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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (37415)	8/12/2002 10:28:09 PM
From: BigBull	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

I switched from being non-interventionist to bloodthirsty GASP!!!!!!!! Call my therapist! Call my doctor! Bring me the valium and Scotch! CB's gone warhawk on us! I'm lapsing into complete catatonia. :o{} Whew, what a day. Do we have allies? Well the non-intervention folks have almost got me convinced we don't have a friend in the world and that intervention is doooooomed. That we will have to wait for that second attack. Maybe you have connected the dots after all - all I can say is - You go girl - :o} Right now I'm exhausted and need to bug out for a few days. Time the get in the rear with the gear. Time to move over Rover and let CB take over. :o}}}}}} Will keep reading though. Enjoyed reading your post, counselor. BB@Bullintraction.com

To: Ilaine who wrote (37415)	8/12/2002 10:39:25 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Respond to of 281500

Another debka dot for you to connect: More US Troops in Jordan for Iraq Offensive 12 August: Notwithstanding official denials, the 4,000 US troops who began landing in Aqaba Monday, August 12, will be transferred to the northeast Jordanian desert region bordering on Iraq. Officially, they have come for a three-week joint exercise with the Jordanian army. But DEBKAfile’smilitary sources report that the American increment supplements the US force already stationed in Jordan, raising the total to close to 8,000 US troops. King Abdullah and Jordanian ministers have been consistent in denying the presence of American troops on their soil. They insist that Jordanian bases will not serve as jumping off points for an assault against Iraq. These denials were repeated by the Jordanian king, when he called on Saudi crown prince Abdullah in Jedda Monday, August 12. From DEBKA-Net-Weekly Issue 71, August 2 On this central front, the American war plan calls for a US force, built around a backbone of armored and special forces, to push into western Iraq and seize the strategic group of air bases - H-3 northwest, H-3 northeast, H-3 main base and the H-3 landing strip, which consists of a stretch of highway running from western Iraq across the border into central Jordan. US and Jordanian forces will also capture H-2, northeast of the Iraqi city of Ar Rutbah. As in the south, here too small units of US special forces have gone into action – this time with Jordanian special forces – for strikes at Iraqi command centers, transportation routes and military and supply convoys, thereby preparing the ground in this sector too for the main thrust. On this front, the United States will have the use of units stationed for some months in Jordan. According to DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s military sources, they are stationed in two bases in close proximity to one another on the kingdom’s eastern border with Iraq and at the Jordanian air base of Ruwayshid, while a smaller contingent is located further north at the air base in Wadi al-Murbah. Formerly an airstrip serving light planes and helicopters tracking smugglers and minor Iraqi incursions, US army engineers have converted this base into a major air installation.

To: Ilaine who wrote (37415)	8/12/2002 11:48:18 PM
From: Bilow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Hi CobaltBlue; Re: "We've got confirmation that there are a couple thousand US troops in Jordan, taking part in war games." This is not necessarily a big deal. For example: AMMAN, Jordan, April 5, 2000 -- The U.S. military exercise program with Jordan will grow, said Defense Secretary William S. Cohen, adding bilateral and multilateral military exercises would make the Middle East a more stable place. ... More U.S. service members may be participating in exercises in Jordan. For example, more than 2,000 U.S. Marines and their Jordanian counterparts staged the combined arms tactical exercise Intrinsic Moonlight in March in the area around Aqabah. ... defenselink.mil Also see: October 1999 Jordan has a growing military exercise program and concrete and realistic plans for modernization. The United States will do all it can to help in these areas. defenselink.mil April 2000 I'm particularly impressed by Jordan's increasing participation in multinational exercises ... defenselink.mil Re: "We've got confirmation that the Russians are engaged in a massive war game exercise in the Caspian sea." This means nothing at all. It's a great time of the year to have war games in the Caspian, I'd bet. I won't even bother to look for links. Re: "We've got confirmation that the US has built a massive base in Qatar." See, for example: April 2000 defenselink.mil Re: "We've got confirmation that there are Turkish ground troops in Kurdish northern Iraq, presumably within our no-fly zone, and that they have seized Iraqi territory." Iraq and Turkey have a long standing agreement allowing each other to pursue Kurdish rebels across each other's borders (hot pursuit). For example: The Longest War Dilip Hiro (page 149) Baghadad received enthusiastic co-operation from Ankara, with which it had in 1978 concluded a secret accord (made public six years later) allowing each side to pursue 'subversive elements' up to 9 miles inside each other's territory. In May 1983 Turkish troops infiltrated 18 miles into Iraqi Kurdistan to destroy the bases of its Kurdish guerillas in the KDP-occupied part of Iraq. Following this, Tariq Aziz visited Ankara to reinforce mutual security co-operation further. The outcome was the signing of an agreement in October 1984 permitting cross-border operations up to 18 miles into each other's territory. [Bilow] In other words, it's not necessarily the case that the Turks are in there to help push over Saddam. Turkey has a problem with Northern Iraq being out of control, and this naturally has caused Turkey to move deeper and deeper into Iraqi Kurdistan to try and solve their problem. -- Carl

To: Ilaine who wrote (37415)	8/13/2002 12:48:02 AM
From: SirRealist	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

>>It's the innate nature of Americans to become more Jacksonian in times of war. << I'm an American and I become more Breckinridgian. Mary Breckinridgian. (It's sorta Bartonian.) And after caring for orphans and casualties, my innate nature is in healing the wounded truth.

To: Ilaine who wrote (37415)	8/14/2002 6:23:17 AM
From: D. Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Also, very odd coincidence, the New Scientist publishes a report that we have a new weapon, the E-bomb, which can destroy underground electronic equipment, at the same time that Debka publishes a rather puzzling bit about a new weapon ("new precision-guided bombs capable of locating and destroying fiber optic systems") taking out the Chinese-built Iraqi fiber optic system. What kind of weapon can do that? Probably the E-bomb, wouldn't you say? Not sure about the "locating" but certainly the destroying. I don't know what form such a bomb would take. The "finding" part is hooey. There is nothing intrinsic in fiber optic communications a bomb can track onto. Its light coursing through glass filaments. Likewise I'm not sure what would be special about this bomb that would make it fiber specific. I know nothing about the type of communications equipment that would be used by the military for something like that, but there's really nothing special about a router or switch that has fiber interfaces. An EMP bomb that would take out electronic equipment would be all around useful, not just for fiber. I'd be very interested in what sort of weapon this would be. Derek