1 January 03
'US SENDING 11,000 MORE TROOPS TO GULF
'The US is sending thousands more troops to the Gulf as part of the build-up for possible military action against Iraq.
'The 11,000 desert-trained soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division will set off in the next few days to join 4,000 colleagues already training in Kuwait.
'The deployment, including helicopters and tanks, is the first [deployment] of a full US combat division since the 1991 Gulf war.'
(BBC Ceefax, p.107)
I seem to remember a recent figure of 50,000 US troops deployed in the Gulf region.
2 January 03
'[British Prime Minister ]BLAIR HOLDS TALKS WITH JORDANIAN KING
'Tony Blair has broken off from his Egyptian holiday for a second time [I guess it's what you'd call a working holiday] to hold talks with a key Arab leader.
'The Prime Minister met King Abdullah of Jordan for talks covering the stand-off over Iraq and the Middle East situation, Downing Street said.
'King Abdullah has been urging the US and Britain not to attack Iraq.
'On Wednesday, Mr Blair met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at the Red Sea resort where the Blairs are staying. [Proving that Mohammed must go to the "mountain"; or rather foot hillock of the American sierra.]'
(BBC Ceefax, p.114)
They will need Jordan as a passageway for troops sent from Israel to Iraq unless they cut through Syria.
'YEMEN[:] The gunman suspected of killing three US missionaries has admitted meeting suspected al-Qaeda members, according to a state-run newspaper.' (ITV Teletext, 2 Jan. 03, p.318)
Some who may have been promised power or other advantage are showing a green light for the establishment of Yemen as an American imperial base.
'NEW E-MAIL VIRUS "PICKING UP SPEED"
'A virus which first appeared just before Christmas is infecting thousands of computers across the world.
'The spread of the Windows e-mail worm, called Yaha.K, has led anti-virus firms to classify it as high-risk.
'The virus, in e-mail attachments ending .scr, .exe or .com, can affect computer security protocols.
'It has now been reported in 100 countries, mainly the Netherlands and UK, anti-virus firm MessageLabs says.'
(BBC Ceefax, 2 Jan. 03, p.154)
Simultaneously with the start of the conquest of the Middle East, there may be a crackdown on channels of free information, including the Internet. The "axis of evil" can always be blamed for crippling virus attacks and the like. Cf. the recent attack on the Internet's root servers, which brought the Internet to the brink of breakdown, but not over it (see October 2002 diary, under 23 Oct.). This could have been a dry run.
3 January 03
'US President George Bush has rallied 4,000 troops at the largest US army base, [Fort Hood, Texas,] telling soldiers who might see action against Iraq: "We are ready." ...' (ITV Teletext, p.304)
Two were shot dead and 78 injured when pro and anti-Chavez demonstrators clashed in Venezuela.
Oil production has ceased in the US's third-largest supplier due to the strike to bring down Chavez.
'The Office of Homeland Security lost the first round in a legal fight to keep its activities secret, as a federal judge in Washington ruled it will have to answer questions about its power over other federal agencies. ...
'The ruling last week favored the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center, which is trying to get Homeland Security records on proposals for a national driver's license and for a "trusted flier" program that relies on biometric information to identify airline passengers. ...'
(Associated Press, 'Homeland Office Is Told to Answer Queries on Its Role', Washington Post, 3 Jan. 03, p.A02)
4 January 03
'The Daily Telegraph says 20,000 UK troops will be sent to the Gulf in preparation for war in Iraq.' (BBC Ceefax, p.148)
'PAKISTAN[:] The US military says it reserves the right to pursue fleeing al-Qaeda after an American soldier was wounded at the border.' (ITV Teletext, 4 Jan. 03, p.318)
This seems to refer to the recent wounding of a US soldier in Afghanistan near the Pakistani border, and thus to mean that the US military "reserves the right" to cross into Pakistan "in pursuit of fleeing al-Qaeda".
Uncle Sam's new backyard.
5 January 03
'Armed rebels have killed 43 government soldiers in an ambush in Algeria which is thought to be the worst rebel attack in six years, according to reports. ...' (BBC Ceefax)
'DOUBLE ISRAEL SUICIDE ATTACK KILLS 22
'Two Palestinian suicide bombers have blown themselves up in Israel, killing at least 22 other people and wounding up to 100 more, many of them seriously.
'Their bombs went off within minutes of each other, about 200 metres apart, near Tel Aviv's old central bus station.
'The targeted area is a poor part of the city and is packed with immigrants [foreign workers].
'Conflicting reports suggest rival Islamic groups, Hamas and Jihad, have said they carried out the bombings. [Al Aqsa has also thrown its claim into the ring.]'
(BBC Ceefax, 5 Jan. 03, p.110)
Instant Israeli reprisals have been made: helicopter missile attacks on workshops in Gaza City, and ground forces against the Rafah refugee camp.
The American and Israeli hard right alike have spent years developing the Islamists as tools to further their own projects. While the US cabal has al-Qaeda, the Israelis have adopted a policy of fostering groups like Hamas, and of provoking a continuous stream of terror attacks, to provide an ongoing pretext to progressively crush the Palestinians.
Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not antagonistic to the US cabal's planned attack on Iraq/the rest of the Middle East. Rather, the two are complementary. Ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians may be the price that the Israeli right extracts from the US in exchange for collaboration against Iraq/the rest of the Muslim Middle East. (Along with $12bn of extra "aid" from the US.)
'ISRAEL TEST-FIRES ARROW MISSILE SYSTEM
'Israel has carried out a test launch of its Arrow anti-missile system in what is being seen as preparation for a possible attack by [sic] Iraq. ...
'Israel Radio said the test, launched from south of Tel Aviv, was successful.'
(BBC Ceefax, 5 Jan. 03, p.116)
6 January 03
'NOTHING SUSPICIOUS YET UN INSPECTORS
'UN arms inspectors in Iraq have not found anything suspicious so far, the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog says.
'But Mohammed El Baradei said it was too early to draw a full conclusion.
'Earlier, UN weapons inspectors rejected a charge from the Iraqi President that they were working as spies.
'Speaking on Iraq's Army Day, Saddam Hussein said inspectors were looking for information on Iraq's military rather than on arms of mass destruction.'
(BBC Ceefax, p.110)
'US "PLANS 18-MONTH OCCUPATION OF IRAQ"
'The US government reportedly plans to occupy Iraq for 18 months after toppling Saddam Hussein.
