Operation Phantom Fury--Day 344 - Now Operations River Blitz; Matador--Day 239

Various Media Outlets | 10/17/05

[Gucho]

Iraqis celebrate a 'yes' vote in the constitutional referendum in front of the Imam Hussein Shrine on a car with a poster of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in the southern Iraq city of Kerbala, late October 16, 2005. Iraqis look to have voted 'Yes' to their U.S.-brokered constitution, as poll workers counted and recounted piles of ballots across Iraq on Sunday and the possibility of a Sunni minority veto receded. Election officials said partial official results from the vote could be available as early as Sunday, but that it would take several days for the verdict to become totally clear. (REUTERS/Mushtaq Mohamad)

[Gucho]

U.S. President George W. Bush speaks to reporters on the success of the constitutional referendum in Iraq as he returns to the White House in Washington, D.C., October 16, 2005. Iraq's constitutional referendum should encourage opposition Sunni Arabs to work through the political process, which would help avoid a regional war, weaken the insurgency and speed the U.S. Pullout, a leading U.S. senator said on Sunday. (REUTERS/Joshua Roberts)

[Gucho]

Previous Thread:

Operation Phantom Fury--Day 343 - Now Operations River Blitz; Matador--Day 238

[Gucho]

U.S. Still on Offensive after Support to Iraqi Referendum

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16, 2005 – U.S military forces in Iraq are staying on the offensive after completing security operations in support of that country's landmark, Oct. 15 constitutional referendum, officials said.

Coalition forces reportedly killed several terrorists in a raid on a terrorist safe house in Karabilah, in western Iraq, on Oct. 16. The raid was part of a large-scale anti-terrorist operation that, apparently, had multiple intelligence sources. The safe house was being used to attack local Iraqi citizens, Iraqi security forces and coalition forces, officials said.

When they arrived at the suspected safe house, coalition forces reportedly were engaged by armed terrorists who were attempting to get away. Coalition troops pursued and engaged the terrorists, killing three. They then found a small cache of weapons, ammunition and grenades, officials said.

During the initial firefight, two terrorists moved to adjacent houses where coalition soldiers engaged and killed them, officials added.

The assault force also discovered five armed terrorists who were setting up a mortar position. Coalition troops called in close-air support and destroyed the position. All five terrorists were killed, officials said.

Coalition raids, they added, have continually destroyed and disrupted al Qaeda's terrorist network in Iraq.

Coalition forces captured one of Al Qaeda's chief propagandists in Iraq -- Yasir Khudr Muhammad Jasim al-Karbali (aka Abu Dijana) -- during a Sept. 25 raid. Dijana reportedly was al Qaeda's propaganda cell leader for the cities of Karabilah, Al Qaim and Husaybah.

Abu Dijana's cell was comprised of photographers. They used video and still photographic images to document insurgent attacks against Iraqi citizens and Iraqi and coalition forces, officials said.

Dijana's operation apparently worked in the following way: Local Al Qaeda leaders notified him of impending attacks in their areas. Dijana then contacted his terrorist cell members and provided them with equipment and supplies to record the attacks, officials said.

Dijana sent photographs and video of the attacks to other senior al Qaeda propagandists in Iraq. The images were made into terrorist propaganda products for distribution on print and Internet sites. These images were designed to intimidate Iraqi citizens and security forces, officials said.

Elsewhere in Iraq, five soldiers engaged in combat operations in Ramadi were killed in action when their vehicle was attacked with an improvised explosive device on Oct. 15. The five soldiers were assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward).

A Marine in Salqlawiyah also was killed while engaged in combat operations when an IED blew up near his vehicle, Oct. 15. The Marine was assigned to Regimental Combat Team 8, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward).

The names of the deceased are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Despite these deaths, officials said the level of overall violence in Iraq has been quite subdued in the days leading up to and including the landmark Constitutional referendum.

