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World Media Watch
by Gloria R. Lalumia
BUZZFLASH NOTE: Once again, these are the views and perspectives of the individual papers, not of BuzzFlash or Gloria. They offer BuzzFlash readers a way of reading what other nations are saying about the crisis, whether we like it or not. We repeat: This is not an endorsement of their viewpoints.
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1//The Turkish Daily News, Turkey--TURKISH SOLDIERS SET UP AIR DEFENSE BATTERIES AT INCIRLIK AIR BASE (While peace efforts for the solution of the Iraq standoff still continue, Turkish soldiers have set up air defense batteries at Adana's Incirlik air base, which will play a key role in a possible operation against Iraq.)
2//The Toronto Star, Canada--PM WON'T BE DRAWN BEFORE WAR COUNCIL (The House of Commons will debate the Iraq situation Wednesday night, even though the government still refuses to discuss "hypothetical" questions about the possibility of war...For the second straight day in the Commons, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien refused to say today whether he feels Iraq has breached the term of a United Nations disarmament resolution. He said UN arms inspectors need more time to do their work.)
3//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--WHY THE US NEEDS THE UN (Washington will definitely need the international community for the mopping-up business of post-Saddam. Powell himself put it succinctly; the US would like to internationalize the intervention as much as possible, because later "there will be too much work to do". This is a basic tenet of the Bush doctrine: America bombs, and the rest of the world picks up the pieces...Anyway, it remains to be seen how the UN will be able to stretch its resources to manage a fractured country of 24 million people, as big as France, inevitably on the verge of civil war and certainly suffering a tremendous humanitarian crisis. Washington hawks don't need and certainly don't want the UN to get inside Iraq. They may need the UN to get out. But who said they will want to get out?)
4//Tehran Times, Iran--IRAQI CIVILIAN URBAN CRACK FORCE TRAINS AS U.S.-LED WAR LOOMS (Baghdad's sleepy afternoons are rudely interrupted every day by the crisp clickety-clack of arms as thousands of volunteers train to become an urban civilian defense force in any eventual U.S.-led war against Iraq..."They are mainly trained to use light arms to confront any American military landings, whether by helicopters or by parachutes," he said...Most volunteers are over the age of 30 and some are even well over 60.)
5//The Independent, UK--COURT REJECTS BERLUSCONI'S BID TO MOVE BRIBERY TRIAL (In the eyes of many, last night's decision was a triumph for the independence of the Italian judiciary in the teeth of flagrant attempts by the government to intimidate and manipulate it. At the ceremonial inauguration of the judicial year on 12 January, a former prosecutor of Milan said judges must "resist, resist, resist" attempts by the government to dictate to them.)
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1//The
Turkish Daily News 28 January 2003
http://www.turkishdailynews.com/FrTDN/latest/for.htm#f6
TURKISH SOLDIERS SET UP AIR DEFENSE BATTERIES AT INCIRLIK AIR BASE
While peace efforts for the solution of the Iraq standoff still continue, Turkish soldiers have set up air defense batteries at Adana's Incirlik air base, which will play a key role in a possible operation against Iraq.
According to Cihan news agency (CHA) Turkish soldiers set up three air defense batteries near the warplane hangars, and testing them to make sure they are working or not.
(SNIP)
F15, F16 and Prowler warplanes took off from the air base earlier this morning within the scope of Northern Watch.
One cargo plain belonging to DHL, supposedly carrying military equipment from the U.S. to the air base, a plane belonging to the U.K. and a tanker plane took off from the air base yesterday.
2//The Toronto Star Jan. 28, 2003. 05:45 PM
Link to Article
PM WON'T BE DRAWN BEFORE WAR COUNCIL
MPs set to debate question of Iraq on Wednesday night
OTTAWA (CP) - The House of Commons will debate the Iraq situation Wednesday night, even though the government still refuses to discuss "hypothetical" questions about the possibility of war.
Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham then goes to Washington on Thursday to meet U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to discuss the latest developments.
For the second straight day in the Commons, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien refused to say today whether he feels Iraq has breached the term of a United Nations disarmament resolution.
He said UN arms inspectors need more time to do their work.
"When they return with their report, we will be able to determine whether Saddam Hussein has complied with resolution 1441."
The Bloc Quebecois pressed Chrétien on whether he feels the UN Security Council needs to pass a second resolution to authorize the use of force against Iraq.
He ignored the question.
"We first have to wait until the inspectors ... complete their work and report to the UN."
(MORE)
3//Asia Times Online January 29, 2003
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EA29Ak05.html
WHY THE US NEEDS THE UN
By Pepe Escobar
(SNIP)
Apparently there will be a compromise at the UN: The inspectors will be given some more time - but not enough. According to a Spanish diplomat, "The English managed to get a delay from the Americans when Jack Straw visited Washington." The next key date is now February 15 - one day after a new report by the inspectors is presented to the Security Council. Even Ana Palacio, the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, also impressed on Secretary of State Colin Powell the need for more time for the inspectors.
(SNIP)
A new inspections report should be presented to the Security Council at the end of March. Washington as much as reduced this to ashes - but at the same time did not find enough allies to definitely cancel the inspectors' mission, which has been going on for only two months now. So, according to European and Arab diplomats, the new "fake" key date of February 14 for a so-called routine briefing by Hans Blix to the Security Council is perfect as far as Washington's military timetable is concerned. By then Washington should have been able to display enough ammunition to impress to the UN that Iraq is not cooperating as it must.
The feeling in Brussels, as well as Cairo, Beirut, Damascus or Amman, is pervasive: war cannot be avoided; but now it's too late, too costly (a Yale study circulating in Davos was talking about US$125 billion) and too extremely unpopular for Washington to go to war without UN approval.
It's no secret in the Arab world that CIA and Special Forces are already in Iraqi Kurdistan - a replay of the tactics employed in Afghanistan in 2001 when CIA and Special Forces were advising the Northern Alliance. The awesome American military machine will be almost ready by mid-February. On the diplomatic front, though, things are much more - well - nuanced. Until now, the Bush administration has not dared to launch a preemptive war based exclusively on its own judgment of a so-called threat to American interests. Washington hawks argue that the UN should be bypassed altogether because the Gulf War ceasefire in 1991 stipulated that Saddam should face obligations stated by the Security Council. So if he is not complying, there should be war. But the fact is, that the UN is the only body capable of certifying that Saddam's regime has not passed the test.
From a military point of view, the US does not need anything from the co-called "coalition of the willing", except the right to fly over a given country's airspace and the right to use a few airbases - which will be in Kuwait, Qatar and Turkey. Kuwait and Qatar are in the bag, but Turkey could be a very complicated matter. Washington so far has offered US$4 billion to Turkey, which is peanuts compared to the negative fallout of a possible war. Turkey estimates it may have lost as much as US$50 billion because of the 1991 Gulf War.
As the world once again contemplates the spectacle of ultra-high-tech electronic jamming, the thousands of smart, or not so smart, bombs, and the likely thousands or dozens of thousands of collateral damage, Washington will definitely need the international community for the mopping-up business of post-Saddam. Powell himself put it succinctly; the US would like to internationalize the intervention as much as possible, because later "there will be too much work to do". This is a basic tenet of the Bush doctrine: America bombs, and the rest of the world picks up the pieces.
So the Kosovo and Afghan models will be implemented again. According to new Washington plans, American forces and others from the "coalition of the willing" would remain in Iraq for one year or one year and a half, under a civilian authority designated by the UN. So the world should expect somebody like former French Doctors Without Borders member Bernard Kouchner in Kosovo, or former Algerian ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi in Afghanistan to fill this role.
Forget about the bunch of gangsters who pass for "Iraqi opposition groups". Forget an Iraqi Hamid Karzai solution. According to diplomatic sources, Washington hawks also seem to be somehow convinced that General Tommy Franks is no MacArthur - and an American military occupation and government, puppet or not, of Iraq would generate a hardcore backlash in the Arab world. Anyway, it remains to be seen how the UN will be able to stretch its resources to manage a fractured country of 24 million people, as big as France, inevitably on the verge of civil war and certainly suffering a tremendous humanitarian crisis.
Washington hawks don't need and certainly don't want the UN to get inside Iraq. They may need the UN to get out. But who said they will want to get out?
4//Tehran Times January 29, 2003
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=1/29/03&Cat=2&Num=002
IRAQI CIVILIAN URBAN CRACK FORCE TRAINS AS U.S.-LED WAR LOOMS
BAGHDAD (AFP) -- Baghdad's sleepy afternoons are rudely interrupted every day by the crisp clickety-clack of arms as thousands of volunteers train to become an urban civilian defense force in any eventual U.S.-led war against Iraq.
The crack force, one of the commanders explains, is meant to back regular armed forces in major cities and towns in case of a major military attack on Iraq which many believe is becoming more imminent by the day.
"The volunteers will help maintain internal stability, protect private property and vital utilities such as food storages and gas stations," said the commander on condition of anonymity.
"They are mainly trained to use light arms to confront any American military landings, whether by helicopters or by parachutes," he said.
(SNIP)
Most volunteers are over the age of 30 and some are even well over 60.
"President Saddam Hussein has asked U.S. to spare university students for the time being because they have just had their mid-terms and they are on a well-deserved break," explained an instructor.
The men may not actually be young, but most of them show surprisingly strong stamina during the weapons exercises and physical training.
(MORE)
5//The Independent 29 January 2003
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=373640
COURT REJECTS BERLUSCONI'S BID TO MOVE BRIBERY TRIAL
By Peter Popham in Rome
The dogged struggle of the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, to escape his legal problems suffered a major blow last night when the Supreme Court rejected his bid to have a judge-bribing case in which he is charged being transferred from Milan to a friendlier bench.
The charge is the most serious of the numerous corruption cases still pending against him, all of which Mr Berlusconi rejects as politically motivated.
The nine judges of the Supreme Court voted five to four to reject the appeal by Mr Berlusconi's lawyers to have the case transferred. He had tried to have the case moved under the "legitimate suspicion" act, allowable if defendants can prove to the Supreme Court a legitimate suspicion that judges hearing their case were biased.
The bill was forced through parliament amid uproar, with the Opposition insisting it was designed specifically to save the Prime Minister. It was among Mr Berlusconi's main triumphs in his first 18 months in power. He denied he had promoted the bill simply to benefit from it, but once signed into law last November, the first case to be presented to the Supreme Court was the one in which Mr Berlusconi and a close aide, now a senator in his Forza Italia party, Cesare Previti, were accused of bribing judges in an attempted business takeover in the Eighties.
(SNIP)
Mr Berlusconi has already done all he can to insulate himself against a guilty verdict. For months he has repeated that he will remain Prime Minister, no matter what.
(SNIP)
In the eyes of many, last night's decision was a triumph for the independence of the Italian judiciary in the teeth of flagrant attempts by the government to intimidate and manipulate it. At the ceremonial inauguration of the judicial year on 12 January, a former prosecutor of Milan said judges must "resist, resist, resist" attempts by the government to dictate to them.
Yesterday, despite the intervention in the Supreme Court's proceedings by Giuseppe Valentino, under-secretary at the Ministry of Justice, who told the judges they had the "obligation" to transfer the Berlusconi case, the Supreme Court has done just that.
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© 2003, Gloria R. Lalumia, insight@zianet.com
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