Wednesday morning news brief
The military is placing small teams of Special Operations troops in a growing number of American embassies to gather intelligence on terrorists in unstable parts of the world and to prepare for potential missions to disrupt, capture or kill them.
Senior Pentagon officials and military officers say the effort is part of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's two-year drive to give the military a more active intelligence role in the campaign against terrorism. But it has drawn opposition from traditional intelligence agencies like the C.I.A., where some officials have viewed it as a provocative expansion into what has been their turf. Officials said small groups of Special Operations personnel, sometimes just one or two at a time, have been sent to more than a dozen embassies in Africa, Southeast Asia and South America. These are regions where terrorists are thought to be operating, planning attacks, raising money or seeking safe haven. Their assignment is to gather information to assist in planning counterterrorism missions, and to help local militaries conduct counterterrorism missions of their own, officials said. The new mission could become a major responsibility for the military's fast-growing Special Operations Command, which was authorized by President Bush in March 2004 to take the lead in military operations against terrorists. Its new task could give the command considerable clout in organizing the nation's overall intelligence efforts.
Special Operations forces include the Army Green Berets and Rangers, the Navy Seals, the Marines and special Air Force crews that carry out the most specialized or secret military missions. Their skills range from quick strikes to long-range reconnaissance in hostile territory, military training and medical care. Many current and former C.I.A. officials view the plans by the Special Operations Command, or Socom, as overreaching.
The Special Operations Command has not publicly disclosed the Military Liaison Element mission, and answered questions about the effort only after it was described by officials in other parts of the government who oppose the program. "M.L.E.'s play a key role in enhancing military, interagency and host nation coordination and planning," said Kenneth S. McGraw, a spokesman for the Special Operations Command, based in Tampa, Fla. The special operations personnel work "with the U.S. ambassador and country team's knowledge to plan and coordinate activities," he added. Officials involved with the program said its focus is on intelligence and planning and not on conducting combat missions.
In a major shift of the military's center of gravity, the Unified Command Plan signed by President Bush in 2004 says the Special Operations Command now "leads, plans, synchronizes, and as directed, executes global operations against terrorist networks," in addition to its more traditional assignment to train, organize and equip Special Operations forces for missions under regional commanders. Recently, Gen. Bryan D. Brown, the Socom commander, and his staff have produced a counterterrorism strategy that runs more than 600 pages. It is expected to be presented to Mr. Rumsfeld in the next few weeks for final approval. During recent travels abroad, General Brown has sought to explain the program to C.I.A. and F.B.I. officials based at embassies. Joining him for those talks is a political adviser on full-time assignment from the State Department.
General Brown and the Special Operations Command now work according to a concept that has become the newest Pentagon catchphrase: "find, fix, finish and follow-up" - shorthand for locating terrorist leaders, tracking them precisely, capturing or killing them, and then using the information gathered to plan another operation. "The military is great at fixing enemies, and finishing them off, and exploiting any base of operations that we take," said one Special Operations commander on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. "But the 'find' part remains a primitive art. Socom can't kill or capture the bad guys unless the intel people can find them, and this is just not happening."
The Bush administration told Iran on Tuesday that any enrichment of nuclear fuel on Iranian territory was unacceptable, as Russia appeared to close ranks with the United States over Tehran's nuclear program.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice delivered the tough message - but shied away from warning of immediate U.N. sanctions - after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. At a joint State Department news conference, Lavrov said there was no compromise in sight with Iran. Russia has been negotiating with Iran and has proposed enriching fuel on Russian soil for Iran's energy need. The International Atomic Energy Agency already has referred the Iranian nuclear issue to the U.N. Security Council, a move spearheaded by the Bush administration.
"We will see what is necessary to do in the Security Council," Rice said. She said there was still time for Iran to change its ways but added: "The United States has been very clear: the enrichment and reprocessing on Iranian soil is not acceptable."
