[pjnews] German and US Firms Armed Iraq
Published on Wednesday, December 18, 2002 by the lndependent/UK Leaked Report Says German and US Firms Supplied Arms to Saddam: Baghdad's uncensored report to UN names Western companies alleged to have developed its weapons of mass destruction by Tony Paterson in Berlin Iraq's 11,000-page report to the UN Security Council lists 150 foreign companies, including some from America, Britain, Germany and France, that supported Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction program, a German newspaper said yesterday. Berlin's left-wing Die Tageszeitung newspaper said it had seen a copy of the original Iraqi dossier which was vetted for sensitive information by US officials before being handed to the five permanent Security Council members two weeks ago. An edited version was passed to the remaining 10 members of the Security Council last night. British officials said the list of companies appeared to be accurate. Eighty German firms and 24 US companies are reported to have supplied Iraq with equipment and know-how for its weapons programs from 1975 onwards and in some cases support for Baghdad's conventional arms program had continued until last year. It is not known who leaked the report, but it could have come from Iraq. Baghdad is keen to embarrass the US and its allies by showing the close involvement of US, German, British and French firms in helping Iraq develop its weapons of mass destruction when the country was a bulwark against the much feared spread of Iranian revolutionary fervor to the Arab world. The list contained the names of long-established German firms such as Siemens as well as US multinationals. With government approval, Siemens exported machines used to eliminate kidney stones which have a dual use high precision switch used to detonate nuclear bombs. Ten French companies were also named along with a number of Swiss and Chinese firms. The newspaper said a number of British companies were cited, but did not name them. From about 1975 onwards, these companies are shown to have supplied entire complexes, building elements, basic materials and technical know-how for Saddam Hussein's program to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction, the newspaper said. They also supplied rockets and complete conventional weapons systems, it added. The five permanent members of the Security Council the United States, Britain, Russia, France and China have repeatedly opposed revealing the extent of foreign companies' involvement, although a mass of relevant information was collected by UN weapons inspectors who visited the country between 1991 and 1998. The UN claims that publishing the extent of the companies' involvement in Iraq would jeopardize necessary co-operation with such firms. German involvement outstripped that of all the other countries put together, the paper said. During the period to 1991, the German authorities permitted weapons cooperation with Iraq and in some cases actively encouraged it, according to the newspaper which cited German assistance allegedly given to Iraq for the development of poison gas used in the 1988 massacre of Kurds in northern Iraq. It said that after the massacre America reduced its military cooperation with Iraq but German firms continued their activities until the Gulf War. Die Tageszeitung quoted sources close to the US Vice President, Dick Cheney, as saying the Bush administration was hoping to prove a German company was continuing to co-operate with the Iraqi regime over the supply of equipment allegedly useful in the construction of weapons of mass destruction. American weapons experts have recently voiced concern that the German Government has permitted Siemens to sell Baghdad at least eight sophisticated medical machines which contain devices that are vital for nuclear weapons. The machines, known as lithotripters, use ultrasound to destroy kidney stones in patients. However, each machine contains an electronic switch that can be used as a detonator in an atomic bomb, according to US experts. Iraq was reported to have requested an extra 120 switches as spare parts during the initial transaction. The delivery of the machines was approved by the European Commission and the UN because sanctions against Iraq do not apply to medical equipment. Siemens and the German Government have insisted that the machines, which are being used in northern Iraq under a World Health Organization program, cannot be used to make nuclear weapons.
[pjnews] U.S. image on the way down
A global image on the way down: U.S. is blamed for others' economic and social misery Brian Knowlton/IHT International Herald Tribune Thursday, December 5, 2002 WASHINGTON The global image of the United States has suffered a dramatic bruising in the past two years, most seriously in Muslim countries but also to a surprising extent among many traditional allies, a major new opinion survey has found. The souring attitudes toward the United States were matched by broad discontent with world economic and social conditions, the survey found. Since 2000, favorability ratings for the United States have fallen in 19 of the 27 countries where trend benchmarks are available,¹¹ said a report from the nonpartisan Pew Research Center which, in association with the International Herald Tribune, surveyed 38,000 people in 44 countries in late summer and early fall. While majorities in nearly every country supported the U.S.-led war on terrorism, U.S. threats of war against Iraq appear to have heightened concerns, recorded in earlier surveys, about an American foreign policy seen as overly aggressive and insufficiently concerned with the interests of friends and allies. Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center, called the breadth of the U.S. image problem surprising, attributing it in part to the United States¹ status as the world¹s sole superpower. When you¹re the richest guy on the block and the most powerful nation on earth, unchallenged, you don¹t have the natural coalitions that unite you with your allies against your enemy,¹¹ he said. Tensions were arising with allies, he said, because we don't have a common enemy to bond us together.