08 Apr 04 Morning Briefing

TOP STORIES

1. Iraqi Uprising Spreads; Rumsfeld See It As 'Test Of Will'
(New York Times)...Christine Hauser
..."We're facing a test of will, and we will meet that test," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said, adding that the plan to postpone the troop return was part of a plan "to systematically address the situations we are facing."

2. Anti-U.S. Uprising Widens In Iraq; Marines Push Deeper Into Fallujah
(Washington Post)...Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Violent resistance to the American occupation of Iraq spread to new parts of the country on Wednesday, including previously quiet parts of Baghdad, as U.S. and allied forces struggled to quell separate uprisings by Sunni and Shiite Muslim insurgents.

3. Rotation Reassessed As Toll Spikes
(Washington Post)...Bradley Graham
...As a sign of growing Pentagon concern about deteriorating security, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld raised the possibility yesterday that some U.S. troops scheduled to leave Iraq in the next few weeks might be kept in place to counter the mounting unrest. Many of the U.S. troops who died in the past week arrived only recently in Iraq, part of a rotation of forces that began earlier this year to replace war-weary veterans.

4. Shi'ite Cleric Calls For End To Fighting In Iraq
(Washington Times)...Sharon Behn
Iraq's leading Shi'ite cleric yesterday appealed for an end to the violence sweeping the country between followers of firebrand Shi'ite cleric Sheik Muqtada al-Sadr and coalition forces.

5. Account Of Broad Shiite Revolt Contradicts White House Stand
(New York Times)...James Risen
United States forces are confronting a broad-based Shiite uprising that goes well beyond supporters of one militant Islamic cleric who has been the focus of American counterinsurgency efforts, United States intelligence officials said Wednesday.

NA
6. For Guidance In Iraq, Marines Rediscover A 1940s Manual(Wall Street Journal)...Greg Jaffe
...In its three-week drive to Baghdad last year, the U.S. military relied heavily on satellite-guided bombs and supersonic jets. But now it is looking to this anachronistic book for some answers. The 446-page manual was born out of three decades of hard-won experience. From 1898 to 1934, the Marines fought a number of small wars, in the Philippines, Cuba, Honduras, China, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. They clashed with guerrillas, built constabularies and held elections. Then, in 1940, a group of Marines set out to capture in writing the lessons of those battles.

IRAQ

7. U.S. May Delay Departure Of Some Troops In Iraq
(New York Times)...Douglas Jehl, Eric Schmitt and David E. Sanger
After days of intense combat in both Shiite and Sunni cities in Iraq, the Pentagon signaled on Wednesday that it would probably delay bringing home as many as 25,000 soldiers from the First Armored Division as scheduled, even as the new troops meant to replace them are arriving.

NA
8. U.S. Troops Forced To Shift Gears In Iraq Fighting
(Wall Street Journal)...Greg Jaffe and Michael M. Phillips
Fierce fighting in the Iraq cities of Fallujah and Ramadi has forced the Marines to abandon a strategy of using only highly targeted raids and instead turn to the heavy weapons and large-scale assaults they had hoped to avoid.

9. Marines, Insurgents Battle For Sunni City
(Washington Post)...Pamela Constable
Hundreds of Marines inched toward the heart of this embattled city Wednesday, darting across roads and crouching on corners as the echo of mortars and rifles mingled with the wail of prayers and warnings from minarets.

10. Moderates In Retreat In Najaf As Fear Echoes Across The City
(Los Angeles Times)...Alissa J. Rubin
Shops have been shuttered and few of this holy city's genteel residents are venturing out this week as armed young men, clad in black, their faces half-hidden by head scarves, stream into the city.

11. Mosque Strike Seen Stoking Rage
(USA Today)...Barbara Slavin
The U.S. attack on a mosque compound in Fallujah on Wednesday is likely to further inflame anti-U.S. sentiment among Iraqis and strengthen growing bonds between Sunni and Shiite Muslims resisting the U.S. occupation, several experts on the region say.

12. Shiites Taxing Thin US Forces
(Christian Science Monitor)...Dan Murphy
...But reports are coming in from around the country that Iraqi security forces are refusing to confront the new challenges head on. Analysts now say the best military solution to the rising tide of Sunni and Shiite attacks - and unexpected alliances - is a major increase in US forces.

13. 'Regime Remnants' Hit Marines, Says JCS General
(Washington Times)...Bill Gertz
A group of about 70 Iraqis who attacked a Marine Corps unit in Ramadi were trained military fighters who disappeared after the battle, defense officials said yesterday.

