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With a new, fourth star on his collar, Army Gen. John Abizaid took over as leader of the U.S. Central Command on Monday following a star-studded tribute to retiring commander Gen. Tommy Franks. Abizaid, an Arabic speaker whom Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called "the leader for the 21st century," had served as one of Frank's two deputies at Central Command. During that time, Franks planned the war on terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks and then coordinated the invasion of Iraq. "The greatest honor of any solider is to command the sons and daughters of America," Abizaid said during the...

Major General Doron Almog does not have great faith in Mohammed Dahlan. The head of the Israel Defense Forces' Southern Command and the Palestinian Minister for Security are old acquaintances: In 1994, Almog, then a brigadier general, oversaw the IDF's redeployment in the Gaza Strip under the "Gaza and Jericho First" agreement. Dahlan came from Tunis to head the Preventive Security Service in Gaza. During the first 10 months of the deal, 18 Israelis, both soldiers and civilians, were killed in Gaza. The attacks, mostly committed by the Islamic organizations, continued despite Dahlan's assurances that the Palestinian Authority would stop...

Report of John Loftus WABC radio Batchelor Alexander Program 'Retired' Russian generals Atelov and Matsov have been in charge of Iraqi command and control. That is why no communications from Iraqi command and control have been intercepted since the start of the war. The Russians have been directing everything. The Russian convoy headed for Syria with the Russian ambassador was shot up (30 minute gunfight) because the secret communications equipment was being taken out. This equipment uses encryption that connects with the Russian equivalent of NSA. When asked whether US forces seized any equipment John Loftus said: "No comment". With...

Reprinted from NewsMax.com 'Too-slow' Marine Commander RelievedNewsMax.comSunday, April 6, 2003 "I'm afraid this could mean more casualties," one enlisted man told the L.A. Times embedded reporter, after hearing that Maj. Gen. James Mattis, commander of the 1st Marine Division had relieved and replaced his regimental commander for reportedly being too slow in his drive on Baghdad. Col. Joe W. Dowdy, who had been commander of the 1st Marine Regiment, was reassigned Friday to another position, being replaced by Col. John Toolan, the 1st Marine Division's operations officer. Toolan hurried to the front and immediately took charge of a speeded-up drive...

<p>ASHINGTON -- The Marine Corps relieved one of its top commanders in Iraq yesterday, an extremely unusual action, especially for a unit engaged in combat.</p> <p>Colonel Joe W. Dowdy has been the officer in charge of the First Marine Regiment, one of the three major Marine Corps ground units fighting toward Baghdad. His regiment is reported to have been used to pin down Republican Guard units in the city of Kut while the other two major units, the Fifth and Seventh Marines, crossed the Tigris River on Thursday and raced toward Baghdad. Those units encountered heavy ground fighting yesterday on the outskirts of the capital and had at least three M1 tanks disabled by Iraqi fire.</p>

A US commander who led a fierce push by Marines through southern Iraq towards Baghdad has been relieved of his post, a US military spokesman said. The spokesman did not give any reasons for the move, AFP news agency reported. The officer was named as Colonel Joe Dowdy, commander of >the Marines First Regimental Combat Team 1. Dowdy was in command of 5,000 men and women and had led the regiment's advance through southern and central Iraq, including a bloody passage through the Euphrates River town of Nasiriyah. He was described as a popular commander who kept casualties down in...

President Bush is planning to reward Tony Blair for his unswerving support on Iraq by agreeing to place thousands of American marines under the direct command of a senior British officer. In a highly symbolic move, which has not been seen since the second world war, up to 2,000 marines are expected to be commanded by the British in a joint operation to take the key southern Iraqi city of Basra. Under plans being drawn up at the US central command in Qatar, the US 15th marine expeditionary unit will join about 4,000 royal marine commandos in an amphibious assault...

"Army Forward Command Post," a new toy out this holiday season, has been dubbed by one toy expert as "Barbie's Dream House: The Nightmare Version." It is a bullet-riddled shell of a house, complete with a soldier in military combat gear, weapons, ammunition and even sandbags. There are two versions of "Forward Command Post": one for children 5 years old and older; the other for children 3 and older. "I just wouldn't buy it. It's scary," one mother said when ABCNEWS showed the toy to some parents shopping with their children in New York City. "I mean I know our...

First Command regards itself as: "The #1 independent provider of financial plans to the professional military family." I have a young relative who is a new military officer and he is interested in using this organization's services. Any opinions from Freeper military officers would be most appreciated for guidance. Many thanks!

Today I was listening to a small portion of Rush Limbaugh's Radio show before school, and he mentioned a new toy being offered by toys R Us that is called "Elite Operations Forward Command Post". He said it looked like a Barbi Doll house that had been bombed out with bullet holes in it and army action figures with an american flag on top and many militayr / weapon accessories. I went to Amazon.com (Who apparently runs Toys R Us's website) and I found the toy listed, but the pictuyres were either down or not up. I'm really curious about...

By Lisa Burgess, Washington bureau European edition, Thursday, April 18, 2002 For a map (in Adobe PDF format, 175K file size) showing ARLINGTON, Va. — The Pentagon’s new U.S. Northern Command and other changes to its war-fighting blueprint are designed to make it easier to react to surprise attacks such as Sept. 11 — not to expand roles and missions, Pentagon leaders said Wednesday. Rolling out the new version of that blueprint, which is known as the Unified Command Plan, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld touted what he called "a historical first:" the first time defense of the continental United...