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*DEBKAfile’s
War Diary
is included in US Library of Congress historic collection of 2003 War
on Iraq on Internet |
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HEADLINES |
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Last Updated on December 19, 2003, 11:48 PM (GMT+02:00)
Hague International Court begins hearing UN complaint against Israel’s security fence on February 23. Parties must submit arguments by end of January. Israel’s will be based on its right to self-defense under UN charter Responding to fresh terror alarms, White House says several Home Security Dept bulletins in past weeks urge heightened vigilance in busy holiday season. DEBKAfile adds: New York, Washington and Los Angeles continuous subjects of al Qaeda alerts since early November. Holiday season threats also current in Europe, Far East, Africa and Middle East, including Israel. Israeli foreign ministry advises citizens traveling over holiday season to be on guard against terrorism everywhere and avoid mass events and crowd centers; in Thailand to stay clear of Phuket and Pattaya sites and backpackers' rendezvous on Bangkok’s Ko Sahn St. Sharon’s proposed separation steps in six months time faces heavy fire from Washington, Palestinians and most sections of Israeli politics and public. DEBKAfile reveals the rationale behind the proposed “disengagement lines” in Special Analysis below Explosion destroys W. Baghdad building used by main Iraqi Shiite group SCIRI militia Friday, killing one, injuring eight. Senior SCIRI figure Muhannad al-Hakim assassinated Wednesday, cousin of president of Iraqi governing council. Baathists accused of both attacks. Iraq’s Baath High Command has elected Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri acting president of Iraq in place of captured Saddam Hussein. A-Douri, reported by DEBKAfile dying of leukemia, was vice president of Saddam regime and still sought US Iraq administrator Bremer confirms he survived assassination attempt on December 6. A roadside bomb struck his convoy after he escorted Rumsfeld on his departure from Baghdad airport. DEBKAfile’s Exclusive Sources Report: Jordan has smashed an al Qaeda cell bent on assassinating Jordanian intelligence officers and blasting Israeli holiday visitors to Jerash. Its weapons came from Iraq via Syria. More details in news box below. Dirty bomb” suspect Jose Padilla is entitled to be released from military custody into civilian detention and awarded full citizen’s rights. This follows a US court ruling Thursday denying the president power to hold a US citizen seized on American soil as an enemy combatant. Israeli defense minister in live Farsi broadcast from Jerusalem answers questions from Iranian citizens.
He assures many callers Israel would take steps to protect Iranian civilians if forced to strike at Iran’s nuclear weapons resources More about this unique broadcast in DEBKAfile Special Report below DEBKAfile reveals US forces are homing in on their hiding place in Syria’s northern Al Jazirah province between Iraq and Turkey. Read DEBKAfile’s revelations on the issues uppermost in the captured ex-Iraqi ruler’s interrogation DEBKAfile’s counter-intelligence sources reveal:
Even after Saddam’s capture, secret arrival in southern Iraq of another wanted American enemy Lebanese terror mastermind Imad Mughniyeh may boost anti-US violence. DEBKAfile: Saddam was not hiding, he was held captive for American $25m reward. To find out by whom, read DEBKAfile Special Report below
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Jordan Smashes al Qaeda Ring Poised for Attack
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18 December DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources reveal that Jordan has exposed a three-man al Qaeda cell, residents of Zarqa, just as it was poised for such major attacks as the assassinations of senior Jordanian military intelligence officers and shooting-grenade attacks on Western and Israeli tourists visiting the ancient ruins of Jarash, 29 miles north of Amman, and the Ajlun National Forest nearby. Their primary Jordanian target was Major Ali Bourjak, counter-terror chief in Jordanian intelligence, who is of Circassian origin. In addition to Israeli trippers, the cell intended seeking out Western visitors to the two sites and Amman’s bars, restaurants and cafes that serve alcoholic drinks. Jarash is popular with tourists as the most complete Roman provincial city to survive in the world, while Ajlun forest overlooks the Biblical Land of Gilead. Al Qaeda’s preparations for attack were well advanced. They had reconnoitered the two sites and concealed weapons and explosives near the targeted locations. In addition to rounding up the al Qaeda cell, Jordanian security found the source of its weapons – Iraq via Syria – yet further evidence of Syria’s involvement in the terror offensive rampant in the Middle East. The captured terrorists disclosed under questioning that their commander and supplier of weapons and explosives was Osama bin Laden’s Jordanian chief of operations, Musab Zarqawi, who is known to be hiding in Iran. Zarqawi’s instructions were passed on by his nephew Omar Sayel, a member of the Jordanian police force. Zarqawi has been linked to last month’s wave of bomb blasts at Jewish synagogues and British locations in Istanbul in which 53 people were killed and 750 injured. The US has placed a $15 million price on his head.
