04 May 04 MORNING BRIEFING

TOP STORIES

1. Iraq Prison Supervisors Face Army Reprimand
(Washington Post)...Sewell Chan and Thomas E. Ricks
The top U.S. commander in Iraq has moved to issue the highest form of administrative rebuke against six commissioned and noncommissioned officers who supervised an Army-run prison where Iraqi prisoners allegedly suffered physical and sexual abuse, officials announced Monday.

2. Army Punishes 7 With Reprimands For Prison Abuse
(New York Times)...Thom Shanker and Dexter Filkins
...As more details emerged of widespread problems in the detention system in Iraq, President Bush on Monday telephoned Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld "to make sure that appropriate action was being taken against those responsible for these shameful, appalling acts," said Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman.

3. Poor Leadership Blamed For Abuse At U.S. Prison In Iraq
(Los Angeles Times)...Esther Schrader
Overcrowded cellblocks, sadistic guards abusing and humiliating prisoners, inmates shot dead trying to escape down dark alleys, and detainees being spirited around the prison compound to avoid Red Cross workers. All this happened as guards made up their own rules and superiors condoned their actions.

4. U.S. Sent Specialists To Train Prison Units
(Washington Post)...Bradley Graham and Thomas E. Ricks
Presented with reports of abusive behavior by U.S. military guards at Baghdad's main prison, the Army two months ago quietly dispatched to Iraq a team of about 25 military police experienced in running detention facilities to shore up training and supervision, Army officials said yesterday.

5. Senior Fighters Escape Fallujah
(Washington Times)...Rowan Scarborough
U.S. military commanders think senior foreign fighters in Fallujah have escaped during the Marines's monthlong siege that has produced an inconsistent allied war policy.

6. Military Defenders For Detainees Put Tribunals On Trial
(New York Times)...Neil A. Lewis
The Bush administration's plan to use military tribunals to try some of the detainees held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, which has faced considerable skepticism, has been receiving some of its sharpest attacks from the military defense lawyers who are participating in the process.

IRAQ

7. The General In Charge Of Iraqi Force Is Replaced
(New York Times)...Dexter Filkins
American military commanders said Monday that they had selected a new commander for the Iraqi security force in Falluja, dropping a general who had been accused of involvement in widespread repression under Saddam Hussein.

8. Marines Plan Switch In Fallujah
(Washington Post)...Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Sewell Chan
The U.S. Marines have taken steps to replace the overall commander of a group of former Iraqi soldiers charged with restoring order in this restive city, a senior U.S. military official said Monday. The move appeared aimed at defusing a growing controversy over the former army general initially selected to lead the unit.

9. Marines' New Tactic In Fallujah Is Risky
(Philadelphia Inquirer)...Carol Rosenberg
Somewhere on this base packed with enough firepower to flatten nearby Fallujah, the Marines have stashed thousands of Frisbees and soccer balls. They might seem frivolous, after weeks of the worst bloodshed since U.S. forces entered Iraq. Yet these nearly forgotten gifts for the people of Fallujah symbolize the failure of the Marines so far to achieve their mission of rebuilding the country and helping to pave the way for democracy after arriving in this area in mid-March. And the prospects for success are as uncertain as ever.

10. U.S. Forces Repulse Shi'ite Militia Men In Najaf Fighting
(Washington Times)...Denis D. Gray, Associated Press
Shi'ite militiamen yesterday launched their most intense attacks to date on U.S. forces in Najaf, prompting a measured response from Americans who feared angering the nation's Shi'ite majority. Up to 20 attackers were killed.

11. Iraq's Former Baathists Eager To Return To Work
(Washington Post)...Pamela Constable
...An estimated 400,000 Iraqi civilians and military personnel lost their jobs over the past year under the U.S.-led occupation authority's "de-Baathification" policy, established to rid society of the influence of Hussein's ruling Baath Party. Now, however, thousands of mid-level party members are being given a chance to return to work after U.S. officials acknowledged that the policy had been unfairly implemented.

12. Ex-Prisoners Of G.I.'s Offer More Claims Of Mistreatment
(New York Times)...Ian Fisher
The three times that Abbas Mehdi was interrogated by American soldiers, he claims that he told them the same thing: "I said: `You are creating enemies. You changed love into hate. Why do you make people hate you?' "

13. Salvadoran Soldiers Praised For Iraq Role
(Washington Times)...Denis D. Gray, Associated Press
...Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said recently that the Central American unit has "gained a fantastic reputation among the coalition" and expressed hope that the Salvadorans will stay beyond their scheduled departure.

