Posted on 10/19/2005 4:14:39 PM PDT by Gucho
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
BAGHDAD: Former Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein's trial began some time ago in a highly secured area in Baghdad.
The former Iraqi dictator is being tried on charges of crimes against humanity for the murder of 143 Shi'ite villagers in 1982. As many as as five Iraqi judges are trying Saddam's case.
Saddam is being tried with seven Baath party members. Also being tried is Saddam's half brother Ibrahim Hasan.
News channels reported that Saddam refused to answer posed by judges and in turn questioned the credentials of five Iraqi judges.
He said he reserved the right not to respond to questions since he considered that the court was not legal. He said he believed that the court would not hold a fair trail, according to reports by television news.
Saddam's lawyer is likely to ask the court for a trial adjournment of at least three months.
The case, described as the "trial of the century" by one Iraqi newspaper, is making history in the region as it marks the first time an Arab leader is being tried for crimes against his own people.
Saddam and seven co-defendants face the death penalty if convicted in what is the first of what could be several cases against him for mass atrocities committed by his regime.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Afghan minister urges investment in war-torn country
A local resident insists troops missed some weapons during an initial search; a subsequent search yields weapons buried beneath rocks and soil.
U.S. Army Sgt. Robert A. Guttersohn, an infantryman with Company B, 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, throws rocks to the side as he digs through a pile of stones in search of hidden caches during a raid in Tall Afar, Iraq, Oct. 18, 2005. Guttersohn is a native of Canton, Mich. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. James Wilt)
By U.S. Army Pfc. James Wilt - 82nd Airborne Division
TALL AFAR, Iraq, Oct. 19, 2005 — U.S. Army paratroopers from Company B, 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, and Company B, 307th Engineer Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division, uncovered a cache of weapons during a raid on a house here, Oct. 18.
The combined unit unearthed seven assault rifles, one medium machine gun, six hand grenades, three anti-aircraft rounds modified for use as hand grenades, seven ammunition vests, over 2,500 rounds of ammunition, 30 magazines and materials thought to be used to make improvised explosive devices.
Working off of a tip from a local resident, the paratroopers searched the house Oct. 17 in an effort to uncover any weapons there.
Three assault rifles and two ammunition vests were found during the initial search, said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jason R. Gillis, an infantryman with Company B, 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment.
The informant who gave the unit the tip approached the paratroopers a second time to tell them that he believed there were still more weapons inside the house, Gillis, a native of Goldsboro, N.C., said.
Again following the lead from the informant, the troopers returned to the house Oct. 18 armed with a metal detector and digging tools.
Once in the target room, the unit's metal detector didn't find anything beneath the stone lined floor, said U.S. Army Spc. Christopher L. Sharp, a combat engineer, with Company B, 307th Engineer Battalion.
Undeterred, Sharp and U.S. Army Pfc. Valentino R. Cuellar, also a combat engineer, began moving rocks to search for any recently moved soil, Sharp, a Dallas native, said.
Picking up a rock by the doorway, Sharp said he noticed the dirt was not packed down like the rest of the floor.
After removing more rocks, Sharpe found a barrel buried in the dirt.
Inside of the barrel was the largest cache Company B has found in their sector, Sharp said.
The paratroopers removed the weapons and filled in the hole were the cache was buried.
Moving on to search the rest of the house and surrounding area, the soldiers found electronic devices believed to be used for making improvised explosive devices.
No detainees were taken as the house was unoccupied.
The raid was part of the 82nd Airborne Division's efforts to make the streets here safer for the Iraqi people.
"Look at all the stuff that we found, how many lives we probably saved," said Cuellar, a native of Los Angeles.
The paratroopers will remain in the city for an undetermined amount of time and will continue to conduct operations here in an attempt to maintain stability in the region.
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NEWS RELEASE
HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND
October 18, 2005
Release Number: 05-10-63
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TIP LEADS TASK FORCE LIBERTY TO CACHE IN DIYALA PROVINCE
TIKRIT, Iraq – Task Force Liberty Soldiers followed a civilian tip to a cache of 85 anti-tank mines near Hamrin in Diyala Province at about 4:15 p.m. Oct. 18.
A local citizen was digging in the area when he uncovered the munitions and immediately reported it to Coalition Forces. The anti-tank mines discovered are of the same type recently used in IED attacks.
Task Force Liberty explosive ordnance personnel removed the munitions for future disposal.
For more information, please contact the 42ND Infantry Division Public Affairs Office 42 ID PAO at fortysecond.id.pao@us.army.MIL.
This story comes with images. please contact the 42nd id pao for imagery. please note: High-resolution photos are not available at this time.
http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/News_Release.asp?NewsRelease=20051063.txt
October 19, 2005
TIKRIT, Iraq -- Task Force Liberty Soldiers followed a civilian tip to a cache of 85 anti-tank mines near Hamrin in Diyala Province at about 4:15 p.m. Oct. 18.
A local citizen was digging in the area when he uncovered the munitions and immediately reported it to Coalition Forces. The anti-tank mines discovered are of the same type recently used in IED attacks.
Task Force Liberty explosive ordnance personnel removed the munitions for future disposal.
Source : CPIC - Iraq
ADDITIONAL PHOTO:
A local citizen in Hamrin unearthed a cache of 85 anti-tank mines and immediately reported it to Task Force Liberty Soldiers. Explosive ordnance disposal personnel took the munitions to a Coalition Forces base for future disposal. (US Army photos)
October 19, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- On September 20th 2005, I boarded a flight to Kuwait with the final destination being Iraq. Since no commercial flights take civilians into Iraq, Kuwait is the point of entry for civilians. The purpose of this trip was to gather historical information on the Army’s 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment for a future documentary movie.
The 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, also known as the 11th ACR for short, was the U.S. Army’s premier training unit while at Fort Irwin, California. Another objective of my trip was to check on our troop’s moral and well being and provide mentoring as a veteran with previous combat experience with the 11th ACR in Vietnam.
