Posted on 09/11/2005 3:34:42 PM PDT by Gucho
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 11, 2005 – Iraqi and coalition forces have seized the initiative in a series of operations in and around Baghdad and north and west of the city, official said today.
Perhaps most significantly, multinational forces reportedly raided a terrorist safe house in Zanazil, near Mosul, on Sept. 10, detaining four terrorists and killing a key al Qaeda leader, Abu Zayd.
Zayd was the al Qaeda military emir of Mosul, officials said. He was reportedly responsible for coordinating all terrorist operations in the city, including kidnappings, extortion, murder, intimidation of Mosul citizens, and attacks against Iraqi security and coalition forces. Abu Zayd also directed the use of foreign fighters within his organization
Multinational forces reportedly used their own intelligence assets and information from concerned citizens to identify the terrorist safe house.
According to officials, when they arrived at the site, multinational forces immediately detained the four terrorists found outside the house. They then shot and killed an unknown terrorist who was engaging them from a nearby field. The unknown terrorist later was positively identified as Abu Zayd.
Zayd's capture means that just two known terrorist leaders remain in control of al Qaeda's Mosul terrorist network, officials said. Another Mosul terrorist leader, Abu Talha was captured, recently; and another, Abu Zubayr has been killed, they noted.
Multinational forces also said they captured Ammar 'Abd-Al-Hafiz' Abd Muhummad -- aka Ammar Amam Wakhtif or Sheik Ammar -- an admitted terrorist and leader of the Numan Brigade, in a raid earlier this month near Ramadi.
Sheik Ammar reportedly oversaw and directed Numan's day-to-day operations. He ordered numerous car bombings and other direct attacks against Iraqi and coalition Forces, officials said. Sheik Ammar took control of the Numan terrorist Brigade when Muhammad Daham was captured in May, they noted.
Another Numan cell leader, Sayf-al-Din Yahya Anad -- aka Sheik Sayf or Abu Hamza - also reportedly was captured during the raid. Hamza was responsible for organizing and directing attacks against Iraqi coalition forces.
"The capture of these two terrorists, coupled with the more than 200 other captured or killed terrorists throughout Iraq recently, demonstrates the coalition's continued progress in removing these key terrorist leaders," said Multinational Corps Iraq spokesman Army Col. Billy J. Buckner. "We are degrading the overall effectiveness of al-Qaeda terrorist network in Iraq and its ability to conduct operations in Iraq."
In fact, according to Buckner, since Aug. 26, Iraqi and coalition forces have captured 211 terrorist suspects, killed 141 terrorists and confiscated nine weapons caches.
Forty-one terrorist suspects were captured during cordon-and-search operations Sept. 10 in the city of Tall Afar outside of Baghdad, he noted. These operations also yielded a mortar system with multiple rounds of ammunition and a cache containing hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
"Operation Restoring Rights," Buckner said, "is being conducted to remove terrorists and foreign fighters operating in Tall Afar. This operation is in support of the Iraqi government's efforts to bring safety and security to the citizens of the city."
The local Iraqi government, Buckner added, requested coalition assistance to establish security in Tall Afar for the upcoming elections.
Cordon-and-search operations also are being conducted with great success in a known terrorist safe haven in Rutbah, in western Anbar province, officials said.
Dubbed Operation Zobaa - aka Cyclone - these operations were launched very early today and are designed to root out al Qaeda, disrupt terrorist operations and destroy terrorist networks.
Officials said the operation was launched to quell terrorist activities, which have been escalating for the past several months in Rutbah. This escalation in terrorist activity has given the terrorists an effective base of operations, which they have used to intimidate and murder the local Rutbah populace, city and government officials.
Officials said that, as with all coalition operations, strict measures have been taken to prevent civilian casualties and unnecessary collateral damage to property in Rutbah.
In a separate incident near Samarra, one Task Force Liberty soldier was killed today when an IED detonated near a coalition forces combat patrol there. Two soldiers were wounded in the incident; they have since been taken to a coalition medical facility, officials said.
Meanwhile, in Kirkuk, Task Force Liberty soldiers and Iraqi police today detained eight individuals suspected of making and placing homemade bombs. The suspects are now in police custody. Soldiers and police conducted their search based on information gathered by the Iraqi police, officials said.
