MARCH 2003 : (AUSTRALIA : ANDREW WILKIE RESIGNS FROM THE OFFICE OF NATIONAL ASSESSMENTS) [Andrew] Wilkie resigned from Australia's elite Office of National Assessments (ONA) in March in protest against the government's alleged misuse of information provided by the agency. The ONA is an elite agency which evaluates intelligence from all Australian and allied agencies and passes on that advice to Prime Minister John Howard's office. The Howard government has been a staunch supporter of the Bush administration position on Iraq and contributed troops and military hardware to the U.S.-led "coalition of the willing". - "Australia sexed-up Iraq dossier, former spy claims... WMD: Australia accused of hype," Drudge/CNN , Friday, August 22, 2003
Other things going on:
MARCH 2003 first week : (CUBA : CASTRO TELLS IRAQ TO DESTROY ITS WMD & COMMENTS ON IRAN ) President Fidel Castro has urged Baghdad to destroy "the last cubic centimetre of chemical or biological weapons" to remove any pretext Washington might have to attack it. At the close of the new Cuban parliamentary legislature, in which Castro's re-election as head of the government and the state came as no surprise, the Cuban leader praised Iraq's decision to destroy its Al-Samoud 2 missiles. "The American Government will no longer have the least legal or moral pretext to attack Iraq," Castro said. He slammed Washington for closing its eyes to atomic weapons held by Israel having provided the means for their transportation. "Only the complete truth ... would give the Iraqi people enough moral strength and international support to defend their homeland and integrity right up to the last drop of blood," he said. Castro acknowledged that Iraq had "committed two grave and unjustifiable actions" in invading Iran and occupying Kuwait, but had also had to endure "very hard action" itself. Iraq "is not in a position, militarily speaking, to constitute the least risk to US security or of their allies in the region", Castro said.- "Castro tells Iraq: destroy weapons," Agence France-Presse , March 7, 2003
MARCH 2003 : ('THE NATION' : WILSON WRITES 'REPUBLIC OR EMPIRE' FOR THE NATION AT THE INVITATION OF DAVID CORN) Wilson's antiwar stance won him new friends. Among them was David Corn, the Nation's Washington correspondent. Wilson met Corn in an unlikely lefty hangout: the greenroom of the Fox News Channel's Washington studios. In March 2003, Wilson, at Corn's invitation, penned an article for the Nation entitled "Republic or Empire?" It was a rhetorical question. Wilson wrote that "the underlying objective of this war is the imposition of a Pax Americana on the region and the installation of vassal regimes that will control restive populations." President Bush's talk about bringing democracy to the Middle East? Hogwash. "The new imperialists will not rest until governments that ape our worldview are implanted throughout the region." The Nation article was a big success. It "led to a further series of appearances," Wilson writes, on "more substantive news programs," like--and he's serious--"NOW with Bill Moyers." -- "The Rise and Decline of Joe Wilson," by Matthew Continetti, Weekly Standard, 05/17/2004
MARCH 2, 2003 : ('THE NATION' : WILSON OP-ED NO MENTION OF URANIUM/NIGER/BUSH SOTU) Wilson has Op-ed in the Nation here----3/3,2003 NOTHING ABOUT URANIUM/NIGER/SOTU....
70 posted on 07/17/2003 10:30 AM PDT by hobbes1
MARCH 2003 : () The man [Joe Wilson] who helped set off a media firestorm over President Bush's State of the Union reference to Iraq seeking uranium in Niger is actually a confirmed Bush-hater who opposed the war in Iraq and complained in March [2003] that Bush had led America into a period of "historical madness." ---- "Report: CIA Source on Niger Nuke Flap is a Bush-Hater (Wilson)," Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff , NewsMax.com, 7/13/03, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/945331/posts
MARCH 2003 : (THIS IS THE TIME IRAQ MOVED 'UNSPECIFIED MATERIALS' TO SYRIA,' INCLUDING SOME COMPONENTS OF IRAQ'S WMD PROGRAMS, ACCORDING TO LATER REPORT BY DR. DAVID KAY) - "Kay says some Iraq weapons in Syria: report,"AFP, Sunday, January 25, 2004. 1:00pm (AEDT) via http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1031270.htm
MARCH 4, 2003 : (IAEA INVESTIGATION OF ALLEGATIONS THAT IRAQ TRIED TO OBTAIN URANIUM IN AFRICA FOCUSES ON NIGER) INTRO: "The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed it is actively investigating allegations that Iraq, in recent years, attempted to import uranium from Niger. More from V-O-A Correspondent Alex Belida." TEXT: "An I-A-E-A spokesman describes the investigation as ongoing and confirms the probe of Iraq's efforts to obtain uranium in Africa does focus on Niger. But the spokesman will not provide any details and will not tell V-O-A, for example, whether the government of Niger is cooperating or whether the U-N nuclear agency has sent any investigators to the African country. However Iraq's Foreign Ministry has said I-A-E-A officials in Baghdad have questioned Iraqi officials about the Niger connection. - VOA News Report, 3/4/03 , byline pentagon, via http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2003/03/mil-030304-2a189293.htm.
MARCH 5, 2003 : (AXIS OF WEASELS RELEASE JOINT DECLARATION TO RESIST US & UK AT UN) The foreign ministers of France, Russia and Germany release a joint declaration stating that they will 'not allow' a resolution authorising military action to pass the UN security council. The hardening stance from the anti-war bloc increases the pressure on the US and Britain to compromise on their draft UN resolution.France, Russia and Germany harden stance - http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/page/0,12438,793802,00.html