March
1-15 Stories
Monday
Deadline Set for Diplomatic Track on Iraq
WASHINGTON-
As the UN as tried for over 12 years to disarm Iraq, the dictator
Saddam Hussein has shown a lack of desire to take advantage of
the final UN resolution 1441 to comply with urgent requests to
disarm of all chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.[At the
Emergency Summit Sunday at the Azores, the leaders of United States,
Spain, Britain, and Portugal set Monday as the deadline for allowing
diplomacy to find a solution to Iraqi terror threat to the world.]
(Full
Story)
Iraqi
Forces Headed to Iraq
HUNGARY–American
service members training Free Iraqi Forces are impressed by the
exiles’ commitment to democracy and willingness to secure peace
in their homeland.
Army Maj. Gen. David Barno, commander
of Task Force Warrior at Taszar Air Base, Hungary, said the Iraqi
volunteers will assist American and coalition forces in civil
military operations should military action in Iraq become necessary.
Free Iraqi Forces wear battle-dress uniforms with "FIF"
patches on their shoulders. In the field, the volunteers will
carry 9 mm pistols as self-defense weapons, officials said.
Free Iraqi Forces wear battle-dress
uniforms with "FIF" patches on their shoulders. In the
field, the volunteers will carry 9 mm pistols as self-defense
weapons, officials said. (Full
Story)
Blair
Talks to World Youth–Unmasking Terror
MTV–using
it’s global arena–tackled today’s hottest topics
concerning peace, terror and the war on Iraq by bringing together
world youth and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for a debate
of sorts where the British leader took tough questions. Even as
the Iraqi poison drone and other secret Iraqi weapons activities
are being exposed in UN documents, 5 more terrorists were arrested
in Spain and attacks were being prevented to save lives in Europe.
Yet, the connection in people’s minds is not easily made
between terror attacks around the world and a terrorist state
like Iraq that had aided in the execution of attacks such as 9-11.
Just days before the MTV challenge,
Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar held a conference
where both leaders agreed that standing strong for the protection
of their countries may not be popular to some, but it is in fact
a matter of ‘life and death’. (Full
Story)
Aircrews
Target Iraqi Violations in No Fly Zone
WASHINGTON–
While world attention focuses on the looming possibility of war
with Iraq, Coalition aircrews patrolling the Northern and Southern
No-fly zones over that country face potential conflict with the
Iraqi military every day.
Coalition aircraft have used precision-guided
weapons in March to strike four Iraqi military communications
facilities and an air-defense facility, according to a U.S. Central
Command. (Full
Story)
Palestinian
Terrorist Posing as a Passenger
Blows up City Bus
Several
high school students were traveling on a city bus last Wednesday
afternoon in the Carmeliya neighborhood of Haifa when a powerful
explosion ripped apart the students and others passengers on the
bus. A terrorist blended in with the other passengers on the bus
and had been sitting in the rear of the bus when he ignited a
bomb he had that murdered 16 people and wounded more than 50,
at least 22 of them seriously.
The blast, which took place on the
city’s main Moriah Boulevard near the Carmel Center at 2:17 P.M
turned the number 37 bus into a charred wreck and scattered bodies
along the road. (Full
Story)
Palestinian
Terrorists Dressed Up like Religious Jews to Execute Home Invasion
Killings
Palestinian
terrorists dressed as religious Jews penetrated a family’s home
and started firing on the family while they were in dinner prayers
of the Jewish sabbath. The terrorist murdered both the Israeli
husband and wife as they were unarmed and praying in their own
home on March 9, 2003.
The
victims were identified as Rabbi Eliahu Horowitz and his wife,
Dina, in the West Bank town of Hebron.
Israeli Major General Moshe Kaplinski
said that the Palestinian terrorists took advantage of the fact
that it was Friday night, the Jewish Sabbath, to carry out their
terror attacks. Israeli Defense Forces prevented over 40 terror
attacks in February, and have arrested 111 terrorists. The IDF
also discovered two large explosive labs which were filled with
many varieties of explosives in large quantities.
More
Russians Leave Baghdad
MOSCOW
– Source: RIA Novosti. Over 100 Russians will get on a Russian
Emergencies Ministry plane that landed in Baghdad on Sunday, March
9, 2003. This is the fourth emergency flight to Iraq.
On Saturday night 150 Russians,
Belarussians and Ukrainians left Baghdad for Moscow by the Il-62M
plane.
According to the Emergencies Ministry,
another five flights will be made to the Iraqi capital till March
10. A source at the ministry indicated that Russians were not
being evacuated but leaving the country of their own free will.
Russian
Embassy to Be Restored in Kabul
MOSCOW,.
RIA Novosti’s Yuri Nikolayev – During Russian Foreign Minister
Igor Ivanov’s visit to Afghanistan this week he will attend a
ceremony to honor the launch of work to restore a compound of
buildings of the Russian embassy in Kabul. (Full
Story)
Russia-Iran
Relations an Important Element of Stability and Security in the
Middle and Near East
MOSCOW,
March 9, 2003 RIA Novosti correspondent Yuri Nikolayev./ Russia
highly assesses friendly and good neighbourly partnership with
Iran and considers it an important factor of strengthening stability
and security in the Middle and Near East, Russian Foreign Minister
official spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said RIA Novosti on Sunday
on the eve of Igor Ivanov’s visit to Iran. (Full
Story)
U.S.
Department of Defense Talks of Shifting Troops in Korea
WASHINGTON–The
United States will work with its Korean allies to "rebalance"
U.S. forces in the country, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
said March 6.
Rumsfeld was talking about a worldwide
reconfiguring of U.S. forces during a Pentagon town hall meeting.
He opined on the situation in Korea.
"We still have a lot of forces in Korea arranged very far
forward, where it’s intrusive in their lives, and where they really
aren’t very flexible or usable for other things," he said.
(Full
Story)
North
Korean Fighters Intercept U.S. Jet Over Sea of Japan
WASHINGTON
— Four North Korean fighter jets intercepted a U.S. Air Force
plane in international airspace over the Sea of Japan early Mar.
2, Defense Department officials said.
Two North Korean MiG-29 fighters
and two other North Korean aircraft believed to be MiG-23s engaged
an American RC-135S reconnaissance aircraft on a "routine
mission" 150 miles off the coast of North Korea, Navy Lt.
Cmdr. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman said this afternoon.
The North Korean fighters "shadowed"
the American plane for 22 minutes starting at 10:48 a.m. local
time — Saturday evening Eastern time. Davis said that the North
Korean aircraft closed to within 50 feet of the American airplane
at an equal altitude. (Full
Story)
Iraq
Not Complying With U.N. Resolution, Powell Says
WASHINGTON–Iraq
has not made the strategic decision to disarm and cooperate with
U.N. weapons inspectors, Secretary of State Colin Powell told
the U.N. Security Council last week.
Powell
spoke following reports from Hans Blix, chief U.N. weapons inspector,
and Mohammad ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy
Agency. (Full
Story)
Terror
Chief Captured
IIn
the war against terror, it’s been a race against time as governments
work to prevent terror attacks. Saturday, CIA and Pakistani agents
staged a joint pre-dawn raid near Islamabad, Pakistan. Khalid
Shaikh Mohammed, a senior operative in the al Qaeda network, was
captured and whisked away to an undisclosed location outside of
the U.S. The suspected mastermind of the terror attacks that killed
more than 3,000 people from the U.S., Britain, Spain, Russia,
Japan, Italy, Australia and over 70 other nations on September
11, 2001 is currently being interrogated. (Full
Story)
Bulgaria,
a Small but Powerful UN Voice
With a war
to disarm Iraq on hold for UN Security Council votes, countries
that may not have been seen as important before now take center
stage in a powerful tug-of-war for votes. Bulgaria, once an ally
of the U.S.’s Cold War enemy, is now a friend who must make
an important decision to forcefully defuse the Weapons of Mass
Destruction threat posed by Iraq and attached terrorists while
being tugged by nations arguing the wait and see approach.
Russia has been very good friends
with Bulgaria since the Russian army saved the country from the
Turks during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. And at one point
during the Cold War, Bulgaria proposed to joined the Soviet Union.
