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Prepared for the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in association with the Fairness Project by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
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To contact the Presidents Conference: [email protected]
In-Depth Issue:
U.S. Readies Mission to Capture Al Qaeda Fighters in Yemen
(ABC News)
The CIA and U.S. military are standing by off Yemen, ready to mount an operation to grab or kill what officials believe to be a growing number of al Qaeda fighters there, intelligence sources have reported. More than 800 special operations troops - including some from the secret Delta group that specializes in "snatches" of accused criminals on foreign soil - have been gathered in the nearby nation of Djibouti.
U.S. Army Maneuvers in Persian Gulf (News24 - South Africa)
Up to 2,000 U.S. Marines will participate in "Eager Mace 02," an amphibious landing in Kuwait in late September, part of a month-long exercise in the Persian Gulf that coincides with U.S. diplomatic efforts to keep the pressure on Iraq, U.S. military officials said.
Number of Muslims in U.S. Below Estimates
(Washington Times) According to the Religious Congregations and Membership survey of 2000, U.S. Muslims affiliated with America's more than 1,000 mosques number just 1.6 million, far below the estimates of Islamic groups.
Saddam's Record of Deception and Defiance (White House)
The Iraqi regime has shown a repeated pattern of accepting inspections "without conditions" and then demanding conditions, often at gunpoint.
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News Resources - USA and Europe:
A homicide bomber blew up a public bus in downtown Tel Aviv on Thursday, murdering at least five people and injuring at least 60. (FOX News/Yediot Ahronot) President Bush will submit a resolution to Congress Thursday calling for the authorization of "all appropriate means," including a full-scale military assault, to deal with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. (Washington Times) Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said Tuesday that a vote on an Iraq resolution will come "well before the election" in November. (USA Today/AP) See also Rumsfeld Says Other Nations Promise to Aid Attack on Iraq (New York Times) The relief in Arab capitals is tinged with doubts that war has been definitely averted. Arab leaders hope that there will be no repeat of the frequent crises that bedeviled Baghdad's relations with the UNSCOM inspection team from 1991 to 1998. Jordanian officials said they could envisage a scenario in which inspectors operating under a new UN resolution clashed with Iraqi troops, providing justification for full-scale military action. (Financial Times - UK) Senior Bush administration officials have concluded that the United States will quickly win a war against Iraq, based on superior American technology and a sharp deterioration of Saddam Hussein's armed forces since the 1991 Persian Gulf conflict. Officials also believe a significant number of Saddam's army commanders and units will either refuse to fight or will assist allied troops in toppling the Baghdad regime. "I am very certain that this military engagement will not be very difficult," said Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam War combat pilot. (Washington Times) In Saddam's view, possession of weapons of mass destruction had saved the regime on two occasions. The first time was in the 1980s when Iraq was able to stop Iranian "human wave" assaults by firing shells filled with chemical agents. The second time was during the 1991 Gulf War when Saddam distributed chemical and biological shells to units with orders to use them should the Allies try to enter Baghdad. (Telegraph - UK) November through February is the optimal window for an Iraq campaign, given seasonal considerations of daylight, temperature, and climate, military experts say. (Christian Science Monitor )
News Resources - Israel and Mideast:
Policeman Moshe Hizkiyahu, 21, was killed Wednesday as he approached a homicide bomber who sought to board a public bus near Umm el-Fahm. Four others were wounded, including a second policeman. The bombing was the third such incident in the area in the past year. The bomber is believed to be from the Jenin area where the army had lifted its curfew for a few hours. (Ha'aretz) Yosef Ajama, 36, a father of 4, was shot to death by Palestinian terrorists who ambushed his car in northern Samaria on Wednesday. (Ha'aretz) Universities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are to receive $200,000 each from Saudi Arabia, according to Palestinian Authority sources. The Saudis have also agreed to pay the university fees for more than 11,000 Palestinian students. More than 85,000 students are currently enrolled in PA universities and colleges. (Jerusalem Post)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis
(Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
Some critics seem to say that in order for the president to "make the case" for proving that the danger is present, its presence must be evidenced by a "smoking gun." As Condoleezza Rice has said, let us hope the smoking gun is not a mushroom cloud. (Washington Post) Having rejected United Nations inspections for years and again only last week, Saddam Hussein has now responded to President Bush's determination to disarm him by inviting the UN back in. And the world is supposed to take him seriously. Those 16 UN resolutions have from the first demanded not merely inspections but disarmament. That implies the use of force not just to help inspectors knock on doors in Baghdad but to ensure that Iraq's weapons capability is destroyed. There is only one kind of inspection regime that can truly disarm Saddam - the 82nd Airborne, aided by armor and air power. (Wall Street Journal) The administration should be able to lead the international community in crafting a Security Council resolution that toughens the 1999 UN Resolution 1284 - which made some sanctions relief contingent on Iraqi cooperation with weapons inspectors, rather than complete disarmament. The U.S. needs to keep arguing that Iraqi disarmament, rather than inspections per se, is the core demand that must be met before the lifting of sanctions can be considered. (Los Angeles Times) Saudi Arabia's flamboyant anti-Semitism alone should dislodge it from its place at America's table. According to a new study from the Saudi Institute and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, "Saudi officials disseminate hate literature openly in the United States." (National Review) On a budget of $20,000, two young Israeli women are quietly combating a catalogue of Africa's ills - AIDS, hunger, disease, illiteracy, and female victimization - in an impoverished lakeside village in Malawi. They began by "adopting" Chembe, a village that has 900 AIDS orphans among its 11,000 residents. (Jerusalem Report) Gamal Mubarak, son of President Hosni Mubarak, now the third most senior official in Egypt's ruling National Democratic party, has just been appointed to the newly created post of secretary for policy, in charge of developing and formulating party thinking on a range of issues. (New York Times) Talking Points: Address by Foreign Minister Peres to the UN General Assembly - September 18, 2002 (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
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