APS Diplomat Recorder articles from June 2004

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from June 2004

ARAB-ISLAMIC AFFAIRS - May 30 - Al-Qaeda Warns Foreigners Of More Attacks In Saudi Arabia.
June 5, 2004... The war between the royal regime in Saudi Arabia and radical Wahhabi militants intensifies as four gunmen hold more than 40 foreigners, mostly Westerners, hostage in a housing compound in Al-Khobar. In a statement on an Islamist internet...

ARABS-ISRAEL - May 31 - Palestinian Protection Urged After Rafah Massacre.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2004... Responding to a petition by four human rights groups after Israeli forces besieged Rafah in the Gaza Strip last month and killing 42 Palestinians and left hundreds homeless, the Israel Supreme Court orders the Israeli army to safeguard the...

ARAB-OPEC AFFAIRS - June 3 - Beirut Conference Raises Oil Output.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2004... OPEC oil ministers meet in Beirut and decide to raise the official oil production ceiling by 2m b/d to 25.5m b/d from July 1 and by another 500,000 b/d to 26m b/d from Aug. 1. They agree to meet again in July (see Oil Market Trends of APS...

ARAB-TURKISH RELATIONS - June 3 - Egypt-Bound Contraband Missile Heads Found.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2004... Turkish State Minister Kursad Tuzmen says the authorities have found a radio-controlled missile and missile heads among contraband military equipment in containers unloaded at the Ambarli customs area in Istanbul, shipped from Ukraine and bound...

ARABS-UN - June 4 - Brahimi Says Job In Iraq Completed.
June 5, 2004... UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi says he considers his job in Iraq completed with the June 1 formation of an interim government and choice of president and two deputies - with the IGC dissolved - and will not play the leading role in organising...

ARABS-UN - June 4 - US Prisoner Abuse Could Be War Crime.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2004... In a report on the human rights situation in Iraq, the acting High Commissioner for UN Human Rights Bertrand Ramcharan says ill-treatment of detainees in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison and other US-run detention centres "might be designated as war...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - June 1 - Probe Of Afghan Jails To Stay Secret.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2004... US Commander Lt Gen David Barno promises "rapid action" on an internal review of Afghan jails where at least three prisoners have died, but says details of techniques used there will remain classified. He says he would reveal publicly only...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - June 2 - Chalabi's Links With Iran.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2004... In a closed-door briefing to Congress, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice says CIA Director George Tenet will oversee an inquiry into Chalabi's intelligence activities. Other government officials say the FBI began its own investigation...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - June 3 - Arafat Is Hindrance To Peace.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2004... In an interview with a French TV station FR-3, Secretary of State Powell says Palestininan Pres Arafat is a disappointment and a hindrance to peacemaking with Israel. (Powell all but calls on the Palestinians to depose him as their leader). He...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - June 4 - Truce With Sadr.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2004... Rebel (and thuggisht) Shiite mullah Muqtada Al Sadr and US commanders adopt a truce promising to withdraw their soldiers from Najaf's centre and turn over security to the local police. (The deal is brokered by the "House of Shiites" mediators,...

AFGHANISTAN - June 2 - Taliban Kill 5.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2004... In one of the worst attacks on aid workers since the fall of the Taliban, Taliban gunmen kill five workers with the medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres in the Badghis province: two Afghan men, a Belgian woman, a Dutch man and a Swiss...

IRAN - May 31 - First Woman Mayor Under Ayatollahs.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2004... For the first time in the 25-year history of Iran as an Islamic republic, Saveh, a desert city of 125,000, 100km, south-west of Tehran elects Mehri Roustaie Gherailou, a woman, as a mayor. Gherailou had been a member of the municipal council...

IRAN - June 1 - More Possibly Bomb-Grade Uranium Found.
June 5, 2004... The IAEA says it has found more traces in Iran of highly enriched uranium that could be bomb-grade. Tehran has also admitted to importing parts for sophisticated P-2 centrifuges, which can enrich uranium to bomb-grade levels, going back on...

IRAQ - May 28 - IGC Picks Allawi As PM.(Iraq's Government Council )(Brief Article)
June 5, 2004... Most IGC members choose INA leader Iyad Allawi, a secular Shiite backed by the CIA, as prime minister. (In this the IGC has sidelined UN envoy Brahimi, who wanted to have a caretaker government formed of technocrats from outside the council....

