Hopefully
this news service is getting back to normal. The week saw the
passing
of a very much watered down version of 'smart sanctions'. CASI put
out an
excellent press statement explaining why it will do very little to
improve
the lives of ordinary civilians. I didn't see this reported anywhere
(but
that doesn't mean it wasn't). There also seems to have been a
significant
improvement in Iraqi/Saudi Arabia relations. Most recommended
articles
are (under UN relations) 'Revised Iraq sanctions still US policy
tool'
and (under New World Order) 'US has little reason to feel triumphant'.
IRAQI/UN
RELATIONS
* Iraq Sanctions Overhaul Postponed [Syria
tries, unsuccessfully, to
establish
the point that Iraq has a right, guaranteed by the UN Charter, to
defend
itself.]
* Iraq has been offered a chance to rejoin the
international community
[Idiot
level editorial from The Independent which has fallen hook, line and
sinker
for the idea that a measure which continues to prevent Iraqi oil
money
from being spent on Iraqi produced goods, thereby stimulating the
Iraqi
economy, is good for Iraqi civilians. Of course they're all just Arabs
so The
Independent probably thinks that living off foreign goods doled out
in
handouts by the government is good enough for them. The Independent also
believes
that, because a terrible evil has been slightly moderated, the
Iraqis
are under a moral obligation to reciprocate by opening the entire
country
up to minute inspection by enemy spies.]
* U.N. panel votes to revise Iraq sanctions
[It appears from this account
that
the US has failed to secure the tougher enforcement of sanctions by
neighbours
(Syria, Jordan, Iran) which at one point seemed to be the whole
raison
d'être of the exercise, leaving us feeling that the Americans are
only
going through the motions on this one. It isn't necessarily a
comforting
thought, since tougher measures against smuggling was touted as
Colin
Powell's alternative to war.]
* Sanctions altered to aid Iraqi civilians
[Extracts giving the views of
Ari
Fleischer, Jack Straw and Richard Perle.]
* Iraq Accepts U.N. Sanctions Reforms [Curious
remark from the Arab League
Secretary
General, Amr Moussa, that "the sanctions issue is gradually
heading
toward being solved."]
* Revised Iraq sanctions still US policy tool
[Thoughtful review from MERIP
member
of the latest initiatives.]
URL
ONLY:
http://cgi.wn.com/?action=display&article=13626296&template=baghdad/indexsea
rch.txt&index=recent
* Iraq May Be Considering Inspections The
Associated Press, 16th May [The
article
appeared in many guises over the week but its only an opinion given
by the
Deputy US Ambassador to the UN, James Cunningham, without anything to
substantiate
it. We should note however the assumption that its only since
the US
threats began that Iraq has considered letting inspectors in. In fact
Iraq
has always been willing to let inspectors in so long as there are clear
guarantees
that they won't be US spies and that the process will lead to a
lifting
of sanctions and not simply, like UNSCOM, function as an excuse for
prolonging
them indefinitely.]
NEW
WORLD ORDER
* US has little reason to feel triumphant [Not
much about Iraq but a useful
summary
of the present state of the 'War against Terror', surprising from
the
normally quite belligerent Bangkok Post. Thanks to Felicity for sending
it to
me.]
* A question of faith [Nick Cohen is a
supporter of 'universal human
rights'
who believes that the US after Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Korea,
Vietnam,
Cambodia, Laos, Panama, not to mention the road to Basra - has the
moral
right to enforce them. Here he gives an account of a new book, a novel
about
the Dome of the Rock by Kanan Makiya, who wrote The Republic of Fear,
a
pre-Gulf War expose of the evils of the Iraqi regime. Cohen remarks that
although
the Israelis (with US support) only destroyed 400 Palestinian
villages,
Saddam (with US support) destroyed 3,000 Kurdish villages. A more
interesting
comparison might be with the number of Kurdish villages
destroyed
by the Turks (with US support). Difficult to see how it amounts to
an
argument for a US right to intervene in Iraq ...Extract on Iraq, leaving
out Mr
Cohen's views on the foolishness of religion in general and Islam in
particular
(Mr Cohen is also a believer in 'the enlightenment'.]
* On Atta, Prague and Iraq [Mainly notable for
D.Rumsfeld's implicit
admission
that there is no evidence for the Atta/al-Ani meeting in Prague.]
* 'Start Wars' poster aims to highlight
opposition to Iraq attack
IRAQI/MIDDLE
EASTERN-ARAB WORLD RELATIONS
* Iraq sends minister to S. Arabia
* Iraq gives priority to Saudi Arabia to trade
cooperation [The article
also
refers to Iraq opening to the import of goods from Kuwait.]
* Saudi importers allowed to re-export to Iraq
* Spell out the goals for Iraq [Proposed
constitutional arrangements for a
post
Saddam Iraq aimed at the difficult job of reconciling the aspirations
of the
Kurds and of the Turks.]
AND IN NEWS, 12-18/5/02 (2)
NORTHERN
IRAQ/SOUTHERN KURDISTAN
* Inside Iraq [Guy Dinsmore on the
difficulties of getting into the Kurdish
autonomous
zone. In the article he refers to 'the fighting that culminated
in the
KDP inviting Saddam's tanks to attack the PUK in Arbil in 1996, again
with no
response from the west'. Actually, the West did respond - by a spate
of
bombing in Southern Iraq, as far away from the conflict as possible. The
problem
was that the West wanted Saddam's intervention to succeed because
they
didn't want the area, through the good offices of the PUK, to fall
under
the domination of Iran. Dinsmore quotes a PUK supporter as saying
'privately'
that Ansar-el-Islam is more likely to be Iran-backed than
al-Qaida-,
or, by implication, Saddam-, backed. Another kick in the teeth
for
William Safire's efforts to establish a Saddam-al-Qaida link?]
* Iraqi Kurds treat Bush plans with suspicion
[Guy Dinsmore's previous
article
was on the difficulties of getting into the Kurdish autonomous zone
but
this one, about KDP/PUK relations, is just a rehash of everything we've
been
reading for the past couple of years and could have been written
without
leaving the office computer. The extract given here concerns
relations
with the rest of Iraq and leaves us wondering why, considering all
we've
been reading about how much better life is in the Kurdish autonomous
zone,
Kurds should want to go to the rest of Iraq for medical treatment.]
* Saddam deploys tanks to avert Kurdish
uprising [Interesting to learn that
the CIA
wanted to establish bases in the Kurdish autonomous zone but have
been
tuned down, for obvious reasons. The article also confirms what anyone
with
any sense would already have figured out, that the main effect of all
the
Bush-Blair sabre-rattling has been to tighten the repression in possible
centres
of dissension within Iraq.]
INSIDE
IRAQ
* Licking Their Wounds [Difficult to imagine
the mentality of a journalist
who,
finding himself surrounded by the victims of his own country's policy
of mass
impoverishment and murder, would choose to write an amusing piece on
the
Iraqi taste for ice cream. Maybe Slackman isn't responsible for the
title
but it is about as low in the taste stakes as you can get ...]
* Little by Little, Iraq Shows Signs of
Economic Life [Extracts. This has
provoked
some controversy on our list. Some contributors argue that the
attempt
to give the impression that life is improving in Iraq is a US
propaganda
ploy. Since, however, the US propaganda line is that Saddam is
deliberately
starving his people and has done nothing to improve their life,
I tend
to think it isn't. And the article as a whole gives more scope to the
anti-war
argument than is usual for articles in the Washington Post.]
* Mosque that thinks it's a missile site [on
Saddam's mosque building
programme]
This
week has seen President Bush's visit to Europe overshadowed by what
looks
like a minor revolt on the part of the American military leadership
against
the idea of a war on Iraq. Some of the reasons look unconvncing. Its
difficult
to believe that the mighty US military machine really is
overstretched
by hanging around in Afghanistan and Bosnia and chasing a
couple
of hundred bandits in the Philippines. Recommended articles this
week:
'America the Fearful' and Robert Fisk's 'There is a firestorm coming
...'
both under New World Order.
PROSPECTS
FOR WAR
* US may attack Iraq with Kurds' assistance
[Curious French prediction that
the US
will attack but may not win. Also claims that the US have been
'nurturing'
Kurdish forces. The Kurds of course have their own well
established
military tradition but my impression is that over the past ten
years
this has been discouraged rather than nurtured. Simply put, what
access
do they have to arms and training?]
* Toll could be high in Iraq strike [The New
York Times argues that
possession
of chemical and biological weapons is a necessary prerequisite
for any
country that wishes to maintain its national sovereignty in the face
of
possible US aggression: "Without question, it's the toughest nut to
crack."]
* U.S. military action to oust Saddam
reportedly on hold [This widely
diffused
article states very bluntly that the Joint Chiefs of Staff are
opposed
to a war on Iraq and even that the term 'Iraq hysteria'is current
among
them.]
* Iraq invasion would be error to rival
Hitler's attack on Russia
[according
to British general, Sir Michael Rose]
* Bush backs off Iraq invasion
URL
ONLY:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-306696,00.html
* Pentagon retreats from plan to attack
Baghdad
by
Giles Whittell
The
Times, 25th May
BUSH
VISIT
* Thousands join anti-war protests
* Bush Urges Europe to Deal With Saddam [This
article suggests a rather
cool
reception for Bush in the Reichstag. In contrast to the headline in The
Washington
Times, which read: 'In Berlin, stunned applause' -
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20020524-99926062.htm]
* U.S., Russia Sign Landmark Treaty [Includes
the following surprising
statement
from Bush, supposedly giving the Russians advice over Chechnya:
"The
experience in Afghanistan has taught us all that there are lessons to
be
learned about how to protect one's homeland and, at the same time, be
respectful
on the battlefield."]
* Tough talk from Bush on eve of summit
[Extract on reasons for Russian
reserve
with regard to the 'Axis of Evil' rhetoric.]
IRAQI/MIDDLE
EAST-ARAB WORLD RELATIONS
* Iraq blames Iran for failure to resume air
link
* Kuwait says Iraq not cooperating on POWs
* Rafsanjani Blasts Western Policies Towards
Iraq
* MKO angrily denies US charges on Iraq links
[Here is an interesting
point.
Are the Mujaheedin al-Khalq 'terrorists' because they launch
guerrilla
attacks in Iran? or only when they do such things at the behest of
the
government of Iraq? Were the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan
terrorists?]
* Iranian rebels in quandary [More of the
same]
NO FLY
ZONES
* US Plane Attacks Iraqi Air Defense
* 4 Hurt in U.S. Air Attack on South, Baghdad
Says
* Danger looms in Iraq no-fly zone
* 4 U.S. planes attack 2 Iraqi weapons sites
with missiles
AND, IN
NEWS,
18-25/5/02 (2)
NEW
WORLD ORDER
* America the fearful [Excellent article on
the culture of fear currently
being
cultivated by the US government: 'The destruction of the twin towers
shows
that there are things to be afraid of, but our government's mad
responses
are making us more vulnerable to such things, not less.']
* Iran, not Iraq, cited as top terror sponsor
[State Department report on
terrorism.
Includes the curious statistic that: 'the number of terrorist
attacks
declined in 2001. There were 346, compared with 426 in 2000. And
more
than half of the year's attacks were on an oil pipeline in Colombia ^Ë
not in
the volatile Middle East or troubled South Asia.'. It leaves us very
curious
to know how the term 'terrorist attack' is defined. For example: why
should
an attack on an oil pipeline be regarded as 'terrorist'? And why
should
the bombing of Afghanistan not be regarded as terrorist?]
* The
schizophrenic Russian-Iranian nexus [Long, interesting article on
Russian-Iranian
relations. Only an extract, on the dispute over oil
production
in the Caspian Sea is given here, unbalancing the article
somewhat
since the rest of it is on reasons for Russian/Iranian friendship
and
cooperation.]
* US "planned to attack Iran in
2003" : Mohsen Rezai
* Iran Diary, Part 1: Sea of peace or lake of
trouble? [Iraq isn't
mentioned
in this article, but its Pepe Escobar on oil politics (in the
Caspian)
so in it goes.]
* Iran diary, Part 2: Knocking on heaven's
door [Pepe Escobar meets the
Grand
Ayatollah Sannei in the Holy City of Qom. Sannei tells him that all
human
rights are guaranteed under Islamic law. So that's OK.]
* Time to end cold war with Cuba [Well
deserved praise for Jimmy Carter and
his
visit to Cuba and equally well deserved scorn for the present
administration's
attempt to trash it by suggesting that because the Cubans
have
developed an impressive pharmaceutical industry they're probably
manufacturing
chemical weapons, and probably selling thm to terrorists.
Though
a little unfair to blame the Cuban government for the country's
poverty
when they've been subjected to US embargo for 40 years ...]
* There is a firestorm coming, and it is being
provoked by Mr Bush [Robert
Fisk on
the general none too encouraging state of the world]
One
could almost start feeling sorry for Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz,
William
Safire et al. A month ago they seemed to have the ball at their
feet.
The world was divided neatly into two camps: good guys and bad guys,
and the
good guys were about to knock hell out of the bad guys. Now the
world
in all its complexity has managed to upstage the simplicities of the
'war
against terror', and the prospects for a final solution of the problem
of Evil
are fading fast. We could derive satisfaction from this except that
it has
involved the destruction of all the paltry gains the Palestinian
people
thought they had made through the wretched Oslo agreement; and an
imminent
prospect of nuclear war in the Indian subcontinent.
IRAQI/MIDDLE
EAST-ARAB WORLD RELATIONS
* Iraq's trade minister arrives in Damascus
* Iraq, UAE signed joint cooperation
agreements
* Iraq Using Oil Pipeline To Sway U.S. Ally
[Turkey]
* Saudi- Iraqi border opened today
* Iraq, Lebanon ink media cooperation protocol
* Moroccan health minister expected Sunday in
Iraq
* Qatar's economy minister to visit Iraq in
June
* Iraq-Jordan pipeline work 'to start before
year-end
* Call for concerted GCC military efforts
* American factor gains strength in Jordan
* Iraq allowed to send ambassador to OIC
(Organization of the Islamic
Conference)
* Saudis channel anger into charity [Short
extract on the rather obscure
distinction
to be drawn between Saudi aid for victims of Israeli aggression
and
Iraqi aid for victims of Israeli aggression. The article seems to be
suggesting
- but surely I've misunderstood it - that the Saudis aren't
financing
Hamas, well, not very much anyway ...]
