DISPATCH FROM DOWN UNDER
Quiet man emerges as Iraq's new PM
Shias nominate former London GP after Chalabi pulls out of race Rory Carroll in BaghdadWednesday February 23, 2005The Guardian Iraq took a big step towards appointing its first elected prime minister since the fall of Saddam Hussein yesterday when the main Shia alliance chose a self-effacing man, who used to be a family doctor in Britain, as its candidate.
Ibrahim al-Jaafari, 58, is almost certain to head the new government after winning the unanimous approval of the Shia bloc which won last month's election.
The former exile has been dubbed an ayatollah in a suit because of his strong religious beliefs, but he is also seen as a conciliatory figure who will reach out to ethnic and religious minorities.
At a news conference in Baghdad to announce his nomination, he promised to tackle the insurgency ravaging the country. "The priority now is security. It affects all other issues, such as the economy and rebuilding," he said.
Dr Jaafari has resisted calls from Sunnis and radical Shias to set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops who have occupied the country since the March 2003 invasion.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1423251,00.html
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Revealed: the rush to war
Richard Norton-Taylor
Wednesday February 23, 2005
The Guardian
The attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, warned less than two weeks before the invasion of Iraq that military action could be ruled illegal.
The government was so concerned that it might be prosecuted it set up a team of lawyers to prepare for legal action in an international court.
And a parliamentary answer issued days before the war in the name of Lord Goldsmith - but presented by ministers as his official opinion before the crucial Commons vote - was drawn up in Downing Street, not in the attorney general's chambers.
The full picture of how the government manipulated the legal justification for war, and political pressure placed on its most senior law officer, is revealed in the Guardian today.
It appears that Lord Goldsmith never wrote an unequivocal formal legal opinion that the invasion was lawful, as demanded by Lord Boyce, chief of defence staff at the time.
The Guardian can also disclose that in her letter of resignation in protest against the war, Elizabeth Wilmshurst, deputy legal adviser at the Foreign Office, described the planned invasion of Iraq as a "crime of aggression".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1423341,00.html
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American accused of plotting with al-Qaida to assassinate Bush
Julian Borger in Washington
Wednesday February 23, 2005
The Guardian
An alleged al-Qaida plot to assassinate George Bush was revealed yesterday when an American man who spent 20 months in a Saudi jail on suspicion of terrorism was charged with conspiring to kill the president.
According to the indictment, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, conspired with al-Qaida members in Saudi Arabia to carry out the assassination, either by getting "close enough to the president to shoot him on the street" or with a car bomb.
The US attorney leading the prosecution, Paul McNulty, said Mr Abu Ali had "turned his back on America" and "now stands charged with some of the most serious offences our nation can bring against supporters of terrorism".
The indictment does not say what evidence the prosecution has against Mr Ali, other than the FBI's discovery of al-Qaida literature, gun magazines and general information about surveillance and counter-surveillance at his home in Falls Church, a Washington suburb.
The charges provoked laughter in the US district court in Washington from over a hundred of Mr Abu Ali's supporters, and were later rejected by his father, Omar, who claimed they had been "cooked".
One of his lawyers, Ashraf Nubani, said he had been tortured while in Saudi prison. "He has the evidence on his back. He was whipped," Mr Nubani told the court, according to the Associated Press.
Mr Abu Ali, who was born in Texas and came top of his high school class in Virginia, was picked up by the Saudi authorities in Medina in June 2003, a month after a wave of al-Qaida bomb attacks against residential compounds for foreigners in Riyadh.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1423243,00.html
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Earthquake in Iran kills hundreds
Brian Whitaker and agencies in Sarbagh and Zarand
Wednesday February 23, 2005
The Guardian
A powerful earthquake hit south-eastern Iran early yesterday, killing hundreds of people and destroying mountain villages.
The quake, with a magnitude of 6.4, was centred on Zarand, in Kerman province, about 160 miles from Bam, the historic city devastated by another earthquake just over a year ago with the loss of more than 30,000 lives.
Iranian television showed villagers scrabbling through rubble with their bare hands in search of friends and relatives. Others carried away bodies wrapped in bedding.
"All the houses have been completely destroyed," said Kari Egge, Unicef's representative in Iran, speaking from Dohan village in the mountains near Zarand. "It is cold and raining so supplies such as shelter, food, water and blankets are essential," she said.
"Our priority at this stage is to find out what the needs are on the ground, particularly regarding women and children."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1423018,00.html\
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British expatriates flee Saudi Arabia
Ewen MacAskill, diplomatic editor
Wednesday February 23, 2005
The Guardian
The number of British expatriates in Saudi Arabia has dropped from 30,000 to 20,000 in the past 12 months in response to beheadings, shootings and other attacks by al-Qaida, a British official said yesterday.
But the official said that though further attacks were expected, the Saudi government was getting the better of al-Qaida.
A joint British-Saudi conference is being held at the Foreign Office today to discuss the modest internal reforms under way in the kingdom.
Although the relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia is no longer as strong as in the past, Britain is seeking to maintain close ties with the Saudi government and to support its reform initiatives.
The official said cooperation between Saudi intelligence and its US and British counterparts had significantly improved and the Saudi government was passing on detailed information about the shooting of the BBC correspondent Frank Gardner and other attacks on Britons last year. The Foreign Office is planning to relay that information to Mr Gardner and to the relatives of those killed in the attacks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/saudi/story/0,11599,1423170,00.html
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Bush: talk of strike on Iran is ridiculous
Nicholas Watt in Brussels
Wednesday February 23, 2005
The Guardian
Europe's fears about an imminent military strike against Iran are "simply ridiculous", the US president, George Bush, declared last night, using blunt language to allay widespread concern about another unilateral attack by the US.
As police fired water cannon at hundreds of demonstrators protesting in the centre of Brussels against Mr Bush's visit, the president praised Europe's efforts to persuade Iran to abandon plans to develop nuclear weapons.
Mr Bush said he was being offered "good advice" by Europeans: "Great Britain, Germany and France are negotiating with the ayatollahs to achieve our common objective. This notion that the US is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. Having said that, all options are on the table."
Mr Bush's remarks echoed a setpiece speech on Monday, in which he applauded European diplomacy and made clear that, for the moment, he had no intention of attacking Iran.
But his colourful language last night showed that he felt the need to do more to reassure Europeans.
Mr Bush experienced at first hand the widespread European anger at his presidency; he could hear protesters as he left the headquarters of the European Council. Police fired water cannon at demonstrators after a petrol bomb landed among police in riot gear, injuring a police officer.
