A hour with linguist, political activist & writer Noam Chomsky. He talks about the crisis in the Middle East and the communicative power of Internet. Professor Chomsky also discusses his book, "America's Quest for Global Dominance".
What do the arch hawks of the Bush administration, such as Paul Wolfowitz, have in common with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard?
Answer: they both fêted Ahmad Chalabi, the former Iraqi banker who put “regime change” in Baghdad at the top of US agenda. Chalabi attracts adoration and enmity in equal measure and has courted controversy through his life.
Chalabi comes across here as a charismatic, Machiavellian individual, fascinated with the world of intelligence from the beginning. He moved the Washington establishment towards the invasion of Iraq but appears to have paid no thought about what to do afterwards, except that he wanted a central role.
There is much detail here about how he took tens of millions of dollars, first from the CIA, with whom he fell out; then from the State department, with whom he fell out; and then from the defence department, with whom he fell out. Government auditors struggled in vain to discover how this money was spent.
Chalabi often promised more than he delivered. He was to provide troops for the Free Iraqi Forces, which the Pentagon would train to enter Iraq.
A training centre was established, where 1,100 US soldiers and trainers waited, but Chalabi sent nobody. The programme cost an estimated $200m and the number of Iraqis trained was, in the words of a general, “teeny-tiny”.
Via FT
1991: Iraqi Scud missiles hit IsraelIraq has attacked two Israeli cities with Scud-missiles, prompting fears that Israel may be drawn into the Gulf-War.
Israel's largest city, Tel-Aviv, and Haifa, its main seaport, were hit in the attacks, which began at 0300 local time, when most residents were asleep.
In-Context
Iraq fired Scud missiles at Israeli cities again the next day and throughout the Gulf War, but failed to provoke Israel into unilateral retaliation.
After more than a month of intensive air attacks, the Allies launched a land offensive on 24 February. One day later, the Iraqis began retreating.
Via BBC
A US soldier from the 2nd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, plays with a young girl during a patrol in Baghdad, 13 January 2008.
After talks yesterday with General David Petraeus, the commander of US forces in Iraq, and US ambassador to Baghdad Ryan-Crocker, US President Geroge W. Bush told reporters that his goal of reducing troop numbers in Iraq by July was on track but called on Syria and Iran to stop fuelling-violence in Iraq.
> AFP/Getty Images
It's one of the biggest air-strikes in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. The US military says it carried out a 10-minute bombardment of suspected Al-Qaeda safehavens.
The Bush administration is building its new-case to stay in Iraq as a war against Al-Qaeda. However, it is not the largest group fighting in Iraq-today.
Via CS-MonitorIn Kuwait, President-Bush conceded that until last year, "our strategy simply wasn't working," with Iraq riven by sectarian violence and Sunni and Shiite militants strengthening their grip.
"Al-Qaeda ... will continue to target the innocent with violence," Mr. Bush said. "But we've dealt Al Qaeda in Iraq heavy blows, and it now faces a growing uprising of ordinary Iraqis who want to live peaceful lives."
It snowed in Baghdad. The flakes melted-quickly, but the smiles, went on.After weathering nearly five years of war, Baghdad residents thought they'd pretty much seen it all. But as muezzins were calling the faithful to prayer, the people here awoke to something certifiably-new.
"For the first time in my life I saw a snow-rain like this falling in Baghdad," said Mohammed Abdul-Hussein, a 63-year-old retiree from the New Baghdad area.
"When I was young, I heard from my father that such rain had fallen in the early '40s on the outskirts of northern Baghdad," Mr. Abdul-Hussein said.
Simon Reeve looks into the reasons behind the war in Iraq, from oil to the petro-dollar, to US supremacy and finishes with the Iranian oil bourse.
America and the War on Terror, what Bush did to get your mind of the War.
Related Link : War on Terror Widget
