IS THE U.S. READY FOR WAR WITH IRAQ?
CBS News' Bob Schieffer interviews with Senators Carl Levin(D) of the Armed Services Committee and Chuck Hagel(R) of the Foreign Relations Committee agree that the administration is still trying to decide its strategy on Iraq. While many military experts are cool towards military action, a handful of civilians in the Pentagon --most of whom have little direct experience with warfare--are hot to proceed. Former National Security Advisor, Brent Scowcroft, who shepherded Bush's father through the first Gulf War warns that destabilizing the Middle East at this point risks a negative impact on President Bush's war on terrorism, and other consequences.

HOW WILL SADDAM RESPOND?
The U.S. has ducked Baghdad's invitation to open its doors to a delegation of Congressmen and arms inspectors. What is becoming increasingly clear is that Bush appears to be targeting Saddam more than his weapons. Saddam--in a struggle for personal survival-- may not have the firepower of the U.S., but he is going to push the propaganda war for all its worth. By Brian Whitaker in the Guardian, August 5, 2002.

THE CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS ON IRAQ
Most of those who testified agreed that the world would be a better place without Saddam, but there was little agreement from anyone on how much danger an already impoverished and badly battered Iraq really represents to the one remaining superpower.
By David Corn in The Nation, August 2, 2002

CHINA STEALS COLIN POWELL'S THUNDER
Colin Powell must have known that he was on a thankless mission when he tried to muster support for an attack against Saddam on his recent Asian tour. But even Powell was taken aback at the vehemence of the riposte from Chinese foreign minister, Tang Jiaxuan, who released a position paper denouncing Washington's unilateralism and calling on Southeast Asia to develop its own strategy for dealing with world issues. The bottom line: with Washington's foreign policy line out of sync with the rest of the world, the Chinese are moving to take advantage of the situation to co-opt alliances that previously took their cues from the United States. By Alan Boyd (Asia Times, August 5, 2002)

TERRORIST ATTACKS MAY CHANGE THE EQUATION FOR SHARON
The sudden one-day blitz which left 13 Israelis dead in six incidents may be driving the Israeli public towards the tipping point. The major criticism against Sharon is that he lacks a coherent strategy for stopping the violence. Instead of defeating the Palestinians, a growing number of Israelis now want to extricate themselves from what is beginning to look like endless warfare. The comparison that is being bandied about is to Israel's disastrous involvement in Lebanon, a doomed conflict in which Sharon also played a major role in shaping Israel's strategy. By Bradley Burston in Ha'aretz, August 5, 2002.
The Financial Times on Israel Press Reaction

MAINTAINING A CONSENSUS OF FEAR
Both Israelis and Arabs are mourning their dead. Some suspect that the violence helps extremist politicians on both sides to hold on to power and to push their programs through by maintaining a "consensus of fear." By Graham Usher in Al-Ahram, August 1-7, 2002

TERRORISM ALSO HAS ITS USES
Anti-war activist Ran HaCohen suggests that the terror campaign by Palestinians helps Sharon maintain a cohesive political front, and it also serves to justify increasingly repressive measures against Palestinians. By Ran HaCohen, Antiwar.com July 31, 2002.

ISRAELIS REACT TO REPORTS THAT IRAQ PLANS TO SUPPLY BIOWEAPONS TO PALESTINIANS
Israeli defense officials are considering mass vaccinations following a London Times report over the weekend that Iraq plans to deliver biological weapons to Palestinian terrorists for use either in Israel or the U.S. By Ellis Shuman, Israel Insider October 5, 2002.

IS IRAN LOSING ITS SOUL?
It's easy to see Iran's political tensions as a struggle between opposing factions: the religious conservatives on one side and the pragmatists on the other. the reality is more complex. In fact, both ends of Iran's political spectrum have their own divisions, and the boundary lines tend to be fluid. The International Crisis Group provides an up-to-date list of who the players are and what to expect. (ICG, August 5, 2002)

AFGHANISTAN AGAINST ITSELF
The growing feud between Afghanistan's president Hamid Kharzai and the country's ambitious defense minister Mohammed Fahim, risks embroiling the country in a new civil war. Until a few months ago, Mohammed Fahim, a major commander of the Northern Alliance, was more or less dictating policy to Kharzai. All that changed when the U.S. boosted Kharzai into the top position during the recent Loya Jirga. The U.S. decision to provide Kharzai with a bodyguard of U.S. G.I.'s has given Kharzai the confidence to establish his independence from Fahim. But it has also made Fahim nervous that from now on he will be outside the power circle, and that the U.S. will be calling the shots.
By Susan B. Glasser and Pamela Constable in the International Herald Tribune, August 5, 2002.

