Free Republic

Army Sgt. 1st Class Donna Sendelbech receives a hug from a student at the Shalaw Elementary School after receiving a backpack during a recent delivery of gifts donated by service groups back in the U.S. (GRD Photo by Mike Scheck). SULAYAMANIAH — U.S. Soldiers and Army Corps of Engineers employees recently delivered supplies to elementary students of the Shalaw School here. However, the students are in for a bigger surprise after the first of the year when they move into their new school thanks to the efforts of the USACE Gulf Region District.The school supply giveaway was orchestrated by Army...

10/26/2009 - JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq (AFNS) -- An Airman here helped develop the Balad Wounded Warrior Program, a program created to ease the transition of wounded servicemembers through the medical evacuation process. Senior Airman Raymond Jones, a plans and programming projects manager with the 332nd Expeditionary Communications Squadron, started the program Oct. 3 after he experienced the medavac process firsthand. "I received an injury where I dislocated my knee, requiring me to be evacuated to Germany," he said. "It was a confusing time for me, but I told myself that if I was given the chance to redeploy, there...

There have been significant changes in the reporting on the Iraqi Army's 14th Motorized Division in Basrah province. These changes indicate the 14th Division is the first to get armored battalions transferred from 9th Armored Division as the 9th upgrades to M1A1 armored battalions.

BAGHDAD — From the air Sunday morning, this looked like a city restored. You could see paddle boats skimming the pond at Zawra Park, and go-karts and water slides. And in every direction, new schools and soccer fields and bustling warehouses — all taking shape under the canopy of the new Iraq. But down below, it turned out to be a morning from hell. Terrorists exploded two massive car bombs at the Justice Ministry and the Baghdad provincial administration, killing more than 100 and wounding more than 500. It was the worst day of violence this year, and it was,...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26, 2009 – Iraqi forces, with U.S. advisors, conducted a series of operations today resulting in the arrest of 11 suspects in vehicle-bomb networks operating between Baghdad and Mosul. Iraqi forces searched several buildings in western Baghdad for a suspect believed to be responsible for a truck bomb that struck government buildings in Baghdad and killed at least 150 people. The cell leader also is suspected of staging the deadly Aug. 19 attacks in the Iraqi capital. Based on evidence found in the buildings, Iraqi forces arrested eight people suspected of being linked to a bomb network in...

BAGHDAD, Oct. 26, 2009 – Baghdad’s Sadr City district, home to more than 2 million Iraqis, was built by Saddam Hussein as a massive urban community to house the thousands of rural Iraqis migrating to the capital in search of jobs. But after decades of neglect, Sadr City’s residents lacked even the most basic needs, such as adequate potable water. A $65 million water treatment plant is designed to treat and purify water from the nearby Tigris River and provide more than 500,000 residents of Baghdad’s Sadr City district with potable water. U.S. Army photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26, 2009 – Terrorist bombings that struck Baghdad yesterday demonstrate the security challenges that exist there, a senior Defense Department official said here today. News reports say more than 150 Iraqis died and hundreds more were injured yesterday as a result of two massive blasts that targeted the Iraqi justice and municipalities and public works ministries and a provincial headquarters building in downtown Baghdad. “I think what it says is that security remains a challenge, particularly when you have folks that are willing to … create that type of carnage with a large explosion in an indiscriminate kind...

As a doctor and psychiatrist, I spent an awful lot of my professional life trying to change individuals in a direction that I thought appropriate and beneficial for them. I am not under any illusions about how far I succeeded. I think I succeeded very little. At the best, I implanted the seeds of change rather than caused change itself. It was often the case that my patients had adopted grossly self-destructive paths in life, that viewed dispassionately and with a minimum of common sense could lead to nothing but misery, despair and chaos. Indeed, my patients often acknowledged this...

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Two dozen children were among the 155 people killed after two truck bombs exploded in one of Baghdad's safest areas on Sunday. An official at the hospital where the children's bodies were brought says they were on a bus leaving a daycare center next to the Justice Ministry when the attack happened. The bus driver was also killed, and six kids injured.