* Jenin families pocket Iraqi cash [Note that
houses are being rebuilt in
Jenin
with large sums of money from the United Arab Emirates. Has anyone
even
suggested that Israel should pay - um - compensation?]
URL
ONLY:
http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/fp.asp?layout=displaynews&doc_id=NR20020531670.4
_eb720015bbbd6cb8
* Cairo government cashes in on linchpin role
in the Middle East
Hoover's/Financial
Times (from Lloyds List), 31st May
[Interesting
piece on Egypt's debt problems and relations with the IMF.]
IRAQI/IRANIAN
RELATIONS
[See
also the Pepe Escobar supplement]
* Iranian naval units trade fire with phony
Iraqi fishermen [The article
claims
that 'Iranian fishing boats have repeatedly been the target of Iraqi
aggressions
in recent months.']
* On the Occasion of 20th Anniversary of
Liberation of Khorramshahr [The
incomplete
paragraphs come from the original but I thought the article worth
presenting
anyway for some interesting insights into Western support for
Iraq
during the Gulf War - the real Gulf War, not the subsequent massacre
that
goes by that name. Pity the apparently very interesting quote from
Kissinger
("If Iraq had won the war, there would have been no concern and
fear in
the Persian Gulf ...") is truncated.]
* Daily on UN inaction towards production of
chemical weapons [The Tehran
Times
claims that 'Some 130,000 Iranians have been suffering from injuries
caused
by dangerous chemicals used in the (Iran-Iraq) war.' Yet this is
rarely
cited as among Saddam's crimes, perhaps because of course the
Iranians
too are known to be evil.]
* Islamic republic's drive to develop
ballistic missiles boosts regional
tensions
* Iranian Abandons Push To Improve U.S. Ties
[Predictable consequence of
the
'Axis of Evil' rhetoric.]
IRAQI/US
RELATIONS
* Hesitant Hawks [I have a feeling that an
article like this positively
mocking
the Bush/Blair warmongering rhetoric couldn't have been published
in the
Washington Post even a month ago.]
* The confusion deepens over U.S. foreign
policy [It is really very
encouraging,
indeed heartwarming, to see articles appearing in the US press
which
are beginning to treat the President and his war against terrorism
with
the cool intellectual contempt that they deserve.]
* U.S. fears Iraq could channel weapons into
terrorist hands
* Global Eye -- The Foggy Dew [If even the
Moscow Times is publishing
cheeky
articles about the US government things are really on the slippery
slope
...]
URL
ONLY:
http://www.dawn.com/2002/05/29/int13.htm
* Cold war won, can Nato fight terror?
by
Peter Ford
Dawn
(from Christian Science Monitor), 29th May, 16 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1423
['Since
1986, defence spending as a proportion of GDP has fallen from 5.3
per
cent to 2.5 per cent in Britain, from 3.2 per cent to 1.5 per cent in
Germany
and from 3.9 per cent to 2.7 per cent in France. The 48 billion
dollars
increase in the Pentagon budget that Congress approved recently is
more
than the total defence budgets of 12 Nato allies.' Savour this rare
opportunity
to feel proud of being European.]
AND, IN
NEWS, 25/5-1/6/02
(2)
NO FLY
ZONES
* US Drone Crashes in Return From Iraq
* 18 Iraqis Hurt in Allied Airstrike
* US jets strike air defence sites in southern
Iraq
* Iraq says it 'Forced down' Spy drone
* Wisdom of Aerial 'Game' With Hussein Comes
Into Question [Interesting to
note
that the Turks too, like the Saudis, impose limitations on the
behaviour
of US patrols from their territory.]
* Iraq Says Over 1,140 Killed in US, British
Air Raids
* U.S. Planes Bomb Radar Site in Iraq
IRAQI/UN
RELATIONS
* Report: Iraq Earned $6B Illegally [Best news
of the week. We may be
getting
back to the pre-September 11th pattern in which with painful
slowness
and considerable skill on the part of the Iraqi administration
sanctions
fall away of their own accord as Iraq's neighbours summon up the
political
courage to break them discreetly. If only they could summon up the
political
courage to break them openly ...]
* Iraq-U.N. Oil Price Dispute Bankrupts UN
Goods Plan [This was forwarded
to the
list by Drew Hamre who tells us that the full text of the document
referred
to can be found at
http://www.un.org/Depts/oip/background/latest/bvs020529.html]
* U.N., Iraq to Focus on Inspections
IRAQIS
OUTSIDE IRAQ
* Iraqis end hunger strike in Denmark
IRAQI/UK
RELATIONS
* Battle of SAS Gulf patrol gets bloody
[Battle over veracity or otherwise
of
A.McNab.]
* British MP predicts revolution in Middle
East [Very outspoken views from
G.Galloway,
who makes clear his belief that to a large extent the Arab
leaders
are to blame for the present mess: "Once you allow the elephant
through
the door, you are no longer in a position to tell the elephant where
to
sit."]
