Operation Phantom Fury--Day 199 - Now Operations River Blitz; Matador--Day 94

U.S. forces secure the area after a bomb rigged to a parked car exploded next to an American convoy by the al-Dora bridge in Baghdad Tuesday, May 24, 2005 killing three of the soldiers, according to a U.S. military spokesman. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Ap - May 25, 2005

U.S. Troops Launch New Offensive in Iraq

By ANTONIO CASTANEDA

HADITHA, Iraq - About 1,000 U.S. Marines, sailors and soldiers encircled this Euphrates River city in the troubled Anbar province Wednesday, killing at least three insurgents after launching the second major operation in this vast western region in less than a month, an official said.

The offensives are aimed at uprooting insurgents who have killed more than 620 people since a new Iraqi government was announced on April 28.

Helicopters swept down near palm tree groves, dropping off Marines who blocked off one side of Haditha, while other troops on foot and in armored vehicles established checkpoints and began moving toward the center of this city, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad. U.S. warplanes circled overhead.

"Right now there's a larger threat than should be in Haditha, and we're here to tell them that they're not welcome," said Lt. Col. Lionel Urquhart, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, which is part of the operation.

The assault, called Operation New Market, focused on this city of about 90,000 people, where the U.S. military says insurgents have been using increasingly sophisticated tactics. Earlier this month insurgents launched a multistage attack from a Haditha hospital, killing four U.S. troops in an ambush that included a suicide car bomber, a roadside bomb, and gunfire from fortified positions in the hospital, which was partially destroyed in the attack.

According to initial reports, three insurgents were killed during fierce gun battles that broke out after U.S. forces entered this town before dawn, Marine Capt. Christopher Toland told an Associated Press reporter embedded with U.S. forces.

Two Marines were also wounded and evacuated, Toland said.

Marines took over several homes in Haditha, using them as observation and control centers as other troops fanned out through the city's mainly empty streets in an apparent bid to flush any insurgents out. At least one loud explosion rocked the city early this morning, but the source of the blast was unclear.

U.S. military officials said the operation is about the same size as a weeklong assault dubbed Operation Matador that began May 7 and targeted insurgent outposts near the Syrian border, where nine Marines and an estimated 125 insurgents were killed.

The latest campaign demonstrates the military's ongoing concerns about insurgents in both small and large cities in Sunni-dominated areas.

Haditha has no functioning police force, and U.S. military officials acknowledge that their presence has been light in the city but say Iraqi troops are expected to arrive soon.

"A lot of this is like bird hunting. You rustle it up and see what comes up," said Marine Col. Stephen W. Davis, commander of the operation.

Shortly before the assault began, insurgents fired a mortar at a hydroelectric dam facility near Haditha where hundreds of Marines are based.

"Hold on, we'll be there in a minute," yelled Marine Sgt. Shawn Bryan, of Albuquerque, N.M., assigned to the 3rd Marine Battalion, from a platform on the dam as Marines scrambled into vehicles to try to locate the attackers.

Later, groups of soldiers and Marines huddled into groups and shouted prayers over water rushing from the dam into the Euphrates River shortly before they departed for the city.

U.S. officials said they hoped their presence would allow locals to feel safe enough to provide tips to the military.

"The people out there know who wrecked the hospital and those who target their power source," said Urquhart, referring to the dam that is said to provide about a third of Iraq's electricity.

Several other attacks have occurred in Haditha this year, including the April 17 killing of a police chief and the discovery three days later of the bodies of 19 fishermen. U.S. military officials say it's unclear if the fishermen were killed in a tribal dispute or by insurgents.

Haditha lies along a major highway used by travelers moving from western Iraq to major cities such as Mosul and Baghdad in the central and northern parts of the country.