Elsewhere in Iraq, Task Fore Liberty and Iraqi soldiers Sept. 10 apprehended four individuals and seized a weapons cache in Jalula in the Diyala province. The weapons cache had 29 82 mm mortar rounds, 14 122 mm artillery rounds, and six 130 mm artillery rounds, officials said.
Task Force Liberty explosive ordnance disposal personnel conducted a controlled blast to destroy the munitions, which reportedly had been found when the soldiers were investigating a tip from a local citizen.
Task Force Liberty Soldiers also discovered and seized a cache of mortar rounds near Bayji Sept. 10. The soldiers had been searching a farm north of the city when they found the cache; it included 35 60 mm mortar rounds and boxes of artillery propellant. The cache was taken to a coalition force base for disposal, officials said.
Finally, coalition air support of ground operations continues at a brisk pace. Coalition aircraft flew 48 close air support and armed reconnaissance sorties Sept. 10, officials said.
A U.S. Air Force Predator expended one Hellfire missile in the vicinity of Tall Afar, thereby successfully destroying a vehicular IED Sept. 10. And U.S. Air Force F-16s performed a pre-planned strike against terrorists staging near Samarra.
(Based on news releases from Multinational Force Iraq and U.S. Central Command Air Forces Forward.)
Iraqi soldiers collected 1,000,000 Iraqi dinars for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
By Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq
TAJI, Iraq, Sept. 9, 2005 — Iraqi soldiers serving at Taji military base collected 1,000,000 Iraqi dinars for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Iraqi Col. Abbas Fadhil, Iraqi base commander, presented the money to U.S. Col. Paul D. Linkenhoker, Taji Coalition base commander, at a Sept. 5 staff meeting.
“We are all brothers,” said Abbas. “When one suffers tragedy, we all suffer their pain.”
The amount of money is small in American dollars - roughly $680 - but it represents a huge act of compassion from Iraqi soldiers to their American counterparts, said U.S. Army Maj. Michael Goyne.
“I was overwhelmed by the amount of their generosity,” Goyne said. “I was proud and happy to know Col. Abbas, his officers, NCOs and fellow soldiers. That amount represents a month’s salary for most of those soldiers.”
Abbas read a letter he wrote after giving the envelope to Linkenhoker.
"I am Colonel Abbas Fadhil; Tadji Military Base Commander,” Abbas wrote. “On behalf of myself and all the People of Tadji Military Base; I would like to console the American People and Government for getting this horrible disaster. So we would like to donate 1.000.000 Iraqi Dinars to help the government and the People also I would like to console all the ASTs who helped us rebuilding our country and our Army. We appreciate the American's help and support. Thank you."
BBC World News Service - LIVE - Click RealAudio - Stream
BBC World News Service - LIVE - Windows Media - Stream
Click Radio Taiwan International (English)
Live TV Coverage of Discovery Crew
Click LBC 1152 AM London News Radio
Israel News Radio, 0430 UTC - English
Israel News Radio, 2000 UTC - English
Radio Pakistan News Bulletins (English)
Voice of Russia, 0300 UTC - English
Voice of Russia, 0800 UTC - English
Radio China International, 1500 UTC - English
Radio Polonia, 1700 UTC - English
Radio Australia, 0700 UTC - English
Radio Australia, 1100 UTC - English
Thank you Iraqi soldiers.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Shots fired near the Afghan defence minister's car on Saturday were not an assassination attempt but a dispute between soldiers, the authorities say
11 Sep 2005 - 22:28:29 GMT
Source: Reuters
MELBOURNE, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Australian security officials say they are seeking a copy of a video shown on U.S. television threatening an attack on Melbourne, in order to assess the risk to Australia's second largest city.
The tape, broadcast on Sunday and purportedly from a U.S.-born member of al Qaeda, threatened Los Angeles and Melbourne on the fourth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
"We are working in conjunction with our federal and international counterparts to obtain a copy of the tape," said police inspector Craig Walsh.
"Once obtained, the tape will need to be authenticated and its contents analysed and considered prior to making any further statements," Walsh told reporters.
Australia, a strong U.S. ally with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been on medium security alert since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The country has not been the target of a serious attack but 88 Australians were among 202 people killed in bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali in October, 2002, and the Australian embassy in Jakarta was hit by a suicide bomb in 2004.
The U.S. television network ABC News said it had received the video in Pakistan on Saturday. It reported that the masked speaker appeared to be Adam Gadahn, from southern California, who threatened attacks on the two cities, "Allah willing," and warned that the attackers would show no compassion.
"Yesterday, London and Madrid. Tomorrow, Los Angeles and Melbourne," he said.
"We love peace, but peace on our terms" the speaker said.
U.S. authorities are trying to verify the tape.
Prime Minister John Howard has said Australia is a terrorist target and security police say it is only a matter of time before Australia is attacked.
Australian Federal Police say up to 60 suspected Islamic militants in Sydney and Melbourne are under surveillance.
On Friday, Howard announced new counter-terrorism laws, which will allow police to use electronic tracking devices and detain people for up to 48 hours without charge.
A new law will make it a crime to incite violence against the community or against Australian soldiers serving overseas, or to support Australia's enemies. (SECURITY-THREAT-AUSTRALIA, reporting by Michael Perry; editing by Andrew Dobbie; michael.perry@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: michael.perry.reuters.com@reuters.net; +612 9373 1804))
AlertNet news
September 11, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Task Force Baghdad Soldiers and leaders from the Tissa Nissan District of East Baghdad cut the ribbon on a much-anticipated bypass Sept. 9.
The opening of the Rustamiyah Traffic Bypass represents the culmination of a $2 million project conceived by the Tissa Nissan District Advisory Council with assistance from 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division; the 36th Engineer Group; and 1st Battalion, 64th Armor, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division.
"The idea for the bypass was the brainchild of the Nine Nissan DAC," said Lt. Col. Kevin Farrell, commander of 1st Bn., 64th Armor. "It’s benefited the local economy by creating jobs, but also by improving the traffic flow in the area."
A gathering of Iraqis and U.S. Soldiers grew on the bridge as attack helicopters circled the area and tanks patrolled the streets.
Tissa Nissan DAC member Dr. Karim Al Amber, who cut the ribbon officially opening the bypass, praised the project as representing a bridge of peace between Iraqis and Americans.
"This is a great project - it is also a weapon, which will shorten the age and the time of the terrorists," Amber said. "The motivation from this will promote hope in the souls of the people."
District Advisory Council members from Tissa Nissan cut the ribbon at a ceremony for the opening of the Rustamiyah Bypass Bridge Sept. 9. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Ben Brody, 2nd Brigade Combat Team PAO)
Since the liberation of Iraq in 2003 and the continued presence of Coalition Forces on the Rustamiyah Military Academy Compound, residents of Baghdad have found it difficult to travel easily on nearby Canal Road due to the high volume of military and logistical traffic.
Additionally, the compound and travelers in its vicinity have been at increased risk for car bombs because of traffic congestion. The Rustamiyah Bypass attempts to solve these problems.
"The heavy traffic near Rustamiyah posed a threat to both civilians and Soldiers from (vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices)," Farrell, of Harrison, N.Y., said. "The area is safer for everyone now."
The project included a bridge, 1.5 kilometers of roadway, curb construction and emplacement of roadside lighting. The bridge itself is a concrete girder bridge with a concrete deck and asphalt surface able to handle loads in excess of 70 tons.
This project is one of many road and infrastructure improvements completed or currently underway under the guidance of the leaders and citizens of Tissa Nissan in partnership with 1-64 Armor Soldiers.
Since February 2005, local leaders with the help of the battalion have supervised the completion of $3 million worth of projects with another $2 million worth of projects ongoing throughout the Tissa Nissan District. All projects share the same goal of improving the quality of life of the district’s citizens.
By 2nd Brigade Combat Team PAO
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:
The Rustamiyah Bypass Bridge is a concrete girder bridge with a concrete deck and asphalt surface able to handle loads in excess of 70 tons. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Ben Brody, 2nd Brigade Combat Team PAO)
Lt. Col. Jamie Gayton, commander of Brigade Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, speaks with District Advisory Council members at a ceremony for the opening of the Rustamiyah Bypass Bridge Sept. 9. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Ben Brody, 2nd Brigade Combat Team PAO)
Sun Sep 11, 2005
BAGHDAD (AFP) - The US army said it killed one of Al-Qaeda's military chiefs for Mosul in a raid near the main city of northern Iraq and launched an operation against Islamists in the west of the country.
