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InfiltratedWe asked a Marine officer recently back from the Triangle of Death in Iraq to describe the abilities of Iraqi forces and whether Sunnis are joining in any significant numbers. The officer answered, "I honestly don't know, but I do know that all of the units in my area of the Triangle of Death are infiltrated and are constantly being purged only to be reinfiltrated." continued

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is fond of telling reporters that "weakness is provocative" in explaining the administration's Ronald Reagan-esque policy of peace through strength. A new book shows where the defense secretary may have borrowed the phrase. "Fritz Kraemer on Excellence," by Hubertus Hoffmann, is a celebration of work of the World War II combat veteran and noted defense strategist who died in 2003 at age 95. The book ...quotes Mr. Kraemer as warning American leaders against the "provocative weakness" embodied in the Munich deal between British leader Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler that "was the first step on...

THE WASHINGTON TIMES The top U.S. commander for Iraq said yesterday that the insurgency there grew in numbers and in effectiveness in the three months before the Jan. 30 elections, but could not field enough terrorists to derail the historic vote. "No doubt that the Sunni-Arab insurgency in Iraq was stronger through the period, November, December, January, than it was the same time last year," Gen. John Abizaid, the overall commander of the Persian Gulf region, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "So it did, in fact, increase in intensity."

The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com Army's 3rd Division returns to IraqBy Rowan ScarboroughTHE WASHINGTON TIMESPublished February 26, 2005 The Army's 3rd Infantry Division is back in Iraq, 22 months after it stormed the country from Kuwait and was the first U.S. unit to penetrate downtown Baghdad to oust Saddam Hussein.     The Fort Stewart, Ga.-based division has a new commander and a whole new combat configuration. Of its roughly 20,000 soldiers, about 50 percent participated in the invasion and subsequent occupation that saw a rise in lawlessness and a burgeoning insurgency.     "Our soldiers, for the most part, feel like this is the...

An eyewitness to the killing of two Iraqis by Marine Corps 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano says in a sworn statement that the officer, who has been charged with murder, twice ordered the insurgents to stop in Arabic before opening fire, according to documents obtained by The Washington Times. Lt. Pantano had told investigators that he fired at the Iraqis after they walked toward him and refused to stop, according to the documents. His platoon had stopped the Iraqis as they left a house where insurgents were making bombs. "While I took my security post, I heard Lt. Pantano yell stop...

THE WASHINGTON TIMES Some insurgents are contacting the U.S. military and the Iraqi transition government about giving up the fight in light of the Jan. 30 elections, the Pentagon said yesterday. Larry Di Rita, chief spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, said the American military command is not directly involved in negotiations. He portrayed the process as Iraqis talking to Iraqis, in consultation with the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. "Since the elections, obviously, a lot of Iraqis who have been opposing this transition to self-government in Iraq are, I would guess, rethinking their situation," Mr. Di Rita told a...

Some in the Bush administration were aghast this week to see hard-nosed Colombian President Alvaro Uribe travel to Caracas and be photographed shaking hands with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. In fact, one senior official called it "Uribe's surrender." The two publicly settled a dispute over Colombia's snatching of a communist rebel, Rodrigo Granda, in December in Caracas. Mr. Chavez accused Colombia of violating Venezuelan sovereignty. Colombia wondered why Granda was free in Caracas and carrying a Venezuelan passport. Mr. Chavez, a left-wing ally of Cuba's Fidel Castro who talks of bringing a socialist revolution to Latin America, is viewed by...

He is the kind of Marine officer who seems to come off the assembly line, so patriotic that he rejoined the Corps after September 11 and went to Iraq to kill terrorists. That is why it is so hard for 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano and his family to understand how the Marine Corps could call the platoon leader a murderer. He escaped death in Iraq despite daily patrols and raids in the notorious Sunni Triangle. Back home at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Lt. Pantano, 33, found out the Corps has filed two premeditated murder charges for shooting two Iraqi insurgents in...

The Bush administration has lodged a formal protest with Russia for agreeing to provide the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez more than 100,000 AK-47 rifles that U.S. officials believe could be used to aid left-wing uprisings in Latin America.     The administration in December sent a secret letter of protest (formally called a demarche) to the Russian Embassy in Washington, according to senior U.S. officials. The officials say the warning was followed up by concerns expressed directly to the Russian defense and foreign ministers.     The protests come at a time when U.S. intelligence reports say that Mr. Chavez is working...

Code word compromise The Joint Staff at the Pentagon last week ordered an investigation into the compromise of several programs that were revealed in a book by author William Arkin. According to a Jan. 25 cable from the Joint Staff to 14 military units, most of them involved in special operations, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has asked for an "opsec" or operational security assessment of possible national security damage to special access programs and other "operational compromises" in the book, "Code Names." The U.S. Special Operations Command will be the lead...

