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Current Operations

• PENTAGON / IRAQ VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- U-S-led coalition air patrols over southern Iraq have increased dramatically in recent days, setting the stage for a possible war.

Deployments

• Submarine Base Seabee Unit Deployed to Middle East Navy NewStand 06 Mar 2003 -- Since the first construction battalion personnel started processing through Gulfport, Miss., in 1942, Seabees have been building on the front lines of every conflict, and then defending what they build.
• Camp Patriot Helps Train Peninsula Shield Forces Navy NewStand 06 Mar 2003 -- Approximately 100 United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sailors and Airmen participated in coalition forces chemical, biological and radiological (CBR) training conducted by U.S. Navy members recently.
• Reservists support air bridge AFPN 06 Mar 2003 -- More than half of Air Force Reserve Command's 10,000 mobilized reservists are helping to move troops, equipment and cargo to the Middle East as America prepares for possible war with Iraq.
• 'Red Patchers' pack, lock & hook; Team makes practice picture perfect USMC News 06 Mar 2003 -- Packing nets, locking straps and hooking thousands of pounds of cargo to the bottom of a helicopter is nothing new for most Marine Corps landing support specialists. Ask many of them and they'll tell you they can do it with their eyes closed. Now, add desert sands, an unpaved landing zone and even more unpredictable winds, the specialists will tell you the scenario is a little different.
• RAF Fairford sees increase in people, mail USAFENS 06 Mar 2003 -- The post office at Royal Air Force Fairford, England, is getting a lot more mail these days due to a large influx of deployed personnel here.

US Policy

• BUSH WRAP VOA 07 Mar 2003 -- President Bush says Saddam Hussein still has not disarmed and a decision by the United Nations on Iraq is just days away. During a White House news conference, the president also talked about relations with Turkey and the dispute over North Korea's nuclear program.
• Bush Tells America: Delaying War 'Not Peace, But Pretense' AFPS 06 Mar 2003 -- U.N. weapons inspectors need only answer a single question when they go before the Security Council in New York March 7: "Has the Iraqi regime fully and unconditionally disarmed?"
• Transcript: Bush Says U.S. Will Call for Vote on New Iraq Resolution Washington File 06 Mar 2003 -- President Bush said March 6 that the United States will call for a vote on a new U.N. Security Council resolution it has introduced along with Great Britain and Spain that states that Saddam Hussein has failed to fully disarm as called for by the council's earlier Resolution 1441.
• BUSH / NEWS CONFERENCE VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- President Bush will hold a news conference Thursday evening (EDS: 8 PM EST) to answer questions about possible military action in Iraq. Mr. Bush will not use the event to declare war.
• DEMOCRATS / IRAQ VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- Opposition Democrats in the House of Representatives and the Senate have renewed their concerns about U-S-led military action against Iraq.
• PENTAGON/IRAQ ATROCITIES VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- The Pentagon says Iraq may have begun preparations for the destruction of its oil fields in anticipation of war.
• POWELL / U-N / IRAQ VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- Secretary of State Colin Powell, preparing for two days of talks at the United Nations in New York, says the U-N Security Council is at a "critical moment," as it considers whether to enforce its demands that Iraq disarm.
• Powell: We Must Stop Saddam Before He Arms Terrorists AFPS 06 Mar 2003 -- Saddam Hussein is testing the United States, the U.N. Security Council and the international community, America's top diplomat said today.
• Powell To Tell U.N. Security Council Now is the Time to Act on Iraq Washington File 06 Mar 2003 -- Secretary of State Colin Powell says he will tell the U.N. Security Council March 7 that now is the time to deal with the threat posed by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's failure to disarm his country of chemical and biological weapons, and outlawed long-range ballistic missiles.
• Coalition To Make Painstaking Effort to Avoid Iraqi Civilian Damage Washington File 06 Mar 2003 -- If the use of force becomes necessary in Iraq, coalition military forces will take considerable care to minimize civilian deaths and damage to civilian infrastructure, educational institutions, medical facilities, and religious and cultural institutions.
• Byliner: Under Secretary Bolton on North Korea, Iraq Washington File 06 Mar 2003 -- North Korea is a problem the United States didn't ask for and didn't create. When we confronted the North Korean regime in October with knowledge of its clandestine nuclear activities, we hardly expected it to break with tradition and brazenly admit to developing a uranium-enrichment programme.
• Hussein Is Big Question in Estimating Cost of War AFPS 06 Mar 2003 -- How much would a war against Iraq potentially cost? There are too many variables to give a good estimate, said DoD Comptroller Dov Zakheim.
• EDITORIAL: BUSH ON LIBERATING IRAQ VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- Iraq said it would destroy its chemical and biological weapons, its ballistic missiles with a range of more than one-hundred-fifty kilometers, and its nuclear weapons program. This requirement was set by the United Nations as a condition for ending the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Since then, more than a dozen United Nations resolutions have called for Iraq to disarm. The latest was passed by the U-N Security Council in November. But Iraq continues to deceive the U-N.