However, with the world changed years later, Bulgaria regards
both Russia and the U.S. as friends, and it has shown this over
the past few days. (Full
Story)
Hungary
Hosts Free Iraqi Forces Training Exercises
U.S.
soldiers are training Iraqi exiles and expatriates at a Hungarian
air base to aid U.S. forces should an invasion of Iraq become
necessary.
About
700 U.S. soldiers are working at Taszar Air Base, Hungary, to
train up to 3,000 Free Iraqi Forces, said Army Maj. Robert Stern,
a spokesman for Task Force Warrior in Taszar. Americans in the
task force dubbed the training area "Camp Freedom."
(Full
Story)
Coalition
Forces Respond to Iraqi Hostile Actions
MACDILL
AFB, FL — In response to Iraqi hostile actions and threats toward
Coalition aircraft monitoring compliance of United Nations Security
Council Resolutions, Operation SOUTHERN WATCH Coalition aircraft
used precision-guided weapons to target Iraqi military communications
sites and a mobile early-warning radar.
The communication sites were located
near An Numinayah, approximately 70 miles southeast of Baghdad.
The radar was located near An Nasiriyah, approximately 170 miles
southeast of Baghdad. (Full
Story)
Myers:
Iraq Clearly a Present Danger to America
The
specter of terrorists allied with democracy-hating regimes –
like Saddam Hussein’s Iraq – seeking weapons of mass destruction
presents a danger America cannot afford to ignore, the U.S. military’s
top officer said Feb. 26.
"It’s
this combination that makes Iraq such a threat to our nation,"
Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, told a group of business people in New York City. (Full
Story)
March
16-31 Stories
Serbia
Makes Cabinet Nominations After Prime Minister’s Death
BELGRADE,
MARCH 16, 2003.RIA Novosti by Alexander Slabynko/ — Today’s Democratic
Party Central Committee session nominated Zoran Zivkovic, party
vice-president, for Serbia’s premiership, to form a new government.
Boris Tadic, another party vice-president, was nominated Defence
Minister of Serbia and Montenegro, and Cedomir Jovanovic, also
party vice-president, Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister.
The
party and Cabinet gaps have to be filled in after the tragedy
of March 12, when Zoran Dzindzic, Serbia’s Prime Minister and
Democratic Party leader was assassinated.
The
session did not elect a party president. Zoran Zivkovic will be
acting president before the nearest party congress, which will
follow general republican elections next year.
The
Skupstina, republican parliament, will gather Tuesday, March 18,
to confirm the prime-ministerial nomination, announced Cedomir
Jovanovic.
Serbia
will remain in a state of emergency till it finally eradicate
rampant crime at any rate, to April’s end. The new government
will carry on the late lamented Zoran Dzindzic’s policies in co-operation
with the Hague tribunal and other matters, said Zoran Zivkovic.
International
Experts Address Counteraction to Terrorism in Tashkent
TASHKENT,–RIA Novosti correspondent Valery Niyazmatov/–The
theme of the meeting underway in Tashkent of the working group
of the "Partnership for Peace" consortium of military
academies and institutes specialising in security issues is "Counteraction
to terrorism". Representatives of state and non-governmental
organisations, scientists and experts from the USA, European,
CIS and Central Asian states attend the meeting Saturday.
In the course of two days forum
participants will consider problems of the struggle against international
terrorism and religious extremism, will exchange opinions on the
military and political situation in the Middle East and around
Afghanistan, will hold discussions on urgent regional security
issues.
The consortium of military academies
and institutes to study security problems is a military organisation
created to develop military education and research in security
through the development of contacts between different countries
and institutions. Presently 18 working groups are operating within
the framework of the consortium, 200 organisations from 42 countries
of the Council of Euro-Atlantic Cooperation being involved in
their work.
Coalition
Forces Continue Information Campaign in Southern Iraq
SOUTHWEST
ASIA – Sunday March 16, 2003 Coalition aircraft dropped
240,000 informational leaflets over southern Iraq today.
Coalition aircraft dropped the leaflets
throughout the day today over military and civilian sites at four
locations in southern Iraq, south of the 33rd Parallel.
