Posted on 01/01/2006 4:07:23 PM PST by Gucho
Growth, merger, deployments top 2006 at Fort Lewis
Sunday, January 1, 2006
BY CHRISTIAN HILL
Fort Lewis welcomed nearly 5,500 soldiers in 2005 and will continue to grow this year, with an additional 3,300 soldiers expected by December 2007.
The post faces other changes as well, as it continues a march to create Joint Base Lewis- McChord, a merger ordered by the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission.
For Fort Lewis, the changes are driven by the ongoing demands of the war effort and the Army's initiative to transform itself into a more efficient, responsive fighting force. McChord also is being called on to deliver troops and equipment to and from the Middle East.
Several Fort Lewis units are scheduled to return home in the first part of 2006 after deployments overseas. They include about 250 soldiers with the 170th Military Police Company and 504th Military Police Battalion, as well as about 450 soldiers of the 864th Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy) from Afghanistan.
But numerous other units will be headed out, including the 3,500-plus soldiers of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division for its second rotation into Iraq. It was the first Stryker Brigade Combat Team sent into combat back in late 2003 and will deploy again in the middle of the year.
The unit receives its name from the eight-wheeled armored vehicles that fill a gap between light infantry and heavy forces. The vehicles are back at Fort Lewis being overhauled and upgraded for the coming deployment.
More than 500 soldiers are scheduled to arrive at Fort Lewis this year to become part of the new battalion of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. Called the Nightstalkers, this regiment is known for covertly ferrying special- operations soldiers into combat zones.
It will work closely with two special-forces units stationed at Fort Lewis, the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment and the 1st Special Forces Group.
The active-duty population at Fort Lewis is projected to exceed 30,000 in the next several years.
Starting in February, the 7th Airlift Squadron from McChord will deploy overseas to oversee C-17 flights in and out of Afghanistan, Iraq and other areas.
Both installations are preparing for their eventual merger. They will create Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and it's assumed the Army will take over management functions of the installations.
They have forwarded to the Office of the Secretary of Defense an 800-plus-page report with their recommendations on how joint basing should proceed.
“All we're doing is waiting for guidance on how they want us to implement it,” said Lt. Erika Yepsen, a McChord spokeswoman.
The joint basing must be completed in six years.
The Army post will see huge changes for the three Stryker brigades based there.
In addition to the deployment of the 3rd Brigade, many of the soldiers with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division will move to Germany.
Those soldiers will form the core of a new Stryker brigade, the 2nd Cavalry Regiment. The regimental name now is attached to the last of the three Stryker brigades at Fort Lewis.
Three Stryker brigades will remain at Fort Lewis, all under the command of the 2nd Infantry Division.
The new unit to succeed the 1st Brigade will activate at Fort Lewis sometime in late 2006 or 2007 and be called the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.
The brigade now known as the 2nd Cavalry Regiment will soon be called the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. It is converting into a Stryker brigade and will be ready for deployment in 2007 or 2008.
Whether it goes will hinge on progress in Iraq.
Last week, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced the vast majority of two brigades scheduled to deploy next month would be held back.
The decision follows progress by the Iraqi security forces after the recent elections.
“We will continually adjust our military posture as conditions evolve and Iraqi capabilities grow,” the Pentagon stated in a news release announcing the holdbacks.
Sunday, January 1, 2006
Al Jazeera team freed in Kabul after questioning
BAGHDAD, Jan 1 (KUNA) -- Anonymous gunmen bombed on Sunday a gas station and pipeline supplying petroleum products to a power plant south of Baghdad, near Iraq's largest refinery, Al-Dorah.
Iraqi Oil Ministry's Spokesperson Isam Jehad told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that the ministry's specialized teams and firemen extinguished the pipeline, which was set on fire due to the explosion.
Regarding Iraqi Bijy refinery, Jehad noted that transportation of petroleum products from Bijy refinery was resumed today after stopping for several days because of threats to truck drivers.
Concerning the refusal of fuel station's owners to increase prices, he said that the ministry has been communicating with official to impose the governmental decision to increase prices of petroleum products.
Meanwhile, gunmen bombed today a gas station, also located south of Baghdad. Three civilians were injured as a result of the attack and the gas station was set on fire, said an Iraqi police source.
Firemen have still been trying to extinguish the fire at the station, which was closed during the attack, added the source. Several gas stations have been targeted in Iraq after the Iraqi government's decision to raise petroleum products' prices.
A Marine with the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines Regiment, stands post at BP Hue City in the Syrian border town of Husaybah.
