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Bush: new al-Qaida link to Iraq
January 30, 2003 | adminPresident Bush served notice yesterday that he would not wait for international support before taking on Iraq, promising the course of the US “does not depend on the decisions of others”. In his annual state of the union address, the president set out the case against Iraq, saying there was no evidence Saddam Hussein had destroyed his weapons of mass destruction and emphasising the threat he could pass them on to terrorists. He called on the UN security council to convene on February 5 where his secretary of state, Colin Powell, will present the US case. He said that US intelligence had discovered extensive links between Iraq and terrorist organisations including al-Qaida. Full Story
UK alleges al-Qaeda links with Baghdad
January 30, 2003 | adminThe UK on Wednesday went further than it had ever done before in alleging ties between al-Qaeda and Iraq, although it remained more circumspect than President George W. Bush on the nature of the ties. Tony Blair, the prime minister, told a hostile House of Commons, the lower house of parliament: “We do know of links between al-Qaeda and Iraq. We cannot be sure of the exact extent of those links.” A Foreign Office statement added: “We believe there have been and are al-Qaeda operatives in the part of Iraq controlled by Baghdad. It is difficult to imagine that they have been there without the knowledge and acquiescence of the Iraqi regime.” Full Story
Bush Enlarges Case for War by Linking Iraq With Terrorists
January 30, 2003 | adminPresident Bush, enlarging the case for going to war with Iraq soon, said tonight that there was intelligence showing that Iraq was helping and protecting terrorists. He warned that Saddam Hussein could distribute weapons of mass destruction to terrorists who could use them against the United States. Iraq’s alleged terrorist connection is just one reason Mr. Bush cited for preparing for war. He also said Iraq could threaten the Persian Gulf region if it developed weapons of mass destruction, and he assailed its record on human rights. To that end, he pointed to the example of North Korea, which is already suspected of having nuclear weapons and is, Mr. Bush said, “an oppressive regime” that rules by fear and starvation. The allegation that Iraq is conspiring with terrorists seemed tailored to address the question of why it is important to act now. Full Story
Flotilla of patrol boats off Spain forms first joint guard of Europe's frontiers
January 30, 2003 | adminPatrol boats from Spain, Britain, France, Portugal and Italy launched Europe’s first joint maritime surveillance scheme against illegal immigrants yesterday, in an operation hailed by Spain as a prototype for a future European border police. The pilot project, called Operation Ulysses, is to monitor the western Mediterranean from Algeciras in southern Spain to Palermo in Sicily. Spain’s Interior Minister, Angel Acebes, hailed the initiative as “planting the seeds of a future EU border police”. Speaking in Palma, Majorca, Mr Acebes said: “If this system of co-operation among patrol boats and radar controls is satisfactory it could form the pillar of a border police force in the European Union. It is the common responsibility of the EU to protect our frontiers.” Full Story
New Agreement 'to exclude Sinn Fein'
January 30, 2003 | adminThere should be a new political agreement which would prevent Sinn Fein members taking their places in a devolved executive, Ian Paisley has said. In a speech to his party supporters in North Antrim, the Democratic Unionist Party leader said Ulster Unionists were running scared of elections. He said the assembly election would provide an opportunity to force new negotiations leading to a democratic deal that unionists could support. Northern Ireland’s devolved institutions were suspended on 14 October 2002 following a row over allegations of IRA activity, including alleged spying within the Northern Ireland Office. Full Story
Tirade against Islam dismays Dutch Muslims
January 30, 2003 | adminThe Netherlands’ one million-strong Muslim community has become embroiled in a furious row over free speech after its chief critic – a woman MP who has been dubbed the Dutch Salman Rushdie – called the prophet Mohammed a “perverse tyrant”. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a 33-year-old Somali-born immigrant to the Netherlands and a former Muslim, has received death threats and been forced to flee the country in the past because of her outspoken criticism of Islam, but her latest outburst threatens to dwarf previous rows. Writing in the daily Trouw newspaper, Ms Ali, who was recently elected an MP for the VVD liberal party and is constantly accompanied by bodyguards, said that, by western standards, Mohammed was a perverse man and a tyrant. Full Story
Gunman killed in Dutch court drama
January 30, 2003 | adminA gunman has been shot dead in the Netherlands after police stormed a courtroom where he was holding a prosecutor hostage. The prosecutor was wounded in the assault, though it was not clear who had shot him. The 20-year-old gunman – of Albanian origin – entered a hearing room in the courthouse, in the eastern Dutch city of Arnhem, and seized the prosecutor at about 1100 (1000 GMT). Other court officials managed to escape from the building. The gunman, who was facing robbery charges, demanded to be put in touch with a co-defendant in his case. During negotiations with the authorities by phone, he threatened to kill his hostage. Full Story
CIA Report Sought in 9/11 Trial
January 30, 2003 | adminAttorneys for a Moroccan on trial in Germany for alleged involvement in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks are pinning hopes of acquittal on securing last-minute access to a secret CIA interrogation report. The German government received the report from the CIA and has shown it to prosecutors in the case. But the government is resisting defense attorneys’ efforts to obtain it. The report details statements of a leading member of the Hamburg-based cell that plotted the attacks, Ramzi Binalshibh, who was captured in Pakistan last September and is now in CIA custody at a secret location. Full Story
Sept 11 Relatives Confront Accused in German Court
January 30, 2003 | adminFive relatives of victims of the September 11 attacks confronted the man on trial for supporting the plot on Thursday, recounting their suffering since their loved ones perished. Mounir El Motassadeq, a Moroccan student, is the first suspected plotter to stand trial anywhere for the attacks on September 11, 2001 and is charged with being an accessory to 3,045 murders in New York and Washington. Stephen Push, whose wife died on the hijacked plane that crashed into the Pentagon, told the Hamburg court: “I am testifying because I believe, before the court delivers its verdict, it should hear the human side of the tragedy. Full Story
Russia Is Said to Force Chechens to Return
January 30, 2003 | adminRussia is pressuring thousands of Chechen refugees to return to their war-ravaged homeland from the neighboring Russian republic of Ingushetia, even though they fear for their lives and will have nowhere to live, human rights activists said today. Officials of Human Rights Watch, an international rights group, said Russian authorities are resorting to threats and intimidation to force 23,000 Chechens to abandon the Ingush tent camps and return home. In a 27-page report released today, the group accused migration officials of threatening to cut off supplies of food, gas and electricity to the camps if the refugees did not return voluntarily. Full Story