The central focus of Iraq News is the tension between the considerable, proscribed WMD capabilities that Iraq is holding on to and its increasing stridency that it has complied with UNSCR 687 and it is time to lift sanctions. If you wish to receive Iraq News by email, a service which includes full-text of news reports not archived here, send your request to Laurie Mylroie .
I. DAILY TELEGRAPH, WAS SADDAM BEHIND THE AFRICAN BOMBS?, AUG 12 II. JERUSALEM POST EDITORIAL, THE NEED TO PURSUE STATE SPONSORS, AUG 12 III. JINSA, SUPPORT AN INSURGENCY TO OVERTHROW SADDAM, AUG 10 IV. NYT EDITORIAL, "DRIFTING TO A NEW IRAQ POLICY," AUG 12 Ambrose Evan-Pritchard, writing in London's Daily Telegraph, Aug 12, made the argument for why the most likely suspect in the Kenya/Tanzania bombings is Iraq. He made kind mention of work I had done on the Feb 26 1993 bombing of New York's World Trade Center, which "Iraq News" will discuss shortly, and which, in some ways, was the origin of the grievously misguided Clinton approach to terrorism, namely to treat it as a criminal issue, with the focus on arresting perpetrators, rather than a national security issue, with the focus on state sponsorship. Indeed, the editors of the Jerusalem Post, Aug 12, took up precisely that issue with regard to the bombs in Africa. "Fighting terorism is not a matter of 'solving cases' with courtroom-level standards of proof, but acting quickly and decisively against known terrorist and their bases of support. As the recent bombings show, the price of not doing so will be paid not just by the United States, but by defenseless nations chosen by terrorists to become part of their global battlefield." And criticism of the Clinton administration's Iraq policy grows. The Jewish Institute for Nat'l Security Affairs, Aug 10, reviewed recent congressional measures to get the administration to adopt a policy to overthrow Saddam by supporting an insurgency. JINSA suggested, "The next responsible action for Congress to take is to provide the President with the military authority needed to take effective action against Saddam Hussein's illegal regime... Toward this end, legislation is being considered which would authorise the President to provide military assistance to the Iraqi National Congress (INC), the unified Iraqi democratic opposition to Saddam Hussein. The bill would provide $100 million (or more) in military drawdown authority to the President, allowing him to use existing Pentagon resources to run, equip, and train INC resistance fighters... This is the right bill at the right time." And the editors of the NYT, Aug 12, joined in the criticism of the administration's Iraq policy, "These first days of August have brought a disquieting retreat by the Clinton Administration on Iraq. Without saying as much, the White House seems on the verge of altering seven years of American policy by letting Saddam Hussein slip free of the international effort to prevent him from developing a new arsenal of biologcal and chemical weapons. That would be a grave mistake."