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NEWS FROM THE
UNITED STATES ALL
THE NEWS
FEBRUARY 2006 NEWS
President Bush: "Parts of
Hamas platform make it impossible for them to be a peaceful partner."
Office of the White House Press
Secretary
President Bush Meets with the Cabinet
Q Mr. President, Israeli officials
are seeking an international boycott of a Palestinian government that
includes Hamas. Do you support this? And, if so, isn't that punishing
the Palestinian people for exercising the democratic rights that
you've called for in the region?
THE PRESIDENT: The Hamas party has made it clear that they do not
support the right of Israel to exist. And I have made it clear so long
as that's their policy, that we will not support a Palestinian
government made up of Hamas. We want to work with a government that is
a partner in peace, not a government that is -- whose declared
intentions might be the destruction of Israel. Secondly, this new
democracy that's emerging in the Palestinian Territories must
understand that you can't have a political party that also has got an
armed wing to it; that democracies yield peace. And so the second half
of our message to Hamas is get rid of your arms, disavow terrorism,
work to bring what you promised to the people of the Palestinian
Territories. Listen, these folks ran on the campaign "we're going to
get rid of corruption" and that "we're going to provide services to
the people," and that's positive. But what isn't positive is that
they've got parts of their platform that will make it impossible for
them to be a peaceful partner
________________________________________________________
FEBRUARY 2006 NEWS
Lockheed
Martin to Provide Combat System Design and Integration for Egyptian
Fast Missile Patrol Craft
VT Halter Marine has awarded Lockheed Martin a $14.3 million contract
for the initial phase of the command, control, communication,
computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR)
combat system design and integration for three Egyptian Navy Fast
Missile Patrol Craft (FMC) vessels. "Lockheed Martin is pleased to
team with VT Halter Marine on this exciting endeavor to meet Egypt's
requirements with the best technology and capabilities possible," said
Chuck Cantello, vice president, Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems &
Sensors, Sensors and Advanced Programs. "We bring to the team a
distinguished history in combat systems design and integration and a
commitment to total customer satisfaction." The FMC will feature a
flexible, state-of-the-art design with the most up- to-date and
exportable sensors and weapons deployed on this platform class. The
combat system will be multi-role with anti-air, anti-surface,
electronic warfare, and active and passive countermeasure
capabilities. The first phase of the contract will focus on functional
design and is expected to be completed in 12 months. A detail design,
construction and delivery contract is expected to follow the
functional design phase. VT Halter Marine is the marine operations
division of Vision Technologies Systems (VTS). Based in Pascagoula,
MS, it is a leader in the design and construction of medium-sized
ships in the United States. VT Halter Marine designs, builds and
repairs a wide variety of ocean-going vessels such as patrol vessels,
oil recovery vessels, oil cargo vessels, ferries, logistic support
vessels and survey vessels. Headquartered in Bethesda, MD, Lockheed
Martin employs about 135,000 people worldwide and is principally
engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and
integration of advanced technology systems, products and services.
______________________________________________________________________
U.S.
TROOPS DEPLOY ALONG SYRIAN BORDER
Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops have
been deployed along the border with Syria in an attempt to halt the
flow of Sunni insurgents into Iraq. U.S. officials said that over the
last year U.S. Marines and special forces units have been patrolling
the 600-kilometer Iraqi-Syrian border. They said the units have been
allowed to fire into Syria as part of their effort to stop the influx
of Sunni insurgents into Iraq. "The troops are allowed to fire over
the border to stop the insurgents from entering Iraq," an official
said. "There have not been any directives that would allow ground
troops to enter Syria." Most of the time, Syrian troops refused to
respond to U.S. fire, officials said. The exception was in July 2005,
when several Syrians were killed in a battle with U.S. Army Rangers
along the border area. Later, Syria relayed a protest to the U.S.
embassy in Damascus.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Colin
Powell: "Civil war still a risk in Iraq."
