>the Saudi and Kuwaiti regimes are behind the drafting of the council's final >statement, especially the part concerning Iraq. Therefore, the lies, demands >and fabrications contained in this statement show not only how far these two >regimes have gone in their treacherous behaviour towards Iraq, but also >their determination to kill more Iraqi children, men and women, and destroy >their houses and >properties. > >The official spokesman for the Ministry of Culture and Information added: >Although these two agent regimes have shown all their hatred and evil-intent >towards Iraq in their final statements, they are totally deluded if they >think their offences and rude lies can provide a cover for their resounding >scandalous actions or distract attention from those actions after Iraq >revealed their complicity and partnership in the daily US-British aggression >and their financing of this aggression and wasting the money of the Arab >people in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to perpetuate the unjust siege, which has >been imposed on Iraq for 10 years. > >Source: Iraqi TV, Baghdad, in Arabic 1700 gmt 3 Sep 00 > > >Iraq denies backing Iranian opposition > >The Iraqi Foreign Ministry on Sunday angrily denied an Iranian accusation >that it backed Iranian opposition groups, Iraqi radio reported. > >The ministry was responding to remarks by leading Iranian cleric Akbar >Hashemi-Rafsanjani at Friday prayers in which he accused Iraq of "secretive >and mischievous moves". > >"Iraq categorically rejects these unsubstantiated Iranian claims and asserts >that any act by any Iranian opposition group against the Iranian authorities >is an internal Iranian affair, which Iraq has nothing to do with," a Foreign >Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying. > >The official added that Iran itself provided "political and media cover and >financial assistance to saboteurs and dissidents inside Iraq". > Source: Republic of Iraq Radio, Baghdad, in Arabic 3 Sep 00 > > >Iraq says US, British warplanes bomb civilian installations in south > >BAGHDAD, Sept 2 (AFP) - US and British warplanes bombarded civilian >installations in Iraq on Saturday, a Baghdad military spokesman said without >giving any details on possible casualties or damages. > >The spokesman, quoted by the official INA news agency, said "enemy" planes >from bases in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia flew 24 sorties over southern >provinces. > >They "bombarded our civilian and service installations," he said. > >He said Iraqi anti-aircraft units fired on the planes, "forcing them to flee >back to their bases." > > >The United States and Britain maintain planes at bases in Kuwait, Saudi >Arabia and Turkey, from which they patrol no-fly zones over southern and >northern Iraq established after the 1991 Gulf War. > > >The strikes have killed 315 Iraqis and wounded more than 900 since the end >of 1998, the Iraqi government says. > > >Italian jailed for Iraq flight >From BAHRAIN TRIBUNE, September 1st, 2000 > >A Jordanian court sentenced in absentia an Italian pilot to three years in >jail for flying a light plane to Baghdad last April in defiance of UN >sanctions, local newspapers reported yesterday. They said Nicola Trivoni, >who was found guilty of breaching Jordan's airspace, was also fined 10,000 >dinars ($14,000) by the court on Tuesday. Jordanian security forces held >Trivoni after his plane was intercepted on its return from Baghdad in early >April. He was released and allowed to return home after several days of >interrogation but authorities said they would pursue a legal case against >him. > > >Russian airline ready to resume flights to Iraq this year > >Excerpts from report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS > >Moscow, 31st August: A Russian airline is ready to resume direct flights >between Moscow and Baghdad already in 2000, even before international >sanctions imposed on Iraq are lifted. > >"Vnukovo Airlines (VAL) is ready for resumption and we are planning two >flights a week with the use of two or three aircraft," VAL deputy board >chairman Sergey Isakov told ITAR-TASS on Thursday [31st August]. > >However, it is up to the Russian government to decide when to launch flights >to Baghdad's international Saddam airport and >which company - VAL or the biggest national air carrier Aeroflot - will do >the job. > > Nevertheless, Isakov claimed that VAL had "a moral right" to take to an >Iraqi route because it had made its first sanction-era flight to >war-battered country as early as 1997... > >"As a matter of fact, international sanctions do not forbid foreign air >companies to make flights to Iraq, since the blockade is aimed at Iraq's >national airline. But companies have been somewhat unwilling to fly to Iraq >over the past years," he said. > > >MISCELLANY++++++++++++++++++++++ > >* IRAQ POLICY DOESN'T STAND UP TO INSPECTION (Chicago Tribune) >Steve Chapman , August 27, 2000 > >The United States is currently providing help to a number of nations >engulfed in humanitarian crises, including Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Bosnia, and >I can think of another that certainly fits the bill. In the aftermath of >wars that wrecked the economy, its people have suffered widespread >malnutrition, epidemics of disease, and soaring child and infant mortality. > >This country would be a perfect candidate for American help--if it weren't >Iraq. > >In the 10 years since Saddam Hussein launched his ill-fated invasion of >Kuwait, Iraqis have had to bear the burden an international economic >embargo. The embargo, championed mainly by Washington, has largely failed to >achieve its objectives, but every failure is cited as proof that it must >continue. > >Continue it probably will, because Hussein refuses to meet our price for >lifting the sanctions. Last week, the UN assembled a new team of arms >inspectors who are supposed to go into Iraq and make sure it has no nuclear, >chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). "If the Iraqis >don't comply," threatened a U.S. official, "the sanctions will stay in >place." But the government in Baghdad promptly advised the UN to go take a >long walk off a short pier. > >This response was no surprise. Hussein is about as likely to accede to our >demands as he is to star in a Broadway musical. In fact, the only reason to >propose