July 21, 2004

World Media Watch

by Gloria R. Lalumia

BUZZFLASH NOTE: WMW provides BuzzFlash readers foreign views and perspectives that are not usually available from the media here in the U.S. The presentation of these articles from these international publications is not an endorsement of their viewpoints.

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WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR JULY 21, 2004

1//The Independent, UK--'REJOICE OVER IRAQ': FURY AT BLAIR'S ECHO OF THATCHER (Tony Blair, on the eve of his tenth anniversary as leader of the Labour Party, echoed one of the most famous quotations from Lady Thatcher yesterday by telling critics of the war in Iraq to "rejoice"...Mr Blair's use of the word "rejoice" - loaded with all the defiance that Lady Thatcher had given it - made Labour backbenchers wince during the Commons debate on the Butler report. "We couldn't believe it when he said that," said one Labour MP. "We shouted 'Thatcher' at him."...The Prime Minister's denial that he lied over the war was under fresh scrutiny last night after Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, admitted he knew in September last year that two pieces of intelligence about Saddam's chemical and biological weapons had been withdrawn by MI6.)

2//The Scotsman, UK--BATTLING BLAIR HAS HOWARD ON THE ROPES (Tony Blair yesterday swept aside critics of his decision to go to war with Iraq in a Commons debate which failed to bring him to account for the flawed intelligence highlighted by Lord Butler...In the Commons, Michael Howard was thrown off balance by Mr Blair's self-assured performance, for even while debating matters of war, death and the highest responsibilities of office, the Prime Minister managed to have MPs laughing with his jibes at the Tory leader...Mr Howard's plight and Mr Blair's exuberance reflect a harsh political reality: no matter what voters think of the war in Iraq, Labour under Tony Blair remains the dominant political force in Britain.)

3//Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK--VOLUNTEERS TRAIN FOR 'MARTYRDOM' ("We have a budget that's bigger than the budget of the ministry of the interior, as well as our own private projects," he said. I also asked the financial manager if the group was funded from outside Iraq. "The current regime used to be the exiled opposition - agents for the Americans," he replied angrily. "They got outside funding. Why shouldn't we get outside funding? We have Iraqis outside the country, funding us.")

4//The Moscow Times, Russia-- NO TROOPS TO IRAQ (... Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko insisted "there are no plans to send Russian servicemen to Iraq." Yakovenko's comments came in response to a recent report by Stratfor, a private U.S. firm that specializes in analyses and forecasts on global political, economic and security issues, which claimed that President Vladimir Putin had agreed "in principle" to send up to 40,000 troops to Iraq.)

5//Arab News, Saudi Arabia--SULTAN ASKS MILITANTS TO SURRENDER (Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, yesterday called on militants still at large to take advantage of a royal amnesty before it expires on Friday... Since the month-long amnesty was issued only four wanted militants have come forward despite government assurances that they would be exonerated should they repent. On Sunday it was announced that foreign countries had handed over 27 wanted Saudis to the Kingdom's security forces. They were all wanted on security grounds.)

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1//The Independent, UK 21 July 2004
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=543025

'REJOICE OVER IRAQ': FURY AT BLAIR'S ECHO OF THATCHER
By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor

Tony Blair, on the eve of his tenth anniversary as leader of the Labour Party, echoed one of the most famous quotations from Lady Thatcher yesterday by telling critics of the war in Iraq to "rejoice".

Lady Thatcher told Britain to "Just rejoice... rejoice" when British forces recaptured South Georgia on 25 April 1982. She was under pressure for allowing the Falkland Islands to be invaded by Argentina.

Mr Blair's use of the word "rejoice" - loaded with all the defiance that Lady Thatcher had given it - made Labour backbenchers wince during the Commons debate on the Butler report. "We couldn't believe it when he said that," said one Labour MP. "We shouted 'Thatcher' at him."

Mr Blair immediately recognised the gaffe, and quickly added: "Yes - let us be pleased."
A former whip, loyal to Mr Blair, said: "Rejoice is a word that we will have to wipe from the dictionary. I was appalled he used it."

But the damage was done. Alice Mahon, one of 41 MPs of all parties who staged a token protest vote against the Government on Iraq last night, said: "I don't know how he could say 'rejoice' when thousands of lives have been lost. They never counted the number of Iraqis who died, but how can he say rejoice? It is an insult to those who have died."

Alan Simpson, another leftwing Labour MP who campaigned against the war, said: "The only one who will rejoice with Tony Blair is Osama bin Laden."

