Free Republic

BAGHDAD — A preparatory session for the upcoming Conference for Cooperation and Coordination between the Iraqi and Kurdistan Ministries of Interior was held here last week, when MoI and KMoI representatives discussed plans to unify their efforts to fight the insurgency and strengthen the nation of Iraq, Aug. 4 – 5. This was the third series of meetings held between MoI and KMoI since January 2009 to discuss issues of security cooperation. Iraqi Maj. Gen. Waleed Hadawi Khalifa, director general of the MoI Planning and Tracking Directorate, served as overall coordinator for the talks. The Kurdistan General Director of Police,...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Russia's economy is withering and Moscow will be forced to make compromises with the West on a range of issues, US Vice President Joe Biden said in an interview. Biden told The Wall Street Journal these included national security issues, including loosening Moscow's grip on former Soviet republics and shrinking its vast nuclear arsenal. "All of sudden, did they have an epiphany and say: 'Hey man, we don't want to threaten our neighbors?' No," Biden said. "They can't sustain it." ... The geographical proximity of the emerging nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea is also likely...

KUNAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan, July 13, 2009 – Since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, Pakistan and Afghanistan not only have shared a border, but also a common threat. U.S. Army Capt. Michael Harrison, speaks with Pakistani army Capt. Fahad at Nawa Pass in Afghanistan’s Kunar province, July 5, 2009. Pakistani, Afghan and U.S. military members met to discuss continued cooperation and information sharing along the mountainous pass. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Matthew C. Moeller  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Using early breakdowns in communication along that border to their advantage, insurgents often would attack in one...

WASHINGTON, July 7, 2009 – U.S. forces in Iraq demonstrated their ongoing commitment to building Iraqi sovereignty in recent days with a historic first visit by a U.S. Navy ship and joint operations and training efforts. Soldiers with the 4th Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team completed construction on this bridge, June 29, 2009, southeast of Qurnah, Iraq. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The USS Scout, an avenger-class mine countermeasure ship, pulled into port in Umm Qasr on June 30, marking the first visit by a U.S. Navy ship since the port transitioned to Iraqi control. "Today...

Jul-02-2009 20:51 Burma, North Korea Said To Expand Military Ties Kyaw Min Htun Special to Salem-News.com Exile Burmese media have voiced alarm in recent days at reports of growing ties between Burma and nuclear-armed North Korea. Salem-News.com On Nov. 26, Burmese Gen. Thura Shwe Mann and North Korean Gen. Kim Kyok Sik reportedly signed a Memorandum of Understanding expanding military ties. Photo: RFA (BANGKOK RFA) - A leaked report purportedly drafted by authorities in Burma’s military government describes a top-secret visit to North Korea late last year by Burma's top brass, during which the two sides pledged to significantly expand...

The Pentagon says it has put cooperation with the Honduran military on hold. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman says the United States has "postponed" joint operations in light of last weekend's military coup against that country's president.

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2009 – The Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy unveiled earlier this year has garnered unprecedented cooperation among U.S. government agencies, the top Pentagon policy official said today. Michelle Flournoy, undersecretary of defense for policy, said in a statement submitted to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that a “whole of government” approach to the region is being coordinated. “We have launched what I believe is a truly unprecedented interagency effort to implement our new strategy,” states Flournoy’s testimony, which Wallace “Chip” Gregson, assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs, read to Congress today on behalf of...

