Iraq 2003 - news archive

"The US Defence Department has taken away a contract to supply fuel to the US military in Iraq from Halliburton, the energy giant at the centre of accusations of inflating prices. The military said on Wednesday the Defence Energy Support Centre (DESC), a Pentagon agency, and the Iraqi oil ministry would organise a tender for the supply of petrol and other fuel to US troops in Iraq. Pentagon officials, quoted by US media, said there was no link between the change and accusations that a Halliburton subsidiary, Kellog, Brown and Root (KBR), may have overcharged for fuel by $61million."

"The bomb had been placed on the wrong side of the kerbstone. The US convoy travelled up the side of the road that the bomb was not on - thus the kerbstone protected the convoy from the blast. However on the same side of the road as the bomb were innocent Iraqis. The bomb was detonated as an old red VW Passat was right next to it, while the convoy was also next to it , but protected by the kerbstone. We believe the man that died may have been a man selling cigarettes, at the makeshift stalls that poor Iraqis make to earn a small wage."

"Tony Blair has been criticised by two Church of England leaders for his handling of the war in Iraq. Dr David Hope, the Archbishop of York, questioned the legitimacy of the war and warned that the prime minister would have to answer in the end to God. And the Bishop of Durham, Dr Tom Wright, called Mr Blair a "vigilante". "For Bush and Blair to go into Iraq together was like a bunch of white vigilantes going into Brixton to stop drug-dealing," he told the Independent."

"A father from north Wales whose son was killed by a mob in the war in Iraq is to meet the Armed Forces Minister to get answers about why his son died. Lance Corporal Thomas Richard Keys, aged 20, from Llanuwchllyn, near Bala, was murdered along with five other Royal Military Policemen when they came under attack in a town about 100 miles from Basra in June. His father Reg Keys has criticised the army several times since his son's death."

"Japan says it is willing to write off most of Iraq's debts, provided other major creditors do the same. The announcement came as US envoy James Baker held talks with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, and follows similar pledges from several European nations. Japan has already pledged $5bn in aid and will send about 1,000 troops to help reconstruction efforts in its largest foreign deployment since 1945. Iraq owes Japan $4.1bn, but this rises to $7.75bn with late penalty fees."

"It was surreal to see Urslaan Khan, a guy I often walked to school with back in Teesside, making the headlines earlier this month, arrested in Iraq on suspicion of trying to join a group fighting coalition troops. An inquisitive individual with a philosophical outlook on life, he finally returned safely to the United Kingdom for the Christmas vacation, able to give his side of the story outside the walls of an Iraqi cell or prisoner of war camp where he had been held for seven weeks."

"Clare Short has called on Tony Blair to resign because she says he deceived the British people over the Iraq war. She accused the prime minister of risking his own legacy because of an obsession with "his place in history". She predicted he would not lead Labour into the next election and urged him to resign for the honour of Britain."

"Dr Jinan at the clinic in Abu Ghraib says there are patients coming in with illnesses that she and her colleagues can't diagnose. Patients are referred to the main hospital complex at Baghdad Medical City but they return with still no diagnosis and having had no treatment. In particular, there have been patients presenting with bubbles on the skin. They "become hot, like burning coals, get hard and spread." She said they don't understand it."

"Things were different before the invasion! Liberation? Hardly! Terrorize? Absolutely! What possible chance is there to bring about peace in Iraq with storm trooper tactics against school children and teachers? The fact that some of these children have chosen Saddam over the soldiers of the US occupational forces must tell you something! It certainly should!"

"Members of Iraq's governing council have received promises of help from Italy and Russia. Russian pledged to reduce Iraq's $8bn debt to Moscow, while Italy said it might increase the number of its soldiers serving in Iraq. Russia said it would slash the debt by 65% in exchange for involvement in Iraq's reconstruction. Italy also promised to train Iraqi diplomats, magistrates and high-level civilian officials."

"James Baker is meeting Tony Blair on Thursday. By arranging a ParisClub debt restructuring he goes against the will of Iraqis, who are demanding a fair arbitration tribunal on Saddam’s odious debt."

"Some of us had been led to believe that the hearing in Truro would establish a date and a time for a substantive preliminary hearing on legal issues - a prelude to the start of Paul's and my trial, and followed by those of Phil and Toby, and of Josh. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Dream on. Now we haven't even got a judge of our own any more. All that the Directions (Directions - what directions?) hearing in Truro established, is that in mid-January the judges in Bristol will hold a meeting. (Not specifically about us manky felons, needless to say - more like a general start-of-term staff meeting, sort of thing.) They will then pick a lucky judge, who gets to try the Fairford cases. And SOME time after that - but don't hold your breath - there is still likely to be the anticipated Preparatory Hearing on legal issues, lasting about a week. (But possibly also a pre- Preparatory hearing before that.)"

"Two days ago there was a demonstration after school finished, against the coalition and for Saddam. Yesterday the American army came and surrounded the whole block. They just crashed into the school, 6, 7, 8 into every classroom with their guns. They took the name of every student and matched the names to the photos they got from the day before and then arrested the students. They actually dragged them by their shirts onto the floor and out of the class." Plus reactions around Baghdad and beyond to the capture of Saddam.

"The Independent's story headlined "Libya gives up nuclear and chemical weapons" would indeed be good news, were it true. First we have an invasion over the "threat" of weapons that didn't exist and now we get distracted from that lie by a country disarming weapons it doesn't have either!"

"An explosion has taken place outside a building belonging to Iraq's main Shia Muslim political group in Baghdad. One person was killed and several injured in the blast which targeted the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (Sciri). The building was used by a local militia linked to Sciri. The group has been working closely with the US-led coalition in Iraq - the rotating head of the Iraqi Governing Council is the leader of Sciri."

"As we approach the holidays, I've been thinking a lot about our kids who are in the armed forces serving in Iraq. I've received hundreds of letters from our troops in Iraq -- and they are telling me something very different from what we are seeing on the evening news. What they are saying to me, often eloquently and in heart-wrenching words, is that they were lied to -- and this war has nothing to do with the security of the United States of America. I've written back and spoken on the phone to many of them and I've asked a few of them if it would be OK if I posted their letters on my website and they've said yes. They do so at great personal risk (as they may face disciplinary measures for exercising their right to free speech). I thank them for their bravery."

"The United States says it is sending about 2,000 extra troops to Iraq and asking 3,500 more to stay on longer. Pentagon officials said the moves were designed to maintain capabilities over the next few months. The US military is to begin a massive rotation of forces at the start of next year that will see all 123,000 troops now in Iraq replaced by fresh units."

A photo of the World Hide and Seek Champion being presented with his award

"Oil workers in Iraq's biggest and most profitable company the Southern Oil Company have refused American Occupation Administration slave-wages and created their own wage scale instead. to be accepted on pain of mass energy sector strike. CPA forced to retreat and start paying workers more."

"Claims that Saddam Hussein had laboratories for developing weapons of mass destruction have been dismissed by a former chief UN weapons inspector. Hans Blix was speaking after Tony Blair said the Iraq Survey Group had already uncovered "massive" evidence of a system of secret laboratories in Iraq. But Dr Blix said it was "innuendo" to suggest laboratories were used for WMD."

"US President George W Bush has said that the captured former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein should pay the "ultimate penalty" for his crimes. "This is a disgusting tyrant who deserves... the ultimate justice," he said in a US television interview. His comments put the US sharply at odds with the United Nations and European allies who oppose the death penalty. Earlier, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced the CIA would take charge of interrogating Saddam Hussein."

"THE Wiltshire Tory who said Tony Blair should not have allowed MPs to vote on war with Iraq has won an award for his controversial views. James Gray, a former reserve soldier, picked up the Royal College of Defence Studies prize after writing a thesis on the invasion. In the 10,000 word paper, titled "Crown vs Parliament: Who Decides on Going to War", he stated the Prime Minister should not have to prove conflict was necessary before invading a country."

Aljazeera article - "Halliburton despite overcharging the US government already is given another contract in Iraq worth millions. You wouldn't have thought that vice president Dick Cheney used to run it would you?"

A few thoughts on the capture of Saddam Hussein, the reaction of the corporate media and whether or not this will diminish the Iraqi resistance to colonial occupation.

"US President George W Bush could reap a domestic political reward after Saddam Hussein's capture, the first US poll since Saturday's dramatic events says. The Gallup poll pointed to a strengthening of Mr Bush's position among the undecided voters in next year's presidential elections. This is seen as a serious blow for the frontrunner for the Democratic Party nomination, Howard Dean, experts say."

"Now while the grunts and we [deleted] can get along with field tables and folding chairs, of course the general has to trick out his office like he's a Roman caesar or something. So these furniture trucks come onto our compound when we already know that a lot of people out there want to kill us. This truck was loaded with carpet. Marshall came to Iraq to die for a general's carpet."

"The United Nations role in Iraq needs to be defined much more clearly, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan says. Mr Annan said the capture of Saddam Hussein was an opportunity for a new beginning for Iraqis - and forming a provisional government was a priority. Mr Annan was addressing the UN Security Council during a debate on the future of Iraq."