I was fortunate to have another combat veteran accompany me, Gerald Williamson, who also served with the Blackhorse in Vietnam with D Company. Jerry had tried to get permission to visit the troops earlier but was unsuccessful in getting approval from the military. Jerry’s wish was fulfilled only when the movie producer’s cameraman got a case of regret as the date for the trip neared and he continued to see the news of car bombing and other acts of terrorism.
For those who receive photos with this article, please take note that media representatives are not permitted to carry weapons. The weapons Jerry and I are posed with in the photos were strictly for familiarization and to get the feel of the equipment the soldiers carried. These photos are reminiscent to the famous Al Gore presidential campaign photo depicting him as a combat soldier on a mission outside the wire. What grabbed my attention in the photo is the fact that there was no magazine in Al’s M-16 rifle. In my experience, the first thing you did as you left the gate was to lock and load. This brings a seasoned soldier to believe that Mr. Gore was not really in a combat area for the photo or he was only allowed one bullet like Deputy Barney on the old Andy Griffith Show.
The 11th ACR’s mission in the Mohave Desert in California was to train other army fighting forces in desert warfare, and that’s just what it did for the last ten years. Week after week of simulated battles on the scorching desert floor gave the soldiers of the 11th ACR the experience no other fighting force in the world had ever received. Those standards became the yardstick other units used to gage their own effectiveness and has made the soldiers of the 11th ACR the best in the world.
The 11th ACR wasn’t always a training unit. In the early 1900’s the cavalrymen defended our borders here at home and chased Poncho Villa’s men back in Mexico after they raided and killed civilians inside our border. Because most rode black horses, they became know as the Blackhorse Regiment.
As a tank outfit they fought in the historic Battle of the Bulge during World War II. Vietnam was also on the list of defining moments for the troopers who were now riding with the Blackhorse on heavy metal behemoths of war such as tanks and Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicles. Their awesome firepower brought fear into the hearts of the enemy. It was in Vietnam that most of the units’ battle streamers were awarded along with numerous citations for valor and three Medals of Honor.
By Eric Newton - Public Affairs Officer Thunder Run Quarterly - A Publication of the 11th Armored Cavalry Veterans of Vietnam & Cambodia
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:
09-26-05 Troop B 1/11 ACR takes hit from Suicide Car Bomb.
11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. 09-26-05 A VBIED (Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devise) explodes against a B-Troop 1/11 ACR HUMMWV near Baghdad damaging nearby vehicles and injuring civilians. 11th ACR troops franticly work to save an Iraqi civilian in the background who died later. Although the HUMMWV gunner was burned on the face and wrist, he gave aid to the wounded before being treated himself. A schoolboy was rushed to the Hospital at Abu Ghraib Prison where he was treated for a schrapnel wound to the head and released the following day.
October 19, 2005
CAMP TAJI, Iraq -- Macedonian Rangers stood in formation and proudly displayed their nation’s red-and-gold flag during a special visit from Defense Minister Jovan Manasijevski Oct. 11.
The Defense Minister, accompanied by Maj. Gen. Miroslav Stojanovski, the senior officer of the Macedonian Armed Forces, spoke to the Soldiers, toured the Macedonian living quarters and discussed military issues with American officers of 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division.
"This is a special day for us," Manasijevski said "We are celebrating with our troops our national holiday of liberation from the Germans in 1944."
Manasijevski said his country was the only one in Europe to liberate itself from the Germans with native troops and that the Macedonian Rangers serving in Iraq are continuing a legacy of freedom fighting.
He said service in Iraq was "a unique opportunity in the process of shaping our armed forces."
The Republic of Macedonia is a nation in southeastern Europe, north of Greece and west of Bulgaria. Most Americans know it as the birthplace of Alexander the Great.
Manasijevski said his country is committed to being a part of the Multi-National Coalition in Iraq.
"We will stay until the mission is accomplished," he said.
Lt. Col. Anthony Wright, commander of 70th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Bde., 1st Armored Div., is happy to have the Macedonian Rangers serving as a quick-reaction force for his battalion. He said he served with Macedonians during the liberation of Iraq in 2003 and asked to work with them again during this tour.
Wright said the Ranger Platoon is a very professional, disciplined unit and has contributed greatly to his unit's operations northwest of Baghdad.
Stojanovski, chief of staff of Macedonia's Army and part of the group of officials who visited Camp Taji, told his Soldiers he has received feedback from American officers about the professionalism and skill of the Macedonian Rangers.
The officials brought the Rangers a special surprise from their native land.
Aleksandra Pileva, a well-known Macedonian singer performed with the 3rd Infantry Division "Fokus Band." She delighted the troops with an emotional rendition of the Macedonian national anthem and then sang American pop songs.
The Soldiers also spoke with reporters from their home country, allowing them to send messages to their families hundreds of miles away.
By Sgt. Matthew Wester - 3/1 AD PAO
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:
Macedonian pop star Aleksandra Pileva sings the Macedonian national anthem during a visit by Macedonian government officials Oct. 11. The Macedonian Defense Minister and others came to visit the platoon-sized element of his troops who work with 70th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade 1st Armored Division. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Matthew Wester, 3/1 AD PAO)
Jovan Manasijevski, Macedonian Minister of Defense, talks to Maj. Gen. Miroslav Stojanovski, Chief of General Staff, Oct. 11. A platoon of Macedonian Rangers works with 70th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division at Taji. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Matthew Wester, 3/1 AD PAO)
October 19, 2005
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (October 19, 2005) – The Iraqi Army graduated 53 of its newest trainees from the Iraqi Army Basic Combat Team training (IA BCT) in Qayyarah Oct. 17.
The trainees participated in a four-week course preparing them to assume the counter-insurgency fight. Soldiers were provided instruction on 28 different subject areas, including physical training, drill and ceremony, guard duty, first aid, and basic rifle and marksmanship.
“It is an honor to soldier side by side with each of you as the sovereign government of Iraq forges a new tomorrow,” said Sergeant Major Murrell, the Commandant of the NCOA, as he praised the new graduates for their accomplishments.
