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ECHOES OF EMPIRES PAST
--Richard Bernstein, New York Times

BERLIN, Germany, April 14 -- As the United States began the task of finding Iraqi leaders to take power after the war is over, there were many in Europe and elsewhere who were reminded of an earlier period in global history--the era of imperialism.

"What cannot now be disguised, as U.S. marines swagger around the Iraqi capital swathing toppled statues of Saddam Hussein with the stars and stripes and declaring 'We own Baghdad,' is the crudely colonial nature of this enterprise," wrote Seumas Milne, a columnist in The Guardian, the leftist British daily.

Mr. Milne's comment, in a newspaper that rarely misses a chance to cast the United States in a negative light, was an especially virulent and hostile expression of a view that has become common in recent days.

That view, which Mr. Milne shares with many other commentators and government officials, is that the war in Iraq confirms the status of the United States as no longer just a superpower, but an unambiguously imperial power. It is seen as a country that uses its might to establish dominion over much of the rest of the world, as Rome once did, or as Britain did in the 18th and 19th centuries.


HOSPITALS OVERWHELMED BY LIVING AND THE DEAD
--The Washington Post

April 8 -- As the U.S. forces have advanced, the war has taken a toll on the civilian population that the United States may soon govern. The Red Cross says hospitals are overwhelmed and running short on supplies. Patients seem baffled at their fate of being caught in the crossfire, and the number of casualties is rising to the point where the Red Cross says some hospitals are no longer keeping track.

The Red Cross estimated that hospitals were receiving hundreds of wounded each day. During some of the most intense fighting Friday, hospitals reported receiving 100 every hour. Iraqi military casualties in Baghdad -- estimated in the thousands over recent days by U.S. officials -- are taken to military hospitals.

The overall civilian toll of dead and wounded remains a mystery. Since U.S. forces arrived in Baghdad, the Iraqi government has stopped releasing its count. Neither hospitals nor the Red Cross keep a comprehensive total.

"They're not even able to keep track," said Roland Huguenin-Benjamin, the Red Cross spokesman in Baghdad.


APPARENT 'FRIENDLY FIRE' KILLS 18, KURDISH OFFICIALS SAY
--CNN.com

ERBIL, Iraq, April 6 -- A U.S. warplane attacked a convoy of Kurdish Peshmerga guerrillas Sunday in northern Iraq, killing 18 people and wounding 45 in an apparent incident of "friendly fire."

The dead include 17 Kurdish fighters and Kamaran Abdel-Razaq, a civilian translator working for the BBC.

"We do know that one of our planes dropped bombs on that convoy, and that's all we know right now," Gen. Peter Pace, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CNN.

Among the wounded were the son and brother of one of the leaders of Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq.


A GRUESOME SCENE ON HIGHWAY 9:
10 DEAD AFTER VEHICLE SHELLED AT CHECKPOINT
--The Washington Post

NEAR KARBALA, Iraq, March 31 -- As an unidentified four-wheel-drive vehicle came barreling toward an intersection held by troops of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, Capt. Ronny Johnson grew increasingly alarmed. From his position at the intersection, he was heard radioing to one of his forward platoons of M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles to alert it to what he described as a potential threat.

"Fire a warning shot," he ordered as the vehicle kept coming. Then, with increasing urgency, he told the platoon to shoot a 7.62mm machine-gun round into its radiator. "Stop [messing] around!" Johnson yelled into the company radio network when he still saw no action being taken. Finally, he shouted at the top of his voice, "Stop him, Red 1, stop him!"

That order was immediately followed by the loud reports of 25mm cannon fire from one or more of the platoon's Bradleys. About half a dozen shots were heard in all.

"Cease fire!" Johnson yelled over the radio. Then, as he peered into his binoculars from the intersection on Highway 9, he roared at the platoon leader, "You just [expletive] killed a family because you didn't fire a warning shot soon enough!"

Fifteen Iraqi civilians were packed inside the Toyota, officers said, along with as many of their possessions as the jammed vehicle could hold. Ten of them, including five children who appeared to be under 5 years old, were killed on the spot when the high-explosive rounds slammed into their target, Johnson's company reported. Of the five others, one man was so severely injured that medics said he was not expected to live.

"It was the most horrible thing I've ever seen, and I hope I never see it again," Sgt. Mario Manzano, 26, an Army medic with Bravo Company of the division's 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, said later in an interview. He said one of the wounded women sat in the vehicle holding the mangled bodies of two of her children. "She didn't want to get out of the car," he said.


AMNESTY: IRAQ WAR COVER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES
--CNN.com

LONDON, England, March 29 -- Human rights group Amnesty International warned on Sunday that war in Iraq was giving cover to other countries to trample on human rights.

Amnesty said that since the U.S.-British onslaught was launched against Iraq 10 days ago, there had been a human rights backlash in 14 countries.

It listed Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Jordan, Norway, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Turkey, the United States and Yemen as transgressors.

"Governments appear to be using the world's focus on the theater of war to violate human rights shielded from public scrutiny," the group said in a report.


IRAQ: 'CIVILIANS ARE BEING BOMBED'
--CNN.com

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 27 -- More than 350 Iraqi civilians have been killed in the war, according to Iraq's health minister.

While making the announcement Thursday, Iraqi Health Minister Umid Midhat Mubarak accused coalition fighters of targeting Iraqi civilians, saying "women and children are being attacked, as soldiers are being attacked."

