*IRAQ: latest news and developments

[whiterose]

British-appointed Basra chief exposed as former Ba'athist


http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,935204,00.html

 

[Tubthumper]

Contains interesting view of freedom from 'mad' Don :

US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said looting was part of the transition process and accused media reports of exaggerating the scale of the chaos. "Freedom's untidy," he said. "And free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things."

 

[whiterose]

For the law abiding and the conscientious doctors and nurses and others in Iraq not joining in the mob looting it looks like it will be -
"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose"

 

[Roadkill]

Originally posted by pbman
No its not established.

And we did find WMD and will find a lot more.

From the first paragraph of one of your links:

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Anywhere from seven to 15 vehicles are being tested for possibly containing biological or chemical weapons and for serving as mobile weapons labs, Fox News has learned.

(emphasis added)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,83840,00.html

The "wmd" found so far have been pesticides, AFAIK. But then, since Saddam's chemical weaons prgramme was destroyed in the mid-'90s, and anything he might have hidden aay will be useless by now (sarin has a shelf life of about five years), it remains unlikely that any significant chemical weapons capability exists in Iraq.

 

[J77]

From the Guardian - Chaos in Baghdad

A vigilante aims a gun at suspected looter in Baghdad. Photo: AP

Others took the law into their own hands and, armed with rifles, beat up looters to try to quell the looting running rampant in the Iraqi capital. Some residents set up neighbourhood roadblocks and checked vehicles for stolen goods.

source

At least some people seem to be standing up to the looting.

 

[J77]

On the lines of the previous threads

Weapons teams scour Iraq - Secret units in desperate hunt for banned arsenal

It is a sign of the desperation in London and Washington to find a "smoking gun" to justify the war that the Anglo-American team has already conducted three inspections in the past two weeks.

No banned weapons have so far been found.

Guardian

 

[Loki]

Originally posted by Lock&Light
You may call it a platitude. It may even be a platitude. But it is nevertheless true that the revolution happening in Iraq will take more than a day.

Revolution and occupation are two different kettles of fish, I thought. (edit - bugger - you can't answer back cos you've been banned. Why?)

Meanwhile I've been clocking the arab press and they're clearly not happy with developments, eg.
US-led invasion has plunged Iraq into total anarchy

 

[Bajie]

Donald Rumsfeld does a Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, except he is a unamusing old sod.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/dailybriefing/story/0,12965,935381,00.html

 

[sub]

my god, what a mess!!!

Well, the Americans were warned that this would escalate into a global disaster, but THEY know best....right?

 

[whiterose]

France Says Substance Found in Train Station Was Wheat Germ
By JOHN TAGLIABUE
French investigators said today that the contents of bottles found at a Paris train station last month and believed to be the poison ricin actually consisted of ground wheat germ and barley.




http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/12/international/europe/12PARI.html

 

[whiterose]

The US has a pressing need to find evidence of chemical or biological weapons in Iraq, since this was the pretext for the invasion in the first place. But the American-controlled inspection team has no international recognition and will also have to struggle to establish its credibility. The work of Unscom during the 1990s was partly discredited by allegations of espionage which were later, to some extent, admitted. Whatever "USmovic" finds, it is liable to be accused of planting evidence, even if that is not actually the case.
http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36711&perpage=25&pagenumber=48

 

[whiterose]

A key member of Saddam Hussein's ousted government has given himself up to US forces, German television says.
In a summary of the interview released in Berlin, he insisted Iraq had no chemical or biological weapons and that there had been no grounds for an attack on his country.
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_770025.html?menu=news.wariniraq

 

[Stibs]

According to the BBC news, the violence in Baghdad is starting to become sectarian, with Sunni gangs fighting Shi'ite gangs.

BBC

Gangs of vigilantes, a compromised police force that no-one trusts, mutual suspicion, sectarian battles, marines shooting civilians at checkpoints.

Sound familiar?

 

[sub]

deleted post and moved it to the appropriate thread....ooops....I thought I was in the policing thread

 

[whiterose]

1642: The main Iranian rebel group, the People's Mujahedin, says 18 of its fighters have been killed and 43 wounded in fighting near its camps in north-eastern Iraq. It accuses Tehran of sending agents into Iraq to mount attacks on its bases and says Iranian-backed forces have seized the border town of Khanaqin.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2941605.stm

latest updates on this bbc web-page

 

[Jingo Daigoji]

1645: A mob ransacked a psychiatric hospital in northern Baghdad for 36 hours this week, AFP reports. Two patients unable to swallow water without assistance died of thirst and four women patients were raped, medical staff told the agency.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2941605.stm



Finally unconfirmed rumours of a military coup against Mubark of Egypt are emerging. Evidently the unsuccessful coup happened on Tuesday.