"A senior US official has made clear it is likely to be some time before Saddam Hussein is put on trial. He said a decision on how the former Iraqi leader might be prosecuted had to be taken first, and a mountain of evidence sifted through. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for a fair and open trial for Saddam Hussein, and said that the UN remained opposed to the death penalty."

"Sybok disappeared at the end of Start Trek V, at around the same time that Saddam first met with Donald Rumsfeld. Coincidence? You decide!"

Readers of BBC News debate the capture of Saddam Hussein and its impact on the future for Iraq and the Bush administration. Does this signal the end of the Iraqi resistance? Will / should he get a fair trial? Was it just a publicity stunt to boost the popularity of the Bush government in time for the 2004 election campaign?

The stories of former prisoners and relatives of people detained by the US forces without charge, trial, representation or visits.

"Now that Saddam is no longer a bogeyman to scare the people with, trade union and other mass opposition is likely to increase, complementing and coalescing with the armed opposition." Plus cartoon by Latuff.

Reaction from Iraq and beyond to the capture of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein by US forces.

"Tony Hillier, 14.12.2003 17:33 Poetic response to the news about finding Saddam Hussein"

Cheryl Seal: "Saddam Hussein has always threatened that if he ever got the chance, he would expose the depths of his connections to the Reagan and Bush I administrations (and quite possible the current administration as well)....but three days before his capture, the Bush Interim gov. in Iraq hastily signed into law a special closed War Tribunal... "

A satirist turns the Iraq war completely on its head: "Rebuilding efforts continued in London and the Home Counties, the areas most affected by the war, but these efforts were hampered by the sabotage of power lines and mains water pipes. Even after three months, most areas of Greater London had only two hours of electricity per day. The first civilian flight took off from the renamed Saddam International Airport in west London, only for the plane to be targeted with a surface-to-air missile. The Iraqi parliament allocated $80 billion to the reconstruction effort, only to see the vast majority of the funds squandered by the CPA or diverted to pay for security. The 250,000 Arab troops in Britain were costing upwards of $100 million per month to maintain. Saddam Hussein III appealed personally to France and Germany to provide troops, but quite wisely these nations decided to stay out of it, fearing reprisals by Christian fundamentalist terrorists. "

"Saddam Hussein has been captured alive near his hometown of Tikrit in a major coup for the beleaguered US-led occupation forces in Iraq. US occupying administrator Paul Bremer said Hussein was captured late on Saturday after more than eights months of searching for him. "

Were the coalition in breach of the convention by showing footage of Saddam after capturing him? Is it really him they've got? Will he get a fair trial and who else would be implicated in it?

"In Tikrit, Samarra and other angry towns, pro-insurgency young men gathering to speak with Western journalists inevitably mention the same problems: a lack of economic opportunity, alleged U.S. mistreat- ment and a nationalistic resentment of foreign occupation. "What are we supposed to do, starve?" asked one self-described "moujahed" Like others, these men dismissed the notion that their fight will diminish once Hussein is killed or captured, as U.S. officials hope. "We are not fighting for Saddam," one said."

"Gunmen have fired at two US military truck convoys in Kuwait, slightly injuring four US soldiers. The injuries were caused by flying glass from the vehicles' windows, a US military spokesman said. The convoys, travelling on separate roads, came under fire at 1415 GMT and 1445 GMT, he said. Thousands of US troops are based in oil-rich Kuwait, a staunch US ally in the region since Iraqi forces were driven out of the emirate in 1991."

"Leading analysts and political commentators agree the capture of Saddam Hussein represents a coup for the US but questions remain about its repercussions. "There will be a reduction in operations sponsored by former regime loyalists, but this is not the full story because they are not the only group involved." ... "The insurgency has grown well beyond Saddam's control or even influence. There are 15 to 30 groups that have no direct contact, financially or strategically, with Saddam Hussein. " ... "With the arrest of Saddam the financial resources feeding terrorists have been destroyed and his arrest will put an end to terrorist acts in Iraq." "

Extract from Bush's speech announcing that countries who did not participate in the invasion of Iraq will not be granted reconstruction contracts. With a translation of what he really meant.

Criticism of the Iraqi army and Fedayeen's behaviour during the ground war in Iraq in March and April 2003, including use of civilians as human shields, mis-use of the Red Cross and Red Crescent emblems, and use of anti-personnel mines.

"Britain failed in its duty to provide security for civilians in the southern Iraqi city of Basra during the Iraq war, says a human-rights group. New York-based Human Rights Watch says the failure to secure munitions dumps and the use of cluster bombs led to scores of civilian deaths and injuries. US forces also come under fire for their use of the controversial weapons which sometimes fail to explode. The report also contains criticisms of the behaviour of Iraqi forces."

"An oil services firm formerly run by US Vice President Dick Cheney may have overcharged US forces in Iraq by some $61m, a Pentagon audit has found. The firm, Kellogg, Brown and Root - a subsidiary of Halliburton - has denied charging too much for fuel for troops."

"The use of cluster munitions in populated areas caused more civilian casualties than any other factor in the coalition´s conduct of major military operations in March and April, Human Rights Watch said. U.S. and British forces used almost 13,000 cluster munitions, containing nearly 2 million submunitions, that killed or wounded more than 1,000 civilians. Meanwhile, 50 strikes on top Iraqi leaders failed to kill any of the intended targets, but instead killed dozens of civilians"

"US plans to create a new Iraqi army have suffered a setback after hundreds of recruits resigned. The army's first 700-man battalion lost 300 troops who were within weeks of being deployed, Pentagon officials say. The battalion is the only one trained so far for what is eventually hopted to be a 40,000-strong force."

"Companies from countries opposed to the conflict in Iraq will be barred from bidding for new rebuilding contracts worth $18.6bn, the Pentagon has said. US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said the policy was necessary to protect America's "essential security interests"."

"Forty-one American soldiers have been injured in northern Iraq in a suicide car bomb explosion outside a US army base, the army says. A spokesman for the 101st Airborne Division said the incident happened at a base in Tal Afar, west of Mosul. Soldiers guarding the base fired on a vehicle that had failed to stop, said spokesman Major Trey Cate. Meanwhile in Baghdad an explosion at a Sunni mosque reportedly left three people dead and two injured. The explosion occurred shortly after dawn at the Ahbab al-Mustafa mosque in the city's western Hurriyah district."

"Japan's cabinet has approved sending up to 1,000 non-combat troops to Iraq, its biggest deployment since World War II. In line with Japan's pacifist constitution, the troops will only be allowed to play a humanitarian role. But the plan is highly controversial, especially after two Japanese diplomats were killed in Tikrit last month. Critics point out that Japan's constitution bars Japan from using force to settle disputes, and that the troops could be drawn into conflict to defend themselves."

"Not long ago, Michael Lopercio, a 51-year-old restaurateur from Tempe, Arizona, decided that he was not happy with the quality of the news he was receiving about the war into which his son had been drawn. He also realised that if the conflict dragged on, so would the amount of time that his boy would have to remain in Iraq, where hundreds of young Americans have already died. So he packed his bags and set off to Baghdad to find out for himself what was happening, and to see if there was anything he could do about it."

Chancellor Gordon Brown admits that the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had cost the UK £5.5bn. More than £90m worth of missiles, bombs and ammunition was fired by British forces in the first 11 days of the Iraq war.

"Iraq's unseen environmental catastrophe and its health consequences. Mesopotamia is the land between two rivers and both of them are filthy. It feels a little impolite to say so, of such legendary and ancient veins of the lifeblood of the cradle of so much of our civilization. Rude or not, though, it’s true."

Debate on whether or not the slogan 'support our troops (bring them home)' is appropriate for the anti-war movement.

"US Secretary of State Colin Powell has called on Nato members to take on a greater role in post-war Iraq, saying stability in the country is critical. At present, Nato provides only low-level and indirect support to the Polish-led troops multinational force in central Iraq. Mr Powell's call was echoed by Nato chief George Robertson. "The Alliance must continue to help Nato countries who take on leadership roles in Iraq, and prepare itself to take on new roles and missions where necessary," Mr Robertson said in his opening of the two-day talks."

The second-worst case of denying access to anti-war voices was ABC in the United States, which allowed them a mere 7 per cent of its overall coverage. The worst case was the BBC, which gave just 2 per cent of its coverage to opposition views - views that represented those of the majority of the British people. A separate study by Cardiff University came to the same conclusion. The BBC, it said, had "displayed the most pro-war agenda of any [British] broadcaster".

Consider the first Newsnight broadcast after the greatest political demonstration in British history on 15 February. The studio discussion was confined to interviews with a Tory member of the House of Lords, a Tory MP, an Oxford don, an LSE professor, a commentator from the Times and the views of the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw. Not one marcher was invited to participate, not one representative of the two million who had filled London in protest. Instead, a political reporter, David Grossman, asked perversely: "What about the millions who didn't march? Was going to the DIY store or watching the football on Saturday a demonstration of support for the government?"

"Dr Mohammed Badie, the vice-president of Tikrit University says: "All the people here are fed up and angry, They want the Americans out of town ... They [the Americans] have to respect our feelings and traditions and customs, but we see the opposite. There is something here that is hidden from the American public. They call it 'Tha'ar' - revenge. That means that if anyone kills your friend, or your brother, you have to avenge it by killing an American soldier." "

"The bloodiest month since the United States led the invasion and occupation of Iraq has come to a deadly close after insurgents killed 14 people from five nations in a weekend of apparently carefully calculated attacks."

