News, Prophecy and other

[Shammu]

Saudi FM to visit Iran, plays down war games

12 minutes ago

RIYADH (AFP) - Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said that Iran's war games during which it has tested new weapons do not pose a threat to Gulf neighbors and announced he would visit Tehran soon.

"This is not the first time that the Iranians stage naval maneuvers, and I don't think they (the games) constitute a danger to any (of Iran's) neighbors," Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters.

Iran said on Tuesday it successfully test-fired a new land-to-sea missile, the latest launch in Gulf war games that have aroused international concern amid rising tensions over its nuclear program.

On Monday, Iran said it had tested a highly destructive torpedo, prompting the US State Department to voice "concern" over the move.

Prince Saud said Riyadh believes Tehran's denial of charges that its nuclear program is aimed at acquiring nuclear weapons.

"That is why we don't see a danger in Iran acquiring knowledge about nuclear energy provided it does not lead to (nuclear) proliferation. Of course, we believe proliferation is a threat," he said.

The United States believes that Iran's uranium enrichment activities mask a nuclear weapon program, a charge Tehran denies.

The Saudi foreign minister said it was not enough to seek to prevent more countries in the Middle East from acquiring weapons of mass destruction.

"The better policy would be to end the possession of such weapons by countries that have them, such as
Israel," he said.

Israel has never publicly acknowledged that it maintains a nuclear arsenal but foreign experts say it has used a reactor at Dimona in the southern Negev desert to produce between 100 and 200 nuclear warheads.

Prince Saud said he would visit Iran soon, but did not give a specific date.

Thousands of Iranian troops are conducting the war games, which involve the Revolutionary Guards Corps navy and air force, Iran's regular army and navy, the volunteer Basij militia, and the Iranian police.

They kicked off last Friday and are due to run until Thursday.

Iran has refused to comply with a UN Security Council demand to freeze uranium enrichment, defying a warning from major world powers which fear that the Islamic republic secretly wants to develop an atomic bomb.

Tehran insists on nuclear technology for peaceful purposes as its right.

Saudi FM to visit Iran, plays down war games

[Shammu]

Iraq Files Genocide Charges Against Saddam

By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer 49 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi authorities charged Saddam Hussein with genocide Tuesday, accusing him of trying to exterminate the Kurds in a 1980s campaign that killed an estimated 100,000 — the first move to prosecute him for the major human rights violations which the U.S. cited to help justify its invasion.

The former Iraqi president returns to court Wednesday in his current 6-month-old trial, facing a possible death sentence if convicted in the killings of more than 140 Shiites. Defense lawyer Khamis al-Obeidi said Saddam plans to make a statement to the court.

But that case involves a relatively small number of victims, and the scope of the allegation pales in comparison to the crackdown against the Kurds or the suppression of the Shiite uprising in south Iraq in 1991.

Investigative judge Raid Juhi told reporters he submitted the new case against Saddam and six co-defendants to the Iraqi High Tribunal — a legal step that is the equivalent of an indictment under Iraqi law.

His move paves the way for a second trial, which could begin any time after 45 days. Juhi said charges also include crimes against humanity.

Legal experts said the decision to accuse Saddam of genocide is controversial because the charge is difficult to prove. An international convention following the Nazi Holocaust of World War II defined genocide as an effort "to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."

The latest charges involve Saddam's alleged role in Operation Anfal, the 1988 military campaign launched in the final months of the war with Iran to crush independence-minded Kurdish militias and clear Kurds from the sensitive Iranian border area of northern Iraq.

Saddam had accused Kurdish militias of ties to Iran. Thousands of Kurdish villages were razed and their inhabitants either killed or displaced.

A memo released by the tribunal said the Anfal campaign included "savage military attacks on civilians," including "the use of mustard gas and nerve agents ... to kill and maim rural villagers and to drive them out of their homes."

"These people were subjected to forced displacement and illegal detention involving thousands of civilians," Juhi said. "They were placed in different detention centers. The villages were destroyed and burned. Homes and houses of worshippers and buildings of civilians were leveled without reason or a military requirement."

In the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah, Othman Hassan, 72, said he lost two sons and 26 other relatives in Anfal.

"When I last saw my sons, it was as if I had lost the light of my life," he said. "It was a terrible day when they were taken away. They don't need to hear from any witnesses. Just come here and see the thousands who never knew their parents and the widows who lost their husbands."

The operations against the Kurds included the March 1988 gas attack on the village of Halabja in which 5,000 people, including women and children, died. However, Juhi told The Associated Press that the Halabja attack would be prosecuted separately and was not considered part of the charges filed Tuesday.

Others accused in the Anfal case include Saddam's cousin, Ali Hassan Majid, or "Chemical Ali"; former Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad; former intelligence chief Saber Abdul Aziz al-Douri; former Republican Guard commander Hussein al-Tikriti; former Nineveh provincial Gov. Taher Tafwiq al-Ani; and former top military commander Farhan Mutlaq al-Jubouri.

Saddam and seven others have been on trial since Oct. 19 for the deaths of Shiite Muslims following a 1982 assassination attempt against him in the town of Dujail.

None of Saddam's co-defendants in the Dujail case is included in the latest charges. Iraqi authorities chose to try Saddam separately for various alleged crimes rather than lump all the cases together.

The Dujail trial was the first of what Iraqi authorities say could be up to a dozen proceedings. Saddam could face death by hanging if convicted in the Dujail case. But President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said he doubted any sentence would be carried out until all trials were complete — a process likely to take years.

Michael Scharf, director of the Frederick K. Cox International Law Center at Case Western Reserve University, said he believed genocide may be hard to prove because Kurds who left their villages were spared and because the area where the operation occurred was "reportedly used as a base of anti-government operations by insurgents allied with Iran."