"The 2nd Marine Division and our partners in the Iraqi Security Forces have ... provide[d] a safe and secure environment for the citizens of Al Anbar Province to go to the polls," said 2d Marine Division Commanding General, Maj. Gen. Richard A. Huck. "Together, we provided security for 139 polling sites, [thereby] allowing every citizen the opportunity to vote."

More than 100,000 eligible voters in Al Anbar Province voted yesterday. That's "far better" than the vote tally last January, Huck said. He attributed this success to "recent and ongoing operations by coalition and Iraqi security forces in the western Euphrates River Valley.

"Major operations such as Iron Fist, River Gate and Mountaineers - along with numerous smaller operations - neutralized the terrorists' stated goal of disrupting the referendum," Huck said. "These operations have uncovered dozens of seized weapons caches, resulted in the detention of hundreds of suspected insurgents, and eliminated terrorist sanctuaries throughout the province."

Texas Army National Guard Soldiers and Marines from the 2nd Force Service Support Group (Forward) discovered a weapons cache near a primary school polling site in Al Anbar on Oct. 14. The soldiers and Marines reportedly made the discovery after being alerted by Iraqi citizens.

The cache complex was situated in multiple underground locations and a house. It included buried mortar rounds, assorted ammunition, anti-election propaganda and terrorist paraphernalia, officials said.

A search of a nearby house yielded 82mm mortars, mortar tubes, IEDs, rocket-propelled grenades, RPG launchers, satchel charges, blasting caps, 82mm shells, grenades, fully loaded automatic rifles and heavy machine guns. They also discovered 122mm rocket motors, two-way radios for IED attacks, batteries, wire spools, ski masks and flak jackets, officials said.

In addition, the soldiers and Marines discovered, on a nearby roof, homemade rocket launchers, which were directed toward the town's school. The school had been designated as a polling site.

Similar success was achieved by coalition forces operating throughout Iraq, officials said. More than 250,000 new voters in the Baghdad area, for instance, voted in yesterday's referendum. This reportedly includes some areas north and west of Baghdad, which did not participate in last January elections.

Moreover, officials said that none of the 1,300 polling sites in the Baghdad area were penetrated by terrorists - and there were just 36 attacks in north central Iraq. That's less than one-third the level of terrorist activity that occurred in January, officials said.

"For one crucial day, Baghdad neighborhoods were not rattled by loud explosions from suicide bombers," said Army Sgt. 1st Class David Abrams, a spokesman with Task Force Baghdad. There was "relative peace and quiet."

In all, about 15.5 million of Iraq's 26 million people were registered to vote.

##end##

[Gucho]

Click Today's Afghan News

Sunday, October 16, 2005


British military donations for the victims of the earthquake are loaded onto a military plane, in Kabul airport, Afghanistan Sunday, Oct. 16, 2005. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

[Gucho]

Rice, Khalilzad: Iraqis Win, No Matter Referendum Results

By Petty Officer 3rd Class John R. Guardiano - USN American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16, 2005 – Officials are counting the votes in Iraq's historic constitutional referendum and people are asking whether the people of Iraq have accepted or rejected their new constitution.

But to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad, the results of yesterday's referendum are less important than the fact that Iraq had a highly successful and relatively peaceful election in which the Sunnis participated in very large numbers.

"Whatever happens with the referendum ... the Iraqi people clearly are taking advantage of the political process to make their views known, and that's bad news for the terrorists," Rice told Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday.

Appearing on ABC News' This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Khalilzad agreed: "If the constitution passes," he said, "there is a path for additional changes. If the constitution does not pass - because of the opposition from the Sunni voters - it would show that their participation in the process did, indeed, make a difference.

"Either way, there will be additional opportunities for change - for a political way forward for Iraq."

Khalilzad also appeared on CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer; Rice on NBC News' Meet the Press with Tim Russert. Both officials agreed that the primacy of the political process - and ordinary Iraqis' embrace of that process in yesterday's referendum - is a death blow to the terrorists who are killing scores of innocent Iraqis.

