] 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.

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Bill Clinton: Trust Tony's judgment

] 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

Does Saddam move first?

I'm going with yes, with a spread of 12 hours.. That is, at least 12 hours before whatever deadline is set gets reached..

] The death of an American peace protester in the Gaza
] Strip Sunday is raising questions about the Israeli
] army's use of force and highlighting the risks
] international activists take to slow the steady violence
] that characterizes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
]
] Rachel Corrie, a student at Evergreen College in Olympia,
] Wash., died trying to prevent an Israeli army bulldozer
] from demolishing a house in Rafah, where Gaza abuts the
] Egyptian border.
]
] Corrie, who was a member of the Palestinian-backed
] International Solidarity Movement, was standing in front
] of a house wearing a brightly colored top and shouting as
] a bulldozer approached her, witnesses said. "Rachel was
] alone in front of the house as we were trying to get them
] to stop," Greg Schnabel, a fellow protester from Chicago,
] told wire services. "She waved for the bulldozer to stop.
] She fell down and the bulldozer kept going. We yelled
] 'Stop, stop,' and the bulldozer didn't stop at all. It
] had completely run over her and then it reversed and ran
] back over her."

American peace protester killed in Gaza | csmonitor.com

] Saddam Hussein's most important Kurdish ally has
] defected to Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq in what
] officials here say is an indication that the Iraqi
] president's internal support is beginning to
] crumble.

Kurdish ally of Saddam Hussein regime defects

] Wen Jiabao spent Chinese New Year's Eve in a coal mine
] sharing dumplings with miners. Hu Jintao spent the night
] shivering with herders in Inner Mongolia.
]
] There was a dual message: We care, and we're different
] from Jiang Zemin, the departing Chinese leader.
]
] Hu became China's president today, appointed by the
] rubber-stamp legislature. Wen will become premier on
] Sunday in the smoothest transfer of power in Communist
] China's 54-year history. But their crowning glory will be
] overshadowed by China's current president, Jiang, who
] today held onto his post as head of the army,
] guaranteeing him continued influence in Beijing.

China has to urbanize about a billion people.. These are the guys that are going to lead that.

China's New Leaders Try to Change Tack (washingtonpost.com)

] March 14 -- U.S. officials fear that once President
] Bush signals the U.S. is headed to war, Saddam Hussein
] will strike pre-emptively, administration sources told
] ABCNEWS.

I think this is highly likely. The bullet points on this page are the key thing to be interested in. Here are my "gut feelings" in regard to them..

] Specific new evidence indicates that Iraqi activity in the
] Western desert shows the strong likelihood Scud missiles are
] hidden there. These missiles could easily reach Israel
] carrying chemical or biological warheads which could draw
] Israel into any war.

The entire region's response to the war will change drasticly the second Israel is involved. That will likely be the point where things become truly out of control.

] Detailed new intelligence from the southern Iraqi oil fields
] shows that many of the 700 wells have now been wired with
] explosives. These explosives appear to be connected to a
] central command post, so Saddam could easily set the
] wells ablaze.

One way or another, oil prices will go crazy before all is over. Setting the oil fields ablaze is something we are prepared for. We got experience putting them out in Kuwait, and we were not prepared for it to happen at the time. This time we are. I don't think its going to be too signifigant to anything other then the environment, which will be the biggest loser if Saddam sets another one of his blazes. The costs will be very high if we do not have control of these fields within a very short period after this happens.

] Near the border with Kuwait, where 135,000 U.S. troops are
] now stationed, recent surveillance indicates Iraqi artillery
] batteries have been moved dangerously close. The artillery
] is capable of firing shells filled with poison gas.

Those artillery are going to make their first few shells count.. They will be the only shells they get off before they are taken out with incredible speed and accuracy. If there is one thing we are good at, its bombing things. Saddam knows this well. He also knows that if we go in at all, it will be his last days as the ruler of Iraq. Its likely those first few shells will be poison gas.. The Administration couldn't be happier. The second Saddam uses any WMD, Bush gets his "justification" for all this.. Although that will likely have a very limited effect on global impressions of this war. By the time the first shot of anger fires, everyone will have their minds made up already about where they stand.

Bush is going to go through with this one way or the other.. I'm confident of that. I don't think anyone has any power to stop it at this point. The war machine is in motion. Lets just hope this dosen't start WW3 or put us in a worse position then we are right now. The administration wants to shrink the gap. Lets hope they are not being cocky, and that they can actually pull it off. All we can do is hope. Like it or not, we don't have control over this situation. All acts of protest have been completely ineffective, but thats another story...

ABCNEWS.com : Saddam Could Launch First Strike

After a couple months of this, Bershadsky had had enough; she wanted to do something about the jobs she was seeing. So she went to a domain-name registration service and bought a URL for a new site she thought would, if not exactly make a difference in the world, at least make her feel better. The URL Bershadsky registered was fuckthatjob.com. "It was exactly what I was feeling," she says. "It felt right. I couldn't think of anything else to call it."

Funny, yet not so funny story.

Take this tech job and shove it

] Officials at Millstone declared an "unusual event," the
] least serious emergency classification at nuclear
] facilities. They said that while radioactive gases were
] released into the environment, the incident posed no
] threat to people in surrounding communities.

NRC Looking Into Shutdown At Millstone

Everything you need to know about the new Iraq deal in 30 seconds thanks to Elonka. My comments follow.

] The benchmarks listed below would be criteria for Iraq to
] follow within a week or 10 days if it wanted to avoid war,
] by showing it was fully complying with U.N. disarmament
] obligations.

Summarizing for brevity:

(1) Saddam would have to make a public, broadcasted statement, in Arabic, that Iraq has made a strategic decision not to produce or retain Weapons of Mass Destruction, and he should further publicly encourage all Iraqis to come forward if they have any such info, disregarding any orders that they might have received in the past to hide such information.

(2) At least 30 Iraqi scientists selected by UN Inspectors must be made available for private interviews, with their families, outside of Iraq.

(3) All remaining anthrax or anthrax production capability must be either surrendered, or credible evidence must be provided to account for the whereabouts or destruction of known past stockpiles.

(4) All remaining Al-Samoud missiles must be destroyed.

(5) Credible evidence on the purpose of the unmanned or remote-piloted vehicles must be provided, along with a full accounting of the organizations and technology involved.

(6) (wording still being worked on) Iraq must give up all mobile biological production labs for destruction.

-=-=-=-

I think #1 is the deal breaker. Saddam is not going to come out in front of his people and say "I was wrong". That is less likely to happen then him actually disarming.

British Draft List of Iraqi Tasks