"Thus Saddam may have desired to clear it for strategic rather than genocidal reasons," Scharf said in an e-mail.

U.N. tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda have accused at least 49 people of genocide, convicting 24 but acquitting 10. Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was among the remaining six accused of genocide but he died last month before the end of his trial.

In December, a Dutch court sentenced chemicals merchant Frans van Anraat to 15 years in prison for selling Saddam's regime the chemicals used in attacks on the Kurds. The ruling, the first ever dealing with atrocities under Saddam, concluded that the attacks constituted genocide.

The court had no jurisdiction to try Saddam, but prosecutors named Saddam and "Chemical Ali" as coconspirators. The Iraqi tribunal has access to several weeks of testimony and evidence presented in that trial.

One document was a government decree said to have been signed by Saddam on June 20, 1987, ordering "special artillery bombs to kill as many people as possible" in the Kurdish area. Special artillery, Dutch prosecutors said, meant chemical weapons.

"Chemical Ali" was heard in an April 21, 1988, audio clip ordering that people caught in Kurdish areas "have to be destroyed ... must have their heads shot off." In another radio fragment, he said: "I will attack them with chemical weapons and kill them all."

Iraq Files Genocide Charges Against Saddam

[Shammu]

Saddam Genocide Charge Hard to Prove

By ANTHONY DEUTSCH, Associated Press Writer 16 minutes ago

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Saddam Hussein on Tuesday joined a growing number of former leaders accused of the worst crime known to man: genocide. Defined as the intent to destroy an ethnic group in part or in whole, experts say it is the toughest war crime to prove.

An Iraqi indictment accused the ousted president of trying to exterminate the Kurds in northern Iraq in a 1980s campaign known as Operation Anfal that killed an estimated 100,000.

Michael Scharf, director of the Frederick K. Cox International Law Center at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, said the genocide case against Saddam won't be easy to prove "despite the large number of Kurdish victims (reportedly more than 100,000)."

Scharf said a number of issues could undermine the case including the sparing of Kurdish villagers, the killing of non-Kurds and potentially legitimate military goals and economic aims.

The Anfal case is the second indictment against Saddam, who has been on trial with seven co-defendants since Oct. 19 for the massacre of more than 140 Shiites following a 1982 assassination attempt against him in the town of Dujail.

U.N. tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, applying the international convention against genocide adopted after the Holocaust, have filed genocide charges against at least 49 individuals. Slightly under half of those were convicted, while a few are still awaiting trial.

Most recently, Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic died March 11 while on trial for the massacre of at least 8,000 Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica in July 1995 — an attack that constituted genocide under the strict definition in international law.

The most difficult aspect to set out in a courtroom is intent and a premeditated plan and proving genocide in Bosnia has been a daunting task. Seven of the 23 people indicted have been acquitted and just one man — Gen. Radislav Krstic — was convicted by the Yugoslav tribunal and is serving a 35-year sentence for the worst violence on European soil in 50 years.

The Rwanda tribunal, which prosecutes those accused in the 1994 genocide of at least 500,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus, has convicted 23 people and acquitted just three. Former Prime Minister Jean Kambanda pleaded guilty and is serving a life sentence with several of his government ministers.

That tribunal set a number of important legal precedents, including the first conviction based on the 1948 Genocide Convention. It also defined the crime of rape and found that rape and sexual violence may constitute genocide if the crimes are committed "with the intent to destroy a particular group targeted as such."

The latest charges involve Saddam's alleged role in Operation Anfal, which was launched in the final months of the 1980-1988 war with Iran to crush independence-minded Kurdish militias and clear Kurds from the sensitive Iranian border area.

The three-phase military campaign included the March 16, 1988, gas attack on the village of Halabja that killed 5,000. But Investigative judge Raid Juhi said Saddam will be tried separately for that attack.

The Iraqi tribunal will have the support of evidence from an earlier genocide trial that implicated Saddam.

In December, a Dutch court sentenced chemicals merchant Frans van Anraat to 15 years in prison for selling Saddam's regime the chemicals used against the Kurds. The ruling, the first ever dealing with Halabja and chemical attacks on seven other villages, concluded that the killing constituted genocide.

It had no jurisdiction to try Saddam, but prosecutors named Saddam and his cousin, Ali Hassan Majid, or "Chemical Ali," as co-conspirators.

Dutch prosecutors said the Iraqi military left an estimated 182,000 Kurds dead and hundreds of thousands more in detention camps.

Saddam Genocide Charge Hard to Prove

[Shammu]

Latest Paris Demonstration Turns Violent

By JENNY BARCHFIELD, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 30 minutes ago

PARIS - Demonstrators opposed to a new jobs law swarmed parts of downtown Paris on Tuesday, throwing stones, tearing down street signs and ripping up park benches. Riot police, firing tear gas canisters and making several charges, carried away protesters in handcuffs.

Police said at least 1 million people poured into the streets around the country in the latest protests against the law, which makes it easier to fire young workers. Organizers said 3 million people marched.

A nationwide strike shut down the Eiffel Tower and snarled air and rail travel for the second time in a week while students barricaded themselves in schools.

It was the second time in a week that unions and student groups had succeeded in mobilizing such numbers. The largest march, in Paris, drew at least 80,000 people, while 935,000 marched in other parts of the country, police said.

Organizers put the figure in the capital at 700,000.

Violence erupted at the end of the largest protest, in Paris, with youths pelting police with stones, fighting and using metal bars to break up chunks of pavement that they hurled at helmeted riot officers.

One young woman twirled flaming batons. The sounds of blowing whistles were heard throughout the plaza.

Officers carrying batons and shields charged several times, making arrests.

Protesters have mounted ever-larger demonstrations for two months against the law. But
President Jacques Chirac signed it anyway Sunday, saying it will help France keep pace with the global economy.