Former US secretary of
state Colin Powell has warned it will be six to eight months before
the success of the recent Iraqi election will be known and has
backed US troop reductions in the war-torn country. In a
wide-ranging Christmas Day television interview with former Bill
Clinton press secretary George Stephanopoulos, Mr Powell also
conceded that legitimate questions on presidential authority had
arisen from the controversial domestic spying program authorised by
US President George W.Bush without the approval of the courts. On
the Iraqi election, Mr Powell echoed the concerns of a growing
number of analysts when he suggested the success of fundamentalist
candidates, particularly in the Shia majority, could harden ethnic
divisions and increase the chances of civil war. "There's a lot of
voting strictly along political, ethnic and tribal lines and
religious lines and there appears to be, from early results, great
support for a Shi'ite majority that is somewhat more fundamentalist
than, I think, we all would be entirely comfortable with," Mr Powell
said. "But we've got a long process ahead of us. The way this has
been designed, it's going to take a while first to document the
results, secondly for a national assembly to be formed. "Then it
will take more time for a president and two deputies to be selected,
and more time yet for a prime minister to be selected. So, it's
going to be six to eight months of uncertainty before we really know
what this government looks like." Mr Powell said the critical issues
now were the disarming of the militias and the willingness of the
majority Shi'ites to protect the interests and the rights of the
Sunnis, who had oppressed them under Saddam Hussein. "If the Shias
just see it as an opportunity to oppress the Sunnis, then we're
going to have a very tough time and it could lead to a civil war,"
he said. "We have to make sure that, as we move through this
(post-election) period, we have the interest of the minorities, the
fears of the minorities - and here, I mean the Sunnis - taken into
account by the Shias and by the Kurds." Mr Powell said he was
certain there would be fewer US soldiers in Iraq next Christmas.
(But) something has to be done about the militias," he said. "The
Iraqis are going to have to put in place a political system that
says the only ones who hold the power of the state, the military and
police power of the state, is the state and not individual militias
that are loyal to a particular secular or religious figure. The real
challenge is really the institutions of government, the political
institutions, the cabinet ministries and the other institutions that
you need in order to control a country ... to make this a
functioning society." On the domestic spying issue, Mr Powell said
there was "absolutely nothing wrong" with Mr Bush authorising
surveillance on US citizens but that it was a different question as
to whether he could authorise such surveillance without going to the
courts. "My own judgment is that it didn't seem to me, anyway, that
it would have been that hard to go get the (court) warrants," he
said. "And even in the case of an emergency, you go and do it - the
law provides for that - and then, three days later, you let the
court know what you have done and deal with it that way. The
question is, was it done in the way that is consistent with the law
... Some members of Congress do not see a problem; other members of
Congress do see a problem, on both sides of the aisle. (But) the
nation is not going to collapse over this issue. What the President
is determined to do and what the Congress and the American people
want him to do is protect us from terrorism. And if eavesdropping
does that, then more power to it. Nobody is suggesting that the
President shouldn't do this." -By David Mason.
Bush Authorized Spying for good reasons
 WASHINGTON-
U.S. President George W. Bush said Saturday he personally has
authorized a secret eavesdropping program in the U.S. more than 30
times since the Sept. 11 attacks and he lashed out at those involved
in publicly revealing the program. "This is a highly classified
program that is crucial to our national security," he said in a
radio address delivered live from the White House's Roosevelt Room.
This authorization is a vital tool in our war against the
terrorists. It is critical to saving American lives. The American
people expect me to do everything in my power, under our laws and
Constitution, to protect them and their civil liberties and that is
exactly what I will continue to do as long as I am president of the
United States," Bush said. Angry members of Congress have demanded
an explanation of the program, first revealed in Friday's New York
Times and whether the monitoring by the National Security Agency
without obtaining warrants from a court violates civil liberties.
One Democrat said in response to Bush's remarks on the radio that
Bush was acting more like a king than the elected president of a
democracy. Bush said the program was narrowly designed and used
"consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution." He said it is used
only to intercept the international communications of people inside
the United States who have been determined to have "a clear link" to
al-Qaida or related terrorist organizations.
The program is reviewed every 45
days, using fresh threat assessments, legal reviews by the Justice
Department, White House counsel and others, and information from
previous activities under the program, the president said. Without
identifying specific legislators, Bush said congressional leaders
have been briefed more than a dozen times on the program's
activities. The president also said the intelligence officials
involved in the monitoring receive extensive training to make sure
civil liberties are not violated. Appearing angry at points during
his eight-minute address, Bush said he had reauthorized the program
more than 30 times since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,
and plans to continue doing so. "I intend to do so for as long as
our nation faces a continuing threat from al-Qaida and related
groups," he said. The president contended the program has helped
"detect and prevent possible terrorist attacks in the U.S. and
abroad," but did not provide specific examples. He said it is
designed in part to fix problems raised by the Sept. 11 commission,
which found that two of the suicide hijackers were communicating
from San Diego with al-Qaida operatives overseas. "The activities I
have authorized make it more likely that killers like these 9-11
hijackers will be identified and located in time," he said. In an
effort by the administration that appeared co-ordinated to stem
criticism, Bush's remarks echoed -- in many cases word-for-word --
those issued Friday night by a senior intelligence official who
spoke on condition of anonymity. The president's highly unusual
discussion of classified activities showed the sensitive nature of
the program, whose existence was revealed as Congress was trying to
renew the terrorism-fighting Patriot Act and complicated that
effort, a top priority of Bush's. Senate Democrats joined with a
handful of Republicans on Friday to stall the bill. Those opposing
the renewal of key provisions of the act that are expiring say they
threaten constitutional liberties. Reacting to Bush's defence of the
NSA program, Senator Russell Feingold, D-Wis., said the president's
remarks were "breathtaking in how extreme they were." Feingold said
it was "absurd" that Bush said he relied on his inherent power as
president to authorize the wiretaps. "If that's true, he doesn't
need the Patriot Act because he can just make it up as he goes
along. I tell you, he's President George Bush, not King George Bush.
This is not the system of government we have and that we fought
for," Feingold told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
The president had harsh words for those who talked about the program
to the media, saying their actions were illegal and improper. "As a
result, our enemies have learned information they should not have,"
he said. "The unauthorized disclosure of this effort damages our
national security and puts our citizens at risk."
 U.S.
on sidelines over Kyoto
Photo: Canada
Federal Environment
Minister Stephane Dion responds to media questions on Sept. 14, 2005
in a Quebec City hardware store.
MONTREAL, Canada- Delegates from
157 countries wound up a tense, all-night negotiating session by
agreeing Saturday to draft a new, long-range plan to combat climate
change. The agreement, which Environment Minister Stephane Dion
dubbed the Montreal Action Plan, calls for binding commitments to
cut greenhouse emissions beyond 2012 when the current Kyoto Protocol
expires. Details must be worked out in new talks, but the agreement
will give new credibility to the much-criticized Kyoto process and
provide some certainty for investors in an emerging global
carbon-trading market. Delegates cheered and hugged when Dion,
president of the conference, brought down the final gavel shortly
after 6 a.m. "You have upheld the trust the people of the world have
placed in us," he said. "Facing the worst ecological threat to
humanity, you have said: the world is united and together, step by
step, we will win this fight." The United States remained almost
alone outside the new Kyoto deal, but agreed to informal talks under
the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). Americans
would only agree to informal talks that will not "open to any
discussion leading to new commitments." Critics said the commitment
was so empty as to be meaningless. Countries have effectively
decided to forge ahead without Washington, said John Bennett of the
Sierra Club of Canada.
"This is a clear message to the
United States that the rest of the world wants action on climate
change," he said. But Dion insisted that U.S. participation in the
informal "second track" is significant. He announced that the
dialogue will begin next year, with initial submissions due in
April. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has made tackling
climate change a key priority for his presidency of the G8 this
year, welcomed the agreement. "This agreement is the result of years
of hard work and is a vital next step in tackling climate change,
the biggest long-term challenge facing the world," Blair said in a
statement. "Of course it is only a beginning but it is important and
demonstrates why it is always worth engaging with America and the
rest of the world." The deal does not set emissions-reductions
targets for developing countries like China and India, but provides
mechanisms through which they can get access to clean technology and
financing for climate-friendly projects. "At this meeting, we've
seen the main developing country emitters express the view that they
want to take advantage of the carbon market," said Bill Hare of
Greenpeace International. "They want the technology and the finance
that will flow from that. I think this could be the beginning of a
long-term breakthrough." The talks were stalled Saturday night by
unexpected objections from the Russian delegation, but these were
overcome after hours of pleading from other countries. "It's a
success," said Raphael Gauthier of Climate Action Nework, France.