The Iraqi government has not released a definitive count of military deaths.

Mubarak also said Iraq is trying to get more accurate figures on the dead and the wounded. He said there have been about 4,000 civilian casualties -- including the dead and wounded.


WAR COULD LAST MONTHS, OFFICERS SAY
--The Washington Post

MARCH 27 -- Despite the rapid advance of Army and Marine forces across Iraq over the past week, some senior U.S. military officers are now convinced that the war is likely to last months and will require considerably more combat power than is now on hand there and in Kuwait, senior defense officials said yesterday.

The combination of wretched weather, long and insecure supply lines, and an enemy that has refused to be supine in the face of American military might has led to a broad reassessment by some top generals of U.S. military expectations and timelines. Some of them see even the potential threat of a drawn-out fight that sucks in more and more U.S. forces. Both on the battlefield in Iraq and in Pentagon conference rooms, military commanders were talking yesterday about a longer, harder war than had been expected just a week ago, the officials said.


IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS STIRRING UP ANTI-AMERICAN SENTIMENT AMONG VILLAGERS
--San Francisco Chronicle

DIYALA, IRAQ, March 26 -- Any chance that tribespeople in this rural area south of Baghdad would look kindly on the impending arrival of American troops may have vanished in a cloud of collapsing rubble and twisted steel.

At about 4:30 p.m. Monday afternoon, two planes, which residents believed to be American, flew over the area, and local anti-aircraft batteries opened up at them. According to half a dozen witnesses at the scene, the planes fired several missiles in response, most of which hit empty fields planted with wheat and barley. But one landed squarely on Adjmi Jubouri's two-story house.

Jubouri's 22-year-old daughter, Hana, was killed, along with two other relatives, and eight were injured, said relatives and doctors at a Baghdad hospital where the wounded were taken. When the missile hit, the upper floor pancaked down into the living room, where the extended Jubouri clan had huddled to wait out the air attacks that have shaken the area.


IRAQ REBUILDING CONTRACTS AWARDED:
HALLIBURTON GETS GOVERNMENT CONTRACT FOR EARLY RELIEF WORK
--CNN.com

NEW YORK, March 23 -- The first contracts for rebuilding post-war Iraq have been awarded, and Vice President Dick Cheney's old employer, Halliburton Co., says it is one of the early winners.

The Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) unit of Halliburton, of which Cheney was CEO from 1995 to 2000, said late Monday that it was awarded a contract by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to put out oil fires and make emergency repairs to Iraq's oil infrastructure.


WORLDWIDE, CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE:
PROTESTERS SPEAK AND ACT OUT AGAINST WAR
--The Washington Post

SAN FRANCISCO, March 20 -- The day after war began, antiwar protesters here and across the country took their anger and dismay to the streets, from rallying and marching to blocking intersections, paralyzing traffic and getting arrested.

Peace vigils and rallies took place in approximately 500 cities nationwide and in hundreds of cities worldwide. There were marches and demonstrations from Palm Springs, Calif., to Palm Beach, Fla., and from Iceland to Indonesia. Thousands of protesters in scores of cities throughout this nation also made good on their promise to engage in mass civil disobedience and disrupt business as usual the morning after President Bush ordered the attack on Iraq to begin.

In Philadelphia, 100 protesters were arrested after blocking the entrances to the downtown federal building. In New York, more than 300 protesters converged on Times Square at the afternoon rush hour, blocking traffic.

Everywhere, dissenters made their presence known. In Cambridge, Mass., Harvard students and faculty members walked out to protest the start of war, as did students in universities and high schools in dozens of cities. About 200 students at the University of California at Berkeley staged a sit-in this afternoon after a noon demonstration of more than 1,500 students and teachers.


THOUSANDS PROTEST AS CONFLICT BEGINS
--The Guardian

LONDON, March 20 -- Tensions rose as police tried to control the mass of anti-war protesters gathering in Parliament Square today. An estimated 5,000 demonstrators, the majority of them schoolchildren, thronged the streets to voice their anger against today's US air strikes on Iraq.

The protesters were responding to a call by the UK anti-war movement for workers and students to stage a mass walkout from offices, schools and colleges.

Describing the outbreak of hostilities as a "day of shame", the Stop the War Coalition said that it hoped to draw on the public feeling that saw more than 1 million people take to the streets of London last month.


CRITICS SAY U.S. LACKS LEGAL BASIS FOR ATTACK
--The New York Times

UNITED NATIONS, March 19 -- Diplomats who had failed for the last two months to agree on a unified approach to the Iraq crisis met here today, with the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Russia offering angry post-mortems on the diplomatic debacle and arguing that the planned American-led invasion to disarm Iraq and oust Saddam Hussein had no basis in international law.

Speaking of various Security Council resolutions on the Iraq crisis, Foreign Minister Igor S. Ivanov of Russia said "not one of these decisions authorizes the right to use force against Iraq outside the United Nations charter." Like his counterparts from France and Germany, he continued to argue that the inspections process had achieved results in disarming Iraq.

The Security Council members also heard a report from one of the chief weapons inspectors, Hans Blix, who discussed the progress of the inspections that were aborted on Monday and expressed regret both at the abrupt cessation of inspections and the earlier, limited cooperation of the Iraqi government.

