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//Asia
Times Online, Hong Kong--INTERNAL LOOK, IMMINENT WAR (There's growing
indication now that a massive US attack against Iraq is practically set
for January, no matter what is contained in Iraq's weapons declaration
and no matter what United Nations inspectors find out on the ground. An
ambassador to the UN who insisted on remaining anonymous assured Asia
Times Online that "at any moment we could be facing an official statement
from the White House saying Iraq is in material breach of Resolution 1441.
We are all helpless against it at the UN.")
2//The Independent, UK--BRITISH DIPLOMAT ACCOMPANIED US OFFICIALS ON MISSION
FOR EARLY UNCUT DOSSIER (Sources confirmed yesterday that a British diplomat
was also present when the Americans took possession of the 12,000-page
report at the UN, although the diplomat did not go to CIA headquarters
at Langley, Virginia...The revelation will doubtless reinforce the perception
in Baghdad that Britain and America are in league to trip up Saddam Hussein
and are hijacking a process that was meant to be handled multilaterally
by the Security Council.)
3//Turkish Daily News, Turkey--BUSH SAYS US SIDE-BY-SIDE WITH TURKEY IN EU BID (Part of U.S. interest in helping Ankara is because Turkey shares a border with Iraq. In the event of a U.S.-led war against Baghdad, Ankara's willingness to let coalition forces use bases on its territory could prove crucial, especially since Saudi Arabia may balk at allowing its bases to be used... In the meeting with Erdogan, Bush contended U.S. access to Turkish bases could actually help avert war. But on the plane to Copenhagen, Erdogan said he had gotten the impression that the operation was a more likely option.)
4//The Australian, Australian--PASS ASIO LAWS, URGES CREAN (Opposition Leader Simon Crean has urged Prime Minister John Howard to pass amended ASIO laws and to stop playing on public fears about terrorism...The controversial laws would enable ASIO to detain and question people as young as 14 for extended periods without access to legal representation. But Labor wants more protection for children under 18 years, and to allow a detained person to choose a lawyer to represent them.)
5//The Times of India, India--INDIA SORE OVER US LEEWAY TO N KOREA (The US decision to allow a North Korean ship to deliver Scud missiles to Yemen is being seen in New Delhi as yet another example of Washington's double-speak..."...when push comes to shove, the US has backed off," said an Indian official on condition of anonymity...The official points to the tough decision taken by India three years ago when it seized a cargo of Scud missile components and blueprints from a North Korean ship from Kandla port.)
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1//Asia
Times Online December 12, 2002
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/DL12Ak01.html
INTERNAL
LOOK, IMMINENT WAR
By Pepe Escobar
There's growing indication now that a massive US attack against Iraq is practically set for January, no matter what is contained in Iraq's weapons declaration and no matter what United Nations inspectors find out on the ground. An ambassador to the UN who insisted on remaining anonymous assured Asia Times Online that "at any moment we could be facing an official statement from the White House saying Iraq is in material breach of Resolution 1441. We are all helpless against it at the UN."
The buzz is intense at the UN regarding the fabulous photocopying capabilities of the US government compared to those of the multilateral body. The US received its instant copy of the mammoth Iraqi weapons declaration before anyone else - then handed copies to the other four permanent members of the Security Council (France, Britain, Russia and China), all of them nuclear powers. The other 10 rotating members, all of them non-nuclear powers, were excluded - and will only get their edited copies by the end of the week. Syria already has protested loudly against the discrimination, and along with Norway has demanded access to the full unedited version. Iraq qualifies the whole process as "unparalleled banditry".
UN Security Council Resolution 1441 explicitly states that the Iraqi declaration should be handed to all the members of the Security Council - and not only to a select few. The American rationale for getting preferential treatment - apart from having the fastest and safest photocopy machines in the market - is that the report might contain information that would lead to the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Off the record, furious UN diplomats tell a completely different story. They say that extreme American pressure was applied on Colombian ambassador Alfonso Valdivieso, who holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council during the month of December. US Secretary of State Colin Powell, not by accident, was in Colombia last week. Powell promised a lot of additional funds to the Colombian government to fight guerrillas. The funds, diplomats say, will be readily available in exchange for the speedy first look at the Iraqi declaration: the CIA has been examining it since Sunday night. UN diplomats also say that the Iraqi declaration lists foreign arms and chemicals suppliers to Iraq - and inevitably some of those are from the same Big Five nuclear powers who may authorize a strike against Iraq.
