Bush says Saddam not to disarm; Reports: War to start Wednesday or Thursday

Monday. I heard 3/17.

"There is little reason to hope that Saddam Hussein will disarm," the president said.

Proof that Saddam is not french.

British military officers said they expected attacks to begin in the early hours of Wednesday or Thursday, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. One general forecast: "Things will be very different by this time next week."

Yes, our cities could all be anthraxed, the people slowly dying in agony.

Uh, forget about an attack next week. Not going to happen.

Monday. I heard 3/17.

There was a thread yesterday saying there would be Bush and Blair speeches in their respective countries giving Saddamn a couple of days to leave the country. If not, it's bye-bye baby! That would make it about Wednesday.

We've now had reports of Monday night, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Let's do the disinformation dance!

Let's do the disinformation dance!

Can you give us a free demonstration of that dance? No matter how hard I try, the steps don't make sense to me! ;)

"No matter how hard I try, the steps don't make sense to me! ;)"

I think that's the whole point ;)

QUIT BAGHDAD OR WAR IN A WEEK, BUSH TELLS SADDAM: Britain and America are to issue a stark ultimatum to Saddam Hussein - get out of Iraq or face war within a week... Developing...

MORE ON IRAQ

03/16/03

From wire reports

Washington- For the first time, the Bush administration has identified senior Iraqi officials who would be tried for war crimes or crimes against humanity after an American-led attack on Iraq, a senior U.S. government official said yesterday. Saddam Hussein and his two sons are on that list.

The list includes members of Saddam's inner circle who sit atop a hierarchy of 2,000 members of the Iraqi elite who were previously identified by American intelligence agencies.

But only now are the names of the top group being made public. Administration officials said they had planned to send the list to Baghdad with a delegation from the Arab League in hopes of persuading the men to leave the country with Saddam as a way to avoid a war.

But the league, consumed by internal bickering and a brush-off from the Iraqi government, called off the trip, which had been planned for Friday.

Administration officials said they were making the list public now partly out of frustration, but also as part of the continuing psychological campaign against the Iraqi elite.

President Bush and his senior advisers have repeatedly warned Saddam's loyalists that they have a choice between exile and prosecution.

Yesterday in Iraq, in a development that could complicate American war plans, the Foreign Ministry said that a top aide to Saddam had invited the chief U.N. weapons inspectors, Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, to visit Baghdad "as quickly as possible" to discuss disarmament. At U.N. headquarters in New York, Blix said he would study the invitation and discuss it with the council tomorrow. Asked if the Iraqi invitation was a stunt, he told CNN, "I certainly wouldn't call it a stunt. . . . We'll have to give serious thought to what the answer will be."

Meanwhile, France, Russia and Germany issued a joint declaration yesterday saying there was no justification for a war on Iraq and calling for a meeting of foreign ministers at the Security Council to set a "realistic" timetable for Saddam to disarm.

France's foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, said his country would accept a "tight timetable" for Iraqi disarmament - but not an ultimatum that would automatically lead to war if missed. But he said war appears increasingly inevitable.

"It is difficult to imagine what could stop this machine," he told France 2 television, before adding, "One does not have the right to be discouraged."

France, Russia and Germany have led opposition to military action against Iraq and blocked a U.S. attempt to set a deadline for Saddam to disarm or face war.

The Bush administration's war-crimes list - in addition to Saddam and his two sons, Uday and Qusay - includes Ali Hassan al-Hamid, who was the governor of Iraqi-occupied Kuwait in 1990-91, and Muhammad Hamza al-Zubaidi, who the administration says was responsible for atrocities against the Shiites in southern Iraq in early 1991.

The other Iraqi officials on the list included Aziz Salih Numan, the second governor of Iraqi-occupied Kuwait; Izzat Ibrahim, the deputy commander in chief of the Iraqi military; Abid Hamid al-Tikriti, the presidential secretary who is considered Saddam's alter ego; and Hani Abd al-Latif Tilfah, the director of the special security organization that the administration said is in charge of hiding Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

Yesterday, in Darbandekhan in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, 800 well-armed soldiers of an Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim militia paraded in a show of strength as they and other opponents of Saddam prepare for an invasion.

