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

To: Sig who wrote (109251)	8/1/2003 8:19:31 AM
From: Neocon	Respond to of 281500

I usually collect my own material, but in this instance the heavy lifting was done by someone else, I merely passed it on. When I do one of my own, I sometimes use Word, and have used Notepad on occasion. Sometimes I just role the dice, and paste directly into the response frame on SI. I have sometimes had to regret that<g>.......

To: Sig who wrote (109251)	8/1/2003 8:24:31 AM
From: see clearly now	Respond to of 281500

Yes they (Democrats and Republicans)are all basically on the same page...not much of a democratic choice? ..I remember a Presidential candidate saying something to the effect."....it would not have mattered who got to be president (Gore or Bush) after four years American will see why (the folly) and be ready for a change..(paraphrased)"..I only hope for the sake of our world that this turns out to be true....maybe it will take 8 years to sink in..

To: Sig who wrote (109251)	8/1/2003 8:29:07 AM
From: Neocon	Respond to of 281500

Inspector Optimistic About Iraq WMD Hunt Friday, August 01, 2003 WASHINGTON — The CIA adviser helping lead the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq told lawmakers Thursday that the deception that helped nurture Iraq's program won't last for long. In a closed-door briefing with two Senate panels about the hunt for banned Iraqi weapons systems, David Kay (search), a former chief weapons inspector for the United Nations, said his search team is making new discoveries everyday that help expose "the full extent and nature of Saddam [Hussein]'s program." Kay said he is building a "solid case" that will withstand international scrutiny. "We are gaining the cooperation, the active cooperation, of Iraqis who were involved in that program," Kay told reporters after a briefing to the Armed Services Committee. "We are, as we speak, involved in sensitive exploitation of sites that we are being led to by Iraqis. There is solid evidence being produced. We do not intend to expose this evidence until we have full confidence that it is solid proof of what we're proposed to talk about." Nonetheless, Kay, who has been on the job for a month and a half, asked the senators to be patient. "We are making solid progress. It's going to take time," he said. Kay's statements are no doubt welcome at the White House since public confidence in President Bush's handling of Iraq has dropped since the war's end. According to the latest Fox News-Opinion Dynamics poll, nearly six out of 10 Americans approve of the president's job on Iraq, but that is down 17 percent from the high it reached during the war last April. Another 59 percent approve of the president's overall job performance, with 31 percent disapproving. That's unchanged over the last two weeks, but down 32 percent since the height of the war. But lawmakers say Kay's news is good, and they think he is closing in on the proof. "Don't be surprised if there is a surprise, and it would be very positive," said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., adding that anyone who complains about not having found weapons yet is premature. "[Saddam] had 20 years and 10,000 Iraqis and billions of dollars in a program of denial and deception. We've had six weeks," Roberts said. Kay said Iraqi scientists and newly-found documents have led the search team to previously unknown sites. He did not dispute reports that his team still hasn't found any chemical or biological weapons. He said the old regime in Iraq undertook extreme methods to hide its weapons program. "The active deception program is truly amazing once you get inside it. We have people who participated in deceiving U.N. inspectors now telling us how they did it," Kay said. Sources say Kay's goal is to build an understandable and indisputable case even without a smoking gun. But critical Democrats say Kay must do more to find stocks of chemical and biological weapons and convince them that the stockpiles presented an urgent threat. "If we do not find that they were positioned in a way for imminent use, the credibility of the United States government abroad and the credibility of the United States government with its own people here in the United States will be significantly eroded," said Florida Sen. Bob Graham, former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a Democratic presidential aspirant. Kay told reporters that he doesn't know what a smoking gun is, but he made clear that he does understand credibility. "We have said we will not come forward with evidence until we satisfy three criteria — multiple Iraqis willing to talk and explain the program, documentary evidence and more than one document that explains what we're after, and physical evidence associated with a program," he said. "We do not want to go forward with partial information that we have to retract afterwards." Kay spoke a day after the president defended his own credibility by taking personal responsibility for his State of the Union address claim that Iraq sought nuclear material in Africa. A few hours, later National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, who at first blamed the CIA for the now-discredited claim, said now it was her fault. "I feel personal responsibility for this entire episode," she said. However, Bush may find the public is willing to forgive him about the disputed weapons claims even if congressional Democrats are not. Of those surveyed in the Fox News-Opinion Dynamics poll, only 12 percent said finding weapons of mass destruction was the top priority of the U.S. in Iraq. The largest majority, 41 percent, said establishing a government is the most important goal, while 25 percent said finding Saddam is the top priority. foxnews.com

To: Sig who wrote (109251)	8/1/2003 8:31:45 AM
From: Neocon	Respond to of 281500

Some of the problems we have had in getting information: For an Iraqi Family, 'No Other Choice' Father and Brother Are Forced by Villagers to Execute Suspected U.S. Informant By Anthony Shadid Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, August 1, 2003; Page A01 THULUYA, Iraq -- Two hours before the dawn call to prayer, in a village still shrouded in silence, Sabah Kerbul's executioners arrived. His father carried an AK-47 assault rifle, as did his brother. And with barely a word spoken, they led the man accused by the village of working as an informer for the Americans behind a house girded with fig trees, vineyards and orange groves. His father raised his rifle and aimed it at his oldest son. "Sabah didn't try to escape," said Abdullah Ali, a village resident. "He knew he was facing his fate." The story of what followed is based on interviews with Kerbul's father, brother and five other villagers who said witnesses told them about the events. One shot tore through Kerbul's leg, another his torso, the villagers said. He fell to the ground still breathing, his blood soaking the parched land near the banks of the Tigris River, they said. His father could go no further, and according to some accounts, he collapsed. His other son then fired three times, the villagers said, at least once at his brother's head. Kerbul, a tall, husky 28-year-old, died. "It wasn't an easy thing to kill him," his brother Salah said. In his simple home of cement and cinder blocks, the father, Salem, nervously thumbed black prayer beads this week as he recalled a warning from village residents earlier this month. He insisted his son was not an informer, but he said his protests meant little to a village seething with anger. He recalled their threat was clear: Either he kill his son, or villagers would resort to tribal justice and kill the rest of his family in retaliation for Kerbul's role in a U.S. military operation in the village in June, in which four people were killed. "I have the heart of a father, and he's my son," Salem said. "Even the prophet Abraham didn't have to kill his son." He dragged on a cigarette. His eyes glimmered with the faint trace of tears. "There was no other choice," he whispered. In the simmering guerrilla war fought along the Tigris, U.S. officials say they have received a deluge of tips from informants, the intelligence growing since U.S. forces killed former president Saddam Hussein's two sons last week. Acting on the intelligence, soldiers have uncovered surface-to-air missiles, 45,000 sticks of dynamite and caches of small arms and explosives. They have shut down safe houses that sheltered senior Baath Party operatives in the Sunni Muslim region north of Baghdad and ferreted out lieutenants and bodyguards of the fallen Iraqi president, who has eluded a relentless, four-month manhunt. But a shadowy response has followed, a less-publicized but no less deadly theater of violence in the U.S. occupation. U.S. officials and residents say informers have been killed, shot and attacked with grenades. U.S. officials say they have no numbers on deaths, but anecdotal evidence suggests that the campaign is widespread in a region long a source of support for Hussein's government. The U.S. officials declined to discuss specifics about individual informers and would not say whether Kerbul was one. Lists of informers have circulated in at least two northern cities, and remnants of the Saddam's Fedayeen militia have vowed in videotaped warnings broadcast on Arab satellite networks that they will fight informers "before we fight the Americans." ... washingtonpost.com