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NUCLEAR
'Silver bullets' that kill, and kill again
Health and environmental impact of depleted uranium
A real concern about Pakistan's nuclear weapons
Foes conduct rival missile tests
Blix Has No Evidence Iraq Has Used Banned Weapons
Iran Denies Claim Buying Western Nuclear Technology
North Korea boosts military spending as nuclear crisis persists
N. Korean Nuke Dispute Looms in Iraq War
Russia successfully launches test ICBM
Tiny Moldova Could Block Nuclear Waste Shipments
Colo. judge rules against unusual defense in nuclear missile vandalism
Simultaneous Attacks an Issue for Indian Point, Agency Says
NRC RELEASES EVALUATION OF EFFECTS OF BALTIMORE TUNNEL FIRE
Kucinich Calls for Immediate End to War
U.S. Mongolian Diplomat Resigns Over Iraq
Perle resigns from Defense Policy Board
Hands Out for Shares of War Budget
War and taxes
Senate Approves $2.2 Trillion Budget
Key Rumsfeld Adviser Perle Resigns Post
MILITARY
Urban Warfare: Long a Key Part of an Underdog's Down-to-Earth Arsenal
Briefly - Africa conflicts
U.S. Hunts for Bio-Agents and Gas at an Iraq Depot
British Forces Destroy 14 Iraqi Tanks on Way Out of Basra
Army Depots in Iraqi Desert Have Names of Oil Giants
Spending Seen as Lifting Economy
U.S., U.K. Forces Blast Iraqi Tanks
Iraq Accuses U.S. of Targeting Civilians
U.S. to Intensify Attacks on Iraqi Forces
U.S. General Accuses Iraq of Killing POWs
Initial aid for Iraqis arrives in the south
Banned Weapons Remain Unseen
Marines 'Contested Every Inch, Every Mile'
Up to 1,000 Iraqis Confront U.S. Troops in Surpise Attack
US soldiers 'are using Jordan to enter Iraq'
Iraq denies US marines wounded in friendly fire
They are fighting for their independence, not Saddam
From "Plain Sailing" to "Where the Hell Are We?" to "Up the Creek"
U.N. Expert: Israeli Barrier Is Illegal
Amnesty International Calls for Immediate Halt to Use of Landmines
The 'Palestinization' of Iraq
Trying to Sort Out the Enemy From the Innocent
Iraqi Soldiers Say It Was Fight or Die
Japan Launches Spy Satellites Amid N.Korea Fears
Washington Trying to Curb U.N. Role in a Postwar Iraq
Rumsfeld and all the Army's men
Drowned Marines in full gear
U.S. Releases List of the Dead in Iraq Fighting
Delicate Calculus of Casualties and Public Opinion
A Look at Attack Aircraft In Iraq War
Don't Censor War's Horror
Unembedded Journalist's Report Provokes Military Ire
Franks to sweeten image of U.S. campaign
How the warriors have learned to control news
U.S Says Iraqi Missile May Have Hit Baghdad Market
War coverage falters amid harsh realities
Better Coverage In Iraq
Censorship Is Patriotism to Big Board
U.S. Sees Inflammatory Reporting by Some Arab Media
Pentagon Expels CSM Reporter From Iraq
POLICE / PRISONERS / COURTS
Interpol puts ex-leader Fujimori on wanted list
AFGHANISTAN - Security forces arrest four former Taliban
Delays Are Rare at U.S. Borders
Three Americans dead as reconnaissance plane crashes in Colombia
Afghanistan's Farmers Growing More Opium
Agents Seize On a Scope That Betrays Forged Documents
Half of Undercover Force Is Moving to Safer Work
ENERGY AND OTHER
Student group converts diesel-powered car
Panel Finds Manipulation by Energy Companies
Desalination plant at work
Rules Approved to Reduce Pollutants at Power Plants
Key to Strains of Anthrax Is Discovered
Heart patients advised against shot
China Raises Tally of Cases and Deaths in Mystery Illness
Survey Finds 1,800 Sleep on N.Y. Streets
W.T.O. Rules Against U.S. on Steel Tariff
I.M.F. Says Iraqi War Threatens Global Economic Recovery
ACTIVISTS
Violence erupts at Australian war protest
Press and Public Abroad Seem to Grow Ever Angrier About the U.S.
CAIRO Rights Groups Accuse Egypt of Detentions
Antiwar Demonstrations Jam Midtown
New Yorkers' Sharp Divisions Fall Roughly on Racial Lines
Lebanese Children Call for Iraq War's End
Tormented protesters give us no moment of peace
HAVE YOU HATED ANYONE TODAY?
-------- NUCLEAR
-------- depleted uranium
'Silver bullets' that kill, and kill again
(Inter Press Service)
Mar 27, 2003
By Cristina Hernandez-Espinoza
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EC27Ak01.html
SAN FRANCISCO - The hundreds of tanks that are leading the way for the invading forces in Iraq, part of the largest US offensive since Vietnam, are carrying a dangerous metal that has triggered alarm among environmentalists around the world: depleted uranium.
In the 1991 Gulf War, the US introduced this element, considered the champion of munitions. Known as the "silver bullet" for its high density and low cost, it allows a tank to fire from a distance and achieve penetration while remaining out of reach of enemy fire. But in parallel to its formidable capacities in war, depleted uranium is also blamed for frightful environmental and health impacts.
The Iraqis say that the metal is responsible for rendering their lands infertile and for increased rates of cancer, childhood leukemia, spontaneous abortions and physical deformities. There are US veterans of the 1991 war who believe that depleted uranium is responsible for the so-called Gulf Syndrome, a mysterious set of chronic diseases from which they suffer.
According to the Pentagon, during that operation - Desert Storm - the country's forces fired 320 tons of munitions from their A-10 fighter jets, some 50 tons from the M1 Abrams tanks and 11 tons from other tanks and AV-8 aircraft, the same type of armaments being utilized in Iraq this time around, only with much greater firepower.
Depleted uranium, says the Pentagon, played a key role in the land battle launched against Iraqi forces that ended in victory for the coalition of 33 nations on February 27, 1991. History is expected to repeat itself 12 years later, though with a much reduced coalition and a longer time in the field of battle.
Richard Muller, professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, explained that the most important trait of depleted uranium is its high density, "much higher than iron", which allows it to penetrate enemy targets. On impact, said Muller, depleted uranium not only does not explode - as opposed to tungsten, which is also used in missiles - but rather heats up, and thus increases its destructive penetrating power.
In its natural state, uranium is a radioactive element, chemically toxic and abundant in nature. It is found in water, soil the air and in food. Depleted uranium is a byproduct of the enriching process in which natural uranium is used to produce fuel for nuclear reactors and atomic weapon components. It is said to be 40 percent less radioactive than natural uranium, but of a similar chemical toxicity.
"The risk of exposure to depleted uranium lies in its chemical toxicity, not its radiation," said Steve Fetter, a University of Maryland expert in nuclear weapons and radiation.
When the metal burns on penetrating the target it produces uranium oxides, which are not very soluble in water or in body fluids, Fetter noted. These oxides can remain highly concentrated in the air and inhaled by people near the attack site. They also endure in the soil and can be ingested, for example, by children playing on the ground.
Depleted uranium has been used by military forces in the conflicts in the Balkans over the past decade. A report by the European parliament estimates that around 3 tons of the metal were used in Bosnia and 10 tons in Kosovo in land-air attacks. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) investigated the presence of uranium in Kosovo in 2000, in Serbia-Montenegro in 2001 and in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2002.
The first two missions found remnants of depleted uranium and "the metal's presence in bio-indicators, like moss and lichens, and in the air," but at such low levels that it cannot be considered a significant risk to the human population, Pekka Haavisto, director of the UNEP depleted uranium assessment program, said. The results of the Bosnia-Herzegovina mission are expected to be released soon.
But Haavisto pointed out that "there is still a great deal of scientific uncertainty about the potential contamination of water sources". Not all remnants of the metal have been removed from the battle areas, and there are many several meters deep in the earth, meaning that there is a danger of contaminating aquifers and surface water sources, said the UNEP official.
Studies of the presence of depleted uranium in the Persian Gulf region have been few. The International Atomic Energy Agency investigated the area in 2002, but the results of that mission have yet to be publicized.
Meanwhile, non-governmental organizations are stepping up their global campaigns to denounce the potential effects of depleted uranium on the Iraqi population, and in the US the complaints of Gulf War veterans are multiplying. "I wasn't warned about depleted uranium, or about its possible risks," states Doug Rokke, a doctor who says that he is a victim of Gulf War Syndrome, expressed in damage to his respiratory and renal systems and vision problems.
Rokke, a member of the US Navy's preventive medicine command, was sent to the Persian Gulf in 1991 with just one mandate: make sure the troops returned home alive. He prepared soldiers to respond to possible nuclear, biological or chemical attacks. However, he says, he returned home with his own health compromised.
Serving as the Pentagon director of the depleted uranium project in 1994-1995, Rokke oversaw the clean-up of contaminated military vehicles. He says the authorities were aware of the possible health effects, but that he and his team were only provided surgical masks and gloves for protection.
The Pentagon has systematically denied the charges, and specialized agencies, including the World Health Organization, have reported not to have found significant health effects that can be attributed to the metal. During the 1991 Gulf War, acknowledged the Pentagon, depleted uranium oxides may have been inhaled by soldiers or entered their bodies through wounds.
However, a report from the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine concludes that there is little or no conclusive evidence of an association between uranium exposure and renal dysfunction or lung cancer. Available information is still insufficient, say some experts. According to the University of Maryland's Fetter, "It wasn't until 1994-1995 that they conducted medical tests of the veterans." If they had taken urine samples within 24 hours of exposure, the debate would have been resolved, he adds.
The US Defense Department concludes that depleted uranium has not caused harm to the health of Gulf War veterans, but says that those who have imbedded fragments in their bodies - difficult to remove due to their small size or the danger of the procedure itself - should be subject to ongoing medical observation.
Fetter says that of the more than 100 US soldiers who suffered direct exposure to depleted uranium, just 50 percent are alive today. Twelve years later, US troops and Iraqi civilians and soldiers alike have reason to fear the effects of the latest deployment of "silver bullets".
--------
Health and environmental impact of depleted uranium (DU) munitions
Press Release
The office of Representative Jim McDermott,
7th District, Washington
March 27, 2003
http://www.vaiw.org/vet/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=68&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) today introduced legislation requiring studies on the health and environmental impact of depleted uranium (DU) munitions, as well as cleanup and mitigation of depleted uranium contamination at sites within the United States where DU has been used or produced.
McDermott, a medical doctor, has been concerned about this issue since veterans of the Gulf War started experiencing unexplained illnesses. His concern deepened, he said, after visiting Iraq, where Iraqi pediatricians told him that the incidence of severely deformed infants and childhood cancers has skyrocketed.
"Depleted uranium is toxic and carcinogenic and it may well be associated with elevated rates of birth defects in babies born to those exposed to it," said McDermott. "We had troops coming home sick after the Gulf War, and depleted uranium may be one of the factors responsible for that."
Because of its density, the military uses depleted uranium as a protective shield around tanks. It is also part of munitions like armor-piercing bullets. Because it tends to spontaneously ignite upon impact, it is used to cause explosions.
But depleted uranium, a by-product of the uranium enrichment process, is also linked to grave health concerns because of its chemical toxicity and low-level radioactivity. When depleted uranium explodes, soldiers are exposed to DU in the form of alpha-emitting airborne particles that are inhaled and shrapnel that gets embedded in the body. They are also exposed through unprotected contact with equipment.
About 300 metric tons of depleted uranium was used in the Iraq during the Gulf War, and many citizens of Iraq as well as veterans of the Gulf War have experienced terrible health problems-many say as a consequence of depleted uranium. Increased rates of cancers, leukemia, and birth malformations are among the health problems that may be linked to DU.
The Pentagon has sent mixed signals about the effects of depleted uranium, at times claiming DU is not a health hazard, and at other times acknowledging the need for sophisticated protective gear and safety training regarding exposure to DU.
"The need for these studies is imperative and immediate," said McDermott. "We cannot knowingly put the men and women of our armed forces in harm's way."