A US group, Bring Them Home Now, is made up of military families, veterans, those on active service, and reservists. A selection of letters posted on its website are printed here.

Saif, who used to work in the hotel I used to stay in, asked me to come and meet his neighbours. Their son Baqer was shot by US soldiers and survived, but with a 9mm bullet lodged in his head. The CPA promised to help with his treatment and medicines but has given the family nothing: not money, medicines, treatment nor assistance with traveling out of Iraq to hospital in Jordan or beyond.

"The Pentagon has announced plans to send about 3,000 additional US marines to Iraq. They will form part of next year's massive rotation of US forces in Iraq. The announcement comes amid continuing attacks on US-led coalition troops, but the Pentagon denies it is in response to a worsening security situation."

" "They hate Americans round here," said one Iraqi on-looker. "They've been doing many raids around here, so it's not surprising they were attacked." "

"The insurgents are a hotch-potch of ex-army officers, Baathists and Islamists, not al-Qa'ida, reports Phil Reeves from Baghdad"

"“When Saddam was here,” Doctor Faris half-joked, “we knew who to blame for everything. We just cursed Saddam for whatever went wrong. Now we don’t know who to blame – Bush, Blair, Bremer, the Governing Council, Aznar, the people who are fighting. This is our democracy. Nothing has changed but now we have a choice of people to blame.”". Another report from Iraq by Bristol activist Jo Wilding

"Here, Pilger talks to Socialist Worker's ANTHONY ARNOVE about why the U.S. went to war--and why its colonial occupation is in crisis.: "

"In an interview in the Scottish Sunday Herald in June, Ritter said: "Operation Rockingham [a unit set up by defence intelligence staff within the MoD in 1991] cherry-picked intelligence. It received hard data, but had a preordained outcome in mind. It only put forward a small percentage of the facts when most were ambiguous or noted no WMD... It became part of an effort to maintain a public mindset that Iraq was not in compliance with the inspections. They had to sustain the allegation that Iraq had WMD [when] Unscom was showing the opposite." "

"While most soldiers on leave return refreshed, some soldiers on leave worry about what to expect when they head back to Iraq."

"From approximately 10am yesterday, Governing Council Ministry security guards and Iraqi police protested outside the central Baghdad security bureau in Sadoon Street over the withholding of their wages. The angry crowd, numbering around 250, besieged three superiors inside, and declared them all corrupt former high ranking Baathists, reinstalled by the CPA in their old positions of power and authority. "

"United States troops have been shelling targets near Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit as they step up the pressure against insurgents in Iraq. American soldiers backed by armoured vehicles and helicopters also raided a Baghdad neighbourhood overnight. US commanders are adopting what they call a "more aggressive" approach in response to mounting losses. "

"Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said his country will not be deterred by a bomb in Iraq which claimed the lives of 18 Italians. It remained committed, he said, to helping Iraq rebuild and form a government in "security and freedom". "

"Japan has said it will postpone sending troops to join the US-led coalition in Iraq until next year because of the worsening security situation. Tokyo had hoped to deploy the first troops before the end of the year, but now says conditions are too unstable. The move came after at least 27 people died in a suicide bomb attack on the Italian police headquarters in the southern town of Nasiriya."

"Recent reports are now indicating that perhaps 55,000 civilians have lost their lives in Iraq since the US invasion in March 2003. Compared to the almost 400 "Coalition" servicemen who won't be returning home, the cost to the Iraqi people has been enormous. Could life have been any more dangerous under Saddam's dictatorship?"

"The US armed forces launched their first air raid against post-war Iraq last week, when F-16 fighter-bombers dropped 500-pound bombs on Tikrit. The new campaign against Iraq's resistance fighters, dubbed Operation Ivy Cyclone, recalls President Lyndon Johnson's Operation Rolling Thunder over Vietnam in 1965. That campaign of bombing Vietnam would eventually see Indochina devastated by 7 million tons of aerial explosives."

"US soldier Jessica Lynch, who was taken prisoner in the Iraqi conflict, has praised her rescuers as the true heroes of her story. In her first TV interview, broadcast on Tuesday, she criticised the Pentagon's handling of her rescue as propaganda. "They used me as a way to symbolise all this stuff, It's wrong," she said."

"The head of Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council has called for a provisional government to be installed as soon as possible. Iraq's US administrator, Paul Bremer, has held talks at the White House after arriving on a hastily-arranged visit. The BBC Washington correspondent says the fact that Mr Bremer travelled to the White House at short notice suggests urgent decisions are being taken."

"The people of Iraq may have poorer health for generations as a result of the war, according to a report. Medical charity Medact says this year's conflict disrupted immunisation programmes and destroyed water systems, increasing levels of disease. Environmental degradation and smoke from oil fires are adding to the health problems of Iraqis, it reports. Continuing insecurity in Iraq, along with the breakdown of public health services, are exacerbating the problem. "

"Kate Holcombe of West Road is accused of pulling down and damaging the main gate at the Fairford Air Force Base during an Iraq War protest on February 23 this year. The 43-year-old mother and two other defendants, are accused of causing thousands of pounds worth of damage to the main gate of the air base in the course of a large demonstration against the Iraq war. "

"Three people face charges of criminal damage in Gloucester Crown Court after the main gate of USAF Fairford was pulled open with ropes by a crowd of anti-war protesters last February. They are charged with £8000 of damage each! This is serious, they need lots of support."

"This Wednesday, three anti-war activists are on trial for their part in a protest at Fairford in Febuary. They are charged with causing 8,300 pounds worth of damage to the main gate. The court has set aside 2-3 days for the trial. Please come along and support if you can: Gloucester Crown Court, 10am, Wednesday 12 November "

"Los Angeles: The Los Angeles Times has ordered its journalists to stop describing anti-American forces in Iraq as resistance fighters, saying the term romanticises them and evokes World War II-era heroism. An email circulated this week asked staff to instead use the terms insurgents or guerillas. "

"You need to take a military escort to reach Baghdad airport these days. Yes, things are getting better in Iraq, according to President Bush - remember that each hour that goes by - but the guerrillas are getting so close to the runways that the Americans have chopped down every tree, every palm bush, every scrap of undergrowth on the way. Rocket-propelled grenades have killed so many GIs on this stretch of highway that the US army - like the Israelis in southern Lebanon in the mid-80s - have erased nature. You travel to Baghdad airport through a wasteland. Heathrow it isn't."

"Two US senators have said more troops should be sent to Iraq after the worst day of US casualties in six months. Democrat Joe Biden said that this might mean giving reluctant allies more say in the reconstruction of Iraq. "We have to be prepared to go back to our European friends and say 'We need more help, we are willing to give you more say'," he told CBS television. At least 15 soldiers were killed and 21 wounded when a Chinook helicopter was downed near Falluja on Sunday."

"A family who lost 10 relatives during a wartime attack on Basra are to sue the government in a case that could see the Ministry of Defence facing a civil claim for unlawful killing. Members of three generations of the Hamoodi family were killed on April 5 when coalition forces accidentally bombed their home in southern Iraq."

"A powerful committee of the US Senate has given the CIA 48 hours to supply files on intelligence it gathered on Iraq prior to the outbreak of war. US media say the report the Senate Intelligence Committee plans to publish is likely to be strongly critical of the CIA and its Director, George Tenet. Correspondents say the attack on the CIA may be rooted in domestic politics, as a poll shows a decrease in American popular support for the war."

There are weapons of mass destruction all over Iraq and they were used this year. Iraqi children continue to find them every day. They have ruined the lives of just under 300,000 people during the last decade - and numbers will increase. The reason is simple. Two hundred tonnes of radioactive material were fired by invading US forces into buildings, homes, streets and gardens all over Baghdad. "

A brief report and a couple of photos from the Swindon Stop the War Coalition public meeting with George Galloway

"Expelled Labour MP George Galloway has revealed he will challenge the party in every European seat in England and Wales next year. The member for Glasgow Kelvin also told BBC Scotland that he will take the party to court over his expulsion. However, Mr Galloway has confirmed he will not be resigning his own seat to create an early by-election. The rebel MP said he intends to build a new political movement based on the anti-war coalition to stand against Labour in every European seat next June."

"An e-mail from the Labour Party Communications Unit which explains why George Galloway was expelled from the party. Examine, dissect and make of it what you will… Personally I think it's a good thing for Galloway and a bad thing for the Labour party, and they should be expelling Blair for selling out to right-wing extremists but that's probably a different issue."

Another of Latuff's cartoons, plus an article about the working conditions for US soldiers both in Iraq and Vietnam.

