news from morocco, home of zakia and zorah

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/030410/2003041022.html

Speaker of the Moroccan House of Representatives (lower parliamentary chamber), Abdelouahed Radi, on Tuesday told the Inter-parliamentary union 108th session, held in Chile this Apr.06-12, the US-British "illegal, disproportionate and immoral war" against Iraq has to stop. The official denounced the war in which the two coalition countries are using ultra-modern weapons, including cluster bombs.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, April 10 (AFP) - There will be no compensation for the families of the 11 Afghan civilians killed Wednesday when a US bomb went astray and hit their home, a US military spokesman said Thursday. "It has been the policy in the past of the US that there are no compensation or reparations for losses due to combat," Lieutenant Colonel Roger King told reporters at Bagram Air Bases 50 kilometres (31 miles) north of Kabul.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

archived from last year.

http://www.cursor.org/stories/afghandead.htm

On July 1, 2002, a U.S. AC-130 gunship attacked and strafed four villages in the Deh Rawud district of Uruzagan, killing more than 60 innocent Afghans and wounding about 120 others. The American troops which occupied the villages offered tents and blankets as compensation. A week later, the U.S.-installed and backed Karzai regime offered the Afghan wedding victims $18,500 in compensation, or about $100 per victim -- the payments were $200 on behalf of each individual killed and $75 for each wounded person...

...The average life expectancy in Afghanistan is about 43-45 years. We'll assume an average monthly wage of about $30... Past calculations have usually assumed a discounting rate of 5% to 10%... Assuming that the persons killed in the raids upon Uruzgan were mostly quite young, let's say on average 15 years old, then remaining working lives would be about 25 years. The present discounted earnings then would be something between $3,300 to $5,000. In February, 2002, the CIA distributed $1,000 to $2,000 to the families of 22 Afghans killed by U.S. Special Forces in Hazar Qadam... Almost identical to the paltry amount offered by Union Carbide to the Indians in the Bhopal chemical disaster... [and] 15 to 25 times what the Karzai regime has offered as compensation for a Pashtun life. An argument could be made that those who did the killing, the United States military, should compensate the victims. But the U.S. government will not officially admit wrongful death resulting from its aerial bombing in Afghanistan -- as this would undermine its posturing about precision attacks.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://nyc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=55268&group=webcast

You have probably seen the photos of the statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled... For Donald Rumsfeld these were "breathtaking". For the British Army they were "historic". For BBC Radio they were "amazing". Here's the truth. First there is a photo from the BBC website showing the statue toppling. Below that is a long-shot in which you can see the whole of Fardus Square (conveniently located just opposite the Palestine Hotel where the international media are based), and the presence of at most around 200 people – most of them US troops (note the tanks and armoured vehicles) and assembled journalists. The BBC website had the honesty to say that "dozens" of Iraqis were involved... The masses are no doubt glad to see the back of Saddam Hussein, but this was a US Army propaganda coup, staged for the benefit of the same journalists it had bombed the day previously.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,933887,00.html

Tony Blair and George Bush will address the Iraqi nation later today on a new television station set up by coalition forces, in a bid to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. It is thought to be the first time the leaders of invading countries have broadcast in this way.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

bob fisk

http://argument.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=395707&host=6&dir=140

The Americans "liberated" Baghdad yesterday... Men who, for 25 years, had grovellingly obeyed Saddam's most humble secret policeman turned into giants, bellowing their hatred of the Iraqi leader... "It is the beginning of our new freedom," an Iraqi shopkeeper shouted at me. Then he paused, and asked: "What do the Americans want from us now?'

... Vast areas of Baghdad remained outside the control of the United States last night. And at dusk, just before darkness curled over the land, I crossed through the American lines... And there, on the corner of Bab al-Moazzam Street, were a small group of mujahedin fighters, firing Kalashnikov rifles at the American tanks on the other side of the waterway. It was brave and utterly pathetic and painfully instructive. For the men turned out to be Arabs from Algeria, Morocco, Syria, Jordan, Palestine. Not an Iraqi was among them... Only the foreign Arabs, like the Frenchmen of the Nazi Charlemagne Division in 1945 Berlin, fought on.

...I walked up to Corporal David Breeze of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, from Michigan. He hadn't spoken to his parents for two months so I called his mother on my satellite phone and from the other side of the world, Mrs Breeze came on the line and I handed the phone to her son. And so this is what the very first soldier to enter the centre of Baghdad told his family yesterday evening. "Hi you guys. I'm in Baghdad. I'm ringing to say 'Hi! I love you. I'm doing fine. I love you guys. The war will be over in a few days. I'll see you all soon.''

Yes, they all say the war will be over soon... [but] even as the marine tanks thrashed and ground down the highway, there were men and women who saw them... who spoke of their fear for the future, who talked of how Iraq could never be ruled by foreigners. "You'll see the celebrations and we will be happy Saddam has gone," one of them said to me. "But we will then want to rid ourselves of the Americans and we will want to keep our oil and there will be resistance and then they will call us "terrorists".

Nor did the Americans look happy "liberators". They pointed their rifles at the pavements and screamed at motorists to stop – one who did not, an old man in an old car, was shot in the head in front of two French journalists.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0411/p03s01-woiq.html

Even as US commanders cite dramatic success in the three-week-old war, many look upon the wholesale destruction of Iraq's military and the killing of thousands of Iraqi fighters with a sense of regret. They voice frustration at the number of Iraqis who stood their ground against overwhelming US firepower... "They have no command and control, no organization. They're just dying," says Brig. Gen. Louis Weber, an assistant commander of the 3rd Infantry Division.

...Lt. Col. Woody Radcliffe, who heads a 3rd Infantry Division operations center [said] "...Even a brain-dead moron can understand we are so vastly superior militarily that there is no hope." ..."What are these guys thinking? It's suicide!" said Capt. David Roberts, a military intelligence officer... "They're getting spanked again and it seems like they haven't learned anything," says Capt. Kathy Cage, a signals officer with the 3rd Infantry... "It was way too easy," says Staff Sgt. Ira Mack, who serves at the headquarters of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team.

..."There were waves and waves of people coming at them, with AK-47s, out of this factory, and they were killing everyone," says Lieutenant Colonel Radcliffe. "The commander called and said, 'This is not right. This is insane. Let's hit the factory with close air support and take them out all at once.'"

For some soldiers, trauma is already sinking in. "For lack of a better word, I feel almost guilty about the massacre," says one soldier privately. "We wasted a lot of people. It makes you wonder how many were innocent. It takes away some of the pride. We won, but at what cost?" Adding to the potential for post-war trauma... is the fact that many of the 3rd Infantry Division's troops are barely 20 years old... "The reality is, we've got a bunch of steely-eyed killers that have destroyed all the enemy forces they've come into contact with," worries Radcliffe. "The switch is on right now, and you can't just turn it off."

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2003-04/10/article04.shtml

U.S. Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld charged Wednesday, April 9, that senior Iraqi leaders are fleeing to Syria, which he claims is continuing to send military assistance into Iraq. "Senior regime people are moving out of Iraq into Syria and Syria is continuing to send things into Iraq. We find it notably unhelpful," Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted him as telling a press conference. "I have accurately advised that they not provide military assistance to Iraq," he said... Rumsfeld said intelligence pointed to Syria having been "cooperative in facilitating the movement of people out of Iraq into Syria."

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/04/10/international1518EDT0724.DTL

Coalition airstrikes pounded Iraqi positions near Syria on Thursday... U.S. officials say some regime officials have already fled the country through the shortest western route out of Baghdad.

...Air Force Maj. Gen. Gene Renuart, operations director at U.S. Central Command, drew attention Thursday to coalition activity in the al-Qaim region... "We clearly are interested in protecting the neighbors in that region," Renuart said. "And so, it's in our strategic interest to ensure that we preclude any capability of surface-to-surface missiles, especially those that are long range, to be launched from that area," Renuart said. He called the strikes "preventive medicine."

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,5944-641476,00.html

SYRIA sat uncomfortably in Donald Rumsfeld’s line of fire yesterday... “I’ve accurately observed that they would be well advised to not provide military capabilities to Iraq,” Mr Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, said. “They seem to have made a conscious decision to ignore that."

...Mr Rumsfeld did not say who had fled to Syria... But he made clear that some of the top Baath party members, who the Americans had hoped would answer for the collapsing Iraqi Government’s crimes against its people, had apparently found their way to Syria... Mr Rumsfeld said yesterday that America was worried about the possibility that the Iraqi regime might have succeeded in spiriting illegal weapons out of the country... He was clearly trying to stave off the criticism that will follow if the coalition forces fail to find illegal weapons in Iraq.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.prolog.net/webnews/wed/cl/Qiraq-war-us-syria.Rv3f_DAA.html

Syria has been "behaving badly" on the sidelines of the war on Iraq... US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Thursday."The Syrians are behaving badly, they need to be reminded of that and if they continue we need to think about our what our policy is," Wolfowitz told the US Senate Armed Services Committee.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ED11Ak02.html

British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday gave assurances to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that Damascus was not a target. "Blair explained that Britain disagrees completely with those who promote the targeting of Syria," an official source quoted Blair as telling Assad in a telephone conversation.

