-- South China Morning Post, Hong Kong
No WMD found in Iraq, but risk mandated action
No weapons of mass destruction have been discovered in Iraq. But there was a real risk that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein could have built and stored nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) weapons.
The U.S. team that hunted for WMD in Iraq has issued a report stating there is no evidence to prove that Iraq had stockpiles of such weapons. According to the report, Saddam destroyed his nation's WMD stocks and production facilities after the 1991 Gulf War, in the wake of international sanctions and inspections.
Bush still insists on justifying the Iraq war by saying, "There was a real risk that Saddam Hussein would pass weapons or materials or information to terrorist networks," and "that was a risk we could not afford to take."
The U.S. team's report concludes that Iraq's decision to retain its ability to resume WMD development was of Saddam's own making. He was convinced that chemical weapons did much to help his country in its war with Iran after he used them as genocidal weapons against his own people during the 1980s, the report said.
Under these circumstances, the international community had every reason to believe that Iraq possessed WMD.
Hans Blix, the former UN chief weapons inspector in Iraq and former director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has said he would have been able to report that there were no WMD in Iraq if he had had a few more months to continue his inspections.
But the latest report argues that Iraq could have resumed WMD development if the UN Security Council lifted sanctions against the country.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has emphasized that the report shows that Saddam had a desire to build WMD, and that he never intended to abide by the UN resolutions.
Despite the Saddam regime's collapse, Iraq remains in great confusion. Undoubtedly, the postwar U.S. rule of Iraq is open to question in many respects. This has given cause for skepticism about the justification--or lack of it--for the Iraq war.
To stabilize Iraq, it is essential to restore peace and order in the country and smoothly implement measures to bring the nation's democratic process on track. The United States and other members of the international community have an obligation to strive for that goal.
-- The Yomiuri Shimbun, Tokyo
;SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST; ANPAk..r.. Others-U.S. credibility U.S. credibility JP/6/Others
U.S. credibility
It is easy to see why the Bush administration was at pains to link Saddam Husseins Iraq to the al-Qaeda terror network that was behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In one bold stroke, the United States would have made a case for attacking Iraq and for leading the charge in an act of self-defense.
As it turns out, more than 18 months after the invasion that toppled Husseins government, there is little evidence to support this claim. U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld admitted as much this week -- before retracting the statement hours later. He was right the first time and the Bush administration loses credibility from refusing to admit it.
But because the U.S. presidential election campaign is in full swing, it would be unreasonable to expect the president or any of his foot soldiers to admit to this, or any other, misstep in Iraq.
However, the Bush administrations unwillingness to admit flaws in its case for war in Iraq undermines efforts to rebuild these countries. Without more credibility, the U.S. faces an uphill battle in winning commitments of troops, humanitarian aid or other support.
No one would expect the hawkish Rumsfeld to stray from the administrations continuing insistence of a connection between al- Qaeda and Hussein -- or at least between alleged Osama bin Laden confidante Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and the old Baghdad regime.
No matter who wins next month, the subject will have to be revisited. If the U.S. wants the world to follow its lead in democratizing the Middle East and in stopping rogues who wish to acquire dangerous weapons, its leaders will have to come clean on this vital topic.
-- South China Morning Post, Hong Kong
Elections in Iraq
There is absolutely no reason to believe the promised January election in Iraq will be free of violence, fully nationwide and deeply embraced by all Iraqis. It is likely to be deeply flawed, and that poses a huge risk for America.
But there is an even greater risk in not holding this election. Calling off the vote would bolster the cause of insurgency, cast coalition forces even more convincingly to Iraqis and the Arab world as long-term occupiers and political hypocrites and condemn the interim government and its citizenry to chaos. ...
In much of the Arab world, including Iraq, there is widespread belief that the United States will not accept any election that is not favorable to it. Conspiracy theories abound, and whether they involve Iraqi oil or permanent American military bases they are founded on that fear. The only answer is the development of an Iraqi government that most Iraqis see as legitimate and reasonably independent, and that depends upon developing good elections.
Whether this first election is flawed or not, and whether or not it installs a leader favorable to Washington, only an internationally recognized breakdown in the electoral process should keep America from accepting it. That is the risk of elections, but it is a risk that democracy demands and America has promised. -- The Buffalo News, Buffalo, New York
On smoking bans
Upholding its commitment to the fight against smoking, in September the National Ministry of Health established a National Registry of Tobacco Smoke-Free Businesses. The move brought a highly favorable response: in just three days, 100 companies signed the registry.
