USA Post 9/11: Are individual rights and freedoms guaranteed by the laws and the US Constitution ?

".... free and robust debate is the engine of social and political justice" -
Anthony D. Romero

The Star Spangled Banner, the American national anthem has each verse ending,

" O'er the land of the free, and home of the brave."

It is sung at every major occasion in the land. For most part of American history, it is true to say it had been the "land of the free, and home of the brave".

But that appeared to have been lost with September 11, 2001. The events of 9/11 have led many to believe that the US Administration in its over reaction and high handedness had turned, rightly or wrongly, the great land of freedom and democracy into " the land of the fear and home of the scared ".

The Bush Administration's response to 9/11, not only on foreign policy, but its domestic policies to "protect" its citizens, have become a cause of major concern of many, especially by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). ACLU's stipulated mandate is

"to defend and preserve the individual rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and the laws of the United States."

In May 2003, ACLU published a report " FREEDOM UNDER FIRE: Dissent in Post-9/11 America" . The report recounts instances of over-reaction by US authorities, creating a climate of fear and fright , and fringing on the individual rights and freedom of ordinary US citizens.

The Executive Director of ACLU, Anthony D. Romero, in the forward to the report puts it:

" THERE IS A PALL OVER OUR COUNTRY.

In separate but related attempts to squelch dissent, the government has attacked the patriotism of its critics, police have barricaded and jailed protesters, and the New York Stock Exchange has revoked the press credentials of the most widely watched television network in the Arab world. .... Government-sanctioned intolerance has even trickled into our private lives.

Compounding the offense is the silence from many lawmakers. There is palpable fear even in the halls of Congress of expressing an unpopular view. Why should this disturb us? Because democracy is not a quiet business....

(There is) a shadow across America..... (and) the American Library Association says the FBI is treading on the rights it is supposed to uphold."

In the aftermath of 9/11, the Attorney-General John Aschcroft said concerns of critics of US Government are "phantoms of lost liberty". Ari Fleischer , the White press secretary, warned Americans to “watch what they say.”

Even the US media, of the likes of conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly of Fox News Channel who had suggested that war protesters should be prosecuted as “enemies of the state.”

Hundreds of ordinary US citizens got arrested for exercising their constitutionally protected freedoms, and some lost their jobs or were suspended from school.

The US Government has a history of suppressing dissent.

President Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War.

President Woodrow Wilson used the Espionage Act of 1917 as a cover to attack free speech. Wilson encouraged “patriotic citizens” to report on neighbors they suspected of disloyalty. His Justice Department prosecuted more than 2,000 critics of the war and judges were quick to hand down harsh punishments.

The Sedition Act was enacted by Congress in 1918, aimed at restricting criticism of the government, the Constitution, the flag and the military.

Then there were the most shameful chapters involving the World War II internments of Japanese Americans; the communist witch hunt of the McCarthy hearings; the Pentagon Papers, Watergate and FBI spy scandals.

The current Bush Administration's handling of dissent after 9/11 include:

• Police beating and macing protesters in Missouri,
  
• Authorities spied on law-abiding activists in Colorado
  
• Police fired on demonstrators in California,
  
• Campus police have helped FBI agents to spy on professors and students in Massachusetts.
  
• The Justice Department under Ashcroft:
  
  
  • rushed through Congress anti-terrorism statutes
    
  • asserted the right to seize protesters’ assets and deport immigrants under the antiterrorism statutes
    
  • debated whether to revoke U.S. citizenship in some cases.
    
  • compiled political dossiers on protesters arrested in New York, which were exposed by the ACLU.

The following are some cases reported by ACLU of a disturbing post- 9/11 picture of life in America’s streets, malls, parks, schools, airports and harbors.

New York: In March 2003, more than 200,000 protesters marched down Broadway with a permit obtained by the NYCLU. But police arrested hundreds of protestors, interrogated them about their political affiliations and prior activities, methodically entering the information into a database. Not only was that information constitutionally protected, police had used “the coercive environment of an arrest” to obtain it illegally, “outside the presence of counsel.” Embarrassed, the New York Police Department halted the program abruptly. Earlier in February, the city had denied permission to protest organizers to hold a large antiwar march.

Guilderland, New York: Stephen Downs, a 61-year-old lawyer, bought a T-shirt promoting “Peace” at a mall but was arrested for refusing to leave or remove a shirt he’d bought there. Downs was led away in handcuffs on a trespassing charge. “Give Peace a Chance,” his shirt said on one side, and “Peace On Earth” on the other. Downs was accompanied by his 31-year-old son Roger, who also wore an anti-war T-shirt, but was allowed to leave after removing it. The mall operators later asked the Guilderland Police Department to drop the trespassing charge but the news coverage made Downs a local hero.

Grinell, Iowa: In December 2002 , two police officers and a county attorney threatened to arrest a pair of Grinnell College students for hanging a U.S. flag upside-down from their dormitory window. After the lawsuit was filed by ACLU in U.S. District Court in Des Moines, authorities agreed that hanging it upside-down was protected under the First Amendment.

A.J. Brown and the offending poster

Durham, N. Carolina: Oct. 27, 2001, agents from the Raleigh, N.C. office of the U.S. Secret Service and an investigator from the Durham Police Department confronted A.J. Brown, a freshman at Durham Technical College for hanging an “anti-American” wall poster. which showed George W. Bush holding a rope against a backdrop of lynch victims, with the text, “We hang on your word.” The poster had a statement that said Texas executed 152 people while Bush was governor. Brown was quizzed on whether she had any information about Afghanistan and on the Taliban. And she was asked to fill out a form providing her full name, race, phone number and other identifying information.


College Park, Maryland: Students at the University of Maryland at College Park had restrictions on outdoor public speaking and leafleting on the university’s 1,500-acre campus. Public speaking is currently limited to the Nymburu Amphitheater stage and prohibited elsewhere. The rules apply to all “speech directed to a general audience or non-specific persons” and limit the distribution of literature “to designated sidewalk space outside the Stamp Student Union.”

Baltimore, Maryland: On April 4, eight members of the Women in Black were asked to have permits to stand silently at the southeast corner of Pratt and Light streets in the Inner Harbor, holding signs, as they had done on a weekly basis since December. The city also required long advance-notice requirement – up to eight weeks. “The Inner Harbor is the quintessential public square,” said ACLU Staff Attorney Rajeev Goyle. “It is the most visible spot in downtown Baltimore and the natural place for people exercising their free speech rights to gather and voice their ideas.” A suit against the city by ACLU resulted in a preliminary victory for Women in Black - Baltimore City Solicitor Thurman W. Zollicoffer, Jr. agreed to suspend for 180 days the permit requirement for all demonstrations with 25 or fewer people, making it possible for Women in Black to stand in their customary spot without fear of arrest.

Westminster, Maryland: Members of Women in Black and a Girl Scout had been holding silent peace vigils on the sidewalk in front of the Westminster city library. They were threatened with arrest under ordinance requiring a permit for any speech or expressive conduct on public property, no matter how small, plus up to 60 days advance notice, at the discretion of the Common Council of the City of Westminster, without any meaningful standards. When the ACLU intervened, the Common Council voted April 21, 2003 to suspend enforcement of the ordinance for groups of less than 25, reduce the advance-notice requirement to two days, include a 24-hour exigency provision, and vest discretion in the city clerk.

Seattle, Washington: On Feb. 15, the day of a major downtown protest march, a woman waiting to board the Monorail was asked to lower a protest sign she was holding over her shoulder; when she refused, she was asked to leave the building. On March 6, a person trying to purchase a meal at the food court was ordered by a security officer to remove a small, black-and-white 1.5-inch “No War” pin or exit the building. According to ACLU, these restrictions were violations of Seattle’s Open Housing and Public Accommodations Ordinance, which bars denying any person “directly or indirectly…the full enjoyment of …any place of public accommodation because of the person’s political ideology. ”

West Palm Beach, Florida: City officials had blocked a nude anti-war demonstration in a state park. T.A. Wayner, a Fort Pierce naturist who planned to choreograph the creation of a peace symbol on Singer Island using nude bodies, and videographer George T. Simon, who planned to observe. ACLU sued on their behalf and Judge Donald M. Middlebrook agreed, calling it “well within the ambit of the First Amendment.”


Tampa, Florida: Two grandmothers and a gay activist were arrested during a 2001 rally for President Bush and his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Jan Lentz was forcibly hauled away in handcuffs with her two companions for refusing to ditch her “Investigate Florida Votergate” sign demanding an investigation of Florida’s 2000 election fiasco. They were accused of trespassing even though all three had tickets to the rally. “Lose the sign and you can stay,” they were told, but they wanted Bush to see their message. The charges against the three were eventually dropped, but the pending lawsuit seeks damages and other sanctions against the city.

Fort Myers, Florida: Some librarians at Gulf Coast Community College were asked by their bosses NOT to wear “I’m proud to be an American” stickers because they might offend foreign students.

St. Louis, Missouri: On March 30, eight youthful protesters carrying anti-war signs were arrested and dozens injured in a confrontation with police following a large peace rally in the city’s Forest Park. Some 60 youths, who had attempted to march out of the rally together, said police blocked off the street, ordered them onto the sidewalk and pushed one participant off her bicycle. Some were thrown to the ground or against squad cars, and one suffered a concussion and had to go to the hospital. Some said they were handcuffed, and then maced after the cuffs were on, and that the arresting officers hurled epithets – “traitor,” “anti-American,” “unpatriotic” – at them for opposing the war.

Dearborn, Michigan: On Feb. 17, 2003, Bretton Barber, 16, was sent home from school after refusing to turn his T-shirt (with an image of President Bush and the words “International Terrorist”) inside-out.

San Luis Colorado: Store owner John Fleming displayed the American flag upside-down in his store window. Fleming said he believed the war in Iraq was a sign that our country was in distress, but Alamosa’s Chief of Police said the display violated a Colorado statute – and threatened to charge Fleming with a crime unless he took it down. The threat of prosecution silenced Fleming, who did as he was told. But ACLU threatened a lawsuit to protect his right of expression if officials did not back down.

New Jersey City, New Jersey: In October 2001, a deli owner’s license to sell lottery tickets was suspended because he made favorable remarks about Osama bin Laden.

San Diego, California: In March 2003, Seth Goldberg packed two “No Iraq War” signs in his suitcase before boarding a flight in Seattle. He arrived in San Diego. Nestled among his personal belongings were a card from the Transportation Security Administration, notifying him that his bags had been opened and inspected at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport – and a handwritten admonishment: “Don’t appreciate your anti-American attitude!” After ACLU intervened, a TSA official wrote Goldberg on April 10 that the agency recognizes the right of individuals to freely express their political or personal views. “Rest assured that infringement on that right by TSA employees is not condoned nor will be tolerated,” wrote the TSA’s Robert Blunk. He said the message would be sent to all TSA employees at Sea-Tac and incorporated into their training.

Oakland, California: On April 7, 2003, police using rubber bullets, wooden pellets and tear gas opened fire at an anti-war protest at the Port of Oakland, April 7, 2003, injuring several demonstrators and longshoremen and sending at least one to the hospital.

Albuquerque, New Mexico: Police had used excessive force in breaking up a March 20, 2003 anti-war demonstration at the University of New Mexico. Seventeen protesters, arrested on charges ranging from public nuisance to refusing to obey a police officer, said they were tear-gassed or beaten with batons before being taken into custody.

Albuquerque, New Mexico: The Albuquerque Public Schools suspended without pay two teachers and a guidance counselor for displaying posters, artwork and other materials that expressed opinions about the war on Iraq. Rio Grande High School teacher Carmelita Royal was suspended for refusing to remove a “No War Against Iraq” sign she had placed behind the blinds in her classroom (facing outward) Another Albuquerque High School student counselor Ken Tabish, was suspended for posting in his office a speech by Senator Robert Byrd, anti-war articles, and flyers for peace rallies, after someone complained that if Rio Grande teachers couldn’t express anti-war sentiments, neither should he. And at Albuquerque’s Highland High School, teacher Alan Cooper was suspended for refusing to take down students’ posters that his principal, Ace Trujillo, termed “not sufficiently pro-war.”

Evansville, Indiana: On Feb. 6, 2002, John Blair, an environmentalist,was arrested for protesting Vice President Dick Cheney’s appearance at a fundraiser with a sign reading: “Cheney – 19th c. Energy Man.”. ACLU's intervention led to the charges against Blair dropped two weeks later but the lawsuit remains in force as the City of Evansville has refused to acknowledge that it had no right to ignore Blair’s constitutional rights.

Phoenix, Arizona: On Sept. 26, 2002, when President Bush attended a dinner, Eleanor Eisenberg went to the protest site as a legal observer – and was herself arrested. As the protesters were gathering, mounted police and officers in full riot gear charged into the crowd. She was across the street taking pictures of them beating a young man when she was arrested. Eisenberg spent nine hours in custody, most of it incommunicado. She was “bruised and shaken, sore from being in handcuffs for more than an hour with my hands behind my back in a police car. It was a horrible experience,” she said afterwards. The only charge against her, resisting arrest, was dropped four months later.

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Casablanca (Morocco) Suicide Bombing -Four Days After the Riyadh Bombing

Suicide bombers attacked four targets in Casablanca within minutes of each other on Friday night (16 May) at around 10 p.m. local time.

This came about just hours after the United States said al Qaeda was poised to strike again,and after 4 days of the Riyadh bomb blasts.

Casablanca, on the Atlantic coast about 60 miles southwest of the capital Rabat, has an official population of three million.

Casa de Espana

The bombers struck the Hotel Safir in the heart of the old city, a Jewish community center, a Jewish- owned Italian restaurant and the Casa de Espana social club.The Jewish center was badly damaged. Two policemen were killed. They were standing outside Belgium's consulate which stood opposite the Jewish-owned restaurant.

Reuters reported a total of 39 people were killed and 65 wounded -- 17 of them seriously. As many as 10 of the dead may have been the suicide bombers themselves.


Most of those killed were said to be those at the Casa de Espana social club, popular with Spanish business people and diplomats. The secretary of the Casa de Espana Spanish social club told Spain's state radio. " They cut off the doorman's head with a big knife".

Witnesses said at least one attacker blew himself up with grenades strapped to his belt in the attacks.

Morocco is an Arab state but with close ties to the United States. Spain was a strong supporter of the United States in the war against Iraq.


Moroccan Interior Minister Al Mustapha Sahel said three Moroccans were arrested.

In February, Osama bin Laden identified Morocco among a list of "apostate" Arab nations in a cassette message. The same month, three Saudi nationals were sentenced to 10 years in prison for having plotted attacks against Western targets in Morocco and the Strait of Gibraltar last year. Six Moroccan accomplices received jail terms of up to a year.

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IT IS A DANGEROUS WORLD

Click HERE to see why this is a very dangerous world

To enlarge the picture,
wait the arrows to show on the picture at the
BOTTOM RIGHT-HAND CORNER,
then click on it

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BBC: US Military Version of Jessica Lynch's Rescue is "Flawed"

Private Jessica Lynch

This weblog first posted this story headlined "Rewinding the Real-Life Movie 'Rescue of Private Jessica Lynch in Nassariyah, Iraq"' based on Mitch Potter of Toronto Star's report (on 5 May 2003) in Nassariyah, Iraq.

On Sunday (18 May 2003) on BBC2, BBC Correspondent programme will relate a similar view on the segment called "War Spin" at 7.15 pm (London time).

It will be presented by John Kampfner and produced by Sandy Smith.

What BBC's John Kampfner discovered was that the story dished out by the US Military propaganda machine on the "Saving of Private Jessica Lynch" was another "modern American myth". .... It is short of calling it a "lie".

Does it matter if the drama was allowed to be played out and mythologised after the fact ? Yes it does - when it matters about life and death of soldiers and those involved. Yes it does - when the US media, and their embedded reporters with front line soldiers in this war, pride in themselves as custodians of media integrity and gatekeepers of facts.

This relevation of distortion of the truth increasingly plays to the perception of the US media being " in bed" with the US Military's war propaganda machine, feeding myths to the unknowing American public.

Judging from this episode on the Private Jessica Lynch's rescue, as well as the US media's reporting of most other aspects of the war, notoriously regarding the fall of Saddam Hussein's statue, one can only say US media reports and US Command briefings are to be taken with a great amount of salt - or else treated simply as a "joke." Their media value was being superceded only by that of the press briefings given by Saddam Hussein's Information Minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, during the war.

The real story of the "Saving of Private Jessica Lynch" is this:

• Private Jessica Lynch was well cared for by the medical staff at the Nassariyah Hospital.
  
  
• The doctors tried to free her to the Americans.
  
  
• When the American commandos came, they knew her Iraqi guards had long fled and left the place.

Excerpts from report by John Kampfner in The Guardian UK:

Private Jessica Lynch rescued from the hospital by US commandos

Her rescue will go down as one of the most stunning pieces of news management yet conceived.

It provides a remarkable insight into the real influence of Hollywood producers on the Pentagon's media managers, and has produced a template from which America hopes to present its future wars.

The British military counterparts working alongside Doha, Qatar are infuriated by this American media tactics.The BBC's Correspondent programme reveals the inside story of the rescue that may not have been as heroic as portrayed, and of divisions at the heart of the allies' media operation.


"In reality we had two different styles of news media management," says Group Captain Al Lockwood, the British army spokesman at central command. "I feel fortunate to have been part of the UK one."

Jessica Lynch became an icon of the (Iraq ) war. The story of her capture by the Iraqis and her rescue by US special forces was ran by the American media as one of the great patriotic moments of the conflict.

In the early hours of April 2, correspondents in Doha were summoned from their beds to Centcom, the military and media nerve centre for the war. The journalists rushed in, thinking Saddam had been captured. The story they were told instead has entered American folklore.

The US Army's 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company, in which Private Lynch, a 19-year-old clerk from West Virginia,was a member, took a wrong turning near Nassiriya and was ambushed. Nine of her US comrades were killed. Iraqi soldiers took Lynch to the local hospital, which was swarming with fedayeen, where she was held for eight days.

That much is uncontested. What followed next is something else:

After releasing its five-minute film to the networks, the Pentagon claimed that Lynch had stab and bullet wounds, and that she had been slapped about on her hospital bed and interrogated. It was only thanks to a courageous Iraqi lawyer, Mohammed Odeh al-Rehaief, that she was saved. According to the Pentagon, Al-Rehaief risked his life to alert the Americans that Lynch was being held.

Just after midnight, Army Rangers and Navy Seals stormed the Nassiriya hospital. Their "daring" assault on enemy territory was captured by the military's night-vision camera. They were said to have come under fire, but they made it to Lynch and whisked her away by helicopter.

That was the message beamed back to viewers within hours of the rescue.

Al-Rehaief was granted asylum barely two weeks after arriving in the US with a US $500,000 deal to write "Rescue in Nassiriya" to be published in October.

There is only one problem to whether the account in the to-be-written book can be verified: Her doctors are now saying she has NO recollection of the whole episode and probably never will. Her memory loss means that "researchers" have been called in to fill in the gaps.

International media now believes that is ONE story, but TWO versions. The American "Hollywood" version and the real version of the "Saving of Private Jessica Lynch".

The REAL version of the Rescue of the Private Jessica Lynch as reported by BBC's John Kampfner :

The Iraqi doctors in Nassiriya say they provided the best treatment they could for Lynch in the midst of war. She was assigned the only specialist bed in the hospital, and one of only two nurses on the floor. "I was like a mother to her and she was like a daughter,"says Khalida Shinah.

Dr. Harith al-Houssana

Dr Harith al-Houssona, who looked after her throughout her ordeal said:

"We gave her three bottles of blood, two of them from the medical staff because there was no blood at this time. I examined her, I saw she had a broken arm, a broken thigh and a dislocated ankle. Then I did another examination. There was no [sign of] shooting, no bullet inside her body, no stab wound - only RTA, road traffic accident."

"They want to distort the picture. I don't know why they think there is some benefit in saying she has a bullet injury."

The doctors told BBC reporters that the day before the special forces swooped on the hospital the Iraqi military had fled.

Hassam Hamoud, a waiter at a local restaurant, said he saw the American advance party land in the town. He said the team's Arabic interpreter asked him where the hospital was. "He asked: 'Are there any Fedayeen over there?' and I said, 'No'."

All the same, the next day "America's finest warriors" descended on the building.

Dr. Anmar Uday

Another doctor, Anmar Uday told BBC reporters:

"We heard the noise of helicopters. We were surprised. Why do this? There was no military, there were no soldiers in the hospital. " He says that they must have known there would be no resistance.

"It was like a Hollywood film. They cried, 'Go, go, go', with guns and blanks and the sound of explosions. They made a show - an action movie like Sylvester Stallone or Jackie Chan, with jumping and shouting, breaking down doors."

All the time with the camera rolling. The Americans took no chances, restraining doctors and a patient who was handcuffed to a bed frame.

There was one more twist.

Two days before the snatch squad arrived, Al-Houssona had arranged to deliver Jessica to the Americans in an ambulance .

"I told her I will try and help you escape to the American Army but I will do this very secretly because I could lose my life." Dr. al-Houssana said. He put her in an ambulance and instructed the driver to go to the American checkpoint. When he was approaching it, the Americans opened fire.

They fled just in time back to the hospital. The Americans had almost killed their prize catch.

Brig. General Vincent Brooks

A military cameraman had shot footage of the US commando-style rescue. It was a race against time for the video to be edited. The video presentation was ready a few hours after the first brief announcement.

When it was shown, General Vincent Brooks, the US spokesman in Doha, declared: "Some brave souls put their lives on the line to make this happen, loyal to a creed that they know that they'll never leave a fallen comrade."

NONE of the details that the doctors provided Correspondent with, made it to the video or to any subsequent explanations or clarifications by US authorities.

I (Kampfner) asked the Pentagon spokesman in Washington, Bryan Whitman, to release the full tape of the rescue, rather than its edited version, to clear up any discrepancies. He declined. Whitman would not talk about what kind of Iraqi resistance the American forces faced. Nor would he comment on the injuries Lynch actually sustained. "I understand there is some conflicting information out there and in due time the full story will be told, I'm sure," he told me.

Simon Wren, British Government spokesman at Doha, was furious that on the first few days of the war the Americans refused to give any information at Central Command. The British were put in the difficult position of having to fill in the gaps, off the record. Towards the end of the conflict, Wren wrote a confidential five-page letter to Alastair Campbell complaining that the American briefers weren't up to the job. He described the Lynch presentation as embarrassing.


Wren described the Lynch incident as "hugely overblown" and symptomatic of a bigger problem. He tried on several occasions to persuade Wilkinson and Brooks to change tack. In London, Alistair Campbell did the same with the White House, to no avail. Wren acknowledged that the events surrounding the Lynch "rescue" had become a matter of "conjecture". Wren had this to say on the complicity of the US media:

"The Americans never got out there and explained what was going on in the war. All they needed to be was open and honest. They were too vague, too scared of engaging with the media. The American media didn't put them under pressure so they were allowed to get away with it. They didn't feel they needed to change.

Either way, it was not the main news of the day. This was just one soldier, this was an add-on: human interest stuff. It completely overshadowed other events, things that were actually going on on the battlefield. It overshadowed the fact that the Americans found the bodies of her colleagues. What we wanted to give out was real-time news."

Group Captain Al Lockwood, the British army spokesman at central command told BBC Correspondent "Having lost the first skirmish, they (the Americans) had pretty much lost the war when it came to media support. My feelings (is that) they lost their initial part of the campaign and never got on the front foot again. The media adviser we had here [Wren] was an expert in his field. His counterpart on the US side [Wilkinson] was evasive and was not around as much as he should have been when it came to talking to the media."

The American strategy was to concentrate on the visuals and to get a broad message out. The key was to ensure the right television footage. The embedded reporters could do some of that.

The Pentagon had been influenced by Hollywood producers of reality TV and action movies, notably Black Hawk Down. Back in 2001, the man behind Black Hawk Down, Jerry Bruckheimer, had visited the Pentagon to pitch an idea. Bruckheimer and fellow producer Bertram van Munster, who masterminded the reality show Cops, suggested Profiles from the Front Line, a primetime television series following US forces in Afghanistan. Van Munster's aim was to get close and personal.

It was perfect reality TV, made with the active cooperation of Donald Rumsfeld and aired just before the Iraqi war. The Pentagon liked what it saw.That approached was taken on and developed on the field of battle in Iraq.

The Pentagon has none of the British misgivings about its media operation. It is convinced that what worked with Jessica Lynch and with other episodes of this war will work even better in the future.

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UNPRECEDENTED !: Australian Senate Passed the Vote to Sack Queen Elizabeth II's Representative in Australia

Peter Hollingworth

It is the first time in the 102 years of Australian history, when one of the two legislative chambers voted for the resignation or sacking of the Governor-General, Peter Hollingworth.

The motion went ahead after two days of debate, with the Government aware the Labour Opposition with support of the Democrats and the Greens would carry the day. The Senate is one of the two Houses of Parliament, the other is the House of Representatives.

The Governor-General is the representative of Queen Elizabeth II, known as Queen of Australia, i.e. the Australian Head of State.The position holds considerable constitutional powers, including the ability to dismiss parliament and call fresh elections. As a constitutional convention, however, in practice the governor-general acts only on the advice of his elected minister. His role is traditionally a ceremonial and non-partisan one.

Since his appointment as the Governor-General, Peter Hollingworth, a former Anglican Archbishop, had been facing allegations for failing to act over a series of sex abuse claims when he was the Archbishop for the Diocese of Brisbane in the 1990s.

In May 2003, an Anglican church report concluded that he had made a "grave error of judgment" by allowing a known paedophile to continue working as a priest.

The scandal that led to his decision to stand aside as the Governor-General was when he was forced to defend himself against claims of an alleged rape dating back to the 1960s by a woman who committed suicide about a month ago.

Hollingworth took the unusual step to appear before national television to make a personal statement to deny the rape charges

Mike Seccombe and Greg Roberts reported for Sydney Morning Herald:

The Senate motion mentioned Hollingworth as "not a person suitable to hold the office of governor-general." And that he was both "unable to fulfil his symbolic role as a figure of unity for the Australian people" and "no longer able to exercise the constitutional powers of his office in a manner that will be seen as impartial and non-partisan".

The motion also called for a national royal commission into child sexual abuse. But Prime Minister John Howard had said no to any royal commission enquiry.

Labor Senate Leader John Faulkner, who sponsored the motion, said Dr Hollingworth had brought discredit to "an office that should be above controversy and above reproach". "His actions, as Archbishop of Brisbane and a Governor-General, have brought the high office of Governor-General into disrepute," Senator Faulkner said. Senator Faulkner also said Dr Hollingworth should resign and if he did not the Prime Minister "had no alternative but to remove him".

The Governor-General now does not have the support of one of the two houses of Parliament. The Senate does not have the power to ask the Queen to act on its motion.

The Governor of Tasmania, Sir Guy Green has been sworn in as the administrator of the Commonwealth, ( as the Acting Governor General). Sir Guy was sworn in by High Court justice Dyson Heydon in a ceremony in Canberra.

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Golf: Shame on you, Vijay

It is the first time since 1945, that's 58 years, for a woman golfer to compete in the men's golf tournament.

Babe Zaharias was the last lady golfer who qualified for the 1945 Los Angeles Open.

Annika Sorenstam, considered the best lady golfer today, will be competing in men's PGA Tour, the Colonial Classic starting on May 22nd 2003 in Fort Worth, Texas, at Colonial Country Club, which had hosted the event since 1946. .

Golfers are known to let the mouth do the talking, after the clubs have done their job. But for Vijay Singh, a US Masters Champion, it is the other way round.


Vijay Singh

This was what he said about Sorenstam's entry in an interview with Associated Press after the final round of the Wachovia Championship this week:

" She is clearly the best woman golfer in the world but I emphasise the word ' woman'. They have their tour and the men have theirs. She is taking a spot from someone else in the field.

I hope she misses the cut. Why? Because she doesn't belong out here. If I'm drawn with her, which I won't be, I won't play."

Singh later said he was sorry if his comment was seen as a personal attack. "If it was an attack on Annika at all, I would like to apologize to her," Singh said after a practice round for this week's Byron Nelson Classic. "It was not put that way. It came out the wrong way." But Singh's remarks reflected a common view of men golfers but said privately.

Defending champion Nick Price was quoted as saying Sorenstam's presence 'reeks of publicity' and added 'she should qualify to prove herself'. He was quoted saying the legendary Ben Hogan, a believer in tradition, "would be rolling over in his grave."

Scott Hoch wants Sorenstam to play well so people will realize "how much separation there is between us and the ladies' tour." That is as far as Hoch would want to say.

Fred Funk, reflecting what men golfers fear most: "The most pressure ever would be if you got into a playoff against her and you lost."

Fellow Swede Jesper Parnevik said if she kicked his butt, "fine."

David Duval said he was so perplexed hearing an outcry from Vijay Singh and a few others. "I don't know what everyone is so worried about," Duval said. "If they think she can't make the cut, that's one less person to beat, isn't it?" He would like to see Sorenstam make the cut, but he isn't betting on it.

But world number one Tiger Woods said Sorenstam should play in next week's Colonial. Woods is not competing in the Colonial as he will be playing in Germany in the Deutsche Bank Open. And he believes she needs several chances on the men's tour to prove she can take on the men. "I think it will be more fair to her if she could play four or five tournaments -- then you could judge on those results. I'm sure if she did play four or five, she'd get on a roll ... In one tournament a lot could go wrong for her."

Some players admitted they do want to find out how she'll fare. " Everyone is extremely curious to see how she's going to play, and we really don't know what's going to come of it," Ben Crane said. "I'll be very interested to see how she plays."

David Toms, who won the Wachovia Championship last week, said: "I hope she plays well for ladies' golf and for her. But what is playing well? Nobody knows, nobody has anything to measure it against. I don't have any hard feeling toward her at all. She thinks she can do it, I guess we'll find out."

Annika Sorenstam is participating in the men's tour event under a sponsor's invitation. PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem noted a lot of players get upset about sponsor's exemptions. "Over the years, unrestricted sponsor's exemptions have been controversial because if you give them to someone who's really not trying to play the tour, arguably, they're taking a spot from an individual," he said. "We've got a lot of good players. For a player to be frustrated is understandable. It's not anything new. Guys have complained a lot about tournaments (granting exemptions to) local pros. In this case, it's a woman. So it's a bigger deal. I think we should relax a little bit about this. Let it happen. Let her play golf. See how she plays. If you're a golfer and you love the game, it's pretty interesting stuff."

There will be plenty of sympathies for three groups of players at the Colonial:

1. The two guys who will pair with Sorenstam for the first two rounds, especially on the back nine on Sunday, if she makes the cut.
   
   
2. The three guys playing in front of her, as there will be reporters and photographers along the fairways behind them.
   
   
3. Anyone whose name comes after Sorenstam on the scoreboard.

Annika Sorenstam

Sorenstam, 32, has won 42 LPGA Tour titles which got her into Golf's Hall of Fame. She had won 13 times round the world last year, the most by a woman in nearly 40 years. Two years ago, she became the first woman to shoot 59.

