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Build-up of US firepower in Gulf as Clinton threatens Saddam with attack

THE United States ordered 129 warplanes and more than 3,000 troops to the Gulf yesterday and President Bill Clinton said he was prepared to use force if needed to end Iraq's defiance of UN arms inspectors.
The order to send the additional forces, which will include 18 big B-52 and B-1 bombers along with 12 little radar-avoiding F-117A stealth jets, was signed by defence secretary William Cohen.
Also sent will be two additional Patriot missile batteries capable of blasting Iraqi Scud missiles if they are fired against moderate Arab States in the Gulf, Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon told reporters.
The build-up in a crisis that started on October 31 will bring US forces poised near Iraq to more than 300 aircraft and 20 ships, including the aircraft carrier Eisenhower. The carrier Enterprise is also speeding toward the Gulf.
"We expect that the first units will be leaving in the next few days. It means that the president has more options at his disposal. It gives him more flexibility" in any military attack ordered against Iraq, Bacon said.
Bacon spoke with reporters after Clinton said in a Veterans Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery that Iraq's President Saddam Hussein must comply with UN weapons inspections.
"We continue to hope, indeed pray, that Saddam will comply. But we must be prepared to act if he does not," Clinton said.
"Nowhere is our vigilance more urgent than in the Persian Gulf, where Saddam Hussein's regime threatens the stability of one of the most vital regions of the world," the president stressed.

UN raises stakes in war
of nerves with Saddam

PRESIDENT CLINTON has ordered more warplanes and soldiers to the Gulf amid reports that plans for attacks on Iraq include an invasion force of US and British troops.
The move came as tensions rose in the Gulf after the UN ordered 400 weapons inspectors and other staff to leave Iraq. A fleet of buses took the UN staff overland to Jordan or by air to Bahrain.
Britain and the US also authorised the departure of non essential staff from its embassies in Kuwait. Washington is also allowing non-essential staff to leave its Israeli embassy and Israel.
The UN Security Council went into emergency session last night and Secretary General Kofi Annan is cutting short a North African trip to return to his headquarters.
President Clinton said yesterday that the US military is prepared to act against Iraq if Saddam Hussein does not resume cooperation with United Nations weapons inspectors.
According to a well informed Arab newspaper the US and Britain have planned a three phase strike that could involve deploying troops in Iraq.
After each phase of military action, the allies would present Iraq with a list of demands pending further strikes, the London-based daily Al-Hayat reported today quoting diplomats.
The diplomats did not specify the demands, but they would certainly include Iraq's reversing its August 5 decision to freeze all cooperation with the UN inspectors whose mission it is to oversee the elimination of Baghdad's weapons of mass destruction.
Al-Hayat said the diplomats spoke from Amman, Jordan, citing as the source of the plan briefings to Arab leaders by US Defence Secretary William Cohen during his tour of the Middle East last week.
The Arab world's leading newspaper outlined the following steps in the plan:
• In the first phase, US and British jets would attack bases of the Iraqi Republican Guards for four days, the newspaper said. The guards are the elite of the Iraqi army and regarded as the mainstay of President Saddam Hussein's government.
The United States and Britain would then issue an ultimatum to the Baghdad government, Al-Hayat reported.
• In the second stage, if Baghdad does not respond to demands, the American and British air forces would hit presidential palaces and Iraq's infrastructure, including the bridges that were destroyed in the 1991 Gulf War but repaired since.
After the second phase, ''a harsher list of demands'' would be delivered to Iraq.
• Finally, if Baghdad did not respond satisfactorily, the US and British forces would land troops in Iraq to attack ''sensitive sites.''
More than 3,000 more US troops were ordered to Kuwait yesterday along with 129 extra warplanes including Stealth fighters.
The report leaked to Al-Hayat could be a warning to Iraq that an attack would not be merely a retaliatory strike but instead a sustained campaign.
The London-based newspaper did not say how Arab leaders viewed the reported plan, but publicly all Arab governments have called for a peaceful solution to the standoff.
There is widespread feeling in the Arab world that the sanctions imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait have inflicted too much suffering on ordinary Iraqis. The sanctions, which cover the sale of oil, have devastated the Iraqi economy.
The Security Council has said the embargo will not be lifted until the weapons inspectors give Iraq a clean bill of health.
A convoy of 11 buses and vans carrying more than 100 arms inspectors and their luggage rolled out of the UN Special Commission's headquarters in Baghdad this morning.
About 300 other UN staff – apparently humanitarian workers – departed four hours later.
Before yesterday's departures, there were about 120 UNSCOM and IAEA personnel and 450 humanitarian workers in Iraq. Those pulled out included not only all UNSCOM staff but monitors for the International Atomic Energy Agency and other UN workers who run the oil-for-food programme supplying aid to the Iraqi people.
Iraq's foreign minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, chose an Arab television station - Qatar's Al-Jazeera - for his first interview on the dispute.
He warned that ''any use of military force against Iraq would lead to destabilising the region.''
The United States and Britain maintain they have backing in the Middle East for a military strike, but Arab officials have offered no public support for using force.
Jordan's Prime Minister Fayez Farawneh met yesterday with Saudi Arabia's Kind Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah and said later the two countries ''are in agreement that the crisis ... should be solved diplomatically.''
But he added: ''It appears that attempts to defuse the crisis could be late.''
In New York, Nizar Hamdoon, Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations, said on Tuesday that ''we have to prepare ourself for a strike obviously – this does not mean that we don't encourage diplomacy.''
He said Iraq has kept channels open through Secretary-General Kofi Annan's envoy, Prakash Shah, but that ''nothing really has moved today.''
UN chief weapons inspector Richard Butler, interviewed on American television, urged Iraq to face up to the fact that disarmament is connected to sanctions. ''The key is in its hands – and it's called full disclosure to us,'' he said.
• Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the crisis with senior Cabinet ministers.
''We are not a part of this conflict, except as members of the United Nations,'' a Foreign Ministry official said after the meeting. ''And right now, the issue is between the United States and Iraq.''
A special envoy of Jordan's King Hussein, Jawad Annani, met with Netanyahu and foreign minister Ariel Sharon yesterday, and officials in Amman said the envoy apparently asked Israel to stay out of the Iraq crisis.
Israel will open its gas mask centres today for free distribution.

