STREETWARS
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Saturday, March 22, 2003
Friday, March 21, 2003
WAR ON IRAK
Spiegel: "Luftkrieg gegen den Irak hat begonnen"
Bagdad/Washington/London - Vertreter des Pentagon kündigten einen massiven Beschuss mit mehr als 3000 satellitengesteuerten Bomben an, der Teil der massiven "Schock-und-Einschüchterungs"-Luftkampagne sei.
CNN: Explosions hit Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A series of large explosions rocked Iraq's capital sending plumes of smoke and fire into the skies over Baghdad as the intense coalition air assault got underway.
Spiegel: "Luftkrieg gegen den Irak hat begonnen"
Bagdad/Washington/London - Vertreter des Pentagon kündigten einen massiven Beschuss mit mehr als 3000 satellitengesteuerten Bomben an, der Teil der massiven "Schock-und-Einschüchterungs"-Luftkampagne sei.
CNN: Explosions hit Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A series of large explosions rocked Iraq's capital sending plumes of smoke and fire into the skies over Baghdad as the intense coalition air assault got underway.
WAR ON IRAK: PROPAGANDA
Spiegel: Saddam, wir kommen
Nie zuvor gab es einen Krieg, in dem mit mehr Aufwand berichtet wurde, Live vom Panzer aus der Wüste und Nonstop. Aber was passiert da, wo keine Kamera läuft? Mehr als da, wo eigentlich nichts passiert? Die Welt erlebt den Live-Krieg, zu sehen bekommt sie wenig.
Mit ein wenig Zappen sieht er jede Minute, wie ihm der Gegner näher auf den Pelz rückt. Live-Bilder, aus voller Fahrt geschossen.
Wo genau die Truppen sich befinden, was sie tun, was sie erreichen, erfährt man aus dem Fernsehen nicht wirklich. Das Pentagon kontrolliert den Newsfluss: Die Korrespondenten erzählen, was man ihnen sagt, oder was sie aus dem örtlichen Fernsehen und über die ebenfalls vom Militär gebrieften Nachrichtenagenturen erfahren. Die so mächtige Medienmaschine schmort im eigenen Saft und hungert nach der Fütterung durch die Militärs. Das weltweite TV-Publikum sitzt derweil vor den ewig gleichen Endlosschlaufen von diffusen Bildern, die Einschläge in der Ferne zeigen, Mündungsfeuer im Dunkeln. Als Gruppen von Irakis sich zu Fuß über die endlos scheinende Ebene nähern, um sich zu ergeben, ist zum Glück das Kamerateam dabei. Sie filmen die Festnahme in Nahaufnahmen. Wir sind Zeugen.
Eigentlich ist das mager: Nie zuvor gab es einen Krieg, in dem mit mehr Aufwand so wenig berichtet wurde, dafür aber Live und Nonstop.
Live-Bilder von der Eroberung der Halbinsel Fau, der Stadt Umm Kasr? Fehlanzeige. Bilder vom Kampf um Basra? Dito. Wo sich was wehrt, läuft keine Live-Kamera. Bilder gibt's später, nachher, nach der Eroberung, nachdem der Cutter dran war. Perfekte Bilder, telegen.
Die Sender überbrücken die quälende, offensichtliche Lücke mit Szenen wie diesen:
Moderatorin an ihren Korrespondenten in Kuwait: "Können Sie uns sagen, wie Sie die Nacht verbracht haben?"
Korrespondent: "Wir haben versucht, endlich wieder einmal zu schlafen. Als die Sirenen heulten, war das nicht einfach. Jetzt kann ich berichten, dass alles wieder ruhig ist."
Oder:
Moderator an einen Korrespondeten im nördlichen Irak: "Haben Sie davon gehört, dass es im Laufe der Nacht Angriffe gegeben haben soll?"
Korrespondent: "Nein, davon habe ich nichts gehört."
Oder:
Moderator an Rüstungsexperten: "Können Sie uns mehr über die Ausrüstung dieser Truppe erzählen?"
Rüstungsexperte: "Einzelheiten kenne ich nicht, aber gerade die Marines sollen sehr gut ausgerüstet sein."
Moderator: "Danke für diese Informationen."
"Ende der Sechziger Jahre erlebten die USA die Macht der Medien mit voller Wucht. Bilder aus Vietnam, geschossen von Korrespondenten, die als wahre Frontschweine mit großem persönlichen Risiko den Krieg nach Hause brachten. An Amerikas Unis begann es zu brodeln, anfänglich kleine Demonstrationen wuchsen sich zu einer gegen den Krieg gerichteten Volksbewegung aus. Amerika, glauben bis heute die Falken im Pentagon, verlor den Krieg auch an der Heimatfront. "
"Der Qualität der Bilder tat das keinen Abbruch. Ölverschmierte Kormorane, made in Kanada, erlebten ihre virtuelle Umsiedlung nicht mehr. Sie waren seit Jahren tot, als die Bilder ihres Leidens als Beweis für eine vom Hussein-Regime verursachte Ölpest weltweit über die Bildschirme flimmerten. CNN-Reporter bestätigten live die
erst viel später widerlegte Mär von den intelligenten Bomben. Lügende Zeugen heizten die Stimmung weiter an, indem sie tränenüberströmt von Babymorden erzählten."
Die medial vermittelte Realität dieses elektronischen Kaspertheaters ist trügerisch. Rasen die Jeeps wirklich über die irakische Ebene? Feuern die Panzer scharf, oder wurden die Bilder vielleicht vor Wochen bei Übungen in Kuwait aufgenommen? Ducken sich die Soldaten mit ihren Gasmasken wirklich in die Gräben, weil Scuds anfliegen, oder für die Kameras? War es Glück, dass die Raketen fernab aller Ziele den Sand aufwühlten, oder wühlte da gar nichts
Immer wieder einmal sieht man ihre Action-Bilder auf dem Fernsehschirm: Die wirken merklich pixeliger, Handycam lässt grüßen. Ähnliche Bildqualitäten kennen P2P-Nutzer von den raubkopierten, hoch komprimierten Kinofilmen, die sie aus den Tauschbörsen ziehen. Kleine Dateien verschlechtern die Bildqualität, aber dann passen sie besser durch dünne Daten-Pipelines.
Wo endet NBC, wo beginnt das AVI-MPEG-TV von Army Incorporated?
"DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE"
Spiegel: Saddam, wir kommen
Nie zuvor gab es einen Krieg, in dem mit mehr Aufwand berichtet wurde, Live vom Panzer aus der Wüste und Nonstop. Aber was passiert da, wo keine Kamera läuft? Mehr als da, wo eigentlich nichts passiert? Die Welt erlebt den Live-Krieg, zu sehen bekommt sie wenig.
Mit ein wenig Zappen sieht er jede Minute, wie ihm der Gegner näher auf den Pelz rückt. Live-Bilder, aus voller Fahrt geschossen.
Wo genau die Truppen sich befinden, was sie tun, was sie erreichen, erfährt man aus dem Fernsehen nicht wirklich. Das Pentagon kontrolliert den Newsfluss: Die Korrespondenten erzählen, was man ihnen sagt, oder was sie aus dem örtlichen Fernsehen und über die ebenfalls vom Militär gebrieften Nachrichtenagenturen erfahren. Die so mächtige Medienmaschine schmort im eigenen Saft und hungert nach der Fütterung durch die Militärs. Das weltweite TV-Publikum sitzt derweil vor den ewig gleichen Endlosschlaufen von diffusen Bildern, die Einschläge in der Ferne zeigen, Mündungsfeuer im Dunkeln. Als Gruppen von Irakis sich zu Fuß über die endlos scheinende Ebene nähern, um sich zu ergeben, ist zum Glück das Kamerateam dabei. Sie filmen die Festnahme in Nahaufnahmen. Wir sind Zeugen.
Eigentlich ist das mager: Nie zuvor gab es einen Krieg, in dem mit mehr Aufwand so wenig berichtet wurde, dafür aber Live und Nonstop.
Live-Bilder von der Eroberung der Halbinsel Fau, der Stadt Umm Kasr? Fehlanzeige. Bilder vom Kampf um Basra? Dito. Wo sich was wehrt, läuft keine Live-Kamera. Bilder gibt's später, nachher, nach der Eroberung, nachdem der Cutter dran war. Perfekte Bilder, telegen.
Die Sender überbrücken die quälende, offensichtliche Lücke mit Szenen wie diesen:
Moderatorin an ihren Korrespondenten in Kuwait: "Können Sie uns sagen, wie Sie die Nacht verbracht haben?"
Korrespondent: "Wir haben versucht, endlich wieder einmal zu schlafen. Als die Sirenen heulten, war das nicht einfach. Jetzt kann ich berichten, dass alles wieder ruhig ist."
Oder:
Moderator an einen Korrespondeten im nördlichen Irak: "Haben Sie davon gehört, dass es im Laufe der Nacht Angriffe gegeben haben soll?"
Korrespondent: "Nein, davon habe ich nichts gehört."
Oder:
Moderator an Rüstungsexperten: "Können Sie uns mehr über die Ausrüstung dieser Truppe erzählen?"
Rüstungsexperte: "Einzelheiten kenne ich nicht, aber gerade die Marines sollen sehr gut ausgerüstet sein."
Moderator: "Danke für diese Informationen."
"Ende der Sechziger Jahre erlebten die USA die Macht der Medien mit voller Wucht. Bilder aus Vietnam, geschossen von Korrespondenten, die als wahre Frontschweine mit großem persönlichen Risiko den Krieg nach Hause brachten. An Amerikas Unis begann es zu brodeln, anfänglich kleine Demonstrationen wuchsen sich zu einer gegen den Krieg gerichteten Volksbewegung aus. Amerika, glauben bis heute die Falken im Pentagon, verlor den Krieg auch an der Heimatfront. "
"Der Qualität der Bilder tat das keinen Abbruch. Ölverschmierte Kormorane, made in Kanada, erlebten ihre virtuelle Umsiedlung nicht mehr. Sie waren seit Jahren tot, als die Bilder ihres Leidens als Beweis für eine vom Hussein-Regime verursachte Ölpest weltweit über die Bildschirme flimmerten. CNN-Reporter bestätigten live die
erst viel später widerlegte Mär von den intelligenten Bomben. Lügende Zeugen heizten die Stimmung weiter an, indem sie tränenüberströmt von Babymorden erzählten."
Die medial vermittelte Realität dieses elektronischen Kaspertheaters ist trügerisch. Rasen die Jeeps wirklich über die irakische Ebene? Feuern die Panzer scharf, oder wurden die Bilder vielleicht vor Wochen bei Übungen in Kuwait aufgenommen? Ducken sich die Soldaten mit ihren Gasmasken wirklich in die Gräben, weil Scuds anfliegen, oder für die Kameras? War es Glück, dass die Raketen fernab aller Ziele den Sand aufwühlten, oder wühlte da gar nichts
Immer wieder einmal sieht man ihre Action-Bilder auf dem Fernsehschirm: Die wirken merklich pixeliger, Handycam lässt grüßen. Ähnliche Bildqualitäten kennen P2P-Nutzer von den raubkopierten, hoch komprimierten Kinofilmen, die sie aus den Tauschbörsen ziehen. Kleine Dateien verschlechtern die Bildqualität, aber dann passen sie besser durch dünne Daten-Pipelines.
Wo endet NBC, wo beginnt das AVI-MPEG-TV von Army Incorporated?
"DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE"
WAR ON IRAK
Independent: Bubbles of fire tore into the sky above Baghdad Robert Fisk in Baghdad
It was like a door slamming deep beneath the surface of the earth; a pulsating, minute-long roar of sound that brought President George Bush's supposed crusade against "terrorism" to Baghdad last night.
There was a thrashing of tracer on the horizon from the Baghdad air defences – the Second World War-era firepower of old Soviet anti-aircraft guns – and then a series of tremendous vibrations that had the ground shaking under our feet. Bubbles of fire tore into the sky around the Iraqi capital, dark red at the base, golden at the top.
Saddam Hussein, of course, has vowed to fight to the end but in Baghdad last night, there was a truly Valhalla quality about the violence. Within minutes, looking out across the Tigris river I could see pin-pricks of fire as bombs and cruise missiles exploded on to Iraq's military and communications centres and, no doubt, upon the innocent as well.
That this is the start of something that will change the face of the Middle East is in little doubt; that it will be successful in the long term is quite another matter.
The sheer violence of it, the howl of air raid sirens and the air-cutting fall of the missiles carried its own political message; not just to President Saddam but to the rest of the world. We are the super-power, those explosions said last night. This is how we do business. This is how we take our revenge for 11 September.
Independent: Bubbles of fire tore into the sky above Baghdad Robert Fisk in Baghdad
It was like a door slamming deep beneath the surface of the earth; a pulsating, minute-long roar of sound that brought President George Bush's supposed crusade against "terrorism" to Baghdad last night.
There was a thrashing of tracer on the horizon from the Baghdad air defences – the Second World War-era firepower of old Soviet anti-aircraft guns – and then a series of tremendous vibrations that had the ground shaking under our feet. Bubbles of fire tore into the sky around the Iraqi capital, dark red at the base, golden at the top.
Saddam Hussein, of course, has vowed to fight to the end but in Baghdad last night, there was a truly Valhalla quality about the violence. Within minutes, looking out across the Tigris river I could see pin-pricks of fire as bombs and cruise missiles exploded on to Iraq's military and communications centres and, no doubt, upon the innocent as well.
That this is the start of something that will change the face of the Middle East is in little doubt; that it will be successful in the long term is quite another matter.
The sheer violence of it, the howl of air raid sirens and the air-cutting fall of the missiles carried its own political message; not just to President Saddam but to the rest of the world. We are the super-power, those explosions said last night. This is how we do business. This is how we take our revenge for 11 September.
WAR ON IRAK
Guardian: Thank God For The Death Of The UN by Richard Perle
Its abject failure gave us only anarchy. The world needs order.
Saddam Hussein's reign of terror is about to end. He will go quickly, but not alone: in a parting irony, he will take the UN down with him. Well, not the whole UN. The "good works" part will survive, the low-risk peacekeeping bureaucracies will remain, the chatterbox on the Hudson will continue to bleat. What will die is the fantasy of the UN as the foundation of a new world order. As we sift the debris, it will be important to preserve, the better to understand, the intellectual wreckage of the liberal conceit of safety through international law administered by international institutions.
As free Iraqis document the quarter-century nightmare of Saddam's rule, let us not forget who held that the moral authority of the international community was enshrined in a plea for more time for inspectors, and who marched against "regime change". In the spirit of postwar reconciliation that diplomats are always eager to engender, we must not reconcile the timid, blighted notion that world order requires us to recoil before rogue states that terrorise their own citizens and menace ours.
A few days ago, Shirley Williams argued on television against a coalition of the willing using force to liberate Iraq. Decent, thoughtful and high-minded, she must surely have been moved into opposition by an argument so convincing that it overpowered the obvious moral case for removing Saddam's regime. For Lady Williams (and many others), the thumb on the scale of judgment about this war is the idea that only the UN security council can legitimise the use of force. It matters not if troops are used only to enforce the UN's own demands. A willing coalition of liberal democracies isn't good enough. If any institution or coalition other than the UN security council uses force, even as a last resort, "anarchy", rather than international law, would prevail, destroying any hope for world order.
This is a dangerously wrong idea that leads inexorably to handing great moral and even existential politico-military decisions, to the likes of Syria, Cameroon, Angola, Russia, China and France. When challenged with the argument that if a policy is right with the approbation of the security council, how can it be wrong just because communist China or Russia or France or a gaggle of minor dictatorships withhold their assent, she fell back on the primacy of "order" versus "anarchy".
Rense: Expatriate Richard Perle by Kurt Nimmo
Richard Perle is a traitor. There's no other way to put it."
Seymour Hersh is a rarity in America these days -- an investigative journalist.
"Hersh is not a nice man in the Washington sense," writes Eric Alterman of Salon, "he does not know how to make small talk, flatter his bosses, spin his defeats and conceal his fierce competitiveness. He is simply the best investigative reporter alive and expects his work to speak for itself."
Because Hersh does what he does so well, the chicken hawk Richard Perle called him a terrorist on CNN the other day.
That's right. Perle equated Hersh with Osama bin Laden and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. "Sy Hersh is the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist," Perle told Wolf Blitzer.
Perle slandered Hersh because the award winning journalist wrote in the March 17th issue of the New Yorker: "There is no question that Perle believes that removing Saddam from power is the right thing to do. At the same time, he has set up a company that may gain from a war."
Maybe one day Richard Perle will be prosecuted for his crimes. For now he is allowed to bend the ear of George W. Bush and prod the half-wit dictator into destroying America.
When Perle was working for Senator Scoop Jackson, he was investigated by the Justice Department and found to have violated US policies relating to unlawful transmission of sensitive classified US information to Israel.
"An FBI summary of a 1970 wiretap recorded Perle discussing classified information with someone at the Israeli embassy," writes Paul Findley (They Dare To Speak Out, Chicago, Ill, Lawrence Hill Books 1989)."He came under fire in 1983 when newspapers reported he received substantial payments to represent the interests of an Israeli weapons company. Perle denied conflict of interest, insisting that, although he received payment for these services after he had assumed his position in the Defense Department, he was between government jobs when he worked for the Israeli firm."
In other words, Richard Perle is an Israeli spy.
Ny Sun: Perle Sues Hersh Over New Yorker Article
WASHINGTON -- Richard Perle, the influential foreign policy hawk, is suing journalist Seymour Hersh over an article he wrote implying that Mr. Perle is using his position as a Pentagon adviser to benefit financially from a war to liberate Iraq.
Mr. Hersh's article, which appears in the March 17 issue of the The New Yorker magazine, said Mr. Perle met for lunch with two Saudi businessman in France in January in an attempt to seek Saudi investment for a company Mr. Perle is associated with, Trireme Partners L.P.
Trireme was created to "invest in companies dealing in technology, goods, and services that are of value to homeland security and defense," according to Mr. Hershís article.
Mr. Hersh writes that Mr. Perle said that the meeting was convened only to talk about a diplomatic alternative to war in Iraq. One of the meeting's participants, Harb Saleh Al-Suhair, a Saudi born in Iraq, wanted to discuss averting war with Mr. Perle. But according to the article, both Saudi businessmen - Mr. Al-Suhair and Adnan Kashoggi - thought the purpose of the meeting was to discuss Iraq as well as Saudi investment in Trireme.
But the article quotes all three participants saying that Saudi investment in Trireme was not discussed at the lunch, because, as Mr. Al-Zuhair says, Mr. Perle said "he was above the money" and that he "stuck to his idea that 'we have to get rid of Saddam.'" And to this day, according to the article, no Saudi money has been invested in Trireme.
When asked what part of the article is incorrect, Mr. Perle told the Sun: "It's all lies, from beginning to end."
The editor of The New Yorker, David Remnick, is sticking by Mr. Hersh's piece.
"It went through serious reporting, with four members of the board talking to Sy [Hersh], and rigorous fact-checking, legal-checking and all the rest," Mr. Remnick told the Sun.
Guardian: Thank God For The Death Of The UN by Richard Perle
Its abject failure gave us only anarchy. The world needs order.
Saddam Hussein's reign of terror is about to end. He will go quickly, but not alone: in a parting irony, he will take the UN down with him. Well, not the whole UN. The "good works" part will survive, the low-risk peacekeeping bureaucracies will remain, the chatterbox on the Hudson will continue to bleat. What will die is the fantasy of the UN as the foundation of a new world order. As we sift the debris, it will be important to preserve, the better to understand, the intellectual wreckage of the liberal conceit of safety through international law administered by international institutions.
As free Iraqis document the quarter-century nightmare of Saddam's rule, let us not forget who held that the moral authority of the international community was enshrined in a plea for more time for inspectors, and who marched against "regime change". In the spirit of postwar reconciliation that diplomats are always eager to engender, we must not reconcile the timid, blighted notion that world order requires us to recoil before rogue states that terrorise their own citizens and menace ours.
