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The strategic reason for crushing Saddam was to reverse the tide of global terror that incubated in the Middle East. Is our pre-emptive policy working? Was the message sent by ousting the Baathists as well as the Taliban worth the cost? Set aside the tens of thousands of lives saved each year by ending Saddam's sustained murder of Iraqi Shia and Kurds, which is of little concern to human rights inactivists. Consider only self-defense: the practical impact of U.S. action on the spread of dangerous weaponry in anti-democratic hands. 1. In Libya, Col. Gadhafi took one look at our army...

Libya's leader Colonel Gaddafi has said his country sought to develop weapons of mass destruction capabilities but will dismantle this programme completely, Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced. "This decision is an historic one and a courageous one and I applaud it," Mr Blair said. Colonel Gaddafi had told him the process of dismantling the programme would be "transparent and verifiable", the prime minister said in a statement from Durham Cathedral. The range of all Libya's missiles would be restricted to "no more then 300km, he added. Mr Blair said Britain had been engaged in talks with Libya for nine...

How Germany lost the Iraq war and its friendship with the USBy Michael MertesTuesday, May 06, 2003,Page 9 Wars always have winners and losers. Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein -- dead or on the run -- is, of course, the Iraq war's biggest loser. But Germany has also lost much, including the many US troops who will now reportedly be re-deployed to bases in other countries. Despite the announcement of plans to create a European army along with France, Belgium and Luxembourg, Germany is less relevant in both European and world politics than it was before the Iraq war. Repairing...

The 600-member Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4, based at Naval Base Ventura County, received its orders in January to deploy to the Persian Gulf for the anticipated war with Iraq. With the Seabees every step of the way will be Ventura County Star staff writer Dani Dodge, a veteran reporter whose latest assignment has been covering law enforcement in eastern Ventura County. To get ready for this assignment, she has been writing about the Seabees for the past month -- in addition to preparing herself with everything from shots to camouflage outfits. Her stories about the men and women...

Editor's note: Ventura County Star reporter Dani Dodge returned last week after two months in Iraq and Kuwait with Seabees from Port Hueneme. This is her story. Second of two parts Task Force Mike entered Iraq the day after the war started. It took 24 hours to reach camp. During the drive, I stared into the darkness waiting for an Iraqi army to materialize. The Battalion 4 Seabees around me in the back of the Humvee, even the one with the M-16, were asleep. The driver shouted back that we were in the demilitarized zone, but the only difference I...

First, let me explain: I don't camp, and when I did, flush toilets were always within an easy midnight walk. I subscribe to Bon Appetit and Cook's Illustrated and would never open a can of Chef Boyardee. I don't go outside without a shower and makeup. I have no military experience. Yet, I spent the last two months in the Middle East with the Seabees of Port Hueneme-based Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4; most of the time in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. We were in Baghdad before the city fell. Bullets flew over our heads. A land mine blew...

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has been visting Iraq this Wednesday. Following a stop in the southern city of Basra, Rumsfeld moved onto the capital, Baghdad. He met with the U.S. appointed administrator for Iraq, Jay Garner. Later, he spoke to U.S. soldiers at Baghdad's airport. Asked about rumours that Washington was planning to pull troops out of Germany, Rumsfeld indicated that the rumours were true, but that the details had not yet been worked out. Those comments came one day after Rumsfeld announced that U.S. troops were pulling out of Saudi Arabia.

PARIS, 25 Apr. (IPS) As President George W. Bush has also warned the Islamic republic to stop meddling in Iraqi affairs, an influential French daily says Iranian officials are worried by the "obvious pro-Americanism sentiments" of " the Iranian people". Iranian officials are worried. Worried of the American presence next to their doors, on the East as well as to the West, worried of the invasion of Iraq "with so little popular resistance", worried of the fast fall of the Baghdad regime, worried of the sidelining of the UN, worried of the total disillusion of the Iranian people that, since...

Well surprise, surprise. Documents found in the headquarters of the Mukhabarat, the Iraqi intelligence service, show that Saddam Hussein's people were talking to Osama bin Laden's people, according to a story in the Toronto Star. Actually, make that "STAR FINDS DOCUMENTS LINKING BIN LADEN, IRAQ" -- at the Toronto Star, the Toronto Star is always the story. The minor detail that a reporter for the Daily Telegraph was also present when the documents were found, or that the crucial reference to bin Laden was spotted by their interpreter, played rather below the fold. Still, it is fortuitous that the Star,...

Not that it should come as a surprise to anyone, but it turns out some of the staunchest international opponents of invading Iraq -- on principle, you understand -- were up to their eyeballs in secret deals with the now deposed regime of Saddam Hussein. Since the fall of Baghdad earlier this month, documents found at the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, at the headquarters of the Iraqi intelligence service, Mukhabarat, and elsewhere around the capital have revealed just how deeply involved were those who sided against the war at the United Nations -- France, Germany, Russia, China and the UN itself...

Mocking la perfide Albion has been a national pastime in France for centuries, but the documents that are now being disinterred from the smouldering embers of Saddam Hussein's regime suggest that perfidy would be rather a polite word for the conduct of Jacques Chirac and the French government towards their allies. Elsewhere in today's Telegraph, Alex Spillius reports that papers found in the Iraqi foreign ministry show how, as recently as three years ago, French diplomats from the Quai d'Orsay were colluding with agents from IRIS (the Iraqi Intelligence Service, better known as the Mukhabarat) to frustrate efforts by the...

PARIS - European integrationists have a cherished dream: that one day the European Union will stride the world stage speaking with a political voice every bit as powerful as its economic might. This EU would no longer be cowed by the United States. It would look Washington squarely in the eye. And the new power would be no brash, selfish American adolescent. No: it would be wise old Europe, enriched by its cultures and the lessons of its own dark history. It would tackle world crises with sensitivity, generosity and an eye to the long term. Now for the reality...

FRANCE may find itself shut out of US diplomatic business as a punishment for trying to derail the war in Iraq, despite offering a post-invasion olive branch this week, US officials said yesterday. Dick Cheney, the Vice-President, and Donald Rumsfeld, the Defence Secretary, are eager to make France pay, but have yet to settle a row with the State Department about whether to do so, officials told The Times. Although there is no suggestion of trade sanctions or other severe moves, one idea is to expand the “quad” — the informal forum grouping Britain, France, Germany and the United States,...

Fear of the U.S. Is the Beginning of Wisdom Exclusive commentary by Patrick Rooney Apr 21, 2003 Today and henceforth, I shall fill the peoples under all heaven with fear and terror of you. --Deuteronomy 2:25 Our current tour stop in the War on Terrorism is Iraq. And while we’re there, we’re letting Syria know we’re in the neighborhood, and wouldn’t be too inconvenienced to, ahem, “stop on by”, depending on their hospitality or the lack thereof. We’re speaking loudly too, to Iran and North Korea. Believe me, we now have the attention of every terrorist and terrorist sympathizer in...

Remember how a war with Iraq would only divert us from dealing with the real danger -- North Korea's nuclear madness -- and make Kim Jong-Il even harder to deal with? Remember how a war in Iraq would only divert us from our real challenge, the war against terrorism? Remember how taking on Saddam Hussein would turn the world against us and cost us the support of old friends like France? Well, well, well. It turns out that North Korea would like to talk with Washington after all, and in the setting Washington has insisted on all along: not one-on-one...

At this writing, we do not know the result of what seems to be a power struggle between Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, his long-time partner and reluctantly-appointed prime minister. It is worth recalling, however, that what is good and important about this moment is the direct result of policies that were ridiculed and lambasted just a short time ago. First to the good and important. Assuming that the struggle between Arafat and Abbas, who is more widely known as Abu Mazen, is a real one, it is over whether to end the current Palestinian terrorist offensive against Israel. Despite...

This week the Kremlin has started experiencing some serious and most unwelcome consequences of being the "informal" leader of the anti-Iraq war coalition and having convened a "summit of losers" (Russia, France and Germany) in St Petersburg on April 11-12. First, Washington quite clearly hinted that it might no longer consider Russia as a member of the so-called G8 club; then Russia found itself tossed overboard from the now trilateral negotiations on the North Korea nuclear issue to be launched in Beijing on April 23. The latter, as well-informed sources in Moscow report, was considered by the Russian ruling elite...

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said on Saturday he deeply regretted "exaggerated remarks" critical of U.S. moves against Iraq (news - web sites) that soured his relations with President Bush (news - web sites). In a further attempt to repair U.S.-German relations strained by his outspoken criticism, Schroeder said he was confident the dispute over Iraq would not cause long-term problems between the two countries. "I deeply regret there were exaggerated comments -- also from cabinet members of my previous government," Schroeder told Der Spiegel magazine when asked if there were "grounds for self-criticism" for damage he caused...

SYRIA is beginning to wobble; its old regime could soon fall. Behind its resolute rejection of Washington’s accusations, its Baathist regime is weakening. It may be the first Middle East domino to topple after the end of war in Iraq. The man whose finger is on the Damascus domino is not Donald Rumsfeld, the U.S. Defense Secretary. The victor will be Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, who is now standing his strongest chance of toppling the old guard who have blocked his reforms. This is the domino theory, an integral part of the multi-layered logic for war with Iraq. No...

AMERICAN military planners have been told to draw up options for possible retaliatory action against Hezbollah and other Middle Eastern terrorist groups in the event of suicide attacks on US forces in Iraq, according to official sources in Washington. Intelligence specialists have concluded that the greatest threat to US military bases in Iraq may come from groups operating out of Syria. Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, is expected to warn Damascus that Washington will no longer tolerate the use of Syrian-controlled territory as a “safe haven” for terror groups. US officials said last week they had already acquired...