The Depleted Uranium Munitions Study Act of 2003 has several original co-sponsors, including Reps. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), John Conyers (D-Mich.), Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).
-------- india / pakistan
A real concern about Pakistan's nuclear weapons
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
March 27, 2003
Washington Times
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20030327-12985208.htm#4
Pakistani spokesman Asad Hayauddin's latest riposte ("Pakistan's arsenal," Letters, yesterday) follows the pattern of his previous responses, in that he skillfully bypasses the main issues.
Indeed, Arnaud de Borchgrave's column "Islamist nuke in an uncertain arsenal?" (Commentary, Monday) raises a legitimate scenario: namely, of Pakistan's nuclear weapons falling into the hands of hard-line Islamists. It is known that retired Gen. Hamid Gul, who is reputed to be the chief adviser to Pakistan's Islamist right, wields enormous influence among the pro-Taliban elements within Pakistan, as well as the religious parties that control half of the country today.
Even a cursory scan of Pakistan's media reveals the pathological hatred these elements display toward the Judeo-Christian West and their tendency to see a Jewish conspiracy behind every shadow. In that light, the notion of Pakistan's nuclear weapons being solely India-centric does not hold water.
Mr. Hayauddin's assertions notwithstanding, the concern about the dangers posed by Pakistan's nuclear weapons to the rest of the world, especially Israel and the United States, is truly legitimate.
KAUSHIK KAPISTHALAM
Atlanta
----
Foes conduct rival missile tests
By Nirmala George
ASSOCIATED PRESS
March 27, 2003
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20030327-9527400.htm
NEW DELHI - Tensions between India and Pakistan worsened yesterday when each conducted tit-for-tat missile tests and New Delhi linked Islamabad to a massacre of 24 Hindus by unidentified gunmen.
Hours after India fired a short-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear weapon, Pakistan announced it had tested a similar missile. Each missile was capable of reaching cities in the other country.
Also, officials in Pakistan said troops along its border with India traded heavy artillery and mortar fire, leading to the death of one Pakistani civilian and the wounding of 14 others.
India successfully fired a Prithvi missile from its Chandipur testing range in eastern Orissa state. The missile has a range of 95 miles. Defense Ministry spokesman Baljit Singh Menon said the test was routine.
Pakistan tested one of its Abdali missiles, which can carry nuclear as well as conventional warheads and has a range of up to 132 miles. Aziz Ahmed Khan, spokesman for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, would not specify the time or the location of the test.
Tensions have increased since the massacre Monday in Indian-controlled Kashmir. The victims, including two children and 11 women, were upper-caste Hindus known as Kashmiri Pandits. A group of armed men dragged them out of their homes in the village of Nadimarg and shot them at close range, police and witnesses said.
Police said they believed the gunmen were Islamic militants, who have been fighting since 1989 for Kashmir's independence from India. More than 61,000 people, mostly Kashmiri civilians, have been killed in the insurgency.
"The pattern, methodology and the nature of targets of these acts of terror are all too familiar and, therefore, the culpability of Pakistan is all too clear," said Navtej Sarna, a spokesman for the Indian Foreign Ministry.
New Delhi has long accused Pakistan of supporting the Islamic militants. Pakistan insists it does not provide funding or weapons.
The two countries came to the brink of war after similar attacks a year ago. Both sides rushed hundreds of thousands of troops to their shared border, raising concerns about a nuclear exchange, before international mediation defused the conflict.
Mr. Sarna took an indirect swipe at the United States and its war on terrorism, in which Pakistan is a key ally.
"The global war against terrorism can only be won when it is pursued without double standards and terrorism is eradicated wherever it exists," he said.
"The combat against international terrorism is ill-served if threats in some cases are met with military means, and in others with calls for restraint and dialogue."
Washington repeatedly has called on India and Pakistan to resume dialogue and was instrumental in getting the two to pull back from the brink of war last year.
-------- inspections
Blix Has No Evidence Iraq Has Used Banned Weapons
March 27, 2003
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-iraq-un-blix.html
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said on Thursday he had no evidence from U.S.-led forces waging war on Iraq that Baghdad had used any banned weapons of mass destruction.
``So far we have not identified or heard from the allies that anything that was proscribed would have been used,'' he told reporters. Blix said there had been reports from Kuwait that Iraq had fired illegal Scud missiles into that neighboring country but he believed these had turned out to be al-Fatah missiles, which do not exceed the permissible U.N. range of 90 miles.
Among those leveling the charges was Kuwait, whose U.N. ambassador, Mohammad Abulhasan, wrote the 15-nation U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to complain that Iraq had fired 11 missiles at its oil-rich neighbor to the southeast at the start of the conflict last Thursday.
``At least one (of these) was a Scud missile, which Iraq possesses while continuing to deny so, in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions,'' his letter said.
But Blix said he had heard from U.S.-led forces ``that they have not seen any Scud missiles.''
``In the beginning of the conflict there were some statements to the effect that Scud missiles had been sent, and this was later on withdrawn,'' he said. ``And I have not heard any assertion that there would have been proscribed missiles yet. It may come,'' he added.
Blix said he was relieved that Iraq had not used prohibited chemical or biological weapons so far in the conflict.
``I didn't think they would do it because, first of all, the world would say that they were liars,'' he said. Baghdad has denied having any weapons of mass destruction.
``And in the second place, it would also then change, I think, the attitude of the world toward the armed conflict. The skepticism about the armed conflict would, I think, give way to one of greater understanding,'' he said.
The Security Council ordered Iraq to destroy any weapons of mass destruction after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
U.N. inspectors whose task was to monitor the disarmament were sent back in to Iraq on Nov. 27 after a four-year hiatus.
But the inspectors were pulled out last week, before they could complete their work, after the United States and Britain notified the United Nations of an impending attack on Iraq.
-------- iran
Iran Denies Claim Buying Western Nuclear Technology
March 27, 2003
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-iran-russia-nuclear.html
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran on Thursday denied Russian suggestions that it was buying uranium enrichment equipment from Western suppliers.
``The nuclear activities of the Islamic Republic are indigenous and Iran uses its own know-how and possibilities,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said.
The comments came after Russian Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev -- in response to U.S. criticism of Russian sales of nuclear technology to Iran -- said Washington was ignoring similar activities by Western companies.
``It is always criticizing us, but its close economic partners supply Iran with sensitive technology,'' he said on Wednesday.
Rumyantsev was referring to media reports that an Iranian gas centrifuge, a sophisticated apparatus able to enrich uranium for both power stations and weapons, was made by Western companies.
Russia's technology sales and construction of a power station at the Gulf port of Bushehr in southwestern Iran have long irritated the United States.
Iran has said its nuclear program was aimed at producing electricity, but Washington says Iran -- which President Bush placed in an ``axis of evil'' alongside Iraq and North Korea -- is pursuing nuclear weapons.
Asefi, who was quoted by the official IRNA news agency, said: ``Nuclear activities of the Islamic Republic are very transparent and intended for peaceful purposes.''
A delegation from the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), last month inspected the gas centrifuge. Rumyantsev said Iran's cooperation with the IAEA showed it was not secretly developing nuclear weapons.
-------- korea
North Korea boosts military spending as nuclear crisis persists
AFP
Thursday March 27, 8:38 PM
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/030327/1/39h0u.html
North Korea has set aside a greater chunk of its limited resources to beef up its military while a nuclear crisis escalates, and announced a rare sale of government bonds to fill empty state coffers.
North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament, at its annual session Wednesday, allocated 15.4 percent of this year's budgeted expenditure to defense, up from 14.9 percent last year.
Finance Minister Mun Il-Bong said the increase was needed to develop North Korea's defence industry and train troops "as an invincible army and thus consolidate the country's defences as an impregnable fortress."
Top priority will be given to the production of "quality raw and other materials" needed for boosting military power and also putting "all the people under arms and turning the whole country into a fortress," he said in a report to the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA).
North Korea boosted its overall budgetary expenditure this year by 14.4 percent, requiring the sale of state bonds for the first time since the 1950-53 Korean War, said the official Korean Central News Agency.
"The budgetary revenue envisages taking a step for issuing bonds for the people's life with a view to making an effective use of money to spare," Moon said.
South Korean Unification Minister Jeong-Se-Hyun said the bond issue highlights North Korea's economic woes aggravated by a five-month-old nuclear standoff with the United States.
"The bond issue proves their situation is worse than before," he said.
The impoverished country had been hit by food and energy shortages since 1995, with natural disasters aggravating its struggle for survival.
Its energy shortage deepened after the United States and its allies withdrew fuel aid after US revelations that North Korea had admitted to running a secret nuclear program in breach of a 1994 accord with Washington.
Pyongyang has vowed to fire up a nuclear power reactor mothballed under the 1994 accord to meet its energy needs.
The economic pinch, however, has failed to stop North Korea's push to strengthen its 1.1-million-strong armed forces, 70 percent of which is stationed close to the border with South Korea.
North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-Il and top military officials missed the crucial SPA session for the first time in five years, monitors in Seoul said.
Kim's public activities have not been reported since his last publicised appearance on February 12 for his 61st birthday. Since the nuclear crisis erupted in October last year, Kim made frequent visits to military units.
KCNA said the SPA also adopted a new military service law.
Under the law, lower-level party and government officials who have not completed military service are ordered to join the military for at least three years, according to the Donghwa Sinmun newspaper run by North Korean defectors.
The legislation is aimed at making up for a decrease in the number of troops that began in 1999 when North Korea shortened its military service period for ordidary people from 13 years to 11 years.
North Korea has recently stepped up propaganda to put its people on a war footing in preparation for what they fear is an impending US attack.
--------
N. Korean Nuke Dispute Looms in Iraq War
March 27, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Koreas-After-Iraq.html
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- If the United States ever threatens to bomb North Korea's nuclear facilities, one South Korean activist says he would try to send so-called ``human shields'' of civilians to protect the site from attack.
It's a whimsical idea: getting permission to enter North Korea is tough, even for its few sympathizers, and the Yongbyon nuclear complex is one of the most restricted military areas in a nation where travel is circumscribed.
Still, activist Ko Young-dae's improbable plan is an example of how some Koreans are beginning to think about -- and brace for -- a conflict in their region once the war in Iraq ends and the United States focuses on North Korea's suspected efforts to develop nuclear weapons.
``Our human shield plan is a way to stop a war from breaking out on the Korean Peninsula,'' Ko said.
The United States seeks a diplomatic solution to the nuclear dispute, but has not ruled out a military option. U.S. officials say they consult closely with South Korea, an ally that fiercely opposes military action against the North because of the threat of widespread destruction.
``There will be no war on the Korean Peninsula as long as we do not want a war,'' South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said Wednesday. He was quoted by his office.
Some analysts believe the standoff with North Korea is essentially on hold now that the Iraq conflict is underway. The North had staged a series of military maneuvers that were seen as attempts to goad the United States into talks, but has been quiet since U.S.-led forces attacked Iraq last week.
``North Korea had hurried to try to bring the United States to talks before the Iraq war. They missed the timing, and are now just observing the situation,'' said Koh Yu-hwan, professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul.
``North Korea believes that no matter what it does, the United States does not have time to pay attention,'' he said. ``It also fears the international community would turn its back on it if it crossed the red line now.''
The so-called ``red line'' is widely perceived as a possible decision to start reprocessing spent fuel rods at Yongbyon that could yield enough plutonium to make several nuclear bombs within months. North Korea earlier reactivated a 5-megawatt nuclear reactor, but U.S. officials say any tampering with the fuel rods is a more immediate threat.
For now, North Korea appears to be hunkering down, announcing on Wednesday that it was pulling out of weekly military meetings with the U.S.-led U.N. Command at the border village of Panmunjom. It also canceled a round of economic talks with South Korea that were scheduled for this week.
North Korea has complained bitterly about U.S.-South Korean exercises now underway in the South, saying they are a preparation for war. But one analyst said the drills may have deterred further Northern military actions like the March 2 interception of a U.S. military surveillance plane.
``The timing of the exercise here, coinciding with the start of the (Iraq) war, has probably helped to reinforce the message that the U.S. really wants to focus on the situation in Iraq, but that it's also prepared for other contingencies,'' said Scott Snyder, head of the Asia Foundation office in Seoul.