He offered modifications, but students and unions rejected them, saying they want the law withdrawn, not softened.

"What Chirac has done is not enough," said Rebecca Konforti, 18, who was among a group of students who jammed tables against the door of their high school in southern Paris to block entry. "They're not really concessions. He just did it to calm the students."

By midday, police said at least 100,000 people had hit French streets, including buoyant students parading through Marseille under a sunny southern sky and major marches from Nantes in the west to Saint-Etienne in the southeast. Protests even reached the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion, where 2,000 people marched.

Some 60 students lobbed eggs and other objects at police in the northern city of Lille, and at least one person was detained.

Organizers, who said the turnout was in the hundreds of thousands, hoped it would exceed the 1 million who marched last week. The afternoon march in Paris promised to be the biggest, and the city deployed 4,000 police to avert violence that marred previous protests.

Police actively looked to thwart troublemakers. At Paris' Saint-Lazare station, riot officers with weapons and a police dog pulled over train travelers disembarking from the suburbs, searching their bags and checking identities.

Tourists, meanwhile, stood bewildered before closed gates at the Eiffel Tower. Parisian commuters flattened themselves onto limited subway trains. Garbage bins in some Paris neighborhoods stood overflowing and uncollected by striking sanitation workers.

Irish budget airline Ryanair canceled all its flights in and out of France.

The strike appeared weaker, however, than last week's action. Signs of a possible breakthrough began to emerge as labor leaders suggested they could hold talks with lawmakers after Tuesday's demonstrations.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin devised the disputed "first job contract" as a bid to boost the economy and stem chronic youth unemployment. He maintains it would encourage hiring by allowing employers to fire workers under 26 during their first two years on a job without giving a reason.

The measure is meant to cut a 22 percent unemployment rate among youths that reaches 50 percent in some poor, heavily immigrant neighborhoods. Villepin has cited the national statistics agency as saying it would create up to 80,000 new jobs at zero cost to the state.

Critics say it threatens France's hallmark labor protections, and the crisis has severely damaged Villepin's political reputation.

Chirac stepped in Friday to order two major modifications — reducing a trial period of two years to one year and forcing employers to explain any firings — in hopes of defusing the crisis. In so doing, he dealt a blow to Villepin, his one-time top aide and apparent choice as successor next year.

In an apparent first in France, Chirac signed the original measure into law this weekend, as promised, but also effectively suspended it with an order that it not be applied. The 73-year-old president's legal sleight of hand kept the law alive while a new version is in the works.

Now that the law has been signed, protesters have less maneuvering room. The government appeared to be hoping that protests would die down after Tuesday's big event and was looking to possible talks between more moderate unions and lawmakers led by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

Sarkozy, a leading presidential hopeful, is the only senior government official unscathed by the crisis.

The head of the governing UMP party's bloc in parliament, Bernard Accoyer, told reporters he had invited labor leaders to talks.

Two labor leaders — CFDT union chief Francois Chereque and CGT union chief Bernard Thibault — suggested they would attend. But both said they hoped the law eventually would be rejected.

Latest Paris Demonstration Turns Violent

[Shammu]

Police, Jobs Law Protesters Clash in Paris

By JENNY BARCHFIELD, Associated Press Writer 9 minutes ago

PARIS - Demonstrators opposed to a new jobs law swarmed parts of downtown Paris on Tuesday, throwing stones, tearing down street signs and ripping up park benches. Riot police, firing tear gas canisters and making several charges, carried away protesters in handcuffs.

Police said at least 1 million people poured into the streets around the country in the latest protests against the law, which makes it easier to fire young workers. Organizers said 3 million people marched.

A nationwide strike shut down the Eiffel Tower and snarled air and rail travel for the second time in a week while students barricaded themselves in schools.

It was the second time in a week that unions and student groups had succeeded in mobilizing such numbers. The largest march, in Paris, drew at least 80,000 people, while 935,000 marched in other parts of the country, police said.

Organizers put the figure in the capital at 700,000.

Violence erupted at the end of the largest protest, in Paris, with youths pelting police with stones, fighting and using metal bars to break up chunks of pavement that they hurled at helmeted riot officers.

One young woman twirled flaming batons. The sounds of blowing whistles were heard throughout the plaza.

Officers carrying batons and shields charged several times, making arrests.

Protesters have mounted ever-larger demonstrations for two months against the law. But President Jacques Chirac signed it anyway Sunday, saying it will help France keep pace with the global economy.

He offered modifications, but students and unions rejected them, saying they want the law withdrawn, not softened.

"What Chirac has done is not enough," said Rebecca Konforti, 18, who was among a group of students who jammed tables against the door of their high school in southern Paris to block entry. "They're not really concessions. He just did it to calm the students."

By midday, police said at least 100,000 people had hit French streets, including buoyant students parading through Marseille under a sunny southern sky and major marches from Nantes in the west to Saint-Etienne in the southeast. Protests even reached the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion, where 2,000 people marched.

Some 60 students lobbed eggs and other objects at police in the northern city of Lille, and at least one person was detained.

Organizers, who said the turnout was in the hundreds of thousands, hoped it would exceed the 1 million who marched last week. The afternoon march in Paris promised to be the biggest, and the city deployed 4,000 police to avert violence that marred previous protests.

Police actively looked to thwart troublemakers. At Paris' Saint-Lazare station, riot officers with weapons and a police dog pulled over train travelers disembarking from the suburbs, searching their bags and checking identities.

Tourists, meanwhile, stood bewildered before closed gates at the Eiffel Tower. Parisian commuters flattened themselves onto limited subway trains. Garbage bins in some Paris neighborhoods stood overflowing and uncollected by striking sanitation workers.

Irish budget airline Ryanair canceled all its flights in and out of France.

