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BAGHDAD, Dec. 11, 2009 – I'm frequently asked for my assessment of the situation in Iraq, especially after an incident like the heinous terrorist attacks that killed innocent civilians Dec. 8. Our deepest condolences go to the families and friends of the people killed or injured. The attacks against the people of Iraq are clear indications of an enemy threatened by Iraq's progress in representative government and strengthening national unity. They stand in stark contrast to the compromise and consensus reached on the election law less than a week ago. Iraqis' choice to move forward to a bright future created...

Fifteen-month-old Briana N. Porter, daughter of Maj. Dustin M. Porter stares in awe at five-year-old Nubs during his visit to Camp Pendleton’s Country Store, Dec. 5. The wild Iraqi dog is famous for making a 70-mile journey through the Iraqi desert to reunite with Maj. Brian P. Dennis, aircraft maintenance officer, Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314, 3rd Marine Air Wing, after the two bonded during Dennis’s 2007 deployment. The recently published story, “Nubs: The True Story of a Marine, a Mutt and a Miracle,” has already made the New York Times’ children’s best seller list and is expected hit...

The Department of Defense announced today the alert for mobilization of a replacement unit scheduled to deploy in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Approximately 2,600 soldiers from the 29th Combat Aviation Brigade, headquartered at Edgewood, Md., will begin deploying in the summer of 2011.

Even as the U.S. military scrambles to support a troop surge in Afghanistan, it is donating passenger vehicles, generators and other equipment worth tens of millions of dollars to the Iraqi government. Under new authority granted by the Pentagon, U.S. commanders in Iraq may now donate to the Iraqis up to $30 million worth of equipment from each facility they leave, up from the $2 million cap established when the guidelines were first set in 2005. The new cap applies at scores of posts that the U.S. military is expected to leave in coming months as it scales back its...

Poor President Obama, he just can't bring himself to acknowledge the surge worked better than he and other skeptics, thought it would? I just don't understand why Senator Obama is being such a baby about the surge. Why can't he admit the obvious? It worked. Even as recently his Afghanistan speech last week: Today, after extraordinary costs, we are bringing the Iraq war to a responsible end. We will remove our combat brigades from Iraq by the end of next summer, and all of our troops by the end of 2011. That we are doing so is a testament to...

Strategy: Democracy is finally taking hold in the wake of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship. That, not American withdrawal, should be the big story. It's time to acknowledge success and to learn from it. You wouldn't know it from most news coverage, but the Iraq story continues and — get this — it's a story of emerging victory. What else can you call it when a stable democracy, the ultimate goal in America's military intervention, is in sight? With last Sunday's passage of a law that paves the way for the first national elections since 2005, the Iraqi people will soon be...

I've been asked by many to repost this for Veteran's Day. This is what I have so far. Happy Veterans day to vets and active duty military. We love you and are praying for you every day! God Bless You! Photos of my soldier in Iraq, enjoy...... 6-10-05 As many of you know, my daughter is in Iraq. Here's a photo essay detailing some of her activities there. I hope you all enjoy...... My daughter, left, and her Iraqi roommate before they left for Iraq. They are in the same platoon. A convoy... A baby goat... Nora, her 10 year...

Washington, DC (AHN) - The Pentagon has decided not to send about 4,000 troops to Iraq to replace a unit scheduled to leave the country in January. The Defense Department announced that it would not be sending the 3,500-member brigade from Fort Drum, New York because the security situation continues to improve, despite some recently-reported violence. The brigade was from the 10th Mountain Division, which was going to replace a unit from the North Carolina National Guard. The Guard unit is still coming home in January, Lt. Col. Eric Butterbaugh told CNN. Almost 120,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, while...

WASHINGTON (Oct. 17) -- More than 3,000 U.S. troops scheduled to deploy to Iraq won't go after all, as the military tries to draw down troop levels in the war-torn country, a Pentagon spokesman said Saturday. The 1st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division will not replace a North Carolina National Guard unit already in Iraq, Lt. Col. Eric Butterbaugh told CNN. The 3,500-troop combat team, based in Fort Drum, New York, was to leave in January, he said. "[The cancellation] reflects a thorough assessment of the security environment in Iraq and continued improvement in the ability of the...

