:: Has the whole world gone mad or is it just me. ::

:: Saturday, March 22, 2003 ::

:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 3:46 PM [+] ::
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:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 3:38 PM [+] ::
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American Politics Journal -- Big Babies God Damn You
by Alan Bisbort

Mar. 20, 2003 -- HARTFORD (apj.us) -- ...and I mean that sincerely, George W. Bush.

Far be it for me, a sinful man who has backslid more times than Robert Downey Jr., to personally single you and your murderous cohorts out.

I gladly defer to Bishop Tutu and the Dalai Lama and Jimmy Carter and the Pope, more conversant in things scriptural or theological than I, or any of your unenlightened inner circle, will ever be. I will let them speak the truth, as far as any of us can know it here on this earth. To a person, they condemn your most unholy and unjust of wars in Iraq.

Pope John Paul II, 82 years old and almost too frail to muster the energy needed to combat one such as you, George W. Bush, said this on Tuesday: "Those who decide that all peaceful means that international law makes available are exhausted assume a grave responsibility before God, their conscience and history."

The Pope also said that he will not shut down the Vatican's embassy in Iraq during this war.

So, now you can have at the old men in their vestments and the nuns in their blood-stained habits, and all the huddling, shivering civilians who will, no doubt, try to take refuge at the Vatican's embassy in Baghdad. That is, what will be left of the embassy after your Blitzkrieg has suitably shocked and awed your presumed enemy. It's your God against their God, one on one, for the World Championship. Meanwhile, Osama, who's got a ringside seat, is having an animated and happy discussion with his God. He and his cadre of demented religionists can't wait to take on the winners.
:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 3:37 PM [+] ::
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AP Wire | 03/22/2003 | Legality of War Still Debated Worldwide ------------------------------------------------------------------------Posted on Sat, Mar. 22, 2003
Legality of War Still Debated Worldwide
TOM RAUM
Associated Press


WASHINGTON - The Bush administration says the war in Iraq is lawful, an assessment disputed by many skeptical foreign leaders and international law scholars.

It is a a debate that U.S. officials hope will subside once Saddam Hussein is toppled and a new government in power.

But the criticism is just as likely to intensify if the war is prolonged and if there are many civilian casualties.

Television images beamed around the world of the massive American aerial bombardment of Baghdad, showing dozens of buildings going up in flames, probably did not help the U.S. case in the court of public opinion, analysts suggested. Nor did pictures of angry Arabs protesting in the Middle Eastern, screaming "Death to America," or images U.S. troops briefly raising the American flag over a seized Iraqi city.

The administration says Iraqis will be better off once Saddam is removed and insists that its cause is just. Convincing the rest of the world that the U.S. and British-led war is both just and lawful is a hard sell.

"Without corresponding resolutions of the U.N. Security Council, this occupation will be illegal," Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov told Russian lawmakers last week as U.S. and British troops crossed into Iraq.

Diane Orentlicher, professor of international law at American University, said that "most of the world believes that the war does violate international law.
:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 11:10 AM [+] ::
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Where is America Headed Where is America Headed?
By Raphael Makonnen
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As the U.S. began to attack Iraq yesterday, the arguments for and against war are becoming increasingly more sophisticated. The American and European media and the public seem to be engaged in the most fundamental questions of war and peace. However, in this domestic and international battle between doves and hawks, there seems to be a dearth of voices from the Global South ? the developing countries of the world. These countries make up more than 4 billion of the 6 billion people on earth, yet we know little of the debates going on in these societies. To answer the question ?what does the world think?? one must be concerned with these countries.
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There is an intriguing paradox in the developing world. As an Ethiopian, I draw many of my conclusions from my experiences in my country and the writings of Westerners like Bernard Kouchner (Doctors without Borders) and Thomas Friedman (New York Times). The voices of the Global South are looking upon this crescendo of war with both fear and hope. While there is a great diversity of views in the developing world, there are, in my opinion, two distinct and contradictory views toward the war in Iraq. On the one hand, there is a very real opposition to and fear of unbridled American power. However, there is an equally strong opinion that wishes the US would take out Saddam and all the other autocratic and repressive regimes of the world.
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:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 8:59 AM [+] ::
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Even the coalition of the willing isn't very willing it seems.

novinite.com In Parliament President Parvanov called for unity so that Bulgaria "acts with dignity" during the war with IraqBulgaria's President: I do not Accept This War
War with Iraq: 20 March 2003, Thursday.
I do not accept this war because I share the view that each war brings hardships for all people, Bulgarian President Parvanov said in his statement in Parliament March 20, hours after the US attacked Iraq.

The president cited the lack of UN Security Council sanction and the unacceptability of military actions in the 21st century as the two main arguments for taking a definite stand against the war, a war which in his words has been announced well in advance of the first military strikes.

