Subject: [NEXTEL-1] WAR.WIRE

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2003 02:53:43 -0400

WAR.WIRE

US military lifts ban on use of
Thuraya satphones in Iraq

CAMP AS-SALIYAH, Qatar (AFP) Apr
17, 2003

US Central Command on
Thursday lifted a ban on
the use of Thuraya
satphones in Iraq,
arguing that security
concerns had been
reduced, with the war all
but officially over.

"Coalition forces had previously prohibited the use of
the phones by military personnel and embedded media
due to security concerns, which have since been
reduced," Centcom explained in a statement.

The US military had slapped the ban two weeks into
the war in Iraq, on April 3, after the Thuraya satphones
had been deemed to "represent a security risk to units
and personnel on the battlefield," despite denials by the
UAE-based company.

It had been feared that civilian phone calls could be
used to guide Iraqi bombs or help Iraqis pinpoint
coalition forces.

The ban affected the 500 Thuraya phones used by US
forces in the Centcom areas as well as reporters
"embedded" with units in Iraq.

A week after US forces took over Baghdad, all Iraqi
cities are under coalition control and the bulk of the
fighting is over, with the focus now on reconstruction.

http://www.spacewar.com/2003/030417011634.dn0v4ilx.html

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