The Taliban have released a clever piece of disinformation today, which clearly is aimed at US policymakers as well as the American public as the Obama administration decides on a new path forward in Afghanistan. In this latest statement, the Taliban are claiming they have no aspirations to be involved in the global jihad. From the Voice of Jihad, the Taliban's official propaganda arm online: We announce to all the world, our aim is obtainment of independence and establishment of an Islamic system. We did not have any agenda to harm other countries including Europe nor we have such agenda...

Lt. Col. Kristan L.K. Hericks (center), CO of the 419th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion "Wolfpack," and her 419th Soldiers successfully completed a 12-month tour at Camp Taji and will be redeploying home to Irvine, Calif, soon. Photo courtesy of the 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary). CAMP TAJI — After a long and often-times grueling year here, the 419th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion (CSSB) "Wolfpack" is on its way home. Over the next few days, the Wolfpack Soldiers will see a Relief in Place/Transfer of Authority ceremony where they officially pass the torch to the 541st CSSB, as well as an awards...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8, 2009 – An Army armored cavalry unit and three brigade combat teams will deploy to Iraq next summer as part of annual troop rotations there, according to a Defense Department news release issued today. Also, an Army headquarters unit and elements of a Marine expeditionary force now in Iraq have been issued deployment extensions, the release said. The number of troops involved in the movement will total about 15,000 servicemembers. The units will replace redeploying units, with no increase in overall force levels. Units identified for deployment are: -- 3rd Infantry Division’s 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team,...

Four-year old Paige didn't want to say goodbye to her daddy before he was shipped off to Iraq. A family photo that shows a little girl beside her father and his fellow soldiers in uniform as they prepare to go to war has resonated well beyond the tight knit Bennethum clan. Four-year-old Paige Bennethum really, really didn't want her daddy to go to Iraq. So much so, that when Army Reservist Staff Sgt. Brett Bennethum lined up in formation at his deployment this July, she couldn't let go. No one had the heart to pull her away. The commanding officer...

<p>Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009 | 3:15 a.m.</p> <p>The U.S. military says a Blackhawk helicopter has crashed inn an American base in Iraq, killing 1 service member and wounding 12 others.</p> <p>The military says the helicopter went down Saturday night at the Balad Air Base, 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Baghdad. It says the cause of the crash is unknown and under investigation.</p>

Apache's 30mm turns four jihadis into a fine red Allah-mist. Note: Sound on for added effect.

ON A blustery August afternoon in Edinburgh last week, the most celebrated military commander of his age was quietly doing the rounds with a group of injured British soldiers in the south of the capital. The commander of US Central Command, General David Petraeus, was talking about his legendary running exploits. Ten years ago, he fractured his pelvis after falling 60ft to the ground when, at the end of a skydiving jump, his parachute collapsed. At the newly opened Army Recovery Centre in Edinburgh, funded partly by the Homes for Heroes campaign, Petraeus was attempting to encourage a soldier who,...

Rushing out of a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, Iraqi Soldiers hit the ground and take up security positions during a training exercise in Baghdad, Aug. 18. Photo by Sgt. Travis Zielinski, 1st Cavalry Division. BAGHDAD — American servicemembers here continue to train the Iraqi Army (IA) using the same methods available to U.S. military forces. Starting off with the basic steps and procedures, a crawl, walk then run approach helps the Iraqis attain professional military standards. The 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, teamed up with 150th Armed Reconnaissance Squadron, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team,...