The United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, emphasized the human consequences of war, saying the Iraqis were "heavily dependent on the food ration which is handed out each month to every family in the country" and which has been suspended with the removal of United Nations personnel from Iraq.


BUSH GIVES ORDER TO ATTACK IRAQ:
CRUISE MISSILES TARGET SADDAM IN MORNING ATTACK
--CNN.com

WASHINGTON, March 19 -- President Bush announced Wednesday night he has ordered the coalition attack on Iraq to begin.

He said the first strikes were against "selected targets of military importance," including what Pentagon officials said was a "decapitation attack" early Thursday morning to take out Iraqi President Saddam Hussein even before the planned start of the war.

DASCHLE STANDS BY CRITICISM OF BUSH
--CNN.com

WASHINGTON, March 19 -- Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said Tuesday he would not retract his criticism of President Bush's diplomatic efforts on Iraq, despite criticism from the White House and top Republicans.

"I don't know that anyone in this country could view what we've seen so far as a diplomatic success," said Daschle, D-South Dakota.

Daschle told unionized public employees Monday that he was "saddened that this president failed so miserably at diplomacy that we're now forced to war."


BUSH TELLS HUSSEIN TO LEAVE IRAQ IN 48 HOURS OR FACE INVASION
--The Washington Post

March 18 -- President Bush vowed last night to attack Iraq with the "full force and might" of the U.S. military if Saddam Hussein does not flee within 48 hours, setting the nation on an almost certain course to war and denouncing countries that refuse to support him.

Bush delivered the ultimatum hours after his administration earlier in the day admitted failure in its months-long effort to win the blessing of the U.N. Security Council to disarm the Iraqi leader by force. The United Nations ordered its inspectors and humanitarian personnel out of Iraq, and Bush urged foreign nationals to leave the country immediately.

Earlier in the day, British and U.S. diplomats, facing certain defeat on the Security Council, withdrew a resolution that would have cleared the way for war. Though Bush on Sunday vowed another day of "working the phones," it quickly became clear that as many of 11 of 15 council members remained opposed. The effort was abandoned by 10 a.m.

The withdrawal of the resolution without a vote was a double climb-down for Bush. On Feb. 22, he had predicted victory at the United Nations, and on March 6 he said he wanted a vote regardless of the outcome.

With U.N. weapons inspectors reporting halting progress in their work in Iraq, Security Council members, including France, Russia, China and Germany, were opposed to U.S. efforts to cut off inspections and present Iraq with an ultimatum.

The White House has refused to offer official estimates of the cost of the war, and Bush provided none last night. Sources said he plans to ask Congress in coming days for about $80 billion for the combat phase and the initial reconstruction of Iraq.


U.S., UK, SPAIN WON'T PUSH FOR VOTE; U.S. URGES U.N. INSPECTORS TO LEAVE IRAQ
--CNN.com

March 17 -- President Bush will address the nation at 8 p.m. EST tonight.
¤ President to say Saddam Hussein must leave Iraq to avoid war
¤ U.S., UK, Spain will not seek U.N. vote on second resolution
¤ White House says diplomatic efforts to disarm Saddam have ended
¤ U.S. advises U.N. weapons inspectors to leave Iraq


FRANCE, RUSSIA VOW TO VETO RESOLUTION
--CNN.com

WASHINGTON, March 10 -- France and Russia announced Monday that they will veto the proposed U.N. Security Council resolution that would set a March 17 deadline for Iraq to disarm or face war.

A veto from any of the five permanent council members -- France, Russia, China, Britain and the United States -- would kill the measure sponsored by the United States, Britain and Spain.

A vote on the draft resolution had been expected Tuesday, but diplomats said it is more likely that a vote will take place later in the week.

French President Jacques Chirac told a television interviewer Monday that his country's veto might not be necessary because he doesn't think the proposal will win the required approval of at least nine of the 15 council members...


CARTER DECRIES UNILATERAL WAR ON IRAQ:
FORMER PRESIDENT SAYS INVASION TO TOPPLE SADDAM UNJUST
--MSNBC

NEW YORK, March 9 -- Former U.S. president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter on Sunday condemned preparations for a unilateral U.S. attack on Iraq, saying it would be an unjust war...

In an article in "The New York Times," Carter said profound changes in U.S. foreign policy had reversed "consistent bipartisan commitments that for more than two centuries have earned our nation greatness."

Carter, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, said Iraq did not directly threaten U.S. security.

"...despite the overwhelming opposition of most people and governments in the world, the United States seems determined to carry out military and diplomatic action that is almost unprecedented in the history of civilized nations," he wrote.


ADMINISTRATION FENDS OFF DEMANDS FOR WAR ESTIMATES
--CNN.com

WASHINGTON, March 3 -- The number of U.S. troops that would be required to administer Iraq after a U.S.-led military campaign is "not knowable" because of the large number of variables in how a conflict might unfold, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday.

He also said it "makes no sense to try" to come up with cost estimates for a war in Iraq because the variables "create a range that simply isn't useful."

"We have no idea how long the war will last. We don't know to what extent there may or may not be weapons of mass destruction used," Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon news conference. "We don't have any idea whether or not there would be ethnic strife. We don't know exactly how long it would take to find weapons of mass destruction and destroy them."


BLIX: IRAQ TO DESTROY MISSILES
--CNN.com

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 3 -- Iraq is expected to begin the process of destroying its Al Samoud 2 missiles on Saturday, as demanded, U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix said.

