"The
Great Terror"
"While we were in the north of Iraq, the chairman of the Great Britain Iraq Society, Labour MP George Galloway, was in Baghdad. He popped up on Iraqi TV and bared his soul. "When I hear the word Iraq," he said, "I hear someone calling my name." I don't. When I hear the word Iraq, I hear a tortured child, screaming."" (John Sweeney)
News and commentary on Saddam Hussein and Iraq.
Part 1: 2001/06/18 - 2002/06/27
June 2002
Part 2: 2001/07/05 - 2002/08/30
Part 3: 2002/09/02 - 2002/09/30
Part 4: 2002/10/01 - 2002/10/30
Part 5: 2002/11/01 - 2002/11/30
Part 6: 2002/12/01 - 2002/12/31
Part 7: 2003/01/01 - 2003/01/31
"Mossad chief: Israel must foil regional nuclear arms plans" (Amir Oren, Haaretz, 2002/06/27)
"Iraq's tortured children" (John Sweeney, BBC News, 2002/06/22)
"Bomb Saddam?" (Joshua Micah Marshall, The Washington Monthly, from the June 2002 issue)
"Don't Go Wobbly" (Margaret Thatcher, The Wall Street Journal, 2002/06/17)
"Iraq accused of smuggling nuclear arms parts on aid flights" (Michael Evans, The Times, 2002/06/17)
"Al Qaeda's Not the Only Danger" (Khidir Hamza, The Wall Street Journal, 2002/06/16)
"Baghdad 'using Syria rail link to smuggle in military hardware'" (Michael Evans, The Times, 2002/06/10)
"Going Wobbly?" (William Kristol & Robert Kagan, The Weekly Standard, from the 2002/06/03 issue)
May 2002
"Military Sees Iraq Invasion Put on Hold" (Thomas E. Ricks, The Washington Post, 2002/05/24)
"Bush says he doesn't want war with Saddam" (Tom Raum, IHT/AP, 2002/05/23)
"Mosque that thinks it's a missile site" (Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian, 2002/05/17)
"Tales of the Tyrant" (Mark Bowden, The Atlantic, from the May 2002 issue)
"How Saddam reaps illegal oil profits - Millions meant for food aid diverted by Iraqi regime" (Alix M. Freedman and Steve Stecklow, The Wall Street Journal/MSNBC, 2002/05/02)April 2002
"Armed troops enforce Saddam's happy birthday" (David Blair, The Daily Telegraph, 2002/04/29)
"U.S. Envisions Blueprint on Iraq Including Big Invasion Next Year" (Thom Shankar and David E. Sanger, The New York Times, 2002/04/28)
"Saudi: Suicide Bombings Not Terrorism" (AP/ABC News, 2002/04/16)
"Domino democracy" (Saul Singer, The Jerusalem Post, 2002/04/08)
"Saddam's Offensive" (William Safire, The New York Times, 2002/04/08)
"Arafat 'teams up with Saddam to plot attacks'" (Charles Laurence et al., The Daily Telegraph, 2002/04/07)
"Stop the Dream of an 'Arab Bomb'" (Ranan L. Lurie, Los Angeles Times, 2002/04/03)
"Ex-smuggler describes Iraqi plot to blow up US warship" (Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor, 2002/04/03)
"Iraqi funds, training fuel Islamic terror group" (Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor, 2002/04/02)
"Rumsfeld Accuses Syria, Iran and Iraq of Backing Terrorism" (David Stout, The New York Times, 2002/04/01)March 2002
"The Great Terror" (Jeffrey Goldberg, The New Yorker, from the 2002/03/25 issue)
"Report: Iraq, Al Qaeda Run Extremist Group In Kurdish Territory" (John Mintz, The Washington Post, 2001/03/18)February 2002
"The road to Baghdad" (The Daily Telegraph, 2002/02/26)
"Blair and Bush to plot war on Iraq" (Kamal Ahmed, The Observer, 2002/02/24)
"The Politics of Dead Children - Have sanctions against Iraq murdered millions?" (Matt Welch, Reason, from the March 2002 issue)January 2002
"In Speech, Bush Calls Iraq, Iran and North Korea 'an Axis of Evil'" (David E. Sanger, The New York Times, 2002/01/30)
"Phase II and Iraq" (Henry A. Kissinger, The Washington Post, 2002/01/13)
December 2001
"Secret US plan for Iraq war" (Peter Beaumont et al., The Observer, 2001/12/02)October 2001
"Czech Officials Say Hijacker Met With Iraqi Agent" (Peter Finn, The Washington Post, 2001/10/26)
"The real threat is Iraq - as Bush's men have said for years" (Stephen Pollard, The Daily Telegraph, 2001/10/10)
"Food fight" (Michael Rubin, The New Republic, 2001/06/18)
"Mossad chief: Israel must foil regional nuclear arms plans" (Amir Oren, Haaretz, 2002/06/27)
"Israel cannot spare any effort to foil, prevent or delay the attainment of weapons of mass destruction by countries like Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lybia, the head of Israel's Mossad said Wednesday. Speaking to a meeting of NATO's North Atlantic Council in Brussels, Mossad director, Ephraim Halevy, warned that radical Islamic terrorism as a whole, and suicide attacks in particular, pose a "formidable threat" to NATO member states whose "Muslim communities are rapidly developing and increasing in numbers and influence." ... He said Iran is researching and developing "missiles with longer ranges, which could reach Europe and in the future, even North America." ... As to the dangers posed by Saddam Hussein, Halevy said one must assume Iraq had been trying to acquire nuclear capabilities ever since the United Nations' monitoring team was expeled in 1998. "As you know, on the eve of the Gulf War, Iraq was on the verge of obtaining nuclear capability. They were months away from producing fissile material," he told the officials. 'We have clear indications that this has been and is their unswerving desire ... We have partial evidence that they have renewed their production of VX and possibly Anthrax. As to delivery systems, we have sufficient evidence to affirm that they are sparing no effort to preserve their residuary capabilities and to augment them with new ones.'""Iraq's tortured children" (John Sweeney, BBC News, 2002/06/22)
