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Saturday, May 10, 2003
Milosevic trial breakthrough
Guardian: After 17 months of frustration, prosecutors at the UN genocide trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in The Hague last week unearthed the first direct evidence that he ordered war crimes. The former secretary to Arkan, Serbia's most feared paramilitary commander, has told the trial of phone calls he received from Milosevic's men giving orders for attacks on unarmed Bosnians. Nick @ 10:04 PM | TrackBack (0)
Interview with Assad
There is an interesting interview in tomorrow's Washington Post with Syrian President Bashar Assad. In the interview, Assad talks about Israel, terrorist organizations and accusations regarding the war in Iraq. Nick @ 10:00 PM | TrackBack (0)
British commander goes home
AFP via SpaceWar: Britain's top military commander in the Gulf, Air Marshal Brian Burridge, returned to Britain on Saturday, saying "the best thing" during his three-month tour was witnessing Iraqis' liberation from Saddam Hussein's rule. Nick @ 09:03 PM | TrackBack (0)
Israel deports Americans for terrorism suspicion
Ha'aretz: Israel has deported at least two American Muslims who were staying in the territories within the last week. The Americans are suspected of helping transfer money and orders from terrorist organizations overseas to Palestinian groups. Security sources say a number of other foreign Muslims have recently been arrested and are also likely to be deported. An American ISM member has been detained and will be deported for entering a restricted military zone. The IDF charges that many of the self-proclaimed peace activists of the ISM are "provocateurs" and "riot inciters" who deliberately interfere with the IDF's work, with the goal of blackening Israel's image. Army sources noted that in one case, they discovered a wanted terrorist being hidden by ISM activists in Jenin. Nick @ 08:37 PM | TrackBack (0)
WMD search shift
AP via WTNH New Haven: The commander of the American weapons hunters in Iraq says he's certain the U.S. invasion has ended a program capable of producing Iraqi chemical and biological weapons. But Col. Richard R. McPhee says his teams have found no such weapons thus far. And members of McPhee's team and U.S. defense officials say that banned arms may never be found in Iraq. This marks a shift in expectations to confirming an Iraqi capability to produce weapons of mass destruction, rather than actually finding them. Before the war, U.S. leaders said they knew such weapons existed in Iraq, and war was necessary to root them out. Nick @ 06:27 PM | TrackBack (0)
Iran-US talks
Reuters: U.S. and Iranian officials met face to face in Geneva "very recently" to talk about Iran's neighbors Iraq and Afghanistan, where the United States has a military presence, a U.S. official said on Saturday. The official, who asked not to be named, said the aim of the contacts was to discuss specific issues, not to establish diplomatic relations or initiate the open-agenda dialogue which former U.S. President Bill Clinton sought with Iran. The United States cut diplomatic ties with Iran after radical students seized its embassy in Tehran in 1979 following the Islamic Revolution which toppled the U.S.-backed Shah. ed: as the article sublty suggests, could these talks regard the Mujahideen Khalq? Nick @ 06:24 PM | TrackBack (0)
Plans for new Iraqi military emerge
AP via NY CBS 2: The first step in developing a new, smaller Iraqi military will be the formal dismantlement of the Republican Guard and other special units with close ties to Saddam Hussein's ousted Baath Party, the top American military officer said Saturday. Myers said decisions about what a future Iraqi armed forces will look like are yet to be made, but he said it was likely that some members of the regular Iraqi army who fought against coalition forces will be allowed back into a reorganized military. All Iraqi soldiers will be vetted closely before determining their future role, he said. It is possible, he added, that some sort of Iraqi air force will be reconstituted from what survived the war. Iraq might also have legitimate need for a small coast guard to patrol its waterways, the four-star general said. Nick @ 06:19 PM | TrackBack (0)
Al Jazeera and Iraq
Channel 4 (UK): Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi intelligence agency documents are now in the hands of the CIA and Iraqi opposition groups, who’ve collected them from ministries across Baghdad. The latest, the secret police files on Al Jazeera, the Arab satellite news channel, described by the Iraqis as “a mobilised instrument of our propaganda”. The Files boast of what they call “close cooperation” with Al Jazeera executives. Al Jazeera executives were not available for comment. More information forthcoming in UK's Sunday Times tomorrow. Nick @ 06:07 PM | TrackBack (0)
Mujahedeen Khalq voluntarily disarm
AP: The Mujahedeen Khalq, or People's Warriors, which is the military wing of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, an umbrella body said to unite Iran's diverse opposition groups has agreed to "voluntarily hand over all their weapons" including sidearms in Iraq. The Mujahedeen Khalq's weaponry will be consolidated into one area, and its members will be located in another. They will be "protected by American forces," one military official said. A rival armed group backed by the Iranian regime is active in the area, and there have been fears the two would clash. Strangely, the AP has two articles which add together to make one complete article. Here is the second part of the article. Nick @ 05:07 PM | TrackBack (0)
Radio appeal to Iraqis for WMD info
AP: American authorities have promised rewards to Iraqis for information leading to discovery of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons programs, the U.S.-run Information Radio said Saturday. Besides the unspecified reward, potential informants were offered anonymity and guarantees of safety in exchange for useful information "regarding any site that manufactured or held weapons of mass destruction." Nick @ 04:53 PM | TrackBack (0)
Another purported Saddam letter
AP: A London newspaper published a letter Saturday purportedly written by Saddam Hussein, urging Iraqis to wage holy war against American and British troops. The letter's authenticity, however, is in doubt. The newspaper, Al-Quds Al-Arabi, published photographs of the two-page letter, but its handwriting and tone do not match the style of documents known to be written by Saddam. Excerpted text from that letter, from BBC. Nick @ 04:50 PM | TrackBack (0)
SARS Update, May 10
SARS headlines:
