Posted on 09/21/2006 5:50:38 AM PDT by TexKat
By PATRICK QUINN, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi forces formally took over security in a southern province from Italian troops on Thursday, making Dhi Qar the second of the country's 18 provinces to come under local control.
At a ceremony in the provincial capital, Nasiriyah, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki thanked Italian Defense Minister Arturo Parisi for his country's help. Italy has about 1,600 troops in the country, mostly in Nasiriyah, and that force is expected to be withdrawn by year's end.
"The Italian contingent is going back. The mission is accomplished — the security of the province is in your hands," Parisi said.
The Italian mission came at some cost to its troops. Italy's military has reported 32 deaths in Iraq, including 19 killed in the bombing of a military barracks on November 12, 2003.
Another Italian soldier died Thursday in an accident in southern Iraq, hours before Italy handed over control of Dhi Qar, the Italian defense ministry said.
Al-Maliki thanked "Italian troops for their services in helping the Iraqi troops take responsibility of security control."
"It is a great day, it holds the message of the future handover of security control in all of Iraq," he said.
Al-Maliki has said that Iraqi army and police plan to take over security for all of Iraq's provinces within the next 18 months. British troops handed over control of southern Muthana province in July.
America's overall strategy calls for the U.S.-led coalition forces to redeploy to larger bases and let Iraqis become responsible for their security in specific regions. The larger bases can act in a support or reserve role. A final stage would involve the drawdown of troops from Iraq.
In a joint statement, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. military official in Iraq, lauded the handover as "another sign of progress toward a stable and secure Iraq."
They described it as "an important milestone along the successful path toward Iraq's capability to govern and protect itself as a sovereign nation" and added that "several other provinces are close to meeting the criteria necessary to assume security independence."
Romania has a battalion of about 402 soldiers in Dhi Qar, out of a total of 628 in the country. Romania last month said it would withdraw some of its troops from Iraq as the Iraqi government takes over military control of the province.
___
Associated Press writers Maria Sanminiatelli and Marta Falconi in Rome contributed to this report.
350 Ala. Air Guard personnel return from Iraq
9/21/2006, 7:22 a.m. CT
The Associated Press
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Three-hundred and fifty members of the Alabama Air National Guard's 187th Fighter Wing are due back on state soil today and tomorrow.
The Montgomery-based unit has served the last six weeks supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Major Paul Griggs, a unit spokesman, said the unit's F-16 fighter pilots performed combat air patrol missions in support of U.S. and Coalition forces.
The first group of airmen are scheduled to arrive at Montgomery's Dannelly Field at approximately 1 p.m.. Griggs said the final group, about 200 airmen, will arrive tomorrow (Friday).
The overseas deployment was the 187th's third since January 2003.
Bush Says If He Were, & We Knew Where, U.S. Would Take Military Action
(AP) President Bush said Wednesday he would order military action inside Pakistan if intelligence indicated Osama bin Laden or other top terror leaders were hiding there.
“Absolutely,” he said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
With bin Laden still at large five years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and believed to be hiding along the mountainous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Mr. Bush disputed any suggestion that Pakistan has not done enough to hunt down terrorist leaders. Mr. Bush meets Friday at the White House, and again next week, with Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf.
“I view President Musharraf as somebody who would like to bring al Qaeda to justice,” Mr. Bush said. “There's no question there is a kind of a hostile territory in the remote regions of Pakistan that makes it easier for somebody to hide.”
Robertus Tibo (C), son of Fabianus Tibo, holds his daughter as he arrives at the Petobo prison to see his father in Palu, Central Sulawesi Province September 21, 2006. Indonesia has tightened security in Central Sulawesi province ahead of the execution of three Christians, including Tibo, convicted of leading a mob that killed Muslims six years ago, police said on Wednesday. REUTERS/Stringer (INDONESIA)
3 Christians to be executed in Indonesia
PALU, Indonesia - Security forces braced for violence Thursday as three Christian militants awaited execution for leading a string of deadly attacks on Muslims, with thousands of police blocking roads leading to their prison, standing on street corners and guarding nearby churches.
The exact timing and location of the killings have been kept secret, as is the custom in Indonesia, but family members and lawyers said after meeting the trio that they would likely face a firing squad before dawn Friday.
