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NUCLEAR
Plutonium Fallout
Depleted Uranium Contaminates Bosnia-Herzegovina
UN report confirms depleted uranium from weapons found in Bosnia
Hidden Wars of Desert Storm
Army stands by depleted uranium use
U.N. Official: Fake Iraq Nuke Papers Were Crude
S.Korean Minister on Crucial Mission to U.S.
Report: Russia's Nukes May Be Vulnerable
Russians not cooperating
Russia to Revisit Arms Control Treaty
MILITARY
KABUL U.S. Sends 18 at Guantánamo to Afghanistan to Be Freed
Germans Charged with Trying to Sell Arms to Iraq
Iraq War Showcases Weapons' Effectiveness
Modified Fighter Jets
Missiles find in chemical plant
2 British Soldiers Die in Friendly Fire
Tomahawk's Performance Bolsters Raytheon
U.S. Selects Firm To Run Iraqi Port
Rocket on Iran's Oil Refinery Probably Iraqi - UK
Iran Turns Away Militant Group
Iraqi opposition gives warning
Civilian Death Numbers in Iraq Unknown
Heavy Fighting Reported in Central Iraq
Missile Strike Shatters a House, and a Family
Yemen renews war rejection
Errant US missile raises ire of Turkish villagers
US will ignore Turkey's gray wolves at its peril
Kashmiri Hindus Want to Flee After Massacre
Militants Kill 24 Hindus in Kashmir
ICRC says PoW images breach Geneva Convention
Afghans to Free Prisoners From Guantanamo
Putin Rejects U.S. Claims of Military Sales to Iraq
Chechens Back Ties to Russia in New Charter
NASA to Launch Major Space Telescope
Mission aims to find intelligence agency's files
Annan seeking return of inspectors
F - 16 Fires on Own Patriot Launcher, No One Hurt
U.S. Drops 2,000 'Smart' Bombs on Iraq
Life in Baghdad via the web
War isn't pretty, nor is news of it
War Pictures Cause Yellowtimes.Org To Be Shut Down, Again
Preparing Journalists for Battle
On the Ground, and Above It, in Baghdad
POLICE / PRISONERS / COURTS
Groups Lose Challenge to Government's Broader Use of Wiretaps
High Court Won't Rule on Terror Surveillance
Moussaoui Hearing Closed to Public
Death Penalty Lawyers' Duty Is Taken Up by Supreme Court
Bolivian coca growers fight eradication
Bush Delays Release of Classified Papers
Arab - Americans Urge Cooperation With FBI
Air Patrols Resume Over New York, Washington
U.S. Fights 'Enemy Combatant' Access to Lawyers
Worried About Terror? Preparations That Make Sense
ACTIVISTS
N.M. Prosecutor Blows Officers' Covers
Code Pink Infiltrates American Enterprise Institute War Briefing
Three arrested at protest outside Monsanto headquarters
Angry Syrians March Against the War
-------- NUCLEAR
Plutonium Fallout
Updated March 25, 2004
http://www.davistownmuseum.org/cbm/RadxPlutonium.html
Hardy
( http://www.davistownmuseum.org/cbm/Rad5b.html#Hardy ), E.P., Krey, P.W. and Volchok, H.L.
(February 16, 1973).
Global inventory and distribution of fallout plutonium.
Nature. 241. pg. 444-445.
The following letter is one of the most important ever published in the British journal Nature, providing baseline data about the dispersal of weapons testing-derived fallout plutonium as well as plutonium isotopes derived from the 1964 satellite accident. Hardy, et. al. used the reporting unit of mCi/km2. This can be converted directly to the more understandable (for the layperson) reporting unit of pCi/m2. Few areas in the northern hemisphere contain less than 1 pCi/m2 of fallout 239Pu, 1/2 T 24,240 years. Even though this fallout is stratospheric rather than tropospheric, the higher values in soils are correlated to some extent with locations having the greatest annual precipitation, as well as mid-latitude locations. One to four pCi/m2 of fallout 239Pu is the minimum baseline level of plutonium contamination in the northern hemisphere. More recent research identifies numerous areas with much higher levels of plutonium in soils, see especially the data collected pertaining to the Rocky Flats facility in Colorado (http://www.davistownmuseum.org/cbm/Rad8b6.html#Rocky Flat ( http://www.davistownmuseum.org/cbm/Rad8b6.html#Rocky Flats ).
Below is a scan of page 444 followed by a more readable enlargement of the table. See RAD 8:5 Anthropogenic radioactivity: Baseline data: Plutonium (http://www.davistownmuseum.org/cbm/Rad5b.html#plutonium ) and Americium for more comments on this article and other information on plutonium fallout. For more information on this satellite accident, consult RAD 11:9 Anthropogenic radioactivity: Major plume source points: Nuclear Powered Satellite Accidents ( http://www.davistownmuseum.org/cbm/Rad8e.html#NUCLEAR POWERED SATELLITE ACCIDENTS ).
http://www.davistownmuseum.org/cbm/Scans/naturepg1.jpg
-------- depleted uranium
Depleted Uranium Contaminates Bosnia-Herzegovina
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
March 25, 2003
(ENS)
http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2003/2003-03-25-04.asp
For the first time, a United Nations research team has confirmed that depleted uranium from weapons used in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1994 and 1995 has contaminated local supplies of drinking water, and can still be found in dust particles suspended in the air. Depleted uranium is used in armour penetrating military ordinance because of its high density, and also in the manufacture of defensive armor plate.
A new report released here today by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) records the first instance of depleted uranium (DU) contamination of groundwater, which was found at one site.
"The findings of this study stress again the importance of appropriate cleanup and civil protection measures in a post-conflict situation," said Pekka Haavisto, chairman of the UNEP DU projects. "We hope that this work will play a role in protecting human health and the environment in the unfortunate event of future conflicts."
The new report is based on data collected by a team of experts on a field mission conducted by an international team of experts from October 12-24, 2002. They investigated 15 sites that had been targeted with DU weapons during the 1995 conflict, some within view of Sarajevo. The sites were independently selected by UNEP on the basis of data provided by NATO and local authorities.
The team used highly sensitive instruments to measure surface radioactivity. These measurements revealed the presence of contamination points and pieces of DU weapons at three sites - the Hadzici tank repair facility, the Hadzici ammunition storage area and the Han Pijesak barracks.
DU contamination of the air was found at two different sites, including inside two buildings. Some of these buildings are currently in use, and UNEP recommends a "precautionary decontamination" of the buildings in order to avoid any unnecessary human exposure.
The report explains that the air contamination is due to the re-suspension of DU particles from penetrators or other contamination points due to wind or human actions.
Most nuclear power plants are fueled with uranium in which the 235 uranium content is enriched from its naturally occurring concentration. The uranium remaining after removal of the enriched portion is called depleted uranium.
The World Health Organization calls depleted uranium "weakly radioactive" and says a radiation dose from it would be about 60 percent of that from purified natural uranium with the same mass.
In Bosnia-Herzegovina, the UNEP researchers found that ground contamination occurs at DU penetrator impact points at low levels, and is localized to areas typically limited within one to two meters (three to six feet).
DU penetrators buried near the ground surface have corroded, losing 25 percent of their mass over seven years. The penetrators will corrode completely within 25 to 35 years after impact, the report said.
The findings in Bosnia-Herzegovina are consistent with previous UNEP studies in Kosovo in 2001, and in Serbia and Montenegro last year.
But previous UNEP assessments of depleted uranium in the Balkans were made shortly after the end of conflict, while in Bosnia-Herzegovina the seven years that have passed since the conflict have allowed the corroding DU to penetrate the soil and contaminate the groundwater.
The report found that recorded contamination levels are very low and do not present immediate radioactive or toxic risks for the environment or human health.
In the health chapter of the report, the World Health Organization says claims of an increase in the rates of adverse health effects stemming from DU cannot be substantiated due to the lack of a proper cancer registry and reporting system. The existing scientific data on uranium and DU health effects indicate that it is "highly unlikely" that DU could be associated with any of the reported health problems, the UN health agency said.
"These newest findings from UNEP's ongoing post-conflict assessment work must not be seen as a cause for alarm," said UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer. "Nevertheless, we recommend that precautions be taken and in particular, that ground and drinking water - at and near sites where the presence of DU has been confirmed - be monitored regularly."
When DU contamination is found, UNEP advises that people drink from alternative water sources, and that water sampling and measurements continue for several years.
The 17 member UNEP team included experts from UNEP, the Swedish Radiation Protection Authority, Spiez Laboratory of Switzerland, Italy's Environmental Protection Agency and Technical Service, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the World Health Organization, the Greek Atomic Energy Commission, the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, the Nuclear Safety Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the UK's University of Bristol. The mission was funded by the governments of Italy and Switzerland.
----
UN report confirms depleted uranium from weapons found in Bosnia
27 March 2003
United Nations
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=6560&Cr=bosnia&Cr1=
25 March - The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) confirmed for the first time today that depleted uranium (DU) from weapons used in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1994 and 1995 had contaminated a local supply of drinking water, but while this did not present an immediate risk, the agency recommended regular monitoring.
"These newest findings from UNEP's ongoing post-conflict assessment work must not be seen as a cause for alarm," Executive Director Klaus Toepfer said. "Nevertheless, we recommend that precautions be taken and, in particular, that ground and drinking water - at and near sites where the presence of DU has been confirmed - be monitored regularly."
The UNEP report released in Sarajevo says DU has contaminated local supplies of drinking water at one site, and can still be found in dust particles suspended in the air. But it notes that recorded contamination levels are very low and do not present immediate radioactive or toxic risks for the environment or human health.
The report's recommendations include covering contamination points with asphalt or clean soil and investigating all health claims. "The findings of this study stress again the importance of appropriate clean-up and civil protection measures in a post-conflict situation," Pekka Haavisto, Chairman of the UNEP DU projects said. "We hope that this work will play a role in protecting human health and the environment in the unfortunate event of future conflicts."
The findings are consistent with previous UNEP studies carried out in Kosovo in 2001 and in Serbia and Montenegro last year. The UNEP team included representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
In the health chapter of the report, WHO concludes that, due to the lack of a proper cancer registry and reporting system, claims of an increase in the rates of adverse health effects stemming from DU cannot be substantiated. The existing scientific data on uranium and DU health effects indicate that it is highly unlikely that DU could be associated with any of the reported health problems.
----
Hidden Wars of Desert Storm
From: Zoiritsa@aol.com
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003
http://www.hiddenwars.org/
From the accounts of veterans who served in the Gulf War, it was a non-stop "toxic soup," exposing the various armies and local civilian populations both in Kuwait and in Iraq to an unprecedented array of chemical, biological and radioactive pollutants. For the US GIs, exposure to pollution started at home with the injection of non-tested anti-anthrax vaccines. It went on with daily exposure to hundreds of oil-well fires (set primarily by the Iraqis) that were left to burn for months, causing one of the worst atmospheric disasters of the 20th century. It continued with exposure totoxic clouds after the US Army detonated captured stockpiles of some of Saddam's chemical and biological weapons, making it unclear to this day whether Iraq actually used such weapons in the conflict. But the most shocking pollution factor arises from the secret use by the Pentagon -- and to a much lesser extent by some Western allies of the US -- of high-perforation shells made of the hardest metal available: uranium 238, commonly called depleted uranium or DU. U-238 is a by-product of uranium enrichment, a process by which the most radioactive part of uranium ore is isolated to create weapons grade Uranium 234 and power plant grade Uranium 235, leaving behind 99% of the original ore -- not radioactive enough to be used for nuclear bombs or power plants, but radioactive enough to be deadly. This radioactive waste had been stored and isolated since it was first generated in the 1930s and 1940s, until some arms-making genius -- the kind that invent chemical and biological weapons, mines, cluster-bombs and similar goodies -- discovered in the 1970s the pyrophoric properties of U-238. This metal is 1.5 times denser than lead, and becomes white-hot and sharpens itself on impact with another metal. To this day, no armored plate can resist such an impact. Tanks burn inside-out like cotton-balls when the dart of fire penetrates and exits them.
The downside of these magical anti-tank bullets? At impact, between a quarter and a third of the shell vaporizes into fine dust and gas that causes both heavy-metal poisoning and irradiation to anyone nearby for thousands of years. Three hundred tons of U-238 were spread over Kuwait and Southern Iraq during the Persian Gulf War. According to a US Department of Defense survey, more than 436,000 US troops have entered contaminated battlefields. The troops received no prior warning or handling instructions, most certainly because the Pentagon feared triggering outrage and panic.