The ministry will bear the burden of certifying and accrediting the condition of every business, and the complete list will be available on the Internet. The certification could lower the cost of work-hazard insurance and deter lawsuits from people sickened by the effects of smoke in the workplace.
Tobacco smoke in enclosed spaces, such as bars or restaurants, contains up to 50 times more cancerous particles than come from vehicles in rush-hour traffic. Let us hope, then, that our social conscience grows with respect to the grave consequences caused by cigarettes and that the number of smoke-free businesses continues to rise. -- La Nacion, Buenos Aires
Edwards' vice presidential debate
To assess Tuesday's vice presidential debate, you must filter out Sen. John Edwards' superiority at skills that have little relevance to running the country. Edwards is one dynamite debater, and no doubt would be as impressive in a debate against Osama bin Laden as he was against Vice President Dick Cheney.
Cheney mocked John Kerry's strategy for Iraq as more of an echo than a plan, and indeed Edwards was unpersuasive that his ticket offered a significantly different approach for ensuring a successful endgame there. Cheney skewered Kerry's shifting positions on Iraq, dating back to the senator's ill-advised vote against the Gulf War in 1991.
But as a spectator sport, the second half of the debate was less satisfying, if only because the more skilled litigator had the easier case to make. It would have been fun to watch what Edwards could have done with Cheney's brief. -- Los Angeles Times
On making changes to the intelligence agencies
As Congress prepares to depart Washington shortly for the campaign trail, the stage is set for last-minute skullduggery on the overhaul of national intelligence agencies. If lawmakers come home and say they've done the job, don't buy it sight unseen. ...
Voters would be best served if Congress remained on duty long enough to hammer that measure into a shape of which all could justly feel proud. ...
The measure expected to come before House members this week is far weaker than the Senate bill in the authority it would assign to a proposed national intelligence director, and also includes "poison pill" provisions that demand harsher treatment of immigrants and intrude on civil liberties.
Most alarming is the plan to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of the overhaul in a conference committee, meeting while the majority of lawmakers are out campaigning. ...
The job needs to be done both promptly and sensibly. One top official must be in charge and accountable, data should be consolidated in a single center available to analysts from all relevant agencies, and Congress needs to streamline its oversight of the process.
If lawmakers declare victory after achieving less, they shouldn't get away with it. -- The Sun, Baltimore
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The Tuscaloosa News, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on the presidential debate:
The initial presidential debate came as a pleasant surprise in a dirty campaign season that has been short on substance. There was plenty of substance in Thursday's campaign -- more than anyone tired of canards about flip-flops and military misadventures may have expected. Moreover, there was a remarkable degree of civility -- no space invasion, no character assassination, no intemperate tirades.
That was a welcome relief as well. The encounter, for all of that, was not dry. Neither was it a draw.
Overall, John Kerry made a better showing than President Bush, though each man made a credible and clear statement of the views that divide them. ...
Bush, much stronger at the debate podium than he was four years ago, effectively struck back at Kerry's inconsistencies and what he characterized as a lack of resolution. ...
Yet Kerry had a telling observation on that:
"It's one thing to be certain, but you can be certain and be wrong. It's another thing to be certain and be right or be certain and moving in the right direction or be certain about a principle and then learn new facts and that those new facts and put them to use in order to change and get your policy right."
Never in the evening was there a clearer dividing line drawn between the candidates. ---- On the Net: http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/ ----
--- On The Net: http://www.chicagotribune.com/ ---
Florida Today, Melbourne, Florida, on SpaceshipOne and the space tourism business:
Cape Canaveral space boosters may have that feeling of doom today following Monday's historic flight of SpaceShipOne, a private rocket that reached space for the second time in five days. ...
Why the foreboding at the Cape?
Because SpaceShipOne's mission began and ended in the high desert of Mojave, Calif. -- where Rutan's Mojave Aerospace Ventures Team is based- and not from the storied piece of sand jutting into the Atlantic in Brevard County. ...
The action is in California- not Florida -- and every day that remains the case is another day that a potentially vital part of Cape Canaveral's future is being squandered. We've seen this coming for several years, and previously urged Gov. Jeb Bush to call a summit and move fast to open the door at Cape Canaveral by making it a business-friendly place for space tourism companies to set up shop...
Without the bill and its provisions- such as one stating that passengers fly at their own risk -- new investors and companies may be scared off because the lack of clear regulations makes the legal territory too dicey.
This issue is an unmistakable case of he who hesitates being lost.