The leaflet drops were part of an
ongoing effort to protect Iraqi lives and deter Iraqi aggression
by providing relevant, factual information to both Iraqi civilians
and military troops.
The leaflets that the Coalition dropped today expressed a variety
of messages intended to inform the Iraqi people and prevent Iraqi
military members from using weapons of mass destruction.
Halabja:
Symbol of Hussein’s Inhumanity
WASHINGTON,
March 15, 2003 – "Bloody Friday." That’s what
Iraqi Kurds call the attack on Halabja, Iraq, on March 16, 1988.
This year marks the 15th anniversary
of Saddam Hussein’s largest use of chemical weapons on his own
people. At least 5,000 Iraqi Kurds died from a lethal mixture
of mustard gas and the nerve agents Sarin, Tabun and VX. Another
10,000 were reported injured. (Full
Story)
US,
UK, Spain: ‘Iraq in Material Breach’
Only
hours after leaders Aznar, Blair and Bush issued the final countdown
for Iraq to disarm, their UN ambassadors, led by Sir Jeremy Greenstock
of the United Kingdom, were the first to announce that time is
up for Iraq according to UN Resolution 1441. The refusal of a
certain country [France] to consider compromises or proposals
on the Iraqi disarmament issue has led to the decision not to
"pursue a vote on the draft UK, US, Spanish resolution,"
said Greenstock. He also declared that the "co-sponsors reserve
their right to take their own steps to secure the disarmament
of Iraq." Spanish and US ambassadors gave similar statements
and declared that Iraq was in ‘material breach’ of UN Resolution
1441. (Full
Story)
Countdown–
48 Hours
WASHINGTON–Monday
8pm, EST U.S. President Bush delivered an ultimatum to Saddam
Hussein and sons to leave Iraq within 48 hours during an address
to the American people. The message to Saddam was broadcast directly
to Iraq via U.S. military communications aircraft capable of interrupting
and broadcasting television and radio transmissions.
In his address from the White House, the
president explained that all roads of diplomacy to end Saddam’s
reign of terror have been exhausted and Saddam’s "refusal"
to leave Iraq "will result in military conflict commenced
at a time of our choosing."
"It is too late for Saddam
Hussein to remain in power," Bush said. "It is not too
late for the Iraqi military to act with honor and protect your
country by permitting the peaceful entry of coalition forces to
eliminate weapons of mass destruction." (Full
Story)
Coalition
Aircraft Respond to Iraqi Provocation
WASHINGTON-Coalition
aircraft bombed a series of Iraqi targets today in response to
Iraqi anti- aircraft artillery firing on the allied aircraft.
The
Iraqi gunners fired on planes patrolling the Southern No-Fly Zone.
In response, a coalition "strike package" hit communications,
air defense and artillery sites.
Air
Force officials in Southwest Asia would not say when the Iraqis
fired on the coalition planes because they do not want to give
away the response time. (Full
Story)
War
Begins; Coalition Aircraft Attack Iraqi Targets
WASHINGTON-At
9:33pm Eastern (5:33am in Baghdad), just about 90 minutes after
the 48 hour deadline, stealth fighters and cruise missiles effected
the first strike to disarm Iraq. At 10:15pm Eastern, the President
of the United States addressed the American people to tell them
that the operations to disarm Iraq have begun in order to free
the Iraqi people and to help defend the world from terror.
U.S. Navy warships the USS Bunker
Hill, Donald Cook, Cowpens, Milius, and two U.S. Navy submarines
fired at least 40 Tomahawk missiles from the Red Sea and Arabian
Gulf on selected Iraqi targets. F-117 Stealth Fighters joined
the strategic first strike from the air.
Reporters witnessed streaming lights
in the sky, followed by loud explosion sounds in Baghdad. The
strike ended quickly.
In about 30 minutes after the first
strike on Iraq had ended, the President spoke to the nation from
the Oval Office, "On my orders, coalition forces have begun
striking selected targets of military importance to undermine
Saddam Hussein’s ability to wage war." (Full
Story)
Ground
War Underway
WASHINGTON-
Twelve Coalition troops died in an apparent accident when a U.S.