An interview with Ali, "who used to work for Saddam's psychopathic son, Uday." Ali's daughter was tortured by the Iraqi secret police: "The star witness against the government of Iraq hobbled into the room, her legs braced with clumsy metal callipers. "Anna" had been tortured two years ago. She is now four years old. ... So the secret police came for his wife. Where is he? They tortured her. And when she didn't break, they tortured his daughter. "When did you last see your father? Has he phoned? Has he been in contact?" They half-crushed the toddler's feet. Now, she doesn't walk, she hobbles, and Ali fears that Saddam's men have crippled his daughter for life. ... Ali talked about the paranoid frenzy that rules Baghdad - the tortures, the killings, the corruption, the crazy gangster violence of Saddam and his two sons. And the faking of the mass baby funerals. You may have seen them on TV. Small white coffins parading through the streets of Baghdad on the roofs of taxis, an angry crowd of mourners, condemning Western sanctions for killing the children of Iraq. ... Ali gave us the inside track on the racket. There aren't enough dead babies around. So the regime stores them for a mass funeral. They used to collect children's bodies and put them in freezers for two, three or even six or seven months - God knows - until the smell got unbearable. Then, they arrange the mass funerals. The logic being, the more dead babies, the better for Saddam. That way, he can weaken public support in the West for sanctions. ... While we were in the north of Iraq, the chairman of the Great Britain Iraq Society, Labour MP George Galloway, was in Baghdad. He popped up on Iraqi TV and bared his soul. "When I hear the word Iraq," he said, "I hear someone calling my name." I don't. When I hear the word Iraq, I hear a tortured child, screaming.""Bomb Saddam?" (Joshua Micah Marshall, The Washington Monthly, from the June 2002 issue)
Marshall on how "the obsession of a few neocon hawks became the central goal of U.S. foreign policy": "Perle's case for invading Iraq, which mirrors that of other hawks, is basically an escalating series of true or false propositions that leads inexorably toward massive military confrontation: Do you believe that Saddam Hussein is an evil tyrant who would use weapons of mass destruction against us or our allies if he got them? Check. Do you believe he is trying to acquire nuclear or biological weapons and the means to deliver them? Check. If so, doesn't it stand to reason that he will eventually succeed in getting them? Check. Aren't we then obligated to stop him? Check! Sooner, rather than later? Check!! The trouble is that this is a syllogism--one conspicuously short on details about Iraq, geopolitics, or anything else. And yet the logic is still pretty compelling, an impression that only grows when you talk to his critics. While they can point to an endless number of pitfalls and hurdles that the hawks either gloss over or ignore, they're less able to break apart the tight chain of reasoning that gets the hawks on their war footing.""Don't Go Wobbly" (Margaret Thatcher, The Wall Street Journal, 2002/06/17)
"The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction has fundamentally changed the world in which we and our children will live. ... At the rate at which nuclear, chemical and biological weaponry and missile technology have been proliferating we must expect that at some point these weapons will be used. This is quite simply the greatest challenge of our times. We must rise to it. ... I have detected a certain amount of wobbling about the need to remove Saddam Hussein - though not from President Bush. ... It is, of course, right that those who have the duty to weigh up the risks of particular courses of action should give their advice - though they would be better to direct their counsel to the president not the press. But in any case, as somebody once said, this is no time to go wobbly. Saddam must go. His continued survival after comprehensively losing the Gulf War has done untold damage to the West's standing in a region where the only unforgivable sin is weakness. ... It is clear to anyone willing to face reality that the only reason Saddam took the risk of refusing to submit his activities to U.N. inspectors was that he is exerting every muscle to build WMD. We do not know exactly what stage that has reached. But to allow this process to continue because the risks of action to arrest it seem too great would be foolish in the extreme.""Iraq accused of smuggling nuclear arms parts on aid flights" (Michael Evans, The Times, 2002/06/17)
