US soldiers may not be equipped with the latest protective equipment against chemical and biological attacks in the event of military action against Iraq, US Senators and a non-partisan government office have warned.
Additionally, some 250,000 defective suits have gone missing and may have been mixed in with functioning equipment.
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But a retired army general who commanded troops in Iraq in 1991 and is now consulting for the Pentagon told the newspaper that he believed US troops did have proper gear.
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The missing suits were manufactured by a company whose officers have been convicted of intentionally providing the Department of Defense with defective equipment.

More than half a million have been found and pulled from use, but 250,000 have not been accounted for, the General Accounting Office told Mr Shays's committee last month.

» BBC NEWS | Americas | US soldiers may have faulty gear

Iraq has given its first warning to the West that it does possess weapons of mass destruction and that President Saddam Hussein would be prepared to use them if his regime was threatened.

The remarks were a complete contradiction of the official Iraqi position. Baghdad has insisted repeatedly that it no longer has chemical, biological or nuclear weapons nor medium-range missiles.
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Western military commanders take the threat of the use of these weapons on the battlefield very seriously, particularly if Saddam is cornered. "In strict military terms, these weapons are not very effective in killing and wounding an opponent," a senior British military source said, "but the psychological impact on troops is tremendous.

"There are few soldiers who will stand and fight in the face of a chemical attack. We have to work on the assumption that Saddam has them and will use them."

That assumption is based on Iraq's behaviour during its war with Iran, when it used chemical weapons extensively against Iranian infantry on the southern front and to subdue Kurdish civilians in the north.

» Iraq admits plan to use chemical weapons

Secrecy and surprise are essential to the weapons inspections but when the UN's nuclear experts, the IAEA, arrived for their first site visit yesterday it almost looked as if the Iraqis were expecting them.

The gates of the Tahadi plant were opened as soon as the inspectors drove up and the factory's management was waiting there to greet them.

UN sources in Baghdad said there could be other explanations for this but they confirmed that because of a lack of resources, no part of the inspectors' headquarters has yet been swept for Iraqi bugs.

The building is believed to be infested with them.

» Iraq 'bugging' inspectors' offices

The day UN weapons inspectors began work in Baghdad, newspapers in Iraq have not been seen to comment directly on their return, saving their venom for attacks on the US and Israel.
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The following are quotes from the internet sites of leading Iraqi and Arab dailies.

Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz speaking about Iraqi opposition support for the weapons inspectors, quoted by government daily al-Jumhuriyah

There are people who are connected to the US Plan... and who are financed by US intelligence, who are slandering their country by alleging that there are weapons of mass destruction here. They are liars and mercenaries. We have no common language with them.

Whether or not Iraq admits to the existence of weapons of mass destruction, it will face aggression... In this case, Iraq should purchase weapons of mass destruction and hand them over to the inspectors.

Should Bush implement his threats [against Iraq] he will enter history as the worst US president who will have, with these policies, caused a historic disaster

» Iraqi press attacks Israel and Washington

Concerned that Saddam Hussein may be trying to buy equipment for war, the United States wants to add additional items such as communications equipment and nerve gas antidotes to a U.N. list of goods which cannot be automatically imported by Iraq.
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New additions would include atropine injectors and atropine, an antidote used in the event of exposure to nerve agents, as well as jammers, radio intercepts and global positioning equipment, he said. Western diplomats said the Pentagon also wants to add the antibiotic Cipro, which is used to combat anthrax and smallpox.

Two weeks ago, administration officials said Iraq spent the last two years importing significant quantities of atropine and obidoxime chloride, used to counter the effects of certain chemical weapons.

» U.S. Wants to Clamp Down on Iraq Imports

President Bush said on Saturday the courage of Romanians who rose up to topple dictator Nicolae Ceausescu should inspire others to tackle aggressive dictators like Iraq's Saddam Hussein.
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Romania's experience of the violence of Ceausescu's rule had shown it "the face of evil," said Bush. "The people of Romania understand that aggressive dictators cannot be appeased or ignored, they must always be opposed," added Bush.

» Bush Says Ceausescu's Fate an Example for Iraq

In a speech to the U.N. Security Council Monday, chief weapons inspector Hans Blix said Iraq has pledged full cooperation, but it may have trouble with the Dec. 8 deadline for revealing any weapons of mass destruction.
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Blix said Iraqi officials told him they have no weapons of mass destruction, and they are having trouble interpreting the U.N. demands, such as listing factories that can be used for dual-use purposes.

