Iraq and Iran War Drums
October 1, 2002 - October 31, 2002
The following news stories reflect the current public rumblings dealing with the possible invasion of Iraq. Those preceded with "Item Number" are from the Periscope email news summaries -- a clipping service dealing with items of interest in geopolitical and military events.
Item Number:2
Date: 10/01/2002
AUSTRIA - WEAPONS INSPECTORS BEGIN DISCUSSIONS (OCT 01/AP)
ASSOCIATED PRESS -- United Nations weapons inspectors began meetings
with Iraqi experts at the International Atomic Energy Agency's
headquarters in Vienna, reports the Associated Press.
Hans Blix, head of thr United Nations Monitoring, Verification and
Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), said that he expected the
discussions to operate under the assumption that no sites will be
off-limits in Iraq, including Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces.
The Iraq delegation was supposed to bring a list of items that could
have military purposes, including the current locations and uses of
those items.
During the two days of talks, each side will go over "practical
arrangements" with the Iraqis, including accommodation, security and
logistics for Blix's teams, the UNMOVIC chief said.
Item Number:7
Date: 10/01/2002
IRAN - GULF DEFENSE MINISTERS MEET (OCT 01/TEHT)
TEHRAN TIMES -- Kuwait Defense Minister Mubarak al-Hamad al-Sabah
met with his Iranian counterpart, Rear Adm. Ali Shamkhani, in
Tehran, reports the Tehran Times.
The two ministers discussed ways to strengthen bilateral relations,
as well as cooperatation on regional defense and security issues.
"Expansion of political, cultural and economic ties between the two
countries in recent years has prepared suitable grounds for
accelerating joint cooperation in defense and security areas," said
Al-Sabah.
"Regular visits will pave the way for promotion of cooperation to
guarantee security in the region," said Shamkhani.
Item Number:8
Date: 10/01/2002
IRAQ - COALITION FIGHTERS HIT BASRA AIRPORT AGAIN (OCT 01/KY)
KYODO -- Allied planes patrolling the southern no-fly zone attacked
a Basra airport for the second time on Sunday, reports Kyodo News.
An Iraqi Transport and Communications Ministry spokesman said that
the coalition fighters destroyed the airport's civilian radar system
and damaged other airport buildings.
U.S. Central Command said that U.S. and British warplanes hit "Iraqi
air defense facilities ... in response to Iraqi hostile acts against
coalition aircraft monitoring the Southern No-Fly Zone."
Basra is a dual-use airport, handling both military and civilian
traffic.
Item Number:9
Date: 10/01/2002
ISRAEL - DEFENSE MINISTRY TO TALK WITH U.S. ABOUT IRAQ CAMPAIGN (OCT
01/AFP)
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE -- Top Israeli defense officials left for
Washington for talks with the United States about a planned U.S.-led
attack on Iraq, Agence France-Presse reports.
Gen. Amos Yaron's trip to the Pentagon is being made two weeks early
because U.S. preparations for an attack have accelerated, Israeli
officials told the daily Yediot Aharonot newspaper.
Stepping up plans to attack Iraq was part of the pressure Washington
put on Israeli Prime Minister to lift the siege on the West Bank
headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, they added.
Item Number:20
Date: 10/01/2002
TURKEY - SEIZED MATERIAL IS NOT URANIUM, SAY OFFICIALS (OCT 01/ANATOLIA)
ANATOLIA NEWS AGENCY -- Officials at the Turkish Atomic Energy
Institute said a substance seized by police acting on a tip near the
border with Syria is not weapons-grade uranium as first reported,
the Anatolia News Agency reports.
Scientists determined that the material taken in a taxi last week in
Sanliurfa province consisted of iron, manganese, zinc and zirconium.
Two men were arrested after security forces received information
they were trying to sell the material as refined uranium. They have
since been released.
Item Number:21
Date: 10/01/2002
TURKEY - WASHINGTON SOUNDS OUT ANKARA ON IRAQ (OCT 01/DN)
DEFENSE NEWS -- U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Elizabeth Jones
met with Turkish Foreign Minister Sukru Sina Gurel and military
officials in Ankara to find out Turkey's position on a possible U.S.
attack on Iraq, Defense News reports.
Jones, whose visit is one of several U.S. attempts to pin down the
positions of possible allies in the region, said she told Gurel that
Washington's goal remains the same: Iraqi disarmament.
