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 The Pentagon Early Bird May 8, 2008 Use of these news items does not reflect official endorsement. Reproduction for private use or gain is subject to original copyright restrictions. Item numbers indicate order of appearance only. This is the single print version. Use the PRINT command in your browser to print the entire Early Bird as one document. (NOTE: This single file format is a long document and can use 50 or more pages of paper.)Please scroll down to read the Headlines; then to read Entire News headline article, further scroll down. URL's will not link out in the format recieved. MILITARY
USA Today May 8, 2008 Pg. 1 43,000 Troops Deployed Are Unfit Gravity of health issues unknown By Gregg Zoroya, USA Today WASHINGTON More than 43,000 U.S. troops listed as medically unfit for combat in the weeks before their scheduled deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2003 were sent anyway, Pentagon records show. This reliance on troops found medically "non-deployable" is another sign of stress placed on a military that has sent 1.6 million servicemembers to the war zones, soldier advocacy groups say. "It is a consequence of the consistent churning of our troops," said Bobby Muller, president of Veterans For America. "They are repeatedly exposed to high-intensity combat with insufficient time at home to rest and heal before redeploying." The numbers of non-deployable soldiers are based on health assessment forms filled out by medical personnel at each military installation before a servicemember's deployment. According to those statistics, the number of troops that doctors found non-deployable, but who were still sent to Iraq or Afghanistan fluctuated from 10,854 in 2003, down to 5,397 in 2005, and back up to 9,140 in 2007. The Pentagon records do not list what or how serious the health issues are, nor whether they were corrected before deployment, said Michael Kilpatrick, a deputy director for the Pentagon's Force Health Protection and Readiness Programs. A Pentagon staffer examined 10,000 individual health records last year to determine causes for the non-deployable ratings, Kilpatrick said. Some reasons included a need for eyeglasses, dental work or allergy medicine and a small number of mental health cases, he said. This is the first war in which this health screening process has been used, the Pentagon said. Most of the non-deployable servicemembers are in the Army, which is doing most of the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Between 5% and 7% of all active-duty, National Guard and Reserve soldiers slated for combat were found medically unfit due to health problems each year since 2003, according to statistics provided to USA TODAY. Unit commanders make the final decision about whether a servicemember is sent into combat, although doctors can recommend against deployment because of a medical issue, Army spokeswoman Kim Waldron said. "The commander consults with health care professionals to determine whether the treatment a soldier needs is available in theater," said Army Col. Steven Braverman of the Army Medical Command. At Fort Carson, Colo., Maj. Gen. Mark Graham ordered an investigation into deployment procedures for a brigade deployed to Iraq late last year. At least 36 soldiers were found medically unfit but were still deployed, Graham told USA TODAY. For at least seven soldiers, treatment in the war zone was inadequate and the soldiers were sent home, he said, and at least two of them should never have been deployed. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee in February, the panel's chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., asked Army leaders about an e-mail from the surgeon for the Fort Carson brigade that said medically "borderline" soldiers went to war because "we have been having issues reaching deployable strength." "That should not be happening," Army Secretary Pete Geren told the committee. "I can't tell you that it's not, but it certainly should not be happening." Meanwhile, soldiers with medical problems have also deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan from Fort Drum in New York and Fort Stewart and Fort Benning, both in Georgia, according to Brenda Farrell, who is leading an investigation into the practice for the Government Accountability Office. A report from that investigation sought by members of the House Armed Services Committee is due in June. By the numbers Since fiscal year 2003, more than 43,000 U.S. troops have been deployed to combat despite being rated as "non-deployable." 2003 - 10,854 2004 - 8,996 2005 - 5,397 2006 - 8,672 2007 - 9,140 http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080508599054.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2247283_AET PjkQAAKhcSCNC7QgNg28uG2Q&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080508aaindex_concat.html&cred=wl7BB9wQYUKWuGTI DC4fF0h.YF1gqrsa9PIfkM7pfc7S8Ds1PZRVqaRQdlnqPzZl#T OP">RETURN TO TOP New York Times May 8, 2008 Former Guantanamo Detainee Tied To Mosul Suicide Attack By Alissa J. Rubin BAGHDAD A former Kuwaiti detainee at the United States prison camp at GuantáÏamo Bay, Cuba, was one of the bombers in a string of deadly suicide attacks in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul last month, the American military said Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Iraqi foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, urged American and Iranian officials to return to talks about Iraqi security, but said he understood that it was a difficult moment for reconciliation between the countries. Cmdr. Scott Rye, a spokesman for the American military, identified one of the Mosul bombers as Abdullah Salim Ali al-Ajmi, a Kuwaiti man who was originally detained in Afghanistan and spent three years at GuantáÏamo Bay before being released in 2005. Å¢l-Ajmi had returned to Kuwait after his release from GuantáÏamo Bay and traveled to Iraq via Syria, Commander Rye said, adding that the manÃÔ family had confirmed his death. Mr. Ajmi is one of several former GuantáÏamo detainees believed to have returned to combatant status, said another American military spokesman, Cmdr. Jeffrey D. Gordon. Å´ome have subsequently been killed in combat and participated in suicide bomber attacks, he said. Commander Rye said it was rare to find Kuwaiti foreign fighters and suicide bombers in Iraq. Å¢lthough 90 percent of all suicide bombers in Iraq have been foreigners, historically, Kuwaitis have comprised less than 1 percent of foreign fighters in Iraq, he said. The circumstances of the attack in which Mr. Ajmi was involved remained unclear, he said. There have been a number of suicide attacks in Mosul recently, and the city has become a center of activity for the insurgent group Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, American and Iraqi officials say. In Baghdad, Mr. Zebari acknowledged in a news conference that recent tensions over Shiite militia activity in Iraq, which the United States has accused Iran of supporting, have made it difficult for American and Iranian officials to sit down together. But, he said, Ÿe believe it is very important to bring both parties to the negotiating table to discuss Iraqi security issues.Æû/P>Ÿe canÃÕ currently make this happen with both countries trading accusations against each other, he said. The two countries held three rounds of talks, but were unable to agree on a date for a fourth round ÅÃecause of scheduling problems and a lack of enthusiasm, he said. If the Iranians are organizing the training of Shiite militias as well as financing them and supplying them with weapons as the American military asserts, ÅÕhis is unacceptable, of course, said Mr. Zebari, who said he had summoned IranÃÔ ambassador to Iraq to the Foreign Ministry in the past two days for Å long conversation. But he underscored the point made by several Shiite members of Parliament who recently visited Iran, that Iraq must have a working relationship with its eastern neighbor. Å°ur destiny is that we live together, Mr. Zebari said. Ÿe are neighbors. And no matter what the problems are we need to resolve them. The history of Iraq-Iran relations is not easy.