BlueHummingbird News - Archive

Archived News Articles: NMD and Foreign Policy

1/8/2002  At The New York Times:
                        http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/07/national/07PENT.html
                        Pentagon Seeking a Large Increase in Its Next Budget
                        By JAMES DAO
                        January 7, 2002
                         
                        WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 - The Pentagon is pushing for a
                        substantial increase, in the range of $20 billion or
                        more, for its 2003 budget, confident that the war on
                        terrorism has strengthened Congressional and public
                        support for rebuilding the armed services, senior
                        military officials say.
                         
                        Even as Congress is projecting a budget deficit next
                        year, the Pentagon is arguing that it will need
                        significantly more money to cover rising health care
                        costs, stockpile precision-guided munitions and
                        accelerate an array of big-ticket programs, including
                        fighter jets and warships. ...
                         
                        Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld has also vowed
                        to use the budget for the 2003 fiscal year, which begins
                        Oct. 1, to advance programs he has said will "transform"
                        the military, including missile defense, unpiloted
                        aircraft and high-tech battlefield communications
                        equipment. ...
                         
                        Dr. Zakheim said the Pentagon budget was still being
                        negotiated with the White House and declined to provide
                        figures. But senior military and Congressional officials
                        have said the increase will be about $20 billion over
                        the current $329 billion Pentagon budget, or about 6
                        percent, after adjusting for inflation.
                         
                        The proposed increase for the 2003 Pentagon budget will
                        not cover the costs of fighting the war in Afghanistan
                        or tightening defenses against terrorism in the United
                        States, which include fighter jet patrols over some
                        American cities. Those costs will continue to be
                        financed by emergency budget supplements.
                         
                        Congress has already allocated $17.5 billion in
                        emergency money for the Pentagon since the Sept. 11
                        terrorist attacks. But Dr. Zakheim said the Pentagon
                        would need another major infusion of emergency money by
                        late winter.
                         
                        That is because the cost of the war, estimated at nearly
                        $2 billion a month, is not expected to decline soon and
                        may rise, Dr. Zakheim said. Though the bombing in
                        Afghanistan has almost ceased, scores of American
                        warplanes continue to fly missions there daily,
                        thousands of troops are being moved in for long- term
                        missions, and American bases around the world remain on
                        heightened alert against terrorism. ...


1/13/2002  at The New York Times:
                        http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/03/opinion/03SAFI.html
                        Executive Privilege Again
                        By WILLIAM SAFIRE
                        January 3, 2002
                         
                        WASHINGTON -- Stephen (the Rifleman) Flemmi is a
                        gangster who spent a generation as a valued informant
                        for the F.B.I. in Boston. He is now awaiting trial for
                        10 murders he is charged with committing while on the
                        F.B.I. payroll.
                         
                        Also charged is his F.B.I. handler, John Connolly Jr.,
                        accused of tipping off Flemmi and his mobster boss
                        before police were dispatched to pick them up. The boss,
                        accused of 19 murders, is still a fugitive. Six years
                        ago the Rifleman claimed that the F.B.I. had promised
                        him immunity from prosecution for his killings -
                        allegedly including a couple of his girlfriends - but
                        Federal Judge Mark Wolf, in a landmark decision, ruled
                        that nobody in law enforcement had the power to sanction
                        murder...
                         
                         ... At issue here is Congress's responsibility and
                        authority to examine the misdeeds of the executive
                        branch in a thorough manner - with an eye toward
                        legislation to make criminal those policies evidently
                        adopted by a regional division of our F.B.I. to subvert
                        the law in the name of the law. ...