"We have lots to do now." Delegates praised Canada for hosting the
conference and Dion for guiding the negotiations, but activists
noted that Canadian record in controlling greenhouse emissions is
dismal - worse than that of the United States. Dion still insists
that Canada will meet its commitment under the existing Kyoto
Protocol to cut emissions six per cent from 1990 levels by 2012.
Emissions are currently 24 per cent above 1990 levels. Experts say
Canada's target will be impossible to achieve without substantial
purchases of credits on the international carbon market, and such
moves are likely to be a hard sell. -By D. Bueckert
Air Marshal shoots passenger dead
 Photo:
Image from the
tarmac at Miami International Airport.
MIAMI, Florida- A passenger who
claimed to have a bomb in a carry-on bag was shot and killed by a
federal air marshal Wednesday on a jetway to an American Airlines
plane that had arrived from Colombia, officials said. Homeland
Security Department spokesman Brian Doyle said the dead passenger was
a 44-year-old U.S. citizen. It was the first time since the Sept. 11
attacks that an air marshal had shot at a passenger or suspect, he
said. A witness said that the man frantically ran down the aisle of
the Boeing 757 and that a woman with him said he was mentally ill. The
passenger, who indicated there was a bomb in the bag, was confronted
by air marshals but ran off the aircraft, Doyle said. The marshals
pursued and ordered the passenger to get on the ground, but the man
did not comply and was shot when he apparently reached into the bag,
Doyle said. Authorities did not immediately say whether any bomb was
found.
Passenger Mary Gardner told WTVJ in
Miami that the man ran down the aisle from the rear of the plane. "He
was frantic, his arms flailing in the air," she said. She said a woman
followed, shouting, "My husband! My husband!" Gardner said she heard
the woman say her husband was bipolar and had not had his medication.
The plane, Flight 924, had arrived from Medellin, Colombia, at 12:16
p.m. and was scheduled to depart two hours later for Orlando, American
Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner said. "I don't know yet if the passenger
had been on the plane and was getting off, or was starting to board
the aircraft," he said. The shooting happened shortly after 2 p.m.,
suggesting passengers may have already been preparing to depart, he
said. About 105 passengers were scheduled to fly to Orlando, he said.
Martin Gonzalez, spokesman for Colombia's civil aviation agency, said
the flight "left normally with no problems." There were only 32 air
marshals at the time of the Sept. 11 attacks. The U.S. administration
hired thousands more afterward, though the exact number is classified.
 Rumsfeld
touts progress in Iraq
Some Democrats renewed calls
for Rumsfeld to be removed from his post.
Rumsfeld: "Media focuses too much on negative."
Photo: Secretary
of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
 WASHINGTON --
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld conceded Monday that the insurgency
in Iraq has been stronger than anticipated but also said the news
media have focused on the war's growing body count rather than the
progress that has been achieved. "To be
responsible, one needs to stop defining success in Iraq as the absence
of terrorist attacks," Rumsfeld said in remarks at the Johns Hopkins
School of Advanced International Studies. He added, "It's appropriate
to note not only how many Americans have been killed - and may God
bless them and their families - but what they died for or, more
accurately, what they lived for." Continuing recent U.S.
administration efforts to defend war policies, Rumsfeld said Americans
should be optimistic about progress that has been made politically and
militarily in Iraq, as that country prepares for next week's
parliamentary election.
In a change of focus, Rumsfeld also
aimed some of his remarks at the media for presenting a "jarring
contrast between what the American people are reading and hearing
about Iraq and the views of the Iraqi people." The Iraqis, he said,
are more upbeat about their country, their security forces are
growing, and they are on the road to democracy. Rumsfeld's speech came
five days after President George W. Bush released a strategy for
victory in Iraq that was meant to better explain the U.S. mission
there. It also came amid increasing discontent with the war among some
members of Congress. In addition, more than half of Americans now say
it was a mistake to send troops to Iraq, according to recent polls.