Turkish diplomats said Ankara is demanding assurances from
Washington that the U.S. will not allow Iraqi Kurds to set up an
independent state in northern Iraq.
Washington sees Iraqi Kurds as crucial allies in any attack on
Baghdad.
Item Number:22
Date: 10/01/2002
UNITED KINGDOM - BLAIR BACKED BY HIS PARTY ON IRAQ (OCT 01/AP)
ASSOCIATED PRESS -- A meeting between British Prime Minister Tony
Blair and his Labor Party resulted in a nonbonding resolution to
support the use of force against Iraq if all else fails and if the
U.N. supports action, the Associated Press reports.
The motion called on the British government to try every peaceful
means possible to disarm Saddam Hussein through U.N. resolutions,
but admitted that a "last resort...could involve military action."
A motion rejecting the use of force and saying there was little
evidence to substantiate claims that Baghdad has weapons of mass
destructions was handily defeated.
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 3 — U.N. arms inspectors indicated Thursday that they were ready to delay a visit to Iraq — as the United States and Britain wanted — while the U.N. Security Council deliberated a tough new resolution. Russia has openly criticized the proposed resolution, but the United States and Britain want it approved before inspectors are dispatched.
THE
INSPECTORS had been planning to go to Baghdad with advance teams on Oct.
19, but chief inspector Hans Blix and Mohamed Elbaradei, director-general
of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the full support of the
council was needed.
“We need the unanimous support by the Security Council in order to do inspections,”
Elbaradei told reporters, a reference to divisions within the 15-member
body. “We need to align our dates with the deliberation of the Security
Council.”
Blix said the inspectors had the legal right to begin their work under
existing council resolutions. But he said it would be “awkward” if the
Security Council approved a new mandate after the inspections were already
under way.
The council members reached no conclusion on a date for inspections to
start but U.N. sources said the inspectors would delay their departure
until the issue is resolved. Blix said he was going to Washington on Friday
to “hear something about what their planning is and we will tell them about
our planning.”
‘LOOSE ENDS’
Blix briefed the Security Council on Thursday on his agreement with Iraq
for resuming inspections. The closed-door meeting was the first opportunity
for all 15 council members to discuss the deal and the next steps for returning
inspectors to Iraq after nearly four years.
U.S. officials told NBC News that Blix informed the Security Council that
there were “loose ends” regarding inspections that were important to talk
about.
While the United States and Britain have demanded that no advance party
leave for Iraq until the new resolution governing inspections is agreed
upon, other council members believe the inspectors can start work now under
existing resolutions.
The United States and Britain, however, are demanding much more. On Thursday,
British leader Blair poured scorn on this week’s agreement between Iraq
and U.N. weapons inspectors to resume inspections that do not include access
to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s palatial residences.
“The access must include the presidential palaces,” Blair told a news conference.
“It’s no good allowing inspectors access to 99 percent of Iraq if the weapons
of mass destruction are being stored and worked on in the remaining 1 percent
of Iraq.”
Blair said that only a “tough new weapons inspection regime” that guarantees
the total disarmament of Saddam’s nuclear, chemical and biological weapons
programs would suffice. He said the program must be backed up by force.
“If it doesn’t happen peacefully, it will have to happen through military
action,” Blair said.
“The world demands total, unfettered, unobstructed access to Iraq’s weapons
of mass destruction programs.”
BUSH’S WARNING
For his part, President Bush said the United Nations needed to show resolve
and Saddam was obliged to fulfill his word, an apparent reference to past
U.N. resolutions.
“And if neither of them acts, the United States in deliberate fashion will
lead a coalition to take away the world’s worst weapons from one of the
world’s worst leaders,” Bush said, addressing Hispanic congressional and
administration leaders.
Iraq continues to deny Washington and London’s claim that Baghdad is producing
and stockpiling biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. On Wednesday,
Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz rejected the push for a new resolution
on weapons inspections. “This proposal of the United States is unacceptable,
not only by Iraq, it’s unacceptable by the Security Council because there
is no need for a new resolution,” Aziz said.
SECURITY COUNCIL
DISCUSSIONS
Blair said discussions with wary U.N. Security Council members were “at
an important stage.”
The toughly worded U.S. draft resolution — obtained Wednesday by NBC News
— would give U.N. inspectors broad new powers to hunt for weapons of mass
destruction and provide them with military backing to carry out the search.
Under the proposal, the Security Council would give Iraq 30 days to compile
a “complete declaration of all aspects of its program to develop chemical,
biological and nuclear weapons.”
