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HavenWorks.com/world/iraq/archive/2004 |
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/ 2004 Iraq
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Pat
Robertson - "Bush
Predicted No Iraq Casualties, Robertson Says." ...
"The Rev. Pat Robertson said President Bush dismissed his warning that
the United States would suffer heavy casualties in Iraq and told the television
evangelist just before the beginning of the war that "we're not going to
have any casualties."" ... "Robertson related the conversation during an
interview with CNN late Tuesday. He said he spoke to Bush before the invasion
of Iraq in March 2003 and urged him to prepare the nation for heavy casualties.
While Bush's response was a mistake, Robertson said, God has blessed the
president anyhow." -By Alan Cooperman-WashingtonPost
-
- 
- "Najaf
battle a crucial test for Allawi: Clashes between
US troops and Sadr militiamen escalated Thursday, as the US surrounded
Najaf for possible siege." ... "The final stages for an assault on Moqtada
al-Sadr's militia in the holy city of Najaf are now in place." ... "For
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, this is a crucial test of the strength
of his government, barely a month and a half old, and a first chance to
extend government authority over a key part of Iraq, most of which remains
under the control of armed militias and insurgents." -By
Scott Baldauf with contributions by James Brandon
-CSMonitor
- 
- 
- 
- "War
Costs Exceed Budget, Watchdog Panel Says." ... "Military
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are running $12.3 billion over budget
this year, and Pentagon officials are trying to make up for the shortfall
by transferring money from other accounts and delaying refurbishment of
worn-out equipment in Iraq, the General Accountability Office said Wednesday."
... "The office, a nonpartisan Congressional agency, estimated that the
Army was running about $9.4 billion short of what had been budgeted. By
putting off other kinds of spending until next year, the military is likely
to run up higher costs in future, said the agency, which was formerly the
General Accounting Office." -By Edmund L. Andrews
-NYTimes
- 
- "Iraq
Militants Take Six Foreign Truck Drivers Hostage, AP Says."
... "The hostages include two from Kenya, three from India and an Egyptian.
A group calling itself ``the Holders of the Black Banners'' said in a statement
given to the AP that it would kill one hostage every 72 hours."
-AP via -Bloomberg
- 
-
- 
- 
Osama
bin Laden-
"9/11
Panel's Report to Offer New Evidence of Iran-Qaeda Ties."
... "The final report of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks
will offer new evidence of cooperative ties between Iran and Al Qaeda,
including information drawn from intelligence reports suggesting that Iran
provided several of the hijackers with safe passage in the year before
the attacks, government officials said yesterday." ... "The officials emphasized
that the commission had no evidence to suggest that Iranian officials knew
of the Sept. 11 plot. But they said the evidence raised new questions about
why the Bush administration focused on the possibility of Iraqi ties to
Osama bin Laden's terror network after Sept. 11, 2001, when there may have
been far more extensive evidence of an Iranian connection." -By
Philip Shenon -NYTimes
Stephen
Cambone - Torture
- Prisons
- Classified
- 
Military
- 
Intelligence
- US
- Iraq
- Afghanistan
- Noteworthy
- "Implausible
Denial II." ... "On Saturday, May 15--twenty-four
hours after The Nation published "Implausible
Denial"--The New Yorker posted on its website Seymour Hersh's latest
Abu Ghraib-related investigative report. Its central revelation: The interrogations
at [Iraq prison] Abu Ghraib were part of a highly classified Special Access
Program (SAP) code-named Copper Green, authorized by [Republican President
Bush's] Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and ultimately overseen by Under
Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone. Originally a joint
[Central Intelligence Agency] CIA-Pentagon program in Afghanistan that
utilized highly trained Special Operations personnel, Copper Green eventually
expanded to Iraq, Hersh reports, where Cambone decided it would begin using
non-Special Operations personnel--including military intelligence officers
and other military personnel--to begin questioning prisoners whose status
was outside the program's original brief. The CIA objected and withdrew
from the program, while Cambone apparently tasked [Major General] Maj.
Gen. Geoffrey Miller, former Guantánamo Bay interrogations chief,
with "Gitmo-izing" Iraq's prison system." ... "What may be more surprising
than the revelations in Hersh's piece is the fact that leads to the Abu
Ghraib skullduggery were hidden in plain sight--and that the Pentagon press
corps all but ignored them. Though Cambone has been an exceptionally sub
rosa figure in his position as DoD's intelligence chief, on November 21,
2003, he sat down for a rare on-record meeting over breakfast with the
Defense Writers Group. Again in contrast to his May 11 comments, in which
he cast himself as a benign bureaucrat largely out of the loop, his November
comments offer a glimpse into the mechanics of how Cambone's office was
assertively taking the lead in coordinating intelligence operations in
Iraq." ... "Noting first that his office has "one group of people over
to do an assessment" and that another was getting ready to go, Cambone
said that "the requirement for an increased level of intelligence support
became increasingly evident as we went through a period between early July/late
August.... In that late August time frame, a delegation went over there
from the Department and included people from the CIA to look at how we
were structured, whether we had proper arrangement at the division level,
whether that information, as it was being compiled at the divisional level,
was being moved from that level up to the CJTF-7 [Combined Joint Task Force-7]
level in an expeditious manner."" ... "Cambone further stated that the
group "came back with a list of somewhere close to eighty or ninety recommendations,"
and went on to describe a rapid infusion of personnel and technology for
intelligence-related endeavors. He also noted that the Director of Central
Intelligence, George Tenet, had "made a number of adjustments in his complement
of people in Iraq" as part of a "concerted effort to lash up much more
tightly the work that is done in the context of the CIA activities with
those being done by the Department to ensure there is [a] cross-flow of
information and cooperation."" ... "Cambone's remarks at the breakfast
also bring into potentially clearer focus the role in Abu Ghraib of [Lieutenant
General] Lieut. Gen. William "Jerry" Boykin, his deputy for intelligence
and warfighting support. "It is an office," Cambone says of Boykin's shop,
"that is designed to assure the types of capabilities we have just been
talking about here, whether it is people, or it is resources, or it is
material, or it is information, is moved forward to the people who need
it at various levels of command and operation in order for them to execute
their mission."" -By Jason
West -TheNation.com
Stephen
Cambone - Torture
- Prison
- Military
- Intelligence
- 
Police
- Human
Rights - 
Law
- Politics
- US
- 
Syria
- Iraq
- "Knowledge
of Abusive Tactics May Go Higher." ... "Army intelligence
officers suspected that a Syrian and admitted jihadist who was detained
at [Iraq's] Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad [Iraq's capital] knew about
the illegal flow of money, arms and foreign fighters into Iraq. But he
was smug, the officers said, and refused to talk. So last November, they
devised a special plan for his interrogation, going beyond what Army rules
normally allowed." ... "An Army colonel [Thomas M. Pappas] in charge of
intelligence-gathering at the prison, spelling out the plan in a classified
cable to the top [United States] U.S. military officer in Iraq, said interrogators
would use a method known as "fear up harsh," which military documents said
meant "significantly increasing the fear level in a security detainee."
The aim was to make the 31-year-old Syrian think his only hope in life
was to talk, undermining his confidence in what they termed "the Allah
factor."" ... "According to the plan, interrogators needed the assistance
of military police supervising his detention at the prison, who ordinarily
play no role in interrogations under Army regulations. First, the interrogators
were to throw chairs and tables in the man's presence at the prison and
"invade his personal space."" ... "Then the police were to put a hood on
his head and take him to an isolated cell through a gantlet of barking
guard dogs; there, the police were to strip-search him and interrupt his
sleep for three days with interrogations, barking and loud music, according
to Army documents. The plan was sent to [Lieutenant General] Lt. Gen. Ricardo
Sanchez." ... "Congressional testimony by Defense Department and Army officials
over the past two weeks has highlighted the fact that the abuses in Iraq
-- which mostly occurred in the last quarter of 2003 -- came at a time
of heightened pressures in Washington for more robust intelligence-gathering,
because of proliferating attacks on U.S. forces and the dwindling intelligence
on Saddam Hussein's suspected weapons of mass destruction." ... "Although
no direct links have been found between the documented abuses and orders
from Washington, Pentagon officials who spoke on the condition that they
not be named say that the hunt for data on these two topics was coordinated
during this period by Defense Undersecretary Stephen A. Cambone, the top
U.S. military intelligence official and long one of the closest aides to
[Republican President Bush's] Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld."
... ""We've got no proof that a person in authority told them to do this
activity," [Lieutenant General] Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, the Army's deputy
chief of staff, said on May 11." ... "But three directives in particular
have already begun to attract congressional scrutiny: The first is a classified
report by Army [Major General] Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller on [September]
Sept. 9, 2003, demanding that the military police at Abu Ghraib be dedicated
and trained to set "the conditions for the successful interrogation and
exploitation of internees/detainees." The report, which Cambone has testified
was presented to his deputy William Boykin, contained five recommendations
spelling out how this was to occur and reported it had already begun."
... "The second is an [October] Oct. 12 classified memo signed by Sanchez
that demanded a "harmonization" of military policing and intelligence work
at Abu Ghraib for the purpose of ensuring "consistency with the interrogation
policies . . . and maximiz[ing] the efficiency of the interrogation.""