US troops now a 'coalition of one' in Iraq By CHELSEA J. CARTER, Associated Press Writer Saturday, August 1, 2009 The war in Iraq was truly an American-only effort Saturday after Britain and Australia, the last of its international partners, pulled out. Little attention was paid in Iraq to what effectively ended the so-called coalition of the willing, with the U.S. — as the leader of Multi-National Force, Iraq — letting the withdrawals pass without any public demonstration. The quiet end of the coalition was a departure from its creation, which saw then-U.S. President George W. Bush court countries for...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Eight years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. About 4,000 members of the U.S. military killed in action. More than 34,000 wounded. Just six considered worthy of America's highest military award for battlefield valor. For some veterans and members of Congress, that last number doesn't add up. They question how so few Medals of Honor—all awarded posthumously—could be bestowed for wars of such magnitude and duration. Pentagon officials say the nature of war has changed. Laser-guided missiles destroy enemy positions without putting soldiers in harm's way. Insurgents deploy roadside bombs rather than engage in firefights they're certain...

BAGHDAD — Britain says it will withdraw its remaining forces in Iraq to Kuwait, after the Iraqi parliament failed to pass a deal allowing the British troops to stay beyond the end of the month. The deal would have let up to 100 British troop stay in Iraq to protect oil platforms and provide training in the south of the country. The rest of the British forces are withdrawing under a separate agreement. British Embassy spokesman Jawwad Syed said Tuesday it's a procedural delay and that the remaining British forces will pull back to Kuwait until the issue is resolved....

WASHINGTON, July 20, 2009 – U.S. forces made headway in an investigation of a rocket attack on a base in Iraq, and Iraqi-led forces detained suspected terrorists and seized weapons in recent operations in Iraq, military officials reported. U.S. soldiers pursued criminals suspected of launching a rocket attack against Contingency Operating Base Basra on July 16 that resulted in the deaths of three Multinational Division South soldiers. Following the attack, U.S. troops were flown by helicopter to the suspected launch location, northeast of Basra Airport, where the soldiers were met by 14th Iraqi Army Division soldiers. A U.S. patrol pursued...

A missile strike in Iraq Thursday killed three Minnesota soldiers, all members of the National Guard's 34th Red Bull Infantry Division, family and friends said Friday. One of those killed near Basra was Carlos Wilcox, 27, of Cottage Grove, whose mother said her son asked her to mail him books so he could study for a medical school entrance exam when he got home. "He knew that God had called him to be a soldier and a doctor," said Charlene Wilcox. Dan Drevnick, 22, a graduate of Woodbury High School, was also killed in the attack. The third soldier, James...

The news is not that American combat troops withdrew from Iraqi cities. The news is that American combat troops withdrew from Iraqi cities in victory — rather than in defeat. Two years ago at this time, few in the foreign-policy establishment considered that outcome possible. Some did not even see it as desirable. There were those who believed that the conflict in Iraq was “unwinnable,” that America had met its match on the hot and dusty streets of 21st-century Mesopotamia. Others thought Americans needed a Vietnam-like refresher course about the futility of the use of U.S. military force anywhere in...

HILLAH, Iraq, June 30, 2009 – Soldiers with the 172nd Infantry Brigade are helping documentarians, historians and preservationists as they work to ensure that ancient Iraqi history is preserved and documented in Babil province. Army 1st Lt. Bryan Kelso stands watch outside a deserted palace built under Saddam Hussein at the Babylon ruins, June 21, 2009. Saddam ordered the construction of the palace on a manmade hill overlooking the ancient city of Babylon, where many projects are under way to enhance tourism in the area. U.S. Army photo by Maj. Mike Feeney  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The brigade...

BAGHDAD - Four U.S. soldiers were killed in combat on the eve of the withdrawal of American troops from Baghdad and other Iraq cities, the U.S. military said, as Iraqi forces on Tuesday assumed control for security in urban areas. The U.S. military said the four soldiers served with the Multi-National Division-Baghdad but did not provide further details pending notification of their families. It said they died as a "result of combat related injuries." The withdrawal that was completed on Monday is part of a U.S.-Iraqi security pact and marks the first major step toward withdrawing all American forces from...

