Posted on 07/31/2005 4:10:03 PM PDT by Gucho
From correspondents in London
August 01, 2005
A THIRD Islamist terror cell is on the loose and planning multiple suicide bomb attacks against Tube trains and other soft targets in London, security sources say.
Intelligence reports about a cell with access to explosives and plans to unleash a "third wave" of attacks were the trigger for a huge security exercise in the British capital on Thursday. The operation involved 6000 police, many of them armed, patrolling across London.
Senior officers said there was specific intelligence from several sources that an attack was planned for that day. However, this contradicts statements by Scotland Yard that Thursday's security exercise - the biggest since World War II - was a precautionary operation aimed at reassuring the public.
The disclosure comes as a suspected bomber detained in Italy was reported to have admitted to involvement in the London attacks on July 21.
According to Italian reports, Hussain Osman told investigators the leader of the July 21 attacks was Muktar Said Ibrahim, who was arrested in London on Friday. Osman claimed Ibrahim had taught him how to make bombs. However, he said the blasts on July 21 were intended to be a political statement rather than to take lives.
Britain's Daily Telegraph said Scotland Yard was investigating evidence that the July 7 and July 21 attacks were planned from Saudi Arabia.
The paper said anti-terrorist officials believed Osman had telephoned a number in Saudi Arabia hours before his arrest in Rome on Friday. He was believed to be making only the most vital calls because he feared his mobile phone was being tracked by investigators.
Senior officers at Scotland Yard believed there were no links in Britain between the two cells, but one senior source told the newspaper the anti-terrorist squad was investigating ties between the two cells and "foreign camps" of terrorists.
Details of a third-wave terror plot to carry out multiple suicide attacks were disclosed to senior police commanders at an emergency Special Branch conference at Scotland Yard last Wednesday, sources said.
All police leave was cancelled and hundreds of officers were instructed to book into central London hotel rooms.
Members of the third cell are said to be independent of the July 7 and July 21 terrorists but to have "associations" with some of the terror suspects arrested in connection with the July 21 attacks.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of the police anti-terrorist branch, said that despite capturing the five men linked to the failed July 21 attacks, "the threat remains, and is very real".
Another officer, a member of the Yard's firearms unit that captured three of the would-be suicide bombers in two raids in west London, said: "What we did on Friday was just the tip of the iceberg. There is some big stuff coming in the next few months. There's a big network that's got to be cracked."
Osman, a 27-year-old asylum-seeker from Ethiopia who has British citizenship, was arrested by Italian police at his brother's flat in Rome after an international manhunt. Osman's brother was reportedly arrested in northern Italy last night.
Italian authorities said Hussian Osman left Britain on a Eurostar train from Waterloo five days after the July 21 attacks.
He appears to have been cleared by British and French police and immigration officials, even though he was one of the most wanted men in the country and his CCTV picture was on posters throughout the station.
According to media reports, Osman confessed almost immediately to Italian police.
"Yes, it's true, I was there on July 21. I'd been given a rucksack," he is said to have told the investigating officers.
Osman is reported to have said the attacks had been planned by Muktar Said Ibrahim, whom he said he had met at a gym in Notting Hill.
He claimed the group acted independently and had no links to the July 7 attacks, in which 56 people died, and had been taken by surprise by the suicide bombings two weeks earlier.
The group decided to carry out the attacks as a statement about the war in Iraq but was not linked to al-Qaeda or any other terrorists, he reportedly said.
"Religion had nothing to do with this. We watched films. Muktar showed us videos with images of the war in Iraq. He said we must do something big. That's why we met."
Osman, who is suspected of the Shepherd's Bush attack, claimed they had not meant to kill anyone. "I didn't want to kill, ours was supposed to be a demonstrative act," he is said to have told interrogators. "We planned to carry out an attack ... we didn't want to kill, only to spread terror."
Ibrahim, the gang's alleged leader, is being questioned at Paddington Green top security police station in west London.
Ramzi Mohammed, the suspected Oval Tube bomber, was arrested with Ibrahim. Ramzi's brother, Wahbi, 23, is being questioned about a fifth device found near Wormwood Scrubs.
British newspapers reported yesterday that the girlfriends of Ibrahim and Ramzi Mohammed were arrested heading for London's Stansted airport.
The pair were arrested on Friday at central London's Liverpool Street rail terminus after fleeing a bag check.
London's Metropolitan Police released the two without charge on Friday after questioning.
British police were holding 11 suspects in custody yesterday over the two waves of attacks.
Twenty-eight people have been arrested during the investigations into the attacks and 11 remain in police custody.
2:19 pm PDT - July 31, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's national security adviser said he expects the war crimes trial for Saddam Hussein to start in October.
The official, Mouwaffak al-Rubaie, said the proceeding will be telecast throughout the Arab world.
Speaking on CNN's "Late Edition," al-Rubaie said the Iraqi people will be able to see that Saddam has "gone into the past and gone with the wind."
The trial won't be political, and the former leader will be barred from offering rhetoric and speeches, al-Rubaie said.
He's hopeful the trial will be well under way before Oct. 15, which is the day Iraqis are scheduled to vote on their new constitution.
(AP)
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Declan Walsh joins the hunt for al-Qaida in the badlands of Waziristan. (Monday August 1, 2005)
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Iraq`s president is insisting the country will have a constitution ready for approval by mid August. As progress continues on that, there were more car bomb attacks in Baghdad. At least five soldiers killed and an assassination attempt on Iraq`s deputy prime minister.
There were more roadside bombings in southern Baghdad this weekend, two separate attacks left five U.S. soldiers dead. Another car bomb exploded south of the city, killing five civilians and wounding ten others.
Training has begun for Iraqi special forces who will help protect the public during the October referendum on Iraq`s new constitution. Iraq`s president says a draft will be ready for parliamentary approval by the August 15th deadline. A committee writing the document has asked for a 30 day extension, but Iraqi and U.S. officials want the deadline met, hoping a new constitution will help calm the insurgency.
As the political process moves forward, insurgents show no sign of backing down. On Sunday, gunmen ambushed the convoy of Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, killing one of his guards and wounding three others.
Chalabi, a former U.S. ally who pushed for the invasion of Iraq, was reportedly not in the convoy. The White House does not want any setbacks for Iraq`s transition to Democracy. If the constitution deadlines in August and October are met, elections for a new government will be held December 15th.
July 31, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Along Market Street in the Abu Dschir area of south Baghdad, shop owners are open for business.
Appearing at times more like a promenade with long pedestrian walkways, the old dilapidated stucco shops are set far back from the street. Color-tiled planters line the meridian and separate oncoming traffic. Snarled power lines, propped in some places by leaning poles, bring electricity to these same shops.
In the heat of mid-day, Iraqis gather from the surrounding neighborhoods. They are not surprised to find new appliances for sale, along with household wares and tools.
Next door is a display of pre-paid cell phones, while outside against the curb a fruit stand offers dates, watermelon, apples and grapes from the agricultural sector of Arab Jobour.
Across the street and below a wide billboard, where a woman is shown modeling a bridal gown, a man in a traditional white robe sits on a stool sipping a smoothie, blended from this same locally grown fruit. This is one of the more economically-challenged neighborhoods, or "muhallas," that make up Al Rasheed.
This past July 14 was the anniversary of the Baathist rise to power. After a decade of sanctions, the economic affects on the country are still evident and are well documented. But often overlooked, with the media focus on large-scale reconstruction projects, is a smaller revolution of commerce that is taking place in the neighborhoods around Baghdad.
With the toppling of the regime also went the command economy. Most Iraqis had adjusted to the dramatic decline in goods and services offered during this era. But a dual economy, which has all but disappeared in the last two years since the Central Bank began printing the new dinar, has dramatically shrunk the black-market which existed for years.
According to one U.S. contractor working as an interpreter and who also holds a Masters Degree in Political Economy, "This was a situation that resulted in an abnormal economy, there was no organized balance of revenue and inflation made it nearly impossible to purchase even the most basic goods."
