tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51921272009-02-21T00:52:17.500-08:00Where's the War?This blog was essentially started to cover the Iraq war. In the spring of 2003, it looked like that war was over, so I stopped posting items about it. It wasn't: rather than make an awkward attempt at resurrection, I'm maintaining this blog as is to provide a sense of what the first months of the war were like.Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comBlogger448125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-944816922003-05-16T19:50:00.000-07:002003-05-16T19:50:34.796-07:00Iran rejects Rumsfeld's claims:
"The repetition of such baseless claims (concerning al-Qaida) cannot portray them as valid and credible," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
U.S. officials have said at least three al-Qaida leaders are in Iran: Saif al-Adil, bin Laden's security and intelligence chief; Saad bin Laden, Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-944314162003-05-15T21:47:00.000-07:002003-05-15T21:47:10.093-07:00Donald Rumsfeld accuses Iran:
"There are still countries harboring terrorists. I mean, we know there are senior al-Qaeda in Iran," Rumsfeld said. Rumsfeld, who has previously accused Iran of giving refuge to al-Qaeda members fleeing Afghanistan, provided no details on which of the group's leaders are believed to be in Iran.
He noted, however, Iran's alleged involvement in the 1996 terrorist Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-944313262003-05-15T21:45:00.000-07:002003-05-15T21:45:01.916-07:00The U.S. is warning the IAEA about Iran:
The United Nations nuclear watchdog agency would be making a big mistake if it failed to find Iran in serious violation of a key international arms control treaty, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.
"We think there are major violations and that's what the evidence shows, and the overall pattern of Iran's behavior is not consistent with anything Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-943535482003-05-14T15:27:00.000-07:002003-05-14T15:27:00.820-07:00The U.S. says Iraqi looters might not be shot:
The officials denied, however, a published report that the American military had new orders to shoot looters on sight.
"We're not going to go out and shoot children that are picking up a piece of wood out of a factory and carrying it away or a bag of cement," Maj. Gen. Buford Blount III, commander of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, told reporters Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-943533882003-05-14T15:23:00.000-07:002003-05-14T15:23:48.776-07:00Cholera has arrived in southern Iraq:
The World Health Organization on Wednesday confirmed a cholera outbreak in southern Iraq, saying its lab results had showed the virus responsible for the disease was present in samples taken from Basra. WHO officials say the cases hint at a much wider epidemic in the region. Basra has had a history of cholera annually but health officials say this year's Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-943531582003-05-14T15:18:00.000-07:002003-05-14T15:18:42.916-07:00There are predictions of more terrorist attacks:
US officials have warned that al-Qaeda may be planning a series of attacks on soft targets after at least 34 people, including one Australian and seven Americans, died in Monday night's synchronised car bomb attacks on three residential compounds in Riyadh.
Australian foreign affairs officials warned that further attacks in Saudi Arabia were Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-942912992003-05-13T15:19:00.000-07:002003-05-13T15:19:49.723-07:00South Korea's President Roh Moo-hyun tries to reassure U.S. investors:
In a speech to the American Chamber of Commerce, Roh reiterated the message he delivered to financiers in New York the day before: South Korea remains a safe place to invest despite seven months of nuclear saber-rattling by North Korea.
"As for North Korea's nuclear issue, which left investors wary, I will try to resolve it Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-942911942003-05-13T15:17:00.000-07:002003-05-13T15:17:36.063-07:00North Korea says a no-nuclear bombs agreement with the South is broken:
The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the 1992 North-South pact had been nullified.
"The Bush administration has systematically and completely torpedoed the process of denuclearization on the Korean peninsula. The inter-Korean declaration on denuclearization of the Korean peninsula was thus reduced to a dead Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-942909852003-05-13T15:13:00.000-07:002003-05-13T15:13:04.100-07:00Iran's leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has rejected ties to the U.S.:
"Some are prescribing surrender to the US adventurers, but surrender to the enemy is no remedy," Khamenei told thousands of students at Tehran's Shahid Beheshti University on Monday.
"To go to the enemy is not the solution, since that would do nothing but to reinforce his morale, and make him more and more adventurous," the Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-942836502003-05-13T12:51:00.000-07:002003-05-13T12:51:35.663-07:00Britain has warned of the danger of more attacks in Saudi Arabia:
Britain warned on Tuesday of a "high threat" of further attacks against Western interests in Saudi Arabia -- possibly involving chemical or biological weapons -- after three suicide bombings overnight.
The Foreign Office issued a warning advising all Britons against non-essential travel to the region after the bombings on Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-942835842003-05-13T12:50:00.000-07:002003-05-13T12:50:17.806-07:00The New York Times says Kim Jong II changed behavior in response to the Iraq war:
American intelligence officials have concluded that the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, went into seclusion during the final buildup to the war in Iraq because he feared that he too might be the target of attack. That judgment has led the Pentagon to consider new ways to hold him and his inner circle at risk as a Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-938949402003-05-06T17:22:00.000-07:002003-05-06T17:22:15.150-07:00Colin Powell says the U.S. still demands an end to North Korea's nuclear program:
Since the crisis erupted in October, the United States has insisted that North Korea must verifiably end both its nuclear programs based on plutonium and enriched uranium.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said that was still the case, even as Pyongyang fired another rhetorical salvo, accusing Washington of trying toArnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-938375082003-05-05T19:03:00.000-07:002003-05-05T19:03:26.823-07:00Reuters reports on the search for information about Iraq's nuclear facilities:
The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said on Monday it had asked the United States to let it send a mission to Iraq to investigate reports of widespread looting at the country's nuclear facilities.
