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NEWS
2004
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2: 2: 2004. London and Washington. Increasing pressure on Tony Blair and George Bush to provide enquiries into why the U.S. and U.K. went to war against Iraq gathers momentum, and appears to be gaining fruit when first Bush, then Blair announce independent inquiries. Some would argue, now that the war is over, why bother inquiring into the missing WMD's ? Essentially, it goes to the heart of the elected Government executives. We have elected responsibility to our primary candidates to act on our behalf in good faith, and if there is just cause to consider that faith has been broken, we can bring those same politicians to account. Others argue that it was only the intelligence before the Iraqi war which was wrong, and we should not look at the political machine, but the intelligence services. If we follow this train of thought we could end up with another narrow enquiry like Huttons, investigating the death of one man, while the death of thousands since invasion went unexamined. Furthermore the root cause is likely to remain unidentified in a black hole between political leaders and its bureaucracy, with the same mistakes continued in the future. So what should we be looking for in an enquiry ? First, a strong and wide reaching Terms of Reference. For instance "to look into the circumstances surrounding the events that led up to a declaration of hostilities in Iraq." Secondly, unbridled access. The blame culture in the U.K. would virtually guarantee the politicians and apolitical civil service bureaucracy would blame each other, and no real good would come from it. In the United States the administrative structure is formed by the incoming President "in his own image" and is therefore far less permanent than the U.K. version. Therefore the enquiring body should be granted access to all papers, personnel or records etc. All avenues of equiry should be addressed, including a section which answers the question "what were the alternatives to war." Perhaps equally important to any enquiry is teeth. There is no point in setting up an enquiry without giving it the teeth to recommend as it sees fit, and where legally possible act upon it. Some time ago, in a not too distant scenario, the idea of a "Misuse of Powers Act" was set before Prime Minister John Major, but was rejected. In line with our democratic principles, the respective reports should directly report to Parliament in the U.K., and the Senate in the U.S. Finally all potential past
and present 'checks and balances' should be re-examined for executive
misuse or civil service misuse to ensure that politicians and bureaucrats
work less by instinct and more on evidence. |
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1: 2: 2004. Mosul, Iraq 54 Kurds dead, hundreds injured after two simultaneous car bomb attacks at the Kurdish offices of two of the premier political parties; the KDP and PUK. |
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29: 1: 2004 London, U.K. Andrew Gilligan resigns as the latest casualty from the BBC shake up following The Hutton Report |
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29: 1: 2004 London, U.K. Gregg Dyke resigns in further fallout from the Hutton Report |
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28: 1: 2004 London, U.K. BBC Chairman Gavyn Davies resigns in light of the criticisms contained in the Hutton Report. "Because the BBC is so widely trusted, it is crucial that its chairman should take personal responsibility for ensuring that the highest standards of accuracy and impartiality are maintained in its news output." |
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28:01:04 UK The Hutton Enquiry Prime Minister, Tony Blair announced an enquiry into the premature death of the MoD's Chief Weapons Inspector David Kelly on 18th July 2003. Lord Huttons Terms of Reference were to; "...urgently conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of David Kelly..." Hutton found: 1) Kelly took his own life, and that no "third party was responsible for his death" 2) The P.M. did not lie to parliament within the terms of reference. 3) There was no "duplicitous intent" or strategy to campaign against Mr Kelly by releasing his name to the media, and in the words of more than one "feed him to the wolves." 4) In light of the above, Hutton found no direct responsibility for the Government for the death of David Kelly. 5) Hutton did find a case for criticising the BBC, for releasing Andrew Gilligan's remarks without sufficient editorial controls. Hutton considered the "grave allegations" of Gilligans "dodgy evidence" he proffered the BBC's "editorial system was defective." 6) Hutton also found a case for criticism of the MoD's personnel issues relating to Mr Kelly. 