And right now Florida and Cape Canaveral are lost -- big time. ---
---= On the Net: http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20041004/1005001.asp
GetAP 1.00 -- OCT 8, 2004 06:26:17 ;AP; ANPA ..r.. Editorial Roundup By The Associated Press= JP/
By The Associated Press= Here are excerpts from editorials in newspapers around the world: --- Daily Telegraph, London, on U.S. presidential debates:
... It is always difficult to know what to make of the BBC's analysis of American politics, so egregious is its pro-Democrat bias. ... On this occasion, however, the BBC seems to have got it about right. John Kerry did not manage to skewer his opponent, even on Iraq: his own voting record on the subject is so convoluted and opportunistic that he finds it difficult to play what might otherwise have been his trump card. But, crucially, he failed to conform to the Republican stereotype of the long-winded flip-flopper. He even appeared fleetingly presidential.
George W. Bush, for his part, looked tired and edgy, pulling faces as Mr. Kerry criticized him. ... His body language ... occasionally suggested that he was worn out by his responsibilities.
But Middle America is not very interested in body language; and it is swing voters in rural and rust-belt states who will decide the outcom of this election. ... Although they may have been impressed by Mr. Kerry's polite eloquence, they will also have appreciated the simple clarity of his opponent's message.
... Even so, Democrats have every reason to feel more confident than they have for several weeks. ... (But) after such a lackluster campaign, Mr. Kerry's last hope is a presidential gaffe. Mr. Bush is unlikely to oblige him. --- On the Net: http://news.telegraph.co.uk/ ---- The Straits Times, Singapore, on U.S. presidential debates:
... The 90-minute exchange between President George W. Bush and his challenger, Senator John Kerry turned out to be almost exclusively about Iraq, Afghanistan, terrorism and North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Asia, the world's most populous and economically most dynamic region, received no attention. ...
So was Latin America, one of America's biggest markets. Africa and its Aids pandemic was not even mentioned, other than a passing reference to the genocide in the Darfur area of the Sudan. The increasing violence between Israelis and Palestinians? Nothing. Nothing, too, about the potentially harmful consequences of rising oil prices on world economies. ... What about specific solutions to ... the unraveling of Iraq and the continued activities of Islamic militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan? Nothing other than standard bromides like continued determined pursuit of terrorists.
... Many pundits called it more positively for Mr Kerry which should inject new life into a candidacy that has been described as lackadaisical. Mr Bush seemed ready with facts and figures on foreign policy issues raised, but it was a pity his questions did not range more widely across a world in which the thinking and actions of the U.S. would affect the well-being of nearly every other nation.
... One must hope the next two debates will offer more by way of the candidates' insights into other pressing issues and concerns. ... --- On the Net: http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/ --- The Egyptian Gazette, Cairo, Egypt, on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
... The Palestinian uprising shows no signs of abating, despite being the target of an all-out Israeli war. Over 3,000 Palestinians are estimated to have been killed in Israel's ruthless clampdown. Thousands of others have been injured. Israeli bulldozers ... have pulled down scores of Palestinians' houses. ...
A key casualty of this open war is the hope for peace. which has been relentlessly crushed. ... The Palestinians' dream of an independent state is far from attainable. ...
... Regional and international circumstances are stacked up against the Palestinians. ... Washington's woolly "war on terrorism" has proved a windfall to incumbent Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. ... He tries to portray his atrocious crackdown on the Palestinians and their leaders as part of the global war on terrorism. ...
The Palestinians are not blameless, however. They have abysmally failed to forge a uniform agenda in fighting their battle. ... Palestinian authorities have not been immune to petty wrangles, occasionally developing into open struggles over power. ... Militarizing the Intifada has been a contentious issue, with some believing taking up arms against Israeli civilians has done the Palestinian question more harm. ... --- On the Net: http://www.algomhuria.net.eg/gazette/1/ ---
Reforma, Mexico City, on legalizing marriages for gay couples:
Considering the evident problems that the institution of marriage suffers in modern society, one could ask why homosexuals want to live under the rules of this type of contract. One could think that one of the benefits of being different would be living without the trappings of traditional institutions. But the interesting thing is that many homosexuals are specifically looking for the "bonds" of marriage. In many cases, this is because many homosexuals want to emphasize that they have a long- term commitment as a couple. ...
It would be impossible, of course, to get those who promote gay marriage and those who oppose it to agree. But ... the government should not involve itself in the moral decisions of individuals. ... There are too many important services that the government should be responsible for and doesn't fulfill to put it in charge of caring for the moral life of people. --- On the Net: www.reforma.com ---
GetAP 1.00 -- OCT 8, 2004 06:25:58