Stories from 2003-08-14

"The CIA's March report concluded that Iraqi society and history showed little evidence to support the creation of democratic institutions, going so far as to say its prospects for democracy could be 'impossible,' according to intelligence officials who have seen it. The assessment was based on Iraq's history of repression and war; clan, tribal and religious conflict; and its lack of experience as a viable country prior to its arbitrary creation as a monarchy by British colonialists after World War I." [more]

"The barrier will leave 300,000 Palestinians on the 'Israeli' side of the wall. Twenty thousand Palestinian residents of Jerusalem — Israelis in the eyes of Israeli law — live outside the fence, denied virtually all municipal and governmental services." [more]

"A cabinet committee [will] assess how to toughen the law passed in the wake of last year's Bali bombing which allows detention for up to six months without charge based on intelligence reports." [more]

"Entire districts of the Liberian capital were clogged with people who carried, dragged, pushed and wheeled what they could, as rebels fired in the air and waved knives in a vain effort to stop the chaos." [more]

"People nowadays are not willing to bow down before an emperor, even a benevolent one, in order to be democratised. They will protest, and the ensuing pain will be felt by the imperial power as well as by its subjects. For Americans, the pain will not be just a matter of budget deficits and body bags; it will also be a blow to the very heart of what makes them American—their constitutional belief in freedom." [more]

"Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader, remain unaccounted for, and the south of the country is getting more dangerous, not less. Major operations ... often result in coralling a few men, who may be terrorists or, just as easily, shepherds. Detainees are spirited off to the Bagram base, north of Kabul, and interrogated. Several have died there. But as major combat dies down, questions are sure to be asked about the cost-effectiveness of what the coalition is up to, given that the Americans are spending $10 billion or so a year on it." [more]

"Presidential contenders and congressional Democrats criticized the Pentagon on Thursday for opposing legislation that would extend an increase in combat pay for troops in Iraq and other war zones." [more]

"Pressure is growing to dispatch more soldiers from the international force to bring stability to the anarchic provinces outside Kabul." [more]

"If the Bush administration had been wrong only about the Niger purchase, it would have indicated carelessness. But the references to nuclear weapons, taken as a whole, indicate dissatisfaction with the truth of the matter and a disregard for inconvenient facts." [more]

"The Pentagon has been making it increasingly clear that while the war is over in Iraq, the peace is far from won. But now some Americans have had enough, and have started the campaign to bring the troops home." [more]

"Such weapons would allow military commanders to increase firepower without being forced to push the nuclear button. Experts have warned that if the US scientists succeed in building a gamma ray bomb, it could force other countries to start nuclear programmes, or worse, encourage those who already possess nuclear weapons to use them." [more]

"Video footage ... showed a Black Hawk helicopter hovering a few feet from the top of [a] tower and apparently trying to tear down [an Islamic] banner. Later, US Humvees drove by and the crowd threw stones at them. Heavy gunfire could be heard and demonstrators were seen diving to the ground." [more]