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Iraq

An Open Letter to the President of the United States of America,

Mr. Bush: Good morning sir. Like you, I am a father and an American. Like you, I consider myself a patriot. Like you, I was horrified by the events of this past year, concerned for my family and my country. However, I do not believe in a simplistic and inflammatory view of good and evil. I believe this is a big world full of men, women, and children who struggle to eat, to love, to work, to protect their families, their beliefs, and their dreams. My father, like yours, was decorated for service in World War II.
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TARGET IRAQ: The Oil Issue

On November 14, 2002, a few days before the first members of the new U.N. inspection team arrived in Baghdad, the U.S. secretary of defense did an hour-long live interview on the Infinity Broadcasting network. A caller asked what would happen if the U.N. inspectors did not find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. “What it would prove would be that the inspection process had been successfully defeated by the Iraqis,”Donald Rumsfeld replied. In effect, he was saying that absence of incriminating evidence would be incriminating....
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TARGET IRAQ: The March to War

On November 14, 2002, a few days before the first members of the new U.N. inspection team arrived in Baghdad, the U.S. secretary of defense did an hour-long live interview on the Infinity Broadcasting network. A caller asked what would happen if the U.N. inspectors did not find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. “What it would prove would be that the inspection process had been successfully defeated by the Iraqis,”Donald Rumsfeld replied. In effect, he was saying that absence of incriminating evidence would be incriminating....
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TARGET IRAQ: Sanctions

Basra once had a swinging reputation. Sheiks from around the Arab world came to the Basra Sheraton to enjoy alcohol, women, and other pleasures formally prohibited in their home countries. Today foreigners can get a rather dilapidated room at that same hotel for forty dollars a night. It costs Iraqis ten....
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Unilateral by Any Other Name

When the U.N. Security Council adopted its Iraq resolution on November 8, 2002, American politicians and journalists hailed the unanimous vote as a huge victory for international cooperation, and a breakthrough that averted unilateral action. In Washington, a range of lawmakers sounded upbeat. So did pundits eager to congratulate the Bush team for a diplomatic job well done....
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Depleted Uranium: America’s Dirty Secret

During the Persian Gulf War, the U.S. military wreaked havoc on Iraqi tanks and armored vehicles. The Iraqis didn’t stand a chance because the U.S. tanks were protected with metal called depleted uranium. Depleted uranium (DU) armor and ammunition gave the U.S. a decided advantage. U.S. tanks fired DU shells, and helicopter Gattling guns sprayed .30 mm DU ammunition in a deadly rain that may well be killing U.S. veterans and Iraqi civilians years after the war ended....
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TARGET IRAQ:Spinning 9/11, Terrorism, and Weapons of Mass Destruction

In the early autumn of 2002, shortly before Congress voted to authorize a U.S. war against Iraq, a CBS News poll found that 51 percent of Americans believed that Saddam Hussein was involved in the attacks of September 11, 2001. Soon afterwards, the Pew Research Center reported that two-thirds of the U.S. public agreed “Saddam Hussein helped the terrorists in the September 11 attacks.”...
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TARGET IRAQ: Voices from the Iraqi Streets

Night has fallen on the dusty two-lane road in eastern Iraq when the taxi driver casually mentions that his family lives in a nearby town. When asked whether he would mind if an American visitor met his family, the taxi driver hits the brakes and swings the car around....
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TARGET IRAQ: The Media’s War

For several decades, Helen Thomas covered the White House as a reporter for United Press International. She became a syndicated columnist at the start of the 21st century—and when the specter of war grew large in 2002, she didn’t hold back. “It’s bombs away for Iraq and on our civil liberties if Bush and his cronies get their way,” Thomas said in early November during a speech at MIT. Looking back on a long career, she said: “I censored myself for fifty years when I was a reporter.”...
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TARGET IRAQ: Media Coverage. A View from the Ground

Reporters become real friendly, real fast in Iraq.You have a lot of shared experiences—from poor telecommunications to suspicious Iraqi officials to exasperating editors back home....
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