Æû/P>The American military announced Wednesday that a soldier was killed in Anbar Province on Tuesday while on patrol. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080508599039.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2247283_AET PjkQAAKhcSCNC7QgNg28uG2Q&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080508aaindex_concat.html&cred=wl7BB9wQYUKWuGTI DC4fF0h.YF1gqrsa9PIfkM7pfc7S8Ds1PZRVqaRQdlnqPzZl#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washington Post May 8, 2008 Pg. 18 Ex-Guantanamo Detainee Joined Iraq Suicide Attack By Josh White, Washington Post Staff Writer A Kuwaiti man who complained about maltreatment during a three-year stay in the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was involved in a deadly suicide bombing in northern Iraq last month, the U.S. military confirmed yesterday. Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi, 29, whom the U.S. military accused of fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan and wanting to kill Americans, was involved in one of three suicide bombings that killed seven Iraqi security forces in Mosul on April 26, Defense Department officials said. They said that after his release in Kuwait, Ajmi traveled to Iraq via Syria -- a common way for foreign fighters to enter Iraq through porous borders. Military officials said Ajmi's motives were unclear, but in a lengthy martyrdom audio recording before his death, Ajmi implores people to take part in suicide bombings to attack Americans. In portions of the recording translated by the Bethesda-based SITE Intelligence Group, Ajmi decries the conditions at Guantanamo as "deplorable" and urges others to fight. "Whoever can join them and execute a suicide operation, let him do so. By God, it will be a mortal blow," Ajmi says. "The Americans complain much about it. By God, in Guantanamo, all their talk was about explosives and whether you make explosives. It is as if explosives were hell to them." The suicide bombing is the first such attack in Iraq linked to a former Guantanamo detainee, though the Defense Intelligence Agency has estimated that as many as three dozen former Guantanamo detainees are confirmed or suspected of having returned to terrorist activities. International human rights groups and lawyers for Guantanamo detainees have disputed that estimate, saying only a handful of former detainees have left U.S. custody and gone on to fight U.S. forces. "Our reports indicate that a number of former Guantanamo detainees have taken part in anti-coalition militant activities after leaving U.S. detention," said Navy Cmdr. J.D. Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman. "As these facts illustrate, there is an implied future risk to U.S. and allied interests with every detainee who is released or transferred from Guantanamo." Approximately 500 detainees have been released from Guantanamo or transferred to other governments since the facility opened in January 2002. Of the 270 who remain, about 65 more detainees have been cleared for release or transfer. Ajmi was held at Guantanamo until late 2005, when he was transferred to the custody of the Kuwaiti government as part of a diplomatic arrangement. In hearings at Guantanamo, Ajmi maintained his innocence and said he never fought with the Taliban or meant anyone any harm. He also said he did not have a "grudge" against his American captors -- a claim belied by his later martyrdom statements. In the audio clip, accompanied by a propaganda video with an image of Ajmi and a young child, Ajmi said detainees were "like guinea pigs for experiments." Referring to one detainee at Guantanamo -- Yasser al-Zahrani, a Saudi national -- Ajmi said that the detainee used to stand up for other detainees "every time a soldier or an officer hurt us" and that he "took revenge for us." The Defense Department reported that Zahrani died in June 2006, when he allegedly took part in a coordinated suicide with two other detainees, an act that defense officials called an asymmetric attack on his captors. Ajmi disagreed, saying: "The Americans killed him and said he hanged himself." In 2006, Ajmi was tried in a Kuwaiti court, along with a group of other alleged terrorists, but was acquitted and released. Defense officials said he apparently had been living a "productive life" in Kuwait since his release, and an attorney for him in the United States said yesterday that Ajmi had fathered a child shortly after returning home. But Thomas Wilner, a Washington lawyer who represented Ajmi in seeking a habeas corpus hearing during his stay at Guantanamo, said yesterday that Ajmi was young and not well educated, and that he appeared deeply affected by his incarceration at the U.S. facility. Ajmi told Wilner in five 2005 meetings that he had been badly abused after his capture in Afghanistan and later at Guantanamo, at one point coming to a meeting with a broken arm Ajmi said he sustained in a scuffle with guards. Wilner said that over the course of the visits, Ajmi became "more and more distraught . . . about the way he was treated and the fact that he couldn't do anything about it." Wilner called the suicide bombing a "horrible tragedy" and a result of the absence of appropriate legal processes at Guantanamo. "All we sought for him was a fair hearing, a process, and he was released by the U.S. government without that process," Wilner said. "The lack of a process leads to problems. It leads to innocent people being held unfairly and not-so-innocent people going home without any hearing. The [U.S.] government decided to release this guy, and why, we'll never know," Wilner added. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080508599092.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2247283_AET PjkQAAKhcSCNC7QgNg28uG2Q&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080508aaindex_concat.html&cred=wl7BB9wQYUKWuGTI DC4fF0h.YF1gqrsa9PIfkM7pfc7S8Ds1PZRVqaRQdlnqPzZl#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Philadelphia Inquirer May 8, 2008 Aid Groups: Sadr City Devastated By Fighting Thousands are fleeing amid shortages of food, water and medical care, agency officials said. By Bradley Brooks, Associated Press BAGHDAD - Entire sections of Baghdad's Sadr City district have been left nearly abandoned by civilians fleeing a U.S.-led showdown with Shiite militias and seeking aid after facing shortages of food and medicine, humanitarian groups said yesterday. The reports by the agencies, including the U.N. children's fund, added to the individual accounts of civilians pouring out of the Sadr City area as clashes intensify. U.S. forces have increased their use of air power and armored patrols in an attempt to cripple Shiite militia influence in Sadr City, a slum of 2.5 million people that serves as the Baghdad base for the Mahdi Army, led by the anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The fighting started in late March, after the Iraqi government had begun a crackdown on militias and armed gangs in the southern city of Basra, including some groups the United States says have links to Iran. Claire Hajaj, a UNICEF spokeswoman based in Jordan, said that up to 150,000 people - including 75,000 children - were isolated in sections of Sadr City "cordoned off by military forces." She said that about 6,000 people had been forced to flee their homes and that some areas of southeastern Sadr City were virtually abandoned. The U.S. military is trying to weaken the militias' grip over the area and to disrupt rocket and mortar strikes launched from Sadr City into the U.S.-protected Green Zone, which includes the U.S. Embassy and key Iraqi government offices. The fighting has prevented aid workers from reaching residents of the neighborhood and in past weeks has led to shortages of water, food and medicine, Hajaj said. She said, however, that the water shortage seemed to have abated in recent days and that the Iraqi government and U.S. forces had been able to restore some basic services to certain areas. Tahseen al-Sheikhly, spokesman for the civilian side of the Baghdad security operations, said that some groups had exaggerated the number of civilians fleeing Sadr City and that "our figures are far less than these figures." He did not provide specific numbers. An official with the Iraqi Red Crescent said about 1,200 people who had fled Sadr City were fed Tuesday by the organization. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to the media. Medical care also has been limited by the fighting, Hajaj said. She said the Habibiya Maternity Hospital - the one maternity medical facility in the neighborhood - had essentially shut down, with "access extremely limited because it is in one of the most dangerous, militia-dominated parts" of Sadr City. "Emergency assistance cannot cover all the needs in Sadr City," said Siri Elverland, of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. She said the "resumption of commercial activity . . . and public-service delivery" was essential and could happen only "when there is a cessation or pause in fighting." U.S. commanders have stressed that they are pushing to restore services - including water, electricity and garbage collection - to areas once the security situation permits. Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner said the U.S. military was "responding appropriately" to extremists firing rockets into the Green Zone while "taking precautions to limit the impact on innocent civilians." Also yesterday, the military reported that a Marine had been killed in Anbar province. The attack occurred Tuesday. The Marine's death was the fifth reported in the western province in a week. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080508599115.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2247283_AET PjkQAAKhcSCNC7QgNg28uG2Q&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080508aaindex_concat.html&cred=wl7BB9wQYUKWuGTI DC4fF0h.YF1gqrsa9PIfkM7pfc7S8Ds1PZRVqaRQdlnqPzZl#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Los Angeles Times May 8, 2008 Pg. 7 U.S.-Iran Talks Impossible Amid Tensions, Iraq Says By Tina Susman, Times Staff Writer BAGHDAD -- Prospects for another round of talks between Iranian and U.S. officials soon appeared dead Wednesday after Iraq's foreign minister said tensions between Tehran and Washington made such a meeting impossible. Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari's comments showed how sharply U.S.-Iranian relations have deteriorated over the issue of violence in Iraq, which appeared to be decreasing last fall, in the wake of fighting in Iraq between U.S.-led forces and Shiite Muslim militias. Wednesday was one of the calmest days since the violence flared March 25, but the U.S. military reported that a Marine had been killed in Anbar province. The attack occurred Tuesday, the military said without giving details. At least 4,073 U.S. troops have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to the independent website icasualties.org. The Marine's death was the fifth reported in the western province in a week, an unusual number in a region that had seen a dramatic drop in U.S. fatalities in the last year. The decline in Anbar is attributed to the birth of the Awakening movement, which turned Sunni Muslim tribal sheiks who had once harbored insurgents into allies of U.S. and Iraqi forces. Zebari's comments came two days after the Iranian Foreign Ministry's spokesman, Mohammed Ali Hosseini, said no talks could take place while U.S. forces were involved in "open and extensive bombing" of Baghdad neighborhoods. Hosseini was referring to U.S. strikes on strongholds of Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia. Zebari said Iraqi officials had proposed four possible dates for Iranian-U.S. talks on Iraq's security, the most recent being March 6. He did not say which side balked and did not blame either side for the inability to arrange talks since the last round in August. That was the third time since March 2007 that Iranian and U.S. officials had come together, at the Iraqi government's urging, to discuss ways to stabilize Iraq. The Iraqi foreign minister made it clear that his government found it maddening to be squeezed between two crucial allies who cannot get along. "The atmosphere of . . . media attacks, exchange of attacks and accusations and lack of trust and confidence . . . I don't think we will succeed in having the fourth round" of talks, he said. "The idea is not dead," Zebari added. "We hope we will be able to resume it." Neither Washington nor Tehran shows signs of budging in the current standoff, which escalated this month after U.S. military officials said Iranian-made weapons manufactured in 2008 had been found in the southern city of Basra. They said the weapons showed that Iran had not kept a promise to Iraq late last year to stop interfering in the country. But after an Iraqi parliament delegation visited Iran last week to discuss the evidence, it returned saying only that a committee was needed to further investigate the claims. Neither Iraq nor the U.S. has displayed any of the alleged Iranian-made weapons. At a news conference Wednesday, the chief U.S. military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner, said 600 rockets and 387 roadside bombs, along with 1,800 mortar rounds, had been found in Basra since the end of March. But he made no mention of any of them being Iranian-made, a notable omission compared with the accusations in the last two weeks. Special correspondents in Baghdad contributed to this report. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080508599065.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2247283_AET PjkQAAKhcSCNC7QgNg28uG2Q&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080508aaindex_concat.html&cred=wl7BB9wQYUKWuGTI DC4fF0h.YF1gqrsa9PIfkM7pfc7S8Ds1PZRVqaRQdlnqPzZl#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washington Times May 8, 2008 Pg. 11 U.S. Probes School Contracts Over Iran Proviso By Ben Lando, United Press International U.S. forces in Iraq are investigating two contracts to build schools in northern Iraq that required bathroom fixtures be supplied by Iran. The new elementary and middle schools built in Irbil were also authorized by a South Korean member of coalition forces, against U.S. contracting rules, but officials say this practice has been stopped and corrected. The contracts for the Sarwaran Primary School and Binaslawa Middle School, in the capital of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, "required that the bathroom fixtures be produced in Iran, which is currently under United States trade sanctions," according to two recent reports by the U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR). The Binaslawa school bathrooms had not been furnished at the time of the Feb. 4 SIGIR inspection. There were three sinks and four toilets installed in each of the four bathrooms in the Sarwaran school, however. "The contract required the wash basins and [toilet] fixtures be Iranian-made products," the report said. A SIGIR official confirmed the contract language didn"t require the specific company supply bathroom fixtures, but the fixture did have to come from Iran. The company could not be reached. Col. Bill Buckner, spokesman for Multi-National Corps-Iraq (MNC-I), said U.S. funds are not allowed to be used to purchase Iranian products, and contracts "normally" do not specify supplier countries or companies. "Contracts are typically executed based on a lowest-bid process," he said. The projects were awarded by MNC-I"s Multi-National Division-North East, which is commanded by South Korean forces, and awarded to a "local contractor" from a "list of competitors" provided by the Kurdistan regional government, the SIGIR report said. United Press International has been unable to obtain copies of the contracts or the competitors list. "Based on trade sanctions, the U.S. does not solicit bids from Iran," Col. Buckner said, adding that an investigation is ongoing. He also said it was not clear why an Iranian company was specified in the contract. The Sarwaran contract for $826,469 and the $676,741 contract for Binaslawa both exceeded the $500,000 minimum, above which a project using Commander"s Emergency Response Program (CERP) funds "must be negotiated by a warranted contracting officer," according to the SIGIR report. Col. Buckner said a U.S. government employee must "review and obligate funds for purchases" and "no documentation has been found" authorizing the South Korean contracting officer action. He said the problem was identified in February the same time as the SIGIR investigation. Coalition forces project purchasing officers (PPO) were directed by the Corps "not to conduct any CERP funding transactions" without a U.S. government employee purchasing officer present, and issued an order "clarifying" only U.S. government employees could be PPOs. "This was a procedural error that was immediately corrected once discovered," Col. Buckner said. "There was no ill-intent, mismanagement of funds, or any other improprieties. As noted in the SIGIR report, the projects were managed and being completed to specifications." http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080508599172.