7) Hutton also cleared the role of Campbell, former Head of Communications at No. 10. Evidence collected by the enquiry included personal evidence, recordings of meetings and telephone calls etc, of executive Government, however, few could present the state of mind of David Kelly with the apparent weight of the state seemingly against him, media and press coverage to come, and public opinion to follow. Leader of the Opposition Michael Howard (Cons) responded in poor fashion to the Prime Ministers statement, confirming the excellence of the comparable Cook speech following the Scott Enquiry. Howard's previous conduct of accusing the PM of lying to parliament earned him a rebuke from the Prime Minister; "yesterday was a test of policy and he failed it (the vote on university top up fees). Today is a test of character, and he has failed that too. What he should understand is that being nasty is not the same as being effective, and opportunism is not the same as leadership." Tony Blair, House of Commons Hansard Debates for 28 Jan 2004 (pt 13) In contrast, Charles Kennedy's (Lib) response to the P.M. statement included constructive substance, delivery and tact (Kennedy did not accuse the P.M. of lying to Parliament) which was acknowledged by the P.M. Both Kennedy's and Howard's demands for a public enquiry into why the U.K. went to war with Iraq, as was the case following the Falklands conflict fell on apparent deaf ears. Whatever the cause of Dr Kelly's demise, and however much empathy one can provide to the family, the Hutton Report explains the circumstances of one mans death. It does not explain to the British people the thousands of deaths caused by the invasion of Iraq. Surely only a public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the wider issue of why we went to war would have been more appropriate. |
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27: 1: 2004 London, U.K. The Sun newspaper claims it has obtained a leaked version of the Hutton Report on the eve of its anouncement, and will publish the following morning. |
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26:01:04 US/ UK The resignation of David Kay, head of the Iraq Survey Group, responsible for searching for WMD's in Iraq, was comfortably after Bush's state of the union address, but conspicuously inconvenient for Blairs "trial" when Lord Hutton reports on the death of the UK weapons inspector David Kelly on January 28th. Kays resignation signals the end of any hope that WMD's would be found in Iraq. Mr Kay will now be able to spend more time with his special interests at the US defence and space contractor Science Applications International Corporation SAIC / GSO : About SAIC Back in the UK, BBC's Radio Four programme heard former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook criticize the PM, stating he had to accept that the decision to go to war was mistaken. |
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21: 1: 2004 Iraq Disputes continue to dog the U.S. led coalition authority in Iraq in their efforts to provide elections. Chief Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, representing some 60% 0f Iraqi's, encouraged thousands of protestors onto the streets against the U.S. proposals for elections. Coalition authority representative Paul Bremer is under pressure, not least from the White House to provide "regional democracy" in time for the U.S. elections in November 2004.
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21: 1: 2004 Davos, Switzerland The World Economic Forum,
representing the worlds most influential political and Business leaders
reflected on the past two years of conflict. As Peaceplangroup has campaigned
for during those same two years, Chief Executive Klaus Schwab delivered
the "Davos Equation;" Klaus Schwab, founder
and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum |
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21: 1: 2004 U.S.A. Congress - President George W Bush delivers his State of the Union Address. The President commenced the annual policy speech in an uncharacteristically hesitant and nervous manner, but got into his stride as the speech wore on. With internal U.S. policy concentrated on thoughtful Education improvements, the recycling of Social Security policy in Health Savings / Personal Retirement Accounts and the sensitive inclusive remarks of handling ex-prisoners to encourage less re-offending, Mr Bush was urged on by Congress to deliver more. More did come, as Mr Bush discussed the environmental Clean Air Act legislation and how the U.S. should generate more electricity to reduce the need for foreign energy sources such as oil. Alas, foreign policy was almost exclusively dominated by the 'war on terror' and little other alternative to the militaristic future. State of the Union Address 2004
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13: 1: 2004. Berlin, Germany Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan presents his Globalisation speech to the Bundesbank. Highlights of the speech centred on the impact of globalization, threat to the dollar, threat of any dollar impact to the global economy by the international currency. As ever, the man who "moves markets" did not let his audience down with a highly influential and respected speech. "The differences
between the United States and continental Europe were captured most
clearly for me in a soliloquy attributed to a prominent European leader
several years ago. He asked, "What is the market? It is the law
of the jungle, the law of nature. And what is civilization? It is the
struggle against nature." While acknowledging the ability of competition
to promote growth, many such observers, nonetheless, remain concerned
that economic actors, to achieve that growth, are required to behave
in a manner governed by the law of the jungle and are hence driven to
an excess of materialism." |
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12: 1: 2004. Baku-Ceyhan-Tbilisi Pipeline NGO's, including The Corner House and the Kurdish Human Rights Project, opposing the BTC pipeline have taken the European Commission to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg under Articles 230 and 230 of the European Community Treaty. The Law of The European Union The claim against the pipeline argues that the EU accession agreement with Turkey is compromised by the national agreement with BP as the pipeline operator. the European Commission has a duty to investigate if it finds something which impedes the accession plan. In this case it has failed to conduct that pledge according to the NGO Barrister. |
