Posted on 03/04/2006 3:48:10 PM PST by Gucho
March 04, 2006
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Four brothers, all Army Reserve officers, are deploying to Iraq with the same division and are planning to chronicle their experiences in a forthcoming book.
The book's working title is "An American Story -- The Holbert Family: Four Brothers Who Serve. " Its publisher, Linda Dennis, hopes to tell the story of the whole family's struggles as Buddy, Matt, David and Carlton begin their year in Iraq with the 108th Division (Institutional Training).
"Originally we had started a book with general essays from a whole bunch of soldiers," Dennis said. Then "the Holberts stepped forward, with all four going, and it has gone from a collection of essays to kind of a story about their family. "
Dennis is president of "Connect and Join," an Internet-based communications company providing a forum for military families to keep in touch when their loved ones deploy. She said she felt humbled meeting the Holberts and seeing the contribution they are making for the country. "As we got to know them over a couple-month time period, it became real obvious this is a very unique family," she said. "This is the family we think of as 'the American family. '"
The book, which Dennis hopes to publish in June, will contain journals and essays written by each member of the family: the four brothers, as well as their parents, wives, sisters, and children. She said the family has already written some essays and described their words as "very powerful. "
"It's all about freedom and serving your country and doing what's right and how you raise kids the right way," she said.
The oldest brother, Lt. Col Buddy Holbert, is a 44-year-old graduate of the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, N. Y. He said the family feels grateful to Dennis for recognizing them and expressed his amazement that someone would want to publish their words. "We wrote some little . . . bios on ourselves and had a couple of pictures taken, and I understand that someone wants to consider that as essays for a book," he said. "I can't say they're written well enough for that, but that's what I'm hearing. "
The Holbert brothers reported to their home station in Charlotte, N. C. , Feb. 28. Buddy said the nature of their jobs will require all four brothers to mobilize about a month before most of the 108th Division.
Buddy commands the 3rd Battalion, 518th Regiment (Basic Combat Training), based in Hickory, N. C. He said he will go with a "leader element" for a one-month special training course in California to learn more about Iraqi culture. After that, he'll go on a coordination trip to Iraq for two to three weeks before coming back to Fort McCoy, Wis. , to receive the division's main body. Once he arrives in Iraq, Buddy said, he will likely be based in Baghdad, while most of the 108th Division will have positions throughout the country.
The three younger brothers, all assigned to the Foreign Army Training Command's tactical operations center, will head to their mobilization station at Fort McCoy March 4 to help set up shop before the main group arrives for about 70 days of pre-deployment training.
Capt. David Holbert, a 40-year-old graduate of Winthrop University, serves in the unit's security and intelligence branch. He enlisted in the South Carolina Army National Guard directly out of high school and served for more than five years before being commissioned as an officer. With 23 years in the military, David has served the longest of the four brothers.
Maj. Matt Holbert, a 36-year-old graduate of the Citadel military college in Charleston, S. C. , serves as personnel officer for the operation. He and his wife, Laura, have one daughter, Sharon, 5, and one son, Clark, 3.
Capt. Carlton Holbert, 32, also a graduate of the Citadel, serves in the unit's operations branch. He and his wife, Karen, have one daughter, Reilly, 4.
Buddy and his wife, Tracy, have a daughter, Nicole, 25, and two sons, Bud, 17, and Jordan, 10 months.
On Feb. 25, the Holbert family gathered in Rock Hill, S. C. , their hometown, for a going-away dinner. Buddy described the mood as "happy and picking on each other," and he said he enjoyed the chance to honor his parents. "We owe a lot of our patriotism and values to our parents, they pointed us in the right direction as we were growing up," he said.
Those traditions have carried all four Holbert brothers through their careers and will help them when they deploy, he said. "I think we all have it in our hearts and in our blood," Buddy said. "Even though we have civilian jobs, we always have the values of the Army and the country at the forefront. Even if we weren't paid, I think that we would still do what we do. It's just something that we feel is our duty. "
By Paul X. Rutz - American Forces Press Service
March 04, 2006
Kirkuk, Iraq -- The Iraqi Army’s 2nd Brigade captured three suspected insurgents during a cordon and search of a neighborhood in Kirkuk.
