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HavenWorks.com/military/archive/2002 |
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/ Archive
/ 2002
- "Officials:
N. Korea Violated Buffer Zone: N. Korea Violated
1953 Armistice by Bringing Guns Into Buffer Zone, U.S.-U.N. Command Says."
... "North Korea violated the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War
by bringing machine guns into the buffer zone separating the two Koreas
on six occasions over the past two weeks, the U.S.-U.N. Command said Friday."
... "The U.S.-U.N. Command said an investigation confirmed reports by South
Korean soldiers that North Korean troops brought 7.62mm machine guns into
the Demilitarized Zone from Dec. 13 to Dec. 20."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "North
Korea orders expulsion of U.N. nuclear inspectors, says will open laboratory."
... "North Korea ordered the expulsion Friday of U.N. nuclear inspectors
and announced it will reactivate a laboratory able to produce weapons-grade
plutonium. The U.N. nuclear agency said its investigators were "staying
put" for now." ... "The inspectors were the last means that the International
Atomic Energy Agency had to monitor whether the facilities are being used
for nuclear weapons projects. Despite IAEA warnings, the North removed
monitoring seals and surveillance cameras from the nuclear complex at Yongbyon
earlier this week." -By Paul Shin
-AP via -SFGate.com
- "U.N.:
N. Korea Engaging in 'Brinkmanship': U.N. Agency
Says North Korea Is Engaging in 'Nuclear Brinkmanship'" ... "North Korean
workers have moved 1,000 fresh fuel rods to a storage site near the Soviet-designed,
5-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon that was frozen in a deal with Washington
that ended the 1994 crisis, the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency
said. A total of 8,000 such rods is needed to start the reactor." ... ""Moving
towards restarting its nuclear facilities without appropriate safeguards,
and towards producing plutonium raises serious nonproliferation concerns
and is tantamount to nuclear brinkmanship," Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, director
of the Vienna-based agency, said in a statement."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- 
Christmas
News
- "'Saddest
Christmas Ever' in Bethlehem." ... "Palestinians
marked what some called the saddest Christmas ever in the biblical city
of Bethlehem, walking to Mass through cold rainy streets bereft of holiday
cheer after weeks of Israeli military occupation." ... "Hundreds of Palestinians
and a few hardy tourists and pilgrims attended Christmas Day services in
the ancient Church of the Nativity, the reputed site of Jesus's birth,
but found little joy from an Israeli army pullback for the occasion." -By
Mark Heinrich -Reuters
- Christmas
News
- "At
Christmas Mass in Baghdad, worshippers offer special prayers for peace."
... "More than 100 Christians and peace activists gathered at a Catholic
church in Iraq's capital for Christmas Eve Mass Tuesday, offering special
prayers that war can be avoided." ... "Christians represent about 5 percent
of Iraq's 22 million population and live mainly in Baghdad and the north.
Iraq is predominantly Muslim and officially secular." -By
Nadia Abou El Magd -AP
via -SFGate.com
- "US
tries diplomacy, firm line on N. Korea." ... "The
Bush administration pressed North Korea diplomatically yesterday to refrain
from restarting a dormant nuclear reactor, even as Defense Secretary Donald
H. Rumsfeld warned that the US military could simultaneously take on both
Iraq and the communist Pyongyang regime." ... "''We are capable of fighting
two major regional conflicts,'' Rumsfeld said at the Pentagon. ''We're
capable of winning decisively in one and swiftly defeating in the case
of the other, and let there be no doubt about it.''" ... "Rumsfeld stressed
that no military action to halt Pyongyang's renewed nuclear ambitions was
imminent, and White House officials said the United States intends to pursue
a diplomatic course to persuade North Korea to abandon efforts to expand
its nuclear arsenal." -By John J. Lumpkin
-AP via -Boston/Globe
- 
- "French
journalist killed by US tank." ... "One of the best-known
television journalists in France, Patrick Bourrat, has died in hospital
in Kuwait." ... "He was injured on Saturday after being run over by a tank
while covering US military exercises in the desert." ... "Mr Bourrat, who
was in his 40s, was a correspondent for the TF-1 television station." ...
"American military officials say the precise circumstances of the accident
are being investigated."-BBC/News
-
- "U.S.
Said to Ready Kurd Areas in Iraq for Possible War."
... "American intelligence officials have been working alongside Kurdish
officials in recent weeks, and recruiters for an American-sponsored opposition
group have been selecting candidates for a program to train scouts and
translators that one day may help American forces inside Iraq, according
to Kurdish and Western officials." ... "American military planners have
visited secluded corners of the country to examine potential basing sites
for use in a war, according to a Western expert familiar with the activity."
... "No American military forces are based here yet, Kurdish officials
say, and recent Turkish and Arabic news reports of sizable military deployments
appear unfounded." (1, 2)
-By C. J. Chivers -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
-
- "US
agrees to share Iraq intelligence." ... "The United
States says it will share intelligence data about Iraq with United Nations
weapons inspectors following a request from chief inspector Hans Blix."
... "The agreement comes while the US is preparing for a rapid increase
in its military strength in the Middle East, almost doubling the number
of troops near Iraq." ... "Mr Blix told the BBC on Friday that, if US officials
knew where they thought Iraq was storing banned materials, he could send
his inspection teams to check." -BBC/News
-
- "Blair tells
his forces to prepare for war, but Blix seeks data."
... "The United States and Britain should give United Nations weapons inspectors
more intelligence about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, chief
inspector Hans Blix said Friday." ... "Prime Minister Tony Blair, meanwhile,
told British troops he was making "all the preparations necessary" for
war." ... ""If the U.K. and the U.S. ... have evidence, then one would
expect that they would be able to tell us where this stuff is," Blix told
the British Broadcasting Corp. radio." -By Jill Lawless
-AP via -IHT.com
- "South
Korea picks liberal Roh for president." ... "Ruling
party candidate Roh Moo-hyun won South Korea's presidential election on
Thursday, a result that could complicate ties with the United States as
the allies grapple with North Korea's nuclear programme." ... "The triumph
of Roh, 56, a populist human rights and labour lawyer, marks a stunning
turnaround after the 11th-hour desertion of his election alliance partner,
Chung Mong-joon." ... "The United States has 37,000 troops helping protect
the South from its reclusive neighbour. North and South Korea are technically
still at war as the 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty."
-By Paul Eckert -Reuters
via /Asia
- "U.S.
Sets Late January Decision on Iraq War." ... "The
Bush administration has set the last week in January as the make-or-break
point in the long standoff with Iraq, and is increasingly confident that
by then it will have marshaled the evidence to convince the U.N. Security
Council that Iraq is in violation of a U.N. resolution passed last month
and to call for the use of force, officials said yesterday." ... "In a
boost to the administration's position, Hans Blix, the United Nations'
chief weapons inspector, plans to tell the Security Council today that
Iraq failed to account fully for chemical and biological bombs and warheads
it had assembled as well as materials it bought that could be used to produce
more of them, U.N. and administration officials said." -By
Walter Pincus and Karen DeYoung-WashingtonPost
- 
- Christmas
News
-
- "When
a 'Christmas Truce' put war on back burner." ...
"Christmas came to the battlefield in "the Great War to end all wars,"
and that story became the stuff of legend." ... "The History Channel tells
what happened when British and German soldiers laid down their arms to
meet in a No Man's Land strewn with the bodies of their fallen comrades.
Never before --and never again, probably -- was there ever such a celebration
as The Christmas Truce." -By Ann Hodges
-HoustonChronicle.com
- "Terror
Suspects Found With Chemicals in Paris." ... "In
the latest sweep against suspected Islamic militant groups here, French
officials said today that they had arrested four people early Monday and
had seized chemicals and a military personal-protection suit, suggesting
that the suspects may have been preparing a chemical attack." -By
John Tagliabue -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- "U.S.
officials: Saddam ready to target his own country, blame U.S."
... "Iraq is preparing to destroy its own oil fields, food supplies and
power plants and blame the destruction on U.S. bombs during a war, U.S.
intelligence officials said Wednesday." ... "The officials, briefing reporters
at the Pentagon, said they have evidence Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
has plans to wreck his own infrastructure to foster a humanitarian crisis
and turn international opinion against any U.S. and British advance into
his territory." ... "Citing the need to protect intelligence sources, the
officials declined to describe that evidence. They spoke on condition of
anonymity." -By John J. Lumpkin
-AP via -SFGate.com
OPINION
- 
-
- TIA:
Total Information Awareness
- "Snooping
in All the Wrong Places: Not only would the
Administration's plan to centralize every American's records destroy privacy,
the security payoff would be minimal." ... "The 2002 elections proved one
thing: The promise of security wins votes. The GOP campaigned on a pledge
to make the country safer, and it brought home one of the biggest midterm
victories in decades. That huge win may have emboldened the Bush Administration
to ignore widespread criticism of the Defense Dept.'s $240 million effort
to develop a Total Information Awareness system (TIA)." ... "The outrage
over TIA doesn't seem to have reached the President's ear, but it should.
It's not too late for him to realize the folly of such a plan. Funded by
the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the project would
combine every American's bank records, tax filings, driver's license information,
credit-card purchases, medical data, and phone and e-mail records into
one giant centralized database. This would then be combed through for evidence
of suspicious activity." -By Jane Black
-BusinessWeek/Daily
- "Russia
'regrets' Bush missile plan: Moscow has expressed
"regret" at U.S. President George W. Bush's decision to deploy a limited
missile shield by 2004, saying the move could lead to a new arms race."
... "The Russian statement came a day after Bush ordered the U.S. Defense
Department to begin work within two years on deploying the first interceptors
that are to form the base of the missile defence system." ... "The Bush
administration intends to ask the U.S. Congress to allocate $1.5 billion
for 2004-2005, on top of the $8 billion already budgeted."
-CNN /World
/Europe
- "Bush
Has Widened Authority of C.I.A. to Kill Terrorists."
... "The Bush administration has prepared a list of terrorist leaders the
Central Intelligence Agency is authorized to kill, if capture is impractical
and civilian casualties can be minimized, senior military and intelligence
officials said." ... "Despite the authority given to the agency, Mr. Bush
has not waived the executive order banning assassinations, officials said.
The presidential authority to kill terrorists defines operatives of Al
Qaeda as enemy combatants and thus legitimate targets for lethal force."
... "The president is not legally required to approve each name added to
the list, nor is the C.I.A. required to obtain presidential approval for
specific attacks, although officials said Mr. Bush had been kept well informed
about the agency's operations." ... "But the decision by the Bush administration
to authorize, under certain circumstances, the killing of terrorist leaders
threatens to thrust it into a murky area of national security and international
law that is almost never debated in public because the covert operations
are known only to a small circle of executive branch and Congressional
officials." (1, 2)
-By James Risen and David Johnstone
-NYTimes via-AltaVista-News
-
- "Iraqi
jet tried to trap U.S. jets." ... "An Iraqi fighter
jet attempted to lead two U.S. fighter planes over a battery of surface-to-air
missiles Friday in the no-fly zone over southern Iraq, Pentagon officials
told CNN." ... "Aware of the missiles' location, the U.S. planes turned
south to avoid the potential trap, a Defense Department spokesman said.
The pilots knew the location of the missiles because of training and coalition
surveillance capabilities, the spokesman said." -By
Kris Osborn -CNN
/World
- 
- "U.S.
Lets Missile Shipment Proceed." ... "Skirting a face-off
with Yemen, the United States on Wednesday let an intercepted shipment
of North Korean missiles proceed to the Persian Gulf country after receiving
assurances the Scuds would not be transferred elsewhere in the tense region."
... "The agreement was reached through unusual high-level diplomacy involving
Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell, on the
one hand, and President Ali Abdallah Salih of Yemen on the other." -By
Barry Schweid -AP
via -DesMoinesRegister
-
- 
- "U.N.
inspects new Iraqi military factory." ... "With a
new group of inspectors at work in Iraq, bringing the total to 70, the
U.N. inspection teams visited six sites Wednesday -- including a military
factory built in 1999." ... "In other searches during the day, inspectors
continued their work at the al-Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center on the
south side of Baghdad and at the Akashat uranium mine, about 420 kilometers
(260 miles) west of Baghdad, near the Syrian border." ... "Several tons
of uranium have been under seal at al-Tuwaitha since the previous round
of inspections ended in 1998." -Contributed to by
Nic Robertson and Rym Brahimi
-CNN /World
-
-
- "U.S.