A service of the Associated Press(AP)

http://www.bcrnews.com/articles/2005/05/24/ap/headlines/d8aa0jo80.txt

Wolf Brigade

Members of the elite Interior Ministry force known as the Wolf Brigade celebrate with their commander Brig. Abu al-Walid, right, outside Adnan Palace in Baghdad, Iraq Wednesday, May 25, 2005 after meeting with Interior Minister Bayan Jabr who awarded them extra money and a medal for their recent operation against insurgents in the Abu Ghraib area of western Baghdad. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Members of the elite Interior Ministry force known as the Wolf Brigade leave a former palace of Saddam Hussein now called Adnan Palace in Baghdad, Iraq Wednesday, May 25, 2005 after meeting with Interior Minister Bayan Jabr who awarded them extra money and a medal for their recent operation against insurgents in the Abu Ghraib area of western Baghdad. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Members of Iraqi's elite Interior Ministry force known as the Wolf Brigade celebrate outside Adnan Palace in Baghdad, Iraq Wednesday, May 25, 2005 after meeting with Interior Minister Bayan Jabr who awarded them extra money and a medal for their recent operation against insurgents in the Abu Ghraib area of western Baghdad. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

A Muscovite knocks at the closed doors of a Moscow metro station with a sign 'Sorry, Closed for technical reasons', May 25, 2005. Large parts of Moscow lost power May 25 2005 after a fire at a substation, causing a crisis that crippled transport and threatened mobile phone links in the sweltering Russian capital. President Putin blamed the management of Russian power monopoly Unified Energy Systems for a major power outage in Moscow. (Viktor Korotayev/Reuters)

Moscow hit by major power outage

A power cut has caused major disruption in the Russian capital, Moscow. Public transport services ground to a halt, Moscow's main stock exchange stopped trading and water supplies to homes were affected.

The electricity outage was caused by a fire and explosion at a substation, the energy minister told parliament.

It is not clear what caused the blast. About 20,000 commuters are reported to have been evacuated from underground trains stranded by the outage.

A transport police spokesman said emergency power supplies were used to bring trains into stations.

A police officer uses a loudspeaker to announce that half of Moscow's underground is not functioning because of a fire at one of Moscow power plants Wednesday, May 25, 2005. Electricity outages hit large sections of the Russian capital Wednesday, forcing many subway lines and trolleybuses to halt service. Magarita Nagoga, a spokeswoman for Unified Electricity Systems, the country's power grid, said the outages stemmed from a fire and explosion at a substation. (AP Photo/ Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Areas up to 200km (120 miles) south of the city were also reported to be have been affected.

Duma deputy speaker Vladimir Pekhtin ruled out the possibility that the power outage was caused by sabotage. He told NTV Mir that it was more likely to have been caused by a technical incident.

"We are checking the information, but we can now rule out deliberate sabotage," he said.

Rising temperatures

A spokeswoman for electricity monopoly RAO UES said the problem stemmed from a fire.

"The problem started yesterday evening. The reason was a fire in the switching equipment at the Chagino substation," she told Reuters news agency.

"Staff dealt with the fire and overnight changed the equipment. However during peak consumption time this morning the problem recurred."

The Micex stock exchange stopped trading for two hours as many of its clients did not have power.

commuters wait for the underground to start working in Moscow on Wednesday, May 25, 2005. Electricity outages hit large sections of the Russian capital Wednesday, forcing many subway lines and trolleybuses to halt service. Magarita Nagoga, a spokeswoman for Unified Electricity Systems, the country's power grid, said the outages stemmed from a fire and explosion at a substation. (AP Photo/ Alexander Zemlianichenko)

There is some speculation that the power cut could have been due to an overload in demand as Moscow has seen unseasonably high temperatures and people have started using air conditioning.

