Portal:Current events/2003 February 28

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February 28, 2003 (2003-02-28) (Friday)
  • Iraq crisis of 2003: Iraq begins the process of destroying Al Samoud two missiles on March 1. Hans Blix, U.N. chief weapons inspector said "It is a very significant piece of real disarmament". However, the spokesman of the White House, Ari Fleischer declared that the Iraq commitment to destroy these missiles is a fraud that President George W. Bush had predicted, and indicated that the United States wanted a total and complete disarmament of Iraq. He also repeated that if the United Nations did not act to disarm Baghdad, the United States would lead a coalition of voluntary countries to disarm Saddam Hussein.
  • Canada's prime minister Jean Chrétien indicates that he believes that regime change is a dangerous goal for an invasion of Iraq, and that disarmament only should be the goal of international pressure.[1]
  • It is reported that, citing "national interest" as a reason, the British government under Margaret Thatcher contributed approximately £1bn of taxpayer money to Iraq under Saddam Hussein in the 1980s. Most of this money went into military infrastructure built by British companies such as GEC-Marconi.[2]
  • The new Austrian government, again headed by Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, is sworn in by Federal President Thomas Klestil. After more than three months of negotiations following the general elections of November 24, 2002, Schüssel (Austrian People's Party) decided to continue the coalition with the right-of-centre Austrian Freedom Party begun in early 2000. Although any future influence on federal politics by Jörg Haider was averted, one of the new members of the government is Ursula Haubner, Haider's sister.
  • Darren Flutie, Canadian Football's all-time leader in receptions, retires.
  • The Czech Republic finally chooses a new President, former Prime Minister Václav Klaus. The county had been without a President after three attempts at choosing a replacement for former President Václav Havel.
  • The United States 9th Circuit Court, based in San Francisco, California, reaffirmed its ruling that the words "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance are unconstitutional. It is expected that the Bush administration will appeal to the Supreme Court.
  • The United States government backtracked on its pledge to send American combat troops to the Philippines in order to track down Islamic terrorists in that nation. Philippine opponents of the plan threatened to impeach President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, if she had allowed foreign troops on Philippine soil in contradiction to the Philippine constitution.
  • The European Dreamcast online gaming network Dreamarena was closed down.
  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2005-05-08. Retrieved 2017-09-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ David Leigh. "How £1bn was lost when Thatcher propped up Saddam". the Guardian.
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