Posted on 09/08/2006 3:37:27 PM PDT by Gucho
By Steven Donald Smith - American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 2006 – August saw “a significant decrease in violence” in Iraq, the commander of Multinational Corps Iraq said yesterday.
These areas are seeing the beginning of economic revitalization, Chiarelli said from his headquarters in Baghdad. “And, before too long, we will see some long-term projects, where basic services kick in and, we think, really, really contribute to the security of Baghdad.”
The general said violent militias determined to wreak chaos and division in Iraq must be stopped. “There are small groups of individuals -- we call them death squads -- who are intent on attempting to try to continue this level of sectarian violence,” he said. “It's our job to go out on the security line of operation and find those death squads and bring them to justice.”
Chiarelli said he felt the situation in Iraq has drastically changed from a few years ago. “There's no doubt in my mind this is a different war than we fought two or three years ago,” he said. “This is a different war than the United States has ever fought.”
This different war requires U.S. forces to change the way they operate by using more “non-kinetic elements,” such as winning over the population through rebuilding efforts, he said.
The non-kinetic elements are absolutely critical. “I never thought that I would know anything about how a sewer system in a city of 7.5 million people works, but I do now,” Chiarelli said. “And I know that only because the people of Baghdad want their sewers fixed. It is important that I understand how it works.
“I can help the Iraqi government do what is necessary to make sure that it works, that fresh, potable water works, that sewage systems work, that electricity works, that health care systems work,” he said.
“If we can have the people in Baghdad and all over Iraq believe that their life is getting better, … it will definitely contribute to the security line of operation, and make Baghdad and Iraq a much more secure city and country,” he said.
The new Army field manual on detention operations released earlier this week will help U.S. forces adjust to the evolving situation in Iraq and the overall war against terror, Chiarelli said. “Along with that field manual and many, many others, we're going to have to look at the way we do things across the board to fight this kind of conflict,” he said.
Chiarelli said American servicemembers are working tirelessly to bring stability and democracy to Iraq. “The individual American Marine or soldier is out every single day, trying to bring peace to Iraq and trying to help establish the democratic government of Iraq,” he said.
He added that U.S. forces will continue to help the Iraqi government gain credibility with its citizens, which will ultimately hurt the terrorists in Iraq. “When that happens, it will be very, very difficult for the terrorists to operate anywhere in Iraq,” he said. “This isn't something that happens overnight.”
(American Forces Press Service correspondent Jim Garamone contributed to this report.)
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Thursday, 07 September 2006
By Lance Cpl. Geoffrey P. Ingersoll - I Marine Logistics Group, Public Affairs
CAMP TAQADDUM — As the early morning sun slips over the horizon, it illuminates a group of Marines and their line of humvees, loaded heavy with gear. The industrious Marines suit up, mount up and roll out of their home-away-from-home: a dry, dusty lot they call “Comm Company.”
The Marines of Wire Platoon, Communications Company, 1st Marine Logistics Group, wear enough equipment to make the infantry proud. They leave base every day with heavy machine-guns mounted atop their humvees, on missions to provide the local Military Transition Teams with the tools they need to help train a successful Iraqi Army.
“We provided better service for them, quicker service,” said Sgt. Ratsamy J. Bouttavong, a wire chief from Sacramento, Calif.
Describing the hardware being put in place for the Iraqi Army and U.S.-led transition teams, Bouttavong explained hard wire or fiber optics offer more reliable, more efficient and more secure paths for communication than radio phones and wireless information exchange.
A lot of the equipment that was being used in the field was for tactical or mobile use only, not for establishing a permanent base of communications, Bouttavong said. The only downside to upgrading is the labor required, especially in an urban environment with no existing communication infrastructure.
Miles of concrete to break through, trenches to dig and wires to bury make for tired, but determined, Marines, Bouttavong said. She credits her troops’ mental and physical toughness with relatively quick installation processes, compared to the time the work would normally take.
Manning the 50 caliber machine-gun, Sgt. Bryce F. Catlett provides security for the wiremen Marines at work behind him. (Department of Defense photo by Marine Lance Cpl. Geoffrey P. Ingersoll)
The Marines’ work ethic has been awesome - they are a bunch of work horses - said Bouttavong. She noted that if the power tools break down, her troops will not hesitate to resort to good, old manual labor.
“Everybody pulls their own weight, working together, we’ve got a good bond,” said Lance Cpl. Chris J. Harkey, a communications Marine who is in the beginning of his first deployment to Iraq.
Harkey said the busy pace of the work helps his crew block out the dangers of the civilian areas near which they often operate.
“Our gunners take care of us,” explained Harkey.
Despite daily attacks from improvised explosive devices and mortars in al-Anbar province, the Wire Platoon of Comms Company say they have to worry more about the intense Iraqi sun than dangers posed by the enemy.
“(The biggest challenge is) the sun and the heat,” said Lance Cpl. Nicole K. Estrada, a Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. native.
Estrada has more cause for sun-related complaints than most. Every morning, she puts on a thick, protective, full-body “gunner suit.”
“Out of the whole company, I am the first female to go out as a (.50-caliber machine) gunner,” said Estrada. “Having to be out there for two or three hours at a time in the gun suit is very fatiguing, it’s all about hydration.”
Still, she said, all of the hard work is necessary so that the Iraqi Army possesses a reliable, independent source of communication, able to relay information to units on missions and to the support units responsible for supplies.
“It’s important so the Iraqis can operate on their own,” Estrada explained.
“You have to (appreciate Communications) Company … this couldn’t happen without them. Period, end of story,” said 1st Lt. Steven A. Ekdahl, the acting communications officer for the 1st Iraqi Army Division MiTT.
Ekdahl, a Frankfurt, Ill. native, emphasized the importance of up-to-date communications for MiTT training capabilities.
The hard labor of the wire platoon has afforded the MiTT and Iraqi Army a reliable communication network, so they can now get what they need to continue their training and continue their aggressive fight against insurgents, said Ekdahl.
“You have to have communication in place first, before you can have a government,” added Harkey.
The Flagstaff, Az. native knows well the sacrifices he and his fellow Marines make now will be worth it in the end.
“We were out there in our flaks and Kevlars the other day for about three hours, digging….it needed to be done…better now than when we have kids,” he said. “Better we take care of it, before they have to.”
Harkey and the other communications Marines agree the hard work sometimes makes the long days seem shorter.
Everything they do, they do together. Every trench dug, every wire spliced, is done as a team. They fight together for every tedious inch, through dirt, sun, and dehydration.
“I keep pushing them,” said Bouttavong. “I know their potential, I know what they can do, and they continue to make me proud every day.”
An Iraqi army soldier from the 5th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division looks for weapons on the rooftop of a house while a fellow soldier questions a woman during a raid in Tafaria, Iraq, Sept. 4, 2006. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Jackey Bratt)
Friday, September 8, 2006
Kabul suicide bomb hits US convoy
Friday, September 8, 2006
Fri Sep 8, 12:00 PM ET - Pakistani authorities said they had seized a cache of arms and ammunition being smuggled into the country from Afghanistan after an exchange of fire on the volatile southwestern border. (AFP/Asghar Achakzai)
By Staff Sgt. Shad Eidson - Air Force Print News
Sep 8, 2006
SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Air Force investigators and Kyrgyz police are still searching for Maj. Jill Metzger, who has been missing from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, since Sept. 5.
Major Metzger, deployed as the personnel chief at the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing at nearby Manas Air Base, disappeared during a trip to a shopping center in the capital city.
Since the major vanished, Manas officials have curtailed all off-base, non-official business for Airmen at the base, said Maj. Mike Young, a U.S. Central Command spokesman. In a Sept. 7 release, the Department of Defense listed her as Duty Status: Whereabouts Unknown.
The major said as the search continues there is nothing to suggest any one scenario or any particular thing can account for Major Metzger's disappearance.
"Our number one priority is the safety of Major Metzger and the security of everyone at Manas," Major Young said. "Returning her safely is our number one goal right now."
Investigators are working closely with the Kyrgyzstan government, the local police force and even the shopping center's security service. The major said U.S. officials have reviewed the center's security tapes and are interviewing people there.
"They truly are leaving no stone unturned," Major Young said.
At Moody Air Force Base, Ga., where the major is permanently assigned, she is a valuable member of the community, said Col. Joe Callahan III, the 347th Rescue Wing commander.
"Ensuring she returns home to her family is our top priority," the colonel said. "Jill and her family are in our thoughts and prayers and we are talking daily with her family to ensure their needs are being taken care of.
"We ask that everyone keep Jill and her family in their thoughts," the colonel said.
Major Young said the Air Force is doing everything it can to find Major Metzger. He said Air Force investigators have received "exceptional cooperation" from everyone involved in trying to find the major, even top government officials.
Major Metzger deployed to Manas from the 347th Mission Support Squadron at Moody where she is a personnel officer. The major is also an avid marathon runner. While stationed at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, she won the 2003 and 2004 women's division of the Air Force Marathon, held at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
After winning the second consecutive race, she told the U.S. Air Forces in Europe News Service she was able to finish strong by thinking about everyone on base and in the German community who came to her and told her how she inspired them by winning the first marathon.
"Even though there is a language barrier, it is amazing how well people can communicate when you share the same passion for running," she said in the USAFE article.
In a story released by the Associated Press on Sept. 7, the major's father, John Metzger, said he was waiting and praying for good news.
"We've got a prayer chain all the way across the nation, and it's our hope that God will return her safely," Mr. Metzger told the Associated Press.