Chung Jong-wook, former national security adviser to the presidential Blue House in the 1990s, said North Korea could try to develop nuclear weapons rather than wait for the United States to come to the negotiating table. Washington believes North Korea already has one or two atomic bombs.
``Perhaps we are in for a more serious situation,'' said Chung, comparing the confrontation to a 1994 crisis over North Korea's nuclear site. ``North Korea may be moving very fast to make it fait accompli before the end of the war in Iraq.''
That depends on how long the war lasts, and whether North Korea is technically capable and politically willing to push ahead rapidly with nuclear weapons development. But the fear that it could do so remains constant, however much the world is focused on Iraq.
Ko, the activist, says he will urge U.S., European and Japanese activists to try to go to Pyongyang if war looms. But he's fuzzy on the details of who will go, and when, and how.
``Our plan will materialize more clearly after the U.S. war on Iraq ends,'' he said.
-------- russia
Russia successfully launches test ICBM
AFP
Thursday March 27, 2003
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/030327/1/39h5l.html
The Russian military successfully launched a test intercontinental ballistic missile from its northwestern Plisetsk base, military officials said.
The Topol rocket, which was 18 years old, was fired at the Kamchatka peninsula, the usual target for most Russian intercontinental test sights.
"It was a complete success," one military official told AFP.
The military stressed that the launch was in no way linked with the United States' decision to launch the Iraqi war.
"This has nothing to do with it. It has nothing to do with Iraq," an officer at the Russian Strategic Missile Forces press service told AFP by telephone.
"This has been in the planning for months," the official said.
Russia bitterly opposed strikes on Iraq, with President Vladimir Putin taking a tough stance against the war in recent days.
Analysts have interpreted Putin's comments to mean that there has been a rupture in Moscow's relations with Washington sparked by the war.
When contacted by AFP earlier, a Russian military space agency official had refused to answer whether the test had been planned before or after the US-British military attack on Iraq.
Officials said the Topol launch from Plisetsk was the 79th launch of this type of rocket since 1981.
----
Tiny Moldova Could Block Nuclear Waste Shipments
March 27, 2003
(ENS)
http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2003/2003-03-27-01.asp
MOSCOW, Russia, Representatives of environmental groups from across Europe and Japan are lobbying the members of the Parliament of Moldova who today debated ratification of an agreement on the transportation of nuclear waste between Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Bulgaria. The other three countries have already approved the agreement. Once ratified in Moldova, the agreement will allow nuclear waste transports through the four countries for the next 10 years.
Moldova, the second smallest of the former Soviet states with a population of 4.7 million, would be a transit country for nuclear transports between Bulgaria and Russia. Earlier this month, Moldova's Cabinet of Ministers adopted the draft bill authorizing ratification of the agreement on transit of nuclear waste through Moldova.
According to the head of the Moldovian Environmental Movement, Aleku Renitze, ratification of the nuclear waste transport agreement threatens environment, security and public health in Moldova.
Some 100 representatives of environmental groups from Russia, Moldova, Ukraine, Romania, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium, and Japan, as well as several members of the European Parliament, urged Moldova' parliamentarians to reject the agreement on nuclear transportation.
A campaign of faxes and emails to Moldova's Parliament organized by environmental groups Russian Ecodefense and Moldovian SalvaEco has been operating since Monday. In a letter to Moldovian lawmakers, the environmentalists point out that nuclear shipments could be targeted by terrorists or thieves.
Their statement addressed to Moldova's Parliament says, "Ratification of the agreement on nuclear transportation may lead to serious environmental and security problems as for Moldova as for Russia. Trains with nuclear waste are vulnerable to terrorist attack. Moreover, transportation creates numerous opportunities for theft of radioactive material that may lead to nuclear proliferation."
The environmentalists have been successful in preventing these waste shipments in the past. In 1998, under pressure of environmental groups from Russia and Bulgaria, Moldova's Parliament rejected a similar agreement on nuclear transportation. As a result, transportation of Bulgarian radioactive waste to Russia was suspended between 1998 and 2001.
In 1999, Bulgaria agreed to close four aging Soviet built nuclear reactors at Kozloduy, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the Bulgarian capital Sofia. Under the agreement, the two oldest reactors, dating from the mid-1970s, will be closed this year. Reactors 3 and 4, which came online in 1979-81, will close by 2006, although no exact date has been set. In return the European Union agreed to provide financial help so that Bulgaria can continue to operate the remaining two Kozloduy reactors. Nearly half of all Bulgarian electricity is generated by nuclear reactors.
Russia wants to import the nuclear waste generated in Bulgaria by the Kozloduy reactors and reprocess the spent fuel at its Mayak facility in Siberia. The anti-nuclear activists warn that would be dangerous for Russian citizens.
"For Russia the import of nuclear waste only means new threats to the environment and public health," the environmentalists wrote in their statement to Moldova's Parliament.
"Bringing nuclear waste from Bulgaria to Russia means that train would make several thousands of kilometers through four countries which keep its railroads in bad technical condition," said Vladimir Slivyak, co-chairman of Ecodefense, the Russian group that organized the fax campaign on Moldova' Parliament.
"Usually, these countries offer poorly trained guards that never dealt with nuclear materials. All that increases the threat of accident with radioactive release during nuclear transportation," Slivyak warned.
Mayak, Russia's only nuclear reprocessing plant, needs fundamental reconstruction that would cost $400 to 600 million. According to Mayak Director Vitaly Sadovnikov, if those funds not found, Mayak would close down in 3-5 years, the activists informed the Moldovan legislators.
Citing UN experts that call the Mayak facility the most radioactively contaminated place on Earth, the activists asked the lawmakers to "give no support for anti-democratic action of Russian government and reject proposed agreement on nuclear transportation."
Slivyak calls spent nuclear fuel reprocessing "environmentally harmful, economically unprofitable and politically controversial." It must be halted," he said.
But on January 16, Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin pledged to promote parliamentary ratification of the nuclear waste transport agreement. The promise was made during a visit of Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov to Moldova.
The two leaders agreed that Moldova will consult with Bulgaria on the process of EU integration, in which Sofia is far more advanced. Moldovan authorities say this is the year to negotiate an agreement of association to the European Union as the first step toward accession.
The European Union is admitting 10 new countries next year and is in accession negotiations with three others, including Bulgaria.
-------- u.s. nuc weapons
Colo. judge rules against unusual defense in nuclear missile vandalism
State News of National Interest
March 27, 2003
Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-State-Spotlight.html
DENVER (AP) -- A judge ruled that three nuns accused of vandalizing a Minuteman III nuclear missile silo can't use a Nuremberg defense at trial. The three cut down fences at the silo, defaced it with their blood and pounded it with hammers. The defense claimed the missile is a first-strike weapon prohibited by international law and the nuns tried to prevent crimes against humanity.
-------- u.s. nuc facilities
-------- new york
Simultaneous Attacks an Issue for Indian Point, Agency Says
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS,
March 27, 2003
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/28/nyregion/28INDI.html
WHITE PLAINS - Emergency planning around the Indian Point nuclear power plant should consider the threat of simultaneous terrorist attacks on the reactors and on the area around them, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said today.
In a report requested by Representative Sue Kelly, a Republican whose district includes the plant, the agency said that planners should consider "other terrorist attacks occurring simultaneously" with an attack on the nuclear plant.
Since the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, the power plant, about 35 miles from Midtown Manhattan, in Buchanan, N.Y., has been seen as a potential target. Some residents have voiced fears that if terrorists attacked Indian Point, they may also attack the bridges and roads that would normally serve as escape routes.
Ms. Kelly, who has called for a shutdown of the plant until questions about evacuation plans can be put to rest, had asked FEMA to address the impact of terrorism on emergency planning, among other issues. Her request came after Richard A. Meserve, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, criticized a state-commissioned report on emergency plans for Indian Point. Mr. Meserve said last month that the report "appears to give undue weight to the impact of potential acts of terrorism."
A lack of faith in the evacuation plans has prompted hundreds of officials to call for a shutdown of the plant. The four counties closest to Indian Point and the state emergency office have refused to certify the plans as up-to-date. They have cited the state-commissioned report, by James Lee Witt, a former FEMA director, which concluded that emergency planning for the communities around the plant was inadequate.
The new report said that the N.R.C. had informed the federal emergency agency that "the type of radiological release that could result from a terrorist attack would not be greater or faster than those already addressed" in emergency planning.
"That, however, would be independent of simultaneous terrorist acts that many have raised as new planning concerns," the report said.
The report defends much of the current plan, insisting it takes into account several "worst-case scenarios" like a quick release of radiation and airplane crashes at the plant.
The federal emergency agency is trying to get enough information from the state and the counties to decide whether emergency plans for the plant are adequate. It has set a May 2 deadline for cooperation. Otherwise, it will report to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that it cannot assure the public's health and safety.
Representative Kelly was not satisfied with FEMA's response, calling it "bureaucratic lip service."
"FEMA says it agrees that terrorism should be a factor in planning, but provides absolutely no specific steps being taken to protect our community," she said. "FEMA says it is providing guidance to local officials, but since the Witt report was released, local officials do not feel they are getting the help they need."
The federal emergency agency also takes issue in its latest report with Mr. Witt's statements about how people will respond to a radiation release. Mr. Witt said in his report that current plans appeared to be "based on the premise that people will comply with official government directions rather than acting in accordance with what they perceive to be their best interests." The agency said it believed "that if government messages are clear and concise and are provided by highly trusted figures, most people will follow those directions."
At several points in the latest 12-page report from the agency and in a cover letter from the acting regional director, Joseph Picciano, FEMA emphasized its need for help from the local and state governments.
"We continue to rely on the state to serve as a partner and a facilitator of this effort," Mr. Picciano said.
-------- us nuc waste
NRC RELEASES EVALUATION OF EFFECTS OF BALTIMORE TUNNEL FIRE ON RAIL TRANSPORTATION OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL
NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs
Telephone: 301/415-8200
Washington, DC 20555-0001
E-mail: opa@nrc.gov www.nrc.gov
No. 03-039
March 27, 2003
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2003/03-039.html
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has released the results of two studies that calculated the potential effects of the Baltimore tunnel fire in July 2001 on a transportation cask carrying spent nuclear fuel. The studies concluded that the spent fuel transportation cask studied, when subjected to similar fire conditions, would not release radioactive materials, and public health and safety would be protected.
Following the derailment of a CSX freight train inside the Howard Street tunnel in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 18, 2001, the Commission directed the NRC staff to determine if current regulations for transporting spent fuel by rail provide adequate assurance that cask designs could withstand the fire conditions experienced in the tunnel after a tank car carrying approximately 28,600 gallons of liquid tripropylene ruptured and caught fire. (No nuclear materials were involved in the incident.)
The staff coordinated with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), with assistance from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analysis (CNWRA), and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to calculate the thermal conditions in the tunnel during the accident. NIST calculated fire temperatures as high as 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit in the narrow flaming region of the fire. The hot gas layer above the cars, within three rail-car lengths of the fire, averaged 900 degrees F. The tunnel ceiling directly above the fire reached 1,500 degrees F, while three car lengths away the ceiling temperature reached 750 degrees F. These results were confirmed by a separate analysis conducted by CNWRA by examining the damage to box cars and tanker cars removed from the tunnel after the fire.
The NRC staff, along with thermal analysis experts at PNNL, developed a model to test two different scenarios involving a spent fuel transportation cask. In the first scenario, the cask was assumed to be located one rail car's length (about 65 feet) away from the source of the fire; NRC and Department of Transportation regulations require such a buffer zone between spent fuel casks and other cars carrying hazardous materials. In the second scenario, the cask was assumed to be 16 feet from the source of the fire, even though such close proximity would be extremely unlikely. Both scenarios were calculated through 150 hours of fire exposure at maximum temperatures, even though the liquid trypropylene fuel in the actual Howard Street tunnel fire is believed to have burned for only about three hours.
The staff's analysis indicated there would be no failure of the structural components of the transport cask, and no failure of the canister containing the spent fuel inside the transportation cask. Overall, the staff concluded that there would be no release of radioactive materials from such a hypothetical event.