The IA BCT class is a true cooperative effort of the Iraqi and U.S. Army’s demonstration of the IA’s progression.
“Use the training you have just received for the benefit of your country,” said guest speaker Command Sergeant Major Fraijo of 4-11th Field Artillery. He was followed by the presentation of awards and certificates.
Awards were given to Distinguished Honor Graduate PVT Ishmaeel Sabah Khalaf of 1st Brigade, 3rd Battalion, Honor Graduate PVT Mohamed Hussen of 1st Bde. 3rd Bn., PVT Mohammed Salim of 1st Bde. 3rd Bn., and PVT Bush Abrahim Atiq of 2nd Brigade, 3rd Battalion. The Marksmanship Award went to PVT Salah Mohamed Salah, and the Physical Fitness Award went to PVT Shaker Mahmood.
URGENT
Saddam Hussein's trial adjourned until Nov. 28.
KUNA
(DPA)
19 October 2005
DHAKA - Police in Bangladesh uncovered on Wednesday a workshop for manufacturing small bombs on the top floor of a mosque in the northeastern Sylhet city, a television news channel said.
Police raided the mosque belonging to the banned group Jamiatul Mujahideen and seized a large quantity of explosive material, batteries, wires and other materials used in making crude explosive devices, the privately-run ATN channel reported.
Local residents said the factory had been supplying explosives to Jamiatul Mujahideen militants for carrying out bomb attacks across the country.
The police detained a suspected militant from the mosque after forcing entry to the building and also seized publicity materials belonging to the militant group.
By Mariam Fam
October 19, 2005
QUESTIONS about the integrity of the vote and physical barriers to getting marked ballots to the capital mean final results from Iraq's landmark referendum on a new constitution won't be announced until Friday at the earliest, officials said.
The returns have raised questions over the possibility of irregularities in the balloting - and have prompted an audit into an irregularly high number of "yes" votes.
With the delays, the outcome of the crucial referendum will remain up in the air possibly into next week, at a time when the Government had hoped to move public attention to a new milestone: the start today of the trial of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.
Saddam and seven senior members are facing trial in a heavily secured Baghdad courtroom for a 1982 massacre of about 150 Shi'ites in the town of Dujail, north of Baghdad.
Meanwhile, insurgent attacks began to heat up again after being nearly silent on referendum day on Saturday, when polling stations were heavily protected across the country.
A US soldier was shot and killed in Mosul, 360 kilometres northwest of Baghdad, early yesterday, the military said.
In fighting in western Iraq, two US Marines and four militants were killed on Monday near the town of Rutba, not far from the Jordanian border, the military said.
At least 1,979 members of the US military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Gunmen killed the deputy governor of Anbar province, Talib Ibrahim, spraying his car with automatic weapons fire in Ramadi and wounding two of his bodyguards, police said. Anbar, the vast western Sunni region, is the main battleground between insurgents and US-Iraqi forces.
Militants killed at least nine Iraqis elsewhere yesterday in shootings and a mortar attack, including an adviser to the industry minister, one of the country's top Sunni Arab officials, police said.
The handcuffed and mutilated bodies of six Shi'ites were pulled out of a pond where they were dumped north of Baghdad, and three other bodies were discovered elsewhere in the capital.
Also yesterday, an Internet statement released in the name of al-Qaeda in Iraq denounced Arab League plans to stage a reconciliation conference between all Iraq's factions.
The statement, posted yesterday on a website known as a clearing house for extremist material, said the "Arab League initiative is a new conspiracy to save their American master under the pretext of national reconciliation, maintaining Iraq's unity and protecting the Sunnis against falling under Iranian influence."
The Arab League plans to hold a reconciliation conference at its Cairo headquarters but a date has not been set.
League Secretary-General Amr Moussa is expected to travel to Iraq on tomorrow, his first visit since Saddam's ouster, to try to organise it.
The audit, announced by the Electoral Commission on Monday, will examine results that show an oddly high number of "yes" votes - apparently including in two crucial provinces that could determine the outcome of the vote, Ninevah and Diyala.
The election commission and United Nations officials supervising the counting have made no mention of fraud and have cautioned that the unexpected votes are not necessarily incorrect.
But Sunni Arab leaders who oppose the charter have claimed the vote was fixed in Ninevah and Diyala and elsewhere to swing them to a "yes" after initial results reported by provincial officials indicated the constitution had passed.
Both provinces are believed to have slight Sunni Arab majorities that likely voted "no" in large numbers, along with significant Shi'ite and Kurdish communities that largely cast "yes" ballots.
But initial results from election officials in Ninevah and Diyala indicated about 70 per cent of voters supported the charter and only 20 per cent rejected.
Sunni opponents needed to win over either Diyala or Ninevah to veto the constitution. Sunnis had to get a two-thirds ?no? vote in any three of Iraq's 18 provinces to defeat the charter, and they appeared to have gotten it in Anbar and Salahuddin, both heavily Sunni.
Riyadh, 18 Oct. (AKI) - The Saudi police in the holy Muslim city of Mecca arrested a group of Nigerian immigrants on Monday who were distributing leaflets carrying a big photo of Osama bin Laden. According to Arab newspaper al-Hayat, before they were detained by the security forces, the Nigerians had handed out many copies of the flyer in at least five areas of the city, which is the most important in the Islamic world.
The contents of the leaflet were highly critical of the Saudi government and close to the Jihadist thinking, the newspaper reports. During the interrogations it emerged that the young Nigerians had been approached by an unknown man who, in exchange for a large sum of money, had asked them to distribute the flyers everywhere. Taking advantage of the Nigerians' scant knowledge of Arabic the man had told them the document merely contained advice and direction of a religious nature.
Also on Monday, Saudi police uncovered a terror cell in the Kharaj area, 100 kilometres to the south of Riyadh, finding explosives and weapons in an apartment there, which had been rented out recently by militants who escaped a gun battle with the security forces in the northern city of al-Rass in April. At least fourteen militants were killed in the stand-off, which lasted three days. One of the dead was reported to be local al-Qaeda leader Saleh Al-Oufi, but this turned out to be false, as al-Oufi was then killed in Medina in August after another three day stand-off with the security forces.
