October 1-15 Stories

 

US Pilot Tells of Patrol Over Iraqi No-Fly
Zone Interviews with A Pilot Who Patrolled Over the Iraqi No-Fly Zone, Interviews with Eric Von Wade, KEYS/KKBA Radio in Texas.
     "I am Eric Von Wade. Great to have you back with me for hour three. And as I told you, we’ve got a very special guest for you, somebody I can’t wait to talk to, straight from patrolling the no-fly zones in Iraq." (Full Interview)

US Drops Leaflets to Iraqi Anti-aircraft Sites
Washinton — Before making any judgments about Iraq, it is important for the American people to know that Saddam Hussein’s regime lies to further its aims, Pentagon spokeswoman Torie Clarke.
     She said Pentagon officials would present a briefing in the next few days on the Iraqi dictator’s denial and deception operations. She said the operations are very organized, comprehensive "and clearly intended to hide Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction." (Full Story)

Attacked French Oil Tanker Debate Over Cause
The French oil tanker owned by Euronav that was blasted as it was going about it’s routine through the Gulf of Aden was attacked by terrorists say company officials. Initial reports from Yemeni officials reportedly claim it was an accident most likely caused by a problem inside the tanker itself, and the French government is holding off on speculations until investigative results are determined by their counterterrorism specialists dispatched to Yemen.
     However, witnesses saw a fishing boat approach the tanker prior to the explosion and a crew member told reporters "I heard an explosion, then a fire started, and then I heard three or four explosions, each 45 minutes
apart." (Full Story)

Terrorists Kill US Marine from Camp Penelton in Kuwait
WASHINGTON – An American Marine was killed Tuesday and another injured when they were attacked while training on an island off the coast of Kuwait. Sources revealed early Wednesday that two men dressed like civilians drove up in a pick up truck and opened fire.
     Prior to reports that determined the terrorist attack, Kathleen Rhem with AFPS had released this early information from US Department of Defense officials: (Full Story)

 

October 16-31 Stories

Hostages Rescued in Moscow
Early Saturday morning Russian special forces ended a terrorist siege at a theatre with over 740 innocent civilians taken hostage on Wednesday while enjoying a popular musical. A group of 40-50 Chechen male and female terrorists dressed in al Qaeda and Palestinian terrorist type garb were wearing bombs as they stormed the theatre with guns firing. The terrorists threatened to kill all of the theatre goers if their political demands made to Russian officials were not met. As the deadline approached Saturday and some hostages had been killed, at about 5:30am explosions rocked the area, setting off car alarms and shaking the ground. Two hostages had escaped and said that the Chechen terrorists were going to kill everyone. Since the beginning of the attack, President Putin had said that his first concern was to preserve the life of the innocent people inside the theatre.
     The Chechen terrorists likened themselves to "the jihad," saying "with this operation we will liberate our land from the Russian aggressors." Using hostage Dr. Maria Shkolnikova as a spokesperson, the terrorists told Russian officials that their intentions were serious. "..Troops must be pulled out or they will start shooting people," Dr. Shkolnikova said. They had also laid explosives throughout the aisles of the theatre and threatened that there would be more attacks all over Russia. (Full Story)

Sniper Suspect’s Military Service Details Released
As details continue to emerge about sniper suspects John Muhammad and Jamaican National John Lee Malvo, the US Department of Defense released details of John Muhammad’s military service record. The information released is just part of the larger puzzle, with pieces of information that possibly link Muhammad to shootings at a synagogue, bomb threats to a DMV office, and other murders besides those in Alabama and in the Washington DC area. Also coming out are reports that Muhammad, who became a muslim over 17 years ago, was a 9-11 terrorist attack sympathizer and may have been stopped at two different times at airports and questioned about possible smuggling of Jamaicans into the US.
     Upon the arrests of the snipers suspects last week, US DoD Secretary Rumsfeld said, "Needless to say, we all share the hope that the ordeal will soon be over". He declined to speak to news reports that one suspect is a former soldier. (Full Story)

Surgical Patient Deaths Linked to Overworking Nurses
A study of 168 hospitals in Pennsylvania has found that for each additional patient over four in a registered nurse’s workload, the risk of the death increases by 7% for surgical patients. Patients in hospitals with the lowest nurse staffing levels (eight patients per nurse) have a 31% greater risk of dying than those in hospitals with four patients per nurse. On a national scale, staffing differences of this magnitude could result in as many as 20,000 unnecessary deaths annually. The findings are contained in the article "Hospital Nurse Staffing and Patient Mortality, Nurse Burnout, and Job Dissatisfaction," and appear in the October 23-30 issue of JAMA. The research was funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), NIH, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (Full Story)

U.S. HHS Moves to Speed the Availability of Generic Drugs
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced a new Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed regulation that would speed the availability of generic drugs and reduce costs for consumers.
     The proposed rule would help reduce the cost of drugs by eliminating the current practice that allows manufacturers to repeatedly obtain 30-month stays in order to block the approval of generic versions of their drugs. These stays delay generic competition, often while the brand-name company pursues litigation against the generic manufacturers trying to get lower-cost alternatives on the market. (Full Story)

The Coalition Strikes Back After Iraqi Anti-Aircraft Gunfire
Coalition aircraft struck at an Iraqi integrated air defense site in the Northern No-fly Zone, said Air Force Maj. Scott Covode, a spokesman for the combined task force.
     Both U.S. and British aircraft took part in the attack. While Covode would not specify the planes used, he did note the British primarily provide refuelers and reconnaissance aircraft. (Full Story)

Israeli Survivor of Terrorist Siege in Moscow Theatre
Valerya Lisiansky, was the only Israeli among the hundreds held hostage for three days by Chechen terrorists in the Moscow theatre. Since her rescue by Russian special forces, she described how her concern for her safety brought cooperation between her family, the media and the Foreign Ministry as they were quiet about her presence in the theater during the entire ordeal. According to Lisiansky, no one checked her identity. She was afraid, like all the other hostages, of the terrorists, who threatened not to let anyone leave the theater until Chechnya was liberated. "We didn’t get food. We got water and went to the toilet, but it wasn’t really a toilet. It was a stairwell," she said. (Full Story)