[casi] News, 15-22/11/02 (5)

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

News, 15-22/11/02 (5)

NO FLY ZONES

*  Coalition resumes no-fly zone strikes
*  U.S. accuses Iraq of shooting at jets
*  7 civilians killed in US-British raids: Iraq
*  No-fly zones: The legal position
*  Allies bomb air defenses in northern Iraq for second straight day;
leaflets dropped in southern Iraq
*  US warplanes strike Iraqi air defence sites
*  U.N. opposes U.S. stand on Iraq no-fly zone violation
*  United States bombs three Iraqi air defense facilities
*  Western Planes Bomb Targets in South

REMNANTS OF DECENCY

*  Thousands rally against Iraq war
*  Greeks Protest Against War in Nov 17 Rally
*  Atlantan in Iraq on medical mission
*  Testimony in Support of Baltimore's Anti-Iraq War Resolution


NO FLY ZONES

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/320/nation/Coalition_resumes_no_fly_zone_s
trikes+.shtml

*  COALITION RESUMES NO-FLY ZONE STRIKES
Boston Globe, 16th November

WASHINGTON (Associated Press): Iraq fired on US and British warplanes
patrolling a no fly zone yesterday, an act the United States considers a
breach of a UN Security Council resolution, a US official said.

Coalition warplanes bombed an Iraqi air defense site in retaliation, a
Pentagon statement said.

It was the first coalition strike on Iraq since Saddam Hussein's government
accepted the UN Security Council resolution demanding that he disarm and
allow inspectors to search for chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons.

Under the UN resolution, any material breach of the resolution must be
reported to the Security Council for new debate - and, according to the Bush
administration, could be used as justification for US-led military action to
topple Hussein's government.

The US official who said the government considers the firing a material
breach could not say whether American officials would raise the issue with
the United Nations.

President Bush and other US officials have said that firing on coalition
planes patrolling the northern and southern no-fly zones would violate the
latest UN resolution.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other Pentagon officials, however,
have been vague about whether Iraq's hostile actions in the no-fly zones
would trigger a wider US-led attack.

Lieutenant Colonel David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman, said last night that
Iraq had fired surface-to-air missiles and antiaircraft artillery at
coalition planes.

Coalition planes using precision-guided weapons attacked an air-defense
communications facility near An Najaf, about 85 miles southeast of Baghdad,
a Pentagon statement said. The strike happened at 2:50 p.m. EST.

On Sunday, coalition planes bombed two surface-to-air missile sites near
Tallil, 175 miles southeast of Baghdad.


http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=1460026

*  U.S. ACCUSES IRAQ OF SHOOTING AT JETS
by Chris Baltimore
Swissinfo.com, 16th November

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States says it has the option of declaring
Baghdad in violation of a new U.N. Security Council resolution after Iraqi
forces fired at American and British warplanes patrolling a "no-fly" zone.

But it was unclear whether Washington would press its case given dissent
over interpretation of the resolution with key U.S. allies, including
Britain.

U.S. and British warplanes bombed an air defence communications centre in
southern Iraq on Friday after Iraqi forces fired artillery and missiles at
the aircraft patrolling a "no-fly" zone in the south, the U.S. military
said.

Iraq said on Saturday that seven people were killed and four others wounded
after U.S. and British planes attacked targets in southern Iraq. Iraqi
anti-aircraft and missile batteries fired at the planes, an Iraqi statement
said.

"Iraq's failure to comply with its obligations under Paragraph 8 would
constitute a material breach," a State Department spokesman said, referring
to a U.N. resolution aimed at dismantling the alleged nuclear, chemical and
biological weapons programs of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Paragraph 8 of the November 8 resolution says Baghdad cannot "take or
threaten hostile acts" against a U.N. member "seeking to uphold any council
resolution."

"It is an option that is available to the United States -- to refer that
violation of the resolution to the Security Council," the State Department
spokesman said.

"We have interpreted the resolutions to mean that option is available," the
spokesman said, refusing to specify if or when the United States would
exercise such an option.

Controversy over the no-fly zones was one of two major disputes in the
Security Council, with Russia, France and other members worried about
"hidden triggers" in the resolution that would allow unilateral military
action by Washington.

