iraq
by Walter Pincus
Washington Post, 8th September
[Bush Sr and Brent Scowcroft on why they didn't take Baghdad in 1991: 'Bush
later wrote that Robert M. Gates, who was deputy national security adviser
at the time, told him, "We crushed their 43 divisions, but we stopped -- we
didn't just want to kill, and history will look on that kindly."]

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c
=StoryFT&cid=1031119213908&p=1012571727162
*  How a superpower should use strength
by Samuel Berger
Financial Times, 10th September
[US Imperialist intervention in the world as seen through rose tinted
spectacles.]


AND, IN NEWS, 6/9-13/9/02 (2)

UK OPINION

*  Regime change vital to stability of the Arab world [The Scotsman
declares, on the basis of the recent United Nations Development Fund and the
Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development report, that Arab immaturity
and instability is incurable and a menace to the world so the Arab peoples
as a whole need to be taken into a state of tutelage: 'The demented and
frustrated Saudi intellectuals who committed suicide in the Twin Towers
attack last September are an example of what could come unless democracy,
literacy and normalcy are brought to the Arab nations. Why start with Iraq?
Because it is the weakest link, and its sad people hate Saddam with a
vengeance. Why now? Because 11 September has destroyed the containment
policy. Why not work through the United Nations? We should, if the Security
Council will act; but alone if necessary. Will it not create a dangerous
precedent? Not if they cheer Saddam's downfall on the streets of Baghdad.']
*  John Monks interview ["I don't Think There Is Any Widespread Support
among the People of Britain, Or Indeed in Europe and Possibly the United
States as Well, for Military Adventures in Iraq."]
*  NATS [National Air Traffic Services] at risk if Iraq war breaks out [I
think because it is being paid for by the air companies who will lose
business in the event of war. Is this difficulty placed in the way of war an
argument for privatisation?]
*  Rail Unions Oppose Action on Iraq
*  September 11 has turned out to be a good thing for America and the world
[Bruce Anderson in The Independent. I have read quite a lot of nauseating
apologies for mass murder in the course of preparing these collections but
this is probably the worst. Take this for starters: '3,000 lives was a cheap
price to pay for an early warning. America had the shock it needed.' Wanna
read on? (Its worth reading on. The Vietnam war is referred to as an
'occasional excess ...' Perhaps the article is a satire?)]
*  Join anti-war campaign, says Ken [Joined by his Tory rival, Steve Norris]
*  Briton volunteers as 'human shield' for Iraq [Matt Barr. The article
includes a reference to '1991, when Saddam Hussein detained hundreds of
British expatriates and placed them at key installations as human shields.'
Question: did he actually place them at the said installations or (as I seem
to recall) did he merely threaten to, or alternatively (as now seems
probable) was this an invention of USUK propaganda?]
*  My Greatest Mistake: Gavin Esler, presenter for BBC News 24 [Gavin Esler,
one of the few TV newsmen who seems at some point to have turned into a real
thinking human being admits his responsibility for helping to spread the
babies torn from the incubators story in 1990. A dossier on this incident
has been sent to the list by Drew Hamre (From 1991: Tanks and Incubators,
9/10/02) which includes a defence of the story by the advertising agency
that launched it. They claim that the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador had
indeed been in Kuwait and working in a hospital at the time. There is also a
pretty convincing refutation of the defence.]
*  Tony Blair's speech to the TUC [Mr Blair says stirringly that 'Terrorists
can kill and maim the innocent, but they have not won and they never will,'
and then goes on in the next but one paragraph to talk about Northern
Ireland where people who used to be called terrorists have been installed by
Mr Blair in something that has pretensions to being called a government. The
fact is that 'terrorism' and 'war' are synonyms and as Mr Blair's own
experience of war should tell him, in war the victory normally goes to
whoever commands the greatest means of inducing terror. But I have only
given the part of the speech that refers directly to Iraq.]
*  US sets out to redraw map of Middle East [Robert Fisk summarising the
recent article in The Nation on the influence of the Jewish Institute for
National Security Affairs. This article comes from the New Zealand Herald. A
quick check suggests that it hasn't actually appeared in The Independent.]
*  Labour membership drops 40,000 [Why, if you're operating in a political
system based on freely operating political parties, it isn't a good idea to
treat your party members with contempt.]
*  Unions split over need to wage war on Iraq
*  Parliament to be recalled after Blair bows to pressure for debate [The
article says that the debate in the room in Church Hall hired by Graham
Allen MP, or by the BBC, will be broadcast live on the Parliament Channel.]
*  Iraq: Recall of Parliament agreed
*  SNP embarrassed by Iraq debate criticism [They tabled an amendment to a
pro-US motion to be debated on Sept 11th. Some people's suffering is sacred.
Other people's suffering isn't.]
*  Brown backs Blair over confronting Baghdad [The extract from the
interview given doesn't strike me as being quite as warm-hearted as it might
have been. He isn't going to lead the revolt but he might allow himself to
be installed, for the sake of stability of course, by the rebels.]


