IRAQ SANCTIONS MONITOR Number 143
Tuesday October 24, 2000
LATEST NEWS++++++NEWS++++++++
US troops in Turkey, Bahrain, Qatar on heightened alert [B]
By The Associated Press Washington--Oct. 23--
U.S. forces in Turkey, Bahrain and Qatar have been placed on a heightened
state of alert because of new indications of terrorist threats in the
region, a senior defense official said Monday. The official, who discussed
the matter on condition of anonymity, described the move as precautionary.
"The reason it was done was the receipt of specific threats against U.S.
forces in those areas, but from sources whose credibility is unknown," the
official said.
The heightened state of alert is for U.S. troops in Bahrain, Qatar and the
Incirlik air base in southern Turkey, the official said, adding that the
move was made over the weekend.
Figuring in the decision to raise the alert level for troops in those three
areas was the bombing Oct. 12 of the USS Cole, which was refueling in the
Yemeni port of Aden when an explosion tore a hole in its hull. Seventeen
sailors were killed and 39 were injured in what U.S. officials believe was
the work of terrorists.
Given the surprise attack on the Cole, "this was thought to be the prudent
thing to do," the official said.
Bahrain is headquarters for the U.S. Central Command's naval forces and for
the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. When the Cole was attacked, Central Command
officials ordered all 5th Fleet ships out of port as a precaution against
possible further attack, and they remained at sea last week.
The Incirlik air base in Turkey is headquarters for the U.S. and British air
patrols that are enforcing a "no fly" zone over northern Iraq.
There is only a limited U.S. military presence in Qatar, with a small number
of Air Force personnel stationed there. The United States also has an
embassy in Qatar.
Oil issues continue to rise as brent opens over 32 usd a barrel
>From RBC NEWS, October 23rd, 2000
LONDON (AFX) - Shares in oil issues continued to firm midmorning, following
the wider market higher, as the price of Brent crude opened above 32 usd a
barrel on London's International Petroleum Exchange, in the wake of renewed
conflict in the Middle East.
Overnight reports said that Israeli helicopters fired on inhabited areas
close to Bethlehem and south of Jerusalem, bringing the conflict -- which
began
on Sept 28 when a Palestinian riot was provoked by the visit of right-wing
leader Ariel Sharon to the al-Aqsa mosque in east Jerusalem -- into its
third
week, with over 125 fatalities so far -- eight of them Israelis.
Meanwhile, an emergency meeting of Arab leaders in Cairo failed to result in
a unified stance towards the conflict: while Iraq, Libya and Yemen called
for
a break in ties with Israel and a jihad, the more moderate Arabic states
refused
to join in with the incendiary rhetoric, "keeping the doors open for the
peace process", according to Yasser Arafat.
The Arab world remains concerned that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak
could appoint Sharon -- an opponent of the peace process -- to government,
in a
an attempt to shore up support.
Iraq urges Arabs to overthrow their leaders after summit
By Agence France-Presse Baghdad--Oct 23--
Iraq on Monday urged Arabs to declare a holy war, or jihad, against their
own leaders to avenge the failure to agree action at the Arab summit in
Cairo. The call came in a communique published in Monday's press after a
meeting Sunday night of Iraq's highest body, the Revolutionary Command
Council (RCC), and the ruling Baath party under the chairmanship of
President Saddam Hussein.
After reviewing the results of the summit which closed Sunday, they called
on Arab masses "to step up the struggle and the jihad in every town and
through all means to take vengeance on (their) leaders, above all Saudi
Arabia and their confederates in the plot".
The summit was "weak" and suspect," the communique said, describing the
outcome as "poisoned and murderous swords brandished against the values of
the great faith of the Arab nation." The Iraqi leadership accused certain
Arab figures, without naming them of having turned into "official agents of
the enemy...to harm, in the name of the United States and Zionism, the Arab
masses." The agents would be "swept away by the anger of the people in
revolt," the statement promised.
