Posted on 03/16/2006 3:11:28 PM PST by Gucho
Great photo! Thanks for everything Gucho.
BTTT
Thank you - you're welcome.
By John D. Banusiewicz - American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 16, 2006 – Past victories over ideologies of hatred serve as a reminder that such triumphs require time, patience and sacrifice, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in Australia today.
In an interview with Kerry O'Brien on the Australian Broadcasting Company's "7:30 Report," Rice said there's no choice but to win. Australia is Rice's final stop on a weeklong visit to Latin America and the Pacific.
"We've won these struggles before against ideologies of hatred, but it's always taken time; it's taken patience; unfortunately, it's sometimes taken sacrifice. It's also taken good friends and allies like we have here in Australia," Rice said. "But we've triumphed because we've stayed true to our values. We've triumphed because we have believed in those who were trying to seek freedom's promise. And we've triumphed because we've recognized that there is no alternative than to confront this ideology of hatred and to defeat it."
Acknowledging that the road to democracy in Iraq continues to be rough, the secretary also noted that the Iraqi people have continued to move forward.
"I think if you look at what the Iraqi people have actually achieved in the last three years, it's quite remarkable," Rice said. "Yes, they are experiencing great difficulty in making their way to democracy. But democracy is never easy. I think we in the United States and probably in Australia, people should be humble about our own path to democracy, which was difficult and had its own false starts and its own mistakes.
"But the Iraqis, in a place where for really most of their existence they solved their differences by violence or by repression or by dictatorship, they've now turned to politics to try to do that," she added. "And yes, it's hard, but they are going to form a government of national unity."
Rice said she doesn't believe the Iraqi people are on the brink of civil war, despite the best efforts of fugitive Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to pit Iraqi against Iraqi. "There are clearly those who would like to stoke the sectarian strife, but they're people like Zarqawi, the terrorist," she said. "The Iraqis themselves have voted three times, including ratifying a constitution, and now they're in the process of forming a government. I think they've made a remarkable showing."
The secretary praised the way Iraqis have responded to terrorists' attempts to drive a wedge between religious groups in their country, such as the Feb. 22 bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra.
"There's no doubt that there are those who would try to tear them apart," she said. "But every time they've gone to the precipice, every time there has been a major incident like the Samarra bombing, they have tried to come together rather than tearing themselves apart. And that's something to be admired."
Bolton: U.N. Will Send Iran Strong Signal
U.S. Ambassador Bolton Says U.N. Will Send Iran Strong Signal About Its Suspect Nuclear Program
By NICK WADHAMS
UNITED NATIONS Mar 16, 2006 (AP)— U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said Thursday the U.N. Security Council appears determined to send a "strong and clear signal" to Tehran about its suspect nuclear program, after a meeting of the powerful U.N. body that he described as the best so far.
In an informal gathering of the 15 council members, diplomats agreed to hold the first formal Security Council consultations on Friday a sign that a split between Britain, France and the United States on the one hand, and China and Russia on the other, may have closed somewhat.
In addition, senior officials from six key countries involved in negotiations over Iran's nuclear program will convene Monday to try to hammer out a final deal and discuss what the council ought to do after it makes its first statement on Iran.
"I would describe today's meetings as the best we've had so far," Bolton said after the talks, the full council's second informal meeting on Iran. "The mood of the discussion is certainly in the direction of a strong and clear signal to Iran on the part of the Security Council."
Members of the council have grappled with the issue for a week, since the board of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, sent a report on Iran to the Security Council. The board said it lacked confidence in Tehran's nuclear intentions and accused Iran of violating the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
Britain, France and the United States want the Security Council to call on Iran to abandon uranium enrichment and comply with other demands by the IAEA to clear up suspicions about its program. They suspect Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb.
Russia and China, which are allies of Iran, are not as skeptical of Tehran's intentions, and have said in the past that tough council action could spark an Iranian withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and expulsion of inspectors from the IAEA. They also fear a chain reaction of council action that could lead to tougher measures later on, such as sanctions.
Uranium enrichment can be used either in electricity generation or to make nuclear weapons. Iran insists its program is to produce nuclear energy not weapons but the International Atomic Energy Agency has raised concerns that Tehran might be seeking nuclear arms.
Bolton and the ambassadors from France and Britain refused to discuss what progress had been made.
But diplomats said that Britain and France, who have taken the lead on crafting a council response, planned to draw up a text and present it to the rest of the council at Friday's closed-door discussion.
"We moved forward," France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said.
China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya was more equivocal in brief remarks to the press.
"I think the differences are still there," he said. "There are some common points but there are also some differences."
It's unlikely the council will come to a final decision before Monday, when senior officials from the council's five veto-wielding nations the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China and Germany will meet in New York.
That meeting would bring together the most senior foreign affairs officials from those nations since a London gathering on Jan. 30.
Bolton told reporters that the top diplomats would talk about what to do after the first council action. He described those talks as separate from the issue of the text discussed Thursday.
The diplomats will try to come up with a "clear strategy" on what happens next, Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Konstantin Dolgov told The Associated Press. "We need to have an agreed way ahead within the IAEA, in the Security Council."
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1735524
Associated Press
:)
Gucho I love your threads, thank you so much. You make a difference in this world. I have two nephews serving in Iraq and I thank you for your support of our troops.
Thank you Brandie. God bless you're nephews.
March 17, 2006 Friday
Abizaid says US may retain bases
WASHINGTON, March 16: The United States may want to keep a long-term military presence in Iraq to bolster moderates against extremists in the region and protect the flow of oil, the Army general overseeing US military operations in Iraq said on Thursday.
While the Bush administration has downplayed prospects for permanent US bases in Iraq, Gen John Abizaid told a House of Representatives subcommittee he could not rule that out.
The general said that policy would be worked out with a unified, national Iraqi government if and when that is established, “and it would be premature for me to predict.”
Many Democrats have pressed President George Bush to firmly state that the United States does not intend to seek permanent military bases in Iraq, a step they said would help stem the violence there.
Gen Abizaid also told the Appropriations subcommittee on military quality of life that while an Iraqi civil war was possible, “I think it’s a long way from where we are now to civil war.”
Echoing Mr Bush’s statement on the outlook for reducing US forces in Iraq, Gen Abizaid said if Iraqis can form a unified government, “I think there’s every reason to believe ... that we’ll be able to bring the size of the force down much more so by December of ‘06.”
Gen Abizaid cited the need to fight Al Qaeda and other extremists groups and ‘the need to be able to deter ambitions of an expansionistic Iran’ as potential reasons to keep some level of troops in the region in the long term.
But he said it would be far less than the 200,000 currently deployed in the region, including 132,000 in Iraq.
“Clearly our long-term vision for a military presence in the region requires a robust counter-terrorist capability,” Gen Abizaid said. “No doubt there is a need for some presence in the region over time primarily to help people help themselves through this period of extremists versus moderates.”
Gen Abizaid also said the United States and its allies have a vital interest in the oil-rich region.
Rep David Price, a North Carolina Democrat, questioned “what kind of signal that sends to the American people and to the Iraqis and the region ... if somehow there is ambiguity on our ultimate designs in terms of a military presence in Iraq.”
Rep. Jane Harman of California, top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, in a letter to Mr Bush last week said his ‘continuing failure to clarify US intentions provides an excuse for certain Iraqis to avoid compromise and jeopardises our ability to succeed in Iraq’.
http://www.dawn.com/2006/03/17/int7.htm
—Reuters
U.S. Marines assigned to Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 5 prepare to hand out toys and pamphlets to children in Fallujah, Iraq, March 10, 2006. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Adaecus G. Brooks)
March 15, 2006
TIKRIT, Iraq -- Iraqi police raided two houses near Tikrit Tuesday night and discovered two illegal caches full of weapons and explosives.
The raids were generated by tips given to the police, who quickly secured both sites and called in an explosive ordnance disposal team from Task Force Band of Brothers.
The caches consisted of 25 mortar rounds, 10 large artillery shells, two land mines, a mortar tube, IED components, and a large amount of bulk explosives.
The police ensured the area was clear of any civilians and the EOD team performed a controlled detonation to eliminate the weapons. Both houses were destroyed by the detonations.
Terrorist weapons caches are a danger to everyone who comes near them because the process of turning explosives into IEDs makes them very unstable. These types of operations have increased the security in the region. Residents are urged to report suspicious activity and weapons caches to their local Joint Coordination Centers or Iraqi security forces.
By Spc. Jeanine Kinville - 101st Airborne DIvisiion - Public Affairs Office
ADDITIONAL PHOTO:
A variety of explosives were stashed inside a neighborhood dumpster near Kirkuk, Iraq. Insurgents use materials such as these to craft Improvised Explosive Devices (IED).
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, prays during Friday prayer ceremony in Tehran, on Friday March, 17, 2006. Mottaki said Iran's direct talks with the U.S. over Iraqi issues will help the process of building a government in Iraq. (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian)
Iran talks to be limited to Iraq war, Rice says
MELBOURNE Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice cautioned on Friday that while the first planned talks between American and Iranian envoys in nearly three years could be "useful," they would be limited to discussions on Iraqi security and not other American concerns with Iran.
ANALYSIS-Three years on, Iraq's future is shrouded in fear - Reuters Alert
Fallen Soldiers From Iraq, Afghanistan to be Honored with Memorial
US presses assaults on guerrillas
10 Iraqis Killed, 40 Arrested, as US-Led Troops Search for Members of the Resistance - Aljazeerah
17 Mar 2006 15:36:58 GMT
Source: Reuters
March 17 (Reuters) - Following are security incidents and political developments in Iraq as of 1520 GMT on Friday.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have been battling a Sunni Arab insurgency against the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led government since U.S. troops toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
A wave of sectarian violence since the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine on Feb. 22 has killed hundreds.
Asterisk denotes new or updated item.