1/18/2002  from AP:
                        dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020116/wl/russia_us_nuclear_1.html
                        Russia Assails U.S. Over ABM Treaty
                        By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer
                        Wednesday January 16 1:08 PM ET
                         
                        MOSCOW (AP) - The lower house of Russia's parliament on
                        Wednesday condemned the U.S. withdrawal from the 1972
                        Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and urged President
                        Vladimir Putin to consult lawmakers on Moscow's
                        response.
                        The State Duma voted 326-3 for a non-binding resolution
                        assailing last month's decision by President Bush to
                        withdraw from the ABM treaty in six months to deploy a
                        national missile defense.
                        The U.S. move was ``mistaken and destabilizing since it
                        effectively ruins the existing highly efficient system
                        of ensuring strategic stability and paves ground for a
                        new round of the arms race,'' the resolution said. ...


1/22/2002  from AP:
                        http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020121/wl/russia_us_3.html
                        Russia Hopes to Limit U.S. Shield
                        By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer
                        Monday January 21 9:14 PM ET
                         
                        MOSCOW (AP) - Russia hopes to negotiate agreements that
                        would put limits on the U.S. missile defense program, a
                        senior general said in an interview released Monday.
                        The statement by Col. Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky is the first
                        official indication that Russia is trying to get
                        restrictions on the U.S. missile shield, although
                        Washington has shown no willingness to bend. ...
                        Analysts said Russia is unlikely to win any concessions.
                        ...
                        On Monday, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy
                        Mamedov met with visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of
                        State John Wolf to discuss ways to strengthen control
                        over nonproliferation of mass-destruction weapons.
                        Mamedov said the U.S. withdrawal from the ABM treaty and
                        its refusal to ratify a global nuclear test ban were
                        undermining the international nonproliferation regime,
                        the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. ...


1/26/2002  from AP:
                        dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020125/ts/missile_defense_test.html
                        U.S. Missile Defense Test a Success
                        By MATT KELLEY, Associated Press Writer
                        Friday January 25 11:55 PM ET
                         
                        WASHINGTON (AP) - An interceptor rocket launched from a
                        U.S. Navy ship smashed into a dummy missile high over
                        the Pacific Friday night in the latest test in the
                        Pentagon's plans to shield America from long-range
                        missiles.
                        The military fired the dummy missile from Hawaii at 9
                        p.m. EST and the interceptor rocket from the USS Lake
                        Erie in the Pacific at 9:08 p.m., Pentagon spokesman
                        Maj. Mike Halbig said. The interceptor's ``kinetic
                        warhead'' slammed into the dummy missile and destroyed
                        it at 9:18 p.m. more than 300 miles northwest of Hawaii,
                        Halbig said. ...
                        Friday's planned test was the first to send an
                        interceptor fired from a ship at sea into space to
                        collide with a dummy missile. Other tests have used
                        interceptor rockets launched from land. ...


1/26/2002  from AP:
                        http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020126/pl/bush_radio_1.html
                        Bush: No Limit for Security Budget
                        By LAWRENCE L. KNUTSON, Associated Press Writer
                        Saturday January 26 1:22 PM ET
                         
                        WASHINGTON (AP) - Calling for the largest increase in
                        defense spending in 20 years and asking Congress to
                        nearly double the money for homeland security, President
                        Bush promised Saturday to ``spend what it takes to win
                        the war against terrorism.''  ...
                         
                        Bush said that for the budget year that begins Oct. 1 he
                        will ask Congress for an extra $48 billion for U.S.
                        military forces, the largest increase in defense
                        spending in 20 years. Another $38 billion will go toward
                        homeland security, Bush said. ...
                         
                        ``My budget calls for ... investing in more precision
                        weapons, missile defenses, unmanned vehicles and
                        high-tech equipment for our soldiers on the ground. I
                        will also seek another pay increase for the men and
                        women who wear our country's uniform,''
he said. ``We
                        will spend what it takes to win the war against
                        terrorism.''
...
                         
                        The president pledged to steady the troubled economy by
                        building a climate that encourages job creation. He
                        urged the Democratic-controlled Senate to approve an
                        economic stimulus package. ...