People inspect damage inside an office building after a powerful car bomb exploded in Madrid, Wednesday, May 25, 2005, following a warning call from the armed Basque separatist group ETA. Eighteen people were slightly injured in this latest of a string of explosions since Spain's prime minister offered talks with the armed Basque separatist group if it renounces violence. (AP Photo/Mariana Eliano)

Car Bomb Explodes in Madrid; 18 Injured

By DANIEL WOOLLS, Associated Press Writer

Spanish policemen inspect the area for clues after a car bomb exploded in Madrid May 25, 2005. A car bomb exploded in the Spanish capital on Wednesday, injuring three people, 45 minutes after a Basque newspaper received a warning in the name of (Sergio Perez/Reuters)

MADRID, Spain - A powerful car bomb exploded in Madrid Wednesday after a warning call from the armed Basque separatist group ETA, police said, in the latest of a string of attacks since Spain's prime minister offered talks with the group if it renounces violence.

Eighteen people were slightly injured, said Beatriz Martin, the city's emergency medical department spokeswoman. The explosion occurred around 9:30 a.m. in a working-class district north of the Spanish capital.

Police cordoned off the area where the bomb went off after an anonymous caller to the Basque newspaper Gara, which often serves as a mouthpiece for ETA, said a bomb would explode inside a Renault van.

Television images showed a large column of black smoke rising from the area of the explosion.

Spainish policemen inspect the area in search for clues after a car bomb exploded in Madrid May 25, 2005. A car bomb exploded in the Spanish capital on Wednesday May 25, injuring three people, 45 minutes after a Basque newspaper received a warning in the name of Basque separatist group ETA, police said. (Sergio Perez/Reuters)

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, speaking in a previously scheduled Senate session shortly after the explosion, insisted that "the only fate that the terrorist group ETA has is to lay down weapons and dissolve."

Police estimated the bomb contained 40 to 44 pounds of explosives, Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso told reporters. "The explosion was really a big one," he said.

Alonso said ETA remains "alive, active and operative" despite the arrest of more than 200 suspected members in recent years.

He also said Spanish society is now rife with speculation over whether the government has already begun contacts with ETA — the government denies this — and insisted its fight against the group "would benefit tremendously if we all managed to lower this level of noise."

The blast was the sixth blamed on ETA since Zapatero announced earlier this month he was willing to hold talks with the separatist group if it renounced its decades-old campaign of violence.

Policemen walk past damaged cars at the scene where a powerful car bomb exploded in Madrid, Wednesday, May 25, 2005, following a warning call from the armed Basque separatist group ETA. Eighteen people were slightly injured in this latest of a string of explosions since Spain's prime minister offered talks with the armed Basque separatist group if it renounces violence. (AP Photo/Mariana Eliano)

The opposition conservative Popular Party has criticized Zapatero's initiative as a premature, unwarranted overture to what it calls an active terrorist group.

The party's spokesman in the Senate, Pio Garcia Escudero, said Wednesday's attack "does not look like a desire to negotiate but an attempt to exert pressure."

Four bombs exploded at industrial sites in the Basque region on May 15, two days after Parliament endorsed Zapatero's drive for the first talks with ETA since 1999. Two people were slightly injured. Last weekend another small bomb exploded in the Basque town of Zarauz. No one was hurt.

ETA had not been blamed for an attack in Madrid since February.

The group is blamed for more than 800 deaths since the late 1960s in a campaign of bombings and shootings aimed at creation of an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwest France.

It has not staged a fatal attack since May 2003, and the government says the group has been seriously weakened by waves of arrests in recent years. Zapatero cites these factors as reasons for trying to launch a peace process even though ETA has not declared a cease-fire or made any other prior concession.

Officials and reporters attend a groundbreaking ceremony of construction of the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline in Sangachal, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, in this Sept. 18, 2002 file photo. The 1,760-kilometer (1,100-mile) Baku-Ceyhan pipeline to be inaugurated Wednesday will not only bring Caspian oil to the West but could help bring stability to a troubled region, analysts say. The US$3.2 billion (2.5 billion) U.S.-backed project is the first direct pipeline link between the landlocked Caspian, which is thought to contain the world's third-largest oil and gas reserves, and the Mediterranean, providing a much-needed alternative to Mideast energy sources and Russian transit routes. (AP Photo/Aida Sultanova)

First Pipeline From Caspian Sea Opened

By AIDA SULTANOVA, Associated Press Writer

SANGACHAL, Azerbaijan - With speeches and a letter from President Bush, officials Wednesday opened the first section of a 1,100-mile pipeline that will carry Caspian Sea oil to Western markets, a project seen as an economic and political boon for the troubled Caucasus region.