Behind a ring of security, European leaders were all smiles as Mr Bush embarked on the most intense day of his trip, with back-to-back summits at the headquarters of Nato and the EU. But the limits of the new transatlantic love-in were highlighted yesterday when Jacques Chirac, the French president, and Mr Bush clashed over China.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1423227,00.html
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Next stop Bratislava and a testing time with his pal
Putin Simon Tisdall
Wednesday February 23, 2005
The Guardian
George Bush's new politics of conciliation will face its biggest test tomorrow when the US leader meets Russia's insecure and recalcitrant president, Vladimir Putin, in Bratislava.
Despite a good personal relationship with Mr Bush, Mr Putin's authoritarian domestic policies and frequently oppositional international stance have caused increasing alarm in Washington.
His weekend championing of Iran's nuclear programme typified the broader problem. It looked like a deliberate eve-of-summit provocation and recalled the angry rift over Iraq. Officials admit that, preoccupied by 9/11 and the Middle East, the Bush administration took its eye off the Russian ball during its first term.
Mr Putin's backing for America's "war on terror", which suited his purposes in Chechnya, and for counter-proliferation efforts, as in North Korea, meant his more objectionable actions largely escaped critical US scrutiny.
But the relentless eastward expansion of the EU and Nato, coupled with western-backed democratic uprisings in Ukraine and Georgia, has fostered fear and resentment in the Kremlin, resurrecting historical concerns about encirclement.
"It could easily be argued that Russia has gained no specific, lasting benefits from the pro-American policies and concessions proclaimed by Putin in the two years after September 11," wrote Robert Cottrell in the New York Review of Books.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,2763,1423092,00.html
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MPs force Qureia to purge ministers
Chris McGreal in Ramallah
Wednesday February 23, 2005
The Guardian Palestinian MPs have forced the prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, to make sweeping changes to his cabinet, criticised for being dominated by corrupt and incompetent ministers too closely associated with the late Yasser Arafat.
Mr Qureia had sought approval for a government including many ministers from the old guard of Arafat's Fatah party who were expected to be removed with the election of the new president, Mahmoud Abbas.
Mr Abbas campaigned on a promise to end the incompetence and corruption which has undermined confidence in the Palestinian Authority.
Yesterday Mr Qureia said he would present a revised list of nominations today.
"We have agreed that the new cabinet should ... consist of technocrats," he told parliament.
But MPs said they would insist that all the discredited ministers were purged.
"[Mr Qureia] knows who they are and they have to go for the future of Palestine," said one MP, Jamal Shati.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1423109,00.html
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Court to decide fate of comatose woman
Suzanne Goldenberg in
Washington
Wednesday February 23, 2005
The Guardian
The bitter legal battle over the life of a comatose woman which has become a cause celebre for the Christian right entered its final stages yesterday in competing Florida court verdicts.
An initial court decision gave Michael Schiavo the power to instruct hospital authorities to detach the feeding tube which has sustained his wife, Terri, since her collapse in 1990.
However, that decision was stayed when Mr Schiavo's in-laws, Robert and Mary Schindler, won a competing court judgment to keep their daughter alive at least until this afternoon.
Mr Schiavo argues that his wife would never have wanted to be kept alive by artificial methods. However, she left no written will and the Schindlers have fought a fierce battle to keep their daughter alive, insisting she has a chance to recover some cognitive ability.
From a rented camper van across the road from their daughter's hospice, the Schindlers have presided over prayer vigils, harnessing public sympathy to overrule main stream medical opinion and successive judgments from the Florida courts
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1423194,00.html
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Top Nuclear Negotiators to Meet in Seoul
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)
- Negotiators from the United States, Japan and South Korea will meet in Seoul this weekend to discuss resuming nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea after the communist country's leader hinted at a possible compromise, officials said Wednesday.
Resuming the stalled talks gained urgency after North Korea claimed on Feb. 10 that it has nuclear weapons. On Monday, its leader Kim Jong Il told a visiting Chinese envoy that his government would return to the negotiating table if certain conditions are met, though he did not detail them.
``It's inappropriate for North Korea to attach conditions to returning to the talks,'' South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday. ``The North must come to the talks unconditionally and then it can present its differences and all the parties can try to strike a deal through negotiations.''
The meeting, scheduled for Saturday, brings together South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon; Kenichiro Sasae, director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asia-Oceania bureau; and Christopher Hill, U.S. ambassador to Seoul, who was named Washington's top negotiator.
The three allies, which routinely coordinate their strategies on how to end North Korea's nuclear threats through six-nation talks, will try to work out remaining differences, Japanese Ambassador Toshiyuki Takano said in Seoul.
He did not elaborate, but Hill warned this week that Pyongyang could try to exploit divisions if the nations taking part in multilateral discussions do not adopt a unified approach. The other countries involved are China and Russia.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4819852,00.html
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GOP Senators Want Eastern Wash. As a State
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -
If Washington state Sen. Bob Morton has his way, he'll soon be a resident and lawmaker in the 51st state of the United States.
The Republican is the prime sponsor of a measure that asks for a new state to be created east of the Cascade Mountains, using 20 of the current state's 39 counties.
Though the measure has little chance of becoming a reality, it's a further sign of frustration between Washington's east and west that became more apparent during the recent contested governor's race.
Morton argues that Eastern Washington has its own distinct culture, lifestyle and agriculture-driven economy. And he says growth development restrictions and other regulations imposed by Western Washington politicians and bureaucrats put a stranglehold on his area.
``It's not sour grapes. It's common sense,'' he said. ``People who think alike should be united.''
Bitterness over the red-blue divide in the state only increased after the governor's race. Eastern Washington overwhelmingly voted for Republican candidate Dino Rossi, only to see Democrat Christine Gregoire pull ahead in a hand recount thanks to strong support in King County, where one-third of the state's voters live.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4819839,00.html
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Car Bomb in Mosul Kills Two, Wounds 14
Wednesday February 23, 2005 9:31 AM
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) - A car bomb exploded Wednesday in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing two people and wounding 14 others, the U.S. military said.
The blast occurred in western Mosul's Yarmouk neighborhood, said Essam Youssef of the city's Jamhouri hospital, where some of the casualties were brought.
It was not immediately clear what the target of the bomb was. Witnesses said no U.S. or Iraqi forces in the area where the explosion took place.
