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> The following excerpt speaks for itself: > > ------------------ > A group of American anti-war demonstrators who came to Iraq with > Japanese > human shield volunteers made it across the border today with 14 hours of > uncensored video, all shot without Iraqi government minders present. > Kenneth > Joseph, a young American pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East, > told UPI > the trip "had shocked me back to reality." Some of the Iraqis he > interviewed > on camera "told me they would commit suicide if American bombing didn't > start. > They were willing to see their homes demolished to gain their freedom > from > Saddam's bloody tyranny. They convinced me that Saddam was a monster the > likes > of which the world had not seen since Stalin and Hitler. He and his sons > are > sick sadists. Their tales of slow torture and killing made me ill, such > as > people put in a huge shredder for plastic products, feet first so they > could > hear their screams as bodies got chewed up from foot to head." > ------------------- > > > > http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030321-023627-5923r > > > Lucky Break for Jordan > By Arnaud de Borchgrave > UPI Editor at Large > From the International Desk > Published 3/21/2003 2:46 PM > View printer-friendly version > > > AMMAN, Jordan, March 21 (UPI) -- An unintended coalition of U.S. air > power and > Baghdad taxi drivers kept a potential flood of Iraqi refugees away from > the > Jordanian border Friday. The U.N. refugee agency and the Jordanian > government > were expecting a quarter of million people to stream across the border. > Jordan > is already home for 400,000 Iraqi refugees from the first Gulf War. > > U.S. fighter bombers took out the only gas station between Baghdad and > the > border, a distance of 600 kilometers. The one-camel village of Ramadi > was also > the only phone booth on the desert road and a Jordanian was killed by > the > explosion of the gas station while making a call to his parents in Amman > to > let them know he was on his way home. > > At the same time, the few taxi drivers in Baghdad willing to run the > risk of > making it to the Jordanian border are charging $1,500 per passenger. > Very few > Iraqis can afford the fare. As a result, only some 300 TCNs (Third > Country > Nationals) reached the border post since the bombing started. They were > mostly > Sudanese and Egyptians. There were no Iraqis among them. They had to > hump > their luggage 1.8 miles across no-man's-land on foot to Al Karama, the > first > Jordanian outpost. From there, they were bused to the tent city at the > Ruwaished refugee camp, 36 miles inside Jordan. > > The Sudanese and Egyptian governments agreed to pay for Jordanian > Airlines > charters to fly their nationals home. > > A group of American anti-war demonstrators who came to Iraq with > Japanese > human shield volunteers made it across the border today with 14 hours of > uncensored video, all shot without Iraqi government minders present. > Kenneth > Joseph, a young American pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East, > told UPI > the trip "had shocked me back to reality." Some of the Iraqis he > interviewed > on camera "told me they would commit suicide if American bombing didn't > start. > They were willing to see their homes demolished to gain their freedom > from > Saddam's bloody tyranny. They convinced me that Saddam was a monster the > likes > of which the world had not seen since Stalin and Hitler. He and his sons > are > sick sadists. Their tales of slow torture and killing made me ill, such > as > people put in a huge shredder for plastic products, feet first so they > could > hear their screams as bodies got chewed up from foot to head." > > Iran informed the UN refugee agency Friday that it now has 3,000 Iraqi > refugees. Syria said its numbers were "insignificant." The picture could > change for the worse as the United States steps up the bombing of > Baghdad with > a "shock and awe" campaign designed to stun and collapse what's left of > the > regime. Acute food shortages are expected before U.S. troops liberate > Baghdad. > U.N. officials in the Iraqi capital radioed today that some 500 > disadvantaged > children were suffering from malnutrition and they were rounding > whatever > supplies they could find. > > Prior to the war, some 700 tanker trucks shuttled daily between both > countries. Jordan consumes 12,000 tons of oil a day. All of it comes > from Iraq > at discounted prices under the U.N. oil-for-food program. Some 2,600 and > 1,500 > Iraqi tankers have been involved in the overland oil traffic. Movement > was > down to 140 tankers the day before the bombing started. It stopped > abruptly > two days ago. > > Jordan had made plans for a quick switch to tankers anchored off Aqaba. > Qatar > had pledged to replace whatever shortfall Jordan experienced. > > Jordanians see a good omen in the daily arrival of almost 1,000 white > storks. > They alight near the Safeway on one of Amman's seven hills, a pit stop > on > their way from Africa to their east European breeding grounds. About > 100,000 > storks are expected at the Safeway for the next month, numbers not seen > in 10 > years, and a sign of ample rain and a good harvest. > > The official and private views of some ranking Jordanian officials > appear to > be diametrically opposed. Officially, they condemn the war and say they > are "deeply troubled" about the repercussions of the war on the region, > and > describe the situation as "critical." > > Privately, and not for attribution, they say the United States is > developing a > new opportunity for the Middle East. Said one former prime minister, "If > the > U.S. can get a new Iraq to recognize Israel as a quid pro quo for a > final > Palestinian settlement, others will fall into place -- Syria, Saudi > Arabia, > and the other Gulf states. Iran would then have to pull back its > military > support for Hezbollah." > > Another prominent Jordanian voice said that while Iraq has created a > rift > between America and its allies, and in Europe itself, the Palestine > question -- > provided President Bush is serious about a settlement roadmap, without > either > side allowed to nickel and dime it to oblivion -- could be a reconciling > factor. Which all sides now need." The official consensus is that the > United > States can win wars on its own. But it cannot win the peace. A former > foreign > minister said, "I can only hope that the $10 billion the U.S. now plans > to > provide Israel will have a geopolitical price tag." > > > > Copyright © 2001-2003 United Press International > _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss 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