(Ham/Aki)
Spanish Judge Issues Warrant for Three GIs
By MARIA JESUS PRADES, Associated Press Writer
10/19/2005
MADRID, Spain - A judge has issued an international arrest warrant for three U.S. soldiers whose tank fired on a Baghdad hotel during the Iraq war, killing a Spanish journalist and a Ukrainian cameraman, a court official said Wednesday.
Judge Santiago Pedraz issued the warrant for Sgt. Shawn Gibson, Capt. Philip Wolford and Lt. Col. Philip de Camp, all from the U.S. 3rd Infantry, which is based in Fort Stewart, Ga.
Jose Couso, who worked for the Spanish television network Telecinco, died April 8, 2003, after a U.S. army tank crew fired a shell on Hotel Palestine in Baghdad where many journalists were staying to cover the war.
Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk, a Ukrainian, also was killed.
Pedraz had sent two requests to the United States — in April 2004 and June 2005 — to have statements taken from the suspects or to obtain permission for a Spanish delegation to quiz them. Both went unanswered.
He said he issued the arrest order because of a lack of judicial cooperation from the United States regarding the case.
The warrant "is the only effective measure to ensure the presence of the suspects in the case being handled by Spanish justice, given the lack of judicial cooperation by U.S. authorities," the judge said in the warrant.
The Pentagon had no immediate information and said it was looking into it.
U.S. officials have insisted that the soldiers believed they were being shot at when they opened fire.
Following the Palestine incident, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell said a review of the incident found that the use of force was justified.
In late 2003, the National Court, acting on a request from Couso's family, agreed to consider filing criminal charges against three members of the tank crew.
Fort Stewart spokeswoman Jennifer Scales said the three no longer are assigned to Fort Stewart or the 3rd Infantry Division.
De Camp, who is now an adjunct mathematics professor at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va., said three investigations into the incident — two military investigations and one by the Committee to Protect Journalists — had exonerated all three men.
"We had no clue there were journalists over at that hotel," he said. "We would not have shot at them."
The retired officer also said his men were constantly taking risks by letting people get close to their convoy so that they could verify whether they were enemy combatants.
When asked if he would turn himself in, de Camp said, "I don't know, I've got to get some legal advice."
Pilar Hermoso, an attorney for Couso's family, welcomed the decision, although she recognized that it would be difficult to get the soldiers extradited to Spain, the state news agency Efe reported.
Small protests over the killing have been staged outside the U.S. Embassy in Madrid nearly every month since Couso's death.
Under Spanish law, a crime committed against a Spaniard abroad can be prosecuted here if it is not investigated in the country where it is committed.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051019/ap_on_re_eu/spain_us_journalist_death
By LIZ SIDOTI - Associated Press Writer
Wed Oct 19 - 4:30 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday refused to rule out the possibility of U.S. troops still serving in Iraq in 10 years or U.S. military force against Syria and Iran.
Rice deferred to the decisions of President Bush and military commanders as members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee pressed her for more specifics on the U.S. strategy in Iraq.
Asked whether the U.S. would have troops in Iraq in five years or 10 years, Rice said: "I think that even to try and speculate on how many years from now there will be a certain number of American forces is not appropriate."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan also would not rule out the chance of a U.S. troop presence that far in the future.
"In terms of decisions about troop levels, we've always said that we will look to our commanders on the ground and they will be the ones who will make decisions based on circumstances on the ground," McClellan said.
Lawmakers also pressed Rice on strategy for dealing with Iran and Syria, two of Iraq's neighbors. U.S. officials have accused Syria of allowing foreign fighters to cross into Iraq. The Bush administration contends Iran is supporting the Iraqi insurgency.
Rice said the U.S. was using diplomacy to urge a change in the behavior of Syria and Iran. But she stopped short of ruling out military force. "I'm not going to get into what the president's options might be," Rice said. "I don't think the president ever takes any of his options off the table concerning anything to do with military force."
Rice sought to reassure jittery lawmakers, who are hearing from constituents weary of the war, that the administration had a plan for helping Iraqis drive out insurgents and build durable, national institutions.
Testifying before the committee for the first time since February, the secretary said the U.S. will follow a model that was successful in Afghanistan. Starting next month, she said, joint diplomatic-military groups will work alongside Iraqis as they train police, set up courts, and help local governments establish essential services.
Lawmakers from both parties asked the kind of questions they said the public wants answers to.
"I'm not looking for a date to get out of Iraq," said Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record) of Delaware, the committee's top Democrat. "But at what point, assuming the strategy works, do you think we'll be able to see some sign of bringing some American forces home?"
Rice declined to answer directly, choosing to leave an estimate to military commanders. "I don't want to hazard what I think would be a guess, even if it were an assessment, of when that might be possible," Rice said.
Later, Sen. Paul Sarbanes (news, bio, voting record), D-Md., told Rice that her response to questions about U.S. troop withdrawal "leads me to draw the conclusion that you're leaving open the possibility that 10 years from now we will still have military forces in Iraq."
Rice said on response: "I don't know how to speculate about what will happen 10 years from now, but I do believe that we are moving on a course on which Iraqi security forces are rather rapidly able to take care of their own security concerns."
Republican Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island were among several lawmakers who pressed Rice on U.S. strategy on Iran and Syria. Democrats asked whether the administration was considering military action against those countries and whether the president would circumvent congressional authorization if the White House chose that option.
"I will not say anything that constrains his authority as commander in chief," Rice said.
The senators' questioning followed Rice's earlier remark that Syria and Iran "must decide whether they wish to side with the cause of war or with the cause of peace."
As Rice spoke, a woman in the second row of spectators shouted "Stop the killing in Iraq." A police officer motioned her out of the room.
By the State Department's design, Rice testified just days after Iraq apparently approved its first constitution since a U.S.-led coalition ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in 2003. Her appearance also coincided with the start of Saddam's trial in Baghdad for a massacre of 150 Iraqis.