Bush's approval on handling Iraq is at 37 per cent, the lowest yet.
Pressure on the administration has grown as the number of U.S.
military deaths has surpassed 2,100. Rumsfeld said focusing on that
number would be as misleading as concentrating on the large numbers of
casualties at battles like Iwo Jima during the Second World War,
without acknowledging the victories eventually achieved.
He denounced as unsubstantiated
recent reports out of Iraq, including allegations from two former
Iraqi detainees who said they were thrust into a cage of lions in
Baghdad and then pulled out as an interrogation technique. Rumsfeld
also questioned stories about a military propaganda program that
secretly paid Iraqi newspapers and journalists to publish favourable
articles about the war and rebuilding in Iraq. He said he didn't know
if the allegations were true, and questioned whether a contractor
properly implemented military policy, which was supposed to require
the articles to be labelled as ads or opinion pieces. U.S. military
leaders in Iraq confirmed the existence of the propaganda program last
week. "It's a classic case of blaming the messenger," said Steve
Rendall, a senior analyst at Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, a
media watchdog group in New York. "When the news is bad, blame the
journalists for ignoring the good news. Rumsfeld is confusing bias
with bad news. Reporting bad news is not bias." Rumsfeld acknowledged
that the war has not gone according to plan, but said many things that
were feared, including destruction of oil fields, have not happened.
He said the insurgency was larger than some had expected, and early
efforts to counter it were hampered when infantry units were not
allowed to go into northern Iraq through Turkey. From Bush's
declaration of an end of major combat in May 2003 to Vice-President
Dick Cheney's assertion in May 2005 that the insurgency was "in the
last throes," the administration has taken a positive stance. But the
deadly groups, including Sunni extremists and foreign terrorists
coming across the borders, have continued to kill U.S. and Iraqi
forces.
Some Democrats renewed calls for
Rumsfeld to be removed from his post. Senator John Kerry of
Massachusetts said U.S. troops "have been put in greater danger by the
mistakes of this secretary of defence who refuses to tell the truth
about what is happening in Iraq and pushes aside anyone who dares
speak truth to power."-By L. Bador.
 44
Acres of Coastline Collapse in Hawaii
HAWAII VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK,
Hawaii- About 44 acres of coastline collapsed into the ocean this
week, setting loose a glowing stream of lava that shot out from the
newly exposed cliffside 45 feet above the water. The plume, 6 feet in
diameter, sent up a tower of steam as it hit the water and began
forming a ramp of new land. The collapse of solidified lava shelf and
sea cliff Monday was the largest since Kilauea Volcano began its
current eruption in 1983. Jim Kauahikaua, scientist-in-charge of the
U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, said a collapse
warning was issued in June because the shelf had become large and had
formed cracks. Large collapses had happened in the area before.
Rumblings tipped scientists to Monday's collapse, which took about 4
1/2 hours. Even at that relatively slow pace, the effect was
spectacular. "The cliff just caved away like a glacier," said park
spokesman Jim Gale. "It just sheared off that old wall. There's this
gigantic steam plume and you see the red just falling down — an
incredible fire hose display." The collapse sent out globs of lava and
head-size boulders. Sheets of volcanic glass called limu o Pele, after
the Hawaiian goddess of fire, and thin strands of volcanic glass known
as Pele's hair were found 1,800 feet inland.
US does not torture, Bush insists
The CIA has declined to comment on claims of a covert prison network
President George W Bush has defended his
government's treatment of detainees after a media allegation that the
CIA ran secret jails in eastern Europe. "We do not torture," Mr
Bush told reporters during a visit to Panama. He said enemies were
plotting to hurt the US and his government would pursue them, but
would do so "under the law". Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court has
allowed a legal challenge to the Bush administration's use of military
tribunals for foreign detainees.
