Posted on 05/16/2005 6:36:54 PM PDT by TexKat
U.S. Army Staff Sergeant and Special advisor to the Iraqi Police Tlaloc Cutroneo, age 32, takes up a defensive position on the airport road in Baghdad, Iraq on May 9, 2005. Cutroneo, an officer in Boston's elite MOPP police unit, has been training Iraq's special Police commandos as an Army reservist for the past 7 months.
05/09/05 - U.S. Navy Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jeffery Ernsberger, attached to Mobile Security Unit 23, monitors communications with the amphibious assault ship USS Nassau (LHA 4) during Exercise New Horizons in Gonaives, Haiti, on May 9, 2005. Mobile Security Unit 23 is providing security protection for the New Horizons Task Force. The Task Force,...
Pakistani protesters burn a U.S. flag to condemn alleged desecration of Islam's holy book Quran at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during a protest in Peshawar, Pakistan on Sunday, May 15, 2005. (AP Photo/M. Sajjad)
Pakistan Repeats Demand for Quran Probe
By SADAQAT JAN, Associated Press Writer
Mon May 16, 6:19 PM ET
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan on Monday reiterated its demand for an investigation into the alleged desecration of Islam's holy book at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, hours before Newsweek retracted the report claiming a Quran was flushed down a toilet to rattle detainees.
The story sparked demonstrations across the Islamic world last week, with about 15 people killed during an anti-American protest in Afghanistan.
Pakistan, a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terror, requested Monday that U.S. officials complete a full investigation into the allegations.
"We have asked for a thorough investigation conducted by the U.S. administration and we would expect the results of the official investigation shared with us," Foreign Ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani told a news conference.
Newsweek reported in its May 9 issue that U.S. military investigators had found evidence that interrogators at the base in Cuba placed copies of the Quran in washrooms and had flushed one down the toilet to get inmates to talk.
Most of the 520 inmates at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are Muslims arrested during the U.S.-led war against the Taliban and its al-Qaida allies in Afghanistan.
Newsweek apologized Sunday for errors in its report and on Monday retracted it entirely.
"Based on what we know now, we are retracting our original story that an internal military investigation had uncovered Quran abuse at Guantanamo Bay," Newsweek Editor Mark Whitaker said in a statement Monday.
Whitaker wrote in an editor's note published in this week's edition that "We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst."
The retraction came after the White House said Newsweek's initial response was insufficient.
"The report has had serious consequences. People have lost their lives. The image of the United States abroad has been damaged," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said earlier in the day.
The 22-nation Arab League issued a statement saying if the allegations panned out, Washington should apologize to Muslims.
On Saturday, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz demanded "exemplary punishment" for those behind the reported desecration. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, insults to the Quran and Islam's prophet, Muhammad, are regarded as blasphemy and punishable by death.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed, a hard-line Pakistani Islamist leader and opposition lawmaker, on Monday rejected Newsweek's initial apology.
"The objective of the change in the their statement is to cool the anger among Muslims of the world," Ahmed said before the retraction.
He said Islamic groups in Pakistan, Egypt, Malaysia, Britain, Turkey and other countries would go ahead with rallies planned for May 27 to protest the alleged desecration.
Lebanon's most senior Shiite Muslim cleric said the alleged desecration is part of an American campaign aimed at disrespecting and smearing Islam.
Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah urged Muslims and international human rights organizations "to raise their voices loudly against the American behavior, which is hostile to Islam and Muslims."
In a statement faxed to The Associated Press before Newsweek's apology, Fadlallah called the alleged desecration a "brutal" form of torture.
"This act is not an individual act carried out by an American soldier, but rather it is part of the American behavior of intellectual and psychological education in disrespecting Islam and smearing its image in the souls of Americans," Fadlallah said.
On Sunday, U.S. national security adviser Stephen Hadley said in an interview on CNN that the allegations were being investigated "vigorously."
"If it turns out to be true, obviously we will take action against those responsible," he said.
Former British Labour Member of Parliament George Galloway (second R) talks to members of the news media after arriving at Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia May 16, 2005. Galloway is scheduled to appear before the U.S. Senate tomorrow to respond to allegations that he profited from the U.N. oil-for-food program and received compensation and other concessions from ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. REUTERS/Shaun Heasley
Galloway arrives in U.S. to clear name on Iraq
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Independent MP George Galloway arrived in Washington on Monday and said he was determined to prove the "absurdity" of allegations that he benefited from the U.N.'s oil-for-food program for Iraq.