WASHINGTON, May 6, 2009 – The presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan vowed to work closely together to defeat the common threat to both countries: a resurgent Taliban. Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari spoke during meetings with U.S. government leaders at the State Department today. They are scheduled to meet with President Barack Obama at the White House later this afternoon. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the United States, Pakistan and Afghanistan have a common cause against the Taliban and must work together in many areas to defeat the extremist threat. Many members of...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, Iraq, April 24, 2009 – Deputy governors of Iraq’s Salahuddin province and more than 30 newly elected members of the provincial council and their guests came here April 20 to learn how U.S. soldiers and Iraqis are working together for peace and prosperity. The visit included a tour of the Iraqi Based Industrial Zone, the Joint Expeditionary Forensic Facility, and the headquarters of the 25th Infantry Division’s 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team. Coalition personnel showcased the progressive development of the province through the partnership of coalition forces and the provincial government. The day was designed to...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama on Saturday urged nations of the world to unite to resolve the most pressing global challenges -- from extremism to environmental pollution to the economic crisis. In a weekly radio address timed to Easter and Passover celebrations, Obama cautioned that the world remained a dangerous place, and people must be strong and vigilant in the face of multiple threats. "But let us not allow whatever differences we have with other nations to stop us from coming together around those solutions that are essential to our survival and success," he said. The comments came...

ScienceDaily (Apr. 7, 2009) — One of the perplexing questions raised by evolutionary theory is how cooperative behavior, which benefits other members of a species at a cost to the individual, came to exist. Cooperative behavior has puzzled biologists because if only the fittest survive, genes for a behavior that benefits everybody in a population should not last and cooperative behavior should die out, says Jeff Gore, a Pappalardo postdoctoral fellow in MIT's Department of Physics. Gore is part of a team of MIT researchers that has used game theory to understand one solution yeast use to get around this...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress's most powerful Republican on Friday backed President Barack Obama's call to set aside political differences and cooperate on efforts to revitalize the economy and resolve other issues. Yet only time will tell if such rhetoric by Obama and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell produces results -- or deteriorates into more of the partisan bickering that has long marked Washington politics. "People want their leaders to work together to solve problems, not to set traps," McConnell said in a speech to the National Press Club. "The challenge now is for both parties to cooperate, not...

Sen. John Ensign (Nev.) on Wednesday indicated that Republicans would look to work with President Obama more than their Democratic counterparts in Congress. “It’s really not a time to be obstructionist,” Ensign, chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, said on Fox News. “It’s a time where we as a party need to try to work with especially President Obama and try to solve some of the country’s problems.” The senator said Republicans would still voice their disagreements but would seek out issues on which they can cooperate with the new president. “As a matter of fact, I think he...

The long,bitter campaigns are over,and the people have chosen a new President. He wasn't my choice-but he was and is theirs. It's time to respect that fact.

India, Pak vow to take 'severe action' against terror 25 Sep 2008, 0631 hrs IST,PTI NEW YORK: Acknowledging that the peace process has been "under strain" in recent months, India and Pakistan on Wednesday announced that cross-LoC trade in Jammu and Kashmir will commence on October 21 and vowed to take "severe action" against any elements directing or involved in terrorist acts, giving fresh momentum for an "an early and full" normalisation of bilateral relations. Unveiling a slew of measures for a "peaceful resolution and saisfactory settlement" of all bilateral issues including Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Republican White House hopeful John McCain promised on Saturday to cooperate with his Democratic rivals if he is elected president, despite deep divisions between the two parties. "Despite the increasing harshness of our debates, and the lack of respect it often occasions for each side's good will, I still believe we can and must come together on issues that cannot be addressed without our cooperation," McCain said in a speech in Prescott, Arizona, the last stop on his biographical tour over the past week. "Let us argue with each other then. By all means, let us argue....

TIKRIT — Seven Northern provincial governors and their Iraqi Security Force leadership met here Feb. 4 for the second ‘United and Strong’ conference facilitated by Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling, commander, Multi-National Division – North, and 1st Armored Division. The provincial governing body is being mentored by the U.S. State Department’s Provincial Reconstruction Teams and Coalition forces in each Northern province. All decisions regarding security, infrastructure, and economic issues in each province are currently being made at the central government level in Baghdad. The ‘United and Strong’ conferences are allowing MND - North’s key military leadership to “consolidate and focus issues...

