Posted on 06/02/2005 5:39:05 PM PDT by TexKat
U.S. Army Lt. Col. Roberto L. Garcia, government team chief, 353rd Civil Affairs Brigade, tosses a t-shirt to an Iraqi child at a village outside Baghdad, May 16, 2005. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jeremy D. Crisp
Cairo, June 02: A new online posting purportedly by the al-Qaeda group in Iraq has declared the creation of a new cell of suicide bombers and claimed it has already carried out a number of attacks.
``We gladly inform our Sheik Osama Bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi of the formation of al-Bara Bin Malek brigade,'' said a man claiming to be Abu Doujana al-Ansari, the head of the new group.
It wasn't possible to verify the authenticity of the four-minute-audio tape, which appeared on Tuesday on an Islamic web site known as a clearing house for al-Qaeda-linked material.
Al-Ansari said that the cell came in response to bin Laden's call to attack US troops in Iraq. According to the message, Bin Laden urged insurgents to ``terrorize the crusaders and their followers by striking their castles and destroying their spirits through suicidal attacks.''
The cell had launched a series of suicide attacks in Iraq, the man said.
Bureau Report
Sgt. Michael Rothermel, from Company B, 411th Civil Affairs Battalion, shares some treats with Iraqi children during a humanitarian mission to a displaced persons camp in Tikrit. Photo by Sgt. Matthew Acosta.
Google Search on the name Abu Doujana
Google Search on the name al-Ansari
NEWS: Iraq wrap-up: Vexilla regis prodeunt inferni
Written by Henry Adams
Friday, 06 May 2005
"He moved him from before me and halted me,/And said: 'Behold now Dis! behold the place/Where thou must steel thy soul with constancy'" (Dante, The Divine Comedy: Hell, Canto 34, ll. 19-21, trans. Dorothy Sayers). -- The following horrific stories are minced and mixed in this "Iraq wrap-up" produced by Reuters reporter Michael Georgy: -- (1) A suicide bomber killed 58 and wounded 44 in a vegetable market in Suwayra, in southern Iraq. -- (2) A suicide bomber in Tikrit killed 9 policemen. -- (3) Al Jazeera aired a video showing Douglas Woods's kidnappers demanding Australian withdrawal from Iraq. -- (4) Al Jazeera also aired a tape showing the Al-Bara bin Malek Brigades, who have taken six Jordanian hostages, demanding that Jordanian companies cease working with U.S. forces. -- (5) Police in Baghdad found 14 corpses in a garbage dump. -- (6) Moqtada al-Sadr's forces clashed with Iraqi soldiers in Kufa, and two Sadr supporters were killed hours later in Baghdad, raising fears of new problems with Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army....
Thanks for the ping granny.
By WILLIAM PETROSKI REGISTER STAFF WRITER June 2, 2005
About 700 Iowa National Guard infantry soldiers have returned to the United States after completing a one-year tour of duty in Afghanistan, a military spokesman said today.
The troops from Task Force 168, the largest Iowa military unit mobilized since World War II, were flown from Afghanistan to Fort Hood, Texas, earlier this week, said Lt. Col. Gregory Hapgood, the Iowa National Guard's public affairs officer.
Homecoming celebrations are planned in a dozen Iowa communities, including the Des Moines area, early next week, Hapgood said.
The 700 Iowa troops served in Afghanistan with about 100 soldiers from the Minnesota Army National Guard who have also returned to Fort Hood and will be headed home soon, Hapgood said. Together, they helped to provide security for rebuilding efforts in provinces throughout Afghanistan.
In other military developments:
• About 120 Marine reservists from C Battery, 1st Battalion, 14th Marines of Waterloo are being mobilized for duty in Iraq. The Marines are expected to leave Iowa for three months of training in California sometime after June 18, a Marine spokesman said.
• About 90 soldiers from the Iowa Army National Guard's 134th Medical Company of Washington, Iowa, have been ordered to active duty, effective in August. The unit is expected to serve somewhere in the Persian Gulf region , Hapgood said.
