Al-jazeera's english language website is back online,
it seems it was off for a time, possibly sabotaged by
some hackers in the USA, but it came back a couple of
days ago, at:

 http://english.aljazeera.net/

If that fails try this:

 http://english.aljazeera.net/topics/index.asp?cu_no=1&lng=0&template_id=1&temp_type=44

In case the site becomes unavialiable again, here the main articles from the front page:


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No evidence of weapons of mass destruction

The war on Iraq is into its fourth week and still no evidence has been unearthed of the country's alleged weapons of mass destruction, the purported reason for the attack.


A US military official said on Tuesday more testing and analysis was required before determining whether substances found at sites in central Iraq were banned chemical weapons agents.

"Initial reports were 'yes, it could potentially be'," said Brigadier General Vincent Brooks.

"We do not know enough at this point to say it should be discounted or that we have found some weapons of mass destruction for use."

That contradicted an earlier remark on Tuesday by a US military source near the predominantly Shia city of Karbala in Iraq who said tests indicated the substances were not chemical weapons agents. "The latest tests turned out negative," the source said.

US troops wait in NBC suits in Kuwait after a warning of a missile attack from Iraq on March 20. They removed their suits when they arrived in Baghdad

“The United States is now embarrassed because it could not confirm the presence of WMD in Iraq,” said Dr. Hassan Krayyim, a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut.

During an earlier phase of the war, US military officials claimed that President Saddam Hussein would use chemical weapons against the invading forces as soon as they cross the “red line” around Baghdad.

Until now he hasn’t. “Even if (Saddam Hussein) has chemical weapons, it is not logical for him to use them in the heart of the Iraqi capital, because Iraqi soldiers and residents will be affected,” said Krayyim.

He pointed out that the use of such weapons would only be significant if they harm the enemy and not one’s forces.

“That’s why the US troops are so confident that they won’t be attacked by chemical weapons that they have removed their suits,” he said referring to the Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) protective outerwear suits. “They know the WMD issue is over.”

Shortly after US troops entered the Iraqi capital, they were ordered to take off their NBC suits.

Krayyim ruled out the possibility that Iraq would use WMD even if it possesses such weapons. “Iraq does not have a political interest in that because the Iraqi government wants to quash the justification which the US used for waging its war,” he said.

US violations

In the meantime, US President George Bush has authorised the use of tear gas in Iraq, which could be a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention that states that “each state party undertakes not to use riot control agents as a method of warfare.”

“It won’t be the first violation that the United States commits If it uses tear gas,” Krayyim said. “They have also used cluster bombs in the war on Iraq.”

The use of cluster bombs drew criticism from human rights organizations against the US. “Amnesty International is deeply concerned about the high toll of civilian casualties and the use of cluster bombs in US military attacks in heavily populated areas,” AI said in a statement on April 2.

On April 1, at least 33 civilians including many children, were reportedly killed and around 300 injured in US attacks on the town of al-Hilla.

Amnesty International referred to reports that cluster bombs were used in the attacks and may have been responsible for some of the civilian deaths.

"The use of cluster bombs in an attack on a civilian area of al-Hilla constitutes an indiscriminate attack and a grave violation of international humanitarian law," the leading human rights organization stated.

"If the US is serious about protecting civilians, it must publicly commit to a moratorium on the use of cluster weapons. Using cluster munitions will lead to indiscriminate killing and injuring of civilians," the organization added.--- Al Jazeera with agency inputs

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Anarchy amid the euphoria

K S Dakshina Murthy

The jubilation, looting and lawlessness that has filled the vacuum caused by the collapse of the Saddam Hussein government looks like an early indication of what lies ahead for Iraq.

If sections of people in the capital Baghdad and the southern city Basra indulged in looting, there were others who tried to physically attack those who were loyal to the administration of Saddam Hussein.

Iraqis loot the house of a Baath party official in Baghdad on Wednesday
In Basra where 'control' was proclaimed earlier in the week, a contingent came came upon a mob in the process of stoning a man to death.

“They stopped throwing stones when they saw us, but some of them still had stones in their hands. One had a broken bottle. They were beating him with sticks, punching him," a soldier said. "They shouted he broke into our friend's shop'. He was rescued in time.

The looting of banks, hotels and other official or semi-official buildings is going on unabated, while residents have resorted to vigilante justice against looters who target private houses or shops. One estimate says there may have been "about a dozen" lynchings of thieves in Basra since its capture.

British forces concede they would interfere to save a life, but could do little to stop the looting. "You get to the Sheraton, and there are 300-500 people. They took everything," a soldier said. The hotel, the city's smartest, was ransacked.