The Iraqi Army has been performing cordon and search missions with coalition forces in Kirkuk for months, but today’s mission was not only led by the 2nd Brigade, every facet of the mission from planning to execution was performed with little coalition assistance.
"This is where we’re headed," said 1st Lt. Paul Ogwo, an operations officer with the Iraqi Army 2nd Brigade military transition team. "The idea is that the Iraqi Army is able to plan and execute independent of coalition forces."
The cordon and search was planned around intelligence, gathered by the Iraqi Army’s 2nd Brigade, that included names and possible locations of individuals allegedly part of an insurgent cell in the city. They then dispatched a collection element to produce reconnaissance and surveillance of the suspected areas.
The 2nd Brigade then cordoned and searched the area where they apprehended three suspected insurgents.
The only involvement of coalition forces during the mission was minimal guidance by the military transition team.
"We guided the battalion only as far as saying, ‘what if we do it this way?’" Ogwo said. "But, for the most part they planned and executed this mission on their own. I’m encouraged by the way this mission was executed."
Iraqi Army 2nd Brigade, 4th Division soldiers handle a detainee captured after the first cordon and search planned and executed entirely with little coalition forces support. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Michael Pfaff)
1st Lt. Jeffrey Johnson, another operations officer with the military transition team, was one of only a handful of coalition forces on the ground with the troops and witnessed the success of the Iraqi Army.
"The Iraqi Army from A to Z did a superb job," Johnson said. "I would say from start to finish they did really well in terms of the military decision making process, the command and control elements being in place, and at the battalion level all the staff elements conducted the operation from intelligence gathering to operations with boots on the ground superbly."
After today, Johnson said the Iraqi Army 2nd Brigade will move on to larger operations.
"The next step for these guys, since they’ve proved they’re capable of doing an operation with nearly zero coalition force guidance other than just over watch, is that they can actually conduct missions with multiple platoons, if not company level missions in their area of operation," said Johnson.
Today was a milestone in the plan of the transition from coalition forces to Iraqi security forces, Johnson said.
Story and photos by Spc. Michael Pfaff - 133rd MPAD
ADDITIONAL PHOTO:
Iraqi Army 2nd Brigade, 4th Division soldiers handle a detainee captured after the first cordon and search planned and executed entirely with little coalition forces support. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Michael Pfaff)
March 04, 2006
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- One Coalition service member died of wounds received in an engagement in Kandahar Province today.
Two insurgents also were killed in the engagement.
The Coalition service member was medically evacuated to Kandahar Airfield, where he later died.
Coalition forces will continue to engage in aggressive combat operations to establish the conditions for long-term stability in Afghanistan , said Army Col. Jim Yonts, the spokesman for Combined Forces Command – Afghanistan .
"Afghan, Coalition and NATO forces are determined to defeat the Taliban and associated movements opposed to the democratic development of Afghanistan ," he said. "We will not forget the bravery and sacrifice of our fallen comrade."
The name of the service member is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
Source : COMBINED FORCES COMMAND - AFGHANISTAN COALITION PRESS INFORMATION CENTER - KABUL , AFGHANISTAN
March 04, 2006
CAMP TAJI, Iraq -- There are numerous crew chiefs in the Combat Aviation Brigade; considering the amount of aircraft assigned however, not many are female.
Pfc. Vanessa Grambusch, who is assigned to Company C, 3rd Battalion, 4th Aviation Regiment, is one of the Aviation Brigade’s female crew chiefs. In fact, she is one of only two female crew chiefs assigned to the air assault battalion.
Grambusch joined the Army more than 18 months ago. She came from a military family, so the choice to join the Army was easy for her.
"My mom, my dad, my step dad and my brother were all in the Army," she explained. "My mom got out as a staff sergeant after she was pregnant with my brother. My dad retired as an E-7 (sergeant first class) and my brother is now an E-5 (sergeant) in the National Guard."
Grambusch said she chose to become an aviation Soldier because she wanted to escape the monotony that comes with most other desk jobs.
"I didn’t want to do the same thing every single day and get burned out on it," said Grambusch, who works as a UH-60 Blackhawk crew chief. "I didn’t want a desk job that I’d sit there all day, but I didn’t want a physically taxing job where I would be outside all day for nine or 10 hours a day."