Iraq's number two, Ezzat Ibrahim, who stood in for Saddam at Iraq's first
Arab summit since the 1991 Gulf War sparked by its invasion of Kuwait, said
Sunday his country had drawn up its reservations over the outcome.
"Iraq's position on the Palestinian cause is clear: Iraq calls for efforts
towards the liberation of Palestine by a jihad (holy struggle).
"It is only by a jihad that we can recover Arab rights in Palestine and in
the other occupied Arab territories," said Ibrahim, vice chairman of Iraq's
decision-making RCC, directing the holy war at Israel.
Arab leaders threw their financial and moral weight behind the Palestinian
uprising and threatened to cut ties with Israel, but there has been
widespread disappointment in the Arab press that real immediate action was
not agreed.
The summit was convened in response to Palestinian-Israeli clashes that have
cost more than 130 lives since September 28 when Israel's hawkish opposition
leader Ariel Sharon visited a hotly disputed holy site in Jerusalem.
Russia to airlift more aid to Iraq
Text of report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Barnaul, 23rd
October: Humanitarian cargo for Iraq is to be
airlifted from Russia's city of Barnaul in southwestern Siberia, ITAR-TASS
learnt on Monday [23rd October] at the press service of the Altay airline.
The flight was organized on the initiative of the Russian committee for
solidarity with Iraq and the airline.
Leaders of some Altay enterprises and a children's dance theatre will fly to
the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on the same plane. On Sunday, the Altay airline
held talks in Iraq on the reconstruction of the civil aviation system in
that country. Altay is also planning to unveil its mission in Baghdad.
Al-Qadhafi's daughter, Libyan plane leave Iraq after delivering aid
Text of report by Iraqi radio on 22nd October
The Libyan Boeing 727, which carried a Libyan public delegation, led by Miss
A'ishah Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi, left Saddam International Airport this
afternoon following the conclusion of its visit to Iraq. The delegation,
which includes 97 personalities representing Libyan mass and popular unions
and organizations, arrived in Baghdad yesterday on a solidarity visit. The
delegation met a number of officials and visited Al-Amiriyah Shelter.
Iraqi President Saddam Husayn receives Al-Qadhafi's daughter
Text of report by Iraqi radio on 22nd October
Leader President Saddam Husayn, may God watch over him, received Miss
A'ishah al-Qadhafi, who is currently visiting Baghdad. At the outset of the
meeting, Miss A'ishah al-Qadhafi conveyed to his excellency greetings from
her father, Col Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi. She hailed the steadfastness of Iraqi
women and the Iraqi people and their high morale in facing the American
aggression. She praised the scientific distinction of the Iraqi people and
their great achievement in rebuilding what was destroyed by the evil
aggressors.
His excellency, may God grant him victory, welcomed Miss A'ishah al-Qadhafi
and asked her to convey his greetings to her father and family and to the
fraternal Libyan people. He said that the people in Iraq were wounded by the
aggression, but did not care about it, and that they were steadfast and that
Iraqi women in particular had high morale. The Iraqi woman has proven that
she is qualified to play her role in all fields and that she mobilizes the
people in the street and boosts the strugglers' morale.
He added that people in the Arab street enjoyed great determination to
inflict defeat on the Zionist enemy, and that the Arab rulers should learn a
lesson from this great steadfastness and splendid resolve enjoyed by our
Arab people.
Source: Republic of Iraq Radio, Baghdad, in Arabic 1700 gmt 22 Oct 00
Asian Cup: Quarterfinal lineup complete
>From BUSINESSWORLD (PHILIPPINES), October 23rd, 2000
Saudi Arabia's 5-0 thrashing of Uzbekistan clinched second place in Group C
and a quarterfinal game with Kuwait on Tuesday 24 October in Beirut's City
Sportive.
