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HavenWorks.com/military/archive/2003 |
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/ Archive
/ 2003
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- "Iraq
arms hunt may hinder other U.S. aims." ... "In nine
months, not a single item has been found in Iraq from a long and classified
intelligence list of weapons of mass destruction which guided the work
of dozens of elite teams from Special Forces, the military, the CIA and
the Pentagon during the most secretive, expensive and fruitless weapons
hunt in history." ... "For U.S. allies, arms control experts and some involved
in the hunt, the lack of evidence in a war premised on the threat of proliferation
will have far reaching consequences in the coming year for the United States
in its efforts to curb Iran, North Korea, Syria and others." ... "While
some argue the Iraq war helped push open the doors of closed regimes such
as Libya and Iran, others say it has only strengthened convictions that
negotiations, U.N. inspections and sanctions work." -By
Dafna Linzer -AP
via -MercuryNews-BayArea
-
- "S.Korea
to Send 3,000 Troops to Iraq in April." ... "South
Korea is to send 3,000 troops to the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk in late
April to help reconstruction efforts, cabinet and military officials said
Tuesday." ... "South Korea's cabinet approved a motion for the dispatch
of the troops at a special session Tuesday and would now send it to parliament
for ratification, officials said." -Reuters
via -ABCNEWS.com
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Christmas
News
- "Where
Christmas trees will stay up until April: One Army
town's bittersweet celebration." ... "The past nine months have been difficult
for families of soldiers at Fort Carson, an Army post south of Colorado
Springs. About 11,000 troops were deployed from Fort Carson to Iraq in
April. Most aren't expected to return until spring." ... "In many homes,
Christmas trees will stay up through the spring, with packages underneath
for returning soldiers and their stockings full and dangling from mantles."
-By Jeremy Meyer -CSMonitor
- Anthrax
News
- "Judge
Halts Military's Required Anthrax Shots." ... "A
federal district judge ruled Monday that the Defense Department could not
compel members of the armed forces to be vaccinated against anthrax without
their consent." ... "The judge, Emmet G. Sullivan, issued a preliminary
injunction that prohibits Pentagon officials from "inoculating service
members without their consent."" ... "The judge found that the vaccine
in question, intended to protect military personnel against the potentially
deadly effects of inhaled anthrax, was "an investigational drug," being
used for an unapproved purpose." -By Robert Pear with
contributions by Thom Shanker -NYTimes
via -Google-News
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- "U.N.
Nuclear Watchdog Agency Head to Travel to Libya:
ElBaradei Will 'Kick Start a Process of Verification'." ... "Mohamed ElBaradei,
director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told a press
briefing in Vienna that he would lead an IAEA team to Libya to "kick start
a process of verification" of Libya's arms program, wire services reported."
... "After years of denying the existence of a nuclear weapons program,
Libya acknowledged last week that it had a program to develop nuclear and
other unconventional weapons. In a surprise announcement, Libyan leader
Moammar Gaddafi said he will abandon unconventional weapons, freeze his
nuclear program and allow international inspectors to test his word." -By
Fred Barbash -WashingtonPost
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- "Libya
to allow snap arms inspections." ... "Libya has agreed
to allow snap U.N. nuclear arms inspections, just a day after declaring
it was giving up plans to build an atomic bomb, a Western diplomat says."
... "Libya, widely praised for announcing on Friday that it was ditching
efforts to build the bomb and other banned weapons, told the head of the
U.N. nuclear watchdog on Saturday that it was ready to sign up to inspections,
the diplomat told Reuters." -By Louis Charbonneau
-Reuters via -Reuters.co.uk
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- Time
Magazine's Person of the Year: 2003:
"The
American Soldier: They swept across Iraq and conquered
it in 21 days. They
stand guard on streets pot-holed with skepticism and rancor. They caught
Saddam Hussein. They are the face of America, its might and good will,
in a region unused to democracy. The U.S. G.I. is TIME's Person of the
Year" ... "" -By Nancy Gibbs
-Vol.
162 No. 26 20031229-20040105-TIME.com
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- Christmas
News
- "Spanish
PM Aznar Makes Christmas Trip to Iraq." ... "Prime
Minister Jose Maria Aznar made a lightning trip to Iraq Saturday to express
his support for Spanish troops just ahead of the Christmas holiday." ...
"Despite strong opposition to the U.S.-led war among the Spanish public,
Spain has 1,300 soldiers in Iraq." -Reuters
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- "Court:
President cannot detain U.S. citizen as enemy combatant."
... "In a setback to the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policies,
a federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the president does not have
the power to detain an American citizen seized on U.S. soil as an enemy
combatant." ... "In a 65-page decision, a three-judge panel of the 2nd
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 that the U.S. government must release
Jose Padilla from military custody within 30 days."
-CNN
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- Christmas
News
- "Christmas
boxes bring Afghan mob scene." ... "Attempts by Canadians
to hand out almost 2,000 Christmas gift boxes to impoverished Afghan children
Wednesday turned into a melee as some of their parents beat back the young
people trying to reach the presents and soldiers had to stop them." ...
"A Canadian Forces truck was quickly surrounded by hundreds of children
as it arrived at a hillside camp in Kabul, where internally displaced people
(IDPs, as they are known by the military) live destitute lives in makeshift
housing." -GlobeAndMail
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- "Hussein's
Hovel Hideaway: Desposed Leader Told Captors He Wanted
to 'Negotiate'." ... "When the deposed Iraqi leader was pulled by U.S.
troops from a dank hole adjacent to the farmhouse Saturday, he told them
in English: "My name is Saddam Hussein. I am the president of Iraq and
I want to negotiate."" ... "A U.S. Special Forces soldier replied: "Regards
from President Bush."" -By Alexandar Vasovic
-AP via -WashingtonPost
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- "A
tip, high-tech surveillance and a GI with a shovel nab Saddam."
... "Perhaps a mile from his nearest palace, Saddam spent his final minutes
of freedom in an underground chamber of hard-packed dirt, just wide enough
to permit a man to recline. After decades as self-proclaimed heir to the
iconic 12th-century warrior known in the West as Saladin, Saddam surrendered
meekly without a shot from the pistol he clutched in his lap." ... "The
clues that led to Saddam's capture emerged three weeks ago, officials said,
when intelligence analysts and Special Operations forces shifted the focus
of their hunt from Saddam's innermost circle to the more distant relatives
and tribal allies who they suspected had been sheltering the deposed president."
... "The U.S. military and the CIA had formed a task force devoted exclusively
to finding Saddam and his top allies. Called Task Force 121, it is an interagency
team of CIA paramilitaries and "black," or unacknowledged, Special Operations
forces." -By Barton Gellman and Dana Priest with contributions
from Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Bradley Graham -WashingtonPost
via -SeattleTimes.NWsource
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- "Ace
in the Hole: Saddam Hussein Captured Near Tikrit By U.S. Forces."
... "Saddam was in a six-to-eight-foot-deep "spider hole" that had been
camouflaged with bricks and dirt. The soldiers saw the hole, investigated
and found him inside, armed with a pistol, said Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno,
the commander of the 4th Infantry Division that assisted in capturing the
leader." ... "Forces from the 4th Infantry Division along with Special
Forces captured Saddam, the U.S. military said. There were no shots fired
or injuries in the raid, called "Operation Red Dawn," said Lt. Gen. Richardo
Sanchez." (1, 2,
3,
4)
-ABCNEWS.com
-
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- "Saddam
Captured Hiding in Hole Near Tikrit." ... "U.S. troops
captured Saddam Hussein hiding in a hole near his hometown of Tikrit in
a major coup for Washington's beleaguered occupying force in Iraq." ...
"Grubby, bearded and "very disorientated," the 66-year-old fallen dictator
was dug out by troops from a cramped hiding pit during a raid on a farm
in Ad-Dawr village late Saturday, U.S. Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno told a news
conference in Tikrit." (1, 2,
3)
-By Joseph Logan -Reuters
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- "Bush:
Halliburton Must Pay for Overcharge: Bush Says U.S.
Expects Halliburton to Repay Money if Company Overcharged for Gasoline
in Iraq." ... "President Bush said Friday that Vice President Dick Cheney's
former company should repay the government if it overcharged for gasoline
delivered in Iraq under a controversial prewar contract." ... "Pentagon
auditors say the company charged up to $61 million too much for delivering
gasoline to Iraqi citizens under a no-bid contract to rebuild Iraq's dilapidated
oil industry. Halliburton denies overcharging."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
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- "Prosecutors
get delay in case against ex-chaplain." ... "The
criminal proceedings against Captain James Yee, the former Muslim chaplain
at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, charged with mishandling classified data,
fell into confusion and stalled as prosecutors asked for extra time to
determine whether documents found in Yee's luggage when he was leaving
the base were, in fact, classified." ... "The hearing was postponed Tuesday
until Jan. 19 to give the prosecutors time to review the documents that
set off a major investigation into whether Yee was a spy, a contention
from which the government has since distanced itself." -By
Neil A. Lewis -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
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- "War
Crimes Court Established for Iraq." ... "Iraq's U.S.-appointed
interim government established a war crimes tribunal Wednesday to try former
members of Saddam Hussein's regime, and two U.S. soldiers were killed and
four wounded in a northern city." ... "Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, president of
Iraq's Governing Council, said the new tribunal will cover crimes committed
from July 17, 1968 the day Saddam's Baath Party came to power until May
1, 2003 the day President Bush declared major hostilities over."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "Koizumi
commits SDF personnel to Iraq." ... "He says Japan
has a crucial noncombat role to play in Iraq." ... "Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi, emphasizing Japan's responsibility to promote peace, said Tuesday
he will send the Self-Defense Forces to one of the most dangerous nations
on the planet." ... "Prior to the Cabinet's approval of the basic plan,
Koizumi met with Takenori Kanzaki, the head of coalition partner New Komeito
who had raised concerns about sending ground troops to Iraq." ... "The
two leaders agreed that the actual dispatch of Ground SDF to Iraq would
come only after the government sufficiently determines the security situation
in that country." ... "Under the basic plan, a maximum 600 GSDF members
will be sent to Iraq, along with up to 200 vehicles. The Air SDF will dispatch
up to eight transport planes, while the Maritime SDF will send two transport
ships and two escort destroyers." -Asahi
Shimbun>English
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- "Pentagon
Bars Three Nations From Iraq Bids." ... "The Pentagon
has barred French, German and Russian companies from competing for $18.6
billion in contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq, saying it was acting
to protect "the essential security interests of the United States."" ...
"The directive, issued Friday by Paul D. Wolfowitz, the deputy defense
secretary, represents the most substantive retaliation to date by the Bush
administration against American allies who opposed its decision to go to
war in Iraq." ... "Under the guidelines, only companies from the United
States, Iraq and 61 countries designated "coalition partners" will be allowed
to bid on the contracts. France, Germany and Russia are not on the list."
(1, 2)
-By Douglas Jehl -NYTimes
via -Google-News
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- "Bush
sides with China over Taiwan referendum." ... "President
George W. Bush yesterday underlined the growing importance the US attaches
to its relationship with China by bluntly telling Taiwan to drop plans
for a referendum that would be interpreted as a unilateral move towards
independence." ... "Mr Bush urged both sides to refrain from provocative
actions and not to challenge the status quo of the "one China" policy."
... "But typically loyal neo-conservatives, who have long viewed China
as the emerging strategic threat to the US, rounded on Mr Bush, accusing
him of suppressing the democratic aspirations of the Taiwanese." -By
Guy Dinmore -FT.com
-
- "Car
Bomb Injures 31 U.S. Troops in Iraq." ... "A car
bomb attack on barracks near the northern city of Mosul early Tuesday wounded
31 American soldiers, mainly with flying debris and glass, the military
said. The injuries were not life-threatening." ... "The attack came less
than a day after insurgents shot and killed a soldier from the Army's 101st
Airborne Division as he guarded a gas station in Mosul, 250 miles north
of Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said in Baghdad." ... "A total of 448
U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion on March 20.
Of those, 308 died in hostile action." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
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- "Japan
Cabinet Approves Plan for Iraq Troop Dispatch." ...
"Japan's cabinet approved a plan on Tuesday for the dispatch of non-combat
troops to Iraq, a landmark decision that clears the way for what could
be the biggest and most dangerous overseas mission by its military since
World War II." -Reuters
via -Boston/Globe
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- "Major
Afghan offensive launched." ... "The U.S. military
has launched a major ground operation in Afghanistan in an effort to eliminate
the remnants of al Qaeda and the Taliban regime overthrown in 2001." ...
"Military spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty described "Operation Avalanche",
which began over the weekend, as the largest ground operation yet in Afghanistan."
... "Between 2,000 and 11,500 soldiers will be dispatched in east and south
Afghanistan to go after Taliban and al Qaeda militants, he said."
-CNN
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-
-
-
-
- "North
Korea guarantee may pave way to accord." ... "The
Bush administration has agreed with South Korea and Japan to a broadly
worded set of principles to end North Korea's nuclear program, calling
for a ``coordinated'' set of steps in which five nations would offer North
Korea a security guarantee as it begins a verifiable disassembly of its
nuclear facilities, according to Bush administration and Asian officials."
... "The statement is being sent to China's leaders today, the officials
said, in hopes that Beijing will pass them on this week to Kim Jong Il,
the North Korean leader. But officials said that North Korea may judge
the offer far too vague, in part because it sets no timetable for energy
or economic aid to the country, and because it would require inspections
of suspect facilities that have never before been opened." -By
David Sanger -NYTimes
via -RegisterGuard
-
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- "U.S.
Airstrike Kills Nine Afghan Kids: U.S. Plane Mistakenly
Kills 9 Afghan Children in Airstrike Targeting Wanted Taliban Commander."
... "Children's hats and shoes littered a bloody field cratered by gunfire
Sunday after a U.S. airstrike, aimed at a wanted Taliban commander, mistakenly
killed nine children in an Afghan mountain village." ... "The American
warplane was targeting Mullah Wazir, once a local commander for the hard-line
Islamic militia. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and a U.S. military official
said Wazir was killed in the attack, but residents and local officials
said Wazir escaped or was not in the village at all." -By
Stephen Graham -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- 
- "Dirty
Bomb Warheads Disappear: Stocks of Soviet-Era Arms
For Sale on Black Market." ... "In the ethnic conflicts that surrounded
the collapse of the Soviet Union, fighters in several countries seized
upon an unlikely new weapon: a small, thin rocket known as the Alazan.
Originally built for weather experiments, the Alazan rockets were packed
with explosives and lobbed into cities. Military records show that at least
38 Alazan warheads were modified to carry radioactive material, effectively
creating the world's first surface-to-surface dirty bomb." ... "The radioactive
warheads are not known to have been used. But now, according to experts
and officials, they have disappeared." ... "The last known repository was
here, in a tiny separatist enclave known as Transdniester, which broke
away from Moldova 12 years ago. The Transdniester Moldovan Republic is
a sliver of land no bigger than Rhode Island located along Moldova's eastern
border with Ukraine. Its government is recognized by no other nation. But
its weapons stocks -- new, used and modified -- have attracted the attention
of black-market arms dealers worldwide. And they're for sale, according
to U.S. and Moldovan officials and weapons experts." (1, 2,
3)
-By Joby Warrick -WashingtonPost
-
-
- "Passing
on the lessons from Pearl Harbor: Those who lived
through the attack and WWII reflect on impact of war." ... "On Dec. 7,
1941, six Japanese aircraft carriers positioned 200 miles north of Oahu
launched 181 attack planes toward the slowly waking port of Pearl Harbor
and at U.S. military airfields elsewhere on the island. The two- stage
attack killed 2,403 Americans, including 68 civilians -- men, women and
children." ... "The attack destroyed or damaged 21 ships of the U.S. Pacific
fleet and 347 airplanes. The Japanese lost 29 planes." -By
Matthew B. Stannard -SFGate.com
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-
-
- "Iraq
delays hand Cheney firm $1bn: ·Key contract
decisions postponed again. ·Blair drawn into row over lack of 'level
playing fields'." ... "Halliburton, the engineering group formerly run
by US vice-president Dick Cheney, has been given $1 billion worth of reconstruction
work in Iraq by the US government without having to compete for it, thanks
to repeated delays in opening up a key contract to competition." ... "The
cost-plus contract means the amount spent by the US Army Corps of Engineers
(USACE), which is running the work, is open-ended, rather than being fixed
at the outset, because the scope of the damage was unknown. The USACE described
the contract as a 'bridge to competition', but original plans to award
the work competitively in August have repeatedly slipped. So far, $1.7bn
has been made available to Halliburton for the work." -By
Oliver Morgan -Observer.co.uk
via -Guardian.co.uk
-
- 
- "Tough
New Tactics by U.S. Tighten Grip on Iraq Towns."
... "As the guerrilla war against Iraqi insurgents intensifies, American
soldiers have begun wrapping entire villages in barbed wire." ... "In selective
cases, American soldiers are demolishing buildings thought to be used by
Iraqi attackers. They have begun imprisoning the relatives of suspected
guerrillas, in hopes of pressuring the insurgents to turn themselves in."
... "The Americans embarked on their get-tough strategy in early November,
goaded by what proved to be the deadliest month yet for American forces
in Iraq, with 81 soldiers killed by hostile fire. The response they chose
is beginning to echo the Israeli counterinsurgency campaign in the occupied
territories." (1, 2)
-By Dexter Filkins -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
- 
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- "Arizonans
to visit Cuba base: McCain, Flake to inspect Guantanamo."
... "Sen. John McCain and U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake will make separate visits
next week to the U.S. detention center where suspected terrorists are being
held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba." ... "The trips by the two Republican lawmakers
from Arizona come as the government, under increasing domestic and international
pressure, moves toward releasing 100 or more prisoners and putting others
on trial in military courts after as long as two years." -By
Billy House and Jon Kamman -azcentral.com
- 
- 
-
- "Rumsfeld
Visits Georgia to Bind a Strategic Partnership."
... "The United States views Georgia as a strategic partner, in part for
its location, along an arc of instability in a region thought to be a crossroads
for terrorists. A pipeline set to open in 2005 linking Azerbaijan, which
Mr. Rumsfeld visited Thursday, and Turkey, NATO's only Islamic member,
runs across Georgia, as well." ... "Georgia's leaders, describing the desperate
state of their temporary government, said the treasury was so empty that
they had asked the United States to consider helping pay soldiers' salaries.
Satisfying the armed forces is viewed as important to keeping the peace
ahead of Jan. 4 elections." -By Thom Shanker -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- Georgia
News - "Rumsfeld
Offers U.S. Support for Georgia." ... "Defense Secretary
Donald H. Rumsfeld pledged full U.S. support Friday for this former Soviet
republic and said Russia is obliged to withdraw its troops as promised."
... "Rumsfeld met with Georgia's interim leadership, including the acting
president, Nino Burdzhanadze." ... "He was the first member of President
Bush's cabinet to come here since election protests forced Eduard Shevardnadze
to resign the presidency last month." -By Robert Burns
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
-
- "Blast
Near U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan: Explosion Occurred
Near U.S. Embassy in Afghan Capital of Kabul; No Injuries Reported." ...
"The blast occurred after U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld met
with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and held a news conference with him
at the Presidential Palace in another part of the city. But it was not
known if Rumsfeld was still in Kabul when the explosion occurred."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
-
- "Guantanamo
Bay Detainee Is First to Be Given a Lawyer: Move
Is Sign That Australian Alleged Al Qaeda Fighter May Be Tried by Tribunal."
... "An Australian detainee at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba last night
became the first prisoner there to be given a lawyer, a strong indication
that he is on track to be the first alleged al Qaeda fighter in detention
to go before a military tribunal, according to informed sources." ... "But
a source said Muslim adventurer and former cowboy David Hicks may never
be tried before one of the special military courts because the U.S. government
is working on a plea bargain with him. He has been accused of associating
with al Qaeda and other terrorist groups." -By John
Mintz -WashingtonPost
-
- "Iraqi
'big fish' eludes US forces." ... "US forces were
conducting a big search and sweep operation last night in the town of Hawija,
30 miles west of Kirkuk. But they denied reports they had captured or killed
Izzat Ibrahim, a longtime Saddam Hussein confidant who is No 6 on the US
list of most wanted. A $10m (£5.78m) reward has been put up for his
capture." ... ""He was definitely not captured in today's mission," said
Major Doug Vincent of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. Like Saddam, Ibrahim
disappeared after the US invasion and since has been widely rumoured to
be in hiding in the northern city of Mosul and Sunni areas north of Baghdad,
coordinating guerrilla attacks against American soldiers and Iraqis working
with the coalition authority." -By Michael Howard
-Guardian.co.uk
-
- "Pentagon
freezes Boeing contract: The US military has put
an $18bn deal to buy Boeing tanker aircraft on hold." ... "The Defence
Department said the deal would be frozen pending an inquiry into Boeing's
links with a former Pentagon procurement official." ... "The official,
Darleen Druyun, discussed a possible job with Boeing before she had disqualified
herself from government service." ... "Ms Druyun was involved in the Pentagon's
decision to award the tanker contract to Boeing."
-BBC/News
- "Boeing
CEO Condit resigns From Staff and wire reports."
... "Boeing (BA)
Chairman and CEO Phil Condit resigned unexpectedly only days after the
huge aerospace manufacturer fired two other Boeing officials for an alleged
ethics breach." ... "The departure of Condit, 62, follows last week's firing
of Chief Financial Officer Michael Sears for discussing job possibilities
with Darleen Druyun while Druyun was still working as a top Air Force procurement
official and was helping Boeing win support for a major Air Force contract."
-USATODAY
-
- "U.S.
military: Iraqi rebels displayed greater coordination in Samarra ambushes."
... "One of the bloodiest engagements since the fall of Saddam Hussein
showed a new, deadlier side of the Iraqi insurgency: stepped up, coordinated
assaults by groups of guerrillas bent on battle rather than a hit-and-run
attack, the U.S. military said Monday." ... "''Here it seems they had the
training to stand and fight,'' said Capt. Andy Deponai, whose tank was
hit by a rocket-propelled grenade during the firefight Sunday in Samarra,
north of Baghdad. Residents disputed U.S. assertions that dozens of Iraqi
fighters died, saying fewer than 10 were killed and that most of those
were civilians." -By Sabah Jerges
-AP via -Boston/Globe
-
- "U.S.
Troops Kill 46 Iraqis But Allies Suffer Losses."
... "U.S. troops killed 46 Iraqis and captured eight they said tried to
ambush U.S. convoys in central Iraq on Sunday, ending a weekend in which
guerrillas killed a dozen people from four nations helping the U.S. military."
