Posted on 06/09/2005 6:05:15 PM PDT by TexKat
Families and friends wait and cheer loudly as the USS Bonhomme Richard moors to the pier at Naval Station San Diego, Calif., June 6, 2005. The USS Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group returned from a six-month deployment in support of the war on terror. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Prince A. Hughes III
Jun 09, 2005 - 11:27:26 pm EDT
By Gwen Guerke, Milford Chronicle
MILFORD - Army National Guardsman Tom Humes took a break from his deployment in Iraq to come home to Milford and spend time with his wife and children.
Chief Warrant Officer Humes, 43, was fortunate that his leave also coincided with the date of his son's wedding Saturday at Avenue United Methodist Church.
Although he's been in the National Guard since 1985, this is the first time he's been called to active duty, to use his skills as a Blackhawk helicopter pilot.
His unit, while based in New Castle, is part of the 42nd Infantry Division from New York.
The owner of Gander Construction was called to active duty on June 2, 2004.
His company was deployed to For Dix, N.J., for five and half months of training. He also trained at Fort Rucker in Alabama on combat flight simulators, and in Fort Indiantown, Pa., for using night vision goggles.
After training was complete, the company left in November for Kuwait.
Chief Warrant Officer Humes spent Thanksgiving in Kuwait, living in a 70-man tent and completing desert flight qualifications.
In December, the unit flew to Iraq and the group's new home at Forward Operating Base Speicher.
He describes the living quarters as 20-foot trailers, each of which holds four men. The bathrooms and showers are situated in separate trailers, and the dining room, or chow hall, is a half-mile walk.
He said his missions involve battlefield circulation of troops and VIP transport.
A couple of weeks ago, Chief Warrant Officer Humes carried country singer Toby Keith to visit with local troops.
"He said he wanted to go where the troopers were, no matter what the risk was to himself, and he did. We took him to some out of the way places. He was tired and dehydrated, but did not slow down. The troops he saw were very glad to see him, and to get pictures taken with him. He performed for about an hour at each stop," he said.
"My job is not all a cake walk. There are rockets and mortars, but it's not like out driving a convoy. There are some moments that really get your attention," he added.
Chief Warrant Officer Humes said what he's experienced in Iraq is not what he sees on American TV.
"What people see in the media is mostly the bad side. We're getting people's confidence in the Iraqi army and police. They are taking steps in the right direction, and I think most people there feel we're doing good," he said.
In an e-mail sent in May to family and friends back home, Chief Warrant Officer Humes described having tea and some sweet bread with some Kurds.
He wrote about swatting flies while exchanging token items, such as pens and patches, with them.
"The Kurds are very grateful to the Americans for getting rid of Saddam Hussein. One man said that Hussein killed his father when he was a boy. I didn't question how or why this happened. Hussein killed lots of Kurds. I have even heard stories that the Iraqi Army helicopters would use them as human targets for gunnery practice," he wrote.
Chief Warrant Officer Humes, the son of Carolyn and Harry Humes, said he and his wife, Sandy, and their two children, Quinn and Anna, spent time camping, going to the beach and visiting a theme park.
He expects to finish up his tour of duty in October or November when his unit is replaced by members of the 101st Airborne Division.
Chief Warrant Officer Humes says he knows his military service is appreciated when he comes home.
"Everybody supports you. Even coming through the airports, people come up to you and say thank you," he said.
What a piece of work she is...clearly she did a better job of raising her hero son.
Northwest Community Credit Union in Eugene, was able to reimburse the soldier's money.
Good for them.
The bodies of men killed execution-style lie in a gravel pit near the Iraqi town of Qaim, about 450 km (330 miles) northwest of Baghdad, June 9, 2005. A total of 16 bodies have been discovered in western Iraq, witnesses said on June 10, the latest grisly killings fuelling fears of a civil war in Iraq. Police said that 22 Iraqi soldiers were kidnapped after leaving their base in the town of Qaim, near the Syrian border. It was not immediately clear if the victims, who were in civilian clothes and left in two different locations near Qaim, were soldiers. REUTERS/Ali Mashhadani (Stringer/Iraq/Reuters)
At Least 17 Bodies Found in Iraqi Town
By MOHAMMED BARAKAT, Associated Press Writer
QAIM, Iraq - At least 17 bodies in civilian clothes were found scattered near a town close to the Syrian border that is considered an insurgent hotbed, with 11 shot in the head and another beheaded, witnesses said Friday.
The 11 who were shot in the head had their hands tied behind their backs, according to the witnesses, which included a reporter for The Associated Press. They were found near a small hamlet called Jabab, about 19 miles east of Qaim. It was unclear when they were killed.
The Interior Ministry also confirmed that another six bodies were found near Qaim outside the village of Fosfat. Interior ministry Maj. Falah al-Mahamdawi said the six men were found Thursday. They all had civilian ID cards.
It was unclear if the bodies had any connection to a group of about 20 Iraqi soldiers that have been missing from the Qaim area since late Tuesday.
Qaim, about 200 miles west of Baghdad, has been the scene of numerous U.S. military and Iraqi army operations. U.S. Marines carried out two major operations in the area last month, with a total of 11 Marines being killed in the campaigns.