Iraq agreed in principle to destroy the missiles in a letter Baghdad sent to U.N. weapons inspectors Thursday, but said it does not know how to destroy the weapons and wanted a U.N. technical mission to discuss the details.

Iraqi and U.N. officials are expected to hold technical talks Saturday on the destruction of the missiles, U.N. officials said. Blix said his deputy, Demetrius Perricos, is in Baghdad and will discuss with the Iraqis the "program for the destruction."

"There are very many of these missiles and a lot of items that pertain to them, which we had enumerated in our letter," Blix said. "It is a very significant piece of real disarmament."


RUSSIA 'PREPARED TO USE VETO'
--CNN.com

BEIJING, China March 3 -- Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Friday Moscow is prepared to use its veto power in the U.N. Security Council to strike down a second resolution on Iraq if it were necessary for "maintaining world stability."

The United States, Britain and Spain have proposed a resolution declaring that Iraq has missed its last chance to disarm. If approved, it could clear the way for a U.S.-led war on Iraq, which Russia, France and China oppose.

"We will consider any new resolutions that support the weapons inspectors' work. But we will not support any resolutions that directly or indirectly authorize using force against Iraq," Ivanov told a Beijing news conference following two days of meetings with Chinese officials.

"We hold veto power. We would use it if it were for maintaining world stability."


MUSICIANS JOIN WITH ANTIWAR GROUP
--CNN.com

NEW YORK, Feb 28 -- A varied group of musicians -- from Russell Simmons to Lou Reed -- have joined forces with the antiwar group Win Without War to voice their continuing disenchantment with the Bush administration's policy on Iraq.

"I remember the Cuban missile crisis. That was right off our shore. We didn't go to war then," said classic musician Lou Reed, who watched the Twin Towers fall from his apartment in downtown Manhattan. "We don't have to go to war with Iraq. I think you should try everything conceivable first."

Asserting that the loose coalition -- called Musicians United to Win Without War -- is joining a growing chorus of protest against war with Iraq, Def Jam Recordings founder Russell Simmons promised a mobilization of younger Americans...

The group provided a long list of musicians who are taking part, including Rosanne Cash, David Byrne, R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe, Dave Matthews, Peter Gabriel and Suzanne Vega.


'VIRTUAL MARCH' FLOODS SENATE WITH CALLS AGAINST AN IRAQ WAR
--The Washington Post

Feb 27 -- Hundreds of thousands of antiwar activists flooded Senate phone lines yesterday as part of a "Virtual March" on Washington aimed at heading off a U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Protesters called and faxed senators in an innovative action, billed as a way to influence policy "without leaving your living room." Senators enlisted extra staffers to answer calls and to tally the number of constituents registering their opinions...

While an official count was unavailable, a Washington Post survey of several Senate offices suggested that perhaps 100,000 people had their calls answered. Tens of thousands of other protesters were unable to get through. Many thousands faxed and e-mailed lawmakers' offices.

Tom Andrews, national director of the group Win Without War, which organized the effort, said the outpouring "exceeded our expectations." He estimated that a million Americans called or faxed senators yesterday, and said that 500,000 had pledged to do so on the group's Web site...


BLAIR FACING REVOLT OVER IRAQ
--CNN.com

LONDON, England, Feb 26 -- UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is facing a backbench rebellion from his own party's MPs as he leads the country towards war against Iraq.

Labour MPs are under orders to support the government when parliament votes Wednesday on a motion calling for Saddam Hussein to cooperate with the U.N., but about 80 are said to be ready to defy the party line.

Former minister Chris Smith led the backbench revolt, which threatens to be the biggest since Blair become prime minister in 1997, with an amendment that says the case for war has not yet been made...


BUSH FACES INCREASINGLY POOR IMAGE OVERSEAS
--The Washington Post

Feb 24 -- The messages from U.S. embassies around the globe have become urgent and disturbing: Many people in the world increasingly think President Bush is a greater threat to world peace than Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

U.S. embassies are the eyes and ears of the U.S. government overseas, and their reports from the field are closely read at the State Department. The antiwar protests by millions of people Feb. 15 in the cities of major U.S. allies underscored a theme that the classified cables by U.S. embassies had been reporting for weeks.

"It is rather astonishing," said a senior U.S. official who has access to the reports. "There is an absence of any recognition that Hussein is the problem." One ambassador, who represents the United States in an allied nation, bluntly cabled that in that country, Bush has become the enemy.

This shift in public opinion has presented the Bush administration with a much different set of circumstances than U.S. officials anticipated last September, when, in a bid to create a coalition to confront Iraq, Bush took the issue before the United Nations. It has seemed to embolden political leaders in Europe and elsewhere who have long been wary of military action. Although senior White House officials have insisted that U.S. policy toward Iraq will not be affected by public opinion, they acknowledged over the past few days that they need to confront the worldwide mood opposing a move to war...


POETS TO GATHER TO PROTEST WAR WITH IRAQ
--CNN.com

Feb 18 -- A group of poets who have emerged as opponents to military action against Iraq are scheduled to have a reading Monday night in New York.

Playwright Arthur Miller, rapper Mos Def and at least four former U.S. poets laureate, including Rita Dove and Stanley Kunitz, will be among the artists and performers appearing at "Poems Not Fit for the White House," an antiwar gathering to be held Monday at Lincoln Center in New York.