NORTHERN IRAQ/SOUTHERN KURDISTAN

*  Iraqi Kurds close ranks [It seems only yesterday we were being assured
that Barzani and Talabani had already settled their differences and I in my
innocence thought the Kurd parliament was already meeting. Now it is going
to open again for the first time since fighting broke out (which occurred, I
believe, in 1994). It was elected ten years ago. No reference here to
holding fresh elections.]
*  Turkey sends troops into north Iraq [This is presumably not unrelated to
the news of the KDP/PUK reconciliation.]
*  Iraqi Turkmen Want To Have Equal Rights In Iraqi National Congress [Nor
this.]
*  3-16: The day the world woke up and went back to sleep again [A bitter,
witty Kurdish attack on the multiple standards of the West and of the Arab
and Muslim world. Its very long so I only give a few extracts but the whole
is worth reading.]
*  Mala Krekar [the leader of Ansar Al-Islam] arrested in Iran
*  Mala Krekar arrested in the Netherlands ['It is believed that he will be
handed over to the US authorities.' Why?]
*  Tariq Aziz: We helped PUK fight Ansar Al-Islam [The main item is
interesting if true but the effect is a little weakened by Aziz's claim that
the Iraqi government wasn't reponsible for Halabja (the CIA said so, so it
must be true ...)]

URLs ONLY:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59179-2002Sep9.html
*  Kurdish Leaders, Eyeing a New Iraq, Begin to Reconcile
by Daniel Williams
Washington Post, 9th September
[The article includes the following: 'Kurds familiar with the talks said
formidable obstacles to a united front remain. They range from disagreements
over territorial boundaries of a new federal Iraq to KDP debts to the PUK
for oil smuggled into Turkey. The oil debt was one factor in the 1996
decision of Barzani to invite Hussein's forces into the north and wrest the
town of Irbil from Talabani's control. Baghdad's intervention also destroyed
CIA covert operations in the north.' Am I wrong in thinking Talabani was on
the point of overrunning KDP territory in what would have amounted to an
Iranian invasion?]

http://www.kurdmedia.com/reports.asp?id=1030
*  The future of Iraqi - Kurdistan: Federalism and Constitution
by Dr Nouri Talabany
KurdishMedia.com, 3rd September
[This is a constitutional history of Iraqi Kurdistan which includes an
account of a draft constitution for the Iraqi Kurdistan Region prepared by
the author and almost adopted by the Kurdish Parliament in 1992.]


AND, IN NEWS, 6/9-13/9/02 (3)

EUROPEAN OPINION

*  German position on Iraq could be destabilizing for allies [Joschka
Fischer, it seems, is uneasy about the term 'the German way' because 'That
phrase carries a historical echo of Kaiser Wilhelm and the German Empire.'
As someone who is currently reading Mike Davis' informative Late Victorian
Holocausts I don't see why 'Kaiser Wilhelm and the German Empire' should be
considered more disreputable than Queen Victoria and the British Empire. The
article includes a strange remark by Edmund Stoiber to the effect that
'unlike Schroeder, he cannot imagine President George W. Bush getting
involved in a military adventure.']
*  Iraq war not imminent, says NATO general [General Harald Kujat]
*  9.11 - Looking at us [Reflections on the US' image problem in Europe.]
*  Finland opposes war on Iraq
*  Schroeder, Stoiber Debate Iraq on TV [Clear statement of Schroeder's
refusal to consider backing war under any circumstances including a UNSC
resolution. This is the stuff we want to hear ...]
*  Vatican speaks out on Iraq crisis
*  Chirac backs inspection deadline [Chirac blows hot and cold. Mostly hot,
alas, but a little cold and at one point, pointlessly rude: '"It's not
Schröder and I on one side and Bush and Blair on the other. It's Bush and
Blair on one side and the others on the other side," Mr Chirac said, adding
an aside likely to cause winces in Whitehall: "In life, you know, one must
not confuse friends with sycophants. It's better to have only a few friends
than to have a lot of sycophants.']
*  Bulgaria, Portugal Back Bush on Iraq at U.N. [Though Portugal's position
isn't as clear cut as the article suggests.]
*  Chirac discuss with Saudi foreign minister the Iraqi situation [Shortly
after he had been discussing it with the Vice-President of Syria.]
*  Germany rebukes general [Kujat] for not ruling out Iraq attack
*  Spain pledges support for U.S. on Iraq

URLs ONLY:
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c
=StoryFT&cid=1031119211219&p=1012571727310
*  Publicis warns on impact of war in Iraq
by Jo Johnson in Paris
Financial Times, 10th September
[AT LAST! A STRONG CONVINCING MORAL CASE FOR GOING TO WAR WITH IRAQ!:
'Maurice Levy, chairman of Publicis, the world's fourth-largest advertising
group, on Tuesday warned that a war in Iraq would scupper any chance of an
advertising recovery next year.']

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=2797068&thesection=news&t
hesubsection=world
*  European feet start tapping as US leads the war dance
by CATHERINE FIELD
New Zealand Herald, 13th September
[Worth retaining just for the title, though the article does remind us of
the 'right wing' orientation of most present European governments - except
Germany. Oh. And Britain. In a manner of speaking.]


UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

*  Annan Urges U.S. Not to Act Alone Against Iraq [Please]
*  Iraq's U.N. ambassador blasts Bush's speech, says it lacks credibility
[Extract telling us what Iraqi TV was showing during President Bush's
speech. Note the existence of 'Kurdish programming.']
*  Bush speech on Iraq to the UN


AND, IN NEWS, 6/9-13/9/02 (4)

IRAQI/INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

*  Belarusian official explains visit to Iraq
*  Putin doubts grounds for using force against Iraq
*  Bush meets rebuff on Iraq in calls to 3 leaders [Russia, France and
China. The article says nothing about the Chinese response. Not that much
response could be expected from a ten minute phone call which, it seems, was
Mr Blair's idea.]
*  Japan PM to Meet Bush Next Week [Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is
still expressing scepticism about an attack, and intends later in the month
to meet Kim Il Jong.]
*  India to resume wheat exports to Iraq
*  Malaysia won't be peace broker in US-Iraq conflict , says Mahathir
[Extracts with some rather good comments by the Malaysian Prime Minister
about the unipolar world] 
*  Pre-emptive strike on Iraq [Unusual Muslim (Bangladeshi) argument
supporting Bush: 'Since the end of the war in the Persian Gulf in 1991,
Saddam Hussain has always had the option of accepting unlimited United
Nations inspection in exchange for unrestricted oil exports, sufficient
civilian imports, removal of travel and other sanctions, and the end of US
and British retaliatory bombings. Instead, he chose to sacrifice immense oil
revenues and much else, including all types of relief for his civilians to
pursue his biological and chemical weapons programs.' His only motive must,
the writer argues, be revenge. Having gone to such lengths to justify a US
pre-emptive strike, Mahbub Husain Khan then expresses some nervousness about
it.]
*  US Forces Can Use Our Facilities, Says Philippines
*  US official arrives in Moscow for Iraq talks [John Bolton, one of the
ideologues.]
*  Exporters of food face tighter US checks [This reads like the US using
anti-bioterrorism measures as a form of protectionism. Though it does make
sense that if you wage war on the rest of the world you might be suspicious
of the food you import.]
*  America's war record is littered with lies [Well written Australian
critique of the pro-war arguments.]
*  Annan Warns Against Unilateral Strike on Iraq
*  Iraq expresses condolences on Sept 11 anniversary [In a telegram from
Tariq Aziz to Ramsey Clarke. This comes from Japan Today. Did it appear
anywhere else?]
*  Arroyo orders evacuation of all Filipinos from Iraq [It would be nice to
think that the aggressor power would be willing to pay compensation for all
this disruption.]
*  India questions Iraq strike
*  Kremlin gives short shrift to US hawk [John Bolton] over Iraq
*  USA Threatens World Peace, Says Mandela ['He called Cheney a "dinosaur"
and an "arch conservative" who does not want Bush "to belong to the modern
age." Mandela recalled that Cheney had been opposed to his release from
prison.']
*  Vietnam opposes military activities against Iraq [The statement that
'Iraq's government is elected by the Iraqi people' is perhaps a little
exaggerated.]
*  Georgia, Iraq Two Sides of Same Coin [Vladimir Putin has informed the UN
that he will attack Georgia if Georgia doesn't crack down on Chechens. The
article interprets this as 'acknowledging the United Nations' role as
arbiter' and contrasts it favourably with George Bush's 'go it alone
attitude' of informing the UN that he will attack Iraq if it doesn't allow
in weapons inspectors (and a few other things besides).]
*  US tempts Russia with profits of ousting Saddam [But the Russians have a
general feeling they've already given up quite a lot for very little in
return.]

