[casi] News titles, 09-16/04/03

[Peter Brooke <pbrooke@DELETETHISukonline.co.uk>]

News titles, 09-16/04/03 (Wednesday to Wednesday)

THIS NEWS MAILING WILL BE SUSPENDED FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS OWING TO THE
ORTHODOX HOLY WEEK (21ST-27TH APRIL). I WOULD LIKE - BUT DON'T PROMISE -
EVENTUALLY TO PRODUCE A SKELETON MAILING TO COVER THAT PERIOD AND IT WOULD
HELP IF LIST MEMBERS WOULD SEND MATERIAL TO <newsclippings@casi.org.uk> (it
doesn't have to be nuggets no-one else has noticed. This is intended to
serve as an archive, and material we all know now but will have forgotten in
a few weeks time is also useful).

Now that the Iraqi army is no longer functional the broad shape of the 'war'
begins to be seen. Very crudely, it resembles the war on Serbia and the war
on Afghanistan. In all three cases we knew from the start that the defenders
didn't stand a chance and that their determination to fight was a piece of
suicidal courage or bravado (though again in all three cases the US and its
minions didn't offer very much choice). But at the beginning the US campaign
seemed to run into difficulties. For a moment it looked as though human
courage and ingenuity might be able to do something against money and
technology. Then the defence collapsed, suddenly and quickly, like a balloon
or a house of cards.

In Iraq, the collapse occurred just as USUK was approaching what most people
thought was the most difficult part: entering Baghdad. The lack of
resistance in Baghdad takes some explaining and a variety of explanations
are on offer in what follows: that the main defences had been placed outside
the city and they couldn't get back in time to defend it ('Iraq: the Dog
That Didn't Bark? or Was It Muzzled?'); that a deal was made with the
Republican Guard leadership ('Republican Guard commander cut deal with US
forces'); that the Baath structure deliberately melted into the background
and is biding its time ('Virtual Saddam Takes Aim' and also suggestion at
the end of "USA encouraged ransacking"); that word got out that President
Hussein  was dead, whereupon Iraq ceased to be worth fighting for ('U.S.
seizes a veteran terrorist in Baghdad', first extract).

There is another explanation that is simpler and not at all incompatible
with any of the above, and that is that USUK, relying on overwhelming
airpower, was initially handicapped by the sandstorm. Only when the
sandstorm lifted could it reveal the full horror of what it can do.
According to the version as relayed from Qatar, two Republican Guard
divisions more or less disappeared in a single day. What this might mean in
human terms is almost unimaginable, though it should be possible eventually
to quantify it. After the 1991 Gulf War Colin Powell said he wasn't very
interested in knowing how many people he had killed. But this time a much
more accurate account should eventually be made available as the occupying
power fulfils its obligation under Article 17 of the 1949 First Geneva
Convention to 'ensure that the dead are honourably interred, if possible
according to the rites of the religion to which they belonged, that their
graves are respected, grouped if possible according to the nationality of
the deceased, properly maintained and marked so that they may always be
found' (they will, won't they?)

There is one thing that can be said in favour of what has happened. It
should make life more interesting. President Hussein was not, in all
honesty, very interesting. His heroes were, we are told, Hitler and Stalin.
But both German National Socialism and Soviet Communism produced a
substantial literature and made efforts to promote it throughout the world.
An Arab Hitler/Stalin could, one feels, have done likewise, and it may be
that the writings of Hussein's intellectual mentor, Michel Aflaq, are worth
looking at. But in general, as 'the spirit of defiance', occupying a very
advantageous position as the favoured target of the unpopular superpower,
Hussein was never very convincing. One always felt he would have cut a deal
if he'd been allowed to do so (maybe he was).

But his neo-conservative enemies have produced a literature. And how. Not
much in the way of 'culture'. Their ideology is the ideology of Nietzsche's
'last men' - Francis Fukuyama seems to understand this very clearly - and as
such inimical to culture. They are indeed almost caricatural representatives
of Oswald Spengler's idea of 'civilisation' - his own archetypal figure was,
we remember, Cecil Rhodes. But they have produced lots in the way of
ambitious world-historical projects and analysis. Now Iraq lies before them
as, they think, their playground. We must assume that Ahmad Chalabi and his
friends in Washington are seriously going to try to remould it in their
image: a nation of smart, fashion conscious individuals working for vast
multinational enterprises and jetting off to Haifa-on the-Sea for their
holidays while looking with disdain on the backward tribalism and
religiosity of their Arab neighbours (see Alex Massie's article: 'It is
2013, and the US is leaving')

One thing, however, has already emerged quite clearly: the society which Mr
Chalabi wishes to remould in his own image is no blank page. Its tribalism
and religiosity are living, thriving institutions that have given Iraqis a
sense of identity and historical continuity for centuries without a state or
in spite of states that were hostile to them. The tribes and the mosques
have withstood the assaults of Mr Hussein and seem to have sprung up again
as strong as ever to confront the would-be gravediggers of history (see in
particular the sections on Saddam City and Turbulent Mullahs). And Islam at
least, unlike Baath Arab Socialism, is not wanting in ideological vigour (as
witness a host of little bookshops all over Europe). Oh for the days when
the 'Clash of Civilisations' could take the form, not of war, but of
intellectual debate, of mental strife!

For our part ('we' being the anti-war movement not the specifically
anti-sanctions movement) the fall of President Hussein leaves us looking
rather exposed. We were in a sense hiding behind him. Like it or not - and
most of us hated it - his victories were our victories. If he had won, we
would have won. If he had put up a better fight, we would have been in a
stronger position. As it is, the validity of the arguments has not changed,
but we no longer have a political-military force that can back them up.
Unless France and Russia hold good.

They are in much the same position, having relied on Mr Hussein to do their
fighting for them. Now they are obliged - if they really believe in what
they have proclaimed - to put themselves forward as a force in their own
right. The issue will be recognition of the legitimacy of the invasion, the
place the UN Security Council, the occasion probably the effort of the US to
get control of Iraq's oil money - under the pretext of 'lifting sanctions'.