Lavrov denied that Russia has made a new proposal that would eventually permit Iran to enrich a limited amount of nuclear fuel on its own territory. United States officials, worried that the material could eventually be used for nuclear weapons, rejected such a plan on Monday. "There is no compromise new Russian proposal," Lavrov said.
Vice President Dick Cheney, meanwhile, said in a speech Tuesday to a pro-Israel lobbying group that Iran will not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon and warned that the issue may soon go before the Security Council.
"The Iranian regime needs to know that if it stays on its present course, the international community is prepared to impose meaningful consequences," Cheney told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. "We join other nations in sending that regime a clear message: we will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon." He said the U.S. "is keeping all options on the table in addressing the irresponsible conduct of the regime." In the past the U.S. has said it has no intention of using military force for now, but has declined to completely rule it out.
Rice and Lavrov later met with President Bush at the White House for about half an hour. Asked afterward if Russia would accept sanctions against Iran, which Moscow has seemed reluctant to do, Lavrov said, "Have you seen a proposal for any sanctions? This is a hypothetical question, yes?"
The United States won a diplomatic coup in February when Russia went along with the U.S.-backed effort to report Iran to the council, but had to agree to a delay of at least a month before the council could take any action. That window is closing without the progress Russia hoped to claim on its proposed nuclear compromise.
Zacarias Moussaoui knew about the September 11, 2001 terrorist plot and could have prevented the attacks if he had talked, a prosecutor claimed as jurors began deliberating a possible death sentence.
Moussaoui, 37, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, is the only suspect charged in the US for the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington in which nearly 3,000 people died. “He knew there was a plot about to unfold,” US prosecutor Robert Spencer told jurors in a federal court on the first day of Moussaoui’s sentencing trial. “His lies caused almost 3,000 deaths.” Moussaoui calls himself an Al-Qaeda supporter and pleaded guilty in April to conspiring with the terrorist network to hijack planes and commit other crimes. Prosecutors have sought the death penalty. Because of Moussaoui’s guilty plea, the jury’s main job is to decide the sentence - execution or life in prison - after the trial in the Washington suburb of Alexandria.
Moussaoui has admitted training at Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and having direct contact with Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, who selected Moussaoui to participate in flying planes into buildings, the US government says. He admitted to receiving financial support and additional training from Al-Qaeda while in the US.
The U.S. ambassador held talks with a top Shiite leader Tuesday as Iraqi factions wrangled over a new government. The prime minister declared he would not be "blackmailed" into stepping aside, and the Shiite majority balked at convening the parliament.
Holding a first session of parliament is a required step toward forming a new government. Fifteen days after the first meeting, parliament is supposed to elect a new president - a job the incumbent, Jalal Talabani, wants to keep. In 15 more days, the parliament is to approve the nominated prime minister and 30 days later must vote on his Cabinet. Underscoring U.S. concerns over the deteriorating political situation, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad held a meeting with Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, head of the powerful Shiite Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, one of the two dominant parties in the Shiite coalition that won the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections. The two met at al-Hakim's Baghdad home to discuss "the current political situation concerning the formation of a new government and developments related to the alliance's candidate to head the Cabinet (al-Jaafari)," the SCIRI Web site reported with an accompanying photo of the session. The U.S. Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for further information.
Al-Hakim tried to fend off the political insurrection by having aides issue statements that alternately sought to placate both the anti-al-Jaafari coalition and his fellow Shiites led by al-Sadr. Al-Hakim is widely believed to agree that al-Jaafari is a divisive figure but is worried about provoking a split within his own Shiite ranks if he publicly says so. Al-Jaafari declared Tuesday he would not be "blackmailed" into standing aside. An evening meeting between the Kurdish faction in parliament and the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance failed to break the impasse. On Monday, the Shiites blunted Talabani's effort to bring the dispute to a head by calling parliament into session Sunday for the first time since the election and the Feb. 12 certification of the vote - a deadline dictated by the new constitution. Sensing a split in their ranks and uncertain how to overcome it, the Shiites blocked the convocation of parliament by having the Shiite vice president refuse to sign Talabani's decree. On Tuesday the Shiites sent Talabani a letter formally asking him to delay his decree.
The United Nations and the United States must keep up pressure on Sudan's government and rebel groups in Darfur to return to negotiations and stop violence in the troubled region, a U.S. congressional delegation said Tuesday.
The delegation, led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, visited Sudan last month and conveyed the "sense of urgency" of what they saw there to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a meeting at U.N. headquarters. A three-year rebellion in Darfur has left an estimated 180,000 people dead - mainly of hunger and disease. Another 2 million have been displaced by the fighting. Several rounds of peace talks have been stalled by internal divisions in the rebel movements, and have failed to find a lasting settlement. The United Nations has described the Darfur conflict as the world's gravest humanitarian crisis. The United States has described it as genocide.
The U.N. Security Council has authorized the start of planning for a takeover. But Sudan opposes that and has begun a campaign to prevent a U.N. force from taking over efforts to restore peace in the conflict-wracked region, the top U.N. envoy in Sudan said last week. The Sudanese government is widely alleged to have unleashed Arab militias who carried out sweeping atrocities against ethnic African villagers in Darfur. Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir denies his government supports the militia, known as Janjaweed.
Barry Bonds' alleged steroid use is the story of spring training again, no matter how hard he and the San Francisco Giants try to keep the focus on his pursuit of the home run record.
According to an upcoming book written by two San Francisco Chronicle reporters, Bonds used a vast array of performance-enhancing drugs _ including steroids and human growth hormone _ for at least five seasons beginning in 1998. An excerpt from "Game of Shadows," which lays out extensive details of the slugger's alleged doping program, appears in the March 13 issue of Sports Illustrated. "I won't even look at it. For what? There's no need to," Bonds said Tuesday after a workout at Scottsdale Stadium. The Giants said Bonds would not comment further.
Baseball did not ban performance-enhancing drugs until after the 2002 season, though there has long been suspicion that players took steroids to gain an edge. The book is yet another distraction for Bonds, who has become as accustomed to steroids questions in recent years as he has inquiries related to his powerful left-handed swing. According to the book, Bonds was using two undetectable designer steroids, informally known as the cream and the clear, plus insulin, human growth hormone and other performance enhancers by 2001, when he hit 73 home runs for the Giants to break Mark McGwire's single-season record of 70 set in 1998.
Bonds, a seven-time NL MVP, enters this season with 708 homers, seven shy of passing Babe Ruth and 48 from breaking Hank Aaron's career mark. Bonds said before last season ended that he wanted to get "skinny," but he is about the same size or slightly heavier this spring and is yet to play an exhibition game on his surgically repaired right knee. He underwent three operations last year.
The GW Medical Faculty Associates and School of Medicine and Health Sciences announced yesterday the establishment of the Richard B. and Lynne V. Cheney Cardiovascular Institute, which will be funded by a $2.7 million gift from the vice president and his wife.
The hospital said the mission of the cardiovascular institute will be “the advancement of research, education, and clinical care of cardiovascular disease.” The institute will include clinicians and scientists in cardiology, radiology, cardiovascular surgery, biochemistry, molecular biology, and pharmacology. The first initiative will be the identifying the use significance of genomics and proteonomics in cardiovascular disease. The vice president’s treatment at the GW Hospital extends over three decades.
The GW Hospital has a history with the nation's political leaders. It renamed its trauma center after President Ronald Reagan in 1991; the GW Hospital was where Reagan was rushed after a 1981 assassination attempt. His life was subsequently saved by a team of physicians in emergency surgery.
Commentary: Saddam's Lidice; The dictator's trial reveals a telling historical parallel
Wind's of Change links to a Muslim's journey away from Islam
"As far as Saddam Hussein being a great military strategist, he is neither a strategist, nor is he schooled in the operational art, nor is he a tactician, nor is he a general, nor is he a soldier. Other than that he's a great military man- I want you to know that." -General H. Norman Schwarzkopf
Senior Pentagon officials and military officers say the effort is part of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's two-year drive to give the military a more active intelligence role in the campaign against terrorism. But it has drawn opposition from traditional intelligence agencies like the C.I.A., where some officials have viewed it as a provocative expansion into what has been their turf. Officials said small groups of Special Operations personnel, sometimes just one or two at a time, have been sent to more than a dozen embassies in Africa, Southeast Asia and South America. These are regions where terrorists are thought to be operating, planning attacks, raising money or seeking safe haven. Their assignment is to gather information to assist in planning counterterrorism missions, and to help local militaries conduct counterterrorism missions of their own, officials said. The new mission could become a major responsibility for the military's fast-growing Special Operations Command, which was authorized by President Bush in March 2004 to take the lead in military operations against terrorists. Its new task could give the command considerable clout in organizing the nation's overall intelligence efforts.
Special Operations forces include the Army Green Berets and Rangers, the Navy Seals, the Marines and special Air Force crews that carry out the most specialized or secret military missions. Their skills range from quick strikes to long-range reconnaissance in hostile territory, military training and medical care. Many current and former C.I.A. officials view the plans by the Special Operations Command, or Socom, as overreaching.
The Special Operations Command has not publicly disclosed the Military Liaison Element mission, and answered questions about the effort only after it was described by officials in other parts of the government who oppose the program. "M.L.E.'s play a key role in enhancing military, interagency and host nation coordination and planning," said Kenneth S. McGraw, a spokesman for the Special Operations Command, based in Tampa, Fla. The special operations personnel work "with the U.S. ambassador and country team's knowledge to plan and coordinate activities," he added. Officials involved with the program said its focus is on intelligence and planning and not on conducting combat missions.
In a major shift of the military's center of gravity, the Unified Command Plan signed by President Bush in 2004 says the Special Operations Command now "leads, plans, synchronizes, and as directed, executes global operations against terrorist networks," in addition to its more traditional assignment to train, organize and equip Special Operations forces for missions under regional commanders. Recently, Gen. Bryan D. Brown, the Socom commander, and his staff have produced a counterterrorism strategy that runs more than 600 pages. It is expected to be presented to Mr. Rumsfeld in the next few weeks for final approval. During recent travels abroad, General Brown has sought to explain the program to C.I.A. and F.B.I. officials based at embassies. Joining him for those talks is a political adviser on full-time assignment from the State Department.
General Brown and the Special Operations Command now work according to a concept that has become the newest Pentagon catchphrase: "find, fix, finish and follow-up" - shorthand for locating terrorist leaders, tracking them precisely, capturing or killing them, and then using the information gathered to plan another operation. "The military is great at fixing enemies, and finishing them off, and exploiting any base of operations that we take," said one Special Operations commander on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. "But the 'find' part remains a primitive art. Socom can't kill or capture the bad guys unless the intel people can find them, and this is just not happening."
The Bush administration told Iran on Tuesday that any enrichment of nuclear fuel on Iranian territory was unacceptable, as Russia appeared to close ranks with the United States over Tehran's nuclear program.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice delivered the tough message - but shied away from warning of immediate U.N. sanctions - after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. At a joint State Department news conference, Lavrov said there was no compromise in sight with Iran. Russia has been negotiating with Iran and has proposed enriching fuel on Russian soil for Iran's energy need. The International Atomic Energy Agency already has referred the Iranian nuclear issue to the U.N. Security Council, a move spearheaded by the Bush administration.
"We will see what is necessary to do in the Security Council," Rice said. She said there was still time for Iran to change its ways but added: "The United States has been very clear: the enrichment and reprocessing on Iranian soil is not acceptable."
Lavrov denied that Russia has made a new proposal that would eventually permit Iran to enrich a limited amount of nuclear fuel on its own territory. United States officials, worried that the material could eventually be used for nuclear weapons, rejected such a plan on Monday. "There is no compromise new Russian proposal," Lavrov said.
