11 April 2002 Military News

AFGHANISTAN / U-S AID VOA 11 Apr. 2002-- The U-S Agency for International Development says it is moving faster in Afghanistan than in any other country since the agency began more than four decades ago

DEJEREJIAN-MIDDLE EAST VOA 11 Apr. 2002-- There is growing concern about two weeks of daily skirmishes at the Lebanese / Israeli border. In apparent response to the Israeli West Bank offensive, Hezbollah guerrillas have been staging rocket attacks into northern Israel in what they call sympathy for the Palestinian cause. Or are they intent on opening a new war front ? U-N Secretary General Kofi Annan says no one wants that to happen -- but the political agenda of groups like Syrian-backed Hezbollah is un-predictable. Edward Dejerejian is a former U-S Ambassador to both Syria and Israel. He is now Director of the Baker Public Policy Institute at Rice University in Houston, Texas. He calls the situation at the Lebanese border very worrisome.
Powell-Jerusalem VOA 11 Apr. 2002-- U-S Secretary of State Colin Powell is in Jerusalem to begin the critical phase of his Middle East mission. He meets Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon later today (Friday) and goes to the West Bank Saturday to see besieged Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah
POWELL-MIDEAST VOA 11 Apr. 2002-- U-S Secretary of State Colin Powell (today) Thursday begins the critical phase of his Middle East peace mission. He flies from Madrid -- where he discussed the regional crisis with European foreign ministers -- to Jordan and then to Israel, late in the day

USS Cole Returning to the Fleet Navy News Service 11 Apr. 2002-- USS Cole (DDG 67) is scheduled to depart from Pascagoula, Miss., and return to the fleet on April 19, after a successful 14-month repair effort following her arrival aboard the Norwegian heavy transport ship Blue Marlin on Dec. 13, 2000.

PENTAGON/IRAQ VOA 11 Apr. 2002-- The commander of U-S forces in the Middle East calls Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein a long-standing threat to the international community
HUNGARY/COALITION VOA 11 Apr. 2002-- Hungary's two main opposition parties have agreed to cooperate in the upcoming run-off parliamentary elections and in the forming of a new government, if they are successful. The accord between the Hungarian Socialist Party and the Alliance of Free Democrats came after their surprise lead, during the first round of voting on April 7