A few days ago, Shirley Williams argued on television against a coalition of the willing using force to liberate Iraq. Decent, thoughtful and high-minded, she must surely have been moved into opposition by an argument so convincing that it overpowered the obvious moral case for removing Saddam's regime. For Lady Williams (and many others), the thumb on the scale of judgment about this war is the idea that only the UN security council can legitimise the use of force. It matters not if troops are used only to enforce the UN's own demands. A willing coalition of liberal democracies isn't good enough. If any institution or coalition other than the UN security council uses force, even as a last resort, "anarchy", rather than international law, would prevail, destroying any hope for world order.
This is a dangerously wrong idea that leads inexorably to handing great moral and even existential politico-military decisions, to the likes of Syria, Cameroon, Angola, Russia, China and France. When challenged with the argument that if a policy is right with the approbation of the security council, how can it be wrong just because communist China or Russia or France or a gaggle of minor dictatorships withhold their assent, she fell back on the primacy of "order" versus "anarchy".
Rense: Expatriate Richard Perle by Kurt Nimmo
Richard Perle is a traitor. There's no other way to put it."
Seymour Hersh is a rarity in America these days -- an investigative journalist.
"Hersh is not a nice man in the Washington sense," writes Eric Alterman of Salon, "he does not know how to make small talk, flatter his bosses, spin his defeats and conceal his fierce competitiveness. He is simply the best investigative reporter alive and expects his work to speak for itself."
Because Hersh does what he does so well, the chicken hawk Richard Perle called him a terrorist on CNN the other day.
That's right. Perle equated Hersh with Osama bin Laden and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. "Sy Hersh is the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist," Perle told Wolf Blitzer.
Perle slandered Hersh because the award winning journalist wrote in the March 17th issue of the New Yorker: "There is no question that Perle believes that removing Saddam from power is the right thing to do. At the same time, he has set up a company that may gain from a war."
Maybe one day Richard Perle will be prosecuted for his crimes. For now he is allowed to bend the ear of George W. Bush and prod the half-wit dictator into destroying America.
When Perle was working for Senator Scoop Jackson, he was investigated by the Justice Department and found to have violated US policies relating to unlawful transmission of sensitive classified US information to Israel.
"An FBI summary of a 1970 wiretap recorded Perle discussing classified information with someone at the Israeli embassy," writes Paul Findley (They Dare To Speak Out, Chicago, Ill, Lawrence Hill Books 1989)."He came under fire in 1983 when newspapers reported he received substantial payments to represent the interests of an Israeli weapons company. Perle denied conflict of interest, insisting that, although he received payment for these services after he had assumed his position in the Defense Department, he was between government jobs when he worked for the Israeli firm."
In other words, Richard Perle is an Israeli spy.
Ny Sun: Perle Sues Hersh Over New Yorker Article
WASHINGTON -- Richard Perle, the influential foreign policy hawk, is suing journalist Seymour Hersh over an article he wrote implying that Mr. Perle is using his position as a Pentagon adviser to benefit financially from a war to liberate Iraq.
Mr. Hersh's article, which appears in the March 17 issue of the The New Yorker magazine, said Mr. Perle met for lunch with two Saudi businessman in France in January in an attempt to seek Saudi investment for a company Mr. Perle is associated with, Trireme Partners L.P.
Trireme was created to "invest in companies dealing in technology, goods, and services that are of value to homeland security and defense," according to Mr. Hershís article.
Mr. Hersh writes that Mr. Perle said that the meeting was convened only to talk about a diplomatic alternative to war in Iraq. One of the meeting's participants, Harb Saleh Al-Suhair, a Saudi born in Iraq, wanted to discuss averting war with Mr. Perle. But according to the article, both Saudi businessmen - Mr. Al-Suhair and Adnan Kashoggi - thought the purpose of the meeting was to discuss Iraq as well as Saudi investment in Trireme.
But the article quotes all three participants saying that Saudi investment in Trireme was not discussed at the lunch, because, as Mr. Al-Zuhair says, Mr. Perle said "he was above the money" and that he "stuck to his idea that 'we have to get rid of Saddam.'" And to this day, according to the article, no Saudi money has been invested in Trireme.
When asked what part of the article is incorrect, Mr. Perle told the Sun: "It's all lies, from beginning to end."
The editor of The New Yorker, David Remnick, is sticking by Mr. Hersh's piece.
"It went through serious reporting, with four members of the board talking to Sy [Hersh], and rigorous fact-checking, legal-checking and all the rest," Mr. Remnick told the Sun.
WAR ON IRAK: ISRAEL
News.com: Israel warns Web sites on war coverage
Israel's top government censor has warned Web sites in her country not to publish sensitive information about the war with Iraq
Chief Censor Rachel Dolev sent a letter on Wednesday to "scoop" news sites, instructing editors to seek government permission before publishing information about "materials that could pose a threat to the security of the State of Israel and its residents
Chief Censor Rachel Dolev sent a letter on Wednesday to "scoop" news sites, instructing editors to seek government permission before publishing information about "materials that could pose a threat to the security of the State of Israel and its residents."
Dolev's letter warned the sites, including Rotter.net and Fresh.co.il, not to publish the locations of any missile strikes, information about Israeli Cabinet deliberations or information about Israeli wartime cooperation with other governments such as that of the United States.
News.com: Israel warns Web sites on war coverage
Israel's top government censor has warned Web sites in her country not to publish sensitive information about the war with Iraq
Chief Censor Rachel Dolev sent a letter on Wednesday to "scoop" news sites, instructing editors to seek government permission before publishing information about "materials that could pose a threat to the security of the State of Israel and its residents
Chief Censor Rachel Dolev sent a letter on Wednesday to "scoop" news sites, instructing editors to seek government permission before publishing information about "materials that could pose a threat to the security of the State of Israel and its residents."
Dolev's letter warned the sites, including Rotter.net and Fresh.co.il, not to publish the locations of any missile strikes, information about Israeli Cabinet deliberations or information about Israeli wartime cooperation with other governments such as that of the United States.
WORLD WIDE PROTESTS
AP: Arab World Erupts in Fury Over Iraq Attack
Thursday 20 March 2003
CAIRO, Egypt –– Hundreds of thousands of people marched on American embassies in world capitals Thursday to protest the war against Iraq, including a violent clash in Cairo, where demonstrators hurled stones and metal barricades and pounded on cars. Riot police in the Egyptian capital used water cannons to keep about 1,000 stone-throwing demonstrators, mainly students from the American University in Cairo, from reaching the U.S. Embassy.
Violence also erupted in Manila, Philippines. Police used shields and truncheons to disperse about 300 anti-war activists trying to approach the U.S. Embassy, injuring at least 12 demonstrators, protest leaders said.
More than 15,000 protesters marched through Dhaka, Bangladesh, chanting anti-U.S. slogans and burning American and British flags. Bangladesh's leftist forces joined hands with Islamic demonstrators.
AP: Arab World Erupts in Fury Over Iraq Attack
Thursday 20 March 2003
CAIRO, Egypt –– Hundreds of thousands of people marched on American embassies in world capitals Thursday to protest the war against Iraq, including a violent clash in Cairo, where demonstrators hurled stones and metal barricades and pounded on cars. Riot police in the Egyptian capital used water cannons to keep about 1,000 stone-throwing demonstrators, mainly students from the American University in Cairo, from reaching the U.S. Embassy.
Violence also erupted in Manila, Philippines. Police used shields and truncheons to disperse about 300 anti-war activists trying to approach the U.S. Embassy, injuring at least 12 demonstrators, protest leaders said.
More than 15,000 protesters marched through Dhaka, Bangladesh, chanting anti-U.S. slogans and burning American and British flags. Bangladesh's leftist forces joined hands with Islamic demonstrators.
WAR ON IRAK
Haaretz: Hamas urges Iraqi suicide attackson U.S. troops
The militant Islamic group Hamas urged Iraqis on Friday to carry out suicide bombings against invading U.S. and British forces in Iraq. "Iraqis should prepare explosive belts and would-be martyrs (suicide bombers) to combat the U.S. occupiers," senior Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantissi told Reuters in the Gaza Strip.
"The American aggressors, the American invaders are now on Iraqi soil, therefore, Iraqis must confront them with all possible means, including martyrdom (suicide) operations," Rantissi said.
Haaretz: Hamas urges Iraqi suicide attackson U.S. troops
The militant Islamic group Hamas urged Iraqis on Friday to carry out suicide bombings against invading U.S. and British forces in Iraq. "Iraqis should prepare explosive belts and would-be martyrs (suicide bombers) to combat the U.S. occupiers," senior Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantissi told Reuters in the Gaza Strip.
"The American aggressors, the American invaders are now on Iraqi soil, therefore, Iraqis must confront them with all possible means, including martyrdom (suicide) operations," Rantissi said.
WAR ON IRAK
Ny Times: U.S. Troops Open Ground Attack
Independent: Troops to enter Baghdad in '3 or 4 days'
Spiegel: Schlacht um Basra
Die Alliierten haben mit ihrem Vormarsch auf die südirakische Großstadt Basra begonnen. Sie stoßen offenbar auf zum Teil erheblichen Widerstand, doch die britischen und amerikanischen Truppen wollen bereits Boden gut gemacht haben. Basra ist wegen seiner Hafenanlagen und Ölfelder strategisch sehr wichtig
Spiegel: Amerikaner schicken B-52-Bomber los
Die Bodenoffensive im Irak ist im vollen Gange. Amerikanische Truppen sollen bereits den halben Weg nach Bagdad zurückgelegt haben. Inzwischen sind auch B-52-Bomber auf dem Weg aus Großbritannien in den Irak. Laut CNN soll heute morgen zum ersten Mal in diesem Krieg ein US-Soldat im Gefecht getötet worden sein.
CNN: Allied troops control Iraq's only coast
Ny Times: U.S. Troops Open Ground Attack
Independent: Troops to enter Baghdad in '3 or 4 days'
Spiegel: Schlacht um Basra
Die Alliierten haben mit ihrem Vormarsch auf die südirakische Großstadt Basra begonnen. Sie stoßen offenbar auf zum Teil erheblichen Widerstand, doch die britischen und amerikanischen Truppen wollen bereits Boden gut gemacht haben. Basra ist wegen seiner Hafenanlagen und Ölfelder strategisch sehr wichtig
Spiegel: Amerikaner schicken B-52-Bomber los
Die Bodenoffensive im Irak ist im vollen Gange. Amerikanische Truppen sollen bereits den halben Weg nach Bagdad zurückgelegt haben. Inzwischen sind auch B-52-Bomber auf dem Weg aus Großbritannien in den Irak. Laut CNN soll heute morgen zum ersten Mal in diesem Krieg ein US-Soldat im Gefecht getötet worden sein.
CNN: Allied troops control Iraq's only coast
WORLD WIDE PROTESTS
check: Indymedia
AP: By Associated Press, 3/21/2003 00:47
MONTREAL (AP) Fans booed during the playing of the U.S. national anthem before the New York Islanders' 6-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.
The sellout crowd of 21,273 at Bell Centre was asked to ''show your support and respect for two great nations'' before the singing of the American and Canadian national anthems.
But a significant portion of the crowd booed throughout ''The Star-Spangled Banner'' in an apparent display of their displeasure with the U.S.-led war against Iraq. More than 200,000 people turned out for an anti-war demonstration in Montreal last Saturday.
''I'm sure there are a lot of people against the war, but some things people can't control,'' said New York's Alexei Yashin, who is from Russia. ''They were probably showing what they feel about it.''
SF:
the sf.indymedia.org website is down while over 1000 people there have been arrested.
A crackdown on dissent results in over 1000 arrests, the most in the city in 22 years.
The San Francisco Indymedia website is offline at 10:10 PM Pacific Time, March 20th.
Other actions and arrests occur throughout the world.
Los Angeles:
Use of Force Against Anti-War Protest Investigated
Larry Wheeler
KTLA-TV Newswriter
March 20, 2003, 7:00 AM PST
WESTWOOD -- About 40 demonstrators have been taken into custody for blocking Wilshire Boulevard.
According to Los Angeles Police, 500 people took part in the protest at one point.
The protestors were mainly high school and college students, who marched along Wilshire Boulevard from Brentwood about 1:00 p.m. (PST) Wednesday.
Officers had to use batons on a few people to keep the street clear, near the Federal Building. The police department has launched an investigation to see if excessive force was used, a claim made by some of the students.
By 10:00 p.m. (PST) Wednesday about 180 protestors, remained and no further arrests had been made.
Tagesanzeiger: Empörung über den Irak-Krieg
Die Kommentatoren der Schweizer Zeitungen kritisieren den von der Uno nicht mandatierten US-Angriff auf Irak mit teilweise scharfen Formulierungen. Die Hegemonialmacht schaffe mehr Unsicherheit in der Welt, lautet der Tenor.
Tagesanzeiger: US-Polizei verhaftet Kriegsgegner
Bei Anti-Kriegs-Protesten hat die Polizei in der US-Metropole San Francisco mehr als 1300 Menschen festgenommen
Guardian: Thousands take to the streets in protest as war begins
Ny Times: Protesters Across the Nation Try to 'Stop Business as Usual'
check: Indymedia
AP: By Associated Press, 3/21/2003 00:47
MONTREAL (AP) Fans booed during the playing of the U.S. national anthem before the New York Islanders' 6-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.
The sellout crowd of 21,273 at Bell Centre was asked to ''show your support and respect for two great nations'' before the singing of the American and Canadian national anthems.
But a significant portion of the crowd booed throughout ''The Star-Spangled Banner'' in an apparent display of their displeasure with the U.S.-led war against Iraq. More than 200,000 people turned out for an anti-war demonstration in Montreal last Saturday.
''I'm sure there are a lot of people against the war, but some things people can't control,'' said New York's Alexei Yashin, who is from Russia. ''They were probably showing what they feel about it.''
SF:
the sf.indymedia.org website is down while over 1000 people there have been arrested.
A crackdown on dissent results in over 1000 arrests, the most in the city in 22 years.
The San Francisco Indymedia website is offline at 10:10 PM Pacific Time, March 20th.
Other actions and arrests occur throughout the world.
Los Angeles:
Use of Force Against Anti-War Protest Investigated
Larry Wheeler
KTLA-TV Newswriter
March 20, 2003, 7:00 AM PST
WESTWOOD -- About 40 demonstrators have been taken into custody for blocking Wilshire Boulevard.
According to Los Angeles Police, 500 people took part in the protest at one point.
The protestors were mainly high school and college students, who marched along Wilshire Boulevard from Brentwood about 1:00 p.m. (PST) Wednesday.
Officers had to use batons on a few people to keep the street clear, near the Federal Building. The police department has launched an investigation to see if excessive force was used, a claim made by some of the students.
By 10:00 p.m. (PST) Wednesday about 180 protestors, remained and no further arrests had been made.
Tagesanzeiger: Empörung über den Irak-Krieg
Die Kommentatoren der Schweizer Zeitungen kritisieren den von der Uno nicht mandatierten US-Angriff auf Irak mit teilweise scharfen Formulierungen. Die Hegemonialmacht schaffe mehr Unsicherheit in der Welt, lautet der Tenor.
Tagesanzeiger: US-Polizei verhaftet Kriegsgegner
Bei Anti-Kriegs-Protesten hat die Polizei in der US-Metropole San Francisco mehr als 1300 Menschen festgenommen
Guardian: Thousands take to the streets in protest as war begins
Ny Times: Protesters Across the Nation Try to 'Stop Business as Usual'
WAR ON IRAK: PROPAGANDA
Spiegel: Geheimdienst spekuliert über Volltreffer auf Saddam
Wunsch oder Wirklichkeit? Der US-Geheimdienst ist nach eigenen Angaben der Ansicht, dass Saddam Hussein und zwei seiner Söhne beim ersten Bombenangriff in der Nacht zu Donnerstag getroffen worden sein könnten. Kurze Zeit nach dem Angriff wollen sie einen Anruf abgehört haben, in dem ein Arzt für Saddam bestellt wurde.
"Der Infowar ist in vollem Gange. Tariq Aziz ist Tod und dann wieder nicht. Regierungstruppen haben aufgegeben und dann wieder nicht. Ölfelder brennen oder auch nicht und dämliche CNN Reporten hüpfen mit ihren Hi-Tek Masken in der Wüste rum und erzählen von Giftgasangriffen während im Hintergrund Kinder spielen"
Spiegel: Geheimdienst spekuliert über Volltreffer auf Saddam
Wunsch oder Wirklichkeit? Der US-Geheimdienst ist nach eigenen Angaben der Ansicht, dass Saddam Hussein und zwei seiner Söhne beim ersten Bombenangriff in der Nacht zu Donnerstag getroffen worden sein könnten. Kurze Zeit nach dem Angriff wollen sie einen Anruf abgehört haben, in dem ein Arzt für Saddam bestellt wurde.
"Der Infowar ist in vollem Gange. Tariq Aziz ist Tod und dann wieder nicht. Regierungstruppen haben aufgegeben und dann wieder nicht. Ölfelder brennen oder auch nicht und dämliche CNN Reporten hüpfen mit ihren Hi-Tek Masken in der Wüste rum und erzählen von Giftgasangriffen während im Hintergrund Kinder spielen"
WAR ON TERROR
Spiegel: Rizin-Spuren in Pariser Bahnhof entdeckt
Nach dem Angriff auf den Irak warnen die Behörden der westlichen Welt vor einer erhöhten Terrorgefahr. Im Pariser Bahnhof "Gare de Lyon" wurden Spuren des hochgiftigen Rizin gefunden. Ob der Fund mit einem terroristischen Anschlag in Zusammenhang steht, ist unklar.
Spiegel: Rizin-Spuren in Pariser Bahnhof entdeckt
Nach dem Angriff auf den Irak warnen die Behörden der westlichen Welt vor einer erhöhten Terrorgefahr. Im Pariser Bahnhof "Gare de Lyon" wurden Spuren des hochgiftigen Rizin gefunden. Ob der Fund mit einem terroristischen Anschlag in Zusammenhang steht, ist unklar.
Thursday, March 20, 2003
WAR ON IRAK
Spiegel: Bodenoffensive hat begonnen
Die alliierten Truppen haben offenbar mit der Invasion des Irak begonnen. Die US-Streitkräfte bestätigten, dass der Süden des Irak mit Artillerie und Kampfhubschraubern unter Beschuss genommen wurde.
Kuweit - Bei dem Angriff der 3. Infanteriedivision wurden Haubitzen und Raketensysteme mit Mehrfachsprengköpfen eingesetzt. Das teilte der US-Generalmajor Bufourd Blount mit, der die erste Phase der Bodenoffensive bestätigte.
Der US-Nachrichtensender Fox News meldete zugleich weitere Luftangriffe der USA und Attacken von Kampfhubschraubern im südlichen Irak. Die "New York Times" berichtet, US-Marinesoldaten seien in erste Kämpfe mit irakischen Truppen verwickelt worden. Amerikanische Panzer sollen demnach zwei irakische gepanzerte Truppentransporter zerstört haben.
Independent: US begins artillery barrage
US troops have launched an artillery barrage in what appears to be the first stage of the ground war in Iraq.
The US 3rd Infantry Division's artillery opened fire on Iraqi troops with Paladin self-propelled howitzers and multiple launch rocket systems shortly before 1700 GMT.
US Attack helicopters could also be heard apparently joining the battle.
Earlier, Donald Rumsfeld confirmed that Iraqi soldiers have set light to "three or four" oilfields near Basra.
I have seen indications and reports that the Iraqi regime may have set fire to as many as three or four of the oil wells in the south" said the US Defence Secretary.
NY Times: Border Fight Follows Iraq Firing Missiles at G.I.'s in Kuwait
March 20 — The first reported combat engagement of the United States war with Iraq occurred at 3:57 p.m. local time today, when a patrol of light armored vehicles from the Marine First Division encountered two Iraqi armored personnel carriers south of the border with Iraq.
The armored vehicles, called LAV-25's, engaged and destroyed the armored personnel carriers using 25-millimeter chain guns, a type of machine gun, and TOW guided missiles.
Earlier, Iraq fired four missiles toward American military bases in Kuwait. A Patriot battery shot down two, and another landed in the desert. Air sirens rang out and the American troops climbed into protective suits and put on gas masks.
