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Prepared for the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in association with Access/Middle East by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
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To contact the Presidents Conference: [email protected]
In-Depth Issue:
Al Qaeda Near Biological, Chemical Arms Production (Washington Post )
Saddam Photos, Iraqi Flags Top Sellers in Gaza (AP/Ha'aretz)
Hamas Urges Iraqis to Make Suicide Attacks - James Bennet (New York Times)
UK Jewish Soldiers in Gulf Erase Religion from Dog-Tags - Sharon Sadeh (Ha'aretz)
Useful Reference:
Prayer for the Safety of American Soldiers
The RCA and the OU have circulated a special prayer to be said in synagogues during Shabbat services in support of Allied armed services courageously waging the battle against the scourge of global terrorism.
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News Resources - North America and Europe:
U.S. troops have found a suspected chemical factory in Iraq, a discovery first reported in the Jerusalem Post, which has a reporter traveling with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division. (AP/Washington Post) See also U.S. Troops Capture Chemical Plant - Caroline Glick About 30 Iraqi troops, including a general, surrendered Sunday to U.S. forces at a huge installation apparently used to produce chemical weapons in An Najaf, some 150 kilometers south of Baghdad. U.S. officials have since confirmed that the site is indeed a suspected chemical weapons factory. The huge 100-acre complex is surrounded by an electrical fence and the Iraqis tried to camouflage the facility by swathing it in sand-cast walls to make it look like the surrounding desert. The U.S. battlefield success was tempered by pictures shown on Arab television of bodies in U.S. uniforms and of prisoners being interviewed who were said to be Americans. Also, British officials confirmed that a Royal Air Force Tornado aircraft was shot down accidentally Sunday by U.S. Patriot missile near the Kuwaiti-Iraq border while returning from a mission. (Jerusalem Post) See also Allied Troops Bear Down on Baghdad A special "weapons of mass destruction exploitation team" was dispatched to a captured chemical plant in An Najaf, about 100 miles south of Baghdad, where vats of unidentified chemicals were found. David Kay, a former UN chief weapons inspector, said Iraq had never declared the plant to the UN. (NBC News) The main force of the allied army - the Army's Third Infantry Division and the First Marine Expeditionary Force - raced toward Baghdad. Lt. Gen. John Abizaid, deputy commander of forces in the region, said in one incident, Iraqi troops raised a white flag to surrender only to attack their approaching captors with artillery fire. In another, he said, a group of civilians made motions to surrender and then opened fire when American marines came forward. (New York Times) See also Eyes on Capital, U.S. Troops Flow Past the South (New York Times) Special forces units are scouring wasteland wadis in western Iraq in search of mobile Scud launchers possibly concealed within a labyrinth of deep gulches. Iraqis are devilishly good at camouflage and deception. It's believed missile batteries, both Scuds and Al-Hussein surface-to-surface missiles with a range of 800 kilometers, are situated beneath ramshackle or abandoned farm buildings near villages, as well as wedged into desert crevices. It's unclear whether coalition forces have secured all five airfields in the region and their cluster of military installations. It's further feared guided drones capable of delivering chemical and biological payloads are hidden in caves. (Toronto Star) U.S. and British forces took control of critical oil fields and terminal facilities in Iraq's southern tip, while other military units attacked Iraq forces near the country's second major oil region in Kirkuk, 200 miles north of Baghdad. Responding to advances by U.S.-led columns, oil prices fell to the lowest level in four months, prompting some analysts to predict that lower gasoline prices would soon follow. (Washington Post) After decades of U.S. military aid and defense cooperation, the U.S. military is permeated by technology developed in Israel from the Army's Hunter drones to the targeting systems on the U.S. Marines' Harrier jets to the fuel tanks on its F-15 fighters. (AP/ABC News) News Resources - Israel, the Mideast, and Asia:
The Israel Defense Forces is not expected to lower the level of alert in the next 24 hours, despite reports of the progress made by American forces in western Iraq, the region from which any missiles aimed at Israel would have to be launched. The Israeli public is still being instructed to carry gas masks with them at all times. A senior defense source noted that the Americans are making "very substantial" efforts in western Iraq to locate any Iraqi missiles or launchers that could be used against Israel. However, he added, even if the Americans were to step up their special forces activity in this region, they would not necessarily achieve total control over western Iraq, which is what would be needed for Israel to cancel its alert. Responding to an Iraqi television broadcast that displayed what it claimed was an Israeli missile fired from an American plane, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Israel Military Industries (IMI) has supplied the American fleet with decoy missiles, which are used to confuse antiaircraft guns. (Ha'aretz) The defense establishment has recommended moving the separation fence eastward to include some 40,000 Jewish residents of major West Bank settlements, as well as some 3,000 Palestinians on the western, Israeli side of the fence. The new fence would run east of the towns of Kedumim, Immanuel, and Ariel in Samaria. The fence planners intend to get as many Jews and as few Palestinians as possible into the western side. The Defense Ministry is also planning an eastern fence, separating Palestinian population concentrations in the West Bank from the Jordan Valley. Senior defense sources said the fence will not determine the political border. (Ha'aretz) As part of its new economic program, the Israel government has decided to cancel its share of funding in the Birthright program, which since 1999 has enabled some 40,000 Jewish students aged 18 to 24, mostly from the U.S., to visit Israel for the first time. (Ha'aretz) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
According to the Italian newspaper il Foglio, Iraq and Syria signed a joint agreement on nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons in Damascus on Jan. 17. As a sign of good will, Saddam sent Bashar Assad some samples: three CDs with mathematical formulae dealing with nuclear explosions; three test tubes loaded with anthrax and botulinum spores; and detailed analyses of tests carried out with these poisons on human subjects in Iraqi prisons. The secret agreement also provided for the transfer of Iraqi scientists and technicians to Syria. Three microbiologists and a small group of technicians, along with their families, entered Syria in the second half of February, and a top nuclear physicist and members of his team crossed the border early in March. In addition, much of Saddam's supply of weapons of mass destruction was moved to Syria for hiding and safekeeping over the past few months. (New York Post) It has become an article of faith in the U.S. Air Force that a well-designed air campaign can undermine an enemy state. Yet attacking buildings proved essentially irrelevant. The sources of the Iraqi regime's power lay in its networks of patronage and terror. In 1991, the Iraqis evacuated the relevant buildings of anything important, including key personnel, and moved into buildings normally used for more innocent pursuits. Saddam's well-developed survival instincts had him moving around the residential suburbs of Baghdad during the Allied bombing. Many of those who have done Saddam's bidding in the past will be looking anxiously for the right moment to jump ship. It would be best if they were to do so when coalition forces are close at hand. This would ensure that no power vacuum develops, public order can be maintained, and basic human needs met. (Independent-UK) Midwesterners, westerners, and southerners - not eastern neoconservative Jews - are running this government. And they are going to war not for Israel, but because, like all Americans, they don't like allowing the safety of their beloved country to be contingent on the promises of assassins like Saddam Hussein. The recent slaughter of 200,000 Balkans under the noses of the EU simply ends all discussion about the moral authority of that undemocratic body. That leaves us with the UN. No one in Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Haiti, or Afghanistan was saved by the courage of the UN. (National Review) Palestinians, Israelis, Americans View Road Map
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