Source: Page 149 of White Noise Keywords: "radio," "bearishness," "waited"

From: kym@kymhorsell.com (R Kym Horsell) Subject: NO, NOT THE OIL! #130 (1/3) Date: 9 Dec 2003 Newsgroups: aus.politics

From the World-Wide Resourses of the Western Australia Reserch Senter(*) OIL THE NEWS THAT FITS MY VIEWS #130 =============================== In the Run-Up to World War III, Reliably Reporting the News Relevant to Extreme Right-Wing Democratic Socialists Everywhere (validated for RiteThink(tm) by the Office of Our Man in Can-berra). Our Home Page: <http://www.chickenhead.com/loserscopes/> The Undeniable Evidence: <http://www.evil-doers.org/evidence> Even More Uneniable Evidence: <http://www.abc.net.au/cnnnn/profiteering/terrorthon/> US Centcom News Releases: <http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/release_list.asp> Iraqi Body Count: <http://www.iraqbodycount.net/> [7,918+ as at 01 Dec 2003]. UN Mailing List: <http://www.kymhorsell.com/UN/> Some Of The News, Some Of The Time: <http://www.chaser.com.au/default.asp?check=No> This Stuff Blogged: <http://kymhorsell.blogspot.com/> Also Kindly Archived: <http://www.kymhorsell.com/OIL/ > ------------------------------------------------------------ Selecting latest news stories and other data for you... ------------------------------------------------------------ This incident adds to a sense of insecurity and fear. -- UN envoy to Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi, 07 Dec 2003. 9 children were killed in an air strike on a terrorist suspect. Property at the bomb site was ID-ed as belonging to the suspect, although his body has not been positively ID-ed. This is another monopoly -- in power. We have it in banking and in gas and now we have it in power. -- Yevgeny Gavrilenkov, head economist at Troika Dialog, 07 Dec 2003. Decisive victory. United Russia is headed for a decisive victory in the Duma. Putin has declared it a victory for Russian Democracy. Maybe that should be Democracy, Russian style. You are all participating in a disgusting spectacle that for some reason people are calling an election. -- CP leader Gennady Zyuganov, Interfax, 07 Dec 2003. Injured party. The Communists have come 2nd in the national election. Most observers say the elections were unfair, with state-controlled media choking off support for non-govt parties. Like in Italy. We haven't been getting the full story in the US. The media is covering events -- shootings and bombings -- but not the issues. They are not covering what is really happening to Iraqi people and to the Iraqi infrastructure and how this affects our chances of success here. It's very important to understand the frustration of the average Iraqi and how unhappy they are with their progress over the last 8 months. -- Tempe restauranteur Michael Lopercio, 07 Dec 2003. Lay of the land. Anti-war parents of US soldiers have been checking out the scenery in Iraq. Keep your heads down, people. I have great respect with Ayatollah Sistani. He has been a leading voice in this country for 1/2 a century and I have real agreement on a number of matters that we want to see, as he does, an elected democratic govt as soon as it can be done. -- L Paul Bremer, 07 Dec 2003. Growing power. Islamic leaders have been making a bid for post-war power in Iraq. They say their Islamic Republic will be friendly and pro-Western. We had hoped for 15 years. But after Saddam fell, we knew they were not alive anymore. -- Aysha Chachan Salih, Shorish, 07 Dec 2003. Killing machine. Kurds are facing the reality of a holocaust on a Gestapo scale. Over 2 decades it's believed about 180,000 were exterminated by the Saddam regime and Kurdish collaborators. We expect to see an increase in violence as we move forward toward sovereignty at the end of Jun. -- CiC Iraq Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez, 07 Dec 2003. Pull out. Jun is firming up as the hand-over date for Iraqi self-govt. Saddam is free, he is here, he walks Tikrit in disguise. They are occupiers, they fire on us. Saddam is our father. -- 10 yo boy taunting US soldiers, Tikrit, 07 Dec 2003. The younger generation. I see no difference between us and the Palestinians. We didn't expect anything like this after Saddam fell. -- "Tariq", Abu Hishma, 07 Dec 2003. Ring of steel. As the guerrilla war intensified, US forces have wrapped villages in barbed wire and check ID's of those coming and going. This report shows that despite the focus on terrorism-related crimes, most of the people accused of terrorism involvement are getting little jail time, if at all. -- Sen Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), 07 Dec 2003. The big fizzle. A US Justice Dept report says of 6,400 "terrorists" referred for prosecution, about 1/3 go to trial and less than 900 convicted. This punches a huge hole in the hype the Justice Dept has been engaged in. They are calling people terrorists, on a massive scale, who aren't terrorists. -- Timothy Edgar, ACLU legislative counsel, 07 Dec 2003. ... Of the 900 convicted, fewer than 400 rec'd prison time. If it becomes clear from the response to the Institute and there are a lot of people out there that want me to keep doing what I'm trying to do, I'd be tempted to accept some of it and try and do some full-time [work] in the next y. -- fmr ONA intel officer Andrew Wilkie, 08 Dec 2003. Govt watchdog. The only W intel officer to break ranks before GWII has been offered a job keeping track of govt dishonesty. Obviously, it will be a full-time position. These are very important contracts for the future of the Iraqi oil industry. We think keeping a level playing field is very important, and the further delay is regrettable. -- Brian Wilson, PM Blair's special rep for Iraqi reconstruction, 07 Dec 2003. Split-level playing field. PM Blair has been drawn into a row over oil contracts in Iraq. ---------------------------------------- Mon, 08 Dec 2003. Iraqi Oil Ministry talks down fuel shortage Baghdad. The Iraqi Oil Ministry is playing down reports of a fuel crisis as just a temporary shortage of oil. The news that there is no fuel crisis may surprise Iraqis who have to queue for km and wait for hours and sometimes days for a tank full of petrol. Iraq has the world's 2nd largest oil reserve but it is currently importing fuel. On the streets of Baghdad and across the country black marketeers are selling petrol by the bottle and jerry-can full for prices up to 20 times the official pump price of about 1.5 c/L. The Oil Ministry says the arrival of almost 1/2 a mn imported cars since the US led invasion, sabotage and security problems are causing the temporary shortage. Kuwait to privatise petrol stations Kuwait City (AFP). Kuwait has decided to partially privatise more than 120 petrol stations owned and run by the emirate's oil giant Kuwait Petroleum Corp. (KPC), the official KUNA news agency said yesterday. KUNA quoted an unnamed source at the ministry of commerce and industry as saying KPC has decided to set up 3 companies, each with a capital of 60 mn dinars [$US200 mn]. KPC will maintain a 20-percent stake in each company and the remaining shares will be sold to the public. Each company will own and manage 40 petrol stations, the source said. USD hits 3-year lows vs JPY Tokyo (Reuters). The dollar fell to three-y lows against the yen and was mired nr record lows versus the euro on Mon as last week's weaker-than-expected US jobs data added fuel to the currency's broad-based downtrend. The dollar, which had plumbed record lows against the euro for 6 consecutive trading days by Fri, stood within a whisker of the latest lows in the absence of strong enough factors to turn around the dominant trend. "The US economy may not necessarily be in that bad a shape but the downward momentum in the dollar, initially blamed on geopolitical risks and the US current account deficit, has been relentless," said Mitsuru Sahara, VP of currency dealing at UFJ Bank. "The market has consistently rewarded those who sold the dollar and disappointed those who bought it. At some point, there could be a sharp reversal, but there are no obvious factors in sight at the moment that could turn things around," he said. The dollar touched a three-y low of 107.51 yen by 7.15 pm EST Sun, down marginally from Fri's late NY levels and more than 10% from early Aug highs above 120 yen. It was also pinned within a quarter c of record lows against the euro set on Fri around $1.2180 to the single currency. * INTERVENTION JITTERS Despite the overwhelming bearishness in the market, the greenback's decline against the yen was somewhat hesitant amid widespread caution against possible yen-selling intervention by the Japanese authorities. Japan's top financial diplomat, Zembei Mizoguchi, kept up the jawboning, saying he did not expect the dollar's weakness to continue, given the strength of the US economy. Some traders said the dollar bears could keep a low profile during Asian market hours, paying some respect to the risk of intervention, but that they could resume pummelling the dollar lower in European or US trading hours. "At these levels, everyone is cautious about intervention," said a dealer at a Japanese bank. "But unless it's a very aggressive intervention, I wouldn't expect the dollar to bounce much above 108 yen. At the moment it's a wait-and-see game." The market was also awaiting the US Fed Reserve's rate-setting Fed Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on Tue. While no monetary policy action was expected for now, the focus was on a statement due to be released after the meeting. Traders