The Washington Times www.washingtontimes.com Women in combat ban again at issueBy Rowan ScarboroughTHE WASHINGTON TIMESPublished February 4, 2005 The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee has ordered an investigation into whether transformed Army divisions are violating the Pentagon rule against sex-integrated support units embedding with land combat battalions.     Committee Chairman Rep. Duncan Hunter said that his staff should complete the inquiry soon, at which time he will assess whether the Army is complying.     "We're looking into this issue," the California Republican said. "We don't have many preliminary results, but the committee is looking at this. It's a serious...

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday that Sunday's historic elections in Iraq have ignited a "tipping of support for the government" by Iraqis now more willing to help security forces defeat insurgents. [**snip, snip**] Mr. Rumsfeld and his top aide, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, also rebutted charges from two prominent Iraq policy critics -- Democratic Sens. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware. [**skipping Rumsfeld on "tipping," Wolfowitz on insurgency**] [...] Mr. Biden also said several times [at Condi's hearings] that there are only 4,000 trained Iraqi security forces. But Mr. Rumsfeld yesterday...

The Army said yesterday it is "premature" to say whether the service will ask for changes in rules forbidding women in combat, a day after President Bush said firmly that he opposes changing the rules against assigning women to ground combat.     The Washington Times asked Army headquarters at the Pentagon whether, given the president´s statement, the service would end a yearlong internal discussion about lifting the so-called "collocation rule" to change the rules prohibiting mixed-sex units commingling with combat units. Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Pamela Hart said: "The policy concerning women's roles in the military is still in effect....

Defense officials say that the Donald H. Rumsfeld-John McCain relationship, never the closest or friendliest, really soured at a private meeting the two had last summer. The strong-willed defense secretary and the equally hard-nosed Republican senator from Arizona, both ex-Navy pilots and hawks on Iraq, were supposed to make peace over two nagging issues. Mr. McCain did not believe Mr. Rumsfeld was adequately paying attention to, or disclosing information about, the Boeing tanker lease scandal Mr. McCain took to the Senate floor Nov. 19 and read e-mail excerpts and called the Boeing deal "a case of either a systemic failure...

Defense officials say that the Donald H. Rumsfeld-John McCain relationship, never the closest or friendliest, really soured at a private meeting the two had last summer. The strong-willed defense secretary and the equally hard-nosed Republican senator from Arizona, both ex-Navy pilots and hawks on Iraq, were supposed to make peace over two nagging issues. Mr. McCain did not believe Mr. Rumsfeld was adequately paying attention to, or disclosing information about, the Boeing tanker lease scandal; Mr. Rumsfeld wanted Mr. McCain to lift his opposition to several Pentagon nominations bogged down in the Senate. Rather than serving as a peacemaker, the...

January 7, 2005Notes from the PentagonCIA in IraqThe CIA has been given a leading role in developing the Iraqi intelligence service in Baghdad. U.S. officials say the new spy agency reflects the same institutional weaknesses as the CIA, including poor operational security, bad counterintelligence and an emphasis on process over results. U.S. officials say the biggest problem is that at least 5 percent of the new intelligence agency members were recruited from the former Mukhabarat, Saddam Hussein's repressive security and intelligence service that had about 15,000 members. The service began last summer and has about 1,000 members. The director is...

The deployment of thousands of sailors, airmen and Marines for the post-tsunami relief mission in Asia is adding new pressure to U.S. armed forces already stretched thin by the global war against al Qaeda and other terrorists.     Commanders have had to review war plans for any threatening action by North Korea as they pulled ships, aircraft and troops from the Pacific and sent them away from the Korean Peninsula to Indian Ocean storm centers. [snip]The Pentagon said yesterday that more than 13,000 personnel, 21 ships and 121 aircraft are taking part in rescues and supply drops in Thailand, Indonesia,...

An internal Army memo is ordering Pentagon officials to tightly control the flow of information on policy debates after draft briefings leaked to a newspaper showed proposals for putting female soldiers closer to land combat.     The internal memo was written by Lt. Gen. James Campbell, who directs the Army staff at the Pentagon. The Campbell memo was sent to a list of more than 30 Army policy-makers, warning them about press leaks.     The memo was dated Dec. 13, the same day The Washington Times reported on an Army briefing to Gen. Campbell that recommended doing away with a Pentagon rule...

The Pentagon is scurrying to find cuts in projected defense spending as part of President Bush's deficit-reduction campaign, defense and industry officials say.     The cuts would not be in the current budget, which took effect Oct. 1, but in the fiscal 2006 defense appropriation, which goes to Congress early next year.     "They have got a major budget drill going on," said a defense industry executive who is trying to protect the company's programs. This source said the White House Office of Management and Budget wants cuts of up to $10 billion a year.     The source, like others for this story,...

Commanders have requested to nearly double the number of armored utility vehicles in Iraq to 8,000, in yet another shift in equipment needs to keep pace with an insurgency that continues to strike troops. [snip] Within weeks, [Acting Army Secretary Les] Brownlee convened a summit at the Pentagon of defense contractors who design and build armor. [snip] AM General responded by increasing production of "up-armored" Humvees (as opposed to "thin skin" Humvees) from 150 to 450 a month. By this fall, the Army had put 5,000 in Iraq, only to learn a few weeks ago that commanders had upped the...