The documents released by NRC include SECY-03-0002, summarizing the staff's research and findings, along with two attachments: NIST's "Numerical Simulation of the Howard Street Tunnel Fire, Baltimore, Maryland, July 2001," and CNWRA's "Analysis of Rail Car Components Exposed to a Tunnel Fire Environment." They are available online through the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), accession numbers ML030840076, ML030280369, and ML023460584. ADAMS may be accessed through the NRC's web page at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. For help using ADAMS, contact the agency's Public Document Room at (800) 397-4209.
-------- us politics
Kucinich Calls for Immediate End to War
From: "Kucinich Campaign" <info@kucinich.us>
Date: Friday, March 28, 2003
Today, at a press conference on Capitol Hill, Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), who leads opposition to the war in Iraq, issued the following statement:
"This Administration has never made its case for war against Iraq. It is an unjustified war, which the Administration continues to misrepresent and exaggerate. The most recent example is the Administration's characterization of international coalition support for this war."
"This morning, President Bush once again exaggerated the extent of support for the war stating that the coalition of countries supporting this war is larger than the 1991 Gulf War. What Bush failed to mention was that back in 1991, all of the 34 coalition members offered military force, by contributing troops on the ground, aircraft, ships or medics. "
"This war involves the troops of only the U.S., Britain, Australia, Poland and Albania. Not even the three members of the Security Council that support the war, Spain, Italy, and Bulgaria are committing military support."
"This Bush Administration has been adding coalition member to their list based on statements of "moral" support. As the Washington Post reported last week, if this type of criteria was used back in 1991, the size of the coalition would likely have topped 100 countries."
"Further, the total cost of the Gulf War to the United States was around $4 billion dollars. This time, the President has come to Congress requesting a $75 billion bill, all of which will be paid by U. S. taxpayers. Clearly, military and economic support from countries is far more important than statements of 'well-wishes'."
"This war must end now. It was unjust when it started last week, and is still unjust today. The U.S. should get out now and try to save the lives of American troops and Iraqi citizens. Most importantly, ending the war now and resuming weapons inspections could salvage world opinion of the United States, which has been deteriorating since the talk of war began. After all, the greatest threat to the United States at this time is terrorism, which is breeding from this war."
Congressman Kucinich will issue daily statements on the war in Iraq. Please pass these statements on to your friends. Help empower America's leading spokesperson for peaceful resolution of international conflict. Please visit http://www.kucinich.us now to contribute to the presidential campaign. Your financial help will spread the message and enable a new vision for America to be brought forward.
----end message from Kucinich for President Campaign Office [see above site for local events, eg, Los Angeles DK speech Apr.5]
Join Kucinich4President support and discussion group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Kucinich4President
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U.S. Mongolian Diplomat Resigns Over Iraq
Thu Mar 27, 2003
By MICHAEL KOHN,
Associated Press Writer
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=542&e=84&u=/ap/20030327/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/war_diplomat_resigns_2
ULAN BATOR, Mongolia - A senior diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Mongolia has resigned in protest over Washington's decision to wage war in Iraq and U.S. policy toward the Middle East and North Korea.
Ann Wright, who as deputy chief of mission was the embassy's second-in-command, also criticized the "unnecessary curtailment of civil rights" in the United States since Sept. 11.
"I believe the administration's policies are making the world a more dangerous, not a safer, place," she said in a resignation letter addressed to Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Wright said Thursday she sent the letter March 19, the day before the U.S.- and British-led attack on Iraq began. She planned to leave Mongolia in early April.
An embassy spokesman in Ulan Bator declined comment.
Wright, 56, is at least the second American diplomat to resign in protest over policy toward Iraq. John Brady Kiesling, a political counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Athens, stepped down March 7.
In her letter, Wright said that by taking military action without U.N. Security Council backing, the United States could trigger a backlash in the Arab world.
"This pre-emptive attack policy will ... provide justification for individuals and groups to `pre-emptively attack' America and American citizens," the letter says.
She also cited what she called the Bush administration's "lack of effort" in trying to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its lack of contacts with North Korea amid tensions over the North's nuclear program.
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Perle resigns from Defense Policy Board
By TIM JOHNSON
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Thu, Mar. 27, 2003
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/5498573.htm
WASHINGTON - Richard Perle, one of the architects of the U.S. war on Iraq, resigned on Thursday from his post as chairman of the influential Defense Policy Board amid calls from Congress for a probe of his business dealings.
A sudden controversy over Perle's private lobbying efforts brought down the 61-year-old hawk, who was once styled as the "prince of darkness" for his pro-military, anti-arms treaty views.
Perle, a former assistant secretary of defense, sent a brief letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld saying he would quit as chairman because he could not "quickly or easily quell the criticism."
In a brief statement, Rumsfeld called Perle "a man of integrity and honor" and said he asked Perle to remain a member of the voluntary board, which advises the administration on major matters of defense policy.
Perle has become embroiled in criticism over his lobbying efforts on behalf of Global Crossing, a telecommunications company emerging from bankruptcy. Some branches of the Bush administration oppose the sale of the firm to Hutchison Whampoa, a Chinese conglomerate, as a possible threat to national security.
The FBI and other agencies say the Global Crossing sale to Hutchison Whampoa would give the Hong Kong-based company control of the world's most extensive fiber optic network and allow it to oversee existing contracts for secure Pentagon communications. Hutchison Whampoa is alleged to have many dealings with front companies for the People's Liberation Army in China.
A senior Democratic legislator, Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, asked on Tuesday for the Pentagon to investigate Perle's business dealings. Since then, the request appeared to be picking up support from a growing bipartisan list of legislators.
"I have seen controversies like this before," Perle wrote in his letter to Rumsfeld. "And I know that this one will inevitably distract from the urgent challenge in which you are now engaged. I would not wish to cause even a moment's distraction from that challenge."
Perle's letter said he has agreed to forgo compensation if the sale of Global Crossing to the Chinese concern goes through.
According to bankruptcy papers, Perle was to receive a total payment of $725,000 for his advisory work, $650,000 of which would be contingent on the sale going through.
Perle said he would turn over fees already received "to the families of American forces killed or injured in Iraq."
As chair of the Defense Policy Board, Perle sat with more than a dozen other former government officials to offer advice on planning and "major matters of defense policy."
Among those on the board are former national security advisers Henry Kissinger and Richard Allen, former defense secretaries Harold Brown and James Schlesinger, former Vice President Dan Quayle, former Secretary of State George P. Shultz and former CIA Director James Woolsey.
Perle is among a group of neo-conservatives inside and outside the Bush administration that pressed hard for military action to topple Saddam Hussein, envisioning that such action would re-order the Middle East. They call for aggressive use of pre-emptive military action to defend U.S. national interests, and to change regimes that may threaten the United States.
Some members of the group were highly critical of the Clinton administration for accepting campaign donations that allegedly came from China.
They also attacked the Clinton administration for not attempting to block the 1999 sale of container ports at both ends of the Panama Canal to Hutchison Whampoa, saying it would give China undue control of the waterway.
----
Hands Out for Shares of War Budget
March 27, 2003
The New York Times
By DAVID FIRESTONE and PHILIP SHENON
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/27/politics/27COST.html
WASHINGTON, March 26 - President Bush's request for money to pay for the war in Iraq became a magnet on Capitol Hill today, with competing groups seeking money for a host of indirectly related issues.
Democrats said they wanted considerably more money for domestic security needs than the president had proposed, and administration officials said they would probably have to give in to the pressure. Airlines and their supporters asked for money to help the troubled industry, and Republican senators said that was a strong possibility. And the chairman of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks asked for money to be added to the spending bill to keep his panel from running out of money in a few months.
The $74.7 billion bill is immensely attractive to members of Congress because it has to pass in the next two weeks to pay for the war, and thus any measure attached to it has to pass as well. President Bush himself added two nonmilitary items to his request: $4.2 billion in domestic security money and $8 billion in foreign aid. Both he and House Republicans warned that they did not want partisan squabbling over the security money to hold up approval of the bill, and that the bill should not become the source of pork-barrel spending for lawmakers.
But Democratic leaders in both houses said more money would have to be spent on domestic security.
"We have felt from the beginning that the homeland security commitment, not only this year but next year, is inadequate," said Senator Tom Daschle, the Democratic leader. "I just had a conference call with a number of mayors a couple of days ago, and they are very concerned about the implications of the costs that they are incurring as it relates to increased need for security at home. So we need to reflect those concerns."
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York proposed that government spending on domestic security be equal to 10 percent of the amount being spent on the war, which would mean increasing the amount to at least $7 billion. Mrs. Clinton said in an interview today that about $900 million of that amount should be set aside for the high-security needs of New York City.
Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York proposed an even larger amount, $10.8 billion.
Senator Bill Frist, the Republican leader, said he would not be surprised if more domestic security money made it into the final bill.
Administration officials acknowledged today that they would probably have to give in to the Congressional pressure and accept billions of dollars in additional spending for the Department of Homeland Security and related domestic security programs, both in the wartime budget request sent to Congress this week and in the overall budget for the 2004 fiscal year.
A senior administration official who is involved in budget negotiations over the Department of Homeland Security conceded that the White House was feeling pressure from Republicans as well as Democrats on Capitol Hill for a sharp increase in spending on domestic security beyond the amount sought in the emergency budget request.
"I think we can block these big, unnecessary spending increases for homeland security that are being sought by the Democrats," a senior administration official said. "But I can't deny that there is pressure on us to revisit our budget for homeland security. Some additional money will probably be appropriate."
Nonetheless, many Republicans said they would try to resist the use of the domestic security label as a vehicle for disguised pork-barrel spending. "The president should be given just what he asked for," said Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, a member of the Republican leadership. "To give homeland security money out everywhere in the country is not fair to the areas with high threat levels, and we'd be enriching some communities that frankly don't need the money. What we don't want is for this to become another form of revenue sharing."
The Sept. 11 commission, which is charged with investigating the causes of the attacks, was given $3 million when it was established by Congress last year, but Thomas H. Kean, the former New Jersey governor who is the panel's chairman, said it would run out of that money by late summer. The commission has hired about 50 staff members and rented offices, Mr. Kean said, and needs another $11 million to do its job.
Noting that the commission recently established to investigate the space shuttle disaster was given $50 million, Mr. Kean said he asked the White House to include the money in the war spending request but was turned down.
"We thought it was a logical fit there, but from their point of view, they wanted to keep the bill totally focused on the war," he said. "We hope that Congress will help us out."
Scott McClellan, a White House spokesman, said the administration supported the request but was looking for methods other than the war bill for supplying the money. Congressional officials said they had just learned of the request and did not know whether it would be included in the final spending bill.
Republicans in the Senate said they would try to add $1.5 billion to the bill to help the airline industry, but one leading House Republican said he was reluctant to begin adding such items to the bill.
"I hope it does not get more expensive," said Representative Tom DeLay, the House Republican leader. "If we're going to do it, I feel we need to keep it as clean as possible, and as close to what the president has asked for. You start adding things to the supplemental, and it will seriously inhibit our ability to get something to the president's desk."
----
War and taxes
Alan Reynolds,
March 27, 2003
Townhall.com
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/alanreynolds/ar20030327.shtml
Will the president's tax plan be counted among the first casualties of war?
A week after stocks staged a prematurely optimistic war rally, the Dow retreated 307 points in just one day, back to 8214.
That was up from the prewar blues, but it is still awful. After all, the Dow bottomed at 8236 shortly after the horror of Sep. 11, 2001. And the Dow was a thousand points higher last June, before Congress promised to "restore investor confidence" by burdening business with new regulatory and legal risks. Surprisingly, the latest setback occurred despite the fact that Coalition troops took control of Iraq's largest oil fields, pushing oil prices back below $30.
The stock market and military setbacks were immediately followed by a setback for the president's tax plan in the Senate. Only four days after decisively rejecting by 62 to 38 a proposal to shrink the 10-year tax cut to $350 billion, more than a dozen senators suddenly changed their minds about that. The president's plan would otherwise have "cost" about $663 billion ($388 billion from eliminating the second individual tax on dividends), according to the Congressional Budget Office, although serious newspapers have been uncritically echoing an unserious $726 billion figure.
