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{ indy irl warblog } 02.04.03

category national | miscellaneous | news report author Wednesday April 02, 2003 15:37author by warblogger Report this post to the editors

Feel free to add your own links and representative portions of news stories you find on the net....

"President Bush said this Iraq situation looks like 'the rerun of a bad
movie.' Well sure, there's a Bush in the White House, the economy's going
to hell, we're going to war over oil. I've seen this movie, haven't I?" --
Jay Leno

"President Bush has said that he does not need approval from the UN to
wage war, and I'm thinking, well, hell, he didn't need the approval of the
American voters to become president, either." -- David Letterman

"In a speech earlier today President Bush said if Iraq gets rid of Saddam
Hussein, he will help the Iraqi people with food, medicine, supplies,
housing, education – anything that's needed. Isn't that amazing? He
finally comes up with a domestic agenda – and it's for Iraq. Maybe we
could bring that here if it works out." -- Jay Leno

"President Bush announced tonight that he believes in democracy and that
democracy can exist in Iraq. They can have a strong economy, they can have
a good health care plan, and they can have a free and fair voting. Iraq?
We can't even get this in Florida." -- Jay Leno

"Democrats were quick to point out that President Bush's budget creates a
1 trillion dollar deficit. The White House quickly responded with 'Hey,
look over there, it's Saddam Hussein.'" -- Craig Kilborn

"We have it. The smoking gun. The evidence. The potential weapon of mass
destruction we have been looking for as our pretext of invading Iraq.
There's just one problem -- it's in North Korea." -- Jon Stewart

"War continues in Iraq. They're calling it Operation Iraqi Freedom. They
were going to call it Operation Iraqi Liberation until they realized that
spells 'OIL.'" -- Jay Leno

"CNN said that after the war, there is a plan to divide Iraq into three
parts ... regular, premium and unleaded." -- Jay Leno

"Iraq began destroying those missiles they don't have over the weekend.
See, President Bush may be the smartest military president in history.
First, he gets Iraq to destroy all of their own weapons. Then he declares
war." -- Jay Leno

For more, go to:

http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/03/04/01_haha.html

- - - - -

Proved: Deaths in Iraqi marketplace were caused by American missile
By Cahal Milmo
The Independent [UK]; April 2, 2003
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp\?story=393066
____________________________________________________________

An American missile, identified from the remains of its serial number, was
pinpointed yesterday as the cause of the explosion at a Baghdad market on
Friday night which killed at least 62 Iraqis.

The codes on the foot-long shrapnel shard, seen by The Independent
correspondent Robert Fisk at the scene of the bombing in the Shu'ale
district, came from a weapon manufactured in Texas by Raytheon, the world's
largest producer of "smart" armaments.


- - - - -

UN IDENTIFIES $1 BILLION WORTH OF HUMANITARIAN GOODS
FOR PRIORITY DELIVERY TO IRAQ
New York, Apr 1 2003 2:00PM
http://www.un.org/news


The United Nations office overseeing the humanitarian Oil-for-Food programme today said it has identified over $1 billion worth of goods and supplies as potential priorities for delivery to Iraq over the next 45 days.

According to the Office of the Iraq Programme ( http://www.un.org/Depts/oip/index.html ) OIP, the deliveries would come under the recent adjustments to the suspended programme, which allows Iraq to use part of its oil revenues to buy humanitarian supplies and on which 60 per cent of the population depend as its sole source for food.

The programme was temporarily halted on 17 March following the withdrawal of all UN staff from Iraq on the eve of hostilities until last Friday, when the Security Council adopted a new resolution giving Secretary-General Kofi Annan more authority to administer the operation for the next 45 days.

The initial assessment by the OIP and UN relief agencies has identified more than 450 contracts for medicines, health supplies, foodstuffs, water and sanitation and other materials identified by the Council as priorities for shipment, the Office said. The contracts are held by suppliers from some 40 countries representing almost every region of the world.

- - - - -

ANNAN HOPES UN WEAPONS INSPECTORS WILL RETURN TO IRAQ
New York, Apr 1 2003 2:00PM
http://www.un.org/news

Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today he hoped United Nations weapons inspectors would eventually return to Iraq, noting that their work had merely been suspended.

