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ISSUE: #. 78. March 23, 2003

THIS WEEK:

BUSH LAUNCHES IRAQ INVASION, DEFIES WORLD OPINION AND LAW

HAVE GLOBAL PROTESTS AND U.S. ISOLATION MODIFIED WAR PLANS?

ALSO: NEW OFFENSIVE IN AFGHANISTAN, CHIAPAS RAINFOREST BURNS

ANTI-OCCUPATION ACTIVISTS BLOCK FIFTH AVENUE!!

CURRENT HOMELAND SECURITY COLOR ADVISORY CODE: ORANGE

By Bill Weinberg
with David Bloom and Subuhi Jiwani, Special Correspondents




THE IRAQ FRONT
1. The Invasion Begins
2. Will General Assembly Intervene Against War?
3. Kinder, Gentler "Shock and Awe"?
4. U.S. Using Napalm in Iraq?
5. Is Turkey Invading Iraqi Kurdistan?
6. Accused Iraqi War Criminal Disappears
7. Weapons Inspectors "Scandalized"...
8. ...But Shi'ite Rebels Say Gas Kills 70
9. Global Protests Surge

THE PALESTINE FRONT
1. Palestine Gets a Prime Minister; Violence Continues

THE AFGHANISTAN FRONT
1. Pentagon Delays Announcement of "Operation Valiant Strike"
2. Black Hawk Crash Kills Six GI's

THE MEXICO FRONT
1. Fox off the Spot--But Still Exploits War Hysteria
2. Anti-War Protests Sweep Mexico
3. Iraq Crisis Cover for Chiapas Militarization
4. More Political Violence in Chiapas
5. More Religious Violence in Chiapas
6. Las Abejas Pray for Peace
7. Chiapas Rainforest Burning Again
8. Enron in Mexico

AFRICA
1. War in Nigeria's Petro-Zone
2. U.S. Denies Pressure on Nigeria to Support War Drive

THE WAR AT HOME
1. NYC Marches against War
2. NYC on Anti-Terror Alert
3. Disneyland Too
4. N.J. Terror Czar: "Red" Alert Means Curfew
5. FBI's Powers Widen-Again

GLIMMERS OF HOPE
1. ANWR Safe--For Now



THE IRAQ FRONT

1. THE INVASION BEGINS
Defying world opinion and international law, the Bush administration and a handful of allies launched the war against Iraq in the wee hours of March 20. But the air strikes on Baghdad--following the unprecedentedly massive "shock and awe" assault startegy that the White House had promised--have thus far come mostly in one day (Friday March 21) rather than in an ongoing air campaign such as seen in 1991. (See WW3 REPORT 70) And in contrast to 1991`s Operation Desert Storm, this time the ground invasion has been nearly simultaneous with the air strikes--a revised plan which may reflect the administration`s isolation and hopes that Saddam Hussein's regime can be toppled without further alienating the international community. The military assault has been dubbed "Operation Free Iraq," and is accompanied by much rhetoric about avoiding civilian casualties and "liberating Iraq, not occupying it."

On Monday March 17, the US and UK withdrew their UN Security Council resolution which would have imposed an immediate deadline for Iraq`s disarmament, rather than see it face certain defeat. The White House announced that "the diplomatic window has closed." White House spokesman Ari Fleischer warned: "Baghdad is not a safe place to be." Secretary of State Colin Powell added that "time for diplomacy has passed." UN Secretary General Kofi Annan ordered weapons inspectors and other UN personnel out of Iraq.

The US issued an ultimatum that Saddam and his son quit Iraq in 48 hours or face war. With a unilateral US-UK war now inevitable, the stock market immediately surged in response to the news.

On Tuesday March 18, Saddam went on TV in military uniform to reject the ultimatum. 250,000 US troops were by then in the Gulf region, poised for attack, with 130,000 in Kuwait alone.

Colin Powell announced that the US had assembled a "coalition of the willing" of 30 nations which have pledged to support the war (with an additional anonymous 15 allegeldy pledging silent support). The list of 29 nations (excluding the US itself) consists entirely of imperialist junior partners (as opposed to imperialist rivals like France, Russia and China, who oppose the war), dependent client states where elites are grateful to the US for helping beat back revolutionary movements, post-Communist would-be client states eager for investment and protection against any resurgent Russian imperial ambitions, and three desperately impoverished states at least one of which (Afghanistan) is actually under US military occupation. In the first category are the UK, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Australia and Japan (which has precluded any actual combat role). Upon Powell's announcement, Danish activists pelted Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen with red paint. In the second category are El Salvador and Nicaragua (where the US beat back revolutionary movements in the 1980s) and Colombia and the Philippines (where the US is now in the process of doing so). Colombia later complained to the Washington Post that Powell had included it in his list of the "willing" without actually consulting the Colombian government. In the third category are Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan (which still hosts US troops for the ongoing campaign in neighboring Afghanistan). In the last category are Ethiopia and Eritrea (both under regimes which the US helped take power in 1991 by arming the guerilla movement against Ethiopia's communist regime) and Afghanistan. Completing the list are Turkey (with its own imperial ambitions in Iraq) and South Korea (under the US military umbrella since 1952).

As war neared, thousands of Kurds in northern Iraq fled cities such as Erbil and Dohuk, fearing chemical attack from the Baghdad regime, leaving "ghost towns" patrolled by the Kurdish peshmerga militias. The refugees headed for the Iranian border, or simply went into hiding in the mountains.

On Wednesday March 19, US troops in Kuwait began marching towards the Iraqi border, despite a sandstorm that slowed their advance. That same day, a Kuwaiti military ship fired a "warning shot" at an Iraqi boat which reportedly didn`t respond to a query, killing one on board. The stock market surged for a second consecutive day.

In the pre-dawn hours of Thursday March 20, Iraqi time, the US announced the first airstrikes--on what it called "targets of opportunity," against a building supposed to house the Iraqi leadership at that moment. Bush went on national TV to announce that war had started: "We come to Iraq with respect for its citizens, for their great civilization and for the religious faiths they practice. We have no ambition in Iraq, except to remove a threat and restore control of that country to its own people... Our nation enters this conflict reluctantly, yet our purpose is sure. The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder."

Later that day, US troops of the 3rd Infanty Division crossed into Iraq, and exchanged rocket fire with Iraqi forces. As the Iraqi shells hit, US troops put on chemical protectve gear, but all the incoming warheads proved to be conventional weapons. Saddam went on TV to pledge that Iraqi people will "resist the invaders." He accused "the little criminal" (Bush) of "crimes against humanity." He ended, "Long live Iraq! Long live Palestine! Long live Holy War!" But the White House voiced doubts that the broadcast was authentic, raising the possibility that Saddam had been killed in that morning`s air strikes, and that the broadcast was either pre-prepared or using one of Saddam's notorious "doubles." ABC reported claims by witnesses that Saddam had been removed from one destroyed building on a stretcher.

On Friday March 21, more US and British troops surged into Iraq, with Washington and London alike claiming that hundreds of Iraqi troops had surrendered and many more abandoned their defensive positions. A battle was reported for the port city of Umm Qasr and the al-Faw peninsula, as British troops were reported to have taken the al-Faw oilfields. Iraqi resistance was also reported at Nasiriya on the Euphrates River, and fires reported rising from Basra--supposedly oil wells set alight by Saddam`s forces. One US Marine was reported killed in the fighting, and eight British and four US troops dead in a helicopter accident in Kuwait. Some 500 missiles were reported to have hit Baghdad, in the first round of massive airstrikes.

On Saturday March 22, the US announced that allied forces had taken Basra airport and nearby oil fields, some of them already ablaze. But US and British forces moved north without actually entering the city. Twenty columns of smoke were reported rising from Baghdad, with the US riasing the possibility that fires were set by the Iraqi government to confuse US pilots and mask targets. The northern city of Mosul was also reported to be under bombardment. Iraqi TV claimed that 21 US Cruise missiles had been shot down, and that the Fedayeen resistance movement, led by Saddam's son Odai, had engaged US forces in combat, destroying one tank.

A grenade attack at the US 101st Airborne Center in Kuwait left six injured, but a US soldier was actually detained for the attack.

On Sunday March 23, Al-Jazzera TV broadcast Iraqi footage of what Baghdad claimed were captured US soldiers and bodies in US militay uniforms at the Baghdad morgue. Pentagon Central Command had no comment. Baghdad also announced that Iraqi troops were searching for the pilot of a downed US warplane. The Pentagon denied losing any planes, but did admit that a British jet had been accidentally shot down by US fire.