The Badr Brigade militia draws heavily from Iraqi Shiites who were violently displaced more than a decade ago by the Sunni Muslim regime from their ancestral homes in southern Iraq and fled across the border to camps in Iran.

Badr militiamen have been inside Iraq, in the autonomous Kurdish enclave, for some time, but reportedly have added to their units there in recent weeks. The militia is controlled by the Tehran-based Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq - a group the United States has expressed serious misgivings about as it envisages a future Iraqi government.

The Shiite warriors have been fighting Saddam's regime since just after the establishment in 1979 of the Islamic government in neighboring Iran. They share spiritual ties with Iran's 90 percent Shiite Muslim population and are said to maintain close ties with Iran's intelligence and military apparatuses.

The political future of Iraq was also on the mind of a former Iraqi foreign minister on Friday. Adnan Pachachi, who quit his post when Saddam came to power, said from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, that he was willing to take a leadership role in a post-war Iraq. He has been in talks with Washington in recent months.

Pachachi, 79, presents himself as a patrician figure of independent and secular views that transcend the ethnic and religious factions that many fear could tear Iraq apart in the aftermath of war.

His father and father-in-law were prime ministers under the monarchy after Iraq's independence from Britain. The Bush administration's special envoy to the Iraqi opposition, Zelmay Khalilzad, met with Pachachi in Washington last fall, and in his apartment in Abu Dhabi last month.

Pachachi is a tantalizingly attractive figure for a post-Saddam Iraq. He also appeals to Arab governments in the region.

WAR ON TUESDAY

TONY Blair and George Bush are ready to attack Iraq on Tuesday.

They are holding a secret council of war in the remote Azores in the Atlantic with ally Spanish leader Jose Maria Aznar.

With France set to veto any second United Nations resolution backing war, they will agree that the time for diplomacy is now over.

Only a last minute signal from other members of the UN Security Council that they support a new resolution could delay invasion.

But last night, in a dramatic twist, Iraqi officials asked UN weapons chief Hans Blix to return to Baghdad for more talks. It sparked speculation Saddam may be about to cave in to all UN demands.

Troops in the Gulf are ready. Every soldier has received a pack of syringes loaded with an antidote to be used after a nerve gas attack.

Those in the camp closest to the Iraq-Kuwait border are working 20 hour days preparing equipment. US Rear Admiral Barry Costello said: "The planning is complete. Execution is next, we're ready to go." Saddam yesterday gave UN weapons inspectors papers which showed he had destroyed stocks of VX nerve gas 12 years ago Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said: "Saddam Hussein only responds to pressure and only responds at the last minute."

He said time was running out for him to hand over weapons and an attack was "probable".

Mr Blair yesterday saw several Cabinet ministers, including Deputy PM John Prescott and Chancellor Gordon Brown, to get their support for military action. As events speed towards war, MPs now look unlikely to get a vote on whether to attack Iraq. Clare Short and Robin Cook are expected to quit this week.

The Ministry of Defence has chartered jets from holiday firms Britannia Airways and Air 2000 to bring home the wounded.

Combat vehicles at British bases in the Gulf are on standby loaded with enough fuel to make it all the way to Baghdad.

Troops sweltering in 40C (104F) heat want war to start soon. Many are at risk of heat exhaustion as they train in heavy protective anti-chemical suits and gas masks.Temperatures are expected to reach 50C (122F) in weeks.

Yesterday 130 men from the Territorial Army's Royal Yeomanry A and W squadrons, who are lawyers, accountants and the idle rich, did decontamination drills in blistering heat.

Lieutenant Jacob Phillips, 35, said: "While most of us hold jobs in the City, there are a number of gentlemen - men who live a life of leisure. We've spent a week in full decontamination kit."

You know, GTS, I've got to hand it to you: sticking to your guns about the attack
not happening shows a lot of fortitude.

Of course, the real test will come after the shooting starts later this week :)