Click here to read the entire SARS Update. For details on the headlines, click MORE, below. Singapore: Singapore's statistics, as reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO): MMWR, May 9: In Singapore, five super spreaders played a major role in promoting the epidemic. 81% of the SARS cases did not pass the virus to anyone else. The graphics, at the end of the report, show the influence of the super spreaders. The graphs and the picture of the chain of transmission are highly recommended. Taiwan: NY Times, May 10: Taipei Seals Housing Project as Taiwan Tries to Halt SARS. Two buildings in a public housing project here were quarantined today because of three suspected SARS cases inside, raising the anxiety level of a city trying to clamp a lid on the epidemic's spread. Herbal and gimmick cures for SARS: Rob Dowler, an official with the Ontario consumer protection ministry, said his investigators have been particularly concerned about claims that herbal supplements and homeopathic remedies such as belladonna, oregano oil and colloidal silver are effective against SARS. His province includes Toronto, which has been especially hard-hit by SARS. "The best-known prevention is a good, thorough hand-washing with soap and hot water for at least 20 seconds," Dowler said. "Consumers with SARS symptoms should not try to self-diagnose or opt for questionable home remedies."[Hat-tip to 'DuctapeFatwa'] Meanwhile, the herbs and practices of traditional Chinese herbal medicine are promoted by Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi. [See China news, in May 9 SARS Update.] These Chinese medicines are selling very briskly in Beijing. Tibetan medicines are also selling well. [China's struggle to control SARS is limited by shortcomings in understanding, and Chinese reluctance to apply science to medical care. -- docbear] First SARS book available: Click here to read the entire SARS Update. docbear @ 12:56 PM | TrackBack (0)
Seven nuclear facilities looted
WaPo: Seven nuclear facilities in Iraq have been damaged or effectively destroyed by the looting that began in the first days of April, when U.S. ground forces thrust into Baghdad, according to U.S. investigators and others with detailed knowledge of their work. The Bush administration fears that technical documents, sensitive equipment and possibly radiation sources have been scattered. If so, there are potentially significant consequences for public health and the spread of materials to build a nuclear or radiological bomb. President Bush had said the war was fought to prevent the spread of "the world's most dangerous weapons." ed: Yes, SEVEN Nick @ 12:39 PM | TrackBack (0)
UN: Congo on verge of catastrophe
Reuters: Tribal militias armed with spears and guns fought in the streets of the eastern Congo town of Bunia on Saturday as the United Nations warned that the volatile region was on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe. Fighting between the rival Hema and Lendu tribes has driven thousands of frightened civilians from their homes, with up to 150,000 pouring across the border into neighbouring Uganda and others taking refuge in Bunia's airport and U.N. compound. Nick @ 12:15 PM | TrackBack (0)
Iraqi Shiite leader returns
The Independent (UK): The leader of the largest Iraqi Shiite Muslim group opposed to Saddam Hussein returned to Iraq on Saturday after two decades in exile. Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq, crossed the Iranian frontier into Iraq at a desert border crossing that has been a no-man's land for years. Nick @ 12:04 PM | TrackBack (0)
The War and The Media
I'm in a unique position (well, kind of) to comment on CNN's coverage of the war as I spent the entire war watching CNN. And I am inclined to agree with Russell Smith that the coverage by CNN was, in its own way, the worst. It really did seem to be the voice of Centcom. I'd suggest giving his essay a read. It is a bit on the strident side but he makes some good points. Sean-Paul @ 10:20 AM | TrackBack (0) Friday, May 9, 2003
Low-yield nuke ban lifted
AP via SFGate: A Senate committee said Friday it had voted to lift a decade-old ban on the research and development of low-yield nuclear weapons, overriding Democratic arguments that repeal would damage U.S. efforts to stop the spread of nuclear arms. Low-yield nuclear weapons have warheads of less than five kilotons, or about a third of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in World War II. Combined with precision missiles, low-yield weapons could be used to hit a target without causing as much damage to surrounding areas as other nuclear weapons would. ed: hat tip DuctapeFatwa Nick @ 10:32 PM | TrackBack (0)
Australian govt. gag order
News.com.au: Federal government MPs and Senators in Australia have been gagged from publicly discussing the furour over Governor-General Peter Hollingworth. Dr Hollingworth is under pressure to resign over his handling of child sex abuse allegations in the Anglican church and an allegation that he raped a woman during the 1960s. Chief Government Whip Jim Lloyd said today there was nothing unusual about him circulating a memo warning that any additional comment about Dr Hollingworth's situation would only assist the media and not the government. Nick @ 10:00 PM | TrackBack (0)
SARS in China and Taiwan
AP: The spread of SARS appeared to be slowing in Beijing, but the next leader of the World Health Organization said Friday it was too early to say whether the disease had peaked there yet. Meanwhile, new infections appeared to accelerate in Taiwan, with the island reporting 18 new cases, its largest one-day jump since the outbreak began there two months ago. Nick @ 09:59 PM | TrackBack (0)
Bush's ME free trade plan
VOA News: President Bush Friday has proposed creation of a special U.S.-Middle East Free Trade Area to reward nations that renounce terrorism, embrace the rule of law, honest government and open markets. He said creation of the free trade zone would be accomplished through negotiations with individual nations over the next 10 years. Mr. Bush said countries that wish to take advantage of his proposal must replace corruption with good business practices and good government. Nick @ 05:51 PM | TrackBack (0)
Tax Update
Update from Reuters: The House passed that tax cut which the Senate has an altered version of, as reported in the last post. Reconciliation is now needed between the two. Some House Republicans criticized the smaller Senate package which also includes revenue raising provisions to offset the cost of the dividend tax cut to the federal Treasury. Nick @ 05:39 PM | TrackBack (0)
Tax cuts and hikes
WaPo: Under White House pressure to include at least a bare-bones version of Bush's bid to eliminate the tax on corporate dividends, Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (Iowa) and fellow committee Republicans broke from their no-new-taxes orthodoxy to propose tax increases on Americans living abroad, companies sheltering income overseas and others. All told, committee members approved more than 30 tax increases or other revenue raisers to help fund their tax cuts in other areas, including dividends. Americans working overseas would be hit the hardest: the bill would no longer allow them to exclude $80,000 in income from federal taxes. That provision alone would amount to a $32 billion tax increase. Nick @ 03:22 PM | TrackBack (0)
UNHCR on refugees in Iraq
UNHCR (the UN refugee agency): We are increasingly concerned about a growing number of Palestinian refugees who have been evicted from their homes in Baghdad. Reports from the city suggest that around 1,000 Palestinian refugees have already been forced to leave their homes since the end of the war and are camping in disused buildings and various open areas around the Iraqi capital. UNHCR fears that more of the 60-90,000 Palestinian refugees believed to be living in Iraq may lose their homes, as other landlords reclaim property they were forced to rent out for minuscule sums to the Ba'ath government on behalf of the refugees. Since the fall of the regime, even this money – sometimes as little as US$1 per month – has not been paid to the owners of the property. Nick @ 03:19 PM | TrackBack (0)
Murdoch and governments
Reuters: News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch's attempt to gain control of the nation's largest satellite television company, DirectTV, was warmly received by the GOP-controlled House Judiciary Committee on Thursday as Republican reaction to the $6.6 billion deal fell just short of fawning. Meanwhile, Guardian reports this: The Murdoch-owned Fox News Channel, whose determinedly pro-US stance during the Iraq conflict brought it critical notoriety among some but also commercial success, is being investigated by television regulators in Britain for alleged bias. If the US network is found to have breached the strict "due impartiality" rules which must be followed by all news channels in the UK, it could be forced off broadcast in Britain. Nick @ 03:14 PM | TrackBack (0)
US troops shoot Iraqi
Reuters: A 56-year-old Iraqi man was shot dead on Friday by U.S. troops after a U.S. army patrol shoved his car onto the pavement, Iraqi witnesses said. It was unclear why the soldiers opened fire. A U.S. soldier at the scene declined comment. ed: more news on this forthcoming? Nick @ 02:48 PM | TrackBack (0)
Federal funding for Bible use
Boston Globe: The Bush administration has quietly altered regulations for the nation's leading job training program to allow faith-based organizations to use ''sacred literature,'' such as Bibles, in their federally funded programs. Civil liberties activists say the new rules blur the line between religion and government. Nick @ 01:49 PM | TrackBack (0)
Giving jobs to looters
Christian Science Monitor: US Army officials in the eastern part of the Iraqi capital are taking a novel approach to stop looters - offering some of them a job protecting the property which they formerly looted, something that pays better than stealing government property. In the three days since the experiment began, the number of looters in a massive multiacre warehouse and industrial stockyard run by the Iraqi power company has dropped from several hundred to zero. Nick @ 01:39 PM | TrackBack (0)
Tel Aviv bomber's family in court
CNN: Three family members of an alleged would-be British suicide bomber appeared in a London court Friday, accused of knowing about a deadly Tel Aviv attack before it happened. The bomber's sister was additionally charged with "aiding, abetting, and counseling acts of terrorism overseas" -- according to the police statement -- for allegedly sending an e-mail to her brother encouraging him to carry out the planned attack. Nick @ 12:40 PM | TrackBack (0)
UN Draft Resolution full text
BBC News presents us with the full text of the US draft resolution to the UN on the issue of Iraq's reconstruction. Very briefly, the main points call for for the UN to have a leading humanitarian role in post-war Iraq and the US to run Iraq's oil industry for at least a year with the understanding that all oil export proceeds will go toward reconstruction of Iraq via the Iraqi Assistance Fund. ed: note the language of the resolution calls Coalition forces "occupiers" Nick @ 12:37 PM | TrackBack (0)
Zimbabwe police chief and Interpol
Independent: Augustine Chihuri is on a list of close Mugabe associates subject to sanctions by the European Union and the United States because of the regime's human rights abuses. Yet Zimbabwe's police commissioner, who is accused of being a driving force behind President Robert Mugabe's brutal repression of opponents, has been appointed honorary vice-president of Interpol. ed: I ask why but remain puzzled. Nick @ 12:26 PM | TrackBack (0)
Israeli crackdown on human shields
Reuters: Israeli troops raided a West Bank headquarters used by the International Solidarity Movement on Friday, detaining three women and taking away computers and files, its director said. Two of these women may have been Americans. The ISM is a group which has deployed dozens of volunteers in Palestinian controlled areas as 'human shields' to protect Palestinians and the group which American Rachel Corrie represented as was killed by a bulldozer while trying to block the demolition of a home in Rafah. Israel said it would adopt tougher policies toward foreign activists after a British suicide bomber and his accomplice attacked a Tel Aviv nightclub last week. The two had previously attended an ISM gathering in Gaza. The ISM denies the two had any links to the group. Nick @ 12:13 PM | TrackBack (0)
May 9 SARS Update
SARS headlines:
Click here, for the May 9 SARS Update. To read more about the headlines, select MORE, below. Finland: Helsinkin Sangomat reported on May 7: “The first likely case of SARS in Finland has been identified at the Turku University Central Hospital (TYKS)... The hospital announced on Tuesday that a young man who recently returned home after a visit to Toronto checked in on Wednesday last week complaining of high fever, flu symptoms, cough, and breathing difficulties."
Dr. Edison Liu and others reviewed the genetic sequence of 9 samples of the SARS coronavirus, obtained from seriously ill patients in different countries. The genomes were quite similar, with almost all of the 29,000+ nucleotides being the same, comparing the RNA from the various viruses. The findings were encouraging because if the virus remains stable chances are increased that a vaccine might be developed, the authors and other experts said yesterday. That effort is expected to take years.
