How US Kept Aus. in the Dark--Sydney MH--New World Media Watch

Full excerpts, links up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com


WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR NOVEMBER 21, 2003

1//The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia--HOW US KEPT AUSTRALIIANS IN THE DARK (Australian air force officers stationed at US command centres during the Iraq war were denied access to critical US intelligence they needed for their duties and were forced to leave classified briefings because of a policy described by a senior US Air Force intelligence officer as silly…General Crawford, who is head of the US Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Centre, told his Australian and British counterparts at the conference that there were only two solutions to the problem. The first was for the US "to change their dog-gone policy". The second way, he joked, was "to make the UK, Canada and Australia the 51st, 52nd and 53rd states".)



2//Interfax, Russia--44% OF RUSSIANS SYMPATHIZE WITH ORGANIZERS OF ATTACKS AGAINST COALITION TROOP IN IRAQ (Forty-four percent of Russians sympathize with Iraqi guerillas who have been staging terrorist attacks against coalition troops, while 15% said they sympathize with the Americans, and 41% were undecided, according to a poll…Most Russians (83%) suggested that Islamic terrorists may deliver on their promises soon to stage major terrorist attacks in a number of large U.S. cities.)



3//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--HOUSE OF SAUD PLAYS A RADICAL CARD (At a three-day meeting over the weekend, Crown Prince Abdullah and a group of more than 40 Saudi scholars gathered in Mecca for discussions on mediation between the government and those waging a bloody campaign to overthrow the House of Saud. The meeting included a mentor of Osama bin Laden, Muslim theologian Safar al-Hawali, who denies claims that the recent Riyadh bombing could be considered jihad.)



4//The Pakistan Times, Pakistan--KUWAIT TO SUPPLY IRAQ WITH OIL PRODUCTS FOR WINTER (Oil-rich Kuwait has agreed in principle to supply Iraq with oil products to meet winter shortages as well as allow Baghdad to use its terminals to export oil, an official said Thursday.
The emirate also gave a provisional nod to buy natural gas from its former occupier in return for billions of dollars of debt and agreed to assist in rebuilding the Iraqi oil sector, said Issam Jehad, an advisor to Iraqi Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum…Iraqi output increased 150,000 bpd during October to 1.55 million bpd, but that was a slowdown in the speed of growth after increases of 350,000 bpd in both September and August.)



5//The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines--US ADMIRAL, GOVERNOR SET WAR GAMES MEET (US Armed Forces Commander in Chief for the Pacific (CINCPAC) Admiral Thomas Fargo is to meet North Cotabato Governor Emmanuel Piñol over the proposed holding of a joint RP-US military training in Central Mindanao. Central Mindanao is one of several regions on the island where the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) maintains base. The MILF views Piñol as an adversary because of the executive's constant support for a military campaign against the rebel group.)