» Blix: Iraq 'May Have Trouble' With Deadline

Readiness takes many forms. Joe Rose got married. Chris Muncy had a new furnace installed. Rees Walther bought computer software so his wife could manage the family finances. As the United States creeps closer to war with Iraq, thousands of National Guard and Reserve members are organizing their personal lives, knowing they could be called to active duty at any time and with little warning.

The threat of war with Iraq weighs on Americans' minds, but it hasn't kept them from the malls.
And if the Gulf War back in 1991 is any indication, it won't keep Americans from shopping in the future.
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Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group of South Carolina, believes that if a war arrives before Christmas it will devastate retailers and the economy.

"If it were televised at the same level as the Gulf War, you could see a 15 percent decline in sales because people would say, 'I'm not going to shop, I'm not going to miss this,' " Beemer said.

» Retail could become war casualty

Under the Iraqi Scientists Immigration Act of 2002, passed by the Senate on Wednesday, up to 500 scientists could be given green cards if they reveal critical information on weapons programmes.

The bill, which could be passed by the House of Representatives as early as Friday, applies to scientists, engineers and technicians.
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Mr Biden thinks the bill will bolster the work of UN inspectors, investigating whether Iraq does have WMD.

"With this bill, the United States can help ensure that weapons inspectors and the United States have access to crucial information, by protecting the people who can provide it and by safeguarding their families," Mr Biden said.
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In 1994, Khidhir Hamza, an American-trained senior Iraqi nuclear scientist, left Iraq having grown disenchanted with the regime there.

He eventually made it to America, where he revealed valuable details on Iraqi attempts to hide its weapons programmes.

» Green cards to lure Iraqi scientists

It would be folly for Saddam to repeat past defiance of United Nations demands to give up his deadly weapons, Bush said in a forceful speech on the eve of a NATO summit.

"We now call an end to that game of deception and deceit and denial. Saddam Hussein has been given a very short time to declare completely and truthfully his arsenal of terror," he said.

In April 1991, immediately after the Gulf War had finished, the UN Security Council passed a series of resolutions authorising the inspection and destruction of Iraq's arsenal.

What unfolded over the next seven years, according to the weapons inspectors from the UN's Special Commission (Unscom), was an almost farcical tale of cat and mouse.

After a string of false dawns, with the termination and subsequent resumption of inspections, the UN finally lost its patience with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, withdrawing the team on 17 December, 1998.

Tariq Aziz, Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, gave his clearest warning yet yesterday that Baghdad would launch strikes against Israel if it was attacked by Britain and America.
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Asked what the Iraqi strategy might be if, as suspected, it is militarily weaker than it was in the 1991 Gulf War, Mr Aziz replied that his government was "capable of defending our nation". He added: "We are an old nation and we could survive. But I tell you, if the US and UK wage a war against Iraq, the consequences will be very bad to them and their friends in the region.

"If they don't care about their friends, then that gives you an idea about their real intentions. This is going to be devastating, not only to Iraq, but to them also. The aggressors will also suffer a great deal of losses."

» Baghdad warns that a US strike will lead it to hit back at Israel

"I can't tell you if the use of force in Iraq today will last five days, five weeks or five months, but it won't last any longer than that," he said in an hour-long radio interview for Infinity Broadcasting.

"It won't be a World War III," he added, citing the "vastly more powerful" U.S. forces, compared to 10 years ago during the Persian Gulf War.
Rumsfeld made his comments shortly before Pentagon officials said the United States was having air patrols in the region take into account a small upgrade in Iraq's surface-to-air missile range.

The defense secretary said that a "decision has not been made that war is necessary" to get Iraq's compliance with the latest U.N. resolution calling on Baghdad to disclose its weapons of mass destruction program and disarm.

» Rumsfeld: No World War III in Iraq

Saddam Hussein has made secret plans for his family and leading members of his regime to be given political asylum in Libya in the event of a war with America or a successful internal coup in Baghdad.

The extraordinary steps taken by the Iraqi leader to provide an exit strategy for key relatives and associates, which includes paying $3.5 billion into Libyan banks, provide the first evidence that Saddam is now facing up to the prospect of being toppled from power.
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The deal with Tripoli does not include providing refuge for Saddam or for Uday, his eldest son. If either were to seek political asylum in Libya, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi would come under intense international pressure, particularly from Washington, to hand them over for war crimes.