( http://www.un.org/apps/sg/offthecuff.asp\?nid=405) Speaking to reporters upon arriving at UN Headquarters in New York, the Secretary-General said that if any weapons of mass destruction were to be found, the inspectors should go back to test them. "I hope the time will come when they will be able to do that," he added.

- - - - -

by James Ridgeway
Why OPEC Isn't Worried About the War
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0314/mondo1.php

The longer the Iraq war drags on, the better for OPEC. Originally fearing a big American intervention in the oil market, Middle Eastern oil experts are breathing sighs of relief. A top government source in Tehran told the Voice last weekend that Iran now doesn't think the U.S. can trash OPEC, which is fine by the Iranians. Tehran is trying to stay out of the war—if anything, it wants to achieve a modest accommodation with the U.S. The Iranian betting is that the U.S. will have its work cut out just getting the Iraqi oil fields to produce enough to run the country, let alone threaten anybody else. This seems to be a common view among Middle East oilmen. And holding an angry population at bay, the Americans will leave the oil business in the hands of Iraqi technocrats. That leaves them sitting ducks to be picked off by a new dictator, but presumably one picked by the U.S.

- - - - -

Chemicals, explosives found in hideouts of Ansar radicals
U.S. special forces say samples will be sent for testing
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035780241120&call_pageid=1045739058633&col=1045739057805

SERGAT—American special forces soldiers say the overrun strongholds of a radical Islamist group in northern Iraq coughed up evidence of chemical and biological weapons being produced.

The soldiers told reporters yesterday that samples of the agents found at bombed-out mountain bases of Ansar al-Islam were sent to the U.S. for further testing.

But no evidence was provided at a news conference called by the special forces, who helped up to 10,000 Kurdish militias storm Ansar's bases Friday after U.S. warplanes and cruise missiles blasted them from the sky.

"We found various documents and equipment, etcetera, that would indicate a presence of chemical or biological weapons," said a battalion commander who refused to give his name.

- - - - -

WHITE HOUSE TO END DRUGS & TERROR ADS
Also Stops Study That Found Campaign Wasn't Working
http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=37504#


WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) -- The White House anti-drug office will end its controversial drugs-and-terror advertising campaign and, in a reversal, shift more of its $150 million budget toward children's media as it fights for Congress to extend the program another five years.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy will also cease a polarizing $8 million annual study that found the ads aimed at youth were not working and that pitted the drug office against the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.

....

The drugs-and-terror campaign first broke five months after the Sept. 11 attacks, with two Super Bowl ads that cost the drug office more than $3 million to run. The spots centered on the idea that people who purchase drugs help fund terrorism. One ad showed a shopping list that includes an AK-47 rifle. "Where do terrorists get their money?" said the voice-over. "If you buy drugs, some of it might come from you." Later ads replaced "terrorism" with "terror," suggesting drug buys supported drug-cartel attacks on innocent civilians.

- - - - -

Galloway accuses PM of Iraq 'lies'
Rebel UK-MP urges soldiers to disobey orders
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,9061,927131,00.html

The renegade Labour MP George Galloway defended himself today against accusations of treachery after he branded Tony Blair and George Bush "wolves" for committing the "crime" of military action against Iraq.

The Glasgow Kelvin MP, who is well known for his strident anti-war agenda, accused the two leaders of lying to the armed forces over the duration of the war and attacking Iraqi civilians, in an interview with Abu Dhabi TV broadcast on Friday.

He also questioned why Arab countries were selling oil to the coalition forces, and called for an immediate end to hostilities.

"Even if it is not realistic to ask a non-Iraqi army to come to defend Iraq, we see Arab regimes pumping oil for the countries who are attacking it. We wonder when the Arab leaders will wake up. When are they going to stand by the Iraqi people?" he said.

- - - - -

http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/dailydish

Quote of the Day

"We have a president for whom English is a second language. He's like 'We have to get rid of dictators,' but he's pretty much one himself."

