Military


08 May 2003 Military News


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    • ROAD MAP FOR PEACE VOA 08 May 2003 -- A road map outlining a path to Middle East Peace has been presented to Israel and the Palestinians. Drawn up by the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations, the road map calls on the Palestinian Authority and Israel to meet a series of goals that would lead them to peaceful coexistence. Announcing the road map, President George W. Bush said that it "represents a starting point toward achieving the vision of two states: a secure state of Israel and a viable, peaceful, democratic Palestine." President Bush said that "implementing the road map will depend upon the good faith efforts and contributions of both sides. The pace of progress will depend strictly on the performance of the parties." What does the road map call on Israelis and Palestinians to do and will they do it?
    • U-S-Powell-Mideast VOA 08 May 2003 -- Secretary of State Colin is preparing to leave Washington late Friday for his first talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the region in more than a year. Mr. Powell will press for action on the international "road map" that aims for a settlement of the Middle East conflict within three years.
    • ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS VOA 08 May 2003 -- A suspected Palestinian suicide bomber attacked Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip Thursday, in a car laden with explosives. The attack came hours after an Israeli helicopter fired at a car in Gaza, killing a known Palestinian militant.
    • Israeli-Palestinian Road Map plan is “historic window of opportunity” – Annan UN News Centre 08 May 2003 -- The Road Map plan for peace between Israelis and Palestinians was “a historic window of opportunity” opening up “after a terrible period of death and destruction on both sides of the conflict,” United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today in a message issued at a meeting on Arab-Israeli peace.
    • ISRAEL - ATTACK VOA 08 May 2003 -- An Israeli helicopter fired several missiles at a car in Gaza City, killing one person, believed to be a senior member of the militant group Hamas.

    • UN partially suspends de-mining operations in Afghanistan following attacks UN News Centre 08 May 2003 -- The United Nations has suspended mine clearance on parts of one of Afghanistan’s most important routes for commerce and relief aid following new attacks on de-mining teams on the road between the Afghan capital of Kabul and the southern city of Kandahar.
    • Kosovo mission at its most difficult and delicate phase – UN envoy UN News Centre 08 May 2003 -- The top United Nations official in Kosovo said today the UN mission there had entered “what is perhaps its most critical and delicate phase” with the transference of competencies to local provisional institutions.
    • DR of Congo: violence in Bunia hampers UN’s ability to reach needy populations UN News Centre 08 May 2003 -- Continued violence between rival clans in Bunia, a small town in north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), near the local airport is hampering the efforts of the United Nations and other humanitarian actors trying to reach thousands of needy people, the UN mission in the country said today.
    • Guatemala: UN mission deplores impunity in murder case UN News Centre 08 May 2003 -- The United Nations mission in Guatemala said today it was “lamentable” that 12 years after the murder of anthropologist Myrna Mack during the Central American country’s civil war, the intellectual authors of “this brutal crime” had still not been identified and punished.
    • AFGHAN INSECURITY VOA 08 May 2003 -- The top U-N envoy for Afghanistan is warning ethnic strife and violence are jeopardizing peacekeeping and reconstruction efforts in southeastern Afghanistan. The deteriorating security situation is prompting many aid groups to suspend vital services.
    • INDIA MASSACRE VOA 08 May 2003 -- Indian officials say they suspect tribal rebels in the remote northeastern Tripura State have killed 10 people Wednesday. This is the latest in a string of attacks on Bengali settlers in the region.