"The Iraqi people are casting their lot with the political process," Rice told Russert. "That will sap the energy from this insurgency; because an insurgency cannot ultimately survive without a political base."

Khalilzad said success lies in "continuous Sunni participation in the political process" and continued isolation and defeat of the terrorists. "That's the recipe, the plan if you'd like, for success," he said. "I think we are making good progress. Yesterday was a good indication that our approach to the Sunnis is producing results."

Rice said that analysis of the voting is now underway, but that preliminary findings suggest that "as many as a million more people voted this time than in January. "The numbers in the Sunni areas are very high," she said. "The Sunnis turned out in very large numbers. That means they're casting their lot now with the democratic process."

Rice and Khalilzad acknowledged the dramatically reduced level of violence and attributed this development to excellent preparation and work by Iraq's security forces.

"The Iraqi [security] forces performed very well in protecting the election process," Rice said. They're "growing in stature in the eyes of the people of Iraq."

Yesterday's referendum, Khalilzad added, shows "that violence is not the way to deal with problems. [It shows] that violence is a dead end street."

For that reason, Rice said, terrorists and terrorist sympathizers in Iraq are few in number. They do not in any way constitute a majority of the population. "Indeed, some of them," she observed, "are foreigners like those who work for [Abu Musab al] Zarqawi."

Rice said many of these foreign terrorists and jihadists are coming to Iraq through Syria - and they're not simply sneaking across, unobserved, the Syrian-Iraq border.

"In many cases," Rice said, "they [foreign terrorists] are coming [to Iraq] through Damascus Airport ... [Syrian] territory," she said, "is being used to kill innocent Iraqis - innocent men, women and children - because suicide bombers are coming through there."

The Syrian government, "is permitting the use of Syrian territory for terrorists to cross Syrian territory. She said the United States and Iraq will address this issue "in a multilateral fashion ... [to] get the Syrian regime to change its behavior."

As for the formal results of yesterday's referendum, Khalilzad said "we will know late tomorrow... [but] yesterday was a great day for Iraq."

Click Freedom To Vote

REFERENDUM — An Iraqi man casts his vote on the constitutional referendum at a polling station in Mosul, Iraq, Oct. 15, 2005. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. James L. Harper Jr)

[Gucho]

Early Iraqi Tally Points to a 'Yes' on Constitution

AUDIO --> AUDIO

All Things Considered, October 16, 2005

Early unofficial returns indicate Iraqi voters approved their new constitution in Saturday's referendum. President Bush congratulated Iraqis on successfully completing the vote. He said the level of participation by Iraq's Sunni Arabs was "good news."

Most Sunnis apparently voted "no" -- fearing the new charter will leave them powerless and lead to the break-up of Iraq. Hear Debbie Elliott and Ellen Knickmeyer of The Washington Post.

[Gucho]

Seabee Unit Returns From Iraq Deployment


U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Gregg Whitehead, a Seabee assigned steel worker duties with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 24, and his wife Jessica share a hug as he returns home from a deployment to Iraq, at Naval Air Station Oceana, Va., Oct. 8, 2005. The battalion, based in Huntsville, Ala., returned to the states from their Iraq deployment via Naval Air Station Oceana due to complications from Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. (U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Davis J. Anderson)

October 16, 2005

NAVAL AIR STATION, OCEANA, Va. -- While deployed, the battalion built forward operating bases in three locations.

U.S. Navy Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 24 based in Huntsville, Ala., returned to the United States via Naval Air Station Oceana Oct. 8 following a seven-month deployment to Iraq in support of the Global War on Terror.

The plane carrying the battalion touched down amidst a storm in the late afternoon, but the Seabees on board didn't seem to mind, nor did family members waiting in the rain on the side of the runway since early morning.

"I feel wonderful. I'm glad to see my wife and kids, and family."

U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Chris Benefield

"This is more (people) than we expected," said Lisa Stamps, the battalion command ombudsman. "There is a large number of family and friends."

