15 July 2002 Military News

PENTAGON/AFGHAN VOA 15 Jul 2002-- A senior Pentagon spokesman appeared Monday to alter the U-S version of what happened during a controversial July first American air raid blamed for killing scores of Afghan civilians
Reservists deploying to Japan for Enduring Freedom Army News Service 15 Jul 2002-- About 50 reservists from the Army's 9th Theater Support Command have been activated for deployment to Japan in support of the War on Terrorism.
BALKAN / SUMMIT VOA 15 Jul 2002-- In Sarajevo today (Monday), the leaders of three countries that were involved in the bloodiest fighting in Europe since the end of World War II met to discuss ways they could work more closely together

MIDEAST TALKS OVERNITER VOA 15 Jul 2002-- A high-level meeting on the Middle East opens shortly (11:30am Tuesday), with officials from the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations seeking to put some life into a stalled peace process
EGYPT / ISRAEL VOA 15 Jul 2002-- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met Monday in the northern Egyptian port city of Alexandria with Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer to discuss efforts to revive peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians
ISRAEL / MIDEAST VOA 15 Jul 2002-- The new head of Israel's defense forces is warning that closer ties between Syria and Iraq pose a new danger to Israel

Transcript: Defense Department Briefing, July 15, 2002 Washington File 15 Jul 2002-- Rosa: In Iraq on Saturday, aircraft supporting Operation Southern Watch dropped precision-guided munitions to strike the air-defense facilities in the vicinity of An Nasiriyah. The command-and-control facility had earlier helped direct air attack against coalition aircraft.
Secretary Rumsfeld Interview with CNBC 15 Jul 2002-- Rumsfeld: Those borders are porous. It's -- it -- if we just tried to marshal forces on the ground that were all U.S., if you will, as opposed to using Afghan forces, there's no question that they would not have stayed concentrated. They would have dispersed, and crossed the border while you were getting yourself arranged to do that. So, there's some people who, with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, look back and say to me, "Well, why wasn't it this, or why wasn't it that?" My view is that General Franks and his team did a good job, and that that worked out well. In life, nothing works out perfectly, but pretty good.

Bush Promises Consultations Before Terror Battle Front Shifts Washington File 15 Jul 2002-- Bush: I will continue to communicate and consult with our friends and allies as to every stage of the war, as the battle front shifts. By the way, the battle front isn't shifting out of Afghanistan, we're there. We'll remain there. We've got a lot of work to do there. There's still al Qaeda killers there. And of course we'll need to continue to have deliberations with our friends and allies, and we'll have them for future theaters and different operations. We talk to them all the time.