Al-Qaida in Iraq, the terror group led by Jordanian-born Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed in an Internet posting that it had abducted a total of 36 Iraqi soldiers in western Iraq on Wednesday. The posting, on a Web site known to carry militant statements, could not be verified independently.
"A group of the infidel guards was arrested and investigated Wednesday," it said.
The group added that the men confessed their crimes "against Sunnis and their loyalty to crusaders." To release them, it gave the government of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari a day to set free "Muslim women" held in Iraqi prisons. It did not elaborate.
Capt. Ahmed Hamid said the soldiers disappeared Tuesday after leaving an Iraqi army base in two minibuses from Akashat, a village near the Syrian border about 70 miles southwest of Qaim.
Hamid, contacted by telephone at an Iraqi military base in Qaim, said the soldiers were wearing civilian clothes and traveling to Baghdad for a vacation.
Elsewhere, a U.S. soldier died Thursday of non-combat injuries near Tuz Khormato, about 130 miles north of Baghdad, the military said.
Five other U.S. soldiers were wounded Thursday when a suicide car bomber attacked their convoy between Beiji and Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad, but none of the injuries was life-threatening, the military said.
At least 1,684 U.S. military members have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
In southern Basra, gunmen killed the dean of the city's police academy, Col. Karim al-Daraji, police said.
A man inspects car of the Dean of the Basra police academy, Col. Karim al-Daraji, Friday June 10, 2005. AL-Daraji was assasinated by unidentified gunmen in Basra, Iraq Friday morning. (AP Photo/Nabil Al-Jurani)
The European Commission, meanwhile, said Friday it plans to have a delegation in Baghdad within a month, re-establishing a permanent mission for the first time since before the 2003 Iraq war.
Briefing reporters after returning from the EU's first high-level visit to Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the mission will be small but would grow as the security situation permits.
EU external affairs commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner (2ndL) speaks to the press with Foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone.(AFP/Ahmad al-Rubaye)
"The security situation is difficult, and that's also the reason why we haven't opened a mission yet," she said. "But we need a delegation there, with all the possible care given to security."
The EU wanted to appoint a charge d'affaires who could engage in a political dialogue with government authorities, she said. The EU wants the delegation located in the Green Zone, the security enclave in the center of Baghdad that also houses the U.S. Embassy.
The EU delegation's one-day visit to Baghdad on Thursday was to prepare for a major donors' conference in Brussels, Belgium, later this month.
A South Korean presidential body guard carries an umbrella in front of the Asian Airlines plane that carried South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and his wife Kwon Yang-sook after their arrival at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington June 9, 2005. Roh will meet U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington on Friday at a time when the two allies are cautiously weighing signs that North Korea could end a year-long boycott of six-country diplomatic talks on its nuclear ambitions. REUTERS/Hyungwon Kang
Bush, S. Korean Leader Differ on N. Korea
By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - President Bush's efforts to draw North Korea back to disarmament talks are being complicated by U.S. diplomatic strains with South Korea and China. Boasts by the North of its atomic bomb capability and harsh rhetoric by American officials aren't helping, analysts suggest.
Pyongyang's nuclear program tops the agenda for a White House meeting on Friday between Bush and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.
China-led international negotiations over the North's nuclear ambitions have been deadlocked for close to a year, and both Bush and Roh are putting a high premium on getting them restarted.
But the two leaders have different views on how. The South is trying to coexist peacefully with its communist neighbor, and relations between the two Koreas have warmed.
That has created strains with a U.S. administration that views the North as a dangerous regime capable of producing and proliferating weapons of mass destruction.
Ties between Washington and Seoul are further stressed by disagreements over how to reshape their 50-year-old military alliance. The U.S. has about 32,500 troops in South Korea but is reducing that number to about 24,500 in the coming years.
Bush has been prodding China and South Korea to lean harder on North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
Roh was expected to press Bush to reaffirm a commitment to ending the showdown with a diplomatic resolution, calling any military option unacceptable.
Bush also has said seeking U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang "is an option down the road." But it's a course neither China nor South Korea want to pursue.
The North gave confusing signals ahead of Friday's White House meeting.
North Korean officials told U.S. diplomats in New York on Monday that the North was committed to rejoining the six-nation talks at some unspecified date. Then, on the eve of Roh's visit, North Korea boasted that it was building more nuclear bombs and was capable of putting them on missiles.
North Korea is widely believed to have enough weapons-grade plutonium for a half-dozen nuclear bombs. Asked by ABC News if it was building more, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan said, "Yes."
"As for specifically how many we have, that is a secret," he said.
The North also issued a statement saying new talks are "entirely dependent" on whether Washington creates a favorable environment for negotiations.
"Such steps and comments only further isolate North Korea from the rest of the international community," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said on Thursday.
But some critics suggested that harsh words from American officials were giving the North an excuse to shun the talks.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said during a visit to Asia last week that North Korea was "a living hell" for all but its elite. A week earlier, Vice President Dick Cheney called North Korean leader Kim Jong Il "one of the world's most irresponsible leaders," drawing scathing protests from Pyongyang.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called North Korea one of the world's remaining "outposts of tyranny," a phrase that echoes Bush's 2002 depiction of the reclusive regime as a member of an "axis of evil."
"Part of our problem is we need to stop giving them excuses for not returning to the talks," Rep. Curt Weldon (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa., vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said in an interview. "We just have to tone down the rhetoric completely."
