A
rather dreary litttle selection this week perhaps because I've been away
and so
may have missed more interesting material.
IRAQI-MIDDLE
EAST RELATIONS (ECONOMIC)
* Railway line between Iraq, Turkey re-opened
* Iran-Milk-Iraq [large haul of contraband
Iraqi milk powder in Iran]
* Interim Government [of Somalia] to Attend
Arab Trade Meeting [in Iraq]
* Jordan to start regular flights to Iraq
soon [though I seem to remember
earlier
news items which said they had already started]
* Iraq [-Turkey] rail line has links to
history [the Berlin to Baghdad
railway]
IRAQI-MIDDLE
EAST RELATIONS (POLITICAL/MILITARY)
* Iraq Asks U.N. About Aggression [ie the
interesting question as to
whether
or not under international law Iraq has the right to defend itself
against
aggression]
* Arab countries freeze $1.8b Iraqi assets
* Bahrain Emir meets President Bush
* Iraqi Kurd faction leader Barzani meets
Turkish prime minister
IRAQI-INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
* U.S. firms may score in Iraqi upstream
development
* Norwegian aid worth NOK 13 million to Iraq
* Baghdad slams Britain for "old colonial
tricks" [in response to Geoff
Hoon in
Bahrain defending the No Fly Zone patrols]
IRAQ-UN
RELATIONS
* Iraq seeks funds diversion [to pay UN dues
out of the money that is being
stolen
by the compensation committee]
SANCTIONS
POLICY
* Iraq warns neighbours against supporting
[smart] sanctions
* Genocide by sanctions? [article in the
Pakistani paper, Dawn]
* Ex-U.N. leader [von Sponeck] decries Iraqi
sanctions
WEAPONS
OF MASS DESTRUCTION
* Iraq Denies Making, Testing Radiation Bomb
[but admits investigating the
possibility.
The article gives a webpage with the text of the Iraqi
documents
on the matter. We wonder if the UN weapons inspectors, the obvious
source
of these documents, had a legal right to make them public in this
way.
NO FLY
ZONES
* Britain to Keep Patrols in Iraq at Current
Level [in response to US
suggestions
that they should be scaled down in case someone up there gets
shot]
This
badly out of date news compilation is the first in a series designed to
cover the
period over the past couple of weeks when I was travelling and my
computer
broke down. The UN Security Council proposal to reform the
sanctions
system and the Iraqi response will be rather under-represented in
these
mailings, but it has been extensively discussed in other material sent
to the
list.
IRAQIARAB/MUSLIM
RELATIONS
* Iran Opposition claims attack in Tehran
* 2,000 Iranians seek damages from Iraq
[through the Gulf War compensation
scam]
* Syria set to open office in Iraq
* Arab free trade areas, new addition
inter-Arab cooperation [Egypt,
Morocco,
Jordan, Tunisia]
* Iraq, Iran negotiate resumption of air links
IRAQI-EUROPEAN
RELATIONS
* EU approves euro 13m aid package to Iraq
SMUGGLING
* Seized ships continue to smuggle Iraqi oil
* Swiss to Investigate Glencore [over
diversion of oil from US to Croatia.
The
mystery of why Iraq should sell oil more cheaply to the US than to
Croatia
still isn't explained]
INSIDE
IRAQ
* Escaped Iraqi footballer tells of the team
run on torture
* Iraq sees US hand behind anti-Pokemon
campaign [improbable story of the
week -
PB]
* Iraq blames sanctions for 9,000 deaths in
April
* Iraqi gunman in UN murders granted [yet
another - PB] delay on verdict
NO FLY
ZONES
* Changes Likely for Iraq's 'No-Fly' Zones
* U.S. jets hit Iraqi missile site
CAMPAIGNING
* Activist Berrigan Calls Oklahoma City War
Atrocity [not terribly relevant
to Iraq
but interesting and impressive nonetheless]
* End the Iraq war [views of Hans von Sponeck]
and, in
News, 13-19/5/01
(2)
SANCTIONS
REFORM
* For Bush, the Sanctions Conundrum
* Iraq threatens to stop oil sales to Jordan,
Turkey
* Britain Urges Lifting Iraq Sanctions
NEW
WORLD ORDER
A Dawn Anthology.
Four articles from the Pakistani paper, not generally
immediately
relevant to Iraq but interesting on US policy in general:
* US-India strategic alliance [India's
surprising support for the American
National
Missile Defense proposal]
* Poor Afghans, defiant Taliban [article
which, without actually supporting
the
Taliban, expresses admiration for their spirited opposition to US
bullying]
* Bush's indefensible missile plan [on the
absurdities of the NMD. Reminds
us of
the paranoia about Soviet nuclear attack in the US in the early days
of the
Cold War, which in turn reminds me of the 'paranoia' attributed to
Enver
Hoxha about the possibility of a US attack on Albania - now fully
occupied
by the US to their heart's content]
* America's most shameful secret [astonishing
story I didn't know about the
Israeli
attack on an American spy ship, the USS Liberty, in the early days
of the
1967 Arab Israeli war]
* Nonsense About Missile Defense [more on the
absurdities of the NMD, from
Thomas
Friedman who however blandly states that in the event of any real
imminent
threat from a 'rogue state', "we would preempt'. Isn't that what
the
Japanese did at Pearl Harbour?]
Second
instalment of the backlog of news items and again the 'sanctions
reform'
items are under-represented (there were a lot of them but they did
not
seem to say very much. All that is really on offer seems to be that the
US and UK
will relax their present outrageous 'holds' policy in return for a
much
more intrusive US/UK - who else could be trusted? - presence on Iraq's
borders)
SANCTIONS
REFORM
* Russian opposition likely to delay UN vote
on Iraq sanctions
* Turkey says will abide by UN on Iraq
sanctions
* Revamped sanctions 'will not deter Iraq arms
efforts'
IRAQI-MIDDLE
EAST RELATIONS
* Iran, Iraq to link power grids
* Syrian PM to seal end to 20-year rift with
visit
* Damascus denies Miro visit to Baghdad
* Turkish army incursion into the Iraqi
territories
NO FLY
ZONES
* Iraq Says US, British Planes Bomb Northern
Iraq
INSIDE
IRAQ
* Saddam Appoints Son as Baath Party Deputy
Military Commander
* Iraq is draining away 5,000-year way of life
[in the area of the 'Marsh
Arabs'. You know - the ones we're protecting through
the imposition of the
No Fly
Zones. Reference is made to dams built in northern Iraq saince the
1950s
which could have a positive effect but 'the maintenance of these
projects
under Hussein has been poor, and there are too few experts in
charge
of them to do the job properly'. Wouldn't the whole situation,
including
a policy of draining the southern marshlands, the sort of thing
every 'modern'
government wants to do, have been very different if Iraq
hadn't
been under embargo?]
IRAQI
OPPOSITION
* Washington and Tehran Ought to Get Together
Against Saddam [begins
quoting
Ahmad Chalabi but is in effect advocating a reorientation away from
the INC
toward the Hezbollah, oops, Supreme Council for the Revolution in
Iraq]
CAMPAIGNING
* Powell under seige at Wits University
["I'm here to say to you that
Africa
matters, by history and by experience, to the United States and to
President
Bush." Bad luck for the Africans]
DEPLETED
URANIUM
* Blast exposed Gulf troops to 'DU-plus'
["The urine sample tests which
governments
like Canada are providing to their soldiers are essentially
useless
-- simply a placebo aimed at increasing their own negative test
results."]
CULTURE
* Iraqi singer breaks down many barriers
[Farida Mohammed Ali performing in
Chicago]
Third
instalment of the backlog.
SANCTIONS
REFORM
* Iraq rejects French bid to ease sanctions
* The voteless victims [a welcome expression
of outrage at US/UK policy
published
in The Guardian, which usually has more important matters to
campaign
about, such as abolition of the monarchy]
* Arab, international contacts to lift
sanctions imposed on Iraq [quite a
tough
statement of scepticism from Amr Moussa, Secretary of the Arab League]
* Oil Watch: Iraq in a changing marketplace
[on the losses Turkey, Syria
and
Jordan could excpect to sustain if the sanctions reform succeeded,
against
the odds, in stopping the smuggling]
* US Lifts Holds on $800 Million in Iraqi
Contracts ['"The release of these
contracts
will provide civilian goods for civilians in Iraq. It assists the
Iraqi
public in their endeavors without assisting the Iraqi regime in
developing
weapons,'' he (Richard Boucher) told a news briefing'.
Leaving
us all wondering why the holds were imposed in the first place]
* Powell Stumbles Between the White House and
the World [commentary by Jim
Hoagland]
* UN council agrees to reform Iraq sanctions
[but not yet ...]
IRAQI-MIDDLE
EAST/ARAB WORLD RELATIONS
* Algerian energy minister arrives in Baghdad
* Iran holds maneuvers on Iraqi border
INSIDE
IRAQ
* Iraqi Gets 10 Years in Hostage Case [though,
apparently under government
pressure,
he was found not guilty of killing his UN hostages, which is odd
because
it suggests that the Iraqi security forces must have done it]
* Saddam appoints irrigation minister as
acting interior minister
IRAQI-INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
* Iraq Rejects Sh18b Debt Cancellation
["The Iraqi government has rejected
a
request by Uganda to write off a US$10m (sh18b) unpaid soft loan under the
Highly
Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative." Vide. Matt 18, 2335
(except
that, contrary to the parable, no-one has actually forgiven Iraq its
debts.
As usual Iraq is just following the example of its elders and
betters)]
NEW
WORLD ORDER
* Seeking Damages [Four Americans, imprisoned
by S.Hussein for around 6
months,
win $19 million compensation. Ludicrous as this is it is part of the
process,
dramatically illustrated in the case of Gen Noriega, whereby US
domestic
law is being turned into a law with international validity].
CAMPAIGNING
* U.S. Clerics: End Iraq Sanctions
CULTURE
[in a manner of speaking]
* Artist says Iraqi leader stole image for his
book
This brings
us up to date, though there may be another blip when I go off
again
on my travels in a couple of weeks time.
The
most interesting thing in the present mailing seems to me to be the
behaviour
of Turkey, Syria and Jordan. These are the targets of the present
US
policy (or US and British policy if we wish out of politeness to pretend
that
Britain has a policy).
The
intention of 'smart sanctions' is to ensure that as much as possible of
Iraq's
income should pass through the escrow account, which Iraq is steadily
escaping
with the help of its neighbours. The co-operation of Turkey, Syria
and
Jordan is essential to the US plan.
In this
news mailing, however, we learn that Syria has declared that it will
not
co-operate (even if it is embodied in a UNSC resolution?); and that
Jordan
has formally instituted regular flights to Iraq (which already
existed
informally) without waiting for the formal permission the new
proposals
would have given it. But most interesting is Turkey. At the very
moment
when they are receiving the Visitation of D. Rumsfield, they announce
their
intention to open a new land passage with Iraq, which would bypass the
Kurdish
north (and we learn that, now that the Kurdish Workers Party seem to
be defeated,
they no longer need the Iraqi Kurds. So much for the Iraqi Kurd
policy,
so much encouraged by the British, of sedulously co-operating with
the
Turks against their own Turkish Kurd brothers)
Of
course, all this may turn out to be just a matter of upping the price for
an
eventual co operation. But I think there is something in Jim Hoagland's
argument
given in our last mailing. They sense (and it doesn't take a great
deal of
sensitivity) that America wants off the hook, and why should they
risk
Saddam's displeasure if the Americans can't be trusted, and all the
signs
are that they can't, to back them?
SANCTIONS
REFORM
* UN Council approves extension of Iraq
oil-for-food [Most of the
information
you've already seen but it is reasonable summary of the story so
far
...]
* Russia Questioning Premise of New Iraqi
Proposals
* Saddam Expecting Military Response
OIL
POLITICS
* Iraq says oil suspension to last one month
* 'Iraq can live without the oil-for-food
deal'
* Iraq to resume oil exports after defeat of
"smart" sanctions
* Russian oilman sees Iraqi ban on exports as
bonus for Russia
* Iraq's refusal to export oil rattles Opec's
solidarity [Stratfor.com
makes
point that the Iraqi stoppage is aimed not at the west but at the
countries
nearest to it who will have to demand a high price for complicity
in the
western scheme]
* Iraqi oil trade flourishes, sanction-busting
spans several countries
* Saudi minister blames West for inflation
IRAQI/MIDDLE
EAST AND ARAB WORLD RELATIONS
* Saudis want Iraq match to be moved to
Bahrain
* First Omani minister to visit Baghdad since
10 years
* Inter differences in the Baath party in
Jordan
* Group of Kuwaitis to file against [satellite
TV station] Al-Jazeera
* Saudis accuse Iraq of border incursion
* Syria and the sanctions on Iraq [seems to be
a formal declaration on the
part of
Syria that they won't co-operate with the US/UK scheme]
* Iraq Signs Free-Trade Agreement [yet another
one. This time with Egypt,
Syria
and Libya]
* Iraq is not interested in better ties, says
Iran
* Iraqi Kurds expected for talks in Ankara
soon
* US rethinks containment of Saddam [excerpt
from Stratfor.com on
likelihood
of US turning towards Iran]
* Jordan Resumes 2 Flights to Iraq [this time
it seems to be formal]
* Turkey to Open Second Border With Iraq
* Turkish President Vows to Improve Ties with
Iraq
* Iran's voters give Khatami wide margin
and, in
News, 39/6/01 (2)
IRAQI/INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
* Nizar Hamdoun appointed at Iraq's new
ambassador in Austria
* S.Africa relief mission to Iraq coincides
with diplomatic visit
* Russia and Iraq sign emergencies pact
* Pakistan emerges on wheat export map:
Loading for Iraq begins today
[readers
may remember that this follows on a series of stories about India
supplying
Iraq then Iraq expressing dissatisfaction with the quality of the
wheat.
Is there more to it than meets the eye?]
NO FLY
ZONES
* Rumsfeld: US Planes Face Bigger Danger in
Iraq [Rumsfield in Turkey, an
odd
place and an odd time to announce that they're running scared]
* Coalition forces strike site in Iraqi no-fly
zone
* Iraq gains NATO military secrets [or more
realistically, Iraq might have
gained
some NATO military secrets from the Serbs. But on the other hand,
they
might not ...]
INSIDE
IRAQ
* Human rights group expresses concern for
journalists in Iraq
GENERAL
COMMENT
* The Worst Terrorist Is Still in His Palace
[not G.Bush, but S.Hussein,
who
might have been behind the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia. On the
other
hand, he might not. Interesting to note that energetic anti-Saddam
campaigner
Laurie Mylroie 'was Bill Clinton's advisor on Iraq during the
1992
presidential campaign'. She feels Bill let her down. As lots of people
are
beginning to feel George is letting them down]
* Bombers cite Iraq sanctions [Ramsay Clark
testifying at the trial over
the
1998 US Embassy bombing in Kenya]
* An appropriate welcome for Powell at Wits [University
in South Africa.
Gives a
list of reasons why Africans shouldn't like the US]
* Robert Fisk: All these cruel Muslim regimes
abuse the people of the
Middle
East ['In Arab and Iranian homes, Muslim families exhibit infinitely
more
compassion and love than Westerners. They don't send their elderly and
incurably
sick to die in nursing institutions. The old and the fatally ill
spend
their last days in their family homes, cared for to the end by
relatives.
Shame on us. But how come the same men and women can stand on a
rooftop
to scream at a woman strangling on a rope?']
SUPPLEMENT (sent
separately)
In
addition there is a long piece from the Saudi paper, Ain al-Yaqeen, which
gives a
useful summary of how things look from the Saudi point of view,
denies
that bombing raids are being allowed from Saudi territory (though
since
they clearly approve of the raids it is hard to see why well,
perhaps
not very hard), draws attention to various Iraqi incursions into
Saudi
territory and gives the full text of the recent UNSC resolution
(hailed
by the Americans as a fine example of rebuilding consensus - a
consensus
in indecision) and a summary of the latest UN Secretary General's
report.
I'm
sending a separate supplement on Kurdish affairs which I strongly
recommend
as more interesting than anything below. Though it makes
disagreeable
reading for those of us who are opposed to the No Fly Zones
which,
of course, most sections of Kurdish opinion support vigorously.
SANCTIONS
REFORM
* Smart Diplomacy Yields a Sensible Plan for
Iraq [Praise for the 'smart
sanctions'
policy. It says that the old 'oil for food' policy 'blocked
imports
that the population needed'. I thought it was the US and British
government
which were doing this. The article also says that the British
want
the Saudis and Kuwaitis to compensate Turkey, Syria and Jordan for loss
of
smuggling revenue ...]
* New UN Plan Lets Foreigners Render Services
in Iraq [account of proposed
changes
in the British 'smart sanctions' proposal]
IRAQI/MIDDLE
EAST-ARAB WORLD RELATIONS
* Turkish truckers run race for right to haul
diesel from Iraq
* A demonstration in support of the Intifada
on Syria - Iraq border
* Saudi Arabia seizes Iraqi pipeline on its
territory
* Iraq oil still flowing to Syria despite
tough talk
* Jordan's opposition to impose smart
sanctions on Iraq
* Iraqi-Egyptian trade reaching $2.5bn
IRAQI/UN
RELATIONS
* Iraq on the eve of a new confrontation:
Saddam
* U.N. chief recommends extra cash for Iraq's
oil industry
* UN: No Progress on Recovery of Kuwaiti
Property
IRAQI/INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
* [South African] Mercy flight to Iraq 'not
against UN policy' [meaning
that
they have obtained UN approval for the flight. Their opposition to the
policy
is pretty clearcut]
* 'Iraq Cell' set up at Export Promotion
Bureau [in Pakistan]
* Iraqi children to be treated in Malaysia
* 300 leave [from Malaysia] on peace mission
to Baghdad
IRAQI
OPPOSITION
* State Department launches audit of Iraqi
rebels ['And as the bureaucrats
drag
their feet, the INC's accounts are in dire shape. The money allotted
for 2000,
some $4 million, has been spent. Chalabi said the INC has not been
able to
publish its newspaper. Other INC officials say the group cannot
afford
to pay its telephone bills and a bailiff in London has been
dispatched
to collect back rent money for the organization's offices there.'
What
couldn't we do with $4m!]
* U.S. to Give Iraqi Opposition $6 Million
More
INSIDE
IRAQ
* Iraqi novel [guess which one!] basis for TV
series
* Some 8967 Iraqis died in May because of the
sanctions
* Andy Kershaw to present radio shows from
Iraq [this is presumably from
Iraqi,
or, if you prefer, Southern, Kurdistan]
* A
story from inside [account of an Iraqi dissident's mistreatment in Iraq
and in
Australia]
* US warplanes strike Iraqi targets
WEAPONS
OF MASS DESTRUCTION
* Did Iraq Conduct a Clandestine Nuclear Test?
[apparently not, according
to Hans
Blix, despite the best efforts of the Sunday Times and BBC to prove
the
contrary]
NEW
WORLD ORDER
* Sir David Spedding [Obituary for man who was
head of MI6 aka SIS at the
time of
the arms to Iraq scandal. He boasts that by selling arms to Saddam
Hussein
we gained the intelligence information necessary to being able to
destroy
them. A win-win situation if ever there was one]
* U.S.
v. multilateralism [Defence of US refusal to submit to international
law:
'The strictures imposed by Kyoto would lop as much as US $500-billion
off of
the national GDP in 2010. Land mines protect 37,000 U.S. soldiers in
South
Korea [? PB]. The Test Ban Treaty would tie U.S. hands without
keeping
adequate tabs on rogue states. And the International Criminal Court
would
subject G.I. Joe to the jurisprudential whimsy of human rights
lawyers.']
KURDISH SUPPLEMENT,
10-16/6/01
A
selection of news items and articles from the Kurdish Observer
NEWS
* Kurds Prepare For Changed Political Scene In
Iraq [reference to moves
towards
a rapprochement with Baghdad: 'the Kurdish leaders are aware that
they cannot
rely on firm Western stands toward the Iraq issue. These caused
them to
turn to Baghdad with specific initiatives.']
* Iraq To Open Free Trade Centers with
Kurdistan
* New Turkish Ruling Limits Trade With Iraqi
Kurdistan ['new travel
restrictions
on Turkish citizens visiting Iraqi Kurdistan through the
strategic
Khabur Crossing ... can have a devastating economic impact on
Iraqi
Kurdistan whose revenues are largely dependent on cross border
trading,
and tourism from Turkey.']
ARTICLES
* "Normalizing" the Situation in
"Northern Iraq" [fear of an Iraqi return
if the
US and British stop the no fly zones]
* Michael Rubin on Conditions in Iraqi
Kurdistan [a very rosy picture.
Everything
is wonderful and this proves that the misery in Saddam-controlled
Iraq is
all Saddam's fault]
* Why are the Kurds leaving their homeland? [a
considerably less rosy
picture:
'It was only two months ago that I had a chance to interview few
families
living in an area that is no more that a quarter of a mile from the
head
quarters of United Nations offices in Ankawa. The living condition of
these
families, about 450 of them, is beyond imaginable. These families are
living
in all mud "houses" from the ceiling to the floor and have no
electricity
or running water.']
*
The Kurds - genuine refugees or economic migrants [argues that Kurds from
Northern
Iraq/Southern Kurdistan are genuine refugees because of real fear
that
Saddam could return]
*
Southern Iraqis likely to lose out [Paints a rosy picture of Baghdad
which resembles
M.Rubin's rosy picture of Suleimaniyah but continues: 'While
smart
sanctions will allow "civilian-use" items into the country, they will
not be
directed to where they are needed most. The bulk of the goods will be
consumed
by Baghdad, and, as usual, the south will be left to pick up the
crumbs.']
'SMART
SANCTIONS'
* Jordan in plea against revamped Iraq
sanctions
* Ex-UN officials attack U.S.-British plan on
Iraq [Halliday and Von
Sponeck.
Includes the interesting comment that it is mainly money from
outside
the Oil for Food scheme, ie 'illegal' money, 'which is being used to
begin
the process of getting people back to work']
* Syria does not accept monitors to Iraq
sanctions
* Mubarak receives Iraqi Envoy
* France Offers Iraq Sanctions Deal
COMPENSATION
FUND
* Israel to Get $74M for Attack [Turkey only
got $1,800, Syria got nothing.
Talk
about selling your soul for a mess of pottage]
* UN pays $243m for Gulf War environment
studies [so that yet more claims
can be
made, the aim being to cripple the Iraqi economy indefinitely]
NO FLY
ZONES
* U.S. pilots face more fire from Iraqi guns
* U.S. denies Iraqi report of air raid that
killed 23
* For US fliers over Iraq, danger rises
* Pentagon Claims Iraq Responsible for 23
Deaths
* Missile Fragments Collected in Iraq [by
'Voices' representatives]
IRAQI/MIDDLE
EAST ARAB WORLD RELATIONS
* A free trade zone between UAE, Iraq
* Al-Assad issues a decree to found a Syrian
trade center in Iraq
* US blames Iran for Saudi bombing
and, in
News, 17-23/6/01
(2)
IRAQI/INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
* NASYO [Malaysian youth organisation PB]
Calls For A Total Lifting Of UN
Sanctions
Against Iraq
* Iraq Wants To Buy Palm Oil Direct From
Malaysia
* Canada in tough at world under-20 soccer
championship with Iraq first foe
[Iraq
won PB]
* Bula [Irish oil company whose chairman is
former Irish PM, Albert
Reynolds]
says it has not signed Iraq deal
* Wengi To Hear Iraq Case [about money owed to
Iraq by Uganda from Idi Amin
era]
* South Africa to Rescue of Iraqis [on recent
humanitarian plane from South
Africa
and underlying diplomacy. Contains a rather naive reference to
'domestic
and foreign pressure' on Iraq 'for a more open economy and
society'.
I can't see that anyone is exercising any such pressure on Iraq at
the
present time. The only thing the 'International Community' seems to care
about
is that somehow S.Hussein should disappear in a puff of smoke]
* All Indian wheat shipments to Iraq stopped
[because it is full of
weevils,
apparently because UN rules require that it should be opened and
inspected,
thus undoing the work of fumigation]
* Malaysia knocking on Iraq's door [general
article on pro-Iraqi policy
adopted
by Malaysia]
* French Senators Call for Lifting UN Embargo
on Iraq
INSIDE
IRAQ
* Book-Starved in a Land With a Literate Past
[short extract from an
interesting
article on general state of literature in Arab world]
* Saddam in warning to 'wasteful' women
* Iraq says drug industry hit by lack of
materials
WEAPONS
OF MASS DESTRUCTION
* Iraq got around sanctions, reports say [more
leaks from the old weapons
inspection
team suitable for creating paranoia and keeping them all in
employment]
* Iraq Calls U.N. Reports Lies [though it
would be rather surprising if the
Iraqi
government hadn't been smuggling in the means to defend themselves
during
the nineties]
* Iraq close to building nukes - defector [Dr
Khidhir Hamza again. Well, a
man's
got to make a living. And it doesn't seem that 'the former head of
Iraq's
nuclear weapons program' is good enough to get a job in the American
nuclear
industry]
OIL
PROBLEMS
* Iraq unaware of possible changes in UN oil
pricing
* No Opec output rise if Iraq oil back soon:
Iran [note that I haven't been
bothering
with the large number of articles saying that oil is going up, or
down,
or whatever, as a consequence of Iraqi policy, or not, because I can't
make
any sense of them and so can't tell what's important and what isn't]
US
POLICY
* Time for Realism On Handling Iraq
[surprisingly sensible article from the
Washington
Post recommending the lifting of sanctions and suggesting that
carefully
fostered US public perceptions are the main obstacle to progress:
'While
Saddam Hussein is portrayed here as one of the greatest threats to
world
peace, the rest of the world sees him as a ruthless dictator who is
neither
powerful enough to pose such a threat nor so suicidal as to be
immune
to military deterrence.']
'SMART
SANCTIONS'
* Saddam's trump card: oil & troika
* Jordan first to lose when 'smart' sanctions
hit Iraq
* China Favors Comprehensive Approach to Break
Stalemate in Iraq Question
* Russia: Its Proposal Can Solve Iraq Arms
Dispute
* Russian threat to Iraqi sanctions
* Iraqi MPs starts Arab tour against
"smart" sanctions
* UN weighs Iraq oil options amid Russia veto
threat
* Russia Slams British Plan for Iraq
* Powell: Iraq Sanctions Plan in Doubt
* All eyes on Iraq
IRAQI/MIDDLE
EASTERN-ARAB WORLD RELATIONS
* Iraq to resume train trips to Turkey
* Mortar shell damages state-owned building in
Tehran
* Egypt, UN Discuss Ways to Seek Release of
Kuwaiti POWs
* [Lebanese PM] Al-Hariri received Thursday
Iraq's Minister of State for
Foreign
Affairs
* Jordan: New weekly tabloid pro-Iraqi,
anti-Israeli
* Kuwait sentences Iraqi spies to 10 years in
prison
and, in
News, 24-30/6/01
(2)
OIL
PROBLEMS
* Cheney hit by Iraq deal row
* Opec members harden against output rise
NO FLY
ZONES/KURDISTAN
* Iraq poised to attack Kurds in [a rather
complicated, I would have
thought
- PB] ploy to avert tighter sanctions
* U.S., British planes strike Iraqi air
defenses
* U.S. navy fighter plane strikes at air
defence sites in southern Iraq
[this is
probably the same incident as the preceding but here it is one navy
fighter
jet and there it was US and British warplanes]
* Iraq says three people killed in attack on
south
* Iraq says its defences hit Western warplane
[previous items on a raid on
Monday.
This one was on Tuesday]
* Envoys mull need for flyovers [though the
article is mainly on the
military
buildup near Kurdistan]
IRAQ/INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
* Le Pen becomes the Good Samaritan of Iraq
[the author, professing great
contempt
for Le Pen, doesn't seem to know that he has consistently opposed
western
policy on Iraq since even before the Gulf War]
* German Industry Urges Rethink On Iraq Policy
[conscious of lost
opportunities
to make money]
* Iran should take German companies to international
courts [for supplying
material
for chemical attacks on Sardasht and Halabja]
INSIDE
IRAQ
* Iraqi Shi'ite cleric died mysteriously, says
newspaper
* Iraqi President Appoints New Interior
Minister
* Iraq's 'photocopy culture'
GENERAL
INTEREST
* Annan's decency gives him UN job [second
five years in office. The
article
suggests that Annan was a bit too decent and this led to him being
taken
for a ride by the likes of S.Hussein, eg in 1998 when he brokered a
deal
over UN weapons inspectors just before they were expelled. As has often
been
pointed out in this list, however, they were not expelled; they
withdrew
to make way for US and British bombers. My memory was that the deal
was
aimed to reduce the preponderant influence of the US on the inspection
team at
a time when it was quite obvious that their brief was to humiliate
the
Iraqis, to prolong sanctions for as long as possible and to spy for the
US
government. The problem arose because the US refused to comply with the
spirit,
whatever about the letter, of the agreement entered into. Annan at
that
time showed his weakness by not resigning in protest against the
contempt
with which he was treated, not by Saddam but by the US and Britain.
But
that's probably why, unlike B.B.Ghali, he's got a second term in
office.]
'SMART
SANCTIONS'
* Britain Changes Tactics on Iraq
* U.S. still hopeful for UN Iraq sanctions
deal
* French President Proposes Suspending UN Vote
on Modified Sanctions
Against
Iraq
* US policy on Iraq in disarray
* Iraq likes new oil, food pact
* Trade deal made China back bid to revamp
Iraqi sanctions [account of
article
in Washington Post showing the US using the UN sanctions holds
mechanism
as a means of bribery and arms twisting. The original article may
be
found in the Sydney Morning Herald at
http://www.smh.com.au/news/0107/07/world/world3.html]
* French stand on sanctions 'threatens Iraq
deals'
IRAQI/INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
* VIENNA: Rasheed to duck Vienna
* US hell-bent on destroying Iraq: Envoy
[Iraqi ambassador to India in
public
meeting of Indo-Arab League]
* Baghdad flexes its oil-money muscle
* Can't stay, can't be sent home [on Iraqi
Kurdish refugees in Norway]
IRAQI/UN
RELATIONS
* Damages caused by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait
estimated, says Asefi [Iran
trying
to get its share of the compensation cake]
* Two UN diplomats from Iraq defect, seek
asylum in US
* l9 Contracts Under Oil-for-Food Program
Suspended: Iraqi Official
and, in
News, 1-7/7/01 (2)
IRAQI/MIDDLE
EAST-ARAB WORLD RELATIONS
* Saudi says Iraqi soldier killed in border
clash
* Iraq denies Saudi border clash claim
* Ayatollah Khamenei condoles on Iraqi
cleric's death [suspicious death of
Grand
Ayatollah Bahr ul-Oloum in Najaf, Iraq]
* 'Made in Syria' in Iraq [exhibition of goods
manufactured in Syria]
* Sanctions on Iraq stir neighbors: Turks and
Kurds are anxious in advance
of an expected
UN decision tomorrow [poverty of Turks and Kurds in border
regions
blamed on sanctions]
* Saudi's Iraqi refugees fast for resettlement
* Syria denies smuggling Iraqi crude
CAMPAIGNING
* Breaking the law for love [very good account
of visit of Voices activist,
Frances
Brodrick, to Iraq]
INSIDE
IRAQ
* Saddam orders early-marriage campaign
* A new deputy for the Iraqi prime minister
* US intercepts an Iraqi ship inside Iraqi
territorial water
WEAPONS
OF MASS DESTRUCTION
* Iran disclaims Iraqi allegations of her
access to NBC [nuclear,
biological,
chemical] weapons
* The Iraqi threat [what if he gets a nuke?]
* Kuwait minister goes to Egypt for air
defence deal
* Biological Warfare: The Next U.S.-Europe
Split? [how the US may veto
international
inspections on biological weapons because it might interfere
with,
um, the freedom of research]
NEW
WORLD ORDER
* Iran alerts navy to face US attack [after US
court ruling that Iran
liable to
pay compensation to victim of Lebanese Hezbollah kidnapping]
* Gallipoli's lesson for America's war hawks
[Extract. Surprising little
piece
reminding us that should the US back an INC invasion it might be
resisted
by patriotic Iraqis as the Gallipoli landing was resisted by
idealistic
Turks and, yes, the intervention in Vietnam was resisted by
idealistic
Vietnamese]
* Top cleric [Rafsanjani - remember him?]
urges anti-U.S. suits in Iran
courts
URLs
ONLY:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,8-2001230090,00.html
* Q&A on Iraqi sanctions
The
Times, 3rd July [general information piece. Nothing we don't know but
refers
to sanctions 'leading to ... hundreds [sic] of children dying of
curable
disease']
http://www.timesofindia.com/030701/03inte3.htm
* Jordan plans to hike fuel prices
Times
of India, 3rd July
Article
says: 'Jordan imports all its daily requirement of 90,000 barrels of
crude
and fuel oil from Iraq at preferential prices. The deal is exempt from
U.N.
sanctions imposed on Baghdad following its August 1990 invasion of
Kuwait.'
Elsewhere this arrangement is sometimes described as illegal
smuggling.
http://www.petroleumworld.com/story4316.htm
* US May have to ease Iraq oil-smuggling
fight-analysts
by Campion
Walsh, Dow Jones Newswires,WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)
PETROLEUMWORLD,
Caracas, July 3
A
surprisingly uninteresting whip round the think tanks
http://www.dawn.com/2001/07/03/op.htm#4
* Vietnam and war crimes
by Omar
Kureishi
Dawn,
03 July 2001, 10 Rabi-us-Saani 1422
On
Christopher Hitchens' book on Henry Kissinger. Talks about his 'lonely
impunity'
from accusations of war crimes, but I would have thought he had a
lot of
company - Bush, Clinton, Albright, Nixon, Schwarzkopf.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23059-2001Jul5.html
* U.S. Loses Clout In Arab World
by
Howard Schneider
Washington
Post , 6th July
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/07/010706081613.htm
* Destruction In Mesopotamia: Ancient
Mysteries Fall Prey To Looters In
Iraq,
Science Feature Reveals
Science
Daily, posted 6th July (Source: American Association For The
Advancement
Of Science (http://www.aaas.org/)
Material
we've seen before, but it does refer to 'laws in the United States
and the
United Kingdom continue to bar archeologists in those countries from
entering
Iraq.'
http://www.cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,191049-412,00.shtml
* The First Casualty (Michael Scott Speicher)
CBS,
6th July
Again,
we seem to have had this one before, on possibility that one of the
very
few US casualties in the Gulf War might still be alive.
All
articles from The Kurdistan Observer, www.kurdistanobserver.com
These
articles make disagreeable reading for opponents of sanctions on Iraq
since
clearly the Kurds of Iraq have an interest both in maintaining the
no-fly
zone and in preventing a normalisation of the situation which could
result
in their being reincorporated into Iraq. But one thing that emerges
very
clearly is that the present arrangement offers them very little in the
way of
longterm security. They cannot have any trust in 'the West', and they
are
suffering from the sanctions regime, which, the writers suggest, is
being
applied to them as rigorously as it is to S.Hussein. Which, if it is
true,
is insane. It also appears that everything they receive through Oil
for
Food is ordered by Baghdad. I can't grasp the details of this or
understand
how it can possibly work, let alone, as it appears, work rather
well
...
* UK drops Turkish dam plan ['The Observer has
also been told by senior
government
sources ... that it would be impossible to provide export
guarantees
for British firms involved in the
project with such a damning
indictment
hanging over it.' Cynics may also note that 'Doubts have also
been
raised in the report about the ability of the Turkish economy, which
has
been undermined by a recent currency crisis, to support the £1.25bn
project.']
* Iraq massing troops along Kurdish-held north
* Contribution to the hearing at the Second
Chamber of the Dutch Parliament
about
the new country report on Iraq from the Dutch Foreign Ministry [the
point
at issue here is whether or not refugees from Northern Iraq/Southern
Kurdistan
can justifiably claim to be fleeing a place where they are at
risk.
The argument is that it is very far from being a 'safe haven'. The
independence
of the area has no international recognition and no
international
provision exists, apart from the singularly inadequate 'no-fly
zone',
for its defence].
* The Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan need a
political solution [develops a
similar
case but also stresses the harmful effects of sanctions on the
Kurd-controlled
areas]
* "Life and society in the Kurdish safe
haven: ten years after the
uprising
in Northern Iraq", by Michael Rubin [how the Kurds are adapting
themselves
to the requirements of the radiant future of humanity, aka the
End of
History aka the New World Order]
* Life and death of Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou
[account of one of the leaders
of the
Kurdish movement in Iran]
* Banasiaw dispatch, by Michael Rubin [account
of the sufferings of
refugees
from the areas of Northern Iraq/Southern Kurdistan still under
Iraqi
control]
A
further long article, * Lifting
sanctions on Iraq: Center-South
vs.Kurdistan
by Alexander Sternberg will be sent separately. It gives the
best
case I have yet seen for taking the disparity between Kurdistan and
Iraq as
proof that much of the suffering in centre-south Iraq is due to lack
of
will, or deliberate policy, on the part of the Iraqi government [In the
event
this article was posted to the list directly by Mr Sternberg himself,
7/29/01.
I attempted a reply to it, 7/30/01]
Another
selection of rather out of date news sent for the record.
OIL FOR
FOOD
* Iraq Flays Europeans, Sees Oil-For-Food Soon
* 'Smart sanctions' fiasco [comment from Pakistani
paper, 'Dawn' arguing
that
Iraq is no longer a threat and should be allowed to engage in normal
commercial
relations. On the 'Smart sanctions' proposal it points out,
rightly,
that 'What ... the US-UK move really aimed at was to deny Iraq the
right
to sell oil beyond the specified "oil for food" quota.']
* The smartest sanction [comment from the
Jerusalem Post arguing for a
military
solution - support for internal terrorism. Interesting quote from
Chalabi
to the effect that "So long as you have no policy to remove the
regime,
sanctions are immoral and cannot be defended."]
* Iraq price proposals indicate illegal
surcharge remains [ie they're still
charging
below the going market rate]
* Iraq to give Russian firms priority in new
crude deals [and who could
blame
them?]
IRAQI/UN
RELATIONS
* Iraq ready to cooperate with U.N. Human
Rights Commission
* UN angrily denies Iraqi charges of
corruption
IRAQIMIDDLE
EAST/ARAB WORLD RELATIONS
* Iraqi MP delegation hold talks in Morocco
* Saudis arrest 750 Iraqi smugglers in past
year
* The Israeli-Turkish entente [from the
Jerusalem Post. Includes some
interesting
insights on things Israel and Turkey have in common, such as
that
'Turkey and Israel refrain from interfering in the domestic affairs of
their
neighbors' and 'their usefulness in checking aggression in their
immediate
neighborhood is a goal shared by their ally - the US.' You learn
something
every day.]
* Lebanon informs an Iraqi delegation
facilitation of entry visas
* Kuwait draft bill calls for switch to Sharia
penal code [refers in
passing
to the important fact that Kuwait is a 'state of some 825,000
Kuwaitis
and 1.4 million foreigners'. So it seems they haven't learnt a lot
from
the Iraqi invasion - except that a far smaller proportion of the
'foreigners'
- ie workers - will be Arab]
* Ferry services flourish under Iraq sanctions
* Iraq accuses Iranian regime hireling of
rocketing Baghdad
MILITARY
MATTERS
* West Studies Iraq's Ballistic Firing of
Missiles
* Baghdad says U.S., British jets bomb
southern Iraq
* Anzac crew to enforce Iraq sanctions [crew
of Australian frigate, Anzac.
New
Zealand, to its credit, isn't implicated]
NORTHERN
IRAQ/SOUTHERN KURDISTAN [hopefully a rather more interesting
selection
on this subject will be coming shortly, taken from the Kurdistan
Observer
PB]
* Iraq condemns Turkish push into north [see
above piece on Israel and
Turkey
and their opposition to aggression in the neighbourhood]
* Iraqi president sends books in the Kurdish
language to north Iraq
* A No-Fly, Yes-Democracy Zone: Iraqi
Kurdistan Offers a Model for a
Post-Saddam
Future [a rosy picture of life in Iraqi Kurdistan where 'the
oil-for-food
money that has been misused in the rest of Iraq' is put to good
effect
(no mention of the moneys that come from the sale of Iraqi oil
outside
the Oil for Food scheme and the threat that was therefore posed to
the
Kurdish economy by 'smart sanctions.')]
This
brings us up to date. Most interesting item from our point of view is
probably
the film made by Scott Ritter (under 'Anti-Sanctions Campaign'),
though
its sure to be more interesting than the Associated Press account
would
have us believe. There's also the piece, under 'International
Relations'
about the amount of Iraqi oil that is going to the US.
SANCTIONS
* US Navy Blocks Cargo Ship From Reaching Iraq
[it was carrying an
obviously
dangerous cargo of 13,000 tons of sugar]
* G8 FMs call for new Iraq strategy [Guess
wot? Smart sanctions.]
* Iraqi official says international embargo
stops Iraq from conveying its
message
to the world
THE
ROLE OF RUSSIA
* Russian envoy pays surprise visit to Baghdad
* Iraq: When Bush's Friend Putin Turns Out to
Be Unfriendly [Jim Hoagland
in a
state of outrage that Russia should dare to have a foreign policy of
its
own, though he himself refers to 'General Powell's essentially
unworkable
sanctions plan'. Extracts]
* Iraq's Saddam Receives Putin Letter on
Sanctions
* Russian Oil Interests Forced Putin to Back
Off From Supporting A U.S.
Plan to
Refashion Sanctions Against Iraq [just like US oil interests and the
Kyoto
agreement?]
IRAQI-INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
* 33rd Anniversary of the Iraqi Revolution
[saluted by the Philippines]
* Yugoslavia Vows to Repair Iraq's Ailing
Power Grid, Power Report, Amman -
A
visiting cabinet minister from Yugoslavia has expressed his country's
desire
to rehabilitate Iraq's devastat... [In
the event I was unable to
access
this but it looked rather intriguing. Difficult to imagine there is
any
centre of resistance left in the Yugoslav government ...PB]
* Trading With the Enemy: U.S. Refiners
Reportedly Buying Most of Iraq's
Oil
[90%, the article suggests. From Russia. Apparently it is much prized
for its
ecologically friendly low sulphur content]
* Petrel [oil exploration company based in
Dublin] hopes centre on Iraq
IRAQI-MIDDLE
EASTERN/ARAB WORLD RELATIONS
* Syria makes political overture to Iraq
* King Mohammed [Morocco] congratulates Iraq's
Hussein over national day
* Abu Nidal may try to leave Iraq
* Pro-Iraqi terror cell leader captured here
[in Israel]
* Lebanon to sign free trade deal with Iraq
soon
* In A Decisive Reply On The Campaigns Of Lies
Fabrication: Saudi Arabia
Calls
Upon Annan To Stop Iraqi ''Border Violations''. The Head Of UNHCR In
Riyadh:
The Saudis Are Providing Uncomparable Humane Treatment To The Iraqi
Refugees
[three articles from the as usual rather verbose Saudi paper Ain
al-Yaqeen.
The third is about the Shi'i opposition bombs in Baghdad.
Extracts.]
* Iraqi train to Turkey through Syria
ANTI-SANCTIONS
CAMPAIGN
* An Irishwoman's Diary [on meeting in
Kimgslay Hall addressed by
D.Halliday]
* Former U.N. Inspector Decries U.S. [Scott
Ritter's film on how the
Weapons
Inspectors were used to provoke responses which could then be used
as an excuse
for US (and, for what its worth, British) military action. One
interesting
detail, among many: 'He noted that the head of Iraq's weapons
programs
- Saddam's son-in-law Hussein Kamal al-Majid - told Ekeus after he
defected
to Jordan in August 1995 that all of Iraq's banned weapons had been
destroyed.'
This wasn't one of the statements of Kamal al-Majid that got a
lot of
media attention]
MILITARY
MATTERS
* U.S. to Keep Patrolling Iraq for Now
* Western aircraft attack Iraq
* U.S. F-16 Fighter Jet on Iraq Mission
Crashes [in Turkey]
* U.S. forces in Gulf on various alerts
* Pentagon: Iraq Fires at US Aircraft [claim
that they fired into Kuwaiti
airspace]
INSIDE
IRAQ
* Iraq denounces delay of Gulf War health
study [into the effects of
depleted
uranium]
* Iraq at Risk From Rift Valley Fever
* 3,000-year-old temple found in Iraq
NORTHERN
IRAQ/SOUTHERN KURDISTAN
* Hussein appeals to Kurds in northern Iraq
* Sanctions and Iraq [another rosy view of
life in Iraqi Kurdistan, this
time
from the Jerusalem Post, to be compared with *A No-Fly, Yes-Democracy
Zone
from the Washington Post last week. Contains this monstrous sentence:
'There
are simply no starving children in Iraq as a result of sanctions; the
only
children dying for lack of food or medicine are those whom Saddam wants
to
die.' But its also intriguing for all the strange anomalies that arise
because
the sanctions regime is still being applied to this area which is
also
being treated as part of Iraq]
* PKK destabilising northern Iraq, Turkish
official warns
* UN Employee Questioned in N. Iraq [for
carrying a bomb into the region]
MILITARY
MATTERS
* Iraq builds new war technology [Ballistic
missiles, as confirmed by the
recent
test 'in violation of the spirit of its agreements with the United
Nations'
- but not, we assume, of the letter. The article comes from the
Bangkok
Post. One wonders why there is so much interest in this matter in
Bangkok.
The explanation probably lies not in 'Bangkok' but in the 'Post']
* Iraq says may have hit Western plane
* US: Pressure on Iraq to Continue After
Attempted Shoot Down [of U2 spy
plane.
Apparently the same incident as the previous. I don't immediately see
why
this is different from other Iraqi sttacks on planes illegally invading
their
air space in violation of both the spirit and the letter of agreements
with
the UN]
* Rogues Are No Missile Threat; MAD Isn't Crazy.
[Thomas Friedman's doubts
about
the Strategic Defence Initiative, which, he says 'has to be judged by
what it
really is - a defense system that will always be, at best, a
supplement
to mutual assured destruction, which is neither out of date nor
going
away. It is like wearing suspenders along with a belt.']
* Cleared director loses £1m claim for
compensation [Ali Daghir, 'A former
company
director wrongly convicted of supplying arms to Iraq lost his claim
for
compensation yesterday'. Difficult to see why, though the judge was
presumably
the same Judge Gray who presided over the Irving trial]
* Iraq says defuses bombs dropped by Western
planes
* Bush's ideal 'democracy' is the stuff of
fiction [spirited attack on Paul
Wolfowitz
in Irish Times: 'Basra (referring to the massacre of the
retreating
Iraqi army at the end of the Gulf War PB) reduces a Slobodan
Milosevic
to Aladdin's little helper.']
* US used hallucinogenic drugs against Iraq,
says spy ['Wouter Basson, the
spy and
mastermind behind the apartheid government's chemical warfare
programme']
IRAQI/UN
RELATIONS
* Sanctions on Iraq [very well argued letter
to Irish Times from the Irish
oil
exploration company, Petrel. On smart sanctions: 'Shrewd Foreign Office
Arabists
knew that the proposal would sound good to Western ears while being
unacceptable
to any sovereign state.' Refers readers to the CASI website.
Big
business is clearly good at this sort of thing]
* UN postpones talks on Iraq [since the
Security Council can't agree on
policy
its faithful servant, K.Annan, has nothing to discuss]
* Iraqi prices approved for crude shipped to
U.S.
* UN Gives $75M to Iraq Program
IRAQI/INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
* Hyundai Motor to ship 400 buses to Iraq
INSIDE
IRAQ
* Saddam says anti-globalization to gain
momentum
* 9,000 Iraqis Die in June due to UN Sanctions
[according to Iraqi figures]
* [New Deputy Prime Minister appointed in Iraq
- extract from article which
goes on
to deal with Iraq-Turkey trade deal. See below]
NORTHERN
IRAQ/SOUTHERN KURDISTAN [and see separate 'Kurdish supplement']
* PUK-KDP Study A Joint Response To Saddam's
Call For Dialogue
* Iraqi businessmen visit Kurdistan to boost
trade
* Police investigate 'missing millions' linked
to Archer [it is with a
feeling
of despair that I notice the Archer story has sudddenly acquired an
Iraqi
dimension. I promise not to give all relevant items]
IRAQI-MIDDLE
EAST/ARAB WORLD RELATIONS
* Kuwait: "National resistance
groups" attack oil facilities - Iraqi agency
report
[a rather sinister development which could suggest that the Iraqi
government
is backing sabotage initiatives in Kuwait, of the sort many US
strategists
want to back in Iraq]
* Iraq dismisses Saudi charges on smugglers
[response to item, in last
mailing]
* Turkey, Iraq Sign Memo of Understanding on
Trade
The
news this week is dominated by the notion that the Lone Ranger
(doubtless
supported by his faithful sidekick,Tonto) may be about to launch
some
sort of punitive action against Iraq. The most interesting articles are
David
Hirst's pieces on the Kurds and Hans Von Sponeck's letter to the Irish
Times,
both in News, 29/7-4/8/01 (2). The most important news item may prove
to be
the last, the opening of a German embassy in Baghdad.
MILITARY
MATTERS
* Iraq Says Nearly Hits US F-15 Jet, Not U-2
Spy Plane [It seems that
targeting
a U2 is a more serious 'provocation'. I'm not sure I understand
why, except
that it may require more sophisticated technology because,
though
slower, they fly much higher]
* Seeking Saddam's smoking gun [The tireless
Laura (or is it Laurie?)
Mylroie
accuses Saddam of 'masterminding terrorism through Arab
fundamentalists
who are left holding the bag.'. The evidence does not seem
to be
very compelling but it is indeed surprising that under the
circumstances
S. Hussein seems to have done so little in this line. Given
the US
record of running away from danger - Lebanon, Somalia - it could look
like a
good idea but it would be of little use unless he let it be known
that he
was responsible]
* Rice vows 'resolute' action against Iraq
[after U2 incident. 'Vows' is
putting
it a little strongly ...]
* U.S. Pilot Sees Iraqi Missile [in Saudi
airspace]
* U.S.-Iraq Tensions Increase [The Iraqis have
found ways of launching
missiles
against aircraft illegally entering their territory without
revealing
their own location and opening themselves up to instant
retaliation.
This, it seems, is very wicked of them]
* United States weighs strikes against Iraq
(extracts) [Stratfor.com quotes
Jane's
Defence Weekly giving apparently very unsubstantiated arguments that
Iraq is
reconstituting its WMD capacity. Stratfor concludes that the US
might as
well attack Iraq because they have nothing to lose: 'Every bomb
that
strikes Iraq may be another nail in the coffin of sanctions, but
efforts
to isolate the regime and reduce its threat to the region are
effectively
dead anyhow.'
* Rumsfield: Iraq Building Defenses [More on
the wickedness of the Iraqis
in
seeking to defend their territory]
URL
ONLY
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/world/986974
* Attacking Iraq a double-edged sword for Bush
by
WARREN P. STROBEL
Knight-Ridder
Tribune News, 31st July
[A
rather dull roundup obvious points]
NEW
WORLD ORDER
* Pentagon rates N. Korea, Iraq as top threats
[Thoughts of Paul Wolfowitz
on the
danger the US faces from 'those primitive Scud missiles' which killed
24
Americans in the Gulf War. As opposed to how many hundreds of thousands
of
Iraqis killed? At any rate, they've now found the solution. Its called
the
Strategic Defense Initiative and costs about $100 billion]
* America must fight in the real world [On the
problems facing US Defense
Secretary
Donald Rumsfield in trying to put a budget together. Note in the
middle
of it: 'the cost of keeping troops in Europe as opposed to the US
constitutes
less than 1 per cent of the defence budget. That is a small
price
to pay for America's leadership role in European security affairs.' So
it
seems we're cheaper than the Middle East]
* Why Rumsfield Has No Battle Plan (extracts)
[more on poor Mr Rumsfield's
problems
in justifying a huge military expenditure on the part of a country
which
faces no military threat of any kind]
* Germ warfare talks suspended [because the US
doesn't want anyone to see
what
its biotechnology industry is doing]
IRAQI/UN
RELATIONS
* Annan urges Iraq rethink [on the need to
allow Iraq to control some money
from oil
sales to maintain the very shaky infrastructure of the oil
industry.
I thought this principle had already been agreed?]
* Iraq Says U.S., Britain Blocking More
Imports [US undoes the relaxation
of
holds it introduced when it was trying to sell 'smart sanctions']
* Iraq Earns 252 Million US Dollars Under
"Oil-for-Food" Program
IRAQI-MIDDLE
EAST/ARAB WORLD RELATIONS
* Iran's opposition rises against
"religious dictatorship" [On the
activities
of the Iraqi based Mujaheedin]
* Iraqi gas supply for Turkey [proposed
pipeline from Kirkuk to southern
Turkey.
Bad news for the Kurds.]
* Iraq urges refugees stranded in Saudi Arabia
to come home [3,000
refugees,
out of 33,000 in Saudi Arabia at the end of the war, have returned
to
Iraq. It would be interesting to know what has happened to them]
* Smuggler operating in Iraqi border killed
* Iraqi official: Rehabilitation of the Iraqi
planes landing at Amman's
airport
very soon
* Kuwait Says Iraq Still a Threat to Region
["Kuwait has no role in any
military
strikes against Iraq ...", according to the Kuwaiti Information
Minister.
Saudi Arabia have been claiming this for some time but this is the
first
time I have seen it coming from Kuwait. Is it new?]
* Algiers: Contracts worth over US$100 million
signed
* Iraq defends invasion of Kuwait, 11 years on
* Turkey, Syria seek to advance cooperation
[more bad news for the Kurds]
* Lebanese- Iraqi economic relations
NORTHERN
IRAQ/SOUTHERN KURDISTAN
* Iraqi Minister Rasheed speaks to the TDN:
'Even the CIA knows the truth'
- Iraqi
Oil Minister [Despite the title, this is mainly about the opening of
a
second crossing point between Turkey and Iraq. The interviewer tries to
press
the point that this creates problems for the Kurds, but the Iraqi
minister
refuses to acknowledge that they have an existence distinct from
that of
the rest of Iraq]
* Liberated and safe, but not yet free [David
Hirst on the unenviable
position
of a people surrounded by enemies and reliant on the very
unreliable
broken reed of Western goodwill]
* The Kurdish dream: emigration to Europe
[Hirst again on the painful,
costly
and often fruitless business of emigration]
*
Archer 'used charity role in bid for Iraqi [or, if you prefer, Kurdish -
PB]
oil'
ANTI-SANCTIONS
CAMPAIGN
* UK envoy fails to justify Iraq sanctions
{letter from H.Von Sponeck to
Irish
Times]
* Sanctions on Iraq [reply from British
Ambassador to Dublin.
Congratulations
to our Irish colleagues for putting the Ambassador in a spot
where
he has to do this sort of thing]
INSIDE
IRAQ
* Iraqi President's Son Says He Has No
Intention Of Converting to Shia
Islam
[As rumours go this was a corker!]
* Iraq renovate the flower producing sectors
* Saddam Appoints Foreign Minister
IRAQI/INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
* Iraqis, Afghans Lead World in Asylum
Requests [Unpleasant as the Iraqi
and
Afghan regimes may be, is it a coincidence that both these countries -
like
Vietnam at the time of the boat people - are subjected to particularly
vicious
sanctions?]
* German embassy resumes its activities in
Baghdad [This may prove to be
significant
if I am right in thinking that under a cover of slavish loyalty
to the
New World Order, Germany is developing the capacity to act as an
independent,
purposeful and powerful force in the world]
The
news is of course dominated by the raids on the defense installations on
the
Southern 'no-fly zone'. Discussion is dominated by the question of
'linkage'
- how can you secure Arab support for the war against Iraq without
addressing
Arab concerns about Israel/Palestine? I suspect that one of the
most
important pieces of news, however, is the visit to Baghdad of the
Syrian
PM, Mohammed Mustafa Miro (in the Middle east section). This is the
first
such visit (though there have been several such Iraqi visits to
Damascus)
and the Syrians had been anxious to deny Iraqi claims that a
similar
visit had been planned last May
MILITARY
MATTERS
* 'Iraq has rebuilt air defences destroyed in
raids'
* U.S. Planes Bomb Targets in Iraq [in the
northern no-fly zone]
* U.S. puts Iraq strike 'on hold' [Yes. Well
...]
* Western Planes Bomb Iraqi Air Defenses [the
Iraqi version of the northern
no-fly
zone bombing]
* U.S. denies Iraqi claim of hitting allied
plane
* US, British planes bomb Iraq sites [this is
the bigger raid, in the
southern
zone. The article mentions that some of the planes took off from
unidentified
'land bases in the region'. See 'Bush delivers stern message'
below.]
* US-Iraq Chronology [specifically relating to
military strikes]
* Iraq Airstrikes Kill One, Wound 11 [the
Iraqi version]
* Russia Blasts U.S., Britain for Iraq Raids
* Bush delivers stern message to Baghdad
[Approving editorial from the
Times.
It includes the interesting detail that the RAF planes took off from
Kuwait
and Saudi Arabia, both of which claim not to be involved in these
raids.
It may be that Tonto isn't allowed to do any of the actual shooting
but
then what becomes of the claim made by the Times' sister paper, the Sun,
that
the RAF 'blitzed' Iraq?]
BLOCKADE
* Navy Force Rescues Iraqi Tanker Crew [after
causing their ship to sink.
'Since
the beginning of the year, the Maritime Interception Force has
questioned
1,472 ships, boarded 748 and diverted 62 vessels in its work to
enforce
the sanctions.']
* Ship with Iraq oil sinks in Gulf fleeing
patrol
* Iran Team to Clear Up Slick From Sunken Gulf
Ship
IRAQI/US
RELATIONS
* Nothing Comes From Nothing in the Middle
East [extracts. Jim Hoagland
says
get tough and don't worry about what the Arabs think]
* Work, Play in Bush's Day [extract. Nothing
immediately relevant to Iraq
but
important for those of us who want to know what keeps Little Bush 'a
balanced
person' (holidays on his ranch in Waco. Presumably that also helps
to
explain why David Koresh was such a balanced person]
* Changes of historic magnitude [Short
extracts from an interesting general
article
on the Kyoto agreement, the Strategic Defence Initiative and the
withdrawal
from the germ warfare agreement. The American author concludes,
rather
optimistically in my view, that if this keeps on, world leadership
will
pass to Europe]
URL
ONLY
http://www.iht.com/articles/28596.html
* Bush Approach to Israel Policy May Be
Hurting U.S. Gulf Aims
by Alan
Sipress (Washington Post Service)
International
Herald tribune, 7th August
[Article
suggesting that, contrary to the argument of J.Hoagland above, the
US should get tough on Sharon if it wants to
get tough with Saddam]
IRAQI-MIDDLE
EAST/ARAB WORLD RELATIONS
* A new Kuwaiti approach on the occasion of
the 11th anniversary of the
Iraqi invasion
[extract. The extract, not typical of the general content of
the
article, has Kuwait endorsing Egypt's attack on the US bombing raids]
* Jordan businesses to spend 4.5m dollars to
help rehabilitate Iraqi
factories
* Iraq aims to overtake Saudi in oil reserves
* An iron wall against Saddam [extracts from
the Jerusalem Post, singing
the
praises of Vladimir Jabotinsky who is often presented as the founder of
the
Fascist wing of Zionism: 'It is unfortunate that they (Israel and the
US) did
not heed the words of Jabotinsky, who wrote in 1923 that the only
way to
deal with Palestinian Arab rejectionism was to build an "iron wall"
that
would shatter any illusions the Arabs might have about achieving
victory.'
This is an editorial. Does support for Jabotinsky mark a change in
the
Jerusalem Post's editorial line?]
* New Iraqi agreements with Algeria, Yemen,
Lebanon, Jordan
* Saddam denounces Saudi, Kuwaiti oil policies
[principally the
Kuwaiti/Saudi
offer to compensate for the Iraqi oil lost when Iraq suspended
sales]
* Rafha camp transformed into a modern city in
the middle of the desert
[How
the Saudis built a paradise for Iraqi refugees in Saudi Arabia]
* Syrian Leader Arrives in Iraq
AND, IN
NEWS, 5-11/8/01
(2):
CAMPAIGNING
* Activists Protest Iraq Sanctions [Voices in
the Wilderness in New York.
Article
concentrates on Halliday and Von Sponeck]
* Fasters protest Iraq sanctions [Same, but
article concentrates on
individual
fasters and their experience of Iraq]
* Sanctions on Iraq [letter to Irish Times
from Irish MEP, Niall Andrews]
* Sanctions on Iraq [letter to Irish Times
from director of Irish Catholic
charity,
Trocaire]
IRAQI/UN
RELATIONS
* Guardian Diary [on the comparative diets of
UN sniffer dogs and Iraqis.
Though
is it not the Iraqi government who decides what each individual Iraqi
receives
in the way of food from Oil for Food money?]
NORTHERN
IRAQ/SOUTHERN KURDISTAN
* U.S. should intensify pressure on Hussein
[The word 'Kurd' does not
appear
in this article, but that is what explains why these particular
'Iraqis'
are calling for tough sanctions against Iraq]
* 35 illegal Iraqi Kurdish immigrants
[expelled from Iran]
* Iraqi Kurds cross Lebanese border [expelled
from Israel]
* Asylum-seekers chance Channel crossing to
the promised land [expelled
from
Britain]
URL
ONLY:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/monitoring/media_reports/newsid_14800
00/1480745.stm
* Iraqi Kurds face uncertain future
BBC,
11th August
'BBC
journalist Hiwa Osman has just returned from the little-visited Kurdish
region
of northern Iraq' It seems to be quite a frequently visited region
these
days. This article adds little to what we've already seen except
perhaps
the following surprising contribution from a Turkoman leader in
Arbil:
'"This is a golden age for the Iraqi Turkomans."
IRAQI/INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
* Last vessel carrying wheat leaves for Iraq
[from Pakistan]
URL
ONLY:
http://www.baghdad.com/?action=display&article=8590945&template=baghdad/inde
xsearch.txt&index=recent
* Iraq's Oil Money Undermines Sanctions
The
Associated Press, Sun 5 Aug 2001
How the
Iraqis give contracts to nations helping them in the struggle
against
sanctions and withhold them from those who don't. The article is
written
in a tone which suggests this is a reprehensible thing to do.
INSIDE
IRAQ
* Going for an Iraqi dig? Don't forget the AK
[One of the best, or most
readable,
articles on the state of antiquities in Iraq. Suggests things are
improving
a little thanks to the money earned 'illegally outside the Oil for
Food
scheme. So it doesn't all go on whiskey, palaces and enriched
plutonium]
I think
the most interesting articles this week are, as so often the case,
in the
Kurdish supplement. Gradually a clearer picture is emerging of how
that
complicated situation actually works. And without feeling any sympathy
for the
efforts of M.Rubin I still don't think the anti-sanctions movement
have
adequately explained what we would suggest to guarantee the position of
the
Kurds, in both zones, under and not under the control of the Iraqi
government.
Otherwise
there is the suggestion (* U.S.
Operation Against Iraq Underway)
that
the recent bombings are part of an unstated longterm strategy; that a
major
part of US intentions is to prevent a successful Shi'i uprising in the
South
(* Daily: US-British efforts to bolster
Saddam); and for lovers of
art and
culture, there are Saddam's new mosque and a URL directing you to
information
of the forthcoming stage production of his novel ...
US
POLICY
* How Some Iraqis Would Slam Saddam [To put
you all in a good mood we start
with
two articles by Michael Rubin though both this and the next article
could
also have gone into the Kurdish section. Here he advocates that the US
should
do something very tough, but its not clear what. He says: 'by
preventing
the Iraqi opposition from operating in portions of Iraq
controlled
by Hussein, the U.S. is effectively embargoing the opposition and
protecting
the Iraqi leader.' But 'the Iraqi opposition' ARE operating in
territory
controlled by Hussein. The Supreme Council for the Islamic
Revolution
are very active and they aren't waiting for any permission from
their
US minders. Rubin seems to be advocating that the Kurds should be
allowed
to invade territory controlled by Hussein. We wonder if many of his
Kurdish
friends would thank him for that particular suggestion]
* The Iraqi people want to know when Mr Bush
will get tough [This
duplicates
some of the above with a different emphasis, notably much less
emphasis
on the interest of Israel. Interestingly, the article attacks
'smart sanctions'
(too soft) and when he says 'I shared a house in
Sulaymaniyah
with a visiting professor from Baghdad ...' (a rather
indiscreet
reference I would have thought) and 'Many Iraqis travel
frequently
to Baghdad to visit friends and family ...' he gives the
impression,
rightly or wrongly, of surprisingly relaxed relations between
the
Kurdish areas and the rest of Iraq.]
* Iraq holds control over its own fate [The
Bangkok Post thinks its all
Iraq's
fault for disregarding 'largely impartial' UN arms inspectors,
threatening
its neighbours (who never do anything to threaten Iraq, of
course)
and (unlike said neighbours, we must suppose) trying to acquire
arms.]
* Middle East violence, Arab nations' anger
restrict U.S. options on Iraq
{very
short extract indicating that the timing of US raids on Iraq has been
largely
determined by events in Israel/Palestine]
* U.S. Funds Satellite TV to Iraq [Well, it
gives the 'Opposition'
something
to do]
* Unpaid dues threaten U.N. staffers' salaries
[the US owes $298 million
for
this year alone. Iraq, we remember, has been deprived of its seat in the
General
Assembly because of its failure to pay its dues]
* U.S., Britain ready renewed Iraqi sanctions
effort [Very short extract
suggesting
that Russia might be won over to the smart blockade if any
clampdown
on oil smuggling were removed. Which, if I'm not mistaken, would
mean
ending the blockade, so I think its a good idea ...]
MILITARY
MATTERS
* U.S. planes bomb Iraqi radar site [Tonto
doesn't get a mention in this
particular
account]
* U.S. Operation Against Iraq Underway
[Stratfor.com suggests that the
recent
raids may be part of a longer strategy building up to an all-out
effort
to destroy Iraq's military infrastructure]
* U.S. Warplane Strays Into Syria
IRAQ/MIDDLE
EAST-ARAB WORLD RELATIONS
* Road accident kills 7 Iraqi aliens, injures
3
* Daily: US-British efforts to bolster Saddam
[interesting Iranian thesis
that
the real purpose of US policy is to prevent a successful Shi'i uprising
that
would create a united Iranian-Iraqi-Syrian-Lebanese-Palestinian
alliance
against Israel]
* Royal Jordanian to increase flights to
Baghdad [from three to four a
week]
* Israel and Saddam Put Damper on U.S.-Saudi
Relations [US allies, Bahrain
and
Saudi Arabia, unhappy about Israel and Iraq. Prince Sultan of Saudi
Arabia
says he is opposed to the air attacks - 'even the smallest military
operation'
- against Iraq]
* Iraq, Syria sign agreements in diplomatic
breakthrough [Syrian PM Mustafa
Miro's
visit to Baghdad]
* On President al-Assad's visit to Kuwait
[Assad himself to visit Kuwait on
the
18th August, just to show there's no hard feelings]
* Monument for suicide bombers [to be built by
S.Hussein]
* Iranian- Iraqi agreement concerning
prisoners, Moscow calls for lifting
the
sanctions on Baghdad
URLs
ONLY:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,2572876%255E27
03,00.html
* Middle East conflict threat widens
by Uzi
Mahnaimi, Cairo
The
Australian (from the Sunday Times?), August 13, 2001
[Not
specifically on Iraq but suggests the possibility that Egypt could
re-occupy
the Sinai Desert, which would presumably have repercussions on the
situation
of Iraq]
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/mideast010817_cooley.html
* A Fearful Potentiality
by John
K. Cooley
ABC
News, 17th August
[Suggests
the possibility that Israel could expel the Palestinians into
Jordan,
which would also, presumably, have repercussions on the situation in
Iraq.
Mentions the dilemma of Jordan which has closed its borders to
Palestinian
refugees]
and, in
News, 12-18/8/01
(2)
CAMPAIGNING
* Sanctions against Iraq [more of the ongoing
Irish Times correspondence.
Rather
a good letter, this, I thought]
* Airstrikes on Iraq [brief letter to The
Times]
INSIDE
IRAQ
* Saddam regaining political strength
[Pakistani article suggesting that
most
Iraqis - presumably most Sunni Iraqis - are well disposed towards
S.Hussein]
* Iraqi oil production in July plunged on
power cuts
* Iraq exports $265m worth of oil under UN
'oil-for-food' scheme
* Thai soccer team flies to Baghdad for world
cup qualifying match [Does
this
explain the Bangkok post's interest in Iraqi affairs?]
* Iraq, UAE win in Asian World Cup qualifying
[and its hostility?]
* 'Sky' translates an East-West struggle
[review of novel about life in
Iraq]
* Iraqi mosque to preserve Saddam's legacy
[Minarets shaped like Scud
missiles
and a Koran written using 28 litres of Saddam Hussein's blood.
Taste
is decidedly not S.Hussein's strong point]
* Iraq hosts a new session for the people's
Islamic conference
* Letter on litter
URL
ONLY:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=118231298
* Saddam's romantic novel to hit Iraqi stage
Times
of India, 13th August
IRAQI/INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
* Government [of the Philippines] eyes
upstream investment in Iraq
* Pakistan, Iraq satisfied with progress of
Joint Ministerial Commission
Kurdish Supplement,
12-18/8/01
* Our enormous lie [Several good reasons,
going back to 1975 why the Kurds
should
not trust the West]
* Kurds reap sanctions' rewards [Is it
surprising to see David Hirst
writing
for the Washington Times? The article gives what seems to be quite a
good
account of the labyrinthine procedure the Kurds have to go through if
they
want to buy anything - 'legally' that is]
* Wired world of Iraqi Kurds [rosy picture
from the BBC of life among the
cyber-kurds]
* Iran stages war games in western borders [ie
in Iranian Kurdistan,
against
Iranian Kurds operating from Iraq]
* Signs of peace in the opening of a gun
market? [on the state of the
armaments
market in Kurdistan]
* Though controlled, business flourishes in
northern Iraq [on the
opportunities
Northern Iraq/Southern Kurdistan offers for Turkish
businessmen;
'In a memorandum released by the prime minister's office and
leaked
by the local press on May 13, the establishment of a Kurdish state in
northern
Iraq was described as casus belli'. There is a note which suggests
that
all is not well with the Kurdish economy: 'Turkish truck traffic has
gone
down almost 60 percent in the past year-and-a-half due to political
concerns
...'
* Saddam Hussein's Call to the Kurds For
Dialogue and the Difficult Kurdish
Choice
[a long, rather convoluted but, I think, important article on the
unattractive
longterm options open to the Kurds, explaining the apparent
'moderation'
of the parties' joint response to recent calls for dialogue
from
Saddam]
* Saddam Wages Terror Campaign In Kurdistan [a
number of recent bomb
attacks
are ascribed to Baghdad]
* Interview With Nasreen Sideek [Minister of
Reconstruction and
Development,
Kurdistan Regional Government in Arbil. A last contribution
from
M.Rubin. Although presented as a paean of praise to Oil for Food,
Nasreen
Sideek points out that Oil for Food money goes to the highly
inefficient
UN administration. The Kurdish administration is funded through
smuggling:
'the extensive main road network and the digital
telecommunication
system that the UN uses to implement 986 projects and
programs
were all done by the KRG with its own funds. If smart sanctions
severely
restricted the diesel border trade, which is a primary source of
KRG
revenue, much of my work on KRG-funded projects would not be possible.'
