***Operation Infinite Freedom - Situation Room - 10 JUN 03/Day 83***

Everywhere TexKat goes, or Ragtime Cowgirl transcribes... | 10 JUN 03 | null and void

[Carolina]

Reported the Rabi’ah granary is nearly full from the harvest, and that the locals are opening another facility to store the overflow wheat and barley.

Reported that the Baghdad Airport is due to open to commercial traffic in mid-July.

Attended a meeting at the Grain Board Office and report the barley harvest in Northern Iraq is 70% complete and wheat harvest is 10% complete. Both harvests are going well.

You mean it's not all doom and gloom out of Iraq?

[TexKat]

US reduced to printing Saddam banknotes to keep Iraq economy going

BAGHDAD (AFP) - The US-led administration in Iraq is printing hundreds of thousands of new Iraqi banknotes bearing Saddam Hussein's portrait in defiance of its own ban on the public display of images of the ousted dictator.

The administration's head Paul Bremer acknowledged Tuesday that the decision was embarrassing for him personally, but said there had been no alternative to maintain confidence in the money supply as the coalition strives to get the economy going again.

"Since I issued the instrument telling people to do away with images of Saddam Hussein, I guess you could say it's not a joy anyway," Bremer told a news conference in Baghdad.

He said his administration had come under enormous pressure from Iraqis to remedy the shortage of 250 dinar notes, as the 10,000 dinar bill, the only other one in circulation, trades at a sharply reduced rate against the dollar.

While moneychangers are prepared to buy the 250 dinar notes at the usual market rate, which currently stands at some 1,400 dinars to the dollar, the 10,000 dinar bills are marked down by roughly 25 percent.

Bremer said his administration was eager to remedy the problem to give the economy a lift, and was printing the extra 250 dinar notes to offer at face value against the larger bills so that confidence could be restored.

"This seems to us the least bad solution even if it does mean printing notes with Saddam's face on it," he said.

One month into his job, Bremer has made the revival of the moribund Iraqi economy the top priority of his administration.

But the decision to print Saddam banknotes is a major embarrassment for his administration as US troops continue to take casualties in what commanders say is a guerrilla war against diehard remnants of the ousted president's regime.

Images of statues of the toppled strongman being torn down across Iraq with the help of US troops were broadcast worldwide and were presented as iconic images of the war.

But in reality far fewer pictures or statues of the Iraqi strongman were torn down than will now be printed by the US-led administration.

Iraqi newspapers said that in all six billion dinars worth were expected to be printed, or about 1.5 million notes.

[TexKat]

Official: U.S. Underestimated Iraq Task

WASHINGTON - The task of stabilizing postwar Iraq has proven "tougher and more complex" than the Bush administration originally foresaw, the Pentagon's top policy adviser on the matter said Tuesday.

Joseph Collins, deputy assistant secretary of defense for stability operations, told reporters that prewar plans for restoring order in Iraq were comprehensive and carefully assembled. But once plan met reality, they had to be adjusted, sometimes quite a lot.

He was referring to the U.S. reconstruction team in Baghdad led initially by retired Army Lt. Gen. Jay Garner and more recently by L. Paul Bremer, the American administrator of postwar Iraq.

They have faced severe problems, starting with initial shortages of electricity, unrelenting episodes of violence against U.S. troops and a growing perception among Iraqis that American promises to put their country back on its feet are going unfulfilled.

[Sacajaweau]

bump

[TexKat]

Thailand Says It Foils Embassy, Resort Bomb Plot

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Police in Thailand have broken up a cell of Jemaah Islamiah militants suspected of planning to bomb embassies and beach resorts in the country, officials in Bangkok and Singapore said Tuesday.

Four members of the cell have been arrested -- a 42-year-old Singaporean and three Thai Muslims -- based on information supplied by Singapore, they said. More suspects are being hunted.

Regional officials say Jemaah is an Islamic militant group with tentacles across Southeast Asia and believed responsible for the Bali bomb attack last October and violence in the Philippines.

The three Thai Muslims were arrested in the south of the country Tuesday, while the Singaporean was taken into custody in Bangkok on May 16 and sent to Singapore the next day.

[TexKat]

Georgia Says Kidnappers Free Four U.N. Staff

TBILISI, Georgia (Reuters) - Kidnappers released Tuesday four U.N. staff abducted last week while monitoring the border between Georgia and the breakaway province of Abkhazia, a senior Georgian official said.

Unidentified gunmen abducted the three military observers -- two Germans and a Dane -- and their Georgian translator on Thursday in the remote Kodori Gorge on the border with Abkhazia, which proclaimed itself a separate state in 1993.

"We can confirm that the hostages have been released," Bessarion Kvitsiani, deputy envoy of Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze in the gorge, told Reuters by telephone.

[TexKat]

CNN reporting another of our troops killed today in hostile fire. He was a member of the 82nd paratroopers.

Will post more when available.

[TexKat]

CNN reporting that Trent Lott may write a book and tell about the ugly way he was bought down. Lott says that there will be a lot of angry people around there.

[fml]

THAT will be an interesting read.

[null and void]

Hey Registered! We need a copy of your new Iraqi money here...

[TexKat]

Bush Says Israel Attack Makes Peace Efforts `More Difficult'

June 10 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President George W. Bush said Israel's attack today on a convoy of the Palestinian group Hamas may make it tougher to reach a Middle East peace accord.

``I'm concerned the attack will make it more difficult for the Palestinian leadership,'' Bush told reporters before meeting with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. ``I'm determined to keep the process on the road to peace,'' adding that he's ``troubled'' by the recent violence.

Israel's missile attack followed this week's killing of four Israeli soldiers in a combined operation by Hamas and two other armed Palestinian groups, further clouding prospects for a ``road map'' toward creating a Palestinian state.

[TexKat]

THAT will be an interesting read.

And you know it!!

[TexKat]

Sharon defiant after strike on Hamas (June 11, 2003)

PRIME Minister Ariel Sharon today said Israel would continue to "act against the enemies of peace", hours after an Israeli helicopter strike failed to eliminate top Hamas leader Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi.

Sharon addressed former military officers in Israel's coastal town of Netanya and his comments were carried by public television.

"We will continue to act against all the enemies of peace," he said.

"We will continue to fight against terrorism so long as nobody in the other (Palestinian) camp does so.

"We will continue to struggle against the heads of extremist terrorist organisations."

The premier singled out those who "organise and finance terrorists to kill Jews".

US President George W. Bush earlier said he was "troubled" by Israel's helicopter strikes on Palestinian militants, and said "responsible leadership" from all parties was needed for Middle East peace.

"I am troubled by the recent Israeli helicopter gunship attacks. I regret the loss of innocent life.

"I'm concerned that the attacks will make it more difficult for the Palestinian leadership to fight off terrorist attacks.

"I also don't believe the attacks help the Israelis' security."

Bush added: "I am determined to keep the process on the road to peace, and I believe, with responsible leadership by all parties, we can bring peace to the region."

The Israeli government said its forces had tried to eliminate Rantissi in a strike in Gaza City, which left at least two people dead and wounded more than 25 others.

Rantissi escaped with injuries and was admitted to hospital. The attack is seen as dealing a serious blow to efforts to implement the Middle East road map for peace.

Agence France-Presse

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

You mean it's not all doom and gloom out of Iraq?

NO! Thank you for pointing that out, Carolina! Now, if we could get just one person in the mainstream press to report the facts. Is there ONE conservative media voice - radio, TV - who refers to the primary news source on Iraq (CENTCOM)? OUR side's listening to the Iraqi Info Ministry-DNC War Room news sources. Ack. Sorry.

Yesterday was the second month anniversary of the liberation of Baghdad and OUR guys are talking "Hillary" and still ignoring CENTCOM - both a kick in the guts to our troops. They need honest reporters telling the world the facts about conditions on the ground far more than any concerts, rallies, or letter-writing campaigns.

Read the first question to the Portugese Def. Minister:

---

Rumsfeld Joint Media Availability with the Portuguese Minister of State and Defense

(Joint media availability with Portuguese Minister of State and Defense Paulo Portas, Fort São Julião da Barra, Oeiras, Portugal.)

Portas: [In Portuguese.] Good day. On Portugal Day, we welcome with great pleasure Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense of one of Portugal's oldest and strongest allies.

[In English.] Welcome, Donald. We all know your fascination on all Europe (Chuckle.); welcome to the very old Europe, and to the very first piece of land, friendly piece of land in the other side of the Atlantic, to the Western country of Europe. Between Portugal and the United States we don't need go-betweens. We are very good friends, very good allies; sometimes we have opinions, but in the toughest moments we are side-on-side. Thank you very much for your visit, to the acceptation of our invitation.

[In Portuguese.] We spoke basically about the international security situation, we touched on issues like the review of the Atlantic Alliance command structure that will take place this week. We expressed gratitude for American support for a position that Portugal has always called for regarding what would be best for the Alliance, capable of facing threats, capable of reducing risks, and where the position of the regional command in Oeiras would be relevant for us. On the other hand, we discussed aspects having to do with Iraq, where Portugal will be present in the reconstruction work with a corps that has provided excellent proof of its competence all across the board, and aspects regarding countries and regions of interest to all of us for the protection of peace, security and freedom. We were also able to touch on aspects having to do with re-equipping the Portuguese Armed Forces.

Rumsfeld: Mr. Minister, ladies and gentlemen.

It's a real pleasure for me to be here on Portugal's National Day and to particularly be in this lovely setting and to have your hospitality. We very much value our friendship as nations and our personal friendship and particularly Portugal's steadfastness and assistance in the global war on terrorism. We have worked together with respect to aspects of Afghanistan and Iraq, and we appreciate that a great deal. I must say I also had a good meeting with your Prime Minister when I was in Washington, he was there late last week, and was able to discuss some matters of mutual interest there as well. So I thank you for your hospitality and welcome this opportunity to be with you.

Portas: [In Portuguese.] First question?

Q: [In Portuguese.] Mr. Minister, Martin Cabral from SIC [TV]. Do you feel to a certain extent that you are hosting a person who might have lied in getting Portugal to support a war in Iraq where there were allegedly weapons of mass destruction that would be dangerous, and that have still not shown up? (<~wanker)

Portas: [In Portuguese.] The only thing that the international community knows is that Saddam Hussein lied to the United Nations and to civilized countries for a decade. I would like to call attention to the fact that the weapons of mass destruction are not an assertion, they are a real problem. For ten years Iraq deceived the United Nations, first hiding them, then showing incomplete lists, then saying they had destroyed them, then moving them to systematically evade the international rules for containing this weaponry. Iraq is a country the size of France. A weapon of mass destruction might be the size of this podium. Finding something the size of this podium in a country the size of France is not something you can do in either a day or a month. But obviously Iraq today is no longer the threat to either the region or to the world that it was when Saddam Hussein was in power.
(full transcript here)

---

If OUR media guys don't report the truth, stand up for the troops and America - who will?

[Carolina]

[TexKat]

Hamas militant movement official Abdel Aziz Rantisi, 56, speaks from his hospital bed in Gaza city in this image made from TV, Tuesday, June 10 2003. Israel targeted Rantisi in a missile strike on Tuesday that injured his right leg and killed two bystanders, doctors said.

Israeli Attack on Hamas Leader Kills 2

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israel sent helicopters to kill a senior Hamas political leader in the crowded streets of Gaza on Tuesday but failed, leaving two other Palestinians dead and 27 wounded. The missile attack threatened to rekindle a cycle of violence and wreck a new U.S.-backed peace effort.

The strike against Abdel Aziz Rantisi drew a reproach from President Bush, who said he was "deeply troubled" by the violence, and vows of vengeance from the Islamic militant group, which threatened new suicide bombings and attacks on Israeli political leaders.

Palestinian officials angrily accused Israel of sabotaging their attempts to persuade Hamas and other militant groups to stop attacking Israelis. Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas called the strike a "terrorist attack." Still, Egyptian mediators were going ahead with an attempt to secure a Hamas cease-fire.

[DollyCali]

Hi.. bad sleep here.. but been going on for several days.. been sick.

Has the Left put a curse on us????

[DollyCali]

wow is this series? really put Dubya on it?

Great

[retrokitten]

Hi.. bad sleep here.. but been going on for several days.. been sick.

Very late hello everyone!! Sorry you are sick, Dolly. I think they did curse us. I was sick a couple of weeks back and was out of work for a week. Hope you feel better soon. I don't know how accurate it is, but someone just posted a thread that large anti-government demonstrations have just started a couple of hours ago inside Iran.

[TexKat]

Soldier Recalls Night Innocent Was Killed

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Spc. John Dresel was on guard duty, and his eyes were playing tricks on him.

His U.S. Army company had worked its way through heavy fire from Kuwait to Baghdad, and on April 8 it was guarding an intersection next to the Tourism Ministry. Gunfire and explosions punctured the night, and a burning building produced an orange glow on the northern horizon.

"I don't think anyone understands how it gets when you have to stare in your zone for so long," Dresel, 24, of Stamford, Conn., said later. "There came a point where I thought, `What's that over on the left?' `What's that over on the right?'"