If any “false statements or omissions” are in that declaration, member
states would be authorized to “use all necessary means to restore international
peace and security in the area” — diplomatic language permitting military
force.
The United States does not want Blix’s team to head for Iraq until inspectors
have “new instructions,” White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Wednesday.
“The fear here is that Iraq’s goal is to engage in a ploy so that they
can drag this out before the world as they continue to build up their arms,”
he said.
Russia, China and France say they are not ready to authorize force before
inspectors have time to test Iraq’s willingness to comply.
RUSSIA WARY
On Thursday, Russia’s foreign ministry said Moscow could not accept mention
of automatic use of force.
“Attempts to make the U.N. Security Council subscribe to automatic use
of force against Iraq are unacceptable for us,” Deputy Foreign Minister
Alexander Saltanov told Interfax news agency.
France has offered a counterproposal giving Iraq a chance to cooperate
but warns that “any serious failure by Iraq to comply with its obligations”
would lead to an immediate Security Council meeting to “consider any measure
to ensure full compliance.”
Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji supports the French proposal.
Nonetheless, U.S. diplomats welcomed signs that Russia, France and China
were ready for some compromise empowering the inspectors and hastening
a timetable for Iraqi compliance.
SADDAM’S PALACES
EXEMPT
In Vienna on Tuesday,
Saddam Hussein’s special adviser, Gen. Amir al-Sadi, agreed to “immediate,
unconditional and unrestricted access” to all sites, Blix said, including
the Ministry of Defense and Republican Guard facilities. But Saddam’s palaces
remain exempt from surprise inspections under a 1998 agreement.
The U.S. resolution would end the exemption for those eight sites, encompassing
12 square miles, and establish a U.N. security force to protect the inspectors.
The same U.N. security force or the forces of a member state, such as the
United States, also would enforce “no-fly” and “no-drive” zones around
inspection sites.
David Albright, an American physicist and former weapons inspector, said
he was “not comfortable at all” with the idea of an armed force accompanying
inspectors.
“If they’re not going to cooperate you can’t make them cooperate with an
armed force,” he said. “You can’t put a gun to the head of an Iraqi and
say tell me the truth.”
NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski and Tammy Kupperman at the Pentagon, Betsy Steuart
at the State Department and Linda Fasulo at the United Nations, The Associated
Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Pentagon says it is not preparing a surprise attack on Iraq - THE WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 — The Pentagon is taking steps to prepare for a rapid massing of U.S. forces around Iraq in the weeks ahead, bolstering stocks of military equipment and ammunition in the Persian Gulf, expanding command facilities and readying Navy aircraft carriers in U.S. ports to steam to the region.
DEFENSE OFFICIALS have sought to keep the buildup as low-key as possible,
to avoid upstaging the delicate political and diplomatic maneuvering underway
to win authorization from Congress and the United Nations for possible
U.S. military action against the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Many of the military moves have come under the cover of training exercises
or routine operations.
But they reflect a growing seriousness on the part of the Bush administration
about the possibility of war. Pentagon officials said the actions are meant
to enable a faster deployment if President Bush decides to attack.
“We can do a certain amount of things now that will help shorten the time
needed to get everything else in place later,” a senior defense official
said. “It doesn’t mean that we’re definitely going to do anything, but
it hedges our bets.”
The stealthy nature of the buildup has fed suspicions that the Pentagon
is preparing for a surprise attack on Iraq. But in interviews, defense
officials dismissed such speculation as unrealistic. Before any military
action, they said, there will need to be a mobilization of several Army
divisions, scores of Air Force aircraft and armadas of ships, plus a call-up
of tens of thousands of reservists — moves that would not go unnoticed.
JANUARY AT EARLIEST,
OFFICIALS SAY
Given the time required to get these forces to the Gulf region, the earliest
an attack is likely to come is January, the officials said. But the measures
being put in place will allow U.S. forces, after arriving in the region,
to swing quickly into action against Iraq and avoid a prolonged and costly
lingering of forces in Kuwait and other planned staging areas.
“I think you’ll probably see a rolling start,” a senior military officer
said. “It won’t be getting everything there and spending two or three months
getting comfortable.”
The Air Force, whose warplanes likely would lead off any assault, has stepped
up production of the satellite-guidance kits used to turn “dumb” bombs
into precision munitions and has been replenishing the stocks of bombs
it keeps in the region after dropping many over Afghanistan.
U.S. authorities also have approached Britain for permission to move B-2
bombers from Missouri to the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, a British
base about 3,400 miles from Baghdad. It was used by the United States as
a staging point for B-52 bombers in the 19120 Persian Gulf War.
For months, the Air Force has been upgrading airfields in Kuwait, Bahrain,
the United Arab Emirates and Oman to handle expanded U.S. air operations
and be prepared for the possibility that U.S. access to airfields in Saudi
Arabia might be limited by Saudi reluctance to support an all-out attack
on Iraq. A backup command post for running an air campaign has been established
in Qatar to substitute for an elaborate U.S. command center completed last
year at Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan Air Base.
The Army kept about 2,000 soldiers in Kuwait for much of the 1990s as a
tripwire against possible Iraqi aggression, but it has tripled the size
of that force since November. A brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division is
there now. The Army has acknowledged transferring equipment from its Qatar
stockpile to Kuwait last summer to allow for larger Army exercises there,
and more Army gear is being shipped to the Gulf from stocks in Germany,
officials said.
About 2,000 Marines, members of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, also
are in Kuwait in an exercise, dubbed “Eagle Mace,” that affords training
close to the Iraq border. The Belleau Wood, flagship of the Marines’ three-ship
“amphibious-ready group,” has been off the coast of the Horn of Africa
as a launching pad for possible Special Forces operations in Somalia or
Yemen. But defense officials said the ship could easily shift into position
nearer Iraq.
Two Navy carriers, along with their customary accompaniment of destroyers,
cruisers and submarines, are within striking distance of Iraq. The George
Washington, which deployed in June, is in the Mediterranean; and the Lincoln,
which got underway in July, is in the northern Arabian Sea. Another carrier,
the Harry S. Truman, is due to leave Virginia in December.
Maintenance work and air crew training on three other carriers on the West
Coast — the Constellation, the Nimitz and the Carl Vinson — have been accelerated
to prepare them for possible deployment to the Gulf region as well, Navy
officials said. Still another carrier, the Kitty Hawk, based in Japan,
would be available for Gulf action.
HUNDREDS OF STAFF
HEADING TO QATAR
Next month, the U.S. Central Command, which has responsibility for military
operations in the region, plans to move a staff of 600 people to Qatar
from its headquarters in Florida. Although billed as a training exercise,
the move will allow the establishment of a main command post that could
be used in the event of war. A senior defense official said more troop
movements to the Gulf could be announced within the next week or two, including
the arrival of an Army headquarters contingent that would command land
forces in a war.
Two weeks ago, Gen. Richard G. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
disclosed that the Pentagon had resumed inoculating certain troops for
anthrax. Although other defense officials said the resumption had been
planned for months, the move meant important protection for U.S. forces
facing the threat of biological attack.
The military buildup has been accompanied by an increase in U.S. airstrikes
on Iraqi air defense targets, reflecting what Pentagon officials say has
been an increase in Iraqi provocations. But the types of targets also have
expanded. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld disclosed last month that
he had directed commanders to focus retaliatory strikes on air defense
communications centers in an attempt to degrade Iraq’s air defense network.
On Thursday, U.S. warplanes dropped thousands of leaflets over the southern
zone, warning Iraqi air defense crews they will be attacked and destroyed
if they track or fire at American and British aircraft. Defense officials
said the leafleting was not the opening of a psychological war campaign.
But it indicated a Pentagon effort to increase pressure on Iraqi military
units, many of which the U.S. military hopes to persuade not to fight in
event of an invasion.
“This is part of an overall program to make sure that the folks on the
ground understand what their risk is, and how the coalition views their
attacks on our aircraft,” Rear Adm. David Gove, deputy director for operations
on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, told reporters yesterday.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
Item Number:12
Date: 10/04/2002
IRAN - TEHRAN TO START DEFENSE COOPERATION WITH KUWAIT (OCT 04/REU)
REUTERS -- Iran and Kuwait signed a military cooperation agreement
following talks between their defense ministers, reports Reuters.
Iranian Defense Minister Adm. Ali Shamkhani said the accord includes
exchanges of military experts and equipment.
"God willing, there will be an exchange of hardware," said
Shamkhani. "This is the first step ... and a suitable model to be
followed in cooperation between Iran and regional countries."