14. Line Blurs Between Civilians, Fighters
(Washington Post)...Karl Vick and Anthony Shadid
...But in the light of day, the distinction between civilians and combatants becomes difficult in Sadr City. In the decrepit quarter that spawned the militia, loyalties blur into an ambiguity as confounding to residents as to the Americans squinting through gun sights.

15. Under Fire, Security Firms Form An Alliance
(Washington Post)...Dana Priest and Mary Pat Flaherty
Under assault by insurgents and unable to rely on U.S. and coalition troops for intelligence or help under duress, private security firms in Iraq have begun to band together in the past 48 hours, organizing what may effectively be the largest private army in the world, with its own rescue teams and pooled, sensitive intelligence.

16. Uprising Could Signal A Second War For Iraq
(Los Angeles Times)...John Hendren
The widespread insurgency that has erupted in Iraq in recent days may be the first stages of a second war for the country that could determine whether the conflict degenerates into a military bog for the United States.

17. Cleric Targeted Over The Summer
(Washington Times)...Rowan Scarborough
The U.S.-led coalition began a campaign last summer to dilute the power of Sheik Muqtada al-Sadr, methodically arresting his leaders and taking back control of mosques he had seized.

18. U.S. Put Off Cleric's Arrest Fearing Unrest
(Washington Times)...Dan Murphy, Christian Science Monitor
...But the Coalition Provisional Authority, afraid his arrest would spark a confrontation and lead to widespread violence, decided to hold its warrant in reserve, said the source. The CPA quietly put out signals to Sheik al-Sadr that he wouldn't be molested if his behavior improved. But, in the intervening months, Sheik al-Sadr continued to build his militia, and push the United States toward a confrontation, leading to the bloody scenes of the past few days.

19. Some Allies Reconsider Their Occupation Roles
(Washington Post)...Thomas E. Ricks
The wave of violence in Iraq's southern cities is presenting the United States' coalition partners with the most severe challenge they have faced in 12 months of occupation, and some analysts predict that Washington might have to inject additional U.S. troops into the region.

20. About Face! Barks Rummy
(New York Daily News)...Thomas M. DeFrank
...The first casualties of what Rumsfeld called "taking advantage of the overlap" were a few hundred soldiers from the Army's First Armored Division. Pentagon officials told the Daily News those troops were at Baghdad International Airport preparing to return to their home base in Germany this week when the plug was pulled.

DEFENSE DEPARTMENT

21. Cohen Strategy Short On Terrorism
(Washington Times)...Rowan Scarborough
The final annual report to Congress from President Clinton's defense secretary did not list terrorism as an urgent threat against the United States, but instead grouped it among "transnational threats" that also included illicit drugs and piracy at sea.

22. Military Still Fighting Absentee Ballot Snags
(Los Angeles Times)...Associated Press
Seven months before the general election, the Pentagon has not fixed military absentee ballot problems that were pivotal in the disputed 2000 presidential contest, according to the Defense Department's inspector general.

23. Defense Officials Oppose Overhaul Of Intelligence Community
(GovExec.com)...Chris Strohm
The chief of Pentagon intelligence agencies argued Wednesday against the creation of a national director of intelligence post, saying such a move would hurt the government's intelligence community overall.

24. War Doesn't Keep Students From Military College Fair
(USA Today)...Debbie Howlett
...Valdez was one of 2,500 students from Chicago's public schools attending a military college fair on Wednesday. Representatives from 25 colleges with military programs were trying to attract young men and women to be future officers. They included the nation's four service academies — Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard — along with such schools as Virginia Military Institute and The Citadel.

ARMY

25. Schoomaker Explains Army Goals
(Fayetteville (NC) Observer)...Kevin Maurer
The Army will undergo changes that will provide more stability for soldiers and their families, the Army's top general said Wednesday at Fort Bragg.

MARINE CORPS

26. Jury Clears Marine In Sabotage
(Los Angeles Times)...Associated Press
A military jury on Wednesday acquitted a Marine on charges that he sabotaged his comrades' parachutes and caused three servicemen to be injured during a training jump. But the jury convicted him on drug charges.