The reading is the latest offshoot of a movement that began with a canceled White House poetry symposium. One of the poets invited to that event, Copper Canyon Press publisher Sam Hamill, sent an open letter of protest to first lady Laura Bush.

Hamill's missive, e-mailed to a handful of friends across the country, led to other poets taking up the cause. Even U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins has said he opposes war with Iraq and is finding it difficult to keep politics out of his work.

The first lady subsequently canceled the symposium, saying she "did not believe poetry should be used for political purposes...

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"Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world."
--Percy Bysshe Shelley, "A Defence of Poetry"

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FRANCE OPPOSES NEW U.N. IRAQ RESOLUTION
--Associated Press (via The Washington Post)

Feb 17 -- French President Jacques Chirac said Monday his country would oppose any effort to draft a new U.N. resolution to explicitly authorize war against Iraq at this time.

"There is no need for a second resolution today, which France would have no choice but to oppose," Chirac said as he arrived for a European Union summit.

Chirac's statement strongly reaffirmed Franco-German efforts to prevent a war, resisting pressure from the United States and its strongest European ally, Britain, who say time is running out.

France and Germany, backed by Russia, proposed expanding U.N. weapons inspections in a joint statement last week...


MASSIVE ANTIWAR PROTESTS BEGIN:
TENS OF THOUSANDS LAUNCH GLOBAL PEACE PROTESTS
--CNN.com

LONDON, England, Feb 14 -- Hundreds of thousands of people are beginning to take to the streets across the globe this weekend in opposition to military action against Iraq.

Marches are being held in more than 300 towns and cities across the world, from the Pacific islands to Europe, New York and San Francisco, where protests are expected to recall demonstrations against the Vietnam war...

The biggest protests are planned for Europe with, according to police, 500,000 expected in London and 100,000 across Germany...

Other protests are planned in up to 400 towns and cities in 60 countries, including Vancouver, Mexico City, Tokyo and Hong Kong...


SCHROEDER: WORLD CAN AVOID WAR
--CNN.com

BERLIN, Germany, Feb 13 -- German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has said he believes a peaceful resolution of the Iraq crisis is still possible and that he will fight for it alongside France and Russia.

"We can disarm Iraq without war. I see grasping this chance as my responsibility," Schroeder told the Bundestag lower parliament on Thursday.

Schroeder said the current U.N. resolution 1441 calling for weapons inspections in Iraq does not contain an order for the use of military force if Baghdad does not fully cooperate with inspections.

The chancellor said: "If we now declare the process of Iraqi disarmament and peaceful solution as having failed, then we would strengthen the position of fanatics and those who want to bring about this confrontation of cultures.

"That is why it is our duty to turn every stone twice to find a peaceful solution...


FRANCE BLOCKS NATO WAR PLANNING
--CNN.com

BRUSSELS, Belgium, Feb 10 -- NATO was holding an emergency meeting Monday in the wake of the decision by France, Germany and Belgium to block military planning to protect Turkey in the event of war against Iraq.

The moves came as U.N. arms inspectors emerged with guarded optimism from two days of talks in Baghdad, with top nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei saying inspectors may be "seeing the beginning of a change of heart on the part of Iraq." But U.S. officials weren't impressed, characterizing that hope as too little, too late.

France, Germany and Belgium all wanted to delay a decision on sending hardware for self-defense into Turkey, Iraq's northern neighbor and NATO's only member with a majority Muslim population, fearing such a move could undermine diplomatic efforts to avoid war...


ELBARADEI NOTES 'CHANGE OF HEART' AMONG IRAQI OFFICIALS:
WHITE HOUSE DISMISSES INSPECTORS' OPTIMISM
--CNN.com

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb 9 -- Two days of talks between the chief U.N. weapons inspectors and high-level Iraqi officials gave the inspectors hope that Iraq had finally begun to fully cooperate, but U.S. officials dismissed that hope as too little, too late.

With Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei leaving Baghdad more convinced than ever that the inspections would accomplish Iraq's disarmament peacefully, a Security Council showdown over the next steps appeared unavoidable.

"The ball is very much in Iraq's court," said ElBaradei, adding that he thought he'd seen a "change of heart" among the Iraqis. "If we see quick progress ... then I believe we will be given the time we need to move. As long as we're registering good progress, I think the Security Council in my view will continue to support the inspections process."

But President Bush, speaking at a Republican retreat in West Virginia, said a change of heart was "not good enough...


POPE'S PEACE MAN SAYS POWELL EVIDENCE UNCONVINCING
--Reuters

VATICAN CITY, Feb 6 -- Pope John Paul's point man for peace said on Thursday an attack on Iraq would unleash terrorism and kill civilians and called the latest evidence by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell unconvincing and vague.

In an interview with Reuters, Archbishop Renato Martino, president of the Vatican's justice and peace department, said the pope was deeply saddened by the recent turn of events.

He also stressed the Vatican's stand that it could not consider any U.S.-led action against Iraq a "just war" and that there were perhaps economic reasons behind the conflict...


SPEECH FAILS TO BUDGE EUROPEANS FROM THEIR DIVERGENT POSITIONS
--The Washington Post

PARIS, Feb 5 -- Reaction to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's presentation to the U.N. Security Council today appeared to indicate that he did not change many minds in Europe. Opponents of imminent military action in Iraq said Powell provided only more proof that U.N. weapons inspectors needed additional time, while U.S. allies in Eastern Europe contended that he gave compelling evidence that justified a military strike.

