middle east news

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

Title: middle east news

From SLATE's news summary: All the major US newspapers' front
pages report > the latest on last week's still-murky U.S.
attack on an Iraqi convoy near the Syrian border: U.S. forces
actually wounded three to five Syrian border guards, who are now
in U.S. hands and being treated. Syria, interestingly, doesn't
seem too perturbed by the situation. "We hope they will be
returned very soon," said one Syrian diplomat.
 
>The NY [TIMES] says investigators have "all but ruled out" the
possibility that Saddam or either of his sons was killed in the
raid. One unnamed defense official told the Post that the convoy
carried "personnel associated with Iraqi leadership--the
association was unclear." The official added, "For all we know,
they could have been a smuggling pipeline."
 
>The [Washington] Post's Anthony Shadid actually traveled to the border town
where the attack happened. His report, which unfortunately lands
inside the paper, says that at least two bystanders were killed
in the U.S. attack, including a 1-year-old girl. Villagers also
insisted that the men in the destroyed convoy were just sheep
smugglers--though residents acknowledged that they weren't
certain who all the riders were.
 
>Everybody mentions Iraq boss Paul Bremer's decision to reverse
his previous decision and start paying the salaries of Iraq's
400,000 former soldiers--presumably so they don't turn into
guerrillas as they've threatened to do.
 
>The papers also notice that the U.S. announced that a new Iraqi
army is now in the works. The goal is to have 12,000 troops after
one year and eventually a total of 40,000 soldiers.
 
>The WP mentions that the military is investigating the death of
an Afghan man who died in U.S. custody this weekend. Last
December, two other Afghan men died in custody--their deaths,
which are still being investigated, were ruled homicides.
 
>A poll by the Post notices that "a majority of Americans" (or at
least respondents) would support military action against Iran in
order to stop it from getting nukes. Even more intriguing: One in
four respondents said that during the recent war, "Iraq used
chemical or biological weapons against U.S. troops."<

Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxx &  http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine