1.   But in recent months top military commanders have dispatched a message of their own to the president.

2.   As he prepares to start his own political party and career, he also appears to have the trust of his top military commanders.

3.   As judges first stripped Pinochet of his senatorial immunity and then ordered his house arrest, top military commanders put heavy pressure on Lagos to intervene.

4.   Both the Popular Revolutionary Army and the top commanders of the Zapatista rebels in Chiapas have said there are no direct ties between the two groups.

5.   A top commander in the Northern Alliance, he has long dominated the Persian-speaking region.

6.   A top Russian commander, Col. Gen. Viktor Kazantsev, said that Grozny would be taken by special operations, not by storm.

7.   After losing two top commanders, rebel leaders in Chechnya said Tuesday they were abandoning the capital Grozny, where they had been fighting off Russian troops for months.

8.   Both the EPR and the top commanders of the Zapatista rebels in Chiapas have said there are no direct ties between the two groups.

9.   But among those who apparently fled safely is Saif Rahman, who is thought to have been the top commander for the remnant forces.

10.   But the top commanders never clarified whether the shooting meant that they had abandoned the cease-fire.