Warns Iraq It Has Nuclear Option." ... "The United
States raised the temperature in its confrontation with Iraq over weapons
of mass destruction, saying it could go nuclear if such weapons were used
against its forces or its allies." ... "Washington issued the warning Tuesday
as U.N. arms inspectors carried out the most intensive inspections in Iraq
of their current mission and the Iraqi Foreign Ministry accused Washington
of trying to find a pretext for war." -By Nadim Ladki
-Reuters /World
-
-
- "U.S.
Sees Nuclear Deterrence Against WMD Attack." ...
"The six-page strategy document says deterring attacks with the threat
of "overwhelming force" is an essential element in protecting America and
its allies from weapons of mass destruction, also known as WMD." ... ""The
United States will continue to make clear that it reserves the right to
respond with overwhelming force -- including through resort to all our
options -- to the use of WMD against the United States, our forces abroad,
and friends and allies," the strategy report said." ... ""In addition to
our conventional and nuclear response and defense capabilities, our overall
deterrent posture against WMD threats is reinforced by effective intelligence,
surveillance, interdiction and domestic law enforcement capabilities,"
it said." -By Randall Mikkelsen
-Reuters /World
- "China
launches new stealth fighter project." ... "The Shenyang
Aircraft Company has been selected to head research and development of
a new heavyweight fighter for China's People's Liberation Army Air Force
(PLAAF), according to a senior source at the China Aviation Industry Corp
I (AVIC I)." ... "Development of the engines and weapon subsystems for
the fourth-generation fighter has been underway for some time, according
to the source, who revealed that a number of design concepts have already
been created. Wind-tunnel tests of these are about to start. Images of
the concepts show a twin-engine aircraft sharing some design traits with
Lockheed Martin's stealthy F/A-22 multirole fighter, now undergoing tests
with the US Air Force, such as the internal carriage of its weapon systems.
The Chinese designs retain a more conventional wing, however, and use a
single vertical tail fin." -By Yihong Chang
-Jane's/Defence/Weekly
-
- "With
forces at ready, war could be swift: US troop
counts in the Mideast rise, ready for a campaign very different from Gulf
War." ... "The hammer of US military force is almost ready for use against
Iraq, even as the diplomatic struggle between Washington and Baghdad continues."
... "There are now some 80,000 uniformed American personnel in the region,
counting troops deployed in Afghanistan. While an actual attack would likely
require a final sprint deployment of strike units, most of the elements
for war are now in place, as symbolized by this week's command-and-control
exercise in Qatar." -By Faye Bowers and Peter Grier
-CSMonitor
- "Pentagon
indicates progress in U.S.-China ties." ... "The
Pentagon on Monday indicated creeping progress in resumed military ties
with China after the first top-level defence talks between the two nations
since President George W. Bush took office two years ago." ... ""The talks
were useful, professional. They were real discussions. They were not stilted
set pieces. And that's good," Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas
Feith said after a day-long meeting with Chinese General Xiong Guangkai,
deputy chief of the People's Liberation Army[.]" -By
Charles Aldinger -Reuters/Asia
- "Peace
monitors arrive in Indonesia's bloodied Aceh." ...
"The monitors are from the Geneva-based Henry Dunant Centre for Humanitarian
Dialogue, which brokered the landmark deal between Indonesia and the separatist
Free Aceh Movement (GAM)." ... "Thousands have died in the 26-year insurgency."
... "The accord calls for a ceasefire and elections in the staunchly Muslim
province on the northern tip of Sumatra island and for monitoring teams
comprising rebel, Indonesian and foreign representatives to be set up to
ensure the ceasefire holds." ... "But unresolved by the peace plan is a
fundamental disagreement: the rebels want independence while Jakarta is
only prepared to grant special autonomy." -Reuters/Asia
-
- "Soldier
Pleads in Classified Photo Case: Soldier Pleads
Guilty in Attempted Sale of Photos of Top-Secret Military Facility." ...
"A soldier has pleaded guilty to trying to sell a newspaper photographs
of a top-secret bunker where U.S. government leaders would be taken in
a nuclear attack." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "U.S.
begins war game in Qatar in possible preparation for Iraq war."
... A U.S. war game believed to be a rehearsal for an invasion of Iraq
began Monday in Qatar with senior commanders and battle planners conducting
a computer-assisted exercise to improve their ability to fight a war in
the region." ... General Tommy "Franks and his staff are controlling all
of Central Command's forces from a high-tech, portable headquarters set
up on Qatar's As Sayliyah army camp in the desert 20 miles outside of the
capital, Doha." ... "The modular, portable buildings and the high-speed
digital communications equipment, constructed by American defense contractor
Raytheon, is being used for the first time."
-AP via -USATODAY
- "National
Guard aids North Carolina: Tens of thousands
are still without electricity." ... "In a region left dark and cold by
a major ice storm, National Guard volunteers went door to door yesterday
to show residents how to heat their homes safely after two people died
of carbon monoxide poisoning while trying to keep warm." ... "More than
200 people have sought medical help for carbon monoxide poisoning since
the ice storm downed trees and power lines Thursday." -By
Emery P. Dalesio -AP
via -Boston/Globe
-
-
- "Lack of evidence
hinders U.S. aims: Little expectation of actionable
‘smoking gun’ in declaration." ... "During his recent trip to Europe to
drum up support from the allies, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz
was asked by NATO ambassadors what it would take to prove that Iraq has
failed to give up its weapons of mass destruction. His reply illustrated
the subjective nature of the evidence against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein,
which depends on the eye of the beholder." ... "“It's like the judge said
about pornography,” Wolfowitz told the closed-door audience, according
to a participant. “I can’t define it, but I will know it when I see it.”"
... "While the Bush administration may need little convincing that Iraq
is in material breach of U.N. resolutions demanding its disarmament, a
much higher standard of evidence will be required to convince key U.S.
allies, including Turkey and Saudi Arabia, of the case for war." -Analysis
by Michael Dobbs -WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
-
- "Military’s
use of satellites probed: Investigation launched
amid complaints of unfair advantages." ... "The General Accounting Office
is investigating the Defense Department’s use of commercial satellites,
after competitors complained that Washington-based Intelsat Ltd. has an
unfair advantage in a growing market." ... "Intelsat, incorporated in Bermuda,
is owned by companies and governments in 148 nations, including Iraq and
Iran. Its satellites help the U.S. military communicate with soldiers in
far-flung outposts." ... "The GAO investigation coincides with the Pentagon’s
increasing dependence on commercial satellite providers to provide extra
bandwidth, industry experts say. Government satellite programs have faced
delays and cost overruns even as information has become a key part of battlefield
strategy, they said." -By Renae Merle-WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
- "Iraq
Hands UN Dossier, Denies It Has Banned Weapons."
... "Iraq handed the United Nations a huge dossier on its military programs
on Saturday, denying Iraq has any banned weapons and setting the stage
for a confrontation with Washington." ... "U.S. officials said on Friday
Washington was expected to declare Iraq in "material breach" of last month's
U.N. resolution 1441 if it stated it had no such weapons, setting the stage
for a possible military attack on Iraq by the United States." ... "But
they said Washington would not cite the breach as immediate grounds for
war, letting U.N. inspections continue while Bush courts partners to help
strike Iraq if needed." -By Haitham Haddadin
-Reuters /World
- "Iraq
Delivers Arms Declaration to U.N.: Iraq Delivers
Arms Declaration, Saying It Has No Weapons of Mass Destruction." ... ""We
apologize to you," Saddam said in a letter to the Kuwaiti people read on
prime-time Iraqi television. At the same time, at a U.N. compound on Baghdad's
outskirts, a government delegation was delivering a massive collection
of documents detailing Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear programs,
meeting a demand and a deadline set by U.N. resolution 1441." ... "Its
thousands of pages, to be flown Sunday to U.N. headquarters in New York
and the U.N. nuclear agency in Vienna, will be combed through for months
to come by U.N. analysts, intelligence agencies and diplomats, as Middle
East peace hangs in the balance." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
Law
Enforcement News
- "Feds
Raid Software Firm." ... "Federal agents who raided
a Quincy, Mass., software firm Thursday night continue to look for monetary
connections to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, but sources say the firm's
software appears safe." ... "Ptech Inc., a developer of business-process
modeling software, was raided late Thursday night by U.S. Customs Service
agents, according to law enforcement officials. But initial concerns that
the company's technology may have compromised the security of its customers,
which include the FBI, the Department of Energy, the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization, the Navy, the Air Force, the Federal Aviation Administration
and the U.S. House of Representatives, now appear unfounded, according
to authorities." (1, 2)
-By Renee Boucher Ferguson, Dennis Fisher and Chris
Gonsalves -eWEEK
-
- "US
unpopular among key allies: Turkish leaders
put conditions on support for the US on Iraq, citing public opinion." ...
"America's flagging image around the world since the September 2001 terrorist
attacks is crimping the Bush administration's ability to build a coalition
for a possible Iraq war." ... "This week, Turkey's new Islamist government
bowed to domestic opinion, responding to American diplomatic pressure with
a "yes, but": The US may use Turkish territory for a military campaign
against Iraq, but only if it proceeds under the mantle of the United Nations
Security Council, and with a second UN resolution authorizing the use of
force." ... "The move represents the uneasy balance leaders around the
world are striking between what they consider a geopolitical necessity
-cooperating with the US - and domestic opposition to war with Iraq." -By
Howard LaFranchi -CSMonitor
-
- "High schools
give it up for Pentagon: Law requires giving
recruiters access to juniors, seniors." ... "A little-noticed provision
in a new federal education law is requiring high schools to hand over to
military recruiters some key information about their juniors and seniors:
name, address and phone number." ... "The No Child Left Behind law, signed
last January, pumps billions into education but also gives military recruiters
access to the names, addresses and phone numbers of students in 22,000
schools. The law also says that schools must give the military the same
access to their campuses that businesses and college recruiters enjoy."
... "Students and parents who oppose the law can keep their information
from being turned over to the military, but they must sign and return an
“opt-out” form." -By Ken Maguire
-AP via -MSNBC
-
- 
- "CIA
Target: Americans: Officials: U.S. Citizens
Working for Al Qaeda Can Be Killed in CIA Actions." ... "American citizens
working for al Qaeda overseas can legally be targeted and killed by the
CIA under President Bush's rules for the war on terrorism, U.S. officials
say." ... "The authority to kill U.S. citizens is granted under a secret
finding signed by the president after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that
directs the CIA to covertly attack al Qaeda anywhere in the world. The
authority makes no exception for Americans, so permission to strike them
is understood rather than specifically described, officials said." ...
"Previously, the government's authority to kill a citizen outside of the
judicial process has been generally restricted to when the American is
directly threatening the lives of other Americans or their allies." -By
John J. Lumpkin -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
TIA:
Total Information Awareness
-
- Law
Enforcement News
- "Why
the Pentagon will watch where you shop: New
Total Information Awareness project will sniff company databases for terrorists."
... "Should Uncle Sam know as much about you as MasterCard does?" ... "In
essence, that may be the key question posed by the Pentagon's new Total
Information Awareness (TIA) project." ... "This effort - whose Latin motto
[Scientia Est Potentia] translates as "knowledge is power" - aims to create
huge databases that sift through the purchases, travel, immigration status,
income, and other data of hundreds of millions of Americans. Its purpose:
to sniff out the terrorists among us." ... ""There are three parts to the
TIA project," says Edward Aldridge, undersecretary of Defense for acquisition,
technology, and logistics." ... "The first part of the technology is voice
recognition, which would include sifting through electronically recorded
transmissions and provide rapid translations of foreign languages." ...
"The second part is to develop a tool that would discover connections between
transactions, such as passports, airline tickets, rental cars, gun or chemical
purchases, as well as arrests and other suspicious activities." ... "And
the third part is collaborative - a mechanism to allow information-and
analysis-sharing among agencies." ... ""If [the testing] proves useful,"
Mr. Aldridge says, "TIA will then be turned over to the intelligence, counterintelligence,
and law enforcement communities as a tool to help them in their battle
against domestic terrorism."" -By Faye Bowers and
Peter Grier
-CSMonitor/buy
- "Saddam’s sons
wield ample power: Both are brutal, but youngest
being groomed to lead Iraq." ... "According to U.S. intelligence officials
and Iraqi dissidents, Uday [the older brother at 36] has used his position
as head of Iraqi TV and Babel, the country’s biggest newspaper, to sell
advertising that local businessmen are “encouraged” to buy if they want
to remain in business." ... "Uday is also the head of Fedayeen, the paramilitary
group to which more than one-third of all government workers now belong."
... "At 34, Qasay [also: Qusai Saddam Hussein] is increasingly seen as
the second most powerful man in Iraq after his father." ... "He is a member
of the nation’s highest body, the Revolutionary Command Council; commander
of the Special Security Organization and the Republican Guard; and deputy
commander of the Baath Party’s Military Bureau." ... "Qasay’s key role,
though, is head of the Special Security Organization, which controls all
security and intelligence operations of the regime, monitoring the myriad
organizations assigned to both domestic and overseas spying. It is also
the innermost of the concentric rings of security around Saddam." -By
Robert Windrem -MSNBC
- "Iraqi
'compliance' doubted." ... "President Bush said Monday
that early signs of Iraq's compliance with United Nations arms inspections
"are not encouraging" and warned that Baghdad must submit a "full and accurate"
account of its weapons of mass destruction by week's end." ... "But the
strong rhetoric also reflects U.S. officials' private concern about the
perception that Iraq has largely cooperated with the initial five days
of inspections. A chief administration worry: Even the appearance that
Iraq is meeting its responsibilities could unravel the international will
to use force to disarm Saddam." -By Bill Nichols
-USATODAY
- 
-
- "Antiwar
Effort Gains Momentum: Growing Peace Movement's
Ranks Include Some Unlikely Allies." ... "... [Daphne] Reed fretted over
the particular suffering that would befall Iraqi women; their sons and
husbands would be killed, she said, and the women would be left in the
rubble to fend off contaminated water and starvation." ... ""I said that
all mothers should automatically be against war," Reed said. "It was against
their nature to be violent instead of nurturing." Maybe, she said, it was
time to start a movement -- Mothers Against War." ... "Most members of
Mothers Against War are grandmothers in their seventies whose lives are
already full. Yet they spend hours a day on the Internet, reading and spreading
information on Iraq and the United States and planning for marches, e-mail
campaigns and teach-ins." -By Evelyn Nieves-WashingtonPost
-
- "Military space
programs face delays: Officials say defense
programs are over budget, ‘in trouble’" ... "Senior military and defense-industry
officials are acknowledging that most of the nation’s largest military-space
programs —including the satellites needed to construct an elaborate missile-defense
shield over the U.S. —are behind schedule and over budget." ... "Among
the space programs experiencing problems are the two satellite systems
needed to deploy a ground-based missile-defense system: both have been
restructured this year after delays related to design and integration issues.
The National Reconnaissance Office’s next-generation spy satellites, known
as Future Imagery Architecture, are more than a year delayed and almost
$3 billion over cost, spurring an internal Pentagon debate about whether
to proceed with the program at all, say people familiar with the discussions."
-By Anne Marie Squeo -WSJ.com
via -MSNBC
- "Al
Qaeda blamed as attack on Israelis in Kenya kills 15."
... "Suicide bombers blew up a hotel in Kenya on Thursday, killing 15 people,
minutes after missiles narrowly missed an Israeli airliner taking off nearby,
in apparently synchronised attacks on Israeli tourists." ... "Israeli and
Kenyan officials swiftly blamed the al Qaeda network but Washington said
it was premature to point the finger at the group it holds responsible
for the September 11 attacks on the United States." ... "A Kenyan security
source said it was believed attackers who targeted the Israeli airliner
used shoulder-borne missile launchers. German intelligence sources described
the weapons as Soviet produced SA 7 ground-to-air missiles." -By
Noel Mwakughu -Reuters/Asia
Thanksgiving
- "Marines
Celebrate Thanksgiving in Kuwait: Marines Make
Their Own Thanksgiving in the Deserts of Kuwait." ... "As the United States
prepares for a possible war with Iraq, the Marines have established Camp
Commando on the edge of a Kuwaiti military base to act as their command
headquarters. From here, they will be able to control the tens of thousands
of Marines who could arrive in Kuwait." ... "A few weeks ago, the base
was virtually sand." ... "For these soldiers mostly from the 1st Marine
Expeditionary Force, based in Camp Pendleton, Calif. it was yet another
Thanksgiving away from home." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- "U.N.
inspectors complete surprise visits at two sites in Iraq."
... "International arms monitors searched a military missile-testing range
and a state factory outside Baghdad Wednesday, starting a new round of
inspections that could determine the future of peace in the Middle East."
... "Inspectors did not immediately disclose their findings." ... "On the
basis of satellite photos, U.S. intelligence analysts have suggested that
a new, square, steel-girder stand for holding and testing missile engines
at al-Rafah might be used for missiles larger than allowed under U.N. resolutions.
Iraq is forbidden to develop missiles over 90 miles in range."
-AP via -USATODAY
- "U.N.
Monitor Says Iraqis Are Denying Having Arms Cache."
... "Iraqi officials have told United Nations inspectors in Baghdad that
they have no weapons of mass destruction and expressed reservations about
inspections of President Saddam Hussein's palaces, Hans Blix, one of the
inspections chiefs, said here today." ... "Briefing the Security Council,
Mr. Blix said Iraqi officials had pledged to cooperate fully with the inspections,
but had also raised a host of skeptical questions about a declaration of
chemical,
biological and nuclear weapons due on Dec. 8." (1, 2)
-By Julia Preston -NYTimesvia
-AltaVista-News
- "Bush
hails military's private sector "outsourcing"." ...
"President Bush on Monday praised an Air Force base with a history of outsourcing
work to the private sector, something he wants to do with nearly half the
nation's federal civilian jobs." ... "Bush saluted saluted Offutt Air Force
Base in Nebraska, where he stopped during his zigzagging odyssey back to
Washington on Sept. 11, 2001." -By Scott Lindlaw
-AP via -Salon
-
- "Global
goofs: U.S. youth can't find Iraq: Young Americans
may soon have to fight a war in Iraq, but most of them can't even find
that country on a map, the National Geographic Society said Wednesday."
... "The society survey found that only about one in seven -- 13 percent
-- of Americans between the age of 18 and 24, the prime age for military
warriors, could find Iraq. The score was the same for Iran, an Iraqi neighbor."
-AP via -CNN
- "Security
overhaul OK'd: Reorganization to be the largest
in 50 years." ... "The Senate overwhelming approved the creation of a new
Department of Homeland Security yesterday, paving the way for the biggest
federal government reorganization in a half century and putting to rest
a contentious political issue." ... "By a 90-to-9 vote during the final
hours of an unusual lame-duck session, senators agreed to move 170,000
employees from 22 existing government agencies into a single department
dedicated to domestic security." ... "It will be the largest governmental
reorganization since 1947, when the United States realigned its military
under the Department of Defense and created the National Security Council
and the CIA." -By Susan Milligan
-Boston/Globe
-
- "A
year after Taliban, little change: The US pledged
more aid to Kabul, but Iraq may distract from rebuilding efforts." ...
""The situation in Iraq has done no good whatsoever for the situation in
Afghanistan," says Charles Heyman, a defense analyst and editor of Jane's
World Armies in London, referring to a waning interest in solving the problems
of this war-tattered nation. "Afghanistan is beginning to be put in the
'too-difficult' box."" ... "Instead, the country's competing ethnic groups,
the enduring power of local warlords, and a reluctance on the part of participating
nations to expand the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) beyond
the capital has led to an approach Mr. Heyman defines as "covering over
some patches when its possible, until anyone has some time to sort it out
properly."" -By Ilene R. Prusher
-CSMonitor
- "Will
Iraqi troops collapse or fight? Elite forces
are expected to show resolve, but ordinary troops may quickly lay down
arms." ... "One of the most unpredictable elements of a possible US-led
war against Iraq is how much resistance the 420,000-strong Iraqi military
would mount against a better-trained and better-equipped American and allied
force." ... "Top Pentagon officials, hopeful of swift victory, suggest
that the bulk of Iraqi soldiers would be unlikely to defend the government
for long -if at all. They cite the example of the 1991 Gulf War, when some
70,000 Iraqi troops laid down their arms during the first three or four
days." ... "Nevertheless, elite Republican Guard units and security forces
assigned to defend Baghdad and protect Iraqi President Saddam Hussein may
put up greater resistance." -By Ann Scott Tyson
-CSMonitor
|
- [PDF]
- "Iraq:
A strategic look. Iraq 101." 572k PDF via -CSMonitor |
|
-
-
- "Military trial
plans nearly done: Bush to decide which detainees
will be tried by tribunals." ... "The government is nearly ready to go
forward with military tribunals for suspected al Qaeda operatives in U.S.
custody in Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan, pending completion of final
details and approval from President Bush, according to federal officials."
... "Pentagon General Counsel William J. Haynes II has met in recent weeks
with senior officials in other agencies, including the Justice Department,
to outline the plans that have been put in place for the tribunals, also
known as military commissions." -By Susan Schmidt
and Bradley Graham-WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
- 
- "North
Korea issues new missile-test threat to Japan." ...
"North Korea kept up its recent threats to resume missile tests on Monday,
saying it may end its test moratorium if Tokyo goes ahead with developing
a missile defence shield with the United States." ... "Japanese Defence
Minister Shigeru Ishiba told the parliament earlier this month that if
studies over the missile shield yielded positive results, Japan should
step up the project to a development stage." -Reuters/Asia
- "U.S.
Turns Horn of Africa Into a Military Hub." ... "For
the first time since American troops withdrew from Somalia after a bloody
firefight in the streets of Mogadishu, the United States military is rebuilding
its combat power in the Horn of Africa." ... "The main goal this time is
to put American forces in position to strike cells of Al Qaeda in Yemen
or East Africa. But the Pentagon has also begun to use Djibouti to train
its forces in desert warfare — skills that could be applied in Washington's
campaign against terrorist groups or on the battlefields of Iraq." ...
"France, which had colonized Djibouti (pronounced ji-BOOT-e) before it
became independent in 1977, still maintains a force of 2,800 strong here.
Djibouti, in fact, is France's largest foreign military base." ... "The
Central Intelligence Agency is flying classified missions from an airfield
in Djibouti using the Predator, an pilotless drone equipped with Hellfire
missiles, according to Western officers." (1, 2,
3)
-By Michael R. Gordon
-NYTimes via
-AltaVista-News
Microsoft
News - 
-
- "Briton
Indicted as Hacker: Entry to U.S. Military
Systems Called Biggest Ever Detected." ... "An unemployed British computer
system administrator was indicted yesterday in Alexandria and New Jersey
on eight counts of computer fraud for alleging [sic] penetrating about
100 U.S. government computers, shutting down networks and corrupting data
in what U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty called "the biggest hack of military
computers ever detected."" ... "From February 2001 to March 2002, two federal
grand juries alleged, Gary McKinnon, 36, of London, exploited a known security
problem with Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 2000 to break into 92 computers
at NASA, the Pentagon, and more than a dozen military installations in
14 states." -By Brooke A. Masters-WashingtonPost
>TechNews
TIA:
Total Information Awareness - 
- "Pentagon
Plans a Computer System That Would Peek at Personal Data of Americans."
... "As the director of the effort, Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, has described
the system in Pentagon documents and in speeches, it will provide intelligence
analysts and law enforcement officials with instant access to information
from Internet mail and calling records to credit card and banking transactions
and travel documents, without a search warrant." ... "Historically, military
and intelligence agencies have not been permitted to spy on Americans without
extraordinary legal authorization." ... "In order to deploy such a system,
known as Total Information Awareness, new legislation would be needed,
some of which has been proposed by the Bush administration in the Homeland
Security Act that is now before Congress. That legislation would amend
the Privacy Act of 1974, which was intended to limit what government agencies
could do with private information." (1, 2)
-By John Markoff -NYTimes
via -LawMeme
-
- "Clock
Ticks for Hussein After Security Council Vote." ...
"By all accounts, United Nations inspectors will do very little inspecting
and will base their appraisal of Iraqi cooperation on the accuracy of the
"confession" that Mr. Hussein will have to make about the weapons projects
whose existence he had denied and which administration officials have said
he has been hiding in secret bunkers, underground caves and mobile laboratories."
... "But if Mr. Hussein fails to meet the detailed demands of the United
Nations inspection force, or if his disclosures do not tally with information
supplied to inspectors by American and other Western intelligence agencies,
Mr. Bush made clear today that the United States would declare him in "material
breach" of the Security Council resolution." (1, 2)
-By Patrick E. Tyler -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- "U.S. quietly
builds up around Iraq: Heavy equipment, 63,000
troops in position, awaiting word." ... "Throughout the region — from the
Persian Gulf to the Horn of Africa to Central Asia — there are at least
63,000 U.S. troops." ... "While nearly 14,000 of those troops are focused
on operations in Afghanistan, the bulk of those forces is in a position
to participate should the decision be made to attack Iraq in the weeks
or months ahead." ... "The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier battle group is
in the area — and F14s and F/A18s are flying missions over southern Iraq
as part of coalition patrols of no-fly zones." ... "Those jets — along
with Air Force F16s flying from Kuwait — are striking Iraq’s air defenses
in the south in response to the firing of Iraqi missiles or anti-aircraft
guns at U.S. and British jets on patrol.." ... " ... by mid-December, four
carrier battle groups could all be in striking distance of Iraq." -By
Tammy Kupperman -MS-NBC
-
- "U.N.
passes Iraq resolution on weapons inspections:
Bush: 'All nations must continue to pressure Saddam'" ... "The United Nations
Security Council on Friday approved a resolution that demands unfettered
access for U.N. inspectors to search for weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq." ... "All 15 member states of the Security Council voted in favor
of the resolution." ... "Iraq has seven days to accept the resolution's
terms." ... "Within 30 days, Iraq must send the U.N. a list of its
weapons." ... "Within 45 days, Iraq must allow inspections to begin."
... "Iraq is accused of possessing weapons of mass destruction -- nuclear,
biological, chemical -- in violation of the ceasefire treaty it signed
when Baghdad lost the 1991 Persian Gulf War." -Report
contributed to by Jane Arraf -CNN
-
-
-
- "US,
France agree on new Iraq resolution. " ... "The U.N.
Security Council set the vote for 10 a.m. EST after the United States and
its cosponsor Britain, at French urging, changed the wording in a key provision
that would declare Iraq in "material breach" of its U.N. obligations."
... "The change addresses concerns by France, Russia, Syria and others
that the original text would have let the United States determine on its
own whether Iraq had committed an infraction." -By
Edith M. Lederer -AP
via -Boston/Globe
- "US
hits Qaeda in Yemen: Fires missile from spy
plane, killing 6 in car." ... "A US missile fired from a [Predator] spy
plane destroyed a car in a lawless stretch of northern Yemen Sunday, killing
a senior Al Qaeda leader and five other members in the first American military
strike against the terrorist group outside Afghanistan since the Sept.
11, 2001, attacks." ... "The Hellfire missile was fired from a CIA-controlled,
unmanned plane, according to US officials quoted by news agencies. The
Yemeni news agency SABA said initial information indicated the dead included
Ali Qaed Sinan al-Harithi, also known as Abu Ali." -By
Anthony Shadid -Boston/Globe
- "Sharon
puts hardliner in defence post." ... "Ariel Sharon
has named as his new defence minister a former army chief of staff who
is under investigation by Scotland Yard for alleged war crimes in the occupied
territories." ... "The appointment of Lieutenant General Shaul Mofaz to
such a crucial post has confirmed suspicions that Israel's prime minister
would lurch further to the right after Labour walked out of his coalition
on Wednesday." -By Chris McGreal and Brian Whitaker
-Guardian.co.uk
- "U.S.
soldiers train for battle in streets of Iraq." ...
"Since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the Pentagon has been preparing soldiers
and Marines to fight battles in villages, towns and cities. Those cluttered
landscapes had been largely ignored as a training ground since the days
of World War II, when GIs slugged their way across Europe by seizing hundreds
of hamlets in close combat with the German Army." ... "The reason for the
renewed focus: By the end of this decade, three-quarters of the world's
population will live in metropolitan areas. And that's where the U.S. military's
top commanders expect to fight, in part because no conventional army would
want to battle America's high-tech, smart-bomb equipped force in the open."
... "At bases from Fayetteville, N.C. to Seattle, the Army and Marines
have built scale models of downtown areas to simulate the complexities
of urban fighting. Several blocks in size, these artificial cities are
used to teach soldiers and Marines a range of skills, from how to spot
booby-trapped buildings to fighting enemies who would have no qualms about
using civilians as human shields." -By Dave Moniz
-USATODAY
-
- "U.S.
and France Near Deal on Iraq Attack." ... "The United
States and France are moving toward a compromise on Iraq that would oblige
the Bush administration to consult the United Nations Security Council
before embarking on military action against Saddam Hussein but still leave
it the freedom to act alone." ... "American officials and foreign diplomats
said that under the proposed compromise, the United States would take part
in a Security Council debate if Iraq failed to comply with expected new
United Nations demands for the destruction of its chemical and biological
weapons." (1, 2)
-By Steven R. Weisman
-NYTimes via -Google-News
- "Experts:
Valium Gas Used in Raid." ... "Military experts and
toxicologists say Russian commandos probably pumped a gas containing Valium
into a Moscow theater to subtly disable and disorient heavily armed Chechen
rebels prior to Saturday's dramatic assault." ... "Experts also mentioned
BZ [a hallucinogenic drug], or 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, as a possibility
for the gas used by the Russians." ... "BZ was a research focus of the
U.S. Army during the Cold War at the former Edgewood Area labs near Washington.
It belongs to a class of drugs known as anticholinergics that interrupt
the brain's chemical messaging system between cells, leading to confusion
and hallucinations. It needs an hour to take effect, so authorities would've
had to release it into the theater long before the actual assault." -By
Joseph B. Verrengia -AP
via -SeattleTimes.NWsource
Sniper
- "Sniper
Hunt Culminates in 2 Arrests: Two Arrested
in D.C.-Area Sniper Case; Law Enforcement Sources Certain They Have Culprits."
... "The weapon found in the Chevrolet Caprice was a Bushmaster rifle,
according to a law enforcement source." ... "The AR-15 is the civilian
form of the M-16 military assault rifle. As a soldier, Muhammad received
a Marksmanship Badge with expert rating the highest of three ratings in
use of the M-16, according to Army records. Police also found a scope and
tripod in the car, the official said." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- Sniper
- "Ex-Army
Marksman, Teen-Ager Arrested in Sniper Case." ...
"A Gulf War veteran who was an expert Army marksman was arrested along
with a teen-ager on Thursday in the Washington area sniper case, fueling
hopes a three-week murder spree that left 10 dead was over." ... "The two
were arrested while they slept in a car at a highway rest stop in rural
Maryland, and authorities found a Bushmaster .223 caliber rifle inside.
The sniper's victims were all felled with .223 caliber ammunition." ...
"Government sources identified the two as former U.S. Army combat engineer
John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17." - By
Mark Wilkinson -Reuters
via -ABCNEWS.com
Sniper
- "Sniper
spy in the sky." ... "The army spy plane that is
taking to the skies above the Washington area is a sign of the intense
pressure investigators are under as they struggle with a lack of clues."
... "RC-7 reconnaissance planes are loaded with camera equipment with a
range of up to 20 miles (32 kilometres), advanced night vision and heat-seeking
equipment." -By Kathryn Westcott
-BBC/News
- "Yemen
feels the backlash." ... "Yemen's support for the
USA's 'war on terrorism' may be having a negative effect on the peace and
stability of the country - as evidenced by the attack on the French tanker
Limburg." ... "To avert the burgeoning threat, US special-forces trainers
have deployed to Yemen in the past year for a continuing training programme
to assist the government in the creation of a counter-terrorism unit. A
Yemeni official told Jane's Defence Weekly that teams of 20-30 trainers
from US Special Operations Command have worked in Yemen, training local
soldiers on 2-3 week courses before returning to bases outside the country.
The official said, however, there are no US forces based in Yemen. A permanent
US presence would not be accepted by Yemen's powerful tribes." -By
Richard Engel -Jane's/Defence/Weekly
TIA:
Total Information Awareness -
- "DARPA
developing info awareness." ... "The Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency is developing a total information awareness system
to enable national security analysts to detect, classify, track, understand
and pre-empt terrorist attacks against the United States." ... "Total information
awareness incorporates transactional data systems, biometric authentication
technologies, intelligence data and automated virtual data repositories,
with the goal of creating an "end-to-end, closed-loop system," Popp said."
... "The office's budget for fiscal 2003 is about $150 million, up from
about $96 million last year, and a "significant amount" of that funding
is being spent on the total information awareness system, Popp said." -Dan
Caterinicchia
-FCW.com
- "U.S.
Not Certain if Pyongyang [North Korea] Has the Bomb."
... "Confronted by new American intelligence, North Korea has admitted
that it has been conducting a major clandestine nuclear-weapons development
program for the past several years, the Bush administration said tonight.
Officials added that North Korea had also informed them that it has now
"nullified" its 1994 agreement with the United States to freeze all nuclear
weapons development activity." ... "Administration officials refused to
say tonight [20021016]
whether the North Koreans had acknowledged successfully producing a nuclear
weapon from the project, which uses highly enriched uranium. Nor would
administration officials who briefed reporters say whether they think North
Korea has produced such a weapon." (1, 2)
-By
David E. Sanger -NYTimes via
-AltaVista-News
Sniper
- "Barbara
Starr: Military joins sniper probe." ... "The aircraft
to be used are the RC-7 and U-21 -- small fixed-wing planes packed advanced
technology, including sensors. They are all-weather planes that have the
capability of operating round the clock." ... "STARR: Under the posse comitatus
law, which dates back originally to 1878, no military involvement [is allowed]
in law enforcement. And that means they can't pursue, they can't target,
they have no powers of arrest." ... "But in recent years, what has come
to happen is the military can provide assistance, and of course, the best
example is the drug enforcement issue, drug interdiction." ...
-CNNSniper
- "Secret
Military Spy Planes Enlisted in Hunt for Sniper."
... "The Pentagon agreed today to patrol the skies over the nation's capital
with secret surveillance planes — now used to combat drug lords in Colombia
and track military movements in North Korea — as part of a broadening effort
to catch the sniper in the Washington area." ... "While senior Pentagon
officials considered a range of aircraft, including unmanned drones like
the Predators used in Afghanistan and Navy P-3 Orion surveillance planes,
military officials settled on the unusual Army plane because of its technical
capabilities and because it blends in with civilian aircraft flying in
the Washington airspace." ... "The aircraft is a four-engine turbo-prop
DeHavilland DHC-7 equipped with an array of special sensors that can provide
high-resolution imagery as well as other detection capabilities." (1, 2)
-By Eric Lichtblau and Eric Schmitt -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- "Bombing
in Bali Seen as Opening New Front in Fight on Terror."
... "The blast that killed nearly 200 people on the Indonesian resort island
of Bali this weekend is a different type of terrorism from what the Bush
administration has campaigned against, and will open a new geographic front
in that campaign, Western officials said yesterday." ... "The target was
not an American embassy, military outpost or financial institution that
would represent American power, of the sort that terrorists have attacked
in the past. Rather, it was a nightclub whose revelers were mostly Europeans
and Australians; indeed, Indonesians were often turned away at the door."
(1, 2)
-By Raymond Bonner -NYTimesvia
-AltaVista-News
- "Congress
Passes Iraq War Resolution: Congress Approves
Use of U.S. Military Force to Confront Iraq, Send Resolution to White House."
... "Congress approved the use of America's military might against Iraq,
reinforcing President Bush's insistence that Saddam Hussein's government
had no other option but to disarm. "The days of Iraq acting as an outlaw
state are coming to an end," Bush said." ... "After days of solemn debate,
both the House and Senate passed and sent to the White House a resolution
authorizing the president to use military force, if necessary, to compel
Iraq to get rid of its biological and chemical weapons and disband its
nuclear weapons program." -APvia
-ABCNEWS.com
-West
Coast Port Lockout
- "Bush
Invokes Taft-Hartley Act to Open West Coast Ports."
... "In seeking to suspend the shutdown for 80 days, Mr. Bush became the
first president to successfully invoke the Taft-Hartley Act emergency provisions
since President Richard M. Nixon sought to stop a longshoremen's strike
in 1971." ... "Mr. Bush said he was worried about the movement of military
supplies. The Pentagon often uses commercial shipping lines to send supplies
and equipment overseas, and those lines would undoubtedly fill that role
from the busy West Coast ports if fighting erupted in Iraq or elsewhere
in the Middle East." -By David E. Sanger with Steven
Greenhouse -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
-
"Clues
Suggest Iraq Has Smallpox: Some Clues, Including
Camel Virus Experiment, Suggest Iraq Has Smallpox, Experts Say." ... "Clues
include U.N. weapons inspectors' discovery of a machine labeled "smallpox"
and Iraq's experimenting with a related virus that infects camels. The
official U.S. position, shared by some experts, is that the evidence is
inconclusive." ... ""I don't believe the intelligence community has a smoking
gun that Iraq possesses the virus," said Jonathan Tucker, a former U.N.
biological weapons inspector. "My impression is they're erring on the side
of caution on these bits of circumstantial evidence that are troubling
but not conclusive."" -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Bush
faces crucial week in forging unity on Iraq:
Monday speech, likely vote in Congress, and UN maneuvering will test support
for US action." ... "The Senate's more guarded response on Iraq seems to
mirror the American mood. A poll released last week by the respected Program
on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland shows that
while a strong majority supports an invasion of Iraq if it is carried out
with multilateral support, only a small minority favors an invasion by
America acting alone." -By Howard LaFranchi
-CSMonitor/buy
-
- "Israel
Set to Use New Missile Shield to Counter Scuds."
... "Palmachim Air Force Base, Israel — Israel has deployed an operational
missile defense and is ready to use it to protect Tel Aviv and other major
population centers if they come under fire from Iraq's arsenal of Scud
missiles." ... "Known as the Arrow, the system is designed to avoid the
pitfalls of the American Patriot system, which Israelis say had little
success in stopping Iraq's Scud missile attacks during the Persian Gulf
war in 1991." -By Michael R. Gordon
-NYTimes via
-AltaVista-News
Quad
Cities - 
-
- "Leach
says he will not back Iraq resolution." ... "U.S.
Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, said Wednesday he will break with the Bush administration
and oppose a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq." ...
"The Davenport native said there is too great a danger of such action resulting
in a biological weapons attack against Israel and an Israeli nuclear counterattack.
“This is a circumstance we should step back from,” he added." -By
Ed Tibbetts -QCTimes
- "Powell:
Saddam can avert ouster." ... "Secretary of State
Colin Powell suggested Wednesday that President Bush's policy of "regime
change" in Iraq could leave Saddam Hussein in power if he disarms fully."
-By Barbara Slavin -USATODAY
-
"Elections
weigh on Iraq debate: Partisan battling between
Democrats and Bush may slow war-resolution vote in Congress – and consensus
at UN." -By Peter Grier and Linda Feldmann
-CSMonitor/buy
- "U.S.
Children Trapped in Ivory Coast Flown to Ghana."
... "Armed United States soldiers stood by the C-130 plane as about 20
Americans went aboard in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast's capital, where they
were taken by French troops who rescued them on Wednesday." ... "A total
of 191 Westerners — 148 Americans, including 98 children, and 43 others,
including French and Canadians —were escorted from the International Christian
Academy in Bouaké, where they had been trapped for six days." -By
Norimitsu Onishi -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- "An
Iraq war's economic toll: Early estimates put
the total cost as high as $200 billion, but economists say it's hard to
figure the actual impact." ... "Despite the uncertainties, hardly any economist
thinks the cost of the conflict will be too onerous for the economy. The
Gulf War cost about $80 billion, or about 1 percent of US gross domestic
product. Early estimates put a second Iraq war between $100 billion and
$200 billion – again about 1 to 2 percent of GDP." ... "But estimating
the cost of the war is also slippery for economists." -By
Ron Scherer -CSMonitor/buy
- "Experts
skeptical of reports on al-Qaeda-Baghdad link." ...
"A Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, called the new
assertions an "exaggeration." Other intelligence experts said some of the
charges appeared to be based on old information and that there was still
no "smoking gun" connecting Iraq with the Sept. 11 attacks on the United
States." ... "Vince Cannistraro, former CIA counterterrorism chief," ....
"... accused the Bush administration of overstating uncorroborated information
from al-Qaeda detainees. "They're cooking the books," Cannistraro said."
-By Barbara Slavin and John Diamond
-USATODAY
- "U.S.
Has 'Solid Evidence' of Al Qaeda Operating in Iraq."
... "The United States has "solid evidence" senior al Qaeda operatives
have been in Baghdad, Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today.
He could not confirm whether such individuals are still in Iraq." ... "The
secretary said intelligence shared among Coalition members about the al
Qaeda relationship with Iraq is "evolving" and of "varying degrees of reliability."
Some intelligence was culled from interviews with high-ranking al Qaeda
detainees in U.S. custody, Rumsfeld said during an afternoon Pentagon media
briefing." ... "Intelligence agencies have confirmed contacts between Iraq
and al Qaeda's leaders. Rumsfeld said the two entities have discussed "safe-
haven opportunities in Iraq (and) reciprocal nonaggression" agreements,
among other issues." ... ""The reports of these contacts have been increasing
since 1998," Rumsfeld said, and have expanded to include "credible evidence"
that al Qaeda leaders sought contacts in Iraq for assistance in acquiring
weapons of mass destruction capabilities." ... "One report, in particular,
indicates that Iraq provided training in chemical and biological weapons
to al Qaeda." ... "Rumsfeld again reminded that the U.S. goal in dealing
with Iraq isn't finding absolute proof, but preventing attacks on America
and her allies." ... ""It is a puzzle," he said about drawing conclusions
from scraps of intelligence from various sources. "It is the task of taking
these disparate pieces and putting them together so that people can make
their own judgment."" ... -By Kathleen T. Rhem
-DefenseLINK.mil/news
- "USA
addresses basing options in Gulf region." ... "As
the UN endeavours to pursue a diplomatic initiative to resolve the 'Iraqi
problem' – ostensibly through a possible new resolution on the scope of
weapons inspections in Iraq – the administration of US President George
Bush renewed its determination to employ a military option to realise its
goal of 'regime change' in Baghdad." ... "As JDW went to press, Bush announced
on 18 September that the White House would draft a Congressional resolution
by 22 September authorising the use of force against Iraq." ... "In the
interim, US Department of Defense (DoD) and armed forces planners are addressing
the logistical issues of a likely assault on Iraq, and preparing contingency
plans for pre-positioning naval assets, personnel and materiel in the Gulf
region. Washington has also secured the right to use bases in Bahrain,
Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emirates." -By Robin
Hughes -Jane's/Defence/Weekly
- "A
Bush vision of Pax Americana: National strategy,
released Friday, calls for US dominance to expand global peace." ... "And
it provides a reason the world should accept this state of affairs: the
expansion of peace and more freedom. A Pax Americana will be "in the service
of a balance of power that favors freedom."" ... "Critics are already describing
the new strategy as arrogant and dangerous – a far cry from the tone of
humility in foreign affairs promised in President Bush's inaugural address.
To supporters, it represents an overdue codification of America's mission
of global leadership." -By Gail Russell Chaddock
-CSMonitor/buy
- "Iraq
Vows Not to Abide by Any New U.N. Vote: Limiting
Agreement to Existing Terms Suggests Baghdad May Reject Inspections Linked
to Force." ... "The announcement also appeared to be designed to pressure
Russia, China and France -- which have veto power on the Security Council
-- to oppose the Bush administration's effort to pass a new resolution
permitting military action if Hussein fails to comply with existing council
resolutions mandating weapons inspections and other actions by the Iraqi
government." -By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
-WashingtonPost
- "IDF
halts demolition work inside Muqata." ... "The IDF
halted its demolition of buildings inside Palestinian Authority Chairman
Yasser Ararat's Ramallah
compound Sunday, following American pressure to calm the situation
in the compound, described by the White House as "not helpful."" -By
Amos Harel, Amira Hass and Arnon Regular -Ha'aretzDaily
- "At
the Heart of Rwanda's Horror: General's History
Offers Clues to the Roots of Genocide." ... "... Augustin Bizimungu, former
chief of staff of the Rwandan army, sits with 53 others in a detention
center in Arusha, Tanzania, awaiting trial by the U.N.-mandated International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. He is accused of being an architect of the
state-sponsored genocide that killed more than 800,000 people." ... "Over
100 days in 1994, after the assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana,
Rwanda's Hutu majority carried out the organized slaughter of the country's
Tutsi minority and Hutus who sympathized with them." -By
Emily Wax -WashingtonPost
- "Liberian
Troops, Rebels Battle." ... "Liberian forces are
battling a northern-based rebel movement which has been fighting to oust
[President Charles] Taylor, a former warlord who won presidential elections
in 1997 –seven years after he launched a civil war that devastated the
West African nation." -By Jonathan Paye-Layleh
-AP via -WashingtonPost
- "U.S.
ready to attack Iraq: general." ... "The commander
of U.S. forces based in the Gulf has said he is prepared for an attack
on Iraq." ... "General Tommy Franks, the commander of the U.S. Central
Command, said Saturday: "We are prepared to undertake whatever activities
and whatever actions we may be directed to take by our nation." ... "But
Franks added: "The president of the United States has not made a decision
to go to war." -CNN
/Asia
- "Explosions
rock Palestinian HQ." ...Explosions rocked Yasser
Arafat's compound, showering the frail Palestinian leader with debris Saturday,
as the Israeli army systematically flattened every main building around
him." ... "Arafat, confined to a few rooms in a wing of his office building,
remained defiant, saying he would not capitulate, but also called for an
end to attacks in Israel. Israel has demanded that he hand over 20 wanted
men it says are with him." -By Jamie Tarabay
-AP via -Miami/Herald
- "Arafat
under siege again after Tel Aviv suicide bombing."
... "Yasser Arafat, caught in the tightest Israeli chokehold yet, pleaded
for the world's help after troops blew up buildings in his compound Friday
and started digging a deep trench and running coils of barbed wire around
his office." ... "The White House urged Israel to show restraint, suggesting
that too harsh a reprisal for a suicide bombing claimed by Arafat's Islamic
militant rivals would upset efforts to reform the Palestinian Authority
and secure a truce." -By Jamie Tarabay
-AP via -SFGate.com
- "IAEA
Says Can't Prove Iraq Making Nuclear Weapons." ...
"The United Nations nuclear watchdog said Monday it had information [satellite
images] that could indicate Iraq was attempting to revive its nuclear weapons
program, but on-site inspections were needed to draw clear conclusions."
-Reuters via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Iraq
accepts return of weapons inspectors." ... "Iraq
unconditionally accepted the return of U.N. weapons inspectors late Monday,
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said." ... ""I can confirm to you that
I have received a letter from the Iraqi authorities conveying its decision
to allow the return of inspectors without conditions to continue their
work."" -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
- "Saudis vow
support for the UN on Iraq: U.S. could use
bases if Security Council authorizes attack, new stance suggests." ...
"The Saudi minister, Prince Saud al Faisal, said that if there was a Security
Council resolution backing military action, all members of the United Nations
would have to honor it." ... "Senior Bush administration officials reacted
to Saud's comments on Sunday with both optimism and caution." -By
Todd S. Purdum -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
- "The
Times: Exiled Iraqi says nuclear bomb months away."
... "The British newspaper said Dr Khidir Hamza, described as a top Iraqi
nuclear researcher who fled to the West in 1994, believed that Iraq was
able to make copies of a German-built centrifuge and use them to enrich
uranium smuggled from Brazil to produce a nuclear bomb within the next
few months." ... "The German-built centrifuge was dismantled by international
arms inspectors before they were withdrawn from Iraq in 1998. But Hamza
told the Times that Iraqi scientists had studied how the centrifuge was
built and learned how to copy it." -By Amos Harel
-Ha'aretzDaily
-
-
- "War
Could Unshackle Oil in Iraq: U.S. Drillers
Eye Huge Petroleum Pool." ... "A U.S.-led ouster of Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein could open a bonanza for American oil companies long banished from
Iraq, scuttling oil deals between Baghdad and Russia, France and other
countries, and reshuffling world petroleum markets, according to industry
officials and leaders of the Iraqi opposition." ... "The importance of
Iraq's oil has made it potentially one of the administration's biggest
bargaining chips in negotiations to win backing from the U.N. Security
Council and Western allies for President Bush's call for tough international
action against Hussein. All five permanent members of the Security Council
-- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- have international
oil companies with major stakes in a change of leadership in Baghdad."
-By Dan Morgan and David B. Ottaway
-WashingtonPost
- "Bush
presses the UN." ... "''Saddam Hussein has defied
the United Nations 16 times. Not once, not twice, 16 times, he has defied
the UN,'' said Bush, who this week challenged the world body to enforce
its resolutions on Iraqi disarmament. ''Enough is enough.''" ... "''The
UN will either be able to function as a peacekeeping body as we head into
the 21st century, or it will be irrelevant,'' Bush said. ''That's what
we're about to find out.''" ... "Though many countries praised Bush for
turning to the United Nations, his speech also drew criticism for failing
to provide evidence supporting the need for a preemptive strike on Iraq."