14. For U.S. Hostage, The Timing Was Everything
(Washington Post)...Sewell Chan
Stumbling across a field, a disheveled man approached a U.S. Army patrol Sunday, shouting and waving a white T-shirt as if to surrender. For a moment, the soldiers thought he was a local farmer, before his speech and face identified him as Thomas Hamill, a Mississippi dairyman who had been held hostage in Iraq for more than three weeks.

15. Iraqi Editor Quits, Citing U.S. Meddling
(Los Angeles Times)...Associated Press
The head of a U.S.-funded Iraqi newspaper quit and said Monday that he was taking almost his entire staff with him because of American interference in the publication.

DEFENSE DEPARTMENT

16. CBS Delayed Report At Myers's Request
(Washington Post)...Associated Press
CBS News delayed for two weeks airing a report about U.S. soldiers' alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners, following a personal request from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

NA
17. Pentagon Official Predicts $13.8 Billion Foreign Military Sales For ’04
(Defense Daily)...Sharon Weinberger
The head of the Pentagon’s foreign military sales program said he expects his agency to take in about $13.8 billion in revenues this year, slightly up from last year’s total of $13 billion.

18. Governor Visits U.S. Troops In Germany As He Wraps Up Trip
(Los Angeles Times)...Peter Nicholas
Ending his first foreign trip on an exultant note, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger joked with appreciative American troops at a rally Monday and met privately with a civilian contractor who escaped his captors in Iraq.

MISSILE DEFENSE

19. This Time It's Real: An Antimissile System Takes Shape
(New York Times)...James Glanz
As early as this summer, rockets hidden in silos near this wind-swept town will give the nation its first operating defense against intercontinental ballistic missiles since the 1970's.

ARMY

20. Materiel Commander Says Gear For Iraq Moving Slowly But Steadily
(GovExec.com)...George Cahlink
Escalating violence has slowed the movement of parts and equipment in Iraq, but has yet to lead to any major shortfalls in gear for U.S. troops, according to Gen. Paul Kern, commander of Army Materiel Command.

21. Dying Mom Gets Wish; Soldier-Son Comes Home
(Chicago Tribune)...E.A. Torriero
Dying of cancer, Patrice Confer fought the military bureaucracy to bring her son home last week from the conflict in Iraq.

22. Spy Charges Dropped, But Fear Remains
(Chicago Tribune)...Geneive Abdo and E.A. Torriero
...Muslims say that if Yee, a 1990 West Point graduate could be accused, other Muslims far less accomplished face greater risk. And Muslims say there are greater reservations within their community to enter the military--a blow to plans by the U.S. government trying to recruit Muslims and Arabs to serve in intelligence agencies and armed forces to help the Bush administration fight the war on terror.

NATIONAL GUARD/RESERVE

23. Abuse Photos Rock Maryland Town
(Washington Times)...S.A. Miller
Families and neighbors of the soldiers in the Army Reserve unit accused of mistreating inmates in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq said yesterday they do not condone their actions but will continue to support the troops and the war effort.

24. Pr. George's Challenged On Reservists' Pay
(Washington Post)...Jamie Stockwell
...Polimeni, along with about 90 other Prince George's County employees in the reserves -- most of them in county law enforcement -- was required to exhaust his accrued leave time before he could receive a salary supplement that, coupled with his military pay, would equal his income as a police officer. Police union officials say the county is violating a 1994 federal law designed to protect the rights of employees ordered to active duty.

NATO

25. 9 Held In Alleged Plot In Turkey
(Los Angeles Times)...Amberin Zaman
A Turkish court Monday charged nine suspected members of a group linked to Al Qaeda with plotting to bomb the NATO summit scheduled next month in Turkey's largest city, Istanbul. Turkey's CNN-Turk television news channel said at least three of the suspects had been planning a suicide bomb attack against President Bush, who will be among dozens of Western leaders expected to attend the June 28-29 gathering.

WHITE HOUSE

26. In U.S., Seeking To Limit Damage
(Washington Post)...Robin Wright
The Bush administration is struggling to develop a damage-control strategy to counter the mounting global backlash against the United States after revelations that U.S. military and intelligence personnel abused Iraqi prisoners, according to U.S. officials.

