U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton delivers a report about conditions in Iraq during a meeting of the Security Council at the United Nations in New York September 14, 2006. (REUTERS/Chip East)
Posted on 09/14/2006 3:46:49 PM PDT by Gucho
After a year in Iraq, the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division relinquish control and head home to Fort Campbell, Ky.
Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon left, and Command Sgt. Maj. Jerry Taylor, uncase the colors of the 25th Infantry Division at the Mission Assumption Day Ceremony on Contingency Operating Base Speicher near Tikrit, Iraq, Sept. 13, 2006. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Juan F. Jimenez)
By Spc. Michael Pfaff - 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
TIKRIT, Iraq, Sept. 13, 2006 — The 25th Infantry Division uncased its colors, accepting responsibility for operations in Multi-National Division North Iraq from the 101st Airborne Division during a mission assumption day ceremony here today.
The 25th Infantry Division and Task Force Lightning, which includes elements from the 82nd Airborne Division, 4th Infantry Division and 2nd Infantry Division, will continue the mission of transitioning areas of operation to the Iraqi Army, Iraqi Police and other Iraqi Security Forces in the region.
Our mission here is clear,” said Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, commander of the 25th Infantry Division and Task Force Lightning, “to provide our Iraqi friends and counterparts the assistance they need to take over their own security and create a safe and secure environment so the Iraqi people can live a free, prosperous, and terror-free life.”
Mixon then deviated from his prepared speech. He spoke “from the heart” to attending Iraqi dignitaries and Iraqi Security Forces officers. He focused on maintaining the relationship between coalition forces and continuing efforts to secure the region and its people.
Also attending the event were Gen. George Casey, commanding general of Multi-National Forces in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, commanding general of Multi-National Corps in Iraq and Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq.
During their year-long tour in Iraq the 101st Airborne Division and the Task Force Band of Brothers assisted two Iraqi Army Divisions in assuming responsibility for security in their provinces. The other two Iraqi Army Divisions in the region are projected to assume responsibility for security in their provinces over the next three months with assistance from coalition forces.
The 25th Infantry Division will also focus on continuing the efforts of the 101st Airborne Division to help rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure and further the democratic process. The 101st Airborne Division will return to Fort Campbell, Ky.
Maj. Gen. Thomas Turner, commanding general, 101st Airborne Division, addresses the attendees during a Mission Assumption Day Ceremony between the 101st Airborne Division and the 25th Infantry Division at Contingency Operating Base Speicher, Sept. 13, 2006. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Russell Lee Klika)
Applicants say they want to support their families and protect their country.
Sgt. Charles Upson, the supervisor of the physical fitness segment of the recruiting evaluation, conducts a jumping-jack session with one of the Iraqi applicants. Sixty-seven Iraqis were recruited to serve in the Iraqi Police forces of Fallujah and Habbaniyah. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by 2nd Lt. Lawton King)
By 2nd Lt. Lawton King - Regimental Combat Team 5
FALLUJAH, Iraq, Sept. 14, 2006 — Despite threats from the insurgency, recruits continue to step up to serve.
The Iraqi police departments of Fallujah and Habbaniyah enlisted 67 Iraqis Sept. 10 at a military facility outside Fallujah to serve as police officers in their respective hometowns.
“The most important point is that people want to protect their town,” said Iraqi Lt. Col. Khalid Hummade, the executive officer of 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division. “They used to be afraid, and now they are not.”
“I want to support my family and protect my town and country,” said one Iraqi applicant through an interpreter.
“I want to join to protect my town and country,” echoed another.
The recruiting drive was coordinated by the Iraqi Police in conjunction with the Iraqi Army, Marines, sailors and U.S. Army soldiers.
“The primary focus is obviously to continue to build the IP forces,” said Lt. Col. Race Roberson, the 42-year-old Regimental Combat Team 5 police implementation officer from Stafford, Va. “The second goal is to have the IA and the IP working together in order to make a safer Fallujah.”
Lt. Col. Bob McCarthy, the 41-year-old RCT-5 police transition team leader in the Habbaniyah district from East Bridgewater, Mass., expressed similar thoughts concerning the continued integration of the police in Habbaniyah.