Today, when you walk into one of these shops along Market Street in Abu Dschir, there are Chinese vacuum cleaners for sale, Korean television sets and Kuwaiti bottled soda. Border countries such as Syria, Jordan, Turkey and Kuwait provide most of the products to Iraq. Long-time associations with China and Korea can still be seen in the display of products.
During Saddam Hussein’s reign, most of the manufacturing base was used for the production of military products resulting in a current balance of trade, which to this day still remains heavily tilted toward imports.
"Competition is a sophisticated mindset after 20 years of a stifled bureaucratic process and will take time before it can take root," said the same US contractor.
Cheap products were the first to make it to these new markets but experts believe greater diversity of products is on its way and will be seen in the coming years as security is improved.
Security, however, is still the biggest factor in building up the local markets. It has become an issue that is vocalized at District Council meetings and discussed by commanders in the field.
Along Market Street, unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive devices have been found and there is active debate as to whether the "squatter" stands near the curbs are too close to the moving traffic and should be encouraged to relocate.
More than a year ago, the U.S. Army, with the help of local contractors, helped construct nearly 168 market stalls which could be used for commercial and retail purposes. But in a country where the tradition of the bazaar has been around for more than 1,000 years, it is slow to convince merchants to back away from the street where they are familiar and comfortable doing business, even if it is for their own safety as well as that of multinational forces.
Adding to the security issue is the break down in essential services, especially garbage collection. A Company, 425th Civil Affairs Battalion, a unit out of Santa Barbara, Calif., is currently working this issue with 1st Battalion, 184th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division.
At a recent Neighborhood Council meeting, 1st Lt. Cameron Murphy, assistant civil affairs officer of 1st Bn., 184th Inf. Bn., named trash collection as the number-one problem facing this muhalla and said he is convinced that his brigade will approve a project to employ roughly 75 people.
If approved, the trash clearing will focus on the area of Abu Dschir, especially Market Street and Power Line Road, which officials said appear to be the worse sectors for dumping and debris.
With unemployment still hovering around 60 percent, finding young men productive ways to occupy their time is one of the more important tasks facing civil affairs team leaders.
These days, U.S. Army officials said their function is to encourage Iraqis to find solutions to the most pressing problems in their own communities and provide assistance in working these issues to assure outcomes that are mutually beneficial. This is all part of the transfer of power.
Maj. Carlos R. Molina, who recently assumed duties as a CA team leader responsible for this neighborhood, said he is encouraging the International Chamber Of Commerce to set up an office in Abu Dschir.
At the same Neighborhood Council meeting, he explained to members how the ICOC could be an important tool to "provide training and influence with the leaders of other governments, bringing greater foreign investment into Iraq and at the same time helping to open markets in these same countries."
But more importantly, an association like the chamber of commerce in the area could open up dialogue, encourage fair business practices, and add a knowledge base to these small shop owners as well as public relations and commercial advertisement.
Revitalizing the local economy is nonetheless underway. Civil Affairs units said prices are remaining stable and the dinar is presently trading at more than twice its pre-Operation Iraqi Freedom value.
Secondly, consumers are optimistic. The opportunity to purchase, at reasonable prices, air conditioners, washers, driers, a family computer, and the goods necessary to return to normalcy remains a steady focus for the Army as Iraq rejoins the community of nations on the path to economic recovery.
By Spc. Christopher Mallard - 4th Brigade Combat Team PAO
Saturday, July 30, 2005 - The Bush administration has approved an initial shipment to Pakistan of two older but refurbished F-16s, a down payment on what is expected to be a larger sale of newer U.S. fighters over Indian objections, congressional sources briefed on the plan said on Friday.
Key lawmakers were notified on Friday of the decision, and administration officials made clear a larger sale of newer fighter planes to Pakistan was still in the works.
The White House initially announced plans in March to sell F-16s to Pakistan but offered few details about the number of fighters and specifications.
The sale had been blocked for 15 years to punish Pakistan for its nuclear weapons program.
Administration officials said the policy change on the planes reflected Islamabad's role helping the United States in the region after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Bush last year named Pakistan a major non-NATO ally, making it easier for the country to acquire U.S. arms.
Pakistan's planned purchases would boost its fleet of about 32 F-16s acquired before the U.S. Congress cut off sales in 1990 over Islamabad's nuclear program.
India warned the United States in March that F-16 sales to Pakistan could have "negative consequences for India's security environment."
In an attempt to address India's concerns, the Bush administration is letting Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. compete for a potential $9 billion market in India for as many as 126 combat aircraft, as India replaces its fleet of Russian-built MiG-21s.
Lockheed is pitching India its F-16 Block 50/52 and Boeing is offering its dual-engine F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
31 Jul 2005 22:38:00 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Phil Stewart and Michael Holden
ROME/LONDON, July 31 (Reuters) - A prime suspect in the second wave of London bombings has told Italian detectives he took part in the attacks on the city's transport system as British police quizzed three other suspected bombers on Sunday.
A judicial source with direct contact to the man confirmed Italian media reports that Osman Hussain, arrested in Rome on Friday, has said he participated in the July 21 failed attacks.
"Yes, yes. I can confirm that," the source told Reuters. He gave no further details.
Hussain's court-appointed lawyer Antonietta Sonnessa told Britain's ITV news that Hussain had no links to the July 7 bombers and had no idea where his explosives came from.
"He is not a violent person. He did everything possible to ensure his actions did not provoke any injuries, damage or death."
Sonnessa added Hussain was not a suicide bomber.
"He was not a kamikaze, he did not want to blow anything up at all. He cannot give any help to police for the simple fact that he is not associated with any terrorist organization."
British police on Sunday arrested a man under anti-terrorism laws at a railway station in northern England, but said their action was not linked to the July bombings in London.
He was later released without charge.
The man was held at Stockport railway station, 210 miles (340 km) northwest of London, after reports he was acting suspiciously.
Earlier in the day, police arrested six men and one woman in southern England under anti-terrorism laws in connection with the attempted bombings on July 21, but a police source said the arrests were not a significant development in the inquiry.
Sonnessa has also suggested Hussain, an Ethiopian-born British citizen, may try to resist extradition to Britain.
UNDERGROUND TRAINS
London police believe they have captured all four men they were seeking over the July 21 botched bombings on three underground trains and a bus, which came two weeks after four bombers killed themselves and 52 people in similar attacks.
After an international manhunt for suspected Islamist militants which culminated in a swoop on a housing estate in west London on Friday, three of the men are in custody in London and the fourth in Rome.
Officers, who warn of new strikes, are still looking for anyone who may have helped the bombers.
"We are still searching for the people who put the jobs together," said a police spokeswoman.
As Britons worry about fresh attacks, media said the police and security forces were trying to track down any further cells and a possible command structure behind the bombers.
Security experts described al Qaeda's pyramid structure.
"If you see the two groups of bombers as two separate teams of foot soldiers on the very bottom, then there is a possibility they are linked by the command structure in the level above," a security source told The Observer.
A Zambian intelligence source said in Lusaka on Saturday the authorities had signed a deportation order for suspected British militant Haroon Rashid Aswad, who would be handed over to Britain once formalities were completed.
British police would like to question him but say he is not a priority in the London bombings investigation.
AlertNet news
Five US soldiers killed in Baghdad
UPDATED: 08:38, August 01, 2005
Five US soldiers were killed in separate bomb attacks in Baghdad, the US military said on Sunday.
One US soldier was killed and two others wounded on Saturday at around 1:40 p.m. (0940 GMT), when a roadside bomb hit their patrol in Baghdad's southern district of Doura, the military said in a statement.
In a separate attack, four US soldiers, assigned to Task Force Baghdad, were killed in southwestern Baghdad in a roadside bomb blast on Saturday night at about 11:00 p.m. (1900 GMT), the statement said.
The names of the killed were being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
About 1,790 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the US- led invasion in March 2003, according to media tally.
Source: Xinhua
Osama still commanding attacks, says Saudi diplomat
Monday, August 01, 2005
LONDON: Osama Bin Laden is still giving direct orders for Al Qaeda attacks, Saudi Arabia’s next ambassador to the United States said on Sunday.
Outgoing Saudi ambassador to Britain Prince Turki al-Faisal said some of the most recent attacks attributed to Al Qaeda in the oil-rich kingdom had been directly ordered by the mastermind of the Sept 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. “Some of the events (attacks) that occurred in the kingdom over the past 2-1/2 years were under the immediate directions of the leadership of Al Qaeda, particularly bin Laden,” Turki said in comments broadcast by Reuters Television on Sunday.
Saudi Arabia has been battling a two-year wave of violence by supporters of Saudi-born bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network, who are trying to drive Westerners out of the world’s biggest oil exporter and destabilise the pro-Western ruling family. Many top militants have been killed or captured and the pace of attacks has slowed, but Western diplomats say the threat remains.
There has been an ongoing debate over how much direct control bin Laden exercises over Al Qaeda since a US-led international effort to capture him and his top lieutenants began in 2001 after the attacks on the United States.
Turki said some Al Qaeda groups operated autonomously because they were in places where it was difficult to communicate with Al Qaeda’s central command.
“In such cases, it is left to those in charge of those networks to decide when, how and where to take their measures,” Turki said.
Turki’s former role as Saudi foreign intelligence chief brought him into contact with bin Laden when both the United States and Saudi Arabia were supporting Arab mujahideen (freedom fighters) fighting Soviet occupation forces in Afghanistan.
The prince later tried but failed to persuade Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to hand bin Laden back to Saudi Arabia, a failure diplomats believe led him to leave his job just 10 days before the Sept 11 attacks.
Turki is due to take over as Saudi ambassador to the United States from Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who enjoyed unrivalled access to the very top of US political power. Bandar, who resigned in mid-July, is a friend of the Bush family and used his close White House contacts to weather the storm after the 2001 strikes on New York and Washington by mainly Saudi hijackers.
Saudi officials say Turki is no stranger to Washington, is equally influential back in Riyadh, and will follow the same agenda as Bandar — with only minor differences.
Turki said bin Laden and his followers have violated the teachings of Islam, but that anger in the Muslim community over the war in Iraq and the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict made it easy for him to attract people to Al Qaeda. The Saudi prince said bin Laden deliberately chose 15 Saudis to take part in the Sept 11 attacks in the United States in order to damage US-Saudi ties. (reuters)
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_1-8-2005_pg7_43
ROME, July 31, 2005
(CBS/AP) Police arrested seven people in southern England on Sunday in connection with the failed July 21 London transit bombings and reportedly were investigating the attackers' ties to Saudi Arabia and Italy.
Police raided two properties in Brighton, on the south coast, taking seven people into custody, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said, providing no other details about the arrests.
In northern Italy, police took a brother of one main suspect into custody for questioning Sunday, the Italian news agency ANSA said, but he was not accused of terrorism, ANSA said.
The arrests follow dramatic raids earlier this week in London and Rome that netted the four men police believe tried to set off bombs in three subway trains and a bus July 21, two weeks after the deadly July 7 attacks.
Police were searching for those who may have recruited and directed the bombers and built the explosives while also probing for links between the two terror cells, one made up mostly of Britons of Pakistani descent and the other mainly of east African-born Britons.
In Rome, investigators were interrogating Osman Hussain, 27, an Ethiopian-born British citizen suspected of trying to bomb the Shepherd's Bush subway station in west London.
Hussain was arrested Friday at a Rome apartment reportedly belonging to a brother after police traced calls he made on a relative's cell phone. Britain has requested his extradition for questioning, and an initial hearing was held Saturday.
His attorney, Antonietta Sonnessa, said no formal charges had been filed against Hussain, adding that he was likely to fight extradition.
A brother, identified as Fati Issac, was detained Sunday in the northern Italian town of Brescia on suspicion of destroying documents sought by investigators, ANSA said.
CBS News Correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports that police would have had a more difficult time catching Hussain had he exhibited the traits of a "hardened terrorist."
"The panic was evidenced by the behavior," said intelligence expert Bob Ayers, referring to Hussain's use of his cell phone to call his brother.
Palmer reports that investigators still face a troubling question: How did Hussain — whose picture was everywhere — manage to just get on a train and slip out of a country on full alert?
Police also discovered that Hussain called Saudi Arabia hours before his arrest, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported, and the Sunday Times said another bombing suspect went on a monthlong visit to Saudi Arabia in 2003, telling friends he was to undergo training there.
Hussain reportedly told investigators the bombers were motivated by anger over the Iraq war.
A legal expert familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press in Rome that Hussain admitted to a role in the attack but said it was only intended to be an attention-grabbing strike.
Hussain told interrogators he was not carrying enough explosives to "harm people nearby," the expert said, speaking on condition of anonymity because Italian law requires that the ongoing investigation remain secret.
Hussain also said the bombers had been led by a man called "Muktar," the Rome daily La Repubblica reported.
"Muktar showed us videos with images of the war in Iraq," Hussain said, according to Italian reports.
Suspect Muktar Said Ibrahim, 27, was arrested Friday in London. The Ethiopian-born Briton, also known as Muktar Mohammed Said, is accused of planting explosives on a bus in east London. The Sunday Times said he went to Saudi Arabia in 2003.
A second man arrested in London on Friday, who identified himself as Ramzi Mohammed, is suspected of trying to blow up a train at the Oval Station.
Another suspect, Yasin Hassan Omar, 24, a Somali with British residency, was arrested in Birmingham on Wednesday. He is suspected of trying to bomb a subway train near Warren Street station on July 21.
Spain's intelligence chief dismissed the possibility that the London bombings were connected to the train bombings in Madrid that killed 191 people last year.
Alberto Saiz, director of the National Intelligence Center, told the daily El Pais in an interview published Sunday that similarities between the attacks were limited to "their outward appearance" and the targeting of transport networks.
"At that point, the differences start," Saiz was quoted as saying. The July 7 group of London bombers was "small--just four people, less visible than the Madrid one."
"Two weeks later, they try a second episode of the same attack
obviously, the perpetrators are not the same," Saiz said.
"In contrast to Madrid, this gives us the feeling that they are coordinated with other groups or have direction from above, and that there is a plan," he added. "This is not an isolated group that decides to act on its own account."
Mon, Aug 01, 2005, Philippines
SYDNEY -- A man accused of involvement in last year's bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta told police that Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden funded the attack with Australian cash, reports said Monday.
A package containing some 10,000 dollars (7,500 US) was delivered by courier to Malaysian master bombmaker Azahari Husin ahead of the bombing, which killed 10 people, The Australian newspaper said.
The paper said it had gained access to the transcript of an Indonesian police interrogation of a man named Rois, also known as Iwan Dharmawan, who is facing terrorism charges in connection with the attack.
"According to Dr. Azahari's explanation to me at the time, the funds came from Osama bin Laden, and they were sent by a courier," Rois, a 30-year-old trader from West Java, was quoted as saying.
Azahari and another Malaysian, Noordin Mohammed Top, are among the most wanted men in Asia, accused of leading roles in several terror attacks, including the Bali bombing in 2002 which killed 202 people.
Rois said Australia was attacked because it was an ally of the United States and had sent troops to support the US-led invasion of Iraq.
"The intention to bomb the Australian embassy was because the Australian government is the American lackey most active in supporting American policies to slaughter Muslims in Iraq," he was quoted as saying.
Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said he was not surprised at the news that Bin Laden had funded the attack, saying there were strong links between Al-Qaeda and the Jemaah Islamiyah group accused of carrying out the bombing.
But he told national ABC radio, which also obtained the transcript of the interrogation, that he rejected the suggestion that Australia's involvement in Iraq had made it a target.
"We know that they were targeting us well before, and to assume if we had not been involved in Iraq, if we hadn't been involved in Afghanistan, that these wouldn't be happening, I think would be a very unsafe assumption," he told ABC radio.
"The claims that these tragic events are related to our efforts to contain terrorism around the world need of course to be significantly discounted."
By Alisha Ryu - Baghdad
01 August 2005
Discounting reports of a timetable being set for a U.S. troop pullout from Iraq, an American military commander in Baghdad says the pace of U.S. troop withdrawal will be determined entirely by how quickly Iraqis can take over the job of handling security matters on their own.
Last Wednesday, the top American military commander in Iraq, General George Casey, told reporters that he believed that a substantial number of U.S. troops could be sent home by the early part of next year, if Iraqis can make progress on the political front and if the insurgency does not expand.
Despite the caveats, General Casey's comments, coupled with a call from Iraq's interim Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari for a speedy withdrawal of U.S. troops, has fueled speculation here that Baghdad and Washington were discussing specific ways for Americans to exit Iraq as quickly as possible.
In an interview with VOA, U.S. Army Brigadier General Karl Horst, who oversees the training and operations of tens of thousands of Iraqi security forces in the greater Baghdad area, says that as far as the U.S military is concerned, American forces will begin withdrawing only when Iraqis prove themselves capable of protecting their own streets, cities, and borders.
"Look, we would all like to see us leave. But a reduction of U.S. forces is event-driven, not time-driven, which means you meet the goals and objectives," General Horst says. "The fact of the matter is that we've made a commitment and so we have an obligation to see our commitment through. Whether you agree with it or not, the fact is a decision was made and we have an obligation to see this through, for the Iraqi people, for the American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who have sacrificed their lives to help make this a better place."
Despite a raging insurgency and acts of terrorism which have killed more than one thousand Iraqi police and army personnel in the past year, the U.S. military has had little problem finding Iraqi volunteers. Most of them are unemployed young men attracted to the idea of receiving a steady salary.
A year ago, there was only one American-trained Iraqi battalion. Now, there are more than 100 battalions of Iraqi army and paramilitary police units, totaling nearly 170,000 men.
But U.S. commanders, including General Horst, acknowledge that most of those battalions are not yet combat-ready and are suffering from myriad problems, including insufficient training and a weak command structure that often lead to breakdowns in discipline.
"A lot of them are having a hard time getting beyond tribal, religious considerations as a matter of selecting who their leaders are going to be. So, we've asked them to look at things from an objective standpoint rather than a subjective process based on what family I'm from, what tribe I'm from, what region I'm from, what religion I'm from," General Horst says. "And frankly, it's a challenge because it represents a cultural shift for them. I mean, we're changing not only their military but in a lot of respects, we're changing some of their cultural ideas and as you know, changing culture is a very difficult and sometimes a long process. It can't be done overnight. It takes time."
Supporters of setting a timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal say the move is necessary to, among other things, counter growing Iraqi suspicion that the United States has long-term economic and strategic designs on their country. It is a claim that has long been made by insurgents.
The Bush administration argues that setting a timetable without credible Iraqi forces to replace departing U.S. troops would only embolden the insurgents to create more chaos.
An Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt pilot reaches a milestone supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
By U.S. Air Force Capt. Mark Gibson - 455th Air Expeditionary Wing
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, July 29, 2005 — The commander respectfully called "Duck" scored 3,000 flying hours in an A-10 Thunderbolt over the Afghan skies July 3.
U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Jeffrey Cowan, 74th Fighter Squadron commander, entered A-10 "Warthog" history upon returning to base after flying a mission in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Since his first flight, Cowan, from Pope Air Force Base, N.C., has clocked more than 3,000 hours in a Thunderbolt cockpit.
"It is extremely rare for a pilot to get 3,000 hours in a single-seat fighter aircraft. I am honored to have ‘Duck’ as a boss and mentor," said Air Force Capt. Cameron Curry, an A-10 pilot with the squadron.
"Lieutenant Colonel Cowan entered into a select group of combat aviators/attack pilots passing a milestone that demonstrates his professionalism, determination and resilience," said Air Force Col. John Dobbins, 455th Expeditionary Operations Group commander.
During Cowan's deployment here, he has taken to the Afghan sky an average of nine hours each week, providing close-air support for coalition ground troops.
Updated 01/08/2005, 12:18:51 Select text size:
Afghan security forces have seized thousands of missiles, mortar rounds and artillery shells in their biggest weapons haul in months.
The defence ministry says the suspected Taliban ammunition cache was found on Saturday in the Khogyani district of central Ghazni province.
The weapons dump included 2,000 surface-to-surface missiles, 3,000 mortar rounds, 500 artillery shells and 150 boxes of anti-aircraft ammunition.
The ministry believes the weapons were being stored for use during the elections.
On September 18 voters are set to elect a national parliament and provincial councils.
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Afghan men eat icecream at an icecream parlor under posters of Indian movie stars, Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday July 30, 2005. (AP Photo/Tomas Munita)
By Ben Murray - Stars and Stripes European edition
Sunday July 31, 2005
GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — In an empty mess hall at the Grafenwöhr training area on Wednesday, software trainer Gerardo Ritchey sat in front of a laptop, a small microphone in his hand.
Speaking a greeting into the microphone, Ritchey watched as a computer-generated U.S. soldier bowed slightly and touched his chest, saying the same words to a pair of Iraqi men sitting at a cafe.
The three had a short conversation, Ritchey speaking through the soldier on the screen, and then he moved on, jogging through Baghdad streets in a video-game environment unmistakably reminiscent of free-for-all shooting extravaganzas such as “Grand Theft Auto.”
But the point of this game, called the Tactical Language Training System, isn’t to show violence and mayhem, it’s for the soldier at the keyboard to interact with various civilians, teaching the trooper some survival basics of the Iraqi language.
“We removed the shooting and hooked up speaking,” Ritchey said.
The TLT System was one of several emerging military technologies on display at Grafenwöhr last week, where developers took advantage of the concentration of high-ranking officials present for the Urgent Victory/Unified Endeavor exercises to show off their newest products.
Created by a team at the University of Southern California and picked up by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the TLT program is already being used to train Marines for Iraq deployments, Ritchey said.
Among the other new gadgets at Grafenwöhr being proposed for possible military use is a compact video surveillance system for Humvees and other vehicles that allows troops to see and digitally record images both in front of and behind them.
Developed by V Corps civil military operations officer Maj. David Kosinski, the system uses front- and rear-mounted digital video cameras to monitor — and zoom in on, if needed — wide areas around the vehicle. Images from the cameras are displayed in real-time on a thin, tablet monitor mounted by the dashboard that allows troops in the vehicle to see what’s behind them and what may be coming up far ahead of them.
All images are stamped with the date, time, altitude and global positioning system-provided location coordinates to help enhance the information they can provide analysts, Kosinski said.
Costing about $12,000 per system, the cameras are backed by a small but powerful computer that’s easily transported and can hold 55 hours of video, Kosinski said.
“This has got as much memory and capability as my laptop,” he said.
As an added feature, troops can also get a wireless, hand-held remote camera that a soldier can take out of the vehicle and use to instantly send images back to the Humvee.
That is, if Humvees are still in use in years to come. Also on display at Grafenwöhr this week is a prototype utility truck to be tested downrange for the first time on V Corps’ upcoming deployment.
Essentially a militarized version of a Chevrolet Silverado 2500 crew-cab truck, the unnamed prototype is designed to haul heavier loads than the Humvee with better gas mileage and more comfort, said V Corps science adviser Robert Nestor.
“It’ll pull more than a Humvee can pull,” said Sgt. 1st Class Charles Hickman, who’s testing the truck for the Army. “It’s set up pretty heavy-duty.”
Though currently unarmored, if the truck proves useful, heavier versions could be tested, Nestor said.
Developed in partnership with an organization called the National Automotive Center, this prototype medium-duty truck will be field-tested in Iraq this winter to see if the Army wants to pursue it as a future logistics workhorse. (Ben Murray / S&S)
Warning light forces Atsugi helo landing
No injuries or damage reported; incident under investigation
By Hana Kusumoto, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Monday, August 1, 2005
A cockpit warning light prompted a Navy pilot to land a helicopter in an open area by a Kanagawa Prefecture beach parking lot late Saturday morning.
A helicopter, assigned to Naval Air Facility Atsugi’s Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 51, landed safely near the town of Enoshima around 11:50 a.m. Saturday, according to a 7th Fleet news release. The helicopter was conducting a routine flight when the warning light went off, said Naval Air Facility Atsugi spokesman Brian Naranjo.
The helicopter landed smoothly without incident, Naranjo said. The pilot and three crew members were uninjured and there were no reports of damage or injuries on the ground, he added.
Preliminary information from the 7th Fleet identified the helicopter as a Sikorsky SH-60B Seahawk. Later Saturday afternoon, Naranjo said he believed it was a UH-3H Sea King.
A maintenance crew was dispatched from Atsugi to check the helicopter. Naranjo said it would be flown back to the base if all systems check out.
“Safety is paramount,” he said.
“The cause of the activated warning light is under investigation,” the 7th Fleet news release stated.
“The U.S. Navy, HSL-51 and the crew onboard sincerely appreciate the cooperation and support of the local authorities in this matter.”
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=30689
By Erik Slavin - Stars and Stripes Pacific edition
Monday, August 1, 2005
KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — On an island where F-15s routinely dart through the sky, the 31st and 33rd Rescue Squadrons’ Pave Hawk helicopters may not be this air base’s flashiest rides.
But should a mission ever go terribly wrong, those helos and their highly trained crews may be a downed pilot’s best friends.
In peaceful situations, the 33rd’s “Jolly Greens” perform missions from humanitarian aid to medical evacuations. In combat, they must fly well within range of surface-to-air missiles, even small- arms fire, to try to rescue fellow servicemembers.
In either role, their goal is clear: Save lives on the ground.
“I know everybody says they have the best mission,” said Lt. Col. Vic Dallin, 33rd Rescue Squadron operations officer. “But to … save fellow servicemembers from harm’s way — it’s easy for everybody to stay motivated.”
At Kadena are 65 airmen and nine Pave Hawks; another 21 airmen and one Pave Hawk are at Osan Air Base, South Korea.
During a recent training day, the squadron practiced providing insertions/extractions and cover fire with the 31st Rescue Squadron’s “PJs,” the pararescuemen trained to recover people on the ground and in the water, whatever the weather.
Target practice
“Things can happen fast during the flight,” says Airman 1st Class Jeffrey Layton, explaining before takeoff that his mid-air instructions might seem brusque from someone of his rank. But passengers should know few such junior airmen have trained at their jobs for almost two years.
Layton and Staff Sgt. Brian Stamey man their machine guns on opposite sides of the aircraft as it heads for Nakajima, a small island off Okinawa’s west coast.
It’s a short trip for Capt. Chris Lacouture’s highly maneuverable Pave Hawk, an Army Black Hawk modified to carry extra communications equipment.
The Pave Hawk normally flies at about 125 mph but can dash up to more than 160 mph. Its defenses include an automated flare and chaff system and a choice of gunnery: Two weapons fire high-speed 7.62 mm rounds while newly ordered .50 caliber guns provide a bigger bang.
Layton and Stamey will be firing the fast rounds this day. After circling Nakajima to check for nearby boaters, the helicopter banks sharply on its side.
Layton opens fire. The weapon’s whirling cylinders spit dozens of casings on the chopper’s floor as the bullets leave a plume of white smoke rising from a small metal object lying in the island’s tall grass.
The chopper whips around for another pass for Stamey’s turn. When the firing ends, a stick-figure man painted on the metal looks as if he’s seen better days.
Hitting the ground
The Pave Hawk then flies to the Jungle Warfare Training Center in northern Okinawa, where another crew practices dropping off and extracting 31st Squadron’s pararescuemen.
Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Hedglin and Tech Sgt. Derek Docter take just a few eye blinks to slide about 60 feet down a “fast rope,” wearing friction-resistant gloves.
They use several methods to insert and extract, including rappelling, rope ladders, litters and conical-shaped “forest penetrators.”
“The fast rope is good for getting out quick if you’re exposed,” Hedglin said. “But, for example, if you’re in mountainous terrain, you might want to rappel to control your descent.”
Simply landing is preferred. But the nature of rescues means enemies usually are in the area and ready to fire at your aircraft.
What it takes
Hedglin, with 23 other enlisted PJ’s and six officers at Kadena, is a member of one of the military’s most selective forces.
Training attrition rates of 80 percent or higher are common in this grueling specialty, which takes almost two years’ schooling.
It begins with 10 weeks of indoctrination at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.
The physical training is intense, said Maj. Chuck Metrolis, 31st commanding officer. “But it’s more of a mental challenge. The instructors will find a weakness you have and exploit it.”
Few can handle the stress. Operations officer Maj. Andrew Reisenweber says that of his 81-man class, just 19 graduated.
Graduates move to combat diving school, then Army Airborne School for static line parachute jumping experience. They also must learn free-fall parachuting from 2,000 to 35,000 feet into water, at night.
They become proficient with several weapons and learn how to operate in environments from oxygen-poor mountaintops to deserts and jungles.
Pararescuemen then usually train as emergency medical technicians. Enlisted trainees spend an additional six months to become registered paramedics.
The rescuers carry extensive medical gear with them on missions, including chest tubes and minor field surgery equipment.
Pararescuemen are among the Air Force’s most oft-deployed members. Reisenweber says he has personnel who are deployed 270 to 300 days a year.
In addition to taking part in humanitarian missions in Southeast Asia and seeing action in Iraq, the PJs recently returned from the Horn of Africa as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Despite the rigorous schedule — or possibly because of it — several PJs and 33rd Rescue squadron members said they couldn’t imagine gaining a greater sense of fulfillment from their job.
“It’s the immediate gratification,” Hedglin said. “When you’re actually looking a guy in the eyes, it feels good to save a life and know you’ve made a difference.”
Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Hedglin and Tech Sgt. Derek Docter descend a rope ladder. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
Staff Sgt. Brian Stamey of the 33rd Rescue Squadron “Jolly Greens” fires his machine gun at a target during a training run Tuesday at Nakijima, an island west of Okinawa. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
Members of the 33rd and 31st Rescue Squadrons hover about 60 feet in the air during a pararescue “fast rope” insertion exercise. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
An HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter belonging to the 33rd Rescue Squadron connects with a Marine Corps KC-135 refueler over waters near Okinawa during a training exercise Tuesday. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
Great article Gucho - Thanks!
Bump
08/01/05
By Andy Johns - Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer
Guardsman’s supply duty ‘scary’
Every soldier in the 108th Armor Battalion’s B Company who pulls a trigger, cranks a vehicle or eats a spoonful of dinner should thank Roman Marcus Carr.
Carr issues millions of dollars worth of supplies “such as beans, bullets and fuel” as the unit supply clerk and unit armorer stationed at Forward Operations Base Row, approximately 20 miles south of Baghdad.
“Whatever the military uses has to go through me,” he said.
Carr also makes daily runs from Row to the smaller base on the front lines to pick up supply items. “It’s a very scary mission, but it has to be done,” he said.
Carr said right outside of his base is one of the hot spots for roadside bombing and small-arms attacks.
The troops usually travel in small convoys with armored vehicles, escorted by one or more tanks. Carr is usually in a 5-ton armored truck.
The convoys are seen as intimidating. “The insurgents will not get close to the convoys because they are afraid of us,” he said. “That is why they plant bombs everywhere, because they know we will destroy them in a one-on-one or head-to-head combat.”
Marcus Carr drives down a dusty road in Iraq. The National Guard soldier makes daily runs from Forward Operations Base Row to the front lines to pick up supply items. (Contributed photo)
“There are traps everywhere we go over here,” he said. “These people are trying to kill us. They don’t care about your color, age or who you are. If you wear this uniform, you are a target.”
Carr’s enemies don’t wear such clearly marked uniforms.
“The people, I really don’t trust because you never know who the enemy is,” he said. “It seems to me as the children love us, but the adults are not too thrilled. Most of them don’t like to be seen talking to us because the insurgents will kill them.”
Inside the walls of the base, the troops are safer but still not safe. “No base is safe from mortar attacks, which happens quite often,” he said. “The base is fairly safe, as long as we keep patrolling the area.”
Much of Carr’s work takes place inside the base. In addition to issuing supplies, he assigns weapons to individual soldiers.
He also makes sure the weapons are functional and free of damage, worn parts and dirt, and he orders new parts when needed.
Carr has plenty of experience maintaining the supplies. He joined the Army Reserves in 1988 after a year of college at Chattahoochee Valley Community College in Phenix City, Ala.
“I decided the Army was OK; therefore I decided to drop out of college and go active duty,” he said.
He worked in the Army supply department for four years before his enlistment was up.
He then got out of the military and worked for Charbroil and Panasonic in Columbus, Ga.
“I stayed out (of the military) for six years and started feeling like there was something missing,” Carr said.
He then joined the National Guard and has been serving there ever since.
“I love working in the supply field because I love working with people,” he said.
But as much as he enjoys his work, he would rather be with his family.
“The things I miss the most are, first and foremost, the love of my life and best friends, my wonderful wife and children,” he said.
Carr and his wife, Janice Carr, have five children: Shamika Gibson, 23; Marcus D. Carr Jr. 13; Ashley Washington 13; Marquaz’e D. Carr 12; and Xavier Carr, 6.
“I miss shopping, eating what I want and going out when I want — the freedom to go and come as you please,” he said. “I miss the USA.”
He said he particularly misses Chili’s, his favorite restaurant. “The food here is no four-star restaurant,” he said.
Some of his desires are even simpler: “Seeing civilization. The people here live as if they are in the early 1900s.”
In addition to the lack of modernization, the lack of greenery in Iraq also bothers Carr.
“The land is nasty wasteland everywhere,” he said. “I would love to walk across a football field full of green grass about now.”
01 Aug 2005 - 04:42:29 GMT
Source: Reuters
SYDNEY, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Australian police are drawing up an evacuation plan for Sydney's central business district in the event of a terrorist attack as part of new security powers following the London bombings, local media reported on Monday.
New South Wales deputy police commissioner Andrew Scipione, who also has responsibility for counter-terrorism in the state, said a new security plan for Australia's largest city would be presented to the state government within weeks.
Scipione told local radio the decision to update security was made after Australian police travelled to London to work with Scotland Yard on the July 7 train and bus bombings, which killed 56 people.
"This whole terrorism area is about learning lessons and staying in front of the game," he said.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Monday that Sydney's new security plan would see the police become the head counter-terrorism authority with wider search-and-seizure powers, and included an evacuation plan for the city centre.
"The evacuation plan doesn't necessarily mean you need to move thousands of people out," Scipione said in the newspaper. "It may well be that they stay right where they are until we get the transport moving again."
Australia, a staunch U.S. ally with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, has never suffered a major peacetime attack at home.
However, 88 Australians were among 202 people killed in the October 2002 nightclub bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali. The Australian embassy in Jakarta was hit by a suicide bomb in 2004.
AlertNet news
Monday, August 01, 2005
LAHORE: A cleric who led a mass prayer ceremony for one of the London suicide bombers at his ancestral village in the Punjab has been arrested as part of President Pervez Musharraf’s anti-terrorism clampdown, The Washington Times reported on Sunday.
“Maulvi Abdul Rehman, 30, was held after he organised a ritual service in honour of Shehzad Tanweer, the 22-year-old Briton whose parents emigrated from Pakistan. Tanweer killed himself and six passengers in the July 7 mass transit bombing in London,” it reported.
“The ceremony, held at the Samoondran mosque in the Tanweer family’s home village of Kottan in southern Punjab, saw members of the crowd of 100 hailing Tanweer as a ‘hero of Islam’,” The Washington Times added. “Information gleaned from Maulvi Rehman led to the detention of Maulana Abdul Aziz Faridi, the leader of a local seminary called Jamia Masjid Ahle-Sunnah Wal-Jammat. daily times monitor
* President says Britain regarded as safe haven by Islamic extremists
* Britain should have banned Al-Muhajiroon and Hizbut Tahrir
* Renews calls to resolve global disputes
Daily Times Monitor
Monday, August 01, 2005
LAHORE: President Pervez Musharraf has said that Britain is regarded as a safe haven by Islamic extremists because it has failed to crack down on them despite urging other countries to do so, The Sunday Times reports.
In an interview with the paper, President Musharraf suggested that the UK had paid a price for putting the right of free speech before the need to curb militant Islamic organisations that openly advocate violence. He told the paper: “They should have been doing what they have been demanding of us to do – to ban extremist groups like they asked us to do here in Pakistan and which I have done.”
“In particular, he said, Britain should have banned Al-Muhajiroon and Hizbut Tahrir, groups that he accuses of preaching anger and hatred and of calling for his own assassination,” The Sunday Times added. It quoted him as saying that the UK could have banned these two groups. He told the paper: “Good action is when you foresee the future and pre-empt and act beforehand, instead of reacting as in the case of Britain, which waited for the damage to be done and is now reacting to it.”
“Musharraf, an ally of Tony Blair in the war on terror, took ‘strong exception’ to accusations levelled against Pakistan since it emerged that at least two of the July 7 bombers had visited the country for several weeks up to February this year,” The Sunday Times reported.
“One of them, Shehzad Tanweer, from the Leeds suburb of Beeston, is said by relatives in Pakistan to have spent time there with militants from the banned extremist Jaish Mohammad organisation. Blair has intensified pressure on Musharraf to clamp down on militant training camps and radical seminaries. Musharraf announced last week that all 1,400 foreign students at seminaries in Pakistan would be made to leave,” the paper said.
It quoted the Pakistani president as saying that while he had already implemented sweeping measures, much remained to be done in Britain. “‘Many people around the world find it convenient to leave their countries and go to Britain, which they regard as a safe haven as it wants to project itself as a champion of human rights,’ Musharraf said,” the paper added.
It quoted him as saying that Britain had to reconsider and take action against such groups. “Condemning the London bombers as ‘people who needed to be eliminated’, Musharraf bristled at suggestions that the outrage may have been masterminded from Pakistan because three of the bombers were British nationals of Pakistani parentage. ‘They came on their British passports – what do you expect us to do? Prevent British passport holders from entering? The British government should look at those it has given passports to and we should look at those entering our country’,” The Sunday Times added.
“Intelligence services were still trying to verify whether one of the bombers had attended a seminary in Pakistan. ‘If he has gone to a madrassa, we will take action against that madrassa’,” it reported.
“He revealed that Pakistani investigators were using telephone records provided by London to interview everyone who two of the bombers had called there from Britain. ‘We are going through each of those numbers,’ he said. ‘It is a little premature to draw conclusions,” The Sunday Times reported.
“Musharraf said Pakistani security forces have detained hundreds of suspected militants and Islamist clerics since the London bombings. ‘Our campaign is not meant to capture large numbers of people and then release them after a fortnight,’ he said. ‘We are not going to impress with numbers, but we are after the bigwigs, who abet extremism and violence’,” the paper said. “Efforts were under way to arrest Jaish Mohammed leader Masood Azhar, whom Tanweer is believed to have contacted,” The Sunday Times added.
Monday, August 01, 2005
BAMAKO: Mali’s Gao Governor Colonel Amadou Baba Toure on Sunday announced an immediate ban on the activities of a group of Pakistani Islamists living in the zone along the border with Algeria.
Hundreds of Pakistanis have arrived in Mali as part of a humanitarian aid and education effort, though once on the ground they turn their focus to preaching hard line positions that are not in line with the Muslim practice in the region, said Toure. He said, “We cannot accept that just anyone can come here and preach however they see fit.”
Though the group has not been formally identified as belonging to any particular sect, they preach an Islam that is “pure and hard,” according to a municipal official, and are indoctrinating their disciples into an Islam that does not oppose violence. (afp)
By Jean-Louis Santini - Houston(AFP)
Aug 01, 2005
The head of NASA said Sunday that the US space agency had "goofed" on key safety checks, as engineers examined whether space shuttle Discovery is safe to return to Earth.
A final judgment is not expected until Monday. NASA is still analyzing the reinforced carbon protection for the nose cone and wing leading edges, and studying whether protruding gap fillers on the bottom of the spacecraft pose a significant risk, officials said.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration shuttle flight director Paul Hill said Sunday that astronauts could be asked to fix the two pieces of filler dangling from Discovery's underbelly during a spacewalk.
"We have a team of folks working aggressively at options to go and make that gap filler safe if we decide it's an issue," Hill said from mission control at the Johnson Space Center here.
The fillers are used to keep hot gas from flowing into gaps in the thermal protection in tile-protected areas.
