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

I posted a fairly angry rant about this earlier. Then I found this. CNN did cover the story. Look carefully at the "before" and "after" pictures. Look at the top of the bulldozer. These are not the same bulldozers. Look at the skyline. This is not the same place. These pictures create a misleading sense of timeline.

So it IS possible that they guy simply didn't see her. Questions remain. Trouble is that neither the IDF nor this American group can really be trusted to tell the truth.

CNN.com - Israeli bulldozer kills American protester - Mar. 17, 2003

] The girl, Rachel Corey [sic], 23 years old from the state
] of Washington, was killed while she was trying to prevent
] Israeli army bulldozers from destroying a Palestinian
] home.

This is the photo pictorial. Something you won't read in the mainstream press.

ei: Photo story: Israeli bulldozer driver murders American peace activist

] 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

This approach also enables the identification of leadership roles within the communities.

Email as Spectroscopy [PDF]

] This is the worst-case scenario for identity theft
] victims. Losing your clean credit history is one thing;
] losing your freedom is another. And victims of America's
] fastest-growing crime are discovering they often have
] much more to worry about than the hundreds of hours of
] paperwork necessary to clean up the financial mess
] associated with ID theft. Sometimes, they have to worry
] about ending up in jail — again and again.

The darkest side of ID theft

] To the loyal expectants who endlessly inquired about the
] launching date of the outstanding game, the first of its
] kind in the Arab world. The good news is that:
]
] The Game is now available in the markets, and includes
] many surprises.
]
] To obtain the game, which includes all that an anxious
] persons dreams of in order to participate in facing the
] Zionist enemy
]
] Call the accredited distributors at your country
]
] Special Force game will render you a partner of the
] resistance.

Special Force - Islamist Video Game

] It appears that echo chambers have emerged that repeat a
] consistent message within each cluster. Ron Burt, a
] leading network expert, explains that a tightly closed
] network "amplifies predispositions, creating a structural
] arthritis in which people cannot learn what they do not
] already know". With no direct bridges between the clusters,
] these divisions are unlikely to change any time soon.

Political Patterns on the WWW - Evidence of polarization

] Six months after President Bush first appeared before the
] United Nations and urged a confrontation with Iraq, the
] United States appears to have lost diplomatic ground, not
] gained it, leaving it in a precarious international
] position as it prepares to launch a war.

U.S. Missteps Led to Failed Diplomacy (washingtonpost.com)