• A ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at Weeks Middle School, 901 E. Park Ave., to honor more than 120 Army Reserve soldiers for their service in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The soldiers are members of the 3rd Corps Support Command and Detachments 18 and 19 of the 4224th U.S. Army Hospital, both based at Fort Des Moines.
Thursday June 2, 2005:
The martyr thing
The press discusses Mahmoud Abbas' positive reception in Washington, Egypt's referendum and the "barricade theory" of Abou Musav:
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas appeared on U.S. television last week to announce that the era of the suicide bomber, at least in Palestine, is almost over. Forget the arguments of the past, because he’s decided that it’s the only way to secure a future for Palestinians in a state of their own. In return he got a promise of $50 million in aid. Perhaps sensing déjà vu, the state press in Egypt was happy.
Normally cynical on this issue, Egyptian op-ed writer Maher Osman called the trip a “historic visit” in London-based Al Hayat of 27 May. “We hope that Abbas and the Palestinian institutions will resume their fight against corruption and uproot it, as we hope that Palestinian legislative elections are held as soon as possible. We also wish to see Hamas participating in these elections, in order to include it as a partner in political life. A Palestinian resolve to lay the foundations of democracy, via transparency and integrity, should be put forward, for the Palestinians to avoid any discrimination that considers Israel the only democracy in the Middle East. This democracy will be a guarantee of the survival of the expected Palestinian state when it’s established.”
U.S.-based Egyptian analyst Mamoun Fandy wrote in the London-based daily Asharq Al Aswat of 30 May that it was time for Palestinians to grow up and ditch the childish noms-de-guerre, as well as the martyr thing. “I met the president [Abbas] and I heard from him and others that there is a fundamental shift that has taken place in the way the White House deals with the Palestinians under Abbas’ leadership compared to before ... With Mahmoud Abbas the paramilitary adolescence has turned into the maturity of statesmanship,” he wrote. “I say to President Bush: Palestine could be the democratic example you are looking for the region and it might come quicker than it will in Iraq. If America had spent on Palestine a quarter of what it has spent in Iraq it would already have its model … The Palestinians should go beyond the world of noms-de-guerre to names of state and this should also involve love of life and not love of death. It should begin now by ditching the title of Abou Mazen for Mr. President Mahmoud Abbas.”
Not in Egypt
As we’re all painfully aware, that democratic model isn’t going to be Egypt anytime soon, as last week’s referendum farce proved (since when did 13 million Egyptians ever risk their lives to vote in an election?). And yet Samir Ragab, editor of the state-owned Al Gomhouriya felt “unstoppable movement.” What kind? We wondered. “There is no doubt that there are certain circles of people at home and abroad who hoped the 25 May referendum would not take place peacefully,” he began, not very promisingly in the light of the fact that violence is what peaceful demonstrators got. Anyway, he goes on. “The Egyptian people, motivated by their free will, showed that they are ready to make history. More than half of those on the electoral register voted, endorsing the amendment to the constitution.” He went on: “It is amazing the way these wayward members of society just repeat the rhetoric propagated by foreign powers who are desperately seeking to steer the world according to their desires. In light of the lies and rumours, the pressing question is: Are these people so disillusioned that they believe their noisy claims will obstruct the racing train of reform in Egypt?”
Insane
In the Dubai daily Al Bayan of 30 May, Qatari writer Abdel Hamid Al Ansari took issue with the brazen new level that Wahhabi-influenced Sunni Islamic fundamentalism has attained with Abou Musab Al Zarqawi’s recent declaration that “Islamic law allows military operations, even if Muslim civilians fall victim, because the supreme duty is to kill the enemy no matter what.” Al Ansari said that Zarqawi cited in support an incident from early Islamic history where the enemy had barricaded itself inside a besieged town using its women and children as human shields, but the Muslims decided to attack all the same, knowing some of the innocents would die in the fray. This “barricade argument” (mafhuum al tatarrus) is insane, Al Ansari said, since “it’s not logical to have 7,000 innocent Iraqi victims for the sake of killing 1,500 American soldiers … and we haven’t seen the international or American forces using Iraqi civilians human shields. In fact it’s Zarqawi’s group that does that.”
“What Zarqawi and his group are doing is a great crime against the Iraqi people and it’s a double crime in that he’s saying killing innocents is ordained by God,” Al Ansari said.
Copyright © 2005 Cairo Magazine
http://www.cairomagazine.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=1002&format=html
Lance Cpl. Jonathan E. Gadsden, 21, of Charleston, S.C. died Oct. 22 at the James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, Tampa, Fla., from injuries as a result of enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq on Aug. 21. Gadsden was assigned to 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Report Faults Hospital For Marine's Death
By RICHARD LARDNER
Published: Jun 3, 2005
TAMPA - A young Marine who died while being treated at Tampa's James A. Haley VA Medical Center did not receive adequate care from staff who failed to recognize the severity of his condition, the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department concluded in a report released Thursday. An investigation by VA's inspector general acknowledged that Lance Cpl. Jonathan Gadsden arrived at Haley ``highly compromised'' by blast injuries suffered in Iraq.
The hospital's clinical staff, however, ``simply did not grasp how inherently fragile this patient was,'' the inspector general's June 1 report stated.
With special facilities for treating spinal cord injuries and traumatic brain wounds, Haley handles not only veterans from past wars but those from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Before Gadsden's admission at Haley in late September, ``there had been insufficient staff training to deal with the multifaceted issues'' exclusive to patients wounded by roadside bombs and other crude weapons, the report said.
``We are always saddened by the death of one of our patients,'' Haley officials said Thursday in a statement. ``We value the inspector general's independent review and have implemented improvements he recommended.''
Gadsden, 21, died Oct. 22 of bacterial meningitis, two months after sustaining severe injuries to his head, chest, abdomen and back when his Humvee hit an improvised explosive device in Al Anbar province, according to the June 1 report.
Gadsden was from Charleston, S.C. He was assigned to the 1st Marine Division's 1st Combat Engineer Battalion at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Between the time Gadsden was injured and his transfer to Haley, he received care at medical facilities in Iraq, Germany, and the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
Despite the severity of the wounds, Gadsden appeared to be improving, the inspector general found. Just before leaving for Haley, while still using a wheelchair, he went to a football game. The following day, he was able to walk 50 feet.
When Gadsden got to Haley, ``he was alert, cooperative, and oriented to person, place, month and year,'' the report said.
A week later, Gadsden's condition had worsened. His white blood cell count was elevated and he had a fever. A doctor prescribed antibiotics by phone and visited Gadsden's bedside the next day. This would be ``the only documented visit any infectious diseases physician'' would make until Gadsden had a cardiopulmonary arrest Oct. 19.
According to the inspector general, a more thorough review by the infectious diseases staff may have led to the discovery of the acinetobacter, a bacteria found in the soil in Iraq that can enter the body through dirty battlefield wounds.
The report faulted Haley's management of significant changes in Gadsden's mental status a few days before he died. Doctors who saw him did ``not recognize the gravity of this patient's mental condition,'' the report said. Physicians who would have recognized it ``were never called.''
The report also said not all of Gadsden's medical records were transferred from the National Naval Medical Center to Haley. Naval doctors said they had sent a compact disc containing Gadsden's radiological studies, but physicians at Haley denied ever receiving it.
In comments attached to the report, Forest Farley, Haley's director, said he and his staff ``do not take issue with or contest'' the inspector general's findings and criticisms.
Physicians involved in Gadsden's care have undergone peer review and ``appropriate action'' has been taken, Farley said. Since Gadsden's death, all multiple trauma patients sent to Haley for rehab are first sent to the hospital's medical or surgical service for evaluation, he added.
WASHINGTON, Jun 3 (Reuters) The State Department authorized the families of U.S. Embassy staff and nonessential embassy workers to leave Uzbekistan because of the potential for attacks against American targets.
''The United States government has received information that terrorist groups are planning attacks, possibly against U.S.
interests in Uzbekistan in the very near future,'' the State Department yesterday said in a statement.
The travel warning provided no details of the threat but noted that supporters of al Qaeda, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the Islamic Jihad Union were active in Central Asia.
The Islamic Jihad Union claimed responsibility for attacks last year on the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital.