Galloway is set to answer questions on Tuesday at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which released documents it said showed ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein gave Galloway the rights to export 20 million barrels of oil under the now-defunct U.N. oil-for-food humanitarian program.
A radical kicked out of the Labour party for his fervent opposition to the Iraq war and personal attacks on Prime Minister Tony Blair, Galloway said he was looking forward to telling his side of the story but had low expectations.
"I have no expectation of justice from a group of Christian fundamentalist and Zionist activists under the chairmanship of a neocon (President) George Bush who is pro-war," Galloway told Reuters on his arrival in the United States.
"I come not as the accused but as the accuser," he added.
Galloway was strongly critical of the committee's investigation into his activities and said he was never contacted or asked a single question about the allegations.
"I'm not going there to change the minds of the committee, but to appeal to public opinion and to show just how absurd this report is," he said. "Justice George Bush style ... is what I expect from the right-wing hawks in Washington."
DETERMINED
Asked whether he had prepared a statement to present at the hearing, Galloway said he had formulated some thoughts but declined to say what these were.
Other witnesses set to give testimony at the same hearing include Thomas Schweich, chief of staff of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, and Robert Werner, director of the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The U.N. oil-for-food program, which began in late 1996 and ended in 2003, was aimed at easing the impact of sanctions imposed after Saddam's troops invaded Kuwait in 1990.
Baghdad was allowed to sell oil to buy basic goods and could negotiate its own contracts, but the program has been dogged by allegations of massive fraud and charges Saddam used it to buy influence in the West.
Under the program Iraq could grant vouchers that could be used to either buy oil or be sold to trading companies.
Galloway, who was a vocal critic of U.N. sanctions against Iraq, met Saddam during visits to Baghdad in the 1990s.
Running as an independent, the outspoken Scot narrowly defeated a Blair loyalist in the May 5 election for what had been considered a safe Labour seat in east London.
The 96-page Senate report, initiated to examine fraud in the U.N. oil-for-food program, also said Charles Pasqua, the former French interior minister who is now a French senator, got vouchers for 11 million barrels.
Both Galloway and Pasqua have strongly denied the allegations, which have surfaced earlier, but with less documentation.
Former French interior minister Charles Pasqua speaks to journalists during a press conference in Paris, Monday May 16, 2005. Pasqua who is accused by the U.S. Senate of involvement in corruption in the oil-for-food program in Iraq, said he was being used in what he described as an American campaign against French interests and refuted claims that he received millions of barrels of oil from Saddam Hussein's regime. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
Terrorism suspect to hear fate
LONDON (Reuters) - A terrorism suspect facing possible extradition to the United States is expected to hear on Tuesday whether he has succeeded in his bid to stay in Britain.
Computer expert Babar Ahmad, 30, has been indicted in the United States for running a Web site that raised funds for Muslim militants in Afghanistan and Chechnya.
Ahmad's British supporters say he should not be extradited because Britain failed to find evidence to charge him with a crime at home. His cause has been taken up vocally in Britain's Muslim community.
Ahmad has been held in Belmarsh jail since August last year and was denied bail while his case was heard.
From his prison cell, he stood as a candidate in this month's election for the Peace and Progress party in Brent North, an area of northwest London with a large Muslim population. Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party held the seat.
Spc. Sabrina D. Harman arrives at the courthouse in Fort Hood, Texas, Monday, May 16, 2005. Harman is facing charges in connection with prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. She could face up to 6 1/2 years if convicted of conspiracy to maltreat detainees, five counts of maltreating detainees and dereliction of duty. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Harman Guilty on 6 Abu Ghraib Abuse Counts
By T.A. BADGER, Associated Press Writer
FORT HOOD, Texas - A military jury Monday convicted Spc. Sabrina Harman on all but one of the seven charges she faced for her role in abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison.
A panel of four Army officers and four senior enlisted soldiers convicted Harman on one count of conspiracy to maltreat detainees, four counts of maltreating detainees and one count of dereliction of duty.
The 27-year-old reservist from Lorton, Va., was acquitted on one maltreatment count.
Her sentencing hearing was scheduled to begin Tuesday. Harman faces a maximum of 5 1/2 years in a military prison.
Harman, a former pizza shop manager from Virginia, was the second soldier to be tried for allegedly mistreating prisoners at Abu Ghraib. She was depicted in several of the most notorious photos taken at Abu Ghraib in late October and early November 2003, and she is accused of taking other pictures.
Harman posed for a photo with Pvt. Charles Graner Jr. behind a group of naked detainees stacked in a pyramid. In another photo, the 27-year-old reservist is shown with a prisoner on whose leg she is accused of writing "rapeist."
Earlier Monday, prosecutors said in closing arguments that Harman and other guards on the night shift at Abu Ghraib conspired to mistreat the prisoners.
"They were all acting together for their own amusement," said Capt. Chris Graveline. "There was no justification for what they did that night."
Graveline said the group took pictures of what they were doing "so they could remember that night, so they could laugh again at these men. ... There's nothing funny about what happened at Abu Ghraib."
Defense lawyer Frank Spinner said Harman was a novice soldier who had no prison guard experience and who received virtually no training before going to work at the chaotic and overcrowded prison as part of the Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company.
"Shame on the Army for putting an ill-equipped, ill-trained junior specialist in a position where she had to challenge her (enlisted) leadership to do the right thing," he said after putting on a case that lasted only a few hours. "This is not one of the Army's finest moments."
Six co-defendants in the Abu Ghraib case have made plea bargains. Graner was convicted in January and is now serving a 10-year sentence in an Army prison.
Pfc. Lynndie England, the most recognizable Abu Ghraib defendant, also reached a plea deal, but the judge threw it out in early May after Graner's testimony contradicted England's assertion that she knew her actions were wrong.
Mon May 16, 3:41 PM ET
NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) - Leaders of Iraq's newly empowered Shiite majority called on their followers not to resort to revenge attacks against the ousted Sunni Arab elite amid a spate of tit-for-tat sectarian killings.
Top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani called on both communities to maintain brotherly relations, said Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari.
"Sayyed Sistani insisted on the brotherhood between Shiites and Sunnis and the need to include our Sunni brothers in the constitution-drafting process," Jaafari told reporters after meeting the cleric in the holy city of Najaf.
Jaafari, himself a devout Shiite, met the reclusive Sistani a day after the discovery of at least 46 bodies killed execution-style fuelled fears of sectarian violence.
Shiite radical leader Moqtada Sadr echoed Sistani's call, urging his followers to exercise restraint.
"Any action targeting unarmed civilians is forbidden under any circumstances," Sadr said in a rare public appearance in Najaf, his first since fierce fighting between his outlawed Mehdi Army militia and US troops in the central shrine city last year.
"All Sunnis cannot be held responsible for the terrorist deeds of the occupiers and Nawaseb," he said, referring to Sunni hardliners inspired by the Wahhabi creed dominant in neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
Several of the bodies found Sunday were Sunnis apparently killed in tit-for-tat attacks, sparking fears that Shiite militiamen are no longer heeding calls for restraint from their clerics in the face of repeated attacks by Sunni insurgents.
Sunni religious leaders demanded action. The overseer of Sunni religious endowments in Iraq, Adnan Salam al-Dulaimi, called for an investigation. The leading Sunni clerical body -- the Committee of Muslim Scholars -- blamed Shiite militias for the killings.
"The Committee of Muslim Scholars warns about state terrorism which results from giving militias a free rein to clamp down on our people," spokesman Muthanna Hareth al-Dari said.
It was a thinly-veiled reference to Sadr's officially disbanded Mehdi Army and the Badr Organisation, the former militia of the powerful Shiite religious party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
The bulk of the grim crop of mutilated bodies -- some headless, others with their throats slit -- were discovered in Shiite neighbourhoods of Baghdad in and around Sadr City, a Sadr stronghold.
Others were found in the violence-wracked mixed areas south of Baghdad known as the Triangle of Death.
The grisly mass grave finds have fanned sectarian tensions, already running high amid Sunni fears of fresh purges against them by the new Shiite-led government.
A day after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a surprise visit to encourage Iraq's fledgling administration, insurgent violence showed no let-up.
Two soldiers and two civilians were killed in two separate car bomb attacks which left more than 40 people wounded, the interior ministry said.
More than 400 people have been killed this month alone, many in car bombings.
Two days after US troops wrapped up a week-long sweep for insurgents in western Iraq, 30 people were wounded in a suicide bombing at the Rabiah border crossing with Syria.