It will require great moral strength to resist this demand. In particular,
it will require a preparedness, equal to that of the neocons themselves, to
push the issue right to the wire - the wire in this case being the collapse
of the UN Security Council as an institution. They need not be afraid.
Throughout its history the UNSC has either allowed the US to do things it
couldn't have done otherwise (sanctions on Iraq) or at least failed to
prevent it from doing anything it wanted to do. Some time ago I out out a
challenge asking anyone to name one positive thing the Security Council had
done that couldn't have been done by other means. I'm still waiting for an
answer.

If France and Russia hold good they may find themselves finishing up in a
very strong position. They may find themselves becoming a rallying point for
the dissatisfactions of the world. They could take their stand with the UN
General Assembly and with the Non Aligned Nations at the centre of an order
other than the order being imposed by the United States. It is a dizzying
and delightful prospect, but there is one serious and perhaps fatal flaw in
it.

The interest Russia (like, though to a lesser extent, France) has in the
matter is the huge mountain of debt owed to it by Iraq. A debt that may have
been incurred by President Hussein but which is as real and valid as, say,
the debt Britain incurred through the war it declared on Germany (and the
Iranian Revolution in 1979 posed a much greater threat to the security of
Iraq than Germany in 1939 posed to the security of the British Empire). The
Russians ask ('US manages interests by pushing for Iraq debt relief') why
they should forgive Iraq's debt when no-one ever forgave them their debts
incurred under Communism. The question is entirely reasonable and the
Russian economy is not so strong that it can simply write off debts of that
magnitude. And yet it fatally undermines the morality of their position and
it is only as a disinterested moral force that they can act as a pole of
attraction for the 'developing nations'.

Even if they do decide on a policy of defiance they will be subjected to a
terrible temptation should the US offer to arrange for some of the debt to
be paid. Is it imaginable that Vladimir Putin, the man who has presided over
the slaughter in Chechnya, could see the advantages in trading a debt that
will never be paid in full, for a dangerous but magnificent position of
moral leadership in the world?


News, 09-16/04/03 (1)

BBC CHRONOLOGY

*  9th April [This is the day on which the statue fell. We read that at
06.52 the BBC found that their minders had disappeared; at 08.20 US tanks
were passing through Saddam City to cheering crowd and looting began; at
10.19, the British government said: "The command and control in Baghdad
appears to have disintegrated"; at 12.31 'a column of US tanks' arrived
outside the Palestine Hotel; at 13.00 the attack on the statue began, just
outside the said Paradise Hotel; at 14.52, the statue was pulled down by an
armoured personnel carrier. Which is the scene we see in the aerial photo
showing a tiny crowd looking rather like a Brecknock Peace and Justice Group
vigil. Two hours after the process of the pulling down began.]
*  10th April [Includes murder of al-Khoei]
*  11th April [Looting of the archaeological museum]
*  12th April [Mohammed al-Douri leaves New York for Syria; General Amir
al-Saadi captured; fighting between Arabs and Kurds in Mosul; attack on
Mujaheedin al-Khalq]
*  13th April [US forces enter Tikrit and Baghdad's National Library burns]
*  14th April [Polemical attacks on Syria. Siege of Sistani in Najaf comes
to an end]

RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE (PERHAPS)

*  Spooks Lose the Iraq Plot [Moscow Times article on miscalculations of
Russian intelligence (mainly overestimated the Iraqis). Also on the 'Ramsaj'
group, 'iraq.ru' intelligence updates, dismissed as incompetent, low-level
stuff by a 'former high-ranking official of the GRU'.]
*  Did Russians use blog to aid Iraqis? [A more respectful (and more
informative) assessment]


AND, IN NEWS, 09-16/04/03 (2)

FALL OF BAGHDAD (see also 'Saddam City')

*  Civilian casualties mount as US forces tighten grip on Baghdad [Lebanon
Daily Star account of the advance into Baghdad]
*  Smiles and flowers greet Marines [Account of advance of tanks through
Saddam City: 'hundreds of jubilant Iraqis'. The London-based opposition
praise Kuwait]
*  US troops fire on ambulance, two killed
*  Dictators' Collusion [The Tehran Times suggests that a deal was made
after the 'pause' ten days ago, which explains why 'U.S. troops, that had
been stopped at the Euphrates, immediately were able to advance toward the
heart of Baghdad without any significant resistance by Iraqi forces'.]
*  US troops' anguish: Killing outmatched foes [One of the few articles that
describes it more or less as it must have been if the US army version is
correct (if they encountered and overcame the Iraqi army) - the massacre of
huge numbers of young men and boys who, for whatever reason - maybe guns in
their backs, I don't know - wouldn't give up: '"They have no command and
control, no organization. They're just dying," says Brig. Gen. Louis Weber,
an assistant commander of the 3rd Infantry Division. This week, the
division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team killed at least 1,000 Iraqis by direct
fire alone on a single raid into Baghdad, he said.' The anguish of the USUK
troops should not be cynically dismissed. The hostels and streets of Britain
are full of ex-servicemen traumatised by the things they were asked to do
when they were in the army]
*  Why drive to Baghdad was a textbook campaign, flaws and all [Glowing
tribute to the brilliance of the US campaign based on a combination of
overwhelming airpower with precise intelligence enabling pinpoint
targetting. But you just have to read it all spelled out to feel that
there's something missing. It contains this wonderful passage, which Kim
Sengupta and Christopher Bellamy's Independent colleague Robert Fisk would
love: 'It is still messy, and there are still mistakes. Keyhole surgery
notwithstanding, you can't be a surgeon if you are squeamish.']
*  Civilians, US tank crew killed in attempt to destroy arms ['Many Iraqi
civilians and a US tank crew died today when a huge explosion destroyed
around 20 houses in Baghdad']
*  'Death volunteers' offer final resting place for Baghdad's dead ['When
the stretchers are full, they march off, a finger raised to heaven,
chanting: "There is no god but God and Mohammad is His prophet. Martyrs are
beloved of God." On the streets, passers-by stop and place their right hand
over their heart. Women cry or shout and even looters come to a halt and
lower their eyes.']
*  Republican Guard commander cut deal with US forces [Le Monde 'reports
that Maher Sufyan, Commander of the Republican Guard reached an agreement
with American forces in which he ordered his forces to surrender in exchange
for his transfer via an American Apache helicopter to an undisclosed safe
haven.' A more elaborate version of the same scenario will be found in a
translation of an article from the Lebanese paper Sawt al `Urouba on David
Irving's website at http://www.fpp.co.uk/online/03/04/Mueller150403.html]
*  US soldiers hurt in guerrilla attack
*  Baghdad Area Proud to Resist US Forces ['The Aadhamiyah neighborhood,
resident Faisal Sayed Jafar noted proudly, did not give a warm reception to
US troops. "We're the only part of Baghdad that didn't welcome the American
soldiers with flowers," he said with a smile. "Of course, we paid a
price."']
*  Iraq: the Dog That Didn't Bark? or Was It Muzzled? [Why did the Iraqi
command not use chemical weapons or destroy the oilfields? John Chalmers
eschews the obvious explanations - that they didn't have chemical weapons
and didn't want to destroy the oilfields (as they didn't destroy them in the
North). He proposes instead that: 'the juxtaposition of Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld's ideas for "innovation and special operations" with the
military's preference to go in big and strong and conventional had worked.'
He argues further that the Iraqis were camped outside Baghdad and after they
had been (predictably) pulverised from the air, couldn't get back to Baghdad
in time to prepare its defenses. But they had had plenty of time to prepare
for its defence during the long run-up to the war, yet everyone reporting
from within the city says they did nothing. If the conventional account is
true (if, for whatever reason, a decision hadn't been made at some stage not
to mount a serious resistance) the behaviour of the Iraqis was beyond belief
stupid ...]
*  U.S. seizes a veteran terrorist in Baghdad [Extract giving suggestion
that Iraqi command gave up because they were persuaded President Hussein was
dead]