Marine helicopter crashed Friday morning in northern Kuwait, (7:37pm
EST) about 9 miles from the Kuwait – Iraqi boarder. Also, at about
6:00AM EST, it was reported that the first soldier killed in action
is an American. He was part of the U.S. Marines’ 1st Expeditionary
Force.
The crash happened just hours before
a major ground offensive kicked off in the Persian Gulf. U.S.
Defense Department officials confirmed the Army’s 3rd Infantry
Division rolled into southern Iraq late March 20.
A U.S. Marine CH-46E Sea Knight
with American and British troops and crew crashed in the Kuwaiti
desert south of the Iraq border at about 7 p.m. March 20 Eastern
time — 3 a.m. March 21 in the Gulf, a spokesman said. (Full
Story)
Iraqi
Freedom Coalition Readies Humanitarian Aid
CAMP AS SAYLIYAH,
Qatar, March 23, 2003 — The U.S.-led coalition to disarm the
Iraqi regime is poised to open massive channels of humanitarian
assistance for the Iraqi people.
Millions
of meals, medicines and other supplies for the Iraqi people are
pre-positioned and ready for distribution, said Brig. Gen. Vincent
Brooks, CENTCOM deputy operations officer, at a press briefing
here March 22.
"Our
humanitarian work in Iraq is beginning," Brooks said. "We
are already preparing to push (the rations) forward as they are
required." He showed a video of a warehouse stocked full
of humanitarian daily rations. (Full
Story)
NASA
Spokesman in Russia: No Single Version of
Columbia Shuttle Tragedy in Place Yet
MISSION
CONTROL CENTER /KOROLEV, MOSCOW REGION/, MARCH 18–The independent
commission of Admiral Geman, looking into what caused the catastrophe
of the Columbia shuttle spaceship, has not yet shaped an single
version.
Sergei
Puzanov, public relations coordinator at the NASA office in the
Russian Mission Control Center. (Full
Story)
U.S.
Defense Leaders Urge Iraqis to Surrender
Over the past
month, coalition aircraft have dropped more than 15 million leaflets
over Iraq urging soldiers not to fight and telling civilians how
to protect themselves.
As
Operation Iraqi Freedom began, there had been some results.
Coalition
troops are driving toward Baghdad and while some Iraqi troops
have been surrendering, U.S. officials are hoping for more.
"The
regime is starting to lose control of their country," Defense
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said today at a Pentagon press conference.
"The confusion of Iraqi officials is growing." (Full
Story)
U.S.
Too Nice — Iraqi Peasants Shoot Down U.S. Helicopters and False
White Flags Ensnares Americans
Tactics,
foresight and strategy, the reports are flowing in rapidly of
more missing Americans. An Apache helicopter with a small American
crew was apparently taken down by Iraqis forces that looked like
farmers –leaving television images of a shabby looking crowd
that included old men cheering with rifles in front of the downed
American helicopter. Meanwhile, it’s not known what has happened
to the crew, although Iraqis claim to have captured them as well.
(Full
Story)
Battles
Intensify to Baghdad
(Updated March
25) Baghdad and Mosul were under air attack Monday morning as
strategic bombings continue. Ten US soldiers were confirmed killed
in the Nasiriya battle, and two British troops are missing. Coalition
forces have had some tough fights in Iraq, but coalition forces
still made good progress on the ground, air and sea, said Army
Lt. Gen. John Abizaid, deputy commander of the Combined Forces
Command.
"United
States Marines defeated an enemy attack there while sustaining
a number of killed and wounded in the sharpest engagement of the
war so far," he said. (Full
Story)
Air
Element Boss Details Coalition Contributions
Coalition air
forces have flown more than 6,000 sorties to date in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom, said Air Force Maj. Gen. Daniel Leaf
today.
Leaf
heads the air component coordination element at U.S. Central Command’s
Land Component headquarters in Kuwait, where he spoke to reporters.