"The suicide bomber managed to drive his vehicle inside the compound before blowing himself up, wounding 30 among the travellers," said local official Nasser Abdel Aziz al-Rakan.
Four Iraqi soldiers were also killed in a bait-and-ambush attack in Khan Bani Saad, just north of Baghdad.
Meanwhile, the foreign minister of neighbouring Iran, Kamal Kharazi, was due to visit Tuesday to finally turn the page on the two countries' devastating 1980-88 war.
"We have a range of issues on both sides, including non-interference, cooperation, the economy and closing the files of the Iraq-Iran war," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told AFP.
Mon, May 16, 2005
PAUL ALEXANDER - Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea, seeking to get North Korea to return to six-nation negotiations over its nuclear weapons program, hoped for a response Tuesday from the reclusive communist country.
The rival Koreas resumed their first face-to-face talks in 10 months at the North Korean border village of Kaesong. The two-day meeting began Monday, with both delegations returning to their respective capitals for consultations after six hours of talks.
Trying to ease rising tensions, South Korea on Monday promised a major new proposal if North Korea returns to the talks. No details were released, but South Korean media speculated that Seoul would offer aid to its impoverished neighbor, which has been wracked by famine.
South Korea provides fertilizer and other humanitarian aid to the North each year, but says any major economic aid should be preceded by North Korea's agreement to dismantle its nuclear weapons facilities.
The resumption of dialogue between the two countries was the first potentially positive development on the Korean Peninsula since February, when North Korea claimed it had nuclear weapons and said it would indefinitely boycott arms talks until Washington drops its "hostile" policy.
North Korea, with a history of brinksmanship to wring aid and other concessions from the West, said last week it had completed removing spent fuel rods from a reactor at its main nuclear complex - a process that could allow it to harvest more weapons-grade plutonium - and would strengthen its nuclear arsenal.
The North Korean delegation listened without comment as South Korean Vice Unification Minister Rhee Bong-jo brought up the nuclear issue during Monday's first session. North Korea normally shuns direct talks with the South over its nuclear program.
"If the six-party talks resume, it shouldn't be talks for the sake of talks, but substantial progress is necessary," Rhee said. "For this, the South side is preparing for a substantial proposal, and will propose it to the related countries when the talks resume."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned North Korea against testing nuclear weapons.
"Escalation on the part of the North Koreans is going to deepen their isolation a lot," she said Monday after a visit to Iraq.
Japan's Nihon Keizai business daily reported Tuesday that North Korea has invited Rice to visit the country for nuclear talks. Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing conveyed the request to Rice when they spoke by phone on Friday, Nikkei said, citing unidentified sources in U.S.-North Korean negotiations.
A State Department spokesman said he could not confirm the report. Washington has resisted direct talks with the North over its nuclear program.
National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley threatened unspecified actions against North Korea if it carried out a nuclear test. U.S. officials said last week that spy satellites looking at the North's northeastern Kilju spotted the digging of a tunnel and the construction of a reviewing stand - possible indications of an upcoming test.
Shinzo Abe, secretary-general of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Tokyo would take the issue to the United Nations. "It is unthinkable not to impose any sanctions in case of a nuclear test," he said.
But South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon played down the prospects of a nuclear test.
"The reports that are coming out are artificial and groundless that have no specific evidence to back them up," Song told South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
Discussions involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia have been stalled since last June after three inconclusive rounds. North Korea refused to participate in the fourth set of talks, originally scheduled for last September.
Washington's top envoy in that dispute, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, met Monday with South Korean officials.
"We are doing everything to get this six-party process going, and we really want to, but that does not mean we are not going to look eventually at other options," Hill told South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon.
Talks between the two Koreas broke off in July after mass defections to South Korea from the North that it labeled kidnappings.
Rhee made several suggestions for improving relations. North Korea wanted to talk about food aid and fertilizer for its spring planting season; Rhee said the size of such aid needs further consultations.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher offered support for South Korean efforts to bring North Korea back to negotiations. He added, however, that United States believes "humanitarian assistance to the people of North Korea, including food or helping them grow food, shouldn't be conditioned or negotiated as part of the six-party talks."
The latest nuclear standoff with North Korea was sparked in late 2002 after U.S. officials accused the North of running a secret uranium enrichment program.