Under the measure, U.N. inspectors are to declare or verify any major
violation by Iraq and report it to the 15-member Security Council, which
must then "assess" whether it is a "material breach" -- two words that could
lead to war.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?artid=285
04684

*  7 CIVILIANS KILLED IN US-BRITISH RAIDS: IRAQ
Times of India (from AFP), 17th November

BAGHDAD: US and British warplanes killed seven Iraqis and wounded four
others in air raids on "civilian installations" in the southern province of
Najaf, a military spokesman said Saturday.

"Seven civilians were killed and four others wounded" in the raid by US and
British planes on Friday night in Najaf province, some 200 km south of
Baghdad, the spokesman said, cited by the state INA news agency.

"The American and British murderers have committed a new crime against the
Iraqi people," he said.

The planes, based in Kuwait, carried out 48 sorties against several targets
in the south, he added.

"Our missile batteries and anti-aircraft defences resisted these planes,
forcing them to flee to their bases," he said.

The Pentagon had said on Friday that US warplanes bombed an air defence
communications facility in southern Iraq after coalition aircraft came under
Iraqi fire in what it described as a violation of last week's UN Security
Council resolution.

The US Central Command said the target of the strike was an air defence
communications facility in Najaf.

A defence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said US warplanes
have come under surface-to-air fire from Iraqi forces 11 times since UN
Security Council Resolution 1441 was passed November 8.

Besides setting out the terms of new UN arms inspections, the resolution
ordered Iraq not to take or threaten hostile acts against any member state
"taking action to uphold any council resolution."

The latest US air strike was the second since the resolution was unanimously
approved by the 15-member UN Security Council.

Iraq has routinely fired on US and British aircraft over southern and
northern Iraq since 1998, when it shut down the first UN arms inspection
regime.

The no-fly zones were imposed by the Western powers after the 1991 Gulf War
to stop Iraqi attacks on Shiite Muslim and Kurdish minorities but are not
explicitly covered by any UN resolution.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2490361.stm

*  NO-FLY ZONES: THE LEGAL POSITION
BBC, 18th November

The two no-fly zones over Iraq were imposed by the US, Britain and France
after the Gulf War, in what was described as a humanitarian effort to
protect Shia Muslims in the south and Kurds in the north.

The justification was that an acute humanitarian crisis made it necessary to
infringe the sovereignty of Iraq in this way.

However, unlike the military campaign to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait, the
no-fly zones were not authorised by the United Nations and they are not
specifically sanctioned by any Security Council resolution.

The Western powers - led by President George Bush senior - argued that their
action was consistent with Security Council Resolution 688 adopted on 5
April 1991.

The resolution condemned the repression of the Iraqi civilian population and
demanded that Iraq end it immediately.

It said the repression amounted to a threat to international peace and
security - a phrase often used to justify intervention.

But critics of the no-fly zones point out that the resolution did not say
the Security Council was acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which
provides for enforcement action.

Nor did it say that all necessary means could be used.

Critics add that whatever was justified in 1991 is not necessarily justified
more than 10 years later, when the reasons for continuing the air patrols
may have changed.

France no longer takes part in policing the no-fly zones, and the US and the
UK are now alone in the Security Council in insisting that their frequent
bombing of Iraqi targets is covered by international law.

Many UK ministers say that under international law, there is a right to
intervene to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.

They point out that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has hurt his people before -
when he used chemical weapons to kill 5,000 Kurdish villagers in the 1980s.

Other countries, notably China and Russia, have condemned the no-fly zones
as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, and they insist there is no backing for
the policy under international law or UN resolutions.

The northern no-fly zone was declared after the end of the Gulf War in March
1991 to protect Kurds against military action which had driven huge numbers
of people across the borders into Turkey and Iran.

Subsequently, the US, UK and France set up safe havens on the ground in
northern Iraq, to which the refugees returned.

In a separate move, Iraqi aircraft were also prohibited from flying over the
southern half of the country, in order to hamper President Hussein's
operations against the Shia population there.

Since UN weapons inspectors withdrew from Iraq shortly before a three-day
US-UK bombardment in late 1998 known as Operation Desert Fox, the two
Western powers have kept up their attacks whenever Iraqi air defences have
locked onto aircraft patrolling the no fly zones.

Baghdad says hundreds of civilians have died in these attacks.

The US and British air forces have disputed some of these figures, and
insist they never target civilian areas.

However, the raids have provided ammunition for Iraqi efforts to garner
support for an end to its international isolation.

The latest UN resolution on the disarmament of Iraq does not mention the
no-fly zones, but it does stipulate that Baghdad should not take or threaten
hostile acts directed against any member state taking action to uphold
Secuirty Council resolutions.

This is the most likely clause Washington will refer to if it wants to
assert that firing on British and American planes amounts to a violation of
the UN resolution.


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/134578622_webairstrike18.h
tml

*  ALLIES BOMB AIR DEFENSES IN NORTHERN IRAQ FOR SECOND STRAIGHT DAY;
LEAFLETS DROPPED IN SOUTHERN IRAQ
by Robert Burns
Seattle Times, 18th November

WASHINGTON ‹ For the second day in a row, allied warplanes patrolling a
no-fly zone in northern Iraq came under fire from anti-aircraft artillery
and responded by bombing near the city of Mosul, U.S. officials said.

Also, U.S. planes bombed three sites in southern Iraq after Iraqi air
defense units fired multiple surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft
artillery at the planes.

Separately, the U.S. Central Command said U.S. planes dropped 120,000
leaflets yesterday near the town of Ar Rumaythah, in southern Iraq. They
warn the Iraqi military to stop firing on U.S. and British planes patrolling
the southern no-fly zone. It was the fourth leaflet drop in the last eight
weeks in the region.

One of the leaflets warned Iraqi air defense forces: "Beware: Do not track
or fire on coalition aircraft." The back of the leaflet read: "The
destruction experienced by your colleagues in other air defense locations is
a response to your continuing aggression toward planes of the coalition
forces. No tracking or firing on these aircraft will be tolerated. You could
be next."

Previous leaflet drops had been near the southern cities of Tallil, Basra
and As Samawah.

In another act of defiance of the no-fly zone patrols, an Iraqi fighter jet
today flew south across the 33rd parallel, penetrating about 50 miles into
the southern zone, a senior defense official said. There were no American or
British fighter jets close enough to respond before the Iraqi jet left, the
official said.

Another Iraqi aircraft flew into the northern no-fly zone today, the
official said, without provoking a U.S. response.

The U.S. airstrikes in southern Iraq today targeted an air defense
communications facility near Tallil and an air defense radar and
communications facility near Al Kut. Both locations are southeast of Baghdad
and have been frequent targets of U.S. bombs in recent months. Tallil is an
air defense hub for southern Iraq.

Iraqi aircraft occasionally fly into the northern or southern zones, but
more often Iraqis have fired anti-aircraft artillery or surface-to-air
missiles at U.S. and British planes enforcing the zones.

At the White House, spokesman Scott McClellan said today the Iraqi firing on
coalition aircraft "appears to be a violation" of the United Nations
resolution on Iraq. He said the U.N. resolution "does give us that option to
refer this violation to the Security Council for discussion."

Asked whether the administration would do that, McClellan replied, "We have
that option." He added, "Our planes will continue to respond when fired
upon."

In announcing today's action in northern Iraq, the German-based U.S.
European Command said coalition planes used precision-guided weapons to
target Iraqi air defense systems, but it provided no specific location.

A similar exchange happened yesterday.

The European Command statement said all planes used in the operation
returned safely to their base. The planes operate from Incirlik air base in
southern Turkey.

Iraq considers patrols of the northern and southern no-fly zones a violation
of its sovereignty and frequently shoots at them.

The hostilities have been going on for years but are being watched more
closely since Washington has vowed to force President Saddam Hussein to
disarm.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?artid=287
54823

*  US WARPLANES STRIKE IRAQI AIR DEFENCE SITES
Times of India (from AFP), 19th November

WASHINGTON: US warplanes retaliated against Iraqi missile and anti-aircraft
fire that top US officials said was a "material breach" of the latest UN
Security Council resolution, but not serious enough to warrant a war.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Monday told reporters in Santiago,
Chile that the Iraqi attacks were "unacceptable," but added: "Someone's
characterization of that as something that would trigger an action is
incorrect. It's not for us to decide," said a Pentagon official, who spoke
on condition of anonymity. "But how would you justify going to war on
something you have not vehemently protested before?"

The allied airstrikes for the second consecutive day Monday came as UN arms
inspectors arrived in Baghdad to resume a hunt for weapons of mass
destruction that was suspended in 1998 amid Iraq's refusal to cooperate.

F-16 fighter aircraft operating out of Turkey dropped precision bombs on two
anti-aircraft artillery sites near the northern city of Mosul after they
fired on coalition aircraft, a US defense official said.

"Triple-A was reported, and 15 minutes later they rolled in," said the
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Just hours later, US and British fighters struck two communications centers
and a radar installation in southern Iraq after coalition aircraft came
under a barrage of surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft fire, the US
military said.

The strikes were carried out by US F/A-18 Super Hornets, F-16 fighters, and
British Tornados, which used precision guided weapons in attacks near the
towns of Al Kut and Tallil, a US defense official said.

A White House spokesman said the Iraqi fire on US and British aircraft
enforcing no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq were in violation of
a 10-day-old UN Security Council resolution re-establishing arms
inspections.

"We do, as you noted, believe it is a violation that would constitute a
material breach," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

"In the resolution it says that Iraq shall not take or threaten hostile acts
directed at any representative or personnel of any member state taking
action to uphold any council resolution," he said.

McClellan said the United States has the option of reporting the breach to
the UN Security Council, but he refrained from saying whether it intended to
take that step.

McClellan said, "Our planes will continue to respond in the manner that they
have in the past."

In Baghdad, the Iraqi foreign ministry charged that McClellan's comments
were another indication that Washington intended to use UN Security Council
resolutions as "a cover to justify its aggressive actions against Iraq."

Iraq's Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan told the state-run Iraqi News
Agency that the no-fly zones were established unilaterally and "not based on
any relevant Security Council resolution."

US President George W. Bush, in an interview Monday with Radio Free Europe,
made it clear Iraqi President Saddam Hussein must obey the latest UN
resolution or he will be disarmed one way or another.

"We now have a 17th resolution and this time, I intend to work with nations
that love freedom and peace, make sure the resolution stands. And if he
doesn't disarm, you're right, I'll lead a coalition of the willing to disarm
him," Bush said..

It was the second day in a row that US warplanes have struck Iraqi air
defenses after coming under anti-aircraft artillery fire, and the fifth time
since the passage of the latest UN Security Council resolution on November
8.

In Baghdad, INA quoted a military spokesman as saying US and British
warplanes had bombed "civilian and services installations" in the north
before being driven away by Iraqi ground defenses.

An Iraqi air defense spokesman also said Iraq opened missile and artillery
fire on coalition aircraft that staged "69 armed sorties" over southern Iraq
on Sunday evening and Monday morning, driving them back to their bases in
Kuwait.

On Sunday, warplanes from Incirlik Air Base, Turkey bombed air defenses in
the north after coming under anti-aircraft artillery fire near Mosul.

In southern Iraq, US warplanes dropped two "leaflet bombs" Sunday around the
town of Ar Rumaythah, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Baghdad,
warning Iraqi forces not to fire on coalition aircraft.

Iraq has resisted US and British air patrols of the no-fly zones since the
last showdown over inspections ended in four days of US bombings in and
around Baghdad in December, 1998.

According to the Pentagon, Iraqi forces have stepped up their attacks
sharply since September 16 when Hussein invited the UN Security Council to
resume its inspections.


http://asia.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml;jsessionid=WIQGUTT415CSMCRBAEZSFE
Y?type=worldnews&StoryID=1768297

*  U.N. OPPOSES U.S. STAND ON IRAQ NO-FLY ZONE VIOLATION
by Evelyn Leopold
Reuters, 20th November

UNITED NATIONS: U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Britain, Russia and
others contradicted U.S. contentions on Tuesday that any violation of the
no-fly zones over Iraq breached a new U.N. Security Council resolution.

Shortly after the United Nations Security Council adopted a tough resolution
on Iraqi disarmament on November 8, the Bush administration said Iraq's
attempt to shoot down U.S. and British aircraft over the flight exclusion
zone was a violation of the measure.

None of the other 14 members of the U.N. Security Council, including
Britain, believe the zones are included in the resolution, much less a
possible cause for a violation.

For the moment, Security Council members are saying little in any meeting
after Iraqi troops on Monday again fired on allied aircraft, bringing harsh
criticism from Washington.

The issue, diplomats said, probably would not be raised until the United
States brought the violation to the council, which no one expected
Washington to do for the time being.

"But if the Iraqis shoot one down, it could be a new ball game all
together," said one Western diplomat.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan, travelling in Kosovo on Tuesday, told
reporters: "Let me say that I don't think that the council will say this is
in contravention of the resolution of the Security Council."

And in London, a Foreign Office source reaffirmed that Britain sought other
justifications under international law for the zones, but the new resolution
was not one of them.

"We're already on the record as saying threats against our aircraft would
not be a material breach of that resolution," he said.

Iraq does not recognise the flight exclusion zones, set up by the United
States and Western allies unilaterally after the 1991 Gulf War to prevent
Baghdad from attacking rebellious Kurds in the north. Later the zone was
expanded to prevent attacks against Shi'ite Muslims in the south.

Several council members, speaking on condition of anonymity, said eight
weeks of arduous negotiations would be for naught if Washington continued,
in their eyes, to misinterpret resolution 1441, and then expected support
for any future action against Iraq.

"It's one thing to keep up 'zero tolerance' to put the squeeze on Iraq," one
council source said. "But in practice they know perfectly well that the
other 14 council members were voting for disarmament, not the no-fly zone,
or there would have been no vote."

In Washington, Scott McClellan, a White House spokesman, said on Monday:
"The United States believes that firing upon our aircraft in the no-fly zone
or British aircraft is a violation. It is a material breach."

McClellan said U.S. President George W. Bush's policy toward Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein remained one of "zero tolerance" and that clashes over the
no-flight zones were "something that we will assess and review" and reserve
the option to bring before the Security Council.

But Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in Chile for a meeting with Western
Hemisphere defence ministers, was more measured than he had been on the
issue in recent weeks.

"I do find it unacceptable that Iraq fires," Rumsfeld told a new conference
in Santiago. "It is for the president of the United States and the U.N.
Security Council to make judgments about their view of Iraq's behaviour over
a period of time."

Paragraph 8 of the November 8 resolution said Baghdad cannot "take or
threaten hostile acts" against a U.N. member "seeking to uphold any council
resolution". Resolution 1441 gives Iraq one last chance to disarm or face
"serious consequences".

Britain's U.N. ambassador, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, co-sponsor of the
resolution, told the Security Council before the vote that paragraph 8
referred to any personnel that the inspectors might ask to help them and not
the no-fly zones.

Diplomats assumed London and Washington had coordinated interpretations and
shortly after the 15-0 vote, Russia's U.N. ambassador, Sergei Lavrov, echoed
the British view, attributing it to "sponsors of the draft".

In Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday: "Recent claims that
Iraq's actions in the no-fly zones can be seen as a violation of the U.N.
Security Council resolution 1441, have no legal grounds."

Some U.S. officials say Washington would not use the Iraqi attacks in the
no-fly zone as a sole trigger for war, nor necessarily report them. But U.N.
Security Council members say the issue is not one that should be discussed
in connection with the resolution.


http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/international/ap_bombing11202002.htm

*  UNITED STATES BOMBS THREE IRAQI AIR DEFENSE FACILITIES
Boston Herald, from Associated Press, 20th November

WASHINGTON - U.S. warplanes bombed three air defense communications
facilities in southern Iraq Wednesday, a day after Defense Secretary Donald
H. Rumsfeld said Washington would immediately respond to attacks on American
and British warplanes.

Rumsfeld said the United States would retaliate in such circumstances
involving the patrolling of no-fly zones regardless of whether the United
Nations views the shootings as violations of U.N. resolutions.

U.S. warplanes struck at the Iraqi defense facilities after Iraqi air
defenses fired surface-to air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery at U.S.
and British planes.

