War On Terror
An American female surgeon and two medical workers were killed at a missionary hospital in Yemen by a terrorist on Monday. According to reports, a male terrorist pretending to be a patient, disguised his semiautomatic rifle to make it look like a child. Then, upon entering the hospital, he shot the doctors to death and wounded a pharmacist. The "Yemen Observer" says their interviews indicate the terrorist was aware that the doctors would be together for a meeting and had prepared ahead of time by shaving his beard. One account said he was wearing clothing that covered the weapon he had hidden under his arm, and he blended in with others as he entered unnoticed through the pharmacy. (Full Story)

 

 

January 16-31 Stories

 

 Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov Appeals for Identical Attitudes to Terrorism
NEW YORK–RIA Novosti –In New York today, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov appealed for identical attitudes to terrorism in different countries, be it the USA, the Mideast, Europe or Chechnya.
     "Acts of terrorism cannot be justified," he told journalists upon his arrival in New York. (Full Story)

Bush Sees Iraqi Rockets as ‘Troubling, Serious’ Situation
WASHINGTON- President Bush believes the discovery of a dozen empty rocket heads designed to deliver chemical weapons is a "troubling and … serious" development, his lead spokesman said today.
     Ari Fleischer said at a routine White House press briefing that the 12 warheads U.N. inspectors discovered in Iraq Jan. 16 are not listed in the declaration that country submitted to the U.N. Security Council. (Full Story)

Saddam’s ‘Secret Service’ and ‘Secret Weapons’, Described by Former Bodyguard
No WMD in Saddam`s palaces – only unimaginably stringent personal security
(DEBKAFile)–Hans Blix, chief UN weapons inspector in Iraq and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the internationial nuclear agency, have not turned up any Iraqi scientists or civilians to interview outside the country’s borders. After two days of negotiations with Iraq officials in Baghdad, they came out with a 10-point accord that guarantees very little help for their search.
     DEBKA-Net-Weekly , however, did locate a highly knowledgeable defector from Saddam Hussein’s immediate circle – one, moreover, willing to talk. His name – or more precisely one of his many aliases – is Jassem Abdullah. He managed to escape from Baghdad four months ago. (Full Story)

Two Terrorists Suspected of Kidnapping Russian Defense Ministry Officer Arrested in Ingushetia
MOSCOW –Two terrorists suspected of kidnapping a Russian Defence Ministry officer have been arrested in Ingushetia (North Caucasian republic neighbouring on Chechnya).according to RiIA Novosti.
     The criminals were arrested by anti-crime police officers and an Interior Ministry mobile detachment in the village Troitskaya of the Sunzhensky district, the Russian Interior Ministry disclosed to RIA Novosti. The participants in illegal armed formations, R. Balayev, 21, and M. Ozdoyev, 19, confessed that on January 17th, 2003, they took part in the kidnapping of Major A. Kozyakov. (Full Story)

Coalition Forces Target Iraqi Military Communication Sites
MACDILL AFB, TAMPA — In response to Iraqi hostile acts against Coalition aircraft monitoring compliance of United Nations Security Council Resolutions over Southern Iraq, Operation SOUTHERN WATCH Coalition aircraft used precision-guided weapons to target eight unmanned cable repeater sites that are part of Iraq’s military air defense command and control system. The sites were located between Al Kut, approximately 95 miles southeast of Baghdad, and An Nasiriyah, approximately 170 miles southeast of Baghdad. (Full Story)

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Meets North Korean Leader in Pyongyang
BEIJING, January 20th, 2003 (from RIA Novosti correspondent) — Special presidential envoy and deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov met North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang on Monday. According to informed sources, the meeting discussed a package of Russia’s initiatives to settle the North Korean nuclear problem. No other details have been reported so far.
     Alexander Losyukov has been visiting the North Korean capital since Saturday. He has already met the first deputy Foreign Minister of North Korea, Kang Sok-ju, to discuss the nuclear problem and security in the Korean peninsula. On Sunday, Alexander Losyukov described his Pyongyang negotiations as "active, friendly, positive and showing readiness for co-operation." According to the Xinhua news agency, the reaction to Russia’s initiatives may be voiced later in the day during the expected meeting between the Russian presidential special envoy and the chairman of the North Korean Supreme People’s Assembly’s Presidium, Kim Young-nam.

