U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld makes his way back to his vehicle after attending the 88th American Legion national convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, Aug. 29, 2006. (Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. D. Myles Cullen)
By Gerry J. Gilmore - American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Aug. 30, 2006 – The United States is fighting terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq to keep its pledge to the people there and to prevent future attacks on America, Vice President Richard B. Cheney said at a troop rally at an Air Force base yesterday.
“We maintain forces in those countries because we’re a nation that keeps its word and because we understand what is at stake in that part of the world,” Cheney told servicemembers gathered at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.
Following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, American and allied military forces displaced despotic regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, respectively.
President Bush told Americans after 9/11 “that the struggle ahead would be global in nature, that it would be lengthy and difficult, that it would require our best effort and unfailing resolve,” Cheney recalled. This, he said, is how the war against terror began.
During the past five years “some of the toughest, most urgent duties have come to our men and women in uniform,” Cheney said. “Fortunately for America, you’ve never let us down, and the nation has an awful lot to be grateful for.”
The Taliban and al Qaeda elements were defeated in Afghanistan between Oct. 7, 2001 and March 2002. A U.S.-coalition military campaign was launched against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein on March 20, 2003. It resulted in the fall of Saddam’s regime on April 9, 2003.
Afterward, the United States promised it would assist Afghans and Iraqis in establishing their new democratic institutions, Cheney said. This, he said, would “help build the freedom that leads to peace in the long run.”
Today, regenerated terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq want to overthrow those new democratic governments, Cheney said, and they’ve undertaken a campaign of violence and murder to achieve their aims. And, Iraq has become “the central front” in this phase of the war, he said.
Cheney acknowledged that expressing views on issues is an integral component of American democracy. But he drew the line regarding some opinions about how the United States should proceed in Iraq.
“There is a difference between healthy debate and self-defeating pessimism,” the vice president said. “We have only two options in Iraq – victory or defeat.”
Terrorists only understand force and must therefore be militarily defeated, Cheney said, pointing to past failed U.S. government efforts tried prior to 9/11 that attempted to address terrorism through diplomacy.
“This is not an enemy that can be ignored, or negotiated with, or appeased,” Cheney said. Therefore, the United States has taken the offensive, he said, to pre-empt possible future attacks and to track down and defeat terrorists wherever they may be.
Any retreat from this policy, Cheney said, would put civilized nations at peril. To illustrate his point, he noted the recent failed terrorist plot that sought to down commercial airliners as they flew over the Atlantic Ocean en route to the U.S. from Great Britain.
“Either we are serious about fighting this war or we are not,” Cheney said. “And the enemies of America need to know: We are serious, we will not let down our guard.”
America will soon mark the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks that killed more than 3,000 innocent people, Cheney said. Since then, “the people and the government of the United States have answered violence with justice, honor and moral courage,” he said.
Those ideals and the desire to confront oppression, Cheney pointed out, are embodied in American democracy and are embraced by its citizenry, to include the members of the U.S. armed services.
“America is a good, and decent, and generous country,” the vice president said. “The ideals that gave life to this nation are the same ideals we uphold at home and that we serve abroad.”
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Vice President Cheney’s Remarks at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.
UPDATE BY:Jim Williams.....Tropical Depression Ernesto is moving through central Florida . Our current feature is Miami,Florida,as Ernesto affected the area thismorning. As Ernesto moves into North Florida you can track weather obesrvations right here . There will be no live in house coverage on Ernesto , but you can watch our live cam right here as Ernesto's feeder bands move through south Florida.
Iraqi and U.S. forces provided medical treatment to nearly 200 residents of a Baghdad neighborhood.
Residents of the Ghazaliya neighborhood of Baghdad wait in line Aug. 26 , 2006 for medical treatment conducted by Iraqi doctors of the 6th Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, Iraqi National Guard, along with U.S. Multi-National Division – Baghdad doctors. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Brett Cote)
By 2nd Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs - 1st Armored Division
BAGHDAD, Aug. 30, 2006 — Soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, along with U.S. Army soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, attached to 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad (MND-B), provided medical treatment to residents of Ghazaliya during Operation Ghazaliya Aid.
The medical operation in the Baghdad neighborhood attracted nearly 200 residents, who were treated for a variety of medical conditions.
“The medical operation was a great event that helped a lot of people in Ghazaliya,” said U.S. Army Capt. Robert Callaghan. “It showed what could be accomplished by the neighborhood council, Iraqi police and the National police, when they work together in the best interest of the people.”
Iraqi army medical personnel, supported by MND-B soldiers, treated each person who waited in line and referred future medical concerns to the Ghazaliya Primary Care Clinic, which recently reopened in the neighborhood.
Along with medical aid, the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and MND-B soldiers worked to build support and cooperation with the local population. Sgt. 1st Class Cesar Valdez, HHC, was among the MND-B soldiers who worked with the ISF as Ghazaliya residents waited to receive medical care.
“The Iraqi Security Forces were instrumental in managing the long line of residents who showed up to take advantage of this opportunity,” said Valdez.
By Jim Garamone - American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Aug. 30, 2006 – The primary threats to Iraq's security are terrorists and death squads, the coalition commander in the country said today, and both must be addressed if Iraq is going to progress.
Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr. said the Iraqi people “aren't going to have the security that they want until the Iraqi security forces are the primary and dominant providers of security in the country. That won't happen until all militias and insurgents are disbanded.”
Casey spoke to reporters this morning in Baghdad. He said the Iraqi security forces are developing and continue to evolve and that soon they will turn into “security forces that the Iraqi people can be proud of.”
The Iraqi forces are receiving the equipment they need to deal with the enemy they face, Casey said. But they will receive more armored vehicles, more aircraft and more logistical capabilities in the coming months.
Casey said that while he does not know when Iraqi forces will be able to take over the security mission, they’ll be able to take on security missions with very little coalition support over the next year to 18 months.
The coalition and Iraqi government have a three-step process to develop the security forces, he said. The first step involved recruiting and training the army and police. This included giving the soldiers and police the weapons and equipment they need.
“The second step was to put them into the lead, still with our support,” Casey said. “When they're in the lead, they're responsible for the area, and we still help them. That process is almost 75 percent complete.”
The final step will be to get the forces to the stage where they can provide security independently. “That step becomes primarily building institutional capacity, building ministerial capacity and building the key enabling systems – logistics, intelligence, medical support, those kinds of things – that can support and sustain the armed forces in place for a longer period of time.”
Casey stressed that the Iraqi army forces in Diwaniyah “acquitted themselves quite well” in fighting against militia forces in the city. “They had losses, but they gave much better than they got,” he said. “And that battle is not finished yet. There were (Iraqi) soldiers that were killed there. There is clearly an illegal armed force that is attempting to control areas of Diwaniyah, and I believe that the Iraqi division commander down there is going to continue to work to restore Iraqi governmental control to that city.”
Disarming the militias is key to success in Iraq, Casey said, noting that the militias have to be confronted both politically and militarily. He said dealing with the militias is “fairly sophisticated and delicate, but both those tracks have to be pursued if we're going to stand the militias down in an appropriate fashion.”
The experience in Baghdad illustrates the way to take down the militias. “What we're seeing in Baghdad, as these neighborhoods are cleared, is the Iraqi security forces that go in and hold the security in those neighborhoods,” he said. “I think when the people begin to feel more confidence in their security forces, they'll feel less need to rely on the militias.”
Militias are a problem, with some militias “no better than murdering, criminal gangs” that “flout the rule of law every day,” Casey said. “Those need to be dealt with firmly by the government, because no government can stand to have criminal groups terrorizing their population.”
Casey said he has great hopes for the establishment of the Iraqi ground force headquarters and joint headquarters, both to begin operations in the next few days. This will give Iraqi security forces the oversight from their government that has been missing, he said.
Casey praised the work of the soldiers of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team in Baghdad. He extended the brigade’s tour of duty in Iraq for four months to help combat sectarian violence in the capital. “It puts our most capable force at the decisive point in the campaign, and that's what we needed,” he said. “They are magnificent young men and women, and their families are also magnificent for the support that they give these solders. I know it was difficult for the families. These soldiers are making a decisive difference here on the ground in Baghdad.”
By B.K. BANGASH
TARTARI, Pakistan Aug 31, 2006 (AP) — Pakistani soldiers searching a cave found the body of a fugitive tribal leader whose death in a military raid sparked large-scale unrest, but it was pinned under a boulder and will take days to retrieve, army officials said Thursday.
Nawab Akbar Bugti, 79, was killed when an explosion Saturday destroyed his mountain cave hide-out in the Tartari area of Kohlu district in southwestern Baluchistan province. His son has said the violence that has gripped southern Pakistan since his death would continue until his father's body was returned.
Two senior army officials, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the search for the remains, said soldiers working at the cave on Wednesday spotted Bugti's head and shoulders protruding from underneath a giant boulder.
It would take at least three days to remove his body from underneath the boulder, said one of the officials, who works in army intelligence.
Bugti's death has sparked days of rioting and protests led by his supporters in Baluchistan, a fiercely independent and restive region bordering Iran and Afghanistan. Bugti had led an often violent political campaign against the Pakistani government to win a greater share of wealth obtained from natural resources, like gas and oil, extracted in the region.
On Wednesday, hundreds of protesters blocked highways across Baluchistan, cutting Quetta off from major cities like Karachi in the south and Lahore to the east. Hundreds of people were prevented from going to work and scores of businesses and offices shut for the day.
Officials said Thursday that all the roads had reopened.
Bugti's son, Jamil, had warned that the unrest would continue until his father's body is returned to his family for burial. "We need my father's body. It is very important for us according to Islam and our culture," the son said Wednesday while greeting people expressing their condolences at his father's home in Quetta.
Pakistani officials initially said the military did not know Bugti was in the cave during Saturday's attack. But on Tuesday, the military's top spokesman said army officers "rushed" into the cave for talks with Bugti after one of the tribal leader's guides told officers he was there.
An unexplained explosion occurred, killing five soldiers, whose bodies were later retrieved. Bugti and several supporters were believed to have been crushed inside the cave.
For decades, Bugti worked as a governor and elected lawmaker seeking greater rights for the impoverished region's people. But the government accused him of ordering bombings on government installations, running an illegal militia and operating a private jail in his ancestral home of Dera Bugti.
Associated Press writers Munir Ahmad and Paul Garwood in Islamabad and Abdul Sattar in Quetta contributed to this report.
Associated Press