The court will decide whether a former driver for Osama
Bin Laden, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, can be tried for war crimes before
military officers in Guantanamo Bay. Correspondents say the case will
be a major test of the US government's wartime powers. 'Country at
war': The White House has not confirmed Washington Post claims
that the CIA set up a covert prison network in eastern Europe and Asia
to hold high-profile terror suspects following the 11 September 2001
attacks. About 30 detainees, considered major terrorism suspects, were
held at these "black sites", although the centres have now been
closed, the paper reported. On Sunday, the United Nations' special
rapporteur on torture urged European officials to conduct high-level
investigations into the allegations. "We are finding terrorists and
bringing them to justice," Mr Bush said at a joint news conference
with Panamanian President Martin Torrijos. "Our country is at war and
our government has the obligation to protect the American people," Mr
Bush said. "Any activity we conduct is within the law." The Senate has
passed legislation banning torture, but the Bush administration is
seeking an exemption for the CIA spy agency. "We do not torture and
therefore we're working with Congress to make sure that as we go
forward, we make it more possible to do our job," Mr Bush said.
Bin Laden driver: The Supreme Court has
agreed to review an appeals court ruling that Mr Hamdan could be tried
by a military tribunal. The court will hear arguments in the case in
March or April, with a decision expected by June. Mr Hamdan, from
Yemen, is accused of conspiracy to commit war crimes, including
terrorism. A judge halted his trial last year, saying it could not
proceed until a decision had been made on whether he was a prisoner of
war under the Geneva Conventions. Mr Hamdan contested his status as
"enemy combatant", and his lawyers were seeking to force US
authorities to try him in a civilian court, arguing that the military
tribunals were illegal under US law. Mr Hamdan worked for Bin Laden in
Afghanistan from 1997 until the US attack in Afghanistan in 2001. He
denies being a member of al-Qaeda.
Rescuers drain pond in
Indiana to see if more victims left there by tornado
 Photo:
An Evansville Police Department officer drives through the Eastbrook
Mobile Home Park in Evansville, Ind., Monday.
EVANSVILLE, Indiana- Crews looking
for victims of a weekend tornado finished searching the wreckage of a
mobile home park and turned their attention Monday to draining a large
pond where it was feared more bodies would be found. The death toll
stood at 21 from the tornado, which struck at 2 a.m. Sunday as people
slept, making it the deadliest in Indiana in more than three decades.
Seventeen people died at Eastbrook Mobile Home Park, including some
victims found in the pond, authorities said. The search for victims
and survivors broke off several hours after dark Sunday night.
Vanderburgh County Sheriff Brad Ellsworth said the two-metre-deep pond
nearby, where some victims were found, would be drained to determine
whether it held any other bodies. Chief Dale Naylor of the Knight
Township fire department said he believed that all survivors or bodies
left in the wreckage had otherwise been found. Four others, including
a woman who was eight months pregnant, died from the tornado in
neighbouring Warrick County, east of Evansville.
More than 100 people were taken to
hospitals. Ellsworth said authorities did not have a count of any
people missing because so many had left the area on their own.
Authorities were not yet allowing residents to return to check on
their homes as crews continued to clean up and check that utilities
had been shut off. National Guard troops were called in to help with
search-recovery efforts. "Mother Nature picked the worst place to drop
in a tornado," Ellsworth said. "There's not a safe place to escape to.
You're just up to fate at this point." The tornado struck a horse
racing track near Henderson, Ky., then crossed into Indiana. All the
dead were in Indiana. The youngest victim at the trailer park was a
two-year-old boy who was killed along with his 61-year-old
grandmother, the Vanderburgh County coroner's office said. The deaths
in Warrick County included Cheryl Warren, a dental assistant who was
eight months pregnant, her four-year-old son, Isaac, and her husband,
Jeremy, a truck driver. Authorities there also were counting as a
fifth death the woman's fetus. Mobile home park resident Tim Martin,
42, said he and his parents were awakened by the wind, which lifted
their home and moved it halfway into the neighbour's yard. They
escaped unharmed, but he said they heard several neighbours calling
for help. A neighbouring mobile home was overturned, he said, and
another appeared to have been destroyed. "All I could see was debris,"
he said. "I thought it was a bad dream." Indiana homeland security
spokeswoman Pam Bright said the tornado was the deadliest in Indiana
since April 3, 1974, when 47 people were killed. Those storms were
part of one of the worst tornado outbreaks in U.S. history, which
killed more than 300 in the South and Midwest and devastated Xenia,
Ohio. Ryan Presley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service,
said the tornado appears to have been an F3 on the Fujita scale, with
winds ranging from 254 km/h to 331 km/h. The scale ranges from F0, the
weakest, to F5, the strongest. -By Ryan Lenzs
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Bush and South Korean leader take united stand
on N. Korean nuclear program
GYEONGJU, South Korea- President George W. Bush
took a hardline stance against North Korea on Thursday, saying the
U.S. won't help the communist country build a civilian nuclear
reactor to produce electricity until it dismantles its nuclear
weapons programs. With the nuclear dispute with North Korea at an
apparent impasse, Bush and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun put
the communist regime on notice that it would not be allowed to keep
its nuclear weapons programs. "A nuclear-armed North Korea will not
be tolerated," Roh said through a translator.