¹¹ Reflecting broad discontent based partly in an unusually synchronous global economic downturn, almost all national publics viewed global fortunes as drifting lower. Respondents in only 7 of 44 countries judged their national economies positively. Public issues of chief global concern, in declining order, were: AIDS and infectious diseases; religious and ethnic hatred; nuclear weapons; the rich-poor gap; and pollution and environmental problems. Other survey findings point to complicated and often conflicted views of the United States. The downward trend in the U.S. image, fueled by complaints about foreign policy, business practices and a perceived failure to do enough to narrow the global rich-poor gap, was offset somewhat by persisting reserves of goodwill. The United States and its citizens continue to receive overall positive ratings by majorities in 35 of the 42 countries in which the question was asked and there was a surprising rise in U.S. favorability in Russia. But while many people still admire U.S. technological achievements and cultural exports, majorities in nearly every country said they disliked the spread of U.S. influence. Few people, even in close allies like Canada, Mexico, Britain and Germany, expressed a very favorable¹¹ opinion of the United States. Anti-American sentiment was striking in Egypt, one of the largest recipients of U.S. foreign aid and a country considered pivotal to U.S. policy in the Middle East. The 6 percent of Egyptians with favorable views of the United States were outnumbered more than 11-to-1 by those holding unfavorable views. In Pakistan, which has provided crucial support to the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan, unfavorable views dominated by about 7 to 1. Reaction to the war on terror or the U.S. threats to Iraq appeared to propel some of the sharpest shifts in opinion of the United States. The U.S. favorability figure in Germany, where the possibility of war on Iraq is so deeply unpopular that it caused testy relations with the Bush administration, dropped from nearly 80 percent two years ago to about 60 percent this year; pressure on Indonesia, a populous Muslim country, to crack down on terrorists may have fueled a 14 percent drop in the U.S. favorability rating. The numbers plunged in Turkey and Pakistan as well. But in Russia, which has supported the U.S. crackdown on terror and where a close personal friendship has evolved between Presidents Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush, the rise in U.S. favorability rankings has been large, to 61 percent from 37 percent. Ambivalence to the spread of American culture and values was a recurring theme in the poll. In Canada, for example, 54 percent of those surveyed said the spread of American ideas and customs was bad, to 37 percent who found it good. Yet when asked whether they liked American music, movies and television, more than 3 in 4 Canadians said they did. Similar contradictions prevailed in Britain, Germany, France and other countries. Eight in 10 Americans, meanwhile, said that the spread of U.S. ideas and customs was a good thing. Many people around the world said that the United States did not adequately consider their countries¹ interests. This was in stark contrast to Americans¹ solidly held view that the United States does take others¹ interests into
[pjnews] Peace Movement Gains Momentum
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/1217-03.htm A Los Angeles Times poll published yesterday (12/17) found that two-thirds of Americans believe that Bush has failed to make the case for war in Iraq. The article says, The overwhelming majority of respondents -- 90% -- said they do not doubt that Iraq is developing weapons of mass destruction. But in the absence of new evidence from U.N. inspectors, 72% of respondents, including 60% of Republicans, said the president has not provided enough evidence to justify starting a war with Iraq. THE PEACE MOVEMENT GAINING MOMENTUM AMONG AVERAGE AMERICANS Michelle Ciarrocca, Senior Research Associate As mentioned above, in a recent poll the Los Angeles Times found that more than two-thirds of Americans believe that President Bush has failed to make the case for war with Iraq is justified. This is just one more indicator of the wave of dissent finally being heard and seen throughout the United States. At the same time, 30 members of the Iraq Peace Team -- many of them Americans -- have arrived in Baghdad. The trip was organized by Voices in the Wilderness. While the months leading up to the November elections were marked by the largest anti-war rallies since the height of the anti-Vietnam War movement, media coverage was scarce. But recently, it has been heartening to see -- on an almost daily basis in December -- increasing coverage of the new peace movement. Growing and growing and growing. People are outraged at the possibility of going to war in Iraq and the extremes of the USA Patriot Act, a federal law that has broadened the government's ability to use secret searches, wiretaps and other covert surveillance techniques in pursuit of terrorists. While the usual peaceniks have been out and about rallying against Bush's war posturing, the media is talking about the everyday people joining the movement. In matter of fact, we know the peace movement has always been everyday people, but the media is finally taking note and expanding its own notion of a peace activist. One news article commented on the various groups partaking in the anti-war demonstrations saying, This is what the anti-war movement looks like -- not just the collection of fringe characters and political oddballs some news outlets portray. Yet media coverage seems stuck in a 1960s and 1970s Vietnam War-era frame, with journalists confining themselves to protest stories and visual images reminiscent of those times. The times (and the portraits) are a changing. The Sacramento Bee ran a story on December 5th saying, Anti-War Protesters are Flowing in From the Mainstream. A headline in the Sunday, December 15th San Francisco Chronicle read 'Ordinary People' Join Peace Protests. And the December 10th Washington Post commented on the new Peace Warriors saying, For now, Anarchists, Socialists, Quakers, And More Are Marching to the Same Drum. In response to the anti-terrorist USA Patriot Act, the Los Angeles Times noted the New Breed of Patriots Speaking Up. And in Ann Arbor, the Michigan Daily reported on December 3rd the City Council Votes for Anti-War Resolution. At least two dozen other cities throughout the country have passed resolutions against the war in Iraq. The December 10th war protests were timed to coincide with International Human Rights Day. Here's a sampling of what the various mainstream papers have been saying about the recent anti-war efforts: From a morning blockade of a federal building in Chicago to a lunchtime march to the White House to an evening discussion at a YWCA in Detroit, a cross-section of activists, celebrities and everyday Americans held more than 150 events across the country today to oppose a war with Iraq. Organized by a coalition of more then 70 groups called United for Peace, the events ranged in attendance from several dozen at Youngstown, Ohio, and Mineola, NY to several hundred in Santa Fe, NM, and Oakland, CA. Organizers and participants said the diverse turnout represented a growing wave of popular dissent, even as the country inches closer to military action. (New York Times, Dec. 11, 2002) The extraordinary array of groups questioning the Bush administration's rationale for an invasion of Iraq includes longtime radical groups such as the Workers World Party, but also groups not known for taking stands against the government. There is a labor movement against the war, led by organizers of the largest unions in the country; a religious movement against the war, which includes leaders of virtually every mainstream denomination; a veterans movement against the war, led by those who fought Iraq in the Persian Gulf a decade ago; business leaders against the war, led by corporate leaders; an antiwar movement led by relatives of victims of the Sept. 11, 2002, attacks; and immigrant groups against the war. (Washington Post, Dec. 2, 2002) Who are these new peaceniks, groups and organizations against the war in Iraq? (Obviously, this is not a complete list,
