In The News

Blast Rocks Jakarta's Airport

April 28, 2003
It does not appear that international efforts to prevent terrorist attacks have had much effect in Southeast Asia. A recent bombing of the International Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia follows several prior attacks on high profile public places, including an attack on a United Nations office in Jakarta. Although security has been tightened around such public venues, the perception remains that no...

Leading Iraqi Scientist Says He Lied to U.N. Inspectors

Judith Miller April 27, 2003
Since the earliest days of fighting, the US-led coalition in Iraq has been searching for the scientists, documents and biological and chemical toxins that would validate Washington’s charges that Iraq had developed a sophisticated program for creating weapons of mass destruction. While there have been few significant discoveries to date, new testimony by one of Iraq’s top scientists, who has...

American Power Moves beyond the Mere Super

Gregg Easterbrook April 27, 2003
US success in Iraq shows US military supremacy that is virtually unmatched in the world today. The US has highly sophisticated weapons technology, superior reconnaissance satellites, and the highest military spending of all NATO countries combined. Recent battles in Iraq and Afghanistan serve as both, learning opportunities for US troops and also testing grounds of new US technology....

N. Korea Says It Has Nuclear Arms

Glenn Kessler April 25, 2003
Talks opened on Wednesday between North Korea, China, and the United States to discuss solutions to a burgeoning nuclear crisis in the Korean peninsula. Instead of a resolution, the talks brought out the news that the Korean nuclear program may be further along than they had originally admitted. Korean officials claim to have built a nuclear weapon and almost finished the reprocessing of 8,000...

Mini-Nukes, Maxi-Danger

April 24, 2003
The development by the Pentagon of so called, “baby nukes,” could only threaten United States security, the Mercury News editorializes. Arguing that it would undermine counter-proliferation efforts and set a dangerous precedent for nuclear powers such as India, Pakistan and potentially North Korea, the San Jose newspaper believes that US development of tactical nuclear weapons would threaten...

Ya Hussein

Omayma Abdel-Latif April 24, 2003
While the US envisions a secular government for reconstructed Iraq, Iraq’s two Islamic sects – Shi’a and Sunni – have called for an 'Islamic state'. Moreover, hundreds of thousands of Shi’a Muslims assembled in Karbala recently to demonstrate their faith and condemn the American presence in Iraq. Tension between the Iraqi religious establishment and the occupation forces is high; Sunni...

France Urging U.N. to Suspend Iraq Penalties

Felicity Barringer April 23, 2003
The French ambassador to the UN called for the suspension of non-military trade with Iraq today, offering what some see as an olive branch to the US. Since taking control of Iraq, Washington has sought the complete lifting of sanctions on the country. France's latest move may be a way to ensure it isn't completely frozen out of a role in Iraq's post-war reconstruction, but the...