They've printed other good stuff before - anti-Bush stuff, if I recall correctly - so this is great!

He pointed out in the interview that the point of this info getting leaked was by the US to try to embarrass Germany into supporting war by exposing that their companies were involved - excellent journalism!!! Now it's all blown wide open and the US companies are exposed.

Of course, the US govt doesn't give a f--- if everyone knows their companies were involved. They're busy looting the world as fast as they possibly can. Their media is bought already and won't cover it, or will spin it make it look fake, or will only talk about the other countries and not the US. And even if they did, Americans would shrug - "Well what do you want *me* to do about it?"

Here is my translation of the original article of 12/18/02 published in the taz (die tageszeitung), followed by a link & translation of the supplier list of 12/19/02.

USA CENSORS IRAQ REPORT

Germany and the other non-permanent members of the UN Security Council received only a truncated version of the weapons dossier. Data concerning foreign suppliers of Iraq are missing.

Geneva: The 10 non-permanent members of the UN Security Council--to which Germany will belong starting in January--have been withheld substantial parts of the Iraqi arms report. All information about the supplies from--and the support of--foreign companies, research labs and governments from the mid-1970's on, related to Iraqi arms programs, have been deleted. The 5 permanent Council members, the USA, Russia, China, France and Great Britain, are aware of this censorship. According to the German Press Agency DPA, it has reduced the 12,00 page report to only 3000 pages.

From information gathered from UN diplomats of 2 of these 5 countries taz learned that the censorship was agreed on primarily upon the urging of the United States. Among the 5 constant members of the Security Council it was the USA that stood out by giving the strongest support to Saddam Hussain's regime by arming it with the means of mass destruction.

The report gives us a complete overview of these supplies for the first time. In particular it names the 24 US companies and when and to whom in Iraq the supplies were delivered. And it makes clear how strongly the Reagan and the first Bush administrations supported the arming of Iraq, from 1980 up to the Gulf conflict of 1990/91. Substantial construction units for the Iraqi nuclear weapon and rocket programs were supplied with permission of the government in Washington. The poison Anthrax for the arming of Iraq with biological weapons stemmed from US laboratories. Iraqi military and armament experts were trained in the US and there received know-how having to do with their domestic arms programs.

According to the estimation of Susan Wright, a US arms-control expert from the University of Michigan, publication of this information would be "especially embarassing for the USA." It would "remind people in the USA of a very dark chapter, which the Bush administration would prefer to forget about." Whether the US had already struck out this information before it made copies for the other 4 permanent Council members continues to be unclear.

Author: Andreas Zumach
Original in German at http://www.taz.de/pt/2002/12/18/a0049.nf/text
Translator: Anu de Monterice

The full list of arms suppliers to Iraq, as published by the taz on 12/19/02, can be found at http://www.taz.de/pt/2002/12/19/a.nf/textdruck

Legend used in this list: A = nuclear program, B = bioweapons program, C = chemical weapons program, R = rocket program, K = conventional weapons, military logistics, supplies at the Iraqi Defense Ministry and the building of military plants.

After the list of US firms are these remarks: "In addition to these 24 companies home-based in the USA are 50 subsidiaries of foreign enterprises which conducted their arms business with Iraq from within the US. Also designated as suppliers for Iraq's arms programs (A, B, C & R) are the US Ministries of Defense, Energy, Trade and Agriculture as well as the Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories." (Anu's translation)

I heard this on Pacifica this afternoon, but I have not been able to find any other news websites with the story other then this and Pacifica. I hope the Media does not ignore this.

I was just made aware that the link to the full list of suppliers did not work, and I see that it indeed is missing a few digits.

Here is the correct link:
http://www.taz.de/pt/2002/12/19/a0080.nf/textdruck

Now we know why Bush has been so certain that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction--the past two Republican US presidents supplied them! No wonder Bush wants Hussein dead--his testimony could prove to be QUITE embarrassing at a trial, even a "secret" one!

you nailed it in that last paragraph. through competition-driven innovation -- the core value we're taught as children are why our system works best -- that small percentage at the top has condensed and mutated into a beast driven only to further it's own ability to accumulate more money and power. time to jettison it into the sun.

Hp makes risc computers. Computers can be dual use. You can throw Linux on a thousand desktops and get a decent supercomputer. You can make vx or anthrax in a college lab. The precursors for many chemical weapons are useful in industry and pharmaceuticals. A CNC tool can make truck parts or mill uranium into a perfect sphere.

The US, Europe, and others have provided them with the means. The US did not deploy mustard gas on kurds. They made that choice. If you buy a gun from me and use it to kill your neighbor it is not my fault. You can't sue McDonalds because you are a fatass.

You can not oversimplify a complex problem into a black list.

Let's say, for sake of argument, that the comment on "dual use" is correct. If that is so, and if the US did redact 3/4 of the material, including all of the material relating to the various suppliers, then what was the motive?

I see everyone pointing to former Presidents Reagan and Bush and what about after these two presidents where out of the Capitol? Or it is a matter of political preference instead the truth when you made your comments about how US helped Irag to get military power. Or maybe the time between President Bush Father and President Bush son was liberal speaking "POLITICAL CORRECTLY".Isn't it?

It's probably because, if you listen to the entire set of interviews with the German reporter, the sale and training of WOMD, from the US, German, and other major countries' governments, as well as multiple multinational corporations, at least 24 of them based in the United States, all took place throughout the 1980's and into late 1990 -- just before Desert Storm.

There's no mention of the US doing business with Iraq since then, although at least one country, China, was/is still selling them WOMD up until last year.

It's probably because, if you listen to the entire set of interviews with the German reporter, the sale and training of WOMD, from the US, German, and other major countries' governments, as well as multiple multinational corporations, at least 24 of them based in the United States, all took place throughout the 1980's and into late 1990 -- just before Desert Storm.

There's no mention of the US doing business with Iraq since then, although at least one country, China, was/is still selling them WOMD up until last year.

It's probably because, if you listen to the entire set of interviews with the German reporter, the sale and training of WOMD, from the US, German, and other major countries' governments, as well as multiple multinational corporations, at least 24 of them based in the United States, all took place throughout the 1980's and into late 1990 -- just before Desert Storm.
There's no mention of the US doing business with Iraq since then, although at least one country, China, was/is still selling them WOMD up until last year.

It's probably because, if you listen to the entire set of interviews with the German reporter, the sale and training of WOMD, from the US, German, and other major countries' governments, as well as multiple multinational corporations, at least 24 of them based in the United States, all took place throughout the 1980's and into late 1990 -- just before Desert Storm.
There's no mention of the US doing business with Iraq since then, although at least one country, China, was/is still selling them WOMD up until this year.
Take my word for it, this is a personal issue with Bush, and he has no qualms whatsoever in sending Americans over there to die and be exposed to bioweapons. It's oil and revenge. Or revenge and oil. Whatever.

Please tell me how to edit and delete messages. I have three or four messages on here when I just want one. Thanks!