said that if the Fed dropped the phrase about interest rates staying low for a "considerable period," that could signal an earlier-than-expected credit tightening next y and would also be a confirmation that the Fed was becoming more confident about the US economic recovery. Economy Canada: a currency that inspires creativity Toronto (Reuters). When, as a company, you export 98% of your products into the American market, a 20% jump in your home currency over a matter of m can certainly make you think creatively. That's what Tanya Shaw Weeks had to do this y as the chief executive of Unique Pattern Design Ltd. coped with the "shock" of Canada's bounding currency. "Really we just had to put a push on, but it's really down to sales to still meet your targets," Weeks said from her Dartmouth, Nova Scotia HQ. "It's a very significant challenge for us." Unique Pattern Design, which bills itself as the world's largest supplier of custom patterns for women, felt it could not afford to raise prices. So it pared supplier costs while it tried to boost sales to maintain profit margins. "We've been able to maintain that fairly well so far but we've had to be very creative about how we do that, really analyse who we are buying from," she said. While Unique Pattern Design still hopes to meet its targets, other Canadian companies have not been so lucky. Canada, which sells 80% of its goods into the US, has seen exports fall for 3 consecutive quarters. Statistics Canada called this the worst performance in more than 40 y. The rapid rise of the Canadian dollar to 10-y highs above 76 US c has companies scrambling for ways to cope. "It doesn't give you a chance to plan or to make changes," said Ian Howcroft, an Ontario vice president of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters association. "You have to do everything very quickly and be very reactive. There is no real planning." * RAPID RISE SAPS GROWTH Wojciech Szadurski, snr economist at Global Insight in Toronto, said before the currency's unexpected surge the group had been expecting growth of 3.4% this y. "Now, we are forecasting only 1.7% and the unexpected strength of the Canadian dollar likely accounted for 25% of the downgrade to growth," Szadurski said. Exports have been on the mend in the fall, however, which economists attribute to a bounce back from earlier lows, as well as demand from the red hot US economy. Oct's trade figures will be released on Fri. Economists surveyed by Reuters survey forecast that the numbers would show exports rose to $C34 bn in Oct from $C33.68 bn the prior m, keeping the trade surplus healthy at $C5.5 bn against $C5.65 bn previously. There have been calls for a cut in interest rates to make yields less attractive here, putting the brakes on the rallying Canadian dollar. But the Bank of Canada last wk, to nobody's surprise, decided against budging from the 2.5% level for its key rate, more than twice the US Fed Reserve's 1% level for the corresponding rate. Fortunately, Canada's economy is doing well on the home front, as evidenced by last wk's news that the economy created a surprising 54,100 jobs in Nov. On Mon, economists are expecting that the housing market will continue to look strong with 230,000 starts in Nov, down slightly from 237,200 starts the prior m. But forecasts call for Wed's data to show Canadian plants had an 81.1 utilisation rate in 3rd quarter, barely changed from 81.2% in the 2nd quarter, which the govt said was the lowest since 4th quarter of 2001. 22 killed, 14 injured in Kashmir bus accident Kashmir (AFP). At least 22 people were killed and 14 others injured on Sun when a bus rolled off a mountain road in Indian Kashmir, police said. The bus was on its way from Megakote to Shalegud in the southern Kashmir district of Doda, 150 km S of Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar, when it rolled down a ridge while negotiating a sharp curve. Of the 14 injured, 10 are in serious condition, police said. Iraqi officer claims WMD hidden London. A former Iraqi officer says Iraq's weapons of mass destruction have been hidden in secret locations around the country. The former officer claims he was the one who told the Brit govt that Iraq could deploy its weapons of mass destruction in 45 minutes. That claim formed a major element of the Blair govt's case for going to war against Iraq. The claim was later disputed by the BBC, which accused the govt of "sexing up" the dossier on Iraq by exaggerating its weapons capability. Former Iraqi lieutenant colonel Al Dabbagh has told London's Sun Telegraph he was commanding an air defence unit in the W desert when boxes of chemical and biological warheads were delivered to the front line. He says they were to be launched by hand-held RPGs. He says the warheads have now been hidden by militias loyal to former president Saddam Hussein in secret locations throughout Iraq. The former officer now works as an adviser for the Iraqi Governing Council. Iraq delays hand Cheney firm $1 bn Key contract decisions postponed again Blair drawn into row over lack of "level playing fields". Washington (Observer). Halliburton, the engineering group formerly run by US vice-president Dick Cheney, has been given $1 bn worth of reconstruction work in Iraq by the US govt without having to compete for it, thanks to repeated delays in opening up a key contract to competition. The Houston-based company was controversially awarded a contract to repair Iraq's damaged oil infrastructure without competition in Feb. The cost-plus contract means the amount spent by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), which is running the work, is open-ended, rather than being fixed at the outset, because the scope of the damage was unknown. The USACE described the contract as a "bridge to competition", but original plans to award the work competitively in Aug have repeatedly slipped. So far, $1.7 bn has been made available to Halliburton for the work. Figures obtained from the USACE by Democrat Congressman Henry Waxman indicate that on 21 Aug, around the time the contract should have been opened to competition, the amount made available to KBR, the Halliburton subsidiary involved, was $704 mn. Since then the total has risen by $1.011 bn. Waxman said: "Since Aug, when the follow-on contracts were supposed to be awarded, the Admin has obligated more than $1 bn to Halliburton under the oil infrastructure contract. These inexplicable delays may be good for Halliburton; they are costing taxpayers a bundle." The figures have emerged as the UK Govt and contractors reacted with dismay to news this wk that competitive tendering had again been pushed back to between 15 Dec and 17 Jan. Previously it was delayed to mid-Oct, late Oct, then year-end. One leading UK contractor, which made strong representations in Whitehall this wk, said: "We are very disappointed that it has been put back again," adding that the longer the delay, the more KBR benefited. Brian Wilson, the PM's special representative on reconstruction, wrote to Blair in advance of Pres Bush's recent visit, urging him to press for a level playing field in Iraq. Wilson said: "These are very important contracts for the future of the Iraqi oil industry. We think keeping a level playing field is very important, and the further delay is regrettable." USACE says that the Aug date was not a deadline for contract award, but for tenders to be submitted. However, in a letter dated 2 May to Waxman, a US army general states the "best estimate for the award of the contract based on this schedule is approximately the end of Aug". According to contract rules, Halliburton can make a margin of up to 7% on the work. Wilkie considers watchdog role Canberra. Former nat'l intel officer Andrew Wilkie says he will consider accepting donations to fund an ongoing campaign to expose what he calls "dishonesty in govts". An organisation called the Institute for Social Justice ran an advertisement on the weekend calling for supporters of Mr Wilkie to send letters and cheques made out to him to their SYD office. Mr Wilkie rose to prominence earlier this y when he resigned from the Office of Nat'l Assessments (ONA) over the Fed Govt's policy on the war in Iraq. Mr Wilkie says the Institute did tell him about the advertisement before it was run but says it was not his idea. "I've sent cheques back in the past because it just hasn't been appropriate, it would break my heart that anyone would think I've tried to profiteer from this," he said. "If it becomes clear from the response to the Institute and there are a lot of people out there that want me to keep doing what I'm trying to do, I'd be tempted to accept some of it and try and do some full-time [work] in the next y." Study: terror-related cases often fizzle Washington (AP). The Justice Dept has sharply increased prosecution of terrorism-related cases since the Sep 11 attacks, but many fizzled and few produced significant prison time, a study released Sun finds. About 6,400 people were referred by investigators for criminal charges involving terror in the 2 y after the attacks, but fewer than 1/3 actually were charged and only 879 were convicted, according to govt records reviewed by Syracuse Uni's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. The median prison sentence was just 14 days, according to a study by clearinghouse co-directors David Burnham and Susan P Long. Only 5 people were sentenced to 20 y or more. Critics seized on the numbers to question whether A-G John Ashcroft and other top law enforcement officials have been overstating the success