Rubin
who has a great and of course entirely disinterested sympathy for
Iraqi
Kurds persecuted by the Iraqi government, seems to have less sympathy
for Turkish
Kurds persecuted by the Turkish government, referring to 'the
violent
separatist campaign waged by the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) in
Turkey'.]
An
exceptionally uninteresting choice of articles this week. The allied
strike
(No Fly Zones) just before I sent this off seems to confirm last
week's
Stratfor.com analysis that this is part of a longer strategy - a
series
of small scale strikes possibly leading up to something very much
bigger.
Britain is attempting to prevent Iraq garnering oil revenue outside
the UN
escrow account by imposing what I assume must be a much more
complicated
pricing mechanism. We want prices negotiated every 10 days; the
US is
talking about every 15 days. No one else seems to care very much. Its
lonely
at the top. The one article I do recommend is the piece on the
apparently
impressive work that is being done by the International Committee
of the
Red Cross ('Inside Iraq', in part 2).
IRAQI/MIDDLE
EASTERN-ARAB WORLD RELATIONS
* Generous present for Hussein
* Missing prisoner talks without US, UK: Iraq
* Syria's Assad ends Kuwait trip
* Iran to evacuate cargo of sunken Iraqi oil
tanker in Persian Gulf
* Iraqi [Izzat Ibrahim] calls Jews sons of
monkeys and pigs
* Iraqi Official to Yemen for Talks on Signing
Free Trade Agreement
* Iraqi vice-president in surprise visit to
Syria
* Iraq urges UN to hand over file on missing
Kuwaitis [to the red Cross]
* Iran's "Basij" forces wind up war
games in western borders
* Iraq seek Arab support over release of euros
to Palestinians
* Iraq, Libya to start regular flights
* Al-Assad might visit Baghdad in September
* Iraq, Jordan seek constructors for pipeline
* Syria urges Turkey to join water talks with
Iraq
* UAE exporters face big hurdles at Iraqi port
* A comprehensive interview with "Asharq
Al Awsat" [by Prince Sultan Ibn
Abdul
Aziz, Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and Aviation
and
Inspector General - short extract, denying that planes used in raids on
Iraq
take off from Saudi Arabia]
* Iraq blasts Kuwait's rejection of new panel
on Gulf War missing
* Iraq asks Jordan to return its aircraft
* Iraq warns against widened Mideast conflict
[concerning Israel]
URL ONLY
http://www.ain-al-yaqeen.com/issues/20010824/feat7en.htm
* A fruitful visit by President Bashar
Al-Assad to Kuwait {interviews with
Kuwaiti
First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al
Ahmad Al
Jaber Al Sabah and Information Minister Sheikh Ahmad Fahd Al Ahmad
Al
Sabah]
Ain-al-yaqeen
(Saudi Arabia)
August
24, 2001
AND IN NEWS, 19-25/8/01 (2):
OIL
* U.S., Ally Part Ways on Iraqi Oil [Tonto,
being less dependent than his
master
on Iraqi oil, plays the tough guy]
* Iraq could increase oil output to ten
million barrels a day
* Bula [Irish oil company] wait for
ratification of Iraq contract
* U.S. Devises Iraqi Oil Proposal
* Opec leakage rises in July to 720,000 bpd
* Britain lifts block on Iraqi oil price
[Tonto is pulled back into line]
* Price turmoil [caused by Tonto's tough guy
stance] 'may hit Iraq Aug.
loadings'
NEW
WORLD ORDER
* US leads race to arm developing world [and
how. $7.7bn as opposed to
scary
China's $400m. Scary Russia isn't even in the running]
* Bush tested as he seeks to balance policy on
Israel and Iraq [a very dull
article
which I only include because of the dearth of general discussion
pieces
this week]
NO FLY
ZONES
* Iraq: 1 Person Hurt in Allied Strike
INSIDE
IRAQ
* Sanctions fire Iraqi World Cup bid
* Bahrain 2, Iraq 0 in Soccer
* WHO to Meet Iraqi Officials on Uranium
Health Study
* ICRC [Red Cross] in Iraq: Key facts and
activities
IRAQI/INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
* Brazil to Resume Relations with Iraq
The
news compilations may be a bit disrupted over the next week or two. The
main
news this week is the shooting down of an unmanned spy plane and the
taking
out of Basra airport's radar facility. There were lots of articles on
these
but none of them seemed to say very much. The shooting down of the
plane
posed a problem for US apologists - how to make light of the Iraqi
victory
while continuing to insist on the reality of the Iraqi menace, which
is what
justifies the bombings. Recommended articles of the week: 'A
passionate
voice in the wilderness' and 'Where is our outrage over Iraq',
both in
the Campaigning section.
NO FLY
ZONES
* Iraq Says It Shoots Down U.S. Spy Plane
* U.S. Jets Attack 2 Targets in Iraq [with
more details of the Predator spy
plane
which was shot down]
* Iraqis bury civilians killed in U.S.-British
airstrike
* Droning around and around [Predator drones
are easy to shoot down and
don't
cost a lot. Which may be true. After all $3m is only a tenth of what
it cost
to produce Michael Jackson's new LP)
* Iraq Says Western Air Attack Kills Three
Civilians
* American Jets Attack Iraqi Radar
* Iraq Says Basra Radar Destroyed by U.S. Jets
IRAQI-MIDDLE
EAST/ARAB WORLD RELATIONS
* Iraqi criticism for the conference of the
Arab foreign ministers [This is
just
included to register the fact that a conference of Arab foreign
ministers
took place. Otherwise we mightn't have noticed]
* Iraq says Saudi soldier killed in border
clash
* Company plans Syria-Iraq airlink
* Syrian source denies on expected visit of
President al- Assad to Iraq
* Turkish army clashes with Kurds [Another
Turkish incursion into Northern
Iraq.
International Law, how are you?]
* Jordan's King, Putin Urge End to Iraq
Isolation
* Yemen smooths Iraq-Kuwait row
* DNA Tests Prove Identity of Gulf War Pilot -
Saudi
* Iraq accused of firing at Saudi forces
INSIDE
IRAQ
* Return of archeological treasures from
Europe sought
* Satellite to beam anti-Saddam TV to Iraq
* Saddam and the ministry of sound [The
unpromising subject matter
'Zabiba
and the King' turns into quite an interesting article on what is
left of
social and cultural life in Iraq. Doesn't mention the hundred giant
statues
pointing to Iran we learn about in the 'passionate voice' article
below
...]
* Iraq tops world 'disappeared' list [in a
survey by Amnesty International]
and, in
News, 26/8-1/9/01
(2)
CAMPAIGNING
* A passionate voice in the wilderness [on
Kathy Kelly]
* Where is our outrage over Iraq? ['We're like
the children of drug
kingpins
who love living in big houses and having private planes, and
somehow
manage to block out the fact that Daddy had to kill a lot of people
to get
where he's at. And that Daddy has to kill a lot more people to
"protect
our interests." ' The author is a 'Former Denver Broncos player',
which
seems to be as good a training ground for understanding the realities
of the
world as any]
* Leave Iraq Alone? [This comes from 'Media
Monitors.net', which seems to
give
ordinary folk like you and me the chance to have their say. This is a
defence
of US policy I couldn't track down the anti-sanctions article it
is
replying to but it states the problem rather as I see it: that it is
one of
pride. He reproaches Saddam for allowing his people to suffer to
preserve
his pride, while obviously being dimly aware that the 'people's'
pride
has something to do with it as well. It only takes a little more
thinking
to realise that we have murdered hundreds of thousands of people
uniquely
for the pleasure, which we have not yet been able to enjoy, of
crushing
that pride]
OIL FOR
FOOD
* Iraq submits Sep oil prices to U.N.
* Iraq and France and the oil-for-food program
* UN blocks 43 food contracts, says Iraq
* Iraq sets up firm to oversee new oil finds
IRAQI/INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
* [Pakistan's] Trade volume with Iraq reaches
$70m
* India, Pakistan vying for Iraqi wheat market
* Large delegation from India arrives in
Baghdad
* [Indian] Wheat exports to Iraq likely to
resume
EMIGRATION
* 10 Iraqi Kurds Seized After Sneaking Into
Israel From Lebanon [Surprising
to see
the People's Daily using the word 'sneak' in this context]
* 44 Iraqis caught in chunnel [not surprising
to see The Sun using the word
'sneak'
in this context]
NEW
WORLD ORDER
* The Thinking Man's Military [Jim Hoagland on
Paul Wolfowitz. It seems
Wolfowitz
has realised that justifying the SDI on the basis of the 'threat'
posed
to the USA by Iraq or North Korea is ludicrous. So "We are trying to
move from
a threat-based strategy to a capabilities based strategy." ie not
what we
have to do, but what we can do. Extracts]
* Editorial: "W;" confronts the
world [Reproducing a whole article from the
Saudi
paper Ain al-Yaqeen is a bit of self indulgence but it seems to me
that a
quite perceptive and even, within its limits, witty attack on a US
President,
written by a Saudi Ambassador is a bit of an event. It includes
the
following: 'Finally, the president's advisors would do well to let him
know
that most of the credit for the "Bugaboo of Baghdad's" remaining in
power
goes to US policy which throws billions of dollars on Israel every
year
while throwing rockets at Baghdad.' Time to start getting the US
military
out of Saudi Arabia, isn't it?]
URLs
ONLY:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,32966,00.html
* Manned Combat Fighters Fall Prey to
Evolution
by
Matthew Baker
Fox
News, 27th August
[For
military technology enthusiasts]
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2001/08/21/12995.html
* American genocide continues
by Mike
Schneider
Pravda,
21st August
[This
is a summary of Thomas Nagy's article in The Progressive, on the
policy
of deliberately degrading Iraq's water supply]
http://www.msnbc.com/news/612818.asp
* Why Not Saddam
by
Christopher Dickey
Newsweek
International, 20th August
[Arguing
for the idiotic policy of indicting S.Hussein as a war criminal,
i.e.
invading Iraq, or continuing to torture the Iraqi people pointlessly
until
S.Hussein dies]
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2001/08/29/Columns/Columns.33660.html
* Fools rush in
by
Barry Rubin
Jerusalem
Post, 29th August
[An
unpleasant piece of Israeli sneering against Arabs as shifty cowards and
fools
who need to be kept in their place by firm measures on the part of the
Master
Race. Mainly directed against Bashar alAssad, mainly because of his
apparently
pro-Iraqi policy]