As much as an internal look at what's really happening at the UN reveals the US administration strong-arming the multilateral body to accelerate its unilateral quest for a smoking gun, Operation Internal Look in Qatar reveals the definitive US positioning for another upcoming high-tech, zero-casualty war won by the 3Cs: command, control and communications.
(SNIP)
The success of Internal Look will assure that the war can be formally launched in January. In a slow build-up since March, according to the CENTCOM's latest figures, 60,000 American soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen are already positioned in the Gulf or nearby, plus 200 fighter jets. Twelve thousand soldiers are in Kuwait - which in effect has been converted into a US armed camp. Twenty-five percent of the area of the whole emirate is now occupied by American military personnel and equipment.
(SNIP)
According to Brookings Institution experts, it would take from eight to 12 weeks to deploy a force of 250,000 troops. But Pentagon officials already have started saying the American - and British - contingents in place by January would be substantial enough to begin an offensive, while extra personnel and equipment could be quickly flown in to sustain a massive operation capable of involving around 250,000 troops.
(SNIP)
Since 1995 Qatar has been ruled by the very liberal Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. All over the world, Qatar is basically known as the home of Al Jazeera, the network that relocated from Saudi Arabia in 1996 with a start-up loan of $150 million offered by the emir himself.
But not many people know that Qatar also has allowed the US to build Al-Udeid, an enormous air base. The US CENTCOM in fact left Tampa, Florida, and relocated to Al-Udeid when more than 600 CENTCOM top operatives arrived in Qatar last month for what has now materialized as Internal Look. Historians may one day note the irony that the nerve center for "regime change" is located in the same Arab kingdom accused by US hawks of broadcasting the propaganda of deadly enemy al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.
2//The Independent 13 December 2002 00:41 GMT
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=360794
BRITISH
DIPLOMAT ACCOMPANIED US OFFICIALS ON MISSION FOR EARLY UNCUT DOSSIER
By David Usborne in New York
12 December 2002
A British diplomat accompanied the American officials who controversially took an early copy of Iraq's declaration on its weapons of mass destruction programmes and spirited it to CIA headquarters.
As a row with the United Nations deepened yesterday over the manner in which the documents were appropriated by the US, Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, took the unusual step of voicing his disquiet at how the American officials were allowed late on Sunday to acquire the declaration. "It was unfortunate and I hope it is not going to be repeated," he said.
Sources confirmed yesterday that a British diplomat was also present when the Americans took possession of the 12,000-page report at the UN, although the diplomat did not go to CIA headquarters at Langley, Virginia.
The manoeuvre has infuriated other non-permanent members of the Security Council. Only 48 hours earlier, the Council had agreed that the report should remain in the hands of Hans Blix, the chief weapons inspector, until he had completed a first analysis and excised elements that might provide arms-making recipes. The understanding was that all 15 members would receive copies.
(SNIP)
The revelation will doubtless reinforce the perception in Baghdad that Britain and America are in league to trip up Saddam Hussein and are hijacking a process that was meant to be handled multilaterally by the Security Council. Iraq has already criticised America's insistence on acquiring the early copy as "unprecedented extortion".
(MORE)
3//Turkish Daily News 12 December 2002
http://www.turkishdailynews.com/FrTDN/latest/for.htm#f4
BUSH
SAYS US SIDE-BY-SIDE WITH TURKEY IN EU BID
Ankara- TDN with wire dispatches
U.S. President George W. Bush offered moral support to Turkey at a time when it strives to get a date to open entry talks from a seemingly reluctant European Union, saying it was "side-by-side" with Turkey in its efforts to join the EU and praising the commitment of the new Turkish government to democratic reforms.
Bush met Tayyip Erdogan, the leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), in the White House Roosevelt Room, moving quickly to meet with Erdogan now that his party has taken power. Erdogan was essentially ignored by the Bush team on a visit to Washington before the AK Party won Nov. 3 elections.