27. Iraq Costs Surge, May Force Bush To Shuffle Funds, Seek More
(Bloomberg.com)...James Tyson and Jon Steinman
U.S. military operations in Iraq may be $4 billion over budget by August, forcing President George W. Bush to shift money from other Pentagon accounts or ask Congress for more money before the November election, say Republican and Democratic lawmakers.

INTELLIGENCE

28. Intelligence Reform Will Not Be Quick
(Washington Post)...Walter Pincus
The White House, Congress and two independent commissions are discussing wholesale reform of the nation's intelligence community in the wake of its failures to detect the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and accurately describe Iraq's weapons programs, mistakes that were highlighted in recent public hearings.

29. Senator Says Spy Agencies Are 'In Denial'
(Los Angeles Times)...Bob Drogin
U.S. intelligence agencies are "in denial" and have yet to hold anyone accountable for the failure to prevent the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and for the misjudgment that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Monday.

TERRORISM

NA
30. Terror Inquiries Are Clouded By Global Discord
(Wall Street Journal)...Keith Johnson and David Crawford
...Now people close to the prosecution say that after nearly 10 years of investigation into these cells, starting well before the Sept. 11 attacks, the case is in danger of falling apart. The reason: a lack of international cooperation, especially with U.S. authorities engaged in their own fight against terrorism. The obstacle, Spanish investigators say, is a question that also has come before the Sept. 11 Commission in Washington: Does the ultimate responsibility for fighting terrorism belong to law-enforcement officials or to the military?

31. 9/11 Still Haunts Pentagon Workers, WTC Rescuers
(USA Today)...Marilyn Elias
A sizable minority of Pentagon workers and Ground Zero cleanup crew still have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression symptoms after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and many are not getting treatment, suggest reports out Monday.

NA
32. Gen.: We May Not Bag Osama Soon (Alternate source here)
(New York Daily News)...Associated Press
The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan voiced caution about the prospects of catching Osama Bin Laden, saying it is "too early to tell" if a new U.S. strategy aimed at winning the trust of Afghans will yield crucial intelligence.

MIDEAST

33. Oil Workers To Leave Saudi Arabia
(Washington Post)...Associated Press
The U.S. ambassador traveled to this oil-industry city Monday with a simple message for the gathered Americans: Go home; we cannot protect you. Huddled in a meeting room in a Holiday Inn still pocked with bullet holes after the latest in a string of attacks on Westerners killed two Americans and four others, many said they would heed his words.

EUROPE

34. Doubt Is Cast On Photos Said To Show Britons Abusing Iraqi
(New York Times)...Lizette Alvarez
The British military on Monday was investigating the origins of widely published photographs that appear to show British soldiers on patrol in Basra beating and urinating on an Iraqi captive in the back of a truck.

UNITED NATIONS

35. U.N. Warns Of Delay In Iraqi Election
(Washington Post)...Colum Lynch
National elections in Iraq scheduled for January could be postponed unless security there improves, the top election official for the United Nations said Monday.

NA
36. UN Envoy Lines Up Caretaker Rulers
(London Times)...James Bone
THE United Nations envoy to Iraq returns to Baghdad this week for a final effort to pick a caretaker government before the handover of power on June 30.

BUSINESS

NA
37. Boeing May Hire An Ethics Watchdog
(Wall Street Journal)...Andy Pasztor
Boeing Co., trying to recover from a series of ethics scandals, has hired an outside ethics watchdog to alert the government about any future transgressions by the aerospace giant, according to people familiar with the details.

NA
38. Legal Loophole Arises In Iraq
(Wall Street Journal)...Greg Jaffe, David S. Cloud and Gary Fields
The abuse of Iraqis at a U.S. military prison outside Baghdad raises questions about whether private military contractors involved in illegal activity are subject to criminal prosecution.

39. Contract Workers Implicated In February Army Report On Prison Abuse Remain On The Job
(New York Times)...Joel Brinkley and James Glanz
More than two months after a classified Army report found that two contract workers were implicated in the abuse of Iraqis at a prison outside Baghdad, the companies that employ them say that they have heard nothing from the Pentagon, and that they have not removed any employees from Iraq.

