The head of Sunni Endowment, Ahmed Abdul-Ghafour addresses a press conference in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, March 15, 2006. Abdul-Ghafour denounced the bombing of Sadr City and the attack on Abu Hanifa mosque. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
Posted on 03/15/2006 3:59:21 PM PST by Gucho
Marine engineers search for buried weapons and provide force protection around Fallujah, Iraq.
CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq - U.S. Marine Corps Engineers working with 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment serving in Iraq with Regimental Combat Team 5, use a variety of equipment to detect improvised explosive devices and weapons caches. The use of new technology makes it safer for Marines to conduct patrols. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. William Skelton)
By U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. William Skelton
CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq, March 14, 2006 — Whether they’re sweeping for improvised explosive devices, reinforcing outlying posts or joining foot patrols, combat engineers with 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, stay busy.
“When it comes to being an engineer, our field is so broad,” said Gunnery Sgt. Anthony J. Easton, the 30-year-old engineer platoon sergeant from Saint Cloud, Minn. “We really focus on survivability, mobility, counter-mobility and things of that nature.”
The engineers support the battalion in a variety of ways. Recently, engineers fortified the Iraqi Police station in Gharmah against attacks by insurgents, Easton explained. Improvements there made the station easier to defend and more survivable. It’s a constant mission, one that calls for continuous vigilance.
They provided construction of barriers and other forms of protection for the Marines around Fallujah. Engineers also provide critical support daily for detecting weapons that could be used to create improvised explosive devices.
“We seem to focus a lot on cache sweeps,” Easton said. “There aren’t too many days that we don’t go out and not find something.”
Teams accompanied platoons on patrol and supported them by performing cache sweeps. The engineers carried metal detectors to search munitions.
“We use metal detectors that allow us to sweep over areas of terrain to find different types of weapons,” said Lance Cpl. Luis J. Acosta, a 19-year-old engineer from Sacramento, Calif.
Lance Cpl. Fernando Barajas, a 20-year-old combat engineer from Memphis, Tenn., said they search nearly everything, but have a good idea of where they’re likely to find buried munitions.
“We search large sand dunes near abandoned houses or wells near crop fields,” Barajas explained.
Acosta added that the weapons caches often have tell-tale signs as well. The ground appears to have been dug and repacked. Marines patrol areas often enough to recognize when such sites look out of place.
“Usually they look fresh, like the sand has been disturbed recently,” he said.
The effort to find and retrieve these buried weapons and munitions is invaluable to the Marines and Iraqi soldiers. Many of the caches are used to manufacture IEDs, used to target roving patrols or as bombs hidden in vehicles. Cutting off the supply of these tools is vital to starving the insurgents of their resources to conduct attacks. Combat engineers are uniquely qualified for this sort of work.
U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Fernando Barajas uses a metal detector in search of munitions during a cache search near Fallujah, Iraq. Barajas, who is a combat engineer, works in conjunction with infantry units to provide a variety of tools to seek out weapons caches. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. William Skelton)
“Combat engineers are a resource that cannot have a measure of worth placed on them,” Easton said. “The range of services they provide are immeasurable if they are used efficiently.”
That added value to the infantry isn’t lost on the average Marine. They know that with each buried bomb engineers find, another Marine’s life was saved.
“We wouldn’t be able to do our jobs thoroughly without the help of the engineers, said Cpl. Paul A. Bennett, a 21-year-old squad leader with Weapons Company from San Diego.
It’s the variety of skills the combat engineers harbor that enable them to flex to the adapting environment and work find a role in nearly every mission.
“When graduated from boot camp I really didn’t know what exactly I would be doing most of the time,” Barajas said. “I thought I would be doing mostly construction.”
Nearly every day, combat engineers are unearthing buried weapons or building improvements for force protection. It’s a job they see tangible results and know their work keeps Marines safe.
“Every day we have the opportunity to get weapons out of the hands of insurgents or make some building a little safer to work in,” Barajas said. “It makes me proud to know I am helping to save Marines lives.
