Radio Havana Cuba International News Jun 16

http://www.radiohc.cu/homeing.htm


US Troops Ambushed in Iraq as Massive Use of Firepower Infuriates Iraqi
Civilians

Baghdad, June 16 (RHC) - Iraqi guerrilla fighters ambushed a US military
convoy north of Baghdad Monday, wounding several soldiers, as Iraqi anger is
growing amid what many say is the indiscriminate use of force and violent
house-to-house searches. The convoy was ambushed as thousands of US troops
launched Operation Desert Scorpion, another mission intended to root out
Saddam Hussein loyalists after a spate of attacks that have killed more than
40 American soldiers since major combat was declared over on May 1. It
follows last week's operation, codenamed Peninsula Strike, in which more
than 100 Iraqis are reported to have been killed.

The British news daily The Independent reported Sunday that according to one
of the most prominent Iraqi leaders acceptable to all sides, Iraq needs a
transitional administration within three weeks to avoid a descent into
chaos. Adnan Pachachi, a highly regarded former Iraqi foreign minister who
is expected to play a big role in a transitional Iraqi administration,
criticized what he called the heavy-handed US sweeps, labeling the operation
"an overreaction" by troops who feel "very vulnerable and afraid".

Meanwhile, the effort to disarm Iraqis, who traditionally own weapons, is
proving less than successful with only 700 guns out of an estimated five
million in the country being handed in under an amnesty that has just ended.
Sunday marked the end of a two-week amnesty for Iraqis to hand in heavy
weapons without punishment. Iraqis caught with banned weapons without a
permit will now face a fine and a jail term of up to a year. Many Iraqis
have complained that they dare not give up their guns until security is
restored.



Official British Investigation Says Iraqi Mobile Labs Found by US Troops
Have Nothing To Do With Germ Warfare

London, June 16 (RHC) - An official British investigation has determined
that two trailers found in northern Iraq by US troops are not mobile germ
warfare labs, as claimed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US
President George Bush. Biological weapons experts working for the British
government determined that the trailers were for the production of hydrogen
to fill artillery balloons, as the Iraqis have continued to insist. The
British news daily The Observer has reported that an unnamed British
scientist and biological weapons expert who examined the trailers in Iraq
affirmed that they couldn't even be used for making biological weapons.

The conclusion of the investigation ordered by the British government is
expected to be highly embarrassing for Blair, who had used the discovery of
the alleged mobile labs as part of his efforts to silence criticism over the
failure of Britain and the US to find any weapons of mass destruction since
the invasion of Iraq. The row is expected to be re-ignited this week with
Robin Cook and Clare Short, the two Cabinet Ministers who resigned over the
war, both due to give evidence to a House of Commons inquiry into whether
intelligence was manipulated in the run-up to the war.

The Prime Minister and his director of strategy and communications, Alastair
Campbell, are expected to decline invitations to appear. President Bush also
pointed to the trailers as evidence of Iraq's alleged banned weapons when he
traveled to France two weeks ago to attend the G8 Summit.



Growing Calls for Deployment of Large-Scale International Force to Impose
Ceasefire Between Israelis and Palestinians

June 16 (RHC) - As violence threatens to engulf the barely launched roadmap
plan for peace in the Middle East, calls are growing for a large-scale
international force to be sent in as the only hope of imposing some sort of
a ceasefire between Israelis and Palestinians. The demands came as a team of
US monitors arrived in the region and Palestinian and Israeli security
officials agreed to resume contacts. In an interview with an Israeli
newspaper, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan described the US
monitors as "a beginning". But, he said, only a substantial armed force
could halt the fighting.

More significant are similar calls from Capitol Hill, long a staunch ally of
the Israeli cause. Senator John Warner, the Virginia Republican who heads
the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, said that a robust NATO force
should be dispatched, since it was clear that both Israelis and Palestinians
had "lost control of events". Martin Indyk, a former US ambassador to
Israel, believes the West Bank and Gaza should be made a trusteeship, so
that a Palestinian government could take shape as international forces
maintained security.

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin also said Sunday that the
international community should study the option and cannot afford to watch
the Middle East situation degenerate without reacting. Palestinians have
long proposed that an international peacekeeping force wedge itself between
both sides, hoping it could reduce tensions and end curfews, roadblocks and
travel restrictions that have paralyzed life in the West Bank and Gaza Strip
over the last 32 months of violence.

Israel has strongly opposed such a force, saying it will not relinquish
control over its security to a third party, particularly one backed by the
United Nations or the European Union, which Israel believes have strong
anti-Israel biases. US President George Bush is reportedly unwilling to put
US troops at risk in so volatile an environment, although according to many
observers he may have little choice if the violence is to be halted and the
roadmap plan resumed.



Australian Intelligence Expert to Challenge Evidence on Iraq's Alleged
Banned Weapons in British Inquiry

Canberra, June 16 (RHC) - In other news on Iraq's alleged banned weapons,
the use by the United States and its allies of suspect intelligence to
justify the decision to invade Iraq will be challenged in evidence to a
British inquiry this week by a former Australian defense analyst who quit in
protest. The Sydney Morning Herald reported Sunday that Andrew Wilkie,
formerly employed by Australia's secret Office of National Assessments, has
agreed to testify to the British Parliament's Foreign Affairs Select
Committee.

Wilkie resigned from his post on March 11 over what he charged was the
government's exaggeration of the risk posed by Iraq, and tenuous evidence of
its possession of weapons of mass destruction. He told the paper before
leaving for London on Sunday that Australian Prime Minister John Howard
should be called to account along with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and
US President George Bush. Wilkie said that Australia went to war with the US
and UK, without international endorsement, and on the basis of a false
claim. He said that there is no doubt that Iraq did have weapons at one time
and something will eventually be found and dressed up as justification, but
it won't be anything of the magnitude that public opinion was led to believe
existed.

The former Australian government official also backed evidence that had been
emerging elsewhere that there was no intelligence linking Iraq President
Saddam Hussein with terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. The conservative
Howard government has dismissed demands for a parliamentary investigation
into the way intelligence was gathered and used before the campaign started.
But opposition Senators in the upper house are reported to believe they will
soon have the numbers to force an inquiry.

- Radio Habana Cuba