The Seabees returned from Iraq, but for most, Oceana is just a stop on their way home. After demobilizing in Norfolk, the battalion's nearly 400 personnel will return to their respective homes and civilian jobs in 26 states.

"I'll feel pretty good," said U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeff McDanal, a construction mechanic, about when he would finally reach home. "My mom, dad, brother and sister will be there. They couldn't make it here."

"I feel wonderful," said U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Chris Benefield, a builder. "I'm glad to see my wife and kids, and family."

The battalion deployed from Huntsville after mobilizing in January and deploying in March to Iraq, where they successfully supported U.S. Marine and Army efforts in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

While in theater, the battalion built forward operating bases in three locations. According to the battalion, with those completed, the newly formed Iraqi Security Forces can move in after they complete training with U.S. Army and Marine Corps personnel and begin taking over responsibility for fighting insurgents. This is considered a big step in the process of bringing U.S. troops home.

"We did it in record time," said U.S. Navy Cmdr. Tim Simpson, battalion commanding officer, about building the bases.

"We built 8.6 million dollars in construction, the most in theater," he added.

Other missions included rebuilding a large section of a major runway in support of the 2nd Marine Air Wing; installing a helicopter landing pad and military dining facility at Camp BlueDiamond near Ramadi, Iraq, in eastern Al Anbar able to withstand mortar fire; and specially training personnel who man heavily armed and armored Humvees that provide security to convoys carrying building materials, supplies and equipment.

They also escorted convoys through more than 20,000 miles on Iraq's roads without a single loss of life.

By U.S. Navy Seaman Davis J. Anderson - U.S. Navy Fleet Public Affairs Center

[Gucho]

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Soldiers' Web postings show life in war zone

Site connects units deployed in Iraq with people who want to support them

By TATABOLINE BRANT - Anchorage Daily News

October 16, 2005

[Gucho]

Mid East Edition

Basrah, Iraq


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[Gucho]

Iraq constitution seems assured of passage after Sunni opposition falls short

By LEE KEATH

08:15 PM EDT - Oct 16, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraq's landmark constitution seemed assured of passage after initial results Sunday showed that a strong push by minority Sunni Arabs to veto fell short, marking a major step in the attempt to establish a democratic government that could set the stage for the eventual withdrawal of foreign troops.

Opponents failed to secure the necessary two-thirds No vote in any three of Iraqi's 18 provinces, according to counts that local officials provided to The Associated Press.

In the crucial central provinces with mixed ethnic and religious populations, enough Shiites and Kurds voted to stymie the Sunni bid to reject the constitution.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani issued a decree setting Dec. 15 for Iraqis to go to the polls again, this time to elect a new parliament. If the constitution indeed passed, the first full-term parliament since Saddam Hussein's fall in 2003 will install a new government by Dec. 31.

If the charter failed, the parliament will be temporary, tasked with drawing up a new draft on which to vote.

But the outcome could further divide the nation, with many Sunnis fearing the new decentralized government will deprive them of their fair share in the country's vast oil wealth. Large numbers of Sunnis voted No, and some of their leaders were already rejecting the apparent result.

"If the constitution was passed, the attacks will definitely rise against the occupation forces, and the security situation is going to be worse," said Sheik Abdul-Salam al-Kubaisi, a cleric with the influential Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars, which government officials accuse of links to the insurgency.

Five U.S. soldiers were killed Saturday by a bomb in Ramadi, a hotbed of militants west of Baghdad, the military announced.

President George W. Bush congratulated Iraqis on the referendum, which across the country saw few attacks and no deaths of voters in violence, and said the new constitution was a victory for opponents of terrorism.

"The vote today in Iraq is in stark contrast to the attitude, the philosophy and strategy of al-Qaida, their terrorist friends and killers," Bush said.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew called the referendum "a milestone in Iraq's democratic development."