March 14, 2006
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A high-tech Defense Department identification system has linked some captured terrorists to previous crimes and prevented their release from overseas detention facilities, senior defense officials said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing here March 10.
"I understand that the (defense) department is collecting biometric information from individuals detained in Iraq and for forensic investigations of (improvised explosive device) attacks," Texas Sen. John Cornyn, chairman of the SASC's emerging threats and capabilities subcommittee, said to Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland security.
"Consistent with applicable law, we are aggressively using biometrics for the purposes that you described, Senator," McHale answered. DoD established standard procedures for collecting biometrics information about a year and a half ago and provided that system to overseas U.S. combatant commands, McHale said.
Biometrics is defined as measurable physical or behavioral characteristics that can be used to identify people. Terrorists in Iraq often employ IEDs, or roadside bombs, against U.S., coalition, and Iraqi military forces and civilians.
Cornyn also asked McHale if DoD was sharing its detainee biometrics information with the U.S. Departments of Justice, State or Homeland Security, so that detainees who might escape could be prevented from entering the United States to do mischief.
McHale responded that DoD's detainee biometrics information databank is collocated with the FBI and is also shared with the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies.
The biometrics program used for identifying detainees "is an extraordinary success story," Army Lt. Gen. Joseph R. Inge, deputy commander of U.S. Northern Command and vice commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command's U.S. element, said.
In "many instances," the general said, that biometric data has kept dangerous detainees safely under lock and key.
"We have linked that data to specific individuals and in specific cases have kept them in custody under circumstances, where but for that biometric data, they might have been released," Inge said.
Similar systems are being used to improve force protection at U.S. military bases in Iraq. During a demonstration conducted in the Washington, D.C., area in May 2005, officials showed how biographical data, facial photographs, fingerprints and iris scans can be employed to develop ID cards that can't be counterfeited, ideal for use by Iraqis and other non-U.S. citizens who work on U.S. bases in Iraq.
The need for a better way to screen people coming onto U.S. bases in Iraq was illustrated by the Dec. 21, 2004, bombing of a military dining facility in Mosul. That blast killed 22 people, including 14 U.S. soldiers, and wounded at least 50. It was first thought the dining hall had been hit by a rocket attack.
Further investigation of the Mosul bombing pointed to the likelihood that a suicide bomber had infiltrated the base - one non-U.S. person killed couldn't be identified - and set off the explosion.
By Gerry J. Gilmore - American Forces Press Service
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
First Pakistan-Afghanistan bus service runs
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Wed Mar 15, 11:11 AM ET - Pakistani troops using explosives destroyed an Islamic school suspected of being a hideout for militants in a tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said.(AFP/Anjum Naveed)
Story by Cpl. Daniel J. Redding
CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq (Mar. 12, 2006) -- Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 130th Infantry Regiment performed a multi-faceted mission near Camp Taqaddum, Iraq, March 12, as they carried out weapons cache sweeps, investigated possible improvised explosive devices and conducted route clearance operations during the daylong operation.
Along the way, the Illinois-based National Guard unit took time to interact with the locals, stopping in local villages around the base.
The soldiers’ primary mission is to provide base security for the Marines and sailors of the forward-deployed 1st Marine Logistics Group. The 4,200 joint-service members of 1st MLG are part of the 25,000 Marines, airmen, soldiers and sailors of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force’s forward deployed element.
The 1st MLG’s mission is to provide sustained logistics support to I MEF and Iraqi security forces operating in the Al Anbar province of Iraq. Marines with 1st MLG will also support the development of the Iraqi Security Forces' logistic capabilities in order to enable independent ISF led counter insurgency operations.
During their mission, the soldiers were acquainting themselves with the routes in their newly assigned area to ensure the safety of the roads for future convoys, said Staff Sgt. Thomas D. Reif, convoy patrol leader and 37-year-old native of Raymond, Ill.
To clear a route for future convoys the soldiers scan the roads for possible signs of makeshift bombs called improvised explosive devices.