OUR effort in Iraq passed a major milestone today: Our troops are leaving the cities. Advisers remain in place. Joint patrols will still occur. And our forces will wait nearby to respond to Iraqi calls for support. But the last of the bases and US-only outposts within Iraq's urban centers will be vacated. Terrorists have already begun testing the new security arrangements. Iraqi forces won't always pass with flying colors. Yet this situation seemed a pipe dream not so long ago: Iraq's security forces, serving an elected government, assume primary responsibility for the good order of their own country. We...

BAGHDAD – Iraqi forces assumed formal control of Baghdad and other cities Tuesday after American troops handed over security in urban areas in a defining step toward ending the U.S. combat role in the country. A countdown clock broadcast on Iraqi TV ticked to zero as the midnight deadline passed for U.S. combat troops to finish their pullback to bases outside cities. "The withdrawal of American troops is completed now from all cities after everything they sacrificed for the sake of security," said Sadiq al-Rikabi, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. "We are now celebrating the restoration of...

WASHINGTON, June 29, 2009 – The withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from all Iraqi cities and towns was completed over the weekend and ahead of tomorrow’s deadline, a Pentagon spokesman said on a cable TV news show today. “Overall, the security situation is stable enough for Iraqi security forces to take on this added responsibility,” Geoff Morrell said on CNN’s “Newsroom.” “It’s one that they want, and it’s one that the commanders on the ground feel they are capable of taking on. “It has to be OK because there’s a legal agreement, which forces us to abide by these timelines,”...

NAJAF, Iraq — A stream of U.S. military trucks laden with supplies rolled down a dusty four-lane highway over the weekend, ending the U.S. presence in one of Shiite Islam’s holiest cities. Coalition forces, including U.S., British and Spanish troops, have patrolled Najaf, with its population of around 900,000, since it was captured by the 101st Airborne Division in April 2003. The city has had its share of violence since then. Uprisings by firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s militia in 2004 sparked fierce fighting in the Wadi al-Salem — a sprawling cemetery where Shiites from around the world hope to be...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – U.S. troops pulled out of Baghdad on Monday, triggering jubilation among Iraqis hopeful that foreign military occupation is ending six years after the invasion to depose Saddam Hussein. Iraqi soldiers paraded through the streets in their American-made vehicles draped with Iraqi flags and flowers, chanting, dancing and calling the pullout a "victory." One drove a motorcycle with party streamers on it; another, a Humvee with a garland of plastic roses on the grill. U.S. combat troops must pull out of Iraq's urban centers by midnight on Tuesday under a bilateral security pact that also requires all troops...

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2009 – Predicting an uptick in violence in Iraq as U.S. combat troops leave the cities by June 30, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said today that deployed troops have geared up for the heightened threat as they comply with the U.S.-Iraq status of forces agreement. “I think we have reason to believe -- and I think our forces have been alerted to the possibility -- that we will likely see an uptick in violence leading up to the June 30 deadline for U.S. combat forces to leave Iraqi cities and towns,” Morrell told Pentagon reporters. He...

US commander in Iraq claims the military has largely honored the security agreement with Baghdad amid, what he claimed to be, a relative lull in militant activities. On Monday, General Ray Odierno said the pullout from urban areas was on the go with the troops having left the Iraqi forces in charge of 142 former US bases, Xinhua reported. Briefing a press conference in Baghdad, he suggested a link between the withdrawal and an alleged respite in al-Qaeda-linked attacks -- which the United States projects as an outcome its invasion of Iraq. Odierno claimed the US was 'absolutely committed' to...

An Iraqi Soldier hoists the Iraqi flag during a transfer of authority ceremony to signify the opening of the Balad Joint Coordination Center, which was previously Forward Operating Base Paliwoda, June 15. Photo by Spc. Jazz Burney, 25th Infantry Division. TIKRIT — U.S. Soldiers lowered the American flag and Iraqi Soldiers raised the Iraqi flag to signify the reclassification of Forward Operating Base Paliwoda into the Iraqi-led Balad Joint Coordination Center during a ceremony near Balad, June 15. The Balad JCC combines Iraqi Army and Police coordination elements, along with civilian emergency response functions together in one center. A small...