AND, IN NEWS, 09-16/04/03 (3)

SADDAM CITY (see also 'Turbulent Mullahs')

*  Baghdad's disaffected Shiites warn US to help, or else ... [Description
of Saddam City - in the process of becoming Al Sadr city. Claim that the
worst of the looting was done by Baath supporters (not impossible in my
estimation)]
*  Shiites stage show of force [Article from Saudi Arabia's Arab News
represents the looting as a deliberate political act organised from
Saddam/Al Sadr City which has now been switched off by the Imams, who are
now organising the return of the loot]
*  District in Baghdad claims autonomy [Saddam/Al Sadr City turning into a
clerical republic. Note the reference to 'Raad Ahmed, a Shiite activist
sentenced to death in 2002 but released by Saddam in a mass pardon last
fall' So the amnestied prisoners weren't all criminals]
*  Armed Shia on streets in first sign of power tussle [This account of the
new order in Shia areas of Baghdad stresses that it is being organised from
Najaf]

TURBULENT MULLAHS (see also 'Iraqi Collaboration')

*  Former Iraqi general Nizar Al-Khazaraji and Islamic scholar Majid
Al-Khoi'i have both been executed by Iraqi residents of Najaf for being
"American stooges" [This is included just as an example of the rumour that
General Nizar Al-Khazaraji was present]
*  US-backed militia terrorises town ['The Iraqi Coalition of National Unity
(ICNU), which appeared in the city (Hay Al Ansar, on the outskirts of Najaf
) last week riding on US special forces vehicles.' This is the only
manifestation I have yet seen of a possible INC linked underground. It is
also linked to Hassan Mussawi, a Shia cleric]
*  Murdered in a mosque: the cleric who went home to act as a peacemaker
[Detaled account from the Independent. It doesn't mention the possible
presence of General Al-Khazaraji but it does say, surely rather
extraordinarily, that 'Residents claimed that the US-trained Iraqi Coalition
of National Unity was taking control of the city in defiance of the
allegiance of much of its population to the man who succeeded Mr Khoei's
father, the Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali al-Sistani'. The sentence goes on,
surely incorrectly, to describe Khoei as a 'key aide' of Sistani's]
*  Crowd hack to death Muslim clerics [The article claims that Khoei and
'Haider al-Kadar, a Saddam loyalist connected to his Ministry of Religion'
had been assaulted verbally by 'members of another faction loyal to a
different mullah, Mohammed Baqer al-Sadr' (this is presumably Moqtada
al-Sadr, son of late cleric Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr.  Moqtada is identified
in the Lebanon Daily Star article, 'Shiite cleric ordered to leave Iraq', as
the leader of the crowd demanding the departure of Sistani. This article
quotes 'Adil Adnan al Moussawi, 25' as abusing al-Kadar. Could he be
connected to the 'Hassan Mussawi, a Shia cleric who helps lead the ICNU'
(Iraqi Coalition of National Unity) as we learn from 'US backed militia
terrorises town'; and which is present in Najaf, as we learn from 'Murdered
in a mosque'?]
*  Siege of Iraqi cleric ends - aide [Moqtada Sadr denies involvement in the
siege of Sistani and in the assassination of Khoei]
*  Shiite cleric ordered to leave Iraq [Sistani. Accused, like Hakim of
SCIRI, of being 'Iranian'. The US meeting is also being boycotted by the
Islamic Daawa Party, which seems to be connected to the anti-'Iranian'
elements. The only Shi'i clerical representation at the US meeting was
Khoei's group]
*  Local Shiite clerics condemn tension in Najaf [Article on how the
troubles in Najaf are seen by Shi'i in Lebanon, particularly by Sayyed
Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah and Sheikh Afif Nabulsi, both associated with
Hezbollah (there is an account of Fadlallah at
http://almashriq.hiof.no/lebanon/300/320/324/324.2/hizballah/Fadlallah
Muhammad.html). It claims Sistani was being besieged by pro-Iranian Iraqis.
There is a dispute for leadership of the Shi'i world between Najaf and Qom
(in Iran). Most Lebanese Shi'i are loyal to Najaf, but Hezbollah follow Qom]


AND, IN NEWS, 09-16/04/03 (4)

MR HOON'S 'GOOD PRATICE'

