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Monday,
March 17, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Thousands surround White House in anti-war protest
Saddam puts Iraqis on war footing |
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Pope’s appeal to Iraq USA can’t punish Pak: analysts
War: FMs may meet at UN Council Wen Jiabao elected Premier of China 7th top Al-Qaida man held in Lahore
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Thousands surround White House in Washington, March 16 Carrying signs with such messages as “Stop mad cowboy disease’’ above a picture of President George W. Bush, the demonstrators yesterday beat drums, sang songs and chanted as they marched from the Washington Monument to White House and finally to the Justice Department. “President Bush, listen to your people — the American people before you today, who say, no war in Iraq,’’ Howard University student Peta Lindsay told a cheering crowd at a mid-day rally. The demonstrators, from throughout the country and across the ideological spectrum, waved flags and placards and chanted slogans like “Send our troops home’’ and “No blood for oil.’’ Some flew rainbow kites with “peace’’ written on them. “The Iraqi people are not our enemies — they are our sisters and brothers,’’ another Howard University student Caneisha Mills told the rally. Bush spent yesterday away from Washington at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland. But he used his weekly radio address to brace the public for war, saying he saw little hope that Iraq would disarm peacefully. Despite his absence, police cars kept the demonstrators to a route about a block’s width away from White House. The Washington police said the event was largely peaceful but that five people were arrested for “unlawful entry’’ to World Bank headquarters, several blocks from White House and the demonstration route. This morning, Bush heads to Portugal’s Azores islands for an emergency summit with leaders of Britain and Spain in a final pursuit of a UN resolution that would set the stage for war against Iraq over its alleged weapons of mass destruction programmes. The resolution sponsored by the three countries is the subject of a bitter fight among UN Security Council members. First-time demonstrator Patty Crotau (28), left her home in upstate New York on Friday afternoon and came to Washington by bus. The mother of two said she came because she believed the Bush administration’s current stance was hypocritical. The Washington protest is one of the several planned yesterday in the USA, designed to coincide with similar demonstrations throughout Europe, Asia and Australia. In San Francisco, thousands of protesters chanted, played guitars, beat drums and carried signs reading “How many lives per gallon?’’ in an anti-war march that stretched for about a dozen city blocks. In Tampa, Florida, about 100 people rallied outside the gates of the MacDill Air Force Base, home of the US Central Command. Nearly 1,000 people took part in more than a dozen protests in and around Boston, organisers said. The police arrested one person for disrupting traffic on a busy bridge between Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, witnesses said. There were also counter-demonstrations in other cities, including Atlanta, where about 2,000 people gathered in downtown Atlanta in a “Rally for America.’’ Organisers said the event was designed to voice support for the US military and was not necessarily pro-war. “My hope is that on Monday morning the administration will realise there are two super powers in the world: the USA and world opinion,’’ said the Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches.
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Saddam puts Iraqis on war footing Baghdad, March 16 Faced with prospects of war to unseat him within days, Saddam named close aides to command the districts, including his eldest son Qusay, who was charged with commanding the key areas of Baghdad and Tikrit, the government’s powerbase. "The Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) issued a decree today that forms four regional leaderships under President Saddam Hussein to take the necessary steps to repulse and destroy any foreign aggression...and securing the domestic front," the state Iraqi News Agency (INA) said late yesterday. The decree was issued on the eve of a summit between the leaders of the USA, Britain and Spain in the Azores islands after efforts to win new UN backing for war on Iraq floundered, saying there was little hope Saddam would disarm. The crisis summit is expected to set the stage for military action. The decree, numbered 61 and signed by Saddam, divides Iraq into four districts: northern Iraq, southern Iraq, central Iraq, and Baghdad and other areas to the north, including Tikrit. It appoints Qusay in charge of Baghdad and some other central areas. The other leaders of the regions are RCC’s Deputy Chairman Izzat Ibrahim for northern Iraq, RCC member and Saddam’s cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid for southern Iraq and RCC member Mizban Khodr al-Hadi for the central Euphrates area.
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Blair convenes ‘war Cabinet’ London, March 16 The Cabinet held yesterday, ahead of the crucial Azores summit to be attended by US President George W Bush, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and Mr Blair, also discussed final plans for military action against Iraq. The UN was given time until tomorrow evening to come to a final choice on whether to back a second resolution or see the USA and Britain launch military action against Iraq. If Britain and the US fail to muster the required nine votes to pass the resolution in their favour in the council they are expected to dump plans to put it to vote and announce that Saddam is in “material breach” of the UN resolution 1441 passed last November and go ahead with war, sources said. It is expected that an air-bombing campaign followed by a massive ground offensive would start within a few days, they said. Mr Blair is also planning to hold an emergency meeting of the full Cabinet early this week and announce a vote in the House of Commons, probably on Tuesday, if the UN route is exhausted by tomorrow night. The downing street is also braced for the resignation of Robin Cook, Leader of the House of Commons, by Tuesday night if the second resolution fails but officials said they hoped to keep Clare Short, International Development Secretary, in the Cabinet, The Sunday Observer said.