of their anti-terrorism efforts. Nearly every time Ashcroft talks about the subject, he reads a long list of statistics on arrests and convictions to buttress his contention that great progress is being made. Sen Charles Grassley, a snr member of the Senate Judiciary Committee with oversight of the FBI and Justice Dept, said the report "raises questions about the accuracy of the dept's claims about terrorism enforcement." "This report shows that despite the focus on terrorism-related crimes, most of the people accused of terrorism involvement are getting little jail time, if at all," said Grassley, R-Iowa. Justice Dept and FBI officials said the study is rooted in past conceptions of crime and punishment and does not reflect the reality that would-be terrorists seek to blend into society until they are ready to strike. Lack of lengthy prison terms in many cases can be explained by the effort by prosecutors to stop would-be terrorists long before they are ready to attack, often charging them with lesser offences, such as identity theft, document fraud and immigration violations. Prosecutors feel it is better to get suspects off the streets and press them for info than wait for events that could produce harsher penalties. They also said the study makes no mention of the value of intel collection and the need to reward cooperation with lesser sentences. "The whole point is to disrupt terrorism at an early stage instead of letting the conspiracy fully hatch," said Viet Dinh, a former top Justice Dept official under A-G John Ashcroft who now teaches law at Georgetown University. "We cannot take the risk of the conspiracy taking place. What you get is shorter sentences but greater prevention." In other words, for every would-be "shoe bomber" such as Richard Reid -- serving a life sentence for trying to light an explosive on a Paris-to-Miami flight last y -- there are many more suspects such as the group of Yemeni-Americans from Lackawanna, NY, who were convicted of supporting terrorism by briefly attending al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. "This Admin's strategy of preventing terrorism has helped protect American for over 2 years," Justice Dept rep Mark Corallo said. According to the study, about 874 cases were pending as of Sep 30, including some that might produce longer sentences. In Oct, for example, 2 members of an Oregon group were sentenced to 18 y each in prison for attempting to travel to Afghanistan and fight US forces there. Still, critics of Justice Dept anti-terrorism policies say the study lifts the veil on what they consider large-scale govt deception aimed at reassuring an American public fearful of more attacks. "This punches a huge hole in the hype the Justice Dept has been engaged in," said Timothy Edgar, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. "They are calling people terrorists, on a massive scale, who aren't terrorists." According to the study, charges were filed against 2,001 of the 6,400 people recommended for prosecution since the attacks. Authorities declined to prosecute 1,554. Some 2,845 of the referrals were pending as of Sep 30. Of the 879 people convicted, 373 went to prison and 506 did not. Of those sentenced to prison, 250 got less than a year, 100 got less than 5 y and just 23 were sentenced to 5 y or more. During the 2 y before Sep 11, 2001, 24 people were sentenced to 5 or more y in prison on comparable terror-related offences, the study said. The study also found that: * Prosecutions of individuals suspected of ties to one category, internat'l terrorism, jumped from 142 in the 2 y before Sep 11, 2001, to 748 in the 2 y after. Yet only 3 people in that category since the attacks have drawn sentences of 5 years or more, compared with 6 during the earlier period. * More than 260 people convicted since Sep 11 of terrorism-related offences were sentenced to the time that had already spent in jail awaiting disposition of their case. * About 35% of criminal referrals made by investigators were declined by prosecutors because of lack of evidence or no obvious fed crime had been committed. Iraqis kill 2 civil defence officers One is police rookie shot on way to work in Mosul Samarra (AP). Iraqis mourning 2 men who were killed in a firefight with US troops clashed with civil defence forces yesterday, killing 1 officer and setting his pickup truck ablaze. "Long live Saddam!" they chanted as the vehicle smoldered. In Mosul, meanwhile, gunmen killed a police rookie in the latest attack on Iraqis seen as collaborators with the US occupation. And US forces arrested arms dealers and broke up a cell that they said was planning attacks on Americans. In Baghdad, an explosion in a truck killed at least 2 men late yesterday. Police found remnants of what appeared to be a mortar and shells at the site. It was not immediately clear whether the victims were guerrillas or bystanders. The mourners in Samarra were burying 2 men who were killed last week in running battles with US forces. After the Americans returned their bodies yesterday, about 1,000 people marched to the cemetery to bury them. As is customary in Iraq, they fired weapons into the air. A group of Iraqi officers from the US-led Civil Defence Corps told them to put away their guns, witnesses said. The mourners then opened fire, shooting one of the officers in the head and chasing away the others. Minutes later, dozens of people jumped up and down on the charred pickup truck, chanting "Long live Saddam! Death to the traitors!" The officer's body lay nearby. At the cemetery, the mourners marked the graves with 2 Iraqi flags, and scattered red and yellow roses around the site. "God is great! Nobody escapes our revenge," mourners chanted. There were no American forces in sight. Farther N in Mosul yesterday, 3 gunmen shot and killed an Iraqi policeman on his way to work, police said. The victim was a 24-yo recent graduate of a police academy that has received support and guidance from the American-led coalition forces. Guerrillas have often targeted Iraqi police and other authorities, accusing them of collaborating with the occupation. In the area around Mosul, Master Sgt Kelly Tyler said, the US military captured 10 people accused of planning attacks against coalition forces, and 6 who were allegedly involved in selling black-market weapons. Separately, Maj Josslyn Aberle said US troops raided 2 houses and a mosque nr Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit and arrested 14 people suspected of having links to insurgents. She said the troops seized materials that could have been used in the manufacture of roadside bombs. Roadside bomb kills US soldier in Iraq Baghdad (AP). Guerrillas killed a US soldier with a roadside bomb in N Iraq on Sun, and a US military cmdr said insurgent attacks might not abate even if American troops kill or capture Saddam Hussein. A soldier from the US Army's 101st Airborne Division died and 2 others in his unit were wounded when rebels detonated a bomb as a their convoy drove through the centre of Mosul at midday, Master Sgt Kelly Tyler said. "I heard an explosion and came running toward the site of the attack and saw 3 soldiers, one of them covered with blood," said Bahaa Hussein, a student. Mosul is 400 km N of Baghdad. The top cmdr in Iraq, Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez, said attacks could surge ahead of a Jul 1 deadline for a transfer of authority from the US-led coalition to a transitional Iraqi govt. "We expect to see an increase in violence as we move forward toward sovereignty at the end of Jun," Sanchez said. "The killing or capturing of Saddam Hussein will have an impact on the level of violence, but it will not end it," he said. "It won't be the end-all solution." "It's a needle in a haystack," he said of the hunt for the ousted Iraqi leader. "Clearly we haven't found the right haystack ... We are moving under the assumption that he is still in the country, that he is still operating." After a daylong trip to Iraq on Sat, US Def Sec Donald H Rumsfeld said he wants snr cmdrs in Iraq to consider whether the Pentagon underestimated how many US-trained Iraqi security forces would be needed before a sovereign Iraqi govt takes over next summer. He said he worried that the current goal of 220,000 Iraqi security forces may not be able to be increased later if need be. "I worry that budgets will begin to get committed, and we may not know if we need more until sometime, for example, in Feb or March or Apr," Rumsfeld said on the flight to Washington, arriving early Sun. By then, he said, the money might not be available. The number of Iraqis now in uniform is now said to be about 140,000, many of whom were rushed through training programs. Rumsfeld sees the buildup of those forces as the key to completing the military mission there in the aftermath of Saddam's deposed dictatorship. In Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, children took a break from a soccer game to taunt US soldiers on patrol with chants of: "We will give our blood, we will give our lives for Saddam." "Saddam is free, he is here, he walks Tikrit in disguise," taunted Mohammad Ali Mustafa, a 10-yo boy who cursed the US soldiers. "They are occupiers, they fire on us. Saddam is our father." In Baghdad, the US Army's 1AD sent almost 1,500 soldiers on a sweep through the capital's al-Mansour district, raiding apartment buildings and detaining 43 people, including a dozen suspected guerrillas. The raids netted 215 AK-47 automatic rifles, 10 grenades and bomb-making gear. Members of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council gave different versions of progress on a statute that would establish a war-crimes tribunal that could try Saddam and his top aides. One member, Mahmoud Othman, said the council had reached agreement on the statute and planned to send it to the US administrator, L Paul Bremer, on Mon for his signature. But another, Yonadam Kanna, said negotiations were continuing. Near the town of Samarra, some 110 km N of Baghdad, a bomb derailed 8 of 20 carriages on a train heading from Baghdad to Mosul on Sat evening, said Abdel-Nasser Abdel-Rahman, a railway official. There were no injuries. Train service between the capital and Mosul will be disrupted for 5 days, Abdel-Rahman said. Bottles of water, apparently part of the train's cargo, were scattered around the derailed carriages. "We're conducting our investigation, but we think that remnants of the former regime are behind the attack," policeman Ahmed Waleed said. The attack occurred on the N outskirts of Samarra, a town where guerrillas engaged in heavy fighting a wk ago with US soldiers delivering new Iraqi currency to local banks. US soldier killed, 2 hurt in Mosul blast Mosul (AFP). A US soldier has died and 2 were injured when a roadside bomb exploded as they drove through the centre of the N Iraqi city of Mosul. The blast occurred at midday on Sun in the Rifai district as a convoy of 3 Humvee all-terrain vehicles arrived. In Baghdad, a military rep confirmed the casualty toll. Some hours later an anti-US militant was killed when he tried to plant an explosive device at a main road in the centre of Mosul, said traffic police Lieutenant Mahmoud Bassam Daud. The death came about one hour after 2 Iraqi policemen were shot and wounded during an attack on their patrol in the city, said Lieutenant Abdullah Ahmad. Dr Ali Mohammed Said of the Al-Razi Hospital emergency dept said medics operated to remove the bullets, leaving the policemen in good condition. Al-Qaeda network recruiting for Iraq Milan (NY Times/London Telegraph). A string of recent arrests of terrorist suspects has shown that al-Qaeda and groups linked to it have established a network across Europe that is moving recruits into Iraq to join the insurgency against US and allied forces, European intel and law enforcement officials say. Over the past year, the officials have estimated, the network of recruiters working in at least 6 European countries -- Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Brit and Norway -- have helped 100s of young men trying to get to Iraq. The network had provided high-quality fake documents, training, money, and infiltration routes into the country. The evidence indicated that the campaign to recruit young militant Muslims for Iraq had become better organised and co-ordinated in recent ms, the officials said. An investigating judge in Italy said the network had been building on an underground that helped to smuggle fighters out of Afghanistan and Pakistan late in 2001. But since the end of last y the flow of recruits, including young men from Europe and N Africa, had turned toward Iraq, the judge said. "In Aug and Sep people were approaching the borders of Iraq, in Turkey and Syria," he said. "These people got very close, and it's very easy for them to slip in." An Italian investigation of a terrorist group with links to al-Qaeda led to the arrest of 3 men in Italy and Germany a wk ago. 2 of the men who were arrested in Milan were accused of providing false passports and money to the network for Iraq. 6 men arrested in N Italy in Apr were also accused of aiding the recruiting operation. The evidence gathered by Italian investigators indicated that fighters entering Iraq from Italy had been active in recent attacks on coalition forces there. News of the recruiting network came as an Iraqi colonel who commanded a front-line unit during the build-up to the war in Iraq said he passed top secret info to Brit intel warning that Saddam Hussein had deployed weapons of mass destruction that could be used on the battlefield against coalition troops in less than 45 mins. The alleged informant, a Lieutenant Col al-Dabbagh, 40, who was head of an Iraqi air defence unit in the W desert, said that cases containing warheads were delivered to front-line units, including his own, towards the end of last y. He said they were to be used by Saddam's fedayeen paramilitaries and units of the Special Republican Guard when the war with coalition troops reached "a critical stage". Baath Party re-emerges under new name -- UK London (Reuters). Members of the Baath party, the former political base of ousted president Saddam Hussein, have started to regroup, according to Brit's special representative to Iraq, the Financial Times reported on Fri. The newspaper said former Baathist leaders who had fallen out with Saddam in the past want to set up a party under a new name to participate in the country's new political climate, with Iraq's former leader excluded from joining the organisation. There was "evidence of motivation and the beginning of some activity" among Baathists, Brit's special representative to the war-torn country, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, told the Financial Times. "Iraqis will be watching this very closely." US military officials say die-hard supporters of Saddam and the deposed Baath Party are behind the hit-and-run attacks plaguing US forces in the Sunni heartlands N and W of Baghdad. US administrator Paul Bremer sought to uproot the remnant of Iraq's Baathist past by dissolving the Iraqi armed forces, security services and defence and info ministries in May. But his abrupt move may have prompted some of the 400,000 people who lost their jobs, many of them Sunnis prominent in Saddam's forces, to turn their guns on the occupiers. According to the new plans unveiled in Nov by Washington, regional caucuses will select a nat'l assembly by the end of May, and this will pick a transitional govt by the end of Jun. US using Israeli tactics in Iraq: General Baghdad (ABC). The cmdr of US forces in Iraq, Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez, says his troops have begun cordoning off Iraqi villages with barbed wire as the Israeli army does in the Occupied Territories. He said the aim was to restrict movement and in areas where villages had been sealed off, the army had stemmed the attacks that were occurring. Speaking at a news conference in Baghdad, the General said violence in the country can be expected to increase over the coming m as Iraq moved towards sovereignty at the end of Jun. He said the American-led forces would stay on the offensive. US tightens grips on Iraq towns Soldiers encase villages in barbed wire, imprison relatives of suspected guerrillas. Abu Hishma (NY Times/AP). As the guerrilla war against Iraqi insurgents intensifies, US soldiers have begun wrapping entire villages in barbed wire. In some cases, they are demolishing buildings thought to be used by Iraqi attackers, and they have begun imprisoning the relatives of suspected guerrillas, in hopes of pressuring the insurgents to turn themselves in. The Americans embarked on the strategy in early Nov, which proved to be the deadliest m yet for US forces in Iraq, with 81 soldiers killed by hostile fire. The response is beginning to echo the Israeli campaign in the occupied territories. Since Nov, the strategy appears to be diminishing the threat to US soldiers, but comes at the cost of alienating many of the people the Americans are trying to win over. Abu Hishma is quiet now, but it is angry. The town is encased in a wire fence after repeated attacks on American troops, and Iraqis line up to go in and out, filing through a checkpoint, each carrying an identification card. "If you have one of these cards, you can come and go," coaxed Lt Col Nathan Sassaman, the battalion cmdr whose men oversee the village, 80 km N of Baghdad. The Iraqis nodded and edged their cars through the line. Over to one side, an Iraqi named Tariq muttered, "I see no difference between us and the Palestinians. We didn't expect anything like this after Saddam fell." US officials say they are not purposefully mimicking Israeli tactics, but they acknowledge they have studied closely the Israeli experience in urban fighting. Ahead of the war, Israeli defence experts briefed American cmdrs on their experience. The Americans say there are no Israeli military advisers helping the Americans in Iraq. US Def Sec Donald Rumsfeld met with snr American cmdrs Sat in Iraq and was assured the aggressive anti-insurgency tactics had begun to pay off. "It improves -- every m it gets better," Maj Gen Raymond Odierno, cmdr of the Army's 4ID, told Rumsfeld, who nonetheless expressed doubt that the drop in attacks on American troops marked a turning point. "It's too early to say it's a trend," the defence secretary said after having lunch with soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division at a muddy outpost on the outskirts of Baghdad. Security was tight for Rumsfeld's visit, which was not announced in advance. He arrived and left aboard an Air Force C-17 cargo plane and was whisked from Baghdad Internat'l Airport to the 82nd Airborne's post in a Black Hawk helicopter with gunners aboard. He also went for the 1st time to Kirkuk, the centre of Iraq's northern oil fields, and met with L Paul Bremer, the US civilian Admin of Iraq. In Baghdad, Rumsfeld met with Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, president of the Iraqi Governing Council, to talk about the Nov deal to speed up the return of Iraqi