Posted on 08/19/2006 4:05:35 PM PDT by Gucho
By Jody Sabral
Sunday 20 August 2006
The second trial of Saddam Hussein will begin on Monday, according to Raed Juhi, the chief-investigative judge for the Iraqi high tribunal.
The trial will be conducted while Baghdad is under curfew, making it difficult for the movement of people to and from the court.
Badi Arif, chief defence lawyer to Farhan Mutlak Al-Jaburi, Iraq's former director of the military intelligence service in northern Iraq, told Aljazeera that court employees had been issued with special badges to enter the well-fortified Green Zone, where the tribunal is located, during the curfew, but that the defence team had not yet been issued with the necessary badges.
Seven people, including Saddam, his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, the former governor of northern Iraq, and Al-Jaburi are to face charges in the Anfal trial.
Charges will include genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The Anfal trial deals with the alleged mass murder of Kurds in northern Iraq in "the Anfal" operation in 1988. It is alleged that Iraqi forces used chemical weapons on several occasions during the operation.
The second Saddam trial follows the Dujail trial, which is in recess until October 19.
The Anfal trial is expected to be more challenging for the tribunal than the first trial as evidence from multiple crime scenes will be presented.
Arif said that Al-Jaburi had asked the court to summon Jalal Talabani, Iraq's president, to testify in the case as he says that only Talabani will be able to give evidence to prove his innocence.
The trial will be heard by five judges.
By COMBINED FORCES COMMAND – AFGHANISTAN COALITION PRESS INFORMATION CENTER KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
Aug 18, 2006
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – Coalition forces killed eight extremists Aug. 16 in the Asadabad District of Kunar Province in response to direct small arms fire. The Coalition responded to the attack with small arms, machine gun fire and grenades.
No Coalition casualties were reported.
“Our commitment will remain steadfast to defeat this enemy, to ensure the security of the region,” said Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick, Combined Joint Task Force-76 spokesperson.
By ANITA SNOW
HAVANA Aug 19, 2006 (AP)— Ramon Castro, the older brother of leader Fidel Castro, said Saturday his more famous sibling is steadily improving after intestinal surgery that has left their younger brother Raul temporarily in charge of the country.
"He's much better," Ramon Castro said of Fidel. "He works savagely and that has a cost."
Ramon Castro, who turns 82 in October, is a lifelong farmer who has stayed out of national politics. He indicated he had not yet read his brother Raul's interview with the Communist Party newspaper Granma, which was published Friday and constituted his first public comments since assuming provisional power on July 31.
The eldest Castro brother, who bears a striking resemblance to 80-year-old Fidel with his Romanesque profile and white beard, spoke at the international airport awaiting the arrival of Florida cattleman John Parke Wright IV, with whom he has formed a strong friendship during the American's frequent visits to the island.
The specifics of Castro's ailment and the nature of the surgery he underwent have been treated as a state secret. The leader blamed his heavy work and travel schedule for causing sustained intestinal bleeding, which prompted the need for emergency surgery.
Recent government photographs and video of the leader showed him conscious, coherent and in good spirits.
Ramon Castro warmly embraced Wright, 56, as he arrived. "I'm here to see my great friend Ramon. There's no blockade on friendship," said Wright, using the term Cuba's Communist government uses to refer to the long-standing U.S. trade sanctions against the island.
Castro told Wright that he, and many others on the island, look forward to his visits. He also noted that Wright is a regular churchgoer and said: "You should pray for the good health of my family."
"A lot of people have been praying for your brother's health," Wright told him.
Wright, who opposes U.S. sanctions against the island, helped broker some of the first sales of American cattle to Communist Cuba under a U.S. law passed in 2000 that created a loophole in the embargo and permits such transactions on a cash basis. His firm, J.P. Wright & Co. Inc., is based in Naples, Florida.
Wright's ancestors shipped cattle to the Caribbean nation starting in the 1850s, because Florida-bred livestock was suited to the similar tropical climate in Cuba. But trade was halted by the U.S. embargo imposed several years after Fidel Castro came to power in 1959.
Associated Press
Ramon Castro, the older brother of ailing leader Fidel Castro,left, and Florida cattleman John Parke Wright IV are seen as they smoke Cuban cigars at the international airport in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Aug.19, 2006. (AP Photo/ Javier Galeano)
4 U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan
Aug. 19, 2006 - 9:10PM
By FISNIK ABRASHI - Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan — Coalition troops clashed with insurgents in two battles Saturday in fighting that left four U.S. and two Afghan soldiers dead and six other Americans wounded, officials said.
The fighting was reported to be some of the heaviest in recent months and came as war-battered Afghanistan celebrated its independence day.
During a clash against Taliban militants in eastern Kunar province, three U.S. soldiers were killed and three others wounded, said U.S. military spokesman Col. Tom Collins.
American troops in that area are hunting for Taliban fighters and extremists close to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network in remote mountains hugging the Pakistani border.
In southern Uruzgan province, an American and two Afghan soldiers were killed and three other Americans wounded in a four-hour clash with more than 100 insurgents, according to a NATO statement.
The troops used artillery and air support to repel the insurgent attack, a NATO statement said.
Collins said the troops in Uruzgan are part of a U.S. team training the fledgling Afghan National Army. Currently about 22,000 U.S. forces are in Afghanistan along with 20,000 NATO-led troops.
The slain American was identified by family members as senior airman Adam Servais, 23, of Onalaska, Wis. The four-year veteran was with Air Force Special Operations.
Officials said they didn't have details on insurgent casualties.
The violence came as thousands gathered to mark Afghanistan's independence from British rule in 1919, following the third Anglo-Afghan war. Repeated wars and conflicts have devastated the country of 25 million people in the last three decades, with scars still visible on buildings and large swaths of minefields.
In Kabul, Afghan soldiers with M-16 assault rifles paraded together with police, sportsmen and horsemen in a stadium that was used regularly for public executions during the Taliban's rule.
President Hamid Karzai told thousands attending a celebration that education was key to protecting the country's independence amid efforts by militants to undermine his authority.
"Our history proves our bravery," Karzai said. "The only thing we need to keep our independence is education."
Militants have targeted schools, burning 144 to the ground over the past year and forcing another 200 to close following threats against teachers and students, according to officials. More than 200,000 children have been unable to continue their education as a result.
The insurgents claim that educating girls is against Islam and oppose government-funded schools for boys because they teach secular subjects besides religion. Targeting schools is also considered a tactic to shake the authority of the U.S.-backed government.
Meanwhile, a mine in the country's restive south killed a local police commander and an ambush by suspected insurgents left a spiritual leader wounded.
The officer was killed when his vehicle hit a freshly planted mine in Sori district of southern Zabul province on Friday, said Noor Mohammad Paktin, the provincial police chief.
Separately, suspected Taliban militants wounded Mrich Agha, a spiritual leader in the southern Kandahar province on Saturday, said Dawood Ahmadi, the governor's spokesman. Agha's driver was killed in the ambush, Ahmadi said.
Afghanistan's southern provinces are bearing the brunt of the worst bout of violence to have rocked the country since the fall of the Taliban regime in the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001, as insurgents try to undermine the authority of Karzai and his government.
Associated Press
Sat Aug 19, 2006 - 4:00 PM ET
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iranian armed forces held a massive military maneuver to test new weapons and tactics against a potential enemy, state television reported.
The first stage of "Zolfaghar Blow" commenced in the restive southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan. The maneuvers will continue in 15 other provinces in northeastern, northwestern, western and southern Iran.
"Zolfaghar" was the two-point sword of Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed and is a revered figure in Shiite Islam, the dominant religion in Iran.
The chief commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Army said that the country should be ready for possible attacks by the United States and Israel.
"The enemy has gone insane because of the capabilities of Lebanon's Hezbollah. And given the insane enemy's history, we should always be prepared," Major General Ataollah Salehi was quoted as saying by official news agency IRNA.
Since the ceasefire in Lebanon on August 14, top Iranian officials have been praising the the Shiite militant group for their resistance.
"The main objective of this operation is to adopt up-to-date tactics and use new equipment to be able to respond to possible threats, enabling us to confront the enemy in several fronts in the country," Brigadier General Kiumars Heydari said.
According to the report, the maneuver tests a new anti-aircraft strategy to "make the air space insecure for the enemy," while using different types of helicopters, fighter planes and land forces warfare.
"We have been alert and watching the world's (war) developments and we have invested in both modern tactics and equipment," Heydari noted.
In April, the Islamic republic unveiled a wide range of weaponry such as multiple-head missiles, high-speed torpedoes and radar-evading anti-ship missiles in a week of military exercises in the strategic Gulf waters to the south.
The latest operations come amid rising tensions with the West over Tehran's controversial nuclear program, under suspicion to be a cover for developing an atomic bomb.
Iran has two bodies of armed forces, the traditional army and the elite Revolutionary Guards, an ideological army, equipped with terrestrial, naval and air units. All are under the command of the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
20 Aug 2006
Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has warned that anyone using mosques as a forum to provoke sectarian violence will be prosecuted under anti-terrorism laws.
Speaking ahead of a major Shi'ite festival In Baghdad, the Prime Minister called on clerics to urge people to unite and to shun whatever could lead to sectarian clashes.
Vehicles have been banned from the streets of Baghdad to protect pilgrims from bomb attacks.
The event was marred last year when a stampede caused some 1,000 deaths.
Earlier police sealed off streets near the shrine in the Kadhimiya area after seven pilgrims were shot dead.
Radio New Zealand
8/18/2006
A record 6 billion pound ($11.4 billion) export agreement for the Eurofighter Typhoon combat jet has given a boost to Britain's defence industry, sending shares in BAE Systems up 3 percent on Friday.
Saudi Arabia said late on Thursday it would take up to 72 of the jets from the multinational Eurofighter consortium which also includes Airbus parent firm EADS and Alenia Aeronautica, part of Italy's Finmeccanica.
Britain and Saudi Arabia agreed for the Gulf state to purchase the planes after having signed an initial deal in December which analysts say could be worth more than 6 billion pounds.
Saudi defence deals are big business for Britain, with past state-to-state pacts, called Al Yamamah or "dove" in Arabic, representing the largest manufacturing export programmes in UK history.
Shares in BAE, Europe's largest defence firm, were up 2.8 percent at 370 pence, the top gainers on London's FTSE 100 index, which was up 0.4 percent at 09:16 GMT.
UK firms Smiths and Rolls-Royce will also supply components for the Eurofighter, and Rolls-Royce shares were up more than 1 percent.
The jets will replace British-made Tornado and other planes in a deal which marks a defeat for France's Dassault Aviation, which was hoping for its first export customer for the Rafale combat jet.
Its stock was down 0.6 percent in Paris.
The project's original backers were Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain but Austria has also committed to buying the plane.
BAE will lead Eurofighter's activities in Saudi Arabia as part of a system whereby individual members within the consortium take the lead in negotiations.
The jets are likely to be assembled in the UK.
Saudi Arabia has a long history of buying arms from Britain dating back to the 1960s, and usually pays in oil.
Britain's Serious Fraud Office in 2004 opened a probe of suspected accounting irregularities related to a massive Al Yamamah arms deal, the latest version of which was signed in 1994 and involved BAE supplying the kingdom with aircraft, ships and associated support.
BAE has denied wrongdoing.
-Reuters-
Thank you
Bumpity-Bump
Thank you for the Bump, DC.
At least 20 Shiite pilgrims murdered in Baghdad attacks
8/20/2006 - 2:57 PM
By: Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi authorities now say at least 20 religious pilgrims have died in what they're calling “terrorist assaults'' in Baghdad.
More than 300 were hurt when snipers fired on crowds of Shiites making their way through a Sunni neighborhood. Many of them were bruised or trampled in the panic.
One Iraqi says someone was shot in front of him in what he calls a “clear sniper attack.'' He said he could still hear the crack of the shots despite the panic around him.
The government had imposed a ban on weekend driving to stop car bomb attacks. But a Health Ministry official says the attackers used rooftops and a nearby cemetery to open fire on hundreds of thousands walking to the shrine of an eighth-century saint
The government also said four insurgents, including at least two of the snipers, were killed by security forces.
http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=168923
Associated Press
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