"The Foreign Ministry said in a short statement there was no change in France's anti-war stance, but added:

"In the event that American forces or those allied to them should face a new situation such as a chemical or biological attack, France would assess the measures of assistance to take in a spirit of friendship and solidarity.""

818 Also posted to: Home page . At: 11:25:30 PM  . .
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Other title(s) for this story: Reuters: France will help coalition if WMD are used

"What we have witnessed is, indeed, the consequence of Europe and the United States dividing from one another. ... There is a resentment of U.S. dominance," but the way to deal with terrorism is through partnership "not rivalry," Blair said. In the debate following Blair's speech, some Parliament members questioned the logic of what they felt was blindly following the U.S. in invading Iraq. "September 11 changed the psychology of America," Blair said. "It should have changed the psychology of the world."

We are forgetting what this is about. Smallpox falling into the hands of death and glory Muslim nutters. Don't think that when this comes, and there's still a chance that these WMD have already been passed to bin Laden's acolytes, that it was because of our attack on Iraq, it will be despite it.

Several years ago I saw a picture in Wired magazine, it was of a nuclear hole in New York. A photo composition. The article was about the strange things that could happen in the 21st century. I looked long and hard at this picture, the tiny comment below the picture talked of terrorism. Who could that be, I thought?

Who indeed.

It doesn't matter who. This stuff is coming. Be it an aerosol spray of VX agent on an underground train. One person contaminated with a dreadful disease. Terror is coming to a town near you. We as a world need to get this stuff out of circulation. Saddam's got loads. Get him and whoever's next on the list. Then we need to get the US's supply out of commission.

Even in the US there are nutters.

Full text of Blair's speech from the Guardian: "When the inspectors left in 1998, they left unaccounted for: 10,000 litres of anthrax; a far reaching VX nerve agent programme; up to 6,500 chemical munitions; at least 80 tonnes of mustard gas, possibly more than ten times that amount; unquantifiable amounts of sarin, botulinum toxin and a host of other biological poisons; an entire Scud missile programme."

"We are now seriously asked to accept that in the last few years, contrary to all history, contrary to all intelligence, he decided unilaterally to destroy the weapons. Such a claim is palpably absurd. "

And he goes on...

"Let me tell the house what I know. I know that there are some countries or groups within countries that are proliferating and trading in WMD, especially nuclear weapons technology."

"I know there are companies, individuals, some former scientists on nuclear weapons programmes, selling their equipment or expertise."

"I know there are several countries - mostly dictatorships with highly repressive regimes - desperately trying to acquire chemical weapons, biological weapons or, in particular, nuclear weapons capability. Some of these countries are now a short time away from having a serviceable nuclear weapon. This activity is not diminishing. It is increasing."

Good speech Tony.

I used to, still am, a Greenpeace activist, I went to Greenham Common (1985) with the rest of the 'No nukes in UK' brigade. I went on 'Stop the City' (1983) demos with the punks, anarchists and womens' movements, even a ClassWar 'Bash The Rich' (1985) march through the Rolls Royce houses of Kensington.

War -- I have a horror of, a hatred for, a desire to ensure that it would never happen. But I have known, right from October 2001 that Saddam would be the first, that he would never back down, that to rid the world of WMD so they could not fall into the hands of terrorist, war was coming.

817 Also posted to: Home page . At: 11:10:27 PM  . .
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Other title(s) for this story: Tony Blair in Parliament

Excellent graphic design, some of the ones I liked I've copied here, but there are loads of lovely designs. I particularly like the way they tell tanks to look the other way or else.

Via IraqWar.info which also linked to the UK's Daily Mirror which has a story that 30,000 or 15% of the Iraqi army has already surrendered, so I guess these leaflets work.

816 Also posted to: Home page . At: 9:53:59 PM  . .
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Other title(s) for this story: globalsecurity.org: Target Iraq - Art of War

"Having traveled around the world and met with senior government officials in dozens of countries over the past year, I can report that with the exception of Britain and Israel, every country the administration has dealt with feels humiliated by it."

Excellent background to the current anti-Americanism. Particularly worrying is the background in Turkey. The US bullying of a democratic system, against the will of the people. The US wanted democracy, but it cannot control it like it can military regimes. As it spreads democracy around the world, this might be the beast that bites it in the bum.

815 Also posted to: Home page . At: 2:07:34 AM  . .
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Other title(s) for this story: The Arrogant Empire

" One of the champions of the activist-military doctrines is Thomas Barnett, a Naval War College professor who has briefed dozens of groups inside the Pentagon on his theory that the United States must "export security" to parts of the world that have failed to develop modern societies.

Barnett has identified a large swath of countries stretching from Central America across the Atlantic Ocean to Africa, the Middle East and parts of southern Asia, which he said have become disconnected from the developing world, and thus are ripe for sowing unrest.

"There is a good reason why al-Qaida was based first in Sudan and then later in Afghanistan," Barnett wrote in the March issue of Esquire. "These are two of the most disconnected countries in the world.""

Right that's Iraq sorted... Who's next! But this is right. And I wish the people who wanted fair trade agreements, and 3rd world debt would get on this band wagon. This is a time when we can change the world.

814 Also posted to: Home page . At: 1:35:38 AM  . .
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Other title(s) for this story: Sacramento Bee: Hawks circling for new targets

"Chirac actually thinks Saddam Hussein's youngest son, Qusay, might be the right person to lead a transition government that will change the world's perception about Iraq, if not the reality of the dangers it poses to the world.

The lesson for the future in all this? The next time France is invaded, let them call the Iraqis for help."

Lucrative oil deals, unpaid loans, selling weapons and they built the first nuclear plant for Iraq. (It was later bombed by Israel.)

I still don't understand why the French played their veto card, knowing the consequences to them and the UN. Sure, they talked of the wrongness of war in general - as a principle. We know of their distain of US hegemony. All this apart, why did they risk being ostracised by the remaining superpower?

CNN: "What emerged instead was a unipolar world, the U.S. bestriding the globe like a colossus, more dominant in every field of endeavor--economic, military, diplomatic, cultural, even linguistic--than any other nation since Rome. This the French cannot abide."

France: "giant killer. Remaker of the post--cold war world. Leader of the global anti-American camp."

High powered politics, indeed. This is what Blair warned about weeks ago, about splitting from the US. Well, France will lose.

813 Also posted to: Home page . At: 1:04:10 AM  . .
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Other title(s) for this story: WorldNetDaily: France and Iraq

"It's good to be in the blogosphere. Xeni and John, I hope you two are incredibly proud of yourselves. Look at all of the people responding, because you put this blog out there. This experience has really made me rethink my rather orthodox views of reaching folks via mass media. Blogging is an incredible tool, with amazing potential. The feedback readers are posting motivates me to provide as much as I can for all of these folks hungry for first-hand info."

A blog right from Iraq! A journo discovers the power of blogging, and we discover blogging from the front line.

812 Also posted to: Home page . At: 12:29:33 AM  . .
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Other title(s) for this story: Kevin Sites Blog