The attacks followed an order by President Bush on Wednesday night to start the war. American forces poised on the country's southern border and at sea began strikes to disarm the country, including an apparently unsuccessful attempt to kill Saddam Hussein.
Spiegel: Bodenoffensive hat begonnen
Die alliierten Truppen haben offenbar mit der Invasion des Irak begonnen. Die US-Streitkräfte bestätigten, dass der Süden des Irak mit Artillerie und Kampfhubschraubern unter Beschuss genommen wurde.
Kuweit - Bei dem Angriff der 3. Infanteriedivision wurden Haubitzen und Raketensysteme mit Mehrfachsprengköpfen eingesetzt. Das teilte der US-Generalmajor Bufourd Blount mit, der die erste Phase der Bodenoffensive bestätigte.
Der US-Nachrichtensender Fox News meldete zugleich weitere Luftangriffe der USA und Attacken von Kampfhubschraubern im südlichen Irak. Die "New York Times" berichtet, US-Marinesoldaten seien in erste Kämpfe mit irakischen Truppen verwickelt worden. Amerikanische Panzer sollen demnach zwei irakische gepanzerte Truppentransporter zerstört haben.
Independent: US begins artillery barrage
US troops have launched an artillery barrage in what appears to be the first stage of the ground war in Iraq.
The US 3rd Infantry Division's artillery opened fire on Iraqi troops with Paladin self-propelled howitzers and multiple launch rocket systems shortly before 1700 GMT.
US Attack helicopters could also be heard apparently joining the battle.
Earlier, Donald Rumsfeld confirmed that Iraqi soldiers have set light to "three or four" oilfields near Basra.
I have seen indications and reports that the Iraqi regime may have set fire to as many as three or four of the oil wells in the south" said the US Defence Secretary.
NY Times: Border Fight Follows Iraq Firing Missiles at G.I.'s in Kuwait
March 20 — The first reported combat engagement of the United States war with Iraq occurred at 3:57 p.m. local time today, when a patrol of light armored vehicles from the Marine First Division encountered two Iraqi armored personnel carriers south of the border with Iraq.
The armored vehicles, called LAV-25's, engaged and destroyed the armored personnel carriers using 25-millimeter chain guns, a type of machine gun, and TOW guided missiles.
Earlier, Iraq fired four missiles toward American military bases in Kuwait. A Patriot battery shot down two, and another landed in the desert. Air sirens rang out and the American troops climbed into protective suits and put on gas masks.
The attacks followed an order by President Bush on Wednesday night to start the war. American forces poised on the country's southern border and at sea began strikes to disarm the country, including an apparently unsuccessful attempt to kill Saddam Hussein.
WAR ON IRAK
Spiegel: Rumsfeld berichtet von brennenden Ölquellen
Drei bis vier Ölquellen im Süden des Irak sind nach Angaben von US-Verteidigungsminister Donald Rumsfeld möglicherweise von Saddams Truppen in Brand gesetzt worden. Entsprechende Berichte habe er soeben erhalten, sagte Rumsfeld.
Washington - Laut Rumsfeld gebe es Hinweise, dass die Iraker drei bis vier Ölquellen nahe der Stadt Basra im Süden des Irak in Brand gesetzt hätten. Iraks Ölminister Amir Muhammed dementierte diese Berichte.
CNN: U.S.: Strikes to pave way for full-fledged attack
Seven aircraft performing missions from the USS Abraham Lincoln dropped bombs Thursday over Iraq aimed at targets U.S. officials deem to be a threat, military officials said, adding that attacks would continue throughout the day.
The Red Cross reported that one person was killed and 14 people were injured in the strikes.
• The Turkish parliament voted Thursday to let U.S. warplanes use its airspace to launch strikes against Iraq and to allow the Turkish military to enter northern Iraq
• U.S. military officials confirm there are oil wells burning in southern Iraq near the Kuwaiti border, CNN has learned. Rumsfeld said the Pentagon had reports that Iraqi forces had set "as many as three or four" oil wells ablaze in the southern part of the country in the face of an expected U.S.-led invasion.
Reuters: Baghdat Video
Spiegel: Rumsfeld berichtet von brennenden Ölquellen
Drei bis vier Ölquellen im Süden des Irak sind nach Angaben von US-Verteidigungsminister Donald Rumsfeld möglicherweise von Saddams Truppen in Brand gesetzt worden. Entsprechende Berichte habe er soeben erhalten, sagte Rumsfeld.
Washington - Laut Rumsfeld gebe es Hinweise, dass die Iraker drei bis vier Ölquellen nahe der Stadt Basra im Süden des Irak in Brand gesetzt hätten. Iraks Ölminister Amir Muhammed dementierte diese Berichte.
CNN: U.S.: Strikes to pave way for full-fledged attack
Seven aircraft performing missions from the USS Abraham Lincoln dropped bombs Thursday over Iraq aimed at targets U.S. officials deem to be a threat, military officials said, adding that attacks would continue throughout the day.
The Red Cross reported that one person was killed and 14 people were injured in the strikes.
• The Turkish parliament voted Thursday to let U.S. warplanes use its airspace to launch strikes against Iraq and to allow the Turkish military to enter northern Iraq
• U.S. military officials confirm there are oil wells burning in southern Iraq near the Kuwaiti border, CNN has learned. Rumsfeld said the Pentagon had reports that Iraqi forces had set "as many as three or four" oil wells ablaze in the southern part of the country in the face of an expected U.S.-led invasion.
Reuters: Baghdat Video
WORLD WIDE PROTESTS
Tages Anzeiger: Auf den Angriff folgen weltweite Proteste
Hunderttausende Menschen haben am Donnerstag weltweit gegen den Ausbruch des Irak-Krieges protestiert. In Kairo kam es zu gewaltsamen Zusammenstössen zwischen Demonstranten und Sicherheitskräften.
Während der Kundgebung gegen den Irak-Krieg in Kairo schlugen Polizisten mit Stöcken auf die Menschenmenge ein. Einige Protestierende warfen mit Steinen nach den Sicherheitskräften. «George Bush, Du Lügner, wir werden dir zeigen, was Terrorismus ist», stand auf einem der Transparente der Demonstranten.
Zwischen 10’000 und 15’000 Schülerinnen und Schüler sind in Bern vor die Botschaften Grossbritanniens und der USA gezogen, um gegen den Angriff auf Irak zu demonstrieren. Die Kundgebung verlief weitgehend friedlich
Tages Anzeiger: Auf den Angriff folgen weltweite Proteste
Hunderttausende Menschen haben am Donnerstag weltweit gegen den Ausbruch des Irak-Krieges protestiert. In Kairo kam es zu gewaltsamen Zusammenstössen zwischen Demonstranten und Sicherheitskräften.
Während der Kundgebung gegen den Irak-Krieg in Kairo schlugen Polizisten mit Stöcken auf die Menschenmenge ein. Einige Protestierende warfen mit Steinen nach den Sicherheitskräften. «George Bush, Du Lügner, wir werden dir zeigen, was Terrorismus ist», stand auf einem der Transparente der Demonstranten.
Zwischen 10’000 und 15’000 Schülerinnen und Schüler sind in Bern vor die Botschaften Grossbritanniens und der USA gezogen, um gegen den Angriff auf Irak zu demonstrieren. Die Kundgebung verlief weitgehend friedlich
WORLD WIDE PROTESTS
Scoop.nz: Swiss Police Attack Anti-War Protesting Children
Exclusive: Geneva Switzerland - Swiss Police Attack School Aged Anti-War Protesters
Breaking News – Hundreds of Swiss school children have been fired upon by riot police outside the US Mission in Geneva. The attack, witnessed by workers from the nearby World Health Organization, was unprovoked.
------------
“The police were tear gassing innocent children. I could not see any adults among them. There were dozens if not hundreds of children in that field. The tear gas explosions have been going on for about half an hour now.”
------------
A Scoop eyewitness contact reports: “It's 13h48 Thursday 20 March 2003 in Geneva. I have just walked around the boundary fence of WHO. Alongside the fence is a paddock that backs on to the US Mission, which is always closed off to the public.
“As I walked I could hear lots of yelling, cheering, bangs (like firecrackers) and drums. I peered through the gaps in the shrubs alongside the fence and saw lots of school children, Swiss school children, not Middle Eastern, aged in their teens, running across the field, and waving anti-war banners.
“Suddenly there were a series of loud explosions and the field was covered in smoke, some of it drifting onto the edge of the WHO property and stinging my nose.
“Then, on the edge of the field that meets the US Mission property, I could see a row of policemen in protective gear, shields, helmets, etc. There were more explosions and the air was filled with tear gas,” Scoop’s contact said.
At this point World Health Organization security guards insisted the WHO staff get back into the WHO buildings, as they were to lock the doors.
Scoop.nz: Swiss Police Attack Anti-War Protesting Children
Exclusive: Geneva Switzerland - Swiss Police Attack School Aged Anti-War Protesters
Breaking News – Hundreds of Swiss school children have been fired upon by riot police outside the US Mission in Geneva. The attack, witnessed by workers from the nearby World Health Organization, was unprovoked.
------------
“The police were tear gassing innocent children. I could not see any adults among them. There were dozens if not hundreds of children in that field. The tear gas explosions have been going on for about half an hour now.”
------------
A Scoop eyewitness contact reports: “It's 13h48 Thursday 20 March 2003 in Geneva. I have just walked around the boundary fence of WHO. Alongside the fence is a paddock that backs on to the US Mission, which is always closed off to the public.
“As I walked I could hear lots of yelling, cheering, bangs (like firecrackers) and drums. I peered through the gaps in the shrubs alongside the fence and saw lots of school children, Swiss school children, not Middle Eastern, aged in their teens, running across the field, and waving anti-war banners.
“Suddenly there were a series of loud explosions and the field was covered in smoke, some of it drifting onto the edge of the WHO property and stinging my nose.
“Then, on the edge of the field that meets the US Mission property, I could see a row of policemen in protective gear, shields, helmets, etc. There were more explosions and the air was filled with tear gas,” Scoop’s contact said.
At this point World Health Organization security guards insisted the WHO staff get back into the WHO buildings, as they were to lock the doors.
WAR ON IRAK
Guardian: World leaders decry US attack
The declaration of war brought fierce criticism from world leaders today, as Russia accused the US of committing "a big political mistake" and France expressed its "regret" over the strikes.
French President Jacques Chirac, in his first public comments since the bombing of Iraq began, said he hoped for a quick end to the fighting .
In a brief televised speech, he said: "France regrets this action taken without approval of the United Nations. We hope these operations will be as rapid and least deadly as possible, and that they don't lead to a humanitarian catastrophe."
Mr Chirac said his country would continue to support the United Nations as the forum to solve "crises which bloody and threaten the world". He said: "It is the only legitimate framework to build peace in Iraq as elsewhere."
However, the French president was muted by comparison with other statesmen, such as the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who demanded a quick end to the war.
Mr Putin told senior ministers in the Kremlin this morning: "Military action can in no way be justified. Military action is a big political error."
China was even more outspoken, accusing the US of starting an illegitimate conflict and "violating the norms of international behaviour".
The Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Kong Quan, told a regular press briefing the attack had been "carried out in disregard for the opposition of the international community".
"We express regret and disappointment," Mr Kong said. "We urge the relevant countries to stop using force, to stop military action. The Iraqi question must return to the track of political settlement within the UN framework."
Guardian: World leaders decry US attack
The declaration of war brought fierce criticism from world leaders today, as Russia accused the US of committing "a big political mistake" and France expressed its "regret" over the strikes.
French President Jacques Chirac, in his first public comments since the bombing of Iraq began, said he hoped for a quick end to the fighting .
In a brief televised speech, he said: "France regrets this action taken without approval of the United Nations. We hope these operations will be as rapid and least deadly as possible, and that they don't lead to a humanitarian catastrophe."
Mr Chirac said his country would continue to support the United Nations as the forum to solve "crises which bloody and threaten the world". He said: "It is the only legitimate framework to build peace in Iraq as elsewhere."
However, the French president was muted by comparison with other statesmen, such as the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who demanded a quick end to the war.
Mr Putin told senior ministers in the Kremlin this morning: "Military action can in no way be justified. Military action is a big political error."
China was even more outspoken, accusing the US of starting an illegitimate conflict and "violating the norms of international behaviour".
The Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Kong Quan, told a regular press briefing the attack had been "carried out in disregard for the opposition of the international community".
"We express regret and disappointment," Mr Kong said. "We urge the relevant countries to stop using force, to stop military action. The Iraqi question must return to the track of political settlement within the UN framework."
WAR ON IRAK
Gaurdian: Iraq targets coalition troops
The Iraqis struck back today in response to overnight bombing raids by coalition forces, firing Scud and other, smaller missiles at the border area with northern Kuwait where US and British troops are massed, US and Kuwaiti officials said.
British and American troops in the region scrambled into gas masks and protective suits as warning sirens sounded and soldiers shouted "gas, gas, gas". Warning sirens sounded in the capital, Kuwait City, but no missiles hit the city.
Reuters reported that coalition troops appeared to have begun an artillery barrage from their location on the Iraq/Kuwait border into Iraq at about 2.45pm (1145 GMT).
Gaurdian: Iraq targets coalition troops
The Iraqis struck back today in response to overnight bombing raids by coalition forces, firing Scud and other, smaller missiles at the border area with northern Kuwait where US and British troops are massed, US and Kuwaiti officials said.
British and American troops in the region scrambled into gas masks and protective suits as warning sirens sounded and soldiers shouted "gas, gas, gas". Warning sirens sounded in the capital, Kuwait City, but no missiles hit the city.
Reuters reported that coalition troops appeared to have begun an artillery barrage from their location on the Iraq/Kuwait border into Iraq at about 2.45pm (1145 GMT).
WORLD WIDE PROTESTS
Spiegel: Massendemonstrationen gegen Bushs Krieg
Rund um den Globus kommt es zu ersten Demonstrationen und Streiks gegen den Krieg. Allein in Deutschland werden für heute mehr als 100 Protestaktionen erwartet.
Wenige Stunden nach Beginn der Angriffe auf Bagdad begannen Demonstrationen in zahlreichen Ländern der Erde. Seit Wochen schon steht die Strategie für den "Tag X" fest und wird von Anti-Kriegsgruppen rund um den Globus nahezu gleich lautend verbreitet. Die Strategie sieht vor, dass Studenten und Arbeitnehmer direkt nach den Angriffen (respektive am Morgen nach dem Beginn des Krieges) ihre Arbeit niederlegen, beziehungsweise nicht aufnehmen sollten und sich stattdessen an zentralen, weithin bekannten Orten der Innenstädte versammeln.
Bereits am Mittwoch kam es zu ersten Demonstrationen in den USA. In San Francisco, wo sich am Abend mehrere tausend Menschen auf einen Protestzug begaben, kam dabei ein Student ums Leben, als er beim Versuch, ein Plakat an der Golden Gate Bridge zu befestigen, zu Tode stürzte. Für den heutigen Tag plant die Gruppe "Direct Action to Stop the War" Straßenblockaden im Raum San Francisco.
Tages Anzeiger: Schweizweit Demonstrationen gegen Irak-Krieg
Gegen den Krieg in Irak sind am Donnerstag in zahlreichen Schweizer Städten Tausende auf die Strasse gegangen. Hauptsächlich Schüler trugen die Aktionen. Die grösste Demonstrationen in Bern und Genf wuchsen auf 5000 Personen an.
Ananonva: Sydney demonstrators protest against attack on Iraq
Marchers shouted "Shame, shame" as they passed the US Consulate and John Howard's office in Sydney.
It followed the admission by the Prime Minister in a televised news conference that some Australian military personnel in the Gulf had been involved in the attacks.
One protestor, Sydney University student Simon Butler, told reporters: "We will not sit in class and pretend everything is normal while our government helps carry out this massacre in our name."
Students in school uniforms, joined office workers, Labour unionists, church leaders and political campaigners in the protest.
Scotsman: Pupils' protest brings chaos to city
Spiegel: Massendemonstrationen gegen Bushs Krieg
Rund um den Globus kommt es zu ersten Demonstrationen und Streiks gegen den Krieg. Allein in Deutschland werden für heute mehr als 100 Protestaktionen erwartet.
Wenige Stunden nach Beginn der Angriffe auf Bagdad begannen Demonstrationen in zahlreichen Ländern der Erde. Seit Wochen schon steht die Strategie für den "Tag X" fest und wird von Anti-Kriegsgruppen rund um den Globus nahezu gleich lautend verbreitet. Die Strategie sieht vor, dass Studenten und Arbeitnehmer direkt nach den Angriffen (respektive am Morgen nach dem Beginn des Krieges) ihre Arbeit niederlegen, beziehungsweise nicht aufnehmen sollten und sich stattdessen an zentralen, weithin bekannten Orten der Innenstädte versammeln.
Bereits am Mittwoch kam es zu ersten Demonstrationen in den USA. In San Francisco, wo sich am Abend mehrere tausend Menschen auf einen Protestzug begaben, kam dabei ein Student ums Leben, als er beim Versuch, ein Plakat an der Golden Gate Bridge zu befestigen, zu Tode stürzte. Für den heutigen Tag plant die Gruppe "Direct Action to Stop the War" Straßenblockaden im Raum San Francisco.
Tages Anzeiger: Schweizweit Demonstrationen gegen Irak-Krieg
Gegen den Krieg in Irak sind am Donnerstag in zahlreichen Schweizer Städten Tausende auf die Strasse gegangen. Hauptsächlich Schüler trugen die Aktionen. Die grösste Demonstrationen in Bern und Genf wuchsen auf 5000 Personen an.
Ananonva: Sydney demonstrators protest against attack on Iraq
Marchers shouted "Shame, shame" as they passed the US Consulate and John Howard's office in Sydney.
It followed the admission by the Prime Minister in a televised news conference that some Australian military personnel in the Gulf had been involved in the attacks.
One protestor, Sydney University student Simon Butler, told reporters: "We will not sit in class and pretend everything is normal while our government helps carry out this massacre in our name."
Students in school uniforms, joined office workers, Labour unionists, church leaders and political campaigners in the protest.
Scotsman: Pupils' protest brings chaos to city
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WAR ON IRAK
Spiegel: "Das waren nur vorbereitende Aktionen"
Der Hauptschlag gegen Bagdad steht offenbar kurz bevor. "Es ist klar, dass Sie nicht allzu lange warten müssen", sagte der britische Verteidigungsminister in einem Interview. Bei den ersten US-Luftangriffen auf die irakische Hauptstadt sollen zehn Menschen ums Leben gekommen sein.
Nach Angaben des irakischen Informationsministeriums waren bei dem ersten Luftangriff zehn Menschen getötet worden. Das berichtete der Korrespondent des russischen Fernsehkanals ORT aus Bagdad. Eine Bestätigung dieser Angaben aus anderen Quellen gebe es bislang jedoch nicht, hieß es in dem Bericht
Al-Sahhaf warf Amerikanern und Briten "nackte Aggression" und einen "Piratenstreich" vor. In einer gemeinsamen Pressekonferenz mit dem Kulturminister wenige Stunden nach dem ersten Angriff auf Bagdad beschimpfte er sie als Tyrannen, Kriminelle und Kriegsverbrecher. "Das internationale Recht gilt für sie nicht", sagte er in einer von mehreren Fernsehsendern übertragenen Rede in Bagdad. Er sprach von einem "Akt der Dummheit". Den Reportern sagte er zu, dass sie Zugang zu allen Kriegsschauplätzen erhalten werden und sich in Bagdad frei bewegen dürften. Zugleich sagte er einen schwierigen Krieg voraus, der aber für den Irak mit einem Sieg enden werde. Präsident Saddam Hussein nannte er einen "Helden der Menschheit".
Spiegel: "Das waren nur vorbereitende Aktionen"
Der Hauptschlag gegen Bagdad steht offenbar kurz bevor. "Es ist klar, dass Sie nicht allzu lange warten müssen", sagte der britische Verteidigungsminister in einem Interview. Bei den ersten US-Luftangriffen auf die irakische Hauptstadt sollen zehn Menschen ums Leben gekommen sein.