'According to the New York Times, the US wants a period of military control to stop Iraq's Arab neighbours interfering. [!!]
'It also hopes to use the time to find and destroy unused weapons of mass destruction[ or rather to forge and plant them, on a scale dwarfing the CIA's operation in Afghanistan], and rebuild infrastructure.
'The US plan includes a quick take-over of oil fields to fund reconstruction[ !!! of the US economy, perhaps?], White House officials said.'
(BBC Ceefax, 6 Jan. 03, p.111)
'... Pentagon chiefs revealed the US's most ambitious effort to administer a country since controlling Germany or Japan after the Second World War. ..' (ITV Teletext, 6 Jan. 03, p.306)
7 January 03
'SANCTIONS [on N Korea] "WOULD MEAN WAR"
'North Korea has warned the world that levelling sanctions against it would "mean a war" which "knows no mercy".
'The threat comes a day after the UN nuclear watchdog delayed sanctioning the nation over its nuclear programme.
'The International Atomic Energy Agency said it would give North Korea a second chance to end arms development before referring it to the Security Council.'
(ITV Teletext, p.309)
Are the North Koreans really such eager tools of American imperialism?
National security and anti-terror police have raided an apartment in Wood Green, London, where there was said to have been a biochemical laboratory. Traces of the potent biotoxin ricin were said to have been found. Six men, believed to be Algerians, were arrested.
Hospitals have been put on alert. (But the poison is apparently impracticable for mass attacks.)
The event has been prominently reported by US as well as British media.
America is said to be a major theatre for the production of ricin, with "right-wing extremists" showing an involvement in the 1990s. (TV news) (Amongst leading terrorist organizations, I believe that the CIA reserves ricin as one of its "tools".)
The "discovery" is a handy coincidence with the advanced stages of the Iraq-attack campaign. It coincides with the first mobilization of British reserve forces, and the general alert to hospitals is a convenient propaganda shot to help galvanize the public.
The "discovery" also coincides with a speech by British Prime Minister Blair, in which he warned of the dangers of chemical, biological and nuclear terrorism, and the "threat" of Iraq to Britain if it (Iraq) "refuses to disarm" (prejudging the UN weapons inspections, presumably on the basis of the government's "invisible intelligence").
'TWO KILLED AS LIGHT AIRCRAFT COMES DOWN [in Britain]
'Two people were killed when their light aircraft crashed while performing aerobatics, police have said.
'The plane came down in a field next to a housing estate near Towcester, Northamptonshire.
'It had taken off from an airfield at nearby Brackley after a stop to refuel.
'An 800-metre exclusion zone is in place around the scene of the crash and forensic scientists and a specialist police search team are on the site[ my emphasis].'
(BBC Ceefax, 5 Jan. 03, p.118)
Is this another component of the current government terror-propaganda initiative? Something waiting to be linked up? ...
8 January 03
A passenger aircraft has crashed in the strategically-significant region of south-eastern Turkey, at Diyarbakir airport, killing all but five of its passengers. (Four Brits were killed.) The Turkish authorities claim to have ruled out sabotage or terrorism, and that the aircraft crashed in dense fog.
However the plane was said to have broken up before it landed, and that there was fire. The plane apparently mistakenly tried to land at a military airstrip ("in the fog").
It is a significant coincidence that the "crash" occurred in this region at this time. (British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon was in Turkey trying to persuade the new government to allow an invasion of Iraq from this area.) The plane could have been mistakenly shot down by the military. But the Americans were recently warning of a "terrorist threat" at Gazientep, in the same region; a terrorist incident could have been staged to nudge the Turks in the "right" direction.
We may note that the American airbase is at nearby Incirlik.
9 January 03
British Prime Minister Blair has called for 27 January (the date UN weapons inspectors are due to make their first full report) not to be regarded as war deadline, but for the inspectors to be given a full chance to do their job.
'NO "SMOKING GUNS" IN IRAQ, BLIX SAYS
'UN weapons inspectors have not found any "smoking guns" during their search for weapons of mass destruction, Hans Blix has said.
'"We have been there for some two months and covering the country in ever wider sweeps," the chief of the UN's weapons inspectors told reporters.
'But Mr Blix said Iraq's 12,000-page arms dossier left questions unanswered.
'He cited imports of missile engines and materials for fuel production.'
(BBC Ceefax)
The US oil cabal may have to stage a WMD atrocity as an excuse to attack if they feel they can get away with it. (Their British MI5 flunkeys have already had a little go with a ricin plot.)
10 January 03
'GUARDIAN[ newspaper:] Iraq scientists whose evidence could provide Washington with a trigger for war are to be whisked out of the country to a neutral venue, Cyprus.' (ITV Teletext, p.318)
'N KOREA WARNS OF "WORLD WAR"
'North Korea has pulled out of a global nuclear treaty and warned of the chance of a "Third World War".
'The rogue state's communist regime said it quit the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty because of US aggression.
'Pyongyang warned that a "new Korean War will finally lead to the Third World War" and said North Korea would triumph in any stand-off with the US.'
(ITV Teletext, 10 Jan. 03, p.305)
But North Korea said it had no intention of developing nuclear weapons at present. (ITV news)
in contradiction to a controversial translation of a N Korean news report, which said it was going to.
'US ORDERS 35,000 MORE TROOPS TO GULF
'US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has ordered nearly 35,000 extra troops to the Gulf.
'The deployment, which will be carried out over the coming weeks, will mean the US will have more than 120,000 personnel in the region.
'Defence officials said marine ground and air units would make up the bulk of the latest deployment.
'Thousands of marines are due to board ships off the US west and east coasts.'
(BBC Ceefax, 10 Jan. 03, p.105)
11 January 03
A Hamas leader, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, called on Iraq to produce "thousands, tens of thousands" of suicide bombers to defend itself against invading American and European forces. But he didn't advocate Palestinians joining the Iraqis.
('Iraq Urged to Recruit "Martyrdom Bombers"', Washington Post, p.105)
The Islamists, ever the tools of American imperialism, are once again playing into its hands, pouring fuel on the fire of the War Of Terror.
'US SENDS ANOTHER 27,000 TROOPS TO GULF
'The US is preparing to send another 27,000 troops to the Gulf, in the second major deployment within 24 hours.
