Trust Tony's judgment
by Bill Clinton

Tuesday March 18, 2003 - The Guardian

Last October, when I spoke at the Labour conference in Blackpool, I supported the efforts of President Bush and Prime Minister Blair to renew efforts to eliminate Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, and to try to accomplish this through the UN.

In November, the UN security council adopted unanimously resolution 1441, giving Saddam a "final opportunity" to disarm, after 12 years of defying UN resolutions requiring him to do so. The resolution made it clear that continued sanctions were not sufficient and that continued defiance would lead to serious consequences.

The credit for 1441 belongs in large measure to Blair, who saw it as a chance to disarm Saddam in a way that strengthened the UN and preserved the Atlantic alliance. Unfortunately, the consensus behind 1441 has unravelled. Saddam has destroyed some missiles but beyond that he has done only what he thinks is necessary to keep the UN divided on the use of force. The really important issues relating to chemical and biological weapons remain unresolved.

The Guardian | Bill Clinton: Trust Tony's judgment

] Reaction has been coming in from around the world
] following US President George W Bush's deadline for
] President Saddam Hussein and his two sons to leave Iraq
] by 0100GMT on Thursday 20 March or face war.

Quotes from a variety of countries: France, Japan, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Mexico, Canada, China, Russia, Philippines, Iran, the Arab League, Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), New Zealand, and the Vatican. All over the scale, from "we're for it" to "we're against it," to "we're staying out of it and minding our own business".

BBC NEWS : In quotes: Reaction to Bush ultimatum

Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has ruled out German involvement in an Iraq war. Four years ago, however, the Bundeswehr took part in NATO air strikes on Yugoslavia without a U.N. mandate. Why then, but not now?

The Iraq Crisis

] Today there was another rubber band shooting occurrence.
] I want to remind you all that this is not acceptable
] behavior at work.

It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye.

Some companies have no sense of humor.

] Porn and driving don't mix - at least not in Tennessee.
]
] The state Senate has voted unanimously to ban X-rated
] videos from cars and other vehicles if the television
] screens can be seen from the street.

Boo!

AP Wire | 03/18/2003 | Tenn. Senate Acts Against Porn in Cars

] "There was a machine designed for shredding plastic.
] Men were dropped into it and we were again made to watch.
] Sometimes they went in head first and died quickly.
] Sometimes they went in feet first and died screaming. It
] was horrible. I saw 30 people die like this. Their
] remains would be placed in plastic bags and we were told
] they would be used as fish food . . . on one occasion, I
] saw Qusay [President Saddam Hussein's youngest son]
] personally supervise these murders."
]
] This is one of the many witness statements that were
] taken by researchers from Indict %u2014 the organisation
] I chair - to provide evidence for legal cases
] against specific Iraqi individuals for war crimes, crimes
] against humanity and genocide. This account was taken in
] the past two weeks.

See men shredded, then say you don't back war

] Welcome to Starbucks Musical Chairs.
] A Great Game For All The Family

Starbucks Musical Chairs

] During a session of Canada's Parliament on Monday, Prime
] Minister Jean Chretien said, "If military action [in
] Iraq] is launched without a new [U.N.] resolution, Canada
] will not participate."

I have very mixed feelings about all this, but I could not resist saying "Big loss there."

CNN.com - Bush: Saddam has 48 hours to leave Iraq - Mar. 17, 2003

] An obscure Jewish sect in New York has been gripped in
] awe by what it believes to be a mystical visitation by a
] 20lb carp that was heard shouting in Hebrew, in what many
] Jews worldwide are hailing as a modern miracle.
]
] Many of the 7,000-member Skver sect of Hasidim in New
] Square, 30 miles north of Manhattan, believe God has
] revealed himself in fish form.
]
] Still, the shouting carp corresponds with the belief
] of some Hasidic sects that righteous people can be
] reincarnated as fish. They say that Nivelo may have been
] selected because he is not Jewish, but a weary Nivelo
] told the New York Times : 'I wish I never said anything
] about it. I'm getting so many calls every day, I've
] stopped answering. Israel, London, Miami, Brooklyn. They
] all want to hear about the talking fish.'

The Observer | International | Word is made flesh as God reveals himself... as a fish

] Open acts of defiance by opponents of Saddam Hussein's
] regime have intensified in the past week, with saboteurs
] carrying out attacks against Iraq's railway system and
] protesters openly calling for the overthrow of the Iraqi
] dictator.
]
] The most blatant act of sabotage took place 20 miles
] south of the north Iraqi city of Mosul when members of
] the Iraqi opposition blew up a stretch of track on the
] Mosul-Baghdad railway, causing the derailment of a train.
]
] Before fleeing back to their base in Kurdistan, they left
] piles of leaflets by the side of the track urging the
] Iraqi soldiers who were sent to investigate the explosion
] to join the "international alliance to liberate Iraq"
] from "Saddam the criminal". In a separate incident, a
] rocket-propelled grenade was fired at a train illegally
] transporting fuel from Baghdad to Syria.

Telegraph | News | Iraqis launch campaign of sabotage and defiance to undermine Saddam