US forces were reported to be within 100 miles of Baghdad when they engaged an Iraqi armored column. 30 Iraqi armored vehicles had been spotted heading toward the 2nd Brigade's positions outside the Muslim holy city of Najaf, and US Bradley troop carriers moved to block the advance, while US warplanes rained the Iraqi vehicles with missiles. Even as US forces advance on Baghdad, fighting continues to the south, with allied troops reported still battling to pacify the al-Faw peninsula.

Meanwhile, France insisted that post-Saddam Iraq should be placed under UN administration rather than US occupation, and the UN Children`s Fund (UNICEF) expressed fears that the resources of aid agencies would be stretched to exhaustion in the wake of the war for Iraq. "It is clear that Iraq is on the brink of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and that UNICEF is facing possibly the largest and most complex humanitarian operation we've ever undertaken," said spokesperson Wivina Belmonte said in Geneva.

(From combined wire services and BBC) [top]

2. WILL GENERAL ASSEMBLY INTERVENE AGAINST WAR?
Behind the scenes, US diplomats are reportedly warning various governments around the world not to call for an Emergency Special Session of the UN General Assembly to address the crisis over Iraq. Commentator Ian Williams, writing for the Global Vision News Network, called for the UN General Assembly to vote to declare "Operation Free Iraq" as illegal. While any such resolution in the Security Council would be vetoed by the US and UK, the UN charter does allow for the General Assembly to intervene in extreme situations. Ironically, the tactic was used by the US to get around Soviet vetoes during the Korean War, but abandoned when the US lost its majority in the General Assembly. The tactic was subsequently taken up by supporters of the Palestinians, who won General Assembly resolutions condemning Israel by votes of 135 to two or three--at that point the US decided that GA resolutions were "not legally binding." Writes Williams:

"In a little-used U.N. legal procedure, ordinary members can by-pass logjams in the Security Council and take an issue directly to the General Assembly. Has the time come for the GA to vote to condemn the Iraq War as a breach of international peace and security?... It would be a tremendous blow to the tenuous claims to legality of Britain and America if the United Nations...were to rule against the invasion of Iraq." [top]

3. KINDER, GENTLER "SHOCK AND AWE"?
The strategy of a "shock and awe" air war will have worked if the Iraqis surrender Baghdad without a fight, accordsing to the author who helped coin the phrase. Harlan Ullman, the military strategist who wrote a 1996 paper outlining the doctrine of arraying massive airpower against an enemy, said the term is not well understood. "People think that shock and awe is to destroy cities," Ullman told AP. "That's not just the rationale. The rationale is to bring intense pressure on the enemy and do minimum damage to the civilian infrastructure." But he ackowledged that massive civilian casualties remain likely. "The question is, `Will Baghdad give up without a fight, or will we have to go in and take it or impose a siege and starve it?'" he said. Combat would result in many casualties because the Iraqis will mix civilians with troops, he said. "We hope they'll quit without a fight," Ullman said. "If that's the case, then shock and awe will have worked." If it doesn't work, he said, "Then we have to go back to the old fashioned way of war, which could be very brutal and very, very bloody." (AP, March 23)

On the Net: "Shock and Awe: Achieving Rapid Dominance" [top]

4. U.S. USING NAPALM IN IRAQ?
The US used napalm along with air-launched missiles to destroy Safwan Hill, an Iraqi surveillance post near the main highway leading north from the Kuwaiti border, a US officer told the Sydney Morning Herald March 22. "Dead bodies are everywhere," a US officer reported by radio after the attack, according to the paper. "I pity anybody who's in there," a marine sergeant reportedly said. "We told them to surrender." The Herald reported that the station was destroyed in a fireball. "When dawn broke on Safwan Hill, all that could be seen on top of it was a single antenna amid the smoke." [top]

5. IS TURKEY INVADING IRAQI KURDISTAN?
Turkish imperial ambitions in Iraqi Kurdistan are still blocking military cooperation with Washington. The Turkish parliament had already voted down allowing US troops to use the country`s territory as a staging ground for the Iraq invasion--thereby forfeiting a massive US aid package. But Turkish financial markets plunged in response to the news, and the military urged the government to take urgent action to let US troops in. (MSNBC, March 17) On March 19, the Turkish government announced it will ask parliament to grant the US fly-over rights as a compromise measure. (AP, March 19)