Many believe the "Syria-next" scenario to be improbable... An assault on Syria would merely polarize the Middle East further. And... even Washington hardliners don't really believe a war is needed to change Syrian behavior.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=8&theme=&usrsess=1&id=10643

WASHINGTON, April 10. — US Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell sought to assuage fears today in Syria and Iran that the USA might be planning military action against them, saying recent US warnings do not mean that “war is coming” to these countries.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

archived from two weeks ago

http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/mar03/128783.asp

Former U.S. Senator and Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern charged Wednesday [march 25th 2003] that President Bush intends to invade North Korea and Iran after finishing with Iraq. "Even now, these wars are being planned by the current administration," McGovern said. "I'm positive, based on conversations with people close to the White House, that plans are in place for the next invasions."

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

oh and by the way

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035780772239&call_pageid=1045739058633&col=1045739057805

WASHINGTON—U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says the U.S. military will select emerging leaders in post-war Iraq to help create a new Interim Iraqi Authority to replace Saddam Hussein, and the United Nations will not be part of the political transformation except to endorse it.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://jang.com.pk/thenews/apr2003-daily/10-04-2003/world/w6.htm

MOSCOW: Thousands of people marched through Moscow on Wednesday to protest the US-led war in Iraq, marking the first major demonstration against a war, opposed by the Russian administration and most of the population. Police said between 15,000 and 20,000 people gathered in front of the US embassy... "Americans you belong to international courts and it's time to judge those who gave the order to kill diplomats and journalists," said Alexander Isayev, deputy chief of Moscow's main union federation. "Septeber 11 was a tragedy for the American people, but President Bush drew no conclusions from it. America presents itself as a 'scarecrow' to scare of terrorism, but it is developing in the world and becoming a means for small countries to defend their right to exist," Russia Unity's deputy chief Andrei Metelsky said.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=395633

Clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip killed at least three people yesterday, including a boy aged 16, as thousands poured into the streets to mourn seven killed in a missile strike... on Tuesday when an Israeli F-16 warplane fired a missile that destroyed a white car. A second missile exploded in the street, wounding at least 50 bystanders, witnesses said... Israel said the target of the air strike was Saed Arabeed, 38, a Hamas commander.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/282378.html

Israeli police and security officials maintain there is no evidence indicating a Jewish extremist group was responsible for the bombing of a Palestinian school in the northern West Bank on Wednesday. An extreme right-wing Jewish group called "Revenge of the Infants" claimed responsibility for the mystery blast that ripped through a Palestinian high school in the Jenin-area West Bank village of Jaba'a on Wednesday, wounding at least 15 Palestinian teenagers, three of them seriously.

Police are increasingly confident, however, in their belief that one of the students brought the bomb with him to school and accidentally detonated the device.

...In a statement sent to reporters' beepers, the extremist group said it had planted the bomb in revenge for the murders of Jewish children by Palestinians.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2003-04/09/article08.shtml

TEL AVIV, April 9 - Israel and Jordan will hold meetings about the possibility of restarting an oil pipeline from Iraq to Israel via Jordan that was closed 55 years ago, an Israeli National Infrastructure Ministry source claimed Wednesday, April 9... Haaretz daily reported on Monday, March 31, that Paritzky had requested an assessment of the condition of the old pipeline from Mosul to Haifa, with an eye on renewing the flow of oil in the event of friendly post-war regime in Iraq. Paritzky explained to the paper that resurrecting the pipeline to Haifa could save Israel the high cost of shipping oil from Russia.

...Jordanian analysts looked skeptically at the statements as premature. "It is a sort of precipitating matters to talk about the pipeline, as it is to be considered a form of rewarding Israel for its support to the U.S.-led war against Iraq," journalist Gamal al-Nemeri told Al-Jzaeera TV channel.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://jang.com.pk/thenews/apr2003-daily/10-04-2003/world/w4.htm

BASRA: British troops in Iraq's second city Basra said on Wednesday the "rough justice" of the lynch mob had filled the void left by vanished police... British officials say their troops are unequipped to be police.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=42901436

American-led forces have captured at least 7,300 prisoners of war in Iraq and will soon begin the legal process to determine their future, the US military said on Wednesday... Three or four are believed to be high-ranking Iraqi military officers... US officials said earlier the United States planned to conduct trials of Iraqis alleged to have committed war crimes against American forces... The Pentagon and State Department have said the United States did not intend to turn to an international tribunal to carry out the proceedings.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20030410/UDIPSEC/National/Idx

OTTAWA -- The last Iraqi diplomat in Canada is nowhere to be found. The future of Mamdouh Mustafa, the chargé d'affaires who represents President Saddam Hussein in Ottawa, is cloudy today... A visit to Iraq's downtown embassy found a deserted building with locked gates and a padlocked parking lot. Phone calls at the embassy went unanswered.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030409-043736-4887r

The war in Iraq is coming to a close but is not over yet, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned Wednesday... Chief among the remaining tasks is capturing, accounting for, "or otherwise dealing with" Saddam and his sons, according to Rumsfeld... Thousands of special security forces, Baath party fighters and Fedayeen seem to have disappeared from the capital city... Some have already escaped into Syria or have moved on to third countries, Rumsfeld said.

