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 World News
3/24/03 - 3/30/03
Sunday 3/30/03
No 'Smoking Gun' - Hit on Ansar Al-Islam Camp Finds No Signs of Chemical
Weapons 3/30/03 ABC News: "The site they hit was identified by Secretary of State Colin Powell in his argument for war before the U.N. Security Council on Feb. 5 as a base for the radical group Ansar al-Islam. Powell said the group linked Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network to Saddam Hussein, and had plotted chemical attacks across Europe." Lies, lies, lies.
U.S. military will start shoot on sight to prevent future suicide attacks in Iraq 3/30/03 AP
US soldiers in Iraq asked to pray for Bush 3/30/03 Australian Broadcasting Corp: the Crusaders, again - "They may be the ones facing danger on the battlefield, but US soldiers in Iraq are being asked to pray for President George W Bush.
Thousands of marines have been given a pamphlet called "A Christian's Duty," a mini prayer book which includes a tear-out section to be mailed to the White House pledging the soldier who sends it in has been praying for Bush."
Tens of thousands rally in Boston for peace 3/30/03 Boston Globe
Bay of Pigs Meets Black Hawk Down 3/30/03 Consortium News: "Whatever happens in the weeks ahead, George W. Bush has “lost” the war in Iraq. The only question now is how big a price America will pay, both in terms of battlefield casualties and political hatred swelling around the world…. In one telling, though little-noticed passage in Bob Woodward’s Bush at War, Bush asks Gen. Tommy Franks for his opinion, only to have Franks defer to Rumsfeld.
“Sir, I think exactly what my secretary thinks, what he’s ever thought, what he will ever think, or whatever he thought he might think,” said Franks, who is now commander of U.S. forces fighting in Iraq." Another one of Rummy's Stepford Wives.
US Insiders Gloomy: War "Not Going According to Plan;" Allah 1, Jahweh, 0; Rumseld Visits Geneva: Is He an Iraqi Asset?; British Revert to Barbarism (As Usual); Will Bush Open National Hot Air Reserve?; US Navy Dolphin AWOL 3/30/03 Counterpunch: "Optimists suggest that the US Third Infantry Division will soon engage and destroy the Iraqi Medina division and the road to Baghdad will lie open. A less sanguine assessment is that the two divisions will bog down in a First World War-style confrontation, with the US disadvantage of those stretched communications. The third scenario is that the Medina division will outflank the Third ID, take it in the rear and overwhelm it. Then the exultant Arab street will erupt in the humiliation of the Great Satan."
Sucking DU 3/30/03 Cryptome: "Apart from committing serious violations of international law which will
undoubtedly result in war crimes charges, the governments responsible for
ordering these people to invade Iraq have also sentenced them to numerous
unsavoury futures as a result of extended and extreme exposure to depleted
uranium: slow and painful death; strange incurable cancers; and horrendous
disabilities for hundreds of thousands of children born to those who are
able to have children, or at least who manage to have children before they
are rendered unable to reproduce from the effects of the enormous amounts
of depleted uranium deposited in Southern Iraq during and since the Gulf
War."
Fresh wave of anger spreads worldwide - Human chain stretches from Munster to Osnabruck in Germany as hundreds block Rhine-Main US air base 3/30/03 Independent, UK: "Rallies, marches and vigils were staged in Malaysia, Australia, Thailand, Greece, Bangladesh, South Africa and South Korea while Germany saw more than 100,000 take part in the largest of the weekend's demonstrations. In the most ambitious of yesterday's protests, around 30,000 peace activists formed a 31-mile human chain between the cities of Osnabruck and Munster, while 6,000 people surrounded the US military HQ and released blue balloons printed with the white dove of peace."
'There will be a legacy of hatred for the West if the Iraqis continue to suffer from the war we started' - ex UK Foreign Secretary Robin Cook 3/30/03 Independent, UK: "Robin Cook last night launched a searing attack on the US and British governments for their prosecution of what he called a "bloody and unjust war".
It is the first time since the start of the conflict that a leading British political figure has called for hostilities to be ended with Saddam Hussein still in power.
Mr Cook's call for an immediate withdrawal from the war zone is a warning to Tony Blair of the immense political problems ahead if – as is now feared – the conflict drags on and the coalition forces are obliged to lay siege to Baghdad."
Daily Russian Military Intel Briefing, 3/30 3/30/03 Jihad Unspun
New web site on Military Families Speak Out 3/30/03 Military Families Speak Out: "Military Families Speak Out is an organization of people who are opposed to war in Iraq and who have relatives or loved ones in the military. We were formed in November of 2002 and have contacts with military families throughout the United States, and in other countries around the world."
Questions Without Answers - Will the United States rescue its three captured “citizens” from the FARC? 3/30/03 NarcoNews: "From the first moment that the events related to the airplane downed by the FARC in Colombia - in which four North Americans and one Colombian traveled - a war of versions in the Commercial Media has been unleashed, in which the key characteristics are ambiguity, suppositions, and the incapacity to question official sources."
Iraq Vows to Use 'Any Method' Against Foe 3/30/03 NYT: "The city is not yet under allied control. British officials said they gleaned information about the meeting and its location from intelligence sources inside the city and from prisoners of war.
"These are people who are only a mobile phone call away from disaster," said a British spokesman, Lt. Col. Ronnie McCourt. In all, nine targets associated with the party's hierarchy were hit during the day." More war crimes.
EE.UU. busca extender la guerra en América del Sur 3/30/03 Rebelion: the US is a glutton for punishment.
TRUCK DRIVES INTO A GROUP OF US SERVICEMEN IN KUWAIT 3/30/03 RIAN: "As the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television channel reports, several ambulances have been summoned to the place of the incident, which suggests that there are victims.
Various mass media report that the truck drove at high speed into a group of US soldiers queuing up for US army PX store. Firing began at the base after the incident."
US assassins 'kill Iraqi chiefs' in Baghdad 3/30/03 Scotsman: "AMERICAN special forces have assassinated several senior Iraqi officials in a series of bomb and sniper attacks in Baghdad and other cities, it was revealed yesterday.
American government sources say that in the past week of covert operations "more than a handful" of Republican Guard commanders and Ba’ath Party officials have been killed."
US forces' use of depleted uranium weapons is 'illegal' 3/30/03 Sunday Herald, UK: "BRITISH and American coalition forces are using depleted uranium (DU) shells in the war against Iraq and deliberately flouting a United Nations resolution which classifies the munitions as illegal weapons of mass destruction. DU contaminates land, causes ill-health and cancers among the soldiers using the weapons, the armies they target and civilians, leading to birth defects in children.
Professor Doug Rokke, ex-director of the Pentagon's depleted uranium project -- a former professor of environmental science at Jacksonville University and onetime US army colonel who was tasked by the US department of defence with the post-first Gulf war depleted uranium desert clean-up -- said use of DU was a 'war crime'. "
1,000 BRITS COULD DIE 3/30/03 Sunday Mirror, UK: "MORE than 1,000 British troops could be killed if the coalition has to fight street battles in Baghdad, say military chiefs.
They have told Tony Blair of their fears amid growing despondency at the way the war is progressing and the strength of resistance by Iraqi troops."
TROOPS WHO WON'T FIGHT SENT HOME 3/30/03 Sunday Mirror, UK: "A PAIR of British soldiers in the Gulf face up to two years' jail after refusing to fight. The duo - believed to be a private and an air technician - told officers they would not take part in a war in which innocent civilians were killed. The two men from 16 Air Assault Brigade - heavily involved in the battles in the south of Iraq - are believed to have been sent back to their barracks in Colchester, Essex. A third serviceman faces court martial after refusing to travel to the Gulf. Others are believed to have refused on religious grounds."
I would cut Bush to pieces with my teeth 3/30/03 Sydney Morning Herald: "After this crime, I wish I could see [US President George Bush] in order to cut him to pieces with my teeth," he cried."
Shi'ite resistance foils advance, so hungry troops wait for supplies 3/30/03 Sydney Morning Herald
Chirac demands France creates a rival to CNN 3/30/03 Telegraph, UK
Dissent rounds on Rumsfeld 3/30/03 Telegraph, UK: "There is dissent now, as well as bitter recrimination within the Bush administration. "After just over one week of war," said Mr Goure, "people have suddenly gone into panic. This isn't a traditional war. And without the traditional fall-back and comfort of a vast army, as in the first Gulf War, nerves have frayed."