"We all know what the feelings are toward the regime and leader there. But we don't have to talk about it publicly. We don't have to spit in their face," said Weldon, who led a delegation to North Korea earlier this year.
China has expressed frustration with caustic U.S. rhetoric as it tries to coax North Korea back to the talks, which also include the United States, South Korea, Japan and Russia.
U.S.-Chinese ties have also been strained in recent weeks by trade and currency disputes.
In first signaling a willingness to return to the bargaining table, then boasting of their nuclear weapons, "the North Koreans are probably playing multiple games. And it confuses all of us. It probably confuses them too," said Michael O'Hanlon, a foreign policy scholar at the Brookings Institution.
The "underlying dilemma," said O'Hanlon, "is that they want their nuclear weapons, or at least want a very high price to buy them out. And we refuse to accept the validity or legitimacy of these weapons."
A young Palestinian covers his ears from a sound, launched by a new weapon of the Israeli army, during a demonstration against the construction of Israel's separation barrier at the West Bank village of Bil'in Friday, June 3, 2005. Israel is considering using an unusual new weapon against Jewish settlers who resist this summer's Gaza Strip evacuation, a device that emits penetrating bursts of sound that send targets reeling with dizziness and nausea. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Israel May Use Sound Weapon on Settlers
By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM - Israel is considering using an unusual new weapon against Jewish settlers who resist this summer's Gaza Strip evacuation — a device that emits penetrating bursts of sound that leaves targets reeling with dizziness and nausea.
Security forces could employ the weapon to overcome resistance without resorting to force, their paramount aim. But experts warn that the effects of prolonged exposure are unknown.
The army employed the new device, which it dubbed "The Scream," at a recent violent demonstration by Palestinians and Jewish sympathizers against Israel's West Bank separation barrier.
Protesters covered their ears and grabbed their heads, overcome by dizziness and nausea, after the vehicle-mounted device began sending out bursts of audible, but not loud, sound at intervals of about 10 seconds. An Associated Press photographer at the scene said that even after he covered his ears, he continued to hear the sound ringing in his head.
A military official said the device emits a special frequency that targets the inner ear. Exposure for several minutes at close range could cause auditory damage, but the noise is too intolerable for people to remain in the area for that long, he said.
Another official, also speaking on condition of anonymity because of his sensitive position, said the device hasn't been tested on subjects for hours at a time, so he couldn't discuss effects from prolonged exposure.
He said there was no direct connection between the recent introduction of "The Scream" and the forcible removal of settlers who resist evacuation orders, which is to begin in mid-August. But he didn't rule out the possibility of using it to root out settlers if persuasion fails.
The other official said "The Scream" could be used if protesters march on Gaza settlements or take up military positions.
"The whole issue of non-lethal is viewed from a desire not to get into a situation where soldiers are in distress and the consequences would be harsher than expected," he explained.
He said the military is still evaluating the device's debut performance in the field.
John Pike, director of the GlobalSecurity.org think tank in Alexandria, Va., said he believed last Friday's demonstration was the first case of such technology making it out of the laboratory and into the field. He said the U.S. and possibly China and Russia are developing acoustic weapons.
"I'm not aware of any other agency that is actively using it at this point," Pike said.
The military offered few details on the device, but Pike said he assumed it worked on very low frequencies that set off resonance in the inner ear. He said he was unaware of potential damage besides possible hearing loss.
Though the military refused to comment, Pike said the device probably sends its sound waves out in a specific direction, protecting the soldiers behind it.
"Most governments don't face large-scale demonstrations with a potential for lethal violence," he said. "So I think I would look to Israeli security forces to be an innovator in the non-lethal arena, simply because of the unique challenges it faces in the crowd control arena."
The military officials said Israel is constantly trying to bring new non-lethal weapons into the field but wouldn't disclose details. Its current arsenal includes tear gas as well as rubber-coated steel bullets, which have caused dozens of Palestinian fatalities.
Critics say Israel, with all its military technology savvy, should have done more in the years since the first Palestinian uprising began in 1987 to develop non-lethal weapons for use against hostile Palestinian masses.
Troops often turn to live fire, sometimes against teenage Palestinian stone-throwers. Police, too, used deadly force in October 2000 to put down rioting by Israeli Arabs at the start of the second Palestinian uprising. Thirteen Israeli Arabs were killed in those riots, and a commission of inquiry found that police used excessive force.
Israel's B'Tselem human rights group says Israeli security officers don't come equipped to police protests. "Although they could have anticipated they would have to disperse crowds, they didn't equip themselves with non-lethal means," spokeswoman Sarit Michaeli said.
Weapons they do have, such as rubber-coated bullets, are misused — fired, for example, at too close a range, Michaeli said. The rubber-coated bullets can be lethal from close range.
Pike said the reason there aren't more non-lethal weapons available worldwide is because it is difficult to achieve both safety and effectiveness.
"The number of things that are genuinely effective at crowd control and substantially less lethal than lethal weapons — it's a pretty short list," he said.
Weapons like pepper gas wouldn't put off a determined crowd, Pike said. Something like sticky foam might keep people out of a building, "but if I'm talking about controlling a mob in a city square, it just doesn't enter into play," he said.
