Scud Missile

Germany gave Israel $3.3 million Monday to help repair Iraqi Scud missile damage to the cities of Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan. A check was given to Israel Ambassador Benjamin Navon by Minister for Economic Cooperation Carl-Dieter Spranger, who had pledged the money during a recent trip to Israel, a statement said.

North Korea has successfully test-fired a mobile Scud missile that can reach any part of South Korea, a government intelligence official said Friday. Suh Dong Kwon, chief of South Korea's main government intelligence agency, told the National Assembly that North Korea test-fired a mobile Scud-C missile with a range of 300 miles in July on its eastern coast and that it successfully struck a target in the Sea of Japan.

Israel's MILITARY CENSORS win most of their battles with reporters, but sometimes they lose--to U.S. officials. Israel bans publication of the location of Scud missile hits, saying this could help Iraq. But recently, while Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Arens was in Washington, a missile struck central Israel. And State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler later revealed that the site was the neighborhood where Arens lives. "I must say that I am sorry. . . ," Arens said.

Airport security forces go on full alert when they spot a suspiciously shaped cigarette lighter in a carry-on bag. But U.S. Customs inspectors at the Port of Hueneme took a more casual approach when off an offloading freighter came an all-but-operational Scud missile, mounted atop its truck-like launch vehicle. The 37-foot-long, five-ton green relic of the Czech army sat for a week before inspectors started to wonder just what the Bay Area man who bought it planned to do with it.

The meaning of identity is a subject close to the heart of the directors of two new foreign-language dramas that explore the consequences of the loss of individuality - Sweden's "Simon and the Oaks," which just opened, and France's "The Other Son," which will be released in Los Angeles on Friday. Both movies deal with issues of religious and national identities, and both come directly out of the personal experiences of the two female filmmakers. The award-winning "Simon and the Oaks," based on the Swedish bestseller by Marianne Fredriksson that spans 1939-52, stars Bill Skarsgard (actor Stellan's younger son)

Scud Commentary a Dud: Making fun of the Scud missile, which rarely hit its targets and sometimes exploded mid-air, seemed like a natural for a humorous radio commentary from satirist Stan Freberg--until Monday. Moments after a Scud slammed into a U.S. military command center in Saudi Arabia, killing at least 12 people, the midday anchors at KNX 1070 AM were having a hard time connecting with reporters in the Persian Gulf for a live report.

With flags, hugs and folk music, Israel said thanks and goodby Tuesday to the U.S. Patriot missile crews who defended its cities against Iraqi missiles. "I hope we will never be in need of your help again, but if we do, I am sure we will be able to count on you--the Scudbusters," Israel's air force commander, Maj. Gen. Avihu Bin Nun, told the soldiers, based in a field on the southern outskirts of Tel Aviv.

It's a good thing Operation Desert Storm happened when it did. The U.N. nuclear inspection team in Iraq has now verified that Iraq's nuclear weapons program was far more advanced than we had thought. Saddam Hussein was less than a year away from having an atomic bomb. I recall state Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara) saying during the Gulf War debate that if he were in Congress, he would not have supported Desert Storm at that time because he wanted to wait longer for sanctions to work.

Flaming debris from an Iraqi Scud missile slammed into a makeshift barracks full of U.S. troops near here Monday night, killing at least 27 soldiers and injuring 98 in a fierce explosion and fire, according to the U.S. military Central Command in Riyadh. Eyewitnesses said a Patriot missile had intercepted the Scud overhead, but U.S. military officials in Riyadh said they could not confirm that a Patriot had been launched. "Why did the Patriot have to hit it?"

The drill has become familiar--first the sirens, then reporters in gas masks, followed by flashes in the sky. But some journalists here are becoming increasingly apprehensive that instantaneous media coverage of Iraq's Scud missile attacks are distorting public perception of the war and perhaps even aiding the cause of Saddam Hussein. Militarily, the Scud attacks are not particularly significant, authorities from the allied forces keep suggesting.