SEPTEMBER 11

27. Panel To Ask About Pre-9/11 Planning
(Washington Post)...Walter Pincus
National security adviser Condoleezza Rice will be sharply questioned today about the Bush administration's military planning to meet the terrorism threat and its refusal to undertake strikes against al Qaeda in the first eight months of 2001, according to several members of the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

28. Germans Free Moroccan Convicted Of A 9/11 Role
(New York Times)...Richard Bernstein
...The release of Mr. Motassadeq, who was serving a 15-year sentence on more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder, followed a decision by a German appeals court last month to reverse his conviction. The court ruled that Mr. Motassadeq had been denied a fair trial because of the refusal of the United States to allow testimony by a captured terrorist suspect.

WHITE HOUSE

29. Bush Credibility On 2 Wars--Iraq, Terrorism--Under Challenge
(Washington Post)...Dan Balz and Dana Milbank
A week of escalating violence in Iraq, accompanied by growing numbers of U.S. casualties and gruesome images on television and in newspapers, threatens to erode public confidence in President Bush and redraw the political calculus of the impact of the war on terrorism in the presidential election.

AFGHANISTAN

30. Kabul Orders Troops To Quell Latest Violence
(New York Times)...Carlotta Gall
For the second time in two weeks, President Hamid Karzai is sending newly trained Afghan National Army troops from the capital to quell fighting in outlying regions, this time in northern Afghanistan, government officials said.

UNITED NATIONS

31. U.S. Seeks New Global Force To Protect The U.N. In Iraq
(Washington Post)...Robin Wright
The United States has asked more than a dozen countries to join a new international military force to protect the United Nations in Iraq, a proposal critical to persuading the world body to return there after two massive suicide attacks against its Baghdad headquarters last year, State Department officials said.

MIDEAST

NA
32. Bush Team Shuns Syrian Offers To Cooperate On Iraq Border Security
(Inside The Pentagon)...Elaine M. Grossman
...Over the past four months, the Syrian ambassador to Washington has approached senior officials at both the State Department and the Pentagon with offers to share intelligence on border issues and undertake joint border patrols, according to U.S. and foreign sources. Thus far, administration officials have responded with a stony silence, these officials and experts say. U.S. officials also have rejected Syrian requests to examine confiscated documents that U.S. officials say implicate that nation in supporting insurgents in Iraq, according to these sources.

33. Iran To Build Reactor That Can Produce Plutonium
(Washington Post)...Associated Press
Iran will start building a nuclear reactor in June that can produce weapons-grade plutonium, diplomats said Wednesday. Although the Tehran government insists the heavy-water facility is for research, the decision heightens concern about its nuclear ambitions.

34. Foreign Minister Raps U.S. Use Of Force
(Washington Times)...Borzou Daragahi
Iran's foreign minister called yesterday for a peaceful settlement of the Shi'ite uprising in neighboring Iraq, urging restraint on the part of the U.S. military.

RUSSIA

35. Ivanov Sets Tough NATO Tone
(Moscow Times)...Judith Ingram, Associated Press
Setting a combative tone for the NATO chief's visit to Russia beginning Wednesday, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said the West expected Moscow to bend too much in exchange for partnership.

VETERANS

36. POWs Not Entitled To Iraqi Funds, Justice Says
(Washington Post)...Carol D. Leonnig
Justice Department lawyers argued yesterday that President Bush's decision to remove Iraq from the list of terrorism-sponsoring states nullified a $653 million judgment awarded to former U.S. prisoners of war tortured by the Iraqi military during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

BUSINESS

NA
37. Lockheed Trims Bid For Titan Amid Bribery Inquiry
(Wall Street Journal)...Jonathan Karp and Andy Pasztor
Lockheed Martin Corp. lowered its offer to buy Titan Corp. by 9% and toughened other terms amid a federal investigation of suspected overseas bribery by Titan.

NA
38. CV-22 Tiltrotor Program Six Months Behind Schedule
(Aerospace Daily & Defense Report)...Jefferson Morris
The Bell-Boeing CV-22 tiltrotor has fallen six months behind schedule in flight testing, although the program is working on a plan to make up for the lost time and prevent the aircraft's debut from slipping, according to Program Manager Col. Craig Olson.

CONGRESS

39. Democrats Split On Iraq After Rise In Violence
(Washington Times)...Stephen Dinan
The escalation in Iraq violence and the potential need for more troops have split Democrats on Capitol Hill, with some such as Sen. Robert C. Byrd calling for a way to pull out and others saying the developments have strengthened bipartisan resolve to see the job through.

