[Peace-discuss] News notes 030216

[C. G. Estabrook]

	Notes on the week's news
	from the "War on Terrorism"
	for the AWARE meeting,
	Sunday, February 16, 2003

A SUMMARY OF THE WEEK was given by National Security Advisor [sic] Rice on
the Sunday talk shows: she said it was becoming more obvious that the
Iraqi president would not disarm voluntarily and that the U.N. was letting
him get away with it. "...ask yourself, 'Do you really want this regime to
go unchallenged for the next 12 years, *as we've done for the last 12
years*?"' [EMPHASIS ADDED; SHE ACTUALLY SAID THAT].  "Sooner or later, we
believe sooner, the Security Council is going to have to say that he has
not taken that final opportunity to comply, and the Security Council is
going to have to act, or the United States will have to act with a
coalition of the willing," Rice said on Fox.

[1] PERHAPS 10 MILLION PEOPLE IN A THOUSAND CITIES AND TOWNS AROUND THE
WORLD TURNED OUT FOR ANTI-WAR DEMONSTRATIONS THIS WEEKEND:
	[a] Typical of coverage, the C-U News-Gazette led with the weather
and devoted the editor's column, which dominates the editorial page -- to
the weather...
	[b] A million marched in Rome, 1.3 million in Barcelona, two
million in Madrid; some of the largest crowds were in countries whose
leaders have echoed the hawkish stance taken by President Bush, e.g.,
Spain and Australia.
	[c] A half million in New York (where the police grow more
repressive) and in London (where the rally was led by the mayor, altho'
British PM Blair observed that there were not "more than the people killed
in wars started by Saddam").
	[d] Riot police in Tunisia, a staunch ally of Washington,
baton-charged anti-war demonstrators Sunday, injuring at least 18, while
in Oman, about 200 women held an unprecedented all-female demonstration.
In Sarajevo, a city still scarred by Bosnia's civil war of 1992-to-1995,
around 500 protesters marched on the US embassy to mark their opposition
to the conflict.  In the Bosnian city of Mostar, about a hundred Muslims
and Croats united for an anti-war protest -- the first such
cross-community action in seven years in a place where ethnic divisions
here remain tense despite the 1995 Bosnian peace agreement. In divided
Cyprus, about 500 Greeks and Turks braved heavy rain for a march which
briefly blocked the end of a runway at a British air base.

[2] IN UNSC ON FRIDAY, A SERIOUS BLACK EYE FOR U.S.  With the German FM
(from the Green Party) in the chair, the Security Council, led by the
French FM De Villepin, so destroyed US arguments that the room erupted in
spontaneous applause; SOS Powell was forced to discard his prepared
remarks as irrelevant and lecture the council members like junior
officers.  It didn't go over well, and there was no applause.
	--Glen Rangwala (Cambridge UK) at Traprock Peace Center site
<http://traprockpeace.org/BlixElBaradeivsPowell.html> attacks Powell's
argument with those of the inspectors.

[3] TANGLED WEB.  The week had begun badly for Powell, who dramatically
revealed a new letter from ObL (not mentioned by GWB since July) which he
said showed the collusion between Al-Qaeda and Iraq.  In fact, when the
full text appeared on Al-Jazeera, it showed that ObL condemned Saddam
Hussein but of course called for what many critics have said would be the
outcome of the war, a general Islamic rising against the West.
	[Maureen Dowd in NYT 2/12: ... In the past, Condi Rice has
implored the networks not to broadcast the tapes outright, fearing he
might be activating sleeper cells in code.  But this time the
administration flacked the tape.  ... So the Bushies no longer care if
Osama sends a coded message to his thugs as long as he stays on message
for the White House? To get Saddam, the Bush administration is even
willing to remind the American public that it failed to get bin Laden.  
Its fixation on Saddam seems to have blinded it to the possibility that
Osama might be perversely encouraging America in this war."]

[4]***President Bush expressed frustration and anger Monday over a U.N.
report stating that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein is now fully complying
with weapons inspections.  "Enough is enough," a determined Bush told
reporters.  "We are not fooled by Saddam's devious attempts to sway world
opinion by doing everything the U.N. asked him to do.  We will not be
intimidated into backing down and, if we have any say in the matter,
neither will Saddam."  Bush added that any further Iraqi attempt to meet
the demands of the U.N. or U.S. will be regarded as "an act of war."
***[THAT WAS FROM THE ONION, CIRCULATED BY JAY; BUT THE FOLLOWING IS REAL]
ON MONDAY, The Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations delivered a letter
from Baghdad to the chief United Nations weapons inspectors agreeing to
allow photographic surveillance aircraft to fly over the country.  Iraq
also promised to move swiftly to adopt national legislation banning all
weapons of mass destruction, {the ambassador, Mohammed A. Aldouri, said}.  
The letter came after the arms chiefs, Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, 

demanded that Iraq stop blocking the surveillance flights and pass the
weapons ban as minimum measures to show that Baghdad was ready to provide
full cooperation with inspections.  Senior officials in the Bush
administration sharply criticized the inspectors' proposals, saying Mr.
Blix and Mr. ElBaradei should not be negotiating with Iraq.  [NYT 2/10]

[5] THEY TOOK OATHS TO UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION. A lawsuit filed in federal
court in Boston Thursday seeks to prevent President Bush from going to war
against Iraq without congressional approval.  A coalition including six
House members, several U.S. soldiers and parents of military personnel
claims only Congress has that power under the Constitution ... The
representatives joining the suit, all Democrats, are John Conyers of
Michigan, Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, James McDermott of Washington, Jose
Serrano of New York, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and Jesse Jackson Jr. of
Illinois.  The plaintiffs asked for a preliminary injunction against the
president and for a hearing on their request that Bush be barred from
launching a military invasion against Iraq without a congressional
declaration of war.  The lawsuit cites Article I, Section 8 of the
Constitution, which reads: "Congress shall have power... (to) declare
war." The suit argues the resolution on Iraq that Congress passed in
October did not declare war and unlawfully ceded the decision to Bush.  
The suit contends the framers of the Constitution sought to ensure that
U.S. presidents would not have the power of European monarchs of the past
to wage war.  "The Founding Fathers did not establish an imperial
presidency with war-making power," Conyers said.  "The Constitution
clearly reserves that for Congress."  "The president is not a king," said
Charles Richardson, a plaintiff whose Marine son is stationed in the
Persian Gulf.  Richardson and two other plaintiffs are co-founders of
Military Families Speak Out, an organization of people opposed to war
against Iraq and who have family in the military. [UPI 2/13]

[6] THINGS ARE GOING SO BADLY THAT THE LIBERAL PRESS HAS TO BREAK COVER.
The NYT and the Post run remarkably similar, get-tough editorials
expressing frustration with the U.N. on Friday: "The Security Council
doesn't need to sit through more months of inconclusive reports," the
Times writes. "It needs full and immediate Iraqi disarmament. It needs to
say so, backed by the threat of military force." "Even if others lose
their nerve," the Post concurs, "the United States must ensure that this
time the dictator suffers the 'serious consequences' that are due." [2/15]
	The administration argues hysterically that an Iraqi missile that
may travel 113 miles rather the allowed 90 is an excuse for attacking
Iraq; but North Korean missiles that can reach the US are NOT such an
excuse. "The US is telling the world that if you want to prevent us from
attacking you, you'd better have a credible deterrent: WMD, terror,
conventional forces poised to do immediate and extreme damage (as in the
NK case). So we'll attack Iraq, because it's completely defenseless, but
not NK, which can cause plenty of damage ... US policy ... is inciting
terror and proliferation of WMD simply as a deterrent, which could have a
fearful cost here." [NOAM CHOMSKY]

[7] IRAN GETS THE MESSAGE - AND SO DOES THE US.  The Bush administration
announces it "now distinguishes between Iran and the other countries that
President Bush lumped together last year in an 'axis of evil' " The U.S.
has gotten cooperation from Iran on terrorism, and U.S. officials
recognize the presence of democracy and the gradual evolution of "liberal
thought" in the country. [A REMARKABLE TURN-AROUND. WHY? READ ON] The
story also mentions that Iran announced on Sunday that it plans to
reprocess spent nuclear fuel and to mine uranium; that it's working with
Russia to build a nuclear reactor; and that Washington believes there are
al-Qaida cells within the country. But, as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State
Richard L. Armitage says, "There's already a good bit of liberal thought.
It's relatively liberal--not the way you or I would describe it, but
liberal thought already exists." [LAT 2/14]

[8] SO DOES JAPAN. Japan has warned it would launch a pre-emptive military
action against North Korea if it had firm evidence Pyongyang was planning
a missile attack. Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba said it would be "a
self-defence measure" if North Korea was going to "resort to arms against
Japan". Mr Ishiba said it would be too late if a North Korean missile was
already on its way. [BBC 2/13]

[9] BUT IT'S WITHHELD FROM UN. Senior democrats have accused the CIA of
sabotaging weapons inspections in Iraq by refusing to co-operate fully
with the UN and withholding crucial information about Saddam Hussein's
arsenal.  Led by Senator Carl Levin, the Democrats accused the CIA of
making an assessment that the inspections were unlikely to be a success
and then ensuring they would not be. They have accused the CIA director of
lying about what information on the suspected location of weapons of mass
destruction had been passed on. [INDEPENDENT 2/14]