» Saddam Pays Gaddafi $3 Billion for Safe Haven in Libya

New procedures have sped up the U.N. humanitarian program that lets Iraq sell oil to buy food and other civilian goods, but Baghdad's falling oil sales have weakened the program, the United Nations said on Friday.

The current world focus on whether Iraq will disarm, as required by a new Security Council resolution, or face possible U.S. military strikes, has aggravated the situation, diverting attention from the suffering of ordinary Iraqis, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned in a new report.

"While understandably, the current discussions are focused on the resumption of the weapons inspection regime, I should like to appeal to all concerned to also focus attention on the humanitarian dimension and to spare no effort in meeting the dire humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people," Annan said in his latest report on the U.N. oil-for-food program.

The program was put in place in 1996 to ease the impact of U.N. sanctions -- including a ban on oil sales -- imposed on Baghdad after its 1990 invasion of oil-rich neighbor Kuwait.

The Iraqi response to the United Nations leaves room for interpretation on whether Baghdad really has accepted the U.N. resolution -- and that could mean a military confrontation is waiting down the road.

Iraq's defiant nine-page letter, delivered Wednesday to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, does not use the word "accept" but states that "we will deal with resolution 1441, despite its bad contents."

Kevin Spacey believes that America's troops can oust Saddam Hussein in less than two weeks. But he thinks the country's military brilliance is being misused for political ends.
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With Saddam waiting to see if the U.S. will blink, said Spacey, "I hope that wisdom will prevail, that we'll find a a way to diplomatically solve what is no bigger a crisis than the missiles of October [i.e., the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis].

"If we did what [Bush] is talking about doing, we'd go down a road from which we would never recover and which would start a chain reaction around the world. I live in the hope that it won't happen."

» NY Daily News - Daily Dish - Rush & Molloy: Spacey makes case for Iraq-nophobia

Crude oil prices could triple to $80 a barrel during the first quarter of next year and strangle the world economy under the worst case scenario of a U.S. attack on Iraq, energy experts said on Tuesday.

Crude prices are likely to spike that high if Iraq destroys its oil facilities while retreating from U.S. forces, Iraq uses weapons of mass destruction, and key oil facilities in next door Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are damaged by Iraqi missiles.
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Such a huge jump in oil prices would devastate the global economy, which is already struggling.

» Oil may hit $80 a barrel in war with Iraq -experts

The idea would be to seize three areas of Iraq - the south, the north and the west - and use them as staging points to threaten Baghdad in the hope that this would precipitate an internal collapse of the Iraqi regime.
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The targets would be what are being called "pillars of the regime" - air defences, weapons sites and facilities, presidential sites. This time, bridges in the centre of Baghdad and other cities would be hit only when necessary.

The idea would be to try to avoid civilian casualties and damage to civilian structures. This, it is felt, would help convince the Arab world that it is regime-change which is being sought, not the punishment of the population.

» Leaking plans for a rolling war

Arab officials are making it clear they want Iraq to comply fully with the resolution, agreed on Friday, in order to avert a US-led attack.
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The Arabs see the UN resolution as a last chance to avert war, says the BBC correspondent in Cairo, Heba Saleh.

They have repeatedly warned that a US-led war would destabilise the region - unleashing popular unrest and exacerbating existing tensions
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Syria - the only Arab country currently represented on the UN Security Council - is expected to explain its unexpected decision to vote in favour of the resolution.

Before the vote, Syria publicly opposed the resolution as a pretext to launch a war against Iraq.

But in the end Syria capitulated under pressure from the both the Americans and the French.

» Arabs urge Iraq to accept resolution

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri has praised the United Nations Security Council for "thwarting" American attempts to use it as a cover to attack Iraq.
Mr Sabri was referring to the new UN resolution on Iraq which calls on Baghdad to give up its alleged weapons of mass destruction, but does not specify the automatic use of force if Iraq fails to comply.