The wayward senators seized upon the president's request for an extra $75 billion for temporary war-related expenses as a handy excuse for permanently trimming the tax cut by more than $300 billion. Nobody who passed the fourth-grade math could fall for that story.
You have to wonder if those senators would have been so fickle about suddenly withdrawing support for the president's tax plan if news from Iraq and the stock exchange had not just as suddenly turned against the president. A timely cut in tax rates and dividend taxes would boost investor and consumer spirits, and the resulting stock market rally would boost the president's clout with Congress -- and such presidential popularity would make it professionally risky for any senator to oppose sensible cuts in tax rates and dividend taxes. But that chain suddenly has a weak link: the Senate.
Another weak link is the fact that supporters and critics of the president's plan keep talking as though estimated revenue is all that matters, regardless of which tax is cut or how or why. What should be a thoughtful examination of the cost and benefit of each item in the tax package -- and perhaps adding a few other improvements -- has degenerated into a primitive Keynesian feud over its sheer size.
There are odds and ends in the president's package that have no meaningful impact on marginal incentives and could harmlessly be postponed. Accelerating the marriage penalty scheme, a 66 percent increase in the child credit, enlarging the 10 percent tax bracket and the AMT exemption -- together these account for $242 billion, nearly 40 percent of the Treasury's estimate of the total.
Letting such warm and fuzzy social policies take place gradually, as they will under the 2001 tax law, would certainly not be "a large economic setback." Yet even carving out that $242 billion would not meet the Senate's super-frugal standard. You can bet that the senators favoring the tight dollar cap are the same ones who would vote to keep the ineffective fuzzy stuff and discard the economic substance. And you can also bet that not one of them is nearly as frugal when it comes to spending the taxpayers' money as they are when it comes to letting taxpayers keep it. American families, farms and firms have budget problems, too.
From a supply-side (i.e., correct) perspective, only two parts of the Bush tax plan really matter -- cutting marginal tax rates now rather than later and ending or at least easing the double tax on dividends. Accelerating the tax rate reductions has only a small and temporary negative effect on tax revenues, well below $100 billion even on a foolishly static basis. Taxing dividends the same as capital gains could also be accomplished with little or no long-term revenue loss, particularly if dynamic benefits to the economy are considered.
There are numerous other tax changes that would be extremely helpful with no visible loss in revenue. One such free lunch would be killing the inexcusable corporate alternative minimum tax, which aggravates recessions by taxing unreal profits but subsequently returns the loot with tax credits during boom times. Another cheap fix would be eliminating the tax penalty on short-term capital gains, which is easily avoided with clever timing but which nonetheless hurts savings and the market by making stocks less liquid and more risky.
Chronic ignorance about such complex microeconomic incentives is the flip side of the simplistic macroeconomic alchemy of pretending to smooth-out the inevitable ups and downs of business through expert manipulation of budget deficits. Liberal Keynesians claimed budget deficits were a "fiscal stimulus" and surpluses a "fiscal drag." Conservative Keynesians made the opposite argument with equal ardor, claiming budget deficits raised interest rates while surpluses added to savings and investment.
Ironically, today's liberals sound like yesterday's conservatives. In a 1992 Wall Street Journal op-ed, I called President Clinton's economic advisers "Eisenhower Democrats." That label made Clinton scream at his staff, according to Bob Woodward. But it was just intended to highlight the contradictory irrelevance of both liberal and conservative versions of Keynesian demand-management.
When Chicago economist Robert E. Lucas Jr. was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1995, they called him "the economist who has had the greatest influence on macroeconomic research since 1970." When the most influential macroeconomist of the past three decades talks it is smart to listen.
In January, Lucas presented a typically decisive paper on "Macroeconomic Priorities." He found that "there remain important gains in welfare from ... providing people with better incentives to work and save, not from better fine tuning of spending flows." He added that "the potential for welfare gains from better long-run, supply side policies exceeds by far the potential from further improvements in short-run demand management."
By contrast, President Bush's Keynesian critics, such as Paul Krugman of The New York Times, pretend that what we need is more short-run demand management, better fine-tuning of spending, rather than long-run supply-side policies to improve incentives to work and save. Keynesian diehards eschew policies that are known to work and promote policies that are sure to fail.
Veteran Washington Post columnist David Broder observed two year ago that "this year, as in 1981, you can see congressional Democrats recalculating how far they have to bend their principles and suppress their doubts in order to avoid being caught on the losing side of the tax debate." If your party keeps losing such debates, year after year, and also keeps losing elections, perhaps it is time to consider the possibility that you just might be wrong.
Broder, whose musings are often enlightening on other topics, will keep his job no matter how frequently he offers terrible economic advice. Senators using budgetary excuses to obstruct lower tax rates and lower dividend taxes, despite nearly three years of economic and investor disappointment, may need to be gently reminded before it's too late that they cannot be equally confident about their own job security.
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Senate Approves $2.2 Trillion Budget
March 27, 2003
The New York Times
By DAVID E. ROSENBAUM
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/27/politics/27BUDG.html
WASHINGTON, March 26 - The Senate today approved a $2.2 trillion budget for the next fiscal year, leaving intact the vote on Tuesday to slice President Bush's proposed tax cut in half.
Republican leaders considered offering amendments today to restore some or all of the tax cut, but they dropped the idea when it was clear they lacked the votes to succeed.
The vote on Tuesday was one of Mr. Bush's most serious political setbacks. Three Republicans joined the Democrats in voting against the president.
Those who voted against the full tax cut said it was irresponsible, given the large budget deficits and the unknown costs of the war in Iraq.
The budget measure, a nonbinding resolution that sets limits on the spending and tax legislation Congress will consider for the rest of the year, now goes to a Senate-House conference committee that will be dominated by allies of the president.
The House voted this month to allow the full $726 billion in tax cuts the president proposed in what he called his economic growth package. The Senate measure would lower the limit to $350 billion.
That resolution was approved today, 56 to 44, on a vote that mostly followed party lines. Only six Democrats voted for it - John B. Breaux and Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana, Max Baucus of Montana, Evan Bayh of Indiana, Zell Miller of Georgia and Ben Nelson of Nebraska. One Republican, John McCain of Arizona, and the independent, James M. Jeffords of Vermont, voted against it.
Neither side was completely happy with the measure. Democrats maintained that even half of the president's proposed tax cut was too much given the large budget deficit, the approaching retirement of the baby boom generation and the uncertain costs of the war.
"At the same time we are asking our young people to fight a war for our security," said Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the Democratic leader, "Republicans are passing a budget that will force those same young people to pay the bill for their recklessness."
Many Republicans said they were voting for it reluctantly. The Budget Committee chairman, Senator Don Nickles, Republican of Oklahoma, said: "This growth package is not what I want. I think it's about half a loaf. That's better than none."
Tonight, the White House issued this statement from Mr. Bush: "It is unfortunate that the full Senate has failed to pass a budget that provides for my entire economic growth and job creation plan. The House budget took the bold steps necessary to boost our economy, and we will work to ensure that the final House-Senate budget provides the growth measures American workers deserve."
Representative Jim Nussle, the Iowa Republican who will lead the House conferees on the budget resolution, said negotiations would probably begin in earnest next week. "Certainly our opening bid is the House version," Mr. Nussle said.
The final tax figure will be the most important element of the budget resolution because it will set the limit on how much the Senate can approve in tax cuts, which under the rules will not be subject to filibuster.
The president actually proposed a total of $1.5 trillion in tax cuts, and the plan approved today would allow $852 billion. But much of that is outside the limit protected from a filibuster. Cuts beyond the specified limit are problematic because they would probably require 60 votes in the Senate to break a filibuster.
Generally, the resolution sets guidelines for the tax and spending legislation Congress will consider for the year. The details are left to the actual tax and spending bills.
The resolution adopted today would allow $791 billion to be spent in fiscal year 2004, which begins Oct. 1, on everything for which Congress provides annual appropriations - from fighter jets to paper clips.
That figure is 2.5 percent higher than the amount allocated this fiscal year. But it includes no money for the war in Iraq and the occupation and redevelopment afterward.
President Bush has declined to say how much will be needed in the next fiscal year for the war and subsequent expenses in Iraq. The $75 billion he requested from Congress this week covers costs for six months.
The Senate vote to reduce the president's tax cut complicated Republican plans to begin work on the actual tax legislation. The House Ways and Means Committee had planned to write a tax bill this week and put it to the full House for a vote next week, but this schedule was abandoned because the lawmakers are no longer certain how large a tax cut will be permitted.
"I have to have a solid number I can write to," said Representative Bill Thomas, the California Republican who is chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
The debate on the budget measure began March 17, and the Senate took 51 roll call votes. On one last week, the Senate essentially blocked drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, another political defeat for the president, who made new exploration in Alaska a central element of his energy policy.
In theory, the measure holds in reserve $400 billion over 10 years for a prescription drug plan under Medicare and $100 billion to pay expenses in Iraq, but those set-asides do not carry the force of law.
Also in theory, the resolution would lead to a balanced budget in 2012. But the spending limits set for the fiscal years 2009 through 2012 are so low that many budget experts consider them unrealistic.
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Key Rumsfeld Adviser Perle Resigns Post
March 27, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Perle-Resignation.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former Pentagon official Richard Perle resigned Thursday as chairman of a group that advises Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on policy issues, saying he did not want a controversy over his business dealings to distract from Rumsfeld's management of the war in Iraq.
In a brief statement, Rumsfeld thanked Perle for his service and said he was grateful that the former Reagan administration official had agreed to remain a board member. Rumsfeld made no reference to a reason for Perle giving up the chairmanship.
Perle said he was stepping aside voluntarily.
``I have seen controversies like that before and I know that this one will inevitably distract from the urgent challenge in which you are now engaged,'' Perle wrote in a resignation letter.
In the letter, made public by the Pentagon and dated March 26, Perle assured Rumsfeld that he had abided by rules applying to members of the Defense Policy Board. He has been chairman of the board since July 2001. The position is unpaid but is subject to government ethics rules that prohibit using public office for private gain.
The controversy centers on Perle's deal with bankrupt Global Crossing Ltd. to win government approval of its purchase by a joint venture of two Asian firms. Perle would receive $725,000 for his work, including $600,000 if the government approves the deal, according to lawyers and others involved in the bankruptcy case.
The deal is under review by a government group that includes representatives from the Defense Department.
Perle denied any wrongdoing.
``The guiding principle here is that you do not give advice in the Defense Policy Board on any particular matter in which you have an interest,'' Perle said in a recent interview. ``And I don't do that. I haven't done that.''
The Defense Policy Board is a bipartisan group that advises the secretary of defense on a wide range of policy issues. Its 30 members are a mix of former military and government officials. They include former CIA Director James Woolsey, former Vice President Dan Quayle, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former Air Force Chief of Staff Ronald Fogleman.
Perle wrote in his resignation letter that he could not ``quickly or easily quell criticism'' in the Global Crossing controversy, adding that it was ``based on errors of fact.''
Nonetheless, he wrote, ``I would not wish to cause even a moment's distraction from'' the war effort.
Perle said he was advising Global Crossing that he would not accept any compensation from the pending sale and that any fee for his past services would be donated to the families of American forces killed or injured in Iraq.
In his written statement, Rumsfeld thanked Perle for his service.
``He has been an excellent chairman and has led the Defense Policy Board during an important time in our history,'' Rumsfeld said. ``I should add that I have known Richard Perle for many years and know him to be a man of integrity and honor.''
Perle was an assistant secretary of defense during the Reagan administration.
He became involved in another controversy stemming from an article in The New Yorker that said he had lunch in January with Saudi-born businessman Adnan Khashoggi and a Saudi industrialist.
The industrialist, Harb Saleh Zuhair, was interested in investing in a venture capital firm, Trireme Partners, of which Perle is a managing partner. Nothing ever came of the lunch in Marseilles; no investment was made. But the New Yorker story, written by Seymour M. Hersh, suggested that Perle, a longtime critic of the Saudi regime, was inappropriately mixing business and politics.
Perle called the report preposterous and ``monstrous.''