She said she likes her job because it’s different from any other and it offers a nice balance of indoor-outdoor activities.
"It’s something different every day," she pointed out. "(As a crew chief) we do a lot of paperwork and desk work sometimes, but a lot of it is work on the aircraft – taking care of it and finding out what’s wrong with it. This (aircraft) is something we baby – completely. You fly on it, and you get to see so much."
Being able to travel throughout the country performing various missions is a part of her job that Grambush said she enjoys.
"I’ve seen so much of this country already, and I’ve gotten so many pictures of the mosques and towns," she said. "These are things that some people don’t ever get to see because they’re always in Taji."
She said the family closeness that the pilots and crew chiefs in her unit have developed is what makes her job the best job in the Army.
"It’s such a small, tight-knit group, and nothing here can be done without the other person," she explained. "We could not do our jobs without the pilots, and the pilots couldn’t do their jobs without us. It’s a give and take situation.
"When you’re in the aircraft, we’re kind of like a family because if you’re not watching out for each other, the mission will fail," she added. "You can’t have petty issues in your way because we only have 20 crew chiefs (in the battalion). That is enough to maintain 10 aircraft, and if one is sick, someone else has to put a sling on for him. It’s like you really have to look out for each other."
Grambusch, along with Sgt. Lula Jones of Company B, are the only female crew chiefs in the 3rd Battalion. The battalion also has one female pilot.
She said meeting the native Iraqis has been one of her most interesting events since she arrived in the country in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
She actually picked up the Quran and started reading it, just so she could see another perspective, added Grambusch, who was born at Fort Belvoir, Va. She also said she finds the people here interesting.
She said her job, and meeting new people, have been welcome experiences.
"There are people whom I’d probably never see on Fort Hood that I’ve talked to here," said Grambusch, who is a mother of three. Her children range from 5 to 15 years old.
Her children, she added, think her job as a helicopter crew chief is one of the neatest jobs a mom could have.
"They think it’s really cool, especially my job; they think it’s really neat," Grambusch said. "At first they were like, ‘that’s a boy job, you can’t do that.’ I explained that I get to ride on (helicopters) and do other things. So now they think it’s really cool."
She pointed out she is very proud of her unit, from the leadership on down to her co-workers.
"I think it’s a really good battalion," she said. "We have a really good commander. I can’t say enough good things about (Lt.) Col. (Michael) Gawkins. To me, he’s top dog. We have a really good team in our unit."
Gawkins, likewise, had high comments for the 31-year-old crew chief.
"Pfc. Grambusch symbolizes how great the Soldiers of today are," he said. "She has super bearing; she’s motivated and is rapidly progressed in her individual skills. She’s a great example for our junior Soldiers."
By Sgt. 1st Class Reginald Rogers - Combat Aviation Brigade PAO
Saturday, March 4, 2006
Four die in Afghanistan explosion
Saturday, March 4, 2006
U.S. President George W. Bush (R) meets Pakistani cricket team captain Inzamam-ul-Haq during a cricketing clinic with the Islamabad College for Boys within the grounds of the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad March 4, 2006. Bush spent some time batting and bowling as he wraps up his trip to Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. (REUTERS/Jason Reed)
More Pacific sailors expected to augment Army, Marine units
Petty Officer 2nd Class Robert Farlow, a dog handler and master-at-arms, and his dog Art, both with the Yokosuka security department, deployed during 2005 to Iraq with two Army combat units under the Navy’s Individual Augmentee program. (Courtesy of Robert Farlow)
By Juliana Gittler - Stars and Stripes Pacific edition
Sunday, March 5, 2006
The Navy’s hospital at Yokosuka is missing 20 staff members.
Five are gone from the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Far East.
Another 16 have departed other commands at Navy bases across Japan.
The 41 sailors are deployed to the Middle East and Africa as Navy Individual Augmentees under a Pentagon program to spread the burden of supporting operations there.
The number “has doubled in the last two months, and it’s only going to get worse,” said Lt. j.g. Michael McPhearson, Commander, Naval Forces Japan regional force protection officer. He fills requests for augmentees in Japan.
