Al Qaeda ties to Zarqawi stronger

Osama bin Laden or other senior al Qaeda leaders are trying to communicate with Abu Musab Zarqawi, who is operating what the United States concedes is a "very effective" terrorist ring in Iraq, a senior general said yesterday.
Lt. Gen. Lance Smith, the deputy chief of U.S. Central Command, said intelligence shows that bin Laden now communicates strictly through couriers. This is to avoid having his voice electronically intercepted, which could give away his location in the vast Pakistani tribal lands near Afghanistan.
"Hence you end up using very slow means of trying to communicate, whether it's couriers that carry compact discs from Pakistan or Afghanistan through Iran or through other countries to Zarqawi," Gen. Smith told reporters at the Pentagon.
The disclosure is further evidence that the Jordanian-born Zarqawi, who has maintained links with al Qaeda, now is apparently a full-fledged member. It means that American troops are trying to kill or capture one of al Qaeda's most effective and deadly terrorists, and perhaps the second-most-revered among Islamic militants, after bin Laden himself.
"We do have indications that we believe they are trying to communicate," Gen. Smith said. "Whether it is to congratulate him on having announced that he wants to be part of al Qaeda, or whether it's to communicate and give him instructions or what it is, we don't know. But we do believe that through the process they are trying to communicate."
Gen. Smith said that the United States believes al Qaeda senior leaders are giving overall guidance to Zarqawi and his followers rather than tactical advice. "You all need to hold the course and attack the coalition and attack those members of those infidels with the government," is the way Gen. Smith described the guidance.
The U.S. command in Baghdad previously had disclosed intercepting a letter written by Zarqawi to bin Laden. In it, Zarqawi expressed frustrations that the killing of Americans had not resulted in President Bush's pulling troops out of Iraq.
Zarqawi, who fought U.S. troops in Afghanistan before going to Baghdad for medical treatment, leads cells of foreign and Iraqi terrorists of undetermined numbers. The cells are believed responsible for a series of suicide car bombings and beheadings that have killed hundreds of U.S. personnel and allied Iraqis.
Zarqawi himself has beheaded hostages, then released the gruesome videos. A reward for capturing him is $25 million, but so far, as with bin Laden, no one is willing to turn him in.
Zarqawi is believed to have used Fallujah as his command center, but fled long before a Marine-led invasion captured the city last week.

posted by Frodgie at 9:09 AM

 

Iran steps up nuke work, envoys say

VIENNA, Austria — Iran is producing significant quantities of a gas that can be used to make nuclear arms just days before it must stop all work related to uranium enrichment, raising doubts about its commitment to dispel international distrust, diplomats said yesterday.
Iran recently started producing uranium hexafluoride at its gas-processing facilities in the central city of Isfahan, the diplomats said.
When introduced into centrifuges and spun, the substance can be enriched to varying degrees. Low-grade enriched uranium is used in nuclear power plants. Highly enriched uranium forms the core of nuclear warheads.
While Iran says it is only interested in enrichment to generate power, the United States and its allies accuse Tehran of wanting the technology to make weapons-grade uranium.
In the latest accusation, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Wednesday he had seen intelligence to confirm an assertion by an Iranian dissident group that Tehran is secretly running a program intended to produce nuclear weapons by next year.
Iranian Foreign Minister spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi dismissed that accusation yesterday.
"There is no place for weapons of mass destruction in Iran's defense doctrine," he said, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
Mr. Asefi suggested that U.S. officials "reconsider their intelligence sources."
In Washington yesterday a State Department spokesman defended Mr. Powell's charges.

posted by Frodgie at 9:07 AM

 

Official: Bin Laden Out of Commission

WASHINGTON — Pakistan's military has been so effective in pressuring Al Qaeda (search) leaders hiding in the tribal region of western Pakistan that Usama bin Laden and his top deputies no longer are able to direct terrorist operations, a senior American commander said Thursday.

"They are living in the remotest areas of the world without any communications — other than courier — with the outside world or their people and unable to orchestrate or provide command and control over a terrorist network," said Lt. Gen. Lance Smith (search), deputy commander of Central Command.

"They are basically on the run and unable to really conduct operations except, in the very long term, provide vision and guidance as Usama bin Laden does when he provides one of those tapes," he added, alluding to a bin Laden video tape released three weeks ago.

Bin Laden has been on the run since U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan in October 2001.

In a question-and-answer session at the Foreign Press Center, Smith said that for the first time since Pakistan was enlisted as a U.S. ally against Al Qaeda, the Pakistani military forces hunting for Al Qaeda figures will remain in the western tribal region through the winter.

"It is essential that Pakistan military continue their operations," he said, adding that over the past three to six months they have made "very, very positive moves" against Al Qaeda.


posted by Frodgie at 9:05 AM

 

Bin Laden: Bush Led U.S. Into Quagmire....He must be getting nervous and feel defeated.

CAIRO, Egypt — Terror mastermind Usama bin Laden (search) claimed in new video footage broadcast Wednesday that President Bush (search) ignored warnings against invading Iraq because he was dazzled by the country's "black gold" and ended up leading the United States into a quagmire.

The full video, portions of which were broadcast Friday, was posted on a Web site used by Islamic groups Wednesday. The tape show the author of the Sept. 11 attacks accusing Bush of acting out of what he calls "private" interests — and allusion to his oil business past.

Bush ignored the warnings because "the darkness of the black gold blurred his vision and insight, and he gave priority to private interests over the public interests of America," bin Laden says in the portions of the tape that the Arab network Al-Jazeera (search) did not broadcast Friday.

"The war went ahead. The death toll rose. The American economy bled, and Bush became embroiled in the swamps of Iraq that threaten his future," bin Laden said.

Accusing America of oppressing and killing Arabs, bin Laden asks: "Is defending oneself and punishing the aggressor objectionable as terrorism? If it is, then it is unavoidable for us."


posted by Frodgie at 9:02 AM

 

Baghdad bomb kills 3 Iraqi troops

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A roadside bomb attack in western Baghdad has killed three Iraqi National Guard forces, according to an Iraqi police official.

Shortly before the explosion, which happened at 9:15 a.m. (0615 GMT) Saturday, there were heavy clashes between insurgents and Iraqi National Guards -- backed by U.S. forces -- in the al-Amiriyah neighborhood.

Hours earlier, insurgents attacked a Baghdad police station, sparking a battle with police that lasted three hours, according to the police chief at the al-Adamiyah station.

At least three police were wounded in the fighting, Maj. General Kahlid al-Assel said.

"The Iraqi police proved their efficiency today when the fought bravely the terrorists who tried to take over the police station", al-Assel said.

Iraqi National Guards and Multi-National Forces have surrounded the area and Iraqi police are looking for three cars believed to be carrying explosives in al-Adamiyah neighborhood.

Armed with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and AK-47s, insurgents struck the station at 6 a.m.

