WASHINGTON (AP) — American special operations analysts were scrutinizing an Afghan hospital days before it was destroyed by a U.S. military attack because they believed it was being used by a Pakistani operative to coordinate Taliban activity, The Associated Press has learned.
The analysts knew it was a medical facility, but it's unclear whether that information ever got to commanders who unleashed the AC-130 gunship on the hospital, killing at least 22 patients and hospital staff. Nor is it known whether the allegations of possible enemy activity played a role in the incident. The Pentagon initially said the attack was to protect U.S. troops engaged in a firefight and has since said it was a mistake.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Amid fears of an atomic arms race in the Middle East, a senior United Arab Emirates official has told a top U.S. lawmaker that it too might seek the right to enrich uranium that Iran has asserted under the recently signed nuclear deal.
The landmark Iran accord to curb its nuclear weapons in exchange for economic sanctions relief allows Tehran to enrich uranium. In barely noticed testimony last month, Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the UAE's ambassador in Washington, Yousef al-Otaiba, had informed him in a telephone call that the country no longer felt bound by its previous nuclear agreement with the United States.