If China is the other side of the ‘Looking Glass’, then Vice-Premier Wu Yi may be that dream world's 'Red Queen'. China Daily, May 9, reports that Wu Yi, the Chinese official in charge of SARS prevention and control, favours the use of traditional Chinese medicine against SARS:
In Newsday, May 9, Laurie Garrett wrote:
Times Online, May 9: Chinese hospital authorities in Hebei province are putting on a fraudulent show, for the visiting WHO expert team
docbear @ 11:22 AM | TrackBack (0)
Halliburton and Bribes
via Stratfor: In a May 8 filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Halliburton admitted that it paid a Nigerian tax official $2.4 million in bribes to get favorable tax treatment. The company says the bribes, which occurred between 2001 and 2002, were found in a routine audit, that several employees were fired as a result and that none of the company's senior officers were involved. The company now is trying to determine what it owes Nigeria in back taxes. Sean-Paul @ 11:17 AM | TrackBack (0)
Filibusters
via The Washington Times: Republicans plan to begin the process today of using their so-called "nuclear option" to end the Democratic filibusters of judicial nominees by changing Senate rules governing how many votes are required to break such blockades. ( ed. The Republicans would have screamed bloody-murder had the Democrats attempted something like this. What hypocrisy. ) Sean-Paul @ 10:49 AM | TrackBack (0)
Iran
via IRNA: Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said here Thursday that dialogue between between Tehran and Washington, which have held no diplomatic ties under the Islamic Republic, was out of the question as long as US kept up its pressures on Iran. Sean-Paul @ 10:46 AM | TrackBack (0)
Syria and Lebanon
via Stratfor: U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Vincent Battle said Washington has opted for a diplomatic approach to pressure Syria to stop arms shipments to Hezbollah, according to an interview with Beirut-based French language weekly Magazine. Battle also asked that the Lebanese Army be deployed to the south, taking up positions currently held by Hezbollah militia, which fought against the Israeli occupation of south Lebanon, Beirut-based Daily Star reported May 9. Sean-Paul @ 10:43 AM | TrackBack (0)
Chalabi and intel docs
Guardian (May 7): Ahmad Chalabi claims to have obtained 25 tons (UK) of intelligence documents detailing Saddam Hussein's relationship with foreign governments and Arab leaders. The files, seized by his Iraqi National Congress, may fuel a fresh round of recriminations and score-settling as politicians meeting in Baghdad struggle to agree the terms of an interim administration. In interviews with Abu Dhabi television and Newsweek magazine, Mr Chalabi has already threatened to use the papers to damage the Jordanian royal family and the satellite television service al-Jazeera - organisations with which he has had long-running disputes. Meanwhile, other Iraqi opposition groups have voiced opinion on this matter that all intelligence documents should be handed over to Coalition forces. Nick @ 12:50 AM | TrackBack (0)
Senate says no to Patriot II
NY Times: Senate Republicans backed down today from an effort to make permanent the sweeping antiterrorism powers in a 2001 act, clearing the way for passage of a less divisive measure that would still expand the government's ability to spy on foreign terrorist suspects in the United States. In an agreement finalized over the last week, Senator Orrin G. Hatch, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, dropped his effort to extend provisions of the 2001 legislation, the Patriot Act, whose broad powers to investigate and track terrorist suspects are scheduled to expire in 2005. As a result, the Senate voted 90 to 4 to approve a measure expanding the government's ability to use secret surveillance tools against terrorist suspects who are not thought to be members of known terrorist groups. ed: hat tip Scott-O Nick @ 12:03 AM | TrackBack (0) Thursday, May 8, 2003
Lieberman comments on Cuba
AP: In a live broadcast to Cuba, Democratic candidate for president Joe Lieberman urged the Bush administration Thursday to ratchet up the pressure on Fidel Castro's communist government and help the island nation's dissidents. "And what does that mean? Specific support for the dissidents, the freedom fighters in Cuba and not stepping back at all in our position that we will not rest until this regime falls and the Cuban people rise to enjoy their freedom," Lieberman said in a brief interview on the federally funded, pro-democracy broadcasting station that beams into Cuba. Nick @ 09:07 PM | TrackBack (0)
Surveillance law expanded
AP: The Senate easily passed a measure Thursday expanding a powerful surveillance law, used in spy and terrorism investigations, to allow U.S. agents to wiretap lone foreigners who can't be linked to a terror organization or government. Currently, U.S. law enforcement officers can get warrants authorizing intelligence-gathering wiretaps from a secret court, but only if they can establish a reasonable belief the target is an "agent of a foreign power " or group. Nick @ 09:05 PM | TrackBack (0)
SARS virus seems constant
AP: Singapore's Genomics Institute has evidence the SARS virus is not mutating or changing rapidly. AP reports that the medical journal, Lancet, will publish an article within a week showing a slow rate of mutation for the SARS virus. "If the virus remains stable, any vaccine created is likely to stay useful", according to Earl Brown, professor of virology at the University of Ottawa. The AP article is here -- look at the bottom 1/3, for the section on SARS virus mutations. The cited Singaporean article is not yet available (May 8, 2030h Eastern Daylight Time) on the Lancet Web site.