Sorenstam has been practising from the back tees for the event. She shot a 5-over-par 75 round on her first practice round. She played with 1995 Colonial Champion David Frost, along with Sorenstam's husband, David Esch; Colonial tournament director Dee Finley; and Colonial Country Club president Jim Thigpen. They all played from the back tees, measuring 7,100 yards. "She hit the ball well," Finley said. "It was a good first time around the golf course. She was seeing some parts of the golf course that she needed to see."

She will get more TV coverage at the Colonial than Tiger Woods ever got on the PGA Tour. CBS Sports will devote an extra hour to telecast the tournament, so it can show Sorenstam playing the third round — or highlights of her missing the cut. And if she plays in the afternoon, it will on live TV, and on tape if she plays early Saturday. If she misses the cut, CBS will put in the extra hour featuring highlights of her first two rounds.

Everybody is hoping for Vijay to pair up with Sorenstam in the first two rounds and even for the weekend, if she makes the cut.

So, Vijay, its time to let the clubs do the talking, and then you can put your mouth into gear.

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Jack Straw's Forked Tongue On Iraq War

On May 14 2003, Britain's well articulated and strongly opinionated Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, has now back tracked and said " it was not crucially important" if weapons of mass destruction are NOT found in Iraq, in an interview on BBC's Radio 4.

Jack Straw, Foreign Secretary, UK

His present argument for Britain's support for US is now " We went to war on the basis of the evidence which was fully available to the international community." But during the course of the UN's weapons inspectors' time in Iraq, and before the war started, no incriminating evidence was found. Jack Straw is bending the truth.

Mr Straw argued yesterday that the discovery of mass graves at the site of ancient Babylon provided a moral justification for the war. "You see these pictures in newspapers about the discovery of 15,000 or so mass graves," he said. "Anybody who had any doubt about the rightness of our actions should just draw to their own attention the venality of the Saddam regime, which thankfully has now been removed."

But what about the crucial argument for going to war in the first place?

How could Jack Straw be so wrong to take an unequivocal stand with the White House to go to war in Iraq ? Has he misled or being genuinely wrong about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction (WMD)?


These were Jack Straw's public statements to the British public and to the international community BEFORE the war:

Jack Straw's Address at the UN Security Council, 14 February 2003

" Mr. President, the issue before us could not be graver....We said then that Iraq's proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, of long-range missiles and its noncompliance with Council resolutions was a threat to international peace and security....Now, we all know that they've had these weapons. That's why we said that Iraq had them, why all five permanent members, all 10 elected members, said the same thing. We knew that the issue was not whether Iraq had them, but whether Iraq was actively cooperating to get rid of them."

Jack Straw's Address to the UN Security Council , 5 February 2003

"When will Iraq account for the 6,500 bombs which could carry up to 1,000 tonnes of chemical agent? How will Iraq justify having a prohibited chemical precursor for mustard gas?....We had slipped slowly down a slope, never noticing how far we had gone until it was too late. Mr President, we owe it to our history as well as to our future not to make the same mistake again."

UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw's article in The Times, 5 March 2002

"Since then, evidence has been building up that the threat from Iraq's weapons programmes is growing once more. Many of the facilities damaged in 1998 by the US and UK strikes in Operation Desert Fox have been repaired. Iraq has persisted with its chemical and biological weapons programmes, and is developing ballistic missiles capable of delivering such weapons to targets beyond the 150 kilometre limit imposed by the UN.

This would allow it to hit countries as far away as the United Arab Emirates and Israel.....It angers me when well-meaning people are taken in by these lies.....and I hope they will achieve our aim of removing the threat which Iraq's weapons of mass destruction pose to humanity. But if he refuses to open his weapons programmes to proper international inspection, he will have to live with the consequences."

Read here the full text of Jack Straw's speech to Chatham House, February 21 2003

On 28 September, 2002, President Bush in his radio address to the American people mentioned:

"...The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons, is rebuilding the facilities to make more and, according to the British government, could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes after the order is given."

Nicholas Watt of The Guardian UK reports:

The Labour MP for Halifax, Alice Mahon, said: "The whole basis of the war is based on an untruth. The whole world can see that ministers are backing away from their claims. People genuinely believed what the prime minister said about Iraq's weapons programme and its ability to launch an at tack in 45 minutes. This is making the war even more illegal."

Government backbenchers who had opposed the war will step up pressure on the government by tabling a motion in Parliament to demand evidence of the existence of weapons of mass destruction. Ministers have struggled to offer a plausible explanation for the failure to find banned weapons.

Following the UK Foreign Secretary's back tracking, British correspondent, Ben Russell reported the following in his headlined article, " So, Mr Straw, why did we go to war?" .

The legal and political basis for the war in Iraq was thrown into doubt yesterday when Jack Straw declared that uncovering Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction was "not crucially important". The Foreign Secretary's comments added to the confusion over the capacity of Saddam Hussein to unleash chemical or biological weapons. Yet in the weeks before the Allied invasion, these WMDs had been declared an imminent threat to Britain and the West.

Mr Straw was accused of rewriting history after he appeared to undermine the Government's confident claim that Saddam had up to 10,000 litres of anthrax. On BBC Radio 4, he said: "It certainly did exist. There is no question about that, and the Blix report suggested that it still existed." Mr Straw used the past tense.

Challenged on the importance of a fresh weapons find, he said: "It's not crucially important for this reason ... The evidence in respect of Iraq was so strong that the Security Council on the 8th of November said unanimously that Iraq's proliferation and possession of the weapons of mass destruction and unlawful missile systems, as well as its defiance of the United Nations, pose – and I quote – 'a threat to international peace and security'."

Peter Kilfoyle, a former defence minister, said: "Jack Straw is trying to reinvent history. All these claims about WMD are built on sand. If they do not find these weapons, it takes away the only conceivable justification for conducting this war. It shows the real reasons for this war: the superpower flexing its muscles and looking after resources, in this case petroleum."

Mr Straw's comments were the latest in a series of shifting statements from cabinet ministers about the whereabouts of Saddam's weaponry, the alleged threat from which provided the legal and political justification for the war.

MPs and watching journalists were left with the impression, unchallenged by senior Foreign Office officials, that Britain was no longer completely confident that the elusive weapons would ever be found.

The Foreign Secretary's comments raised deep concerns in the ranks of Labour MPs already unhappy with the decision to take Britain to war.

Doug Henderson, a former armed services minister, said: "I think it's pretty essential if any legitimacy is to be maintained that the reason for embarking on this process is proven. If it's not, people will ask what are the motives for war."

In Washington, similar back tracking is also taking place. The national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said last week that the US was pinning its hope on finding incriminating documents rather than actual weapons.

Read what President Bush said at his 2003 State of the Union Address on Iraq's WMDs

Was this a Coalition of the Willing To Lie for the Iraq War?

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The Saudi Arabia Bomb Blast

The Damage in Pictures

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Was Washington Lulled into Complacency by Al-Qaeda ?

If the bomb blasts are indeed the work of Al-Qaeda, it had struck with a vengeance at US and westerners outside US soil.

Field Update 13.30 PM by Barry Schweid from AP News:

Most U.S. diplomatic personnel ordered to home from Saudi Arabia by Washington. FBI investigators were flown in to help with the probe.

U.S. officials said Saudi guards posted at the entrance to the complex were shot to death. US officials believed it took the bombers "30 seconds to a minute" to get through the gate guarding a housing complex for employees of the Virginia-based Vinnell Co., drive the truck to the building, and detonate their explosives. "They had to know where the switches were," this official said, suggesting the bombers had inside information.

Vinnell, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corp., has a contract to train Saudi Arabian National Guardsmen. The Saudi National Guard protects the ruling monarchy and is the Saudi equivalent to the Republican Guard of Saddam Hussein, according to John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, a defense policy group. The National Guard is distinct from the regular Saudi Army.

Seventy Americans employed by Vinnel lived in the building, but 50 of them were away on a training exercise at the time of the attack. Northrop Grumman said nine of its employees were killed, including seven Americans. Other employees remained hospitalized after the attack, two in serious condition.

Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., told reporters at the Capitol. "It took us off the track of the war on terror which we were on a path to win, but we've now let it slip away from us."

Powell was in Amman, Jordan, at the time of the attack, making the rounds of Middle Eastern countries in hopes of producing momentum toward Middle East peace. He flew to Saudi Arabia as planned, and altered his schedule to visit the site of the bombing that killed Americans. "This was a well-planned terrorist attack, obviously," he said.

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After the war in Afghanistan and the just concluded success of the Iraq war, Washington had been striding the world stage with an attitude of " we won" against terrorism and projecting a sense of invincibility.

In the lead up to the war in Iraq, Washington's ears were crowded out by voices of the neo-conservative hawks, and were deaf to voices of concern by others of the possibility of terror attacks on US citizens and westerners around the globe. The Bush Administration's foreign policy is believed to have been held hostage by the neo-conservative hawks, led by Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Perle and Aaron Friedberg, who will be officially taking his appointment on June 1, as deputy national security advisor and director of policy planning on Cheney's high-powered, foreign-policy staff. Some analysts claimed the bulk of these neo-con hawks are pro-Israeli lobbyists and right-wing American Jews.

Only more terror warnings were issued to its citizens outside the US, while analysts were fearing that Washington's foreign policy strategies, particularly for the Middle East, are actually stoking the fires of continuing terror attacks by Al-Qaeda and its likes.

In Afghanistan, the fight against the Taliban, accused of harbouring Al-Qaeda is not yet over, as evidence by the recent upsurge of Taliban attacks on coalition forces and continuing demonstrations against the US-backed Karzai Government.

The bomb blasts in Saudi Arabia will bring out echoes of those who had said : "I told you so".

The question that need to ask is whether Al-Qaeda had given Washington a sense of false security in the last year or so? If so, the war against international terrorism is an on-going concern, a war led by countless headless entities, a war that is against other sovereign states is proving to be not the answer.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda had taken responsibility for attacks in Pakistan, Tunisia, Kuwait, Yemen and Bali.

In an article by ABC News:

• " The U.S. State Department noted that international terrorist attacks declined sharply in 2002, to the lowest level since 1969, according to the State Department's annual "Patterns of Global Terrorism" released at the end of April.
  
  
• There was no apparent response to bin Laden's urging his followers to "avenge the innocent children … assassinated in Iraq," in his audiotaped message during the Iraq war.
  
  
• Then in mid-April, the White House lowered the national terror alert from "high" to "elevated" status.
  
  
• In late April, ABC News was told by intelligence sources that mounting evidence indicates al Qaeda was splintered and ineffective.
  
  
• Last week, U.S. and Saudi authorities crowed they had foiled plans by at least 19 suspected terrorists in Saudi Arabia to carry out strikes.

The bomb blasts in Saudi Arabia has changed U.S. officials' minds. They are no longer as optimistic.

In the words of Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who leads a Senate panel on terrorism and domestic security: "Our recent successes in Iraq, Afghanistan and in the global dismantling of terrorist cells may have understandably encouraged some Americans to begin to turn their attention away from the war on terror toward other pressing concerns,"

Florida Sen. Bob Graham, a Democratic candidate for president, puts it blunty: "If the question is are we more or less secure from terrorists today than we were a year ago, the answer is we are less secure. It could have been avoided if you had actually crushed the basic infrastructure of al Qaeda, that they would not have had the capability to launch such a sophisticated attack."

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Arab Analysts' Views on the Bomb Blasts in Saudi Arabia

Abdul Raheem Ali of Islam-on-Line canvassed views from Arab scholars on the meaning of it all in the terror attacks in Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Saad al-Faqih, head of the London-based Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (MIRA), in a phone interview said the attacks were likely to have been carried out by Al-Qaeda.

“Al-Qaeda network, which declared a world-wide war on the United States in 1998, does not distinguish between military people and civilians.

The American troops which were reportedly to leave Saudi Arabia only represent a small portion of the American forces deployed before the invasion of Iraq. But there are still ten thousand American military experts as well as 30,000 American civilians, including military technicians and security experts would remain in the kingdom.

A number of basic change factors have contributed to supporting the trend of jihadists in the kingdom in the Riyadh bombings. Firstly, an anti-American popular momentum that was further fanned by the Saudi cooperation with the Americans.

Secondly,the emerging of a new group of young Saudi scholars who back the jihad tendencies against the United States and the Saudi regime through their fatwas. Such as Sheikh Ali el-Khodeir, Naser el-Fahd and Ahmed el-Khaldi who last week issued a statement calling on the Saudi people not to cooperate with the state security authorities in hunting down the 19 “terrorists” suspected of links with Al-Qaeda. The three scholars reportedly referred to the suspects as “mujahideen” and exhorted the Saudi people not to sell them to the security authorities.

And the third factor is the aggravation of the economic and social crisis in the kingdom, which sent unemployment, crime, bribery, corruption and poverty rates sky-high.

All these changes prompted large sections of the Saudi people to support the “Islamic jihadist" trend.

Al-Qaeda does not adopt reaction techniques in their operations. The timing of the operation has nothing to do with the war on Iraq, (U.S. Secretary of State Colin) Powell’s visit to Riyadh or the American presence bur rather has to do with Al-Qaeda’s anti-American policies and plans for confrontations with the United States everywhere.

Al-Qaeda had to lay low for a while after a word-wide war was ignited against it."

Yasser el-Serri, director of the London-based Islamic Observatory, said in a phone interview the Riyadh bombing attacks were triggered by the Saudi security authorities’ crackdown on the jihadist groups in Saudi Arabia .

“ There were attempts by the Saudi authorities to tighten the grip on the jihadist groups in Saudi Arabia. The publication of their names and the clampdowns on them pushed these jihadist groups to accelerate the carrying out of a wide-scale operation to ease the heat .

Abdel Aziz el-Khamis, a Saudi opposition figure and director of the Saudi Center for Human rights, said that “jihadist group wanted to convey a message to its supporters to force American military to leave the kingdom.”

Mohammad el-Mas’ri, a Britain-based Saudi asylum said the explosions signal the beginning of a confrontation between Saudi Arabia and militant groups and anticipated the Riyadh bombings as “just the beginning of major operations” in the making.

Jihad Awad, a political science professor and researcher in Islamic military groups affairs said what happened in Saudi Arabia was expected in any minute.

“The explosions signal the beginning of a confrontation between Saudi Arabia and groups that believe in the use of violence.

All Arab countries, particularly Egypt , Algeria , Yemen and the United Arab Emirates , witnessed decisive battles with violence groups. Only the Saudi regime tried to postpone the beginning of the confrontation until declaring it with the Riyadh bombings.

But this battle will be won by the Saudi regime as was the case in Egypt and Yemen in light of the favorable atmosphere and the immense assistance that could be provided by the U.S. as being the most affected by the bombings after the kingdom"

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UPDATE: On Bomb Blasts in Saudi Arabia

Latest !!!! CASUALTIES : More than 90 people were killed. The final figure could rise as the day went on. "These are very preliminary numbers," the official added.

At least 30 -- and possibly as many as 44 -- US citizens were wounded, the official said. The officials, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, gave figures significantly higher than those released earlier by the Saudi interior ministry, which said at least 29 people were killed, including nine bombers and seven Americans, and 194 injured in the blast

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EARLIER TODAY....

Casualities: More than 25 killed including 10 Americans.

It was the first major attack on U.S. and Western interests since the war on Iraq. Critics had warned the Iraq war could fan hatred of America across the Middle East and provoke attacks like those of 9/11.

A medical source in the secretive kingdom told Reuters that the total death toll was over 25 with many in intensive care.

Some officials said at least 160 people were wounded, including 40 Americans. Australia said one of its citizens was killed.

Suspected al Qaeda suicide bombers shot their way into housing compounds clearly aimed at U.S. interests on Monday night (12th May).

The housing compounds, which the bombers penetrated shortly before midnight after shooting their way past armed guards, were devastated. Entire facades were ripped off apartment blocks. One complex housed contractors for a U.S. defense firm. The others also were home to many Western expatriates. About 30,000 American expatriates work in Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, many in the oil industry, but also in services such as finance, defense and health. There are also about 30,000 British residents among a large Western community.

Defkafile, an Israeli news website that claimed with links to intelligence sources, described the attack:

The elite locations populated by foreign expatriates including many Americans that came under attack were Garnata, Cordoba and Ishbiliya.

All sheltered behind concrete walls, electronic detectors and automatic sensors, their two or three gates guarded by armed men who opened cement road barriers only to vehicles whose drivers presented keys with the correct coded electronic signal. Drivers of unidentified cars had to step out and approach the guards who searched them and their vehicles.

The terrorists overcame this formidable security system by having several small teams strike at different points in each estate with ferocious fire and explosive power. While one group killed the guards and smashed the gates, one or more Mercedes packed with explosives and suicide terrorists drove round the other side and rammed the estates’ perimeter walls.

The next team drove into the estates through the hole. Once in, vehicles loaded with cans of gasoline as well as explosives blasted high-rise buildings, killing many of their residents and leveling entire streets.

Another group of terrorists rode into the damaged compounds and massacred survivors by spraying the interiors of still standing buildings with automatic fire, hand grenades and fuel bombs. Some witnesses heard the firing going on 10 minutes after the explosions. When their ammunition ran out, the killers detonated bomb belts.

After the first-wave assaults, few could have survived the fierce heat and vacuum generated in their apartments by the second-wave gasoline blasts which tore the façades off their buildings and sucked them out.

DEFKAfile further reported:

On May 7, a shootout between Saudi security and a large group of terrorists took place in the Saudi capital. Saudi intelligence sources admit this was the fourth battle Saudi security men had fought with terrorists in Riyadh in recent weeks. The first three were never officially released.

Even in reporting the last clash, the Saudi ministry of interior focused mainly on the large cache seized of explosives, weapons and ammunition, including publicizing the names and photos of the 19 gunmen who got away, 17 of them Saudi nationals. So acute is the security crisis in the Saudi capital that for the first time ever, its police published an appeal for public help in capturing the wanted men, including even a cash reward.

Subsequent leaks from Saudi sources showed the May 7 incident was more dangerous and audacious than first reported: an attempt to assassinate Prince Sultan, the pro-American Saudi defense minister, and his brother, Interior Minister Prince Naif, who is also in command of internal security in the kingdom.However, DEBKAfile could not confirmed this account. The assailants did indeed mount an assassination attempt against “a leading Saudi figure” the day before on May 6. The battle developed after the plot was aborted and the assassins were in flight from pursuit.

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Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - THE ROAD MAP FOR PEACE

CLICK HERE to read the FULL TEXT of the ROAD MAP
--To Resolve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

1. Read here on The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict published by Jews for Justice in the Middle East ( in .pdf file - need Acrobat Reader)
   
   
2. Read here Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict - A Primer by The Middle East Research and Information Project
   
   
3. Read here United Nations Document " History of the Palestinian Problem"

Latest news on the progress in the implementation of the Road Map

US Secretary of State Colin Powell held talks yesterday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmud Abbas, saying the time was ripe for the immediate implementation of the international road map for peace. The plan, drafted by top EU, Russian, UN and US officials, was handed to the two sides on April 30.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was suggesting Tuesday that he will try to hold on to much of the West Bank's heartland. Israeli control over those areas would make it extremely difficult to establish a territorially contiguous Palestinian state in the West Bank, a goal of the U.S.-backed plan, the so-called "road map" to Mideast peace. Sharon spoke after U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell failed to win Israel's acceptance of a new Mideast peace plan. Sharon said Israel would hold on to some settlements in the heart of the West Bank, citing three by name - Beit El, Ariel and Emmanuel.

It was an “historic moment”, said Colin Powell during his visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. But as soon as Powell left on Monday May 12th, things had begun to unravel. Mr Powell was told by Israeli ministers they could not accept the road map as it was. Economist.com reports:

From Israel, Mr Powell did receive several promises to relax the army’s punishing regime in the West Bank and Gaza, which has reduced much of the Palestinian population to poverty. Some 25,000 permits will be issued to Palestinians to work in Israel and 180 Palestinian prisoners are to be released. But by the time Mr Powell arrived in Egypt on Monday, Israel had reimposed a travel ban on people moving in and out of Gaza, citing “security concerns”.Palestinians had been quick to point out that the permits are largely meaningless as long as Israel prevents Palestinians travelling between the West Bank cities.

From the Palestinians, Mr Powell won a reluctant agreement that Mr Abbas would meet Mr Sharon, probably on May 16th. The new Palestinian prime minister had previously maintained that any meeting with Mr Sharon was conditional on Israel accepting the road map. Mr Abbas publicly urged Mr Powell to press Israel to end the construction of settlements, lift the closures and free the PA’s president, Yasser Arafat, from effective imprisonment in his headquarters in Ramallah.

Meanwhile, the violence continues. On Sunday, an Israeli died in a Palestinian ambush on a settler road just outside Ramallah, the second killing in the area in less than a week. On Monday, two Palestinian militants were killed by Israeli troops in southern Gaza, and in a separate incident a Palestinian farmer was killed by troops guarding a Jewish settlement.

More blood is sure to have been spilled by the time Mr Bush gets to pick up where Mr Powell left off, by continuing to urge Mr Sharon to start withdrawing from the West Bank cities, stop building settlements and end incursions into Palestinian areas.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas will meet for the first time on May 16, a Palestinian official said on Monday. A senior diplomat confirmed the date of the meeting, which follows talks held by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell with Israelis and Palestinians to promote a peace plan to end 31 months of violence. Neither source mentioned a venue.

The lobby against the U.S.-backed road map for Middle East peace, spearheaded by lawmakers from right-wing parties and by the Yesha council of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, is stepping up its activities aimed at stymieing the initiative. The Yesha Council, whose opposition to the road map is well known , published a particularly harshly-worded condemnation of the plan on Saturday. The council is demanding that the government state explicitly that "the settler movement is moral and just, and is an expression of the Jewish people's eternal connection to its historical homeland."

Just one day after an apparent breakthrough in the new Middle East push for peace, Israel has reimposed its ban on Palestinians and other foreigners entering or leaving the Gaza Strip. Yesterday's clampdown effectively froze Israel's decision on Sunday to allow 25,000 Palestinian labourers to enter the country. That decision, along with the promised release of 180 Palestinian detainees, followed a request by the visiting United States Secretary of State, Colin Powell, for conciliatory gestures towards the Palestinians even before Israel endorses the peace "road map".

For Israeli settlers, the current road map peace outline, as co-sponsored and endorsed by the Bush administration, bears uncomfortable echoes of the Oslo agreement, particularly in a clause that specifies that as part of an initial phase, the government of Israel will "immediately dismantle settlement outposts erected since March 2001" and "freezes all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements)" - this last a reference to settler demands that they be able to continue to build housing to provide for the future needs of their children. Of late, settlement leaders have stepped up their opposition to efforts to remove any settlements, even vulnerable, nearly unpopulated isolated enclaves. Settlers make no secret of their belief that settlements are a bulwark in any effort to block the rise of a Palestinian state, which they oppose as a mortal security risk to the future of Israel. As a result, said dovish opposition leader Yossi Sarid, "The settlements are multiplying and expanding every single day. You can see it in pictures, and you can see in on the ground."

Powell's visit was widely seen as unsuccessful. Mr. Powell was forced to admit that he had made little progress on the outposts issue. He said it would be discussed further during Mr. Sharon's visit to the US. According to the road map drawn up by the US, the European Union, Russian and the United Nations, the several dozen outposts established by zealous settlers without cabinet approval and with little Israeli public support should be "immediately" emptied. "The strategy of Sharon is to lead the road map to a funeral without mentioning the date of the funeral, to have it die a gradual death." says Wadie Abu Nassar, a Haifa-based political analyst. "He is very happy with the current status quo, he controls everything, the Palestinians are weak, he has no domestic opposition and he still thinks the Palestinians can be weakened by force and that they will have to accept Israeli demands."

Egypt has said that Israeli humanitarian gestures to Palestinians are meaningless and that the Jewish state needs to accept and begin implementing a "road map" for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Ahmad Mr Maher, the Egyptian Foreign Minister said Israel must adopt the road map and also make the lives of Palestinians easier - mirroring a demand Mr Powell made in talks in Israel on Sunday. Israel had said the Palestinians could expect nothing more than modest humanitarian gestures until a new Palestinian government cracked down on militants spearheading an uprising for independence.

Colin Powell sidestepped obstacles to the formal launch of the long awaited "road map" for the creation of a Palestinian state and settled for minor confidence-building measures in meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders yesterday. Mr Powell by-passed difficult issues such as new Israeli demand that the Palestinians renounce the right of return for refugees before negotiations begin.

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SARS - UPDATE 13 May 2003

READ HERE about the Nurses - Unsung Heroes- who put at risk their own health and life in the front-line battle against SARS

An Expert warned the virus could alter genetically if it spreads widely beyond the Asian population. Dr. Christian Drosten Bernard-Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, gave this warning at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. He said:

"What will happen to the virus if it jumps into a genetically different population? What will happen then? Will there be a new point-source outbreak from, say, Uganda when one Ugandan becomes infected in Asia? There may be an evolutionary pressure on the virus. This is what seems to be in many other viruses. Human populations are differently susceptible to some viruses."

HONGKONG: Dr. Tse Yuen-man, is the first front-line doctor, and second frontline medical worker, to die in Hong Kong's battle against SARS. Tse died early Tuesday in the intensive care unit of Tuen Mun Hospital, where she contracted severe acute respiratory syndrome while treating patients. Tse's death brought Hong Kong's SARS toll to 219. Tse caught SARS as she scrambled without gloves on to treat a patient alongside nurse Lau Wing-kai, who died last month and was buried with honors after a funeral attended by top officials, including Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa. A Tuen Mun hospital official confirmed Tse and Lau were infected while treating the same patient, but could not verify other details reported by Cheng.

TAIWAN: City officials fired a hospital chief Monday who was accused of covering up misdiagnosed cases of SARS which contributed to the disease's spread here. Hoping Hospital, a public facility that was sealed off April 24 in an effort to contain the outbreak, has been named as the source of most of Taiwan's 207 cases of the respiratory illness. Hospital president Wu Kang-wen was dismissed because he and at least one doctor have been accused of misdiagnosing SARS patients or covering up infections.

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Bomb Blasts in Saudi Arabia Prior to Powell's Visit - Suspect : Al-Qaeda

Update: The Guardian reports:

Suicide bombers have killed up to 10 people and wounded more than 60 today in a series of attacks targeting foreigners in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, official sources said today.

The US ambassador to the country, Robert Jordan, told BBC radio: "There are preliminary reports of upwards of 40 Americans in hospital and considerable numbers of other nationalities in hospital and very likely fatalities in the two to 10 range."

An official at the British embassy in Riyadh said: "We believe there are a small number of British nationals who have been injured, not seriously. We are just confirming their identities at the moment."

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Three consecutive powerful explosions exploded in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia on Monday night (12th May) targeting four compunds housing Americans and westerners. Officials suspect the bombings had all the prints of Al-Qaeda. A fourth explosion was reported but unconfirmed.

Zafir Jamaal reports:

According to diplomatic sources, the housing complexes at Courdoval, Jedawal, and The Hamra were hit. Death toll is expected to rise as details become clear.

One person killed was said to be the son of a high-ranking Saudi official. More than 40 Americans have been treated for injuries at Riyadh hospitals, said Robert Jordan, the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia.. He said there were unconfirmed reports of "a couple of American deaths."


Some of the residents of the compounds were western defense contractors, and others were advisers to the Saudi Arabia National Guard and other military units. The assailants shot their way into the upscale, gated communities before detonating vehicles loaded with explosives. The blasts occurred about 11 p.m. [4 p.m. EDT] on the eve of a planned visit by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to the city.

There was a call for revenge attacks on US interests on Sunday (11th May) by a Saudi Islamist group following a huge arms seizure from Islamic militants in Riyadh last week.

In a statement carried on the alsaha.net website, the Mujahideen in the Arabian Peninsula urged its followers to “strike and destroy American interests on land, at sea and in the air” in retaliation for the seizure of the weapons and explosives following a shootout in the Saudi capital last Tuesday. It said: “We are preparing to take our revenge ..... It is our duty to prepare the means to terrorise the enemy.”

Another explosion targeted the premises of Venyl, an American consultancy for the Saudi National Guard, which is headed by Crown Prince Abdullah, witnesses said. The building, in the Janadriyah district also in eastern Riyadh, houses both the offices and residences of Venyl personnel. Ambulances were again sent to the scene, where a fire had broken out.

MEANWHILE in AFGHANISTAN

About 150 students from the Air Force and Air Defense University staged demonstrations Saturday, May 10, 2003 in Kabul, Afghanistan to protest against the government's plan to transfer them to civilian universities. (AP Photo/Amir Shah)

Husbanullah Muttawakel reports from Kabul: In the capital of Kabul,hundreds of students from the Military University demonstrated Sunday, May 11, in front of the Presidential palace in Kabul against President Hamid Karzai and U.S. policies in Afghanistan for the second day in a row.

Students shouted saying "death to Karzai" and "death to the Americans" while international peace-keeping forces and Afghani police looked on, according to the Afghani Shahadat newspaper

Students of the military university protested the decision of the transition government to close the university, which is part of a plan in which the U.S. administration in Afghanistan would form a small Afghani army of 70,000 officers and soldiers only. Such an army would not have air or artillery forces. The U.S. troops would train the army without the need of the military educational specialized institutions in Afghanistan.

The demonstrators had also called upon the government to provide job opportunities, improve economic situation and start the reconstruction of Afghanistan. The source added that the student of Kabul University had also staged another demonstration against the transitional government, headed by Hamid Karzai.

Tension had been building lately between the U.S. forces and the Northern Alliance, particularly its military wing, headed by Marshal Mohammed Fahim, Minister of Defense in the transitional government. Some analysts believe the Northern Alliance's military wing is in involved in the demonstrations.

Drivers shout slogans against the Afghan government in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, May 12, 2003. Several hundred Afghans afraid of losing government jobs staged a protest on the edge of the capital. The protests are becoming more frequent in Kabul amid signs of growing unrest and impatience with government progress in reconstructing Afghanistan

The last few weeks have witnessed several demonstrations, in which large numbers of the Afghans participated to protest against weak security measures and bad economic situation in the country.

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Tony Blair's Cabinet Minister Resigned Over His Handling of Post-War Iraq

Tony Blair's International Development Secretary, Ms Clare Short, simply had enough of Tony Blair's handling of post-war Iraq.

She resigned today (12th May 2003).

Former Foreign Office minister Baroness Amos has been appointed as Ms Short's successor.

Ms Short accused Tony Blair of breaking his word to her on the role of the UN to establish a legitimate Iraqi government.

In her resignation letter to Mr Blair, Ms Short said:

"As you know, I thought the run-up to the conflict in Iraq was mishandled, but I agreed to stay in the government to help support the reconstruction effort for the people of Iraq.

I am afraid that the assurances you gave me about the need for a UN mandate to establish a legitimate Iraqi government have been breached.

The security council resolution that you and Jack [Straw, the foreign secretary] have so secretly negotiated contradicts the assurance I have given in the House of Commons and elsewhere about the legal authority of the occupying powers, and the need for a UN-led process to establish a legitimate Iraqi government.

This makes my position impossible.

I am sad and sorry that it has ended like this. "

In her first post-resignation interview to the BBC, Ms Short called the government's position on the UN's role "indefensible."

She said:

"The UN has adopted a position which is wrong and dishonourable, and the government's position is indefensible and I cannot stay in the government.

I love my department - it's the biggest issue facing the world today. But I cannot stay in a government that does dishonourable things in an area which is my responsibility."

In an interview with Radio 4's the World at One programme, Ms Short said the latest draft UN resolution on Iraq as "shameful" and "indefensible".

The US and UK were "occupying powers in occupied territory" who had no authority to bring in a legitimate Iraqi government without the UN, she added. "I don't believe in the legality and wisdom of the action the UK is taking in the security council. These are very serious mistake."

Before the start of the war, Ms Short had threatened to resign over Iraq, promising to quit "if there is not UN authority for military action". She had accused Tony Blair of being "extraordinarily reckless" over the issue.

The Guardian UK reports:

Opposition politicians described Ms Short's departure as a major blow for Mr Blair. "I think this demonstrates what we are seeing over the last few weeks, the government is split from top to bottom on the euro, foundation hospitals, and Iraq," said the Conservative leader, Iain Duncan Smith.

"Those splits are hurting the government's ability to be the government in the United Kingdom."

But the Liberal Democrat international affairs spokeswoman, Jenny Tonge, expressed her sadness at Ms Short's resignation. During a visit to Malawi, Dr Tonge said: "This is sad news for the developing world. Clare Short has been an extremely good international development secretary and has been brave enough to challenge her own party on a number of issues, including Iraq."Whoever replaces her will have a tough act to follow."

The text of Ms Short's resignation letter to the Tony Blair.

Monday May 12, 2003

Dear Tony,

I have decided that I must leave the government.

As you know, I thought the run-up to the conflict in Iraq was mishandled, but I agreed to stay in the government to help support the reconstruction effort for the people of Iraq.

I am afraid that the assurances you gave me about the need for a UN mandate to establish a legitimate Iraqi government have been breached. The security council resolution that you and Jack have so secretly negotiated contradicts the assurances I have given in the House of Commons and elsewhere about the legal authority of the occupying powers, and the need for a UN-led process to establish a legitimate Iraqi government. This makes my position impossible.

It has been a great honour for me to have led the establishment and development of the Department for International Development over the past six years. I am proud of what we have achieved and much else that the government has done.

I am sad and sorry that it has ended like this.

Yours,

Clare.

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Iraq War: "It is NOT about Oil!"

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had been telling the world before the Iraq war: "It has nothing to do with oil, literally nothing to do with oil".

If not for the events unfolding in Iraq during the war, one could ALMOST believe him.

• Immediately following the invasion, U.S. forces seized two offshore terminals that can transfer 2 million bbl. daily to tankers.
  
  
• US Forces took swift action to control the southern Rumaila oil field . Iraqi retreating troops could only set ablaze nine wells. In 1991 Gulf War , 650 Kuwaiti wells were put to the torch.
  
  
• U.S. airborne troops took early control of the largely intact northern oil fields at Kirkuk.
  
  US Marines deploy outside the oil ministry in Baghdad.(AFP/Ramzi Haidar)
  
  
• When U.S. forces came into downtown Baghdad 3 weeks later, their first stop was the Oil Ministry Building and took full control by putting up a protective shield around the building. Meanwhile US soldiers condoned and allowed other government buildings, ranging from the Ministry of Religious Affairs to the National Museum of Antiquities, to be looted and destroyed, and hospitals being looted off with medicine and basic equipment.
  
  
• Iraq's oil records were kept well guarded by the U.S. military.

General Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in explaining the situation, said: "I think it's a matter of priorities."

The Bush Administration repeatedly claimed that Iraq's oil belongs to its citizens: "We'll make sure that Iraq's natural resources are used for the benefit of their owners, the Iraqi people."

But in reality, Iraqi oil is to be controlled and exploited for a much larger stake than Washington's public-relation statement about Iraqi oil for the well-being of the Iraqi people.


According to a report by Time Magazine:

" .. the amount of oil that Iraq brings to market will not just determine the living standards of Iraqis but affect everything from the Russian economy to the price Americans pay for gasoline, from the stability of Saudi Arabia to Iran's future"

But why is Iraq such a prize? Read here for the full story by Donald L. Bartlett and James B. Steele for Time Magazine.

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The Returned Ayatollah Repeats: "Foreigners must leave Iraq"

The message from Ayatollah Muhammad Baqr al-Hakim, since returning to Iraq from exile had been: Iraq's government should be an Islamic one, independent and free from all foreign interference.

Read here earlier posting on Ayatollah' al-Hakim's return trip from exile.

The message was given out by the 66-year-old leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq to tribal leaders and followers at Najaf, one of the holiest Shia cities.

At Nasiriyah , he told a crowd of 4,000 and later at Samawa to 60,000 people :

"We don’t fear these forces. This nation wants to preserve its independence and the coalition forces must leave this country.

We must never permit the presence of foreigners and we must not be their slaves. We must show that we can rule ourselves.”

The crowd responded “Yes! Yes for Islam! No Americans! No Saddam!”

Lieutenant-Colonel Ronnie McCourt, a British Army spokesman in Basra, said: “ If he starts to create agitation and stir up the crowds, he’s obviously going to be a concern. But we are restoring democracy here. We are hoping he takes a sensible course and acts moderately.”

Thousands turned up at the border crossing near Basra to witness the Ayatollah al-Hakim's return.

MEANWHILE, Washington is changing its Team-in-Charge for Iraq

Barbara Bodine, the US coordinator for central Iraq, was ordered back to Washington. Sacked for failing to restore law and order or basic public services in Baghdad. She is the second senior US official to be removed.

Retired general Jay Garner, head of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Aid (Orha), who is supposed to be in Iraq for 3 months, will be replaced by Paul Bremer, a former US diplomat,as the new top administrator in charge of rebuilding Iraq . Garner had only been in Baghdad for three weeks. General Garner is said to leave in the next week or two after a transition with Mr. Bremer.

British John Sawyer, an ex-ambassador to Cairo and former Downing Street policy adviser, was dispatch by Britain to work with Mr Bremer.

Others in the US Team expected to leave soon include:

Margaret Tutwiler, who had been in charge of overall communications under General Garner;

Tim Carney, a former ambassador who had been overseeing Iraq's Ministry of Industry and Minerals;

David Dunford, a senior Foreign Service specialist on the Middle East, and

John Limbert, the ambassador to Mauritania.

The overhaul of the US Team is to address the escalating violence and a breakdown of civil order which are paralyzing the rebuilding process. "Unless we do something in the near future, it is likely to blow up in our face," one official said.

Ewen MacAskill of The Guardian reports:

" There has been growing resentment among residents over the failure to restore order and basic services. The US, unaccountably, has been unable to stage any big public relations coup since the fall of Saddam to win over hearts and minds, such as a huge convoy bringing in desperately needed medical supplies. Most of the contractors appointed to carry out reconstruction work remain in Kuwait, saying Baghdad is too unsafe.

In Washington, the Pentagon and State Department are at loggerheads over the running of Iraq. Although Mr Bremer's appointment was hailed as a victory for the Powell's State Department, he shares a similar view of the Middle East as the Pentagon hawks, such as the deputy defence secretary, Paul Wolfowitz. "

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US Team Assigned To Find WMD In Iraq Leaving In Frustration

• Read here Pat Buchanan's commentary "Where are they, Mr. President?"
  
  
• Read here UK's Observer article " US intelligence agencies avoiding blame for lack of proof of Iraq's WMD"
  
  
• Read here The Guardian UK's article "U.S. Offers Rewards to Iraqis Finding WMDs"
  
  
• Read here what President Bush said in his 2003 State of Union Address on Iraq's WMD
  
  The US Team, called the 75th Exploitation Task Force was seen as the principal component of the U.S. plan to discover and display forbidden Iraqi weapons. Their departure from Iraq , expected next month, without finding proof that President Saddam Hussein kept clandestine stocks of outlawed arms, is a failure to achieve the declared objective of the war.
  
  Barton Gellman of the Washington Post reports:
  
  
  Leaders of Task Force 75's diverse staff -- biologists, chemists, arms treaty enforcers, nuclear operators, computer and document experts, and special forces troops -- arrived with high hopes of early success. They expected to find what Secretary of State Colin L. Powell described at the U.N. Security Council on Feb. 5 -- hundreds of tons of biological and chemical agents, missiles and rockets to deliver the agents, and evidence of an ongoing program to build a nuclear bomb. Many task force members said in interviews that after scores of fruitless missions, that confidence was broken.
  
  Army Col. Richard McPhee , who will close down the task force next month, said he took seriously U.S. intelligence warnings on the eve of war that Hussein had given "release authority" to subordinates in command of chemical weapons. "We didn't have all these people in [protective] suits" for nothing, he said. But if Iraq thought of using such weapons, "there had to have been something to use. And we haven't found it. . . . Books will be written on that in the intelligence community for a long time."
  
  Army Col. Robert Smith , who leads the site assessment teams from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, said task force leaders no longer "think we're going to find chemical rounds sitting next to a gun." He added, "That's what we came here for, but we're past that."
  
  Task force members consistently found targets identified by Washington to be inaccurate, looted and burned, or both.
  
  U.S. Central Command began the war with a list of 19 top weapons sites. Only two remain to be searched. Another list enumerated 68 top "non-WMD sites," without known links to special weapons but judged to have the potential to offer clues. Of those, the tally at midweek showed 45 surveyed without success.
  
  Task Force 75's experience, and its impending dissolution after seven weeks in action, square poorly with assertions in Washington that the search has barely begun.
  
  In his declaration of victory aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, President Bush said, "We've begun the search for hidden chemical and biological weapons, and already know of hundreds of sites that will be investigated."
  
  Stephen A. Cambone, undersecretary of defense for intelligence, told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday that U.S. forces had surveyed only 70 of the roughly 600 potential weapons facilities on the "integrated master site list" prepared by U.S. intelligence agencies before the war.
  
  But here on the front lines of the search, the focus is on a smaller number of high-priority sites, and the results are uniformly disappointing, participants said.
  
  "Why are we doing any planned targets?" Army Chief Warrant Officer Richard L. Gonzales, leader of Mobile Exploitation Team Alpha, said in disgust to a colleague during last Sunday's nightly report of weapons sites and survey results. "Answer me that. We know they're empty."
  
  Survey teams have combed laboratories and munitions plants, bunkers and distilleries, bakeries and vaccine factories, file cabinets and holes in the ground where tipsters advised them to dig. Most of the assignments came with classified "target folders" describing U.S. intelligence leads. Others, known as the "ad hocs," came to the task force's attention by way of plausible human sources on the ground.
  
  The hunt will continue under a new Iraq Survey Group, which the Bush administration has said is a larger team. But the organizers are drawing down their weapons staffs for lack of work, and adding expertise for other missions.
  
  Interviews and documents describing the transition from Task Force 75 to the new group show that site survey teams, the advance scouts of the arms search, will reduce from six to two their complement of experts in missile technology and biological, chemical and nuclear weapons.
  
  A little-known nuclear special operations group from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, called the Direct Support Team, has already sent home a third of its original complement, and plans to cut the remaining team by half.
  
  "We thought we would be much more gainfully employed, or intensively employed, than we were," said Navy Cmdr. David Beckett, who directs special nuclear programs for the team.
  
  State-of-the-art biological and chemical labs, shrunk to fit standard cargo containers, came equipped with enough supplies to run thousands of tests using DNA fingerprinting and mass spectrometry. They have been called upon no more than a few dozen times, none with a confirmed hit. The labs' director, who asked not to be identified, said some of his scientists were also going home.
  
  Even the sharpest skeptics do not rule out that the hunt may eventually find evidence of banned weapons. The most significant unknown is what U.S. interrogators are learning from senior Iraqi scientists, military industrial managers and Iraqi government leaders now in custody. If the nonconventional arms exist, some of them ought to know.
  
  Publicly, the Bush administration has declined to discuss what the captured Iraqis are saying. In private, U.S. officials provide conflicting reports, with some hinting at important disclosures. Cambone also said U.S. forces have seized "troves of documents" and are "surveying them, triaging them" for clues.
  
  Army Col. Richard McPhee , an artillery brigade commander from Oklahoma who was assigned to the task force five months ago, reflected on the weapons hunt: "My unit has not found chemical weapons," he said. "That's a fact. "
  
  Team members explain their disappointing results, in part, as a consequence of a slow advance. Cautious ground commanders sometimes held weapons hunters away from the front, they said, and the task force had no helicopters of its own.
  
  "My personal feeling is we waited too long and stayed too far back," said Christopher Kowal, an expert in computer forensics who worked for Mobile Exploitation Team Charlie until last week.
  
  "We came to bear country, we came loaded for bear and we found out the bear wasn't here," said a Defense Intelligence Agency officer here who asked not to be identified by name. "The indications and warnings were there. The assessments were solid."
  
  "Okay, that paradigm didn't exist," he added. "The question before was, where are Saddam Hussein's chemical and biological weapons? What is the question now? That is what we are trying to sort out."
  
  One thing analysts must reconsider, he said, is: "What was the nature of the threat?"
  
  By far the greatest impediment to the weapons hunt was widespread looting of Iraq's government and industrial facilities. At nearly every top-tier "sensitive site" the searchers reached, intruders had sacked and burned the evidence that weapons hunters had counted on sifting. As recently as last Tuesday, nearly a month after Hussein's fall from power, soldiers secured only 44 of the 85 top potential weapons sites in the Baghdad area and 153 of the 372 considered most important to rebuilding Iraq's government and economy.
  
  The search teams arrived in Iraq "looking for the smoking gun," Army Col. Robert Smith said, and now the mission is more diffuse -- general intelligence-gathering on subjects ranging from crimes against humanity and prisoners of war to Hussein's links with terrorists.
  
  The stymied hunt baffles search team leaders. To a person, those interviewed during a weeklong visit to the task force said they believed in the mission and the Bush administration accusations that prompted it.
  
  "I don't think we'll find anything," said Army Capt. Tom Baird, one of two deputy operations officers under Army Col. Richard McPhee. "What I see is a lot of stuff destroyed." The Defense Intelligence Agency officer, describing a "sort of a lull period" in the search, said that whatever may have been at the target sites is now "dispersed to the wind."
  
  All last week, McPhee drilled his staff on speeding the transition. The Iraq Survey Group should have all the help it needs, he said, to take control of the hunt. He is determined, subordinates said, to set the stage for success after he departs. And he does not want to leave his soldiers behind if their successors can be trained in time.
  

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FDA's 17th March 2003 News Release on Recalled Drugs containing Phenylpropanolamine

In November 2000, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requested that all drugs containing Phenylpropanolamine be recalled. Since then, drug companies had recalled their products and had also reformulated them to EXCLUDE Phenylpropanolamine (PPA.)

But emails have continued to be circulated on the internet asking consumers not to buy known over-the-counter drugs such as Alka-seltzer, that were said to contain Phenylpropanolamine (PPA).

In view of all these emails, FDA issued a news release on 17th March 2003, asking consumers to ignore these emails saying they " contain dated and inaccurate information and should be ignored."

The following is the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) of FDA's news release on its website on 17th March 2003:

" The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is taking steps to remove phenylpropanolamine (PPA) from all drug products and has requested that all drug companies discontinue marketing products containing PPA. In addition, FDA has issued a public health advisory concerning phenylpropanolamine. This drug is an ingredient that was used in many over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription cough and cold medications as a decongestant and in OTC weight loss products.

In response to the request made by FDA in November 2000, many companies have voluntarily reformulated and are continuing to reformulate their products to exclude PPA while FDA proceeds with the regulatory process necessary to remove PPA from the market.

We have received numerous requests for a list of products containing PPA. Since companies continue to reformulate their products, FDA is not maintaining a comprehensive, updated list of products that still contain PPA.

FDA is aware of emails circulating widely that list many products allegedly containing PPA. These emails, however, generally contain dated and inaccurate information and should be ignored.

The FDA recommends that consumers read the labels of OTC drug products to determine if the product contains PPA. The Agency believes this to be the most accurate method for determining the PPA content of OTC products rather than providing an incomplete or out-of-date list of products that may have already been reformulated and no longer contain PPA. (Introduction updated 03/07/03)

Scientists at Yale University School of Medicine recently issued a report entitled "Phenylpropanolamine & Risk of Hemorrhagic Stroke: Final Report of the Hemorrhagic Stroke Project."

This study reports that taking PPA increases the risk of hemorrhagic stroke (bleeding into the brain or into tissue surrounding the brain) in women. Men may also be at risk. Although the risk of hemorrhagic stroke is very low, FDA recommends that consumers not use any products that contain PPA.

FDA’s Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee recently discussed this Yale study along with additional information on phenylpropanolamine.

The Advisory Committee determined that there is an association between PPA and hemorrhagic stroke.It recommended that PPA be considered not safe for over-the-counter use."

FDA's advice as of 17th March 2003:

Consumers should read the labels of over-the-counter drug products to determine if the product contains PPA ( phenylpropanolamine)

READ THE LABELS on the following products to ensure that they DO NOT CONTAIN Phenylpropanolamine:

The following list of drugs were identified in the emails circulated on the internet that said to contain PPA prior to FDA's recall.

Acutrim Diet Gum Appetite Suppressant
Acutrim Plus Dietary Supplements
Acutrim Maximum Strength Appetite Control
Alka-Seltzer Plus Children's Cold Medicine Effervescent
Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold medicine (cherry or orange)
Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold Medicine Original
Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold & Cough Medicine Effervescent
Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold & Flu Medicine
Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold & Sinus Effervescent
Alka Seltzer Plus Night-Time Cold Medicine
BC Allergy Sinus Cold Powder
BC Sinus Cold Powder
Comtrex Flu Therapy & Fever Relief
Day & Night Contac 12-Hour Cold Capsules
Contac 12 Hour Caplets
Coricidin D Cold, Flu & Sinus
Dexatrim Caffeine Free
Dexatrim Extended Duration
Dexatrim Gelcaps
Dexatrim Vitamin C/Caffeine Free
Dimetapp Cold & Allergy Chewable Tablets
Dimetapp Cold & Cough Liqui-Gels
Dimetapp DM Cold & Cough Elixir
Dimetapp Elixir
Dimetapp 4 Hour Liquid Gels
Dimetapp 4 Hour Tablets
Dimetapp 12 Hour Extentabs Tablets
Naldecon DX Pediatric Drops
Permathene Mega-16
Robitussin CF
Tavist-D 12 Hour Relief of Sinus & Nasal Congestion
Triaminic DM Cough Relief
Triaminic Expectorant Chest & Head
Triaminic Syrup Cold & Allergy
Triaminic Triaminicol Cold & Cough

The following medicines were also voluntarily recalled by the drug companies because of a certain ingredient that is causing strokes and seizures in children:

Orange 3D Cold & Allergy Cherry (Pink)
3D Cold & Cough Berry
3D Cough Relief Yellow 3D Expectorant .

Please note FDA's news release above that companies have reformulated their products WITHOUT the PPA .

Read the labels first before buying the above products if you are not sure.

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Ayatollah Returns from Exile and Calls for an Islamic State for his Homeland

Same event and same call made in 1979 and in 2003 except for a different homeland

Year: 1979. (1st February)
Country: Iran: Location: At Tehran's Mehrabad airport: Ayatollah Khomeini returns from exile. ( What happened next, as they say, is history)


Ayatollah Khomeini returns from exile in Paris in 1979


Supporters meeting Ayatollah Khomeini at Teheran Airport in 1979

FAST FORWARD TO:

Year: 2003 (10th MAY)
Country: Iraq: Location: Basra: Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim returns from exile


Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim preparing to return to Iraq from exile


Ayatollah Hakim was mobbed by followers in Basra

Will US liberation of Iraq from Saddam Hussein's secular dictatorship to achieve western-style democracy in Iraq lead to the creation of an Islamic State of Iraq?

Events unfolding seem to point in that direction.

Ali Akbar Dareni reports for AP News on the return of Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim to Iraq :

Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim , the leader of the largest Shiite Muslim group, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq, said that Iraq's future belongs in the hands of Islam, on the eve of his return from exile.

Al-Hakim and his delegation are due to enter Iraq on Saturday, stopping first at the southern Iraqi city of Basra, a Shiite stronghold.

Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim followers compared him to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who returned from 14 years in exile in France to lead Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.

At a gathering at Tehran University, he said: " We were Iran's guests for 23 years. Now, we thank the Iranian nation and its elite revolutionary guards for their hospitality. The future of Iraq belongs to Islam. And making efforts to preserve Iraq's independence is our key challenge.''

Some analysts see few comparisons between Iraq and Iran, or between al-Hakim and Khomeini. "Khomeini was Iran's unrivaled figure and a charismatic leader loved by all Iranians, but al-Hakim is not Iraq's only leader. There are several key figures representing Iraq's population and al-Hakim is only one of them,'' said leading cleric Taha Hashemi.

But Mohsen Hakim, a spokesman for al-Hakim's Supreme Council, said his leader `"could be a new Ayatollah Khomeini but it largely depends on how the Iraqi people will welcome him.''

BBC reports from Basra, Iraq:

Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim addressed a crowd in the southern city of Basra, after returning from exile in Iran on Saturday.

He told thousands of supporters that Iraqis would not accept a government imposed by foreigners. " "We Muslims have to live together... We have to help each other stand together against imperialism. We want an independent government. We refuse imposed government." he said.

Many of his supporters carried his portrait and chanted their loyalty to him. "Hakim has had many martyrs in his family," one follower, Mohammad Lamrayani, told Reuters news agency. "He deserves our welcome after 23 years abroad. It is the right of every Iraqi to come back now after the fall of Saddam Hussein."

The Ayatollah's movements in Iraq are likely to be closely watched by United States and British officials, who are concerned that he might push for an Islamic state in Iraq.

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The White House Lied to the American Public

Lying seems to be the culture of the White House press briefings, reminiscent of the Nixon days. Lies dished out to the US and the world's media to show the US President in the best light. It does not matter whether the truth is being bent or totally warped.

Houston Chronicles commented on the latest press briefing by the White House press secretary, Ari Fleischer :

White House press secretary shows little regard for truth.

Perhaps not since Ron Zeigler made inoperative statements on behalf of Richard Nixon, however, has a press secretary exhibited such a brazen and cavalier disregard for the facts.

Bush had all along wanted to sit in a fighter jet to land on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to address the US troops that the war in Iraq is over.

Here is how the spin or lie is being concocted by Ari Fleischer, the White House Press Secretary.

Ari Fleischer informed the world that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln would be hundreds of miles offshore. And that distance over water, it would be too long for the president to safely to fly in a slower, cheaper helicopter with limited range. That is the first lie.

When President Bush flew on Air Force One from Washington toward California for his rendezvous with the Navy Viking jet, Fleischer claimed that he had no idea how far offshore the carrier was steaming and could not get the answer. That is the second lie.

The reality is that the USS Abraham Lincoln was only less than 40 miles from shore. Yet White House officials told the press and television networks, falsely, that the carrier was about 100 miles offshore.

They knew the truth, because they manipulated the television camera angles for fear the coastline might be visible.

Then late-night comedians began to snipe and ridicule Bush's exploits in naval aviation, with some reporters and commentators questioned the cost and prudence of the exercise.

What is the spin after the fact?

Fleischer came out and told the American public " distance never mattered", and the President wanted to take the jet no matter what.

Fleischer conveniently refused to explain why he and his associates repeatedly misled the public earlier.

The President is the Commander -in-chief. He can decide how he wants to visit his troops as he likes.

But why should Bush's aides want to misrepresent the facts? Perhaps they do so out of habit, a habit they find hard to break.

The tendency of political press aides to spin the facts has devolved so far it has spun out.

Ari Fleischer did not lie personally. He was asked to lie for the President of the United States. The enormity of the lie may not be as huge as Nixon's lies, but the principle of the need for the White House to tell the truth to the American public, should remain the same.

Read here on Senator Byrd's criticism of Bush's photo-op landing on the aircraft carrier in a jet fighter.

Read here commentator David Corn's take in The Nation on President Bush's short flight on the Viking jet to meet his troops on the aircraft carrier.

Read here Reuter's article "George W. Bush was intent on landing by fighter jet ."

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USA: Mother Holds Her Own 3-Year Old Son At Gun Point

Escapee Karen Lynn Lovell holding a gun to her son's head as hostage - photo TimesOnLine

Elaine Monaghan reports for Time OnLine: Crime scene: Smithville, Tennessee . Karen Lyn Lovell was jailed for stalking and harassment. She pretended to have a seizure in prison on T and was then taken to the nearby hospital.

But on the way back to jail, she managed to steal a police patrol car and drove to her sister’s home to pick up her son. The sister is the guardian of her son.

When the police surrounded her, in desperation she held her son hostage at gunpoint. The police then shot her while she was holding the child. The boy was unharmed. The mother was injured and was taken to hospital on a stretcher by ambulance.

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Halliburton's Subsidiary caught bribing officials in Nigeria

Halliburton was once run by Vice President of the United States, Dick Cheney between 1995 until August 2000.

Halliburton's subsidiary is Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), which won a US $ 7 Billion contract without any bidding to manage Iraq's oil services.

Read here List of US companies that won contracts for Iraq reconstruction and HERE on Kellog Brown and Root's contract awarded for Iraq reconstruction.

The subsidiary admits it had paid a Nigerian tax official $US2.4 million ($A3.75 million) in bribes to get favourable tax treatment.

AFP reports on the Nigerian bribery connection :

"The payments were made to obtain favourable tax treatment and clearly violated our code of business conduct and our internal control procedures," Halliburton said in a regulatory filing.

KBR is building a liquified natural gas plant and an offshore oil and gas terminal in Nigeria. Halliburton told the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) the bribe was discovered during an audit of KBR's Nigerian office.

"Based on the findings of the investigation, we have terminated several employees," it said, adding none of its senior officers was involved in the bribe. We are cooperating with the SEC in its review of the matter," Halliburton said.

"We plan to take further action to ensure that our foreign subsidiary pays all taxes owed in Nigeria, which may be as much as an additional $US5 million ($A7.8 million), which has been fully accrued."

Halliburton said its code of business conduct and internal control procedures were "essential" to the way it ran its business.

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George W. Bush and Tony Blair Nominated for 2003 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE.. for starting and winning the Iraq War

No.. this is not a comedy sketch from Jay Leno or from American Late-Night Comedy.

Reuters reports: A Norwegian parliamentarian, Jan Simonsen, a right-wing independent, actually nominated President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the Nobel Peace Prize on Thursday.

Reason: For winning the war in Iraq. This was what he said in nominating the war-leaders:

" Sometimes it's necessary to use a small and effective war to prevent a much more dangerous war in the future. If nobody acted then Saddam Hussein could have produced weapons of mass destruction and, in five or 10 years, could have used them against Israe1

...the war had made it possible to create democracy and respect for human rights in a country which for so many years has been ruled by one of the worst dictators in modern times."

He is encouraging like-minded parliamentarians in other countries to also nominate Bush and Blair.

But, the director of the Nobel Institute, Geir Lundestad, said the nomination for Bush and Blair would have to wait for the 2004 award because the deadline for nominations for 2003 passed on February 1.The secretive five-member committee names the annual winner in mid-October.

Some observers say that the pair are unlikely to win the award because Bishop Gunnar Staalsett, one of five members of the secretive Nobel committee, has spoken out against the air strikes in Afghanistan

In 2002, the Nobel Peace Prize was given to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter last October. At the time, the committee chairman called it a kick in the shins to Bush's Iraq policies as Carter had been calling for a diplomatic solution.

More than 160 people and organizations have been nominated for the 2003 prize, including Pope John Paul, Irish rock star Bono and Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya.

The 2001 Nobel Peace Prize went to the United Nations and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

There should also be consideration for Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister of Israel, for the Nobel Peace Prize for his willingness to discuss the Road Map with the the Palestinian.

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Accessing Archived Materials on News Compass

There have been problems with accessing archived postings in the last few weeks. Some of the archive materials just disappeared when readers click on the Archives link

News Compass's archive materials are now relocated. To read them, click on Archives on the left column or click here.

The materials have been saved in the following files (beginning from 11 March 2003)

• 1st May - 8th May 2003
  
  
• 24th April - 30th April 2003
  
  
• 15th April - 23rd April 2003 - Post Iraq War Period
  
  
• 8th April - 14th April 2003 - Iraq War Period
  
  
• 1st April - 7th April 2003 - Iraq War Period
  
  
• 21st March - 31st March 2003 - Iraq War Period
  
  
• 11th March - 20th March 2003 - War Countdown and other crisis

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The Good News from Baghdad.....

SALAM PAX is alive and well... and is back on the internet two days ago (07 May 2003) weblogging again from Baghdad

Many feared he was dead due to his sudden silence from 24 March 2003 when bombs were falling in Baghdad.

His weblog address is ---> http://dear_raed.blogspot.com

Here's a background of the "Baghdad blogger" who called himself SALAM PAX in his weblog during the early days of the Iraq war by Alex Massie, writing in news.scots.com

AFTER weeks of silence and rumours he might be dead, the "Baghdad blogger" reappeared on the internet yesterday with new e-mails about life in Iraq. Writing under the pen name of Salam Pax, the Baghdad blogger’s e-mails chronicling life outside his Baghdad window became required reading for more than a million people in the run-up to the war.

But for six weeks, when US bombers targeted Iraq’s communications infrastructure, access to the internet was impossible and his website (www.dear_raed.blogspot.com) went quiet.

Yesterday he returned with fresh pieces presenting a compelling and vivid picture of life in Baghdad during the war and in the days and weeks after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Salam Pax, a pseudonym that plays on the Arabic and Latin words for peace, gained a cult following before the war as increasing numbers of internet readers turned to him for a fresh and revealing perspective of life in Baghdad.

His site regularly featured in lists of the ten most popular weblogs, although some members of the so-called "blogosphere" questioned his authenticity, speculating he might be an intelligence agent for the CIA or even Israel’s Mossad.

However, investigations established that Salam Pax was using the Iraqi internet server Uruklink. He is believed to be a gay Iraqi architect, 29, who was educated partly in Austria. His real name is still not known.

The latest entries to his on-line journal, the first since 24 March, were posted by Diane Moon, a blogger from New York City who has befriended Salam Pax.

She writes: "After weeks of silence everything’s happening at once: yesterday I received an e-mail from his cousin with his satellite phone number. I called it; Salam’s father decided to play grumpy patriarch and told me to call back in ‘two minutes’, which I did. Salam sounds fine. We discussed as many things as we could in a short amount of time. Without further ado, I present his latest posts."



