Operation Phantom Fury--Day 267 - Now Operations River Blitz; Matador--Day 162

From correspondents in London

August 01, 2005

A THIRD Islamist terror cell is on the loose and planning multiple suicide bomb attacks against Tube trains and other soft targets in London, security sources say.

Intelligence reports about a cell with access to explosives and plans to unleash a "third wave" of attacks were the trigger for a huge security exercise in the British capital on Thursday. The operation involved 6000 police, many of them armed, patrolling across London.

Senior officers said there was specific intelligence from several sources that an attack was planned for that day. However, this contradicts statements by Scotland Yard that Thursday's security exercise - the biggest since World War II - was a precautionary operation aimed at reassuring the public.

The disclosure comes as a suspected bomber detained in Italy was reported to have admitted to involvement in the London attacks on July 21.

According to Italian reports, Hussain Osman told investigators the leader of the July 21 attacks was Muktar Said Ibrahim, who was arrested in London on Friday. Osman claimed Ibrahim had taught him how to make bombs. However, he said the blasts on July 21 were intended to be a political statement rather than to take lives.

Britain's Daily Telegraph said Scotland Yard was investigating evidence that the July 7 and July 21 attacks were planned from Saudi Arabia.

The paper said anti-terrorist officials believed Osman had telephoned a number in Saudi Arabia hours before his arrest in Rome on Friday. He was believed to be making only the most vital calls because he feared his mobile phone was being tracked by investigators.

Senior officers at Scotland Yard believed there were no links in Britain between the two cells, but one senior source told the newspaper the anti-terrorist squad was investigating ties between the two cells and "foreign camps" of terrorists.

Details of a third-wave terror plot to carry out multiple suicide attacks were disclosed to senior police commanders at an emergency Special Branch conference at Scotland Yard last Wednesday, sources said.

All police leave was cancelled and hundreds of officers were instructed to book into central London hotel rooms.

Members of the third cell are said to be independent of the July 7 and July 21 terrorists but to have "associations" with some of the terror suspects arrested in connection with the July 21 attacks.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of the police anti-terrorist branch, said that despite capturing the five men linked to the failed July 21 attacks, "the threat remains, and is very real".

Another officer, a member of the Yard's firearms unit that captured three of the would-be suicide bombers in two raids in west London, said: "What we did on Friday was just the tip of the iceberg. There is some big stuff coming in the next few months. There's a big network that's got to be cracked."

Osman, a 27-year-old asylum-seeker from Ethiopia who has British citizenship, was arrested by Italian police at his brother's flat in Rome after an international manhunt. Osman's brother was reportedly arrested in northern Italy last night.

Italian authorities said Hussian Osman left Britain on a Eurostar train from Waterloo five days after the July 21 attacks.

He appears to have been cleared by British and French police and immigration officials, even though he was one of the most wanted men in the country and his CCTV picture was on posters throughout the station.

According to media reports, Osman confessed almost immediately to Italian police.

"Yes, it's true, I was there on July 21. I'd been given a rucksack," he is said to have told the investigating officers.

Osman is reported to have said the attacks had been planned by Muktar Said Ibrahim, whom he said he had met at a gym in Notting Hill.

He claimed the group acted independently and had no links to the July 7 attacks, in which 56 people died, and had been taken by surprise by the suicide bombings two weeks earlier.

The group decided to carry out the attacks as a statement about the war in Iraq but was not linked to al-Qaeda or any other terrorists, he reportedly said.

"Religion had nothing to do with this. We watched films. Muktar showed us videos with images of the war in Iraq. He said we must do something big. That's why we met."

Osman, who is suspected of the Shepherd's Bush attack, claimed they had not meant to kill anyone. "I didn't want to kill, ours was supposed to be a demonstrative act," he is said to have told interrogators. "We planned to carry out an attack ... we didn't want to kill, only to spread terror."

Ibrahim, the gang's alleged leader, is being questioned at Paddington Green top security police station in west London.