docbear @ 08:36 PM | TrackBack (0)
Bush may invoke exec. privilege over 9-11
Newsweek: President Bush’s chief lawyer has privately signaled that the White House may seek to invoke executive privilege over key documents relating to the attacks in order to keep them out of the hands of investigators for the National Commission on Terror Attacks Upon the United States—the independent panel created by Congress to probe all aspects of 9-11. Some commission members now fear a showdown over the issue—particularly over extremely sensitive National Security Council minutes and presidential briefing papers—could be coming in the next few weeks. ed: could this possible showdown alter aspects of executive privilege? Nick @ 07:27 PM | TrackBack (0)
200 non-Iraqi POWS held in Iraq
AP: More than 200 non-Iraqis are among the prisoners held by the United States in Iraq, Army officials said Thursday. Most of those foreign fighters are from Jordan, Iran and other countries surrounding Iraq, said Col. John Della Jacono. Nick @ 07:07 PM | TrackBack (0)
No timeline to merge terror watch lists
UPI: Lawmakers reprimanded a senior homeland security official Thursday after learning that there was still no timeline for merging the nation's 12 terrorist watch lists, more than 18 months after gaps between them allowed suicide hijackers to enter the country and kill almost 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001. Nick @ 07:03 PM | TrackBack (0)
Sharon praises Abbas as peace partner
Reuters: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon praised new reformist Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday as a 'partner' for peace and said he was ready to revive negotiations with Syria. The right-wing Sharon presented himself as keen on diplomacy to settle Israeli-Arab conflicts after Palestinians accused him of trying to stymie a new U.S.-backed 'road map' plan envisaging a Palestinian state to defuse an uprising against Israel. Sharon, in an unusual batch of television interviews, also said he was ready to reopen peace talks with Syria without preconditions, three years after they foundered over the future of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Nick @ 06:53 PM | TrackBack (0)
Pvt. Lynch may never remember
AP: Former POW Jessica Lynch, making progress after surgeries for injuries sustained in Iraq, is doing well emotionally but still cannot remember her capture and may never do so, one of her doctors said Thursday. Dr. Greg Argyros, assistant chief of the Department of Medicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where Lynch is being treated, said evaluations of Lynch so far suggest there is only a slim chance she may remember her ordeal. ed: P.S. It's not amnesia. Nick @ 06:48 PM | TrackBack (0)
More details of US resolution to UN
AP: The U.S. draft resolution on Iraq would give U.N. approval for the United States and Britain to run the country for at least a year, with the United Nations and other international authorities playing a limited role, council diplomats said Thursday. The resolution, to be introduced at the Security Council on Friday, outlines a U.S. vision for postwar Iraq at odds with that of several Security Council members, particularly Russia. Nick @ 06:33 PM | TrackBack (0)
US comments on Zimbabwe
Independent: The American envoy for Africa called for a "road-map" to achieve "regime legitimacy" in Zimbabwe yesterday, which would inevitably mean the departure of President Robert Mugabe from office. Yesterday, the widely respected national director of the South African Institute of International Affairs, Greg Mills, said there was no hope for Zimbabwe unless President Mugabe goes. He said the departure of Mr Mugabe could perhaps be the real start of the so-called African Renaissance. US Assistant Secretary of State Walter Kansteiner said the US government fully backed African initiative but was not involved in it. "Our role comes in once the people of Zimbabwe and the regional leaders have mapped out a course," he said. Nick @ 06:28 PM | TrackBack (0)
More violence in Israel
VOA News: A suspected Palestinian suicide bomber attacked Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip Thursday, in a car laden with explosives. The attack came hours after an Israeli helicopter fired at a car in Gaza, killing a known Palestinian militant. A car bomb exploded late Thursday, close to Israeli soldiers in the Kfar Darom area of the southern Gaza Strip. As the blast went off, killing the driver, other Palestinians lying in ambush opened fire on the soldiers. The Israeli forces returned fire, and began searching the area for the assailants. The incident followed an Israeli military operation earlier in the day, in which an attack helicopter fired missiles at a car in Gaza City. Nick @ 06:23 PM | TrackBack (0)
Misperceptions reign in Iraq
Reuters: In post-war Iraq, false rumors and perceptions worlds apart fill the communications void between Iraqis and Americans -- already divided by cultural, language and religious barriers. The outgoing head of the U.S. civilian administration, Jay Garner, conceded this week that his office had done 'an extremely poor job' communicating with the Iraqi people. Some Americans said mutual misperceptions were inevitable because soldiers had not been trained to get along with Iraqis. 'My problem is that one day I'm ordered to kill them, the next day I have to be their friend,' said Specialist Bryan Spears, manning a checkpoint on Thursday outside one of Saddam's palaces. Nick @ 06:14 PM | TrackBack (0)
Iraqi courts reopen
Reuters: Iraq's court system was reborn on Thursday when a group of suspects was led handcuffed to hearings guarded by American forces for the first criminal law proceedings since the fall of Saddam Hussein. In what could be another development in the post-war Iraqi legal system, a senior U.S. adviser to Iraq's Justice Ministry said a special chamber could be set up in Iraq to try those who have committed crimes against the Iraqi people. Nick @ 06:06 PM | TrackBack (0)
India won't denuclearize
India Tribune: Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today turned down Pakistan’s suggestion for denuclearisation of South Asia saying that while Pakistan's nuclear program was India-specific, India's program was not focused on Pakistan. India has adopted a nuclear doctrine which states that it will not be the first to use nuclear weapons while Pakistan is yet to adopt this type of doctrine. On Pakistan’s no-war pact offer, Mr Vajpayee said instead of no-war pact, Pakistan should make a declaration against any proxy war. Nick @ 06:04 PM | TrackBack (0)
Release of Guantanamo detainees
Reuters: The United States has released another small group of 'detainees' in the war on terrorism from a U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Defense Department said on Thursday. The Pentagon declined to provide details. But defense officials, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters 13 prisoners -- among some 660 held without charges at the U.S. naval base in Cuba -- had been flown on Wednesday to Afghanistan, where they were to be turned over to Afghan authorities. Nick @ 06:00 PM | TrackBack (0)
Tour Iraq on pennies a day
As Jim says, "Flak jacket and Kevlar helmet offered at a nominal extra charge". jay @ 04:24 PM | TrackBack (0)
US troop slain in Baghdad