The Adamiyah section of Baghdad has traditionally been a Ba'athist bastion and has been the site of consistent clashes between insurgents, Iraqi security forces and American forces.


posted by Frodgie at 8:57 AM

 

I would face front line - Prince William

Prince William has said that if he joins the Army when he finishes St Andrews University he would not shirk fighting at the front line.
"The last thing I want to do is be mollycoddled or wrapped up in cotton wool," the 22-year-old said.

In an interview to mark the final year of his four-year course, he said to be kept back from war zones because of his title would be "humiliating".

He added that "life was too short" to be worried about one day becoming King.

The prince, who is second in line for the throne, would not be, he insisted, a reluctant King but that at the moment he was concentrating on keeping his "feet on the ground" and "enjoying myself as much as I can ".
"The thing is with me I look on the brighter side of everything.

"There's no point being pessimistic or being worried about too many things because frankly life's too short."

Talking about his recent role at Remembrance Sunday when he joined senior Royals including his father Prince Charles and grandmother the Queen at the Cenotaph service in London, he said it made him "very proud to be British".


posted by Frodgie at 8:52 AM

 

We will crush our enemies......Don't listen to the Libs.

The top Marine officer in Iraq declared yesterday that victory in the battle of Fallujah has "broken the back" of the Iraqi insurgency, while another commander in the war on terror said Osama bin Laden is all but cut off from his terrorist operatives.
The twin statements declare success on the two main war fronts — Iraq and Afghanistan — where the U.S. military is fighting a deadly insurgency and trying to create lasting democracies.
Lt. Gen. John Sattler, who commands the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq, told Pentagon reporters that 11 days after invading Fallujah, the one-time insurgent stronghold is secure, but not yet safe. His ground troops were carrying out a "search-and-clear phase," he said.
Based on intelligence that shows Fallujah was an enemy command center, Gen. Sattler asserted, "We feel right now that we have ... broken the back of the insurgency, and we have taken away this safe haven."
Master terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi is thought to have used Fallujah as his base for recruiting and deploying suicide bombers in what the military calls "vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices" (VBIEDs).
Gen. Sattler said the insurgency, in losing Fallujah, has lost "your location and your means for command and control, you lose your lieutenants, which we have taken out of the Zarqawi network over the course of the last almost three months on a very precise basis. ... And you also lose the turf where you're operating, the town that you feel comfortable moving about in, where you know your way about. Now you're scattered."

posted by Frodgie at 8:34 AM

 

Terrorists Try to Start Ethnic Conflict....Umm there has always been one

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Insurgents battling U.S. and Iraqi forces in the northern city of Mosul (search) have been trying to drag the Kurdish minority into their fight and set off a sectarian war, Kurdish and Arab officials say.

Violence against Kurds has escalated in recent days, officials say. The offices — and officials — of Kurdish political parties have been attacked. Insurgents fired on a truck carrying Kurdish peshmerga fighters (search). And at least one Kurd was said to have been beheaded in Mosul, a largely Sunni Arab city.

"They are trying to ignite the flames of sedition between Arabs and Kurds," Khasro Gouran, Mosul's Kurdish deputy provincial governor, said by telephone from Mosul. "They want the Kurds to react and the peshmerga to come in (from outside Mosul) so there would be sectarian strife in the city."

"They won't succeed because the Kurdish leadership is aware of their plans," Gov. Duraid Kashmoula, an Arab, said of the insurgents.

The Kurds are not the only ones under attack. During the latest bout of violence, masked men have stormed police stations, looting and burning some. They've also set up their own checkpoints and set cars ablaze, prompting the Americans to launch military operations to oust fighters from their stronghold in the city.


posted by Frodgie at 8:31 AM

 

Iraqi militant group threatens election

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- An Islamic militant group in Iraq warned Muslims to skip the country's coming elections, and said anyone who runs for office would be branded an infidel and "punished in the name of God."
Thursday's threat came as the death toll for U.S. troops in Falluja climbed to 51 since American and Iraqi troops launched an offensive against insurgents there 11 days ago.
The campaign has "broken the back of the insurgency there," but the city remains dangerous as troops continue to encounter holdout rebels and uncover weapons caches, said Lt. Gen. John Sattler, commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.
Meanwhile, insurgents fired a mortar round Thursday into the office of Nineveh's provincial governor in Mosul, the U.S. military said. U.S. and Iraqi security forces have stepped up their fight against the resistance in the northern city, in response to an insurgent offensive apparently timed to divert attention from the Falluja operation. (Full story)
The militant group, Ansar al-Sunna, said in a statement published on its Web site: "We ask all Muslims to respond to God's calling and avoid showing up at the election posts."
The group warned that voting sites would be targeted "because they are infidel posts."
Iraq's interim government plans to hold elections for a transitional parliament in January, and the offensive against insurgents in Falluja was meant to restore interim government control over that area ahead of the vote.
"We warn everyone who will run in this election that by doing so, he chose to be an infidel and that he will be punished in the name of God," Ansar al-Sunna said. "The same will go to the American crusaders and their allies, their collaborators who support these elections."


posted by Frodgie at 8:29 AM

 

Locking It In
Our moment of opportunity.

For many of us, 1994 will always be a bright, shining moment in time, a feverish, euphoric dream. Unfortunately, that dream become the long nightmare of 1995-96, media hysteria, "Dole-Gingrich," and "Mediscare."

It took us a decade of political trench warfare, setbacks, and survival instincts to move from the promise of 1994 to the reality of 2004: control of Congress and the White House.

Now comes the big question: How do we lock it in for a generation and move our agenda?

First, we need to ignore the liberal Democrats. They have wandered into a cultural and electoral cul-de-sac and seem hell bent on staying there. We should give them their wish and their space by avoiding long, vitriolic encounters. The Democrats have chosen to be the pessimists among an optimistic people. The more conservative Republicans govern and speak to America's can-do spirit, the more pessimistic the Democrats will become. Our strongest weapons are our ideas and our smiles.

And that brings us to the agenda. The only roadblock to Bush's goals of tax reform, social-security private accounts, legal reform, and a more conservative Supreme Court are Republican timidity. This timidity is likely to manifest itself in two ways: (1) fear of big initiatives, and (2) unwillingness to play hardball with Senate Democrats. The first is understandable. The second is not.

Even if the filibuster rule and cloture vote requirements remain, the Senate Democrats are the only brake in the truck. They may choose to be the brake, but they need to consider the political repercussions carefully. There are five Democratic Senators from red states up for reelection in 2006: Bingaman (N.M.), Byrd (W. Va.), Conrad (N.D.), Nelson (Fla.), and Nelson (Neb.). These Senators and the Democratic leadership need to ponder the smoking hole in South Dakota that was once known as Tom Daschle's career. Do they feel lucky?