Ramzi Mohammed, the suspected Oval Tube bomber, was arrested with Ibrahim. Ramzi's brother, Wahbi, 23, is being questioned about a fifth device found near Wormwood Scrubs.

British newspapers reported yesterday that the girlfriends of Ibrahim and Ramzi Mohammed were arrested heading for London's Stansted airport.

The pair were arrested on Friday at central London's Liverpool Street rail terminus after fleeing a bag check.

London's Metropolitan Police released the two without charge on Friday after questioning.

British police were holding 11 suspects in custody yesterday over the two waves of attacks.

Twenty-eight people have been arrested during the investigations into the attacks and 11 remain in police custody.

IRAQ UPDATE

Sunday, July 31, 2005

Iraq`s president is insisting the country will have a constitution ready for approval by mid August. As progress continues on that, there were more car bomb attacks in Baghdad. At least five soldiers killed and an assassination attempt on Iraq`s deputy prime minister.

There were more roadside bombings in southern Baghdad this weekend, two separate attacks left five U.S. soldiers dead. Another car bomb exploded south of the city, killing five civilians and wounding ten others.

Training has begun for Iraqi special forces who will help protect the public during the October referendum on Iraq`s new constitution. Iraq`s president says a draft will be ready for parliamentary approval by the August 15th deadline. A committee writing the document has asked for a 30 day extension, but Iraqi and U.S. officials want the deadline met, hoping a new constitution will help calm the insurgency.

As the political process moves forward, insurgents show no sign of backing down. On Sunday, gunmen ambushed the convoy of Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, killing one of his guards and wounding three others.

Chalabi, a former U.S. ally who pushed for the invasion of Iraq, was reportedly not in the convoy. The White House does not want any setbacks for Iraq`s transition to Democracy. If the constitution deadlines in August and October are met, elections for a new government will be held December 15th.

Baghdad neighborhood shows signs of recovery

An Iraqi boy stands in front of a candy stand at the Abu Dschir market in Al Dora in July. The activity at this marketplace is a positive sign for Iraqis that normalcy is returning to their country and that they are on the path to economic recovery. (U.S. Army photo)

July 31, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Along Market Street in the Abu Dschir area of south Baghdad, shop owners are open for business.

Appearing at times more like a promenade with long pedestrian walkways, the old dilapidated stucco shops are set far back from the street. Color-tiled planters line the meridian and separate oncoming traffic. Snarled power lines, propped in some places by leaning poles, bring electricity to these same shops.

In the heat of mid-day, Iraqis gather from the surrounding neighborhoods. They are not surprised to find new appliances for sale, along with household wares and tools.

Next door is a display of pre-paid cell phones, while outside against the curb a fruit stand offers dates, watermelon, apples and grapes from the agricultural sector of Arab Jobour.

Across the street and below a wide billboard, where a woman is shown modeling a bridal gown, a man in a traditional white robe sits on a stool sipping a smoothie, blended from this same locally grown fruit. This is one of the more economically-challenged neighborhoods, or "muhallas," that make up Al Rasheed.

This past July 14 was the anniversary of the Baathist rise to power. After a decade of sanctions, the economic affects on the country are still evident and are well documented. But often overlooked, with the media focus on large-scale reconstruction projects, is a smaller revolution of commerce that is taking place in the neighborhoods around Baghdad.

With the toppling of the regime also went the command economy. Most Iraqis had adjusted to the dramatic decline in goods and services offered during this era. But a dual economy, which has all but disappeared in the last two years since the Central Bank began printing the new dinar, has dramatically shrunk the black-market which existed for years.

According to one U.S. contractor working as an interpreter and who also holds a Masters Degree in Political Economy, "This was a situation that resulted in an abnormal economy, there was no organized balance of revenue and inflation made it nearly impossible to purchase even the most basic goods."

Today, when you walk into one of these shops along Market Street in Abu Dschir, there are Chinese vacuum cleaners for sale, Korean television sets and Kuwaiti bottled soda. Border countries such as Syria, Jordan, Turkey and Kuwait provide most of the products to Iraq. Long-time associations with China and Korea can still be seen in the display of products.