"Iraq is smuggling nuclear-related equipment banned by the United Nations on board aircraft that have been flying relief aid to Syria, intelligence agencies believe. Baghdad has sent more than 24 planes to Syria, carrying humanitarian aid to help victims of a dam collapse that flooded villages and agricultural land. ... Intelligence agencies trying to monitor flights in and out of Baghdad believe that the Iraqis took advantage of the disaster to smuggle banned equipment back on the return journey. Some intelligence reports indicate that one of the returning planes was filled with spare parts for sensitive so-called “flow-forming machines”, which are used to produce components for uranium-enrichment systems. Enriched uranium is a key component of nuclear weapons. ... Other equipment also flown back to Baghdad was believed to include tank parts and spares for the Iraqi Air Force. The Iraqi aircraft landed in Damascus without checks because the focus had been on helping the victims of the dam disaster.""Al Qaeda's Not the Only Danger" (Khidir Hamza, The Wall Street Journal, 2002/06/16)
Khidir Hamza is president of the Council on Middle Eastern Affairs and the former director of Iraq's nuclear program: "Newly transferred to the Military Industrialization Corp., headed by Saddam's son-in-law Lt. Gen. Hussein Kamel, I discovered that a team from the Atomic Energy Commission was already working on radiation weapons on the theory that they could achieve the same effect. ... But a test was made in a desert region after enough radioactive material was assembled. As expected, the radioactive materials dispersed too fast and the lethal zone was almost nonexistent outside the blast area. Within a few days there was no more than background radiation outside a very small area. Another test gave the same results and the project was dropped. ... Restricting the lookout for this source of terrorism to al Qaeda is taking the easy way out. No matter how much their caves and former dwellings were searched, all that was found were some primitive documents about nuclear radiation. The real expertise - and the real stockpiles of nuclear material - remain in countries like Iraq and Iran. With Afghanistan removed as a safe haven, terrorist training grounds and sources of expertise have to come from these countries. It is time to face the real problem and deal with it."
"Baghdad 'using Syria rail link to smuggle in military hardware'" (Michael Evans, The Times, 2002/06/10)
"Saddam Hussein is using a railway network linked to Syria for a smuggling operation that is supplying Baghdad with a vast range of military equipment and parts for weapons of mass destruction, intelligence sources say. ... However, intelligence reports disclose that Iraq is using the link to import a range of weaponry, including tanks sold by Bulgaria to Syria some years ago and allegedly diverted by Damascus to Baghdad, and air-defence equipment, Scud missile-guidance systems and surface-to-air missiles, originally bought by Syria from the Czech Republic. The reports also indicate that Baghdad may be receiving components for its nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programme.""Going Wobbly?" (William Kristol & Robert Kagan, The Weekly Standard, from the 2002/06/03 issue)
"Is the president preparing to back off the bold pledges he made to the American people four months ago in his State of the Union address? The president warned us then that the clock was ticking in Iraq. ... Bush proclaimed that he was determined to confront and eliminate this threat, and he called on Americans to gird themselves for the difficult struggle that lay ahead. ... Was it all hot air? On Friday, the Washington Post published a credible report by the respected journalist Tom Ricks that the administration has put off the idea of an invasion of Iraq. Indeed, a military attack on Saddam may never happen at all. ... His presidency is on the line. As is the credibility of the United States and the whole security structure - or lack thereof - of the post-9/11 world. But time is not on the president's side. He has lost considerable momentum in the war against terror and weapons of mass destruction. More drift and indecision would be disastrous." (See also: "Military Sees Iraq Invasion Put on Hold" (Thomas E. Ricks, The Washington Post, 2002/05/24))"Military Sees Iraq Invasion Put on Hold" (Thomas E. Ricks, The Washington Post, 2002/05/24)
