Posted on 09/03/2006 3:43:51 PM PDT by Gucho
SNIPPET: "Al-Qaeda's number two in Iraq -- has been arrested."
This guy is a stone-cold jihadi in my opnion.
GOOD arrest.
Bump to another GREAT thread, Gucho.
American Forces Press Service
BAGHDAD, Sep. 3, 2006 – Soldiers from 1st Iraqi Army Division assumed control of the Abu Ghraib prison here from U.S. Army Task Force 134 in a ceremony here Sept. 1. Iraqi soldiers will provide security for the facility – now vacant -- until the Ministry of Justice dispatches its own security detail.
“Returning the empty prison to the control of the Ministry of Justice clearly says that enforcement of the rule of law is a cornerstone of the constitutional government of Iraq,” said Col. Monam Hashim Fahed, the Iraqi battalion commander.
Marines from 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5, will remain with the Iraqi brigade for a short time and serve as a training cadre to assist the Iraqi unit through the initial stages of their mission, officials said. Additionally, an RCT-5 military transition team that has mentored the brigade for the last year will continue to advise the Iraqi commanders and supply any requested guidance.
“It highlights the continued responsibility of the Iraqis,” said Army Lt. Col. Scott Marley, the military transition team leader.
(From a Multinational Corps Iraq news release.)
Related Sites:
By Patti Bielling - Special to American Forces Press Service
WINTHROP, Wash., Sep. 3, 2006 – Task Force Blaze is returning home to Fort Lewis, Wash., today, following a three-week deployment to fight wildfires in the state’s north-central region.
Spc. Aldo Gonzalez lights a fire as part of a burnout operation. Gonzalez is one of 550 soldiers making up Task Force Blaze, which deployed to firelines Aug. 17 to assist civilian firefighters with containing the huge Tripod Complex fire near lex fire near Winthrop, Wash. Gonzalez is an Avenger crew member assigned to 5th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Fort Lewis, Wash. (Photo by Patti Bielling)
The military had worked side by side with civilian firefighters since mid-August, filling a crucial need for ground crews.
Employing the 550 soldiers on the Tripod Complex and Cedar Creek fires freed 25 civilian fire crews for other missions, said Doug Shinn at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.
“Deploying Task Force Blaze allowed us to diversify our assets,” Shinn said. “We were able to reallocate civilian crews to other large fires or to initial attack of fires throughout the West.”
The soldiers helped protect about 500 structures near Mazama, and they helped battle flames and construct 50 miles of fireline to contain the 230-square-mile Tripod Complex fire near Winthrop.
Task force commanders and staff worked with incident managers every day and contributed to the decision-making process in a very positive way, said Jeff Whitney, Tripod Complex incident commander.
“What I’ve seen from the Task Force Blaze leaders is what we in the firefighting community study – qualities like sole attention on the welfare of the troops, willingness to do whatever is required of them, unyielding focus on the mission, and a willingness to lead and be present,” he said. “The respect, integrity and service they display are exemplary.”
Task Force Blaze comprises soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment; 23rd Chemical Battalion; 5th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery Regiment; 4th Battalion, 6th Aviation Regiment; 29th Signal Battalion; and the 28th Public Affairs Detachment.
The task force serves under the operational control of the United States Army North, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The command is the Army component of United States Northern Command, which is responsible for providing defense support of civil authorities.
Although military ground crews are redeploying, four Air Force crews will continue to fly air tanker missions called MAFFS, which are named for the Military Airborne Firefighting System mounted in the back of a C-130 aircraft.
“MAFFS are a really valuable initial attack tool,” said Col. Dave Hall, defense coordinating officer at the fire center. “Some upcoming predicted weather events – dry lightning, winds, high temperatures – dictate that the Fire Center keeps this initial attack capability available for now.”
As the hot and dry weather continues in much of the western United States, the National Interagency Fire Center advises that the public can play a role in preventing wildland fires. A car’s hot exhaust system, a discarded cigarette butt or a campfire can spark a fire, officials said.
In addition, homeowners can protect their property by creating “defensible space” around structures – maintaining a clearing of 30 feet around homes, creating fuelbreaks such as driveways, gravel walkways and lawns around structures, and removing firewood as well as fallen branches, needles and other fire fuels around their property.
(Patti Bielling is assigned to U.S. Army North Public Affairs.)
