] NEW YORK, March 9 (Reuters) - Former U.S. president and
]
] Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter on Sunday condemned
]
] preparations for a unilateral U.S. attack on Iraq, saying
] it
]
] would be an unjust war "almost unprecedented in the
] history of
]
] civilized nations."
]
] In an article in The New York Times, Carter said profound
]
] changes in U.S. foreign policy had reversed "consistent
]
] bipartisan commitments that for more than two centuries
] have
]
] earned our nation greatness".
]
] Carter, who served as president from 1977 to 1981, said
]
] that during his term he was "severely provoked by
] international
]
] crises."

Unilateral U.S. war on Iraq unjust -Jimmy Carter

] A word of advice to future Oscar winners: Don't begin
] Oscar day by going to church.
]
] That is where I found myself this past Sunday morning, at
] the Church of the Good Shepherd on Santa Monica
] Boulevard, at Mass with my sister and my dad. My problem
] with the Catholic Mass is that sometimes I find my mind
] wandering after I hear something the priest says, and I
] start thinking all these crazy thoughts like how it is
] wrong to kill people and that you are not allowed to use
] violence upon another human being unless it is in true
] self-defense.
]
] The pope even came right out and said it: This war in
] Iraq is not a just war and, thus, it is a sin.
]
] Those thoughts were with me the rest of the day, from the
] moment I left the church and passed by the homeless
] begging for change (one in six American children living
] in poverty is another form of violence), to the streets
] around the Kodak Theater where antiwar protesters were
] being arrested as I drove by in my studio-sponsored limo.

I'd Like to Thank the Vatican...

] By Kristin Hohenadel, Special to The Times
]
] Paris -- When Michael Moore won best documentary for
] "Bowling for Columbine" at last week's Academy Awards,
] his antiwar comments -- "Shame on you, Mr. Bush!" -- were
] met with cheers and jeers. The orchestra cut him off.
] Steve Martin made a joke.
]
] The mood was quite different at the Césars, the French
] Oscars, a few weeks beforehand, as Moore lumbered up to
] accept the best foreign film award. He made the routine
] apology for his high-school French. Then he delivered a
] well-rehearsed, improvisational-style speech in English,
] pausing expertly for the translator. At a leisurely pace,
] he thanked our French allies for the cinema, for French
] fries and French kisses. For helping us in the War of
] Independence and saying no to the war we had not yet
] officially begun.
]
] "One of the best definitions of an ally, of a friend," he
] said, "is that your friend is the one who can tell you
] when you're wrong. So thank you for showing us the way,
] for standing up for something very important."

Los Angeles Times: Michael Moore, the new diplomat

] Let's send Rumsfeld and his hawks to war instead
]
] By Robin Cook
]
]
] This was meant to be a quick, easy war. Shortly before I
] resigned a Cabinet colleague told me not to worry about
] the political fall-out.
]
] The war would be finished long before polling day for the
] May local elections.
]
] I just hope those who expected a quick victory are proved
] right. I have already had my fill of this bloody and
] unnecessary war. I want our troops home and I want them
] home before more of them are killed.
]
] It is OK for Bush to say the war will go on for as long
] as it takes. He is sitting pretty in the comfort of Camp
] David protected by scores of security men to keep him
] safe.
]
] It is easy to show you are resolute when you are not one
] of the poor guys stuck in a sandstorm peering around for
] snipers.
]
] This week British forces have shown bravery under attack
] and determination in atrocious weather conditions. They
] are too disciplined to say it, but they must have asked
] each other how British forces ended up exposed by the
] mistakes of US politicians.

COOK: BRING OUR LADS HOME

] The number of British troops serving in the Gulf could be
] cut dramatically from 45,000 to 5,000 if the US-led war
] against Iraq drags on for at least six months.
]
] "Because of the massive pressures on our boys all over
] the world we will have to consider our commitment in the
] Gulf very carefully over the coming weeks," the Daily
] Mirror newspaper yesterday quoted a top British official
] as saying.
]
] "If this is dragging on in six months' time I would
] expect forces to be cut from 45,000 to 5,000. Australia
] and the US will have to take more of the burden," he
] said.
]
] Britain's army chief General Mike Jackson has
] acknowledged that sustaining British force levels in the
] Gulf was a problem in the long run.
]
] "It's certainly sustainable while we get this job done
] (but) ... not sustainable over a long period of time," he
] said.
]
] Most of the British troops deployed in the Gulf have been
] in the region for two months at the most.
]
] "Our standard operational tour is six months. Whether
] that is appropriate inside the six months we will make a
] judgement," he said.