IRAQ - May 30 - New Clashes In Najaf.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2004... Fighting erupts in the centre of Najaf, for the first time since the US-led coalition and Sadr announced a ceasefire agreement, killing four Iraqi civilians and wound three US soldiers near a sprawling cemetery as a patrol of soldiers from the...

IRAQ - June 1 - Shammar Leader Yawer Becomes President; IGC Dissolved.
June 5, 2004... PM Allawi and follow IGC members choose their Sunni colleague and current IGC head, Shaikh Ghazi Mishaal Ajil Al Yawer, to the largely ceremonial post of president of the republic. (In this the IGC scores again, this time against both CPA chief...

IRAQ - June 1 - Green Zone Blast Kills 25.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2004... The blast at the Baghdad offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), close to the Foreign Ministry and an entrance to the Green Zone compound, kills at least 25 people and wounds many. Also on June 1 a suicide car bomber blew up his...

IRAQ - June 3 - FM At UN Demands Say On Troop Presence.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2004... FM Hoshyar Zebari tells the UN Security Council the incoming government must have a say on the presence of US-led forces in the country, but does not demand a veto over their actions and warns that their premature withdrawal can lead to civil...

IRAQ - June 3 - Sistani On New Govt.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2004... Grand Ayat Sistani issues his first statement on the caretaker government, which he notes is appointed rather than elected and does not fully represent Iraqi society. However, he does not explicitly withhold his endorsement. Instead, he sets...

IRAQ - June 4 - US-Led Forces Needed.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2004... In his first national address aired by Al Iraqiyah, PM Allawi calls for an end to guerrilla attacks, saying: "Your government sees that only the restoration of security and the safeguarding of citizens' dignity, honour and money will allow us...

ISRAEL - June 4 - Sharon Fires 2 Ministers.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2004... PM Sharon fires two far-right ministers Avigdor Lieberman and Benny Elon of the National Union, signalling he is prepared to risk the survival of his government to push through his controversial Gaza withdrawal plan. (If Sharon's strategy Gaza...

RUSSIA - May 31 - Yukos Suffers Fresh Legal Setback.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2004... An arbitration court decides the issue of new Yukos shares, with which it paid for Sibneft, is invalid, paving the way for the divorce of the two companies. (The ruling means that 57% of Sibneft, which was purchased with new Yukos shares,...

RUSSIA - June 2 - TV Anchorman Sacked.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2004... The leading TV channel NTV bans a highly rated weekly news and analysis programme and sacks its popular anchorman Leonid Parfenov. (This is a major blow to Moscow's fragile freedom of speech. Parfenov was sacked after he protested that NTV...

SAUDI ARABIA - May 30 - Militant Attack Results In 22 Deaths; Aramco Vows To Protect Staff & Plants.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2004... Special government forces storm the Oasis housing compound in Al-Khobar to free more than 40 hostages from four radical Wahhabi militants affiliated to Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda. With three of the four militants fleeing, the operation results in the...

SAUDI ARABIA - May 30 - Al-Qaeda Threat After Siege.
June 5, 2004... After the special government commandos ended the 24-hour siege at the Oasia housing compound in Al-Khobar, freeing scores of hostages trapped after the second attack in a month by Wahhabi militants on the kingdom's oil industry killed 22...

SAUDI ARABIA - June 2 - Govt. Ready To Disband Overseas Charity.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2004... The foreign affairs adviser to the Saudi crown prince Adel Al Jubeir says the kingdom will disband its largest overseas charity, the Al Haramain Islamic Foundation, and set up a single, government-appointed commission to handle all Saudi...

SAUDI ARABIA - June 4 - Public Urged To Inform On Terrorists.(Brief Article)
June 5, 2004... The Grand Mufti, Shaikh Abdel Aziz Ibn Abdullah Aal Al Shaikh, issues a fatwa (religious edict) calling on the Saudi nationals and expatriates to inform the authorities on suspected extremists engaged in terrorist activities. The fatwa says:...

ARAB AFFAIRS - June 7 - GCC Backs Saudi War On Terror.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2004... A GCC FMs' meeting at the Red Sea port city of Jeddah supports the Saudi government's war against terrorism by radical Wahhabi militants. Kuwaiti FM Shaikh Mohammed Al Salem Al Sabah (with Kuwait having the current chair of the six-state GCC)...

ARAB AFFAIRS - June 10 - Kuwait Mediates Saudi-Qatar Reconciliation Meet.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2004... Qatari Emir Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani and Riyadh Governor Prince Salman Ibn Abdel Aziz meet in Monte Carlo in a bid to resolve a long-running dispute between the two GCC states. The mediator is Kuwaiti PM Shaikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah,...

ARAB AFFAIRS - June 11 - Saudi Paper Seeks Action On Qadhafi Order To Kill Abdullah.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2004... Leading Saudi daily Okaz in an editorial calls for joint Arab action against Libyan ruler Qadhafi for his alleged order to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah in Mecca last November. US officials on June 10 said they were investigating the...

ARAB AFFAIRS - June 11 - The Libyan Plot.
June 12, 2004... The IHT on June 11 carried the NYT report saying that Qadhafi's intelligence chiefs ordered a covert operation to assassinate Prince Abdullah and destabilise Saudi Arabia, citing statements by two participants: Abdurahman Alamoudi (or Abdel...

ARABS-ISRAEL - June 6 - Barghouti Gets 5 Life Sentences.
June 12, 2004... An Israeli court sentences Palestinian uprising leader Marwan Barghouti to five consecutive life terms and 40 years for his involvement in attacks in 2002 that killed four Israelis and a monk in 2001. He is also given two consecutive terms of...

ARABS-ISRAEL - June 9 - Israel Shells Shebaa Farms.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2004... Israel fires more than 10 rockets around the Lebanese town of Kfar Shuba Rweissat Alam, in the occupied Shebaa Farms. Several Israeli bulldozers reinforced Israeli military positions at Rweissat Alam, which was hit by Hizbullah fire on June 8....

ARABS-ISRAEL - June 10 - Settlers Defy Calls To Leave Gaza.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2004... Jewish settlers react angrily to reports that Israel will encourage them to leave the Gaza Strip in return for compensation, many vowing they will not leave. (The plan for dismantling the Gaza settlements, which has not yet been approved by...

ARAB-TURKISH RELATIONS - June 11 - Businessman Denies Nuclear Goods Claim.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2004... Turkish businessman Selim Alguadis, alleged to have supplied sophisticated electrical goods to Libya's secret nuclear weapons project, says he has no idea his products are destined for that country. He says his company's products are in free...

ARABS-UN - June 6 - Iraq Resolution Gets Unanimous Vote.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2004... The Security Council passes unanimously a resolution marking the June 30 handover of sovereignty to the Iraqis. France and other former critics of the US-led war in Iraq hails last-minute wording on the new Iraqi government's powers as a...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - June 7 - Syria Wants Talks.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2004... In an interview with leading Kuwaiti daily Al Qabas, Syrian FM Farouq Al Shara says Damascus wants dialogue with US despite month-old US economic sanctions. He says: "The Syria Accountability Act is a law that runs counter to international law....

ARAB-US RELATIONS - June 8 - Bush Team Accused Of Sanctioning Torture.
June 12, 2004... Democratic senators accuse the Bush administration of sanctioning torture by preparing legal analyses that said harsh treatment of detainees was permissible under US and international laws. The charges come following a leak of memos from 2002...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - June 10 - Allawi Led Anti-Saddam Bombings.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2004... Ex-CIA officials are quoted as saying the designated PM of Iraq, Iyad Allawi, ran a US/UK backed exile organisation intent on deposing Saddam that sent agents into Baghdad in the early 1990s to plant bombs and sabotage government facilities...

AFGHANISTAN - June 9 - Many Taliban Killed.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2004... A US-led offensive in the mountains of southern Afghanistan kills more than 70 Taliban fighters. The fighting began as Marines backed by combat aircraft and helicopters approached a suspected ambush site in Daychopan district, in the southern...

AFGHANISTAN - June 10 - Gunmen Kill 11 Chinese.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2004... In one of the bloodiest attacks on foreigners in the country, about 20 gunmen burst into a construction site in northern Kunduz province killing 11 Chinese workers and wounding five, just two days after about 100 Chinese workers had arrived at...