...Rumsfeld said U.S. forces still must secure the northern oil fields, find any chemical and biological weapons facilities, and secure Iraq's borders... Rumsfeld said... the Defense Department are offering rewards to Iraqis that help U.S. forces identify senior leaders and find chemical or biological weapons... "The opportunity for people to improve their lives and get off a black list is important. And there are rewards, and carrots and sticks. And we need help," Rumsfeld said.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2933923.stm

Asked at a news conference whether the rationale behind the war required that such banned weapons be found, Donald Rumsfeld said he did not "quite get the thrust of the question."

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://news.nasdaq.com/news/newsStory.aspx?&cpath=20030410%5CACQDJON200304101645DOWJONESDJONLINE001083.htm

U.S. troops who suggested they uncovered evidence of an active nuclear weapons program in Iraq... apparently broke U.N. seals designed to ensure the materials aren't diverted for weapons use... "What happened apparently was that they broke IAEA [i.e., UN inspectors'] seals, which is very unfortunate because those seals are integral to ensuring that nuclear material doesn't get diverted," the expert said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Several tons of low-grade uranium have been stored at... [the] site, that has been under IAEA safeguards for years, the official said. The Iraqis were allowed to keep the material because it was unfit for weapons use without costly and time-consuming enrichment. The uranium was inspected by the U.N. nuclear agency twice a year and was kept under IAEA seal - at least until early this week, when the Marines seized control of the site.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.globeandmail.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20030410/UWEAPN/TPInternational/TopStories

UN sources said they are concerned at reports that radiation is escaping from a nuclear storage building that U.S. marines entered three or four days ago.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/09/1049567748685.html

There's a man who goes up to his roof terrace every time the fighting starts. Often in his underwear, he watches with his hands spread nonchalantly on the parapet wall... And now, a Vespa motor scooter is careering erratically down Abu Nuwas Street - its rider with his face turned to the sky as an Iraqi surface-to-air missile whistles off in pursuit of a United States fighter jet... Baghdad is gripped by a fatalism about life and death. People can't run, so sometimes they don't even bother to hide.

...If it is possible to have a nightmare within a nightmare, Kindi Hospital is it... It's running out of body bags and clean water is dependent on electricity in a city of day-long blackouts. Patients facing emergency surgery can have only 800 milligrams of ibuprofen, the same amount an Australian doctor might prescribe for muscle pain... Its laundry has been forced to close by the blackouts, doctors are making do with torn gowns instead of towels and wipes. Patients keep arriving in a procession of racing ambulances, muddied utilities and battered taxis. An army of exhausted, weepy support staff help them on to trolleys... Anger at the West occasionally becomes violent. Guns have been cocked and punches thrown at foreign reporters seen to be intruding on Iraqi grief.

A woman drops to the floor in the waiting area, screaming her 12-year-old son's name: "Feran! Feran! Tell me where he is!" Another son tries to console her, assuring her that he is merely wounded after an air strike on their neighbourhood, and that he's going to be fine. But Feran had just been declared dead on arrival at Kindi.

...Dr Tarib Al Saddi stands outside the hospital, trying to have a break, hoping to compose himself as the wind whips at his soiled white coat. "I have done 12 operations today - crushings, fractures and amputations. You see that these Americans are hitting civilians - their homes, their streets, their cars and even those who walk about. They hit anyone. One of the ambulance drivers says they have struck Al Yarmuk Hospital, so now we worry about a strike here." Lips quivering and cheeks stained by his own tears, Dr Al Saddi goes on: "Everyone is anxious and angry, maybe I'm the only calm one here."

...Surgeon Mohamed Kamil says there has been a marked change in the nature of Kindi's workload since the arrival of US troops in Baghdad at the weekend. "We're now getting not just shrapnel wounds, but pieces of people," he says. "These are wounds from missiles and rockets. They are amputations. They require more urgent surgery." The numbers have been rising steadily at the hospital - today it received more than 200 injuries and 35 corpses. Six other hospitals serving the city report similar figures and now they are having the overflow from Iraq's hard-pressed military hospitals foisted on them.

Nothing prepares a visitor for the scene at the hospital morgue. I've been into several in Iraq now and I think I know what to expect... But when the double refrigeration doors are opened on one of several buildings out the back at Kindi, there is just a pile on the floor - maybe 20 or 25 corpses; it is impossible to tell. Some of the faces are scorched black. Some have their clothes ripped off, their intestine hanging out. Limbs protrude from the pile, lying across other corpses... Hospital orderlies wheel the dead in and families bring makeshift coffins to take the dead out. And when a group of foreign cameraman moves in to film the scene, the four men charged with moving the bodies in and out of the morgue react badly, angrily chasing them away.

