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“Judicial Watch said it had filed complaints ‘for the unlawful proliferation of nuclear technology, the unlawful trafficking of arms and military technology, and the violation of UN trade sanctions imposed after the 1991 Gulf War, as well as additional UN sanctions relating to the so-called ‘oil-for-food’ program’.” Herald Sun: Interpol urged to probe Chirac [29mar03]

“From official announcements to coverage in state-controlled media to cooperation with other countries’ health experts, government responses to the flu-like disease that struck southern China have been sluggish and at times nonexistent.” While there are reports of how communication via the Internet and increased preparedness for bio-terrorism have been of crucial importance in dealing with SARS, China has hidden figures and information that could have catastrophic consequences. The case of SARS illustrates perfectly the need for greater information flow, and this applies elsewhere. In a war, as they say, the first casualty is the truth. There are legitimate reasons to censor future events, but for reporting events that have already happened then censorship for reasons of keeping up morale, preventing panic or avoiding upsetting people is not worth the risk. The availability of pro and anti-war debate on weblogs of Al-Jazeera and FOX is part of the democratization of news…

Matt Welsh points out that news about the Iraq war provides a veil which keeps normally newsworthy items from the headlines: “Daniel Drezner Keeps Eyes Off Ball: And finds five dictators cracking down while the world’s gaze lies elsewhere. Someone oughtta do a non-war-news news blog”

Until the First World War, soldiers had generally dressed to impress. The British Redcoats, as the name suggests, wore bright red. The aim was to be as visible and intimidating as possible. Today this would be like walking around wearing a target. Accurate firearms introduced the need for the opposite strategy – to become invisible. Today, the simplest form of camouflage, the colors green or beige, are synonymous with the army, but this has only been the case for less than a century. In some situations, 21st century western technology renders traditional camouflage obsolete, being out in the open at all for an under equipped enemy is a risk – wearing a military uniform is like walking around wearing a target. This is why Iraqi soldiers will cynically dress as civilians, by stepping out of their camouflaged clothing they become camouflaged – invisible.

Nick Denton writes: “And that was before the missiles went astray this morning, apparently killing as many as 15 people. Hell, 15 dead: that’s a quiet day in the Arab world. Even imagining the United States was targeting civilians, its efforts are laughable compared with Saddam — 5,000 dead in the chemical attack on Halabja in one day — or Assad — 30,000 shelled to death in Hama — or pretty much any other Arab ruler” 1. Not a good idea to lump all Arab governments together with Saddam’s. 2. This analogy is equivalent to using the fact that there are more people killed by guns in the US every year than in the attack on the World Trade Center to justify an anti-gun stance comparing the NRA to terrorists. No matter what your stance on gun control this would be morally offensive. As the US government says, it is…

Fisk: “Most of these cruise missiles that we hear exploding at night are bursting into government buildings, ministries, offices and barracks that have long ago been abandoned. There’s nobody inside them; they are empty. I’ve watched ministries take all their computers out, trays- even the pictures from the walls. That is the degree to which these buildings are empty; they are shells.” From this report, other than the fabled bunker-busting bombs, air attacks on Baghdad are presumably largely useless, other than as a frightener. Be sure that the Special Republican Guard is spread throughout the city and most likely under the shelter of schools and hospitals. I’m no expert, but it seems that no matter what the risks of casualties to the coalition forces, storming Baghdad is and always has been, unfortunately, necessary. The other option, siege, would surely be a disaster. One can only hope that the reported uprising…

If we can’t get representatives to get together anymore at the UN, perhaps events like IDEX the massive International Defence Exhibition & Conference which took place last week in the United Arab Emirates would be a suitable venue. Where else would you get the Libyan Charge d’Affaires, Algerian Chief of Staff or Somalian Deputy Minister of Defence rubbing shoulders with the French Commissioner General for Armament, German Deputy Minister of Defence, Russian Head of Defence, rubbing shoulders in turn with the British Minister for Defense Affairs and US Deputy Commander in Chief. There are even 14 Israeli firms to pitch to the 17 Arab countries in attendance. www.worldsecurity-index.com – IDEX 2003 – VIPs and Official Delegations – KNM Media LLP