1/27/2002  from The New York Times:
                        www.nytimes.com/2002/01/27/international/middleeast/27SAUD.html
                        Don't Weaken Arafat, Saudi Warns Bush
                        By ELAINE SCIOLINO
                        January 27, 2002
                         
                        RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 26 - In a blunt criticism of
                        President Bush, Saudi Arabia's senior intelligence
                        official today called Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian
                        leader, "a man of peace" and warned that any action by
                        the United States to weaken him would destroy prospects
                        for a peace settlement and have serious repercussions
                        for the kingdom. ...
                         
                        A classified American intelligence report taken from a
                        Saudi intelligence survey in mid-October of educated
                        Saudis between the ages of 25 and 41 concluded that 95
                        percent of them supported Mr. bin Laden's cause,
                        according to a senior administration official with
                        access to intelligence reports.
                         
                        Prince Nawwaf confirmed the existence of the survey but
                        did not specify the level of support. He attributed the
                        support to what he called feelings of the people against
                        the United States, largely, he said, because of its
                        unflinching support of Israel against the Palestinians.
                        Although he insisted that Saudi Arabia had no intention
                        of asking the United States to withdraw its military
                        presence from the kingdom, which Mr. bin Laden has long
                        demanded, the prince said Saudi Arabia would not support
                        an American military campaign against Iraq or any other
                        Arab or Muslim country. ...
                        Unwavering support for the Palestinians, despite recent
                        Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians, is voiced
                        by all levels of society, from government officials and
                        university professors to shopkeepers and teenagers.
                        Prince Nawwaf said his office had conducted the survey
                        about terrorism "to know about the feeling towards bin
                        Laden, and we can't ignore that there is this feeling."
                        ...
                        Prince Nawwaf did not respond directly to questions
                        about whether there were Qaeda terrorist cells inside
                        the kingdom. But he reiterated Saudi Arabia's opposition
                        to any military expansion of the American terrorist
                        campaign to other countries.
                        He said an American military operation to overthrow
                        President Saddam Hussein of Iraq "is not going to damage
                        Saddam Hussein," adding: "It will only give Saddam more
                        credit. Perhaps someone is telling you you will finish
                        off Saddam. No, Saddam will be waiting for you." ...
                        "Some days you say you want to attack Iraq, some days
                        Somalia, some days Lebanon, some days Syria," he said.
                        "Who do you want to attack? All the Arab world? And you
                        want us to support that? It's impossible. It's impossible."


1/28/2002  from Reuters and AP:
                        dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20020128/wl/attack_china_iraq_dc_1.html
                        China Tells Iraq Opposed to Widening War on Terror
                        Monday January 28 4:28 AM ET
                         
                        BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen
                        told Iraqi counterpart Tareq Aziz on Monday China does
                        not support the expansion of military action in the war
                        on terrorism, the official Xinhua news agency reported. ...
                         
                        Aziz, who arrived in China on Sunday after a trip to
                        Russia where he sought support in Iraq's confrontation
                        with the United States, called on China for help in
                        resolving Iraq's problems. ...
                         
                        Following talks with Aziz on Thursday, Russian Foreign
                        Minister Igor Ivanov said Moscow was opposed to any U.S.
                        military operation against Iraq and it wanted sanctions
                        against Baghdad to be lifted.
                         
                        Qian said China ``sympathized deeply with the Iraqi
                        suffering caused by the long standing sanctions,''
                        Xinhua said. ...


1/28/2002 From AP at The Jerusalem Post:
www.jpost.com/Editions/2002/01/28/LatestNews/LatestNews.42439.html
                        China criticizes IDF attacks, economic blockade
                        By Joe Mcdonald, The Associated Press
                        Monday January 28, 2002
                         
                        BEIJING - Chinese President Jiang Zemin has sent
                        Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat a letter of
                        support that criticizes Israel's military attacks and
                        economic blockade against Palestinian territories, state
                        media said today. ...
                         
