Now Gorbachev has this to say:

He expressed strong support for President Vladimir Putin's stance on most questions. He traced the roots of the chill with the West to the collapse of the Soviet Union, which, he said, put Washington in an empire-building mood.

After the Soviet demise, "the idea of a new empire, of sole leadership, was born," Gorbachev, 76, said at a news conference.

"Unilateral actions and wars followed," he added, saying that Washington "ignored the Security Council, international law and the will of their own people."

"These are major strategic mistakes," Gorbachev said.

Gorbachev, whose liberal policies of glasnost and perestroika - openness and restructuring - set in play democratic forces that led to the Soviet collapse, echoed Putin's frequent endorsement of a so-called "multipolar world," or one without the perceived dominance of the United States.

"No one, no single center, can today command the world. No single group of countries, like the G-8, can do it," Gorbachev said. "There is no option other than to build a multipolar world order, no matter how complicated this is."

That, he said, would not be achieved until the Bush administration had departed.

just a teaser:

Halabja (pop. 80,000) is a small Kurdish city in northern Iraq. On Wednesday, the Star reminded readers that Saddam Hussein's Iraqi army killed 5,000 Kurds in a 1988 chemical weapons attack on Halabja near the end of a bloody, eight-year war with Iran.

The statement that Saddam was responsible for gassing the Kurds — his own people — was straightforward.

Indeed, U.S. President George W. Bush has used similar language about the disaster at Halabja in making a case for a military strike to oust Saddam.

Yet the Star also reported, in a Jan. 31 Opinion page column, that there's reason to believe the story about Saddam "gassing his own people" at Halabja may not even be true.

Curious about those contradictory reports, and prodded by Star reader Bill Hynes, the ombud decided to examine how this paper covered the Halabja story 15 years ago, when Washington was tilting toward Saddam's side in the Iran-Iraq war.

The Star's early coverage was skimpy. I found no breaking news story about the March 16, 1988 gas attack on the city.

But four days later, a Reuters News Agency dispatch (filed from Cyprus) said Kurds, fighting on the Iranian side, had managed to seize Halabja and nearby villages "where Iran has accused Iraq of using chemical weapons against Kurds."

Two days later, Reuters reported, Iran was alleging that 5,000 Kurds were killed by chemical bombs dropped on Halabja by the Iraqi Air Force.

Iranian officials put injured Iraqi civilians on display to back up their charges. An Iranian doctor said mustard gas and "some agent causing long-term damage" had been deployed.

Burn victim Ahmad Karim, 58, a street vendor from Halabja, told a reporter: "We saw the (Iraqi) planes come and use chemical bombs. I smelled something like insecticide."

Two weeks later, the fog of war over Halabja thickened a little when the Star ran a Reuters story saying a United Nations team had examined Iraqi and Iranian civilians who had been victims of mustard gas and nerve gas.

"But the two-man team did not say how or by whom the weapons had been used," the Reuters story said.

It explained that Iraq and Iran were accusing each other of using poison gas in violation of the 1925 Geneva Protocol against chemical weapons.

In September, 1988, the Star quoted an unnamed U.N. official as saying the Security Council chose to condemn the use of gas in the Iran-Iraq war rather than finger Iraq, generally believed to have lost the war with Iran.

The same story said Iraq's claims that Iran also had used chemical weapons "have not been verified."

Buried in that story by freelancer Trevor Rowe was an intriguing piece of information. Rowe reported the Iraqi forces had attacked Halabja when it "was occupied by Iranian troops. Five thousand Kurdish civilians were reportedly killed."

Let's fast-forward to Jan. 31 of this year, when The New York Times published an opinion piece by Stephen C. Pelletiere, the CIA's senior political analyst on Iraq during the 1980s.

In the article, Pelletiere said the only thing known for certain was that "Kurds were bombarded with poison gas that day at Halabja. We cannot say with any certainty that Iraqi chemical weapons killed the Kurds."

Pelletiere said the gassing occurred during a battle between Iraqis and Iranians.

"Iraq used chemical weapons to try to kill Iranians who had seized the town ... The Kurdish civilians who died had the misfortune to be caught up in that exchange. But they were not Iraq's main target," he wrote.

The former CIA official revealed that immediately after the battle the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency investigated and produced a classified report that said it was Iranian gas that killed the Kurds.

Both sides used gas at Halabja, Pelletiere suggested.

"The condition of the dead Kurds' bodies however, indicated they had been killed with a blood agent — that is, a cyanide-based gas — which Iran was known to use. The Iraqis, who are thought to have used mustard gas in the battle, are not known to have possessed blood agents at the time."

"A War Crime Or an Act of War?" was the way The Times' headline writer neatly summed up Pelletiere's argument.

No doubt, Saddam has mistreated Kurds during his rule. But it's misleading to say, so simply and without context, that he killed his own people by gassing 5,000 Kurds at Halabja.