“It’s the year of the police, and the number-one priority of manning, training and equipping a capable police force is recruiting capable police officers,” he said.
In accordance with Iraqi Police recruiting regulations, applicants completed the requisite paperwork and were administered medical evaluations, physical fitness tests and security screenings.
Navy Seaman Apprentice Bradley Jones, a 22-year-old hospital corpsman from St. Louis, assisted in the medical assessments of the Iraqi applicants.
“I am just trying to help out the Iraqi people,” he said. “They’re pretty brave coming out here – some of them have to hide their faces.”
The physical-fitness portion of the evaluation was supervised by Sgt. Charles Upson, a 40-year-old operations chief from Steamboat Spring, Colo.
“I think it’s great – just the fact that it is occurring and the Army is helping out… their army, our army, our Marines,” he said. “They look motivated.”
“The fact they came out of the city proves to us that they’re motivated,” Roberson added.
The applicants will be transported to the Jordan International Police Training College to undergo eight weeks of law-enforcement training.
Currently, 1,800 police operate within the Fallujah district and approximately 500 in the Habbaniyah district.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Afghanistan hits at Musharraf over Taliban remark
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Thu Sep 14, 10:37 AM ET - Poland will boost its military contingent in Afghanistan from 120 troops to about 1,000 by next February, Defence Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said. (AFP/File/Attila Kisbenedek)
Soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division encounter the enemy nearly every day in their quest to secure the eastern part of Paktika Province.
Pfc. Benjamin Burton, Staff Sgt. Christopher Lumpiesz and Capt. Christopher Dye, soldiers from Forward Operating Bermel, inspect an enemy fighting position in the hills of the border region near Pakistan. (U.S. Army photo by Maj. Ramon Becerra)
By Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Kenneth Fidler - Combined Forces Command – Afghanistan public affairs
FORWARD OPERATING BASE BERMEL, Afghanistan, Sept. 14, 2006 — Spc. Jose Pantoja shows off the danger of his mission along the border region of eastern Afghanistan: a scar on his cheek from an enemy bullet.
During one of the longest firefights his company has encountered – nearly four hours long – three others sustained gunshot wounds, and nearly everyone took minor wounds from rocket propelled grenade shrapnel.
“One of our guys actually got shot in his helmet,” Pantoja said. “It knocked him down, but he got up and kept fighting.”
Engaging in firefights is almost daily life for the Coalition troops at Forward Operating Base Bermel, most attached to Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division. They keep enemy extremists at bay in this district in the eastern part of the Paktika Province, allowing Bermel to progress with reconstruction projects and establish a firm government.
The day after the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, two platoons – about 40 to 50 troops – were on patrol in the hills near the Pakistan border.
“We’ve been in quite a few firefights, particularly in the border region,” said 1st Lt. Shawn Parnell, infantry rifle platoon leader. “They tend to be pretty violent, but we’re out here proud to do the job we’re doing.”
U.S. Army Sgt. Derrick Martin, left, and Capt. Christopher Dye scan the ridgeline for enemy movement along the border region near Pakistan. Martin is an infantryman with Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division, assigned to Forward Operating Base Bermel. Dye is the company commander. (U.S. Army photo by Maj. Ramon Becerra)
This day, the patrol did not encounter the enemy fighters, but the Company knew they were out there.
“The enemy puts observers on the hill,” said Spc. Colten Wallace of the rugged terrain they were patrolling. “When we go behind the ridgeline, they warn their guys and they set up ambushes for us. They get a good 30-minute warning that we’re coming.”
That’s why Bravo Company takes no chances. If a mission must take them beyond the ridgeline, their point of no return, they fire off mortars to flush out enemy fighters and make sure air support is on hand.
On a hilltop surveying the ground below, Capt. Jason Dye, company commander, said he believes enemy fighters are starting to establish small camps in the border region.
“Before, they maybe had 30 or 40 guys in this whole area,” he said. “Now, we’re estimating they probably have closer to 250. That’s Taliban, as far as I can tell, supported by foreign fighters.”
Parnell said this region is a major infiltration route for enemy fighters. Bravo Company’s long-term presence here is a critical factor in trying to keep out enemy extremists.
“This is a hotbed for insurgent activity,” he said. “The people here are really starting to get used to us. In the villages along the border here, it’s important to show them that we do care about them.”
