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SlowwHand
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of The Cooler
Sep 1999
time: 23:27
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Last edited by SlowwHand on 29-03-2003 at 00:17
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SlowwHand
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of The Cooler
Sep 1999
time: 23:27
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Two Iraqi terror plots broken up in Mideast: senior US officials
25 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States has broken up alleged Iraqi terrorist plots in at least two countries in the Middle East and believes that similar plans have been uncovered in almost a dozen cities around the world, senior US officials said.
The officials, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the disrupted attacks had been planned by members of Iraq (news - web sites)'s intelligence service masquerading as diplomats and targetted western interests, specifically US and British facilities.
"We have compromised particular operations in two countries and we have information about plots in other countries," one senior State Department official said. "We have indications of widespread threats by the IIS."
A second senior US official said the IIS, the Iraqi Intelligence Service, had plans to launch attacks on US and British interests in about 11 cities, many of them in the Middle East and the Gulf, Asia and perhaps London.
The officials would not identify the two countries in which the attacks had been thwarted but said authorities in those nations had assisted in disrupting the plans. On Sunday, Jordan expelled five Iraqi diplomats, accusing them of trying to undermine "security" in the kingdom.
The officials said that a US request earlier this month for some 60 countries to expel Iraqi intelligence agents posing as diplomats had been instrumental in breaking up of the plots.
"These are the guys who are intelligence people who we asked governments to PNG," the second official said, using the diplomatic term for declaring a diplomat "persona non grata."
"The IIS has primacy at Iraqi embassies around the world," the first official said. "We have approached number of countries about expelling Iraqi diplomats, many of whom have done so, and we are continuing to work with friends and allies on this."
About 79 Iraqi diplomats have been expelled from countries around the world in response to the US request, the officials said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...at_030328192223
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SlowwHand
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of The Cooler
Sep 1999
time: 23:27
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Oh YEAH. 
France Insists It Wants U.S. to Win War
30 minutes ago
By JOSEPH COLEMAN, Associated Press Writer
PARIS - France's government angrily insisted on Friday that it hopes U.S.-led forces win the war in Iraq (news - web sites), signaling fear in Paris that its image as an untrustworthy friend could seriously damage long-term relations with Washington.
In an extraordinary statement for a major U.S. ally, the Foreign Ministry said it was "indignant" at media suggestions that French support for the United States was ambiguous, and quoted Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin as saying he hoped for an American victory.
"I will remind you that the minister said on March 24 ... `The United States, we hope, will win this war quickly,'" ministry spokesman Francois Rivasseau said in the statement.
The ministry was protesting media coverage of Villepin's comments on Wednesday at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London, where he reiterated his high-profile opposition to the war.
The statement did not specify which publications it was referring to, but at least two English-language newspapers reported that Villepin refused to say explicitly who he hoped would win the war.
"It is not acceptable that the positions of France be distorted in this way," Rivasseau said, declaring that France's stand on who should win the war was "totally devoid of ambiguity."
Villepin began his speech in London by calling for "a renewed close and trusting friendship with the United States." But later, he said U.S. policy could lead to instability and uncertainty.
When a reporter asked him after the speech if he wanted U.S.-led forces to win the war, he did not say "yes." Instead, he refused to answer, admonished reporters for not listening carefully and referred them to earlier remarks.
Villepin's speech made no clear statement about which side he wanted to win. The Foreign Ministry on Friday said he was referring to statements he had made in the past, including the one on March 24.
Rivasseau's statement was the second time in recent weeks that the ministry has complained about press coverage in the English-language media. Two weeks ago it denied an American columnist's allegation that Paris had allowed French companies to ship weapons-building materials to Iraq.
The swipe at some foreign media comes amid continuing high tensions between France and the United States and Britain over the war in Iraq, which Paris has vigorously campaigned against in the U.N. Security Council and has denounced as illegal.
The French are particularly troubled about calls in the United States for a boycott of French products. A U.S.-based Internet site this week published an advertisement in The New York Times urging consumers not to fly Air France, eat Yoplait yogurt or buy other French goods.
Even President Bush (news - web sites) is not above the fray. On a visit to Florida on Wednesday, the breakfast menu aboard Air Force One listed "stuffed Freedom Toast," instead of French toast.
While the boycott itself has not yet become especially threatening, the possibility of a fraying of U.S.-France economic ties and cooperation in the long term is troubling to many.
"Once the crisis is past, one could think that French companies ... could be left out of contract bids," Le Figaro newspaper said in an editorial Friday. "That's what French leaders are the most worried about."
While French officials have been more outspoken recently about the importance of ties with Washington, they haven't backpedalled in their condemnation of the war.
Just last week, French President Jacques Chirac said France would veto any U.N. resolution letting "the belligerents" run Iraq after the war.
Still, France's ambassador to Britain, Gerard Errera, suggested that Paris' faithfulness to the United States should be above question.
"It's clear where France stands. To question France's position on this issue is ludicrous. I don't know what the agenda is of this," he said. "The fact that this question was asked is really unthinkable."
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Ned
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of Aptos, CA
Oct 1999
time: 21:27
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Iraqi's regroup:
"Also Friday, U.S. airstrikes on the Iraqi Republican Guard's Medina division, south of Baghdad, have knocked out one-third of its force, U.S. officials said, and other divisions are now moving in from the west and north to reinforce it.
Coalition troops working their way north toward the capital have been steeped in heavy fighting with Iraqi forces -- particularly in the southern cities of Nasiriya and Tikrit.
As the weather cleared in Iraq, U.S. military officials said they learned that the coalition's heavy bombing campaign knocked down the Medina division to about 65 percent of its capacity.
In response, two other units of Iraq's elite Republican Guard were repositioning. The Hammurabi division, which was west of Baghdad, was moving south in hopes of reinforcing the Medina, and another division -- which was around Tikrit in the north -- was moving in to replace the Hammurabi, U.S. officials said."
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast...main/index.html
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spiritof1202
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The missile was supposedly a silkworm from across the Gulf, and that would possibly mean Iran: they have butt loads of Silkworms and far more shore to work with than Iraq.
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spiritof1202
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A little odd since Iran is the typical user of Silkworms, and UNSCOM mentioned nothing of them being in Iraq.
Iran is in the 'vicinity' of the Faw peninsula too. Not far at all.
Guess we'll see.
UPDATE:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/milit.../china/hy-1.htm
Iraq did have a ship launched variant... but their naval vessels were pretty much decimated after Bush I War.
Last edited by spiritof1202 on 29-03-2003 at 08:42
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28-03-2003 23:35
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