Getting past the filibuster is the greatest hurdle. Republicans have 55 Senate seats. Subtracting the "Northeast Four" (Chaffee, Snow, Collins, Specter), still leaves Republicans with 51 Senate seats. Add Ben Nelson of Nebraska (who I believe will switch parties) and one or two stray surviving Southern Democrats looking for job security, and Republicans should be able to push their agenda through the Senate if they play hardball on filibusters. The best way to play hardball is to squeeze these Democrats by recruiting challengers ASAP.


posted by Frodgie at 8:26 AM

 

Immoral Values

The bitterness of so many Kerry supporters over President Bush's election victory begins to look as if it is giving birth to a new politics of paranoid fantasy. The old politics of paranoid fantasy, as you may remember, was popularized by Michael Moore in Fahrenheit 9/11 and concentrated on the themes of the "stolen" election of 2000, the Bush family's interests in the Carlyle group and its ties to the Saudi royal family, and the dark hints about the President's corrupt motives for waging the war in Iraq. These fantasies have not gone away -- and the stolen election one shows some signs of being revived in a new and improved, 2004 model, most notably by Keith Olbermann of "Countdown" on MSNBC.

But another one now seems to be dominant. This is the fantasy of a nightmarish world of theocratic rule from Washington by fanatical Christian fundamentalists who, at least according to Garry Wills in the New York Times, are all but indistinguishable from the fanatical Islamic fundamentalists who blew up the twin towers and killed 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001.

Anyone who believes anything so absurd is unlikely to care very much about any dispassionate reasoning around the subject, but the evidence adduced by these true believers for their pet theory seems to depend rather heavily on the fact that 22 percent of those who responded to exit polls taken at the time of the election said that the single issue which had mattered most to them in deciding how to cast their vote had been "Moral Values."

Charles Krauthammer did an excellent demolition job on this theory in the Washington Post, but he might have gone on to make the point that the real moralists in this election and even more so after it were the more extreme Kerry supporters whose influence on the candidate himself and those around him was perceptible and who tried so hard to make the case that their opponent was not just a bad president but a bad man. Certainly it can only be a form of moral judgment that has made so many of them suggest, in their bitterness since the election, that Bush and his supporters are tainted with the stigma of bigotry, hatred, and dishonesty.

Their morality also, however, and paradoxically takes the form of anti-morality. Or "morality." For what they understand by the term is not really morality itself, if by that we understand a whole system of rights and duties and proscriptions that have been worked out over centuries and is constantly evolving but rather a sort of fabulous monster, a symbol of the oppression of certain traditional and mainly sexual moral constraints that have come to seem intolerable. This feeling has now extended outward from the sexually libertine metropolitan centers to the up-scale suburbs and a significant proportion of American voters elsewhere, and the moral fervor of these children of the sexual revolution in denouncing traditional morality really was a factor in the election. Gay marriage was their symbolic issue, voted down wherever it appeared on the ballot, and it seems to me that the otherwise puzzling charge of "bigotry" against Bush voters must have had its origins in the disappointment felt by its proponents and champions.


posted by Frodgie at 8:14 AM

 

Islam and Israel

Does Islam teach that Jews are entitled to Israel? A distinguished group of Muslims joins us today for our panel discussion. Our guests:

Mohamed El-Mallah, a board member of Al-Ittihad Mosque in Vista, former board member of Islamic Center of San Diego, and an associate member of the Muslim American Society. A native of Egypt who migrated to the U.S. seven years ago, he is an activist in the Muslim Community of San Diego who has given many series of presentations on Islamic History.

Prof. Khaleel Mohammed, Assistant Professor at the Department of Religious Studies at San Diego State University. He has sparked controversy within the Islamic community by arguing, as a Muslim himself, that the Koran says Israel belongs to the Jews.

and

Salim Mansur, a writer and a professor of political science at the University of Western Ontario.

FP: Mohamed El-Mallah, Khaleel Muhammed and Salim Mansur, welcome to Frontpage Symposium.

Prof. Mohammed let me begin with you.

As a Muslim, you have argued that the Koran teaches that Israel belongs to the Jews. This has provoked quite a bit of criticism of you from some quarters of the Islamic community. Could you briefly restate your arguments for us?

Let me try to get us started: in your view, you hold that Islam itself teaches that Jerusalem is not within Muslim geography. And since you also hold that conquest of foreign territory is also not an injunction of Islam, then it means that Muslims should not wage war against Israel and Jews. Correct?

Mohammed: Thanks for a wonderful synopsis Jamie. My argument is extremely simple: the Qur'an says "this day I have completed for you your religion." (Q5:3). One of the laws of Qur'anic exegesis is simple: The basic rule in speech is literalness (al asl fi al kalaam, al haqiqa). How LATER exegetes chose to reinterpret, refract and revise those verses is meaningless in terms of what the Qur'an therefore says, and what we can prove.

EVERY researcher in the field knows that Muhammad died in 632 and that at that time, his control extended only over what we may now consider as present day Saudi Arabia. The Qur'an talks also about it being an Arabic document, addressed to a people "so that they may think/reflect (la'allakum ta'qilun)...now this would be an extremely nonsensical statement, indeed downright triumphalist and racist, if the God of the Qur'an were to be implying that the surrounding, non-Arabophonic lands should (a) convert to Islam, a religion whose main scripture is in Arabic or that (2) in order to understand God, these people had to change their language (3) or that only Arab speakers are capable of intellectual analysis.

I am of course aware that Muslims have relied on the reports of medieval chroniclers to show that Muhammad sent letters of invitation to the neighboring countries etc. As respected historians have shown us, among them Tarif Khalidi, Hugh Kennedy, Stephen Humphreys et. al have shown us, much of this history is created.

To put it bluntly, the chroniclers, writing long after Muhammad's death, created fictions--referring to non-existent letters, events to legitimize their forays and empire building. And they did not stop there--despite the fact that the Qur'an took a severe stance--a proto-karaite, almost Sadducean stance against non-scriptural sources, the Muslims created a new source--the hadith literature. And it is this hadith literature--along with fictitious history--that is often used to explain the Qur'an.


posted by Frodgie at 8:09 AM

 

Bank lapses cited in Iraq oil program

The French bank that handled funds for the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq made tens of millions of dollars in fees and did not properly monitor transactions involving Saddam Hussein's oil sales, congressional investigators said yesterday.
The New York branch of the Banque Nationale de Paris-Paribas, or BNP Paribas, was the sole bank for administering the $64 billion U.N. program and did not have adequate checks on whether money was being funneled to terrorists, a House International Relations Committee probe found.
"We have uncovered what appears to be serious malfeasance on an international scale," said Rep. Henry J. Hyde, Illinois Republican and chairman of the committee. "There are indications that the bank may have been noncompliant in administering the oil-for-food program. If true, these possible banking lapses may have facilitated Saddam Hussein's manipulation and corruption of the program."
Committee investigators uncovered evidence that BNP Paribas made payments without proof that goods were delivered and sanctioned payments to third parties not identified as authorized recipients, Mr. Hyde said at a hearing yesterday.
Mr. Hyde said investigators think the bank "facilitated improper payments to companies that were shipping illegal goods to Iraq."
Investigators estimate that the bank received more than $700 million in fees under the U.N. program that began in 1996 and ended after the ouster of Saddam in March 2003, Mr. Hyde said.
"This is a lot of money, and it is reasonable to ask if BNP Paribas adequately supervised its compliance programs overseeing the administration of the oil-for-food program," he said.
Mr. Hyde said problems with the oil-for-food program prompted him to introduce legislation yesterday to require greater accountability at the United Nations. "We need international institutions that are transparent, answerable to outside scrutiny and beyond reproach," he said. The bill was co-sponsored by Rep. Tom Lantos, California Democrat.
The House inquiry is one of at least three congressional investigations into the oil-for-food program. In addition, the Bush administration is investigating the program, and the United Nations has started its own probe, led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.
Everett Schenk, the chief executive officer of BNP Paribas in North America, told the committee that the bank followed the direction of the United Nations in issuing letters of credit under the oil-for-food program.

