THE WAR IN IRAQ :

UPATE : IRAQ'S SECURITY MINISTER CLAIMS US/IRAQI TROOPS MASSACRED 37 UNARMED WORSHIPPERS IN MOSQUE

Reuters news agency is now reporting Iraq's Security Minister as saying : "At evening prayers, American soldiers accompanied by Iraqi troops raided the Mustafa mosque and killed 37 people. They were all unarmed. Nobody fired a single shot at them (the troops). They went in, tied up the people and shot them all. They did not leave any wounded behind.

THREE VERSIONS OF MOSQUE MASSACRE OF ELDERLY WORSHIPPERS COMPETE TO BE CALLED 'THE TRUTH' AS FOG OF WAR THICKENS

From ABC News (Australia) : "Iraq's ruling parties have demanded US forces cede control of security as the government launched an inquiry into a raid on a Shiite mosque that ministers said involved 'cold blooded' killing by US-led troops.

"President Jalal Talabani said: 'We have to know the truth about what happened, and we must not be driven by rumours. This is a very dangerous incident which we must investigate.'

"Government-run television repeated lengthy footage of the bodies of men in civilian clothes with no weapons in sight.

"A day after the mosque assault, three broad versions of the events that led to the deaths of some 20 - or possibly more - people persisted.

"Iraq's security minister accused US and Iraqi forces of killing 37 unarmed civilians in the mosque after tying them up.

"Residents and police, who put the death toll among the troops' opponents at around 20, spoke of a fierce battle between the soldiers and gunmen from the Mehdi Army militia of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose followers ran the mosque.

"US officials, finally confirming they were describing the same incident, stuck by a statement saying Iraqi special forces, advised by US troops, killed 16 'insurgents' who fired on them first.

"A State Department official said in Washington: 'This was an Iraqi planned and led operation and US forces were only in an advisory capacity.'

As you might expect, the US version of how the massacre went down holds little sway in the Iraq media today (English language version available online), and the fury on the streets of Baghdad over the murders is growing.

Once again, the so-called radical cleric Al Sadr, who the US tried to imprison in 2003 after raiding his neswpaper offices, is now calling for calm and trying to halt any revenge attacks on American forces by outr

BASRA : BRUTAL CRIME GANGS, CORRUPT POLICE FERMENT INTO DANGEROUS NEW ENEMY FOR BRITISH FORCES

From the London Telegraph : "The British estimate that some 10 per cent of the police are actively working against them and the first loyalty of the majority is to a Shia Muslim militia or to their tribe.

"(Against British troops in Iraq, particularly Basra, a centre of British operations, there now exists)...outrage over a British operation in January to arrest more 'bad apples' in the force, the release by the News of the World last month of a video showing troops beating Iraqis and the publication of Danish cartoons satirising the Prophet Mohammad.

"But few in the British military believe that is the whole story. Instead they suspect that people close to the governing council are linked to criminal gangs whose activities the police crack-down impinged on, while the governor, Mohammed al-Wa'eli, is concerned primarily with preserving his power base.

"With units largely freed from their civic rebuilding obligations and no longer having to walk a political tightrope, patrols and operations have been stepped up."

"Meanwhile, Iraqis say crime has risen by 15 per cent and in February alone Basra saw 60 murders. Attacks on British troops are also increasing. (One British company) has been targeted 37 times since the start of December. The number of roadside bombs tripled in January from the previous two months."

GET READY FOR WAR OF RESISTANCE AGAINST U.S. SAYS CHAVEZ

From OhMyNews :

"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday said he wants to update military training methods to prepare for a 'War Of Resistance' against U.S. troops.

"He said Venezuela's military has begun instilling in soldiers the concept of 'asymmetric war' _ in which guerrilla tactics like hit-and-run attacks are used to counter a stronger military force.

"'It's our responsibility to prepare ourselves for a war of resistance,' Chavez said during his weekly broadcast.

"The U.S. government has repeatedly denied Chavez's claims that it is considering a military attack to oust him. But Chavez warned U.S. President George W. Bush not to try it.

'''He would totally bite the dust,' Chavez said. 'We are prepared to defend this land whatever it takes.'

"Military commanders shouldn't wait to receive new training manuals, Chavez said, but rather should take initiative in laying out the new military doctrine. 'We have to make it all new,' he said.

