Blair Places 'War on Terror' at the Heart of Election Campaign/New WMW

[Gloria]

full excerpts, links up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com

First story seems odd.............


WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR NOVEMBER 15, 2004

//The Independent, UK--BLAIR PLACES ‘WAR ON TERROR’ AT HEART OF ELECTION CAMPAIGN (Tony Blair has decided to confront opponents of the Iraq war head on by placing the "war on terror" at the heart of Labour's campaign in the coming general election…The Labour Party's senior strategists plan to make a virtue of Mr Blair's track record as a war leader at a time of increased terrorist threat. They were put on alert yesterday for the prospect of a visit to Britain in February by President George Bush. The White House confirmed a tour of European countries to build support for the war on terror…Plans to fight the next election on a domestic agenda of public service reform have been shelved. Instead the party will present security as a necessary condition for opportunity at every level. Critics will claim that Labour has decided to fight a negative campaign based on exploiting voters' fears.)



//The Jordan Times, Jordan--DUTCH TO WITHDRAW TROOPS IN MARCH (The 1,350 Dutch troops in Iraq will be brought home as planned in March, the defence ministry said on Friday, but the Netherlands will contribute to a NATO training mission there…“We think that by March 2005 the security situation in al Muthanna will be stable enough to hand over the task to Iraqi security,” defence ministry spokesman, Otte Beeksma, said…The Netherlands has been under US and British pressure to keep its troops in Iraq beyond the March deadline as the interim administration tries to contain mounting violence and hold elections.)



//TurkishPress.com, USA--ROMANIA COULD PULL ITS TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ NEXT JUNE: PM (Romania could pull its 800 troops out of the US-led coalition in Iraq next June if the situation in the war-torn country stabilises, Prime Minister Adrian Nastase said Sunday. "We hope that the elections in January will lead to a gradual normalisation of the situation in Iraq, and if this is the case Romanian troops could be withdrawn in June 2005," he said.)



//The Australian, Australia--TOKYO BOWS TO BUSH ON DEFENCE (Under pressure from the Bush administration, the Koizumi Government is moving quickly, if warily, to craft a new defence posture. On Friday in Washington, within a fortnight of President George W. Bush's re-election, the two sides had completed a new round of preparatory talks on the realignment of US forces in Japan. "Forces realignment" is the critical factor in the future shape of the Japan-US Security Treaty, the cornerstone of Japanese defence policy and strategy. And it is an important part of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's "global transformation" of the US military.)



//The Scotsman, UK--MILITARY GIANT’S THREAT TO FREE PRESS (An American military giant is trying to force Scotland on Sunday to reveal the source of embarrassing revelations about a botched Ministry of Defence contract that wasted millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money. Environmental Tectonics Corporation (ETC) has complained about a "breach of confidentiality" in two stories laying bare details of a lengthy wrangle over its failure to deliver a space-age pilot training device that cost the Royal Air Force more than £14m, but was never delivered. Scotland on Sunday revealed earlier this year that the MoD had secretly paid the firm more than £7m in compensation, despite judging that ETC had not met its obligation to provide a human centrifuge, designed to train fighter pilots to withstand "high G" forces during jet flights…But, in an extraordinary attack on the freedom of the press, the MoD has now joined forces with the company in a bid to force disclosure of the sources behind the uncomfortable revelations. The Treasury Solicitor, in a letter to this newspaper, said: "I am instructed by the Ministry of Defence to write and confirm that the Ministry joins with in their application to request the identity of the sources.")

[roguevalley]

1. he better be ready to steal the election too. Poodle.

[AP]

2. He saw what happened to Kerry.

This is sad. Blair's not going to use FDR as his model (nothing to fear but fear itself). Is it because he can't trust the media not to sabotage Labour?

If it works, that would be the best argument that Clark should have been the democratic nominee.