Posted on 05/24/2003 8:56:34 PM PDT by null and void
BRING IT ON SUCKAS. DOUBLE DOG DARE YA!!
Good Morning.
This is the Daily Thread of Operation Infinite Freedom, formerly Operation Iraqi Freedom - Situation Room - LIVE THREAD.
It is designed for general conversation about the ongoing war on terror, and the related events of the day. In depth discussion of events should be left to individual threads - but links to the threads or other articles is highly encouraged. This allows us to stay abreast of the situation in general, while also providing a means of obtaining specific information.
Reports that Iraqi officials fled with French passports "baseless"
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US press reports that Iraqi officials may have fled the country using French passports are "baseless," the French embassy here said.
The Washington Times report quoted anonymous US officials as saying that they were investigating whether passports found in Iraq by a US intelligence team had been forged by Saddam Hussein's fallen regime, or whether they were genuine and had either been stolen or provided by the French government.
Sharon to snub French FM on Jerusalem visit
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is to snub visiting French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, who is due to hold talks next week with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, an Israeli official said.
"The schedule of the prime minister, who decides for himself whom he wants to meet, does not permit him to organise such a meeting with the French foreign minister," the official told AFP, on condition of anonymity.
And do you have any links to back up your claim re: Egypt and the terrorist groups in Syria they supposedly now claim brotherhood with?
Thanks
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration has cut off contact with Iran, and Pentagon officials are pushing for action they believe could destabilize the government of the Islamic republic, The Washington Post reported in its Sunday edition.
The move follows intelligence reports suggesting al Qaeda operatives in Iran played a role in the May 12 suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia, according to the newspaper.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened a meeting of his party's ministers Sunday ahead of a crucial Cabinet vote on a U.S.-backed "road map" for Middle East peace.
Sharon called the meeting in an attempt to secure the support of hard-liners in his Likud party for the vote. Several senior Likud figures said they oppose it.
KIRKUK, Iraq, May 24 -- In an exercise that the commander of U.S. occupation forces here likened to a first baby step toward democracy, 300 Iraqi delegates today elected the first city council in the history of this oil-rich, ethnically divided city. U.S. troops ran the elections, the delegates were vetted by American forces and, in the end, Iraqi participants said they were by turns overjoyed at their newfound freedom and wary of what their real role will be in governing Kirkuk.
THE concrete blocks encircling the Houses of Parliament stand testament to the fear of an imminent attack against British targets by al-Qaeda and other extremist Islamic groups.
But the devastating suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia and Morocco and the apparent foiling of a planned attack using a hijacked jetliner in the Saudi port city of Jeddah, last week, suggest a dramatic shift in tactics away from Western countries towards Arab governments friendly to the West.
May 25, 2003 -- FRENCH President Jacques Chirac is preparing to host President George W. Bush and the other G8 leaders in Evian, France next weekend and it appears he has more on the agenda than a sampling of the region's spring water and a trip around Lake Geneva.
In fact, according to European press reports, the French leader is "preparing to embarrass" the U.S. President with an agenda heavy on the environment and light on the war against terrorism.
Playing Offense: The inside story of how U.S. terrorist hunters are going after al Qaeda ^
| Britain finds Iraq's 'smoking gun': a top-secret missile ^ |
WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, alarmed by recent increases in military accidents, is challenging service chiefs to reduce by one-half the number of mishaps over the next two years.
"World-class organizations do not tolerate preventable accidents," Rumsfeld wrote the secretaries of the military departments. "Our accident rates have increased recently, and we need to turn this situation around."
Papers pore over Collins allegations
The Sunday Times identifies an American officer as the source of the allegations against the British officer - and in turn accuses him of being motivated by spite.
The paper also draws some unflattering comparisons between the peacekeeping methods of British soldiers, and the reliance of American troops on "overwhelming firepower".
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites)'s cabinet convened on Sunday ahead of a vote expected to approve a U.S.-led peace plan to end 31 months of violence, political sources said.
The sources predicted Sharon would muster a majority within his 23-member coalition cabinet despite opposition from far-right ministers to an envisaged Palestinian state.
TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea (news - web sites) said Sunday it would agree to U.S. demands to hold multilateral talks over its nuclear program that included South Korea and Japan but only if Pyongyang and Washington held bilateral talks first.
Quoting a North Korean Foreign Ministry statement, Japan's Kyodo news agency said the North criticized the United States for keeping silent about a "new and bold proposal" made by Pyongyang in three-way talks with China last month on the North Korean nuclear standoff.
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