"George Galloway will decide in the next few days whether or not to resign and force a by-election following his expulsion from the Labour Party. He was speaking as he returned to his Glasgow Kelvin constituency for the first time since he was thrown out of the party on Thursday. Mr Galloway is due to discuss what action to take with a group of his local supporters on Saturday afternoon. "

"Labour in Scotland will be damaged by the expulsion of Glasgow Kelvin MP George Galloway, according to the chairman of his constituency party. Mark Craig claimed that up to 60 Labour members could quit the local party after the controversial MP was expelled for his comments on the war in Iraq. Mr Craig said he was "disgusted" by the decision and he claimed that Labour would be damaged by its treatment of Mr Galloway, who at the last general election had a majority of 7,260. "

"The international community is to disclose on Friday how much money it will donate towards the reconstruction of Iraq. The World Bank has said $36bn is needed to rebuild the war-torn country, but pledges announced on the final day of the donors' conference in Madrid are expected to fall far short of that. BBC News Online's world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds says Iraqi debt is one big issue which is not on the formal agenda but which will certainly be on the delegates' minds. Saddam Hussein ran up foreign debts of between $95bn and $150bn, according to figures compiled by Jubilee Iraq, a London-based network of Iraqi exiles and sympathisers who are calling for the debt to be written off. "

"George Galloway has been expelled from the Labour Party in the wake of his outspoken comments on the Iraq war. The MP for Glasgow Kelvin immediately denounced the decision as "politically motivated" and he pledged Labour would rue the day it decided to throw him out. He said he would "certainly" run as an independent at the next election, adding he might quit and run against Labour in a by-election."

"Suspended MP George Galloway is up before a Labour Party disciplinary hearing on Wednesday over his controversial comments about the Iraq war. Mr Galloway, who was suspended from the party in May, faces five charges over a television interview in which he accused Tony Blair and George Bush of acting "like wolves" in invading Iraq. The Glasgow Kelvin MP also urged British soldiers not to obey "illegal orders"."

"Mr Cook, who quit the cabinet on the eve of war, told BBC One's Breakfast with Frost: "We know Saddam was not a threat, we know there were no weapons of mass destruction. We also know tragically we were not prepared to know what to do next when we went in." But he told the programme that an inquiry in May "would have been very useful... because then we could possibly have spared the tragedy of David Kelly's suicide and we wouldn't have needed the Hutton Inquiry. "But I am not sure now a judicial inquiry would tell us any more than we already know." "

"Dodgy unions, ex-Baathist fascist bosses, spies monitoring the new ministries in Iraq and machine gun armed picket lines."

"Suicides among United States servicemen in Iraq are running at up to three times the usual rate, the US Army has revealed. Since the start of the war 11 have been confirmed and a dozen more deaths are thought to be suicides. If all are confirmed it would mean an annual rate of 34 per 100,000 servicemen. Most have happened after May 1, when President George Bush declared that "major combat operations" were over. Since then troops have had to cope with increasing paramilitary attacks."

"Former boxer Chris Eubank was arrested during a one-man protest against the military presence in Iraq on Tuesday. The flamboyant showman backed his huge truck - which bore the slogan "Tony Blair: Military occupation causes terrorism" - outside Downing Street and sounded his horn for about a minute."

"US soldiers driving bulldozers, with jazz blaring from loudspeakers, have uprooted ancient groves of date palms as well as orange and lemon trees in central Iraq as part of a new policy of collective punishment of farmers who do not give information about guerrillas attacking US troops."

"PHONY LETTERS FROM OUR SOLDIERS IN IRAQ?: This is one of the most disgusting things I've seen in a while. I was tipped off by the folks at American Politics Journal about the appalling possibility that someone wrote a letter about how wonderful things are in Iraq, near Kirkuk, and signed several soldiers' names to the letter without them approving it, or their knowledge."

"Every day, he tries to kill American soldiers. Sometimes, from a hideout in the rattling reeds and bulrushes of the fertile Euphrates valley, 28-year-old Mohammed and a small group of fellow guerrilla fighters launch rocket-propelled grenades at passing American vehicles. Other days, they hide in the shadowy grid of dusty date-palm forests, firing mortars at improvised U.S. checkpoints. "

Results of votes and debates in parliament about Iraq, from the Public Whip

"From the start, problems small and large plagued the Pentagon's media project in Iraq. The Iraqi Media Network (IMN), as it is known, is an American-run outfit contracted by the Pentagon to put out news after Saddam Hussein's fall. Its mission was twofold: to be both a PBS-style broadcaster and a means for the occupying authorities to communicate with Iraqis. But getting going wasn't easy. There were bombed-out facilities to reconstruct, transmitters to build, and a staff to hire and rehire when many left for better wages as interpreters or translators. Tapes didn't match with recording machines; recording machines didn't match with broadcasting equipment. There were power outages and battery shortages, and no money to buy new programming. "We were even using the videotape collection of [Hussein's sons] Uday and Qusay," says Don North, a senior TV adviser to the IMN. "

On the 27th September, up to 100 thousand people marched from Hyde Park to a rally in traflagar square, to demand the end of the US and UK occupation of iraq. The rally was addressed by various speakers including Tony Benn, George Galloway, and an 11-year old schoolgirl. One young person was arrested for chalking a symbol onto one of the walls but was soon released without charge.

A poem by Tony Hillier after the Hutton Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly.

"Various Fairford defendants appeared in Gloucester Crown Court yesterday, for 'plea and directions' hearings. The charges are mainly of conspiracy and/or criminal damage, and many of the defendants spent time in prison on remand. All of these cases were transferred to Bristol Crown Court; the judge said that Gloucester wouldn't be able to cope with such long trials, since it's just a small crown court with only a few judges..."

"This event was held from 6.30-8pm, Parliament Square, opposite the Houses of Parliament. It was an event to mark six months since the invasion of Iraq, to remember all those killed as a result - Iraqi civilians and soldiers, British and American soldiers, journalists and civilian/NGO staff - and to tell the stories of a tiny fraction of these individuals. It called for the US/UK to be held responsible for their criminal invasion and demand an end to the US/UK military occupation."

"The foreign minister of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council has assumed Iraq's vacant seat at a meeting of the Arab League for the first time. Hoshyar Zebari joined a foreign ministerial conference in Cairo after Arab states decided to permit the council to represent Iraq following a lengthy debate. The move is a critical step towards the Governing Council attaining official recognition in the Arab world. Arab governments have not formally recognised the Governing Council for fear of giving legitimacy to the American occupation of Iraq. Arab League officials said the admittance would be temporary pending the formation of a legitimate Iraqi Government within a year. Iraq's seat at the 22-member Arab League has remained empty since Saddam Hussein was ousted by the US-led coalition in April."

"Al-Qaida had nothing to do with the bomb blast in the Iraqi city of Najaf last month, according to a message attributed to a spokesman for Usama Bin Ladin's organisation. ... The spokesman, Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Najdi, claimed to be a member of al-Qaida and said the organisation was not involved in car bombings which killed prominent Shia cleric Ayat Allah Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim and 82 others."

Former environment minister Michael Meacher speaks out in the Guardian comment column about 9-11 and the project for the new american century

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration may have to cut U.S. troops in Iraq by more than half to keep enough forces to face other threats, a congressional agency said on Tuesday in a report that fuelled calls for more international help for peacekeeping in Iraq."

"Tens of thousands of Iraqi Shias marched through Baghdad in a funeral procession for slain Ayat Allah Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim, vowing to take revenge. ... Al-Hakim’s private militia, the Badr Brigades, reasserted their presence. “The Americans cannot give us security. It is the Iraqis who must do this and the Badr Brigades are Iraqi. This is their right,” said Brigade leader Sayyid Ali."

"Trying to get into the Iraqi Assistance Centre, formerly the Ba’ath Conference Palace, a sleek, polished floored, cold-aired set of chambers, is like passing into another country. Four borders must be crossed; an ID must be shown at each of the four stages of entry. The preferred is a passport, which rules out most of the Iraqi population as theirs are invalid now and all contain the mandatory picture of the smiling death-sated dictator himself. All pictures of Saddam are illegal now under CPA de-Ba’athification regulations. Most Iraqis are stopped, abrupt, at the first checkpoint and barked at to retreat; they need a special letter, special permission, a press pass, or a white face with a Western passport to smile them through."

"Focus on intimate details of Kelly case is obscuring the bigger picture of Blair's war guilt, say Greens. As Tony Blair faces questioning today by the Hutton inquiry, the Green Party has urged the media and the public not to lose sight of the bigger picture - that the attack on Iraq was illegal in both conception and execution."

"ANTI-WAR protesters are to run coaches to London for a demonstration against the Anglo-American occupation of Iraq. The Swindon Stop The War Coalition is joining the march from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square on September 27."

"THE widow of a soldier killed in Iraq claimed yesterday that his life had been "expendable". As Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon today faces the Hutton inquiry, Samantha Roberts, 32, claimed her husband would still be alive if he had been given the correct equipment and training."

"Did the Pentagon order the assassination of a journalist in order to cover up secret mass burials of dead U.S. soldiers and U.S.- contracted mercenaries in the deserts around Baghdad? What is really behind the killing of my colleague and friend, the Palestinian Reuters cameraman, Mazen Dana, in Bagdad?"

"SIXTY-NINE PERCENT of Americans polled say they are very concerned (40 percent) or somewhat concerned (29 percent) that the United States will be bogged down for many years in Iraq without making much progress in achieving its goals. Just 18 percent say they’re confident that a stable, democratic form of government can take shape in Iraq over the long term; 37 percent are somewhat confident. Just 13 percent say U.S. efforts to establish security and rebuild Iraq have gone very well since May 1, when combat officially ended; 39 percent say somewhat well."