During Saddam Hussein’s reign, most of the manufacturing base was used for the production of military products resulting in a current balance of trade, which to this day still remains heavily tilted toward imports.

"Competition is a sophisticated mindset after 20 years of a stifled bureaucratic process and will take time before it can take root," said the same US contractor.

Cheap products were the first to make it to these new markets but experts believe greater diversity of products is on its way and will be seen in the coming years as security is improved.

Security, however, is still the biggest factor in building up the local markets. It has become an issue that is vocalized at District Council meetings and discussed by commanders in the field.

Along Market Street, unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive devices have been found and there is active debate as to whether the "squatter" stands near the curbs are too close to the moving traffic and should be encouraged to relocate.

More than a year ago, the U.S. Army, with the help of local contractors, helped construct nearly 168 market stalls which could be used for commercial and retail purposes. But in a country where the tradition of the bazaar has been around for more than 1,000 years, it is slow to convince merchants to back away from the street where they are familiar and comfortable doing business, even if it is for their own safety as well as that of multinational forces.

Adding to the security issue is the break down in essential services, especially garbage collection. A Company, 425th Civil Affairs Battalion, a unit out of Santa Barbara, Calif., is currently working this issue with 1st Battalion, 184th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division.

At a recent Neighborhood Council meeting, 1st Lt. Cameron Murphy, assistant civil affairs officer of 1st Bn., 184th Inf. Bn., named trash collection as the number-one problem facing this muhalla and said he is convinced that his brigade will approve a project to employ roughly 75 people.

If approved, the trash clearing will focus on the area of Abu Dschir, especially Market Street and Power Line Road, which officials said appear to be the worse sectors for dumping and debris.

With unemployment still hovering around 60 percent, finding young men productive ways to occupy their time is one of the more important tasks facing civil affairs team leaders.

These days, U.S. Army officials said their function is to encourage Iraqis to find solutions to the most pressing problems in their own communities and provide assistance in working these issues to assure outcomes that are mutually beneficial. This is all part of the transfer of power.

Maj. Carlos R. Molina, who recently assumed duties as a CA team leader responsible for this neighborhood, said he is encouraging the International Chamber Of Commerce to set up an office in Abu Dschir.

At the same Neighborhood Council meeting, he explained to members how the ICOC could be an important tool to "provide training and influence with the leaders of other governments, bringing greater foreign investment into Iraq and at the same time helping to open markets in these same countries."

But more importantly, an association like the chamber of commerce in the area could open up dialogue, encourage fair business practices, and add a knowledge base to these small shop owners as well as public relations and commercial advertisement.

Revitalizing the local economy is nonetheless underway. Civil Affairs units said prices are remaining stable and the dinar is presently trading at more than twice its pre-Operation Iraqi Freedom value.

Secondly, consumers are optimistic. The opportunity to purchase, at reasonable prices, air conditioners, washers, driers, a family computer, and the goods necessary to return to normalcy remains a steady focus for the Army as Iraq rejoins the community of nations on the path to economic recovery.

By Spc. Christopher Mallard - 4th Brigade Combat Team PAO

U.S. to ship initial batch of two F-16s to Pakistan

Saturday, July 30, 2005 - The Bush administration has approved an initial shipment to Pakistan of two older but refurbished F-16s, a down payment on what is expected to be a larger sale of newer U.S. fighters over Indian objections, congressional sources briefed on the plan said on Friday.

Key lawmakers were notified on Friday of the decision, and administration officials made clear a larger sale of newer fighter planes to Pakistan was still in the works.

The White House initially announced plans in March to sell F-16s to Pakistan but offered few details about the number of fighters and specifications.

The sale had been blocked for 15 years to punish Pakistan for its nuclear weapons program.

Administration officials said the policy change on the planes reflected Islamabad's role helping the United States in the region after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Bush last year named Pakistan a major non-NATO ally, making it easier for the country to acquire U.S. arms.