    Defense Policy / Programs

    • CBO ANALYSIS: BOEING LEASING DEAL TOTALS $37 BILLION; ‘SIGNIFICANTLY MORE EXPENSIVE' THAN TANKER PURCHASE 13 May 2003 -- Dan Crippen, Director of CBO, wrote that the total cost of the leasing proposal as analyzed by the CBO would total $37 billion while an outright purchase of the tanker aircraft would cost the taxpayers $25 billion. Earlier this week, Mitch Daniels, Director of the Office of Management and Budget estimated the cost of the lease at $26 billion.
    • USCG Cutter Bear Celebrates Anniversary USCG District 5 13 May 2003-- On May 9, 2003, at 10 a.m., USCG Cutter Bear will be hosting her 20th anniversary celebration at ISC Portsmouth, Va. Bear was commissioned on February 4, 1983, as the first of thirteen 270-foot medium endurance cutters and has served as a premier drug interdiction and search and rescue asset ever since.
    • Coast Guard Cutter Storis returns home from crew training USCG District 17 13 May 2003-- The Coast Guard Cutter Storis and crew returned home Thursday afternoon after being gone for about two months for extensive crew training. The Coast Guard’s “Queen of the Fleet” left Kodiak with an eager-to-learn, inexperienced crew and returns with seasoned sailors ready to serve.
    • Keen observation on patrol yields weapons cache in Iraq USAREUR Release 08 May 2003-- Under a blazing sun, with temperatures soaring to 100 degrees and above, the paratroopers of 1st platoon, A Company, 1st Battalion 508th Infantry (Airborne) prepared to do what they’ve been doing for the last month here in Iraqi. They lined up on the street among rows of cinder block and adobe houses. The street, like all the streets in this small, nameless village, is strewn with filth. Garbage and pools of stale water do nothing but add a stench to the air under the punishing sun.
    • Shasta crew comes to aid of Sri Lankan fishing vessel 7th Fleet News 08 May 2003-- The crew of the ammunition ship USNS Shasta (T-AE 33) provided gas and food to a stranded Sri Lankan fishing vessel May 2 while transiting the Indian Ocean.
    • Coast Guard announces contract for design and acquisition of the Maritime Patrol Aircraft USCG Release 08 May 2003-- The U.S. Coast Guard has awarded a contract totaling approximately $130 million to Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS) for the design and delivery of two Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA). The aircraft would be the first of a multi-year, multi-aircraft acquisition in the Integrated Deepwater System’s modernization program for the Coast Guard.
    • Patient support pallets help revolutionize AE mission AMCNS 08 May 2003 -- When Pfc. Jessica Lynch came home from the war on a C-17 Globemaster III, she and the 49 other injured servicemembers on the flight were able to take advantage of a new aeromedical evacuation technology.
    • Tactical Tomahawk Presses on with First Live Warhead Test NAVAIR 08 May 2003 -- The U.S. Navy’s new Tomahawk cruise missile, Block IV or Tactical Tomahawk, was launched today from an Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer, the USS STETHEM (DDG-63), in the waters of the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) sea test range off the coast of southern California. Today’s event marked the second launch of the Tactical Tomahawk from an operational surface ship and the first live warhead demonstration.
    • Upgraded H-1's pass 1,000-hour mark NAVAIR 08 May 2003 -- In a culmination of a busy month of flying, both here and in the high desert of Colorado, an all-Marine crew took the Corps’ newest light/attack helicopters through the 1,000-hour mark Tuesday.
    • 5th Fleet Adds New Mobile Unit to Team Navy NewStand 08 May 2003 -- “Take charge and move out,” completed the commissioning address given recently at Naval Support Activity, Bahrain.
    • 'Guardian' Project to Bolster Force, Installation Security AFPS 08 May 2003 -- A new DoD force and installation security project targeted against terrorist threats – to include possible use of weapons of mass destruction -- is slated to debut Oct. 1.
    • Official: Ranges important to success AFPN 08 May 2003 -- Training ranges are vital to the Air Force’s success on the battlefield, Air Combat Command’s chief of ranges, airfields and airspace operations told a congressional committee May 6.

    • NATO: U.S. Senate Approves Expansion RFE/L 08 May 2003 -- The U.S. Senate voted 96 to zero today to approve the applications of seven former communist Eastern European nations. But some senators say the alliance needs more than just new members
    • NATO Enlargement US Dept. of State 08 May 2003 -- President George W. Bush, Remarks Following Meeting With European Foreign Ministers
    • CONGRESS / NATO VOA 08 May 2003 -- The Senate has endorsed a second round of NATO expansion, unanimously voting (96 to zero) to add seven eastern European nations to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. No House vote is needed.
    • U.S. Senate Votes to Allow NATO Expansion AFPS 08 May 2003 -- The U.S. Senate voted today to support NATO admission for seven central and eastern European nations, President Bush said.
    • BUSH / NATO VOA 08 May 2003 -- There was a celebration at the White House Thursday -- a celebration of the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The foreign ministers of seven NATO candidate countries joined President Bush for the occasion.

    News Reports

    • SHAPE News Morning Update SHAPE 08 May 2003
    • SHAPE News Summary & Analysis SHAPE 08 May 2003
    • ASIA SARS / W-H-O VOA 08 May 2003 -- The World Health Organization has extended its SARS-related travel warning to Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, the Chinese city of Tianjin and the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia. Lisa Schlein reports from W-H-O headquarters in Geneva that latest figures show there have more than 500 SARS-related deaths around the world, the vast majority of them in China.
    • ZIMBABWE / MEDIA VOA 08 May 2003 -- Zimbabwe's Supreme Court has struck down a clause in the country's restrictive media law that made it a criminal offense to publish falsehoods. But while that decision was praised by defenders of press freedom in Zimbabwe, hours after it was issued government officials visited the home of an American journalist who has for months been the target of a harassment campaign led by state media.
    • TOGO ELECTIONS VOA 08 May 2003 -- Authorities in Togo have begun a security crackdown, after the main opposition leader said he wants a campaign of civil disobedience to protest his being barred from running in next month's presidential election.
    • PHILIPPINES / MILITARY PROBE VOA 08 May 2003 -- Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has ordered an investigation into whether military officers have collaborated with a Muslim rebel kidnap group. The probe comes after a former U-S hostage made the allegations in a book about her experience in the southern Philippines.
    • HUNGARY/CRASH VOA 08 May 2003 -- In Hungary, at least 30 people are dead after a German tour bus collided with a train. The crash, which occurred on the shores of Lake Balaton, about 100-kilometers southwest of the Hungarian capital
    • RUSSIA / SARS VOA 08 May 2003 -- Health officials in Russia are investigating what they suspect may be the country's first case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. Concern about SARS has led Russia to close most of its border crossings with China, where the disease has spread rapidly.
    • FIJI TREASON VOA 08 May 2003 -- The vice president of Fiji has been charged with treason for his alleged part in a nationalist coup three years ago. Ratu Jope Seniloli is the most senior figure to face charges over the uprising.
    • ASIA SARS VOA 08 May 2003 -- The World Health Organization has advised travelers to avoid Taipei, due to the city's growing outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. And China's top leaders are admitting that SARS will cause problems for the country's economy.