April
1-15 Stories
Saddam:
Sponsor of Terror
Over
300 Chemical suits, gas masks and nerve gas antidotes were found
by Coalition forces after successfully taking out members of Saddam’s
forces Sunday. Finds like these are being discovered throughout
Iraq, even at sites where only a few Iraqi forces are firing upon
troops. Embedded reporter Rick Leventhal with FoxNews gave an
account where a small site that had been quickly abandoned by
Iraqi forces showed up with chemical and gas protection gear,
along with uniforms and civilian looking clothes.
Reportedly,
a massive terrorist facility used by Ansar al-Islam and al Qaeda
to make poisons was destroyed in northeast Iraq over the weekend
by Coalition forces.
Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Germany
and France are among the nations that have broken up and arrested
terrorist suspects who had been plotting attacks on innocents
using poisons. Recipes for deadly agents were found during some
of the arrests, and In London recently the deadly poison ricin
was found after intelligence information led officials to a popular
Islamic Mosque. (Full
Story)
Lynch
to Rescuers: ‘I’m an American Soldier, Too’
The special
operations mission to rescue Army Pfc. Jessica D. Lynch from Iraqi
captivity was a triumph of joint planning and execution, said
Air Force Maj. Gen. Victor Renuart.
Renuart, operations chief at U.S.
Central Command, gave more information about the Lynch rescue
during a press conference in Qatar.
Lynch was taken prisoner by Iraqi
forces when the convoy she was riding in was ambushed by Iraqi
irregulars near Nasiriyah March 23. (Full
Story)
Interpreters
Break the Silence
An
Nasiriyah, IRAQ–Without the use of interpreters in this Arabic
speaking country, American Forces would find it extremely hard
to gather information from the local residents. The Free Iraqi
Forces (FIF) is a close-knit group of individuals, many of who
left Iraq after the Gulf War to live in the United States.
In
support of Task Force Tarawa these Iraqis are serving as interpreters
and liaisons between the Marines and local Iraqi residents. Their
role is a crucial one and aids in the accomplishment of the Task
Force’s mission. (Full
Story)
Coalition
Destroying Regime Forces
One Iraqi Republican Guard division is destroyed and others are
severely degraded, said Army Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks during
a briefing in Qatar today.
There is heavy fighting around Al
Kut and Karbala, he said.
"We will approach Baghdad,"
Brooks said. "The dagger is clearly pointed at the heart
of the regime and will remain pointed at it until the regime is
gone."
Brooks, the deputy operations chief
for U.S. Central Command, reported that the 1st Marine Expeditionary
Force and the Army’s 5th Corps started an attack to destroy Republican
Guard forces defending the outskirts of Baghdad.
The Marines attacked the Baghdad
division near the town of Al Kut and have crossed the Tigris River.
"The Baghdad division has been destroyed," Brooks said.
Fifth Corps attacked around Karbala
and hit formations of the Medina division and the Nebukadnezar
division. Fifth Corps units also attacked Iraqi forces near Najaf.
(Full
Story)
Coalition
Command ‘Investigating Reports’ of Attack on Russian Diplomats
WASHINGTON,D.C.,
April 6 /Arkady Orlov, RIA Novosti Correspondent/ – The command
of the US-led coalition forces in Iraq is "investigating"
reports of an attack on Russian diplomats in Iraq, CNN said, citing
Pentagon and Administration sources.
The network’s sources said CENTCOM
leaders knew about the Russian convoy’s journey from Baghdad and
of its current whereabouts. An enquiry has now been launched to
find out which side attacked the convoy.
Medics
– Italian Nibbio Task Force on Dangerous Mission
The
Italian Nibbio Task Force has deployed into the Afghan mountains
surrounding Forward Operating Base Salerno in support of Operation
Enduring Freedom to execute the dangerous mission of search and
seizure for the War on Terror.
Supporting the Italian Nibbio Task
Force is a formidable medical team of eight doctors, six nurses
and 12 medics.
Nibbio is equipped to support itself
medically and augment the Task Force-44 Combat Support Hospital
if the coalition was to sustain mass casualties. (Full
Story)
Daylight
Baghdad: Saddam’s Regime Crumbles
A convoy of
U.S. 3rd Infantry Division troops made their first run into Baghdad
two days ago, and today in broad daylight they took control of
at least two of Saddam Hussein’s ornate palaces. One palace, known
as the "new" palace, was shown subdued on live television
with U.S. tanks parked in formidable positions in front with U.S.
soldiers in control of the palace.