"Why are you taking photos? For Bush?" one of them yells, waving his arms. "Tell him to go to hell."

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/afp/20030409/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_war_jordan_icrc_030409112246&e=5

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) suspended its activities in Baghdad because of the dangerous situation in the Iraqi capital, a spokesman said here as an ICRC staffer was reported missing. "The precarious and dangerous situation and the chaos which reigns in Baghdad obliges the ICRC, with regret, to suspend its activities temporarily in the city," Moin Kassis said. "We regret we cannot give help to those who need it in these circumstances." The decision coincided with news that a Canadian Red Cross worker, named at ICRC headquarters in Geneva as logistics chief Vatche Arslanian, 48, had gone missing in Baghdad after the car he was travelling in was hit by gunfire.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

live and direct from geoffrey hoon, the UK Secretary of State for Defense, speaking in parliament

http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200203/cmhansrd/cm030407/debtext/30407-06.htm#30407-06_spnew1

"[You] referred to looting... Fortunately, it appears so far to be confined to Iraqi citizens—shall I use the word—"liberating" those items that are in the charge of the regime by entering its former facilities and the secret organisations, and redistributing that wealth among the Iraqi people. I regard such behaviour as good practice."

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2936721.stm

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says two key Baghdad hospitals, and many other smaller ones, have been ransacked, as looting spreads across the capital. ICRC spokeswoman Nada Doumani told BBC News Online that armed looters had stripped the al-Kindi, a key hospital in north-eastern Baghdad, of everything, including beds, electrical fittings and medical equipment. She said another major hospital, the 650-bed Medical City, was also surrounded by armed men and was running low of water and medical supplies... "We have heard that smaller hospitals are closed because people are too scared to open them to have them looted by armed men," said the spokeswoman.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.islam-online.net/english/news/2003-04/10/article18.shtml

PARIS, April 10 (Islamonline.net & News Agencies) - French aid agencies have teams in Baghdad... but are refusing to take orders from U.S. and British troops. All the major French aid agencies have refused to be placed under the direct responsibility of the centre for humanitarian operations set up by Washington... They have also refused to be "embedded" with U.S. and British troops... and are insisting on conducting operations with strict impartiality.

"Humanitarian aid cannot be viewed as a weapon for achieving military goals," five France-based aid agencies said in a joint statement. "It is not the after-sales service for the war," said the statement signed by Action contre la Faim (ACF or Action against Hunger). ACF, which has staff and supplies waiting at the Iraqi border, insisted aid deliveries had to be kept completely separate from military operations.

...Baghdad's hospitals have become a target for the widespread looting in the capital, much to the alarm of two medical aid agencies operating there, Aide Medicale Internationale (AMI) and Premiere Urgence. AMI said only one of the capital's hospitals, the Saddam Centre for Plastic Surgery, was currently under U.S. military protection. "Rather than pull down statues for the television cameras, the U.S. military would do better to provide security for Baghdad's hospitals," said one French aid worker on condition of anonymity.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A1319-2003Apr9?language=printer

As civic order breaks down in Baghdad and large sectors elsewhere in Iraq, U.S. forces have neither the troops nor the inclination to police neighborhoods or deter looters in the next few days, according to Bush administration officials.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=focusIraqNews&storyID=2542133

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross said its ability to carry out operations in Baghdad had improved on Thursday.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=579&e=3&cid=638&u=/nm/20030408/en_nm/media_jazeera_usa_dc

Al-Jazeera has reached a deal for its unedited newscasts to be carried on cable television in the United States... Jazeera's half-hour news reports began running April 1 on cable TV stations in Cleveland, Omaha, St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Ithaca among other cities, the nonprofit organization that is supplying the broadcast said on Tuesday. Jazeera, based in Qatar, is one the most watched channels in the Arab world, and many outside the United States have praised it for giving an Arab perspective lacking in some Western media. But U.S. and British officials have criticized the network for showing images of slain Western soldiers and U.S. prisoners of war.

...The broadcast agreement was struck between Jazeera and SCOLA, an organization that supplies foreign language news and cultural programming to cable systems, schools, independent TV stations and businesses. SCOLA said it agreed to broadcast the reports in response "to requests from educators for news content in Arabic" and is showing the news program on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. EST.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=282047&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

America's Fox News network has been demonstrating since the start of the war in Iraq an amazing lesson in media hypocrisy... The world according to Fox: America always helps oppressed people wherever they are, to free them of their shackles. America has no economic interests; no cynical, instrumentalist realpolitik guides it.... Fox looks like the media arm of the superpower mentality, indifferent to any perspective that is not American and alienating vast portions of the world. Its war coverage is as governmental as that of Iraqi TV. This is American TV.

For some reason, ever since Fox showed up on Israeli cable, the other foreign networks have become unnecessary. CNN was nearly removed, BBC World has been thrown out of the cable package, and both are suspected of hostility to Israel. Fox, for whom Israel's enemies are "the bad guys," is the perfect alibi for the new fashion of censorship. Who needs BBC when there's Fox? That has dangerously narrowed the horizon of thinking available to the viewers of foreign news stations in Israel.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,6264179%255E25778,00.html

"Now that the Iraqi people, thanks to America and Britain, are getting rid of their own brutal dictatorship, we hope that also our Palestinian neighbors will draw the right conclusions and give the necessary authority to a more peaceful leadership of their own," said Zalman Shoval, aide to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://breaking.examiner.ie/2003/04/09/story94855.html

There was shock and disbelief at the fall of Baghdad among Arabs today – and also anger at marines wrapping an American flag around a statue of Saddam Hussein... Arabs clustered at television sets in shop windows, coffee shops, kitchens and offices to watch the astounding pictures of US troops for the first time ever overwhelm an Arab capital. Some turned off their sets in disgust...Mohammed al-Shahhal, a 49-year-old [Lebanese] teacher said the scenes reminded him of the collapse of the Soviet Union. “Those who applauded the collapse of Lenin’s statue for some Pepsi and hamburgers felt the hunger later on and regretted what they did,” said al-Shahhal.

...Wissam Fakhoury, 28, [a] Jordanian furious at the sight of the US flag briefly on Saddam’s statue, said: ”I spit on them Iraqis. I was so disappointed.” “Do those crowds who are saluting the Americans believe that the United States will let them live better?” asked Fakhoury, a hotel receptionist. “They (Americans) will loot their oil and control their resources, leaving them nothing.”

...Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud, looking upset at a news conference, called for a quick end to Iraq’s ”occupation”. In a rare departure from diplomacy, Saud responded to a question about Arab anger toward the United States with: ”I don’t want to talk about anger if you don’t mind today.”

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=396043

As the biggest statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad was pulled down "spontaneously" in front of the world's media, the Stars and Stripes which flew on the Pentagon on 11 September was at hand to be draped over its face. The US army denied that the toppling of the 20ft edifice by a tank tower was stage-managed. It was a coincidence, they said, that Lt Tim McLaughlin, the keeper of that flag, happened to be present.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://iraqometer.com/

bombs dropped: 31,750

iraqi soldiers dead: 5,600

civilian dead: 1,400

coalition dead: 139

leaflets dropped: 3,530,000

iraqi prisoners: 8,950

cost per taxpayer: US$ 1,125

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

mrs. henry would rather spend her US$ 1,125 on...

http://www.ebay.com

---Here is a Vintage 1979 Gibson Les Paul Artist model [electric guitar]... The Artist has a unique peghead logo with the letters "LP" in script style, a gold truss rod cover with the "Les Paul Artist" inscription, brass nut, TP-6 fine tuning tailpiece,gold hardware, two potted gold plated Gibson Humbucking pickups, five piece laminated maple neck with volute, a bass, treble, and one master volume pot, brass nut, new design "scarfed" cutaway back, black speed knobs, gold jack plate, Nashville bridge, block fingerboard inlays, multi-ply binding on the top of the body, neck, and peghead, and three mini-toggle switches for compression, expansion, and brightness.

OR ---This is a magnificent and professionally restored Brunswick, Balke & Collender Arcade pool table, circa 1923. This is the much sought after 6 leg model in a tournament size, 5 foot by 10 foot built on Brunswick's jumbo frame... Primarily mahogany, and all mother of pearl inlay is intact. Rails are excellent and ready for new rubber cushions and cloth, which are included, your choice of color.

OR ---This is a museum quality with wonderful condition, super beautiful and gorgeous antique painted & carved opium day bed! ...The carvings are very beautiful! Skilled work! Very rare to find! ...Just image sitting on the bed ssurrounded by thick, soft pillows, what a comfortable feeling!!

OR ---We are selling a 1966 CHEVY IMPALA This is a restorations dream car. The interior is aqua green with bench seats... The exterior is white, the paint is showing its age... The vehicle has 4 doors, the horn does not work, also has an automatiac transmission. The engine is a V-8 and runs good. Miles: 107,553.

...To mrs. henry such fripperies are more valuable than the expensive knowlege that 15,625 iraqis have been subdued by Our Boys.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://english.aljazeera.net/topics/article.asp?cu_no=1&item_no=2298&version=1&template_id=263&parent_id=258

The prohibition of sexual intercourse among US squaddies has not prevented up to 20 of the fairer sex being sent back home after they fell pregnant while on duty in the war against Iraq, reports the German website Stern. The problem is particularly acute at sea where the US navy conducts regular morality patrols to monitor the chastity of its crews... In the eyes of a religious advisor on the aircraft carrier they are rowing against the tide since almost all the troops are singles whose hormones defy all threat of sanction.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.iht.com/cgi-bin/generic.cgi?template=articleprint.tmplh&ArticleId=92765

RUWAISHID, Jordan-- A gunman fired at an American official but missed late Tuesday in an upscale neighborhood in Jordan's capital, the U.S. Embassy said Wednesday... Jordan, a U.S. ally wedged between Iraq and Israel, has been largely free from attacks on Americans, though public opinion has run strongly against the war, and there have been dozens of angry street protests against it.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993604

The stress of combat and lack of sleep affect soldiers so badly that after a week they perform worse than if they were drunk or sedated, according to a US Army study carried out last year... Harris Lieberman's team at the US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine followed Navy Seals and Army Rangers... "Their performance was actually worse than if they were legally drunk," says Lieberman, who presented his findings at the Army Science Conference in Florida last December.

...The military is looking at ways to ensure that troops remain alert... The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is even trying to find out if it is possible to stop soldiers needing any sleep at all. For the moment, stimulants are the only way to counter sleep deprivation. Most controversial is the use of amphetamines by pilots. Lawyers for one of two US pilots who killed four Canadians in a friendly fire incident in Afghanistan blame the drugs.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://english.aljazeera.net/topics/article.asp?cu_no=1&item_no=2369&version=1&template_id=277&parent_id=258

Many Iraqi civilians and a US tank crew died today when a huge explosion destroyed around twenty houses in Baghdad, Al Jazeera channel reported. The explosion is the result of US marines attempting to decommission Iraqi munitions... Many local residents of Atafiyya pleaded with the US troops to remove the munitions far away from the district, fearing for their safety. However, these calls fell on deaf ears and the US soldiers fired a shell on the arsenal which exploded at once... Part of the arsenal contained over 200 missiles – Austrian in origin... The resulting explosion was like an inferno... [and] the number of dead was increased by the fact that many other rockets flew off in all directions.

...There are no emergency teams available, nor can ambulances and fire engines make their way to the fierce fires now raging. Looting and general lawlessness have prevented any organized responses... The explosion has also cut water to the residential quarter... Their electricity had failed over a week ago.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030410-070214-6557r

In the past Saddam was seen by U.S. intelligence services as a bulwark of anti-communism and they used him as their instrument for more than 40 years, according to former U.S. intelligence diplomats and intelligence officials... His first contacts with U.S. officials date back to 1959, when he was part of a CIA-authorized six-man squad tasked with assassinating then Iraqi Prime Minister Gen. Abd al-Karim Qasim.

In July 1958, Qasim had overthrown the Iraqi monarchy in what one former U.S. diplomat, who asked not to be identified, described as "a horrible orgy of bloodshed." ...Little attention was paid to Qasim's bloody and conspiratorial regime until his sudden decision to withdraw from the [anti-Soviet Central Asian] pact in 1959, an act that "freaked everybody out" according to a former senior U.S. State Department official... Saddam, while only in his early 20s, became a part of a U.S. plot to get rid of Qasim.

...The assassination was set for Oct. 7, 1959, but it was completely botched. Accounts differ. One former CIA official said that the 22-year-old Saddam lost his nerve and began firing too soon, killing Qasim's driver and only wounding Qasim in the shoulder and arm. Darwish told UPI that one of the assassins had bullets that did not fit his gun and that another had a hand grenade that got stuck in the lining of his coat... Saddam... escaped to Tikrit, thanks to CIA and Egyptian intelligence agents, several U.S. government officials said.

...In February 1963 Qasim was killed in a Baath Party coup.. Noting that the Baath Party was hunting down Iraq's communists, the CIA provided the submachine gun-toting Iraqi National Guardsmen with lists of suspected communists who were then jailed, interrogated, and summarily gunned down, according to former U.S. intelligence officials with intimate knowledge of the executions... Saddam, in the meantime, became head of... the secret intelligence apparatus of the Baath Party.

...The CIA/Defense Intelligence Agency relation with Saddam intensified after the start of the Iran-Iraq war in September of 1980. During the war, the CIA regularly sent a team to Saddam to deliver battlefield intelligence obtained from Saudi AWACS surveillance aircraft... The CIA and DIA provided military assistance to Saddam's ferocious February 1988 assault on Iranian positions in the al-Fao peninsula by blinding Iranian radars for three days.

The Saddam-U.S. intelligence alliance of convenience came to an end at 2 a.m. Aug. 2, 1990, when 100,000 Iraqi troops, backed by 300 tanks, invaded its neighbor, Kuwait.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=512&e=5&u=/ap/20030411/ap_on_go_co/energy_bill

WASHINGTON - The House approved sweeping incentives Friday for oil and gas production, including a green light for drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge... The bill, approved 247-175, now awaits action by the Senate.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=573&ncid=573&e=19&u=/nm/20030409/od_nm/life_gestures_dc

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A raised eyebrow, loud guffaw, smirk or other facial expressions could all be banned in future political debate under rules proposed for the city council of the Californian city of Palo Alto... "Do not use body language or other nonverbal methods of expression disagreement or disgust," a new list of proposed conduct rules reads.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

illegal evidence news from north carolina

http://www.mcdowellnews.com/servlet/Satellite?c=MGArticle&cid=1031769282030&pagename=MMN/MGArticle/WSJ_BasicArticle&path=!news!statenews

A bill sponsored by Rep. Paul Stam, R-Wake, seeks essentially to put North Carolina courts on an equal footing with federal courts when it comes to how judges exclude evidence obtained with an improper search warrant... Stam's bill would prohibit judges from suppressing any evidence collected by police as long as [the police] believed a search was legal.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

more legal news from north carolina

http://www.mcdowellnews.com/servlet/Satellite?c=MGArticle&cid=1031769284924&pagename=MMN/MGArticle/WSJ_BasicArticle&path=!news!statenews

House budget writers approved a proposal Thursday that would eliminate state financing for an organization that advises defense lawyers in capital cases. The Center for Death Penalty Litigation gets $590,000 in state money, which is used to train defense lawyers and advise them in about 350 capital cases a year. The Durham-based center also directly represents about 30 people a year, mostly at the appellate level, accused of murder.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

how to sneak out of the USA

http://www.unknownnews.net/a0411.html#sq409

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030410/pl_nm/iraq_protest_newyork_dc_2

New York police admitted on Thursday to compiling and then destroying a database of people arrested during anti-war protests... "After a review, the department has decided to eliminate the use of the Demonstration Debriefing Form," NYPD chief spokesman Michael O'Looney said in a statement that was first reported in Thursday's New York Times. "Arrestees will no longer be asked questions pertaining to prior demonstration history, or school name. All information gathered since the form's inception on Feb. 15 has been destroyed." The practice ended after pressure from the New York Civil Liberties Union.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,11598,00.html

Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins have struck out with the Baseball Hall of Fame. Their vocal antiwar stance has prompted organizers at the Cooperstown shrine to cancel a 15th anniversary celebration of Bull Durham that was to have included the movie's costars and director. Hall prez Dale Petroskey fired off a letter to Robbins and Sarandon on Tuesday telling them the April 26 and 27 festivities were nixed because of critical remarks made by the activist-minded thesps.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=31968

ABC television is being threatened with a boycott of the network and its advertisers if it airs a show starring outspoken war critic Janeane Garofalo, reports MSNBC columnist Jeannette Walls.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://www.channel3000.com/news/2103162/detail.html

SAN ANTONIO -- Clear Channel Communications Inc., the nation's largest radio owner, said Wednesday that its stations will stop working with independent music promoters after members of Congress raised questions about the practice. The promoters are paid by record companies to tout their recordings to radio stations. San Antonio-based Clear Channel has said the promoters didn't influence decisions on programming. But critics have said the practice was similar to the payola scandals in the 1950s.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

http://au.org/press/pr030408.htm

The U.S. Education Department’s recent “guidance” on religion and public education is inaccurate and fails to honestly interpret some court rulings, Americans United for Separation of Church and State has advised top state education officials. In an April 7 letter to the directors of every state school agency, Americans United cited problem areas in the Bush administration guidance and advised educators to be wary of it. “We cannot allow the Bush administration’s distortions to go unchallenged,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. “The courts have ruled consistently that public schools may not sponsor religious worship. The Bush administration cannot change that fact merely by issuing a decree.” Lynn urged educators to remember that the federal judiciary, not the Bush administration, is the final arbiter of constitutional questions about religion and schools.

...The U.S. Education Department, in its Feb. 7 guidance, notified all public schools that they must comply with the religion-in-school rules or risk losing federal funding. The document, called “Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools,” was issued in conjunction with provisions in the No Child Left Behind Act.

...The guidance states that “student-initiated” prayer is legal at graduation and other school events... In fact, the Supreme Court struck down “student-initiated” prayers

...The guidance says that students have a legal right to incorporate religious themes in their class work and read to fellow students from religious texts. No court has ever granted students this right. In fact, several courts have said the opposite.

...The guidance asserts that public school teachers have the right to participate in religious activities on school grounds...The courts have consistently banned teacher participation in prayers with students, and courts are mixed on whether teachers can meet to pray with each other on school grounds in an unofficial capacity.

...The guidance threatens loss of funding for schools that fail to comply with the Education Department’s decree. In fact, there is no language in the “No Child Left Behind Act of 2001” that authorizes the federal government to take such a draconian step.