Reply #48: Meanwhile, wheels coming off in UK and Australia.....latest news. [View All]

From the new World Media Watch....

1//The Scotsman Sun 14 Mar 2004

http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=294252004



IRAQ WAR PREPARATION WAS A ‘SHAMBLES’

Brian Brady, Westminster Editor


The British campaign in Iraq was crippled by "shambolic" preparations that led directly to the deaths of servicemen in the field, a damning report by MPs will declare this week.

The extensive review - which represents the most damaging criticism yet of the war - finds that defence chiefs committed a raft of planning blunders and mistakes in the lead-up to war, leaving their troops hopelessly exposed to attack.

The MPs conclude that their failures led directly to the death of at least one British serviceman - tank commander Steven Roberts, who was shot dead during a riot after he had been forced to give up crucial ceramic plates from his body armour.

The report, written by Westminster’s Labour-dominated Defence Committee, is published this week on the eve of the first anniversary of last year’s strikes on Iraq.
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3//The Australian March 15, 2004

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8966909%255E2702,00.html



KEELTY CONTRADICTS PM ON IRAQ LINK

By Martin Chulov, Steve Lewis and Patricia Karvelas

The nation's police chief, Mick Keelty, has contradicted a key government claim – that the terrorist threat against Australia had not been increased by its decision to commit troops to Iraq.

In the wake of the Madrid bombings, Mr Keelty also echoed an assessment from other national security chiefs that terrorists would strike at Australia.



Mr Howard and his senior ministers have strongly denied that the Government's support for the US-led campaign in Iraq had increased the security threat to Australia.



But Mr Keelty, in a television interview yesterday, suggested a direct link between the train bombings in Madrid and Spain's involvement with the US-led coalition in Iraq.



"The reality is, if this turns out to be Islamic extremists responsible for this bombing in Spain, it's more likely to be linked to the position that Spain and other allies took on issues such as Iraq," Mr Keelty told the Nine Network's Sunday program.

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