* Navy frigate stops Iraqi smugglers [Mighty
victory by 'crack team' of
'specialist
Royal Marines' over 'shabby tanker'. And all in spite of the
heat.]
URL
ONLY:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,482-308681,00.html
* The world can be grateful Bush is a quick
learner
by
William Rees-Mogg
Times,
27th May
'The
global dangers from terrorism are now a threat to our remarkable peace
and
prosperity in Europe. The United States is the leader upon which we
depend
for security. Some exaggerated US self-interest, a few rough edges of
diplomacy,
a blunt Texan willingness to state uncomfortable truths, seem a
small
price for Europe to pay.' The rest is in much the same vein.]
IRAQI/INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
* Indonesian, Indian cos to carry out gas
exploration in Iraq
URL
ONLY:
http://atimes.com/c-asia/DE29Ag03.html
* Caspian oil not seen to threaten Middle East
by N
Janardhan
Asia
Times, 28th May
[Mainly
notable for the following amusing sentence: 'Once the Middle East is
no
longer deemed important to meet the energy needs of the rest of the
world,
there would no longer be a compelling reason for outsiders such as
the
United States to ensure that most of it remains at peace.']
INSIDE
IRAQ
* Saddam's men kill 40 in mosque fight [There
has been some dispute about
this on
the list, but it seems to me a perfectly possible consequence of the
state
of paranoia which is being deliberately and irresponsibly fostered in
Iraq by
the US and UK governments.]
* Saddam cries victory [Further to the list
dispute over whether the
article
LITTLE BY LITTLE, IRAQ SHOWS SIGNS OF ECONOMIC LIFE by Howard
Schneider
(Washington Post, 17th May) is US propaganda or not. Schneider
quoted
the CIA World Factbook as saying that 'per capita income in Iraq now
stands
at around $2,500 annually -- double that of Egypt'. And here is
Saddam
saying that that proves what a good government Iraq has got, to
achieve
this under such difficult circumstances.]
URL
ONLY;
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20020527_73.html
* Iraqi Kurds Worry About U.S. Action
ABC
News, 27th May
[I
haven't given this because it seems to me not very different from many
other
accounts of 'the Kurdish problem'. It does however give the link to an
interesting,
apparently basically Kurdish group called the Iraq Institute
for
Democracy, accessible at: http://www.iraq democracy.org/.]
SUPPLEMENTS
NEWS SUPPLEMENT,
25/5-1/6/02 (1)
(1) Articles by Pepe Escobar on Iran [Extract
from Part 4: 'Shariatmadari
uses
Francis Fukuyama and his thesis of liberal democracy as the end of
history
to challenge the concept of liberal democracy itself. "I believe
that
today Bush, after the accident of September 11, killed liberal
democracy
in the US. He says that one of the main principles of execution of
liberal
democracy is the building up of dialogue. But when he was asked if
al-Qaeda
had perpetrated September 11, he said this was a time for building
up war.
If someone is not with us, then he is our enemy, and we go to war
against
him. I'd like to know whether Western theoreticians consider this as
liberal
democracy." In the current climate of ideological confusion,
"Western
intellectuals and official authorities don't know what liberal
democracy
is anymore. So how do they want to transfer it to the whole
world?"']
NEWS SUPPLEMENT, 25/5-1/6/02 (2)
(2) Articles by Jon Sawyer on Iraq [INTRODUCTORY
NOTE BY ST LOUIS POST
DISPATCH:
Washington Bureau Chief Jon Sawyer returned last weekend from a
10-day
trip through central and southern Iraq, the first extended trip in
that
country by an American newspaper journalist since before the terrorist
attacks
of Sept. 11.
He
traveled with two American groups opposed to the United Nations sanctions
against
Iraq, the St. Louis-based Veterans for Peace and the Chicago group
Voices
in the Wilderness. The two groups permitted Sawyer to accompany them
on
trips to hospitals, water treatment plants, schools and markets. Iraqi
government
officials were usually present but not always, reflecting an
apparent
relaxation in control of foreign journalists.
Sawyer
conducted independent interviews in Baghdad, Basra and Fallujah. He
also
spent a day observing journalists from the al-Jazeera satellite
network,
as they covered a story on demolitions experts collecting cluster
bombs
dropped by U.S. and allied warplanes.]
The
forces of darkness go back on the offensive with what might be called
the
Bush/Rumsfeld/Tojo doctrine of the right to a pre-emptive strike (in
case
anyone doesn't know, General Hideki Tojo was Prime Minister of Japan at
the
time of the attack on Pearl Harbour. Actually it is profoundly unfair to
General
Tojo to lump him together with Bush and Rumsfeld. The attack on
Pearl
Harbour was a response to a US embargo which had had the effect of
'reducing
Japan's foreign trade by three quarters and cutting off nine
tenths
of her oil supply at source' (John Keegan: The Second World War,
p.203).