The $3.2 billion U.S.-backed project also realizes several crucial goals for Washington, including reducing dependence on Middle Eastern oil and the need to use Russian pipelines to ship oil westward.

Workers lay a section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline near the Sangachal terminal in August 2003. A major new US-backed pipeline to bring oil directly from the Caspian Sea to Western markets and break Russia's longtime grip on the region's vast energy resources was formally launched in a ceremony attended by presidents and dignitaries.(AFP/File/Riza Ozel)

The presidents of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Turkey were on hand for the ceremony at the Sangachal oil terminal, about 25 miles south of Azerbaijan's capital, Baku.

Beginning in Azerbaijan — a mostly Muslim country and a U.S. ally in the war on terrorism with troops in Iraq — the underground pipeline passes through Georgia and Turkey, ending at the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. It avoids going through Russia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq and Syria on its way to the Mediterranean.

It passes within a few miles of Nagorno-Karabakh — an enclave that ethnic Armenian separatists took control of more than a decade ago. The conflict continues to simmer, undermining the region's security, and critics of the pipeline have suggested it could be vulnerable to terrorist attacks at various points.

The pipeline's route through Georgia avoids the two separatist regions in the north of that country, but does traverse areas where security is fragile. Some of its stretch in Turkey goes through conflict-prone Kurdish areas.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, with a capacity of 1 million barrels per day, "will take new supplies of oil to the world market and will help to demonstrate that security is best achieved by having multiple sources of supply and trade routes," BP PLC Chief Executive John Brown, whose company leads the consortium that built the pipeline, said at the ceremony.

It is the first direct oil link between the landlocked Caspian, which is thought to contain the world's third-largest oil and gas reserves, to the Mediterranean.

The pipeline "opens a new era in the Caspian Basin's development," Bush said in a letter read by Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. Bush, whose administration is seeking to diversify energy sources, called it a "monumental achievement."

"The United States has consistently supported (the pipeline) because we believe in the project's ability to bolster energy security, strengthen participating countries' energy diversity, enhance regional cooperation and expand international investment opportunities," Bush's letter said.

Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey look to earn substantial revenue from the pipeline, through transit fees and royalties.

Azerbaijan is banking on the pipeline to raise its profile in the world and it increased security ahead of its inauguration. On Saturday, police broke up a banned demonstration by protesters demanding free elections and arrested demonstrators, with the government citing safety concerns ahead of the pipeline's opening.

Tensions between the government and the opposition in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic has increased since an October 2003 election in which Ilham Aliev replaced his late father, Geidar Aliev, as president in a vote the opposition said was marred by fraud.

"This pipeline first of all will help solve economic and social problems, but the role of the pipeline in strengthening peace and security in the region also is not small," Aliev said at the ceremony.

Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said the pipeline "can be called the Silk Road of the 21st century."

Georgia President Mikhail Saakashvili said the pipeline should help attract investment and improve living standards. Saakashvili has sought to lessen Russia's influence on his impoverished country, which depends heavily on Moscow for energy.

Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev was on hand because oil from his country will also be transported through the pipeline.

Officials said it would take up to six weeks to fill the Azerbaijani section with oil. The Georgian part will be ready after that, then the Turkish stretch, which Turkish authorities have said should be filled by Aug. 15.

It will take approximately 10 million barrels of crude to fill the entire pipeline. Bodman said Tuesday that deliveries of oil from the pipeline to tankers at the terminal in Turkey are to begin in the fall.

Once fully operational, the pipeline will represent a "significant" addition to Western oil supplies, said analyst Jason Kenney of ING Financial Markets, although the time needed to fill it means "you won't see exports until the later part of the year."

Iranian students shout slogans during a demonstration in front of the British embassy in Tehran May 25, 2005. About 300 conservative students shouted their support for the government's nuclear fuel programme in Tehran on Wednesday, saying it should not be surrendered in talks with the European Union. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi

Iran Ready to Compromise in European Talks

By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS, Associated Press Writer

GENEVA - Key European Union foreign ministers sought anew Wednesday to persuade Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions, as Iran's president said his country was prepared to compromise.

As Iranian negotiators sat down with the foreign ministers from France, Britain and Germany and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Iran's President Mohammad Khatami signaled there was room to maneuver regarding its threat to resume uranium enrichment.

"We are ready to compromise, and we hope Europe makes its decision independently and not based on U.S. pressures," Khatami told reporters in Tehran.

Resuming activity in Iran's uranium conversion facility "does not mean resumption of enrichment," he said.

Following months of fruitless talks, the EU has warned it is moving toward the U.S. position that Tehran should be hauled before the U.N. Security Council for suspect nuclear activities in violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

To avert a showdown that could lead to U.N. sanctions, Tehran agreed to meet the three European ministers and Solana for last-ditch talks in Geneva.

The EU push followed Iran's announcement last week that it was considering restarting its uranium-enrichment program, which Iran insists is only aimed at generating electricity as permitted under the nonproliferation treaty. The EU and the United States fear the program is being used to develop nuclear weapons.

It is unclear if a tougher European strategy of economic sanctions would work.

Any strong sanctions against Tehran would likely cause oil prices, already around US$50 (euro40) a barrel, to rise.

"The most severe sanctions that would affect Iran would be sanctions against their oil industry," said Gary Sick, a researcher at Columbia University. "That would mean basically taking 3 million barrels a day off the market which would probably cause the price to spike."

Sick said it was far from certain that the Security Council would impose sanctions, with veto-wielding China and Russia among countries that have expressed opposition.

The United States has been demanding since last year that Iran face sanctions for its nuclear program — but up to now the EU has offered incentives instead. If Iran agrees to keep its program within bounds, the EU says it can expect economic and technical cooperation as well as support for joining the World Trade Organization.

The 25-member EU has offered a free trade pact and more economic aid, and European officials have said they would improve the offer. It was the talks with the Europeans that persuaded Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program in November.

Iran has long had strong trade links with Europe, and there have been calls on the Europeans to use this as leverage.

But Tehran has warned that if the talks fail, it would cost the Europeans more than it would Iran.

Iranian students hold a placard during a demonstration in front of the British embassy in Tehran May 25, 2005. About 300 conservative students shouted their support for the government's nuclear fuel programme in Tehran on Wednesday, saying it should not be surrendered in talks with the European Union. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi

"The case will turn into a crisis they cannot manage any longer and the Islamic Republic will act unilaterally," said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi, but he didn't elaborate.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he hoped the talks would succeed, but conceded, "the Iranians are tough to negotiate with."

Photographers and television crews stand in front of the residence of the ambassador of Iran in Geneva prior the start of talks between three European Union countries and Iran, in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, May 25, 2005. Foreign ministers from France, Britain and Germany meet Iranian officials in Geneva for crucial talks aimed at avoiding an escalation of Tehran's standoff with the West on its nuclear program after Iran warned there was a high risk of deadlock. (AP Photo/Keystone/Laurent Gillieron)

The Iranians hosted the meeting in a Geneva compound that serves as their ambassador's residence. Joining Straw on one side of a long wooden table were French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. Heading the Iranian delegation is the country's top nuclear negotiator, Hasan Rowhani, who arrived Tuesday to prepare for the talks.

From left to right, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana attend the nuclear talks between three European Union countries and Iran, in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, May 25, 2005. Foreign ministers from France, Britain and Germany meet Iranian officials in Geneva for crucial talks aimed at avoiding an escalation of Tehran's standoff with the West on its nuclear program after Iran warned there was a high risk of deadlock. (AP Photo/Keystone/Laurent Gillieron

Reflecting a growing pessimism on the issue, the London-based think tank International Institute of Strategic Studies said Tuesday that the diplomatic talks appear doomed to failure.

So far, U.S. President George W. Bush has gone along with the European efforts for dialogue with Tehran. In March, the Bush administration agreed to drop long-standing U.S. opposition to Iranian membership in the WTO.

A WTO meeting coincidentally being held across Geneva later this week could give Iran the go-ahead to start its membership negotiations, trade officials said.

But pressure has been building in the U.S. Congress for independent American action against Iran.

A bill in the House of Representatives would tighten long-standing U.S. sanctions against Iran, bar U.S. companies' subsidiaries from doing business in Iran and cut foreign aid to countries that have businesses investing there. A more limited measure is pending in the Senate.

___

Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran and Bradley S. Klapper in Geneva contributed to this report.

U.S. Base Closures Cause Jitters Abroad

By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press Writer

Wed May 25, 7:39 AM ET

TOKYO - Just outside Tokyo, city officials gathered nearly 60,000 signatures in one month to stop the possible expansion of a U.S. Army camp. In South Korea, 1,000 workers fearing for their jobs rallied outside the main base there and vowed a bigger protest was ahead.

While the United States works out its biggest set of domestic military base closures in decades, countries from Germany to South Korea are bracing for a major restructuring as well, with new hosts being courted and as many as 70,000 U.S. troops expected to head home over the next decade.

Mirroring the domestic shake-up, negotiations are underway for bases abroad to be shut down, or, in other cases, beefed up. But with few formal announcements, the overseas restructuring has everyone from peace activists to labor unions on edge.

In Japan, where U.S. troop levels are expected to stay about the same at 50,000-plus, even rumors of relatively minor moves have generated jitters.

"Our long-standing position is that we want the base here closed," said Hiroyuki Suzuki, an official in Zama, where the U.S. Army's Japan headquarters are located. Camp Zama is rumored to be a possible new home for several hundred soldiers currently assigned to I Corps at Fort Lewis, Wash.

"We're worried that the base will become more permanent," Suzuki said. Zama officials organized the petition drive to give weight to their opposition and make it more difficult for the Japanese government to accept an expansion plan.

Across the Japan Sea, workers in South Korea are preparing to fight the opposite possibility.

Lt. Gen. Charles Campbell, chief of staff for U.S. Forces Korea, said last month the American military would lay off up to 1,000 Korean workers, about 10 percent of the total, and cut contracts for services by up to 20 percent over the next two years.

Some 1,000 workers and their supporters protested outside Yongsan base, in central Seoul, earlier this month and the Korean Employers Union said it will hold a larger rally on June 3 if the United States does not repeal its plan for layoffs.

About 32,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea. Several thousand U.S. soldiers have been reassigned from Korea to Iraq and more are slated to depart in the next few years, leaving about 24,500.

Though anti-base groups have long been active in South Korea, Okinawa and other places where U.S. troops are stationed, the current atmosphere of change has emboldened many.

Earlier this month a few thousand members of Hanchongryon — South Korea's largest student group — staged a demonstration and tore down wire fences at an air force base in Gwangju, demanding the United States remove its Patriot missiles and withdraw from South Korea altogether.

The group, which is outlawed by the South Korean government yet still operates openly, has dubbed June a "period of anti-United States and anti-war struggle," and more demonstrations are expected, according to an editorial in the Joong Ang Daily newspaper.

Japan, Germany and South Korea have long been the major destinations for U.S. troops abroad.

But, with its budget and manpower pushed to the limit by fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military is rethinking the distribution of its assets.

The most prominent upshot has been the Defense Department's plan to save billions of dollars by closing or reducing forces at 62 U.S. bases and reconfiguring 775 others. A commission will review the Pentagon's list before submitting it to President Bush in September.

In connection with the domestic changes, some 13,500 troops would be pulled from Germany and South Korea.

Overall, however, Bush has said he intends to bring home 70,000 troops — along with 100,000 family members and civilian employees — in the next 10 years, while increasing the U.S. presence in such countries as Poland, Romania and Uzbekistan.

For Germany, the Army plans to bring home the 1st Infantry Division and the 1st Armored Division, with a mobile brigade using lighter Stryker armored vehicles added at the Grafenwoehr base in Bavaria, and another regular brigade also stationed in the area.

There are currently some 112,000 military personnel stationed in Europe, and U.S. officials have previously said about 40 percent were expected to remain after the restructuring, including some 25,000 soldiers in Germany.

U.S. quietly drops historic arms-control deals from brochure on disarmament

CHARLES J. HANLEY

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - With a few keystrokes, an official U.S. brochure on disarmament eliminated some historic arms-control deals and showed once again that what is left out of a report can be as telling as what's put in.

In this case, the publication's "rewriting of history," as one critic put it, also illustrates in black and white a dispute that has helped bog down the 188-country conference reviewing the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

The month-long conference entered its final three days on Wednesday with uncertain prospects for producing any major agreements to tighten controls on the spread of atomic arms, or to speed nuclear disarmament.

The brochure, produced by the U.S. State Department and distributed to hundreds of delegates, lists milestones in arms control since the 1980s, while touting reductions in the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

But the timeline omits a pivotal agreement, the 1996 treaty to ban nuclear tests, a pact negotiated by the Clinton administration and ratified by 121 countries but now rejected by President George W. Bush.

Further along, the brochure skips over the year 2000 entirely, a snub of the treaty review conference that year, when the United States and other nuclear-weapons states committed to "13 practical steps" to achieve nuclear disarmament - including activating the test-ban treaty, negotiating a pact to ban production of bomb material and "unequivocally undertaking" to totally eliminate their arsenals.

Bush administration officials now suggest the 2000 commitments are outdated. Other delegations reject that, however, demanding a reaffirmation of the goals in a final document at the current conference.

Few expect that, and they cite the blank spots in the brochure as another piece of evidence.

"Official disdain for these agreements seems to have turned into denial that they existed," said Joseph Cirincione, an arms-control specialist with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who accused the State Department of rewriting history.

"Does this mean that, because we have a change of administration, we are not accountable to other countries?" asked another disarmament advocate, Jonathan Granoff of the Global Security Institute.

Asked why the 1996 treaty and the 2000 U.S. commitments - along with similar commitments in 1995 - didn't make the 40-entry list of "progress in arms control," U.S. delegation spokesman Richard Grenell said simply: "We highlighted certain items, and it wasn't an exhaustive list."

By contrast, an official UN chronology has several entries on the test ban, and prominently notes the 1995 and 2000 agreements.

Under the 1970 Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, reviewed every five years for ways to strengthen implementation, countries without nuclear weapons commit to not pursuing them in exchange for a pledge by five weapons states - the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China - to move toward disarmament. The non-weapons states, meanwhile, are guaranteed access to peaceful nuclear technology.

The United States has sought to have the conference focus on the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs.

In Geneva on Wednesday, European diplomats resume negotiations with Tehran in an effort to get the Iranians to roll back their uranium-enrichment program, which can produce both fuel for nuclear energy and material for bombs. The Iranians cite the treaty guarantee on peaceful technology in justifying the program, but Washington contends they have plans to make weapons.

North Korea was the first "defector" from the treaty, having announced its withdrawal in 2003 and now claiming to have built nuclear weapons. This was done without consequences under the treaty, and many at the conference would like to make it harder to exit the nuclear pact, and to threaten sanctions against those who do.

Many non-weapons states, however, want an additional focus on the nuclear powers, complaining they are moving too slowly on their disarmament obligations. They cite in particular Bush administration talk of "modernizing" the U.S. nuclear arsenal and rejection of the test-ban treaty.

Washington still adheres to a unilateral moratorium on testing, but treaty advocates say a formal outlawing of testing is needed to stop development of new nuclear arms.

Visiting the troubled conference on Tuesday, a U.S. negotiator of the test-ban treaty told reporters the 1996 pact is a "litmus test."

"If countries that promised never to have nuclear weapons now see weapons states holding open the option to test, some of them think, 'Why should we give up nuclear weapons?' " said former ambassador Thomas Graham.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is seen in this undated photo released by the U.S. Department of State. Al-Qaida's branch in Iraq, blamed for numerous terror attacks on U.S. and Iraqi targets, said Tuesday May 24, 2005 in an Internet posting that its leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had been wounded and called on supporters to pray for his recovery. The posting's authenticity could not be verified, but it was posted on a Web site known for carrying prior statements by al-Qaida in Iraq and other militant groups. (AP Photo/U.S. Department of State, HO) Email Photo Print Photo

Web Posting Claims al-Zarqawi Fled Iraq

By JAMAL HALABY, Associated Press Writer

AMMAN, Jordan - An Islamic Web site statement claimed Wednesday that Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaida's point man in Iraq, has fled to a "neighboring country" with two Arab doctors treating him for gunshot wounds to his lung.

The claim's authenticity could not be confirmed. The site used to carry messages from al-Qaida, but has fallen out of use recently. Soon, the statement appeared on another militant site, where other posters quickly denounced it as untrue and unauthorized by the terror group.

The statement came a day after a message in the name of al-Zarqawi's group, al-Qaida in Iraq, appeared on another Web site, saying the terrorist mastermind has been wounded. U.S. officials cautioned they did not know if that posting was authentic and privately said the information also may have been designed to purposely mislead.

Also Wednesday, the Iraqi government said security forces have killed Sabhan Ahmad Ramadan, a senior al-Zarqawi aide in northern Iraq.

Ramadan, also known as Agha Abu Saad, was killed as he was manning a checkpoint in the northern province of Nineveh, the government said in a statement. It added that Ramadan was a leading aide to Abu Talha — the head of operations in Mosul for al-Zarqawi and his al-Qaida in Iraq terror group.

Wednesday's message from somebody identified only as al-Khalidi — the same name as somebody who used the site regularly in the past — said the information was based on accounts of "brothers close to the holy warriors in Iraq and who are in contact with them." He did not elaborate.

Al-Zarqawi "was secretly smuggled to a neighboring country a few days ago in a complicated and organized operation," the message said, but it did not identify the country.

It said al-Zarqawi was in "stable condition now" after he incurred a "bullet wound which penetrated his right lung."

Mideast security officials told The Associated Press in Amman that they could not verify the authenticity of the posting or its contents.

Al-Zarqawi has claimed responsibility for attacks on Iraqi civilians and security forces and kidnappings and beheadings of foreigners, and has a $25 million bounty on his head.

BOLO BOLO BOLO

Jordan following Zarqawi reports

By UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

Published May 25, 2005

AMMAN, Jordan -- Jordan is closely following reports Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, has been gravely wounded.

Government spokeswoman Asma Khoder told reporters in Amman Wednesdsay: "The government is monitoring all press reports."

Officials, however, have no additional information about him, except what has been published, she added.

A militant Islamic Web site reported Wednesday Zarqawi was evacuated from Iraq after being injured.

Zarqawi has been sentenced twice to death in absentia in Jordan and is currently being tried in absentia for planning to bomb the headquarters of Jordanian intelligence in Amman with chemical weapons.

Jordan King Abdullah recently said the former Iraqi Baath regime of ousted President Saddam Hussein refused several Jordanian requests in the past to hand over Zarqawi.

Zarqawi's sister who lives in Zarqa east of Amman refused to say whether the family had any information about her brother.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.