'The Defence Department's decision will mean that the US will have around 150,000 troops in t he Middle East, including 35,000 deployed [yesterday]. ...'
(BBC Ceefax, 11 Jan. 03, p.105)
'DOUBTS OVER N KOREAN "NO N-ARMS" PLEDGE
'North Korea has sent sharply mixed messages on its nuclear weapons policy.
'After three days of [unofficial] talks in the US state of New Mexico, N Korean diplomats told envoy Bill Richardson [a Democrat] their nation had no plans to build nuclear weapons.
'Meanwhile officials in Pyongyang pledged to "smash US nuclear maniacs" in a "holy war".
'The warning also included threats to begin reprocessing spent fuel rods from a nuclear reactor to make atomic bombs.'
(BBC Ceefax, 11 Jan. 03, p.110)
We see two contradictory lines apparently coming out of North Korea. What the Republican cabal says North Korea says, versus what the Democrats say it says, perhaps.
12 January 03
The upcoming Homeland Security Department includes the Orwellian "Office of Information Awareness", an entity designed to co-ordinate all available data about people. (It must be related to the "hi-tech" Total Information Awareness [TIA] project.) The Office is headed by Admiral Poindexter, who was convicted, then pardoned, regarding the Iran-Contra affair.
San Francisco journalist Matthew Smith gave Poindexter a dose of his own medicine by publishing firstly his private phone number (he had to have the line disconnected), then a photo of his house.
(Alistair Cooke on BBC World Service at 1:45am)
The Office of Information Awareness, together with TIA, represents the institutionalization of the surveillance powers of the "Patriot Act".
'North Korea has denied admitting that it has a secret nuclear arms programme,' but threatened a "sea of fire" if America makes hostile moves. (ITV Teletext, 12 Jan. 03)
13 January 03
Operation Avalanche, the improved version of Operation Candyman, "exposed" 250,000 loggers-on to commercial child-porn sites in 60 countries. (British Channel 5 news)
The countries figure sounds familiar. A year ago cabalistic news-speak announced infiltration by al-Qaeda in 60 countries. Are they the same 60? The ones, perhaps, that are targeted as the core of the US cabal's prospective World Evil Empire?
Counter-revolutionaries everywhere, comrades.
'WE MUST DISARM SADDAM: BLAIR
'[British Prime Minister] Tony Blair has insisted a second UN resolution is not essential before any military action is launched in Iraq. [My emphasis]
'At his monthly press briefing, Mr Blair said he would prefer a fresh UN mandate if Iraq fails to disarm voluntarily.
'But despite growing unrest among Labour MPs at the prospect of war with Iraq, he also made [it] clear that, if necessary, Britain and the US would go it alone.'
(ITV Teletext, 13 Jan. 03, p.307)
'When, in the early 1960s, Harold Macmillan made the first application for Britain to join the Common Market, President de Gaulle turned him down, on the grounds that Britain and the United States were "late Anglo-Saxons" and belonged to a separate, non-European culture, prejudicial to France. Perhaps he was right. The historian of the future may see the British and American empires as a single development, growing like a walnut tree as two trunks from the single root. [My emphasis, for a quotable quote.]'
(William Rees-Mogg, 'The American empire, a fine old British tradition', The Times, 13 Jan. 03, p.18)
Though I radically disagree with Rees-Mogg's ideas of "liberal, democratic empire" to begin with, at any rate. The way to American world empire is evidently through the forge of a quasi-Satanic, totalitarian state. This phase may last, with vicissitudes and in different forms, for the best and worst part of the 21st century.
14 January 03
A police officer was killed and four hurt during a raid on a Manchester, Britain, flat in connection with the "ricin" case.
Another "anti-paedophile" operation comparable in scope to Operation Avalanche is being prepared in America. (TV news)
The conveyor belt of the Stalin-style purge is well-and-truly rolling though as yet in low gear. A credible front must first be firmly established by ensuring that most of the accused are genuine child-porn offenders. Only then can the American imperial cabal's true programme begin to be implemented: the destruction of all opposition, actual and potential, to their prospective world totalitarian empire.
The purging of the white, Anglo-Saxon core of the empire is more important than the targeting of Islamic peoples as "al-Qaeda terrorists" in the Middle-Eastern oil province.
15 January 03
'BLUNKETT TO MAKE IDENTITY CARD CASE
'Home Secretary David Blunkett is due to make a speech detailing his proposals for the introduction of compulsory identity cards.
'Mr Blunkett has said he is in favour of the cards, which would contain fingerprints or eye-pattern details.
'The "entitlement cards" would help tackle immigration fraud and would be required for use of public services.
'A consultation exercise on the plans [WHAT consultation exercise???!!!] is due to end this month.'
(BBC Ceefax, p.115)
'... The Home Office has said that two out of three people who were questioned about the plans were in favour of the compulsory cards.' (ITV Teletext, 15 Jan. 03, p.309)
And no doubt last December they found that two out of three turkeys favoured Christmas.
Church of England bishops have condemned plans for war against Iraq. (BBC Ceefax, 15 Jan.03, p.111)
Among the targets of the US cabal-inspired Operation Ore, are said to be two former Labour government ministers. No names have been given (which spreads the tar of suspicion wide). The matter is "so sensitive" that Special Branch, not the ordinary police, are investigating.
Now we're beginning to get to the meat of the US fascist regime's campaign: the destruction of political leaders who might provide a focus of opposition to its design for a world totalitarian empire.
16 January 03
UN INSPECTORS FIND [empty chemical] WARHEADS IN IRAQ
'... UN spokesman ... Hiro Ueki said "11 empty 122mm chemical warheads" and one "that requires further evaluation" had been found in a check of ammunition bunkers at Ukhaider [south of Baghdad].
'But Iraq denied that they were weapons of mass destruction, adding that they had "forgotten" about the shells.
'They are expired, they cannot be used," said Gen Hossam Mohammed Amin.'
(BBC Ceefax, p.108)
Meanwhile, Bush is "running out of patience" with Saddam Hussein again (this before the shells). (Ibid, p.109/1)
'STAR[:] Every man, woman and child faces the prospect of having to pay £20 for an ID card.' (ITV Teletext, 16 Jan. 03, p.326)
17 January 03
'110 HELD IN PORN CRACKDOWN [in Sussex, Britain, in four weeks]
'A police force says it has arrested more than 110 people suspected of downloading child pornography from the internet in just four weeks.
'Sussex police have made 110 arrests as part of Operation Ore, the national crackdown on child abuse on the net.
'Officers have seized more than 1,000 computers from addresses across both the east and west of the county.'
(ITV Teletext, p.308)
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer reports that they find the 12 empty Iraqi chemical shells "troubling" but can't make them the empty excuse to attack.
Meanwhile administration "dove" (ROTFL) Colin Powell says he hopes to find a "smoking gun" by the end of the month.
Al-Jazeera, the Qatari satellite TV (and likely CIA puppet theatre) which broadcasts all those oh-so-entertaining "al-Qaeda" tapes, has signed a deal with the BBC which will extend its "news-sweep".
(Reuters, 'BBC Signs News Deal with Qatar's Al-Jazeera TV', Washington Post online, 17 Jan. 03)
Al-Jazeera was founded in 1996 from "defecting" BBC World Service personnel, and has ever since been financed by the government of Qatar, the Gulf emirate which used to be a British protectorate and is now an American protectorate. (See 'The Three Centres ..' on current website.)
18 January 03
'MIRROR[:] As many as 10,000 British paedophiles face arrest in a new worldwide crackdown.' (ITV Teletext, p.326)
Operation Ore, the British spin-off of John Ashcroft's worldwide "child-porn" schemes, "identified" 7,200 British "suspects". We now observe the most superb productivity growth in this sector reminiscent of the time Stalin replaced the plan for super-industrialization with the plan for super super super-industrialization.
Except that this isn't even supposed to be a constructive plan rather a work of black demonic subversion.
But, just to show you can't fool all the people all the time: ...
'Organizers of today's antiwar march in Washington said yesterday the demonstration likely would be as large as the one on Oct. 26, which drew an estimated 100,000.'
('100,000 Expected To Protest Iraq War', Washington Post, 18 Jan. 03, p.B01)
Organisers subsequently claimed 200,000.
A US Senate committee has unanimously backed Tom Ridge's appointment as head ("secretary") of the upcoming Department of Homeland Security. ... "We face a hate-filled, remorseless enemy", said Ridge. Indeed we do, and Ridge is one of that enemy's foremost servants.
('Senate Panel Backs Ridge's Nomination', Washington Post, 18 Jan. 03, p.A04)
'AL-QAEDA "STILL AT LARGE IN UK"
'Terrorists linked to al-Qaeda remain at large in Britain and are using established terror groups, [Britain's] most senior policeman has warned [in an interview with Sky TV news].
'Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens said a large number of people were being watched and "a number" have still to be arrested.
'He said al-Qaeda had "very cleverly" tapped into existing networks.'
(ITV Teletext, p.306)
One world-embracing terrorist organization probably has. The CIA. And Britain's police and "security" forces are happy to play sidekick to them, in the hope of getting their little slice of the new Evil Empire.
19 January 03
'The Sunday Express has a special report on an anti-paedophile police enquiry based in the US.
'The paper names five people it says are "responsible for the huge investigation that involves so many celebrities".'
(BBC Ceefax, p.148)
'The Observer says security sources have revealed to the paper that three networks of suspected Islamic terrorists are being hunted[ in Britain].
'The sources are "convinced that a biological attack in Britain is inevitable", adds the paper.'
(Ibid.)
20 January 03
26,000 British ground troops are being sent to the Gulf almost double the predicted figure. They will add to the 4,000 already there. About 8,000 naval and air force personnel are also being dispatched.
Opposition in Congress to the Pentagon's Orwellian "Total Information Awareness" scheme:-
'A Pentagon antiterrorism plan to link databases of credit card companies, health insurers and others--creating what critics call a "domestic surveillance apparatus"--is encountering growing opposition on Capitol Hill.
Sen[ator] Russ Feingold, D[emocrat]-Wisc[onsin], is planning to introduce a bill on Thursday [23 Jan.] to ... suspend the TIA program until Congress can review the data-mining issues." ...'
('Pentagon database plan hits snag on Hill', Business Week online, 20 Jan. 03)
We hope that TIA will go the way of the late unlamented TIPS. But as long as the far-right totalitarian-lusting clique remains in power, we will all have to remain, to coin a word, vigilant.
Another revealing article from Business Week:- 'Terrorism: A Gulf Between Fear and Fact' (16 Jan. 03):-
'At first glance, it looks as if a wave of violence against American companies abroad has started even before Washington launches an attack on Iraq. ...
'Yet a closer look suggests a far different picture. Authorities suspect most of the attacks were the handiwork of local groups with parochial concerns, rather than a global network targeting Uncle Sam ... What's more, while overseas incidents make headlines and governments in the U.S. and Britain issue frequent terrorism alerts, [my emphasis] the actual rate of terrorist assaults hasn't grown since September 11.
'Last year, the number of such attacks worldwide was on par with the 346 recorded in 2001, and well below the 426 incidents in 2000 ...
'Little evidence exists that al Qaeda carried out most of the recent attacks. ...
'One reason more of these incidents aren't happening is improved police vigilance. ...'
The purpose of the police and "security" forces in plugging a "massive global terror conspiracy" is as a pretext to set up and consolidate a transnational, Anglo-Saxon based police state. And it is not difficult for them to see where the "global conspiracy" lies: all they need do is look in the mirror.
What are we to make of the story of large numbers of phials of anthrax "vaccine", "washed up" on a beach at West Bay, Dorset, England? The British Channel 4 news report first referred to it as "anthrax", then as "anthrax vaccine". It apparently comes from the germ warfare facility at Porton Down, and was thought to have "fallen overboard" from a Royal Navy ship (or ships) en route to the Gulf. Such carelessness!
Are the warmongers making propaganda to say that Iraq has bioweapons? Or are they trying to smuggle these weapons into Iraq to "prove" their case? Incredibly careless of them to "lose them overboard", it the latter.
'US SENDING 37,000 MORE TROOPS TO GULF
'... The force will be spearheaded by 16,000 troops of the Texas-based 4th Infantry Division. ...
[This will take the total figure of US troops in the Gulf to over 150,000.]
'The announcement came hours after the UK said 26,000 troops a quarter of the British Army would be sent.'
(BBC Ceefax)
21 January 03
'TIME RUNNING OUT FOR SADDAM, BUSH WARNS
'Saddam Hussein is clearly not complying with UN resolutions calling for him to disarm and time is running out for him to do so, President Bush has said.