Today, almost a third of the 700,000 US military personnel who served in the Gulf have filed for disability and 10,000 have already died. Of course, all these cases cannot be solely attributed to exposure to radioactive dust, nor can every individual case of the tens of thousands of people in Southern Iraq afflicted with cancer and leukemia be attributed solely to low-level radiation exposure. But in the face of such a monstrous risk factor, the aggregate effects are frightful.
"Hidden Wars" looks at both the sick US veterans' condition and at the health crisis situation in Southern Iraq. Many interviews of scientists, doctors and veterans paint a bleak picture of the health prospects for both groups, and explain the nature of DU munitions and the environmental risks they pose.
----
Army stands by depleted uranium use
Weapons penetrate armor
By MICHAEL WOODS
TOLEDO BLADE SCIENCE EDITOR
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20030325&Category=NEWS28&ArtNo=103250073&Ref=AR
WASHINGTON - Citing concerns about civilians' health, Iraq tried to manipulate public opinion in recent months to prevent the United States from using tank-busting shells made with depleted uranium, according to a U.S. Army official.
Col. James Naughton, director of munitions for the Army Materiel Command, which supplies ammunition, said the United States rejected the bid.
But it apparently left officials skittish about exposing civilians to depleted uranium and ranks high among the reasons why allied forces hope to avoid battles inside Baghdad, Basra, and other Iraqi population centers.
Colonel Naughton and Dr. Michael Kilpatrick, a military expert on depleted uranium, briefed reporters on the material a few days before war broke out in Iraq.
Depleted uranium is regarded as one of the 21st Century's biggest advances in military technology. It decimated Iraq's tank fleet in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
About 640,000 pounds of depleted uranium shells were fired during Operation Desert Storm, mainly by tank-hunting Air Force A-10 Thunderbolts, Marine Corps AV-8 Harriers, and Abrams tanks.
Depleted uranium is a very dense metal, 1.7 times heavier than lead. It is formed as a by-product in production of fuel for commercial nuclear power reactors and nuclear weapons material. Processing leaves it depleted of radioactivity. It is 40 percent less radioactive than natural uranium.
Depleted uranium has an advantage over special steels and tungsten, previous mainstays in antitank armor-piercing shells. Tips of bullets made from those materials blunt and mushroom after they strike armor plate, reducing penetration.
In contrast, depleted uranium is self-sharpening. As a depleted-uranium penetrator passes through armor, surface layers peel off, keeping the tip sharp enough go 25 percent deeper than traditional rounds.
Peelings and other impact debris, however, may splatter several hundred feet from the impact before falling to the ground. Dust-like particles may remain in the soil for years, becoming airborne in dry, windy conditions, or finding their way into water sources.
Whole shells are another source of depleted uranium.
When an aircraft's antitank shells miss, they don't just kick up puffs of dust, as suggested on fuzzy television images of battle scenes. Depleted uranium shells can penetrate 20 feet into the ground.
The military uses layers of depleted uranium in tank armor. In Operation Desert Storm, it made American tanks almost invulnerable to Iraqi shells.
Col. Naughton suggested that Iraq has been behind some of the negative publicity about depleted uranium's health effects to sway world opinion against America's use of depleted-uranium weapons.
American veterans of the Persian Gulf War first raised concerns that exposure to the material might be a cancer risk. United Nations and Italian studies later identified depleted uranium contamination in Iraq and Kosovo as a possible health threat to local children. During the 1999 Kosovo conflict, U.S. aircraft fired about 30,000 shells containing almost 9 tons of depleted uranium at 112 sites.
The studies said it was theoretically possible that children who inhale or eat contaminated soil could get high radiation doses or kidney damage.
Officials in Basra blamed depleted uranium for a rash of birth defects, childhood cancers, and other ills among residents.
"The Iraqis tell us terrible things happened to our people because you used it last time," Col. Naughton said. "Why do they want it to go away? They want it to go away because we kicked the crap out of them -OK?"
A World Health Organization medical team visited Basra and proposed a study to see why the city was so sick. But Saddam Hussein refused.
"Unless that study is done, it is going to be very difficult to try to understand what is behind the large number of people being ill," Dr. Kilpatrick said.
He noted that no tank battles occurred in Basra or other population centers during the Persian Gulf War. Depleted uranium, he said, is too heavy to have blown into the city.
A half dozen major studies, done by government and non-government agencies in the United States and Europe, have failed to support health concerns about depleted uranium.
"Taking into account the pathways and realistic scenarios of human exposure, radiological exposure to depleted uranium could not cause a detectable effect on human health," a European Union study concluded in 2001.
A 2001 WHO study found that depleted uranium's hazards are "likely to be very small." A RAND Corporation study in 1999 and another 2001 project funded by the European Parliament concurred .
"Even if the estimates of risk are 100 times too low, it is unlikely that any excess of fatal cancer would be detected within a group of 10,000 soldiers followed over 50 years," said a United Kingdom study.
The Defense Department is monitoring about 90 Persian Gulf War veterans who were exposed to high levels of depleted uranium. Most have such fragments imbedded as a result of friendly fire incidents.
No ill effects have been found so far.
Still, the Pentagon is wary about urban warfare that spreads tons of depleted uranium around big Iraqi cities, possibly leading to future claims about a health disaster among residents. How likely is it that depleted uranium would be used in cities?
"The only reason we would be using it in an urban environment is if our opponents take their tanks into an urban environment and we have to kill them," Col. Naughton said. "So is it likely? That's a tactical choice, and if our opponents take that tactical choice you could see that activity."
-------- inspections
U.N. Official: Fake Iraq Nuke Papers Were Crude
March 25, 2003
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-iraq-nuclear-un.html
VIENNA (Reuters) - A few hours and a simple internet search was all it took for U.N. inspectors to realize documents backing U.S. and British claims that Iraq had revived its nuclear program were crude fakes, a U.N. official said.
Speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, a senior official from the U.N. nuclear agency who saw the documents offered as evidence that Iraq tried to buy 500 tons of uranium from Niger, described one as so badly forged his ``jaw dropped.''
``When (U.N. experts) started to look at them, after a few hours of going at it with a critical eye things started to pop out,'' the official said, adding a more thorough investigation used up ``resources, time and energy we could have devoted elsewhere.''
The United States first made the allegation that Iraq had revived its nuclear program last fall when the CIA warned that Baghdad ``could make a nuclear weapon within a year'' if it acquired uranium. President Bush found the proof credible enough to add it to his State of the Union speech in January.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) official said the charge Iraq sought the uranium was to be the ``stake in the heart'' of Baghdad and ``would have been as close to a smoking gun as you could get'' because Iraq could only want it for weapons.
OBVIOUS FAKES
Once the IAEA got the documents -- which took months -- French nuclear scientist Jacques Bautes, head of the U.N. Iraq Nuclear Verification office, quickly saw they were fakes.
Two documents were particularly bad. The first was a letter from the president of Niger which referred to his authority under the 1965 constitution. That constitution has been defunct for nearly four years, the official said.
There were other problems with the letter, including an unsuccessful forgery of the president's signature.
``It doesn't even look close to the signature of the president. I'm not a (handwriting) expert but when I looked at it my jaw dropped,'' the official said.
Another letter about uranium dated October 2000 purportedly came from Niger's foreign minister and was signed by a Mr. Alle Elhadj Habibou, who has not been foreign minister since 1989.
To make matters worse, the letterhead was out of date and referred to Niger's ``Supreme Military Council'' from the pre-1999 era -- which would be like calling Russia the Soviet Union.
After determining the documents were fakes, the IAEA had a group of international forensics experts -- including people from the U.S and Britain -- verify their findings. The panel unanimously agreed with the IAEA.
``We don't know who did it,'' the official said, adding that it would be easy to come up with a long list of groups and states which would like to malign the present Iraqi regime.
The IAEA asked the U.S. and Britain if they had any other evidence backing the claim that Iraq tried to buy uranium. The answer was no.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei informed the U.N. Security Council in early March that the Niger proof was fake and that three months with 218 inspections at 141 sites had produced ``no evidence or plausible indication'' Iraq had a nuclear program.
But last week Vice President Dick Cheney repeated the U.S. position and said that ElBaradei was wrong about Iraq.
``We know (Iraqi President Saddam Hussein) has been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons, and we believe he has in fact reconstituted nuclear weapons,'' he said.
-------- korea
S.Korean Minister on Crucial Mission to U.S.
March 25, 2003
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-korea-north-minister.html
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's foreign minister said on Tuesday he would use a visit to Washington this week to seek a common strategy with the United States to try to resolve an impasse over North Korea's suspected nuclear ambitions.
In an interview with Reuters on the eve of his departure, Yoon Young-kwan also said a planned summit this year between South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and President Bush would be of ``fundamental importance'' to the 50-year-old alliance between the two countries.
``I hope through my meetings with various high-level officials in charge of foreign policy and national security, our two sides will be able to coordinate and devise a common strategy for the peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue,'' he said in written answers to questions.
Washington and Seoul agree on the need for multilateral talks to halt North Korea's suspected nuclear arms program, but have differed on whether to rule out military action if talks fail.
``The North Korean nuclear and missile issues extend beyond the Korean peninsula and are emerging as the focus of international concern,'' Yoon said.
North Korea wants direct talks with the United States, and has sought to sideline Seoul. But Yoon said international worries created ``a need to proceed with discussions at the Northeast Asian regional level.''
PEACE AND PROSPERITY POLICY
Yoon, a former academic, said Roh's policy on North Korea exceeded the scope of his predecessor Kim Dae-jung's ``Sunshine Policy'' and ``entails the balanced pursuit of economic cooperation and the reduction of military tensions.''
Roh's administration has ditched the term ``Sunshine Policy'' in favor of ``Policy for Peace and Prosperity'' and has trod warily in its first month in office.
The North has test-fired missiles and issued menacing rhetoric such as saying on Tuesday in a newspaper editorial it would boost its defenses whatever Washington says.
Yoon leaves for Washington for his first official visit as minister on Wednesday and returns to Seoul on March 31 after a weekend visit to Tokyo, another key ally.
Last week, Roh took a domestic political gamble when he announced support for the U.S.-led war in Iraq and said Seoul would contribute about 700 non-combat troops.
The gamble did not pay off immediately. South Korea's parliament decided on Tuesday to defer a vote on sending the troops until after Roh addresses the chamber on April 2.
A parliamentary official linked the deferral to anti-war protests, including one on Tuesday in which 20 activists broke into the parliament complex before they were arrested.
North Korea, which the United States has grouped with Iraq and Iran in an ``axis of evil,'' has condemned the U.S. war against Iraq as a ``war against humanity.''
Some analysts have said North Korea might make provocative moves such as a ballistic missile test to draw Washington's attention during the Iraq conflict.
Yoon said planned discussions on altering the size and location of the 37,000-strong U.S. troop contingent in South Korea would result in an alliance ``more efficient, healthier and stronger than ever.''
Roh has said he favors a more mature and equal partnership with Washington. Many of his supporters, particularly young voters, want to see fewer U.S. troops in South Korea.
Roh, 56, was elected in December after widespread anti-U.S. protests, triggered by an accident last June in which two girls were killed by a U.S. army vehicle. The drivers were acquitted by a U.S. military tribunal.
NORTH PULLBACK WELCOMED
Washington is considering redeploying forces and reducing numbers, but no decisions have been reached.
``It would be welcomed should North Korea respond to whatever changes we make to our defense posture with corresponding measures on its part,'' he said.
U.S. officials have suggested some U.S. forces deployed right next to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) bisecting the peninsula could be moved away from the frontier, where they would form the first line of defense if North Korea invaded.
North Korea has 1.1 million men in its armed forces, many of them deployed near the DMZ, which has divided the two Koreas since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
The war ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.
North Korea has taken a series of steps to ratchet up pressure on the United States since Washington's announcement in October that Pyongyang had admitted to pursuing a covert program to enrich uranium for weapons.
In December, the North expelled U.N. nuclear inspectors and it pulled out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in January.
North Korea test-fired two cruise missiles into the Sea of Japan in late February and early March, and North Korean fighters buzzed a U.S. spy plane in international airspace on March 2.
-------- russia
Report: Russia's Nukes May Be Vulnerable
March 25, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Nuclear-Security.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Russia should provide broader access to its sites containing nuclear or biological material if a U.S. program to keep such material out of the hands of terrorists is to be successful, says a congressional report.