sovereignty. The secretary told al-Hakim the Iraqis need to move faster to prepare for assuming full political control next summer and do more to stimulate the economy. It was Rumsfeld's 2nd trip to Iraq in 4 m, reflecting the Bush Admin's push for faster progress toward improving security and speeding the political transition to Iraqi control, as well as an effort by the Pentagon to improve the morale of American troops. Kurds facing reality about massacre in Iraq Shorish, Iraq (LA Times). For 15 years, 1000s of Kurdish families waited for their loved ones to return. They believed the day would come when Saddam Hussein would fall, the prisons in the S would open and the missing would come home. But in the 8 m since the Iraqi dictator was deposed, not a single person who disappeared during the Anfal military campaign of 1986-88 has returned alive. For the 1st time, many Anfal survivors are facing an awful reality: Their missing family members were the victims of a mass extermination campaign -- abetted by Kurdish collaborators -- that echoes the Nazi killing machine in its efficiency and brutality. It left an estimated 180,000 people dead. "We had hoped for 15 years," said Aysha Chachan Salih, 35, who lost her husband, 3 brothers, her home and all her possessions in the campaign. "But after Saddam fell, we knew they were not alive anymore." The word "anfal," taken from the Quran, means "spoils of war." The operation in Iraq's N was designed to wipe out support for Kurdish rebels by eliminating the civilian population. For 6 m in 1988, Iraqi troops and Kurdish militias arrested the inhabitants of suspected rebel strongholds and destroyed 1000s of villages. Males of fighting age were the main target, but many of the victims were also women and children. In some villages, entire populations were slaughtered. Hundreds of 1000s of Kurds fled for their lives, abandoning all they had. Some survivors lost dozens of relatives. Kurdish officials estimate that 182,000 of their region's 3.5 mn people were slain during the offensive, but no one knows for sure. Iraq once admitted killing as many as 100,000 in the operation. The Anfal extermination was headed by Saddam's cousin, Ali Hassan Majid, who went on to kill 1000s more as Iraq's defence minister. He earned the nickname "Chemical Ali" for his use of poison gas on Kurdish civilians. The Anfal was compartmentalised so that those involved -- the soldiers, bus drivers, bulldozer operators, prison guards and executioners -- knew only their own roles. 2 Iraqi army corps and 1000s of Kurdish militia fighters, known among Kurds as "mercenaries," took part. The militias were essential to the success of the operation because they knew the terrain. The mercenaries usually entered the villages 1st and rounded up the victims, often with false promises that they would soon be released. As the remaining villagers fled, soldiers and mercenaries looted the houses and set them on fire, taking the livestock for themselves. "Without the mercenaries, the Anfal could not have taken so many people," said Arif Qurbani, a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan rep and author of "The Witness of Anfal," which contains numerous documents about the campaign. "They knew the area and they deceived people." 1000s of elderly detainees, along with some younger women and children, were sent to the worst of Saddam's prisons: Nugra Salman in the remote S desert. The heat was overpowering; the inmates were fed a starvation diet of bread and contaminated water. Each day, prisoners would carry the dead into the desert for burial. Each night, wild dogs would dig up the bodies and eat them. In Sep 1988, Saddam declared an amnesty and the surviving Anfal prisoners were released. While the survivors struggled to rebuild their lives, many of the Anfal's perpetrators did quite well for themselves -- even in Kurdistan. In 1991, the mercenaries switched sides and supported the uprising against Saddam. In exchange, militia members received a blanket amnesty from the autonomous region's govt. "The amnesty was a very wise step," said Sheik Mohammed Basaki, 68, who has long commanded a Kurdish militia force but declined to discuss what he did during the Anfal. "By that amnesty, it gave them a clear heart to come back and fight." The mercenary soldiers were incorporated into the legendary "peshmerga" -- "those who face death" -- and the leaders received party positions. Some still hold positions in the Kurdish parties that govern the region. "Some of them became high officials," said Qurbani, the party rep, "but an Anfal widow who had nothing still has nothing." Some Anfal survivors want revenge, especially against the mercenary leaders they say lied to them. "If I could, I would pile them all alive and burn them," said Hujara Walid, 30, who lost her 4 brothers in the Anfal. Grand ayatollah emerges as prominent leader in Iraq Washington (CNN). He threw a wrench into US plans for a hand-over of power in Iraq when he insisted that a constitution and a new govt must be based on direct elections, not the caucuses proposed by US officials. Those American officials are learning that the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is not a man to be taken lightly. Born in Iran, he came to Iraq as a young man to study in the holy city of Najaf, where Iran's own Ayatollah Khomeini spent his long years of exile. The 71-yo Sistani is considered by many to be the most revered and most influential leader among Iraq's 15 mn Shiite Muslims, who make up some 60% of the country's population. When another Shiite leader was killed in a massive car bombing in Najaf a few m ago, 100s of 1000s converged on the city in mourning. It's a powerful, passionate and highly-committed constituency. One that the US is treating gingerly. "I have great respect with Ayatollah Sistani. He has been a leading voice in this country for 1/2 a century and I have real agreement on a number of matters that we want to see, as he does, an elected democratic govt as soon as it can be done," says US Civilian Administrator in Iraq, L Paul Bremer. During the regime of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Muslim, Shiites were oppressed. And when they answered a US call to revolt after the first Gulf War, tens of 1000s were slaughtered. Free now to live they way they want, they now want their share of power. War and economy in the Middle East [Marwan Bishara is a professor of internat'l relations at the American University of Paris]. Op/Ed (Daily Star). As US Pres George W Bush's vision of a "new Iraq" turns into nightmare, and his partner PM Ariel Sharon of Israel undermines peace plans -- real and virtual -- their assurances that they will prevail through "war on terrorism" are falling on deaf ears, especially among the people on whom America needs most to prevail, the internat'l and local business community. Hundreds of those Middle Eastern and internat'l business leaders have descended this wk on Dubai for 2 important meetings: the prestigious internat'l Young Press Organisation (YPO) and the Welfare Association, a large philanthropic group of rich Palestinian Arabs. Though unrelated, the 2 share similar agendas and skepticism regarding the promise of a "new Middle East." YPO members who are keen to educate themselves and network their actions within the region should take advantage of the weekend's meetings of the Welfare Association to rub elbows with 100s of its Palestinian and Arab snr members who, for several years, joined hands in support of the idea of a "New Palestine" only to have their fingers burned. At the core of the Welfare Association lies an expatriate group of around 60 snr Palestinian businessmen -- most around 60 y of age -- with an average wealth of over $60 mn. Ever since they were denied the right to return to their homeland -- Palestine -- along with tens of 1000s of entrepreneurs, 5 decades ago, they have played a major role in the development of a number of Arab economies. After decades of investment, regionally and internat'lly, the Palestinian Arab business community has learned 1st hand that areas of conflict are surging catastrophes not emerging markets; that militarisation of any conflict contributes to the wealth of the corrupt and the erosion of the spirit of entrepreneurship; and that only military merchants benefit at the expense of productive economies. Back in 1991, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait set back much of the achievements of the Gulf-based Palestinian business community and led to the loss of bn of their hard earned dollars. This highly experienced group of businessmen has invested 100s of mn in the American sponsored peace process and suffered immensely from the proliferation of a parallel shadowy economy of businesses and monopolies set up by Israeli and Palestinian security men and cronies. They established 100s of companies and joint ventures, developed entire communities, built dozens of hotels and renovated numerous tourist sites of the Holy Land, only to see them crushed under the closures and bombardment of the Israeli Army during 3 y of intifada. Today, the Welfare members invest less in Palestine Inc for profit, and more in nonprofit development as the local Palestinian partners of the World Bank. But even basic development efforts, according to the Bank's representatives and G8 donor countries, continue to be undermined by the violence of the occupation. A very similar situation is already developing in Iraq. As the reality of war and the promise of peace continue to confuse