"Chavez, a former army paratroop commander, said the mountains around Caracas provide excellent cover and are 'ideal for a war of resistance.'

"He recalled how Indians armed only with bows and arrows once held off the Spanish."

UK PRIME MINISTER CALLS FOR GLOBAL WAR ON....BAD VALUES...AND BAD IDEAS

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair addressed a special sitting of the Australian Parliment yesterday to help ramp up the next stage of the Global War. It now moves from the War On Terror to the War On Extremism. These are a few (edited) extracts from his speech :

"We are in a struggle of a profound kind. Globalisation is a fact, but the values that govern it are a choice. We know the values we believe in: democracy and the rule of law, but also justice, the simple conviction that, given a fair go, human beings can better themselves and the world around them.

"The struggle in our world today is not just about security. It is a struggle about values and about modernity, whether to be at ease with it or in rage at it.

"Ranged against us are the people who hate us; but beyond them are many more who do not hate us but question our motives, our good faith, our even-handedness, who could support our values but believe we support them selectively. These are the people we have to persuade.

"....we cannot easily bring peace to the Middle East unless we resolve the question of Israel and Palestine.

"If we want to secure our way of life, there is no alternative but to fight for it. That means standing up for our values not just in our own countries but the world over.

"We need to construct a global alliance for these global values, and act through it. Inactivity is just as much a policy, with its own results. It's just the wrong one. The immediate threat is from Islamist extremism.

"We will not defeat this terror until we face up to the fact that its roots are deep, and that it is not a passing spasm of anger, but a global ideology at war with us and our way of life. Their case is that democracy is a Western concept we are forcing on an unwilling culture of Islam.

"Every reactionary element is lined up to fight us. Why? They know if they lose a message is sent out across the Muslim world that strikes at the heart of their ideology. That is why they are fighting us hard. We must not hesitate in the face of a battle utterly decisive as to whether the values we believe in triumph or fail.

"This struggle is our struggle. If the going is tough, we tough it out. This is not a time to walk away. This is a time for the courage to see it through."

CHENEY AND RUMSFELD WEREN'T 'SPINNING' WHEN THEY TALKED ABOUT 'THE LONG WAR'

WAR ON TERROR TO LAST BEYOND IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN, CLAIMS U.S. GENERAL

From MSNBC : "The war on terror will continue long after Iraq and Afghanistan are stable, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told military officials from around the world Friday.

"Speaking at the Global Terrorism and International Cooperation Symposium, Pace called for patience and collaboration, repeating U.S. assertions that it will be a long campaign.

“'Iraq and Afghanistan will over time become stable,' he said in a keynote address. 'But the war on terror will continue long after Iraq and Afghanistan have had success in standing up their own governments.'

"Pace also told the crowd that military action alone will not be enough. Economic growth, good education systems and solid governments also are necessary to quell terrorism.

“'We are talking about years and years to come of vigilance,' said Pace, 'Today’s tactical victory does not guarantee tomorrow’s strategic success.'”

THE FUTURE ARCTIC WAR COMES INTO FOCUS

CANADA PREPARES TO DEPLOY ARMED SHIPS, SOLDIERS TO PROTECT ARCTIC DOMINION

From Canadian Press :

"Canada's dominion over the frozen north has been routinely challenged over the years, but it has happened with increasing frequency as global warming has made the once ice-clogged passageways easier to traverse.


Russia, the US and even Greenland are enthusiastically eyeing off the opening up of new shipping lanes that will cut months off the journeys of major freight travels. As the ice retreats, not only do new shipping lanes become passable, but new areas exploitable for mining, oil extraction and even coastal residential development all become reality.

Canada controls some of the most valuable coastline in the new ice-free Arctic of the coming decades, but even they are already aware they will have to defend it.

The idea that war could break out in the Arctic between countries like Canada, Russia, Greenland and the US seem almost incomprehensible, but Canada at least is taking this future issue very seriously indeed.

More from Canadian Press :

"The best to way to safely and quickly dispatch armed icebreakers to the Arctic would be to equip existing vessels with 50-calibre weapons, the commander of Joint Task Force Atlantic said Wednesday.