The report by the General Accounting Office says that nearly two-thirds of Russia's nuclear material and many of the locations holding dangerous pathogens once used in the country's bio-weapons program may be inadequately protected.
It noted the United States has spent $1.8 billion over the last decade to help Russia improve safeguards at sites where nuclear materials and warheads are stored, and to help nuclear scientists shift to a post-Cold War economy.
But the report said in many cases progress has been stymied because Russia continues to bar U.S. officials from many of the sites, despite a more liberal access agreement reached in September 2001.
``Russia is not providing needed access to many sites ... (and) there is little reason to believe this situation will change in the near future,'' said the report.
As for protection of Russia's deadly pathogens, the GAO said after four years of effort, little progress has been made in addressing security at 49 Russian sites where the two countries have collaborative programs to improve safeguards.
It said the Defense Department, which leads that program, ``has limited information on the location and security'' of many of these sites where Russia continues to store deadly anthrax and pathogens that cause smallpox or the plague.
Earlier this month, a report by a group of Harvard University researchers said that only 37 percent of the potentially vulnerable nuclear material in the former Soviet Union is being adequately protected. The GAO produced a similar percentage.
At a news conference releasing the Harvard findings, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, acknowledged the continuing problem of access to Russian facilities.
``Russia has got to be a partner,'' said Lugar, who 12 years ago was co-author along with then-Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., of the law that authorized the beginning of the U.S. assistance program on nuclear materials.
Lugar cited a lengthy list of cases where Russians have rebuffed the United States in seeking access to nuclear sites, but said it would be ``absurd'' to abandon the program because of this.
``What alternative do we have?'' asked Lugar.
The GAO report said that of the 600 metric tons of weapons-usable nuclear material in Russia, only about 228 metric tons is being kept at facilities with enhanced safeguards under the U.S. assistance program.
``Despite years of negotiations, Russia will not let (the Energy Department) visit or begin work at nearly three quarters of he buildings in the weapons complex,'' said the GAO.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has outlined an expedited U.S.-Russia program, with increased U.S. access to sites under the 2001 agreement, with a goal of having all of Russia's nuclear material secure by 2008.
But the GAO said ``with the department's lack of access to many of the most sensitive sites in Russia's nuclear weapons complex'' it is unlikely that DOE will achieve the 2008 target.
The GAO said DOE has finished work at only 14 of 133 buildings in Russia's weapons complex. A bright spot, the GAO acknowledged, was progress in protecting nuclear material belonging to the Russian Navy where 85 of 110 buildings have had security improvements.
--------
Russians not cooperating with U.S. nuclear inspections
H. Joseph Hebert,
Associated Press
March 25, 2003
http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/3779361.html
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. programs to help safeguard Russia's nuclear and biological weapons materials are being severely hampered by the lack of access to Russian sites, a congressional report says.
The report released Monday by the General Accounting Office said that although the United States has spent $1.8 billion over the past decade to help Russia improve security at these sites, nearly two-thirds of Russia's nuclear material still may not be adequately protected.
In many cases progress has been stymied because Russia continues to bar U.S. officials from many sites, despite a more liberal access agreement reached in September 2001, the GAO reports.
"Russia is not providing needed access to many sites . . . [and] there is little reason to believe this situation will change in the near future," the GAO said.
As for protection of Russia's dangerous biological pathogens, the GAO said after four years of effort, little progress has been made in addressing security at 49 Russian sites where the two countries have collaborative programs to improve safeguards.
The Defense Department, which leads that program, "has limited information on the location and security" of many of these sites where Russia continues to store pathogens such as anthrax, smallpox and the plague, the report said.
Since 1992, the United States has spent $1.8 billion on various programs to try to reduce the risks that terrorists might obtain Russian nuclear material or some of its chemical or biological agents.
-------- treaties
Russia to Revisit Arms Control Treaty
March 25, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Russia-US-Treaty.html
MOSCOW (AP) -- The upper house of Russia's parliament asked the lower house Tuesday to put a proposed arms control treaty with the United States back on the legislative agenda, saying the agreement was too important to be sacrificed over the nations' differences concerning Iraq.
The lower house, known as the State Duma, indefinitely postponed a ratification vote last week because the United States was threatening to attack Iraq.
Now, with war ongoing, the Duma will consider the treaty ``only after the United States and Great Britain bring the Iraq issue back into diplomatic channels ... and take the opinion of the global community into account,'' Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Duma's foreign affairs committee, said Monday, according to the Interfax news agency.
But Sergei Mironov, speaker of the upper house, the Federation Council, urged the Duma in a letter to reconsider its position, the Interfax news agency quoted deputy speaker Valery Goreglyad as saying. Under Russian law, the Duma has to ratify the treaty before the upper house can consider it.
``This treaty meets our national interests in full measure, and it was Russia, in the first place, that initiated the conclusion of this treaty,'' Goreglyad said. ``Dragging out the ratification of this document is not in our interests.''
The treaty, signed in May by Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Bush, calls on both nations to cut their strategic nuclear arsenals by about two-thirds, to 1,700 to 2,200 deployed warheads, by 2012.
It was considered more advantageous to Russia than the now-defunct START II agreement, which specifically banned Russia from deploying land-based missiles with multiple warheads.
The new deal leaves it to each nation to decide which weapons it will scrap. That will allow Russia to keep its Soviet-built multi-warhead SS-18 and SS-19 missiles at the core of its nuclear arsenal.
-------- MILITARY
-------- afghanistan
KABUL U.S. Sends 18 at Guantánamo to Afghanistan to Be Freed
March 25, 2003
The New York Times
By CARLOTTA GALL
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/25/international/worldspecial/25AFGH.html
KABUL, Afghanistan, March 24 - The United States military has returned 18 prisoners from the Guantánamo Bay detention site in Cuba to Afghanistan, the first large group of Taliban and Al Qaeda suspects to be returned for release since the facility was opened over a year ago, American and Afghan officials confirmed today.
The men were flown into Bagram air base on Friday and handed over to the Afghan police authorities on Saturday, said Roger King, an American military spokesman.
The Afghan police transferred the men to the central police station jail, where they will conduct a rapid screening before releasing the men later in the week, Deputy Interior Minister Hilaluddin Hilal said today.
"The Americans have returned them, saying they are all Afghans," he said. "They said they could not find any evidence that they are guilty of anything. We will release them if we think they are innocent, and we have ordered our men to complete their investigation process by Thursday," he said in an interview at the police headquarters today.
He declined to name or describe the prisoners, except to say that they were all male and in good health. But he welcomed their release, and said that at least one of the prisoners was a 20-year-old student from Kabul, who is widely believed here to have been unjustly imprisoned.
Families and friends, who had heard the news on Kabul television on Sunday night, had already gathered at the central prison to find out if their relatives were among the 18 being held inside.
Among those waiting was Wali Muhammad, a farmer from Ghorband, a district 40 miles north of Kabul, who was hoping to find his brother Mirza Muhammad, 30. "He wrote us a letter through the Red Cross a month ago and said they were going to be released," he said. "He sent us a holy Koran and a pair of trousers in the package."
Mirza Muhammad was seized by the Taliban and forced to fight with them just as the regime was collapsing, his brother said. Mirza Muhammad was with the Taliban for five days and then was captured by the Northern Alliance and handed to American forces, his brother added.
"What can I say, I am happy he will be released," he said. "He has a wife and two children, a daughter and a son, waiting for him at home. We will celebrate, of course, we will kill a sheep for him."
The one man that was confirmed by the police to be among the prisoners is Abbasin, 20, a student, whose father, Said Roshan, an official at the Afghan airline, Ariana, in Kabul, has campaigned hard for his son's release. Mr. Abbasin was driving a taxi to make some money last March and was arrested by pro-government Afghan troops in the town of Gardez, southeast of Kabul.
He was handed over to American forces and ended up in Guantánamo Bay, even though the governor of Gardez at that time, Taj Mohammad Wardak, who later became the minister of interior, conceded that his arrest had been a mistake.
The group of detainees is the largest to be released from Guantánamo and returned home. Three Afghans, including two elderly men, were released in October. Reuters reported that 30 new detainees were flown from Afghanistan to the Cuban base on Sunday, bringing the total being held there to 660.
Also in Afghanistan, American special forces killed the eldest son of the warlord Padsha Khan Zadran along with nine of his men in a clash on Sunday southeast of Kabul, a spokesman for Mr. Zadran said today. The United States military confirmed the clash but said that only one of the rebels had been killed. Mr. Zadran fought with American forces to oust the Taliban but has become a vocal opponent of President Hamid Karzai and has refused to accept the men appointed to govern the southeastern provinces.
-------- arms sales
Germans Charged with Trying to Sell Arms to Iraq
March 25, 2003
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-iraq-germany-arms.html
BERLIN (Reuters) - German prosecutors said on Tuesday they had filed charges against two German businessmen they accused of trying to deliver missile components to Iraq.
A spokesman for the prosecutor's office in the western town of Bielefeld said the men had admitted trying to sell the missile parts to Iraq in breach of a United Nations embargo and German export regulations.
The office has filed charges against the men, who have not been named, with the district court in the city of Muenster, the spokesman told Reuters.
State prosecutor Eckhard Baade told German ARD television that one of the accused had admitted that he and a business partner met three Iraqi generals in Baghdad last December where they received a list of required electronic components.
The two accused had planned to get some of the components produced in Germany and to deliver them to Iraq, ARD said in a statement.
One of the men had admitted that a blueprint confiscated by police had been the design of a missile guidance system, ARD said, citing Baade.
The case follows the conviction in January of a German businessman who was sentenced to five years and three months in prison for exporting weapons material to Iraq in 1999.
The United States and Britain last Thursday launched an attack on Iraq which they accuse of developing weapons of mass destruction in violation of U.N. resolutions. Iraq denies the charges.
--------
Iraq War Showcases Weapons' Effectiveness
March 25, 2003
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-arms-iraq-showcase.html
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Arms buyers are getting a live-action demonstration of some of the world's latest war tools as the U.S.-led war with Iraq rages.
Months before the Paris Air Show, the aerospace industry's most important bazaar, possible customers can check out satellite-guided global positioning systems, the latest high-tech helicopters and missiles that blow up enemy projectiles.
What's more, companies with the best-performing systems could see a burst of sales after the conflict ends, a boon when many aerospace and defense players, including Boeing Co. (BA.N), have seen their commercial airplane business sag with the weak economy.
``There's no doubt the U.S. will use the campaign to highlight certain weapons systems that they can eventually sell to its allies,'' said Richard Turgeon, director of research and aerospace analyst for Victory Capital Management in Cleveland. ``They did it very successfully during the first Gulf war -- there was a big run-up in military purchases after the war.''
To be sure, companies sell a much greater proportion of their arms to U.S. Department of Defense than they sell to other countries -- just about 13 percent of Boeing's sales are international. But with worries that the U.S. deficit and the costs of rebuilding Iraq will siphon cash away from defense contractors, every little bit counts, analysts say.
``With all the military coverage, scenes of precision weapons hitting targets in Iraq, it's showcasing a lot of products,'' said Eric Hugel, aerospace analyst for investment bank Stephens Inc. ``Your first reaction is, 'wow' and your second question is, 'who makes that?'''
WEAPONS SYSTEMS
Among the most closely watched weapons systems, Lockheed Martin Corp.'s (LMT.N) newest Patriot, the PAC-3, is one that many are scrutinizing. The Patriot Advanced Capability is a missile interceptor and destroyer that provides defense for ground combat forces. The updated version replaces Raytheon Co.'s (RTN.N) Patriot PAC-2, which was used in the 1991 Gulf War with disappointing results.
Specific details about the PAC-3's effectiveness have not yet been officially released, but reports say Patriots have successfully shot down Iraqi missiles.
Helicopters are also under scrutiny after a CH-46E Sea Knight, made by Boeing, crashed in Kuwait on Friday. This week, an Army AH-64 Apache, also made by Boeing, went down in fighting south of Baghdad.
The latest unmanned surveillance systems are also being studied, although many of them will take years to get the government's approval for international sales, due to security concerns.
Northrop Grumman Corp.'s (NOC.N) Global Hawk plane, for example, is likely providing high-resolution intelligence and surveillance imagery to battlefield commanders in Iraq, analysts say. The company and the Pentagon decline to comment on its possible presence.
``Until you debut a weapons system in a battle situation or a conflict, my belief is that the curtain on the system hasn't really been raised,'' said Tom Jurkowsky, spokesman for Lockheed Martin.