The week's brutal images of dead and captured American marines, the constant ambush of American supply vehicles and the dread prospect of a prolonged "Vietcong" type of resistance, has rattled Washington. The ferocity of guerrilla-style attacks on stretched coalition supply-lines has taken the Pentagon's war planners by surprise as much as American and British forces."
Gloomy outlook hits Wall Street 3/30/03 The Age, Australia
US Marines turn fire on civilians at the bridge of death 3/30/03 Times, UK: endless scenes of carnage as marines get ambushed and retaliate on civilians. 'Nam all over.
Iran Says Will Not Support U.S. Installed Govt In Iraq 3/30/03 Ummah News
Daily Russian Military Intel Briefing, 3/30 3/30/03 Venik's Aviation
Saturday 3/29/03
 Bodies of U.S. troops found in shallow graves 3/29/03 AP
Two U.S. special forces soldiers killed in Afghan ambush 3/29/03 AP
Jordanians Vent Anger Over War 3/29/03 Arab News
No let-up in anti-war protests 3/29/03 BBC: "Protesters across the world are taking to the streets this weekend to demand an end to the US-led war on Iraq."
The War on Protesters
San Francisco's Berserk Cops 3/29/03 Counterpunch: "Onlookers, including non-protesters, shouted at police to stop. ''This is the city I almost died for? This is the country I almost died for? This is the martial law I almost died for?'' asked Dennis Kyne, a gulf war veteran who was observing the arrests. ''I'm ashamed, I'm embarrassed. Fuck this war.'' "
52 die in Baghdad market blast 3/29/03 Guardian: "At least 52 people were killed and dozens injured when a working class suburb of Baghdad was hit by an explosion last night. The blast appeared to be the result of a second American attack on a Baghdad marketplace since Wednesday when 14 people were killed, although there was no official comment from the Iraqi authorities last night. The Pentagon would not comment."
Rumsfeld raises stakes with warning to Syria over military sales to Iraq 3/29/03 Guardian, UK: "Mr Rumsfeld said Iraqi Shia troops in the Badr corps, an opposition group backed by Iran for 20 years, had been crossing into Iraq.
"The Badr corps is trained, equipped and directed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard and we will hold the Iranian government responsible for their actions and will view Badr corps activity inside Iraq as unhelpful," he said.
Mr Rumsfeld's warning is sure to inflame Tehran which has so far adopted a restrained and even cooperative stance towards the conflict."
U.S. Strikes 200 Iraqis Inside Basra Building 3/29/03 Islam Online: "Claiming Iraqi paramilitaries were holding a meeting inside, U.S. warplanes bombarded late Friday, March 28, a two-story building in the besieged Iraqi city of Basra with 200 Iraqis, all believed to be civilians, inside."
Bush reportedly shielded from dire forecast 3/29/03 Knight Ridder: "Richard Perle, an influential former Pentagon official who is close to Rumsfeld, reportedly gave a briefing to Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs 10 days ago in which he predicted that the war would last no longer than three weeks. "And there is a good chance that it will be less than that," he said." Perle was forced to resign as Chairman of the Defense Advisory Board as a result of several news stories and an investigation by John Conyers. He is still on the board, but as a mere member he can now indulge in his ethical violation without penalties.
Military families unite in protest 3/29/03 New York Journal News: "Young is the regional representative for Military Families Speak Out, a national organization of people who have family members in the military but who are against the war.
The group, which claims about 300 families coast-to-coast, offers mutual support, shares information via e-mail and says it provides an important voice that's not often heard."
Antiwar Effort Emphasizes Civility Over Confrontation 3/29/03 NYT
At Columbia, Call for Death of U.S. Forces Is Denounced 3/29/03 NYT: "The president of Columbia University said yesterday that he was horrified by the remarks of an anthropology professor who said at a campus antiwar teach-in Wednesday night that he hoped to see "a million Mogadishus" — referring to the city in Somalia where American soldiers were ambushed in a lethal firefight in 1993.
The professor, Nicholas De Genova, also called for the defeat of United States forces in Iraq, and said the only true heroes are those who help defeat the American military. He said Americans who call themselves patriots are imperialist white supremacists."
Calif. Journalist Suspended Over Antiwar Protest 3/29/03 Reuters
Turks shower U.S. soldiers with eggs, stones 3/29/03 Reuters: Impromtu antiwar demo - "Turkish villagers showered U.S. soldiers with eggs and stones on Saturday when they arrived to recover pieces of a Tomahawk cruise missile which came down in eastern Turkey on Friday.
Scores of people in Urfa province set upon four jeeps carrying some 10 American soldiers, breaking windows and shouting slogans against the U.S.-led war in neighbouring Iraq, Anatolian news agency reported."
Los planes estadounidenses de una guerra relámpago han fracasado 3/29/03 RIAN
US marines pay high toll on road to Baghdad 3/29/03 Telegraph: "A number of burnt-out US armoured vehicles were clearly visible in television footage from Nasiriyah and at one point US troops could be seen coming under fire from Iraqi multi-barrelled rocket launchers, a weapon most likely to have belonged to Republican Guard units."
The Gulf War: Secret History 3/29/03 The Memory Hole: deals with 1989-1991.
Daily Russian Military Intel Briefing, 3/29 3/29/03 Venik's Aviation: "A report was obtained, prepared by the Al-Kuwait-based [coalition] Psychological Operations Tactical Group for the [coalition] Special Ground Forces Command. The report analyzed the effectiveness of the information and propaganda war. According to the report, analysis of the television broadcasts, intercepted radio communications, interrogations of Iraqi POWs show that psychologically the Iraqis are now "more stable and confident" that they were during the last days before the war. This, according to the report, is due primarily to the coalition's numerous military failures.
"...Following nervousness and depression [of the Iraqis] during the first days of the war we can now observe a burst of patriotic and nationalistic feelings. ...There has been a sharp increase in the number of Iraqi refugees, who left the country before the war, returning to Iraq. A "cult of war" against the US and the UK is now emerging among the Iraqis...", the report states. [Reverse translation from Russian]
[Coalition] analysts believe that if this attitude of the Iraqis is not changed within the next 7 days, a "resistance ideology" may take over the Iraqi minds, making the final [coalition] victory even more difficult. In response to this report the US Army Psychological Operations command decided to combine all Iraqi POWs into large groups and to distribute the resulting video footage to the world media. A more active use of the Iraqi opposition was suggested for propaganda work in the occupied villages. The same opposition members will be used to create video footage of the "repented" Iraqi POWs and footage of the local [Iraqi] population "opposing Saddam." "
War in Iraq - a week of war 3/29/03 Venik's Aviation: daily Russian military intel briefing, 3/28 - "A range of technical problems with equipment has been revealed during the combat operations. Most operators of the M1A2 Abrams main battle tank agree that the tank was inadequate for performing the set combat tasks. The primary problem is the extremely low reliability of the tank's engine and its transmission in desert conditions. Heat from the sun, hot sand and the constantly present hot dust in the air nearly nullified the advantages offered by the turret-mounted thermal sights. Visibility range of these sights did not exceed 300 meters during movement in convoy and reached up to 700-800 meters during stops. Only during cold nights did the visibility range reach 1000-1,500 meters. Additionally, a large number of thermal sights and other electronics simply broke down. The tiny crystalline sand particles caused electrical power surges and disabled electronic equipment.
This was the reason for the decision by the coalition command to stop movement of troops at night when a contact with the enemy was deemed likely."
British Commanders Question War Strategy 3/29/03 Washington Post
Friday 3/28/03
Army increases support for killer networks, United Nations say 3/28/03 ANNCOL: "Colombia's US-backed security forces have committed more human rights abuses since President Alvaro Uribe decreed a state of emergency last August, the United Nations said last week. The government declines to comment on the UN report, as army death squad silences investigative reporter in Arauca department."
British: Iraqis Fire on Basra Civilians 3/28/03 AP: "Iraqi paramilitary forces in Basra fired mortars and machine gunfire Friday on a "couple of thousand" Iraqi civilians trying to flee city, British military officials said.