"Rear Admiral Dan McNeil said Canada could assert its presence and sovereignty in the north by placing naval personnel on coast guard icebreakers that could patrol the frozen archipelago that has caused jurisdictional rifts with the United States.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the pledge, that would also establish a deep-water submarine base in the Arctic, during the recent election campaign.

"The Conservatives have revealed few details about how they plan to roll out their military package, which included promises to recruit 13,000 new, full-time soldiers and another 10,000 reservists, and to buy new ships and planes.

"They have pledged to add $5.3 billion to the defence budget over five years.

"Prime Minister Harper issued a warning shot to the States following his election win in January when he said he would stick to his plan to exert its authority in the North despite criticism from U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins."

NORTH KOREA REVEALS IT HAS ENOUGH ATOMIC WEAPONS TO COUNTER POSSIBLE U.S. INVASION

The state run North Korean Central News Agency ran a story a few days back claiming North Korea is armed with enough atomic weapons to launch pre-emptive strikes on the U.S..

The story also claimed the atomic bomb arsenal is sufficient to counter any serious threat from the U.S. should an invasion be launched against North Korea.

The fact that the North Korean Central News Agency carried the story means the information can be read as propaganda, but it is unclear why North Korea has determined this is the right time to bait the U.S. in this way, particularly after South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the U.S. has been negotiating with North Korea to reign in its nuclear weapons program for almost three years.

From the North Korean Central News Agency (March 25, 2006) : "The arrogant and gangster-like U.S. leaves no means untried to achieve its aims. What the U.S. seeks is not a peaceful, negotiated solution to the nuclear issue between the DPRK and the U.S. but an all-out nuclear war against the north.

"In order to foil the U.S. imperialists' moves for aggression and war and achieve peace and independent reunification of Korea all Koreans in the north and the south and abroad, to say nothing of political parties and organizations and individuals, should unite close in their joint struggle.

"This is the only way out for them to survive. The warhawks of the military and ultra-right conservative forces of south Korea are joining the U.S. in its war moves against the north, increasingly depending on outside forces."

CIVIL WAR IN IRAQ?

NO, SAYS RUMSFELD

NOT A CHANCE SAYS CHENEY

YES, MOST DEFINITELY SAYS FORMER IRAQ PRIME MINISTER

US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, wrote in a Washington Post column two days ago that leaving Iraq now would be comparable to having handed post-World War 2 Germany back to the defeated Nazis.

Rumsfeld believes the Iraqi insurgency is close to being defeated, and there are reports growing that US troops numbers will actually be increased, not decreased, in the coming months.

US Vice President Dick Cheney, meanwhile, also said Iraq is not experiencing a civil war. He chose to describe the extreme violence and bloodshed as signs of desperation from the insurgents as they struggled to stop the shift to democracy.

"What we've seen is a serious effort by them to foment a civil war," Cheney said on Face The Nation. "But I don't think they've been successful."

Former Iraq Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, has told BBC in London that Iraq is in the midst of a civil war and is growing closer to the point of no return. He fears the sectaraian violence will now spill over and consume the rest of the Middle East.

"It is unfortunate that we are in a civil war," Allawi said. "We are losing each day, as an average, 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more. If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is."

THE NEW AXIS OF EVIL?

IT'S THE US, UK AND ISRAEL CLAIMS POWERFUL IRAQI CLERIC

CLAIMS ISRAEL RESPONSIBLE FOR GOLDEN MOSQUE BOMBING

Last week the highly influential Iraq Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr named the United States, Israel and Britain as the new "axis of evil".

In a speech broadcast on Iraq television, al-Sadr also cialmed the devastating attack against the Shiite Asqariya mosque was the work of insurgents backed by Israel.

Go here for a story covering these issues.

BRUTAL ANTI-AMERICAN MOVIE 'VALLEY OF THE WOLVES - IRAQ' HAS ALL THE MAKINGS OF AN INTERNATIONAL INCIDENT

The Turkish movie, 'Valley Of The Wolves - Iraq', now breaking box office records across parts of the Muslim world, has now discussed in the US Congress.

A Republican senator cited the movie as an example of how the US is failing to win the hearts and minds of Muslims the world over while the 'War On Terror', or 'The Long War' (as Donald Rumsfeld now insists it be called) continues to claim hundreds of lives every week.