One imagines how Bush would respond if anyone even thought of doing
that to
him!). Rumsfeld has come to Europe to berate NATO countries for not
keeping
up with the ludicrous US 'defense' budget. He boasts of what he's
done to
Afghanistan and tells us there'll be lots more of the same, then
goes to
India and Pakistan to council moderation and restraint. And 'the
world'
continues to take it all seriously.
But,
lest we despair, here is an encouraging quotation from N.Chomsky taken
from an
interview published in the Croatian Feral Tribune early in May. The
whole
interview can be found at
http://www.zmag.org/content/TerrorWar/chomskygab.cfm:
'More
surprising, to me at least, was that the Sept. 11 atrocities had the
opposite
effect among the US population [to the effect it had on the US
establishment
and in the world at large - PB]. Very quickly, it was clear
that
there is far more openness to critical and dissident analysis, and
there
has been a remarkable upsurge of concern, often activism, about issues
that
were pretty much off the agenda before - including, among others, the
US role
in the Middle East. Naturally the media and journals of opinion
claim
the opposite, hoping to still independent thought and impose
obedience.
But people who have any contact with the general population know
better.
Demands for talks have spiralled competely out of control, and the
scale
and engagement of audiences is without precedent apart from the peak
moments
of the anti-war movement in the late 1960s. The same is evident in
sale of
books, and in fact by every other relevant measure. Even the media
have
been to some extent effected, and though still highly restricted, are
more
open than they have ever been in my experience over 40 years of
intensive
activism.'
FINGER
POINTING AT IRAQ
* Lesson of Iraq's Mass Murder [This article
is an expression of
indignation
over Iraqi use of chemical weapons and concern for its victims,
so long
as they happen to be Kurdish. Iranian victims are only mentioned in
passing,
but Iran, as we all know, is part of the axis of evil (so,
presumably,
were the Kurds when they were allied with Iran in the Iran/Iraq
war).
The authors complain that the gassing of the Kurds has never been
properly
investigated because of the UN's respect for Iraq's sovereignty
over
Southern Kurdistan. Which begs the question why the Americans and
British
who, we all know, are 'protecting' the Kurds, haven't conducted
their
own investigation. And also why Iran hasn't requested an
investigation,
though perhaps most of the Iraqi chemical attacks on Iranian
soldiers
occurred in Iraq, ie they were done in self defence. What means, we
wonder,
would the US or British deploy if the Martians actually succeeded in
invading
our territory? The indignation and concern (and frustration at the
lack of
adequate investigation) expressed in the article rather resembles
the
indignation and concern we express over US/UK use of 'conventional' (!)
weapons,
including the consequences of depleted uranium. Perhaps we should
get
together ...]
* Czech Ambassador Defends Meeting [The Czech
insistence on maintaining
this
story is strange since none of these statements ever seem to bring
forward
any new evidence. One feels its part of a need to render themselves
indispensable
to the New World Order]
* Report: Iraq Offered to Hand Over Terror
Suspect [This and the next have
already
been sent to the list by Drew Hamre, who makes the relevant comment:
'Television
journalist Leslie Stahl strikes again ... Stahl, you'll recall,
was the
journalist who elicited then-UN Ambassador Madeleine Albright's
infamous
"price is worth it" comment about the death of 500,000 Iraqi
children
associated with sanctions ... The 1993 WTC bombing is relevant to
current
attack-Iraq hysteria, because several proponents - chiefly Laurie
Mylroie
- has argued that Iraq was behind the bombing, or that it's
sheltered
conspirators. Stahl's report rips a
hole in these arguments.' The
full
transcript can be found on
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/06/02/60minutes/main510847.shtml]
* US names 'mastermind' of twin tower attacks
[This will almost certainly
reactivate
the Laurie Mylroie thesis of an Iraqi connection to Sept 11 via
the
1993 WTC bombing. On the other hand it could imply the intriguing
possibility
that OBL and Al-Qaida weren't in fact responsible for the US
Embassy
bombings or for Sept 11.]
* Delhi company fuelled Iraq's weapons system:
Daily [This is the closest
I've
yet seen to evidence that Iraq is developing a WMD facility. Why is
more
not being made of it?]
IRAQI/INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
* Iraq Says Kampala Government Paid US $1m Out
of $10m Debt
* Russia can't please Iran, Iraq and America
[How Russia can crawl to the
US,
betray its friends and still preserve some shreds of an appearance of
national
dignity.]
IRAQI/MIDDLE
EAST-ARAB WORLD RELATIONS
* Iraqi aid money wins Palestinian hearts
* MPs lead delegation on trip to Iraq
* Pentagon to sell advanced missiles to Kuwait
[A flagrant example of
weapons
proliferation, justified because "Kuwait is threatened by hostile
neighbors
with credible air, land and sea forces." Well, yes, it does seem
that
Iraq still has two Scud missiles that haven't been accounted for ...
