Al's Morning Meeting

News from and about Iraq:

• The Iraqi News Agency website -- the official voice of the government and the official Iraqi President's Site
• Al-Jezeera English Language page
• Einews (European Internet Network) -- all-Iraq war, all the time, coverage page
• WN.Com -- an interesting world news gateway that I use fairly often
• There are five major daily newspapers: Al-Iraq , Al-Thawrah, Al-Jumhuriyah (needs Arabic text support, a small download) Al-Qadisiyah and Babil
• Others include the English-language Iraq Daily Kurdistan Satellite TV
• KurdSat based in Sulaymaniyah, mouthpiece of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
• Voice of Iraqi Kurdistan broadcasts from Salah al-Din in Kurdish and Arabic in support of Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)
• Voice of the Iraqi People -- mouthpiece of the Iraqi Communist Party
• Voice of the People of Kurdistan
• Iraqi media site
• Alif-Ba
• Iraqi News Agency
• Clandestine radio worldwide
• Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)
• Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq
• Kurdistan Socialist Democratic Party
• Iraqi National Congress
• Dawn, an English language paper in Pakistan
• Here is a site from the Iraqi Representative the the United Nations. The site contains all pro-Iraqi positions and statements to U.N. resolutions and positions
• Two interesting sites on Arab names: http://www.arab.net/arabnames/ and http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/daud/arabic-naming/

About the U.S. buildup in the region:

• CNN InDepth: The Unfinished War - A Decade Since Desert Storm has some nice background on the years of tensions
• U.S. State Dept. - International Information Programs - Washington File for transcripts of recent remarks from U.S. officials.
• Council on Foreign Relations -- Iraq
• Deployment Link - Middle East for more background on U.S. forces in the region. You will find this site especially useful as more of your local folks get deployed to the region.
• Announcements from U.S. military leaders can be found on the Defense Link site.
• The End the War.org page has information on peace rallys around the country. Here is another anti-war group called Open Democracy.
• A fine collection from FACSnet (see also  FACS - Iraq Resources)
• For local coverage, see the online publications listed at Mario's Cyberstation - Afghanistan and the Afghan News Network sites.
• You can find Web resources on Afghan politics at Academic Info - Afghanistan Studies page, the University of Michigan Document Center - Afghanistan section, the Institute for Afghan Studies site and the Afghanistan Online - Links page.
• Defense Link posts announcements from U.S. military leaders and transcripts of key briefings.
• The Univerity of Michigan Documents Center - America's War Against Terrorism offers a large list of indexed, annotated sources.
• The BBC site provides updates on the inspections. The International Atomic Energy Agency has more background about inspections and what they are looking for.
• A copy of the U.N. resolution demanding inspections and compliance can be found here.
• The U.S. State Dept. - International Information Programs - Iraqi Update and Response to Terrorism pages have more background on the current policy debate.
• Text and bill status information on the Joint Resolution to Use U.S. Forces Against Iraq can be found here on the Library of Congress Thomas server.
• The U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspections Commission sites have U.N. background.
• Here is the Federation of American Scientists - Iraq Special Weapon's Guide.
• More information on the International Institute for Strategic Studies report, Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction: A Net Assessment, can be found in this press release.
• Jane's Defence - Middle East News has more background articles and reports. 
• The Iraqi Presidency site for transcripts of Saddam Hussein's speeches. 
• Military Websites for Iraq Operation Northern Watch
• Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Crisis in Iraq
• Global Security tracks troop movements

How many National Guard and Reservists have been called up from my state? Here is a listing current as of about a week ago: http://www.dod.gov/news/Feb2003/d20030219ngr.pdf

Contacting Somebody in the Military? Different branches do it differently, here is a listing.

How to Help U.S. Enlisted Abroad I found this list on a Dept of Defense site. I especially like the idea of sending calling cards to people in the Armed Forces to help them make calls home.

The Site said: "Below are Web sites for several organizations that are sponsoring programs for members of the Armed Forces overseas. While it would be inappropriate for the Department to endorse any specifically, servicemembers do value and appreciate such expressions of support:

• Donate a calling card to help keep servicemembers in touch with their families at Operation Uplink at http://www.operationuplink.org/
• Send a greeting via e-mail through Operation Dear Abby at http://anyservicemember.navy.mil/ or www.OperationDearAbby.net
• Sign a virtual thank you card at the Defend America website at http://www.defendamerica.mil/nmam.html
• Make a donation to one of the military relief societies: Army Emergency Relief at http://www.aerhq.org/; Navy/Marine Relief Society at http://www.nmcrs.org/; Air Force Aid Society at http://www.afas.org/; Coast Guard Mutual Assistance at http://www.cgmahq.org/
• Donate to "Operation USO Care Package" at http://www.usometrodc.org/care.html
• Support the American Red Cross Armed Forces Emergency Services at http://www.redcross.org/services/afes/
• Volunteer at a VA Hospital to honor veterans who bore the lamp of freedom in past conflicts
• Support families whose loved ones are being treated at military and VA hospitals through a donation to the Fisher House at www.fisherhouse.org.
• Reach out to military families in your community, especially those with a loved one overseas

Please do not flood the military mail system with letters, cards, and gifts. Due to security concerns and transportation constraints, the Department cannot accept items to be mailed to "Any Servicemember." Some people have tried to avoid this prohibition by sending large numbers of packages to an individual servicemember's address, which however well intentioned, clogs the mail and causes unneccessary delays.

What guidelines will the Defense Department follow when deciding whether to allow local affiliates to "embed" with troops? See this story from Electronic Media

What equipment will journalists need to cover a war? See this story from the St. Petersburg Times (Jan. 5, 2003)