-By Patricia Wilson -Reuters
via -Boston/Globe
- "As
Bush prods U.N. to act, Iraq braces for U.S. invasion:
Even with more weapons inspections, officials suspect he'll try to oust
Saddam." ... "Iraqi officials braced for war Saturday as President Bush
prodded the United Nations to ``show some backbone'' by forcing Iraq to
end its pursuit of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons." ... "Bush,
whose speech to the United Nations on Thursday softened international opposition
to his plans, has support from [Italian Prime Minister Silvio] Berlusconi,
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Spanish President José Mara Aznar
and Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski." -By
Ron Hutcheson and Warren P. Strobel -MercuryNews
-
- 
- "U.S.
pilots face charges in Afghan bombing of Canadians."
... "The U.S. Air Force is expected to announce criminal charges as early
as Friday against two American F-16 fighter pilots who mistakenly bombed
Canadian troops in Afghanistan in April, killing four and injuring eight,
U.S. defence officials said on Thursday." -By Charles
Aldinger -Reuters/Asia
- "UN
speech wins over Bush critics, fans in Congress:
Hawks, doves like call for all nations to act in concert." ... "Hawks and
skeptics on Capitol Hill found something to like in President Bush's speech
yesterday to the United Nations, with one camp praising the president's
harsh indictment of Saddam Hussein, and the other expressing relief that
Bush appeared willing to involve the international community and possibly
give more weapons inspections a try before ordering a military strike."
-By Susan Milligan
-Boston/Globe
-
-
- "Iraq
attack could alter world rules: Bush takes
his case for 'regime change' to the UN General Assembly." ... "Advocating
preemptive military action against Baghdad before it uses its alleged chemical,
biological, or nuclear weapons, Mr. Bush is challenging United Nations
rules on sovereignty and the acceptable use of force that have underpinned
global relations for three generations." -CSMonitor/buy
- "President
Bush's address to the United Nations. [CNN Full-Text Transcript]."
Highlights: "The history, the logic and the facts lead to one conclusion:
Saddam Hussein regime is a grave and gathering danger." ... "To suggest
otherwise is to hope against the evidence. To assume this regime's good
faith is to bet the lives of millions and the peace of the world in a reckless
gamble, and this is a risk we must not take." ... "The first time we may
be completely certain he has nuclear weapons is when, God forbid, he uses
one. We owe it to all our citizens to do everything in our power to prevent
that day from coming." ... "The United States help found the United Nations.
We want the United Nations to be effective and respectful and successful.
We want the resolutions of the world's most important multilateral body
to be enforced. And right now those resolutions are being unilaterally
subverted by the Iraqi regime." ... "My nation will work with the U.N.
Security Council to meet our common challenge. If Iraq's regime defies
us again, the world must move deliberately, decisively to hold Iraq to
account. We will work with the U.N. Security Council for the necessary
resolutions." ... "But the purposes of the United States should not be
doubted. The Security Council resolutions will be enforced, the just demands
of peace and security will be met or action will be unavoidable and a regime
that has lost its legitimacy will also lose its power."
-CNN
- "Study:
Iraq Could Make N-Bomb." ... "The IISS [the International
Institute for Strategic Studies] said Saddam had subordinated all other
foreign policy goals and his country's economic development to his relentless
drive for weapons of mass destruction, enduring more than a decade of sanctions
rather than obey U.N. resolutions." -By Paul Taylor
-Reuters
- Press Release on: - "Iraq’s
Weapons of Mass Destruction: A Net Assessment:
An IISS Strategic Dossier." ... "Had the Gulf War not intervened,
Iraq could have accumulated a nuclear stockpile of a dozen or so weapons
by the end of the decade." ... "After its invasion of Kuwait, Baghdad
stepped up large scale BW agent production and assembled rudimentary BW
[biological weapons] munitions. These weapons were distributed to military
units, who were delegated to use them if coalition forces advanced on Baghdad
or used nuclear weapons." ... "This Strategic Dossier does not attempt
to make a case, either way, as to whether Saddam Hussein’s WMD arsenal
is a casus belli per se. Wait and the threat will grow; strike and
the threat may be used." [bold in original] -Press
Statement By Dr. John Chipman, IISS Director. -IISS.org
- "Coalition
forces strike anti-ship missile in Iraq." -CNN
/Europe
- "Disarm
Iraq Quickly, Bush to Urge U.N.: Failure to
Move May Lead to U.S. Action." ... "President Bush plans to tell world
leaders at the United Nations next week that unless they take quick, unequivocally
strong action to disarm Iraq, the United States will be forced to act on
its own, senior administration officials said yesterday." -By
Karen DeYoung and Mike Allen-WashingtonPost
- "Allied
aircraft attack Iraqi air base." ... "Two to three
separate targets on the airbase were pinpointed for destruction. A command
center, an air defense radar site and a cable repeater were among those
targets, the official said." -By Mike Mount -CNN
/Europe
- "Congress
Now Promises to Hold Weeks of Hearings About Iraq."
... "Congressional leaders said today that they would undertake weeks of
hearings and debate on whether to support military action against Iraq,
a move that could delay a final vote until after the November elections."
... "Even as Congressional leaders discussed an extended timetable, a United
Nations official said today that international weapons inspectors had identified
several nuclear-related sites in Iraq where new construction or other unexplained
changes had occurred since their last visit nearly four years ago." -By
David Firestone and David E. Sanger -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- "Making
Case to Hit First." ... "Implicitly, Mr. Bush has
agreed to engage the country in a discussion over a fundamental change
in America's national security strategy: his doctrine that perilous times
have forced the United States to assert a right to launch pre-emptive strikes
against any state that could put weapons of mass destruction into the hands
of terrorists." ... "Any resolution approving pre-emptive action could
set a precedent that could be used in a variety of other conflicts, and
will almost certainly be seized upon by other nations — maybe China in
its confrontation with Taiwan, or India in its conflict with Pakistan —
as they pursue their own agendas." -By David E. Sanger
-NYTimes via
-AltaVista-News
- ANTHRAX
NEWS
- "Uncertain
Ability to Deliver a Blow: Iraq Cobbles Together
Weapons Systems With Mixed Results, Analysts Say." ... "In the waning hours
of Operation Desert Fox in 1998, a British missile sheared off the top
of a military hangar in southern Iraq and exposed a closely guarded secret.
Plainly visible in the rubble was a new breed of Iraqi drone aircraft --
one that defense analysts now believe was specially modified to spread
deadly chemicals and germs." ... "Up to a dozen of the unmanned airplanes
were spotted inside the hangar, each fitted with spray nozzles and wing-mounted
tanks that could carry up to 80 gallons of liquid anthrax. If flown at
low altitudes under the right conditions, a single drone could unleash
a toxic cloud engulfing several city blocks, a top British defense official
concluded. He dubbed them "drones of death."" -By
Joby Warrick -WashingtonPost
-
"Saddam:
U.S. 'believes it should control the world'." ...
""America," Saddam was quoted as saying, "believes it should control the
world. But some of the world's states have nuclear bombs and this is not
feasible."" -By James Martone
-CNN
- "First
Among Evils? The Debate Over Attacking Iraq Heats Up."
... "But one thing has changed: the regional threat that Iraq poses now
has more clearly global implications. Its efforts to inflame the Israeli-Palestinian
fight reverberate in America's extremely delicate relationships in the
Middle East, and those relationships are critical to its ability to secure
aid and sympathy in its war on terrorism. Beyond that, the administration
is convinced that sooner or later Al Qaeda and Mr. Hussein will find a
mutuality of interests, with Iraq providing chemical, biological or nuclear
materials and Al Qaeda the bodies to deliver them.'' -By
David E. Sanger -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
Osama
bin Laden
- "Bin
Laden Said to Be Back at Helm of Al Qaeda." ... "Osama
bin Laden is firmly back in command of al Qaeda and the group is digging
in for guerrilla attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan, an Arab journalist
with close ties to the militant's associates said." ... "Abdel-Bari Atwan,
editor of the London-based daily al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, said Tuesday
al Qaeda associates recently told him the network had regained confidence
after facing intense U.S. bombing and was ready to fight U.S. troops over
the long haul." -By Michael Georgy -Reuters
via -Miami/Herald
- "Iraq strike
faces chorus of opposition: White House determined
amid resistance from major countries, key allies." ... "On Wednesday, U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan joined a chorus of voices urging the United
States to resist attacking Iraq. His comments echoed those of regional
allies that would be key to carrying out such a strike, such as Qatar and
Saudi Arabia, as well as major world powers including Germany and China.
Even so, the Bush administration remains adamant in its position, saying
it will make the “right” choice, even if it is a lonely one."-MSNBC
-
- "Bush
makes case to hit Iraq; Saudis still say no." ...
"... a Saudi spokesman, Adel al Jubeir, made the rounds on television shows
to make it clear that the Saudi position about how to deal with Saddam
was unchanged." -By David E. Sanger
-NYTimes via -Miami/Herald
- "Cheney
speech seen setting path to war." ... "The Bush administration
has set itself on a ''path toward war'' against Iraq with Vice President
Dick Cheney's forceful speech on Monday, accelerating the campaign to win
over allies to oust Saddam Hussein, conservative and liberal analysts agreed
yesterday." ... "Cheney, who delivered the address Monday to the 103d National
Convention of Veterans of Foreign Wars with little advance fanfare, called
Iraq a mortal threat and said that Iraq was systematically building up
offensive weapons of mass destruction ''for the purpose of inflicting death
on a massive scale.''" -By John Donnelly and Susan
Milligan -Boston/Globe
-
"Key
Iraqi Site Reportedly Bombed." ... "A U.S.-British
air raid in southern Iraq this weekend destroyed a major military surveillance
site that monitors American troops in the Persian Gulf, witnesses said
Tuesday." -By Salah Nasrawi
-AP via -Miami/Herald
- "US-Russia
ties jolted by crisis in Georgia: Georgia sent
1,000 troops into Pankisi Gorge Sunday." ... "Russia received a stinging
rebuke from the White House over the weekend, after Russian planes on Friday
reportedly bombed targets some 20 miles inside the border of its southern
neighbor Georgia. Sunday, a force of 1,000 Georgian Interior Ministry troops
began an anticriminal, antiterror operation in the volatile Pankisi Gorge,
according to wire reports. The gorge is a suspected refuge for Islamic
militants." -By Scott Peterson -CSMonitor/buy
- "Bush
Aides Say Iraq War Needs No Hill Vote: Some
See Such Support As Politically Helpful." ... "Lawyers for President Bush
have concluded he can launch an attack on Iraq without new approval from
Congress, in part because they say permission remains in force from the
1991 resolution giving Bush's father authority to wage war in the Persian
Gulf, according to administration officials." Also cited are "the
Constitution's designation of the president as commander-in-chief," as
well as the "Sept. 14 resolution – passed 98 to 0 in the Senate and 420
to 1 in the House – endorsing a military response to the terrorist attacks
on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. That argument would depend
on linking Iraq and al Qaeda." -By Mike Allen and
Juliet Eilperin -WashingtonPost
- "Iraq
Said to Plan Tangling the U.S. in Street Fighting."
... "Overmatched militarily, Iraq now regards its best option to be raising
the political and military costs of an attack for the United States and
any allies it may be able to attract, in the hope that Iraq's foes will
lose their stomach for an invasion, analysts say." ... "Iraq has also sought
to inflame the Arab-Israeli conflict by providing money to the families
of Palestinian suicide bombers. Its calculation is that Washington will
find it too difficult to assemble a coalition for action against Iraq if
the Middle East is in crisis." (1, 2)
-By Michael R. Gordon -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- "GOP
debate over Iraq heats up." ... "Republicans sounded
a mixed message Sunday for President Bush about whether, when and how to
use military action to remove Saddam Hussein from power." ... "Bush did
not expect such divergence among leading Republicans, which broke into
the open in recent weeks from lawmakers including Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska,
the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Rep.
Dick Armey of Texas, the House majority leader."
-AP via -CNN
- "Abu
Nidal murder trail leads directly to Iraqi regime."
... "It has now become very clear and much confirmed that the Iraqi regime
headed by Saddam Hussein was directly responsible for the assassination
of the Palestinian terrorist Sabri al-Bana, known to the world as Abu Nidal."
