UPDATED - ColdType

Off the charts
IN FACT, there was another false alarm yesterday
in terms of those weapons of mass destruction.
Some radiation detectors went “off the
charts” near a nuclear plant. Another
“GOTCHA,” assumed a press corps eager to
relay the news until experts in Washington said
it was probably low-grade uranium not immediately
useful for the manufacture of weapons.
Meanwhile speaking in Spain, Hans Blix, the
chief UN weapons inspector, is sounding more
and more cynical.
News24.com reported: “The invasion of Iraq
was planned a long time in advance, and the
United States and Britain are not primarily concerned
with finding any banned weapons of
mass destruction, the chief UN weapons inspector,
Hans Blix, said in an interview on Wednesday.
“There is evidence that this war was
planned well in advance. Sometimes this raises
doubts about their attitude to the (weapons)
inspections,” Blix told the Spanish daily, El Pais.
Penetrating the fog
I NOW believe that finding weapons of mass
destruction has been relegated to fourth place,
which is why the United States and Britain are
now waging war on Iraq. This is pretty obvious but
why has it taken so long for him and others at the
UN to start telling the truth? Robert Fisk cuts
through some more of this oft-cited “fog of war.”
“Of course, the Americans knew they would
get a good press by ‘liberating’ the foreign journalists
at the Palestine Hotel. They lay in the long
grass of the nearest square and pretended to
aim their rifles at the rooftops as cameras hissed
SO, THIS IS VICTORY
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at them, and they flew a huge American flag
from one of their tanks and grinned at the journalists,
not one of whom reminded them that just
24 hours earlier, their army had killed two Western
journalists with tank fire in that same hotel
and then lied about it.
“But it was the looters who marked the day as
something sinister rather than joyful. In Saddam
City, they had welcomed the Americans with ‘V’
signs and cries of ‘Up America’ and the usual
trumpetings, but then they had set off downtown
for a more important appointment. At the Ministry
of Economy, they stole the entire records of
Iraq’s exports and imports on computer discs,
with desktop computers, with armchairs and
fridges and paintings. When I tried to enter the
building, the looters swore at me. A French
reporter had his money and camera seized by
the mob.”
Professional looters in the wings
LOOTING can be organized and government
approved. Truthout reports: “U.S. plans to loot
Iraqi antiques.” Here’s part of the story: “Fears
that Iraq’s heritage will face widespread looting
at the end of the Gulf war have been heightened
after a group of wealthy art dealers secured a
high-level meeting with the U.S. administration.
“It has emerged that a coalition of antiquities
collectors and arts lawyers, calling itself the
American Council for Cultural Policy (ACCP),
met with U.S. Defense and State Department
officials prior to the start of military action to
offer its assistance in preserving the country’s
invaluable archaeological collections.
“The group is known to consist of a number of
influential dealers who favor a relaxation of