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:
Maj. Jill Metzger, the personnel chief at the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing at Manas Air Base, Kyrgyzstan, is still missing after disappearing during a shopping trip at the nearby capital city of Bishkek. Major Metzger, a champion marathon runner, is shown here crossing the line as the first female finisher of the 2004 Air Force Marathon. (U.S. Air Force photo/Spencer Lane)
Maj. Jill Metzger, the personnel chief at the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing at Manas Air Base, Kyrgyzstan is still missing after disappearing during a trip to a shopping center in the nearby capital city of Bishkek. Major Metzger, a champion marathon runner, is shown here being congratulated by her parents, John and Jeannette, after crossing the line as the first female finisher of the 2004 Air Force Marathon. (U.S. Air Force photo/Spencer Lane)
By Sgt. Sara Wood, USA - American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 2006 – Continual training with coalition forces has increased the capabilities of the Iraqi army and police in northern Iraq and allowed the local forces to take responsibility for more territory and work toward the future of the country, the U.S. commander in the area said today.
“In an area of responsibility that exceeds 47,000 square miles, we have leveraged the full spectrum of assets in order to engage the population and neutralize the enemy,” Army Maj. Gen. Thomas R. Turner, commander of Multinational Division North, said in a news conference via satellite from Iraq. “Iraqi security forces have taken the fight to the terrorists and insurgents throughout Multinational Division North. Numerous combined and increasingly Iraqi-only operations continue to disrupt the enemy's decision-making process and disrupt their freedom of movement.”
A year ago, only one Iraqi army battalion was in the lead in the north, but today, 35 battalions, eight brigades and two divisions have assumed the lead and have been assigned an area of operations, Turner said. The majority of all operations in the region are led by the Iraqi army, he said, and the logistics and sustainment capabilities of the army are developing.
Now that the majority of the Iraqi army combat units are in the lead, the coalition is focused on building combat support and combat service support units, Turner said. When these units are fully established, they will provide critical support, such as logistics, transportation, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, he said.
Iraqi police in northern Iraq also have made great improvements, although they are still behind the army in capabilities, Turner said. More than 31,000 police have been trained in the region, and by December, more than 43,000 should be trained and fully equipped, he said. Almost 100 police stations were constructed this year, and 30 more are under construction, he added.
“It was not so long ago that we saw Iraqi police either abandoning their post or throwing down their arms when attacked or confronted by the enemy,” he said. “Today they are much stronger, and we continue to see progress.”
Progress also is being made along Iraq’s borders with Syria, Turkey and Iran, Turner said. As of today, 132 border forts have been built across the north, and seven points of entry along the eastern and western Iraqi borders have been upgraded, he said.
While developing the Iraqi security forces, coalition forces in the north also have reduced their presence, Turner said. In the past year, the coalition has gone from using 35 forward operating bases to 11, with the vacated bases being either closed or turned over to the Iraqi army or Iraqi government, he said.
Important challenges still lay ahead in Iraq, such as building trust across ethnic lines, defeating terrorists who promote sectarian conflict, establishing security and rule of law for all Iraqis, increasing economic growth to provide jobs, delivering essential services, and fighting corruption, Turner said. The key to the future is the development of the political process, which will allow the government to bring hope to the Iraqi people, who are ready to move beyond the country’s violent past, he said.
“The majority of Iraqis are tired of the bloodshed, and this enemy presents no challenge that cannot be overcome,” he said. “This was most evident after the horrific bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, where we saw the restraint of the Iraqi people in the face of massive provocation by those who respect nothing except their own destructive agenda for Iraq.”
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August saw “a significant decrease in violence” in Iraq, the commander of Multinational Corps Iraq said yesterday.
----
Other media reported it differently, saying death toll in August was not down much from July.
http://freedomstruth.blogspot.com/
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Operations in Iraq Yield Insurgents, Weapons
By American Forces Press Service
Sep 8, 2006
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Iraqi army units, along with coalition force advisors, conducted multiple raids yesterday to capture suspected insurgents, U.S. military officials said.
In a raid in Habbiniyah, Iraqi army forces captured two people believed to have engaged in insurgent activities against Iraqi and coalition forces. One was a suspected makeshift-bomb maker connected with multiple attacks against coalition forces, officials said.
An insurgent engaged in an intimidation campaign against Iraqi citizens also was captured during a raid in Taji. The suspect controlled an insurgent cell that engaged in the systematic kidnapping of Iraqi citizens, officials said.
In a raid in Ramadi, a suspected sniper and four others suspected of detonating makeshift bombs against Iraqi and coalition forces were captured.
All raids occurred without further incident and with no reported casualties, officials said.
In other news from Iraq, Iraqi policemen, in a combined patrol with soldiers from Company B, 4th Battalion, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, detained a terrorist suspect and reported that two others were wounded after a failed makeshift-car-bomb attack in northeastern Baghdad yesterday.
The wounded suspects were taken to a hospital before the patrol arrived at the site, officials said.