BAGHDAD - Three Iraqi journalists were killed by armed men south of Baghdad on Monday, police said, in an area where two other reporters had their throats slit the day before.
(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has voiced shock over the gruesome murders of two Iraqi journalists, whose throats were reportedly cut by armed men while they were traveling toward the holy city of Kerbala, south of Baghdad.
(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has voiced shock over the gruesome murders of two Iraqi journalists, whose throats were reportedly cut by armed men while they were traveling toward the holy city of Kerbala, south of Baghdad.
The two latest victims were Najem Abed Khodair, who worked for the independent daily newspapers "Al-Madaa" and "Tariq al-Shaab", and Ahmad Adam, a poet and writer who contributed to "Al-Madaa" and "Sabah" newspapers. Launched after the start of the war, "Al-Madaa" concentrates on political news.
On 15 May 2005, the Agence France-Presse news agency quoted an Iraqi army officer as saying that the two journalists were heading towards Kerbala, their hometown, when they were stopped near Latifiyah by armed men, who took them to the roadside and cut their throats. After abandoning the bodies, the assailants "fled into the surrounding orchards," the officer said.
On 16 May, the Iraqi army announced that nine armed men suspected of carrying out the murders were arrested south of Baghdad.
"We are horrified by these murders, we share the grief of the victims' families and we extend them our full sympathy," RSF said. "There is no justification for such barbarity."
RSF said the murders brought the number of journalists and media assistants killed in Iraq since the start of the year to 10, almost half the total number of press victims in all of 2005. In all, 58 journalists and media assistants have been killed in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003.
HILLAH, Iraq - Three members of a Kuwaiti television crew have been shot to death on a highway south of Baghdad, an Iraqi army spokesman said on Monday
The shootings occurred 40 kilometres from the capital between Latifiyah and Mahmudiyah on Sunday evening in an area sometimes referred to as the triangle of death due to the high level of insurgent activity. The victims were a Kuwaiti journalist and two Iraqi assistants.
16/05/2005 The Associated Press
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey - Two Kurdish guerillas trying to attack the home of a Turkish governor were killed Monday after police fired on them as they approached the building, officials said.
One of the rebels was shot to death by police guarding the residence in the southeastern province of Siirt, and the other was killed when a grenade he was carrying exploded in his hand, local officials said.
One policeman was injured in the gunfire with the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.
Siirt is about 560 miles southeast of Ankara, the capital.
The PKK has battled government forces in a conflict that has killed more than 37,000 people since 1984.
Clashes in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast had tapered off after a rebel truce in 1999, which followed the capture of their leader, Abdullah Ocalan. But the rebels have recently escalated their attacks.
The attempted attack comes at a time of concern about possible increase in violence following a European court judgment that Ocalan did not receive a fair trial in 1999.
It is not clear if Turkey will retry Ocalan, but a new retrial would be extremely unpopular, with many Turks blaming the imprisoned PKK leader for the bloody insurgency.
Last week, soldiers killed nine rebels in a military operation in nearby Tunceli province and seized automatic weapons, plastic explosives, grenades and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
"Please free the man who would force me to wear this burka! I support him even though I am a second class citizen and treated like property. You can see I have blue eyes.... I wasn't born a Muslim, I was brainwashed into it for reasons I can't even explain. Like a good battered wife, I will not see the light."
Military Glossary & Army Troop Organization
Squad -- The smallest military unit, it usually consists of 10 to 11 soldiers.
Platoon -- A platoon is usually four squads. Platoons are usually led by lieutenants, with sergeants serving as their second-in-command.
Company -- Companies consist of four platoons, a headquarters and some logistical staff. They are normally commanded by captains.
Battalion -- A battalion is usually made up of four to five companies, including a support company and a headquarters company.
Brigade -- A brigade is a collection of battalions, usually 2,000 to 3,000 troops. Brigades are most often commanded by a colonel.
Division -- There are at least three brigades in a division. They are usually commanded by a major general.
Corps -- Made up of two to five divisions, corps are the largest tactical units in the U.S. Army.
Marine Organization
The Marine Corps, a branch of the Navy, has some unit classifications that are unique.
Marine Expeditionary Force -- An expeditionary force is made up of two or three divisions of Marines. The force is usually deployed on helicopter carriers or amphibious assault ships. Its equipment and weaponry includes tanks, artillery, Harrier jump jets and attack helicopters.