"Multinational forces raided a safe house Saturday in Zanazil, near Mosul, resulting in the detention of four terrorists and the death of a key local leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq," it said in a statement.
"Abu Zayd, identified as the current Al-Qaeda in Iraq military emir of Mosul, was killed in the raid," it said, adding that the operation was launched after a tip-off from local residents.
It said he was "responsible for coordinating all terrorist operations in the city, which included kidnappings, extortion, murder, intimidation of Mosul citizens, and attacks against Iraqi security and coalition forces".
The US army also said it has launched a joint operation with Iraqi security forces against a suspected Al-Qaeda "safe haven" in the restive western province of Al-Anbar.
The operation in Rutbah, which lies on the highway to Jordan, came as US and Iraqi forces pressed on with an offensive against insurgents in Tal Afar in northern Iraq near the border with Syria.
"Operation Zobaa (Cyclone) began in the early morning hours with the objectives of rooting out Al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorists operating within the area and disrupting insurgent support systems in and around the city," the military said.
ISLAMABAD, Sept 11 (KUNA) -- A small bomb explosion Sunday wounded at least five people including two rangers in Southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan, said an official.
Some unknown suspects had planted an indigenous remote-controlled bomb, weighing 45 pounds, in a bicycle parked nearby a rangers vehicle at Kashmoor near Jacobabad area, said District Police Officer, Muneer Khuro.
He said that it went off with huge bang, wounding two rangers and three passers-by and spreading panic among locals.
He did not blame any group, saying, "It would be premature to say anything.
" He added that investigations are underway.
AMMAN, Sept 11 (KUNA) -- Jordan and the United States signed a loan agreement whereby Jordan gets an easy term US loan of USD 10 million for the purchase of 54,000 tons of American wheat, a US embassy statement said here on Sunday.
The agreement was signed on the Jordanian side by Minister of Finance Adel al-Qadhat and on the American side by Charge D'affaires David Hill.
The loan agreement is in keeping with US obligations to aid Jordan in its efforts to reduce poverty and encourage economic development and growth, said the embassy statement.
The duration of the loan is 26 years, with an interest rate of one percent and a grace periof of five years, said al-Qadhat, who specified that the loan was given by the US Department of Agriculture from its aid program, known as General Law 480, for Jordan.
General Law 480 is a program, run by the Department of Agriculture, for assisting developing nations ensure food sufficiency. The program enables these nations to purchase American wheat through easy term loans, payable over extended periods of time.
GAZA, Sept 11 (KUNA) -- Israeli troops shot and wounded five Palestinians in the town of Rafah and near Khan Youness in the south of Gaza Strip late on Sunday, security and medical sources said.
The sources said the Israeli troops opened fire in the direction of hundreds of young Palestinians near a checkpoint west of Khan Youness, wounding two. One of the wounded, a 14-year-old boy, suffered serious cuts in the face.
Three Palestinians were wounded with Israeli troops' gunfire in Rafah while they were watching Israeli troops' pullout from a nearby outpost.
Radical Islam sows its seed in Europe's fertile soil
Recruiters home in on cities where a sense of alienation has created a pool of disaffected young Muslims
By DOUG SAUNDERS
Saturday, September 10, 2005
PARIS -- At a pleasant café in this downtrodden corner of Paris, Mahor Chiche interrupts the conversation to point to a bald, bearded, tunic-wearing teenager passing on the sidewalk. "Look," he says, "there's a Moussaoui."
The 30-year-old law student was born to Tunisian parents in this tough neighbourhood, and he knows the particularities of its dress code. Such young men, he explains, model their appearance after Zacarias Moussaoui, the immigrant to France who was charged with being the would-be 20th hijacker in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Mr. Moussaoui, to a surprising number of young French men here in the 19th district of Paris, is a role model. We know this not just because so many French teenagers here from moderate or non-religious North African families are now sporting the beards and tunics of the true believer and attending 5 a.m. prayers at fringe mosques, but also because many of them have followed more directly in the footsteps of their al-Qaeda role models.
In the past few months, at least eight young French-born men from this district have blown themselves up in Iraq. Another is believed to be the leader of a cell of insurgents within Iraq. A number have been arrested on their return from Iraq, and authorities believe they were planning to commit terrorist attacks within Europe.