The invading troops had been instructed to “win over local people”. At the same time, they had to maintain a semblance of law. As it turns out, they just watched as people let out their steam by taking the opportunity to loot and where possible wreaking revenge on loyalists of the previous government.

The sense of confusion over the next stage in the battle seems to permeate from the top down. British troops say they have picked an unnamed "sheikh" to be a future leader for the province. Under whose direction and orders is not clear. But reports from Basra say they are a long way from re-establishing a police force that disappeared along with the rest of Basra's civil administration after the US-led forces invaded Iraq three weeks ago.

A decision has been taken only on what needs to be done immediately -- the setting up of the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA). The White House has indicated this will be led by a retired military official, Lt. Gen Jay Garner. Several hundred bureaucrats, contractors and humanitarian workers would arrive in Iraq as part of the ORHA to ensure running of essential utilities including the bare functioning of the government and ensuring food, water and electricity for the people.

"In many ways we are learning as we go," said Major Jeff Jurgensen of the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) as he arrived in the southern port city of Umm-Qasr. "You have to earn the trust of local people by talking to them, finding out what they need and then showing them you can consistently deliver on those needs."

The military will continue to have a sizeable presence under Gen. Tommy Franks and will maintain order until an interim Iraqi government can be set up.

But nothing much beyond this has been finalised. "There's a lot of strategic big picture decisions that are in the final stages of being made and those decisions will then flow back down to our level," he said.

The team will work with Iraqis except for those associated directly with the deposed Saddam Hussein government or his Ba’ath Party. But the job does not look easy. Already Garner’s role has sparked off suspicion in the Arab region about Washington's motives and widespread calls that the United Nations be given the job instead.

The ORHA team has said it wants to hand over to Iraqis quickly, but how quick is the question. What is causing concern is there are no plans as yet on longterm issues. Analysts point out that larger questions have not been answered on issues like how the oil trade will be controlled and regulated, on ways to reconcile feuding Iraqi groups and on the character of the government that will eventually take over office in Baghdad.

In the meantime, the law of the jungle prevails. As a middle-aged former policeman in Basra says, “ No authority now. No law now. No anything. Thieves everywhere. Everyone is afraid, because no safety. If there is no authority, there will be revolution."

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Could Saddam Hussein be striking a last-minute deal?

Iraqi president Saddam Hussein may be negotiating an eleventh-hour deal that could see him exiled to a safe country.

Speculation has rife as to whether Saddam Hussein is dead, alive, staying with his government or fleeing. In the last few minutes Lebanese television has reported that he is in the safety of the Russian embassy.

Al Jazeera's correspondent in Moscow reported earlier today that the Russian delegation that came under fire from US forces as it left Baghdad on 7 April may have been dealing with senior representatives of the Iraqi government in guaranteeing a safe exit for Saddam Hussein.

A Russian diplomat wounded in Iraq and his colleague arrive at the Russian embassy in Damascus
“This explains the lack of resistance by the Republican Guard and Iraqi forces,” a Russian general told Al-Jazeera on condition of anonymity.

Akram Khouzam, Al-Jazeera’s reporter in Moscow, reports that the general's claim may explain the absence of organised resistance in Iraq, even in the capital itself where communications could not have been disrupted completely.

Baghdad had been expected to put up stiff resistance to the US-led invasion but in the event it appears to have capitulated, with the Iraqi military putting up less opposition than in more poorly defended places such as Umm Qasr and Basra.

Russian intelligence has officially denied reports that diplomats who left Baghdad last week took with them Saddam’s secret archive, saying this allegation was being made to justify the US attack on the diplomatic convoy last week.

However, the Russian general speaking by phone to Al-Jazeera said his claims were based on the cooperation of Saddam and a group of his close officials with the United States during the Iran-Iraq war and encouragement for Saddam to invade Kuwait in 1991.

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Sharon wants Palestine to heed Iraq example

Israel exulted in the collapse of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein government with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon “hoping” that the Palestinains "will draw the right conclusions" from the US takeover of Baghdad and opt for "a more peaceful leadership of their own."

"Now that the Iraqi people, thanks to America and Britain, are getting rid of their own brutal dictatorship, we hope that also our Palestinian neighbours will draw the right conclusions and give the necessary authority to a more peaceful leadership of their own, which will fight against terror and violence and engage Israel in genuine peace talks based on compromise," said a Sharon aide Zalman Shoval.

-A wounded Palestinian man lies in a hospital following an Israeli aircraft attack in Gaza April 8 REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

The statement came shortly after a extreme right-wing Jewish group said it had carried out a bombing in a West Bank school that injured 29 Palestinian children.

The blast occurred in a school in the village of Al-Jarba, 10 kilometres south of Jenin. Four of the injured were in serious condition, Palestinian medics said. Palestinian security officials were interviewing children to establish exactly how the explosive device went off.

Four Palestinians were killed today in Israeli army strikes in Gaza, a day after eight died in separate attacks as Israel continued to take advantage of the shift in world focus to try and crush the Palestinian uprising.

Meanwhile, Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan al-Muasher has denied his government had approached Israel to discuss the possible reopening of a trans-Jordan pipeline from Iraq to Israel.

With the fall of the Saddam Hussein government and the United States in control, a section in the Israeli ruling establishment felt the way was clear for restarting the pipeline shut down over five decades ago.

An Israeli government source had earlier said that Israeli National Infrastructure Minister Joseph Paritzky would meet Jordanian officials to talk about restarting the pipeline.

But Muasher told Al-Jazeera that was "devoid of truth". "The Jordanian government has not contacted (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon's office or any Israeli government offical regarding this issue," Muasher told Jazeera.

"As you know relations between Israel and Jordan are now very cold and no Israeli minister has visited Jordan for a long time," he said.

The oil pipeline from Mosul to the northern Israeli port of Haifa was shut down 55 years ago. "We have repeatedly clarified that political relations between us and Israel relies on Israel's seriousness to advance in the peace process," Muasher said.

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Will US fabricate WMD evidence?

Cilina Nasser

With the US-led war to change the government of Iraq all but over there is still little sign of the weapons of mass destruction for which this campaign was fought.

Daily reports of suspected finds have all so far turned out to be false alarms and the distinct lack of success that the United States could resort to fabricating evidence.

“The United States is now embarrassed because it could not confirm the presence of WMD in Iraq,” said Dr. Hassan Krayyim, a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut.

“The concern lies in the possibility that the United States would present false evidence to prove that its decision to go to war was right,“ he said.

Dr. Imad Jadd, international relations specialist at the Egypt-based Al-Ahram Centre for Studies, agreed. “What will stop the United States from bringing chemical weapons from outside Iraq and moving them into the country to prove their longstanding claims?” he said.

US soldiers dig in after a ground attack siren was raised in the Kuwait desert last month, prompting troops to don protective suits

“They can do it because they are the authority now that is conducting the search.”

Jadd called on the United Nations to send delegations to Iraq to monitor any finds of suspected chemical agents. “International inspectors should be present in Iraq,” he said. “They are the ones who should announce any findings,” he said.

He cautioned against allowing US-led forces to move suspected material found in Iraq to outside the country for testing. “When this happens, it means that the evidence is lost,” Jadd said. “They should leave the material in its place.”

A US military official said on Tuesday more testing and analysis was required before determining whether substances found at sites in central Iraq were banned chemical weapons agents.

"Initial reports were 'yes, it could potentially be'," said Brigadier General Vincent Brooks.

"We do not know enough at this point to say it should be discounted or that we have found some weapons of mass destruction for use."

That contradicted an earlier remark on Tuesday by a US military source near the predominantly Shia city of Karbala in Iraq who said tests indicated the substances were not chemical weapons agents. "The latest tests turned out negative," the source said.

In another incident, the US military investigated on Tuesday the possibility of the presence of mustard gas near the central city of Najaf after five soldiers developed what they thought were blisters while on duty there. However, it turned out that they were suffering from heat exhaustion, not exposure to chemical agents.

Last week, an initial report that claimed several bottles found in western Iraq may have contained chemical weapons appeared to be a case of one bottle labelled as a nerve agent that had been invented in the 1940s.

During an earlier phase of the war, US military officials claimed that President Saddam Hussein would use chemical weapons against the invading forces as soon as they cross the “red line” around Baghdad.

Until now he hasn’t. “Even if (Saddam Hussein) had chemical weapons, it was not logical for him to use them in the heart of the Iraqi capital, because Iraqi soldiers and residents would have been affected,” said Krayyim.

He pointed out that the use of such weapons would only be significant if they harm the enemy and not one’s forces. “That’s why the US troops all removed their suits. They were confident that they wouldn't be attacked by chemical weapons,” he said referring to the Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) protective outerwear suits.

Shortly after US troops entered the Iraqi capital, they were ordered to take off their NBC suits.
US troops wait in full NBC suits in Kuwait after a warning of a second scud missile attack from Iraq last month

Krayyim ruled out the possibility that Iraq would have used WMD even if it possesses such weapons. “Iraq does not have a political interest in that because the Iraqi government wants to quash the justification which the US used for waging its war,” he said.

