Posted on 06/06/2003 9:46:53 PM PDT by null and void
Good Morning.
Welcome to the daily thread of Operation Infinite Freedom - Situation Room.
It is designed for general conversation about the ongoing war on terror, and the related events of the day. Im addition to the ongoing conversations related to terrorism and our place in it's ultimate defete, this thread is a clearinghouse of links to War On Terrorism threads. This allows us to stay abreast of the situation in general, while also providing a means of obtaining specific information and mutual support.
KABUL, Afghanistan - A bomb exploded in a bus carrying German peacekeepers in Kabul on Saturday, killing at least five people on board and wounding about 11, police said.
The International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, bus was traveling from the airport toward eastern Kabul and driving near the city's customs house when the bomb exploded inside it, Kabul Police Chief Basir Salangi told The Associated Press.
"Some foreign people have died and some have been injured," Salangi said. He said he believed five or six people had been killed and about 11 wounded.
Gen. Abdul Raouf Taj, the police chief in District Nine of the Afghan capital, said he believed the bomb had exploded near the bus.
Maj. Sarah Wood, an ISAF spokeswoman, said there were casualties aboard the bus, "some of which we believed are ISAF," but she wouldn't say who or how many. "Our priority is to get them medical assistance as soon as possible," she said.
As she spoke, a large German military helicopter landed in the road near the site of the explosion and not far from the base that houses German and Dutch troops in Afghanistan.
Police halted traffic and all pedestrians were stopped about 200 yards from the scene, allowing only ambulances and other emergency ISAF vehicles to roar past.
Suspected Taliban fighters have been stepping up attacks on foreign forces this spring, particularly in the south and east of Afghanistan.
About 11,500 coalition troops, the bulk of them Americans, have been deployed in Afghanistan since the Taliban government was overthrown in a U.S.-led war in 2001.
Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone speaks during a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington in this May 7, 2003 file photo. The Pentagon's intelligence agency had no hard evidence of Iraqi chemical weapons last fall but believed Iraq had a program in place to produce them
U.S. Seeks to Clarify Iraq Weapons Report
WASHINGTON - The Defense Intelligence Agency last fall could not pin down the location of any chemical weapons facilities in Iraq but had no doubt about the existence of programs designed to produce chemical and other weapons of mass destruction, the DIA's director said Friday.
Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby, the agency's director, said news reports about excepts from a September 2002 DIA report should not be interpreted as meaning his agency doubted that Iraq had a weapons of mass destruction program.
But he acknowledged that at that time the DIA could not find chemical weapons facilities.
October 1998:Senate Democrats Signed Letter Urging Clinton To Attack Saddam Over WMDs
June 5, 2003 "[W]e urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs." You can see who signed the letter in the attacked copy, but among them are the following Senate Democrats: Levin, Lieberman, Lautenberg, Dodd, Kerrey, Feinstein, Mikulski, Daschle, Breaux, Johnson, Inouye, Landrieu, Ford and Kerry.
..............
Suspect sites in Iraq: see for yourself on the web
Early this month Sayeed Hasan Al-Mousawi, an Iraqi official, displayed a satellite image of the alleged nuclear plant 40km outside Baghdad. British Prime Minister Tony Blair had cited the picture as evidence against Iraq. Saeed said the plant was used only for industrial and agricultural purposes. If you looked carefully at the Associated Press photo you'd have noted a reference mark to globalsecurity.org
Iraq and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Between Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, and the commencement of military action in January 1991, then President George H.W. Bush raised the specter of the Iraqi pursuit of nuclear weapons as one justification for taking decisive action against Iraq. In the classified National Security Directive he signed on January 15, 1991, authorizing the use of force to expel Iraq from Kuwait, he identified Iraqi use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) against allied forces as an action that would lead the U.S. to seek the removal of Saddam Hussein from power.(1)
In the aftermath of Iraq's defeat, the U.S.-led, U.N. coalition was able to force Iraq to agree to an inspection and monitoring regime, intended to insure that Iraq dismantled its WMD programs and did not take actions to reconstitute them. The means of implementing the relevant U.N. resolutions was the U.N. Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM). That inspection regime continued until December 16, 1998 - although it involved interruptions, confrontations, and Iraqi attempts at denial and deception - when UNSCOM withdrew its staff from Iraq in the face of Iraqi refusal to cooperate.
