New laws and the war have pushed our Islamist radicals underground

Fuad Nahdi, Tuesday April 1, 2003

The fallacy of One Britain has been exposed. Today the nation is acutely divided in its perception over what is taking place in the Gulf.

It all started so agreeably. On February 15 Britain came together like at no other time in contemporary history. Pakistani women shared pakoras and cucumber sandwiches with women from the shires in the biggest anti-war march ever - a postcard image of race relations that no Home Office initiative could even dream of achieving.

A year and a half has passed since September 11th 2001. Now you would have thought that the events of 9/11 would have made non-Muslims hate Islam and the Muslims forever.

You would have thought that the September 11 attacks would have damaged the name of Islam forever but you know what…

It made many people study Islam to understand who exactly the Muslims are and what they’re all about. It made people go out and buy the Koran and as a result many British, Americans and non-Muslims across the world have accepted Islam! The huge interest in Islam since September 11 has brought a massive increase in conversions to Islam as never ever seen before. Now let’s check out the facts:

MASSIVE INTEREST IN ISLAM

The Observer

Richard Norton-Taylor and Dan Plesch, Saturday March 29, 2003, The Guardian

US forces have fired cluster bombs in attacks near the towns of Najaf and Kabala, according to reports yesterday.

US central command said the American army was using surface-to-surface missiles, in an apparent reference to multiple launch rocket systems which Britain's armoured brigade near Basra also has in its inventory.

These systems, and the US army's longer-range tactical missile system, fire cluster bombs which are spread over a wide area.

Campaigners say they should be banned because some of the "bomblets" fail to explode and present a big danger to civilians similar to that posed by landmines.

Joby Warrick, The Washington Post

WASHINGTON, 28 March 2003 — President Bush pledged again Wednesday to rid Iraq of “weapons of terror,” but US/UK forces have so far failed to find proof of Iraqi biological or chemical weapons a week after the start of the US-led invasion.

Pentagon officials pointed to the discovery Tuesday of Iraqi chemical protection suits at a hospital near Nassiriyah as evidence that Iraq’s military had prepared for a chemical attack. Yet, the absence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction — either in the battlefield or in caches uncovered by US troops — has remained a notable feature of the military campaign so far, intelligence officials and weapons experts say.

Steven Morris, The Guardian

LONDON, 28 March 2003 — Platform of truth.

All week sizeable chunks of the US’ military briefings in Qatar have been given over to cockpit video footage of missiles and bombs hitting targets. The US has tried to emphasize that the campaign is “precise” and designed to keep civilian casualties to a bare minimum. Eyebrows were raised Wednesday when, with pictures of a Baghdad shopping area apparently in ruins being beamed around the globe, the US again showed images of military targets being cleanly struck. Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks was several times asked about the Baghdad incident but insisted he had no information, to the growing anger of the reporters.

Tam Dalyell, The Guardian

LONDON, 28 March 2003 — My constituency Labour Party has just voted to recommend that Tony Blair reconsider his position as party leader because he gave British backing to a war against Iraq without clearly expressed support from the UN. I agree with this motion. I also believe that since Blair is going ahead with his support for a US attack without unambiguous UN authorisation, he should be branded as a war criminal and sent to The Hague.

I have served in the House of Commons as a Labour member for 41 years, and I would never have dreamed of saying this about any one of my previous leaders. But Blair is a man who has disdain for both the House of Commons and international law.

25 March 2003

So far, the Anglo-American armies are handing their propaganda to the Iraqis on a plate. First, on Saturday, we were told – courtesy of the BBC – that Umm Qasr, the tiny Iraqi seaport on the Gulf, had "fallen". Why cities have to "fall" on the BBC is a mystery to me; the phrase comes from the Middle Ages when city walls literally collapsed under siege. Then we were told – again on the BBC – that Nasiriyah had been captured. Then its "embedded" correspondent informed us – and here my old journalistic suspicions were alerted – that it had been "secured".

Posted Mon, 24 Mar 2003

Following are details of dead and wounded in Iraq in the first five days of the US-led war against Iraq, according to official statements and confirmed reports.

Here is a day-by-day breakdown of the casualties confirmed so far:

Thursday, March 20

The first day of war, featuring the US bombardment of Baghdad and the initial incursions into southern Iraq, leaves four Iraqi soldiers dead, according to state television which gave no details of how they were killed.

Friday 21

Iraq latest: At-a-glance

[All times GMT and approximate]

Monday 24 March 2003

1950: Arab foreign ministers meeting in Egypt condemn what they call the aggression against Iraq and call for the "immediate withdrawal" of US and UK forces from the country.

1900: UK Government orders orders the Jordanian Embassy to expel two Iraqi diplomats, saying their presence in the country is no longer acceptable.

1850: The US confirms that coalition forces destroyed a civilian bus when targeting a bridge on the Iraqi side of the Syrian border on Sunday - Damascus says five Syrians were killed.

Mark Steel, The Independent, 22 March 2003

I suppose Clare Short thinks she can get across her point of view more effectively by staying in the Cabinet. When civilian deaths go over 10,000, she'll give that Tony Blair such a look.

She seems to have convinced herself that she has to be part of a government that bombs Iraq, as without her they couldn't rebuild Iraq. That will be a comfort if there's a repeat of the incident in 1991, when 500 women and children were incinerated by a cruise missile in a Baghdad bomb shelter.