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2247283_AET PjkQAAKhcSCNC7QgNg28uG2Q&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080508aaindex_concat.html&cred=wl7BB9wQYUKWuGTI DC4fF0h.YF1gqrsa9PIfkM7pfc7S8Ds1PZRVqaRQdlnqPzZl#T OP">RETURN TO TOP San Francisco Chronicle May 8, 2008 Pg. 9 Forgive/Forget Easier Said Than Done In Iraq By Anna Badkhen, Chronicle Foreign Service Baghdad-- The idea was simple: U.S. troops would return four Shiite prisoners, who had been imprisoned for nine months for attacking U.S. and Iraqi troops and Sunni civilians, to their homes in the predominantly Sunni district of Saidiya. After a public ritual, they would be released in exchange for a written guarantee from upstanding members of the neighborhood community and a vow to renounce violence. It would be a critical steppingstone in the U.S. effort to bring reconciliation to a city torn by deadly sectarian strife, a symbol that deep-seated rifts between Sunnis and Shiites are beginning to mend. But Tuesday, just two hours after U.S. troops released the four men to their families during an elaborately orchestrated ceremony at a neighborhood council organized by American soldiers, one of the area's influential Sunni leaders was seething. "The detainees that you released today, one of them killed somebody I know," council member Thamer Barat told U.S. Army Capt. Andrew Betson. "All the civilians identified them already as criminals." Betson is commander of the Apache Company of the 4-64 armor regiment of the 4th Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, which operates in Saidiya under the command of the 4th Infantry Division's 1st Brigade. His response was swift and firm: "Because of reconciliation, they have been released," he told Barat through an interpreter. "Clean slate." This brief exchange underlines the fragile nature of the reconciliation process, the crucial condition for bringing stability and peace to Iraq, and to Baghdad, a city where the scars from sectarian battles and extrajudicial killings of 2006 and 2007 are still fresh and where many residents still adhere to tooth-for-a-tooth retaliation. "It's not too much of a surprise," Betson said. "The concept of reconciliation is more than just stopping the violence. It's a forgive-and-forget concept, and it's difficult." At the height of sectarian violence last year, thousands of Iraqis were killed for being from the wrong sect, the wrong political affiliation, or simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Saidiya, formerly an upscale, mostly Sunni neighborhood of high-paid entrepreneurs, intellectuals and Saddam Hussein's Baath Party elite, became a major battleground between forces loyal to the Mahdi Army of the anti-American militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the north, and Sunni forces affiliated with al Qaeda in Iraq in the south. Hundreds of families fled in fear or were forced out by armed militias. Hundreds were killed. In December, U.S. troops built a 12-foot wall around Saidiya, swept the area of militants and introduced strict regulations for anyone entering the area inside the wall. American troops also helped organize a neighborhood council comprised of 26 Sunni and Shiite representatives. Gradually, peace has returned to Saidiya. More than 800 shops have reopened, and almost 400 families have returned, according to the 4-64 battalion commander, Lt. Col. Johnnie Johnson. But mistrust still runs deep in the community, and forgiveness does not come easily, as Betson and his troops are reminded again and again. When two would-be assailants shot and wounded two members of the neighborhood council last month, Betson's troops arrested them immediately. The detainees were questioned by the Apache Company and U.S. military investigators. Their victims, meanwhile, demanded tribal justice, Betson said. "They told us that if they went to jail and were sentenced to death, that was good. If they went to jail and died there, that was good. But if they got out of jail, then the tribes would get together and agree to kill them," Betson said. At Tuesday's ceremony, four released detainees - brothers Hussein, Saddam and Mohammed al-Rubaye and Hussein Abad - signed a statement, vowing never to participate in violence again and to report anyone plotting to attack Iraqi and U.S. forces or civilians. All four were suspected of being members of the Mahdi Army, detained in August and held at Camp Cropper, the American detention facility near Baghdad International Airport. Abad wept as he embraced his brother and guarantor, Abdul Karim , who can be detained if Abad resorts to violence again. The guarantor of the al-Rubayes, their brother Hajim al-Rubaye, claimed the men were innocent and imprisoned for no good reason. "We are sitting in our house, and suddenly the Americans are on top of us," he said. "Our mother, she has been crying for the last eight months." Betson insisted on the formal ceremony "to make it into a bit of a bigger deal. It is ... another example of a return to normalcy," he explained. After the men were released, Betson told them: "Anything that has been done in the past, you have served your time, and it is forgotten. Now we are brothers." But as he drove back to his combat outpost in Saidiya on Tuesday night, Betson conceded that not all neighborhood residents will abide by the notion of reconciliation. "I think there's absolutely people who want to take revenge, since they're talking about tribal law," he said. "But I don't know if they will follow through. Hopefully not." http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080508599046.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2247283_AET PjkQAAKhcSCNC7QgNg28uG2Q&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080508aaindex_concat.html&cred=wl7BB9wQYUKWuGTI DC4fF0h.YF1gqrsa9PIfkM7pfc7S8Ds1PZRVqaRQdlnqPzZl#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washington Post May 8, 2008 Pg. D1 Marriott Weighs Risk, Opportunity Of A Hotel In Baghdad Green Zone By Michael S. Rosenwald, Washington Post Staff Writer A Marriott International official said yesterday that the company was evaluating whether to open a hotel in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, responding to a request from U.S. government officials who are eager to help revive Iraq with foreign investment and economic activity. The Bethesda firm, one of the largest hotel operators in the world, would have to overcome major obstacles, such as Baghdad's lack of security and its ravaged infrastructure. Chief executive Bill Marriott is considering the deal but is concerned about safety issues, according to someone familiar with his thinking. Marriott, which is paid fees by hotel owners to manage properties, is mulling the move as it embarks on a major expansion in the Middle East. To meet demand from a surge of business activity there, Marriott intends to boost its properties in the region from 26 to about 75 during the next several years. Opening a Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh is one thing. But moving into Baghdad is quite another. The Green Zone has been a frequent target of attacks by insurgents. A recent flare-up, when 114 rocket and mortar rounds fell in the Green Zone during a 30-day period ending in late April, showed the unpredictability of the