'"He's delaying, he's deceiving. He's playing hide-and-seek with inspectors," Mr Bush said in Washington. ...
'UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw earlier also urged the Iraqi leader to "end his game of hide-and-seek" with the UN team. (BBC Ceefax, p.109)
The UN inspections are proving an irritating facade.
Cabal-puppet Blair is doing his (less-than-confident) bit to help out the US cabal's oil-empire plans:-
'BLAIR WARNS OF TERROR ATTACK ON BRITAIN
''Terrorist groups will "inevitably" launch an attack in Britain, Prime Minister Tony Blair has warned.
'Mr Blair said there was evidence from recent arrests that the terrorist network was here and would act.
'"I believe it is inevitable that they will try in some form or other," he told a group of senior MPs.
'Britain has arrested more than 200 terror suspects since the September 11 attacks on the United States.'
(BBC Ceefax, 21 Jan. 03, p.106)
AL-QAEDA HAS LINKS IN [!] IRAQ, PM [Blair] CLAIMS
'Links do exist between individuals [!] in Iraq and the al-Qaeda terrorist network, the [British] Prime Minister has said.
'Tony Blair told a parliamentary hearing: "There is some intelligence evidence about linkages between members of al-Qaeda and people in Iraq."
'But Mr Blair did not identify who those individuals might be.
'He added he was unaware of any evidence that "directly links" al-Qaeda, Iraq and "terrorist activities" in Britain.'
(BBC Ceefax, 21 Jan. 03, p.108/2)
As I said, the CIA had this neat little scheme to destroy the World Trade Center (incidentally incinerating thousands of their own citizens, but what's that in this progressive age of video nasties?). "Fifteen out of nineteen hijackers Saudi Arabian", and all.
Then along comes tangled-string puppet Bush with his own clod-hopping, family Iraq-attack agenda. Which makes the whole oil-stealing agenda about as silently subtle as a herd of stampeding elephants.
How can this fork-tongued cock-up be made to work? It has left the cabal's agitpropniks trying to make (amongst other things) a Frankenstein hybrid of al-Qaeda and Iraq. It doesn't work. Their offspring cannot walk by itself, it forever trips over its own feet.
22 January 03
'SECURITY COUNCIL REBUFFS BUSH [unofficially, as yet]
'France, Germany, Russia and China have made clear that they will not be rushed by the US timetable for war on Iraq.
'In contrast with the White House, many Security Council members believe the inspections are starting to work and Iraq can be disarmed peacefully.
'German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Germany was not ready to back any fresh UN resolution legitimising war.'
(ITV Teletext, p.304)
'NORTH KOREA DENIES NUCLEAR WEAPONS PLANS
'North Korea days it has no plans to develop nuclear weapons, a South Korean spokesman has said after talks in Seoul.
'The official was speaking after ministers of the two Koreas met for the first time since the North withdrew from the Nuclear [Non-]Proliferation Treaty.
'The South Korean team demanded that the North cancel its decision to pull out of the Treaty.
'It also called for the seals on nuclear reactors in North Korea to be replaced.'
(BBC Ceefax, 22 Jan. 03, p.112)
North Korea's "denials" that it has a nuclear weapons programme, as reported by South Korea, the US Democratic envoy Bill Richardson and, apparently, "itself" (see above, 10, 11, 12 Jan.), are in complete contrast to its previous "admissions", as reported by the US Republican government and Japan last autumn (see diary for Oct. 2002, under 17 Oct.).
And last November there was a difference of opinion on a TV newscast by North Korea, hinging on a difference of dialect, with the US government and the BBC reporting that it had said that N Korea "had come to have nuclear weapons" and South Korea saying that the broadcast had said, "reserves the right to develop nuclear weapons (see Nov. 2002 diary, under 17 and 18 Nov., and the BBC and Reuters links there).
Either North Korea is trying to sow confusion (or there is a hidden power struggle there), or the US Republican government, together with Japanese officials, has lied about North Korea's "nuclear weapons programme". While the Red bloc was the traditional Master of Lies in the twentieth century, the American Right represents the dynamic upcoming force of totalitarianism in the twenty-first. On this ground they are more suspect than the remnant of "communism".
'BUSH WARNS IRAQ OF WAR CRIMES TRIALS
'Iraqi generals would be prosecuted [see below] as war criminals if they obeyed orders to use weapons of mass destruction, President Bush has warned.
'"There'll be serious consequences for any general who were to use weapons of mass destruction on our troops or innocent lives within Iraq," he said.
'Mr Bush advised Iraqi soldiers to disobey orders telling them to do so.'
(BBC Ceefax, 22 Jan. 03, p.109)
Thus neatly taking for granted that they have WMD.
If any Iraqi military should use WMD, "you will be treated, tried and persecuted as a war criminal", the President said in another famous Bushslip. (Bush's address, as broadcast on British ITV.)
"He tends to blurt out all or part of what he really thinking, even as he's trying to lie about it ..."
(Mark Crispin Miller, The Bush Dyslexicon)
The current psychoslip gives away who the real wrongdoers are in the anti-Iraq campaign. The Bush administration (and the "intelligence", military and big-oil communities for whom Bush gamely fronts).
23 January 03
US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said that Iraq's oil fields wouldn't be taken over for exploitation by the USA, but would be kept for the benefit of the Iraqi people. (But he didn't explain how.) (BBC World Service news at 1am)
And just what good care they intend to take of Iraq's oil "for the benefit of the Iraqi people" is shown by this report
'GUARDIAN[:] The US military has drawn up detailed plans to secure and protect Iraq's oilfields.' (ITV Teletext, p.326)
'ELITE UNITS [of Britain's Special Branch] "NEED REFORM"
'Special Branch the elite police units responsible for national security should be taken out of the control of chief constables, a report recommends.
'The 43 units should be regrouped and have operations changed as they fail to address the terrorist threat, it said.
'Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary report said officers feel "ignored, isolated and undervalued".'
(ITV Teletext, 23 Jan. 03 p.313)
Support your local secret policeman.
'[British ]Home Secretary David Blunkett has been criticised for "raising the spectre of vigilantism" over asylum seekers.
'In a magazine interview, Mr Blunkett said that the controversy over asylum seekers could lead to people "taking the law into their own hands".
'Chief executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, Habib Rahman, said: "This is dangerous talk".'