He and his troops play a leading role in bringing security and stability to what was once an ungovernable region just more than a year ago when this base opened. By separating the enemy from the people of this district, Bravo Company’s mission allows reconstruction and governance to gain strength in one of the most impoverished areas of Afghanistan.
“We’ve only been in Afghanistan for five years, and we’re going to be here for the long haul,” Parnell said. “If me being here right now means my kids later on down the road won’t be here, then it’s worthwhile.”
By Jim Garamone - American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2006 – Brian Ambrose knew from the start that the DuPont company valued its employees who were in the reserve components.
Ambrose was getting out of the Marine Corps in 1990 when DuPont hired him. “But before I could start, along came Desert Storm and the Marines called me back to active duty,” he said.
“DuPont told me, ‘When you’re done, just come on back. Your job is here,’” he said. “That told me right off that DuPont was the company I wanted to work for.”
Ambrose joined DuPont after leaving the Marines in April 1991. In November 1991, he joined the Delaware Air National Guard and is now a chief master sergeant.
Ambrose nominated the corporation for the Secretary of Defense Freedom Award, given annually by the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. DuPont is one of 12 companies to receive the award this year. The Freedom Award recognizes employers for exceptional support to reserve-component servicemembers above the requirements of federal law. President and CEO Charles O. Holliday Jr. plans accept the award in a ceremony here Sept. 21.
DuPont employees who are called to active duty continue to qualify for health insurance. “For the first 60 days of a deployment, they receive full pay in addition to their military pay,” Sudler said. After that, the company makes up the difference between military pay and servicemembers’ DuPont salaries.
“They have supported my Air Guard commitment 100 percent,” said Ambrose, a safety specialist with DuPont’s corporate remediation group. “They operate the same way with all the reservists.”
DuPont officials were pleased and surprised to receive the award, said Cary Sudler, a spokesman with the company’s equal opportunity, affirmative action section. “You don’t do these things for recognition, but because it is the right thing to do,” he said in a phone interview.
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By Donna Miles - American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2006 – As Iraqi and coalition forces work hand-in-hand to secure Iraq, thousands of reconstruction projects under way are providing another critical contribution to the country’s long-term success, the Army Corps of Engineers commander in Iraq told reporters today.
The United States has contributed almost $22 billion toward a massive rebuilding effort that’s critical to the Baghdad security plan and Iraq’s progress toward democracy, Army Maj. Gen. William H. McCoy Jr., commander of the Corps of Engineers’ Gulf Region Division, said during a Baghdad news briefing today.
Understanding the extent and impact of these projects is important to assessing conditions in Iraq, he said. He noted that the American public is bombarded with news about violence in Iraq, but also needs insight into successes of the reconstruction program to get “a balanced view of how we are making a difference in the lives of the Iraqi people every day,” McCoy said.
McCoy told reporters about an ambitious reconstruction plan that’s helping address health, education, electricity, water, sewer, transportation, communications and other needs around the country. It ranges from short-term, relatively easy fixes like trash removal to an ambitious effort to increase power generation around the country.
“We are making incredible headway in Iraq and in Baghdad,” he said. As of Sept. 12, more than 2,800 of more than 3,800 projects planned under the Iraq Reconstruction Program had been completed. Work has started on another 600.
Much of this effort focuses on Baghdad, Iraq’s most populated city and the seat of its government. McCoy called reconstruction projects there vital to the city’s security situation.
“So the Gulf Region Division is integrally involved in Operation Together Forward to improve the essential services and the quality of life of Iraqis living in Baghdad,” he said.
An initiative called “Iraqi First” is ensuring as many contracts as possible for this effort go to Iraqi-owned businesses. “This empowers the citizens of Iraq to play a major role in rebuilding their nation and helps boost the nation’s economy,” he said.
“Likewise, in virtually every project that we are working on today, we work hand-in-hand with the (Iraqi) ministries at the national level and the local director generals to make sure we are building an appropriate facility that they can maintain and then sustain after we turn it over to them,” McCoy said.
“By teaming with our Iraqi partners, we are building the foundation for continued success,” he said, “and helping build a brighter future for Iraq.”