Subsequent to George W. Bush's assumption of the presidency in January 2001, the U.S. made it clear that it could not accept what had become the status quo with respect to Iraq - a country ruled by Saddam Hussein and free to attempt to reconstitute its assorted weapons of mass destruction programs. As part of their campaign against the status quo, which included the clear threat of the eventual use of military force against Iraq, the U.S. and Britain published documents and provided briefings detailing Iraq's WMD programs and its attempts to deceive other nations about its WMD activities.
As a result of the U.S. and British campaign, and after prolonged negotiations between the U.S., Britain, France, Russia and other U.N. Security Council members, the U.N. declared that Iraq must accept even more intrusive inspections than under the earlier inspection regime - to be carried out by the U.N. Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - or face "serious consequences." Iraq agreed to accept the U.N. requirement and inspections resumed in late November 2002. On December 7, 2002, Iraq submitted a 12,000-page declaration, which claimed that it had no current WMD programs. Intelligence analysts from the United States and other nations immediately began to scrutinize the document, and senior U.S. officials quickly rejected the claims.
The documents presented in this electronic briefing book include the major unclassified U.S. and British assessments of Iraqi WMD programs, the reports of the IAEA and UNSCOM covering the final period prior to the 1998 departure and the period since November 27, 2002, the transcript of a key speech by President George W. Bush, a recently released statement on U.S. policy towards combating WMD, the transcript of and slides for Secretary Powell's presentation to the U.N. on February 5, 2003, and documents from the 1980s and 1990s concerning various aspects of Iraqi WMD activities.
More news on our Vet's parade from the local Longmont, CO. local paper:
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Paul Rock began to banter an idea around with his fellow veterans of having a motorcycle ride down Main Street honoring fallen and returning soldiers, including Lance Cpl. Zachary Rock, 19, who spent four months in Iraq and is now back in Longmont.
"All of a sudden, one thing led to another, and I am trying to put on a parade," Paul Rock said.
Rock talked with city officials last week, and this Sunday, veterans will take to Main Street in a show of support for the veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The parade is scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. and will run from Eighth to Third avenues along Main Street.
Rock is still trying to nail down participants for the parade..
~~
All veterans and motorcyclists are welcome to join the parade, Rock said.
8 posted on 06/07/2003 9:25 AM EDT by mollynme
See:
Old Vet Drums Up Parade for New Vet
DoD website / Special to American Forces Press Service ^ | June 5, 2003 | Casie Vinall
(Vietnam = "OLD" Vet? Hah!)
Rummy was right again, it appears. You can trust the American people to find the truth.
We're good. (^; Forwarding the OIF link.
Good to see articles about the public schools and Dems. Many Americans are just learning "Uncle Walty" isn't trustworthy.
| Russia not to send fighter jets to Paris air show |
| Xinhua (China), by Staff - 6/6/2003 |
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Russia's two leading military aircraft manufacturers have decided not to send their fighter jetsto attend the Paris air show in Le Bourget scheduled later this month due to concern that the planes might be seized by a Swiss private company. Two years ago [in Paris] ..the Noga company showed the Russian side a resolution and seized a Su-30 fighter jet and a Mig-AT trainer as collateral for Russian government's claimed debt to Noga.
~~~
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Best of the Web Today (yesterday) - June 6, 2003
By JAMES TARANTO
The Wages of Appeasement
"Belgian police said Thursday they detained an Iraqi man after letters containing a nerve-gas ingredient were sent to the prime minister's office," Reuters reports from Brussels. Let's review
It's a myth-busting trifecta!
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