Photos by Andrew Tilghman - Stars and Stripes European edition
Saturday, December 31, 2005
By Khaled Al-Mahdi - Arab News
SANAA, 1 January 2006 — Yemeni tribesmen freed five German tourists, including a former senior diplomat, yesterday, three days after taking them hostage in a mountainous area of eastern Yemen.
In Berlin, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier welcomed the release, telling reporters he had spoken by telephone to Juergen Chrobog, 65, his wife and three adult sons after their release.
“He’s relieved,” said Steinmeier. “My initial impression is that he and his family have survived this without any mental or physical harm. Apparently they were fairly treated. But it was an enormous strain.” Saying Germany was “delighted at the good outcome” of the crisis, Steinmeier especially thanked Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh for his “committed and careful” approach to a solution.
In Yemen, Abdullah Al-Qadhi, secretary to the Shabwa regional governor, said the hostages were handed over to Col. Aziz Melfi and legislator Awadh Muhammad Al-Wazir. Also freed were two Yemeni drivers and a travel guide.
They were snatched by armed men of the Al-Abdallah tribe of the Shabwa province during a trip from Aden Wednesday. The kidnappers had raided a restaurant on a highway linking Shabwa with Aden.
The two officials involved in the release had been sent by President Saleh earlier in the day to Shabwa, some 460 km east of Sanaa, to help resolve problems that cropped up in implementing the deal hammered out Friday by government and tribal leaders.
The deal provided that the hostages should be freed immediately and authorities would work for the arrest of five men from a rival tribe involved in a vendetta with the Al-Abdallah tribe. The agreement also stipulated the transfer of five men of the Al-Abdallah tribe detained by police in the eastern province of Abyan to Sanaa within 72 hours.
The delay in the release of the captives is understood to have been due to the abductors’ refusal to accept guarantees presented by tribal mediators. Initially, the kidnappers insisted on the simultaneous release of their five clansmen and the German captives.
It was the fourth abduction of Westerners this year in Yemen. Last week, two Austrian tourists were abducted by armed tribesmen in the northeastern province of Marib and released unharmed three days later.
Armed tribesmen from impoverished areas often take hostages and use them as bargaining chips with the government to press for aid, jobs or the release of detained clansmen.
Bump for the New Year.
Five hostages freed in Iraq
Last Modified: 31 Dec 2005
Source: ITN
Five Sudanese embassy staff abducted in Baghdad, including a diplomat, have been released.
Sudan's state minister for foreign affairs, Al-Samani Wasila, said: "Yes, they released them. They are in the [Baghdad] embassy now. They are all fine."
He had no further details.
Sudan said it would shut its embassy in Baghdad a day after al-Qaeda in Iraq claimed the abduction of the five and demanded that Khartoum cut its ties with Iraq within 48 hours.
Insurgents have often kidnapped foreigners to put pressure on their governments to break ties with Baghdad.
http://www.channel4.com/news/content/news-storypage.jsp?id=2062715
Yep.
Smiling bumps...
Last Update: Saturday, December 31, 2005 - 1:02pm (AEDT)
A 25-year-old British human rights worker and her parents have been freed in the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian gunmen who kidnapped them two days earlier.
A previously unknown group calling itself Brigades of the Mujahideen-Jerusalem said it seized Kate Burton, her father Hugh and mother Helen to demand British and European pressure on Israel, and freed them as a gesture of goodwill.
The Burtons passed through Gaza City briefly before being whisked away towards Israel in diplomatic cars with darkened windows.
"They are well and in good spirits. They are currently with officials from our Consulate General in Jerusalem," said a statement from the British Foreign Office.
"She was not hurt, her parents were okay and she plans to visit Gaza next week," said Adnan Hajjar, a colleague of Burton's. "Kate said she was sorry that she could not make it to the hotel to greet everybody."
In a video released to media, a masked gunman read out a message standing next to Kate Burton, who appeared with her hands behind her back.
"We have decided to pardon the three Britons as a gesture of goodwill in return for a seriousness in answering our demands," the gunman said.
Ms Burton and her visiting parents were seized in the southern town of Rafah on the Egyptian border on Wednesday. Kidnappers, armed with automatic rifles, pulled over their car and bundled them into another vehicle that sped away.
The political demands and Islamist tone of the captors were a marked departure from previous kidnappings in the Gaza Strip, whose perpetrators tended to be seeking jobs or the release of prisoners, and set free their hostages within hours.
The fact the kidnappers made no contact for two days had raised concerns for the Britons' safety.
"We thank everyone who has worked so tirelessly towards this moment, especially Kate's colleagues and friends in Gaza, who kept all our hopes up throughout this ordeal," said a statement from the Burton family released through the Foreign Office.