But
perhaps the reference is to Iran. Is there any sign that Iran hjas any
aggressive
intentions against Kuwait? Why should the Kuwaitis allow
themselves
to play this idiotic and dangerous game?]
* IRAN DIARY, Part 7: It's the economy,
Ayatollah [Pepe Escobar.
Description
of how the Iranian economy works and why it is unlikely that
Khatami
will get very far in reforming it.]
* New trade rules 'will transform Arab economy'
[On the efforts to build an
Arab
free trade zone]
* Saddam Sends Telegram of Condolences to
Syria Over Dam Collapse
AND IN NEWS, 1-8/6/02 (2)
NO FLY
ZONES
* 3 reportedly injured in US-British air
attack
* Radar system bombed in Southern Iraq
* Coalition Forces on Alert as They Patrol
Northern No-Fly Zone in Iraq
[Last
week ('Wisdom of Aerial 'Game' With Hussein Comes Into Question',
News,
25/5-1/6/02 (2)), we were told that the Turkish government wouldn't
allow
bombing raids out of Incirlik. But here, in an article on pilots
operating
out of Incirlik, we're told that 'the F-16 pilot's main objective
is to
hunt down active Iraqi launch sites for surface-to-air missiles, known
as
SAMs, and to destroy these sites if possible.' The Kurds are almost
reproached
for their reluctance to act as a proxy force in the event of a US
invasion
despite being willing to shelter behind the 'protection' offered by
their
kindly 'big brother' - the phrase is used by the commanding general of
Operation
Northern Watch. The article begins with a reference to 'The U.S.,
British,
and Turkish coalition enforcing the no-fly zone over northern
Iraq'.
Does this mean that the Turkish military effort to bomb the Kurds is
now
fully incorporated into the US/British pretense at protecting them?]
* Iraq reportedly steps up bid to down U.S.,
British warplanes [Geoff Hoon,
justifying
an earlier statement that Iraq is more of a threat than it used
to be.]
OIL/GAS
POLITICS
* BAGHDAD: Exports on hold
* Pracsi set to commission $7m project in Iraq
[Long overdue refurbishment
of the
oil infrastructure. How long before it all gets blown up again? Not
that
Pracsi will mind, so long as they get the contract to build it up
again.]
* Iraq oil flows again
* Interfax: Gazprom, SIBUR win tender to
develop Iraqi gas field
* Factors Pushing Iraq on Surcharges
IRAQI
OPPOSITION
* Iraqi Exile Groups Wary of U.S., Each Other
[Usual conflicts as to who
best
represents the Iraqi opposition. Usual failure to make sense of the
divisions.
Includes reference to '1996, when the Clinton administration
abandoned
a CIA plan to support an invasion of central Iraq by Kurds in the
north.
Hussein's forces then invaded Kurdish areas with impunity.' We really
need a
coherent account of the events of 1995/6 in the Kudish autonomous
zone,
but it has to be constantly stressed that Hussein's forces entered at
the
invitation of the KDP because the whole area was about to be overrun by
the PUK
in alliance with Iran. And that the US was perfectly happy to see
the
Iranian invasion stopped by the only means possible - Iraqi
counter-attack
- despite the small detail of the number of US sympathisers
who got
killed as a result.]
* US drifts into chaos in Iraq [Nick Cohen
defends the INC but one wonders
why the
INC, unlike nearly every other substantial opposition group
throughout
the world (the IRA for example) is so hopelessly reliant on US
financial
support and so utterly unable to find its own sources of income.]
* US plans meetings with anti-Hussein Iraqi
group [The group in question is
the
so-called Group of Four. No-one is yet explaining to us why the KDP, PUK
and
SCIRI - 3 out of the 4 - are no longer connected to the INC. Or what is
left of
the INC without them. Or what the Iraqi National Accord is. Or why
the KDP
and PUK are publicly identified with this group which seems to want
war on
Iraq when their public position is still that they don't want war on
Iraq
...]
* U.S. plans for Iraq after Saddam [Money for
the 'Iraqi Jurists
Association'
and for the 'Iraqi National Movement', or is the INM another
name
for the Iraqi National Accord? One wonders what kind of creatures these
can be
who are prepared to accept money from the government that has
destroyed
the industrial infrastructure of their country and reduced
millions
of their fellow citizens to penury ...]
IRAQIS
OUTSIDE IRAQ
* Ethnic Kurd is not a refugee [Rather
confusing and intriguing account of
recent
Court of Appeal decision on refugee status of Kurd from the
Autonomous
Zone. He is not deemed to be at risk, even though the US is
planning
to use his homeland as a base to launch a new war against Iraq, and
even
though the KAZ's legally recognised government is still in Baghdad, and
the
Kurds cannot defend themselves against an Iraqi invasion and are being
given
no guarantee of any defense from anyone else (the patrolling of the No
Fly
Zones offers nothing as can be seen from the case of the Marsh Arabs in
the No
Fly Zone in the South). Nonetheless, the only available route of
return
to the KAZ is via Baghdad, and it is conceded that that that might be
dangerous.