War or Peace? The Choice is Iraq’s
WASHINGTON — "The choice between war and peace will not be made in Washington, or indeed in New York," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said. "It will be made in Baghdad, and the decision is facing the Iraqi regime."
The fact that the inspectors have not yet come up with new evidence of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program could itself be evidence of Iraq’s noncooperation, Rumsfeld said during a Pentagon news conference. (Full Story)

Hot Zone: Iraq and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Ships have departed from both the East and West coast of the U.S. as U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered an additional 35,000 troops to the Persian Gulf region. The British have also boosted their military might in recent days, sending the helicopter carrier Ark Royal last Thursday, Jan. 16, 2003, from Loch Long in Scotland
     The increased activity comes as UN inspectors uncovered 12 empty chemical weapon warheads that the Iraqis forgot to mention in their 12,000 page declaration to the UN.
     Meanwhile, evidence that Saddam has never given up his quest for amassing the world’s most deadliest threats to human life are becoming easier to recognize as Iraq’s denials don’t match information that is already known to the public. In October 2002, a Public Affairs Magazine reported that Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan’s nuclear program, is one of a group that is believed to have helped Iraq with its continued nuclear and missile efforts. (Full Story)

North Korea: Diffusing A Ticking Bomb
Since North Korean action to agitate the standing nuclear controls agreements, the DMZ of just 2.5 miles in width and 156 miles in length has attracted renewed global concern. The DMZ separates one million North Korean troops and about 37,000 U.S. troops. Each day, highly trained troops from each side stand a mere 35 feet from each other. But although that may be routine, the extraordinary steps that civilized countries are taking to communicate with North Korea are critical, since in recent years North Korean missile tests have threatened Japan, and the DPRK’ s instability–along with advanced nuclear power–threatens neighbors near and far. (Full Story)

Iraq and the Use of Chemical Weapons
Iraq’s chemical weapons arsenal is not some hypothetical problem, but a danger and a weapon Saddam Hussein has used in the past.
     Hussein had been in power only a year when he declared war on neighboring Iran in 1980. He flexed his muscles against the Persian Gulf region’s largest military power, but one weakened by post-shah disarray. Iraq had a more modern military and banked on a fast, easy victory. (Full Story)

Bone Marrow Offers New Hope for Human Brain
Those suffering with Parkinson’s can look to a new study that strongly suggests some cells from bone marrow can enter the human brain and generate new neurons and other types of brain cells. If researchers can find a way to control these cells and direct them to damaged areas of the brain, this finding may lead to new treatments for stroke, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurological disorders.
     "This study shows that some kind of cell in bone marrow, most likely a stem cell, has the capacity to enter the brain and form neurons," says Eva Mezey, M.D., Ph.D., from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), who led the study. Earlier work by Dr. Mezey and others has shown that bone marrow cells can enter the mouse brain and produce new neurons. However, the new study is the first to show that this phenomenon can occur in the human brain. (Full Story)

Iraq Knows More About Missing U.S. Airman
Saddam Hussein’s government has information it hasn’t shared about the fate of a U.S. pilot shot down over Iraq during the Persian Gulf War, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz said.
     Navy Cmdr. Michael Scott Speicher’s F/A-18 Hornet fighter was downed by enemy fire during the first day of the air war over Iraq on Jan. 17, 1991, according to DoD. (Full Story)