In a statement, U.S. Central Command said the three targeted facilities were
unmanned and located between the cities of Al Kut and Basra. It provided no
more precise description of the targets or locations. It said Iraqi air
defense forces have fired on U.S. planes six out of seven days since Iraq
accepted U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441, which demands that Iraq turn
over to inspectors all information about weapons of mass destruction.

In his comments, Rumsfeld refused to elaborate on whether he meant
retaliatory strikes on Iraqi anti-aircraft sites would continue or was
hinting at a stronger response than has been used in the past.

"You can be absolutely certain we'll not allow our aircraft to continue to
be shot at with impunity. We intend to respond," Rumsfeld told reporters
returning to Washington with him Tuesday from a Western Hemisphere military
summit in the Chilean capital.

He stayed in Washington Tuesday night before heading out to join President
Bush at a NATO summit in Prague, Czech Republic.

[.....]


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20021121/ts_nm/iraq_usa_dc
_3

*  WESTERN PLANES BOMB TARGETS IN SOUTH
Yahoo, 21st November

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. and British warplanes bombed two air defense radar
sites in southern Iraq on Thursday in the latest of a series of strikes in
the no-fly zones, the U.S. military said.

Iraq said the planes were driven off by anti-aircraft fire in the second
consecutive day of Western strikes.

The Western warplanes first struck a radar near Ash Shuaybah about 245 miles
southeast of Baghdad at 4:20 a.m. EST. Then they bombed a radar near Tallil,
about 170 miles southeast of Baghdad about 6:30 a.m. EST, U.S. Central
Command said.

U.S. defense officials said the strikes were in retaliation for Iraqi air
defenses attacking U.S. and British planes that patrol no-fly zones in
southern and northern Iraq.

"They responded to Iraq moving a surface-to-air missile battery into the
southern no-fly zone," said Lt. Col. Dave Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman.

An Iraqi military spokesman, quoted by the official Iraqi News Agency, said
Western planes bombed "civilian and service installations" in the provinces
of Thi Qar and Basra, southeast of Baghdad.

Thursday's strike came after U.S. and British warplanes bombed three air
defense communications facilities in southern Iraq on Wednesday in response
to Iraqi missile attacks.

[.....]


REMNANTS OF DECENCY

http://www.canada.com/hamilton/story.asp?id={DDA2D04C-CAAF-4012-93D5
025A6D77BC6C}

*  THOUSANDS RALLY AGAINST IRAQ WAR
Canadian Press, 16th November

TORONTO -- Thousands of demonstrators gathered peacefully under frigid grey
skies on the lawn front of the Ontario legislature Saturday as part of a
national series of protests this weekend against ongoing sanctions and the
possibility of war in Iraq.

Carrying signs bearing slogans such as Don't Attack Iraq and Love Heals,
protesters cheered as speakers from a variety of labour and peace groups
decried military action in Iraq.

"The war against Iraq will have a horrific impact against innocent
civilians," said Marilyn Churley, an NDP member of provincial parliament who
was among the speakers.

"Canada should take back our traditional role as peace-makers and say no to
war."

Protesters later marched from the legislature to the American Embassy.

"There's a real need for a peace movement," said Ali Mallah, president of
the Toronto chapter of the Canadian Arab Federation.

He said the Canadian government needs to stand up on the world stage as an
advocate of peace, even if that means disagreeing with its neighbours to the
south.

"I hate to say it, but we're becoming sort of irrelevant to United States
policies and plans," he said

The Toronto demonstration, which drew as many as 2,500 people, was organized
by a coalition of groups including the Toronto Committee Against Sanctions
and War on Iraq, the United Church, Arab organizations, labour unions and
other social justice groups.

"I strongly don't believe Canada should have anything do with such a war -
with or without UN approval," said protester Jerry Berman, 72, who turned
out for the protest with his wife after reading about it in a local
newspaper.

Other demonstrations were planned Saturday for communities across Canada.
About 150 protesters demonstrated peacefully in front of city hall in
Hamilton, Ont., on Saturday morning.

Protests were also expected Saturday in Kingston, Ont., Calgary, Regina,
Brandon, Man., Sydney, N.S., and several communities in British Columbia
including Prince George, Grand Forks and Nelson. More were planned for
Sunday in other communities nationwide.

Mallah said an even larger national day of protest is being planned for
January 18.