In addition, U.S. soldiers killed an insurgent and wounded another near Hawija, in Iraq's Kirkuk province, yesterday. The soldiers, from 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, spotted the insurgents placing a roadside makeshift bomb and engaged them with small-arms fire. An explosive ordnance disposal team was sent to the site and found a mortar round next to the insurgents' vehicle, officials said.
Also, Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers discovered a large weapons cache and detained 20 suspected terrorists Sept. 6 after stopping a suspicious looking truck in eastern Baghdad, officials said.
After searching the truck, soldiers from Company A, 3rd Battalion, 67th Armored Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, seized assault rifles, body armor vests, a rocket-propelled-grenade launcher, rocket-propelled-grenade rounds, a grenade, a machine gun, ammunition, an assault-rifle, ammunition vests, a handgun and rifle magazines.
Meanwhile, Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers from Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, arrested a terrorist and confiscated his weapons while conducting operations to disrupt terrorist movement during the Shabaniyah pilgrimage, south of Baghdad Sept. 6.
The arrest took place after soldiers were conducting vehicle searches and observed six suspects behaving suspiciously. The patrol moved toward the suspects and identified one terrorist with a loaded rocket-propelled-grenade launcher. Soldiers engaged the terrorists, and the group fled. One terrorist remained behind in an attempt to ambush the patrol, officials said. Soldiers arrested the potential attacker, who was wearing body armor, and confiscated a machine gun, assault rifles and a loaded rocket-propelled grenade with an additional round.
(Compiled from Multinational Corps Iraq news releases.)
http://www.blackanthem.com/News/military200608_611.shtml
By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes - Mideast edition
Saturday, September 9, 2006
ARLINGTON, Va. — The Army has received $184 million for armor to protect vehicles against a particularly lethal type of roadside bomb, retired Army Gen. Montgomery Meigs said Thursday.
The Marine Corps — which has fewer vehicles than the Army — also has received $65.7 million for the armor, which is expected to begin arriving war zones next month, said officials from the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization.
Meigs is director of the organization, which is dedicated to defeating roadside bombs. Its total budget for fiscal 2006 is $3.47 billion.
Explosive devices, such as roadside bombs, account for roughly half of combat deaths in Iraq and more than a quarter of the combat deaths in Afghanistan, according to the Defense Department.
The organization has given the Army and Marines the money to armor trucks and Humvees against explosively formed penetrators (EFPs), which can penetrate a tank in the right place, Meigs said.
Meigs showed reporters a mock-up of such a roadside bomb, which is made from a pipe and a blasting cap. When the device goes off, it fires a projectile at roughly 10,000 feet per second, he said.
The device can be manufactured so that the projectile is shaped for maximum effectiveness, according to a spokesman from the Air Force Research Laboratory, which has studied EFPs for more than a decade: a “long rod” for maximum piercing capability, a more conical shape for a bigger hole, and a fragmentation mode for broader, thin-skinned targets.
Meigs would not say how the armor works, but he did say it features a new door locking system that would to help the doors be opened or removed in case of an emergency.
Standard locking systems can jam when doors are warped by the force of explosions, he explained.
Asked when all Humvees would be fitted with the armor, Meigs said, “As fast as we can do it, I just can’t give you a date.”
He added that troops downrange already have about 5,000 interim armor kits, which provide close to the same level of protection as the new armor but lack the new door locking system.
Meigs said explosively formed penetrators account for a disproportionately high number of U.S. deaths from roadside bombs, but he declined to give specific numbers.
The devices are made by industrial machines and require high-quality explosives, he said.
In Iraq, such devices are found exclusively in Shiite areas, and they also have been used by the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah, he said.
Officials have accused Iran of supplying the means for roadside bombs in Iraq but they have not provided specific evidence linking the Iranians to roadside bombs in Iraq.
While Meigs said “easy access” to technology for explosively formed penetrators comes through Iran, he did not say outright whether Iran is supplying such roadside bombs to insurgents in Iraq.
He noted that President Bush has said the most sophisticated roadside bomb technology comes from Iran.
“All I can do is tell you what the administration has said about this,” Meigs said.
THANK YOU for this update Gucho.
It's a start.
You're welcome, Cindy.
By Noel King - Khartoum
08 September 2006
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has secured the release of Paul Salopek, an American reporter currently imprisoned in Sudan's Darfur region. Noel King reports Richardson arrived in the capital Khartoum for talks with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Friday.
Paul Salopek will be released into the custody of a delegation led by Governor Bill Richardson Saturday.
Bill Richardson, left, and President Omar Bashir, right, during negotiations to release Paul Salopek and two Chadians jailed on charges of espionage in Khartoum, Sept. 8, 2006.
Richardson told VOA from the Sudanese capital Khartoum that he is elated to have negotiated the release of Salopek and the Chadian driver and interpreter who were arrested and charged along with him.