Pakistan's planned purchases would boost its fleet of about 32 F-16s acquired before the U.S. Congress cut off sales in 1990 over Islamabad's nuclear program.

India warned the United States in March that F-16 sales to Pakistan could have "negative consequences for India's security environment."

In an attempt to address India's concerns, the Bush administration is letting Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. compete for a potential $9 billion market in India for as many as 126 combat aircraft, as India replaces its fleet of Russian-built MiG-21s.

Lockheed is pitching India its F-16 Block 50/52 and Boeing is offering its dual-engine F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

Italian, UK police quiz suspects in bomb probe

31 Jul 2005 22:38:00 GMT

Source: Reuters

By Phil Stewart and Michael Holden

ROME/LONDON, July 31 (Reuters) - A prime suspect in the second wave of London bombings has told Italian detectives he took part in the attacks on the city's transport system as British police quizzed three other suspected bombers on Sunday.

A judicial source with direct contact to the man confirmed Italian media reports that Osman Hussain, arrested in Rome on Friday, has said he participated in the July 21 failed attacks.

"Yes, yes. I can confirm that," the source told Reuters. He gave no further details.

Hussain's court-appointed lawyer Antonietta Sonnessa told Britain's ITV news that Hussain had no links to the July 7 bombers and had no idea where his explosives came from.

"He is not a violent person. He did everything possible to ensure his actions did not provoke any injuries, damage or death."

Sonnessa added Hussain was not a suicide bomber.

"He was not a kamikaze, he did not want to blow anything up at all. He cannot give any help to police for the simple fact that he is not associated with any terrorist organization."

British police on Sunday arrested a man under anti-terrorism laws at a railway station in northern England, but said their action was not linked to the July bombings in London.

He was later released without charge.

The man was held at Stockport railway station, 210 miles (340 km) northwest of London, after reports he was acting suspiciously.

Earlier in the day, police arrested six men and one woman in southern England under anti-terrorism laws in connection with the attempted bombings on July 21, but a police source said the arrests were not a significant development in the inquiry.

Sonnessa has also suggested Hussain, an Ethiopian-born British citizen, may try to resist extradition to Britain.

UNDERGROUND TRAINS

London police believe they have captured all four men they were seeking over the July 21 botched bombings on three underground trains and a bus, which came two weeks after four bombers killed themselves and 52 people in similar attacks.

After an international manhunt for suspected Islamist militants which culminated in a swoop on a housing estate in west London on Friday, three of the men are in custody in London and the fourth in Rome.

Officers, who warn of new strikes, are still looking for anyone who may have helped the bombers.

"We are still searching for the people who put the jobs together," said a police spokeswoman.

As Britons worry about fresh attacks, media said the police and security forces were trying to track down any further cells and a possible command structure behind the bombers.

Security experts described al Qaeda's pyramid structure.

"If you see the two groups of bombers as two separate teams of foot soldiers on the very bottom, then there is a possibility they are linked by the command structure in the level above," a security source told The Observer.

A Zambian intelligence source said in Lusaka on Saturday the authorities had signed a deportation order for suspected British militant Haroon Rashid Aswad, who would be handed over to Britain once formalities were completed.

British police would like to question him but say he is not a priority in the London bombings investigation.

AlertNet news

Osama still commanding attacks, says Saudi diplomat

Monday, August 01, 2005

LONDON: Osama Bin Laden is still giving direct orders for Al Qaeda attacks, Saudi Arabia’s next ambassador to the United States said on Sunday.

Outgoing Saudi ambassador to Britain Prince Turki al-Faisal said some of the most recent attacks attributed to Al Qaeda in the oil-rich kingdom had been directly ordered by the mastermind of the Sept 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. “Some of the events (attacks) that occurred in the kingdom over the past 2-1/2 years were under the immediate directions of the leadership of Al Qaeda, particularly bin Laden,” Turki said in comments broadcast by Reuters Television on Sunday.

Saudi Arabia has been battling a two-year wave of violence by supporters of Saudi-born bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network, who are trying to drive Westerners out of the world’s biggest oil exporter and destabilise the pro-Western ruling family. Many top militants have been killed or captured and the pace of attacks has slowed, but Western diplomats say the threat remains.

There has been an ongoing debate over how much direct control bin Laden exercises over Al Qaeda since a US-led international effort to capture him and his top lieutenants began in 2001 after the attacks on the United States.

Turki said some Al Qaeda groups operated autonomously because they were in places where it was difficult to communicate with Al Qaeda’s central command.

“In such cases, it is left to those in charge of those networks to decide when, how and where to take their measures,” Turki said.

Turki’s former role as Saudi foreign intelligence chief brought him into contact with bin Laden when both the United States and Saudi Arabia were supporting Arab mujahideen (freedom fighters) fighting Soviet occupation forces in Afghanistan.

The prince later tried but failed to persuade Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to hand bin Laden back to Saudi Arabia, a failure diplomats believe led him to leave his job just 10 days before the Sept 11 attacks.

Turki is due to take over as Saudi ambassador to the United States from Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who enjoyed unrivalled access to the very top of US political power. Bandar, who resigned in mid-July, is a friend of the Bush family and used his close White House contacts to weather the storm after the 2001 strikes on New York and Washington by mainly Saudi hijackers.

Saudi officials say Turki is no stranger to Washington, is equally influential back in Riyadh, and will follow the same agenda as Bandar — with only minor differences.

Turki said bin Laden and his followers have violated the teachings of Islam, but that anger in the Muslim community over the war in Iraq and the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict made it easy for him to attract people to Al Qaeda. The Saudi prince said bin Laden deliberately chose 15 Saudis to take part in the Sept 11 attacks in the United States in order to damage US-Saudi ties. (reuters)

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_1-8-2005_pg7_43

London Cops Arrest 7 People

ROME, July 31, 2005

(CBS/AP) Police arrested seven people in southern England on Sunday in connection with the failed July 21 London transit bombings and reportedly were investigating the attackers' ties to Saudi Arabia and Italy.

Police raided two properties in Brighton, on the south coast, taking seven people into custody, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said, providing no other details about the arrests.

In northern Italy, police took a brother of one main suspect into custody for questioning Sunday, the Italian news agency ANSA said, but he was not accused of terrorism, ANSA said.

The arrests follow dramatic raids earlier this week in London and Rome that netted the four men police believe tried to set off bombs in three subway trains and a bus July 21, two weeks after the deadly July 7 attacks.

Police were searching for those who may have recruited and directed the bombers and built the explosives while also probing for links between the two terror cells, one made up mostly of Britons of Pakistani descent and the other mainly of east African-born Britons.

In Rome, investigators were interrogating Osman Hussain, 27, an Ethiopian-born British citizen suspected of trying to bomb the Shepherd's Bush subway station in west London.

Hussain was arrested Friday at a Rome apartment reportedly belonging to a brother after police traced calls he made on a relative's cell phone. Britain has requested his extradition for questioning, and an initial hearing was held Saturday.

His attorney, Antonietta Sonnessa, said no formal charges had been filed against Hussain, adding that he was likely to fight extradition.

A brother, identified as Fati Issac, was detained Sunday in the northern Italian town of Brescia on suspicion of destroying documents sought by investigators, ANSA said.

CBS News Correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports that police would have had a more difficult time catching Hussain had he exhibited the traits of a "hardened terrorist."

"The panic was evidenced by the behavior," said intelligence expert Bob Ayers, referring to Hussain's use of his cell phone to call his brother.

Palmer reports that investigators still face a troubling question: How did Hussain — whose picture was everywhere — manage to just get on a train and slip out of a country on full alert?

Police also discovered that Hussain called Saudi Arabia hours before his arrest, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported, and the Sunday Times said another bombing suspect went on a monthlong visit to Saudi Arabia in 2003, telling friends he was to undergo training there.

Hussain reportedly told investigators the bombers were motivated by anger over the Iraq war.