Smoke rises near the Iraqi Ministry of Justice, shortly after a blast, in Baghdad October 25, 2009. Twin car bombs targeting two government buildings killed at least 75 people and wounded 460 in central Baghdad on Sunday, police and health officials said, in the bloodiest attack in the capital for two months. REUTERS/Stringer While Sunday's 2 bus bombs in Baghdad that left over a hundred dead and 500 wounded was a horrific reminder that "evil-doers" and "deadenders" still seek to derail the road to freedom and democracy for Iraq, ordinary Iraqis, who have endured so much, seem undaunted and...

From the air Sunday morning, this looked like a city restored. You could see paddle boats skimming the pond at Zawra Park, and go-karts and waterslides. And in every direction, new schools and soccer fields and bustling warehouses -- all taking shape under the canopy of the new Iraq. But down below, it turned out to be a morning from hell. Terrorists exploded two massive car bombs at the Justice Ministry and the Baghdad provincial administration, killing more than 100 and wounding more than 500... Around the time the bombers struck, I was flying over the city in a Black...

President Barack Obama condemned Sunday two deadly car bombs set off in Baghdad near high-profile government offices that killed over 130 people. The Iraqi government initially said that the bombings bore the signature of al-Qaeda in Iraq. The blasts went off near the federal Ministry of Justice and the Baghdad provincial offices. "I strongly condemn these outrageous attacks on the Iraqi people, and send my deepest condolences to those who have lost loved ones," Obama said in a statement. "These bombings serve no purpose other than the murder of innocent men, women and children, and they only reveal the hateful...

US President Barack Obama has led international condemnation of Sunday's double suicide bomb attack in Baghdad that killed at least 132 people. Mr Obama branded the attacks - the worst in more than two years in Iraq - "hateful and destructive". UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said they were a "terrible reminder of the threat from violent extremism". The blasts hit the ministry of justice and a provincial government office near the heavily fortified Green Zone.

The two car bombs were detonated near Baghdad's provincial government building and Iraq's Justice Ministry.

Wednesday night, October 21, former Vice President Dick Cheney received the Center's Keeper of the Flame Award. He was introduced by Senator Jon Kyl and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Here are his prepared remarks:

PORT OF ENTRY AR AR — In the Islamic faith, all able bodied Muslims are expected to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, at least once in their lifetime. This great movement is known as the Hajj, and it is the fifth pillar of Islam, set into place by the prophet Muhammad. In 2008, about 1.7 million Muslims from around the world made the journey to Mecca, and the number has been rising every year. Security improvements here have made this sacred journey safer for Iraqi Muslims. In southern Iraq, Port of Entry Ar Ar stands on the border...

Cpl. Christopher Cannon (left), a basic rifle marksmanship instructor, pulls security with an Iraqi Army Warrior Academy student while on patrol in Baghdad, Oct. 20. Photo by Pfc. Bailey A. Jester, 1st Cavalry Division. BAGHDAD — The training and advisory role that the U.S. military has undertaken here with the Iraqi Security Forces is paying off with joint patrols on the streets of Baghdad. Classroom instruction and hands-on, realistic training scenarios re-enforce the battle-tested techniques once joint patrols leave the confines of Joint Security Stations (JSS). For the American instructors, these foot patrol act as culminating exercises."Patrolling side-by-side with the...

KIRKUK — Iraqi Police here on Tuesday detained nine suspected al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) members in possession of bomb making materials. One of the nine is believed to be Abdallah Abd Qadir, who is known to have purchased thousands of pounds of ammonium nitrate in 2006. Qadir has ties to known AQI members associated with insurgent activity in Baghdad. Iraqi Police in the Domies neighborhood of Kirkuk city stopped two suspicious vehicles at a routine traffic check point Monday, which led to the discovery of more than 300 pounds of ammonium nitrate and a can of gasoline in the...

Sgt. Jonathon Chambers, a Streator, Ill. native with 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, helps separate supplies during a delivery to the Baghara Elementary School in Hawijah, Kirkuk province, Oct. 18. Photo by Staff Sgt. Jason Douglas, 1st Cav. Div. KIRKUK — Seeing a disparity in the quantity and quality of school supplies in some Iraqi primary schools, one U.S. Soldier here decided to do something about it. Staff Sgt. Jared Wiegand, a Fort Wayne, Ind. native with 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, was home last March...