"The outcome of the current crisis is already determined. The full disarmament of weapons of mass destruction will occur. The only question for the Iraqi regime is to decide how." - President Bush

"It's not an excuse for military attack. We're not looking for war," - Secretary of State Colin Powell

"President Bush's decision to chose the Security Council and multilateralism has proven to be the correct way." - German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

"Today's decision is an important step toward salvaging the U.N.'s credibility, which has been damaged by its failure to enforce its resolutions and rescue the people of Iraq from Saddam's tyranny." - House International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill.

» Quotes About U.N. Iraq Resolution

There is, in short, now no legal or political impediment to the sort of swift action that offers the best hope of toppling Saddam with minimum U.S. casualties and at the least further cost to the Iraqi people: The weather conditions are about as conducive to military operations as they ever are in that part of the world. Sufficient American and British units are now or shortly will be in the region to execute lightning strikes at Saddam's security apparatus. And evidence grows by the day that the Iraqi populace senses its liberation is at hand and is prepared to play a role -- possibly a decisive one -- in ending Saddam's nightmarish reign of terror.

This outcome is, of course, the only one that holds out any hope for effecting the genuine and complete disarmament of Iraq. After all, even if -- against all odds -- Saddam Hussein were actually to cooperate with international efforts to find and destroy his weapons of mass destruction, and such efforts were to succeed, he could be back in the WMD business within six-months time. That period could be shortened even further if, as seems likely, a declaration that Iraq was WMD-free would precipitate the end of sanctions against Iraq.

» Now, To War

In Kuwait, where hatred of Saddam runs deep because of the 1990 Iraqi invasion, Fouad al-Hashem, a columnist for Al-Watan newspaper, said he was overjoyed over the GOP's success.

"The news made me very, very happy," al-Hashem told The Associated Press. "It means that a strike on Iraq is not in the realm of rumor and hearsay anymore ... Now we just have to count the days for when the Iraqi people and the whole area will be saved."

» Arabs: Iraq showdown more likely

What's meant by "our allies" is a World War II construct, as it includes the Western winners -- Britain, France, Canada, Australia, etc., -- and the three losers -- Germany, Japan and Italy. Most were then bundled into NATO to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us against the Soviet Union.

That construct's become old-think. The Soviet Union's gone, Russia's no enemy, and we won't need all these countries in future wars.

That's good, because we won't get them all.

Germany, once the staunchest of "our allies," has wandered away. Gerhard Schroeder won reelection after an anti-American campaign that ended with his justice minister -- of all positions! -- comparing President Bush's tactics to Hitler's.

This would be offensive coming from anyone. But German officials should be most eager to side with democracies against a vicious dictator who defies international norms, especially one who gasses his own citizens.

» Redefining Our 'Allies'

We had two orphanages in Baghdad before the sanctions and the (Gulf) war. Now, we have four because the old ones became too crowded," Jabar said, as Emira sucked formula from a bottle. She shared her small bed with another, pale-looking infant.

"Emira's mother simply fled the hospital because the family has no money to feed her," Jabar said. She would not provide the exact number of orphans in Baghdad "because their number is soaring daily."
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Many people in Iraq live below the poverty line, and as a result, families who cannot afford to feed and clothe their children are forced to give them up.

Since 1990, when Iraq was one of the most prosperous Arab nations because of huge oil reserves, living standards have plummeted, and average monthly salaries dropped from the equivalent of $500 to $10.

» Yahoo! News - U.N. Sanctions Hurting Iraq Children

"When God wants us to fight we will be ready to fight under all circumstances. We will fight on all frontlines and whatever God wants is appropriate," Saddam was quoted by Iraq's official television as saying.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said the United States was making business out of wars and that conflict could be avoided if the superpower stopped "warmongering."
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Cheney was briefly interrupted by an anti-war protester, 65-year-old Dan Winters of Boulder, who held up a sign and yelled, "What about the children in Iraq?"

Winters was quickly quieted by security officers and hustled out of the hall. The crowd reacted to the protester, drowning out Cheney's speech with chants of "USA! USA!USA!"

Islamic militants in Saudi Arabia say Saudis are ready to take up arms to defend Iraq if the US attacks the country.

A religious scholar told the BBC that there are whole regions in Saudi ready for jihad.
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The Saudi government categorically rejects any suggestion that there are many Islamic militants in the country.

But the Muslim scholar said the Saudi Government could not control young Saudi fighters, or jihadis, who were determined to cross the border into Iraq in the event of an American attack.

» Saudi militants 'ready for jihad'