[10] KILLERS ON THE ROAD. Up to 100,000 body bags and 6,000 coffins have
been secretly delivered to a US base in Italy, a Catholic archbishop
claimed yesterday. Archbishop Renato Martino, president of the Pope's
Council of Peace and Justice, said the consignment had arrived at the
Sigonella base near Catania on the island of Sicily 10 days ago ... The
naval air station at Sigonella has been an American "hub" command centre
since 1959. More than 3,000 US marines and Navy personnel are stationed
there. [MIRROR UK]

[11] DOCTRINE REAFFIRMED. The House of Representatives late Tuesday voted
overwhelmingly to "commend the people of Israel for reaffirming their
dedication to democratic ideals" following the January 28 re-election of
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The resolution, which passed 411-2,
also reaffirms the "close bonds of friendship" that have "bound the people
of the United States and the people of Israel together through turbulent
times for more than half a century," and urges the Palestinian leadership
to act on President Bush's June 24, 2002, call to elect new leaders,
dismantle the terrorist infrastructure, end incitement and embrace
democracy. The bill ... was cosponsored by Reps. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Tom
DeLay (R-TX) ... John Lewis (D-GA), Henry Hyde (R-IL), Tom Lantos (D-CA)
... The only two NAYS were Ron Paul (R-TX) and Nick Rahall (D-WV). Conyers
(D-MI), Stark (D-CA), and Wu (D-OR) voted PRESENT.  18 NOT VOTING were
Blunt, Cannon, Cubin, Deal (GA), Doggett, Ferguson, Gallegly, Gephardt,
Hulshof, Lipinski, Miller (FL), Pickering, Reyes, Rush, Smith (TX),
Sullivan, Tauzin, and Tiberi.
	A ruling by a Belgian court that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon could be tried for war crimes once he leaves office. Israeli
officials are outraged, say the papers, and they have recalled their
ambassador from Brussels. Meanwhile, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has
agreed to appoint a prime minister -- a key demand by the US and
international mediators for progress on a political settlement. [BBC 2/14]

[12] WE'VE BECOME CONDONERS OF TORTURE.  Three human rights groups called
for "urgent intervention" to protect terror suspects detained at an
American military base from torture. The groups asked the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights of the Organisation of American States (OAS)
"to prevent the unlawful treatment of men" being held at Guantanamo Bay in
Cuba. They cited physical abuse and sleep deprivation, and also pointed to
a number of deaths and attempted suicides in custody. The petition was
launched by the New-York based Center for Constitutional Rights, the
International Human Rights Law Group and the International Federation of
Human Rights. The human groups cited examples of mistreatment of prisoners
held at Guantanamo and other US overseas detention facilities. They also
said urgent measures were needed to prevent the transfer of prisoners to
foreign governments that have been known to practice torture ...  
Washington has refused to acknowledge that the Guantanamo prisoners are
prisoners-of-war under the Geneva Convention. [BBC 2/14]

[13] SCARE THE PEOPLE. On the home front, the President and his Homeland
Security Secretary tried to take the edge off some of the fears they
helped create ... Tom "Duct-Tape" Ridge said he didn't really want people
to seal their windows and doors; he only meant that duct tape and plastic
sheeting should be part of every family's emergency disaster kit...  A
hardware store on Capitol Hill in DC puts a sign in its window: "THERE
WILL BE NO REFUNDS FOR DUCT TAPE, PLASTIC, OR BATTERIES."

[14] ELSEWHERE IN THE EMPIRE, A Colombian soldier and an American civilian
working for the U.S. government were found shot to death after their plane
crashed in Southern Colombia ... Three other Americans who were on the
plane are held by the insurgent group, the FARC ... the LAT says that the
Americans were "intelligence-gathering" for the "U.S. Southern Command."
	(Reminiscent of an earlier incident, viz., "William Cooper [a
veteran of the CIA airline] then working for Southern Air Transport ...
was at the controls of the C-123 ... shot down by a Sandinista soldier on
October 5, 1986, thus -- since it was loaded with arms and documentation
linking the crew to a chain stretching back to the office of Vice
President George Bush -- helping to fuel the Iran/contra scandal then
bursting upon the world ... Cooper died in the crash. His crewman, Eugene
Hasenfus, survived..." <http://serendipity.magnet.ch/cia/cockb1.html>.)

  ==============================================================
  Carl Estabrook
  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign [MC-190]
  109 Observatory, 901 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana IL 61801 USA
  office: 217.244.4105 mobile: 217.369.5471 home: 217.359.9466
  academic: <galliher at alexia.lis.uiuc.edu>
  business: <cge at shout.net>
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