How much access can a possible agent of influence for state sponsors of terrorism buy from President Barack Obama? For Jodie Evans, a progressive Hollywood activist, the going rate appears to be $30,400 for dinner and a conversation. Last week in San Francisco, Obama headlined a three million dollar fundraiser at the Westin St. Francis Hotel. The San Francisco Chronicle reports about 160 people paid $30,400 or more per couple for a private dinner with Obama followed by a reception costing $500 to $1000 that drew over 900 attendees. Among those at the dinner was the leftist, so-called antiwar group...

WASHINGTON — A leading energy developer said the United States has been excluded from Iraq's revived energy market. ShareThis T. Boone Pickens told Congress that U.S. companies were losing opportunities in the Iraqi crude oil and natural gas sectors to competitors from China and Europe. The senior executive said the United States could lose all influence in the Iraqi oil sector after the military withdrawal in 2011. "They're opening them [oil fields] up to other companies all over the world," Pickens told the Congressional Natural Gas Caucus on Oct. 21. "We leave there with the Chinese getting the oil," he...

Spc. James Lewis, of Terra Alta, W. Va., hands out backpacks to a teacher at the new secondary school for girls in Tarmiyah, Oct. 20. Photo by Sgt. Jon Soles, MND-B. BAGHDAD – Thanks to funding from the Commanders' Emergency Relief Program, hundreds of girls in the Tarmiyah area, south of Baghdad, now have a modern new school. Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Regiment, were able to see first-hand the fruits of cooperation between Iraqi leaders as the new school was dedicated here, Oct. 20.U.S. Soldiers took the reins of the...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2009 – Iraqi police and soldiers, working with U.S. advisors, arrested seven terrorism suspects in Iraq over the last two days, military officials reported. Iraqi police captured a suspected Islamic State of Iraq terrorist group leader and three accomplices today in Bayji. Intelligence reports indicate he’s also involved with insurgent groups in Hawijah, officials said. In eastern Mosul yesterday, Iraqi soldiers arrested three suspects while searching for Islamic State of Iraq extortion-network leaders. The soldiers were continuing a series of searches focused on extortion-network leaders in Mosul who are believed to have close ties with al-Qaida in...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq, Oct. 23, 2009 – Aided by U.S. forces, Iraqi soldiers with the 14th Provisional Transport Regiment gained valuable skills ranging from first aid to Humvee maintenance during a three-week course at Camp Mirra, Iraq. An Iraqi captain shows his knowledge of the M-16 rifle by teaching a class of his peers Oct. 15, 2009, on Camp Mirra, Iraq. Army Maj. Scott Virgil organized a three-week program in which his soldiers taught their Army counterparts to teach others. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. J. Princeville Lawrence  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Members of the Military...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2009 – As Iraq’s lawmakers craft new election rules prior to January polling there, U.S. officials are confident that both the U.S. troop drawdown and the elections will be accomplished on schedule. “The [Iraq drawdown] timelines that the United States government and the Iraqi government have set out have not changed,” Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said today in response to a reporter’s question at the Pentagon. The United States remains committed to plans to remove all of its combat forces from Iraq by the end of July 2010, Whitman said. All U.S. troops are to depart...

Is Chris Matthews feeling pressure to keep up with the Olbermanns when it comes to flinging invective at conservatives? On this evening's Hardball, discussing Dick Cheney's statement—-made at a dinner at which he received an award—that Pres. Obama is dithering on Afghanistan, an apparently incensed Matthews sputtered [unexpurgated in the original]: "What G-D award . . . are they giving these guys?" View video here.

PEORIA, Ariz. - Peoria police are looking for a father suspected of running down his daughter because she was becoming too "westernized" and was not living according to their traditional Iraqi values. Peoria police say 48-year-old Faleh Hassan Almaleki of Glendale allegedly ran his daughter down Tuesday at an Arizona Department of Economic Security parking lot in Peoria. "When I walked out the door I saw two ladies on the ground, so my first thought was some kind of domestic dispute," says witness Synthia Diaz. The victim, 20-year-old Noor Faleh Almaleki of Surprise, is hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. A second...

