Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=49095
Iraqi, Coalition Forces Capture Suspected Terrorists
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Feb. 27, 2008 – Iraqi and coalition forces throughout Iraq have killed and captured several terrorists over the past several days.
In operations around Iraq today:
— North of Tarmiyah, coalition forces detained two suspected terrorists, including an alleged al Qaeda leader. That suspect is reportedly directly associated with al Qaeda’s northern belt senior leader, and he obtains funds by selling vehicles. The network is responsible for the majority of bombings in the area and is involved in extortion, intimidation, weapons trafficking and facilitating foreign terrorists.
— One suspected terrorist was killed and two detained during an operation southwest of Mahmudiyah when coalition forces targeted an alleged associate of the southern belt al Qaeda network believed to be involved in rigging bombs in homes.
— Coalition forces captured two individuals in northeastern Mosul believed to be relatives of a senior al Qaeda leader and involved in terrorist activity in the region. Three other suspected terrorists were detained during the operation.
— Coalition forces targeting Iranian-backed “special-groups” criminal networks involved in attacks against Iraqi and coalition forces detained a suspected special-groups member in Baghdad.
In operations in Iraq on Feb. 25:
— Soldiers of Company E, 2nd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, attached to 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, questioned a “person of interest” in the murders of a “Sons of Iraq” security volunteer leader and his son, which had been reported a day earlier. The bodies were found in the Sons of Iraq headquarters building in the Mechanix neighborhood of Rashid district.
— In Balad, Iraqi special operations forces detained a suspected terrorist believed to be responsible for improvised-explosive-device attacks against Iraqi and coalition forces, as well as weapons trafficking in the region.
— In Kubaysah, an Iraqi special weapons and tactics team detained three suspected terrorists in an operation to halt an insurgent cell believed to be responsible for attacks against Iraqi and coalition forces.
Earlier, soldiers from 2nd Iraqi Army Division detained five suspected members of a terrorist cell in Hawad, south of Mosul, Feb. 24. The suspects are believed to be responsible for bomb attacks against Iraqi and coalition forces and, according to intelligence reports, allegedly are involved in a campaign to intimidate Iraqi citizens.
(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and Multinational Corps Iraq news releases.)
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=49103
U.S. Faces ‘Unusually Complex’ Security Environment, Intel Official Says
By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Feb. 27, 2008 – The Pentagon’s top intelligence official today told a Senate committee the United States is operating in a security environment that is “unusually complex.”
During a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee here, Army Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, presented an analysis of current and future threats facing the U.S.
“That threat spectrum is bounded on the one side by traditional nation states with significant military inventories, and on the other by non-state terrorists or criminal networks that exploit the gaps and seams between nations, cultures, laws and belief systems,” he said.
Outlining what he called “trends of concern,” Maples said current threats include weapons of mass destruction, increasingly sophisticated and longer-range ballistic missiles, improvised bombs and suicide weapons, outer space and cyberspace vulnerabilities, and underground weapons systems produced by potential adversaries.
On Iraq, Maples said efforts by coalition and Iraqi forces, plus intelligence cooperation from concerned local citizens and a ceasefire by a Shiite militia, have created an improved security situation. Officials also have noted a decline in the number of foreign terrorists entering Iraq.
“The trends are encouraging,” he said. “But they are not yet irreversible.”
Al Qaeda in Iraq has been damaged, but is attempting to reignite sectarian violence in part by conducting “high profile” attacks, Maples said. The terrorist network largely has moved into the more permissive areas of northern Iraq where it remains committed to planning and supporting attacks beyond Iraq’s borders, he added.
Maples said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, known as the Quds Force, continues to provide training, weapons and support to groups that attack coalition and Iraqi forces. “The Defense Intelligence Agency has not yet seen evidence that Iran has ended this assistance,” he said.
The intelligence director noted improvements to Iraq’s security forces. “Iraqi security forces, while reliant on coalition combat service support, have improved their overall capabilities and are increasingly leading counterinsurgency operations,” he said.
Turning to Afghanistan, Maples said successful operations by U.S. and NATO forces have inflicted losses on Taliban leadership, and prevented the insurgent groups from conducting conventional operations.
“Despite their losses, the Taliban maintain access to local Pashtun and some foreign fighters and is employing suicide bombings, improvised explosive devices and small arms to increase attack levels,” he said, citing ongoing challenges. “While the insurgency remains concentrated in the Pashtun-dominated south and east, it has expanded to some western areas.”
In addition to the Taliban, the central government is challenged by corruption and a strong narcotics trade, Maples said. Debate among NATO members on counterinsurgency execution has led to “differences on many levels and approaches” to reconciliation, reconstruction and the use of direct combat power, he added.
On Afghanistan’s national security forces, however, Maples said the Afghan army has fielded 11 of 14 infantry brigades, and more than one-third of its combat arms battalions have been assessed as being capable of leading operations with some coalition support.
Al Qaeda remains a threat to the stability of Afghanistan and surrounding nations and has made overtures to extend its reach into other continents, Maples said.
“Al Qaeda presents an increased threat to Pakistan, while it continues to plan, support and direct transnational attacks from its de facto safe haven in Pakistan’s largely ungoverned frontier provinces,” he said. “(And it) has extended its operational reach through partnerships and mergers with compatible regional terrorist groups, including a continued effort to expand into Africa.”
Maples added the Defense Department’s intelligence community is confident in the ability of Pakistan, a nation that possesses nuclear weaponry, to safeguard its arsenal. He also underscored the important role played by countries seeking to modernize their military forces, like China and Russia, and nations like Iran and North Korea which invest heavily in military capabilities.
Maples thanked the senators for supporting efforts by defense intelligence professionals, who he said work shoulder-to-shoulder with their national intelligence, homeland security and law enforcement counterparts.
“With the support of Congress, we continue to strengthen our ability to collect and analyze the military intelligence that policymakers and our commanders need in order to be successful,” he said.