posted by Frodgie at 8:11 AM

 

Homicide Bomber, Clashes in Iraq Kill 27

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A suicide car bomber blasted an American convoy north of Baghdad and U.S. troops battled insurgents west of the capital Wednesday as a wave of violence across Iraq's (search) Sunni Muslim heartland killed at least 27 people.

American forces pursued their search-and-destroy mission against the remaining holdouts in the former insurgent bastion of Fallujah, and to the north, American forces pressed an offensive to reclaim part of the city of Mosul (search) from militants.

November became one of Iraq's bloodiest months as the U.S. death toll in the war in Iraq reached 1,214, according to figures released by the Defense Department (search).

On Wednesday, a suicide attacker drove his bomb-laden car into a U.S. convoy during fierce fighting in the town of Beiji, 155 miles north of the Baghdad, killing 10 people and wounding 12, including three American soldiers. Another attack on a convoy of civilian contractors in Beiji caused no casualties.

Elsewhere, a three-hour gunbattle between militants and U.S. forces after nightfall left seven people dead and 13 hurt in Ramadi, a city west of Fallujah.

Insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades, mortar and Kalashnikov rifles at American forces in the city center, Zayout district and along the main highway in town, said Abdel Karim al-Hiti of Ramadi General Hospital.

Ramadi, about 70 miles west of Baghdad, falls within the restive Sunni Triangle area north and west of the capital where the bulk of insurgent attacks have erupted.


posted by Frodgie at 8:07 AM

 

Holland's Deadly Tolerance

THE AFTERNOON of Election Day in Washington, one of the Dutch journalists in town to cover the vote mentioned to me that there had been a spectacular killing in Amsterdam that morning, which would be international news as soon as the dust cleared from the Bush-Kerry contest. True enough. Most of the world now knows that a Muslim assailant intercepted the controversialist filmmaker Theo van Gogh as he rode his bike through Amsterdam, and shot him several times. As van Gogh pled for his life, the murderer slit his throat. He then used the corpse as a sort of human bulletin board, pinning a letter to the torso with a dagger.

What was curious was the journalist's explanation of why the ordinarily open and liberal Dutch government had not released the contents of that letter. He speculated that it contained radical Islamic pronouncements and further threats against politicians, and that the reaction of the public to it would be violent. The letter, published early this week, did indeed contain death threats against two members of parliament: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somalian-born immigrant who has repudiated Islam and blames it for violence against women; and Geert Wilders, a longtime liberal politician who has turned to anti-Muslim demagoguery and heads an embryonic populist movement. Both are now in hiding.

Both rose to prominence in the wake of the killing in 2002 of Pim Fortuyn, the charismatic gay politician who won a massive overnight following by warning that high Muslim immigration was overburdening the
country's institutions and threatening its ethos of easy come, easy go. It took him only weeks to turn his new party into the country's second largest, but he was soon shot dead by a deranged environmentalist. It was the first political killing in Holland since the sixteenth century.

Van Gogh, on the other hand, had been a loud--one could even say obnoxious--critic of Islam. He had referred to Muslims as "goatf--ers" and, with Hirsi Ali, had made a 10-minute agitprop film that mixed pornography, violence, and Muslim prayer. But even if the van Gogh killing was different in its particulars, it looked to certain Dutch observers like a second salvo in a revolution. The past 10 days have seen almost continuous protest. At least a dozen mosques and Muslim schools were set on fire. The subsequent firebombing of several churches fanned the fury. There were raids across the country on Moroccan, Kurdish, and Pakistani terrorist cells. At one pre-dawn arrest of two suspects in the Hague, police were met with a grenade attack, and a siege that lasted 15 hours, while the cornered suspects hollered, "We will behead you!" There were dozens of arrests. Most of the suspects were Arab immigrants. But, quite disturbingly, some, like Mohammed Bouyeri, van Gogh's alleged killer, were Dutch-born Dutch citizens. Two of those arrested--known only as Jason W. and Jermaine W.--were Dutch-American converts to Islam.


posted by Frodgie at 8:04 AM

 

North removes Kim portraits

SEOUL — North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has ordered the removal of his portrait from display throughout the Stalinist state, signaling a scaling back of the decades-old adulation of the supreme ruler, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported yesterday.
The order to take down portraits was issued three weeks ago by Mr. Kim himself, who was concerned that he "has been lifted too high," the agency said.
Also yesterday, North Korea's official press dropped the glorifying description of "dear leader" for Mr. Kim, Kyodo News Service reported, citing the Japanese monitoring agency Radiopress.
The United States yesterday brushed off both reports.
"I'll leave it to the analysts," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told a press briefing when asked about the reports. "Don't have a reaction."
A State Department official, speaking separately on the condition of anonymity, said, "I don't see anything to get worried about."
Radiopress said the North's Korean Central Broadcast, the Korean Central News Agency and other press simply described him as "general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, chairman of the DPRK National Defense Commission and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army."
The initials DPRK stand for North Korea's official name, Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Yonhap quoted a source who has "good connections" in Pyongyang as saying Mr. Kim's portraits were being removed from all public places and homes.

posted by Frodgie at 8:00 AM

 

Officials: CIA memo not an order to 'back Bush'

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- CIA and White House officials said Wednesday that a memo from intelligence chief Porter Goss did not order his staff to "back Bush," as a newspaper headline put it Wednesday.

In a memo e-mailed to CIA staff Monday, Goss set out what he called "the rules of the road."

"We support the administration, and its policies, in our work as agency employees," he said. "We do not identify with, support or champion opposition to the administration or its policies. We provide the intelligence as we see it -- and let the facts alone speak to the policy-maker."

The quote was provided by an official in possession of the memo.

A CIA spokesman said the memo was "a statement about the nonpartisan nature of what this agency does," rather than the opposite.

"What that means," said CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano, "is when we are asked to provide intelligence on a particular topic, we do so without shading or shaping the information in any way. It is not a question of partisan support."

White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters that the e-mail was "misconstrued."

"The role of the CIA is intelligence gathering, intelligence analysis and intelligence dissemination. It is to provide policy-makers with the best possible intelligence. It's not to set policy."

He added, "The role of policy-makers is not to get involved with the CIA, either."