The case against the men has heightened tensions in the world's most populous Muslim nation and raised questions about the role religion played in punishing those allegedly behind the violence that swept Sulawesi province from 1998 to 2002, killing more than 1,000 people of both religions.
The planned executions come amid Muslim outcry in many nations over Pope Benedict XVI's comments on Islam. The pontiff, who has since apologized, last week cited the words of a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman."
Benedict last month made an appeal for clemency in the case of Fabianus Tibo, 60, Marinus Riwu, 48, and Dominggus da Silva, 42, who were found guilty of leading a Christian militia that launched a series of attacks in May 2000 — including a machete and gun assault on an Islamic school that killed 70 people seeking shelter.
The men told relatives and a priest during final prayers at their jail Thursday that they were innocent but ready to die.
They said they hoped investigations into the sectarian clashes would continue, noting that they had provided authorities with the names of 16 Christians who allegedly instigated some of the worst bloodshed.
The government says its probe is complete.
"My father told me he was not afraid to die, he is not afraid to face his destiny," said Tibo's son, Robert. "But he wants the real killers to be caught."
Human rights workers say the men's 2001 trial was a sham, and that while it was possible the men took part in some of the violence, they almost certainly were not the masterminds. Others note that only a handful of Muslims were punished for four years of unrest, all sentenced to 15 years in jail or less.
Thousands of Christians rallied peacefully in at least seven towns on Thursday. Muslim protesters also have taken to the streets in recent weeks, demanding the men be killed following two last-minute stays, the most recent just over a month ago.
Fearing violence timed to the executions, Indonesia deployed more than 2,000 police and soldiers in Palu, some guarding churches that dot the city. Security was also stepped up on the island of Flores, where the three men were born, said Lt. Col. Endang Syafrudin, the island's police chief.
Access to the prison was cut off late Thursday, with security forces blocking cars and motorcycles on surrounding roads.
Tibo, Riwu and da Silva discussed their final wishes with relatives, lawyers and their priest on Thursday afternoon — from giving a message to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to having relatives and spiritual advisers accompany them when they are led to their deaths. They also asked for a mass congregation at the largest Catholic church in Palu after they are killed.
The government rejected all of their requests, the men's lawyer Roy Rening later told reporters.
Their priest, Jimmy Tumbelaka, warned that the decision could further stoke tensions.
"It is not good," he said. "I'm afraid this will only make people angrier."
Indonesia is a secular nation with the world's largest number of Muslims, some 190 million. In Sulawesi and several other eastern regions, Christian and Muslim populations are roughly equal.
Though violence in Sulawesi largely ended with the signing of a peace deal in 2002, there have been isolated incidents of violence since then, most blamed on Islamic militants.
Rinaldy Damanik, the head of the Central Sulawesi assembly of churches, called on Christians to stay calm.
"My worry is there will be another bombing or shootings" timed to the executions, he said. "If that happens, then I fear the masses will be uncontrollable."
By NOOR KHAN, Associated Press Writer
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Police clashed with militants who tried to set fire to an oil tanker in southern Afghanistan, killing four suspected members of the Taliban, a police official said Thursday.
Police confronted the militants Wednesday on the main Kandahar-Kabul highway in Zabul province, said Noor Mohammed Paktin, the provincial police chief. One policeman was also injured.
Also Wednesday, NATO-led troops detained five suspected militants, including a regional insurgent leader, as they rode on motorbikes in Zabul's Arghandab district, Paktin said.
The five were sent to a NATO military base for questioning, he said.
Southern Afghanistan has been a hotbed of the resurgent Taliban militants, who are battling Afghan and NATO forces with a ferocity that has surprised many foreign military and political leaders.
Authorities found the body of a Turkish national who was kidnapped last month along with another Turk whose body was already recovered, said Yasin Khan, from the private security firm USPI, which has been helping the authorities.
An official with the Turkish construction company Konlit, which employed the victims, said a security officer by the name of Mustafa Semih Turfal had been kidnapped in August, but there was no information on his whereabouts.
A purported Taliban spokesman claimed Tuesday the militants killed the Turk in the Yakhthal area of southern Helmand's Gereshk district after his company failed to meet demands to leave Afghanistan.
An Italian soldier, meanwhile, died and two others were injured when their armored vehicle overturned near the Afghan capital, NATO said.
The victims were on a patrol just outside the capital late Wednesday when the vehicle overturned on a steep incline, the statement said.