... "The memo, obtained by The Washington Post, also states "it is imperative
that interrogators be provided reasonable latitude to vary their approach,"
depending on a detainee's background, strengths, resistance and other factors.
It also explicitly demands humane treatment and requires that any dogs
present during the interrogations be muzzled." ... "The third is a [November]
Nov. 19 memo from Sanchez's office that formally placed the two key Abu
Ghraib cellblocks where the abuses occurred under the control of Pappas
and his 205th Military Intelligence Brigade. It was 11 days later, after
this memo placed the military police responsible for "security of detainees
and base protection" in Pappas's hands, that he sought, in his memo to
Sanchez, to draw military police explicitly into applying pressure on the
Syrian." ... "The fact that prison interrogations were so directly controlled
by these military directives, as well as the apparent cultural sophistication
of some of the abuses, has already led some lawmakers to conclude that
much more experienced and senior officers were involved than the seven
military police now charged by the Army with wrongdoing. " (1, 2,
3)
-By R. Jeffrey Smith with contributions by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
and Sewell Chan -WashingtonPost
Stephen
Cambone - Torture
- Prisons
- Military
- Intelligence
- Police
- Human
Rights - Law
- Politics
- 
Feith
- 
Rhode
Island - 
Virginia
- US
- Iraq
- Guantánamo
Bay - 
Cuba
- Noteworthy
- "Implausible
Denial." ... "Writing in the December 16, 2002, edition
of The Nation, I broke the news--and explored the concerns many
in the [United States] US intelligence community had--about [Republican
President Bush's] Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's quiet success in
prevailing upon Congress to authorize the creation of a new senior position
at the Pentagon,the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. Several
months later, in the pages of the Columbia Journalism Review, I
followed up with a piece devoted to the media's utter lack of interest--perhaps
best demonstrated by the absence of any reporter from a farcical confirmation
hearing--in the new Under Secretary himself, Stephen Cambone." ... "Despite
his status as the Pentagon's über-intelligence authority, in the initial
days of the breaking [Iraq prison] Abu Ghraib scandal Cambone was virtually
invisible. When Rumsfeld was called to the Hill to testify before the Armed
Services Committee on May 7, however, Cambone was unexpectedly summoned
to the witness table from his chair behind Rumsfeld. That cameo appearance
resulted in a more expansive return appearance on May 11, in which Cambone
less than deftly tried to undermine Abu Ghraib investigator [Major General]
Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba. (Cambone disputed the general's conclusion that
military intelligence units effectively controlled the prison's military
police detachment.) Cambone also reacted adversely to [Rhode Island Democratic]
Senator Jack Reed's assertion (confirmed by Taguba) that recommendations
made
in a report on improving intelligence collection at Abu Ghraib by then-chief
Guantánamo Bay [Cuba] interrogator [Major General] Maj. Gen. Geoffrey
Miller clearly called for the use of [Military Police] MPs in interrogations,
which helped create an environment that begot the subsequent abuse and
torture in the tiers. As a May 12 Washington Post editorial points
out, Cambone's office approved interrogation practices that are in direct
violation of the Geneva Conventions." ... "At the May 11 hearings, Cambone
and another senior Defense Department official, Army intelligence chief
[Lieutenant General] Lieut. Gen Keith Alexander, essentially cast themselves
as mere Pentagon representatives fielding questions about Abu Ghraib--and
not as men who might bear any responsibility for what they desperately
tried to cast as an aberrant and isolated incident. Yet many of their assertions
on May 11 are in fact contradicted by statements they made before the same
committee a month before, as well as a year-old memo outlining the responsibilities
of Cambone's office." ... "The Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence,
or OUSD(I) in Pentagonese, was originally conceived by Rumsfeld as a centralizing
measure, a way to give him "one dog to kick" rather than a "whole kennel"
of individual civilian and uniformed defense intelligence agencies. In
choosing the person responsible for ostensibly bringing unprecedented order
and control to the Pentagon's spy shops, the Secretary chose Cambone, a
man with no intelligence experience but a favored protégé
and loyal partisan who had served on Rumsfeld's ballistic missile threat
commission and worked with the neoconservative Project for the New American
Century. Previously principal deputy to Under Secretary for Policy Doug
Feith (and, in that capacity, liaison between Feith and the ideological
intelligence analysis unit that would later morph into the notorious Office
of Special Plans), Cambone went out of his way in his confirmation hearings
to say that he would closely "consult and coordinate" with Feith to "insure
[that Department of Defense] DoD-related intelligence activity supports
the goals" of the Pentagon's policy shop." ... "Two months after Cambone's
confirmation, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz described his new
portfolio in a detailed internal Pentagon memo. Reflecting the seriousness
and specificity of Cambone's mission, an organizational chart appended
to the memo shows a generic under secretary with six deputies, including
one for warfighting and operations, whose duties include specific liaison
with the intelligence elements of each of the armed services, each individual
combatant command, and the under secretary for policy. The document itself
explicitly states that Cambone's office will, among other things:" ...
"provide oversight and policy guidance for all DoD intelligence activities;
provide policy oversight of all the intelligence organizations within the
DoD, to include ensuring these organizations are manned, trained, equipped
and structured to support the missions of the Department; provide
assessments of and advice [to] the Secretary and CJCS [Chairman, Joint
Chiefs of Staff] on the adequacy of military intelligence performance;
exercise management and oversight of all DoD counterintelligence and security
activities; coordinate DoD intelligence and intelligence-related policy,
plans, programs, requirements and resource allocations; oversee provision
of intelligence support and involvement in information operations, focused
on assessments in support of operations." ... "None of this should leave
much to the imagination, especially when it comes to policies and practices
pertaining to the dimensions of human intelligence collection that involve
interrogations conducted by military intelligence. Yet when asked by [Virginia
Republican] Senator John Warner if his office has "overall responsibility
for policy concerning the handling of detainees," Cambone dodged with a
"not precisely, sir," effectively denying any responsibility as set forth
in his charge by Wolfowitz. Rather, Cambone said, he only reactively "became
involved in this issue from the perspective of assuring there was a flow
of intelligence back to the commands and done in an efficient and effective
way."" -By Jason
West -TheNation.com
James
Inhofe - Torture
- Politician
- US
- Military
- Prisoners
- Photographs
- Iraqi
- Human
Rights - Lawmakers
- 
Oklahoma
- "GOP
[Republican] senator labels abused prisoners 'terrorists':
Other lawmakers disavow comment." ... "A Republican member of the Senate
Armed Services Committee dismissed Tuesday the outrage over the abuse of
Iraqi prisoners by [United States] U.S. troops, saying Iraqis depicted
in widely broadcast photographs probably had "blood on their hands."" ...
""I'm probably not the only one up at this table that is more outraged
by the outrage than we are by the treatment," [Oklahoma Republican Senator]
Sen. James Inhofe said during a hearing on the [Iraqi] Abu Ghraib prison
scandal. (Full
story)" ... "[Republican] President Bush and other top U.S. officials
and leading Republicans have condemned the abuse of Iraqis held at the
Baghdad[Iraq's capital]-area prison, once a notorious torture chamber under
ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein." ... "Though he [Inhofe] called the
soldiers charged with abusing Iraqi prisoners "seven bad people," he added,
"I am also outraged that we have so many humanitarian do-gooders right
now crawling all over these prisons looking for human rights violations
while our troops, our heroes, are fighting and dying."" -With
contributions by Ed Henry -CNN
- "US
forces kill 64 in fighting near Iraqi holy city of Najaf."
... "US forces have killed 64 rebel militiamen in clashes near Shia Islam's
holiest city, Najaf, a US military spokesman in Baghdad said yesterday."
... "At least 115 US troops have been killed in fighting this month - as
many as died in combat during the two-month invasion of Iraq." -By
Nicolas Pelham -FT.com
- "Japanese
hostages get $7,000 bills for expenses." ... "Three
Japanese who were held hostage for a week in Iraq were billed about $7,000
each to cover their plane tickets home and other miscellaneous expenses,
an official said Monday." -AP
via -RegisterGuard
-
- "U.S.
gunships topple tower of mosque." ... "A protracted
firefight between Marines and insurgents in a Fallujah suburb on Monday
culminated with U.S. helicopter gunships and tanks firing at a mosque and
toppling its minaret, further dimming hopes for a peaceful end to the three-week
siege." ... "The U.S. command said that the battle erupted when insurgents,
breaching a shaky cease-fire in Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad, used
the mosque to launch rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire at Marine
positions. After two hours, pinned down by fire, the Marines called in
helicopters and tanks, which directed "suppressing fire" at the mosque,
the command said." ... "One U.S. Marine was killed and eight others wounded
in the battle, which also killed eight insurgents, a U.S. spokesman said."
-By John Burns -NYTimes
via -RegisterGuard
-
-
- "Shi'ite
cleric threatens suicide attacks." ... "Militant
Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ratcheted up his anti-American rhetoric
yesterday, threatening to launch suicide attacks if US forces enter Iraq's
holy cities to capture or kill him." ... "Sadr's remarks, made during Friday
prayers at the Kufa mosque, marked an ominous escalation in the standoff
between the cleric, whose militia has seized control of mosques and other
key sites in Najaf and Kufa, and US officials who have been threatening
to retake the southern cities by force." -By Edmund
Sanders-LAtimes
via -Boston/Globe
- "U.S.