Smoke from the Tripod Complex fire encircles Steve Hiscock, a civilian firefighter and military crew advisor to Task Force Blaze. The 550-soldier task force deployed Aug. 17 from Fort Lewis, Wash., to assist civilian firefighters with containing the huge blaze near Winthrop, Wash. (Photo by Patti Bielling)
Related Sites:
You're very welcome Gucho.
Sunday, September 3, 2006
Sun Sep 3, 12:59 PM ET - Map showing the locations of the latest violence in Afghanistan. Four NATO soldiers and more than 200 insurgents have been killed in the first two days of a major anti-Taliban operation under way in southern Afghanistan. (AFP)
Sunday, September 3, 2006
Sun Sep 3, 12:59 PM ET - Map showing the locations of the latest violence in Afghanistan. Four NATO soldiers and more than 200 insurgents have been killed in the first two days of a major anti-Taliban operation under way in southern Afghanistan. (AFP)
September 3, 2006
Afghan and members of the NATO led Coalition forces are seen in the southern city of Kandahar Afghanistan on Sunday, Sept. 3, 2006. NATO and Afghan forces using air strikes and artillery killed dozens of suspected Taliban in a major operation in southern Kandahar province, the alliance said Sunday. The Afghan Defense Ministry, citing intelligence reports, said 89 militants had died during two days of fighting. (AP Photo/Allahuddin Khan)
DOD report: Iraqis turning to militias for safety
Pentagon sees some improvements, but civil war remains a risk
By Jeff Schogol - Stars and Stripes Mideast edition
Saturday, September 2, 2006
ARLINGTON, Va. — The war in Iraq has transformed from an insurgency into a fight between Sunni and Shiite extremists, with Iraqis turning to their local militias for security, a Defense Department report says.
The Defense Department is required to give Congress a report on stability and security in Iraq every three months.
The number of average weekly attacks on U.S. forces, Iraqi forces, and Iraqi civilians from May 20 to Aug. 11 was reported at 792, an increase of 24 percent from the average of 641 weekly attacks from Feb. 11 to May 19, officials said.
Released Friday, the report is the second consecutive report to cite a marked increase in violence.
While the Sunni insurgency remains “potent and visible,” the violence in Iraq is now defined by sectarian strife, in which civilians are dying at a rate 1,000 per month higher than in the previous three months, the report says.
“Conditions that could lead to civil war exist in Iraq. Nevertheless, the current violence is not a civil war, and movement toward civil war can be prevented,” the report says, repeating almost verbatim the recent congressional testimony of Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The report attributes the most significant increases in sectarian violence to Sunni and Shiite death squads, made up of terrorists, militias and in some cases from rogue elements of Iraqi security forces.
In particular, members of the Mahdi Army, nominally under the control of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, frequently make up such death squads, the report says.
Speaking to reporters Friday, officials insisted Iraqi security forces continue to make progress.
The Iraqi security forces now have about 278,000 troops and police officers, an increase of 14,000 security personnel since May, said Rear Adm. Bill Sullivan, director of the Joint Staff. The Joint Staff assists the Joint Chiefs in carrying out their responsibilities.
By the end of the year, Iraqi security forces should be at their authorized end-strength of 325,000, Sullivan said.
But while many Iraqis express confidence in Iraqi troops and police, Iraqi civilians are increasingly turning to local militias for protection from sectarian violence and social services, the report says.
“With the extended formation of the national government and capable ministries, these armed groups have become more entrenched, especially in some primarily Shia sections of Eastern Baghdad and certain Sunni neighborhoods in Western Baghdad,” the report says.
The report also notes that initial efforts by the Iraqi government to stem sectarian strife in Baghdad failed to result in a significant reduction in violence.
This summer, U.S. and coalition troops launched the first phase of Operation Together Forward in Baghdad.
But a few weeks into the operation, average weekly attacks across Iraq stood at 23.7, almost identical to the average of 23.8 attacks per week in the two months prior to the operation, the report says.
“Moreover, the rate of sectarian-motivated murders and execution-style killings continued to rise, primarily in and around Baghdad,” the report says.
Phase II of Operation Together Forward began in August involving troops with the Alaska-based 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, who were extended for up to four months, along with troops from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, who were moved up from Kuwait.
U.S. troop strength in Iraq now stands at about 140,000, up from 127,000 earlier this summer, officials said.