A legal expert familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press in Rome that Hussain admitted to a role in the attack but said it was only intended to be an attention-grabbing strike.

Hussain told interrogators he was not carrying enough explosives to "harm people nearby," the expert said, speaking on condition of anonymity because Italian law requires that the ongoing investigation remain secret.

Hussain also said the bombers had been led by a man called "Muktar," the Rome daily La Repubblica reported.

"Muktar showed us videos with images of the war in Iraq," Hussain said, according to Italian reports.

Suspect Muktar Said Ibrahim, 27, was arrested Friday in London. The Ethiopian-born Briton, also known as Muktar Mohammed Said, is accused of planting explosives on a bus in east London. The Sunday Times said he went to Saudi Arabia in 2003.

A second man arrested in London on Friday, who identified himself as Ramzi Mohammed, is suspected of trying to blow up a train at the Oval Station.

Another suspect, Yasin Hassan Omar, 24, a Somali with British residency, was arrested in Birmingham on Wednesday. He is suspected of trying to bomb a subway train near Warren Street station on July 21.

Spain's intelligence chief dismissed the possibility that the London bombings were connected to the train bombings in Madrid that killed 191 people last year.

Alberto Saiz, director of the National Intelligence Center, told the daily El Pais in an interview published Sunday that similarities between the attacks were limited to "their outward appearance" and the targeting of transport networks.

"At that point, the differences start," Saiz was quoted as saying. The July 7 group of London bombers was "small--just four people, less visible than the Madrid one."

"Two weeks later, they try a second episode of the same attack

obviously, the perpetrators are not the same," Saiz said.

"In contrast to Madrid, this gives us the feeling that they are coordinated with other groups or have direction from above, and that there is a plan," he added. "This is not an isolated group that decides to act on its own account."

Bin Laden funded Australian embassy bombing -- report

Mon, Aug 01, 2005, Philippines

SYDNEY -- A man accused of involvement in last year's bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta told police that Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden funded the attack with Australian cash, reports said Monday.

A package containing some 10,000 dollars (7,500 US) was delivered by courier to Malaysian master bombmaker Azahari Husin ahead of the bombing, which killed 10 people, The Australian newspaper said.

The paper said it had gained access to the transcript of an Indonesian police interrogation of a man named Rois, also known as Iwan Dharmawan, who is facing terrorism charges in connection with the attack.

"According to Dr. Azahari's explanation to me at the time, the funds came from Osama bin Laden, and they were sent by a courier," Rois, a 30-year-old trader from West Java, was quoted as saying.

Azahari and another Malaysian, Noordin Mohammed Top, are among the most wanted men in Asia, accused of leading roles in several terror attacks, including the Bali bombing in 2002 which killed 202 people.

Rois said Australia was attacked because it was an ally of the United States and had sent troops to support the US-led invasion of Iraq.

"The intention to bomb the Australian embassy was because the Australian government is the American lackey most active in supporting American policies to slaughter Muslims in Iraq," he was quoted as saying.

Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said he was not surprised at the news that Bin Laden had funded the attack, saying there were strong links between Al-Qaeda and the Jemaah Islamiyah group accused of carrying out the bombing.

But he told national ABC radio, which also obtained the transcript of the interrogation, that he rejected the suggestion that Australia's involvement in Iraq had made it a target.

"We know that they were targeting us well before, and to assume if we had not been involved in Iraq, if we hadn't been involved in Afghanistan, that these wouldn't be happening, I think would be a very unsafe assumption," he told ABC radio.

"The claims that these tragic events are related to our efforts to contain terrorism around the world need of course to be significantly discounted."

General Says US Forces Will Leave Iraq Only When Iraqi Troops Are Able to Take Their Place

By Alisha Ryu - Baghdad

01 August 2005

Discounting reports of a timetable being set for a U.S. troop pullout from Iraq, an American military commander in Baghdad says the pace of U.S. troop withdrawal will be determined entirely by how quickly Iraqis can take over the job of handling security matters on their own.

