Posted on 07/31/2005 4:10:03 PM PDT by Gucho
Updated 01/08/2005, 12:18:51 Select text size:
Afghan security forces have seized thousands of missiles, mortar rounds and artillery shells in their biggest weapons haul in months.
The defence ministry says the suspected Taliban ammunition cache was found on Saturday in the Khogyani district of central Ghazni province.
The weapons dump included 2,000 surface-to-surface missiles, 3,000 mortar rounds, 500 artillery shells and 150 boxes of anti-aircraft ammunition.
The ministry believes the weapons were being stored for use during the elections.
On September 18 voters are set to elect a national parliament and provincial councils.
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Afghan men eat icecream at an icecream parlor under posters of Indian movie stars, Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday July 30, 2005. (AP Photo/Tomas Munita)
By Ben Murray - Stars and Stripes European edition
Sunday July 31, 2005
GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — In an empty mess hall at the Grafenwöhr training area on Wednesday, software trainer Gerardo Ritchey sat in front of a laptop, a small microphone in his hand.
Speaking a greeting into the microphone, Ritchey watched as a computer-generated U.S. soldier bowed slightly and touched his chest, saying the same words to a pair of Iraqi men sitting at a cafe.
The three had a short conversation, Ritchey speaking through the soldier on the screen, and then he moved on, jogging through Baghdad streets in a video-game environment unmistakably reminiscent of free-for-all shooting extravaganzas such as “Grand Theft Auto.”
But the point of this game, called the Tactical Language Training System, isn’t to show violence and mayhem, it’s for the soldier at the keyboard to interact with various civilians, teaching the trooper some survival basics of the Iraqi language.
“We removed the shooting and hooked up speaking,” Ritchey said.
The TLT System was one of several emerging military technologies on display at Grafenwöhr last week, where developers took advantage of the concentration of high-ranking officials present for the Urgent Victory/Unified Endeavor exercises to show off their newest products.
Created by a team at the University of Southern California and picked up by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the TLT program is already being used to train Marines for Iraq deployments, Ritchey said.
Among the other new gadgets at Grafenwöhr being proposed for possible military use is a compact video surveillance system for Humvees and other vehicles that allows troops to see and digitally record images both in front of and behind them.
Developed by V Corps civil military operations officer Maj. David Kosinski, the system uses front- and rear-mounted digital video cameras to monitor — and zoom in on, if needed — wide areas around the vehicle. Images from the cameras are displayed in real-time on a thin, tablet monitor mounted by the dashboard that allows troops in the vehicle to see what’s behind them and what may be coming up far ahead of them.
All images are stamped with the date, time, altitude and global positioning system-provided location coordinates to help enhance the information they can provide analysts, Kosinski said.
Costing about $12,000 per system, the cameras are backed by a small but powerful computer that’s easily transported and can hold 55 hours of video, Kosinski said.
“This has got as much memory and capability as my laptop,” he said.
As an added feature, troops can also get a wireless, hand-held remote camera that a soldier can take out of the vehicle and use to instantly send images back to the Humvee.
That is, if Humvees are still in use in years to come. Also on display at Grafenwöhr this week is a prototype utility truck to be tested downrange for the first time on V Corps’ upcoming deployment.
Essentially a militarized version of a Chevrolet Silverado 2500 crew-cab truck, the unnamed prototype is designed to haul heavier loads than the Humvee with better gas mileage and more comfort, said V Corps science adviser Robert Nestor.
“It’ll pull more than a Humvee can pull,” said Sgt. 1st Class Charles Hickman, who’s testing the truck for the Army. “It’s set up pretty heavy-duty.”
Though currently unarmored, if the truck proves useful, heavier versions could be tested, Nestor said.
Developed in partnership with an organization called the National Automotive Center, this prototype medium-duty truck will be field-tested in Iraq this winter to see if the Army wants to pursue it as a future logistics workhorse. (Ben Murray / S&S)
Warning light forces Atsugi helo landing
No injuries or damage reported; incident under investigation
By Hana Kusumoto, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Monday, August 1, 2005
A cockpit warning light prompted a Navy pilot to land a helicopter in an open area by a Kanagawa Prefecture beach parking lot late Saturday morning.
A helicopter, assigned to Naval Air Facility Atsugi’s Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 51, landed safely near the town of Enoshima around 11:50 a.m. Saturday, according to a 7th Fleet news release. The helicopter was conducting a routine flight when the warning light went off, said Naval Air Facility Atsugi spokesman Brian Naranjo.