Navywide, 2,695 sailors were made augmentees at the start of fiscal 2006 compared to 637 the prior fiscal year, according to the Augmentation Division of the Bureau of Personnel.
The command expects that number to quadruple in the near future, to 10,000 sailors, according to a report from the director of the Navy’s Augmentation Division. And as the Navy runs short of sailors in the States, it will continue to look overseas to fill those positions, McPhearson said.
Augmentees deploy for either six months or a year, plus travel time and five weeks of training.
The absence can be a burden on home commands, which not only lose people but pay for much of augmentee sailors’ deployment costs.
“Once you take away a body and don’t replace it, there’s a gap there. It puts a strain on a command,” said Capt. Irvin Bough, CNFJ operations officer.
At the hospital, half the preventive-medicine staff received deployment orders within a week’s notice last year, said Capt. Greg Hoeksema, executive officer. The remaining half, three sailors, took over their responsibilities, including a senior chief who added junior sailors’ duties to his leadership ones.
To compensate, the hospital has had to change the process for leave requests.
“We kind of reworked how we do business,” Hoeksema said. For the summer vacation season, just two practitioners in the family practice department will be able to take leave — one because he’s getting married, Hoeksema said.
The losses have been manageable so far but if they increase, the hospital might be forced to cut services or hire contractors to fill in, Hoeksema said.
But despite the burden, the hospital is managing.
“Obviously our primary raison d’être is to support the operational forces and the war effort,” Hoeksema said. “Clearly it’s stressful, but we haven’t had any trouble getting volunteers. This is what we do; this is why people are in the military.”
But deployments also affect those who are leaving and their families. Individual sailors deploy alone, often lacking both experience in hostile environments and some of the support infrastructure that Army and Marine combat units receive.
Their families also must cope with a relative lack of support, some say. Petty Officer 2nd Class Robert Farlow, a master-at-arms and dog handler, said his 2005 deployment to Baghdad “was very difficult” for his wife.
Navy spouses have plenty of help for when sailors are at sea, but Farlow said his wife knew no others with a husband at war.
“She was her own support group,” he said. “I told her to stay busy and avoid the news.”
Farlow said he couldn’t resist the opportunity to help in Iraq, as he watched explosives continue to claim lives — explosives his dog is trained to detect.
“I thought, ‘I can’t sit here on my couch and watch this anymore. I have this skill that could find (explosives) and help save guys,’” he said.
He volunteered before a job even opened up and credits the augmentee program with giving him special opportunities — including working with soldiers who often called him “sarge” — an equivalent rank to his second-class petty officer status. He even earned an Army Commendation Medal.
Several weeks of training in the States helped ready him for Iraq, but Farlow said being a sailor definitely was a disadvantage: “Soldiers and Marines, their core training is going into the field.”
Farlow said feedback from augmentees is helping to shape the program to better prepare sailors.
The augmentee program is important, he said, because it enables sailors to help the war effort. “You can’t expect one service to go out and do all the work,” he said. “You’re in the military. You swore to defend that oath no matter what service you’re in.”
Related Stories:
New military retirement option would come with big catch
TOM PHILPOTT
March 4th, 2006 - 02:30 AM
Today’s military members serve under the traditional 20-years-or-bust retirement plan prized by generations of retirees.
That plan isn’t going away for the current force. But a new plan might be offered as a voluntary option, promising at least some retirement benefits to many members who don’t expect to serve 20 years.
The Defense Advisory Committee on Military Compensation, a panel of compensation experts chartered by the Defense Department, unveiled the framework of the new retirement scheme at its final public meeting Tuesday.
The committee described the plan as more flexible and more efficient. Though designed to become the sole retirement plan of new entrants, it also would be offered as an alternative to current members.
“Absolutely, that would be the transition plan,” said retired Adm. Donald Pilling, chairman of the advisory committee.
Most likely to be attracted to the plan are younger troops who don’t yet feel the powerful pull of immediate annuities after just 20 years.
Under the current system, active-duty members must serve at least 20 years to qualify for regular retirement.
They get an annuity equal to 2.5 percent of basic pay for each year served.
That means 50 percent of basic pay for a 20-year career and a maximum of 75 percent of basic pay for 30 years or more. Annuities are increased yearly to keep pace with inflation.
Features of the new plan include government matching of Thrift Savings Plan contributions made by members, not to exceed 10 percent of basic pay. Full vesting in these 401(k)-like accounts could occur after only five years of service.
The plan also would offer full vesting in a retirement benefit after just 10 years of service. The current annuity formula, of 2.5 percent of basic pay for each year served, would apply. So a 10-year retiree would get 25 percent of retired pay.
The catch – and it’s a big one – is that retired pay wouldn’t start until age 60.
Careers as long as 40 years would be allowed, and a 40-year retiree would draw 100 percent of basic pay. But for future generations of service members, immediate annuities would end after 20 or more years.
To entice enough members to serve 20, 30 or 40 years, the plan calls for special “gate pays,” extra income at strategic points along a member’s career path.
Pilling agreed the plan is “very radical” from traditional retirement, and service leaders are uneasy over the possible impact. They are particularly nervous that the current force, as it fights a war, will view the plan mistakenly as a threat to their hard-earned benefits.
“There are people in uniform today who think, ‘Hey, I’m at the nine-year point and these guys are screwing around with my retirement?’ We want to grandfather that so we don’t cause that angst. We want to do no harm,” Pilling said.
The plan, he said, would be more fair to the many members who now leave service short of 20 years with no retirement. That’s the experience of 85 percent of enlisted recruits and 50 percent of officers.
Importantly, the plan would give force managers more modern, cost-efficient tools to shape the force, the committee said.
Pilling said a weakness of the system is that once members serve 12 or 13 years, the services are reluctant to separate them, even if their skills aren’t needed. To do so would leave them with no retirement. That rigidity is seen as driving up costs and handcuffing force managers.
David Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, told a Senate panel Wednesday that the advisory committee’s recommendations will be the “starting point” for the Pentagon’s 10th Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation, a study mandated by law.
Chu also revealed that the Defense Department soon will send Congress a proposal to extend the military pay chart out to 40 years of service. Under the current pay chart, longevity pay raises stop at 26 years.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/military/story/5565484p-5008130c.html
CAIRO, March 4 (KUNA) -- Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa on Saturday announced that the league would very soon open an office in Baghdad in order to encourage national reconciliation and halt the current bloodshed.
During an address he delivered before the Arab Foreign Ministers at their 125th session, Moussa said he regretted the current bloodbath in Iraq and blamed it on "nasty people who want no good to happen to Iraq and its people." He stressed that the league's current move was aimed at halting the current security deterioration.
"This session coincides with several challenges facing the Arab world," Moussa said. He added that the challenges were being discussed by the ministers in their current meeting.
Turning to the Lebanese-Syrian crisis, Moussa said the league was in favor of the national dialogue, which opened in Beirut.
"The league cannot afford to let all of Lebanon catch fire," Moussa said.
He also called for going through to the end of the investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Al-Hariri.
3/4/2006 - 1:47 PM
By: Associated Press
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Air Force One is heading back to Washington, after President Bush wrapped up his Asia trip.
Bush ended the swing with his first trip to Pakistan, where he praised that nation's president for his support of the war on terror.
Bush called Pervez Musharraf a “man of courage and vision.'' The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are very unpopular in Pakistan, which showed in protests against Bush's visit.
Bush says he's committed to winning the fight against terror by working with Musharraf.
The president's visit also took him to Afghanistan and India. He left Pakistan the way he arrived -- under heavy security. Air Force One departed with its lights off and shades pulled.
Associated Press
By Observer Staff
Mar 4, 2006
SANA'A - Two of 17 Al-Qaeda suspects on trial for planning attacks in Yemen admitted last week to having trained foreign fighters in Iraq and Afghanistan and that their war was with Americans not Yemenis.
The 14 Yemenis and three Saudis, who include veterans of the insurgency in Iraq, went on trial on February 22 on charges of planning attacks against US expatriates in Yemen and those who deal with them on the orders of Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
"Our war is with the Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan, not in Yemen," Yemeni suspect Ali Abdullah Osyan, 28, told the judge during an appearance in a Sana'a court, AFP reported. He and the other suspects all wore blue prison jumpsuits and spoke from behind bars.