Soldiers Re-Enlist in Strong Numbers: Despite Violence
in Iraq, U.S. Soldiers Are Re-Enlisting at Rates Higher Than Pentagon Expected."
... "Despite the shrapnel wounds Staff Sgt. William Pinkley suffered during
his tour in Iraq, the 26-year-old is joining other soldiers who are re-enlisting
at rates that exceed the retention goals set by the Pentagon." ... "As
of March 31 halfway through the Army's fiscal year 28,406 soldiers had
signed on for another tour of duty, topping the six-month goal of 28,377.
The Army's goal is to re-enlist 56,100 soldiers by the end of September."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Marines
Warn Insurgents in Fallujah to Hand Over Heavy Weapons or Face Possible
U.S. Attack." ... "The stark warning came two days
after city leaders called on insurgents to hand over their heavy weapons
in return for a U.S. pledge to hold back on plans to storm Fallujah and
allow the return of families that fled the city." ... "Now Marines have
halted the return of families because of the failure to disarm and the
desire to have fewer civilians in the city if fighting resumes. More than
a third of Fallujah's 200,000 people fled to Baghdad and elsewhere during
the fighting that began April 5." ... "Early Thursday, Marines launched
a major assault on the village of Karma, 10 miles northeast of Fallujah,
in a second attempt to put down guerrillas there."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- 
- Photo
News - "Woman
fired by military contractor for published photograph of flag-draped U.S.
coffins." ... "A military contractor fired two cargo
workers responsible for a photograph of flag-draped coffins of U.S. soldiers
that appeared on a newspaper's front page." ... "Maytag Aircraft Corp.
fired Tami Silicio, 50, and her husband, David Landry, because they "violated
Department of Defense and company policies by working together" to take
and publish the photograph, company president William Silva said in a news
release Thursday." ... "The firing was first reported Thursday in The Seattle
Times, which published the April 7 photo on Sunday." -By
Gene Johnson -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
- 
- "Death
toll near 500 in Fallujah, Baghdad." ... "In the
first detailed accounting of Iraqi casualties in the fighting that erupted
across the country this month, officials at the Iraqi Ministry of Health
said yesterday that 264 have been killed and 791 wounded in the Fallujah
area since April 5, while in Baghdad another 235 have been killed and 832
wounded." ... "The health ministry's nationwide data also show that 12
percent of the Iraqis killed were women or children 15 years old or younger."
... "The health ministry's casualty toll for Fallujah was substantially
lower than the death counts reported since fighting broke out there at
the start of April. The data also show a nationwide death toll for April's
fighting that is much lower than the figures widely reported in the media,
some of them exceeding 1,100." -By Anne Barnard
-Boston/Globe
- "UN
backs oil for food inquiry." ... "The former chairman
of the US Federal Reserve Board yesterday began an independent investigation
into allegations of corruption and kickbacks worth $10bn (?5.6bn) in the
UN's oil-for-food programme in Iraq." ... "The United Nation's security
council unanimously approved Paul Volcker's inquiry into the scheme that
US legislators say allowed billions of dollars in illegal oil revenue to
flow to Saddam Hussein." -By Gary Younge
-Guardian.co.uk
- "Judges
chosen for Saddam trial." ... "Iraq's US-appointed
governing council today announced that it has chosen judges and prosecutors
to try Saddam Hussein." ... "Their identities are being kept secret for
fear that supporters of the toppled dictator will hunt them down." ...
"Salem Chalabi, the US-educated lawyer who is director-general of administration
for the special tribunal set up to prosecute Saddam, said that seven investigative
judges and five prosecutors would take charge of the case."
-Guardian.co.uk
- "Suicide
Bombers Kill at Least 58 in Southern Iraq." ... "Suicide
bombers killed at least 58 people, many of them children, in co-ordinated
strikes on four police stations that brought bloody chaos to Iraq's southern
city of Basra on Wednesday, witnesses said." ... "Near-simultaneous explosions
hit three police stations in Basra and one in the town of Zubair, 16 miles
south of the mainly Shi'ite city, the British military said." ... "Reuters
counted 55 bodies at one hospital. Among the dead were many children who
had been going to school in a minibus caught in one of the car bombings.
Some 200 civilians and police were wounded." (1, 2,
3)
-By Abdel-Razzak Hameed -Reuters
- "Bombs
hit Basra police stations: Rush-hour blasts probably
caused by car bombs have hit three police stations in Iraq's second city
of Basra, killing at least 40 and injuring scores." ... "Two school buses,
one of them apparently full of children, were destroyed in one of the attacks,
an AP correspondent reports from the scene." ... "A British officer said
the three attacks had been near-simultaneous."
-BBC/News
- 
- 
- 
- 
-
- "Powell
urges coalition leaders to keep troops in Iraq."
... "Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday the U.S.-led coalition
in Iraq remains strong despite decisions by Spain and Honduras to pull
out their troops. Later, the Dominican Republic announced that it also
would withdraw its troops." ... "Powell told reporters that leaders of
13 coalition countries with whom he spoke by telephone Monday and Tuesday
"all expressed steadfast support" for their respective troop commitments."
... "Among the leaders Powell spoke with was Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart
Sathirathai." ... "In addition to Surakiart, Powell spoke with leaders
of El Salvador, Dominica, Norway, Denmark, Hungary, Portugal, Poland, Bulgaria,
Holland, Romania, the Philippines and Ukraine." -By
George Gedda -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
- "Iraq
jail attack kills 22 inmates: A mortar attack on
an Iraqi detention centre near Baghdad has left 22 inmates dead, the US
military says." ... "All the casualties in the attack on the Baghdad Confinement
Facility in Abu Ghraib were prisoners of the US-led coalition, officials
said." ... "The sprawling prison complex of Abu Ghraib, which covers more
than one square kilometre, was one of Iraq's biggest prisons under Saddam
Hussein's regime and had a fearsome reputation."
-BBC/News
-
- ELECTION
2004 - "Poll
Shows New Gains for Bush: Lead Over Kerry Widens
On Issues of Security." ... "President Bush holds significant advantages
over John F. Kerry in public perceptions of who is better equipped to deal
with Iraq and the war on terrorism, and he has reduced the advantages his
Democratic challenger held last month on many domestic issues, according
to a Washington Post-ABC News Poll." ... "In a matchup, Bush held a lead
of 48 percent to 43 percent over Kerry among registered voters, with independent
Ralph Nader at 6 percent. In early March, shortly after he effectively
wrapped up the Democratic nomination, Kerry led Bush by 48 percent to 44
percent." (1, 2)
-By Richard Morin and Dan Balz with contributions
by Claudia Deane -WashingtonPost
- 
- "Negroponte
named Iraq ambassador: President George W Bush has
named John Negroponte as the first US ambassador to Iraq since the overthrow
of Saddam Hussein last year." ... "Mr Negroponte, currently the US envoy
to the UN, is expected to take over in Baghdad when the US hands power
to an interim Iraqi government by 30 June." ... "The top US official in
Iraq, Paul Bremer, is expected to leave once the political transition is
completed." -BBC/News
-
- "Profile:
John Negroponte: John Negroponte was the man who
spearheaded the US diplomatic effort in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion
of Iraq." ... "The soft-spoken diplomat will head the largest US embassy
in the world, in charge of 3,000 staff." ... ""He'll hold the title of
ambassador but he's really being appointed de facto governor-general of
Iraq because the US is going to retain a lot of authority,'' Ted Galen
Carpenter of the Washington-based Cato Institute think-tank told Bloomberg
news service." -BBC/News
-
-
- "Spain
recalls its troops from Iraq: New prime minister
fulfills campaign vow." ... "Spain's prime minister yesterday ordered Spanish
troops pulled out of Iraq as soon as possible, fulfilling a campaign pledge
to a nation recovering from terrorist bombings that Al Qaeda militants
said were reprisal for Spain's support of the war." ... "Jose Luis Rodriguez
Zapatero issued the abrupt recall just hours after his government was sworn
in, saying there was no sign the United States would meet his demand for
United Nations control of the postwar occupation -- his ultimatum for keeping
troops there." ... "Zapatero's Socialist Party won the March 14 general
election amid allegations that outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar,
by backing the war in Iraq, had provoked commuter-train terrorist bombings
that killed 191 people three days before the vote." (1, 2)
-By Daniel Woolls -AP
via -Boston/Globe
-
- Osama
bin Laden -
"'Bin
Laden' tape offers peace deal with Europe." ... "Osama
bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, sought to split the US-led coalition
in Iraq by offering European countries a three-month respite from terrorist
attacks if they withdrew their forces and left the US to fight alone."
... "The statement said: "I offer a truce to them (Europe), with a commitment
to stop operations against any state which vows to stop attacking Muslims
or interfere in their affairs, including (participating) in the American
conspiracy against the wider Muslim world."" ... "It went on to say that
the truce would start "with the withdrawal of the last soldier from our
land," and said that the offer to implement it would last for three months
from the date of Thursday's statement. "Whoever rejects this truce and
wants war, we are its [war's] sons and whoever wants this truce, here we
bring it," it said." -By Mark Huband
-FT.com
- "Iraq
death toll reaches new high." ... "The last two weeks
have been the bloodiest yet for US soldiers in Iraq since the fall of Saddam
Hussein. Iraqi deaths are much harder to track, but an Associated Press
estimate puts the total since 1 April at 880." ... "April's casualty count
for US soldiers has spiralled to 87, the highest for any month since the
war began." ... "Nearly all the deaths have been in hostile incidents in
two weeks which have seen major battles with both Sunni and Shia insurgents."