Item Number:13
Date: 10/04/2002
IRAN - TEHRAN'S ROCKETS ARE MEANT TO DETER ISRAEL, SAYS MISSILE CHIEF
(OCT 04/AL-BAWABA)
AL-BAWABA -- The head of an Iranian missile development project and
the leader of the country's space development program said Tehran's
long-range rockets are meant to deter an Israeli strike on Iran,
Al-Bawaba reports.
Ahmed Wahid said that, though Iran does not have nuclear weapons,
the development of the Shahab medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM)
is a response to the development of Israel's Jericho II
intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM).
The test in May of the Shahab 3 "proved Iran's ability to develop
more accurate ballistic missiles, with a range of over 1,300
kilometers," Wahid said.
Wahid added that Iran has plans to develop even longer range
missiles, but denied that Tehran wanted to develop missiles with the
capability to target the United States.
Item Number:14
Date: 10/04/2002
IRAQ - 'YOU COULD BE NEXT,' WARNS PSYWAR DOCUMENT (OCT 04/CNN)
CABLE NEWS NETWORK -- The U.S. has dropped leaflets on southern Iraq
as part of a psychological warfare campaign to reduce support for
Saddam Hussein, reports CNN.
A Pentagon translation of one document reads: "The destruction
experienced by your colleagues in other air defense locations is a
response to your continuing aggression toward planes of the
coalition forces. No tracking or firing on these aircraft will be
tolerated. You could be next."
One airdrop of leaflets came under fire from Iraq anti-air gunners
as it flew in the southern no-fly zone.
In response, U.S. and British warplanes attacked a military air
defense center southeast of Baghdad, according to the U.S. Central
Command headquarters in Florida.
Item Number:17
Date: 10/04/2002
NATO - U.S. PUTS ALLIANCE ON THE SPOT OVER IRAQ (OCT 04/TIMES)
THE TIMES -- U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley
challenged NATO to give its full backing to Washington in military
action against Saddam Hussein, the Times of London reports.
Hadley told a NATO conference in Brussels that he expected to see
solidarity from the alliance for the U.S. approach towards Iraq at
next month's conference in Prague.
"Prague will be a place where NATO must speak about Iraq. The Iraq
regime poses a unique threat to the national security of each of our
countries. This means that it is a challenge for NATO implicitly, if
not explicitly.... The summit will be a valuable opportunity to show
allied solidarity in the face of this common threat," Hadley said.
NATO diplomatic sources said the alliance would not have a role in
any action against Iraq, but that weapons of mass destruction would
be an agenda topic in Prague.
Item Number:23
Date: 10/04/2002
UNITED NATIONS - CHIEF INSPECTOR WANTS CLEAR MANDATE (OCT 04/UPI)
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL -- Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix
said there are "loose ends" he would like to see resolved before
inspectors return to Iraq, UPI reports.
Blix, speaking to the Security Council, said "it would be awkward if
we were doing inspections and then a new mandate with new changed
directives were to arrive...it would be better to have those early."
"We can go back there, no one denies that we have a legal basis for
doing that. The question was whether one should solve every
practical arrangement -- we solved a good deal in Vienna -- but
there are matters and some loose ends that need to be resolved
before we go to Baghdad," Blix said.
U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the U.N. James Cunningham denied asking
Blix to delay the resumption of inspections until after a new
resolution was in place.
Item Number:3
Date: 10/07/2002
IRAQ - COMMANDERS AUTHORIZED TO USE CHEMICAL WEAPONS (OCT 07/NW)
NEWSWEEK -- Saddam Hussein has authorized local Iraqi military
commanders to use chemical weapons the moment a ground invasion
begins if there is no communication with Baghdad, Newsweek reports.
The conversation between Saddam and his commanders, said to have
taken place in August, was detected by intelligence services in the
Persian Gulf.
"This campaign will be one of life or death for this regime, and we
must use everything we have," Saddam reportedly told the commanders.
Item Number:4
Date: 10/07/2002
IRAQ - EXILES SAY SADDAM'S INNER CIRCLE IS DEFECTING (OCT 07/DT)
DAILY TELEGRAPH -- Iraqi exiles said that members of Saddam
Hussein's inner circle are making discreet peace offers or defecting
to the opposition in the hopes of being spared if the Iraqi leader
is brought down, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The head of the Iraqi National Accord opposition said his group has
received senior defectors from the Iraqi security services, which
are a vital part of Saddam's power.
Kurdish opposition groups also said they have received secret offers
from military commanders to turn their units against Saddam when a
war begins.