The fog of war that enveloped the battle at Halabja in 1988 never really lifted. With a new war threatening in Iraq, it's coming back stronger than ever.

Journalists risking their lives to cover an American-led attack on Iraq would face many obvious obstacles in trying to get at the truth.

In light of that, editors need to consider assigning staff back home to do reality checks on claims and counter-claims made in the fog of war.

As our retrospective on the Halabja story suggests, the bang-bang coverage — gripping though it may be — may not be enough to get the job done.

Don Sellar is the Toronto Star's ombudsman.

Copyright 1996-2003. Toronto Star Newspapers Limited

One more time, just so you didnt miss it!

Let's fast-forward to Jan. 31 of this year, when The New York Times published an opinion piece by Stephen C. Pelletiere, the CIA's senior political analyst on Iraq during the 1980s.

In the article, Pelletiere said the only thing known for certain was that "Kurds were bombarded with poison gas that day at Halabja. We cannot say with any certainty that Iraqi chemical weapons killed the Kurds."

Pelletiere said the gassing occurred during a battle between Iraqis and Iranians.

"Iraq used chemical weapons to try to kill Iranians who had seized the town ... The Kurdish civilians who died had the misfortune to be caught up in that exchange. But they were not Iraq's main target," he wrote.

everyone should listen to Fanta......there is more to the story
bravo fanta...I'm with you completely..

get it........????

They wont believe it, cause Bush didnt say it devinci.

Its not in the indoctrination manual!!!!

Rambill - I HAVE seen what these monstrous babies look like, and so can you. - 'want some photos?
..And Barbie - Do you really think "God" has favourite countries?
Are you always such a sucker for protection rackets?
It's people who think that God likes THEM the best, who feel a self-righteous sense of ENTITLEMENT to marginalise, oppress and
butcher other people. You keep mentioning God. Do you really think "He" wants you approving the killing of large numbers of civilians, so you can kid yourself you're safer?
Tell me - after how many deaths will you feel safe?

My God the Current News has turned into the Daily Coz

God does in fact like some countries better than others as a matter of fact. we, for example started out closer to god and therefore more blessed. As we drift away from God and towards our own gods, we fall away from God and to our doom. sorryaboutit.

Rambill - let me get this straight.. You think think "God" cares about man-made, imaginary borders?

Oldsage: Look up Captain Joyce Riley - She made a documentary she'll send free to any past or present serviceman called: Beyond Treason. D.U. is NOT "depleted" near enough, since breathing one tiny particle can do you in.. Then, there's Gulf War Illness -
Talk to "Veterans for Peace"..

I would suggest you talk to an educated medical person & get all the facts in order. Yes if your exposed to enough of it, it will kill you. Our troops are taught what NOT to do. Too much salt will kill you also. "Figures don't lie, but liars use figures." Facts can be twisted to say whatever a person wants.

Back to the topic of the thread!
How long do we drag this killing of American Soldiers out??

Iraq's political crisis worsened Monday as five more ministers announced a boycott of Cabinet meetings - leaving the embattled prime minister's unity government with no members affiliated with Sunni political factions.

Meanwhile, a suicide bomber killed at least 28 people in a northern city, including 19 children, some playing hopscotch and marbles in front of their homes. And the American military reported five new U.S. deaths: Four soldiers were killed in a combat explosion in restive Diyala province north of the capital Monday, and a soldier was killed and two were wounded during fighting in eastern Baghdad on Sunday.

The new cracks in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government appeared even as U.S. military officials sounded cautious notes of progress on security, citing strides against insurgents linked to al-Qaida in Iraq but also new threats from Iranian-backed Shiite militias.

Hopefully not untill these idiots get their act together.......

YAY BUSH!!!!

Was just listening to the radio on the way home from Walmart's. Something about any phone conversation out of America can be monitored for the possibility of terrorism.

I read yesterday that 30% of the weapons we have supplied to the new Iraqi Army have disappeared and are believed to be in the hans of this new threat.
Being used to kill our sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, grandchildren, nephews, and neices!
What do we give them, another 10 years, and 10,000 lives????

Oldsage, these swine are not to be trusted with your son's life.
They had these kids blowing up chemical and biological weapons caches in Iraq with no real protection, without even bothering to find out which kinds they were sometimes, and the chemical protective suits they had in the '91 war DID'NT WORK.
If it's so safe there, why are so many Gulf War 1 vets disabled
sick and dying? ..and having birth defects when they have kids?

it wont be over til the bankers say so....

read the book, , jb weld. he most certainly does. The bible is full of stories of civilizations who started out following Gods laws, were blessed, then fell away and were eventually destroyed. and we are next.

What happened with Rome? They were godless when the rose to power, and died as they started to convert more towards christianity.

Of course they had gods, just not the kind christians had.
They were heathens and had to convert or die.
Didnt they Rambill?