The State Department’s internal watchdog called yesterday for officials to demand a rebate of more than $132 million from a company that built the massive US Embassy in Baghdad to make up for shoddy work. In a report, the department’s inspector general said First Kuwaiti Trading & Contracting Co. should be required to pay back roughly a quarter of the $470 million it was awarded to build the sprawling embassy. More than $730 million was spent on the embassy - the largest US diplomatic mission in the world. The report also took issue with the State Department’s oversight of work...

A resident will take his first step into the ethical morass of war tonight...with a cinematic debut that explores “what you have to do to come home alive.” In April 2006, amid heavy fighting, seven Marines and one Navy corpsman were given orders to capture a known insurgent in the Iraqi village of Hamdania, located west of Baghdad. The group kidnapped and killed the insurgent’s cousin, Hashim Ibrahim Awad, instead. The eight involved in the incident — the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment Kilo Company — became known as the Pendleton 8 and were held at Camp Pendleton before charges...

Children receive backpacks from Iraqi Army Soldiers during a “Junior Hero Program” supply delivery to their school in Arab Koy, Kirkuk province, Oct. 20. The children also recited a pledge to become “Junior Heroes” in their community and respect the Iraqi Security Forces who work to protect them. Photo by Pfc. Justin Naylor, 1st Cavalry Division. KIRKUK — "I like to see them in my village, they make me feel safe," said Huda Akhmed Hussan, a 13-year-old sixth-grader here, about the Iraqi Army Soldiers he sees every day. In addition safeguarding residents, the 12th IA Soldiers here are also trying...

A U.S. Army AH-64D Apache attack helicopter (left) flies alongside an Iraqi UH-1 Huey during a joint air mission over Baghdad between 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, and the 2nd Squadron of the Iraqi Air Force, Oct. 21. Photo by Sgt. Travis Zielinski, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade. CAMP TAJI — In a display of strength and partnership, U.S. military aviators with the 1st Cavalry Division and the Iraqi Air Force (IqAF) joined forces for an Iraqi-led helicopter mission over Baghdad, Oct. 21. The leadership of 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22, 2009 – Violence in Iraq has dropped to the lowest levels seen since 2003 as the Iraqi people prepare to vote in new legislative and general elections slated for January, a senior U.S. military officer said here today. “I’m encouraged now that violence is at an all-time low; that the levels are down to where they were in 2003,” Army Brig. Gen. Stephen R. Lanza, Multinational Force Iraq’s deputy chief of staff for strategic effects, told reporters during a news briefing at the Washington Foreign Press Center. The reduced violence in Iraq today, Lanza said, indicates “continued...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING STATION GARRYOWEN, Iraq, Oct. 22, 2009 – It’s not uncommon for deployed soldiers to miss their families and friends, home-cooked meals and the small comforts of life. Soldiers fold laundry to prepare for pick-up at Contingency Operating Station Garryowen, Iraq, Sept. 28, 2009. U.S. Army photo by 2nd Lt. Hilda Starks  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Fourteen soldiers deployed here from Fort Polk, La., with 2nd Platoon, 488th Quartermaster Company, take care of one of the smallest comforts of life: clean clothes. These soldiers make it their mission to provide the best laundry service possible to all...

A federal grand jury has indicted three Ohio men on terrorism charges alleging they plotted to kill U.S. and coalition military personnel in Iraq and other countries. The three men were arrested over the weekend and were to be arraigned in federal courts in Cleveland and Toledo on Tuesday afternoon, said Assistant U.S. Attorney David Bauer. According to the indictment unsealed Monday, the three suspects recruited others to train for a violent holy war against the United States and its allies in Iraq. The indictment says they traveled together to a shooting range to practice shooting guns and studied how...

October 22, 2009, 0:00 a.m. The Kitty-Cat Who RoaredThe loud reformer Obama himself proves even emptier in his promises than Bush. By Victor Davis Hanson President Obama keeps roaring out deadlines like a lion — only later to meow like a little kitty. Remember, for example, how he bellowed to cheering partisan crowds that he would close down the detainment facility at Guantanamo within a year? The clock ticks — and Guantanamo isn’t close to being shut down. It once was easy for candidate Obama to deplore George W. Bush’s supposed gulag. Now it proves harder to decide between...

