Daryl Kimball: On the administration at the crossroads on Iraq Mark Engler: After the next attack- the administration has shown itself all too willing to use public trust to advance a highly politicized agenda at home Frida Berrigan: Fighting terror and torture in the Philippines Paul Domjan: To lower oil prices, let's look at the strategic reserves Winslow T. Wheeler: It's time for the new Defense Budget. Here we go again. ANTI-AMERICANISM IS BACK IN STYLE Boston University professors Margaret and Melvin DeFleur have updated their study of attitudes about America in different countries of the world. Click here to see the an interactive guide. Click here for the full report as a pdf file   THE GLOBAL BEAT'S INTERACTIVE REPORTS Why We Are Hated,Nuclear Bunker busters AND Post-Moscow Disarmament

New York University

David Isenberg's critique of Homeland Security and recommendations for improvements
[click on image to go to the executive summary]

THE UNITED NATIONS
IN THE EYE OF THE STORM
France and Russia both indicate that they will veto a resolution that authorizes attacking Iraq, even if the United States can get a majority of the Security Council to support an invasion. That seems highly unlikely. France is lobbying African members of the Security Council to vote against war, and Britain has dispatched its own emissary to argue the opposite point of view. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan warns that an attack without U.N. approval will violate the United Nations Charter. The U.S. and Britain are delaying the vote until they can muster more support.
The BBC provides a quick read on the behind-the-scenes maneuvering.
The Asia Times goes into more precise detail on how the U.S. stacks up against France and public opinion on competitive aid and commercial offers in exchange for votes.
PBS Jim Lehrer OnLine News Hour discusses the swing votes.
Kofi Annan’s press conference at the Hague(U.N.)
French Foreign Minister Dominique Villepin’s speech to the Security Council Friday
Chirac tells French TV he’ll veto the resolution(NewsHour)
Hawks vs Doves in Britain (The Guardian)

HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?
The Bush Administration has been evasive on the actual costs of attacking Iraq virtually alone. Rough estimates run from $100 to $200 billion, which in contrast to Desert Storm, will have to be paid almost exclusively by U.S. taxpayers. And that is just the cost of fighting the war. The impact on the world economy could push the price tag far higher in real terms. Yale economist William Nordhaus, historian Paul Kennedy and political scientist Charles Hill discussed the ballooning costs on Jim Lehrer’s News Hour.
(PBS Jim Lehrer News Hour, Hour, March 5, 2003)
British stock brokers warn that war without a U.N. mandate could lead to worldwide financial disruption.
(The Guardian, March 9, 2003)
National Center for Policy Analysis (a quick read of the numbers)
The Congressional Budget Office's assessment of costs
Yale economist William Nordhaus explains the process of estimating war costs in the New York Review of Books (NYRB, December 5, 2002)
William Nordhaus' complete study, available as an on-line download in pdf format from The American Academy of Sciences

Also available in pdf format from William Norhaus' own website

AL QAEDA AND THE ISLAMIC BOMB
The bulletin of the Atomic Scientists reports that two Pakistani scientists passed important nuclear secrets to members of Al Qaeda in 2000. Their goal: share the secrets of the atomic bomb with the world’s Muslim community.
(David Albright and Holly Higgins in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March-April 2003)

WANT TO BUY A GAS CENTRIFUGE TO BUILD A BOMB?
The Dr., A.Q.Khan Research Laboratories in Rawalpindi, Pakistan offer some interesting pieces of equipment and assistance spun off from the Pakistani gas centrifuge program—the program that made possible Pakistan’s enrichment of uranium for nuclear weapons. Many of the items shown in the brochure are generally viewed as sensitive and in many countries would be subject to stringent export controls. David Albright obtained the sales brochure which is clearly not intended for your average consumer.
(Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March-April 2003)

HOW TO PROFIT FROM THE WAR
Richard Perle doesn’t hold any official government position, but he does serve in a "special" capacity as Chairman of the Defense Policy Board which counsels the Pentagon and the administration on defense priorities. He is also a managing partner in Trireme Partners L.P. , a venture capital firm formed two months after 9/11. Trireme’s commercial objective: turn a profit on contracts related to homeland defense and national security. Seymour Hersh reports in the current New Yorker that Trireme recently sent a letter to Saudi multibillionaire businessman and arms dealer, Adnan Kashoggi, trolling for additional investment funding. (Seymour Hersh, The New Yorker, March 17, 2003)

RUMSFELD WANTS TO DEPLOY FIRST STAGE OF U.S. ANTI-BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM WITHOUT OPERATIONAL TESTING
The problem-plagued system has failed several critical tests so far. Now the Defense Department wants to skip the operational testing phase and begin initial deployment. Donald Rumsfeld contends that the anti-ballistic missiles intended to save the U.S. from nuclear attack can be tested gradually after the missiles are in place. The first two years of testing, mandated by U.S. law, would be waived. Initial deployment would be on the West Coast.
(Center for Defense Information, March 6, 2003)
Report in Council for a Livable World, February 27, 2003
California Senator Diane Feinstein’s letter protesting Rumsfeld’s proposition.