In the meantime, US President George Bush has authorised the use of tear gas in Iraq, which could be a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention that states that “each state party undertakes not to use riot control agents as a method of warfare.”

“It won’t be the first violation that the United States commits If it uses tear gas,” Krayyim said. “They have also used cluster bombs in the war on Iraq.”

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Journalists in direct line of US fire

Tuesday's deaths of three journalists has provoked a strong reaction from press associations who fear their members may be becoming targets for trigger-happy soldiers.

Al Jazeera television’s Tariq Ayoub was killed and a cameraman injured when a US-missile hit their office while they were preparing for a live broadcast. Shortly afterwards, a US airplane returned to bomb the neighbouring offices of the Arabic satellite channel, Abu Dhabi.

Later in the day a US tank targeted the high-rise Palestinian Hotel in downtown Baghdad housing foreign journalists, killing a Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk, and a journalist with the Spanish television Telecinco. Three other journalists were wounded.

Reporters carry a wounded colleague in Baghdad's Palestine Hotel

“We don’t target journalists,” military officials said on the defensive at US Central Command in Doha. They said a tank crew had fired a round at the Palestine Hotel in which Reuters and many other foreign news associations are based, after coming under fire from the location. This claim has been rejected by other journalists located in the same building, including the BBC, who commented on televised news casts that there was no firing in the area before the American shells hit them.

US officials have so far failed to acknowledge the attack on Tareq Ayoub, which comes a week after the hotel in which Al Jazeera's Basra correspondents were staying, came under aerial bombardment. The bombs did some damage to the Sheraton hotel grounds, but caused no casualties.

Condemnation has come hard and fast.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said the attacks may have been war crimes. The Brussels-based lobby group also accused the United States of singling out Al-Jazeera for punishment.

"The bombing of hotels where journalists are staying and targeting of Arab media are particularly shocking events in a war which is being fought in the name of democracy," IFJ general secretary Aidan White said in a statement

Michael Massing of the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York called it a black day for journalism.

"I’ve been in this job for 12 years and today is one of my worst days....It would seem the attack was direct."

The response from the Arab world has been no less severe.

The Arab Journalists' Union accused the US military of deliberately targeting reporters.

"The American invasion forces are deliberately attacking journalists," the union's secretary general, Salaheddin Hafedh, said in a statement.

"The air strikes and murder of journalists clearly show that the American and British invasion forces are looking to prevent the press from carrying out its duties," the statement said.

Hafedh charged that the coalition "has now begun to strike journalists to stop them from revealing the atrocities committed against civilians."

In Amman the head of the Jordanian Journalists' Union, Tariq Al-Moumin also said he believed the attacks were designed to send a message. "I guess the attack on journalists was intended. Americans do not advocate freedom, they are not democratic."

The Moroccan National Press Union (SNPM) accused the US of trying to take out 'unfriendly' voices.

"The Americans want journalists' work to serve their military strategy," said Younes Moujahid, secretary general of the SNPM, adding that the US troops had "knowingly targeted journalists."

The Lebanese Information Minister Ghazi al Aridi was equally direct in his response. "This is how America understands democracy. The meaning of this concept for the Americans is silencing people."

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) a worldwide media watch group, condemned the deaths of three journalists in Baghdad in two separate US attacks, saying it would demand answers from Washington.

The Paris-based group said it would send a letter to US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, "in protest over what appears to be a deliberate act by the American army" and demanding explanations.

In Washington, the Pentagon blamed the deaths of the journalists in Baghdad on the Iraqi government, saying it kept putting civilians at risk.

"We don't target journalists. But as we have seen repeatedly the Iraqi regime has put civilians at risk. Baghdad remains a dangerous place," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

Reporters without Borders also lamented the "total silence" from US forces about an incident in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on March 22, in which veteran and highly respected international correspondent with ITN, Terry Lloyd, was killed, apparently by US-British fire.Two other members of his crew are still missing following that incident. ---Al Jazeera and Agencies

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Dead correspondent was deliberately targeted

Colleagues of the Al-Jazeera correspondent killed on Tuesday when two US missiles struck the Baghdad offices of the Qatar-based channel have said they believe they were deliberately targeted.

" I will not be objective about this because we have been dragged into this conflict," said Tayseer Alouni. "We were targeted because the Americans don't want the world to see the crimes they are committing against the Iraqi people."

Fatima Ayoub, the 14-month-old daughter of Jordanian Al Jazeera correspondent Tareq Ayoub, is seen in front of a photograph of her 34-year-old father during a rally by several dozen journalists in Amman April 9, 2003.

His wife, Dima Tahboob, said she received phone calls from Ayoub everyday. “He was not scared at all,” she said as she wept silently.