The combination of results in Group C means that both Southeast Asian
nations have been eliminated from the tournament. Thailand,
which was hoping either for a Saudi Arabian draw with Uzbekistan or a
three-goal defeat for Qatar, is the unlucky third-placed team to miss out on
the last eight.
The first quarterfinal pairs Group A winner Iran against the Koreans, who
have been a disappointment so far, in Tripoli, also
today. Japan will play Iraq in Beirut on Tuesday followed by Kuwait versus
Saudi Arabia in the same venue.
Gas-guzzling giant torments the innocent;The sanctions are meant to punish
Saddam, and not the people of Iraq
>From THE HERALD, October 23rd, 2000
BY Michael Tierney
JOHN F Kennedy was the first American President brought up on the
automobile.
His first car, a 1940 green Buick convertible, paved the way for political
spin and image. Harry S Truman was more sensible preferring, instead, his
Chrysler Plymouth. Many years earlier, the obese 300lb William Howard Taft
drove around in an enormous Pierce-Arrow. And President Bill Clinton? He
owned a Mustang.
Americans love their cars almost as much as their Presidents, because they
define administrations as well as people. The first car I ever owned was a
$400 1974 Oldsmobile Ninety Eight. It had chrome, authentic
hubcaps, and evoked an age of scrapbook mechanics and not technology. I was
18
and I raced it from New York to Boston, before it crash-landed, amid an
iceberg of hidden faults, in Canada. I left it to rot at the side of a quiet
road. But I can still smell the sheath of metal that encased me as I drove
along piney interstates, transcending time, in vintage leather and junkyard
transmission bolts.
Since spending adolescent student summers across the Atlantic I've owned
five ageing, American beauties. American cars are like no others; they are a
gesture to the self-invention and self-expression of the American dream.
>From Buick Surreys to '54 Corvettes, their names remind you they were never
intended to be functional, only mythical. Unlike their foreign counterparts
they are not interested in economy, but in muscle. They are fearless and
profane. In their fuel consumption they are sadistic. The Oldsmobile managed
10 miles to the gallon.
Despite this, Americans never call for more fuel-efficient cars. They simply
demand cheap energy as if it were a birthright. In America, like everything
else, these machines are under pressure to be low-rent heroes. What they
really are is a metaphor for greed and consumption in a land where oil is in
danger of becoming an arbiter of
world power.
In the 1970s the Western nations, partic ularly America, were consuming oil
with increasing disregard for consequence, while remaining dependent on
foreign producers. In 1973, at the outbreak of the Arab-Israeli war, huge
price increases resulted following the boycott of oil to Western countries
by Arab producers. Panic was created, generating huge demands, with the
result
that prices were driven higher still. Yet America is still as reckless in
its consumption. Despite its experience of the 1973 world oil crisis,
America is as interested in fuel conservation as it is in offering anything
approaching sympathy with Arab grievances.
Accessing new reserves to tackle the worldwide fuel crisis will always have
a price to pay, yet Iraq, which has enormous
potential supplies, is consistently being overlooked because of UN sanctions
on its oil production. For access to oil reserves in the Middle East there
are two main routes. Either, via those who are in the pocket of the
Americans or, conversely, Saddam Hussein. While fat Americans eat apple-pie
and fill up their utility
vehicles, Iraqi children, used as a synonym for Saddam himself, eat once a
day to fool their bellies. They grow more and more emaciated by an unethical
foreign policy foisted upon them, by America, via the United Nations.
Iraq currently exports three million barrels a day, under the UN's
oil-for-food
programme, on the condition that the funds are used to relieve the sanctions
crippling its population. The latter, of course, is not happening. The
mortality rate for under-fives has jumped from 48 per 1000 in 1990 to 125
per 1000 in 1999. These children and their parents are suffering
catastrophe.
Sanctions and bombings, following the
Gulf War, are simply creating a generation of young Iraqis who detest the
West.
It is estimated that there are 110 billion barrels in proven oil reserves in
Iraq, although the country has been held back in tapping them by the
sanctions. Once sanctions end, or the toppling of Saddam is precipitated,
Iraq can expect to contribute massive resources for the oil-rich Gulf.
