Posted on 05/14/2006 4:06:56 PM PDT by Gucho
By Leo Shane III - Stars and Stripes Mideast edition
Saturday, May 13, 2006
WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives on Thursday passed its $512.9 billion budget outline for next fiscal year, adding a provision requiring all tanks and Humvees in combat zones to be outfitted with IED jammers by fall 2007.
Members of the House Armed Services Committee had already added $210 million to the Pentagon’s fiscal 2007 plans to deal with the roadside bombs, through portable radio jammers and additional surveillance flights.
But the full chamber took that “take back the roads” initiative one-step further Thursday.
All vehicles traveling outside of military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan must have the jammers installed by Oct. 1, 2007. Pentagon officials have until the end of this year to report back on the costs of purchasing and installing the equipment.
The House version would spend an extra $1 billion on up-armored Humvee protection and improvements — including $364 million for gunner protection kits and related items — and $930 million more than the administration requested for body armor research and production.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., said the moves will not only help troops complete their missions overseas but also “minimize the risks associated with such challenges.”
The authorization bill, which passed 396-31, is more than $73 billion above what Pentagon officials and the president requested earlier this year. Of that difference, nearly $50 billion would to pay for ongoing operations in Iraq in Afghanistan, in an effort to avoid the semi-annual emergency spending bills Congress has faced in recent years.
The measure would increase all military pay by 2.7 percent next year, above the 2.2 percent recommended by the Pentagon. Civilian defense employees would still see only a 2.2 percent increase.
Other provisions in the House’s 2006 Defense Authorization Bill:
Forbids defense officials from taking more than 20 percent of a single paycheck to recover overpayments resulting from Pentagon pay system mistakes.
Requires the Army report on the feasibility of shifting from yearlong deployments overseas to six-month tours.
Requires military planes, not commercial flights, be used to transport caskets to their final resting place.
Requires the Defense and Health and Human Services departments to re-examine the potential health effects of using depleted uranium in military munitions.
Allows families of civilian defense employees killed while working in a combat zone to receive a military death gratuity of $100,000.
Renames the Navy to “the Department of the Navy and Marine Corps.”
The full Senate is expected to vote on their version of the authorization bill later this month. Both chambers must reach a compromise on their separate measures before sending the bill to the president to become law.
By Senior Airman Jason Ridder - 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
5/11/2006 - MOSUL, Iraq (AFPN) -- In a small outpost in the Iraqi city of Mosul, about 50 Airmen provide a safe, secure and professional environment at the Mosul Public Service Academy to enable the training of an effective and professional Iraqi police force.
The Airmen at the MPSA have the chance to interact with the students who will become one of the stabilizing forces in Iraq.
"These Airmen will be able to tell their children and grandchildren that they had a part in training the police force responsible for securing Iraq," said Chief Master Sgt. Layton Clark, 332d Air Expeditionary Wing command chief, during a recent visit to the academy.
There are challenges the Airmen have to deal with on a daily basis, but these often provide an opportunity for them to expand their horizons and learn from their students.
"Policing in Iraq is much different than it is in the United States," Maj. Jeffrey Prindle said. "There are a lot of tactics, techniques and procedures that we utilize in the United States that are not applicable in police operations in the Iraq."
In order to become more effective instructors the Airmen first had to learn from their students and counterparts on the Iraqi police training staff. They acquired valuable lessons on Iraqi culture and history, as well as tactics and practices of the insurgents.
The Airmen live in a compound isolated from other American installations and they make the best of their living arrangements. A large portion of their off-duty time is spent looking for ways to improve their living standards.
"They have built recreation areas, acquired books, games and movies," Major Prindle said. "They also spend time working out in the gym, playing cards, dominos and horseshoes."
The Airmen also spend time using their limited connections to the outside world to call and e-mail friends, family and home stations.
Airmen enable Iraqi police training - An Iraqi police truck sits on a street in Mosul, Iraq. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Jason Ridder)
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Afghanistan offers to mediate in Iran nuclear row
Monday 15th May, 2006
Sun May 14, 9:30 AM ET - Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. Afghanistan has intensified efforts to disarm scores of illegal militias by giving commanders two months to hand over their weapons or face the law. (AFP/File/John D. McHugh)
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 14, 2006 – Afghan National Army and coalition forces confiscated a sizeable weapons cache in the Orgun District of Paktika Province yesterday after receiving a tip from an Afghan citizen, officials in Afghanistan reported today.
A joint ANA and coalition patrol dispatched to the site and found the cache, which included 164 rocket-propelled grenade rounds, a large sack of heavy-machine-gun ammunition and a large number of RPG boosters. An explosive ordnance disposal team at the site inspected the munitions and turned them over to the ANA.
"The Afghan who reported these dangerous munitions increased the safety and security of fellow Afghans, and reduced the danger in the area posed by criminals who might use those munitions indiscriminately to cause harm on the Afghan people, Afghan Security Forces or Coalition forces," said Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick, Combined Joint Task Force - 76 spokesman.
(From a Combined Forces Command Afghanistan news release.)
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5/12/2006 - 10:50:00 AM
From Commander, Submarine Group 2 - Public Affairs
GROTON, Conn. (NNS) -- USS Memphis (SSN 691) departed Naval Submarine Base New London May 6 on a surge deployment in support of the global war on terrorism.
Souda Bay, Crete, Greece (Dec. 16, 2003) -- USS Memphis (SSN 691) heads out to sea following a brief stop at this eastern Mediterranean port. Memphis is home ported in Groton, Conn. Commissioned in 1977 Memphis is the fourth Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered attack submarine. (U.S. Navy photo by Paul Farley) (RELEASED)
According to Cmdr. Joseph Wiegand, deputy commander for Operations and Training for Commander, Submarine Development Squadron (DEVRON) 12, surge deployments differ greatly from regularly scheduled deployments.
“Surge deployments are made to support real-world taskings from combatant commanders,” he said.
Memphis' surge deployment coincides with the scheduled deployment of USS Alexandria (SSN 757), also of DEVRON 12, and the surge deployment of USS Louisville (SSN 724) of Submarine Squadron 3 in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. All three submarines deployed during the first week in May.
“This is a prime example of the high demand for submarine capabilities in operational theaters around the world,” Wiegand said. “The combatant commanders count on our boats to engage with a range of different threats around the world. They rely on the inherent strengths of speed, persistence, firepower, and agility that only a submarine can provide.”
Memphis returned from a scheduled deployment in November and has remained in a surge-ready status for the past six months.
“All submarines completing a deployment remain surge ready and in a high state of training,” said Wiegand.
Over the past six months, the crew of Memphis and the staff of DEVRON 12 have trained closely with the newly activated Cell for Submarine Counter-Terrorism Operations (CSCO).
The CSCO continuously worked with Memphis in training for mission planning, special forces certifications, and presented real-time lessons learned from other currently deployed submarines.
“The nuclear-powered submarine continues to bring a lot to the table when it comes to the day-to-day operations in the global war on terrorism,” explained Lt. Cmdr. David Kelly, deputy director of the CSCO. “Our submarine force has never been in higher demand than it is today, including in the heyday of the Cold War.”
Kelly added that nuclear-powered submarines are unique in that they are the one platform that can conduct forward missions against threats from traditional naval forces as well as engage in missions against the more elusive and scattered terrorist threats.
Missions that fast-attack submarines like Memphis conduct in support of the GWOT include intelligence-gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance, information operations, strike operations and special operations forces missions.
This surge deployment is a part of the Fleet Response Plan (FRP), a program developed to change the way Navy ships deploy and to provide the United States with a greater range of naval options, adding the element of flexibility to naval efficiency.
The idea behind FRP is to keep the Navy ready to surge and to vary the lengths of deployments, meaning the Navy will be ready to deploy whenever, wherever.
By Leo Shane III - Stars and Stripes Mideast edition
Sunday, May 14, 2006
WASHINGTON — When Staff Sgt. Dale Kelly is laid to rest in Maine later this month, he’ll have an escort of flag-draped motorcycles with engines roaring.