Nach Angaben des irakischen Informationsministeriums waren bei dem ersten Luftangriff zehn Menschen getötet worden. Das berichtete der Korrespondent des russischen Fernsehkanals ORT aus Bagdad. Eine Bestätigung dieser Angaben aus anderen Quellen gebe es bislang jedoch nicht, hieß es in dem Bericht
Al-Sahhaf warf Amerikanern und Briten "nackte Aggression" und einen "Piratenstreich" vor. In einer gemeinsamen Pressekonferenz mit dem Kulturminister wenige Stunden nach dem ersten Angriff auf Bagdad beschimpfte er sie als Tyrannen, Kriminelle und Kriegsverbrecher. "Das internationale Recht gilt für sie nicht", sagte er in einer von mehreren Fernsehsendern übertragenen Rede in Bagdad. Er sprach von einem "Akt der Dummheit". Den Reportern sagte er zu, dass sie Zugang zu allen Kriegsschauplätzen erhalten werden und sich in Bagdad frei bewegen dürften. Zugleich sagte er einen schwierigen Krieg voraus, der aber für den Irak mit einem Sieg enden werde. Präsident Saddam Hussein nannte er einen "Helden der Menschheit".
WAR ON IRAK
Tagesanzeiger: Irakische Raketen gegen Kuwait
Nördlich von Kuwait-City schlugen zwei irakische Raketen ein. Dies bestätigte der kuwaitische Verteidigungsminister. Verletzt wurde niemand.
Ein CNN-Reporter sprach von einem Alarm bei den US-Truppen in Kuwait. Die Soldaten wurden aufgerufen, sicherheitshalber Schutzmasken aufzusetzen und sich in Sicherheit zu bringen. Der Alarm sei nach 45 Minuten beendet worden.
Nach Angaben des Reporters war nicht klar, ob es sich um eine Rakete oder ein anderes Geschoss gehandelt habe. Über Schäden oder Opfer wurde nichts bekannt. Die amtliche kuwaitische Nachrichtenagentur bestätigte die Meldung und berief sich auf Verteidigungsministerium
CNN: Sirens sound in Kuwait City
KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait (CNN) -- Air raid sirens sounded in Kuwait City Thursday around 12:30 p.m., less than two hours after reported rocket strikes at a nearby U.S. military camp.
The alarms in the capital lasted for three to four minutes, then stopped, said CNN anchor Bill Hemmer. It came after an Iraqi missile landed in Kuwait's Mutlaa Ridge area just north of Jahrah, the Kuwaiti Defense Ministry said.
Earlier the ministry said at least two rockets had landed north of Kuwait City not far from the border. And U.S. Marines told CNN Thursday that multiple rockets strikes had been confirmed near Kuwaiti military bases. No injuries were immediately reported.
CNN Correspondent Sanjay Gupta, embedded with Marines at Camp Iwo Jima in the Kuwaiti desert north of Kuwait City, said Marines reported seeing something traveling very fast from the north to the south, passing about 300 feet (100 meters) away.
Tagesanzeiger: Irakische Raketen gegen Kuwait
Nördlich von Kuwait-City schlugen zwei irakische Raketen ein. Dies bestätigte der kuwaitische Verteidigungsminister. Verletzt wurde niemand.
Ein CNN-Reporter sprach von einem Alarm bei den US-Truppen in Kuwait. Die Soldaten wurden aufgerufen, sicherheitshalber Schutzmasken aufzusetzen und sich in Sicherheit zu bringen. Der Alarm sei nach 45 Minuten beendet worden.
Nach Angaben des Reporters war nicht klar, ob es sich um eine Rakete oder ein anderes Geschoss gehandelt habe. Über Schäden oder Opfer wurde nichts bekannt. Die amtliche kuwaitische Nachrichtenagentur bestätigte die Meldung und berief sich auf Verteidigungsministerium
CNN: Sirens sound in Kuwait City
KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait (CNN) -- Air raid sirens sounded in Kuwait City Thursday around 12:30 p.m., less than two hours after reported rocket strikes at a nearby U.S. military camp.
The alarms in the capital lasted for three to four minutes, then stopped, said CNN anchor Bill Hemmer. It came after an Iraqi missile landed in Kuwait's Mutlaa Ridge area just north of Jahrah, the Kuwaiti Defense Ministry said.
Earlier the ministry said at least two rockets had landed north of Kuwait City not far from the border. And U.S. Marines told CNN Thursday that multiple rockets strikes had been confirmed near Kuwaiti military bases. No injuries were immediately reported.
CNN Correspondent Sanjay Gupta, embedded with Marines at Camp Iwo Jima in the Kuwaiti desert north of Kuwait City, said Marines reported seeing something traveling very fast from the north to the south, passing about 300 feet (100 meters) away.
WORLD WIDE PROTESTS
Demoaufruf: Zürich ZH (Spezielle Hinweisseite Zürich)
SchülerInnen-Streik (FLUGBLATT)
ab 10h an den Schulen, anschliessend Sternmarsch zum Bürkliplatz (Treffpunkt 11:45h)
Organisation: SchülerInnen, unterstützt vom antikriegskomitee zürich
Grosse Kundgebung über den Mittag am Paradeplatz, 12.05h
Organisation: antikriegskomitee zürich / gewerkschaften
Grosse Kundgebung am Abend am Bürkliplatz, 18.30h (ausser am 22.3., dann fällt die Abendkundgebung aus zugunsten der Nationalen Kundgebung in Bern)
Organisation: antikriegskomitee zürich
Gottestdienst 20 Uhr
Grossmünster
Schweigekundgebung 21.30 Uhr
beim Friedensfeuer vor dem Grossmünster
NATIONALE DEMO GEGEN DEM IMPERIALISTISCHEN KRIEG
22.3.03 14.30h Schützenmatt (bei Reitschule) BERN
keinkrieg.ch
GSOA
Indymedia CH
Tagesanzeiger: Schweizweite Protestaktionen angekündigt
In mindestens 28 Schweizer Städten finden heute Protestaktionen gegen den Krieg in Irak statt. Dazu aufgerufen haben neben Menschenrechts- vor allem Schülerorganisationen.
An zahlreichen Schulen fanden ab 10 Uhr Streiks und Kundgebungen statt. Wie der Internet-Seite verschiedener Organisationen zu entnehmen ist, beginnen am Abend zudem in verschiedenen Städten Protestmärsche für einen sofortigen Stopp des Krieges.
In Bern verliessen Schülerinnen und Schüler die Klassenzimmer. Die verschiedenen Protestzüge wollten sich am Mittag beim Bahnhof besammeln. In zahlreichen anderen Städten sah das Programm ähnlich aus. (sda)
Demoaufruf: Zürich ZH (Spezielle Hinweisseite Zürich)
SchülerInnen-Streik (FLUGBLATT)
ab 10h an den Schulen, anschliessend Sternmarsch zum Bürkliplatz (Treffpunkt 11:45h)
Organisation: SchülerInnen, unterstützt vom antikriegskomitee zürich
Grosse Kundgebung über den Mittag am Paradeplatz, 12.05h
Organisation: antikriegskomitee zürich / gewerkschaften
Grosse Kundgebung am Abend am Bürkliplatz, 18.30h (ausser am 22.3., dann fällt die Abendkundgebung aus zugunsten der Nationalen Kundgebung in Bern)
Organisation: antikriegskomitee zürich
Gottestdienst 20 Uhr
Grossmünster
Schweigekundgebung 21.30 Uhr
beim Friedensfeuer vor dem Grossmünster
NATIONALE DEMO GEGEN DEM IMPERIALISTISCHEN KRIEG
22.3.03 14.30h Schützenmatt (bei Reitschule) BERN
keinkrieg.ch
GSOA
Indymedia CH
Tagesanzeiger: Schweizweite Protestaktionen angekündigt
In mindestens 28 Schweizer Städten finden heute Protestaktionen gegen den Krieg in Irak statt. Dazu aufgerufen haben neben Menschenrechts- vor allem Schülerorganisationen.
An zahlreichen Schulen fanden ab 10 Uhr Streiks und Kundgebungen statt. Wie der Internet-Seite verschiedener Organisationen zu entnehmen ist, beginnen am Abend zudem in verschiedenen Städten Protestmärsche für einen sofortigen Stopp des Krieges.
In Bern verliessen Schülerinnen und Schüler die Klassenzimmer. Die verschiedenen Protestzüge wollten sich am Mittag beim Bahnhof besammeln. In zahlreichen anderen Städten sah das Programm ähnlich aus. (sda)
WAR ON IRAK
Heise: Der Wille zum Krieg triumphiert über das Recht
Bush und Blair beginnen ihren völkerrechtswidrigen Krieg
Bush habe komplett die Verbindung zur Realität verloren, meinte unlängst der Wirtschaftsprofessor Paul Krugman: "Die Entmachtung Saddams ist inzwischen eindeutig eine Obsession geworden." Nun könnte die Wirklichkeit jedoch selbst wieder Kontakt mit dem US-Präsidenten aufnehmen, wenn er diese Obsession in einigen Wochen ausgelebt haben dürfte. Eine dieser Wirklichkeiten sollte die Frage sein, ob sich Bush, Blair, Aznar und die anderen selbstermächtigten Kriegsherren in naher oder ferner Zukunft für das nun einsetzende Gemetzel vor dem Internationalen Strafgerichtshof oder einem vergleichbaren Tribunal rechtfertigen müssen. Die USA haben zwar das Statut nicht unterzeichnet, aber das allein dürfte im Blick auf andere historische Prozesse dieser Art, denen Kriegstreiber auch ohne ihre vorhergehende Einverständniserklärung unterworfen wurden, weniger das Problem sein, als eben die pure Gewalt, sich dem Recht und der Rechenschaft zu entziehen.
Heise: Der Wille zum Krieg triumphiert über das Recht
Bush und Blair beginnen ihren völkerrechtswidrigen Krieg
Bush habe komplett die Verbindung zur Realität verloren, meinte unlängst der Wirtschaftsprofessor Paul Krugman: "Die Entmachtung Saddams ist inzwischen eindeutig eine Obsession geworden." Nun könnte die Wirklichkeit jedoch selbst wieder Kontakt mit dem US-Präsidenten aufnehmen, wenn er diese Obsession in einigen Wochen ausgelebt haben dürfte. Eine dieser Wirklichkeiten sollte die Frage sein, ob sich Bush, Blair, Aznar und die anderen selbstermächtigten Kriegsherren in naher oder ferner Zukunft für das nun einsetzende Gemetzel vor dem Internationalen Strafgerichtshof oder einem vergleichbaren Tribunal rechtfertigen müssen. Die USA haben zwar das Statut nicht unterzeichnet, aber das allein dürfte im Blick auf andere historische Prozesse dieser Art, denen Kriegstreiber auch ohne ihre vorhergehende Einverständniserklärung unterworfen wurden, weniger das Problem sein, als eben die pure Gewalt, sich dem Recht und der Rechenschaft zu entziehen.
WAR ON TERROR
Heise: Neues vom "National Scaremeister"
Asylsuchende aus 33 Ländern werden bei Ankunft in den USA sofort verhaftet
National Scaremeister" Tom Ridge hat nun mehrere Millionen Dollar "in der Pipeline", um die USA vor terroristischen Anschlägen zu schützen, die "mit Sicherheit" erwartet werden. Eine weitere Schrulle im "Are You Ready" Aufmerksamkeitstanz der Homeland Security-Cowboys, die "Operation Liberty Shield", geht weit über klassische Sicherheitsvorkehrungen und recht lächerlich anmutende Tipps (vgl. Are you ready?) zum Kaufen von Klebeband und Ersatzbatterien hinaus; so weit, dass Amnesty International USA sich einschaltete und die "Operation Schutzschild der Freiheit" als falsch, kurzsichtig, und vor allem unmenschlich geißelte. Sie sieht nämlich unter anderem vor, dass Asylsuchende in den USA sofort verhaftet werden, sofern sie aus einem von 33 Ländern kommen, die auf einer - geheimen - Liste stehen. Diese Blanko-Praventiv-Pauschalverhaftung dauert sechs Monate und unterläuft internationale Standards, die eigentlich von allen Ländern eingehalten werden sollten, vor allem aber von jenen, welche mit dem Wort Freiheit verheiratet sind... (vgl. Parlez-vous Pommes Frites?) - bei den USA mittlerweile wohl eher eine Scheinehe (der jedoch seit 1776 mehrere echte große Romanzen vorangingen, auf die jeder Amerikaner stolz sein darf und die jederzeit wieder aufflammen könnten)
Meinungsumfragen zufolge hat die Bevölkerung nichts dagegen, wenn im Namen der Freiheit Freiheiten beschnitten werden. Umfragen nach dem 11. September ergaben, dass über 70 Prozent der Amerikaner während des "Krieges gegen den Terrorismus" verstärkte Maßnahmen gegen Einwanderer und Minderheiten befürworten. 82 Prozent der Befragten unterstützten bei einer Gallup-Umfrage eine erweiterte staatliche Befugnis, selbst legale Einwanderer in Haft zu halten. Nach einer Umfrage von Harris CNN/Time waren 31 Prozent dafür, Amerikaner arabischer Herkunft in Lager zu stecken.1 Während des Zweiten Weltkrieges waren rund 110 000 Amerikaner japanischer Herkunft, 11 000 Deutsch-Amerikaner und 3000 Italo-Amerikaner allein wegen ihrer ethnischen Herkunft in Lagern interniert worden.
Heise: Neues vom "National Scaremeister"
Asylsuchende aus 33 Ländern werden bei Ankunft in den USA sofort verhaftet
National Scaremeister" Tom Ridge hat nun mehrere Millionen Dollar "in der Pipeline", um die USA vor terroristischen Anschlägen zu schützen, die "mit Sicherheit" erwartet werden. Eine weitere Schrulle im "Are You Ready" Aufmerksamkeitstanz der Homeland Security-Cowboys, die "Operation Liberty Shield", geht weit über klassische Sicherheitsvorkehrungen und recht lächerlich anmutende Tipps (vgl. Are you ready?) zum Kaufen von Klebeband und Ersatzbatterien hinaus; so weit, dass Amnesty International USA sich einschaltete und die "Operation Schutzschild der Freiheit" als falsch, kurzsichtig, und vor allem unmenschlich geißelte. Sie sieht nämlich unter anderem vor, dass Asylsuchende in den USA sofort verhaftet werden, sofern sie aus einem von 33 Ländern kommen, die auf einer - geheimen - Liste stehen. Diese Blanko-Praventiv-Pauschalverhaftung dauert sechs Monate und unterläuft internationale Standards, die eigentlich von allen Ländern eingehalten werden sollten, vor allem aber von jenen, welche mit dem Wort Freiheit verheiratet sind... (vgl. Parlez-vous Pommes Frites?) - bei den USA mittlerweile wohl eher eine Scheinehe (der jedoch seit 1776 mehrere echte große Romanzen vorangingen, auf die jeder Amerikaner stolz sein darf und die jederzeit wieder aufflammen könnten)
Meinungsumfragen zufolge hat die Bevölkerung nichts dagegen, wenn im Namen der Freiheit Freiheiten beschnitten werden. Umfragen nach dem 11. September ergaben, dass über 70 Prozent der Amerikaner während des "Krieges gegen den Terrorismus" verstärkte Maßnahmen gegen Einwanderer und Minderheiten befürworten. 82 Prozent der Befragten unterstützten bei einer Gallup-Umfrage eine erweiterte staatliche Befugnis, selbst legale Einwanderer in Haft zu halten. Nach einer Umfrage von Harris CNN/Time waren 31 Prozent dafür, Amerikaner arabischer Herkunft in Lager zu stecken.1 Während des Zweiten Weltkrieges waren rund 110 000 Amerikaner japanischer Herkunft, 11 000 Deutsch-Amerikaner und 3000 Italo-Amerikaner allein wegen ihrer ethnischen Herkunft in Lagern interniert worden.
Wednesday, March 19, 2003
WAR ON IRAK
Albawaba: Reports: Oil wells set on fire in Basra; Early attack targeted Saddam
Kuwaiti TV said Thursday morning that Iraqi troops had torched 15 oil wells in the city of Basra. The report cannot be confirmed.
Meanwhile, the state Iraqi News Agency (INA) said US and British planes had attacked Basra airport early Thursday morning. It also cited similar attacks against military and non-military targets in the cities of Kut and Anbar.
Albawaba: Reports: Oil wells set on fire in Basra; Early attack targeted Saddam
Kuwaiti TV said Thursday morning that Iraqi troops had torched 15 oil wells in the city of Basra. The report cannot be confirmed.
Meanwhile, the state Iraqi News Agency (INA) said US and British planes had attacked Basra airport early Thursday morning. It also cited similar attacks against military and non-military targets in the cities of Kut and Anbar.
WAR ON IRAK
Independent: Even as we shop for canned food and painkillers, it is difficult to grasp the reality of what is coming By Robert Fisk in Baghdad
In Yasser Arafat Street, at the Sana Nimr al-Ibrahim pharmacy, Riad offered to give me two rolls of bandages free. I told him I'd better pay, since I thought the RAF was going to bomb him in a few hours time. "I think they are,'' he said. Then he shot me the kind of grin I didn't deserve.
As a Brit, buying emergency rations in the shops of Baghdad yesterday evening was an instructive experience. Riad's pharmacy was crowded, his customers buying up not just bandages but splints, painkillers, tweezers, cotton wool, disinfectant and rubbing alcohol. It had been the same on Tuesday night, from 5pm right up to 10pm.
Yet in all Yasser Arafat Street, there wasn't a curse or a bad word for a Brit. I was told always that I was "welcome in Iraq'' – the few journalists here must fervently hope this remains the case when the blitz begins – and that it was pleasant to see a sahafa, a journalist, taking the same risks as the people in the street. This was not, of course, the moment to remind them that I had a flak jacket when they did not, that I had a gas mask, which they have not, that I even have a helmet that would fit any of their heads but is likely to be only on mine.....
Independent: Even as we shop for canned food and painkillers, it is difficult to grasp the reality of what is coming By Robert Fisk in Baghdad
In Yasser Arafat Street, at the Sana Nimr al-Ibrahim pharmacy, Riad offered to give me two rolls of bandages free. I told him I'd better pay, since I thought the RAF was going to bomb him in a few hours time. "I think they are,'' he said. Then he shot me the kind of grin I didn't deserve.
As a Brit, buying emergency rations in the shops of Baghdad yesterday evening was an instructive experience. Riad's pharmacy was crowded, his customers buying up not just bandages but splints, painkillers, tweezers, cotton wool, disinfectant and rubbing alcohol. It had been the same on Tuesday night, from 5pm right up to 10pm.
Yet in all Yasser Arafat Street, there wasn't a curse or a bad word for a Brit. I was told always that I was "welcome in Iraq'' – the few journalists here must fervently hope this remains the case when the blitz begins – and that it was pleasant to see a sahafa, a journalist, taking the same risks as the people in the street. This was not, of course, the moment to remind them that I had a flak jacket when they did not, that I had a gas mask, which they have not, that I even have a helmet that would fit any of their heads but is likely to be only on mine.....
WAR ON IRAK
Znet: War Coverage Goes Wall-To-Wall by Danny Schechter
NEW YORK, Mar 19, 2003 -- If you watch American television, it feels like New Year's eve with clocks counting down the minutes before the big ball drops in Times Square. Only this time, the big ball is likely to be a big bomb and the target is Baghdad, but the anticipation, even excitement is the same. That is especially so at the news networks that are planning to share footage from Baghdad and push their top shows onto cable outlets to clear time for wall-to-wall coverage.
With threat levels escalating in the U.S., journalists are also feeling threats in the field. The propaganda war has already moved into high gear. The Bush Administration strategy for managing news and spinning perception is well in place, with more than 500 reporters embedded in military units, with coverage restrictions to "guide" them. Their emphasis will be story telling, focusing on our soldiers. Human interest, not political interests, is the focus
A study by FAIR, the media watchdog group, found that anti-war views were conspicuous by their absence:
"Looking at two weeks of coverage (January 30 to February 12), FAIR examined the 393 on-camera sources who appeared in nightly news stories about Iraq on ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News and PBS' NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. The study began one week before and ended one week after Secretary of State Colin Powell's February 5 presentation at the U.N., a time of particularly intense debate about the idea of a war against Iraq on the national and international level.