The strike appeared weaker, however, than last week's action. Signs of a possible breakthrough began to emerge as labor leaders suggested they could hold talks with lawmakers after Tuesday's demonstrations.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin devised the disputed "first job contract" as a bid to boost the economy and stem chronic youth unemployment. He maintains it would encourage hiring by allowing employers to fire workers under 26 during their first two years on a job without giving a reason.

The measure is meant to cut a 22 percent unemployment rate among youths that reaches 50 percent in some poor, heavily immigrant neighborhoods. Villepin has cited the national statistics agency as saying it would create up to 80,000 new jobs at zero cost to the state.

Critics say it threatens France's hallmark labor protections, and the crisis has severely damaged Villepin's political reputation.

Chirac stepped in Friday to order two major modifications — reducing a trial period of two years to one year and forcing employers to explain any firings — in hopes of defusing the crisis. In so doing, he dealt a blow to Villepin, his one-time top aide and apparent choice as successor next year.

In an apparent first in France, Chirac signed the original measure into law this weekend, as promised, but also effectively suspended it with an order that it not be applied. The 73-year-old president's legal sleight of hand kept the law alive while a new version is in the works.

Now that the law has been signed, protesters have less maneuvering room. The government appeared to be hoping that protests would die down after Tuesday's big event and was looking to possible talks between more moderate unions and lawmakers led by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

Sarkozy, a leading presidential hopeful, is the only senior government official unscathed by the crisis.

The head of the governing UMP party's bloc in parliament, Bernard Accoyer, told reporters he had invited labor leaders to talks.

Two labor leaders — CFDT union chief Francois Chereque and CGT union chief Bernard Thibault — suggested they would attend. But both said they hoped the law eventually would be rejected.

Police, Jobs Law Protesters Clash in Paris

[Shammu]

'Carlos the Jackal' Fined in France

45 minutes ago

PARIS - A Paris court fined the terrorist known as "Carlos the Jackal" more than $6,000 Tuesday for saying in a French television interview that terror attacks sometimes were "necessary."
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The 56-year-old Venezuelan, whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, was convicted of defending terrorism.

In a 2004 report on M6 television, Ramirez said: "We are authorized to take life if necessary." The judges ruled that he presented terrorist acts as "legal and even necessary."

The court did not convict him for expressing pleasure that "the Great Satan" — the United States — suffered the Sept. 11 attacks, saying those comments were his personal reaction.

Prosecutors asked for a fine four times larger than the $6,110 penalty imposed. But the judges said they did not see the need for a higher fine because Ramirez's comments referred to the past and aimed to justify his own actions.

Ramirez, dressed in a red shirt and blue blazer, kissed the hand of his partner and lawyer, Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, during the judgment.

He is serving a life sentence for the 1975 murders of two French secret agents and an alleged informer. He gained international notoriety as the Cold War-era mastermind of deadly bombings, assassinations and hostage dramas.

He was captured in Sudan in 1994 and hauled in a sack to Paris by French secret service agents. He remains under investigation for a series of attacks in France.

'Carlos the Jackal' Fined in France

My note; Some of you kids don't know who Carlos is. But let me tell you, he is one bad dude!

[Soldier4Christ]

Key Iraq Leader Calls for PM to Step Aside

An Iraqi vice president called Tuesday for the embattled Shiite prime minister to step aside so a new government can be formed, becoming the most senior Shiite official publicly to endorse demands for a leadership change to halt the slide toward civil war.

Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi told the British Broadcasting Corp. that he met with Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari on Monday and urged him to give up the nomination for a second term because he had lost the confidence of the Sunnis and Kurds.

But Abdul-Mahdi said al-Jaafari refused, insisting he wanted to take his case to parliament, which must approve the new prime minister and his Cabinet by a majority vote.

Asked whether al-Jaafari should withdraw his nomination, Abdul-Mahdi said: "Yes, after such a time of naming him, not getting approval from others now in UIA (the dominant Shiite political bloc), there is some rejection so I think he should step aside."
   
   

Abdul-Mahdi lost the prime minister nomination to al-Jaafari in February by a single vote at a caucus of the Shiite bloc, which won the most seats in parliamentary elections last December. Al-Jaafari squeaked through largely because he had the support of the powerful anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Abdul-Mahdi's comment followed the visit of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who warned the Iraqis that their key allies were losing patience with the political stalemate.

U.S. officials have been urging the Iraqis to form a new national unity government of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds as a first step toward restoring public confidence and halting the country's slide toward anarchy. The talks have stalled over the demands that al-Jaafari be replaced.

President Bush urged the Iraqis on Tuesday to speed up the talks, calling on elected leaders "to stand up and do their job."
   
A-P correspondent Vanessa Arrington reports at least ten people were killed and more than two dozen wounded in a midday bombing in the capital.
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"One way to help bring confidence to the Iraqi people that those few will not be able to determine the future of that country is for there to be unity government that steps up and says, `I'm willing to lead,'" Bush said.

Critics blame al-Jaafari for failing to restore order and for the rise in sectarian tensions. His main critics have been Sunnis and Kurds, but last weekend two other prominent Shiite politicians also called for him to step aside as the nominee.

However, Shiite officials fear that replacing him might splinter their alliance, and a Kurdish politician who opposes al-Jaafari said he feared that international pressure to remove him might trigger a backlash among Iraqis angry over foreign influence.

On Tuesday, about 2,500 people marched in support of al-Jaafari in Baghdad's Sadr City district, carrying banners saying "Down with the Conspiracy" against their candidate.

Shiite officials have been meeting for several days with Sunni and Kurdish leaders urging them to soften their opposition to al-Jaafari.

"I think tomorrow, or the day after things will ease up," said Shiite politician Khudayer al-Khuzai, who backs the prime minister. "They were understanding the grave repercussions of changing. If al-Jaafari is changed, then the (Shiite) alliance will split. We cannot abandon him because he was democratically elected."

