|
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.
* * *
1//Gulf News Online, Saudi Arabia--INTERVIEW: U.S.-LED CAMPAIGN TO BE FOUR-PHASED (Senior military officers predict that the air war will last two days. "We will be dropping, firing and launching 48,000 weapons in 24 hours against select Iraqi leadership targets - not carpet bombing - key targets," said a British Royal Air Force commander. "That's more than in the whole of the last Gulf War air campaign...Targets include command posts, presidential palaces and key leadership objectives. "I wouldn't want to be in Tikrit," he confirmed, referring to the hometown of Saddam Hussein.)
2//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--MILITARY BUILDUP, BY THE NUMBERS (It is extremely difficult to attain solid and dependable numbers for the deployment of United States and United Kingdom military personnel in the Middle East currently positioned for an invasion of Iraq. These figures are also constantly shifting as troops are being supplemented daily. Nevertheless, it is possible to offer a snapshot with some rough estimates at the present moment... Some US intelligence estimates state that half of all of Iraqi army equipment lacks spare parts.)
3/Sydney Morning Herald, Australia--BIDING TIME IN BAGHDAD (We are
wrestling at present with one area in which the US might directly
target us: our communications. They have it within their power to
switch off the satellites on which we depend - already there is a
rumour that they intend to do just that for an initial period of
three days or more. Also, they claim that the new microwave bombs
that they will be using have the capacity to fry the insides of a
computer and satphone without doing damage to persons or property
in the vicinity. We're investigating claims that keeping our vital
equipment turned off and wrapped in tinfoil might protect it.)
4//The Jordan Times, Jordan--AMNESTY SAYS UP TO US TO STOP INTER-IRAQI
FEUDS (The head of the human rights group Amnesty International
has said that US troops occupying Iraq after any invasion would
be held responsible if they failed to intervene to prevent a potential
sectarian "bloodbath". "If the Americans are in
control of territory they will be held responsible," Irene
Khan, Amnesty secretary general, said in an interview with Reuters
this week..."It's not a simple thing of... bombing a country,
and then hoping that everything will be fine." ..."We
see very little preparation. We see very little understanding of
the complex situation on the ground inside Iraq and the various
repressive machinery that has been in place for a long time and
what will happen if that disappears.")
5//The News International, Pakistan--INDIA MAY OFFER REFUELLING FACILITIES TO US: EXPERTS (Senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well defence experts here see renewed strategic collaboration between the United States and India with New Delhi's nod to provide refuelling facilities to American jets at Mumbai in case of war against Iraq...India had pursued dual policy with regard to Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War, when it initially opposed the US-led operation to oust Iraqi troops from Kuwait but later granted the Americans permission to refuel in Mumbai.)
* * *
1//Gulf
News Online 16-03-2003
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=80836
INTERVIEW: U.S.-LED CAMPAIGN TO BE FOUR-PHASED
London |By Paul Beaver | 16-03-2003
American-led forces plan a four-phase military campaign against Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein and they do not want to engage the Iraqi
Army in combat, well-informed sourced told Gulf News yesterday.
"If the Iraqis stay in their barracks, we will not attack them - we will need them for the post-Saddam period," a senior British Army general, who spoke to Gulf News on condition of anonymity, said yesterday.
That post-Saddam phase is Phase 4B. "We are already in Phase One," said the General. "This is the force generation phase. We need to create a military force that can break through into Iraq and encircle Baghdad in three to five days. It would have been easier if we had had the use of Turkey."
Original Allied battle plans called for a British-led armoured formation to stage through southern Turkey, capture some key towns and virtually tie-up 50 per cent of the Iraqi Army.
The best now expected is that several former Iraqi air bases in Kurdistan that are already in the hands of U.S. Special Forces will be used for staging an airborne assault by the U.S. 101st Airborne Division supported by elements of the British Parachute Regiment using C-130 Hercules transports and helicopters.
Still at sea in the Mediterranean are 20,000 troops of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division, but their tanks and other heavy equipment have been landed in Turkey in the hope that the Turkish Parliament will allow the troops passage.
Before that can happen the Allies will unleash Phase 2 - a major air campaign that begins on A Day (G Day being the code for the beginning of the ground campaign).
It will involve more than 380 combat aircraft from the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps plus a hundred strike aircraft from the UK Royal Air Force, including Tornado GR4 bombers armed with the new Storm Shadow stand-off cruise missile.
Senior military officers predict that the air war will last two days. "We will be dropping, firing and launching 48,000 weapons in 24 hours against select Iraqi leadership targets - not carpet bombing - key targets," said a British Royal Air Force commander.
"That's more than in the whole of the last Gulf War air campaign. Then just nine per cent of the weapons dropped or launched were precision guided - in this campaign, it is likely to be 90 per cent."
Targets include command posts, presidential palaces and key leadership objectives. "I wouldn't want to be in Tikrit," he confirmed, referring to the hometown of Saddam Hussein.
(MORE)
2//Asia Times Online March 15, 2003
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EC15Ak02.html
MILITARY BUILDUP, BY THE NUMBERS
By Ian Urbina
It is extremely difficult to attain solid and dependable numbers for the deployment of United States and United Kingdom military personnel in the Middle East currently positioned for an invasion of Iraq. These figures are also constantly shifting as troops are being supplemented daily. Nevertheless, it is possible to offer a snapshot with some rough estimates at the present moment.
US buildup
Within the last week and a half, the US Department of Defense reported that the total force strength in the relevant arena known as Central Command (also called CENTCOM) as 211,000, with roughly half of those numbers in Kuwait. Over 1,000 total aircraft (across different military divisions) have already arrived for duty. In prior years, the theater of operations surrounding Iraq has seen on average between 20,000 and 25,000 soldiers at any given time, and 200 aircraft.
The air force has seen a marked increase. Before the "war on terror", there were roughly 6,200 personnel in the area surrounding Iraq, with 1,700 based at Incirlik in southeastern Turkey. Presently, the air force has over 23,000 personnel in place, with more than 500 aircraft of widely varied types.
The army presence is also considerable, with an estimated 64,000 soldiers. The number normally mobilized in the region is 3,700.
Most of all, though, it is the navy that has witnessed the biggest spike. A total number between 8,000 and 15,000 troops have been positioned in the area throughout the 1990s. At present, there are 125,000 navy personnel waiting for duty.
As of late February, there were five Carrier Battle Groups in the area, each with an associated Carrier Air Wing, usually consisting of 11,000 sailors. There were also two large amphibious groups on the ready, each with about 1,700 sailors, 1,500 Marines and 700 Marine aviators.
These total navy units also possess about 500 helicopters and aircraft, and nearly 2,142 Vertical Launch System cells available for Tomahawk cruise missiles. This is roughly three times the average number of Tomahawk cells deployed in recent years. More than 1,000 Tomahawks are already ready for launch, and these numbers can be increased on very short notice.
British buildup
Great Britain has said that it will place a total of 45,000 military personnel in the field, drawn disparately from the army, the Royal Air Force (RAF), and the navy. At present, Operation TELIC, as the buildup is named, is close to completion.
(SNIP)
Iraqi buildup
The most certain thing about Iraq's military is that it was considerably weakened by the 1991 Gulf War. At the start of that war, Iraq possessed the world's fifth-largest armed forces, with nearly 950,000 troops. Iraq also possessed more than 5,000 tanks and almost 4,000 artillery pieces. By the end of the war, the Iraqi army was reduced to less than 360,000 and the bulk of its hardware was demolished. In subsequent years, the Iraqis were forced to cannibalize many vehicles for the parts needed to keep more advanced equipment in service.
The present picture is opaque. There are an estimated 350,000 Iraqi soldiers, but their preparedness is an open question. The country has 100,000 additional reservists on call. Much of the army's lower ranks consists of conscripts. Some US intelligence estimates state that half of all of Iraqi army equipment lacks spare parts.
(MORE)
3//Sydney Morning Herald March 17 2003
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/16/1047749661724.html
BIDING TIME IN BAGHDAD
Preparing to cover war is not only stressful, it's also very frustrating, writes Paul McGeough.
(SNIP)
The challenge for reporters here is to report on the lead-up to war without becoming distracted by the incessant planning and workshopping that is essential to covering a very different story: a war itself.
It's a serious business - there is no cockiness. Younger reporters seek out the old hands, quizzing them on the imperfect art of survival - there are ways to stay safe and at the same time be able to cover a story that should be reported.
The Pentagon is already pressuring US editors to evacuate their staff from Baghdad.
When the bombing of Baghdad starts, many of the press will indeed leave, as they did in 1991. But there is an emerging consensus here that anywhere between 50 and 100 people will stay this time. Myself and my colleagues from the ABC and Channel Nine are operating on the basis that we will be here to report the war.
We are wrestling at present with one area in which the US might directly target us: our communications. They have it within their power to switch off the satellites on which we depend - already there is a rumour that they intend to do just that for an initial period of three days or more.
Also, they claim that the new microwave bombs that they will be using have the capacity to fry the insides of a computer and satphone without doing damage to persons or property in the vicinity. We're investigating claims that keeping our vital equipment turned off and wrapped in tinfoil might protect it.
In the coming days it will become increasingly tense here. The rumour-mill always has the war booked in - sometimes spiced with the claim that the news came in a coded message - for every day in each of the next two to three weeks. The Channel Nine crew is running a sweep.
In 1991, the coded messages gave us 1 hours' to 2 hours' notice. But for now, the next best indication of imminent action will be the UN's withdrawal of the weapons inspectors and the evacuation of the last remaining members of the diplomatic community.
It's that kind of martini.
4//The Jordan Times Sunday, March 16, 2003
http://www.jordantimes.com/Sun/news/news10.htm
AMNESTY SAYS UP TO US TO STOP INTER-IRAQI FEUDS
AMMAN (R) - The head of the human rights group Amnesty International
has said that US troops occupying Iraq after any invasion would
be held responsible if they failed to intervene to prevent a potential
sectarian "bloodbath".
"If the Americans are in control of territory they will be held responsible," Irene Khan, Amnesty secretary general, said in an interview with Reuters this week.
"If they turn a blind eye to this kind of killing they will still be held responsible because they will be the occupying power," she said.
"It's not a simple thing of... bombing a country, and then hoping that everything will be fine."
Iraq is a patchwork of religious and ethnic groups. The Sunni Muslim-dominated Baath Party has controlled the country for decades, brooking no opposition, but Shiites form a majority of the population, and Kurds occupy much of the north.
"There is likelihood of one group of people turning against the other. There could be reprisals, there could be internal killings, there could be even a bloodbath," Khan said.
"We see very little preparation. We see very little understanding of the complex situation on the ground inside Iraq and the various repressive machinery that has been in place for a long time and what will happen if that disappears."
(SNIP)
Khan said military planners seemed to be paying little attention to the fate of the estimated 24 million Iraqis.
"There is talk of military intervention but what will be the policing arrangements...what will be the protection mechanisms put in place to protect peoples' rights?" Khan said, calling for UN human rights monitors to be deployed to check on events.
Khan said she was not encouraged by events in Afghanistan, where factional violence has continued after the US intervened in 2001 in response to the Sept. 11 attacks.
(MORE)
5//The News International Monday March 17, 2003-- Muharram 13, 1424
A.H.
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/mar2003-daily/17-03-2003/metro/i2.htm
INDIA MAY OFFER REFUELLING FACILITIES TO US: EXPERTS
By Naveed Ahmad
ISLAMABAD: Senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well defence experts here see renewed strategic collaboration between the United States and India with New Delhi's nod to provide refuelling facilities to American jets at Mumbai in case of war against Iraq.
The officials told The News, "India is desperate to enter into a strategic partnership with the United States following the denial of the same by Pakistan with regard to hot pursuit against the then Taliban militia."
An official rejected the comments made by the Indian defence minister denying facilities to the US or allied warplanes to refuel on its territory in case of war against Iraq. The official said that the need for a clarification arose out of some reality in the Indian media reports quoting external ministry sources. India may offer the refuelling facilities from a number of other key locations for the allied aircraft, he added.
India had pursued dual policy with regard to Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War, when it initially opposed the US-led operation to oust Iraqi troops from Kuwait but later granted the Americans permission to refuel in Mumbai.
The ruling coalition government of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has been under fire at home for adopting an ambiguous policy with regard to the likely US aggression on Iraq. A number of retired generals of the Pakistan Army believe that the United States would like to take along as many allies in the war as possible thus offering India an open option to join the bandwagon.
(MORE)
* * *
© 2003, Gloria R. Lalumia, insight@zianet.com
Radio for the Left at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical/radio.htm