More than two-thirds (267 out of 393) of the guests featured were from the United States. Of the U.S. guests, a striking 75 percent (199) were either current or former government or military officials. Only one of the official U.S. sources-- Sen. Edward Kennedy (D.-Mass.) -- expressed skepticism or opposition to the war.
Even this was couched in vague terms: "Once we get in there, how are we going to get out, what's the loss for American troops going to be, how long we're going to be stationed there, what's the cost is going to be?" Kennedy asked on NBC Nightly News on February 5.
Similarly, when both U.S. and non-U.S. "Such a predominance of official sources virtually assures that independent and grassroots perspectives will be underrepresented," FAIR said.
The reporting will be closely managed. Robert Fisk of the Independent points to "a new CNN system of 'script approval' -- the iniquitous instruction to reporters that they send all their copy to anonymous officials in Atlanta to ensure it is suitably sanitized. This suggests that the Pentagon and the Department of State have nothing to worry about. Nor do the Israelis.
Znet: War Coverage Goes Wall-To-Wall by Danny Schechter
NEW YORK, Mar 19, 2003 -- If you watch American television, it feels like New Year's eve with clocks counting down the minutes before the big ball drops in Times Square. Only this time, the big ball is likely to be a big bomb and the target is Baghdad, but the anticipation, even excitement is the same. That is especially so at the news networks that are planning to share footage from Baghdad and push their top shows onto cable outlets to clear time for wall-to-wall coverage.
With threat levels escalating in the U.S., journalists are also feeling threats in the field. The propaganda war has already moved into high gear. The Bush Administration strategy for managing news and spinning perception is well in place, with more than 500 reporters embedded in military units, with coverage restrictions to "guide" them. Their emphasis will be story telling, focusing on our soldiers. Human interest, not political interests, is the focus
A study by FAIR, the media watchdog group, found that anti-war views were conspicuous by their absence:
"Looking at two weeks of coverage (January 30 to February 12), FAIR examined the 393 on-camera sources who appeared in nightly news stories about Iraq on ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News and PBS' NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. The study began one week before and ended one week after Secretary of State Colin Powell's February 5 presentation at the U.N., a time of particularly intense debate about the idea of a war against Iraq on the national and international level.
More than two-thirds (267 out of 393) of the guests featured were from the United States. Of the U.S. guests, a striking 75 percent (199) were either current or former government or military officials. Only one of the official U.S. sources-- Sen. Edward Kennedy (D.-Mass.) -- expressed skepticism or opposition to the war.
Even this was couched in vague terms: "Once we get in there, how are we going to get out, what's the loss for American troops going to be, how long we're going to be stationed there, what's the cost is going to be?" Kennedy asked on NBC Nightly News on February 5.
Similarly, when both U.S. and non-U.S. "Such a predominance of official sources virtually assures that independent and grassroots perspectives will be underrepresented," FAIR said.
The reporting will be closely managed. Robert Fisk of the Independent points to "a new CNN system of 'script approval' -- the iniquitous instruction to reporters that they send all their copy to anonymous officials in Atlanta to ensure it is suitably sanitized. This suggests that the Pentagon and the Department of State have nothing to worry about. Nor do the Israelis.
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Tages Anzeiger: Abbas ist palästinensischer Regierungschef
Machmud Abbas übernimmt das Amt des palästinensischen Ministerpräsidenten. Der stellvertretende PLO-Chef nahm das Angebot von Präsident Jassir Arafat, den neu geschaffenen Posten anzutreten, am Mittwochabend an.
Arafats Chef-Berater Nabil Abu Rudeina informierte über den Entscheid von Abbas. Damit wird Arafat seine Macht künftig mit einem seiner engsten Vertrauten teilen. Politische Beobachter in Ramallah erwarten, dass Abbas innerhalb weniger Tage seine neue Regierung vorstellen wird.
Radikale Palästinensergruppen, wie die islamische Hamas-Organisationen, haben bereits angekündigt, dass sie Abbas, der auch Abu Masen genannt wird, nicht anerkennen, weil er der Wunschkandidat der USA für dieses Amt sei.
Tages Anzeiger: Abbas ist palästinensischer Regierungschef
Machmud Abbas übernimmt das Amt des palästinensischen Ministerpräsidenten. Der stellvertretende PLO-Chef nahm das Angebot von Präsident Jassir Arafat, den neu geschaffenen Posten anzutreten, am Mittwochabend an.
Arafats Chef-Berater Nabil Abu Rudeina informierte über den Entscheid von Abbas. Damit wird Arafat seine Macht künftig mit einem seiner engsten Vertrauten teilen. Politische Beobachter in Ramallah erwarten, dass Abbas innerhalb weniger Tage seine neue Regierung vorstellen wird.
Radikale Palästinensergruppen, wie die islamische Hamas-Organisationen, haben bereits angekündigt, dass sie Abbas, der auch Abu Masen genannt wird, nicht anerkennen, weil er der Wunschkandidat der USA für dieses Amt sei.
SWITZERLAND
Tages Anzeiger: Schweiz verurteilt unilaterales Vorgehen der USA
Aussenministerin Micheline Calmy-Rey hat das unilaterale Vorgehen der USA in der Irak-Krise verurteilt. Für die Schweiz sei es wichtig, dass die internationale Ordnung respektiert werde und nicht das Recht des Stärkeren gelte.
«Die Schweiz war nie für eine Regelung der Krise durch unilaterale Mittel und durch die Intervention eines Staates, einer Macht der internationalen Gemeinschaft», sagte sie vor den Medien in Genf. Diese Stellungnahme könne man als Verurteilung betrachten.
Der Entscheid der USA für einen Angriff ohne Uno-Resolution schwäche die Uno, was sie sehr bedaure, sagte Calmy-Rey weiter. Die Mitgliedstaaten der Uno müssten nun dafür sorgen, dass die Wirksamkeit und die Glaubwürdigkeit der Uno wiederhergestellt würden
Tages Anzeiger: Schweiz verurteilt unilaterales Vorgehen der USA
Aussenministerin Micheline Calmy-Rey hat das unilaterale Vorgehen der USA in der Irak-Krise verurteilt. Für die Schweiz sei es wichtig, dass die internationale Ordnung respektiert werde und nicht das Recht des Stärkeren gelte.
«Die Schweiz war nie für eine Regelung der Krise durch unilaterale Mittel und durch die Intervention eines Staates, einer Macht der internationalen Gemeinschaft», sagte sie vor den Medien in Genf. Diese Stellungnahme könne man als Verurteilung betrachten.
Der Entscheid der USA für einen Angriff ohne Uno-Resolution schwäche die Uno, was sie sehr bedaure, sagte Calmy-Rey weiter. Die Mitgliedstaaten der Uno müssten nun dafür sorgen, dass die Wirksamkeit und die Glaubwürdigkeit der Uno wiederhergestellt würden
WAR ON IRAK
Times: Israeli special forces join 'secret front' in Jordan
AS HUNDREDS of thousands of men and machines mass in Kuwait, a highly secretive military build-up is also under way on President Saddam Hussein’s western flank.
Special forces from the United States and Britain have begun to conduct long-range reconnaissance missions from their bases along the 113-mile border between Iraq and Jordan, military sources have told The Times. Remarkably, Israeli forces are also said to be involved.
Times: Israeli special forces join 'secret front' in Jordan
AS HUNDREDS of thousands of men and machines mass in Kuwait, a highly secretive military build-up is also under way on President Saddam Hussein’s western flank.
Special forces from the United States and Britain have begun to conduct long-range reconnaissance missions from their bases along the 113-mile border between Iraq and Jordan, military sources have told The Times. Remarkably, Israeli forces are also said to be involved.
OCCUPIED TERRIRTORIES
Guardian: Activist's memorial service disrupted
Israeli forces fired teargas and stun grenades yesterday in an attempt to break up a memorial service for Rachel Corrie, the American peace activist killed by an army bulldozer in Gaza on Sunday.
Witnesses including several dozen foreigners and Palestinian supporters say Israeli armoured vehicles tried to disperse the gathering at the spot in Rafah refugee camp where Ms Corrie was crushed to death.
The 23 year-old activist with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) was trying to prevent the destruction of Palestinian homes by the Israelis when she was hit by the bulldozer.
Guardian: Activist's memorial service disrupted
Israeli forces fired teargas and stun grenades yesterday in an attempt to break up a memorial service for Rachel Corrie, the American peace activist killed by an army bulldozer in Gaza on Sunday.
Witnesses including several dozen foreigners and Palestinian supporters say Israeli armoured vehicles tried to disperse the gathering at the spot in Rafah refugee camp where Ms Corrie was crushed to death.
The 23 year-old activist with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) was trying to prevent the destruction of Palestinian homes by the Israelis when she was hit by the bulldozer.
WAR ON IRAK
Debka.com: Invasion begins
(Israeli military front site, scroll down)
US war commanders grabbed the element of surprise after all. While most
analysts and forecasters predicted a mighty aerial-missile blitz over
Baghdad as the war’s opener, the campaign began Wednesday, March 19
with
a lighting advance by Marine forces into southern Iraq along the Shatt
el
Arb River towards the big naval base and town of Umm Qasr. Fighting
alongside the Americans are two brigades of the British 1st Armored
Division and naval vessels landing Marine units south of Basra. The
first
clash of the war occurred shortly after in the mouth of the Khawr
al-Zubayr
river, a few miles south of Umm Qasr. The US-UK column is heading at
top
speed for the oil fields of southern Iraq which have been surrounded by
American and British special forces since earlier this month.
DEBKAfile’s
military experts view this first major military move in the war as a
bold
tactic to prevent the sabotage of the oil fields, with the largest
field in
southern Iraq, Rumailah, at highest risk. A second column of US 3rd
Infantry Division troops crossed into the demilitarized zone on the
Iraqi
border with Kuwait accompanied by thousands of tanks, combat vehicles
and
fuel
... The United States, Turkey and Iraq’s Kurdish chiefs and Turkomen
leaders forged a deal permitting Turkish troops to enter northern Iraq.
More details are expected on the size of the Turkish force and the
extent
of its penetration for setting up positions. This was the quid pro quo
for
Ankara’s consent to five Kurdish brigades of the two main militias, the
PUK and PDK, entering the oil city of Kirkuk with the American forces
Debka.com: Invasion begins
(Israeli military front site, scroll down)
US war commanders grabbed the element of surprise after all. While most
analysts and forecasters predicted a mighty aerial-missile blitz over
Baghdad as the war’s opener, the campaign began Wednesday, March 19
with
a lighting advance by Marine forces into southern Iraq along the Shatt
el
Arb River towards the big naval base and town of Umm Qasr. Fighting
alongside the Americans are two brigades of the British 1st Armored
Division and naval vessels landing Marine units south of Basra. The
first
clash of the war occurred shortly after in the mouth of the Khawr
al-Zubayr
river, a few miles south of Umm Qasr. The US-UK column is heading at
top
speed for the oil fields of southern Iraq which have been surrounded by
American and British special forces since earlier this month.
DEBKAfile’s
military experts view this first major military move in the war as a
bold
tactic to prevent the sabotage of the oil fields, with the largest
field in
southern Iraq, Rumailah, at highest risk. A second column of US 3rd
Infantry Division troops crossed into the demilitarized zone on the
Iraqi
border with Kuwait accompanied by thousands of tanks, combat vehicles
and
fuel
... The United States, Turkey and Iraq’s Kurdish chiefs and Turkomen
leaders forged a deal permitting Turkish troops to enter northern Iraq.
More details are expected on the size of the Turkish force and the
extent
of its penetration for setting up positions. This was the quid pro quo
for
Ankara’s consent to five Kurdish brigades of the two main militias, the
PUK and PDK, entering the oil city of Kirkuk with the American forces
WAR ON IRAK
Spiegel: Der Krieg beginnt mit Bomben auf Saddam
Bagdad/Washington - Der Krieg begann im Morgengrauen. In Bagdad wurde kurz vor Sonnenaufgang Luftalarm ausgelöst. Eine halbe Stunde lang hämmerte das Feuer der irakischen Flugabwehr durch den Morgendunst, vereinzelt waren Explosionen zu hören. Danach kehrte die Stadt zunächst zu gespannter Ruhe zurück. Kurz nach 8 Uhr Ortszeit lösten die Behörden in Bagdad jedoch erneut Luftalarm aus. Das berichtete der Korrespondent des arabischen Fernsehsenders al-Dschasira. Ein Sprecher im irakischen Fernsehen sagte, die USA und Großbritannien erwarte nun ein Inferno.
Gegen 3.45 Uhr mitteleuropäischer Zeit trat Ari Fleischer, der Sprecher von Präsident George W. Bush vor die Presse. Fleischer sagte, die "Abrüstung des irakischen Regimes" sei eingeleitet. Die USA hatten dem irakischen Präsidenten Saddam Hussein und seinen Söhnen 48 Stunden Zeit bis Donnerstagmorgen 02.00 Uhr mitteleuropäischer Zeit gegeben, das Land zu verlassen, um einen Krieg abzuwenden. Saddam hatte das Ultimatum verstreichen lassen.
Noch hat es allerdings keinen Angriffsbefehl für Bodentruppen gegeben, auch das angekündigte Dauer-Bombardement blieb vorerst aus. Vielmehr habe sich Präsident George W. Bush zu den gezielten Attacken entschlossen, weil die Gefahr bestanden habe, dass eine "große Gelegenheit verpasst" werden könnte, berichtete der Nachrichtensender CNN.
Saddam: "Krimineller kleiner Bush begeht Verbrechen gegen die Menschheit"
Der irakische Präsident Saddam Hussein wandte sich wenige Stunden nach dem Angriff in einer Fernsehansprache an sein Volk und verkündete Siegeszuversicht. "Wir werden mit Gottes Hilfe siegen", sagte Saddam, der in Militäruniform seine Rede verlas. Er warf den USA und deren Verbündeten vor, ein "schändliches Verbrechen gegen die Menschheit" zu begehen.
Der Diktator, der mit keinem Wort auf die Ziele der ersten amerikanischen Angriffe einging, trug eine große Brille und las seine Rede vor einem schäbigen Pult sitzend von einem Notizblock ab. "Der Irak wird siegen und mit ihm werden die (arabisch-islamische) Nation siegen und die Menschlichkeit", sagte er zum Ende seiner Rede, "Gott ist groß, es lebe der Irak, es lebe Palästina", rief er. Seine Landsleute rief er zur Standfestigkeit auf.
Spiegel: Der Krieg beginnt mit Bomben auf Saddam
Bagdad/Washington - Der Krieg begann im Morgengrauen. In Bagdad wurde kurz vor Sonnenaufgang Luftalarm ausgelöst. Eine halbe Stunde lang hämmerte das Feuer der irakischen Flugabwehr durch den Morgendunst, vereinzelt waren Explosionen zu hören. Danach kehrte die Stadt zunächst zu gespannter Ruhe zurück. Kurz nach 8 Uhr Ortszeit lösten die Behörden in Bagdad jedoch erneut Luftalarm aus. Das berichtete der Korrespondent des arabischen Fernsehsenders al-Dschasira. Ein Sprecher im irakischen Fernsehen sagte, die USA und Großbritannien erwarte nun ein Inferno.
Gegen 3.45 Uhr mitteleuropäischer Zeit trat Ari Fleischer, der Sprecher von Präsident George W. Bush vor die Presse. Fleischer sagte, die "Abrüstung des irakischen Regimes" sei eingeleitet. Die USA hatten dem irakischen Präsidenten Saddam Hussein und seinen Söhnen 48 Stunden Zeit bis Donnerstagmorgen 02.00 Uhr mitteleuropäischer Zeit gegeben, das Land zu verlassen, um einen Krieg abzuwenden. Saddam hatte das Ultimatum verstreichen lassen.
Noch hat es allerdings keinen Angriffsbefehl für Bodentruppen gegeben, auch das angekündigte Dauer-Bombardement blieb vorerst aus. Vielmehr habe sich Präsident George W. Bush zu den gezielten Attacken entschlossen, weil die Gefahr bestanden habe, dass eine "große Gelegenheit verpasst" werden könnte, berichtete der Nachrichtensender CNN.
Saddam: "Krimineller kleiner Bush begeht Verbrechen gegen die Menschheit"
Der irakische Präsident Saddam Hussein wandte sich wenige Stunden nach dem Angriff in einer Fernsehansprache an sein Volk und verkündete Siegeszuversicht. "Wir werden mit Gottes Hilfe siegen", sagte Saddam, der in Militäruniform seine Rede verlas. Er warf den USA und deren Verbündeten vor, ein "schändliches Verbrechen gegen die Menschheit" zu begehen.
Der Diktator, der mit keinem Wort auf die Ziele der ersten amerikanischen Angriffe einging, trug eine große Brille und las seine Rede vor einem schäbigen Pult sitzend von einem Notizblock ab. "Der Irak wird siegen und mit ihm werden die (arabisch-islamische) Nation siegen und die Menschlichkeit", sagte er zum Ende seiner Rede, "Gott ist groß, es lebe der Irak, es lebe Palästina", rief er. Seine Landsleute rief er zur Standfestigkeit auf.
AFGHANISTAN
Spiegel: US-Luftangriff im Süden Kandahars
Während die US-Streitkräfte den ersten Schlag gegen Bagdad starteten, gingen auch in Afghanistan die Kämpfe weiter. Am Morgen flog die amerikanische Armee einen Luftangriff auf Ziele südöstlich von Kandahar.
Bagram/Afghanistan - Der Angriff sei Teil einer neuen Offensive, teilten die US-Streitkräfte auf ihrem Stützpunkt Bagram mit. Die USA fahnden in Afghanistan nach Anhängern der radikal-islamischen Taliban und Mitgliedern der a-Qaida-Organisation des Muslim-Extremisten Osama Bin Laden. Die USA halten Bin Laden und al-Qaida für die Drahtzieher der Anschläge vom September 2001, bei denen in den USA rund 3000 Menschen getötet worden waren. Die Taliban hatten Bin Laden bis zu ihrem Sturz im Dezember 2001 Unterschlupf gewährt. Kandahar galt als eine ihrer Hochburgen
Spiegel: US-Luftangriff im Süden Kandahars
Während die US-Streitkräfte den ersten Schlag gegen Bagdad starteten, gingen auch in Afghanistan die Kämpfe weiter. Am Morgen flog die amerikanische Armee einen Luftangriff auf Ziele südöstlich von Kandahar.
Bagram/Afghanistan - Der Angriff sei Teil einer neuen Offensive, teilten die US-Streitkräfte auf ihrem Stützpunkt Bagram mit. Die USA fahnden in Afghanistan nach Anhängern der radikal-islamischen Taliban und Mitgliedern der a-Qaida-Organisation des Muslim-Extremisten Osama Bin Laden. Die USA halten Bin Laden und al-Qaida für die Drahtzieher der Anschläge vom September 2001, bei denen in den USA rund 3000 Menschen getötet worden waren. Die Taliban hatten Bin Laden bis zu ihrem Sturz im Dezember 2001 Unterschlupf gewährt. Kandahar galt als eine ihrer Hochburgen
WAR ON IRAK
Guardian: Attack on Baghdad begins
· Missiles target Iraqi leaders
· Bush makes TV address to America
· Saddam pledges victory
A wave of stealth bombers and cruise missiles was launched on Baghdad today as the long-expected US-led attack on Iraq got under way.
Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired and precision-guided bombs were dropped from F-117 Nighthawks, the US air force's stealth fighter-bombers, military officials said.
Air raid sirens followed by a series of explosions were heard in Baghdad at 0234 GMT (5.34am Baghdad time). The action began 90 minutes after the US Bush's deadline for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq passed.