OJ may face third murder
trial in child custody battle

OJ SIMPSON may face what amounts to a third murder trial if he wants to keep custody of his two young children.
A California appeal court yesterday reversed a decision that granted Simpson custody of Sydney, 13, and Justin, 10, and ordered a new hearing that must weigh whether Simpson has a propensity to violence. The court in Santa Ana sharply criticised Superior Court Judge Nancy Wieben Stock for granting custody in 1996 without considering evidence that the former American football star and actor may have killed the children's mother, Nicole Brown Simpson.
At the time of Wieben Stock's decision, Simpson was found innocent in a criminal trial, and a civil case that ultimately found him liable for killing his ex-wife and Ronald Goldman was still being heard.
That didn't matter, the court said.
''First and foremost, the grisly circumstances of the murder itself simply could not be ignored, even if consideration of them would have taken some time,'' the justices wrote.
''As a matter of case law, as well as common sense, the question of whether one parent has actually murdered the other is about as relevant as it is possible to imagine,'' the judges said in a 3-0 ruling.
Wieben Stock should have waited to make her ruling until the civil trial concluded, the court said, though the delay was seen then as potentially damaging to the children's welfare.
The appeals court also said Wieben Stock did not give weight to evidence of domestic abuse in the Simpson marriage.
Simpson said he thought the ruling represented a backlash against him without concern for the children.
''The bottom line is there are people out there who think their opinion of me is going to supersede the well-being of my kids,'' said Simpson, who continues to maintain his innocence. ''And my only interest is the well-being of my kids.''
The children's lawyer, Marjorie Fuller, said they are ''very disappointed'' with the ruling. In August, Sydney and Justin wrote the justices an emotional letter asking to stay with their father.
Simpson said he will fight to keep the children in his custody where he said they have been thriving. He said the children are doing ''incredibly well and are incredibly well adjusted and happy.''
Ms. Fuller said the children would stay with their father until appeals are exhausted. Either she or Simpson may request a hearing within 30 days or appeal directly to the state Supreme Court.
The appeals court acted on a petition by Ms. Simpson's parents, Louis and Juditha Brown. They had custody of the children while Simpson was on trial for the 1994 slashing murders of his ex-wife and her friend. After he was acquitted in 1995, the Browns lost their bid to gain custody.
Last year, a civil court jury ordered Simpson to pay £20 million in damages to the Browns and the Goldmans. The money has not been collected.
Natasha Roit, the Browns' lawyer, said Wieben Stock should have considered the ''murder issue'' in the first place.
''Two children, the potential for humongous violence,'' she said, ''and not to accept that evidence was error."