In a statement, the U.S. military blamed the attack on insurgents, who ``continue to disregard the safety of their fellow citizens during their attacks.''
Also in Mosul, U.S. soldiers shot dead a civilian in a pickup truck who approached their convoy too closely as he was trying to pass it, policeman Ahmed Rashid said. Weary of car bombs, most U.S. military vehicles carry signs warning drivers to keep away.
Southeast of Mosul in Kirkuk, a roadside bomb exploded in an industrial neighborhood, wounding two bystanders, police Capt. Farhad Talabani said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4819858,00.html
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Anti-war protesters plan rallies23feb05
ANTI-war activists plan rallies across Australia to protest about the decision to send more troops to Iraq.The Stop the War Coalition, a network of peace groups and student activists, plans rallies in most main cities on the weekend of March 18-20, the second anniversary of the Iraq invasion.
The largest rally is expected in Sydney's Hyde Park at noon on March 20. Speakers will include former intelligence analyst Andrew Wilkie and author John Pilger.
Coalition spokesman Luke Deer said many people were angry about Prime Minister John Howard's decision to send 450 more troops to Iraq.
"It actually shows the occupation isn't stable and the situation isn't secure in Iraq and they are under pressure to prop it up," Mr Deer said.
"I think what (Mr) Howard has done is a mistake and a misjudgment on his part.
"And he has underestimated domestic opposition.
"It's a wake-up call to people that it's not something we can afford to ignore."
Mr Deer said Mr Howard's specific mention of Japanese trade interests as being a key factor behind the decision was also of concern to
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,12347679%255E1702,00.html
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Stocks weaker on Wall St23feb05
THE share market closed down sharply today hit by a plunge on Wall Street, some disappointing profit results and a possible interest rate rise after the Reserve Bank meets next week.However, mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were higher on news overnight that iron ore prices might be set to rise.
At the 1605 AEDT close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 retreated 34.0 points to 4119.3 while the all ordinaries index fell 35.0 points to 4103.4.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange the March SPI contract lost 36 points to 4107 on volume of 14,494.
ABN Amro Morgans client adviser Margaret Morrissey there had been a "real shakeout" in the market today.
The US market was at its lowest since May 2003, there are concerns about interest rates and then company earnings results with some good and some not so good," Ms Morrissey said.
On Wall Street overnight the Dow Jones industrial average dived 174.02 points to 10,611.20.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 17.43 points at 1184.16. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 28.30 points at 2030.32.
Ms Morrissey said the main miners were the "saviours" of the market today.
"They were unbelievably strong," she said.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,12347499%255E1702,00.html
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Prehistoric croc unearthed
By Roberta Mancuso23feb05
RESEARCHERS have discovered a new species of prehistoric crocodile after unearthing 40-million-year-old remains in south-east
Queensland.
The find – consisting of two nearly complete skulls, a lower jaw and bits of legs, ribs and claws – has excited researchers who hope to study them to shed light on the evolution of one of the world's most dangerous killers.
"It's important because it belongs to the earliest known genus of what's called Mekosuchinae – a big group of extinct crocodiles that dominated Australia and developed a large degree of diversity," Monash University researcher Lucas Buchanan said.
"These guys are important and exciting because they're some of the earliest ones, so they're really going to help us understand where the diversity came from and also look at the origins of this group because it's so very unclear."
Mr Buchanan, who was the first to identify the crocodile, said the fossilised remains were found in a lake bed 20km north of Gladstone last year.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,12346740%255E1702,00.html
This one is for you Christy
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Iraq troops bid for trade deal:
Brown23feb05PRIME Minister John Howard was sending more troops to Iraq in a bid to boost the chances of an Australia-Japan free trade agreement, Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown said today.The Federal Government said yesterday it was to send a new contingent of 450 troops to Al Muthanna province in Iraq to guard Japanese engineers carrying out reconstruction work.
Senator Brown said Mr Howard was sending the troops because he wanted to shore up Japanese government support for a free trade agreement.
"This is not about the Iraqi issue this is about promoting the prime ministerial interest in free trade with the Japanese in the lead-up to his visit to that country," he said.
Mr Howard was acting like a dictator by ordering the troop deployment without consulting Parliament, Senator Brown said.
"(There is) no parliamentary debate, this is the dictator Prime Minister Howard," he said.
"He is totally responsible for the welfare of our good and true Australians – 450 now being deployed for reasons of diplomacy which suit the Prime Minister, but really are unnecessary and not in the interests of the Australian defence forces."
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,12346516%255E1702,00.html
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Bush blasts Russian bearBruce
Wilson23feb05
ON day one of his trip to bond with sceptical Europe, President George W. Bush reached out to his critics, and put Russia next in the firing line for reform.Mr Bush wooed the leaders of France and Belgium – bitter Iraq war opponents – and flattered Europeans with a speech that endorsed a strong, united Europe as a US partner.
He gave few policy concessions of substance and warned Russia ahead of Thursday's meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
"Russia's future lies within the family of Europe and the transatlantic community," Bush said. "Yet, for Russia to make progress as a European nation, the Russian government must renew a commitment to democracy and the rule of law.
"We recognise that reform will not happen overnight. We must always remind Russia, however, that our alliance stands for a free press, a vital opposition, the sharing of power and the rule of law," Mr Bush said.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,12339702%255E663,00.html
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Howard under fire for 'duping' voters
Matt PriceFebruary 23, 2005
THE federal Government's decision to send extra troops to Iraq has reignited a domestic political firestorm over the war, with all opposition parties accusing John Howard of duping voters at the last election.Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said the Prime Minister should have rejected requests from Japan and Britain to boost Australia's military presence in the war-torn country.
"Australia's position has been made, I thought, amply clear to our allies over the course of the last couple of years. And that is, they have seen the upper levels of Australia's engagement," Mr Beazley said. The Opposition Leader said Labor remained opposed to the latest deployment and understood why other countries such as The Netherlands were withdrawing troops from Iraq.
"There are many people in this country who will think John Howard should have levelled with them about these intentions in the election campaign only four months ago," Mr Beazley said. "If he was prepared to contemplate this dramatic increase in Australian involvement in Iraq, he should have told them before they voted that he was of that cast of mind."
Mr Beazley said the federal Government's priorities ought to be in the region and feared Australian troops could become involved in a messy civil war in Iraq.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12343122%5E2702,00.html
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Suspect package still being examined
February 23, 2005
A MELBOURNE shopping centre remains off-limits tonight while a police bomb response unit examines a suspicious package.Bomb squad members sent a robot into the plaza to examine the parcel found inside the complex earlier today.
