One year later, more than 500 U.S. soldiers have died, 10,000 or more Iraqis have lost their lives with thousands maimed and wounded on all sides. An insurgency fueled by resistance to the U.S. occupation has drawn attacks and terrorist bombings targeting coalition forces and their Iraqi allies.

As the U.S. election campaign heats up, a stream of revelations about the White House rationale for war in Iraq has put President Bush on the defensive. Richard Clarke, the Bush administration's former counterterrorism coordinator, charges in a new book and recent interviews, that the White House failed to recognize the al-Qaeda threat before Sept. 11 attacks and manipulated America into a dangerous war against Iraq. On the one year anniversary of the launching of the war against Iraq, protesters again took to the streets across the world. Some two million people demonstrated in 60 nations on March 20, in cities throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. In the U.S., demonstrations were held in 300 cities and towns with tens of thousands gathering in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Leslie Cagan, national coordinator of United for Peace and Justice, a coalition of anti-war groups. After the New York City rally, which organizers say drew 100,000 protesters, Cagan assessed the achievements of the peace movement since the Iraq invasion.

Contact United for Peace and Justice by calling (212) 868-5545 or visit their website at www.unitedforpeace.org

Related links:

• "Speech for Truth - the First Day of Spring," by Peggy Akers, by CommonDreams.org, Speech to the March 20th Peace Rally in Augusta, Maine, posted March 23, 2004
• "Leader of US Anti-Iraq War Coalition Cites Unraveling Of Bush Alliance as Leaders React to Deception on WMD," Win Without War, March 19, 2004. TV ad will begin airing on Saturday calling on Congress to censure the president.
• "One Year Later, Not Feeling Safer," by Peter Rothberg, The Nation March, 21, 2004
• "The Empire Backfires," by Jonathan Schell, The Nation, March 11, 2004
• "Democrats Say Bush Abuses Power in Slamming Critic," by Jackie Frank and Steve Holland, Reuters, March 23, 2004 via www.commondreams.org
• "Did Bush Press For Iraq-9/11 Link?," 60 Minutes, CBS News, March 21, 2004
• "Ex-Advisor Says Bush Eyed Bombing of Iraq on 9/11," Reuters, March 19, 2004

Sima Wali, an Afghan woman, fled her country after the former Soviet Union invaded in 1979. In 1981, she founded Refugee Women in Development to support uprooted women from many countries to participate in their own economic and social development. Wali returned to Afghanistan for the first time in October 2002, where she ran a skills-training workshop for women-led Afghan non-governmental organizations.

Between the Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Wali about what she views to be the most serious challenges facing Afghan women and her hope for women's participation in the nation's new government.

Contact Refugee Women in Development by calling (703) 931-6442 or visit their website at www.refwid.org

This week's summary
of under-reported news

Compiled by Bob Nixon

• The Bush administration refuses to sign onto an American hemisphere communiqué affirming commitment to the "Cairo Consensus," an international agreement on family planning and reproductive services adopted by the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development. ("U.S. isolated at Hemispheric Conference on Gender, Population," www.oneworld.net, March 12, 2004 via www.commondreams.org)
• Australia's ecologically diverse Great Barrier Reef could be destroyed by global warming by the year 2050. ("Warmer Pacific Ocean threatens to wipe out coral on Great Barrier Reef," The Independent, online version, Feb. 23, 2004)
• The failing for-profit Edison Schools Corp. is bailed out by Liberty Partners, a private equity company backed by the Florida Retirement System, the pension fund for public employees. Critics say Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and his appointees pushed the deal. ("How Edison survived," The Nation, March 15, 2004)
  

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Credits:
Senior news editor: Bob Nixon
Program narration: Prue Cullen
News reader: Denise Manzari
Segment producer: Melinda Tuhus
Distribution: Anna Manzo, Harry Minot, Jeff Yates
Senior Web editor/producer: Anna Manzo
Web producer: Jeff Yates
Newswire Editor: Hank Hoffman
Web editor: Bill Cosentino
Executive producer: Scott Harris
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