Perle, 61, was so strongly opposed to nuclear arms control agreements with the former Soviet Union during his days in the Reagan administration that he became known as ``the Prince of Darkness.''
-------- MILITARY
HOUSE TO HOUSE
Urban Warfare: Long a Key Part of an Underdog's Down-to-Earth Arsenal
March 27, 2003
The New York Times
By ALAN COWELL
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/27/international/worldspecial/27URBA.html
LONDON, March 26 - Each battered high-rise becomes a sniper's aerie, each deserted thoroughfare an ambush zone. In this kind of warfare, advances and retreats are measured in blocks or half-blocks, or even just houses. In the calculations of battle, the shield of technology gives way to human failings and human skills - speed and deception, close knowledge of streets and alleys.
Since Stalingrad and Berlin in World War II, to the American assault on Hue in Vietnam in 1968 and on to the war zones of Beirut or Nablus, Belfast or Mogadishu, urban warfare has become a central part of the underdog's arsenal - a fight without scruples for the high ground of propaganda that exploits civilian losses and denies the intruder's superior might.
It is precisely that messy, manipulative and murderous kind of fighting between conventional forces and elusive defenders that could confront the Americans and British as they try to enter Baghdad, despite their much-publicized reluctance to engage in a close urban brawl.
"The Iraqis will want to fight close and dirty, with Iraqi tanks darting in an out of garages and buildings; they will conduct small-scale offensive actions with dismounted soldiers supported by mortars," wrote Gen. Wesley Clark, the American former commander who led NATO forces during the Kosovo campaign in 1999.
"The fighting will be full of the tricks we have already seen and more: ambushes, fake surrenders, soldiers dressed as women, attacks on rear areas and command posts. The Iraqis will be prepared to conduct high-risk missions of a kind we would not consider," he said in an article for the Times of London.
For all that allied commanders in Iraq have expressed outrage at what they see as such dishonorable tactics, though, urban warfare has always set its own rules of guile and deceit - from the legendary use of a wooden horse at Troy over 3,000 years ago to modern times when war is broadcast live 24 hours a day.
In this post-cold-war era of asymmetric warfare - the conflict between conventional forces and zealous adversaries seeking the chinks in the high-tech Western armor - the fight has come to mean a contest to disable the technology that enables American forces to contemplate killing without losses of their own.
That was evident enough in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993 when sophisticated Black Hawk helicopter gunships were brought down by crude, shoulder-fired Soviet-era RPG-7 rocket propelled grenades - a standard item in the kit of guerrilla armies around the globe along with AK-47 assault rifles, land mines and hand grenades. Indeed, similar tactics were popularized by the Afghan guerrillas who battled the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980's, courtesy largely of more sophisticated American-supplied Stinger missiles.
The downing of the helicopters in Mogadishu not only seemed a victory for the lightly equipped Somali street fighters. It also led to humiliating American casualties, 18 dead, that hastened the United States withdrawal - just as images of wounded and slain United States marines at Hue and other battle zones of the Tet offensive in Vietnam turned American opinion against the war.
Those memories underscore the perils of street fighting that face allied troops in Iraq. History offers little solace.
In recent decades, urban warfare has taken many forms, with many aims.
When battle-hardened Soviet troops pushed into Berlin in 1945 against the last feeble remnants of the Third Reich, lofting the Red Flag over the battered Reichstag, their intention was clearly conquest, not the liberation Washington says it seeks in Iraq.
In Beirut in the mid-1970's, by contrast, and in Sarajevo in the 1990's, cities were divided along lines of faith. In Sarajevo, it was a Serbian siege against Muslim-led defenders. In Beirut, the fighting between Muslim and Palestinian forces and Christian militias began with an incongruous war for luxury seafront hotels - the St. Georges, the Phoenicia, the Palm Beach and the Normandie, won and lost in room-to-room fighting.
The weapons were generally low-tech shoulder-fired antitank grenades, assault rifles and mortars, machine guns mounted on pickup trucks that put a premium on stealth and mobility. But when American marines intervened in Lebanon, an equally crude weapon, a suicide truck bomb, killed more than 230 of them in 1983.
In Berlin, Beirut and Sarajevo - as in successive waves of Russian assaults on the Chechen capital, Grozny - the fighting reduced large urban areas to rubble. But it is precisely the familiarity of the urban terrain to those who live there that enables them to use it to the advantages of ambushes, surprise attacks and rapid redeployment.
In Iraq, urban warfare "will negate the technological advantage of the coalition," said Clifford Beal, the editor of Jane's Defense Weekly, a leading publication on military matters. "The Iraqis will be jumping in and out of alleyways, he added. "It tends to become a low-tech, house-to-house situation, and that kind of combat can become very costly for combatants and others."
A war depending on low technology and high numbers of combatants and casualties is the opposite of what most of the modern American army is trained to do. Even the British Army, with three decades of experience fighting the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland, would not be familiar either with the Iraqi terrain in cities like Basra or Baghdad or with the much greater firepower Iraqi troops could use in urban areas.
Indeed, said Tom Clonan, a military analyst in Dublin, a more likely comparison for allied troops in Iraq would be the experience of Russian troops fighting Chechen separatist forces in Grozny. "There are striking similarities between Grozny and Baghdad," he said. "Low-tech weapons would form a formidable arsenal in the narrow alleys and back streets of Iraq's capital."
Others draw comparisons to house-to-house fighting in Hue in 1968, which not only sent home bloody images of American casualties but also forced United States commanders to loosen the rules of engagement in a way the Pentagon says it is seeking to avoid in the Iraq war.
That reflects the differences in the role of public opinion for defenders and attackers in any urban warfare in Iraq, where ruthless irregulars and ultra-loyal forces would have few qualms about civilian casualties or using civilians as human shields. The United States and Britain face opinion at home that may prove fickle, constraining their ability to use overwhelming force, military analysts said.
"The allies are fighting with kid gloves on, but it'll be very difficult to keep this clinical if urban warfare ensues," said Mr. Beal of Jane's Defense Weekly. "Urban warfare takes longer. It can bog down large numbers of troops. This war is being fought on a clock. And the longer it goes on, the more carnage is seen, the more difficult it is for the Bush administration to continue."
In the region's recent history, there are some ominous parallels. When Israeli troops invaded Lebanon in 1982, they evicted Yasir Arafat from Beirut, only to find him depicting his departure as a victory, validated simply by his ability to survive superior force.
Moreover, as The Economist magazine noted last week, the Israelis' welcome was short-lived. "When Israel invaded here in 1982, we met them with showers of rice and roses," a spokesman for the Hezbollah Shiite Muslim militia in Lebanon was quoted as saying. "One hundred days later, we blew up their headquarters."
-------- africa
Briefly - Africa conflicts
March 27, 2003
Combined dispatches and staff reports
Washington Times
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20030327-75776182.htm
NIGERIA
More than 100 killed in delta region fighting
LAGOS - Ijaw militants battling soldiers and tribal foes in Nigeria's oil-rich delta region called for a cease-fire yesterday after they said state officials agreed to support their demands.
Bello Oboko, president of the militant Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities, whose fighters have spent two weeks battling government troops and rival Itsekiris, said Delta State Gov. James Ibori had agreed to help renegotiate electoral boundaries the Ijaws say favor their enemies.
At least 100 people, including 10 soldiers, have been killed in the fighting. Many witnesses say the actual death toll is far higher. Twenty-five villages - 15 Itsekiri and 10 Ijaw - either have been damaged or destroyed since fighting began March 12.
Two weeks of violence in the region, where nearly all of Nigeria's oil is located, prompted oil multinationals to evacuate their staff and cut oil exports by more than 800,000 barrels a day - 40 percent of the country's normal daily output of 2 million barrels. Nigeria is the world's sixth-largest exporter and fifth-largest source of U.S. oil imports.
LIBERIA
Rebels on 3 fronts hit Taylor government
MONROVIA - Rebels battled forces loyal to President Charles Taylor on three fronts yesterday in the most sustained effort to oust the West African country's leader this year. Defense and humanitarian sources said there was fighting close to this capital, in the central city of Gbarnga and also in towns near the eastern border with Ivory Coast. This year's dry-season offensive has been the fiercest since the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) began their war against Mr. Taylor in 2000.
The fighting is over control of diamonds, gold and timber resources, as well as deep-seated tribal enmities that were exacerbated by a seven-year civil war in the 1990s that killed 200,000 people.
LURD rebels briefly seized Gbarnga last year before being driven out. The town was Mr. Taylor's main base during the civil war that ended in 1996. He was elected president in 1997 and is expected to run again in October.
UGANDA
26 LRA guerrillas die in one week
KAMPALA - The Ugandan army said yesterday that it has killed 12 fighters of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in two separate battles in the northern district of Kitgum.
Ten of the insurgents were gunned down when a helicopter gunship fired on them in the Acholi Ranch area Tuesday, army spokesman Lt. Paddy Ankunda announced. Two other rebels were shot by ground troops in the same area, he added.
The latest combat victims bring to 26 the number of rebels killed between March 19 and March 26, Lt. Ankunda said.
The army rescued 145 civilians abducted by the LRA during the same period, he added.
The LRA has battled President Yoweri Museveni's government for 15 years, saying it seeks to enforce the biblical Ten Commandments. But the group is better known for atrocities against civilians....
-------- biological weapons
WEAPONS
U.S. Hunts for Bio-Agents and Gas at an Iraq Depot
March 27, 2003
The New York Times
By JUDITH MILLER
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/27/international/worldspecial/27INSP.html
WITH THE 75TH EXPLOITATION TASK FORCE, northern Kuwait, March 26 - American military officials have found no traces of chemical or biological agents at a sprawling Iraqi ammunition storage facility south of Baghdad, weapons experts and military officers said today.
But officials said the site at Najaf, about 90 miles south of the Iraqi capital, remained suspicious because there were several indications that chemical or germ weapons might have been made or stored there.
Of greatest interest to intelligence officials is information being provided by an Iraqi general who was a senior official there and who surrendered to American forces when they entered the complex about four days ago. Officials said the general, who claims not to have had any involvement in Iraq's chemical warfare program, told military intelligence analysts that there were special bunkers and underground tunnels in the compound that neither he nor other senior staff were permitted to enter.
In addition, a site survey team found a biological hazard sign on a wooden pallet with a crate in bunker No. 36, and markings on other crates in bunker No. 37 indicating "CN-1," which is sometimes used to identify riot control agents. They also found wax on the surface of an artillery shell, a substance used at times in shells containing chemical agents. The soldiers and experts also found 40 Soviet-style gas masks with extra filters.
Hydraulic triple-locked doors barred the entrance to some of the more than 100 bunkers in the three-square-mile complex, much of which is protected by an electrical fence and trenches.
Weapons experts said they had reached no conclusions about whether chemical or germ warfare agents or weapons were stored at the facility. "Methodically exploring a site of this size and complexity shows how painstaking and slow a meticulous survey can be," said an officer with the 75th Exploitation Task Force, a group of weapons specialists, intelligence officers, Special Forces and other experts commanded and supported by part of an Army artillery brigade based in Fort Sill, Okla.
The team's work was further delayed when American intelligence officers transferred the Iraqi general, two colonels and two majors to an undisclosed location for questioning. That decision meant that the team of experts sent to follow up on initial reports of suspected chemical or biological weapons were unable to question the Iraqi officers in person, or to have the general show the team where the off-limits parts of the facility were located.
"We have never conducted a systematic hunt for weapons of mass destruction in a combat situation on such a large scale," said one weapons expert who has studied the reports filed by the site survey team working at Najaf. "We're still feeling our way."
The site was on a list of suspected facilities compiled by weapons experts and other government officials who are hunting for weapons of mass destruction. But it was not initially visited by either the small teams of Pentagon experts who are charged with surveying suspected sites, or by those responsible for studying such facilities in greater detail.
Instead, it was entered by forces of the Army's Third Infantry Division as they pushed north toward Baghdad. Reports from the field said that some 300 Iraqis were taken prisoner at the site, and that about 30 Iraqi troops, including the general and four other senior officers, surrendered to the Americans.
The Jerusalem Post, which has a reporter with the Army forces that initially entered the site, reported at the time that an American soldier was slightly wounded by an explosive that detonated as he was trying to clear part of the facility.