McClellan said the trial was "a symbol that the rule of law is returning to Iraq."
Rice heralded the referendum on the charter as "a landmark" and said the U.S. strategy was moving from a stage of transition to one of preparing a permanent Iraqi government.
She described the administration's plan as intended to "clear areas from insurgent control, to hold them securely, and to build durable, national Iraqi institutions."
"Our strategy is to clear, hold, and build," she said. "The enemy's strategy is to infect, terrorize, and pull down."
Alongside Iraq's allies, she said, the U.S. is working to dismantle the insurgent network and disrupt foreign support for it; maintain security in areas insurgents no longer hold; and build national institutions to support security forces, deliver essential services, bring the rule of law and offer Iraqis the hope for a better economic future.
Oct. 19, 2005
A Sri Lankan spy aircraft crashed inside rebel-held territory in the island's north today while conducting an operational mission, which is in violation of a ceasefire agreement with the Tamil tigers. It was not immediately clear whether it was shot down by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) or if the aircraft went down due to technical problems.
According to defence sources, the controllers lost the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) while it was flying over Mankulam, near an airstrip operated by the tigers. Spy missions are a violation of a ceasefire agreement that went into effect in February 2002. Despite the truce, hundreds of people have been killed in violent clashes blamed on both sides.
Oct 19, 2005 - 3:00 GMT
BALTIMORE, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- An Egyptian native who worked at a Baltimore market reportedly was being held in connection with a threat that closed down parts of I-95 Tuesday.
The Baltimore Sun said the man was taken into custody at the Middle Eastern market Tuesday afternoon. There was no report he had been charged.
Federal and local authorities, using 'an abundance of caution' in the face of a potential terror threat, briefly closed portions of Interstate 95 in Baltimore.
The threat resulted in the temporary closure of the Baltimore Harbor and Fort McHenry tunnels. The WJZ-TV Web site said the alleged plot involved taking a bomb-laden delivery truck from the market into a tunnel, where it would be detonated.
Authorities checked trucks and vans as traffic backed up in the area.
The Maryland Transportation Authority said the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel on Interstate 895 was closed in both directions and one 'tube' was closed in each direction at the Fort McHenry Tunnel on Interstate 95.
Disclosing no details, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued a joint statement saying, 'While the information was somewhat specific, to date, the intelligence community has not found evidence that corroborates the information.
'However, this is an ongoing investigation. Therefore, we support whatever protective measures taken out of an abundance of caution that state and local law enforcement authorities deem appropriate to ensure the safety and security of their community until we can complete the investigation.'
By Scott Schonauer - Stars and Stripes Mideast edition
Thursday, October 20, 2005
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — Before U.S.-led forces invaded Baghdad in March 2003, Iraq’s once-capable air force never got off the ground.
Actually, some airplanes didn’t even get out of the ground.
Iraqi forces buried the few fighter aircraft left from the 1991 Persian Gulf War in the desert. American troops found the planes by accident in 2003.
Since the U.S. military dug up the first Russian-built MiG fighter from the sand, the resurrection of Iraq’s air force has been painstakingly slow.
A U.S. assessment team led by an Air Force general visited Iraq last week to identify areas where the service could help. It found that the Iraqis have a long way to go.
“One of the things I recognize is that this is just going to take time,” said Col. Mike Byrne, a member of the assessment team, by telephone from an undisclosed location in the Middle East. “There’s a lot of people that are going to expect things to happen very quickly, and they have to recognize that’s just not the case when you’re dealing with something of this magnitude.”
Rebuilding Iraq’s air force has become one of the U.S. Air Force’s top priorities in the country. The endeavor has proved to be an immense challenge because the Air Force is almost starting from scratch.
The aircraft Iraq has are not suited for Iraq’s dry and dusty environment, spare parts are scarce, and most of the country’s 360 pilots, navigators and mechanics are well over the age of 40 without many capable recruits to replace them.
Using aircraft donated from other nations, Iraqi airmen already provide limited airlift capability and help police oil pipelines.
Iraq would like to boost its helicopter fleet, develop a better light-attack capability to better protect the pipelines and improve its cargo and passenger airlift missions. However, for now, they must focus on making the best use of what limited aircraft they have, said Brig. Gen. Frank Padilla, assessment team leader.
While the U.S. Air Force is initially helping rebuild the Iraqi air force, the Iraqi force’s condition a decade from now will depend on how much resources the Iraqi government devotes to the fleet.
“When you have a country that has the challenges Iraq has right now, it’s all about priorities and how much of a priority the Iraqi government is willing to put into their air force and into their military in general,” Padilla said. “I’m confident the Iraqi air force will demonstrate that it is very able and that they are worth the investment.”
By Scott Schonauer - Stars and Stripes Mideast edition
Thursday, October 20, 2005
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — NATO and U.S. military cargo aircraft will use Ramstein Air Base as an air hub to transport donations from allied countries to earthquake victims in Pakistan.
A pair of U.S. Air Force C-17s on Wednesday were to fly 100 tons of aid from Europe to the region, said Maj. Riccardo Dentici, who is serving as a liaison between NATO and U.S. forces at Ramstein.
The planes will include such items as blankets, tents and food from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom. Dentici said allowing NATO to help transport humanitarian aid makes sense because the alliance is accustomed to coordinating missions with people from different nations.
“We are ready to fight, ready to do war, but also ready to operate in this way,” he said. “And this is the way we most like.”
U.S. Air Forces in Europe and U.S. Army Europe are providing logistics support, personnel and equipment to help in handling storage and loading of the NATO-donated relief supplies to Ramstein, according to USAFE.
Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, also will serve as a logistics hub.
The Pakistan government has urged countries to rush winterized tents and blankets to the region because snow has begun to fall in parts of the disaster areas, according to a NATO Oct. 17 situation report.
NATO member nations and partners can request NATO to airlift donations to Pakistan by trucking the supplies to Ramstein, where they will be loaded onto cargo planes. As of Oct. 14, 35 nations have offered help to Pakistan through NATO.