... "A U.S. military spokesman said U.S. troops killed the Iraqis when
the 4th Infantry Division repelled several coordinated ambush attacks on
U.S. convoys round Samarra, north of Baghdad." ... "Some attackers wore
the uniform of the Fedayeen, a militia formed by Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein before U.S.-led forces toppled him in April, he [Lieutenant-Colonel
William MacDonald] added." (1, 2,
3)
-By Andrew Marshall with contributions from Luke Baker,
Dean Yates, Emma Graham-Harrison, Lee Suwan, Linda Sieg, and Masayuki Kitano
-Reuters
-
-
- "Officer
charged with Guantanamo security breach." ... "Col.
Jackie Duane Farr is the fourth man assigned to intelligence operations
at Guantanamo Bay accused of mishandling classified information." ... "Until
recently, Farr was director of the intelligence collection operation in
the so-called Joint Interrogations Group, said Lt. Col. Pamela Hart, a
Guantanamo spokeswoman. The group has teams of interrogators and analysts
who weekly question about half of the 660 prisoners being held at Camp
Delta, a sprawling prison camp for captives taken in Afghanistan in the
War on Terror." -By Carol Rosenberg-Miami/Herald
-
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-
- 
- "Two
U.S. Soldiers Among 12 Killed in Iraq This Weekend:
Deadly Weekend Ends Deadliest Month Since March." ... "Guerrillas killed
a dozen people from four nations helping the U.S. military in Iraq in weekend
ambushes, sparking new concern among Washington's allies about the risks
of getting involved in stabilizing the country." ... "Two South Koreans
died on Sunday when their car was sprayed with bullets near Saddam Hussein's
hometown, a day after ambushes killed seven Spanish intelligence agents,
two Japanese diplomats and their Iraqi driver, and a Colombian contractor."
(1, 2)
-By Andrew Marshall-Reutersvia
-WashingtonPost
- 
- "USS
Cole Heads Out for Overseas Deployment: USS Cole
Heads Out for First Overseas Deployment Since 2000 Terrorist Bombing in
Yemen Port." ... "The USS Cole and its crew of 340 pulled out of port Saturday
for the destroyer's first overseas deployment since it was bombed by terrorists
three years ago in Yemen's port of Aden." ... "A crowd of about 100 family
members watched as the ship left the Naval Station Norfolk [Virgina] at
12:55 p.m." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- Thanksgiving
- "Bush
Makes Secret Thanksgiving Visit to Iraq." ... "President
Bush secretly traveled to Baghdad and paid a surprise Thanksgiving Day
visit to U.S. troops on Thursday in a bid to boost the morale of forces
in Iraq amid mounting casualties." ... "In an elaborate plan to ensure
his security in the tense Iraqi capital, Bush slipped away from his Texas
ranch on Wednesday night, arrived in Iraq on Thursday and spent 2-1/2 hours
with the troops before flying back to the United States." -By
Steve Holland -Reuters
via -Wired
-
- "Shift
seen in target of Iraqi guerrillas: Attacks on troops
ease;civilians bear the brunt" ... "Guerrillas thought loyal to ousted
dictator Saddam Hussein are shifting away from attacks against American
troops in favor of killing and terrorizing Iraqi civilians who cooperate
with the US-led coalition occupying the country, the chief of US Central
Command said yesterday." ... "General John Abizaid said that the aggressive
American anti-insurgency campaign underway in Baghdad and in the "Sunni
Triangle" region to the north and west has resulted in a sharp decline
in attacks on US soldiers, although the soldiers from four Army divisions
are still very much under the gun." -By Colin Nickerson
-Boston/Globe
- 
-
- "Pakistan,
Kashmir and India breathe easier with cease-fire."
... "Indian and Pakistani military commanders agreed yesterday to a cease-fire
along their common border, including the volatile and heavily militarized
front line in the disputed territory of Kashmir, officials in both countries
said." ... "The truce, which was to take effect at midnight last night,
is the first formal cease-fire between the nuclear-armed rivals since a
separatist insurgency began in Indian-controlled portions of Kashmir 14
years ago." -By Hari Kumar
-NYTimes via -SeattlePI.NWsource
-
- "Two
American soldiers pummeled by Iraqi teens; third killed in bombing."
... "Iraqi teenagers dragged two bloodied U.S. soldiers from a wrecked
vehicle [in Mosul] and pummeled them with concrete blocks Sunday, witnesses
said, describing the killings as a burst of savagery in a city once safe
for Americans." ... "Another soldier was killed by a bomb and a U.S.-allied
police chief was assassinated." ... "The U.S.-led coalition also said it
grounded commercial flights after the military confirmed that a missile
struck a DHL cargo plane that landed Saturday at Baghdad International
Airport with its wing aflame." -By Mariam Fam
-AP via -Boston/Globe
-
- "China
Warns Taiwan Against Independence." ... "In unusually
strong language, China ratcheted up the rhetoric against Taiwan in remarks
published Wednesday and threatened that "the use of force may become unavoidable"
if the island's leaders pursue independence." ... "The warning from Beijing
came as Taiwan prepares to elect a new leader in March. President Chen
Shui-bian, running for office again, has won over more voters since he
came up with plans for a new constitution and a law on referendums that
could conceivably lead to citizens voting on Taiwanese independence." -By
Audra An -AP
via -MercuryNews-BayArea
- Civil
Liberties News
- "Court
reviews 'combatant' label: US power is debated
in case of detainee in 'dirty bomb' plot." ... "A federal appeals court
yesterday sharply questioned the Bush administration's decision to classify
a US citizen suspected in an alleged "dirty bomb" plot as an enemy combatant,
thus denying him access to legal counsel." ... "A member of the three-judge
panel called placing Jose Padilla in military custody a "sea change in
the constitutional life of the country." US District Judge Barrington D.
Parker Jr. said the result could lead to changes that "have been unprecedented
in civilized society."" -By John J. Goldman-LAtimes
via -Boston/Globe
-
- "Taliban
says killed UN woman." ... "Taliban guerrillas have
claimed responsibility for the weekend murder of a French aid worker that
has prompted the U.N. refugee agency to withdraw staff from the south and
east of Afghanistan." ... "The attack on Sunday that killed 29-year-old
U.N. refugee agency official Bettina Goislard raised pressure on the international
community to send peacekeeping troops to provinces where resurgent Islamic
militants and warlords hold sway." -By Saeed Ali Achakzai
-Reuters
-
- "U.S.
Army stages massive show of force in Saddam's hometown."
... "Hundreds of U.S. troops in tanks and assault vehicles marched through
the crowded downtown area of Saddam Hussein's hometown on Monday in a show
of force intended to deliver a stern warning that armed resistance would
not be tolerated." ... "For nearly two hours, M-1 tanks, Bradley fighting
vehicles and Humvees rumbled through the center of Tikrit, past shops and
public markets, drawing crowds of onlookers and clogging traffic across
the city of 120,000 people." -By Jim Gomez
-AP via -MercuryNews-BayArea
-
-
- "17
soldiers die as 2 US helicopters crash in Iraq."
... "Two US Black Hawk helicopters collided in the Iraqi city of Mosul
yesterday, killing at least 17 soldiers and injuring five in in the military's
deadliest disaster since the war began." ... "One US officer at the scene
said that one of the helicopters had been struck in its tail by a rocket-propelled
grenade, and witnesses said they collided and then went down. If that report
is confirmed, the aircraft would be the fourth and fifth US helicopters
to have been shot down in Iraq in three weeks." -By
Robert Schlesinger -Boston/Globe
-
- ELECTION
2004 - "U.S.
must catch Saddam and soon, Clark says." ... "Retired
general Wesley Clark warned Sunday that the failure to capture Saddam Hussein
was likely to undermine any new Iraqi government. And he said it was important
to capture Saddam alive so he could be tried for war crimes." -By
Susan Page -USATODAY
-
-
- "U.S. probes
deadly helicopter crash." ... "The U.S. military
on Sunday was investigating whether insurgent groundfire caused the crash
of two U.S. helicopters, killing 17 American soldiers, the worst single
loss of U.S. life since the start of the Iraq war." ... "All the casualties
were from the 101st Airborne Division, which controls northern Iraq. Five
soldiers were injured." -AP
via -MSNBC
-
- "Guerrilla
force could number 5,000." ... ""The force of people
actively armed and operating against us does not exceed 5,000," [Army Gen.
John] Abizaid said at a news conference at his headquarters at MacDill
Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla." ... ""People will say, well, that's a very
small number. But when you understand that they're organized in cellular
structure, that they have a brutal and determined cadre, that they know
how to operate covertly, they have access to a lot of money and a lot of
ammunition, you'll understand how dangerous they are."" -By
Eric Schmitt and David E. Sanger -NYTimes
via -SeattlePI.NWsource
-
-
- "US
Struggles to Determine Who Is the Enemy in Iraq."
... "The Pentagon is struggling to figure out who the enemy is in Iraq,
with officials saying they remain foggy about the leadership and organization
of the insurgency and analysts decrying a huge intelligence lapse." ...
"Military commanders and U.S. intelligence officials describe resistance
forces in Iraq as some combination of loyalists of toppled President Saddam
Hussein's government, criminals paid by those loyalists to carry out attacks,
Islamic militants from outside Iraq, and isolated Shiite radicals." -By
Will Dunham -Reuters
via -Wired
-
-
-
- "New urgency,
risks in ‘Iraqification’: Some fear handover
could look like abandonment." ... "At least four factors forced the administration
to overhaul its military and political strategy in Iraq, despite the danger
that a new approach might actually diminish U.S. control over the country’s
future." ... "The foremost factor is security — from an Iraqi opposition
that has become more intense, more effective, more sophisticated and more
extensive. The other three are the failure of the Iraqi Governing Council
to act, the looming U.N. deadline of Dec. 15 for an Iraqi plan of action
and the U.S. elections just a year away, according to administration and
congressional officials and U.S. analysts." -By Robin
Wright and Thomas E. Ricks with contributions from Mike Allen
-WashingtonPost via -MSNBC
-
-
- "Back
to Qatar: Deteriorating Security in Iraq Draws
CENTCOM to Region." ... "The general running the war in Iraq, Gen. John
Abizaid, will move his headquarters back to the region beginning next week,
because of the rise in attacks on U.S., allied and Iraqi targets, military
officials told ABCNEWS." ... "Since taking command of U.S. Central Command,
which covers the Middle East, in July, Abizaid has run the Iraq war from
CENTCOM's permanent base in Tampa, Fla." -Contributions
by Martha Raddatz -ABCNEWS.com
-
- 
- "Japan
halts Iraq troop dispatch: The attack on Italian
forces in Iraq will force Japan to postpone its dispatch of troops to that
country until sometime next year, a top government spokesman said Thursday."
-AP via -CNN
-
- "CIA
Report Says U.S. Losing Popular Support in Iraq."
... "A CIA report concludes that ordinary Iraqis increasingly are siding
with the insurgency amid doubts about the U.S. ability to stamp it out,
officials said on Wednesday, while the U.S. administrator in Iraq said
it was hard to figure out where the Iraqi public stands." ... "The report,
warning of possible failure for Bush's efforts to establish Iraq as a democracy
if the situation is not fixed, said aggressive U.S. counter-insurgency
measures were leaving many Iraqis disillusioned and pushing them to support
the insurgency, one U.S. official said." -By Will
Dunham -Reuters
via -Wired
-
- - -
- "Cheney’s Long
Path to War: The Hard Sell: He sifted intel.
He brooded about threats. And he wanted Saddam gone. The inside story of
how Vice President Cheney bought into shady assumptions and helped persuade
a nation to invade Iraq." ... "Of all the president’s advisers, Cheney
has consistently taken the most dire view of the terrorist threat. On Iraq,
Bush was the decision maker. But more than any adviser, Cheney was the
one to make the case to the president that war against Iraq was an urgent
necessity. Beginning in the late summer of 2002, he persistently warned
that Saddam was stocking up on chemical and biological weapons, and last
March, on the eve of the invasion, he declared that “we believe that he
[Saddam Hussein] has in fact reconstituted nuclear weapons.” (Cheney later
said that he meant “program,” not “weapons.” He also said, a bit optimistically,
“I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators.”) After seven
months, investigators are still looking for that arsenal of WMD." (1, 2,
3)
-By Mark Hosenball, Michael Isikoff and Evan Thomas
-MSNBC 20031117
-Newsweek
-
- "Turkey
drops Iraq troops plan: Turkey has decided
not to send peacekeeping troops to Iraq, government officials have said."
... "It follows fierce opposition from the US-appointed Iraqi Governing
Council and public opinion in Turkey." ... "Last month, the Turkish parliament
approved a deployment motion, after the United States, a fellow Nato member,
requested more foreign troops."-BBC/News
-
-
- "6
Soldiers Die in Helicopter Crash in Iraq: 2
Others Killed in Separate Attacks in Mosul." ... "A U.S. Army UH-60 Black
Hawk helicopter crashed Friday morning near the Tigris River in northern
Iraq after it was apparently struck by ground fire, killing all six soldiers
on board, military officials and witnesses said." ... "It would be the
second U.S. military helicopter shot down by Iraqis in less than a week
and provided another example of the growing sophistication and lethality
of guerrillas, who have escalated their campaign along an arc that stretches
north and west of Baghdad." -By Anthony Shadid
and Vernon Loeb -WashingtonPost
-
- "Insurgents
Attack U.S. Convoys in Iraq." ... "Insurgents attacked
three American military convoys in this northern city with rocket-propelled
grenades and roadside bombs Wednesday, killing three Iraqi civilians and
wounding five Americans, the U.S. military and hospital officials said."
... "The attacks occurred in a city long considered relatively safe for
U.S. troops, compared to Baghdad and the cities and towns in the ``Sunni
Triangle'' to the south." -By Mariam Fam with contributions
from Bassem Mroue -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
-
- "3
Blasts Seem Aimed at U.S. Compound." ... "Three powerful
explosions in rapid succession shook central Baghdad on Tuesday [20031104]
evening in what apparently was a mortar attack on the headquarters of the
American civilian authorities here." ... "Iraqi witnesses standing near
the gates said the explosions hit the sprawling, walled-in American compound
about 7:45 p.m." ... "The explosions followed the deaths of at least 15
American soldiers on Sunday, when their helicopter was shot down by a surface-to-air
missile over the town of Falluja. (Early reports from the military indicated
that 16 had been killed, but the Department of Defense is now confirming
only 15.) Last week, suicide bombers struck targets across the capital,
killing 34 people." -By
Dexter Filkins -NYTimes via
-Google-News
-
-
- "Missile
hits U.S. helicopter in Iraq, killing 16 troops."
... "Guerrillas shot down an Army CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter packed
with soldiers headed for a short-term break on Sunday morning, killing
16 and wounding 20 in the deadliest single attack to date on U.S. forces
in Iraq, military officials and witnesses said." ... "A shoulder-fired
missile streaked from a date palm grove through a clear blue sky and struck
the dual-rotor helicopter in its rear about 9 a.m. as it was ferrying soldiers
from bases in western Iraq to Baghdad's international airport." ... "The
attack took place just southwest of Fallujah, a city 40 miles west of Baghdad
where resistance to the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq has been particularly
intense." -By Theola Labbe and Rajiv Chandrasekaran-WashingtonPost
via -StarTribune.com with contributions
from -AP and -NYTimes
-
-
-
- "White
House Promises to Hand Over Iraq Intelligence Documents."
... "The White House reversed itself and promised the Senate Intelligence
Committee access to all materials requested for its inquiry into prewar
intelligence on Iraq, the committee chairman said Sunday." ... "The committee
is examining the accuracy of intelligence about deposed Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein's weapons programs and purported contacts with terrorist
groups. That intelligence served as Bush's main arguments for the U.S.-led
war." -By William C. Mann-WashingtonPost
- "2
CIA Operatives Killed in Afghanistan." ... "The CIA
said Tuesday that William Carlson, 43, of Southern Pines, N.C., and Christopher
Glenn Mueller, 32, of San Diego were ambushed and killed Saturday near
the village in Shkin in Paktika province while ``tracking terrorists.''"
... "Both were veterans of military special operations forces, the agency
said, who were working for the CIA's Directorate of Operations that conducts
clandestine intelligence-gathering and covert operations." -By
Burt Herman -AP
via -AJC
- "President
Decries General's Remarks: Bush says comments
about Muslims do not reflect his point of view. But firing doesn't seem
to be an option." ... "President Bush said Tuesday that controversial remarks
by Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin about Muslims and Islam do not "reflect
my point of view, or the view of this administration" — sharp language
from an administration that tends to circle the wagons when a member is
under attack." ... "Bush's move to distance himself from the outspoken
general was the strongest administration response to date to disclosures
of Boykin's frequent appearances before religious groups at which he characterized
the war on terrorism as a battle between Judeo-Christian tradition and
"Satan."" -By John Hendren-LAtimes
-
-
- "Iran
Still Has Nuclear Deadline, U.S. Says." ... "The
Bush administration intends to press Iran to comply with an Oct. 31 deadline
for opening the books on its past nuclear activities, senior officials
said yesterday, as U.S. skepticism grew toward this week's surprise agreement
by Iran to stop enriching uranium." ... "Iran's ruling clerics hailed Tuesday's
nuclear accord with France, Germany and Britain. But U.S. and U.N. officials
awaited the handover of new documents from Iran spelling out how and why
the oil-rich nation built a number of sophisticated nuclear factories and
laboratories in a rugged area south and west of Tehran." -By
Joby Warrick -WashingtonPost
-
- "Attacks
on Troops on Rise, Commander Says." ... "Attacks
on U.S. troops in Iraq have increased sharply over the past two weeks,
reaching a high of 35 a day, the commanding American general here said
on Wednesday." ... "Over much of the summer, military officials had said
there were between 10 and 15 attacks on U.S. soldiers most days. Since
early October, however, the number of daily attacks has fluctuated between
20 and 35, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez said at a news conference." ... "A
summary provided by the U.S. military to private contractors working in
Iraq listed 30 so-called security incidents on Tuesday, including two mortar
strikes on American bases, nine attacks with roadside bombs and several
drive-by shootings." -By Rajiv Chandrasekaran with
contributions from Anthony Shadid -WashingtonPost
-
-
- "Iran
to curb nuclear program: As Europe plays good
cop to Washington's bad cop, Iran agreed Tuesday to a closer monitoring
of its nuclear effort." ... "Iran pledged Tuesday to suspend uranium enrichment
and allow tough international checks of its nuclear program, defusing a
looming crisis and crowning European diplomatic efforts to avert a conflict
between Washington and Tehran." ... "Iran's moves to assuage Western fears
that it is building a nuclear bomb came after senior officials met with
three European foreign ministers who pressed the authorities to comply
with demands by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In return,
the ministers promised technical help with Iran's civilian nuclear power
project." -By Peter Ford with contributions by Michael
Theodoulou and Faye Bowers -CSMonitor
-
- "Vietnam
atrocities revealed in report: Elite unit said
to kill hundreds of civilians." ... "An elite unit of American soldiers
mutilated and killed hundreds of unarmed villagers over seven months in
1967 during the Vietnam War, and an Army investigation was closed with
no charges filed, The Blade reported yesterday." ... "Soldiers of the Tiger
Force unit of the Army's 101st Airborne Division dropped grenades into
bunkers where villagers -- including women and children -- hid, and shot
farmers without warning, the newspaper reported. Soldiers told The Blade
that they severed ears from the dead and strung them on shoelaces to wear
around their necks." ... "The Army's 4 1/2-year investigation, never before
made public, was initiated by a soldier outraged at the killings. The probe
substantiated 20 war crimes by 18 soldiers and reached the Pentagon and
White House before it was closed in 1975, The Blade said."
-AP via -Boston/Globe
- "Colombia rebel
zone a world apart: Tour reveals force’s growing
isolation." ... "The southern stretch of Meta province, a lush jungle broken
by arid plains, is a crossroads for the guns, drugs and social resentment
that sustain Colombia’s war. In 1998, the government, recognizing the guerrillas’
presence, turned much of the province of 740,000 people over to the FARC
as an enticement to begin peace talks, which collapsed last year, beginning
a period of guerrilla retrenchment." ... "Now the Colombian military, remade
since 2000 with nearly $2 billion in U.S. military training and equipment,
is using mobile columns, night raids and aerial bombardment in an attempt
to cut off FARC financing from Meta’s coca fields. The offensive is deepening
a sense of siege and persecution among mid-level FARC commanders that has
become the dominant theme of the rebels’ public administration." -By
Scott Wilson -WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
- "Afghan
Militia Leaders Sign Truce: 50 Slain in Fighting;
Rivalry Still Threatens Plan for Disarmament." ... "Two long-feuding militia
leaders signed a truce Thursday [October 9th] after 24 hours of armor and
artillery clashes in northeastern Afghanistan that left at least 50 fighters
dead, according to security sources. The flare-up came just as the Afghan
government prepared to launch a program to disarm and demobilize as many
as 100,000 militiamen nationwide." ... "Gen. Abdurrashid Dostum, a powerful
ethnic Uzbek leader who has long dominated several northeastern provinces,
and Gen. Attah Mohammad, an ethnic Tajik and close political ally of Afghanistan's
defense minister, signed the agreement under strong pressure from the central
government and Western military officials, who brokered the deal at a meeting
in the city of Mazar-e Sharif." -By Pamela Constable-WashingtonPost
-
-
-
- "Evicted
Diego Garcia Residents Lose Case." ... "Hundreds
of people who were evicted from an Indian Ocean island chain 30 years ago
to make way for a U.S. military base have no right to return home or get
compensation, a British judge ruled Thursday." ... "Still, Judge Duncan
Ouseley at London's High Court said he was ``acutely conscious''
of the position of at least some of the claimants from the Chagos Islands.
They were removed from the British territory between 1967 and 1973 to make
way for the U.S. base on the island of Diego Garcia." ... "``It does appear
that, in the absence of unexpectedly compelling evidence to the contrary,
at least some claimant Chagossians could show that they were treated shamefully
by successive U.K. governments,'' he said. " -By Michael
McDonough -Guardian.co.uk
-
-
- "Sharon
Threatens to Hit Israel's Enemies Anywhere." ...
"Speaking at a memorial service marking the anniversary of the 1973 Middle
East war, Sharon took a tough line but made no specific threats after Sunday's
strike on what Israel said was a training camp for Palestinian militants."