"The good news is that Paul Salopek and the two Chadians are going to be released to me tomorrow. I had a meeting with President Bashir moments after I arrived in Khartoum. I made a strong pitch on the basis of humanitarian grounds that Paul Salopek is not a spy, he's a distinguished journalist. President Bashir was gracious and said he would release him to me tomorrow [Saturday]."
Salopek, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winning foreign correspondent with the Chicago Tribune was arrested in Darfur in early August. He was on leave from the Tribune, and on assignment for National Geographic magazine.
Salopek crossed into Sudan from neighboring Chad without a visa and was subsequently charged with spying and printing false information about Sudan.
Tensions have run high between the U.S. and Sudan in recent weeks, as Washington has pushed for a United Nations force to enter the war-torn Darfur region.
Sudan has refused to allow the U.N. peacekeepers into Darfur and has accused the U.S. of plotting a regime change.
Richardson described his negotiations with President al-Bashir as friendly. He called Salopek's case a humanitarian issue rather than a political one.
"If we use diplomacy and we use international understanding and recognize each other's differences, we have huge differences with Sudan," he said. "But on this humanitarian issue, Paul Salopek will be a free man tomorrow."
The delegation will pick Salopek up in the Darfuri capital El Fasher, before returning to New Mexico.
The Chadian driver and interpreter who accompanied Salopek will be allowed to return to Chad.
Friday's trip to Khartoum was not a first for Richardson. In 1996, he helped to negotiate the release of three Red Cross workers who were being held by rebels in Sudan.
Salopek had been charged with spying and entering Sudan without a visa.
By Robert Berger - Jerusalem
08 September 2006
Israel has lifted its crippling naval blockade of Lebanon, a day after removing the air blockade. The move is seen as a boost to the three-week-old ceasefire between Israel and the Islamic militant group Hezbollah based in South Lebanon.
Italian UNIFIL aircraft carrier patrols off shore near coast of southern Lebanese city Naqura, 08 September 2006.
The Israeli navy lifted the blockade of Lebanese ports that was imposed at the beginning of the war eight weeks ago. Israel transferred authority to U.N. naval forces, which include Italian, French and Greek warships. Israel says their mission is to block the supply of weapons from Syria and Iran to Hezbollah.
"From day one of the ceasefire, Israel said that we'd be willing to lift the restrictions on air and sea travel in and out of Lebanon, the minute we had confidence that the arms embargo against Hezbollah would be enforced," said Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev.
The lifting of the blockade will help Lebanon return to normal commercial life and begin rebuilding. Lebanese officials say the siege cost the devastated country $45 million a day.
But in Israel, both the army and families of two kidnapped Israeli soldiers held in Lebanon objected to lifting the blockade. They believe Israel has lost the leverage to win their release.
But Regev says the soldiers, whose capture sparked the war, have not been forgotten. He says it is spelled out clearly in the U.N. ceasefire resolution.
"That resolution calls for the unconditional and immediate release of the two servicemen," he noted. "And that we say that those two servicemen are still being held hostage, that is a violation of the agreement, and if they violate the agreement that has consequences."
Nevertheless, the lifting of the blockade signals Israel's willingness to leave Lebanon and hand security over to U.N. peacekeepers. More than 3,000 international troops are already in Lebanon, and when the number reaches 5,000, Israel says it will withdraw. U.N. officials say that should happen soon. So Israel plans to pull all its troops out of Lebanon by Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, in two weeks.
By Faiza Elmasry
08 September 2006
About one million children were in their classrooms across New York City on the morning of September 11, 2001. The memories of that day remain vivid for them, and for their teachers. In observance of the 5th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, a group of New York City teachers is sharing their stories of that day, and how they helped their young students understand and cope with what happened.
"It was the beautiful, sunny clear day. I remember looking over and just admiring how beautiful and clear the sky was," recalls fifth grade teacher Debbie Almontaser. September 11th, 2001, started like any other school day. She got her students into the classroom and had them start doing their regular activities.
"About a half hour later, I was visited by a parent who came to the door. She gave me the news that one of the Twin Towers had been hit by a plane," Almontaser says, adding the parent wanted to be sure the teachers kept their students in class until there was more information. "About 20 minutes later, the same person comes back and tells me about the second tower. At that point, I realized this is no accident. This is an attack."
Debbie Almontaser is one of 18 teachers who recount their memories in a book titled, Forever After: New York City Teachers on 9/11.
"Almost all of the stories, focus initially on the immediacy of the experience. What was it like on September 11? How they responded, depending on their circumstances and situation, to the attack on the World Trade Center," says educator Maureen Grolnick, who served as the book's editor.
She notes that seven of the contributors were within less than half a kilometer of the World Trade Center at the time of the attack. "Within an hour, they were being told to evacuate. Altogether there were 9,000 children in that quarter mile [half kilometer] around the World Trade Center. So those teachers tell the story of getting the children out and working in ways that were based on very individual decisions."