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....Scanning....

Middle East

Al-Qaeda is preparing a new attack in the United States on the scale of September 11 after adopting a new operational structure which is impenetrable to US intelligence, according to a Saudi weekly. "An attack against America is inevitable," Al-Majallah quotes the Islamic militant network's newly-appointed spokesman Thabet bin Qais as saying in an e-mail to the paper. Al-Qaeda has "carried out changes in its leadership and sidelined the September 11, 2001 team", the paper quotes bin Qais as saying.

In an interview broadcast late Tuesday on Palestine television, new Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas said he could not drop the Palestinian demand.Abbas, a refugee himself, said, "The refugees issue is for the final status. Keep it there and we will discuss it." Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Tuesday that the Palestinians must renounce the "right of return" of refugees and their descendants -- about 4 million people -- to their former homes in what is now Israel. Israeli officials said the renunciation must come before the second stage, in which a provisional Palestinian state in temporary borders would be set up.

British journalist James Miller, who was shot dead last week in the Gaza Strip town of Rafah, was hit by IDF fire, not by Palestinian fire, according to an autopsy carried out at by the Forensic Institute, Israel Radio reported Thursday. A pathologist sent from Britain by Miller's family participated in the autopsy, the radio said. The dissection showed that the cameraman was shot from the front, and not from behind, as the IDF claimed. He was wearing a helmet and a flack jacket, but was hit in the neck.

North Korea Crises

South Korea's defense chief on Thursday warned of possible military provocations from North Korea, amid reports in the United States of new activity at Pyongyang's nuclear plant.Defense Minister Cho Young-Kil said Seoul's "top priority should go on perfect combat-readiness to handle the enemy provocations" in the crisis over the North's nuclear ambitions.

Read here on North Korea's military capability by a Korean analyst

Read here on Donald Rumsfeld's role in North Korea's nuclear capability.

The United States has given South Korea a satellite photograph showing smoke coming from a North Korean nuclear facility, a possible sign the communist nation has started reprocessing spent fuel rods, a South Korean official said Thursday. Reprocessing the rods would be a key step toward producing nuclear weapons.The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said other signs of nuclear activity, such as traces of chemicals used in reprocessing or heat signatures, had not been detected from the Yongbyon nuclear complex. He said the smoke was coming from radiation and chemical laboratories in the facility.

After assuring the White House for months that North Korea had not begun producing plutonium for nuclear weapons, American intelligence officials changed their assessment last month, concluding that the country may have produced relatively small amounts, according to senior administration and intelligence officials.The new assessment was delivered to the White House in mid-April, after President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, ordered a review of the intelligence. A little more than a week later, North Korean officials, meeting with the United States in Beijing, boasted that they had already turned 8,000 spent nuclear-fuel rods into weapons-grade material, and strongly hinted they would export it unless they struck a deal with the United States.

Iraq

Several years after the 1991 Gulf War, Dr Salma Haddad started noticing more and more children at Baghdad's Al-Mansur hospital with an aggressive form of cancer. Haddad, a leading Iraqi specialist, was especially alarmed since the disease, acute myeloblastic leukemia, is closely associated with exposure to radiation -- and suspicion fell on the use of depleted uranium (DU) munitions.

Halliburton Co.'s emergency, no-bid contract to work on Iraq's oil wells must be fully disclosed, a Democratic lawmaker says, pointing to the Army's admission that the company has a far more lucrative role than originally believed.Prior descriptions said Vice President Dick Cheney's former company would fight oil fires. The contract also lets the company operate the oil fields for a time and distribute the petroleum, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said Tuesday. Waxman cited information he received from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which awarded the contract.

Read here List of US companies that won contracts for Iraq reconstruction

Data compiled by Iraq Body Count from widely published press and media reports shows that at least 200 civilian deaths have already been reliably reported as being due to cluster bombs, with up to a further 172 less firmly linked deaths that also involved other munitions. The table below lists these 372 deaths and provides basic information for all reported incidents in which cluster bombs were involved. It reveals that 147 of the 372 deaths have been caused by detonation of unexploded or “dud” munitions, with around half this number being children

South Asia

India has appointed a high commissioner to Pakistan in a first step toward normalizing relations between the two countries, officials here said yesterday. But India has also reacted without enthusiasm to Pakistan's initial response to a peace overture by the Indian prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, last week.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee startled the subcontinent last week when he said it was time to end more than half a century of violence and enmity with rival Pakistan.But some observers say his motives are unclear: Was it pressure from the United States, which has sent a top envoy to the region for talks this week, or because the 78-year-old, ailing poet wants to leave a legacy of peace? The announcement came ahead of the arrival of U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who was to begin his regional tour Thursday by talking with Pakistani officials in Islamabad.

Australia

Australia's Governor-General Peter Hollingworth today strongly denied allegations against him in the Victorian Supreme Court that he had raped a woman. The woman, who has since died, alleged Dr Hollingworth raped her in the 1960s. "I did not know this woman. I did not rape her," Dr Hollingworth said in a statement.

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Afghanistan: Trouble is Brewing...and Boiling Beneath the Surface...

(1) First Anti-US Protest in Kabul
Reuters reports:

First anti-American and British protest since U.S.-led forces toppled the fundamentalist Taliban in late 2001 was held yesterday (6th May 2003). About 300 protesters, who included government employees and university students complained of growing insecurity, slow post-war reconstruction and delay in payment of state salaries by Hamid Karzai's U.S.-backed government.

Some even called for the withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition forces from Afghanistan and called for Afghans to fight the ``American invasion,'' just as they had resisted the British and the Soviets in the 20th Century. ``We don't want the Brits and the Americans!'' shouted one of the protest leaders, a young and irate Kabul University student.``We want Islam to rule. They have failed to bring it to us and we want them out!''

The protest was a rare event in Kabul, where past demonstrations have usually been organized by the government. The ranks of the protesters were swelled by some passers by.The protest was organized by the ``Scientific Center'' headed by Sediq Afghan, a prominent Afghan philosopher, known for outspoken criticisms of the communist regime of the 1980s, the Mujahideen governments that replaced it and also the Taliban.

Hamid Karzai, the President, himself, has himself repeatedly complained about slow disbursement of funds by donors for reconstruction

A 4,500 strong international peacekeeping force has maintained security in Kabul since the Taliban fell. However, the United Nations and independent aid agencies are among those who complain about a lack of security in the provinces. President Hamid Karzai's government has unable to assert its rule far outside Kabul .

Much of the country remains under the control of warlords and their militias while Taliban remnants and their allies have stepped up attacks in the southern areas bordering Pakistan.

(2) Re-Emergence of the Taliban at Border Provinces
Carlotta Gall of New York Times reports from Quetta:

The border regions of Pakistan, and Quetta are becoming the main center of Taliban support in the region, and a breeding ground for opposition sentiment to the American campaign in Afghanistan and Mr. Karzai's government. Senior Taliban officials and commanders are taking refuge here, too, Afghan and American officials say. Members of the political opposition in Pakistan confirm that Taliban leaders are active and are recruiting young men to fight.

Quetta is a home away from home for the Taliban. CD's of Taliban leaders' speeches are on sale in the shops, the Friday sermons in the mosques are openly supportive of those who consider themselves to be waging a holy war against Americans or other non-Muslims, and young men speak openly of their desire to go to Afghanistan to fight.

The Taliban presence is so strong that even many of those who have been refugees here for 20 years seem to believe that the Taliban will return to power in Afghanistan. "There will be fighting until the Taliban get power again," said Nur Mohammad, an Afghan shopkeeper. "God willing, they will force those infidels out of the country."

(3) Taliban Fighters Infiltrating Back from Pakistan Borders
Owais Tohid reports for Eurasianet:

Hundreds of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters escaped from Afghanistan, finding refuge in the madrassahs and Afghan refugee camps in the hilly terrains of Baluchistan, and in tribal areas in the North-West Frontier province of Pakistan. In recent months they have been renewing armed operations.

Units of Taliban loyalists – along with fighters loyal to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of the hardline Islamic Hizb-i-Islami movement – have infiltrated back into Afghanistan to carry out attacks against US troops and Afghan government forces.

Taliban raids have already caused a few US casualties. For example, one late April clash near Shkin in Paktia province left two American soldiers dead. The skirmishes have resulted in an unknown number of Taliban casualties. Although the Taliban’s military capabilities remain limited, Karzai government officials are clearly concerned about the raids. In particular, officials worry about ongoing Pakistani support for the Taliban.

US Special Forces Under Attacks
AP Wire Reports:

Rebels fired five rockets at U.S. special forces training in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday (5th May). The rockets were fired Sunday near the eastern city of Gardez and missed the soldiers by 800 yards. No one was hurt, an army statement said.

Two U.S. soldiers were killed in an April 25 firefight near Shkin in southeast Afghanistan. They were investigating suspicious activity at the site of an earlier rocket attack.

(4) Tribal Rivalries Not Helping Security Concerns
CNN reports:

Efforts to rebuild Afghanistan are being undermined by traditional rivalries between tribal leaders and renewed activity by supporters of the former Taliban regime, according to the United Nations.

The U.N.'s special representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, told the Security Council Tuesday that work in Afghanistan was "challenged by the deterioration of the security environment which stems from daily harassment and intimidation, inter-ethnic and inter-factional strife, (and) increase in the activity of elements linked to the Taliban."

Two Afghan mine clearers were wounded late Monday when guerrillas fired on their convoy in southern Afghanistan on the highway to the capital, Kabul, northeast of Kandahar, The Associated Press reported Just four days earlier on the same highway, other mine clearers were attacked by suspected Taliban rebels. One person was killed and another was injured.

Brahimi said such attacks were putting pressure on nongovernmental and international organizations to suspend or withdraw operations, and he called for a better exchange of information among the U.N., the U.S.-led coalition and Afghan government authorities.

(5) Alleged Corruption and Nepotism in Karzai's Government
Farangis Najibullah reports for Radio Free Europe:

Many Afghans complain about widespread nepotism and cronyism in the government. Abdulahrar Romizpour, a law professor at Kabul University, told RFE/RL that appointments to key, decision-making positions in the Afghan government are unlikely to happen without the support of family members or close relatives already inside the government. Allegations include:


• Sayyed Mustafa Kazemi, Afghanistan's trade minister, whom Romizpour accuses of rampant nepotism. The Afghan trade representative in Germany, Sayyed Mujtaboh Hashemi, is the trade minister's cousin. The minister's other cousin, Muslim, is trade representative in Dubai. His other two cousins are trade representatives in the Iranian town of Mashhad. Mr. Daleri, the chief of customs in Kabul, is also the trade minister's cousin. Mr. Hussein Agha, the head of the Chamber of Commerce, is the trade minister's brother-in-law. The head of the Food Supply Office, Sayyed Hashem Hashemi, is the trade minister's cousin.
  
  
• Mohammad Qasim Fahim is Afghanistan's defense minister. His cousin Sultan Mahmud Didar was appointed Afghanistan's defense attache in Berlin. Fahim and his two deputies -- Atiqullah Baryalai and Bismillah Khan, as well as Abdul Latef, a senior official at the Defense Ministry -- are members of Shura-yi Nezar, a loose political grouping comprised of former mujahedin parties.
  
  
• Latef is brother of Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, who is also a prominent member of Shura-yi Nezar.
  
  
• Ismail Khan, the governor of the western province of Herat, and Abdul Rashid Dostum, the powerful regional commander in northern Afghanistan. Ismail Khan's son was appointed minister of civil aviation and tourism, despite what was said to be a lack of qualifications. Meanwhile, Dostum's brother, Abdul Qader, is Afghanistan's ambassador to Kyrgyzstan.
  
  
• Two of Qanooni's cousins, Saifi and Mohammad Hasan, serve as ambassadors to Bulgaria and Ukraine, respectively
  
  
• Hamid Karzai chose two of his uncles, Abdul Aziz and Abdul Ghaffor, as ambassadors to the Czech Republic and Egypt, respectively.

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Malaysian Blogger Relates Another Sad Tale from the Iraq War

The full story is reported by Jeff Ooi today (7 May 2003) on his weblog "Screen Shots".

It breaks your heart.

Click here to read the story of a 9 year old Iraqi girl and the Iraqi war.

War, no matter how justified or not, kills and maims... especially children.

This is a story about a 9 year old Iraqi girl,Yasmine Wa 'adi, who lost both her legs as a result of the US bombing of Baghdad on April 9. Her 26-year old brother sacrificed his life for her, and she had not been told about her brother, except that he had left Iraq.

Yasmine has arrived Malaysia from Baghdad, with the help of local charities. She came to the attention of journalists in Baghdad because she radiated her personality with "her twinkling eyes and her ability to smile despite her misfortune".

Malaysian weblogger, Jeff Ooi wrote. "US kills. Malaysia heals". Very apt.

OTHER NEWS ON THE POST-WAR IRAQ FRONT

Rescued prisoner of war Jessica Lynch is suffering from a form of memory loss that prevents her from recalling details from the time she was ambushed in Iraq to a point during her captivity there, authorities said Monday. (Note: This Weblog posted earlier the story by Mitch Potter on 06 May 2003, which indicated Private Lynch was well-looked after during her captivity in the Nasariyah Hospital. Now she could not recall. What a pity! )

BBC News uncovers evidence suggesting US soldiers even egged on some looters. Rasool Abdul-Husayn, an unemployed school teacher, says he saw one American signalling the crowd to move in, with a repeated wave of the arm. Another eyewitness, Kareem Khattar, who works in a bread shop across the road from the college, saw the same thing. "I saw with my own eyes the Americans signal the people to move in and the looters started clapping," says Mr Khattar. "The Americans waved bye-bye and the looters were clapping. They started looting quickly and when one man came out with an air conditioner an American said to him 'Good, very good'."

Organised crime gangs may have been involved in the looting of invaluable, ancient treasures from the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad last month, the US government admitted yesterday. General Tommy Franks, commander of US forces in Iraq, has insisted that there was no evidence of selective looting. But sources in the art world have said the artefacts from the Assyrian, Sumerian and Babylonian civilisations were almost certainly stolen to order.

An audiotape was handed to the SM Herald in Baghdad, with this tantalising claim: it is the voice of Saddam Hussein only two days ago.The Herald played the tape, allegedly recorded two days ago, to more than a dozen Iraqis from various walks of life, including a judge, a law professor and a former acquaintance of Saddam in exile. The overwhelming opinion was that the voice and rhetoric were very similar, or identical, to those of Saddam.

President Bush named retired diplomat L. Paul Bremer to be his top representative in Iraq. Bremer is a former ambassador and headed the State Department's counter-terrorism office. He will report to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He will direct both retired Army Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, who is responsible for rebuilding Iraqi infrastructure, and Zalmay Khalilzad, the National Security Council official who's overseeing the effort to craft a new political system for Iraq.This ends the fighting in Washington between Pentagon and the State Department.

With the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, the flow of millions of dollars that the Iraqi leader sent to support the Palestinian intifada has abruptly ended.The man who used to distribute Saddam's money, Ibrahim Za'anin, lives in Beit Hanoun, in the Gaza Strip near the border with Israel.

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Latest Count of SARS Virus Victims...and it is rising

Read here on the resilience of SARS Virus that is confounding scientists around the world.

Read here on scientists' concern on SARS Virus mutating

Read here how Singapore tackles SARS

Read here how China tackles SARS

Read here status of SARS epidemic as of mid April 2003

As of Monday (5th May 2003)



Worldwide:

• Infected 27 countries and caused 435 deaths.
  
• The number of cases of infection now stands at 6,234 people

China:

• 323 new cases reported with 16 additional deaths. Beijing capital reported having additional 69 cases.
  
• Total now stands at 4,280 cases and 206 deaths.

Hongkong:

• 16 new cases and 8 additional deaths
  
• Total now stands at 1,637 cases and 187 deaths.

Taiwan

• 16 new infections.
  
• Total now stands at 116 cases and 8 deaths.

Singapore

• One new infection.
  
• Total now stands at 204 cases and 26 deaths.

Malaysia

• One new infection.
  
• Total now stands at 7 cases and 2 deaths.

The lone SARS case in South Africa died.

The United States reported seven new cases of the disease, and 54 probable cases but has no reported SARS deaths.

Other SARS- Related News

World Health Organisation experts are still mystified how SARS could jump thousands of kilometres from southern China and Hong Kong to Beijing while barely touching anywhere in between. The Chinese capital has been hard hit by SARS, already overshadowing southern Guangdong province and Hong Kong. One big question facing WHO experts studying the epidemic is why vast regions in central China, south of the capital, have barely suffered from the virus that originated in Guangdong and ravaged neighbouring Hong Kong some 1,900km away."Right now, without the full data we just can't say," Alan Schnur, head of WHO's communicable disease office in Beijing, told AFP."It could be that some places are just lucky, or maybe there has been a lack of reporting in the provinces and the surveillance system is incomplete.

The University of California at Berkeley will turn away new students from SARS -infected China, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong this summer in what is believed to be the first such move by a major U.S. university to prevent the spread of the virus.

China's borders with Kazakhstan closed. The Kazakh government has instructed that all regular air, railway and motor communications with China will be suspended until May 20, 2003. Urgent steps to be taken to bring home Kazakh students in China as well as the staff of the Kazakh Embassy.

Villagers in Xiandie in coastal Zhejiang province smashed and overturned police and government cars, demanding that patients isolated in a poorly equipped office building be moved away. "They are furious because they don't want the sick people so close to their homes," said an official who gave only her surname, Zhuang.

Several biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, the federal government and researchers in Canada and Hong Kong have filed SARS-related patent applications, claiming ownership of everything from bits of genetic material to the virus itself. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claims ownership of the virus and its entire genetic content. Rather than trying to profit if such a patent were awarded, the CDC says its application is to prevent others from monopolizing the field. "The whole purpose of the patent is to prevent folks from controlling the technology," said CDC spokesman Llelwyn Grant. "This is being done to give the industry and other researchers reasonable access to the samples."

Beijing today ordered schools to remain closed for an additional 14 days as part of its continued drastic efforts to slow the spread of the disease.The poorer provinces, meanwhile, accounted for a large chunk of China's new cases, underlying concerns that the disease is spreading in the vast interior of this country, where the medical system is a shambles after years of neglect and budget cuts. Inner Mongolia reported 35 more cases.

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Rewinding the Real-Life Movie "Rescue of Private Jessica Lynch in Nassariyah, Iraq"

Private Jessica Lynch's captivity and rescue ..... as told by Iraqi staff of the hospital where she was medically cared for.

• ....The Iraqi doctors describe how the tension fell away rapidly once the Americans realized no threat existed on the premises.... " When they left, they turned to us and said `Thank you.' That was it." - Dr. Raazk
  
  
• "The most important thing to know is that the Iraqi soldiers and commanders had left the hospital almost two days earlier. .... We carefully moved her out of intensive care and into an ambulance and began to drive to the Americans, who were just one kilometre away. But when the ambulance got within 300 metres, they began to shoot. There wasn't even a chance to tell them `We have Jessica. Take her.'" " - Dr. Harith Houssona, who provided medical care to Lynch .

But what comes out of the US media, even Hollywood could not have provided a better spin to the truth behind the real-life story, prodded along by the US Military, on the so-called "dangerous commando-style mission" to rescue Private Jessica Lynch.

US Military Command's pre-mission intelligence must have known it was safe enough for a photo-op display of American military courage and dare to rescue a young and injured POW from a hospital . There were two cameramen and a still photographer accompanying the "dangerous rescue mission", for the record.

Has Private Lynch, or will she, talk about it? Not likely. At the Pentagon last week, U.S. Army spokesman Lt.-Col. Ryan Yantis said the door to Lynch remains closed as she continues her recovery at Washington's Walter Reed Army Medical Centre. "Until such time as she wants to talk — and that's going to be no time soon, and it may be never at all — the press is simply going to have to wait."

(A) The Facts of the Story :

Private Jessica Lynch, 19, was assigned as a supply clerk in the Army's 507th Ordinance Maintenance Company supporting the Third Infantry Division which was advancing towards Baghdad. She was taken captive by Iraqi forces on March 23rd after her Company was ambushed near the southern city of Nassariyah.

After 8 days, on April 01, as a prisoner of Iraqi forces, she was rescued by Special Operations Forces at a hospital in Nassariyah.

(B) The US Media 's Spin with help from US Central Command:

Newsweek's spin:" It sounded like one of those fanciful Hollywood scripts. On Tuesday night, more than 1,000 Navy Seals, Army Rangers, Marines and Air Force pilots joined forces for a mission to get back one American POW: Private First Class Jessica Lynch, a “junior enlisted” soldier with a maintenance division.

THE US Military Command had received HumInt (human intelligence) that the 19-year-old—a member of a maintenance unit that was ambushed more than a week ago—was being held at Saddam Hospital in the southern city of Nasiriya.

The intel also suggested that the hospital was being used as a military staging area. But the U.S. troops were after her, not Iraqi soldiers. “Some brave souls put their lives on the line, loyal to a creed that they know,” Brig. Gen. Vince Brooks said at a middle-of-the night briefing announcing Lynch’s rescue. “They will never leave a fallen comrade behind.”

The special-ops forces dropped in well outside the city and sneaked up on the compound in the dark for the “snatch.” Reports said she had broken bones and gunshot wounds, but was emotionally and mentally OK. CENTCOM showed a video clip taken during the raid. The grainy green footage-shot with night-vision equipment-showed Lynch being carried on a stretcher. It then zoomed in on her face: pretty, but stricken."

Then there is this: " A Special Operations force of Navy SEALs, Army Rangers and Air Force personnel swooped in early Wednesday morning, while Marines staged a fake offensive elsewhere around Nasiriyah to distract attention of the fedayeen and their allies. Jessica's rescue was a classic Special Operations raid, with U.S. commandos in Black Hawk helicopters engaging Iraqi forces on their way in and out of the medical compound, defense officials said.

Acting on information from CIA operatives, they said, a Special Operations force of Navy SEALs, Army Rangers and Air Force combat controllers touched down in blacked-out conditions. An AC-130 gunship, able to fire 1,800 rounds a minute from its 25mm cannon, circled overhead, as did a reconnaissance aircraft providing video imagery of the operation as it unfolded.

"There was shooting going in, there was some shooting going out," said one military officer briefed on the operation. "It was not intensive. There was no shooting in the building, but it was hairy, because no one knew what to expect. When they got inside, I don't think there was any resistance. It was fairly abandoned."

As the troops reached the room Jessica was in a soldier announced "Jessica Lynch, we are United States soldiers, and we're here to protect you and take you home." Jessie replied "I'm an American soldier too."

"Talk about spunk!. She just persevered. It takes that and a tremendous faith that your country is going to come and get you, " said Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), whom military officials had briefed on Jessica's rescue."

Here is Fox News' take of the "daring" rescue of Private Lynch "The commandos found her after an Iraqi lawyer saw Lynch being slapped by a security guard in the hospital, and alerted U.S. forces.....The hospital also confirmed the possibility that gunshots may have caused fractures to the upper right arm and lower left leg ."

It sounds like a very dangerous and risky mission. And so it was thought.

(C) The ACTUAL Behind-the- Enemy Line Story of the Rescue of Private Lynch

This is best narrated below by Mitch Potter of Toronto Star

NASIRIYA, Iraq—The fog of war comes sometimes with a certain odour, and cutting through its layers, like cutting through an onion, can bring tears to the eyes. Such is the case with what is far and away the most oft-told story of the Persian Gulf War II — the saga of Saving Private Lynch.

Branded on to our consciousness by media frenzy, the flawless midnight rescue of 19-year-old Private First Class Jessica Lynch hardly bears repeating even a month after the fact. Precision teams of U.S. Army Rangers and Navy Seals, acting on intelligence information and supported by four helicopter gunships, ended Lynch's nine-day Iraqi imprisonment in true Rambo style, raising America's spirits when it needed it most.

All Hollywood could ever hope to have in a movie was there in this extraordinary feat of rescue — except, perhaps, the truth.

So say three Nasiriya doctors, two nurses, one hospital administrator and local residents interviewed separately last week in a Toronto Star investigation.

The medical team that cared for Lynch at the hospital formerly known as Saddam Hospital is only now beginning to appreciate how grand a myth was built around the four hours the U.S. raiding party spent with them early on April Fool's Day. And they are disappointed.

For Dr. Harith Houssona, 24, who came to consider Lynch a friend after nurturing her through the worst of her injuries, the ironies are almost beyond tabulation.

"The most important thing to know is that the Iraqi soldiers and commanders had left the hospital almost two days earlier," Houssona said.

"The night they left, a few of the senior medical staff tried to give Jessica back. We carefully moved her out of intensive care and into an ambulance and began to drive to the Americans, who were just one kilometre away. "

"But when the ambulance got within 300 metres, they began to shoot. There wasn't even a chance to tell them `We have Jessica. Take her.'"

One night later, the raid unfolded.

Hassam Hamoud, 35, a waiter at Nasiriya's al-Diwan Restaurant, describes the preamble, when he was approached outside his home near the hospital by U.S. Special Forces troops accompanied by an Arabic translator from Qatar.

"They asked me if any troops were still in the hospital and I said `No, they're all gone.' Then they asked about Uday Hussein, and again, I said `No,'" Hamoud said. "The translator seemed satisfied with my answers, but the soldiers were very nervous."

At midnight, the sound of helicopters circling the hospital's upper floors sent staff scurrying for the x-ray department — the only part of the hospital with no outside windows.

The power was cut, followed by small explosions as the raiding teams blasted through locked doors.

A few minutes later, they heard a man's voice shout, "Go! Go! Go!" in English. Seconds later, the door burst open and a red laser light cut through the darkness, trained on the forehead of the chief resident.

"We were pretty frightened. There were about 40 medical staff together in the x-ray department," said Dr. Anmar Uday, 24.

"Everyone expected the Americans to come that day because the city had fallen. But we didn't expect them to blast through the doors like a Hollywood movie."

Dr. Mudhafer Raazk, 27, observed dryly that two cameramen and a still photographer, also in uniform, accompanied the U.S. teams into the hospital.

Maybe this was a movie after all.

Separately, the Iraqi doctors describe how the tension fell away rapidly once the Americans realized no threat existed on the premises.

A U.S. medic was led to Lynch's room as others secured the rest of the three-wing hospital.

According to Dr. Houssona, several staff and patients were placed in plastic handcuffs, including, one Iraqi civilian who was already immobilized with abdominal wounds from an earlier explosion.

One group of soldiers returned to the x-ray room to ask about the bodies of missing U.S. soldiers and was led to a graveyard opposite the hospital's south wall. All were dead on arrival, the doctors say.

"The whole thing lasted about four hours," Raazk said "When they left, they turned to us and said `Thank you.' That was it."

The Iraqi medical staff fanned out to assess the damage. In all, 12 doors were broken including a sterilized operating theatre contaminated.

The specialized traction bed in which Lynch had been placed was trashed. "That was a special bed, the only one like it in the hospital, but we gave it to Jessica because she was developing a bed sore," Houssona said.

What bothers Raazk most is not what was said about Lynch's rescue, so much as what wasn't said about her time in hospital.

"We all became friends with her, we liked her so much," Houssona said. "Especially because we all speak a little English, we were able to assure her the whole time that there was no danger, that she would go home soon."

Initial reports indicated Lynch had been shot and stabbed after emptying her weapon in a pitched battle when her unit, the U.S. Army's 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company, was ambushed after its convoy became lost near Nasiriya.

A few days after her release, Lynch's father told reporters none of the wounds were battle-related.

The Iraqi doctors are more specific. Houssona said the injuries were blunt in nature, possible stemming from a fall from her vehicle.

"She was in pretty bad shape. There was blunt trauma, resulting in compound fractures of the left femur (upper leg) and the right humerus (upper arm). And also a deep laceration on her head," Houssona said. "She took two pints of blood and we stabilized her. The cut required stitches to close. But the leg and arm injuries were more serious."

Nasiriya's medical team was going all out at this point, due to the enormous influx of casualties from throughout the region. The hospital lists 400 dead and 2,000 wounded in the span of two weeks before and during Lynch's eight-day stay.

"Almost all were civilians, but I don't just blame the Americans," Raazk said. "Many of those casualties were the fault of the fedayeen, who had been using people as shields and in some cases just shooting people who wouldn't fight alongside them. It was horrible."

But they all made a point of giving Lynch the best of everything, he added. Despite a scarcity of food, extra juice and cookie were scavenged for their American guest.

They also assigned to Lynch the hospital's most nurturing nurse, Khalida Shinah. At 43, Shinah has three daughters close to Lynch's age. She immediately embraced her foreign patient as one of her own.

"It was so scary for her," Shinah said through a translator. "Not only was she badly hurt, but she was in a strange country. I felt more like a mother than a nurse. I told her again and again, Allah would watch over her. And many nights I sang her to sleep."

In the first few days, Houssona said the doctors were somewhat nervous as to whether Iraqi intelligence agents would show any interest in Lynch. But when the road between Nasiriya and Baghdad fell to the U.S.-led coalition, they knew the danger had passed.

"At first, Jessica was very frightened. Everybody was poking their head in the room to see her and she said `Do they want to hurt me?' I told her, `Of course not. They're just curious. They've never seen anyone like you before.' "But after a few days, she began to relax. And she really bonded with Khalida. She told me, `I'm going to take her back to America with me."

Three days before the U.S. raid, Lynch had regained enough strength that the team was ready to proceed with orthopaedic surgery on her left leg.

The procedure involved cutting through muscle to install a platinum plate to both ends of the compound fracture. "We only had three platinum plates left in our supply and at least 100 Iraqis were in need," Raazk said. "But we gave one to Jessica."

A second surgery, and a second platinum plate, was scheduled for Lynch's fractured arm. But U.S. forces removed her before it took place, Raazk said.

Three days after the raid, the doctors had a visit from one of their U.S. military counterparts. They say, he came to thank them for the superb surgery. "He was an older doctor with gray hair and he wore a military uniform," Raazk said.

"I told him he was very welcome, that it was our pleasure. And then I told him: `You do realize you could have just knocked on the door and we would have wheeled Jessica down to you, don't you?'

"He was shocked when I told him the real story. That's when I realized this rescue probably didn't happen for propaganda reasons. I think this American army is just such a huge machine, the left hand never knows what the right hand is doing."

What troubles the staff in Nasiriya most are reports that Lynch was abused while in their case. All vehemently deny it.

Told of the allegation through an interpreter, nurse Shinah wells up with tears.

Gathering herself, she responds quietly: "This is a lie. But why ask me? Why don't you ask Jessica what kind of treatment she received?"

But that is easier said than done.

(D) Here's James Leggat's ooze of the commando-style rescue on his news website :

Recently, the dramatic rescue of 19-year-old U.S. Army private, Jessica Lynch, raised the spirits of an entire nation. A group of American special troops, consisting of Army Rangers and Navy Seals, risked their lives in this daring rescue.