[Soldier4Christ]

Iraq Files Genocide Charges Against Saddam

Iraqi authorities filed genocide charges against Saddam Hussein on Tuesday, accusing the ousted ruler and six others in a 1980s crackdown that killed an estimated 100,000 Kurds in northern Iraq.

In alleging Saddam sought to exterminate the Kurds, the prosecutors are for the first time accusing him of the sort of far-reaching crimes that the Bush administration has used to justify the war in Iraq.

The former Iraqi president returns to court Wednesday in his current 6-month-old trial, facing a possible death sentence if convicted in the killings of more than 140 Shiites. Defense lawyer Khamis al-Obeidi said Saddam plans to make a statement to the court.

But that case involves a relatively small number of victims, and the scope of the allegation pales in comparison to the crackdown against the Kurds or the suppression of the Shiite uprising in south Iraq in 1991.
   
   

Investigative judge Raid Juhi told reporters he submitted the new case against Saddam and the others to the Iraqi High Tribunal - a legal step that is the equivalent of an indictment under Iraqi law.

His move paves the way for a second trial, which could begin any time after 45 days. Juhi said charges also include crimes against humanity.

Legal experts said the decision to accuse Saddam of genocide is controversial because the charge is difficult to prove. An international convention following the Nazi Holocaust of World War II defined genocide as an effort "to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."

The latest charges involve Saddam's alleged role in Operation Anfal, the 1988 military campaign launched in the final months of the war with Iran to crush independence-minded Kurdish militias and clear Kurds from the sensitive Iranian border area of northern Iraq.

Saddam had accused Kurdish militias of ties to Iran. Thousands of Kurdish villages were razed and their inhabitants either killed or displaced.

A memo released by the tribunal said the Anfal campaign included "savage military attacks on civilians," including "the use of mustard gas and nerve agents ... to kill and maim rural villagers and to drive them out of their homes."

"These people were subjected to forced displacement and illegal detention involving thousands of civilians," Juhi said. "They were placed in different detention centers. The villages were destroyed and burned. Homes and houses of worshippers and buildings of civilians were leveled without reason or a military requirement."

In the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah, Othman Hassan, 72, said he lost two sons and 26 other relatives in Anfal.

"When I last saw my sons, it was as if I had lost the light of my life," he said. "It was a terrible day when they were taken away. They don't need to hear from any witnesses. Just come here and see the thousands who never knew their parents and the widows who lost their husbands."

The operations against the Kurds included the March 1988 gas attack on the village of Halabja in which 5,000 people, including women and children, died. However, Juhi told The Associated Press that the Halabja attack would be prosecuted separately and was not considered part of the charges filed Tuesday.

Others accused in the Anfal case include Saddam's cousin, Ali Hassan Majid, or "Chemical Ali"; former Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad; former intelligence chief Saber Abdul Aziz al-Douri; former Republican Guard commander Hussein al-Tikriti; former Nineveh provincial Gov. Taher Tafwiq al-Ani; and former top military commander Farhan Mutlaq al-Jubouri.

Saddam and seven others have been on trial since Oct. 19 for the deaths of Shiite Muslims following a 1982 assassination attempt against him in the town of Dujail.

None of Saddam's co-defendants in the Dujail case is included in the latest charges. Iraqi authorities chose to try Saddam separately for various alleged crimes rather than lump all the cases together.

The Dujail trial was the first of what Iraqi authorities say could be up to a dozen proceedings. Saddam could face death by hanging if convicted in the Dujail case. But President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said he doubted any sentence would be carried out until all trials were complete - a process likely to take years.

Michael Scharf, director of the Frederick K. Cox International Law Center at Case Western Reserve University, said he believed genocide may be hard to prove because Kurds who left their villages were spared and because the area where the operation occurred was "reportedly used as a base of anti-government operations by insurgents allied with Iran."

"Thus Saddam may have desired to clear it for strategic rather than genocidal reasons," Scharf said in an e-mail.

U.N. tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda have accused at least 49 people of genocide, convicting 24 but acquitting 10. Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was among the remaining six accused of genocide but he died last month before the end of his trial.

In December, a Dutch court sentenced chemicals merchant Frans van Anraat to 15 years in prison for selling Saddam's regime the chemicals used in attacks on the Kurds. The ruling, the first ever dealing with atrocities under Saddam, concluded that the attacks constituted genocide.

The court had no jurisdiction to try Saddam, but prosecutors named Saddam and "Chemical Ali" as coconspirators. The Iraqi tribunal has access to several weeks of testimony and evidence presented in that trial.

One document was a government decree said to have been signed by Saddam on June 20, 1987, ordering "special artillery bombs to kill as many people as possible" in the Kurdish area. Special artillery, Dutch prosecutors said, meant chemical weapons.

"Chemical Ali" was heard in an April 21, 1988, audio clip ordering that people caught in Kurdish areas "have to be destroyed ... must have their heads shot off." In another radio fragment, he said: "I will attack them with chemical weapons and kill them all."

[Shammu]

Russia Unaware of Ukraine’s Nuclear Supplies to Iran

Created: 03.04.2006 13:01 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 13:23 MSK

MosNews

Russia’s General Staff has no information on Ukraine’s nuclear supplies to Iran, the head of the General Staff said Monday.

Army General Yuri Baluyevsky was quoted by RIA-Novosti news agency as saying he had no information on 250 nuclear warheads Ukraine had allegedly passed to Iran.

“I do not comment on such reports, which have no foundation,” Baluyevsky said.

Novaya Gazeta newspaper wrote Monday that Ukraine had failed to return 250 warheads to Russia in the 1990s when the former Soviet republic declared itself a nuclear-free zone. The paper suggested the warheads could have been sold to a third country, including Iran.

