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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