Asked if U.S. and coalition forces are winning the war in Iraq, Sullivan replied, “Yeah, I think we’re making — we’re making progress, yes.”
The report also mentions improvements to Iraqi infrastructure in the last three months with an extra 1.2 million people have access to potable water and electricity averaging 14 hours per day in Iraq, an increase of three hours a day over the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, insurgent attacks against Iraqi infrastructure continue to decline, down significantly from 2004, the report says.
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=39755
Stars and Stripes - Pacific edition
Monday, September 4, 2006
The storm that slammed into Wake Island earlier this week has been downgraded from a super typhoon but still packs considerable punch as it heads toward central Japan, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
By Saturday afternoon, Typhoon Ioke, with wind speeds of 132 miles per hour, was almost 1,500 miles east-southeast of Tokyo.
“At this time we’re still evaluating whether it will hit land,” said Capt. Jason Blackerby, typhoon duty officer for the center. “We believe the more likely scenario is that it brushes by just to the east of Japan.”
At 6 p.m. Saturday, Ioke was 1,350 miles east-southeast of Tokyo, moving west-northwest at 17 mph, packing sustained winds of 127 mph and gusts of up to 155 at its center. If it remains on its forecast track, Ioke will pass 130 miles east of Yokosuka Naval Base at 2 a.m. Thursday with sustained winds of 92 mph and gusts up to 104 at its center.
“It will still be formidable,” Blackerby said.
Ioke was at super-typhoon strength when it pummeled Wake Island on Thursday. Damage had yet to be assessed Saturday but weather officials had predicted that the storm would demolish anything not made of concrete.
Wake, an atoll with an airstrip between the Marianas Islands and Hawaii, has served for decades as a way station for U.S. forces. Evacuated off the island last week before the typhoon hit were about 200 people, most of them from the small U.S. military detachment that has been stationed there.
Maj. Clare Reed, spokeswoman for the 15th Airlift Wing at Hickam Air Force Base in nearby Hawaii, said Friday that a fly-over assessment would be conducted at some point over the weekend to see what remained of the airfield and the island.
EagleCash provides convenience for troops
Smart card used to pay for small items while deployed
By Lisa Burgess - Stars and Stripes Mideast edition
Saturday, September 2, 2006
ARLINGTON, Va. — Servicemembers and contractors in Iraq and Kuwait have a new way to pay for the little things that help make a long deployment bearable: EagleCash, a pre-paid smart card program co-sponsored by the U.S. Army and the Treasury Department.
Instead of standing in long check-cashing lines at the finance office, and then paying cash at post/base exchanges, post offices, barbershops and elsewhere, EagleCash participants pay for their purchases by swiping plastic cards in a special machine, Graham Mackenzie, Treasury’s stored value card program manager, told Stars and Stripes Thursday.
The amount of the sale is electronically subtracted from the amount of money the soldier has loaded onto his card. When the card’s balance is low, a soldier can go back to the self-serve kiosk and recharge the card with more cash, pulling from his bank or credit union account back home.
Unlike most debit cards, the card is free and there is never a fee for using it, whether to pay for purchases or at the self-serve kiosk, to check an account history and change the card’s balance, Mackenzie said.
Servicemembers “love EagleCash, because it is such a useful budgeting tool,” Mackenzie said.
EagleCash got its start in Bosnia and Kosovo in 1999.
Over the last two years, EagleCash has expanded to U.S. bases in Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
And in July and August, the sponsors sent a team to install EagleCash at 12 Army bases in Iraq and Kuwait. In Iraq, those locations are Camps Liberty, Victory, Slayer, Striker, Baghdad International Airport, Speicher, and Balad/Anaconda, Mackenzie said.
In Kuwait, EagleCash is available at Camps Arifjan, Buehring, Virginia, Ali Al Salem Air Base, and the Kuwait Naval Base, he said.
To date, servicemembers in Iraq have signed up for more than 6,000 free EagleCash cards, logging more than 9,000 transactions at the self-serve kiosks and more than 40,000 transactions at the swipe terminals — more than $25 million in spending, Mackenzie said.
EagleCash cards are available to any servicemember at their local finance office, as well as contractors whose companies have check-cashing agreements with the U.S. military, Mackenzie said.
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=39760
By Staff Sgt. Christopher Hanna - Co. A, 4th Spt. Bn., 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div.
