- They've pretty much tried it all: blaming Saddam for
anthrax, West Nile Virus, 9-11, and ties to terrorists. They showed us
cartoons of roving sci-fi labs in Iraq's hyperspace (because, apparently,
no one has seen the mobile labs let alone provide proof they exist), movies
of Saddam being kissed on the armpits (sure, that's a good reason to launch
a hygienic war), and played audio of two incompetent Iraqis who just sit
their saying "yes, yes" over and over again.
-
- "Yes," even U.S. Secretary of State Powell's
excitement that the "new" Osama bin Laden audio tape links Saddam
to bin Laden fizzled when the latter called Saddam irrelevant and an "infidel
of Islam."
- So what wag the dog scenario are we to see in the next
few days and weeks? One would think the poor dog is fatigued (you would
be too if you were told to shake your tail to every song and dance) and
has opted for early retirement. Oh wait, where did all the social security
go?
-
- However comic the above may sound (and lamentably true),
the Bush administration has not run out of steam in its endless drive to
invade Iraq.
-
- Wednesday's edition of the Washington Post reports that
U.S. National Security Adviser Condi Rice is exerting maximum effort to
coerce UNMOVIC head Hans Blix to declare in Friday's U.N. Security Council
report that Iraq is in violation and material breach.
-
- "National security adviser Condoleezza Rice flew
to New York this morning [Tuesday] to press chief U.N. weapons inspector
Hans Blix to acknowledge in a Security Council briefing Friday that Iraq
has failed to voluntarily scrap its prohibited chemical, biological and
nuclear weapons programs, according to U.S. and U.N. diplomats," the
Washington Post says.
-
- The Washington Post article goes on to say, "Rice's
unannounced meeting with Blix underscored the Bush administration's concern
that the Swedish diplomat's report to the council on Friday, while critical
of Iraq, may not be decisive enough to persuade wavering Security Council
members to support an immediate move to war."
-
- Rice's efforts come on the heels of Blix and IAEA head
Mohammed Al-Baradei's announcement on Monday that they had seen "the
beginning of a serious effort on the part of the Iraqis, a beginning of
a change of heart" concerning cooperation with the inspections teams.
U.S. officials blasted the change of heart outright and claimed that Saddam
was fooling the world.
-
- Nevertheless, France, Germany, Belgium, Russia, and now
China, have been strengthened by the inspectors' reports and have converged
on a united front to prevent the U.S. from pushing through a new resolution
legalizing an invasion of Iraq. In recent days, on a visit to Paris, Putin
signaled that hey may join France in vetoing any such resolution. In the
meantime, France, Germany and Belgium are trying to present an alternative,
peaceful mechanism to disarming Iraq, while also blocking NATO military
aid to Turkey.
-
- France's position has so irked U.S. officials that some
are considering sanctions, or other punitive measures against European
nations who do not latch on to the Bush doctrine.
-
- According to Washington Post writer Jim VandeHei, "U.S.
lawmakers, angry over France's and Germany's opposition to the administration's
Iraq policies, are considering retaliatory gestures such as trade sanctions
against the French and pressing for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from
Germany."
- Germany is also on the receiving end of "punitive
measures."
-
- Germany announced today that the purported bin Laden
audio message makes no link between Saddam and al-Qaeda terrorists. In
return, VandeHei says "There is also growing momentum on Capitol Hill
to move many of the 71,455 U.S. troops from Germany. Marine Gen. James
Jones, the U.S. commander in Europe, recently briefed lawmakers on an emerging
plan to radically change the U.S. military presence in Europe, in great
part by moving troops out of Germany."
-
- Far from the European focus, the IAEA today decided to
refer North Korea's nuclear intransigence to the Security Council for discussion.
At a U.S. Congressional hearing, CIA director George Tenet admitted that
unclassified material indicates that North Korea has one or two plutonium
devices that are capable of hitting the western coast of the continental
United States.
-
- This marks the first time such a senior U.S. official
has admitted that the U.S. is under threat from a possible North Korean
attack. North Korea also announced that any sanctions slapped on the Marxist
nation would be considered a declaration of war.
-
- Nevertheless, the Bush administration has decided to
ignore the North Korean and al-Qaeda threat and focus on Iraq instead.
-
- Firas Al-Atraqchi can be contacted at: firas6544@rogers.com
-
- Firas Al-Atraqchi, B.Sc (Physics), M.A. (Journalism and
- Communications), is a Canadian journalist with eleven
years of
- experience covering Middle East issues, oil and gas markets,
and the
- telecom industry.
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