Former top official of Russia’s Defense Ministry Yevgeny Maslin quoted by Interfax news agency refuted the information regarding “lost” warheads. He called such reports “nonsense caused by the journalists’ hunt for a cheap sensation.” “All the nuclear ammunition that was in the Ukraine before the collapse of the USSR was removed to Russia.” The ministry directorate led by Maslin was in charge of nuclear ammunition safety during the period when it was passed from Ukraine to Russia. He said he had personally controlled the ammunition removal.

Russia Unaware of Ukraine’s Nuclear Supplies to Iran

[Shammu]

Senior Russian MP Lashes Out at Iran Over “Flexing Muscles”

Created: 04.04.2006 13:40 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 15:00 MSK, 16 hours 58 minutes ago

MosNews

The chairman of the Russian State Duma (lower chamber of parliament) International Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachyov has said that the latest demonstration of military force by Iran was inappropriate, RIA Novosti reported.

“I think that such a demonstration of force by Tehran is not quite appropriate now, as nobody, not even the most radical opponents of Iran’s nuclear programme in the U.S., is discussing the use of force, even hypothetically,” Kosachyov said.

His comments followed the Iran’s testing of a new Fajr-3 missile during a military exercise in the Persian Gulf on April 2.

Such actions by Iran are counter-productive and do not create the necessary atmosphere of trust at consultations and talks about the Iranian nuclear programme, the parliamentarian said.

The technical and tactical characteristics of the Iranian missile remain unknown, Kosachyov indicated. “So far we have nothing except the assertion by the Iranian military and by politicians that it is superior to other similar missiles, but I see no reason to believe these statements,” he said.

Kosachyov believes that the missile test and the discussions on Iran’s nuclear programme by the international community are connected.

“It is obvious that Tehran is flexing its muscles to forestall any discussion of a possible use of force against Iran,” he said.

Kosachyov also thinks that Iran should give more attention to the negotiations on setting up a joint venture for uranium enrichment with Russia instead of demonstrating force.

“I would be happy if Tehran showed more flexibility on the well-known Russian offer of joint uranium enrichment instead of staking everything on the demonstration of new kinds of arms,” he said.

Senior Russian MP Lashes Out at Iran Over “Flexing Muscles”

[Shammu]

 Asefi condemns blast near a mosque in Baghdad
Tehran, April 4, IRNA

Iran-Asefi-Baghdad
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi here Tuesday strongly condemned a blast near a Shi'ite mosque in Baghdad on Monday as a terrorist and inhuman move.

As the car bomb exploded, a number of innocent Iraqi people were martyred and some others wounded.

A report released by the Foreign Ministry Media Department quoting Asefi said, "Those behind such crimes intend to create ethnic discord, launch civil war in Iraq, undermine Muslims unity and the the country's integrity.

"Undoubtedly, continued interference of the US and Britain in Iraq and their insistence on incorrect approaches mainly account for the instability and insecurity in this country. Unfortunately, this has greatly damaged the oppressed Iraqi people.

"Iran hopes that various Iraqi groups and people will keep on consciously continuing to confront the enemies conspiracies in order to get prepared to complete the process of government formation," said Asefi.

Asefi condemns blast near a mosque in Baghdad

[Shammu]

Key Iraq Leader Calls for PM to Step Aside

By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer 44 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - An Iraqi vice president called Tuesday for the embattled Shiite prime minister to step aside so a new government can be formed, becoming the most senior Shiite official publicly to endorse demands for a leadership change to halt the slide toward civil war.

Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi told the British Broadcasting Corp. that he met with Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari on Monday and urged him to give up the nomination for a second term because he had lost the confidence of the Sunnis and Kurds.

But Abdul-Mahdi said al-Jaafari refused, insisting he wanted to take his case to parliament, which must approve the new prime minister and his Cabinet by a majority vote.

Asked whether al-Jaafari should withdraw his nomination, Abdul-Mahdi said: "Yes, after such a time of naming him, not getting approval from others now in UIA (the dominant Shiite political bloc), there is some rejection so I think he should step aside."

Abdul-Mahdi lost the prime minister nomination to al-Jaafari in February by a single vote at a caucus of the Shiite bloc, which won the most seats in parliamentary elections last December. Al-Jaafari squeaked through largely because he had the support of the powerful anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Abdul-Mahdi's comment followed the visit of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who warned the Iraqis that their key allies were losing patience with the political stalemate.

U.S. officials have been urging the Iraqis to form a new national unity government of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds as a first step toward restoring public confidence and halting the country's slide toward anarchy. The talks have stalled over the demands that al-Jaafari be replaced.

President Bush urged the Iraqis on Tuesday to speed up the talks, calling on elected leaders "to stand up and do their job."

"One way to help bring confidence to the Iraqi people that those few will not be able to determine the future of that country is for there to be unity government that steps up and says, `I'm willing to lead,'" Bush said.

Critics blame al-Jaafari for failing to restore order and for the rise in sectarian tensions. His main critics have been Sunnis and Kurds, but last weekend two other prominent Shiite politicians also called for him to step aside as the nominee.

However, Shiite officials fear that replacing him might splinter their alliance, and a Kurdish politician who opposes al-Jaafari said he feared that international pressure to remove him might trigger a backlash among Iraqis angry over foreign influence.

On Tuesday, about 2,500 people marched in support of al-Jaafari in Baghdad's Sadr City district, carrying banners saying "Down with the Conspiracy" against their candidate.

Shiite officials have been meeting for several days with Sunni and Kurdish leaders urging them to soften their opposition to al-Jaafari.

"I think tomorrow, or the day after things will ease up," said Shiite politician Khudayer al-Khuzai, who backs the prime minister. "They were understanding the grave repercussions of changing. If al-Jaafari is changed, then the (Shiite) alliance will split. We cannot abandon him because he was democratically elected."