The challenges of the 21st century call for unity and not opposition of mankind, President Parvanov said.

It is not a debate about the character of this war only, it is a debate about the future of international relations and world order, President Parvanov said.

Bulgaria's national interests can be guaranteed only within the framework of a stable world order, with clear rules, stable partnership in the international organizations, mainly UN, EU and NATO. The first to be hurt by the war will be the international organizations, Parvanov said.

The President pointed out that a number of questions, concerning the legitimacy of the voiced positions on the crisis, have been raised by the fact that Bulgaria "happened" to be on the list of the Coalition of the Willing.


:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 9:48 AM [+] ::
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The Australian: Putin calls on US to stop [March 20, 2003] This story is from our news.com.au network Source: AFP
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Putin calls on US to stop

March 20, 2003

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has called on the United States to stop the war against Iraq, calling the campaign a "serious political mistake".
"If we install the rule of force in place of international security structures, no country in the world will feel secure," he said. "That is why Russia insists on a quick end to military operations."

The Russian leader, in his first comments on the US decision to launch a war to disarm Iraq and overthrow its President Saddam Hussein, said "there was no need" for military strikes because UN-led weapons inspections in the country were taking their course.

Putin's comments came at the start of an urgent Russian security council meeting that included Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, and other senior government officials.
:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 6:08 AM [+] ::
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United Press International: Top White House anti-terror boss resigns Top White House anti-terror boss resigns

By P. Mitchell Prothero
From the Washington Politics & Policy Desk
Published 3/19/2003 5:37 PM
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WASHINGTON, March 19 (UPI) -- The top National Security Council official in the war on terror resigned this week for what a NSC spokesman said were personal reasons, but intelligence sources say the move reflects concern that the looming war with Iraq is hurting the fight against terrorism.

Rand Beers would not comment for this article, but he and several sources close to him are emphatic that the resignation was not a protest against an invasion of Iraq. But the same sources, and other current and former intelligence officials, described a broad consensus in the anti-terrorism and intelligence community that an invasion of Iraq would divert critical resources from the war on terror.
:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 9:43 PM [+] ::
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United Press International: Bugging devices found in EU headquarters Bugging devices found in EU headquarters

By Gareth Harding
UPI Chief European Correspondent
From the International Desk
Published 3/19/2003 11:42 AM
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BRUSSELS, Belgium, March 19 (UPI) -- Bugging devices have been discovered in German and French offices at the European Union's headquarters in Brussels, an EU spokesman confirmed Wednesday, fueling speculation the United States is snooping on the two anti-war governments.

According to French daily Le Figaro, which broke the news, the Belgian police pointed a finger of blame at "the Americans." However, EU spokesman Dominique-Georges Marro said it was "impossible at this stage" to identify the phone-tappers.

"I don't know who was on the other end of the line," Marro told reporters. The head of the Council of Ministers' press service also confirmed that the bugging system not only affected Paris and Berlin but other, as yet unnamed, EU states.

Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU, condemned the spying.
:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 4:14 PM [+] ::
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Daily Record News - Former CBS anchor Cronkite voices disappointment in move to war 3/19/03 - Posted 12:19:32 AM from the Daily Record newsroom
Former CBS anchor Cronkite voices disappointment in move to war

Retired journalist addresses Drew about future of U.S.
By Rob Jennings, Daily Record

MADISON - The "most trusted man in America," retired CBS Evening News anchor Walter Cronkite, put aside his journalistic impartiality Tuesday night and issued a blistering dissent to President Bush's decision to wage war with Iraq.

At a Drew University forum, Cronkite said he feared the war would not go smoothly, ripped the "arrogance" of Bush and his administration and wondered whether the new U.S. doctrine of "pre-emptive war" might lead to unintended, dire consequences.

"Every little country in the world that has a border conflict with another little country ? they now have a great example from the United States," Cronkite, 86, said in response to a question from Drew's president, former Gov. Thomas Kean.

More than 2,000 people attended the 8 p.m. forum, including college students such as Jennifer Gross, 19, of Sparta, who wasn't yet born when Cronkite surrendered his groundbreaking anchor post in 1981.

Also attending was 83-year-old Debbie Langehammer of Morristown, who recalled Cronkite's most famous broadcasting moment - the tragic afternoon when he blinked back tears while announcing the death of President Kennedy in 1963.

Hobbled by a torn Achilles tendon, Cronkite began by discussing one of his journalistic high points, reviewing the D-Day invasion with President Eisenhower in Normandy. He then addressed the looming war with Iraq.

"I'm very disappointed that we've come to this point," Cronkite said.

While many are confident the United States would easily oust Saddam Hussein, Cronkite said he isn't so sure. "The military is always more confident than circumstances show they should be," he said.