Israel's past efforts to develop non-lethal crowd dispersal weapons included a gravel-spewing machine introduced and quickly abandoned during the first Palestinian uprising.
Agence France Presse
10 June 2005
The head of Kirkuk's anti-corruption brigade and his deputy have been shot dead in the northern Iraqi town, a police official said.
"Colonel Rahim Othman Said, head of the anti-corruption brigade in Kirkuk, and his deputy, lieutenant-colonel Ghanem Jayad Jabbar, were killed late Wednesday by shots fired by unknown assailants firing from a BMW," said colonel Adel Zein el-Abidin.
Lt-Col Jabbar was killed on the spot and Colonel Said died upon arrival at hospital in Kirkuk, he said.
Meanwhile Kirkuk police chief General Turhan Youssef said he had escaped an assassination attempt on Thursday when assailants opened fire on his car.
Kirkuk, 255 kilometres north of Baghdad, has been the scene of numerous deadly attacks on Iraqi security forces.
-AFP
The sudden rise in terrorist attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan supports the theory that Arab terrorists in that country have regrouped in an effort to provide a reinvigorated Arab front against the US.
By Amin Tarzi and Kathleen Ridolfo for RFE/RL (10/06/05)
Recent published accounts of the relationship between fugitive Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network illuminate the relationship between the two men and their movements' vision of establishing an Islamic caliphate across the Middle East. The sudden rise in terrorist attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan supports the theory that Arab terrorists in that country have regrouped in an effort to provide a reinvigorated Arab front against the US, while the continuing insurgency in Iraq shows no signs of abatement, despite recent reports that al-Zarqawi may be near death as a result of a recent injury.
The Afghan front
Almost immediately after the 1 June suicide bombing of a Kandahar mosque that killed mourners of an anti-Taliban cleric, Afghan officials said that it was carried out by Arab members of Al-Qaeda. "We have found documents on [the bomber's] body that show he was an Arab," Kandahar governor Gul Agha Sherzai told reporters, adding that intelligence indicated that "Arab al-Qaida teams had entered Afghanistan and had been planning terrorist attacks. Mohammad Hasham Alikozay, director of the Public Health Department in Kandahar, said that the “features found” at the explosion site indicated that the suicide bomber seemed “to be an Arab”. In line with the expectations of Afghan authorities and US-led coalition forces, disruptive activities and terrorist acts either committed by or in the name of the neo-Taliban and their allies have increased since the weather improved in southern and eastern Afghanistan. In April, US Major General Eric Olson said that there "has been an increase in Taliban and enemy activity in the spring [compared to the winter months]. And we anticipate that the enemy has the intention of trying to raise the level of activity this spring." However, Olson predicted that these activities would lack cohesion and fade in traditional neo-Taliban strongholds. However, what has been different in recent months is the sophisticated coordination of the disruptive activities and the new methods employed by their perpetrators. The second and more urgent factor for al-Zarqawi and his backers to reopen the Afghan front is most likely linked to the official signing of the “strategic partnership” between Kabul and Washington in May.
Student-led demonstrations
The student-led demonstrations that began peacefully on 10 May in the eastern Nangarhar Province and spread to at least 13 other provinces around Afghanistan were the first indication that a new, well-organized plan against the government of President Hamid Karzai, but especially against the US presence in Afghanistan, was under way. While the demonstrations were triggered by a report alleging that some interrogators at the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, desecrated the Koran, the rallies quickly and with a coordination not seen in Afghanistan, became violent and spread to several Afghan cities. Coinciding with the student demonstrations, a night letter reminiscent of the days when Afghans were fighting Soviet troops was circulated in parts of Kabul. Without making any reference to the events in Nangarhar, the letter announced that the "principle duty of the Mujahedin has just started." The unsigned letter condemned the possibility of the establishment of US military bases in Afghanistan and alleged that Karzai and former Taliban members are in an alliance with the purpose of turning Afghanistan into a US satellite.
‘Enemies of peace’?
Karzai’s government initially blamed “enemies of peace and stability” for fueling and politicizing student anger, in particular directing it towards US-Afghan ties and Kabul's offer of amnesty to many former Taliban members. The Afghan president said that “students of medical and engineering faculties of Pakistani and Iranian universities attend classes and continue their lessons as usual, but Afghan university and school students are taken out of their classes and provoked to stage demonstrations” to destroy lives and property in Afghanistan. While Karzai did not accuse a specific country by name, Kabul’s main pro-government daily Anis on 17 May wrote that Iran is spending “large sums of money and [has] hired scores of mercenaries” to undermine stability in Afghanistan. Anis alleged that the demonstrations were planned by “reckless” Afghans in consultation with the Iranian Embassy in Kabul.
Possible neo-Taliban role?
The possible role of the Neo-Taliban is unclear. No one has pointed a finger at the neo-Taliban for fueling the demonstrations and the militia's spokesman, Mufti Latifullah Hakimi, has denied any involvement. The neo-Taliban did claim responsibility for the 29 May murder of Mawlawi Abdullah Fayyaz, head of the Council of Ulema of Kandahar and an ardent opponent of the neo-Taliban. However, Hakimi, commenting on the suicide attack in the mosque during services held for Fayyaz, said: “This shouldn’t have occurred. We strongly condemn this act.” It is difficult to differentiate between wanton acts of violence in Afghanistan. Some attacks, carried out in the name of the neo-Taliban, are actually committed by drug dealers or other criminals. And the neo-Taliban often claims responsibility for acts of violence that it has not committed. However, what is noteworthy in the student demonstrations and the mosque bombing is the coordination and means of committing these violent acts. Suicide bombings are very rare in Afghanistan and the neo-Taliban seldom resort to this tactic to achieve their goals. Moreover, there is not a single record of a suicide attack inside a mosque in that country, as has been the case in Iraq. The Kandahar attack may be the beginning of a new front by al-Qaida-inspired terrorists, possibly backed by regional countries, to recalibrate their anti-US activities in Afghanistan.
The Iraqi front
“Al-Zarqawi: The Second Al-Qaida Generation”, a recently published book on al-Zarqawi - who pledged his group's loyalty to Osama bin Laden last year - chronicles al-Zarqawi's presence in Afghanistan and his relationship with the al-Qaida network, which funded al-Zarqawi training camps in Herat before the US-led invasion in 2001. Following the invasion, al-Zarqawi and other al-Qaida leaders scattered and regrouped in Iran, pledging to reassemble in Afghanistan in seven years’ time, Sayf al-Adl, the official in charge of security for the Global Al-Qaida of Islam Army, recounted in the book. Al-Zarqawi and his associates' quicker return to the Afghan front before the seven-year hiatus mentioned by Sayf al-Adl may be directly linked to two issues. Firstly, it concerns the ineffectiveness of the neo-Taliban and the low-level al-Qaida support provided to them in order to inflict heavy damage on the Kabul government or US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan. Also related to this point is the relative success of the political process in Afghanistan after the neo-Taliban had vowed to disrupt the electoral process there. However, the second and more urgent factor for al-Zarqawi and his backers to reopen the Afghan front is most likely linked to the official signing of the “strategic partnership” between Kabul and Washington in May. The partnership binds the two countries in a formal agreement and allows for an indefinite US military presence in Afghanistan.
Made in Afghanistan
Al-Adl further documented al-Zarqawi's decision to establish his network of fighters in Iraq in 2001, an undertaking assisted through his relationship with the Ansar Al-Islam terrorist network based in Iraqi Kurdistan close to the Iranian border. That relationship was reportedly forged in Afghanistan. “We began to converge on Iran one after the other. The fraternal brothers in the peninsula of the Arabs, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates who were outside Afghanistan, had already arrived. They possessed abundant funds. We set up a central leadership and working groups,” al-Adl recounted. "We began to form some groups of fighters to return to Afghanistan to carry out well-prepared missions there. Meanwhile, we began to examine the situation of the group and the fraternal brothers to pick new places for them. Abu Musab and his Jordanian and Palestinian comrades opted to go to Iraq...[an] examination of the situation indicated that the Americans would inevitably make a mistake and invade Iraq sooner or later. Such an invasion would aim at overthrowing the regime. Therefore, we should play an important role in the confrontation and resistance. It would be our historic chance to establish the state of Islam that would play a major role in alleviating injustice and establishing justice in this world,” al-Adl said. Al-Zarqawi has established a vast network of fighters in Iraq and Iraqi authorities have indicated that the network includes Arab nationals as well as Afghan and Pakistani fighters. His Tanzim Qa'idat Al-Jihad fi Bilad Al-Rafidayn allegedly has close ties to the Ansar Al-Sunnah Army, an outgrowth of Ansar Al-Islam. US and Iraqi authorities claim that successes have been made through a string of recent military operations targeting the groups. A Mosul operation on 28 May led to the capture of al-Zarqawi aide Mutlaq Muhammad Mutlaq Abdullah (aka Abu Ra'd). Iraqi Major General Khalil al-Ubaydi announced on 4 June the arrest of an Ansar Al-Sunnah member identified as Mullah Mahdi; al-Ubaydi contended that Mahdi carried out attacks at the direction of al-Zarqawi. Iraqi authorities this week announced a US$50,000 reward for information leading to the capture of Ansar Al-Sunnah leader Abu Abdullah al-Shafi'i.
The body of police colonel Rahim Uthman, head of the local anti-terrorist department, is brought to the morgue in the troubled northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk June 10, 2005. The colonel and a second senior officer were shot dead late on Thursday when attackers opened fire on their vehicle from a passing car, police said. REUTERS/Slahaldeen Rasheed
A man grieves for Iraqi police colonel Rahim Uthman, head of the local anti-terrorist department, in the troubled northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk June 10, 2005. The colonel and a second senior officer were shot dead late on Thursday when attackers opened fire on their vehicle from a passing car, police said. REUTERS/Slahaldeen Rasheed
US convoy attacked as top-level EU delegation pays ”historic visit”
Armed fighters on Thursday ambushed a convoy carrying U.S. supplies near Khaldiyah, west of Baghdad, police Sgt. Shakir Ibrahim said, according to The AP. A number of trucks and sports utility vehicles were destroyed and there were an unspecified number of casualties, Ibrahim conveyed.
Meanwhile, A top-level European Union delegation has arrived in Baghdad, expressing hope for the EU's new partnership with Iraq.
"In Europe the war divided us, but now we are unified to help Iraq," said Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, following talks with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Thursday.
Iraqi children examine trucks destroyed in an insurgent's ambush near Khaldiyah, some 90 kilometers (55 miles) west of Baghdad, Friday, June 10, 2005. Insurgents on Thursday ambushed the convoy carrying U.S. supplies destroying several trucks and SUVs, there were an unspecified number of casualties. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
"Yes, the Iraq war did divide Europe but there is a new spirit and we have put the past behind us to work for this new future of Iraq," said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, whose country is due to take over the presidency in July.
EU external affairs commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and foreign policy chief Javier Solana were also part of what was described as "an historic visit" ahead of an international conference on Iraqi reconstruction later this month.
"I think it is a very deeply significant event because this is the beginning of a new political relationship that would grow into a real partnership," said Ferrero-Waldner, according to AFP.
10 Jun 2005 10:13:42 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Omar Anwar
BAGHDAD, June 10 (Reuters) - The main political body for Iraq's Sunni Arab minority rejected as insufficient on Friday an offer from parliament of extra seats on the committee charged with drawing up a new constitution.
The Gathering of the Sunni People said it stuck to its demand for 25 seats, compared to an offer of 15 from the Shi'ite head of the committee, and again threatened to boycott negotiations on the charter if its demands were not met.
Sectarian wrangling is threatening parliament's chances of meeting an Aug. 15 deadline to agree a text that can be put to a referendum within two months. Without Sunni consent, however, the constitution could be blocked in the popular vote.
The Shi'ite Muslim head of the National Assembly's constitutional committee said on Thursday Sunnis would have 13 more seats in addition to their present two on a body that would be expanded to 69 members from 55. Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, also a Shi'ite, endorsed the plan.
But Adnan al-Dulaimi, a spokesman for the Sunni umbrella group, said the Gathering stuck by the 25 Sunni lawyers and other representatives it nominated for seats on the committee this week: "We will not agree and will not concede any seat."
The head of the Sunni Endowment, Adnan al-Dulaimi, attends a meeting of Sunni groups in Baghdad May 21, 2005. Sunni leaders called for the formation of a coalition to participate in Iraq's political process and said it was a mistake not to have contested the last election. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
"If they refuse our demand we will resort to arbitration. If they insist then we will suspend our participation," he said.
Because of boycott calls and violence in Sunni areas, few of the formerly dominant 20-percent minority took part in the Jan. 30 election which created the parliament. As a result there were few Sunni legislators to join the committee.
However, the Shi'ite-led government says it is committed to ensuring the legitimacy of the new constitution by ensuring all Iraq's religious and ethnic communities have a fair say.
PRESIDENT'S POSITION
It is not clear that the precise number of seats on the committee matters a great deal as the aim is to reach a consensus rather than push through a constitution by the kind of narrow majority the Shi'ites can normally muster on their own.
Raising Sunni representation to 15 by bringing in delegates from outside parliament would give them parity with the Kurds, who represent a similar percentage of the population.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said on Thursday he supported the Sunni demand for 25 seats. His spokesman, Kameran Qaradaghi, said on Friday that Talabani was not pushing for such a solution, but was not opposed to it.
"The president has no objection to the Sunni Arabs having 25 members. He personally agrees on that," Qaradaghi said.
Though Talabani's power is limited on what is a parliamentary matter, his comments have encouraged the Sunnis.
"If Mr. Talabani agreed, and he is the president of Iraq and represents the country, why wouldn't the others agree?" Gathering spokesman Dulaimi said.
But the row over seats on the constitutional committee could unravel Sunni Arabs' tentative engagement in politics.
Jaafari, a Shi'ite whose government's formation was met with a bloody wave of bombings in April and May, repeated on Thursday he was ready to accept political opposition. Asked about reports of tentative discussions with insurgents, he said that those who renounced violence were welcome to join the political process.
That view was echoed on Friday by a U.S. embassy spokesman, commenting on remarks by U.S. officials that contacts with Sunni leaders have been an opportunity to pass on appeals to insurgent groups to abandon the armed struggle for politics.
"We've always believed that an inclusive political process is critical for Iraq's future prosperity and we talk to Iraqis from many different groups about participating in the political process. We encourage them to engage their government," he said.
(Additional reporting by Michael Georgy and Alastair Macdonald in Baghdad)
Iraq Sunnis reject compromise on constitution
Fri Jun 10, 2005 10:38 AM ET
By Omar Anwar
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Political leaders of Iraq's Sunni minority rejected a compromise offer on giving them more say in the drafting of a constitution on Friday.
Scattered violence, including the discovery of 16 victims of execution-style killings and a gun attack on a Shi'ite mosque in Baghdad, highlighted the dangers if growing friction among Iraq's religious and ethnic communities.
The identities of the dead found at two spots near the Syrian border were unclear. But there were fears for the lives of 20 or more soldiers from the mainly Shi'ite south who were kidnapped nearby, apparently by Sunni al Qaeda fighters.
It was not clear how the Shi'ite-dominated National Assembly and government would react to the rejection by the main Sunni political group of an offer of more seats on the parliamentary committee charged with drafting a constitution by Aug. 15.
Further wrangling could jeopardize that deadline.
A spokesman for the Gathering of the Sunni People said they would hold out for 25 seats against the 15 on offer. He said they would boycott negotiations if arbitration by a three-person panel consisting of a Sunni, a parliamentary representative and a United Nations official failed to settle the matter.
"We will not agree and will not concede any seat," spokesman Adnan al-Dulaimi said. "If they refuse our demand we will resort to arbitration. If they insist then we will suspend our participation."
Calls for a boycott and insurgent violence in Sunni areas meant few of the formerly dominant 20-percent minority took part in the Jan. 30 election. Only 17 Sunnis sit in parliament and only two are now on the 55-seat constitutional committee.
SHI'ITE OFFER
Shi'ite leaders, whose majority community voted them to power after U.S. forces toppled Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime, have offered to expand the body to 69 seats, bringing in non-legislators to give Sunnis 15 places, the same as the Kurds.
The offer was made by the committee chairman Humam Hammoudi and endorsed by Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari.
The case for 25 seats has, Dulaimi noted, been bolstered by support from Iraq's Kurdish president, Jalal Talabani -- even though the roughly similar Kurdish minority has only 15 seats.
It is not clear that the precise number of seats on the committee matters a great deal as the aim is to reach a consensus rather than push through a constitution by the kind of narrow majority the Shi'ites can normally muster on their own.
Washington, whose soldiers still broadly control the country, also says it wants Sunnis to feel included. Without them, the constitution would lack legitimacy and might fail at a referendum due by October if Sunni regions vote against it.
Engaging Sunnis in politics is seen as a way to curb violence. Jaafari, whose government's formation was met with a wave of bombings in April and May, said when asked on Thursday about possible negotiations with Sunni insurgents that those who renounced violence were welcome to join the political process.
That view was echoed on Friday by a U.S. embassy spokesman, commenting on remarks by U.S. officials that contacts with Sunni leaders have been an opportunity to pass on appeals to insurgent groups to abandon the armed struggle for politics.
"We've always believed that an inclusive political process is critical for Iraq's future prosperity and we talk to Iraqis from many different groups about participating in the political process. We encourage them to engage their government," he said.
MASSACRE SITES
A lull in major violence in the past few days -- possibly partly due to U.S. and Iraqi military activity around Baghdad -- belies continued smaller attacks, some with a sectarian tinge.
Police in the western town of Ramadi said it was too dangerous for them to go to the sites near the Syrian border where journalists filmed corpses in civilian clothes, many of them blindfolded and with their hands tied behind their backs.
Two of the men had been beheaded.
The desert region is a stronghold of the Sunni insurgency but it was not clear if the victims were among 22 soldiers from the Shi'ite south who police said were kidnapped on Tuesday after heading out on home leave from their base at Qaim.
The Al Qaeda Organization in Iraq, a guerrilla group with a history of killing hostages and led by Osama bin Laden ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said in an Internet posting it was holding 36 soldiers and demanded all women prisoners in Iraq be freed.
Two worshippers were wounded after Friday prayers at a Shi'ite mosque in Baghdad's troubled Dora district when gunmen opened fire on the building: "In jihad (holy war), you do not attack the house of God," local cleric Mohammed al-Assadi said.
In the northern city of Kirkuk, where Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen are vying for control of vast oil resources, the head of the anti-terrorist police -- a Kurd -- was shot dead in his car.
Near the northern oil refining town of Baiji, a suicide car bomber wounded four soldiers in a U.S. military convoy on Thursday, the military said.
(Additional reporting by Michael Georgy, Haider Salaheddin and Alastair Macdonald in Baghdad, Majid Hameed in Ramadi, Aref Mohammed in Kirkuk and Abdel-Razzak Hameed in Basra)
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8757564&pageNumber=0
John Scott Redd Vice Admiral, United States Navy (Retired)
Bush taps former Navy admiral for counterterror post
Redd selected to lead center charged with analyzing data on terror threats
By Deb Riechmann The Associated Press
Originally published June 10, 2005, 10:47 AM EDT
WASHINGTON -- President Bush today selected a retired vice admiral of the Navy, who recently held an operations post in Iraq, to direct the nation's new counterterrorism center charged with pooling and analyzing information about terrorist threats.
Retired Vice Adm. John Scott Redd is Bush's choice to lead the National Counterterrorism Center, White House spokesman Scott McClellan announced.
Redd formerly was executive director of the Silberman-Robb presidential commission on intelligence.
If confirmed by the Senate, Redd, 60, would replace John O. Brennan, the center's interim chief, who said last month that he would step down after a replacement was announced.
"He is someone who understands the nature of the enemy that we face in the war on terrorism," McClellan said.
The center, which Bush was visiting this morning, was created as part of the wide-ranging overhaul of the nation's spy community, spurred by what critics called the government's failure to collect, understand and share critical information before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Redd served 36 years in the U.S. Navy, commanding eight organizations at sea from a destroyer to a fleet. He founded and commanded the Navy's Fifth Fleet in the Middle East in 1995 and has held top policy posts at the Pentagon. Since retiring in 1998, he has served as chief executive officer of a high-tech education company and deputy administrator and chief operating officer of the now-defunct Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.
The president also named members of an oversight board being created to make sure the government's counterterror investigations and arrests do not trample privacy rights and civil liberties.
Bush picked Texas lawyer Carol Dinkins, who was deputy attorney general under former President Reagan, to chair the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, and Alan Charles Raul, an administration official in the former Bush and Clinton administrations, to be vice chairman.
The other members chosen by Bush are: Lanny Davis, once a crisis manager in the Clinton White House; former Solicitor General Ted Olson; and General Electric Co. executive Francis X. Taylor, a former head of diplomatic security and counterterrorism coordinator at the State Department.
On the Net:
Executive order creating the National Counterterrorism Center:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/08/20040827-5.html
Posted on Fri, Jun. 10, 2005
GEORGE JAHN
Associated Press
VIENNA, Austria - The United States, Europe and Australia are joining forces in an unusually stark reflection of international concern in urging Saudi Arabia to allow nuclear inspectors in the kingdom before a key meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, officials said Friday.
Diplomats accredited to the agency and European officials told The Associated Press that both the European Union and Australia will send formal diplomatic notes to the Saudi government this weekend asking it to consider allowing in the IAEA inspectors.
Washington already has done so, but its chief delegate to Monday's IAEA board meeting, Jackie Sanders, will renew the request at a weekend meeting in Vienna with her Saudi counterpart, said the diplomats and officials, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media on such issues.
The joint diplomatic push is being sparked by concerns the Saudis could be exempt from any outside policing of their nuclear agenda under an agreement they have negotiated with the IAEA, and by past Saudi nuclear ambiguities, including reported interest in a weapons program.
The diplomats said the Australian and EU diplomatic notes will urge the Saudis to go beyond the letter of the arrangement and commit to allow IAEA inspectors into the country, at least to take stock of what nuclear equipment and materials the Saudis might have.
The IAEA's most senior officials regard agreements such as the one reached with Saudi Arabia - and about 70 other countries - as outmoded because they contain loopholes that can potentially encourage would-be proliferators.
But until the IAEA changes its procedures, countries can continue to request such deals.
The Saudis deny any plans to develop nuclear arms, and diplomats close to the IAEA say the agency has no firm evidence to the contrary. But the Saudi push to formalize minimal monitoring for the country comes amid increased nuclear-generated tensions in the region, fed by suspicions that rival Iran might want to develop the bomb.
While the Saudi government insists it has no interest in going nuclear, in the past two decades it has been linked to prewar Iraq's nuclear program, to Pakistan and to the Pakistani nuclear black marketeer A.Q. Khan. It also has expressed interest in Pakistani missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, and credible reports say Saudi officials have discussed taking the nuclear option as a deterrent in the volatile Middle East.
There was no comment Friday from the Saudi mission dealing with the IAEA. But an Arab diplomat, who demanded he not be identified, said "there was some communication on the issue" between the Saudis, the Europeans, the Americans and Australia.
The IAEA's 35-nation board of governors routinely approves the so-called "small quantities protocols" which free countries from reporting the possession of up to 10 tons of natural uranium - or up to 20 tons of depleted uranium, depending on the degree of enrichment - and 2.2 pounds of plutonium.
Such agreements also allow countries to keep silent about work on nuclear facilities until six months before they are ready for operation. And once a protocol is signed, the country's word is normally not questioned.
With precedents well in place, diplomats say the board will likely approve the arrangement, albeit reluctantly, on Monday.
IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky declined to comment on the Saudi case. But he said the board meeting will review "a report by the director general ... which identifies possible solutions" to the verification loopholes made possible by such agreements.
The protocols were aimed at freeing up IAEA resources to focus on superpower nuclear rivalries. But the climate has changed since revelations of other loopholes that allowed prewar Iraq, Iran, Libya and others to work secretly on known or suspected weapons programs.
Experts say 10 tons of natural uranium can be processed into the material for up to two nuclear warheads. Iran and South Korea both used substantially less uranium or plutonium in laboratory-scale experiments with suspected links to arms programs.
---
On the Net: www.iaea.org
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. army has opened a criminal investigation into a blast that killed two soldiers at a base in Iraq after discovering it was not caused by an insurgent mortar attack, a military statement said on Friday.
It said Captain Phillip Esposito and 1st Lieutenant Louis Allen were killed on Tuesday in an explosion at Forward Operating Base Danger near Saddam Hussein's hometown, Tikrit.
"The initial investigation by responders and military police indicated that a mortar round struck the window on the side of the building where Esposito and Allen were located at the time," the statement said.
"Upon further examination of the scene by explosive ordnance personnel, it was determined the blast pattern was inconsistent with a mortar attack."
The military said the soldiers killed were New York National Guard troops assigned to the Headquarters Company of the 42nd Infantry Division. Esposito was company commander and Allen was an operations officer.
Fri Jun 10, 2005 01:53 PM BST
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Hollywood actor Sean Penn, adopting the role of a journalist, scribbled in his notebook as Friday prayer worshippers in Tehran chanted "Death to America".
Penn, 44, in Iran on a brief assignment for the San Francisco Chronicle ahead of presidential elections on June 17, may be one of the best known faces in film, but he went unrecognised by the 6,000 faithful at Tehran University.
Working with a translator, Penn took copious notes as hardline cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati urged the congregation to vote en masse "to make America angry".
The actor, who visited Iraq before and after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 and wrote an account of his second trip for the Chronicle, told Reuters he had decided to come to Iran because of growing tensions between Washington and Tehran.
The United States accuses Iran of developing nuclear weapons and sponsoring terrorism. Iran denies the charges.
© Reuters 2005. All Rights
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