The attacks appeared to be an attempt to "decapitate" the Iraqi leadership through a precise strike rather than the massive aerial bombardment that US military officials had threatened - the so-called "shock and awe" opening to war. There was no indication whether key targets had been hit
At 0315 GMT, two hours after the expiry of the 48-hour deadline George Bush had given to President Saddam to leave Iraq or face war, the US president went on television to inform the American people that the war had begun.
He said: "Now that conflict has come, the only way to limit its duration is to apply decisive force. We will accept no outcome but victory."
"We will accept no outcome but victory," Mr Bush said: "The dangers to our country and the world will be overcome."
Three hours after the attack began, Iraqi state television broadcast what appeared to be a live address by President Saddam.
"This is a crime against our dignified and great nation," he said in a short speech.
The Iraqi leader pledged to defeat the American-led invasion. He told his people: "We have great hope that history will be on our side."
"I pledge ... that we will resist the invaders. And, God willing, we will make them lose patience and they will never achieve their goals. They will be met by an everlasting defeat that they will never forget.
His last words were "long live Palestine" - a clear sign that he was attempting to link the attack on Iraq to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Guardian: Attack on Baghdad begins
· Missiles target Iraqi leaders
· Bush makes TV address to America
· Saddam pledges victory
A wave of stealth bombers and cruise missiles was launched on Baghdad today as the long-expected US-led attack on Iraq got under way.
Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired and precision-guided bombs were dropped from F-117 Nighthawks, the US air force's stealth fighter-bombers, military officials said.
Air raid sirens followed by a series of explosions were heard in Baghdad at 0234 GMT (5.34am Baghdad time). The action began 90 minutes after the US Bush's deadline for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq passed.
The attacks appeared to be an attempt to "decapitate" the Iraqi leadership through a precise strike rather than the massive aerial bombardment that US military officials had threatened - the so-called "shock and awe" opening to war. There was no indication whether key targets had been hit
At 0315 GMT, two hours after the expiry of the 48-hour deadline George Bush had given to President Saddam to leave Iraq or face war, the US president went on television to inform the American people that the war had begun.
He said: "Now that conflict has come, the only way to limit its duration is to apply decisive force. We will accept no outcome but victory."
"We will accept no outcome but victory," Mr Bush said: "The dangers to our country and the world will be overcome."
Three hours after the attack began, Iraqi state television broadcast what appeared to be a live address by President Saddam.
"This is a crime against our dignified and great nation," he said in a short speech.
The Iraqi leader pledged to defeat the American-led invasion. He told his people: "We have great hope that history will be on our side."
"I pledge ... that we will resist the invaders. And, God willing, we will make them lose patience and they will never achieve their goals. They will be met by an everlasting defeat that they will never forget.
His last words were "long live Palestine" - a clear sign that he was attempting to link the attack on Iraq to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
WAR ON IRAK
USA Today Op-Ed: War is not in U.S. interest
President Bush hasn't done a good job of selling this war because he has tried to sell us a pig in a poke. But when the truth comes out, as it will, Americans are going to start asking the following questions:
Where does it end? Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has laid out the road map, with Iran, Libya and Syria next on the list: "These are irresponsible states, which must be disarmed of weapons mass destruction," he told visiting U.S. congressmen, "and a successful American move in Iraq as a model will make that easier to achieve."
How does this war serve America's vital interests? The president says Iraq "threatens its neighbors," but only one of those neighbors wants war. As Patrick Buchanan succinctly put it: "For whose benefit are these endless wars in a region that holds nothing vital to America save oil, which the Arabs must sell us to survive? Who would benefit from a war of civilizations between the West and Islam? Answer: one nation, one leader, one party. Israel, Sharon, Likud."
Our troops will be fighting a proxy war in Iraq, and beyond, not to protect U.S. citizens from terrorist attacks, but to make the world safe for Israel. When the dead are buried, let the following be inscribed on their tombstones: They died for Ariel Sharon.
USA Today Op-Ed: War is not in U.S. interest
President Bush hasn't done a good job of selling this war because he has tried to sell us a pig in a poke. But when the truth comes out, as it will, Americans are going to start asking the following questions:
Where does it end? Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has laid out the road map, with Iran, Libya and Syria next on the list: "These are irresponsible states, which must be disarmed of weapons mass destruction," he told visiting U.S. congressmen, "and a successful American move in Iraq as a model will make that easier to achieve."
How does this war serve America's vital interests? The president says Iraq "threatens its neighbors," but only one of those neighbors wants war. As Patrick Buchanan succinctly put it: "For whose benefit are these endless wars in a region that holds nothing vital to America save oil, which the Arabs must sell us to survive? Who would benefit from a war of civilizations between the West and Islam? Answer: one nation, one leader, one party. Israel, Sharon, Likud."
Our troops will be fighting a proxy war in Iraq, and beyond, not to protect U.S. citizens from terrorist attacks, but to make the world safe for Israel. When the dead are buried, let the following be inscribed on their tombstones: They died for Ariel Sharon.
WAR ON IRAK
Guardian: Allied forces await attack orders
· Allied planes fire on no-fly zone
· Aziz quashes defection rumour
Staff and agencies
Wednesday March 19, 2003
Allied forces tonight awaited orders to attack Iraq after moving into position inside the demilitarised zone straddling the Iraq-Kuwait border.
Convoys of British and US tanks and fighting vehicles snaked through sandstorms in the Kuwaiti desert, taking up positions on the Iraqi border. One major deployment involved the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division of 20,000 soldiers and thousands of vehicles.
The Pentagon said allied warplanes were bombing Iraqi artillery positions in the southern no-fly zone tonight. British and American planes have carried out regular strikes in response to Iraqi anti-aircraft fire since the end of the 1991 Gulf War, however the attacks have been stepped in recent days to prepare the way for a large scale invasion.
It also seemed tonight that the millions of leaflets dropped on Iraq by US and British forces, warning Iraqi soldiers to surrender, may be having an effect. The Kuwait News Agency reported that 16 Iraqi soldiers surrendered to US-led forces in northern Kuwait tonight.
Guardian: Allied forces await attack orders
· Allied planes fire on no-fly zone
· Aziz quashes defection rumour
Staff and agencies
Wednesday March 19, 2003
Allied forces tonight awaited orders to attack Iraq after moving into position inside the demilitarised zone straddling the Iraq-Kuwait border.
Convoys of British and US tanks and fighting vehicles snaked through sandstorms in the Kuwaiti desert, taking up positions on the Iraqi border. One major deployment involved the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division of 20,000 soldiers and thousands of vehicles.
The Pentagon said allied warplanes were bombing Iraqi artillery positions in the southern no-fly zone tonight. British and American planes have carried out regular strikes in response to Iraqi anti-aircraft fire since the end of the 1991 Gulf War, however the attacks have been stepped in recent days to prepare the way for a large scale invasion.
It also seemed tonight that the millions of leaflets dropped on Iraq by US and British forces, warning Iraqi soldiers to surrender, may be having an effect. The Kuwait News Agency reported that 16 Iraqi soldiers surrendered to US-led forces in northern Kuwait tonight.
WORLD WIDE PROTESTS
Guardian: Worldwide peace protests stepped up
Thousands of people around the world, from schoolchildren to trade unionists, took to the streets today to vent their anger at the seemingly inevitable march towards war in Iraq.
In London, Westminster was brought to a standstill as hundreds of students and pupils took part in a sit-down protest against the looming war. For a time, the entrances to government buildings, including Portcullis House, were closed to prevent protesters from entering.
Earlier, an anti-war protester was arrested as activists staged a "die-in" outside the south London home of the foreign secretary, Jack Straw. Dozens of similar events were being held around the country, according to the Stop the War Coalition website.
Guardian: Worldwide peace protests stepped up
Thousands of people around the world, from schoolchildren to trade unionists, took to the streets today to vent their anger at the seemingly inevitable march towards war in Iraq.
In London, Westminster was brought to a standstill as hundreds of students and pupils took part in a sit-down protest against the looming war. For a time, the entrances to government buildings, including Portcullis House, were closed to prevent protesters from entering.
Earlier, an anti-war protester was arrested as activists staged a "die-in" outside the south London home of the foreign secretary, Jack Straw. Dozens of similar events were being held around the country, according to the Stop the War Coalition website.
WAR ON IRAK
Spiegel: USA und Irak dementieren Flucht Asis'
Gerüchte, wonach der irakische Vize-Ministerpräsident Tarik Asis beim Versuch überzulaufen angeschossen worden sei, wurden von den USA und dem Irak dementiert. Nach Angaben der irakischen Opposition soll Asis nach Kurdistan geflohen sein.
Hamburg - US-Regierungskreise wiesen die Spekulationen um Asis zurück, dieser sei zu US-Behörden übergelaufen oder bei der Flucht angeschossen worden. "Diese Gerüchte sind einfach nicht wahr", zitiert die Nachrichtenagentur Reuters "Kreise in Washington".
Spiegel: USA und Irak dementieren Flucht Asis'
Gerüchte, wonach der irakische Vize-Ministerpräsident Tarik Asis beim Versuch überzulaufen angeschossen worden sei, wurden von den USA und dem Irak dementiert. Nach Angaben der irakischen Opposition soll Asis nach Kurdistan geflohen sein.
Hamburg - US-Regierungskreise wiesen die Spekulationen um Asis zurück, dieser sei zu US-Behörden übergelaufen oder bei der Flucht angeschossen worden. "Diese Gerüchte sind einfach nicht wahr", zitiert die Nachrichtenagentur Reuters "Kreise in Washington".
WAR ON IRAK
Spiegel: "You can't fuck with America"
US-Präsident Bush berät sich mit Verteidigungsminister Rumsfeld - Befehlshaber Franks plant die erste Angriffswelle: 250.000 amerikanische und britische Soldaten stehen für die Irak-Invasion bereit. Wenige Stunden vor Ablauf des Kriegs-Ultimatums wenden sich Offiziere mit Motivationsreden an ihre Truppen.
Kuweit - Die Ruhe, die in der US-Armee am Golf herrscht, ist wohl trügerisch: Soldaten in Kuweit zünden Lagerfeuer neben ihren Panzern an, auf dem Flugzeugträger USS Roosevelt im Golf sollten sich die Piloten laut Order vom Nachmittag schlafen legen. Sie sollen sich ausruhen - für einen möglichen Einsatz in der Nacht.
Ari Fleischer: Hoffe auf "friedliche" Invasion. "Mr.Fleischer hat definitiv zu viel Orwell gelesen. Es gibt keine friedliche Invasion, das schliesst sich gegenseitig aus.
Spiegel: "You can't fuck with America"
US-Präsident Bush berät sich mit Verteidigungsminister Rumsfeld - Befehlshaber Franks plant die erste Angriffswelle: 250.000 amerikanische und britische Soldaten stehen für die Irak-Invasion bereit. Wenige Stunden vor Ablauf des Kriegs-Ultimatums wenden sich Offiziere mit Motivationsreden an ihre Truppen.
Kuweit - Die Ruhe, die in der US-Armee am Golf herrscht, ist wohl trügerisch: Soldaten in Kuweit zünden Lagerfeuer neben ihren Panzern an, auf dem Flugzeugträger USS Roosevelt im Golf sollten sich die Piloten laut Order vom Nachmittag schlafen legen. Sie sollen sich ausruhen - für einen möglichen Einsatz in der Nacht.
Ari Fleischer: Hoffe auf "friedliche" Invasion. "Mr.Fleischer hat definitiv zu viel Orwell gelesen. Es gibt keine friedliche Invasion, das schliesst sich gegenseitig aus.
WAR ON IRAK
Spiegel: Angeschossen und übergelaufen?
Die Meldung verbreitete sich wie ein Lauffeuer um den Globus: Der irakische Vize-Ministerpräsident Tarik Asis soll beim Versuch überzulaufen angeschossen worden sein. Wahrheit oder gezielte Desinformation? Zumindest nach Angaben aus Asis' Büro ist der Stellvertreter Saddam Husseins nur für eine Woche verreist
Spiegel: Angeschossen und übergelaufen?
Die Meldung verbreitete sich wie ein Lauffeuer um den Globus: Der irakische Vize-Ministerpräsident Tarik Asis soll beim Versuch überzulaufen angeschossen worden sein. Wahrheit oder gezielte Desinformation? Zumindest nach Angaben aus Asis' Büro ist der Stellvertreter Saddam Husseins nur für eine Woche verreist
WAR ON IRAK
Skynews: MYSTERY OVER TARIQ AZIZ
The Foreign Office is investigating rumours that Tariq Aziz, the Iraqi deputy prime minister, has defected to Northern Iraq.
Junior Foreign Office minister Mike O'Brien told the Commons that the rumours came from a Bulgarian source.
Labour's Ann Clwyd (Cynon Valley) said: "We do have reports that are as yet unconfirmed that Tariq Aziz has defected to Northern Iraq to Kurdish Democratic Party territory.
Allbawaba: Unconfirmed opposition reports: Tareq Aziz shot dead
The Iraqi opposition is trying to verify reports indicating that Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz may have been killed on his way to the Kurdish part of the country.
Ismail Zayer of the Iraqi opposition broke the news Wednesday, interviewed for Radio Free Europe.
According to BTA, Zayer expressed hope that this news will be confirmed by an independent source by Thursday. "The Iraqi opposition has reasons to believe that Aziz has attempted to escape into the Kurdish region of Iraq," Zayer said.
Skynews: MYSTERY OVER TARIQ AZIZ
The Foreign Office is investigating rumours that Tariq Aziz, the Iraqi deputy prime minister, has defected to Northern Iraq.
Junior Foreign Office minister Mike O'Brien told the Commons that the rumours came from a Bulgarian source.
Labour's Ann Clwyd (Cynon Valley) said: "We do have reports that are as yet unconfirmed that Tariq Aziz has defected to Northern Iraq to Kurdish Democratic Party territory.
Allbawaba: Unconfirmed opposition reports: Tareq Aziz shot dead
The Iraqi opposition is trying to verify reports indicating that Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz may have been killed on his way to the Kurdish part of the country.
Ismail Zayer of the Iraqi opposition broke the news Wednesday, interviewed for Radio Free Europe.
According to BTA, Zayer expressed hope that this news will be confirmed by an independent source by Thursday. "The Iraqi opposition has reasons to believe that Aziz has attempted to escape into the Kurdish region of Iraq," Zayer said.
WAR ON IRAK
Guardian: Forces enter demilitarised zone
Allied forces today moved into the demilitarised zone straddling the Iraq-Kuwait border in preparation for the imminent attack on Iraq, Kuwaiti security sources cited by Reuters said.
Convoys of British and US tanks and fighting vehicles have been snaking through sandstorms in the Kuwaiti desert, making their way towards the Iraq border.
Only a few hours remain before the US ultimatum to the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, to flee the country reaches its deadline at 0115 GMT early tomorrow. Baghdad has unequivocally rejected it.
Guardian: Forces enter demilitarised zone
Allied forces today moved into the demilitarised zone straddling the Iraq-Kuwait border in preparation for the imminent attack on Iraq, Kuwaiti security sources cited by Reuters said.
Convoys of British and US tanks and fighting vehicles have been snaking through sandstorms in the Kuwaiti desert, making their way towards the Iraq border.
Only a few hours remain before the US ultimatum to the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, to flee the country reaches its deadline at 0115 GMT early tomorrow. Baghdad has unequivocally rejected it.
WAR ON IRAK
Spiegel: Lauschangriff auf deutsche und französische EU-Büros
In deutschen und französischen EU-Büros wurden elektronische "Wanzen" gefunden. Für den Lauschangriff, den die Europäische Union bereits bestätigt hat, sollen nach Informationen einer französischen Zeitung die USA verantwortlich sein.
Brüssel - EU-Sprecher Dominique-George Marro bestätigte am Mittwoch den Wanzenfund und erklärte, Ermittlungen seien eingeleitet worden. Es gebe aber noch keine Hinweise, wer die Wanzen in den Brüsseler Büros angebracht habe. Marro bestätige damit teilweise einen Bericht der französischen Zeitung "Le Figaro".
Das Gebäude, in dem die Wanzen gefunden wurden, soll ab Donnerstag Schauplatz eines Gipfeltreffens der europäischen Staatschefs sein. Auch in Räumen anderer Staaten seien Abhöranlagen entdeckt worden. Marro sprach von "Abweichungen in den Telefonanlagen". Sie seien bei einer Sicherheitsüberprüfung vor wenigen Tagen aufgefallen.
Sollten sich die Vorwürfe bestätigen, wäre es innerhalb kurzer Zeit der zweite peinliche Abhörskandal, in den die USA verwickelt sind. Erst vor zwei Wochen veröffentlichte eine britische Zeitung ein internes Dossier eines US-Geheimdienstes, das besagt, die USA überwachten in großem Stil die Vertreter zahlreicher Staaten bei den Vereinten Nationen in New York.
Spiegel: Lauschangriff auf deutsche und französische EU-Büros
In deutschen und französischen EU-Büros wurden elektronische "Wanzen" gefunden. Für den Lauschangriff, den die Europäische Union bereits bestätigt hat, sollen nach Informationen einer französischen Zeitung die USA verantwortlich sein.
Brüssel - EU-Sprecher Dominique-George Marro bestätigte am Mittwoch den Wanzenfund und erklärte, Ermittlungen seien eingeleitet worden. Es gebe aber noch keine Hinweise, wer die Wanzen in den Brüsseler Büros angebracht habe. Marro bestätige damit teilweise einen Bericht der französischen Zeitung "Le Figaro".
Das Gebäude, in dem die Wanzen gefunden wurden, soll ab Donnerstag Schauplatz eines Gipfeltreffens der europäischen Staatschefs sein. Auch in Räumen anderer Staaten seien Abhöranlagen entdeckt worden. Marro sprach von "Abweichungen in den Telefonanlagen". Sie seien bei einer Sicherheitsüberprüfung vor wenigen Tagen aufgefallen.
Sollten sich die Vorwürfe bestätigen, wäre es innerhalb kurzer Zeit der zweite peinliche Abhörskandal, in den die USA verwickelt sind. Erst vor zwei Wochen veröffentlichte eine britische Zeitung ein internes Dossier eines US-Geheimdienstes, das besagt, die USA überwachten in großem Stil die Vertreter zahlreicher Staaten bei den Vereinten Nationen in New York.
WAR ON IRAK
Spiegel: USA wollen muslimische Asylanten einsperren
Washington - Nach einer neuen Anordnung des Ministeriums von Tom Ridge werden künftig Asylsuchende in den USA in Gewahrsam genommen - wenn sie aus einem der 33 vorwiegend muslimischen Länder stammen, die auf einer geheimen Liste stehen. Die vorübergehende Verhaftungsanweisung ist Teil der "Operation Liberty Shield" (Operation Schutzschild der Freiheit), die am Dienstag in Kraft getreten ist und verschiedene Sicherheitsmaßnahmen innerhalb der USA umfasst.
Die Operation Freiheitsschild nehme den Opfern von Menschenrechtsverletzungen eben die Freiheit, die sie in den USA suchten, sagte William F. Schulz, Geschäftsführer von Amnesty International USA. "Eine Operation 'Freiheitsschild' zu nennen, die Asylsuchenden die Freiheit verweigert, hat Orwellsche Züge." Kritik kam auch von Edward M. Kennedy, der für die Demokraten im Senat sitzt. "Programme, die bestimmte Bevölkerungsgruppen nach Religion, Volkszugehörigkeit oder nationaler Abstammung aussondern, sind falsch, kurzsichtig und gaukeln nur eine Illusion von Sicherheit vor", so Kennedy.
"Welcome To The 4th Reich"
Spiegel: USA wollen muslimische Asylanten einsperren
Washington - Nach einer neuen Anordnung des Ministeriums von Tom Ridge werden künftig Asylsuchende in den USA in Gewahrsam genommen - wenn sie aus einem der 33 vorwiegend muslimischen Länder stammen, die auf einer geheimen Liste stehen. Die vorübergehende Verhaftungsanweisung ist Teil der "Operation Liberty Shield" (Operation Schutzschild der Freiheit), die am Dienstag in Kraft getreten ist und verschiedene Sicherheitsmaßnahmen innerhalb der USA umfasst.