Cronkite speculated that the refusal of many traditional allies, such as France, to join the war effort signaled something deeper, and more ominous, than a mere foreign policy disagreement.

"The arrogance of our spokespeople, even the president himself, has been exceptional, and it seems to me they have taken great umbrage at that," Cronkite said. "We have told them what they must do. It is a pretty dark doctrine."
:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 6:22 AM [+] ::
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Los Angeles Times: A Naked Bid to Redraw World Map http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-scheer18mar18,1,401608.column?coll=la%2Dnews%2Dcomment%2Dopinions

COMMENTARY

A Naked Bid to Redraw World Map

Sadly, Bush has made the U.S. the 21st century's first colonizer.
Robert Scheer

March 18, 2003
The island bit over the weekend was a revealing farce. The three wannabe liberators, determined to export popular rule to Iraq, had to flee the protests of their own peoples to an inaccessible retreat in the Azores. How fitting to choose an island chain originally settled by a Portuguese Crusader whose goal was to encircle the Muslim world with Christian armies.

Unlike the other leaders of his tiny "coalition of the willing," George W. Bush can at least claim a slim majority at home in support of his war after selling frightened Americans the big lie that Iraq is connected to 9/11. But how do British and Spanish leaders claim to be acting in the spirit of democracy when almost no one in their countries supports going to war without the backing of the United Nations, which has now been gutted? Instead of a U.N. vote and a final report from the chief weapons inspectors, Bush jettisons democracy with a 48-hour ultimatum.

How dare Bush and company champion freedom and the rule of law after running roughshod over the U.N. Security Council following their failed attempt to intimidate or bribe a majority of members into compliance? Clearly, the independence demonstrated by the council among countries large and small was one of the U.N.'s finest moments.


:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 4:28 PM [+] ::
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War in the Ruins of Diplomacy March 18, 2003

War in the Ruins of Diplomacy

merica is on its way to war. President Bush has told Saddam Hussein to depart or face attack. For Mr. Hussein, getting rid of weapons of mass destruction is no longer an option. Diplomacy has been dismissed. Arms inspectors, journalists and other civilians have been advised to leave Iraq.

The country now stands at a decisive turning point, not just in regard to the Iraq crisis, but in how it means to define its role in the post-cold-war world. President Bush's father and then Bill Clinton worked hard to infuse that role with America's traditions of idealism, internationalism and multilateralism. Under George W. Bush, however, Washington has charted a very different course. Allies have been devalued and military force overvalued.

Now that logic is playing out in a war waged without the compulsion of necessity, the endorsement of the United Nations or the company of traditional allies. This page has never wavered in the belief that Mr. Hussein must be disarmed. Our problem is with the wrongheaded way this administration has gone about it.

Once the fighting begins, every American will be thinking primarily of the safety of our troops, the success of their mission and the minimization of Iraqi civilian casualties. It will not feel like the right time for complaints about how America got to this point.

Today is the right time. This war crowns a period of terrible diplomatic failure, Washington's worst in at least a generation. The Bush administration now presides over unprecedented American military might. What it risks squandering is not America's power, but an essential part of its glory.

:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 9:10 AM [+] ::
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Things to Come March 18, 2003

Things to Come
By PAUL KRUGMAN

f course we'll win on the battlefield, probably with ease. I'm not a military expert, but I can do the numbers: the most recent U.S. military budget was $400 billion, while Iraq spent only $1.4 billion.

What frightens me is the aftermath ? and I'm not just talking about the problems of postwar occupation. I'm worried about what will happen beyond Iraq ? in the world at large, and here at home.

The members of the Bush team don't seem bothered by the enormous ill will they have generated in the rest of the world. They seem to believe that other countries will change their minds once they see cheering Iraqis welcome our troops, or that our bombs will shock and awe the whole world (not just the Iraqis) or that what the world thinks doesn't matter. They're wrong on all counts.

Victory in Iraq won't end the world's distrust of the United States because the Bush administration has made it clear, over and over again, that it doesn't play by the rules. Remember: this administration told Europe to take a hike on global warming, told Russia to take a hike on missile defense, told developing countries to take a hike on trade in lifesaving pharmaceuticals, told Mexico to take a hike on immigration, mortally insulted the Turks and pulled out of the International Criminal Court ? all in just two years.

:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 9:07 AM [+] ::
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Just watched the press conference from the Azore War Talks. It appears that W has turned Blair and Aznar inti the same kind of blithering idiot that he is. Neither I or Peter Jennings could understand what the hell they were talking about.Tomorrow is THE big day..... FOR WHAT???????? Three idiots trying to justify their greed. That is what .
:: Beauxbeaux's Daddy 11:12 AM [+] ::
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