Despite gaining parliamentary approval, the Turkish military announced March 21 that the country`s airspace will still not be opened to US warplanes and missiles due to disagreements with Washington over Turkish intervention in Iraqi Kurdistan. Said Colin Powell: "At the moment we do not see any need for any Turkish incursions into northern Iraq." The Pentagon also announced that the US will take northern Iraq`s oil fields at Kirkuk and Mosul. (AP, March 21)

On March 22, the Turkish military denied that 1,000 Turkish troops had crossed into Iraq--despite the fact that it was front-page news in the Turkish newspapers. (AP, March 22)

Meanwhile, repression escalated in Turkish Kurdistan. On March 13, Turkey banned the Kurdish party HADEP (Popular Democratic Party) and allied DEHAP, accusing them of "subversive activities." (El Pais, March 14) See WW3 REPORT 71

Last week`s edition of Cairo`s English-language Al-Ahram Weekly noted that hundreds of US troops are still in Turkey under a February agreement--approved by parliament--to help upgrade military bases. The troops are ostensibly barred from a combat role, but could quietly assist in logistical support for operations against Iraq. (Al-Ahram, March 13-19) [top]

6. ACCUSED IRAQI WAR CRIMINAL DISAPPEARS
On March 17, the AP reported that Niazr al-Khazaraji, a defected Iraqi general under house arrest in Copenhagen while Danish authorities investigate his role in gas attacks against the Kurds, has mysteriously vanished. [top]

7. WEAPONS INSPECTORS "SCANDALIZED"...
The San Jose Mercury News reported March 18 that UN weapons inspectors, ordered out of Iraq ahead of the bombing, said they were "scandalized" at how the US "politicized" their mission. They charged that the US sent them chasing false leads--such as the claim that aluminum tubes, determined to be used to make artillery rockets, were actually used in producing weapons-grade uranium. See WW3 REPORT 70 [top]

8. ...BUT SHI`ITE REBELS SAY GAS KILLS 70
A March 17 report in the Erbil Kurdish newspaper Jamawar, picked up by BBC Monitoring, echoed a claim by the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) that 70 civilians were killed by poisonous gas in southern Iraq in an accident which took place when the gas was being transfered from one site to another in a ruse to outsmart UN inspectors. Iraqi authorities reportedly blamed the deaths on an influenza outbreak and launched a vaccination program in the area to cover up the truth. [top]

9. GLOBAL PROTESTS SURGE
On March 17, activists shut down the International Petroleum Exchange in London, with 20 invading the building, shouting anti-war slogans. That same day, UK cabinet minister Robin Cook stepped down in protest of the war drive. In Madrid, the United Left parliamentary bloc stood up in the parliament building holding anti-war banners and demanded the resignation of President Jose Maria Aznar, the most prominent European ally of Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair in their drive for war.

March 18 saw massive protests in Vietnam, led by students and war veterans.

On March 19, Hundreds gathered at the White House in Washington DC to oppose the war. An all-day anti-war vigil was held in New York`s Union Square, with with some 500 marching up to Times Square. Arrests were reported at protests in Boston and Detroit. Hundreds were also reported marching against the war that day in Rio de Janiero, La Paz and Caracas. In South Africa, Nobel Peace Laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu denounced the war on Iraq as "unjustifiable and immoral."

On March 20, protesters blocked traffic in San Francisco, nearly paralyzing the city. In New York, for a second day, and all-day anti-war vigil was held in Union Square, and Broadway was filled with protesters who marched up to Times Square, despite freezing rain. Streets were also blocked by protesters in Chicago. Huge protests were also reported in London, Paris, Madrid, Milan and Tokyo.

On March 21, police used batons and water cannons to supress protests in Cairo, even as Egypt`s clergy urged on the protesters. The nation`s top cleric, Sheikh Sayyid Tantawi, urded Egyptians to "stand by the persecuted." In Sanaa, capital of Yemen, two were killed as police moved to supress protests--one police officer and one 11-year-old boy. In the Gaza Strip, following Friday prayers, thousands of Palestinians streamed from the mosques into the streets to protest the war, many holding portraits of Saddam Hussein. In Jerusalem, Palestinian protesters chanted "Our beloved Saddam, hit Tel Aviv."

Also March 21, protesters in San Francisco shut down traffic on the Bay Bridge and several streets, resulting in 1,000 arrests--the most in one day in that city in over 20 years. Roads were also blocked in Melbourne, Australia. 150,000 marched in Athens, and violent confrontations with the police were reported. Huge protests were also reported in Indian Kashmir, Bangladesh, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and China. Several cities in Pakistan erupted into protest, with the city of Quetta shut down by a general strike.