PARIS SHOW PREVIEW
Aerospace-related companies eagerly anticipate the Paris air show, held in June, as an opportunity to show their newest technology and products. The show, which is a mix of commercial and defense-related enterprises, is also a time when customers place huge orders.
Israel, for example, agreed at the 2001 show to buy Lockheed F-161 fighter jets. The U.S. government later granted approval for a $2 billion deal for 52 jets.
In many ways, the conflict in Iraq is shaping up as a demonstration for aircraft and weapons that the show's paper handouts and plastic models could not begin to illustrate
``To a degree, the few weapons systems that shine in a conflict will be a focus,'' said Chris Mecray, defense analyst for Deutsche Bank Securities. ``War is a testing ground.''
Still, some companies and analysts say the most important testing already has been completed and demonstrated to customers long before the weapons see conflict.
``American military equipment is tested thoroughly, well in advance of deployment,'' said James Fetig, spokesman for Raytheon. ``The successes and failures are well publicized.''
But others say active conflict will offer buyers a rare chance to gauge weapons' effectiveness, and it could possibly help companies boost sales, even if U.S. defense spending slows.
``There were a lot of orders after the first Gulf war,'' said Mecray. ``Conceivably, the same thing could be repeated. Certainly, success for the PAC-3 or Apaches could drive future orders.''
--------
Modified Fighter Jets Lend More Fuel to the Fight
By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 25, 2003; Page A18
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A21968-2003Mar25?language=printer
ABOARD THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN, March 24 -- To feed warplanes that have been guzzling gas in enormous quantities over Iraq, the Navy has taken the unusual step of removing bombs from four of its 12 F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jets and replacing them with fuel tanks, converting the high-performance jets into airborne gas stations.
The move comes as the air campaign shifts from bombing fixed targets to bombing Iraqi troops and weapons in the field. For those missions, pilots need to circle over Iraq for long periods, awaiting calls to strike enemy units menacing U.S. ground forces making their way toward Baghdad, said Rear Adm. John M. Kelly, who oversees operations of three U.S. aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf.
Dozens of jet fighters flew from the Lincoln today and loitered in the skies just south of Baghdad, waiting for calls from the ground to hit enemy tanks, troops or artillery. But pilots interviewed after returning from those missions said that murky skies made it difficult to see the ground. None said they dropped bombs.
Capt. Scott Swift, deputy commander of the air wing on the Lincoln, said he came up with the idea of converting Super Hornets into tanker planes after traffic jams developed high above the clouds around conventional tankers and several pilots had to abort missions because they couldn't get enough fuel. "We were cutting sorties drastically to optimize fuel," Swift said.
Air wing squadron leaders said much of the daily planning of the air war has been dominated by strategies for optimizing mid-air refueling. "I've never been involved in something of this size and scope," said Cmdr. Paul Haas, an 18-year Navy veteran who leads the carrier's F-14 Tomcat squadron. "There are so many assets competing for fuel."
Missions flown from the Lincoln often call for pilots to refuel twice -- once on the way to a target, or "killbox," area and again on the way back to the ship. Any flight lasting longer than 90 minutes usually requires mid-air refueling; the latest missions to support ground troops demand about four hours of flying.
And "if you don't have gas, you can't do the mission," said Lt. Cmdr. James Haigler, 34, who flew a Super Hornet that was converted into a gas tanker today.
Previously, jets on the Lincoln relied on Navy S-3 Viking tankers, which can fly off carrier decks, or Air Force KC-10 Extenders, a modified version of the civilian DC-10 airliner. Because neither of those types of planes carries defensive weapons, they do not fly into Iraq, where they might face enemy missiles and fighter jets.
Instead, they fly patterns over the Persian Gulf or friendly countries such as Kuwait, forcing the strike planes to fly out to them for gas and then fly back another long distance to reach targets inside Iraq.
But a Super Hornet functioning as a tanker still carries air-to-air missiles such as Sidewinders on its wings and a Vulcan 20mm cannon in its pointy nose. And it can give out twice as much fuel to other jets as an S-3 tanker, Swift said.
"It's revolutionary in what it's doing for naval aviation," said Swift, who worked on the development of the Super Hornet, a new plane that made its combat debut over Afghanistan. He and others say the flexibility confirms its value.
The Super Hornet can carry five fuel tanks, two under each wing and one under the belly. To give out fuel, the plane drags a tube with a steel basket at the end that resembles a badminton birdie. The refueling plane approaches from behind, inserts a retractable probe on its front right side into the basket and draws fuel.
The only people aboard the Lincoln who were unhappy about the reconfiguration of the jets were the pilots told to fly them as tankers, a task that many consider humdrum. "I'd rather be dropping bombs," said Haigler. "But whatever they need to get the war won."
----
Missiles find in chemical plant
GETHIN CHAMBERLAIN AND PAUL GALLAGHER
Tue 25 Mar 2003
The Scotsman
http://www.news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=356862003
EXPERTS are examining suspected Scud missiles discovered by British soldiers searching a chemical plant outside Basra.
A number of the grey-painted rockets, about 23ft long, were found in the Dirhamiyah petro-chemical plant close to Iraq's second city.
The discovery has raised suspicions that Saddam Hussein was planning to arm the missiles with chemical warheads. British officers say it is difficult to find an innocent explanation for storing missiles in a chemical plant.
The find comes a day after soldiers with the Black Watch discovered a cache of weapons, including two Russian al-Harith anti-ship cruise missiles, at the Az Zubayr civilian heliport south of Basra.
'We did not send any goods, including military ones, that violated the sanctions.' RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER
The British defence company whose products were also discovered in the cache has denied selling any products to Iraq.
Wallop Defence Systems, of Middle Wallop, Hampshire, said the "weapons", described as fuses for detonators, were probably smoke grenades stolen by Iraq 13 years ago.
The issue of who supplied Iraq with weapons became increasingly heated yesterday, as Russia dismissed claims from the United States that it had illicitly supplied Saddam with arms. The US claims Russian companies sent anti-tank guided missiles, night-vision goggles and jamming devices to Iraq, in violation of United Nations' sanctions.
George Bush, the US president, raised the issue with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in a phone call yesterday, according to the White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer.
But Igor Ivanov, the Russian foreign minister, said: "We did not send any goods, including military ones, that violated the sanctions."
He said that from October, the US had requested reports on the alleged illicit sales several times, and that Russia had made its most recent report on 18 March.
-------- britain
2 British Soldiers Die in Friendly Fire
March 25, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-War-British-Soldiers.html
LONDON (AP) -- Two British soldiers were killed in a ``friendly fire'' incident with a British tank near Basra in southern Iraq, a military commander said Tuesday.
The men died when their Challenger II tank was mistakenly targeted by another Challenger crew Monday evening, Col. Chris Vernon said in a Ministry of Defense statement. Two soldiers were seriously injured and have undergone surgery, Vernon said.
The ministry identified the men killed as Corp. Stephen John Allbutt, of Stoke-on-Trent, and Trooper David Jeffrey Clarke, of Littleworth.
``It is with regret that I have to announce the death of two soldiers of the Queen's Royal Lancers, part of the 1st Royal Regiment of Fusiliers battle group,'' Vernon said.
Their deaths bring to 20 the number of British servicemen killed since the start of the war on Iraq. Two soldiers were killed in combat -- both near Az Zubayr, close to Basra. Sixteen soldiers died in two helicopter accidents and a ``friendly fire'' shooting.
``Regardless of the careful planning and measures taken in the type of operations in which we were engaged and in the heat of battle, there is always a risk that incidents such as this might happen,'' Vernon said.
The four-man tank crew was fighting Iraqi forces west of Basra when they were mistakenly targeted by another British tank, which fired a single round, according to a British Press Association report.
A Ministry of Defense spokeswoman declined to comment on that account.
Lt. Col. Mike Riddell-Webster said the crew involved in the incident would be withdrawn from action.
The ministry also released the names of the two British soldiers who were killed in combat near Az Zubayr: Lance Cpl. Barry Stephen from Perth, Scotland, and Sgt. Steven Mark Roberts from Bradford in northern England.
The two men killed when their Tornado jet was brought down Sunday by a U.S. Patriot missile were identified as Flight Lt. Kevin Barry Main and Flight Lt. David Rhys Williams.
The three soldiers killed when two Royal Navy Sea King helicopters collided over the northern Gulf on Saturday were Lt. Antony King, Lt. Philip West and Lt. James Williams.
The ministry did not release the names of other British troops killed in action, at the request their of families.
-------- business
Tomahawk's Performance Bolsters Raytheon
March 25, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-War-Tomahawks-Raytheon.html
BOSTON (AP) -- The manufacturer of the Tomahawk cruise missiles that have pounded Iraq for a week plans to replenish the U.S. Navy's arsenal with upgraded versions of the low-flying, laser-guided rockets.
The U.S. military has already bombarded Baghdad and other locations with more than 500 of the missiles -- about half the number brought to the Persian Gulf when the war began last week. They had been upgraded with global positioning systems to increase their accuracy.
Raytheon Missile Systems Co., a subsidiary of Lexington-based Raytheon Co., is now refitting more than 400 Tomahawk missiles with GPS. Some have already been delivered and others will be revamped over the next year, Raytheon spokeswoman Jennifer Allen said.
The business doesn't end there. Sandra A. Schroeder, a Navy procurement spokeswoman, said the Navy intends to purchase by 2009 thousands of ``Tactical Tomahawks.'' Unlike the existing missiles, they can be redirected to new targets in mid-flight. Besides being more versatile, they will be sold for less than the usual $600,000.
All this bodes well for Raytheon, said Robert C. Martinage, a senior defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a nonprofit think tank in Washington.
``The fact that it's performed as well as it has, and it has a great reputation already being reinforced in the current operation, will be good news for Raytheon,'' Martinage said.
Raytheon has been under a $320 million contract with the U.S. military to ``remanufacture'' 434 missiles since 2001. Under a previous $414 million contract, Raytheon delivered 624 of the upgraded missiles to the Navy last May.
The Navy is only using upgraded Tomahawks, known as the ``Block III,'' in the attack on Iraq, according to Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Danny Hernandez. He wouldn't say how many Tomahawk missiles are in the entire Navy arsenal, but said the missile has performed well.
``Long-range precision strikes is what this missile is used for, and that right there means we can have a long-range standoff without putting innocent lives at risk. The capability -- it's just impressive,'' he said.
The earlier ``Block II'' version of the Tomahawk was first manufactured in the 1980s, and was used in battle for the first time in the 1991 Gulf War. The GPS-guided Block III's were used in the quick strike the night the new war began, and have since been used against targets in Baghdad and suspected positions of Ansar al Islam guerrillas in Northern Iraq.
The contracts to refit the Tomahawk were in place before the war, and other contracts to produce a more versatile, cheaper version also predate the conflict.
``At this time, we're not ramping up. We've not being asked to. We're just continuing normal business,'' said Allen.
The Navy has also already placed a $260.6 million order for 192 ``Tactical Tomahawk'' missiles. They should be ready in 2004, and can change target mid-flight, ``loiter'' in-flight before being directed, assess battle damage, and report back on their own status, said Sandra A. Schroeder, a Navy procurement spokeswoman.
Raytheon also manufactures the Patriot missile system, a land-based missile defense system deployed to destroy aircraft and ballistic and cruise missiles in midflight.
David Mulholland, business editor for Jane's Defence Weekly, said Raytheon can probably expect substantial business with the U.S. government, given that the armed forces are always seeking increasingly accurate weapons.
But he said Tomahawks probably won't be major boost to the multibillion-dollar company because the missile doesn't represent enough of its business.
``The things that I think are going to affect Raytheon are really going to be bigger budget issues. This war will help, because it will get in people's minds that you really have to buy these things, but I think that the war is going to have the contrary effect of damaging the U.S. economy,'' he said.
Raytheon stocks closed down 10 cents at $27.69 per share on Monday.
--------
U.S. Selects Firm To Run Iraqi Port
Agency Awards $4.8 Million Contract
By Renae Merle
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 25, 2003; Page A19
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A22131-2003Mar25?language=printer
The U.S. Agency for International Development announced yesterday that Seattle-based Stevedoring Services of America will manage the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr after the U.S. military fully secures the area.
Under the $4.8 million management contract, the company will first assess the port's condition then run it day to day, ensuring that food and other supplies can be delivered, the agency said. The privately held company will also "establish a system of controls to avoid theft and corruption," the agency said.