... "Most of the US soldiers have been killed in attacks on road convoys,
firefights in the Sunni-dominated towns of Falluja and Ramadi and battles
in and around Baghdad." ... "The total of American soldiers killed in Iraq
is now 686. More than three-quarters of these have died since major hostilities
ceased." ... "Just over a quarter of the casualties have died in "non-hostile"
events such as accidents involving vehicles or munitions."
-BBC/News
- "US
troops to stay longer in Iraq: Some 20,000 US troops
now serving in Iraq will have their tour of duty extended, Defence Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld has announced." ... "Mr Rumsfeld said they would spend
another 90 days in Iraq beyond their original one-year deployment." ...
""The country is at war and we need to do what is necessary to succeed,"
he told a news conference." ... "Mr Rumsfeld said the extension came in
response to a request by the commander of US forces in Iraq, Gen John Abizaid."
-BBC/News
- "U.N.
Envoy to Iraq Calls for New Interim Government: Continued
Violence Could Upset Election Plans, Brahimi Warns." ... "U.N. special
envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, wrapping up a mission to Iraq to help devise a new
plan for creating a democratic Iraqi government, said today that the U.S.-led
occupation administration could hand over power as scheduled on June 30
to a new interim government but he acknowledged that the current unrest
in the country could upset plans for elections to follow that transfer
of power." ... "Speaking to reporters in Baghdad, Brahimi said, "The security
situation has to improve significantly for these elections to take place
in an acceptable environment," according to a transcript of his remarks.
Nonetheless, he reiterated the need to push forward with that vote next
January." (1, 2)
-By Mark Stencel-WashingtonPost
- "Insurgents
Display New Sophistication: Campaign Leaves Bridges
Heavily Damaged, Hampering Military's Push South." ... "Insurgents fighting
the U.S.-led occupation force have sharply increased the sophistication,
coordination and aggressiveness of their tactics over the past week, Army
officers and soldiers involved in combat here said." ... "With occupation
forces battling Sadr's Shiite militiamen south and east of Baghdad and
Sunni Muslim insurgents to the north and west, the timing of the Iraqis'
tactical development is nearly as troubling for U.S. forces as its effect.
But the explanation for the change is not yet clear, military commanders
said." ... "Here in southern Iraq, which is overwhelmingly Shiite, U.S.
officers say the best guess is that former soldiers who served under President
Saddam Hussein have decided to lend their expertise and coordinating abilities
to the untrained Shiite militiamen." (1, 2)
-By Thomas E. Ricks-WashingtonPost
-
- "Cleric,
Surrounded by U.S., Hints at Easing His Resistance."
... "A 2,500-member American force backed by tanks and artillery took up
positions outside Najaf on Tuesday when a rebel Shiite cleric, Moktada
al-Sadr, resisted demands from the American authorities and other clerics
that he disband a militia that has challenged American authority across
wide areas of southern Iraq." ... "From his Najaf headquarters, Mr. Sadr
shrugged off American threats to capture or kill him, saying he was "ready
to sacrifice my blood" to end the American occupation." ... "But the day
after a delegation sent by some of the most powerful Shiite clerics appealed
to him to avoid a showdown, he also hinted at a face-saving compromise,
saying he was ready to "implement any order" issued by the religious establishment."
(1, 2)
-By John F. Burns with contributions from Warren Hoge
-NYTimes
via -Google-News
- 
- "Dead
soldier's sisters excused duty in war zone." ...
"Michelle Witmer, 20, died last Friday in an ambush of her Humvee, and
her father's plea to the Pentagon to spare his two other daughters, who
were also serving in Wisconsin national guard units in Iraq, received attention
throughout the US." -By Suzanne Goldenberg
-Guardian.co.uk
-
-
- "Iran
distances itself from Sadr." ... "Iran is dismissing
attempts by Washington to link it to Moqtada al-Sadr, the young radical
cleric whose militia has battled US forces in neighbouring Iraq." ... "US
officials and administration ad visers have long alleged that Iran has
secretly funded Mr Sadr's militia. On Monday, General John Abizaid, commander
of US Central Command, told a press briefing "there are indications from
intelligence folks that there are some Iranian activities going on that
are unhelpful". Last week, Donald Rumsfeld, US secretary of defence, accused
Iran of "meddling" in Iraq." -By Gareth Smyth
-FT.com
- 
- "Russia
mulls pull-out after hostages seized." ... "Russia,
a strong critic of the U.S.-led military operation in Iraq, has confirmed
that eight of its nationals working for an energy company have been taken
hostage in Baghdad." ... "An unnamed Foreign Ministry source was quoted
on Tuesday as saying that Moscow was now considering evacuating all of
its 500 or so nationals, most of whom work in Iraq's energy and power sectors."
-By Oleg Shchedrov -Reuters
-
- "Chinese
hostages 'released'." ... "China was anxiously awaiting
confirmation last night that seven of its nationals kidnapped in Iraq had
been released." ... "The Xinhua news agency, which broke the news of the
kidnappings on Sunday, cited a Chinese merchant in Baghdad as saying that
the seven had been handed over to a Muslim association involved with hostage
release." ... "It was not clear what the seven latest victims of the hostage
drama sweeping Iraq were doing in the country." -By
Jonathan Watts -Guardian.co.uk
-
-
- "Seven
Chinese Kidnapped in Iraq; China Urges Rescue." ...
"Gunmen kidnapped seven Chinese citizens in Iraq in the latest spate of
hostage-taking and Beijing on Monday appealed to Baghdad to rescue them."
... "China was regarded as a friend by Iraq's former Baathist government
under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, and it opposed the military invasion
of Iraq. Beijing pledged $24 million for rebuilding the country at a donor
conference in Madrid last year." (1, 2)
-By John Ruwitch -Reuters
-
- "Japan
unsure of safety of hostages in Iraq as crisis drags into fourth day."
... "Optimism that three Japanese held hostage in Iraq would be quickly
released evaporated Monday, as Tokyo's top government spokesman backtracked
on an earlier statement and said authorities were no longer confident about
their safety." ... "The hostages[,] two aid workers and a photojournalist[,]
were being held by a previously unknown group calling itself the ''Muhahedeen
Squadron,'' which demanded Japan pull its troops out of Iraq within three
days or it would burn the three alive." -By Eric Talmadge
-AP via -Boston/Globe
- "14
Soldiers Killed in Iraq Since Friday: Uneasy Ceasefire
in Fallujah." ... "Meanwhile, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq,
Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, defended the current level of 129,000 U.S.
troops in Iraq as adequate. "We clearly showed some weaknesses here in
the last couple of weeks, and we are retackling the problem with greater
intensity," he said on NBC's "Meet The Press."" ... "Sanchez also said
that the refusal of a new Iraqi army battalion to fight in Fallujah "did
uncover significant challenges" in the Iraqi security forces." ... ""We
knew that there were going to be some risks that we were taking by standing
up security forces quickly, and we also know that it's going to take us
a while to stand up reliable forces that can accept responsibility for
both the internal and the external security of the country," Sanchez said."
(1, 2)
-By Sewell Chan and Pamela Constable with contributions
by Thomas E. Ricks and Saad Sarhan -WashingtonPost
- "Attacks
in Iraq claim lives of four contractors, five soldiers:
An anti-American mob in the Iraqi city of Fallujah ambushed a group of
contractors Wednesday, beating and dragging four bodies through the streets.
The brutal attack came on the same day a roadside bomb killed five Americans
west of Baghdad." ... "" -PBS.org
/NewsHour
-
- 
- 
-
-
-
- "Bush
Asks Allies for Unity on Iraq: No Nation Exempt From
Terrorism, President Says on War Anniversary." ... "President Bush yesterday
marked the anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq with an appeal
for international unity after a year of division by warning that there
can be "no separate peace" with the West's enemies." ... "Bush spoke to
an audience of 83 diplomats, including those from such countries as France
and Germany, which opposed the war. But his remarks seemed directed toward
such countries as Spain and Poland, allies in Iraq that are now expressing
misgivings, and, in Spain's case, rethinking their cooperation with the
United States." -By Dana Milbank -WashingtonPost
-
-
- "Spain's
ruling party swept from power amid anger of Madrid terror attacks."
... "Spain's ruling conservatives crashed to surprise defeat in elections
overshadowed by anger over terrorist bombings, becoming the first government
that backed the U.S.-led war in Iraq to be voted out of office." ... "The
win by the Socialists over President Jose Maria Aznar's favored Popular
Party Sunday came amid charges that Aznar made Spain a target for terrorist
by supporting the Iraq war." ... "Spain's incoming prime minister, Jose
Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has pledged to bring home the 1,300 Spanish troops
in Iraq when their tour of duty ends in July." -By
Daniel Woolls -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
-
-
- "Md.