Mr Blair painted a rosy picture of life after Saddam Hussein in Iraq, completely at odds with many eye-witness accounts of the Iraqi people's suffering.

Declaring "the blessings from the fall of Saddam are great," Mr Blair spoke of the 35 local elections in Iraq; the doubling of public-sector salaries; and schools and hospitals which were now open. "Removing Saddam was not a war crime. It was an act of liberation for the Iraqi people," he said. "My view is whatever mistakes have been made, rejoice that Iraq can have such a future."

He was immediately criticised by opposition MPs. Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader said: "He still doesn't get it. He does not know that he has got to show genuine contrition." Tam Dalyell, the Father of the House, called for Mr Blair to resign. Robin Cook, who resigned from the Cabinet over the issue, said the invasion of Iraq had created the conditions in which al-Qa'ida was "thriving". Michael Howard, the Conservative leader, said: "Why is it that for this Prime Minister, sorry seems to be the hardest word?"

The Prime Minister's denial that he lied over the war was under fresh scrutiny last night after Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, admitted he knew in September last year that two pieces of intelligence about Saddam's chemical and biological weapons had been withdrawn by MI6.

Downing Street insisted that the Prime Minister did not know the intelligence had been withdrawn until the Butler inquiry was under way, but Mr Straw's admission will raise fresh doubts about assurances from No 10. It will also raise questions as to why no minister told the Hutton inquiry, and it will fuel calls for the inquiry by the Foreign Affairs Committee to be reopened today.

(MORE)

2//The Scotsman, UK Wed 21 Jul 2004
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=830652004&20040721023839

BATTLING BLAIR HAS HOWARD ON THE ROPES
James Kirkup and Frasesr Nelson

Tony Blair yesterday swept aside critics of his decision to go to war with Iraq in a Commons debate which failed to bring him to account for the flawed intelligence highlighted by Lord Butler.

Called to debate the Butler Report, the Prime Minister steadfastly refused to apologise, even deliberately evoking the memory of Margaret Thatcher by telling MPs to "rejoice that Iraq is now liberated".

His unshakeable confidence in his own cause swept away the doubts of many Labour MPs, and left the Conservatives in disarray.

Mr Blair is now expected to make a show of his authority with a Cabinet reshuffle. Government sources last night said that such is the Prime Minister's sense of command that he is even considering sending Peter Mandelson to Brussels as a European Commissioner, an option he had previously ruled out as too controversial.

In the Commons, Michael Howard was thrown off balance by Mr Blair's self-assured performance, for even while debating matters of war, death and the highest responsibilities of office, the Prime Minister managed to have MPs laughing with his jibes at the Tory leader.

At the weekend, Mr Howard said that in the light of Lord Butler's revelations about flaws in the pre-war intelligence on Iraqi arms, he now wished he had not voted for the Commons motion that paved the way for war last March.

Yet he still supports the conflict, an apparent contradiction that Mr Blair used mercilessly yesterday, telling Mr Howard: "This type of shoddy opportunism is not the solution to his problem, it is his problem."

One Tory MP later described Mr Howard's performance as "the worst I've ever seen him give" and another talked of "selling my stock" in the leader.

Mr Howard's plight and Mr Blair's exuberance reflect a harsh political reality: no matter what voters think of the war in Iraq, Labour under Tony Blair remains the dominant political force in Britain.

Driving home that point, an ICM poll yesterday showed that although 55 per cent of people think Mr Blair lied about Iraq, his party's lead over Mr Howard's actually widened in the last month. Labour rose from 34 per cent to 35 per cent from June; the Tories dropped from 31 per cent to 30 per cent.

(MORE)

3//Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK ICR No. 75, 20-Jul-04
http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/irq/irq_75_1_eng.txt

VOLUNTEERS TRAIN FOR 'MARTYRDOM'

A group calling itself the Iraqi Resistance invites IWPR to witness suicide bombing exercises.

By an IWPR trainee in Baghdad (ICR No. 75, 20-Jul-04)

The tall middle-aged man with closely-cropped hair, a military bearing and a pistol tucked into his trousers, told me his views in a terse statement followed by an implied threat.

"We want to convey a message to the West not to cooperate with [interim Iraqi leader Iyad] Allawi's pathetic government," he said. "This will make [the West] pay heavily."