Tensions were escalating in the Middle East over the weekend as Iraq fired
on U.S. and British planes patrolling a no-fly zone Friday.

Coalition planes bombed an Iraqi air defence site in retaliation for the
firing.

It was the first coalition strike on Iraq since Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein's government accepted the United Nations Security Council resolution
demanding he disarm and allow inspectors to search for chemical, biological
and nuclear weapons.

The UN has warned of "serious consequences" if Iraq doesn't comply. The
United States has made clear that an Iraqi failure to co-operate will almost
certainly mean a new war.

Iraq denies it possesses weapons of mass destruction.

About 25 United Nations weapons inspectors are set to arrive in Iraq on
Monday. Four Canadians have been told to prepare to eventually head to Iraq
as weapons inspectors.

Canada has not yet committed troops to any war.

After inspectors left Iraq in 1998, ahead of U.S.-British air strikes,
Baghdad refused to readmit the monitors. It accused them of being American
spies and said they could only return after UN trade sanctions had been
lifted.

Under Security Council resolutions passed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of
Kuwait, the sanctions can be lifted only when Iraq proves to the inspectors
that it has eliminated its weapons of mass destruction and long-range
missiles.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20021117/wl_nm/greece_prot
est_dc_1

*  GREEKS PROTEST AGAINST WAR IN NOV 17 RALLY
Yahoo, 17th November

ATHENS (Reuters) - Thousands of Greek protesters denounced a possible U.S.
attack on Iraq on Sunday during an annual march marking a 1973 student
revolt which led to the birth of the feared November 17 guerrilla group.

Police briefly detained 10 demonstrators after using teargas to disperse
groups of self-styled anarchists who hurled firebombs and rocks near the
U.S. embassy, disrupting the otherwise peaceful event. There were no reports
of injuries.

Police said more than 10,000 people marched from the central polytechnic
school, site of the revolt, to the U.S. embassy, which has long been blamed
for supporting Greece's former military leadership -- the target of the
student protest 29 years ago.

"No to War in Iraq" and "Americans -- Killers of Nations," read several of
the banners carried by demonstrators.

U.N. arms inspectors, backed by a U.S. threat of war, are expected in
Baghdad on Monday to relaunch a search for any weapons of mass destruction
in Iraq.

About 5,000 police, including riot squads and special forces, guarded the
march route in anticipation of heavy turnout, boosted by a roundup of
suspect members of the radical leftist November 17 group earlier this year.

Members of the group, which was born in the wake of the bloody clampdown on
the 1973 student uprising, had eluded capture for decades.

Now in custody the 18 suspects have called for supporters -- mainly small
groups of anarchists -- to take to the streets on Sunday to demonstrate
moral support.

Police said more than 500 demonstrators shouted slogans for the release of
the guerrilla suspects.

The student protest on November 17 marked the beginning of the end for
Greece's 1967-74 military rule, and pro-democracy and victim groups have
also vowed a big turnout to show violence in Greece is over.

November 17 members have claimed responsibility for killing 23 Greeks and
foreigners. Their first victim was the Athens CIA chief shot dead in 1975.


http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/thursday/news_d3cd08dfd4c91
1b50046.html

*  ATLANTAN IN IRAQ ON MEDICAL MISSION
by Moni Basu - Staff
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 21st November

As U.N. weapons inspectors arrived in Iraq on Monday, another plane was
simultaneously landing at Baghdad's international airport. It carried
Atlanta resident James Jennings --- a man on a very different mission.

Hans Blix, the chief U.N. inspector, is in Iraq to look at Saddam Hussein's
weapons arsenal. Jennings, who heads the aid group Conscience International,
is there to look at medical facilities that he says are war-damaged and
ill-equipped to address Iraq's pressing health needs.

Jennings has been talking with government officials, professionals and
academics about the consequences of another war.

"Everyone in Baghdad breathed a collective sigh of relief when the weapons
inspectors arrived," he said in a Wednesday telephone interview from
Baghdad.

"First, Blix talked about the importance of the sanctions as an issue and
how lifting them would move Iraq forward," he said. "Secondly, he raised the
idea from one of the earlier U.N. resolutions --- that in the Mideast there
should be a zone free of weapons of mass destruction. Those are two very big
issues here."

