Line of anti-war marchers along Washington Blvd on February 8, 2003.

Photo by Scott Hess.

Iraq, March 16, 2003

President Bush: Monday "Moment of Truth" for World on Iraq
Press Availability with President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, President Aznar, and Prime Minister Barroso - the Azores, Portugal
5:30 P.M. (Local)
PRIME MINISTER BARROSO: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am very pleased to welcome here in the Azores the leaders of three friends and allied countries, the United States, Spain and United Kingdom. President Bush, Prime Minister Aznar, and Prime Minister Tony Blair.
This meeting in the Azores also shows the importance of transatlantic relations, and also shows the solidarity among our countries. Actually, these agreements have approved two statements, one statement on transatlantic relations, and a declarative statement on Iraq.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030316-3.html



MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: the president leaves this morning for a final summit meeting on Iraq. What does he hope to achieve? How close are we to war? We know things are very serious when we hear from this man. In a rare Sunday morning interview—with us for the full hour, the vice president of the United States, Dick Cheney.
Mr. Vice President, welcome to MEET THE PRESS.
VICE PRES. DICK CHENEY: Good morning, Tim.
MR. RUSSERT: How close are we to war?

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/bush/cheneymeetthepress.htm



THREATS AND RESPONSES: THE BIOTERROR THREAT; Health Data Monitored for Bioterror Warning
By WILLIAM J. BROAD AND JUDITH MILLER
Published: January 27, 2003
...Experts say the prospect of war with Iraq, and the chance that Baghdad might retaliate with germ weapons, are accelerating the effort to expand and integrate scores of rudimentary disease surveillance systems being developed by cities, states and the federal government. But public health experts argue that even if the United States never suffers another bioterror attack like the anthrax strikes of late 2001, the emerging network can still help doctors better track, treat and prevent natural disease outbreaks….

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE2DD1239F934A15752C0A9659C8B63&scp=138&sq=iraq+judith+miller+2003&st=nyt


THREATS AND RESPONSES: DISSENT; Tens of Thousands March Against Iraq War
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
Published: March 16, 2003
In what many saw as a last chance to head off military action, tens of thousands of antiwar protesters marched in several demonstrations around the country today in opposition to the Bush administration's policy on Iraq.
In Washington, just hours after President Bush said in his weekly radio address that he saw little chance that Iraq would disarm without the use of force, throngs of protesters armed with banners and bullhorns implored Mr. Bush to abandon a possible war.
''The people can stop the war," Congressman John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, told thousands of cheering supporters near the Washington Monument on a mild, sunny but breezy afternoon. He urged people to continue to protest ''until this madness is ended.''
Marching on streets that pass within a block or two of the White House, which they were not allowed to approach more closely, the protesters flooded nearly a dozen blocks of city streets in a sea of colorful and often angry antiwar banners and chanted slogans.
Although police gave no official crowd count, a park police supervisor working the scene estimated that the protesters totaled 50,000 people. It was hard to be sure if there were that many, as some came and went, while others milled around in clusters on side streets. Protesters gathered to listen to speeches, then marched around the White House.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE6DE1631F935A25750C0A9659C8B63&scp=8&sq=march+16+2003+iraq+united+nations&st=nyt


THREATS AND RESPONSES: THE ARMED FORCES; U.S. Plan Sees G.I.'s Invading As More Arrive
By MICHAEL R. GORDON WITH ERIC SCHMITT
Published: March 16, 2003
The American-led coalition that is preparing to topple Saddam Hussein's government is planning for a complex invasion of Iraq to begin even as allied troops are still arriving in the region, senior commanders say.
With three dozen ships carrying heavy tanks and equipment for the Army's Fourth Infantry Division waiting off the coast of Turkey because of a political standoff, the military is scrambling to put together a backup plan for the northern front of a war with Iraq.
In Kuwait, only a portion of the 101st Airborne Division's forces -- equipped with Apache gunships and Black Hawk troop carriers -- is ready to be sent into combat. If the invasion begins next week, the 101st would take part, but the division's major combat punch would come soon after.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9900E5DD1631F935A25750C0A9659C8B63&scp=1&sq=march+16+2003+iraq&st=nyt