Woman Accused of Acting as Iraqi Agent." ... "Federal
agents today arrested a Maryland woman at her home on charges of acting
as an agent for the Iraqi government of former president Saddam Hussein
and plotting to aid resistance groups in Iraq after Hussein was ousted
by U.S. forces." ... "Susan Lindauer, 40, a former journalist and congressional
aide in Washington, was taken into custody by the FBI at her home in Takoma
Park after federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment against her and two
Iraqis, the sons of a former diplomat, who were charged with similar offenses."
-By William Branigin -WashingtonPost
- "Iraqi
Council Signs Interim Constitution." ... "Iraq's
Governing Council signed a landmark interim constitution Monday after resolving
a political impasse sparked by objections from the country's most powerful
cleric. The signing was a key step in U.S. plans to hand over power to
the Iraqis by July 1." ... "But there were signs that a dispute that delayed
plans to sign the constitution on Friday might surface again." ... "One
clause in dispute, according to [council member Ibrahim] al-Jaafari, would
give Kurds and Sunni Arabs veto power over a permanent constitution expected
to be drafted and put to a referendum next year. The other bars any changes
to the document signed Monday except with the approval of a proposed president,
his two deputies, and three-fourths of a parliament to be elected by January
2005." -By Hamza Hendawi
-AP via -AJC
-
- "Signing
of Iraqi Charter Is Delayed by Shiite Objections."
... "The scheduled signing of a previously approved interim constitution
for Iraq was delayed indefinitely today after five Shiite members of the
Iraqi Governing Council rejected wording that dealt with the Kurds and
the proposed setup of the presidency." ... "The council unanimously agreed
to the accord on Monday. But an official on the council said today that
the changes being called for were necessary if they were to gain the acceptance
of Iraq's leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani." -By
Dexter Filkins and Terence Neilan -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
"Annan
Is Said to Have Doubt on Iraq Voting." ... "Secretary
General Kofi Annan will endorse the view that the interim Iraqi government
to take office this summer cannot be chosen by direct elections, but he
will not make his recommendation on Iraq's political future for at least
a week, senior United Nations diplomats said Wednesday." ... "The diplomats,
who did not want to be quoted by name, said that Mr. Annan would consult
Thursday with his special envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi, who is returning
from a weeklong examination of the political situation in the country.
Afterward, Mr. Brahimi is to discuss his findings in a meeting with the
Security Council." -By Warren Hoge -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
- "U.N.
Envoy Backs Iraqi Vote: In Meetings, Brahimi Says
Elections Are Viable Before Date Set by U.S." ... "A senior U.N. envoy
has indicated to Iraqi leaders that he believes nationwide, direct elections
could be held late this year or early next year, according to several Iraqis
who met with the envoy this week." ... "The envoy, former Algerian foreign
minister Lakhdar Brahimi, was dispatched to resolve disagreements among
Iraqis over the formation of a transitional government. He has suggested
through questions and responses to various proposals that he favors holding
elections sooner than the United States has envisaged but not before a
planned handover of sovereignty this summer, the Iraqis who met with him
said Thursday." (1, 2)
-By Rajiv Chandrasekaran -WashingtonPost
- "Head
of U.S. Central Command's convoy attacked in Iraq:
Follows 2 bombings that killed more than 100." ... "A convoy carrying Gen.
John Abizaid, the commander of all U.S. forces in the Middle East, was
attacked Thursday during a visit to Iraqi defense forces in Fallujah, U.S.
officials said. No one was injured." ... "The convoy was at a compound
in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, when three rocket-propelled grenades were
fired from rooftops, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said at a news conference."
-Contributed to by Jane Arraf -CNN
-
- "At
Least 36 Iraqis Killed in Car Bombing Outside Army Recruiting Center, Day
After Similar Attack." ... "A suicide driver blew
up his explosive-rigged car Wednesday outside an army recruiting center
in central Baghdad where hundreds of Iraqis were lined up to volunteer
for the military, killing at least 36 people, U.S. officials and Iraqi
witnesses said." ... "Iraq's deputy interior minister, Ahmed Ibrahim, said
47 people were killed and 50 injured. He told reporters "this crime" will
"not deter the people's march toward freedom.""
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- "Service
Chiefs Challenge White House on the Budget." ...
"In an unusual public display of differences with the White House, the
top officers of the Army, Marine Corps and Air Force all raised questions
on Tuesday about how the Bush administration plans to pay for operations
in Iraq and Afghanistan after the current financing runs out at the end
of September." ... "Appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee,
three of the four chiefs of the armed services expressed concerns about
a financing gap, perhaps of four months, for the two missions, whose combined
cost is about $5 billion a month." -By Eric Schmitt
-NYTimes
- "Car
bomb kills around 50 south of Baghdad." ... "About
50 people were killed and dozens wounded on Tuesday when a car bomb ripped
through a police station south of Baghdad, witnesses and hospital doctors
said." -Reuters
via -Boston/Globe
-
-
-
- "Al
Qaeda 'plan civil war in Iraq'." ... "The United
States says an al Qaeda operative is plotting to provoke a civil war in
Iraq as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed concern over divisions
among Iraqis on a plan to assume power." ... "U.S. officials in Baghdad
said U.S. forces had seized a computer disc that contained a letter outlining
the plan written by Abu Musab Zarqawi, who Washington suspects of links
to Ansar al-Islam -- a Muslim militant group operating in Iraq." -By
Joseph Logan -Reuters
via -Reuters.co.uk
-
- "Gore
Says Bush Betrayed the U.S. by Using 9/11 as a Reason for War in Iraq."
... "In a withering critique of the Bush administration, former Vice President
Al Gore on Sunday accused the president of betraying the country by using
the Sept. 11 attacks as a justification for the invasion of Iraq." ...
""He betrayed this country!" Mr. Gore shouted into the microphone at a
rally of Tennessee Democrats here in a stuffy hotel ballroom. "He played
on our fears. He took America on an ill-conceived foreign adventure dangerous
to our troops, an adventure preordained and planned before 9/11 ever took
place."" -By Katharine Q. Seelye -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- "Iraq's
secular parties try to gain ground in face of Shiite Muslim clerics' political
strength." ... "With Iraq's top Shiite ayatollah
able to bring tens of thousands of marchers out into the streets, seemingly
on a moment's notice, secular politicians can only hope the cleric keeps
his promises not to seek political power." ... "Their parties are still
staggering back from the grave where Saddam Hussein buried them and, as
they jostle for a position in the government to come, may be too weak to
compete with Islamic movements backed by popular clerics." -By
Lee Keath -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
- "CIA
tries to staunch wounds opened by Kay." ... "Mr Tenet
[the director of the Central Intelligence Agency] was disarmingly frank
on Thursday, admitting that while more time was needed to reach definitive
conclusions, the agency's judgments now looked suspect on all the key elements
of Iraq's weapons programmes - its nuclear, chemical and biological capabilities.
He acknowledged that CIA human intelligence was lacking in Iraq, forcing
it to rely on what turned out to be less than accurate sources provided
by other countries." ... ""Our record was mixed," he said. "While we had
voluminous reporting, the major judgments reached were based on a narrower
band of data." But he said that based on Saddam Hussein's history and on
the technical and human intelligence gathered by the agency, "it would
have been difficult for analysts to come to any different conclusions than
the ones we reached"." -By Edward Alden and Mark Huband
with contributions by Salamander Davoudi -FT.com
-
- "Bush
to pick panel for WMD inquiry, official says: Independent
probe of intelligence has bipartisan support." ... "The intelligence to
be reviewed was used to justify the U.S.-led war in Iraq, the first under
Bush's national security strategy calling for pre-emptive attacks against
terrorist groups and nations that possess or are developing weapons of
mass destruction." ... "David Kay, the former U.S. chief weapons inspector
in Iraq, told a Senate panel last week that his group did not find such
weapons and that he didn't believe stockpiles of banned weapons would turn
up either." -CNN
-
-
- "Iraqi
Kurds Vow Unity as Blast Toll Reaches 67." ... "U.S.
military officials said the number killed in Sunday's coordinated attacks
had risen to 67 -- from an earlier estimate of 56 -- and those wounded
numbered 247." ... "The attacks, the worst since a suicide car bomb killed
more than 80 outside a mosque in the holy city of Najaf last August, killed
several senior members of the main Kurdish parties --the Patriotic Union
of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party." ... "The attacks were
especially hard on the KDP, which lost its veteran deputy leader, Sami
Abdul-Rahman, whose moderate views carried much weight." (1, 2,
3)
-Reuters
-
-
-
- "Bush
to Establish Panel to Examine U.S. Intelligence."
... "President Bush will establish a bipartisan commission in the next
few days to examine American intelligence operations, including a study
of possible misjudgments about Iraq's unconventional weapons, senior administration
officials said Sunday. They said the panel would also investigate failures
to penetrate secretive governments and stateless groups that could attempt
new attacks on the United States." ... "The pressure to establish such
a panel became irresistible after David A. Kay, the former chief weapons
inspector, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that "it
turns out we were all wrong, probably," about the perceived Iraqi threat,
which was the administration's basic justification for the war." ... "The
commission will not report back until after the November elections. Some
former officials who have been approached about taking part say they believe
it may take 18 months or more to reach its conclusions." (1, 2)
-By David E. Sanger -NYTimes
-
-
- "Twin
Bombings in Northern Iraq Kill at Least 56." ...
"The attack took place on the first day of Id al-Adha, or the Feast of
Sacrifice, which commemorates the Koranic account of Ibrahim's willingness
to slay his son for God, and God's mercy in the face of such devotion.
American military officials have said they expect a surge in attacks during
the four-day holiday. This morning, Kurdish party leaders were receiving
hundreds of people in each building as part of the festivities." ... "The
bombings today killed senior officials of both the Kurdistan Democratic
Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which separately govern two
halves of the rugged region called Kurdistan." ... "The bomber at the offices
of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan was a woman wearing a belt of explosives,
he [Bakhtiyar Amin, a spokesman for Kurdish representative Mahmoud Othman
of the Iraqi Governing Council] said, while the one at the offices of the
Kurdistan Democratic Party was wearing the robes of a cleric." -By
Edward Wong-NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
- "Bombs
kill 12 in Iraq, including 3 U.S. soldiers." ...
"Two suicide bombers strapped with explosives have blown themselves up
in the offices of two Kurdish parties aligned with U.S. occupation forces
in northern Iraq, killing at least 56 people and wounding 200." ... "The
Arbil offices of Iraq's two main Kurdish political groups were crowded
with senior officials celebrating the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha when
the bombers struck, killing many top leaders of the two groups." -By
Shamal Aqrawi -Reuters
via -Reuters.co.uk
-
-
- "Bombs
kill 12 in Iraq, including 3 U.S. soldiers." ...
"Witnesses in Mosul, Iraq's major northern city, said what appeared to
be a suicide attacker drove through a security barricade in front of the
police station before blowing up his vehicle outside the building. Officials
confirmed a car bomb but wouldn't say if it was a suicide attack." ...
"In Kirkuk, a homemade bomb exploded as a 4th Infantry Division convoy
passed by about 25 miles southwest of the city today, killing the three
soldiers, the U.S. military said. The deaths raised to 522 the number of
U.S. soldiers killed in the Iraq conflict."
-AP via -HoustonChronicle.com
-
- "U.N.
Election Team to Go to Iraq Within Days, Annan Says."
... "U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Friday he would send a team
to Iraq within days to explore the feasibility of holding an early election,
after he received security assurances from U.S.-led occupation forces."
-Reuters via -Wired
-
-
- "2
congressional panels echo Kay on Iraqi weaponry."
... "The House and Senate intelligence committees have unearthed a series
of failures in the prewar intelligence on Iraq similar to those identified
by former weapons inspector David Kay, leading them to believe that CIA
analysts and their superiors did not seriously consider the possibility
that Saddam Hussein no longer possessed weapons of mass destruction, according
to congressional officials." ... "The committees, working separately for
the past seven months, have determined that the CIA relied too heavily
on circumstantial, outdated intelligence and became overly dependent on
satellite and spy-plane imagery and communications intercepts." -By
Dana Priest & Walter Pincus -WashingtonPost
via -SFGate.com
-
- "Iraq
roadside attacks kill one and injure 13." ... "A
series of roadside attacks in Iraq have killed a local security officer
and wounded at least 13 other people as insurgents mount fresh strikes
against Iraqis seen as collaborating with U.S. forces." ... "Since May
1 last year, when President George W. Bush declared major combat over in
Iraq, more than 300 Iraqi policemen have been killed in shootings, bombings
or suicide attacks, according to Iraq's interior ministry." -By
Michael Georgy -Reuters
via -Reuters.co.uk
-
- 
- "Second
BBC Exec Resigns Over Iraq Story: Second BBC Executive
Resigns, Shaken Broadcaster Apologizes Over Report on Iraq Intelligence."
... "The chief of the BBC stepped down Thursday as the badly rattled broadcaster
struggled to respond to harsh criticism from a judge who repudiated its
report that the government "sexed up" intelligence on Iraq." ... "The resignation
of British Broadcasting Corp. director-general Greg Dyke stunned BBC employees,
and hundreds of them rallied outside the network's offices around Britain
to show their support for him. One local BBC radio station briefly went
off the air in protest." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "Army
given OK to temporarily increase its ranks." ...
"The Army's top general said Wednesday that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld,
hoping to quiet critics in Congress, has given him the authority to temporarily
increase the size of the Army by up to 30,000 troops until 2008." ... "Gen.
Peter Schoomaker, the Army's chief of staff, told the House Armed Services
Committee that the temporary increase would ease strains caused by U.S.-led
conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan but not require the billions of dollars
that a permanent troop increase would cost." -By Dave
Moniz -USATODAY
-
-
- "Kay
to Testify About Iraqi WMD Search: Kay to Testify
About Search for Iraq's Weapons As Some in Bush Administration Shift Positions."
... "Senators want to speak with the former top U.S. weapons inspector
who said he couldn't find evidence that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons
of mass destruction, a primary justification by President Bush for the
war in Iraq." ... "As special adviser to CIA Director George Tenet, Kay
was chosen last year as the Iraq Survey Group leader in part because he
was convinced weapons would be found. "My suspicions are that we'll find
in the chemical and biological areas, in fact, I think there may be some
surprises coming rather quickly in that area," he said on CNN in June."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
-
- "BBC
Chairman Resigns After Hutton Criticism." ... "The
chairman of the BBC resigned on Wednesday and the broadcaster apologized
for some of its reporting on the buildup to the war in Iraq after an inquiry
by a senior judge lambasted the corporation." ... "The report by Lord Hutton
criticized journalist Andrew Gilligan, the BBC's management and its supervisory
board of governors, for a radio report saying the government "sexed up"
intelligence in a dossier on Iraqi weapons." -By Adam
Pasick -Reuters
-
-
-
- "Judicial
Inquiry Clears Blair on Iraq Intelligence Claims:
BBC Blamed for Broadcasting 'Unfounded' Allegations." ... "A judicial inquiry
cleared Prime Minister Tony Blair on Wednesday of allegations aired by
the BBC that he and his aides had exaggerated intelligence claims about
Iraq's access to weapons of mass destruction and drove to suicide a British
weapons expert who raised questions about those claims." ... "While exonerating
Blair, Lord Brian Hutton blamed the BBC for broadcasting what he called
"unfounded" allegations in May of 2003 that the government had published
a "sexed-up" claim that Iraq could launch such weapons within 45 minutes
of an order despite knowing it was probably wrong." -By
Glenn Frankel -WashingtonPost
-
- "Truck
bomb detonates outside Baghdad hotel: Blast comes
day after 13 killed in attacks." ... "At least four other people -- all
Iraqis --were injured in the blast." ... "According to Gen. Mark Hertling,
the explosion happened at about 7:15 a.m. (11:15 p.m. Tuesday ET) in front
of the Shaheen Hotel in the Karada section of the Iraqi capital, battering
the front of the hotel and leaving a large crater in the road." ... "The
five attacks Tuesday killed six U.S. soldiers, two CNN employees, four
Iraqi policemen and an Iraqi civilian, according to police and military
sources." -CNN
-
- "UN
team begins Iraq poll mission: A United Nations security
team has arrived in Iraq to see if it is safe enough to send election experts."
... "The US and Iraq had asked the world body to send experts to investigate
the chance of a vote by the end of June." ... "UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan agreed to the request, but said he had to be convinced the mission
was safe." -BBC/News
-
- "U.N.
envoy warns against premature polls in Iraq." ...
"U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said on Tuesday premature elections in Iraq
could do more harm than good and signaled he would not play the kind of
leadership role there that Washington wanted him to play." ... "Annan said
earlier in Paris that, security permitting, he would send a team to Iraq
to see if early elections were feasible." ... "Annan said he would send
a mission to assess whether direct polls would be possible before the U.S.
hands back power to Iraqis mid-year, as the influential Shi'ite cleric,
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has demanded." -Reuters
-
- 
- 
-
- "From
Iraq to Libya, US knew little on weapons: Doubts
that Hussein had WMD raise questions about war's rationale and intelligence
reliability." ... "When it comes to unconventional weapons, Iraq may have
been far from the most dangerous country in the world after all. In recent
days a string of surprising revelations has scrambled the world's proliferation
threat assessments." ... "Iraq's weapons programs were apparently in shambles,
for instance, while Libya's were surprisingly advanced. Pakistan's nuclear
scientists might have been rogue agents, proffering secrets for cash. And
it appears that North Korea may be the most advanced rogue nuclear nation
of all, with an advanced capacity to produce fissile material." -By
Peter Grier -CSMonitor
-
- "Japan's
defense chief issues dispatch order for bulk of ground troops to Iraq."
... "Japan's defense chief issued a dispatch order Monday for the bulk
of the ground troops Japan is sending to Iraq, moving ahead with the humanitarian
mission despite concerns about the soldiers' safety." ... "Defense Agency
Director Shigeru Ishiba announced the order after the ruling Liberal Democrats
won backing from coalition partner the New Komeito Party, which had expressed
reservations about the deployment." -By Mari Yamaguchi
-AP via -Boston/Globe
-
- "Iraqi council
splitting under Shiite pressure: Many defer to cleric
on election format." ... "A powerful cleric's demand for quick elections
has delayed the drafting of an interim constitution and has created a serious
new split in the Iraqi Governing Council, officials said, further undermining
the Bush administration's troubled plan for a political transition in Iraq."
