April 27, 2003

Conquest but no success for Bush in Iraq

PRESIDENT BUSH'S objectives in Iraq are plain: 1. Invade and conquer. 2. Set up an interim government. 3. End the sanctions. 4. Assign contracts for rebuilding and developing oil resources. 5. Obtain long-term military access to bases.I figure he'll get two out of five. The first one is already a fait accompli. We did invade, and we did conquer. He's already assigned a contract to Bechtel to do the rebuilding. That's his two. They're still diddling around on the interim government and my bet is that the Iraqi people won't accept it. Nor, I'll bet, will a genuine Iraqi government grant the United States long-term access to military bases. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld denies we even want permanent access, but I'm sorry, his credibility is not good. He likes to play word games.

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Anger over Baghdad arms blast

Hospital workers in Baghdad say at least 12 people have been killed by explosions at an ammunition dump on the edge of the Iraqi capital. A US officer said "hostile forces" fired flares into the depot, igniting many fires. The site contained missiles, mortars, grenades and hundreds of thousands of bullets. More

US should focus on Israel's WMDs: Pak MP

Islamabad, April 26, IRNA -- Criticizing the US for leveling baseless allegations against Muslim states, a member of the Pakistan Parliament on Saturday asked Washington to focus on Israel's weapons of mass d estruction. "The so-called superpower should pressure the Zionist regime to destroy its stockpile of weapons of mass destruction which are endangering regional and global peace," said Samia Raheel Qazi. In an interview with IRNA here, she said that if the US was sincere in helping establish peace and justice across the globe, it should rein in Tel Aviv which has been flouting the UN Charter and world laws. Samia Raheel is a member of the National Assembly (Lower House of Parliament) from the six-party religious parties' alliance Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal. She asked why the self-proclaimed champion of human rights (US) was silent on Israel's continuing massacre of defenseless Palestinian Muslims. Full Report