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DUBAI (Reuters) - The Philippines will withdraw its forces from Iraq (news - web sites) "as soon as possible," Philippine Deputy Foreign Minister Rafael Seguis said on Monday in a statement he read out on al Jazeera television. "In response to your request, the Philippines ... will withdraw its humanitarian forces as soon as possible," Seguis said according to al Jazeera's Arabic translation of his remarks. His statement was addressed to the group which is holding a Filipino driver hostage.

ENGLAND fans will be allowed to smoke dope before Sunday’s crunch clash with France — to keep them calm. Cops in Lisbon plan to crack down on drunk supporters while turning a blind eye to those spotted puffing on a spliff. Pot-smoking fans have been assured they will not be arrested, cautioned — or even have their drugs confiscated. Last night experts said the Portuguese police’s “Here We Blow” policy would reduce chances of a punch-up between rival fans. Alan Buffry of the Legalise Cannabis Alliance said: “If people are drinking they lose control, if they smoke cannabis they don’t....

PARIS (AP) -- Against the backdrop of war in Iraq, world leaders will issue ``a message of peace'' when they gather in France next month to mark the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings, the French war veterans minister said in an interview Thursday. Driving the commemorations is a realization that the anniversary will likely be the last major opportunity to mark the epic invasion that led to Nazi Germany's defeat with those that lived through it. ``There will be far fewer for the 70th anniversary, alas, human beings being what they are,'' Hamlaoui Mekachera told The Associated Press. ``The...

The election in Spain that turned the government over to the Socialists sent a clear message to al Qaeda: Their bombing worked. Much of the population reportedly did not want to join the US-led coalition to impose regime change on Iraq. Now they have decided to sit on the sidelines of the global Jihad, but they will learn some very harsh lessons in the process. As far as the Jihadists are concerned, any show of weakness is always an invitation to attack again. Moreover, on March 11, an al Qaeda dispatch published in the Arabic newspaper, Al-Quds Hafs al-Masri, crowed...

<p>March 15 (Bloomberg) -- Spain's 1,300 soldiers in the U.S.- led coalition in Iraq will be withdrawn unless there is a United Nations mandate requesting their presence, Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said today.</p> <p>He said the Spanish troops would leave Iraq by the coalition's June 30 deadline for the handover of power to Iraqis.</p>

Spain's Socialist Party prime minister-elect has confirmed his intention to pull Spanish troops out of Iraq. Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said: "The war in Iraq was a disaster, the occupation of Iraq is a disaster." The Socialist Party won a shock poll victory after voters appeared to turn on the government over its handling of the Madrid bombings. Spain, with more than 1,300 troops in Iraq, supported the US-led war on Iraq despite much domestic opposition. Mr Zapatero told Spanish radio that no decision would be taken until he was in power or without wide political consultation. But the soldiers...

George McGovern, crushed when he ran for President in 1972, has some advice for Sen. John Kerry: Don't run out of Iraq - but do walk out of there. Writing in today's New York Times, McGovern, like Kerry a decorated war hero, says he disagrees with Times' correspondent Thomas L. Freidman's declaration "We will not run." While it may be appealing to politicians, the problem with staying the course in Iraq, McGovern writes is "that brave young Americans do the bleeding and dying — not the political leaders who committed them to a mistaken war. "Terrorists are killing American soldiers...

George Bush is selling out Iraq. Gone are his hard-liners' dreams of setting up a peaceful, prosperous, and democratic republic, a light unto the Middle Eastern nations. The decision makers in the administration now realize these goals are unreachable. So they've set a new goal: to end the occupation by July 1, whether that occupation has accomplished anything valuable and lasting or not. Just declare victory and go home. The tyranny of Saddam Hussein will be over. But a new tyranny will likely take its place: the tyranny of civil war, as rival factions rush into the void. Such is...

Top French scientists in threat to quit Jon Henley in Paris Tuesday January 13, 2004 The Guardian More than 5,300 leading French scientists have threatened to resign unless the government increases the country's research budget, unblocks frozen funds and reverses big cuts in jobs available to postgraduates. "Despite its official line that research is a national priority, the government really is in the process of shutting down the public research sector," the scientists - including the heads of some leading national laboratories - said in a petition in circulation on the internet since late last week. "If the authorities do...

A war that can never be won Terrorism is a technique, not an enemy state that can be defeated Jonathan Steele Saturday November 22, 2003 The Guardian The bombast has increased with the bombs. We saw two disturbing escalations this week. The explosions that devastated the British consulate and the HSBC bank in Istanbul mark a significant widening in the choice of targets by those Islamist radicals who use terror to express their hatred of British and US policy in Iraq and the Middle East. The Blair/Bush response reached an equally alarming new level of ferocity. At their swaggering joint...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The Texas Democratic senators who fled to New Mexico to block a GOP-pushed redistricting bill said Wednesday their self-imposed exile carries financial and personal costs. Each of the 11 senators is paying for his or her stay in Albuquerque, said Sen. Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio, chairwoman of the Senate Democratic Caucus. The senators can use their own money or their campaign office holder accounts to pay for the trip. If they use their campaign accounts, their spending will be a matter of public record, Van de Putte said. "I've got three kids in college....

The trouble with war is the unintended consequences. Consider August 1914. No one wanted a long war in which 15 million to 20 million people would die. The wars in Europe after the end of Napoleon's empire were all quickie conflicts. Two armies came together and fought a single battle. The winner of the battle was the winner of the war. Some territories were exchanged and everyone went home. The classic example was the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. Emperor Napoleon III took on the Prussians at Sedan, was soundly defeated and surrendered. The Prussians went home with Alsace and Lorraine,...

Since it started, I've avoided trying to write anything about our nation's war in Iraq, primarily because I find it immensely difficult to make much sense of what has taken place. But the nation's secretary of defense, I'm told, has written a book titled "Rumsfeld's Rules." I've not found occasion (or reason) to read it but, apparently, it contains such gems as "It's easier to get into a situation than to get out of one" or words to that effect. Clearly, it's a piece of advice he didn't share with his commander in chief before they decided to invade Iraq....

CALLING IT QUITS: I've been wondering just how long it would take before someone would publicly advocate pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq. I certainly didn't expect it to happen today, less than 48 hours after the unqualified success of U.S. troops eliminating Uday & Qusay Hussein. Nevertheless, here you go, courtesy of Hubert Locke in this morning's Seattle Post-Intelligencer: We should get out of Iraq sooner rather than later. Why not admit that we've accomplished little of what was our announced intent -- we haven't found any weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein is more likely alive than dead...

Excuse the vanity post. I'll make it brief.There are more stories than I care to count, and a commensurate number of FR threads, on peace marches, war protests, anti-bombing demonstrations, anti-military rallies, call them what you will. And what should they be called?May I suggest a little straightforward language? When you discuss the matter with friends and family, when you write letters to the editor, when you call a talk radio program, refer to them as anti-American rallies. Because the unvarnished truth is, whether these assemblies take place in Baghdad, Paris, London, or Charlotte, that's what they are.The participants, of...

Nobody likes an ingrate and a tide of anti-French sentiment is sweeping the American street. DO THE FRENCH have the slightest idea about how obnoxious they seem to many Americans? I suspect not, but then the French aren't all that self-aware in the first place. And the American press, hung up on anti-Americanism around the globe, has done little to inform anyone of the rippling tide of anti-French feeling here. The simple fact is nobody likes an ingrate. It would be one thing if the French said they planned to sit out the war with Iraq. But it's quite another...