... "Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, breaking his silence on the attack
near Damascus, accused Israel of trying to drag Syria and the rest of the
Middle East into a wider conflict. Syria said Israeli warplanes hit a civilian
site." ... "It was Israel's deepest air raid in Syria in three decades
and followed a Palestinian suicide bombing that killed 19 people in a restaurant
in the Israeli port city of Haifa a day earlier." -By
Matt Spetalnick -Reuters
-
- "Ex-Iraq
Soldiers Riot in Baghdad, Basra: Ex-Iraq Troops
Riot in Baghdad, Basra Over Pay; Ambush Kills U.S. Soldier in Northern
Iraq." ... "Former Iraqi soldiers angry over rumors their pay would be
cut off clashed Saturday with coalition troops in Baghdad and in the southern
city of Basra in riots that left two Iraqis dead and dozens injured. Elsewhere,
a U.S. soldier from the 4th Infantry Division was killed and another was
wounded in an ambush early Saturday in Sadiyah, 60 miles north of Baghdad."
... "The death brought to 88 the number of American soldiers killed by
hostile fire since President Bush declared major combat over on May 1."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- "Costly
aircraft lease stirs ire in Congress: Air Force
says deal for in-flight refuelers makes sense. Critics see $5.7 billion
giveaway to Boeing." ... "At issue is a replacement for the Air Force's
aging KC-135 aerial tankers, those gas stations in the sky that enable
bombers and fighters to attack targets halfway around the world (Afghanistan,
for example) and return home without having to land." ... "Boeing and the
Air Force are pushing a deal to convert 100 of the aircraft company's 767-model
airliners into tankers. The controversy starts with an agreement to lease
- rather than buy - the big jets." -By Brad Knickerbocker
-CSMonitor
-
- "Bush
Looks to U.N. to Share Burden on Troops in Iraq."
... "President Bush agreed today to begin negotiations in the United Nations
Security Council to authorize a multinational force for Iraq but insisted
that the troops be placed under American command, according to senior administration
officials." ... "The White House acted just as a new Congressional study
showed that the Army lacked the active-duty troops to keep the current
occupation force in Iraq past March, without getting extra help from either
other services and reserves or from other nations, or without spending
tens of billions to vastly expand its size." -By David
E. Sanger -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
- 
- "Bomb rocks
Baghdad police station: 1 dead in blast; also
U.S. soldier killed in copter crash." ... "A car bomb exploded near the
headquarters of U.S.-trained police in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing one
policeman and wounding many bystanders. Separately, a U.S. soldier was
killed in a helicopter crash, a day after a roadside bomb killed two American
soldiers." ... "The explosion damaged the office of the U.S.-appointed
Baghdad police chief, Hassan al-Obeidi, who was not in the complex at the
time of the attack, Iraqi police said." -AP
& -Reuters via -MSNBC
- "Chinese
military sheds 200,000 troops: The world's
largest military is getting a little smaller. China on Monday announced
plans to cut 200,000 more soldiers as part of efforts to modernize its
armed forces -- cuts that come on top of a 500,000-man reduction in the
five years ending in 2000." ... "Altogether, the military will shrink to
about 2.3 million people." -AP
via -StarTribune.com
-
- "2
U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan: Two U.S.
soldiers died Sunday in Afghanistan after fighting with unknown attackers
near Shkin, in Paktika province, south of Kabul, U.S. Central Command said."
... "A third coalition soldier was in stable condition after evacuation
to Bagram Air Base from a treatment facility north of Shkin, Central Command
said in a statement." -CNN
-
-
- "U.N. to stay
in Iraq despite bombing." ... "U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan said Wednesday that U.N. staff would remain in Iraq despite
the devastating bombing of the world body’s headquarters in Baghdad that
killed its top envoy and at least 16 others. In Tikrit, meanwhile, guerrillas
ambushed a U.S. military convoy on Wednesday, killing a contractor with
a U.S. firm and wounding two soldiers, a U.S. military officer said." ...
"In Baghdad, workers continued to dig through the rubble of Tuesday’s explosion,
but the rescue operation appeared to have turned into a grim search for
bodies in the deadliest attack on the United Nations in its history." -Contributed
to by Linda Fasulo, Andrea Mitchell, and Carl Rochelle, Robert Windrem,
-AP & -Reuters
via -MS-NBC
- 
- 
- "In
Africa, US looks beyond Liberia: Continent's
many failed states attract attention as security risks loom." ... "As a
US military commander heads into Liberia to help stabilize its war-torn
capital, it won't be the first time American forces have carried out new
operations in Africa lately." ... "On the continent's east coast, a US
antiterror base in Djibouti recently expanded to include some 2,000 troops.
In northwest desert nations such as Mali, US advisers have given all-terrain
vehicles and special-operations training to military and police units."
-By Abraham McLaughlin
-CSMonitor
-
-
- "British open
Iraq war inquiry." ... "The official inquiry into
what was apparently the suicide of a leading British weapons expert [David
Kelly] was told Monday that intelligence officers had registered concern
at the way Prime Minister Tony Blair's government presented the threat
from Iraq's weapons systems before going to war." ... "But senior government
officials on the first full day of testimony at the inquiry denied that
the government knowingly used false information to create a sense of imminent
threat from Baghdad." -By Alan Cowell
-NYTimes via -IHT.com
-
-
- "Taylor
prepares to leave Liberia: Liberia’s President
Charles Taylor prepared to step down reluctantly on Monday under pressure
from the United States to end slaughter that has gripped Liberia and West
Africa for nearly 14 years." ... "The former warlord is due to hand over
power to Vice-President Moses Blah, a former brother-in-arms from the Liberian
leader’s days of bush war and in Libya’s guerrilla training camps, at a
ceremony on Monday." -AP
and -Reuters via -MSNBC
- "US
experts debate 'mini-nukes'." ... "Defence officials
in the United States say that a one-day conference on nuclear weapons is
taking place at the Strategic Air Command headquarters in Nebraska." ...
"Arms control groups say the conference is to discuss whether to build
a new generation of nuclear bombs, known as "mini-nukes", capable of destroying
underground bunkers." -By David Bamford-BBC/News
-
- "Violence
signifies long stay in Iraq." ... "A truck bombing
that killed at least 11 people and battles that left two American soldiers
dead marked one of the bloodiest 24 hours in this capital [Baghdad] since
it fell to coalition forces on April 9." ... "U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo
Sanchez, commander of coalition forces in Iraq, said Thursday the attacks
underscore why U.S. forces will be in Iraq for two years as an "absolute
minimum" and "probably longer."" ... "The two deaths brought to 56 the
number of U.S. military personnel killed by hostile action since May 1,
when President Bush declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq."
-By Jim Michaels and Donna Leinwand
-USATODAY
-
- "Bush sends
small team of Marines to Liberia." ... "After at
least two months of studying ways to help Liberia, President George W.
Bush on Wednesday sent a half-dozen Marines to assist West African peacekeepers."
... "Though an additional dozen or so could be added to the team, no decision
has been made to send any more than 20, three officials said."
-AP via -IHT.com
-
-
- "Kurds
block Turkish mission into Iraq." ... "Kurdish leaders
have refused a US request to allow 12,000 Turkish troops through northern
Iraq for a possible peacekeeping assignment in the city of Falluja, a Kurdish
official said on Wednesday." ... "Turkish peacekeepers could be airlifted
into central Iraq, where they could patrol areas dominated by fellow Sunni
Muslims, but it would be expensive." -By Charles Clover
and Semih Idiz with contributions from Peter Spiegel
-FT.com
-
-
- "Pressure
mounts for new UN resolution on Iraq." ... "US hopes
of further internationalising the stabilisation effort in Iraq may still
depend on United Nations endorsement, despite signs that agreement is close
on deployment of a large Turkish peacekeeping force there." ... "Abdullah
Gul, Turkey's foreign minister, signalled on Monday, following talks in
Ankara with Sergio de Mello, UN representative for Iraq, that Ankara was
willing to assist in efforts to secure law and order." -By
Semih Idiz, Charles Clover, Mark Turner -FT.com
-
- "Taylor reportedly
to resign Thursday." ... "Charles Taylor will formally
announce his intention to resign Thursday as president of Liberia, ending
years of brutal rule and clearing the way for a multinational peacekeeping
force to impose order, the West African alliance announced Wednesday as
U.S. Marines arrived in the country for the first time." ... "Taylor, a
former warlord blamed in 14 years of conflict in once-prosperous Liberia,
was expected to accept an offer of asylum from Nigeria, said Mohammed Ibn
Chambas, head of the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS,
the alliance that is organizing the peacekeeping effort." -By
Jim Miklaszewski with the -AP
and -Reuters via -MS-NBC
- 
- 
- "Air
Force punishes Boeing by taking 7 contracts." ...
"Handing down some of the harshest penalties ever against a defense contractor,
the U.S. Air Force on Thursday stripped Boeing (BA) of seven rocket-launch
contracts and also indefinitely suspended Boeing's rocket defense units
from competing for military contracts." ... "The penalties cap a yearlong
Air Force probe into allegations that Boeing, the nation's No. 2 defense
contractor after Lockheed Martin, used thousands of pages of stolen Lockheed
documents in 1998 to beat its rival for contracts to build a military satellite-launch
rocket." -By Edward Iwata
-USATODAY
- "Liberian
rebels enter capital: Rebel forces have entered
the Liberian capital Monrovia after taking a crucial river crossing, the
government says." ... "Army commander General Yeaten said the rebels had
pushed his forces back from St Paul's Bridge and were making their way
towards the port." ... "If confirmed, this will be the third time in less
than two months that the rebels have entered the city." ... "On previous
occasions hundreds of civilians were killed and thousands made homeless."-BBC/News
-
- "US
facing guerrilla war, general says: Attacks
claim an Iraqi mayor, American soldier." ... "The new commander of American
forces in Iraq [General John Abizaid] said yesterday that US troops there
are facing a ''classical guerrilla-type campaign,'' the first high-level
acknowledgement that anti-US attacks in Iraq reflect organized resistance
and not just isolated acts of violence." ... "A grenade attack on an American
convoy near Baghdad killed a US soldier and wounded three others. The soldier's
death raised the number of combat fatalities in the Iraq war to 146, one
shy of the combat death toll of US soldiers in the 1991 Gulf War. Also
yesterday, attackers fired a surface-to-air missile at a US C-130 transport
plane as it was landing in Baghdad, but missed their target, and a pro-US
mayor in a northwestern Iraqi town was gunned down in his car." -By
Robert Schlesinger -Boston/Globe
-
-
- "U.S. military
plane fired at over Iraq: Other attacks kill
U.S. soldier and 3 Iraqis." ... "Suspected pro-Saddam Hussein insurgents
fired a surface-to-air missile at a U.S. military aircraft approaching
Baghdad on Wednesday — a day in which another U.S. soldier was killed,
along with an Iraqi child and a mayor and his son. The missile missed the
C-130 transport plane, but the attack marked a new level of resistance,
which until now had relied largely on ground attacks." ... "The soldier
killed Wednesday was the 33rd to die in hostile action since President
Bush declared an end to major hostilities on May 1."
-AP and -Reuters
via -MS-NBC
-
- "North
Korean nuclear claims 'serious,' U.S. official says:
North Korea told a Bush administration official last week it has completed
reprocessing spent fuel rods into plutonium, a White House official said."
... ""This is serious" because North Korea also made it clear it intends
to start making weapons, another government official said." ... "On Monday,
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "North Korean officials did
indicate to the United States that they had completed reprocessing. Now
this is something that we are evaluating."" ... "He added that White House
has no way of confirming the information and that North Korea has made
"a lot of claims in the past."" -Contributed to by
Dana Bash -CNN
-
- "Ecstatic
Liberians welcome U.S. military team." ... "In a
human cascade of welcome and relief, chanting crowds of Liberians swarmed
the motorcade carrying a team of U.S. military
experts as they ventured into Liberia's capital Tuesday morning to assess
the city's humanitarian and security situation for a possible deployment
of U.S. troops." ... "Bush, who is considering dispatching troops to lead
an "international stabilization force" in the West African nation of 3
million, said his decision will hinge in part on the assessment by the
team of about 30." -By Karl Vick-WashingtonPost
via -StarTribune.com
- Quad
Cities -
"House
OKs funds for [Illinois' Rock Island] Arsenal."
... "The U.S. House of Representatives approved a $368 billion defense
spending bill Tuesday that allocates several million to the Rock Island
Arsenal." ... "Meanwhile, a Senate appropriations panel approved a bill
Tuesday that would mean $27 million for the island. Included is funding
for the development of a new mortar system for the U.S. Marine Corps that
could mean a lot more work for the Arsenal in the future, officials say.
The spending bills are for fiscal year 2003-04, which begins in October."
-By Ed Tibbetts -QCTimes
-
-
-
- "Iran
claims it has missile that can reach Israel." ...
"Iran yesterday claimed to have conducted final tests on a missile capable
of reaching Israel and US forces around the Middle East, and was poised
to deploy the weapon with its armed forces." ... "The claim, confirming
an Israeli allegation last week, is certain to heighten tensions with the
US, amid allegations from Washington that Iran was making rapid progress
in a clandestine programme to build nuclear warheads." ... "An Iranian
foreign ministry spokesman, Hamid Reza Asefi, said the test on the Shahab-3
missile occurred several weeks ago, not in the past few days, as the Israeli
press had reported." -By Julian Borger
-Guardian.co.uk
-
- "CIA
Calls Hussein Recording Authentic." ... "The Central
Intelligence Agency said yesterday that a taped message broadcast Friday
from Saddam Hussein appears to be authentic, the most definitive indication
that the former Iraqi president survived the war and is seeking to rally
opposition to the U.S. occupation." ... "As anti-American attacks grow
in number and sophistication, inflicting additional U.S. casualties daily,
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is reviewing whether troops are needed
beyond the 146,000 in Iraq and 63,000 in neighboring Kuwait or whether
U.S. forces can safely be reduced." ... "Secretary of State Colin L. Powell
is urging President Bush to at least keep total U.S. and international
troop levels near the current number until the danger has passed and Iraq
is stable, according to U.S. officials familiar with Powell's thinking.
They added that his preference is to recruit more forces from foreign countries."
-By Thomas E. Ricks and Walter Pincus with contributions
by Peter Slevin-WashingtonPost
-
- "Iraq
weapons claims criticised: Claims about Iraq's
weapons were given too much weight by the government, MPs have ruled -
but they have cleared media chief Alastair Campbell of "sexing up" intelligence."
... "The all-party foreign affairs committee says a suggestion that Iraq
could deploy chemical and biological weapons within 45 minutes should not
have been given such prominence by the government." ... "But in their 54-page
verdict on how ministers made the case for war in Iraq, the MPs - in a
split decision - say Mr Campbell did not make changes to a dossier on Iraq's
weapons, as alleged in a BBC report." ... "In another finding upon which
the committee were divided, the report says ministers did not mislead parliament
over Iraq's weapons."-BBC/News
-
- "US
soldiers killed in Baghdad: Two American soldiers
and two Iraqis have been killed in three separate attacks on US patrols
in Iraq." ... "The first soldier was killed in an exchange of fire with
two Iraqis in Baghdad, one of whom was shot dead, the US military said."
... "A second soldier was killed by a homemade explosive device in the
north of the Iraqi capital." ... "In the town of Ramadi, 100 kilometres
(60 miles) west of Baghdad, attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades at
US vehicles, wounding four soldiers." ... "The Americans responded, killing
one Iraqi and wounding another."-BBC/News
-
- "Two
U.S. Soldiers Killed in New Attacks in Iraq."-Reuters
-
- "Is
US inching toward intervention? Heading to
Africa Tuesday, Bush has built a stage where Liberian peacekeeping is possible,
but not inevitable." ... "President Bush has long expressed skepticism
about committing US military forces as peacekeepers overseas." ... "Now,
on the eve of his first presidential visit to Africa, he appears willing
to do just that in a corner of the world few Americans can point to on
a map. But if US forces do wind up in Liberia - a West African nation at
a crucial moment in its 13-year civil war - the administration can frame
its involvement in a way that limits the impression that the United States
is becoming sheriff of the world, analysts say." -By
Linda Feldmann -CSMonitor
- "Bush
pushes for new nukes." ... "If the Bush administration
succeeds in its determined but little-noticed push to develop a new generation
of nuclear weapons, this sun-baked desert flatland [in Nevada] 65 miles
northwest of Las Vegas could once again reverberate with the ground-shaking
thumps of nuclear explosions that used to be common here." ... "The nuclear-weapons
test areas are now a wasteland that is home mostly to lizards and coyotes.
Throughout the Nevada Test Site, the ground is strewn with mangled buildings
and pockmarked with craters, the ghostly evidence of the 928 nuclear tests
the government conducted here from 1951 to 1992." -By
Tom Squitieri -USATODAY
-
- "Violence
in Iraq spreads beyond military targets." ... "The
point-blank shooting of an unarmed British reporter on a Baghdad street
and a grenade attack on a U.N. compound raised concern Sunday that Iraq's
worsening insurgency until now targeting only coalition troops and
Iraqis accused of U.S. collaboration will spread to Westerners in general."
... "On Sunday, an assailant shot and killed a U.S. soldier waiting to
buy a soft drink at Baghdad University, firing once from close range in
the third such assault in nine days. The style was coldly similar to the
killing of the young British freelance cameraman, who was shot in the head
outside a Baghdad museum on Saturday." -AP
via -USATODAY
-
- "Taylor
accepts Nigerian asylum offer." ... "Liberian President
Charles Taylor on Sunday accepted Nigeria's offer of political asylum,
paving the way for his departure, a requirement President Bush laid down
for any U.S.-led peacekeeping force in the West African nation." ... "Neither
Taylor nor Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who made the offer during
a 90-minute meeting in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, indicated when Taylor
would actually leave. Both warned that too hasty a departure could spark
new fighting in the country, where hundreds were killed in a failed rebel
push into the capital last month." -By Tom Squitieri
-USATODAY
-
- "Turmoil
in Liberia [CNN Fact Sheet]." ... "Violence and tension
has gripped Liberia since Samuel Doe seized power in a 1980 coup that left
President William Tolbert dead. Doe, an ethnic Krahn, was the country's
first leader not descended from the freed American and West Indian slaves
who founded the West African country in the early 19th century. He ruled
as a dictator, and the election he won in 1985 was widely regarded as rigged."
... "In 1989, Charles Taylor -- once a member of the Doe government and
a descendant of the freed slave ruling class -- led a revolt that resulted
in Doe's execution and triggered a civil war involving several factions
that blighted Liberia for seven years. An estimated 200,000 people died
before a shaky peace agreement was mediated in 1996. Taylor's faction emerged
from the fighting as a dominant force, and when special elections were
held in 1997, he and his National Patriotic Party won an overwhelming victory."
-CNN / Fact
Sheets
-
-
- "Bomb
Kills 7 New Iraqi Policemen: Bremer Says Attackers
Show Panic and 'Disdain'." ... "A bomb exploded on a sidewalk here today
[20030705]
as the first class of U.S.-trained Iraqi police recruits was marching from
its graduation ceremony to a police station, killing seven of the new policemen
and injuring at least 40 other people, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials.
It was the most lethal attack yet against Iraqis participating in U.S.-sponsored
nation-building efforts." ... "U.S. and British soldiers have been the
targets of increasing numbers of shootings, ambushes and other assaults
in recent days. Iraqi police stations, where American troops are training
new local police forces, have also been attacked, along with Iraqi businesses
that sell products or services to U.S. forces or private contractors."
-By
Souad Mekhennet and Molly Moore -WashingtonPost
-
-
- "Turkey
Seeks Release of Special Forces: Turkey Demands
Release of 11 Turkish Special Forces Detained by U.S. Troops in Northern
Iraq." ... "Turkey demanded on Saturday the immediate release of 11 Turkish
special forces detained by U.S. troops in northern Iraq over what a newspaper
said was a plot to kill a senior official in the oil-rich Iraqi city of
Kirkuk." ... "It was the second time that U.S. forces detained Turkish
soldiers in northern Iraq." ... "In April, the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne
Brigade caught a dozen Turkish soldiers, dressed in civilian clothes and
trailing an aid convoy. U.S. forces suspected that the Turkish team was
sent in to inflame local ethnic Turks, who already have tense relations
with the city's Kurds and Arabs." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "U.S.
to send small military team to Liberia: Goal
is to assess needs for possible peacekeeping mission." ... "The team of
about a dozen people will depart from Europe as soon as air transport can
be arranged, the official said." ... "The team's task will be to determine
the requirements for a peacekeeping mission in Liberia, which could include
troops from the United States and the Economic Community of West African
States." ... "A Pentagon official stressed that sending a U.S. assessment
team does not signal the beginning of a larger movement of troops to the
region." -CNN
-
- July
4th News
- "Sombre
celebrations for US Iraq troops: American Independence
Day celebrations have been tinged with sadness for US troops in Iraq."
... "As well as being away from home, the 150,000 troops are having to
deal with the loss of another colleague as the resistance attacks against
them continue." ... "There were some distractions to take minds off the
sombre side of their mission -including a "burger giveaway", a six-mile
(10-kilometre) race, a visit from film star Arnold Schwarzenegger and the
chance to blow up some old Russian tanks." ... "To make up for lack of
a traditional firework display, army soldiers destroyed Soviet-made Iraqi
tanks with missiles fired from their Bradley fighting vehicles."-BBC/News
-
-
-
-
- "U.S.
sanctions Chinese company for sales to Iran." ...
"The United States has imposed sanctions on one Chinese company and extended
sanctions on five companies from China and North Korea for sensitive arms
sales to Iran, the State Department said on Thursday." -Reuters
via -MSNBC
-
-
- "Nuke
component unearthed in Baghdad back yard: U.S.
officials: Find is not smoking gun." ... "The CIA has in its hands the
critical parts of a key piece of Iraqi nuclear technology -- parts needed
to develop a bomb program -- that were dug up in a back yard in Baghdad,
CNN has learned." ... "The parts, with accompanying plans, were unearthed
by Iraqi scientist Mahdi Obeidi who had hidden them under a rose bush in
his garden 12 years ago under orders from Qusay Hussein and Saddam Hussein's
then son-in-law, Hussein Kamel." ... "U.S. officials emphasized this was
not evidence Iraq had a nuclear weapon -- but it was evidence the Iraqis
concealed plans to reconstitute their nuclear program as soon as the world
was no longer looking." -CNN
-
-
-
- "Sources:
U.S. planned to kill bin Laden before 9/11:
When President Bush took office in January 2001, the White House was told
that Predator drones had recently spotted Osama bin Laden as many as three
times and officials were urged to arm the unmanned planes with missiles
to kill the al-Qaeda leader." ... "But the administration failed to get
drones back into the Afghan skies until after the September 11 attacks
later that year, current and former U.S. officials say."