Officials in France, which has consistently called for the inspections teams to be reinforced and given more of a chance to find weapons, privately called Powell's remarks "a solid presentation, very honest" but said they represented only "the American view."

"We profoundly, honestly think we can do it through inspections -- at least for now," a French official said. "It is too early to say the inspection regime has failed." The official stressed that the French view was not a tactical position or a negotiating point, or even an effort to be reflexively anti-American, but a sincere belief that inspections can succeed in disarming Iraq...


CHIRAC STICKS TO HIS GUNS ON IRAQ
--CNN.com

LE TOUQUET, France, Feb 4 -- UK Prime Minister Tony Blair appears to have failed in his latest bid to persuade France to change its position on the use of force in Iraq.

Despite British lobbying French President Jacques Chirac said on Tuesday he remained steadfastly opposed to war before U.N. weapons inspectors have completed their work.

When asked how much time -- weeks or months -- inspectors should have, Chirac told a news conference: "I can't put a timeframe on it. It's up to them to decide.

"There is still much to be done in the way of disarmament by peaceful means," Chirac said...


IAEA: NO IRAQ 'MATERIAL BREACH'
--CNN.com

LONDON, England, Jan 30 -- The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency says that, in his view, Iraq as yet is not in material breach of a U.N. resolution on disarmament -- contrary to what Britain and the United States have said.

Mohamed ElBaradei of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said he wanted another four to five months to carry out searches for suspected weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before deciding whether he could declare the country clean of such weapons...


MANDELA: U.S. WANTS HOLOCAUST
--CNN.com

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Jan 30 -- Former South African president Nelson Mandela has slammed the U.S. stance on Iraq, saying that "one power with a president who has no foresight, who cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust."

Speaking at the International Women's Forum, Mandela said "if there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America."

Mandela said U.S. President George W. Bush covets the oil in Iraq "because Iraq produces ... oil. What Bush wants is to get hold of that oil...


DESERT CAUTION: ONCE 'STORMIN' NORMAN,'
GEN. SCHWARZKOPF IS SKEPTICAL ABOUT U.S. ACTION IN IRAQ
--The Washington Post

TAMPA, Jan 28 -- Norman Schwarzkopf wants to give peace a chance.

The general who commanded U.S. forces in the 1991 Gulf War says he hasn't seen enough evidence to convince him that his old comrades Dick Cheney, Colin Powell and Paul Wolfowitz are correct in moving toward a new war now. He thinks U.N. inspections are still the proper course to follow. He's worried about the cockiness of the U.S. war plan, and even more by the potential human and financial costs of occupying Iraq.

And don't get him started on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"Candidly, I have gotten somewhat nervous at some of the pronouncements Rumsfeld has made," says Schwarzkopf...


THOUSANDS MARCH IN PITTSBURGH
--CNN.com

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania, Jan 24 -- Carrying peace signs and chanting "Drop Bush, not bombs," thousands of people marched through snowfall Sunday to protest a possible U.S. war with Iraq.

Police estimated the crowd at more than 3,000, and rally organizers said the protest was among Pittsburgh's largest ever.

"It shows that in middle America, cities like Pittsburgh can turn out thousands against war. We have shown that this war is not popular," said Tim Vining, executive director of the Thomas Merton Center, a sponsor of the event.

Nuns, students, activists and Vietnam War veterans marched together as several inches of snow fell and temperatures dipped into the teens...


'OLD EUROPE' HITS BACK AT RUMSFELD
--CNN.com

FRANCE VOWS TO BLOCK RESOLUTION ON IRAQ WAR:
U.S. SCHEDULE PUT AT RISK BY U.N. DEBATE
--The Washington Post

THOUSANDS OPPOSE A RUSH TO WAR:
CHILL DOESN'T COOL FURY OVER U.S. STAND ON IRAQ
--The Washington Post

ANTI-WAR DEMONSTRATORS RALLY AROUND THE WORLD:
ORGANIZERS PUT TURNOUT IN WASHINGTON AT 200,000
--CNN.com

GERMANY, FRANCE URGE PEACE
--MSNBC

Jan 22 -- Germany issued its strongest denunciation yet of looming military action against Iraq on Wednesday and pledged to work with France to prevent war.

"Our people can count on the German and French governments combining our powers and efforts to keep the peace, prevent war and maintaining the security," German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder wrote in the Berliner Zeitung newspaper. President Jacques Chirac, speaking later alongside Schroeder in Paris, said France, which has the power to veto any U.N. Security Council resolution, shared Berlin's view on Iraq.

Those comments and the report carried by a Moscow news agency quoting a senior military source signaled a sharp increase in tensions surrounding the possibility of war against Iraq, accused by Washington of hiding banned weapons...


BUSH FUMES OVER ALLIES' IRAQ STANCE
--MSNBC

WASHINGTON, Jan 21 -- President Bush expressed frustration Tuesday with allies reluctant to wage war against Iraq, saying Saddam Hussein has been given "ample time" to disarm and pledging anew to join with like-minded world leaders to confront Baghdad. He was responding to suggestions from allies, including France and Germany, that they would wage a major diplomatic fight to prevent the U.N. Security Council from passing a war resolution against Iraq.

