“Then Let’s Argue!”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with the German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, about his fiercely contested Agenda 2010, the SPD’s grass roots which are unwilling to back reforms, and the political consequences of the war against Iraq.

“Pact between Heaven and Hell”

Contemporary history: Does the Roman Catholic church share some of the blame for the Holocaust? For the first time, the Vatican has opened its secret archives to independent researchers, and the documents reviewed so far reveal that the popes back then were all too interested only in the welfare of their own believers. It will take years to work through all the papers, but already it is becoming apparent that the Vatican is exonerated from the worst suspicions. The popes neither sympathised with the Nazis, nor was Vatican City a stronghold of murderous anti-Semitism. The documents bear witness to a fatal non-aggression pact between heaven and hell.

“The Last Hope”

The lone resistance of Bishop Konrad von Preysing against the Nazi regime. In his pastorals, sermons and interventions before the Bishops’ Conference, the Bavarian repeatedly denounced the Nazis’ infringements of the law. Pius XII refused to listen to his urgent plea to stand up for the “unhappy innocents” before the general public, saying that he could not offer the persecuted Jews any other effective help than his prayers.

“It Was Pitiful”

Iraq: SPIEGEL interview with the UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix about Washington’s problematic search for Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction and the manipulated evidence furnished against the regime:

“Inspectors who go about their business and reach judgements in the name of the international community enjoy far greater credibility. The alliance has come as a liberator and occupier, and that could turn out to be a disadvantage. If its experts really do find weapons of mass destruction, their authenticity could be called into question. That’s why I am in favour of these tasks once again being made the responsibility of a group of specialists who are legitimated by the international community. … If proof of Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction ultimately fails to emerge altogether, I would suspect that the alarming secret service analyses before the war were not quite correct. … Since Damascus has not joined the convention against chemical weapons, the mere production of such substances would not even be illegal. So if you want to rid the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction, you have to declare the entire region a free zone, including Israel, of course. That is the only way that the Middle East will achieve peace and stability. … Even though we did not succeed in bringing about a peaceful solution to the conflict, we have reason to be proud. The inspections were carried out effectively and correctly.”

SPIEGEL interview with Amr Mussa, the secretary general of the Arab League.

Abu Abbas, the man suspected of masterminding the hijacking of the cruise liner “Achille Lauro”, has been arrested by US special forces in Iraq. The article investigates which other terrorists might still be in Iraq.

Organised crime: The article deals with the Russian/German agreement on organised crime, which primarily benefits Russia.

“Falcon in the Sights”

Syria: Is Damascus going to be the target of an American military strike? The US government accuses Syria of offering refuge to Saddam’s top officials, and is issuing an ultimatum for “cooperation”. But President Assad does not want to bow to any dictate – and is expanding his arsenal of weapons.

“An Island of Hope”

Reconstruction: Umm Qasr is something like the capital of the liberated country. The system that is to replace chaos throughout Iraq is being tried out here: a coalition between the military and Iraqis. For five days Umm Qasr was part of the war, then the spokesmen for the American and British armies stood up before the world’s media and announced that the first Iraqi town had been liberated and was now steering towards a better future. From this moment on, Umm Qasr was no longer a dusty little town, but the pilot project for the democratisation of Iraq. For war refugees from Basra, Baghdad and other towns, Umm Qasr became something of a Promised Land.

Baghdad National Museum: The article reports on which cultural artefacts were destroyed or stolen from Baghdad’s National Museum.

“A Country on a Drip”

Relief supplies: If Iraq continues to sink into chaos, too little food will arrive in the country; if there is too little to eat, the looting will continue – the United Nations relief agencies are anxious to end this spiral of turmoil, but they lack the support of the military. From Amman, the 70 trucks will have to drive through the Iraqi desert for some 14 hours, alone. The caravan would stand out. It would be slow. It would be easy to attack, because the people with the Word Food Programme are not allowed to provide armed escorts. Protection has to be given either by US troops or UN soldiers, and it could take weeks before their deployment has been fully discussed in far-away New York.

“The Litigation Industry”

Court actions: Scarcely any other business is as lucrative and crisis-proof at that with corporate lawsuits. The macroeconomic damage caused by the often absurd claims, amounting to billions of dollars, is so enormous that legal experts are calling for a fundamental reform of the law.

“Cornucopia of the Seas”

Wildlife: A German research association wants to glean medicines from sponges. The diversity of these primordial creatures gives rise to the hope that they could harbour remedies against Aids, cancer or malaria. The problem is that it often takes huge amounts of the sponges to obtain just a pinch of the active substance.

“The Queen of Quarantine”

Animal epidemics: The murderous varroa mite has already wiped out more than a third of all bee colonies in Germany. Now German and Croatian scientists are arming the nectar-collectors against the parasitic scourge – by means of genetic survival training on an Adriatic island. Natural selection and breeding are to be used to bolster the bees’ resistance so that they can withstand the murderous parasites. In Germany, “Varroa destructor”, as the destructive mite is known, was first discovered 25 years ago. The consequences for the defenceless European hosts were devastating: with its four pairs of legs, the 1.2 millimetre long, red-brown parasite attaches itself to the bees from infancy, piercing them to feed on their body fluid, called hemolymph. At the same time, the mite transmits bacteria and viruses whose effects are often worse than the parasites themselves.