Meanwhile, a car bomb exploded Tuesday in a mostly Shiite area of eastern Baghdad, killing at least 10 people.

The bomb went off in the poor, mostly Shiite area of Habibiyah and damaged several cars and nearby sandwich stands, police said. Chaos ensued as militants from radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia fired weapons in the air to clear the crowds.

At least a dozen other Iraqis were killed Tuesday in war-related violence in Baghdad and central
Iraq, police said.

They included a mother and two of her sons, 9 and 12, who died when a bomb exploded in front of their home in the capital. A third son, age 13, was wounded, along with two brothers from a different family living in the same home, police said.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, a receptionist at the United Arab Emirates Embassy and his friend — both Iraqis — were slain as they left the building, police said. Insurgents have often targeted diplomats and employees of Arab and Muslim embassies to undermine support for the U.S.-backed government.

Gunmen also killed a judge, an ice cream vendor and his companion and a policeman in separate slayings in the capital, police said.

In Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded near a convoy carrying the son of a city council member, killing a security guard and a driver, police said. The council member's son escaped injury.

In southern Iraq, gunmen killed one policeman and wounded another as the two were driving in the city of Basra, police said. Two mortar rounds exploded near the British consulate in Basra during a reception, causing no injuries but forcing the party to end early, an Associated Press reporter at the event said.

Police in Baghdad also found the bodies of four men, apparent victims of sectarian reprisal killings. It was unclear when they were slain.

The body of a U.S. Marine missing after a weekend vehicle accident was also recovered Tuesday, the U.S. said. Six U.S. troops were killed and two remain missing after the Sunday accident in western Iraq.

Key Iraq Leader Calls for PM to Step Aside

[Shammu]

Iran Test-Fires 'Top Secret' Missile

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer Wed Apr 5, 1:13 PM ET

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran said Wednesday it has successfully test-fired a "top secret" missile, the third in a week, state-run television reported.

The report called the missile an "ultra-horizon" weapon and said it could be fired from all military helicopters and jet fighters.

The tests came amid war games being held since Friday by the elite Revolutionary Guards in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea at a time of increased tension with the United States over Tehran's nuclear program.

Iranian television called it a "turning point" in its missile tests but gave no other details.

At the same time, the head of the Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, said the United States must recognize Iran as a "big, regional power."

Speaking on state television, Safavi said Iran could use the Straits of Hormuz to apply pressure on foreign powers. About two-fifths of the world's oil supplies pass through the 34-mile-wide entrance to the Gulf.

"The Straits of Hormuz are a point of control and economic pressure on the energy transfer route for those foreign powers that might want to undermine regional security," Safavi said.

He reiterated that Iran could defend itself against any invasion and added: "I advise Americans not to move toward a military strike against Iran."

On Tuesday, Safavi called for foreign forces to leave the region. The U.S. 5th Fleet is based in Bahrain.

That same day, Iran tested a new surface-to-sea radar-avoiding missile equipped with remote-control and searching systems, state TV reported. It said the new missile, called Kowsar, was a medium-range weapon that Iran could mass-produce.

It also said the Kowsar's guidance system could not be scrambled, and it had been designed to sink ships.

On Friday, Iran tested the Fajr-3, a missile that it said can avoid radar and hit several targets simultaneously using multiple warheads. Iran also has tested what it calls two new torpedoes.

One of the torpedoes, unveiled Monday, was tested in the Straits of Hormuz. That seemed to be a clear warning to the United States that Iran believes it has the capability to disable oil tankers moving through the Gulf.

The Revolutionary Guards have been holding their maneuvers — code-named the "Great Prophet" — since Friday.

Some military analysts in Moscow said it appears the high-speed torpedoes likely were Russian-built weapons that may have been acquired from China or Kyrgyzstan.

Others have questioned their capabilities of evading advanced radar systems such as those in Israel.

The United States said Monday that while Iran may have made "some strides" in its military, it likely is exaggerating its capabilities.

"We know that the Iranians are always trying to improve their weapons system by both foreign and indigenous measures," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. "It's possible that they are increasing their capability and making strides in radar-absorbing materials and technology."

But "the Iranians have also been known to boast and exaggerate their statements about greater technical and tactical capabilities," he said.

Safavi on Wednesday rejected the U.S. claims that Iran had exaggerated its capabilities.

"They tried to say what is related to our equipment was just a bluff. But we announce that the advanced equipment were based on a real and domestic industry," he said.

The U.N. Security Council has demanded Iran give up uranium enrichment, a crucial part of the nuclear process. Washington is pressing for sanctions if Tehran continues its refusal to do so, though U.S. officials have not ruled out military action as an eventual option, insisting they will not allow Iran to gain a nuclear arsenal.

On Tuesday, state TV also said the Revolutionary Guards had tested what it called a "super-modern flying boat" capable of evading radar.

The report showed the boat, looking like an aircraft, taking off from the sea and flying low over the water.

Iran has held war games for two decades to improve its combat readiness and test locally made equipment.

Iran launched an arms development program during its 1980-88 war with Iraq to compensate for a U.S. weapons embargo. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles and a fighter plane.

Iran Test-Fires 'Top Secret' Missile

[Shammu]

Russian General Believes North Korea Has Nuclear Weapons

Created: 05.04.2006 16:43 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 16:43 MSK, 14 hours 43 minutes ago

MosNews

Former chief of staff of Russian Strategic Missile Troops, Colonel-General Viktor Yesin, believes that North Korea currently has all the necessary infrastructure for the production of a nuclear explosive device, while Iran will be able to produce a nuclear weapon within the next few years.