(ITV Teletext, 23 Jan. 03, p.314/2)
Indeed, Blunkett's remarks seem intended to provoke such violence. It grates harshly against his professed direction as a promoter of race relations. It seems to show how easily men slip into new roles as tools of entirely different socio-historic forces, regardless of their intentions or what they believe they are doing. (The same can be said for the whole Labour government, and for the Conservative "opposition".)
24 January 03
'PAPERS "PROVE NON-COMPLIANCE"
'Documents suggesting Iraq is preparing to use chemical weapons on Western troops show Baghdad is not complying with the UN, Downing Street has said.
'Arabic notes show Iraqi troops have been issued with chemical warfare suits and supplies of anti-nerve gas drugs.
'PM Tony Blair's official spokesman said the discovery was part of a "clear pattern" of non-compliance by Baghdad.'
(ITV Teletext, 24 Jan. 03, p.303)
'Five Moroccans found with explosives in Italy are being questioned over a possible plot to attack Britain.
'Counter-terrorism police reportedly found maps of central London and the London Underground ...'
(ITV Teletext, 24 Jan. 03, p.305)
Security forces in Spain have arrested 16 people (suspected of al-Qaeda links) after a request from Britain. They also seized explosives and "two barrels of ricin", Prime Minister Anzar said. (BBC Ceefax, p.106; ITV Teletext, p.306)
The propaganda campaign is building up to a climax. Spain and Italy are said to be supporters of an Iraq attack, and Italy at least is under a new-right regime. There is improved opportunity for collaboration between their "security" and "intelligence" forces and those of the American-British Evil Axis, and the cooking-up of terror plots "from al-Qaeda and Iraq" (which two the Atlantic Evil Axis is still trying desperately to weld together). (Equally, there is increased motive for genuine terror plots.)
But the "discovery" of the "mega-monster Spanish plot" suggests that Britain, like Israel, is not prepared to massacre its own people on a large scale to further the pretext for war. The way that the CIA & Co. presumably did on 9/11, when they extended their covert operations to their own native soil on a large scale for the first time.
The Atlantic Axis is the new Nazis, the new Stalinists. Oceania.
The following newspaper reports seem to have been written before news of the Spanish and Italian arrests came out, but are relevant:
'Barcelona's El Periodico fears that Spain's Prime Minister Anzar may have joined "the wrong team".
'"Anzar is playing his stake money on Blair and Berlusconi, [the new-right Italian President]" it laments.
'"The three leaders most averse to an independent European foreign policy are acting as Trojan Horses for the United States," says the paper.
'And their role, it adds, is to undermine Europe's attempts to dissociate itself from a war in Iraq.'
(BBC Ceefax, 24 Jan. 03, p.147)
'the German Die Welt says it is hard to see Donald Rumsfeld's words about France and Germany [as "old Europe", etc] as outrageous and insulting.
'Washington is seeking to pit Germany and France against Britain, Spain and Poland, says the paper.
'It predict that the US will put pressure on France not to veto a war[ in the Security Council].
'"Access to post-war Iraq's oil reserves will be determined by bravery [i.e. conformance] against Saddam," it claims. [My emphasis]'
(Ibid.)
Old charges of courting under-age girls in internet chat-rooms have been raked up anew against Scott Ritter.
Ritter was a weapons inspectors during the first round in Iraq in the 1990s, and now campaigns, both within and outside of Iraq, against the US cabal's plan to seize that country. ("It's the oil, stupid", and all that.)
Last September Mr Ritter, in Baghdad, "urged Iraq to re-admit the inspectors to prove it had nothing to hide" (see Sept. 2002 diary, under 8 Sept.). It crossed my mind that he might be a cabal-stooge.
In his interview with British Channel 4 news today Mr Ritter, who had had his "girl-courting" lawsuit dismissed "with the implication that he was innocent" (summer 2001), refused to deny that he had actually done what he'd been Accused of. It's not for you to repeat the trial process, he said in effect to his interviewer.
Which naturally causes the listener to wonder whether he did what he was accused of. And heightens the question-mark in my mind whether he is in fact a cabal-stooge. In this case trying to establish a link between anti-war activities and paedophilia.
Stooge or innocent patsy, in either case it would dove-tail with the US "Justice" Dept's massive, and massively-growing, "anti-paedophile" internet-porn campaign now 250,000 "suspects" worldwide from Operation Avalanche alone, and rumours of similar operations in the wings. And this is the real purpose of this Stalin-style purge the en masse fitting up of oppositionists to the US cabal's totalitarian world-imperium project. With the most destructively-discrediting weapon that they can use.
25 January 03
'UK FEARED UNDER ATTACK BY COMPUTER BUG
'An international computer virus could be slowing down internet traffic across the UK, BT [British Telecom, the main British phone company] has warned after businesses reported problems early on Saturday [today].
'The virus, dubbed W32/SQLSlammer, is thought to attack through a flaw in the Microsoft database software SQL server[ yet another Microsoft "flaw"!].
'BT said it seemed to be affecting the US and South Korea, and could also be slowing traffic in the UK and Europe.
'The origin of the W32/SQLSlammer bug remains unknown.'
(BBC Ceefax, p.120)
The US-British invasion of the Middle East may coincide with an attack to take the Internet out. At least temporarily. After which it will emerge better-controlled with respect to the flow of free information, no doubt. Such an attack can be conveniently blamed on the "axis of evil"; indeed the Atlantic Axis will be its origin.
A start seems to have been made or is it just another preliminary experiment or measure? The massive root-server attack of last autumn which brought the internet to the brink of breakdown, but not over it (see Oct. 2002 diary, under 23 Oct.) was claimed by the FBI to have originated in the US and South Korea (the latter convenient, perhaps, to blame North Korea. We seem to be getting another round.
Another aim of such attacks may be to infiltrate the personal computers of any and all oppositionists (actual or potential) in order to download incriminating child pornography. The US "paedophile" drive, spearheaded by Ashcroft's "Justice" Department, has already established a basis for mass arrests/destruction by targeting hundreds of thousands of "suspects", genuine and otherwise. We may be sure that the proportion of those set up for ulterior motives will grow as time passes.
26 January 03
'PALESTINIANS KILLED IN GAZA INCURSION
'Twelve Palestinians were killed and 50 injured in exchanges of fire during an Israeli incursion into Gaza City, Palestinian sources said.