The year-long contract goes into effect immediately. The company will initially send 17 employees to the port, but the staff is expected to shrink to 12 people, who will manage a local workforce. "We will go in as soon as the Army declares it a permissive environment for civilians to work," said Bob Watters, a vice president.
The USAID has the option of extending the contract by two years.
The agreement is one of seven Iraq reconstruction contracts to be awarded in coming weeks. The largest, valued at up to $600 million, includes the repair of the country's infrastructure, including roads and bridges. The total value of the contracts will not be known until the agency and its contractors assess the situation in Iraq, an agency spokesman said.
Administration officials have said the war will cost about $80 billion, which includes about $60 billion for combat and the first months of reconstruction.
The USAID has been criticized for limiting the contracts to U.S. firms. The agency has said the limitations are necessary for security reasons. It added that the long-term reconstruction effort will go well beyond the USAID contracts and include international organizations and aid agencies from other countries, which presumably will award contracts to non-U.S. firms.
Stevedoring Services of America has never worked in a war zone, but it has developed ports for Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt, Watters said. Security for employees is still being worked out, he said.
"Anytime you go into that environment you have to be leery," but we're confident the employees will be protected, he said.
-------- iran
Rocket on Iran's Oil Refinery Probably Iraqi - UK
March 25, 2003
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-iraq-iran-rockets.html
TEHRAN (Reuters) - The British Embassy in Iran said on Tuesday that an apparently stray missile that smashed into an oil refinery depot in southwest Iran last Friday was most probably Iraqi.
The Iranian government has said it was still investigating fragments of the rocket which hit the refinery of Abadan, injuring two people, to determine where it came from.
But the Islamic Republic, which has vowed to stay neutral on the war in neighboring Iraq, has played down the significance of apparently errant missiles landing on its territory and said such incidents were not uncommon next to a war zone. The British Embassy said ``the incident that occurred at Abadan refinery...was most likely the result of Iraqi action.''
Britain's Ministry of Defense has ``made this conclusion on the basis of the information available and given the disposition of coalition and Iraqi forces in the region at the time,'' it said in a statement.
These conclusions had been passed to the Iranian government, it added.
Since war started in Iraq last Thursday, Iranian officials have accused U.S. forces of firing several missiles that landed in southwestern Iran.
Washington on Monday sent a second message to Iran to say it was continuing to investigate the origin of these errant missiles.
--------
Iran Turns Away Militant Group
Halt in Aid to Kurdish Faction Comes After Missile Attacks
By Karl Vick
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, March 25, 2003; Page A20
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A22144-2003Mar25?language=printer
SULAYMANIYAH, Iraq, March 24 -- A local Kurdish official said today that Iranian authorities turned back wounded Islamic militants seeking medical care after a U.S. attack against their enclave in northern Iraq.
The decision to send back the injured Ansar al-Islam militants marked a reversal of Iranian policy, which had been to facilitate the shipment of military supplies to the extremist Kurdish organization. The shift coincided with the arrival of U.S. Special Operations forces in northern Iraq to engage the Ansar fighters and eliminate the group, which Washington portrays as allied with the al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden.
The U.S. offensive here began Saturday, when about 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles from U.S. warships in the Red Sea slammed into Ansar positions, and it has continued with several subsequent missile attacks. After the first volley, the Ansar militants gathered their wounded and limped across the border into Iran, seeking medical attention, according to Kurdish officials here.
"They went inside one kilometer, but then Iranians made them go back," said Muhammad Haji Mahmud, leader of the Kurdistan Socialist Democratic Party, which controls territory just north of the area.
The turnabout impressed Kurdish officials, who have publicly complained of Iran's evident support for Ansar. They said the sudden shift in sympathy reflects Iranian anxiety about the possibility of becoming a U.S. target. President Bush has said Iran is part of an "axis of evil," along with North Korea and Iraq.
"They're scared," a Kurdish official said of the Iranians. "They did not believe it until the cruise missiles arrived."
Kurdish officials said a combined U.S. and Kurdish ground force plans to attack the Ansar enclave soon. That assault, they said, will be supported from the air by helicopter gunships that began arriving early Sunday at a closely guarded airstrip at Bakrajo, just outside Sulaymaniyah, a regional capital in the northeastern part of the country, near the Iranian border.
Witnesses said the helicopters arrived on military cargo flights that also ferried in at least 200 U.S. soldiers, and logistics and targeting specialists. Scores of the U.S. forces were sighted in a convoy headed toward the Kurds' staging area later on Sunday.
Area residents said the helicopters, after being lifted off the cargo planes and quickly re-assembled on the reconditioned airstrip, were flown to a closely guarded compound of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the party that controls this section of northern Iraq, where Kurds have enjoyed freedom from the Baghdad government since 1991 under the protection of U.S. and British fighter patrols.
Some 8,000 PUK fighters gathered in the Halabja Valley, about 35 miles south of here, are expected to participate in the assault on Ansar, whose enclave lies in the valley along the Iranian border. But attack helicopters could more easily reach the caves in which the extremists have taken refuge since the airstrikes began.
-------- iraq
Iraqi opposition gives warning
By Modher Amin
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
March 25, 2003
http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20030325-093356-7311r.htm
TEHRAN, Iran, March 25 (UPI) -- Head of the Iran-based Iraqi Shiite Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq, Ayatollah Mohammad-Baqer Hakim, Tuesday warned coalition forces to leave Iraq as soon as Saddam Hussein is toppled or face the military resistance of the Iraqi opposition.
"Foreign troops must exit Iraq at the earliest," Hakim told a news conference, adding that the "Iraqi nation will resist by any possible means" if the U.S.-led forces opt to stay in the country.
Hakim stressed that only a "national government" would be acceptable in post-Saddam Iraq.
"The world does not approve of any colonialism or occupation, and we will take peaceful measures in this respect at the beginning but we will use force later," the ayatollah said, urging the Iraqi nation and military to prevent a "foreign dominance" of the country and to safeguard the infrastructures of Iraq.
When asked why the Iraqi people and military have not revolted against Saddam's regime, Hakim said that both the coalition forces and the Iraqi regime have ordered the people not to leave their homes or their lives would be in serious danger. Hakim claimed that a large number of his supporters, often referred to as the militia of the Badr Corps, are among those ready to act when they find it convenient.
Hakim, however, urged the United States to change its tactics or the war in Iraq, as he put it, would be prolonged unnecessarily.
On Monday the U.S. State Department said the Iraqi crisis has encouraged indirect contacts between the United States and Iran, two longtime adversaries. They are talking to each other through an intermediary -- Switzerland -- about a missile that landed on Iranian territory last week, the department said. It is still not clear who fired the missile and how it landed inside Iran.
Initial media reports said it was a U.S.-fired Tomahawk missile that missed its target and landed inside Iran. Later reports said that Iran was also looking into reports that this might have been an Iraqi missile aimed at U.S. troops based close to the Iranian border. Other reports said that Iraq might have purposely fired the missile to create a confrontation between Iran and the United States.
Those two countries broke diplomatic ties more than 20 years ago soon after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran when Iranian students captured the American Embassy in Tehran and took the entire staff hostage.
For many years, the countries had no contact but relations became less tense after the election of a reformist government in Iran in 1996. Since then, the two sides have established indirect contacts to discuss issues, such as the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, when Washington feared that al-Qaida members could have escaped into neighboring Iran to avoid capture.
Although Iran does not approve of the ongoing U.S.-led war in another neighboring country, Iraq, it has turned down a request for help from Iraq, with which it fought an 8-year war in the 1980s.
Since Iran, which is the world's only Shiite state, also has a considerable influence on the Shiite population of southern Iraq, U.S. officials have said they want Iran to stay neutral in this war.
(Anwar Iqbal in Washington contributed to this report.)
--------
Civilian Death Numbers in Iraq Unknown
March 25, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-War-Civilian-Casualties.html
IRAQ-JORDAN BORDER (AP) -- Bombed-out cars on highways. Mothers weeping over dead children. A small boy seemingly asleep, the back of his head blown off.
Evidence of civilian casualties is not hard to find in Iraq, but as fierce fighting rages in the south and Baghdad is battered by bombs, nobody can count them.
The Iraqi government reports 194 civilian dead. The Red Cross says it can vouch for 14, but there could be many more. A Web site that compiles Western news media reports says between 199 and 278 are reported dead.
The reality is that none of these figures are complete or accurate.
``There are no solid figures on civilian casualties,'' Geoffrey Keele, UNICEF's spokesman for Iraq, said Tuesday in Amman, Jordan.
U.S. officials say they are taking great pains to avoid killing civilians. Iraqi officials mock their assertions, and are largely succeeding in convincing large parts of the world that the war is targeting innocents.
As for overall figures, however, there is little information.
The International Committee of the Red Cross says it has counted 14 dead and 110 injured since Sunday in airstrikes on Baghdad. It has no figures for other parts of the country.
``We usually don't give casualty figures unless they're the result of our immediate observation,'' said Muin Kassis of the Red Cross in Amman.
In the southern city of Basra, where U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has warned of a humanitarian catastrophe, Kassis said: ``We have no accurate account of casualties.''
The Web site www.IraqBodyCount.net, which compiles news reports, gives a minimum count on civilian casualties of 199, and a maximum of 278. The range is due to conflicting reports.
Iraqi officials have reported more than 200 civilian casualties.
But most of the evidence of civilian casualties is anecdotal -- although no less powerful.
Journalists, taxi drivers and refugees who show up at this border tell of dozens of bombed-out cars lining the highway from Baghdad.
Iraqi newspapers publish photographs of decapitated bodies.
Every day, most Arab television stations show footage from Iraqi hospitals, where men, women and children lie in agony from injuries attributed to U.S. missiles.
``My son was killed in the shelling,'' wailed a woman dressed in black, lying in a hospital bed next to another son, a toddler. Her image was broadcast on the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya network.
Perhaps the greatest impact came from Qatar's Al-Jazeera network, which showed an Iraqi boy, maybe 12 years old, his head half blown off and a tranquil expression frozen on his face.
An Al-Jazeera anchor apologized for showing such disturbing pictures, but said: ``The world should know the truth.''
Still photos taken from the network were carried on the front pages of newspapers across the Arab world. ``America's missiles of freedom assassinate the children of Basra,'' read a headline in Lebanon's leading newspaper, As-Safir.
Syria's official news agency SANA reported that a U.S. missile hit a passenger bus carrying fleeing Syrian workers on Sunday, killing five people and injuring 10. A U.S. Central Command spokeswoman had no information on the report.
Another U.S. missile killed a Jordanian taxi driver on Thursday while he made a phone call at Kilo 160, a rest stop 150 miles west of Baghdad.
Taxi driver Sameer Sabah, a friend of the dead man, went pale when he heard one of his passengers at the Jordanian border speaking Spanish. Spain has been a key supporter of the U.S.-led war.
``Get out of my car before I do something,'' he said in a chilling monotone. ``Your people killed my friend. He was killed by the cold hands of the American Army.''
EDITOR'S NOTE: Niko Price is correspondent at large for The Associated Press.
--------
Heavy Fighting Reported in Central Iraq
March 25, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-War-US-Military.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. Army forces killed between 150 and 500 Iraqi troops Tuesday in a fierce, running battle after coming under attack near the central Iraqi city of An Najaf.
The Pentagon reported no U.S. casualties, although the reports were early and incomplete. Two of the Army's M1A1 Abrams tanks were disabled, and an M2 Bradley armored vehicle also was hit, defense officials said.
Elements of the 7th Cavalry Regiment were attacked Tuesday night during a raging sandstorm east of An Najaf, about 90 miles south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. The Army soldiers battled the Iraqi forces until about 1 a.m. Wednesday (5 p.m. EST Tuesday) while pressing their advance toward Baghdad and even crossed the Euphrates River during the fighting, a defense official said.
Later Wednesday morning, coalition aircraft bombed Iraqi state-run television in Baghdad. Damage assessment was incomplete, a Pentagon spokeswoman said, but the station went off the air around 4:30 a.m.
It was not clear whether the Iraqis engaged in battle near An Najaf were from the Republican Guard, regular army units or paramilitaries. The Iraqis attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire, U.S. officials said.
Early estimates of the number of Iraqis killed in the fight varied widely, from 150 to 500. The Americans mainly fired the 25mm guns on their Bradley fighting vehicles.