American airmen and French military personnel on Wednesday prepared to pack the supplies into the C-17 planes as soon as they were ready to fly.
By Demetri Sevastopulo in Beijing
October 19 2005
General Cao Gangchuan, the Chinese defence minister, on Wednesday strongly rejected claims by Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary, that China spends much more on defence than the official $30bn budget.
Gen Cao dismissed Pentagon assertions that China may be spending as much as $90bn on defence. Standing with Mr Rumsfeld following their meeting at the Ministry of Defence, Mr Cao said it “was unnecessary and not possible” for China to massively increase its defence spending. He added that the $30bn figure for Chinese defence spending was the “true budget”.
However, Gen Cao admitted that some military spending on equipment development, such as China's space launch programme, was not included in the defence budget. During a meeting with Mr Rumsfeld, he said foreign countries often overestimate the cost to China of building military programmes, according to a senior US defence official.
Mr Rumsfeld is visiting Beijing on a three-day tour aimed at improving military relations, which were dramatically curtailed after the collision of a Chinese fighter jet with an American EP-3 spy plane in April 2001. Mr Rumsfeld also met Chinese president Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of the People, and addressed professors and students at the Central Party School, the training school for future Communist party leaders.
At the Central Party School, Mr Rumsfeld was questioned about mixed US messages on China. In response, Mr Rumsfeld said the Bush administration speaks with one voice on China, but that the US is receiving “mixed signals” from China, which he said needed “clarification”. A senior defence official said the mixed signals included recent joint Sino-Russian military exercises that the US was not allowed to observe.
Mr Rumsfeld also lectured the future Chinese leaders on democracy, transparency, and the values embedded in the US constitution, which he said began with three words: “We the People.”
“That powerful phrase expresses the fundamental notion that it is the people that tell our government what it can do,” Mr Rumsfeld said in apparent thinly veiled reference to the authoritarian Communist party.
Mr Rumsfeld said he recognised that no other country had the right to tell China which he described as a “major player” in the world what to do, but that the US hoped China would choose a course would allow both countries to work together with “mutual respect and friendship”.
Despite differences over the actual level of Chinese military spending in meetings that US officials described as good humoured, Gen Cao and Mr Rumsfeld agreed that the Pentagon and People’s Liberation Army would work to improve military relations.
Gen Cao said they needed to “join hands” to bring military relations into line with more positive diplomatic and economic relations. Mr Hu endorsed the need to improve military relations in his meeting with Mr Rumsfeld saying they were a “vital component” of the US-Sino relationship, according to a senior US defence official.
Mr Rumsfeld also visited the headquarters of the Second Artillery Corps, the strategic missile command. Senior defence officials said Mr Rumsfeld was pleased with what they described as a “non-euphoric visit” during which they were given a presentation on the structure of the corps.
US officials described the visit, which was strongly requested by the Pentagon, as a positive first step towards increasing exchanges between the two countries’ military forces.
In an apparent reference to comments earlier this year by a Chinese general that China could use nuclear weapons against the US in the event of a conflict over Taiwan, General Jing Zhiyuan, the commander of the Second Artillery, said China had not changed its policy of “no first strike”.
“These statements are completely false,” said Gen Jing. “I report directly to the Central Military Commission.”
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Iraq, aided by the United States, has been bolstering security along the border with Syria and has already built 152 of 258 planned forts.
The Iraqi Interior Ministry has trained, equipped and deployed 17,000 border police, many of them along the frontier with Syria. The ministry plans to deploy more than 28,000 troops by May 2006.
The forces have been equipped with AK-47 rifles, individual body armor and medium machine guns, Middle East Newsline reported. Units have been transported via small and medium pick-up trucks as well as mid-size sport utility vehicles.
A Defense Department report said the Iraqi force would be organized into 36 battalions and man 258 border forts around Iraq. As of Sept. 20, 152 forts have been completed, with a total of 250 projected to be reconstructed or renovated by Nov. 30.
"To stem the flow of foreign fighters from Syria, priority of work in recent months has been on the Iraqi-Syrian border," the report said. "The Ninewah and Al Anbar Brigades are each working their way to the Euphrates River, restoring border control as they progress."
Border units along the Syrian border have been supported by 10-man Border Transition Teams. The units have been trained in logistics and communications, and support commanders in intelligence, operations and budgeting.
The report said the effort to secure the Syrian border has been hampered by high absent without leave [AWOL] rates. The border forces were also said to have been infiltrated by insurgents.
"Some areas of the border appear to have a high level of insurgent infiltration," the report said. "Coalition advisers are assisting Iraqi Department of Border Enforcement leadership in rectifying these problems."
Thats an awesome picture of Condi! No doubt that she is the most powerful woman in the world today.
By Bill Gertz - THE WASHINGTON TIMES
October 19, 2005
BEIJING -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told students and faculty at a Communist Party school here today that openness, democracy and freedom are the keys to China's future.
"Every society has to be vigilant against another type of great wall that can be a burden on man's talents and is borne from fear of them -- a wall that limits speech, information or choices," Mr. Rumsfeld told a group of about 30 students at the Central Party School. "Yet history teaches us that it is impossible, in practical terms, to isolate any people for long. Eventually, information seeps through." more....
Bump
20 Oct 2005 - 02:38:32 GMT
Source: Reuters
Oct 19 - Colombia's Constitutional Court on Wednesday approved a law allowing presidents to serve for more than one term, but popular incumbent Alvaro Uribe was still awaiting a second court ruling to learn if he could run in next May's election.
Following are key facts about Colombia:
* Uribe took office in August 2002 after winning election during a wave of popular revulsion against failed peace talks with FARC rebels. Since then, he has consolidated his position as the country's most popular politician in years with tough security policies and higher defense spending.
* Thousands of people are killed every year in Colombia's 41-year-old guerrilla war. The conflict has been complicated by a huge influx of money from the cocaine industry, allowing the Marxist rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to maintain 17,000 fighters and far-right paramilitaries even more.
* The United States has provided more than $3 billion in mainly military aid since 2000, aimed mostly at Colombia's cocaine industry, the world's largest. It is not clear whether the massive campaign, built around spraying coca leaf bushes used to make cocaine, has reduced flows of the drug into the United States.
* Colombia is Washington's closest ally in Latin America, and is becoming increasingly important to U.S. policy as the Andean region becomes more unstable.
* A first-round presidential election is set to be held on May 28. Pollsters unanimously predict Uribe, who has an 80 percent approval rating, would win by a landslide but have little idea who the contenders would be if he were barred from the race.
AlertNet news
US board cites officer in sub crash that killed 9
20 Oct 2005 - 01:34:55 GMT
Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy officer was mainly to blame for the collision of a nuclear submarine and a Japanese fishing boat off Hawaii five years ago that killed nine people, federal transportation investigators said on Wednesday.
The National Transportation Safety Board conclusion did not diverge from the central findings of a military investigation that also questioned key decisions made by the Los Angeles class attack sub's commander, Scott Waddle, during a daylong demonstration cruise for civilians on board.
The USS Greeneville's rudder tore through the Ehime Maru's lower deck as it executed an expedited surfacing maneuver on Feb. 9, 2001, sinking the fishing boat within minutes. Nine people aboard the vessel were killed, including students and instructors in commercial fishing. Twenty-six people were rescued.
The safety board said in its final report that Waddle rushed through procedures prior to ordering the high-speed surfacing maneuver, which investigators indicated was conducted for the benefit of visitors.
Contributing to the accident was the failure of Waddle and other crew to communicate properly and adequately manage the 16 civilian visitors so they did not impede operations by distracting the crew, the safety board said.
The civilians were not directly blamed but safety board investigators said their presence on the sub and how they were accommodated by the crew, especially the commander, had an "adverse impact on the safety of operations."
The safety board said the Navy had taken steps to improve the safety of operations aboard its submarines and made no recommendations.
Waddle was disciplined by the Navy and resigned from the service within months of the accident. He has admitted responsibility, written a book about the incident and met with victims' families.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N19482923.htm
AlertNet news
Wed, Oct. 19, 2005
SALAH NASRAWI - Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt - Iraqi police on Wednesday arrested Saddam Hussein's nephew in Baghdad, charging that he served as the top financier of Iraq's rampant insurgency, senior Iraqi security officials said.
Yasir Sabhawi Ibrahim, son of Saddam's half brother Sabhawi Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti, was arrested in a Baghdad apartment, several days after Syrian authorities forced him to return to Iraq, the officials told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Cairo. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to deal with the media.
One of the officials, who works as a coordinator between Iraqi authorities and U.S. military intelligence, described the purported financier as the most dangerous man in the urgency. The other official, who is a senior member of the Iraqi Defense Ministry, said the arrest was a serious blow to terrorist networks.
Both officials said Syrian authorities "pushed" Ibrahim into Iraq but did not hand him over to authorities.
The Syrians were aware of his whereabouts in Baghdad and informed U.S. authorities, who then passed the information to Iraq security forces who carried out a "fast, easy" raid on the fugitive's apartment, the Defense Ministry official said.
The Iraqi officials believe the suspect was operating Baath Party funds in Syria, Jordan and Yemen and had been running a vast network of insurgents inside Iraq. They also claim he was coordinating between Baathist insurgents and the terror network of Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
He was believed to be second in command of the Iraqi-led insurgency behind Younis al-Ahmad, a former member of the Baath Party leadership believed to be still in Syria.
Officials in Syria were not available for comment on the arrest.
On July 21, the U.S. Treasury Department froze the U.S. assets of the suspect as well as the five other sons of al-Tikriti, who was himself captured in Syria earlier this year and handed over to Iraq in an apparent good will gesture.
On Sept. 19, Iraq's Central Criminal Court sentenced another of al-Tikriti's sons, Ayman, to life in prison on charges he helped fund the insurgency and was a bomb-maker. It was the first known trial of any of the former leader's family members.
Syria has been under intense pressure from the United States and Iraq to do more to prevent militants and weapons crossing from its territories into neighboring Iraq. Damascus denies actively supporting insurgents battling U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq, but says it is virtually impossible to lock down its porous desert frontier with Iraq.
Houston Astros starting pitcher Roy Oswalt throws against the St. Louis Cardinals in the first inning during Game 6 of their National League Championship Series in St. Louis, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2005. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Manasijevski said his country is committed to being a part of the Multi-National Coalition in Iraq.
"We will stay until the mission is accomplished," he said. Thank you Mr. Mamasijevski.
Bump - Thank you.
10/19/2005 - 02:35:04 PM
LONDON (AP) -- A reporter for The Guardian newspaper disappeared Wednesday in Iraq and was believed to have been kidnapped.
Rory Carroll, 33, an Irish citizen and the paper's Baghdad correspondent, was on assignment when he vanished, the paper said in a statement.
"It is believed Mr. Carroll may have been taken by a group of armed men," the statement said. "The Guardian is urgently seeking information about Mr. Carroll's whereabouts and condition."
Carroll's father, Joe, said The Guardian told him three people were with his son when he was abducted, "and one of them did get a bit roughed up, but he was the only one kidnapped."
Britain's Foreign Office said it was aware of reports that a journalist had been abducted, and a spokesman said it were seeking more information.
A story in The Guardian's Wednesday edition about Saddam Hussein's trial carries Rory Carroll's byline. He has been based in Baghdad for nine months and previously reported from South Africa and Rome.
Earlier Wednesday, Rory Carroll broadcast a live report on the trial for the Romanian news channel Realitatea TV. The station said he had been working for them on a freelance basis, and that Rory Carroll was kidnapped while trying to learn what ordinary Iraqis thought of the trial.
Joe Carroll, a former correspondent for The Irish Times newspaper, said his son had tried to reassure him about his safety in Baghdad.
"He knew we were worried, but he used to reassure us and say that it was not as dangerous as people outside think," Joe Carroll told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.