On March 22, 200,000 gathered in London`s Hyde Park for an anti-war protest, with thousands also reported marching in Manchester, Bristol, Glasgow and Edinburgh. At the US surveillance base in Menwith Hill, Yorkshire, hundreds gathered for a "Foil the Base" action, holding aloft huge sheets of foil they hoped would scramble communications signals.

(From combined wire reports and BBC) [top]

THE PALESTINE FRONT

1. PALESTINE GETS A PRIME MINISTER; VIOLENCE CONTINUES
Mahmud Abbas, alias Abu Mazen, long the number two man in the PLO, accepted the position of prime minister of the Palestinian Authority March 19. PA President Yasser Arafat was under international pressure to appoint a prime minister as a measure to legitimize his government. That same day, an Israeli settler was killed at a settlement near Jenin on the West Bank, in an apparent attack by an armed group linked to Arafat's Fatah movement. (AFP, March 19) [top]

THE AFGHANISTAN FRONT

1. PENTAGON DELAYS ANNOUNCEMENT OF "OPERATION VALIANT STRIKE"
Just as the war against Iraq was launched March 20, some 600 US troops backed up by Romanian infantry and Afghan fighters launched "Operation Valiant Strike" against supposed al-Qaeda remnant forces in southern Afghanistan's rugged Sami Ghar mountains. Helicopters thundered over mountain villages, disgorging soldiers to search mud-brick houses. The troops were accompanied by "pool reporters", but they were not allowed to file dispatches until Sunday March 23. (AP, March 23) [top]

2. BLACK HAWK CRASK KILLS SIX GIs
A US Air Force HH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Afghanistan March 23, killing all six on board, Central Command said. The helicopter was on a medical evacuation mission when it crashed about 18 miles north of Ghazni. The helicopter was not shot down, the statement said, adding that the precise cause of the crash is under investigation. The statement did not indicate whether the medical emergency was in connection with Operation Valiant Strike, a mission involving members of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division in southeastern Afghanistan.The last such crash was Jan. 30 , when an Army Black Hawk on a training mission crashed near the Bagram air base, killing four. (AP, March 23) [top]

THE MEXICO FRONT

1. FOX OFF THE SPOT--BUT STILL EXPLOITS WAR HYSTERIA
Now that the US has withdrawn its UN resolution instating an immediate deadline for Iraqi disarmament, President Vicente Fox of current Security Council member Mexico finally stated unequivocally that he "would have" voted against it. The Mexican senate issued a statement in favor of Fox`s position against military action. US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher responded with a statement that the US is "disappointed" by Mexico`s stance. But Fox`s position has not kept Mexico from being caught up in the war hysteria, with Health Secretary Julio Frenk issuing a nationwide alert to public hospitals to prepare for bio-terrorist attacks. The Interior Secretary has also announced a "Plan Centinela" (Sentry Plan), sending 18,000 troops to reinforce the Guatemalan border against potential terrorist infiltration. (Uno Mas Uno, March 19) Troops were also sent to increase vigilance at the US border, and to secure the country's hydro-electric dams. (La Jornada, March 18) [top]

2. ANTI-WAR PROTESTS SWEEP MEXICO
Anti-war protests were held in Guadalajara, Queretaro and several other Mexican cities March 20, while on March 19 hundreds of high school students took to the streets to protest the war drive in Mexico City (La Jornada, March 20, 21) In Tapachula, chief city of the Chiapas coastal region known as Soconusco, the Soconusco Worker-Campesino-Student Coalition (COCES) has announced an ongoing vigil against the war. (Cuarto Poder, Chiapas, March 19) The Mexico City group Civil Society has called for a boycott of US goods. (Uno Mas Uno, March 19) [top]

3. IRAQ CRISIS COVER FOR CHIAPAS MILITARIZATION
Mexico`s federal government has beefed up army, police and immigration patrols on the Guatemalan frontier, citing the international crisis and the risk of terrorist infiltration. Militants of the Emiliano Zapata Campesino Organization (OCEZ) have launched a blockade of the highway near Villa de Las Rosas, Chiapas, to protest that local Mexican peasants have been stopped and harrassed at checkpoints set up by the National Immigration Institute (INM). (Carteles de Comitan y San Cristobal, March 20) The targetted region also includes the Lacandon Selva, jungle stronghold of the Zapatista rebels. [top]