The helicopter landed smoothly without incident, Naranjo said. The pilot and three crew members were uninjured and there were no reports of damage or injuries on the ground, he added.
Preliminary information from the 7th Fleet identified the helicopter as a Sikorsky SH-60B Seahawk. Later Saturday afternoon, Naranjo said he believed it was a UH-3H Sea King.
A maintenance crew was dispatched from Atsugi to check the helicopter. Naranjo said it would be flown back to the base if all systems check out.
“Safety is paramount,” he said.
“The cause of the activated warning light is under investigation,” the 7th Fleet news release stated.
“The U.S. Navy, HSL-51 and the crew onboard sincerely appreciate the cooperation and support of the local authorities in this matter.”
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=30689
By Erik Slavin - Stars and Stripes Pacific edition
Monday, August 1, 2005
KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — On an island where F-15s routinely dart through the sky, the 31st and 33rd Rescue Squadrons’ Pave Hawk helicopters may not be this air base’s flashiest rides.
But should a mission ever go terribly wrong, those helos and their highly trained crews may be a downed pilot’s best friends.
In peaceful situations, the 33rd’s “Jolly Greens” perform missions from humanitarian aid to medical evacuations. In combat, they must fly well within range of surface-to-air missiles, even small- arms fire, to try to rescue fellow servicemembers.
In either role, their goal is clear: Save lives on the ground.
“I know everybody says they have the best mission,” said Lt. Col. Vic Dallin, 33rd Rescue Squadron operations officer. “But to … save fellow servicemembers from harm’s way — it’s easy for everybody to stay motivated.”
At Kadena are 65 airmen and nine Pave Hawks; another 21 airmen and one Pave Hawk are at Osan Air Base, South Korea.
During a recent training day, the squadron practiced providing insertions/extractions and cover fire with the 31st Rescue Squadron’s “PJs,” the pararescuemen trained to recover people on the ground and in the water, whatever the weather.
Target practice
“Things can happen fast during the flight,” says Airman 1st Class Jeffrey Layton, explaining before takeoff that his mid-air instructions might seem brusque from someone of his rank. But passengers should know few such junior airmen have trained at their jobs for almost two years.
Layton and Staff Sgt. Brian Stamey man their machine guns on opposite sides of the aircraft as it heads for Nakajima, a small island off Okinawa’s west coast.
It’s a short trip for Capt. Chris Lacouture’s highly maneuverable Pave Hawk, an Army Black Hawk modified to carry extra communications equipment.
The Pave Hawk normally flies at about 125 mph but can dash up to more than 160 mph. Its defenses include an automated flare and chaff system and a choice of gunnery: Two weapons fire high-speed 7.62 mm rounds while newly ordered .50 caliber guns provide a bigger bang.
Layton and Stamey will be firing the fast rounds this day. After circling Nakajima to check for nearby boaters, the helicopter banks sharply on its side.
Layton opens fire. The weapon’s whirling cylinders spit dozens of casings on the chopper’s floor as the bullets leave a plume of white smoke rising from a small metal object lying in the island’s tall grass.
The chopper whips around for another pass for Stamey’s turn. When the firing ends, a stick-figure man painted on the metal looks as if he’s seen better days.
Hitting the ground
The Pave Hawk then flies to the Jungle Warfare Training Center in northern Okinawa, where another crew practices dropping off and extracting 31st Squadron’s pararescuemen.
Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Hedglin and Tech Sgt. Derek Docter take just a few eye blinks to slide about 60 feet down a “fast rope,” wearing friction-resistant gloves.
They use several methods to insert and extract, including rappelling, rope ladders, litters and conical-shaped “forest penetrators.”
“The fast rope is good for getting out quick if you’re exposed,” Hedglin said. “But, for example, if you’re in mountainous terrain, you might want to rappel to control your descent.”
Simply landing is preferred. But the nature of rescues means enemies usually are in the area and ready to fire at your aircraft.
What it takes
Hedglin, with 23 other enlisted PJ’s and six officers at Kadena, is a member of one of the military’s most selective forces.
Training attrition rates of 80 percent or higher are common in this grueling specialty, which takes almost two years’ schooling.
It begins with 10 weeks of indoctrination at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.
The physical training is intense, said Maj. Chuck Metrolis, 31st commanding officer. “But it’s more of a mental challenge. The instructors will find a weakness you have and exploit it.”
Few can handle the stress. Operations officer Maj. Andrew Reisenweber says that of his 81-man class, just 19 graduated.
Graduates move to combat diving school, then Army Airborne School for static line parachute jumping experience. They also must learn free-fall parachuting from 2,000 to 35,000 feet into water, at night.
They become proficient with several weapons and learn how to operate in environments from oxygen-poor mountaintops to deserts and jungles.
Pararescuemen then usually train as emergency medical technicians. Enlisted trainees spend an additional six months to become registered paramedics.
The rescuers carry extensive medical gear with them on missions, including chest tubes and minor field surgery equipment.
Pararescuemen are among the Air Force’s most oft-deployed members. Reisenweber says he has personnel who are deployed 270 to 300 days a year.
In addition to taking part in humanitarian missions in Southeast Asia and seeing action in Iraq, the PJs recently returned from the Horn of Africa as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Despite the rigorous schedule — or possibly because of it — several PJs and 33rd Rescue squadron members said they couldn’t imagine gaining a greater sense of fulfillment from their job.
“It’s the immediate gratification,” Hedglin said. “When you’re actually looking a guy in the eyes, it feels good to save a life and know you’ve made a difference.”
Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Hedglin and Tech Sgt. Derek Docter descend a rope ladder. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
Staff Sgt. Brian Stamey of the 33rd Rescue Squadron “Jolly Greens” fires his machine gun at a target during a training run Tuesday at Nakijima, an island west of Okinawa. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
Members of the 33rd and 31st Rescue Squadrons hover about 60 feet in the air during a pararescue “fast rope” insertion exercise. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
An HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter belonging to the 33rd Rescue Squadron connects with a Marine Corps KC-135 refueler over waters near Okinawa during a training exercise Tuesday. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
Great article Gucho - Thanks!
Bump
08/01/05
By Andy Johns - Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer
Guardsman’s supply duty ‘scary’
Every soldier in the 108th Armor Battalion’s B Company who pulls a trigger, cranks a vehicle or eats a spoonful of dinner should thank Roman Marcus Carr.
Carr issues millions of dollars worth of supplies “such as beans, bullets and fuel” as the unit supply clerk and unit armorer stationed at Forward Operations Base Row, approximately 20 miles south of Baghdad.
“Whatever the military uses has to go through me,” he said.
Carr also makes daily runs from Row to the smaller base on the front lines to pick up supply items. “It’s a very scary mission, but it has to be done,” he said.
Carr said right outside of his base is one of the hot spots for roadside bombing and small-arms attacks.
The troops usually travel in small convoys with armored vehicles, escorted by one or more tanks. Carr is usually in a 5-ton armored truck.
The convoys are seen as intimidating. “The insurgents will not get close to the convoys because they are afraid of us,” he said. “That is why they plant bombs everywhere, because they know we will destroy them in a one-on-one or head-to-head combat.”
Marcus Carr drives down a dusty road in Iraq. The National Guard soldier makes daily runs from Forward Operations Base Row to the front lines to pick up supply items. (Contributed photo)
“There are traps everywhere we go over here,” he said. “These people are trying to kill us. They don’t care about your color, age or who you are. If you wear this uniform, you are a target.”
Carr’s enemies don’t wear such clearly marked uniforms.
“The people, I really don’t trust because you never know who the enemy is,” he said. “It seems to me as the children love us, but the adults are not too thrilled. Most of them don’t like to be seen talking to us because the insurgents will kill them.”
Inside the walls of the base, the troops are safer but still not safe. “No base is safe from mortar attacks, which happens quite often,” he said. “The base is fairly safe, as long as we keep patrolling the area.”
Much of Carr’s work takes place inside the base. In addition to issuing supplies, he assigns weapons to individual soldiers.
He also makes sure the weapons are functional and free of damage, worn parts and dirt, and he orders new parts when needed.
Carr has plenty of experience maintaining the supplies. He joined the Army Reserves in 1988 after a year of college at Chattahoochee Valley Community College in Phenix City, Ala.
“I decided the Army was OK; therefore I decided to drop out of college and go active duty,” he said.
He worked in the Army supply department for four years before his enlistment was up.
He then got out of the military and worked for Charbroil and Panasonic in Columbus, Ga.
“I stayed out (of the military) for six years and started feeling like there was something missing,” Carr said.
He then joined the National Guard and has been serving there ever since.
“I love working in the supply field because I love working with people,” he said.
But as much as he enjoys his work, he would rather be with his family.
“The things I miss the most are, first and foremost, the love of my life and best friends, my wonderful wife and children,” he said.
Carr and his wife, Janice Carr, have five children: Shamika Gibson, 23; Marcus D. Carr Jr. 13; Ashley Washington 13; Marquaz’e D. Carr 12; and Xavier Carr, 6.
“I miss shopping, eating what I want and going out when I want — the freedom to go and come as you please,” he said. “I miss the USA.”
He said he particularly misses Chili’s, his favorite restaurant. “The food here is no four-star restaurant,” he said.
Some of his desires are even simpler: “Seeing civilization. The people here live as if they are in the early 1900s.”
In addition to the lack of modernization, the lack of greenery in Iraq also bothers Carr.
“The land is nasty wasteland everywhere,” he said. “I would love to walk across a football field full of green grass about now.”
01 Aug 2005 - 04:42:29 GMT
Source: Reuters
SYDNEY, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Australian police are drawing up an evacuation plan for Sydney's central business district in the event of a terrorist attack as part of new security powers following the London bombings, local media reported on Monday.
New South Wales deputy police commissioner Andrew Scipione, who also has responsibility for counter-terrorism in the state, said a new security plan for Australia's largest city would be presented to the state government within weeks.
Scipione told local radio the decision to update security was made after Australian police travelled to London to work with Scotland Yard on the July 7 train and bus bombings, which killed 56 people.
"This whole terrorism area is about learning lessons and staying in front of the game," he said.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Monday that Sydney's new security plan would see the police become the head counter-terrorism authority with wider search-and-seizure powers, and included an evacuation plan for the city centre.
"The evacuation plan doesn't necessarily mean you need to move thousands of people out," Scipione said in the newspaper. "It may well be that they stay right where they are until we get the transport moving again."
Australia, a staunch U.S. ally with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, has never suffered a major peacetime attack at home.
However, 88 Australians were among 202 people killed in the October 2002 nightclub bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali. The Australian embassy in Jakarta was hit by a suicide bomb in 2004.
AlertNet news
Monday, August 01, 2005
LAHORE: A cleric who led a mass prayer ceremony for one of the London suicide bombers at his ancestral village in the Punjab has been arrested as part of President Pervez Musharraf’s anti-terrorism clampdown, The Washington Times reported on Sunday.
“Maulvi Abdul Rehman, 30, was held after he organised a ritual service in honour of Shehzad Tanweer, the 22-year-old Briton whose parents emigrated from Pakistan. Tanweer killed himself and six passengers in the July 7 mass transit bombing in London,” it reported.
“The ceremony, held at the Samoondran mosque in the Tanweer family’s home village of Kottan in southern Punjab, saw members of the crowd of 100 hailing Tanweer as a ‘hero of Islam’,” The Washington Times added. “Information gleaned from Maulvi Rehman led to the detention of Maulana Abdul Aziz Faridi, the leader of a local seminary called Jamia Masjid Ahle-Sunnah Wal-Jammat. daily times monitor
* President says Britain regarded as safe haven by Islamic extremists
* Britain should have banned Al-Muhajiroon and Hizbut Tahrir
* Renews calls to resolve global disputes
Daily Times Monitor
Monday, August 01, 2005
LAHORE: President Pervez Musharraf has said that Britain is regarded as a safe haven by Islamic extremists because it has failed to crack down on them despite urging other countries to do so, The Sunday Times reports.
In an interview with the paper, President Musharraf suggested that the UK had paid a price for putting the right of free speech before the need to curb militant Islamic organisations that openly advocate violence. He told the paper: “They should have been doing what they have been demanding of us to do – to ban extremist groups like they asked us to do here in Pakistan and which I have done.”
“In particular, he said, Britain should have banned Al-Muhajiroon and Hizbut Tahrir, groups that he accuses of preaching anger and hatred and of calling for his own assassination,” The Sunday Times added. It quoted him as saying that the UK could have banned these two groups. He told the paper: “Good action is when you foresee the future and pre-empt and act beforehand, instead of reacting as in the case of Britain, which waited for the damage to be done and is now reacting to it.”
“Musharraf, an ally of Tony Blair in the war on terror, took ‘strong exception’ to accusations levelled against Pakistan since it emerged that at least two of the July 7 bombers had visited the country for several weeks up to February this year,” The Sunday Times reported.
“One of them, Shehzad Tanweer, from the Leeds suburb of Beeston, is said by relatives in Pakistan to have spent time there with militants from the banned extremist Jaish Mohammad organisation. Blair has intensified pressure on Musharraf to clamp down on militant training camps and radical seminaries. Musharraf announced last week that all 1,400 foreign students at seminaries in Pakistan would be made to leave,” the paper said.
It quoted the Pakistani president as saying that while he had already implemented sweeping measures, much remained to be done in Britain. “‘Many people around the world find it convenient to leave their countries and go to Britain, which they regard as a safe haven as it wants to project itself as a champion of human rights,’ Musharraf said,” the paper added.
It quoted him as saying that Britain had to reconsider and take action against such groups. “Condemning the London bombers as ‘people who needed to be eliminated’, Musharraf bristled at suggestions that the outrage may have been masterminded from Pakistan because three of the bombers were British nationals of Pakistani parentage. ‘They came on their British passports – what do you expect us to do? Prevent British passport holders from entering? The British government should look at those it has given passports to and we should look at those entering our country’,” The Sunday Times added.
“Intelligence services were still trying to verify whether one of the bombers had attended a seminary in Pakistan. ‘If he has gone to a madrassa, we will take action against that madrassa’,” it reported.
“He revealed that Pakistani investigators were using telephone records provided by London to interview everyone who two of the bombers had called there from Britain. ‘We are going through each of those numbers,’ he said. ‘It is a little premature to draw conclusions,” The Sunday Times reported.
“Musharraf said Pakistani security forces have detained hundreds of suspected militants and Islamist clerics since the London bombings. ‘Our campaign is not meant to capture large numbers of people and then release them after a fortnight,’ he said. ‘We are not going to impress with numbers, but we are after the bigwigs, who abet extremism and violence’,” the paper said. “Efforts were under way to arrest Jaish Mohammed leader Masood Azhar, whom Tanweer is believed to have contacted,” The Sunday Times added.
Monday, August 01, 2005
BAMAKO: Mali’s Gao Governor Colonel Amadou Baba Toure on Sunday announced an immediate ban on the activities of a group of Pakistani Islamists living in the zone along the border with Algeria.
Hundreds of Pakistanis have arrived in Mali as part of a humanitarian aid and education effort, though once on the ground they turn their focus to preaching hard line positions that are not in line with the Muslim practice in the region, said Toure. He said, “We cannot accept that just anyone can come here and preach however they see fit.”
Though the group has not been formally identified as belonging to any particular sect, they preach an Islam that is “pure and hard,” according to a municipal official, and are indoctrinating their disciples into an Islam that does not oppose violence. (afp)
By Jean-Louis Santini - Houston(AFP)
Aug 01, 2005
The head of NASA said Sunday that the US space agency had "goofed" on key safety checks, as engineers examined whether space shuttle Discovery is safe to return to Earth.
A final judgment is not expected until Monday. NASA is still analyzing the reinforced carbon protection for the nose cone and wing leading edges, and studying whether protruding gap fillers on the bottom of the spacecraft pose a significant risk, officials said.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration shuttle flight director Paul Hill said Sunday that astronauts could be asked to fix the two pieces of filler dangling from Discovery's underbelly during a spacewalk.
"We have a team of folks working aggressively at options to go and make that gap filler safe if we decide it's an issue," Hill said from mission control at the Johnson Space Center here.
The fillers are used to keep hot gas from flowing into gaps in the thermal protection in tile-protected areas.
NASA engineers and mission managers, meanwhile, have given Discovery's tiles the all clear following worries that they may have been damaged by a piece of insulating foam which fell off the rocket during liftoff Tuesday.
Since the launch they have been reviewing images of Discovery's body to check for potential damage to avoid a repeat of the Columbia space shuttle tragedy in 2003. The Columbia disaster was blamed on similar debris that hit the shuttle during blastoff.
NASA officials were distraught to see the insulating foam fall off, since they had worked furiously to avoid such a problem.
NASA administrator Michael Griffin said pre-flight safety checks had fallen short.
"Our judgement at the time was that it was okay. As everyone has said without any attempt to hide it ... we goofed on that one," he told NBC television.
Griffin also conceded NASA had been "lucky" that the stray shard of foam that fell off Discovery's external tank during liftoff had not caused serious damage.
"If it had broken off earlier and if it had followed a different trajectory, it could have hit the orbiter... and could have done some damage," he said.
Columbia burned up during re-entry on February 1, 2003, after debris hit its left wing during liftoff, opening up a critical breach in the ceramic tiles that made up its protective heat shield. The seven crew members died.
NASA grounded its shuttle fleet and implemented major safety reforms after the tragedy.
The shuttle fleet was grounded again Wednesday after the foam debris fell off Discovery.
Discovery is currently docked at the International Space Station and the crew continued their mission Sunday, moving supplies and equipment onto the ISS.
Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi and American counterpart Steve Robinson meanwhile prepared for their second spacewalk planned for Monday. They will install a 600-pound gyroscope on the ISS.
The pair tested new repair techniques during their first venture into space Saturday.
Discovery will spend an extra day in orbit, NASA announced. The shuttle will now return on Monday, August 8, at 0847 GMT, instead of Sunday.
The extra day in orbit will allow the seven-astronaut crew to get a head start on tasks that could be affected by the suspension of further flights: removal of trash and old equipment from the space station.
Some 11 tonnes of waste have piled up over three years, cramping the space station.
Astronauts will pack it into the Rafaello transport module which rides in Discovery's cargo bay and which had carried 13.5 tonnes of food and equipment for the space station.
First launched in August 1984, the shuttle has completed 30 successful missions in space, more than any other orbiter in the NASA fleet.
Monday, August 1, 2005 - Updated at 2:00 AM EDT
Associated Press
Khartoum — Sudanese Vice-President John Garang, a former rebel leader who is a key figure in the country's fledgling peace deal, was found dead early Monday near the Uganda-Sudan border after the helicopter he was riding in crashed, a senior Ugandan official said.
Six of Mr. Garang's aides and eight Ugandans were also killed, the official said. The crash site was in southern Sudan, near the border with northeast Uganda, the official said on condition of anonymity because an official announcement hadn't yet been made.
Ugandan and Sudanese forces had been searching for Mr. Garang's helicopter since Sunday. Uganda's President said it had crashed in bad weather.
Mr. Garang's death would be a heavy blow to the January peace deal that ended a 21-year civil war between the mostly Muslim north and the Christian and animist south in which some two million people died.
The 60-year-old former rebel, who was sworn in as Vice-President just three weeks ago, left on a flight from Uganda for southern Sudan at 5:30 p.m. Ugandan time Saturday afternoon, Sudanese and Ugandan officials said. It was not clear when the last contact with his craft took place.
Mr. Garang's helicopter had attempted to land in the New Kush region of southern Sudan but aborted the landing because of bad weather and headed back south, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said early Monday. Weather reports showed rain in the area.
The craft was heard near Pirre, a mountainous region near the Kenyan and Sudanese borders on the edge of a large national park, and was believed to have crash-landed, Mr. Museveni said. He added that the Kenyans had been asked to help in the search.
Mr. Garang, who earned a doctorate from Iowa State University, was seen as the sole figure with the weight to give southern Sudanese a role in the Khartoum government, which they deeply mistrust. He also was a strong voice against outright secession by the south, calling instead for autonomy and power-sharing.
Sudanese have celebrated the power-sharing agreement -- and a new constitution signed afterward -- as opening a new chapter of peace and as a chance to resolve other bloody conflicts in Sudan, including the humanitarian crisis in the western region of Darfur. Mr. Garang was seen as a great hope for peace in Darfur.
Mr. Garang was sworn in as Vice-President on July 9 -- second only to his long-time enemy, President Omar el-Bashir. He and Mr. el-Bashir were to work on setting up a power-sharing government and on elevating Mr. Garang's rebel troops to an equal status with the Sudanese military.
There is no other leader of Mr. Garang's stature in the former rebel movement, the Sudan People's Liberation Army, which he founded and dominated for 21 years. His arrival in Khartoum on July 8 to take the Vice-President's post brought millions of southerners and northerners to the streets in celebration.
His flight's disappearance brought up the spectre of the 1994 downing of the airplane of Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, who had been trying to implement a power-sharing deal between his fellow Hutus and the rival Tutsis. His death opened the doors to the Rwandan genocide in which more than 500,000 people were killed.
That genocide took place after months of preparation by Hutu militants -- something that has not taken place in Sudan amid the good feelings over the peace deal.
Mr. Garang was returning home from a private visit to Uganda, flying from the capital Kampala to southern Sudan -- a trip that normally takes about two hours -- said Ugandan army spokesman 2nd Captain Dennis Musitwa.
A Ugandan rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army, operates in the area and has shot down Ugandan military helicopters in the past.
Mr. el-Bashir clearly saw Mr. Garang as an important partner in sealing the peace, ensuring the south does not secede, and in repairing Sudan's international reputation. With a speed stunning to many in Sudan, the Sudanese state media went from describing Mr. Garang in the darkest terms to respectively calling him “Dr. Garang” after the peace deal was struck.
Thursday, July 28, 2005 at 7:41pm
2005-08-01 - 14:27:36
BAGHDAD, Aug. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Gunmen assassinated a high-ranking police officer in southern Baghdad on Monday, police said.
"Unknown armed men opened fire at Brig. Salam Lutfy as he was driving his car heading to work in Doura neighborhood, killing him and wounding two of his bodyguards," an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Salam's body and his wounded guards were evacuated to Yarmouk Hospital, the source added.
Insurgents frequently attack and kidnap Iraqi army officers and soldiers in an attempt to cripple the Shiite-dominated government formed in late April.
King Fahd of Saudi Arabia dies
Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah (L) and Saudi Arabian King Fahd are seen in this October 30, 2002 combination file photo. Saudi Arabia's Kind Fahd died on August 1, 2005 and Crown Prince Abdullah was swiftly pronounced monarch of the world's largest oil exporter and key U.S. ally. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi/Files
King Fahd, Saudi Arabia's ruler since 1982, has died.
Updated: Monday, 1 August 2005, 07:21 GMT 08:21 UK
Saudi state television announced that Crown Prince Abdullah had been named as King Fahd's successor.
King Fahd had been frail since suffering a stroke a decade ago and had delegated the running of the kingdom's affairs to Crown Prince Abdullah.
Defence Minister Prince Sultan is next in line to the throne after Abdullah, and was named crown prince, state television announced.
"With all sorrow and sadness, the royal court in the name of his highness Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz and all members of the family announces the death of the servant of the two holy site, King Fahd bin Abdel Aziz," according to a statement read out on Saudi television.
Questions raised by the attacks and arrests
Monday, 1st August 2005
KAREN McVEIGH
Key points
• Police investigating connection between 7/7 and 7/21 bombings
• Experts believe 7/21 attempted bombings co-ordinated by a 'mastermind'
• Reports claim as many as 300 potential suicide bombers could be in UK
Key quote
"Those who spotted and recruited [the bombers] came from different places (Leeds and London), but the explosives are likely to have been prepared by a single individual and it could be that a single individual told them to do it. We shouldn't assume that one man was behind both groups, there will have been a team of people, each performing different functions. The money man, for instance, may not even have come into the UK" - Bob Ayers, Chatham House security expert
Story in full DEVELOPMENTS in the hunt for those responsible for planning a second series of bomb attacks in London on 21 July have been rapid.
However, there have been conflicting reports of how the group may or may not have been linked to the 7 July bombers and whether or not they planned the attacks alone - or with the support of a so-called "mastermind".
Here, we answer some of the most frequently-asked questions about the bombings and the police investigation.
Q Was there a link between the bombings of 7 July and those of 21 July?
A Police are still investigating links, but believe that the "striking similarities" between the two attacks - on three underground lines and a bus, on the same day two weeks apart - suggest that there was.
What is unclear is the level of co-ordination between the two. One theory is that neither cell knew of the other but both were run by the same "mastermind".
Official sources say that the explosives used in both attacks were variants of Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP), but, on the other hand, the mixture is widely used by militants.
Bob Ayers, a security expert at Chatham House, said: "There will be commonality between the two groups. As far as total commonality goes, I'm not sure. Those who spotted and recruited these guys came from different places (Leeds and London), but the explosives are likely to have been prepared by a single individual and it could be that a single individual told them to do it. We shouldn't assume that one man was behind both groups, there will have been a team of people, each performing different functions. The money man, for instance, may not even have come into the UK."
Q Were the 21 July bombers working alone or was there a "mastermind" organising them?
A Osman Hussain, the suspect currently held in Italy has reportedly spoken of his group acting alone in retaliation for Muslims being persecuted after the 7 July attacks in an "attention-grabbing" strike.
Experts yesterday dismissed this claim as "ridiculous". It is believed that the bombers were merely footsoldiers and that the real masterminds are still being sought.
Police have said they are continuing to investigate who could have been behind the bombers, in terms of financing them, making the devices and co-ordinating them.
David Capitanchik, a security expert from Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, said: "People don't wake up one morning and decide they want to be a suicide bomber. We know this from past experience and to suggest that they do is ridiculous. They are recruited, organised and trained. And co-ordinated operations like those that have hit London cannot happen overnight, They take weeks or months to plan."
He said the 21 July bombers may be telling the truth when they say they don't know the 7 July bombers, but "these four did not act in isolation. It is one thing to say they didn't know about the other cell but that is different from saying the same person is not behind the same cells."
Haroon Rashid Aswat, who grew up in West Yorkshire, was detained last week in Zambia for his alleged role in the London suicide bombings - as well as setting up a terror camp in the United States. Scotland Yard have played down any suggestions that he is the bombing "mastermind".
