Pentagon warns reporters; B-2 bombers get orders
USS Kitty Hawk battle group in Persian Gulf
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B-2 Spirit stealth bomber sits inside a special portable hangar at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. This is the type radar-deflecting shelter installed on Diego Garcia for the B-2s.
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| PERSPECTIVE |
Time.com Senior Editor Tony Karon writes: "President Bush's war-aims speech is unlikely to convince European and Arab skeptics, who don't share his optimism on a post-Saddam Iraq. But what the speech does do is send the unmistakable message that the President has made up his mind to invade Iraq, and that could force some of the skeptics to follow Turkey's lead by making their peace with a war they don't want. "The Turkish example, of course, is a reminder that the Bush administration need not confine its coalition to 'the willing,' but can instead reach for the broadest alliance money can buy. A massive aid package helped persuade the Turks to allow the U.S. basing rights. Now it appears that the leverage of U.S. economic muscle, aid and trade agreements may be used to convince the likes of Mexico, Chile, Angola, Guinea and Cameroon to back Washington at the U.N. Security Council." Full Story: TIME.com |
VIDEO
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CNN's Rula Amin talks to Arabs who feel helpless to do anything to prevent war against Iraq and believe their leaders are ineffective in dealing with the United States. (February 27)
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(CNN) -- With events moving closer to a possible war with Iraq, here is a look at some of the latest developments around the world:
ROAD TO WAR?
• WARNING REPORTERS: The Pentagon Thursday warned major news organizations that their reporters based in Baghdad are in far more danger than in 1991, because the U.S. bombing of Iraq, if it comes, would be far more devastating. In a meeting at the Pentagon, Washington bureau chiefs were told the U.S. military could not guarantee the safety of journalists who decided to remain in the Iraqi capital in the event of war, and also could not guarantee another warning before any military action begins.
• KURDISH OPPOSITION: A key Kurdish leader in Iraq issued an appeal Thursday for Iraqis to rise up and establish democracy. Jalal Talabani, the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, said the people of Iraq deserve an independent nation. He spoke at a conference focused on governing Iraq in a post-Saddam scenario. Talabani tried to assure Turkey that the Kurds won't try to set up a separate state. The opposition meeting, attended by U.S. officials and Kurdish delegates, is being held under tight security in the autonomous Kurdish zone of northern Iraq.
• B-2 BOMBERS DEPLOYMENT: The stealthy, bat-winged B-2 Spirit bombers have received orders to deploy for possible operations against Iraq, U.S. Air Force officials told CNN Thursday. A Pentagon spokesman declined to disclose the deployment destination -- except to say that it will be closer to Iraq -- or when the planes are to leave. Shelters especially designed for the B-2 have been set up in the central Indian Ocean on the British island of Diego Garcia. This will be the first time the bombers will be deployed overseas.
• NO-FLY ZONE: Coalition aircraft Thursday bombed three Iraqi military communications sites in the northern no-fly zone, marking only the third time this year U.S. and British planes have attacked facilities in northern Iraq, the U.S. European Command said. The sites struck included fiber-optic, cable and microwave communication facilities, and were located about 15 miles west and 18 miles south of the northern city of Mosul. The attacks came in response to "anti-aircraft artillery attacks," a statement from the U.S. European Command said.
WAR OF WORDS
• U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz Thursday rejected a statement by the Army's chief of staff that "several hundred thousand" soldiers might be needed as a postwar occupying force in Iraq. "We don't know what the requirement will be, but we can say with reasonable confidence that the notion of hundreds of thousands of American troops is way off the mark."
• "Delay would give Saddam the clearest possible signal that his strategy is succeeding," Foreign Secretary Jack Straw argued during debate in British parliament over a motion backing U.N. efforts to disarm Iraq. "It would tell him that the international community lacks the will to disarm him." (Full story)
• French Prime Minister Jean Pierre Raffarin has warned that declaring war before giving extra time to diplomacy would be "perceived as precipitous and illegitimate." In a French parliamentary debate he defended the country's antiwar stand: "A military intervention today, when all the chances for a peaceful solution have not been explored, would divide the international community. "(War would) cause a wave of incomprehension and suspicion. War would weaken the international coalition against terrorism." (Full story)
IMPACT
• The Japan-based Kitty Hawk battle group, which is the final carrier group requested by war planners to enter the U.S. Central Command region, joins two other aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf, the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Constellation, Naval official said. Two additional carriers, the USS Harry S. Truman and the USS Theodore Roosevelt, are in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and also are within reach of Iraq. The five ships and their battle groups bring about 250 Naval strike aircraft to the area, along with another 125 or so support aircraft. Navy officials tell CNN there are now about 95 U.S. ships in the Central Command region with crews totaling about 60,000 sailors.
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• A debate and a vote by Turkey's parliament on whether to allow about 62,000 U.S. troops onto its soil to prepare for a possible war with neighboring Iraq has been delayed until Saturday, a top official of the ruling party said. The parliamentary session was to be held Thursday, but sources said one of the reasons for the delay is that the parliament wants to await the conclusion of a National Security Council meeting. Meanwhile, Turks in Iraq are being warned by Ankara to leave the country ahead of parliament's decision. (Full story)
