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Politics : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Just_Observing who wrote (18568)	3/10/2003 12:59:39 PM
From: jlallen	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 25898

No need to wait until 3/17/03 now..... Inspector Blixeau Hid Smoking Gun March 10, 2003 Blix 'hid smoking gun' from Britain and US From James Bone in New York BRITAIN and the United States will today press the chief UN weapons inspector to admit that he has found a “smoking gun” in Iraq. Such an admission could persuade swing voters on the Security Council to back the March 17 ultimatum. The British and US ambassadors plan to demand that Hans Blix reveals more details of a huge undeclared Iraqi unmanned aircraft, the discovery of which he failed to mention in his oral report to Security Council foreign ministers on Friday. Its existence was only disclosed in a declassified 173-page document circulated by the inspectors at the end of the meeting — an apparent attempt by Dr Blix to hide the revelation to avoid triggering a war. The discovery of the drone, which has a wingspan of 7.45 metres, will make it much easier for waverers on the Security Council to accept US and British arguments that Iraq has failed to meet UN demands that it disarm. “It’s incredible,” a senior diplomat from a swing voter on the council said. “This report is going to have a clearly defined impact on the people who are wavering. It’s a biggie.” An explicit report by Dr Blix of the discovery of an Iraqi violation would help the six swing voters — Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea, Mexico and Pakistan — to explain a change of position to their publics. Unlike the outlawed Al-Samoud 2 missile, which was declared as a purportedly legal weapon, the drone was not declared. It would be the first undeclared weapons programme found by the UN and is considered by British and US officials to be a “smoking gun”. timesonline.co.uk

To: Just_Observing who wrote (18568)	3/10/2003 1:09:41 PM
From: Patricia Trinchero	Respond to of 25898

Al-Qaida a bigger threat to fleet than Saddam, says naval chief guardian.co.uk By Jamie Wilson Monday March 10, 2003 Al-Qaida suicide boats are more of a threat to coalition naval vessels in the Gulf than anything Saddam Hussein can throw at them, the British naval commander in the region said today. Rear Admiral David Snelson said the threat of small speedboats packed with explosives was "uppermost in his mind" following the terrorist attacks on the USS Cole in October 2000 in which 17 American sailors were killed, and last year's ramming of the French oil tanker, the Limburg. "We know that al-Qaida are active within this region. We know from action they have taken and from evidence from al-Qaida operatives that they have had, and may still have, plans to attack ships at sea. We know that because they have done it," he said. Speaking on board a British supply ship in the port of Mina Salman in Bahrain, the rear admiral said he expected the threat to increase to coalition ships if war is waged against Iraq. "We must assume that there is the possibility that al-Qaida will wish to take action against British interests if we take action against Saddam Hussein. I have to continue to pay close attention to that possibility and assume it will get worse." He said seals, trained by the US to put clamps onto the legs of suspect divers, are currently active in the harbour in Bahrain looking for terrorists attempting to mine ships. British naval vessels are using helicopters and force protection squads armed with small calibre and general purpose machine guns and nightvision goggles to counter the threat. He said small boats approaching naval vessels at high speed had already received warning shots from coalition ships. "There are a lot of small high speed boats operating in the region and it is one of the challenges to know whether they are a smuggler, a fishing boat, or a high speed boat with hostile intent," he said. In contrast the rear admiral said the threat posed by Iraq to the 100 American, British and Australian ships engaged in possible operations against the regime in Baghdad was currently considered to be small. He said the southern no fly zone effectively negated any threat from the air and he was confident that any surface missiles fired at ships, of which the British contingent numbers 29, could be dealt with effectively by countermeasures on board. "At the moment there is little or no threat from mines, but Iraq does have mine stocks and I have to conclude that they could use mines in the event of a conflict," he said. "They probably do not have ships that could put a large number of mines out into the open ocean but it would be quite easy to put one or two mines on the back of a dhow and drop them in the waterway, which would cause problems." He said the job of delivering men and machinery for any land war against Iraq was 90-95% complete, and would be finished within the next week or so. He refused to be drawn on what form any attack using naval forces might take, but said they had looked at all potential options, whether it be a surface offload using landing craft, dropping troops by helicopter or landing them in Kuwait before an advance into Iraq. Despite opposition to the war in Britain the rear admiral said morale among the troops was high. "They do follow the news closely, and when I have asked them if the political situation at home has affected them they have said no it does not. Firstly they have the support of their own friends and family, while in conflict the British public always rallies behind the troops. "They also take a lot of strength from the moral position the government is taking over this," he said. "They see quite clearly that the government has analysed this from a moral point of view, they are getting that leadership from a very high political level." Special report

To: Just_Observing who wrote (18568)	3/10/2003 4:00:53 PM
From: PartyTime	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25898

smh.com.au Oh, why not. I'm predicting the following UN vote: Three Superpower Vetoes: France, China and Russia Two Superpower Yes Votes: US and Britian Non-Veto Power Abstentions: Chile, Angola, Guinea, Mexco, Cameroon, Pakistan Non-Veto Power No Votes: Syria, Germany Non-Veto Power Yes Votes: Spain, Bulgaria Final tally? Five No Votes (three with veto) Four Yes Votes Six Absentions I leave out the possibility that the US will bribe or blackmail one or two of the small nations into voting yes (maby even bribing or blackmaiing others to abstain), thereby either tying the vote or winning it six to five. After all, Bush wants this war so bad he'd give up his mother to get the deal--not serious, written for emphasis purposes only!