Bill Sykes' Newsletter
from America.
(September 2003)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
Late breaking news.
Deadly attacks are continuing in Afghanistan,
Iraq, and Israel.
-
Dateline: 19th August, 2003. Afghanistan.
Attacks by rebel forces have claimed the lives of
at least 90 people during a twenty four hour period.
As I have said previously the warlords and the Taliban
are once again in power.
Latest reports indicate that the United States is
once again back in the mountain top flattening mode
and has killed as many as sixteen Taliban fighters.
-
Dateline: 19th August 2003. Jerusalem,
A suicide bomber, Raed Abdel-Hamed Masq, (aged 30
years and a father of two, daughter Sama aged two
and son Mumen aged four), donned the garb of an observant
Jew and boarded an articulated double section bus
where he detonated an explosive device killing himself
and twenty four Jewish people including several children
in one of the deadliest acts of terrorism during the
last three years.
It was assumed that this was in retaliation for the
recent killing of top Hamas members by Israeli armed
forces.
Follow up. Dateline: 24th August, 2003. Gaza City.
Israeli forces retaliated against the suicide bombing
by ordering a helicopter air strike attack on Gaza
City killing four members of the Hamas organization.
One retaliation after another - these killings by
both sides have got to stop if there is ever going
to be a chance of peace between the Israelis and the
Palestinians.
-
Dateline: 19th August 2003. Baghdad.
A cement truck loaded with a sophisticated powerful
explosive device containing blend of Soviet era shells,
mortar rounds, and grenades packed around a 500 lb
bomb was detonated with devastating effect outside
the Canal Hotel in Baghdad which was acting as the
United Nations headquarters, killing the top United
Nations Administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello and at
least twenty three other United Nations employees.
It must be noted that the Muslim population of Iraq
in the immediate political and geographic area still
consider the Americans to be an occupying power and
not a liberation force and the United Nations to be
dominated by American political influence.
-
Dateline: 28th August 2003. Washington DC.
Contrary to Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld’s
continued assertions that the United States does not
need additional troops in Iraq, it has been announced
today that the Bush Administration has finally acknowledged
the mounting costs of the operation and the loss of
American lives are too great for the United States
to bear by itself and is begrudgingly suggesting that
the American unilateral position needs to be reviewed
and that a new United Nations mandate which would
allow American Commanders to utilize foreign forces
in Iraq should be sought.
Apparently it was of sufficient importance that Secretary
of State Colin Powell interrupted his vacation in
order to travel to New York for a meeting with the
Secretary of the United Nations Kofi Annan to discuss
the matter.
Comment: Correct me if I’m wrong but I am given
to understand that a multi-national division is already
in existence in Iraq waiting to replace the United States
Marines who are due to return to the USA in September.
I never thought that I would see the day when the United
States would openly admit that they needed help in any
situation. May I suggest that if the United States is
in dire straits in an intolerable situation with the continued
escalation in the loss of American and British lives,
plus the ever mounting financial costs of fighting what
would appear to be a never ending guerrilla war, then
the only reasonable and sensible thing to do is to ask
for help.
-
Dateline: 29th August 2003. Iraq.
It has been reported that the very prominent Iraqi
Shiite Cleric, Ayatollah Mohammed Bakir al-Hakim,
who apparently had aspirations of becoming the next
President of Iraq was assassinated when a car bomb
was detonated today outside the Imam Ali mosque in
the town of Najif in southern Iraq. Over a hundred
people were killed and many injured by the explosion.
Ayatollah al-Hakim was the spiritual leader of the
Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution.
Refer to the mid-April
edition of the newsletter, under a paragraph named,
"A contender for the position of the future President
of Iraq" for further details of the Ayatollah’s
background.
We welcome feedback about any of the contents
of these newsletters. Please send all correspondence to
bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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