The last time she spoke to him was Monday evening. “He was exhausted and his voice was tired,” she said. “He said they were barely sleeping three hours a day. I tried to comfort him and then he told me not to worry, saying that the situation was not bad for journalists.”

“Probably everyone will forget him, maybe Al Jazeera will forget him, but he is now with God who does not forget anyone.”

Another cameraman, Zuheir Iraqi, was slightly hurt in his neck by shrapnel.

They were both standing on the roof getting ready for a live broadcast amid intensifying bombardment of the city when the building was hit by two missiles, according to Tayseer Allouni, another Al Jazeera correspondent.

Cameraman Iraqi came down bleeding, but Ayoub did not show up. “I ran up as the shells were still falling and crawled on the roof and shouted for Tariq, but he did not answer,” Allouni said.

Allouni had gone down because of the intense bombing. He later went up again and with the help of Abu Dhabi TV correspondent, Jaber Obeid, found Ayoub’s body.

Allouni, Jaber and others took Ayoub in an Abu Dhabi TV vehicle to a hospital.

Shortly afterwards, US warplanes returned to hit the neighbouring Abu Dhabi TV offices.

Another of Jazeera's Baghdad correspondents Majed Abdel Hadi called the US missile strike and Ayoub's death a "crime".

Al-Jazeera aired footage of Ayoub only one hour before his death as he was preparing to go live. He was leaning on sandbags and wearing a helmet and a flak jacket.

“I knew Tariq for 10 years,” said Yasser Abu Hilalah, Al Jazeera correspondent in Amman. “He was very brave, professional and a hard worker,” he added. “Al-Jazeera office is located in a residential area and there is no way that the attack was a mistake.”

Ayoub, aged 35, was married with one daughter. He travelled to Baghdad only five days ago to join the Al-Jazeera team from the channel's Amman office where he had worked as a financial correspondent for three years. Originally from Palestine, he had also worked for the Jordan Times and the international news agency Associated Press.

Earlier, Abdel-Hadi told our presenter that the Al-Jazeera office was “deliberately targeted… and it is not the first time. Our Kabul office was hit by four (US) missiles,” he said. US warplanes hit the Afghanistan office of Al-Jazeera in 2001, just 10 minutes after its correspondents had received warning of an impending attack.

(Picture) Ayoub getting ready for a live broadcast an hour before his death

Last week, the hotel where Al-Jazeera correspondents in the southern Iraqi city of Basra were staying was also hit by four bombs that did not explode.

“The Al-Jazeera team has no role in the war. We are only witnesses and are reporting objectively. This proves that the US is trying to cover the crimes it commits in its war on Iraq. Targeting witnesses is the biggest crime,” said Abdel-Hadi.

The bombing left Al Jazeera's offices in ruin. But the channel said it would continue its coverage of the US-led war on Iraq that began on March 20. “It is impossible to work in the office, but we will continue to cover the war within the capabilities that we have and despite the difficult circumstances,” Abdel-Hadi said.

The European Union said after the incident that it would call on the US to keep journalists out of the firing line.

Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana had "agreed to make a joint representation to the United States in order to protect journalists," he said. "Greece condemns this repugnant act and expresses its sorrow and regret."

Two more journalists died and four others were injured when a US tank round later hit the Palestine Hotel where at least 200 international correspondents, including Al-Jazeera reporters, are staying.

A Reuters journalist, Taras Protsyuk, 35, a Ukrainian national, who was married with an eight-year-old son, was among the dead.

"Taras's death, and the injuries sustained by the others, were so unnecessary," said Reuters' editor in chief Geert Linnebank.

He called into question the "judgement of advancing US troops who have known all along that this hotel is the main base for almost all foreign journalists in Baghdad."

Reuters has its offices on the 15th floor of the Palestine Hotel which houses most of the foreign media covering the Iraq war.
Reporters carry a wounded cameraman from a Spanish channel after Palestine Hotel was hit by US missiles

The 15th and 17th floors of the hotel were struck, blowing out windows as fierce exchanges raged on the 20th day of the US-led war.

The 14th floor was also damaged. A hole had been knocked in the hotel facade, laying bare the metal structure of a column running past a balcony.

Dubai's Al-Arabiya television channel said its bureau on the 17th floor also suffered damage.

General Buford Blount, commander of the US 3rd Infantry Division said a US tank was "receiving fire from the hotel, RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) and small-arms fire, and engaged with one tank round. The firing stopped."

But BBC correspondent Rageh Omaar cast doubt on the US line saying he heard no gunfire from the hotel prior to it being hit. --- Al Jazeera with agencies

Al Jazeera Satellite Channel press release