NASA engineers and mission managers, meanwhile, have given Discovery's tiles the all clear following worries that they may have been damaged by a piece of insulating foam which fell off the rocket during liftoff Tuesday.
Since the launch they have been reviewing images of Discovery's body to check for potential damage to avoid a repeat of the Columbia space shuttle tragedy in 2003. The Columbia disaster was blamed on similar debris that hit the shuttle during blastoff.
NASA officials were distraught to see the insulating foam fall off, since they had worked furiously to avoid such a problem.
NASA administrator Michael Griffin said pre-flight safety checks had fallen short.
"Our judgement at the time was that it was okay. As everyone has said without any attempt to hide it ... we goofed on that one," he told NBC television.
Griffin also conceded NASA had been "lucky" that the stray shard of foam that fell off Discovery's external tank during liftoff had not caused serious damage.
"If it had broken off earlier and if it had followed a different trajectory, it could have hit the orbiter... and could have done some damage," he said.
Columbia burned up during re-entry on February 1, 2003, after debris hit its left wing during liftoff, opening up a critical breach in the ceramic tiles that made up its protective heat shield. The seven crew members died.
NASA grounded its shuttle fleet and implemented major safety reforms after the tragedy.
The shuttle fleet was grounded again Wednesday after the foam debris fell off Discovery.
Discovery is currently docked at the International Space Station and the crew continued their mission Sunday, moving supplies and equipment onto the ISS.
Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi and American counterpart Steve Robinson meanwhile prepared for their second spacewalk planned for Monday. They will install a 600-pound gyroscope on the ISS.
The pair tested new repair techniques during their first venture into space Saturday.
Discovery will spend an extra day in orbit, NASA announced. The shuttle will now return on Monday, August 8, at 0847 GMT, instead of Sunday.
The extra day in orbit will allow the seven-astronaut crew to get a head start on tasks that could be affected by the suspension of further flights: removal of trash and old equipment from the space station.
Some 11 tonnes of waste have piled up over three years, cramping the space station.
Astronauts will pack it into the Rafaello transport module which rides in Discovery's cargo bay and which had carried 13.5 tonnes of food and equipment for the space station.
First launched in August 1984, the shuttle has completed 30 successful missions in space, more than any other orbiter in the NASA fleet.
Monday, August 1, 2005 - Updated at 2:00 AM EDT
Associated Press
Khartoum — Sudanese Vice-President John Garang, a former rebel leader who is a key figure in the country's fledgling peace deal, was found dead early Monday near the Uganda-Sudan border after the helicopter he was riding in crashed, a senior Ugandan official said.
Six of Mr. Garang's aides and eight Ugandans were also killed, the official said. The crash site was in southern Sudan, near the border with northeast Uganda, the official said on condition of anonymity because an official announcement hadn't yet been made.
Ugandan and Sudanese forces had been searching for Mr. Garang's helicopter since Sunday. Uganda's President said it had crashed in bad weather.
Mr. Garang's death would be a heavy blow to the January peace deal that ended a 21-year civil war between the mostly Muslim north and the Christian and animist south in which some two million people died.
The 60-year-old former rebel, who was sworn in as Vice-President just three weeks ago, left on a flight from Uganda for southern Sudan at 5:30 p.m. Ugandan time Saturday afternoon, Sudanese and Ugandan officials said. It was not clear when the last contact with his craft took place.
Mr. Garang's helicopter had attempted to land in the New Kush region of southern Sudan but aborted the landing because of bad weather and headed back south, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said early Monday. Weather reports showed rain in the area.
The craft was heard near Pirre, a mountainous region near the Kenyan and Sudanese borders on the edge of a large national park, and was believed to have crash-landed, Mr. Museveni said. He added that the Kenyans had been asked to help in the search.
Mr. Garang, who earned a doctorate from Iowa State University, was seen as the sole figure with the weight to give southern Sudanese a role in the Khartoum government, which they deeply mistrust. He also was a strong voice against outright secession by the south, calling instead for autonomy and power-sharing.
Sudanese have celebrated the power-sharing agreement -- and a new constitution signed afterward -- as opening a new chapter of peace and as a chance to resolve other bloody conflicts in Sudan, including the humanitarian crisis in the western region of Darfur. Mr. Garang was seen as a great hope for peace in Darfur.
Mr. Garang was sworn in as Vice-President on July 9 -- second only to his long-time enemy, President Omar el-Bashir. He and Mr. el-Bashir were to work on setting up a power-sharing government and on elevating Mr. Garang's rebel troops to an equal status with the Sudanese military.
There is no other leader of Mr. Garang's stature in the former rebel movement, the Sudan People's Liberation Army, which he founded and dominated for 21 years. His arrival in Khartoum on July 8 to take the Vice-President's post brought millions of southerners and northerners to the streets in celebration.
His flight's disappearance brought up the spectre of the 1994 downing of the airplane of Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, who had been trying to implement a power-sharing deal between his fellow Hutus and the rival Tutsis. His death opened the doors to the Rwandan genocide in which more than 500,000 people were killed.
That genocide took place after months of preparation by Hutu militants -- something that has not taken place in Sudan amid the good feelings over the peace deal.
Mr. Garang was returning home from a private visit to Uganda, flying from the capital Kampala to southern Sudan -- a trip that normally takes about two hours -- said Ugandan army spokesman 2nd Captain Dennis Musitwa.
A Ugandan rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army, operates in the area and has shot down Ugandan military helicopters in the past.
Mr. el-Bashir clearly saw Mr. Garang as an important partner in sealing the peace, ensuring the south does not secede, and in repairing Sudan's international reputation. With a speed stunning to many in Sudan, the Sudanese state media went from describing Mr. Garang in the darkest terms to respectively calling him “Dr. Garang” after the peace deal was struck.
Thursday, July 28, 2005 at 7:41pm
2005-08-01 - 14:27:36
BAGHDAD, Aug. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Gunmen assassinated a high-ranking police officer in southern Baghdad on Monday, police said.
"Unknown armed men opened fire at Brig. Salam Lutfy as he was driving his car heading to work in Doura neighborhood, killing him and wounding two of his bodyguards," an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Salam's body and his wounded guards were evacuated to Yarmouk Hospital, the source added.
Insurgents frequently attack and kidnap Iraqi army officers and soldiers in an attempt to cripple the Shiite-dominated government formed in late April.
King Fahd of Saudi Arabia dies
Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah (L) and Saudi Arabian King Fahd are seen in this October 30, 2002 combination file photo. Saudi Arabia's Kind Fahd died on August 1, 2005 and Crown Prince Abdullah was swiftly pronounced monarch of the world's largest oil exporter and key U.S. ally. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi/Files
King Fahd, Saudi Arabia's ruler since 1982, has died.
Updated: Monday, 1 August 2005, 07:21 GMT 08:21 UK
Saudi state television announced that Crown Prince Abdullah had been named as King Fahd's successor.
King Fahd had been frail since suffering a stroke a decade ago and had delegated the running of the kingdom's affairs to Crown Prince Abdullah.
Defence Minister Prince Sultan is next in line to the throne after Abdullah, and was named crown prince, state television announced.
"With all sorrow and sadness, the royal court in the name of his highness Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz and all members of the family announces the death of the servant of the two holy site, King Fahd bin Abdel Aziz," according to a statement read out on Saudi television.
Questions raised by the attacks and arrests
Monday, 1st August 2005
KAREN McVEIGH
Key points
• Police investigating connection between 7/7 and 7/21 bombings
• Experts believe 7/21 attempted bombings co-ordinated by a 'mastermind'
• Reports claim as many as 300 potential suicide bombers could be in UK
Key quote
"Those who spotted and recruited [the bombers] came from different places (Leeds and London), but the explosives are likely to have been prepared by a single individual and it could be that a single individual told them to do it. We shouldn't assume that one man was behind both groups, there will have been a team of people, each performing different functions. The money man, for instance, may not even have come into the UK" - Bob Ayers, Chatham House security expert
Story in full DEVELOPMENTS in the hunt for those responsible for planning a second series of bomb attacks in London on 21 July have been rapid.