CITY IS PLANNING EXPANDED SECURITY IN EVENT OF WAR
By JAMES BARRON AND WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM
Published: March 16, 2003
To protect New York City if and when an American-led attack on Iraq begins, police officials have prepared a sweeping security plan that calls for expanding the patrols on the streets and asking the Defense Department to fly combat aircraft overhead, a senior police official said yesterday.
The patrols on the streets -- at government buildings, hotels and houses of worship as well as at newly strengthened checkpoints at bridges and tunnels -- would address a concern of police officials, that attackers acting alone present a greater risk than a larger, carefully orchestrated assault on the city.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A00E3DC1631F935A25750C0A9659C8B63&scp=2&sq=march+16+2003+iraq&st=nyt



THREATS AND RESPONSES: TERROR NETWORK; Anger on Iraq Seen as New Qaeda Recruiting Tool
By DON VAN NATTA JR. AND DESMOND BUTLER
Published: March 16, 2003
On three continents, Al Qaeda and other terror organizations have intensified their efforts to recruit young Muslim men, tapping into rising anger about the American campaign for war in Iraq, according to intelligence and law enforcement officials.
In recent weeks, officials in the United States, Europe and Africa say they had seen evidence that militants within Muslim communities are seeking to identify and groom a new generation of terrorist operatives. An invasion of Iraq, the officials worry, is almost certain to produce a groundswell of recruitment for groups committed to attacks in the United States, Europe and Israel.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0DE7DF1631F935A25750C0A9659C8B63&scp=3&sq=march+16+2003+iraq&st=nyt


Arafat May Soon Approve a Premier, Meeting U.S. Demand
By JAMES BENNET
Published: March 16, 2003
Palestinian officials said today that Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian leader, might formally appoint a new prime minister as soon as Monday, in their view complying with President Bush's condition for moving ahead with a ''road map'' to peace and a Palestinian state.
Mr. Bush said on Friday that he would present the plan, which was drafted in December, as soon as the Palestinians confirmed a prime minister with ''real authority.'' Israeli officials cautioned that it might take some time to determine how much authority the new prime minister would have.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9406E5D61F3EF935A25750C0A9659C8B63&scp=7&sq=march+16+2003+iraq&st=nyt



THREATS AND RESPONSES: THE EXILES; A Figure From Iraq's Past Steps Out to Mold Its Future
By JANE PERLEZ
Published: March 16, 2003
A former Iraqi foreign minister, Adnan Pachachi, who quit when Saddam Hussein came to power and who has been in talks with Washington, said in an interview here today that he was willing to take a leadership role in post-invasion Iraq.
Mr. Pachachi presents himself as a patrician figure of independent and secular views that transcend the ethnic and religious factions that many fear could tear Iraq apart in the aftermath of war.
His father and father-in-law were prime ministers under the monarchy after Iraq's independence from Britain. Mr. Pachachi, who was educated at a private academy in Alexandria, Egypt, and whose three daughters attended an exclusive Manhattan girls school, proudly talks of being born to ''power and privilege.''

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9803E2D61F3EF935A25750C0A9659C8B63&scp=10&sq=march+16+2003+iraq&st=nyt


DataBank; What a Difference a One-Day Rally Makes
By JEFF SOMMER
Published: March 16, 2003
After two weeks of declines, all three major stock market gauges rose last week, largely on the strength of a sharp rally on Thursday.
The market fell on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. But on Thursday, stocks rose to their sharpest one-day gains since October after President Bush said he was ''willing to go the extra mile for diplomacy'' and delay a United Nations vote on a resolution to disarm Iraq.
On Friday, most stocks, on average, held on to their gains, though the Nasdaq composite index, which had climbed 5 percent on Thursday, dropped slightly, less than 0.1 percent, for the day.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D01E0DE1F3EF935A25750C0A9659C8B63&scp=10&sq=march+16+2003+iraq+united+nations&st=nyt
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