The honor guard will be in Wisconsin, just days before, for the funeral of Sgt. Nathan J. Vacho. And at Chief Warrant Officer Christopher Donaldson’s service in Nevada. And at the burial of Staff Sgt. Gregory Wagner in South Dakota too.
The Patriot Guard Riders — a loose association of more than 30,000 patriotic bikers across the country — has been providing a rolling salute to servicemembers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan for nearly a year, with convoys as long as 200 motorcycles at some memorials.
“Our mission, first and foremost, is to show honor and respect to that deceased soldier,” said Frank Baranyai, captain of the Guard’s Virginia chapter. “If a family gets in touch with us and wants us there, everybody knows what to do.”
The group was founded by the American Legion Riders chapter 136 in Kansas, which organized a motorcycle counterprotest at a rally by the Westboro Baptist Church outside the funeral of a soldier killed in an ambush in Afghanistan.
Incensed by the anti-military and anti-homosexual rhetoric of the group, the riders provided the soldier’s family members with a noisy barrier between their grieving and the protestors’ signs. The project grew from there as more riders looked for ways to show their thanks for servicemembers’ sacrifice.
Army reservist Lance Obcamp said he has been traveling with various chapters of the riders for several months, after he saw news reports about the Westboro followers at a Maryland funeral.
“There’s not a law against what they do, but there are some things we never thought we’d need a law for,” he said. “When I thought about those grieving families, I had to do something.”
Baranyai said before each ride everyone is reminded that the goal is to pay respect, not square off against protesters.
Ginger Byron has been riding her bike from southern Maryland to funerals throughout the region for several months, accompanied by her husband, David. She said she’ll continue even after last week, when he was deployed with the Air Force Reserve to Afghanistan for a year.
“It’s going to be heartbreaking at first, because [the rides] will be even more personal,” she said. “But it’s for the troops, for the families to see us and know they have support.”
The Guard received congressional recognition last week, before members of the House voted on a bill to limit protests at federal cemeteries to 500 feet away and an hour before or after services.
“You didn’t wait for government to come up with an answer for this,” House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Steve Buyer, R-Ind., told about 50 Guard members at a rally outside the Capitol building Tuesday. “You came up with your own answer.”
The protest limits passed 408-3. House officials hope to have that measure approved by the Senate and ready for the president’s signature by Memorial Day.
Meanwhile, the riders have about a dozen “missions” across the country between then and now, with a number of others they’ll be ready for if families request their presence.
By Leo Shane III - Stars and Stripes Mideast edition
Sunday, May 14, 2006
WASHINGTON — Stopping Afghanistan’s drug trade will require years of law enforcement work and a complete economic turnaround for the country, according to that country’s ambassador to the United States.
“There is no quick fix,” said Said T. Jawad, who has served in the ambassador role since December 2003. “Opium producing in Afghanistan is the result of 30 years of war and distraction.
“In an environment of total insecurity — social, political and economic — people have leveled their pomegranate orchards, their vineyards, and turned them into poppy fields, because it takes only three months to harvest poppy.”
Jawad, speaking with reporters Friday about the future of the country, noted that despite progress in rebuilding since 2001, Afghanistan remains the sixth poorest economy in the world. Only 6 percent of the homes in the country have access to electricity, and only about 23 percent of the population has access to clean drinking water.
So for many the illegal crops have become the only choice, Jawad said.
“If your choice is between life and death, you’ll choose life, even if that means that your actions are illegal,” he said. “But give the Afghan farmers an alternative, and they’ll take it.”
Last year, Afghan law enforcement officials seized more than 158 tons of opium and 39 tons of heroin, and cleared about 23,000 acres of farmland being used to raise illegal crops.
Despite that, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates the country produced about 87 percent of the world’s illegal opium trade last year.
Programs to help farmers grow other, legal crops have had little success thus far because of poor funding. Jawad said international leaders must realize that without an economic solution those drug farmers have no incentive to turn away from their only source of income.
“Forceful poppy eradication without adequate alternative livelihood assistance can alienate the poor farmer and strengthen narco-traffickers,” he said. “Such quick fix solutions will push many rural communities into further poverty and dependency on terrorists.”