Competition is as American as apple pie. It announces American individualism and marks the American market economy with its characteristic rivalries. Not just for neoliberals such as Milton Friedman and ­quasi-­anarchists such as philosopher Robert Nozick, but for Americans of all political stripes, it reflects a distrust of the “government and co-operation” dear to cultural critic John Ruskin. We are a nation of winners (and, yes, losers) where, in the wonderfully perverse turn of phrase often attributed to one of America’s “winningest” coaches, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” Yet we need not be readers of Ruskin to know...

September 16, 2007 A tale of two dictatorships: The links between North Korea and Syria Michael Sheridan, Far East correspondent Deep in a tunnel under Mount Myohang, in North Korea, its regime has preserved as a museum piece the Kalashnikov assault rifle and pistols sent as gifts from President Hafez al-Assad of Syria to Kim Il Sung in the early years of their friendship. Today North Korea and Syria are ruled by the sons of their late 20th century dictators, men who share more than just a common fear of the United States and a fondness for authoritarian family rule....

Inspired by the peculiar way some on the far edges of the body politic marked the 6th anniversary of 9/11, I decided to discuss it with my good friend, Ms Rabbit.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2007 – Tribal leaders in Iraq’s Diyala province are banding together to secure peace and protect their people, the commander of coalition forces in the province told reporters yesterday. “They (tribal leaders) signed a peace agreement and swore to protect the land and their people from al Qaeda and to bridge the gap between tribes and to have a provincial-wide reconciliation movement,” Army Col. David W. Sutherland said as he sat alongside the Iraqi security forces commander in Diyala, Maj. Gen. Abdul Kareem, during a joint news conference in Baqubah, Iraq. Referring to Kareem as his “friend”...

5 Myths About the Japan That Just Said No By Michael Zielenziger Sunday, August 5, 2007; Page B03 Just a few weeks ago, the Bush administration seemed convinced that it could rely on a newly assertive Japan to contain China's rise and help prosecute the global fight against terrorism. Then last weekend, Japan's voters just said "No." The stinging electoral rebuke to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (which lost control of the upper house of the Diet for the first time since the party was founded in 1955) does more than usher in a new...

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's counter-terrorism efforts are "in the wrong century," the head of Interpol said on Monday, accusing it of failing to share information on terrorists and consult a key database of the world police body. The harsh criticism from Interpol boss Ronald Noble may come as an embarrassment to British authorities investigating failed car bomb attacks in London and Scotland last month by suspected Islamist militants from the Middle East and India. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a weekend interview that information held by one country on terrorist recruitment should also flow to other countries. Noble said...

WASHINGTON, May 17, 2007 – Supporting the global war on terror remains U.S. European Command’s top priority, but the command also is striving to strengthening partnerships within the region and in Africa, the command’s leader said today. EUCOM’s strategy of “active security” is aimed at defeating transnational terrorists and violent extremists who threaten the United States, its allies and U.S. interests, Army Gen. Bantz J. Craddock told Senate Armed Services Committee members during a hearing on the command’s fiscal 2008 budget request. The goal, Craddock said, is to deny enemies of the United States the freedom to operate and...

Chinese, Sudanese senior military leaders hold talks www.chinaview.cn 2007-04-04 20:25:25 BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Senior Chinese and Sudanese military leaders held talks here Wednesday, pledging to strengthen exchanges and cooperation between the two armed forces. The Chinese armed forces attach importance to developing relations with Sudanese armed forces, Chief of General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Liang Guanglie said. Liang also introduced China's foreign and national defense policies as well as its military construction to the visiting Chief of Joint Staff of Sudanese armed forces Haj Ahmed El Gaili. Sudanese government and people will continue to support...

TOKYO, March 30, 2007 – The United States and Japan are increasing their military cooperation and coordination to face evolving threats, the commander of U.S. Forces Japan and 5th Air Force here said. “The security relationship between the United States and Japan is tied to international knowledge and understanding of the alliance,” said Air Force Lt. Gen. Bruce A. Wright. The bedrock of U.S. strategy in Asia remains the Japanese-U.S. Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Defense. Signed in 1960, the treaty relationship between the two nations has changed, but the document still remains relevant. “Only 15 years after the...