In the days, weeks and months following the attack, Grolnick says, teachers were faced with new challenges, when the event jumped beyond the traditional curriculum. "It was so compellingly and overwhelmingly clear on September 11 that teachers really had to deal with what's happening now and questions that can't be answered," she says. "Children were saying, depending on their age, 'Why is this happening?' Teachers working after 9/11 had to answer these questions for the present, and the students didn't just skip to the next chapter, they would ask again and again."
Depending on their students' emotional needs and intellectual abilities, teachers had to invent their own curriculum. "For example, a teacher in Chinatown, who responded to the need of her youngsters who were sort of caught between literacy in Chinese and English, and needed desperately to know what was on the newspapers and what was happening in the world around them. So for her the newspapers became the text, Grolnick says.
Other teachers had their students write stories or invited guest speakers to their classrooms. Debbie Almontaser says teachers felt they needed to do something to respond to the children's questions.
"The Department of Education didn't want teachers to spend a great deal [of time] talking about what happened. I and many teachers across the city felt like you can't pretend that what happened didn't happen," Almontaser says. She says teachers engaged in a number of activities to help their students understand more about Arabs and Muslims. "[We did that] through videos, books, inviting guest speakers, doing fieldtrips to local places in the area like a mosque, or like the Atlantic Avenue, which is all Middle Eastern stores."
A few weeks later, Almontaser was assigned to travel to schools all around the city to do cross cultural presentations. In one of the schools, teachers came up with the idea of creating a mural.
"What we ended up doing was getting the kids to draw on a large piece of paper what they felt they represented," Almontaser ssay. "Then we took that illustration and [told] them, 'Okay, now that you've done it on paper, you're going to be doing it on the wall. This is going to be your living testimony to your existence in the school.' So, kids, teachers, parents, all came out everyday for 2 weeks to finish the mural."
Just like the mural, which captures one of the community's historical moments, Maureen Grolnick says other stories in Forever After reveal the most significant moments in peoples' life. She refers to one story written by third grade teacher, Patricia Lent, who asked her young students in the spring of 2002, "'what do you remember most about September 11?' And one of the little boys said, 'what I remember most is that you held my hand and never let go.'
Maureen Grolnick says that's what teachers do -- keep their students safe, answer their questions, help them understand. She hopes their stories of 9/11 will be a testament to what teachers can do to ease students from hopelessness to a sense of competence and control.
9/9/2006 - 2:43:37
Source ::: Agencies
Najaf, Iraq -- The senior cleric of the Shi’ite faith, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, urged Iraqis to unite yesterday and to support their elected government in its struggle to avert a civil war.
“I repeat today that all Iraqis from all sects and ethnicities should be aware of the dangers threatening the future of Iraq,” Sistani said in a statement released to mark the holy festival of Shaaban.
The influential leader reached across Iraq’s bitter sectarian divide to urge Shi’ites and Sunnis alike to step back from the bloodshed which has engulfed his country since a US-led invasion in March 2003. He made the comments as the national health ministry announced more than 1,580 people were killed last month in Baghdad alone.
“The Baghdad morgue received 1,584 bodies of people killed in violent attacks,” Hakim al-Zamily, director general at the ministry said. The ministry reported 1,850 killings in the war-torn capital in July.
The health ministry figures fly in the face of Thursday’s statement by the US-led forces chief spokesman Major General William Caldwell that August’s “murder rate in Baghdad dropped 52 percent from the daily rate for July.” “Words fail to describe these heinous acts and their opposition to human and religious values,” Sistani said.
“To find a way out of the crisis, all parties must decide to spare Iraqi blood... and to stop reciprocal violence in all its forms,” he declared.
Sistani said “scenes of car bombs and arbitrary executions in the streets” must give way to “scenes of cooperation with the elected national government.”
He called upon Iraqis to “stand hand in hand in the face of this threat by rejecting hatred and violence and replacing it with love and peaceful dialogue to solve all problems and disputes.”
“This could be a prelude to Iraqis to recover their full sovereignty and pave the way for better future where security, stability, progress will prevail,” he added, in a nod to the continuing presence of US troops in Iraq.
Nancy Reagan objects to campaign ad
September 8, 2009
By BOB LEWIS - Associated Press Writer
RICHMOND, Va. - Democratic Senate candidate Jim Webb has a television ad ready to air featuring praise from his late boss Ronald Reagan — and Nancy Reagan called on him Friday to cancel it.
Webb, who was Reagan's Navy secretary before Webb switched to the Democratic Party, uses the ultimate GOP icon to send a sentimental message to conservatives and moderates courted by his Republican opponent, Sen. George Allen (news, bio, voting record). The ad is scheduled to begin airing next week.
But a three-paragraph letter from the former first lady's office said the use of footage of Reagan, who died in 2004, is "neither authorized nor appropriate."
