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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (34200)	7/11/2002 9:20:19 PM
From: BigBull	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Hanson has called him "Ajax at the ships." Personally, I think he has Themistocles potential (after a course in public speaking). :o} He's played his cards very well, and that is high praise coming from the likes of Ha'aretz; glad to see some breaks going his way. Imo the article is right in that no really substantial things will be negotiated with any Palestinian until 1. Sadam is gone 2. Arafat is gone. 3. Bekaa is "neutralized". Some London Times pieces that might be of interest to you: Jordan to let US troops use bases for war on Iraq timesonline.co.uk JORDAN has agreed to allow US troops to use bases on its soil in preparation for a possible American military attack against Iraq. That may be just the first step towards a deeper involvement for Jordan, which is not only one of America’s strongest Arab allies but also strategically located between Iraq and Israel. Comparisons are being made with Pakistan, which allowed US special forces to operate from its territory but denied their existence. King Abdullah has been assured by Washington that no action will be taken this year, but Administration officials have hinted heavily that an offensive could be launched early next year. Despite stringent denials by the Jordanian authorities that US forces will be permitted to use their territory for future operations against Baghdad, Western diplomats have told The Times that King Abdullah has consented to a limited US presence involved in defensive and humanitarian operations. “Jordan wants to remain firmly on the fence in any conflict between America and Iraq,” one diplomat said. “But that is looking increasingly difficult. It has agreed to allow a US-manned radar station and American search and rescue teams to operate out of the country to pick up US pilots.” The Pentagon has reportedly planned a three-pronged attack on Iraq from Turkey in the north, Kuwait in the south and Jordan in the west. Refurbishment of the Muwafaq Salti Air Force Base in Azraq, 40 miles northeast of the capital Amman, and the nearby Mafraq Air Force Base, has been going on for months. The bases would be ideally situated for future special forces operations against Iraq to eliminate the threat from Scud missiles aimed at Israel. King Abdullah, who is due to hold talks with President Bush this month, will have to balance strong anti-American feeling in his country against his vital links with the West. The US is an important aid donor to Jordan, and Washington’s annual military and economic assistance is expected to increase by $100 million (£64 million) to $325 million this year. Diplomats said Washington recently approved the sale to Jordan of a state-of-the-art radar system capable of monitoring all Iraqi military moves. But any imminent attack on Iraq could have catastrophic economic consequences for its smaller neighbour. Iraq was Jordan’s largest foreign trade partner last year, importing Jordanian goods worth about £500 million. Resource-poor Jordan also receives its full daily needs of 90,000 barrels of Iraqi oil at preferential prices under a deal approved by the United Natio Iraqi sites for bio-war revealed by defector timesonline.co.uk Mr al-Haideri went public with some allegations — including the existence of a secret biological laboratory underneath the Saddam Hussein hospital in central Baghdad — in an interview with The New York Times while in exile in Bangkok in December. But he has since been moved to the United States where not even his family in Australia can reach him. Mr Musawi provided chilling new details of what Mr al-Haideri has told American Intelligence about how Saddam outwitted United Nations weapons inspectors and US surveillance efforts. “His involvement was quite extensive after 1992,” Mr Musawi said. “He was involved in building or rebuilding labs all over the capital, particularly on the southern side of the capital. “The things they have to use in these clean rooms are so specific,” he said. “The tiles are chemically treated and have to be imported from Germany.” As well as the lab beneath the Saddam Hussein hospital, Mr al-Haideri identified at least seven other locations where biological or chemical weapons work was going on and said there were more than 30 clean rooms in all. SAS plan to blow up Saddam's germ sites timesonline.co.uk BRITAIN’S special forces are to be used to sabotage Saddam Hussein’s plants making weapons of mass destruction in the planned invasion of Iraq next year. The Army will also train special units of a new breed of “shock troops” to serve alongside the SAS and the Royal Marines’ Special Boat Service to meet the extra demands on British special forces. The idea is to train a selected infantry regiment alongside the SAS at Hereford to perform the role for six months or a year and then to hand over to another regiment. Leaked Pentagon plans indicate that US military chiefs are plotting an invasion of Iraq early next year, using five infantry and armoured divisions and two US Marine Corps divisions. Britain’s special forces would also be key players, alongside the CIA and other intelligence agencies, in helping to create a coup against the Iraqi leader. Both the SAS and the Special Boat Service, both of which operated with considerable success in the 1991 Gulf War, are likely to start training for a possible return to the region. A senior British military source said that while there was still no formal request for troops for an Iraqi campaign from Washington “there is a general expectation that we are going to be involved in a big event next year”.