Sep 3, 2006
CAMP TAJI, Iraq – Soldiers from Company A, 4th Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, provided a helping hand to the Iraqi police Sunday when they picked up disabled police vehicles from areas throughout the 1st BCT area of responsibility north of Baghdad.
The vehicles are being recovered from police stations and brought to Camp Taji, where mechanics from the 463rd Military Police Company, attached to the 1st BCT, are repairing the vehicles and then redistributing them back to the Iraqi police stations.
“This is a great way for us to help the Iraqis take control of their own country,” said Staff Sgt. Tracey Mayhan, senior heavy wheeled vehicle operator, Co. A. “Some of these vehicles are only a few months old, but because of the constant use and road conditions the Iraqi police encounter on a daily basis, they are in pretty bad shape.”
The repairs on the vehicles range from a flat tire or dead battery to no tires, batteries or in some cases, even engines. Repairing the vehicles is one of the programs Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers are providing in support of the Iraqi police.
“When we first arrived, their level of functionality was the lowest it could possibly be,” said Sgt. 1st Class Ronnie Hudson, operations sergeant, 463rd MP Co. “In the seven months I’ve been here, almost every station has improved dramatically.
“They were really low on resources and personnel. Since then, they’ve gained a lot of resources and personnel, which has improved their functionality as police stations. These vehicles should have a huge affect on their communities and help them get the (terrorists) out of their cities.”
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:
CAMP TAJI, Iraq – Staff Sgt. David Maye, truck driver, Company A, 4th Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, ties down an Iraqi police vehicle to the back of a wrecker in Taji Saturday. Soldiers of the company took eight disabled IP trucks from the Taji Police Station and brought them back here, where they will be refurbished and redistributed back to the police stations. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Brent Hunt, 1st BCT PAO, 4th Inf. Div.)
CAMP TAJI, Iraq – Staff Sgt. Tracey Mayhan, truck driver, Company A, 4th Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, checks to ensure an Iraqi police truck is strapped down properly to the back of a wrecker in Taji Saturday. The company picked up eight disabled IP vehicles from the Taji Police Station and brought them back to Camp Taji, where they will be refurbished and returned to the police station. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Brent Hunt, 1st BCT PAO, 4th Inf. Div.)
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 Multi-National Corps, Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory
Sep 3, 2006
CAMP AL ASAD, Iraq – U.S. Marines detained 16 confirmed insurgents and 24 suspected insurgents yesterday throughout the Haditha Triad region in western Al Anbar Province, Iraq.
Marines from the Hawaii-based 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, known as “America’s Battalion,” captured the known and suspected insurgents during both routine and pre-planned counterinsurgency operations in the “Triad” region.
Some of the insurgents captured are known for intimidating the local populace, attacking Coalition and Iraqi forces, and providing logistical support to local insurgents. In one captured insurgent’s home, a Marine patrol discovered various materials used to construct improvised explosive devices (IEDs), an AK-47 assault rifle with multiple round cartridges and binoculars.
Furthermore, a U.S scout sniper team fired upon anti-Iraqi forces, which were firing upon a Marine M1A1 tank on a road in Haditha. Two of the insurgents were killed; one was critically wounded and medically evacuated to a U.S. military medical facility for treatment. This follows a day after a separate scout sniper engagement which resulted in one insurgent being killed while digging a hole in a spot where numerous IEDs have recently been discovered or detonated.
“The Battalion’s successes over the last several days are really the result of the anti-Iraqi forces conducting attacks out of desperation. They see the growing capability of the Iraqi Army and recent fielding of the Iraqi Police as the clear beginning to the end of their influence in the Triad,” said Lt. Col. Norm Cooling, commanding officer of 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment.
The Haditha Triad is a region made up of three neighboring cities – Haditha, Barwanah and Haqlaniyah – with a combined population of about 70,000, nestled along the Euphrates River about 160 miles northwest of Baghdad.
Third Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, which is part of Regimental Combat Team 7, arrived in Iraq in March and has spent the past five-plus months providing security to the Haditha “Triad” region and mentoring Iraqi Security Forces.
RCT-7 is the U.S. military unit responsible for western Anbar Province, an area more than 30,000 square-miles in size which stretches from the Jordanian and Syrian borders hundreds of miles east to Hit, a city about 70 miles northwest of Ramadi.
Happy Labor Day, Gucho.
Thanks for the ping and the excellent linkage.
God bless W and our troops.
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.