NYT: An American soldier was shot and killed Thursday in a bold daylight attack on a Baghdad bridge, military officers said. The soldier, who wasn't immediately identified, was killed when an unidentified Iraqi walked up to him and opened fire with a pistol, according to senior U.S. Army officers in Baghdad who had heard reports of the shooting. The officers said the slain soldier belonged to the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment from Fort Polk. jay @ 03:04 PM | TrackBack (0)
Iran nukes
NYT: The Bush administration is concerned that Iran has stepped up its covert nuclear program, and the government is now seeking broad international support for an official finding that Tehran has violated its commitment not to produce nuclear weapons, officials said today. The officials said that the United States was pressing nations that sit on the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which oversees peaceful nuclear programs, to declare that Iran has violated the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which it has signed. Such a finding could lead to punitive action by the United Nations, adding pressure on Iran, which is already nervous about American troops in Iraq, the officials said. The atomic energy agency is to meet on the matter next month. jay @ 03:01 PM | TrackBack (0)
Today's Iraqi unrest
CENTCOM: Third Brigade Combat Team soldiers were fired on early May 8 in Baghdad during a regular security patrol. They returned fire and called in psychological operations personnel who used a loudspeaker and gave instructions to surrender. Several individuals walked out and were detained. No U.S. soldiers were injured in the exchange. jay @ 02:55 PM | TrackBack (0)
Iraq's military future
Al Bawaba: Generals from more than a dozen countries met in London Thursday to draw up plans for an international military stabilization force for Iraq, Britain's Defense Ministry said. jay @ 02:53 PM | TrackBack (0)
Sanctions lift proposal Friday
WaPo: The United States will introduce a resolution Friday calling for the United Nations to lift sanctions on Iraq immediately and phase out the oil-for-food aid program over the next four months, diplomats said Thursday. The U.S. resolution also would create an international advisory board - including U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund - to audit the spending of income from Iraq's oil industry and to ensure it is benefiting the Iraqi people, the council diplomats said. jay @ 02:50 PM | TrackBack (0)
NATA expands
NYT: The Senate voted unanimously today to ratify the expansion of NATO, and a leading senator said that the vote to add seven East European countries to the military alliance would underscore its relevance and help end bitter disagreements over the Iraq war. The vote was 96 to 0, with four senators absent, to add Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. jay @ 02:48 PM | TrackBack (0)
Iraqi Diplomats
via IRNA: India has turned down a US request for expulsion of three Iraqi diplomats from New Delhi as there was no evidence of their involvement in activities incompatible with their diplomatic status. Sean-Paul @ 11:58 AM | TrackBack (0)
Al Qaeda
via Stratfor: Al Qaeda has created a new operational structure that U.S. intelligence cannot penetrate, and the network is preparing a new strike against the United States on the scale of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Saudi Arabian weekly Al-Majallah reported May 8. An e-mail to the Saudi weekly by an individual identified as al Qaeda's “newly appointed spokesman,” Thabet bin Qais, claims that a “new team” has been created and leadership changes have taken place within the organization. Qais reportedly said that the Sept. 11, 2001, team has been effectively "sidelined." Sean-Paul @ 11:53 AM | TrackBack (0)
Turkey
Stratfor has an interesting essay today about a recent Wolfowitz interview on CNN-Turkey. Here is the sentence that grabbed my attention: "Unless Wolfowitz was speaking off the cuff -- which is unlikely given the importance of Turkey to U.S. foreign policy and the known impact of his comments in the region -- it sounds like Washington just gave tacit approval to the Turkish military's confrontation with the Turkish government." Combine it with this Wolfowitz quote: “I'd like to see a different sort of attitude [on Ankara's part] than I have yet detected. Maybe it's there. I haven't been to Turkey in a while," and you have an interesting situation developing. Sean-Paul @ 11:52 AM | TrackBack (0)
Chinese provinces "not engaged."
Dr. David Heymann, of WHO says the central Chinese government needs to become more engaged in helping the provinces and rural areas deal with SARS. SARS has penetrated very far into China, he said. CBC-TV May 8, interview with Dr David Heymann, the Executive Director for Communicable Diseases, at the World Health Organisation (WHO): Dr. David Heymann, says that WHO is working with the Chinese government, trying to get them to be more engaged. They need to release more funding to the provinces and rural areas, according to Dr. Heymann. SARS has penetrated very far into China, and the disease has become "very important in the provinces". Dr. Heymann said that there was a lack of unified structure in the Chinese government, that WHO had to expend a lot of time and energy trying to encourage coordination, "Going from the central government to the provinces, then back to the central government. " A WHO team has just begun to examine the SARS problems in Hebei province. May 7, the WHO admitted that the SARS death rate is much higher than previously thought. 55% of Hong Kong SARS patients over 60-years-old died. The Hong Kong death rate, in those under 60 was 13%.
Also on May 7, the WHO released travel advisories about Inner Mongolia, and Tianjin provinces of China, as well as the city of Taipei, in Taiwan.
docbear @ 10:20 AM | TrackBack (0)
May 8 SARS Update
SARS headlines:
Click here, for the complete SARS Update. For details on the headlines, click MORE, below. Philippines: The new cases are mostly linked to a Filipino nurse who brought SARS from Toronto. She and her father are the two SARS deaths, noted in the Philippines. The local transmission risk is judged as "medium" by the WHO. W.H.O. doubles its estimate of the SARS death rate: Taiwan: Reuters/SwissInfo, May 8: "The WHO extended its SARS-related travel warning on Thursday to Tianjin and the province of Inner Mongolia as well as Taipei, capital of Taiwan. Taipei officials said SARS had probably spread into the community and the next five days would be crucial." Cambodia: …In Cambodia, a new unidentified type of pneumonia has killed seven people in two impoverished remote villages near the border with Vietnam. Click here, for the complete SARS Update. docbear @ 09:34 AM | TrackBack (0)
Tripling the Iraq search force
AP via Boston Globe: About 2,000 more experts are being sent to Iraq to help look for banned weapons as well as regime leaders, terrorists and more. The team is more than triple the size of the force now searching for weapons and larger than was previously described. It will be headed by a two-star general in defense intelligence, the Pentagon said Wednesday. Nick @ 02:37 AM | TrackBack (0)
USSR ignored Chernobyl warnings