danger. Marriott is not the only company that has been approached about managing the hotel development, but it has connections to the Bush administration. Bill Marriott is chairman of the president's Export Council, which advises Bush on trade issues. The council is appointed by the president and includes U.S. business leaders and several Cabinet members, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Paul A. Brinkley, the deputy under secretary of defense for business transformation, declined to identify any hotel companies considering the deal, nor would he identify the developers, saying only it was consortium of European, American and regional investors. A license for the hotel's construction has been issued by Iraqi authorities, he said. "As with any opportunity, we carefully consider all the factors involved," said Marriott spokesman John Wolf. "We're evaluating this, just as we are considering opportunities elsewhere." Private entities in the United States and Iraq were also involved in approaching the company, Wolf said. At a National Press Club event yesterday highlighting Iraq's business opportunities, Brinkley appeared with Iraq's Industry Minister Fawzi Hariri. In an interview afterward, Hariri said Iraqis "would welcome" an American hotel in Baghdad. "We would welcome more than one," he said. "We would like all the chains to be there." The Iraqi government is also willing, Hariri said, "to provide them with all the necessary support from infrastructure and facilities for this to happen." He expects any hotel venture would be "very productive and profitable" because as the country's situation improves "there is a great deal of interest from business people and the business community to travel to Iraq." This week, for instance, officials from German automaker Daimler said the company planned to open an office in Baghdad. However, hotel offerings for business travelers are slim. "We have a shortage of good quality accommodations," Hariri said. Many foreigners stay at the al-Rasheed, inside the Green Zone, where a rocket attack wounded several guests in October 2003. There are other hotels in Baghdad outside the zone, including the Sheraton Ishtar, which hasn't been connected to the American brand Sheraton since Saddam Hussein's Iraqi government took it over after the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Not long after Hussein's capture in 2003, the hotel was hit with mortar fire on Christmas. Marriott is generally a risk-averse company, though it has taken big chances when there was a strong business case. Perhaps the biggest risk the company took was in the 1980s, when it spent several hundred million dollars to open the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. Times Square was not the commercial mecca it is today, where prostitutes and drug dealers are now difficult to find. Back then it was still, as Bill Marriott once wrote, a "run-down, seedy area that might or might not come back to life." Building hotel there was "a huge risk." But Marriott went ahead, installing one of the most elaborate hotel security systems of its time. Entrance to the hotel was limited. The lobby was located on the eighth floor. Times Square turned around, and today the Marquis is among the company's most profitable hotels. Correspondent Sholnn Freeman in Baghdad contributed to this report. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080508599085.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2247283_AET PjkQAAKhcSCNC7QgNg28uG2Q&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080508aaindex_concat.html&cred=wl7BB9wQYUKWuGTI DC4fF0h.YF1gqrsa9PIfkM7pfc7S8Ds1PZRVqaRQdlnqPzZl#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Los Angeles Times May 8, 2008 Morning Briefing Hazards Are Par For Course In Baghdad Military personnel have made the makeshift Crossed Swords Golf Course a popular spot. All that's lacking is a view, grass, real holes and a sense of safety. By Peter Yoon, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer Despite its location -- a war zone -- the nine-hole Crossed Swords Golf Course in Baghdad is popular among military personnel looking for a golf fix. The 479-yard layout is closed in by 15-foot concrete blast walls and has dirt "greens," and the holes are emptied baked beans cans sunk into the ground. There is only one sand trap -- and who would have guessed that? -- but plenty of other hazards: The threat of incoming rockets and mortar is ever present and bursts of gunfire interrupting backswings are far more prevalent than camera clicks at PGA Tour events. "I would challenge Tiger Woods to a round at the Green Zone course any day," wrote Bradley Brooks of the Associated Press. "Just to see how his steely concentration would hold up when the mortar alarm blares: 'Incoming! Incoming! Take cover!' and shells land nearby." http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080508599036.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2247283_AET PjkQAAKhcSCNC7QgNg28uG2Q&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080508aaindex_concat.html&cred=wl7BB9wQYUKWuGTI DC4fF0h.YF1gqrsa9PIfkM7pfc7S8Ds1PZRVqaRQdlnqPzZl#T OP">RETURN TO TOP CNN May 7, 2008 Jihadist Web Site: Ex-Guantanamo Detainee Was Iraqi Suicide Bomber By Jamie McIntyre CNN Newsroom, 2:00 PM BRIANNA KEILAR: We will get you the latest on the situation in Myanmar in just a moment. But first, a story just into the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's bring in Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre. I understand, Jamie, we're talking about a former Guantanamo Bay detainee. What can you tell us? JAMIE MCINTYRE: Well, Brianna, it's not often that you find a jihadist Web site and the Pentagon agreeing on something, but today both say that a man named Abdullah Saleh al-Ajmi was responsible for a suicide attack in Mosul against Iraqi police officers, and the Pentagon says that this man was a former detainee at the Guantanamo prison in Guantanamo, Cuba. The Web site lauds him as a martyr and hero. The Pentagon says he was someone who was picked up in 2001 in Afghanistan, alleged to have been fighting with the Taliban against the Northern Alliance during the fighting there in 2001. He was held in Guantanamo Bay, according to U.S. military records, until 2005, when as a Kuwaiti citizen, he was returned to Kuwait. After facing justice in Kuwait, he was released. And now the Pentagon says he's one of at least 10 former Guantanamo detainees who has shown up on the battlefield, either been captured, or killed, or in this case, believed to have carried out a suicide attack last April 26th in Mosul -- Brianna. KEILAR: And Jamie, I know the details are really just coming in on this, but you said he went back to Kuwait, he faced justice there. Do we know what type of justice was handed out there? MCINTYRE: Well, he was charged with terrorism offenses. Of course, during his stay at Guantanamo, he wasn't formally charged with anything, although the U.S. believed he was an enemy combatant. But he denied that he had anything to do with fighting with the Taliban. He said he was in Afghanistan to study the Koran. He was apparently acquitted by a Kuwaiti and released sometime after his transfer in 2005. And then flash forward to 2008, he shows up in Iraq, in Mosul, according to this jihadist Web site, responsible for that terrorist attack. Again, the Pentagon says this is the problem they have with the detainees -- and there are about 270 left -- in Guantanamo. They're never sure when they release somebody if they may be a threat in the future. KEILAR: All right. Jamie McIntyre for us at our Washington bureau. Thanks, Jamie. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080508599037.