- Comedian, Robin Williams

- - - - -

Photo of the day...

http://jordantimes.com/wed/index.htm

- - - - -

Germany to oppose US’ new world order
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2003/3/26/world/kpgerma&sec=world

Germany will oppose any new world order based on the US unilaterally determining the international agenda, said its Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer.

“A new world order in which the superpower decides on military strikes based only on its own national interest simply cannot work,” he told Der Spiegel magazine.

“In the end the same rules must apply for the big, middle-sized and small countries.”

Last Thursday, Fischer warned the German Parliament that the United States might now mount a series of pre-emptive strikes against what it considered were “rogue” countries suspected of having weapons of mass destruction.

- - - - -
WAR IN IRAQ: How Many Miles Per Gallon?
http://search.ft.com/search/article.html?id=030331000846

By the time the cost of transporting the fuel to the battlefield is added, that sum can rise to hundreds of dollars per gallon.

The US army says that for the campaign in Afghanistan, where there are no reliable or significant sources of fuel, the army depends on fuel flown in by helicopter from ships in the Indian Ocean. The cost per gallon: about $600 (€557, £381).

The US army estimates it costs about $150 per gallon for fuel used in Iraq. The fuel comes from 23 US military dumps scattered across the Middle East, a number that was doubled in preparation for the current conflict.

This translates into a total fuel cost of about $60,000 per Abrams tank - assuming a distance travelled of 400km from southern Iraq to Baghdad and an average fuel consumption by the Abrams of one mile per gallon.

- - - - -

For Israel Lobby Group, War Is Topic A, Quietly
At Meeting, Jerusalem's Contributions Are Highlighted
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A63578-2003Mar31?language=printer

This week's meeting in Washington of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has put a spotlight on the Bush administration's delicate dance with Israel and the Jewish state's friends over the attack on Iraq.

Officially, Israel is not one of the 49 countries the administration has identified as members of the "Coalition of the Willing." Officially, AIPAC had no position on the merits of a war against Iraq before it started. Officially, Iraq is not the subject of the pro-Israel lobby's three-day meeting here.

Now, for the unofficial part:

....

Eyal Arad, who has served as a campaign adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said in an interview at the conference yesterday that his country, which attacked an Iraqi nuclear facility two decades ago, was pleased to honor the Bush administration's request to keep a low profile in this conflict.

"We don't need to shout, 'We're pro-American,' " Arad said. "We are."

The Bush administration was somewhat ambivalent about tying itself to AIPAC and Israel. Though it sent several officials to the meeting with strong pro-Israel messages, there were efforts to keep things low-key. The White House insisted that yesterday's speech by Rice, though delivered to a room with 2,000 people, be "off the record."

"I'm not making this up!" AIPAC's Rosen said to his guests while serving as host at a later session. "All these people were part of an off-the-record discussion."

- - - - -

good site for well documented conspiracy stuff about the war...

http://xymphora.blogspot.com/

- - - - -

sad that sites like this need to exist...

http://www.iraqometer.com

- - - - -

Vice President Dick Cheney Simulator

http://codeback.com/Cheney01.aspx?EditQuestion=how+many+iraqis+must+die+for+american+oil%3F&SubmitQuestion=Ask&CheckboxReferences=on

- - - - -

Cartoon: Ted Rall
username/password: mediajunkie/mediajunkie
http://www.uclick.com/client/nyt/tr

- - - - -

Washington Post Editorial on Turkey
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6549-2003Apr1.html

Turkey will have to face up to other serious problems after the war. Its deeply indebted economy is dependent on loans from the International Monetary Fund and a tough accompanying stabilization program, while its relations with the European Union are at least as troubled as those with the United States. Ankara's failure to induce Turkish leaders in Cyprus to accept a U.N. plan to end the island's 30-year-old conflict has perpetuated another thorny diplomatic problem. In all these areas Mr. Erdogan could use U.S. help, and provided he continues to work with the Bush administration in Iraq, he should get it. Assuming Mr. Powell's visit goes smoothly, Congress ought to resist the temptation to cut or condition the $1 billion in aid to Turkey included in the supplemental war appropriation. Enough damage has been done to U.S. relations with this strategic country; now is the time to begin rebuilding.

- - - - -

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