Telegraph (UK): Senior Soviet officials knew that the Chernobyl nuclear plant was a disaster waiting to happen but ignored warnings that could have averted the world's worst civilian nuclear accident. Ukraine has released more than 100 secret files sent by its branch of the KGB to the Soviet intelligence organisation's headquarters in Moscow saying the plant was fatally flawed from the start. Nick @ 02:09 AM | TrackBack (0)
al Qaeda search and plans from Saudia Arabia
Arab News: Saudi Arabia now claims suspected links to al Qaeda for those terrorists being sought in Riyadh. Meanwhile, Al-Majalla, a sister publication of Arab News, reports that Al-Qaeda is preparing a new attack in the United States on the scale of Sept. 11 after adopting a new operational structure which it says is impenetrable to US intelligence. A spokesman for al Qaeda also had this to say: "Of course, the US Consulate in Karachi is a US interest and a staging post for Federal Bureau of Investigation personnel in Pakistan, but it doesn’t necessarily constitute a pressing target. Striking it is not a priority for Al-Qaeda compared with the plans under way preparing a new attack in the United States on the scale of Sept. 11.” Nick @ 02:06 AM | TrackBack (0)
Argentine flood update
Guardian: About 1,800 people are still reported missing after floods from torrential downpours forced thousands to leave their homes in the central Argentinian province of Santa Fe. The official death toll of 24 could rise dramatically, the government warned. "There could be up to 1,000 dead," said Alberto Rotman, health minister of the neighbouring province, Entre Rios. At least 130,000 people have left their homes. Nick @ 01:59 AM | TrackBack (0)
Zimbabwe
Excellent article about the situation in Zimbabwe's capital from The Guardian today. Nick @ 01:52 AM | TrackBack (0)
Bush vs. the NRA
NY Times: President Bush and the National Rifle Association, long regarded as staunch allies, find themselves unlikely adversaries over one of the most significant pieces of gun-control legislation in the last decade, a ban on semiautomatic assault weapons. At issue is a measure to be introduced by Senate Democrats on Thursday to continue the ban. Groundbreaking 1994 legislation outlawing the sale and possession of such firearms will expire next year unless Congress extends it, and many gun-rights groups have made it their top priority to fight it. Even some advocates of gun control say the prohibition has been largely ineffective because of its loopholes. Nick @ 01:49 AM | TrackBack (0)
Twin Towers fire strength never tested
NY Times: Federal investigators studying the collapse of the twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001, say they now believe that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the government agency that built the towers, never performed the fundamental tests needed to determine how their innovative structures would perform in a fire. The preliminary finding, if it holds up, will undermine decades of public assurances by the Port Authority that the twin towers met or exceeded the requirements of New York City's building code, and therefore would be structurally safe in a large fire. The investigators have said that it is unclear whether, even if the tests had been done and the buildings been found to have met standards, the lightweight floor structures, called trusses, and the fluffy fireproofing on them could have been expected to withstand the intense fires of Sept. 11. Nick @ 01:07 AM | TrackBack (0)
Iraq debt issues
The many complications in the forgiveness of Iraqi debt, from Bloomberg. Nick @ 01:02 AM | TrackBack (0)
Autopsy report on UK journalist
Ha'aretz: British journalist James Miller, who was shot dead last week in the Gaza Strip town of Rafah, was hit by IDF fire, not by Palestinian fire, according to an autopsy carried out at by the Forensic Institute, Israel Radio reported Thursday. A pathologist sent from Britain by Miller’s family participated in the autopsy, the radio said. The dissection showed that the cameraman was shot from the front, and not from behind, as the IDF claimed. He was wearing a helmet and a flack jacket, but was hit in the neck. ed: Hat tip Lauruski Nick @ 12:49 AM | TrackBack (0)
9-11 hijacker video
AP: A wedding video shot in a Hamburg mosque has been broadcast for the first time and shows grainy scenes of Sept. 11 al-Qaida suicide pilots celebrating with other alleged plotters, possibly including suspects still not formally identified. Those identified in the video has grown to more than 20, including lead hijacker Mohamed Atta; Mohamed Haydar Zammar, an alleged al-Qaida recruiter now in Syrian custody; and Mamoun Darkazanli, a Syrian-born German import-exporter who the United States believes was involved in the plot but who has not been arrested. jay @ 12:44 AM | TrackBack (0) Wednesday, May 7, 2003
Interim Gov. of Tikrit area appointed
AP via Yahoo! News: Brig. Gen. Hosin Jasem Mohamed al-Jbouri, a native of Tikrit inherits the reins of Salah ad-Din province (around Tikrit) as an interim chief executive. Nick @ 08:49 PM | TrackBack (0)
Kurdish-Arab fighting
Herald Sun (Australia): At least three people have died in gun battles between Kurds and Arabs north of the Iraqi capital over the past three days, according to doctors and local officials. Doctors from the hospital at Khalis, near Baqubah about 40km north of the Iraqi capital, said the fighting erupted after Arabs began shooting Kurds travelling on the road toward Baghdad from Kirkuk. A man identified as the mayor of Khalis, Ghassan Kadaran, said he had told US Army civil affairs officers about the trouble two days earlier but no help had arrived. The situation became so desperate yesterday, when fighting erupted inside the hospital, that Kadaran and several doctors went to a US base at Baqubah to beg for help. Nick @ 08:45 PM | TrackBack (0)
Total Information Awareness
NY Times: A top Pentagon research official told Congress today that a program intended to forestall terrorism by tapping computer databases — but curbed by legislation this winter because of privacy fears — would not look into Americans' financial or health records. Instead, the official said the program, the Total Information Awareness program, would rely mostly on information already held by the government, especially by law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Nick @ 08:42 PM | TrackBack (0)
Arrested militants targeted US ambassador
AFP and AP via VOA News: The Lebanese army says it has arrested a group of militants allegedly plotting to assassinate the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon Ambassador Vincent Battle. The army announced Wednesday that it had arrested several members of the network, and that they planned to kill the ambassador of a "major" power. The assassination was to take place during a visit of the ambassador to the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli. Nick @ 08:26 PM | TrackBack (0)
Powell won't meet Arafat
AFP via SpaceWar: US Secretary of State Colin Powell does not plan to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat during his tour of the Middle East beginning this weekend, the State Department said Wednesday. On his May 9-16 visit to the Middle East and Europe, Powell is to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories to officially launch the "roadmap" for peace outlined by the international quartet (the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States). Nick @ 08:10 PM | TrackBack (0)
What happened to Iraqi RG?