URLs ONLY:
http://www.canada.com/montreal/news/story.asp?id={DFE873FA-CC22-467E-A150
33087BDD6BC0}
*  Act now, ex-Israeli PM [B.Netanyahu] urges
by Don MacDonald
Montreal Gazette, 10th September
["This part of the world doesn't respect power; it worships it. And the most
important thing in winning this war on terror is winning," he said. "The
more you win, the easier the next victory comes."]

http://www.canada.com/hamilton/story.asp?id={C340C83B-CF0B-4211-99AF
C492F6E92B10}
*  Benjamin Netanyahu speech at Montreal university cancelled after wild
protest
 by Brian Daly
www,canada.com, 10th September
["We must introduce democracy into the Arab world."]

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-09/11/content_558433.htm
*  AIPO [ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Organization] opposes unjustified
military action against Iraq
[Nothing relevant in the article that isn't in this title.]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A474-2002Sep11.html
*  U.S. and China Ask U.N. to List Separatists as Terror Group
by Karen DeYoung
Washington Post, 11th September
[The East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), one of the groups representing
the Uighers, a Muslim people in Xinjiang. There is a clear suggestion that
the US is buying itself a vote in the UNSC.]


AND, IN NEWS, 6/9-13/9/02 (5)

IRAQI/MIDDLE EAST-ARAB WORLD RELATIONS

*  Khaddam: Iraq is our strategic depth; US cannot punish Syria [Syrian Vice
President Abdul Halim Khaddam at a press conference in Paris.]
*  Turkey sends large delegation to Iraq [Despite disapproval from
Washington. Or at least from Michael Rubin, an Iraq expert at Washington's
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.]
*  Iraqi Hospital Prepares for War [Extract giving item irrelevant to
headline which I haven't seen elsewhere. Amr Moussa of the Arab League
expressing optimism that Iraq will let the weapons inspectors in.]
*  Yediot Ahronot: Iraq, Jordan to be converted into one Hashimite Kingdom
[Israeli account of 'revolutionary group' in Pentagon (notably Richard
Perle) with big ambitions for the Middle East: 'the research reaches the
result that the military attack against Iraq is "a tactical objective,"
Saudi Arabia is "the strategic objective" and Egypt is "the big prize."' But
is it in the interests of Israel that this should be known? (Perhaps.
Perhaps they hope that a jumpy Arab world will do something foolish ...)]
*  U.S. Troops Leave Jordan After Military Exercise [Well, we were anxiously
reporting their arrival and the suspicion that they might not leave so we'd
better report that they have indeed left (if they have).]
*  Sabri to visit Iran very soon
*  Al-Assad [Syrian President] meets Bin Alawi [Foreign Minister of Oman];
British parliamentary delegation
*  Palestinians Rally to Support Saddam [Demonstration in the Gaza Strip.]
*  Iran vows to honour Iraq border ['We are against a US attack on Iraq, but
if it happens, we will not engage in adventures'. Has a similar engagement
been given by Turkey?]
*  Iran president due in Saudi Arabia this week [Second visit by any Iranian
head of state to Saudi Arabia since the 1979 Revolution.]
*  Jordan "will turn away" Iraqi refugees [As will Iran. the article also
reports on a visit to Jordan by Ramadan.]
*  Anti-Saddam drive gains ground in Iran [Interview with Abbas Maleki,
deputy foreign minister under Mr Rafsanjani (at the time of the Iran/Iraq
war). He wants good relations with the US and doesn't think he has many
grounds for affection towards President Hussein.]
*  Hizbullah preparing war scenarios [Extract giving quote from Richard
Armitage (recently US envoy to the Middle East) saying Hizbullah is next
after Al Qaida.]
*  President, premier meet Iraqi transport minister [Discussion of improved
communications between Lebanon and Iraq. A glimpse of how things could be if
a heavily armed village idiot wasn't ranting and roaring in the next
street.]
*  Discrimination on Lebanese goods hurting trade with Iraq
*  Hariri says Syria Accountability Act can target any Arab country [The
Syria Accountability Act, which may be an indication of things to come after
the bombing of Baghdad.]
*  US Military Sending Command Staff to Gulf [Transfer to Qatar, in
November. For three weeks, to test the viability of a command structure
operating out of Qatar.]
*  Qatar Would Consider Base Request [Qatari foreign minister at the
Brookings Institute describes his visit to see Saddam Hussein.]
*  Saddam threatens to destroy Qatar [More on the Qatari foreign minister's
conversation with S.Hussein.]

LIFE AS USUAL

*  Next West Asian Games to be held in Iraq
*  Iraq Lifts 2nd West Asia Soccer Trophy

OIL MATTERS

*  Crude oil soars on news of big air raid on Iraq [I haven't been in the
habit of recording items about the price of oil. I just include this one as
an example of how idiotic the fluctuations appear to be. Iraq says it might
consider admitting inspectors - the price goes down. Iraq says it won't
consider weapons inspectors ­ it shoots up again.]
*  Call for Arabs to strike US targets [Tacked on to the end of this article
is the only reference I have seen in the mainstream press to the collapse in
Iraqi oil sales which, as Drew Hamre has pointed out to the list (Oil
exports slow to 'trickle';  $2B humanitarian shortfall, 9/10/02) is likely
to have catastrophic effects on the humanitarian situation in Iraq even
without a war.]

IRAQI OPPOSITION

*  Another secret Iraqi opposition meeting in London, sponsord by USA [A
rather strange item which says very little but implies that the meeting was
to do with the INC and that Barzani (he who didn't go to the US to meet
President Bush and who is reported elsewhere as meeting Jalal Talabani in
Iraq this week) was present. It ends with a brief attack on the INC from
Richard Holbrooke who presumably supports the Sunni strongman school of US
projects for the reformulation of Iraq.]
*  Iraqi opposition [The Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq]
seeks Saddam's ouster [The article claims that the SCIRI has two military
training camps in PUK territory in Suleimaniyeh]


AND, IN NEWS, 6/9-13/9/02 (6)

WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

*  Ex-Arms Inspector Says Attack on Iraq 'Not Justified' [Whatever Scott
Ritter's motives may be, he is doing a wonderful job - a one man operation
only he can do and this precisely because he was so obnoxious in the past.]
*  Deadly agents difficult to defend against [More from the IISS report,
still essentially recycling material from the UNSCOM reports on pre-1991
projects.]
*  U.S. cites hunt for materials to build bomb [Aluminium tubes and a paper
said to authorise the use of chemical weapons in the event of a Shi'i
rising.]
*  Ritter proposes mechanism for new Iraq inspections [This is Ritter saying
exactly what needs to be said: that if inspectors go back there must be a
mechanism that 'provides assurances to Iraq that unfettered access would
only be applied to disarmament issues and not be used to infringe upon
Iraq's sovereignty, dignity and national security.']
*  Profile: Scott Ritter [Brief account of his career and switch from chief
Bad Guy to chief Good Guy (or vice versa depending on your point of view.)
Note this, which isn't said often enough: ' Iraq "did co-operate to a very
significant degree with the UN inspection process"']
*  Butler calls [Scott Ritter's] Iraq weapons claim 'pathetic'
* U.S., British aircraft bomb Iraq; report says Iraq threat is not dire
[Extract from this article which gives reaction to IISS report from Charles
Heyman, editor of Jane's World Armies.]
*  Reporters Given Tour of Suspected Nuclear Facility [Tour of the former
nuclear complex in Tuwaitha. The Washington Post reporter remains
unconvinced.]
*  Saddam defender [Scott Ritter] stuns colleagues [There being a little
nest of former weapons inspectors in the Monterey Institute of International
Studies.]
*  Bush, Blair Decry Hussein [Account of Bush/Blair appearance before their
meeting at Camp David. Bush's proposed speech to the UN is clearly presented
as an 'ultimatum' (to the UN rather than to Mr Hussein). Both he and Mr
Blair refer to what turns out to be a non existent IAEA report (they could
have been confusing it with the IISS report. Or with a recent UNMOVIC
report.)]
*  UN Aide [Hans Blix]: No Proof Iraq Is Rebuilding Weapons
*  Iraq wants U.N. no-spy guarantee
*  Bush's Evidence of Iraq's Nuclear Ability Questioned [Extract giving a
discussion on aluminium tubes. Again ex-weapons inspector David Albright
questions the administration's interpretation of their data.]

URLs ONLY:
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=993832002
*  SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ
by Fraser Nelson
The Scotsman, 7th September
[A mammoth effort, impressive in its own way, at a bird's eye view of all
the reasons for wanting to go to war with Presdient Hussein. Not given here
simply because of its length.]

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=691688&in
_review_text_id=664445
*  Saddam A-bomb 'within months'
by Joe Murphy and Charles Reiss
London Evening Standard, 9th September
[This includes the following quote from the IISS: "Nonetheless, Iraq
salvaged its most vital nuclear assets: knowledge and personnel." Meaning,
we must suppose, that the UNSCOM inspectors failed to kill them. And
certainly they couldn't declare Iraq to be free of any possibility of having
WMDs while the 'most vital nuclear assets' were still alive. Another
problem. Given what we know or don't know about Gulf War Syndrome are
soldiers serving in the forthcoming war not going to be a little nervous
about the means used to protect them against (possibly non-existent)
chemical weapons?]

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=692259&in
_review_text_id=665176
*  Iraq "years from nuclear bomb"
London Evening Standard, 9th September
[The previous article was the Evening Standard's half a cup full version of
the IISS report. This is the half a cup empty version.]

INSIDE IRAQ

*  Saddam's Mistress ["He don't believe in his mother, he don't believe in
God, he didn't believe in nobody." Sounds like John Lennon. But perhaps
readers don't know the song 'God' on Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, his very best
album.]
*  Saddam well sheltered from bombing, says engineer [Yugoslav engineer,
expressing professional pride in the network of bomb shelters he helped to
build.]

URL ONLY:
http://cgi.wn.com/?action=display&article=15553260&template=baghdad/indexsea
rch.txt&index=recent
*  Iraqi Hospital Prepares for War
Associated Press, 7th September
["I'm so scared," said Feyruz Bekir, a 25-year-old Baghdad pharmacist. "It
is not nice to live in a city under a constant threat of bombing."]


NO FLY ZONES

*  24 US planes bomb Iraqi air targets [This seems to be the same raid we
gave last week as occurring on Friday. Here it occurs on Thursday 5th
September.]
*  Warplanes bomb key Iraqi target [Monday, 9th September, I think.]
* U.S., British aircraft bomb Iraq; report says Iraq threat is not dire
[Monday 9th September. The article refers to another bombing on Saturday
7th.]
*  Iraq says it probably hits US or British warplane [Monday 9th September,
I think. Incidentally, it is being said openly that bombing raids (as
opposed to simple patrols) are being launched from Kuwaiti territory. Some
time ago, if I'm not mistaken, Kuwait was denying this.]




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