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2247283_AET PjkQAAKhcSCNC7QgNg28uG2Q&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080508aaindex_concat.html&cred=wl7BB9wQYUKWuGTI DC4fF0h.YF1gqrsa9PIfkM7pfc7S8Ds1PZRVqaRQdlnqPzZl#T OP">RETURN TO TOP NPR May 7, 2008 Sadr City Death Toll Hits 1000 Day To Day (NPR), 4:00 PM MADELEINE BRAND: In Iraq, fighting continues today in Sadr City. That's the Shiite slum in Baghdad. More than two million people live there. ALEX COHEN: For more than a month, both U.S. soldiers and Iraqi forces have been trying to quell the violence there. Forces loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have been battling Iraqi government soldiers. BRAND: Since the fighting began about six weeks ago, 1,000 Iraqis have been killed in Sadr City. NPR's Tom Bowman is in Baghdad. Tom, in the last few days the parliament in Iraq has been talking about how to end this fighting, and grappling with this issue. What are they talking about? TOM BOWMAN: Well, Jalal Talabani, he's the president of Iraq. He sent a letter to parliament basically saying let's try to come up with a truce here, and one of his suggestions is for the fighters to turn in their medium and heavy weapons. Also he's proposing an amnesty for those who have not killed either Iraqi or American forces. Now, the Sadrists in parliament, they're really concerned about the loss of civilian life, they say, there. They're saying they also don't have any heavy weapons, and if the Iraqi forces want to come in without the Americans, they'd be happy to have them come in. But they're still debating it, and one of the Sadr members of parliament, Nasser al-Rubaie, during the debate in parliament he basically said the invasion forces, meaning the United States, they're carrying out what he calls aggressive attacks in Sadr City, including air strikes against Sadr City. And then he asks, could someone tell me how to counter air strikes? Is there any other force to stop the airplanes? Other members of parliament are really worried. They say that Americans are using too much heavy firepower. They're using rocket attacks, unmanned drones firing missiles, tank rounds. Now, the American military will say listen, we're going to do what we have to, to protect our soldiers. BRAND: Well, until relatively recently, there seemed to be a truce. The fighting was reignited in Basra back in March, and is it just getting heavier and heavier, and spiraling out of control? BOWMAN: That's a good question. It seems to be in Sadr City. The death toll is increasing, more fighters are taking to the street. I sat down with a Mahdi army commander last week and he told me that he is maintaining the cease-fire, but about 600 of the 2,000 soldiers under his command are joining the fight in Sadr City. He said they are defending their neighborhoods, defending their families. So, while the truce appears to still be holding, that eight month truce that was set up by Muqtada al-Sadr, the head of the Mahdi army, a lot of his fighters aren't abiding by it, and are joining the fight in Sadr City. BRAND: Now, how in control is Muqtada al-Sadr? Is he directing this, or are these in fact a separate group? BOWMAN: Well, the Americans say they are special groups, Iranian trained remnants of the Mahdi army that are fighting here. That's the official line. Some American officers I talk with say it's really amorphous. They kind of go back and forth between these special groups and the Mahdi army. We don't know who really is fighting. There is a question about control and how much control Sadr has over his Mahdi army. It seems to be splintering, but the other thing we're seeing too is there seems to be even more support now for Sadr, particularly in Sadr City, because of the heavy-handed tactics the civilians say are being used against the fighters in Sadr City. There's growing hatred for Maliki in Sadr City, and growing hatred for the Americans here as well. BRAND: Is it possible that we're seeing the beginnings of a civil war between various Shiite factions in Iraq? BOWMAN: We could be seeing that. We're also seeing in other areas of Baghdad elements of the Mahdi army seem to be popping up fighting Iraqi and American forces, so we don't know how far this will go. Will the entire city erupt? What we're seeing now is a lot of families are heading out of Sadr City. Beforehand, in the last few weeks during the fighting you would see families and people move from one part of Sadr City to another. Now we're seeing hundreds of families actually leaving Sadr City, and the government plans to put them up at a sports stadium just outside of Sadr City. There's a real worry, you know, obviously among the civilians about where this thing is heading, and will it spiral out of control. BRAND: NPR's Tom Bowman speaking from Baghdad. Thanks, Tom. BOWMAN: You're welcome. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080508599113.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2247283_AET PjkQAAKhcSCNC7QgNg28uG2Q&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080508aaindex_concat.html&cred=wl7BB9wQYUKWuGTI DC4fF0h.YF1gqrsa9PIfkM7pfc7S8Ds1PZRVqaRQdlnqPzZl#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Seattle Times May 8, 2008 Pg. 9 2 NATO Soldiers Killed In Blast An explosion in eastern Afghanistan killed two NATO soldiers and one civilian, while other attacks left seven policemen dead, officials said. Two other North Atlantic Treaty Organization soldiers were wounded when the blast hit a patrol in Khowst province, the alliance said. It did not release their nationalities. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080508599171.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2247283_AET PjkQAAKhcSCNC7QgNg28uG2Q&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080508aaindex_concat.html&cred=wl7BB9wQYUKWuGTI DC4fF0h.YF1gqrsa9PIfkM7pfc7S8Ds1PZRVqaRQdlnqPzZl#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Reuters.com May 7, 2008 U.S. And NATO Battle On Uneven Afghan Patchwork By Luke Baker, Reuters MAIDAN SHAHR, Afghanistan -- Last week U.S. Captain Roger Hill led a patrol into the Jaldez valley, just southwest of Kabul, and was immediately ambushed from three sides by 50 Taliban fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades. The army of attackers, robed and bearded, fired somewhere between 25 and 30 grenades at his convoy, Hill said, pinning the patrol down in a furious two-hour gun battle that ended only when U.S. fighter planes swooped in for support. It was a relatively rare and surprisingly staunch attack for that area of Afghanistan, reminiscent in its intensity to episodes in Iraq, where Hill spent more than a year. Yet asked where he would rather be deployed, he is clear. "I feel like we're getting somewhere here. In a way we've had to start much more from scratch in Iraq than in Afghanistan," he said. "Here there's a sense of progress." His commander Major Christopher Faber, the operations officer for a task force of the 101st Airborne Division in Maidan Wardak, a province just south of Kabul, is even more succinct. "In Iraq, it's hunting season all year long for them," he said, referring to the insurgents. "Here, I feel like there's a lot more optimism." In some ways those views contradict the received wisdom on Afghanistan, described by military experts in the United States as a "forgotten war" and one America and its NATO allies will lose if they do not boost numbers and change tactics rapidly. Yet on the ground in Afghanistan the conflict quickly shows itself to be far more nuanced, with large swathes of the country relatively stable and making slow if very cumbersome progress, while other areas -- particularly the far south -- are mired in a conflict that frequently eclipses Iraq for intensity. In the southern portions of east Afghanistan, where U.S. forces have been operating for more than six years, even the provinces that border Pakistan and have been a refuge for the Taliban in the past are showing signs of calm. U.S. commanders spend the bulk of their days meeting local Afghan officials, trying to coordinate efforts with French, Czech or Turkish reconstruction teams and running patrols alongside the slowly improving Afghan army. There tends to be little combat, although rockets are still frequently fired at U.S. bases, roadside bombs are an occasional threat and an uptick in violence is expected as the weather warms into a possible Spring offensive by the Taliban. At the main U.S. base in the area, just 20 km (13 miles) from the Pakistan border, U.S. soldiers appear very relaxed about their deployment and the day-to-day duties. "This place is