The attacks suggested the location of Iraqi strongholds in the area, and the U.S. troops used thermal-imaging equipment to kill a large number of Iraqis as the sandstorm raged, an official said.
The 7th Cavalry is part of the Army force driving toward Baghdad. Some soldiers are farther north, near Karbala, with only the Medina armored division of the Republican Guard between them and Baghdad.
U.S. intelligence agencies have picked up signs suggesting the closer ground troops get to Baghdad, the greater the chances they will face chemical weapons, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday.
The Army's 3rd Infantry Division has drawn to within about 50 miles of Baghdad. Elements of the 1st Marine Division are approaching the capital from a more easterly direction, and some analysts believe the Army's 101st Airborne Division, now in southern Iraq, will join the battle for Baghdad.
Asked about reports that Republican Guard forces ringing Baghdad have been given authority to use chemical weapons, Rumsfeld cited scraps of intelligence that suggest the closer the 3rd Infantry gets to the capital, the greater the danger.
He did not offer details of the intelligence indicators, because ``who knows how accurate they are,'' he said.
Later Tuesday, Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was certain American forces would discover chemical and biological weapons in Iraq, but perhaps not until they can conduct thorough searches ``when the enemy has been defeated.''
``I wasn't expecting to start tripping over them right away,'' Powell said.
Iraq denies it has any chemical or biological weapons. The Bush administration insists it has both and is trying to gain nuclear weapons. The risk of Iraq using chemical, biological or nuclear weapons or providing them to terrorist networks was the central reason President Bush went to war.
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the commander of U.S. forces fighting the war, Gen. Tommy Franks, has plans in place should Iraq use chemical weapons. He would not elaborate.
Powell, in an interview with France 3 television, cited speculation that ``there is a box around Baghdad, that if we penetrate that box,'' Saddam would unleash a chemical attack. ``If he did,'' Powell added, ``it would not stop the (U.S.) assault.''
U.S. forces are equipped with full-body chemical protection suits and gas masks.
At a joint Pentagon news conference with Myers, Rumsfeld tried to dampen public expectations that the war would be won quickly and to reiterate the message delivered daily by senior military commanders here and in the Persian Gulf that the war is progressing as planned.
``We're still, needless to say, much closer to the beginning than the end,'' Rumsfeld said.
Rumsfeld brushed aside suggestions that U.S. war planners underestimated the Iraqis' will to fight and overestimated the ability of U.S. precision airstrikes against the pillars of Saddam's power to end the conflict before it reached the stage of having to initiate a battle for Baghdad.
Some private analysts, including former military officers, have suggested that the Army needs more armored forces in Iraq than the 20,000 troops of the 3rd Infantry Division, including forces that could better protect the 3rd Infantry's long and vulnerable supply lines.
``Forces increase in the country every minute and every hour of every day, and that will continue to be the case,'' Rumsfeld said. He apparently referred to the Army's 4th Infantry Division, which is expected to deploy from its Fort Hood, Texas, home base toward the end of this week.
Also headed for Kuwait soon is the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment from Fort Carson, Colo., followed by the 1st Infantry and 1st Armored divisions from Germany, as well as the 1st Cavalry Division from Fort Hood, Texas, and the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment from Fort Polk, La., officials said.
The 4th Infantry had been designated to deploy to Turkey in February to open a northern front against Iraq, but the Turkish government refused to grant access. So Franks has ordered the division's weaponry and equipment shipped to Kuwait, where it is due to arrive in about two weeks.
--------
Missile Strike Shatters a House, and a Family
Attack on Neighborhood Evokes Anger at U.S.
By Anthony Shadid
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, March 25, 2003; Page A11
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A21501-2003Mar24?language=printer
BAGHDAD, March 24 -- Breakfast was simple, but late. Days of bombing had left the Khalil family sleepless. When a respite arrived at noon today, a moment of ease in an uneasy time, they sat down, picking anxiously at boiled eggs, tomatoes and bread.
Nine-year-old Shahid told stories, and her 12-year-old brother, Ahmed, laughed. The older family members, with harrowing memories of bombings in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, sat uneasily, their silence an eloquent testament to worry.
Then a whisper sounded, ever so slight. In seconds, the house was shattered by a cruise missile, the family said. Um Aqeel, the mother of five children, and her daughter-in-law, Sahar, were killed. Two sons and a daughter were wounded.
Hours later, weary and angry, Aqeel, the oldest son, looked out at his bandaged siblings laying dazed in their hospital beds.
"There are no soldiers in my home, there's no gun in my home!" he shouted. "How can God accept this?"
In five days of bombing, the United States and Britain have hurled hundreds of cruise missiles and bombs at Baghdad and other Iraqi cities. For the most part, their precision is stunning, carving out craters in the domes of presidential palaces and gaping holes in the sides of fearsome intelligence headquarters that dot the capital. Even by the official Iraqi count, hundreds of civilians have been wounded but only a handful killed, despite a furious assault that has left the capital jittery and afraid.
But the arithmetic of war makes mistakes inevitable -- blasts gutted the student union at Mustansiriya University on Sunday and a cluster of homes in the Qadisiya neighborhood last week. Adhimiya, a working-class quarter, may have witnessed another mistake, a snapshot of the horrors of war and the scenes of resentment and revenge that lay in their wake.
In a warren of narrow alleys, perched uncomfortably beside a trench of burning oil that cloaked the neighborhood in a blinding, black haze, at least three houses were destroyed by the blast, which blew out the windows of others in an arc around the detonation. Cream-colored brick and cinder blocks were strewn across the muddy street. Rubble poured forth from a crater that left the homes resembling an archaeological dig. Nearby rested the artifacts of domesticity -- a mattress spring, a brown scarf and a green plastic bowl.
Residents insisted no military or government site was nearby, and none was visible from the limited vantage point of the street. Journalists were accompanied by government escorts to the hospital where the wounded received treatment.
Neighbors said that at the sound of the blast and the smell of smoke, they rushed into the houses, pushing aside furniture and rubble to search for those buried by it. Dirt particles were suspended in the air. Five minutes later, sirens announced the arrival of ambulances, which took the four dead and 27 wounded to Noman Hospital.
At the hospital, the head of 14-year-old Ali, another son in the Khalil family, was wrapped in a bandage. He stared blankly at the ceiling. His sister, Shahid, lay motionless. Her fingernails were painted in sparkles and ringed by dried blood.
The face of his brother Ahmed was still bloodied. A bandage sat like a helmet on his forehead.
"We trust in God, what can we do?" Ahmed said softly, curled in a fetal position. "I'm safe and alive. That's most important."
A doctor, Abdullah Abed Ali, leaned over to a visitor. He whispered, out of earshot of Ahmed.
"He doesn't know that his mother has died," he said, shaking his head.
Relatives ran into the hospital ward. Their eyes were red. Aqeel, the oldest brother whose wife's body was in the morgue, rested his head on the shoulder of one. He started sobbing. "It fell on us," he said, his voice cracking. "It fell on us."
In Adhimiya, militiamen and civil defense workers in red helmets picked through the rubble, searching for 70-year-old Khowla Abdel-Fattah. Workers shoveled dirt to the side, and a bulldozer carted away brick and concrete. Sewage from broken pipes poured into the street, lapping at the rubble. Without saying a word, as a baby cried nearby, neighbors passed around gnarled, fused pieces of metal they said were left by the blast of the missile.
Neighbors lined up to watch the workers dig clumsily through the rubble, now a makeshift grave. There were no chants for President Saddam Hussein, as there are in so many officially sanctioned public gatherings. There were no cries of "God is greatest." There was only silence, the shock of the devastation.
As the bulldozer crashed through another crumbling wall of his house, Abdel-Fattah's brother, Thamir Sheikhly, cried out.
"Bush is cursed!" he shouted. "This is a civilian building, a civilian building, 100 percent. There are no weapons of mass destruction. He wants to destroy the people. Maybe God will destroy him."
For a moment, he was quiet, then spoke again. "We'll have our revenge with Bush."
-------- mideast
Yemen renews war rejection
March 25, 2003
(UPI)
http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20030325-111242-5587r.htm
SANAA, Yemen, March 25 -- Yemen renewed Tuesday its rejection of the U.S-led war against Iraq which it described as "an unjustified aggression."
The council of ministers issued a statement foloowing its regular meeting Tuesday asking that the U.N. Security Council take action to "immediately stop the aggression and ensure Iraq's security, unity and territorial integrity."
The official Yemeni stance came hot on the heels of criticism made by Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan against Arab countries which he blasted as "traitors and oppressors, banning their peoples from expressing their anger against the war."
Four Yemenis were killed last week in anti-war protests that swept the capital, Sanaa, while a number were arrested. They were only released on Monday. Meanwhile, thousands of angry Mauritanians renewed protests in the capital Nouackchott on Tuesday against the U.S.-British war on Iraq.
An estimated 60,000 protesters fanned out in the streets shouting anti-war slogans and stepping on pictures of U.S. President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair before setting them ablaze.
"Bush and Blair are war criminals" and "long live free and victorious Iraq", the crowd chanted as they marched on the U.N. headquarters carrying a coffin wrapped in the U.N. flag. The symbolic move indicated that the U.S. and Britain signed the death warrant of the international organization by acting unilaterally against Iraq.
The demonstrators were banned by internal security forces from approaching the embassies of the coalition in addition to the embassies of Kuwait and Israel.
The protesters called in a statement for the immediate halt of the war and criticized the Arab League's incapacity to "defend Arab countries against foreign aggression."
They also asked Arab countries to close water passageways to U.S. and British warships heading for the Gulf to take part in military operations against Iraq.
----
Errant US missile raises ire of Turkish villagers
The bomb does no physical damage but hardens the antiwar sentiment of local residents.
By Ilene R. Prusher
The Christian Science Monitor
March 25, 2003
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0325/p12s02-woiq.html
OZVEREN, TURKEY - People in this village of about 300 never expected to be on the map of the war against Iraq. But Monday, the day after a US missile was dropped into the fields outside their village and two others dropped nearby a few hours later, people were filled with a quiet anger that was broadcast all over Turkey.
"Do you think it could be an accident?" snapped Abdurrahman Yucel, a father of seven who was feeding his cows when he heard the strange whiz and crash about a quarter-mile from his home. "Do you just say, 'Oh, sorry, I dropped my missile on your village; it's just a little mistake?'"
In this corner of rural Turkey, about 430 miles northwest of the border with Iraq, the apparently accidental dropping of three missiles late Sunday raised ire against a war few here support, and suspicion against an ally with whom the alliance has never been so tense.
"There is no friendship between the US and Turkey - only money," says Abdullah Demir, the head of a neighboring village who stood guard with military police blocking off the crash site Monday until it could be inspected. "We've just had bombs fall on our land. How could it have been a good idea for the government to allow American planes to fly over our land?"
The misfirings over Turkey were like a throwing a bit of itching powder on an already uncomfortable point in Turkish-US relations regarding the war against Iraq. Diplomats from both countries have been scrambling to reach an understanding that would prevent Turkey from unilaterally sending its troops into northern Iraq.
Last week, the Turkish parliament voted to allow the US to use its airspace in order to reach Iraq. But implementation was held up for several days when Turkey demanded that permission for the US to fly be linked to Washington's acquiescence to Turkey's plans to send troops into Iraq. Media reports Monday suggested that US and Turkish officials were close to reaching an agreement that would allow between 4,000 and 6,000 Turkish soldiers to enter northern Iraq in tandem with the US, decreasing chances that Turks and Kurds would fight each other instead of the forces of Saddam Hussein. However, it was far from certain whether Iraqi Kurdish groups would accept such an agreement.
Monday in Ozveren, villagers stood on a cold, muddy hilltop staring out at a crater in the fields that normally grow pistachios, wheat, and barley. Now, a missile was planted in the fields below, and people were kept away for fear it could have carried hazardous materials. No one was injured in the incidents, but concern over further misfirings raised fear and mistrust all the same. "It was a mistake to give the US the right to fly over our country," says Saffet Yilmaz, a young father who says his children were hysterical from the missile crash nearby.
-------- mideast
US will ignore Turkey's gray wolves at its peril
By K Gajendra Singh
Mar 25, 2003
Asia Times
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EC25Ak03.html
Whatever the tactical differences between Turkey's armed forces and its politicians, there is no dispute over their ultimate strategic objectives. Perhaps the time has come to redeem the unfulfilled dream of Turkey's founder, Kemal Ataturk, who salvaged the republic from the ashes of the Ottoman empire in 1923.
