Topic: POLITIK - on March 16, 2003 at 11:49:09 PM CET
Fire Paul Wolfowitz
Memo To: Don Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense From: Jude Wanniski Re: The Monkeys on your Back
In case you have not noticed, Don, your deputy at the Pentagon, Paul Wolfowitz, has promoted himself and is now the Defense Secretary, and you are his deputy. We still see you quoted here and there, but Paul has already wrested policymaking from your hands and is making it himself. It is almost as if you have become his press secretary. He was bored with Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden long before the strikes began Sunday, as he is maniacally determined to cut to the chase, “finishing the war against Saddam Hussein,” as his many followers in the pundit community put it.
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Topic: POLITIK - on March 16, 2003 at 11:46:14 PM CET
'Imperial spirit' inspires Hawks on Iraq and Paul Wolfowitz
"Aggressive fighting for the right is the noblest sport the world affords."
So reads a bronze plaque that sits on Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld’s massive desk in his office across the Potomac River from here. It encapsulates much of the spirit that animates the hawks in the administration of President George W. Bush, and their supporters. The quotation is by former President Theodore Roosevelt, Mr. Bush’s favorite president, who led the charge on San Juan Hill in Cuba in the supposedly decisive battle of the 1898 Spanish-American War that, with the defeat of the Spanish Navy in Manila Bay half a world away, established the United States as an imperial power with global reach.
¬> FinalCall... Link (0 comments) ... Comment
Topic: W A R - on March 16, 2003 at 9:33:40 PM CET
United my ass
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Topic: W A R - on March 16, 2003 at 9:30:54 PM CET
Transcript of Meeting Between Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, July 25, 1990 (eight days before the August 2, 1990 Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait)
July 25, 1990 - Presidential Palace - Baghdad
U.S. Ambassador Glaspie - I have direct instructions from President Bush to improve our relations with Iraq. We have considerable sympathy for your quest for higher oil prices, the immediate cause of your confrontation with Kuwait. (pause) As you know, I lived here for years and admire your extraordinary efforts to rebuild your country. We know you need funds. We understand that, and our opinion is that you should have the opportunity to rebuild your country.
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Topic: W A R - on March 16, 2003 at 8:58:56 PM CET
Not Iraq, but Anniston, Ala.
The cache of chemical weapons includes 873,020 pounds of sarin, 1,657,480 pounds of VX nerve agent and 1,976,760 pounds of mustard agent - enough to kill or incapacitate millions.
It has been that way for 40 years. But as the United States prepares to attack Iraq, partly over Saddam Hussein's failure to rid his nation of chemical weapons, Anniston is a vivid reminder that the weapons of mass destruction from the 20th century were a lot easier to make than they are to destroy.
¬> St. Petersburg Times... Link (0 comments) ... Comment
Topic: POLITIK - on March 16, 2003 at 8:00:08 PM CET
Bush Urges Nations to Back U.S. on Iraq
President Bush met with allied leaders in an Atlantic island summit on Sunday and said "tomorrow is a moment of truth for the world" in the effort to disarm Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
He urged other nations to support "the immediate and unconditional disarmament" of the Iraqi leader.
"Iraq's liberation would be the beginning, not the end of our commitment to the Iraqi people," the president said at a news conference with the leaders of Great Britain, Spain and Portugal by his side.
¬> Associated Press ¬> CNN ... Link (0 comments) ... Comment
Topic: SCIENCE - on March 16, 2003 at 6:29:34 PM CET
The science of flirting
THE reason men often mistake the slightest sign of friendliness from a woman as amorous invitation has been resolved by social scientists.
Male over-optimism - often followed by a clumsy chat-up attempt - is triggered by women sending out a series of subtle and highly deceptive flirting signals known as "proteans" when they meet a prospective mate.
Although often interpreted as a "go" signal by the man, these represent only an instinctive attempt by the woman to assess him and work out whether he is worth pursuing. All potential mates are subjected to the same subconscious interrogation.
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Topic: W A R - on March 16, 2003 at 5:41:36 PM CET
Eine harte Nuss
Im Kriegsfall könnte sich Saddam Hussein in seinem Atombunker verstecken. Die USA machen sich deshalb Gedanken, wie man diesen Bunker "knacken" kann - und fahren dazu nach Bosnien, wo ein ähnlicher Bunker steht.
Als Saddam Hussein 1976, damals noch als irakischer Vizepräsident, Jugoslawien besuchte, zeigte ihm der jugoslawische Staatspräsident Jozip Broz Tito voller Stolz seinen Atombunker, der 500 Menschen aufnehmen konnte. Drei Jahre später war Hussein selbst Präsident im Irak und in den 1980er-Jahren schickte Tito seine Ingenieure nach Bagdad, um eine kleinere Version in der Nähe des Präsidentenpalastes zu bauen.
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Topic: W A R - on March 16, 2003 at 4:37:21 PM CET
SWANK BUNKER FOR BUTCHER
This is the underground bunker Saddam Hussein hopes will save his life if U.S. forces begin dropping bombs on Baghdad.
The Iraqi dictator plans to scurry like a rat by hiding 300 feet underground in a refuge that has 9-foot-thick, steel-reinforced concrete walls. Sand has been pumped around the outside of the walls for extra insulation.
Entry to the bunker is through a secret passageway, deep in the basement of his presidential palace.
WHEN the bombs start dropping on Baghdad, President Saddam Hussein will be 32m under ground in a palatial blast-proof bunker.
Details of the Hitler-style bunker, built for the Iraqi dictator in 1982 during the war with Iran, have been revealed.
According to Germany's Focus magazine, the $150 million bunker, designed to withstand missile attacks and bomb blasts, was built by German firm Boswau and Knauer, who built air-raid shelters for Hitler's Third Reich in World War II.
¬> NEW YORK POST ¬> Herald sun ... Link (0 comments) ... Comment
Topic: War and Peace - on March 16, 2003 at 4:16:00 PM CET
Anti-War Protest Pictures From Around The World
Yahoo! News Photo Matches 650
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Topic: W A R - on March 16, 2003 at 3:28:46 PM CET
Chinese sold Iraq 'dual-use' chemical
Despite French denials, U.S. intelligence and defense officials have confirmed that Iraq purchased from China a chemical used in making fuel for long-range missiles, with help from brokers in France and Syria. Bush administration officials said the sale took place in August and was described in classified intelligence reports as a "dual-use" chemical used in making missile fuel.
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Topic: 911 - on March 16, 2003 at 3:08:25 PM CET
Spain links suspect in 9/11 plot to Baghdad
An alleged terrorist accused of helping the 11 September conspirators was invited to a party by the Iraqi ambassador to Spain under his al-Qaeda nom de guerre, according to documents seized by Spanish investigators.
Yusuf Galan, who was photographed being trained at a camp run by Osama bin Laden, is now in jail, awaiting trial in Madrid. The indictment against him, drawn up by investigating judge Baltasar Garzon, claims he was 'directly involved with the preparation and carrying out of the attacks ... by the suicide pilots on 11 September'.
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