Nearly 100 U.S. tanks and 60 Bradley
fighting vehicles had rolled into Baghdad early Monday with A-10
Warthog planes providing close air support cover. U.S. forces
on the ground are still battling fierce resistance from what may
be the Fedaydeen Saddam irregular fighters inside Baghdad and
on the outskirts of the city. However, coalition check points
now surround the city of Baghdad. (Full
Story)
Saddam
Statues Fall ‘Like Seeing Berlin Wall Come Down’
Seeing televised
images of larger-than- life statues of Saddam Hussein tumbling
all over Iraq is like "seeing the Berlin Wall come down all
over again," America’s No. 2 defense official told the foreign
media.
"Lovers of freedom everywhere
can understand the joy of the Iraqi people and their hopes for
the future," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz said
at the Foreign Press Center here. "But the best spokesman
for the Iraqis are the Iraqis themselves." (Full
Story)
Kuwait
Delivering Aid to Iraqis, Hoping to Find POWs
Kuwait is providing
"significant humanitarian assistance" to Iraq while
still hoping to recover its prisoners of war from Saddam Hussein’s
1990 invasion.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
said the government of Kuwait has worked with the United Kingdom
to build a pipeline into Iraq that is now delivering 2 million
liters of fresh water a day.
Kuwaiti relief organizations are providing food and medicine to
several Iraqi cities, and that country has set up a humanitarian
operations center "to serve as a focal point for funneling
aid into Iraq," the secretary told reporters outside the
Pentagon. (Full
Story)
April
16-30 Stories
Moscow’s
Stance on Iraq Finds Understanding in Washington, it is Believed
in the Upper Chamber of Russian Parlaiment
NEW
YORK. April 17–(RIA Novosti)–Russia’s stance on Iraq finds understanding
in the U.S. quarters where foreign policy is shaped, Mikhail Margelov,
chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee at Russia’s Federation
Council, told a RIA Novosti correspondent.
Commenting
on the results of his U.S. visit, during which he attended the
conference on Russian-American relations sponsored by the Harriman
Institute and the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies
at Harvard University and conducted a number of bilateral meetings,
Margelov described this understanding as "absolute."
The Americans understand that for a number of reasons – first,
because geographically we are neighbors; second, because of September
11, and because there was a meeting /between the Russian and U.S.
presidents/ in Ljubljana – there is an absolutely new reality,
which makes the present-day reality different from the 1991 situation,"
he said. (Full
Story)
Chief
of Saddam’s Palestinian Terror Arm Caught
(Debkafile)–Mahmoud
al Abbas, who embodies a hidden chapter in Yasser Arafat’s
career as terror mastermind, was captured in Iraq by American
troops in a hideout near Baghdad.
He
was turned back from the Syrian border after the Damascus authorities
had let most of the Iraqi leadership through.
Abu
al Abbas became internationally notorious after he hijacked the
Italian Achille Lauro cruise-ship in 1985 on Arafat’s orders,
shooting a disabled American Jewish passenger, Leon Klinghoffer,
and throwing him overboard. A life sentence is outstanding against
him in Italy. The Palestinian Liberation Front, the PLF, which
he heads, is officially designated by Washington a terrorist organization.
In Israel, he is best known for a thirty-year old terrorist atrocity
in Nahariya, when he personally murdered members of a family,
of which only the mother, Yael Haran, survived. (Full
Story)
Two
More USS Battle Groups Heading Home
The
USS Abraham Lincoln started it’s journey home to Everett, Washington
last week after the San Diego-based 1,100-foot, nuclear-powered
Nimitz carrier relieved the Lincoln of duty in Iraqi Freedom.
It will be the first homecoming
for a large unit involved in the war in Operation Iraq Freedom.
The Lincoln and its seven-ship battle group have been at sea nearly
nine months, longer than any U.S. carrier group now on duty. (Full
Story)
Russian
Scientific Expedition Vessel "Akademik Fyodorov" Leaves
Antarctic Waters
St
Petersburg, April 21, 2003. /From RIA Novosti correspondent Tatiana
Yakovleva/ — The Russian scientific expedition vessel Akademik
Fyodorov has left Antarctic.
The Akademik Fyodorov has already
crossed the 60th degree of south latitude, which according to
the "Agreement on Antarctic" is the border of the Antarctic
waters, Deputy Head of the Russian Antarctic Expedition Vladimir
Kuchin told RIA Novosti.
The Akademik Fyodorov heads now
towards Cape Town and is planned to be there on Aril 25th. The
Akademik Fyodorov will replenish there its reserves of fuel and
food and will also set ashore several polar explorers, who will
then leave for St Petersburg. The other participants in the 47th
Russian Antarctic expedition will remain on board the vessel,
which will arrive in St Petersburg in May 2003. On their way,
they will conduct ocean and ornithology researches.
The Akademik Fyodorov will be docked
in St Petersburg for inspection and technical maintenance. In
the summer of 2003 the vessel will sail to Antarctic to conduct
a series of scientific researches if the maintenance terms permit,
Kuchin said.
At the end of summer the vessel
will undergo new preparations for another voyage to Antarctic.
In accordance with the project "Investigation and Exploration
of Antarctic" within the framework of the Russian Federal
program "World Ocean", the Akademik Fyodorov will head
to the Antarctic shores in the end of October or the beginning
of November 2003.
The
Patriot Game
It was a memorable,
symbolic night at the MCI Center here April 14 as Michael Jordan
played the last home game of his legendary and illustrious basketball
career. But it would be more than about a game between two NBA
teams.
Michael
Jordan and the Wizards played the New York Knicks on Monday night,
April 14, 2003. This was Michael’s last home game at the MCI center
before his retirement as an NBA player. Left: Michael Jordan is
on the basketball court during pregame warmups. (Full
Story)
Russian
President Vladimir Putin in Indonesia Cites International Common
Goals and Fight Against Terror
MOSCOW,
April 21.RIA Novosti by Natalia Gorbunova. — Russia and Indonesia
advocate "the improvement of the UN system and increasing
the efficiency of the organisation’s mechanisms," Russian
President Vladimir Putin told journalists after talks in the Kremlin
with his Indonesian counterpart Megawati Sukarnoputri.
At the
meeting the parties noted their common approach to the UN role
in settling international crises, the Russian leader pointed out.
Russia
and Indonesia "favour the formation of a fair international
democratic system of relations based on universally accepted principles
of international law, on political and diplomatic methods of crisis
management", Putin emphasised. "Today’s talks confirmed
that we have close approaches to the key problems of the agenda,"
he said.
Apart
from this, the interlocutors "paid special attention to joint
work aimed at fighting the international terrorism," the
President added.
"If
You’re An American, Stand Up!"
U.S.
Marines mounted the successful rescue of seven American prisoners
of war in central Iraq Sunday after receiving a tip from Iraqis
as to where they were being held captive. After locating the building
in Tikrit, the Marines kicked the door in and shouted,"If
you’re an American, stand up!"
In that instant "We stood
up and they hustled us out of there," said Pfc. Patrick Miller,
father of two, from Park City, Kansas.
The rescue ended a horrible three
week ordeal for the soldiers. They were transported under heavy
cover to a C130 plane then flown to Kuwait for medical treatment
and debriefing.
Two of the seven POWs were Apache
pilots: Chief Warrant Officers David S. Williams and Ronald D.
Young, are members of the 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation at Fort
Hood, Texas. Their families today said that they had been in constant
prayer for their safe return.The pilots had been captured near
Karbala on March 23. (Full
Story)
Acts
of Terror Disrupted
MOSCOW–The
Ingushetian police arrested a group of terrorists preparing a
big terrorist attack in Russia’s North Caucasus region.
Officials said Tuesday, they were found to be in possession of
dangerous explosive materials; 50 kilograms of hexogen and aluminum
powder.
Reportedly, police officers had noticed something suspicious about
a car traveling through an intersection and stopped the vehicle
for further inspection. During the routine check of documents,
one of the terrorists in the car produced a grenade and attacked
the officers with it and another terrorist, also posing as a passenger,
opened gun fire. Three of the police officers were wounded in
the exchange. One terrorist escaped and is currently being pursued,
however, four of the terrorists were arrested, and the materials
were confiscated and are being further investigated. (Full
Story)
Israel
Leads the Way in Detecting SARS and Deadly Biological Agents
As concern over Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) grows
worldwide, Israeli technology is leading the way in the race to
develop a method of quickly detecting the presence of viruses
that cause such illnesses. Integrated Nano-Technologies, a leading
U.S. company, is now using Israeli technology developed at the
Haifa Technion as the backbone of a new DNA based testing system
called BioDetect that will rapidly and accurately test for the
presence of biological pathogens, such as the virus that causes
SARS as well as anthrax, and smallpox. (Full
Story)
Many
Fighters in Iraq Aren’t Iraqis
Many snipers,
suicide bombers and other diehards attacking U.S. and coalition
troops in Iraq are non-Iraqis waging holy war, said U.S. military
officials.
"A large portion … they’re actually foreigners,"
Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, said on CNN’s "Larry King Live."
"They’re some of the so-called
jihadists that have infiltrated into Iraq" to fight for Saddam
Hussein’s now- defunct regime, Myers remarked to the television
talk show host.
The four-star general told King
that although major combat is over in Iraq, there’s still military
work to be done, as U.S. and coalition troops conduct presence
patrols and assist humanitarian relief efforts. (Full
Story)
Cameraman
Killed by Sniper in Israel;
Secret Tunnel to Egypt Destroyed
19 year old
cameraman with the Israel Defense Forces, Cpl. Lior Ziv, was killed
early Sunday and three other soldiers were wounded during an operation
to destroy a Hamas smuggling tunnel in Rafah. Ziv, a still photographer
from the IDF Spokesman’s Office, was shot dead by a Palestinian
sniper as he was filming the tunnels the army had discovered and
destroyed.