While most of the radioactive material found at these sites would be unusable for atomic weapons, the IAEA is concerned that Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-938124842003-05-05T11:03:00.000-07:002003-05-05T11:03:03.336-07:00Iran asks the U.S. to fight terrorists:
Iran urged the United States on Monday not to allow an Iranian opposition group to attack the country from Iraq.
The People's Mujahedeen is on the U.S. State Department's terrorist list, yet it still signed a truce with the United States on April 15 that allowed it to keep weapons to defend itself against Iranian-backed attacks.
The group also used to be Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-938124152003-05-05T11:01:00.000-07:002003-05-05T11:01:40.420-07:00Pakistan is making an offer to India:
Pakistan will get rid of its nuclear arsenal if rival India does as well, a Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday.
"As far as Pakistan is concerned, if India is ready to denuclearize, we would be happy to denuclearize," Aziz Ahmed Khan said. "But it will have to be mutual."
India's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to Khan's remarks. Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-938123572003-05-05T11:00:00.000-07:002003-05-05T11:00:23.626-07:00The CIA has redrawn its map of Kashmir:
The CIA's new map of Kashmir describes the region east of the Line of Control as "Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir" while it designates the territories to its west as "Pakistan-controlled areas of Kashmir," an Indian defence analyst noted on Sunday.
In the past, the United States has treated the whole Kashmir state as disputed, Air Commodore (retd) JasjitArnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-938122702003-05-05T10:58:00.000-07:002003-05-05T10:58:30.110-07:00Reports of a renewed link between India and Pakistan:
India is expecting resumption of air links with Pakistan within a fortnight in the wake of the recent peace initiative by India and Pakistan.
The resumption of flights would take place only after New Delhi and Islamabad formally decide to restore civil flights, said official sources here on Sunday.
Informed sources quoted the Civil Aviation Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-937728772003-05-04T18:36:00.000-07:002003-05-04T18:36:02.563-07:00A report on meetings in Baghdad's Tower of Babel Hotel regarding Iraq's future:
The US and British have been hosting a meeting in Baghdad with representatives of the five main Iraqi exile groups who met in London before the war
They have been in continuous session since Wednesday, putting together a blueprint for post-Saddam government.
But the meeting has angered Iraqi religious and political Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-937727912003-05-04T18:34:00.000-07:002003-05-04T18:34:34.410-07:00A post-war update on the use of cluster bombs in Iraq:
The Pentagon has admitted using nearly 1,500 air-dropped cluster bombs during the war, but has not revealed information about ground-launched cluster munitions, which were far more numerous.
The Los Angles Times reported recently that the US does not keep track of ground-launched cluster munitions.
The MoD says the Israeli-made L20 cluster Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-937727402003-05-04T18:33:00.001-07:002003-05-04T18:33:46.560-07:00The N.Y. Times reports on problems in Baghdad:
Confusion and frustration reign in most sections of Baghdad, a city of about 4.5 million people. Many businesses have yet to reopen and people are complaining of skyrocketing food prices and the lack of paychecks to buy staples.
The government, which used to be Iraq's biggest employer, is still almost completely shut down, leaving the American Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-937726992003-05-04T18:33:00.000-07:002003-05-04T18:33:03.006-07:00Some information on the U.N. and its role in Iraq:
Tony Blair yesterday seized the opportunity of his first meeting with US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime to press for a role for the UN in the reconstruction of Iraq.
However, it became clear last night he was struggling to get the US to agree to UN involvement. It also emerged that, whatever Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-937267542003-05-03T18:10:00.000-07:002003-05-03T18:10:47.460-07:00A report on the Shi'ites power in today's Iraq:
The Shia - the majority sect of Islam in Iraq - who were suppressed by Saddam, are running not only hospitals but every aspect of life, including community and cultural centres and police stations.
The US is not happy that Shia gunmen are guarding the hospitals and have said they will confront the problem. But even if the Shias hand over control Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-937267102003-05-03T18:09:00.000-07:002003-05-03T18:09:37.073-07:00The Guardian examines some of the issues regarding the U.N. and post-war Iraq:
Tony Blair yesterday seized the opportunity of his first meeting with US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime to press for a role for the UN in the reconstruction of Iraq.
However, it became clear last night he was struggling to get the US to agree to UN involvement. It also Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-936273982003-05-01T18:38:00.000-07:002003-05-01T18:38:32.406-07:00Donald Rumsfeld apparently believes the conflict in Afghanistan is over:
"We're at a point where we clearly have moved from major combat activity to a period of stability and reconstruction," Rumsfeld said at a joint news conference with Afghan president Hamid Karzai. But he added that "there are still dangers."
U.S. officials said the announcement was meant to prod reluctant allies into sendingArnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5192127.post-936162872003-05-01T14:05:00.000-07:002003-05-01T14:05:28.580-07:00Pakistan is inviting India to talks at the highest levels:
Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali on Wednesday said his invitation to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for talks still stood as it was in the interest of the people of the region.
"In my telephonic conversation I had extended an invitation to Mr Vajpayee to visit Pakistan. That invitation still stands. I had even expressed Arnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173816223717607270noreply@blogger.com