... "So why has Saddam acted now? The best explanation is that the Iraqi
dictator is now feeling the pressure from the ongoing US deliberations
over a potential invasion to topple his regime. In any such adventure,
the anti-Saddam elements within Iraq would most likely play an important
role in turning the tide against Saddam. He has therefore moved to eradicate
those dangerous elements, both as a pre-emptive measure to protect his
position and as an example to other prospective internal enemies still
at large." -By Mohammed Najib
-Jane's/DefenceWeekly
- "Iraq
war to carry a high tab: It may run as high
as $100 billion, although some analysts see an economic upside." -By
Howard LaFranchi -CSMonitor/buy
- "Rice:
Saddam is an 'evil man'." ... "National Security
Adviser Condoleezza Rice called Iraq's Saddam Hussein an "evil man" in
a [BBC] broadcast interview Thursday, saying he would wreak havoc on the
world if the West does nothing to stop him." ... ""History is littered
with cases of inaction that led to have grave consequences for the world.
We just have to look back and ask how many dictators who ended up being
a tremendous global threat and killing thousands and, indeed, millions
of people, should we have stopped in their tracks," she added." ... "Brent
Scowcroft, who served as national security adviser to the first President
Bush during the Gulf War, cautioned against taking on Saddam with the war
on terrorism in progress." ... ""...the central point is that any campaign
against Iraq ... is certain to divert us for some indefinite period from
our war on terrorism. Worse, there is a virtual consensus in the world
against an attack on Iraq at this time,'["] Scowcroft wrote in Thursday's
Wall Street Journal." -AP
via -USATODAY
- "Arab
anger limits US battle strategy: Arab allies
– including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia – are increasingly critical
of US plans for attacking Iraq." ... "Rather than fight the tide of Arab
resistance to the idea of an invasion of Iraq, US political and military
planners are already trying to work around it, say Western analysts." ...
"Since the invasion of Afghanistan, the US military has built up a substantial
flotilla –including an armed forces contingent of some 50,000 soldiers
in the area of the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, the northern Red Sea, the Horn
of Africa and Central Asia, according to Lt. Commander Matthew Klee with
US Central Command in Florida." -By Philip Smucker
-CSMonitor/buy
- "Kurds
offer territory for Iraq attack: A prominent
Iraqi Kurdish opposition leader said Tuesday U.S. military forces would
be "welcomed" at areas in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq to stage attacks
against Saddam Hussein's regime." ... "Jalal Talabani, founder and secretary-general
of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that after
weekend meetings with top Bush administration officials, he and other Iraqi
opposition leaders are convinced the United States is now serious about
ousting Hussein." -CNN
- "Urban
combat likely in an Iraq war." ... ""It's going to
involve Iraqis hiding behind civilian populations, ambushing us from the
basements and roofs of various buildings, trying to use shoulder-launched
weaponry against our helicopters and making life difficult," said Michael
O'Hanlon, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, a public policy
think tank." ... ""We will win, but we could lose a thousand or more people
if things go badly."" -CNN
-
- "Sources:
Pentagon plans around Saudi bases." ... "Pentagon
war planning for Iraq includes options that rely on either limited or no
access to bases in Saudi Arabia, U.S. officials told CNN Wednesday, adding
that the United States expects to be given permission to fly through Saudi
air space if it attacks Iraq." -By Jamie McIntyre
-CNN
- "[Japanese]
Defense network breach probed." ... "[Japanese] Police
join Fujitsu to trace extortionists." ... "Police joined the Defense Agency
and prime computer network contractor Fujitsu Ltd. on Tuesday to plug a
leak of information about proprietary local area networks (LAN) developed
by Fujitsu for the nation's Ground and Air Self-Defense Forces." ... "The
Defense Agency and Fujitsu sources said the leaked information involved
details about network connections and Internet protocol addresses for servers
that link Ground Self-Defense Force and Air Self- Defense Force headquarters
offices and regional units, as well as remote terminals."
-Asahi>English
- "Briefing
Depicted Saudis as Enemies: Ultimatum Urged
To Pentagon Board." ... "A briefing given last month to a top Pentagon
advisory board described Saudi Arabia as an enemy of the United States,
and recommended that U.S. officials give it an ultimatum to stop backing
terrorism or face seizure of its oil fields and its financial assets invested
in the United States." ... A RAND Corporation analyst, Laurent Murawiec,
presented the briefing "on July 10 to the Defense Policy Board, a group
of prominent intellectuals and former senior officials that advises the
Pentagon on defense policy." -By Thomas E. Ricks-WashingtonPost
USS-Monitor
- "Historic
USS Monitor turret raised." ... "The silt-packed
turret of the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor was raised today from the
Atlantic floor, nearly 140 years after the historic warship sank during
a New Year’s storm." ... "The turret, on which hung an American flag, was
raised at the end of a heavy cable attached to a crane on a 300-foot work
barge." -By Mark St. John Erickson
-AP via -Newsday.com
USS-Monitor
- "Diver
positioning cables to pull up gun turret from ocean floor."
... "The Union ship and the Confederate vessel CSS Virginia revolutionized
naval warfare when they fought to a draw on March 9, 1862 near Newport
News, Va. It was the first battle of ironclads - ships covered in iron
plates to repel cannon balls." ... "The Virginia had banks of guns, but
the entire ship had to be moved to get the best firing angles. The Monitor's
revolving cylindrical turret allowed the ship to fire accurately while
staying out of harm's way." -By Sonja Barisic-AP
via -NandoTimes
USS-Monitor
- "Divers
Seek to Raise Turret of Famed USS Monitor." ... "Experts
consider the Monitor, the first U.S. warship with no masts and sails, to
be the forerunner of the modern Navy." ... "Powered by steam alone, it
was constructed almost entirely of iron and bore a revolving gun turret
9 feet high and 22 feet in diameter housing two 11-inch cannons."-Reuters
USS-Monitor
- "War
artifact set for new adventure: Ironclad battleship's
turret, a watery grave for Civil War seamen, will be retrieved and restored."
... "This summer, working 20 miles offshore and in 240 feet of water, a
team that included 70 Navy divers went after the most important part of
the Monitor--the gun turret." ... "The Navy is funding $6.5 million of
the $7 million cost of the recovery expedition, which it is using to train
its deep-sea divers in a new technique called "saturation diving." Divers
use bell habitats on the bottom to stay below 12 to 14 days at a stretch
instead of the four to five hours they are limited to when required to
resurface every day." -By Michael Kilian
-ChicagoTribune
USS-Monitor
- "Raising
the Monitor: Divers Save the Civil War
Ironclad." ... "Every schoolchild learns the story of the Monitor, which
fought the Confederate ironclad Virginia in on March 9, 1862. The two ships
could barely dent each other. They battled to a draw in the waters off
Hampton Roads, Va." ... "The genius of the Monitor's design was primarily
in its famous round gun turret. Unlike anything that had come before, it
could be aimed — no more turning the whole ship to point the guns at the
enemy. With just two guns, the Monitor could take on ships with 100." -By
Ned Potter -ABCNEWS.com
OPINION
- "Kerry Gets
Out Front With Attacks on Bush: The president’s
handling of the war on terror is facing tough questioning from a potential
Democratic rival." ... " Kerry is a serious fellow, and his argument is
a serious one: that, despite its initial success in blowing the Taliban
out of Afghanistan, the Bush administration has failed so far on every
other count in the war Bush declared on terrorism after September 11. By
not using enough elite U.S. troops in Tora Bora, and by not sealing escape
routes in Operation Anaconda, Bush and his war cabinet missed a crucial
opportunity to kill the network before it could disperse. Meanwhile, Kerry
argues, the U.S. has needlessly upset and confused its allies with tough
talk on Iraq—and yet, at the same time, given the bad guys more time to
prepare for whatever we decide to do." -By Howard
Fineman -MSNBC/-Newsweek
- "The
son of all battles?" ... "As press speculation mounts
about the timing, scale and tactics of an American-led invasion of Iraq,
so does criticism of such a strategy. Plans to use military force to effect
“regime change” in Iraq are facing opposition from allies in Europe
and the Middle East, and even from some quarters within the American administration"
-Economist
- "U.S.
Exploring Baghdad Strike as Iraq Option." ... "As
the Bush administration considers its military options for deposing Saddam
Hussein, senior administration and Pentagon officials say they are exploring
a new if risky approach: take Baghdad and one or two key command centers
and weapons depots first, in hopes of cutting off the country's leadership
and causing a quick collapse of the government." -By
David E. Sanger and Thom Shanker -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- "Do
We Still Need the Saudis?" ... "Hundreds of Saudis
fought alongside the Taliban against the U.S. in Afghanistan last year.
More than one-third of the 350 hard-core fighters being held by the U.S.
in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are Saudi nationals. Billions of dollars from
wealthy Saudis have funded anti-American and anti-Israel terrorist groups
and helped establish radical schools worldwide that foment Islamic militancy,
including the madrasahs in Pakistan that produced the Taliban." ... "But
Saudi Arabia controls 30% of the world's known oil reserves. And so for
years, in the interest of maintaining the world's supply of crude, Washington
has ignored evidence that the ruling Sauds are allowing the country's powerful
religious leaders to propagate anti-Western hate." ... "Isolating Riyadh,
though, carries risks. Western diplomats warn that the al-Saud clan, which
has ruled the kingdom for the past century, is the only Western-leaning
institution left in a fundamentalist state that is growing younger, poorer
and more radical." (1, 2,
3,
4)
-By Romesh Ratnesar -with Massimo Calabresi, Mark
Thompson, Scott MacLeod, and J.F.O. McAllister
-TIME.com
- 
- "Al-Qaeda's
New Hideouts: Chased out of Afghanistan, bin
Laden's fighters are lying low — but are hot to strike back — in Pakistan."
... "While the U.S. and coalition forces continue to squeeze al-Qaeda inside
Afghanistan, thousands of militants have slipped across the border since
last winter. Officials estimate that, altogether, more than 3,500 al-Qaeda
operatives and their Pakistani comrades are hunkered down in the tribal
belt along the Afghan border and in the sprawling cities of Karachi and
Peshawar, sheltered by homegrown extremists. Since December, Pakistani
authorities working with U.S. intelligence agents have caught more than
380 suspected al-Qaeda members. In Peshawar last week, U.S. and Pakistani
officials detained seven suspected terrorists but failed to snatch two
senior al-Qaeda aides who were the main targets of the raids." -By
Tim McGirk
-TIME.com
- "UK
pay-out for Kenya bomb victims." ... "The UK Government
has struck a deal with lawyers representing 228 Kenyan tribespeople bereaved
or maimed by British Army explosives left on their land."
-BBC /News
- "F.B.I.
and Military Unite in Pakistan to Hunt Al Qaeda."
... "American law enforcement agencies have been working in tandem with
the American military in Pakistan in an unusual and sustained effort to
hunt down fighters of Al Qaeda who fled their sanctuaries in Afghanistan
and are struggling to revive their group." (1, 2)
-By Dexter Filkins -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- "U.S. planes
strike Iraqi facility: Aircraft bomb air-defense
center after coming under fire." ... "U.S. warplanes bombed Iraqi air-defense
facilities on Saturday after coalition aircraft patrolling a “no-fly” zone
in southern Iraq came under fire, the U.S. Central Command said." ... "The
zones, which the Iraqi government does not recognize, were imposed to protect
Shi’ite Muslims in the south and a Kurdish enclave in the north from possible
attack by government forces." -Reuters
via -MSNBC
-
- "China
Buildup Said to Target Taiwan, U.S: Pentagon
Says Beijing's Military Spending Increases Options for Missile Attacks."
... "Another major thrust of the Pentagon document is the extent to which
China's military modernization remains "heavily reliant" on purchases of
advanced weaponry from Russia and other former Soviet states, including
fighter jets, Kilo-class submarines, Sovremenny-class destroyers and sophisticated
air defense systems." -By Vernon Loeb -WashingtonPost
- "Pentagon
warns of China threat: China is honing "credible
options" to attack Taiwan and could act with scant warning against what
it sees as a U.S.-backed rogue province, the Pentagon has warned." ...
""China's doctrine is moving toward the goal of surprise, deception and
shock effect in the opening phase of a campaign," said the annual [Pentagon]
report on Chinese military power. "China is exploring coercive strategies
designed to bring Taipei to terms quickly.""
-CNN /Asia
- "U.S.
issues report on China military." ... "The Pentagon
report, submitted Friday to Congress, also said China is spending far more
on defense than it acknowledges. The $20 billion Beijing announced in March
could really be as much as $80 billion, the report said, predicting more
large spending increases in coming years." ... "The current U.S. defense
budget — by far the largest in the world — is about $350 billion."
-AP via -USATODAY
- "U.S. eyes Chinese
military buildup: New report outlines Beijing
moves to corner Taiwan, limit U.S. power." ... "Preparing for a potential
conflict in the 100-mile wide Taiwan Strait is the “primary driver” for
China’s accelerating military modernization, the Pentagon report said."
... "At the same time, securing control over the self-governing island
of 23 million people would let China move its defensive perimeter farther
out, the report said." -MSNBC
- "Report:
China moving away from military strategy on Taiwan."
... "A new United States Defense Department report on China's military
modernization says Beijing now has a "coercive strategy" to intimidate
Taiwan into reaching a settlement with China." -By
Barbara Starr -CNN
- "New
Pentagon Report Sees Rapid Buildup by China." ...
"In April, President Bush announced that the United States would sell Taiwan
diesel submarines, P-3 naval reconnaissance planes, Kidd-class destroyers
and minesweeping helicopters to counter China's growing military might.
But Taiwan is still hoping to purchase more advanced Aegis radar systems
and Patriot antimissile batteries." -By James Dao
-NYTimes via
-AltaVista-News
- "U.S.
Plan for Iraq Is Said to Include Attack on 3 Sides."
... "n American military planning document calls for air, land and sea-based
forces to attack Iraq from three directions — the north, south and west
— in a campaign to topple President Saddam Hussein, according to a person
familiar with the document." ... "The highly classified document, entitled
"CentCom Courses of Action," was prepared by planners at the Central Command
in Tampa, Fla., according to the person familiar with the document."(1,
2)
-By
Eric Schmitt -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
July
4th - "Combat
Jets to Patrol Portland Skies." ... "Combat jets
will patrol the skies over Portland as well as New York, Washington, D.C.
and other U.S. cities Thursday as part of the government's beefed-up security
for Fourth of July celebrations." -By Teresa Bell
-KGW.com
July
4th -
- "Security
Tight for Afghan July 4th." ... "Security around
the perimeter of Bagram air base, the dusty headquarters of the 7,000 U.S.
troops in Afghanistan, will be tightened Thursday, following warnings that
terrorists could target Americans on their Independence Day." -By
Regan Morris -AP
via -WashingtonPost
July
4th - "Caution
ahead of Asia's July 4 celebrations." ... "In South
Korea, home to around 37,000 American troops stationed there to deter North
Korea from repeating a 1950 invasion, military camps planned traditional
family style July 4 celebrations including fireworks, picnics and barbecues."
... "Memories of home are also likely to be stirred for thousands of sailors
aboard several U.S. navy ships currently docked in Singapore -- many of
whom will attend a party organised by the 16,000-strong American community
on the island." -Reuters
via -CNN
- "GULF
WAR II. How a War With Iraq Will Change the World:
It's not if but when. Here are the consequences." ... "That prospect, even
if it is probably a year away at best, is hugely serious business. No matter
how smoothly (knock wood) any eventual military operation goes, a "regime
change" in Iraq will have vast geopolitical and economic consequences.
Some of them might be good, some not so good, and some of them could be
horrible. But consequences there will be, for Iraq, for the region, and
for the world. What is "surreal" is that for the most part, for now anyway,
a lot of people in Washington talk about punching out Saddam the way they
talk about, say, passing an education bill. Everyone's in favor, passage
is a done deal, everyone will take credit, but please, spare us the details."
-By
Bill Powell 20020708
ed. -Fortune
WorldCom
News - "Billions
in WorldCom contracts with agencies could be in danger."
... "WorldCom’s [Defense Department] contract, known as the Defense Research
and Engineering Network (DREN), was originally awarded to Global Crossing
in July 2001. However, the Defense Department nullified that award after
the losing bidders protested that Global Crossing failed to meet security
requirements specified in the agreement. Five months after the contract
was canceled, Global Crossing filed the fourth-largest bankruptcy in U.S.
history." -By Shane Harris
-GovExec.com
-
- "Military
Disparity Adds to Uncertainty: Analysts Say
India's Advantage Contributes to Escalatory Situation." ... "This disparity
increases uncertainty and contributes to an escalatory situation in which
both sides are tempted to take the offensive with preemptive moves, according
to analysts. "It's kind of like World War I, with both sides mobilizing
on automatic," said retired Marine Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, who watched India
and Pakistan take a series of planned escalatory steps in 1999. "When they
see an action on one side, there is a pre-programmed counterreaction, which
makes it extremely dangerous right now."" -By Bradley
Graham and Thomas E. Ricks -WashingtonPost
-
- "India
set to launch 'small war': US Secretary of
Defense Rumsfeld will go to Asia next week to try to ease tensions between
India and Pakistan." Despite the tense standoff, one analyst suggests ""the
Indians are practicing a policy of 'compellance,' " says Stephen Cohen,
a senior fellow in security issues at the Brookings Institution, reached
at a conference in Tokyo. "They are threatening to use force to compel
another country to alter its behavior. In this case, their target is both
Pakistan and the US, and they are compelling the US to put pressure on
Musharraf to rein in cross-border terrorism."" -By
Scott Baldauf and V.K. Shashikumar -CSMonitor/buy
- "Pakistan
to redeploy troops from Afghan border: Pakistan
has decided to redeploy troops from its Afghan border to its border with
nuclear rival India, a spokesman for President Pervez Musharraf told CNN
Friday." -Contributers: Ash-Har Quraishi, Kasra
Naji, and David
Ensor -CNN
- "Pakistan
ready to pull troops from Afghan border." ... "In
a potential blow to the antiterror war, Pakistan appears to be preparing
to pull troops away from the Afghan border to focus on its own dispute
with India, U.S. defense officials said Tuesday." ... "American military
officials made clear Tuesday they are worried that the dispute between
Pakistan and India over the Kashmir region could disrupt the campaign against
the al-Qaida in the anarchic tribal areas of western Pakistan."
-By Robert Burns -AP
via -Salon
- "Russia,
NATO forge historic tie: NATO has welcomed
Russia into a new era of cooperation, formally marking the end of the Cold
War." ... "The 19 members of the military organisation and Russia signed
the Rome Declaration [in Rome, Italy] forging a new partnership on Tuesday,
giving Moscow improved status and more of a voice in NATO's affairs."
-CNN
- "NATO
accepts Russia as junior partner in alliance." "Russia's
future involvement will be limited to crisis management, peacekeeping and
such military areas as air defense, search-and-rescue operations and joint
exercises. NATO and Russia will decide only on those issues on which they
can find consensus. More contentious issues will be left off their agenda,
and NATO will keep a free hand in setting and implementing policy."
-AP via -USATODAY
-
- "India
and Pakistan: The military balance." -By Jonathan
Marcus -BBC
/News
- "Danger
looms in Iraq no-fly zone." ... "At least once an
hour, Iraqi troops shoot at the [U.S.] fighter jets in hope of downing
one and capturing their ultimate prize: an American pilot."
-By Ellen Hale -USATODAY
- "U.S.
Planes Bomb Defense Site in Iraq." ... "U.S. warplanes
bombed an air defense site in southern Iraq after coming under attack by
a surface-to-air missile, U.S. officials said yesterday."
-AP via -WashingtonPost
"Taking
off the abaya: Hours after a victory in her
fight to free servicewomen in Saudi Arabia from wearing head-to-foot Muslim
robes off base, Lt. Col. Martha McSally talks about her battles as a jet
pilot and a woman." ... "For seven years, McSally has been fighting military
rules that formerly required and now "strongly encourage" women stationed
in Saudi Arabia to wear a head-to-foot Muslim robe called an abaya, to
ride in the back seats of vehicles and to be accompanied by men when off
base." (1, 2,
3)
-By Megan Twohey -Salon
-
- "Traces
of the Enemy Near Pakistan Border: Region Neither
Peaceful Nor Pacified." ... "U.S.-led forces are readying an operation
in this region, apparently to pursue al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives who
are reportedly regrouping across the border in Pakistan's semiautonomous
tribal areas. Afghan officials say they have spotted hundreds of U.S. and
British troops being airlifted into the mountains along the border."
-By Peter Baker and Susan B. Glasser -WashingtonPost
- "Pentagon
finalizing Iraq plans: State Dept. balks as
strategy maps attack options." ... "Leading Pentagon officials are putting
the final touches on a military plan to invade Iraq, perhaps as soon as
this summer, according to two senior administration officials."/
- "US
stance rattles Korean Peninsula." ... "With deadlines
approaching over the next few months for a key US-North Korea nuclear accord,
Washington is pushing hard to make North Korea disarm. This month, the
Bush administration sent a message through a South Korean envoy to the
North that it must halt development and export of dangerous weapons - or
face the consequences." -By Elizabeth A. Neuffer
-Boston/Globe
- "16
soldiers hurt in U.S. Army helicopter accident."
-CNN
-
- "Israel,
India forge strategic partnership: After a
decade-long estrangement, Israel now plans to sell advanced surveillance
aircraft to India in a $1 billion deal that has Washington concerned."
-By Ben Lynfield -CSMonitor/buy
- "U.S.
tech exports eye 'China military threat'."
-CNN
- "[U.S.]
Marine tanker plane crashes in Pakistan."
-CNN
Afghanistan
- "Green
Beret Is Killed During Afghan Battle: The San
Antonio, Texas, native is the first U.S. service member to die in combat.
A CIA officer is seriously injured." -By Paul Richter
and Alissa J. Rubin -LAtimes
Afghanistan
- "U.S.
Hits Base as Al Qaeda Rebuilds: Aircraft pound
site believed used by Bin Laden network, Pentagon says. Afghan forces arrest
Taliban soldiers in the search for militia's spiritual leader."
-By Esther Schrader and Alissa J.Rubin -LAtimes
-
-
- Animals
- 
- "Birds
'missing' after US bombing." ... "Ornithologists
in Pakistan fear that populations of birds whose migration route takes
them over Afghanistan may have been devastated by the weeks of bombing
there." -By Jill McGivering -BBC
/News
Osama
bin Laden - "Bin
Laden Hunt Enters Pakistan: U.S. widens its
search, and the CIA augments efforts by Afghanistan's neighbor to apprehend
fugitives." -By Bob Drogin and Paul Richter-LAtimes
Afghanistan
- "'Friendly
Fire' Bombing Kills 3 U.S. Soldiers: Incident
also leaves 5 Afghans dead and 20 more Americans wounded in battle to take
the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar." -By John Hendren-LAtimes
Afghanistan
- "A
squeeze on Taliban, bin Laden: In their two
old strongholds, Taliban and Al Qaeda forces face bleak options."
-By Scott Baldauf -CSMonitor
Afghanistan
- "Airstrikes
slam Kandahar as ground assault threatened."
-CNN
Afghanistan
- "CIA
Agent First U.S. Fatality in Afghan Combat:
The agency confirms that the former Marine, who was involved in questioning
Taliban inmates, was killed during weekend prison uprising."
-By Bob Drogin-LAtimes
Afghanistan
- "CIA
Operative Becomes First [US] Combat Casualty."
-By Vernon Loeb -WashingtonPost
Afghanistan
- "For
ground troops, now the 'real' war begins: Possibility
of US casualties rises, as does potential to be seen as an occupying force."
-By Brad Knickerbocker-CSMonitor
Afghanistan
- "5
U.S. Servicemen Hurt by Errant Bomb: Explosive
missed its target near prison, Pentagon says. CIA is mum about reports
of missing operative." -By Esther Schrader, Bob Drogin
and Greg Miller -LAtimes
Afghanistan
- "U.S.
Troops Land in Kandahar: Hundreds said dead
as POWs stage uprising." -By Ellen Knickmeyer
-AP via -LAtimes
- "Utah: Center for Foreign Language Training: Utah
is now a hotbed for training foreign language interpreters, who help intelligence
agencies intercept potential terrorist communications.WeekendAll
Things Considered host Lisa Simeone talks with NPR's Howard Berkes."
-NPR
/News / ATC
Afghanistan
- "US
sees boon in Afghan winter: Military plans
to keep fighting, saying high-tech tools will give US troops edge in harsh
climate." -By Ann Scott Tyson-CSMonitor
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