investors, the Bush Admin is subsidising its business cronies and reviving the military industries, with a record Pentagon budget of more than $450 bn. America's military exports are the world leaders with Israel climbing to a 3rd place. YPO leaders understand that the surge of the old petro-military axis after dramatic setbacks in new economy of info technology will soon prove to be a "false prophet" for the American and world economy in the long run. The militarisation of globalisation under the guise of the war on terrorism is already causing incalculable losses not only for the wealthy West but also for the poor South. If America persists in its course of action, the Middle East will be ill prepared to profit from the expected 40% increase in the energy consumption over the next 2 decades. Capital, after all, is cowardly and in constant need for guarantees of stability and accountability. No wonder the Arab world attracts less than 2% of annual foreign direct investments. The Bush Admin preaches democracy and security and its actions spell force and chaos. Its war on terrorism is allowing corrupt govts to clamp down on their opp'ns and roll back the few hard-earned democratic gains and economic openings, rendering investment ever more complicated and insecure. Bush's wars and occupation increasingly carries much of the hallmarks of Sharon's us-versus-them justifications and strategies: security through war, and peace only with manufactured democracies. Snr Palestinian businessmen could remind their young colleagues what they have learned in Economics 101 -- that long-term security, political stability, and economic accountability are 3 indispensable conditions for successful investment. Anti-war parents of US soldiers brave hostility at home to see real story in Iraq Baghdad (Independent). It must be strange to be Anthony Lopercio of the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division. The 23-yo private has been dispatched to Fallujah to stand in the front line on what is, for any American, one of the most hostile places in the world. Yet, as he gazes across the dreary Iraqi landscape, feeling the sullen resentment of its population towards foreign occupation, he will not only be wondering about the guerrillas out there. He will also be watching for the portly frame of his father. Not long ago, Michael Lopercio, a 51-yo restaurateur from Tempe, Arizona, decided that he was not happy with the quality of the news he was receiving about the war into which his son had been drawn. He also realised that if the conflict dragged on, so would the amount of time that his boy would have to remain in Iraq, where 100s of young Americans have already died. So he packed his bags and set off to Baghdad to find out for himself what was happening, and to see if there was anything he could do about it. "We haven't been getting the full story in the US," he said. "The media is covering events -- shootings and bombings -- but not the issues. They are not covering what is really happening to Iraqi people and to the Iraqi infrastructure and how this affects our chances of success here. It's very important to understand the frustration of the average Iraqi and how unhappy they are with their progress over the last 8 months." The news that his father was coming to join him in the conflict zone was a surprise for Private Lopercio. "He was utterly shocked when I called him," said Mr Lopercio. He has yet to gain permission to see his son but hopes it will come before he returns to the US this weekend. "It took 5 minutes to convince him I wasn't playing a practical joke. But he was pretty excited for me. I thought he might be disapproving, but he said he thought it would be an incredible experience for me." His son was right. Mr Lopercio has found it incredible. Incredible that, 8 months after the invasion and occupation began, children are still dying in Iraqi hospitals through a lack of antibiotics. Incredible that schools have no lights, no heating, no books. And incredible that, while he has been in Iraq this wk, the occupation authorities have staged an expensive public relations stunt by removing the monolithic stone busts of Saddam Hussein that stood on the top of the palace in which Paul Bremer, the chief US administrator, has his HQ. "Why the hell are they wasting money taking down those heads of Saddam from the coalition authority's palace when they could be spending it on something more meaningful, like bringing heat and light and medicine to Iraqi hospitals?" asks Mr Lopercio. His mission required courage, not only because of the dangers of being an American in Iraq: his willingness to challenge his country's reasons for going to war, and its disastrous handling of the aftermath of the invasion, has not gone down particularly well in Arizona. He says conservative radio talk shows have begun attacking his wife, a social worker, after she gave interviews to the newspapers about his trip. "They have been reading out the interviews on the air, and giving her a hard time. She's a little scared, and out of her element, to be sure." He is one of a delegation of 9 family members of US soldiers and army veterans who have come to Iraq, led by the San Francisco-based human rights group Global Exchange. Most of the group oppose the occupation, while others say they simply want to see the situation for themselves. Among the group is Billy Kelly, a 60-yo retired NY barman who fought in Vietnam in 1967. He said: "There is not a day that goes by when I don't think about what happened there 35 y ago." He had, he said, come to check out a suspicion that what is playing out in Iraq has similarities to his own grim experience in uniform. He, too, has had a hard time for his stance, not least because he is from the city that was the principal target of the 9/11 atrocities. "Some of my friends say that I'm a traitor. But I feel that people can accept me, or not. My hope is just that there will be a dialogue about what's going on. It hasn't happened yet. At the moment, we have a diatribe from one side or the other." Anabelle Valencia, from Tucson, Arizona, had tried to visit her daughter, Giselle Valencia, who is an army truck driver stationed in Tikrit. But she was on a mission, and not at the base. The delegation represents an increasingly organised minority that is willing to challenge the unremitting spin from the Bush Admin and from Downing Street as both govts seek to justify their operations in Iraq. Another member of the group is Fernando Suarez del Solar. His son Jesus Alberto, a US Marine, was one of the 1st Americans to be killed in Iraq -- the victim of an American cluster bomb. He has become a vocal opponent of George Bush's policy in Iraq, denouncing the invasion as illegal and demanding the immediate withdrawal of troops. "Our mission is talking to ordinary Iraqis and US troops, figuring out why things have gone so terribly wrong and what we can do to stop the violence and bring the troops home," he said. The delegation has been met with a resounding lack of enthusiasm from the US military and "coalition" officials. They have been warning the media of the dangers of the visit, at the same time as trying to persuade it that most of the country is free of violence. None of that has deterred Mr Suarez del Solar. He has a mission: to visit the spot where his son died and bring home a jar of the soil into which he bled. It will be placed in a park that the boy used to visit and marked with a white rose. US air raid kills 9 children in S Afghanistan Kabul (Independent). The UN has demanded an immediate investigation into an attack by an American warplane that killed 9 children playing in the compound of a house in S Afghanistan. The Afghan Pres, Hamid Karzai, who faces growing dissatisfaction over the return of the Taliban as well as the number of civilian casualties caused by the US, has expressed concern over the raid. The American military claims a former Taliban militant, Mullah Wazir, who had boasted of attacking aid workers, was killed in the attack on the town of Makur, nr Ghazni. Afghan officials in Ghazni said Mr Wazir had not been at the building during the raid. Haji Assadullah, the governor of Ghazni province and an ally of Mr Karzai's American-sponsored interim govt, said: "It has not been ascertained if Mullah Wazir was killed or not, although the property did belong to him." The UN expressed its "profound distress" at the attack. It warned that the deaths would aggravate tensions in S Afghanistan where there has been an increase in the number of attacks on US and Afghan govt forces. Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN special envoy for Afghanistan, called for a swift inquiry into the deaths and for the outcome to be made public. He said: "This incident adds to a sense of insecurity and fear." A US military rep, Lt-Col Bryan Hilferty, said the loss of innocent lives was "regretted" and that "the tragic incident" was being investigated. He said US soldiers found the bodies of 9 children as well as that of a man, who was the intended target. The military added that US and allied forces in Afghanistan "follow stringent rules of engagement to specifically avoid this type of incident while continuing to target terrorists. The operation took place after extensive intel over an extended period of time." Zalmay Khalilzad, the American ambassador to Afghanistan, said Mr Wazir had been "a known financier, organiser and facilitator of terrorist activity" involved in attacks on aid workers as well as on Afghans working on the Kabul to Kandahar highway. Soon after the children's deaths became public, suspected Taliban gunmen kidnapped 2 Indians working on a US-funded road in the neighbouring Zabul province and 2 Turks working on a well-digging project nr Kabul. A bomb was detonated in the S city of Kandahar injuring at least 18 people. The incident comes at a sensitive time. The country's constitutional loya jirga, a nat'l meeting to set up the framework for next y's election, starts in Kabul this wk. Donald Rumsfeld, the US Def Sec, met Mr Karzai last wk to discuss the increase in attacks by the Taliban. Mr Rumsfeld said that he wanted to emulate a highly successful mission by a Brit-led provincial reconstruction team that persuaded one of the country's most powerful warlords, Abdul Rashid Dostum, to disarm his militia. But such initiatives would be made more difficult by the weekend's deaths following other killings by "friendly fire". In Nov, 6 civilians were killed in an air strike in the S province of Paktika, and 3 wk before that 8 members of the same family died in an attack in the province of Nuristan. In Jul last y, the Afghan govt said 48 people had been killed and 117 hurt when an American gunship attacked a wedding party. UN critical of US for killing Afghan children Kabul (AFP). The US military faces mounting criticism as it began to investigate the accidental killing of 9 children in an air attack on an alleged terrorist in Afghanistan. The UN has called for a swift inquiry and its results to be made public. The children died along with an alleged terrorist in a coalition air attack in SE Ghazni province, which has been troubled by attacks blamed on Taliban militants. UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said the protection of civilians is an "obligation" for any military organisation. "This incident, which follows similar incidents, adds to a sense of insecurity and fear in the country," said UN rep Manoel de Almeida e Silva, reading a statement from the envoy. "We are aware that caution is taken but these kinds of mistakes... do have a negative impact among the population. We have seen this before so it's not as if we're speaking without experience," de Almeida e Silva said. Scores of civilians have been killed by the coalition since the start of the campaign against the Taliban regime and Al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan in Oct 2001. [Some reports say around 3,000 Afghanis have died -- comparable to the 9/11 attack that gave the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq their rationale]. Pres Hamid Karzai said he heard of the deaths with "deep sorrow" and that he had asked the coalition for an explanation. The coalition said it was setting up a commission to investigate the deaths, adding that its forces "follow stringent rules of engagement" while hunting militants. "Coalition forces regret the loss of any innocent life," the US military said. Palestinians agree to a conditional ceasefire in Israel Cairo (Independent). Representatives of 13 Palestinian militias agreed in Cairo yesterday to suspend suicide bombings inside Israel, but were divided over whether to offer a more comprehensive ceasefire that would stop attacks on soldiers and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. A respite from the bombings will come as a relief to Israeli civilians and revive hopes for peace negotiations. 9 hundred Israelis and 3 times as many Palestinians have been killed since the violence broke out 3 ya. Although no attacks have been made inside Israel for 2 months, a failed strike on a school last wk and the continuing Israel offensive against Palestinian militants served notice on both sides that it was too early to relax. Ahmad Qurei, the Palestinian PM, and Brigadier Omar Suleiman, the Egyptian intel chief, strove to persuade Hamas and Islamic Jihad to go the whole way, but the radical groups resisted anything more than a limited, conditional truce. Mohammed Nazzal, a snr Hamas official, said: "We declared that we are ready to avoid civilian [deaths] from both sides." But he insisted that Israel would have to accept the offer in principle before the Palestinians would spell out the details. Other spokesmen had earlier called for an end to Israeli targeted killings and withdrawal from Palestinian towns and villages. Saeb Erekat, the Palestinians' chief negotiator with Israel, said a comprehensive ceasefire was essential. Under the internat'lly sponsored "road-map", the Palestinians and the Israelis had committed themselves to halting violence against civilians anywhere, he argued, and they could not go back on it if they wanted to resume negotiations. Israel made it clear that it would not accept an end to violence restricted to the pre-1967 border. Jonathan Peled, a Foreign Ministry rep, said: "We will only accept a comprehensive ceasefire. We can't distinguish between blood and blood. The Palestinians have to resolve this among themselves." Nonetheless, he claimed that Israel was trying to transmit a positive message to the Palestinians. "We are not conditioning anything on the ceasefire," he said. "We have already removed some roadblocks and we are willing to go ahead with other humanitarian measures." Israeli leaders hinted over the weekend at a more ambitious unilateral initiative towards a 2-state solution if negotiations fail. Ehud Olmert, the Deputy PM, stunned his right-wing Likud party by urging the Govt to evacuate most of the occupied territories and some Arab suburbs of Jerusalem -- in Israel's own interest. Although he would not delineate a final border, he talked in terms of an Israel with 80% of its population Jewish and 20% Arab. That is the current breakdown within Israel proper. In an interview on Fri with the mass-circulation Yediot Aharonot newspaper, he acknowledged that many settlements would have to be removed. The proposal represents a 180-degree turn by a man who was fed the doctrine of a Jewish state from the Jordan to the Mediterranean with his mother's milk. What changed his mind, he indicated, was the threat of an Arab majority in less than 2 decades and the continuing toll of terror attacks. "We are approaching a point," Mr Olmert said, "where more and more Palestinians will say, 'There is no place for 2 states between the river and the sea. All we want is the right to vote.' The day they get it, we will lose everything." Mr Olmert's bombshell drew protests from the hardline right. Settler leaders threatened to hound him from office. Effie Eitam, and Benny Eilon, the leaders of the Nat'l Religious Party and the extremist Nat'l Union, said they would leave the coalition if the Govt adopted his ideas. "After 3 y of terror and 900 dead," Mr Eitam said, "it would mean fleeing from terror." Tzahi Hanegbi, the Likud's Internal Security Min, denounced the initiative as "more dangerous for the future of Israel than the Geneva and Oslo agreements put together." But at least one Likud minister backed Mr Olmert. Tzippi Livni, the Immigrant Absorption Mins, said: "Our mission to maintain Israel as a Jewish and democratic and secure state will oblige us to give up part of the Land of Israel." Mr Olmert is gambling his political future on persuading others to recognise that logic. Palestinians can't agree on truce offer Cairo (AP). Palestinians failed to agree on a truce offer to Israel on Sun after 3 days of talks, setting back the Palestinian prime minister's hopes for a halt in violence to jump start the stalled US-backed "road map" peace plan. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which have carried out most suicide attacks against Israel, resisted intense pressure from PM Ahmed Qurei and the top Egyptian mediator and refused a full cease-fire. The 2 groups would agree only to a limited truce, ending attacks on civilians in Israel but not on Jewish settlers or Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel said it would accept only a comprehensive halt. "There's no 1/2-way cease-fire," said Raanan Gissin, a rep for Prime Min Ariel Sharon. He said Israel is willing to stop shooting if there was a total Palestinian truce. An official from Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian delegates said a further meeting was planned but no date for it was set. Egypt had called together the Palestinian factions -- more than a dozen, ranging from Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement to the Islamic groups and smaller leftist movements -- in hopes of producing a halt to all attacks. Egyptian Intel Chief Gen Omar Suleiman wanted to present the truce to Washington next wk in a broad proposal that could win US backing and put pressure on Israel. But Qurei, who joined the talks Sun in the hopes of bridging the gap, left the Egyptian capital, and several delegates acknowledged the talks produced no concrete results. "There are disagreements about the nature of a cease-fire," Maher Taher, a snr delegate for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, told The Associated Press. "The factions have different positions on the issue." Even when Qurei and Suleiman lay on the pressure in a 3-hr meeting Sun, Hamas and Islamic Jihad refused to buckle in their rejection of the broad halt. The 2 groups have carried out most of the suicide bombings against Israel that have killed 100s during more than 3 y of violence. "Hamas is not ready to make a comprehensive cease-fire. This is final," snr Hamas official Mohammed Nazzal said after talks ended Sun. The militant factions also rejected giving Qurei authority to speak for them in any negotiations with Israel. "We