The 30-second ad opens with video of Reagan praising Webb during a commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1985, when Reagan was president and Webb, a Navy grad, was an assistant secretary of defense.
"James' gallantry as a Marine in Vietnam won him the Navy Cross and other decorations," Reagan says on the video.
Webb was campaigning in southwestern Virginia on Friday and was not immediately available for comment on the criticism. His campaign spokeswoman, Kristian Denny Todd, said the ad was fair.
"At this time, we are not changing our plans," Denny Todd said.
The first lady's letter, sent from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation in Simi Valley, Calif., said use of his name and image implies endorsement of the candidate.
"At the direction of Mrs. Reagan, please refrain from the use of her husband's name, video footage, photograph, likeness, and/or quotes in any further campaign materials, including television advertisements," it concluded.
In a telephone interview, Edwin Meese, attorney general under Reagan, called use of the footage "improper, unethical and very possibly illegal. ... For him to use video of Ronald Reagan to appear in a campaign ad to favor him is fraud."
The ad debuts days after Allen mailed campaign brochures that include a photo of a boyish looking Allen standing beside Reagan. The same photo and a Reagan quote appear on Allen's campaign Web site.
"So, I guess this means George Allen is going to take down all the images he has on his Web site of him with Ronald Reagan?" Denny Todd said. "Where's the cease-and-desist order there?"
Webb became Navy secretary in 1987 but resigned the following year, refusing to reduce the Navy fleet after congressional budget cuts. More recently, he left the GOP over President Bush's decision to invade Iraq and other issues. He won a contentious Senate primary in June.
Allen's campaign manager, Dick Wadhams, called the ads "disingenuous and terribly hypocritical" and cited Webb's 1988 resignation, saying he "quit on Ronald Reagan after he did not get his way as Navy secretary."
Allen, seeking a second term, began airing his own biographical ads last month while Webb scrambled to raise money. Allen's campaign had more than $6.6 million on hand at the start of July compared with $424,245 for Webb.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060909/ap_on_el_se/va_senate_tv_ad_11
Missing Air Force major found
Air Force Maj. Jill Metzger
Updated: 9/8/2006 - 9:06 PM
By: News 14 Carolina Staff & Associated Press
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan -- There’s good news in the search for a Vance County Air Force major who disappeared in a foreign country.
The military says Jill Metzger has been found in Kyrgyzstan. Her head was shaven but she is apparently uninjured.
Maj. Jill Metzger, 33, who went missing Tuesday, knocked on the door of a house in a town outside the capital early Saturday morning and told residents she had been abducted, Deputy Interior Minister Omurbek Suvanaliyev told The Associated Press.
Metzger said that she had been seized by three young men and a woman in a minibus and held in a rural area 30 miles from the Central Asian nation's capital, Suvanaliyev said.
She was near the end of a four month stint at a nearby base.
Her family lives just outside Henderson. Her father says she has a lot to come home to because hundreds of people in Vance County took part in a prayer chain to help bring the missing woman home.
Patrol Was Probing Reports of Iranians Crossing Into Iraq
By Amit R. Paley - Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 9, 2006
BAGHDAD, Sept. 8 -- The Iranian military seized five Iraqi soldiers after a cross-border skirmish Thursday, Iraqi authorities said Friday.
The captured troops were part of a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol that trekked on Thursday afternoon to a border post near Mandali, a town of 13,000 located about 75 miles northeast of Baghdad, to investigate reports that a large number of Iranians were crossing into Iraq there, according to Brig. Gen. Subhi Bairam, commander of the Mandali police.
Iranian forces opened fire when the patrol moved within about 50 yards of the border, Bairam said. The patrol returned fire and then retreated from the scene. Back in Mandali, patrol members realized that five soldiers and the vehicle they were in had been captured by the Iranians.more....
NASA decided Friday to delay the launch of space shuttle Atlantis for 24 hours while engineers continue to work on a problem with a hydrogen fuel sensor.
Friday's launch was rescheduled for Saturday at 11:15 a.m. EDT, as the agency raced against time to get the shuttle into orbit.
The shuttle is scheduled to deliver an addition to the international space station. NASA wants the work finished before a Russian mission arrives at the station at the end of this month.
Top Army NCO: Soldiers See Duty as ‘Badge of Honor’
By Gerry J. Gilmore - American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 2006 – The morale of American GIs serving in Iraq continues to be high, regardless of the danger, difficult conditions and family sacrifices they face, the Army’s top enlisted leader said yesterday.
In a joint interview with the Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth O. Preston recalled the stoic attitude displayed by soldiers and family members of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, after learning the unit’s Iraq tour was being extended.
Preston, the senior enlisted advisor to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, said the 172nd’s soldiers were nearing the end of a one-year tour in Iraq when they were tapped for a four-month extension of duty.