“Pyongyang already said last year that it had a nuclear weapon. I think this statement was not groundless: the DPRK (Democratic Party of the Republic of North Korea) has developed the necessary infrastructure for the creation of nuclear weapons, and the North Korean nuclear facilities have not been monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency for more than three years,” Yesin told Interfax news agency.

However, he noted that “unlike India and Pakistan, Pyongyang has so far not carried out a nuclear test”.

“Therefore I would refrain from saying unequivocally that the DPRK has a nuclear weapon,” he said.

Yesin suggested that “the North Koreans have managed to assemble a nuclear explosive device but not nuclear munitions”.

But another state with nuclear ambitions, Iran, would only be able to accomplish its project in several years’ time, Yesin believes.

“Iran has not created the full-fledged infrastructure needed for the production of nuclear weapons. But in two or three years Tehran will accomplish its nuclear project and create an A-bomb if the world community does not stop it. I am convinced that the Iranian leadership has this intention and won’t give it up voluntarily,” Yesin said.

Russian General Believes North Korea Has Nuclear Weapons

[Shammu]

Saddam Admits Approving Death Sentences

By MARIAM FAM, Associated Press Writer 34 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein dodged questions from prosecutors cross-examining him for the first time Wednesday over a crackdown against Shiites in the 1980s. But he acknowledged approving death sentences for 148 Shiites, saying he was convinced they tried to assassinate him.

At times sharp and combative but often relaxed or even smiling, the former Iraqi leader declined to confirm his signature on documents. When prosecutors presented identity cards of children whose death sentences they said he signed, he maintained they were forged.

"You can buy IDs like this in the market," Saddam said. "Is it the responsibility of the head of the state to check the IDs of defendants and see how old they are?"

Standing alone in a black suit in the defendants' pen, Saddam refrained from the outbursts he has made in previous sessions. But he denounced the court as "illegitimate" and attempted to tap into Sunni resentment of the Shiite-led Interior Ministry, which many Sunnis accuse of backing death squads.

The Interior Ministry "kills thousands of people on the streets and tortures them," Saddam said.

"Don't venture into political matters," Chief Judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman admonished him.

"If you are scared of the interior minister, he doesn't scare my dog," Saddam retorted.

The session came a day after the tribunal indicted Saddam and six former members of his regime on separate charges of genocide for a campaign against Kurds in the 1980s that killed an estimated 100,000 people.

A separate trial will be held on those charges, possibly beginning in 45 days, though some officials have questioned whether the tribunal will be able to conduct two trials simultaneously. In any case, it means a drawn-out legal process amid continued violence and political wrangling over the formation of Iraq's next government.

In the current trial, Saddam and seven other former members of his regime face possible execution by hanging if convicted of a crackdown on Shiites launched after a 1982 assassination attempt against Saddam in the town of Dujail. In the sweep that followed, 148 Shiites were killed and hundreds were imprisoned. Many say they were tortured.

After a six-hour session, the trial adjourned until Thursday. Prosecutors appeared to have finished questioning Saddam.

Chief Prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi asked Saddam about his approval of the death sentences handed down by his Revolutionary Court, which prosecutors have argued gave the Shiites only a cursory trial.

"That is one of the duties of the president," Saddam replied. "I had the right to question the judgment. But I was convinced the evidence that was presented was sufficient" to show their guilt.

Asked if he had read the evidence against the 148 suspects before referring them for trial, Saddam replied, "If the constitution requires the head of state to review documents before referral, then I abided by it."

"At the time this crime was committed against the head of state, Saddam Hussein, we were in a state of war," Saddam said Wednesday, referring to the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

"Don't you know that now children and women are being killed?" Saddam asked, apparently trying to shift attention to the country's current violence. "Now, the bodies are being thrown on the street as if they were dogs....An Iraqi is not a dog."

Al-Moussawi asked Saddam if he was aware that 28 of the Shiites sentenced to death were under 18 and presented identity cards showing some were minors. Prosecutors have said an 11-year-old boy was among those killed.

"I sentence an underage Iraqi to death? I wouldn't do it even if you were to carve my eyes out," Saddam said.

He added that identity cards can easily be forged. "I could get a hold of an ID saying Mr. Raouf is 25 years old," he added, waving toward the judge.

During the questioning, Saddam cooperated with the court at times, grinning at the chief prosecutor and reciting poetry to the judge, whom he casually addressed by his first name as "Mr. Raouf."

But at times, his relaxed demeanor gave way to a more condescending and irritable side.

He snapped at Abdel-Rahman when the judge tried to stop Saddam from talking politics. "You were convicted during my time and I pardoned you. What could have brought you here if it weren't for politics?" Saddam told the judge.

Defense lawyers have claimed Abdel-Rahman, a Kurd, was convicted in absentia during Saddam's era for activity with opposition Kurds. Abdel-Rahman has denied that.

Al-Moussawi displayed documents — including some approving medals for intelligence agents involved in the crackdown and authorizing the razing of Dujail farmlands. Al-Moussawi repeatedly asked if the signatures on the documents were Saddam's.

Saddam avoided a direct reply, refusing to confirm the signatures but stopping short of saying they were forged.

The prosecutors also showed a video they said was taken in the 1980s that showed Saddam talking about "enemies of the revolution," and asserting: "I would chop off their heads without one hair of mine shaking ... As for the ranks of the enemies, if someone died during investigations, he has no value."

Pressed by the judge, the prosecutor acknowledged the tape was not directly connected to the Dujail case but insisted it was relevant.

Saddam said the comments were shown out of context and that he was talking about things "outside the borders" at a time when Iraq was at war.

Defense lawyer Bushra al-Khalil argued against submitting the video, and Abdel-Rahman chided her for interrupting. After an argument, he ordered her out of the courtroom. Guards escorted her out of the court, but Abdel-Rahman later said she would be allowed to return.

Saddam Admits Approving Death Sentences