So just what did happen to the Republican Guard? Time Magazine investigates. Nick @ 08:09 PM | TrackBack (0)
Another on the list in custody
AP via Pittsburgh Channel 4: Another former official of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party is in coalition custody, U.S. Central Command announced Wednesday. Ghazi Hammud, regional chairman of the party in the Kut district, was number 32 on the list of the 55 most-wanted members of Saddam's regime and the 2 of hearts on the U.S.-issued deck of cards featuring wanted figures. Nick @ 08:06 PM | TrackBack (0)
UK envoy held at gunpoint
Guardian: (Yesterday) Israeli forces opened fire above a British embassy convoy and held it at gunpoint in Gaza while it was carrying diplomats and the family of an English peace activist left in a coma by an Israeli bullet. The British embassy has laid a formal complaint about the convoy incident. The Foreign Office said it was seeking an explanation from Israel but declined to discuss it further. "I can confirm that a single warning shot was fired as staff from the embassy in Tel Aviv and consulate in Jerusalem crossed the Abu Houli checkpoint in Gaza. No one was hurt," a spokesman said. Nick @ 07:49 PM | TrackBack (0)
China SARS crackdown
Financial Times: Authorities in the Chinese city of Nanjing on Tuesday resorted to extreme measures to protect the city of 6.4m people against Sars pneumonia. Nearly 10,000 people have been quarantined, jail terms have been threatened for those who conceal their symptoms and the city is virtually sealed off to travellers from Sars-infected parts of China. Nick @ 07:45 PM | TrackBack (0)
WTO sanctions against US?
Financial Times: The European Union on Wednesday dramatically raised the stakes in the biggest trade dispute ever to hit the World Trade Organisation, when it issued an ultimatum to the US over a long-running battle over corporate tax breaks. jay @ 06:57 PM | TrackBack (0)
Today's Gaza violence
NYT: A Hamas militant was killed today when a bomb exploded inside his West Bank apartment under disputed circumstances, and an infant Palestinian boy was fatally shot by Israeli army fire in the Gaza Strip, Palestinians said. jay @ 06:40 PM | TrackBack (0)
9/11-Iraq connection... in court
UPI: A federal judge in New York Wednesday awarded damages against the government of Iraq after ruling that the families of two victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, suicide hijackings had shown "albeit barely" that Iraq had provided material support to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida. Judge Harold Baer ruled that the two families were entitled to $104 million compensation from Iraq, bin Laden, al-Qaida, the Taliban movement and their government of Afghanistan. He had entered a default judgment against these defendants on Dec. 23, 2002, after they failed to show up to contest the case. But he dismissed the families' suit against deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on the basis that -- as head of state -- he enjoyed absolute immunity. jay @ 06:36 PM | TrackBack (0)
Cheney re 2004
SF Gate: Vice President Dick Cheney has agreed to be President Bush's running mate in 2004, saying past health problems won't prevent him from being on the next presidential ticket. "The president has asked me if I would serve again as his running mate. I've agreed to do that," he said Tuesday in an interview with The Dallas Morning News. Cheney said he did not know when Bush would formally announce his candidacy. jay @ 06:33 PM | TrackBack (0)
Tuscon and Patriot Act
AP via AZ Central: The City Council of Tuscon, AZ narrowly voted to object to the USA Patriot Act, a federal law that gives sweeping powers to law enforcement to track and apprehend terrorists, saying the council remains strongly opposed to terrorism, but efforts to prevent terrorist acts should "not be waged at the expense of the civil rights and liberties of the people." More than 80 other U.S. cities have passed similar resolutions. Nick @ 05:59 PM | TrackBack (0)
Looting continues at nuke site
Sydney Morning Herald Looters rifling through one of Iraq's main nuclear sites at Al-Tuwaitha and carting off whatever they can carry are making local residents terrified of the danger. The complex, believed to have held natural or low-grade uranium, was extensively pillaged several days ago but the looting is still going on. Groups of young boys wandered the site, digging out hoses, iron plates and generators. An ageing shepherd grazed his flock next to a giant freshly dug mound, apparently not knowing what could be buried underneath. Nick @ 05:55 PM | TrackBack (0)
Perle told investors how to make $ in Iraq
LA Times: Last February, the Defense Policy Board, a group of outside advisors to the Pentagon, received a classified presentation from the super-secret Defense Intelligence Agency on the crises in North Korea and Iraq. Three weeks later, the then-chairman of the board, Richard N. Perle, offered a briefing of his own at an investment seminar on ways to profit from possible conflicts with both countries. Nick @ 05:49 PM | TrackBack (0)
US lifts some Iraqi sanctions
BBC News: The United States has announced that it is lifting, some of the economic sanctions that were imposed on Iraq, with immediate effect. Primary among them are rules which will allow the thousands of Iraqis resident in the US to send up to $500 a month to family and friends in Iraq. Other sanctions lifted include allowing humanitarian aid supplies to be sent to Iraq and authorizing any activity paid for by the US government, including reconstruction moves by contractors. Nick @ 05:25 PM | TrackBack (0)
Expanded Halliburton role
Reuters: Halliburton, the oil giant once run by Vice President Dick Cheney, will now be involved in operation and distribution of oil products in Iraq, the U.S. military said on Wednesday, indicating a more direct role in Iraq's energy business than originally believed. New orders given to Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root a few days ago included the operation of oil facilities and the distribution of products, said a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Scott Saunders. Nick @ 04:56 PM | TrackBack (0)
UN resolution expected soon
Reuters: The United States expects to show the U.N. Security Council within days a resolution lifting sanctions against Iraq and fixing arrangements for oil sales, a senior State Department official said on Wednesday. Diplomats said the resolution had been held up in Washington by infighting between the State Department and the Defense Department over policy for Iraq after the U.S. invasion. The State Department is more favorable to giving a role to the United Nations and other governments. Nick @ 04:52 PM | TrackBack (0)
Yet Another WMD Newsflash
WaPo: American forces in Iraq are doing tests on a trailer that matches the description of a mobile biological weapons lab given by various sources including defectors, the Pentagon said Wednesday. It was the first time the Defense Department has announced it might have evidence of the sort of prohibited unconventional weapons program that justified forcibly disarming Saddam Hussein. Under Secretary of Defense Cambone said more testing will be required, noting that the surface of it had been washed with a caustic material and it likely would have to be dismantled before testing can be done on hard-to-reach surfaces. ed. In the interests of keeping this news feed accurate: to my knowledge, every other Iraq WMD story we have passed along has turned out baseless, even those we didn't directly correct with a follow-up. jay @ 04:34 PM | TrackBack (0)
SARS Update- May 7 SARS headlines:
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