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| February 13, 2004 |
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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. * * * WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR FEBRUARY 13, 2004 1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--IRAQ AND AL-QAEDA (These two deadly attacks happened just as the Pentagon and the White house leaked information that allegedly proved the so far elusive link between al-Qaeda and terrorism in Iraq. According to the Bush administration, a "key al-Qaeda suspect" was arrested in Iraq carrying a 17-page memo on a computer disc, on his way to Afghanistan no less, where the disc was be handed over to Osama bin Laden, or his number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri...This latest US intelligence, though, makes little sense. For starters, al-Qaeda pigeons are highly unlikely to move around with computer discs in their briefcases: since early 2002 a disabled al-Qaeda has used women couriers to deliver strictly verbal messages.) 2//The Guardian, UK--LEAK REVEALS MINISTERS' FEARS
OVER IRAQI CONTRACTS (The British government, concerned
about the failure of British companies to win reconstruction
work in Iraq, is making a behind-the-scenes effort
to lobby Washington. Confidential documents seen by
the Guardian show that ministers and officials are
being mobilised to try to head off a domestic political
embarrassment to Tony Blair. Brian Wilson, the prime
minister's special representative on overseas trade,
and Mike O'Brien, the minister of international trade
and foreign affairs, are both being dispatched to Washington
next week. 4//Inter Press Service, Italy--ANALYSIS: BUSH FEARS
VESSELS OF MASS DESPERATION (VMD) ABOVE ALL (The administration
of President George W. Bush appears undecided about
how to deal with this week's violence and growing chaos
in Haiti, and increasingly worried it could spark a
new exodus of thousands of boat people onto the high
seas...''This will become a domestic political problem
for Bush, just as it was for his father, if we see
pictures of boats capsizing, or the Coast Guard saving
people, or some coming ashore in Florida'', predicted
McGuire.) * * * 1//Asia
Times Online February 13, 2004 IRAQ AND AL-QAEDA By Pepe Escobar Nearly 100 Iraqis have been killed in less than 24 hours in two suicide bombings in Iskandariya and Baghdad. Most of them were poor and unemployed and were trying to find a job with the new, American-approved Iraqi police and army. They were Shi'ites in Iskandariya, and mostly Sunnis in Baghdad. But for the anti-occupation guerrilla forces, they were just one thing: collaborators. These two deadly attacks happened just as the Pentagon and the White house leaked information that allegedly proved the so far elusive link between al-Qaeda and terrorism in Iraq. According to the Bush administration, a "key al-Qaeda suspect" was arrested in Iraq carrying a 17-page memo on a computer disc, on his way to Afghanistan no less, where the disc was be handed over to Osama bin Laden, or his number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri. The author of the memo was purported to be Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian national on the loose and longtime number one suspect of being the missing link between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's regime. In the memo, al-Zarqawi allegedly appeals to the al-Qaeda leadership to help detonate a civil war in Iraq between Sunnis and Shi'ites as the next definitive step to get rid of the Americans. For the Bush administration's spin machine, this is "the strongest evidence to date of contacts between extremists in Iraq and al-Qaeda". This latest US intelligence, though, makes little sense. For starters, al-Qaeda pigeons are highly unlikely to move around with computer discs in their briefcases: since early 2002 a disabled al-Qaeda has used women couriers to deliver strictly verbal messages. The memo says that the resistance against the occupation is "struggling to recruit Iraqis". This is not borne out by the situation on the ground - the resistance continues, even rising, despite the capture of Saddam. The purported memo also says that the "new anti-American campaign" must start before "zero hour", when power is scheduled to be transferred to an Iraqi administration in June. Again, this is not true. The resistance knows all too well that only the responsibility for security will be transferred in June, not power. The Americans will remain behind their heavily fortified military bases, but will remain as occupiers. Asia Times Online has been to Iskandariya. It's a dusty and very poor town roughly on the imaginary border between the Sunni triangle and the Shi'ite south. Sunnis and Shi'ites live close together with no major hassles. But Iskandariya is also fiercely anti-occupation. People there are proud of the local resistance attacks. This shows how the resistance is spreading, irrespective of sectarian, religious lines. (MORE)
LEAK REVEALS MINISTERS' FEARS OVER IRAQI CONTRACTS Terry Macalister The British government, concerned about the failure of British companies to win reconstruction work in Iraq, is making a behind-the-scenes effort to lobby Washington. Confidential documents seen by the Guardian show that ministers and officials are being mobilised to try to head off a domestic political embarrassment to Tony Blair. Brian Wilson, the prime minister's special representative on overseas trade, and Mike O'Brien, the minister of international trade and foreign affairs, are both being dispatched to Washington next week. Mr O'Brien is breaking off a family holiday in America to talk to US officials in the run-up to a new round of Iraq contracts being awarded next month. Briefing papers seen by the Guardian reveal the frustration at the top of government over British companies missing out completely on the Iraqi oil rehabilitation deals on January 16. "Despite extensive lobbying by ministers and officials for significant UK content in these projects, none of the UK bids (from AMEC, Foster Wheeler and the Wood Group) were successful," says a note attached to other documents from Gregor Lusty, head of the Iraq unit at UK Trade & Investment, an arm of the Department of Trade and Industry. (MORE)