OPINION

40. In Nasiriyah, Hopeful Pockets Of Pragmatism
(Washington Post)...David Ignatius
...Today Nasiriyah illustrates a new mood of pragmatism emerging in southern Iraq as Shiite political, religious and tribal leaders prepare for a transfer of sovereignty less than two months away. Iraqis here seem to understand that unless they quickly take more responsibility for security, the country could descend into chaos after June 30.

41. The Fallacies Of Fallujah
(Washington Post)...Richard Cohen
...It gets worse. The Iraqi army the United States summarily disbanded is now being reconstituted. Baath Party members who were persona non grata because of their presumed criminality are now being asked to return to their old jobs because, on second thought, many of them weren't really criminals after all. Some of them only joined the party so they could put bread on the table. The United Nations, once disparaged by the Bushies as little more than a dreamy student government with its own building, has now been welcomed back to Iraq with the hope it can govern the place. Amazingly, it seems ready to make that attempt.

42. Battlefield Of Dreams
(New York Times)...Paul Krugman
...What's truly shocking in Iraq, however, is the privatization of purely military functions. For more than a decade, many noncritical jobs formerly done by soldiers have been handed to private contractors. When four Blackwater employees were killed and mutilated in Falluja, however, marking the start of a wider insurgency, it became clear that in Iraq the U.S. has extended privatization to core military functions. It's one thing to have civilians drive trucks and serve food; it's quite different to employ them as personal bodyguards to U.S. officials, as guards for U.S. government installations and — the latest revelation — as interrogators in Iraqi prisons.

43. Stopping The Abuse Of Detainees
(Washington Post)...Leonard S. Rubenstein
...As early as 2002, news reports of abuse of prisoners began to surface, and new allegations have continued to emerge. The administration's response has been to stonewall. A year ago, in response to the first set of allegations of abuse of detainees, President Bush affirmed that the United States does not practice or condone torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and that it investigates allegations of violations. But the actions needed to convert this from a statement to a commitment have been absent.

44. A War For Us, Fought By Them
(New York Times)...William Broyles Jr.
...This abuse of the voluntary military cannot continue. How to ensure adequate troop levels, with a diversity of backgrounds? How to require the privileged to shoulder their fair share? In other words, how to get today's equivalents of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney — and me — into the military, where their talents could strengthen and revive our fighting forces? The only solution is to bring back the draft. Not since the 19th century has America fought a war that lasted longer than a week with an all-volunteer army; we can't do it now. It is simply not built for a protracted major conflict.

EDITORIAL

45. Pentagon Too Slow To Decry Shameful U.S. Acts In Iraq
(USA Today)...Editorial
...Nearly as disturbing as the repulsive behavior by some U.S. soldiers is the fact that the Pentagon has been so slow to share the sense of outrage over their actions, even though it has known about the allegations for almost six months.

46. Beyond Those Sick Images
(Los Angeles Times)...Editorial
...Credit Taguba for a blunt report and the MPs who blew the whistle for living up to Army standards. But the Abu Ghraib scandal raises issues beyond this one prison: about poor command, about the possible role of military intelligence in encouraging acts that violate international law, about military training and the extensive use of private contractors for a host of jobs once done by soldiers. U.S. officials can't fix what happened at Abu Ghraib, but they can show a commitment to fighting wrongdoing worldwide — including and especially when it's within U.S. ranks.

47. Prosecute Iraqi Abusers
(Washington Times)...Editorial
The shameful abusive conduct perpetrated on Iraqi detainees cries out for the most thorough investigation and prosecutions. Moreover, the investigation must go as far up the chain of command as the facts justify. It is inconceivable that following that process the sanctions should be limited to reprimands and early retirements.

48. Images Of Abuse Speak To U.S. Policy Adrift
(Miami Herald)...Editorial
In Iraq, the prison at Abu Ghraib near Baghdad became notorious as the place where Saddam Hussein held prisoners in hideous conditions and committed unspeakable crimes against them. There, Hussein tortured and murdered thousands of men. Now, under U.S. control, the prison at Abu Ghraib is achieving a different notoriety. Pictures broadcast worldwide last week show male and female U.S. soldiers, smiling and joking at the sight of Iraqi prisoners stripped naked, tortured and humiliated, purportedly to extract intelligence from them.

49. Abuse Of Iraqi Prisoners
(Philadelphia Inquirer)...Editorial
This is no way to win the hearts and minds of Iraqis.