"The number of Iraqis who went to the polls is a testament to the spirit of the Iraqi people and their commitment to Iraq's future, despite repeated attempts by insurgents to derail Iraq's democratic transition," Pettigrew said in a statement.

"Canada will continue to support the establishment of a peaceful and prosperous Iraq."

Pettigrew also said he was pleased to hear initial reports from the International Mission for Iraqi Elections, headed by Canada's Chief Electoral Officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley, "congratulating Iraq's Electoral Commission on having done a tremendous job in a short time under very challenging circumstances."

On Sunday, U.S. military helicopters, Humvees and armoured vehicles were helping transport the last ballot boxes from polling stations to counting centres in the provincial capitals.

The centres make initial counts, then were to truck the ballots to Baghdad for the final tallying, which was likely to begin on Monday and to last into Tuesday.

Provinces in the south, where most of Iraq's Shiite majority are concentrated, racked up big Yes numbers, over 90 per cent in favour in most places. Results were not yet available from Kurdistan, but the Kurdish community strongly supports the charter.

Still, despite a call by their top cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to support the charter, Shiite participation in the south was far lower turnout than parliament elections in January, when huge numbers of Shiite voters, more than 80 per cent, celebrated as they went to the polls to mark their new dominance of the country.

Between 54 and 58 per cent of voters showed up Saturday in most parts of the south, according to UN elections chief Carina Perelli. The drop could reflect a belief that the constitution's victory was a sure thing or a vein of discontent among Shiites with their leaders in the government.

"Why should I care? Nothing has changed since we have elected this government: no security, no electricity, no water," said Saad Ibrahim, a Shiite resident of Baghdad's Karrada district who passed on voting.

"The constitution will not change that. The main issue is not getting this constitution passed, but how to stop terrorism." The Sunni No campaign appeared to have made the two-thirds threshold in Anbar province, the vast western Sunni heartland; and Salahuddin, where Sunnis hold a large majority and as many as 90 per cent of voters cast ballots.

But in two other provinces where Sunni Arabs have only slim majorities - Ninevah and Diyala - the Yes vote won out.

Sunni leaders responded angrily, some of them saying they suspected fraud and pointing the finger at American officials and the Shiite parties that dominate the government.

"There is no doubt that America has interfered in the process, since they and the Shiite government are supervising the whole operation, and since both want this draft to pass," al-Kubaisi said.

Although U.S. officials played an intense role in mediating negotiations over the draft constitution, they had no role in the counting process, run by an Iraqi elections commission.

Still, many Sunnis expressed helplessness in their new status as the weaker party in a nation they once dominated under Saddam.

"Whatever happens or will happen in politics has nothing to do with the will of the people. It comes from the political elite who run Iraq along with the Americans out of the Green Zone in Baghdad," said Zuhair Qassam al-Khashab, a mathematics professor in Mosul who voted No.

Sunni Arabs turned out in force in some areas Saturday, a stark contrast to January's elections, which they boycotted because they believed the political process was giving unfair power to the Shiite majority.

That move cost them politically, leaving them with a minuscule presence in parliament.

One man who voted Yes in Mosul said his fellow Sunnis should campaign hard for the Dec. 15 vote.

"We have to move through this period to the next stage, and we can do it by organized dialogue," said Ayad Abdul Razzaq, 45.

That is the reaction U.S. and Iraqi leaders are hoping for, and the Shiite-dominated government insisted it would make room for the Sunnis.

"We know that there is a level of polarization," said Laith Kubba, the chief government spokesman.

"Iraq is one big family, and we know that if a part of the family is not happy we cannot live in the same house."

The Canadian Press, 2005

[Gucho]

Trial Against Saddam to Open Wednesday


Saddam Hussein

By VOA News

17 October 2005

An Iraqi court is to open a trial this week against former leader Saddam Hussein for the massacre of 143 Iraqi civilians in 1982.

