HUTTON MUDBATH,Scotsman (NewWMD evidence??) New WMW

[Gloria]

Full exerpts, links up now at WMW site (URL in sig)
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com

What is the "British/US Iraq Survey Group"? See article 1


WORLD MEDIA WATCH For August 18, 2003

1//The Scotsman, Scotland--HUTTON MUDBATH (This should have been a very good week for the government as it continues the propaganda battle to persuade the country that it was right to go to war in Iraq. Ministers could have pointed to the revelation that a high-ranking al-Qaeda terrorist captured by US forces had disclosed that Iraq supplied the Islamic militant group with material to build chemical and biological weapons. They could have focused the debate on an anticipated report from the joint British/US Iraq Survey Group, which is expected to reveal fresh evidence that Saddam Hussein concealed large quantities of biological weapons…The government in particular will be hoping that the public tires of the Hutton inquiry as is stretches into its second and third weeks and beyond, but the starry cast list makes this unlikely. This week’s highlight will surely be Campbell’s appearance on Tuesday, and thereafter Hoon and the Prime Minister will give evidence. Whatever ennui sets in before he appears, Blair’s attendance will take interest to fever pitch, and his very future as PM will hang on how successful he is at handling the questioning.)http://www.news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?id=902902003&tid=911



2//The Turkish Daily News, Turkey--KURDS SAY ANTI-US EXTREMISTS MOVING INTO IRAQ FROM IRAN (More than 1,000 al Qaeda operatives including Arabs and Afghans as well as other Middle Eastern radicals have slipped into Iraq through the rugged mountains bordering Iran in recent months adding to the terrorist threat against U.S. forces, diplomatic sources told the Turkish Daily News on Friday. The extremists have reportedly traveled from Afghanistan to Iraq via Iran…The extremists reportedly travel to the pro-Saddam areas of Iraq where American soldiers are coming under daily attacks. The diplomatic sources said it was not certain why the Iranians had turned a blind eye to the extremists transiting their country.)



3//The Jordan Times, Jordan--‘6 AIRLINES TO FLY TO BASRA AIRPORT WITHING 3 WEEKS’ (Iraq's second international airport in Basra will reopen within three weeks and be serviced by six airlines, a spokesman for British troops occupying the southern port city said here Saturday.
"We have not got a confirmed date, but it is due to be opened in the next two to three weeks," Captain Hisham Halawi told a news conference…Halawi said last weekend's riots in Basra over fuel and power shortages had been instigated by a minority, adding that coalition efforts to rebuild southern Iraq were being hampered by sabotage. But the British spokesman stressed that calm had been restored in the city, adding that coalition forces had recruited 3,400 Iraqi policemen in Basra, and 9,000 policemen in the south as a whole.)



4//Arab News, Saudi Arabia--SCHOLARS BACK GOVT CRACKDOWN (The Kingdom’s highest Islamic authority yesterday denounced terror attacks in the Kingdom, describing them as “serious criminal acts,” and pledged its full support for the government…The 17-member council, headed by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh, declared its support for the actions being taken by the state to track down terrorists in an effort to shield the country from their actions…Meanwhile, Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, held telephone talks with US President George W. Bush on bilateral efforts to starve terrorists of funds and other efforts to battle extremism, the White House said.)



5//DW-World.de/Deutsche-Welle, Germany--AID ORGANIZATIONS CRITICIZE GERMANY’S AFGHANISTAN PLANS ("It’s been our experience that the American reconstruction teams working in Afghanistan have all too often aroused the mistrust of the population and have found themselves caught in the midst of internal conflicts because they do not separate military and humanitarian tasks," Hochwald explains…The German government, of course, sees the situation differently. It wants to send the soldiers into the northern city of Kunduz, which is considered relatively safe. Bernd Baucks views such a position as an obvious contradiction of the military’s priorities. That the government selects a place of deployment based on the extent to which it has already been secured goes against what the soldiers are in the country to do, namely stop the fighting in the first place.)

[durutti]

1. Explanation

Concerning the new evidence of a supposed al-Qaeda link: captives obviously can't always be trusted to tell the truth. Al-Qaeda operatives might have an interest in misleading the U.S., might have been threatened with torture, or might simply be telling the U.S. what it wans to hear in order to get preferential treatment.

Concerning the bioweapons evidence: the survey team is the group of inspectors the U.S. and Britain sent in, led by David Kay. Apparently, Kay has been unable to find any evidence of a chemical weapons program or nuclear weapons program. He claims to have found evidence of a biological weapons program that Iraq successfully conealed from inspectors. The evidence will be revealed in mid-September. Debkafile (which is a mouthpiece for Israeli intelligence, so take it with plenty of salt) claims he'll reveal that the WMDs were hidden in Syria.

I'm approaching this all with a wait-and-see attitude. Recall the endless stream of "smoking guns", from pesticides to trailers used to make hydrogen balloons, with which we've been presented so far.

Also, keep in mind that David Kay has ties to the defense industry, and has always been very close to Washington. He's quite possibly a spy. His former colleagues say he can't be trusted.

[Gloria]

2. Yes, I thought the article might be referring to Kay....to see the

story in the UK press is a bit scary, that it's spread there. I don't know the leanings of the Scotsman....But it seems the media there in general is sticking to going after the lies prior to the buildup and we'll have to see if this all blows up and the Kay story gets traction there....and here.

I would hope the British press smells the rat....over here, I doubt it will try to uncover Kay's connections or motives....or who might behind him.

[punpirate]

3. Well, regarding Kay...

... remember the "major" excavation to be done a couple of weeks ago in Najaf, as leaked by the Washington Times? Nothing after that one report.

And, this would not be the first time the claim has been made that weapons were moved to Syria, without evidence.

Kay is highly suspect--because Blix has never said why he was removed from UNSCOM, we don't know for sure, but there were continuing allegations at the time that he may have manufactured evidence then, acted on hearsay, and might have been trading with or working for the CIA at the time. Outside that small circle of neo-cons, he has virtually no credibility whatsoever.

One thing for sure, though, if Kay finds anything of substance, I'm hoping the foreign press will be on him like a bad smell, because all the press here will do is rant and rave about Bush being right, after all.

As for "The Scotsman," it has printed some stories that certainly didn't help the Bush administration's image in the UK, although some I thought a little short on fact and depended on unnamed sources, nor have they been particularly easy on Blair, either.

Cheers.

[jamesinca]

4. They have been saying Syria since day 1 practically

Then after a church service in TX with the pilots that had been shot down Bush said that Syria was finally getting it and was co-operating. Now they are back on the Syria thing. I read the article, and I remember seeing a link to Freerepublic boards tht were going nuts over this. This was months ago, back in April/May. My question, if we know that Syria had the WMD prior to the war, why did we go ahead with the invasion of Iraq? I still think there is a quid pro quo with Isreal on peace with Palastine and the removal of Iraq and the pressure on Syria. Notice how the Isreal/Palestine conflict gets violent when the U.S. struggles in Iraq, or new allegations emerge in Britan about the lies? Just a thought.

[phoebe]

5. Hutton Mudbath?? are you kidding??

n/t