OPINION

NA
40. A Bad Call On Troop Levels
(Washington Post)...Robert D. Novak
...Adhering to the principle of civilian control of the military and unvarying obedience to orders, the generals have not publicly expressed their opinion that Shinseki was much closer to the truth than Wolfowitz. However, the widely respected Abizaid made clear Monday that he was not going to be the fall guy if conditions in Iraq deteriorate further. If commanders want more troops to fulfill their mission, he will ask for them. That would leave Rumsfeld with no choice. The secretary announced on Tuesday that the generals "will get what they want." The problem of where to find these troops is not easily solved.

41. Are There Any Iraqis In Iraq?
(New York Times)...Thomas L. Friedman
...We cannot want a decent Iraq more than the Iraqi silent majority. Because this is an urban war, and U.S. soldiers having to fight house to house inside Iraqi cities cannot win it. Only Iraqis can. If we try to fight this war ourselves, we will kill too many innocent Iraqis, blow up too many mosques and eventually turn the whole population against us — even if they know in their hearts that what we're trying to build is better than what the insurgents want. In fairness to Iraqis, though, asking the silent majority there to stand up right now is asking a lot.

42. Losing The Personal Edge In Iraq
(Los Angeles Times)...Max Boot
...This is precisely what we've seen in Iraq, where American soldiers have proved enticing targets for enemies armed with cheap, simple weapons like rocket-propelled grenades and homemade bombs. All the high-tech weapons in the U.S. arsenal are of little use against a foe you can't find. U.S. troops have little choice but to venture into such messy "contested zones" if they want to win the war on terrorism.

43. The Iraqi Inversion
(New York Times)...Maureen Dowd
...Our troops in Iraq don't know who they're fighting and who they're saving. They don't know when they're coming home or when they're being forcibly re-upped by Rummy. Our diplomats in Baghdad don't know who they're handing the country over to next month. And Bush officials don't know where to go for help, since the military's tapped out, the allies have cold feet, the Arab world's angry and the rest of the globe is thinking, "You got what you deserved."

44. Stick With June 30
(Washington Post)...Jim Hoagland
U.S. forces in Iraq are hunting down and attacking separate Sunni and Shiite gangs that exult in killing Americans. Justice and U.S. interests demand nothing less.

NA
45. No Other Option
(Wall Street Journal)...Larry Diamond
In the past 10 days, the U.S.-led effort to rebuild Iraq as a stable, democratic state has fallen into crisis. The most alarming aspect is not the Baathist-inspired violence in Fallujah, bloody and horrific though that fighting has been. This has been a limited uprising from the minority Sunni section of the country, many of whose politicians have now entered the peaceful political game. It does not threaten the overall viability of the political transition.

NA
46. The Search For Answers
(Wall Street Journal)...Bob Kerrey
The 9/11 Commission's objective is to answer the following question: How -- at the end of a summer of high terrorist threat -- did 19 men with a few hundred thousand dollars manage to utterly defeat every single defensive mechanism we had in place that September morning and murder 3,000 innocents on American soil?

47. A Strategy For A Herculean Task -- (Letter)
(Washington Post)...Donald W. Shepperd
...The U.S. policy is: train Iraq's police, border guards, civil defense corps, facility protection service and military as rapidly as possible; turn over sovereignty on June 30; stay outside the cities on call for security; prevent civil war; and allow a new and fledgling democracy to seek roots. It will require the wisdom of Solomon, the patience of Job, the strength of Samson and the wealth of Croesus. We have the strength and wealth. Will we have the wisdom and patience in an election year?

48. Air Force Wrote Criteria For Boeing's Tanker Deal -- (Letter)
(Miami Herald)...Maureen P. Cragin
...The U.S. Air Force, not Boeing, wrote the key performance parameters for its new aerial refueling tanker. After being selected by the Air Force, Boeing negotiated with it to maximize the capabilities that the service could afford. The Air Force chose which specifications it preferred and when.

EDITORIAL

49. Friends Missing In Action
(New York Times)...Editorial
Americans watching the frightening escalation of combat across Iraq must be asking themselves where, exactly, are our Iraqi friends? President Bush keeps assuring the public that the militias attacking the occupation forces represent a tiny, freedom-hating fringe. But that fringe is willing to take to the streets with guns, and none of Iraq's leaders are willing to stand up to them. If they are afraid to speak against the mob now, when they are flanked by American troops, what makes us believe they will behave more forcefully in the future, when the troops are gone and the mob is rising up against other Iraqis who don't share the same religion?