Defense Ministers Express Concerns Over Venezuela

By Kathleen T. Rhem
American Forces Press Service

MANAGUA, Nicaragua, Oct. 3, 2006 - Nations in this region are concerned over recent arms sales by Venezuela, several officials attending a security conference here said yesterday.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, along with defense ministers from 32 other Western Hemisphere nations, are meeting here this week to discuss issues of mutual concern. Several ministers mentioned Venezuela as an issue of concern, U.S. leaders attending the talks said.

Ministers from Latin American nations expressed "concern that some of the things arriving in that country could conceivably end up in the hands of terrorist groups, the (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC) or other groups," Rumsfeld said.

Countries in the Western Hemisphere, including the United States, are concerned over Venezuela's recent purchase of 100,000 rifles from Russia and other purchases of high-performance fighter aircraft and boats.

"I can understand neighbors being concerned, and I guess each county has to make a judgment as to what they do, how they invest their money, what they purchase," Rumsfeld said.

Army Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, who is responsible for military operations throughout Central and South America and the Caribbean, said that even a year ago countries in this region weren't as concerned about Venezuela as a threat. Now many are concerned, he said.

"(There is) some concern about the uptick in weapons purchases," he said, noting that countries wonder, "Is it indeed a modernization, or is it something else?"

Craddock said countries have expressed more concern over the past few months "with regard to transparency and the volume" of weapons and other military equipment moving into Venezuela.

Latin American nations, through the Organization of American States, have an agreement in place to report pending weapons purchases and completed purchases, as well as to declare the reason for such purchases.

"Arms sales everywhere in the region need to be transparent," Craddock said. "They need to comply with provisions of the OAS with regard to weapons purchases, sales (and) provisions for registering such sales."

It's also important to look at countries' intent regarding weapons sales, Craddock said. Purchases of military equipment are reasonable if a country needs help with internal security threats or external threats on their sovereign territory, he said.

However, Rumsfeld told reporters traveling with him, "I don't know of anyone threatening Venezuela."

[Web Version: http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=1415]

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Possible North Korean A-test Called 'Troubling'

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2006 - A North Korean announcement that the rogue nation will conduct nuclear weapons tests is "troubling," a senior Defense Department official said here today.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said that if North Korea were to conduct such a test, "it would only further isolate them from the international community."

President Bush has said repeatedly that he will rely on diplomacy and a united front to get the North Korean regime to stop its nuclear weapons program. The United States is part of the Six-Party Talks aimed at negotiating with the North Koreans. The other countries are South Korea, Japan, Russia and China.

North Korea has sacrificed its people for military power. The country has the fourth-largest military in the world, with 1.2 million men under arms. At the same time, the North Korean people are starving. The nation has worked to develop nuclear weapons, the means to deliver them and also worked on a chemical and biological capability.

In January 2003, North Korea withdrew from the international Non-Proliferation Treaty, and in mid-year it announced it had completed the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods to extract weapons-grade plutonium. Then-CIA Director George Tenet said North Korea had possibly two plutonium-based nuclear weapons, and was working on ballistic missile technology powerful enough to hit the United States.

The North Korean announcement did not set a date or time for the test, and American officials would not comment on intelligence about the possible test.

[Web Version: http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=1414]

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Combined Operation Yields Weapons Cache, Detainees

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2006 - Iraqi army and coalition forces detained two suspected insurgents and captured a sizable cache Sept. 29 in a combined operation in Khan Bani Saad, Iraq, south of Baqubah, military officials reported.

Soldiers with 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division, and 1-68 Combined Arms Battalion, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, made the find as part of ongoing operations in the town and surrounding villages.

The cache consisted of a rocket-propelled-grenade launcher, four RPG rounds, one sniper rifle, three hand grenades, seven AK-47 assault rifles, several rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition and eight AK-47 magazines. The detainees were taken to the Iraqi army compound in Khan Bani Saad for further questioning.

This find is part of an ongoing operation led by Iraqi security forces in Kahn Bani Saad to disrupt insurgents and their activities, demonstrate the determination and fortitude of the Iraqi security forces in Diyala, and keep the community safe, officials said.

(From a Multinational Corps Iraq news release.)

[Web Version: http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=1411]

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New Iraqi Plan Aims to Combat Sectarian Violence

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2006 - Senior U.S. officials in Iraq are calling a four-point plan released yesterday by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to halt sectarian violence "a significant step in the right direction."

Maliki's plan, released yesterday, aims at uniting Shiite and Sunni parties to reduce and ultimately stop growing sectarian violence that threatens Iraq.

"This ... shows that the Iraqi leaders want their country to succeed and are responding to the wishes of their people for security," said U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad and Army Gen. George W. Casey, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, in a statement released yesterday.

"Now begins the hard work of implementing the plan," the U.S. leaders wrote. "We congratulate Prime Minister Maliki and other Iraqi leaders for this important initiative, and assure them of US support."

The four-point plan followed two days of "frank and intense discussions and negotiation," Khalilzad and Casey noted. It calls for:

-- Commissions to be established in every Baghdad district, made up of representatives of every party as well as religious and tribal leaders and security officials to serve as consultants on security matters;

-- A central prosecution commission to coordinate security issues with and monitor the Iraqi police and armed forces;

-- A common new information commission to control the media; and

-- Monthly meetings to evaluate the plan's performance and make adjustments as needed.

"We are doing this to end sectarian violence in Iraq forever," Maliki said last night in announcing the plan on Iraqi television and during a Baghdad news conference.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, traveling in the Middle East, expressed optimism yesterday about Iraq's prospects for peace between its sects, and thanked the Saudi Arabian government for helping the Iraqis find their way toward national reconciliation.

"Iraq has the opportunity to be a unified country, a country that can be a democracy in which Sunni, Shiia, Kurds and others are all fully represented, but it must get past, at this point, a very challenging security environment (with) great violence," Rice said in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during a joint news conference with Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal.

[Web Version: http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=1412]

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