"The uniformed leaders of the U.S. military believe they have persuaded the Pentagon's civilian leadership to put off an invasion of Iraq until next year at the earliest and perhaps not to do it at all, according to senior Pentagon officials. ... During the meeting, [Army Gen. Tommy R.] Franks told the president that invading Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein would require at least 200,000 troops, far more than some other military experts have calculated. ... The Bush administration still appears dedicated to the goal of removing the Iraqi leader from power, but partly in response to the military's advice, it is focusing more on undermining him through covert intelligence operations, two officials added.""Bush says he doesn't want war with Saddam" (Tom Raum, IHT/AP, 2002/05/23)
"President Bush called Iraq's Saddam Hussein a threat to all civilization who must be confronted by all means available. Still, Bush assured the leader of Germany on Thursday, "I have no war plans on my desk." Bush also issued a warning to Moscow in advance of traveling there later Thursday, urging President Vladimir Putin to cease Russia's nuclear assistance to Iran. "If you arm Iran, you're liable to have the weapons pointed at you," Bush said he would tell Putin when they meet on Friday to sign a nuclear arms reduction treaty. ... At the Bundestag, Bush made the case for a more aggressive war against terrorism, saying the threat 'cannot be appeased, and it cannot be ignored.'" (See also: "President Bush Thanks Germany for Support Against Terror - Remarks by the President to a Special Session of the German Bundestag." (The White House, 2002/05/23): "The terrorists are defined by their hatreds: they hate democracy and tolerance and free expression and women and Jews and Christians and all Muslims who disagree with them. Others killed in the name of racial purity, or the class struggle. These enemies kill in the name of a false religious purity, perverting the faith they claim to hold. In this war we defend not just America or Europe; we are defending civilization, itself. ... Wishful thinking might bring comfort, but not security. Call this a strategic challenge; call it, as I do, axis of evil; call it by any name you choose, but let us speak the truth. If we ignore this threat, we invite certain blackmail, and place millions of our citizens in grave danger.")"Mosque that thinks it's a missile site" (Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian, 2002/05/17)
A report from Baghdad: "Looked at face-on, the minarets of the Umm al-Ma'arik mosque in Baghdad are much like any others in the Middle East. But seen side on, they resemble Scud missiles sitting on launch-pads. ... The huge blue-and-white mosque, completed in April last year in time for Saddam's birthday, is replete with references to the war and Saddam. Umm al-Ma'arik is translated by Iraqis as the Mother of All Battles mosque, Saddam's description of the 1991 Gulf war. Dahar Alani, a custodian of the Mother of All Battles mosque, said the Scud-style minarets were each 43 metres high to mark the "43 days of US aggression". Another minaret was 37 metres high, to represent the year of Saddam's birth, 1937. One of the most remarkable links with Saddam can be found inside the mosque, where 605 pages of the Koran are laid out in glass cases. The custodian said the entire text was written in Saddam's blood, which had been mixed with ink and preservatives, producing a red and brown colour with a tinge of blue. "He dedicated 24 litres of blood over three years," Mr Alani said.""Tales of the Tyrant" (Mark Bowden, The Atlantic, from the May 2002 issue)
Bowden's ambitious portrait of Saddam Hussein is finally available online: "Everyone knew that the United States had more soldiers, more supplies, and better weapons. Surely Saddam would reach an agreement to save face, and his troops would be able to withdraw peacefully. ... Yet Saddam refused to be intimidated. He had a plan, which he outlined to Samarai and his other generals in a meeting in Basra weeks before the American offensive started. He proposed capturing U.S. soldiers and tying them up around Iraqi tanks, using them as human shields. "The Americans will never fire on their own soldiers," he said triumphantly, as if such squeamishness was a fatal flaw. It was understood that he would have no such compunction. In the fighting, he vowed, thousands of enemy prisoners would be taken for this purpose. Then his troops would roll unopposed into eastern Saudi Arabia, forcing the allies to back down. ... Saddam's plan was preposterous. But none of the generals, including Samarai, said a word. They all nodded dutifully and took notes. To question the Great Uncle's grand strategy would have meant to admit doubt, timidity, and cowardice. It might also have meant demotion or death.""How Saddam reaps illegal oil profits - Millions meant for food aid diverted by Iraqi regime" (Alix M. Freedman and Steve Stecklow, The Wall Street Journal/MSNBC, 2002/05/02)
