US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said late Monday he had ordered an update of all US contingency war plans, including those outlining possible military action against Iraq.
He also refused to give any details about the plans, even if President George W. Bush decided to bring about a regime change in Iraq through military means.
"You do not let anybody in on war plans," Rumsfeld said in an interview on US television. "If you have plans as to how one is going to conduct an operation, you do not let anybody know what those are."
The defense secretary said he had recently ordered a review of dozens of Pentagon plans for hypothetical battles and other emergency situations that might involve US troops.
"We're reviewing all of them and updating them," Rumsfeld said. "And we're elevating the risks so that they can be judged, and they can be brought up to an appropriate level of potential value."
Rumsfeld's comments came as Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was poised to begin talks in Ankara with top Turkish officials on security cooperation in the region and Turkey's possible role in US efforts to topple the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
The New York Times reported earlier this month that Washington has a secret blueprint for a massive attack on Iraq by land, sea and air with as many as 250,000 troops and hundreds of warplanes.
The plan, described as a preliminary operational "concept," outlines a simultaneous land invasion of Iraq from Turkey, Jordan and the Gulf region supported by massive air strikes against Iraqi targets, including airfields, highways and fiber-optics communications sites, according to the report.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique