Wednesday, March 19th, 2003
NON-IRAQ DEPARTMENT Nat Hentoff discusses the Asian-American perspective on U. of Michigan’s affirmative action program.
Archive for March 19th, 2003
Wednesday, March 19th, 2003
REMEMBER THESE WORDS WHEN WE OPEN IRAQ’S WEAPONS VAULTS
From the AP “….Before Annan closed the three-hour meeting, the world’s staunchest opponents of invading Iraq told the Security Council there was no proof Saddam Hussein posed a threat.
“If today, we really had indisputable facts demonstrating that from the territory of Iraq there was a direct threat to the United States,” Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Wednesday, his country would use “any means” to help.
But no proof has been produced, Ivanov said, and the Security Council had been brushed aside.
His determined remarks were coordinated with the foreign ministers of France and Germany, who also addressed the council in a symbolic protest that was highly unlikely to affect Washington’s resolve to topple the Iraqi president.
“Germany emphatically rejects the impending war,” Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said. Iraqi was slow and misleading during the inspection process, but can such tactics “seriously be regarded as grounds for war?” he asked.
Yes.
Wednesday, March 19th, 2003
IRAQ BEGINS TO CRACK
Courstesy of Andrewsullivan.com
Mass desertions weaken Iraqi defences
From David Sharrock in Northern Kuwait
Masses of Iraqi soldiers are deserting and senior members of President Saddam Hussein’s ruling family circle are defecting as the countdown to a British and US invasion reaches its final hours.
In northern Iraq, on the border with Kurdistan, up to three-quarters of some Iraqi regiments have already fled.
In the mainly Shia Muslim south, Kuwaiti border guards are having to turn Iraqi soldiers back – telling them that they must wait until an attack begins before they can surrender.
And in a highly significant development in Baghdad a half-brother of President Saddam, who is regarded as the dictator’s closest adviser, has fled in the past week to Syria.
Sab’awi Ibrahim Hasan Al-Tikriti, who is regarded in the United States as a possible war criminal, has sought refuge in Damascus. His flight from Baghdad suggests “fractures developing within the regime”, according to a secret-level intelligence report which The Times has seen.
The reports, which are updated at least four times daily and distributed among senior British and US officers paint a picture of the dying hours of Saddam’s 30-year iron grip on Iraq as it finally and dramatically falls apart, even before the British and US invasion gets underway.
“We are looking at wholesale desertions in some areas,” said an intelligence officer.
Wednesday, March 19th, 2003
WAR !
Drudge reports units are engaged in fighting near Basra. FOXnews reported at 12:05 EST that Iraq denies rumors that Tariq Aziz has been shot or defected to the Allied coalition. No confirmation of either story elsewhere.
Wednesday, March 19th, 2003
SAUDIS PRESS EXILE OPTION ON BAGHDAD Saddam’s only viable long-term option. North Korea has already offered Saddam ” a mountain ” in which to build a sanctuary.
Saudi Arabia Proposes Exile for Saddam to Stop War
By Fahd al-Frayyan
RIYADH (Reuters) – U.S. ally Saudi Arabia has proposed for the first time that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein should go into exile as a last-ditch effort to avert war, a Saudi diplomatic source said on Wednesday.
“The kingdom, and other parties, are exerting maximum effort to prevent a devastating war and they have proposed the idea of exile for Saddam and securing a safe haven for him and his family,” the source told Reuters.
The United States has issued Saddam with an ultimatum to quit Iraq with his two sons by early Thursday Baghdad time or face an invasion by some 280,000 U.S. and British troops.
Saddam and his son Qusay have rejected the demand.
Saudi Arabia is the second Gulf Arab state to call for Saddam to step down, but the diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the kingdom was not planning to offer the Iraqi president refuge.
Earlier this month, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said Saudi Arabia had already offered sanctuary to “enough people” including Pakistan’s former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, and former Ugandan President Idi Amin.
The United Arab Emirates proposed earlier this month that the Iraqi leadership should go into exile, but Arab and Islamic summits refused to discuss the initative.
Saudi Arabia fears a war on its neighbor could carve Iraq up along potentially destabilizing ethnic and religious lines. The kingdom, ruled by Sunni Muslims, is especially worried about a Shi’ite Muslim power center emerging along its border.
Saudi Arabia is home to some 5,000 U.S. troops but the kingdom, fearing a backlash from a population already enraged at the United States for its support for Israel, has repeatedly said it would not take any part in a war on its neighbor.
It was not immediately clear if the Saudi exile proposal was intended for domestic consumption or was a serious attempt at persuading Saddam to leave.