A police spokeswoman said no-one was allowed to remain inside the Knox City Shopping Centre in Melbourne's outer east.
Earlier this evening Knox Police Inspector Bruce Dickie told reporters: "We're still examining the package and the further examinations we've done lead us to belive it's something to be treated very seriously.
"It's more than a simple prank. Somebody who has done this has done this to cause concern in the community."
Hundreds of people were evacuated following the discovery of the package about 10.30am (AEDT).
A Victoria Police spokeswoman would not confirm the nature of the package, but said it was found on level one and members of the elite police Special Operations Group and the Bomb Response Squad were sent in.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12350859%255E1702,00.html
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Diggers' quiet but deadly mission
Peter Alford, Tokyo
February 23, 2005
THE desert province of Al- Muthanna has been Iraq's smallest and least troublesome since the occupation - an important consideration in assigning the Japanese contingent, whose armed capability is strictly limited by the national constitution to self-defence.However, the area is not completely trouble-free and the Dutch contingent which has protected the Japanese Self Defence Forces troops since last February lost a sergeant to a grenade attack in May and another in August during a skirmish with insurgents.
A local security policeman was killed in a post-election attack on a police station at Samawah, the provincial capital on February 2.
The Japanese, who currently have about 550 SDF troops rebuilding schools, roads and water facilities, have not suffered any casualties though their camp at Samawah has been targeted about 10 times.
In the most potentially serious incident a rocket propelled grenade landed in the middle of the camp but failed to explode.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12343144%255E2703,00.html
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UK arms firm will not sell to China
February 23, 2005
LONDON: Britain's largest defence company, BAE Systems, will not sell arms to China - even if the European Union lifts its arms embargo - for fear of jeopardising its extensive US interests.The disclosure yesterday added fuel to the long-running dispute between the US and EU, which threatens to sour the new mood of unity during George W.Bush's European tour.
The US President conspicuously failed to mention the dispute during his wide-ranging speech in Brussels.
But Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner and a confidant of Tony Blair, warned Washington not to pick a fight on the embargo because "it cannot win".
Richard Lugar, the relatively moderate Republican chairman of the US Senate foreign relations committee, hit back in a newspaper interview by declaring he would support curbs on sales of high-tech military equipment to the EU if it lifted the embargo.
The suggestion by BAE Systems that it would prefer to protect its huge US investments rather than pursue new markets in China suggests the US threat is biting.
BAE Systems has greater potential to sell arms to China than any other British company, but senior company sources said there was no question of taking any action that might imperil the relationship with the US.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12343176%255E2703,00.html
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Troops raring to go to Iraq
February 23, 2005 - 6:40PM
Army commanders expect to be besieged by soldiers wanting to be posted to Iraq, despite the danger of attack by insurgents, a military chief says.
A 10-strong army reconnaissance team will leave Darwin for Iraq within a week to 10 days to prepare for Australia's new deployment of 450 troops, said Brigadier John Cantwell, commander of the 1st Brigade in Darwin.
Australia will send the new force in 10 weeks' time to protect Japanese military engineers in the southern province of Al Muthanna.
Many of the troops will be from the 1st Brigade in Darwin and Brig Cantwell said there would be no shortages of soldiers keen to go.
He said of the mood at Darwin's Robertson Barracks: "It's a great sense of anticipation and a lot of people wanting to be selected to carry out this mission."
He expected commanders to be "besieged" by soldiers who want to go.
One of the tasks of the reconnaissance team will be to assess the danger in Al Muthanna.
While the province is relatively peaceful, there have been fatal attacks by insurgents on Dutch troops, who the Australians will be replacing.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Breaking-News/Troops-raring-to-go-to-Iraq-commander/2005/02/23/1109046981653.html
I will believe that when it shown to me
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All 26 NATO allies will help train Iraq troops
NATO's secretary-general said all 26 allies were working together to help train Iraq's military, a decision designed to symbolise the end to the bitter divisions wrought by the Iraq war.
"All 26 allies are working together to respond to the Iraqi government's request for support by training Iraqi security forces, providing equipment and helping to fund NATO's efforts," Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told a NATO summit.
NATO has been struggling for months to get a commitment from all allies to join the mission.
However, in a sign of lingering differences, France, Germany and other opponents to the Iraq war will not send instructors to Iraq, limiting their contribution to training outside the country or funding for the operation.
The mission inside Iraq is modest. It comprises just over 100 instructors training senior Iraqi officers in Baghdad's heavily protected "Green Zone." Over half the NATO instructors are American.
Alliance planners hope to expand that operation to 160 instructors, which they say is adequate for the current phase of the mission. They hope for a further expansion in September to allow NATO to help run a military academy outside the Iraqi capital - if it can find the troops and money needed.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/After-Saddam/All-26-NATO-allies-will-help-train-Iraq-troops/2005/02/22/1109046924505.html
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For Some, a Loss in Iraq Turns Into Antiwar Activism
Gold Star Families Band Together to 'Make People Care'
VACAVILLE, Calif. --
Five minutes after President Bush began his State of the Union address, Cindy Sheehan clicked off her television set.
She would read the transcript, watch the salute to the parents of a Marine killed in Fallujah, chew over such words as "ultimate sacrifice" and "fight against tyranny" -- the next morning.
But that night, live, in her living room, so close to her son's photos and medals on the foyer wall -- no. It was too much to hear the cheering for the man who had sent her son to Iraq on the premise that Saddam Hussein stockpiled weapons of mass destruction. Casey Sheehan, a former Eagle Scout and altar boy who had joined the Army hoping to serve as a chaplain's assistant, was killed at age 24 in a war he wasn't sure why he was fighting. And more soldiers like him were dying every day. Where was the outrage?
Cindy Sheehan found it where she always does: in other families who have lost a loved one in a war they neither believe in nor want to believe will continue, without end, with the nation's acquiescence.
They call themselves Gold Star Families for Peace. Organized less than two months ago, it is part support group and part activist organization, with members united by grief and the belief that their loved ones died in a war that did not have to happen. They represent a small percentage of the families that have lost someone in Iraq -- 50 families out of more than 1,450.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42498-2005Feb21.html?sub=AR
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_____ U.S. Military Deaths _____
Faces of the FallenPortraits of U.S. service members who have died in Iraq since the beginning of the war.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42498-2005Feb21.html?sub=AR
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Shias nominate former London GP after Chalabi pulls out of race Rory Carroll in BaghdadWednesday February 23, 2005The Guardian Iraq took a big step towards appointing its first elected prime minister since the fall of Saddam Hussein yesterday when the main Shia alliance chose a self-effacing man, who used to be a family doctor in Britain, as its candidate.
Ibrahim al-Jaafari, 58, is almost certain to head the new government after winning the unanimous approval of the Shia bloc which won last month's election.
The former exile has been dubbed an ayatollah in a suit because of his strong religious beliefs, but he is also seen as a conciliatory figure who will reach out to ethnic and religious minorities.
At a news conference in Baghdad to announce his nomination, he promised to tackle the insurgency ravaging the country. "The priority now is security. It affects all other issues, such as the economy and rebuilding," he said.
Dr Jaafari has resisted calls from Sunnis and radical Shias to set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops who have occupied the country since the March 2003 invasion.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1423251,00.html
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Revealed: the rush to war
Richard Norton-Taylor
Wednesday February 23, 2005
The Guardian
The attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, warned less than two weeks before the invasion of Iraq that military action could be ruled illegal.
The government was so concerned that it might be prosecuted it set up a team of lawyers to prepare for legal action in an international court.
And a parliamentary answer issued days before the war in the name of Lord Goldsmith - but presented by ministers as his official opinion before the crucial Commons vote - was drawn up in Downing Street, not in the attorney general's chambers.
The full picture of how the government manipulated the legal justification for war, and political pressure placed on its most senior law officer, is revealed in the Guardian today.
It appears that Lord Goldsmith never wrote an unequivocal formal legal opinion that the invasion was lawful, as demanded by Lord Boyce, chief of defence staff at the time.
The Guardian can also disclose that in her letter of resignation in protest against the war, Elizabeth Wilmshurst, deputy legal adviser at the Foreign Office, described the planned invasion of Iraq as a "crime of aggression".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1423341,00.html
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American accused of plotting with al-Qaida to assassinate Bush
Julian Borger in Washington
Wednesday February 23, 2005
The Guardian
An alleged al-Qaida plot to assassinate George Bush was revealed yesterday when an American man who spent 20 months in a Saudi jail on suspicion of terrorism was charged with conspiring to kill the president.
According to the indictment, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, conspired with al-Qaida members in Saudi Arabia to carry out the assassination, either by getting "close enough to the president to shoot him on the street" or with a car bomb.
The US attorney leading the prosecution, Paul McNulty, said Mr Abu Ali had "turned his back on America" and "now stands charged with some of the most serious offences our nation can bring against supporters of terrorism".
The indictment does not say what evidence the prosecution has against Mr Ali, other than the FBI's discovery of al-Qaida literature, gun magazines and general information about surveillance and counter-surveillance at his home in Falls Church, a Washington suburb.
The charges provoked laughter in the US district court in Washington from over a hundred of Mr Abu Ali's supporters, and were later rejected by his father, Omar, who claimed they had been "cooked".
One of his lawyers, Ashraf Nubani, said he had been tortured while in Saudi prison. "He has the evidence on his back. He was whipped," Mr Nubani told the court, according to the Associated Press.
Mr Abu Ali, who was born in Texas and came top of his high school class in Virginia, was picked up by the Saudi authorities in Medina in June 2003, a month after a wave of al-Qaida bomb attacks against residential compounds for foreigners in Riyadh.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1423243,00.html
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Earthquake in Iran kills hundreds
Brian Whitaker and agencies in Sarbagh and Zarand
Wednesday February 23, 2005
The Guardian
A powerful earthquake hit south-eastern Iran early yesterday, killing hundreds of people and destroying mountain villages.
The quake, with a magnitude of 6.4, was centred on Zarand, in Kerman province, about 160 miles from Bam, the historic city devastated by another earthquake just over a year ago with the loss of more than 30,000 lives.
Iranian television showed villagers scrabbling through rubble with their bare hands in search of friends and relatives. Others carried away bodies wrapped in bedding.
"All the houses have been completely destroyed," said Kari Egge, Unicef's representative in Iran, speaking from Dohan village in the mountains near Zarand. "It is cold and raining so supplies such as shelter, food, water and blankets are essential," she said.
"Our priority at this stage is to find out what the needs are on the ground, particularly regarding women and children."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1423018,00.html\
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British expatriates flee Saudi Arabia
Ewen MacAskill, diplomatic editor
Wednesday February 23, 2005
The Guardian
The number of British expatriates in Saudi Arabia has dropped from 30,000 to 20,000 in the past 12 months in response to beheadings, shootings and other attacks by al-Qaida, a British official said yesterday.
But the official said that though further attacks were expected, the Saudi government was getting the better of al-Qaida.
A joint British-Saudi conference is being held at the Foreign Office today to discuss the modest internal reforms under way in the kingdom.
Although the relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia is no longer as strong as in the past, Britain is seeking to maintain close ties with the Saudi government and to support its reform initiatives.
The official said cooperation between Saudi intelligence and its US and British counterparts had significantly improved and the Saudi government was passing on detailed information about the shooting of the BBC correspondent Frank Gardner and other attacks on Britons last year. The Foreign Office is planning to relay that information to Mr Gardner and to the relatives of those killed in the attacks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/saudi/story/0,11599,1423170,00.html
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Bush: talk of strike on Iran is ridiculous
Nicholas Watt in Brussels
Wednesday February 23, 2005
The Guardian
Europe's fears about an imminent military strike against Iran are "simply ridiculous", the US president, George Bush, declared last night, using blunt language to allay widespread concern about another unilateral attack by the US.
As police fired water cannon at hundreds of demonstrators protesting in the centre of Brussels against Mr Bush's visit, the president praised Europe's efforts to persuade Iran to abandon plans to develop nuclear weapons.
Mr Bush said he was being offered "good advice" by Europeans: "Great Britain, Germany and France are negotiating with the ayatollahs to achieve our common objective. This notion that the US is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. Having said that, all options are on the table."
Mr Bush's remarks echoed a setpiece speech on Monday, in which he applauded European diplomacy and made clear that, for the moment, he had no intention of attacking Iran.
But his colourful language last night showed that he felt the need to do more to reassure Europeans.
Mr Bush experienced at first hand the widespread European anger at his presidency; he could hear protesters as he left the headquarters of the European Council. Police fired water cannon at demonstrators after a petrol bomb landed among police in riot gear, injuring a police officer.
Behind a ring of security, European leaders were all smiles as Mr Bush embarked on the most intense day of his trip, with back-to-back summits at the headquarters of Nato and the EU. But the limits of the new transatlantic love-in were highlighted yesterday when Jacques Chirac, the French president, and Mr Bush clashed over China.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1423227,00.html
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Next stop Bratislava and a testing time with his pal
Putin Simon Tisdall
Wednesday February 23, 2005
The Guardian
George Bush's new politics of conciliation will face its biggest test tomorrow when the US leader meets Russia's insecure and recalcitrant president, Vladimir Putin, in Bratislava.
Despite a good personal relationship with Mr Bush, Mr Putin's authoritarian domestic policies and frequently oppositional international stance have caused increasing alarm in Washington.
His weekend championing of Iran's nuclear programme typified the broader problem. It looked like a deliberate eve-of-summit provocation and recalled the angry rift over Iraq. Officials admit that, preoccupied by 9/11 and the Middle East, the Bush administration took its eye off the Russian ball during its first term.
Mr Putin's backing for America's "war on terror", which suited his purposes in Chechnya, and for counter-proliferation efforts, as in North Korea, meant his more objectionable actions largely escaped critical US scrutiny.
But the relentless eastward expansion of the EU and Nato, coupled with western-backed democratic uprisings in Ukraine and Georgia, has fostered fear and resentment in the Kremlin, resurrecting historical concerns about encirclement.
"It could easily be argued that Russia has gained no specific, lasting benefits from the pro-American policies and concessions proclaimed by Putin in the two years after September 11," wrote Robert Cottrell in the New York Review of Books.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,2763,1423092,00.html
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MPs force Qureia to purge ministers
Chris McGreal in Ramallah
Wednesday February 23, 2005
The Guardian Palestinian MPs have forced the prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, to make sweeping changes to his cabinet, criticised for being dominated by corrupt and incompetent ministers too closely associated with the late Yasser Arafat.
Mr Qureia had sought approval for a government including many ministers from the old guard of Arafat's Fatah party who were expected to be removed with the election of the new president, Mahmoud Abbas.
Mr Abbas campaigned on a promise to end the incompetence and corruption which has undermined confidence in the Palestinian Authority.
Yesterday Mr Qureia said he would present a revised list of nominations today.
"We have agreed that the new cabinet should ... consist of technocrats," he told parliament.
But MPs said they would insist that all the discredited ministers were purged.
"[Mr Qureia] knows who they are and they have to go for the future of Palestine," said one MP, Jamal Shati.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1423109,00.html
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Court to decide fate of comatose woman
Suzanne Goldenberg in
Washington
Wednesday February 23, 2005
The Guardian
The bitter legal battle over the life of a comatose woman which has become a cause celebre for the Christian right entered its final stages yesterday in competing Florida court verdicts.
An initial court decision gave Michael Schiavo the power to instruct hospital authorities to detach the feeding tube which has sustained his wife, Terri, since her collapse in 1990.
However, that decision was stayed when Mr Schiavo's in-laws, Robert and Mary Schindler, won a competing court judgment to keep their daughter alive at least until this afternoon.
Mr Schiavo argues that his wife would never have wanted to be kept alive by artificial methods. However, she left no written will and the Schindlers have fought a fierce battle to keep their daughter alive, insisting she has a chance to recover some cognitive ability.
From a rented camper van across the road from their daughter's hospice, the Schindlers have presided over prayer vigils, harnessing public sympathy to overrule main stream medical opinion and successive judgments from the Florida courts
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1423194,00.html
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Top Nuclear Negotiators to Meet in Seoul
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)
- Negotiators from the United States, Japan and South Korea will meet in Seoul this weekend to discuss resuming nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea after the communist country's leader hinted at a possible compromise, officials said Wednesday.
Resuming the stalled talks gained urgency after North Korea claimed on Feb. 10 that it has nuclear weapons. On Monday, its leader Kim Jong Il told a visiting Chinese envoy that his government would return to the negotiating table if certain conditions are met, though he did not detail them.
``It's inappropriate for North Korea to attach conditions to returning to the talks,'' South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday. ``The North must come to the talks unconditionally and then it can present its differences and all the parties can try to strike a deal through negotiations.''
The meeting, scheduled for Saturday, brings together South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon; Kenichiro Sasae, director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asia-Oceania bureau; and Christopher Hill, U.S. ambassador to Seoul, who was named Washington's top negotiator.
The three allies, which routinely coordinate their strategies on how to end North Korea's nuclear threats through six-nation talks, will try to work out remaining differences, Japanese Ambassador Toshiyuki Takano said in Seoul.
He did not elaborate, but Hill warned this week that Pyongyang could try to exploit divisions if the nations taking part in multilateral discussions do not adopt a unified approach. The other countries involved are China and Russia.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4819852,00.html
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GOP Senators Want Eastern Wash. As a State
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -
If Washington state Sen. Bob Morton has his way, he'll soon be a resident and lawmaker in the 51st state of the United States.
The Republican is the prime sponsor of a measure that asks for a new state to be created east of the Cascade Mountains, using 20 of the current state's 39 counties.
Though the measure has little chance of becoming a reality, it's a further sign of frustration between Washington's east and west that became more apparent during the recent contested governor's race.
Morton argues that Eastern Washington has its own distinct culture, lifestyle and agriculture-driven economy. And he says growth development restrictions and other regulations imposed by Western Washington politicians and bureaucrats put a stranglehold on his area.
``It's not sour grapes. It's common sense,'' he said. ``People who think alike should be united.''
Bitterness over the red-blue divide in the state only increased after the governor's race. Eastern Washington overwhelmingly voted for Republican candidate Dino Rossi, only to see Democrat Christine Gregoire pull ahead in a hand recount thanks to strong support in King County, where one-third of the state's voters live.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4819839,00.html
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Car Bomb in Mosul Kills Two, Wounds 14
Wednesday February 23, 2005 9:31 AM
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) - A car bomb exploded Wednesday in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing two people and wounding 14 others, the U.S. military said.
The blast occurred in western Mosul's Yarmouk neighborhood, said Essam Youssef of the city's Jamhouri hospital, where some of the casualties were brought.
It was not immediately clear what the target of the bomb was. Witnesses said no U.S. or Iraqi forces in the area where the explosion took place.
In a statement, the U.S. military blamed the attack on insurgents, who ``continue to disregard the safety of their fellow citizens during their attacks.''
