Petersen's Guide: www.petersons.com:
Traditional universities, distance learning. (incl ODU)
ZDNet University: www.zdu.com: All computer related classes. $4.95/mo. Can translate to Continuing Education credits.
Research is hampered by the fact that two of the key participants -- the
Iraqi government and the United Nations Special Commission -- don't have
Web sites.
For background on the crisis -- what superweapons Iraq might still have
--Pentagon's GulfLINK site. (www.gulflink.osd.mil)
Set up for researchers and veterans with Gulf War illness, the site is well
designed and has its own search engine to help track your way through the
thousands of pages of material on Iraqi chemical and biological weapons.
With GulfLINK, you can look up Defense Department, intelligence agency and
presidential commission documents. But huge. Without some expertise, it
is impossible to navigate because it really is posting the raw material
of the war.
Arkin said tracking information via GulfLINK permits you to look at 1,000
pages if you have the time, rather than depending on newspaper accounts,
which are translations of the raw documents.
OTHER SITES
Recommend a variety of sites and search engines for up-to-date information.
The U.S. Information Agency (www.usia.gov/products/washfile/intrel.shtml)
offers a running list of documents, briefings and transcripts on "diplomatic
and security issues." The documents are usually posted within a few
hours after they have been released, sometimes quicker.
For further details about the Middle East, the U.S. Information Service
(www.usis-israel.org.il) operates
a Web site at the Tel Aviv Embassy that has extensive files on U.S. policy
toward the Middle East.
RESEARCHING UNSCOM
UNSCOM would be the best source, but it does not have a home page.
Several key UNSCOM reports have been scanned and posted by others. The most important of the recent UNSCOM reports was written in October 1995: www.worldlink.ca/~ahmed/private/un/95-0864.txt . Derives from the fact it's the first report following the defection of Saddam Hussein's sons-in-law and their subsequent disclosures about Iraq's biological and chemical weapons programs.
And while UNSCOM does not post its inspection reports, the U.N. Web page (www.un.org) does include recent daily news briefings, including those by UNSCOM executive chairman Richard Butler.
OTHER AGENCIES
The International Atomic Energy Agency, (http://www.iaea.or.at/GC/gc41/documents/gc41-20.html)
which is charged with conducting inspections of Iraq's nuclear weapons program,
does list its reports. The agency also offers a resource page on the inspections.
(www.iaea.gov/worldatom/inforesource/
other/iraqindex.html)
There is no official Iraqi Web site, but surfers can link to the Iraqi
National Congress (www.inc.org.uk)
which posts the latest news from the country's leading dissident group,
including photographs of five of Saddam's palaces and an analysis of Iraq's
many intelligence services.
A good U.S. government site with some background information on Iraqi superweapons,
is the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency`s annual report on compliance
with arms treaties (www.acda.gov/reports/complian.htm).
Similarly, the Pentagon's home page carries the DOD's 1997 report on proliferation
(www.defenselink.mil). The DefenseLINK
site also has an excellent search engine to help find previously released
information on Iraq and its neighbors.
Several think tanks, like the Center for Strategic and International Studies
(www.csis.org/mideast/terror.html)
and the Monterey Institute for International Studies (cns.miis.edu/pubs/webguide/topen.html)
have long maintained sites on Iraqi superweapons as part of their non-proliferation
studies.
Another good site is the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's (www.sipri.se/projects/chembio.html) site on chemical and biological warfare.
NEWS SITES
One way is to find out the name of the local newspaper near a base or post
and then use the search engine at Editor & Publisher Magazine (www.mediainfo.com) to track down the Web
site.
Infoseek (www.infoseek.com) has options
that will facilitate searches. For example, by clicking the "industry
news" option at Infoseek you can see local and mid-size media. List
words like "deploy," "gulf" and "unit" in
the Infoseek search engine.
MILITARY BASES
The Army's contingent in Kuwait (www.kuwait.army.mil) however, has information
and still photos of joint U.S.-Kuwaiti training going on this week. Like
other military Web sites, this one had an excellent online newspaper, the
Desert Voice.
Air Force (www.af.mil/news) Web site
has the best all-around general news site in the military.
THE IRAQ FOUNDATION - www.iraqfoundation.org
What do expatriate Iraqis have to say about their home country, Saddam Hussein, and conflict with the United States? This is one place to find out. The foundation is based in Washington and was founded in 1991 after Desert Storm.
POLICY.COM - www.policy.com
This site for the "policy community," whatever that is, draws some heavy hitters from government, advocacy and academics to start thoughtful public discussions on the use of force in Iraq, nonmilitary solutions, and human-rights issues.
CITYNET - city.net/countries/iraq
Maps, current weather, history, and the State Department's bleak travel warning on Iraq. It was windy and sunny in Baghdad when we checked.
CIA WORLD FACTBOOK - www.odci.gov/cia/publications/nsolo/factbook/iz.htm
Just the facts. This site by the U.S. spy agency has statistics and details about Iraq and its leader, whose name here is spelled ``Saddam Husayne.''His titles include president; prime minister; chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council; and, on weekends, central party leader.
MIDDLE EAST RESEARCH AND INFORMATION PROJECT - www.merip.org/ircrisis.htm
Sober and critical analysis of U.S. policy toward Iraq is offered here by the Washington-based publishers of the scholarly periodical Middle East Report.
PICTURES FROM IRAQ - www.mit.edu:8001/activities/arab/multimedia/iraq-pictures.html
Postcard shots of the Tigris River, Baghdad coppersmiths, and Babylon, all posted here by the Arab student organization at MIT.