Gulf
War 2 (aka World War 2.5)
The Mother of All Flash Games
Cronkite Warns Iraq Conflict
Will Cause WWIII
The
USA And Great Britain Attack Iraqi Civil Objects From Air
Bases In Kuwait
US
Adviser Warns Of Armageddon
by
Julian Borger and Richard Norton-Taylor,
The Guardian, August 16, 2002
One
of the Republican party's most respected foreign policy
gurus yesterday appealed for President Bush to halt his
plans to invade Iraq, warning of "an Armageddon in
the Middle East".
The
outspoken remarks from Brent Scowcroft, who advised a
string of Republican presidents, including Mr Bush's father,
represented an embarrassment for the administration on
a day it was attempting to rally British public support
for an eventual war.
The
US national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, yesterday
spelled out what she called the "very powerful moral
case" for toppling Saddam Hussein. "We certainly
do not have the luxury of doing nothing," she told
BBC Radio 4's Today programme. She said the Iraqi leader
was "an evil man who, left to his own devices, will
wreak havoc again on his own population, his neighbours
and, if he gets weapons of mass destruction and the means
to deliver them, all of us".
But
while Ms Rice was making the case for a pre-emptive strike,
the rumble of anxiety in the US was growing louder. A
string of leading Republicans have expressed unease at
the administration's determination to take on President
Saddam, but the most damning critique of Mr Bush's plans
to date came yesterday from Mr Scowcroft.
The
retired general, who also advised Presidents Nixon and
Ford, predicted that an attack on Iraq could lead to catastrophe.
"Israel
would have to expect to be the first casualty, as in 1991
when Saddam sought to bring Israel into the Gulf conflict.
This time, using weapons of mass destruction, he might
succeed, provoking Israel to respond, perhaps with nuclear
weapons, unleashing an Armageddon in the Middle East,"
Mr Scowcroft wrote in the Wall Street Journal.
The
Israeli government has vowed it would not stand by in
the face of attacks as it did in 1991, when Iraqi Scud
missiles landed on Israeli cities. It claims it has Washington's
backing for retaliation.
Mr
Scowcroft is the elder statesman of the Republican foreign
policy establishment, and his views are widely regarded
as reflecting those of the first President Bush. The fierceness
of his attack on current administration policy illustrates
the gulf between the elder Bush and his son, who has surrounded
himself with far more radical ideologues on domestic and
foreign policy.
In
yesterday's article, Mr Scowcroft argued that by alienating
much of the Arab world, an assault on Baghdad, would halt
much of the cooperation Washington is receiving in its
current battle against the al-Qaida organisation.
"An
attack on Iraq at this time would seriously jeopardise,
if not destroy, the global counterterrorist campaign we
have undertaken," Mr Scowcroft wrote.
Both
the American and British governments are expected to time
a public relations effort to rebuff the critics and build
public support in the immediate run-up to an invasion.
Senior
Whitehall figures say that crucial in that effort will
be evidence that President Saddam is building up Iraq's
chemical biological warfare capability and planning to
develop nuclear weapons.
The
US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, confirmed yesterday
that the Pentagon was considering a change in the status
of a navy pilot shot down over Iraq 11 years ago. He is
currently classified as "missing in action".
There
have been reports that Lieutenant-Commander Michael Speicher
was still being held by Iraq.
If
he was reclassified as a prisoner of war, it would represent
an additional source of conflict between Washington and
Baghdad.
Source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,775532,00.html
The
USA And Great Britain Attack Iraqi Civil Objects From Air
Bases In Kuwait
America
And Great Britain Have Already Made 35 Sorties On Iraq
by
Sergey Stefanov, Translated by Dmitry SudakovPravda,
PRAVDA.Ru, 08-26-2002
The
head of the White House does not need a special permission
from the US Congress concerning the strike on Iraq. The
Washington Post wrote that this was the conclusion, to
which George Bush's lawyers came.
President's
lawyers stated that the Congress had already issued such
a permission in 1991 to the father of the incumbent American
president. Baghdad is charged with non-execution of UN
resolutions, like it was eleven years ago. The newspaper
advised that the military strike against Hussein's regime
was practically inevitable. Nevertheless, the leading
American newspaper did not possess the complete information
on the subject. The strike has already started. So far,
it is an exercise. International observers say that they
have increased in their frequency lately. Four sorties
on Iraq have already taken place. Reuters reported with
reference to a military spokesman for the Iraqi military
department that there were eight people killed and nine
wounded as a result of the strike on the southern area
of Iraq. The attack was performed on Sunday by American
and British aviation.
All
the killed and injured people were reportedly civilians.
Objects of the bombing were civil and military objects
on the outskirts of Basra, in the south of the country.
An Iraqi news agency reported that American and British
aviation had performed 35 sorties from the airbases in
Kuwait.
American
military men say that the planes attacked the radar station
of the Iraqi anti-missile defense. It was added that the
attack happened during a regular patrolling process. Americans
declared that the radar station was imperiling the planes
of the coalition. As usual, the representatives of the
coalition "were trying to minimize the number of
casualties." Rather a standard situation, indeed.
It
is just a question of time for the USA to move from the
"military exercise" onto the real bombing. We
have to say that it is a question of very short time indeed.
NTVRu.com exposed the data of another opinion poll, which
was devoted to America's operation against Iraq.
Pursuant
to the results of the poll, only 53% of Americans support
the USA's operation in Iraq. This index has had a big
drop, since three-fourth of respondents supported the
strike before. Only 20% of American population agrees
with Washington's military operation without the participation
of the allies.
Meanwhile,
European leaders are out there saying something too. German
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said in his interview to
a German television channel that the war with Baghdad
might have a negative influence on the struggle with international
terrorism. Schroeder also added that the German army must
not take part in the intervention against Iraq.
Intervention
is rather a strong word for the German chancellor. Schroeder
was releasing his statements during the television debate
with his competitor in the up-coming elections, Edmund
Stoiber. Furthermore, the coming elections are going to
be the first in German history. Anything can happen there
in this respect.
And
the last thing. Western news agencies reported that Iraqi
Foreign Minister Naji Sabri arrived in China with an official
visit. The negotiations with China's leadership will basically
cover the issue of relations between Baghdad and the UN.
The parties will also discuss the issue of the return
of military inspectors to Iraq.
Source:
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/08/26/35204.html