This act of bravery is more remarkable than Sylvester Stallone's Rambo and Chuck Norris's Missing in Action, because the rescue team faced real bullets and real enemies.

So, it did! Thanks to the Iraqi staff at the Nassariyah Hospital.

Wouldn't want to spoil a good Rambo-style movie that is now in the making, would you? Or stay tune for the Iraqi version of the movie.

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The Human Costs for Removing Saddam Hussein's Regime for having WMDs

"The Bush administration has admitted that Saddam Hussein probably had NO weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). Senior officials in the Bush administration have admitted that they would be 'amazed' if weapons of mass destruction (WMD) were found in Iraq. "
-Sunday Herald,UK -04 May 2003

The statistics of lost human lives in the barely-fought Battle for Baghdad that culminated in the Fall of the Saddam Statue

According a AP news wire report, at least 1,101 Iraqi civilians, including women and children, with another 1,255 Iraqis, mostly women and children, dead.

TOTAL DEATH: About 2,300 killed in Baghdad alone. Statistics based on records compiled from Baghdad's 19 largest hospitals. The Baghdad death toll also does not include the hundreds of civilians who died in other parts of Iraq.

TOTAL WOUNDED : More than 6,800 Iraqi civilians.

Number of American and British soldiers killed : 125 American and 31 British deaths in the entire war.

The Bush administration says it will make NO effort to tally Iraqi dead, either civilian or military. Yet, Washington had said this was a war of liberating the Iraqi civilian people from a regime and not a war of occupation.

The Iraqi Red Crescent Society's report on civilian deaths could only be available after mid-May.

The doctors believe that US weapons produced most of the Iraqi casualties.

The figures for Iraqis killed exclude uncounted numbers who died but never made it to hospitals. They are mostly buried in shallow graves throughout the city - in cemeteries, back yards, hospital gardens, city parks and mosque grounds. The most telling is the 150 graves dug into the garden around the Al Askan Hospital.

Doctors at several hospitals blamed some civilians died because American soldiers did not allow civilian ambulances into neighbourhoods near the battles.

Ali Ismail Abbas, 12, orphaned, lost both arms and suffered burns to 20 per cent of his body during the bombing of Baghdad..(Reuters)

It was easier for the hospitals to categorise women and children as civilians. But men presented a different challenge, especially in the final days of the war. Some loyalists to Saddam Hussein reportedly fought in civilian clothes, and some soldiers shed their uniforms in retreat.

The doctors said they were able to separate military from civilian by relying on age and other factors. In general, doctors categorised as "civilian" if a person was dressed in civilian clothes and carried no military identification. They said that many soldiers did present military ID at the hospitals. Iraqi doctors acknowledge that the records may not be perfect.

"Was our record-keeping perfect?" said Dr Basim Al-Shaeli, a general surgeon at Al Kharama in the city's southwest sector.

"During the invasion, I was performing 10 major operations a day, staying here around the clock. While I was doing this, the shooting would be going on, bullets would be crashing into the hospital around us, and we could hear the tanks outside the gates. "

"I was performing surgery on an injured neck, an injured head or face, and I was insisting that they be taken home the next day, because the demand for beds was so great, and even so we were always overcrowded. And this wasn't just me; every doctor here worked like this, " he said.

Dr Ameer K Daher, a general surgeon who was trapped near his home by the fighting set up a field hospital in a secondary school with help from his neighbours.

"We buried 10 people in the mosque and treated 45 more with what supplies we had in our homes," he said. "We were not the only people forced to do this."

According to doctors at the Yarmuk Hospital, two pregnant women were killed when an American tank shelled their ambulance on the way to Yarmuk Hospital on April 7. The driver and a doctor were both injured. Later, shells hit the hospital's diabetes centre, destroying an entire floor.


British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was ready to meet his Maker and answer before God for 'those who have died or have been horribly maimed as a result of my decisions'. Blair accepted that others who believe in 'the same God' may assess that the final judgement will be against him. He said this on April 2, one day after seven Iraqi women and children were shot dead by US soldiers at a checkpoint.

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Pan Pharmaceutical Ltd - A disgraceful, substandard Australian company

Pan Pharmaceutical, the company that caused the biggest medical recall in Australian history and had its licence suspended for 6 months by the medical watchdog, Therapeutical Goods Administration (TGA). Its CEO forced to resign.

TGA has released a new list of recalled Pan products. Click here to see the latest list of recall products by TGA as of 5 pm on 4th May 2003.

This list is additional to previous lists found on the TGA website of product recalls

With the new list of another 300 recalls, it now stands at 1,700 products associated with Pan have been cancelled or recalled.

Allegations of substandard practices

Now, workers and former employees of the firm have spoken out alleging substandard work ethics in the manufacturing of its products sold worldwide. Sydney Morning Herald reports:

A former Pan analytical chemist,who had worked on the company's tablet production machines during the 1990s, told the Nine Network's Sunday program:

• Workers swept pill-making powder off the floor and into mixing machines.
  
  
• The environment at Pan was neither sterile nor controlled.
  
  
• Workers walked through powder that had fallen on the floor on the way to and from the toilet. The powder was then swept off the floor and dumped into machines.
  
  
• The company ran two different production lines next to each other, risking cross-contamination.
  
  
• He witnessed improper machine cleaning practises. Another former Pan employee, Richard Obedoza, also told the same TV news and current affairs program that workers were under so much pressure to produce pills that they did not have enough time to clean machinery properly."We have to make five million pills a day but we can't make that ... if we clean the machine properly," Mr Obedoza said.

According to the chemist: "They have a manual scooping system in those days and the powder ... was flying everywhere. I have worked with many pharmaceutical industries and I haven't seen these sort of practices at any other pharmaceutical company I have worked for. The company was involved in serious breaches of good manufacturing practice."

He said he reported the breaches to authorities at the time. An investigation by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). was promised but it never occurred.

But TGA's principal medical adviser, John McEwen, said he was never aware of the complaint. Dr McEwen also said the TGA had never made any surprise audit on Pan despite the company being given notice of three audits.

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The SARS Virus - A tougher customer than previously thought

World Health Organization (WHO) reported new findings from laboratory studies that show the SARS virus can survive on common surfaces at room temperature for hours or even days.

It is the first scientific data demonstrating for the first time that the microbe can linger outside an infected person's body.

This explains the mystery on why people can catch the deadly lung infection WITHOUT face-to-face contact with a sick person. Rob Stein of Washington Post reports:

One study showed the virus survived for at least 24 hours on a plastic surface at room temperature. Thus a person can get infected by touching common surfaces such as a tabletop, doorknob or other object. In an experiment, German researchers placed the SARS virus on a plastic surface at room temperature and found it could survive as long as 24 hours. Hong Kong scientists had similar results.

Another study showed the virus remained active for as long as four days in human waste. This finding confirmed the spread of SARS through apartment buildings as in Hongkong and in hospitals and other facilities.

In one German study, it was found a common detergent could NOT kill the SARS virus. This would indicate that sterilization of contaminated areas may not be effective at all .

A Japanese laboratory experiment found the SARS virus could live for extended periods in the cold. That is, it could survive the winter. The virus died at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit and above, deteriorating at 40 degrees and remain ed viable indefinitely when temperatures dropped to 32 degrees. Similar results were found by scientists in Beijing.

Klaus Stohr, the World Health Organization's top SARS scientist, said yesterday:

"It's the first time we have hard data on the survival of the virus. Before, we were just speculating. There has been a lot of speculation that the touching of objects could be involved. This shows that transmission by contaminated hands or contaminated objects in the environment can play a role."

"What we're seeing is that this virus certainly has the capacity to stay in the environment. What we don't know is the infectious dose.

There has been a lot of speculation about how the Amoy Gardens got infected. No one knew whether the hypothesis would hold. This would support the theory that . . . sewage coming out from that crack could have contaminated the air. This is important, because traces of stool could occur on surfaces in hospitals. So this is very important to know in sterilizing those environments . "

The primary mode of transmission of the virus is still through droplets that spray out when an infected person sneezes or coughs.

SARS' s Victim Count

Eighteen new deaths were reported Saturday in east Asia, pushing the global death toll to 436. Nine deaths were in mainland China and nine were in Hong Kong.

Globally, more than 6,100 have been infected by SARS.

China has agreed to let the World Health Organization visit Taiwan in its fight against the virus, recognising putting the island's number of SARS cases has doubled in a week. The official Xinhua News Agency quoted Health Ministry spokesman Liu Peilong as saying Friday that the mainland was monitoring the epidemic's development in Taiwan and was ''concerned about the health and well-being'' of the people.

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COALITION VICTORY EUPHORIA IN IRAQ

UNFAMILIAR WELCOME BY IRAQIS OF AMERICAN FORCES

And a Message from Baghdad

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PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI CONFLICT

Click here to see pictures of innocent Palestinians caught in the crossfire of the Israeli army in Gaza and West Bank (not normally shown or headlined in Western media) and MORE Pictures HERE of the Israeli Occupation of Gaza and the West Bank

Israeli Army Shoots Foreigners and Journalists in Gaza/West Bank Area

" There is evidence of Israeli soldiers targeting journalists. "
-The Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists

A freelance British journalist, James Miller is the latest Westerner killed by the Israeli Army, when he was shot dead yesterday ( 03 May 2003) by Israeli soldiers in the southern city of Rafah in Gaza. In this latest tragic incident, Miller was shot in the neck and died before a helicopter sent to evacuate him arrived. Witnesses said Miller was filming a documentary on the Israeli army's house demolitions in Rafah when an Israeli tank opened fire. One witness said Miller and two colleagues were simultaneously filming and waving a white flag as they walked toward the tank.

Miller was the third foreigner to be injured or killed in Rafah in recent weeks..


Other westerners and journalists who had been targets of the Israeli Army include:

American Rachel Corrie, 23, died March 16 in Rafah when an Israeli bulldozer she was trying to block ran her over.





On April 11, British peace activist Tom Hurndall, 21, was shot in the head at the Rafah refugee camp. He is in a coma. Witnesses said Hurndall was shot by an Israeli soldier in a military watchtower as Hurndall stooped to pick up a Palestinian girl and carry her to safety.

Tom Hurndall fatally shot

In the West Bank, peace activist Brian Avery, 24, of International Solidarity Movement (ISM) was shot in the face in the town of Jenin on April 5 by Israeli soldiers. Avery, a 24-year-old American citizen from Albuquerque, New Mexico, experienced serious wounds to his face after Israeli troops opened fire at him with heavy machine gun fire from an armoured personnel carrier.


Palestinian medics attend to Brian Avery of the United States who was wounded in the face from an Israeli armoured vehicle while in the streets of the West Bank city of Jenin on April 5, 2003.

Avery and Karlsson are members of the Palestinian-backed group International Solidarity Movement. Members of the group often insert themselves between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers to try to stop Israeli operations. "We had our hands up, and we were wearing vests that clearly identified us as international workers when they began firing," Karlsson said. "Brian was shot in the face, and it looks like he was hit by a heavy caliber bullet because of the extent of the wound."



Associated Press Television News cameraman Nazeh Darwazeh was killed on April 19 in the West Bank city of Nablus while videotaping clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinians. Witnesses said Darwazeh was shot by an Israeli soldier taking cover behind an armoured vehicle in an alley.


Iain Hook, a British senior manager of UNRWA, the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees, was killed Friday in the compound in the Jenin refugee camp - the first senior U.N. official to die in over two years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. In its statement about the Jenin clash, the Israeli army said two soldiers fired at Hook inside the U.N. compound because he had "an object that appeared to be a gun."

Paul McCann, a U.N. spokesman, said the army's claim that gunmen were inside the compound was wrong. "Our preliminary inquiry does not agree with the statement that firing could have come from the UNRWA compound. It in fact is quite clear from our inquiry so far that this report of firing from the compound is totally incredible," he said. Hook, he added, had been on his cell phone in the moments before he was shot, trying to arrange for the evacuation of U.N. personnel from the compound.



U.N. car can be seen parked behind damaged barrier of U.N. compound in which Iain Hook was shot and killed during clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli army (AP)


Palestinian hospital staff show the body of Briton Iain Hook, Director of the United Nations reconstruction project of Jenin refugee camp, at a hospital in the West Bank town of Jenin Friday Nov, 22, 2002. The U.N. official was hit by Israeli fire when the soldiers were shooting trying to disperse stone-throwing Palestinian youths. Israeli military delayed the arrival of paramedics by an hour and by the time the Israeli ambulance arrived, Hook no longer had a pulse, the officials said.

On the same day ( 22 November 2002 ) International Solidarity Movement activist and Irish national Caoimhe Butterly was shot in the leg in Jenin. It was Palestinians who took her to the hospital.


German doctor Harald Fischer and Italian cameraman Rafaeli Ciriello were both also killed by Israeli gunfire during the Intifada.

Harald Fischer, 67, a retired chiropractor from Gummersbach in North Rhine-Westphalia, has the tragic distinction of being the first European citizen - and first Christian - to die in seven weeks of bloodshed in the West Bank and Gaza. Fischer appears to have taken a direct hit from an Israeli missile. The attack was part of an Israeli assault on five West Bank towns overnight, in what Israel's prime minister, Ehud Barak, has called retaliatory acts for gunfire from Yasser Arafat's Fatah tanzim militias

Raffaele Ciriello, 42, a veteran of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Kosovo working for Corriere della Sera, was inching his way around the lanes off Manara Square, the scene of heavy gunbattles between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants for much of the day. Italian journalists in the area said a tank opened fire when he pulled out a small video camera. He was taken to hospital almost immediately but died soon afterwards.

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SARS Virus Upped the Ante ..... by Mutating

"This rapid evolution is like that of a murderer who is trying to change his fingerprints or even his appearance to try to escape detection." Dr. Dennis Lo, a chemical pathologist at the university.

Analysis of genetic sequences of SARS virus samples found there are two forms of the virus now present in Hongkong. This discovery was made by scientists at Hongkong's Chinese University when analysing 11 samples of the virus.

One strain was linked to an outbreak caused by a mainland Chinese man who spread SARS to others at a Hong Kong hotel. The other strain came from a Hong Kong man believed to have caught it in the mainland border city of Shenzhen.

But the World Health Organization (WHO) thinks the mutations will not have any effect on the disease itself. WHO scientists also say the coronavirus family, of which SARS virus belongs, is prone to mutations anyway.

Patients should avoid personal contact such as hugging and kissing when they go home, as scientists are concerned the virus may live in an infected person's body for at least a month after recovery.

A greater worry for scientists now is that there are evidence that 12 people SARS patients may have relapsed. This complicates matters for doctors to tell whether a patient has fully recovered.

"So it's not a new phenomenon that viruses remain, but certainly a relapse is concerning," said Dr. David Heymann, WHO's chief of communicable diseases.

SARS has killed close to 200 people in China and infected nearly 4,000 since it emerged in the southern province of Guangdong late last year. Globally, it has infected more than 6,300 people in 30 countries, killing more than 400.

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Prizes for Coalition Victory in the Iraq War

Total Prizes to be handed out :To date: $8,341.7 million ($8 billion+) .. and more to come.

......... And the Winners are ....

1. Creative Associates International Inc.
   Award $1 million immediate with $62.6 million cap
   Agency USAID
   Date of Award April 11, 2003
   Nature of work Primary and Secondary Education. Revitalization of Iraqi Schools and Stabilization of Education (RISE). Involves upgrading schools, restocking classrooms and training teachers.
   
   
2. Computer Sciences Corporation
   Subcontractor DynCorp
   Award $50 million
   Agency U.S. Department of State
   Date of Award April 18, 2003
   Nature of work Provide up to 1,000 civilian advisors to help the government of Iraq organize effective civilian law enforcement, judicial and correctional agencies.
   
   
3. Fluor Corporation - Team
   Subcontractor Black & Veatch, and Contrack International
   Award $100 million
   Agency USACOE, Transatlantic Programs Center for work in U.S. Central Command's area of 25 countries located throughout the Horn of Africa, South and Central Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, and Northern Red Sea regions.
   Date of Award April 1, 2003
   Nature of work Providing work to the US military in the region. The tasks could include repairing roads and bridges, replacing damaged windows and doors and building barracks for military personnel.
   
   
4. International Resources Group
   Award $7.1 million - renewable annually
   Agency USAID
   Date of Award February 21, 2003
   Nature of work Personnel Support for planning and managing reconstruction projects.
   
   
5. Perini Corporation - Team
   Subcontractors Tetra Tech, POWER Engineers, Willbros Group, and Najad Rock Group
   Award $100 million
   Agency USACOE, Transatlantic Programs Center for work in U.S. Central Command's area of 25 countries located throughout the Horn of Africa, South and Central Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, and Northern Red Sea regions.
   Date of Award April 1, 2003
   Nature of work Providing work to the US military in the region. The tasks could include repairing roads and bridges, replacing damaged windows and doors and building barracks for military personnel.
   
   
6. Raytheon Corporation
   Award $30 million
   Agency Defense Threat Reduction Agency
   Nature of work to dismantle and neutralize any chemical or nuclear weapons found in the region
   
   
7. Research Triangle Institute (RTI International)
   Award $7.9 million
   Agency USAID for the ORHA
   Date of Award April 11, 2003
   Nature of work Local Governance. Seeks to maximize Iraqi participation in all phases and aspects of the reconstruction as the transition to Iraqi administration occurs.
   
   
8. Stevedoring Services of America
   Award $4.8 million
   Agency USAID
   Date of Award March 24, 2003
   Nature of work Seaport Administration including an initial port assessment, develop improvement plans to overcome port-imposed constraints, and supply technical expertise to ensure an adequate flow of through shipment. SSA is also responsible for providing the position of Port Director in Umm Qasr. The Port Director is restricted to an American only.
   
   
9. UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund
   Award $1 million
   Agency USAID
   Date of Award April 8, 2003
   Nature of work Provide support for basic education in Iraq
   
   
10. UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund
    Award $8 million
    Agency USAID
    Date of Award March 28, 2003
    Nature of work Provide basic health, water supply and sanitation services in Iraq.
    
    
11. Washington Group International - Team
    Subcontractor Stanley Group
    Award $100 million
    Agency USACOE, Transatlantic Programs Center for work in U.S. Central Command's area of 25 countries located throughout the Horn of Africa, South and Central Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, and Northern Red Sea regions.
    Date of Award April 1, 2003
    Nature of work Providing work to the US military in the region. The tasks could include repairing roads and bridges, replacing damaged windows and doors and building barracks for military personnel.
    
    
12. World Health Organization (WHO)
    Award $10 million
    Agency USAID
    Date of Award March 28, 2003
    Nature of work Public health. Health System Strengthening in Post-conflict Iraq. Support to the Iraqi Ministry of Health to coordinate and report on health activities.

SPECIAL AWARD: Lucrative contracts for postwar Iraq awarded to firms with powerful political connections, starting with:

• Kellogg, Brown, and Root — a subsidiary of Halliburton, the company once run by Vice President Dick Cheney.
  A $7 billion contract to cap oil fires in Iraq.
  
  Note: The Army Corps of Engineers sealed the deal without seeking bids from other companies, prompting calls from some in Congress for an investigation, according to CBS News
  
  
• Kellogg Brown & Root (subsidiary of Halliburton)
  Award $30 million
  Agency Defense Threat Reduction Agency
  Date of Award
  Nature of work to dismantle and neutralize any chemical or nuclear weapons found in the region
  
  
• Kellogg, Brown & Root (subsidiary of Halliburton)
  Subcontractors Boots & Coots International Well Control, Inc. and Superior Energy Services' Wild Well Control, Inc.
  Award $50.3 million to date (cost plus 7% contract)
  Agency USACOE
  Date of Award March 8, 2003
  Nature of work Hazard and operational assessment, extinguishing oil well fires, capping oil well blowouts, as well as responding to any oil spills.
  
  
• Bechtel Corporation of San Francisco
  Award $680 million
  Agency USAID
  Date of Award April 17, 2003
  Nature of work Emergency repair work on Iraqi infrastructure, including power, water and sewer systems, a seaport and an airport. May also include repair of hospitals, schools, other public buildings and irrigation systems.
  
  
  (Note Pratap Chatterjee in CorpWatch (April 24, 2003 ) reported :In March, multi-billionaire Riley Bechtel was sworn in as a member of President Bush's Export Council to advise the government on how to create markets for American companies overseas.For Bechtel was just like old times. Twenty years ago, in December 20, 1983, Middle East peace envoy Donald Rumsfeld arrived in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, on a special mission from George Shultz (then secretary of state for President Ronald Reagan) to meet with Saddam Hussein. Rumsfeld asked the Iraqi dictator to support Bechtel's bid on construction of an oil pipeline from Iraq to the Jordanian port of Aqaba.
  
  The two men meeting in Kuwait this week to plan Iraqi reconstruction -- Jay Garner and Terry Valenzano -- work for the very same public/private alliance that lobbied Saddam two decades ago. Today, Defense Secretary Rumsfield heads up the Pentagon, which is paying Garner's salary, while Shultz is a board member of the Bechtel Company who is paying Valenzano's bills.
  
  That's not all: Jack Sheehan, a senior vice president at Bechtel, is a member of the Defense Policy Board, a government-appointed group that advised the Pentagon on the war. Meanwhile Bechtel also advises both the federal agencies that provide loans and insurance to American companies overseas. Daniel Chao, another Bechtel senior vice president, serves on advisory board of the US Export-Import Bank, while Ross J. Connelly, a 21-year veteran of Bechtel Group, is the chief operating officer for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).
  
  Indeed, Andrew Natsios, the administrator of USAID, which awarded the reconstruction contract for Iraq, was overseeing Bechtel just two years ago as the chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which hired the company to complete the Boston Central Artery project.

More Prizes lined up by USAID up for grabs

Seaport Administration: the contract for management of humanitarian freight and trans-shipment operations by sea at the port of Umm Qasr. Awarded March 24 to Stevedoring Services of America.

Airport Administration: the management of humanitarian and trans-shipment operations by air.

Capital Construction: emergency repair of electrical supply; water and sanitation systems; roads and bridges; public buildings such as hospitals and schools; irrigation structures and port facilities upgrades.

Theater Logistical Support: warehousing, customs clearance, trucking and provision of bottled water.

Public Health: help to restore the public health service.

Primary and Secondary Education: assistance in upgrading schools, printing textbooks, and training teachers.

Personnel Support: hiring of people to oversee post-war reconstruction and humanitarian efforts. Contract awarded to the International Resources Group on February 21, 2003.

Local Governance: seek to maximize Iraqi participation in all phases and aspects of the reconstruction as the transition to Iraqi administration occurs. At the province and municipal level, promote the participation selection of reconstruction projects, and setting in motion self-government activities.

Oil Infrastructure Repair: put out oil fires and make emergency repairs. One contract has been awarded to Halliburton's Kellogg Brown & Root unit, but there may be more.

Miscellaneous: Other contracts may be forthcoming via the Defense Department, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and elsewhere.

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IRAQ: Eye-Witness Account : All because of a shoe, US troops shot dead 2 Iraqis and injuring 16

" It started when a young boy hurled a sandal at a US jeep "

Chris Hughes and Julian Andrews from the The Mirror, UK was at the scene and reported the tragedy as it occurred.

I watched in horror as American troops opened fire on a crowd of 1,000 unarmed people here yesterday.

Many, including children, were cut down by a 20-second burst of automatic gunfire during a demonstration against the killing of 13 protesters at the Al-Kaahd school on Monday.

The crowd were facing down a military compound of tanks and machine-gun posts. A youngster had apparently lobbed his shoe at a jeep - with a M2 heavy machine gun post on the back - as it drove past in a convoy of other vehicles. A soldier operating the weapon suddenly ducked, raised it on its pivot then pressed his thumb on the trigger.

Mirror photographer Julian Andrews and I ( Chris Hughes) were standing about six feet from the vehicle when the first shots rang out, without warning. We dived for cover under the compound wall as troops within the crowd opened fire. The convoy accelerated away from the scene.

Iraqis in the line of fire dived for cover, hugging the dust to escape being hit. We could hear the bullets screaming over our heads. Explosions of sand erupted from the ground - if the rounds failed to hit a demonstrator first. Seconds later the shooting stopped and the screaming and wailing began.

One of the dead, a young man, lay face up, half his head missing, first black blood, then red spilling into the dirt.His friends screamed at us in anger, then looked at the grim sight in disbelief.A boy of 11 lay shouting in agony before being carted off in a car to a hospital already jam-packed with Iraqis hurt in Monday's incident.

Cars pulled up like taxis to take the dead and injured to hospital, as if they had been waiting for this to happen.A man dressed like a sheik took off his headcloth to wave and direct traffic around the injured. The sickening scenes of death and pain were the culmination of a day of tension in Al-Fallujah sparked by Monday's killings.

How it happened.

The baying crowd had marched 500 yards from the school to a local Ba'ath party HQ. We joined them, asking questions and taking pictures, as Apache helicopters circled above.The crowd waved their fists at the gunships angrily and shouted: "Go home America, go home America."

We rounded a corner and saw edgy-looking soldiers lined up along the street in between a dozen armoured vehicles. All of them had automatic weapons pointing in the firing position.

As the crowd - 10 deep and about 100 yards long - marched towards the US positions, chanting "Allah is great, go home Americans", the troops reversed into the compound.On the roof of the two-storey fortress, ringed by a seven-foot high brick wall, razor wire and with several tanks inside, around 20 soldiers ran to the edge and took up positions. A machine gun post at one of the corners swivelled round, taking aim at the crowd which pulled to a halt.

We heard no warning to disperse and saw no guns or knives among the Iraqis whose religious and tribal leaders kept shouting through loud hailers to remain peaceful. In the baking heat and with the deafening noise of helicopters the tension reached breaking point.

Julian and I ran towards the compound to get away from the crowd as dozens of troops started taking aim at them, others peering at them through binoculars.

Tribal leaders struggled to contain the mob which was reaching a frenzy.A dozen ran through the cordon of elders, several hurling what appeared to be rocks at troops. Some of the stones just reached the compound walls. Many threw sandals - a popular Iraqi insult.

A convoy of Bradley military jeeps passed by, the Iraqis hurling insults at them, slapping the sides of the vehicles with their sandals, tribal leaders begging them to retreat.The main body of demonstrators jeered the passing US troops pointing their thumbs down to mock them.

Then came the gunfire - and the death and the agony.After the shootings the American soldiers looked at the appalling scene through their binoculars and set up new positions, still training their guns at us.An angry mob battered an Arab TV crew van, pulling out recording equipment and hurling it at the compound. Those left standing - now apparently insane with anger - ran at the fortress battering its walls with their fists. Many had tears pouring down their faces.

Still no shots from the Iraqis and still no sign of the man with the AK47 who the US later claimed had let off a shot at the convoy.I counted at least four or five soldiers with binoculars staring at the crowd for weapons but we saw no guns amongst the injured or dropped on the ground.

A local told us the crowd would turn on foreigners so we left and went to the hospital.There, half an hour later, another chanting mob was carrying an open coffin of one of the dead, chanting "Islam, Islam, Islam, death to the Americans".We left when we were spat at by a wailing woman dressed in black robes.

US troops had been accused of a bloody massacre over the killings of the 13 Iraqis outside the school on Monday. Three of the dead were said to be boys under 11. At least 75 locals were injured in a 30-minute gun battle after soldiers claimed they were shot at by protesters.Demonstrators claimed they were trying to reclaim the school from the Americans who had occupied it as a military HQ.

The crowd had defied a night-time curfew to carry out the protest.

A Few Hours Later:

Attackers lobbed two grenades into a U.S. Army compound Thursday, wounding seven soldiers just hours after the Americans had fired on Iraqi protesters in the street outside, a U.S. intelligence officer reported.

"The attack was an expression of the anger of a few people in the city after what happened," Captain Alan Vaught said, referring to U.S. shootings at earlier anti-American protests. Falluja Mayor Taha Badawi Hamid al-Alwani and some residents said the assailants used rocket-propelled grenades. After the attack, U.S. troops exchanged gunfire with Iraqis. Central Command said U.S. forces "exercised their inherent right to self-defense." Neither U.S. nor Iraqi officials had information on any Iraqi casualties.

One Day Later

Residents gave the U.S. authorities 48 hours to pull out troops from the Jallujah town’s scientific center and al-Maqamia (court compound) and demanded them not to deploy soldiers inside the town, threatening they would take up arms if they failed to heed the demands. “If they did not leave our town, they would be regretful for that,” Dr. Hatme al-Zawti, of al-Ramadi hospital 30km from the town, told IOL, warning that the “residents were determined to carry out martyr operations against U.S. troops.” The Falluja resident had forced the American occupation forces to evacuate the school they were using as headquarters and named it “Martyrs School”.

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LATEST UPDATE on RECALL OF PAN PHARMACEUTICAL'S PRODUCTS by Australia's Medical Watchdog (TGA)

Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration - TGA ADDED FURTHER on 1st May, 2003 for recall Pan Pharmaceutical products.

The list below is additional to previous lists ( scroll down to see earlier lists in postings on the same issue on this weblog)

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE LIST (In .pdf files and need Acrobat) as of 3.30 pm May 1st. 2003

Sydney Morning Herald reports:

The Therapeutic Goods Administration announced a recall of a further 701 products yesterday.

The new products, including some products from brands including Golden Glow, Metagenics, Nature's Own, Nutra-Life, Pretorius and Vita Gold, . These are in addition to the 668 products the medicines watchdog had already recalled.

A total of 1369 vitamins and health supplements made by Pan have now been ordered off the shelves by the TGA. The TGA said this was the final list of products recalled following Pan's licence suspension. But it left open the possibility of more recalls.

The TGA first recalled 219 Pan products on Monday when it suspended the manufacturer's licence. A further 449 products made by Pan for other companies were recalled on Wednesday. At that time the regulator was still waiting for 15 companies to reveal how many of their products were affected by Pan's problems.

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Donald Rumfelds' Fingers in North Korean Pie

Richard Behar of Fortune Magazine reports Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had business deals on nuclear reactors for North Korea

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld sat on the board of a company that won a $200 million contract to provide the design and key components for the reactors in North Korea.

The company is Zurich-based engineering giant ABB, which signed the contract in early 2000, well before Rumsfeld gave up his board seat and joined the Bush administration. Rumsfeld was the only American director on the ABB board from 1990 to early 2001. He has never acknowledged that he knew the company was competing for the nuclear contract. Rumsfeld declined requests by FORTUNE to elaborate on his role.

But ABB spokesman Bjoern Edlund has told FORTUNE that "board members were informed about this project." And other ABB officials say there is no way such a large and high-stakes project, involving complex questions of liability, would not have come to the attention of the board. "A written summary would probably have gone to the board before the deal was signed," says Robert Newman, a former president of ABB's U.S. nuclear division who spearheaded the project. "I'm sure they were aware."