Marine Expeditionary Unit -- Each marine division is known separately as a Marine Expeditionary Unit. The unit usually includes a battalion landing team, helicopter squadron and support unit.
Military Slang And Jargon
APC -- Armored personnel carrier, a tanklike vehicle that carries troops
BDUs -- Battle Dress Uniforms, what soldiers and marines wear on the battlefield
CO -- Commanding Officer
Frag, Fragging -- To murder a fellow soldier. From 'fragmentation grenade.'
GPS -- Global Positioning System. A satellite triangulated 'compass' that gives the GPS's location
Humvee -- High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle, the military's current version of the Jeep. Also called a 'hummer.'
Kevlar -- Protective material capable of stopping small caliber bullets and shrapnel. Troops wear Kevlar vests with a ceramic front plate capable of stopping larger caliber rifle rounds. Military helmets are also lined with Kevlar.
LZ -- Landing zone, where troops are deposited by helicopter or land after parachuting from a plane.
MRE -- Meals Ready to Eat, packaged food carried by troops for their own consumption.
NBC -- Nuclear, Biological, Chemical. Often used to describe equipment and training related to those battlefield threats.
NCO -- Non-Commissioned Officer, usually refers to sergeants.
OPSEC -- Operational Security.
POW -- Prisoner Of War.
PsyOps -- Psychological Operations. The production and distribution of media in native languages with the intent of informing the locals of American actions, desires and views, usually with the hope of producing a desired action.
RPG -- Rocket-Propelled Grenade.
SAW -- Squad Automatic Weapon, a light machine gun
SOP -- Standard Operating Precedure
TOW -- A heavy antitank missile. Its name is derived from its description as a Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided missile.
XO -- Executive Officer. The second-highest ranking soldier in a unit.
Also Enlisted Rank -->http://www.theindychannel.com/news/2082578/detail.html
PART ONE - Inside Iraq
Near Najaf, Iraq - May 16, 2005
Soldiers of Bravo Company are on an early morning patrol in Iraq. The soldiers stop at a hamlet of farmers near Najaf and ask how the farmers are doing.
"We just wanted to stop and ask if they have any problems," explains Lt. Steven Gagner of St. Albans.
The soldiers offer assistance and check to see if they can help these Iraqis in their daily lives.
"However they address their problems as far as power, their schooling. They don't have a school for their children and so I told them I would bring that back up with the civil affairs folks at Camp Hotel," says Gagner.
This patrol is a so-called 'Presence Patrol'. It's aim is two fold -- to deter insurgents from coming into the city and to find out how Americans can help improve people's lives here.
"We're not fighting insurgents every day. So, it's kind of ambiguous. If it's a combat patrol or civil affairs type patrol, you just have to kind of play it by ear based on the area that you are going in to," says Gagner.
There are few insurgent incidents in this city. There are still ruins where Marines fought a major battle last summer with Shiite leader Muktada Al-Sadr. Since then, it's been quiet.
"My feeling of Najaf is it's totally secure. It's as secure as any city in the United States, I think that's the opinion of most of the coalition right now," says Capt. David Matzel, Bravo Company Commander.
But the soldier must always keep an eye out just in case.
"Looking near and far, left and right. And you're just looking for something that's unusual, looks out of place, could be dangerous or whatever," says Sgt. Richard Paradis of Enosburg.
The soldier say they are welcomed by most people in the city. Each day on patrol there is a lot of waving back and forth, even though kids outside the city sometimes throw rocks too.
"Most the people here are very happy to see us. They want us here. They help us out 90 percent of the time. If there's a problem, they usually stop us and let us know," says Sgt. Steven Day of Swanton.
For now, the soldiers are working no so much to create security, as to maintain it. With the security situation calm, they turn to help rebuild the city's services devastated by 30 years of war and neglect by Saddam Hussein.
Members of Bravo Company leave this forward operating base two or even three times a day, including missions all across Najaf.
Douglas Grindle - Channel 3 News
Grindle is a free lance reporter who has done similar stories for CBS stations in other New England states.
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=3352193&nav=4QcSZvVJ
The first operational F/A-22 Raptor flies to its permanent home at Langley Air Force Base, Va., on May 12, 2005. The Raptor is the first stealth supersonic fighter in the world. This aircraft is the first of 26 Raptors to be delivered to the Air Force's 27th Fighter Squadron. DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. Ben Bloker, U.S. Air Force.
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