To that end, political leaders are working to reform those programs, and have set a target of providing electricity to 25 percent of the homes in the country by 2010, and linking at least 40 percent of the villages by easily accessible roadways by then.
Jawad said those are not lofty goals, and would still leave many citizens living in poverty and despair.
“But we are realistic about the challenges we are facing.”
By Jim Garamone - American Forces Press Service
HOR AL BASH, Iraq, May 14, 2006 – In another place and in another time, Army Staff Sgt. Timothy Long may have been loading up the family to take them to a Mother's Day brunch. Instead, he was briefing his C Troop, 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry team on the mission they were about to perform.
A cavalry scout escorts an Iraqi to his car near Taji, Iraq, during a Mothers Day "presence patrol." The car was broken down at the side of the road. Soldiers check out all of these in case the occupants are using a ruse to plant and improvised explosive device. (Photo by Jim Garamone)
Long led the cavalrymen on a "presence patrol" to this village near Camp Taji, to assure people the coalition is there. The team often uses these patrols to drop off flyers with useful information to the people.
The team pulled out of its Camp Taji staging area at the hottest part of the day. A clear sky and warm sun put the mercury over 100 degrees. That plus the "full battle rattle" - Kevlar helmet, interceptor body armor and added protection for the gunners - made this an endurance test.
Just before they left the base, they got a reminder of what they are facing: examples of improvised explosive devices along the roadside. "That's the main threat out here," Long said.
The team looks for evidence of recent digging "or anything that looks out of the ordinary," said Staff Sgt. Dan Rager. "We have been here four months now. We know what looks out of place."
The patrol went through Taji Market, a strip of road with a variety of open shops offering a wide range of merchandise.
As the patrol headed to Hor al Bash, the lead vehicle spotted a white sedan on the roadside. Everyone stopped. The soldiers piled out of their vehicles and established a quick perimeter. Cars often pretend to be broken down when the occupants are really planting IEDs, the team members explained. Fortunately, this one really didn't run and the occupants were on the up-and-up.
The patrol ran through Hor al Bash and turned along a canal road. As they went along, soldiers spotted fresh dirt across the road. They stopped at a local sheikh's house to ask about it. As it turned out, some children were trying to build a speed bump so local cars wouldn't speed down the lane. "They need to tell us that," Long said after ascertaining what was happening. "That's a good way to get shot."
The patrol stopped at an Iraqi army checkpoint on a major route in the area. The Iraqis, members of the 2nd Brigade, 9th Division, base three tanks and two BMP armored personnel carriers at the site. The soldiers stay at the site for 21 days at a time and keep track of the peoples' comings and goings and stop suspicious vehicles.
A little farther on, at the intersection of two major routes, is a U.S.-manned checkpoint. The Americans pull 24-hour duty in a sandpit. Humvees rise over the barriers and gunners examine the roads to ensure insurgents are not planting IEDs or harassing the people.
Finally, the patrol then turned back to Camp Taji. The soldiers often conduct dismounted patrols, but this day it was enough to let the people see them and know they are there, the soldiers explained.
The team checked out a number of things, spoke with groups of people and came home safely. All in all, they declared it a very good Mother's Day patrol.
An Iraqi T-72 tank sits at a checkpoint near the village of Hor al Bash. Iraqi and coalition forces work together in the region to maintain order. (Photo by Jim Garamone)
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ISLAMABAD, May 14 (KUNA) -- Pakistan Sunday refuted the reported claims by a Taliban commander that Indian engineer, K Surayanarayan was abducted and killed at the behest of the secret service, saying it has never sponsored the policy of civilian killings.
"Pakistan has been condemning the killing of civilians where ever they occurred as acts of terrorism. It is not the policy of our government to sponsor such heinous acts", the foreign office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam told media.
She was commenting on the reports by Afghan Tolu TV that quoted a Taliban commander saying Surayanarayan was killed at the instance of Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) agency.
Tasnim said Pakistan would have come out with an official reaction had such claims been made by the Indian government. She added that such reports were not worth commenting.
However, she said if anybody has any evidence, he was welcome to forward it.
She said Tolu TV had made such claims against Pakistan in the past attributing them to some Afghan officials, which were later denied.
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