4. MORE POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN CHIAPAS
The Emiliano Zapata Campesino Organization (OCEZ) has announced an on-going protest vigil outside the Government Palace in Tuxtla, capital of Chiapas state, to demand freedom for political prisoners. The 10 prisoners had been arrested at a roadblock itself launched to demand freedom for OCEZ militants arrested in connection with violence between OCEZ and a local right-wing paramilitary group. OCEZ claims the arrested militants had acted in self-defense. (Cuarto Poder, Chiapas, March 19)

Elsewhere in Chiapas, Tzeltal Maya sympathizers of the Zapatista rebels complained to authorities that they had been forced to flee their homes in Juxalja, Tenejapa municipality, by violence, threats and a cut-off of water and electricity by local political bosses. The Indians took refuge in a neighboring pro-Zapatista hamlet. (Cuarto Poder, Chiapas, March 23) [top]

5. MORE RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE IN CHIAPAS
On March 17, two reporters from the Mexican news agency Notimex, who were attempting to interview local Protestant converts in the Tzotzil Maya community of Mitziton about threats and harassment from local Catholic political bosses ("caciques"), were attacked by a group of Catholics, who beat them and reportedly stole a camera. (La Jornada, March 18)

A joint communique from Organization of Evangelical Villages of the Chiapas Highlands (OPEACH) and the Indigenous Representative Council of the Chiapas Highlands (CRIACH) warned that Protestant families are at risk of expulsion from their villages by Catholic political bosses in several highland municipalities. (Expreso, Chiapas, March 20)

See also WW3 REPORT 77 [top]

6. LAS ABEJAS PRAY FOR PEACE
On March 22, the Catholic pacifist Tzotzil Maya Indian organization, Las Abejas (The Bees), gathered to pray at their hermitage in the Chiapas highlands hamlet of Acteal, as they do on the 22nd of every month to commemorate the Dec. 22, 1997 massacre in which 45 members of their group were gunned down by paramilitary gunmen. This time, they offered their prayers for world peace and the civil population of Iraq. Said a statement from Las Abejas: "We join our voice and heart with the multitude of voices and hearts to say no to the war, because it is an attack against life and all the beings of the world."

Although some 100 have been arrested in connection with the 1997 massacre, Las Abejas says "the true intellectual and material authors of the massacre continue to enjoy impunity." (Cuarto Poder, Chiapas, March 23) [top]

7. CHIAPAS RAINFOREST BURNING AGAIN
Massive forest fires were reported March 21 in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, which protects the heart of the threatened Chiapas rainforest, known as the Lacandon Selva. The National Commission of Protected Areas blamed slash-and-burn agriculture by peasant communities in the reserve, which the authorities call illegal and are threatening to expell. But residents of one such community, Ocho de Febrero, sympathizers of the Zapatista rebel movement, reported to the Chiapas human rights group Red de Defensores Comunitarios (Communitarian Defense Network) that the fires had been intentionally set by unknown men, and destroyed homes, cornfields and animals, forcing residents to flee to neighboring communities. (La Jornada, March 22)

This is the beginning of corn planting season, when fires routinely engulf Mexico's forests. Nineteen fires were reported out of control in the Chimalapas protected area straddling the Chiapas-Oaxaca border. (La Jornada, March 22) Forest fires were also reported in Yucatan, Campeche, Guerrero and Puebla states, with hundreds of thousands of hectares destroyed. (Notimex, March 19) [top]

8. ENRON IN MEXICO
At a public meeting in Mexico City to commemorate the March 18, 1938 nationalization of Mexico's oil resources, the Mexican Syndicate of Electricity Workers (SME) protested that a "silent privatization" of the country's energy resources is underway. To chants of "Fox, entiende, la patria no se vende" (Fox, understand, the fatherland is not for sale), SME leaders noted that President Vicente Fox has started to quietly break the state monopoly on electricity generation, allowing new contracts to private firms--including to a subsidiary of Enron in Monterrey. Despite the official state monopoly, 30% of Mexico's electrical power is now generated by the private sector, according to SME leaders. SME leaders also noted that between 1992 and 2002, energy generated by private global firms advanced 21% in relation to total world ourput, and has already advanced by another nine percent in 2003. (La Jornada, March 19)