Members of Britain's 7th Armored Brigade were trying to neutralize the fire, evacuate the civilians and treat the wounded, said Lt. Col. Ronnie McCourt, a spokesman for British forces in the Gulf."
Deal Reached on Iraq Oil-for-Food Effort 3/28/03 AP
Outspoken Army General Upsets White House 3/28/03 AP: "The enemy we're fighting against is different from the one we'd war-gamed against," Wallace, commander of V Corps, told The New York Times and The Washington Post on Thursday."
(Imágenes y videos) La tragedia humana que los medios le ocultan a la población estadounidense 3/28/03 Aporrea, Venezuela: "En los EE.UU. el público en general no tiene acceso a las cadenas Europeas y Arabes que podemos ver en otros países. A continuación presentamos vídeos e imágenes que están auto-censuradas en EE.UU. y que ninguna cadena transmite."
Prince of Darkness: Deals in the shadows 3/28/03 Asia Times: "Perle will stay on as an advisor to the Defense Policy Board. But by relinquishing the chairmanship, he will not be bound by the same governement ethics code."
Conflict sapping forces' morale 3/28/03 BBC: "They don't want to admit they can't deal with it, but I think there is definitely a sense that it is not the kind of fighting that they were really trained for.
One Marine told me: "I've had enough of being fired at from all directions, I just want to go home".
I thought it quite a surprising thing to say."
Seria denuncia de EE.UU. en Bolivia 3/28/03 BBC Mundo: "El embajador de Estados Unidos en Bolivia, David Greenlee, entregó al vicepresidente de Bolivia, Carlos Mesa, un informe en el que se dice que los diputados Morales y Antonio Peredo, del partido Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS), son "los principales responsables" del planeado golpe de estado planeado para abril próximo."
Venezuela: oposición se "relanza" 3/28/03 BBC Mundo
"Critical Supplies...Are Unaccounted For" 3/28/03 Business Week: "Overoptimistic expectations give way to fatigue and paranoia, as one Infantry Division finds itself increasingly worried about food and water."
A Disaster Unfolding in Iraq 3/28/03 Common Dreams
Iraq: From Gunboat Diplomacy To Gunpoint Democracy
by Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. 3/28/03 Common Dreams
Richard Perle Flies the Coop - The Enterprising Hawk 3/28/03 Counterpunch
Reporters on the Job 3/28/03 CSMonitor: "Philip Smucker, a contract reporter for the Monitor and The Daily Telegraph of London, was escorted by the US Marines from the front lines of the war in Iraq Thursday. He is being taken to Kuwait, the Pentagon says, because of information Smucker reported in a broadcast appearance with CNN early Wednesday." - The Christian Science Monitor often has excellent articles that bypass US government propaganda. It is no surprise they are being censored.
Baghdad dilemma faces US 3/28/03 Financial Times: "Insiders who have spoken with senior Pentagon officials, particularly the army top brass, said there was growing anger directed at Donald Rumsfeld, defence secretary, who, the officials say, dismissed their efforts to include heavier ground forces in the field before an invasion… Mr Rumsfeld and others in Washington's neo-conservative movement were dealt a blow on Thursday when Richard Perle, the influential Pentagon adviser and a staunch advocate of the war on Iraq, stepped down amid mounting criticism that his business dealings presented a conflict of interest."
U.S. ‘democracy´ in action 3/28/03 Granma: "Last night my partner Diana and I took part with other doctors in a march in Times Square, New York, at 5:30 p.m. (Saturday, March 22).
After our respective clinics in the Bronx we arrived at the protest to take part with the Doctors and Nurses Against the War group.
Some young people took to the streets and the anti-riot police arrived. It quickly became a scene of chaos. Around six police officers were savagely hitting a defenseless young man, two of them pulling him by the arm and almost dislocating it, while he was screaming. Diana, a family doctor, went over to the young man, shouting at the police to stop.
What ensued was even more horrific. Some five police officers threw themselves at her, one hitting her about the head with a closed fist, and I threw myself on top of her. And they knocked us down with truncheons, kicks and punches. They held us face down and at that point my glasses broke on the sidewalk. They threw me into a corner, cuffed with plastic handcuffs, face down and bleeding through the nose… We were wearing our white coats and stethoscopes."
Unfinished business 3/28/03 Guardian
Bush's defence adviser quits in row over conflict of interest 3/28/03 Guardian, UK: "Richard Perle, a chief architect of the war on Iraq, resigned yesterday as chairman of the influential defence policy board following allegations that he faced a serious conflict of interest over his corporate connections. The US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday accepted his resignation but asked him to remain on the board… Last week, the Guardian revealed that a British company linked to Mr Perle and dealing with secret intelligence is among the few UK commercial organisations that stand to profit from the Iraq war.
The Cambridge-based Autonomy Corporation, with Mr Perle's help, has been selling advanced computer eavesdropping systems to intelligence agencies around the world. Mr Perle is a director of Autonomy with an option on 75,000 of the company's shares. He advises the company on market opportunities but said he had no input into specific procurement decisions by US agencies."
Israelis fear Blair's influence over Bush 3/28/03 Guardian, UK
No 10 backtracks on claim that two British soldiers were executed 3/28/03 Guardian, UK
'Civilians killed' in Mosul raid 3/28/03 Herald Sun: "A HEAVY air raid by US and British coalition forces has killed or wounded more than 50 civilians in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, al-Jazeera television has reported from the scene." Insuring terrorism for years to come?
IFJ Demands Inquiry Over Claim of Reporters "Beaten Up" by US Troops 3/28/03 International Federation of Journalists: "The Americans advised them not to move because they would not be identified in the dust. Early on Wednesday soldiers woke them up, at gunpoint, took them away and accused them of espionage.
The reporters were told to pick up their shirts and let down their pants to prove they were not carrying bombs and they were later kept in a closed jeep for 36 hours. The Portuguese journalist asked to phone home and was allegedly beaten, his ribs were broken and he is now in hospital. One of the Israeli journalists was also beaten. Yediot Aharonot, concerned about loss of contact with the journalists, asked the Pentagon to help find them. After 48 hours, a helicopter flew the reporters to an American military base in Kuwait where they were released and given their telephones back."
Iraq Downs U.S. Helicopter, Destroys 3 Tanks 3/28/03 Jihad Unspun
Rumsfeld pressures Franks to take Baghdad quickly, sources say 3/28/03 Miami Herald: "One retired general who has closely followed the unfolding war plan told Knight Ridder that the U.S. ground commanders in the Persian Gulf are privately unhappy with the amount of close air support their troops are getting from the Air Force, and likewise are unhappy that ``all of the intelligence assets have been diverted to support the Air Force in downtown Baghdad, leaving little or nothing for the ground forces.''
He also said the Army's 3rd Infantry Division and V Corps were forced to leave behind most of their long-range Multiple Launch Rocket Systems. Rumsfeld told them that air power would do the job. ``But it is not doing the job so far. It is focused elsewhere.'' "
'Die-ins' target war and news media 3/28/03 North Jersey News: "Media experts said what Fox did Thursday morning was not shocking - Fox was openly hawkish about the war long before it began. But, they said, the display - tagged with the Fox News logo — threw journalistic objectivity out the window and also ridiculed the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.
"Fox tries to position itself as 'the real American network,'" said Michael Hoyt, executive editor of the Columbia Journalism Review. "But real Americans believe in democracy and freedom of speech. I think what they did was cynical and bush league." "
Kind words from France (so to speak) 3/28/03 NYT: "With French-American relations at their most hostile in decades over the conflict in Iraq, Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin of France offered an olive branch to Washington on Thursday - but immediately declined to say explicitly who he hoped would win the war for Baghdad.
Moreover, even as he insisted that France stood ready for reconciliation with Washington, the French official delivered an impassioned attack on American plans to sideline the United Nations and assume the leading role in running post-war Iraq." The Americans don't get it, many people in the world are against them in this war.
Pentagon Keeps Return of Iraqi War Dead from Media 3/28/03 Reuters: an important step in hiding the casualty totals.
Russian war report 3/28/03 Sydney Morning Herald: features interview with the increasingly well known Russian daily briefings on Iraq, which are on a site that is under continuous denial of service attack - "Margo: And where's the site interference coming from?