IRAN - June 6 - Non-Theologian Elected Speaker.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2004... For the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, a leading conservative layman Gholam Ali Haddad Adel is elected as speaker of parliament. He gets 226 out of the 259 votes in the 290-seat Majlis for a one-year term. (Conservatives won...

IRAN - June 10 - Putin: No Reason To Halt Nuclear Co-Operation.
June 12, 2004... At the close of the G8 summit at Sea Island in the US state of Georgia, Russian Pres. Putin says Moscow sees no reason to halt its nuclear co-operation with Tehran despite joining a G8 call for the Islamic republic to address concerns about its...

IRAQ - June 6 - Bomb Kills 9.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2004... Guerrillas detonate a car bomb outside an Iraqi security force base just north of Baghdad, killing nine people and wounding 61.

IRAQ - June 6 - Allawi Outlines Security Policy.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2004... PM designate Iyyad Allawi says coalition forces should stay in the country until Iraqis are able to control their own security. But he stresses that military decisions taken after the transfer of sovereignty at end-June must have the backing of...

IRAQ - June 10 - Police Fight Sadr Militia In Najaf.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2004... In first clash since US forces and Sadr's militia agreed a truce on June 4, at least two people are killed in fighting between Iraqi police and these forces in Najaf. Troubles started when Iraqi police pursued armed militiamen. (The US-led...

IRAQ - June 10 - Attacks On Oil Infrastructure Cost Over $200m.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2004... Blaming foreign fighters for targeting the vital oil industry, Allawi says Baghdad has lost more than $200m over the past seven months due to 130 attacks on its oil pipelines. Allawi, tough on security and with close ties to US, is a former...

QATAR - June 5 - Constitution Approved.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2004... Emir Shaikh Hamid Bin Khalifa Al-Thani has approved the shaikhdom's first written constitution. (This will leave the ruling Al-Thani family in control of the country but creates an advisory role for a mostly elected Consultative Council). On...

SAUDI ARABIA - June 5 - Curbs On Female Work Removed; Dialogue Resumes.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2004... The government has removed many of its restrictions on female employment and business ownership. The easing of the curbs has been part of preparations for the third round of dialogue between the government and various currents, including key...

SAUDI ARABIA - June 6 - BBC Man Killed.(British Broadcasting Corporation)
June 12, 2004... Al-Qaeda gunmen kill an Irish cameraman working for the BBC, Simon Cumbers, and seriously wounds prominent BBC reporter Frank Gardner. The two were in the notorious Riyadh district of Al Suweidi, where many radical Wahhabi militants have lived,...

SAUDI ARABIA - June 8 - Gunmen kill American.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2004... In the fifth assault on Westerners in five weeks, Wahhabi gunmen driving a Lexus car fire at an American citizen working for the US contracting company Vinnell. (Vinnell is a unit of Northrop Grumman Corp, which helps train the Saudi National...

TURKEY - June 6 - Criminals Tighten Grip.(Brief Article)
June 12, 2004... A report released by Ankara's Chamber of Commerce says organised crime generates more than $60 bn in the underground economy in about 100 sectors each year which is equivalent to a quarter of the entire national income. Between 1998 and 2002,...

ARAB AFFAIRS - June 13 - Syria, GCC Sign Free Trade Pact.(Gulf Cooperation Council )(Brief Article)
June 19, 2004... Syria's Deputy Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade Ghassan Habash and GCC negotiator Yussif Al Saadun sign an agreement to establish a free trade zone. Both sides will cancel customs fees and taxes after ratifying the agreement. (In May, the...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - June 13 - UK Pulls Out Staff After Saudi Murders & Decapitation.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2004... The UK Foreign Office authorises the voluntary departure of junior diplomats and non-essential diplomatic staff from Saudi Arabia after three killings and fourth kidnapping in just over a week. A statement from Al-Qaeda claimed the killing of...

ARABS-ISRAEL - June 16 - Israeli Army Damages Mosques.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2004... In a search for fugitives in West Bank city of Nablus, Israeli troops damage two mosques, depriving worshippers of prayers. A wall collapses in the Bek Mosque and another is damaged but is still usable. Troops entered the narrow alleys of the...