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Pope’s appeal to Iraq Vatican CIty, March 16 “But I would also like to remind the member countries of the United Nations, especially those that make up the Security Council, that the use of force represents a last resort,’’ the 82-year-old Pope said. “That is why, faced with the tremendous consequences that an international military operation would have for the people of Iraq...I say to all: there is still time to negotiate, there is still space for peace.’’
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USA can’t punish Pak: analysts Islamabad, March 16 “The Americans need Pakistan as much as Pakistan needs the USA,” said Khalid Mahmud, an analyst at the state-funded institute for regional studies. “They cannot afford to retaliate against Pakistan for abstaining.” Pakistan, with a 95 per cent Muslim population, has said it would not support military action on Iraq. The Cabinet decided last Monday, according to ruling party officials, to abstain when it looked like a vote on war was imminent in the United Nations Security Council where
Pakistan has a non-permanent seat. Pakistan is a pivotal player in the US-led campaign to wipe out the al-Qaida terror network and hunt down its supremo Osama bin Laden. Islamabad’s cooperation has kept it winning a host of rewards right until Friday when Washington announced the lifting of the last remaining military sanctions imposed after Gen Musharraf’s coup in October, 1999. After the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, Washington lifted nuclear-related sanctions on military sales and training, pumped more than $ 1 billion in aid, paid $ 600 million dollars for using Pakistani air bases and corridors, rescheduled $ 3 billion debt and promised to write off $ 1 billion dollars. Now Pakistani officials fear they will have to pay a price for saying no to US requests to support their push for war. “There could be negative repercussions from outside,” a senior foreign affairs adviser to the government told AFP, on condition of anonymity. But analysts were confident Pakistan’s importance to the USA, bolstered by the capture on March 1 of al-Qaida kingpin Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the network’s alleged operational chief, would give it immunity from penalties. “We should keep something in mind: this is not a one-way affair. The Americans value Pakistan’s assistance and cooperation,” Mahmud said. “And the capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has given Pakistan a better bargaining position on Iraq.” Yesterday Pakistan announced the capture of another senior al-Qaida operative, Moroccan national Yassir al-Jazeeri, bringing the number of foreign al-Qaida operatives caught here close to 450. Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali, after appealing for more time for Iraq to disarm, on Thursday drew a line between the war on terrorism and the planned invasion of Iraq. “The war on terrorism and the war against Iraq are two different things,” he said. Pakistan can now say: “This is what we have done on one front, therefore we must have the facility to take a different position on Iraq,” Mahmud said. Anxiety that Washington may raise the heat on Islamabad over infiltration by Islamic rebels into Indian-controlled Kashmir was misplaced as the pressure is already there, he said.
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War: FMs may meet at UN Council United Nations, March 16 The proposal came as US President George W Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Spanish counterpart Jose Maria Aznar were meeting in Pacific island of Azores today as a last ditch effort to win support in the council for their resolution to authorise military strike to disarm Iraq and chart their course of action if they fail to get the requisite backing. Among their options is the withdrawal of a second resolution and taking action under the authority of the previous 1441 resolution. The Foreign Ministers meeting has been proposed to coincide with Chief Weapons Inspector Hans Blix identifying in the council the key disarmament tasks for Iraq on Tuesday. France, Russia and Germany advocate giving Baghdad “realistic” timeframe to fulfil disarmament tasks but without threatening it with an ultimatum.
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Wen Jiabao elected Premier of China Beijing, March 16 As expected, the National People’s Congress (NPC), the largely rubber-stamp Chinese Parliament today formally approved the candidature of Wen Jiabao, 60, as Premier to succeed Zhu Rongji in a well-orchestrated session. Wen, as Vice Premier under Zhu, has experience in handling financial, agriculture reforms and disaster relief matters. Wen received 2,906 votes in his favour, while three votes went against him and 16 abstained, entitling him to take the reins of the world’s sixth-biggest economy. Attired in western suit, a beaming Wen rose and shook hands with his mentor Zhu as the nearly 3,000 legislators in the cavernous great hall of the people applauded.
PTI |
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7th top Al-Qaida man held in Lahore Islamabad, March 16 Confirming his arrest, Pakistan Information Minister Sheikh Rashid said a Moroccan national and a Pakistani had been arrested from the Gulberg area yesterday. The officials here said a team of intelligence officials raided a rented house at Bhagatpura in Lahore and arrested Jazeeri, a Moroccan national. “Yasir Al-Jazeeri is seventh in the top Al-Qaida leadership”, Rashid said, adding that a Pakistani was also arrested and the raid was conducted only by local agencies. “It is another big catch, but not as big as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,” Rashid told a local television channel. He further said no FBI personnel was involved in the raid, as was reported earlier. Al-Jazeeri was shifted to an unknown place for interrogation and was expected to be handed over to the USA shortly. The sources said the name of the Pakistani arrested along with Al-Jazeeri was Gulzeb alias Jaffar. Al-Jazeeri might have been arrested on a tip-off given by Khalid, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the USA, who was arrested some weeks ago from Rawalpindi, reports here said. Eyewitness accounts published in the local media here said three bearded men, apparently Afghan nationals, were arrested, adding that they were blindfolded and taken away in a Toyota wagon (LHG-340) to unknown destination. Residents of the area said intelligence agencies personnel had already been deputed in the area and it appeared that they had some forehand information regarding the movements of the three arrested.
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