In 1919, when Ataturk and his comrades had begun organizing a war of resistance for Turkey's independence, then under the heels of World War I victors led by Great Britain, their map of a sacred new nation included, apart from the present-day boundaries of Turkey, the Kurdish province of Mosul (with Kirkuk), now in Iraq. Much of this area had been occupied by the British forces after the ceasefire in 1918 and was later joined with the former Ottoman Arab vilayets (provinces) of Baghdad and Basra to create Iraq. But this divided the Kurdish homelands. From Iraq too, the sub-province of Kuwait under the Kayakayam of Basra was detached to create a new emirate. Oil was then, as it is now, the main driving force; not the freedom or welfare of the people. The British colonial policy of encouraging and then creating dissension and divisions can be seen elsewhere, too, in the world - the Indian sub-continent, Palestine, Cyprus and Ireland.
In a fast-evolving strategic situation in the region, there might be an opportunity to take back oil-rich Mosul and Kirkuk, many Turks feel. Almost all political leaders, including those from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), media writers and others have reiterated the country's claims on Kirkuk. One of the reasons for going into north Iraq is to protect their kinsmen the Turkomans and their rights over the reserves of oil around Kirkuk. This area is now under the control of Saddam Hussein's Sunni Arabs, but it has been traditionally claimed by the Kurds, who are in the majority in the region. The other major reason cited, of course, is Turkish fears of Kurds declaring an independent state after the collapse of the Saddam regime.
Turkey has paid dearly during the past two decades because of almost autonomous Kurdish enclaves in north Iraq, which have inspired and assisted a fierce rebellion for independence among its own Kurds, who form 25 percent of its population. During the Iraq-Iran war in the 1980s and after the 1991 Gulf War, the rebellion reached its heights. Since the beginning of the Marxist PKK (Kurdish Workers Party)-inspired rebellion in 1984, over 35,000 Turkish citizens have been killed, including 5,000 soldiers. The struggle has also shattered the social and economic fabric in the south and east of Turkey. The problem is now under control after a 1999 ceasefire was declared and the capture of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. His death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment last year and the ban on the use of the Kurdish language for education etc was eased.
Therefore, ignoring protests from foes and friends alike, the Turkish armed forces have regularly moved in and out of north Iraq to punish Turkey's residual Kurdish rebels who shelter there. It has regularly maintained some presence in Kurdish north Iraq, which was stepped up even before Turkey's parliament on March 21 authorized its troops to enter Iraq, along with granting permission to the US to use its air space to transport troops and hardware for a possible second front in Kurdish north Iraq. Turkish troops are now reported to be in north Iraq, estimated to be between 2,000 to 5,000 strong. Ever since the US administration took a decision to attack Iraq to bring about a regime change in Baghdad, even without UN sanction, serious differences and strains have emerged, not only with the US's NATO allies in Europe, but also with Turkey.
In order to conduct a successful and short war to minimize world opprobrium, as well as casualties and costs, the US asked for permission for the use of Turkish bases in southeast Turkey to station 62,000 US troops in order to open a second front against Iraq. The request was made in the US's usual insensitive fashion of public "bribing" and arm-twisting. It was irritating to hear daily broadcasts or claims that in spite of a package of nearly US$30 billion in grants and loans, Turkey was not taking the bait. Turkey has lost tens of billions of dollars following the sanctions imposed on Iraq since 1990. It is one of the major reasons for the current economic malaise in Turkey.
The new and inexperienced government of the AKP, especially its leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was agreeable to provide bases to the US, but a massive majority of Turks (now 94 percent) have remained opposed to a war on Muslim Iraq. Iraq has been the friendliest of Turkey's mostly inimical neighbors until very recently. Many AKP deputies belong to southeast Turkey with Kurdish and Arab blood relations across the borders with Iraq and Syria.
Turkish president Ahmet Sezer, a former head of the Constitutional Court, has always insisted on international legitimacy before waging a war on Iraq. Before the March 1 vote that rejected the US request, he had impressed his view on the speaker of parliament. It was a somewhat confused situation. With tens of thousands of Turkish citizens protesting passionately in front of parliament and elsewhere, it further pressurized the newly- elected and divided deputies. The AKP government had come into almost absolute power unexpectedly after last November's elections, but its leader Erdogan had still to be elected in a by-election to become prime minister. This led to more confusion, with diffused decision-making centers. A day before the parliamentary vote, Turkey's military-dominated, highest policymaking body, the National Security Council, had dared not take a decision to recommend a vote for the motion in the face of overwhelming public opposition. After five hours of discussion, it left the decision to the government and parliament.
While Erdogan was enthusiastic, many in the party were opposed to giving approval. The government-supported motion, with the ruling party boasting two-thirds of the deputies in a 550-member parliament, was lost on March 1 when nearly 100 ruling party members voted against it, along with the opposition. The vote was lost by only 4 votes. This stunned the US, stumping its war plans. It certainly slowed down the preparations for the northern front. But the US still hoped that once Erdogan was elected to parliament and became prime minister, a second vote would be held.
In an unusual move, the Turkish armed forces' Chief of General Staff, General Hilmi Ozkok, issued a statement on March 5 extending its support to the government in "its option to open a second front against Iraq in the event of war [which] would shorten the conflict and minimize casualties". He said, "Turkey's support of the US would also reduce the harm to its economy." At the same time, Ozkok clarified that it was the right of parliament to reject the proposal to station US forces in Turkey, but "the Turkish armed forces' view is the same as the government's". He explained that the military had not made public its views earlier to avoid the impression of trying to influence the vote. "If we had expressed our views, it would have amounted to pressurizing the parliament for the approval of the resolution," he said. "It wouldn't have been democratic."
Ozkok pointed out that the Iraqi problem was a vital and multilateral issue having political, social and legal dimensions. Agreeing that 94 percent of the people said "no" to war, he added. "We, as soldiers, know the violence and dimensions of war and oppose the war most. It is obvious that we will suffer major damage whatever Turkey's move if a war starts. Turkey can face political, economic, social damage and also damage to its security." Ozkok went on to say, "It is a reality in the current stage that Turkey does not have the possibility and capability to prevent a war on its own. I wish the war could be prevented. Unfortunately, our choice is between the bad and worse, not between the good and bad." He noted that Turkey would suffer losses in any case, but if it joined the US, it would be compensated. He believed that it would also eliminate unexpected political developments in the north of Iraq.
Being a member of NATO since the early 1950s, Turkey's armed forces have a very close relationship with the US military brass. Turkey is heavily reliant on the International Monetary Fund, controlled by the US, to bail it out of its current acute economic problems and ease the weight of massive external debt payments. This was a failsafe position for Turkey. If the US carried out a short and quick war successfully, Turkey would play a major role in the reshaping of Iraq. If in the unlikely event of a peaceful solution of the problem, Turkey would have won enough brownie points with the US.
But after taking over as prime minister, Erdogan had a better appreciation of all the pros and cons, including in his party. It might even split. Sensing the mood of the country and in his party, he continued to stall the second vote while the US continued with its arm-twisting tactics, which further annoyed the Turkish leadership, media and the public. The US then said that it would change its war plans and fly its troops and arms from Romanian and Bulgarian bases and elsewhere to north Iraq. It said that it would do without Turkish bases and withdrew its financial package.
On the whole it was an unappetizing show, as it has been between the US and the UK on the one side and France and Germany on the other. Some US ships were diverted to the Red Sea, but many still wait at Turkish ports to unload military hardware for transfer to the war front in southeast Turkey.
Statements and counter statements, bullying tactics, threats and defiance between the US and Turkey have left no less deep a chasm than between the Atlantic alliance's Western members. There is a lot of confusion, acrimony and misunderstanding aired publicly, even after an agreement was passed in parliament for the US to use its air space. Reportedly, the Turkish government had even refused the US its permission for 24 hours unless Washington agreed to let Ankara send its troops to northern Iraq.
Secretary of State Colin Powell had three phone conversations in 48 hours with Erdogan to bring him round. The confusion continued when US officials said that the US had not agreed to Turkish demands, but senior Turkish officials said that they had reached an agreement with Powell that allowed them to add to the troops they already had in north Iraq. The confusion, which even included reports of Turkish troop movements into north Iraq, came amid high tension between the two NATO allies and clenched teeth comments by US officials (Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld did show commendable restraint, though). Later on, it turned out that fresh Turkish troops had not entered north Iraq after all. But the ill will, rancor and suspicions remain.
For the moment it appears that the US will not be utilizing much of the airspace facility as its plans have already been completely upset in north Iraq. Incidentally, a few days before the terms were agreed to, a US Special Forces team in north Iraq ran into trouble with Iraqi forces and requested air support. Turkey rejected the request. While the US forces escaped unharmed, Turkey's refusal stunned Pentagon and State Department officials. Verily, US-Turkish relations have hit a nadir after years of close cooperation.
Compare this to the 1950s, when the Soviet Union, one of the victors of World War II, had staked claims over two northeastern provinces of Turkey and some control over the Bosphorus Straits. A nervous Turkey, which had rightly kept out of the war, as it did not want to be first devastated by the Nazis and then liberated by the Soviets, went begging to the US for protection. It sent a brigade to the Korean War to fight until the last man. Since then, through thick and thin, the allies have stayed together. Now, only a bitter taste in the mouth.
There is a lesson for all. A bully who can browbeat or thrash smaller kids, sooner or later arouses hostility and resistance in the whole community. Something like that coalesced between the last week of February and the first week of March. Turkey's democratic institutions, the region's largest democratic republic, rejected a US troop presence on Turkish soil as American ships waited off the Turkish coast.
After five days, it appears that the war is not turning out to be the cake walk that it was made out to be to the US public. Iraqis are not welcoming and hugging the US as "liberators". US soldiers have been taken prisoner, and there have been battle fatalities, apart from casualties of "friendly fire".
What will happen in north Iraq? Without wider agreement and more support from Turkey, with the second largest armed forces in NATO, the war which the US and the UK have embarked on could end up disastrously in north Iraq. Even if all goes well, the US will still need Turkey as a strategic partner in the now inflamed region. But the US will have to pay a price. Otherwise, the "gray wolf" will await and seize its opportunity.
Note.The ancestors of the Turks are said to have been brought up among wolves. Hence, the young, the brave and the bold call themselves gray wolves - also a term favored by extreme nationalists.
K Gajendra Singh, Indian ambassador (retired), served as ambassador to Turkey from August 1992 to April 1996. Prior to that, he served terms as ambassador to Jordan, Romania and Senegal. He is currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies.
-------- pakistan / india / kashmir
Kashmiri Hindus Want to Flee After Massacre
Reuters
Tuesday, March 25, 2003; 5:39 AM
By Sheikh Mushtaq
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A23061-2003Mar25?language=printer
NADI MARG, India (Reuters) - Hindus in Indian Kashmir said on Tuesday they wanted to leave the Muslim-majority region after 24 people, including women and children, were shot dead by suspected Muslim rebels.
Some 200 Hindus, also known as Pandits, descended on the remote village of Nadi Marg, scene of the massacre, to tell visiting Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani they no longer felt safe.
"We want to leave, save us," they shouted, heckling Advani as he promised more security in a bid to persuade them to stay on.
Paramilitary troops stood guard during his visit.
The suspected Muslim militants, dressed in army fatigues, ordered the villagers out of their houses on Sunday night and shot them, sparking outrage across mostly Hindu India.
Advani said the militants were trying to drive Hindus out of Kashmir, where India has faced a separatist revolt since 1989.
"Whoever has carried out this carnage wants the migration of 10,000 Kashmiri Pandits still living in the Kashmir Valley," Advani said, referring to the Hindus by their popular local name.
At least 300,000 Hindus have already fled the Kashmir Valley, in the largest migration since the 1947 partition of the subcontinent into mainly Hindu India and Islamic Pakistan.
Advani told the Kashmir Hindus they would be playing into the hands of the militants if they chose to leave as well.
"If you feel insecure, we will take you to a safer place, but that is what enemy wants," he said.
None of the nearly dozen guerrilla groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir claimed responsibility for the killings, but some members of Advani's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party have blamed rebels based in Pakistan.
Pakistan has condemned the attack.
The United States condemned the killings and renewed a call for India and Pakistan to hold talks.
"Dialogue remains a critical element in the normalization of relations between India and Pakistan," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
Secretary of State Colin Powell also telephoned Indian foreign minister Yashwant Sinha, he said.
