Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

17 November 2003

TERRORISM

• An Arabic newspaper said a unit of the al Qaeda network had claimed responsibility for weekend synagogue bombings in Turkey and which diplomats said were carried out by suicide bombers. The London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi said a division of al Qaeda had sent it a statement claiming responsibility for the simultaneous bombings in Istanbul and vowing more attacks. The statement added that the militant network was planning more car bombings against the U.S. and its allies Britain, Italy, Australia and Japan. The Brigades of the Martyr Abu Hafz al-Masri, claimed also responsibility for the attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad in August. (Reuters 170420 GMT Nov 03)
  
  
• The al Qaeda network would like to use chemical and biological weapons but does not yet have the technological expertise to do so, a new UN report concludes. The confidential report, drawn up by an independent panel, says the arms embargo against al Qaeda is ineffective and global efforts to cut off funds for terrorists are faltering. The report describes the Middle East as awash with illegal weapons, with many nations unable to control trafficking across their borders. It says arms smugglers are using Somalia and Yemen as “turntable countries” for business in the area and recommends a regional, rather than only an international approach to curb the weapons. The five-member panel said al Qaeda “undoubtedly” was still considering the use of chemical and biological weapons and had “already taken the decision” to do so in their forthcoming attacks. (Reuters 152058 GMT Nov 03)

IRAQ

• French Foreign Minister de Villepin says the U.S. plan for a provisional government in Iraq by June is too late for the urgent situation at hand. In an interview to be published Monday in the daily La Croix, de Villepin outlined what he sees as a plausible means of quickly moving forward - with a government in place by year’s end. Dominique De Villepin suggested that a body of Iraqis could quickly be put together to run their own country temporarily, and satisfy concerns over the current occupation force. In the La Croix interview, the French minister said that drafting a constitution would be a longer process, but speeding up formation of a provisional government would not pose a problem. He said he saw a model like that in Afghanistan. The United States’ chief post-war administrator, Paul Bremer, said on Sunday that coalition forces would remain in Iraq, as “an invited presence.” (AP 162138 Nov 03)

BALKANS

• The Serbian ultra-nationalist leader who came first in Sunday’s abortive presidential race would change the course of “merciless” reforms and balance ties between East and West if he wins general elections next month. Tomislav Nikolic, who easily outpolled veteran pro-democracy candidate Dragoljub Micunovic in a vote declared invalid due to a low turnout, also says he will halt the transfer to The Hague of any more Serbs wanted on UN war crimes charges. “I want to cooperate with both East and the West. It was not good with the East alone (in communist times). Neither is it now better with the West alone,” Nikolic said. “We would be somewhere in between, a balance,” he said. “I would push for all integrations, excluding that with NATO” he added. (Reuters 170051 GMT Nov 03)

OTHER NEWS

• The United States would wage war again, and alone if necessary, to ensure the long-term safety of the world, President Bush said in an interview published on Monday. He told Britain’s leading tabloid newspaper, the Sun, on the eve of a state visit that he felt compelled to act following the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington. The paper quoted him as saying U.S. forces and their coalition allies had ended the tyranny of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, smashed the grip of bin Laden’s al Qaeda network in Afghanistan and forced the United Nations to stop turning its back on terror. In another interview with a British newspaper, influential Pentagon adviser Richard Perle echoed President Bush’s comments, saying the possibility of future conflicts could not be ruled out. “Of course he is going to stick with that principle, because it is fundamental to fighting and winning the war against terror,” Perle told the Daily Telegraph. (Reuters 170326 GMT Nov 03)