As the U.S. military continues its slow withdrawal from Iraq, the Iraqi people face a decision that might force those efforts into overdrive. A referendum scheduled for July 30 would give Iraqis the chance to vote for or against the Iraqi-U.S. security agreement that calls for all American troops to leave Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011. If the referendum goes ahead as scheduled and Iraqi voters reject the agreement — a likely outcome, observers say — the United States would be obliged to pull out troops one year after the vote, or nearly 1½ years before the deadline set by...

All but a few dozen of the 16,000 Marines now in Iraq will be out by next spring, the Marine Corps commandant said Thursday, putting a solid end date on a long-anticipated exit. Gen. James T. Conway said his Marine commanders are already moving equipment out of Anbar Province, where his forces have largely been concentrated. But the larger exodus will begin shortly after the Iraqi elections....

U.S. combat forces will vacate all Iraqi cities on schedule by the end of this month, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said Tuesday, including the still violent insurgent holdout of Mosul.

Capt. Adam Ropelewski, commander, Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery Regiment, signs over control of Joint Security Station Mutanabe to Capt. 'Ali Abdual Zaharra Hussain, 4th Company, 3rd Battalion, 32nd Iraqi Army Brigade, at a transfer ceremony, May 28. Photo by Sgt. Joe Thompson, Multi-National Division-South. FOB DELTA — U.S. forces handed over the responsibility of Joint Security Station Mutanabe in the Wasit province to the Iraqi Army (IA) in a ceremony here, May 28. Capt. Adam Ropelewski, commander of Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery Regiment, 41st Fires Brigade, signed over the JSS to Capt. Ali Abdual...

The Pentagon is prepared to leave fighting forces in Iraq for as long as a decade despite an agreement between the United States and Iraq that would bring all American troops home by 2012, the top U.S. Army officer said Tuesday. Gen. George Casey, the Army chief of staff, said the world remains dangerous and unpredictable, and the Pentagon must plan for extended U.S. combat and stability operations in two wars. "Global trends are pushing in the wrong direction," Casey said. "They fundamentally will change how the Army works." He spoke at an invitation-only briefing to a dozen journalists and...

BAGHDAD (AP) — A roadside bomb struck a U.S. convoy in western Iraq, killing three Americans, including a senior State Department official, U.S. officials said Tuesday. The blast killed Terence Barnich, the deputy director of the State Department's Iraq Transition Assistance Office in Baghdad, as well as a U.S. soldier and a civilian contractor as their convoy left a construction site near Fallujah on Monday, military and government officials said. Two others were wounded. Insurgents once held sway over the western province of Anbar, which was the scene of some of the deadliest fighting of the war. But violence fell...

Senior intelligence officials yesterday acknowledged that two al-Qaeda operatives, Abu Zubaida and Khalid Sheik Mohammed, had been questioned about alleged links between al-Qaeda and Iraq when the two men underwent CIA interrogation in 2002 and 2003. But the officials denied that the questioning on Iraq had included waterboarding. "The two top priorities driving so-called enhanced interrogation techniques were information on the locations of al-Qaeda leadership and plots against the United States," one intelligence official said yesterday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the subject publicly. "Questions were asked about Iraq, but the notion...

Veterinarian Ahmed Salman Nimma signs and finalizes the paperwork for a 5 million Iraqi dinar micro-grant for his vet clinic in Numaniyah, May 9. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Joe Thompson. FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA — Economic growth for small businesses is hard enough to accomplish in an established free-market such as the United States, let alone a new democracy getting on its feet.One of the tools available for small business owners in Iraq is the micro-grant, which a local veterinarian in Numaniyah is using to get his clinic up and running."I am grateful for this opportunity and am thankful...

BAQOUBA, Iraq | The U.S. commander of the Multi-National Force -- Iraq on Tuesday ordered a top-to-bottom review of mental health services for U.S. troops in the country after the worst act of U.S. soldier-on-soldier violence in the Iraq war. Army Lt. Col. Brian Tribus, media relations chief for Multi-National Force - Iraq, told The Washington Times that Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby ordered procedures "to look into [mental health] services available and delivery of those services." Gen. Jacoby also requested that the Army inspector general review all mental health services available to troops in Iraq, Col. Tribus said. Five U.S....