new inspections is for the pleasure of seeing Iraq reject them, >giving us an excuse to maintain our policy. > >Hussein is quite willing to weather the sanctions in order to continue his >effort to acquire armaments we don't want him to have. He's been doing that >for 10 years now. The only way he would accept international monitors is if >he were confident he could prevent them from carrying out their mission--not >because he's ready to go straight and wants his change of heart confirmed. > >The UN inspectors were inside Iraq for years, and though they found a lot of >forbidden munitions and facilities, Hussein managed to keep them from >finding everything they were looking for. As RAND Corp. analyst Daniel Byman >has noted, the inspections "never led to the ultimate success: a complete >accounting of Iraq's programs and the destruction of all WMD materials." For >all our trouble, Iraq is still presumed to have chemical and biological >weapons, if not nuclear ones. > >So we are back to the usual minuet: We demand cooperation on arms >inspections, he refuses, and we mete out punishment, trying to starve or >bomb Iraq into submission--neither of which ever works. In the end, things >are the same as they were before. > >That may be frustrating for us, but it's really no picnic for the people of >Iraq, whose country has been turned into a permanent disaster area. As the >organization Human Rights Watch reported earlier this year, the sanctions >carry "a high human price, paid primarily by women and children. The food >rationing system provides less than 60 percent of the required daily calorie >intake, the water and sanitation systems are in a state of collapse, and >there is a critical shortage of life saving drugs." > >Thanks to the lack of clean water, diseases like cholera have become >commonplace. Malnutrition is rampant. Infant and child mortality has more >than doubled in the last decade. Hundreds of thousands of people have died >due to this multitude of woes. > >American policymakers disavow any blame for such consequences, saying it >rests entirely on Saddam Hussein, who has diverted his country's meager >resources into building up his military arsenal rather than alleviating the >misery of his subjects. But even UN experts admit that life in Iraq would be >much less grim without the embargo. > >Of course, there are unfortunate occasions when we have to inflict hardship >on innocent people to achieve something vital. In this case, though, we >haven't accomplished our goal, and we're not about to. That makes it hard to >justify long-distance torture of ordinary Iraqis, who have no more control >over their leader than we do. > >Absent a U.S. invasion, we ultimately can't deprive Hussein of weapons of >mass destruction, any more than we were able to deprive Stalin or Mao. What >we can do to him is exactly what we did with those enemies: Make clear that >any use of such weapons will assure our cataclysmic retaliation. Unlike our >current policy, that one has been shown to work. > >The U.S. government has always said we have no quarrel with the people of >Iraq, only with their leader. Maybe it's time we started acting like it. > >Mariam Appeal to launch Iraq International >Work Brigades > >The London based Mariam Appeal recently announced their plans to form >monthly international work brigades who will help build a friendship village >in Iraq beginning May 2001. Mr Stuart Halford the Director of the Mariam >Appeal told ISM that the monthly work brigades will under the supervision of >Iraqi tradesmen and engineers engage in "reconciliation through >reconstruction" in an original form of international solidarity. > >Brigadiers will be in Iraq for exactly one month at a time from May until >October 2001 and every year thereafter. They will have a programme of >construction work in the mornings, lectures and discussions in the >afternoons and social and cultural activities in the evenings. Participants >should be able to speak either English or Arabic (there will be a translator >always on hand) and should be aged 18 and over. And of course they will need >to be fit enough for light construction duties and the heat of the Iraqi >summer. Brigadiers will be asked to make a contribution towards travel to >Amman. All other costs will be met by the Mariam Appeal which will fundraise >for that purpose. > >For further information please contact Stuart Halford at the Mariam >Appeal on [EMAIL PROTECTED] or by telephone on (0044) 207 403 5200 > >Dear friends, >I am sure this online petition to end the sanctions against our Iraqi kin >will interest many of you: > >http://www.PetitionOnline.com/s343/ > >Khaled Bayomi > >ADVERTISEMENT > > >Position Four Brigade Coordinators Required (Full Time - with 3 >months per year on site in Iraq) For the MARIAM APPEAL "Iraq International >Work Brigades" > >Salary £ 20,000 per annum > >To Start January 2001 > >The Mariam Appeal, which campaigns for the lifting of sanctions on Iraq, is >sending a series of International Work Brigades to Iraq to build an >international friendship village that will be used as a centre for >international friendship and solidarity with the people of Iraq. > >The village will symbolise "reconciliation through reconstruction" and will >upon completion, be used by Iraqi children for recuperation, rest, education >and play. The project will enable people from all over the world to express >solidarity with the people of Iraq, who have suffered grievously under the >10 year embargo. The brigades will perform light construction duties (under >the guidance of Iraqi tradesmen) hold discussion and education sessions and >enjoy a variety of cultural and social activities. > >Interested ? think you have what it takes to organise international brigades >? then please contact us at : > >MARIAM APPEAL >Brigades Department >13(a) Borough High Street >London SE1 9SE > > >tel: +44 (0)20 7403 5200 >fax: +44 (0)20 7403 3823 >email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >web: www.mariamappeal.com > > > > > > >Knowledge is Power! >Elimination of the exploitation of man by man >http://www.egroups.com/group/pttp/ >POWER TO THE PEOPLE! > >Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Change Delivery Options: >http://www.egroups.com/mygroups > > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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