Buttiglione...

[luigir]

ROME (AFP) - An Italian minister broke ranks with his pro-war government on Iraq (news - web sites), telling a newspaper that last year's invasion could have been a mistake, and was in any case not the best thing to have done.



"The war may have been a mistake. Perhaps there were ways it could have been avoided," said European Affairs Minister Rocco Buttiglione in an interview published Thursday by the daily newspaper Il Messaggero.


"What is certain is that it wasn't the best thing to do," he added.


"Terrorism cannot be defeated only by the force of arms, and if we give the impression that weapons play the dominant role, we will only stir up nationalist feelings among the Arabs against us," he added.


The statement, the first apparent crack in the unity of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Iraq, came two days before the first anniversary of the US-led invasion, which Berlusconi has strongly backed.


It also came a week after the devastating bomb attacks in Madrid, which killed over 200 people and injured around 1,500.


Buttiglione said he didn't believe that democracy in the Middle East could be achieved through war or because Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) has been toppled.


"Arab democracy will not be born through the force of arms or because we have defeated Saddam," he said.


"It can be achieved through a policy of peace, cultural exchanges, inter-religious dialogue and development aid," he said.


He added that he favoured a stronger UN role in Iraq in order to give legitimacy to the country's interim Governing Council and the foreign military presence.


Buttiglione is a member of the Italian Christian Democratic Party, one of the partners in Berlusconi's coalition government.


Italy has some 3,000 troops in Iraq.

 

[luigir]

Thursday, March 18, 2004

CAIRO, Egypt - The Islamic militant group that claimed responsibility for last week's Madrid train bombings has warned that its next targets could be the United States, Japan, Italy, Britain or Australia, an Arabic newspaper reported Thursday.

The London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi said on its Web site that it had received a statement from ``The Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri (al-Qaida)'' in which the group reiterated its responsibility for the March 11 attacks that killed more than 200 people and wounded more than 1,600.

``Our brigades are getting ready now for the coming strike,'' said the statement dated March 15. ``Whose turn will it be next? Is it Japan, America, Italy, Britain, Saudi Arabia or Australia?''

The United States believes the Abu Hafs group lacks credibility and has only tenuous ties to al-Qaida. In the past, the group has claimed responsibility for events to which they were not connected - such as last summer's blackouts in North America and Britain.

The editor of Al-Quds al-Arabi, Abdel Bari Atwan, told The Associated Press the paper received the statement via e-mail Wednesday night. The paper has received other e-mails from this group. On the evening of the Madrid bombings, the paper released an e-mail from Abu Hafs al-Masri in which they made the first claim of responsibility.

``This statement is authentic,'' Atwan said, adding the group had previously claimed responsibility for last year's suicide attacks in Istanbul, Turkey, and on the U.N. headquarters in Iraq.

The same statement appeared on an Islamic Web site that has posted purported al-Qaida declarations in the past. The site carries a note disclaiming responsibility for the contents of statements.

Spanish authorities suspect an al-Qaida-linked cell carried out the bombings. Moroccan authorities have said the emerging evidence in the Madrid attacks points toward Ansar al-Islam, a guerrilla group blamed for terrorist strikes in Iraq, Jordan, Turkey and Morocco. Other groups believed to be involved in the bombings are Salafia Jihadia and Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group.

In its statement, Abu Hafs al-Masri said it was calling a truce in Spain to give the socialist government that was elected Sunday, three days after the train attacks, time to carry out its pledge to withdraw troops from Iraq.
The group appeared to boast it had the power to change governments.

``We change and destroy countries,'' the statement said. ``We even influence the international economy, and this is God's blessing to us.''

The statement tells American voters that Abu Hafs al-Masri supports the re-election campaign of President Bush: ``We are very keen that Bush does not lose the upcoming elections.''

The statement said Abu Hafs al-Masri needs what it called Bush's ``idiocy and religious fanaticism'' because they would ``wake up'' the Islamic world.

Parts of the statement were released Wednesday night by the editor of another London-based Arabic newspaper, Al Hayat. The editor read parts of the statement to The Associated Press in Cairo




La lista dei prossimi target e, soprattutto, la volonta' di seminare zizzania tra i Paesi in lotta contro il terrorismo, sia in maniera di retta che indiretta...

Lo scopo dei teroristi non e' solo quello di ammazzare ma anche di creare disagi e danni (anceh economici)...

Se noi saremo intelligenti non litigheremo su quella frase della tregua perche' e' un chiaro tentativo di divedere tutti.

 

[luigir]

Bloccato Eurostar...

Security alert halts Eurostar trains Thu 18 March, 2004 15:21

PARIS (Reuters) - Eurostar trains between Paris and London have been suspended after police were told by a telephone caller of a suspicious package on tracks north of Paris, French railways company SNCF says.

"All train traffic on the TGV high-speed line has been suspended," an SNCF spokeswoman said, adding that this concerned the Eurostar service to London and other trains going north from Paris.

She said police had been notified of a suspicious package on the tracks shortly before 2 p.m. British time on Thursday. Bomb disposal experts had been called in, she added.

British police said they had closed off part of the Eurostar cross-Channel line near Dover and arrested a man under anti-terror laws.

"A section of the line was closed. One man was arrested under the terrorism laws and he is helping police with their enquiries," a spokeswoman for Kent police said. "A full security check is in progress." She declined to give further details.