ARABS-UN - June 14 - Iran Not 'Satisfactory' On Uranium.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2004... The head of the IAEA Mohammed ElBaradei says his inspectors are still unsure whether Iran has declared all of its activities involving the enrichment of uranium, which is used in bomb making. He says: "The way they have been engaging us on this...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - June 14 - Americans Urged To Exit Saudi Arabia.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2004... US renews its call for 35,000 working Americans to leave Saudi Arabia after the recent terrorist attacks, saying their safety is more important than any effect on oil supplies or the Saudi economy. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - June 15 - US To Hand Over Saddam For Trial But Not In June.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2004... CPA spokesman Dan Senor says while the US occupation of Iraq will end on June 30, coalition forces have no obligation to hand over Saddam and other prisoners of war. He says: "A state of hostilities continues. Technically he [Saddam Hussein]...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - June 15 - Karzai Assures Washington He Is Not Doing Deals With Warlords.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2004... As Pres Bush welcomes Afghan Pres Karzai to the White House and holds Afghanistan as a success in the war against terrorism, Karzai declares that "no deals have been made" with the country's warlords, adding: "There are bad people in the...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - June 16 - 9/11 Panel Sees No Iraq Al-Qaeda Link.
June 19, 2004... The commission investigating 9/11 says Iraq has no history of collaborating with the Al-Qaeda terrorist network (undermining one of the main arguments used by the Bush administration to justify the overthrow of Saddam's regime). The report says...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - June 19 - Kimmitt Defends Deadly Air Strike On Falluja.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2004... Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt in Baghdad defends the killing of 22 people in an air strike on what he says is a safe house linked to Al-Qaeda operative Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi in the Sunni city of Falluja. He says: "We have significant evidence that there...

ISRAEL - June 15 - Bribery Case Against Sharon Is Dropped.
June 19, 2004... Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz drops a corruption case against PM Sharon that can force him from office and shelve his plan for unilateral disengagement from the Palestinians. Mazuz says there is insufficient evidence to charge Sharon in the...

IRAQ - June 13 - Attacks Undermine Confidence In Govt.
June 19, 2004... Deputy FM Hamed Al-Bayati says escalating attacks on officials threaten to undermine efforts by the new interim government to build ties with its people. He says: "When colleagues are assassinated, colleagues will refrain from contacts with the...

IRAQ - June 14 - Car Bomb Kills 5 GE Contractors.
June 19, 2004... A car bomb in central Baghdad kills five contractors working for General Electric, the US company which is rebuilding the capital's energy sector. Two Britons, an American, a Frenchman and a Filipino were among 13 people killed in the blast...

IRAQ - June 15 - Saboteurs Hit Oil Lifeline.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2004... Oil Minister Thamir Ghadhban says saboteurs have blown up a pipeline feeding storage tanks at the southern port of Basra, cutting oil exports by over two-thirds. Shipping agents told news agencies that exports, estimated at 1.6m to 1.7m b/d,...

IRAQ - June 16 - Sadr Signals End To Shiite Revolt.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2004... Shiite theologian Muqtada Al-Sadr, who has been leading a revolt in southern Iraq for more than two months, bows to intense peer pressure and tells his followers in his Jaysh Al-Mahdi militia to return home. Sadr's order comes amid intensive...

IRAQ - June 17 - Martial Law Threatened.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2004... Defence Minister Hazem Shaalan says the interim government is considering to impose martial law as two car bomb attacks kill 35 civilians and six civil defence soldiers. The first bomb, packed with artillery shells, explodes outside an army...

JORDAN - June 16 - Court Convicts 15 In Terror Conspiracy.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2004... In a terrorist conspiracy aimed at US and Israeli interests in Jordan as well as intelligence officials, a military court convicts 15 men - only one of whom is in custody. Ahmad Mahmoud Saleh Al Riyati, 34, convicted of being the leader of...

RUSSIA - June 16 - Criminal Trial Adjourns.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2004... A court adjourns until June 22 the criminal trial of former Yukos CEO Khodorkovsky and his partner Lebedev after a request for a delay on health grounds by Lebedev's lawyers. The three judges agree to defer substantive hearings while one of the...

RUSSIA - June 17 - Yukos Soars As Putin Offers Assurance.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2004... Pres Putin offers assurances that he does not want to see the bankruptcy of Yukos, speculating that the crisis can soon be resolved. Talking to journalists, Putin says: "The Russian authorities, the government and economic officials are not...