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12: 1: 2004. Damascus Water issues are never far from the surface between Syria and Israel, since the 1967 war between the two countries and post-war annexation of the Sea of Galilee and Golan Heights by Israel. Moves to foster peace between the two countries have been met with equal disdain by both parties despite the surface rhetoric to the media of wishes to discuss peace talks. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has called on Israel to resume peace talks which broke off in 2000, while Sharon delegated the response via Israeli President Moshe Katsav, to invite Assad to Jerusalem. Syria has rejected the invitation as not serious. Recent announcements to expand the Golan Height settlements by Israel has not proven popular in Damascus, however, Syrian views to discourage Kurdish autonomy has found favour in Ankara where Assad recently visited (8/9-1-2004). A new Kurdish state could include parts of Turkey, Syria Iraq or indeed Iran due to their sizeable Kurdish populations. Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Syria rejects Israeli offer |
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11: 1: 2004 United States. Iraq attack was planned before 911 ! Former U.S. Finance head Paul McNeill admits that the assault on Iraq was planned long before the World Trade Centre attack. In an interview with CBS News the outspoken former Treasury Secretetary gave a unique insight into the Bush administrations intent before, during and after the September 11th attack. |
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9: 1: 2004. New York, U.S. Human Rights Watch condemns the American treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In a report out today HRW bitterley opposes the detention and treatment of some 660 people, including at least 3 aged between 13 - 15, which the U.S. administration has determined as "enemy combatants." HRW: Guantanamo, Two Years On |
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8: 1: 2004. Iraq, Syria. U.S. convictions that Husseins funds were hidden in Syrian, Lebanese and Jordanian banks, were given more credence today. U.S. concerns that these funds were being utilised to fund cross border attacks on military forces in Iraq had previously met with intense political pressure on Syria. U.S. Believes Syrian Banks Hold $3 Billion in Iraqi Funds U.S. economic sanctions against Syria (Borger, 8-10-03) and accusations of allied special forces "preventing" military attackers within Syrian lands from entering into Iraq has not helped the situation. Today President Assad said $200 million would be returned to the people of Iraq after his Governments investigation. Attacks on allied forces in Iraq continued meanwhile with 35 injured in one attack, and a helicopter brought down killing 9 others elsewhere. |
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7: 1: 2004. London, UK. Government reveals its anti terrorism plans with a draft bill of the "Civil Contingencies Bill" The bill would enable police and local authorities to ring fence regions for emergencies which are defined as "an event which presents a serious threat to human welfare, the environment, political, administrative or economic stability and the security of the U.K. or part of it." Previous examples of Civil Contingencies The Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Bill, Parts VI and VII Civil rights campaigners criticised the bill immediately as being too broad in definition, and overbearing on other legislation, especially the European Convention of Human Rights law. "There needs to [be] absolute clarity about the definition of an emergency. Sweeping, draconian powers should not be exercised unless there is a serious and immediate threat to life and limb. Whenever the authorities try and vote themselves greater powers, there is a need to be cautious and sceptical." Liberty |
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4: 1: 2004. Basra, Iraq. Tony Blair makes a surprise visit to Iraq to see the troops, following George Bush's footsteps on Thanksgiving Day. |
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4: 1: 2004 Tbilisi, Georgia Electors vote in Georgia, following the recent 'rose' revolution, for the pro western Mikhail Saaskashvili to replace Shevardnadze. |
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3: 1: 2004. Ecuador Colombian FARC leader Ricardo Ovidio Palmera Pineda (aka Simon Trinidad) is captured in Ecuador. |
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3: 1: 2004. The Kurdish authority continue to strive for their own autonomy, following their announcement on October 8th 2003 and subsequent help in capturing Saddam Hussein Flash bulletin (8-10-03) Peaceplangroup's analysis in Kurdish Questions, Kurdish Answers proposes a federation of 3 principal states in Iraq with oil funds etc collected by the United Nations oil for food programme during the interim government of Iraq. This proposal has now been supported in the latest offering by Foreign Policy in Focus (FPIF) with . "Combating the Natural Resource Curse with Citizen Revenue Distribution Funds. Oil and the Case for Iraq" |
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1: 1: 2004 The Vatican Pope
John Paul reveals his "World Day of Peace" message, in which
he states "The various colours of the prism
A Practical Initiative |
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