Re: [casi] (no subject)

["Bert Gedin" <gedinbert@DELETETHIShotmail.com>]

Dear Ghazwan,

The Western conscience certainly isn't pure, and it may take more than  soap
powder to put it right (although some politicians may benefit from washing
their mouths out with soap powder, because of the foul language, as well as
foul methods, they use!). That there are millions of us, here in the West,
opposed to what is going on ("Not in our name!"), may be of little
consolation to you when bombing & destruction starts - or, should I say,
continues. And you will know, very well, that although there are differences
in the Palestinian situation, there are also some very strong parallels. It
makes me angry that there is so little I can do to help!

Greetings, Bert (Birmingham, U.K.).






>From: "Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar" <gaz@uruklink.net>
>To: "Suzy T. Kane"
><suzytkane@starband.net>,<casi-discuss@lists.casi.org.uk>
>Subject: Re: [casi] (no subject)
>Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 10:53:31 +0300
>
>Dear Suzi
>
>Having lived in Iraq during the 91 war I can tell you that it
>was"civilized"
>America and the UK that bombed and destroyed the telephone exchanges, the
>electricity generation and distribution systems, the Water and sewage
>systems, irrigation systems, roads and bridges, oil refineries ...etc. It
>was "civilized" America that bombed the chemical storage facilities in
>Basra
>despite the fact that it will severely affects the health of civilian
>population. It was "civilized" America that used DU armaments to
>contaminate
>the environment for the next 4.2 billion years! and causing untold number
>cancers, child leukaemia, congenital abnormalities and god knows what.
>
>Yes the next war they (US and UK) will bomb and destroy the same targets
>i.e. telephone exchanges, the electricity generation and distribution
>systems, the Water and sewage systems, irrigation systems, roads and
>bridges, oil refineries ...etc. They will dump more DU into our environment
>that will cause more cancers so that those of us who are not killed by the
>bomb immediately will die later of an unknown disease. The western
>conscious
>will be washed clean be claiming it was Saddam Hussein use of chemical
>weapons that are the cause of these mysterious diseases and not the
>American
>DU. In fact we will be told that DU is good for your health!
>
>
>This is an attempt to pre-wash the western conscious. Wait till the washing
>cycle is complete with bleach and softener is add. The western conscious
>will be lily white at the end!
>
>Best regards
>Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar
>Baghdad Iraq
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Suzy T. Kane" <suzytkane@starband.net>
>To: "CASI Discuss List" <casi-discuss@lists.casi.org.uk>
>Sent: Thursday, December 19, 2002 9:28 AM
>Subject: [casi] (no subject)
>
>
> >
> > [ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ]
> >
> > Dear All,
> >
> > Have we fallen down the rabbit hole?  How do you respond to an article
> > like this?  Suzy
> >
> > washingtonpost.com
> > 'Scorched Earth' Plans in Iraq Cited
> > Officials Also Warn Germ War Possible
> > By Bradley Graham
> > Washington Post Staff Writer
> > Thursday, December 19, 2002; Page A01
> > U.S. intelligence officials warned yesterday that Iraqi President Saddam
> > Hussein plans to pursue a "scorched earth" strategy in the event of war
> > with the United States and would destroy his country's oil fields,
> > electrical power plants, food storage sites and other facilities while
> > blaming U.S. military forces for the damage.
> > The officials, briefing reporters at the Pentagon, said they have
> > evidence that Hussein, if he believes his government is about to fall,
> > will try to create a humanitarian crisis that could slow any U.S.
> > invasion and foster international opposition to the war. They also
> > warned that Hussein likely will attempt to release biological or
> > chemical weapons as a last desperate act.
> > The officials said they cannot predict with certainly which germ or
> > chemical agents Hussein might unleash, or when or where. But they said
> > the likely targets would include not only U.S. forces but also Israel
> > and Kuwait and Iraqi civilians such as Shiite Muslims who have protested
> > Hussein's rule in the past. Iraq has declared it has no stockpiles of
> > chemical or biological weapons.
> > In preparation for such attacks, the officials said, Iraq has likely
> > shifted some of its stores of anthrax, botulism, ricin and mustard gas
> > nearer to the forces that would employ them -- special Republican Guard
> > units and selected air and missile units located in the central part of
> > the country. To undercut any order that might come from Hussein, the
> > Bush administration has begun warning Iraqi officers that they will be
> > held personally responsible for releasing any weapons of mass
> > destruction.
> > "Saddam's point of view is, you fight with everything you've got," one
> > official said. "He might use it right away, but he'll certainly use it
> > when he thinks he's about to fall."