Victor: From many different servers, US and South-East Asia mostly, but some are from different European countries and all over the world, even Russia itself. We beleive that 90% of IP adresses we register with our IDS are forged, so it is quite difficult to be sure about true origins of the attacks. For now, all attacks against us (at least, those we registered) were brute force, including ICMP floods, massive portscans and other types of "dumb" DDoS attacks. Nothing really sophisticated, no SYN floods even. However, the sheer number of attacks brings our IDS to its knees. We're working with our hosting provider to remedy the situation, and I hope we'll be really better later today or tomorrow."
Baghdad will be near impossible to conquer 3/28/03 Times, UK: "No soldiers are more skilled at urban fighting than the British. Yet they are finding it hard to pacify even “friendly” Basra. The city appears to have been terrorised into defiance by units of Saddamist irregulars. Students of this strategy need look no further than the Red Army commissars in Antony Beevor’s Stalingrad. They murdered an entire division of their own side to make them fight, but they won. British units round Basra have had to resort to long-range bombing and shelling, hoping that this will inspire the oppressed citizens to rise against the irregulars, somehow."
War in Iraq - requirement for more troops 3/28/03 Venik's Aviation: daily Russian military intel briefing, 3/27, these are causing some waves - "As of 0700hrs the coalition forces are subjected to nearly constant attacks along the entire length of the front. The Iraqi command took the advantage of the raging sand storm to regroup its troops and to reinforce the defenses along the approaches to Karabela and An-Najaf with two large armored units (up to two armored brigades totaling up to 200 tanks). The Iraqi attack units were covertly moved near the positions of the US 3rd Infantry Division (Motorized) and the 101st Airborne Division. With sunrise and a marginal visibility improvement the Iraqis attacked these US forces in the flank to the west of Karabela.
Simultaneously, massive artillery barrages and counterattacks were launched against units of the US 3rd Infantry Division and the 101st Airborne Division conducting combat operations near An-Najaf… During one of such attacks [the Iraqi forces] caught off-guard a unit of the US 3rd Infantry Division that was doing vehicle maintenance and repairs. In a short battle the US unit was destroyed and dispersed, leaving behind one armored personnel carrier, a repair vehicle and two Abrams tanks, one of which was fully operational… Intercepted radio communications show that at around 0615hrs this morning the lead of a flight of two A-10 ground attack planes detected a convoy of armored vehicles. Unable to see any markings identifying these vehicles as friendly and not being able to contact the convoy by radio the pilot directed artillery fire to the coordinates of the convoy.
Later it was discovered that this was a coalition convoy. Thick layers of dust covered up the identification markings - colored strips of cloth in the rear of the vehicles. Electronic jamming made radio contact impossible. First reports indicated that the US unit lost 50 troops killed and wounded. At least five armored vehicles have been destroyed, one of which was an Abrams tank… During the past seven days of the war the US Navy detained all ships in the Persian Gulf going to Iraq under the US "Oil for Food" program. Since yesterday all these ships are being unloaded in Kuwait. Unloaded food is being delivered by the US military to Iraq and is being distributed as "American humanitarian aid" and as a part of the "rebuilding Iraq" program. These US actions have already cause a serious scandal in the UN. The US explained its actions by its unilateral decision to freeze all Iraqi financial assets, including the Iraqi financial assets with the UN. These assets the US now considers its property and will exercise full control over them. Captains of the detained ships have already called these actions by the US a "piracy." " This spells end of Empire.
Practice to Deceive - Chaos in the Middle East is not the Bush hawks' nightmare scenario--it's their plan. 3/28/03 Washington Monthly: "In short, the administration is trying to roll the table--to use U.S. military force, or the threat of it, to reform or topple virtually every regime in the region, from foes like Syria to friends like Egypt, on the theory that it is the undemocratic nature of these regimes that ultimately breeds terrorism. So events that may seem negative--Hezbollah for the first time targeting American civilians; U.S. soldiers preparing for war with Syria--while unfortunate in themselves, are actually part of the hawks' broader agenda. Each crisis will draw U.S. forces further into the region and each countermove in turn will create problems that can only be fixed by still further American involvement, until democratic governments--or, failing that, U.S. troops--rule the entire Middle East."
New Voting Systems Assailed - Computer Experts Cite Fraud Potential 3/28/03 Washington Post: some damning stories here - "As election officials rush to spend billions to update the country's voting machines with electronic systems, computer scientists are mounting a challenge to the new devices, saying they are less reliable and less secure from fraud than the equipment they are replacing."
Thursday 3/27/03
Former Pentagon official Richard Perle resigns as key Rumsfeld adviser 3/27/03 AP
Fierce Clashes Slow US/UK Forces’ Advance on the Capital 3/27/03 Arab News: "Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal warned yesterday that Saudi Arabia’s long-standing alliance with the United States may be damaged if the war against Iraq drags on or turns into a blood bath for Iraqi civilians."
The 'Palestinization' of Iraq 3/27/03 Asia Times: "Thousands of Arab-Afghan mujahideen have also been deployed around Baghdad and Mosul preparing suicide commando - or "martyrdom" - operations against the invasion, as well as 2,500 Hezbollah from Lebanon. About 700 Algerian volunteers who received weapons training in Iraqi camps are also at hand."
Onward Embedded Soldiers 3/27/03 Black Commentator: "The awesome maratelethon has invaded the nation's households as Manifest Destiny on the march, a political spectacle in which the military are props and the civilian announcers are inspired by the most grotesque delusions of racial triumphalism.
"Operation Iraqi Freedom," the embedded multi-media experience, is neither news nor military propaganda. Rather, it is an imperial work in progress, an attempted re-orchestration of the (white) American anthem and saga. Like the musical national anthem, it is an ugly song, and one that a rapidly diminishing number of people want to sing."
War and the Great White Disinformation Machine 3/27/03 Black Commentator: "In the pursuit of national interests abroad, much of white America has been programmed to view policies that aid and abet this process as essential to its survival, regardless of the consequences such policies might have for their (mostly non-white) victims. Such a view, carefully crafted by government propaganda with corporate media complicity, can in large measure be explained and comprehended within the internal logic and assumptions inherent in a cultic creed of white supremacy. Adjunct and mostly fraudulent clichés and phrases such as free trade, human rights and democracy are appended to racist policies to lend an aura of "universal" legitimacy to what in essence amount to little more than universal deception. Notions of supremacy constructed on the quicksand of fantasy and virtual reality, survive only because of the unprecedented, brute military and economic power that prop them."
The New Humanitarianism - Basra as Military Target 3/27/03 Counterpunch
Denuncia Iraq muerte de más de 350 civiles y 4 000 heridos
como saldo de la primera semana de agresión 3/27/03 Granma
Jubilation turns to hate as aid arrives 3/27/03 Guardian: "Jalil Ali, 25, the young Iraqi in the brown shawl, asked if any of the humanitarian aid was being provided by Americans.
"Take it back," he yelled, pretending to push it away. "We want the Americans to go back home. We do not need them here. Go back home. I do not need this."
Around him, his friends giggled. Not far away, people rushed out of earthen buildings and raced down a dual carriageway. Ali, however, seemed to realise the irony only too well. "They bomb. And now they want to give water and food. How can they do both? How?" It was then that the gunfire erupted."
Rumsfeld Hints Laying Siege on Baghdad 3/27/03 Guardian
I refused to help Bush: PM 3/27/03 Hindustan Times: "Vajpayee told Bush that India believed war was not a solution to any problem and so could not help. India is also trying to consolidate the support of many countries to prevent escalation of the battle between US and Iraq, Vajpayee said.
"I have written to the heads of many countries including China, Russia, France and USA as we are very seriously concerned with this war which goes against the United Nations," Vajpayee said."
Risk for Sunni-dominated nations? 3/27/03 IHT: "Although no key leader wants to say so publicly, a successful insurrection in Basra would send a shock wave to Baghdad, and through neighboring Arab nations, by signaling the end of a long period of political subordination for the Shiite Muslim majority in Iraq."
Stay out of Iraq, Nato warns Ankara 3/27/03 Independent, UK
Code Pink disrupts Perle 3/27/03 IndyMedia: "It was an effective protest - Perle was clearly uncomfortable. And this Pletka AEI [American Enterprise Institute] hack really lost her cool. With five or ten more people these folks would really be rattled."
Five FBI Agents Feared Dead 3/27/03 Jiahd Unspun: "Five Americans are feared dead when some remnants of al-Qaeda and Taliban prompted a sudden attack on an office of the US Federal Bureau of Intelligence at Barmil, Pak-Afghan border. “The attackers used Rocket Launcher and automatic guns in the sudden attack prompted last night,” a highly placed source from across the border revealed to NNI correspondent here Wednesday. The informer further said that the office of FBI was established close to Check-post at Pakistan-Afghanistan border and the attack was so sudden that the border security guards comprising US-led coalition troops and Afghan officials did not retaliated."
L’information «américaine» fonctionne comme un «accélérateur» de l’anti-américanisme 3/27/03 Liberation: "L'information «américaine» est tellement orientée, tellement proche de la propagande qu'elle fonctionne comme un fantastique «accélérateur» de l'anti-américanisme." - American media is so close to propaganda that it serves as an accelerant for Anti-Americanism.
La guerre asymétrique à la parade 3/27/03 Liberation: "Deux colonels chinois, Quia Liang et Wan Xiangsui, ont d'ailleurs énoncé dans un livre de stratégie militaire les deux règles générales préceptes de la guerre non-conventionnelle: 1°) Il n'y a pas de règle; 2°) Tout peut servir d'arme." - Two Chinese Colonels on unconventional warfare: 1) there are no rules; 2) everything can be a weapon.
Liberal senator: 'Screw the Americans' - Laurier LaPierre ready to quit over disputed quotation in Senate transcript 3/27/03 Ottawa Citizen
Watch the Dollar - Bush Needs a Lesson in Currency and History 3/27/03 Pacific News
Iraqi Militia Pin Down U.S.-Led Forces in South 3/27/03 Reuters
UN big four baulk at renewing oil for food 3/27/03 Sydney Morning Herald: "France, Russia, China and Germany have opened new opposition with the United States over Iraq at the United Nations, baulking at a resolution to authorise emergency shipments of food and medicine to beleaguered Iraqi civilians.
The skirmishing over humanitarian relief could signal another round of acrimony at the UN, diplomats warn. Washington's hope that the UN will endorse any interim government to replace the regime of Saddam Hussein is expected to create more disquiet.
The White House this week is asking the Security Council to approve modifications to the now-suspended UN oil-for-food program that would speed delivery of humanitarian supplies to Iraq and transfer administrative authority to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan until a new Iraqi government is in place."
US troops fight bloodiest battle yet 3/27/03 Telegraph: "US commanders said 800 Iraqis had died and admitted that they had lost an unspecified number of Abrams tanks in the fighting in and around the holy city of Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad." Interesting admission, will it be repeated elsewhere?
Wave of fury sweeps Middle East 3/27/03 Telegraph, UK: "Fuelled by graphic television pictures of wounded Iraqi civilians and text messages on mobile phones, a tidal wave of fury against Britain and America is sweeping the Arab world." Text messaging led to a celebration by 50,000 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on 9-11-01.
US calls up 30,000 new troops 3/27/03 Times, UK
Commentary: Neither clean nor swift By Arnaud de Borchgrave 3/27/03 UPI: "A country the size of France or California can never be declared safe and secure. After France surrendered to the Nazis in June 1940, underground resistance quickly got organized and kept hitting the Germans for the next four years where they least expected it. Iraq is the reverse, with the local Nazis going underground, but the capabilities of a hostile resistance remain the same… Arab editorials, from Marrakech to Muscat collected daily by Foreign Broadcast Information Services, a branch of the CIA reflect a revival of colonial fears. The war on Iraq strikes most Americans as a brand new phase of history. But for most Arabs, from university professors to cab drivers, it is seen as yet another return of western colonial armies that have regularly marched through the region for the last two centuries." Arnaud de Borchgrave is a pro-war former CIA officer who writes for the Rev. Moon's publications, UPI and the Washington Times.
War in Iraq - fighting the people 3/27/03 Venik's Aviation: daily briefing from Russia's military intel concerning events of 3/26, translated as a great public service by Venik, who runs a Russian aviation site - "However, despite of the increased combat effectiveness, the coalition forces have so far failed to capture a single sizable town in Iraq. Only by the end of the sixth day the British marine infantry was able to establish tentative control over the tiny town of Umm Qasr. During the hours of darkness all movement around the town is stopped and the occupying troops withdraw to defensive positions. Constant exchanges of fire take place throughout the town. Out of more than 1,500-strong local garrison the British managed to capture only 150 Iraqis. The rest has either withdrew toward Basra or changed into civilian clothes and resorted to partisan actions.
Near Basra the British forces in essence are laying a Middle Ages-style siege of a city with the population of two million. Artillery fire has destroyed most of the city's life-supporting infrastructure and artillery is used continuously against the positions of the defending units. The main goal of the British is two maintain a strict blockade of Basra. Their command is confident that the situation in the city can be destabilized and lack of food, electricity and water will prompt the local population to cause the surrender of the defending forces. Analysts point out that capture of Basra is viewed by the coalition command as being exceptionally important and as a model for the future "bloodless" takeover of Baghdad… Massive numbers of disabled combat vehicles and other equipment becomes a strategic problem for the coalition. Already, radio intercepts indicate, all available repair units have been deployed to the front. Over 60% of all available spare parts have been already used and emergency additional supplies are being requested.
The sand is literally "eating up" the equipment. Sand has a particularly serious effect on electronics and transmissions of combat vehicles. Already more than 40 tanks and up to 69 armored personnel carriers have been disabled due to damaged engines; more than 150 armored vehicles have lost the use of their heat-seeking targeting sights and night vision equipment. Fine dust gets into all openings and clogs up all moving parts… The extreme length of the resupply routes and the actions of the Iraqi reconnaissance units have created a new problem: the coalition command is forced to admit that it has no information about the conditions on the roads. Currently, as intercepted radio communications show, the coalition command is trying to establish the whereabouts of more than 500 of its troops that fell behind their units, departed with resupply convoys or were carrying out individual assignments. So far it was not possible to establish how many of these troops are dead, captured or have successfully reached other units."
Perle's Conflict Issue Is Shared
By Others on His Defense Panel 3/27/03 Wall Street Journal: "Former Central Intelligence Agency chief James Woolsey is a senior executive at consultancy Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., which received $688 million in Pentagon contracts in 2002. He also is one of three principals in a venture-capital firm that has been soliciting investment in homeland-security-related firms. Mr. Woolsey insists none of the companies he is affiliated with has ever been discussed at a board meeting, and that he does no lobbying. He said he was unaware of Mr. Perle's personal financial interests and wouldn't comment on them.
Another panel member, retired Adm. David Jeremiah, sits on boards -- one of them advisory -- of five corporations that received more than $10 billion in Pentagon contracts in 2002, according to a forthcoming report from the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington watchdog group. Retired Air Force Gen. Ronald Fogleman sits on the board of five defense firms that received more than a billion dollars in defense contracts in 2002. Adm. Jeremiah and Gen. Fogleman didn't return calls requesting comment." War profiteering at its best.
Anti-Hussein Officials Rebuke Unilateral U.S. Battle Strategy - Dissidents Say Failure to Incorporate Iraqis Constitutes 'War of Conquest' 3/27/03 Washington Post
War Could Last Months, Officers Say 3/27/03 Washington Post: "The combination of wretched weather, long and insecure supply lines, and an enemy that has refused to be supine in the face of American military might has led to a broad reassessment by some top generals of U.S. military expectations and timelines. Some of them see even the potential threat of a drawn-out fight that sucks in more and more U.S. forces. Both on the battlefield in Iraq and in Pentagon conference rooms, military commanders were talking yesterday about a longer, harder war than had been expected just a week ago, the officials said."
Prospective sources of information -- sans cheerleading -- regarding the U.S.invasion of Iraq and world response 3/27/03 Working For Change
Wednesday 3/26/03
US admits '8,000 Iraqis captured' claim was false 3/26/03 Ananova: "The US military has been forced to admit the 8,000 Iraqi soldiers they claimed to have captured last week are now battling British forces.Iraq's 51st Infantry Division, which has about 200 tanks, is now engaged in the southern city of Basra.
The Pentagon is claiming the confusion is the work of the Fedayeen Saddam - Saddam Hussein's most trusted paramilitary unit.