FORTUNE contacted 15 ABB board members who served at the time the company was bidding for the Pyongyang contract, and all but one declined to comment. That director, who asked not to be identified, says he's convinced that ABB's chairman at the time, Percy Barnevik, told the board about the reactor project in the mid-1990s. "This was a major thing for ABB," the former director says, "and extensive political lobbying was done."

The director recalls being told that Rumsfeld was asked "to lobby in Washington" on ABB's behalf in the mid-1990s because a rival American company had complained about a foreign-owned firm getting the work.

Although he couldn't provide details, Goran Lundberg, who ran ABB's power-generation business until 1995, says he's "pretty sure that at some point Don was involved," since it was not unusual to seek help from board members "when we needed contacts with the U.S. government." Other former top executives don't recall Rumsfeld's involvement.

Today Rumsfeld, riding high after the Iraq war, is reportedly discussing a plan for "regime change" in North Korea.

But his silence about the nuclear reactors raises questions about what he did--or didn't do--as an ABB director. There is no evidence that Rumsfeld, who took a keen interest in the company's nuclear business and attended most board meetings, made his views about the project known to other ABB officials. He certainly never made them public, even though the deal was criticized by many people close to Rumsfeld, who said weapons-grade nuclear material could be extracted from light-water reactors.

ABB, which was already building eight nuclear reactors in South Korea, had an inside track on the $4 billion U.S.-sponsored North Korea project. Even so, ABB tried to keep its involvement hush-hush. In a 1995 letter from ABB to the Department of Energy obtained by FORTUNE, the firm requested authorization to release technology to the North Koreans, then asked that the seemingly innocuous one-page letter be withheld from public disclosure.

"Everything was held close to the vest for some reason," says Ronald Kurtz, ABB's U.S. spokesman. "It wasn't as public as contracts of this magnitude typically are."

However discreet ABB tried to be about the project, Kurtz and other company insiders say the board had to have known about it. Newman, the former ABB executive, says a written summary of the risk review would probably have gone to Barnevik. Newman's Zurich-based boss, Howard Pierce, says Rumsfeld "was on the board--so I can only assume he was aware of it."

By all accounts Rumsfeld was a hands-on director.

Dick Slember, who once ran ABB's global nuclear business, says Rumsfeld often called to talk about issues involving nuclear proliferation, and that it was difficult to "get him pointed in the right direction."

Howard Pierce recalls Rumsfeld visiting China to help ABB get nuclear contracts. Shelby Brewer, a former head of ABB's nuclear business in the U.S., recalls meetings with Rumsfeld at the division's headquarters in Connecticut.

Given the Republican outcry over the reactor deal, Rumsfeld's public silence is nearly deafening. "Almost any Republican was complaining about it," says Winston Lord, President Clinton's assistant secretary of state for East Asian/Pacific Affairs. Lord can't remember Rumsfeld speaking out. Nor can Frank Gaffney Jr., whose fervently anti-KEDO Center for Security Policy had ties to Rumsfeld. Gaffney speculates that Rumsfeld might have recused himself from the controversy because of his ABB position.

By 1998 a debate was raging in Washington about the initiative, and the delays were infuriating Pyongyang. Inspectors could no longer verify North Korea's nuclear material inventory. Still, at some point in 1998, ABB received its formal "invitation to bid," says Murray.

Where was Rumsfeld?

That year he chaired a blue-ribbon panel commissioned by Congress, The Rumsfeld Commission , to examine classified data on ballistic missile threats. The commission concluded that North Korea could strike the U.S. within five years. (Weeks after the report was released, it fired a three-stage rocket over Japan.) The Rumsfeld Commission also concluded that North Korea was maintaining a nuclear weapons program--a subtle swipe at the reactor deal, which was supposed to prevent such a program.

Rumsfeld's resume in the Commision's report did NOT mention that he was an ABB director.

President Bush was skeptical of Pyongyang's intentions and called for a policy review in March 2001. But, two months later, the DOE, after consulting with Rumsfeld's Pentagon, renewed the authorization to send nuclear technology to North Korea. Groundbreaking ceremonies attended by Westinghouse and North Korean officials were held Sept. 14, 2001--three days after the worst terror attack on U.S. soil.

The Bush administration still hasn't abandoned the project. The Bush administration has suspended further transfers of nuclear technology, but in January it authorized $3.5 million to keep the project going.

Sooner or later, the outspoken Secretary of Defense will have to explain his silence.

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Tackling SARS the China Way

A 1,000 bed capacity hospital for SARS built in EIGHT DAYS

Villagers set up own blockades against outsiders

Without enough beds for SARS patients, Beijing simply went about to build a new hospital with 1,000 beds in a hurry - and had it completed in EIGHT DAYS. Finishing touches were done on Wednesday to the new 1,000-bed facility. The hospital was built in a former cornfield north of Beijing.

The facility consists of rows of white, one-story buildings surrounded by a 15-foot-high red brick wall .The facility is made of prefabricated panels. At the gate, is a sign that says: "Stop, Roll up Windows, Prepare to Be Disinfected."

The new SARS facility was built by 7,000 men and women working around the clock, the official Xinhua News Agency said. They appeared to have slept under tarps among the broken cornstalks in the surrounding fields.

Beijing's one week old mayor, Wang Qishan, said the first 195 patients were ready to be admitted to the new facility

The urgency by bureaucrats to tackle SARS came about when President Hu Jintao declared fighting SARS a national priority. To demonstrate the Government's concerns, the former mayor was sacked for mishandling the outbreak and at the same time China's health minister was replaced.

Thousands of people had fled Beijing last week. Those who stayed remained at home from work. Beijing had shut down its public schools last week, affecting 1.7 million students. Cinemas and other entertainment sites were asked to close and early 9,000 people have been quarantined.

Meanwhile rumours in the capital were spreading as fast, which include:

• Authorities were planning to seal off the capital ( 13 million people)
  
• Dusting the city with anti-SARS medications at night from the air
  
• Martial law might be declared
  
• Beijing might be closed after police roadblocks were set up to check people in vehicles for SARS symptoms
  
• Buildings or areas with infections will be sealed off.

Mayor Wang denied all, for now. But said that anyone who tried to cover up information "will be dealt with severely."

Villagers set roadblocks to keep out SARS

Villagers around China's capital set up their own quarantine by blocking roads with dirt and stones to keep out people with SARS. Signs told outsiders to stay away. Residents were allowed to leave, but volunteer guards sprayed their vehicles with disinfectant when they returned.

At one village, a hand-lettered sign in red on a scrap of plywood said, "SARS Prevention, No Entry." "We'll stay here and keep this roadblock up until the threat of SARS passes," said a 30-year-old farmer dressed in cloth shoes and a worn military-style jacket who was guarding the roadblock with two neighbors. He would give only his common surname, Xiao.

At the village of Houniugang, about one mile from the Xiaotangshan hospital, a wheelbarrow blocked the road and guarded by a man with a red armband that said "Security Patrol" with instructions not to allow outsiders through. A roadside stand was set up to spray the vehicles of residents with disinfectant.

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LATEST UPDATE on RECALL OF PAN PHARMACEUTICAL'S PRODUCTS by Australia's Medical Watchdog (TGA)

Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration - TGA on 30th April, added MORE Pan Pharmaceutical products for recall.

TGA predicts product recalls could reach 1000 when all companies have compiled their lists of alternative medicines supplied by Pan Pharmaceutical.

With the latest updated list included below, the total number of recall is now 668 products - up from Monday's original list of 219

These are ADDITIONAL to the earlier list published by TGA ( scroll down to see earlier postings in this weblog on this issue)

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE LIST released at 2.30 pm (Australian time) on 30th April 2003 (In .pdf files and need Acrobat)

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE LIST released at 9.30 pm (Australian time) on 30th April 2003 ( In .pdf files and need Acrobat)

Here is the NEWS RELEASE from TGA on the above recalled product lists:

The products shown in this list are additional to those advertised in newspapers on Tuesday 29 April 2003 and are those that have been notified to the TGA as at 2pm Wednesday 30 April 2003 as having been manufactured by Pan Pharmaceuticals Limited since 1 May 2002.

The list does NOT yet include all products to be recalled as this information is still being progressively sent to the TGA from product sponsors who have used Pan Pharmaceuticals Limited as a manufacturer in the period from 1 May 2002.

The list is organised by the AUST L* or AUST R* number followed by the product name, sponsor or supplier name, batch numbers# and expiry dates#.

Where only some batches of products are affected, the relevant batch and expiry date details are specified.

Pan Pharmaceuticals Limited manufacturing licence has been suspended for a period of 6 months, with effect from 28 April 2003, due to serious quality and safety breaches in the manufacture of therapeutic goods by that company since 1 May 2002.

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Tackling SARS the Singapore Way

About 200,000 Singapore primary school students are given digital thermometers to check their body temperatures daily

Health and Hygiene Certification Schemes for Hotels and Businesses

The first batch of thermometers were given out to students in Primary one to four, aged six to nine The rest of the school population expected to get theirs by the end of May. Students are required to take their temperatures twice daily and record in a logbook which are issued with the thermometers.

Temperature check is the first line of defence against the SARS disease, as fever is a key symptom.

A person with fever of 38 degrees centigrade or higher is a potential SARS victim.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last week, every Singaporean household ( about 930,000) would get thermometers by June for them to monitor their temperatures on a daily basis.

Singapore has been praised for its no-nonsense approach against SARS, including mass quarantines, school closures and pre-departure screenings. Many of these tough steps have been copied by other affected countries. At least 23 people have died of SARS in Singapore out of more than 200 cases recorded.

All members of the country's armed forces were issued thermometers and required to take their temperatures twice daily.

The Singapore Government is spending another $US3 million ($4.8 million) to provide another half a million students up to pre-university level with thermometers.

Winning back tourists

Tourism in the country was worst hit by SARS. The number of tourists dropped drastically as Thais, Malaysians, Chinese nationals, Japanese and Americans stayed home or holidayed somewhere else. If the tourists fail to come, it could cost Singapore at least $4.8 billion by the end of this year.

To win back tourists, a "certification scheme" code-named 'COOL Singapore', was launched to give confidence to visitors' well-being during their stay in the country.

Under the certification scheme, hotels are required, among other things, to carry out daily temperature checks on all staff , suppliers and vendors who enter their premises, and other health control measures such as daily disinfection of all their rooms and common facilities. Sticker similar to those used by taxi drivers, will be worn by their employees to declare they do not suffer from fevers, one of the prime symptoms of SARS. Every two weeks, monitoring teams from "Spring Singapore" will undertake checks and health audits on hotels and businesses. Those who fail will lose their awards.

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Did George Bush Blink On Osama Bin Laden's Demand ?

Washington announced this week it intends to withdraw its military bases from Saudi Arabia.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced the withdrawal of all combat forces from Saudi Arabia, ending a secretive 12-year arrangement that began with the 1991 Gulf War.

The end of the Gulf, however, had provided the circumstances for Washington to fulfill one of Bin Laden's demands upon which he led his terrorist attacks on US.

Since the 1991 Gulf War, Bin Laden spooked America with terrorism, aided by his followers and the Al-Qaeda movement that culminated with 9/11.

One of Bin Laden's key demands was the removal of foreign forces in Saudi Arabia, the land that Bin Laden says is sacred to Islam.He vowed since then to "eject the crusader forces" from Islam's holiest sites.

Bin Laden told his followers and the world:

"The latest and greatest of these aggressions....is the occupation of the land of the two Holy Places - the foundation of the House of Islam, the place of the revelation, the source of the message and the place of the noble Ka'ba, the Qiblah of Muslims, by the armies of the American Crusaders and their allies. We bemoan this and can only say 'No power and power acquiring except through Allah'."

He made the same call to remove foreign forces out of Saudi Arabia in "Declaration of the World Islamic Front for Jihad against the Jews and the Crusaders"

Osama bin Laden offered his band of armed jihad fighters to the Saudi regime to help expel the Iraqis from Kuwait. The Saudi rulers spunned his offer, instead took Washington's offer and allowed foreign troops to be located in Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden left Saudi Arabia to establish his base in Sudan and later in 1996 to Afghanistan

By which time, Bin Laden's popularity and influence had reached Palestine, Kashmir, Bosnia, Chechnya, the Philippines and beyond.

According to US sources, under the withdrawal arrangement, some of the 13,000 U.S. military personnel will return to the United States while other components will be transferred to U.S. bases elsewhere in the Persian Gulf, including the huge new al-Udeid air base at nearby Qatar. Some U.S. forces will remain to train Saudi personnel.

Saud Defence Minister, Prince Sultan welcomed the U.S. withdrawal. He said, the end of the Iraq war means " there is no need for (U.S. forces) to remain.... This does not mean that we requested them to remove their forces from the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but they saw that their mission was over so they would leave."

Saudi officials have been uneasy about the presence of U.S. troops in their country since the 1991 war with Iraq, as shown by their attempts to stifle news that American commanders were running the Iraq air war from the Prince Sultan base.

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A Sad Tale in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

An American family's note of appreciation and love to the people of Gaza

Apr 28, 2003

Rachel Corrie is a 23 year old American girl who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer on 16th March 2003.

An Israeli army investigation into the death of Rachel Corrie concluded that its forces were not to blame for her death. Instead it accused Corrie and other members of the International Solidarity Movement of "illegal, irresponsible and dangerous" behaviour.

THIS WAS HOW RACHEL CORRIE WAS KILLED BY THE ISRAEL ARMY

A clearly marked Rachel Corrie, holding a megaphone, confronts an Israeli bulldozer driver attempting to demolish a Palestinian home, Rafah, Occupied Gaza, 16 March 2003. This was one of two bulldozers participating in the home demolition operation on the day Rachel was killed.


Other peace activists tend to Rachel after being injured by the Israeli bulldozer driver.


Rachel Corrie lies on the ground fatally injured by the Israeli bulldozer


Rachel in Najjar hospital, Rafah. Dr. Ali Musa stated that the cause of death was "skull and chest fractures".

THIS IS THE LETTER FROM RACHEL CORRIE'S FAMILY TO THE PEOPLE OF GAZA

To The People Of Gaza From The Family Of Rachel Corrie

Greetings to all of our friends in the Occupied Territories.

We, the parents, sister and brother of Rachel Corrie, want to thank you for all you did for Rachel while she was working in Rafah and for all you have done to honor her memory since she died on March 16. We understand that you will be remembering her especially on the fortieth day anniversary of her death. Know that we will be thinking of all of you.

We are grateful to those of you who became Rachel’s friends and who welcomed her into your homes and shared your tea and food with her. She wrote to us about you and about your wonderful families. She admired how you supported one another even as you struggled against the cruelties of the occupation.

Writing about you, Rachel told us, “ I am nevertheless amazed at their strength in being able to defend such a large degree of their humanity—laughter, generosity, family-time—against the incredible horror occurring in their lives and against the constant presence of death……I am also discovering a degree of strength and of basic ability for humans to remain human in the direst of circumstances…. I think the word is dignity.”

We are grateful to those of you who cared for Rachel as she died and after. We will always remember the respect and love with which she was treated in life and in death by the people of Gaza.

We are grateful to all of you who have honored Rachel’s memory during these past weeks. It lifts our spirits to hear of the Rachel Corrie Children and Youth Cultural Center in Rafah and the Rachel Corrie Center for Women’s Empowerment. We know there are now newborn babies named Rachel and streets that bear her name, too.

We cannot find adequate words to tell you how much these things mean to us. Thank you for the many ways in which you have honored our daughter and sister.

Rachel wrote to us that coming to Rafah was one of the best things she had ever done in her life. She told us that she would stay in Rafah longer than she had originally planned. She had watched another ISM volunteer say goodbye to the families she had grown close to, and Rachel said she saw then how hard it would be to one day leave all of you. She had dreams of making connections between Rafah and her hometown in the United States—Olympia, Washington. She had started planning to make Rafah and Olympia sister cities.

She had gone to her old elementary school in Olympia and had encouraged the children there to write letters to the children in Rafah. She was hoping to help the women in Rafah who make handcrafted items to sell those items at a fair trade store in Olympia. Rachel wanted your voices to be heard in the United States.

Had she lived, Rachel would have worked to make all these things happen. Now, we want you to know that many people in the United States are working very hard to make these dreams of Rachel’s come true. The dreams are not forgotten. Rachel is not forgotten. And your suffering is not forgotten.

Our family wants very much to come to Rafah. We plan to do so as soon as we are able. When we come, we hope to meet the children who taught Rachel Arabic words, the grandmother who watched out for her health, and the families with whom she shared meals and tea. We hope to visit the Rachel Corrie Children and Youth Cultural Center and the Rachel Corrie Center for Women’s Empowerment and maybe to meet a newborn baby named Rachel. We are eager to look into your eyes and to have you look into ours as we remember Rachel together.

We want you to know that each day here in the United States we are doing all that we can to make Americans aware of your suffering. We will continue to work here for a just and peaceful resolution to this conflict that has caused so much loss for each of you and now for us, as well.

We know that Rachel will forever be linked to the Palestinian people. She brought your story to us so that now, you will always be in our hearts.

Sincerely,

Cindy, Craig, Chris, and Sarah Corrie
Rachel’s Family

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UPDATE on Australia's Medical Watchdog (TGA)'s EVALUATION OF PAN PHARMACEUTICAL'S PRODUCTS

(A) TGA has cancelled 1,650 products designated for export to other countries by PAN PHARMACEUTICALS as of 28 April 2003.

(1) CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL LIST ALL THE EXPORT PRODUCTS CANCELLED

(2) CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE .PDF FILE OF THE EXPORT PRODUCTS CANCELLED BY TGA (need acrobat to view the file)

(B) TGA lists FIRMS or SPONSORS that do NOT use Pan Pharmaceuticals Limited as a manufacturer for any of their products

Click here to see the list of names of firms that DO NOT use Pan Pharmaceuticals Product to manufacture their products

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List of Products Manufactured by Pan Pharmaceuticals Ltd for Immediate Recall

ORDERED BY THE THERAPEUTIC GOODS ADMINISTRATION, AUSTRALIA (28 APRIL 2003)
( in alphabetical order)

(details on TGA website: http://www.health.gov.au/tga/index.htm)

* Please check for the AUST R or AUST L which can be located on the font panel of the label on the product. It is usually in a lower corner. It is a 5 digit number prefixed by the letters AUST R or AUST L.

 As many product names are similar, it is important that this number is checked.



73951-21ST CENTURY DELICIOUS CHILDREN'S MULTI VITAMINS & MINERALS TASTY ORANGE Tablet - effervescent tube

91608- 3 G's

93620- ACID AID

90560- ANOXIVIT

91262- AUSDANT Q10

91075-AUSHARK

90927-B GROUP + C EFFERVESCENT TABLETS

92066-BEVON-C

90552-BREWERS YEAST 1000mg

90559-CALCI - BONE

93621-CALCIUM 300mg IN COD LIVER OIL

91119-CALCIUM CHILDREN CHEWABLE COMPLEX

91264-CALCIUM GLUCONATE 300mg CHEWABLE

91609-CALCIUM ISOFLAVONE COMPLEX

93622-CALCIUM, MAGNESIUM, ZINC

90558-CARDIOVIT


91121-CHILDCARE CHILDRENS MULTIVITAMINS & MINERALS

93017-CHILDREN MV-LYSINE

90550-CHILDREN'S C

91117-CHILDREN'S CHEWABLE ECHINACEA COMPLEX

91068-CHILDREN'S CHEWABLE MULTIVITAMINS AND MINERALS COMPLEX

91120-CHILDREN'S CHEWABLE VITAMIN C COMPLEX TABLETS - ORANGE FLAVOUR

90933-CHILDREN'S MULTI

93981-CHILDREN'S MULTIVITAMIN & MINERALS CHEWABLE TABLET

92265-COD LIVER OIL ONE-A-DAY

92266-COD LIVER OIL PLUS MULTIVITAMINS

90561-COD LIVER OIL WITH MULTIVITAMINS

90547-CO-ENZYME Q10

92810-CONTRAVIT FORMULA

93509-CRANBERRY 5000 EFFERVESCENT TABLET

93619-DOLOMITE TABLETS 1g

90553-E.P.O + VIT. E

91295-ECHA - C

90516-ELLY 1000

91432-EVENING PRIMROSE OIL 1.3g CAPSULES

90931-EVENING PRIMROSE OIL 1000mg CAPSULES

92269-EVENING PRIMROSE OIL 600mg CAPSULES

90794-FERRO 4

90549-FOLAVIT

91073-FondAKids (Dinosaur shape)

91072-FondAKids (Koala shape)


90793-GARLIC + LECITHIN

92264-GARLIC PEARLS (ENTERIC COATED)

92267-GARLIC WITH ANTIOXIDANT

92809-GENTLE C

91071-GINKGO BILOBA WITH DHA

83323-GLUCOSAMINE AND CHONDROITIN COMPLEX TABLETS

90563-HAIR FORMULA

93511-HIMEE VITAMIN C 250mg TABLET

93510-HIMEE VITAMIN C 500mg TABLET

91074-KALCIMEX-D

91297-LIQUID ADULTS COUGH SYRUP (WITH HONEY)

91298-LIQUID IRON

91296-LIQUID ROYAL JELLY

93623-LIVITRON CAPSULES

92807-LYCOPENE 6mg

93512-M-TONE TABLETS

90562-MULTIVITAMIN & MINERAL

91069-NATOXI PLUS

91431-NATURAL VITAMIN E 1000IU

76351-NATURALLY HERBAL SIBERIAN GINSENG 1000 Tablet - uncoated bottle

76352-NATURALLY HERBAL SIBERIAN GINSENG 500 Tablet - uncoated bottle

90463-Nn CALCIUM PLUS

90314-Nn Chewable C - 500mg

90465-Nn NON-ACIDIC C-PLUS

93514-NON ACIDIC C


91438-OMEGA 3 FISH OIL 500mg + EPO 500mg + NATURAL VITAMIN E 100IU

91433-OMEGA-3 FISH OIL 1.2g

82191-PAN ACID FREE 500MG COMPLEX Tablet - film coated bottle

83264-PAN ACIDOPHILUS PLUS ENTERIC COATED CAPSULES Capsule, enteric not applicable

80456-PAN ALOE VERA CONCENTRATE Aloe barbadensis 25mg Capsule, soft bottle

83259-PAN ALPHA LIPOIC ACID 300MG R,S-alpha Lipoic acid 300mg Tablet - film coated not applicable

83266-PAN AMEGO 1000 Fish oil - natural 1g Capsule, soft not applicable

78511-PAN APEVIT Tablet - film coated bottle

83270-PAN ARTEC Tablet - film coated not applicable

81103-PAN ARTHRI-CARE GLUCOSAMINE SULFATE Glucosamine sulfate-potassium chloride complex 500mg Tablet - film coated bottle

81104-PAN ARTHRI-CARE GLUCOSAMINE SULFATE PLUS Tablet - film coated bottle

81675-PAN ARTHRI-CARE SHARK CARTILAGE Shark cartilage 400mg Tablet - film coated bottle

78073-PAN BECOFORTE SUPER Tablet - film coated blister pack

77538-PAN BETACAROTENE 15MG Betacarotene 15mg Tablet - film coated bottle

82673-PAN BILBERRY 5000 Vaccinium myrtillus 50mg Capsule, soft bottle

77896-PAN BIO VIT C Tablet - film coated bottle


80796-PAN CALCIUM AND MAGNESIUM TABLETS Tablet - film coated bottle

80454-PAN CELERY SEED OIL Celery Seed Oil 25mg Capsule, soft bottle

77442-PAN CHEWABLE VITAMIN E PLUS SELENIUM Tablet - chewable bottle

82043-PAN CHILDREN'S MULTI DROPS Oral Liquid bottle

82038-PAN CHILDREN'S MULTIVITAMIN & MINERAL LIQUID (CITRUS FLAVOUR) Oral Liquid bottle

82674-PAN CO-ENZYME Q10 100MG Ubidecarenone 100mg Capsule, soft bottle

83261-PAN CO-ENZYME Q10 150MG COMPLEX Capsule, soft not applicable

78022-PAN CO-ENZYME Q10 30MG FIZZY Ubidecarenone 30mg Tablet - chewable bottle

77041-PAN CO-ENZYME Q10 30MG Ubidecarenone 30mg Capsule, soft bottle

78019-PAN CO-ENZYME Q10 30MG WATER SOLUBILISED Ubidecarenone 30mg Capsule, soft bottle

79628-PAN CO-ENZYME Q10 50MG COMPLEX WATER SOLUBILIZED Capsule, soft bottle

78028-PAN COMPUTER EYE Capsule, soft bottle

77445-PAN DERMA NUTRITION 1 Capsule, soft bottle

77444-PAN DERMA NUTRITION 2 Capsule, soft bottle

90177-PAN DIGEST-ADE

77446-PAN DIGEST-ADE Tablet - film coated bottle

79629-PAN ECHINACEA COMPLEX Capsule, soft bottle

83026-PAN EPO 500MG WITH FLAXSEED OIL 500MG Capsule, soft bottle

82088-PAN EVENING PRIMROSE OIL 500mg CAPSULES

80473-PAN EVENING PRIMROSE OIL 600MG CAPSULES Evening Primrose Oil 600mg Capsule, soft bottle


81102-PAN FAVIT WOMEN BEAUTY - SKIN PLAN Capsule, soft bottle

78053-PAN FLAXSEED OIL 1000MG Linseed Oil 1g Capsule, soft bottle

79810-PAN FOLIC ACID 400MCG PLUS VITAMIN B12 500MCG FIZZY Tablet - chewable bottle

83269-PAN FOLIC ACID 500MCG Folic acid 500microgram Capsule, soft not applicable

76355-PAN FOLIC ACID 500mcg Folic acid 500microgram Tablet - uncoated bottle

80449-PAN GARLIC 20,000 Garlic Oil 6.67mg Capsule, soft bottle

80448-PAN GARLIC 3,000 Garlic Oil 1mg Capsule, soft bottle

83265-PAN GARLIC PEARLS ENTERIC COATED Garlic Oil 1mg Capsule, enteric not applicable

90468-PAN GINGER 500mg TABLETS

74022-PAN GINKGO 6000 TABLETS Ginkgo biloba 120mg Tablet - film coated bottle

81576-PAN GINKGO BILOBA 2.4G CAPSULES Capsule, hard bottle

78025-PAN GINKGO BILOBA 7500 COMPLEX Capsule, soft bottle

74101-PAN GINKGO PLUS Capsule - soft bottle

78055-PAN GLUCOSAMINE AND CHONDROITIN COMPLEX Tablet - film coated bottle

90013-PAN GLUCOSAMINE SULFATE 1000mg

90467-PAN GLUCOSAMINE SULFATE 1000mg TABLETS

90012-PAN GLUCOSAMINE SULFATE 500mg

81582-PAN INULIN 500MG CAPSULES Inulin 500mg Capsule, hard bottle


78054-PAN JOINT USE (FLAXSEED, OMEGA + EVENING PRIMROSE OIL) Capsule, soft bottle

78026-PAN JUNIOR DHA COMPLEX Capsule, soft bottle

83260-PAN KALI PHOS Potassium phosphate - monobasic 500microgram Tablet - uncoated not applicable

76353-PAN L - LYSINE 500MG Lysine hydrochloride 624mg Tablet - uncoated bottle

82839-PAN L-CARNITINE 250MG Levocarnitine fumarate 431mg Capsule, soft not applicable

76354-PAN L-CYSTEINE 500MG Cysteine hydrochloride 650.4mg Tablet - film coated bottle

80450-PAN LECITHIN 1200MG Lecithin 1.2g Capsule, soft bottle

80455-PAN LECITHIN PLUS E Capsule, soft bottle

80457-PAN LEVATONE Capsule, soft bottle

79630-PAN LIVATONE Capsule, soft bottle

78023-PAN LIVER TONIC Capsule, soft bottle

83263-PAN MEGA ANTI-OXIDANT FORMULA Capsule, soft not applicable

83268-PAN MILK THISTLE 150MG Silybum marianum 37.5mg Capsule, soft not applicable

83267-PAN MINTEC CAPSULES (ENTERIC COATED) Peppermint Oil 180mg Capsule, enteric not applicable

83324-PAN NATURAL E 400IU +SELENIUM & FOLIC ACID Capsule, soft not applicable

82677-PAN NATURAL VITAMIN E 200IU d-alpha-Tocopherol 134.2mg Capsule, soft bottle

77533-PAN NATURAL VITAMIN E 250IU d-alpha-Tocopherol 167.8mg Capsule, soft bottle

79699-PAN NATURAL VITAMIN E 400IU d-alpha-Tocopherol 268.5mg Capsule, soft bottle

77535-PAN NATURAL VITAMIN E 400IU d-alpha-Tocopheryl acetate 294.1mg Capsule, soft bottle

82678-PAN NATURAL VITAMIN E 500IU d-alpha-Tocopherol 335.6mg Capsule, soft bottle

78074-PAN NATURAL VITAMIN E 600IU d-alpha-Tocopheryl acetate 441.2mg Capsule, soft bottle


77537-PAN NEUTRAL C TIME RELEASE 1000MG COMPLEX Tablet - modified release bottle

77536-PAN NEUTRAL C TIME RELEASE 500MG COMPLEX Tablet - modified release bottle

82924-PAN ODOURLESS GARLIC Garlic Oil 1mg Capsule, soft not applicable

76779-PAN O'FRESH TABLETS Chlorophyll CI75810 60mg Tablet - uncoated bottle

77443-PAN OLIVE PLUS Tablet - film coated bottle

82676-PAN OMEGA - 3 FISH OIL 1000MG ENTERIC COATED Fish oil - natural 1g Capsule, enteric bottle

80451-PAN OMEGA 3 Fish oil - natural 1g Capsule, soft bottle

80472-PAN OMEGA 3 FISH OIL 1000MG CAPSULES Fish oil - natural 1g Capsule, soft bottle

74669-PAN PALMETTO PLUS Tablet - film coated bottle

80005-PAN PHYTO-CARE CAPSULES Glycine max 43.75mg Capsule, hard bottle

81154-PAN PHYTROL 450MG Phytosterol complex - conifer 450mg Tablet - uncoated bottle

83258-PAN PROPOLIS 1000 Propolis 200mg Capsule, soft not applicable

78021-PAN PROPOLIS 500MG Propolis 100mg Capsule, soft bottle

76137-PAN PROPOLIS 650MG CAPSULES Propolis 130mg Capsule, soft bottle

83262-PAN ROBOVIT CHILDRENS MULTIVITAMINS PLUS ZINC STRAWBERRY FLAVOUR Tablet - chewable not applicable


80154-PAN ROOTAMIN Orange, Lemon and Strawberry flavour tablet bottle

80453-PAN ROYAL JELLY 1000MG Royal jelly 333.33mg Capsule, soft bottle

80452-PAN ROYAL JELLY 500MG Royal jelly 167mg Capsule, soft bottle

90061-PAN SALMON - E

82675-PAN SAM-E Ademetionine disulfate tosylate 400mg Tablet - enteric coated bottle

90176-PAN SILYMARIN WITH VITAMINS

81581-PAN ST JOHN'S WORT 1.2G CAPSULES Hypericum perforatum 200mg Capsule, hard bottle

81184-PAN STRIKE -A- COLD AND FLU Capsule, soft blister pack

81185-PAN STRIKE -A- COLD Capsule, soft blister pack

78027-PAN SUPER EPA Fish oil - natural 1g Capsule, soft bottle

74102-PAN SUPER SLIM Capsule - hard bottle

82089-PAN SUPERIOR CELERY COMPLEX Capsule, soft bottle

82090-PAN SUPERIOR OMEGA-3 COMPLEX Capsule, soft bottle

76295-PAN SUPERTON Capsule, soft bottle

78020-PAN TUNA OIL 1000MG Fish oil - natural 1g Capsule, soft bottle

78024-PAN VARI-X Capsule, soft bottle

79545-PAN VITAMIN C 500MG ACID-FREE WITH BIOFLAVONOIDS S/R Tablet - modified release bottle

75696-PAN VITAMIN C PLUS ECHINACEA & GARLIC Tablet - film coated bottle

78056-PAN VITAMIN E 200IU SYNTHETIC dl-alpha-Tocopheryl acetate 200mg Capsule, soft bottle

78057-PAN VITAMIN E 400IU SYNTHETIC dl-alpha-Tocopheryl acetate 400mg Capsule, soft bottle


71610-PANLABS CO - ENZYME Q10 30MG WATER SOLUBILIZED Ubidecarenone 30mg Capsule - soft bottle

73364-PANLABS COD LIVER OIL 275MG CAPSULE Cod-liver oil 275mg Capsule - soft bottle

66926-PANLABS EVENING PRIMROSE OIL 1000MG Evening Primrose Oil 1g Capsule - soft bottle

66393-PANLABS GINKGO BILOBA 2000 Ginkgo biloba 40mg Capsule - hard bottle

65958-PANLABS MULTIVITAMIN & MINERAL Capsule - soft bottle

66392-PANLABS OMEGA-3 Fish oil - natural 1g Capsule - soft bottle

71239-PANLABS SAW PALMETTO PLUS Capsule - soft bottle

66383-PANLABS SHARK CARTILAGE 750MG CAPSULES Shark cartilage 750mg Capsule - hard bottle

71244-PANLABS TRIBULUS PLUS Tablet - film coated bottle

66395-PANLABS VITAMIN C 1000MG SLOW RELEASE Ascorbic acid 1g Tablet - modified release bottle

73366-PANLABS VITAMIN C 1000MG WITH ROSEHIPS Tablet - film coated bottle

73377-PANLABS VITAMIN C 250MG NATURAL ORANGE FLAVOUR Tablet - chewable bottle

73367-PANLABS VITAMIN E 1000MG dl-alpha-Tocopheryl acetate 1g Capsule - soft bottle

93624-PREGNANCY & BREASTFEEDING

92268-PREGNANCY CAPSULES

91010-PRELAVIT

92065-PROFAMOL


90466-REDUCOL

92064-REVITA

90551-ROBOVIT

91118-ROBOVIT CHILDREN'S CHEWABLE MULTIVITAMINS AND MINERALS COMPLEX

90556-ROJETON

93513-ROYAL JELLY & SQUALENE

93618-SHARK CARTILAGE + SQUALENE

91436-STARFLOWER (BORAGE) OIL 1.3g

91435-STARFLOWER (BORAGE) OIL 1000mg

91434-STARFLOWER (BORAGE) OIL 500mg

90929-SUPER B 50

90932-SUPER CO-ENZYME Q10

90557-SUPERBOOST

92808-THERMOGENIC PLUS

93983-TOTAL IMAGE SHARK OIL 1000mg

91070-TRI-O-GEN PLUS

90555-URICRAN

93982-VITALIZER 1000mg

90464-VITAMIN C

90554-VITAMIN C 500mg

91263-VITAMIN C 500mg TABLETS ORANGE FLAVOURED

90926-VITAMIN C EFFERVESCENT TABLETS

90548-VITAMIN E 500IU

93984-VITAMIN E NATURAL 100IU

91437-WHEAT GERM OIL 1000mg

90928-WOMEN'S MULTI

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BIGGEST MEDICAL RECALL IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY....LICENCE OF PAN PHARMACEUTICAL LTD SUSPENDED BY MEDICAL WATCHDOG

Major news headline today on Australia's largest contract manufacturer of herbal, vitamin and nutritional supplements, Pan Pharmaceuticals was ordered to withdraw IMMEDIATELY 219 of its products and had its licence suspended for 6 months by Australia's medicine watchdog, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) for grave safety and quality breaches.