"U.N. officials estimate that Iraq has levied illegal surcharges ranging from 20 cents to 70 cents on every barrel of oil it has sold through the oil-for-food program since late 2000 - adding up to as much as $300 million. U.N. diplomats say Mr. Hussein also smuggles about $1 billion worth of oil outside the oil-for-food program to Syria each year. In addition, Iraq smuggles huge quantities to Turkey and Jordan. All told, U.S. State Department officials believe Mr. Hussein reaps $2.5 billion a year in illicit oil revenue, which they say he uses to develop weapons of mass destruction and consolidate his power.""Armed troops enforce Saddam's happy birthday" (David Blair, The Daily Telegraph, 2002/04/29)
"Amid the throng of turbaned and moustached figures, Anne Fahey, 55, from Melbourne, represented the Australia Iraq Friendship Society. "I know from my own experiences here that the president is supported and loved by his people, contrary to the Western media propaganda," she said. Martha Roos, 66, a white South African from Pretoria, added her praise. "Saddam is an outstanding, strong person. I can't understand why Bush wants to get rid of him," she said. ... Then came 80 air force officers, marching in ragged form and comprising the sole military presence in the parade. A vast crocodile of tens of thousands of ordinary Iraqis followed them, streaming past the balcony and chanting: "God save Saddam, God keep Saddam." Once the marchers had passed the balcony, their chants died away almost immediately. Outside, the men with bamboo sticks and soldiers with AK47s ensured that male participants formed a loop around the block and repeated the circuit past the balcony a few more times.A ring of military checkpoints around Tikrit prevented anyone leaving the town before the end of the ceremony. The throbbing beat of helicopter gunships never faded.""U.S. Envisions Blueprint on Iraq Including Big Invasion Next Year" (Thom Shankar and David E. Sanger, The New York Times, 2002/04/28)
An article Saddam Hussein might want to read after celebrating his 65:th birthday today: "The Bush administration, in developing a potential approach for toppling President Saddam Hussein of Iraq, is concentrating its attention on a major air campaign and ground invasion, with initial estimates contemplating the use of 70,000 to 250,000 troops. ... Until recently, the administration had contemplated a possible confrontation with Mr. Hussein this fall... Now that schedule seems less realistic. Conflict in the Middle East has widened a rift within the administration over whether military action can be undertaken without inflaming Arab states and prompting anti-American violence throughout the region." (See also: "Show of Popular Support in Saddam Birthday Climax" (Andrew Hammond, Reuters/Yahoo! News, (2002/04/28))"Saudi: Suicide Bombings Not Terrorism" (AP/ABC News, 2002/04/16)
"A Saudi official said Tuesday he told President Bush and Congress in a letter that Palestinian suicide bombers are not terrorists and are instead sacrificing "their souls for freedom." ... Ahmed al-Tuwaijri said in his letter that U.S. policy has "destroyed our dreams and the dreams of peace-lovers around the world." ... Tuwaijri's comments came after the Saudi ambassador to Britain, Ghazi Algosaibi, wrote a poem in the Arab daily Al-Hayat over the weekend praising a female suicide bomber. ... Iraqi President Saddam Hussein also said suicide bombings are a "legitimate means used by a people whose land is being occupied," state-run media reported Tuesday. Saddam has been making payments of up to $25,000 to families of Palestinian suicide bombers since the Israeli-Palestinian clashes began in September 2000.""Domino democracy" (Saul Singer, The Jerusalem Post, 2002/04/08)
An interview with Bernard Lewis: "Lewis seems to be a proponent of what was derided as the "domino theory" when applied to southeast Asia during the Vietnam conflict. Despite the ridicule heaped upon it then, the idea that both positive and negative developments can prove contagious throughout a region has been strengthened by subsequent history. In southeast Asia, the fall of South Vietnam did lead to totalitarian dictatorships in neighboring Laos and Cambodia. The collapse of the Soviet Union certainly triggered the wave of freedom that swept Central Europe. If anything deserves ridicule, then it is the view that systematic change can be wrought without toppling the first domino of Arab tyrannies - Saddam Hussein's Iraq. The likely alternative to the West playing this game in earnest is not the status quo, but dominoes toppling the other direction.""Saddam's Offensive" (William Safire, The New York Times, 2002/04/08)
"Sixty Islamic terrorists, trained in Afghanistan by Osama bin Laden, are holed up in the town of Biyara in northern Iraq, guests of Saddam Hussein. Their assignment is to infiltrate the no-flight zone and to kill the Kurdish leaders, who Saddam assumes will be allied with the U.S. in his overthrow. ... If Bush is serious about overthrowing Saddam before that avatar of arrogance gets the power to obliterate Washington, he cannot count on a colonels' coup or a coat-holding coalition of craven caliphs. We have already had to begin abandoning our bases in Saudi Arabia. Joining us in liberating Iraq will be Brits, Turks and Kurds. The Kurds, though fierce fighters, cannot be provided with modern arms and trained to use them overnight. Saddam, allied with bin Ladenesque cadres, has begun his offensive - diplomatic at the U.N., economic with oil-embargo threats, terrorist to his north. Time is short for our counterattack.""Arafat 'teams up with Saddam to plot attacks'" (Charles Laurence et al., The Daily Telegraph, 2002/04/07)
"Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, left Washington on his Middle East mission last night amid reports that Saddam Hussein and Yasser Arafat were planning to stage joint terrorist attacks in the region. Senior officials of Saddam's General Intelligence Agency (GIA) are reported to have held talks with Mr Arafat's Palestinian Authority to identify potential targets, according to Western intelligence experts. They have been passed details of a meeting in Baghdad at the end of last month when an Arafat aide is said to have provided a list of strategic sites in Israel and Saudi Arabia that might be attacked in the event of American air strikes on Baghdad.""Stop the Dream of an 'Arab Bomb'" (Ranan L. Lurie, Los Angeles Times, 2002/04/03)
"We in the West are aware of Israel's "might" and its "victories," and we forget the insult these two words present to the proud Arab people. That is why the Arab nations hope that Saddam Hussein will create the long-awaited "Arab bomb." Vice President Dick Cheney is still unpacking his luggage from a tour that was supposed to persuade Arab nations to support the United States in an attack on Iraq - the only Arab nation that has a realistic chance of creating what seems to be the only way to bypass Israel's military superiority. So, because the only way the Arab nations can overcome Israel is to nuke it, and the only person who is close to this capacity is Hussein, our effort to get other Arab leaders to end his potential nuclear capacity is similar to training a camel to fly. ... Unfortunately, Hussein's Arab bomb will be their ticket to military equality with or even superiority over Israel. No Arab leader would dare dampen that Arab dream. We must get used to the idea that we are alone in this battle--and like it or not, the earlier we attack Iraq, the less the chance of Israel or the United States being nuked.""Ex-smuggler describes Iraqi plot to blow up US warship" (Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor, 2002/04/03)
"Iraq planned clandestine attacks against American warships in the Persian Gulf in early 2001, according to an operative of Iranian nationality who says he was given the assignment by ranking members of Saddam Hussein's inner circle. The alleged plan involved loading at least one trade ship with half a ton of explosives, and – sailing under an Iranian flag to disguise Iraq's role – using a crew of suicide bombers to blow up a US ship in the Gulf. The operative, who says he smuggled weapons for Iraq through Iran for Al Qaeda during the late 1990s, says he was told that $16 million had already been set aside for the assignment – the first of "nine new operations" he says the Iraqis wanted him to carry out, which were to include missions in Kuwait." (See also: "Iraqi funds, training fuel Islamic terror group" (Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor, 2002/04/02))"Iraqi funds, training fuel Islamic terror group" (Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor, 2002/04/02)
"Qassem Hussein Mohamed, a big-boned, mustachioed Saddam lookalike who says he worked for Baghdad's Mukhabarat intelligence for two decades, says that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has clandestinely supported Ansar al-Islam for several years. "[Ansar] and Al Qaeda groups were trained by graduates of the Mukhabarat's School 999 – military intelligence," says Mr. Mohamed, who agreed to be interviewed separately in the Sulaymaniyah interrogation room. ... 'My information is that the Iraqi government was directly supporting [Al Qaeda] with weapons and explosives,' he says. '[Ansar] was part of Al Qaeda, and given support with training and money.'""Rumsfeld Accuses Syria, Iran and Iraq of Backing Terrorism" (David Stout, The New York Times, 2002/04/01)
"Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld accused three Middle Eastern countries today of allowing terrorism to flourish, and he implicitly backed Israel's military operations in the West Bank. Mr. Rumsfeld singled out Syria, Iran and Iraq. "Murderers are not martyrs," he said at an afternoon news briefing. 'Targeting civilians is immoral, whatever the excuse. Terrorists have declared war on civilization, and states like Iran, Iraq and Syria are inspiring and financing a culture of political murder and suicide bombing.'""The Great Terror" (Jeffrey Goldberg, The New Yorker, from the 2002/03/25 issue)
A report from northern Iraq on "new evidence of Saddam Hussein's genocidal war on the Kurds - and of his possible ties to Al Qaeda": "According to an ongoing survey conducted by a team of Kurdish physicians and organized by Gosden and a small advocacy group called the Washington Kurdish Institute, more than two hundred towns and villages across Kurdistan were attacked by poison gas - far more than was previously thought - in the course of seventeen months. The number of victims is unknown, but doctors I met in Kurdistan believe that up to ten per cent of the population of northern Iraq - nearly four million people - has been exposed to chemical weapons. ... The allegations include charges that Ansar al-Islam has received funds directly from Al Qaeda; that the intelligence service of Saddam Hussein has joint control, with Al Qaeda operatives, over Ansar al-Islam; that Saddam Hussein hosted a senior leader of Al Qaeda in Baghdad in 1992; that a number of Al Qaeda members fleeing Afghanistan have been secretly brought into territory controlled by Ansar al-Islam; and that Iraqi intelligence agents smuggled conventional weapons, and possibly even chemical and biological weapons, into Afghanistan. If these charges are true, it would mean that the relationship between Saddam's regime and Al Qaeda is far closer than previously thought.""Report: Iraq, Al Qaeda Run Extremist Group In Kurdish Territory" (John Mintz, The Washington Post, 2001/03/18)
"A new report in the New Yorker magazine suggests that Iraqi intelligence has been in close touch with top officials in Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda group for years, and that the two organizations jointly run a terrorist organization that operates in the Kurdish area of northern Iraq. ... The article focuses in part on a Muslim extremist guerrilla group in the Kurdish zone of Iraq. The group, Ansar al-Islam, is made up of Iraqi Kurds and Arabs trained in bin Laden's camps, according to the article.""The road to Baghdad" (The Daily Telegraph, 2002/02/26)
"To the extent that there is such a thing as a common European foreign policy - which is, thank goodness, not very much - its cornerstone appears to be the protection of Saddam Hussein. Nations that were prepared, though in some cases reluctantly, to back America's war in Afghanistan, nevertheless see any move against Iraq as beyond the pale. The idea puts people like Chris Patten, Hubert Vedrine and Joschka Fischer in a great taking.""Blair and Bush to plot war on Iraq" (Kamal Ahmed, The Observer, 2002/02/24)
"Tony Blair and the United States President George Bush are to hold a specially convened summit in April to finalise details of military action to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Blair will travel to Washington in six weeks' time in a clear signal that Downing Street fully backs Bush's plans to launch a war against Iraq if Saddam does not agree to deadlines to destroy his arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.""The Politics of Dead Children - Have sanctions against Iraq murdered millions?" (Matt Welch, Reason, from the March 2002 issue)
"Yet the basic argument against all economic sanctions remains: namely, that they tend to punish civilians more than governments and to provide dictators with a gift-wrapped propaganda tool. Any visitor to Cuba can see within 24 hours the futility of slapping an embargo on a sheltered population that is otherwise inclined to detest its government and embrace its yanqui neighbors. Sanctions give anti-American enclaves, whether in Cairo or Berkeley or Peshawar, one of their few half-convincing arguments about evil U.S. policy since the end of the Cold War. It seems awfully hard not to conclude that the embargo on Iraq has been ineffective (especially since 1998) and that it has, at the least, contributed to more than 100,000 deaths since 1990. With Bush set to go to war over Saddam’s noncompliance with the military goals of the sanctions, there has never been a more urgent time to confront the issue with clarity.""In Speech, Bush Calls Iraq, Iran and North Korea 'an Axis of Evil'" (David E. Sanger, The New York Times, 2002/01/30)
"President Bush told Americans tonight that "our war against terror is only beginning" and sent new warnings to terrorists around the world and to three nations — Iran, Iraq and North Korea. ... In his first State of the Union address, Mr. Bush seemed to be outlining a rationale for future action, if he deems it necessary, not only against terrorists but against any hostile states developing weapons of mass destruction. ... In haunting words of warning, Mr. Bush said American intelligence now believed that tens of thousands of potential terrorists have been trained by Al Qaeda in Afghanistan since 1996 and 'are now spread throughout the world like ticking time bombs — set to go off without warning.'" (See also: "Text of President Bush's State of the Union Address to Congress" (The New York Times, 2002/01/30)"Phase II and Iraq" (Henry A. Kissinger, The Washington Post, 2002/01/13)
