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WASHINGTON, July 17, 2006 – More than 1,000 villagers in the Panjwayi and Zharey districts of Afghanistan received medical treatment and humanitarian assistance from Afghan and coalition personnel at clinics during the past weekend, military officials reported. A group of medical professionals from Kandahar hospitals, the Afghan National Army and the coalition spent July 15 at a school next to the Panjwayi District Centre at Bazaar-e-Panjwayi. They conducted another medical clinic in Zharey district on July 16. The group provided basic medical treatment to local people and livestock, dispensed medicine, and handed out food and other humanitarian supplies. During the...

WASHINGTON, July 7, 2006 – Iraqi army forces conducted an early morning raid today in eastern Baghdad, Iraqi police repelled a terrorist attack in Baghdad today, and coalition forces killed two terrorists and detained five during a raid yesterday, military officials reported. The Iraqi army raid was part of Operation Together Forward, the Iraqi government's plan to improve security conditions in Baghdad. Insurgents immediately engaged the forces, and a firefight ensued. The purpose of the raid was to capture an insurgent leader responsible for numerous deaths of Iraqi citizens, officials said. Police from 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st National Police...

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...

WASHINGTON, May 3, 2006 – Iraqi soldiers and police completed the fourth day of Operation Lion's Hunt in Mosul, Iraq, today. Elsewhere, a provincial governor survived an assasination attempt. Nearly 1,500 Iraqi soldiers and police officers worked together to conduct the mission. The goal of Lion's Hunt is to introduce a strong Iraqi security force presence in the city's diverse communities and clean out pockets of terrorists hiding among law-abiding residents, U.S. officials said. The Iraqi-planned effort has been well received in the areas searched so far, Iraqi Maj. Gen. Wathiq, provincial director of police for Ninewah province, said. He...

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger this week called on California Energy Commission Chairman Joe Desmond to investigate possible price gouging by big oil companies, as gasoline prices across much of the state topped $3 a gallon. But Desmond has only two weeks left on the job--and likely won't be there to see the investigation through. Desmond's nomination must be confirmed by both the Senate Rules Committee and the full Senate before May 10 in order for him to keep his post. But the Senate, led by President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, has refused to even schedule a confirmation hearing. Without such...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (April 10, 2006) – Iraqi Security Forces continue to gain experience as they lead both small and large-scale, combined operations. Two recent examples are in the Julayba area and north of Baghdad along the Tigris River. Iraqi and Coalition Soldiers wrapped up a successful counter-insurgency operation in the Julayba area east of Ramadi April 6. Operation Bastogne began early in the morning with Soldiers of the 1st Iraqi Army Division and the U.S. 28th Infantry blocking off escape routes frequented by insurgents. The combined operation resulted in two insurgents killed and three others captured. The Soldiers also discovered...

BAGHDAD, March 26, 2006 – Iraqi special operations forces conducted a twilight raid today in the Adhamiyah neighborhood in northeast Baghdad to disrupt a terrorist cell responsible for attacks on Iraqi security and coalition forces and kidnapping Iraqi civilians in the local area. As elements of the 1st Iraqi Special Operations Forces Brigade entered their objective, they came under fire. In the ensuing exchange of fire, the Iraqi forces killed 16 insurgents. As they secured their objective, they detained 15 more individuals. Also, one individual being held hostage by the insurgents was freed. That person, a non-Westerner, whose identity was...

Iraqi, U.S. Soldiers Conduct Health Outreach In addition to providing medical care to local Iraqis, the program provided an ideal way for Iraqi troops to interact with the locals. By U.S. Army Maj. David Olson 1st Brigade Combat Team 4th Infantry Division TAJI, Iraq, March 1, 2006 — Iraqi soldiers from 1st Mechanized Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division, along with U.S. soldiers from elements of 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment and 4th Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, conducted a combined operation to provide much needed medical care to a local Iraqi Sunni community north of...

TAJI, Iraq – During the recent, and highly publicized, sectarian tensions between Sunni and Shiite factions, a group of Iraqi and American Soldiers pushed aside the apprehension Feb. 23 to conduct a community health outreach program north of Baghdad. Soldiers from 1st Mechanized Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division, along with Soldiers from elements of 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment and 4th Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, conducted a combined operation to provide much needed medical care to a local Iraqi Sunni community, relieving tensions in the area while simultaneously fostering hope in a unified Iraq. Approximately...

2/17/2006 - WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- The Air Force Uniform Board announced Feb. 6 that the Good Conduct Medal will no longer be awarded. The Air Force director of Airman development and sustainment recently explained the reasons behind this decision. "The quality of our enlisted personnel today is so high, we expect good conduct from our Airmen," said Brig. Gen Robert R. Allardice. "It begged the question, ‘Why do we have a Good Conduct Medal?’" "Having a medal for good conduct is almost to say we don't expect Airmen to do well, but if they're good we will give them a...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HIT, Iraq, Jan. 18, 2006 – Iraqi soldiers and about 1,000 U.S. Marines, sailors and soldiers with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) are conducting counterinsurgency operations in Iraq's Anbar province. Operation Koa Canyon began Jan. 15 to capture or kill insurgents and to locate and destroy their weapons caches in the western Euphrates River Valley, between the Jubbah/Baghdadi region and the city of Hit, officials said. This combined operation involves 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 7th Iraqi Division, and the 22nd MEU's ground combat element, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment. Most forces...