"He said if you observed basic rules and security you would be OK. We knew he was playing it down for our sake and there was obvious danger."
Insurgents in Iraq have kidnapped more than 220 foreigners and killed nearly 40.
The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders said 72 journalists and their assistants had died in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003.
"Past experience with journalists being taken hostage in Iraq showed that a significant expression of support in the first few hours after the kidnapping were vital," the group said in a statement.
"Unfortunately, the safety of journalists is still far from being assured in Iraq and there are grounds for suspecting that tension linked to the start of Saddam Hussein's trial are having repercussions on the press."
The last reported abduction of a foreigner was in September, when a video posted on the Internet showed Garabet Jekerjian being held at gunpoint. The Lebanese man works for a company supplying coalition troops. The date of his kidnapping was not known; the video was posted Sept. 12.
Britain's top official for Northern Ireland, Peter Hain, said the British government would help in any way it could to secure Rory Carroll's release and urged his abductors to remember that he was Irish. Ireland is an officially neutral nation that was critical of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
AP
Thu, Oct. 20, 2005
CAROLYN THOMPSON - Associated Press
AMHERST, N.Y. - Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday the United States is "not doing bad at all" diplomatically, despite anti-American sentiment over the war in Iraq.
"If you stand back a bit," Powell told an audience at the University at Buffalo, "you might see we have done very well in most parts of the world."
Powell, a guest in the university's Distinguished Speakers Series, outlined strides made in Europe, China and Asia, and predicted nuclear disputes with North Korea and Iran would be solved diplomatically.
Although Powell last month called his prewar speech to the United Nations accusing Iraq of harboring weapons of mass destruction a blot on his record, he said Wednesday the United States could not walk away from the current fight until Iraq is stronger.
"We are where we are," he said.
"We have to stay the course," he said to applause.
Powell did not refer to the February 2003 speech - which lent credibility to President Bush's case for going to war - during his hourlong address.
It was a primary topic, however, among the roughly 50 protesters who gathered outside to denounce Powell, Bush and the war.
"We're sorry so many people think he's a celebrity. We think he's a war criminal," said James Ulrich, a university photographer who held a sign: "Colin Powell, Have you no shame?"
US soldiers killed in Iraq blast
Updated: Thursday, 20 October 2005 - 05:56 GMT 06:56 UK
Three US soldiers in Iraq were killed and another was injured when a bomb exploded next to their patrol north of Baghdad, the US army says.
The blast hit at about 1945 (1645GMT) on Wednesday, near Balad, 80km (50 miles) north of the capital.
The attack happened a few hours after a US soldier was killed and four were wounded in a roadside bomb near Tikrit.
At least 1,980 US troops have died in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003.
10/20/2005
BAGHDAD, Oct 20 (AFP) - Four US soldiers have been killed in two attacks in Iraq and a fifth died from a "non-hostile gunshot wound," the US military said Thursday.
Three US soldiers were killed and one injured late Wednesday when their patrol hit a a roadside bomb in the town of Balad, north of Baghdad, it said in a statement.
Further north near Tikrit, the hometown of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, a fourth soldier died when his vehicle caught fire Wednesday. Two wounded were evacuated to a hospital.
In a base near the northern city of Mosul, a fifth "died from a non-hostile gunshot wound" on Tuesday, the military said.
The latest deaths brought to 1,981 the number of US military personnel killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion of March 2003, according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures.
Since Saturday, the day of a largely peaceful vote on Iraq's new constitution, 12 US military personnel have been killed in fighting with insurgents.
Oct 20, 2005 - 4:48
At least a dozen terrorists were killed in the raid, officials said.
”Intelligence sources indicate that Sa’ad Ali Firas was highly regarded by many senior Al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists, to include Zarqawi himself,” the military said in a prepared release.
“Sa’ad Ali Firas facilitated high-level meetings in Ramadi and Fallujah, where senior-level terrorists gathered to discuss strategy and ongoing operations. Zarqawi was said to have attended some of these meetings,” the military said.
”Sa’ad Ali Firas was chiefly responsible for planning and executing all terrorist attacks on Iraqi and Coalition forces in the Ramadi and Fallujah areas,” the military said.
10 masked gunmen drag defense attorney from his office building in Baghdad
October 20, 2005 - 4:52 PM EDT
BAGHDAD, Iraq // Ten masked gunmen kidnapped the lawyer for one of Saddam Hussein's co-defendants today, police said.
Saadoun Sughaiyer al-Janabi, who was in the courtroom for Wednesday's opening session of the trial, is one of two lawyers for Awad Hamed al-Bandar, one of seven Baath Party officials being tried with Saddam.
The gunmen pulled up outside al-Janabi's office in Baghdad's eastern Shaab district in the evening, broke into the building and dragged him out, said Police Maj. Falah al-Mohammedawi of the Interior Ministry.
Al-Janabi was one of 13 defense lawyers in Wednesday's session, seated at desks along the side of the courtroom. Some of the lawyers were shown in the television broadcast of the trial, but it was not immediately known if al-Janabi appeared.
Identities of the five judges and the prosecutors in Saddam's trial have been kept secret to prevent insurgent reprisals. The names of the chief judge and the top prosecutor were the only ones revealed, and only on the day of the trial, when they both appeared extensively in the broadcast.
Defense attorneys' names have not been hidden -- although the lawyers of Saddam's co-defendants have not been widely publicized. Saddam had two lawyers at the trial, Khalil al-Dulaimi and Khamis al-Ubaidi.
Saddam and his co-defendants are on trial for murder, torture, forced expulsion and illegal imprisonment for an 1982 massacre of Shiites in the town of Dujail, north of Baghdad. They could face the death sentence if convicted.
The kidnapped lawyer's client, al-Bandar, was the head of Saddam's Revolutionary Court at the time of the massacre and is accused of issuing execution orders against 148 Dujail residents
The Associated Press
Tell the truth...you posted this just so I could say .....
I LOATHE the media! Also, powell needs to sit down and sthu!
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