Stories from 2003-01-05

"The revelations about the jury's actions come at a moment of intense debate about whether trials in civilian courts are appropriate for deciding the fates of accused terrorists. The Bush administration has argued that military tribunals are a better way to try some international terrorists and to more successfully win death penalties. One administration concern involves a problem that appears to have surfaced in the bombings trial: in terror cases, jurors might feel vulnerable to reprisal, and such fears could influence their actions." [more]

"[T]his possible Iraq war is partly about oil because it is impossible to explain the Bush team's behavior otherwise. Why are they going after Saddam Hussein with the 82nd Airborne and North Korea with diplomatic kid gloves — when North Korea already has nuclear weapons, the missiles to deliver them, a record of selling dangerous weapons to anyone with cash, 100,000 U.S. troops in its missile range and a leader who is even more cruel to his own people than Saddam?" [more]

"Some independent analysts have speculated that 50,000 Iraqi civilians could die in a U.S. invasion. But others, including Daponte and Galen Carpenter, say there are far too many variables to make such a prediction. One suggests it won't matter much anyway, compared with Americans' deaths." [more]

"Washington claims that Baghdad harbors ambitions of aggression, continues to develop and stockpile weapons of mass destruction and maintains ties to Al Qaeda. Lacking solid evidence, the public must weigh Saddam Hussein's penchant for lies against the administration's own record. Based on recent history, that's not an easy choice." [more]

"Concerns ranged from a sense of hurt pride that they would be required to register to fear that registration might result in arrest — a complaint that led to a recent lawsuit by a group of Iranian men in Los Angeles." [more]

"The present course of United Nations arms inspections and building diplomatic consensus should be maintained without introducing artificial military deadlines. Force must remain a last resort. It is a dangerous delusion to think that Saddam Hussein can be quickly and simply removed by American troops without serious complications within Iraq, across the Middle East and perhaps beyond." [more]