PUTIN KICKS OFF RE-ELECTION DRIVE President Vladimir Putin kicked off his re-election campaign Thursday with a speech to supporters in which he laid out the achievements of his first term and plans for his all-but-assured second -- and made an unexpected promise to pick an successor Analysts said his remarks to a packed auditorium at Moscow State University looked more like an address to a Communist Party congress than a campaign speech. Putin rambled through the successes of his first term: Gross domestic product has grown by 29.9 percent since 1999, he said. Unemployment has fallen by one-third. The real minimum wage has quadrupled in three years. The president also spoke with pride at having strengthened the "executive power vertical" and reversing the weakening of the army and "the destruction of law enforcement organs." (SNIP) He repeated his opposition to letting the Duma change the Constitution to extend the presidential term from four to seven years, though not very categorically. Five years would be acceptable -- "it's a nice round number" -- but seven would be "too much." Instead, Putin said, it is the task of any leader after two terms to propose someone who can carry his work forward. "If people agree, and support" the successor, the future "will be a continuation of what there is now," he said. Analysts expressed surprise that Putin, who himself was picked by President Boris Yeltsin as his successor in 1999, spoke so directly about that matter. "It's funny," said Olga Kryshtanovskaya, a sociologist at the Russian Academy of Sciences. "His understanding of democracy means offering us an heir." (MORE)
ANALYSIS:
BUSH FEARS VESSELS OF MASS DESPERATION (VMD) ABOVE
ALL WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (IPS) - The administration of President George W. Bush appears undecided about how to deal with this week's violence and growing chaos in Haiti, and increasingly worried it could spark a new exodus of thousands of boat people onto the high seas. Relief agencies have reported they are unable to get food supplies to areas affected by the chaos, raising the spectre of growing malnutrition in a country where already one-half of the population of nearly eight million people was already ''unable to secure their minimum food requirements'', according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). ''The possibility of a mass exodus is much greater now, since the countryside is in so much turmoil, and people are resorting to slash-and-burn tactics'', said Johnny McCalla, director of the National Coalition for Haitian Rights in New York. ''They will get to the D.R. (Dominican Republic), but the D.R. is tightening its border. But people are now wanting to get out of danger as quickly as possible'', he told IPS by telephone. (SNIP) Already last month, a dozen private relief groups were contacted about running a new refugee camp with as many as 50,000 beds at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba. The base, which housed 70,000 Haitians interdicted by the U.S. Coast Guard during the last Haitian exodus 12 years ago, is currently being used as the main prison for suspected members of Afghanistan's former Taliban regime and the al-Qaeda terrorist group captured in the ''war on terrorism''. Ironically, the Justice Department last April declared that Haitians posed a threat to national security because their homeland was being used as a transit for Islamist terrorists. ''This will become a domestic political problem for Bush, just as it was for his father, if we see pictures of boats capsizing, or the Coast Guard saving people, or some coming ashore in Florida'', predicted McGuire.
RUSSIA WILL SIGN DEAL ON NUCLEAR FUEL FOR IRAN MOSCOW: Russia said on Thursday it planned to sign a deal with Iran next month to ship nuclear fuel for Iran's power plant, defying UN pressure on Moscow to sever nuclear ties with the Islamic Republic. Tehran and Moscow have been locked in months of tough talks over nuclear shipments for the $800 million Bushehr plant Russia has helped to build despite repeated UN accusations that Iran is secretly trying to acquire nuclear arms. "I think in about two weeks all outstanding issues will be settled, that is, by the end of February," Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev told reporters. He said he hoped to sign the final document, which also requires Iran to return spent nuclear fuel to Russia, during a visit to Tehran in late March. "The United States has criticised us and will continue to criticise us," Rumyantsev said. "They say Iran seeks nuclear weapons under the cover of our peaceful technology transfer." "But we keep telling them they've got that wrong. We think we abide by all international laws." Washington wants Moscow to withhold fuel for the reactor as long as Tehran's nuclear ambitions remain a matter of concern. Minutes after Rumyantsev's briefing, top UN arms control official John Bolton accused Iran of failing to comply with the commitment it made last year to suspend uranium enrichment and of pursuing efforts to acquire nuclear arms. (MORE) | |||||
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