From the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Transfers of major conventional weapons to Iraq, listed by item and country exporting. The PDF file has dates of 1973-2002, but in actuality is only really current through 1990, since there were arms embargos in place after that date, so no transfers were reported.

Iraq arms trade, SIPRI data, 1973-1990

crankymessiah wrote:
] ] The minister also said that coalition forces were
] ] throwing booby traps in the form of pens and pencils into
] ] Iraqi villages and townships.
] ]
] ] "The authority of the civil defense ... issued a warning
] ] to the civilian population not to pick up any of those
] ] pencils because they are booby traps," he said, adding
] ] that the British and American forces were "immoral
] ] mercenaries" and "war criminals" for such behavior.
] ]
] ] "I am not talking about the American people and the
] ] British people," he said. "I am talking about those
] ] mercenaries. ... They have started throwing those
] ] pencils, but they are not pencils, they are booby traps
] ] to kill the children."
]
] I didn't quote the main parts of this article. I just wanted
] to quote this to see if anyone else thinks this is the most
] insanely bizarre bit of propoganda yet.

That one goes up near the top of the list! As well as the accusation that our jets are flying low in a deliberate attempt to cause cracks in the holy tombs inside of the mosques?? I haven't decided yet if that's just complete schizophrenia, deliberate propaganda, or if there's an Edgar Allen Poe "Telltale Heart" aspect to it... Like maybe something is hidden in those tombs that they're worried will be found?

Iraqi official: U.S. lying about progress

] The investigation found that Sarovic knew about and
] failed to stop Bosnian aviation company Orao's illegal
] exports of engine parts for fighter planes to Iraq.
]
] NATO peacekeepers found evidence of the illegal trade
] during a raid in October of Orao, which is based in the
] Bosnian Serb town of Bijeljina.
]
] Following the first U.S.-led war against Iraq in 1991,
] the United Nations imposed a global ban on exporting
] weapons to Saddam Hussein's regime.

Another story about Serbians (in this case, Bosnian Serbs) illegally exporting military equipment to Iraq.

Bosnia leader quits over Iraq arms

] Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
] Birthdate: Nov. 14, 1964
] Height: 5'-11"
] His true passion: (besides family) traveling

Ah, CNN's Bill Hemmer, my latest media crush. He'd probably never go for me since I'm not Catholic, but oh well. He sure makes Kuwait look sexy! ;)

More info on him here:
 http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Nov2000/feature1.asp

Unofficial Bill Hemmer Website

] Russian military advisers have told Iraqi President
] Saddam Hussein and his government that the main Allied
] drive on Baghdad will not take place until mid-April and
] will then come around the west of the city, Russian
] journalists and analysts with strong links to Russian
] military intelligence now claim.
]
] Strikingly, the Russian analysts, whose work appears on
] the iraqwar.ru Web site, believe that U.S. and Allied
] forces are still overwhelmingly likely to win the war and
] that they are performing in a highly impressive manner.
] The reports are described as "based on the Russian
] military intelligence -- the Main Intelligence
] Directorate or GRU -- reports."
]
] A March 31 report on the site revealed that Iraq was
] receiving analytical advice from Russian officials.
] "Russian military analysts are advising the Iraqi
] military command against excessive optimism," it said.

United Press International: Analysis: Russia advises Iraq on U.S. plan

Bowling fails the first requirement of a documentary: some foundation in the truth. In his earlier works, Moore shifted dates and sequences for the sake of drama, but at least the events depicted did occur. Most of the time. Bowling breaks that last link with factual reality. It makes its points by deceiving and by misleading the viewer. Statements are made which are false. Moore invites the reader to draw inferences which he must have known were wrong. Dates are transposed and video carefully edited to create whatever effect is desired. Indeed, even speeches shown on screen are heavily edited, so that sentences are assembled in the speaker's voice, but which he never uttered."

Stupid Academy Award

News in both Russian and English, providing a different spin on the war.

Note: Dates on this site will be in the reversed format, so "01.04.2003" means April 1st 2003.

War in Iraq - Russia's View

Who's Cliff Johnson? Well, if you remember the early days of Macintosh games, Cliff is the guy who designed the "Puzzle Game of the Year" titles such as "Fool's Errand" and "3 in Three". He's a puzzle-designing god (and yes you can quote me on that). Anyway, if you liked the humor and style of my "PhreakNIC v3.0 Code Tutorial," you'll probably like Cliff's style too.

I haven't solved the challenge yet myself, though I have indeed started work on it. But I wanted to let everyone else know about it too. If anyone would like to brainstorm on any sections, let me know!

Elonka :)

Cliff Johnson Treasure Hunt Challenge

] Concentrate on the symbol and when you have it clearly
] in your mind click on the crystal ball and it will show
] you the symbol you are thinking of . . .

Yes, I know it's April 1st. No, nothing's going to scream and jump out at you on this page. But it is a neat numbers trick which seemed an appropriate link to meme today. :)

The Flash Mind Reader

] In wooden cases, labelled 'Ministry of Defence, Baghdad',
] British troops found chemical suits, gas masks and
] nerve-gas indicators. The chemicals, their vials marked
] in Russian, were being tested, but officials suggested
] the material may in fact be designed to check the
] atmosphere for deadly nerve gas.

More information about a link between chemical protection equipment and either a Russian supplier, or some supplier that labels things in the Cyrillic alphabet.

Mystery Chemical Equipment near Basra