AND KABUL'S NOT THE ONLY TROUBLE SPOT
Armed clashes between Afghanistan's assistant defense minister, Ahmed Rashid Dustom, and local Tajik commander Atta Mohammed are verging on open warfare in Mazar-e -Sharif. Atta Mohammed's forces constitute the backbone of the Northern Alliance and he took the lead in unseating the Taleban. Not surprisingly, the Tajik leader sees no reason to surrender control to Dustom, an Uzbek. The simmering conflict between the two men threatens to destabilize Kabul's already shaky regime as well as the U.S. presnce in country. It is likely to add pressure to extend the 5,000-man international peace keeping force beyond the limits of Kabul. By Samander Khan in Mazar-e-Sharif, Insittue for War, Peace Reporting (IWPR August 2, 2002)

CHECHNYA: CLEARING A PATH TO NEGOTIATIONS?
Russia's unsuccessful campaign to stamp out resistance in the breakaway Republic of Chechnya isn't quite the debacle that Afghanistan was, but it is fast turning into a no-win situation for Putin, who based much of his last election campaign on solving the "Chechen problem." The recent selection of a special prosecutor to look into human rights violations may be an indication that Putin is now trying to wrest control of Chechnya's fate away from the Russian Army, and that he is gradually clearing the way for negotiations. By Sanobar Shermatova, Institute for War, Peace Reporting (IWPR, August 1, 2002)

AMERICAN TERRORIST
David Belfield was an angry African American who converted to Islam, and then signed on as a hit man for the Islamic Republic of Iran. In 1980, he assassinated a Washington-based former Iranian embassy press attache named Ali Akbar Tabatabai. As Belfield, a.k.a. Dawud Salahuddin, explains it, he was a time bomb ready to go off. He had originally wanted to kill Americans, but the iranians, who paid $5,000 for the hit, were more interested in taking revenge against their own citizens. Belfield, who now lives in Teheran offered to provide U.S. intelligence with insights into the radicalized worldwide Islamic movement, but failed to make contact with any American spooks who were interested. Ira Silverman's portrait in the New Yorker last week provides some fascinating insights into how even Americans can be seduced by international terrorism.

IS THE COMPREHENSIVE NUCLEAR TEST BAN A GOOD IDEA AFTER ALL?
When the Senate refused to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1999, its major objections focused on verification. Some senators feared that a potential enemy might carry out tests that were shielded from detection and that America's nuclear capability might diminish without future testing. A new report by the National Academy of Sciences argues that new technology virtually eliminates the possibility of tests going undetected and that the U.S. arsenal can easily be maintained without more testing. The only rationale for the U.S. not signing the treaty now is ideological. (Council for a Livable World, July 31, 2002)

To read the original National Academy of Science Report, click here

Need information, but having trouble with a broken link? Send an email to wtd2@nyu.edu
or click here
We may be able to help

Curious about what they are saying on Aljazeera.net or in Al Hayat? Try Ajeeb.com, an instantaneous computer translation site from Arabic into English. The European Press Network provides access to a wide assortment of European Media Resources TO SIGN UP FOR GLOBALBEAT'S WEEKLY EMAIL ADVISORY, SEND AN EMAIL TO wtd2@nyu.edu with "SUBSCRIBE" IN THE SUBJECT HEADING (or click here to subscribe)   The U.S. State Department's Report on Patterns of Global Terrorism   REPORTING ETHNICITYAND OTHER DIVERSITY ISSUES by The European Centre for War, Peace & The News Media click here   The Journalists' Essential Field Guide to Afghanistan by Edward Girardet click here NYU FIRST 09/11 8:48AM: Documenting America's Greatest Tragedy click here