Vice President Dick Cheney, meanwhile, said in a speech Tuesday to a pro-Israel lobbying group that Iran will not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon and warned that the issue may soon go before the Security Council.
"The Iranian regime needs to know that if it stays on its present course, the international community is prepared to impose meaningful consequences," Cheney told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. "We join other nations in sending that regime a clear message: we will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon." He said the U.S. "is keeping all options on the table in addressing the irresponsible conduct of the regime." In the past the U.S. has said it has no intention of using military force for now, but has declined to completely rule it out.
Rice and Lavrov later met with President Bush at the White House for about half an hour. Asked afterward if Russia would accept sanctions against Iran, which Moscow has seemed reluctant to do, Lavrov said, "Have you seen a proposal for any sanctions? This is a hypothetical question, yes?"
The United States won a diplomatic coup in February when Russia went along with the U.S.-backed effort to report Iran to the council, but had to agree to a delay of at least a month before the council could take any action. That window is closing without the progress Russia hoped to claim on its proposed nuclear compromise.
Zacarias Moussaoui knew about the September 11, 2001 terrorist plot and could have prevented the attacks if he had talked, a prosecutor claimed as jurors began deliberating a possible death sentence.
Moussaoui, 37, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, is the only suspect charged in the US for the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington in which nearly 3,000 people died. “He knew there was a plot about to unfold,” US prosecutor Robert Spencer told jurors in a federal court on the first day of Moussaoui’s sentencing trial. “His lies caused almost 3,000 deaths.” Moussaoui calls himself an Al-Qaeda supporter and pleaded guilty in April to conspiring with the terrorist network to hijack planes and commit other crimes. Prosecutors have sought the death penalty. Because of Moussaoui’s guilty plea, the jury’s main job is to decide the sentence - execution or life in prison - after the trial in the Washington suburb of Alexandria.
Moussaoui has admitted training at Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and having direct contact with Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, who selected Moussaoui to participate in flying planes into buildings, the US government says. He admitted to receiving financial support and additional training from Al-Qaeda while in the US.
The U.S. ambassador held talks with a top Shiite leader Tuesday as Iraqi factions wrangled over a new government. The prime minister declared he would not be "blackmailed" into stepping aside, and the Shiite majority balked at convening the parliament.
Holding a first session of parliament is a required step toward forming a new government. Fifteen days after the first meeting, parliament is supposed to elect a new president - a job the incumbent, Jalal Talabani, wants to keep. In 15 more days, the parliament is to approve the nominated prime minister and 30 days later must vote on his Cabinet. Underscoring U.S. concerns over the deteriorating political situation, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad held a meeting with Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, head of the powerful Shiite Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, one of the two dominant parties in the Shiite coalition that won the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections. The two met at al-Hakim's Baghdad home to discuss "the current political situation concerning the formation of a new government and developments related to the alliance's candidate to head the Cabinet (al-Jaafari)," the SCIRI Web site reported with an accompanying photo of the session. The U.S. Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for further information.
Al-Hakim tried to fend off the political insurrection by having aides issue statements that alternately sought to placate both the anti-al-Jaafari coalition and his fellow Shiites led by al-Sadr. Al-Hakim is widely believed to agree that al-Jaafari is a divisive figure but is worried about provoking a split within his own Shiite ranks if he publicly says so. Al-Jaafari declared Tuesday he would not be "blackmailed" into standing aside. An evening meeting between the Kurdish faction in parliament and the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance failed to break the impasse. On Monday, the Shiites blunted Talabani's effort to bring the dispute to a head by calling parliament into session Sunday for the first time since the election and the Feb. 12 certification of the vote - a deadline dictated by the new constitution. Sensing a split in their ranks and uncertain how to overcome it, the Shiites blocked the convocation of parliament by having the Shiite vice president refuse to sign Talabani's decree. On Tuesday the Shiites sent Talabani a letter formally asking him to delay his decree.