A video photographer with the IDF was working alongside Ziv when
he was killed, Durel Gillerman was wounded during the Palestinian
sniper attack. Two medics who rushed to save them were also fired
at and wounded, one was seriously hurt. The wounded were quickly
evacuated to Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva. (Full
Story)
U.S.
Marines: Task to Rebuild Iraq
AL
KUT, Iraq – In the aftermath of the war, Iraqi people are
left without any kind of a police force or community assistance
programs. Forced to rely solely on themselves for simple things
like water, food, fuel and civil peace, the future of most communities,
like Al Kut, is unsure. Elements of Task Force Tarawa, based out
of Camp Lejeune, N.C., are taking the first steps in restoring
safety to the community and helping the locals step out of the
shadow of Saddam Hussein’s former regime. (Full
Story)
"4"
of Clubs Out of Play – Another Regime Leader Captured; Coalition
Forces Transition
Iraqi Kurds
handed over the Ba’ath Party regional command chairman for East
Baghdad to coalition special operations forces, U.S. Central Command
officials said.
Samir abd al-Aziz al-Najim was
the "4" of clubs in the deck of cards issued to coalition
troops to identify the 55 "most wanted" members of Saddam
Hussein’s regime. (Full
Story)
Nations
Say ‘No Nukes’ to North Koreans
According to
officials the North Korean government shouldn’t feel threatened
because the United States, China and other nations want the Korean
peninsula to be nuclear- weapon-free.
North Korea, which is suspected of having one or two nuclear weapons,
has "nothing to fear from de- nuclearization," Secretary
of State Colin L. Powell remarked at the U.S. Asia-Pacific Council
Symposium. (Full
Story)
Coalition
Arrests Self Appointed Mayor Al-Zubaidi in Baghdad
BAGHDAD,
IRAQ – As Coalition forces were working to help the people
of Iraq, in Baghdad Al-Zubaidi had been constantly causing obstruction
and chaos behind the scenes. He used his power as a leader in
Baghdad to pressure the Iraqi people to work against the Coalition’s
efforts to get the city running independently for the many families
and businesses. Coalition forces took action to solve the problem
and arrested Mohammed Mushin Al Zubaidi Sunday at approximately
4 pm (Kuwaiti Time) while he was in the vicinity of the Coalition
Civil Military Coordination Center in Baghdad. Centcom officials
report that Al Zubaidi obstructed Coalition efforts to get Iraqis
back to work and exercised authority he did not have. (Full
Story)
U.S.
Special Ops — War on Terror
WASHINGTON
— Fighting global terrorism and transforming were atop the
message list from a top combatant command official to a Senate
subcommittee recently.
Since the terrorist attacks against
the U.S. on September 11th, "we have seen great change in
our nation, as America takes action against terrorism," said
Army Lt. Gen. Bryan D. Brown, deputy head of U.S. Special Operations
Command in early April before the Senate Subcommittee on Emerging
Threats and Capabilities. "As you know, USSOCOM has been
a key player in that response."
Brown said the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks "clearly demonstrated" that determined terrorists
will go to any lengths to inflict catastrophic losses on Americans,
whether civilian or military personnel. (Full
Story)
Madrid
Declaration: Road to Democratic Iraq
Iraqis
"will build their own future, choose their own leaders and
enjoy their own bounty," said Spanish Prime Minister Jose
Maria Aznar during Spain’s sponsored conference held for prominent
Iraqis from at least 9 varying political groups. Together in Madrid,
the Iraqis continue to work through the tough political process
in order to establish a democratic post-Saddam government.
Spain’s Foreign Minister Ana Palacio took part in the opening
dialogue, and official Jorge Moragas told reporters, "Our
role is really to facilitate dialogue..we realize that dialogue
among Iraqi groups is complicated."
The meetings in Spain with over
100 Iraqi delegates usher in the Madrid Declaration which paves
the way for more high level talks in Baghdad this week. The declaration
carries with it an advancing banner of basic human rights and
equality for all in Iraq. In Baghdad, the Iraqi leaders will work
out more details of their government with interim government facilitator
General Garner. (Full
Story)
Asylum
Granted to Iraqi Who Aided Jessica Lynch Rescue
The
Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services has granted asylum
to Mohammed Odeh Al Rehaief, the Iraqi citizen who provided information
to the U.S. Marines that led to the rescue of Private Jessica
Lynch from a hospital in Nassiriyah, Iraq. Al Rehaief’s
wife and five-year-old daughter were also granted asylum in a
meeting last Friday at the Arlington, Virginia asylum office.
(Full
Story)