Members of the central pillar of Saddam's tribal power base, the
al-Majid clan, have also sought assurance of their fate in a
post-Saddam world, the Kurds said.
Item Number:5
Date: 10/07/2002
IRAQ - SADDAM WILL FACE COUP IF ATTACKED, PREDICT EXPERTS (OCT 07/WP)
WASHINGTON POST -- Senior U.S. government intelligence sources and
outside analysts believe that Saddam Hussein will probably be
overthrown at the last moment before Washington launches a ground
invasion of Iraq, the Washington Post reports.
Saddam's own inner circle would take a chance and kill him in the
hopes of being his successors rather than being killed during or
imprisoned after the fighting, said intelligence experts and senior
administration officials in interviews.
Those taking action against Saddam "will have to be certain the
Americans are coming with overwhelming force before they move," said
a top government analyst.
"It always has been the view of the intelligence community that
there was a low chance of success in the absence of the sound of
military footsteps in Baghdad," added a former senior official in
the Clinton administration, citing a failed 1996 attempt by the CIA
to use Iraqi military officers to get rid of Saddam.
Item Number:12
Date: 10/07/2002
PERSIAN GULF - CARRIER DEPLOYMENTS MAY INDICATE IRAQ ATTACK (OCT 07/REU)
REUTERS -- By the end of the year, up to four U.S. aircraft carriers
are expected to be within striking distance of Iraq, and their
deployment could signal the earliest opportunity for a strike on
Iraq.
Navy officials said two Nimitz-class carrier battle groups, the
George Washington and the Abraham Lincoln, are already in the
region, reports Reuters.
The Nimitz-class Harry Truman and the Kitty Hawk-class Constellation
carrier groups are to relieve them in November and December,
respectively.
Assuming the Washington and Lincoln stay in the Persian Gulf beyond
their six-month deployments, the four carrier groups will combine
nearly 250 combat planes, 2,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles and several
warships.
Item Number:20
Date: 10/07/2002
USA - CDC ANNOUNCES BIOTERROR WARNING SYSTEM (OCT 07/BG)
BOSTON GLOBE -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) will establish a national bioterror attack warning system,
reports the Boston Globe.
The computerized surveillance network will use a system developed at
Harvard University to detect the early signs of an anthrax, smallpox
or other disease outbreak.
The system will review thousands of patient diagnoses daily and
search for outbreak patterns, such as sudden increase in flu-like
symptoms.
The CDC is investing $1.2 million in a trial version of the
detection network, which is expected to be in operation within a
year.
Item Number:22
Date: 10/07/2002
USA - PENTAGON CONTINUES ESSM PROGRAM SUPPORT (OCT 07/MENL)
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE -- Greece, Turkey and other allies will receive
continued support from the United States for the Evolved Sea Sparrow
Missile (ESSM) program, the Middle East Newsline reports.
The Pentagon awarded a contract worth $18.2 million to Raytheon for
continued support of the ESSM program, ensuring production of the
missile during the 2003 fiscal year.
Other countries participating in the ESSM program are Australia,
Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain.
Item Number:23
Date: 10/07/2002
USA - TWO NATO APPLICANTS PLEDGE HELP AGAINST IRAQ (OCT 07/DN)
DEFENSE NEWS -- Bulgaria and Romania have said they would allow the
U.S. and allied forces to use their countries for logistical and
other support if the U.N. authorizes an attack on Iraq, Defense News
reports.
Both countries are applicants to NATO and are among the seven the
alliance is expected to invite to join in November.
Bulgaria said the allies could use the country's airspace and the
airport at Sarafovo, about 250 miles east of the capital of Sofia.
Romania has offered its air bases and ports on the Black Sea, which
could be used to enhance and support existing U.S. bases in Turkey
and Saudi Arabia.
Item Number:24
Date: 10/07/2002
USA - WHITE HOUSE LAYS FOUNDATION FOR WAR CRIMES TRIALS (OCT 07/LAT)
LOS ANGELES TIMES -- Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and a "dirty dozen"
of other officials are the focus of preparatory work to prosecute
Iraqi leaders for genocide, mass executions, ethnic cleansing, rape
and other crimes against humanity, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The Dept. of Defense, the State Dept. and the intelligence community
are all involved in an effort to prepare dossiers for war crimes
prosecution.
"We need to do our part to document the abuses, to collect the
evidence that points to who is responsible. We feel there has to be
accountability for what has occurred. You can't brush aside the
deaths of more than 100,000 people," said Pierre-Richard Prosper,
the State Department's ambassador at large for war crimes.
After Saddam on the list comes Ali Hassan Majid, also known as
"Chemical Ali," who was reportedly involved in using chemical
weapons to kill tens of thousands of Kurds in northern Iraq in 1988.
Others on the list include Saddam's two sons and three
half-brothers.
Item Number:6
Date: 10/08/2002
IRAN - TEHRAN RESTRICTS ITS AIRSPACE FOR IRAQ ATTACK (OCT 08/AP)
ASSOCIATED PRESS -- Iran has refused to allow the U.S. to use its
airspace to attack Iraq and vowed to defend its territory, reports
the Associated Press.
"We hope such an error will not be committed by anybody," said a
Foreign Ministry spokesman. "It's clear our armed forces are
prepared to defend the country's territorial integrity and its
airspace and land."
The spokesman said that while Iran was not a friend of Iraq it would
not take part in an attack on its neighbor.
"Iran will not participate in any attack on a Muslim and neighboring
country," said the spokesman.
Item Number:7
Date: 10/08/2002
ISRAEL - ARROWS SET TO SHOOT DOWN SCUDS (OCT 08/NYT)
NEW YORK TIMES -- Israel is deploying the first operational national
missile defense system and is prepared to use it to shield Tel Aviv
and other major cities from a possible Iraqi Scud attack, reports
the New York Times.
The $2 billion system, known as the Arrow, was designed to avoid
deficiencies found in the U.S. Patriot missile defense system.
Israel says Patriot batteries were largely unsuccessful in
protecting against Iraqi Scud attacks in 19120.
The U.S. helped to fund the Arrow, which has been deployed for two
years at Palmachim Air Force Base, near Tel Aviv, with two further
batteries to see service within two years.
The Arrow is a theater defense system, designed to shoot down
medium- and short-range ballistic missiles. Because of Israel's
small size, the three batteries, each with six missiles, will
provide a nationwide shield.
Unlike the Patriot system, which has initially built with the
primary mission of shooting down aircraft, the Arrow was
specifically designed to intercept ballistic missiles.
Item Number:11
Date: 10/08/2002
KAZAKHSTAN - RADIOACTIVE WASTE HEADING FOR CHINA SEIZED (OCT 08/UPI)
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL -- Customs inspectors in Kazakhstan
halted an attempt to smuggle radioactive waste from Russia into
China, UPI reports.
The waste, weighing 1,974 pounds, was in a truck when it was found
by guards in eastern Kazakhstan on the Chinese border.
The 18 bags of waste contained what looked like brown sand and
tested as solid radioactive waste, according to the Kazakh
sanitation and epidemical station.
Item Number:18
Date: 10/08/2002
UNITED KINGDOM - TROOPS LIKELY TO RECEIVE BATTLE ORDERS BY NOVEMBER
(OCT 08/DT)
DAILY TELEGRAPH -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to
issue an order by the end of October for the armed forces to begin
preparations for war with Iraq, the Daily Telegraph reports.
A senior Whitehall source said armored forces will be needed to
attack Saddam Hussein's military, not a light infantry force.
Britain is expected to send three brigades made up of armor and
mechanized infantry to Kuwait as part of the 1st (U.K.) Armored
Division, along with support troops and other forces for a total of
20,000 troops.
The source said British troops could be deployed in two months and
ready for action a few weeks later, after preparing the vehicles for
the environment.
Item Number:21
Date: 10/08/2002
USA - BUSH EXPLAINS HIS IRAQ POLICY (OCT 08/WP)
WASHINGTON POST -- In a televised speech from Cincinnati, President
George Bush, seeking to gain support for a congressional resolution
giving him the authority to use force against Iraq, warned the
American public that Saddam Hussein poses an immediate threat to the
United States, the Washington Post reports.
"While there are many dangers in the world, the threat from Iraq
stands alone -- because it gathers the most serious dangers of our
age in one place. Iraq's weapons of mass destruction are controlled
by a murderous tyrant who has already used chemical weapons to kill
thousands of people," Bush said.
However, Bush said the pending congressional resolution did not make
war with Baghdad "imminent or unavoidable."
The president also said that getting Iraq to disarm "is crucial to
winning the war against terror," again raising allegations of ties
between Baghdad and the Al-Qaida terrorist group and the possibility
that Saddam would share weapons of mass destruction with those who
want to attack the United States.