On Sunday, Lt. Gen. John Abizaid of the Army confirmed that an Iraqi general and two other officers were being held and were providing information. But he added that it was too early to say whether American forces had found chemical or biological agent at the site. "Suffice it to say," he added, "that so far we haven't found any conclusive evidence."
The small teams of weapons hunters consist mainly of representatives from several different government agencies, and include explosives experts, intelligence analysts, Special Forces operatives, scientists, laboratory technicians and former nuclear and other unconventional weapons inspectors.
British planners and experts are also working with the American teams and officers of the 75th XTF, as the task force is known. For this mission, they are employing a wide range of sophisticated new technology, some of which is being tested in the field on a large scale for the first time. They agreed to discuss this and other weapons sites only if they were not identified by name.
Their equipment includes highly sensitive detectors and two transportable laboratories that can test for the presence of chemical and biological agents, identify their composition or strain and conduct DNA fingerprinting.
-------- britain
British Forces Destroy 14 Iraqi Tanks on Way Out of Basra
March 27, 2003
The New York Times
By JOHN M. BRODER
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/27/international/worldspecial/27CND-QATAR.html
CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar, March 27 - British forces encountered a column of 14 Iraqi T-55 tanks leaving Basra this morning and destroyed them in a "short, sharp engagement," British military officials said today.
The Iraqi tanks were accompanied by a small number of other vehicles, including several armored personnel carriers, which were also destroyed by a squadron of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, the officials said. The British troops took no losses, they added.
Air Marshal Bryan Burridge, commander of British forces in the gulf, said at a briefing here today that Iraqi troops in and around Basra were poorly motivated and ill-led.
He said that soldiers who had no will to fight were forced at gunpoint into military vehicles and sent in the direction of allied forces. The convoy of military vehicles appeared to have no leadership or coordination, he said.
"This is a fighting formation that really doesn't know its business," he said.
Air Marshal Burridge said that the situation in Basra remained "a very difficult and confused situation."
Allied troops surround the city but conditions inside remain desperate for civilians, many of whom have been without water and electricity for much of the past week. Baath party militia members loyal to Saddam Hussein continue to mingle with and threaten the population, he said.
"These are dangerous and determined men who need sorting out, and sorting out we will," Air Marshal Burridge said.
American and British military officers said today that Iraqi men in Basra and Najaf were forced to fight by threats against their families.
Brig. Gen. Vince Brooks, the deputy director of operations for Central Command here in Qatar, said that Iraqi fedayeen and other irregular forces are seizing children and telling fathers "they must fight" or the children "will all face execution."
General Brooks also said that units of the American V Corps had been attacked near Najaf and engaged in a 90-minute battle with Iraqi irregular forces. He said there were some American troops wounded, but he did not confirm reports that some casualties were the result of American fire.
General Brooks said that American warplanes and missiles had hit a missile production plant in Baghdad and destroyed television transmitting equipment that he said was used by the Iraqi government to communicate with military units.
In the continuing questioning of the bombing of a market in Baghdad on Wednesday, General Brooks said that coalition bombs intended to destroy surface-to-surface missiles may have killed 15 civilians. He said the investigation of the strike was not yet complete, but he raised the possibility that the deaths were caused by Iraqi air-to-surface missiles fired wildly into the air.
He also said that the Iraqis might have deliberately caused the marketplace explosion in order to blame it on American forces.
Relief aid shipments into the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr were delayed for another day after British minesweepers detected two mines beyond a channel that had already been cleared and declared safe.
Air Marshal Burridge said further mine-clearing operations would be needed before the ships carrying thousands of tons of food and other supplies for civilians in southern Iraq can tie up in Umm Qasr.
The Sir Galahad, a Royal Navy ship loaded with relief supplies, would not be able to reach port and deliver food supplies until Friday at the earliest, the ship's captain said today.
Six oil wells continue to burn in the southern Iraqi oil fields, officials said. British authorities estimated that it would take $1 billion to repair damage to the pumping equipment and resume Iraq's oil exports. The task could take three months, they estimated.
Adm. Michael Boyce, chief of the British defense staff, said at a briefing in London this afternoon that British forces had discovered a recently-abandoned Iraqi infantry outpost near the Rumaila oil fields in southern Iraq. Inside the post were a number of light weapons and about a hundred sets of chemical weapons defensive gear, he said.
He said that the chemical suits - along with several hundred such suits found in a hospital in Nasiriya on Wednesday - indicated Mr. Hussein's ability and willingness to use chemical weapons in battle.
Allied forces have not yet found any Iraqi chemical or biological agents or the weapons to deliver them.
-------- business
Army Depots in Iraqi Desert Have Names of Oil Giants
March 27, 2003
The New York Times
By NEELA BANERJEE
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/27/business/27CAMP.html
The subtleties surrounding the sensitive role oil plays in the Iraqi war may have eluded the United States Army. Deep in some newspaper coverage yesterday was a report that the 101st Airborne Division had named one central Iraq outpost Forward Operating Base Shell and another Forward Operating Base Exxon.
The Pentagon shrugged off concerns that now might not be the time to mention the names of foreign oil companies on Iraqi soil. "The forward bases are normally refueling points - they're basically gas stations in the desert," a Pentagon spokeswoman said. "Whether or not we're going to lecture everyone that, due to political sensitivities, you should be careful what you call your gas stations, I don't know if that's something that should be done or would be done."
Neither Royal Dutch/Shell nor Exxon knew about the Iraqi bases. Cerris Tavinor, a spokeswoman for Shell, heard of the base only when a reporter called.
"We don't have anything in Iraq," Ms. Tavinor said. "Clearly they pick their names for whatever they want to use."
Tom Cirigliano, a spokesman for Exxon Mobil, said he first heard of the bases when he read a press review on Wednesday morning, but the mention did not bother the company, the world's largest publicly traded corporation.
"My first reaction when I saw it was this was not a political statement in any way by the men and women of 101st," Mr. Cirigliano said. "I think the 101st was being pretty creative and naming things after what reminds them of home. And I think that's pretty neat."
But others involved in the oil industry say the Pentagon's indifference to the names of the bases was poorly considered. "You have this atmosphere of suspicion and apprehension now, and that's just among your allies," Jan Stuart, head of research for global energy futures at ABN Amro, the Dutch investment bank, said. "And in this atmosphere, you call your own supply effort this. It's mind-boggling the degree of insensitivity. There is little doubt the Americans will win the war, but you have to wonder how people who are so insensitive are going to win the peace."
----
Spending Seen as Lifting Economy
Stimulative Effect of Military, Security Outlays Overlooked in Tax Debate
By John M. Berry
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 27, 2003; Page A05
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34117-2003Mar26.html
In the debate on Capitol Hill over how much more taxes should be cut to stimulate the lagging U.S. economy, little attention has been paid to the stimulus already flowing from large spending increases, mostly for defense and homeland security, enacted over the past two years. One analysis released last week estimated that increased spending is providing nearly as much boost to the economy this year as did the tax cuts passed in 2001 and last year.
"Fiscal policy has turned sharply stimulative, and in combination with easier monetary policy is providing the most potent policy support the economy has ever received," said the analysis by economist James E. Glassman of J.P. Morgan Chase Securities Inc. "The public -- and the politicians -- give the 2001 tax law much of the credit for this timely fiscal punch," Glassman said. "The truth, however, is a bit different. Federal spending has expanded over the past year and a half by an amount that rivals tax relief. Half of this year's fiscal boost comes from new federal outlays, not from tax cuts."
A recent Commerce Department report said that half the gain in the weak 1.4 percent annual rate the gross domestic product grew in the fourth quarter was due to federal spending, two-thirds of which was for defense.
And the Congressional Budget Office estimated Tuesday that President Bush's fiscal 2004 budget proposals would raise spending over the next five years by $348 billion -- not counting the $75 billion supplemental request to fund the war in Iraq -- nearly as much as the $454 billion the plan would reduce revenue by cutting taxes.
With the federal budget deficit soaring, many members of Congress have shied away from touting any stimulative effect from added spending, according to staffers on the House and Senate Budget committees.
Some of the biggest supporters of the Bush administration's budget, including its proposed tax cuts, "have been saying over the past few months that deficits caused by spending increases are the only ones that matter," Stanley E. Collender, managing director of federal budget consulting at Fleishman-Hillard Inc., noted this week.
The added spending has not been as noticeable as the large tax cuts Congress has enacted.
"Congress has approved at least 10 spending initiatives since the summer of 2001," Glassman said. "First, the tax-cut agreement of 2001 also boosted spending by increasing the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit. A couple of weeks later, before the September 11 terrorist attacks, the 2001 Supplemental Appropriations Act boosted discretionary spending, principally for defense. After the terrorist attacks, Congress passed an emergency spending measure and boosted discretionary spending for both defense and nondefense programs."
Last spring, an economic stimulus plan "raised spending by about $50 billion annually for three years," he continued. "Other measures approved last year, related to trade, farm aid, terrorism risk insurance, unemployment insurance and defense, also . . . resulting in higher spending this year." And the final fiscal 2003 appropriations bill passed last month added about $5 billion more, he noted.
Glassman's analysis was based on an approach that eliminates the impact of economic fluctuations on the budget, such as changes in unemployment. It concluded that fiscal policy has swung in the direction of stimulus over the past two years by an amount equal to roughly 4 percent of the gross domestic product. Economists generally regard a change equal to about 1 percent of GDP as likely to have a measurable impact on economic activity.
Some other economists, such as Charles L. Schultze of the Brookings Institution, who estimate the amount of stimulus from discretionary spending somewhat differently, think it will be under 1 percent of GDP in the current fiscal year.
"That's not huge, but it is not to be dismissed either," Schultze said.
-------- iraq
U.S., U.K. Forces Blast Iraqi Tanks Trying to Break Out Of Basra
British Troops Bombard City
By Keith B. Richburg and Susan B. Glasser
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, March 27, 2003
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35758-2003Mar27.html
NEAR BASRA, Iraq, March 27 (Thursday)--Coalition forces destroyed most of a column of 70 to 120 Iraqi tanks overnight after they broke out of the besieged southern city of Basra, and British troops continued to barrage Iraqi fighters there with artillery fire, British military officials said.
Two days after British military officials declared Iraqi positions inside Basra a legitimate military target and prepared to enter the city, it was still unclear whether there was a civilian uprising against the rule of President Saddam Hussein, as British officials reported Tuesday. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday that "a limited form of uprising" was underway.
British military officials said the attack on Basra would boost the city's majority Shiite Muslim population against the Sunni-dominated Hussein government. But unrest in the city on Tuesday appeared to die down Wednesday, and details remained sketchy.
The fighting moved outside Basra Wednesday night as the column of tanks poured out of the city and headed southeast toward the Faw peninsula, British officials reported. The top British officer in the region told reporters at Central Command field headquarters in Qatar this morning coalition forces destroyed most of the armored vehicles with a combination of artillery, airstrikes and ground fire.
For days, British forces have held off entering the city, hoping to avoid urban warfare and the civilian casualties that would result. But Basra is facing a worsening humanitarian crisis, with electricity and water supplies cut off on Saturday and only partially restored. British military officials now say they may have to enter Basra to defeat the Iraqi military and paramilitary forces that have blended in with the civilian population of 1.3 million.
No humanitarian aid has yet reached the city, though the British plan to start moving water and food supplies to Basra through the newly secured port of Umm Qasr.
"We will do it short steps at a time," said Maj. Steve McQueenie, a British liaison officer at Marine headquarters, which oversees the British forces. "What we have got to do in Basra is make sure civilians are protected."
British officials estimate there are about 1,000 fighters in the city, a mixture of Iraqi soldiers and special militias, including Saddam's Fedayeen.
North of Basra, British forces continued to fire heavy artillery toward the city. A brief barrage could be heard slamming into the city just before 7 p.m. Wednesday night, with another slightly longer barrage exactly a half-hour later. After that attack, a bright orange light flashed briefly over the city.