"This business about more time -- how much time do we need to see clearly that he's not disarming?" Bush told reporters. In a flash of impatience, Bush said of reluctant allies, "Surely our friends have learned lessons from the past."

Bush said he will lead a "coalition of the willing" to disarm Iraq, if necessary, as aides said he is willing to do so without the United Nations...


NEW ANTI-WAR PROTEST IN U.S., ABROAD
--MSNBC

Jan 21 -- A poll in Britain showed rapidly growing opposition to war with Iraq, even as the country promised to deploy 26,000 more troops to the gulf region in preparation for a possible military conflict.

Nearly half of Britons now oppose war with Iraq, according to a poll published Tuesday just hours after the government announced it was sending one-quarter of its standing army to the Persian Gulf to join U.S. forces there. An ICM opinion poll in the Guardian newspaper showed that opposition to military action against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had now reached 47 percent, up from 37 percent just three months ago...


FRANCE VOWS TO BLOCK RESOLUTION ON IRAQ WAR:
U.S. SCHEDULE PUT AT RISK BY U.N. DEBATE
--The Washington Post

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 20 -- France suggested today it would wage a major diplomatic fight, including possible use of its veto power, to prevent the U.N. Security Council from passing a resolution authorizing military action against Iraq.

France's opposition to a war, emphatically delivered here by Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, is a major blow for the Bush administration, which has begun pouring tens of thousands of troops into the Persian Gulf in preparation for a military conflict this spring. The administration had hoped to mark the final phase in its confrontation with Iraq when U.N. weapons inspectors deliver a progress report Monday.

But in a diplomatic version of an ambush, France and other countries used a high-level Security Council meeting on terrorism to lay down their markers for the debate that will commence next week on the inspectors' report. Russia and China, which have veto power, and Germany, which will chair the Security Council in February, also signaled today they were willing to let the inspections continue for months...


THOUSANDS OPPOSE A RUSH TO WAR:
CHILL DOESN'T COOL FURY OVER U.S. STAND ON IRAQ
--The Washington Post

Jan 20 -- Throughout a morning rally on the Mall and an afternoon march to the Washington Navy Yard in Southeast, activists criticized the Bush administration for rushing into a war that they claimed would kill thousands of Iraqi civilians, spell disaster for the national economy and set a dangerous and unjustified first-strike precedent for U.S. foreign policy.

They delivered that message on a day when being outdoors tested everyone's endurance. Men, women and children fought off temperatures no higher than 24 degrees in ski masks and goggles, stashes of hot soup in containers in their backpacks. Many sneaked away momentarily to warm up on an idling bus or to grab a cup of coffee.

"The world is cold, but our hearts are warm," Jesse Jackson told the crowd to applause. He was one of many speakers, who included civil rights leader Al Sharpton from New York, actress Jessica Lange and Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-MI)...


ANTI-WAR DEMONSTRATORS RALLY AROUND THE WORLD:
ORGANIZERS PUT TURNOUT IN WASHINGTON AT 200,000
--CNN.com

WASHINGTON, Jan 20 -- Americans across the nation publicly protested a possible war in Iraq on Saturday. In Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, California, at the two largest peace rallies, the crowds were urged on by international peace activists, religious leaders, members of Congress, actors and musicians.

At least tens of thousands of people rallied on the Mall in Washington, and a similar-size group crowded downtown San Francisco.The group in Washington followed the rally with a march through the streets of the capital...

The rally is one of dozens organized in 25 countries by the group Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER). The group said it had organized transportation from more than 200 cities in 45 states for the rallies in Washington and San Francisco. Organizers estimated the crowd at about 200,000...


THOUSANDS PROTEST WAR WITH IRAQ
--MSNBC

WASHINGTON, Jan 18 -- More protests were scheduled in Washington and other cities on Sunday, a day after tens of thousands of demonstrators turned out for rallies in U.S. cities and capitals nationwide to voice their opposition to war with Iraq.

On Saturday, a rally outside the Capitol, followed by a march to a naval yard, anchored the demonstrations and brought spirited masses together to declare the United States a "Rogue Nation," as one sign put it...

Organizers of International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), one of the groups that coordinated this weekend's protests, have also planned a youth and student march on Sunday from the Justice Department to the White House, the Washington Post reported...


CNN.com Interactive Poll Results
Should the U.S. wait for U.N. weapons inspectors to
complete their work before taking military action against Iraq?

Yes:..77%...81108 votes
No:....23%...24894 votes
Total: 106,002 votes


WITH TROOPS SHIPPING OUT, INSPECTORS URGE PATIENCE
--CNN.com

Jan 14 -- With the United States continuing its military buildup in the Persian Gulf region ahead of a possible military conflict with Iraq, a spokesman for the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Monday the inspections process could take up to a year.

The statement on inspections from International Atomic Energy Agency spokesman Mark Gwozdecky comes as U.S. military planners, though saying war with Iraq is not inevitable, have ordered tens of thousands of troops deployed to the Gulf region in recent days.

"It's a far better option to wait a little bit longer than to resort to war," Gwozdecky said, adding that chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix and IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaredei "have made it very clear as late as last spring that this is an operation that could take in the vicinity of a year."

"We've only been there for seven weeks now," Gwozdecky said. "The longer that we're there, the more likely we are to detect something that might be illegally proceeding or to deter the Iraqis from reconstituting any capability that they might have."