'An Israeli spokesman said troops had been attacked by light arms, anti-tank rockets and explosives and soldiers had returned the fire.
'The incursion into Gaza City was the deepest in over two years of fighting.
'It came three days before Israelis prepare to vote in national elections.'
(BBC Ceefax, p.114)
We can expect Israel to use an American attack on Iraq as a "cover" for greatly-increased repression of the Palestinians, possibly full-blown ethnic cleansing.
Perhaps the Israelis could even blame "Iraqi bombing" for the flight of Palestinians :-) (Thus copying the Milosevic line that the Kosovar exodus was caused by NATO bombing.)
'VENEZUELANS STAGING MARATHON PROTEST
'Tens of thousands of Venezuelans have gathered in Caracas to demand the resignation of President Hugo Chavez.
'The 24-hour rally was called in protest at a court decision to block a referendum on President Chavez's rule. ...'
(BBC Ceefax, 26 Jan. 03, p.118)
Tariq Aziz, interviewed on British Channel 4 News, 'said Iraq's military had been given chemical warfare suits, but insisted this was for self-protection. [The inference being that it is for protection from a US chemical attack.]
'He claimed Iraqi scientists were reluctant to be interviewed in private because of language problems.'
(BBC Ceefax, 26 Jan. 03, p.107)
PALESTINIAN-RUN AREAS SEALED
'Israel locked down the West Bank ahead of its election to keep out Palestinian attackers after a large military incursion into Gaza. [Border crossings to Israel, Jordan and Egypt have been closed.]
'About 26,000 police and soldiers were deploying to guard against Palestinian attacks during voting, officials said.'
(ITV Teletext, 26 Jan. 03, p.307)
And will they be opened again after??! Or is this the preliminary to ethnic cleansing? While the world's attention is occupied with an attack on Iraq (et al)?
'The UN's nuclear watchdog has found no evidence of any secret Iraqi atomic weapons programme and will tell the Security Council so, a spokesman says.
'International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohammed El Baradei and the UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix give their report to the Council on Monday.'
(BBC Ceefax, 26 Jan. 03, p.148)
27 January 03
'FRESH WARNING OF INTERNET VIRUS ATTACK
'A computer virus which has disrupted internet traffic around the world [W32/SQLSlammer] could return today, experts have warned. ...
'It slows down web browsing and e-mail delivery and affected nearly 250,000 computers around the world on Saturday. ...'
(BBC Ceefax at 00:30am, p.122)
Which doesn't sound many, but it could spread.
More about the "SQL Slammer" (technically a worm, not a virus):-
'... The "SQL Slammer" virus hit computers in South Korea hardest, shutting web servers and slowing the internet.
'Servers in India and China were also affected, with stock trading hit as firms moved to protect their systems.
'The worm does not affect home systems, but businesses globally are being told to be on their guard for the virus.'
(BBC Ceefax, 27 Feb. 03, p.154)
'BODY LANGUAGE CAMERA MOST ACCURATE YET
'A high-tech camera which reads people's body language could be the most accurate lie detector yet.
'Dubbed the "Silent Talker" it detects thousands of tiny movements to determine if people are being truthful.
'After tests at Manchester University, researchers say it is more accurate than polygraph tests.
'Needing just a camera and a laptop, it may be soon used in police stations, airports and job interviews, they said.'
(BBC Ceefax, 27 Jan. 03, p.154)
It should put many a politician out of a job, too. But the poker-faced professional liar may fool it as well as any other machine (or person).
But here's a subversive thought: what if it were to be used for questioning leading US figures (Cheney, Tenet, Mueller etc) about their connections with 9/11? You can't fool all the cameras all the time ...
28 January 03
The US (Rumsfeld, then sales rep. of the Reagan administration) sold Saddam Hussein anthrax and smallpox in the first place (in 1983). Thus it won't be difficult for them to fit up Iraq with bogus stocks to prove their case, once they've conquered it. They'll be the same strains. CIA/SOCOM may well have some litres of these bioweapons stashed away somewhere ready to plant.
SHARON'S PARTY [Likud] WINS IN ISRAEL
Likud have increased the number of seats they have in the 120-seat Knesset to 36, while the opposition Labour Party's has fallen sharply. As before, Sharon will have to negotiate with other parties to form a working majority.
But they're now sitting pretty to crush the Palestinians while the Americans invade to the east.
29 January 03
2 -3 a.m. GMT, 9 -10 p.m. EST: Bush gives his annual State of the Union address to Congress. While the first half was dedicated to domestic issues, the world waited on his pronouncements on terrorism and Iraq, which he left towards the end as a piθce de rιsistance. And threw in Iran and North Korea too.
Promising "new intelligence" on Iraq's "concealment of biochem weapons", which Secretary of State Powell will deliver to the UN Security Council on 5 February. Ditto links between Iraq and al-Qaeda (something the administration has always been hard pushed to get up), and at least "moral support" for freedom-loving peoples in Iran (which Israel has urged the US to attack after it has finished with Iraq.).
Also threw a neat piece of propaganda on hydrogen-fueled vehicles, "which a child born today might see within his lifetime" a backhander underlining the "need, for the forseeable future", of petroleum-based fuels and thus excusing a US seizure of Middle-East oil assets.
And its seems the Blairite agit-puppets will do their bit to help with "Iraqi-Qaeda links".
The dastardly agents of Saddam Hussein have also infiltrated the United Nations, gaining foreknowledge of inspections.
No-one in their right minds would believe all this crazy CIA-originated Stalin-style agitprop. But then the world has moved out of its mind and being, into another frame of existence altogether.
'The Daily Mirror has a picture of Tony Blair with "blood on his hands" and a two-page article by John Pilger, [who] suggests Mr Blair and Mr Bush have the "essential cowardice" of those who cause death through a command chain.'
(BBC Ceefax, 29 Jan. 03, p.148, British newspaper reviews)
The Mirror has, since 9/11, partially transformed itself from a tabloid rag to a serious political commentator. (In Dec. 2001 it reported the Le Figaro accusation of a Dubai meeting between bin Laden and CIA local head Larry Mitchell, in July 2001.) It has adopted a position hostile to Bush-fronted oil imperialism and Blairite puppetism. It often exhibits satirical front pages on these themes. 'TERRORISM AGENCY PLANNED: Center to Integrate Intelligence, Analysis
'President Bush announced plans last night [in his State of the Union address] for a new center to integrate intelligence on terrorism collected at home and abroad ...