Die Operation Freiheitsschild nehme den Opfern von Menschenrechtsverletzungen eben die Freiheit, die sie in den USA suchten, sagte William F. Schulz, Geschäftsführer von Amnesty International USA. "Eine Operation 'Freiheitsschild' zu nennen, die Asylsuchenden die Freiheit verweigert, hat Orwellsche Züge." Kritik kam auch von Edward M. Kennedy, der für die Demokraten im Senat sitzt. "Programme, die bestimmte Bevölkerungsgruppen nach Religion, Volkszugehörigkeit oder nationaler Abstammung aussondern, sind falsch, kurzsichtig und gaukeln nur eine Illusion von Sicherheit vor", so Kennedy.
"Welcome To The 4th Reich"
WAR ON IRAK: DER KRIEG HAT BEGONNEN
Times Online: First shots fired at sea as allied battle plan unfolds
THE first shots of the war have been fired, killing at least one Iraqi during a suspected operation to mine the waters off Kuwait. But that opening skirmish is about to be dwarfed by the most formidable military assault in modern warfare: 250,000 British and American troops — backed by more than 1,000 aircraft, 400 tanks and a 110-strong armada — are poised to unleash their awesome power on Saddam Hussein’s Iraq the moment the order is given.
The first clash occurred in the mouth of the Khawr al-Zubayr river, a few miles south of the port of Umm Qasr, when a Kuwaiti gunboat challenged a flotilla of about 25 Iraqi dhows. The boats failed to respond and the Kuwaitis opened fire. It was unclear whether the dhows had laid any mines.
Times Online: First shots fired at sea as allied battle plan unfolds
THE first shots of the war have been fired, killing at least one Iraqi during a suspected operation to mine the waters off Kuwait. But that opening skirmish is about to be dwarfed by the most formidable military assault in modern warfare: 250,000 British and American troops — backed by more than 1,000 aircraft, 400 tanks and a 110-strong armada — are poised to unleash their awesome power on Saddam Hussein’s Iraq the moment the order is given.
The first clash occurred in the mouth of the Khawr al-Zubayr river, a few miles south of the port of Umm Qasr, when a Kuwaiti gunboat challenged a flotilla of about 25 Iraqi dhows. The boats failed to respond and the Kuwaitis opened fire. It was unclear whether the dhows had laid any mines.
WAR ON IRAK
Guardian: Taking diplomacy to the wire
Leaked transcripts of telegrams from Spain's UN ambassador offer a behind-the-scenes insight into what happened at one of the most crucial points in the institution's recent history, writes Giles Tremlett
Monday March 17, 2003
So what has been happening behind the closed doors of the United Nations security council in New York during what some consider to be its final outing as a place for meaningful decision-making about what happens in the world?
With efforts to build UN consensus on Iraq dead in the water, Spanish officials have conveniently leaked documents that show what happened last week as the UN ambassador, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, tried to persuade the waverers on the security council to back a slightly toned down second resolution that would add greater legitimacy to war.
The documents - telegrams sent from Spanish UN ambassador, Inocencio Arias, to his boss, the foreign minister, Ana Palacio - showed that Britain was virtually alone among its allies in its attempts to salvage the UN route.
They painted a picture of a hyperactive security council whose members were gripped by a fevered nervousness as the Iraq drama was played out. The documents will, if the doomsayers are correct, provide historians with a useful view of what actually happened when the UN security council finally reached one of the most crucial points in its history.....
Guardian: Taking diplomacy to the wire
Leaked transcripts of telegrams from Spain's UN ambassador offer a behind-the-scenes insight into what happened at one of the most crucial points in the institution's recent history, writes Giles Tremlett
Monday March 17, 2003
So what has been happening behind the closed doors of the United Nations security council in New York during what some consider to be its final outing as a place for meaningful decision-making about what happens in the world?
With efforts to build UN consensus on Iraq dead in the water, Spanish officials have conveniently leaked documents that show what happened last week as the UN ambassador, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, tried to persuade the waverers on the security council to back a slightly toned down second resolution that would add greater legitimacy to war.
The documents - telegrams sent from Spanish UN ambassador, Inocencio Arias, to his boss, the foreign minister, Ana Palacio - showed that Britain was virtually alone among its allies in its attempts to salvage the UN route.
They painted a picture of a hyperactive security council whose members were gripped by a fevered nervousness as the Iraq drama was played out. The documents will, if the doomsayers are correct, provide historians with a useful view of what actually happened when the UN security council finally reached one of the most crucial points in its history.....
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Palestine Chronicle: Florida US Senate Candidate Calls on Bush to Extradite, Execute Killers of Rachel Corrie
NEW YORK - Nationally syndicated conservative radio columnist Andy Martin demanded today that President Bush seek the extradition and criminal prosecution of the Israeli soldiers who killed an American college student Sunday in Occupied Gaza. Martin predicts that anti-Semitism will result if Bush allows Israelis to murder American peace volunteers.
"For over two years the homicidal psychopaths in the Sharon regime have been murdering Palestinians. President Bush clapped his hands and encouraged this slaughter. Now Israeli storm troopers have deliberately and wantonly murdered a peace-loving young American. She becomes a martyr to the blood lust of Ariel Sharon. I demand-the whole world demands-that Bush extradite these Israeli killers and seek their execution in the United States. Federal law mandates that Bush act.
"During the past week there has been a firestorm of protest concerning the ill-advised and inaccurate remarks of Rep. James Moran (see Andy Martin's statement dated March 16, 2003 on this topic, available by request). Ariel Sharon has responded to a sensitive moment by assassinating an American student. Israeli terrorism is no less a threat to world peace than any other form of terrorism. Bush has encouraged Israeli murderers; now he has American blood on his hands. I say bring the while Israeli junta to Alexandra, Virginia and put them on trial," says Martin.
Palestine Chronicle: Florida US Senate Candidate Calls on Bush to Extradite, Execute Killers of Rachel Corrie
NEW YORK - Nationally syndicated conservative radio columnist Andy Martin demanded today that President Bush seek the extradition and criminal prosecution of the Israeli soldiers who killed an American college student Sunday in Occupied Gaza. Martin predicts that anti-Semitism will result if Bush allows Israelis to murder American peace volunteers.
"For over two years the homicidal psychopaths in the Sharon regime have been murdering Palestinians. President Bush clapped his hands and encouraged this slaughter. Now Israeli storm troopers have deliberately and wantonly murdered a peace-loving young American. She becomes a martyr to the blood lust of Ariel Sharon. I demand-the whole world demands-that Bush extradite these Israeli killers and seek their execution in the United States. Federal law mandates that Bush act.
"During the past week there has been a firestorm of protest concerning the ill-advised and inaccurate remarks of Rep. James Moran (see Andy Martin's statement dated March 16, 2003 on this topic, available by request). Ariel Sharon has responded to a sensitive moment by assassinating an American student. Israeli terrorism is no less a threat to world peace than any other form of terrorism. Bush has encouraged Israeli murderers; now he has American blood on his hands. I say bring the while Israeli junta to Alexandra, Virginia and put them on trial," says Martin.
WAR ON IRAK
Independent: Robert Fisk: In vain, I looked for signs of the storm to come. Baghdad is a city sleepwalking to war
For Baghdad, it is night number 1,001, the very last few hours of fantasy. As UN inspectors prepared to leave the city in the early hours of this morning, Saddam Hussein has appointed his own son, Qusay, to lead the defence of the city of the Caliphs against the American invasion. Yet at the Armed Forces club yesterday, I found the defenders playing football. Iraqi television prepares Baghdad people for the bombardment to come with music from the Hollywood film, Gladiator. But the Iraqis went on with their work of disarming the soon-to-be invaded nation, observing the destruction of two more Al-Samoud missiles.
The UN inspectors, only hours from packing, even turned up to observe this very last bit of the disarmament which the Americans had so fervently demanded and in which they have now totally lost interest. With the inspectors gone, there is nothing to stop the Anglo-American air forces commencing their bombardment of the cities of Iraq.
So is Baghdad to be Stalingrad, as Saddam tells us? It doesn't feel like it. The roads are open, checkpoints often unmanned, the city's soldiery dragging on cigarettes outside the United Nations headquarters. From the banks of the Tigris river – a muddy, warm sewage-swamped version of Stalingrad's Volga – I watched yesterday evening the fishermen casting their lines for the fish that Baghdadis eat after sunset. The Security Council resolution withdrawn? Tony Blair calls an emergency meeting of the Cabinet? George Bush to address the American people? Baghdad, it seems, is sleep-walking its way into history.
Independent: Robert Fisk: In vain, I looked for signs of the storm to come. Baghdad is a city sleepwalking to war
For Baghdad, it is night number 1,001, the very last few hours of fantasy. As UN inspectors prepared to leave the city in the early hours of this morning, Saddam Hussein has appointed his own son, Qusay, to lead the defence of the city of the Caliphs against the American invasion. Yet at the Armed Forces club yesterday, I found the defenders playing football. Iraqi television prepares Baghdad people for the bombardment to come with music from the Hollywood film, Gladiator. But the Iraqis went on with their work of disarming the soon-to-be invaded nation, observing the destruction of two more Al-Samoud missiles.
The UN inspectors, only hours from packing, even turned up to observe this very last bit of the disarmament which the Americans had so fervently demanded and in which they have now totally lost interest. With the inspectors gone, there is nothing to stop the Anglo-American air forces commencing their bombardment of the cities of Iraq.
So is Baghdad to be Stalingrad, as Saddam tells us? It doesn't feel like it. The roads are open, checkpoints often unmanned, the city's soldiery dragging on cigarettes outside the United Nations headquarters. From the banks of the Tigris river – a muddy, warm sewage-swamped version of Stalingrad's Volga – I watched yesterday evening the fishermen casting their lines for the fish that Baghdadis eat after sunset. The Security Council resolution withdrawn? Tony Blair calls an emergency meeting of the Cabinet? George Bush to address the American people? Baghdad, it seems, is sleep-walking its way into history.
WAR ON IRAK
WSWS.ORG: The Bush administration repudiates international law
The 15-minute speech delivered Monday night by President Bush, which
all
but declared war against Iraq, consisted entirely of distortions,
half-truths and outright lies. A thorough refutation of this speech
would
require a line-by-line analysis, because there was not a single
sentence
that was based on an honest presentation of facts. Even his first
sentence—“My fellow citizens, events in Iraq have now reached the final
days of decision”—was a lie. In fact, the decision to which he
referred—the invasion of Iraq—was taken months ago.
WSWS.ORG: The Bush administration repudiates international law
The 15-minute speech delivered Monday night by President Bush, which
all
but declared war against Iraq, consisted entirely of distortions,
half-truths and outright lies. A thorough refutation of this speech
would
require a line-by-line analysis, because there was not a single
sentence
that was based on an honest presentation of facts. Even his first
sentence—“My fellow citizens, events in Iraq have now reached the final
days of decision”—was a lie. In fact, the decision to which he
referred—the invasion of Iraq—was taken months ago.
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Guardian: Rachel's war
This weekend 23-year-old American peace activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by a bulldozer as she tried to prevent the Israeli army destroying homes in the Gaza Strip. In a remarkable series of emails to her family, she explained why she was risking her life
February 7 2003
Hi friends and family, and others,
I have been in Palestine for two weeks and one hour now, and I still have very few words to describe what I see. It is most difficult for me to think about what's going on here when I sit down to write back to the United States. Something about the virtual portal into luxury. I don't know if many of the children here have ever existed without tank-shell holes in their walls and the towers of an occupying army surveying them constantly from the near horizons. I think, although I'm not entirely sure, that even the smallest of these children understand that life is not like this everywhere. An eight-year-old was shot and killed by an Israeli tank two days before I got here, and many of the children murmur his name to me - Ali - or point at the posters of him on the walls. The children also love to get me to practice my limited Arabic by asking me, "Kaif Sharon?" "Kaif Bush?" and they laugh when I say, "Bush Majnoon", "Sharon Majnoon" back in my limited arabic. (How is Sharon? How is Bush? Bush is crazy. Sharon is crazy.) Of course this isn't quite what I believe, and some of the adults who have the English correct me: "Bush mish Majnoon" ... Bush is a businessman. Today I tried to learn to say, "Bush is a tool", but I don't think it translated quite right. But anyway, there are eight-year-olds here much more aware of the workings of the global power structure than I was just a few years ago......
CHECK IT
Guardian: Rachel's war
This weekend 23-year-old American peace activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by a bulldozer as she tried to prevent the Israeli army destroying homes in the Gaza Strip. In a remarkable series of emails to her family, she explained why she was risking her life
February 7 2003
Hi friends and family, and others,
I have been in Palestine for two weeks and one hour now, and I still have very few words to describe what I see. It is most difficult for me to think about what's going on here when I sit down to write back to the United States. Something about the virtual portal into luxury. I don't know if many of the children here have ever existed without tank-shell holes in their walls and the towers of an occupying army surveying them constantly from the near horizons. I think, although I'm not entirely sure, that even the smallest of these children understand that life is not like this everywhere. An eight-year-old was shot and killed by an Israeli tank two days before I got here, and many of the children murmur his name to me - Ali - or point at the posters of him on the walls. The children also love to get me to practice my limited Arabic by asking me, "Kaif Sharon?" "Kaif Bush?" and they laugh when I say, "Bush Majnoon", "Sharon Majnoon" back in my limited arabic. (How is Sharon? How is Bush? Bush is crazy. Sharon is crazy.) Of course this isn't quite what I believe, and some of the adults who have the English correct me: "Bush mish Majnoon" ... Bush is a businessman. Today I tried to learn to say, "Bush is a tool", but I don't think it translated quite right. But anyway, there are eight-year-olds here much more aware of the workings of the global power structure than I was just a few years ago......
CHECK IT
WAR ON IRAK
ZNET/International Tribune: No to War by Noam Chomsky
The most powerful state in history has proclaimed that it intends to control the world by force, the dimension in which it reigns supreme.
President Bush and his cohorts evidently believe that the means of violence in their hands are so extraordinary that they can dismiss anyone who stands in their way.
The consequences could be catastrophic in Iraq and around the world. The United States may reap a whirlwind of terrorist retaliation -- and step up the possibility of nuclear Armageddon.
Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and company are committed to an "imperial ambition," as G. John Ikenberry wrote in the September/October issue of Foreign Affairs -- "a unipolar world in which the United States has no peer competitor" and in which "no state or coalition could ever challenge it as global leader, protector and enforcer."
That ambition surely includes much expanded control over Persian Gulf resources and military bases to impose a preferred form of order in the region.
Even before the administration began beating the war drums against Iraq, there were plenty of warnings that U.S. adventurism would lead to proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, as well as terror, for deterrence or revenge.
Right now, Washington is teaching the world a dangerous lesson: If you want to defend yourself from us, you had better mimic North Korea and pose a credible threat. Otherwise we will demolish you.
There is good reason to believe that the war with Iraq is intended, in part, to demonstrate what lies ahead when the empire decides to strike a blow -- though "war" is hardly the proper term, given the gross mismatch of forces.
A flood of propaganda warns that if we do not stop Saddam Hussein today he will destroy us tomorrow.
Last October, when Congress granted the president the authority to go to war, it was "to defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq."
But no country in Iraq's neighborhood seems overly concerned about Saddam, much as they may hate the murderous tyrant.
Perhaps that is because the neighbors know that Iraq's people are at the edge of survival. Iraq has become one of the weakest states in the region. As a report from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences points out, Iraq's economy and military expenditures are a fraction of some of its neighbors'.
ZNET: Action, not speculation Cynthia Peters interviews Noam Chomsky
ZNET/International Tribune: No to War by Noam Chomsky
The most powerful state in history has proclaimed that it intends to control the world by force, the dimension in which it reigns supreme.
President Bush and his cohorts evidently believe that the means of violence in their hands are so extraordinary that they can dismiss anyone who stands in their way.
The consequences could be catastrophic in Iraq and around the world. The United States may reap a whirlwind of terrorist retaliation -- and step up the possibility of nuclear Armageddon.
Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and company are committed to an "imperial ambition," as G. John Ikenberry wrote in the September/October issue of Foreign Affairs -- "a unipolar world in which the United States has no peer competitor" and in which "no state or coalition could ever challenge it as global leader, protector and enforcer."
That ambition surely includes much expanded control over Persian Gulf resources and military bases to impose a preferred form of order in the region.
Even before the administration began beating the war drums against Iraq, there were plenty of warnings that U.S. adventurism would lead to proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, as well as terror, for deterrence or revenge.
Right now, Washington is teaching the world a dangerous lesson: If you want to defend yourself from us, you had better mimic North Korea and pose a credible threat. Otherwise we will demolish you.
There is good reason to believe that the war with Iraq is intended, in part, to demonstrate what lies ahead when the empire decides to strike a blow -- though "war" is hardly the proper term, given the gross mismatch of forces.
A flood of propaganda warns that if we do not stop Saddam Hussein today he will destroy us tomorrow.
Last October, when Congress granted the president the authority to go to war, it was "to defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq."
But no country in Iraq's neighborhood seems overly concerned about Saddam, much as they may hate the murderous tyrant.
Perhaps that is because the neighbors know that Iraq's people are at the edge of survival. Iraq has become one of the weakest states in the region. As a report from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences points out, Iraq's economy and military expenditures are a fraction of some of its neighbors'.
ZNET: Action, not speculation Cynthia Peters interviews Noam Chomsky
WAR ON IRAK: UK
Spiegel: Blair kommt mit blauem Auge davon
Im Unterhaus votierten 139 Abgeordnete der Labour Party gegen den Krieg ihres Premierministers. Es war die größte Rebellion, die ein Labour-Premier jemals hinnehmen musste, doch Tony Blair und seine Regierung waren heilfroh, dass es nicht schlimmer kam. Als nächstes steht dem Premierminister eine Belagerung des Regierungsviertels durch außerparlamentarische Kriegsgegner ins Haus.
Spiegel: Blair kommt mit blauem Auge davon
Im Unterhaus votierten 139 Abgeordnete der Labour Party gegen den Krieg ihres Premierministers. Es war die größte Rebellion, die ein Labour-Premier jemals hinnehmen musste, doch Tony Blair und seine Regierung waren heilfroh, dass es nicht schlimmer kam. Als nächstes steht dem Premierminister eine Belagerung des Regierungsviertels durch außerparlamentarische Kriegsgegner ins Haus.
SITE OF THE DAY
CHECK: DISINFOPEDIA
Disinfopedia Main Page
From Disinfopedia, the encyclopedia of propaganda.
Welcome to Disinfopedia, a collaborative project to produce a directory of public relations firms, think tanks, industry-funded organizations and industry-friendly experts that work to influence public opinion and public policy on behalf of corporations, governments and special interests. We are already working on 277 articles.
Anyone, including you, can edit any article right now. See the Disinfopedia FAQ for more background information about the project. Read the help page and experiment in the sandbox to learn how you can use and contribute to the Disinfopedia.
The content of Disinfopedia is covered by the GNU Free Documentation License, which means that it is free and will remain so forever. See Disinfopedia:Copyrights for the details and open content and free content for background.
Propaganda and the Current War Crisis
As the United States moves closer to a unilateral declaration of war with Iraq, public understanding of war propaganda has become a matter of vital concern. For up-to-date analysis, we hope you will use (and contribute to) our essay titled "Weapons of mass deception."
CHECK: DISINFOPEDIA
Disinfopedia Main Page
From Disinfopedia, the encyclopedia of propaganda.
Welcome to Disinfopedia, a collaborative project to produce a directory of public relations firms, think tanks, industry-funded organizations and industry-friendly experts that work to influence public opinion and public policy on behalf of corporations, governments and special interests. We are already working on 277 articles.
Anyone, including you, can edit any article right now. See the Disinfopedia FAQ for more background information about the project. Read the help page and experiment in the sandbox to learn how you can use and contribute to the Disinfopedia.
The content of Disinfopedia is covered by the GNU Free Documentation License, which means that it is free and will remain so forever. See Disinfopedia:Copyrights for the details and open content and free content for background.