... "Without an interim constitution, which is supposed to be completed
in less than five weeks, the entire timetable for a U.S. transfer of power
to an Iraqi government by June 30 could be disrupted. And the divide in"
-By Edward Wong -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
- "Syria
denies hiding Iraq's WMDs." ... "An article in London's
Sunday Telegraph quoted David Kay, the outgoing leader of a U.S. weapons
search team in Iraq, as saying that part of Iraq's secret weapons program
had been hidden in Syria." ... "But in an interview aired later Sunday
on National Public Radio, Kay said it is difficult to determine whether
shipments to Syria included weapons, in part because Syria has refused
to cooperate in this part of the weapons investigation."
-CNN
-
- "Iraq's
Path Hinges on Words of Enigmatic Cleric." ... "An
austere home in a dusty alleyway here [Najaf, Iraq] has become a center
of power rivaling the American occupation headquarters in Baghdad — and
the scene of fierce inner struggles for one man's ear." ... "Grand Ayatollah
Ali al-Sistani, a reclusive 73-year-old cleric revered by many of Iraq's
15 million Shiites, hears arguments and requests here from the country's
most senior politicians, occasionally issuing decrees through them that
thwart the plans of the world's sole superpower." ... "The ayatollah's
secular power is clear: his insistence on direct elections for a transitional
national assembly before Iraqi sovereignty in June drew up to 100,000 supporters
to Baghdad's streets on Monday and left the Bush administration scrambling
to salvage plans for a caucus-style selection." (1, 2)
-By Edward Wong -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
- 
- "WMD
hunter: No stockpiles in Iraq." ... "The man who
has led Washington's search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, David
Kay, says he doesn't think large weapons stockpiles existed there past
the mid-1990s." ... "Kay quit his post as the CIA's chief weapons hunter
in Iraq and will be replaced by Charles Duelfer -- a former official with
the U.N.'s inspection team in Iraq." ... "Though Kay has said new information
has been uncovered about Iraq's programs --particularly its efforts to
build missiles --he has since concluded there are no weapons stockpiles
to be found." -CNN
-
- "Japan's
Diet to consider bill to change constitution." ...
"Most attention will focus on article 9, which renounces Japan's right
to belligerency. Many in the LDP want to amend the constitution to make
it easier for Japan to participate in international operations, such as
that in Iraq." ... "There is also an intention to normalise the status
of Self Defence Forces, Japan's armed forces-equivalent, whose status sits
uneasily with the constitutional ban on maintaining land, sea and air forces."
-By David Pilling -FT.com
- 
- "Two
U.S. pilots die when chopper comes down in northern Iraq."
... "A statement said the Kiowa helicopter came down at about 8:30 p.m.
(1730 GMT) northwest of Qayara, but that the cause of the crash was not
known and an accompanying helicopter did not mention any hostile activity."
-Reuters
- 
- "Halliburton
acknowledges kickback allegations in Iraq contract."
... "Halliburton has fired employees who allegedly took kickbacks from
a Kuwaiti subcontractor helping to supply U.S. troops in Iraq, the company
said." ... "The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that two employees
of Halliburton subsidiary KBR accepted up to $6 million in kickbacks from
the unnamed Kuwaiti firm." -By Matt Kelley
-AP via -Boston/Globe
- "Assailants
Kill 4 Iraqi Women Working for U.S.: Gunmen Follow
Van Carrying Laundry Employees." ... "The shooting deaths of four Iraqi
women, who were being driven late Wednesday to their jobs as cleaners at
a U.S. military base, have heightened official concerns about attacks against
Iraqis who cooperate with or are employed by U.S.-led occupation forces."
... "The attack on Wednesday marked the first time attackers appeared to
deliberately target women after months of recurrent violent assaults against
U.S.-led troops, Iraqi police and other security forces." -By
Pamela Constable -WashingtonPost
- "Saudis
'ready to cut Iraq's debt'." ... "Saudi Arabia has
said it is prepared to negotiate a "substantial" reduction of Iraq's debt
to the kingdom." ... "The statement did not say how much of Iraq's estimated
$30 billion debt the Saudis might forego."
-BBC/News
-
-
- "Annan
Meets With U.S., U.K. on Iraq Role." ... "Secretary-General
Kofi Annan sought ``greater clarity'' about a possible U.N. role in Iraq,
meeting on Monday with U.S. and Iraqi officials as the Bush administration
faced a dispute with a prominent Shiite cleric over choosing a provisional
government." ... "The U.S.-led coalition wants to keep its June 30 timetable
for the handover of power to an interim Iraqi government. But its plan
for caucuses to choose a provisional assembly has been attacked by the
country's most prominent Shiite leader, Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani,
who has demanded direct elections." -By Edith M. Lederer
-AP via -AJC
- "After
10 Months in Iraq, U.S. Marks 500th Military Death:
Blast Outside Occupation Headquarters Kills at Least 12." ... "The U.S.
military death toll after 10 months of engagement in Iraq reached 500 yesterday,
roughly matching the number of U.S. military personnel who died in the
first four years of the U.S. military engagement in Vietnam." ... "The
cumulative toll of 500 U.S. deaths was reached in Vietnam in 1965, the
year when the U.S. deployment there rose from 23,300 to 184,300 troops.
In Iraq, in contrast, the United States is rotating forces with the goal
of reducing the total from 130,000 to 105,000 by June and also sharply
scaling back its military presence in Baghdad." -By
R. Jeffrey Smith -WashingtonPost
-
- "Blast
kills at least 20 outside coalition headquarters in Iraq."
... "A suicide bomber blew up a pickup truck packed with 1,000 pounds of
explosives outside the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition Sunday, killing
at about 20 people and injuring more than 60 — most of them Iraqis." ...
"The attack on a chill, foggy morning in the heart of Baghdad was the deadliest
in Iraq since the capture of Saddam Hussein on Dec. 13 near his hometown
of Tikrit. The blast occurred a day before the top U.S. civil administrator
in Iraq was to meet with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to ask for the
world body's help in rebuilding the country."
-AP via -USATODAY
-
- "Bremer will
press UN on larger role: U.S. aide and Iraqis expected
to seek support for plan on power transfer." ... "L. Paul Bremer 3rd, the
administrator of the occupying authority in Iraq, was leaving Thursday
for Washington to consult with the White House before a meeting on Monday
at the United Nations. There, both the United States and the Iraqis it
has temporarily installed in office will press for a significant United
Nations role in support of their plan for a rapid handover of sovereignty.
The meeting, called by Secretary General Kofi Annan and attended by leaders
of the American-backed interim Iraqi Governing Council as well as the Americans,
will be the first significant, high-level negotiations between the parties
to discuss the mechanics of selecting a new legislative body for Iraq by
this summer." -By John H. Cushman Jr.-NYTimes
via -IHT.com
-
- "Japanese
sends first troops out to war zone since 1945." ...
"As an advanced team of Self-Defense Forces prepared to leave Friday for
Iraq, the first Japanese troops to be deployed since World War II to a
country with ongoing combat continued their training at their snow-covered
base here in northern Japan [Asahikawa]." ... "The troops have taken Arabic
lessons, and learned about the Koran and Ramadan. They have focused, above
all, on mastering their rules of engagement, the way in which they would
respond to a hostile situation in southern Iraq. While the details are
kept secret, the rules are said to be more muscular than the guidelines
under which the forces have operated in the past." -By
Norimitsu Onishi-NYTimes
via -IHT.com
-
-
-
- "Kennedy
Hits Bush On War." ... "President Bush marketed the
war on Iraq as a "political product" to influence the 2002 elections and
is doing so again this year, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) charged yesterday
in a scathing speech accusing Bush of putting politics ahead of national
security." ... ""No president of the United States should employ misguided
ideology and distortion of the truth to take the nation to war," he said.
"In doing so, the president broke the basic bond of trust between the government
and the people. If Congress and the American people knew the whole truth,
America would never have gone to war."" -By Helen
Dewar -WashingtonPost
-
- "U.S.
Envoy in Manila to Head Iraq Democracy Effort." ...
"Francis Ricciardone, the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines and a Middle
East expert, said on Wednesday he is returning to Washington for several
months to oversee efforts to bring democracy to post-war Iraq." ... "Secretary
of State Colin Powell informed Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
of Ricciardone's absence on Wednesday. Joseph Mussomeli, the deputy chief
of mission, will run the embassy while the ambassador is away." (1, 2)
-By John O'Callaghan -Reuters
- "Nephews
of Saddam official captured." ... "[Also,] In Ramadi,
west of Baghdad, U.S. troops captured Khamis Sirhan al-Muhammad, a former
regional Baath Party chairman and militia commander who was No. 54 on the
list of 55 most-wanted figures, the military said Wednesday." ... "Two
of the nephews arrested Wednesday are suspected of helping to hide their
uncle, former Iraqi Vice President Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri. Al-Douri has
a $10 million bounty on his head and is suspected to have been orchestrating
insurgent attacks on U.S.-led coalition forces." ... "Al-Douri, a former
Revolutionary Command Council vice chairman, is No. 6 on the U.S. list
of 55 most-wanted Iraqis. The top five on the list have either been captured
or killed." -By Paul Garwood with contributions by
Sameer N. Yacoub -AP
via -Salon/news/wire
-
-
- "U.S.
