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

To: stockman_scott who wrote (20649)	3/14/2003 2:51:52 AM
From: PartyTime	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25898

Countdown to war SKETCHES by Ana Marie Pamintuan The Philippine Star 03/14/2003 The postponement of President Arroyo?s state visit to the United States and several European countries is yet another indication that war is about to break out in Iraq. We received a report late Wednesday afternoon about the President?s decision to postpone her trip, but we were told that Malacañang had not yet informed Washington about it. Reports from Washington indicate it was US President George W. Bush who started calling up world leaders Wednesday night (late morning or early afternoon in DC) as he cranked up the diplomatic initiative to get support for the war. Among the first to get a call was President Arroyo. In a 15-minute conversation, they agreed, among other things, to postpone her trip. Ronald Post, counselor for public affairs of the US embassy here, said the telephone conversation had long been scheduled. Did the two leaders agree on something else? Perhaps it was just coincidence, but a Philippine representative to the United Nations expressed support yesterday for an earlier deadline for Iraq to disarm. There is a general impression that the Americans are ready to go it alone ? even without the British, if the "coalition of the willing" proves to be too much trouble for Prime Minister Tony Blair ? before US troops in the Gulf die of boredom. Some reports from the US media say the hawks in the Bush administration believe America does not need anyone?s approval to defend itself. Since every self-respecting Islamist terrorist has America and American interests in his sights, the United States may simply invoke self-defense when it unleashes its Mother of All Bombs (MOAB) on Saddam Hussein, whether or not the United Nations comes on board. Judging by the mood on Capitol Hill, Americans are giving up on the French. Reports said French fries have been dropped from the menu of the US Congress, replaced with "freedom fries" ? the same junk food, laced with patriotism. French toast for lawmakers? breakfast is another casualty. What next ? the French kiss? The Internet is flooded with American jokes about the spineless French army. The Vietnamese must be enjoying this. * * * Blair seems undaunted by US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld?s threat to go it alone. Yesterday Blair proposed several measures that he hoped could break the standoff. Among them: the destruction of 10,000 liters of anthrax germs and other chemical and biological weapons Saddam is suspected to be keeping. Going by Saddam?s track record, he?ll probably agree to destroy 100 liters, say that?s it, and wait for a UN nod led by the French. The UN will consider that substantial compliance and everyone will go home and sleep, until those pesky Americans start rapping on UN doors again. By the time Saddam destroys the next 100 liters, it will be the summer of 2004. I don?t think Washington is prepared to wait that long. So get ready for the MOAB. * * * Meanwhile the peso keeps plumbing new depths while the next oil price hike must be just around the corner. There go the summer holidays. I console myself with the thought that life is just as bad in the United States. Friends living there have e-mailed me that gas prices are also skyrocketing in the US. Gas prices are reportedly highest in California, where the average pump price as of yesterday for unleaded gasoline was $2.10 per gallon. A big sale recently in many department stores there reportedly attracted few people. The US economy is bad and Americans are bracing for war, cutting back on spending, a friend wrote. If the US economy is weak, it won?t be long before we feel the impact. So we haven?t seen the worst of it. * * * There was an interesting story this week, denied by Washington and Islamabad. Iran?s state radio reported that Osama bin Laden had been arrested in Pakistan. The arrest would be announced only after war breaks out in Iraq, according to the report. This came on the heels of reports that Bin Laden?s son Saad, a member of al-Qaeda, had been wounded and captured in Rabat in southwestern Afghanistan. The capture was announced by the home affairs minister of Pakistan?s Baluchistan province. Amid US denials, the minister said he was standing by his story. Now why would Iran, a spoke in Bush?s "axis of evil," announce something like that if the story were false? Would Bin Laden?s capture further erode support for an attack on Saddam? Books on Bin Laden, by the way, consistently report that he is no admirer of Saddam. Bin Laden frowned on Iraq?s invasion of Kuwait. How would an attack on Iraq strike a blow against al-Qaeda? Amid speculation about Bin Laden?s capture, some quarters are now worried about the prospect of turning him into a martyr in case he is killed in pursuit operations. Even in books about him written by Americans, Bin Laden is depicted as one of the most popular personalities in the Muslim world. He is the guy who stood up to America, a multimillionaire who used his wealth for the cause of Muslims and gave up a life of luxury to fight alongside the poorest mujahedeen. Even my moderate Muslim friends express grudging admiration for him, although in public they denounce his violent methods. Bin Laden, in the eyes of many Muslims, is already seen as a martyr for the Islamist cause. If Washington dropped a MOAB on the borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan to take him out, the world will probably understand. How come the world has shifted its focus to Iraq? philstar.com

To: stockman_scott who wrote (20649)	3/14/2003 5:17:02 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25898

Once the cat is out of the bag.... March 14, 2003 Powell denies 'cabal' drives Iraq policy By David R. Sands THE WASHINGTON TIMES Secretary of State Colin L. Powell yesterday denied that "a small cabal" of pro-Israeli American Jews had masterminded the Bush administration's drive toward war with Iraq. Mr. Powell, in an extraordinary exchange at the beginning of a congressional hearing devoted to foreign-aid spending, became the highest U.S. official to date to enter the incendiary debate that has seen charges of anti-Semitism and dual loyalty among senior U.S. policy-makers and pundits. "The strategy with respect to Iraq has derived from our interest in the region and our support of U.N. resolutions over time," Mr. Powell told a House Appropriations subcommittee. "It is not driven by any small cabal that is buried away somewhere, that is telling President Bush or me or Vice President [Richard B.] Cheney or [National Security Adviser Condoleezza] Rice or other members of the administration what our policies should be," he said. A sharp subterranean debate burst into the open earlier this month after Rep. James P. Moran, Virginia Democrat, suggesting that the influence of American Jews had pushed the country to the brink of a war with Saddam Hussein. The White House and senior Republican and Democratic lawmakers condemned Mr. Moran's remarks. The congressman quickly apologized for his comments. But others, including a number of left-wing antiwar groups and commentators such as conservative columnist Pat Buchanan, have made the charge much more pointedly, arguing that many of the most effective war advocates in the U.S. government are neoconservative Jews with a long history of strong support for Israel and its security needs. Israeli and Jewish influence on U.S. foreign policy is a staple of news reports in the Arab world and has been given a much broader airing even in Western European newspapers. Recent editorial cartoons in leading Arab newspapers depict President Bush as a string puppet of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and suggest Mr. Sharon will use the possible outbreak of war in Iraq to an excuse to begin killing Palestinians. Mr. Moran's critics counter that opinion polls show support among U.S. Jews for an Iraqi war is equal to or even lower than that among voters as a whole, and that Mr. Moran's suggestion that American Jews are a monolithic bloc with the power to move U.S. policy smacks of anti-Semitism. Mr. Powell was asked to comment on the controversy by subcommittee Chairman Rep. Jim Kolbe, Arizona Republican. Mr. Kolbe said he was "hesitant to raise the issue" at all, but invited Mr. Powell to "help end any speculation that our policy was developed and is being pushed in some kind of conspiratorial manner by supporters of Israel, or Saudi Arabia, or any other [ethnic] group or nation." Mr. Powell said U.S. policy toward Iraq had evolved over a dozen years, covering two presidential administrations and a long series of U.N. resolutions demanding Saddam Hussein disarm, culminating in the current Security Council debate on whether to use force against Baghdad. "It is driven by our own national interests. It is driven by us trying to help the United Nations do its job. It is driven by our concern for the people of Iraq," Mr. Powell said. He said the United States has been one of Israel's strongest supporters for half a century, but added, "We have other friends in the region." He said the United States also has close alliances with Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and President Bush is committed to the establishment of a Palestinian state on Israel's borders. The looming confrontation with Iraq "is not just the result of a few individuals who are running loose, as some suggest, but it's a comprehensive policy developed over the years with the support of Congress," Mr. Powell said. Christopher Wolf, head of the Washington office of the Anti-Defamation League, said Mr. Moran had "merely brought to the surface the strong undercurrent of anti-Semitism at play in the United States." He said he welcomed Mr. Powell's answer but feared forcing a top government official even to acknowledge the issue in a congressional hearing room would feed anti-Semitic stereotypes. "Just raising the question plants in the mind of anti-Semites the false idea that our Iraq policy is really driven by Jews and the state of Israel," Mr. Wolf said. washtimes.com