As Primakov remarked, the results of this war cannot be known as yet!

 

[sub]

and the Americans are still believing that they are doing the right thing!!!

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iranian rebels based in Iraq report a cross border attack by Iranian forces. (BBC)

 

[Barking_Mad]

International Monetary Fund and World Bank say they are ready to help in the reconstruction of Iraq, and back call from G7 for a new UN Security Council resolution on rebuilding the country. (BBC)

Well thats Iraq fucked if those two are 'helping out'.

 

[the scouser]

Iraqs Culture is expected to be auctioned off.............

A museum guard said that since Thursday, hundreds of looters had carried away artefacts on carts and wheelbarrows.

The museum's deputy director said looters had taken or destroyed 170,000 items of antiquity dating back thousands of years.

"They were worth billions of dollars," she said

"The Americans were supposed to protect the museum. If they had just one tank and two soldiers nothing like this would have happened."

Thanks USA.

 

[sub]

G-7 leaders endorse Iraq plan
BASRA DESPERATE FOR WATER, ELECTRICITY

UN AID WORKERS SET TO RETURN TO NORTHERN IRAQ

WANTED IRAQI OFFICER TURNS HIMSELF IN

 

[Barking_Mad]

1450: Thousands of Iraqis are returning to Baghdad from the countryside where they had sought shelter from US-led air attacks, Reuters reports. A tailback of traffic stretching several kilometres is reported to the east of the city.

1447: US forces have yet to find conclusive proof that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction but several thousand sites remain to be searched, General Franks says.

1431: More than 90 Iraqi refugees are stranded at the Jordanian border in dire conditions, the UN agency for refugees (UNHCR) reports. The UNHCR is asking Jordan to allow them to cross.

1412: Four US paratroopers have been shot and wounded while clearing an Iraqi arms dump in Mahmudiya, about 40 km (25 miles) south of central Baghdad, a US officer tell Reuters news agency.

1400: According to an unconfirmed report by AFP news agency, US marines say they have discovered 278 artillery shells carrying a substance which tested positive as a chemical agent.

1355: Kurdish refugees returning to Kirkuk are telling Arab families living in their former homes for more than a decade that they must leave or be kicked out, a BBC correspondent reports.

All BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2943625.stm

 

[Miss Caphat]

Bush press conference:



"Syria needs to cooperate with us..."



& the 7 POW's (who were videotaped) were found and returned home.


re: the chaos in Iraq "just like in the military campaign, we will be sucessful"

"The best way to deal with North Korea is through a multinational forum"

"We will deal with each situation as it arises"



(he also babbled on about the power of prayer for a few minutes)

 

[pbman]

Originally posted by Miss Caphat
Bush press conference:


(he also babbled on about the power of prayer for a few minutes)

And thake you for the cheep shot on religion and faith.

 

[pk]

Why.... are you a man of God pbman?

If so - what part of Thou Shalt Not Kill do you not understand?

Or don't you understand Olde English?

 

[Miss Caphat]

I was merely giving a play by play of the press conference.

PB, also, I thought this country was formed on the separation of church and state!

 

[wizard61]

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-fill/f4868.pdf

Russia provided Saddam’s regime with assistance in the months before the war, including secret intelligence on private conversations between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other Western leaders, Britain’s Telegraph newspaper reported Sunday. The paper, citing documents obtained from the bombed-out headquarters of Iraq’s military intelligence service in Baghdad, also said that Moscow gave Saddam lists of “assassins” available for use in the Westand details of weapons deals to neighboring countries.

 

[wizard61]

http://www.msnbc.com/news/898588.asp?0cv=CA01&cp1=1

U.S. Army troops have enforced a curfew, guarded banks, hospitals, a main water utility and a major hospital. Children ventured out to play soccer. Shops began to open and street vendors hawked vegetables loaded onto donkey carts.

On the Karada district’s commercial street, vegetable vendor Karim al-Fleih dumped fresh bags of beans into the boxes at his corner stand. “I stayed open through all the bombing,” al-Fleih said.

Although public transport resumed, some double-decker buses were taken over by looters for ferrying their booty back home.

U.S. troops set up barricades to search vehicles and passengers coming in and out of the western part of the city. They conducted body searches and inspected vehicles, aggravating the traffic.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

There are indications that the russian convoy fired upon by the US, was trying to spirit Iraqi intelligence documents out of the country.

http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2003/04/10/012.html

 

[wizard61]

http://www.msnbc.com/news/801833.asp?0cv=CB20&cp1=1


New Palestinian Cabinet picked

ASSOCIATED PRESS

JERUSALEM, April 13 — The incoming Palestinian prime minister completed a new Cabinet on Sunday in line with a leadership overhaul the United States sought ...