''Due to the nature of the threat, the Department of State has authorized the departure from Uzbekistan of non-emergency personnel and all eligible family members of the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent,'' the travel warning said.
It cautioned American citizens against unnecessary travel to Uzbekistan and urged those already there to consider leaving.
Uzbekistan, a former Soviet state, is a close military ally of Washington in its war on terror. The country rents the United States an air base for operations in Afghanistan.
By Shamil Baigin
Thu Jun 2, 9:18 AM ET
TASHKENT (Reuters) - Uzbekistan on Thursday rejected fresh Western pressure over violence last month in which many civilians were reported killed, telling NATO and the rest of the world it saw no grounds for an international inquiry.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer on Tuesday condemned reported use of excessive force by Uzbek troops in the eastern town of Andizhan and NATO parliamentarians urged member states to halt support for the Uzbek armed forces unless a probe was conducted.
Some 500 people, mostly civilians, are reported to have been killed when troops put down a revolt on May 13. Authorities in the Central Asian country say 173 people, mostly "terrorists," were killed.
"The Uzbek side believes that there is no ground whatsoever for discussing the issue of forming an international commission to investigate the Andizhan events," the Foreign Ministry said, reacting to the NATO parliamentary assembly's call.
It said a commission had been set up by the Uzbek parliament to hold an inquiry and "all necessary information" had been sent to the NATO secretary-general. It gave no further detail.
No opposition deputies are represented in the Uzbek legislature which is widely seen as a rubberstamp machine for fast approval of President Islam Karimov's decisions.
"OBJECTIVE ASSESSMENT" WELCOME
Foreign Minister Ilyor Ganiyev later railed against foreign media, accusing them of biased reporting. He said foreign diplomats would be welcome to "objectively assess" Uzbekistan's official inquiry and its steps "to stabilize the situation in Andizhan."
"Uzbekistan proposes setting up a working group from a number of accredited foreign embassies, such as the USA, France, Russia and China, as well as the states neighboring our region," he told journalists. He would not take any questions.
Facing fierce Western criticism, Karimov last month spurned similar calls for a detailed inquiry from the United Nations, the European Union and the United States.
President Bush pressed Tashkent this week for a full inquiry into what happened in Andizhan.
Uzbekistan, part of NATO's Partnership for Peace program for ex-communist states, is also a key U.S. ally in the war on terror in neighboring Afghanistan and hosts a U.S. airbase.
The Uzbek Foreign Ministry said the Andizhan revolt was "the result of a thoroughly planned terrorist aggression by radical, extremist and religious forces orchestrated from abroad."
Karimov, who has run the largely Muslim Central Asian nation with an iron fist since Soviet times, defends his tough methods by saying that he wants to prevent an advent of militant Islam.
A group of U.S. senators has called the Andizhan bloodshed a "massacre," but Karimov enjoys support from Russia and China, both of which have said they believe that "external forces" were behind the Andizhan revolt.
Canadian Press
Thursday, June 02, 2005
NEW YORK (AP) - Syria test-fired three Scud missiles last Friday, including one that broke up over Turkish territory and showered missile parts onto Turkish farmers, the New York Times newspaper quoted Israeli military officials saying.
These were the first such Syrian missile tests since 2001, the paper's website quoted the Israelis saying, and are part of a Syrian missile-development project using North Korean technology and designed, the Israelis contend, to deliver air-burst chemical weapons.
The missiles included one older Scud B, with a range of about 300 kilometres, and two Scud D's with a range of about 700 kilometres, the Times' sites said late Thursday, quoting Israeli officials.
Little was especially startling about the tests, Israeli officials said, except the embarrassment to Turkey - a member of NATO - and the timing, during the Lebanese elections, the Times said.
The Israeli military officials quoted by the Times said they interpreted the launchings as a gesture of defiance to the United States and the United Nations by Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has been pushed to remove Syrian troops from Lebanon since the assassination of the anti-Syrian politician, Rafik Hariri.
The Times said Israeli officials, who are familiar with the intelligence but asked their names or departments not be identified, decided to publicize the tests in part because they were puzzled by U.S. silence about them and because Israel sees them as part of a troubling pattern of behaviour by Assad.
Israel - which occupies the Golan Heights, taken from Syria in 1967 - is particularly concerned about the Syrian missile program and the Syrian hold, now shaken, over bordering Lebanon. Syria harbours the leadership of the Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad and helps them, as well as the Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah, with money, arms and sponsorship.
All the missiles were launched from northern Syria, near Minakh, north of Aleppo, the Times quoted the Israeli officials saying. One was sent about 400 kilometres to southernmost Syria, near the Jordanian border. The one that broke up was fired southwest toward the Mediterranean, over the Turkish province Hatay, and shed debris over two villages. The Israelis said they had film of the launching and breakup.
In Washington, Turkish Ambassador Osman Faruk Logoglu told the Times there were no casualties in the incident May 27. The Syrian ambassador was asked to explain and "said that during a military exercise, there was a technical mishap," the Times quoted Logoglu saying, "and that the Syrian government was sorry about this."
But the Israelis quoted by the Times noted the test was the first time Syria had fired a missile over another country when it could easily have moved its mobile launchers to the centre of the country to avoid flight over Turkey altogether.
By Reuters
Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday he would withdraw his support for the disengagement plan in future votes, claiming it emboldens Palestinian militants.
Speaking in Jerusalem before Likud party members, Netanyahu said the withdrawal from Gaza and four West Bank settlements "will come up again for a cabinet vote, and how will I vote? I will vote against."
"The Palestinians have bought Hamas' argument that it and only it has made us run and as a result ... Hamas is growing stronger," Netanyahu said.
With Prime Minister Ariel Sharon assured of a solid cabinet majority for the plan anyway, Netanyahu's remarks were seen mainly as a new challenge to supplant Sharon's leadership in the Likud party once the pullout is over.
Sharon has split the party to win approval for his historic plan to remove all the settlements from Gaza in August, and many expect the hardliners to try to overthrow him or force early national elections after the pullout takes place.
The cabinet has already approved the plan for Israel's first removal of settlements from the territories, but Sharon has agreed to let ministers vote again separately to authorize each of the four stages of the pullout.
Sharon is guaranteed a majority in each of these polls regardless of Netanyahu's vote, having included the left-of-center Labor Party in his governing coalition earlier this year to offset rebel rightist ministers.
03 Jun 2005 03:13:48 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Updates police confirm suspicious package addressed to Australian foreign minister, staff decontaminated)
CANBERRA, June 3 (Reuters) - A suspicious package addressed to Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer forced the closure of the parliament house loading dock on Friday and the decontamination of parliamentary staff, police said.
The package comes two days after a mysterious powder was sent to the Indonesian embassy in Canberra. The embassy scare follows a backlash over the 20-year sentencing of an Australian woman in Bali for smuggling drugs.
The embassy was shut and staff decontaminated while authorities tried to determine if the powder contained a dangerous biological agent, such as a type of bacteria that can cause serious illness. After tests, police now believe the embassy powder is harmless.
Police would not confirm whether the package addressed to Downer also contained a powder, but said some staff were being decontaminated.
"Shortly before 10 a.m., a suspicious package was received," said Australian Federal Police sergeant Stephen Cooke.
"My information is that it was addressed to Alexander Downer," Cooke told reporters.
A Reuters correspondent in parliament said the underground loading dock, which receives mail at the building, had been closed. The loading dock is in a separate building to the actual parliament, but is part of the parliamentary complex.
The parliament has not been evacuated and Prime Minister John Howard remained inside the building holding meetings.
(AFP)
2 June 2005
JAKARTA - Indonesian police on Thursday said they had evidence linking the chief of a Sulawesi prison to a weekend bomb attack in a Christian market town on the island that left 21 people dead.
National police spokesman Ariyanto Budharjo said chemicals identical to those used in the attack in the town of Tentena had been found on the body of Hasman, who is in charge of the jail in the nearby Muslim city of Poso.
Hasman was among 13 people who are being held under anti-terrorism laws over the bombing, including three inmates of Poso prison serving sentences for murder.
Seven of the 13 were identified as members of a group led by a man named Yani, who is accused of recently leading an attack on a Christian village in western Sulawesi.
Police were also seeking two men -- one of whom, witnesses said, had been seen at the Tentena market a few days before the bombing and had fled on a motorcycle immediately afterwards -- Budiharjo added.
Police have previously said Saturday’s bombing in the town of Tentena, could be the work of Al Qaeda-linked militants or local Islamic extremists trying to stir up unrest in an area dogged by violence between Muslims and Christians.
Others have suggested the incident was an attempt to divert attention from a local corruption scandal or an effort by powerful security forces to justify their presence in the region.
More than 1,000 people died in a year of conflict between Muslims and Christians in Central Sulawesi’s Poso region before a ceasefire in 2001.
Saturday’s bombing was the worst attack in Indonesia since the October 2002 Bali bombings in which 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, were killed. The Bali blasts were blamed on the Al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah organisation.
6/3/2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide car bomber has killed at least 10 Iraqis and wounded 10 more north of Baghdad, U.S. military, Iraqi police and hospital officials said Friday. To the southeast, a Shiite cleric was killed outside his home
The bombing targeted a home late Thursday where a group of people had gathered in a remote village near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, U.S. military spokesman Maj. Richard Goldenberg said, citing a report released by Iraqi authorities in Salaheddin province.
Further details were not immediately available.
Late Thursday, gunmen shot and killed Shiite cleric Ali Abdul Hussein outside his home in Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, said police Capt. Mushtaq Taleeb.
Hussein, imam of central Basra's al-Zahraa mosque, was the latest cleric to die in violence that has killed more than 810 people, including at least 10 Shiite and Sunni clerics, since the April 28 announcement of Iraq's Shiite-led government.
Great photos. Thanks for posting.
Rumsfeld: China's Military Is Growing
By MATT KELLEY, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jun 3, 5:59 AM ET
SINGAPORE - China's military is growing as quickly as its economy and is a major buyer of weapons from Russia and other countries, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Friday.
Rumsfeld also said China's "less free" political system needs to open up along with its economy.
"It would be a shame for the people of China if their government did not provide the opportunities that freer economic and political systems permit," Rumsfeld told reporters traveling with him to Singapore for an Asian security conference.
Rumsfeld plans to meet with at least a half-dozen ministers from Asian countries at the conference, including key allies South Korea and Japan. He said they will discuss issues such as terrorism, the shifting U.S. military presence in the region and North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
The defense secretary said he would not be offering any new initiatives on North Korea and will repeat Washington's calls for resumed six-nation talks on the issue.
"Our policy is what it is, and it's well known," Rumsfeld said.
The six-way talks to persuade North Korea to give up its nukes broke off a year ago and new meetings have not been scheduled. Tensions have inched up in recent months amid U.S. suspicions North Korea may be preparing to test a nuclear bomb.
Rumsfeld would not discuss whether the Pentagon is planning for military options if North Korea goes ahead with a nuclear test. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other Bush administration officials have said they are worried such a test could set off a nuclear arms race in Asia.
North Korea has condemned a U.S. plan to send 15 F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighters to South Korea. The Pentagon said last week the move was part of a long-planned training exercise. Also last week, Washington suspended its program to search for Korean War dead in North Korea, saying the situation there was too dangerous for the American search teams.
Statements from the north's official Korea Central News Agency have been in conflict this week. North Korea first called Vice President Dick Cheney a "bloodthirsty beast" in response to his telling CNN that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was irresponsible and oppressive. Then North Korea offered rare praise of President Bush for referring to Kim as "Mister" during a news conference.
Pyongyang announced it had nuclear weapons earlier this year during the lull in talks among the United States, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea and North Korea. U.S. officials say they believe North Korea may have as many as six nuclear bombs. North Korean missiles can reach South Korea, Japan and parts of China and the Russian Far East.
Rumsfeld said he was encouraged by a recent thaw in the military relationship between major Asian powers India and China.
"I think it's important for countries in the region to have good relations with each other — military, political, economic," Rumsfeld said.
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