Kirk Smith: Middle EastAlgeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel/Palestine areas, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, Yemen.Is Niger the Smoking Gun Blair Under Fire as White House Rejects British Intelligence Claiming Iraq Tried to Buy Uranium- July 9, 2003 by Ben Russell and Andrew Buncombe 09 Jul 03 The White House has dealt a devastating blow to Tony Blair by rejecting as flawed British claims that Saddam Hussein attempted to buy uranium from Africa to restart his nuclear weapons programme. The Bush administration was in full retreat yesterday with officials admitting that the allegation should not have been included in President George Bush's State of the Union address. The American admission represented the first serious split between London..http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=422957 In Postwar Iraq, the Battle Widens- July 7, 2003 by Thomas E. Ricks and Rajiv Chandrasekaran 07 Jul 03 Recent Iraqi attacks on U.S. troops have demonstrated a new tactical sophistication and coordination that raise the specter of the U.S. occupation force becoming enmeshed in a full-blown guerrilla war, military experts said yesterday. The new approaches employed in the Iraqi attacks last week are provoking concern among some that what once was seen as a mopping-up operation against the dying remnants of a deposed government is instead...http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17958-2003Jul6.html?nav=hptop_tb The White Man Unburdened- July 7, 2003 by Norman Mailer 17 Jul 03 Issue Exeunt: lightning and thunder, shock and awe. Dust, ash, fog, fire, smoke, sand, blood, and a good deal of waste now move to the wings. The stage, however, remains occupied. The question posed at curtain-rise has not been answered. Why did we go to war If no real weapons of mass destruction are found, the question will keen in pitch. The New York Review of Bookshttp://www.nybooks.com/articles/16470 Ex-Envoy: Nuclear Report Ignored- July 7, 2003 By Richard Leiby and Walter Pincus 06 Jul 03 Joseph C. Wilson, the retired United States ambassador whose CIA-directed mission to Niger in early 2002 helped debunk claims that Iraq had tried to obtain uranium there for nuclear weapons, has said for the first time publicly that U.S. and British officials ignored his findings and exaggerated the public case for invading Iraq. Wilson, whose 23-year career included senior positions in Africa and Iraq, where he was acting ambassador in 1991, said...http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13536-2003Jul5.html Iraqis Call For Self-Rule- July 4, 2003 by Zaki Yahya in Najaf 03 Jul 03 A conference of 900 Iraqi notables have demanded the quick establishment of an Iraqi government to combat the lawlessness and insecurity that reign three months after the overthrow of President Saddam Hussein and his Ba'athist regime. The group said the transitional government should have a six-month mandate, renewable once only, to draw up a constitution for the new Iraq. The move puts new pressure on the occupying forces to agree to some form of Iraqi...http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/irq/irq_25_1_eng.txt Ten Appalling Lies We Were Told About Iraq- July 4, 2003 by Christopher Scheer 27 Jun 03 Today, more than three months after Bush's stirring declaration of war and nearly two months since he declared victory, no chemical, biological or nuclear weapons have been found, nor any documentation of their existence, nor any sign they were deployed in the field. The mainstream press, after an astonishing two years of cowardice, is belatedly drawing attention to the unconscionable level of administrative deception. They seem surprised to find that when it...http://alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16274 French Court Frees Iranian Group Leader- July 3, 2003 by Pierre-Antoine Souchard 03 Jul 03 PARIS. A French court on Wednesday ordered the release of nine people arrested during a recent broad anti-terrorism sweep, including the leader of an exile group seeking to topple Iran's ultra-religious government, judicial officials said. But the Paris appeals court said Maryam Rajavi, a leader of the group Mujahedeen Khalq, and one other defendant must first pay bail. Rajavi was ordered to pay about $93,000 and likely will not be released before...http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-2862746,00.html Britain: Parliamentary Probe Exposes Lies on Iraqi Weapons- July 3, 2003 Part 1: Clair Short, Robin Cook and Andrew Gilligan by Richard Tyler03 Jul 03 The following is the first in a series of articles. The Foreign Affairs Select Committee investigation into whether Prime Minister Tony Blair&146;s Labour government distorted intelligence material to justify its planned war against Iraq is to publish its verdict on July 8. There is every reason to suppose that the Labour-dominated committee in Parliament will make criticisms of the government that stop short of...http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/jul2003/wmd1-j03.shtml |