-Caveat Lector- >From ArabicNews.CoM A critical decision for the Iraqi national council, tomorrow Iraq, Politics, 1/8/99 Well-informed Iraqi sources in Amman said that the Iraqi national council (Parliament) will hold an emergency session tomorrow (Saturday) at the invitation of the Iraqi leadership in order to derive "public support" for a political decision aiming at "legalizing" retaliation to any sources of threats "launched from neighboring countries." The sources added that the draft decision agreed upon by the Iraqi military and political leaders stressed "Iraq's right to repel the warplanes and missiles and forces launched against it from countries in the region." The sources continued that the two Iraqi leaders which are directly supervised by President Saddam Hussein found out that "the best ways to prevent these countries from providing support is to make it feel the great consequences of its act." The Iraqi national council will also discuss decisions which reassert "categorical refusal to deal with UNSCOM, and the besiege and condemnation of the aggression." It is also expected that the council will submit a governmental plan for defense and supply. It will also release a statement in which it calls upon Arab governments to abide by decisions taken by its parliaments issued by the meeting they held in Amman and declared support for Iraq. Member of the Iraqi national council Abdul Razzqa al-Heiti said " these issues will be the basis for Saturday's meeting which is "important and urgent." ~~~~~~~~~~~~ <<Ba'ath -- how do they interrelate? Syria & Iraq & ? >> Syrian Baath Party regional leadership unanimously nominates President al-Assad for fifth term Syria, Politics, 1/8/99 The assistant regional secretary of the Baath Arab socialist party, Suleiman Qaddah, on Thursday morning told the Syrian news agency, SANA, that, "On March 12, 1999, Syrian President al-Assad's term of office will end according to item 84 of the Syrian constitution. "The Baath party regional leadership met on Wednesday, January 6, 1999 and adopted a unanimous decision to nominate President al-Assad for a new term of office. By its decision to nominate President al-Assad for a new term of office, the Baath Party regional leadership responds to the will of our people and their ambitions and to the national and pan-Arab interests as well as requirements of the current phase the Arab nation passes." Meantime, the speaker of the people's assembly, Abdul Qader Qaddoura, received the book that includes the Baath party's unanimous decision to nominate President al-Assad for a new term of office. Qaddoura said that the Syrian People Assembly will start a special session next Monday at noon to study the report submitted by the Baath party regional leadership. He added the PA will submit the book to a special committee to be formed for this purpose and to be chaired by the Deputy People Assembly Speaker and include all parties and activists represented in the people's assembly in order to draft a report to be submitted to the People Assembly for debate. Qaddoura added that committee's report will be submitted following the public debate on voting, then the People Assembly speaker will set a date for the referendum and will invite the Syrian people to take part in the referendum. Qaddoura said the public referendum for the new constitutional term will be held in the first half of February. In his press conference, the PA speaker stressed that this nomination came as a response to "people's national and historical requirements under the conditions the Arab masses undergo due to the clear vision and farsightedness President al-Assad enjoys." After Qaddoura highlighted the traits of President al-Assad as a prominent Syrian leader, he answered all questions asked by journalists concerning several issues relating to nomination procedures and the referendum operation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ <ArabicNews> Sources affiliated to the Iraqi National Conference stated that US and British delegations is heading soon to Iraqi Kurdistan for following up implementing Washington's accord lately held between the 2 Kurdish parties and that a meeting will be held between secretary general of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Jalal Talibani and the chairman of the Kurdistani Democratic Party, Mesout Barzani in the main head quarter of the Kurdish Democratic Party today during the visit of the British and the US delegations. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ >From Reuters Friday January 8 3:59 PM ET Raids Killed Key Iraqi Officials, Says Shelton By Charles Aldinger WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence indicates last month's damaging air raids on Iraq killed key government officials and have left President Saddam Hussein increasingly desperate, the Pentagon's top general said Friday. Army Gen. Henry Shelton, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that the losses of key advisers, deaths of as many as 1,600 elite Republican Guard troops and others, and widespread military damage had obviously shaken Saddam. Separately, U.S. Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni told a news conference that one sign of Saddam's worries about his hold on power was in southern Iraq, where recent military executions included that of a division commander. ``When you look at some of the intel (intelligence) reporting that has come in, (there are) several key individuals that were right in the upper structure that are no longer available to him, to advise or to lead,'' Shelton said at a breakfast meeting with reporters. He declined to elaborate, but estimated that 600 to 1,600 elite Iraqi Republican Guard troops and others were killed in the Dec. 16-19 raids by U.S. and British forces and that perhaps ``several times'' that many were injured with little collateral damage to civilians. ``We know who protects the center of gravity. And so that's who was targeted,'' the general said. ``I think that Saddam is feeling the pressure, is becoming more desperate,'' Shelton added. The up-beat military reports came in the wake of two weeks of continuing U.S. and British military confrontations with Iraqi forces in no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq. And despite the comments by Shelton and Zinni, top U.S. officials have been careful to avoid predicting Saddam's fall from power. Shelton refused to give names of top officials killed in the cruise missile and bombing attacks or to reveal the source of the intelligence. ``I can't, because it relates to the sources that we have and I don't want to reveal that. That would hurt us,'' he said. At a later Pentagon news conference, Zinni, chief of U.S. forces in the Gulf, said there had been executions of military commanders in southern Iraq since the raids, indicating that Saddam was badly shaken by the allied military action. ``We have seen executions in the south, one division particularly, lost its commander and several others,'' said Zinni. ``They (executions) might still be going on...civilians also,'' he added. He attributed the regular army executions to disgruntlement in the ranks after Saddam divided the country into four sectors and put ``some ruthless people'' in charge. ``I think there is some confusion in the ranks and some disgruntlement ... and who they answer to,'' Zinni said. Shelton repeated earlier Pentagon reports that U.S. and British missiles and bombs had hit 64 our of 66 planned targets and had caused minimum collateral damage to civilian sites. In the past two weeks, U.S. and British warplanes have on four occasions clashed with Iraqi jets or anti-aircraft batteries in the air exclusion zones. Saddam has declared that he will no longer recognize the zones set up after the 1991 Gulf War to protect Kurds in the North and Shiite Muslims in the south from attack by the Iraqi military. Zinni told reporters Friday he had requested eight more F-16CJ attack jets and some aerial refueling tankers to help police the southern no-fly zone. 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