The US is accusing it of organising the tactic of posing as civilians and faking surrenders." Sure pal, sure.
Another US military spy plane downed in Colombia 3/26/03 ANNCOL: "Less than six weeks after leftist FARC rebels shot down a US spy plane and captured three CIA agents, another US piloted spy plane goes down over southern Colombia. All three members of the crew were killed, according to a spokesman for the Colombian Army."
Marines brace for elite guard assault 3/26/03 AP: "A large contingent of Iraq's Republican Guard headed south under cover of blinding sandstorms in a 1,000-vehicle convoy Wednesday toward central Iraq -- site of the heaviest fighting of the war. In Baghdad, Iraqi officials said two cruise missiles hit a residential area, killing 14 people."
Report: Anti-Semitic Acts Up on Campuses 3/26/03 AP
Report: Marines wounded in fighting late Wednesday in Iraq 3/26/03 AP: "Garvin said some of the Iraqi fighters were using women as shields and had given guns to children.
"Unfortunately some of the children have been firing at our Marines and our Marines have been forced to defend themselves," he said."
Avioneta de EE.UU. cae en Colombia 3/26/03 BBC Mundo: "Una avioneta del gobierno estadounidense se estrelló en el sur de Colombia, matando a los tres pasajeros que viajaban en ella.
La nave que chocó contra el cerro La Sonora cerca de la base militar Larandia en la provincia de Caquetá, efectuaba una misión de rescate intentando localizar a tres ciudadanos estadounidenses capturados por las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) en febrero."
Chile no pedirá el fin de la guerra 3/26/03 BBC Mundo: "Chile confirmó que no presentará ante la Organización de las Naciones Unidas ninguna resolución de condena a Estados Unidos y el Reino Unido por el ataque a Irak."
The Coming Siege of Saddamagrad? The Coup That Didn't Happen 3/26/03 Counterpunch
Only non-Muslims can apply for US base job: Advertisement 3/26/03 Hindustan Times: "The advertisement calls for applications from "non-Muslims only" for sundry jobs at the US base in northern Kuwait.
The US base "urgently requires" lift operators, store keepers, clerks, typists, security guards and drivers. The advertisement insists that the applicants, besides being non-Muslims, should speak English and be below 35."
US may 'fabricate' WMD evidence in Iraq: Russia 3/26/03 Hindustan Times
Baghdad digs deep as bombs fall and secret police circle 3/26/03 Independent: "Claiming eight coalition soldiers were killed and three armoured carriers destroyed in a battle in Suq ash Shuyukh, about 18 miles south of Nasiriyah, Mr Al-Sahhaf singled out an Iraqi woman named Mayssoun Hamid Abdullah as a heroine for hitting an armoured vehicle with a rocket-propelled grenade. Iraqis "await surprises on how the American game of shock and awe will fail", he added."
US general with Iraq role linked to hardline Israelis 3/26/03 Independent, UK: "The retired general named as civilian governor of occupied Iraq has visited Israel on a trip paid for by a right-wing group that strongly backs an American military presence in the Middle East.
Lieutenant-General Jay Garner, the co-ordinator for civilian administration in Iraq, put his name in October 2000 to a statement blaming Palestinians for the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian violence and saying that a strong Israel was an important security asset to the United States.
The statement was sponsored by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (Jinsa), which pays for retired US military officers to visit Israel for security briefings by Israeli officials and politicians. Richard Perle, one of the architects of the US invasion of Iraq, is a member of the institute's board of advisers, as was Vice-President Dick Cheney before he took office in 2001."
Al-Jazeera Says No Sign Of Basra Uprising 3/26/03 Jihad Unspun: "Al-Jazeera television says there are no signs of unrest in the southern Iraqi city of Basra despite reports that an uprising against President Saddam Hussein may have started there. "The streets of Basra are very calm and there are no indications of violence or riots," Jazeera's Basra correspondent Mohammed al-Abdallah told the Qatar-based network on Wednesday.
"There are no signs of the reported uprising. All we can hear are distant explosions in the southeast, and we believe fighting is going on there." "
Remember Afghanistan, 15 American Soldiers Killed In Fresh Attacks 3/26/03 Jihad Unspun: "A fierce battle between forces loyal to the rebel Afghan commander Badshah Khan and American forces has resulted in 15 Americans dead while 12 rebels including the Badshah eldest son Jilani Zardan died in the attack."
War In Iraq: Fighting The People 3/26/03 Jihad Unspun: detailed report on the situation in Iraq as of 3/25 by Russian military intelligence (GRU). More losses than reported due to behind the US lines actions by mobile Iraqi groups. US to resort to massive bombing - "A decision was made to change the way aviation is used in this war. The use of precision-guided munitions will be scaled down and these weapons will be reserved for attacking only known, confirmed targets. There will be an increase in the use of conventional high-yield aviation bombs, volume-detonation bombs and incendiary munitions. The USAF command is ordered to deliver to airbases used against Iraq a two-week supply of aviation bombs of 1-tonn caliber and higher as well as volume-detonation and incendiary bombs. This means that Washington is resorting to the "scorched earth" tactics and carpet-bombing campaign."
Civilians caught in the crossfire as bullets riddle city 3/26/03 Knight Ridder: "NASSIRIYAH, Iraq - U.S. Marines, moving through this still-contested city, opened fire at anything that moved Tuesday, leaving dozens of dead in their wake, at least some of them civilians." Like the US Cavalry in the Great Plains.
Price of Iraq Occupation Could Dwarf War's Cost 3/26/03 Reuters: "The price of a post-war U.S. occupation of Iraq could be so big that some experts fear it would make the cost of combat alone pale in significance.
This is especially true because consideration of the war's ultimate price tag, and how to pay it, comes at a time the U.S. government is already awash in red ink."
U.S. Says Iraqis Knock Out Two Abrams Tanks - CNN 3/26/03 Reuters: According to the Russians, the US lost at least 10 tanks on the 25th.
Marines line up on Iranian border 3/26/03 Telegraph, UK: "Royal Marines were deployed to Iraq's border with Iran yesterday in a move that will unnerve Teheran's regime, which fears encirclement by American-led forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Ministry of Defence said the Royal Marines were merely "securing their area of operations" after seizing at the Faw peninsula.
But with Iranian troops manning positions on the other side of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, British forces face a highly sensitive task."
Paint It Black - U.S. Journos Get Rare Access to Hell 3/26/03 Village Voice: "Propaganda and censorship went hand in hand. By the weekend, a number of embeds had been reportedly kicked out for compromising the security of their units, while some of those who remained began prefacing their bland TV dispatches with phrases like "There's not much I'm allowed to tell you." "
Peace Groups Expand The Fight - They Aim to End This War, Prevent Another 3/26/03 Washington Post
Six Days Of Shame: Iraq 3/26/03 Znet: "TODAY is a day of shame for the British military as it declares the Iraqi city of Basra, with a stricken population of 600,000, a "military target".
You will not read or hear those words in the establishment media that claims to speak for Britain.
But they are true. With Basra, shame is now our signature, forged by Blair and Bush.
Having destroyed its water and power supplies, cut off food supply routes and having failed to crack its human defences, they are now preparing to lay siege to Iraq's second city which is more than 40 per cent children."
Tuesday 3/25/03
U.N. Council Schedules Meeting on Iraq 3/25/03 ABC: "The Security Council, responding to Arab and nonaligned nations that demanded an end to the war in Iraq and the withdrawal of U.S.-led troops, scheduled an emergency meeting for Wednesday.
Guinea's U.N. Ambassador Mamady Traore, the current council president, announced Tuesday that he had received letters from both groups asking for an open meeting where any of the 191 U.N. member states can speak on the situation in Iraq." Resolution 377?
Northern front bursts into action with major air assault on Kirkuk 3/25/03 AFP: "Residents living near the Bakrajo airfield, which was sealed off during the night, said at least one plane full of troops and up to 11 helicopters were seen touching down under cover of darkness."
NYSE Revokes Credentials for Al-Jazeera 3/25/03 AP: in the land of the free and the home of the brave…
Pork to be fed to Iraqi POW's 3/25/03 Arab News: "The Kansas City Star in a March 11,2003 report quoted US Capt. Jeff Searl of Camp Virginia in Kuwait as saying that “prisoners will eat what US soldiers do. That could mean meals-ready-to eat, the vacuum sealed food packs that often include some form of pork, which observant Muslims aren’t supposed to eat.” "
Atacan consulado británico en Ecuador 3/25/03 BBC Mundo: "La policía en Ecuador informó el lunes que una granada explotó el domingo por la noche cerca del consulado británico en la ciudad portuaria de Guayaquil, sin que se produjeran víctimas."
Massive March To Stop War On Iraq 3/25/03 Black World Today: "Representative Charles Rangel, who has had the courage to vote against this war from the start, pointed out that this demonstration wasn't against the military, but was a chance for those who oppose the war to support each other. "I think so many people are patriotic and oppose the war and love our troops," he said. "This lets them know they are not alone." "
Iraqi Chemical Plant Is Clean 3/25/03 CBS
U.S. Drops 'E-Bomb' On Iraqi TV 3/25/03 CBS: "Iraqi TV did go off the air for several hours. It returned to broadcasting later with a weaker signal."
Strategic Blunders by American Generals - The Liberation of Iraq? 3/25/03 Counterpunch: "The “coalition” soldiers are terrified and with good reason. They understand already that each Iraqi they confront might be a ferocious enemy. They understand far too late that they were rushed into a hostile country with an ‘unfriendly’ population. Four days into the war and it is already obvious: as always in the past, army Generals were preparing themselves to win the previous war rather than the one to come.
Just a few days ago they spoke about the masses of Iraqi soldiers that would surrender themselves to their ‘liberators’. The American Generals were sure that the Iraqi army would refuse to fight for their ‘tyrant’. Funnily enough it didn’t happen, if anything it is quite the reverse. The American led “coalition” is facing some fierce fighting from ordinary Iraqi soldiers and even armed civilians."
What Democracy Looks Like - The Streets of Cairo 3/25/03 Counterpunch: "The people respond by directing their fury, not only at U.S. imperialism, but the pro-U.S. governments that seek to deny them the democracy of street protest. The democracy that might start to look like revolution.
The corporate media has provided some minimal reportage on these demonstrations, which have occurred throughout the Arab world, from Rabat and Casablanca to Beirut and Amman. Rarely in citing the numbers do they note that in most parts of the Arab world such demonstrations are illegal and that those who participate are often putting their lives on the line; nor that the U.S. government wants them to be illegal, and applies pressure on Arab governments it subsidizes (notably Egypt) to continue to suppress anti-U.S. dissent." The beginning of the end for the US in Egypt?
World and America watching different wars 3/25/03 CSM
What the Experts Are Saying 3/25/03 Daily Kos: "This memo doesn't spill any secrets, but it is a thoughtful analysis based on Officer X's conversations with some of his colleagues -- all of whom are harshly critical of the war plan and Rumsfeld's meddling with it."
How to Take Back America 3/25/03 Guerrilla News Network: "Whenever a third party emerges, it's guaranteed to harm the party most closely aligned to it.
This was the result of a well-intentioned accident that most Americans fail to understand when looking at the thriving third, fourth, and fifth parties of democracies such as Germany, India, or Israel. How do they do it? And why can't we have third parties here?
The reason is because in America - unlike most other modern democracies - we have regional "winner take all" types of elections, rather than proportional representation where the group with, say, 30 percent of the vote, would end up with 30 percent of the seats in government."
'It's more than exciting, Christiane' 3/25/03 Haaretz, Israel: "Gregg Gursky, a cameraman for the American Fox news network, was arrested last Friday and handcuffed. The security people forcibly took away his camera, and removed the videotape. It didn't happen in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, but in Washington, DC, the capital of the United States. The cameraman had only filmed members of the Viriginia State Police arresting a man "of Iranian descent," as they put it, who was driving a commercial vehicle on the main highway."
USWAR/Seven Baath elements executed in southern Iraq: report 3/25/03 IRNA
500 Bodies Of Dead Soldiers Still In Jacobabad 3/25/03 Jihad Unspun: "Around 500 dead bodies of American and British soldiers killed during military operation in Afghanistan after September 11 blitz have been lying in a morgue at Shebhaz Airbase in Jacobabad "
Loss of Apache Is Evidence of Vulnerability of Copters to Ground Fire 3/25/03 NYT: "The Apache, a $22 million helicopter that the Army prizes for its ability to identify and destroy tanks miles away, appears to have run into trouble from small-arms fire, technical problems or both.
The problems raised questions about whether the helicopter, for all its sophisticated electronics and lethal Hellfire missiles, is correct for a war that planners hope to move soon from the desert to cities."
Resistance by Militia Is Delaying Baghdad Battle, Officers Say 3/25/03 NYT
Ethnic Communities Respond to War on Iraq 3/25/03 Pacific News
Leave After War, Iraqi Opposition Group Tells U.S. 3/25/03 Reuters: "Iraqis are against foreign dominance, and if they (the Americans) don't want to leave Iraq, the nation will resist," said Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir Hakim, head of the Tehran-based Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).
"One of the legitimate ways of resistance against occupiers is force and weapons," he told a news conference.
The gray-bearded, black-turbaned Hakim said SCIRI, which draws its support from Iraq's Muslim Shi'ite majority, said he had tens of thousands of troops stationed inside and outside Iraq, ready to resist any foreign occupation."
Probe Sought of Pentagon Adviser Perle 3/25/03 Reuters: "A senior U.S. Democrat has called for an investigation of Richard Perle, an architect of the war on Iraq, for possible conflicts of interest in his roles as corporate adviser and Pentagon consultant.
Rep. John Conyers, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, asked the Pentagon's inspector general to probe Perle's work as a paid adviser to bankrupt telecommunications company Global Crossing Ltd. and his guidance on investment opportunities resulting from the Iraq conflict.
"I am aware of several potential conflicts that warrant your immediate review," Conyers said on Monday in a letter to the Defense Department's inspector general, Joseph Schmitz. The letter was made available on Tuesday.
"Mr. Perle is considered a 'special government employee' and is subject to government ethics prohibition -- both regulatory and criminal -- on using public office for private gain," Conyers' letter said."
U.S. Raps Canada on Iraq, Says Should Quiet Critics 3/25/03 Reuters: "What will have been most disconcerting for the audience was Cellucci's statement that the United States gave a higher priority to security than to the booming trade relationship between the two countries.
Canada sends 87 percent of its exports to the United States and any delays in trade across the two countries' long joint border could have a devastating impact on the Canadian economy. Exports account for 40 percent of Canadian gross domestic product."
War Pictures Cause Yellowtimes.Org To Be Shut Down, Again 3/25/03 Scoop
N.M. Prosecutor Blows Officers' Covers 3/25/03 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "A prosecutor who took part in an anti-war rally was placed on paid leave Tuesday because she allegedly pointed out undercover officers to fellow protesters.
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Albright's actions Sunday angered police, who say she put the plainsclothes officers in danger. Anti-war activists, meanwhile, argued that undercover police shouldn't attend their rallies."
Red Cross criticises allies over captives 3/25/03 Telegraph: "The International Committee of the Red Cross accused coalition forces yesterday of failing to follow the Geneva Conventions in their treatment of prisoners of war."
'Holy warriors' to join Iraq war 3/25/03 The News, Australia: "MORE than 15,000 Indonesians have signed up to travel to Iraq and fight the US, the militant Islam Defenders’ Front claimed yesterday.
The radical organisation’s leader, Habib Muhammed Riziq Shihab, told The Australian that 1400 people from Jakarta, and 6,500 people from the rest of Java had signed up as mujahadin, or holy warriors, as well as more than 7,000 from Sumatra. Data from outlying provinces had yet to come in."
War in Iraq - situation at An-Nasiriya (update) 3/25/03 Venik's Aviation, Russia: you may experience technical difficulties seeing this detailed report on the situation in Iraq as of 3/24 by Russian military intelligence (GRU) - "According to the intercepted radio traffic, the US forces have sustained up to 40 killed, up to 10 captured and up to 200 wounded during the fighting near An-Nasiriya. There is confirmed information about one lost attack helicopter and an unconfirmed report about a lost ground attack plane. The US forces have also lost up to 40 armored vehicles, including no less than 10 tanks. Several intercepted reports by the US field commanders stated that their troops are unable to advance due to their soldiers being demoralized by the enemy's fierce resistance and high losses." And other gems not heard in US media.
Peace Activists Planning to Disrupt Manhattan 3/25/03 Village Voice
For Blacks, the War Is Another Divide 3/25/03 Washington Post: "African Americans Oppose the Conflict More Than Whites Do, Polling Finds"
Newssite shut down over war photos - Editor of Yellow Times decries 'censorship' of gruesome images 3/25/03 WorldNetDaily
Un-Embedded Journalist by Robert Fisk 3/25/03 Znet: extensive report on the situation in Bagdad.
Monday 3/24/03
Will Middle America Board the Peace Train? 3/24/03 Alternet: "It was the emergence of this manifesto prescribing preemptive military action, one year after 9/11, that spurred Gulf War veterans Charles Sheehan-Miles, Erik Gustafson, Erin Cole and Dan Fahey to form Veterans For Common Sense (www.veteransforcommonsense.org), a primary organizer of the teach-in at American University. Two weeks ago VCS sent a letter to President Bush objecting to the war. It was signed by more than 1,000 veterans, among them two vice-admirals, a brigadier general and a handful of colonels."
Africans continue Iraq protests 3/24/03 BBC
Sharpton takes aim at Bush 3/24/03 BlackAmericaWeb: ""Don't be too cowardly to speak out now," he said in a speech that repeatedly brought the packed audience of low-income voters to its feet. "If you can't open your mouth now, you don't deserve to run for president."
Sharpton said instead of spending billions on the war, the Bush administration should focus on funding education, housing and prescription drugs for military families and other low-income Americans."
Battle for key city leads to 'massacre of children' claim 3/24/03 Guardian: "Horrific images of Iraqi civilians reportedly killed by the coalition bombing of Basra were being shown on the Arabic news station al-Jazeera yesterday. Several Arab media outlets described the civilian deaths there as a "massacre".
Al-Jazeera's footage included an Iraqi child with the back of its head apparently blown off and wounded people covered in blood being treated on the floor of a hospital.
It apologised for showing disturbing pictures but said: "The world should know the truth and what is going on." " While the US media is silent...
US protests at Russian arms sales to Baghdad 3/24/03 Guardian: Pooty-poot ain't playing ball - "The United States protested to the government of President Vladimir Putin Saturday for refusing to stop Russian arms dealers from providing illegal weapons and assistance to the Iraqi military.
Bush administration sources said one Russian company was helping the Iraqi military to deploy electronic jamming equipment against US planes and bombs, and two others had sold anti-tank missiles and thousands of night-vision goggles in violation of UN sanctions. They said Moscow has ignored entreaties from Bush administration officials concerned about the threat to US forces."
'This makes us love Saddam, not America' 3/24/03 Guardian, UK: "34 die as US missiles hit wrong target"
Zoe Pilger: Generation Apathy has woken up 3/24/03 Independent
Iraqi President 'left bunker in an ambulance' 3/24/03 Independent, UK: "Saddam Hussein probably survived the initial cruise missile bombardment of his bunker in Baghdad but received minor injuries in the attack, the British Government said yesterday.
Amid continuing speculation over the Iraqi leader's fate, the Foreign Office minister, Mike O'Brien, said: "We've received information that Saddam Hussein left the area in an ambulance.
"There was some talk that he had been injured, even some suggestion that he had been killed. It seems that is unlikely. If he was injured, it doesn't appear it was serious." "
Thousands Of Arab Afghans Heading To Iraq 3/24/03 Jihad Unspun: "The London based "The Middle East" newspaper said that thousands of Arab Mujahedeen in Afghanistan entered Iraq after they had get approval from the Iraqi government to take part in the fight against the American troops.
According to confirmed sources in Lebanon, there was a "gentleman" agreement between Mujahedeen and the Iraqi government that the formers will fight and perform martyrdom operations against the Americans, but not under the command of the Iraqi ruling secular party "Al Baath" ("Resurrection").
The same sources disclosed the presence of 2500 Lebanese volunteer participating in special training camps in Iraq since almost 6 months. The groups of volunteers had entered the Iraqi territories through Syria and Jordan. The sources added that there are also about 700 Algerian volunteers with their weapons and ammunitions in the Iraqi training camps."
Suspect in attack reportedly made anti-US remarks 3/24/03 LA Times: "Outside the charred and blood-splattered tents yesterday afternoon, soldiers recalled hearing the suspect say as he was being led away by armed soldiers: ''You guys are coming into our countries, and you're going to rape our women and kill our children… Akbar appears to have spent much of his youth in California. Officials at the University of California at Davis said a student named Asan Akbar, who also used the name Mark Fidel Kools, attended the university, enrolling in 1988 and graduating in 1997 with a double major in aeronautical engineering and mechanical engineering.
He was enrolled in the university's ROTC program but graduated as a sergeant. Normally students in the program graduate as lieutenants, said a Davis official, who asked not to be identified.''
Military authorities identified the suspect, who was being questioned yesterday but had not been charged, as Sergeant Asan Akbar, 31."
Why I Resigned From the U.S. Foreign Service By John Brown 3/24/03 Moscow Times
Poll Shows Most Blacks Still Oppose War 3/24/03 New California Media: "Black faces may not be showing up at anti-war protests in the same numbers as whites, but a new poll shows that African Americans are more opposed to a U.S. war with Iraq than any other major ethnic group in the United States. The new survey mirrors several Gallup polls in recent months that also noted while most whites are backing the Bush administration on the issue of war, most Blacks are not in favor of those policies. The Pew Research Center Survey found 44 percent of African Americans support military action, compared to 73 percent of white Americans and 67 percent of Latinos."
WHO LIED TO WHOM? by SEYMOUR M. HERSH 3/24/03 New Yorker: "The Bush Administration’s reliance on the Niger documents may, however, have stemmed from more than bureaucratic carelessness or political overreaching. Forged documents and false accusations have been an element in U.S. and British policy toward Iraq at least since the fall of 1997, after an impasse over U.N. inspections."
Hail of Gunfire and Rockets Forces Apaches to Pull Back 3/24/03 NYT: "With a hail of small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, Iraqi forces downed one Apache helicopter today and forced 30 other helicopters in its brigade back to their base.
One two-member crew was unaccounted for. Iraqi state television broadcast images of one downed helicopter, which appeared largely intact, and jubilant men dancing around it.
All 32 helicopters sustained some damage, occasionally slight, Army officials said, in what was a significant setback for the allies."
Egypt Torturing Anti-War Activists, Group says 3/24/03 OneWorld: "Anti-war activists and protesters detained by Egyptian authorities in recent days are being tortured by police, Human Rights Watch (HRW) charged Monday in a detailed release that includes accounts by eyewitnesses and activists."
Army 'Fragging' - Racial Tension Back in Spotlight 3/24/03 Pacific News: "Little is know about the motivation behind the recent grenade attack by an African American Muslim sergeant on fellow soldiers in Kuwait. Even if the attack turns out to be an isolated incident involving a disturbed individual, it evokes memories of the Vietnam War for PNS contributor Earl Ofari Hutchinson."
Conflict in Nigeria fuels oil supply fears 3/24/03 Sydney Morning Herald: "Though oil prices fell to a three-month low on Friday as US-led forces advanced into Iraq, a new threat to supplies is building in West Africa: ethnic conflict has begun to limit oil shipments from Nigeria and could complicate US refiners' efforts to produce more petrol for the Northern Hemisphere spring and summer.
Royal Dutch-Shell, the largest oil producer in Nigeria, invoked force majeure on Friday, effectively warning customers that events outside the company's control could delay oil deliveries by up to two weeks from its Bonny and Forcados terminals.
ChevronTexaco made a similar announcement on Thursday, though the group did not specify the potential duration of the delays from its Escravos terminal."
Anti-war troop held in attack on camp 3/24/03 Washington Times: "The Army soldier accused of killing one comrade and wounding 15 others in a grenade attack yesterday morning (local time) is a Muslim who opposes the war to disarm Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, according to a U.S. military source in Kuwait.
"He's a Muslim, and it seems he was just against the war," the military source, who did not wish to be identified, told Reuters news agency."
"There
is one safeguard known generally to the wise, which is an advantage and
security to all, but especially to Democracies as against despots:
suspicion." -- Demosthenes
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