Open Source INTSUM: Friday, Oct. 21, 2005

[Airbornelawyer]

From Various Sources:

Middle East
Palestinian Leader Is Urged To Confront Militant Groups (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/20/AR2005102000965_pf.html?): " President Bush urged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday to begin confronting "armed gangs" thwarting peace between Israelis and Palestinians, but he stopped short of telling Abbas that militant groups should be prevented from participating in upcoming legislative elections. …" (Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/))
Iraqi forces have conducted 1,000 post-election patrols without U.S. help (http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=32392). "U.S. and Iraqi forces have carried out some 1,600 patrols and 700 road checkpoint operations in the days since the constitutional referendum, officials said Thursday. Iraqi forces undertook about 1,000 of the missions on their own, officials said to highlight the training and fielding of local security forces. Another 100 of the raids included both U.S. and Iraqi soldiers, who have been operating in tandem for months.…" (Stars & Stripes)
Pirates seize Ukrainian ship off Somali coast (http://www.spa.gov.sa/newsprint.php?extend.297728) " Pirates seized a Ukrainian cargo ship off the Somali coast for ransom, and Ukrainian authorities have initiated negotiations with the hijackers, a Foreign Ministry official said Friday, according to AP. Pirates hijacked the vessel, Panagia, on Tuesday with 22 crew members on board about 100 miles (160 kilometers) off the Somali coast, and demanded a US$700,000 ransom. …" (Saudi Press Agency)
Africa
DR Congo will not help fight LRA (http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4361498.stm): "The Democratic Republic of Congo has rejected Ugandan calls for a joint military operation to attack the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Top government official Antoine Ghonda said the LRA had now left DR Congo and said it was "out of the question for Uganda to send troops into the DRC". The LRA has been active in northern Uganda and southern Sudan for 19 years. Last month, a group of LRA fighters crossed into lawless eastern DR Congo, where several militias are operating. The UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo, Monuc, said the group had left but Uganda believes some stayed behind, reports the AFP news agency.…" (BBC)
UPDF increases patrols on Uganda-Congo border (http://www.monitor.co.ug/news/reg10211.php): " THE Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) has beefed up security in different parts of Hoima district. The UPDF has moved troops and intensified patrols on Lake Albert and areas along the Uganda-DR Congo border. …" (Daily Monitor, Kampala, Uganda)
Asia
Indonesia seizes explosives haul (http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4364538.stm): "Indonesian police say they have seized a large quantity of explosives and bomb making material being smuggled from Malaysia…." (BBC)
South Asia Terrorism Update (http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/detailed_news.asp?date1=10/21/2005)
The Americas
USSOUTHCOM Headline News (http://www.southcom.mil/pa/News/AOR%20News/Today's%20News.doc) (Microsoft Word format)
US planning invasion, says Chavez (http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4359386.stm): " Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez, says he is in possession of intelligence showing that the United States plans to invade his country. In a BBC interview, Mr Chavez said the US was after his nation's oil, much as it had been after Iraq's. …"(BBC)

[Airbornelawyer]

From the RFE/RL Newsline (http://www.rferl.org/newsline/):

Transcaucasia And Central Asia

CONFUSION OVER UZBEK DEMINING OF BORDER WITH TAJIKISTAN. Rashid Habibov, deputy commander of Uzbekistan's border troops, announced on 20 October that Uzbekistan has begun clearing mines along the Uzbek-Tajik border, but Tajik officials said they cannot confirm this, RFE/RL's Tajik Service and Avesta reported. Habibov, who is in Dushanbe for a meeting of CIS border-service heads, stated that 20 percent of the mines have been cleared from the border along Uzbekistan's Surkhandaryo Province, RFE/RL reported. But Saidamir Zuhurov, the head of Tajikistan's Border Protection Committee, said that he was unaware that mine-clearing operations have begun. Tajik Foreign Ministry spokesman Igor Sattorov told Avesta that the ministry has not received notification of mine-clearing operations from Uzbekistan. He added, "However, if mine-clearing work has begun, Tajikistan can only welcome this process."
Southeastern Europe