Reuters
January 1, 2006 - 10:41 am
Associated Press
SAN`A, Yemen - Yemeni tribesmen released three women among a group of five Italian tourists taken captive only hours earlier after a government negotiator convinced the kidnappers that abducting women violated tribal values, the country's ruling party Web site and security officials said.
Sheik Darham al-Damaa, secretary-general of the Jahem local council in Marib Province, said negotiations were continuing for the release of the other two Italians, both men, the General People's Congress Party Web site reported.
Security officials, who would not allow use of their names because they were not authorized to speak with reporters, told The Associated Press that the kidnappers, were members of the al-Zaydi tribe, responsible for past kidnappings in which both foreigners and Yemeni's were held hostage.
The kidnappers have demanded the release of eight fellow members of the tribe, one of whom faces murder charges and was extradited to Yemen from the United Arab Emirates by Interpol.
One of the negotiators who won the release of the three women also met with the two men still in captivity and said they were in good health, the Web site said.
The five Italians were kidnapped in the Sirwah region of Marib Province, in the rugged mountains about 120 kilometers (75 miles) northeast of the capital, San'a.
It was the second abduction of Western tourists in a week and occurred hours after the Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh pledged to hunt down the "outlaws" who kidnapped foreigners.
The Italian kidnap victims names were not available.
In Rome, the Foreign Ministry said it was working with high-ranking Yemeni authorities to resolve the kidnapping. It said it had identified the five abductees, but didn't release their names.
In a statement, the ministry said it was also working to monitor the estimated 100 other Italians currently in Yemen "even though the Ministry has long recommended against tourism in the tribal areas of the country."
On Saturday, a German family and three Yemenis were released by kidnappers in eastern Yemen who had also demanded that the government release detained members of their tribe. The hostages, a former German deputy foreign minister, his wife, three children and three guides were freed after the kidnappers were assured the government would negotiate their demands that fellow tribesmen be released from jail.
Earlier Sunday, Saleh pledged to fight foreign hostage taking and ordered his security forces to arrest the abductors of the Germans, who were taken Wednesday on a remote mountain road in Shabwa province, east Yemen, where they were vacationing.
"We will fight hostage taking like we fight terrorism," Saleh told the German family shortly before they returned home. Of the kidnappers, Saleh said: "They are outlaws and they will be followed."
Tribesmen frequently kidnap tourists in an attempt to force concessions from the government in Yemen, a poor, mountainous nation on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula where state control in outlying areas is shaky.
Hostages are usually released unharmed in Yemen, but several were killed in 2000 when security forces carried out a botched raid to free them.
Associated Press
Pace stresses need for Iraqi government, military forces to be inclusive
01 January 2006
By Todd Bullock - Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- Training Iraqi forces to defend their country and eliminating the insurgency are the primary U.S. objectives in Iraq for 2006, says Marine General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Speaking on ABC's This Week from the Balad Air Base in Iraq January 1, the general said the United States wants "to make sure that the Iraqi armed forces and Iraqi police are capable of defending their own land" and said "they're getting much more capable at doing that."
Pace is currently in Iraq as part of a trip that will take him to three continents to visit with U.S. troops. He recently made visits to Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and plans to visit bases in Afghanistan and Djibouti. (See related article.)
According to Pace, the Iraqi government must be inclusive -- with an inclusive military and police force -- if it is to succeed.
"There is a concerted effort right now by the Iraqi government to reach out to the former Sunni military officers…who want to rejoin the armed forces of their country properly vetted so that we get the right people back in the armed forces," he said.
Pace cautioned against relying heavily on the sectarian militias in Iraq because "they have loyalties not necessarily to the central government." He stressed the importance of having "a central government with an army and police that are trained and equipped by that central government and are loyal to it," and said that "those militias then need to either become part of the standing army, part of the standing police force, or they need to disband."
As the new Iraqi government takes shape and Iraqi forces take on more responsibility for defending the country, Pace said, hopefully "a large number of those who might become part of the insurgency ... will see that being part of the future of Iraq is going to be much better for them than becoming part of the insurgency."
The general urged the international community "to encourage the Iraqi people, to support the Iraqi people, to help them find their way to proper use of a democracy that's in their hands and is theirs to use for the betterment of their own people."
Democracy "is not a clean, precise process," he said, but it is "one that is the best hope for all of us as a way to be representative of the needs of all the people."
For additional information on U.S. policies, see Iraq Update.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
Happy New Year Gucho. May you have a healthy year as you continue to feed news into Free Republic.
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