-AP via -CNN
- "Rebels
close in on Liberia capital: Rebel fighters
and government troops have clashed on the outskirts of the Liberian capital,
Monrovia, witnesses have said." ... "The attack on the capital is the latest
in a series of violations reported by both government and rebels since
the two sides signed a ceasefire agreement last week." ... "The main rebel
faction, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd), has
said it will boycott peace talks being held in neighbouring Ghana until
Liberian President Charles Taylor stands by his pledge to step down." -BBC/News
-
-
- "Syrian
guards 'will be returned': The United States
has confirmed that it has been treating five Syrian border guards injured
during a strike by the US military based in neighbouring Iraq." ... "US
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters the return of the five
"will happen", after officials from the two sides had dealt with the issue."
... "But he declined to say whether US forces had entered Syria during
the strike nearly a week ago which was carried out by special forces backed
by aircraft." -BBC/News
-
-
- "Six
UK soldiers killed in Iraq ambush." ... "Six members
of Britain's Royal Military Police were killed in southern Iraq on Tuesday
and eight soldiers wounded, raising fears that UK and US coalition forces
are meeting growing resistance from Iraqi rebels." ... "The bodies of the
Royal Military Police members were found in the southern Iraqi town of
Al Majar al Kabir, about 125 miles north of Basra." ... "The exact circumstances
of their deaths were still unclear on Tuesday night but, according to British
officials, they may have been connected with an incident at a local police
station." -By Charles Clover, James Blitz, James Politi
-FT.com
-
-
- 
- 
- "Rebels
strike back at gates of Liberian capital." ... "Liberian
rebels have struck into the outskirts of the capital Monrovia, sending
thousands of people fleeing for safety and shattering hopes of a peaceful
end to West Africa's bloodiest war." ... "Founded by freed American slaves
in the 19th century, Liberia has known little but killing and chaos since
1989. Its war has sent savage offshoots into neighbouring Sierra Leone,
Guinea and Ivory Coast." ... "Two rebel factions controlling 60 percent
of the country are determined to get rid of Taylor, a former warlord who
won 1997 elections and has been indicted by a U.N.-backed court for war
crimes in Sierra Leone." -By Alphonso Toweh-Reuters
via -MSNBC
-
- "Six
British Soldiers Killed in Iraq: Six British
Soldiers Killed and Eight Others Injured in Two Separate Attacks in Southern
Iraq." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
-
-
- "Switzerland
Blocks Accounts Linked to Liberian Leader (Update1)."
... "Switzerland ordered banks in Zurich and Geneva to block all accounts
linked to Liberian President Charles Taylor following a request for assistance
from a United Nations- backed court investigating war crimes in Sierra
Leone." ... "The request extends to Taylor's relatives, members of his
government, business people and companies, the Swiss Justice Ministry said.
The Special Court for Sierra Leone has charged Taylor with crimes against
humanity in connection with the 1996- 2001 civil war."-Bloomberg
-
- "U.S.
announces creation of new Iraq army." ... "U.S.-led
civil administrators announced the creation of a new Iraqi army Monday
and said recruitment will begin next week, hoping to contain Iraqi anger
over desperate unemployment and to curb a rash of attacks against U.S.
forces." ... "The civil administration moved to stem an angry movement
among former Iraqi army soldiers who lost their livelihood when the army
was dismantled on May 23. U.S. troops killed two ex-servicemen last Wednesday
when a soldiers' demonstration turned violent." -By
Jim Krane -AP
via -Salon
-
-
- "U.S.
forces attack convoy; shoot Syrian border guards; trying to identify dead
and captured." ... "U.S. experts are trying to identify
those killed and captured when an attack on a fleeing Iraqi convoy lead
to the shooting of Syrian border guards, three defense officials said Monday."
... "Working partly on information from previously captured Iraqi leaders,
special operations troops attacked the convoy in western Iraq last week
to stop what they believed were fugitives linked to the fallen regime of
Saddam Hussein." ... "It was unclear who shot first, but American forces
engaged in a firefight with Syrian border guards and several guards were
hit, one senior Pentagon official said on condition of anonymity." -By
Pauline Jelinek -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
- "Bush
forced to defend rising US death toll." ... "George
Bush acted at the weekend to address increasing national disquiet over
the number of US servicemen being killed in Iraq. More than a quarter of
American casualties in Iraq have occurred since the president declared
an end to major military combat at the beginning of May." ... "Another
US soldier was killed yesterday, bringing the toll since May 1 to 56. A
total of 138 American service personnel died during the war itself." ...
"There are still 146,000 US troops stationed in Iraq, only a few thousand
fewer than during the war." -By Duncan Campbell -Guardian.co.uk
- 
- "Paper
finds Air Force Academy negligence." ... "The board
overseeing the Air Force Academy heard reports of sexual assaults and misconduct
20 years ago, but its yearly reports remained positive, The Denver Post
reported in Sunday editions." ... "A review of 25 years of records by the
academy's 15-member Board of Visitors, charged with presiding over morale
and discipline at the academy, found that members did not pursue reports
of sexual assaults and asked few questions."
-AP via -USATODAY
-
- "Marines
heading for possible evacuation of U.S. citizens from Liberia."
... "More than 2,000 Marines aboard the amphibious assault ship Kearsarge
are steaming toward the west coast of Africa to prepare for the
possible evacuation of U.S. citizens from strife-torn Liberia, military
officials said Saturday." -NYTimes
via -StarTribune.com
-
- "U.S.
Troops Seize Weapons Across Iraq: U.S. Troops Stage
Operations Across Iraq to Seize Weapons and Diffuse Potential Insurgency."
... "The nationwide campaign, dubbed Operation Desert Scorpion, "is a combat
operation to defeat the remaining pockets of resistance," said Capt. John
Morgan, a spokesman for the Army's V Corps." ... "By the midnight Saturday
close of a two-week nationwide amnesty for surrendering banned arms, only
a fraction of the thousands of heavy weapons, anti-tank rockets and anti-aircraft
missiles had been turned in." ... "Three hours after the deadline, 1,300
troops of the 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade conducted the first raids,
cordoning off Fallujah, a town of 200,000 about 35 miles west of Baghdad."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "About
100 Iraqi Fighters Die in Clashes." ... "U.S. forces
killed 27 Iraqi fighters in a ground and air pursuit Friday after the Iraqis
attacked an American tank patrol north of Baghdad, bringing the opposition
death toll in four days of skirmishes to about 100, according to the military."
... "In Washington on Friday, a senior Pentagon official, speaking on condition
of anonymity, said about 70 opposition fighters were killed in Thursday's
attack - most apparently non-Iraqis from other countries in the region."
-By Borzou Daragahi -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
-
-
- "Biggest
U.S. military assault since war targets Saddam loyalists."
... "U.S. fighter jets bombed a suspected terrorist camp and troops stormed
door-to-door through Sunni Muslim towns Thursday, seeking Saddam Hussein
loyalists in one of the biggest American military assaults since the war."
... "As Operation Peninsula Strike entered day three, Iraqi fighters shot
down a U.S. helicopter gunship -- the first American aircraft downed by
ground fire since Saddam's ouster two months ago -- and a U.S. F-16 fighter-bomber
crashed. The crews of the aircraft were unharmed." -By
Borzou Daragahi-AP
via -SFGate.com
-
- Road
Map - "Seven
Palestinians killed in Israeli missile strike, as Israel and Hamas vow
fight to finish." ... "In the third Israeli airstrike
in 24 hours, Israeli helicopters fired several missiles at the car of a
Hamas fugitive Thursday, killing seven people, including the wanted man,
his wife and 2-year-old daughter." ... "The latest spike in violence --
35 Israelis and Palestinians killed and more than 130 wounded in two days
-- suggested a new stage in the 32-month-old conflict, with Israel and
Hamas threatening to fight each other to the finish." -By
Ibrahim Barzak -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
-
- "U.S. copter
shot down in Iraq raid." ... "Iraqi forces shot down
a U.S. helicopter gunship in western Iraq on Thursday, just hours after
U.S. fighter jets bombed what they said was “a terrorist training camp”
in central Iraq." ... "Thursday's events marked a sharp escalation of U.S.
military operations in central and western Iraq, where guerrillas have
intensified attacks on U.S. troops in recent weeks. The incidents occurred
as U.S. ground troops wound up a massive sweep of a Sunni Muslim enclave
north of Baghdad aimed at rooting out the organizers of attacks on occupation
forces. “It’s one of the largest operations since the war,” U.S. Central
Command spokesman Lt. Ryan Fitzgerald said."
-AP via -MSNBC
-
- Road
Map - "Israeli
strike kills two in Gaza, threatens "Road Map":
Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a car carrying a top official from
the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza City on Tuesday, wounding
the Hamas leader and sparking worries that the strike could derail an internationally
backed "road map" for Middle East peace." ... "Two bystanders were killed
and some 20 wounded in the strike. The attack came less than a week after
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud
Abbas, signed on to a U.S.-backed peace plan that emphasized a reduction
in violence and other measures to work toward Palestinian statehood as
early as 2005." -PBS.org
(A-Z) /NewsHour
- Roadmap
Peace Plan
- "Four
Israelis Die in Army Post Shooting: Palestinians
Kill Four Israelis at Army Post; Israeli, Palestinian Gunmen Killed in
Hebron." ... "Three militant Palestinian groups joined forces to kill four
Israeli soldiers in a daring attack Sunday in Gaza, sending a message that
they are out to sink a new, U.S.-backed Mideast peace plan." ... "Hours
later, Palestinians killed another Israeli soldier in the West Bank town
of Hebron. Six Palestinian gunmen also were killed in the violence, one
of the bloodiest 24-hour periods in recent weeks." ... "The rare joint
operation by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades was
intended to send a message to Abbas that Palestinians will continue to
fight Israel and will not "surrender to the pressure exerted by Israel
and the United States of America," said Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas leader."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "U.S. stands
by Iraq intelligence." ... "A senior Pentagon official
on Wednesday pointedly dismissed mounting criticism that U.S. military
officials might have manipulated intelligence to bolster an administration
argument for war with Iraq. The reports amounted to "urban legend" based
on a "goulash of inaccuracies," he said. Those strong comments from Douglas
Feith, undersecretary of defense for policy, came amid reports that the
Central Intelligence Agency had begun an internal review to see whether
a major, top-secret U.S. intelligence report last autumn had overstated
the threat from Iraqi weapons programs." ... "The agency's prewar analyses
- including the finding in the secret October report that Iraq had biological
and chemical weapons and was working to restart a nuclear program - have
been questioned by some intelligence officials and lawmakers. House and
Senate committees are planning inquiries." -By Brian
Knowlton -IHT.com
-
-
- "Relief
for U.S. troops lacking." ... "The Pentagon's search
for troops from other nations to replace U.S. soldiers in the force that
is stabilizing postwar Iraq has fallen short of expectations, and U.S.
officials face the prospect of keeping more U.S. forces in Iraq than they
had hoped, diplomats and military officials say." -By
Tom Squitieri -USATODAY
-
-
- "Rumsfeld
Denies 'False Pretext' for Iraq War." ... "Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld denied on Thursday that the Iraq war was waged
under a false pretext even though U.S. search teams have failed to find
the chemical and biological weapons cited as justification for the invasion."
... "During a radio interview, Rumsfeld expressed fresh confidence that
such weapons of mass destruction would be found in Iraq, and offered several
explanations for why they have not been located." -By
Will Dunham-Reuters
-
- "Iraqi
attacks on US: isolated acts? US forces in
Fallujah were ambushed Tuesday in the deadliest of a series of assaults
this week." ... "At the intersection here where two American soldiers were
attacked and killed Tuesday, a crowd of about 40 Iraqis spoke with a unanimous
voice: This would not be the last deadly assault on the US military in
Iraq." ... ""We are going to do something much bigger than that," warns
Abdul Settar Hamid al-Fellahi, a driver in a long white robe. "Like what
the Palestinians do to Israel, that's what we will do to the Americans.""
... "The violence in Fallujah - which also injured nine US soldiers and
damaged a helicopter - was only the latest in a series of assaults on US
soldiers in Iraq this past week. US officials in Baghdad hope the attacks
represent localized threats to coalition troops occupying Iraq. But military
analysts say there is a danger that the incidents can't be dismissed as
random, vigilante violence." -By Ilene R. Prusher
-CSMonitor
-
- "Report
links Iraqi trailers to weapons." ... "A report from
two US intelligence agencies yesterday said a pair of Iraqi trailers filled
with laboratory equipment was the best evidence that Saddam Hussein's government
had a biological weapons program." ... "Although they still lack solid
evidence of any biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons in Iraq, the Central
Intelligence Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency concluded in a
six-page ''white paper'' that each trailer was part of a larger two- or
three-trailer facility for production of the weapons." ... "But the report,
which comes more than six weeks after the Pentagon declared an end to major
combat operations in Iraq, also underscored that US officials have been
unable to prove their assertions that the Hussein regime developed weapons
of mass destruction. Although they have found circumstantial evidence to
suggest a possible program, US officials have not yet uncovered actual
weapons." -By Robert Schlesinger
-Boston/Globe
-
-
-
-
-
- "U.S.
and Russia Press Iran on Al Qaeda, Weapons:
Concerns Mount Over Nuclear Facilities, Influence in Iraq; Some at Pentagon
Urging Intervention." ... "The Bush administration kept up pressure against
Iran yesterday, saying that the Islamic republic's claims of cracking down
on al Qaeda within its borders were inadequate and expressing continued
concern about Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons." ... "Some administration
officials, especially at the Pentagon, are urging the administration to
adopt steps to destabilize the Iranian government in the wake of unconfirmed
intelligence reports that suggested al Qaeda operatives in Iran helped
plan the May 12 suicide bombing attacks against residential compounds in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia." -By Glenn Kessler-WashingtonPost
- -
"U.S.
troops under fire again in Iraq, two killed." ...
"Gunmen killed two U.S. soldiers and wounded nine on Tuesday in an Iraqi
city [Falluja] where Saddam Hussein still commands loyalty. It was the
bloodiest single attack on American forces since they toppled the Iraqi
leader." ... "[Also] Two American soldiers were killed and four wounded
in two ambushes on Monday, one in Baghdad and one north of the capital."
-By Nadim Ladki -Reuters
via -MSNBC
Memorial
Day Holiday
-
- Memorial
Day - Holiday
- -
"The
Origins of Memorial Day." [From the VA.gov]
... "Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of
an organization of former Union soldiers and sailors - the Grand Army of
the Republic (GAR) - established Decoration Day as a time for the nation
to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A.
Logan declared it should be May 30. The first large observance was held
that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from
Washington, D.C. The cemetery already held the remains of 20,000 Union
dead and several hundred Confederate dead." ... "The ceremonies centered
around the mourning-draped veranda of the Arlington mansion, once the home
of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant and other Washington
officials presided. After speeches, children from the Soldiers' and Sailors'
Orphan Home and members of the GAR made their way through the cemetery,
strewing flowers on both Union and Confederate graves, reciting prayers
and singing hymns." ... "Local Observances Claim To Be First" ...
"Local springtime tributes to the Civil War dead already had been held
in various places. One of the first occurred in Columbus, Miss., April
25, 1866, when a group of women visited a cemetery to decorate the graves
of Confederate soldiers who had fallen in battle at Shiloh. Nearby were
the graves of Union soldiers, neglected because they were the enemy. Disturbed
at the sight of the bare graves, the women placed some of their flowers
on those graves, as well." ... "Today cities in the North and the South
claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day in 1866. Both Macon and Columbus,
Ga., claim the title, as well as Richmond, Va. The village of Boalsburg,
Pa., claims it began there two years earlier. A stone in a Carbondale,
Ill., cemetery carries the statement that the first Decoration Day cere-
mony took place there on April 29, 1866. Carbondale was the wartime home
of Gen. Logan. Approximately 25 places have been named in connection with
the origin of Memorial Day, many of them in the South where most of the
war dead were buried." ... "Official Birthplace Declared" ... "In
1966, Congress and President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, N.Y., the
"birthplace" of Memorial Day. There a ceremony on May 5, 1866, was reported
to have honored local soldiers and sailors who had fought in the Civil
War. Businesses closed and residents flew flags at half-mast. Supporters
of Waterloo's claim say earlier observances in other places were either
informal, not community-wide or one-time events." ... "By the end of the
19th century, Memorial Day ceremonies were being held on May 30 throughout
the nation. State legislatures passed proclamations designating the day.
The Army and Navy adopted regulations for proper observance at their facilities.
It was not until after World War I, however, that the day was expanded
to honor those who have died in all American wars. In 1971 Memorial Day
was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress, though it is still
often called Decoration Day. It was then also placed on the last Monday
in May, as were some other federal holidays." ... "Some States Have
Confederate Observances" ... "Many Southern states also have their
own days for honoring the Confederate dead. Mississippi celebrates Confederate
Memorial Day the last Monday of April, Alabama on the fourth Monday of
April, and Georgia on April 26. North and South Carolina observe it May
10, Louisiana on June 3 and Tennessee calls that date Confederate Decoration
Day. Texas celebrates Confederate Heroes Day January 19 and Virginia calls
the last Monday in May Confederate Memorial Day." ... "Gen. Logan's order
for his posts to decorate graves in 1868 "with the choicest flowers of
springtime" urged: "We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance.
... Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors
and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present
or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost
of a free and undivided republic."" ... "The crowd attending the first
Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery was approximately
the same size as those that attend today's observance, about 5,000 people.
Then, as now, small American flags were placed on each grave - a tradition
followed at many national cemeteries today. In recent years, the custom
has grown in many families to decorate the graves of all departed loved
ones." ... "The origins of special services to honor those who die in war
can be found in antiquity. The Athenian leader Pericles offered a tribute
to the fallen heroes of the Peloponnesian War over 24 centuries ago that
could be applied today to the 1.1 million Americans who have died in the
nation's wars: "Not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions,
but there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone
but in the hearts of men."" -From the VA.gov's
- "VA
Articles, Reports and Speeches" - "Celebrating
America's Freedoms."
- Memorial
Day - "Several
towns say they observed Memorial Day first." ...
"It was a somber show of respect and love that brought three women to the
village cemetery [of Boalsburg, Pennsylvania] in 1864 to lay flowers and
ferns on the graves of Civil War soldiers." ... "Residents say that act
139 years ago marked the nation's first Memorial Day observance. But some
two dozen communities in the nation -- from Columbus, Miss., and Macon,
Ga., to Richmond, Va., and Carbondale, Ill. --also claim to be the birthplace
of Memorial Day." ... "The official distinction, signed into law by President
Lyndon Johnson in 1966, is held by the village of Waterloo, N.Y. [which
had its first observance of what's become the Memorial Day tradition on
May 5th, 1866.]" -By Lara Jakes Jordan
-AP via -Boston/Globe
-
-
- "Spanish
Peacekeepers Killed in Turkey Plane Crash." ... "A
plane carrying 62 Spanish peacekeepers returning from Afghanistan crashed
in Turkey early on Monday and all aboard, including 13 crew, were killed,
officials and Turkish media said." ... "The Ukrainian Yak-42 crashed as
it tried to land in thick fog near Turkey's Black Sea city of Trabzon."
... "The soldiers were mostly members of an engineers regiment based in
Burgos and had been in Afghanistan serving with the International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) monitoring Kabul for four months, Spanish newspaper
El Mundo's Web Site said." -By Enis Yildirim-Reuters
-
- "Arms teams
seek new information: Frustrated hunters move
away from outdated Iraqi intelligence." ... "Frustrated weapons hunters
are turning away from outdated U.S. intelligence leads, which have failed
to turn up any evidence of chemical, biological or nuclear arms in Iraq
after 10 weeks. Teams are now moving toward their own intelligence gathering,
based on interviews with Iraqi scientists, factory workers and even neighbors
who lived near shadowy operations once run by Saddam Hussein." -AP
via -MSNBC
-
-
-
- "Prewar
Views of Iraq Threat Are Under Review by C.I.A.."
... "The Central Intelligence Agency has begun a review to try to determine
whether the American intelligence community erred in its prewar assessments
of Saddam Hussein's government and Iraq's weapons programs, several officials
say." ... "The director of central intelligence, George J. Tenet, has named
a team of retired C.I.A. officers to scour the classified intelligence
reports that were circulated inside the government before the war on a
range of issues related to Iraq, including those concerning Bagdhad's links
to terrorism and unconventional weapons, officials said. The team plans
to compare those reports with what has actually been discovered in Iraq
since the war ended." ... "The review will encompass reports produced by
the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Intelligence Council, the
Defense Intelligence Agency and other agencies, and is the first internal
review of Iraq-related intelligence since the war ended in April, officials
said." -By James Risen
-NYTimes
-
-
- "Failed
hostage rescue raises worries: 'I fear for
my son's life,' mom says of man held in Colombia." ... "Rosano, whose son,
Marc Gonsalves, of Big Pine Key [Florida], is one of three Americans kidnapped
by Colombian rebels three months ago, said in a telephone interview with
The Herald that she feared for her son's life because hostages have been
told that attempts to free them will be fatal -- just as it was for the
victims of the botched operation." ... "Gonsalves and the two other American
defense contractors taken Feb. 13 are apparently alive. But the body count
from Monday's rescue operation for other captives -- 10 hostages dead,
including a governor -- has mothers around Colombia clamoring for the government
to approve prisoner swaps that could free dozens of captives held by the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia." -By France
Robles with contributions by Tim Johnson-Miami/Herald
-
-
- "White
House refuses to release Sept. 11 info." ... "The
Bush administration and the nation's intelligence agencies are blocking
the release of sensitive information about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks
on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, delaying publication of a 900-page
congressional report on how the terrorist assault happened." ... "Intelligence
officials insist the information must be kept secret for national security
reasons. But some of the information is already broadly available on the
Internet or has been revealed in interim reports on the investigation,
leading to charges that the administration is simply trying to avoid enshrining
embarrassing details in the report." -By Frank Davies
with contributions by James Kuhnhenn -Knight
Ridder via-Miami/Herald
-
-
- "India,
Pakistan to Hold Peace Talks: India, Pakistan
Will Hold Talks Aimed at Ending Five Decades of War." ... "Prime Minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee,78 and ailing, indicated he would like to leave a
legacy of peace between India and Pakistan." ... ""This round of talks
will be decisive," he said in a speech to India's parliament. "And at least
for my life, these will be the last."" ... "A dispute over divided Kashmir
is the main source of the friction between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
Both countries claim Kashmir in its entirety and have fought two wars over
the region since their independence from Britain in 1947."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
-
-
- "Bush
declares victory in Iraq: US President George
W Bush has said the US has prevailed in the Battle of Iraq in a speech
on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln." ... "He explicitly linked
the conflict in the Gulf to the 11 September 2001 terror attacks on the
United States." ... "Earlier, Mr Bush's spokesman Ari Fleischer warned
that the president's speech would not mark the end of hostilities "from
a legal point of view"." ... "There are legal implications to declaring
a war officially ended: under the Geneva Conventions, once war is declared
over, the victorious army must release prisoners-of-war and halt operations
targeting specific leaders." ... "The United States never formally declared
war on Iraq." -BBC/News
-
-
-
- "From
Iraq's secret files, a trail of mass murder." ...
"Over the past few days, the US Army has taken custody of hundreds of thousands
of Iraqi secret-police files. The dossiers - an impeccable detailing of
two decades of mass murder reminiscent of the meticulous recordkeeping
of Hitler's Germany or Stalinist Russia - could contain crucial evidence
in any trial that former President Saddam Hussein or his top officials
might face." ... "Already the files have yielded fragments of Iraq's secret
past. The group of former prisoners who gathered the documents have so
far gleaned the names of more than 5,500 prisoners who were executed, according
to the files. The Committee of Free Prisoners has posted them on the walls
of its makeshift headquarters by the Tigris River. Every day, thousands
of ordinary men and women crowd around the rosters, seeking names of missing
relatives." -By Peter Ford
-CSMonitor
-
- "Two
killed in second clash in Fallujah: Reports
conflicting on how violence started." ... "Two demonstrators were killed
and 15 injured Wednesday during a second round of clashes in the central
Iraqi town of Fallujah, hospital officials said."
-CNN
- 
- "U.S. to pull
troops from Saudi Arabia: Most will be gone
within 4 months as part of redeployment in Mideast." ... "The United States
said Tuesday that it would withdraw all combat forces in Saudi Arabia by
this summer, ending more than a decade of military operations in this strategic
Middle East nation." ... "Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his Saudi
counterpart, Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz, said at a news conference here
that the end of the Iraq war and Saddam Hussein's government meant that
America's military mission here was over. Only a small military training
program will remain." -By Eric Schmitt
-NYTimes via -IHT.com
 |
-
- "'Eight
of Clubs' Surrenders in Baghdad." ... "Walid Hamid
Tawfiq al-Tikriti was No. 44 on the U.S. list of 55 most wanted members
of Saddam's administration and the eight of clubs in a deck of cards given
to troops hunting them. He is the 15th Iraqi on the list known to have
been captured." -Reuters
-
- "U.S.
fires on Iraqi protesters." ... "U.S. paratroopers
fired on anti-American protesters during a nighttime demonstration, and
a hospital reported Tuesday that 13 Iraqis were killed and 75 wounded,
including three young boys. Soldiers said armed men had mixed into the
crowd and fired at them from nearby buildings." ... "U.S. Central Command
said paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division were fired on by about
25 armed civilians mixed within an estimated crowd of 200 protesters outside
a compound troops were occupying." -AP
via -USATODAY
-
-
- "Last
missing soldier found dead in Iraq: South Texas
family's fears confirmed." ... "The remains of a South Texas soldier who
had been missing in action for more than a month were found in a shallow
battlefield grave in Iraq last week, family members said Monday." ... "Relatives
of Army Spc. Edward John Anguiano, 24, of Los Fresnos, the only U.S. soldier
who had not been accounted for, said they were notified on Sunday that
his death in combat had been confirmed." -By John
W. Gonzalez -HoustonChronicle.com
-
- "Powell
Says U.S. Is Studying North Korean Nuclear Offer."
... "North Korea has given the United States a plan that could lead to
the Koreans dismantling their nuclear weapons program, Secretary of State
Colin L. Powell said today. But he warned that the offer came with a demand
for significant concessions in return." ... ""They did put forward a plan
that would ultimately deal with their nuclear capability and their missile
activities, but they of course expect something considerable in return,"
Mr. Powell told reporters at the State Department. The North Koreans made
the offer during talks in Beijing last week, and Mr. Powell said the United
States is studying it." -By Joel Brinkley
-NYTimes via -Google-News
-
- "Evidence
of Al Qaeda spy ring in key Afghan roles: US
and Afghan forces raided Amniat offices in Khost in March. The ensuing
investigation shows key papers are in Al Qaeda hands." ... "For the past
year, Hazratuddin Habibi has been the intelligence chief of Khost, appointed
by President Hamid Karzai to keep an eye on Taliban or Al Qaeda activities
in this crucial province along the Pakistani border." ... "Hazratuddin,
a former intelligence chief for the Taliban known by his first name, was
certainly qualified for the job. But colleagues in the central government's
intelligence agency, Amniat, and in other military departments began to
notice that raids on Taliban hideouts were coming up empty. Arrests of
Al Qaeda suspects went awry. It occurred to local political leaders as
well as intelligence and military officials that Hazratuddin may be a double
agent." -By Scott Baldauf
-CSMonitor
-
-
-
- "North
Korea's Threats A Dilemma for China: Ally's
Nuclear Gamesmanship Rankles Beijing." ... "North Korea's declaration this
week that it possesses a nuclear arsenal and might sell some of it to the
highest bidder has put new pressure on China to rein in its longtime ally,
Chinese and U.S. officials said yesterday." ... "For U.S. officials, the
grim news from three-way talks in Beijing was tempered by the realization
that their long struggle to draw the Chinese into a campaign against North
Korea might suddenly bear fruit. For months, China has been viewed in Washington
as a roadblock, unwilling to engage North Korea and actively thwarting
action at the U.N. Security Council. Now, officials said, they hope to
go back to the United Nations with Chinese support for demanding an end
to North Korea's nuclear activities." -By Glenn Kessler
and John Pomfret -WashingtonPost
-
-
- "Talks
End After N.Korea Claims to Have Nuclear Bomb." ...
"Nuclear talks in Beijing ended on Friday after U.S. officials said North
Korea disclosed it had atomic bombs and Pyongyang said it presented a plan
to resolve the dispute but was ignored." ... "Despite the apparent deadlock,
China, which hosted the three-day talks, said on Friday the three countries
had agreed the discussions were a "good beginning" to ending a crisis that
had been festering for six months." -By Paul Eckert
and Brian Rhoads -Reuters
 |
-
-
- "US
seizes Saddam's deputy." ... "Tariq Aziz, the most
internationally recognised face of the fallen Iraqi regime after Saddam
Hussein himself, was in US custody last night after surrendering to American
forces, Pentagon officials said." ... "Mr Aziz, the eight of spades in
the Pentagon's deck of cards, is unlikely to possess information about
weapons of mass destruction or Saddam's current whereabouts, intelligence
experts said." ... "However, the fact that Mr Aziz had been found alive
increased the chances that Saddam and his sons were also still alive. He
might also possess explosive information on the extent of past support
for the regime in the west." -By Oliver Burkeman
-Guardian.co.uk
Search
Iraq News - Search
Google:
 |
 |
|
-
- "Spymaster
among 4 officials arrested." ... "The detentions
of Muzahim Sa'b Hassan Tikriti, who headed Iraq's air defenses, General
Zuhayr Talib Abdul Sattar Naqib, the former military intelligence chief,
and Mohammed Mahdi Salih, the former trade minister, bring to 14 the number
of former officials on the 55-name wanted list who are in custody or believed
killed." ... "A fourth Iraqi captured Wednesday is not on the list but
will be of keen interest to U.S. investigators - Salim Said Khalaf Jumaylia,
former director of American operations for Iraq's intelligence agency.
He is suspected of having knowledge of Iraqi intelligence activities in
the United States, including names of people spying for Iraq, said the
U.S. Central Command spokesman, Jim Wilkinson." ... "As Baghdad struggles
to recover from war, U.S. officials bluntly denied [Mohammed Mohsen] Zubaidi's
claims that he has U.S. military support for his quest to serve as unelected
mayor." -AP,
-Reuters, and -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
-
-
- "North
Korea issues war warning to US." ... "Even as North
Korean negotiators met today with US officials to seek a solution to the
standoff over the communist state's nuclear ambitions, Pyongyang warned
that war could break out on the Korean peninsula." ... "The North's Korean
people's army (KPA) vowed to "put all people under arms and turn the whole
country into a fortress", and urged its soldiers to become "human bombs
and fighters ready to blow up themselves" to protect leader Kim Jong Il."
-Guardian.co.uk
-
- "Shiite
pilgrims to US: 'Thanks. Please go now.'" ... "Columns
of humanity - hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, on foot and some limping
after days on sticky hot roads - are pouring into Iraq's holy city of Karbala,
to mark one of the most sacred events in the Shiite calendar - and the
end of Saddam Hussein's ruthlessly secular regime." ... "But just as Iraq's
long-repressed Shiite majority enjoy a religious reawakening, the scale
of the event is a show of strength for Shiite clergy who are moving quickly
to fill the vacuum left by Mr. Hussein before American forces do." -By
Scott Peterson -CSMonitor
-
- "U.S.
Won't Seek Bases in Iraq, Rumsfeld Says." ... "Defense
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday the United States is unlikely
to seek any permanent or "long-term" bases in Iraq because U.S. basing
arrangements with other countries in the region are sufficient." ... "While
stressing that discussion of future U.S. military ties with Iraq is premature
in the absence of a new Iraqi government, Rumsfeld appeared intent yesterday
on knocking down the idea of an indefinite U.S. military presence in Iraq.
A newspaper report over the weekend suggested that among the options the
administration is considering is permanent U.S. access to several Iraqi
airfields." -By Bradley Graham-WashingtonPost
-
-
-
- "Shiites
gaining momentum." ... "After being suppressed for
35 years by Saddam's Baath Party, the leaders and faithful of the Shiite
branch of Islam, who represent perhaps 16 million Iraqis, are asserting
themselves and moving into the power vacuum left by the almost overnight
collapse of Iraq's secular government." ... "The U.S. military may control
the roads, ports and skies of Iraq, but in any neighborhood where Shiites
are in the majority, one is likely to find white-turbaned sheiks and imams
who have begun making the day-to-day decisions and policies." ... "The
Shiites' emerging power will be on display this week, when they converge
in massive numbers on Karbala, where Saddam was martyred in a decisive
7th-century battle that became the symbol for suffering and self-sacrifice
among Shiites for 1,300 years." -By John Daniszewski-LAtimes
via -RegisterGuard
|
-
- "U.S.
arrests senior official of Saddam's regime:
Former prime minister suppressed Shiite uprising in 1991." ... "Muhammad
Hazmaq al-Zubaydi, No. 18 on the U.S. list of most-wanted Iraqi leaders,
has been taken into custody in Iraq, U.S. Central Command said." ... "He
is the most senior figure from Saddam Hussein's regime arrested so far
and has a reputation as a ruthless and violent enforcer of the former regime's
will. Al-Zubaydi is a former prime minister and deputy prime minister."
... "He is the queen of spades on the deck of cards featuring wanted Iraqi
leaders that was handed out to U.S. troops."
-CNN /World
- 
-
-
- "Illicit
Arms Kept Till Eve of War, an Iraqi Scientist Is Said to Assert."
... "A scientist who claims to have worked in Iraq's chemical weapons program
for more than a decade has told an American military team that Iraq destroyed
chemical weapons and biological warfare equipment only days before the
war began, members of the team said." ... "They said the scientist led
Americans to a supply of material that proved to be the building blocks
of illegal weapons, which he claimed to have buried as evidence of Iraq's
illicit weapons programs." ... "The scientist also told American weapons
experts that Iraq had secretly sent unconventional weapons and technology
to Syria, starting in the mid-1990's, and that more recently Iraq was cooperating
with Al Qaeda, the military officials said." -By Judith
Miller -NYTimes
via -Google-News
 |
|
-
-
- "Two
more Iraqi ‘most-wanted’ held: Saddam son-in-law
surrenders;science minister captured." ... "Two of the 55 Iraqis
on a U.S. list of “most-wanted” will soon be in U.S. hands, U.S. officials
said Sunday. U.S. Central Command said that U.S.-led forces in Iraq had
seized Saddam Hussein’s minister of higher education and scientific research
[Abd al-Khalq Abd al-Gafar - the "Four of Hearts"]. And the exiled Iraqi
National Congress said Saddam’s only surviving son-in-law [Jamal Sultan
al-Tikriti - the "Nine of Clubs] and one of Saddam’s top bodyguards had
returned from Syria and surrendered to them, and would be handed over to
U.S. forces in Baghdad." -MSNBC
-
-
- "Syria
is getting the message, Bush says." ... "President
Bush ended the three-week escalation of warnings to Syria on Sunday and
praised Iraq's neighbor for new cooperation in the hunt for senior aides
to Saddam Hussein." ... ""It seems like they're beginning to get the message,"
Bush said as he left an Easter service with two Army helicopter pilots
taken prisoner in Iraq. "I'm confident the Syrian government has heard
us, and I believe it when they say they want to cooperate with us."" ...
"A senior administration official said Bush's new stance resulted from
a steady increase in help from Damascus throughout last week, including
efforts to seal the border with Iraq, locate fugitive Saddam aides and
possible war criminals." -By Mike Allen and Daniel
Williams -WashingtonPostwith
-AP,-LAtimes&
-NYTimes via -StarTribune.com
-
- "Garner
Arrives in Iraq for Reconstruction: Retired
U.S. General Jay Garner Arrives in Baghdad to Oversee Reconstruction of
Iraq." ... "Retired U.S. General Jay Garner, who is overseeing Iraq's reconstruction
after the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime, arrived Monday in the Iraqi
capital." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "Self-proclaimed
Baghdad mayor prepares for office amid skepticism."
... "Mohammed al Zubaidi smiled for the television cameras as supporters
carried the self-proclaimed new mayor of Baghdad through a city plaza Sunday,
but bystanders were far from impressed." ... "Al Zubaidi, a former Iraqi
exile, said last week that a local council elected him to lead the Iraqi
capital. The U.S. military says it doesn't recognize anyone as mayor yet.
Al Zubaidi is a close associate of Iraqi National Congress head Ahmed Chalabi,
a pro-American former exile who also has returned to Baghdad, with help
from the Pentagon." -By Carol Rosenberg, Jessica Guynn,
and Ken Moritsugu -Knight Ridder via
-MercuryNews-BayArea
-
-
- "Freed POWs
return to U.S.." ... "Their ordeal behind them, the
seven American POWs rescued in Iraq returned home to the United States
on Saturday to a joyous reunion with their families and cheers of well-wishers.
As their plane taxied to a halt, two of the people on board waved an American
flag from a hatch on the aircraft’s roof." ... "The plane landed Saturday
at Fort Bliss, where the five members of the 507th Maintenance Support
Company were based. A small jet flew the two Apache crewmen to their home
base of Fort Hood." -MS-NBC
-
-
- "North
Korea Proposes Talks With South." ... "North Korea
made a conciliatory gesture toward South Korea on Saturday, proposing high-level
talks a day after jeopardizing negotiations with the United States by claiming
it is reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, possibly for weapons." ... "North
Korean officials telephoned South Korean officers at the border village
of Panmunjom to propose Cabinet-level talks on April 27-29 in Pyongyang.
The North called off a similar meeting last week." -By
Jae-Suk Yoo -AP
via -Miami/Herald
-
- "U.S., N. Korea
talks likely to happen: N. Korean statement
on nuclear program unclear." ... "U.S. officials said North Korea’s announcement
that it was reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods could be false bluster
intended as a negotiating tactic ahead of talks next week on ending Pyongyang’s
nuclear ambitions. The announcement was not considered likely to derail
the discussions, officials in the region said Saturday." ... "North Korea
dramatically raised the stakes in its six-month nuclear standoff with the
United States when a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said in a surprise
statement that scientists were reprocessing more than 8,000 spent fuel
rods — which could yield enough plutonium to make six to eight nuclear
bombs — despite repeated warnings from Washington not to do so." -Contributions
by Betsy Steuart, Ashleigh Banfield, David Gregory, Robert Windrem with
-AP and -Reuters
via -MS-NBC
-
-
- "U.S.
Marines start leaving Baghdad, Army takes over."
... "U.S. Marines who seized much of Baghdad earlier this month started
pulling out of the Iraqi capital on Saturday, handing over control to U.S.
Army units as the military's mission moves from combat to policing." -By
Matthew Green -Reuters
via -Boston/Globe
-
- "Iraqis
slam US presence: Protests reflect Baghdad
tension." ... "At mosques throughout the city, imams issued warnings to
America not to stay too long in Iraq, while throngs of supporters carried
banners declaring: ''Leave our country. We want peace.'' ... "Patience
is in short supply in Baghdad, some parts of which have not had power,
telephone service, or running water since just before the invasion. Shia
and Sunni Muslims have banded together under the leadership of clerics
and are calling for an Islamic state to replace the secular Ba'ath regime."
-By Thanassis Cambanis with contributions by Bryan
Bender -Boston/Globe
-
- -
-
- "Pentagon
Expects Long-Term Access to Four Key Bases in Iraq."
... "The United States is planning a long-term military relationship with
the emerging government of Iraq, one that would grant the Pentagon access
to military bases and project American influence into the heart of the
unsettled region, senior Bush administration officials say." ... "American
military officials, in interviews this week, spoke of maintaining perhaps
four bases in Iraq that could be used in the future: one at the international
airport just outside Baghdad; another at Tallil, near Nasiriya in the south;
the third at an isolated airstrip called H-1 in the western desert, along
the old oil pipeline that runs to Jordan; and the last at the Bashur air
field in the Kurdish north." ... "A military foothold in Iraq would be
felt across the border in Syria, and, in combination with the continuing
United States presence in Afghanistan, it would virtually surround Iran
with a new web of American influence." (1, 2)
-By Thom Shanker and Eric Schmitt
-NYTimes via
-AltaVista-News
-
-
- IRAQ
PLAYING CARDS: Iraq card deck, Gulf War Two. Pentagon's
"Personality Identification Playing Cards," Iraq Playing Card Deck of Saddam's
Iraqi Regime.
 |
-
-
- "U.S.
Forces Capture Baath Party Official: U.S. forces
took custody of another of their "most wanted" from the former Iraqi regime
Thursday, a Baath leader whom Central Command officials hope will help
them further dismantle what remains of Saddam's regime." ... ""Last night
coalition special operations forces captured another key member of the
regime. Samir Abul Aziz al-Najim, one of the top 55 leaders of the regime,
was handed over to coalition forces by Iraqi Kurds near Mosul in northern
Iraq," Central Command Spokesman General Vincent Brooks said Friday."
-PBS.org (A-Z)
/NewsHour
- 
-
-
- "Under
Fire: Colo. Rep. Criticized for 'Watered Down'
Air Force Academy Rape Inquiry." ... "Stunned victims and members of Congress
are sharply criticizing Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., for altering language
in a bill calling for Air Force Academy leadership to be held accountable
in the upcoming inquiry into the prestigious military institution's sexual
assault scandal." ... "By changing seven words of a relatively small amendment
to the $80 billion Iraq war-costs bill, critics charge Hefley has single-handedly
changed the direction and strength of the upcoming independent investigation."
-By Ed O'Keefe with contributions by Linda Douglass
-ABCNEWS.com
-
- "Analysts
wonder where Iraq's army went." ... "As they cope
with scattered firefights and turn to pressing humanitarian needs, U.S.
and British troops may not have time to ask a key question that has been
puzzling analysts since before the fall of Baghdad:" ... "Where did all
the Iraqi soldiers go?" ... "By all accounts, Iraq's regular army and Republican
Guard have been all but no-shows on the battlefield." -By
Matthew B. Stannaard -SFGate.com
-
-
- "Wary
Baghdad police back on the beat." ... "In this war-battered
city, where looters are now plundering bank vaults and private homes after
sacking virtually every government building, the people's security rests
on the sagging shoulders of Colonel Jassem al-Tamimi." ... "The Iraqi police
official returned to his job yesterday, leading his men on joint patrols
with US Marines in an operation that American officials hope will instill
confidence and nudge this city back to a sense of routine." ... "But if
Tamimi and his officers are a barometer of this city's hesitant steps toward
normalcy, Baghdad residents have a lot to worry about." -By
Thanassis Cambanis -Boston/Globe
-
- "Iraqi
elite pledge free nation: Meeting of 70 leaders
told U.S. will cede power in 3 to 6 months." ... "Gathering under U.S.
auspices near the biblical birthplace of Abraham, a select group of Iraqi
leaders took the first steps Tuesday toward rebuilding their government
with a vow to embrace democracy." ... "The meeting, held under drum-tight
security in the presence of American, British and Polish diplomats, marked
the beginning of an ambitious plan to remake a nation crushed by decades
of repressive rule and years of strict economic sanctions." ... "More than
70 exile leaders, tribal sheikhs, ethnic Kurds and Shiite clerics emerged
from the six-hour meeting with 13 goals for the new government, the first
being "Iraq must be democratic."" -By Chuck Squatriglia
-SFGate.com
-
- "Experts
warned of museum looters: But U.S. military
says it made no promises for site." ... "The experts met privately with
Pentagon officials as early as January to warn that the impending war could
pose grave risks to Iraq's archaeological treasures. They renewed the warnings
by e-mail in the days before the U.S. attack on Baghdad began, some of
the experts said Tuesday." ... "But Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, made clear at a briefing at the Pentagon on Tuesday
that the protection of the museum had been assigned less importance than
the combat operations that were continuing sporadically in Baghdad on Thursday
and Friday while the museum was being sacked." -By
Douglas Jehl and Elizabeth Becker -NYTimes
via -HoustonChronicle.com
- 
-
-
- "US
looks to reduce size of forces in Gulf." ... "General
Richard Myers, the highest-ranking US military officer, said on Tuesday
that large numbers of American forces might no longer need to be based
in Kuwait or Saudi Arabia following the downfall of Saddam Hussein's regime
in Iraq." ... "US forces will remain in Iraq, however, although the size
of the force has been a point of debate inside the Pentagon. A senior army
general has insisted it could constitute 200,000 troops, a figure Defense
Department civilians have termed "wildly off the mark"." -By
Peter Spiegel -FT.com
-
-
- "Overseas
Pundits See Real Threat of War With Syria." ... "Is
Syria next?" ... "The Bush administration's warnings to the government
in Damascus not to harbor Iraqi leaders or weapons of mass destruction
are reverberating in the international online media. From Paris to London
to Beirut to Tel Aviv, the possibility of war with Syria is seen as real,
if not desirable." -By Jefferson Morley-WashingtonPost
-
-
- "U.S.