Dems Ready Proposal on Code of Conduct By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent Sat Jan 14, 8:23 PM ET Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., emerges from the French Cafe' restaurant in Omaha's Old Market, following a news conference in Omaha, Neb., Thursday, Jan. 12, 2006. Reid called for more ethics in Washington during a visit to Omaha, part of a tour that took him to rural, Republican-voting states this week. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik) WASHINGTON - Democrats intend to unveil a sweeping plan this week to tighten Congress' code of conduct, officials said Saturday night, including a ban on lobbyists'...

USS RONALD REAGAN, At sea (NNS) -- Sailors from USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), civilian mariners from USNS Rainier (T-AOE 7) and the pilots and aircrew of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron (HS) 4 helped rescue a man who suffered from chest pains while aboard a civilian fishing vessel in the middle of the Pacific Ocean Jan 9. The victim, described only as a 35-year old Filipino male, had been suffering from chest pains while aboard the 85-foot fishing vessel Princess Jasmine. The vessel, along with its seven crew members, was located approximately 815 nautical miles northeast of Oahu, Hawaii, when they...

AR RAMADI, Iraq (Dec. 20, 2005) -- The Marines were up early, bracing themselves against the cold-desert wind off the Euphrates River and waiting for the “all go” from headquarters. The sun was just breaking the horizon and painting the sky a splotchy pink and blue while word was passed that the mission would go off as planned. The first team of Combined Anti-Armor Team White, along with Company L’s 2nd Mobile Platoon exited the heavily fortified gates of Hurricane Point and began their part in Operation Block Party 6. Soon after the first two units left the base, the...

BAGHDAD, Oct. 1, 2005 – In the dead of night Sept. 24, Iraqi police with the 2nd Public Order Brigade conducted their first raid without oversight by coalition forces. The mission was directed against members of terrorist groups and criminal gangs in Medain, a district south of Baghdad. In all, the Iraqi police unit detained 20 suspects and confiscated several AK-47 assault rifles. "Medain is a very important area for us to secure - many people suspected of terrorism live in that region," said Brig. Gen. Hamed Aabdullah Abrahim, 2nd POB commander. "Our brigade is conducting qualitative operations, not quantitative,...

So Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois thinks our Guantanamo soldiers are like the Nazis? As a soldier stationed in Germany, the land where Hitler's Nazis once trod, I found my blood boiling by the words coming from the liberal Democratic senator from Illinois. Senator Durbin, along with the rest of his left wing and terrorist sympathizing party thinks President Bush should close the Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, because--in his words--the soldiers at Gitmo are "acting like Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, Pol Pot, or others who had no concern for human beings." Two things here: Where is the outcry...

No national reaction to nose-blowingNorway's national soccer coach Åge Hareide has no intention of dropping controversial striker John Carew, who is now the focus of an investigation in Turkey, accused of blowing his nose on an opposing player.Carew has admitted to blowing, but not aiming. He has also claimed that photographs of the incident are manipulated, and display an unnatural amount of material being expelled toward an opponent, 19-year-old Turk Aytar Ac.Crew, currently at top Turkish club Besiktas, faces punitive action from the football federation there, where the incident has become a full-blown scandal.For the time being Norwegian football officials...

07:49 AM CST on Monday, February 7, 2005 Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. - Military officials have demoted a female member of a National Guard military police unit for indecent exposure after a mud-wrestling party at the Camp Bucca detention center in Iraq. Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, spokesman for detainee operations at the U.S. Army-run camp did not released the name of the soldier. However, the New York Daily News identified her as Deanna Allen, 19, and Allen's mother, Ladyna Waldrop of Black Mountain, confirmed the identification. After an inquiry, Allen was demoted from specialist to private first class and placed...

U.S. Forces Conduct Raids in Mosul Sun Jan 16,11:48 AM ET By JASON KEYSER, Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. forces carried out a series of raids in Iraq's troubled northern city of Mosul, the military said Sunday, as American and Iraqi authorities scramble to prepare for elections there in the face of mass resignations of polling staff and police. A Bradley Fighting Vehicle was damaged Sunday in the city when an explosion occurred as a U.S. convoy passed by, witnesses said. It was unclear whether there were casualties. U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz acknowledged that the security...

U.S. Senate Democrats Monday signaled they would continue to try and unofficially oversee the Bush administration. Sen. Byron L. Dorgan, D-N.D., and Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced several oversight hearings on a range of subjects next hear. The minority party in Congress argued the Republican leadership has skirted its responsibility for administration oversight as defined in the Constitution. But the hearings -- eight this year on subjects ranging from the deficit to U.S. contracting in Iraq -- have had little impact beyond political show because they are highly partisan affairs with no subpoena power.