> > Similar U.S. intelligence assessments preceded the Persian Gulf War in
> > 1991 that evicted Iraqi invasion forces from Kuwait, but few proved
> > accurate as U.S. and allied ground troops encountered relatively little
> > Iraqi resistance. It was impossible to independently assess the
> > reliability of yesterday's comments by intelligence officials or the
> > motivation for giving the briefing.
> > Although the Bush administration has an obvious interest in demonizing
> > Hussein as it lays out a public case for war, a military spokesman
> > attributed the timing of the briefing to a buildup of reporters'
> > requests for an assessment of Iraq's military strength and intentions in
> > the event of war. The intelligence officials declined to specify the
> > evidence to further their case, saying it would compromise sources.
> > Other officials have argued that, unlike 1991, Hussein will be more
> > willing to fight with nonconventional means because his own government's
> > existence would be at stake.
> > The Iraqis have been preparing for war since immediately after the Sept.
> > 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington, believing they would be a
> > U.S. target, the intelligence officials said. They have accelerated
> > imports of spare parts, moved ammunition closer to troop positions and
> > dug trenches for soldiers and military vehicles. They also have begun
> > placing trucks, concrete barriers and other obstacles on runways at key
> > air bases where U.S. invasion forces might attempt to land.
> > But instead of planning to engage U.S. troops along Iraq's borders and
> > in the open desert, as they did in the 1991 war, Hussein's commanders
> > intend to use rivers and other natural features as obstacles to any U.S.
> > advance and to set up a layered defense with Baghdad at the center, the
> > officials said.
> > Iraq's ground and air forces are considerably weaker and smaller than
> > they were in 1991, short on modern equipment, spare parts and training
> > time, the officials said. Morale is low, and so is the Iraqi military's
> > confidence in its ability to battle U.S. troops, they said.
> > There are about 375,000 Iraqi ground troops, down from more than 1
> > million a decade ago. Some divisions are manned at only half their
> > authorized levels, and many lack such basic components as reconnaissance
> > units and military police.
> > "The regular army is not motivated to fight for Saddam, and we don't
> > think they're going to last very long," one official said.
> > Iraq's six Republican Guard divisions, which are better equipped and
> > trained and number about 90,000 troops, are expected to fight longer.
> > But the U.S. analysts said they have solid evidence that Hussein is
> > concerned about morale even in these elite forces.
> > The Iraqi air force, with roughly 300 fighter jets, is less than half
> > the size it was in 1991 and is not regarded as a major threat. Iraqi
> > pilots receive on average only 20 to 50 hours of training annually, and
> > when they do fly, "it's basically stick and rudder stuff" rather than
> > serious tactical training, one U.S. official said.
> > A relatively brighter spot for Iraq's military is its air defense
> > system, which remains largely intact despite years of intermittent
> > strikes by U.S. warplanes patrolling "no-fly" zones in the north and
> > south of the country. The U.S. officials noted that Iraq has kept most
> > of its surveillance radars and antiaircraft missile batteries in the
> > central part of the country, out of reach of U.S. planes.
> > Additionally, Iraqis have shown considerable resourcefulness in
> > repairing facilities that are damaged by U.S. airstrikes, drawing on
> > spare parts from some former Soviet republics, the officials said.
> > Chinese and Turkish companies have helped Iraq lay a nationwide
> > fiber-optic network, providing communication links among military
> > facilities that are more effective and more difficult for U.S. forces to
> > cut.
> > "It's really an issue of disruption, not permanent destruction," one
> > official said of the real impact of the U.S. airstrikes.
> > Iraq's military would be in even worse shape, the official said, if not
> > for large amounts of imported equipment, including trucks, air defense
> > parts and night vision devices.
> > Many of the imports have been smuggled into the country in violation of
> > international economic sanctions, with Syria serving as a major conduit,
> > the official said. But some have arrived with United Nations approval,
> > such as hundreds of pieces of earth-moving equipment that ended up being
> > converted into missile launchers.
> > C 2002 The Washington Post Company
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
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> > All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk
> >
>
>
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Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
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To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk
All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk