Posted on 06/02/2003 9:41:27 PM PDT by null and void
EVIAN, France - World leaders pledged on Tuesday to rebuild Iraq and combat the threat of nuclear weapons in Iran and North Korea closing out their annual summit with a unity statement that masked wide differences between the United States and its allies.
The Group of Eight summit countries — the world's seven wealthiest nations and Russia — tried to use their annual economic summit to heal the bitter divisions over the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
Death of journalists was accident of war
Boston Herald ^ | Monday, June 2, 2003 | Jules Crittenden
Posted on 06/02/2003 11:47 AM EDT by presidio9
Two American soldiers are under fire, facing a civil lawsuit, a military investigation and questions about their honesty over the tragic killing of two journalists in the Hotel Palestine in Baghdad. I know these soldiers. I was there and I have to speak in their defense.
Just before noon on April 8, Sgt. Shawn Gibson saw what he believed to be an Iraqi forward observer - someone with binoculars and a telephone in a tall building across the Tigris. It was exactly the target Alpha Company of the 4/64 Armor Battalion had been looking for after learning from a captured Iraqi radio that a barrage was imminent....
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Highlights of the closing statement issued Tuesday at the Group of Eight summit in Evian, France:
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ECONOMY: The leaders expressed confidence in the global economic future, despite the current sluggishness. "Major downside risks have receded and the conditions for a recovery are in place. We are confident in the growth potential of our economies," the final statement said.
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WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION: The G-8 put North Korea and Iran on notice that member countries will not stand by and let them acquire nuclear weapons, although the statement highlighted "peaceful means" to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis.
Judge: Tribunal for Moussaoui Case?
WASHINGTON - On the eve of unprecedented appellate arguments on the rights of terrorism defendants, a newly released document shows a judge sharply questioned whether Zacarias Moussaoui should be prosecuted in a civilian court.
A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., was to hear oral arguments Tuesday on whether Moussaoui should be allowed to question senior al-Qaida leader Ramzi Binalshibh through a video hookup.
RIYADH (Reuters) - A suspected Saudi militant who was killed by police earlier this week was carrying a letter allegedly written by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden about six months ago, a local newspaper said on Tuesday.
Al-Watan daily quoted what it called "informed" sources as saying police had found the hand-written letter signed by bin Laden in the pocket of Youssef Saleh al-Eiery, who was named among a 19-member gang suspected of having ties to al Qaeda.
Lessons of the War [Victor Davis Hanson]
Commentary ^ | June 2003 | Victor Davis Hanson
Posted on 06/02/2003 10:40 AM EDT by aculeus
THE GENERAL facts about the recent war are not in much dispute. In a span of about three weeks, the United States military overran a country the size of California. It utterly obliterated Saddam Hussein’s military hardware—tanks, heavy artillery, transport—and tore apart his armies. Of the approximately 110 American deaths in the course of the hostilities, fully a fourth occurred as a result of accidents, friendly fire, or peacekeeping mishaps rather than at the hands of enemy soldiers. The extraordinarily low ratio of total American casualties per number of U.S. soldiers deployed, or of American fatalities per Iraqi soldiers killed, is almost unmatched in modern military history—and an unimaginably long way from the specter of Armageddon offered up by a variety of self-proclaimed experts before the war and during its early days.
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Iraqi men hold anti-American banners as they demonstrate against U.S. occupation and the arrest of a clergyman June 3, 2003 in Baghdad. Thousands of Iraqi Muslims marched through Baghdad Tuesday, threatening violence unless U.S. troops withdraw from the country and venting their anger over body searches of women in the capital.
Angry Iraqis Demand Right to Rule Themselves
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Muslim clerics led thousands of protesters through Baghdad's streets Tuesday, telling U.S. and British forces to withdraw or face violence, as Iraqi political groups demanded more say in their country's future.
The Iraqi National Congress, an umbrella group of parties that opposed Saddam Hussein mainly from exile, insisted that Iraqis rather than Americans should pick the interim Iraqi leadership that will help steer the country toward democracy.
The Warrior Tackles Peace
Washington Post ^ | 3 June 2003 | Richard Cohen
Posted on 06/03/2003 12:23 PM EDT by CodeWeasel
Excerpt . . .
To the dismay of many, Bush has so far proved effective because he has not shied from using force. He has shown he means what he says. When he said he wouldn't deal with Arafat, he didn't deal with him. When he said he would whack Iraq, he whacked it. When he said he would get involved in the peace process, he did. He not only can bang heads together, he will. His record so far says so.
Excerpted - click for full article ^
Pentagon wants closer defence ties with India
HindustanTimes ^ | TV Parasuram (Press Trust of India)
Posted on 06/03/2003 12:22 PM EDT by swarthyguy
The US Defence Department has recommended viewing India as a strategic partner and selling modern American technology and equipment to ensure inter-operability between the two countries to meet any regional crisis or threats that may loom in the 2020s.
The Pentagon recommendation is on the lines of the advice of US ambassador to India, Robert Blackwill.
The report "Indo-US Military Relationship, Expectations and Perceptions," said the most promising areas for cooperation are the naval sector and the joint exercises in dense jungles and learning to flush out terrorists out of their hideouts.
President George W. Bush and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt after delivering statements on the progress of the Red Sea Summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt June 3, 2003. On the far left sits Prince Abdullah Bin Abd Al Aziz of Saudi Arabia and on the far right sits King Hamad Bin Issa Al Khalifa of Bahrain. White House photo by Paul Morse.
A Liberal Trademark [Excellent Read]
Tech Central Station ^ | 06/03/2003 | Frederick Turner
Posted on 06/03/2003 11:17 AM EDT by Carolina
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U.S. 666 officially renamed U.S. 491 (Bye-bye "Devil's Highway")
The Casper Star-Tribune ^ | May 03,2003 | staff writer
Posted on 06/03/2003 10:56 AM EDT by yankeedame
U.S. 666 officially renamed U.S. 491
SANTA FE (AP) - The Devil's Highway is no more.
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials has changed the number of U.S. 666 to U.S. 491, the New Mexico Highway and Transportation Department announced Monday.
Transportation officials from three states applied for a name change to the highway, which runs 194 miles from Gallup north through southwestern Colorado and west to Monticello, Utah.
A jury on Tuesday, June 3, 2003, reached a verdict in the trial of four Arab immigrants accused of conspiring to support Islamic extremists plotting attacks in the United States and the Middle East. The verdict was expected to be read shortly. Clockwise from top left, Ahmed Hannan, Farouk Ali-Haimoud, Karim Koubriti and Abdel-Ilah Elmardoudi are shown in these undated police photos. The case, which began with a raid on a Detroit apartment just six days after the Sept. 11 attacks, was seen asa test of the government's ability to prosecute terrorist ``sleeper'' cells.
Two Convicted in Detroit Terror Trial
DETROIT - A jury on Tuesday found two of four Arab immigrants guilty of conspiring to support Islamic extremists plotting attacks in the United States and the Middle East. One was acquitted of all charges, and the jury returned mixed verdicts on a fourth.
Abdel-Ilah Elmardoudi, 37, and Karim Koubriti, 24, were found guilty of conspiracy to provide material support or resources to terrorists and of conspiracy to engage in fraud and misuse of visas, permits and other documents.
EVIAN, France - The Group of Eight summit will be somewhere in the United States next year, but where is anybody's guess.
The final communique issued by G-8 leaders typically states the date and location of the next summit. But this time, it only said that the leaders welcomed President Bush to host the next summit in 2004.
The Bush administration said logistical details were being addressed and the date and site had not been finalized.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat holds the hand of released prisoner Ahmad Jubarah, 68, right, at his office in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Tuesday, June 3 , 2003. Israel released scores of Palestinian prisoners, including the oldest and longest-serving inmate, Jubarah, on Tuesday as a goodwill gesture ahead of a summit with President Bush.
Longest-Held Palestinian Prisoner Freed
RAMALLAH, West Bank - After almost three decades behind bars for a deadly bombing, the oldest and longest-held Palestinian prisoner in Israel was freed Tuesday and returned triumphantly to the West Bank to clasp hands with Yasser Arafat and reunite with his family.
Ahmad Jubarah, a white-haired 68-year-old man who was imprisoned for his role in a 1975 Jerusalem bomb attack that killed 13 people and wounded 70 others, hugged a weeping daughter who was born after he was sent to prison.
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