'A senior administration official said the new Terrorist Threat Integration Center will assess intelligence gathered by the CIA, Justice Department, Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security ...
'... The center will be placed directly under the supervision of Director of Central Intelligence George J. Tenet, reinforcing Tenet's role as Bush's senior intelligence adviser, officials said.
'The idea for the new center came in part from Congress, which last year criticized the CIA and FBI for withholding information on potential terrorist threats from each other. ...
'The center seems to parallel the intelligence analysis operation assigned to the new Homeland Security Department, which officially opened last Friday[ 24 Feb.]. But senior administration officials last night went out of their way to say this was not the case. ...'
If at first you don't succeed ... Operation TIPS, the neighbourly spy-plan proposed by Bush in last year's State of the Union address, has been thrown over, criticised as basically anti-liberty by the leader of the House Republicans himself. Its super-techno replacement, TIA Total Information Awareness is under similar attack in Congress.
And after TIPS and TIA comes TTIC. It is being presented as more like an anti-terrorism measure than a 1984 social spying mechanism. Will it in fact be meshed with Homeland's Office of Information Awareness?
Third time (un)lucky?
30 January 03
'Jordan has decided to allow the discreet stationing of U.S. troops [in the country] to man air defenses, the launch of search-and-rescue missions from its airfields and the passage of allied planes across its airspace in any war with neighbouring Iraq, according to Jordanian officials and diplomats.
'The Jordanian willingness to cooperate, although limited, marks a dramatic reversal of the neutrality proclaimed by the late King Hussein in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. ...
'Jordanian officials have said no invasion can originate from Jordan, which borders western Iraq, and that the United States has yet to make formal requests for cooperation in the event [!] of hostilities. But in interviews, they said all assistance would be provided short of "the apparent physical presence of troops."[ Perhaps they could be disguised as tourists. ]...'
(Anthony Shadid, 'Jordan to Allow Limited Stationing of U.S. Troops', Washington Post, 30 Jan. 03, p.A01)
Israeli leader Ariel Sharon has already invited US troops to use Israel as a conduit to attack Iraq. Is the new Jordanian king caving in to US-Israeli pressure, and/or being bribed with promises of "economic aid"?
Or perhaps Israel will make a present to Jordan of the West Bank's Palestinian population ...
'EU CHIEF RAPS "GANG OF EIGHT" ON IRAQ
'A "gang of eight" European leaders has been attacked by the EU's President for issuing a declaration on Iraq.
'Current EU leader, and Greek PM, Costas Simitis said the move was at odds with the EU's drive for a common position.
'The letter, published in The Times[ and a couple of other world papers], warns that if the UN fails to act it would sacrifice its credibility. [On the contrary, it will do so if it consents to be a kennel of poodles.]
'It was signed by the leaders of the UK, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Italy, Denmark and Poland.'
(BBC Ceefax, 30 Jan. 03, p.106)
The proposal for two EU presidents is another sign of the EU's unviability.
"Shoe bomber" Richard Reid was jailed for life-means-life in the US. (Ibid, p.110)
'Iraq is not in material breach of the UN resolution[ 1441],contrary to Britain and the US, the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog has said.
'Mohammed ElBaradei said he would like four or five months to carry out inspections of Iraq's arms programmes. ...'
and I'd like to be a billionaire, but there's not much chance of that either.
'[British ]GOVERNMENT STANDS FIRM ON E-SNOOPING
'The Government has rejected protests from the All-Party Internet Group and will go ahead with its plans to "snoop" on internet users.
'Under Government plans, service providers would have to store customer data and e-mails for up to six years.
'APIG had recommended that servers should store date only when asked to do so by law enforcement officers.
'Net service firm AOL claim the storage rules will cost them £34m a year.'
(BBC Ceefax, 30 Jan. 03, p.154)
31 January 03
'AL-QAEDA "TRYING TO BUILD 'DIRTY' BOMB"
'Al-Qaeda terrorists have been trying to assemble radioactive material, British officials have claimed.
'UK intelligence agents who infiltrated al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan [before the American invasion, presumably] have shown the BBC previously undisclosed evidence to back up their allegations.
'Documents appear to show that Osama Bin Laden had acquired radioactive isotopes.
'al-Qaeda was developing the bomb at a laboratory near Herat, the agents added.'
(BBC Ceefax, p.107)
'Liberation describes the leaders of the UK, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic as Bush's "eight mercenaries".
'The US is keen "to divide the Europeans in order better to rule them," it adds. [and sooner than many think.]'
(BBC Ceefax, 31 Jan. 03, p.147, reviews of European papers.
Bush has said that the Iraq situation must be resolved within weeks rather than months. He said another UN resolution wasn't necessary no. 1441, threatening "serious consequences", was sufficient but he didn't mind humouring Tony Blair et al if they were to try to get one. (He was speaking after a meeting, billed by some as a "war summit", between him and Blair at Camp David.)
'ISRAEL[:] PM Ariel Sharon [fresh from his election victory] is trying to arrange a meeting with President Bush to discuss a Middle East peace plan.' (ITV Teletext, 31 Jan. 03, p.318)
To discuss the carving up of the Middle East, more like.
MEN WITH EXPLOSIVES HELD IN ITALY SWOOP
'Twenty-eight Pakistanis have been arrested in Naples and a large quantity of explosives haws been seized, according to Italian police.
'The men are being held on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack after a raid in the old part of the city.
'they are said to have had maps showing Nato's command centre for southern Europe, which is based in Naples.
'Most of the men had entered the country illegally, the police said.'
(BBC Ceefax, 31 Jan. 03, p.117)
By "coincidence", Italian PM Berlusconi was meeting President Bush in the US at this time. The BBC News 24 commentator suggested that the arrests were staged to coincide with the meeting.
(BBC News 24, 1 Feb. 03 at 3am)
This reminds me of the terrorist attacks in Israel by Hamas and others, which sometimes coincided with visits to Washington by Ariel Sharon. Evidently agreement was reached for the attacks to be staged to further Sharon's projects. Berlusconi, while not going so far as to stage attacks on his own countrymen, is prepared to coordinate spectacular arrests with his American hard-right comrades.
ITV Teletext news online
BBC News online
The Pakistani ambassador to Italy said the arrests were part of an ongoing campaign to target innocent Pakistanis living in Italy.