- WASHINGTON/BAGHDAD (Reuters)
- The U.S. military ordered more than 11,000 desert-trained troops to begin
moving to the Gulf and Western jets struck an Iraqi defense radar as pressure
mounted on Iraq, defense officials said Wednesday.
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- The movement, including tanks and attack helicopters,
will be the first deployment of a full combat division of U.S. forces to
the area since the 1991 Gulf War. Much of the division's equipment is already
waiting in the region.
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- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld already had put thousands
of troops on notice who when deployed could soon double the nearly 60,000
U.S. personnel -- including Navy and Air Force troops -- already in the
region.
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- U.S. Central Command in Florida said aircraft taking
part in U.S-British patrols hit the military defense radar after it was
moved into a "no-fly" zone in southern Iraq.
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- "Its presence in the no-fly zone was a threat to
coalition aircraft," a Central Command spokesman said.
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- The Central Command said the aircraft used precision-guided
weapons on the radar, located near al Qurnah, 210 km (130 miles) southeast
of Baghdad. There was no immediate comment from Iraq.
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- President Bush has made no decision on whether to invade
Iraq over U.S. accusations that Baghdad is developing nuclear, chemical
and biological weapons, but he has repeatedly warned that war may become
necessary.
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- INSPECTIONS CONTINUE
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- A U.N. Security Council resolution passed in November
gave Baghdad a final chance to reveal all details of its weapons programs,
as required by resolutions going back to the 1991 Gulf War, or face "serious
consequences."
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- The next key date is January 27 when U.N. weapons inspectors
report back to the Security Council on whether they have found any signs
of weapons of mass destruction.
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- Iraq says it has no banned weapons and has invited chief
U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix to visit Baghdad to "review cooperation"
before inspectors report to the Security Council.
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- In Baghdad, there was no new year respite for the United
Nations weapons inspectors who visited at least two more suspect sites
Wednesday, a public holiday in Iraq.
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- U.N. sources said experts were preparing also to launch
their first aerial inspections by helicopters and were setting up a base
to facilitate inspections in northern Iraq.
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- One inspection team visited Al Majd Company facilities,
including warehouses and a vehicle repair workshop. Al Majd is run by Iraq's
Military Industrialisation Commission which oversees development and production
of weapons and ammunition.
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- PRAISE FOR NORTH KOREA
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- In an editorial, Iraqi newspaper Babel, owned by President
Saddam Hussein's son Uday, urged Arabs Wednesday to learn from North Korea's
resistance over its nuclear standoff with Washington to help put a halt
to U.S. threats of war.
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- Tensions between the United States and North Korea have
escalated since North Korea announced it would expel U.N. nuclear arms
inspectors and reopen a nuclear reactor frozen since 1994 under a non-proliferation
agreement.
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- "Korea is holding on to its right to posses a technology
that American leaders used to wipe out whole Japanese cities and it is
still being used by the current American administration to blackmail states
and force them to obey its diktats," Babel said, calling Pyongyang's
position a "brave stand." U.S. army officials said the 1st and
3rd Brigades of the 3rd Infantry Division would soon begin moving to join
the 2nd brigade of more than 4,000 troops, now training in Kuwait.
- Naval ships from the United States, Turkey and Israel
began maneuvers in the eastern Mediterranean Wednesday in an annual event
showcasing military links between the countries.
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- The Israeli army said the exercises were not connected
to "combat training and are not directed at any regional body."
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