William O. Beeman, Commentary, Pacific News Service, Jan 24, 2003

Though the plan to invade Iraq predates 9/11, the tragedy of Sept. 11 and the rise to power of a cabal of pro-war neoconservatives gave it life and momentum. Now, writes PNS contributor William O. Beeman, only public opinion -- carefully monitored by White House strategist Karl Rove -- can stop the march toward war.

Along with the concern for 'vital interests' in the Gulf, this war was concocted five years ago by oil men such as Dick Cheney

18 January 2003

French firm capitalises on anti-US feeling to sell cola

Jon Henley in Paris and Jeevan Vasagar, Wednesday 8 January 2003, The Guardian

It is packaged in the lurid red and white of the Stars and Stripes and the logo mimics that famous swirl, but there is something different about this brand of cola.

The clue is in the name: Mecca-Cola. The brainchild of French entrepreneur Tawfik Mathlouthi, 46, it is an attempt to capitalise on a wave of anti-US feeling by persuading consumers to 'buy Muslim'.

The soft drink is now expected to go on sale in Britain after Muslim activists decided the Real Thing left a sour taste.

Ewen MacAskill, diplomatic editor, Tuesday 7 January 2003

The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, yesterday pinpointed for the first time security of energy sources as a key priority of British foreign policy.

Mr Straw listed energy as one of seven foreign policy priorities when he addressed a meeting of 150 British ambassadors in London.

The US and British governments officially deny that oil is a factor in the looming war with Iraq, but some ministers and officials in Whitehall say privately that oil is more important in the calculation than weapons of mass destruction.

Rumsfeld 'offered help to Saddam'

The incriminating picture:

IraqJournal

Declassified papers leave the White House hawk exposed over his role during the Iran-Iraq war

Julian Borger in Washington, Tuesday December 31, 2002, The Guardian

The Reagan administration and its special Middle East envoy, Donald Rumsfeld, did little to stop Iraq developing weapons of mass destruction in the 1980s, even though they knew Saddam Hussein was using chemical weapons "almost daily" against Iran, it was reported yesterday.

Sung to the tune: "If You're Happy And You Know It Clap Your Hands"

If we cannot find Osama, bomb Iraq.

If the markets hurt your Mama, bomb Iraq.

If the terrorists are Saudi

And the bank takes back your Audi

And the TV shows are bawdy,

Bomb Iraq.

If the corporate scandals growin', bomb Iraq.

And your ties to them are showin', bomb Iraq.

If the smoking gun ain't smokin'

We don't care, and we're not jokin'.

That Saddam will soon be croakin',

Bomb Iraq.

UN Resolutions
violated, ignored, by Israel:

1. SC Resolution 42 (1948) of 5 March 1948 [Adopted
at 263rd meeting

(8-0-3) (3 abstentions were Argentina, Syria, United Kingdom)]

2. SC Resolution 43 (1948) of
1 April 1948 [Adopted at 277th meeting -

unanimously]

Global Exchange, August 27, 2002 (updated November 12, 2002)

The White House is set to launch a war against Iraq. Yet there has been no convincing explanation of why a war is needed. The international community is strongly opposed to a US attack on Iraq, leaving the United States with few real allies. A full-scale war against Iraq would isolate the US from the rest of the world, undermine the effort against terrorism, and senselessly kill tens of thousands of civilians. The Bush Administration is determined to initiate an illegal and ill-considered invasion. We the people must be just as determined to stop a war that threatens to tear the world apart.

1) There Is No Justification for Going to War.

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Question: Are we allowed
to buy items from Israeli sources, even though this money
may be used to help the Jewish "war machine"?

Yusuf al-Qaradawi

''Of
war, Islam, and Israel''

By
John Chuckman YellowTimes.org Columnist (Canada)

AT 10AM on Tuesday, history will be made when Yugoslavia's fallen president stands in the dock to face justice before the international war crimes tribunal.

Slobodan Milosevic is the first former head of governmentto have been arrested for war crimes since General Hideki Tojo, the Japanese prime minister at the end of the second war world war.

Prosecutors have long wanted to assign blame to Milosevic for the most heinous crimes committed in Europe since the Nazis. They were prevented from doing so when, for a while, Milosevic appeared to have metamorphosed into a peacemaker, wooed by by the West in the run-up to the Dayton accord of 1995, which ended the wars in Bosnia and Croatia.