Also in Mosul, U.S. soldiers shot dead a civilian in a pickup truck who approached their convoy too closely as he was trying to pass it, policeman Ahmed Rashid said. Weary of car bombs, most U.S. military vehicles carry signs warning drivers to keep away.
Southeast of Mosul in Kirkuk, a roadside bomb exploded in an industrial neighborhood, wounding two bystanders, police Capt. Farhad Talabani said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4819858,00.html
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Anti-war protesters plan rallies23feb05
ANTI-war activists plan rallies across Australia to protest about the decision to send more troops to Iraq.The Stop the War Coalition, a network of peace groups and student activists, plans rallies in most main cities on the weekend of March 18-20, the second anniversary of the Iraq invasion.
The largest rally is expected in Sydney's Hyde Park at noon on March 20. Speakers will include former intelligence analyst Andrew Wilkie and author John Pilger.
Coalition spokesman Luke Deer said many people were angry about Prime Minister John Howard's decision to send 450 more troops to Iraq.
"It actually shows the occupation isn't stable and the situation isn't secure in Iraq and they are under pressure to prop it up," Mr Deer said.
"I think what (Mr) Howard has done is a mistake and a misjudgment on his part.
"And he has underestimated domestic opposition.
"It's a wake-up call to people that it's not something we can afford to ignore."
Mr Deer said Mr Howard's specific mention of Japanese trade interests as being a key factor behind the decision was also of concern to
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,12347679%255E1702,00.html
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Stocks weaker on Wall St23feb05
THE share market closed down sharply today hit by a plunge on Wall Street, some disappointing profit results and a possible interest rate rise after the Reserve Bank meets next week.However, mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were higher on news overnight that iron ore prices might be set to rise.
At the 1605 AEDT close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 retreated 34.0 points to 4119.3 while the all ordinaries index fell 35.0 points to 4103.4.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange the March SPI contract lost 36 points to 4107 on volume of 14,494.
ABN Amro Morgans client adviser Margaret Morrissey there had been a "real shakeout" in the market today.
The US market was at its lowest since May 2003, there are concerns about interest rates and then company earnings results with some good and some not so good," Ms Morrissey said.
On Wall Street overnight the Dow Jones industrial average dived 174.02 points to 10,611.20.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 17.43 points at 1184.16. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 28.30 points at 2030.32.
Ms Morrissey said the main miners were the "saviours" of the market today.
"They were unbelievably strong," she said.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,12347499%255E1702,00.html
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Prehistoric croc unearthed
By Roberta Mancuso23feb05
RESEARCHERS have discovered a new species of prehistoric crocodile after unearthing 40-million-year-old remains in south-east
Queensland.
The find – consisting of two nearly complete skulls, a lower jaw and bits of legs, ribs and claws – has excited researchers who hope to study them to shed light on the evolution of one of the world's most dangerous killers.
"It's important because it belongs to the earliest known genus of what's called Mekosuchinae – a big group of extinct crocodiles that dominated Australia and developed a large degree of diversity," Monash University researcher Lucas Buchanan said.
"These guys are important and exciting because they're some of the earliest ones, so they're really going to help us understand where the diversity came from and also look at the origins of this group because it's so very unclear."
Mr Buchanan, who was the first to identify the crocodile, said the fossilised remains were found in a lake bed 20km north of Gladstone last year.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,12346740%255E1702,00.html
This one is for you Christy
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Iraq troops bid for trade deal:
Brown23feb05PRIME Minister John Howard was sending more troops to Iraq in a bid to boost the chances of an Australia-Japan free trade agreement, Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown said today.The Federal Government said yesterday it was to send a new contingent of 450 troops to Al Muthanna province in Iraq to guard Japanese engineers carrying out reconstruction work.
Senator Brown said Mr Howard was sending the troops because he wanted to shore up Japanese government support for a free trade agreement.
"This is not about the Iraqi issue this is about promoting the prime ministerial interest in free trade with the Japanese in the lead-up to his visit to that country," he said.
Mr Howard was acting like a dictator by ordering the troop deployment without consulting Parliament, Senator Brown said.
"(There is) no parliamentary debate, this is the dictator Prime Minister Howard," he said.
"He is totally responsible for the welfare of our good and true Australians – 450 now being deployed for reasons of diplomacy which suit the Prime Minister, but really are unnecessary and not in the interests of the Australian defence forces."
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,12346516%255E1702,00.html
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Bush blasts Russian bearBruce
Wilson23feb05
ON day one of his trip to bond with sceptical Europe, President George W. Bush reached out to his critics, and put Russia next in the firing line for reform.Mr Bush wooed the leaders of France and Belgium – bitter Iraq war opponents – and flattered Europeans with a speech that endorsed a strong, united Europe as a US partner.
He gave few policy concessions of substance and warned Russia ahead of Thursday's meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
"Russia's future lies within the family of Europe and the transatlantic community," Bush said. "Yet, for Russia to make progress as a European nation, the Russian government must renew a commitment to democracy and the rule of law.
"We recognise that reform will not happen overnight. We must always remind Russia, however, that our alliance stands for a free press, a vital opposition, the sharing of power and the rule of law," Mr Bush said.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,12339702%255E663,00.html
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Howard under fire for 'duping' voters
Matt PriceFebruary 23, 2005
THE federal Government's decision to send extra troops to Iraq has reignited a domestic political firestorm over the war, with all opposition parties accusing John Howard of duping voters at the last election.Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said the Prime Minister should have rejected requests from Japan and Britain to boost Australia's military presence in the war-torn country.
"Australia's position has been made, I thought, amply clear to our allies over the course of the last couple of years. And that is, they have seen the upper levels of Australia's engagement," Mr Beazley said. The Opposition Leader said Labor remained opposed to the latest deployment and understood why other countries such as The Netherlands were withdrawing troops from Iraq.
"There are many people in this country who will think John Howard should have levelled with them about these intentions in the election campaign only four months ago," Mr Beazley said. "If he was prepared to contemplate this dramatic increase in Australian involvement in Iraq, he should have told them before they voted that he was of that cast of mind."
Mr Beazley said the federal Government's priorities ought to be in the region and feared Australian troops could become involved in a messy civil war in Iraq.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12343122%5E2702,00.html
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Suspect package still being examined
February 23, 2005
A MELBOURNE shopping centre remains off-limits tonight while a police bomb response unit examines a suspicious package.Bomb squad members sent a robot into the plaza to examine the parcel found inside the complex earlier today.