HOW MANY BOMBS DOES NORTH KOREA REALLY HAVE?
Evaluating North Korea’s nuclear progress is a complex task, but it is a safe guess that Pyongyang is has now emerged as the world’s 9th nuclear power. It may not have a delivery vehicle yet, but with terrorism on the rise, it may not need one.
(The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March-April, 2003)

WHY MEN CHOOSE TO FIGHT IMPOSSIBLE ODDS
Behavioral scientists have long puzzled over the universal tendency to underestimate enemies while simultaneously exaggerating one’s own capacity. Self delusion often leads to a successful bluff, which can produce unexpected victory. The downside is that it also makes warfare extremely unpredictable. By Raj Persaud in the Telegraph on-line, February 26, 2002)

HOW DO YOU RATE AN ARMY?
Everyone knows that the U.S. Army is technologically formidable, but what determines success? In the Black hawk Down affair in Mogadishu, an over reliance on technology worked against embattled troops in an urban setting. Winston Churchill famously misjudged the fighting ability of the Turks in the battle of Gallipoli. Thomas Powers, writing in the New York review of Books surveys three different assessments of the U.S. Army.
(Thomas Powers, NYRB, March 27, 2003)

George Bush has a gut instinct that pushes him and the country towards war—why does that make the rest of us nervous? (Hendryk Herbzberg in The New Yorker, March 17, 2003)

The International Institute of Strategic Studies Iraq Page (contains maps of Iraqi nuclear and biological sites, missile ranges, and deployments)

IISS ESTIMATES U.S. & ALLIED ORDER OF BATTLE
London’s International Institute of Strategic Studies projects U.S. troop movements according to current military doctrine, and adds up the forces available for the attack.
(IISS, March 7, 2003)

IISS ESTIMATES IRAQI, U.S. AND REGIONAL AIR ASSETS

IRAQ’S MILITARY PREPAREDNESS
Iraq may not have the best army in the world, but it is sizable in numbers, and it will now be defending its homeland. As General Aideed showed in Mogadishu, Somalia, even a badly equipped force can produce surprises. The Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Anthony Cordesman provides a detailed analysis of exactly what Iraq has on its side.
(Anthony Cordesman, CSIS, February 7, 2003)

IRAQI MISSILE PROGRAMS
One reason for the confusion over Iraqi missile capabilities is that Iraq has been hiding various secret programs under aliases. The CSIS' Anthony Cordesman provides a comprehensive rundown on what Iraq is believed to have in its possession. (Anthony Cordesman, CSIS, February 2003)

UNMOVIC’S WORKING DOCUMENT ON UNRESOLVED ISSUES (U.N. March 6, 2003—173 pages)
This is the comprehensive report on what still needs to be done from the viewpoint of inspections in Iraq.

U.N. SPEECHES LAST FRIDAY

(Scroll to the bottom of the page) This comprehensive index includes links to both text and live audio of Hans Blix , Mohammed El Baradei, Colin Powell, the foreign ministers of France, Russia, China, Britain and the Iraqi U.N. ambassador(Scroll to the bottom of the page) . (PBS Jim Lehrer On-Line Newshour, March 7, 2003)

WAITING FOR THE END
Iraqi artist Nuha al-Radi writes to his 85-year old mother in Baghdad: Move away from the river. It acts like a tunnel. It carries so much noise. Huge reverberations flow down it."
(Nuha al-Radi, The Institute for War & Peace Reporting, March 6, 2003)

NORMAN MAILER ON THE WORLD VS. GEORGE BUSH

In a very short space of time, George Bush has made the rest of the world extremely nervous. Norman Miler points out that a recent issue of the European edition of TIME Magazine polled European opinion on which country represents the greatest threat to peace. North Korea rated 7%, Iraq 8% and the U.S. a whopping 84%. British spy novelist John Le Carre noted in a recent issue of the Times of London that, "America has entered one of its periods of historic madness, but this is the worst that I can remember…" The playwright, Harold Pinter observed," ...The American administration is now a bloodthirsty wild animal. Bombs are its only vocabulary. Many Americans, we know, are horrified by the posture of their government, but seem to be helpless.
Unless Europe finds the solidarity, intelligence, courage and will to challenge and resist American power, Europe itself will deserve Alexander Herzen's declaration —"We are not the doctors. We are the disease.""
Is the administration mad, or simply marching to the beat of a different drummer? Norman Mailer argues there is a method to the administration’s recent actions. "Political leaders and statesmen are serious men even when they appear to be fools," says Mailer. " It is rare to find them acting without some deeper reason they can offer to themselves."
(Norman Mailer in the New York Review of Books,
March 27, 2003)

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THE SEARCH FOR A NUCLEAR WEAPON FOR LIMITED CONFLICTS
Mark Bromley and David Grahame report on the Pentagon's search for a nuclear "bunker buster"

THE FUTURE OF NUCLEAR ARMS CONTROL

Rose Gottmoeller:
an interactive assessment of nuclear disarmament after the Moscow Summit,