*  Carry on looting, Hoon tells civilians in Basra [Let it go down in
history that the Mother of All Parliaments laughed when the National Museum
of Iraq was being destroyed. If the sneering bray which is the speciality
hallmark of said Mother of All Parliaments can be dignified with the term
'laughter']
*  "USA encouraged ransacking" [Account of human shield Khaled Bayomi in the
Swedish paper Dagens Nyheter. He says this incitation to looting took place
on the 8th April on the West Bank, therefore before the toppling of the
statue and not in 'Saddam City'. He also makes the interesting suggestion
about President Hussein: "He's not gone. He has broken his army down into
very small groups. That's why there hasn't been a large battle. About the
official state, you could say that Saddam dissolved that already in 1992 and
he's built a parallel tribal structure that is totally decisive in Iraq.
When the US began the war, Saddam abandoned the state completely and now
depends on the tribal structure. That was why he abandoned the large cities
without a fight. Now the US is compelled to do everything themselves because
there's no political body within the country which will challenge the
existing structure ..."]
*  Who is to blame for the collapse in morality that followed the
'liberation'? [Robert Fisk on the legal responsibility of the occupying
power to protect civilians from looting, and of invaders not to drop 2,000
lb bunker busting bombs onto civilian areas. This powerful article is
largely an attack on the way in which the rape of Baghdad has been reported:
'we went on talking about the "liberation" of Baghdad as if the majority of
civilians there were garlanding the soldiers with flowers instead of queuing
with anxiety at checkpoints and watching the looting of their capital.']
*  Pillagers Strip Iraqi Museum of Its Treasure [New York Times account of
'one of the greatest cultural disasters in recent Middle Eastern history'.
The word 'recent' could be removed. Some of the looters 'were middle-class
people who appeared to know exactly what they were looking for.' The call
'"Open up, open up, there's no more Saddam so we can do what we like.' " is
rather reminiscent of Dostoyevsky's ''If there is no God, then anything is
possible"]
*  Help End Looting Anarchy, Troops Urge Iraqi Police ['"What we are
reassured by is that most of the people we've spoken to, who have been
living here, say the local police are not closely allied to the former
regime and the atrocities committed by them," Col Zarcone told BBC2's
Newsnight programme.' Suddenly, just when they become necessary, they turn
out to be innocent. As Friedrich Engels remarked, I think, on the subject of
slavery: a fact only  becomes morally unacceptable when it ceases to be
economically necessary]

FALL OF BASRA

*  Basra residents call for more food [This BBC account of an
anti-occupation protest in Basra finishes with a hint that it was inspired
by a still present Baath administration]
*  Baathist appointed to police Basra [Former Baath officer Sheikh Muzahim
Mustafa Kanan Tameemi who is also 'a tribal elder who held sway over large
parts of the population'. Other 'parts of the population' are unhappy about
it]
*  Inside Basra [Generally admiring view of the British occupation of Basra:
'Then the British marched into Basra to face not gunfire but cheering
crowds.']
*  Three weeks on, and still no water. Now doctors fear an epidemic  Lack of
security holds up agencies [Account of life in Basra as joint British-Iraqi
patrols begin]
*  Basra contests official view of siege [Conclusions from 'a week of
interviews in Basra' by Washington Post. No uprising, many civilian deaths
and injuries from British bombing and 'Reports of large numbers of Basra
residents being forced to take up arms and militiamen firing from behind
human shields were similarly not borne out in the interviews.']


AND, IN NEWS, 09-16/04/03 (5)

KURDISH DAWN (see also 'Fall of Mosul')

*  Without a fight, oil city [Kirkuk] falls surprisingly fast
*  Kurds take northern Iraqi city [Khaneqin. the first to arrive were, it
appears, members of the Shiite Badr brigades, who had, I thought, been told
sternly by the Americans that they weren't allowed to do anything]
*  Northern Iraq: An imperialist game : A war within war? Part 2 [Extract.
Bangladeshi Sakhawat Hussain reminds us that the US have never either
explained or apologised for the bombing of Kormal in Kurdistan, which killed
46 people. He also declares that the fight with Ansar el-Islam 'almost
leveled Halabja Valley adjacent to Iranian border.']
*  Scores of MKO Terrorists Killed in Iraq [This description of the death of
Mojahedin Khalq members near Kirkuk may help to explain why members of the
al Badr brigade were the first to enter the town of Khaneqin. There is
something tragic about this group which, if Mr Bush had started with Iran,
would have certainly been elevated to the rank of freedom fighters]
*  Eight die as kurds and arab tribes clash [Largely around the town of
Huwaija, on the road between Kirkuk and Tikrit]
*  Saboteurs Ravage Northern Iraq Oil Fields
*  Kurd Blames Rival Leader for Iraq Looting [Massoud Barzani reproaches PUK
for entering Kirkuk despite agreement not to (but did anyone really think he
wouldn't?)]
*  Iraqi Arabs are driven from homes by Kurds ['Thousands of Iraqi Arabs
expelled from their homes by armed Kurds, one of the Americans' most
exuberant allies in the war against Saddam Hussein.' Near Kirkuk]
*  On the plains, Kurds and Arabs clash in the most dangerous flashpoint of
all [Patrick Cockburn gives an account of the conflict as seen by a Red
Crescent representative who has assumed the task of burying the dead. He
(Cockburn) says that though the PUK claim to have withdrawn, they are still
in control of Kirkuk]
*  Bombarded Tikrit falls to marines [Extract concerning death of young boy
in Kurdish/Turkmen clash in Kirkuk]


PROGRESS OF THE PRETEXT

*  Weapons teams scour Iraq [US's own team. Hans Blix 'said Iraq was paying
"a very high price - in terms of human lives and the destruction of a
country" when the threat of banned weapons could have been contained by UN
inspections.']
*  Nuclear weapons expert surrenders [Jaffar al-Jaffer, 'father of Iraq's
nuclear weapons program'. Was that not supposed to be Khidr Hamza??]
*  Troops Find Terror Training Camp in Iraq [Camp apparently 'operated by
the Palestine Liberation Front and the Iraqi government'. The home of 'Rahib
Taha, dubbed "Dr. Germ" by United Nations weapons inspectors' is also
raided]
*  U.S. seizes a veteran terrorist in Baghdad [with an account of Abu Abbas]