Propaganda and the Current War Crisis
As the United States moves closer to a unilateral declaration of war with Iraq, public understanding of war propaganda has become a matter of vital concern. For up-to-date analysis, we hope you will use (and contribute to) our essay titled "Weapons of mass deception."
IRAK: MEDIA WATCH
New York Times: MTV Refuses Antiwar Commercial
"MTV has refused to accept a commercial opposing a war in Iraq,
citing a policy against advocacy spots that it says protects the
channel from having to run ads from any cash-rich interest group
whose cause may be loathsome. ... 'It is irresponsible for news
organizations not to accept ads that are controversial on serious
issues, assuming they are not scurrilous or in bad taste,' said
Alex Jones, director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press,
Politics and Public Policy at Harvard. 'In the world we live in,
with the kind of media concentration we have, the only way that
unpopular beliefs can be aired sometimes is if the monopoly vehicle
agrees to accept an ad.' ... Broadcast operations with blanket
no-advocacy policies include CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox Broadcasting,
along with cable channels like CNN and MTV, a Viacom subsidiary.
The policy at CBS protects the integrity of its news department,
the public discourse and local sensibilities around the country,
said Martin Franks, executive vice president. ... 'On the CBS
television network,' he added, 'we think that informed discussion
comes from our news programming.' "
New York Times: MTV Refuses Antiwar Commercial
"MTV has refused to accept a commercial opposing a war in Iraq,
citing a policy against advocacy spots that it says protects the
channel from having to run ads from any cash-rich interest group
whose cause may be loathsome. ... 'It is irresponsible for news
organizations not to accept ads that are controversial on serious
issues, assuming they are not scurrilous or in bad taste,' said
Alex Jones, director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press,
Politics and Public Policy at Harvard. 'In the world we live in,
with the kind of media concentration we have, the only way that
unpopular beliefs can be aired sometimes is if the monopoly vehicle
agrees to accept an ad.' ... Broadcast operations with blanket
no-advocacy policies include CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox Broadcasting,
along with cable channels like CNN and MTV, a Viacom subsidiary.
The policy at CBS protects the integrity of its news department,
the public discourse and local sensibilities around the country,
said Martin Franks, executive vice president. ... 'On the CBS
television network,' he added, 'we think that informed discussion
comes from our news programming.' "
BOYCOTT BRAND AMERICA
Adbusters: BOYCOTT BRAND AMERICA
How to Boycott a Global Bully
In the face of intense opposition at home and abroad, the US government is determined to fight a war that will be felt around the world. It's a slap in the face to democracy, a cold shoulder to liberty - and it's time to make a visible statement against American power gone wrong.
Here is the one and only rule for the Brand America Boycott: this action belongs to you. You decide what brands and products stand as symbols of America's new empire-building project, and you decide how you'll make your statement. Above all else, this is a culture jam - personal, spontaneous, unpredictable.
Some people are planning a total Made-in-America boycott. Some will boycott oil for the duration of the war. Others are planning public activism against the greatest symbols of the Brand America warriors: McDonald's, Philip Morris, Exxon Mobil, Texaco, the major automakers, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, Starbucks, Nike, Disneyland, the Hollywood cinemas. Media activists can launch TV Turnoff campaigns against Fox, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS and MTV. The limits to your participation are the limits of imagination, and the brainstorming has already begun.
When the bombs start falling, the boycott begins. Within days, we'll launch the first days of action - targeted boycotts to make a visible statement against the symbols of American power that we live with day to day. Imagine a global action against American oil corporations, or a day when McDonald's restaurants stand empty from Tokyo to Toronto, from Berlin to Chicago. Imagine a 24-hour blackout of America's "big five" media cheerleaders.
Most importantly, keep in touch and let the world know how you're getting involved in the Brand America Boycott. We'll post regular updates and spread the word. It's a consumer strike against a corrupted American dream. One final warning: be prepared to change the world!
SIGN THE PLEDGE NOW
Adbusters: BOYCOTT BRAND AMERICA
How to Boycott a Global Bully
In the face of intense opposition at home and abroad, the US government is determined to fight a war that will be felt around the world. It's a slap in the face to democracy, a cold shoulder to liberty - and it's time to make a visible statement against American power gone wrong.
Here is the one and only rule for the Brand America Boycott: this action belongs to you. You decide what brands and products stand as symbols of America's new empire-building project, and you decide how you'll make your statement. Above all else, this is a culture jam - personal, spontaneous, unpredictable.
Some people are planning a total Made-in-America boycott. Some will boycott oil for the duration of the war. Others are planning public activism against the greatest symbols of the Brand America warriors: McDonald's, Philip Morris, Exxon Mobil, Texaco, the major automakers, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, Starbucks, Nike, Disneyland, the Hollywood cinemas. Media activists can launch TV Turnoff campaigns against Fox, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS and MTV. The limits to your participation are the limits of imagination, and the brainstorming has already begun.
When the bombs start falling, the boycott begins. Within days, we'll launch the first days of action - targeted boycotts to make a visible statement against the symbols of American power that we live with day to day. Imagine a global action against American oil corporations, or a day when McDonald's restaurants stand empty from Tokyo to Toronto, from Berlin to Chicago. Imagine a 24-hour blackout of America's "big five" media cheerleaders.
Most importantly, keep in touch and let the world know how you're getting involved in the Brand America Boycott. We'll post regular updates and spread the word. It's a consumer strike against a corrupted American dream. One final warning: be prepared to change the world!
SIGN THE PLEDGE NOW
IRAK: PROGPAGANDA WATCH
Tompaine.com: Credibility Bomb
The "powerful odor of mendacity" (to borrow Tennessee Williams’ phrase) hung over George Bush’s primetime virtual declaration of war Monday night.
When Bush proclaimed that "The Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised," that was a lie. What are the "most lethal weapons ever devised?" Why, nuclear weapons, of course. That Iraq possesses nukes, or is even close to making them, is something for which Bush has been unable to provide any evidence that would withstand scrutiny. The United Nations’ inspectors have found none. And that which the administration has produced turned out to be fraudulent -- like the centerpiece documents about Nigerian uranium shipments to Iraq, which were childish forgeries
Bush asserted that Iraq "has aided, trained, and harbored terrorists, including operatives of Al Qaeda." The last part of that was a lie. Pieces of the crucial document of U.S. "proof" that Saddam Hussein has aided his ideological enemy Al Qaeda -- a cut-and-paste British report assembled by Tony Blair’s public relations strategist, and recommended heartily as the fundament for this assertion by Colin Powell in his prosecutor’s brief at the United Nations -- turned out to have been plagiarized from a paper by a graduate student, based on data a decade old, and augmented by more plagiarizing from press cuttings.....
By asserting the United States' right to invade whomever it likes whenever it likes, Bush’s speech brought the world to the most dangerous moment in its history since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. A first-strike on Iraq, unprovoked by any aggressive act on Saddam’s part, will start a new nuclear arms race by countries that have nothing further to lose by creating a nuclear deterrent to the unchecked imperial power of Washington.
Tompaine.com: Credibility Bomb
The "powerful odor of mendacity" (to borrow Tennessee Williams’ phrase) hung over George Bush’s primetime virtual declaration of war Monday night.
When Bush proclaimed that "The Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised," that was a lie. What are the "most lethal weapons ever devised?" Why, nuclear weapons, of course. That Iraq possesses nukes, or is even close to making them, is something for which Bush has been unable to provide any evidence that would withstand scrutiny. The United Nations’ inspectors have found none. And that which the administration has produced turned out to be fraudulent -- like the centerpiece documents about Nigerian uranium shipments to Iraq, which were childish forgeries
Bush asserted that Iraq "has aided, trained, and harbored terrorists, including operatives of Al Qaeda." The last part of that was a lie. Pieces of the crucial document of U.S. "proof" that Saddam Hussein has aided his ideological enemy Al Qaeda -- a cut-and-paste British report assembled by Tony Blair’s public relations strategist, and recommended heartily as the fundament for this assertion by Colin Powell in his prosecutor’s brief at the United Nations -- turned out to have been plagiarized from a paper by a graduate student, based on data a decade old, and augmented by more plagiarizing from press cuttings.....
By asserting the United States' right to invade whomever it likes whenever it likes, Bush’s speech brought the world to the most dangerous moment in its history since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. A first-strike on Iraq, unprovoked by any aggressive act on Saddam’s part, will start a new nuclear arms race by countries that have nothing further to lose by creating a nuclear deterrent to the unchecked imperial power of Washington.
Tuesday, March 18, 2003
WAR ON IRAK
CNN: U.S.: Iraqi forces may have mustard, VX gases
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Iraqi Republican Guard military units south of Baghdad may now have chemical munitions filled with a form of VX nerve agent as well as mustard gas, U.S. military officials Tuesday told CNN.
Officials base the possibility on intelligence reports that include the monitoring of Iraqi military communications.
The United States also has indications of sabotage against oil fields in the southern Iraqi region of Rumailah, where at least one oil well has been spilling crude into the desert for over 24 hours. The United States believes the spill is deliberate, and that it is an effort to create a physical obstacle in the desert to hinder the movement of U.S. troops.
"Das tönt für mich wie die schwarze Propaganda von 1991 als die Amerikaner behauptet haben das 250'000 Irakische Soldaten an der Saudi-Arabischen Grenze stünden was später als Lüge entlarvt wurde"
CNN: U.S.: Iraqi forces may have mustard, VX gases
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Iraqi Republican Guard military units south of Baghdad may now have chemical munitions filled with a form of VX nerve agent as well as mustard gas, U.S. military officials Tuesday told CNN.
Officials base the possibility on intelligence reports that include the monitoring of Iraqi military communications.
The United States also has indications of sabotage against oil fields in the southern Iraqi region of Rumailah, where at least one oil well has been spilling crude into the desert for over 24 hours. The United States believes the spill is deliberate, and that it is an effort to create a physical obstacle in the desert to hinder the movement of U.S. troops.
"Das tönt für mich wie die schwarze Propaganda von 1991 als die Amerikaner behauptet haben das 250'000 Irakische Soldaten an der Saudi-Arabischen Grenze stünden was später als Lüge entlarvt wurde"
WAR ON IRAK
Spiegel: Die Alliierten kommen - auch wenn Saddam geht
Für den Irak gibt es keinen Ausweg mehr. Der Krieg wird kommen, selbst dann, wenn Saddam Hussein das Land doch noch verlassen sollte, erklärte der Sprecher des Weißen Hauses, Arie Fleischer. Die Amerikaner und Briten wollen auf jeden Fall in irakisches Territorium einmarschieren.
Spiegel: Die Alliierten kommen - auch wenn Saddam geht
Für den Irak gibt es keinen Ausweg mehr. Der Krieg wird kommen, selbst dann, wenn Saddam Hussein das Land doch noch verlassen sollte, erklärte der Sprecher des Weißen Hauses, Arie Fleischer. Die Amerikaner und Briten wollen auf jeden Fall in irakisches Territorium einmarschieren.
WAR ON IRAK
From the Wilderness: Rolling Start -- The Idiot Prince Will Have His War
© Copyright 2003, From The Wilderness Publications, www.copvcia.com. All Rights Reserved. May be reprinted, distributed or posted on an Internet web site for non-profit purposes only.
(FTW asked retired U.S. Army Special Forces Master Sergeant Stan Goff to re-examine what we can expect on the battlefield when the United States begins its invasion. The former instructor of military science at West Point describes a scenario that is vastly different from what was expected last September before the Bush administration encountered effective economic and political opposition. Now denied the luxuries of a multi-front invasion from Turkey and Saudi Arabia the U.S. war strategy has changed. The bottom line is that a great many more innocent civilians are going to be killed. And the first and possibly crippling breakdown of U.S. plans will happen in Kurdestan. - MCR)
(FTW) -- The full-scale, unilateral US invasion of Iraq appears - to many - to be imminent as this is written. In just hours President Bush is expected to give Saddam Hussein a 72-hour ultimatum to leave the country or else the bombs start falling. I have a reservation or two left about that, based partly on hope, but partly on the even riskier assumption that this administration realizes that it has miscalculated and that the consequences of invasion may now outweigh the risks - from their standpoint - of no invasion.
The Bush regime seems to have a clear understanding of what desperate straits they were in well before 9-11. The empire is in decline, and this means Americans will have to reconcile themselves to a new world in which their profligate lifestyle becomes a thing of the past. Americans do not understand that this is an irremediable situation. That is why we are witnessing the beginning of what is possibly the most dangerous period in human history.
If the administration decides miraculously in the next few days not to invade, the most unthinkable risks will recede significantly. But this Junta has repeatedly displayed a reckless adventurist streak that alarms even their own political allies, and it appears that the hotter heads will prevail.....
Last September retired Marine General Paul Van Riper was selected to play the Opposing Forces (OPFOR) Commander named Saddam Hussein for a 3-week-long, computer simulated invasion of Iraq, called Operation Millennium Challenge.
He defeated the entire multi-billion-dollar US electronic warfare intelligence apparatus by sending messages via motorcycle-mounted couriers to organize the preemptive destruction of sixteen US ships, using pleasure vessels. At that point, the exercise controllers repeatedly intervened and told him what to do; move these defenders off the beach. Stop giving out commands from mosque loudspeakers. Turn on your radar so our planes can see you. Because every time Van Riper was left to his own devices, he was defeating the US.
While all this is surely amusing, does it really mean the Iraqis will defeat the US during an invasion?
Certainly not. It will, however, make it far more expensive, slow, difficult, and deadly for Iraqis.....
We have had our course charted now, and the military option is all the US ruling class really has to maintain its dominance. After Iraq, there will certainly be increased asymmetric warfare, "terrorism," if you will, directed at Americans, American institutions, American targets. And when the rest of the world recognizes how thinly spread the US military is, thinly spread physically, but also economically because it is not a sustainable institution in its current incarnation, rebellions will occur. They have already started. Then the response of the weakening US will be to lash out, often with totally unforeseeable consequences, just as the consequences of this impending invasion are unforeseeable.
From the Wilderness: Rolling Start -- The Idiot Prince Will Have His War
© Copyright 2003, From The Wilderness Publications, www.copvcia.com. All Rights Reserved. May be reprinted, distributed or posted on an Internet web site for non-profit purposes only.
(FTW asked retired U.S. Army Special Forces Master Sergeant Stan Goff to re-examine what we can expect on the battlefield when the United States begins its invasion. The former instructor of military science at West Point describes a scenario that is vastly different from what was expected last September before the Bush administration encountered effective economic and political opposition. Now denied the luxuries of a multi-front invasion from Turkey and Saudi Arabia the U.S. war strategy has changed. The bottom line is that a great many more innocent civilians are going to be killed. And the first and possibly crippling breakdown of U.S. plans will happen in Kurdestan. - MCR)
(FTW) -- The full-scale, unilateral US invasion of Iraq appears - to many - to be imminent as this is written. In just hours President Bush is expected to give Saddam Hussein a 72-hour ultimatum to leave the country or else the bombs start falling. I have a reservation or two left about that, based partly on hope, but partly on the even riskier assumption that this administration realizes that it has miscalculated and that the consequences of invasion may now outweigh the risks - from their standpoint - of no invasion.
The Bush regime seems to have a clear understanding of what desperate straits they were in well before 9-11. The empire is in decline, and this means Americans will have to reconcile themselves to a new world in which their profligate lifestyle becomes a thing of the past. Americans do not understand that this is an irremediable situation. That is why we are witnessing the beginning of what is possibly the most dangerous period in human history.
If the administration decides miraculously in the next few days not to invade, the most unthinkable risks will recede significantly. But this Junta has repeatedly displayed a reckless adventurist streak that alarms even their own political allies, and it appears that the hotter heads will prevail.....
Last September retired Marine General Paul Van Riper was selected to play the Opposing Forces (OPFOR) Commander named Saddam Hussein for a 3-week-long, computer simulated invasion of Iraq, called Operation Millennium Challenge.
He defeated the entire multi-billion-dollar US electronic warfare intelligence apparatus by sending messages via motorcycle-mounted couriers to organize the preemptive destruction of sixteen US ships, using pleasure vessels. At that point, the exercise controllers repeatedly intervened and told him what to do; move these defenders off the beach. Stop giving out commands from mosque loudspeakers. Turn on your radar so our planes can see you. Because every time Van Riper was left to his own devices, he was defeating the US.
While all this is surely amusing, does it really mean the Iraqis will defeat the US during an invasion?
Certainly not. It will, however, make it far more expensive, slow, difficult, and deadly for Iraqis.....
We have had our course charted now, and the military option is all the US ruling class really has to maintain its dominance. After Iraq, there will certainly be increased asymmetric warfare, "terrorism," if you will, directed at Americans, American institutions, American targets. And when the rest of the world recognizes how thinly spread the US military is, thinly spread physically, but also economically because it is not a sustainable institution in its current incarnation, rebellions will occur. They have already started. Then the response of the weakening US will be to lash out, often with totally unforeseeable consequences, just as the consequences of this impending invasion are unforeseeable.
WAR ON IRAK
Rense: Letter From Michael Moore To George W. Bush
George W. Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC
Dear Governor Bush:
So, today is what you call "the moment of truth," the day that "France and the rest of world have to show their cards on the table." I'm glad to hear that this day has finally arrived. Because, I gotta tell ya, having survived 440 days of your lying and conniving, I wasn't sure if I could take much more. So I'm glad to hear that today is Truth Day, 'cause I got a few truths I would like to share with you:
1. There is virtually NO ONE in America (talk radio nutters and Fox News aside) who is gung-ho to go to war. Trust me on this one. Walk out of the White House and on to any street in America and try to find five people who are PASSIONATE about wanting to kill Iraqis. YOU WON'T FIND THEM! Why? 'Cause NO Iraqis have ever come here and killed any of us! No Iraqi has even threatened to do that. You see, this is how we average Americans think: If a certain so-and-so is not perceived as a threat to our lives, then, believe it or not, we don't want to kill him! Funny how that works!
2. The majority of Americans -- the ones who never elected you -- are not fooled by your weapons of mass distraction. We know what the real issues are that affect our daily lives -- and none of them begin with I or end in Q. Here's what threatens us: two and a half million jobs lost since you took office, the stock market having become a cruel joke, no one knowing if their retirement funds are going to be there, gas now costs almost two dollars -- the list goes on and on. Bombing Iraq will not make any of this go away. Only you need to go away for things to improve.
3. As Bill Maher said last week, how bad do you have to suck to lose a popularity contest with Saddam Hussein? The whole world is against you, Mr. Bush. Count your fellow Americans among them.....
CHECK IT
Rense: Letter From Michael Moore To George W. Bush
George W. Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC
Dear Governor Bush:
So, today is what you call "the moment of truth," the day that "France and the rest of world have to show their cards on the table." I'm glad to hear that this day has finally arrived. Because, I gotta tell ya, having survived 440 days of your lying and conniving, I wasn't sure if I could take much more. So I'm glad to hear that today is Truth Day, 'cause I got a few truths I would like to share with you:
1. There is virtually NO ONE in America (talk radio nutters and Fox News aside) who is gung-ho to go to war. Trust me on this one. Walk out of the White House and on to any street in America and try to find five people who are PASSIONATE about wanting to kill Iraqis. YOU WON'T FIND THEM! Why? 'Cause NO Iraqis have ever come here and killed any of us! No Iraqi has even threatened to do that. You see, this is how we average Americans think: If a certain so-and-so is not perceived as a threat to our lives, then, believe it or not, we don't want to kill him! Funny how that works!
2. The majority of Americans -- the ones who never elected you -- are not fooled by your weapons of mass distraction. We know what the real issues are that affect our daily lives -- and none of them begin with I or end in Q. Here's what threatens us: two and a half million jobs lost since you took office, the stock market having become a cruel joke, no one knowing if their retirement funds are going to be there, gas now costs almost two dollars -- the list goes on and on. Bombing Iraq will not make any of this go away. Only you need to go away for things to improve.
3. As Bill Maher said last week, how bad do you have to suck to lose a popularity contest with Saddam Hussein? The whole world is against you, Mr. Bush. Count your fellow Americans among them.....
CHECK IT
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