WASHINGTON, May 11, 2009 – Coalition and Iraqi forces detained one suspect and uncovered a weapons cache in operations last week, military officials said. During a combined mission in northwest Baghdad's Mansour district May 7, troops detained a man suspected of downing a coalition forces helicopter in 2007 and supporting al-Qaida in Iraq activities in the Iraqi capital. In a separate operation May 7, Iraqi security forces and coalition forces discovered a weapons cache in the Adhamiyah district of northern Baghdad. The stockpile included various mortars and other military equipment. A coalition forces explosive ordnance disposal team secured and disposed...

Army Spc. Adam Feldon talks with an Iraqi boy May 4, 2009, as a patrol of Pennsylvania Army National Guard Soldiers and Iraqi Police officers moves through Taji Market, north of Baghdad. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Doug Roles. TAJI — Iraqi Security Forces and U.S. Soldiers have been hitting the streets, working together to maintain security in Taji Market, one of the busiest sectors of the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team’s area of operations north of Baghdad. The market is a lynchpin in the security effort because it’s where the lives of locals intertwine. “Being the main market area, that’s...

WASHINGTON, May 7, 2009 – After three successful combat deployments over more than 19 consecutive months, Marine Corps MV-22 Ospreys will begin a global deployment with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, a senior Marine aviation official said yesterday. “The Marine Corps views these first three deployments of the Osprey into combat as marvelously successful,” Lt. Gen. George J. Trautman III, deputy commandant of aviation, said during a “DoD Live” bloggers roundtable. “The aircraft completed every assigned mission, and it did so flying faster, farther, and with safer flight profiles than any other assault support aircraft in the history of military...

BASRA, Iraq, April 26 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Iraqis protested against U.S. forces on Sunday after U.S. soldiers killed a man and a woman in an overnight raid that was condemned by the provincial governor. The U.S. military said it targeted "special groups" fighters, or elite Shi'ite militiamen the United States says are funded and armed by Iran, in a raid on their house early Sunday in the city of Kut, 150 km (95 miles) southeast of Baghdad. In a statement, the military said U.S. troops had shot and killed a man suspected of being behind supplying weapons to the...

In this file photo, MV-22 Ospreys with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron-162 land in Amman, Jordan, July 22, 2008. The deployment of the MV-22 Osprey in Operation Iraqi Freedom is coming to a close as the final Marine Medium Tilt-rotor Squadron prepares to head home this spring. Photo by Cpl. George Papastrat, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. AL ASAD AIR BASE — The presence of the MV-22 Osprey in Operation Iraqi Freedom is coming to a close as the final Marine Medium Tilt-rotor Squadron prepares to head home this spring. The Marines of Marine Medium Tilt-rotor squadron (VMM)-266, also known as the...

April 9, 2009 General Ray Odierno: we may miss Iraq deadline to halt al-Qaeda terror (Karim Kadim/AP) President Obama has pledged to withdraw all combat forces from Iraq by August 2010 The activities of al-Qaeda in two of Iraq’s most troubled cities could keep US combat troops engaged beyond the June 30 deadline for their withdrawal, the top US commander in the country has warned. US troop numbers in Mosul and Baqubah, in the north of the country, could rise rather than fall over the next year if necessary, General Ray Odierno told The Times in his first interview with...

Five US soldiers have been killed in a truck bombing in Mosul, Iraq, according to the American military.

3/19/2009 - JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq (AFNS) -- Airmen in the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing here took a moment to reflect on previous deployments here and the progress that's been made since 2003 to mark the six-year anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom March 19. Some take note of the physical changes in the base, the hardened facilities and the concrete T-wall barriers, while others think back on how far Iraq has come in the last six years. Deployed here for the second time since 2005, Maj. (Dr.) Chris Connaughton, a 332nd Expeditionary Medical Group colorectal surgeon, reflected on his first...