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AL ZAHRAH — It is a small neighborhood about 12 blocks long and five blocks wide, just a few miles away from Balad. The main street is roughly paved; the rest are just dirt tracks filled with trash and mud, teeming with kids. All in all, there is nothing remarkable about Al Zahrah. It has, however, managed to capture the attention of the U.S. forces at Forward Operating Base Paliwoda. “The people in this neighborhood have been good to us here. We’d like to do something in return for them,” said 1st Lt. Anthony Fazio, projects purchasing officer for Headquarters/Headquarters...

Salman Pak Iraqi Police and U.S. soldiers patrol the area together. U.S. Army Photo by Staff Sgt. Bronco Suzuki. Troops Help Iraqis Secure Neighborhood Joint U.S and Iraqi Forces operation uncovers cache of rocket launchers and small arms. By Spc. Shea Butler 7th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment BAGHDAD, Jan. 10, 2007 -- The ramp drops, the sun rises and the troops emerge. The missions vary and everyone has a different, but equally important job. The troops on the ground in Baghdad work every job from quick reaction force to humanitarian missions. The mission for soldiers with Company B, 1st...

Soldiers from the 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division capture insurgents during a demonstration of military ability that took place at Forward Operating Base Mahmudiah South Monday. Story and photos by Sgt. Trevor Snyder124th Mobile Public  Affairs Detachment BAGHDAD -- Iraqi forces took control of another area of Baghdad on Monday after the latest in a series of transfer of authority ceremonies near the capital. Army Col. Claude Ebel, commander of the 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division said responsibility for Forward Operating Base Mahmudiyah South, a base of operations for security forces south of the capital, was transferred to...

Brig. Gen. Obd al-Karim, commander of the 6th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi National Police Division, holds up a homemade grenade seized from an improvised explosive device facility during recent operations in the Al-Doura district of Baghdad as Col. Michael Beech, commander of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division looks on during a press conference to discuss Operation Together Forward. Story and photo by Sgt. Trevor Snyder124th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment BAGHDAD -- Iraqi and Coalition forces are systematically combing through businesses and homes in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Al-Doura as part of a continuing operation to stem the...

U.S. Army Pfc. Jason Allen, assigned to 101st Airborne Division's 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, takes aim with his M-240 machine gun during a battle with insurgents in east Ramadi, Iraq. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jeremy Pitcher Operation Dragon's Breath Joint Operation Targets Insurgents in Ramadi Neighborhood By U.S. Army Sgt. Jeremy Pitcher 124th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment RAMADI, Iraq, May 30, 2006 — As the sun rises above the horizon, the silence of a neighborhood is shattered by the roar of armored vehicles. The convoy kicks up dust and rocks, tearing along the makeshift road. It passes...

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Ignacio A. Betancourt, a civil affairs team sergeant with the 451st Civil Affairs Battalion, speaks with an Iraqi youth in a neighborhood reportedly troublesome to coalition forces, Jan. 10, 2006. Civil Affairs has been working with the Iraqi police for several days to develop a relationship with the community. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Michael Pfaff U.S., Iraqis, Clean Up Neighborhood for Hajj U.S., Iraqi Police joint effort restores electricity, removes trash, and establishes trust. By U.S. Army Spc. Michael Pfaff KIRKUK, Iraq, Jan. 25, 2006 — On many days in this city, a city...

Police say they hauled guns, ammo, drugs from his home. Don Bertone is not your usual problem neighbor, San Francisco authorities say. For three years, Bertone, who once worked for the city Housing Authority and ran for the Board of Supervisors in 2000, has wreaked all sorts of havoc in an otherwise quiet community in the southeastern part of the city known as Little Hollywood, officials and his neighbors said Wednesday. Bertone, 54, doesn't just play loud music, authorities say. At all hours of the day and night, he has blasted police radio broadcasts, shrill oscillating tones, Spanish dance tunes...

An Iraqi police officer (right) prepares to hand out supplies to local Iraqi schoolchildren during a humanitarian aid mission to their school in Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 20, 2005. U.S. soldiers from the 108th Military Police Company, 16th Military Police Brigade, Fort Bragg, N.C., assisted with the delivery of the material. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Matthew Clifton Iraqi Police Take Lead in Neighborhood Visit U.S. soldiers assist Iraqi police to establish improved community relations between the Iraqi police and the Iraqi civilians they protect. By U.S. Army Pfc. Matthew Clifton Multinational Corps-Iraq BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 5, 2005 — U.S. soldiers...

Iraqi Army Sgt. Maj. Nameer Mohammed (left) and U.S. Army Capt. Roger Miick, a civil affairs officer assigned to the 448th Civil Affairs Battalion, discuss a humanitarian aid mission in Baghdad, Oct. 26, 2005. U.S. Army photo Troops Bring Food, Water to Baghdad Neighborhood Iraqi, U.S. Soldiers conduct a humanitarian mission to residents of the Seven Palaces neighborhood. By U.S. Army Spc. Ben Brody 2nd Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs SEVEN PALACES, Iraq, Nov. 1, 2005 — Iraqi Army troops, in coordination with U.S. soldiers from 448th Civil Affairs Battalion, distributed food and water to residents of Seven Palaces...

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 20, 2005 – A National Guard unit soon will be conducting security and recovery missions for residents in Algiers, a New Orleans neighborhood located across the Mississippi River from the French Quarter. "We're going to put soldiers in grocery stores helping them to stock shelves, whatever we have to do," said Army 1st Lt. Richard J. Chappell, executive officer of Company C, 2nd Battalion, 185th Armor Regiment, of the California National Guard. The 185th is headquartered in Escondido, Calif. The Golden State guardsmen will continue to assist Algiers residents and help the area's business community get back...

Look at this current disaster we can see that all levels of government had (to be kind) shortcomings. So what now? Well lets remember 1st the level of government. The 1st level is YOU the citizen (or resident). What is your responsibility? Do you have a disaster kit available? http://www.ready.gov has a list of what you need. Do you have a plan as how to evacuate if you need to? The second level of government is your neighborhood. Get to know your neighbors, who has special needs, who has what training in 1st aid, medical, building trades, contacts etc. From...

JERUSALEM (AP) - Jerusalem planners have approved the construction of a new Jewish neighborhood in the city's Muslim Quarter, officials said Tuesday, threatening to further inflame tensions between Israelis and Palestinians in the city claimed by both as a capital. The plan to build 21 apartments for Jews in the walled Old City's Muslim Quarter was approved 5-2 by a local planning board late Monday, said Yosef Alalu, a dovish city council member who is on the committee. The plan has to go through several more bureaucratic stages before final approval. The plan was presented to the planning board by...

Federal authorities from San Diego are investigating a border tunnel discovered by Mexican authorities over the weekend, it was reported Monday. The tunnel connected a luxurious Mexicali residence to neighboring Calexico in Imperial County, officials with the Mexican Federal Attorney General's Office told The San Diego Union-Tribune. Inside the passageway, investigators discovered lighting and ventilation equipment, a closed-circuit security system, hydraulic machinery and various tools, Mexican authorities told the newspaper. The finding led agents to believe that the tunnel was presumably used for drug trafficking, Mexican authorities told the Union-Tribune. A middle section of the tunnel was initially discovered in...

The state Appeals Court on Monday rejected a bid by a friend of former President Clinton to block a huge vacation home from being built near his estate on Martha's Vineyard. Developer Richard Friedman was one of more than a dozen people that own homes near Oyster Pond, in Edgartown, who sued to stop the construction of a 15,600-square-foot house in their neighborhood. Friedman has loaned his island home to President Clinton and his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., who spent several summer vacations there during their White House years. His would-be neighbor, Robert Levine, co-founded Cabletron Systems Inc. with...

It is with astonishment that I write about a situation that is so narcissistically absurd that one would think it could only happen in California under the watchful eye of the liberal-left. Yet, amazingly, it is happening right here in the Midwest, in Riverside, Illinois and could be happening wherever apathy condones political correctness. It would seem that there are some, I like to call them the vocal minority, who find the harmless yellow ribbons that are affixed to the trees of the neighborhoods in this established American community visually obnoxious. The ribbons “are unsightly and not in keeping with...

HOLD A RALLY - INSPIRE THOUSANDS - CHANGE YOUR COUNTRY A Bellevue FReep got 2000+ people. The ones at McChord 3000. In some states, numbers have reached 10 and 25,000! Believe me, people are watching. The great thing about Liberty Weekend is that they will all be TOTALED UP. They will range from small to medium to big to huge! We are getting new sponsors every day and reporting all this to the media. Get the word out. Now let's consider the small rally, in a suburb for example, as you suggest... I need to keep repeating this again and...

Fred'Mister' Rogers Dies of Cancer at 74 PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Fred Rogers, who gently invited millions of children to be his neighbor as host of the public television show "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" for more than 30 years, has died of cancer. He was 74. From 1968 to 2000, Rogers, an ordained Presbyterian minister, produced the show at Pittsburgh public television station WQED. The final new episode, which was taped in December 2000, aired in August 2001, though PBS affiliates continued to air back episodes. Rogers, who died Thiursday morning, composed his own songs for the show and began each episode...

Fred Rogers dead at 74...no other info yet.prisoner6

Boom Cars and the Boyz: Is it just "harmless, innocent, fun???

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Even the low-level but chronic noise of everyday local traffic can cause stress in children and raise blood pressure, heart rates and levels of stress hormones, reports a new study by a Cornell University environmental psychologist and his European co-authors. "We also found that girls exposed to the traffic noise become less motivated, presumably from the sense of helplessness that can develop from noise they couldn't control," says Gary Evans, an international expert on environmental stress, such as noise, crowding and air pollution.