"I have nothing on that," said a Washington spokesperson. The Turkish government, which has to date refused to give Washington the official go-ahead to launch an invasion from its territory, has also refused comment.

As such incursions are organized, along with U.S.-led military exercises in Kuwait, Qatar, and elsewhere in the region, the bigbusiness media in the United States and Britain has noted that the military buildup still has a ways to go before the forces necessary for an invasion are assembled. Washington and London continue to concentrate troops and military hardware in the Middle East.

Preparing the political ground for war, U.S. officials have thrown cold water on the United Nations-ordered report that the Iraqi government presented December 7 on its armaments stores. The White House has already dismissed Baghdad's denial that it possesses chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons. "We know that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and has programs to create more," said State Department spokesman

Richard Boucher on December 14. Railing against Iraq's alleged possession of such weapons, the Bush administration released a document December 10 stating that Washington reserves the right to respond with "overwhelming force" including "all our options" should Iraq use chemical or biological weapons to defend itself from an assault by U.S. forces.

The Daily News and Post newspapers in New York drew the obvious inference, with headlines reading, "We may nuke Iraq" and "We will nuke you."

Developments among the European countries have highlighted how the other imperialist powers are using Washington’s imperial aggression in the Mideast to push ahead with their own war drives.

In late November German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder officially granted the Pentagon free access to German air space and movement of troops in and out of U.S. bases there. Leaders of the Green Party, the coalition partner of Schröder’s Social Democratic Party, agreed on condition that Washington receives a "mandate" from the United Nations.  
 
Imperialist naval task force
Berlin shares responsibility with the Spanish government for the one-year-old Task Force 150 operating in the Indian Ocean under the U.S. Central Command. On December 10 troops based on two Spanish warships seized a north Korean ship carrying Scud missiles to Yemen. The Spanish command handed the ship over to U.S. officers, who steered it toward the British colonial enclave of Diego Garcia. U.S. officials expressed doubts that Yemen was the destination for the missiles; a "private buyer" or some other government might be involved, they said.

However, in face of protests by both Pyongyang and the Yemeni government, which said that the shipment belongs to it "and its army and [is] meant for defensive purposes," the U.S. forces allowed the ship to resume its journey the next day.

The incident shone a spotlight on the operations of the task force. "There is no question whose navies have the main role in the waters near the Horn of Africa," reported the New York Times on December 15. Alongside one U.S. ship, eight "Spanish and German ships operate far from home, performing missions that were all but unthinkable just a few years ago."

The 1,200 German personnel serving in the task force are part of some 8,600 troops deployed in Bosnia, Kosova, Macedonia, Afghanistan, and other locations. Berlin currently has more troops deployed on such missions than London.  
 
Carter demands that Iraq disarm
Meanwhile, James Carter used his December 10 acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize to add his voice to the propaganda barrage against Iraq. The former president warned Baghdad that it must meet the United Nations Security Council’s demands to disarm.

In a subsequent interview with CNN Carter said that if inspectors determined Iraq had "weapons of mass destruction" a military attack would be in order.

The image of Carter as a "man of peace" was invoked at some of the 150 antiwar events organized across the country December 10. They were sponsored by a coalition of 70 groups called United for Peace.

Actors Martin Sheen, Hector Elizando and Tony Shalhoub joined a rally in Los Angeles. Speaking at the rally, Elizando said, "It’s time to stand up and declare ourselves as patriots concerned for our country."

The actors are part of a larger group called Win Without War which includes the NAACP, the National Organization for Women, the National Council of Churches, and the Sierra Club.

An ad on the group’s web site signed by more than 100 actors and artists states, "We are patriotic Americans who share the belief that Saddam Hussein cannot be allowed to possess weapons of mass destruction." It went on to explain that while the group supports "rigorous" inspections to ensure that Iraq disarms, a "preemptive" military invasion would "harm American nation interests." Among the signers are high-ranking retired military officers.  
 
 
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