October 22, 2009, 0:00 a.m. Disconnecting the Dots An Afghanistan strategy is not enough. By Clifford D. May Don’t fault President Obama for reconsidering his strategy in Afghanistan. Fault him for reconsidering his strategy only in Afghanistan. Nearing the end of his first year in office, his administration has not yet developed a coherent and comprehensive plan to defend Americans from the movements, groups, and regimes that declare themselves our enemies, explicitly state their intentions — e.g. “A world without America�— and, unless we take steps to prevent it, will soon have nuclear capabilities to help them accomplish their...

BOSTON - A pharmacy college graduate conspired with two other men on a terror plot to kill two prominent U.S. politicians and carry out a holy war by attacking shoppers in U.S. malls and American troops in Iraq, prosecutors said Wednesday. But their plans — in which the men used code words like "peanut butter and jelly" for fighting in Somalia and "culinary school" for terrorist camps — were thwarted in part when they could not find training and were unable to buy automatic weapons, authorities said. Tarek Mehanna worked with the men from 2001 to May 2008 on the...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21, 2009 – Iraqi forces, aided by U.S. forces advisors, arrested two terrorism suspects and a murder suspect in Iraq in recent days, military officials reported. Iraqi security forces, with U.S. forces advisors, arrested two suspected terrorists -- a father and son -- in Salahuddin province Oct. 16. The forces arrested Diyah Adib Hassan Albu Nassir in his home in Bayji with a warrant issued by the Federal Appellate Court of Salahuddin. They arrested Nassir’s son, Farhan Diyah Adib Hassan Albu Nassir, after they determined there also was a warrant for his arrest. The elder man is suspected...

RICHMOND, Va., Oct. 21, 2009 – Darren Costine retired from the Army in 2001, but with 22 years of service under his belt, the former first sergeant said, the Army is still in his blood. Darren Costine, a retired soldier who now works at the Defense Supply in Richmond, Va., deployed to Iraq as a civilian weapon system support manager. DoD photo by Jackie Girard  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. That’s why he volunteered to return to the Middle East for six months as a civilian support representative for Defense Logistics Agency. Costine, who lives in Chester, Va., is...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq, Oct. 21, 2009 – Soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 17th Fires Brigade and the 14th Iraqi Army Division conducted their first joint medical military-civic operations clinic at Basra Operations Center Oct. 8, drawing about 150 people. Army Sgt. 1st Class Maryfaith B. Payne soothes a child as his mother is seen during a medical engagement in Basra, Iraq, Oct. 7, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Maurice A. Galloway  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “The purpose of an event such as this is to provide treatment for minor illnesses and teach these people how...

Remarks at the U.S.-Iraq Business and Investment ConferenceHillary Rodham Clinton Secretary of State Hyatt Regency Washington, DC October 20, 2009 **SNIP** But as the Iraqi Government continues to make its reforms, I urge U.S. businesses to really see all of the progress that has been made. The security situation has improved. The conditions for investment are stronger. And in the words of an Arab proverb, “Dawn does not come twice to awaken a man or a woman.” The world is watching for every opportunity to invest in Iraq, and companies that wait too long may discover they are too late.

President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, and we are having a difficult time figuring out why. The prize committee cited its decision on this: “For his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” Really? We missed this. Obama seemed surprised by this announcement and said winning the prize was a “call to action.” The nominations for the prize took place in February, which was only a couple months after Obama’s inspirational and change-promising “Yes We Can” campaign. In fact, he is the first U.S. president to be awarded the prize in his first term. Obama...