Sanctions, of course, could have been lifted very quickly if only Saddam had
complied
with international obligations, via the UN (ironically, America still has to
pay its full UN dues), instead of obstructing weapons inspectors.
But a new round of inspections is unlikely to make Iraq suddenly more
compliant with
visiting missions; neither would they be likely to yield anything
significant.
Saddam is unlikely to grant access to sites of sensitivity.
And what would happen if it were discovered that Iraq was free of weapons of
mass destruction? It's also ironic that the US increased its share of the
international arms trade last year, and now accounts
for nearly 50% of the $53.4bn (#37bn) annual market. The recent hijacking of
a Saudi Arabian plane, which touched down in Baghdad, where the hijackers
gave themselves up, further reinforces the absolute
dichotomy in the way the West views the Middle East. The hijackers'
criticism
of Saudi Arabia, which is no friend of human rights, and whose royal family
are fine bedfellows of corruption, exploitation of foreign workers, and a
lack of free press, was viewed as either an Iraqi plot or and Iraqi
publicity coup.
The Saudi monarchy is basically pro-American and it wouldn't do for America
to speak out against its favourite little subservient oil producer. No-one,
it seems, is reading the small print attached to the rumour that UN
sanctions are meant to punish Saddam and not the people of Iraq.
The glue of community is collective behaviour and, generally, it's a good
thing unless self-interest subverts it. internationally, the community that
is railing against innocent Iraqis is behaving with incalculable
self-interest. The Middle East crisis will continue beyond the current
American presidential race between Al Gore and George W Bush. For the sake
of innocent Iraqis, let's hope America doesn't elect George W Bush. His
father ordered the largest presidential limousine ever made. It was 21ft 9in
long, with a 7.5 litre V-8 engine. Visual shorthand for Frankenstein's
monster.
US air strike in northern Iraq
WASHINGTON, Oct 23 (AFP) - US warplanes based in Turkey bombed Iraqi air
defense targets in northern Iraq Monday after being targeted by Iraqi radar
and coming under anti-aircraft artillery fire, the US military said.
The air strike came only days after Washington and Ankara resolved a
dispute over an Armenian "genocide" bill that had drawn Turkish threats to
limit US use of its Incirlik air base.
It was the first air strike by aircraft based at Incirlik since August 17.
US and British aircraft use the base to enforce a no-fly zone over northern
Iraq.
"Iraqi forces fired anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) from sites north of Mosul
while ONW (Operation Northern Watch) aircraft conducted routine enforcement
of the northern no fly zone. Coaltion aircraft were also targeted by Iraqi
radar, " the US European Command said in a statement.
"Coalition aircraft responded to the Iraqi attacks by dropping ordnance on
elements of the Iraqi integrated air defense system," the statement said.
It said all coalition aircraft left the area safely.
Severe strains in US-Turkish relations eased Friday when the speaker of the
US House of Representatives withdrew a bill that recognized the killing of
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide.
Turkish leaders had warned that passage of the bill would damage US-Turkey
relations, and its defense minister said Ankara might limit US air force
operations at Incirlik if the bill passed.
Iraqi wounded in US-British air raids: Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Oct 23 (AFP) - An Iraqi civilian was wounded Monday in US and
British air raids in northern Iraq, an Iraqi military spokesman in Baghdad
said.
"An Iraqi civilian was wounded in enemy bombardments" of northern villages,
the spokesman said, according to the official INA news agency.
He said "the enemy planes fled under Iraqi missile and anti-aircraft fire,"
adding that there were also raids Monday over the southern no-fly zone in
Iraq.
Since the end of operation "Desert Fox" in December 1998, almost daily
incidents have pitted Iraqi anti-aircraft defences against US and British
planes.
Since that date, US and British raids have left 316 people dead and more
than 900 injured, according to Baghdad.
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