First executions in three years in Iraqi Kurdish zone
Deutsche Presse Agentur
Published: Thursday September 21, 2006
Arbil/Cairo- The first executions in three years were carried out in the Kurdish region of Iraq when 11 Kurdish members of a criminal gang were hanged Thursday, security sources said. The security in Arbil, capital of the Kurdish region, confirmed that the 11 had been sentenced to death some months ago for multiple murders and rapes.
The parliament of the Kurdish autonomous region in Iraq had reintroduced the death penalty a week ago after it had been abolished three years ago.
This decision sparked a wave of protests from human rights organizations.
http://rawstory.com/news/2006/First_executions_in_three_years_in__09212006.html
Analysis: Iraq study a long way from over
By KRISTYN ECOCHARD AND MARTIN SIEFF
UPI Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- After six months of research, including a recent trip to Iraq, the Iraq Study Group has made no recommendations.
The two co-chairmen, former Secretary of State James Baker and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., wouldn't discuss during a press briefing Monday what might be included in their final report or when it might be released.
There have been previous cases in recent U.S. history of such groups meeting quietly and keeping their conclusions under wraps until they were ready to go public with complete and systematic conclusions or reports. But the deteriorating situation in Iraq and the central role the Iraq issue is playing in the fall congressional election campaign have made Baker and Hamilton's refusal to even hint at specific policy recommendations a hot potato. Their determination to stay silent may well fuel allegations that the war is unwinnable and that they have no significant advice to give. However, both men insisted that after the elections, they would present their report.
"We've said from day one we were going to report after the midterm elections so that whatever we come forward with will not be seen to be patently political," Baker said.
Baker insisted the group was not created to politicize the conflict in Iraq, saying it was more important to wait until after the elections than to make recommendations, even during what Hamilton called a "critical time for the Iraqi people."
That argument may make little headway, however, because so many Washington analysts and pundits have been saying for more than three years that the next three- or six-month period in Iraq would be "critical."
In the presence of six out of eight of their fellow group members, Baker and Hamilton explained the work the group had done up to this point and what still needs to be done.
During five meeting sessions in Washington and a trip to Iraq, the group met with more than 100 experts in strategy, economy, foreign policy, military and international affairs.
The people they interviewed included Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki, President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. George Casey, commanding general of multi-national forces in Iraq.
"Before the end of this year this government needs to show progress in securing Baghdad, pursuing national reconciliation and delivering basic services," Hamilton said.
However, Hamilton and Baker refused to answer any questions about what they might have defined as success or failure in Iraq, or what they considered to be the terms of a responsible exit. They said they would not be releasing any recommendations or judgments on the feasibility of sustaining the Iraqi government until after Nov. 7, and not until the president and Congress hear it first.
The group will continue its consultations; a future meeting with representatives from Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia is being scheduled. But the focus was shifting from primarily fact-finding to the considering of recommendations.
Baker said the group would continue to be forward-looking, bipartisan, and constructive. With limited options and a restrictive timeline, he insisted they would try to give recommendations that were in the best interest of the United States. "I think we seriously misjudged the difficulty of winning the peace," he said.
The group was first suggested in March by Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., as a response to dwindling public support for the Iraq War and the U.S. lack of success. Facilitated by the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Iraq Study Group's official job is to analyze the situation in Iraq and make recommendations to the White House and Capitol Hill regarding strategy, security challenges, political developments and economics.
This is the first interim report given by the study group, though they did meet with President Bush in June. "We figured it's about time to tell you a little bit about what we've been doing," said Baker.
However, the leisurely timetable that the study group has set for itself may open it also to criticisms that it lacked any sense of urgency while things were falling apart in Iraq and more U.S. soldiers were dying there every week.
Baker and Hamilton during their years of eminence in Washington both embodied the old, moderate bipartisan consensus in foreign policymaking. However, the criticism and even ridicule to which their study group is now being subjected could lead to the traditions they want to revive being further discredited.
A headline on Page A2 of the Washington Post Wednesday reflected the ridicule the study group appears to be attracting, as opposed to the sober credibility its leaders aspired to. The headline of the article by Post reporter Dana Milbank read: "This Just In: The Iraq Study Group Has Nothing to Report."
No deadline has been set for the final report, but Baker and Hamilton hope to meet the initial goal of completion within a year. Once the report is presented, however, there are no assurances the administration or Congress will listen.
http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060919-032542-9485r
Bush detainee bill squeaks by House panel
WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- The Bush administration's contested bill on the rights of terror detainees and their interrogators passed in the House Judiciary Committee by a 20-19 vote.
