Howard Delivers New Blow to Blair over Iraq/Independent,UK-New WMW

[Gloria]

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

WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR MARCH 3, 2004

1//The Independent, UK--HOWARD DELIVERS NEW BLOW TO BLAIR OVER IRAQ AS TORIES PULL OUT OF BUTLER INQUIRY (Tony Blair's attempts to draw a line under the Iraq war suffered another setback yesterday when the Conservative Party withdrew its support from the inquiry into the intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons. Michael Howard, the Tory leader, said the investigation by Lord Butler of Brockwell, the former cabinet secretary, would not give "equal weight" to the actions of individuals and the process of intelligence-gathering. He feared that the inquiry would not hold anyone responsible for any failings.)


2//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--PAKISTAN STIRS A TRIBAL WAR (The weekend's incident of "mistaken fire" in which Pakistani soldiers killed at least 11 people in a shooting incident in Wana in the tribal region of South Waziristan near the Afghan border has virtually overnight changed the rules of the game in the region…With the weekend's killing of 11 tribals, sentiment among even the pro-establishment tribals has changed, and they find themselves on the same "side" as the nationalists, and political and religious affiliations have been blurred. (This was fueled in part by unconfirmed reports that US soldiers had been involved in the shooting and were being given a free run in the tribal areas.) Now tribals threaten that if there is another major mobilization of Pakistan troops in the area, "Pakistani forces will only take their own body bags back home".)



3//Inter Press Service, Italy--PAKISTAN: CONCERN RISES OVER TORCHING OF FOREIGN-FUNDED SCHOOLS (Arsonists have struck nine schools in the remote hills of northern Pakistan, sparking official concern that Taliban or other Islamist groups critical of organisations that get foreign aid could be targeting the area…''All these schools established by the government under the Social Action Programme were funded by the World Bank. It is quite likely that that could very well be the reason,'' said Mir Aman, resident editor of 'The Kunjarab Times International', a Gilgit newspaper.)



4//The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia--GOING TO WAR SECURED US ALLIANCE, SAYS DOWNER (Australia's alliance with the US would have weakened "very substantially" if the Government refused to go to war against Iraq, the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, said yesterday. The claim came as new questions were raised about the legality of the Iraq war following the findings handed down by the parliamentary intelligence committee on Monday… Many strategic analysts have said that the US alliance was the prime motivator for the Government going to war, despite the stress Government members put on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction and the terrorist threat before the war.)



5//Gulf News Online, United Arab Emirates--RAPID REFORMS RECIPE FOR CHAOS (The most populous Arab nation, Egypt, under pressure from its ally Washington to promote reform in the Middle East, said yesterday that instant freedoms would lead to anarchy and it would then be hard to pick up the pieces…The Egyptian proposal also refers obliquely to the US invasion of Iraq, saying that another condition for the success of reform is respect for the sovereignty of Arab peoples. An Egyptian official said the submission was a direct response to Washington's ideas, which have had an overwhelmingly hostile reception in the Arab world because of suspicion of the US motives.)

[htuttle]

1. Sounds like Bush's Spring Offensive's counter-offensive has already begun

In addition to the snippet you posted, in the Asia Times article about Pakistan:

The operations in the tribal region were considered a precursor to bigger ones in Afghanistan in April and onwards when the weather improves, but now the tribal regions themselves could become a part of the problem.

(snip)

Some rocket attacks on Pakistani military targets have already been reported over the past few days.

(snip)

Now tribals threaten that if there is another major mobilization of Pakistan troops in the area, "Pakistani forces will only take their own body bags back home".

(more)