"That is British artillery and that would be aimed at targets in and around the Basra region," said Lt. Chris Head, 24, the platoon commander of the Fusiliers, on the highway about eight miles north of the city center near the Basra International Airport. With pro-Hussein security forces and militia interspersed among the civilian population, "it makes the question of target identification all the harder," Head said.
To aid the British, U.S. warplanes bombed two pontoon bridges in eastern Basra, preventing any Iraqi reinforcements from entering from that direction, or any forces from fleeing that way. British troops also said they captured two busloads of Iraqis believed to be paramilitary fighters in Zubair, just southwest of Basra. The British soldiers chased the buses down the road and stopped them, finding the passengers all dressed similarly and carrying large amounts of money.
On Tuesday, British officials reported signs of an incipient rebellion among the civilian population of Basra, saying that Hussein loyalists had begun firing on their own citizens. But today the details remained cloudy.
"Truthfully, the reports are confused, but we believe there was some limited form of uprising," Blair said Wednesday. "It is important that we give support to those people in Iraq who are rising up to overthrow Saddam and his deeply repressive regime."
Arab television reporters inside the city reported no signs of disturbance today. "The streets of Basra are very calm and there are no indications of violence or riots. There are no signs of the reported uprising," said a report on al-Jazeera, the Arabic-language television station.
Twelve years ago, in the wake of the Persian Gulf War, the people of Basra rose up in open revolt against Hussein at the encouragement of the United States. But the uprising was brutally crushed and thousands were killed. This time, Basra residents were believed to be remaining cautious about open defiance while Hussein remains in power.
The British troops, who replaced U.S. Marines in southern Iraq after the Americans swept north, have begun what they call their "hearts and minds" efforts on the outskirts of Basra, dismounting from their armored vehicles and conducting patrols on foot today through a village in the oil refinery area south of the city. They said they were able to restore electricity and water to about 300 people in the village.
The British said residents were helping them identify Hussein loyalists and members of his security forces. The soldiers said they were being cautious about responding to such reports, with one saying, "We could be drawn into something we don't want to be in."
"We're winning the hearts and minds of the local people, the vast majority of whom are anti-Saddam Hussein and his regime," said Head, the platoon commander. Speaking of the situation inside the city, he said, "We've been led to believe, by the people we've encountered, that the vast majority of the people are anti-regime."
British troops have also begun the tricky task of trying to disarm the local population. Besides members of the pro-Hussein security forces, many other residents were believed to have firearms, possibly for use in a rebellion against the Hussein government.
The troops said they were seizing arms for the security of their own forces. "We are taking a very robust attitude towards disarmament," Head said. "We consider anyone with weapons a threat to ourselves. We are trying to limit the number of guns and weapons that are out there."
Many of the Fusiliers said they had experience closer to home that would be useful in their current role.
"It's a similar situation to Northern Ireland," said Platoon Sgt. Barry Little, who spent 561/2 7 years there. "It's a terrorist threat more than an enemy threat."
But, he said, "It's a little bit different here. In Northern Ireland, the Catholics and the Protestants are in clearly defined areas. Here, you have a guy who's carrying a weapon one minute and the next minute he's not."
Glasser reported from Kuwait City. Correspondent Peter Baker with U.S. forces in Iraq contributed to this report.
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Iraq Accuses U.S. of Targeting Civilians
By HAMZA HENDAWI
Associated Press Writer
Mar 27, 2003
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WAR_BAGHDAD?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Iraq's health minister Thursday said 36 civilians were killed and 215 wounded in U.S. air strikes on Baghdad a day earlier, and he accused the United States and Britain of deliberately targeting civilians to break the Iraqi people's will.
"They are targeting the human beings in Iraq to decrease their morale," Omeed Medhat Mubarak said. "They are not discriminating, differentiating."
He said the total number of civilian dead and injured since the U.S.-led war on Iraq began a week ago is more than 4,000, including 350 dead.
The U.S. military has denied targeting civilians and said it takes extraordinary measures to avoid hurting noncombatants.
Meanwhile, one of the fiercest sandstorms the people of Baghdad have ever seen gave way to blue skies Thursday, raising fears among the inhabitants that they were in for a day of intensive bombings.
They worried that allied forces would try to make up for two days during which the storm grounded U.S. warplanes and slowed down the advance on the Iraqi capital.
Parts of Baghdad looked almost normal, with hardly a shop shuttered, hundreds of shoppers milling around, and the streets jammed with what looked like the usual traffic. But Baghdad's defenders rekindled fires intended to obscure bombing targets, sending clouds of gray smoke drifting across the sky.
A witness reported that a missile hit an area not far from a television building and the Information Ministry early Thursday. Buildings shook, but there did not appear to be any damage.
Distant explosions, some sounding like artillery shells, could be heard in the city in the morning.
Iraqi TV was still on, but the picture was poor, and it was unclear whether the signal was being received outside Baghdad. Jomaa al-Qurishi, 29, sold newspapers in Abu Nawas Street, a road famous for its art galleries and fish restaurants, on the east bank of the Tigris River.
"I have been selling newspapers at this spot for 13 years and no bombs are going to stop me," he said. "Death comes to you at any time wherever you may be."
Baghdad residents woke up to find everything from cars to dining tables, windows and books under a coat of fine yellow desert sand.
On Wednesday, 14 civilians were reported killed in a northern Baghdad neighborhood in a blast that Iraqi officials blamed on cruise missiles.
"So you see, the American and British mercenaries are targeting civilians regardless of their age," Mubarak said. "They targeted shops and small public-sector installations."
He accused U.S. and British forces of dropping cluster bombs on civilian targets. "In Najaf, they destroyed a medical center," he said. "They bombed an ambulance and killed its driver."
The U.S. military has acknowledged using precision-guided weapons to target Iraqi missiles and launchers "placed within a civilian residential area."
Buy Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal said he could not say whether the missiles that hit the neighborhood were Iraqi weapons or misguided U.S. missiles.
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U.S. to Intensify Attacks on Iraqi Forces
By DAVID CRARY
Associated Press Writer
Mar 27, 2003
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WAR_RDP?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME
With sandstorms finally ended and a new front opened in the north, U.S. commanders said Thursday they would swiftly intensify attacks on Iraqi forces. In the south, British troops destroyed 14 Iraqi tanks trying to break out of the besieged city of Basra.
In Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, 1,000 Rangers and other paratroopers from the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade airdropped overnight onto an airfield that they were busy securing Thursday. It is the first large deployment of U.S. ground troops in the region; previously, only small groups of U.S. Special Forces were operating along with allied Kurdish fighters.
In central Iraq, where huge Army and Marine forces are gradually closing in on Baghdad, U.S. commanders were buoyed by arrival of good weather.
"You'll certainly see us increase our activity in the coming hours, days, given the clearing weather," an official at U.S. Central Command said, speaking on condition on anonymity.
In a news briefing at Central Command, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said several U.S. units battled successfully against Iraqi forces Thursday, destroying vehicles and inflicting casualties. He said some Marines were injured in fighting near the southern city of An Nasiriyah, but gave no details.
Brooks accused the Iraqis of increasingly flagrant violations of international conventions. Iraqi security forces were seizing children in order to force their fathers to join the military, and were executing men who resisted, he said.
In southern Iraq, British forces destroyed 14 Iraqi tanks that streamed out of the besieged city of Basra overnight, according to a British spokesman, Group Capt. Al Lockwood. It was the third time this week that Iraqi columns have been attacked while trying to get out of Basra.
Lockwood said militiamen of the ruling Baath were threatening families of Iraqi soldiers to force them into driving the military vehicles out of Basra.
"They are obviously coercing them into this action, whereas in fact we would have wished them to surrender," he said.
"The enemy's options are now limited," Lockwood said of the failed breakouts. "Military cohesion is sadly lacking."
Aid for Basra and other parts of southern Iraq is supposed to come through the port of Umm Qasr, which has been captured by the allies. However, British officers said Iraqi mines have been discovered in the port, delaying the arrival of a ship carrying 200 tons of aid until minesweeping is completed.
Near An Nasiriyah, more than 30 U.S. Marines were injured, two seriously, in an accidental exchange of fire between American units, according to reporters for French and British media who were with the Marines. ITV correspondent James Mates said two groups of Marines were dispatched during the night to repel an Iraqi contingent, but ended up firing at each other.
Brooks said U.S. officials were investigating the report.
Baghdad was jolted by more explosions Thursday
Skies cleared Thursday over Baghdad after one of the worst sandstorms in memory and the city was jolted by a series of explosions.
Iraq's health minister, Omeed Medhat Mubarak, said 36 civilians were killed and 215 injured Wednesday in allied air strikes on Baghdad, including what Iraq said was a U.S. cruise missile strike that hit a market area.
Nationwide, Mubarak said about 350 civilians had been killed and more than 4,000 injured since the war began. "Neither the Bush administration nor their bombs are 'smart,'" said Mubarak, accusing the United States and Britain of deliberately targeting civilians.
Brook said U.S. investigators were trying to determine whether a U.S. missile might have hit the Baghdad market area on Wednesday. However, he suggested the damage might have been caused by an errant Iraqi surface-to-air missile, or even by a deliberate Iraqi action aimed at discrediting the United States.
In London, British defense officials said the discovery of more chemical protection suits suggest Iraq was prepared to use chemical weapons against advancing coalition forces.
Soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment found about a hundred protection suits and respirators in an Iraqi command post, said Adm. Michael Boyce, chief of the defense staff.
"This kit was effective, well cared for and in good working order," Boyce said.
At his retreat at Camp David, President Bush conferred on strategy and postwar plans with his closest ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair. One potentially divisive topic: how big a role to give the United Nations in Iraq's reconstruction.
The two leaders talked privately Wednesday night, and planned a series of meetings Thursday. Their principal foreign policy advisers, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, also were discussing war strategy and plans for Iraq's reconstruction.
Blair has advocated a more extensive role for the United Nations in administering postwar Iraq than has Bush.
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U.S. General Accuses Iraq of Killing POWs
By MATT KELLEY
Associated Press Writer
Mar 27, 2003 4:03 AM EST
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WAR_EXECUTING_POWS?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Iraq has executed prisoners of war, the Pentagon's No. 2 general said Wednesday night as he listed a series of what he called unprecedented Iraqi violations of the laws of war.
Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, apparently was referring to some of the U.S. Army troops captured Sunday by Iraqi forces in the city of An Nasiriyah. Iraqi state television later showed video footage of five living POWs and the bodies of at least five U.S. soldiers.
Defense officials who have viewed the tape have said privately that several of the bodies had execution-style gunshot wounds to their heads.
Intelligence officials have received one uncorroborated report indicating that at least some of the dead soldiers had been captured alive and executed in public, a senior Pentagon official said Wednesday on condition of anonymity. The information - which did not come from an intercepted communication, as the New York Times reported Wednesday - is of undetermined reliablility, the official said.
Pace, interviewed on CNN's "Larry King Live," said Iraqis had engaged in many atrocities in the six days since the war began.
"They have executed prisoners of war. ... They have used women and children as human shields and they have pretended to surrender and then opened fire," Pace said. "I've never seen anything like this. It's disgusting."
Pentagon officials said Wednesday the International Committee of the Red Cross still had not been granted access to the five Army soldiers captured Sunday and the two Army helicopter pilots captured a day later. All seven were questioned in front of Iraqi video cameras and the tapes were later played on Iraqi television - which U.S. officials say violated Geneva Convention prohibitions on subjecting POWs to public humiliation.
The first group of Army soldiers captured were part of a maintenance convoy which made a wrong turn in the south-central Iraqi town of An Nasiriyah on Sunday and was attacked by Iraqi forces. Of that unit, the Army says, two soldiers are confirmed dead, five are confirmed as prisoners of war and eight are missing.
Pentagon officials say the prisoners thought to have been executed are among the eight formally listed as missing. Final determinations that they are dead and how they were killed can only happen once the bodies are located, officials said.
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Initial aid for Iraqis arrives in the south
By Betsy Pisik
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
March 27, 2003
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20030327-98388.htm
UMM QASR, Iraq - Seven dusty, battered trucks rolled up with their precious cargo of food and water yesterday, defying sandstorms and defiant Iraqi gunmen to deliver the first humanitarian aid to reach this vital southern port.
British forces waiting in Umm Qasr immed