Lawyers want Pinochet immunity as extradition request reaches London

GENERAL Augusto Pinochet's lawyers yesterday insisted he was entitled to "absolute immunity" from arrest just as a formal request for his extradition to Spain to face charges of genocide, terrorism and torture arrived in London.
The extradition request for the former Chilean dictator, filed by judge Baltasar Garzon and approved by the Spanish Cabinet last Friday, arrived at the Home Office from Madrid yesterday morning. British Home Secretary Jack Straw will now examine the request and decide whether to give the go-ahead for the extradition process to continue by issuing a formal Authority to Proceed.
The extradition request drawn up by Judge Garzon implicates Pinochet in 3,178 murders and "disappearances" during his 1973-1990 rule and his overthrow of the elected Communist President Salvador Allende.
Mr Straw's examination of the request, which he is expected to complete within a seven-day period, will commence after the Law Lords rule on the appeal by the Crown Prosecution Service, on behalf of the Spanish authorities, against the High Court's ruling that the general enjoys sovereign immunity.
On the fifth day of the House of Lords hearing Pinochet's principal counsel, Clive Nicholls QC, told five senior Law Lords that the 82-year-old, as a former head of state and thus the embodiment of that state, had "absolute immunity" under the State Immunity Act 1978.
"There is no distinction to be made between the state, the sovereign or the current head of state," he told the court, saying such laws were necessary to ensure the efficient performance of diplomatic functions.
Mr Nicholls also warned that the possible prosecution abroad would unreasonably inhibit leaders in their use of power. Citing Margaret Thatcher's conduct during the Falklands War, Mr Nicholls said she would have been prevented from properly leading Britain by the prospect of extradition to Argentina.
He argued that the principle of head of state immunity was crucial and essential and if it were undermined, the consequences would be horrific. There would be nothing to prevent, for example, the arrest on his arrival in Britain of former US President George Bush for the bombing of Iraq, or former Prime Ministers James Callaghan and Edward Heath for alleged acts of torture in Northern Ireland in the 1970s.
• The Swiss embassy in London also handed over a formal request yesterday for the extradition of Pinochet. The Swiss requested Pinochet's arrest with a view to extradition following a criminal complaint filed in Geneva by the widow of Alexis Jaccard, a Swiss-Chilean student who disappeared in 1977.

Sale of former royal cars
to aid drive against landmines

LANDMINE clearance charities disappointed that they will receive no cash from the charity set up to commemorate Diana, Princess of Wales are set to be given hundreds of thousands of pounds from the sale of former royal cars, it was learned yesterday.
A British antique clocks dealer, who is selling the unique W-reg silver Ford Escort Ghia that the Prince of Wales gave the princess as an engagement present, says he will give a percentage of the proceeds to the Halo Trust and the Mines Advisory Group.
The Princess of Wales Memorial Fund confirmed on Tuesday that £1 million set aside for the landmine cause in March this year will now go towards aid for victims rather than the disposal of the weapons themselves.
Keith Lawson, 48, of Scratby, near Great Yarmouth, said last night: ''To me that's putting the cart before the horse. You've got to clear the mines to stop hurting the people.''
He said the Escort, with its distinctive frog mascot on the bonnet, was up for sale again after he was going to sell it to a US museum earlier this year.
''The money was not forthcoming so I didn't sell it and it's on sale again,'' he said.
Moreover he had persuaded owners of three more cars – a 1969 Daimler limousine used by the Royal Family, a 1981 Rolls-Royce owned by Earl Spencer's estate, and a black Escort given to the Royal Family by the Ford Motor Company and used exclusively by Diana – to donate some of the proceeds to the charities.
The cars are being advertised on the Internet by US specialist dealers Classic Auto Network.
Mr Lawson bought the silver Escort for £6,000 at Sotheby's four years ago for his daughter, Sarah, 23, to drive.
''I wanted her to drive the car that Lady Diana had driven but after her death it took some of the shine off it, which is why I'm selling it.
"Ideally I would like it to go to a museum because it should be on display,'' he said.

Russia should repay in
full aid from West

THE leader of Russia's extreme right, Vladimir Zhirinovsky arrived in Britain yesterday saying Russia should repay in full any emergency aid it received from the West this winter.
Zhirinovsky, said Russia was a rich country with much to offer the west.
He said: ''We have many energy powers. We have many raw materials and machines. In the West you have many problems because you are a very small continent. No raw materials, no coal, no petrol, no gas and no forests. You must import everything from other countries. We can provide these things.
''If you can help us, okay. We need everything, but we can buy everything. We can give you raw materials to pay all debts of Russia.''
He said that as well as raw materials Russia's future wealth would be based on its technologies and scientific advances including what he described as ''plasma'' energy which he claimed would mean Europe would no longer rely on oil from the Middle East.
Attending the North Atlantic Assembly in Edinburgh, Mr Zhirinovsky claimed he was in favour of Nato enlargement ''as quickly as possible''.
He added: ''It is not a problem for Russia. It is a problem of money. Who will pay for these new countries? They are very weak, they are very poor. I do not want Great Britain or the United States of America to pay. They must pay themselves.''
Mr Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal Party, which holds 11 seats in the Duma, Russia's Parliament, predicted that he would win next year's presidential elections.
He attacked his likely rival, former General Alexander Lebed saying: ''He is a very dangerous man but people in the West like him. I don't understand.''
Zhirinovsky also said that President Yeltsin should resign by next spring at the latest.
But he added that Yeltsin should be given the guarantee of a comfortable retirement.
He said: ''There should be no investigation. He should get 90 per cent of his salary, guards, a house, the same living conditions and no penalty for him or his family."

