THE US, THE UN AND THE IRAQIS THEMSELVES, V. 7.0

Geli is frankly so off the mark in the correlations he is making with his posts and the truth of the matter, I can't even comment..

UN inspectors: 90 dangerous sites looted in Iraq

05 Mar 2005

Source: Reuters

By Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS, March 5 (Reuters) - Some 90 sites in Iraq that the United Nations had monitored for unconventional arms materials have been razed or looted since the U.S. intervention, according to a new U.N. inspection report.

The U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), created to track Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, based its conclusion in a Friday report on satellite imagery from sites with material that had weapons potential.

Repairs and new construction have begun at 10 of the 90 sites, said the report to the U.N. Security Council from Demetrius Perricos, the chief weapons inspector.

UNMOVIC, using photographs and serial numbers, previously reported that the looting of unguarded sites resulted in missile engines turning up among scrap in the Dutch port Rotterdam as well as in Jordan.

But the new report gave more comprehensive figures on how many of the unguarded sites were looted or destroyed in bombing during the U.S. invasion of Iraq two years ago.

Before they left Iraq, U.N. inspectors had examined 411 sites, the report said. After the war, they examined 353 sites and determined that 70 of them were "subjected to varying degrees of bomb damage."

"The continuing examination of the imagery has revealed that approximately 90 of the total 353 sites analyzed containing material of relevance have been stripped and/or razed," Perricos said in the report.

U.N. inspectors were in Iraq between 1991 and 1998 searching for and destroying nuclear, biological and chemical arms and materials as well as long-range missiles after first U.S.-led Gulf war that drove Baghdad's troops from Kuwait.

Saddam Hussein's government let the U.N. inspectors back in late 2002 after a U.S. war threat. But the United States refused to allow them to return after the March 2003 invasion.

The Security Council will discuss the report on Tuesday amid continuing questions over the future of the agency.

Council members since the end of the war have pressed American and British officials to utilize UNMOVIC's vast research and allow the inspectors to complete monitoring work.

The United States said it did not want to take up the issue until its own searches ended, first led by David Kaye, a former International Atomic Energy Agency official, and then Charles Duelfer, also a former U.N. inspector. But there are indications Washington now wants to discuss closing down UNMOVIC.

Friday's report also said the U.N. inspectors agreed with Duelfer, whose CIA-organized Iraq Survey group had expressed concern about biological materials that were unaccounted for since 1991.

Duelfer's report in October said his inspection group found no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, President George W. Bush's main reason for the invasion.

The new U.N. report noted that the Iraqis had handed over 90 unopened vials of biological agents to weapons inspectors. But it declared that 13 vials of "seed stock" or strains of microorganisms had been used, some in biological arms programs.

"The issue remains as part of the residue of uncertainty with respect to the continued existence in Iraq of seed stocks that could possibly be used in the future for the production of biological weapons agents," Perricos said in the report.

"Given its unresolvable nature, the issue could best be dealt with through monitoring to detect inter alia any possible future activity associated with biological weapon agent production or significant laboratory research work," he said.

U.S.-Italy Relations Chilled by Killing of Reporter

Sat Mar 5, 2005 8:23 AM ET

By Philip Pullella

By Philip Pullella
ROME (Reuters) - The United States and its staunch Iraq war ally Italy face their worst falling out in years after U.S. troops killed an Italian secret service agent and wounded an Italian reporter.

The shooting in Iraq on Friday, as the reporter was being whisked to freedom after being held hostage for a month, was sure to fuel anti-war activists in Italy and put pressure on Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Berlusconi, who defied widespread public opposition to the Iraq war and sent 3,000 troops, took the rare step of summoning U.S. ambassador Mel Sembler to his office.

He demanded the United States "leave no stone unturned" in investigating the incident. President Bush was quick to call Berlusconi and promise a full investigation.

The shooting was the worst diplomatic incident between Italy and the United States since 1998, when a U.S. Marines jet flying recklessly low and fast cut a ski lift cable, killing 20 people.

U.S. troops at a checkpoint shot and killed agent Nicola Calipari and wounded journalist Giuliana Sgrena as they rushed to Baghdad airport.

The agent had helped free Sgrena a month after she had been kidnapped and held hostage. Sgrena returned to Rome on Saturday. Calipari's coffin will follow.

NATIONAL RAGE

"The hardest moment was when I saw the person who had saved me die in my arms," Sgrena's long-time companion quoted her as saying on her flight back to Rome.

Such poignant words are fueling national rage.

Berlusconi, whom the opposition accuses of taking orders from Washington, put on a brave face but leading newspaper Corriere della Sera cited political sources as saying he was furious.
"His friendship with Bush did not stop him from getting really ticked off with the White House," it reported.
Even President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, whose role is largely ceremonial and who usually stays above the political fray, on Saturday demanded an explanation.

"Like all Italians, I am waiting for the United States to clear up this painful and tragic episode," he told reporters.

The killing also lays a battleground for Berlusconi at home.

Commentators predicted a clash with the center-left once the joy for Sgrena and grief for Calipari have passed.

"The political poison has started to flow," Corriere della Sera wrote.

More than 20 Italians have been killed in Iraq and commentators said the opposition would make the latest tragedy a rallying cry in their campaign for regional elections next month, seen as a test of strength for Berlusconi's government.

"The idea of someone being killed by those who say they are in Iraq to protect its citizens is absurd," said Piero Fassino, head of the largest opposition party, the Democrats of the Left.

Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini called Calipari's death "a tragedy of destiny" and hoped it would cause no anti-American feeling in Italy.

I think the shooting on the car carrying an Italian journalist who had just been freed by kidnappers last night, injuring the woman and killing an Italian secret service agent who tried to protect her., belongs more to the unexpected and not so wonderful things because all is over, Fox?

It sounds like your gut feeling is that the U.S. soldiers acted improperly, Walter. And I'm quite sure the media reports you are getting are supporting that impression. In other words, some will choose, even want to believe that, rather than what the solders themselves say about it. But to believe that, you have to believe the soldiers intentionally shot people they knew to be friendly.

I cannot and will not believe that.

Note to Revel: I would imagine most anti-war people would say they have never supported the terrorists. But motive and appearance are not mutually compatible when it comes to media. When the media projects mostly a negative opinion of the administration, military, activities, the 'occupation' along with statements that the terrorists are just insurgents protesting an unwelcome occupation, etc., it looks very much like sympathies are with the terrorists. Posts on message boards, also accessed by the enemy, can look the same way.