Last Wednesday, the top American military commander in Iraq, General George Casey, told reporters that he believed that a substantial number of U.S. troops could be sent home by the early part of next year, if Iraqis can make progress on the political front and if the insurgency does not expand.

Despite the caveats, General Casey's comments, coupled with a call from Iraq's interim Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari for a speedy withdrawal of U.S. troops, has fueled speculation here that Baghdad and Washington were discussing specific ways for Americans to exit Iraq as quickly as possible.

In an interview with VOA, U.S. Army Brigadier General Karl Horst, who oversees the training and operations of tens of thousands of Iraqi security forces in the greater Baghdad area, says that as far as the U.S military is concerned, American forces will begin withdrawing only when Iraqis prove themselves capable of protecting their own streets, cities, and borders.

"Look, we would all like to see us leave. But a reduction of U.S. forces is event-driven, not time-driven, which means you meet the goals and objectives," General Horst says. "The fact of the matter is that we've made a commitment and so we have an obligation to see our commitment through. Whether you agree with it or not, the fact is a decision was made and we have an obligation to see this through, for the Iraqi people, for the American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who have sacrificed their lives to help make this a better place."

Despite a raging insurgency and acts of terrorism which have killed more than one thousand Iraqi police and army personnel in the past year, the U.S. military has had little problem finding Iraqi volunteers. Most of them are unemployed young men attracted to the idea of receiving a steady salary.

A year ago, there was only one American-trained Iraqi battalion. Now, there are more than 100 battalions of Iraqi army and paramilitary police units, totaling nearly 170,000 men.

But U.S. commanders, including General Horst, acknowledge that most of those battalions are not yet combat-ready and are suffering from myriad problems, including insufficient training and a weak command structure that often lead to breakdowns in discipline.

"A lot of them are having a hard time getting beyond tribal, religious considerations as a matter of selecting who their leaders are going to be. So, we've asked them to look at things from an objective standpoint rather than a subjective process based on what family I'm from, what tribe I'm from, what region I'm from, what religion I'm from," General Horst says. "And frankly, it's a challenge because it represents a cultural shift for them. I mean, we're changing not only their military but in a lot of respects, we're changing some of their cultural ideas and as you know, changing culture is a very difficult and sometimes a long process. It can't be done overnight. It takes time."

Supporters of setting a timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal say the move is necessary to, among other things, counter growing Iraqi suspicion that the United States has long-term economic and strategic designs on their country. It is a claim that has long been made by insurgents.

The Bush administration argues that setting a timetable without credible Iraqi forces to replace departing U.S. troops would only embolden the insurgents to create more chaos.

Click AUDIO On Troop Pullout

Deployed A-10 Pilot Reaches 3,000-Hour Mark

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Jeffrey Cowan, 74th Fighter Squadron commander, returns to base after completing 3,000 flying hours in the A-10 Thunderbolt. (U.S. Air Force photo by Air Force Capt. Mark Gibson)

An Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt pilot reaches a milestone supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

By U.S. Air Force Capt. Mark Gibson - 455th Air Expeditionary Wing

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, July 29, 2005 — The commander respectfully called "Duck" scored 3,000 flying hours in an A-10 Thunderbolt over the Afghan skies July 3.

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Jeffrey Cowan, 74th Fighter Squadron commander, entered A-10 "Warthog" history upon returning to base after flying a mission in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Since his first flight, Cowan, from Pope Air Force Base, N.C., has clocked more than 3,000 hours in a Thunderbolt cockpit.

"It is extremely rare for a pilot to get 3,000 hours in a single-seat fighter aircraft. I am honored to have ‘Duck’ as a boss and mentor," said Air Force Capt. Cameron Curry, an A-10 pilot with the squadron.

"Lieutenant Colonel Cowan entered into a select group of combat aviators/attack pilots passing a milestone that demonstrates his professionalism, determination and resilience," said Air Force Col. John Dobbins, 455th Expeditionary Operations Group commander.

During Cowan's deployment here, he has taken to the Afghan sky an average of nine hours each week, providing close-air support for coalition ground troops.

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