He said Goss sent the e-mail for two reasons: As a new director, he is committed to reforming intelligence gathering and to keeping his employees informed about changes.

However, a key Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Dianne Feinstein of California, said the contents of the memo "need to be explored."


posted by Frodgie at 8:00 AM

 

Powell says Iran pursuing nuclear bomb

SANTIAGO, Chile - The United States has intelligence that Iran is working to adapt missiles to deliver a nuclear weapon, further evidence that the Islamic republic is determined to acquire a nuclear bomb, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Wednesday.

Separately, an Iranian opposition exile group charged in Paris that Iran is enriching uranium at a secret military facility unknown to U.N. weapons inspectors. Iran has denied seeking to build nuclear weapons.

"I have seen some information that would suggest that they have been actively working on delivery systems. . . . You don't have a weapon until you put it in something that can deliver a weapon," Powell told reporters traveling with him to Chile for an Asia-Pacific economic summit. "I'm not talking about uranium or fissile material or the warhead; I'm talking about what one does with a warhead."

Powell's comments came just three days after an agreement between Iran and three European countries -- Britain, France and Germany -- designed to limit Tehran's ability to divert its peaceful nuclear energy program for military use. The primary focus of the deal, accepted by Iran on Sunday and due to go into effect Nov. 22, is a stipulation that Iran indefinitely suspend its uranium enrichment program.

"I'm talking about information that says they not only have these missiles, but I am aware of information that suggests that they were working hard as to how to put the two together," Powell said, referring to the process of matching warheads to missiles. He spoke to reporters during a refueling stop in Manaus, Brazil.

'No doubt in my mind'
"There is no doubt in my mind -- and it's fairly straightforward from what we've been saying for years -- that they have been interested in a nuclear weapon that has utility, meaning that it is something they would be able to deliver, not just something that sits there," Powell said.





posted by Frodgie at 7:47 AM

 

Probe: Oil-for-Food Money Went to Palestinian Bombers' Families

Corruption Spreads Outward

As congressional inquiries continue into the scandal-ridden Oil-for-Food program, more evidence has come to light revealing how Saddam was able to funnel more than $21 billion away from the food and medicine program into the pockets of criminals.

"In essence, the Hussein regime created a system of kickbacks, as we have heard today, skimming schemes and smuggling operations to bilk the international sanctions regime of all its potential value and profits," Juan Carlos Zarate, an assistant secretary at the Treasury Department, told lawmakers on Monday.

"He used the implements of the state, the Central Bank, commercial enterprises and his diplomatic and intelligence assets to help skirt international restrictions. In some cases, he used this system to attempt to procure weapons and other banned goods, all in an effort to fortify his regime," Zarate said.

According to U.S. officials, the former Iraqi leader spread billions of dollars around the globe, particularly targeting France, Russia and China, all permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (search).

While diplomats from those three nations deny they were bought off, and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (search) says he doesn't believe they were, Saddam's oil voucher scheme was aimed at ending sanctions, and a CIA report revealed that Saddam was very generous to his friends and supporters.

According to U.S. investigators, Saddam was able to set up a system of rewarding sympathizers and supporters with pieces of paper that entitled them to sell allocations of Iraqi oil to real oil companies at an instant profit, sometimes earning in the hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars. Saddam allegedly even personally picked the lucky recipients as a reward for their support.

Witnesses at the Senate Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (search) told lawmakers Monday that Saddam got away with the scam because the Security Council made the mistake of letting him pick the buyers and sellers of Iraq's oil, which in effect let Saddam nearly completely control the relief program.

Subcommittee chairman Norm Coleman of Minnesota suggested that a lot of businesspeople wanted to play ball with Saddam, and cited the case of a well-known multinational corporation, Weir Group (search), which sells oil equipment. That company did $80 million worth of business under the Oil-for-Food program but Coleman said the company inflated one big contract by 30 percent and admitted it knew the extra money was going to Saddam.

In another example, the Al Bashier Trading Company (search) was apparently run directly by Saddam's regime, say officials. In that situation, Saddam made money by selling items to himself. Al Bashier allegedly secretly took the Oil-for-Food money to buy weapons.

In a different situation, Saddam also ran Corsin Financial Ltd. (search), a front company whose money is now missing. Saddam presumably grabbed the money and used it to pay for his palaces, bolster his corrupt regime and go on a weapons-buying spree.

United Nations Keeps a Tight Lip

In essence, say investigators, Saddam relied on a sophisticated worldwide financial network of both legitimate and shell companies to earn billions in illegal profits. One official who allegedly received such a voucher was the Oil-for-Food program's former director, Benon Sevan (search). He has denied the allegation, but the Senate panel wants to pull him in to discuss the accusations.

At the hearing, Charles Duelfer (search), who now heads the weapons inspections team in Iraq, told Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the investigations subcommittee, that he believes Sevan likely did get the vouchers.

"The Iraqis firmly believe that," Duelfer said. "I would conclude with high confidence from the data that the Iraqis provided, from all we saw, that that happened."

Annan has promised Sevan will cooperate with the U.N.'s own investigation, but it's not clear what Sevan would do if subpoenaed by the Senate, and he could claim diplomatic immunity to avoid testifying or even meeting with senators.

Coleman's subcommittee has also wanted to meet with U.N. officials to discuss their Oil-for-Food audits. But the U.N.'s chief in-house investigator, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker (search), has refused to disclose information to any Senate panels, saying that to do so now would hurt his investigative efforts.

Volcker claims that "partial and premature disclosures of sensitive internal documents or demands for congressional appearances of U.N. employees will be damaging to the pursuit of investigative leads, chill participation of those called upon to cooperate, and risk misleading, prejudicial and unfair impressions on institutional, personal and member-state behavior."

posted by Frodgie at 5:40 PM

 

Pentagon cheers CIA shake-up

The ongoing shake-up at the CIA is a welcome development for senior Pentagon officials that promises to end the agency's below-the-radar opposition to some aspects of President Bush's war on terrorism.
Defense Department sources privately complained that parts of the CIA's entrenched bureaucracy of analysts opposed the military's large role in a war against al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.
Before the September 11 attacks, the CIA had the lead in hunting al Qaeda. Afterward, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld took over that role and put the military on a terrorist-hunting mission that trespassed on some CIA roles.
"Let's just say that a lot of folks over there were still committed to a pre-9/11 way of doing things," said a Pentagon adviser who has played a significant role in forming counterterror policy. "It still hasn't changed."
The adviser added: "They did not want to combine capabilities within the CIA that could improve their analysis and operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere."
A former senior Pentagon policy-maker said that in discussions with the CIA some analysts left the impression they still did not realize al Qaeda's growing threat.
"The feeling in the Pentagon was we had been saying for some time that these guys were dangerous and we didn't get any backing from the CIA," said the former official, who asked not to be named because he still does business with the Bush administration.
posted by Frodgie at 7:56 AM

 

10 Killed in Violence North of Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A car bomber rammed a U.S. convoy Wednesday north of Baghdad (search) during clashes with militants that killed 10 people, witnesses said. U.S. aircraft launched strikes against insurgents holding out in the southern parts of Fallujah (search).