By Donna Miles - American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2006 – As Americans pause to observe POW/MIA Recognition Day tomorrow, teams of military and civilian experts will be excavating sites in Europe, South Korea, Solomon Islands, Alaska and Hawaii, looking for remains to help identify servicemembers still missing from past wars.
Teams from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, based at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, will be on the job, working to provide the fullest possible accounting of America’s missing and living up to their command’s motto, “Until they are home.”
Additional teams are preparing for similar missions next month in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, said Maj. Brian DeSantis, a JPAC spokesman.
POW/MIA Recognition Day honors the sacrifices America’s missing servicemembers and their families have made for the country, Army Brig. Gen. Michael C. Flowers, JPAC’s commander, told American Forces Press Service.
But the day also offers an important reminder that the United States is committed to bringing its fallen servicemembers home so they can be returned to their families -- and it won’t give up, no matter how long it takes or how difficult it might be, Flowers said.
The joint POW/MIA command is among four military organizations committed to accounting for about 88,000 U.S. servicemembers missing from the nation’s wars. They include about 78,000 missing from World War II, more than 8,100 from the Korean War, 1,801 from the Vietnam War and about 125 from the Cold War, Larry Greer, a spokesman for the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office here, said.
In addition, Navy Capt. Scott Speicher, a Gulf War pilot, remains missing since his plane was shot down in Iraq in January 1991.
Army Reserve Sgt. Keith “Matt” Maupin is the only U.S. servicemember missing in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Insurgents captured Maupin April 9, 2004, after his fuel convoy came under attack at Baghdad International Airport.
In addition to JPAC, the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office here, the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory in Rockville, Md., and the Life Sciences Equipment Laboratory in San Antonio, actively contribute to determining the fate of these servicemembers and returning them home, Greer said.
Each service also has an office that works directly with families of the missing throughout the accounting process, however long it takes, he said.
Flowers said his command is committed to a mission that dates back to World War II and is now embodied in the U.S. military Code of Conduct. While most countries around the world bury their war dead where they fall, the United States promises its servicemembers that it will do everything in its power to bring them home.
Working to fulfill that promise sends joint-service teams from JPAC to potential crash and burial sites around the world. “We go out worldwide to recover those who are missing or to find those who are missing so that families can have closure and so we can keep our promise to our soldiers and airmen and Marines and sailors that they will come home,” Flowers said.
Once remains are repatriated to Hickam Air Force Base, experts at the command's Central Identification Laboratory -- the world's largest forensic anthropology lab -- use the most advanced science available to match them to a specific missing servicemember. New breakthroughs, including the use of mitochondrial DNA in investigations, is helping the staff make identifications once not considered possible.
So far, they’ve been able to successfully identify more than 1,000 missing from World War II, about 200 from the Korean War, 841 from the Vietnam War and 25 from the Cold War. Next week, JPAC expects to announce its first successful identification of a missing World War I servicemember, Greer said.
Flowers said the resolve demonstrated in making these identifications sends a strong message to the nation’s military members. “They can rest assured that as they go out to fight our nation’s conflicts, that no matter what happens to them, if they were to fall in battle and not be recovered by their comrades, that someone will continue to look for them and not rest until we can bring them home,” he said.
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U.S. Army soldiers move to their next objective during a morning raid in the Tameem district of Ramadi, Iraq, Sept. 3, 2006. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Jeremy T. Lock)
By Donna Miles - American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2006 – Iraqi and coalition forces captured a key al Qaeda operative and some 70 more terror suspects in Iraq during a series of 25 raids in and around Baghdad Sept. 12, a senior Multinational Force Iraq spokesman told reporters in Baghdad today.
The raids netted a personal associate of Abu Ayyoub al-Masri, Army Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said. Masri took control of al Qaeda in Iraq after a U.S.-led air strike killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in early June.
While not revealing the detainee’s name, Caldwell called him “the leader of assassination, kidnapping and IED (improvised explosive device) cells in Baghdad.” He “is known to have directly participated in numerous terrorist acts” and to have contributed to sectarian violence throughout the city, Caldwell said.
In addition, the detainee played a key operational role in terrorist activities leading up to and during operations in Fallujah in November 2004, he said.
The Sept. 12 raids, which also netted dozens of other terror suspects and multiple weapons caches, is part of an ongoing effort to help secure Baghdad during Operation Together Forward, Caldwell told reporters.
