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)