The questions on the movie were put to Secretary Of State, Condileeza Rice, who replied : "We cannot conquer the hearts in one night. The U.S. has been under fire from detractors for a long time and it will take a long time for us to improve our image. But we're doing our best."

Rice said reaching Muslim youth with positive US messages was a vital mission. It is a mission that is clearly failing, with a massive majority of Muslim youth, the world over, viewing the US as having launched a War Of Civilisations on their kind.

Go here for a full report on the movie 'Valley Of The Wolves - Iraq', which includes photos from the movie and details on how the movie contains scenes of a Jewish surgeon removing organs from dead Iraqis for transplants into rich Americans, and an American attack in Iraq on a wedding party, where children are slaughtered in front of their parents.

ISRAEL'S NUKES IN BRITAIN'S SIGHTS

Once the nuclear issues with Iran have been dealt with, Britain will turn its attention to Israel, and it's armoury of some 400, or more, nuclear weapons.

In pursuit of the much-heralded Nuclear Free Middle East, British Foreign Minister Jack Straw said now that "successful action" had been taken over the alleged WMDs of Iraq and Libya, Israel remained the only nation posing a "potential threat".

"If you want to see a nuclear-free Middle East, you've got to remove that threat from Iran," Straw told Britain's Channel 4 on Thursday. "Once you've done that, then we can get to work in respect of Israel."

Straw's comments have drawn strong support from the British public. Not suprisingly, his quotes have caused a storm of outrage in Israel, where he is once again being accused of anti-semitism.

Although it has not always been the case, in recent decades accusations or criticism levelled at Israel, or its political intentions and ambitions, is widely regarded as acts of anti-semitism by Israeli commentators and many Israelis.

Until recently, very few Western politicians would even confirm that Israel has nuclear weapons. In the last week both Straw and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer have mentioned the fact that Israel has numerous nuclear weapons, which is clearly a depature from the scripts of the past.

In a Monty Python-esque way, Israel still refuses to deny or confirm it has stores of nuclear weapons, while the rest of the world regards it as a certainty.

The BBC revealed in the past few days that it has unconvered secret official documents that confirm the British government of the mid-1960s sold plutonium and heavy water to Israel, which allowed the contested state to produce weapons that would be twenty times the power of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima, in the dying days of World War 2.

NUCLEAR IRAN CRISIS UPDATES

FURIOUS US WANTS SERIOUS UN ACTION ON IRAN WITHIN TWO WEEKS, OR ELSE...

UN NOW HAS POWER AND MANDATE TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST IRAN

RUSSIA NOW WARNS IRAN TO FOLLOW IAEA DEMANDS OR NO SHARED NUCLEAR ENRICHMENT

US REJECTS RUSSIAN PROPOSALS FOR JOINT ENRICHMENT

GERMANY URGES DIPLOMACY AS CONFLICT HEATS UP

FRANCE URGES IRAN TO RETURN TO REASONABLE DEAL-MAKING PROCESS

UK PARROTS ISRAEL, US IN 'IRAN ONLY MONTHS AWAY FROM NUCLEAR BOMB TECHNOLOGY' CLAIMS, BUT STILL NO PROOF

FRANCE PUSHES FOR DIPLOMATIC SOLUTION TO NUCLEAR IRAN CRSIS

FRANCE'S CHIRAC SAYS IRAN HAS RIGHT TO NUCLEAR POWER, NOT WEAPONS

HAS THE WAR ON IRAN ALREADY BEGUN?

ISRAELI DEFENCE FORCES RUMOURED TO BE WORKING IN IRAN IN PREPERATION FOR AIR STRIKES

"Israeli special forces are working in Iran to locate the precise sites at which Iran continues to enrich uranium, a British newspaper reported Sunday.

According to the Sunday Times article, the Israeli team is based in northern Iraq and has the support of the United States.

Iran warned Sunday that it will will resume large-scale uranium enrichment if it is referred to the UN Security Council.

Iran officials said if the US and Israel choose to use force , they will have no choice to puruse their 'own path'.

As expected, Israel denied its soldiers or secret agents were at work in Iran, gathering data on nuclear research and development facilities that would be targetted if the US and its allies decided to launch air strikes.