Republicans managed to quash a Democratic alternative bill Wednesday and the Bush bill could be taken up in the House by next week, The Washington Post reported Thursday. However, Congress goes into recess after next week, and the White House bill faces stiff opposition in the Senate, even among some Republican senators, the newspaper said.
At issue is softening the interpretation of Geneva Conventions wording on interrogation techniques that would allow the CIA to continue using such methods as blasting loud music at detainees for long periods and sleep deprivation. It also would protect intelligence operatives from prosecution.
Most Democrats oppose the bill, claiming it would open the door for other countries to abuse U.S. prisoners in the same way, the newspaper said.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060921-091900-2005r
India: 9/11 Links Found To Mumbai Blasts
September 21, 2006 14 37 GMT
Police in Mumbai, India, have traced a 9/11 link to July's Mumbai train blasts, Maharashtra government officials said Sept. 21. Officials said the train attacks were funded by al Qaeda and carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba . They also said Mohammad Atta, leader of the al Qaeda group that carried out the 9/11 operation, trained in 2000 with at least three of the men involved in the Mumbai bombings.
http://www.stratfor.com/products/premium/read_article.php?id=275895
"It is a great day, it holds the message of the future handover of security control in all of Iraq," he said.
Hold "supprise" Checks around this "handover" and see if any terrorist Weapons smuggling happens in the Future.
lets see if Maliki is a Liar?
I have been keeping an ear and eye out on Maliki. I am a bit puzzled about the man. However the following is what Jalal Talabani had to say about Maliki in an interview with Larry King last night
Interview with Bill Clinton; Interview with Jalal Talabani - CNN LARRY KING LIVE TRANSCRIPT
Leaders Of Pakistan, Afghanistan To Meet Bush As Militant Attacks Continue
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Sept. 21, 2006
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, left, and Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf (AP)
The Pakistani government has stepped up security for government officials in a remote border region with Afghanistan — suspected to be home to renegade Islamic militants — after the killing of one official and two of his friends on Wednesday.
The incident underlined lawless conditions in Pakistan’s southern Waziristan region, where President General Pervez Musharraf sent military troops two years ago to fight suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban militants who crossed over from Afghanistan, fleeing U.S. and Afghan troops.
The ongoing tension in Waziristan may be a subject under discussion Friday when President Bush meets Musharraf at the White House for a bilateral meeting. Mr. Bush is scheduled to meet with Afghan president Hamid Karzai next Tuesday. All three leaders are to meet in Washington the following day.
A senior Pakistani government official who deals with security affairs told CBS News that Wednesday’s shooting of the three men “showed how fragile the situation remains”.
The official, who spoke on condition on anonymity, said Gul Zada, a government official, was killed Wednesday by unidentified gunmen in a car. “This was a typical hit and run type of killing. We believe the victim was targeted to put out the message that whoever works for the government is not safe,” added the official.
The killing follows a controversial agreement signed between Musharraf’s administration and chiefs of local tribes in north Waziristan earlier this month. Under that agreement, Pakistani military troops were withdrawn from roadside checkpoints and their duties assumed by local tribesmen.
The agreement has been defended by Musharraf’s government as a necessary step to bring calm to a volatile situation, but western diplomats have criticized it as an unnecessary concession to militants.
“By withdrawing the military from north Waziristan, Musharraf is really telling the militants he is not able to win a military victory against them,” one senior Western diplomat in Islamabad told CBS News on condition of anonymity. The diplomat said the agreement would be a “significant subject under discussion” when Musharraf meets Mr. Bush on Friday.
Karzai’s government has argued that leaders of Afghanistan’s deposed but resurgent Taliban movement plan attacks on Western troops, including US forces in southern Afghanistan, from bases across the border in Pakistan.
Pakistani officials have denied the accusations that that militants routinely cross over into Afghan territory to launch attacks. Musharraf has said militant attacks in Afghanistan are caused by groups organizing themselves in that country.
Senior western diplomats in Islamabad say the two leaders are expected to vigorously defend their respective positions when they meet Mr. Bush.
Forward together?
Maliki's security plans seem conspicuously incompetent on the ground in Iraq, writes Nermeen Al-Mufti
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