(Full
Story)
HHS
Releases Comprehensive Plan to End Chronic Homelessness
HHS
Secretary Tommy G. Thompson released a comprehensive plan aimed
at ensuring the department’s resources are focused on reducing
and ultimately ending chronic homelessness. The new initiative,
Ending Chronic Homelessness: Strategies for Action, was developed
specifically to address the growing need for an integrated network
of support systems for chronically homeless persons — those that
have a disabling condition and who experience frequent or extended
periods in the homeless assistance system. (Full
Story)
Japanese
PM Clarifies Government’s Support for U.S.
(The Yomiuri
Shimbun) At a press conference on March 20, the day the U.S.-led
coalition began its military action in Iraq, Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi clearly expressed Japan’s support for the United States.
"The United States is the only
country that has committed itself to deeming any military strike
against Japan as an attack on the United States itself. We should
always bear in mind that this constitutes a key deterrent to other
countries considering the use of force against this country,"
he said. (Full
Story)
Coalition
on Track to Baghdad
Just a few days of ground combat, coalition forces are more than
200 miles into Iraq and poised to take on forces defending Baghdad,
U.S. and British defense leaders said.
U.S.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Richard Myers told reporters at
a Pentagon press conference that the plan to disarm Saddam Hussein
and liberate the Iraqi people is on track. As part of the war
plan, more U.S. troops are flowing into the region, Rumsfeld said.
"There is a force flow that’s
been put in place weeks and weeks and weeks ago, where people
were mobilized, people were trained, … equipment was loaded
on ships, ships were leased, ships were sent over, ships moved
into position, ships were unloaded, personnel were airlifted over
to meet with their equipment," he said. "And every hour
the number of U.S. and coalition forces in that country are increasing."
(Full
Story)
Iraqi
Regime’s True Colors Are Showing
Another
scud missile from Iraq was fired into Kuwait City about 11:30
am – the U.N. banned missile was intercepted and destroyed
by the U.S. Patriot 3 system, preventing loss of life in Kuwait
City.
“Coalition
forces of U.S. Fifth Corps sustained a few damaged vehicles, and
in turn inflicted significant damage on the Iraqi force,”
said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks during a daily press
briefing at CENTCOM in Qatar.
Near
An Nasiriyah, the First Marine Expeditionary Force gained control
of a hospital that was in use as a paramilitary headquarters staging
area and storage area. Notably within the hospital, there were
200 weapons, Iraqi military uniforms, one tank, 3000 chemical
protective suits, and nerve agent antidote injectors. (Full
Story)
Saddam’s
‘Death Squads’ Preventing Iraqi Surrenders
Fierce
guerilla tactics of the type never seen by the military have been
reported by some journalists embedded with the Coalition troops.
Saddam’s extremes to stay in power include forcing civilians
to give up their lives–one account in a European paper reports
that civilians are forced to strap themselves with explosives
and lay in front of Coalition tanks or their families will be
executed.
Today,
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld gave reporters a three-word
answer as to why more Iraqi troops aren’t laying down their arms
and surrendering to coalition forces: Saddam’s death squads. (Full
Story)
Antitank
Guided Missile System Found in Chechnya
GROZNY,
March 31, 2003 /from RIA Novosti correspondent Svetlana Shuvayeva/
— The FAGOT guided missile system has been found in the settlement
of Alkhan-Kala.
The
provisional press centre of the Russian Interior Ministry reported
on Monday that the system had been hidden in the yard of a dwelling
house. The system was equipped with electronic starters, an optical
homing head and storage batteries.
A
home-made grenade launcher, two Kenwood radio stations, three
RGD-5 grenades, F-1 grenade, three shots for a under barrel grenade
launcher, three magazines with cartridges for the Kalashnikov
gun, 112 5.45mm-cartridges, an ammunition carrying vest and seven
camouflage suits were also found there.
USS
Nassau Carries Tribute of New York Firemen
…"Russ got in touch with me and wanted to know how things
were," Farrell said. "He was really shook up, not only
about 9-11, but about what happened to us and our family.
"He said, ‘Vinny, I’d be honored
if you guys could get me a fire department flag. We’d like to
raise that flag when we deploy and actually go into battle,’"
Farrell recalled… (Full
Story)