Appeal raises £2m in 24 hours

THE appeal launched in Britain to help millions of people affected by Hurricane Mitch had reached nearly £2 million within 24 hours, it was announced last night as fresh aid flights were being prepared for the blighted region.
Cash pledged to the Disasters Emergency Committee's appeal reached £1·8 million after 85,000 calls were received and readers of the Independent newspaper have pledged another £100,000, the DEC said.
The largest sum received by the DEC, an amalgamation of 15 UK aid agencies, was £5,000 from an unnamed donor.
Spokeswoman Louisa Phillips said: ''It means that the emergency relief effort can really go ahead now and we don't have to worry about the money.''
The British Red Cross will send out a second plane carrying 36 tonnes of vital supplies to the region today, following its first flight which landed on Monday.
Its load will include sanitation equipment, water purification tablets and enough medical kits for 100,000 people for three months.
The aeroplane will take off from Manston in Kent and land in both Honduras and Nicaragua. Oxfam is also flying its second consignment of aid to Nicaragua tomorrow.

Businesses warned Millennium Bug threatens two million UK jobs

THE head of Britain's Millennium Bug task force for business believes 200,000 firms could go bust, endangering about two million jobs unless much more is done to tackle the problem.
Gwynneth Flower said the computer glitch could cause a chain of business failures, sparking public panic as soon as next January. She expects panic stockpiling of essential goods next year.
She also said there was a shortage of specialist technicians to tackle the problem, caused by computers' inability to read the date 2000. She said technicians would make a million next year.
Mrs Flower, director of the government-funded Action 2000 programme, was speaking at the North Atlantic Assembly of Nato Parliamentarians.
She said government departments and local government is even less prepared than the private sector and called for independent audits to bring them up to standard. She said she was very worried about small and medium-sized companies with less than 400 staff.
But she dismissed fears of airliners falling from the skies and nuclear power station meltdowns as alarmist.
"Two hundred thousand companies could go bust, endangering around two million jobs, unless things change," she said, urging businesses to heed government campaigns, and said telephone helplines run by her agency have received 150,000 inquiries.
"There is a marked reluctance to take comprehensive action," she said. "Only one third of the small and medium-sized enterprises, 1.2 million businesses, have taken what I call adequate and comprehensive action. There is a threat to the British economy. The failure of a small company can bring a big company to it's knees."
She said she feared a chain reaction of failures, adding: "Economic disaster could follow."
She told delegates Action 2000 is trying ensure public confidence over the issue. "An important part of the programme is to make sure the public behaves normally, that we don't have panic and we don't have people expecting Armageddon or calamity."
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are behind the English on the issue and she also warned that the British economy could be affected by failures elsewhere in the world.
Business failures in Britain could start from January when many computers will be affected by the glitch.
"We are working hard to make sure there is no public panic."

Sex experts find a tongue-tingler

SEX industry researchers are studying a tongue-tingling chemical that causes a sensation similar to electricity.
The compound, hydroxy-alpha sanshool, is found in the spice Sichuan pepper, which is made from the berries of Prickly Ash.
It stimulates pain receptors, but not enough to cause discomfort, and cells that respond to cold. Bruce Bryant, from the Monell Chemical Senses Centre in Philadelphia, has discovered that the chemical stimulates an unusually wide range of sensory cells.
''When you have this thing in your mouth it turns the sensations upside down,'' he told New Scientist magazine. Placed on the tongue, it produced a buzzing sensation that felt as if it must be caused by an electric current. The chemical has already been studied by researchers developing creams to enhance men's sexual enjoyment.
Manufacturers of mouthwash were also expected to be interested in the chemical.
But Bryant was interested in the tongue-tingler for other reasons. It could act as a model for paraesthesias — sensory distortions similar to pins and needles, symptomatic of many neurological diseases. He suspects drugs that reverse the effects of the chemical may also combat paraesthesias.

© Examiner Publications Ltd, 1998