are not ready to give them authorisation to sign a new agreement," Nazzal said. The 2 groups said a more limited halt to attacks on civilians in Israel also depended on Israel's stopping its military actions. "Let Abu Ala [Qurei] talk with Sharon and ask him if he is ready to make a cease-fire. If Sharon is ready to make a cease-fire, we will study it," Nazzal said. "It was difficult for us and other factions to accept a new truce without guarantees from the Israeli side, because the previous truce failed in the same way, because of no Israeli guarantees," said Nafez Azzam, an Islamic Jihad rep in Gaza. The Cairo session "ended with the hope of holding another meeting but it hasn't been agreed on a date," Azzam said. In Jun, the Palestinians declared a cease-fire on attacks within Israel that also was negotiated in Egypt. Israel was not formally part of that truce, and it collapsed after 7 wk, with Israel attacking Palestinians and Palestinians resuming suicide bombings. In the end, delegates said the Cairo meetings would only produce a final statement, but no deal. "The statement will have no mention of refraining from attacks on civilians, cease-fire or authorising" Qurei to negotiate with the Israelis, said Samir Ghosheh, head of the Palestinian Struggle Front. In exchange for the full truce, Egypt and Fatah were demanding that Israel stop building settlements, pull its troops out of Palestinian areas re-occupied during the uprising and halt construction of its so-called security barrier along the borders with Palestinian areas, which juts into Palestinian land. Essentially, their plan would have met much of the criteria of the "road map." Sharon said Israel is still interested in a cease-fire. "The solution is that if there is total quiet and there won't be terror, Israel will make every effort to abstain from its activity against terrorists," he said. He made the comments before the Cairo talks ended, in reaction to reports the Palestinians were considering offering the limited cease-fire only. No deadly suicide bombings have occurred in Israel for more than 2 m. The Palestinian suicide attacks have targeted buses, cafes, restaurants, shopping malls and outdoor markets inside Israeli territory, drawing condemnation from the internat'l community as well as from the Palestinian Authority. Israel's army has retaliated harshly -- using tanks, warplanes and helicopters on Palestinians -- and re-occupied most of the Palestinian cities in the West Bank and Gaza. Since the uprising started in Sep 2000, 2,562 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and 898 on the Israeli side. Hamas, Islamic Jihad oppose ceasefire with Israel Stark divisions emerge in Cairo talks Qurei arrives to attend concluding session Cairo (The News, Pak). Palestinian groups trying to agree on a ceasefire with Israel remain as far apart as ever, while Palestinian PM arrived here late on Sat to take part in the Sun's closing session of the mediation talk, said officials. The stark divisions emerged between the 12 groups taking part in the talks after 5 groups rejected a one-y truce proposed by Egypt on the grounds that Israel offered nothing in return. The talks had started on Thu in Cairo, under the aegis of Egyptian intel chief Omar Souleiman, who called on the participants to observe a one-y truce if Israel makes reciprocal gestures. The split surfaced late on Sat with 6 factions supporting the idea of the one-y truce. The 6 groups, the Fatah, the Fida, the Palestinian Liberation Front, the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front, the People's Party and the Arab Liberation Front, supported a one-y conditional truce, while the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) has put forward a one-y ceasefire plan under internat'l supervision, based on 6 conditions. But 5 groups, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Al-Saika and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command (FPLP-GC), proposed that they pledge to "spare civilians" rather than sign up to a full-blown truce. These hardline groups said they were ready to "spare civilians on both sides" but only if Israel lifted blockades around Palestinian towns and villages, stop incursions and house demolition in the occupied territories, and free all Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Palestinian Pres Yasser Arafat's moderate Fatah faction wants a clear statement from all groups, accepting a total ceasefire with Israel to pave the way for resuming peace talks, but the Hamas only wanted to discuss stopping attacks on civilians, while Israel has said any offer to halt attacks only against Israeli civilians was not enough. The Hamas officials said the group would consider freezing attacks on soldiers and Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank and Gaza only if Israel stopped all attacks on Palestinians first. An Arab diplomat close to the discussions said that Hamas had shown some flexibility saying it could accept a conditional ceasefire with Israel but it does not want a public announcement of such a position. Another options was that it would ask Omar Suleiman, Egypt's intel chief mediating the truce and Palestinian PM Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala) to quietly get Israeli guarantees to accept a truce after which there would be a mutual cease-fire declaration." Palestinian talks end without truce Cairo (The News, Pak). Palestinian factions Hamas and 4 others rejected bids to offer Israel a comprehensive ceasefire and the 4 days' talks ended on Sun without agreeing to a full or even partial halt to attacks against Israelis. The talks were to run into late on Sun but cast doubt on the possibility of a deal. Hamas official Mohammed Nazzal said, "Our final response along with the 4 other factions is we are not ready to declare a new ceasefire." Hamas and Islamic Jihad would back a halt to suicide bombings in Israel as part of a statement concluding the talks if Israel stopped assassinations of militants, an end to raids in Palestinian territory, and release of prisoners, Jihad's chief delegate Ziad Nakhala said. Leader of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Maher al-Taher said, "The talks have ended. Differences remained on the question of a ceasefire. There was no agreement on the question of sparing civilians." Member of Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) Abdel Ghani Halalo also said there was no agreement on any ceasefire. Raanan Gissin, rep for Israeli PM Ariel Sharon, reacting to the Hamas rejection, told Reuters: "By scuttling a ceasefire they are undermining, or delaying the process in which the Palestinians can reach statehood." He told CNN: "There had to be a complete cessation of violence, of terrorism, of incitement in order to move forward on the US-backed road map for peace." Officials said Palestinian PM Ahmed Qurei left Cairo after he apparently failed to persuade militant groups to declare a full halt to attacks against Israelis. This foreshadowed another round of Mideast violence. Earlier on Sun Qurei met Egyptian Pres Hosni Mubarak. He told reporters after the meeting, "Israel must commit itself to end all forms of attacks on the Palestinian people for the Palestinians to declare a ceasefire." Meanwhile, in Jerusalem Israel warned it would reject any partial truce as Palestinian factions meeting in Cairo struggled to settle on even a partial halt to anti-Israeli attacks after failing to agree on the full truce demanded by Israel as a condition for renewed peace talks, delegates said. A source close to Israeli PM Ariel Sharon said. "Israel is committed to the roadmap, whose parameters are known and which demands a total end to attacks." Sharon himself said, "Israel desires a ceasefire but we are not a part of these discussions in Egypt. We will halt, as much as possible, all our operations if there is a real ceasefire and a complete cessation of terror." In a last-minute bid to work out some kind of joint statement, participants said the factions were meeting Sun evening without Suleiman and Qurei, who left Cairo on his way back to the West Bank. "But probably nothing will be published" after the meeting, said a participant predicting failure. Sharon's Trade Min Ehud Olmert sparked a major backlash by backing a pullout from most of the West Bank and Gaza while Housing Min Effi Eitam said his Nat'l Religious Party would quit the govt if "these terrible and dangerous scenarios moved from being mere words." Internal Security Min Tshai Hanegbi, a member of Sharon and Olmert's right-wing Likud party, also denounced Olmert's initiative, saying: "It was more dangerous for the future of the State of Israel than the Oslo and Geneva agreements together." Meanwhile public radio reported on Sun that 18 unauthorised settlement outposts in the West Bank are to be dismantled by the Israeli army in the next few days. Defence Min Shaul Mofaz is due to meet on Mon with representatives of the Settlers' Council in a bid to secure agreement for the dismantling of the mostly uninhabited outposts built on Palestinian land. In Jerusalem, Israeli and Palestinian officials met to prepare for a summit meeting between Sharon and Qurei but were unable to set a date. A summit is seen as essential for ending 3 y of violence and restarting talks on the US-backed ''road map'' peace plan. The director of Sharon's office, Dov Weisglass, met with his Palestinian counterpart, Hassan Abu Libdeh, and negotiator Saeb Erekat. === end 1/3 ===

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