Violence continued to erupt across Iraq's Sunni (search)-dominated heartland -- part of a spike in clashes which have made November one of the bloodiest months of the Iraqi insurgency.

The car bomb and clashes in Beiji (search), a city 155 miles north of the capital, also left 20 others wounded, witnesses said. It was unclear whether there were any American casualties or how many of the 10 deaths were a result of the car bomb or fighting.

Beiji is the site of Iraq's largest oil refinery and a major power station.

In Fallujah, heavy machine-gun fire and explosions rang out in south-central parts of Fallujah as U.S. Marines hunted fighters still in the turbulent city. In the northern Jolan neighborhood, U.S. Marines fought insurgents who officers said had sneaked back into the city by swimming across the Euphrates River.

Bullets snapped overhead as Iraqi body-collection workers supervised by the Marines sought cover behind walls and in buildings. After 15 minutes of fighting, three rebels were dead and one Marine lightly injured in the hand, officers said.


posted by Frodgie at 7:45 AM

 

Kmart, Sears to merge

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Sears Roebuck & Co. and Kmart are merging in an $11 billion stock deal, the companies announced Wednesday, combining two major retailers that have both lost ground in competition with discount retailers in recent years.

Consumers may not see an immediate impact, but one retail analyst said he's confident the combined companies will not hang onto all 3,500 stores they own between them.

Indeed, the company said it will continue to operate with both brand names but that some Kmart stores will shift to Sears locations as Sears continues to move away from mall locations.

"Kmart never had appliances and had no reputation for service," said analyst Kurt Barnard. "That's an honor that belongs to Sears. And Kmart has reputation for low prices, which Sears never has had."

But he said that even the combined company will face a challenge in competing with the more successful brands now in the market.

Sears shares rose nearly 9 percent in before-hours trading on Inet, while Kmart was down 6.8 percent, according to Reuters.

The new company will be known as Sears Holdings and be based at Sears current headquarters in suburban Chicago. But both names will continue to be used on stores.


posted by Frodgie at 7:41 AM

 

The sweetheart contract with Sharon

"In a better world, the PLO chief would have met his end on a gallows, hanged for mass murder much as the Nazi chiefs were hanged at Nuremberg. ... In a better world, George Bush would not have said, on hearing the first reports that Arafat had died, 'God bless his soul.'

"God bless his soul? What a grotesque idea! ... God, I am quite sure, will damn him for eternity."

So writes Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe. And we are surely fortunate to have columnists who know the mind of God.

In defense of President Bush, if that was his first reaction to Arafat's death, it bespeaks a Christian heart. As a boy in World War II, I was taught by Catholic nuns that while permissible to pray for the death of Hitler or Tojo, it was impermissible to pray for their damnation. That was hatred, and hatred is a sin.

That Arafat's PLO harbored terrorists and his Fatah committed acts of terror is undeniable. And some of those acts were done with Arafat's approval. But if, as Jacoby writes, Arafat "inculcated the vilest culture of Jew-hatred since the Third Reich," why did Ehud Barak offer him 95 percent of the West Bank and a capital in Jerusalem? Why did "Bibi" Netanyahu give him Hebron?

Why did Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin share a Nobel Prize with him? Why did Bill Clinton invite him to the White House more times than any other leader? Were they all enablers of terrorism?

No. All realized something that neoconservatives reject. For better or worse, as the explosion of grief at his death demonstrated, Arafat came to personify and symbolize the just cause of Palestinian nationhood. And if one desires peace for Israel, that cause must be accommodated.

With Arafat dead, the excuse Sharon had for not negotiating, as he planted new settlements on Palestinian land, is gone. The excuse Bush had for suspending America's role as honest broker is gone.

Already, however, Sharon's propagandists are laying down new markers before talks can begin. Palestinian elections must be held, and new leaders acceptable to Sharon produced. All acts of terror must cease indefinitely. All militias must be disarmed.


posted by Frodgie at 7:39 AM

 

Bush Promotes Rice to Secretary of State

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) on Tuesday picked National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), who once tutored him on global affairs, to be his top diplomat, saying her foreign-policy experience and struggle against racism uniquely qualified her to be America's "face to the world" as secretary of state.

"In Dr. Rice, the world will see the strength, the grace and the decency of our country," Bush said.

Rice will face major challenges across the foreign policy spectrum, trying to advance peace between Israel and the Palestinians, foster democracy in Iraq (news - web sites) and persuade North Korea (news - web sites) and Iran to step back from suspected nuclear-weapons programs. She is considered more of a hard-liner than Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), who was out of step with more hawkish members of Bush's national security team.

In a Roosevelt Room announcement, Bush made plain that terrorism and the Middle East conflict topped his list of foreign-policy priorities. Rice's eyes welled with tears as the president cited her "deep, abiding belief in the value and power of liberty, because she has seen freedom denied and freedom reborn."

Rice, who would be the first black woman to serve as secretary of state, was somewhat sheltered as a youngster in Alabama from the racial conflicts and segregation of the South. Her school teacher parents guided her into ballet, piano and French studies; her mother bought all her Girl Scout cookies so she wouldn't have to go door-to-door. But when she was 9, a bomb exploded at a Baptist church a few miles away, killing four black girls, one of them a schoolmate.

"As a girl in the segregated South, Dr. Rice saw the promise of America violated by racial discrimination and by the violence that comes from hate," Bush said. "But she was taught by her mother, Angelina, and her father, the Rev. John Rice, that human dignity is the gift of God and that the ideals of America would overcome oppression."

Rice was careful to say nothing about how she would oversee the State Department, its nearly 30,000 employees and its 265 posts around the world.

In a statement read from a prepared text, she confined her remarks to heaping praise on Bush and Powell.


posted by Frodgie at 7:38 AM

 

Fatah backing Abbas

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Leaders of the powerful Fatah faction have agreed on newly elected PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to be their only candidate for Palestinian president, a member of the faction's central committee said yesterday.
But violent opposition to the moderate leader erupted in Gaza City yesterday when masked men engaged in a gunfight with Mr. Abbas' bodyguards during a wake for the deceased Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, killing two.
Mr. Abbas was hustled into a corner of the mourning tent as bodyguards swarmed over him to protect him during the gunfight.
Earlier, former Arafat national security adviser Mohammed Dahlan had told The Washington Times: "Already, the Fatah leadership has elected Abu Mazen to be their candidate in the next election," referring to Mr. Abbas by his nickname.
"He's one of the historical leaders [of the Palestinian movement], is open-minded, and believes strongly in the peace process," Mr. Dahlan said.
"But it's not a final decision," he added, in an apparent reference to the need for the far larger revolutionary council of Fatah, meeting in the next few days, to confirm the nomination.
Mr. Dahlan spoke after sitting on a white chair for hours in a line of prominent officials who shook hands with uniformed and civilian mourners at an outdoor wake for the fallen leader.
He ruled out any challenge coming either from himself or from the popular Marwan Barghouti, the former West Bank Fatah leader whose activist wife said he is considering running for president from his Israeli prison cell. A Jerusalem court sentenced him this year to five life sentences for terrorist murders.
Describing the imprisoned leader as a close friend, Mr. Dahlan argued that Fatah institutions had to select one candidate for leader, rather than let individuals put themselves forward. "We wanted one candidate, and we now have one," he said.
Shortly after the entry of Mr. Abbas, who had just arrived from Ramallah, gunmen burst into the public wake. Gunfire crackled across the crowded tent, and in minutes the gunmen had killed two of Mr. Arafat's elite security unit, now assigned to protecting Mr. Abbas.

posted by Frodgie at 8:25 AM

 

Fallujah Offensive Winds Down

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Explosions and gunfire broke out Monday in Baqouba (search) — the latest in a wave of clashes that has swept Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland even as U.S. and Iraqi forces move against the last remaining pockets of resistance in Fallujah (search).