But the British government has given him a guarantee that he
won't
be returned by that route (the only route available). So he's in no
danger.
So he isn't a refugee. Got it?]
* Immigrant plan assailed [US policy for
fingerprinting and keeping tabs on
immigrants
from the ever expanding axis of evil.]
URL
ONLY:
http://news.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=598222002
* 'They say we come here for a better life.
What better life?'
The
Scotsman, 3rd June
[Interesting
article on the life of asylum seekers in Glasgow, one of them
being a
Kurd from the Kurdish autonomous zone (who fled when his daughter
was
killed by a rival Kurdish group so he can't possibly be a genuine
refugee
since, as is well known, Kurds are perfectly safe in the Kurdish
autonomous
zone).]
REMNANTS
OF DECENCY
* UW student groups plan Albright protest
[Interesting anti-Albright
alliance
between Muslims and Latinos in the University of Washington.]
* MP berates Blair's leadership [Tam Dalyell
reminds us that: "Harold
Wilson,
alright he weaved and ducked, but he kept Britain out of the Vietnam
War."]
IRAQI/UN
RELATIONS
* UN appoints humanitarian official in Iraq
* Iraq 'has no terror weapons' [Denis Halliday
praises Boutros Boutros
Ghali above
Kofi Annan. And at last someone says what I believe is most
important
thing to say at the present time: "We have to reform the Security
Council.
At present it's an old boys' club of the world's major arms
traders."
But when he adds ""It needs a permanent voice from the developing
world,
and probably only one European Union member. So either France or the
UK
should go.", he seems to imply that the permanent member system should
remain.
It should be abolished. But if it remains and if one European power
has to
go then it should obviously be the UK, which isn't in any meaningful
sense a
European power.]
AND IN NEWS, 1-8/6/02 (3)
PROSPECTS
FOR WAR
* Bush Warns Cadets of Unprecedented Threats
[How is it that, after a
speech
like this, the world continues to treat the US as a respectable
member
of the family of nations? And that countries in difficulties, such as
India
and Pakistan, should accept the US as an international authority with
a right
to intervene diplomatically in their disputes? There is an answer to
that
question, constantly hammered home by the US and British
establishments:
'Might is right'.]
* Terror war must target 60 nations, says Bush
[This article adds the
dimension
that countries which tolerate the expression of anti-US sentiment
also
need to be sorted out. And it includes the following amusing
observation,
which could only surely be made in The Times: 'If the United
States
decides to make surprise strikes on other countries, it will mark a
big
change in strategy for the US military, which traditionally acts only in
self-defence.']
* Weighing an Attack on Iraq . . . [Fred Hiatt
eloquently lays out the
reasons
why US citizens can never sleep easy in their beds at night so long
as any
traces of evil remain in the world.]
* Pro-Arab policy is to give Iraqis a new
regime [Charles Duelfer, who was
pretending,
while he was vice chairman of UNSCOM, to be some sort of
politically
impartial technical expert, suggests that the Arab world will be
delighted
to see the installation of a US puppet government in Iraq so long
as it
resembles as closely as possible the existing Iraqi government, sans
Saddam,
who, it is well known, is the source of all the sufferings and
tension
in the region.]
* . . . We've Too Much at Stake to Risk It [A
further indication that its
becoming
possible once again in the US to murmur a few words of dissent.
Though
it has a rather naive attitude towards the US role in the world:
'Think
of America not as the playground bully but as the well-muscled
mild-mannered
good kid who finally hauls off and whacks the loudmouth
pipsqueak
who won't stop bugging him.' 'Well-muscled' is one way of putting
it.
Bristling with weapons of mass destruction is another.]
* Gephardt backs offensive against Iraq
[Democratic Party leader complains
that
Bush isn't tough enough.]
* US hawks embrace 'hot pre-emption' [A
strange argument from former
secretary
of State George Schulz which, if I've understood it aright, says
the War
against Terrorism is necessary to create strong states throughout
the
world. States have been weakened by globalisation and need to be
strengthened.
One example given is the Palestinians. The weakness, or
absence,
of a Palestinian state has allowed terrorism to flourish. The
conclusion
is, presumably, that the aim of Israeli policy in the West Bank
is to
create a strong Palestinian state (or is there something I haven't
understood??)]
* Dems Look for Policy Position on Iraq
* Hoon's talk of pre-emptive strikes could be
catastrophic [The clear
message
is that the UK and US are now willing to use nuclear weapons where
there
is no threat of nuclear retaliation. The clear lesson to be drawn is
that
all states should arm themselves with nuclear weapons if they do not
wish to
be reduced to the status of US/UK satraps.]
* The Bush doctrine makes nonsense of the UN
charter [This article could
almost
be read as a defense of the policy it is attacking and provides
enough
information to show that the UN Charter has already - long - been
reduced
to nonsense.]
* Cheney urges action on Iraq