China, Venezuela to advance mutually beneficial energy cooperation www.chinaview.cn 2007-03-26 06:58:10 Adjust font size: Special Report: Li Chinagchun visits Mexico, Venezuela, Suriname, Peru and Samoa CARACAS, March 25 (Xinhua) -- China focuses on achieving mutual benefits when carrying out economic cooperation with Venezuela, an senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) said here Sunday. Li Changchun, who flew in here for a goodwill visit to Venezuela Sunday afternoon, paid a visit to the office of CNPC America Ltd. in Venezuela immediately after his arrival in Caracas. After listening to a briefing about the company's operation in Venezuela and...

WASHINGTON, March 5, 2007 – The traditional concept of defense has given way to a new model of security, bringing concepts such as partnership and cooperation to the fore, the commander of U.S. Naval Forces in Europe said here. Navy Adm. Henry G. Ulrich delivered that message to the 124 participants of the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies' Program in Advanced Security Studies during an address here March 1. Ulrich is also commander of Allied Joint Task Force Command Naples, in Italy, and has operational responsibility for NATO missions in the Balkans, Iraq and the Mediterranean....

WASHINGTON, March 1, 2007 – The United States and the international community will need to support countries in the Middle East as they join together to defeat extremism during the long war on terror, a top U.S. Central Command officer said here yesterday. “All along, U.S. Central Command has been committed to a regional strategy,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert H. Holmes, CENTCOM deputy director of operations, said in an interview. “It’s very important for us to understand what it takes to partner with the nations in the region – not just single nations, but a partnership of nations...

New Bern, N.C., native Sgt. Shawn Mackey, a health care specialist with Company C, 299th Forward Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, assesses the health of a 6-year-old Iraqi baby during a medical assistance mission in the village of Abidone inside the Bay Al Sabir High School of the Abu Ghraib district of Baghdad. The event was to thank the community for its continued support of coalition and Iraqi security forces by offering health and dental care to the village's residents. CAMP LIBERTY -- Raad Rashed Abed Al Shibli, the sheik of Al Shibli of the Al...

Iran: co-op with Russia effective to prevent U.S. unilateralism www.chinaview.cn 2007-01-29 23:49:43 Special report: Iran Nuclear Crisis TEHRAN, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Iran said on Sunday that active cooperation between Tehran and Moscow on regional issues within a defined framework could effectively hold back the U.S. unilateralism, the local Fars news agency reported Monday. "The U.S. has not achieved its goal in the region despite all its efforts, active cooperation between Iran and Russia on regional issues within a defined framework can hinder the U.S. ambitious and unilateral plans," Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying,...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein questioned a top Homeland Security Department official Thursday on why his agency has reportedly resisted sharing information with state intelligence officers and even Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's own homeland-security director. Feinstein asked Charlie Allen, the chief intelligence officer for the Homeland Security Department, about her staff's findings that the federal agency has denied state and local officials at a Sacramento intelligence-sharing facility to obtain top security clearances. Moreover, California Office of Homeland Security Director Matthew Bettenhausen is not receiving "intelligence he knows exists," Feinstein said. Bettenhausen answers to Schwarzenegger; he formerly worked for DHS in Washington. DHS, Feinstein...

For Immediate ReleaseJanuary 6, 2007 President's Radio Address       Audio      THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Earlier this week, the newly elected members of the House and the Senate took their oaths of office and became part of the 110th Congress. I congratulate them all, and I look forward to working with them over the next two years. Since the November elections, I've had a number of productive meetings with the new leaders in Congress, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. I was encouraged...

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy -- Seeking to end anger in the Islamic world over his remarks on holy war, Pope Benedict XVI told Muslim envoys Monday their two faiths must overcome historic enmities and together reject violence, saying the future of humanity is at stake. The pope also urged ''reciprocity'' in religious freedom, calling for preserving the rights of Christians throughout the Islamic world. ''The circumstances which have given rise to our gathering are well known,'' Benedict said, referring to his remarks on Islam in a Sept. 12 speech at Regensburg University in Germany, which set off protests around the Muslim...