Nearly 400 of the brigade’s soldiers had already redeployed to Alaska in June and July, Preston said, but some 300 of their number were ordered to return to Iraq to help stem a spike in insurgent violence in and around Baghdad.
Yet, during a recent meeting with 400-500 family members at Fort Wainwright, Preston noted, “Not one question came up, not one issue, pertaining to the 120-day extension.”
Preston credited the impact of a special Army personnel team that was sent to Wainwright to assist family members in adjusting to the extension. He also praised the family members, noting they’ve taken down “Welcome Home” signs and are now waiting patiently for their loved ones to return home in December.
“That’s a direct reflection of our soldiers’ and our families’ commitment across the board,” Preston said. After officials had explained the need for the extension, the 172nd’s family members “understood why the decision was made by the secretary of defense to keep that brigade there for a while longer,” he said.
The 172nd was already noteworthy for achieving a 61 percent retention rate among its soldiers, the highest of all the Army’s brigade combat teams, Preston said.
He acknowledged that some 172nd soldiers and family members were likely very upset about the unit’s extension. But, he added, that unit was the only experienced brigade available to take up a very important mission.
“They really look at it as a badge of honor,” the sergeant major said.
Preston saluted soldiers performing field duty worldwide. Those soldiers wear helmets and body armor and carry weapons, he said, often while enduring irritating heat that causes perspiration to “soak through your clothing and everything else.”
Army-taught self-discipline and training are two attributes GIs employ to carry out missions in trying conditions, Preston said.
Good leadership also assists soldiers, he said. NCO-supplied motivation and caring keeps soldiers focused, regardless of the challenges, he added.
Some 258,000 U.S. soldiers are deployed overseas in 128 different countries, Preston said, noting thousands of others are now training up to deploy over the coming year.
“For them, and all their families out there, we’re all very, very proud of their contributions and their sacrifices,” he said.
http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?id=758
Last Updated: Saturday, 9 September 2006 - 14:06 GMT - 15:06 UK
Nato-led forces in Afghanistan say they have killed 40 more Taleban rebels in an ongoing offensive in the south.
The latest clashes occurred in Kandahar province, bringing to about 300 the number of insurgents killed since the operation began a week ago, Nato says.
The fighting came as Nato generals met in Poland to consider calls to boost deployments in Afghanistan.
Generals urged member countries to send all the forces which they had promised, amid mounting casualties in the south.
The military chiefs were expected to call for about 2,500 extra troops to be committed.
BBC defence correspondent Paul Wood says this is far more than Nato officials were suggesting only a few days ago - and an indication of how much tougher the fight with the Taleban has become.
A number of Nato soldiers, most of them British or Canadian, have been killed in recent weeks.
Officials from Turkey, Germany and Italy have expressed reluctance to move their troops from reconstruction work in safer parts of Afghanistan to the troubled south, our correspondent adds.
Recent fighting has focused on Panjwayi district, where hundreds of Taleban fighters have threatened to attack nearby Kandahar city.
Nato says more than 40 Taleban were killed by air strikes and artillery barrages overnight. One Nato soldier also died in combat.
Reporters have been unable to visit the scene to verify casualty figures.
A Nato spokesman said a bomb-making factory had been found in the area, and that alliance forces had re-opened the main highway out of Kandahar to civilian traffic.
Suicide bomb
The aim of the Medusa offensive - which began on 2 September - is to drive the insurgents from their strongholds in Kandahar province.
It is the biggest operation in the area since the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) took over southern Afghanistan from a US-led coalition at the end of July.
At the Warsaw meeting Nato military chief Gen Ray Henault urged member states to send "all the people and the capability" that had been signed up to.
"We are currently at about 85% of the requirements and want the remainder," he was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
There are more than 20,000 US troops in Afghanistan at the moment, but only around 2,000 of them currently under Nato command.
When Isaf takes control of the east as well, in the comings weeks, a large part of the US forces are due to transfer to Nato control.
As the meeting began on Friday, a suicide bomber rammed his car into a US Humvee vehicle in the capital, Kabul, killing at least 16 people including two US soldiers.
About 30 people were wounded in the blast, which occurred near the US embassy.
Security boost
A man claiming to be a spokesman for the Taleban told an Afghan news agency that the rebel group was behind the attack.
There has been a series of suicide bombings across Afghanistan, but such a large explosion in the centre of Kabul was unusual.
Security in the capital has been boosted on Saturday, as Afghans prepared to mark the fifth anniversary of the assassination of Ahmad Shah Masood - the resistance leader under the Taleban regime.
He died in a suicide bombing in northern Afghanistan two days before the attacks on the US in September 2001.
Friday's car bomb attack took place near Masood Square - named after him.
Afghan army soldiers have set up checkpoints on roads leading into Kabul and have been searching cars.
The Taleban ruled Afghanistan until late 2001 when they were toppled by US-led forces in the wake of the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington.
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