The trial has encountered repeated delays, while drawing widespread media attention. Saddam's attorney has said he will ask to adjourn the proceedings when they begin on Wednesday, to allow more time to review the case.

If convicted, the former Iraqi leader and seven members of his regime also standing trial could receive the death penalty.

Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper has reported that Iraq's former deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz will testify against Saddam as part of a plea bargain. But a lawyer for Mr. Aziz denied the report.

The trial is expected to be a major test for Iraq's new government and may open the door to other proceedings.

Saddam has been accused of various other rights abuses, including the 1988 gassing of Kurds in Halabja.

Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP

[Gucho]

U.S. Soldiers stop potential attack on polling site

October 15, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Task Force Baghdad Soldiers detained 11 suspected terrorists at a checkpoint in Yusufiyah in the early afternoon of Oct. 15, heading off a potential attack on voters.

After stopping a suspicious blue van at the checkpoint, Soldiers from 108th Calvary, 48th Brigade Combat Team searched the vehicle and discovered three 125-millimeter projectiles.

“Coalition Forces are here to support the Iraqi Army and their efforts to protect their citizens while they vote,” said 2nd Lt. Chris Dryden, an operations officer with the unit. “Our Soldiers did exactly what we are here to do—help give Iraqis a chance at freedom.”

[Gucho]

Helicopter Crash in Pakistan Kills Six

Sunday, October 16, 2005

A Pakistani relief helicopter flying an aid mission crashed, killing six people aboard.

The MI-17 transport helicopter was returning to its base late Saturday after it dropped off relief workers in the earthquake area; crashing near the town of Bagh, all six people on board were killed, said a top-level military official.

All those killed were military personnel, and the cause of the crash is not yet clear, reporters said. However, extremely severe weather may have caused the crash.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

Thanks for the ping Gucho! Good work.

[Gucho]

Mortars hit Baghdad's Green Zone


The attack came an hour after poll restrictions were lifted

Sunday 16 October 2005,

Two mortar rounds have been fired at the Iraqi capital's heavily fortified Green Zone, where Iraq's parliament and the US Embassy are based.

It was not immediately known whether the loud explosions caused any damage or casualties.

The mortars were fired at about 7.15am from nearby Dora, one of the most violent areas of Baghdad, said police 1st Lieutenant Thair Mahmud.

Two large plumes of smoke could be seen rising over separate areas of the Green Zone, one white and one grey.

The blasts occurred one day after Iraq's historical constitutional referendum, and about an hour after officials had lifted one of the many security restrictions that had been enforced across the country during Saturday's vote: a ban on all civilian traffic.

A US military spokesman said he had heard and felt the explosions in the Green Zone but had no official information on them yet.

On 10 October, a car bomb exploded near a US-Iraqi checkpoint leading into the Green Zone, killing a US soldier, three Iraqi policemen and three civilians, officials said.

Aljazeera.Net

[Gucho]

Rumsfeld to visit U.S. troops during stop in South Korea

By Jeff Schogol - Stars and Stripes Pacific edition

Monday, October 17, 2005

ARLINGTON, Va. — Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will meet with U.S. troops in South Korea this week, senior defense officials said on Friday.

The trip is slated to kick off Monday morning when Rumsfeld leaves for China, officials said. He is also expected to visit Mongolia and Kazakhstan, officials told reporters Friday.

They declined to give specific information on when Rumsfeld would be in each country. It was also unknown Friday which troops Rumsfeld will meet with in South Korea.

The trip is Rumsfeld’s first to China as defense secretary, the officials said.

During the trip, Rumsfeld is scheduled to visit Chinese Strategic Rocket Forces.

Rumsfeld and Chinese officials are expected to discuss issues including six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program and humanitarian missions, such as the 2004 tsunami relief efforts, officials said.

Rumsfeld is not slated to visit Japan during the trip, officials said.

Officials said the decision to not visit Japan was unrelated to stalled force realignment talks between the United States and Japan

The two countries have been negotiating a repositioning of some of the 50,000 U.S. military personnel based in Japan, most of whom are stationed on Okinawa.