2 September 2006 | 15:23 | FOCUS News Agency Belgrade. The US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Serbian President Boris Tadic will sign Thursday a Status of Forces Agreement /SOFA/ in Washington between the government of the Republic of Serbia and the USA. The Agreement is connected to the protection of the status, the access and the use of the military infrastructure in the Republic of Serbia, RTS reported. It will deepen the cooperation in the sphere of defense between Serbia and the USA based on an absolute respect of the two countries’ sovereignty and the UN regulations. Besides,...

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 21, 2006 – Hollywood’s depiction of the U.S. military is often laughably inaccurate to many Americans who wear their country’s uniform. This is not for lack of effort on the part of the military services and the Defense Department. To achieve maximum accuracy in movies and on television, the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and DoD have liaison offices to help guide filmmakers through the process. The services operate independently of each other in this endeavor but share office space on the same floor of a Los Angeles building. The Defense Department’s entertainment media division...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2006 – Combined U.S. and Iraqi operations in Baghdad have done much to reduce violence and bring stability to the area, but the ultimate solution depends on the Iraqi people’s willingness to reject violence and cooperate with Iraqi security forces, a U.S. military commander in the area said today. “The security situation confronting the capital is a complex one, and the solution must be long-term,” Army Col. Michael Beech, commander of 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, said in a news conference from Iraq. “The Iraqi government, coalition forces and Iraqi security forces are dedicated to...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15, 2006 – Coalition forces and the U.S. Agency for International Development continue to work together to bring reconstruction and economic development to the people of Afghanistan, U.S. military officials said. “Together with Afghan national security forces and the coalition, USAID is working with the government of Afghanistan to build a safe, free and prosperous future, at peace with its neighbors and a friend to freedom around the world,” Army Col. Thomas Collins, a coalition spokesman, said. Since the spring, coalition forces and USAID have combined to contribute more than $40 million in reconstruction aid to the...

Tehran, Aug. 13: One of Osama bin Laden’s sons, Saad, together with a number of top Al Qaeda commanders, including Seif al Adel, are hiding in Iran and are not in Syria as reported by several Western papers this week, a well informed source said. The source, a top Iranian intelligence official until a few months ago, said Al Qaeda and members of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, the Pasdaran, are negotiating coordinated actions against the United States and Israel. The Al Qaeda members had been living for the past four years in a neighbourhood in northern Tehran under the surveillance...

N. Korea-Iran Ties Seem to Be Growing Stronger Weapons sales and joint observations of missile test launches have been reported. VIPs visiting Pyongyang celebrate 'cooperative relations.' By Barbara Demick, Times Staff Writer July 27, 2006 SEOUL — North Korea and Iran, two fiercely anti-American regimes, appear to be bolstering their military and diplomatic cooperation, including the possible sale of missiles to the Tehran government, intelligence sources said. An Iranian parliamentary delegation visiting Pyongyang was given a VIP welcome with a reception Monday at the North Korean Supreme People's Assembly to celebrate, as the North Korean news service put it, the...

NASA chief Michael Griffin appealed on Wednesday to the leaders of the world's leading space agencies to join NASA in its bid to send astronauts to the Moon and Mars. Unless they do, he said, there will be little point in completing the International Space Station. The ISS will make a perfect staging post for such missions, he believes. Griffin told the heads of the Russian, European, Japanese and British space agencies that now is the time to start planning a division of labour for the new manned missions. He was speaking at a British National Space Centre seminar at...

Whether you’re a free-loading virus or a meat-stealing monkey, selfishness pays. So how could cooperators survive in a cheater’s world? Thomas Flatt, a postdoctoral research associate at Brown, was part of a group that created a theoretical model that neatly solves this dilemma, which has stumped evolutionary biologists and social scientists for decades. The trick: Keep the altruists in small groups, away from the swindling horde, where they multiply and migrate. It’s a truth borne out in biology and economics: Selfishness pays. Viruses can steal enzymes to reproduce. Tax evaders can take advantage of public services to survive and thrive....