A police spokeswoman said no-one was allowed to remain inside the Knox City Shopping Centre in Melbourne's outer east.
Earlier this evening Knox Police Inspector Bruce Dickie told reporters: "We're still examining the package and the further examinations we've done lead us to belive it's something to be treated very seriously.
"It's more than a simple prank. Somebody who has done this has done this to cause concern in the community."
Hundreds of people were evacuated following the discovery of the package about 10.30am (AEDT).
A Victoria Police spokeswoman would not confirm the nature of the package, but said it was found on level one and members of the elite police Special Operations Group and the Bomb Response Squad were sent in.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12350859%255E1702,00.html
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Diggers' quiet but deadly mission
Peter Alford, Tokyo
February 23, 2005
THE desert province of Al- Muthanna has been Iraq's smallest and least troublesome since the occupation - an important consideration in assigning the Japanese contingent, whose armed capability is strictly limited by the national constitution to self-defence.However, the area is not completely trouble-free and the Dutch contingent which has protected the Japanese Self Defence Forces troops since last February lost a sergeant to a grenade attack in May and another in August during a skirmish with insurgents.
A local security policeman was killed in a post-election attack on a police station at Samawah, the provincial capital on February 2.
The Japanese, who currently have about 550 SDF troops rebuilding schools, roads and water facilities, have not suffered any casualties though their camp at Samawah has been targeted about 10 times.
In the most potentially serious incident a rocket propelled grenade landed in the middle of the camp but failed to explode.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12343144%255E2703,00.html
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UK arms firm will not sell to China
February 23, 2005
LONDON: Britain's largest defence company, BAE Systems, will not sell arms to China - even if the European Union lifts its arms embargo - for fear of jeopardising its extensive US interests.The disclosure yesterday added fuel to the long-running dispute between the US and EU, which threatens to sour the new mood of unity during George W.Bush's European tour.
The US President conspicuously failed to mention the dispute during his wide-ranging speech in Brussels.
But Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner and a confidant of Tony Blair, warned Washington not to pick a fight on the embargo because "it cannot win".
Richard Lugar, the relatively moderate Republican chairman of the US Senate foreign relations committee, hit back in a newspaper interview by declaring he would support curbs on sales of high-tech military equipment to the EU if it lifted the embargo.
The suggestion by BAE Systems that it would prefer to protect its huge US investments rather than pursue new markets in China suggests the US threat is biting.
BAE Systems has greater potential to sell arms to China than any other British company, but senior company sources said there was no question of taking any action that might imperil the relationship with the US.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12343176%255E2703,00.html
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Troops raring to go to Iraq
February 23, 2005 - 6:40PM
Army commanders expect to be besieged by soldiers wanting to be posted to Iraq, despite the danger of attack by insurgents, a military chief says.
A 10-strong army reconnaissance team will leave Darwin for Iraq within a week to 10 days to prepare for Australia's new deployment of 450 troops, said Brigadier John Cantwell, commander of the 1st Brigade in Darwin.
Australia will send the new force in 10 weeks' time to protect Japanese military engineers in the southern province of Al Muthanna.
Many of the troops will be from the 1st Brigade in Darwin and Brig Cantwell said there would be no shortages of soldiers keen to go.
He said of the mood at Darwin's Robertson Barracks: "It's a great sense of anticipation and a lot of people wanting to be selected to carry out this mission."
He expected commanders to be "besieged" by soldiers who want to go.
One of the tasks of the reconnaissance team will be to assess the danger in Al Muthanna.
While the province is relatively peaceful, there have been fatal attacks by insurgents on Dutch troops, who the Australians will be replacing.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Breaking-News/Troops-raring-to-go-to-Iraq-commander/2005/02/23/1109046981653.html
I will believe that when it shown to me
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All 26 NATO allies will help train Iraq troops
NATO's secretary-general said all 26 allies were working together to help train Iraq's military, a decision designed to symbolise the end to the bitter divisions wrought by the Iraq war.
"All 26 allies are working together to respond to the Iraqi government's request for support by training Iraqi security forces, providing equipment and helping to fund NATO's efforts," Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told a NATO summit.
NATO has been struggling for months to get a commitment from all allies to join the mission.
However, in a sign of lingering differences, France, Germany and other opponents to the Iraq war will not send instructors to Iraq, limiting their contribution to training outside the country or funding for the operation.
The mission inside Iraq is modest. It comprises just over 100 instructors training senior Iraqi officers in Baghdad's heavily protected "Green Zone." Over half the NATO instructors are American.
Alliance planners hope to expand that operation to 160 instructors, which they say is adequate for the current phase of the mission. They hope for a further expansion in September to allow NATO to help run a military academy outside the Iraqi capital - if it can find the troops and money needed.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/After-Saddam/All-26-NATO-allies-will-help-train-Iraq-troops/2005/02/22/1109046924505.html
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For Some, a Loss in Iraq Turns Into Antiwar Activism
Gold Star Families Band Together to 'Make People Care'
VACAVILLE, Calif. --
Five minutes after President Bush began his State of the Union address, Cindy Sheehan clicked off her television set.
She would read the transcript, watch the salute to the parents of a Marine killed in Fallujah, chew over such words as "ultimate sacrifice" and "fight against tyranny" -- the next morning.
But that night, live, in her living room, so close to her son's photos and medals on the foyer wall -- no. It was too much to hear the cheering for the man who had sent her son to Iraq on the premise that Saddam Hussein stockpiled weapons of mass destruction. Casey Sheehan, a former Eagle Scout and altar boy who had joined the Army hoping to serve as a chaplain's assistant, was killed at age 24 in a war he wasn't sure why he was fighting. And more soldiers like him were dying every day. Where was the outrage?
Cindy Sheehan found it where she always does: in other families who have lost a loved one in a war they neither believe in nor want to believe will continue, without end, with the nation's acquiescence.
They call themselves Gold Star Families for Peace. Organized less than two months ago, it is part support group and part activist organization, with members united by grief and the belief that their loved ones died in a war that did not have to happen. They represent a small percentage of the families that have lost someone in Iraq -- 50 families out of more than 1,450.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42498-2005Feb21.html?sub=AR
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_____ U.S. Military Deaths _____
Faces of the FallenPortraits of U.S. service members who have died in Iraq since the beginning of the war.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42498-2005Feb21.html?sub=AR
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posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 6:37 AM
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