Witnesses said insurgents were fighting Iraqi police, and explosions and heavy gunfire were echoing through Baqouba's streets. Armed bands of men roamed the central Iraqi city and the neighboring town of Buhriz, attacking police stations and a nearby U.S. bas The woman could not be immediately identified, but a British aide worker and a Pole are the only Western women known to have been taken hostage.

The week-old offensive in Fallujah, the city that came to symbolize resistance to the U.S.-led occupation, has left at least 38 American troops and six Iraqi soldiers dead. The number of U.S. troops wounded is now 275, though more than 60 have returned to duty. U.S. officials estimated more than 1,200 insurgents have been killed.

On Monday, U.S. forces resumed heavy airstrikes and artillery fire, with warplanes making between 20-30 bombing sorties in Fallujah and surrounding areas. U.S. ground forces were trying to corner the remaining resistance in the city.


posted by Frodgie at 8:25 AM

 

U.S. airstrikes target Falluja insurgents

FALLUJA, Iraq (CNN) -- A day after U.S. and Iraqi forces said they had liberated the city of Falluja, the U.S. Air Force on Monday bombed insurgent positions there as the U.S. Army fired artillery into a "massive bunker complex."

"Overnight the Air Force launched airstrikes and dropped bombs on a series of targets," said CNN's Jane Arraf, who is embedded with the Army. The 1st Infantry Division she is traveling with came under fire Monday morning, and it responded with tank rounds and machine-gun fire.

"They've also been launching artillery overnight and for the last several hours into a huge bunker complex -- a huge underground facility big enough to driver trucks into."

According to Arraf, Monday's attacks focused on southeastern Falluja -- an area where the U.S. military says foreign fighters have been particularly strong.

The bodies of Saudi, Jordanian and Palestinian nationals have been recovered in the fighting, Arraf reported. Other foreign fighters have been detained.

On Sunday a U.S. Marine commander said U.S. and Iraqi forces have "liberated the city of Falluja," noting "isolated pockets" of insurgents remain in the restive city.

A day later, Arraf echoed the sentiments, calling the fighting "fairly intense" as soldiers searched house-to-house for insurgents.


posted by Frodgie at 8:24 AM

 

Frist withholds Specter support

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist yesterday withheld his support of Sen. Arlen Specter to head the Judiciary Committee, and said the Pennsylvania Republican needed to prove to his colleagues this week that he will run the panel impartially and push nominees all the way to a full Senate vote.
"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace asked Mr. Frist, "Do you support making Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter the new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee?"
Mr. Frist responded, "Chris, it's an issue that we'll begin to face really this week," adding that a final decision would not be made until early January.
"Ultimately, the members of that committee will choose whether or not he serves as their chairman," Mr. Frist said.
Mr. Specter will meet individually this week with his colleagues and members of the Senate leadership to "both explain what he meant and what he would do as chairman," said Mr. Frist, referring to postelection comments by Mr. Specter that it is unlikely the upper body would confirm pro-life nominees.
"Arlen made some statements the day after the election. They were disheartening to me. They were disheartening to a lot of different people," said Mr. Frist, Tennessee Republican.

posted by Frodgie at 8:01 AM

 

How goes the culture war?

Evangelical Christians and traditional Catholics who trooped to the polls in 11 states to reject the legalization of marriage between homosexuals are celebrating a great victory in America's culture war. And understandably so.

With "moral values" the surprise issue in campaign 2004, the Red States and George Bush prevailed by 3.5 million votes. Onward Christian soldiers.

Yet, within the West, in the ancient struggle for moral supremacy between secularism and Christianity, Christianity remains in retreat. Consider the moral condition of the cradle of the faith, Europe.


The very week gay marriage was being rejected here, Rocco Buttiglione, a devout Italian Catholic, was forced to withdraw his nomination as justice minister for Europe. Buttiglione's offense? He told the European Parliament that while he would enforce its laws against discrimination, he still believes homosexuality is a "sin."

Buttiglione added that single motherhood was an inferior way to raise children, that children needed both a mother and father.

Not long ago, such comments by a European politician would have been unexceptional – indeed, expected. But, across Europe, a firestorm erupted at Buttiglione's restatement of his Catholic beliefs. Greens, communists, socialists and liberals in the parliament warned commission president Jose Manuel Barroso that his entire slate would be rejected, were Buttiglione not removed.

The Economist explained the conflict thus: "A gulf has opened between mainstream European thought on a range of social issues and the unyielding Catholicism of Pope John Paul."

But the teaching of the Catholic Church on the immorality of homosexual acts is not an invention of John Paul II. This has been taught as Catholic doctrine for 2,000 years and held by all Christians to be moral truth until the late 20th century. The pope could not change this article of faith if he wished. His duty is to defend it.

Now, either Christianity has been teaching bigotry for 2,000 years or "mainstream European thought" is the pagan immorality of the old Roman Empire, all dressed up in lipstick and rouge.


posted by Frodgie at 7:27 AM

 

New accounts from al-Qaeda to attack the U.S. with weapons of mass destruction

A key al-Qaeda operative seized in Pakistan recently offered an alarming account of the group's potential plans to target the U.S. with weapons of mass destruction, senior U.S. security officials tell TIME. Sharif al-Masri, an Egyptian who was captured in late August near Pakistan's border with Iran and Afghanistan, has told his interrogators of "al-Qaeda's interest in moving nuclear materials from Europe to either the U.S. or Mexico," according to a report circulating among U.S. government officials.

Masri also said al-Qaeda has considered plans to "smuggle nuclear materials to Mexico, then operatives would carry material into the U.S.," according to the report, parts of which were read to TIME. Masri says his family, seeking refuge from al-Qaeda hunters, is now in Iran.