Asia has a paltry 5% of the world's oil reserves. Compare that to the former Soviet Union which has more than one fifth (20.8%) and Africa and the Middle East, which have nearly 2/3s of the oil reserves (60.5%). What to do...China National Petroleum Co. and India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp. teamed up to buy a Syrian oil field! I thought about doing that once -- buying a gas station. But then, I realized I still had to buy the gas before I could pump it out. The reason India and China went in to buy the field together...

Three simple games determine when and why humans cooperate Look around you. If you're reading this, it means that you are embedded in a world-spanning network of cooperation. It’s embodied in the computer and the screen you’re using. It probably comes from somewhere in Asia and its parts were designed, manufactured, and assembled in factories employing thousands of people scattered across the globe. Its parts are made from minerals and plastics that likely come from all six inhabited continents. The electricity used to power your desktop or laptop streams in through a network of wires connecting you to a power...

Oh Dear : An International Highway Between Texas and Canada !! How about a few Facts ? Interstate Hwy # 69 was first conceived of in the 1950s. Further planning was done as a result of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Enhancement Act of 1991. On 01/01/94, NAFTA -proposed by GHW Bush,adopted and promoted vigorously by WB Clinton - became law. It called for-among other things-economic cooperation among the US ,Mexico,and Canada. On 04/29/94, the Joint Working Committee on transportation Planning (US and Canada)signed a memo of understanding-with the consent of both governments. In October,2000,a similar memo of understanding betweeen the...

Japan and China have bad blood between them. It is Japan's fault. It is war's fault. Japan does not appear to apologize enough and the Chinese aren't forgiving enough, either. Of course, there are visits to shrines and text-book revision attempts to consider as well. There is also the need to understand the differences in cultures. They look alike, but they are NOT alike. Nevertheless, the Chinese approach to business is quite pragmatic. They (the Chinese) are quite capable of setting aside differences for the sake of expediency. Some, perhaps many, would question that. Japan has decided it would grant...

NEW DELHI , June 5, 2006 – Talks at a weekend security summit in Singapore moved beyond questioning if terrorism is a threat to discussing how to counter it - a sign that nations are ready to work together, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here today. Marine Gen. Peter Pace said at a news conference that he was struck by how nations have progressed in coming to terms with the terrorism issue. Gone appear to be the days when people debated whether terrorism is a threat, Pace told reporters during his visit here to discuss U.S.-Indo...

NEW DELHI, June 4, 2006 – The highest-ranking U.S. military officer arrived here today to discuss regional security issues in this strategic nation that, with its 1.1 billion population, represents the world's largest democracy. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will meet with India's military leaders and defense minister during a visit that also includes stops at the headquarters of India's Training Command at Shimla. The visit, Pace's first to India as chairman, will build on discussions during a bilateral meeting he participated in yesterday in Singapore with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and...

SINGAPORE, June 3, 2006 – More nations are freer than ever before, yet freedom is increasingly under assault from violent extremists and rogue nations, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld today told defense ministers of Asian and Pacific nations meeting here this weekend. "In the present security environment, cooperation among free nations is not simply desirable, it is critical," Rumsfeld said in a speech at the International Institute of Strategic Studies' Asia Security Summit, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue. Rumsfeld said this forum is valuable because it allows countries with like interests to meet and discuss transnational issues. "These gatherings...

WASHINGTON, May 17, 2006 – A new agreement between the United States and Australia opens the door to more information sharing and cooperation in research and development related to combating terrorism. Ambassador at Large Henry Crumpton (standing), the State Department's counterterrorism coordinator, looks on as Thomas O'Connell (left), assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, and Peter Shergold, Australia's secretary for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, sign a memorandum of understanding promoting counterterrorism cooperation May 17. Photo by Donna Miles  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Thomas O'Connell, assistant secretary of defense for special...