Events In Middle East and Korean Peninsula Point Toward War

by DEBKAfile Headlines

14 January 2003

US defense analysts: N. Korea preparing to test 2-stage missile capable of reaching Hawaii or Alaska with nuclear payload

Australian delegation due in Pyongyang for talks with North Korean leaders, the first Westerners to visit since nuclear program crisis erupted. It is led by Foreign Affairs Dept. official Murray McLean

US warplanes struck their first Iraqi anti-ship missile launcher Monday near Basra in southern Iraq to disarm threat to US and allied naval forces in northern Persian Gulf

DEBKAfile’s military sources: First strike in US operation to make Iraqi shore safe for Marine landing at start of invasion

Also Monday, heavy US military convoys charged down Israel’s highways between Haifa, Tel Aviv, Ashdod and Beersheba. Hundreds of US Marines are flying in by night.

Large scale US-Israel air defense exercise begins Wednesday, when also “Red Hail” war alert goes into force