[lbo-talk] Fwd: [PEN-L:36444] BBC questions US claims

[joanna bujes]

>>
>>BBC2 Wed night questioned US claims to have destroyed two Republican 
>>Guard divisions.
>>
>>BBC also reported that the US had secured the main roads around Karbala, 
>>not the entire town.
>>
>>The military analyst on BBC2 also detected some rumblings that the US 
>>were critical that the British had not taken Basra yet.
>>
>>The parliamentary report played up British concern about US warnings to 
>>Syria and Iran, not just by Rumsfeld but also by Powell. It said "Britain 
>>refuses to countenance any attack on Syria and Iran." This was based on 
>>Blair merely saying in the Commons that "we maintain relations with both 
>>countries" and think that is the best way to bring them on side. It is 
>>more likely that background briefings find it useful to play up the 
>>extent of the disagreement between Britain and the USA.
>>
>>About the post Saddam administration, it was suggested that the likely 
>>scenario would be de facto military control of the respective regions of 
>>the country (presumably with Britain maintaining its influence, if it 
>>could, in Basra. That the US would essentially manage a civil 
>>administration but there would be a UN conference like the Bonn 
>>conference on the future of Afghanistan.
>>
>>It is not clear how much the British government hesitates to join the 
>>full US internationalist agenda, genuinely sees a multilateralist agenda 
>>as more in its interests, could not afford on its own, the cost of peace 
>>keeping, or that Blair wants to continue straddling the contradictions to 
>>divide the opposition to him in the Labour party.
>>
>>I am not suggesting any faith should be put in these divisions but they 
>>may be useful to note.
>>
>>Chris Burford
>>London
>>
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