Four years ago this weekend, the grubbier neighbourhoods of European cities produced an unprecedented threat to the world, after a Hamburg-based group of young North African and Middle Eastern immigrants organized the Sept. 11 attacks.
That first wave of al-Qaeda terrorists were all immigrants from Muslim countries to Europe or North America; they included Canadian terrorists such as Ahmed Ressam, the young Algerian man now in jail for trying to bomb the United States on Jan. 1, 2000.
But something has changed dramatically in the past four years. Across Europe, and possibly in North America, the new Mohamed Attas are coming not from immigrant enclaves, not from people raised in Muslim countries where religious extremism is part of the political culture. They are native-born citizens of their host countries, fluent in its language and culture, usually from families that are neither impoverished nor religious.
As the popularity of radical Islam has declined dramatically in Muslim countries -- not a single international terrorist figure has emerged from Iraq, Afghanistan or Palestine in the past four years -- it is becoming a fully European force in France, Britain, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands, forged in the bland concrete housing projects that ring the cities of Europe.
"It's not the ones from religious families who are turning into jihadists," said Rosa Tandjaoui, the daughter of Algerian and Tunisian parents who owns a bookstore here in the 19th district and whose children attend the same schools as the French suicide bombers.
"It's people from families like mine -- secular, patriotic French, educated. I worry about my son a lot -- I hope he doesn't become religious, and I will never let him go to prayers by himself. I've seen what happens to them."
At the centre of this neighbourhood are several complexes of huge apartment buildings, 22 to a block. At the centre of one of those blocks yesterday, a group of young Muslims leaned against the wall, passed around a joint and passed the time -- about the only activity available for a great many young men around here. Unlike their parents, they are not struggling in casual labour to build a future: They feel fully French, own name-brand clothes and have everything but a future. They discussed rap music and the forces that had turned several of their friends into jihadists.
"You can tell when they've gone over, because they were delinquents and all of a sudden they start acting very good, going to church, not smoking the hashish," said Mehdi, 21, whose parents came from Mali. "And they get really strict, telling people that they're infidels if they don't go to the mosque. They're being told things that sound really good -- it's like a cult."
The 19th district was once a surprisingly harmonious place, with halal and kosher butchers happily sharing sidewalk space. Then something abruptly changed.
Many people here say that occurred two years ago, when the leadership of the largest mosque was taken over by Algerians who had been members of the Islamist insurgency there. Others say it was the arrival of recruiters -- severe men in beards and tunics -- who set up a string of Middle Eastern sandwich shops along one street.
"Radicals are getting control of the mosques, it's true, but these are kids who don't even go to the mosque," said Mr. Chiche, who has formed a group to oppose extremist influences in the 19th district.
These listless and naïve youngsters, he explains, end up "buying the salad," to use the local expression.
"So this man comes to visit, from a Muslim group, and he sets up in the back room of one of the halal sandwich places - you get the sandwich for free, and then you get the intellectual salad on top of it. So he sells his salad -- and the young man has had no idea of these concepts; they sound good, so he eagerly embraces it."
French scholars of Islamic society now argue that radical Islam, which began as an export from the Middle East and Africa, is now an entirely European product, utterly devoid of links with actual Muslim countries.
"There is a kind of pan-European underclass that has formed, of young Muslim European citizens who have no real links with either European society or any real Muslim societies," said Farhad Khosrokhavar, a professor at Paris's School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences who has recently compiled his field work in Muslim extremist communities in a book titled The New Martyrs of Allah.
"Across Europe, there are similar patterns of this exclusion -- in France in these cites [housing projects], in England in poor inner cities. They feel that this exclusion is not really economic, but cultural."
The recruiters move across Europe, homing in on cities where the deprivation seems to have created the largest numbers of disaffected young Muslims.
The Muslim community centres of Leeds seem to have been deliberately targeted. And many people here in the 19th district say that the recruiters arrived en masse, in what seems to have been a deliberate experiment in radicalizing a whole generation. They work fast: It only takes two or three days, people say, to turn someone's head around. Within months, they can be blowing themselves up in Iraq -- or in London.
"This gives birth to a kind of imagination that is very disconnected from the reality of Muslim countries," said Prof. Khosrokhavar. "These recruiters construct an imaginary world of Islam. It is globalized, refashioned, and not referring to the actual reality of Muslims in the world. . . "
The response has varied. In Britain, the government has declared an end to its policy of multicultural tolerance. In the Netherlands, the population lashed out at Muslims. And here in France, there is a very serious proposal to start building government-funded mosques with government-trained and certified imams, as a typically French way to bring Muslim youths more closely into French society.
