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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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