Pan holds 70 per cent of the Australian complementary medicine market and exports to dozens of countries. Pan is Australia's largest contract manufacturer of herbal, vitamin and nutritional supplements. It also makes some over-the-counter medicines including paracetamol, codeine, antihistamines and pseudoephedrine.

Pan sold its products in generic form which are then rebranded under different brand names. These would be added to the list by TGA as they are being identified.

The TGA warned the number of products recalled could blow out to several thousand in coming days.

The charges against the pharmaceutical company by TGA include:

• evidence of substitution of ingredients, manipulation of test results and substandard manufacturing processes.
  
  
• released products containing materials that had not been tested for their safety
  
  
• four cases where laboratory test results were manipulated to meet regulatory specifications.
  
  
• four recent examples of test results of an export vitamin product being fabricated.
  
  
• on several occasions beef cartilage had been substituted for shark cartilage in a shark cartilage preparation.
  
  
• a product may not be true to label. It may have a herb in it that has not been appropriately tested and may have a contaminant in it that could cause a serious illness ... or potentially fatal allergic reaction.

TGA principal medical officer, John McEwan, told an Australian news network that people should to be patient for the next few days until complete lists were published in newspapers and in the TGA website.

Pan Pharmaceuticals yesterday failed to call for a trading halt in its shares on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) as soon as it learnt its licence had been suspended.Shares in the company were still being traded while health authorities held a press conference to list a string of serious safety and quality breaches. ASX officials are angry.

Legal action by affected parties, including investors, commercial partners and consumers will be a certainty in the near future.

At the center of the debacle are its founder, managing director and biggest shareholder Jim Selim, and chairman Ross Brown, a governor of the Pharmacy Practice Foundation of the University of Sydney.

The products on recall are listed here in alphabetical order and by Australian reference numbers.

You can download the list of the products from here

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Leaked Document Advises Tactics for Pro-Israel Lobbyists' Manipulation of US Public Opinion

The Electronic Intifada News Website got hold of a copy a leaked document entitled "Wexner Analysis: Israeli Communication Priorities 2003," which prescribes tactics for pro-Israel lobbyists and activists to maintain US support for Israel and its hardline policies.

Click here to read the full document ( in .pdf format)

The document was commissioned by the Wexner Foundation, a private foundation that funds "Birthright Israel," a program sponsoring American Jews for free trips to Israel. The document was prepared for pro-Israel activists by the public relations firm The Luntz Research Companies and The Israel Project. The Luntz Research Companies is a leading public relations and opinion research firm. The Israel Project is an initiative of pro-Israel organizations, political consultants and businesspeople

One tactic recommended in the document to be used on the US public in the lead up to the Iraq War was to keep invoking the name of Saddam Hussein, and keep emphasising Israel "was always behind American efforts to rid the world of this ruthless dictator and liberate their people."

Here are some of the key advice given in the document to Israel and its advocates:

"Iraq colors all. Saddam is your best defense, even if he is dead. The worldview [of] Americans is entirely dominated by developments in Iraq. This is a unique opportunity for Israelis to deliver a message of support and unity at a time of great international anxiety and opposition from some of our European "allies." For a year - a SOLID YEAR - you should be invoking the name of Saddam Hussein and how Israel was always behind American efforts to rid the world of this ruthless dictator and liberate their people."

"The fact that Israel has remained relatively silent for the three months preceding the war and for the three weeks of the war was absolutely the correct strategy - and according to all the polling done, it worked. But as the military conflict comes to a close, it is now time for Israel to lay out its own "road map" for the future which includes unqualified support for America and unqualified commitment to an ongoing war against terrorism."

"It DOES NOT HELP when you compliment President Bush. When you want to identify with and align yourself with America, just say it. Don't use George Bush as a synonym for the United States. Even with the destruction of the Hussein regime and all the positive reactions from the Iraqi people, there still remains about 20% of America that opposes the Iraqi war, and they are overwhelmingly Democrat. That leaves about half the Democrats who support the war even if they don't support George Bush. You antagonize the latter half unnecessarily every time you compliment the President. Don't do it."

""SECURITY" sells. Security has become the key fundamental principle for all Americans. Security is the context by which you should explain Israeli need for loan guarantees and military aid, as well as why Israel can't just give up land. The settlements are our Achilles heel, and the best response (which is still quite weak) is the need for security that this buffer creates."

"Stick to your message but don’t say it the same way twice. We have seen this in the past but never so starkly as today. Americans are paying very close attention to international developments and are particularly sensitive to any kind of apparent dogma or canned presentations. If they hear you repeating the exact same words over and over again, they will come to distrust your message. If your speakers can’t find different ways to express similar principles, keep them off the air."

" Link Iraqi liberation with the plight of the Palestinian people. It is likely that the most effective argument(s) you have right now are those that link the right of the Iraqi people to live in freedom with the right of the Palestinian people to be governed by those who truly represent them. If you express your concern for the plight of the Palestinian people and how it is unfair, unjust and immoral that they should be forced to accept leaders who steal and kill in their name, you will be building credibility for your support of the average Palestinian while undermining the credibility of their leadership."

"Of course rhetorical questions work, don’t they? Ask a question to which there is only one answer is hard to lose. It is essential that your communication be laced with rhetorical questions, which is how Jews talk anyway."

"Acknowledging a cultural difference between Israelis and Palestinians is stating the obvious – and good for your case. Even those Americans that have sympathies for the Palestinian struggle have an easier time relating to the Israelis because of the similarities between America and Israel in culture, tradition and values."

"The human touch. Mentioning parents and children humanizes and personalizes the terror that Israel has to face every day."

" THE ISRAELI AID MESSAGE TREE


(1) As a democracy, Israel has the right and the responsibility to defend its borders and protect its people.

(2) Prevention works. Even with the collapse of Saddam’s regime,terrorist threats remain throughout our region.

(3) Israel is America’s one and only true ally in the region. In these particularly unstable and dangerous times, Israel should not be forced to go it alone.

(4) With America’s financial assistance, Israel can defend its borders, protect its people, and provide invaluable assistance to the American effort in the war against terrorism.


"WORDS THAT WORK: SELLING ISRAEL AID

It was Israel who risked their pilots and planes in taking out Saddam Hussein’s nuclear reactors and thus thwarted his quest for nuclear weapons of mass destruction.

It was Israel who provided much of the intelligence that helped America defeat Iraq back in 1991.

It was Israel alone among Middle Eastern nations that supported America’s successful effort to remove Saddam Hussein and liberate the people of Iraq.

We stood without you against the Saddam regime from beginning to end.

Israel has been a key regional asset and military ally of the United States for more than 50 years. That relationship must continue, even and especially in the post-Saddam era. It is a partnership of democracies devoted to the war against terrorism and the fight for freedom.

“During the Gulf War, Iraq attacked Israel with Scud missiles 39 times. Israel stood by each time, not knowing if the next missile contained biological and chemical weapons. Israel chose restraint instead of war, because it was what the U.S. asked. It was Israel’s way to support our ally, America, and its troops during the Persian Gulf War. We put supporting American priorities higher than our own. But now, with our national security at stake, we need America’s financial help.”


" Opinion elites in America will not find repeated criticisms of the Palestinian leadership credible unless they are coupled with a similar onus on the Israeli government to accommodate for peace and acknowledge past transgressions. Assertions that Israel enjoys a blameless history are soundly rejected. This will not be received well by everyone but it is essential for your spokespeople to acknowledge it Israel has made some mistakes. Not only does this build credibility but it also allows the spokesperson to then explain and assert Israel’s history of taking strides for peace.

Here is how this message is best developed:

" ACKNOWLEDGING THE PAST, BOTH GOOD AND BAD

(1) We know that the history of our conflict has been marked by frustration and mistrust by both Israelis and Palestinians, and Israel is willing to accept some of the blame for what has happened in the past

(2) However, throughout our history we have demonstrated that we value peace above all else. In our hope for peace we overcame differences and found agreement with our Arab neighbors Egypt and Jordan.

(3) We remain committed to peace. We offered the Palestinian people a state of their own that included over 97% of the West Bank. Their leadership rejected this proposal, showing once again that we do not have a partner for peace so long as the current Palestinian Authority remains the voice of the Palestinian people. It’s time for a change – not just for us but for our Palestinian cousins as well.


" RHETORICAL QUESTIONS TO ASK OPPONENTS OF ISRAEL

“How can the current Palestinian leadership honestly say it will pursue peace when the same leaders rejected an offer to create a Palestinian state two and a half years ago?”

“How can Yassir Arafat, whom Forbes Magazine say s is worth more than three hundred million dollars, claim to be a leader who understands and represents an impoverished people when he has become rich at their expense?”

“Is it too much to ask that the Palestinian leadership not sponsor terrorists? Are we unreasonable to insist that they stop killing our innocent children before we jeopardize our security and make concessions for peace?”

“How can we make peace with a leader that does not believe in or allow free and honest elections?”

“Why do Palestinian schools have pictures of suicide bombers hanging up in the hallways of their schools or celebrate them as martyrs? Why do they name sports teams in the West Bank after suicide bombers? How can we make peace with the Palestinian people when their leaders instill a culture of terror against our people?”

“How can the Palestinian people end their impoverishment if their leaders continue to steal precious resources from them, which are then used to support terror?

”Why has Yassir Arafat been in power for so long, and yet made so little progress towards a peaceful resolution? If he were truly committed to peace, would he not have made a sincere effort to achieve it by now? When will the Palestinian people themselves have a voice at the peace table?"

Is this another FAKE document to discredit the Jewish community in US and Israel?

One other document called The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion (which alleged an international Jewish conspiracy) had been condemned as a forgery and a fake. Dr. Daniel Keren gave an historical account of the emergence of the Protocols in the early 20th Century.

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The Same Iraqi On Show For the US Media: "The Fall of Saddam's Statue" on 9 April 2003"

An Actor Recruited by the Coalition Forces, Perhaps !

Same Iraqi Kissing Different Soldier For Newsweek and US News and World Report


He is even shown in full action

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IRAQ: Who Caused the Ammunition Dump Explosion in Baghdad That Killed 12 Iraqis and Injured 40?

What's the Truth?

Iraqi residents say it is the US Military's fault.

US Military Command denies and blames on "unknown attackers."

The US military blamed it on "unknown attackers " and says it is still investigating on the munition dump blast on Saturday. The Iraqi residents affected blamed the US military for the incident and was not convinced of the US military's explanation. Iraqis vented their anger at the US military in Baghdad.

Kudeir, a 30 year-old Iraqi worker, carries his badly burned nine-month-old son Amir Yas to safety in the Zaafaraniya neighborhood on the outskirts of Baghdad on Saturday after an arms dump blew up. (Reuters)

According to the report in The Observer, the tragedy occured to a community living around the Teachers' Houses area at around 8 in the morning. A Frog missile, stored by the US army for destruction, exploded in the midst of this small Iraqi community.

Six of the Haz al Sabr family living in the area were killed. At least 40 people were injured and another six also believed killed.

The missile had self-launched from the burning dump when its solid propellant caught fire. Shells and rocket-propelled grenades were thrown hundreds of metres through the air before hitting the ground and exploding. American soldiers couldn't venture into the ammunition dump for hours because thousands of rounds of rifle and machine gun ammunition kept exploding like popcorn.

The US Military Command issued this statement: "'An unknown number of individuals attacked. One soldier was wounded. During the attack, the assailant fired an unknown incendiary device into the cache, causing it to catch fire and explode. The explosion caused the destruction of the cache as well as a nearby building".


Captain Patrick Sullivan, from a US Army engineering unit said. " Hostile forces fired four flares into an ammunition storage area. One of the flares ignited an explosion and that set off a chain of explosions. "

In Qatar, U.S. Central Command spokesman Lt. Mark Kitchens placed blame squarely on what he called "the despicable people" who allegedly fired the flares. "This is not just an attempt to disrupt the process of peace. It's a crime against the Iraqi people," Kitchens said.

The weapons in the dump was part of the huge hauls of munitions that U.S. forces have been gathering from around Baghdad. In recent days, there have been controlled explosions at the same ammunition dump when U.S. force destroyed arms caches. Iraqis criticised US troops for storing munitions in a residential area, but the Army said it inherited the site from the Iraqis and had been trying to move weapons away from homes.

An Iraqi man argues with an U.S. soldier at a site of a blast at an arms depot near Zaafaraniya on the outskirts of Baghdad on April 26, 2003.(Reuters )

Colonel John Peabody denied any weapons had been demolished while they were guarding them. He said his unit had been guarding the ammunition dump for a week and that it 'had NOT destroyed any ammunition'. A claim challenged by almost every Iraqi resident in the affected area. The Iraqis living nearby did not buy the US Military 's version.

According to residents, the stockpile of weapons was kept behind a tall earth ridge just only 500 metres from their homes and according to them, the stockpile was being destroyed daily by the US Military. Iraqis claim that US forces had been destroying up to six missiles a day.

And when US Seargent Tom Grasso met with the residents aftet the tragedy, they told him that fragments had often fallen on their houses from a destruction site only 500m from their houses. They had feared that this might happen. And their worst fears were realized.


Naaman D'Nasser, an engineer who lives in the suburb, on the southern fringes of Baghdad, took reporters to a rooftop near his house to show other smaller missiles that had fallen broken on the community in the last few weeks.

He asked: "'We have had missiles like these smaller ones fall before. Why do they blow up things like this so close to where we live? We are Iraqis. But does that mean that we are not human as well?"

Angry residents briefly fired on U.S. troops trying to treat the injured and recover bodies from the rubble, driving them from the area for a short time. Residents blamed the U.S. military for not moving the dangerous material away from a populated area. Some angry Iraqis threw rocks at U.S. soldiers, as they tried to recover bodies.

''After this accident, no American soldiers will be safe,'' a group of young men shouted yesterday, near the spot where a missile crashed into the middle of a residential street between the houses of two neighbors, Khazal Suber Hassoon and Ali Naama Mohammed.

What angered residents even more was the attitude of US forces. After the blast, three US Humvee personnel carriers arrived to photograph the damage and and to take witness statements, lasting no more than 15 minutes. Sergeant Tom Grasso wanted more time to talk to residents, instead he was ordered back into his car by his superior, according to residents.

About 500 Iraqi men chanted anti-American and pro-Islam slogans. They drove out of the suburb in a convoy of trucks, buses and car - the first truck carrying the six coffins.

To quote Donald Rumsfeld. "Stuff happens !". So it was, with twelve innocent Iraqis killed.

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Why Washington is NOT calling North Korea's Bluff

A Korean Affairs Expert analyses the military strategy and capability of North Korea against US strike

Dr Han Ho Suk is the Director, Center for Korean Affairs . He wrote a paper in Korean language " North Korea's War Strategy of Massive Retaliations against US Attacks"

Read here Donald Rumsfeld's role in North Korea's build up of nuclear capability

The following are excerpts from the translated version of Dr Han's paper:

1. North Korea Can Engage the US in Total War

North Korea is one of the few nations that CAN engage in a total war with the United States. The US war planners recognize this fact.

For example, on March 7, 2000, Gen. Thomas A Schwartz, the US commander in Korea at the time, testified at a US congressional hearing that "North Korea is the country most likely to involve the United States in a large-scale war."

North Korea, which can and is willing to face up to the sole military superpower of the world, cannot be called a weak nation. Nevertheless, Western press and analysts distort the truth and depict North Korea as an "impoverished" nation, starving and on the brink of imminent collapse. An impoverished, starving nation cannot face down a military superpower. In contrast, North Korea has not only the military power but also the political will to wage total war against the United States.

North Korea has made it clear that it will strike all US targets with all means, if the US mounted military attacks on North Korea. That North Korea's threat is no bluff can be seen from the aggressive actions taken by North Korea since the Korean War armistice, most recent of which is North Korea's attempt to capture an American spy plane.

2. North Korea's Massive Retaliation Strategy

North Korea's war plan in case of an US attack is total war, not the 'low-intensity limited warfare' or 'regional conflict' talked about among the Western analysts. North Korea will mount a total war if attacked by the US. There are three aspects to this war plan.

(a) Total war is North Korea's avowed strategy in case of US preemptive attacks.

(b) North Korea expects no help from China, Russia, or other nations in case of war with the US. It knows that it will be fighting the superpower alone.

(c) North Korea's total war plan has two components: massive conventional warfare and weapons of mass destruction. If the US mounts a preemptive strike on North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear plants, North Korea will retaliate with weapons of mass destruction: North Korea will mount strategic nuclear attacks on the US targets. North Korea's war plan goes beyond repulsing US attackers and calls for destruction of the United States

The US war plan '5027' calls for military occupation of North Korea; it goes beyond the elimination of North Korea's weapons of mass destruction. The US military regards North Korea its main enemy and likewise

North Korea regards the US its main enemy. North Korea does not regard South Korea its main enemy because South Korea is a client state of the United States and has no ability or power to act independent of the US. North Korea's war plan is not for invading South Korea but for destroying the US.

3. North Korea's Military Capability

The United States collects intelligence on North Korea using a variety of means: American U-2, RC-135, EP-3 and other high-altitude spy planes watch over North Korea 24 hours 7 days a week. The US 5th Air Reconnaissance Squadron has U-2R, U-2S, and other advanced spy planes at the Ohsan airbase in South Korea. In addition, the US has 70 KH-11 spy satellites hovering over North Korea.

The US intelligence on North Korea is faulty at best. Donald Gregg, a former US ambassador to Seoul and a 30-year CIA veteran, has admitted that the US intelligence on North Korea has been the longest lasting story of failure in the annals of US intelligence. Gregg said that even the best spy gadget in the US arsenal cannot read what's on Kim Jong Il's mind.

US Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld said that North Korea uses underground optical fibers for military communication and that it is nearly impossible to plant human agents in North Korea. Although North Korea's military secrets are impervious to US spy operations, one can draw some general pictures from information available in the public domain.

(a) North Korea makes its own weapons

North Korea has annual production capacity for 200,000 AK automatic guns, 3,000 heavy guns, 200 battle tanks, 400 armored cars and amphibious crafts. North Korea makes its own submarines, landing drafts, high-speed missile-boats, and other types of warships. Home-made weaponry makes it possible for North Korea to maintain a large military force on a shoestring budget.

North Korea has 17 plants for guns and artillery, 35 plants for ammunition, 5 plants for tanks and armored cars, 8 plants for airplanes, 5 plants for warships, 3 plants for guided missiles, 5 plants for communication equipment, and 8 plants for biochemical warheads - 134 plants in total. In addition, many plants that make consumer products are designed so that they can be made to produce military items with minimum modification.

About 180 of defense related plants are built underground in the rugged mountainous areas of Jagang-do. Several small to medium hydro-power plants serve these plants so that it would be nearly impossible for the US to cut off power to the plants.

(b) North Korea has its own war plans

North Korea is mountainous and its coasts are long and jagged. The Korean peninsula is narrow on its waste. North Korea's weapons and war tactics are germane to Korea's unique geography. North Korea has developed its own war plans unique to fighting the US in a unique way. North Korea's military is organized into several independent, totally integrated and self-sufficient fighting units, that are ready for action at any time.

The US commanders admit that North Korean soldiers are highly motivated and loyal to Kim Jong Il, and that they will fight well in case of war. During the Iraq War just ended, the main cause of Iraq's defeat was the low moral of its soldiers. North Korean soldiers are taught to fight to the bitter end.

In September 1996, a North Korean submarine got stranded at Kangrung, South Korea, and its crew abandoned the ship. Eleven of the crew committed suicide and the rest fought to the last man except one who was captured. In June 1998, another submarine got caught in fishing nets at Sokcho and its crew killed themselves. Such is the fighting spirit of North Korean soldiers.

(c) North Koreans are combat ready

North Korea's regular army is for offensive actions whereas its militias are homeland defense. North Korea's regular army consists of 4 corps in the front area, 8 corps in the rear area, one tank corps, 5 armored corps, 2 artillery corps, and 1 corps for the defense of Pyongyang, South Korea has 19 infantry divisions whereas North Korea has 80 divisions and brigades.

A North Korean infantry division has 3 infantry regiments, 1 artillery regiment (3 battalions of 122 mm rocket launchers and 1 battalion of 152 mortars), one tank battalion of 31 tanks, one anti-tank battalion, one anti-aircraft battalion, one engineer battalion, one communication battalion, one light-infantry battalion, one recon battalion, and one chemical warfare battalion.

North Korea's militias consist of 1.6 million self-defense units, 100,000 people's guards, 3.9 million workers militia, 900,000 youth guard units. These militias are tasked to defend the homeland. The militias are fully armed and undergo military trainings regularly.

4. Weapons of Mass Destruction

a. Missile Readiness

North Korea is a nuclear state along with the US, Russia, China, the Great Britain, France, India, Pakistan, and Israel. North Korea has succeeded in weaponizing nuclear devices for missile delivery. North Korea has operational fleets of ICBM and intermediate-range missiles equipped with nuclear warheads. I have written on this subject previously and will not replicate the details here.

It was May of 1994, nine years ago, when the US military planners had first realized that North Korea had the bomb and devised nuclear attack plans under William Perry, the then US Secretary of Defense. Perry had estimated that North Korea would have about 100 nuclear warheads by 2000. Dr. Kim Myong Chul, an expert on Kim Jong Il's war plans, has recently confirmed that North Korea has more than 100 nukes including hydrogen bombs.

North Korea can produce about 100 missiles a year. It began to make missiles in 1980 and has about 1,000 missiles of various types in place, about 100 of which have nuclear warheads. These missiles are hidden in caves and underground launching pads.

At present, the US has no fool-proof defense against North Korean missiles, and in case of war, North Korean missiles can do serious damages: several hundreds of thousands of US troops will die, and scores of US bases and carrier battle groups will be destroyed.

The Patriot anti-missile missiles are deployed in South Korea but as shown in the recent Iraq war, the Patriots are not 100% accurate or reliable even under ideal condition.

b. Biochemical Warfare

North Korea has a large stockpile of biochemical weapons. Each Army corps has a chemical company and each regiment has a chemical platoon. In the May 1994 nuclear crisis, Perry warned North Korea that the US would retaliate with nuclear weapons if North Korea used chemical weapons on US troops. North Korean troops and citizens are well-prepared for bio-chemical attacks.

5. North Korea's Defense Against US Attacks

a. Fortification

North Korea began to build fortifications in 1960s. All key military facilities are built underground to withstand American bunker-buster bombs. North Korea has 8,236 underground facilities that are linked by 547 km of tunnels. Beneath Pyongyang are a huge underground stadium and other facilities.

About 1.2 million tons of food, 1.46 million tons of fuel, and 1.67 million tons of ammunition are stored in underground storage areas for wartime use. Most of the underground facilities are drilled into granite rocks and the entrances face north in order to avoid direct hits by American bombs and missiles.

The B-61 Mod 11 is the main bunker buster in the US arsenal. A recent test showed that this buster could penetrate only 6 meters of rock. The latest GBU-28 laser-guided bunker-buster can penetrate to 30m. North Korean bunkers have at least 80 m of top-cover of solid rocks.

North Korea has many false caves that emit heats that will misdirect unwary GBU-28/37 and BKU-113 bunker-busters. The US military targets enemy command and control centers based on the doctrine of chopping off "the head of the snake." With the top commanders eliminated, the rank and file would be demoralized, leaderless and would surrender.

North Korea's extensive underground fortification makes this strategy unworkable. In addition, the underground facilities make US spy planes and satellites impotent.

b. Air Defense

North Korea has a large number of ground-to-air missiles. It has SA-2 and SA-3 missiles against low-flying enemy planes, and SA-5 missiles for high-altitude planes. SA-5 missiles have an effective range of 250 km. SA-5 missiles can hit enemy planes flying over the middle of South Korea. North Korea has reengineered US shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles captured in Vietnam, and designed its own missile, wha-sung.

North Korea began to manufacture wha-sung missiles in 1980. Wha-sung comes in two models: SA-7 that has an effective range of 5 km and SA-16 with 10 km range. North Korea has more than 15,000 wha-sung missiles in place.

In addition to the missiles, North Korea has 12,000 anti-aircraft guns, including 37mm twin-barrel guns, 23 mm automatics, 57mm, 87mm, and 100mm heavy guns. These are mostly manually operated and thus not subject to electronic warfare.

c. Coastal deferens.

North Korea's coastlines are long and jagged. Coastal guns are placed in fortified tunnels along the coastline. North Korea has six ground-to-ship missile bases. North Korea has anti-ship missiles of 95km range, and of 160km range. The latter are for hitting US carrier battle groups over the horizon.

North Korean anti-ship missiles can hit ships anchored at Inchon on the west and Sokcho on the east. America's main defense against anti-ship missiles, the Arleigh Burke class Aegis destroyers are ineffective outside 20-50 km from missile launch pads.

d. Sea Battles

North Korea has two fleets - the West Fleet and the East Fleet. The West Fleet has 6 squadrons of 320 ships and the East Fleet has 10 squadron of 460 ships. The navy has a total manpower of 46,000. North Korean ships are sheltered from US attacks in about 20 bunkers of 200-900 m longs and 14-22 m wide. North Korean ships are small and agile, designed for coastal defense.
North Korean ships carry 46km range ship-to-ship missiles and 22-channel multiple rocket launchers.

The main enemy of the North Korean navy will be US carrier task forces. The Russian navy has developed a tactic to deal with US carriers task forces: massive simultaneous missile attacks. In addition, Russia has developed the anti-carrier missile, "jun-gal", that can destroy a carrier. China has developed similar tactics for destroying US carriers.

On April 1, 2003, North Korea test-fired a high-speed ground-to-ship missile of 60km range. A US carrier task force of Nimitz class has 6,000 men, 70 planes, and a price tag of 4.5 billion dollars. Destroying even a single career task force will be traumatic.

A carrier is protected by a shield of 6 Aegis destroyers and nuclear attack submarines. An Aegis destroyer has an AN/SPY-1 high-capacity radar system that can track more than 100 targets at the same time. An Aegis can fire about 20 anti-missile missiles at the same time. Thus, a career force can track a total of 600 targets at a time and fire 120 anti-missile missiles at the same time.

The anti-missile missiles have about 50% success under ideal conditions. In actual battle situations, the hit rate will be much lower and the best estimate is that the Aegis shield can intercept at most 55 incoming missiles. Therefore, a volley of about 60 missiles and rockets will penetrate the Aegis shield and hit the career.