Washington led efforts to avert a war between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan last year, obtaining a promise from Islamabad to stop militants infiltrating into Indian Kashmir.
"He (Powell) also conveyed that he would speak to Pakistan again about cross-border activity," an Indian official said.
The attack was the worst since a state election in October that ushered in a new government whose chief minister, Mufti Mohammad Syed, promised to bring a healing touch to the region.
Syed had been trying to persuade Hindus to return to the Kashmir Valley. (Additional reporting by Ashok Pahalwan in JAMMU)
----
Militants Kill 24 Hindus in Kashmir
By Rama Lakshmi
The Washington Post
Tuesday, March 25, 2003; Page A10
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A21351-2003Mar24?language=printer
NEW DELHI, March 24 -- Suspected Muslim militants gunned down 24 people in a Hindu village in India's part of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir early today, police officials said, raising fears of renewed hostility between India and Pakistan.
Police said about 25 heavily armed militants dressed in police uniforms descended on the remote village of Nadimarg, about 30 miles south of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Muslim majority state.
"The men overpowered and disarmed the village security guards before firing indiscriminately at the villagers," said A.K. Suri, the police chief in Kashmir. Two children and 11 women were among those killed.
Indian news channels showed images of wailing women squatting on the ground and beating their chests in front of a row of corpses, each shrouded in white cloth. The attack was the bloodiest since state elections last September, when a new government took over with the promise of "a healing touch" for the violence-torn region. India's deputy prime minister, L.K. Advani, planned to visit the village on Tuesday.
Kashmir has been a hotbed of revolt and the trigger of two wars between India and Pakistan, both of which possess nuclear weapons. The countries each claim sovereignty over Kashmir. Pakistan-backed Muslim militants have for 13 years waged an armed insurgency to end Indian rule. According to officials, more than 35,000 people have died in the conflict.
-------- prisoners of war
ICRC says PoW images breach Geneva Convention
swissinfo
March 25, 2003
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=105&sid=1716883
US marines keep watch over Iraqi civilian prisoners US marines keep watch over Iraqi civilian prisoners (Keystone) The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has strongly criticised television footage showing prisoners of war in Iraq.
The humanitarian organisation said the pictures were in violation of the Geneva Conventions, which outline rules of conduct during times of armed conflict.
"It is forbidden to expose prisoners of war to public curiosity... and the essential thing is to make clear to all parties that PoWs should not be exposed in any form," said Jakob Kellenberger, the Swiss president of the ICRC.
Switzerland is the depository state of the Geneva Conventions, which were established in 1949 to protect and assist the civilian and military victims of conflict.
The document contains 140 articles, which form the backbone of international humanitarian law.
Article 13 specifically refers to the use and distribution of images of PoWs and calls for their protection against "insults and public curiosity".
It is forbidden to expose prisoners of war to public curiosity. ICRC president, Jakob Kellenberger
Humane treatment
On Sunday, the images of five captured American soldiers were shown on international television screens, sparking public and political outrage, especially in the United States.
The vast majority of American networks refused to broadcast the pictures, although they were widely seen throughout the rest of the world.
United States Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, slammed the Iraqi authorities for releasing the footage, describing it as "humiliating", although images of Iraqi PoWs - in the hands of coalition forces - have also been seen in recent days.
"Article 13 is called 'humane treatment' and it's there to protect the dignity of PoWs... and to protect their families against seeing this kind of thing in the media," ICRC spokesman, Florian Westphal, told swissinfo.
"For the media, this is a moment when they may want to look at their own ethics and their own standards and then take the right decision," he added.
Unequal interest
After the images were broadcast on Sunday, the ICRC issued a statement calling for all sides to respect the Geneva Conventions.
The neutral organisation has come in for criticism for not issuing a similar declaration when pictures of Iraqi detainees appeared on Saturday.
Westphal rejected accusations of bias on the part of the ICRC, countering that huge media interest had prompted Sunday's response.
"After the images of the American PoWs were shown on al-Jazeera [an Arab news network], we were flooded with phone calls from the media... whereas on Saturday, when the images were shown of the Iraqi PoWs, we hardly received any calls," he said.
"I think that may have led to the somewhat misleading impression that the ICRC had a lot to say about one case and not so much about the other," he added.
Although the ICRC is often asked to comment on political issues, the organisation categorically refuses to take sides and strives to maintain a strictly neutral stance in order to ensure it can work freely during times of conflict.
"We're not there to assess the behaviour of one side or the other, or to make judgements as to who may be more in the wrong than the other," said Westphal.
We're not there to assess the behaviour of one side or the other, or to make judgements as to who may be more in the wrong than the other. ICRC spokesman, Florian Westphal
Detainee visits
On Sunday, US officials confirmed that 12 American soldiers had gone missing following an ambush by Iraqi forces on an army supply convoy. They also said that the American military was holding more than 2,000 Iraqi PoWs.
The Geneva Conventions stipulate that detainees must be protected against acts of violence or intimidation, and they empower the ICRC to visit PoWs and monitor their treatment.
But, according to Westphal, the humanitarian organisation has not been given access yet to detainees from either side of the conflict.
"Discussions are underway to be able to attain access as soon as possible... but we accept that this may not happen within the first few days," he said.
It is essentially up to the warring parties to decide when they will grant access to PoWs, since the Conventions do not give any specific timeframe for visitations. But Westphal is confident it will happen soon.
"We are quite a persistent lot... if we don't have success with our initial approach, we'll carry on trying," he added.
In the meantime, the organisation is also busy concentrating on other areas of the Conventions, which include looking after internally displaced persons and ensuring access to medical treatment, lodging, food and water.
swissinfo, Anna Nelson in Geneva
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Afghans to Free Prisoners From Guantanamo
18 Detainees Now in Custody of Kabul Police; Officials Say Most Will Be Released
By April Witt and Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, March 25, 2003; Page A06
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A21344-2003Mar24?language=printer
KABUL, Afghanistan, March 24 -- Afghan officials have said that most of the 18 prisoners flown home to Afghanistan after being freed last week from detention at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will soon be released.
The prisoners, the largest group of Afghan detainees to be released from Guantanamo, were transferred Friday from the U.S. military facility at Bagram air base, north of Kabul, to a jail at police headquarters here in the capital. Afghan officials said the identities of the men are being checked and that they will be released unless they are wanted by local authorities.
An Afghan soldier who helped transfer the men from Bagram said they were in good health, clean-shaven, dressed neatly in new Western clothes and seemed to be in good spirits. He said the men were all young or middle-aged.
The Afghan official in charge of the transfer said he welcomed the men home in traditional Afghan fashion. "I told the Americans to give them a cup of tea each," said Ghulam Farouq, a top Kabul police official. "The Americans had tied their wrists together tightly, but I was very courageous and brave and I made the Americans cut [the restraints] off."
U.S. military officials at Bagram declined to comment on the release, saying their policy was not to provide information about people detained or released. There are an estimated 660 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, most of whom were captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan as the military chased al Qaeda and Taliban fighters following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
In a document circulated to Afghan security forces after the 18 men were handed over at Bagram, U.S. officials warned them not to publicize the release so that al Qaeda operatives could not track down the former detainees and obtain security information about the Guantanamo base. In addition, the document asked Afghan officials to keep track of the men once they returned home in case they were needed to testify about possible war crimes committed by others.
Afghan officials said they did not know why the prisoners were released now, and could offer few details about the men except that one was a Kabul taxi driver whose father worked for the national airline. When the Afghans took custody of the men, they were given little more than a list of their names and their fathers' first names.
But Hilaluddin Hilal, the deputy interior minister, said he didn't think many were innocents wrongly swept up by U.S. forces. "These were men captured on the front lines," he said.
U.S. human rights organizations have criticized the treatment of prisoners detained at Guantanamo and elsewhere, where they can be held indefinitely without charges or legal representation. Several lawsuits have sought unsuccessfully to challenge the U.S. procedures and detainments.
However, a young Afghan solider who stood guard late today outside the rundown Kabul compound where the men were being processed for release remarked on how well they looked when they arrived. The soldier, Sharram Yunus, was eating a dinner of rice and bread and wearing a coat with all its buttons missing.
The prisoners coming from Guantanamo Bay were "very fat and in good spirits," he said, "better than us here in Afghanistan."
-------- russia / chechnya
Putin Rejects U.S. Claims of Military Sales to Iraq
March 25, 2003
The New York Times
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/25/international/worldspecial/25CND-RUSS.html
MOSCOW, March 25 - President Vladimir V. Putin responded today to American accusations that Russian companies are selling advanced military equipment to Iraq, calling the claim "unsubstantiated."
In a statement, the Kremlin gave its own version of a telephone conversation between Mr. Putin and President Bush on Monday, in which Mr. Bush pressed Mr. Putin to stop the equipment sales, according to the White House.
It was Mr. Putin who first brought up the American concerns, according to his press secretary, Alexei Gromov. Mr. Putin dismissed the accusations and said they were "capable of inflicting damage on relations between the two countries," Mr. Gromov said.
Bush administration officials have said they are pressing Russia to end what American intelligence has said are sales to Iraq of night-vision goggles, antitank guided missiles and devices that can jam satellite-based navigation systems.
The diplomatic scuffle is one in a series of disagreements that have strained relations between Moscow and Washington in recent weeks, since the United States began military action in Iraq. Russia objected to what it said was an American spy plane flying over its border with Georgia on Saturday, while on Thursday, in a particularly outspoken speech, Mr. Putin called the war in Iraq a "big political mistake."
While other Russian officials, including Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, spoke out on Monday against the American accusations, today was the first time that Mr. Putin addressed the issue.
In his conversation with Mr. Bush, Mr. Putin raised concerns about "analogous problems," according to Mr. Gromov. The Kremlin gave no further details, but at a briefing at a Russian nuclear facility on Monday, the defense minister said Russian intelligence had found that a British-Dutch company, Urenco, sold uranium-enriching equipment to Iran.
A spokesman for Urenco in London, Alex Moore, said this evening that the company had not had any dealings with Iran, a country that the United States has imposed economic sanctions on.
The Russian public has picked up on the tension between Moscow and Washington. A headline in the daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta today declared, "Moscow and Washington Have Remembered the Cold War," while a headline in the widely read daily Izvestia read, "Stupid Bombs: Americans Blame Military Failures on Russian Equipment."
--------
Chechens Back Ties to Russia in New Charter
March 25, 2003
The New York Times
By MICHAEL WINES
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/25/international/europe/25CHEC.html
GROZNY, Russia, March 24 - A new Constitution that affirms Chechnya'a status as a part of the Russian federation was approved by almost 96 percent of voters in a referendum on Sunday, based on partial returns, Chechnya officials said today.
The returns, from 255 of Chechnya's 416 polling places, were hailed by President Vladimir V. Putin as proof that civilians in the breakaway Russian republic overwhelmingly support ending a 43-month-old war for independence led by Islamic separatist guerrillas.
But the guerrillas, in a statement posted on their separatist Web site, dismissed the referendum as a "political farce" and said the results had been fabricated.
The Kremlin had heavily promoted the Constitution, whose pro-Russian Chechen authors envisioned replacing Chechnya's appointed government with an elected one as soon as the end of this year.
There was no independent means of verifying the election totals, although observers from former Soviet states who monitored the voting said the election was orderly and fair.
Reporters who visited four polling places on Sunday under a Kremlin-arranged escort were told that turnout was high, although afternoon voting at some places appeared sparse.
The final tabulations from the 255 polling points showed that 95.9 percent of voters supported the new Constitution and that only 2.7 percent rejected it. Chechen election officials said, though, that nay votes ran as much as three times that in Chechnya's mountainous southern regions, where support for the guerrillas is strongest.
The officials said that about 85 percent of the republic's 540,000 registered voters took part in the referendum, well above the 65 percent turnout reported two-thirds of the way through voting on Sunday. In Grozny's Leninsky District, the scene of some of the war's heaviest fighting, the turnout approached 100 percent, officials said.
The last elected government here took office in 1997, after Russian troops suffered an inglorious defeat at the hands of Chechen rebels, and the Kremlin granted the republic de facto independence. Chechnya descended shortly afterward into anarchy, and Islamic militants who had gained sway among separatists began the latest war in 1999 by invading Dagestan, a neighboring Russian republic.
Since then Mr. Putin has singlemindedly pursued a military victory, refusing to negotiate with rebel leaders he calls foreign-based terrorists. But he has not succeeded in extinguishing a low-grade guerrilla war that sti