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Precision-guided bombs top war plan
WASHINGTON — In the first 48 hours of the opening air campaign, the Pentagon plans on unleashing 3,000 precision-guided bombs and missiles to isolate the Iraqi military. The effort is intended to allow a ground attack that would topple a government in shock.
The targets of the precision-guided weapons would be air defenses, political and military headquarters, communications facilities and suspected biological delivery systems, Pentagon officials say.
According to military planners, the immediate goal of the attack would be to drive large numbers of Iraqi troops to defect, offering them guarded sanctuary if they choose so, while cutting off the leadership 
of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Two Army divisions and an expanded Marine Expeditionary Force would then carry out the ground war. More than 25,000 British forces would probably join American soldiers in Kuwait.
Senior officials of the Bush administration said the American military will be in place by mid-February.
Powell warns U.N. of deception in Iraq
UNITED NATIONS — U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell revealed evidence from intelligence sources Wednesday in an effort to convince the U.N. Security Council that Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction.
Powell also claimed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was taking extensive measures to ensure that U.N. weapons inspectors could not find anything.
“I cannot tell you everything that we know,” Powell said. “But what I can share with you, when combined with what all of us have learned over the years, is deeply troubling.”
He revealed one electronic intercept that indicated Iraqi officials knew in advance when inspectors were coming and what they would be searching for.
He also uncovered satellite photographs that showed disguised chemical munitions bunkers, he said.
Gen. Amir al-Saadi, the science adviser for the Iraqi government, claimed that Powell’s findings were manufactured evidence, saying “any third-rate intelligence outfit could produce such recordings.”
Nuclear threats rise from North Korea
WASHINGTON — Satellites detected movement of plutonium rods around a North Korean nuclear facility in Yongbyon Monday. Analysts warned that North Korea may be determined to trigger a crisis on the 
Korean peninsula just as the United States is most focused on Iraq.
If the North Koreans are not bluffing, they could start a reprocessing program that could produce six nuclear weapons within six months, analysts said.
President Bush said he has “no hostile intentions” toward North Korea. The Pentagon would not comment on media reports that additional aircraft had been requested to maintain the U.S. military deterrent against North Korea.
Czech Parliament searches for successor
PRAGUE, Czech Republic — As President Vaclav Havel left office Sunday, Czech lawmakers struggled to find a successor.
Havel, 66, was among the key dissidents who helped topple communism in the Czech Republic in the 1980s. Of the dissidents, he is the last to leave office.
Havel exercised influence primarily through moral inspiration rather than as an organizer of a political movement. He is credited for leading his country out of the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact and into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and winning an invitation for the country to join the European Union next year.
The Czech Parliament has been unsuccessful in two attempts at electing a successor to the post. The country will go without a president until someone is chosen either by the parliament or the people. In the meantime, the prime minister and the head of the lower house of the parliament will share presidential powers.
Large deficits loom over budget proposal
WASHINGTON — The budget presented by President George W. Bush to Congress on Monday proposes to expand the military, create a major new social entitlement, and boost the economy. As a result, budget deficits could top $300 billion this year.
The $2.25 trillion plan offers something for almost everybody, from the elderly to the armed forces to the medical research community.
Defense spending would increase $17 billion and domestic security programs such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation would increase by $6 billion.
Bush’s Democratic opponents in Congress have attacked the budget as “reckless” and “irresponsible.” They also calculated that the sum of the budget’s tax plans would add a $1.7 trillion debt by 2011.
Republicans argue that the looming deficits pose little threat and are much smaller as a percentage of the total economy than deficits under President Ronald Reagan and the first President George Bush. They also said the best way to reduce deficits is to cut taxes and stimulate economic growth.
Train crash among Zimbabwe’s worst
HARARE, Zimbabwe — The death toll rose to 42 in a head-on train crash in northwestern Zimbabwe Sunday, the worst train crash in the country’s history.
A packed passenger train reportedly hit a freight train. The transport ministry blamed the collision on human error. State media has reported the signals on that stretch of the rail line have been faulty since November.
Aside from the death toll, 64 people were injured, most of them seriously, the police said.
In 2000, a crash in the same area killed 16 people and one in 1983 killed 37 people.
Files reveal additional child sex abuse cases
BOSTON — Archdiocese officials accused an additional 24 priests of abusing children after they turned over newly discovered files to lawyers.
The archdiocese acted after the plaintiffs’ attorneys found allegations of child sex abuse among 41 priests already on file who were only accused of misconduct with adults.
Some of the priests are still in active ministry, attorney Jeffrey Newman said. Files will be released once the names of alleged victims are removed.
The new files bring the number of priests accused of sexual abuse to 135 in the Boston Archdiocese.
Anti-Thai riots hurt Cambodian relations
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen accused his own government of incompetence in its dealing of last week’s anti-Thai riots in Phnom Penh.
Sen also denied claims he was involved with inciting the riots.
A mob of about 1,000 people torched, looted, and vandalized the Thai embassy and more than a dozen Thai-owned businesses last Wednesday. They were inflamed by alleged remarks made by Thai actress Suvanant Kongying who denied saying Cambodia’s Angkor Wat Temple belongs to Thailand.
Cambodia has been trying to rekindle relations with Thailand, pledging to pay compensation for the damage and promising a full investigation of the incident.
— Compiled from news sources
Submitted February 06, 2003
MALIBU, CA