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Will Saddam Trade His WMD Secrets for His Life?
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report and Analysis
December 16, 2003, 2:56 PM (GMT+02:00)
President George W. Bush was careful to sidestep specifics in his apparently candid answers to the questions showered on him by newspersons in the White House Monday, December 15. Calling the captured Iraqi dictator a “torturer” and “murderer”, he said he had his own views about how “Mr. Hussein” should be dealt with, but insisted “my personal views aren’t important in this case.” The President never once referred to a possible death sentence although the views for the former governor of Texas are no secret. Mr. Hussein, in contrast, has been reported as “wiseassing” his interrogators at some undisclosed US military facility, offering a runaround rather than real intelligence cooperation. In the view of DEBKAfile’s intelligence experts, the only time the Iraqi ex-ruler made himself clear was when he said in English to the US troops who hauled him out of the hole near Tikrit on Saturday, December 12: “I am Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq, and I want to negotiate.” Since then, the...
In full
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Sharon’s Threatened Separation Steps Draw Heavy Fire
DEBKAfile Special Analysis
December 19, 2003, 7:02 PM (GMT+02:00)
Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon unveiled his much-awaited policy program Thursday, 18 December, under the heading: A Program of Separation. It came with a warning to the Palestinians that he won’t wait forever for them to come round. No sooner had the words left his mouth when it was attacked from almost ever direction. Israeli right-wing and pro-settlement leaders declared those steps threatened “the destruction of Zionism.” The doves were cynical. Opposition Labor leaders said the plan was just talk. The most displeasure came from the White House. US officials from the president down had warned Israel against any unilateral measures that would make it harder to create a Palestinian state and reiterated Washington’s commitment to a negotiated settlement between the two sides on the basis of the US-backed road map. In any case, DEBKAfile’s Washington sources revealed, White House contacts reminded Sharon he had promised not to make waves as long as the Bush administration had...
In full
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Indications Saddam Was Not in Hiding But a Captive
DEBKAfile Special Report
December 14, 2003, 6:55 PM (GMT+02:00)
A number of questions are raised by the incredibly bedraggled, tired and crushed condition of this once savage, dapper and pampered ruler who was discovered in a hole in the ground on Saturday, December 13: 1. The length and state of his hair indicated he had not seen a barber or even had a shampoo for several weeks. 2. The wild state of his beard indicated he had not shaved for the same period 3. The hole dug in the floor of a cellar in a farm compound near Tikrit was primitive indeed – 6ft across and 8ft across with minimal sanitary arrangements - a far cry from his opulent palaces. 4. Saddam looked beaten and hungry. 5. Detained trying to escape were two unidentified men. Left with him were two AK-47 assault guns and a pistol, none of which were used. 6. The hole had only one opening. It was not only camouflaged with mud and bricks – it was blocked. He could not have climbed out without someone on the outside removing the covering. 7. And most important, $750,000 in...
In full
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Will Saddam Trade His WMD Secrets for His Life?
Top Bush Team Divided over Next Iraq Moves
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Israel Defense Minister Converses with Radio Listeners in... Iran
DEBKAfile Special Report
December 17, 2003, 5:57 PM (GMT+02:00)
This week, Israel’s Iranian-born defense minister Shaul Mofaz made the unique gesture of answering questions from listeners in Iran – in their own language - in a live broadcast over Israel Radio’s Farsi-language service. The questions came thick and fast. In answer to one, he promised everything would be done to protect the environment against radioactive fallout should Israeli forces destroy Iran’s nuclear capability. Shaul Mofaz was only six when his family emigrated from Iran to Israel. His knowledge of Farsi is rudimentary at best. But that didn’t stop the Israeli defense chief from getting his message across to a stream of callers from the Islamic Republic who appealed to him for help on Israel Radio’s Farsi service this week. One caller from a city in central Iran asked when Israel and the Jews would finally repay their historical debt to Cyrus the Great and rescue the Iranian people from the dread ayatollahs, just as US President George W. Bush had helped the...
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Top Bush Team Divided over Next Iraq Moves
DEBKA-Net-Weekly 135 Disclosures Updated by DEBKAfile
December 8, 2003, 8:57 PM (GMT+02:00)
Returning home Sunday, December 7, from a one-day visit to Kirkuk and Baghdad, US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he plans to accelerate even further the deployment of Iraqi security forces – even if it means putting them on the job with a bare minimum of training. To subscribe to DEBKA-Net-Weekly click HERE . Rumsfeld's haste is one more symptom of the clash of views dividing the top Bush team over Iraq policy since an emergency consultation that took place in the White House in mid-November. No one seems to question the need to speed up the transfer of government into Iraqi hands. This will be achieved by means of assemblies for selecting a new government in place of the interim Governing Council operating alongside the US administration in Baghdad. The arguments center on the role US military forces will play in the transition period; whether they should take charge of securing the civic processes afoot or leave the task to...
In full
Related articles:
Will Saddam Trade His WMD Secrets for His Life?
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Will Assad Meet Sharon after Failing to Woo US Jewish Leaders?
DEBKAfile Special Report Updating DEBKA-Net-Weekly 135 Exclusive
December 14, 2003, 8:43 PM (GMT+02:00)
Syrian president Bashar Assad is due to begin a state visit to Athens Monday, December 15. DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s Athens sources report that Greek foreign minister Georges Papandreou entertains high hopes of a sparkling diplomatic breakthrough from the visit, bright enough to eclipse the Greek’s drab performance as former European Union president. To subscribe to DEBKA-Net-Weekly click HERE . What Papandreou is trying to set up is a summit between Assad and Israeli minister Ariel Sharon. He sold the plan to Greek prime minister Costas Simitis: ”This is our big chance to stage a dramatic turnabout in relations between Damascus and Jerusalem,” said Papandreou. “What if Assad and Sharon should start talking in Athens?” Simitis embraced the plan with enthusiasm. The next step, according to our sources in Athens, was an approach from the Greek foreign minister to Sharon through Greek and Israeli go-betweens with a request to send a...
In full
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Mubarak Carries Dire US Warning to Assad
Assad, Nasrallah and Abu Ala Scale up Threat Levels
Syria Calls up Reserves, Fears US-Israeli Military Pincer
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Sharon: “Unilateral Steps” are Good Slogan, Bad Policy
December 13, 2003, 8:16 AM (GMT+02:00)
DEBKAfile’s political sources state positively that Sharon does not – and never did have – a detailed plan for unilateral action. His deputy, Industry Minister Ehud Olmert, went out on a limb when he told an interviewer a week ago that Israel must now face up to unilateral withdrawal from large parts of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and sections of Jerusalem. Olmert was generally reported to be articulating Sharon’s ideas. He now finds himself politically isolated for talking through his hat. So what was Sharon up to? This week, he confided to his close advisers, according to our sources, that he realizes fully that any Israeli unilateral steps in its conflict with the Palestinians would be of extremely short-lived value.
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Extra-Powerful Bombs for New Hamas Offensive
December 9, 2003, 4:45 PM (GMT+02:00)
The next Hamas suicide bomber can kill without strapping a bomb belt to his body. DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources reveal the new type of explosive going into use after the collapse of the Cairo ceasefire talks as being much smaller and lighter while packing a much larger bang. It is compressed enough to be carried in a small bag or hidden in the killer’s clothes. A vest can be soaked in its liquefied form. Improved detonators and timers enable the bomber to start the countdown before he reaches target. By the time he is searched at the entrance to a mall or bus station, the bomb is on timer.
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Why Blame Jihad Islami for al Aqsa Brigades Terror?
December 4, 2003, 2:14 PM (GMT+02:00)
By great good fortune, a Palestinian plot to blow up a large comprehensive school in the small town of Yokneam east of Haifa was foiled. Israeli intelligence was forewarned of the plot by a Palestinian terrorist picked up in an earlier raid. The entire region north of Tel Aviv abutting the West Bank was placed on the highest terror alert Wednesday, December 3, until the pair of would-be suicide bombers was found cowering in a mosque. The attack was meant to be spectacular. It was timed to show up the real value of any truce worked out by 13 Palestinian terrorist groups’ representatives who began their conference in Cairo Thursday, December 4, under Egyptian government aegis. Pinning the blame on Jihad Islami was a form of cover-up to which Israeli officials also lent a hand. What was the point?
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The Stryker: US Military`s Great White Hope against Iraqi RPGs
December 3, 2003, 2:24 PM (GMT+02:00)
At Camp Udairi in Kuwait, US armament technicians are working extra-hard in giant hangars on a Christmas gift for US troops plagued by guerrilla attacks in Iraq. It is the Stryker, an eight-wheel drive armored combat vehicle, the first new armored carrier to enter service in the US army since the Abrams tank was introduced in the 1980s. DEBKAfile’s military sources quote US civil administrator Paul Bremer as informing the emergency White House consultations last month on the mounting guerrilla war in Iraq that soldiers of the US 2nd division fighting in the Baghdad area and the 4th division under constant attack in the Sunni triangle, “can’t wait to get their hands” on the Strykers. These innovative vehicles are destined to eventually replace the heavy Abrams M1 battle tank and the Bradley M2 fighting vehicles in Iraq. They are more mobile and agile, have a far greater turn of speed, superior night visibility and unmatched high-tech instruments.
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