*RAMADI - Gunmen in a car killed Khudr Abdaly, the former head of the municipality in Ramadi, an insurgent stronghold 110 km (68 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.
BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber detonated his explosives inside a minibus, killing the driver and wounding four passersby in eastern Baghdad, police said.
BAGHDAD - Three bodies were found with signs of torture and bullet holes in the head. Two were found in the eastern Sadr City and one in western Baghdad, police said.
LATIFIYA - One policeman was killed and two wounded when a roadside bomb struck a police patrol near Latifiya 50 km (32 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.
MAHMUDIYA - Two pilgrims walking to the Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala were killed and seven wounded in a roadside bomb explosion in al-Mahmudiya 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.
Friday March 17, 04:01
TEHRAN (AFP) - Afghan bandits with links to US and British security services have killed 22 people in Iran and seized an unknown number of others in an ambush that also left a senior official critically wounded.
Police said "a group of armed bandits who crossed the Afghanistan border killed 21 people and injured another seven innocent people driving in their vehicles" between the border city of Zabol and Zahedan, the provincial capital of Sistan-Baluchistan.
The southeastern province's deputy governor general for security, Mohsen Sadeghi, later raised the death toll to 22 and said that, "according to the reports we got, one of the seven injured people is in a critical condition."
A source in the interior ministry told AFP: "Hossein Ali Nouri, the governor of Zahedan and his deputy have been critically wounded and both are in intensive care in hospital."
According to some Iranian news agencies, Nouri and his deputy were shot several times in the chest and abdomen.
The interior ministry source, speaking on condition of anonymity, added that "apparently a number of people have been taken hostage.
"Iran is seriously pursuing the case, and that's why the head of police is here to command the search for the bandits," he added.
The officials were returning to Zahedan after attending a ceremony of war commanders in Zabol, the reports added.
"A number of victim's families have told us that their relatives have been taken hostage, but we cannot confirm it yet," he added.
Iran's police commander, Brigadier General Esmail Ahmadi-Moqaddam, told state television "we have information that the bandits in Sistan-Baluchistan area had some meetings with the British and the American security services.
"These services have dictated plans to the bandits on how to destabilise the area. They are trying to spread disputes between Shiites and Sunnis. This is a terrorist action against innocent civilians," he told reporters upon arriving at Zahedan's airport.
Ahmadi-Moqaddam said the bandits had killed Shiites, who were stopped at a mock checkpoint.
"There is the possibility that the bandits have escaped to Afghanistan since the area is close to the border," he added.
Sistan-Baluchistan, a mostly Sunni Muslim province in predominantly Shiite Iran, is notoriously lawless and is a key transit route for opium and other drugs from Afghanistan and Pakistan headed for Europe and the Gulf.
Some three month ago, a group of Iranian soldiers was kidnapped near the border with Pakistan by a hardline Sunni Muslim group operating in the unruly border area. They were later released.
Iranian officials and media had initially said the kidnappers were bandits, drug traffickers or dissident tribesmen.
Reporters and officials examine components from Libya's nuclear weapons program during a press briefing in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, March 15, 2004. The first trial of a suspected member of a global nuclear black market that helped Libya, Iran and North Korea obtain technology useable in atomic weapons began in Germany on Friday. REUTERS/Paul Efird/Knoxville News Sentinel
Regina Ellis and Dena Stephenson
War Veterans Return Home To Custody Battles
Military Does Not Offer Assistance
UPDATED: 10:43 am CST March 17, 2006
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Two Kansas City-area women are fighting to get their children back after serving their country overseas.
When Dena Stephenson went off to war, her 6-year-old daughter, Kristina, went to stay with her father. Stephenson followed the military's Family Care Plan, which gave temporary power of attorney and guardianship of her child to the father.
"Once I came back from deployment, naturally, my child wanted to be with me nonstop," Stephenson said.
Stephenson said she was supposed to get Kristina back when she returned home, but now the girl's father is asking for 50-50 custody.
"I don't agree with that as a parenting plan. I don't think it's healthy for the child and I've already missed a year of her life," Stephenson said. "It hurts me that he's trying to do this, and in the long run, I think it's going to hurt her, too."
Regina Ellis is going through a similar experience. She was deployed overseas for a year, and she also followed the Family Care Plan. Now that she's back, Ellis has lost custody of her son, Trevor.
This month, her ex-husband gained full-time custody, and Ellis said she sees Trevor only every other weekend.
"It's not just us and it's not just the Army and it's not just females -- this is military-wide, and it hurts," Ellis said.
Both Ellis and Stephenson are fighting their cases in court this spring.
KMBC-TV in Kansas City, Mo., reported that a law passed in 2003 is supposed to protect soldiers in war zones from civil lawsuits until they return. But now that law is being challenged in Kansas courts.
There is also a case pending before the Kansas Supreme Court about a Marine who lost custody of his son while he was in Iraq.
"If I'd never been deployed to Iraq, I don't think we'd be going through this," Stephenson said.
A spokeswoman at Fort Riley said returning soldiers are offered re-entry counseling, but no legal assistance in civil matters.
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