M16 CHIEF TO QUIT AFTER SPLIT ON IRAQ /uk--New World Media Watch

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


WORLD MEDIA WATCH For August 4, 2003

1//The Guardian/Observer, UK--M16 CHIEF TO QUIT AFTER SPLIT ON IRAQ (Britain's top spymaster has decided to retire early, dealing a damaging new blow to the Government's credibility over its presentation of intelligence on Iraq… Retired and serving MI6 officers have told The Observer that they favour an internal candidate - someone who would be seen as a standard-bearer for the freedom from political interference the service has traditionally sworn to uphold… But Whitehall sources say Tony Blair is seriously considering John Scarlett, the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee…Scarlett was a trusted member of Blair's inner circle throughout the Iraq crisis, and has now become a personal friend.



2//The Jordan Times, Jordan--WORLD BANK STRUGGLES FOR HARD FACTS IN IRAQ(The World Bank says its first assessment of Iraq's economy in nearly a quarter of a century will be “quick and dirty” as it fights to haul out data from years of official secrecy and the ravages of war. The bank's draft economic profile for Iraq is due to be finished at the end of the month, but the head of its mission there cautioned on Saturday he was building a picture of Iraq's economy virtually from scratch…The World Bank, whose last mission to Iraq was in 1979, wants to determine how much the rebuilding of Iraq is likely to cost before a meeting of potential donors in October.)



3//The Globe and Mail, Canada--KABUL’S CALM MASKS CHAOS SIMMERING UNDERNEATH(The devolution of the country during the past 18 months seems to many a chilling replay of what happened here in the wake of the Soviet withdrawal in 1989…Now, a similarly loose mixture of Pashtuns and Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks, moderates and fundamentalists have been thrust back together by their U.S. sponsors. Once more, opium production controlled by the warlords is the country's primary source of income. The country is in grave danger of becoming a Colombia-style narco-economy. As tensions rise, some say another implosion like the one a decade ago is not far off. "We have a lot of mujahedeen commanders inside this government. People from foreign countries want to diminish their power. This will cause a violent reaction," said Mullah Hamid, who heads a mosque in southwest Kabul. "There will be another war. I guarantee you 100 per cent that it is coming.")



4//The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines-- MILITARY HQ REINFORCED, MALACANANG SQUELCHES TEXT RUMORS OF ANOTHER COUP TRY (Troop movements and rumors of another military mutiny frazzled nerves in Metro Manila Sunday, sending officials to assure the public that the false reports were spread by backers of the failed July 27 mutiny to create instability. Malacañang's reiteration that threats to the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo remain did not help ease the tension… A text message said there were sightings of heavily armed mutineers traveling around Manila aboard buses. Officials tried to squelch the rumors -- most flashing by cell phone text messages around Metro Manila -- of further military mutiny.)



5//The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea--ROH LASHES OUT AT ‘PRIVILEGED MEDIA’ (President Roh Moo-hyun attacked the press again on Saturday, saying that he would not tolerate "the tyranny of privileged media." He accused the media of "trampling on government officials, tracking down and finding faults with their relatives and making unreasonable attacks."… The opposition spokesman Park Jin said in a daily briefing that while President Roh appears to have declared a war against the media, he should be focusing more on owning up to his own mistakes and improving his performance, considering that his approval ratings have fallen to the 20 percent level only five months since his inauguration.)

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