The IEDs are manufactured in a variety of ways with a variety of explosives, and have been one of the leading causes of casualties for troops in Iraq. While on this patrol a suspicious mound of dirt drew the soldiers’ attention – a possible IED. After close inspection of the surrounding area with no results, it was decided that the mound of dirt was just that – a mount of dirt.
Later in the day, after they conducted the route clearing and terrain association mission, the soldiers stopped in two local towns to pass out stuffed animals, candy and toothbrushes to the Iraqi children. Although their primary mission was defensive patrols against the insurgency, the soldiers frequently interacted with the Iraqis, lightening the mood of their operations.
The soldiers were grateful it wasn’t business as usual and could do something a little light hearted. Whether it’s handing out candy or searching for IEDs, the soldiers are proud of what they are doing in Iraq, said Sgt. 1st Class Timothy J. Atteberry, platoon sergeant.
“The individual, personal satisfaction of helping another human being really comes from these kinds of humanitarian-aid type missions,” said Atteberry, a 38-year-old native of Champagne, Ill.
While the day ended with no weapons caches or IEDs discovered, it was ultimately a success for the soldiers, said Spec. Sean M. Seahausen, a 30-year-old native of Godfrey, Ill.
“As long as everybody gets back inside the wire safe (and) we put a few smiles on the faces around here… it’s definitely a good day,” said Seahausen.
More Photos (scroll down)
By Anita Powell - Stars and Stripes Mideast edition
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
JALALABAD, Afghanistan — One of the U.S. military’s top commanders made a quick stop in eastern Afghanistan as part of a tour of the nation Tuesday.
Adm. William Fallon, the Hawaii-based commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, met with local leaders and troops stationed in Jalalabad, one of Afghanistan’s largest cities. Jalalabad Airfield is home to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, of Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
Fallon also visited Bagram and Kabul on Tuesday.
During his two hours in Jalalabad, Fallon met with Nangarhar governor Gul Agha Sherzai and a slew of local dignitaries at the governor’s mansion Tuesday afternoon.
“They tell me you are the greatest general coming here,” Sherzai said.
“Maybe not the greatest,” Fallon joked, touching his silver hair, “but the oldest.”
Fallon later said he felt the meeting, which was brief and filled with platitudes and pleasantries, was an important gesture toward local leaders. “I demonstrated to the governor that the senior leadership cares,” he said. “I don’t think you get a guy as senior as me out here very often.”
He did not publicly address the Monday death of a Jalalabad-based Marine, whose name has not been released. However, local leaders offered a prayer for four Jalalabad-based soldiers who were killed Sunday in Kunar province.
Fallon also spoke to a small group of Marines and soldiers at tiny Jalalabad Airfield, offering praise, encouragement and several pounds of Hawaiian coffee.
“There’s so much good work going on here that it’s unbelievable,” he said. “I appreciate what you are doing. I know it’s tough. I wish I had more time to spend with you, to go out into the field and see what you’re really doing.
“Keep trucking,” he told the crowd of mostly young Marines. “We’ll keep the home fires lit.”
Adm. William Fallon meets with Nangarhar province governor Gul Agha Sherzai Tuesday afternoon. (Anita Powell / S&S)
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 15, 2006 – U.S. soldiers and Iraqi security forces in recent days have continued to detain suspected insurgents and to find and destroy weapons caches, military officials reported.
Soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, and Iraqi security forces in the last two days detained several insurgents and confiscated materials useful in building roadside bombs.
Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, and Iraqi police searched a house and found more than 300 false identification cards, including Iraqi police IDs. During the search, an Iraqi man came to the house to see the owner. After a few minutes of questioning, the man admitted to previously purchasing a false ID card from the homeowner. Both were taken into custody.
On a combined patrol with Iraqi police, 1st BCT soldiers discovered a weapons cache at a home in Kirkuk. Iraqi Emergency Services Unit had detained the house's owner the day before, after receiving information linking the man to a car-bomb attack. A search yielded several bags of ammunition as well as a large cache of materials for homemade bombs, including rocket propelled grenade rounds, C-4 explosive, radios and rolls of electrical wire.