Item Number:23
Date: 10/08/2002
USA - NAVY DEPLOYS AIRBORNE MINEHUNTING SONAR SYSTEM (OCT 08/USN)
U.S. NAVY -- Naval Sea Systems Command introduced a new minehunting
sonar system to the fleet to improve mine clearance operations,
reports a U.S. Navy release.
Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 14, Naval Air Station
Norfolk, has been equipped with the new AN/AQS-14A helicopter towed
array.
The system uses high-resolution imagery to locate mine-like objects.
Operators view the underwater sonar imagery on a video monitor to
detect and classify objects in real-time.
The AN/AQS-14A is the only airborne high-speed minehunting sonar
system currently deployed by the Navy.
Item Number:6
Date: 10/09/2002
IRAQ - NEW CONSTRUCTION AT OLD NUCLEAR SITES (OCT 09/AP)
ASSOCIATED PRESS -- U.S. officials said Baghdad's efforts to conceal
activity at several former nuclear weapons research and development
sites have made it difficult to ascertain the purpose of several new
structures at the facilities, the Associated Press reports.
Iraqi officials have denied they are working on nuclear weapons, but
the previous use of the sites and several other indications suggest
otherwise, the officials said.
Baghdad's "denial and deception" efforts have stymied intelligence
agencies "from producing the kinds of smoking guns and smoking-gun
photographs...demanded by those who are skeptical of Iraqi
violations of U.N. resolutions," said Defense Intelligence Agency
(DIA) analyst John Yurechko.
The White House released satellite photos of two former nuclear
weapons research sites in Iraq following President Bush's speech on
Monday and a DIA analyst identified another two during a Tuesday
briefing on Iraq's attempts to conceal its activities. There is new
construction at each site.
Item Number:24
Date: 10/09/2002
UNITED KINGDOM - FORCING HUSSEIN OUT CALLED ILLEGAL (OCT 09/FT)
FINANCIAL TIMES -- U.K. Attorney General Lord Goldsmith warned Prime
Minister Tony Blair that attacking Iraq to force a regime change
would be a violation of international law, reports the Financial
Times.
The attorney general's advice to Blair describes limited
circumstances when international law allows for military action to
support U.N. Security Council resolutions and offers support to a
new U.N. resolution, but it rules out war as a tool for ousting
Saddam Hussein.
Last month, Blair told the House of Commons that the U.K. "will
always act in accordance with international law."
Item Number:26
Date: 10/09/2002
UNITED NATIONS - FRANCE, RUSSIA SIGNAL COMPROMISE MAY BE IN THE WORKS
(OCT 09/TIMES)
THE TIMES -- France and Russia are edging closer to a deal with the
United States and Britain on a new United Nations resolution on
Iraq, the Times of London reports.
Paris and Moscow have taken passages from U.S. President George
Bush's speech on Monday that war is neither imminent nor inevitable
to mean that their efforts to steer the U.S. away from a policy of
"regime change" as the sole solution are working.
Bush said Saddam Hussein could avoid a military conflict if Iraq
disarms and complies with all U.N. resolutions. This prompted the
leader of French President Chirac's center-right party, Alain Juppe,
to claim, "French diplomacy has made itself heard."
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov indicated Moscow's change in
position by saying Russia would support proposals that increase the
effectiveness of weapons inspectors, a reversal of the previous
position.
Item Number:27
Date: 10/09/2002
USA - CIA REPORT WARNS ATTACK MAY PUSH SADDAM TO VENGEANCE (OCT 09/NYT)
NEW YORK TIMES -- A new CIA assessment states that an attack by the
U.S. on Iraq could remove any constraints that Saddam Hussein might
have from using terrorism, weapons of mass destruction or both in
order to strike back, the New York Times reports.
The assessment, in a letter signed by the deputy director of the CIA
on behalf of Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet, said,
"Baghdad for now appears to be drawing a line short of conducting
terrorist attacks" with conventional weapons or weapons of mass
destruction against the U.S.
"Should Saddam conclude that a U.S.-led attack could no longer be
deterred, he probably would become much less constrained in adopting
terrorist action. [Terrorism or WMDs could be] his last chance to
exact vengeance by taking a large number of victims with him," the
letter says.
However, the CIA also called credible reports that Al-Qaida has
tried to gain contacts in Iraq in order to acquire WMDs and that
Iraq had given Al-Qaida members training in making bombs, poisons
and gases.