Seeks to Shut Down Pipeline to Syria." ... "Defense
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday that U.S. forces have shut down
a pipeline used for illegal oil shipments from Iraq to Syria, but he could
not assure that oil is not still flowing between those two countries."
... "During a question-and-answer session with reporters, Rumsfeld denied
that coalition forces had destroyed any pipelines. ``We have preserved
infrastructure in that country,'' he said."
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
- "Ivory
Coast Government, Rebels Clash." ... "Fighting between
army and insurgent forces broke out Monday even as rebel representatives
assumed posts in a unity government aimed at ending six months of fighting."
... "Each side accused the other for Monday's attack in the village of
Bin-Houye, in the western borderlands near Liberia. Army spokesman Lt.
Col. N'Goran Aka said about 500 rebels attacked government troops, while
rebel spokesman Antoine Beugre said the rebels were defending themselves
from soldiers." -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
-
-
- Special
Report - "Key
people for post-conflict Iraq index." ... "The Pentagon
has named Lt Gen Jay Garner, a retired US officer, as the man they want
to be the de facto governor of post-war Iraq before an interim administration
is established." ... "The Pentagon wants to establish 23 ministries each
headed by an Iraqi but supported and directed by American "technical advisers"."
-Guardian.co.uk
-
-
-
- "Personality
Identification Playing Cards." The playing card deck
released by the US military of the 52 most wanted Iraqi government and
military leaders from Saddam's administration includes head shot photos
of many of the faces of those wanted. Saddam Husayn Al-Tikriti is
the ace of spades, his son Uday Saddam Husayn is the ace of hearts, his
son Qusay Saddam Husayn Al-Tikriti is the ace of clubs, and the Presidential
Secretary Abid Hamid Mahmud Al-Tikriti is the ace of diamonds. Two joker
cards are included. One includes "Arab Titles" which explains that "Qadi
- [is the] Judge for Islamic Sharia Court," and "Shaykh - [means] literally
an elder." The second joker card lists "Iraqi Military Ranks" with the
US military equivalent, for example, "Muhib" is the "General of the Army."
A 55th card showing desert camouflage is included for the back of the cards.
[20030410]
-DefenseLINK.mil/news
- "Ivory
Coast Rebels Arrive in Capital." ... "A group of
Ivory Coast rebels arrived Sunday in Abidjan to prepare to take their places
in a new unity government meant to end six months of civil war." ... "The
unity government - members of the ruling party, the political opposition
and rebels - was arranged under a French-brokered peace deal signed in
January near Paris." -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
-
- "U.S.
forces 'win most of Tikrit': U.S. Marines are
in charge in the heart of Saddam Hussein's hometown, Tikrit, a Canadian
journalist told CNN." ... ""They have control of quite of a lot of it,"
Matthew Fisher, a reporter for Canada's National Post, told CNN Monday.
"They hope to establish control over the rest very soon.""
-CNN /World
-
-
-
-
- "After
Iraq, where will Bush go next: 'fascist' Syria, theocratic
Iran, or communist North Korea?" ... "The mission begins in Baghdad but
it does not end there. Were the US to retreat after victory into complacency,
new dangers would soon arise. War in Iraq represents but the first instalment.""
... "With US troops securing positions in Baghdad, it is hard to imagine
a more concise formulation of what so unnerves much of the world about
the possible direction of 21st century America than this last sentence
of a new book co-written by an influential Washington conservative and
a liberal internationalist." ... "William Kristol and Lawrence Kaplan,
in their recently published War Over Iraq, argue for a course of
action that has come to be seen by many outside America as the settled
course of US foreign policy after Iraq. Mr Kristol is the founder of the
Project for the New American Century, the neo-conservative think-tank that
has among its friends in the Bush administration Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy
defence secretary and architect of the Iraq strategy. Mr Kaplan is a senior
editor at the left-leaning New Republic." -By Gerard
Baker -FT.com
-
-
- "US
shifts focus to Syria's role in conflict." ... ""The
Syrian government needs to co-operate with the United States and our coalition
partners and not harbour any Ba'athists, any military officials, any people
who need to be held to account for their tenure," Mr Bush said. Mr Hussein's
Ba'ath party held power in Iraq until the US-led invasion. Asked whether
Syria could face military action if it did not turn over Iraqi officials,
Mr Bush said: "They just need to co-operate." He added: "We believe there
are chemical weapons in Syria. Each situation will require a different
response." ... "Imad Moustapha, Syria's deputy ambassador to the US, denied
his country was harbouring escaped Iraqis and said it was the responsibility
of US troops to monitor Iraq's border with Syria."" -By
Richard McGregor, Harvey Morris, and Edward Alden
-FT.com
-
- "North
Korea softens on talks: War in Iraq may be
prompting Pyongyang to agree to multilateral talks on its nuclear program."
... "If North Korea really does want the multilateral talks now hinted
at by Pyongyang officials, it would mark the first major concession by
hard-boiled Korean negotiators since the North admitted a secret uranium
program last October." ... "If genuine, North Korea's shift toward a softer
policy may be an important diplomatic consequence of a US campaign in Iraq
that has suddenly featured graphic images of Saddam Hussein's statue being
toppled in a city square in Baghdad, analysts say. North Korean leader
Kim Jong Il, who has nearly as many public statues of himself, has been
touring military bases in the North for two weeks." -By
Robert Marquand -CSMonitor
-
-
- "Bush
Demands 'Cooperation' From Syrians." ... "President
Bush accused Syria today [20030413]
of harboring senior Iraqi military and government officials and demanded
"cooperation" in punishing some of them. But he stopped short of threatening
to use military force against Syria." ... ""Each situation will require
a different response," Mr. Bush told reporters on returning here from a
weekend at the presidential retreat at Camp David. "First things first.
We're here in Iraq now." Mr. Bush also asserted that "there are chemical
weapons in Syria," although it was not clear whether he thought Iraqi chemical
arms had been shipped there during or before the war. Top Pentagon officials
gave varying assessments today of whether that had happened. A senior administration
official said that Mr. Bush was referring to Syria's own weapons program."
(1, 2)
-By
Eric Schmitt and David E. Sanger -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
- "Seven U.S.
troops found healthy." ... "Iraqi troops released
seven U.S. POWs — some wounded but in good condition — to Marines on Sunday,
a surprise development near where U.S. troops were entering Saddam Hussein’s
hometown of Tikrit." ... "Two of the POWs — Chief Warrant Officer Ronald
D. Young Jr., 26, of Lithia Springs, Ga., and Chief Warrant Officer David
S. Williams, 30, of Orlando, Fla. - were shot down in their Apache helicopter
south of Baghdad on March 23." ... "The five others were part of the Army’s
507th Ordnance Maintenance Company whose convoy was ambushed outside the
southern city of Nasiriyah, also on March 23. They are Spc. Shoshana Johnson,
30, Fort Bliss, Texas; Sgt. James Riley, 31, Pennsauken, N.J.; Spc. Joseph
Hudson, 23, Alamogordo, N.M.; Pfc. Patrick Miller, 23, Park City, Kan.;
and Spc. Edgar Hernandez, 21, Mission, Texas." ... "All the missing members
of the 507th are now accounted for." -AP
and -Reuters via -MS-NBC
-
- "U.S.
Says Resistance Much Defeated Around Qaim." ... "U.S.-led
forces have worn down Iraqi resistance around the western Iraqi town of
Qaim, which Washington suspects could house weapons of mass destruction,
a top U.S. general said on Saturday." ... ""The resistance in and around
al Qaim we believe has been much defeated, not completely, but much defeated,"
Brigadier General Vincent Brooks told a briefing at war headquarters in
Qatar." -Reuters
- -
- "Iraqi
defense of border site intrigues U.S.: Determined
resistance suggests leaders or weapons in area." ... "Washington -- Out
of sight of television cameras, some of the heaviest and most prolonged
fighting in Iraq has been raging for nearly three weeks near the town of
Qaim on the Syrian border." ... "British commandos and U.S. Army Special
Forces have been attacking units of Iraq's Special Republican Guards and
Special Security Services, according to senior military and defense officials."
-By Douglas Jehl -NYTimes
via -SFGate.com
-
-
-
- "Syria
Warned Again Not to 'Meddle' in Iraq: Wolfowitz
Says U.S. May Rethink Policy If Damascus Harbors Iraqi Officials." ...
""In recent days, the Syrians have been shipping killers into Iraq to try
to kill Americans," he said. "We don't welcome that. We've stopped it when
we've found those people. So, it is a problem. I think it is important
that Iraq's neighbors not meddle with Iraq."" ... "The Bush administration
has listed countries that harbor terrorists as potential targets in its
war on terrorism. Syria has given sanctuary to groups such as the Islamic
Resistance Movement (or Hamas), Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, and has been
listed in CIA reports as a country developing weapons of mass destruction.
This week, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld voiced a new complaint,
that Syria was giving entry to the families of leading Iraqis fleeing the
war." -By Walter Pincus-WashingtonPost
-
- "Iraqi
regime abandons biggest city in the north." ... "U.S.-led
forces expanded their control over Iraq on Friday as Mosul, largest city
in the north, fell without a fight. Saddam Hussein and his sons are "either
dead or they're running like hell,'' said Gen. Tommy Franks, top commander
of a war nearly won." ... "The U.S. Central Command issued a deck of 55
cards, each one bearing the picture of a member of the ruling elite so
the troops could better know who they were searching for. ``There are jokers
in this deck,'' Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said, and Saddam was the ace
of spades." -By David Espo
-AP via -StarTribune.com
-
-
- "Syrian
volunteers fought US troops in southern Iraq:
A witness says 40 to 50 Syrians entered Samawah April 3, taking positions
in a residential area." ... "Volunteer fighters from Syria were among the
forces battling US troops in recent days in southern Iraq, say civilian
witnesses." ... "The accounts from the southern city of Samawah contribute
to evidence that the US faces a stubborn fight from non-Iraqi Arab volunteers.
Unlike Iraqi soldiers, their loyalties lie with militant anti-Western Islam,
not the toppled regime of Saddam Hussein." -By Ben
Arnoldy -CSMonitor
-
-
- "US
takes on Syria in war of stern words: Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld charged again this week that Syria is harboring
Iraqi regime members." ... "Syria's support for the collapsed regime of
Saddam Hussein may have goaded Washington into seriously considering the
use of military force against Damascus." ... "Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld charged on Wednesday that Syria is taking in fleeing members of
Hussein's regime and continues to supply Iraq with military equipment,
an accusation he first leveled two weeks ago." ... ""I have accurately
advised that they not provide military assistance to Iraq," Mr. Rumsfeld
said. "They seem to have made a conscious decision to ignore that." ...
""Senior regime people are moving out of Iraq into Syria, and Syria is
continuing to send things into Iraq. We find it notably unhelpful," he
said." -By Nicholas Blanford
-CSMonitor
-
- "Mosul falls
quickly; U.S. eyes Tikrit: In quick order,
the northern Iraqi cities of Kirkuk and Mosul have fallen under the apparent
control of American and Kurdish fighters, leaving Saddam Hussein’s hometown
of Tikrit as the last holdout in the 3-week-old war to oust the Iraqi leader.
Meantime, U.S. forces stepped up the hunt for regime leaders who may be
attempting to flee the country. On Friday, Central Command said it has
issued a most-wanted list of 55 officials who must be captured or killed
by American troops." ... "The White House welcomed developments in Iraq,
while repeating its mantra that the war is far from over." -Contributions
by Preston Mendenhall, Chip Reid, Tom Aspell, David Shuster, Jim Miklaszewski,
and Jeannie Ohm, -AP
and -Reuters via
-MS-NBC
-
-
- "White
House: 'Regime is gone': Former Iraqi leaders
to be 'pursued, killed or captured'." ... "The White House on Friday declared
that Saddam Hussein's "regime is gone," as coalition war planners issued
a most-wanted list of former Iraqi leaders they say must "be brought to
justice." ... "President Bush promised Iraqis, in a videotaped message
broadcast Thursday, that coalition forces would maintain law and order
once Saddam's regime was gone." ... "Coalition commanders are rushing special
military units into place to provide security and to crack down on the
looting and chaos that grip parts of Iraq, White House officials said.
Those military units are to arrive as early as Friday or within the next
few days, the officials said." -Contributions by Rula
Amin, David Ensor, Chris Plante, Tom Mintier, Diana Muriel, Walter Rodgers,
Jane Arraf, Brent Sadler, John King, Barbara Starr and Ben Wedeman -CNN
/World
-
-
-
- "Kirkuk's
oil fields loom as possible flashpoint for Kurds, Turks."
... "Kurds, Turks and Americans sought Thursday to avert any violent scramble
for control of the prolific oil fields around Kirkuk after Iraqi defenses
appeared to collapse in the strategic northern city." ... "As advancing
Kurdish fighters poured into the city, neighboring Turkey dispatched military
observers to the area stoking fears the two sides could blunder into a
local war within the larger Iraqi conflict." -By Bruce
Stanley -AP
via -Boston/Globe
-
-
-
-
- "Some
see victory extending beyond Iraq." ... "The fall
of Baghdad is a victory not only for the U.S. military but for an influential
group of foreign policy hard-liners who have realized the first step in
a bold plan to reorder the Arab world and global institutions." ... "The
loose-knit group, whose core includes Vice President Cheney, Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, sees the war in Iraq as
a model for the world's lone superpower. The group believes that with or
without international consensus, the United States should move with force
to pre-empt security threats and spread democracy and free-market economics
to remaining pockets of authoritarianism, primarily in the Middle East."
... "While U.S. officials emphasize the enormity of the tasks that need
to be completed in Iraq, some administration supporters already are proclaiming
the birth of a new historical period and suggesting that regime change
in Iraq could be followed soon by Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt."
-By Barbara Slavin -USATODAY
-
-
- "Real
battle in Iraq may have only just begun: Postwar
era will be dicey, experts warn." ... "Although the capital of Iraq came
under U.S. control Wednesday, the challenge ahead for the U.S. military
is twofold: push north and defeat the remaining Iraqi troops while transforming
itself from a fighting force to a police agency in cities such as Baghdad
and Basra." ... "The immediate tasks for U.S. and British forces, in addition
to finishing off the Iraqi units in such cities as Tikrit and Kirkuk, is
to quickly restore law and order in Baghdad, Basra and other Iraqi cities,
in a nation in which 70 percent of the people are urban dwellers. But most
U.S. military units have little specific training in the realm of policing."
-By Edward Epstein -SFGate.com
-
- "Oil city in
northern Iraq taken without fight." ... "KUWAIT After
the exuberance in Baghdad as U.S. forces swept into the capital, fighting
quickly resumed Thursday as U.S. Marines came under heavy fire at a presidential
palace in the north of the city." ... "But about 240 kilometers (150 miles)
to the north, Kurdish and American forces entered the important oil city
of Kirkuk without meeting significant resistance from forces still loyal
to Saddam Hussein. Kurdish forces also entered Khaneh on the Iranian border,
and, in joint operations with American Special Forces, took oil fields
near Kirkuk." ... "Some shooting continued, and the American forces in
Qatar said they could not claim control of the city." -By
Jane Perlez -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
Search
Iraq News - Search
Google:
-
- "American
Flag Flap: Stars and Stripes on Saddam’s Doomed
Statue Strikes a Sensitive Chord." ... "It took Cpl. Edward Chin just seconds
to hang an American flag on the head of Saddam Hussein's statue in central
Baghdad, but it's a move that's likely to be debated for years to come."
... "The mood of Iraqi civilians was briefly muted in Baghdad Wednesday
as Chin climbed up and covered Saddam's face with an American flag." ...
"The crowd's loud cheers faded, and in less than a minute the Stars and
Stripes was removed from the massive statue and replaced with Iraq's black,
white and red flag." -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- "US
warns Syria over Iraq: United States Defence
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has once again attacked Syria, this time accusing
it of helping Saddam Hussein's key supporters escape Iraq." ... "He said
the US has "scraps of intelligence" Damascus is helping some Iraqis move
to Syria, from where a number are moving on to other places." ... "On Wednesday,
Mr Rumsfeld also repeated earlier charges that Syria had facilitated the
movement of military equipment and people into Iraq to help fight US and
British forces." -BBC/News
-
- "Blair's
'delight' at Iraqi cheers: Tony Blair has watched
with "delight" the television pictures of Iraqis celebrating in Baghdad
but says the coalition should not claim victory too early." ... "The prime
minister's official spokesman said: "What we have seen today is the scales
of fear falling from the eyes of the people of Iraq and they are able to
express themselves for the first time in two decades.""
-BBC/News
-
- "Saddam
Statue Falls As U.S. Takes Baghdad." ... "Saddam
Hussein's rule over the capital has ended, U.S. commanders declared Wednesday,
and jubilant crowds swarmed into the streets here, dancing, looting and
cheering U.S. convoys. A Marine tank helped residents topple a giant statue
of Saddam in a sweeping, symbolic gesture." ... "In the most visible sign
of Saddam's evaporating power, the towering statue of the Iraqi president
was brought down in the middle of Firdos Square. Cheering Iraqis, some
waving the national flag, scaled the statue and danced upon the downed
icon, now lying face down. As it fell, some threw shoes and slippers at
the statue - a gross insult in the Arab world." -By
David Crary with contributions by Ellen Knickmeyer, Ravi Nessman, Chris
Tomlinson, Alex Zavis, Hamza Hendawi in Baghdad and others
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
-
- "Tikrit may
be regime’s last holdout: As Baghdad falls,
U.S. forces focus on Saddam’s hometown." ... "U.S.-led forces on Wednesday
pounded President Saddam Hussein’s desert hometown, where they said the
regime’s loyalists were making a last stand as resistance in Baghdad crumbled.
U.S. military commanders were assessing a buildup of Iraqi forces around
the city." ... "Saddam, if he is still alive, may try to flee to his birthplace
in the hope that tribesmen with blood ties to him will fight to the death
for their leader. Even if he is dead, experts fear Tikrit would remain
a hotbed of resistance long after a new government is installed."
-MSNBC
-
- "U.S.:
Saddam No Longer Controls Baghdad: U.S. Military
Says Saddam's Govt. No Longer Controls Baghdad, Warns of More Fighting
Ahead." ... "President Saddam Hussein's government is no longer in control
of Baghdad and coalition forces have secured "significant parts" of the
Iraqi capital, U.S. officials said Wednesday." ... "Combat is still possible
in the city, however, and Saddam's supporters maintain control over pockets
of the north, including the Iraqi leader's hometown of Tikrit, which is
a major focus for coalition forces, the officials said."
-ABCNEWS.com
Search
Iraq News - Search
Google:
-
-
-
- "Analysis:
Three stages to a new Iraq." ... "The British have
proposed that the UN should give its approval to a three-stage process
under which Iraq will move from essentially military rule through an interim
Iraqi administration to a representative government." ... "Stage one:
Military rule." ... "US and UK military will be in charge of security
and in overall command." ... "Stage two: Interim Iraqi Administration
(IIA)." ... "This is where the British Government wants the UN to take
a leading role by organising a conference in Baghdad which would appoint
members of the IIA." ... "Stage three: Representative government."
... "It could be a year or so before this is organised. And the phrase
"representative government" will have to be defined." -By
Paul Reynolds -BBC/News
-
- "The
Latest Iraq Snapshot." ... "U.S. forces tighten grip
on Baghdad, blitzing targets in heart of city and seizing an airbase."
... "Two cameramen, from Reuters and Spain's Tele 5, killed after U.S.
tank fires on Baghdad hotel housing foreign media; al-Jazeera cameraman
dies after U.S. air raid on Baghdad" -Reuters
-
-
- "British
troops work to restore law and order on looted streets of Basra."
... "Brazen looters plundered government buildings, universities and even
hospitals in Basra on Tuesday despite the presence of British troops in
Iraq's second-largest city, roaming the streets to grab whatever they could
ceiling fans, mattresses, car seats, furniture, slabs of wood." ... "British
troops had claimed Basra the day before, but found law and order hard to
impose. Troops rolling through the city in tanks and on foot did little
to quell the looting, other than to issue warnings over loudspeakers."
-By Tini Tran -AP
via -Boston/Globe
-
- "British
put sheik into power in Basra." ... "British forces
began establishing the first postwar administration in Iraq on Tuesday,
putting a local sheik into power in Basra shortly after their troops won
a two-week campaign for control of Iraq's second largest city." ... "Col.
Chris Vernon, spokesman for the British forces, said the sheik was a tribal
leader. The sheik's name and religious affiliation were not disclosed."
... "Vernon said the sheik had met British divisional commanders Monday
and been asked to set up an administrative committee representing other
groups in the southern region. The sheik and his committee were to be the
first civilian leadership established in liberated Iraq." -By
Patrick McDowell -AP
via -Salon
-
-
- "Marines
find bloodstained U.S. uniforms." ... "U.S. Marines
raiding an Iraqi military prison in Baghdad found bloodstained uniforms
belonging to at least two American prisoners-of-war, officers here said
Tuesday." ... "The Marines attacked a sprawling 54,000 square foot compound
at Rashid airfield in the southeastern corner of the city after receiving
intelligence reports that up to seven POWs were being held there." -By
David J. Lynch -USATODAY
-
- "Bodies
recovered from site of attack on Saddam." ... "The
question of whether Saddam Hussein was dead or alive hung over Baghdad
Tuesday after a U.S. warplane dropped four massive bombs and blasted a
smoking crater 60 feet deep at a restaurant where he was believed to be
meeting with his sons." ... "Iraqi rescue workers looking in the rubble
for victims told The Associated Press that three bodies had been recovered
and the death toll could be as high as 14. U.S. officials said they planned
to inspect the site of the attack to see whether they could locate Saddam's
remains, but no U.S. forces had appeared there by nightfall."
-AP via -USATODAY
-
-
-
- "Proud
to be an American: Immigrant Soldier May Achieve
American Citizenship in Death." ... "More than 31,000 members of the U.S.
armed forces are not American citizens, but some of them have already given
their lives in Iraq. Army Pfc. Diego Rincon, 19, was one of them." ...
