[A-List] News Archive: July 13, 2003

["bon moun" <sherrynstan@xxxxxxx>]

Officers of the 3rd Division say it is a sign of how thinly stretched
they are - and how little thought was given by US high command to
post-invasion scenarios - that lumbering tanks are sent leafleting while
the artillery men with whom Little was patrolling look for trouble in
unarmoured jeeps. Indeed, most of the troops and officers of the 3rd
Infantry Division that The Age spoke to this week were scathing in their
opinions of the top US defence officials, right up to the commander in
chief. "George Bush goes on the television last week telling whoever's
shooting at us to 'bring it on'," said one NCO bitterly. "Easy for him
when he ain't here."
<http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/13/1058034865130.html>

The cost of the war and occupation of Iraq could reach $100 billion
through next year, substantially higher than anticipated at the war's
outset, according to defense and congressional aides.
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48747-2003Jul12.html?nav
=hptop_ts>

President George W Bush has used his first journey to Africa to seek
support for the US war on terrorism, but in northern Nigeria his foe
Osama bin Laden enjoys more public affection.
<http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_11-7-2003_pg4_6>

The CIA intervened to stop the White House from making a reference to
Iraq seeking uranium from Niger in a presidential speech last October,
according to senior United States officials, the Washington Post said.
<http://www.abc.net.au/news/justin/weekly/newsnat-13jul2003-37.htm>

The current debate over Iraq's banned weapons programs has served to
sharpen the differences between the US intelligence agencies and
different sectors of the US administration.
<http://www.spacewar.com/2003/030713071640.w8ldrqwn.html>

A new firestorm of controversy threatens to engulf U.S. President George
W. Bush after senior American intelligence analysts accused the
administration of trying to justify the war against Iraq by overplaying
links between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. The charge comes just as Bush
finds himself under increasing fire for overplaying another assertion -
that the Iraqi leader was attempting to buy uranium in Africa as part of
a program to develop nuclear weapons.
<http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/
Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1058050506468&call_pageid=968332188492&col=9
68793972154>

L. Paul Bremer III rises at 5 a.m. in his modest residence in a white,
air-conditioned trailer that overlooks the Tigris River - if you don't
count the portable toilets that partly block the view.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/13/international/worldspecial/13BREM.htm
l?ex=1058673600&en=f991ade1f9a85e0a&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE>

Details are surfacing that give insight into what happened to Pfc.
Jessica Lynch and her comrades when their convoy made a wrong turn that
resulted in the single greatest loss of American soldiers in the Iraq
war.
<http://www.msnbc.com/news/938211.asp?cp1=1>

US occupation forces killed four suspected pro-Saddam "insurgents" and
arrested over fifty people as they launched a fourth major offensive in
central Iraq, an operation meant to blunt expected attacks on US
soldiers, military officials said.
<http://www.albawaba.com/news/index.php3?sid=254033&lang=e&dir=news>

That the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has been largely
futile (one hopes the military will, at least, turn up Saddam, if not
A-bombs) does not cause me much concern. As a reason for attacking Iraq,
I always considered it far down on the list, even though the Bush
administration put it at the top.
<http://www.suntimes.com/output/orourke/cst-edt-rour13.html>

This year there will be no parades, state speeches or poems dedicated to
Saddam Hussein, but U.S. officials say they are prepared for trouble
this week on the anniversary of the 1968 coup that brought the former
dictator's Baath Party to power.
<http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationworld/bal-te.saddam13jul13,0,1181023.
story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines>

Troops of Afghanistan and Pakistan exchanged fire along the border on
Saturday. "There was an exchange of heavy fire for 45 minutes, both
sides used artillery," said the commander of Afghan border forces, Haji
Abdul Zahir Qadir.
<http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?newsId=en32045&F_catID=&f_type=
source>

A BOMB blew a hole in the wall of a warehouse being used by the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees in eastern Afghanistan, damaging equipment and
shattering windows in nearby houses, officials said.
<http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6745073%255E1702,00.htm
l>

Afghanistan is "one bullet away from trouble" for Canadian troops who
will begin patrolling its capital next month, but the soldiers are
well-equipped legally and logistically to handle it, a Canadian general
said before his departure Saturday for Kabul.
<http://www.canoe.com/CNEWS/Canada/2003/07/12/134373-cp.html>

The fighters came back in the middle of the night. Their weapons and the
ammunition slung around their shoulders reflected the dull red glow
given out by the embers of the fire.
<http://observer.guardian.co.uk/worldview/story/0,11581,996509,00.html>

Colombia's attorney general on Friday ordered the arrest of a city mayor
for allegedly hiring paramilitary hitmen to kill a radio journalist,
whose bullet-ridden body was found in April.
<http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N11257061.htm>

Las Ultimas Noticias Eleazar Diaz Rangel says he is skeptical about the
recall referendum and suggests that firstly President Chavez Frias,
government State Governors and mayors whose mandate could be revoked are
against and will not lift a finger to promote the event.
<http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=9501>

Four villagers were killed by Kurdish militants in eastern Turkey on
Friday in the first guerrilla attack on civilians in nearly four years,
security officials said.
<http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters07-11-023701.asp?reg=EUROPE
>

A senior US general left Ankara for northern Iraq Thursday to probe last
week's arrest of 11 Turkish soldiers by US troops, a move that sparked a
diplomatic crisis between the two NATO allies. Lieutenant General John
Sylvester, chief of staff of US forces in Europe, had earlier held talks
here with Turkish officials behind closed doors.
<http://www.aljazeerah.info/News%20archives/2003%20News%20archives/July%
20/11n/Top%20US%20general%20travels%20to%20Iraq%20to%20probe%20arrest%20
of%20Turkish%20troops.htm>

The shock and horror following the deadly terrorist crimes of September
11, 2001 led to major legal changes in America that undermine
fundamental civil liberties and constitutional rights.
<http://www.counterpunch.org/stephens07122003.html>

Wholesale prices dipped by 0.3 percent in May, on the heels of a record
drop registered the month before, underscoring Federal Reserve concerns
about the possibility of the country facing an economically dangerous
price decline.
<http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/11/national/main562788.shtml>

Russia voiced concern over NATO plans to use the territory of Georgia
for aerial spying and threatened to retaliate. Following an AWACS plane
demonstration flight in the former Soviet republic of Georgia this week,
a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said the use of such
aircraft in the Caucasus could increase tension in the region and affect
Russian security.
<http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/stories/2003071301681200.htm>

Saudi Arabia's relations with Russia could enter a new phase of warmth
and cooperation when Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah visits Moscow next
September, the first ever by a Saudi ruler.
<http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030711-022920-7020r>

How could such smart people get so much wrong? "I really do believe we
will be greeted as liberators," US Vice President Dick Cheney declared
on television just as US troops were massing along the border between
Kuwait and Iraq on the eve of Washington's march to Baghdad.
<http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?newsId=en32079&F_catID=&f_type=
source>

President George W. Bush may have declared the war in Iraq over on May
1, but for the families of the soldiers still over there - who are still
being shot at - the tension hasn't eased.
<http://www.theday.com/eng/web/newstand/re.aspx?reIDx=C6C79950-A5B7-4A69
-9CCD-3A40F89EDB12>