Acting on citizens' tips, Iraqi police raided two houses near Tikrit yesterday and found weapons and explosives. The police secured both sites and called in an explosive ordnance disposal team from Task Force Band of Brothers. The caches included mortar rounds, artillery shells, land mines, a mortar tube, homemade-bomb components and bulk explosives. The police ensured the area was clear of civilians and the EOD team performed a controlled detonation that destroyed the weapons and both houses.
Task Force Band of Brothers soldiers unearthed a large cache of weapons and explosives at a house south of Tikrit yesterday. At the same house on Feb. 10, soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, found mortar rounds that were being disassembled for use in roadside bombs at the same location and detained the homeowner. When soldiers returned yesterday and conducted a more detailed search of the area, they found aircraft rounds, artillery shells, hand grenades, homemade-bomb components, a sniper rifle and several thousand rounds of small arms ammunition. An EOD team determined the cache was too unstable too move. The team cleared the area of civilians and destroyed the weapons and the house in a controlled detonation.
Two off-duty Iraqi soldiers captured two terrorists who were planting a roadside bomb in Kirkuk province March 12 and turned them over to police. An Iraqi explosives unit disposed of the bomb.
In the past three days, Iraqi police captured several individuals involved in terrorist activities in one form or another. Police in the Daquq district captured a member of the Omar Bin Khatab terrorist cell who is known to transport weapons and roadside bombs throughout the region, while police in the Qoria district detained a woman suspected of using her home as a safe haven for terrorists. In another community, children told police of weapons stashed in a nearby trash bin, where police found 18 fuses and more than 20 explosive rounds. (Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq news releases.)
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GAZA, March 15 (KUNA) -- As many as 13 missiles have been launched form northern Gaza Strip on Israeli targets since Tuesday night, the Israeli army said.
An army statement said five Palestinian missiles were launched towards Israel form the Gaza Strip in the morning.
Israeli military spokesman said the missiles hit empty areas in Israel, adding that no casualties or damage were reported.
The Israeli artillery also shelled a number of areas in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian resistance factions announced Wednesday that their attacks came in response to the arrest of PFLP Secretary General Ahmad Saadat in Jericho yesterday.
By Jim Garamone - American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 15, 2006 – Iraq is not on the verge of a civil war, and sectarian issues in the country are controllable, the commander of U.S. Central Command told the House Armed Services Committee here today. Army Gen. John Abizaid testified about CENTCOM's posture. He told the representatives he believes a government of national unity will emerge in Iraq and that the Iraqi security forces will continue to improve.
Abizaid said he was concerned about sectarian violence in Iraq since the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra on Feb. 22. He said he believes fugitive Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al Qaeda in Iraq group was responsible for the bombing as an attempt to foment civil war.
"Certainly we believe that the Samarra bombings were the work of al Qaeda. This is well within their stated intentions," the general said. "No, I don't have proof, but that's who I think did it, and that's who most Iraqis think did it. They have every reason to find a wedge to provide sectarian difficulties, to make the government fail, and to cause the Iraqi security forces to lose heart."
Iraq needs a unity government, and soon, Abizaid said. The new government must build strong ministries "that are not dominated by various sectarian concerns, and move forward in order to move the country towards peace and prosperity and defeat the insurgency."
Abizaid said al Qaeda remains the primary target in the region. "We continue to fight al Qaeda wherever we find them," he said. "We fight them directly every day in Iraq and in Afghanistan."
Enemy tactics in Afghanistan, the general said, have moved away from guerrilla-type ambushes toward assassinations, roadside bombs and attacks against government officials "that are moving more and more out into the hinterlands."
Coalition allies in the region also are putting pressure on al Quaeda, he said, and he specifically cited the cooperation received from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. "Every country in the region that has an al Qaeda threat approaches it in a way that we all need to pay attention to," he said.