However, there have been conflicting reports of how the group may or may not have been linked to the 7 July bombers and whether or not they planned the attacks alone - or with the support of a so-called "mastermind".
Here, we answer some of the most frequently-asked questions about the bombings and the police investigation.
Q Was there a link between the bombings of 7 July and those of 21 July?
A Police are still investigating links, but believe that the "striking similarities" between the two attacks - on three underground lines and a bus, on the same day two weeks apart - suggest that there was.
What is unclear is the level of co-ordination between the two. One theory is that neither cell knew of the other but both were run by the same "mastermind".
Official sources say that the explosives used in both attacks were variants of Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP), but, on the other hand, the mixture is widely used by militants.
Bob Ayers, a security expert at Chatham House, said: "There will be commonality between the two groups. As far as total commonality goes, I'm not sure. Those who spotted and recruited these guys came from different places (Leeds and London), but the explosives are likely to have been prepared by a single individual and it could be that a single individual told them to do it. We shouldn't assume that one man was behind both groups, there will have been a team of people, each performing different functions. The money man, for instance, may not even have come into the UK."
Q Were the 21 July bombers working alone or was there a "mastermind" organising them?
A Osman Hussain, the suspect currently held in Italy has reportedly spoken of his group acting alone in retaliation for Muslims being persecuted after the 7 July attacks in an "attention-grabbing" strike.
Experts yesterday dismissed this claim as "ridiculous". It is believed that the bombers were merely footsoldiers and that the real masterminds are still being sought.
Police have said they are continuing to investigate who could have been behind the bombers, in terms of financing them, making the devices and co-ordinating them.
David Capitanchik, a security expert from Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, said: "People don't wake up one morning and decide they want to be a suicide bomber. We know this from past experience and to suggest that they do is ridiculous. They are recruited, organised and trained. And co-ordinated operations like those that have hit London cannot happen overnight, They take weeks or months to plan."
He said the 21 July bombers may be telling the truth when they say they don't know the 7 July bombers, but "these four did not act in isolation. It is one thing to say they didn't know about the other cell but that is different from saying the same person is not behind the same cells."
Haroon Rashid Aswat, who grew up in West Yorkshire, was detained last week in Zambia for his alleged role in the London suicide bombings - as well as setting up a terror camp in the United States. Scotland Yard have played down any suggestions that he is the bombing "mastermind".
Q How many people have now been arrested in connection with the 21 July attacks?
A A further seven suspects (six men and one woman) were taken into custody, during raids in Brighton, East Sussex, yesterday. This brings the running total of those being held to at least 19, among them all the men named as suspected would-be suicide bombers, including one tracked to Rome.
Two other suspects arrested in Rome are related to the bombing suspect. Police stressed again yesterday that they are looking for more people in connection with the attacks.
The four suspected bombers are: Yasin Hassan Omar, a 24-year-old Somali, arrested in Birmingham on Wednesday last week; Muktar Said-Ibrahim and Ramzi Mohammed, held by armed police after a raid on a flat in west London on Friday; and Osman Hussain, arrested in Rome on Friday.
Q Were the July 21 bombers inspired by the war in Iraq?
A Reports in Italian newspapers claim that Osman Hussain said that he and the other three carried out the attacks after watching films of Iraqi civilians being killed by US and UK troops.
But, in another report, he said that he had done it to create fear and alarm, in retaliation for the backlash against Muslims after 7 July. The true motivation behind the attacks remains unknown. One Scotland Yard spokesman said of Osman's comments: "He's going to say anything, isn't he? Who knows what's going on in their heads."
Q What are the implications for Tony Blair if there is a link to Iraq?
A The Prime Minister has sought to play down any link suggesting that the bombers were inspired to attack London because of his support for the war in Iraq. If Osman Hussain's comments continue to stress a more political (rather than religious) motivation, this could cause severe problems in the future for Mr Blair.
Q How many terror cells/would-be bombers are at large in the United Kingdom?
A Scotland Yard have played down speculation that there is a third cell, which they are actively hunting, but both Sir Ian Blair, the Commissioner and Peter Clarke, the Deputy Assistant Commissioner, and head of the anti-terrorist branch, have warned that the 7 July bombers and would-be bombers of 21 July would not have been acting alone. Sir Ian has also warned that there may be more terror cells.
Mr Clarke said that despite capturing the four suspected bombers and a fifth man linked to the cell, "the threat remains and is very real".
Terrorism and Jihad experts also have said it is likely there is more than one cell.
One report yesterday quoted security sources as saying that there are up to 300 would-be suicide bombers at large in the UK.
Q Did the July 21 bombers set out to kill - or not, as reports have suggested Osman has claimed?
A Osman was reported to have told interrogators that he was not carrying enough explosives even to "harm people nearby" and that the failed 21 July attacks were carried out as a "demonstration" aimed at causing panic and alarm. Police and weapons experts have strongly dismissed any such claims.
Sir Ian has insisted the intention of those who tried to set off the devices "must have been to kill" and a spokeswoman for Scotland Yard reiterated that assertion yesterday.
Had the explosions gone off, he said, then the carnage would have been at least as bad as the attacks two weeks earlier which killed 56 people, including the four suicide bombers.
Q What is the link, if any, between the bombers and Saudi Arabia?
A Scotland Yard has refused to comment on reports that telephone records of a mobile phone used by Osman showed a link to Saudi Arabia, but said that they were "liaising with our counterparts around the world" in an investigation which relied on intelligence worldwide. Magnus Ranstorp, director of the Centre of the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St Andrews University, said that a foreign connection was likely.
"With every single terrorist event we've had ... there usually are foreign connections, even though the cannon fodder may be home grown," he said. "The Bouyeris network in the killing of [film-maker Theo] van Gogh in the Netherlands, the Madrid bombings - all of these investigations have a foreign component to them, which makes them extremely complex."
Q What happens next?
A Scotland Yard is continuing to question 19 suspects in connection with the London attacks, including three of the four suspected 21 July bombers. Osman, the fourth suspect is being held by Italian police. UK police are keen to extradite him as soon as possible, but Osman and his legal team are fighting the extradition.
Mr Ayers said that police will be working laterally to investigate the pyramid structure of the terror cell - or cells.
"They will be asking 'Who do you know, who do they know' to see if there are more cells operating. Did they hear of anybody else talking about terrorism, at Finsbury Park mosque, for instance? At the same time, they will be working up the structure. Who paid them, who supplied the money?"
He said investigators would have to work quickly. "Once these guys are arrested, those in charge will act. If they had mobile phones, they'll be chucked away, if they were operating under one name, they'll change it, houses will be evacuated. The higher up the organisation you are, the better you are."
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1710582005
And he didn't even have to explode.
01/08/2005 - 12:04:43 PM
Authorities plan to triple the number of surveillance cameras at Paris airports, France’s transport minister said today as he inspected security systems at the capital’s main international hub.
The number of cameras at Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, now at about 2,000, will reach 6,000 in the coming years, Dominique Perben said.
The minister also said the government had been thinking of ways to strengthen border controls since a suspect accused of trying to bomb a London underground train on July 21 eluded a dragnet in Britain and passed through France en route to Italy.
Osman Hussain, a British citizen also known as Hamdi Issac, was arrested on Friday in Rome.
“Obviously the fact that a man could leave Britain, cross France and turn up in Italy while evading all our control systems forces us to reflect on our border surveillance system,” said Perben, during a tour of Charles de Gaulle airport.
Mon Aug 1, 2005 - 11:16 AM BST
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Twenty bodies of people who had been shot or beheaded were discovered in southwest Baghdad on Monday, a police source said.
The source said witnesses told police they saw a truck dump the bodies near a school in the Om al-Ma'alif area in southwest Baghdad.
Many bodies have been discovered in similar circumstances over the past few months in killings that have fueled sectarian tensions.
Police said many of the victims had long beards like the ones grown by Muslim militants.
The bodies were placed in black plastic bags, police said.
© Reuters 2005
By Steve Holland
Aug 1, 2005
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush bypassed the Senate and installed John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations on Monday over protests by Democrats that the combative critic of the world body would hurt U.S. credibility.
Five months af