Q How many people have now been arrested in connection with the 21 July attacks?
A A further seven suspects (six men and one woman) were taken into custody, during raids in Brighton, East Sussex, yesterday. This brings the running total of those being held to at least 19, among them all the men named as suspected would-be suicide bombers, including one tracked to Rome.
Two other suspects arrested in Rome are related to the bombing suspect. Police stressed again yesterday that they are looking for more people in connection with the attacks.
The four suspected bombers are: Yasin Hassan Omar, a 24-year-old Somali, arrested in Birmingham on Wednesday last week; Muktar Said-Ibrahim and Ramzi Mohammed, held by armed police after a raid on a flat in west London on Friday; and Osman Hussain, arrested in Rome on Friday.
Q Were the July 21 bombers inspired by the war in Iraq?
A Reports in Italian newspapers claim that Osman Hussain said that he and the other three carried out the attacks after watching films of Iraqi civilians being killed by US and UK troops.
But, in another report, he said that he had done it to create fear and alarm, in retaliation for the backlash against Muslims after 7 July. The true motivation behind the attacks remains unknown. One Scotland Yard spokesman said of Osman's comments: "He's going to say anything, isn't he? Who knows what's going on in their heads."
Q What are the implications for Tony Blair if there is a link to Iraq?
A The Prime Minister has sought to play down any link suggesting that the bombers were inspired to attack London because of his support for the war in Iraq. If Osman Hussain's comments continue to stress a more political (rather than religious) motivation, this could cause severe problems in the future for Mr Blair.
Q How many terror cells/would-be bombers are at large in the United Kingdom?
A Scotland Yard have played down speculation that there is a third cell, which they are actively hunting, but both Sir Ian Blair, the Commissioner and Peter Clarke, the Deputy Assistant Commissioner, and head of the anti-terrorist branch, have warned that the 7 July bombers and would-be bombers of 21 July would not have been acting alone. Sir Ian has also warned that there may be more terror cells.
Mr Clarke said that despite capturing the four suspected bombers and a fifth man linked to the cell, "the threat remains and is very real".
Terrorism and Jihad experts also have said it is likely there is more than one cell.
One report yesterday quoted security sources as saying that there are up to 300 would-be suicide bombers at large in the UK.
Q Did the July 21 bombers set out to kill - or not, as reports have suggested Osman has claimed?
A Osman was reported to have told interrogators that he was not carrying enough explosives even to "harm people nearby" and that the failed 21 July attacks were carried out as a "demonstration" aimed at causing panic and alarm. Police and weapons experts have strongly dismissed any such claims.
Sir Ian has insisted the intention of those who tried to set off the devices "must have been to kill" and a spokeswoman for Scotland Yard reiterated that assertion yesterday.
Had the explosions gone off, he said, then the carnage would have been at least as bad as the attacks two weeks earlier which killed 56 people, including the four suicide bombers.
Q What is the link, if any, between the bombers and Saudi Arabia?
A Scotland Yard has refused to comment on reports that telephone records of a mobile phone used by Osman showed a link to Saudi Arabia, but said that they were "liaising with our counterparts around the world" in an investigation which relied on intelligence worldwide. Magnus Ranstorp, director of the Centre of the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St Andrews University, said that a foreign connection was likely.
"With every single terrorist event we've had ... there usually are foreign connections, even though the cannon fodder may be home grown," he said. "The Bouyeris network in the killing of [film-maker Theo] van Gogh in the Netherlands, the Madrid bombings - all of these investigations have a foreign component to them, which makes them extremely complex."
Q What happens next?
A Scotland Yard is continuing to question 19 suspects in connection with the London attacks, including three of the four suspected 21 July bombers. Osman, the fourth suspect is being held by Italian police. UK police are keen to extradite him as soon as possible, but Osman and his legal team are fighting the extradition.
Mr Ayers said that police will be working laterally to investigate the pyramid structure of the terror cell - or cells.
"They will be asking 'Who do you know, who do they know' to see if there are more cells operating. Did they hear of anybody else talking about terrorism, at Finsbury Park mosque, for instance? At the same time, they will be working up the structure. Who paid them, who supplied the money?"
He said investigators would have to work quickly. "Once these guys are arrested, those in charge will act. If they had mobile phones, they'll be chucked away, if they were operating under one name, they'll change it, houses will be evacuated. The higher up the organisation you are, the better you are."
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1710582005
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.