Al Qaeda is active and dangerous in the region, he said. But, "the vast majority of the people in the region don't want it to win," he said. "And in this battle between moderates and extremists, we need to understand that we're fighting with the good people of the region, not against them."
The general said progress is being made in the region. He said NATO working in Afghanistan is an important mission for the alliance and the world. He said the Iraqi army, in particular, did very well in the country in the days after the attack in Samarra. He said the Iraqi police must be brought up to a similar standard where their first loyalty is to the nation and not to ethnic or tribal groups.
The strategy in Iraq is working, the general said. As Iraqi forces train and gain more experience, they are taking over more and more responsibility. "In fact, by the end of the year, it is our desire that the Iraqis will have the vast majority of the lead in fighting the insurgency and dealing with the security problems that certainly will continue to be in Iraq," he said.
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By Kevin Dougherty - Stars and Stripes European edition
Thursday, March 16, 2006
The U.S. Army is investigating two separate Apache helicopter accidents in Germany in late February that resulted in no serious injuries but caused damage to both aircraft, a 1st Armored Division spokesman said Wednesday.
One of the two helicopters crash-landed Feb. 27 in Hohenfels, sustaining enough damage that officials have essentially written it off.
“That aircraft is a loss,” said Maj. Michael Indovina, a 1st AD spokesman.
The other AH-64 Apache helicopter went down Feb. 23 at Grafenwöhr Army Airfield, causing damage to the tail section, Indovina said.
However, unlike with the other Apache, the damage was relatively minor, he added.
Army officials didn’t disclose the accidents until Tuesday, when U.S. Army Europe posted on its Web site a safety alert from Gen. David D. McKiernan, the USAREUR commander.
After mentioning two fatal accidents involving off-duty soldiers, McKiernan wrote: “In addition, two of our Apache helicopters were damaged in accidents. Fortunately, the pilots were not seriously injured, but the multimillion-dollar damage is a tremendous loss of warfighting assets.”
A regular Apache helicopter roughly costs $14 million.
The Grafenwöhr accident occurred as the two-person crew was preparing to land at the airfield after completing a mission, Indovina said.
He said the helicopter “hit harder than expected” as it was landing.
Four days later, a crew was testing an Apache as part of a maintenance check at Hohenfels, hovering approximately 10 to 15 feet above ground when the rotors sucked in some debris, possibly from the roof of a nearby hangar.
The debris “got ingested by the rotor system,” causing the helicopter to drop straight down, Indovina said.
The two crewmembers suffered minor injuries, mostly bumps and bruises, he added.
Both helicopters are assigned to the 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, which has been training with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team in preparation for deployment to Iraq.
By Steve Mraz - Stars and Stripes European edition
Thursday, March 16, 2006
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — For the second time in about four weeks, a World War II-era, unexploded bomb was discovered, disarmed and removed from a Kaiserslautern military community installation.
A 1,000-pound bomb was discovered Monday afternoon in the Air Force’s Vogelweh Housing Area by a construction team working on a new traffic circle, said Erin Zagursky, an Air Force spokeswoman. The unexploded bomb was found near Building 1127, which is a housing unit. The elementary school and Child Development Center are near the area where the bomb was found.
Crews began work to remove the bomb around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday after employees, residents and students were evacuated from the complex. A 750-meter cordon was established to ensure safety during the bomb removal.
On Feb. 16, a 500-pound, World War II bomb was discovered by construction crews working at Pulaski Park, which is in close proximity to the Vogelweh Housing Area. That bomb was successfully removed without incident.
Thu Mar 16, 2006 - 3:28 PM GMT
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Thursday it had launched its biggest air offensive in Iraq since the 2003 invasion of the country.
A military statement said the operation involving more than 50 aircraft and 1,500 Iraqi and U.S. troops as well as 200 tactical vehicles targeted suspected insurgents operating area near the town of Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad.
Reuters
US launches 'major Iraq assault' - BBC
US launches Iraq air offensive - Aljazeera
"Operation Swarmer"
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