One official said Rumsfeld has a limited amount of time on this trip and the Defense Department decided against trying to “shoe- horn” in a visit to Japan.

Rumsfeld’s visit to China is “long overdue, very welcome, and hopefully will help to restore some trust and momentum to the U.S.-China military and strategic relationship,” said David Shambaugh, director of the China Policy Program at George Washington University. “Yet the depth of distrust and misperceptions in both military establishments toward the other is palpable and not easily overcome.”

Beijing cut off military contacts with Washington in May 1999 after rejecting a U.S. government claim that the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, by a B-2 stealth bomber was an accident.

Relations were again ruptured abruptly in April 2001, just months after Rumsfeld took office, over the disputed circumstances in which a Chinese fighter jet collided in midair with a U.S. Navy EP-3 surveillance plane.

The Navy plane was so badly damaged that it made an emergency landing on China’s Hainan Island. The Chinese pilot died and the U.S. crew of 24 was detained by the Chinese military for 11 days.

China refused to allow U.S. officials to fix the Navy plane and fly it off the island; eventually it was shipped home in pieces.

Kurt Campbell, who was deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asia and Pacific affairs during the Clinton administration, said in an interview that Rumsfeld’s visit is a welcome change of approach for the Bush administration.

Some think Rumsfeld chose to go to China now because U.S. allies in Asia have expressed concern that the U.S. is preoccupied with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan at the expense of developments in Asia.

“I think others might suggest he just ran out of excuses why he hasn’t gone” earlier, Campbell said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

[Gucho]

Mortar Rounds Target Green Zone

Associated Press | October 16, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents on Sunday fired two mortar rounds at the capital's heavily fortified Green Zone, where Iraq's parliament and the U.S. Embassy are based, but they caused no injuries or major damage, officials said.

The mortars were fired at about 7:15 a.m. from nearby Dora, one of the most violent areas of Baghdad regarding insurgent attacks, said police 1st Lt. Thair Mahmoud. Two large plumes of smoke could be seen rising up over separate areas of the Green Zone, one white and one gray.

The blasts occurred one day after Iraq's historical constitutional referendum, and about an hour after officials had lifted one of the many security restrictions that were enforced across the country during Saturday's vote: a ban on all civilian traffic.

In a brief statement, U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Vicki Stein confirmed the two mortar attacks, saying they had caused no injuries or significant damage. She declined to say where the explosions had occurred within the Green Zone, saying only that the attack was being investigated.

On Oct. 10, a suicide car bomb exploded near a U.S.-Iraqi checkpoint leading into the Green Zone, killing a U.S. soldier, three Iraqi policemen and three civilians, officials said.

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,78753,00.html

[Gucho]

Window Into Al Qaeda

By David Ignatius

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Rarely in wartime is it possible to read over the shoulder of the enemy and discover his most intimate thoughts about the battle. But the United States is claiming just such an intelligence coup with the capture of a letter from Ayman Zawahiri, the cerebral chief strategist of al Qaeda, to his hotheaded field commander in Iraq, Abu Musab Zarqawi.

The July 9 Zawahiri letter was released Tuesday by the office of John Negroponte, the new director of national intelligence. If authentic, the letter takes us inside the tent of al Qaeda's battered but clear-eyed leadership as it plans the next stage of its global jihad.

Al Qaeda in Iraq claims that the letter is a fake, but I would say that, too, if someone had intercepted my battle plans. More troubling is a critique by Juan Cole, one of the leading American experts on Shiite Islam. After carefully reviewing the Arabic text, he argued on his Web site Friday that some of the usage sounds like that of a Shiite or perhaps a Pakistani but not an Egyptian Sunni like Zawahiri. Not so, insist the CIA's Arabic-speaking analysts. "We have the highest confidence in the letter's authenticity," a senior intelligence official reiterated Friday. more....