Masri's account, though unproved, has added to already heightened U.S. concerns about Mexico. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge met publicly with top Mexican officials last week to discuss border security and smuggling rings that could be used to slip al-Qaeda terrorists into the country. Weeks prior to Ridge's lightning visit, U.S. and Mexican intelligence conferred about reports from several al-Qaeda detainees indicating the potential use of Mexico as a staging area "to acquire end-stage chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear material." U.S. officials have begun to keep a closer eye on heavy-truck traffic across the border. The Mexicans will also focus on flight schools and aviation facilities on their side of the frontier. And another episode has some senior U.S. officials worried: the theft of a crop-duster aircraft south of San Diego, apparently by three men from southern Mexico who assaulted a watchman and then flew off in a southerly direction. Though the theft's connection to terrorism remains unclear, a senior U.S. law-enforcement official notes that crop dusters can be used to disperse toxic substances. The plane, stolen at night two weeks ago, has not been recovered.

posted by Frodgie at 8:10 PM

 

Iraqis purge informants from ranks

BAGHDAD — Iraqi authorities are moving against enemy informants and sympathizers in the ranks of the nation's hastily trained security forces by firing thousands of police officers and taking over from Americans the screening of new recruits.
Such informants are believed to have undermined numerous operations and tipped off terrorists, who last month killed 49 unarmed Iraqi army recruits as they traveled by bus near the Iranian border.
"Most of the screening as far as the staff is up to the Iraqi staff now," said U.S. Army Capt. Kevin Bradley, who trains Iraqi national guardsmen. "Right now, whether or not the person is clean, it depends on the Iraqis."
With a major offensive under way against Fallujah and other bases of the Sunni-led insurgency, U.S. military commanders were forced to shift troops to Mosul last week after American-trained Iraqi police fled their posts and turned parts of the city over to militants without firing a shot.
In Fallujah yesterday, U.S. military officials said American troops had occupied the entire city and there were no more major concentrations of insurgents still fighting after nearly a week of intense urban combat.
A U.S. officer told the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity that Fallujah was "occupied but not subdued." Artillery and air strikes were halted after nightfall to prevent mistaken attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces who had taken up positions throughout the city.
Military operations also surged along the Euphrates River valley well to the north and west of Baghdad, with clashes reported in Qaim on the Syrian border and in Hit and Ramadi, nearer to the capital.
Mosul's police chief was fired last week, as was the police chief of Samarra, after waves of insurgent attacks.
They are among the latest of thousands of police officers whom U.S. and Iraqi officials confirm have been fired for incompetence or suspected insurgent sentiments since Iraqis regained sovereignty from coalition forces at the end of June.
The action follows frequent reports of police officers who publicly express support for the insurgency or do not act against terrorists who plant roadside bombs.
"There are some good people in the security services who are the ex-military people," said Iraqi army Lt. Bashar Sadigha, who attended Rostemiya Military Academy near Baghdad during Saddam Hussein's regime. "But there are many people who signed up just to be able to earn a living."
The Iraqi armed forces, meanwhile, have taken charge of their own recruiting. They often employ methods that, while falling short of U.S. civil rights standards, are proving effective, Capt. Bradley said.

posted by Frodgie at 7:24 PM

 

New Attacks as U.S. Troops Control Fallujah

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Insurgents stormed two police stations Sunday in the strife-ridden city of Mosul (search), killing at least six Iraqi troops as attacks spread throughout Sunni Muslim areas following the U.S.-led assault on Fallujah (search).

Marines found the mutilated body of a Western woman as they searched for militants still holding out in Fallujah, the former Sunni insurgent stronghold. The woman could not be immediately identified, but a British aide worker and a Pole are the only Western women known to have been taken hostage.

At least 38 American troops and six Iraqi soldiers have been killed in the fighting in Fallujah. The number of U.S. troops wounded is now 275, though more than 60 have returned to duty. U.S. officials estimated more than 1,200 insurgents were killed in the weeklong fighting.

"The perception of Fallujah being a safe haven for terrorists, that perception and the reality of it will be completely wiped off before the conclusion of this operation," said Lt. Gen. John Sattler, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (search).

U.S. forces have spread throughout the city although it could take several more days of fighting before the city is secured, American officials said.


Fighting in Fallujah was ebbing, but insurgent attacks appeared to escalate elsewhere in Sunni Muslim areas of central and northern Iraq.

Saboteurs set fire Sunday to four oil wells in Iraq's northern fields, setting off successive explosions in Khabbaza, 12 miles northwest of Kirkuk, oil officials said.

Heavy explosions rattled central Baghdad near the Palestine and Sheraton hotels after nightfall Sunday, followed by bursts of sporadic gunfire. The U.S. military said initial reports indicated rockets or mortars had struck the area, killing two Iraqis and wounding another.

About an hour later, about four more large explosions rocked the Green Zone, headquarters of the U.S. and Iraqi leadership. At least one private security guard was killed. Clashes were also reported on Haifa Street, a center of insurgent support in the heart of the capital.

More than a dozen insurgents attacked the Polish Embassy in Baghdad with automatic weapons Sunday, and embassy guards returned fire in an exchange that lasted for a half hour, a Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Warsaw. No one was reported killed or wounded.

In Mosul, where an uprising broke out last week in support of the Fallujah defenders, militants raided two police stations, killing at least six Iraqi National Guards and wounding three others. One insurgent was killed and three others were wounded before Iraqi security forces regained control of both stations, witnesses said.


posted by Frodgie at 7:22 PM

 

Iran agrees to suspend uranium enrichment

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran has agreed to fully suspend its uranium enrichment program, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Hasan Rohani announced Sunday, a move that could improve Iran's relations with the West.

Although Iran has said its uranium enrichment activities are intended to produce fuel for nuclear power plants, the United States has said the program is aimed at building nuclear weapons.

The agreement followed 40 minutes of talks between Iranian government representatives and ambassadors of the European Union's so-called Big Three nations, France, Britain and Germany, Rohani said.

Earlier, a Western diplomat told CNN that Iran made the agreement in exchange for a promise not to refer the matter to the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions.

The U.N. watchdog agency -- the International Atomic Energy Agency -- was informed of Iran's decision as soon as possible, Rohani said. He said Iran would soon announce the timing of the suspension.

A European diplomat -- who would offer no details -- said the Europeans got, more-or-less, what they had been seeking from Iran.

A member of the Iranian delegation said the suspension would continue as long as talks between Iran and the European powers continue.

It could take several days before IAEA inspectors are able to travel to Iran and perhaps several more days for them to shut everything down, the Western diplomat said. But he predicted inspectors will be able to determine the status of Iran's program before the scheduled meeting of the IAEA's board of governors November 25 and 26.

A White House spokeswoman said Sunday that officials are "aware of the reports, and we look forward to a briefing by our European friends."

The U.S. State Department had no immediate reaction to Sunday's report, but spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters last week, "The question of where they stand -- where Iran stands -- when we get to the board meeting is the important one."

"Will Iran have complied at that point with the requirements of the IAEA board?," Boucher asked. "Will the IAEA be in a position to verify that and to say that they are engaging in the verification of that kind of promise and activity?"

He added, "Ultimately, it's what Iran does that matters, not just what they have agreed to."


posted by Frodgie at 7:21 PM