Hails Mongolia's Troops in Iraq." ... "In Iraq, a
contingent of 173 Mongolian soldiers began serving under a Polish-led multinational
force last fall. They are operating around Hillah, in the southern part
of the country." ... "They amount to a drop in the bucket compared with
the thousands of U.S. and British troops occupying Iraq. But their presence
shows the former Soviet satellite state's efforts to refashion a portion
of its military into one available for peacekeeping missions worldwide."
-By John J. Lumpkin -AP
via -Miami/Herald
- 
-
-
-
- "Bush:
Canada eligible in Iraq reconstruction contracts."
... "President Bush moved to ease tensions with Canada Tuesday by reversing
course and declaring Canadian companies eligible to bid on a second round
of U.S.-financed prime reconstruction contracts in Iraq." ... "The reversal
was seen as a goodwill gesture toward Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin,
who took office last month." ... "The White House indicated that other
opponents of the war, including France and Germany, might be able to join
the next round of bidding." -By Richard Benedetto
with contributions by James Cox -USATODAY
-
- 
- "Army
War College article says invasion of Iraq was 'strategic error'."
... "A report published by the Army War College calls the Bush administration's
war on terrorism unfocused and says the invasion of Iraq was "a strategic
error."" ... "The research paper by Jeffrey Record, a professor at the
Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, said the president's
strategy "promises much more than it can deliver" and threatens to spread
U.S. military resources too thin. Record also wrote that Saddam Hussein's
Iraq did not present a threat to the United States and was a distraction
from the war on terrorism." -By Bob Johnson
-AP via -SFGate.com
-
-
- "Top
Shiite Cleric Hardens Call for Early Iraqi Vote:
Sistani Reiterates Opposition to U.S. Plan." ... "The cleric, Grand Ayatollah
Ali Sistani, rebuffed delegates from the U.S.-appointed Governing Council
who visited the holy city of Najaf in an effort to convince him that regional
caucuses should choose a new assembly. The assembly would in turn choose
a transitional government. The U.S.-backed plan would culminate in a new
ratified constitution and a new elected government by the end of 2005."
... "Sistani insisted, as he has since November, on direct elections this
year that would give the country's majority Shiite population a chance
to flex its electoral muscle." -By Daniel Williams
-WashingtonPost
- "U.S.
soldier killed in bombing; blasts rock central Baghdad."
... "Ukrainian soldiers fired into the air Monday to disperse hundreds
of Iraqis who rioted for jobs and food as a second southern Shiite Muslim
city [Kut, Iraq] was rocked by unrest — a barometer of rising frustration
with the U.S. led-occupation in a region of Iraq considered friendly to
the Americans." ... "Also Monday, a roadside bomb in the capital killed
one American soldier and wounded two, bringing the U.S. death toll in the
Iraqi conflict to 495. Large explosions rocked central Baghdad later in
the day, but officials reported no casualties."
-AP via -USATODAY
- "US
puts Baathists 'on parole': An experiment in an Iraqi
region is using new methods to disarm potential insurgents." ... "It's
one of the US military's most innovative efforts to deal with Iraq's postwar
insurgency." ... "Last Monday, after weeks of talks, the 12 senior Baathists
in the Talafar region, about 210 miles northwest of Baghdad, met with US
officers. They denounced the Baath Party in a ceremony broadcast on radio
and arranged to hand over of more than 522 AK-47s, dozens of rocket-propelled
grenades, and nearly 100 mortar rounds and the tools to fire them." ...
"What's in it for these leaders is the prospect of reducing the threat
of arrest -as well as eventual rehabilitation in their communities and
a chance at getting back jobs they lost after the invasion." -By
Dan Murphy -CSMonitor
-
- -
"Bush
began Iraq plan pre-9/11, O'Neill says." ... "President
Bush and his senior aides began plotting the invasion of Iraq just days
after he took office in January 2001 and not, as the administration has
indicated, after terrorists struck against the United States eight months
later, according to former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, who was forced
from his post in December 2002." ... "In an interview scheduled to air
tonight on CBS News' "60 Minutes," O'Neill derided what he considered the
administration's intent from the start to remove Saddam Hussein by force."
... ""From the very beginning, there was a conviction that Saddam Hussein
was a bad person and that he needed to go," O'Neill told the news program,
according to excerpts released yesterday. "For me, the notion of preemption,
that the US has the unilateral right to do whatever we decide to do, is
a really huge leap."" -By Bryan Bender-Boston/Globe
-
- "Hussein
declared to be a POW: The general counsel office
in the Pentagon has determined that Saddam Hussein is a prisoner of war
because of his status as former commander in chief of Iraq's military."
... "Pentagon lawyers have determined that Saddam Hussein has been a prisoner
of war since American forces captured him Dec. 13, a Defense Department
spokesman said Friday." ... "Despite that determination, aides to Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld were grappling Friday with what to say publicly
about the issue. A senior defense official who insisted he not be named
said Hussein's legal status was still under review." ... "Similarly, Secretary
of State Colin Powell told CBS News: ''I don't know that he has been formally
declared a prisoner of war.'' It was up to the Pentagon, Powell said."
-By Matt Kelley-AP
via -Miami/Herald
-
- "U.S.
Withdraws a Team of Weapons Hunters From Iraq." ...
"The Bush administration has quietly withdrawn from Iraq a 400-member military
team [the Joint Captured Matériel Exploitation Group] whose job
was to scour the country for military equipment, according to senior government
officials." ... "The step was described by some military officials as a
sign that the administration might have lowered its sights and no longer
expected to uncover the caches of chemical and biological weapons that
the White House cited as a principal reason for going to war last March."
... "A separate military team that specializes in disposing of chemical
and biological weapons remains part of the 1,400-member Iraq Survey Group,
which has been searching Iraq for more that seven months at a cost of hundreds
of millions of dollars." (1, 2)
-By Douglas Jehl -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
- "US
releases 60 Iraqi prisoners." ... "The US army freed
about 60 prisoners from the feared Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad today,
the first detainees to be released under a new amnesty introduced by the
coalition provisional authority (CPA)." ... "Paul Bremer, the heed of the
CPA in Iraq, announced the amnesty for low-threat detainees yesterday[.]"
... "As part of wider US efforts to bring about reconciliation in Iraq,
the military will release around 500 prisoners in total. Around 9,000 Iraqis
have been detained in the eight months since the overthrow of the Saddam
regime." -Guardian.co.uk
-
- "U.S.
helicopter goes down near Fallujah; nine killed."
... "A U.S. Black Hawk medivac helicopter crashed Thursday near a stronghold
of the anti-American insurgency, killing all nine soldiers aboard, the
U.S. military said." ... "Also Thursday, a U.S. soldier died of injuries
suffered in a mortar attack a day earlier that wounded 33 other troops
and a civilian west of Baghdad." -AP
via -USATODAY
- "35
GIs Injured in Mortar Attack at Base Near Baghad, Military Says."
... "Six mortar rounds impacted about 6:45 p.m. at Logistical Base Seitz,
the military said in a statement." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- "U.S.
Opens Bidding for New Iraq Work." ... "The United
States opened up bidding on Wednesday for $5 billion in new contracts to
rebuild Iraq, the first in a string of lucrative deals funded by $18.6
billion appropriated by the U.S. Congress but barred to those nations who
opposed the Iraq war." ... "After more than a month's delay, the Pentagon-run
Program Management Office kicked off bidding by issuing solicitations overnight
for 17 major construction contracts and project management deals to oversee
the work." (1, 2)
-By Sue Pleming -Reuters
- "Iraqis
Clean Up After Car Bombing to Start the New Year."
... "A woman picked through the wreckage of her home for her husband's
wedding ring, shopkeepers swept broken glass from their floors and American
soldiers stepped over human remains scattered across a narrow street."
... "That was how New Year's Day began Thursday in the upscale Arasat neighborhood,
as people started the grim task of sifting through the debris of their
lives after a car bomb tore through Nabil Restaurant here on New Year's
Eve." ... "American and Iraqi officials said 8 people were killed in the
explosion and 35 wounded, including 3 American journalists. American officials
said someone had parked a car loaded with 400 pounds of explosives on a
side street next to the restaurant, which was destroyed in the blast."
-By Edward Wong -NYTimes
- "U.S.
plans boost in security during Iraq troop rotation:
More than 250,000 to be flown in and out over the next 4 months." ... "Even
with the recent reduction in attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq, war planners
are eyeing stepped-up air patrols and other security measures to safely
rotate fresh troops into the country early next year out of fear the massive
turnover will give guerrillas a new set of potential targets, according
to defense officials." ... "More than 250,000 troops will take to the roads
in convoys and be flown in and out of the country in the first four months
of 2004, along with an estimated 600,000 tons of equipment, the Pentagon
predicts. The movement increases the chances for a spike in attacks from
insurgents armed with missiles, rockets, and roadside bombs, the officials
said." -By Bryan Bender
-Boston/Globe
via -SFGate.com