The North has demanded that it be given a
light-water reactor - a type less easily diverted for weapons use -
in exchange for disarming. U.S. officials once rejected the idea
outright and argued North Korea could not be trusted with any
nuclear program, but now have left the door open as long as
Pyongyang, the capital, isn't given a reactor as an incentive but
only as a reward after it has eliminated nuclear weapons programs.
"We'll consider the light-water reactor at the appropriate time,"
Bush said. "The appropriate time is after they have verifiably given
up their nuclear weapons and/or programs." So far, Bush is getting
one thing he wanted from his four-country swing through Asia: no
public displays of dissension from the United States' partners in
the talks.
Negotiations between North Korea and the United
States, Japan, South Korea, Russia and China in September concluded
with Pyongyang's promising to end its nuclear program in exchange
for aid, diplomatic recognition and security guarantees. But a
disappointing new round of talks ended last week without progress on
the difficult next step - how to dismantle existing weapons and
verify that the country really has ended all suspicious programs.
10 U.S. marines killed in
Iraq and casualties are mounting
WASHINGTON, DC- Ten Marines on
foot patrol were killed and 11 wounded by a roadside bomb near
Fallujah in one of the deadliest attack on American troops in Iraq
in recent months, the U.S. Marine Corps disclosed Friday. A brief
statement said the marines were from Regimental Combat Team 8, of
the 2nd Marine Division. They were hit Thursday by a roadside bomb,
which the military calls an improvised explosive device, or IED,
made from several large artillery shells, the marines said. IEDs are
the most common cause of U.S. casualties in Iraq.
The marines were attacked outside
of Fallujah, about 50 kilometres west of Baghdad. Of the 11 who were
wounded, seven have returned to duty, the marine statement said. It
added that marines from the same unit continue to conduct
counterinsurgency operations throughout Fallujah and surrounding
areas. Fallujah had been a stronghold of the insurgents until U.S.
forces, led by marines, captured the city in November 2004.
Since then the U.S. military and
the Iraqi government have been working to rebuild the city and limit
the return of insurgents. Deadly insurgent attacks in the Fallujah
area had become less common in recent months, although one marine
died of wounds from small-arms fire while conducting combat
operations in the city on Wednesday. The 10 deaths on Thursday
marked the deadliest incident for marines in Iraq since 14 were
killed by a roadside bomb on Aug. 3 near Haditha, about 225
kilometres northwest of Baghdad. Those marines were travelling in a
lightly armoured amphibious assault vehicle when it a bomb, flipped
into the air and exploded in a fireball.
U.S. House rejects
immediate troop-withdrawal from Iraq after fiery debate
WASHINGTON,
DC- The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly rejected calls
Friday for an immediate troop-withdrawal from Iraq, a vote
engineered by the Republicans that was intended to fail. Democrats
derided the vote as a political stunt. "Our troops have become the
enemy. We need to change direction in Iraq," said U.S.
Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a Democratic hawk whose
call a day earlier for pulling out troops sparked a nasty, personal
debate over the war.