"Having spent a year in Iraq, I remain continuously startled by the things I see and feel here. Perhaps I shouldn't still be surprised by the resilience of these people. Perhaps I shouldn't still wonder at their ability to absorb incredible amounts of suffering and go on with their lives. Or marvel at their determination, in the midst of suffering, to maintain a spirit of hospitality and generosity - with strangers and within their common lives - that is unsurpassed in any of my travels. But I am surprised. I remain in a state of perpetual amazement."

"In one of the deadliest attacks ever directed at the United Nations, a car bomb exploded outside the UN headquarters in Baghdad yesterday killing 20. We talk to Irish peace activist Michael Birmingam who was inside the complex at the time of the blast. [Includes transcript]"

"US authorities in Iraq were warned last week that a large-scale terrorist attack on a 'soft' target in Baghdad was being planned. The warning emerged as rescue teams searched the wreckage of the bombed UN headquarters where at least 20 people, including the senior UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, died in yesterday's suicide truck bombing."

"Blaming corporations for fuelling former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons program, victims of the first Gulf War filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking compensation for illnesses affecting more than 100,000 soldiers."

"A searing report on US soldier war crimes." Caoimhe Butterly is an Irish human rights activist in Baghdad with Voices In the Wilderness.

"Journalists who were with a Reuters news cameraman shot dead by US troops while filming outside a Baghdad prison yesterday accused the soldiers of behaving in a "crazy" and negligent fashion. They claimed the Americans had spotted the Reuters crew outside the jail half an hour before Mazen Dana was killed and must have realised he was not a guerrilla carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher."

"The Pentagon has confirmed that US troops have shot and killed a cameraman working for Reuters news agency in Iraq. The shooting happened at Abu Ghraib prison, west of Baghdad, where six Iraqis were killed in a mortar attack late on Saturday. The US military said that soldiers had mistaken Mazen Dana's camera for a rocket propelled grenade launcher. The 43-year-old Palestinian was described by Reuters as one of its finest cameramen."

"The Iraqis have not attacked any American civilians, inside Iraq or elsewhere; they have only targeted American troops. Nor are they not attacking just any American troops. They are attacking only those who have invaded and occupied their country. Why then does the general call the Iraqi guerrillas terrorists, criminals and hired assassins? This is another semantic ploy the Americans have borrowed from the Israelis; Palestinians are terrorists even when they attack Israeli tanks and armour, even when their only weapons are stones. It is all the more stunning, after this dissimulation, when General Sanchez offers his theory of "a terrorist magnet": the presence of American troops inside Iraq is the cause of "terrorist activity"."

"According to a stunning report posted by a retired Navy Lt Commander and 28-year veteran of the Defense Department (DoD), the Bush administration's assurance about finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was based on a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) plan to plant" WMDs inside the country. Nelda Rogers, the Pentagon whistleblower, claims the plan failed when the secret mission was mistakenly taken out by "friendly fire", the Environmentalists Against War report."

"BAGHDAD - The Kawaz family had just dropped off Grandmother and were heading home in their small white car, well in advance of the city's 11 p.m. curfew. No one saw that U.S. soldiers had set up a checkpoint at the intersection ahead. As their car rolled toward the checkpoint, a hail of bullets from U.S. soldiers ripped through their vehicle, killing Adel Kawaz, 44, and three of his children, ages 18, 16 and 8. His wife, Anwaar, survived, as did the couple's 13-year-old daughter."

"WASHINGTON - The U.S. bill for rebuilding Iraq and maintaining security there is widely expected to far exceed the war's price tag, and some private analysts estimate it could reach as high as $600 billion."

"Susan Schuman is angry. Her GI son is serving in the Iraqi town of Samarra, at the heart of the 'Sunni triangle', where American troops are killed with grim regularity. Breaking the traditional silence of military families during time of war, Schuman knows what she wants - and who she blames for the danger to her son, Justin. 'I want them to bring our troops home. I am appalled at Bush's policies. He has got us into a terrible mess,' she said. Schuman may just be the tip of an iceberg. She lives in Shelburne Falls, a small town in Massachusetts, and says all her neighbours support her view. 'I don't know anyone around here who disagrees with me,' she said."

"A 78-year-old grandmother told a court yesterday that she was prepared to go to prison for refusing to pay her taxes in protest against the Iraq war. Brenda Broughton, a former English teacher, has been given 28 days by a judge at Oxford County Court to pay £310.96 she has withheld from the Inland Revenue, and £50 costs. Mrs Broughton, from Oxford, said it was unlikely she would be jailed because the Inland Revenue would most likely take the tax, which was due on income from investments, from her bank account. She said: "I won't pay. I'll never pay, that's my stance. It's very unlikely I will go to jail as it's a civil, not a criminal matter. But others have done in the past, and I would if I have to." "

"Arab League members will not recognise Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council and instead will wait until post-Saddam Hussein Iraq is led by an elected government, league Secretary-General Amr Moussa said on Tuesday. "The Council is a start but it should pave the way for a legitimate government that can be recognised," Moussa said after a committee of league foreign ministers met to forge a unified stance on how to deal with Iraq after Saddam."

"American jets killed Iraqi troops with firebombs – similar to the controversial napalm used in the Vietnam War – in March and April as Marines battled toward Baghdad. Marine Corps fighter pilots and commanders who have returned from the war zone have confirmed dropping dozens of incendiary bombs near bridges over the Saddam Canal and the Tigris River. The explosions created massive fireballs."

"Members of the Swindon Stop the War Coalition recently attended one of Michael Wills' surgeries in Stratton St Margaret. Michael Wills, MP for Swindon North, was totally in favour of war with Iraq."

"Brenda Boughton, an elderly retired teacher, will attend Oxford County Court on Tuesday 5 August (3pm) over her refusal to pay taxes that contribute to the war in Iraq. She has paid the military part of her taxes to an aid agency for war and famine relief. ... Joe Jenkins, a journalist in Hereford, also faces court action. He will be at Hereford County Court on Monday 4 August. Joe attempted to pay his tax to the NHS but was refuse by Inland Revenue."

"BAGHDAD (AFP) - At the checkpoint, the Americans found a handgun, ordered the 56-year-old man out of his car and proceeded to bash his head with a rifle butt. Rahim Nasser Mohammed points to his right temple, the side of his mouth and lifts his shirt, to show the spots where the soldier cudgeled him again and again nearly a month ago. His story -- that of a government employee pulled over in his car by the US army -- seems one in a thousand as reports mount of beatings and sometimes deaths of Iraqi civilians at the hands of US soldiers."

"Top lawyers from Greece filed a lawsuit with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague on Monday against senior UK officials. They want to indict Prime Minister Tony Blair and other senior members of the UK government and military for allegedly breaching international law by attacking Iraq."

"The violent death of Dr. David Kelly on July 17 has become the focus of a major crisis of the entire state apparatus in Britain. Kelly was the microbiologist employed by the Ministry of Defence who became a whistleblower, telling the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and others of his concerns over the misuse of intelligence material by the Labour government of Prime Minister Tony Blair as part of its efforts to drum up support for war against Iraq."

Spot the difference - coverage of the Jessica Lynch story by Fox News (USA) and BBC

"The FBI is investigating the origin of forged documents indicating that Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger, and one candidate for the forgeries is an Iraqi opposition group, U.S. officials said. The documents, obtained first by Italy's intelligence service, ended up fooling the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies into believing Baghdad was trying to buy uranium ore from the African nation, U.S. officials say."

"Police searching for the weapons expert named as the possible source for a BBC story on Iraq say they have discovered a man's body. Government adviser David Kelly, 59, went missing from his home in Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, at about 1500 BST on Thursday. Earlier this week, Dr Kelly denied being the BBC's main source for a story claiming Downing Street had "sexed up" a dossier about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction."

"It is welcome that following Michael Wills' resignation from the government he will be campaigning against the Common Agricultural Policy and for Trade Justice. However, we shouldn't forget that Michael Wills was an enthusiastic supporter of war on Iraq, perhaps because he didn't notice that Tony Blair's pants were on fire?"

"So here's the picture we're left with: When faced with using explosive but highly questionable charges in vital presentations leading up to a possible preemptive war, both Powell and Tenet gave the information they were handed a thorough going over before ultimately rejecting it. But not the commander in chief. Apparently, he just took whatever he was handed, and happily offered it up to the world. He was, therefore, little more than the guy in the presidential suit, mindlessly speaking the words that others had debated and polished and twisted and finally agreed he would say. And then when the uranium hit the fan, our stand-up-guy president decided that the buck actually stops with George Tenet."

"TomPaine.com's Steven Rosenfeld interviewed Raymond McGovern, about the Veterans Intelligence Professionals for Sanity group, its analysis of the vice president's role in fabricating a case for war, and what prompted McGovern -- a career CIA officer who conducted the daily briefings of the top cabinet officers in the Reagan administration including then-Vice-President George Herbert Walker Bush -- to speak out against the case for war in Iraq."

"Baghdad is on a knife-edge. Three in four of its residents say the city is now more dangerous than when Saddam Hussein was in power. Two in three fear being attacked in the street. Most think we went to war to grab Iraq’s oil. " View the survey online here: http://www.channel4.com/news/2003/07/week_3/images...

"American soldiers who had been expecting to be sent home from Iraq soon have been told they will remain in the Gulf indefinitely. The army announced that much of the Third Infantry Division is to stay in place due to ongoing attacks against coalition forces. Soldiers - and their families - reacted with dismay to the news that they would not be home in September as they had hoped."

"As calls mount for a full-scale investigationw into the Bush administration's manipulation of intelligence on Iraq's nonexistent nuclear and chemical weapons program, let's hope that the other casus belli on which the administration based its war -- the alleged link between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein -- also gets the scrutiny it deserves."

"As the U.S. occupation of Iraq extends with no end in sight, and the death toll for both U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians continues to mount, more voices of dissent from military personnel and families are surfacing every day. One of the most poignant so far comes from a young Marine who gave an interview with Pacifica Radio's Peacewatch program the night before he was deployed to Iraq. He discussed his strong commitment to peace, and said the Bush administration was violating constitutional principles and misleading the country into an unjust war."

"I have read it twenty times and I still don't believe it. The latest PIPA Knowledge Networks poll shows that a third of the American public believes US forces have actually found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. A further 22 per cent think Iraqi troops used banned chemical or biological weapons against US soldiers in Iraq. Poll analysts, who go to great pains to appear to respect the subjects of their research, have come up with an interesting name for this surreal phenomenon. They call it 'cognitive dissonance'. When pressed to explain the meaning of this term in plain English, they admit - with a sense of humble discomfort- that it describes the lack of agreement between reality and a person's understanding of it. In other words, it describes one's inability, or even downright unwillingness, to grasp the truth."

"Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has defended Britain's decision to include in its first Iraqi dossier claims that Saddam Hussein tried to get uranium from Africa."

"An Iraqi ambush in which 11 American soldiers died and six, including Private Jessica Lynch, were captured occurred because of mistakes and malfunctions, a report from the US army has concluded. The report, published on Thursday, says that the soldiers' trouble began when their fatigued unit commander took a wrong turn on a road near the city of Nasariyah, that led them into an area still under Iraqi control. However, the situation facing the 507th Maintenance Company troops was made even worse by malfunctioning equipment, including weapons that jammed and vehicles that broke down, the report says."

"The man who led the coalition war in Iraq has said US forces may have to remain in the country for another two to four years. General Tommy Franks told Congress in Washington that the administration would probably not be in a position to reduce its troop strength from the present level of about 150,000 for some time. And he warned that there would be no quick end to the kind of low-intensity fighting that has claimed 65 US lives since the end of major combat."

"Keeping track of the "real reason" for the invasion of Iraq can be quite a chore these days. The Bush administration doggedly maintains that its claims about weapons of mass destruction were legitimate. Yet a litany of apologists has scrambled for other explanations. As it became evident that Saddam's deadly arsenal was unlikely to ever materialize, these defenders have argued that the invasion of Iraq wasn't about the danger of Saddam's imminent attack after all."

"The UK and US had not known whether Saddam Hussein's commanders would be able to deploy weapons of mass destruction against coalition troops, the Ministry of Defence has said. The two countries had only limited intelligence about Iraqi forces in the run up to the conflict, the MoD said in its first official assessment of the Iraq campaign."

"Greenpeace took journalists to a metal container giving off levels of radiation 10,000 times above normal, found in the ramshackle home of a laborer and his family. Environmentalists presented US forces in Iraq with what they said was a looted radioactive canister on Tuesday and slammed the occupiers for leaving more radioactive material at large."

A round-up of the recent events and issues around the dossiers produced by the Blair government to justify war on Iraq, plus links to related stories.

"The unprecedented row between the Government and the BBC took a dramatic twist last night when Andrew Gilligan, the reporter at the centre of claims that Number 10 deliberately 'sexed up' evidence against Saddam Hussein, announced he was ready to sue a serving Minister. Gilligan, the defence correspondent for Radio 4's Today programme, said that he would take legal action against Phil Woolas, the Deputy Leader of the House, unless he received a full apology for allegations made against him."

"The girl is still crying - her name is Sabrina, she is 13 years old. She is barefoot and wears a ragged dress. She has dark eyes and long, brown hair. She tells me how she saw her 11-year-old brother, Muhannad, had run up to an American military convoy trying to sell something to the soldiers, but was run over as he crossed the road. The Americans did not stop."

Iraqi exile Tahrir Swift, a member of Arab Media Watch's executive committee, speaks about her first trip to her native Baghdad in 24 years after the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime.

"Toby and Phil, the 'B-52 Two', were granted bail Friday the 20th and finally have their freedom! Charged with conspiracy to cause criminal damage when they tried to disarm a B52 warplane at RAF Fairford in March 2003, they pleaded not guilty as they acted lawfully to uphold international law. The Gloucester Crown Court will make a judgement on the legality of the war on 19 September."

"The reported American attack on a convoy thought to be carrying Saddam Hussein and/or his sons last week would have been legal only if there was substantial evidence indicating their presence, according to Amnesty International."

"Editor's Note: The following remarks were delivered on the U.S. Senate floor on June 24, 2003. ..... We have heard a lot about revisionist history from the White House of late in answer to those who question whether there was a real threat from Iraq. But, it is the President who appears to me to be intent on revising history. There is an abundance of clear and unmistakable evidence that the administration sought to portray Iraq as a direct and deadly threat to the American people. But there is a great difference between the hand-picked intelligence that was presented by the administration to Congress and the American people when compared against what we have actually discovered in Iraq. This Congress and the people who sent us here are entitled to an explanation from the administration." Robert C. Byrd is a Democratic Senator from West Virginia.

"The war in Iraq is different in so many ways from the war waged by the United States in Vietnam that we wonder why, like the telltale heart beating behind the murderer's wall in Edgar Allan Poe's story, the drumbeat of Vietnam can still be heard." Howard Zinn is an historian and author of A People's History of the United States.

"Politics is full of ironies. On the White House Web site, George W. Bush's speech from Oct. 7, 2002 — in which he made the case for war with Iraq — bears the headline "Denial and Deception." Indeed. There is no longer any serious doubt that Bush administration officials deceived us into war. The key question now is why so many influential people are in denial, unwilling to admit the obvious."

"If media companies want to boost ratings and credibility at the same time, they should follow the lead of New York Times columnists Paul Krugman and Nicholas D. Kristof and make weapons of mass destruction the top story of the summer. Not only have President Bush and his administration exaggerated the evidence that Iraq had WMD, but now that news of their lies has leaked out, the pro-war camp is spinning like mad. The odds of exposing a major cover-up are looking very good indeed."

"NEW YORK - The longer the United States and Britain occupy Iraq without finding weapons of mass destruction, the more conceivable it is that Baghdad destroyed them after the first Gulf War in 1991, chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said on Monday. Blix, to retire next week after heading inspections before the U.S.-led war on Iraq began in March, also spoke critically at a think tank meeting of one of Washington's key arguments for overthrowing Iraq President Saddam Hussein. "It is sort of fascinating that you can have 100 percent certainty about weapons of mass destruction and zero certainty of about where they are," Blix said at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York."

"Soldiers injured in the invasion of Iraq are having to pay for expensive private medical treatment to avoid long delays on NHS waiting lists. Government policy stipulates that service personnel should get no better access to medical care than civilians unless for urgent military operational reasons. This, combined with shortages in the Ministry of Defence's medical staff, means that many are taking recourse to private health care. In the latest issue of the RAF's newspaper, a sergeant writes: "It took two months [from] my referral to the NHS to get a date for consultation that is a further four months away. I will then have to wait approximately another six months to receive an operation and together with recuperation I will have been (medically) downgraded for close to 18 months."

"In a nationally televised address last October in which he sought to rally congressional support for a resolution authorizing war against Iraq, President Bush declared that the government of Saddam Hussein posed an immediate threat to the United States by outlining what he said was evidence pointing to its ongoing ties with al Qaeda. A still-classified national intelligence report circulating within the Bush administration at the time, however, portrayed a far less clear picture about the link between Iraq and al Qaeda than the one presented by the president, according to U.S. intelligence analysts and congressional sources who have read the report."

"A high-ranking American official who investigated claims for the CIA that Iraq was seeking uranium to restart its nuclear programme last night accused Britain and the US of deliberately ignoring his findings to make the case for war against Saddam Hussein."

"Mr Cook said of the first dossier: "I was taken aback at how thin the dossier was. There was a striking absence of any recent and alarming firm intelligence. The great majority was derivative. The plain fact is that a lot of the intelligence in the dossier turned out to be wrong. Stripped down, there was very little in that document that presented new alarming evidence of an imminent threat.""

"WASHINGTON — Almost a year before President Bush alleged in his State of the Union address that Iraq tried to buy uranium ore in Africa — seeming proof of an Iraqi effort to build a nuclear bomb — the CIA gave the White House information that raised doubts about the claim."