AND, IN NEWS, 09-16/04/03 (6)

NERVOUS NEIGHBOURS

*  Turkey, in the end, joins the 'willing' coalition [Extract from Lebanon
Daily Star account of deal between US and Turkey. Principally, it 'succeeded
in checking Turkey's cooperation with Syria and Iran.']
*  Baghdad scenes uplift Israelis but dishearten Arab leaders [Lebanon Daily
Star roundup of Israeli press. General satsifaction and support for the view
that this is the beginning of the end for Arab Tyranny. But a dissenting
voice from Hebrew University Professor Amnon Sela, in a guest column in
Yediot Ahronot]
*  Divided Arabs contemplate their second catastrophe [David Hirst on Arab
despair at 'the craven, ignominious, completely selfish manner of his
(Saddam's) going'. They clearly need a bit of spirit injected into them.
Perhaps someone should send them the latest issue of Labour Left Briefing?]
*  Preliminary Postmortem: The Arab Press and the Fall of Saddam [Daniel
Kimmage of Radio Free Europe goes through the Arab disarray at the suposed
joy that greeted the fall of Baghdad with only 'Britain's "Al-Sharq
al-Awsat": Editor in Chief Abd al-Rahman al Rashid' - who had always argued
that the US was invincible and should not be resisted - coming up trumps.]
*  Ankara's Miscalculation [Argues that the Turks bargained too hard and
lost radically. In particular, the AK Party, which had 'recognized, in part
at least, the rights and culture of Turkey's ethnic Kurds', lost a golden
opportunity for reconciliation with the Kurds in Iraq]
*  Hizbullah denies claims that it sent fighters to Iraq
*  Arab world set to foot the war bill [says 'Mervat Tallawi, Executive
Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA)'
referring to, among other things, "a fall in interest rates, an increase in
military spending, which reached double the international average, a fall in
tourist and transport income, particularly among airlines, a rise in the
cost of insurance and reinsurance as well as a decrease in trade between
Arab countries."]
*  Kingdom Calls Emergency Regional Meeting on Iraq ['The foreign ministers
of countries neighboring Iraq will meet in Riyadh on Friday'. One wonders if
they will be able to look each other in the face]
*  After the fall of Baghdad, who will dare challenge Washington? [Lebanon
Daily Star roundup of local - Arab, Israeli, Turkish, Iranian - press]
*  U.S. Seeks to Stop Oil From Iraq to Syria


AND, IN NEWS, 09-16/04/03 (7)

IRAQI COLLABORATION

*  Thanks, but it's now up to us: waiting exiles [INC think they will soon
be ready to take over directly from the US and that the disgraced UN should
have nothing to do with it]
*  Exiles held after London embassy stormed and Saddam portraits destroyed
[Assault on the Iraqi section of the Jordanian embassy]
*  Iraq's Man Who Would Be King: Recalling Ahmed Chalabi [Extract giving
details of the Petra Bank collapse in Jordan]
*  INC leader not to attend opposition meeting ['"We need to stop the
disorder and the looting and this can be done by deploying Free Iraqi Forces
in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities," he said.']
*  Stifling Democracy State stacks an important Iraq meeting with opponents
of the INC [National Review on the conspiracy against Mr Chalabi. In
particular there is an account of Laith Kubba, project manager for the
National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a former member of al-Daawa who
opposed sanctions and the war and who the NR says is still an Islamist. He
founded 'the Iraqi National Group as an alternative to the INC earlier this
year' He was also (in 1994, according to
http://www.huquqalinsan.org/en/symbios.htm) the 'director for public
relations of the al-Khoei Foundation']
*  Gadget jumps language barrier ['Unfortunately, interpreters are in short
supply', so they have an automatic language machine to help out. You speak
into it in English and it broadcasts what it thinks is the nearest Arabic
phrase. Hmmm. One can see there could be problems. But why is it necessary
when there are so many of Mr Chalabi's collaborators willing and eager to
help out?]
*  Chalabi Says He Won't Take Political Role [Interview in Le Monde. 'The
Iraqi opposition leader said the United Nations, Paris and Berlin could not
play any role in the postwar reconstruction of Iraq, saying: "Iraq was the
biggest political experiment for the UN and it failed."']
*  Shia group to boycott US-sponsored meeting [SCIRI argues that the meeting
should build on the work of the Dec 2002 meeting in London, not start again
from scratch]
*  Iraqi Politician Chalabi Returns to Baghdad [Chalabi hopes to set up a
meeting of the 'Iraqi Leadership Council' with SCIRI, INA, KDP, PUK.
Abdelaziz Hakim, deputy head of SCIRI, arrives in Kut 'to a rapturous
welcome'; Chalabi's group arrives in Baghdad 'to a low key welcome']
*  Democracy stirs in Abraham's shadow [The article - wonderful title -
gives the 13 points agreed at Nasariya/Ur. Motherhood and apple pie are not
included]

THEIR MASTERS' VOICE

*  Blair and Bush broadcast: full text [Mr Blair explains to the Iraqi
people that he would have allowed President Hussein to continue brutalising
them if only he hadn't refused to give up his Weapons of Mass Destruction]
*  US moves 21,000lb superbomb to Gulf ['"I can confirm the Moab is now in
theatre," a Pentagon official told CNN.']
*  Bush-Blair speeches fail to reach Iraqis [because the electricity isn't
working]


AND, IN NEWS, 09-16/04/03 (8)