the Ritz," says Private Adam Grow, 23, referring to what is known as Forward Operating Base Salerno. "I work a 9 to 5 shift, get my work done, and then go the gym or take a class. There's definitely worse places to be." Grow and his friend Specialist Christopher Moore, 34, are taking a philosophy class as part of a military education program. The gym on the base is the size of an aircraft hangar with 10 running machines, endless weight racks, ice-cold water on tap from stainless steel fridges and live U.S. sports on TV. "This is a war zone, believe it or not," jokes Moore. Three provinces to the southwest, it very much is a war zone. In Kandahar and Helmand, in the desert regions of southern Afghanistan, U.S., British, Canadian and Dutch troops battle furiously against an entrenched Taliban on a near-daily basis. Hundreds of U.S. Marines were sent in the last week to retake a town in south Helmand, where around 7,000 British troops have been based for two years and are making slow progress, sometimes taking territory only to lose it weeks later. The battle to secure Helmand, which alone produces nearly half the world's opium, could drag on for years more. Afterwards, years of intense reconstruction would still be required to prevent the region collapsing again. Kandahar, the one-time headquarters for the Taliban, is little different. Alone, the two vast provinces help explain why even military and civilian optimists think it could be a generation before Afghanistan is fully on the road to recovery. At the same time, in those areas to the east and in northern Afghanistan where progress appears to have been made, the United States and NATO have to be sure to coordinate their efforts so that the overall impact is not two steps forward and one back. Forty countries are now contributing to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) which has around 47,000 troops, but drawing up a strategy that unifies their work has proved elusive. In addition, the United States has some 14,000 troops serving in a separate force. The U.S. defense secretary has expressed frustration that NATO cannot or will not come up with more troops to support the fight. Washington has mooted it could now send up to 7,000 more of its own troops to boost numbers next year. Perhaps partly as a result, U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan joke that ISAF stands for "I Suck At Fighting". Yet a serious note underlines the soldiers' ribbing of their allies. Because they don't feel totally supported by ISAF on the battlefield, there are elements of tension between U.S. and NATO commanders when it comes to managing post-combat reconstruction. In Wardak, Major Faber shares a base with some French troops involved in reconstruction, and the Turks have a nearby compound from where they administer aid and training of Afghan forces. They wave hello, but do not always know what everyone's up to. "I see a lot more international effort here than in Iraq," says Captain Hill, weighing up the positives. "But I don't necessarily know what a French officer, or a USAID guy, or a Turkish reconstruction guy is doing and that makes it hard. "We're making progress, but if we can't coordinate better then we're kind of shooting ourselves in the foot," he says. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080508599139.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2247283_AET PjkQAAKhcSCNC7QgNg28uG2Q&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080508aaindex_concat.html&cred=wl7BB9wQYUKWuGTI DC4fF0h.YF1gqrsa9PIfkM7pfc7S8Ds1PZRVqaRQdlnqPzZl#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Reuters.com May 8, 2008 Myanmar Junta Allows U.S. Military Relief Flights By Aung Hla Tun, Reuters YANGON -- Myanmar's junta gave the U.S. military permission to fly in relief supplies for the survivors of Cyclone Nargis, Thai Supreme Commander Boonsrang Niumpradit told Reuters on Thursday. "We have helped the Americans to talk to the Myanmar government to allow U.S. planes participating in Cobra Gold to fly humanitarian aid to Myanmar. They just agreed," he said, referring to joint U.S.-Thai military exercises. A U.S. embassy official confirmed the decision and Boonsrang said the first flights could leave Thailand within a day or two. "They were very suspicious that the Americans would do more than just distribute relief supplies, but we helped convince the Burmese to allow the Americans in," Boonsrang said. The decision is a surprise given the huge distrust and acrimony between the former Burma's generals and Washington, which has imposed tough sanctions to try to end decades of military rule. However, international pressure had been building on the junta to throw its doors wide open to an international relief operation for the worst cyclone to hit Asia since 1991, when 143,000 people were killed in neighboring Bangladesh. Aid has been barely trickling into one of the world's most isolated and impoverished countries, although experts feared it would be too little to cope with the aftermath of Nargis, which left up to 100,000 feared dead and one million homeless. Witnesses saw little evidence of a relief effort under way in the hard-hit Irrawaddy delta region. "We'll starve to death, if nothing is sent to us," said Zaw Win, a 32-year-old fisherman who waded through floating corpses to find a boat for the two-hour journey to Bogalay, a town where the government said 10,000 people were killed. "We need food, water, clothes and shelter." The storm pulverized the delta on Saturday with 190 km (120 mph) winds followed by a massive tidal wave that caused most of the casualties and damage, virtually destroying some villages. U.N. officials had earlier complained that an airlift of emergency supplies for the victims was delayed on Thursday, awaiting clearance to land from the military government. "They need assistance today. They needed it yesterday," Tony Banbury, Asia regional director of the U.N. World Food Programme WFP, said in Bangkok. "They can't wait and they shouldn't be asked to wait until tomorrow and it's crucial that food, water, shelter and medical supplies need to go in right away." Another WFP official said three planes were waiting on tarmacs in Bangkok, Dhaka and Dubai with 38 tonnes of supplies. Myanmar's generals had issued an appeal for international assistance, but have been dragging their feet over issuing visas to foreign aid workers. WFP spokesman Paul Risley said aid agencies normally expect to fly in experts and supplies within 48 hours of a disaster, but nearly a week after the Myanmar cyclone, few international groups have been able to send reinforcements into Myanmar. State media are reporting a death toll of 22,980 with 42,119 missing, although diplomats and disaster experts said the real figure from the massive storm surge that swept into the Irrawaddy delta is likely to be much higher. "The information that we're receiving indicates that there may well be over 100,000 deaths in the delta area," Shari Villarosa, charge d'affaires of the U.S. embassy in Myanmar, said in a teleconference with reporters in Washington. Additional reporting by Nopporn Wong-Anan in Bangkok. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080508599102.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2247283_AET PjkQAAKhcSCNC7QgNg28uG2Q&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080508aaindex_concat.html&cred=wl7BB9wQYUKWuGTI DC4fF0h.YF1gqrsa9PIfkM7pfc7S8Ds1PZRVqaRQdlnqPzZl#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washingtonpost.com May 7, 2008 US Pressing To Deliver Aid To 'Paranoid' Myanmar By Pauline Jelinek, Associated Press WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon readied people and equipment for an aid mission to cyclone-stricken Myanmar, but the top U.S. diplomat in the Asian nation said its military junta was "paranoid" about accepting American help. The U.S. military was putting people and airplanes into position Wednesday in nearby Thailand. But Myanmar's government had not accepted the U.S. offer to send aid, U.S. defense and diplomatic officials said. The top American diplomat in Yangon, Charge d'Affaires Shari Villarosa, said the country's military junta is paranoid about the United States but is not blocking American aid in retaliation for past criticism. "It's a very paranoid regime," she told reporters in a conference call. She said lower reaches of the Myanmar regime appear to recognize the magnitude of the problem, but the senior leadership is isolated and has not yet announced a decision on how to handle outside aid, large amounts of which are moving into the area. President Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, called the cyclone a "humanitarian disaster of enormous proportions." Notably, the White House's language about the junta appears to have grown less confrontational as the scope of the calamity grows. On Monday, first lady Laura Bush described the junta as "very inept" on several fronts and accused leaders of failing to give citizens some lifesaving warnings about the storm. President Bush said Tuesday that his message to military rulers was: "Let the United States come help you." Hadley put it this way on Wednesday: "The junta should please open its doors." He said he would keep his comments limited because he did not want to politicize the matter. "The green light has not been given for people to go in," Hadley said. "And it is simply going to compound the humanitarian disaster." The White House said Tuesday the U.S. will send more than $3 million to help victims of the cyclone in Myanmar, up from an initial emergency contribution of $250,000. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice joined the growing call for Myanmar's leaders to accept the contributions, regardless of the policies of the donors. "It should be a simple matter," Rice told reporters at the State Department. "This is not a matter of politics, this is a matter of a humanitarian crisis and it should be a matter that the government of Burma wants to see its people receive the help that is available to them." Her spokesman, Sean McCormack, said the department was asking Myanmar's neighbors and traditional friends, including China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and Thailand to help make the case for accepting aid. An Air Force C-130 landed in neighboring Thailand and another was on the way, Air Force spokeswoman Megan Orton said Wednesday at the Pentagon. "When they accept, or if they accept-- and we know what supplies they need -- those planes will be there to transport those," she said. A rapid deployment unit designed to be the first people inserted into an operation already works out of Thailand and is at the ready as well. "This is just a positioning of the planes and people," Orton said. There also are Navy ships in the region that have been alerted they could be called to help. But officials were not optimistic. Three U.S. officials said it was possible the Myanmar government would only accept money from the United States and would want to buy its own aid supplies or that it would accept U.S. assistance only as part of the broader United Nations effort. Villarosa said there were shortages of food and water and that the death toll could hit or exceed 100,000 as humanitarian conditions worsen. She said she met with three ministers this week and is pressing hard to allow U.S. aid into the country. The junta is blocking aid from other nations, and does not appear to be singling out the United States because of the White House focus on human rights and other abuses in Myanmar, she said. Asked if the U.S. would air drop aid without the Myanmar junta's permission, Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said: "If you're not asked and it's not requested, it's considered an invasion." Navy and Marine Corps officials said they were in a holding position, awaiting word on whether they would be needed. The Navy has three ships participating in an exercise in the Gulf of Thailand that could help in any relief effort _ the USS Essex, the USS Juneau and the USS Harper's Ferry. The Essex is an amphibious assault ship with 23 helicopters aboard, including 19 capable of lifting cargo from ship to shore, as well as more than 1,500 Marines. One official said that if there is a U.S. relief operation, the Essex group would likely leave some of its assets behind so the multinational exercise can still be held, while moving other equipment forward to help Myanmar. Because it would take the Essex more than four days to get into position, another official said, the Navy is considering sending some of its helicopters ahead. The aircraft would be able to arrive in a matter of hours, and the Essex could follow, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because that effort was still in the planning stages. The Treasury Department, meanwhile, took action Wednesday to help facilitate the flow of funds for humanitarian assistance to Myanmar. Without this step, sending money to the country is generally prohibited under a U.S. sanctions program. "This license will clear the way for additional humanitarian aid to make it to the Burmese people swiftly and efficiently," said Adam Szubin, director of the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. Associated Press writers Anne Gearan, Matthew Lee, Ben Feller, Jeannine Aversa and Foster Klug contributed to this report. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080508599135.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2247283_AET PjkQAAKhcSCNC7QgNg28uG2Q&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080508aaindex_concat.html&cred=wl7BB9wQYUKWuGTI DC4fF0h.YF1gqrsa9PIfkM7pfc7S8Ds1PZRVqaRQdlnqPzZl#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Wall Street Journal May 8, 2008 Pg. 5 Pyongyang May Provide Nuclear-Reactor Documents Move Might Revive Disarmament Talks, End Terrorism Label By Jay Solomon WASHINGTON -- North Korea is expected to provide the Bush administration this week with "boxes of documents" detailing the entire operating history of its Yongbyon nuclear reactor, according to senior U.S. officials. The move could rekindle stalled disarmament talks and aid Pyongyang's removal from the State Department's terrorism list in coming weeks, these officials said. Under an agreement reached last year, North Korea is required to declare -- and verify -- its nuclear activities in exchange for American aid and diplomatic recognition. The handover of the documents would represent an unexpected victory for moderates in the Bush administration, who appear to have fended off attacks from conservatives following revelations last month of Pyongyang's covert support for Syria's nuclear program. U.S. officials said the documents could prove crucial to satisfying a U.S. demand that Pyongyang completely account for all of the plutonium fuel it extracted and reprocessed from Yongbyon, as well as the atomic bombs it produced, and verify their whereabouts. These officials said the documents, once translated and scrutinized by U.S. experts, could help Washington identify an exact figure for the amount of plutonium extracted from Yongbyon since the 1990s. North Korean officials have cited the figure of 30 kilograms, or 66 pounds, to American diplomats, but many U.S. officials believe the actual amount could be 40 to 50 kilograms. "We're really trying to focus on an exact figure for the plutonium," which these documents should help finalize, said a senior U.S. official working on North Korea. The official added that there were still some uncertainties about the exact quality of the Yongbyon documents or if Pyongyang will make good on its pledge to hand them over. Senior U.S. diplomat Sung Kim is scheduled to cross into North Korea from Seoul on Thursday to hold three days of meetings. Mr. Kim is expected to gain control of the Yongbyon documents and bring them to the U.S. for translation and analysis. American officials are then expected to decide whether the documents are detailed enough to assure the U.S. and its allies that they can get a full accounting of Pyongyang's activities at Yongbyon. Once this assessment has been made, President Bush could ask Congress to remove Pyongyang from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. Two points holding up the diplomatic process have been North Korea's alleged pursuit of a secret uranium-e |