"Rincon died March 29 while manning an Army roadblock near Najaf when a
suicide bomber posing as a taxi driver detonated a bomb." ... "Officially,
Rincon was a permanent U.S. resident, not a U.S. citizen, but his family
said the events of Sept. 11, 2001, inspired him to join the military and
defend his adopted home. The Rincon family fled Colombia for the suburbs
of Atlanta when Diego was 5 years old." -Contributions
by Janice Johnston and Bill Redeker -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "Saddam’s
Voice? Intercept Believed to Be of Saddam’s
Voice Led to Airstrike; Heavy Fighting in Baghdad." ... "U.S. intelligence
intercepts, including one believed to be of Saddam Hussein talking to his
advisers about how to flee the capital city, led to a U.S. "leadership
strike" on an upscale Baghdad neighborhood, ABCNEWS has learned." ... "One
intelligence intercept, believed to have been carried out by the NSA (National
Security Agency), indicated that a person who may have been the Iraqi leader
was having a conversation with his advisers about how and when they could
leave Baghdad." -Contributions by Richard Engel, John
Donvan, John McWethy, Martha Raddatz, and Don Dahler -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- "Troops ignore Saddam
death report: Marines: ‘Sure — Osama and Jimmy
Hoffa were there, too!’" ... "U.S. officials said they had intelligence
information from an extremely reliable source Monday that Saddam and other
top Iraqi leaders, including at least one of his sons, were meeting at
a building in the upscale Al Mansour neighborhood of Baghdad." ... "Acting
on the tip, a lone U.S. B-1 bomber dropped four 2,000-pound “bunker buster”
bombs on what U.S. officials described as a residence." -By
Chip Reid -MSNBC
-
- "Key
Developments in the War Against Iraq." ... ""U.S.
Marines battled to seize Baghdad's second airport and encountered intense
resistance in some places around the Iraqi capital, an American general
said." ... "Iraqi forces staged a counterattack over the Tigris River,
sending buses and trucks full of fighters against U.S. forces holding a
strategic intersection in western Baghdad. At least 50 Iraqi fighters were
killed and two U.S. soldiers were wounded, U.S. officials said."
-AP via -WashingtonPost
-
- "U.S.
Launches Attack On Central Baghdad: A column
of coalition tanks and armored personnel carriers moved into central Baghdad
early Monday, seizing one of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's palaces,
news reports say." ... "Asked whether the attack was the beginning of a
sustained battle for Baghdad, Captain Frank Thorp, a U.S. Central Command
spokesman, told CNN the attack was "another day in a continuing effort
whose ultimate goal is the end of the regime."" ... "Thorp said he preferred
to characterize the operation as an "armored raid through the city, bringing
down any resistance that we meet and taking down any leadership capability
[forces encounter]."" ... ""This isn't about occupying the country, this
is about liberating the country for the people of Iraq," Thorp said."
-PBS /NewsHour
- 
-
- "Analysis:
Show of strength in Baghdad: With television
pictures showing US forces inside a presidential palace in the heart of
Baghdad, there can be no doubting the dramatic advance made by US forces
during the early hours of Monday morning." ... "But this operation has
as much a psychological as a purely military purpose." ... "We are told
here [US Central Command, Qatar] that it is all part of a carefully orchestrated
plan to try to persuade ordinary Iraqis that the messages that they are
getting from the regime's leaders are simply wrong." -By
Jonathan Marcus -BBC/News
-
- "Ambush
shatters sense of ease." ... "Before dawn yesterday,
advance parties for the Second Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment's four gun
batteries moved to scout what they figured might be the unit's final location
of the war. As the convoy rolled through the eastern Baghdad suburbs, the
Marines shared a sense of relief that the end of their piece of the war
seemed near." ... "Then, just as the sun came up, the Marines drove into
an ambush." -By Scott Bernard Nelson
-Boston/Globe
-
- "British
troops move into Basra." ... "ASRA, Iraq - The Ba'ath
Party was giving up its last stronghold in southern Iraq, jubilant residents
reported yesterday, as coalition forces seized territory within the city
for the first time." ... "After a two-week bombing and shelling campaign
from the city's outskirts, British troops moved into central Basra. The
attacks have targeted the Ba'ath party leadership, but reportedly killed
dozens of civilians." ... "British officials said that they had not yet
taken the city, but that they had decided that it was safe enough to secure
an area where some troops would stay the night and plan their next move."
-By Thanassis with contributions by Anne Barnard Cambanis
-Boston/Globe
-
- "Analysis:
British dominance in Basra signal to rest of Iraq: Saddam's finished."
... "The British thrust into the center of Basra is a signal achievement
in its own right." ... "But it is also important for the larger campaign
to topple Saddam Hussein and win the battle for Baghdad." ... "American
and British commanders hope the capture of Iraq's second-largest city will
be a vivid demonstration that Saddam's government is fast losing control
of major population centers and that the fate of Saddam is sealed. That,
they hope, will encourage resistance to Saddam throughout Iraq, including
in Baghdad." -By Michael R. Gordon
-AP via -StarTribune.com
-
- "U.S.
forces storm into Baghdad, seize Saddam's New Presidential Palace; surround
Information Ministry." ... "U.S. forces in tanks
and armored vehicles stormed into the center of Baghdad on Monday, seizing
one of Saddam Hussein's palaces and briefly surrounding the Information
Ministry in a bold daylight raid aimed at demonstrating the Americans can
come and go as they please." ... "More than 70 tanks and 60 Bradley fighting
vehicles took part in the lightning thrust by the Army's 3rd Infantry Division,
with tank-killing A-10 Warthog planes and pilotless drones providing air
cover against mostly scattered resistance." ... "Once they reached the
gold-and-blue-domed New Presidential Palace, U.S. soldiers rifled through
documents in the bombed-out compound, its gilded, Louis XIV-style furnishings
covered with dust. A statue of Saddam on horseback was blown up by U.S.
troops in the city center." -By Chris Tomlinson and
Hamza Hendawi with contributions by Ellen Knickmeyer and Kimberly Hefling
-AP via -SFGate.com
-
- "U.S.
tanks enter central Baghdad: U.S. tanks and
armored vehicles rolled into central Baghdad early Monday, sending up heavy
smoke near presidential palaces and government buildings." ... "American
forces entered one of Saddam Hussein's presidential palace compounds as
fires burned near the Tigris River. Meanwhile, Iraqi Information Minister
Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf stood in the street issuing denials of U.S. troop
advances, saying the capital was "safe and secure." (Full
story)." -CNN
/World
-
- "U.S.
Tanks Roll Into Heart of Baghdad." ... "American
tanks rumbled into the battered Iraqi capital on Monday and soldiers took
over key buildings as gunfire and explosions thundered in many parts of
central Baghdad." ... "Buildings occupied by U.S. troops included a major
presidential palace and the Information Ministry. Reporters saw the tanks
roll into the heart of Baghdad on the western side of the Tigris River,
which divides the city." -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
-
-
- "U.S.
[C-130] Plane Lands at Baghdad Airport." ... "A U.S.
military cargo plane landed at Baghdad's international airport late Sunday,
the first known U.S. aircraft to arrive in the Iraqi capital, the U.S.
Central Command said." -AP
via -SeattlePI.NWsource
-
- "British move
forcefully into Basra: British “Desert Rat”
forces staged their largest military incursion yet into Basra, rumbling
into Iraq’s second-largest city Sunday with a column of 40 armored personnel
carriers." -Contributions by Jim Miklaszewski and
Tammy Kupperman -MSNBC
with -Reuters
-
- "British
Troops Raid Basra, Arrest 14 Iraqis: Arrests
of Baath Party Leaders Aimed at Ending Climate of Fear in Basra." ... "Seeking
to break the government's grip in southern Iraq, British troops raided
villages surrounding Basra early today and apprehended 14 people considered
to be key Baath Party and militia leaders who had been intimidating residents
and forcing them to remain loyal to President Saddam Hussein." ... "Since
British troops arrived in this area two weeks ago, lingering fear of government
and Baath Party retribution has been a significant factor in the resistance
mounted by army regulars and militia members. Not only has it encouraged
the city of 1.3 million to stick with the Baath authorities, it has helped
block the popular welcome U.S. and British forces had expected in outlying
areas and stymied efforts to restore basic services and allow residents
to resume something of a normal life." -By Keith B.
Richburg -WashingtonPost
-
- "U.S.
Forces Enter Baghdad, Probe Defenses: U.S.
forces have entered the central part of Baghdad in an operation designed
to "move through a major area" of the Iraqi capital, American military
officials said Saturday." ... ""This is a clear statement of the ability
of coalition forces to move into Baghdad at times of their choosing. These
kinds of operations will continue," U.S. Central Command spokesman Major-General
Victor Renuart said. "But this fight is far from over."" ... "Renuart said
U.S. troops faced "pockets of very intense fighting" from Republican Guards
and paramilitaries loyal to Saddam Hussein. He later said U.S. forces were
still wary of the possible use of chemical or biological weapons by Iraqi
forces." -PBS
/NewsHour
-
- "Iraq
Promises 'Unconventional' Attack: Iraqi Official
Promises 'Unconventional' Attack; 2,500 Republican Guard Soldiers Surrender."
... "With thousands of frightened residents fleeing Baghdad and U.S. troops
in control of its airport, the Iraqi information minister promised Friday
that his nation's military would launch an "unconventional" counterattack
against the coalition troops." ... ""We will do something which I believe
is very beautiful," said Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf at a Baghdad
news conference, adding that the Iraqis planned to strike back "in an unconventional
way." Asked if that meant the use of chemical weapons or other weapons
of mass destruction, he quickly said no." ... ""What I meant are commando
and martyrdom operations in a very new, creative way," al-Sahhaf said."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
-
- "How
to think about this war if you're against it: I hope
for a U.S. victory with minimum bloodshed and maximum freedom for the Iraqi
people. But I also want the cakewalk conservatives to pay for their hubris
politically." ... "With U.S troops poised on the outskirts of Baghdad,
a surreal political phenomenon is unmistakable: So far the loudest establishment
voices criticizing the Bush administration's war plan belong to retired
generals, unnamed active military leaders and former Republican officials,
while most prominent Democrats either proclaim their support, or remain
silent." ... "Why are so many war critics flummoxed by talking about the
war? Isn't it possible to critique the president without giving aid and
comfort to the enemy? And is pointing out the effort's shortcomings the
same as glorying in them? I've been struggling with these questions since
the war began. I'm not an antiwar Democrat; I'm just anti-this war, at
this time. I think Saddam is a bigger menace than most of the left seems
to; I think his flouting U.N. resolutions merited a tough international
response; I thought the world was on its way to crafting one when the Bush
administration pulled the plug on diplomacy. Yet even though I opposed
its timing, once the war commenced I reflexively wished it would be over
quickly. Now, though, while I didn't root for the administration's setbacks
in the war's early going, I have to admit they served to prove its hubris,
its dishonesty and the dashing arrogance of the administration's frightening
first-strike doctrine that the war on Iraq was meant to kick off. And even
if the battle for Baghdad ends quickly, there remains plenty to critique."
-By Joan Walsh -Salon
-
-
- "Positive test
for terror toxins in Iraq: MSNBC.com finds
signs of ricin, botulinum at Islamic militants’ camp." ... "MSNBC.com tests
reveal evidence of the deadly toxins ricin and botulinum at a laboratory
in a remote mountain region of northern Iraq allegedly used as a terrorist
training camp by Islamic militants with ties to the al-Qaida terrorist
network. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency is conducting its own tests
at the same area, but has not yet released the results, according to officials
in northern Iraq." ... "MSNBC.com's tests were conducted over a two-day
period at Sargat, an alleged terrorist training camp a mile from the Iraq-Iran
border. The camp, set back in an isolated valley and surrounded by snowcapped
peaks, was home to the radical Islamic militant group Ansar al-Islam, which
counts among its some 700 followers scores of al-Qaida
fighters." -By Preston Mendenhall
-MSNBC
-
- "TV appearances
suggest Saddam survived attack: Man resembling
Iraqi leader gives speech, tours Baghdad." ... "Iraq’s state-run television
on Friday provided the strongest evidence yet that Saddam Hussein survived
a U.S. missile attack at the outset of the war, broadcasting a speech in
which a man who appeared to be the Iraqi
president referred to a downed U.S. helicopter and airing footage showing
him touring what was described as a neighborhood in Baghdad to cheers from
frenzied residents." -Contributions by Andrea Mitchell
with -AP and-Reuters
via -MSNBC
-
-
-
- "Three
troops, pregnant woman and driver killed." ... "A
woman, who appeared to be pregnant, got out of the car and began "screaming
in fear" at the checkpoint, about 11 miles (18 km) southwest of the Hadithah
Dam in Iraq, a Central Command statement said." ... "Three coalition troops
walked toward the car and it blew up, U.S. Central Command spokesman Brig.
Gen. Vincent Brooks said, citing initial reports."
-CNN /World
Search
Iraq News - Search
Google:
-
-
-
-
- "Blair
'dissuaded Bush from attack after 9/11'." ... "Tony
Blair has frequently played a pivotal role in the infighting in the US
administration over Iraq, according to the recently retired British ambassador
to Washington, Sir Christopher Meyer." ... "In the documentary Blair's
War, Sir Christopher, who returned to Britain last month, said that when
Mr Blair met Mr Bush in the weeks after September 11, he urged him to deal
first with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network and its protector - Afghanistan's
Taliban government - before tackling Iraq." -By Ewen
MacAskill -Guardian.co.uk
-
- "Dueling
defense chiefs fight the war of spin: For both
sides, the case made in briefings can often be checked by media on ground."
... "Of all the clashes taking place in Iraq, one of the most critical
is being fought not with weapons but with words. With claims and counterclaims
about the war's progress flying across the airwaves - often multiple times
in one news cycle - each side is struggling to frame the conflict so as
to showcase its own strengths and build public support." ... "Of course,
propaganda and spin have been critical components of wars throughout history.
But the media juggernaut surrounding this war has provided each side with
new opportunities - and new pressures - to get its message out. It's also
putting a new premium on accuracy, say analysts, since things alleged in
a briefing often can be instantly confirmed or contradicted by reporters
on the ground." -By Liz Marlantes
-CSMonitor
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- "Ex-CIA
director: U.S. faces 'World War IV': Former
CIA Director James Woolsey said Wednesday the United States is engaged
in World War IV, and that it could continue for years." ... "He said the
new war is actually against three enemies: the religious rulers of Iran,
the "fascists" of Iraq and Syria, and Islamic extremists like al Qaeda."
... "Singling out Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the leaders of Saudi
Arabia, he said, "We want you nervous. We want you to realize now, for
the fourth time in a hundred years, this country and its allies are on
the march and that we are on the side of those whom you -- the Mubaraks,
the Saudi Royal family -- most fear: We're on the side of your own people.""
-By Charles Feldman and Stan Wilson
-CNN /World
- -
-
-
- Special
Reports - "Blair's
War: He fought in vain for trans-atlantic unity on
Iraq. Now, as the battle for Baghdad begins, his future hangs in
the balance." ... "Introduction
[Synopsis]." ... "Blair gambled everything on his ability to personally
bridge the gap between America and key players in Western Europe -- and
he failed. Now, political observers are questioning whether NATO, the United
Nations -- and Blair himself -- will survive the aftermath of war with
Iraq." ... "The
Prime Minister: A conversation with his biographer, assessments
of his character and politics, and a look at his relationship with George
W. Bush." ... "The
Fractured Alliance: Robert Kagan and Will Hutton debate the myths
and realities of the U.S.-Europe divide. Plus, comment and analysis on
the costs of U.S. unilateralism." ... "The
Liberal Divide: Paul Berman, Timothy Garton Ash, and David
Rieff discuss Blair, the liberal case for war, and the divided left." ...
"The
Failure of Diplomacy: An overview of thekey diplomatic moments
and missteps leading to war with Iraq." ... "Interviews."
... "Readings&
Links." -PBS.org
(A-Z) -Frontline
-
- "Iraqis
fight out of fear and fervor: With mortal threats
or pleas for exile, Iraqi POWs discuss their motives in this war." ...
"The 19-year-old Iraqi war prisoner shook and cried as he was led into
a US medical tent at a dusty camp. But it wasn't because he had a gunshot
wound in his right leg." ... ""He thought we were going to execute him,"
says Sgt. Mark McLaurin of the 3rd Infantry Division's 566th Medical Support
Company. By the next day, the boy was saying, "Thanks," and calling Sergeant
McLaurin "Doc."" ... "The young prisoner, like many captured Iraqis here,
said he had been forced to fight by Saddam Hussein loyalists who made death
threats against his family." -By Ann Scott Tyson
-CSMonitor
-
-
- 2003 April 3 IRAQ TIMELINE
- "Day
15 of the war." ... "(all times BST):" ...
""2230: US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld says there is "no way
out" for Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi leaders." ... "2020: A leading
Iraqi Shiite Muslim urges Iraqis to remain neutral and not fight the invading
US and British troops, according to reports from a London-based Shiite
charity." ... "1950: Dozens of Iraqi civilians and soldiers were
killed in the village of Furat, which lies between the airport and the
city centre, Reuters reported. Witnesses said a US missile strike was responsible.
Iraqi officials said 83 people were killed in the attack." ... "·British
Summer Time (BST) is one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and three
hours behind Iraqi time." -Guardian.co.uk
-
-
- "Turkey
allows America to use supply route for troops." ...
"Turkey finally agreed last night to allow the shipment of food, fuel and
medicine to American forces fighting in northern Iraq after a damage-limitation
meeting between the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, and Turkish leaders
in Ankara." -By Helena Smith
-Guardian.co.uk
-
-
- "Airport
Seized: Baghdad Airport Seized by U.S. Forces."
... "U.S. ground forces have swept into Baghdad's international airport
under cover of darkness, securing it with tanks and other armored units.
They encountered almost no opposition from Iraqi forces." ... "Reporting
from the tarmac of Saddam International Airport, ABCNEWS' Bob Schmidt,
embedded with the 3rd Infantry Division, said the airport was in pitch
darkness as coalition tanks entered the facility." ... "He reported seeing
Iraqis waving and cheering as U.S. tanks rolled toward the airport which
is just 10 miles from central Baghdad." -Contributions
by Richard Engel, Ted Koppel, Bob Schmidt, Mike Cerre, Jim Sciutto, Aditya
Raval, John McWethy, and Brian Hartman -ABCNEWS.com
- -
- "Power
Off in Baghdad for First Time in War." -ABCNEWS.com
via -Reuters
-
- "From
One Bomb, A Swarm of Tank Killers: U.S. Uses
New, Smarter Cluster Bombs Against Iraqi Tanks." ... "As the bomb falls,
it splits open in midair — and releases 10 smaller units, each of which
descends under a small white parachute." ... "As they approach the ground,
those units split as well, each one ejecting four armor-piercing explosives."
... "The result, say sources: one bomb drop causes 40 explosions, spread
out over 15 acres or more." ... "The CBU-105 is a heat-seeking weapon.
Its sensors look for engines of tanks, personnel carriers and other sources
of high temperature. As the bombs descend, they can be steered by small
fins, to get closer to their targets, and to counteract the force of the
wind." -By Ned Potter
-ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- "US
battling outside Baghdad: Copter down; 7 Americans
believed killed." [Latest reports are saying six soldiers were killed from
a downed Black Hawk helicopter]. ... "A two-pronged battle against
Republican Guard divisions outside Baghdad yesterday brought US ground
forces to the outskirts of the capital city." ... "But Iraqis shot down
an Army Black Hawk helicopter and a US Navy F/A-18 Hornet south of Baghdad.
Seven soldiers on board the helicopter were believed killed and four were
rescued when it crashed after being hit by small-arms fire near Karbala,
Pentagon officials said." ... "The officials said a surface-to-air missile
struck the Navy fighter, which was flying from the aircraft carrier USS
Kitty Hawk. There was no immediate word on the fate of the pilot. It was
the first US jet downed in the war." -By Anne E. Kornblut
and Anne Barnard -Boston/Globe
-
- "On to Baghdad
— but when [analysis]? Rapid advance presents dilemma
for U.S. commanders." ... "The rapid advance of the Army’s 3rd Infantry
Division and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force to the outskirts of Baghdad
yesterday presents Army Gen. Tommy R. Franks and his subordinate commanders
with the biggest battlefield dilemma they have faced in the two-week-long
Iraq war: whether to assault the capital now or to wait two weeks or more
for reinforcements." ... "Essentially, Franks has to decide whether to
wait for the tank-heavy 4th Infantry Division, which defense officials
say won’t be ready to join the attack until the middle of the month." -By
Thomas E. Ricks and Jonathan Weisman -WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
-
- "U.S
troops push toward showdown on Baghdad's outskirts; special forces infiltrate
command posts." ... "U.S. troops surged forward today
into the outskirts of Baghdad, and a special forces unit raided one of
Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces. One U.S. spokesman said Iraqi forces
appeared on the verge of collapse." ... "Lead units of the multi-pronged
U.S. assault force were about four miles from the edge of Baghdad. Army
troops closed in from the southwest after crossing the Euphrates River;
Marine units advanced from the southeast in a long column along the Tigris
River." ... ""We are getting closer and closer,'' said Navy Capt. Frank
Thorp, a Central Command spokesman. ``We will be in Baghdad within a matter
of hours from when we decide to go.''" -By David Crary
-AP via -StarTribune.com
-
- "Troops
near international airport 12 miles from center of Baghdad."
... "Marines and infantry moved with surprising speed toward Baghdad today,
passing down roads littered with black combat boots as Saddam Hussein's
loyalists shed their uniforms and switched to tribal robes hoping to avoid
capture." ... "Coalition forces drove to within four miles of the Baghdad
city gates. Thousands of U.S. military vehicles of the 7th Infantry pushed
across the Euphrates River from the south and west of Baghdad after fighting
through a failed Iraqi attempt to hold the bridge at Musayyib, 35 miles
due south of the capital. The bridge had been wired with explosives, which
were disarmed by U.S. engineers." -By Ellen Knickmeyer
and Chris Tomlinson -AP
via -StarTribune.com
-
- "U.S.
Troops Push to Within 19 Miles of Baghdad." ... "A
military source told a Reuters correspondent with the Third Infantry that
vanguard units were just 19 miles from the southern edges of the capital.
Some had crossed to the eastern bank of the Euphrates that lies on their
route to Baghdad." ... "Forces pushing along the Tigris valley from the
southeast were as near as 25 miles away, the source said." ... "Two powerful
U.S. columns are now closing on the capital from the south and southeast
after an aerial bombardment that battered elite units guarding the city
for more than a week." -By Luke Baker-Reuters
-
-
- "U.S.
Forces Advance to Within 50 Miles of Baghdad:
U.S. troops entered the "red zone" within 50 miles of Baghdad on Wednesday,
after advancing past the city of Karbala to the southwest of the capital
and capturing an important bridge over the Tigris River to the southeast."