REPUBLIC OF FEAR

*  Iraqi prisoners of war tell of murder [Interviews with prisoners held by
the Kurds saying that they were threatened with death if they did not fight]
*  Hussein's spiritual retreat [Presidential suite at a medieval Christian
monastery in the Maqlub Mountain, Iraq]
*  The media environment in Iraq [RFE/RL account of present state of Iraqi
broadcasting and newspapers]
*  Russian organization was training Iraqi spies, documents show [Account of
what the San Francisco Chronicle found in a Baghdad office of the
Mukhabarat, the Iraqi secret police]
*  A War Waged With a Sword At His Throat [Account of life in the Fedayeen]
*  Freed aid workers tell of prison torture ['Two members of Medecins Sans
Frontieres ... after being arrested and held for eight days by Iraqi secret
police, accused of being spies'. Their own experience was of appalling
conditions -  hardly surprising under the circumstances - rather than
torture]
*  Iraqis pour out tales of Saddam's torture chambers [Extracts on relatives
seeking prisoners and finishing with the deliberate flooding of an
underground jail]
*  18 Kuwaiti POWs Found in Baghdad: Report
*  Virtual Saddam Takes Aim [Russian commentator argues that the whole
Hussein machinery simply 'disappeared', leaving Iraq ungovernable. But it is
still in existence as the only possible government for Iraq, waiting for the
day when USUK will have to come to terms with it. Difficult to know what
he's referring to when he says 'Chemical Ali' was assumed to be in the South
but suddenly turned up in the North]
*  Armed, alert, teams check citizen's fears [Work of 'ghost chasers'
pursuing tips and rumours from local people. This one leads to an
(apparently empty?) four storey underground holding and interrogation
centre]
*  Marines free 123 from Iraq hellhole [Although I have no reason to
disbelieve this story a brief attempt at a Google search hasn't yielded any
other versions of it. And the sentence 'The United States soldiers at
Al-Istikhbarat Al-'Askariya would not say what they were doing there. Their
tanks blocked the entrance' suggests it may require confirmation]


AND, IN NEWS, 09-16/04/03 (9)

FALL OF MOSUL

*  US, Kurdish forces entering Mosul [Suggestion that an arrangement was
made]
*  Kurds avenge a generation of oppression with the bloodless capture of
oil-rich Mosul
*  Banks ransacked as Iraqi army flees Mosul ['and Mosul University's
library, with its rare manuscripts']
*  Kurds blamed for chaos in Mosul
*  War Brings Casualties to Iraqi Village [Fathlia, near Mosul. A village of
forcibly arabised Kurds, very sympathetic to the invasion. Where a US bomb
landed in the middle of a playground. After a long preamble, the result is
described]
*  US admits Mosul killings [The incident is, not surprisingly, confused. A
collection of articles relating to it can be found at
http://prorev.com/iraq.htm#mosul. An article by Patrick Cockburn in the
Independent ('American soldiers fire on political rally, killing at least 10
civilians',
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=397631) says
that the governor of Mosul at the centre of the problem 'is a member of the
Iraqi opposition who entered the Northern city with Kurdish forces last
week.' The present article also refers to 'at least 40 people' killed in
reprisals against the Baath administration]
*  U.S. Says Shot Seven Iraqis in Mosul Protests [Extract on a further
incident involving an attempted bank robbery. The police shot at the
robbers, the US shot at the police (and at a couple of children)]
*  Mosul commander speaks [Interview with the Iraqi commander in charge of
defending the northern city of Mosul: 'Part of the deal negotiated by the
tribal chiefs included appointing prominent Iraqi opposition leader Mashaan
al-Juburi as the new governor of the town.' Mosul is described as an
'Arab-majority town, traditionally loyal to Saddam']

MEDIA WAR

*  Jubilant scenes not shown on Syrian TV
*  'We were almost lynched', say journalists [Portuguese journalists in
central Baghdad attacked by mob]
*  Spanish journalists snub Straw ['in protest at the death of the Spanish
TV cameraman who was killed by a US tank shell in Baghdad'. Difficult to
imagine our journalist corps showing so much spirit]
*  Were these deaths mishap, or murder? [Detailed account by Robert Fisk of
attacks on Al Jazeera and Reuters on 8th April]
*  The awful news CNN had to keep to itself [CNN journalist tells stories of
the Iraqi regime that could not be told at the time for fear of consequences
for CNN's Iraqi collaborators]
*  CNN Was Target [of Iraqi plot. We learn that CNN 'aired what it described
as videotaped confessions of two Iraqi agents under interrogation ...' Is
this not the sort of thing we object to when done by Saudi Arabian or Iraqi
TV?]
*  Radio Free Iraq to Open Baghdad Bureau [and good luck to them. US
financed or not they've done good work]
*  Two in CNN Crew Hurt in Iraqi Gunfight [While the Americans shoot at Al
Jazeera, the Tikritis, it seems, shoot at CNN]

URL ONLY:
http://english.aljazeera.net/topics/article.asp?cu_no=1&item_no=2162&version
=1&template_id=277&parent_id=258
*  Dead correspondent was deliberately targeted
aljazeera.net, 10th April
[The article, mainly a tribute to the journalist who was killed, includes
this, which seems to have gone largely unnoticed: 'Last week, the hotel
where Al-Jazeera correspondents in the southern Iraqi city of Basra were
staying was also hit by four bombs that did not explode.']


AND, IN NEWS, 09-16/04/03 (10)

WHAT'S NEXT?

*  Heed lesson of Iraq, US warns ['If Iran did not agree to tighter
international surveillance of its weapons programmes, then the US intended
to threaten sanctions and take the issue to the UN Security Council, the
(anonymous) official said.']
*  Oil from Iraq: an Israeli pipe dream? [Lebanon Daily Star reflection on
'a report by the Israeli daily Haaretz on March 31 that National
Infrastructure Minister Joseph Paritzky was seriously considering the
possibility of reopening the long-defunct oil pipeline from Mosul to the
Mediterranean port of Haifa in northern Israel.': 'for the pipeline to start
pumping again would, in the present circumstances, require another regime
change, this time in Damascus']
*  Rumsfeld accuses Syria of sheltering Ba'athists ['Mr Blair then phoned
the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, to assure him that Britain opposed
"targeting" his country, which is also ruled by a branch of the Ba'ath
party.']
*  A strong warning to Syria [from Richard Perle. And much else besides:
'Asked if the United States was doomed to follow a policy of preemption
alone, Perle replied that it is necessary to restructure the United Nations
to take account of security threats that arise within borders rather than
are directed across borders.']
*  After Iraq, where will Bush go next: 'fascist' Syria, theocratic Iran, or
communist North Korea? [New book, War Over Iraq, by William Kristol and
Lawrence Kaplan, inspires a long, intelligent  reflection in the FT on the
consequences of the outstanding success won in Iraq for future policy, in
particular towards Syria]
*  US warned over Syria stance [Syria strongly denies US 'allegations' of,
eg, 'helping fugitive Iraqi officials'. So Syria recognises that helping the
members of a legal government to escape an illegal occupation force is
something they should not be doing? 'The fact that a senior Iraqi official
had been found near the Iraqi-Syrian border was "evidence that Syria didn't
let him in, and didn't let any member of the family in or anybody of the
regime in," she (Syrian foreign ministry spokeswoman, Bouthana Shaaban) told
the BBC.' Why not?]
*  Syria, One Way or Another, Has to Be Next [Yossi Klein Halevi, Israel
correspondent for the New Republic, concentrates his fire on Syria's support
for Hezbollah]