The House
voted 403-3 to reject a non-binding resolution calling for an
immediate troop-withdrawal. "We want to make sure that we support
our troops that are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. We will not
retreat," House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, said
as the Republican leadership pushed the issue to a vote over the
protest of Democrats. It was the second time in less than a week
that President George W. Bush's Iraq policy stirred heated debate in
Congress. On Tuesday, the Senate defeated a Democratic push for Bush
to lay out a timetable for withdrawal. Murtha, a 73-year-old marine
veteran, decorated for combat service in Vietnam, issued his call
for a troop-withdrawal at a news conference Thursday. In little more
than 24 hours, Hastert and Republicans decided to put the question
to the House. Democrats said it was a political stunt and quickly
decided to vote against it in an attempt to drain it of
significance. "A disgrace," declared House Minority Leader Nancy
Pelosi, a California Democrat. "The rankest of politics and the
absence of any sense of shame," added Representative Steny Hoyer of
Maryland, the No. 2 House Democrat.
U.S. briefs
multiple nations on Iran's nuclear warhead program
LONDON - Diplomatic sources said Iran installed an empty nuclear
warhead on the Shihab-3 intermediate-range ballistic missile for
two tests in mid-2004. The warhead appeared similar to a
Soviet-based ICBM that Moscow deployed in the 1960s. The United
States has briefed several nations and the International Atomic
Energy Agency on an Iranian program to develop a nuclear warhead for
the Shihab-3. The sources said the U.S. briefers asserted that from
2001 to 2003 Iran designed and developed a circular warhead that
could detonate at an altitude designed to ensure optimal damage.
The sources said that in August the U.S. delegation briefed such
countries as China, India, Russia, and South Africa ahead of last
month's IAEA board of governors meeting in Vienna.
The briefing helped persuade some
members to either support or abstain in the vote on a British
resolution to refer the Iranian nuclear file to the United Nations
Security Council. India supported the British resolution, which did
not set a date for the submission of the Iranian file. The Iranian
program, termed Project 111, was commissioned by the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps, the sources said. They said the Iranian
Defense Ministry's Aerospace Industries Organization conducted work
on the Shihab-3 warhead. Iran has designed a Shihab-3 circular
warhead that would explode at a height of 600 meters, the sources
said. They said the IAEA and several member nations were shown
Iranian blueprints as well as data on tests of the Shihab-3
warhead's so-called black box. In July the U.S. gave IAEA
Director-general Mohammed El Baradei the first briefing concerning
Iran's purported nuclear warhead. The U.S. delegation urged El
Baradei to demand information from Iran on the warhead and
interview the purported chief of Project 111, Mohsen Fakrizadeh.
US Internet
Hosting Company Stops Hosting PLO Office's Website
GAZA, (WAFA - PLO News Agency)- The National Office to Defend the
Land and Resist the Colonization, a PLO body, said its website
stopped working on the internet because of intervention from the
hosting American Company. Taysser Khaled, PLO Executive Committee
Member and Head of the National Office, said the website will remain
closed unless the Office reaches a settlement with the hosting
company. Khaled revealed that the American company subjected to
Israeli pressures to stop hosting the Website after those Israeli
organizations failed to hack it.
White House denies
Bush said God told him to invade Iraq and create Palestinian state.
Office of the White House Press
Secretary. Press Briefing by Scott McClellan, James S. Brady Press
Briefing Room
Q: Have you ever heard the President say that God told him to invade
Afghanistan and Iraq and --
MR. McCLELLAN: No, and I've been in many meetings with him and never
heard such a thing.
Q: Are you aware of the -- there's a BBC broadcast tonight that's
quoting the Palestinian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister as
saying that they were in a meeting with the President in June of
'03, and there are some very detailed quotes here, saying that the
President said to them, "God told me, 'George, go and fight those
terrorists in Afghanistan,' and I did," and then "God told me,
'George go and end the tyranny in the Iraq'" and so forth and so on?
MR. McCLELLAN: No, that's absurd. He's never made such comments.
Q: Were you in the meeting when that took place?
MR. McCLELLAN: I've been in meetings with him with President Abbas;
I didn't travel on that trip, if you're talking about to Jordan. But
I've been in many meetings with the President with world leaders
where he's talked about this.
Q: So you don't know about the June '03 meeting?
MR. McCLELLAN: No, I checked into that report and I stand by what I
just
said.
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