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Subject: Re: And So It Begins... Date: 18 May 2003 00:03:04 GMT From: jmsatb5@aol.com (Jms at B5) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated Offered from today's New York Times for reference concerning whether or not we were going into Iraq to establish a permanent base of operations and colonization. Just the first part is here, the rest can be found at their website or in hardcopy.. ------------- By Patrick E. Tyler, New York Times BAGHDAD, Iraq â^À^Ô In an abrupt reversal, the United States and Britain have indefinitely put off their plan to allow Iraqi opposition forces to form a national assembly and an interim government by the end of the month. Instead, top American and British diplomats leading reconstruction efforts here told exile leaders in a meeting tonight that allied officials would remain in charge of Iraq for an indefinite period, said Iraqis who attended the meeting. It was conducted by L. Paul Bremer, the new civilian administrator here. ------------------ Meanwhile, no WMD have been found (remember the administration ridiculing the UN for not being able to find what they maintained was so plainly evident?), the US has announced that it will be removing bases from Saudia Arabia and building 4-6 new bases in Iraq, and the oil industry in Iraq is set to be privatized by the US for "the good of the Iraqi people" and put under the auspices of a Haliburton subsidiary. There have even been reports from those inside what was supposed to be the new Iraq government (now indefinitely postponed) that the oil output would be quadrupled, and that Iraq would therefore have to leave OPEC and its oil limitations, giving one the impression that part of the objective is to take OPEC apart. Yes, many Iraq people seemed pleased to give Saddam the heave-ho...not so happy abour our tendency to shoot first and ask questions later...but if that were the reason, to free an oppressed people, then we should be moving on to Somalia and the Sudan and North Korea and on and on and on. But that was never the intent. It was about oil and power and redrawing the map of the middle east, as noted previously. The outcome of the war was never really in question. The outcome of the truth is still under considerable debate. jms (jmsatb5@aol.com) (all message content (c) 2003 by synthetic worlds, ltd., permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine and don't send me story ideas)