"Tony Blair faces a fresh crisis over Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, as evidence emerges that two vehicles that he has repeatedly claimed to be Iraqi mobile biological warfare production units are nothing of the sort."

"President George W. Bush has got a very serious problem. Before asking Congress for a Joint Resolution authorizing the use of American military forces in Iraq, he made a number of unequivocal statements about the reason the United States needed to pursue the most radical actions any nation can undertake - acts of war against another nation. Now it is clear that many of his statements appear to be false. In the past, Bush's White House has been very good at sweeping ugly issues like this under the carpet, and out of sight. But it is not clear that they will be able to make the question of what happened to Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) go away - unless, perhaps, they start another war."

" The U.S. Defense Department continues to beef up wireless communications systems in Baghdad and has awarded a $15.8 million contract to the federal markets division of Motorola Inc. for a radio system in the Iraqi capital for the Baghdad Police Force."

By John Pilger. "SUCH a high crime does not, and will not, melt away; the facts cannot be changed. Tony Blair took Britain to war against Iraq illegally. He mounted an unprovoked attack on a country that offered no threat, and he helped cause the deaths of thousands of innocent people. The judges at the Nuremberg Tribunal following world war two, who inspired much of international law, called this "the gravest of all war crimes"."

"Fresh evidence emerged last night that Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, was so disturbed about questionable American intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction that he assembled a secret team to review the information he was given before he made a crucial speech to the UN security council on February 5."

"The failure of U.S. and British forces in Iraq to find evidence of weapons of mass destruction has sparked controversy on both sides of the Atlantic and in the wider international community. Two contending explanations have been offered for why the Bush administration made apparently questionable claims about weapons of mass destruction. The first alleges an intelligence failure. The best analysts in the CIA simply had no foolproof way of discerning what Saddam had. They gave the administration a wide-ranging set of estimates, from benign to worst-case, and, given the way bureaucracies behave, the president's advisors adopted the worse case scenario. The second claim, more odious in form and substance, is that the administration inflated and manipulated uncertain data, possibly even requesting that material sent to it be redone to fit preconceived notions. The Bush administration has gone to great pains to reassert that it stands by its previous pronouncements that prohibited weapons will be located in due time."

"The Bush administration focused on alleged weapons of mass destruction as the primary justification for toppling Saddam Hussein by force because it was politically convenient, a top-level official at the Pentagon has acknowledged.

This article is available in full to Independent Portfolio subscribers. Access it through BT click&buy."

"PRESIDENT Bush may have declared the war in Iraq over but protests continue at the US airbase in Fairford. Long-standing opponents of the base, Faringdon Peace Group, staged a sponsored walk to Fairford carrying white cardboard doves. On arrival they hung the doves on the fence around the base and handed in a letter of protest addressed to the base commander."

"MEMORANDUM FOR: The President
FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
SUBJECT: Intelligence Fiasco
We write to express deep concern over the growing mistrust and cynicism with which many, including veteran intelligence professionals inside and outside our movement, regard the intelligence cited by you and your chief advisers to justify the war against Iraq. The controversy over intelligence on Iraq has deep roots, going back a decade. It came to a head over recent months as intelligence was said to be playing a key role in support of your administration’s decision to make war on Iraq. And the controversy has now become acute, since you have been backed into the untenable position of assuming the former role of Saddam Hussein in refusing to cooperate with UN inspectors."

"Included is the Company name, Award amount based on maximum cap figure, Agency awarding the contract, date of the Request for Proposal, the Award date and the Nature of the work to be undertaken. If any pre-planning was known, its indicated. References are available at bpost."

Remember all those pictures we saw, of the statue of Saddam being pulled down and the Iraqi people cheering? Here's the big picture, taken from the Palestine Hotel, showing what a stage-managed media show it was.

"ANTI-WAR protesters draped a banner over a major road into Swindon at the weekend. Members of the Swindon Stop The War Coalition posted the flag above the southbound carriageway of the A419 at a bridge near Cricklade. The banner read "Say No to Bush and Blair's War on Iraq". And they set up a peace camp on a grass verge next to the bridge for four hours on Saturday afternoon before being moved on by Gloucestershire Police."

MARCH 28: HUNDREDS of Wiltshire peace protesters have taken part in demonstrations against the war in Iraq. Members of anti war coalition groups and schoolchildren were just some of the people voicing their concerns about the conflict. Protesters have been incensed by the bombing tactics used by British and American troops and have been parading banners with anti war slogans.

"Esso and Bush (a former oil man) are driven by oil. The US - which is home to only 5% of the world's population - accounts for 25% of global oil consumption, but has only 3% of the proven oil reserves. Iraq is sitting on the world's second largest reserves of oil. The Bush energy plan predicts a 61% increase in US oil imports in the next 20 years. That's one of the real reasons behind the war. If Bush invested in renewables to tackle global warming and energy security he wouldn't need to invade Iraq for cheap oil. Esso, more than any other oil company is sabotaging international action on global warming, and ensuring the US remains addicted to oil. Download The Tiger in the Tanks, a Greenpeace report on Esso, the Bush administration, US oil dependency and the war against Iraq."

"The stars were out in force at Fairford's mass anti-war protest at the weekend ­ which saw six arrests for minor offences. Some 3,000 people, several thousand less than expected, took part in the march to the RAF base, where American B-52s have set off on bombing sorties on Iraq. Among the personalities were Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, author and TV regular Will Self, comedian Mark Thomas, author George Monbiot and veteran peace activist Pat Arrowsmith, who all denounced war."

"AROUND 250 peace activists marched through Swindon town centre on Saturday afternoon before trying ­ and failing - to join the peace camp at Fairford. The protesters met at the cenotaph at noon and then marched from the memorial through the town centre past Saturday shoppers. The loud but peaceful protest moved down Regent Street and into the Parade before heading for Princes Street and onto Fleming Way."

"Yesterday, Saturday 22nd, two car loads of women from WIB, along with about 4000 others, descended on a picturesque and sleepy little village called Fairford. (Actually, sleepy is probably a completely inept description of a village which plays host to the US military base where the B52 bombers are launched from, in this terrible war on Iraq.) We were to represent WIB at a planned action against the base. Unfortunately someone must have dobbed on us to the police, because they were there too. In force. In riot gear. With horses. With dogs. With mobile camera units galore."

"While one group of Rhythms of Resistance London, brought their percussive protest and samba spirit to the STWC’s march to Hyde Park, another band of RoRer’s attempted to go to USAF Fairford. However events didn’t turn out as expected and people ended up reclaiming the streets of London’s Westend, if not the base."

"Peace demo in Swindon attracts 200+. Some attempt to join the Fairdord demo by bus afterwards, but are turned back by police."

"A Greenpeace hot air balloon has dropped anti-war leaflets over RAF Fairford. The base is home to 14 B-52 bombers, eight of which took off on Friday morning. The balloon, with the words "No War" written on the side, dropped around 500 leaflets on the base."

"PEACE protesters gathered in Swindon to demonstrate against conflict in Iraq. Around 100 campaigners held placards and banners, which declared the war unjust and illegal, and rallied support among shoppers and office workers on their lunch breaks. The protesters, small in number, but loud in voice, handed out leaflets and talked to those who cared to stop, about their reasons for taking a non-violent stance against the war."

"ANTI-War protesters stormed into Swindon's Civic Offices for a two-hour sit-in. On Thursday evening, a group of 75 people from the anti-war coalition occupied the main council chamber to mark their opposition to the war in Iraq. Secretary of the Swindon branch of the organisation, Andy Newman said: "We wanted to do something that showed we were serious about opposing the war."

"AS the prospect of war comes closer, people from across north Wiltshire have been flocking to join a Chippenham anti-war group. Chippenham's branch of the Stop The War coalition warned it will protest if hostilities start. It vowed to work for a peaceful conclusion to the crisis if conflict does break out."

"AS the country yesterday prepared to go to war, soldier's daughter Kimball Lacey led a protest of pupils calling for a halt to hostilities. About 300 students at Lavington School - half of its pupils - took part in a peaceful protest on its playing field. They sat down on the field to portray the CND peace symbol and some displayed posters calling for peace."

"STUDENTS at St John's School, Marlborough defied teachers to take an unauthorised break for an anti-war demonstration on Tuesday. The pupils were part of a growing movement by young people to speak out about the Iraq situation."

"Demonstrations are due to be held in Swindon today, at 1pm and 6pm at the Cenotaph in Regent Circus. Dozens gathered at the Cenotaph in Regent Circus to hold a vigil for peace yesterday. And students at New College held a party for peace outside the campus at Walcot."

"This is a full breakdown of how MPs voted on the rebel amendment saying there was no moral case for war against Iraq."

"THOUSANDS of protesters are expected to mount the biggest peace demonstration yet seen at RAF Fairford on Saturday. Speakers booked to address the rally include writer George Monbiot and comedian Mark Thomas." ... "The Swindon Stop the War group is planning to hold a mass demonstration at the town centre war memorial on the day hostilities with Iraq start. Organisers plan to hold two gatherings at 1pm and 6pm. According to spokesman Andy Newman the second demonstration will be accompanied by an as yet unspecified act of civil disobedience."