North Korea acquired OSA and KOMAR high-speed missile boats in 1968, and began to build its own missile boats in 1981. It has more than 50 missile boats, each equipped with 4 missiles of 46km range and multiple rocket launchers. In addition, North Korea has about 300 speed boats, 200 torpedo boats and 170 other gunboats. In case of war, North Korea's small crafts and submarines will swarm around US career task forces and destroy them. North Korea has 35 submarines and 65 submersibles.

These crafts are equipped with torpedoes and will be used to attack US careers. They will also lay mines and block enemy harbors. North Korea has a large supply of mines.North Korean submarines are small but they are equipped with 8km rocket launchers and 70km anti-ship missiles, and they could do some serious damage to US careers..

e. Air Combats

North Korea has three air commands. Each command can operate independently. North Korea has 70 airbases, which are fortified against US attacks. Underground hangars protect the planes and have multiple exits for the planes to take off on different runways. North Korea has several fake airfields and fake planes to confuse US attackers.

It is said that North Korea's planes are obsolete and no match for US planes. North Korea has 770 fighters, 80 bombers, 700 transports, 290 helicopters, and 84,000 men. In case of war, North Korean planes will fly low hugging the rugged terrains and attack enemy targets.

US planes are parked above ground at bases in Korea, Japan, Okinawa and Guam, and make easy targets for missile, rocket and air attacks. When war breaks out, North Korean missiles, rockets and heavy guns will destroy the 8 US airbases in South Korea, and any plane in the air would have no place to land.

North Korea's fighter planes are ill-equipped for air-to-air combats at long distances. but they can hold their own in close-quarter air combats. MiG-21 fighters from Bongchun and US F-15 from Ohsan would meet in less than 5 min, assuming they took off at about the same time. In about 5 min, hundreds of MiG21s and F-15s would be swirling in the skies over Korea.

Ground-to-air missiles and air-to-air missiles would have hard time telling friends from foes. F-15Es are equipped with a radar system that lock on at 180 km for large objects and 90 km for small objects. Sidewinder missiles have an effective range of 16km, AMRAAM missiles of 50km, and Sparrow of 55km. Korea is 100 km wide and 125 km long, and so US air-to-air missiles would be of limited use and effectiveness, because North Korean MiGs would approach the US planes in close proximity and commingle with US planes, and air-to-air missiles will become useless and machines guns will have to be used. MiG19s have 30mm guns, MiG21s have 23mm guns, and F-14s have 20mm Valkans.

North Korean pilots are trained to hug the enemy planes so that air-to-air missiles cannot be used. In contrast, US pilots are trained to lock on the enemy at long distance with radar and fire missiles. US planes are heavily armed with electronics and less agile than the light, lean MiGs that can climb and turn faster than the US planes. F-14s are about 3.3 times heavier than MiG21s, and F-150Es are about 3.6 times heavier. MiG21s are 16.6 m long whereas F-14s are 19.1 m and F-15Es 19.43 m long. MiG21s cab climb to 18km, whereas F-1A can climb to 15.8 km and F-16 to 15.2 km.

MiGs get upper hands in close-range dogfights in which agility matters. In Vietnam, US planes were forced to jettison auxiliary gas tanks and bombs in order to engage MiGs. F-150 E planes will carry BLU-113 bunker busters that weigh 2,250 kg each in the next war in Korea. Loaded with such a heavy bomb, F-15s will become easy targets for North Korea's MiGs. US fighter-bombers will be protected by F-15C fighter escorts. MiG21s are North Korea's main workhorse. The MiG21 debuted in 1965 in Vietnam and proved itself as an effective attack fighter.

In 1999, North Korea bought 40 MiG21s from Kazakhstan. During the Vietnam War, MiG17s shot down dozens of American planes. North Korea sent more than 200 pilots to fight in the Vietnam War. They were tasked to defend Hanoi and shot down scores of US planes. North Korea sent 25 pilots to Syria during the 3rd Arab-Israeli war of 1966, and 30 pilots to Egypt and Syria during the 4th Arab-Israeli war of 1973. In 1976, North Korea sent more than 40 pilots to Syria.

f. Electronic Warfare
The United States excels in electronic warfare and no nation comes anywhere near the US capability. North Korea began developing its own electronic warfare methods in 1970. It is believed that North Korea has advanced electronic warfare ability. It has numerous counter measures for US electronic warfare.

During the recent war in Iraq, the US dropped e-bombs that disabled the Iraqi electronic devices. North Korea relies heavily on non-electronic command and control means, and hence US e-bombs will have limited impacts in North Korea.

North Korea trains about 100 hackers a year and has computer virus battalions in place. These hackers are capable of interrupting US communication networks. In a war game conducted in 1991 by US war planners, North Korea came out the victor with and without nuclear weapons.

Kim Jong Il has no doubt that his army can beat the US army.

6. US Military Defeats in the Past

Until now, North Korea's military power has not been properly studied. In general, Western experts tend to underestimate North Korea's military strength. Politicians in America and South Korea play down North Korean threats for political reasons.

It has been said that North Korean army is large in numbers but their equipment are obsolete, and hence it is a weak army. The US war planners assess North Korean army using computer simulations of war in Korea. US war plan for the recent Iraq war was refined using more than 40 computer-simulated wars in Iraq.

The computer simulation models use weapon system features among other factors to determine the outcome. It is true that the advanced weapons were instrumental in the US victory in the Gulf War, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

On the other hand, the US army was defeated by ill-equipped foes in Korea and Vietnam. The latter two wars show that superior weapons do not always lead to a victory. North Korean and Chinese forces in Korea and the Vietnamese forces fought with superior tactics and stronger fighting fighting spirits.

In the next war in Korea, the US army will face an enemy much more determined and better equipped than the army in the Korean War of 1950-53.

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The Al-Sahaf Fan Club

Even Bush is a fan of the Iraqi Minister of Information, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf

George Bush revealed his admiration for the former Iraqi Minister of Information's daily media performance during the war.

In an interview last Thursday on NBC with Tom Brokaw, President Bush said:

""He's my man, he was great..... Somebody accused us of hiring him and putting him there..... He was a classic. I did watch some of his clips. I get a lot of things secondhand, but in the case of the statue or Sahaf, somebody would say, he's getting ready to speak and I'd pop out of a meeting or turn and watch the TV."

Al-ahram, the Egyptian weekly carried an article "Al Sahaf's Legacy" analysing the reasons for the popularity of Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf
There is a worldwide following on the internet of Sahaf. A Web site We Love The Iraqi Information Minister drew as many as 4,000 requests a second for the page at one stage, so much so it was forced offline temporarily.

Sahaf became a cult figure on television with his daily briefings. He was known for colourful language condemning the Coalition Forces and his denials while the rest of the world saw what was actually happening.


The website was so popular around the world, that its server had to be upgraded to meet traffic demands. The website management has started selling Alsahaf T-shirts, mugs, mousepads, barbecue aprons, with different Alsahaf's famous quotations.

According to the website management, "...this site is a labor of love (or something close enough to that) and that proceeds of sales go to paying for server space and bandwidth to keep us up. A portion of anything left over will be donated to the Red Cross / Red Crescent"





Some of his famous quotes about Bush, Blair and others:

"I speak better English than this villain Bush"

"These cowards have no morals. They have no shame about lying"

"That bastard the American Minister of Defense Rumsfeld, and I won't say shamelessly, because they don't know what shame means. These are criminals. The whole word can hear the warning sirens. This criminal sitting in the White House is a pathetic criminal and his Defense Minister deserves to be beaten. These criminals lie to the world because they are criminals by nature and conditioning. They consider this a military site! Shame on you! You will forever be shamed! You have ruined the reputation of the American people in the most terrible way! Shame on you! And we will destroy you!"

"We will slaughter them, Bush Jr. and his international gang of bastards!"

"W. Bush, this man is a war criminal, and we will see"

"I think the British nation has never been faced with a tragedy like this fellow [Blair]."

"We're going to drag the drunken junkie nose of Bush through Iraq's desert, him and his follower dog Blair...There are 26 million Saddams in Iraq"

"When we were making the law, when we were writing the literature and the mathematics the grandfathers of Blair and little Bush were scratching around in caves"

About Bush: "the leader of the international criminal gang of bastards."

"the insane little dwarf Bush"

"The midget Bush and that Rumsfield deserve only to be beaten with shoes by freedom loving people everywhere."

"Rumsfeld, he needs to be hit on the head"

"Bush is a very stupid man. The American people are not stupid, they are very clever. I can't understand how such clever people came to elect such a stupid president."

"Who is this dog Franks in Qatar?"

"Bush doesn't even know if Spain is a republic or a kingdom, how can they follow this man?"

"Bush, Blair and Rumsfeld. They are the funny trio"

Bush "knows that he is standing in quicksand when it comes to his baseless talk on Iraq"

"This criminal (Bush) in the White House is a stupid criminal"

On U.S. General Richard Myers: "He must be crazy" His reports are "basic propaganda".

Rumsfeld is a "crook" and "the most despicable creature."

Rumsfeld is "the worst kind of bastard"

And of course....

"Lying is forbidden in Iraq. President Saddam Hussein will tolerate nothing but truthfulness as he is a man of great honor and integrity. Everyone is encouraged to speak freely of the truths evidenced in their eyes and hearts."

"I triple guarantee you, there are no American soldiers in Baghdad."

"Britain is not worth an old shoe"

"We will welcome them with bullets and shoes."

"The United Nations....[is] a place for prostitution under the feet of Americans."

The most famous quote of all from Sahaf...

"God will roast their stomachs in hell at the hands of Iraqis."

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Raw Justice from US Forces in Iraq

Iraqis Humiliated - Made to Walk Naked in a Park in Baghdad

A Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet on 25 April 2003, published photos of armed US soldiers forcing Iraqi men to walk naked through a park. An Arabic phrase that translates as "Ali Baba - Thief." was written on the chests of the men. One US soldier said these men are thieves





Amnesty International has made a press release condemning the action of the US Forces (read below)

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE
News Flash
AI Index: MDE 14/097/2003 (Public)
News Service No: 103
25 April 2003

Iraq: Stripped naked and humiliated by US soldiers

Amnesty International expressed concern today at the disturbing article and images portrayed in the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet which show American soldiers escorting naked Iraqi men through a park in Baghdad. The pictures reveal that someone has written the words 'Ali Baba - Haram(i)' (which means Ali Baba - thief) in Arabic on the prisoners' chests.

The article quotes a US military officer as saying that this treatment is an effective method of deterring thieves from entering the park and is a method which will be used again; another US military officer is quoted as saying that US soldiers are not allowed to treat prisoners inhumanely.

"If these pictures are accurate, this is an appalling way to treat prisoners. Such degrading treatment is a clear violation of the responsibilities of the occupying powers," Amnesty International said today.

"Whatever the reason for their detention, these men must at all times be treated humanely. The US authorities must investigate this incident and publicly release their findings."

Article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention clearly states that "Protected persons are entitled in all circumstances, to respect for their persons, their honour, their family rights, their religious convictions and practices, and their manner and customs. They shall at all times be humanely treated, and shall be protected especially against all acts of violence or threats thereof and against insults and public curiosity".


To link to the article from Dagbladet please go to: http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2003/04/25/367175.html

For a full copy of Amnesty International's report: Iraq: Responsibilities of the occupying powers please go to:http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde140892003

Public Document: For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566
Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW. web: http://www.amnesty.org

For latest human rights news view http://news.amnesty.org

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  ......SCANNING ......

MALAYSIA

The Malaysian Government has lifted the ban on Bup Kudus, the Iban-language Bible, but advised parties to exercise care when translating religious works. Acting Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the issue in question – the use of the word Allah Tala for God in the Iban language – had been resolved.

The ban caught many by surprise, especially those from the East Malaysian state of Sarawak, home to 400,000 members of the Iban tribe, because that version of the Bible had been in use for about 15 years.It is understood that the censors' main objection was that the book contained the phrase 'Allah Taala', or Almighty God.As this phrase was used widely in Islamic literature, the authorities feared that its liberal usage in the holy book of another religion could create confusion among Muslims.

The issue on the use of the word "Allah" in the Christian Bible was hotly debated by several online readers in Malaysian's only independent online news website, Malaysiakini.

AFGHANISTAN

U.S. soldiers exchanged fire today with suspected Taliban fighters in eastern Afghanistan. One American soldier was killed and several were wounded, one seriously, the military said.An Afghan soldier accompanying the patrol of about 35 U.S. Special Forces soldiers in Paktika province also was hurt, Col. Roger King said. King said one U.S. soldier was killed and five were wounded.At least three of the suspected Taliban fighters were killed, while the remainder escaped across the nearby border into Pakistan.

NORTH KOREA CRISIS

Talks in Beijing between North Korea and US failed to achieve productive outcomes.Washington officials refuse to use the word "breakdown". They note that the two countries had agreed to further discussions, albeit at a time and a level yet to be set. But a crucial decision is moving closer for Mr Bush: whether to follow the example of Bill Clinton and engage with North Korea, or tighten the diplomatic and economic isolation of the regime.

SARS -UPDATE

A test developed to detect the SARS virus appears to be far from fool-proof in diagnosing the disease. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention said this week that about seven of the 13 probable cases of SARS that were tested came up negative. The CDC also said that of 32 cases classified as "suspected" rather than "probable," all came up negative.

Experts believe that from analysis of the latest statistics on the global SARS epidemic, at least 10 per cent of people who contract the new virus will die of the disease. The low death rates of about four per cent (4 %)cited until now by the World Health Organization and others are the result of a statistical difficult that normally hampers the early analysis of new disease outbreaks. This difficulty is the reason for the apparent rise in death rate - not a change in the SARS virus. A fatality rate of over 10 per cent puts SARS on a par with some other RNA viruses. Yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis, spread by tropical mosquitoes, between them kill more than 10,000 people a year, even though both have vaccines. Lassa fever kills about 70,000 a year in West Africa, but people mainly catch it from a local mouse. Because these infections need animal vectors that only exist regionally, none has ever gone global. But the SARS vector - humans - is everywhere.

THE ASIAN REGIONThe OECD warned this week that the overall economic fallout from SARS f or the worst affected Asian countries could be significant. The deadly Sars virus, currently sweeping the Asia Pacific region, appears poised to wreak havoc on domestic economies and has already sent equity markets into a sharp downward spiral.

HONGKONG

Hong Kong said most SARS victims have shown good responses to a combination of the anti-viral medicine ribavirin and steroids. But global health officials have doubts and doctors from Singapore and Canada, both hit hard by SARS outbreaks, said late Friday they've not seen good results from those drugs.

Three babies were delivered prematurely to mothers infected by the disease . And the babies themselves may be infected. Doctors performed the Caesarean-section births because the expectant mothers were getting sicker, and there were fears the fetuses could be deformed if the women received a cocktail treatment of antiviral drugs and steroids being given to SARS patients here.

CHINA:

A third Beijing hospital was sealed off Friday because of the SARS virus and more than 4,000 people were quarantined at home, part the capital city's sweeping measures that some angry residents say have come too late.A waitress at a hotel complained that "the government hardly told us anything about SARS" a week ago."Now we're having a big campaign, but I still have suspicions that we're not getting all the information," said the woman, who would give only her family name, Chen.

TAIWAN

Taiwan's Government says it will stop issuing visas to travellers from Hong Kong for a month to protect against the spread of the SARS virus.In the last 24-hours eight people have been diagnosed with SARS in Taiwan, half of them from a single hospital in the capital Taipei.The hospital has been closed, and its 200 patients are being treated in isolation.

SAUDI ARABIA

A 13 year-old boy has died in Saudi Arabia in what an official said might have been the kingdom's first case of the respiratory disease SARS. "Symptoms similar to those of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome were witnessed in the case of the boy," including high temperature and difficulty breathing, said Salem al-Jahni, an official at Erfan Hospital in the western city of Jiddah said Thursday

NEW YORK

New York City is home to 18 potential cases of SARS, although that number could increase in the near future, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reported Thursday.All of the cases were diagnosed in patients who had traveled to areas where the disease is more common, and so far, New Yorkers are not infecting one another, the DOHMH said.

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Shiite Leader Says US Occupation Unacceptable

Anthony Shadid of Washington Post reports (24 April)

Abdul Aziz Hakim, an influential Shiite leader, said U.S. occupation was unacceptable and urged U.S. officials to turn over administration of Iraq to "a national and independent government."

"The American presence is unacceptable and there's no justification for it staying in Iraq," said Hakim, the deputy leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and a brother of its Tehran-based leader, Ayatollah Mohammed Bakir Hakim.

It is another worrying sign among Iraq's 60 percent Shiite majority over U.S. intentions. It had also led some U.S. officials to voice concern that the Islamic government in neighboring Iran, with a predominantly Shiite population, may intefere in Iraq.

Today marked the end of the traditional 40-day mourning period that follows the anniversary of the death of imam Hussein, the prophet Muhammad's grandson who was killed in a battle in Karbala in 680. Tens of thousands marched today under green, black and red banners. As with Shiite movements in revolutionary Iran in the 1970s and Lebanon in the 1980s, they tapped religious symbolism to frame an overtly political message.

"No to imperialism, no to Israel, no to America, no to Saddam," one slogan went. "Yes to Islam," another said."We want them out," said Ali Abdel-Hussein, 23. "We know America, we know how it deals with the rest of the world."

U.S. officials have acknowledged being caught off guard by the authority the Shiite clergy have commanded in Iraq.

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Some Museum Looting Done For Safe Keeping

It appears that at least a small portion of the thousands of objects that disappeared were "looted" for safekeeping.

Muslim clerics have announced over mosque loudspeakers that anyone with looted items should return them to museum curators, no questions asked. U.S. reconstruction officials said they plan to air similar messages on Iraqi radio stations starting tonight.

U.S. forces have drawn worldwide criticism for failing to quickly seal off the museum as they seized Baghdad, allowing the plunder of one of the world's greatest collections of artifacts from Mesopotamia and other ancient civilizations of the Tigris-Euphrates valley.

U.S. forces have drawn worldwide criticism for failing to quickly seal off the museum as they seized Baghdad, allowing the plunder of one of the world's greatest collections of artifacts from Mesopotamia and other ancient civilizations of the Tigris-Euphrates valley.

Monte Reel of Washington Post relates an eye-witness account of one Iraqi 's heroics

Namir Ibrahim Jamil, a 33-year-old Iraqi pianist said that 11 days ago he watched in horror as looters ransacked the museum, hauling away as much of Iraq's tangible legacy as they could carry. He said he decided to do the same -- not to seek a fortune on the black market, but to hide the antiquities in his house until it was safe to return them.

As he recounts it, on April 12 he drove to the city of Karbala to pick up relatives who had fled Baghdad before the war. When he returned to the capital, U.S. military roadblocks forced him to take an alternate route, past the museum. There he saw the looting and decided to act, he said. His brother and a brother-in-law joined with him in entering the opened gates of the museum, where they grabbed everything they could.

For Jamil, a longtime student of the piano, culture had generally meant the compositions of Bach and Beethoven, but he said he remembered lessons in Iraqi history from his school days. He recognized the statue of Assyrian King Shalmaneser III, which lay in several pieces on the floor. He collected all the fragments, including slivers that had been chipped away from a blow to the statue's midsection.

"It is our history, our heritage, our civilization," Jamil said today. "So I knew it was a very valuable thing."

They filled the van and drove it home, then returned for another load. At his home, he gathered foam and plastic and wrapped the art objects. The next day, he contacted Donny George, director general of research and study for the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities, to tell him what he had.

Today George was at the museum and said he had told Jamil to keep the things until the museum was secure."I am so happy," George said, patting his heart with affection for Jamil.

George embraced him by the door of his van; Jamil sobbed in his arms.

Other people carried the returned items through the door and under the domed ceiling of the museum's lobby, which -- like almost every other government building in Iraq -- is decorated with a painting of the now deposed president, Saddam Hussein.

Just minutes after Jamil arrived with his second van load, a U.S. Army truck pulled up at the museum carrying about 80 Iraqi paintings, the oldest of them dating to the 19th century. Officers with the 308th Civil Affairs Brigade said they recovered the paintings from a sewage-flooded vault in a heavily damaged building about a quarter-mile from the museum.

Some of the paintings had frames still dripping with water, some had jagged rips in the canvas. "They had these paintings just sitting in the water," said Col. Vincent Foulk, of Urbana, Ohio. "In some cases, you could see paint literally dripping off."

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Taliban Trying A Comeback in Afghanistan

This report by Noor Khan
Associated Press
24 April 2003

Remnants of former Taliban and al-Qaida have stepped up attacks in recent months on government offices and foreigners in Afghanistan in an attempt to make a comeback. Afghan authorities believe Taliban remnants are regrouping, with militants from crossing the countries' long, porous frontier with Pakistan.

On Wednesday, abouat 80 Taliban fighters attacked a government office Chapan in Zabul province, 150 miles northeast of the city of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan usingrockets and automatic weapons in a four-hour shootout. Two Afghan soldiers and three assailants dead, a senior official said on Thursday.The assailants then retreated to a nearby mountainous region.

Many of the attacks have occurred in areas of southern Afghanistan, close to the mountainous border with Pakistan, where many Taliban militants are believed to be hiding.

Two Afghan soldiers were killed on Wednesday when a land mine blew up their vehicle when they were traveling between Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, and Tora Bora.

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Googling search on SARS

SARS- If not mentioned in proper context can mean any of the following:

• South African Revenue Service, South Africa
  
• Safety and Reliability Service - a UK based society affiliated with the Engineering Council, Clayton House, 59 Piccadilly Manchester UK
  
• Spatial Analysis of Remote Sensing - Santa Catalina, 5.18300 Loja, Granada , Spain
  
• Samples of Anonymous Records - at the Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research (CCSR), University of Manchester
  
• Southeast Antique Radio Society - Atlanta club dedicated to preservation and appreciation of antique radios, P. O. Box 1055 Tucker, GA.
  
• Student Accounts Registrar Services - Pace University, New York
  
• Staunton-Augusta Rescue Squad - 1601 North Coalter Street, Staunton, VA 24401 USA
  
• Scientific Apparatus Recycling Scheme -Dept. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UCL, Gower Street London
  
• San Antonio Rocket Society - 5807 Babcock Road, PMB 165 San Antonio Texas 78240-2196
  
• Svenska AMC/Rambler Sällskapet, Båtvägen 16,792 50 MORA,SWEDEN
  
• Second Alarmers Rescue Squad -307 Davisville Rd. in Willow Grove, Montgomery County, Pa. USA
  
  
  

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US Forces caught up with Tariq Aziz

TARIQ AZIZ
U.S. forces in Iraq have taken custody of Tariq Aziz, the former deputy prime minister of Iraq. He was the eight of spades in the military's card deck of top Iraqi leaders and No: 43 on the U.S. list of the 55 most-wanted members of the former government.

Aziz could provide information on the fate of Saddam and his two sons, and locations of any hidden weapons of mass destruction.

He was the only Christian in Saddam's inner circle; born Mikhail Yuhanna to a Chaldean Catholic family, he later changed his name to Tariq Aziz. He was born in Tell Kaif, Iraq, in 1936. He studied English at the Baghdad College of Fine Arts and became a teacher and then a journalist, rising to chief editor of al-Thawra, the Baath Party newspaper. After the party took power in 1968, he took a series of ever more powerful posts. He joined the Baath Party in 1957, working closely with Saddam to overthrow British-imposed monarchy.

He served as foreign minister during the 1991 Persian Gulf War and was a frequent spokesman at that time. Aziz last appeared in public March 19, when he held a news conference in Baghdad to quash rumors he had fled the Iraqi capital. "I am carrying my pistol to confirm to you that we are ready to fight the aggressors," Aziz said then. "American soldiers are nothing but mercenaries and they will be defeated."

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N.Korea to US: Try Call Our Bluff - We Have Nukes

North Korea told the United States: "We have nuclear weapons."

According to unnamed US officials during talks in Beijing this week. "They said what we always knew -- that they do have (nuclear) weapons. That doesn't shock us. We've been saying that. Now they said it," according to a US Administration source.

North Korean negotiators told U.S. officials in Beijing it would export them or conduct a "physical demonstration " U.S. officials said today. CIA has estimated it had the materials for one or two devices.

According to one U.S. official said on anonymity, that Li Gun, deputy director in North Korea's Foreign Ministry for American affairs , took Assistant Secretary of State James A. Kelly aside and said to him: "We've got nukes. We can't dismantle them. It's up to you whether we do a physical demonstration or transfer them." U.S. officials have yet to pin down the exact meaning, whether it meant it would test a nuclear weapon.

Li also said the reprocessing 8,000 spent fuel rods is completed. US officials think it is a bluff but many analysts believed fuel rods can be used for two to three nuclear bombs within a few months.

Meanwhile Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States would not be intimidated by "bellicose statements" or threats from Pyongyang.

North Korea said it was ready to settle the potential conflict but that depends on the United States dropping its hostile policy toward Pyongyang.

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SARS NEWS... the Latest

The SARS Disaster in China

SARS epidemic in China would have a serious effect on the global economy, Michael Finger, a senior economist for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said today. "China has become a big motor of international trade," he told a news conference on the WTO's release of global trade figures for 2002 and its outlook for 2003.

"If growth in China were dramatically affected by SARS, it would have repercussions for the rest of the world. The immediate effect would be in East Asia, because of the large amount of inter-regional trade, but the economic consequences would spread to other areas without a doubt...Everything is so interlinked."

The WTO figures for 2002 showed that China, which joined the WTO at the end of 2001, had increased trade by a massive 20% while other key regions had stagnated, and ousted Britain from fifth position among top trading powers.

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SARS virus could be more devastating than AIDS.

Warns Dr Patrick Dickson,Fellow at the Centre for Management Development at London Business School. Dr Dixon, is one of Europe's experts on predicting global trends

He said: "It is worth remembering that AIDS has infected 80 million people so far over 15 to 20 years. AIDS spreads slowly so we can track it and plan for it. We have effective anti- viral drugs which can prolong life.

But this is different, we don't have the time. This is a far more serious epidemic potentially than AIDS. In a country like India, which is chaotic with minimum health provision, the potential for spreading the virus is huge. The main concern was rural, isolated areas in China and around the world. If current trends continued, there could be a billion cases within 60 weeks.

The World Health Organisation representative in China, Henk Bekedam, said there was potential for a disaster in China's poorer western provinces, noting a single patient can spread the illness quickly. "If China is not able to deal with SARS, then it will be very problematic to deal with globally. That is the problem in dealing with diseases like SARS -- they don't respect borders," Bekedam told reporters in a telephone briefing.

Britons were advised not to travel to Toronto, Hong Kong and the Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Beijing and Shanxi because of SARS.


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SARS virus is now attacking the intestines as well as the respiratory system

According to a leading Hong Kong microbiologist, Professor Malik Peiris of Hong Kong University said yesterday. The change might indicate the virus had mutated, as many experts feared.

There had been growing concern the virus is becoming more virulent. Doctors had been noticing changes in the way the disease behaves and whom it kills. A number of deaths over the past week have occurred in younger, previously healthy people - one being a 34-year-old pregnant women. An increasing number of those infected with SARS are now suffering from diarrhoea.

Organ failure was also now becoming more common. "Initially patients were presenting with just respiratory failure. Now we're seeing renal failure and other organ failure." according to Tom Buckley, the head of the intensive care unit at Hong Kong's Princess Margaret Hospital

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SARS has the potential to totally disrupt Australian health care system

According to Peter Cameron, Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong. Professor Cameron is an Australian, working at the centre of the SARS epidemic, which has now killed more than 200 people and infected 3800.

" There would be a shortage of intensive care beds, ventilators and trained staff. Apart from the potential to use hundreds of general ward beds - a disaster in itself given the bed capacity of most Australian hospitals - the biggest threat is the need for intensive care unit [ICU] beds," he said yesterday in an online Medical Journal of Australia editorial.

Professor Cameron predicted that if there were 200 cases in Sydney or Melbourne, of which 20 to 30per cent required intensive care, there would be little likelihood of finding 50 ICU beds at short notice.ICU staff also risk contracting the disease .

Richard Smallwood, the Federal Government's chief medical officer, said despite Professor Cameron's concerns, health care systems always found capacity in times of emergency. "We have been in touch with Peter and take what he has to say extremely seriously," Professor Smallwood said.

He said infection control guidelines and the availability of isolation rooms would be under constant review. "The level of preparedness is solid, everyone is alerted and moving to make as sure as possible that they are going to be able to cope with a substantial outbreak."

Australia was lucky to avoid an outbreak of the deadly SARS virus so far but unlikely to remain free of the disease for long, the NSW government said.

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Iraq War Exposed Outdated Russian Weaponry

Russian commentators said the Iraq war is a clear warning to Russia to modernise its weapon systems.

A prominent Russian commentator, Dmitry Chirkin, writing in Pravda, felt embarrassed by the uselessness of Russian weaponry against US forces in the Iraq war.

This is what he commented (translated by Dmitry Sudakov):

" The war in Iraq has proved it once again.... the Russian defense technology is of little use for modern armed conflicts. Otherwise, Saddam would still remain the President of the country.

The Russian tank corps used to count 63 thousand machines. Russian Army Command used to say that Soviet tank troops could reach the English Channel or the Yellow Sea within just three days. Nowadays, this defensive shield has become outdated and smaller in its number - only 20 thousand tanks.

The Russian Defense Ministry says that every fifth of those tanks can be considered as a modern machine. Furthermore, they are T-72 and T-80 tanks - developments of the 1970s and the 1980s. It is worth mentioning that Baghdad counted on those tanks too.

However, even a "modern Russian tank" is a machine that was produced ten years ago. The Russian Defense Ministry has not ordered any tanks for ten years at Russian defense enterprises, with the exception for several dozens of T-90 tanks.

This depressive situation can be seen in the Russian aviation and navy as well. As it turns out, an enemy is strong and powerful, but we are poor and defenseless.

There has been a lot of things said about the army reform, about the modernization of arms, taking into consideration the fact that the export defense enterprise RosOboronExport exhibits certain pieces of the Russian defense technology at various prestigious shows.

The Supreme Commander-in-Chief (President Putin) decided to establish law and order in the system of the Russian defense industry. As it was announced on April 19th, Major-General Alexander Burutin was appointed for the position of the presidential advisor for issues of the defense industry and state defense order.

Burutin can be categorized as a successful military official. He is a young person for an official (47 years old), already a major-general, he has been serving in the General Headquarters for long (eleven years), although he has not been noticed for having any links with the defense industry. The period of his services in the General Headquarters shows that Burutin is aware of the problems in the field of both the Russian defense industry and the army reform.


The deficit of the defense budget has increased by billions of rubles according to the results of the first quarter. Generals say that the lack of money occurs on account of the price growth on food, military uniforms and medicines. The situation with fuel for the army is even worse: fuel rose 15 or 20 percent in price, although the federal budget does not stipulate any compensation about it. Let's see, if the new presidential advisor manages to cope with the situation." Dmitry Chirkin

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