SAUDI ARABIA - June 18 - Saudi Forces Kill Muqrin After Beheading Of US Hostage.
June 19, 2004... An Al-Qaeda cell beheads American engineer Paul M. Johnson Jr. in the Malaz district of Riyadh after the government refused to respond to the group's demand to release all Qaeda prisoners in the kingdom. In a swift retaliation, special Saudi...

SAUDI ARABIA - June 19 - Abdullah Says Militants To Repent Or Die.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2004... Crown Prince Abdullah, reading a statement on behalf of King Fahd, warns the radical Wahhabi militants they will share the fate of Muqrin unless they repent. But Al-Qaeda vows to renew the jihad (holy war) in the kingdom. Prince Abdullah says:...

SAUDI ARABIA - June 19 - Saleh Al-Awfi Succeeds Muqrin.(Brief Article)
June 19, 2004... Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula later said it had chosen Saleh Al-Awfi as a successor to Muqrin. In a statement, Al-Qaeda also confirmed that Muqrin had been killed in a police operation soon after he had beheaded Johnson on June 18. It said:...

ARAB-ISLAMIC AFFAIRS - June 23 - Yemen Conf Condemns Terror.(Brief Article)
June 26, 2004... A three-day Islamic conference in Sanaa attended by ministers and religious figures from across the Arab and Muslim worlds condemns terrorism and calls for an accurate definition of the phenomenon. A final statement says the participants...

ARABS-ISRAEL - June 20 - Gaza Trench Plan.
June 26, 2004... PM Sharon says no final decision has been made on digging a trench on the Gaza-Egypt border although bids for the proposed project are invited, which Palestinians condemn as a fresh attempt to pen them in. (The idea of digging a moat was...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - June 21 - Commanders To Testify At Iraq Court Martial.
June 26, 2004... Military Judge Col James Pohl agrees to call CentCom head Gen John Abizaid and Lt Gen Sanchez to testify at the court martial of three soldiers charged with abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. This comes as the Bush administration waits to hear...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - June 22 - Use Of Dogs In Interrogations.
June 26, 2004... Seeking to contain a growing scandal over prisoner abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan, the White House takes the unusual step of releasing a trove of documents that it says reflect thorough and agonising policy deliberations over how to treat...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - June 22 - US Presses Israel On Settlements.
June 26, 2004... The US ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer says the US wants Israel to follow through with a pledge to dismantle settlement outposts in the West Bank. PM Sharon's plan to evacuate all Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip has focused attention...

IRAN - June 20 - Rev. Guards Capture UK Naval Vessels.
June 26, 2004... Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) spokesman Gen Brig Masoul Jazayeri says the IRGC seized three British patrol craft and arrested eight Royal Navy personnel on the Shatt Al-Arab waterway that divides Iran from Iraq, after they strayed into Iranian...

IRAQ - June 20 - Allawi Takes Charge Of Security.(Brief Article)
June 26, 2004... PM designate Iyad Allawi unveils plans to place security forces under his personal control, including a new rapid reaction force to carry out pre-emptive strikes against insurgents and to introduce emergency laws in certain areas of the country...

IRAQ - June 21 - Oil Flows Back.
June 26, 2004... Exports of crude oil resume after frantic repair crews patch a pipeline sabotaged by insurgents seeking to undermine the incoming government's primary source of revenue. June 15 attacks on the two pipelines shut off about $65m a day in income,...

IRAQ - June 21 - Insiders Behind Oil Sabotage.(Brief Article)
June 26, 2004... Western press reports quote an unnamed executive as South Oil Co. (SOC) as saying people working for the company may be helping insurgents in blowing up pipelines or oil terminal facilities in the south. This is because sabotage operations are...

IRAQ - June 22 - Wahhabi Militants Behead Kim.(Brief Article)
June 26, 2004... The Wahhabi militant group called Jamaat Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad behead a South Korean hostage, Kim Sun-Il, an interpreter, after Seoul refused their demands to drop its plan to send troops to Iraq. The South Korean FM later said Kim Sun-Il's body...

IRAQ - June 23-26 - Air Strikes In Falluja Kill Many.(Brief Article)
June 26, 2004... Three US military air strikes on suspected Wahhabi militants led by Zarqawi housed in Falluja kill more than 65 people. The US says the casualties are all Wahhabi militants and their locations in Falluja were given by informants from the town...