Iraqi and coalition forces have been focusing on five specific neighborhoods that were experiencing the most sectarian violence. During the past two weeks, more than 150 focused operations resulted in 66 terrorists killed and 830 terror suspects detained, Caldwell said.
The focus expanded today into the Shaab and Ur neighborhoods, he said.
This approach appears to be working in the focus areas, where violence is down, Caldwell said.
However, he acknowledged that violence in other parts of Baghdad experienced a “spike” yesterday and noted that terrorist death squads “are clearly targeting civilians outside the focus areas.”
“Overall, Baghdad’s level of sectarian violence has been reduced,” he said, “but remains above the levels of violence we saw before the Golden Mosque bombing in Samarra in late February.”
Iraqi and coalition forces are working together to help bring these levels down, particularly with Ramadan just 10 days away. “As we approach Ramadan, we know there is generally an increase in violence, and the government of Iraq has ongoing plans to address this,” Caldwell said.
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By Sgt. Sara Wood, USA - American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2006 – Iraq is facing grave challenges as it transitions into a democratic society, but Iraqi leaders are committed to the country’s success and are working hard to create a political situation that will allow the terrorists to be defeated, Iraq’s deputy prime minister said here today.
Barham Salih held a news conference at the Pentagon during a visit to the U.S. to meet with Defense Department, congressional and business leaders. Salih said he follows the U.S. news from Iraq, but was surprised to see firsthand the intensity of the debate about U.S. involvement in Iraq.
“No matter what criticism (is) here and there about the policy, … one thing fundamental for us Iraqis is that the United States has helped us overcome tyranny and gave us the greatest gift of all -- freedom,” Salih said. “We all have to acknowledge that Iraqis are a lot better off without Saddam Hussein, the region is a lot better off without Saddam Hussein, the world is better off without Saddam Hussein.”
Iraq’s transition to democracy comes at a difficult time, when the country is facing a fight against international terrorism and numerous changes and tensions in the Middle East, Salih said. These challenges make Iraq’s situation more difficult, but government leaders are aware of the problems and are working hard to overcome them, he said.
“At the end of the day, it will be about Iraqi leadership; it is not about American leadership,” he said. “American support is crucial, but at the end of the day, Iraqis will have to make the tough decisions in order to make their country more peaceful and deal with the problems that we have.”
The Iraqi government is making progress in forming an inclusive, balanced political process, Salih said. Last week, the country’s national security council agreed on a timetable to enact important legislation from now until March 2007. This legislation will begin to implement the national reconciliation plan announced by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in June, he said.
This month, the Iraqi government will set up a constitutional review committee and pass investment law, Salih said. By the end of the year, the government plans to pass a hydrocarbon law that will turn oil into a resource that unifies Iraqis, he said. This fall, the government will also be presenting legislation dealing with the disarmament of militias and reforming the de-Baathification commission, he added.
“The reason I'm explaining this to you is that, despite the images of carnage on television that focuses on the car bombs day in, day out, there is a lot of work going on in very tough circumstances,” Salih said. “Iraqi leaders are trying to make it happen.”
There is too much violence happening in Iraq, but it is important to note the progress Iraqi security forces have made, Salih said. Iraqi security forces now number almost 300,000, and by the end of this year, nearly half of Iraqi provinces will move to Iraqi security control, he said.
While there are military aspects that need to be dealt with in Iraq, the ultimate solution will be a political process that includes the entire population of the country and denies terrorists and extremists the ability to operate, Salih said.
“Ultimately, this cannot be dealt with just by military means,” he said. “Iraqis need to come up with the political bargains and the political compromises that are needed. We need to make … the neighbors of Iraq more cooperating with us to defeat the terrorists and to create the regional dynamics that will make it more conducive to security in Iraq.”
Iraq’s future is key to the stability of the Middle East, Salih said, because the region has never known anything close to representative government or democracy. Iraqi leadership is committed to overcoming the challenges facing the country, and continued U.S. commitment will ensure success, he said.
“At the end of the day, failure in Iraq will be catastrophic to the region,” he said. “Success is not only possible, but it is a must to turn around the course of events in that part of the world.”
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