Prosecutor Saed al-Aqil exhibited in court as evidence weapons, explosives and remote detonation devices allegedly seized by authorities when the suspects were arrested in early 2005 in Sana'a and the southern port city of Aden, Saba news said.
"We used them for jihad (holy fight) in Iraq," said another Yemeni, Ammar Abdullah Fadel, 28, sporting a long thick beard.
"I trained young fighters how to use them to resist Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan."
The trial was adjourned until March 11.
Since the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States, Yemen has worked with Washington to clamp down on suspected Al-Qaeda militants. Al Qaeda operatives and sympathizers in the country are blamed for bombing the American destroyer USS Cole in 2000, killing 17 US sailors, and attacking the French oil tanker Limburg in 2002, killing one Bulgarian.
Yemen's efforts were dealt a serious blow with the escape of 23 Al-Qaeda suspects from a jail in Sanaa in early February, prompting some US lawmakers to charge that Yemeni authorities may have even facilitated the jail break.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh said three of the escapees had surrendered, according to remarks published Sunday in the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat.
Yemen Observer Newspaper
March 04, 2006
FORT DRUM, New York -- More than 1,000 Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, will deploy to Afghanistan over the coming days.
About 280 Soldiers from Task Force Warrior, comprised of 4th BCT Soldiers, will depart Monday from Alexandria International Airport , La.
Approximately 225 more Task Force Warrior Soldiers are scheduled to deploy the following day and over 500 more Thursday.
The 10th Mountain Division has deployed more than 5,800 Soldiers from Fort Drum and about 1,300 Soldiers from Fort Polk , La. to serve in Afghanistan as part of Combined-Joint Task Force-76. The Division’s deployment is scheduled to last one year.
Source : Benjamin Able PAO - 10th Mountain Division - Fort Drum, New York
Iraqi President Says He Has Assurances U.S. Forces to Stay As Long As Needed; Bomb Kills Seven
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, right, and the Head of US Central Command, General John Abizaid address a press conference after their meeting, in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, March 4, 2006. Abizaid said he was "very, very pleased with the reaction of the Iraqi armed forces" during the violence that broke out after the Feb. 22 bombing of a sacred Shiite shrine in Samarra and reprisal attacks against Sunni Muslims that pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hato, Pool)
By ALEXANDRA ZAVIS
BAGHDAD, Iraq Mar 4, 2006 (AP)— President Jalal Talabani on Saturday underscored the need for a unity government in Iraq after a spasm of sectarian killing and said he had been assured U.S. forces would remain in the country as long as needed "no matter what the period."
His comments came after a bomb exploded at a minibus terminal during morning rush hour in a southeastern Baghdad suburb, killing seven people and wounding 25, one of a string of explosions in the capital and elsewhere.
The violence shattered the relative calm brought by Fridays' driving ban in Baghdad and its outskirts, which helped avert major attacks on the day Muslims congregate for the most important prayer service of the week.
Talabani spoke to reporters after meeting with Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central Command.
Abizaid said he was "very, very pleased with the reaction of the Iraqi armed forces" during the crisis unleashed by the Feb. 22 bombing of a sacred Shiite shrine in Samarra and reprisal attacks against Sunni Muslims that pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war.
"We should understand that the terrorists are trying to create problems among the Iraqi people that can lead to difficulties between various groups," he said after a separate meeting with Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. "We should not fall into their trap. We are stronger than they are. We will ultimately prevail."
Later, Abizaid warned that Iraq can expect more bombings like the one in Samarra.
He blamed Al-Qaida terrorists for the blast and said it marked a clear and successful change in tactics by the group in its campaign to ignite civil war among Iraqis.
"I expect we'll see another attack in the near future on another symbol," Abizaid said during a stop in Qatar after his two-day trip to Iraq. "They'll find some other place that's undefended, they'll strike it and they'll hope for more sectarian violence."
The surge of violence, which has killed at least 500 people since last week, has tangled negotiations to form a new government after December parliamentary elections and threatened American hopes of starting a troop pullout this summer.
Talabani said Abizaid assured him that U.S. forces "are ready to stay as long as we ask them, no matter what the period is."
He said the U.S. commander also stressed that "a strong national unity government made up of all blocs in parliament will help in stabilizing Iraq and bringing peace."
However, Talabani said his Kurdish followers and their allies will fight against a second term for al-Jaafari.
Sunni, Kurdish and some secular politicians have asked the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, the largest bloc in parliament, to nominate another candidate. They accuse al-Jaafari of failing to rein in attacks against Sunni mosques and clerics in the aftermath of the bombing of the Shiite Askariya shrine.
"With all our respect to Dr. al-Jaafari, we asked them to choose a candidate who is unanimously agreed on by Iraqis," Talabani said. "I want to be clear, it is not against Dr. al-Jaafari as a person. He has been my friend for 25 years. What we want is consensus."
Talabani said he hoped to announce soon a date for parliament to convene. But there is little indication a government will be ready by then. As the largest bloc in parliament, the Alliance gets the first chance to form a government, but it must be approved by two-thirds of the 275 lawmakers.
Al-Jaafari's supporters in the United Iraqi Alliance have vowed to resist moves to replace him. But other Shiite leaders are troubled by his close ties to radical young cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose support was key to al-Jaafari's nomination by a single vote in a Feb. 12 Shiite caucus.
Two lawmakers from al-Jaafari's Dawa party and a senior aide to the prime minister visited the Shiite holy city of Najaf on Saturday to seek the endorsement of Iraq's most revered Shiite spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
"His eminence stressed two points: first, the importance of the Alliance, its survival and its unity, and second, the necessity of adhering to the decisions that came out of the Alliance," lawmaker Jawad al-Maliki said after the meeting.
Hundreds demonstrated Saturday in Amarah and Najaf, in Iraq's southern Shiite heartland, in support of al-Jaafari's bid for another term.
Iraqi soldiers and police backed in one neighborhood by a Shiite militia the United States wants disbanded enforced a driving ban that brought relative peace to Baghdad streets Friday.
But as normal traffic resumed Saturday, so did the violence.
The bus terminal blast occurred at the height of the morning rush, setting three minibuses on fire and damaging nearby market stands, police Capt. Ali Mahdi said. The attack struck in a region where 19 people were killed when gunmen stormed an electricity substation and brick factory Thursday night.
Another bombing targeted an Interior Ministry special forces patrol in the Salman Pak area, 10 miles southeast of Baghdad, killing two commandos and wounding two others, police Maj. Falah al-Mohamadawi said.
In Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of the capital, a bomb exploded in a busy commercial area near a shop that repairs radios and tape players, killing a young girl and injuring eight other people, police said.
In the south, a Shiite lawmaker was seriously wounded when gunmen in two speeding cars fired on his vehicle near Basra, Iraq's second-largest city. An aide for Qasim Attiyah al-Jbouri was killed and two bodyguards injured, police Capt. Mushtaq Kadhim said.
The attack against al-Jbouri, the former head of Basra's provincial council who ran for parliament on the United Iraqi Alliance slate, was the second in 10 days. Gunmen on Feb. 24 kidnapped three of his children but freed them unharmed hours later.
Police also found at least four more handcuffed, shot-up bodies dumped in Baghdad and south of the capital.
Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub, Bassem Mroue and Bushra Juhi contributed to this report from Baghdad.
Associated Press
By Kent Harris - Stars and Stripes Mideast edition
Saturday, March 4, 2006
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — Capt. Dirk Ringgenberg and the 74th Long Range Surveillance Detachment spent a lot of time in the last year getting to know some of the roughest parts of Afghanistan.
And the company-size element that’s a part of the 173rd Airborne Brigade wasn’t often among friends. Two soldiers in or attached to the unit were killed while conducting operations in Helmand and Kandahar provinces. Others survived dozens of attacks engagements by enemy forces or roadside bombs.
“There were some times it could have been worse, but we have some very good soldiers,” Ringgenberg said. “Some very good soldiers.”
Ringgenberg himself will arrive back in Vicenza, Italy, as one of the most decorated Sky Soldiers from the unit’s yearlong stint in Afghanistan.
He was awarded the Silver Star Medal in February for his actions on the battlefield in June while still assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment.
A month later, Ringgenberg took over the 74th and guided operations first along the Helmand River valley, then later in northern Kandahar province. The population in Helmand, where British forces will soon deploy, is light except along the river valley that runs roughly from north to south in the province.