10/20/2009 - JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq (AFNS) -- Nearly 100 Iraqi children spent Oct. 10 running, playing and, more than anything, smiling as they had fun with American servicemembers on Joint Base Balad. The local Iraqi youths, from 5 to 18 years old, were invited to the base as part of a project initiated by the U.S. Department of State's Salah Ad Din Provincial Reconstruction Team, and Joint Base Balad Airmen and Soldiers jumped on the idea to coordinate the details for the children. Capt. Amy White, the 332nd Expeditionary Mission Support Group executive officer and lead organizer for the...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 20, 2009 – The security situation in northern Iraq has improved greatly in recent years, a senior U.S. military officer told Pentagon reporters today. Al-Qaida, which several years ago launched attacks with abandon in northern Iraq, is now “desperate,” Army Brig. Gen. Robert B. Brown, deputy commanding general for Multinational Division North and the 25th Infantry Division, said during a satellite-carried teleconference. Today, the division’s area of operations “has completely changed,” said Brown, who was in northern Iraq as a Stryker brigade commander in 2004 and 2005. Brown, whom President Barack Obama has nominated for promotion to major...

BAGHDAD, Oct. 20, 2009 – Iraqi police, aided by U.S. advisors, arrested seven suspected terrorists today in northern Iraq, military officials reported. Iraqi police, with U.S. advisors, arrested two suspects near Wajihijah, northeast of Baghdad, during an operation targeting a suspect believed to be associated with key members of al-Qaida in Iraq and the Islamic State of Iraq terrorist group. The security team arrested the suspects based on evidence found at the scene. In a separate operation near Bayji, southwest of Kirkuk, Iraqi police and U.S. advisors searched a building for a member of a vehicle-bomb network suspected of operating...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq, Oct. 20, 2009 – Southern Iraq’s Muthanna province is a vast area, sparsely populated and dominated by wide expanses of desert. Life here remains much the same as it has for centuries. Bedouin tribes herd camels while subsistence farmers scratch out a living in the harsh landscape. A UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter flies over a farm in southern Iraq’s Muthanna province, Oct. 11, 2009. U.S. soldiers deployed from Fort Bliss, Texas, are advising and assisting Iraqi security forces in the province and collaborating with provincial reconstruction teams to provide essential services. U.S. Army photo by...

KATHRYN JEAN LOPEZ: Is the Obama administration keeping America safe? DEBRA BURLINGAME: When Barack Obama was sworn in as president, I actually had a sliver of hope that he would surprise his worst critics and govern from the center — the smart pragmatist. That hope pretty much evaporated on January 22 when he signed a series of executive orders shutting the Guantanamo Bay detention center by a date certain and suspending the trial of 9/11 conspirators — who were at that moment sitting at Gitmo, crowing about their role in the murder of 3,000 of our fellow human beings. Surrounded...

Armed Forces hits recruiting goalsMilitary Recruitment Hits 35 Year High 10-19-09 Last Update: 7:47 pm Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - For the first time in 35 years, all branches of the military met their recruiting goals for 2009. The Army had more than 70,000 people sign up; the Navy had close to 36,000; the Marine Corps got 31,000 new recruits and the Air Force came in with close to 32,000. The high unemployment rate, coupled with increased education costs, is at the heart of the successful recruiting campaign. Recruiting tactics haven't changed. Recruiters still work hard to reach people, especially at high...

From left to right, Maj. Richard Dennis, Senon Valdilles Jr. and Spc. David Valdilles share a light moment in the Oasis Dining Facility, Oct. 16. Photo by Sgt. Jon Soles, Multi-National Division – Baghdad. BAGHDAD — Life in the Army is often marked by deployments that separate families. But that doesn't mean families on the Army team can't see each other downrange. Circumstances at Camp Liberty, here, Oct. 16, allowed a rare meeting between Maj. Richard Dennis, a 1st Cavalry Division military police officer, his father-in-law, Senon Valdilles Jr., a Department of Army civilian, and Valdilles' son, Spc. David Valdilles.All...

CAMP TAJI – The shift of U.S. forces out of Iraqi cities has created a new set of tasks for troops in the Iraqi countryside, and a newly-formed group is concentrating on infrastructure projects here. Combining the talents of the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment's leadership with members of the embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team North and the 1479th Civil Affairs Company to form a Project Working Group, the goal is to highlight projects that benefit the local populace. During a meeting held at the Tarmiyah Center, Oct. 13, district engineers from Tarmiyah, Abayachi, and Mushada met with members of the...