United Nations

• UNMOVIC IAEA Press Statement on Inspection Activities in Iraq UNOMVIC/IAEA 06 Mar 2003
• Tracking Inspections in Iraq RFE/L 06 Mar 2003
• U-N / IRAQ ONITER VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- The United Nations Security Council is set to meet Friday to hear a new report on disarmament in Iraq. The council remains deeply split over an effort by the United States to get U-N support for military action against Iraq.
• Despite hardened positions on Iraq in Security Council, Annan looks for 'calm' discussion Friday UN News Centre 06 Mar 2003 -- Although positions in the Security Council are "hard," Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today, the 15-nation body will have a chance to discuss how to proceed with the disarmament of Iraq "calmly" at a meeting on Friday to hear an update by top United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix.
• IRAQ / INSPECTIONS VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- Iraq continued its destruction of banned Al-Samoud-Two missiles Thursday, one day before chief U-N weapons inspector Hans Blix is to give another report to the Security Council on Iraq's compliance with U-N demands that it disarm.

Foreign Reactions

• BRITAIN / IRAQ VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- Diplomatic pressure is intensifying for some kind of compromise on military action against Iraq. On Thursday, Britain signaled its willingness to amend a new draft Security Council resolution authorizing a military attack on Iraq.
• FRANCE / CHINA / IRAQ VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- China says it agrees with a recent French, Russian and German declaration opposing a U-N resolution paving the way for war against Iraq. French President Jacques Chirac and Chinese leader Jiang Zemin spoke by telephone Thursday.
• EGYPT / PROTEST VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- There have been few demonstrations in the Arab world against a U-S led military attack on Iraq, but on Wednesday Cairo was the scene of an antiwar protest that attracted an estimated one-million people. The demonstration, one of the largest in recent years in Cairo, was staged by Egypt's government. He spoke with several analysts in Cairo to learn why the government encouraged Egyptians to take to the streets.
• CHINA IRAQ NOKOR VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- China's foreign minister has warned the Iraq crisis is reaching a critical stage, and says Beijing backs France, Germany, and Russia in opposing a U-N resolution authorizing war. The foreign minister also urged the United States to talk with North Korea to ease tensions over its nuclear programs.

News Reports

• WOMEN AND PEACE VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- As International Women's Day approaches (EDS: March 8), and the world braces for a possible war with Iraq, American women are drawing attention to the role women have played through the ages in peace efforts. These peace efforts have come not only before wars and national conflicts, but have continued afterwards.
• IRAQI / WOMEN VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- Iraqi exiles in the United States met Thursday with Bush administration officials and members of Congress to urge Americans to support military action against Saddam Hussein and bring democracy to Iraq.
• "WHAT NEXT," BY WALTER MOSLEY VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- A new poll shows that African Americans are more opposed to a U.S. war with Iraq than other major ethnic groups in the United States. The Pew Research Center Survey found forty four percent of African Americans support military action, compared to seventy three percent of white Americans and sixty seven percent of Hispanics. Best selling African American crime writer Walter Mosley is among those who question the need for military action.
• Transcript: Author Ken Pollack Examines Possible U.N. Role in New Iraq Washington File 06 Mar 2003 -- U.S. author on Iraq and former Clinton administration official Kenneth Pollack reviewed the history of international efforts to prevent Saddam Hussein from obtaining nuclear, chemical and biological weapons with speakers in Moscow and Abu Dhabi, via digital video conference (DVC), February 25.
• Byliner: Former Iraqi Foreign Minister on Iraq's Democratic Future Washington File 06 Mar 2003 -- The following article first appeared in the Financial Times March 2, 2003. Permission has been granted covering republication/translation/abridgment in the local press outside the United States. On title page, credit Adnan Pachachi and the Financial Times.
• JONATHAN EYAL VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- Britain says it is trying to work out a compromise to gain U-N Security Council approval of a new resolution that would lay the groundwork for the use of military force against Iraq. So far, France, Russia and China have said they will oppose any U-N resolution calling for war against Iraq.
• EDITORIAL: IRAQI OPPOSITION MEETING VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- For years, Saddam Hussein has brutally oppressed the Iraqi people. And by refusing to eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, his regime has become a danger to the region and the world.
• BULENT ALIRIZA VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- The Bush administration says time is running out for Turkey to decide on a U-S troop deployment on Turkish soil. Turkish military Chief of Staff General Hilmi Ozkok said Wednesday the army supports the deployment. General Ozkok said siding with the United States would minimize the damage to Turkey if war breaks out.