In the 19th district, the guys who escaped the lure of the recruiters look askance at this.
"These guys, the jihadists and extremists, are making it bad for all of us -- they're telling Europe that all of us blacks and Muslims are people who could turn into suicide bombers at some point," Mehdi said. "There's no point having government mosques or anything like that -- it's up to us, here in the projects, to do something about this. We have to show them a better path."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050910/ATTA10/TPInternational/Europe
(Reuters)
10 September 2005
KARBALA, Iraq - Iraqi police in the Shia Muslim holy city of Kerbala said they found and defused a huge truck bomb on Saturday, days before a religious festival.
“The truck was packed with high-explosives in 16 gas canisters, two 200-litre barrels full of gasoline and explosives and two large rockets as well as a large artillery shell,” police officer Karim Sultan Al Hasnawi told Reuters.
In total, it carried about a tonne of explosives.
Sep. 11, 2005
Associated Press
BELLOWS AIR FORCE STATION, Hawaii -- The Marine Corps unveiled new Humvee-mounted technology to allow troops in the field to communicate with each other, their commanders, and even headquarters hundreds of miles away -- all while driving over 30 miles per hour.
Experts say the advanced satellite and wireless technology, developed in large part by Hawaii contractors, will save Marine lives in battle.
It will also enable troops to communicate in areas where natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and last year's giant tsunami in Southeast Asia wiped out local infrastructure.
"Having been a commander myself as part of the initial invasion into Iraq and the seizure of Baghdad, I can see how important this capability would be," said Col. Steven Hummer, the commander of Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe.
On the road to Baghdad, Hummer said his team had to stop periodically, set up satellite communications antennas, and log on to download e-mail and make tactical telephone calls. The new technology would allow Marines to do all of the above while moving.
The equipment, dubbed the "Mobile Modular Command & Control" or M2C2, would enable war zone commanders to see where their troops are heading and how close they are to the enemy. Commanders could also use it to decide to move forward, pull out, or call in air and artillery support.
Hummer said other branches of the military have also expressed interest in using the system.
At a prototype demonstration on Marine Corps training ground, troops in a tent and aboard the Humvee sent "chat" messages to each other over a wireless connection protected by encryption codes.
Honolulu-based Pacific Technologies served as the primary contractor for the M2C2. It brought in Raytheon, a Massachusetts-based major military contractor, for integration support. Hawaii companies Oceanit and Akimeka worked on the antennas while Referentia helped with the network management software.
Sen. Daniel Inouye, a ranking member on the Defense Appropriations Committee, secured $5 million in seed money for the project for the 2003 and 2004 fiscal years. Inouye, D-Hawaii, hoped to help build his state's high-technology base with the funds. This coincided with the needs of the Marines, who had been asking for technology similar to the M2C2 since 2001.
"We had a meeting of the minds and were able to do this program," said John Moniz, the project's program officer with the Office of Naval Research. Moniz praised the caliber of high-technology companies in Hawaii, where tourism has long been the mainstay industry and high-technology has been a small sector.
"I am pleasantly surprised at the quality of the work being done out here," Moniz said. "It's almost untapped -- don't get me wrong, these companies have done defense work and industry work. But I'm surprised at the quality of work and innovation we've been getting from them. Especially on the technology side."
Marines that have been testing out the new system in Hawaii say they like it.
"It's phenomenal," said Sgt. Joseph Grossman, the team leader of a group testing a newly outfitted Humvee. "It'll give a lot of benefits, basically being able to leapfrog ahead without dropping any kind of communications with the rear."
It is not clear how many Marine Humvees will be outfitted with the M2C2 or how much it will cost to install the system on each one. The equipment aboard each prototype cost about $1 million, but the Marines already own some of the machines used and so wouldn't necessarily need to buy all of it new, Moniz said.
Producing more of the M2C2 systems could also lower purchasing costs.
The Marines will test two of the high-technology Humvees next month at a base in Twentynine Palms, California. The area's hot mountainous desert is expected to provide an optimal environment to test the vehicle in some of the more extreme conditions Marines must function in.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.