Britain may cut troops in Gulf

] BAGHDADÜThe Director General for Planning at the Iraqi
] Ministry of Oil has accused the Bush administration of
] plotting to seize the country's oil resources, saying
] "these people from Texas who rule the American
] administration want to send us to ArmageddonÜjust to get
] their hands on the fields in Iraq."
]
]
] In an extensive interview with Iraqjournal.org, Dr. Faleh
] Al-Khyat detailed what Washington would have to gain by
] bringing down the Iraqi government and replacing it with
] a puppet regime. He highlighted two largely untapped oil
] fields in the south of Iraq, saying they constitute "the
] greatest prizes of the oil industry in the world."

It's All About the Oil

] On March 20, 2003 at approximately 5:35 am local time,
] U.S, bombs fell on Baghdad, Iraq. This has been followed
] by days of severe bombing in Baghdad and other cities,
] and the incursion of U.S. and British ground forces in
] Iraq. It has also been followed by huge protests in
] cities and towns across the United States and around the
] globe.
]
]
] There are currently no IraqJournal team members in
] Baghdad. When new material becomes available, it will be
] posted here immediately. We encourage visitors to this
] site to check out the other websites with more up
] -to-date information. Many are listed in the right column
] of this page. Some sources of independent reports
] directly from Baghdad include the Iraq Peace Team, the
] Electronic Iraq news site, and a "blog" or weblog written
] by "salam pax" a young man apparently from Baghdad.

IraqJournal.org - Index

] Mossberg spells it out
]
] It's only a matter of time before someone comes out with
] a parlor game edition of "Are Weblogs Mainstream Yet?"
] The media have been playing this game for months, and
] despite so many headlines hinting that indeed, weblogs
] are now mainstream, the text of such articles seems to
] beg off from that notion.
]
] The SF Gate kicked off the game last July with the
] online-only article: "Blogging Hits the Mainstream, For
] Better or Worse." Now what prompted reporter Joyce
] Slayton to think weblogs were mainstream, way before Pyra
] Labs and Blogger.com were bought by Google? Seems there
] was a class offered last fall at UC Berkeley's Graduate
] School of Journalism on blogging. Bloggers were up in
] arms! "They will destroy everything good about it," cried
] the Daily Pundit.

Blogging Goes Mainstream, Take 258

] The U.N. Security Council yesterday voted unanimously to
] free billions of dollars in Iraqi oil revenues to
] purchase food and medicine for Iraq's people who face a
] possible humanitarian crisis in the war.
]
]
] After a week of acrimonious negotiations, the council
] approved a resolution by 15-0 to give U.N.
] Secretary-General Kofi Annan control of humanitarian
] goods in the oil-for-food program over the next 45 days.
] Some 60 percent of Iraq's 26 million people depend on the
] program for food.
]
]
] Germany, also opposed to the war, helped forge a
] compromise as the chief negotiator for the resolution,
] although the talks showed that bitterness over the war
] could hamper U.S. efforts to rally support in rebuilding
] Iraq.

UN council votes to restart Iraq oil, food plan

] BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Like most Americans, Indiana
] University law professor Jeff Cooper became a news junkie
] in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But
] after a while, learning what others had to say about
] current affairs wasn't enough.
]
] ''I wanted to not only read a lot about what was
] happening, but I wanted to say something, too,'' he said.
]
] So Cooper, 38, launched a personal Web site to air his
] political views.
]
] Cable news came of age during the first Persian Gulf War.
] Online commentary -- or blogging, as it is known -- may
] have found its moment in this second campaign against
] Saddam Hussein.
]
] It is an unexpected turn of events.
]
] Web logs -- hence the geekish contraction ''blogs'' --
] began as cyberspatial diaries on which writers posted
] snippets of whatever came to mind or to their attention.
] Narcissism and tedious anarchy were the order of the day.
]
] Over time the blogs began to take on many of the
] characteristics of privately printed 19th century
] pamphlets -- places where overlooked or simply eccentric
] preoccupations could be aired.

'Blogs' and the Internet come of age in Iraqi war