The United States has said it has information that proves that Iraq possesses prohibited weapons. But U.N. inspectors said they have found no "smoking gun" as they scour Iraq for weapons of mass destruction.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed deployment orders Friday for 62,000 troops, which nearly will double the size of the U.S. military force in the Persian Gulf region.

Sources have indicated the total number of regular, Guard and reserve forces that might be deployed eventually could be about 200,000 to 250,000.

Amid the talk of war, military movements and weapons inspections, Pope John Paul II said Monday that war with Iraq should be "the very last option."

"War is not always inevitable. It is always a defeat for humanity," the pontiff said in his annual State of the World address to diplomats assigned to the Vatican from 175 countries.

"International law, honest dialogue, solidarity between states, the noble exercise of diplomacy: These are methods worthy of individuals and nations in resolving their differences."


US SAYS 'SMOKING GUN' NOT NEEDED
--MSNBC

WASHINGTON, Jan 10 -- Despite the failure of U.N. weapons inspectors to find any evidence of banned weapons in Iraq, the United States on Friday appeared determined to forge ahead with preparations for war. Secretary of State Colin Powell told NBC News that a "smoking gun" wasn't necessary, while White House spokesman Ari Fleischer asserted that United States knows "for a fact" that Baghdad has produced weapons of mass destruction.

On Thursday, chief weapons inspector Hans Blix told the U.N. Security Council that no "smoking guns" had been found by his team, which began hunting for evidence of banned weaponry in late November.


ELBARADEI: TUBES NOT FOR WEAPONS
--CNN.com

Jan 10 -- Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that aluminum tubes the United States has said Iraq was using to develop nuclear weapons appear unlikely to be used for that purpose. "The question is still open, but we believe at this stage that these aluminum tubes were intended for the manufacturing of rockets," ElBaradei said.


BLIX SAYS INSPECTORS HAVE FOUND NO 'SMOKING GUNS' IN IRAQ
--The Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 10 -- U.N. weapons inspectors have not found any "smoking guns" in Iraq during their search for weapons of mass destruction, the chief U.N. weapons inspector said Thursday.

Hans Blix spoke to reporters at the United Nations before he and his counterpart Mohamed ElBaradei, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency, went in to brief the Security Council on their assessments of Iraq's 12,000-page weapons declaration.

"We have now been there for some two months and been covering the country in ever wider sweeps and we haven't found any smoking guns," Blix said before the Security Council meeting, in which he and ElBaradie were likely to provide an update on the inspections process.


B-1 BOMBERS DEPART
--CNN.com

Jan 8 -- Three U.S. Air Force B-1 bombers left their South Dakota home base Wednesday for deployment in the Persian Gulf region for possible military action over Iraq, according to Air Force officials. The bombers are the first of many expected to be deployed from Ellsworth Air Force Base, home to 26 of the sleek, supersonic B-1 Lancers that are capable of carrying dozens of bombs, including precision-guided weapons. (Full story, 3-D interactive model of the B-1)

FRANKS BRIEFS BUSH
--CNN.com

Jan 8 -- Gen. Tommy Franks, the commander of U.S. forces, briefed President Bush and other members of the National Security Council Wednesday on military plans, including plans to shift top brass to the region in case Bush decides to pursue military options against Iraq.

US MILITARY PLANNERS MOVE TO QATAR
--CNN.com

WASHINGTON, Jan 8 -- Senior U.S. military planners will move to Qatar as early as this week to prepare for a possible conflict with Iraq, military officials told CNN Tuesday...

Pentagon officials said President Bush has not yet made a decision to go to war. But thousands of U.S. troops have been ordered to the region in recent weeks and Britain announced the activation of about 1,500 reservists and the deployment of additional naval vessels to the Persian Gulf Tuesday in preparation for possible action...

United Nations weapons inspectors in Iraq have found no "smoking gun," Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said this week...

ElBaradei said inspectors have found no proof Iraq lied when it declared to the United Nations that it has no prohibited weapons, and IAEA lab tests of samples taken in Iraq have so far found nothing suspicious.


UK CALLS UP RESERVES FOR IRAQ WAR
--CNN.com

LONDON, England, Jan 7 -- Britain is calling up reservists to take part in possible military operations against the Iraqi regime of President Saddam Hussein.

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon told parliament about 1,500 reservists would initially be mobilized to support all three armed forces -- but more would be called up if necessary.


IRAQ WAR COULD PUT 10 MILLION IN NEED OF AID, U.N. REPORTS
--The Washington Post

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 6 -- The United Nations estimates that a U.S.-led military campaign to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein could place about 10 million Iraqi civilians, including more than 2 million refugees and homeless, at risk of hunger and disease and in need of immediate assistance, according to a U.N. planning document.

U.N. officials warned that the impact of a U.S. air and ground invasion in Iraq would likely be worse than the humanitarian crisis caused by the Persian Gulf War in 1991 because a decade of U.N. sanctions has made the Iraqi population almost totally dependent on government handouts for survival.

Such a conflict, the U.N. planners predicted in the document, would halt the country's oil production, severely degrade its electrical power network and disrupt the Iraqi government's capacity to continue distributing food rations through a U.N.-supervised humanitarian program. It would also likely lead to the outbreak of diseases, including cholera and dysentery, in "epidemic if not pandemic proportions," the confidential report said.

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