DAILY ALERT

In-Depth Issue:

Brutality of Saddam's Iraq on Video (U.S. Defense Department)
    Asked about a recent videotape declassified for release to the media, Secretary of Defense Rumsfield said he had seen such tapes, that "portray a regime that was about as vicious as any regime could conceivably be."
    "When you have people filming, in front of crowds cheering and clapping, you have people cutting off people's tongues, and cutting off people's heads, and chopping off their fingers and chopping off their hands, throwing them off three-story buildings, you learn something about a group of people and how they live their lives and how they treated their people. And we are so fortunate they are gone and that those 23 million people are liberated."
    See also Videotape Shows Saddam's Men Torturing Iraqis (FOX News)
    The filming locations appear to be public squares and military installations. In attendance are dozens of black-clad Fedayeen, uniformed Republican Guards, civilians, and children.
    "Saddam's regime took sadistic pleasure in documenting the horrors it perpetrated on the Iraqi people," said Tom Malinowski, a director of Human Rights Watch.
    "In fact, they wanted people to know this, because the purpose of this treatment was to terrorize the population so no one would even think of opposing Saddam."

Poll: 59% of Europeans Say Israel is Greatest Threat to World Peace (AFP/EUBusiness)
    According to a Eurobarometer poll carried out for the European Commission, to be published next Monday, 59% of Europeans believe Israel poses the biggest threat to world peace, ahead of the U.S., Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and North Korea, the Spanish daily El Pais reports.

Israel Sees Growing Involvement of Hizballah in Territories - Ramit Plushnick-Masti (AP/Washington Times)
    Last Friday's attack in Netzarim was the latest of a series of Palestinian attacks with Hizballah's fingerprints.
    Hamas and Islamic Jihad spent weeks spying on Netzarim, planning the attack and waiting for ideal weather conditions - a pea-soup fog - to move in.
    Two gunmen, one of whom escaped, burst into the soldiers' sleeping quarters, spraying machine-gun fire in all directions.
    Hours later, the groups released a videotape that included surveillance footage - showing cars and bike riders moving along the town's roads - reminiscent of images Hizballah would release after successful attacks on the Israeli army.

Security Official: Palestinians Can Carry Out Chemical Attack - Etgar Lefkovits (Jerusalem Post)
    Palestinian terrorist organizations have the ability to carry out a chemical attack in Israel, but have refrained from doing so due to the repercussions of such an attack, a senior security official said this week.
    "It is not a problem for terrorist organizations to obtain chemical materials, and they are aware of the advantages of such an attack; but on the other hand [they know] it would be considered breaking all the rules of the game," the official said.

Removing El Al Insignia Temporary - Erik Schechter and Tal Muscal (Jerusalem Post)
    Yediot Ahronot reported Thursday that two weeks ago, El Al flew unflagged jets to Bangkok, Thailand, to avoid presenting an obvious target to terrorists.
    Until the entire fleet can be outfitted with a sophisticated anti-missile system, removing the corporate logo and Star of David from some of its passenger aircraft is better than nothing, said a top aviation analyst.
    "Taking the markings off a plane cuts the effectiveness of a Stinger by half," said one missile expert.
    From a technical point of view, a lumbering jumbo jet should be an easy target. However, many countries use identical commercial passenger aircraft, so identifying such a plane at a distance is difficult.

Forms of Palestinian Public Protest - Abdul-Hadi Muslim and Muhammad Ahmed (Jerusalem Times/IMRA)
    Hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets around the world to criticize the ways of the government, and the police do not interfere, but stand aside, watch, and direct traffic, because the rallies are licensed and the people do not burn tires or smash store windows.
    The opposite happens in Palestine, where freedom of expression usually takes a different direction; destruction of public property, attacks on police stations, and burning of tires.
    Ibrahim Abu Al-Naja, a top representative in the Legislative Council, wondered what message could be sent from a burning tire that clogs roads and harms the environment.
    Mousa Abdul-Nabi, commander of Intervention and Order-Keeping Forces in the Police Corps, stressed the danger of attacking police stations. He considered firing at police stations a criminal act.

Economist: Growth in Israel Much Higher in 2004 - Zeev Klein (Globes)
    The British weekly The Economist Thursday published an optimistic updated forecast for the Israeli economy, predicting that growth in Israel would be much higher in 2004, led by exports.
    Recovery in economic activity and tax revenues had begun as early as mid-2003.