Identified as "Director 1000" of "Base Camp 2" and belonging to a group calling itself the Iraqi Resistance, the man stood behind a desk on which there was a computer, a pair of Thuraya satellite phones, and some mobiles.

A photograph of Saddam Hussein and his two sons hung on one wall, while the other displayed an old Iraqi flag and a sword.

This insurgent leader identified himself as a former intelligence officer who transferred to the paramilitary Saddam Fidayeen organisation before the war last year.

He explained his movement's goal, "If we do not hold authority in Iraq, then we will allow no one else to hold authority."

I made this trip to Base Camp 2 after a neighbour - who was formerly active in the Saddam Fidayeen - approached and asked if I wished to meet the "resistance".

But my neighbour also warned that my future would be "very bad" if the Iraqi police or the American military forces discovered how to get to the people I was to meet.

The group picked me and my neighbour up one morning from Baghdad's Saadoun street in a white BMW, chauffeured by a Sudanese driver. Another vehicle, a Nissan Patrol, accompanied us on our trip.

(SNIP)

Director 1000 claimed the group was founded three months ago, recruited from former members of Saddam Hussein's security apparatus, such as intelligence officers, the Saddam Fidayeen, and the bodyguards of officials.

He said the group had 550 volunteer suicide bombers, who were ready and "waiting to die", but did not credit the movement with any attacks so far.

But he claimed it provided five "martyrs" to the organisation of the extremist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi "before the Mosul operations" - a series car bomb attacks that took place last June in the northern Iraqi city.

"We have shared goals with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi," Director 1000 said. "Anybody against the [interim] government we consider our friend, whether he is in Iraq or outside Iraq."

(SNIP)

We were joined by another member of the group, a heavy-set, well-groomed man of about 40 wearing what appeared to be expensive linen trousers.

When he introduced himself as a financial manager, I cautiously asked how the group raised its funds.

"We have a budget that's bigger than the budget of the ministry of the interior, as well as our own private projects," he said.

I also asked the financial manager if the group was funded from outside Iraq.

"The current regime used to be the exiled opposition - agents for the Americans," he replied angrily. "They got outside funding. Why shouldn't we get outside funding? We have Iraqis outside the country, funding us."

(MORE)

4//The Moscow Times, Russia Wednesday, July 21, 2004. Page 4.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/07/21/031.html

NO TROOPS TO IRAQ

Moscow (AP) -- The Foreign Ministry reaffirmed Tuesday that Moscow has no intention to send its troops to Iraq, shrugging off a report that claimed the Kremlin was considering a request from Washington to contribute forces.

Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko insisted "there are no plans to send Russian servicemen to Iraq."

Yakovenko's comments came in response to a recent report by Stratfor, a private U.S. firm that specializes in analyses and forecasts on global political, economic and security issues, which claimed that President Vladimir Putin had agreed "in principle" to send up to 40,000 troops to Iraq.

5//Arab News, Saudi Arabia 21 July 2004
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=48657&d=21&m=7&y=2004

SULTAN ASKS MILITANTS TO SURRENDER
Staff Writer

JEDDAH, 21July 2004 - Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, yesterday called on militants still at large to take advantage of a royal amnesty before it expires on Friday.

Speaking from his palace in Jeddah where he met senior government officials and military commanders, Prince Sultan said: "Islam is a religion of compassion, mercy and peace. Terrorists still in hiding should make use of the amnesty and surrender before it is too late."

(SNIP)

On June 23 King Fahd issued a limited amnesty for those involved in a series of terror acts that killed nearly 90 people, including foreigners and Saudis, over a period of two years, warning them to turn themselves in within 30 days or face the full might of the state.

In a televised speech read on his behalf by Crown Prince Abdullah, the king said all those affiliated to the group and who were not captured had a chance to return to God and engage in soul-searching.

(SNIP)

Since the month-long amnesty was issued only four wanted militants have come forward despite government assurances that they would be exonerated should they repent.

On Sunday it was announced that foreign countries had handed over 27 wanted Saudis to the Kingdom's security forces. They were all wanted on security grounds.

Prince Sultan said the Kingdom has been subjected to a wave of violence and terrorism committed by some Saudis who have been used as tools by others to carry out criminal acts. The security forces were winning their battle against those behind the acts of violence in the country.

"The deterioration of this deviant group and the downfall of its figures one after the other confirms that Allah is looking after this country," he said.

The authorities have repeated that the amnesty will not be extended and those who opt not to take advantage of it have been threatened with a harsh crackdown.