BOSNIAN POLICE ARREST THREE TERROR SUSPECTS. Police in Bosnia-Herzegovina have arrested three people suspected of terrorist activities, international news agencies reported on 21 October. "A Turkish, Swedish, and a Bosnian national were apprehended over suspicion that they were preparing terrorist activities," AP quoted police spokesman Robert Cvrtak as saying. "We searched two facilities and found a certain amount of explosives, firearms, and other military equipment." The three were arrested on 19 and 20 October. The daily Sarajevo newspaper "Dnevni Avaz" quoted unidentified police sources as saying that one of the suspects, an 18-year-old, was planning a suicide attack on the embassy of an unspecified EU country. "The news of the detention of individuals by the Bosnian authorities is serious, but it is evidence that Bosnia is a capable partner in the international fight against terrorism," High Representative Paddy Ashdown said in a statement on 21 October.
Southwestern Asia And The Middle East

AFGHAN DEFENSE MINISTRY DEMANDS DISCIPLINARY ACTION FOR BURNING OF BODIES.... The Afghan Defense Ministry demanded in a statement on 20 October that the U.S. soldiers who allegedly burned the bodies of two antigovernment insurgents in southern Afghanistan be punished, the official Radio Afghanistan reported. Australia's SBS Television aired footage on 19 October that shows two bodies being burned in Kandahar Province. Stephen Dupont, an Australian reporter embedded with U.S. forces who filmed the incident, said the corpses were burned for "hygiene purposes" but that a psychological-operations unit later used the incident to "incite...anger from the Taliban so the Taliban" would emerge from hiding places and attack the U.S. forces. In the footage, two U.S. military personnel discuss taunting the neo-Taliban over their fallen comrades. Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zaher Azimi called the action "contrary to the holy religion of Islam,... international law, and all laws of the United States," AFP reported on 20 October. Afghan President Hamid Karzai's office is awaiting the outcome of investigations but, according to presidential spokesman Karim Rahimi, the Afghan government "strongly condemns any disrespect to the human body, regardless of whether it is an enemy's body or a friend's body."
...AS U.S., AFGHAN AUTHORITIES LAUNCH INVESTIGATION. The U.S. Army's Criminal Investigation Division has begun an investigation into alleged misconduct in connection with the burning of the neo-Taliban corpses, American Forces Press Service reported on 20 October. Calling the alleged misconduct "repugnant," U.S. Major General Jason Kamiya, said at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan that if "the allegation is substantiated, the appropriate course of action under" the U.S. military code of justice will be taken. Kamiya said that his command "does not condone the mistreatment of enemy combatants or the desecration of their religious and cultural beliefs." The troops involved in the alleged misconduct were attached to the Combined Joint Task Force 76, which is commanded by Kamiya. The Afghan Defense Ministry has launched its own investigation into the case, AFP reported on 20 October.
IRANIAN AID ARRIVES IN IRAQ. The Iranian Embassy in Baghdad announced on 20 October that a consignment of aid has arrived from Iran, IRNA reported. The shipment reportedly includes food, tents, medicine, and other relief supplies, and it is destined for Tal Afar, the site of intense fighting in recent weeks. Then Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director George Tenet told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on 24 February 2004 that he was suspicious of many of Iran's "humanitarian and outreach programs" in Iraq, according to testimony posted on the Senate website.
IRISH JOURNALIST IN IRAQ FREED. An Irish journalist abducted in Iraq on 19 October was freed unharmed by his captors on 20 October, international media reported. Rory Carroll, who works for London's "The Guardian" newspaper, telephoned his father after his release. "I'm absolutely fine, both physically and psychologically," the paper quoted Carroll as saying. "I've been well-treated, apart from a bit of initial roughness when they first took me." Carroll reportedly telephoned from the offices of Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, and was said to be enjoying a beer in celebration, "The Irish Times" reported. Carroll said he was held in a basement for 24 hours and allowed out only twice for food. He said he did not know the identities of his abductors.

RFE/RL Feature articles and analysis:

Middle East: UN Inquiry Into Hariri Assassination Points Finger At Syria (http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticleprint/2005/10/197cf9d6-9128-45ba-9121-af876390c052.html)
Afghanistan: U.S. Military Investigates Burning Of Taliban Bodies (http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticleprint/2005/10/e1c0151d-eeb7-4e41-a7ad-00133e8f5b8e.html)
Chechnya: PACE Envoy Says Conflict Spreading In North Caucasus (http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticleprint/2005/10/c7cf10ac-261f-4f8c-ba2d-2a0cc1f65fd6.html)