"From a long-range point of view, the greatest opportunity of Phase II is to return Iraq to a responsible role in the region. Were Iraq governed by a group representing no threat to its neighbors and willing to abandon its weapons of mass destruction, the stability of the region would be immeasurably enhanced. The remaining regimes flirting with terrorist fundamentalism or acquiescing in its exactions would be driven to shut down their support of terrorism.""Secret US plan for Iraq war" (Peter Beaumont et al., The Observer, 2001/12/02)
"America intends to depose Saddam Hussein by giving armed support to Iraqi opposition forces across the country, The Observer has learnt. President George W. Bush has ordered the CIA and his senior military commanders to draw up detailed plans for a military operation that could begin within months. The plan, opposed by Tony Blair and other European Union leaders, threatens to blow apart the increasingly shaky international consensus behind the US-led 'war on terrorism'. It envisages a combined operation with US bombers targeting key military installations while US forces assist opposition groups in the North and South of the country in a stage-managed uprising. One version of the plan would have US forces fighting on the ground. Despite US suspicions of Iraqi involvement in the 11 September attacks, the trigger for any attack, sources say, would be the anticipated refusal of Iraq to resubmit to inspections for weapons of mass destruction under the United Nations sanctions imposed after the Gulf war.""Czech Officials Say Hijacker Met With Iraqi Agent" (Peter Finn, The Washington Post, 2001/10/26)
"Czech officials publicly confirmed today that Mohamed Atta, one of the key hijackers in the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, had contact with an Iraqi intelligence agent during a trip to the Czech Republic early this year and possibly in an earlier trip in June 2000. An Iraqi connection, if proven, would force the administration to dramatically widen its declared war on terrorism, which is currently focused on Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network and the Taliban movement that shelters it in Afghanistan. ... But any proof of Iraqi involvement, and a consequent U.S. military response, could hurt the administration's alliance-building in the Arab world, which would find it much more difficult to support an assault on Iraq than one on the Taliban, some analysts have argued. "We have no relation whatsoever with groups that are being accused by the U.S.," Iraqi Foreign Affairs Minister Naji Sabri said last month. But Iraq has not explained why its agent met Atta.""The real threat is Iraq - as Bush's men have said for years" (Stephen Pollard, The Daily Telegraph, 2001/10/10)
"Instead of wooing Iran and Syria, [Powell's] own words demand that he orders them not only to end all financial, military and political support to Hizbollah, but that they also play an active role in handing over its members and destroying its capabilities. And if they refuse, they, too, should be classified as enemy states. ... The point of a war on terrorism is, surely, to stamp it out - not to build a coalition that includes its most prominent sponsors and that ignores the single greatest threat - Iraq.""Food fight" (Michael Rubin, The New Republic, 2001/06/18)
As it seems quite commonplace to blame U.S.A. for the plight of the Iraqi people, and weigh that against the terror attacks, this article, published in June, is an interesting read: "But incredibly, even as Saddam's regime milks its people's suffering for international sympathy, it sells food abroad that is earmarked for Iraqi citizens. ... When you throw in the fact that per capita income in Iraq (approximately $1,000) remains higher than in Syria ($900) and Yemen ($270), where few people go hungry, it becomes clear that there's no reason why Iraqis should be suffering - particularly when Saddam's regime has found $2 billion to build palaces, and even an amusement park for party officials, since the sanctions began."
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Articles
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"Losing the Enlightenment" (Victor Davis Hanson, OpinionJournal, 2006/11/29)
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"'Sex in the Park': The latest doings of the Danish imams" (Henrik Bering, The Weekly Standard, 2006/11/18)
"Narcissism on Stilts" (Harold Evans, New York Sun, 2006/11/16)
"Terrorists are recruiting in our schools, says MI5 boss" (Philip Johnston, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/11/10)
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Oriana Fallaci, R.I.P.
"The Rage, the Pride and the Doubt" (Oriana Fallaci, The Wall Street Journal, 2003/03/13)
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"On Jew-hatred in Europe" (Oriana Fallaci, dennisprager.com, 2002/04/13)
"Anger and Pride" (Oriana Fallaci, dennisprager.com, 2001/12/19)
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