Jennings, a former professor of Middle East studies, said another war now
would destroy the little progress that Iraq has made since the Persian Gulf
War.

Jennings has made 15 "humanitarian" trips to Iraq, including a September
visit led by Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) and former Democratic Sen. James
Abourezk of South Dakota. An opponent of the sanctions against Iraq,
Jennings has taken $2 million in medical aid into Iraq.

On his current trip, he is trying to get proper care for a 10-month-old baby
suffering from a condition that increases the risk of injuring the spinal
cord.

"She will die if she doesn't have an operation but she may also die if she
has the operation under these conditions," said Jennings, who plans to
return to Atlanta next week. "There are 4,000 such children in Iraq who will
die without intervention."

Many more will suffer, he said, if war comes.

"When the weapons inspectors arrived, I told someone here that it was a good
beginning," Jennings said. "The response was that it was not the beginning
but the outcome that really counts."


http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=200211211922408

*  TESTIMONY IN SUPPORT OF BALTIMORE'S ANTI-IRAQ WAR RESOLUTION
Palestine Chronicle, 21st November

"My name is William Hughes. I'm a resident of the 2nd District. I'm here
tonight to lend my support to the 'Anti-Iraq War Resolution' .."
By William Hughes

Re: Council Bill No. 02-0944, "In Opposition to A Declaration of War Against
Iraq"
Public Hearing-November 20, 2002

Mr. Chairman, the Hon. Robert Curran, and Members of the Baltimore City
Council's Judiciary and Legislative Investigations Committee:

My name is William Hughes. I'm a resident of the 2nd District. I'm here
tonight to lend my support to the "Anti-Iraq War Resolution" and to also to
express my objections to the editors of the Baltimore Sun for criticizing
this legislative body, in a Nov. 13 editorial, for holding this hearing.

The right of the people to Petition their government is a right older than
the Republic itself. When the Sunpaper disparaged that right, it only
demonstrated its own ignorance of our history, and its indifference to the
important issues being considered tonight before this Committee.

I believe that there is no justification whatsoever for any U.S. led war
against Iraq. And, under no circumstances, should President George W. Bush
Jr. take any military action against Iraq, absent the approval of the UN's
Security Council.

Bush's "Preemptive Strike Doctrine" is just a fancy way of allowing him to
attack someone "first" hat he doesn't like. In the Nuclear Age, conducting
foreign policy in that kind of reckless manner can lead one tragic day to a
nuclear exchange, with possibly Russia, Red China, or North Korea.

The nuclear club is growing as I speak. This new and dangerous policy,
created by Bush's "Dr. Strangelove," Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of
Defense, makes us more prone to a nuclear attack, and not less. Also, our
war on terrorism should be against the el Qaeda network, and not the
innocent people of Iraq.

We know that Iraq has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. We also
know that Bush and his Vice President Dick Cheney have been, in the past,
part of the lucrative business of "Big Oil." This could be a possible motive
for the U.S. wanting to now attack Iraq.

After Gulf War I, we left 600,000 pounds of depleted uranium in Iraq. It's a
radioactive poison, with a half life of 4.5 billion years. Now, we're
planning to do it again, contaminate Iraq, and our own troops, too.

Israel, also, wants us to attack Iraq first, and then, Iran! Meanwhile,
Israel continues to brutally subjugate the Palestinians, making us more
enemies in the Islamic world. Bishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela both
have said: The Israeli oppression of the Palestinians must end!

Finally, if we had a foreign policy based on the values and principles of
our Republic, and not on the role of "Global Cop," we could have huge peace
dividends for our people. And that money, in the billions of dollars, could
be used to make our streets safer, educate our children, restore fully this
city, and renew the economy of our state.

Put America's national interest first. Say "No" to any war with Iraq and
pass this Anti-Iraq War Resolution.

William Hughes is the author of "Andrew Jackson vs. New World Order"
(Authors Choice Press) and "Baltimore Iconoclast" (Writer's Showcase), which
are available online. He can be reached at liamhughes@mindspring.com.

Palestine Chronicle (palestinechronicle.com). Redistributed via Press
International News Agency (PINA).




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