"We join you side-by-side in your desire to become a member of the European Union," Bush said as he sat next to Erdogan, sending a clear signal to the union leaders of his preference for a speedy consideration of Turkey's membership bid.
(SNIP)
Erdogan offered effusive praise for the Bush administration's support.
"We are aware of your support on this matter, and we are very appreciative
of this. But it shouldn't end here. We expect that to continue."
Bush's talks with Erdogan came as the president dropped in on a meeting originally scheduled solely with national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. In a sign of the administration's intensive wooing of Turkey, the White House took the rare step of inviting reporters -- not usually privy to Rice's meetings, even when the president briefly joins them, to listen to the first few minutes.
(SNIP)
Part of U.S. interest in helping Ankara is because Turkey shares a border with Iraq. In the event of a U.S.-led war against Baghdad, Ankara's willingness to let coalition forces use bases on its territory could prove crucial, especially since Saudi Arabia may balk at allowing its bases to be used.
En route to Copenhagen from the United States, Erdogan said the United States was considering to use Turkish territory in a possible operation.
(SNIP)
In the meeting with Erdogan, Bush contended U.S. access to Turkish bases could actually help avert war.
(SNIP)
Erdogan told reporters after his meetings that discussion of Iraq was limited to talks on defusing the conflict through peaceful means. "The president ... believes very strongly that the stronger the world is, the greater the chance of averting war, because Saddam Hussein will, indeed, react to that strength and pressure," Fleischer said.
But on the plane to Copenhagen, Erdogan said he had gotten the impression that the operation was a more likely option.
Bush pressed that argument to Erdogan, saying Turkey's acquiescence on the troop and base issues would help convince Saddam the world is serious about disarming him, a senior White House official said on condition of anonymity.
Bush also promised Erdogan that any war would be swift and victorious, the official said.
(MORE)
4//The Australian December 13, 2002
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common
/story_page/0,5744,5671725%255E1702,00.html
PASS ASIO LAWS, URGES CREAN
Opposition Leader Simon Crean has urged Prime Minister John Howard to pass amended ASIO laws and to stop playing on public fears about terrorism.
Mr Crean said the laws amended by the Senate early today would give ASIO the toughest laws and regime to question people about terrorism.
The controversial laws would enable ASIO to detain and question people as young as 14 for extended periods without access to legal representation.
But Labor wants more protection for children under 18 years, and to allow a detained person to choose a lawyer to represent them.
(SNIP)
"The Bill can still pass," Mr Crean said. "It is only John Howard who won't provide a solution. He'll play on the fear, but he won't provide a solution."
5//The Times of India [ FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2002 12:55:03 AM ]
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?artid=31100204
INDIA
SORE OVER US LEEWAY TO N KOREA
India sore over US leeway to N Korea
MANOJ JOSHI
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
NEW DELHI: The US decision to allow a North Korean ship to deliver Scud
missiles to Yemen is being seen in New Delhi as yet another example of
Washington's double-speak.
As a champion of the non-proliferation lobby, the US has made it clear that it will not hesitate to use force to block transfer of weapons of mass destruction.
"Yet when push comes to shove, the US has backed off," said an Indian official on condition of anonymity.
Ironically, says the official, the US decision came the day a report on the US National Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction was released in Washington.
The document notes that the US and its allies must undertake "every effort" to prevent terrorists and states "from acquiring Weapons of Mass Destruction and missiles". To that end, "effective interdiction" was a critical part of the American strategy.
The official points to the tough decision taken by India three years ago when it seized a cargo of Scud missile components and blueprints from a North Korean ship from Kandla port. Though India was assured by North Korean diplomats that the cargo "was not destined for Pakistan", it decided to seize the cargo and allow the ship to leave port.
The 25,000 DWT freighter carried some 300 tonnes of equipment and engineering drawings for setting up a plant to manufacture 300-km range Hwasong 5 and the 500-plus-km range Hwasong 6, both derived from the Scud.
(MORE)
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©
2002, Gloria R. Lalumia
insight@zianet.com
Updated listings of Radio for Progressives on the internet at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
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