"This is the text of prime minister Tony Blair's speech opening today's debate on the Iraq crisis in the house of Commons, as released by 10 Downing Street."

"Two men are in custody in Gloucestershire after they were arrested at RAF Fairford. A friend of peace campaigners Phillip Pritchard, 32, and Toby Olditch, 34, both from Oxford, said they were arrested while attaching pictures of Iraqi victims of previous bombing campaigns and sanctions to the base's fence."

"PEACE campaigners have set up camp outside RAF Fairford which they believe will be used in an American led war against Iraq. The camp is in the village of Kempsford near the edge of the runway and will run for 28 days. It seeks to draw attention to the B-2 Stealth Bombers which could fly from the base if war is declared."

"Two women have been arrested as a group of veteran peace campaigners gathered at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire to voice their opposition to a possible war with Iraq. Up to 50 elderly women - many in their 70s and 80s and calling themselves the 'Grannies for Peace' - are protesting outside the base, home to US B-52s in the run-up to a potential conflict in the Gulf."

Henry Waxman is a Democrat representative in California. "Dear Mr. President: I am writing regarding a matter of grave concern. Upon your order, our armed forces will soon initiate the first preemptive war in our nation’s history. The most persuasive justification for this war is that we must act to prevent Iraq from developing nuclear weapons. In the last ten days, however, it has become incontrovertibly clear that a key piece of evidence you and other Administration officials have cited regarding Iraq’s efforts to obtain nuclear weapons is a hoax."

"Four women of the London vigil (Camilla, Helena, Liz and Cynthia) went to Fairford USAF base, following many others, to lend support to the permanent Fairford Peace Camp which is providing us all with such vital on-the-spot info about the US operations there. We joined in a blockade of the main gate for some hours in the morning. This was a women's action - 'grannies' was the theme they had settled on. In the afternoon some of us moved to Gate 7 which is a more promising blockade site, since the bombs have to be transported across the road here to be loaded onto the B-52s."

"Intelligence documents that U.S. and British governments said were strong evidence that Iraq was developing nuclear weapons have been dismissed as forgeries by U.N. weapons inspectors. Sources said that one of the documents was a letter discussing the uranium deal supposedly signed by Niger President Tandja Mamadou. The sources described the signature as "childlike" and said that it clearly was not Mamadou's. Another, written on paper from a 1980s military government in Niger, bears the date of October 2000 and the signature of a man who by then had not been foreign minister of Niger in 14 years, sources said. "

"The giant planes arrived amidst heavy security from police forces including officers from Gloucestershire and the Ministry of Defence. They were also greeted by a small but determined group of banner-waving peace activists who were camped next to one of the base's crash gates. They remained at the base last night."

"PEACE protester Grace Trevett has returned from Iraq and has launched a global appeal for children to campaign against military action. Just hours after landing in the UK the Stroud mum held a conference at the perimeter fence at RAF Fairford. Grace, one of a group of human shields who travelled to Iraq in opposition to the conflict said she left Baghdad when the Iraqi government gave them the ultimatum to position themselves at more strategic sites or leave the country."

"ATTEMPTS by peace protesters to invade RAF Fairford ended with 12 arrests. They were trying to cut through the perimeter fence surrounding the Gloucestershire base, where 14 United States B-52 bombers are stationed. But protesters from Swindon, who marched to the site to show their support for the people camped outside Gate 10, were not among those arrested."

"Ottawa — Secret documents detailing attempts by Iraq to buy uranium for nuclear warheads from Niger are forgeries, the UN's nuclear watchdog agency says. Mohamed ElBaradei, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Friday his investigators and independent document examination experts have determined the letters and other written material are "not authentic.""

"It was standing room only in the Steam Museum's lecture theatre as upwards of 200 people representing all sides of the debate crammed in to hear the town's two Labour MPs justify their support for an attack on Iraq. The [swindon stop the war] coalition had challenged the two MPs to a debate so that people could have both a pro and anti-war response, but this request was refused by the MPs."

"Schoolchildren have joined an anti-war demonstration at an RAF base housing B-52 bombers in preparation for a possible Iraqi conflict. Youngsters from Cirencester College and Farmor's School in Fairford, left lessons on Friday to stage a protest march to the gates of RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire."

"The principal part of the present document represents the second step in the assessment and analysis of the material studied. The unresolved issues discussed in detail in the first working document were grouped into 29 'clusters' and presented by discipline: missiles, munitions, chemical and biological. Each cluster has four sections. The first two sections provide the background, including Iraqi statements and earlier UNSCOM findings. The third section provides UNMOVIC’s assessment. It identifies the questions that are deemed outstanding and unresolved. This may be because of the lack of convincing evidence or, in a few cases, because of evidence that conflicts with Iraq’s account. The fourth section contains suggestions what Iraq could do to resolve the issues."

"The United States is conducting a secret 'dirty tricks' campaign against UN Security Council delegations in New York as part of its battle to win votes in favour of war against Iraq. Details of the aggressive surveillance operation, which involves interception of the home and office telephones and the emails of UN delegates in New York, are revealed in a document leaked to The Observer. "

"Please note that some of these pictures are not suitable for small children and those who have weak hearts. These photos are only of a very tiny fraction of the thousands of Iraqi Civilian Victims who have been terrorised, humiliated, injured, maimed and killed through British and American Bombing of civilian areas in various cities of Iraq. (Robert Fisk)"

"PRAYERS for a peaceful resolution to the potential conflict in Iraq were said in a Cricklade Church. Cricklade United Church in Calcutt Street was open between 2.30pm and 7.30pm last night. There was also an opportunity for people to listen the views of others and voice personal opinions at the end of the silent vigil. The Rev Sidney Hinks from Malmesbury and Andy Newman from the Swindon Stop the War Coalition attended and spoke at the event."

"ANTI-WAR protestors in Swindon have promised direct action and road blocks if war is declared on Iraq. And they have urged people to leave their workplace and join them for an "angry" protest at the cenotaph on the day war is declared. But they do not plan to go as far as the protestors who stormed RAF Fairford on Sunday afternoon."

"Thirteen people have been arrested after hundreds of anti-war protesters demonstrated outside an RAF base. About 450 people turned up outside RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire on Sunday. Police said a group stormed the main gate and perimeter fence and about half a dozen managed to break through, but were quickly captured."

Eyewitness report from the day some civilian weapons inspectors got fed up not being let into the air base and attempted to push their way in, plus comments and links to mainstream media coverage

Another eyewitness report from the day some civilian weapons inspectors got fed up not being let into the air base and attempted to push their way in.

"THE organiser of the Swindon Stop the War Coalition says Saturday's demonstration could herald a new age of democracy. Andy Newman, secretary of the group, said that, despite low election turnouts, the Stop the War march in London proved people still care about democracy. "People are interesting in having their say but they are not interested in voting. People will have to start thinking about how we address that," said Mr Newman."

"IT HAS never been seen before and may never be seen again. Estimates for the number of people on the Stop the War March in London on Saturday, ranged from 750,000 to two million. More than 300 people from Swindon travelled in six coaches organised by the Swindon Stop the War Coalition and others made their way by car or train."

"In the end, I think we are just tired of being lied to. Tired of being talked down to, of being bombarded with Second World War jingoism and scare stories and false information and student essays dressed up as "intelligence". We are sick of being insulted by little men, by Tony Blair and Jack Straw and the likes of George Bush and his cabal of neo-conservative henchmen who have plotted for years to change the map of the Middle East to their advantage. . . . . . . .

Independent Portfolio Article - This article is available in full to Independent Portfolio subscribers. Access it through BT click&buy."

JEREMY PAXMAN: Good evening, welcome to a Newsnight special in which we'll be cross-examining the Prime Minister on the confrontation with Iraq. After yesterday's performance at the UN America looks more determined than ever to go to war. Our government is George Bush's closest ally yet many here and around the world would not believe the case for war has been made. Tonight in the Baltic Centre in Gateshead we've invited the Prime Minister to face an audience of ordinary people from here in the north-east, all of whom are sceptical about the arguments for war with Iraq. Facing them is the Prime Minister. He has confessed himself worried he has not yet made the case for war. Tonight, taking questions from our audience and from me he'll have the chance to do so.

"HUNDREDS of anti-war protesters packed a Swindon hall to voice their concern over the possibility of war with Iraq. Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn arrived in town especially to address the 200-strong audience at the Pilgrim Centre in Regent Circus. He received a standing ovation when he spoke out against Tony Blair and condemned warfare at last night's meeting. The MP for Islington urged protesters to attend a peace rally in Hyde Park on February 15 to help make it the biggest the country has ever seen. He had replaced controversial Labour MP George Galloway who was originally due to speak at the meeting."

"The AEU Resolves:
That as an attack on Iraq will cause widespread death and destruction, increase insecurity and poverty in the world and threaten a wider conflict in the Middle East and elsewhere, including the South-East Asian region, the AEU is opposed to war against Iraq. Attacking Iraq to achieve “regime-change” is not only illegal but is likely to be counter-productive and lead to the strengthening of the repressive apparatus of Iraqi government. Joining an attack simply because the US wants Australian support is inadequate justification and has led to tragedy in the past. [more...]"