‘Eagle Eyes’
WASHINGTON–In a world where Islamic extremists are involved in elaborate plans to force earth’s civilization into their vision of Islamic domination through terror attacks, people are being taught to pay attention to their surroundings, to be observant, and if suspicious activities are seen, report it to law enforcement officials. As we have seen since 9-11, what one man or woman reports can save many lives. People have also found that things out of place can be reason for concern. Many citizens have discovered thus far important oddities, such as an oddly packed bag, a vehicle out of place, or a man nonchalantly trying to light his shoe on fire while on an aircraft. Observance and reporting suspicious activities is encouraged, as seen with the US military this week.
     Several plastic containers and what appeared to be a timing device were found near a military checkpoint at the Pentagon yesterday, arousing the suspicion of a passer-by.
     Soon afterward, members of the Arlington Fire Department and the Pentagon Force Protection Agency were on the scene. The Air Force Office of Special Investigations was contacted.
     Alert notices sent out over e-mail and the Pentagon’s emergency communications system informed those in the immediate area of what action to take. (Full Story)

Powell: International Community Should Remember Issue at Hand
WASHINGTON –Senior U.S. and British officials put up a united front here today in discussing the two countries’ determination to disarm Saddam Hussein.
     Secretary of State Colin Powell and his British counterpart, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, said U.N. Security Council member countries need to remember that the issue facing them is disarming Iraq, not squabbling over how long to give U.N. inspectors to find a "smoking gun" there.
     "Let’s not lose sight of the fact that the issue is the disarmament of Iraq," Powell told reporters after meeting with Straw at the State Department. "Not how much more time the inspectors need, but how much more time should we give to Iraq when they have not used the time they’ve been given to do what is required of them, and that is to disarm." (Full Story)

‘Act of Terror’ if Saddam Destroys Iraq’s Oil Fields
Destruction of the oil fields truly would be an act of terror, the US Department of Defense said Friday during a briefing and graphic slide presentation with background information on Iraqi sabotage. The DoD is saying that Saddam has in the past demonstrated his intent to use terrorist kinds of tactics against his own people. And certainly using the oil fields as a hostage to the economic future of the country would be a terrorist act against his own people. It cost coalitions partners and Kuwait partners over $20 billion to recraft the oil infrastructure that was destroyed by Saddam during the Gulf War. (Full Story)

Russia’s Anti- Terror Campaign
Despite pressure from Jordanian officials on Russia to prevent an attack on Iraq–a country the US, Britain and a few other countries have found to be a sponsor of terror–Russia has been aggressively conducting it’s own anti-terror campaigns within Russian territories.
     Grozny was the site of a recent terrorist attack that killed 57 innocent people while they were at work and wounded over 150 others. Since that time, security efforts to protect civilians and hunt out terrorists have intensified an already aggressive campaign by Russian officials to prevent terror attacks. (Full Story)

Anti-Terror Raids in Spain, Italy and UK Find Terrorist Weapons Cache
“Those arrested were preparing to commit attacks with explosives and chemical materials,” said Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar after 180 Spanish police officers raided homes in the Catalonia region to uncover “a major terrorist network…linked in this case to the Algerian Salafist group, a splinter cell of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), which has clear connections with the criminal organization of bin Laden.” Spain, along with Italy and the United Kingdom, have led a European charge in the battle against terror over the past 3 weeks to discover shocking information and materials that has prevented numerous attacks across the face of Western Europe. (Full Story)

"As we fight this war, we will remember where it began – here, in our own country."
On Tuesday evening, the President of the United States addressed the nation and was heard by nations of the world as he told about the progress of the war on terror and the dire terror threats posed by the Iraqi regime.
     Saddam is a "brutal dictator, with a history of reckless aggression … with ties to terrorism" said Bush. "Saddam has already killed thousands of his own people, and left many disfigured. Iraqi refugees tell us how forced confessions are obtained – by torturing children while their parents are made to watch." Saddam, a "dictator, who is assembling the world’s most dangerous weapons" is not only a threat to those living in the Middle East, but his unaccounted for weapons of mass destruction, chemical and biological agents are available for al Qaeda and other terrorists to use against the U.S. and her friends and allies.
   President Bush: "There are days when the American people do not hear news about the war on terror. There is never a day when I do not learn of another threat, or receive reports of operations in progress, or give an order in this global war against a scattered network of killers." (More Iraq–War on Terror Remarks)