... ""This is so far the biggest fight of the war," said a U.S. spokesman
at Central Command in Qatar. "The battles in Karbala and Kut are the most
significant battles to date." U.S. Brigadier General Vincent Brooks said
the troops approaching Baghdad had crossed a "red line" which he said could
trigger a chemical attack by embattled Iraqi forces. "We have forces that
have already crossed those red lines," Brooks told a news conference at
Central Command headquarters in Qatar on Wednesday."
-PBS (A-Z)
/NewsHour
Search
Iraq News - Search
Google:
-
-
- "11
bodies found with rescued U.S. POW." ... "Eleven
bodies -- some of them believed to be Americans --were found with prisoner
of war Pfc. Jessica Lynch when she was rescued in a U.S. commando raid
on an Iraqi hospital, a military spokesman said Wednesday." ... "Acting
on an intelligence tip about Lynch's whereabouts, U.S. special operations
forces slipped behind enemy lines and seized Lynch from the Saddam Hospital
under cover of darkness Tuesday, military officials said." -By
Doug Mellgren -AP
via -Salon/-news
-
- "US
smashes Baghdad defence positions: ·
Kerbala secured in three hours · Republican Guard battle looms ·
Battle in holy city of Najaf." ... "US forces today claimed to have broken
through Iraqi lines at two key points south of Baghdad, seizing a strategic
bridge across the Tigris and "destroying" a division of Saddam Hussein's
elite Republican Guard." ... "A vanguard of US troops had moved within
20 miles of the Iraqi capital today after securing the area around the
city of Kerbala, according to Reuters." ... "Up to 15,000 US troops have
massed around Kerbala waiting to pour across the Euphrates - the last major
natural obstacle standing between them and Baghdad on the south-western
approach to the capital." -By Sarah Left, Simon Jeffery,
David Batty, Jason Deans, Mark Oliver
-Guardian.co.uk
Search
Iraq News - Search
Google:
-
- "US
forces cross Tigris, close in on Baghdad: Iraqi
soldiers accused of firing from inside mosque." ... "Closing to within
35 miles of Baghdad, U.S. forces seized a bridge over the Tigris River
and swept past battered Republican Guard units Wednesday. One of the key
Guard divisions, defending the city of Kut, "has been destroyed," a U.S.
general said." ... "Farther south, U.S. commanders said Iraqi soldiers
were shooting from inside a revered mosque in Najaf. American soldiers
withheld return fire." ... "Soldiers on the front lines and relatives 6,000
miles away in West Virginia rejoiced over the bold, middle-of-the-night
rescue of Pfc. Jessica Lynch from captivity at an Iraqi hospital that was
housing a military command post. The commandos who freed her also retrieved
11 bodies, most of them believed to be American soldiers." -By
David Crary -AP
via -Boston/Globe
-
- "American
forces rescue Iraq POW Jessica Lynch." ... "Lynch,
19, of Palestine, W.Va., had been missing since nine days ago with 11 other
U.S. soldiers from the 507th Maintenance Company. The unit was ambushed
near Nasiriyah after making a wrong turn during early fighting in the invasion
of Iraq. Five other members of her unit were later shown on Iraqi television
answering questions from their Iraqi captors." ... "Fifteen other Americans
are formally listed as missing. The other POWs include two Army Apache
helicopter pilots captured March 24 after their helicopter went down."
-By Matt Kelley -AP
via -Boston/Globe
-
- "POW
Rescued: U.S. Forces Find Soldier Reported
Missing After Ambush." ... ""Coalition forces have successfully conducted
a rescue mission of one of the prisoners of war in Iraq," Brig. Gen. Vincent
Brooks said at Central Command in Qatar." ... "U.S. officials told ABCNEWS
that soldier rescued was Pfc. Jessica Lynch, 19, a supply clerk with the
Army's 507th Maintenance Co." ... "She was reported missing on March 23,
when she was among the soldiers whose supply convoy was ambushed in the
southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah. She was not among the five soldiers whose
faces were shown on Iraqi television after the capture, and her status
was officialy listed as unknown by the military." ... "Sources said it
was a U.S. operation that saved Lynch, from Palestine, W.Va. Brooks said
CENTCOM officials would release more details about the rescue at a later
time." -Contributions by Richard Engel, Don Dahler,
Ted Koppel, Jim Ryan, John McWethy, Lisa Sylvester and Brian Hartman ABCNEWS.com
Search
Iraq News - Search
Google:
-
- "Coalition
Forces Rescue U.S. POW in Iraq." ... "U.S. Central
Command confirmed the rescue of Jessica Lynch, a U.S. Army prisoner of
war held captive in Iraq." ... "Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks refused to provide
any further details or identify the rescued POW." -By
Nicole Windield -AP
via -WashingtonPost
-
-
- "Rumsfeld
and Myers Assail Complaints About War Strategy."
... "Pentagon officials struck back today at critics of the military campaign
in Iraq, declaring that complaints about the handling of the war are misinformed,
inaccurate and harmful to American forces in combat." ... "Both officials
rejected various complaints about the military campaign — that it was launched
before there were enough troops deployed, that it relied too heavily in
the beginning on air power — as wrongheaded. Members of the Joint Chiefs
were unanimous in approving the plan beforehand, Mr. Rumsfeld and General
Myers said, and commanders in Iraq are getting all the men and equipment
they ask for." -By David Stout
-NYTimes via -Google-News
-
-
- "Fox
told to remove Rivera from Iraq." ... "US defence
officials in Washington have today confirmed that Fox News Channel has
been asked to remove controversial reporter Geraldo Rivera from Iraq."
... "Fox News had agreed to the request to remove Rivera, the former talk
show host who angered the US military by revealing operational details
of the Iraq campaign during a report, according to defence spokesman Lieutenant
Colonel Dave Lapan." -Jason Deans
-Guardian.co.uk/media
-
- "Just
fired, Peter Arnett hired by British paper:
Britain's Daily Mirror hired veteran war correspondent Peter Arnett Tuesday,
less than 24 hours after he was fired by NBC and National Geographic for
saying on Iraqi TV the U.S. war plan has "failed."" ... ""Piers Morgan,
an editor for the Daily Mirror, told CNN, "Peter is one of the most respected
journalists in the world, and we are delighted he is joining us to expose
the truth about a war increasingly dominated by propaganda."
-CNN /World
- "Iraq
latest: At-a-glance: BBC News Online charts
the latest developments in the Iraq conflict." ... "[All times GMT and
approximate]" ... "1705: President Saddam Hussein urges Iraqis to
fight a "jihad" (holy war) against the US-led coalition "everywhere," in
a message read out on Iraqi television by Information Minister Mohammed
Saeed al-Sahaf." ... "1525: At least 11 members of one family -
including six children - killed in a coalition air raid in Hilla area,
south of Baghdad, western news reports say." ... "1515: Iraqi Vice-President
Taha Yassin Ramadan says more than 6,000 Arab volunteers are now in Iraq,
and more than half of them suicide bombers."-BBC/News
-
-
- "U.S.
troops gear up for Baghdad push: Statement
said to be from Saddam: 'They will be the losers'" ... "After days of intense
aerial bombardment, U.S. forces are in contact with Saddam's "most prized
forces" south of Baghdad, a U.S. Marine official said." ... "Increasing
numbers of U.S. Army troops are being freed up for the siege on Baghdad,
reports CNN's Walter Rodgers, who is embedded with the 3rd Squadron, 7th
Cavalry of the 3rd
Infantry Division." ... "Tough, ongoing battles in southern Iraqi cities
such as Basra, Najaf and Nasiriya could become second priority as reinforcements
come in and the military focus shifts to Baghdad, Rodgers said." -Contributions
by Christiane Amanpour, Jane Arraf, Bob Franken, Art Harris, Tom Mintier,
Nic Robertson, Walter Rodgers, Brent Sadler and Ben Wedeman and Producer
Mike Mount -CNN
/World
Search
Iraq News - Search
Google:
-
-
- "NBC, MSNBC
fire Peter Arnett." ... "NBC, MSNBC and National
Geographic said Monday that they had terminated their relationship with
Peter Arnett after the journalist told state-run Iraqi TV that the U.S.-led
coalition’s initial war plan had failed and that reports from Baghdad about
civilian casualties had helped antiwar protesters undermine the Bush administration’s
strategy." -MSNBC
with -AP
-
-
- "Offense
and Defense: The battle between Donald Rumsfeld
and the Pentagon." ... "Several senior war planners complained to me in
interviews that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his inner circle
of civilian advisers, who had been chiefly responsible for persuading President
Bush to lead the country into war, had insisted on micromanaging the war's
operational details." ... "On at least six occasions, the planner told
me, when Rumsfeld and his deputies were presented with operational plans—the
Iraqi assault was designated Plan 1003—he insisted that the number of ground
troops be sharply reduced. Rumsfeld's faith in precision bombing and his
insistence on streamlined military operations has had profound consequences
for the ability of the armed forces to fight effectively overseas.
They've got no resources, a former high-level intelligence official said."
... "The critical moment, one planner said, came last fall, during the
buildup for the war, when Rumsfeld decided that he would no longer be guided
by the Pentagon s most sophisticated war-planning document, the TPFDL—time-phased
forces-deployment list—which is known to planning officers as the tip-fiddle
(tip-fid, for short). A TPFDL is a voluminous document describing the inventory
of forces that are to be sent into battle, the sequence of their deployment,
and the deployment of logistical support." -By Seymour
M. Hersh 20030407
-NewYorker
-
-
- "U.S.
Troops Push Closer To Baghdad; Coalition Death Count At 63. [Also: Fox
News reporter Geraldo expelled]." ... "Forces from
the Army's 3rd Infantry Division pushed north on Monday (March 31) into
the town of Hindiyah, less than 50 miles from the Iraqi capital." ... "The
Pentagon has expelled Fox News reporter Geraldo Rivera from Iraq. Officials
say Rivera posed a security threat to American forces. During a recent
live broadcast, Rivera drew a map in the sand indicating the position where
the unit which he was embedded with was located. Members of the 101st Airborne
Division will escort Rivera to the border with Kuwait."" ... "The latest,
revised casualty count: 63 U.S. and British troops killed, 24 missing.
The total number of Iraqis killed is unknown." -By
Gil Kaufman and Ethan Zindler -MTV.com
/ News
-
-
-
- "Powell
warns Syria and Iran: US Secretary of State
Colin Powell has issued a fresh warning to Iraq's neighbours, Syria and
Iran, to stop supporting terrorism." ... "Widening the range of US concerns
beyond Iraq, Mr Powell said Syria must abandon its "direct support for
terrorist groups"." ... "He also said it was time for "the entire international
community to insist that Iran end its support for terrorism"." ... "Mr
Powell's comments came two days after US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
warned both countries not to get involved in the conflict in Iraq."-BBC/News
-
-
- "Fire
From the Skies: ‘Historic Bomber Package’ Pounds
Iraq; Ground Units Probe Toward Baghdad." ... "An "historic bomber package,"
of B-1, B-2 and B-52 bombers have delivered a simultaneous firestorm of
ordnance from the skies in a push to destroy and disable Iraqi defenses
and pave the way for coalition ground forces advancing toward Baghdad."
... "U.S. Central Command officials today said overnight air raids used
a combination of the three bombers to pummel targets in Baghdad as U.S.
Army scouts ventured miles closer to the capital than the previous 49-mile
distance from the city to see if the area was safe for the Army's 3rd Infantry
Division to move forward, ABCNEWS reported." -Contributions
by Richard Engel, Aditya Raval, Linda Albin, John McWethy, Lisa Sylvester,
Brian Hartman, and John Donvan -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- "Coalition
forces increase pressure: But Iraq insists
U.S. campaign 'being defeated on all fronts'." ... "Intense airstrikes,
targeted raids and sporadic battles pounded away at Iraqi forces Monday,
coalition military officials said." ... "U.S. and British warplanes continued
to strike targets Monday, hitting Republican Guard positions around Baghdad
and the Karada Intelligence Complex believed to be the headquarters of
the Fedayeen Saddam, the paramilitary group known for its guerrilla tactics."
-Contributions by Christiane Amanpour, Bob Franken,
Art Harris, Tom Mintier, Walter Rodgers and Nic Robertson, Mike Mount -CNN
/World
-
-
-
- "Myers:
U.S. Controls Terror Camp in Iraq." ... "American
forces are searching a terrorist compound in northeastern Iraq that was
probably the site where militants made a biological toxin, traces of which
were later found by police in London, the Pentagon's top general said Sunday."
... "U.S. and British forces now control the compound, which belongs to
the group Ansar al-Islam, said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, describing it as a site "where Ansar al-Islam and al-Qaida
had been working on poisons."" -By Matt Kelley
-AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource
Search
Iraq News - Search
Google:
-
-
- "U.S.
Troops Rammed In Kuwait; Rumsfeld Criticized For Denying Generals' Requests."
... "Between 10 and 15 American troops were injured at a U.S. military
base in Kuwait after being rammed by a pickup truck on Sunday (March 30).
The attack took place at Camp Udairi, which serves primarily as a maintenance
and supply location for the Army's V Corps." ... "A soon-to-be-published
report says that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld repeatedly denied
requests from top generals during the run-up to war to deploy a larger
fighting force to the Persian Gulf region. On six occasions, Rumsfeld argued
successfully that the number of troops should be reduced, according to
an article that will appear in this week's New Yorker magazine."
... "General Tommy Franks, who is overseeing operations in the Gulf, said
he had not requested a larger force during the planning stages of the war."
-By Gil Kaufman and Ethan Zindler
-MTV.com / News
-
-
- "Iraq
Vows to Use 'Any Method' Against Foe." ...
[20030329]
"A suicide bomber blew up his taxi today and killed four United States
soldiers from the Third Infantry Division at a checkpoint near Najaf, as
allied warplanes continued to pound targets south of Baghdad." ... "Today's
bomb attack signaled that, despite the heavy Iraqi casualty toll this week,
the men under Mr. Hussein's command are still ready to risk their lives
— whether out of loyalty, coercion or fear." ... "Separately this morning,
British commando forces dashed into Basra, which is Iraq's second-largest
city, and destroyed two large statues of Mr. Hussein in a strike that the
British depicted as intended to reassure Basra's 1.5 million people that
coalition forces are determined to topple the government in Baghdad." (1,
2)
-NYTimes via
-By Patrick E. Tyler -Google-News
-
- "Engineer
says Saddam's bunker can withstand newest bombs."
... "A German trained as a civil defense engineer said Sunday he helped
a company design a bunker under Saddam Hussein's Baghdad palace in the
early 1980s that is likely to withstand even the newest non-nuclear bombs."
... "Karl Esser told The Associated Press that the shelter was also built
to survive, from 650 feet away, a nuclear blast from a bomb like the one
dropped at Hiroshima, and temperatures of more than 570 degrees Fahrenheit."
... ""It's very, very difficult to crack unless you hit it directly with
a small atomic bomb," he said in a telephone interview."
-AP via -USATODAY
-
- "U.S.
Gen. Franks Says No Pause in Iraq War." ... "U.S.
Central Command chief Gen. Tommy Franks rejected reports on Sunday that
there was a pause in the U.S.-led push toward Baghdad." ... "Some U.S.
troops said on Sunday they had been told a pause in land advances from
the south toward the capital could be extended by several weeks because
of overstretched supply lines and stiff Iraqi resistance."-Reuters
via /Asia
-
- "Giant explosion
rocks Kuwait City: Missile believed to have
been fired from Iraq; two injured." ... "A missile landed Saturday near
the waterfront in central Kuwait City shortly after midnight, causing a
huge explosion and unleashing a large plume of smoke but causing little
damage and only two minor injuries, Kuwaiti officials said. U.S. officials
and local investigators told NBC News that evidence at the scene suggested
the missile was a Chinese-made Silkworm cruise-type weapon fired from southern
Iraq." ... "The missile hit a small pier jutting into the sea about 1:45
a.m. (5:45 p.m. ET Friday) close to the Souq Sharq shopping mall in the
city center, a little more than a mile from the emir’s palace, police Brig.
Ahmed al-Rujaid said." -Contributions by Steve Handelsman,
Brian Williams and Don Teague, Tammy Kupperman
-MSNBC
-
-
- "Ground forces
regroup near Baghdad: U.S.-led airstrikes pounded
targets in Baghdad on Saturday, while ground forces nearest the capital
were regrouping. Field commanders said supply shortages had led to an “operational
pause” in their advance, while NBC’s David Bloom reported from the
front that U.S. forces were reviewing plans after Iraqi Republican Guard
units south of Baghdad were repositioned. U.S. officials said the regrouping
did not reflect a change in strategy or widespread supply problems." ...
"... coalition airstrikes have increased dramatically in recent days, many
of them targeting Republican Guard positions. Some 1,700 precision-guided
bombs and 75 cruise missiles have been fired since Thursday, McChrystal
said. Up until that time, 4,300 precision bombs and 400 cruise missiles
had been fired." -Contributions by David Bloom, Dana
Lewis, David Shuster, Qatar, and Jim Miklaszewski, Jeannie Ohm, Preston
Mendenhall With -AP
and -Reuters via -MS-NBC
-
-
- "Suicide
Bombing Kills Four U.S. Troops, Iraq Warns of More Attacks:
After a car bomb exploded Saturday at a U.S. military checkpoint near the
central Iraqi city of Najaf killing four American soldiers, the Iraqi vice
president said that coalition forces could expect more suicide attacks."
... "The car bomb exploded just outside Najaf on the road north to Kerbala,
not far from the furthest forward positions that U.S. troops have reached
in the 10-day-old war against Iraq. A small city on the Euphrates River,
Najaf is about 100 miles south of Baghdad and has been the scene of intense
fighting between Iraqi and U.S. troops." ... "According to witnesses, a
taxi stopped close to the checkpoint, and the driver appeared to wave for
help. As soldiers approached the car, it exploded, Capt. Andrew Wallace
told Associated Press. The victims were part of the Army's 1st Brigade,
3rd Infantry Division." -PBS
/NewsHour
-
-
- "Iraq
Threatens More Suicide Attacks: Car Bomb Kills
Four U.S. Soldiers; Four Other U.S. Bodies Found." ... "A senior Iraqi
official today threatened more suicide attacks like the one that killed
four American soldiers at a U.S. Army checkpoint near Najaf." ... ""This
is just the beginning. You'll hear more pleasant news later," Iraqi Vice
President Taha Yassin Ramadan said at a news conference. Asked whether
suicide bombings will now become a policy of the Iraqi military, Ramadan
said: "It will be routine military policy. We will use any means to kill
our enemy in our land and we will follow the enemy into its land."" -Contributions
by Richard Engel, Ted Koppel, Linda Albin, Tim Scheld, Luis Martinez and
Aditya Raval, James Ryan, Vic Ratner, and John McWethy
-ABCNEWS.com
-
- "Reports:
Car bomb kills five U.S. soldiers: Missile
hits Kuwait City mall." ... "A car bomb exploded Saturday at a U.S. military
checkpoint in Najaf in central Iraq, a source with U.S. Central Command
said." ... "A U.S. military officer told The Associated Press that five
soldiers were killed in the bombing. CentComm officials were trying to
confirm the exact casualty count." ... "According to the Central Command
source, a car with two men inside detonated at a checkpoint operated by
the Army's 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division."
-CNN /World
Search
Iraq News
-
-
-
-
-
- "Supplying
the Enemy." ... "Whatever one may think of Russia's
political opposition to the war in Iraq, no one denies Moscow's right to
it. Supplying arms to Iraq is something else. Not only is this a clear
violation of U.N. sanctions, but Russia has weapons that pose a lethal
threat to U.S. and British soldiers. Those are exactly the kinds of weapons
that the Bush administration has accused Russia — and now Syria — of supplying
Iraq. Whether President Vladimir Putin chooses to acknowledge the sales
or not, he would be well advised to make sure they are stopped right now."
-NYTimes
-
-
-
- "US
officials vow to extinguish fires, repair wells."
... "While flames billowed hundreds of feet in the air at Oil Well Number
4, US officers and a private contractor vowed yesterday to extinguish the
fire and others set by retreating Iraqis and to repair and update the wells."
... "Of nine oil well fires set in Rumaila, one of Iraq's largest crude
deposits, five still burned yesterday. But the military said two more would
be extinguished in the next day or so, with the others to follow quickly
now that coalition forces have secured the field and [Halliburton Co. subcontractor]
Boots & Coots International Well Control of Houston is on the scene
to snuff out the blazes." -By Marcella Bombardieri
-Boston/Globe
-
- "Weathermen
say Iraq sandstorms possible next week." ... "Weather
experts forecast U.S.-led troops in Iraq could face more sandstorms next
week, with temperatures starting their climb towards unbearable summer
highs." ... "Meteorologists in the United States said on Friday temperatures
could soar to an above-average 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.22 Celsius) next
Wednesday, overshadowing fears of more storms which can reduce visibility
to zero and damage high-tech military equipment."-Reuters
-AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
-
-
-
- "Rumsfeld
warns Syria on military shipments: U.S. also
warns armed supporters of Iran." ... "U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
issued a warning to Syria Friday, saying that coalition officials had information
indicating that shipments of military equipment, including night vision
goggles, were being moved into Iraq from Syria." ... ""These deliveries
pose a direct threat to the lives of coalition forces. We consider such
trafficking as hostile acts and will hold the Syrian government accountable
for such shipments," Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon briefing." ... "Rusmfeld
also warned that armed supporters of Iran's government entering Iraq would
be considered enemy combatants if they interfere with U.S. forces there."
-CNN /World
-
-
- "Biggest
bombs yet strike Baghdad; Iraqi fighters said to fire on civilians in Basra."
... "The biggest bombs dropped on Baghdad so far -- two 4,700-pound "bunker
busters" -- struck a communications tower Friday in an intense U.S. bombardment.
In the south, British officers said Iraqi fighters defending the besieged
city of Basra fired on hundreds of civilians trying to flee." ... "The
British, who have encircled Basra, said their troops were prepared to rescue
and aid any civilians wounded by the mortar and machine-gun fire from paramilitaries
loyal to Saddam Hussein." ... "British officers said soldiers from the
1st Black Watch battalion, in Warrior armored fighting vehicles, were trying
to wedge themselves between the militia fire and the targeted civilians."
-By David Crary -AP
via -SFGate.com
Search
Iraq News - Search
Google:
-
- "U.S.
Troops Position Around Iraqi Capital." ... "America's
battle plan for Baghdad is taking shape, with U.S. forces now in position
to strike the Iraqi capital from nearly all sides - or to mount a siege
and wait for Saddam Hussein's regime to fall to internal opposition." ...
"As sporadic battles rage between American infantry and defiant Iraqi troops
and paramilitary guerrillas, more armor and at least 100,000 reinforcing
U.S. and allied troops are on their way