VICTORS' JUSTICE

*  US issues list of 55 Iraqi leaders for arrest or killing [Is there no-one
willing to point out that these are all members of the internationally
recognised government of Iraq? And on what grounds do they claim a right to
kill them? Previously they claimed a right to assassinate the Iraqi
president because he was the head of the armed forces, therefore a
combatant. Are all these people military? And are we still assumed to be in
a state of war (difficult to say when the US generally refuses as a matter
of principle to declare any of its wars)?]
*  First came Khan, now Bush [The San Francisco Chronicle has the
imaginative idea of publishing an article from Mongolia drawing the
comparison with the Mongols. It seems the Mongols might have been worse, but
there were similarities: 'The Mongolian version of "shock and awe" so
devastated Baghdad that the city was left unrecognizable. Homes and mosques
were razed and between 200,000 and 800,000 people were killed. The war's
chroniclers said the Tigris River ran red with blood and then black from ink
after the barbarians threw the Caliph of Baghdad's library into the river.'
It seems that the Mongols too justified their invasion as an act of
liberation: '"Throughout its supremacy, like an insatiable leech, (Baghdad)
had swallowed up the entire world," wrote the Armenian chronicler, Kirakos
of Ganja. "Now it restored all that had been taken. It was punished for the
blood it had shed and the evil it had done."']
*  Qusay seen fleeing after blitz on building
*  Top Saddam aide surrenders ['General Amer Al Saadi, a rockets specialist
and Saddam's chief weapons adviser, told German ZDF public television ...
that he decided to give himself up because he felt "in no way guilty"']
*  Saddam's half-brother captured by coalition [Watban Ibrahim Hasan]
* SAS patrol apprehends senior Iraqi military staff [59 Iraqi military
personnel. 'carrying $US600,000 ($1 million) in cash and letters saying
"death to America" ...  There are 150  (Australian) SAS deployed in Iraq']


AND, IN NEWS, 09-16/04/03 (11)

THE RADIANT FUTURE

*  Freedom's jubilant victory [William Safire rises into the Seventh Heaven:
'Like newly freed Parisians tossing flowers at Allied tanks; like newly
freed Germans tearing down the Berlin Wall; like newly freed Russians
pulling down the statue of the hated secret police chief in Dzerzhinsky
Square, the newly freed Iraqis toppled the figure of their tyrant and ground
their shoes into the face of Saddam Hussein.']
*  It is 2013, and the US is leaving [The Scotsman has supported the war
from the start apparently - unlike, say, The Sun - from a position of real
interest and commitment. Here Alex Massie imagines the radiant future, and
thus provides a sort of template against which it can be judged.]
*  Democracy might be the wrong answer for Iraq [Though taken in by the
scenes of jubilation, Allan Massie of The Scotsman, not to be confused with
Alex, gives reasons for continuing to think the war was 'unwise' (though
not, it seems, 'wrong'). In talking about the problem of introducing
democracy he is one of the few who has noticed that 'it took us at least 200
years - some would say more - to move from Stuart absolutism to a truly
representative parliamentary democracy.' Some of us still aren't sure that
this was 'progress']
*  US rejects Iraq DU clean-up

SPOILS OF WAR

*  US plans to loot Iraqi antiques [Meeting of the American Council for
Cultural Policy (ACCP) with US defence and state department officials prior
to the start of military action to offer its assistance in preserving the
country's invaluable archaeological collections: 'The group is known to
consist of a number of influential dealers who favour a relaxation of Iraq's
tight restrictions on the ownership and export of antiquities. Its
treasurer, William Pearlstein, has described Iraq's laws as 'retentionist'
and has said he would support a post war government that would make it
easier to have antiquities dispersed to the US.']
*  War puts Denel's Iraq contract at risk [South African firm charged with
removing landmines under UN auspices in 'Northern Iraq' (presumably the
Kurdish area but it isn't stated) fears losing its contract]
*  Scandal-hit US firm wins key contracts ['DynCorp has also been heavily
criticised over its involvement in Plan Colombia, instigated by Bill
Clinton, that involves spraying vast quantities of herbicides over Colombia
to kill the cocaine crop.']
*  World Financial Leaders Discuss Economy [The US have agreed that a new
UNSC resolution is necessary although U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow had
said earlier that 'the demand for the resolution "baffled" him'. Proposal
'to begin talks on reducing Iraq's massive foreign debt burden, estimated at
between $60 billion and $100 billion' while at the same time starting 'the
flow of billions of dollars in loans'. Essentially the 'vital role'
envisaged by the US for the UN is to help with the money]
*  US manages interests by pushing for Iraq debt relief ['By having Iraqi
debt forgiven, however, coming US building costs may be met by Iraqi oil
sales and the US taxpayer may not end up spending much more than they are
already being asked to pay for the invasion so far.' Unfortunately the
principle creditor is Russia, and as Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin
says: "No one has forgiven Russia's debt, regardless of what kind of regime
it was and regardless of the country's clout. For this reason, international
law and our membership of the Paris Club of creditor nations will allow us
to press for the repayment of our loans."]
*  Privatization in Disguise [Naomi Klein: 'the country is being treated as
a blank slate on which the most ideological Washington neoliberals can
design their dream economy: fully privatized, foreign-owned and open for
business.']
*  Bush Urging U.N. to Lift Sanctions Imposed on Iraq [President Bush in St
Louis, 'appearing before an audience of about 1,000 Boeing workers in a
fighter-jet assembly plant'. Ending sanctions is seen as a means of getting
rid of the authority of the UN. Dov Zakheim, the Defense Department
comptroller gives an idea of the costs of the war: 'military operations had
cost more than $10 billion, personnel and personnel support costs had
approached $7 billion, and munitions and equipment costs had topped $3
billion.' The UN Gulf War had cost $60 billion, albeit largely paid by
Kuwait. So far so good]
*  Insurance Worries Delay Iraq Reconstruction Deal [One of the problems
being 'the possibility that they could stumble upon a cache of weapons of
mass destruction.The possible consequences of such a discovery were so
dangerous that insurers would not agree to provide insurance, or the
insurance premium would exceed any possible profit from the project ...' So
perhaps they'll decide there weren't any weapons of mass destruction after
all]


AND, IN NEWS, 09-16/04/03 (12)

FALL OF TIKRIT

*  Tikrit blitzed to forestall last stand [Given the ease with which Tikrit
finally fell are we to assume this was a massacre? Or, given that the report
comes from Qatar, can we just assume that it is without substance (that a
deal had been struck, or that the Iraqi army and administration had simply
removed themselves from the battlefield)?]
*  Forces Meet No Resistance in Tikrit, Franks Says
*  The final fortress crumbles ['The attack from the sky was terrifying and
relentless. Every few minutes fresh clouds of black smoke puffed above the
western bank of the Tigris river, as the bombs fell. American Cobra
helicopter gunships and F-18s were eating away at the last remnants of
Iraq's once-mighty army.']
*  Bombarded Tikrit falls to marines ['"We have 15 tribes here and the
leaders of the tribes are negotiating with the Americans. We don't want to
fight the Americans. The Iraqi military left the city five days ago."']

URL ONLY:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-me/2003/apr/13/041307608.html
*  Seven American POWs Found Alive in Iraq
by DAVID CRARY
Las Vegas Sun (from AP), 13th April
[near Tikrit]

THE WRECK OF THE WORLD

*  The Atlantic alliance lies in the rubble [Interesting, and in my
estimation, hopeful article by Charles Kupchan in the Financial Times
arguing that 'the Atlantic Alliance', and with it NATO, is definitively
broken, that the only viable option for Eastern European countries is now a
strong European Union: 'The central question facing US and European policy
makers is thus not how to repair the transatlantic relationship but whether
the end of alliance will take the form of an amicable separation or a nasty
divorce.' I of course hope it will be the latter. Mr Kupchan argues that if
it is to be the former, the US is going to have to undergo a very radical
change of style]
*  War protests flare as Baghdad falls [Nationwide TU strike in Spain'; 600
journalists down pens in Greece; 'In Athens, organisers have barred Britain
from participating at a book fair where it was due to be the honoured
country, because of its participation in the "illegal US invasion" of
Iraq.']
*  Iraqi diplomats watch TV and wait for word
*  Inspections required to end sanctions, UN says [Presumably, if the series
of resolutions calling on Iraq to disarm now applies to USUK, then USUK
cannot have any missiles capable of travelling over 150km. One thing is
clear. USUK poses a much bigger threat to Iraq's neighbour's than did the
regime it has displaced. Colin Rowat has pointed out to the list that the
UNSC can change its existing resolutions. But this requires the consent of
Russia and France, who do not recognise the legality of the invasion. At
present control over the UN oil-for-food escrow account is the only leverage
the UN has in having any sort of say in the process of post war
reconstruction]
*  Anti-war axis pushes rebuilding role for UN [Meeting in St Petersburg:
'An attempt to turn the two-day summit into a full-blown challenge to
Anglo-American plans for Iraq was defeated by UN secretary-general Kofi
Annan's decision to decline an invitation to join the leadership troika.'
Note the Daily Telegraph's use of the term 'axis']
*  There is one choice, and it is the UN [Barbara Stocking argues
passionately that only 'an administration led by the UN, with international
backing and the experience of history' would have any chance of success.
Which may be right. But it isn't a very big chance of success]
*  Activists on march [London, Rome (which has come up with the excellent
slogan: "No to an infinite and global war"), Paris, Berlin, Bangladesh]
*  De Villepin: no new battle fronts [De Villepin on a tour of the Middle
East: "international law is capable of finding a solution to guarantee
Iraq's future and it is illogical that the UN's role be limited to
humanitarian aspects, since we cannot dissociate them from military and
political aspects." But what he says is perhaps less important than the fact
that he was there (Beirut, Riyadh, Cairo, Damascus)]
*  Yemen gives asylum to Iraqi envoy to Arab League [Mohsen Khalil Ibrahim,
who was also Iraq's ambassador to Egypt. Iraq's UN ambassador, Mohammad
Aldouri goes to Syria]     
*  Iraqi Embassy Ceases to Function in Pakistan [Foreign Ministry spokesman
Aziz Ahmed Khan 'said Iraqi diplomats would enjoy diplomatic immunity "so
long as they are here."']
*  U.S. Launches Talks with Iraqis on Postwar Rule [Account of news
conference by Jack Straw in Qatar: '"It is the responsibility of all members
of the Security Council, but particularly those with vetoes, not to play
games but to recognize this new reality and to move forward," he (Jack
Straw) said. So it is the responsibility of those responsible for upholding
the law, once a crime has been committed, to accept the new reality created
by that crime, and move on ...]
*  War crimes case planned against U.S [The case would actually be against
Britain, which facilitated warcrimes committed mostly by the US. The charges
are mainly based on 'the coalition's use, or suspected use, of cluster
bombs, depleted uranium ammunition and fuel air explosives' which 'are
unauthorized ... because they "can't distinguish between civilian or
military" targets'. The US is proposing itself to try Iraqi prisoners for
war crimes committed against its own troops. But these are on a rather
smaller scale: 'mistreatment of coalition prisoners and the deceptive use of
the white surrender flag']



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