Workers from Pemex, the state oil monopoly, also marched in Mexico City, holding hand-made banners protesting both the pending privatization of the company and Bush's war against Iraq. (Uno Mas Uno, March 19) See WW3 REPORT 71 [top]

AFRICA

1. WAR IN NIGERIA`S PETRO-ZONE
Nigerian government troops have intervened in the ongoing ethnic warfare between the Ijaw and Itsekiri peoples in the oil-rich Niger Delta. Witnesses and rights groups accuse soldiers of burning villages and firing indiscriminately. Chevron-Texaco has suspended operations in the region, slashing the output of Africa's biggest producer by 13%. Shell announced it may also suspend operations. (BBC, March 22)

In a rare show of solidarity last August, Ijaw and Itsekiri women joined forces to shut down Chevron and Shell installations to protest the pollution of their traditional lands and waters, and demand restitution from the company. (Lagos Vanguard, Aug. 10, 2002)

See also WW3 REPORT 42 [top]

2. U.S. DENIES PRESSURE ON NIGERIA TO SUPPORT WAR DRIVE
On March 23, the US Ambassador in Nigeria, Howard Jetter, issued an official statement denying claims reported in the country`s press that Foriegn Minister Dubem Onyia had complained that US military assistance to Nigeria was cut off because of the government`s refusal to support the war on Iraq. Jetter claimed military assistance was restricted by an act of Congress in February due to human rights concerns. "The US government has not sought to influence Nigeria policy on Iraq through the suspension of military assistance," the statement read. (This Day, Lagos, March 23) [top]

THE WAR AT HOME

1. NYC MARCHES AGAINST WAR
A quarter of a million people marched against war on March 22 in New York City, according to the organizers, United for Peace and Justice. The march began at Times Square and ended at Washington Square, on a bright spring day. When protestors first appeared at the northwest corner of Washington Square park, police tried to block their way, announcing that the march was over and participants should disperse. Despite these desultory efforts, which only lasted five minutes, thousands of protestors filled the park and the police let the swelling crowd through to march across Washington Square North. Hundreds of police challenged the protestors to leave, and there were 74 arrests reported throughout the day. Seven police were hospitalized for being "maced in the face." Some activists saw police being hit by "blowback," when pepper spray directed by their own colleagues at marchers came back in their faces. Residual protestors blocked the western half of Washington Square North until after 7 PM, which angered some police. An undercover police officer, dressed like a student with a backpack, told WW3 REPORT he spent the day mingling with protestors, trying to find out what motivated them. Most of the protestors, he said, were pro-Saddam. When challenged on this, the officer revised his estimate to "a few." However, he claimed that pro-Saddam agents were in the protest. He said most police were angered by the marchers, because the manpower necessary to secure the protest sapped the city's ability to guard against terror attacks. He indicated that he was pro-war.

A contingent of Palestine supporters marched with large portraits of Rachel Corrie, a US peace activist killed by an Israel army bulldozer in the Gaza Strip on March 16. Many signs bore messages that were anti- Bush, some calling him a terrorist, or read simply, FUCK BUSH.

Activists from the ANSWER coalition, led at its core by the hardline Stalinist Worker's World Party, marched with their usual cheerless signs, but many choice slogans were viewed by WW3 REPORT throughout the day. Among the slogans seen:

1. US OUT OF NYC
2. "HO-HUM... YOUR WAR... IS SO HETERO-NORMATIVE "
3. WAR IS _SO_ 20TH CENTURY
4. REGIME CHANGE BEGINS AT HOME
5. "YEE-HA!" IS NOT A FOREIGN POLICY
7. IS THIS YOUR LIBERTY? IN OIL WE TRUST?
8. READ MY APOCALYPSE
9. BEWARE PROJECT OF THE NEW AMERICAN CENTURY
10. HOW DID OUR OIL GET UNDER THEIR SAND?
11. BUT GEORGE, WHAT IF A FETUS GETS KILLED?
12. SOMEWHERE IN TEXAS, A VILLAGE IS MISSING ITS IDIOT
13. BITTER SPINSTERS AGAINST IMPERIALIST WAR
14. STOP MAD COWBOY DISEASE

More protest pictures: Ground graffiti , queer contingent, anti-repression, surveillance and counter-protest (photos: Pretzel guy)

(David Bloom on the scene; Newsday, March, 22; United for Peace and Justice, NYC Indymedia, March 22)

EDITOR'S NOTE: At the city's last anti-war protest, on Feb. 15, authorities denied a permit to march, citing security concerns. Thousands marched without a permit, while the "official" event was a "stationary rally" on First Ave., north of the United Nations. This time, authorities granted a permit to march, although organizers chose not to seek a permit to march on the UN, which was likely to be denied. See WW3 REPORT 73 [top]

2. NYC ON ANTI-TERROR ALERT
With the Homeland Security Department's color-coded terrorist alert now on "orange," New York City authorities have launched "Operation Atlas", sending "Hercules Teams" to seek out terrorist threats, with sniffer dogs on the subways and police checkpoints snarling traffic. Mayor Mike Bloomberg called it "the most comprehensive terrorism-prevention operation our city has ever conducted," and warned that New York City is "on the front-line of global terrorism." The operation is integrated with the federal Homeland Security Department's "Operation Liberty Shield." (Newsday, March 18) [top]

3. DISNEYLAND TOO
As part of the emergency measures instated in response to the Iraq war, the US has ordered the airspace over Dinseyland and Disneyworld closed to all air traffic. (La Jornada, March 19) [top]

4. N.J. TERROR CZAR: "RED" ALERT MEANS CURFEW
New Jersey anti-terrorism czar Sid Caspersen, a former FBI agent, briefing reporters alongside Gov. James E. McGreevey, said that a "red" terrorist alert would strip away virtually all freedom of mobility and association. "Red means all non-critical functions cease," Caspersen said. "Non-critical would be almost all businesses, except health-related... The state police and the emergency management people would take control over the highways. You literally are staying home, is what happens, unless you are required to be out." (Gannet, March 15) [top]

5. FBI'S POWERS WIDEN--AGAIN
Last week the Bush Administration put into effect its doctrine of pre-emptive military action against Saddam Hussein--a doctrine reflected in the Department of Homeland Security's policy of "preventative detention". Bill Frelick, an immigration policy expert at Amnesty International defines preventative detention as "part of a pattern that we're seeing in which what may be minor visa violations of immigration law are used as a pretext for detention." Like pre-emptive action, preventative detention assumes that people from nations accused of supporting Al-Qaeda pose terrorist threats, which can be checked by detaining them.

On Dec. 18, 2002, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced--although not publicly--that FBI and US marshals could detain foreign nationals accused of having violated immigration law, even if there were no criminal charges against them. Historically, detention and deportation have been the responsibilities of immigration officials. With war on Iraq in process, FBI agents are likely to use their newly assigned powers to question 11,000 Iraqis living in the US and arrest visa violators in their "counter-terrorism" efforts. (See WW3 Report #77)

The Washington Post obtained a copy of the Dec. 18 order. It authorizes "special agents of the FBI to exercise the functions of immigration officers for the purpose of...investigating, determining the location of and apprehending any alien who is in the United States in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act" and other immigration laws.

FBI has drawn up a guidelines which contend that this new authority will be used "only in appropriate situations" that require immediate action to ensure "public safety" until Homeland Security officials arrive. Already the police in Florida and South Carolina are involved in a pilot program allowing them to make arrests and detain people. The Washington Post reports that police in those states do not want to exercise their newly assigned powers.

In a March 19 press release, ACLU-NY stated that FBI officials met with various Muslim groups around the country relaying mixed messages. The officials told a group in Philadelphia that people would not be arrested for immigration violations if they assisted it in identifying Iraqis that might be affiliated with Saddam Hussein. ACLU has also reported that the FBI informed Muslim groups that having an attorney accompany individuals to a registration interview might mean that they "have something to hide."

Dalia Hashad, ACLU's Arab, Muslim and South Asian advocate said: "In the same breath that they are asking for assistance from Iraqi nationals in thwarting terrorism, the FBI is alienating people by treating them like suspects and discouraging them from consulting with an attorney, which is their right." (Washington Post, March 20; ACLU Press Release, March 19) (Subuhi Jiwani) [top]

GLIMMERS OF HOPE

1. ANWR SAFE--FOR NOW
On March 20, the same day that military action against Iraq was launched, the US Senate rejected a motion to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling. (AP, March 20) Advocates of opening the ANWR to oil exploitation have portrayed the move as a national security measure linked to instability in the Middle East. See WW 3 REPORT 42 [top]

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