The United Nations and the United States must keep up pressure on Sudan's government and rebel groups in Darfur to return to negotiations and stop violence in the troubled region, a U.S. congressional delegation said Tuesday.
The delegation, led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, visited Sudan last month and conveyed the "sense of urgency" of what they saw there to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a meeting at U.N. headquarters. A three-year rebellion in Darfur has left an estimated 180,000 people dead - mainly of hunger and disease. Another 2 million have been displaced by the fighting. Several rounds of peace talks have been stalled by internal divisions in the rebel movements, and have failed to find a lasting settlement. The United Nations has described the Darfur conflict as the world's gravest humanitarian crisis. The United States has described it as genocide.
The U.N. Security Council has authorized the start of planning for a takeover. But Sudan opposes that and has begun a campaign to prevent a U.N. force from taking over efforts to restore peace in the conflict-wracked region, the top U.N. envoy in Sudan said last week. The Sudanese government is widely alleged to have unleashed Arab militias who carried out sweeping atrocities against ethnic African villagers in Darfur. Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir denies his government supports the militia, known as Janjaweed.
Barry Bonds' alleged steroid use is the story of spring training again, no matter how hard he and the San Francisco Giants try to keep the focus on his pursuit of the home run record.
According to an upcoming book written by two San Francisco Chronicle reporters, Bonds used a vast array of performance-enhancing drugs _ including steroids and human growth hormone _ for at least five seasons beginning in 1998. An excerpt from "Game of Shadows," which lays out extensive details of the slugger's alleged doping program, appears in the March 13 issue of Sports Illustrated. "I won't even look at it. For what? There's no need to," Bonds said Tuesday after a workout at Scottsdale Stadium. The Giants said Bonds would not comment further.
Baseball did not ban performance-enhancing drugs until after the 2002 season, though there has long been suspicion that players took steroids to gain an edge. The book is yet another distraction for Bonds, who has become as accustomed to steroids questions in recent years as he has inquiries related to his powerful left-handed swing. According to the book, Bonds was using two undetectable designer steroids, informally known as the cream and the clear, plus insulin, human growth hormone and other performance enhancers by 2001, when he hit 73 home runs for the Giants to break Mark McGwire's single-season record of 70 set in 1998.
Bonds, a seven-time NL MVP, enters this season with 708 homers, seven shy of passing Babe Ruth and 48 from breaking Hank Aaron's career mark. Bonds said before last season ended that he wanted to get "skinny," but he is about the same size or slightly heavier this spring and is yet to play an exhibition game on his surgically repaired right knee. He underwent three operations last year.
The GW Medical Faculty Associates and School of Medicine and Health Sciences announced yesterday the establishment of the Richard B. and Lynne V. Cheney Cardiovascular Institute, which will be funded by a $2.7 million gift from the vice president and his wife.
The hospital said the mission of the cardiovascular institute will be “the advancement of research, education, and clinical care of cardiovascular disease.” The institute will include clinicians and scientists in cardiology, radiology, cardiovascular surgery, biochemistry, molecular biology, and pharmacology. The first initiative will be the identifying the use significance of genomics and proteonomics in cardiovascular disease. The vice president’s treatment at the GW Hospital extends over three decades.
The GW Hospital has a history with the nation's political leaders. It renamed its trauma center after President Ronald Reagan in 1991; the GW Hospital was where Reagan was rushed after a 1981 assassination attempt. His life was subsequently saved by a team of physicians in emergency surgery.
Commentary: Saddam's Lidice; The dictator's trial reveals a telling historical parallel
Wind's of Change links to a Muslim's journey away from Islam
"As far as Saddam Hussein being a great military strategist, he is neither a strategist, nor is he schooled in the operational art, nor is he a tactician, nor is he a general, nor is he a soldier. Other than that he's a great military man- I want you to know that." -General H. Norman Schwarzkopf