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Russia accused the United States on Thursday of zeroing in on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in frustration at failing to track down al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov also dismissed speculation that Moscow was trying to convince Saddam to step down or that the United Nations had the authority to orchestrate a US-led "regime change" in Baghdad.

DECEPTION BEHIND THE WAR ON TERRORISM

The war on Iraq has been plotted for at least five years by an elite group of US politicians. They finally convinced everybody to accept their plan by exploiting the September 11 attacks, when they claimed that the conquest of Iraq was part of the war on terrorism.

As the Washington Post newspaper reports:

"longtime advocates of ousting Hussein pushed Iraq to the top of the agenda by connecting their cause to the war on terrorism."[1]

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A group representing family members of victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks Thursday condemned the U.S. strikes against Iraq.

Quoting late civil rights leader The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the group -- called the "September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows" -- described the attacks as "illegal, immoral, and unjustified" in a statement sent to the media and families of September 11 victims.

The group said it was speaking out because members know how it feels to experience "shock and awe," and it does not want "other innocent families to suffer the trauma and grief that we have endured."

Russian intelligence has caught the US government using pressure tactics to force the UN weapons inspectors in Iraq to provide excuses for war. The Russian representative at the UN Security Council has received information about the US trying to manipulate UN inspectors. Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov made the following statement at a press conference today:

"On the basis of this information, the inspectors are being subjected to very strong pressure in order to provoke their departure from Iraq, as occurred in 1998, or to present to the Security Council assessments which could be used as a pretext for the use of force against Iraq"

Anti-war campaigners are urging people to walk out of work, school and college on the day war starts with Iraq.

The Stop The War Coalition wants protesters to mass outside the Houses of Parliament if Iraq is attacked and say there is a "clamour" for such action.

A group of demonstrators smeared in fake blood forced police to close the southbound side of Whitehall when they staged a sit-down to coincide with an emergency Cabinet meeting.

Monday has also seen more demonstrations at military depots in the UK as the prospect of military action draws closer.

The anti-war movement is this Saturday organising a repeat of the peace rally last month in London which attracted a crowd estimated to be more than one million strong.

Bush receives message from pope

Letter says war against Iraq will be 'unjust and illegal'

By BENNETT ROTH, Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- A Vatican envoy Wednesday carried the pope's message to the White House that a U.S.-led war against Iraq without United Nations' approval would be "unjust and illegal."

The stern words from Cardinal Pio Laghi, who met for 40 minutes with Bush, underscored the rift between the president, who considers himself a deeply religious man, and a number of Christian leaders over Iraq.

Pope John Paul II has regularly preached against the war and asked Catholics worldwide to pray for peace and fast on Ash Wednesday.

by William A. Niskanen

William A. Niskanen is the chairman of the Cato Institute, a former senior economic adviser to President Reagan, and a long-time defense analyst.

One last time, let me summarize the case against a war with Iraq-hopefully before the shooting starts. Secretary of State Colin Powell has provided substantially more documentation for a view that most of us have shared for some time: Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a liar and he controls some dangerous weapons. But that is not a sufficient basis for another war with Iraq.

The administration has yet to challenge any of the following statements that bear on whether Iraq is a serious threat to U.S. national interests:

Some members of the Labour Government are reconsidering their role in Parliament over the issue of a possible war with Iraq.

Here is a list of the ones who feel they cannot support the prime minister's position.

Tuesday

11:56GMT - Anne Campbell, Labour MP for Cambridge, resigns from her role as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Patricia Hewitt, secretary of state for trade and industry.

11:39GMT - Bob Blizzard, Labour MP for Waveney, resigns as Parliamentary Private Secretary to work and pensions minister Nick Brown.

11:11GMT - Home Office Minister John Denham resigns saying: "I cannot support the government in tonight's vote."

The US Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, was a Director of ABB when the company sold nuclear weapons technology to North Korea.

The Swiss news agency, SwissInfo, discovered that Rumsfeld was involved when the Swiss-based corporation supplied the North Korean government with two nuclear reactors. As one of the biggest share-holders, Rumsfeld profited when his company provided the rogue state with the ability to manufacture nuclear missiles, personally earning a huge fortune.

"Donald Rumsfeld, the US secretary of defense, was on the board of technology giant ABB when it won a deal to supply North Korea with two nuclear power plants."[1]

Matthew Parris

The Prime Minister is right. The whole credibility of the United Nations is at stake this week. If the Security Council buckles under the US blackmail to which it is now subject over Iraq, we can discount the organisation as an independent force for international order.