“A lot of [Helmand] is just trackless desert,” Ringgenberg said. But there are towns and villages along the river. “That’s where we put our effort into,” he said.
Forced to cover a large area with only a small force, the 74th relied on what it does best: surveillance, communications and mobility.
Ringgenberg said those are traits commonly associated with scouts, but the 74th is a bit different.
“We’re more robust than a battalion scout platoon,” he said.
Still, at the height of Ringgenberg’s command, he said he probably didn’t command more than 170 troops. That total included a platoon from the 82nd Airborne Division and Afghan National Army soldiers. In the fall, the detachment spent much of its time around a cluster of villages called Qal Eh Ye Gaz.
“There was a very smart enemy out there,” he said.
It also spent considerable time taking the fight to those trying to disrupt the construction of a major road connecting Kandahar to Tarin Kowt.
The district of Mianeshin in the northern tip of the province has “very, very rough, difficult terrain,” Ringgenberg said. “We had a lot of fighting up there.”
Ringgenberg said his soldiers proved themselves in battle time after time and enemy forces started to change their tactics “to the point where they will try to disengage very quickly now.”
The 74th itself has now is leaving from Afghanistan, with many planning to spend about a month off after returning to Vicenza.
“It’s well-earned,” he said.
By Andrew Tilghman - Stars and Stripes Mideast edition
Saturday, March 4, 2006
MAHMUDIYAH, Iraq — Hundreds of soldiers poured out of helicopters before dawn Thursday morning and a large convoy kicked off Friday morning, spreading out troops into a patch of canal-laced farmland south of Baghdad that remains one of the last insurgent strongholds outside the capital city.
The air assault launched one of the largest operations in months and aims to secure a rural area where insurgents have operated for months, officials said. A steady string of roadside bombs and mortar attacks have inflicted casualties on U.S. troops in the restive region known as the “Triangle of Death.”
“This could be the final crushing blow for the anti-Iraqi forces in the Baghdad area,” said Lt. Col. Thomas Kunk, commander of the 101st Airborne’s 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment.
After a safe and secure landing, soldiers from the 1st Battalion came under repeated mortar fire Thursday in the blocking positions they set up around a large power plant on the Euphrates River, which insurgents have used as a base of operations.
Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion moved in early Friday and swept south toward the village of Sadr Yusufiyah, a cluster of ramshackle homes that U.S. troops also believe insurgents use to stage attacks on U.S troops and civilians in Baghdad, just 25 miles north.
Commanders opted for an air assault rather than sending vehicles through bomb-seeded roads avoided by U.S. forces in recent months.
One soldier from the 2nd Battalion was evacuated Friday after he was shot in the leg during a gunbattle. No other casualties were reported as of Friday afternoon.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion detained one man and also found a cache of a single mortar tube and several automatic rifles, U.S. troops said.
As U.S. soldiers came under fire, they responded with mortars and counter-battery artillery from nearby U.S. bases, said Maj. Fred Wintrich, the executive officer with 1st Battalion.
The operation in the rural areas marked a significant shift for the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, which spent much of the past week focusing on security operations in the urban centers to stem potential sectarian violence in the wake of last week’s bombing of a large Shiite shrine in Samarra.
The 101st Airborne’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team has faced one of the toughest fights in Iraq. The Fort Campbell, Ky.-based unit has seen 31 soldiers killed since arriving here in November.
The targeted area is thick with a mix of Iraqi insurgents and foreign fighters. A Saudi Arabian man and several Iraqis were arrested last week after an Iraqi army unit found them carrying an anti-aircraft gun in their pick-up truck, officials said.
In keeping with the clear-and- hold strategy employed by U.S. troops in recent months, soldiers from the 2nd Battalion plan to set up a permanent patrol base in the village of Sadr Yusufiyah, officials said.
The insurgents’ attacks have fallen particularly heavy on the 1st-502nd’s Company B, which has lost six men and sent several others home with serious injuries since its arrival. Capt. John Goodwin, Company B commander, hopes this week’s assault will ease the daily attacks on the patrol bases and traffic checkpoints.
“We’ve kicked the hornets nest a few times already, now we are going to take a baseball bat and give it a good whack,” Goodwin said.
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