                        "We oppose Israel's military attacks on the
                        Palestinians, the economic blockade, and conduct
                        jeopardizing the lives, property, and safety of ordinary
                        Palestinians," said Jiang's letter, according to the
                        Communist Party newspaper People's Daily. ...
                         
                        While publicly endorsing Palestinian hopes for an
                        independent homeland, China has maintained diplomatic
                        relations with Israel for a decade. Their growing
                        business ties include Israeli arms sales to China.
                         
                        But Israeli officials say relations have been strained
                        since Jerusalem canceled a deal to supply an airborne
                        radar system to China in 2000 under US pressure.
                        Washington feared it might be used in a future conflict
                        over Taiwan.
                         
                        Jiang's message to Arafat coincides with a flurry of
                        Chinese diplomatic activity with Arab governments.
                         
                        Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan visited the Middle East
                        last month on a tour that included Syria and Egypt but
                        not Israel.
                         
                        Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak visited Beijing last
                        week and received prominent coverage from Chinese state
                        media.
                         
                        Arafat visited China in August, and Jiang told him the
                        Chinese people would "always stand on the side of the
                        Palestinians' just cause." ...


1/29/2002  from Reuters:
                        dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20020129/ts/bush_speech_dc_4.html
                        Bush Will Stress Terror War Just Starting
                        By Steve Holland
                        Tuesday January 29 5:02 PM ET
                         
                        WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush will stress in his
                        State of the Union speech on Tuesday that America's war
                        on terrorism is only just beginning with tens of
                        thousands of trained followers of Osama bin Laden spread
                        around the world, aides said.
                        In his nationally televised speech from the House of
                        Representatives chamber, Bush will identify Iraq, Iran
                        and North Korea as attempting to develop weapons of mass
                        destruction and warn of the possibility that they could
                        blackmail the United States with nuclear weapons in the
                        wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, aides said. ...
                        Bush's first official State of the Union speech at 9:01
                        p.m. EST will be his biggest speech of the new year. His
                        wartime popularity is more than 80 percent, a record
                        high for a one-year president, but his future is clouded
                        by an economy in recession and the possibility of Enron
                        evolving into a political scandal. ...
                        The president will cite new intelligence that shows
                        100,000 followers of bin Laden, the elusive chief
                        suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks, were trained in
                        terrorism tactics in Afghanistan and are spread
                        throughout more than 60 nations. ...
                        Afghanistan's interim leader Hamid Karzai will be in the
                        audience, underscoring successes in the U.S.-led war on
                        global terrorism launched in the wake of the Sept. 11
                        attacks. But Bush also will make clear that the fight is
                        far from over and will extend well beyond Afghanistan's
                        borders. ...


At The Washington Post: Thursday, January 31, 2002; Page A01
At Camp David, Advise and Dissent By Bob Woodward and Dan Balz
Bush, Aides Grapple With War Plan (Fifth in a series)
Saturday, September 15
CIA Director George J. Tenet arrived at Camp David with a briefcase stuffed with top-secret documents and plans, in many respects the culmination of more than four years of work on Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda network and worldwide terrorism. ... Tenet brought with him a detailed master plan for covert war in Afghanistan and a top- secret "Worldwide Attack Matrix" outlining a clandestine anti-terror campaign in 80 countries around the world. What he was ready to propose represented a striking and risky departure for U.S. policy and would give the CIA the broadest and most lethal authority in its history. Another option discussed by Bush's advisers during the week-a military campaign against Iraq-also would be considered at Camp David. But at a key moment, when asked by Bush, four of his five top advisers would recommend that Iraq not be included in an initial round of military strikes. ... Bush had recorded his weekly radio address from the same cabin earlier in the day, and conferred with Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. At 9:19 a.m. he invited reporters into the conference room for a few questions. He was pointing toward war but deliberately circumspect about what he intended to do-and when. "This is an administration that will not talk about how we gather intelligence, how we know what we're going to do, nor what our plans are," he said. "When we move, we will communicate with you in an appropriate manner. We're at war." ...


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