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
By the way -- when Castro said that to iraq he was in Vancouver.
MARCH 10, 2003 : (REPORT : SOUTH AFRICAN MANDELA TURNS DOWN POSSIBLE IRAQI PEACE MISSION) ----- Mandela Says No to Possible Iraq Peace Mission Reuters ^ | March 10 2003http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/861140/posts
MARCH 14, 2003 : (ROCKEFELLER FORMALLY ASKS MUELLER TO INVESTIGATE BURBA/NIGERDOCS) Thanks for the pings. BTW we can actually document Rockefeller's involvement in that even earlier, from at least March 14, 2003:
On March 14th [2003], Senator Jay Rockefeller, of West Virginia, the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, formally asked Robert Mueller, the F.B.I. director, to investigate the forged documents. Rockefeller had voted for the resolution authorizing force last fall [2002]. Now he wrote to Mueller, "There is a possibility that the fabrication of these documents may be part of a larger deception campaign aimed at manipulating public opinion and foreign policy regarding Iraq." He urged the F.B.I. to ascertain the source of the documents, the skill-level of the forgery, the motives of those responsible, and "why the intelligence community did not recognize the documents were fabricated." A Rockefeller aide told me that the F.B.I. had promised to look into it.------------Seymour M. Hersh, "Who Lied to Whom? Why did the Administration endorse a forgery about Iraq’s nuclear program?", The New Yorker, March 31, 2003 50 posted on 07/30/2005 9:55:30 PM PDT by Fedora | To 32
MARCH 15, 2003 : (WASHINGTON TIMES REPORTS ON "FRENCH CONNECTION" : CHINA SOLD PROHIBITED MISSILE FUEL TO IRAQ THROUGH FRANCE AND SYRIA) Top investigative journalist Bill Gertz reported in The Washington Times yesterday that China sold prohibited missile fuel to Iraq through a secret "French Connection." The sale reportedly was made in August [2002] and according to officials in Washington was brokered through France and Syria. While France was denying the report, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was meeting with France's ambassador to the United States for what were termed "candid" discussions about Iraq. Rumors are circulating in Washington about other meetings with the ambassadors for China and Russia.
Apparently France has been engaged in double dealing and overt deception about its secret deals with Iraq for many years. (See my reports below) Yet the French government has been pontificating about its alleged moral superiority before United Nations Security Counsel for months.----- 'Iraqi Ambassador Had Contact Terrorist & China Sold Iraq Missile Fuel via "French Connection",' by Douglas Oliver, NewsPundit.net ^ | 3/16/2003
MARCH 15?, 2003 : (RAND BEERS QUITS JOB AS A WHITE HOUSE ANTI-TERRORISM ADVISOR --- See MARK GROSSMAN, RICHARD CLARKE, KENNEDY SCHOOL) A top White House anti-terrorism advisor who quit five days before the start of the Iraq war...Rand Beers, a former special assistant to the president, ...After working at the National Security Council for 35 years, under presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Bill Clinton, Beers, 60, had been the main counter-terrorism advisor from August [2002] until his resignation in March [2003]. ------- "Former security advisor says Bush failing to counter terror threat ," AFP via Yahoo, Mon Jun 16, 2003 2:36 PM ET
MARCH 2003 : (RAND BEERS QUITS) Five days before the war began in Iraq, as President Bush prepared to raise the terrorism threat level to orange, a top White House counterterrorism adviser unlocked the steel door to his office, an intelligence vault secured by an electronic keypad, a combination lock and an alarm. He sat down and turned to his inbox.
"Things were dicey," said Rand Beers, recalling the stack of classified reports about plots to shoot, bomb, burn and poison Americans. He stared at the color-coded threats for five minutes. Then he called his wife: I'm quitting.
Beers's resignation surprised Washington, but what he did next was even more astounding. Eight weeks after leaving the Bush White House, he volunteered as national security adviser for Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), a Democratic candidate for president, in a campaign to oust his former boss. All of which points to a question: What does this intelligence insider know?
"The administration wasn't matching its deeds to its words in the war on terrorism. They're making us less secure, not more secure," said Beers, who until now has remained largely silent about leaving his National Security Council job as special assistant to the president for combating terrorism. "As an insider, I saw the things that weren't being done. And the longer I sat and watched, the more concerned I became, until I got up and walked out."------ "Beers: Former Aide Takes Aim at War on Terror ," By Laura Blumenfeld, Washington Post Staff Writer, Monday, June 16, 2003; Page A01 , 75 posted on 07/15/2005 9:54:46 PM PDT by Howlin
MARCH 15?, 2003 to JUNE 16, 2003 sometime between these dates : (RAND BEERS JOINS THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF JOHN KERRY) After working at the National Security Council for 35 years, under presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Bill Clinton, Beers, 60, had been the main counter-terrorism advisor from August [2002] until his resignation in March [2003].
He has since joined the presidential campaign of Democratic Senator John Kerry. ------- "Former security advisor says Bush failing to counter terror threat ," AFP via Yahoo, Mon Jun 16, 2003 2:36 PM ET
MARCH 15, 2003 : (ANONYMOUS SOURCE SAYS FORGED NIGERDOCS WERE LIKELY WRITTEN BY SOMEONE IN NIGER'S EMBASSY IN ROME) [CHICAGO] Forged documents that the United States used to build its case against Iraq were likely written by someone in Niger's embassy in Rome who hoped to make quick money, a source close to the United Nations investigation said. The documents, about a dozen letters on Niger's governmental letterhead, suggested that the African nation had agreed to supply Iraq with uranium, used in nuclear weapons production, the source said. Some of the letters were addressed to an Iraqi official. --------- "Forged documents that USA used to build its case against Iraq tied to Niger Embassy in Rome," by SAM ROE , KRT[CHICAGO] via centredaily.com, Sat, Mar. 15, 2003
MARCH 16 2003 : (AZORES SUMMIT : UK & US GIVE ULTIMATUM TO UN TO ENFORCE ITS OWN RESOLUTIONS) Speaking at a hastily-arranged summit in the Azores, Mr Bush and Mr Blair give the United Nations a 24-hour ultimatum to enforce its own demands for immediate Iraqi disarmament, or face an American- and British-led coalition that will go to war within days. - Iraq: the final 24 hours - http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/page/0,12438,793802,00.html.
MARCH 16, 2003 : (THE OBSERVER REPORTS CONNECTION BETWEEN IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO SPAIN AND AL QAEDA'S 911 HIJACKING CONSPIRATOR YUSUF GALAN) An alleged terrorist accused of helping the 11 September conspirators was invited to a party by the Iraqi ambassador to Spain under his al-Qaeda nom de guerre, according to documents seized by Spanish investigators.
Yusuf Galan, who was photographed being trained at a camp run by Osama bin Laden, is now in jail, awaiting trial in Madrid. The indictment against him, drawn up by investigating judge Baltasar Garzon, claims he was 'directly involved with the preparation and carrying out of the attacks ... by the suicide pilots on 11 September'. * * *
Evidence of Galan's links with Iraqi government officials came to light only recently, as investigators pored through more than 40,000 pages of documents seized in raids at the homes of Galan and seven alleged co-conspirators. * * *
George Tenet, the Director of the CIA, has made increasingly strong statements alleging such a connection.
In Congressional testimony last month, he said that Iraq had co-operated with al-Qaeda for 10 years, and that it had trained al-Qaeda members in bombmaking and the use of chemical and biological weapons. In an apparent attempt to refute the sceptics, he said this information 'comes from reliable sources' * * * ----- The Observer [UK] via 'Iraqi Ambassador Had Contact Terrorist & China Sold Iraq Missile Fuel via "French Connection",' by Douglas Oliver, NewsPundit.net ^ | 3/16/2003
MARCH 16, 2003 : (TRUTHOUT.ORG'S MARC ASH SENDS SHRILL SPAM LETTER CLAIMING BUSH & BLAIR ARE GOING TO SLAUGHTER IRAQIS ON AN "UNIMAGINABLE SCALE") One of the daily unsolicited e-mails I get is from a propaganda group that calls itself “Truthout” and which is, believe it or not, headquartered in Los Angeles, California. On March 16th, as the war was about to start, its chief propagandist, Marc Ash, wrote: ”What George W. Bush and Tony Blair are planning is the greatest act of human slaughter since Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge orchestrated the Cambodian genocide in the mid 1970s. That act killing some 1.5 to 2 million largely defenseless and quite peaceful Cambodians. ...”Civilian Iraq is utterly defenseless and totally unprepared for the carnage that is about to be visited upon them. It is murder plain and simple, murder on an unimaginable scale.” Marc Ash didn’t bother to mention the Iraqis and Iranians killed in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war started by Saddam’s invasion and seizure of Iranian oil fields in 1980. According to The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) estimated casualties of the 8 year war between these two Muslim nations at "more than one and a half million war and war-related casualties." The casualties between these two Muslim nations would be the equivalent to losing 5.6 million for a population the size of the United States. - "The Iraqis Will Eventually Judge America by Its Deeds, Not Media Misinformation," By: Mary Mostert, Analyst, Banner of Liberty, (www.bannerofliberty.com) , April 4, 2003 , http://www.bannerofliberty.com/BOL-03MQC/4-4-2003.1.html.