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4/23/2010 - KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE, Iraq (AFNS) -- Most American parents are familiar with taking their children's lengthy school supply list to the store and filling a shopping cart full of paper, pencils and much more. Unfortunately, most Iraqi parents can't afford to do that for their children. That is where the Airmen and Soldiers of Kirkuk Regional Air Base offer their help. Operation Soccer Ball and Operation School Supplies are two programs that were implemented here during past rotations and continue on with the support of Airmen volunteers. The Airmen participating in these programs rely on donations from...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq, April 16, 2010 – It's a heady résumé: war hero, veteran pilot, commercial pilot, safety officer, father, grandfather, husband – and most recently - projects officer. With such an extensive list of credentials to his name, one would expect this soldier to be incredibly busy. Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 William R. Halevy recreates a pose from a 1971 photograph of himself taken in Vietnam. The photo depicted was taken March 25, 2010, at Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq, where Halevy is presently serving. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Christopher DeHart  (Click photo for...

BAYJI – Sgt. Michael J. Figueroa, an infantryman with Company B, 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division out of Fort Riley, Kan., considers his greatest accomplishments to be his family and his Soldiers."My family, my kids – they're what keeps me going," he said. "Everything I do is for them, regardless of what it is, everything is for my family and for my Soldiers. I can't let myself wind down or get too caught up in my own thing because it affects them." At 21, Figueroa joined the military because it was something...

WASHINGTON, March 16, 2008 – Information gleaned from 48 foreign fighters detained in Iraq offers insight into al Qaeda’s methods, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman told reporters during a briefing today in Baghdad. “The foreign detainees told similar stories about what happened to them once they were smuggled into Iraq,” said Navy Rear Adm. Greg Smith, director of Multinational Force Iraq’s communication division. “These 48 men told us they were lured here with the promise they would be killing Americans … but they were disappointed that most of the violence they saw was directed at the Iraqi people … fellow...

WASHINGTON, March 6, 2008 – U.S. troops have killed or detained some 35 suspected terrorists in an ongoing operation launched last month to pursue insurgents southeast of Baghdad, a military official said. Operation Marne Grand Slam also has produced civic results in Salman Pak, about 15 miles south of the Iraqi capital, where efforts to bolster the local government and economy are seeing success. “The big effect, from a brigade commander standpoint, was to strengthen the governance line of operation with the strengthening of the economics line of the operation,” Army Col. Wayne Grigsby said during a conference call today....

Had anyone suggested six weeks ago that the GOP would emerge from the Petraeus hearings on the political front-foot, they'd have been laughed at all the way to Anbar. There's a lesson here for Republicans, in particular those most worried about how Iraq will play in next year's elections: Good military policy is good politics. That wisdom was a hard sell this spring, when the news out of Iraq was glum, the war supplemental debate raged, and dozens of Republicans were threatening to call it quits. The White House instead made an impassioned plea that the party hold tight through...

Maj. Robert Nash, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officer-in-charge of the renovation of the Baghdad Central Train Station sits in the station recently. BAGHDAD -- Karem recalled using Iraqi trains when he was a youngster. Back then, the Baghdad Central Train Station was notorious for nonfunctioning restrooms and the foul odor of sewerage emanating from the basement. “But the trains themselves were always clean, comfortable and a great bargain,” the 33-year-old deputy resident engineer said. Now Karem is overseeing a project that will not only re-introduce train travel to Baghdad, but will make the train station far better than...

AR RAMADI, Iraq (Army News Service, Oct. 17, 2005) -- Coalition forces continued counter-terrorism operations in areas of Al Anbar Province Oct. 16, killing an estimated 70 terrorists in separate actions. Terrorists stopped while emplacing IED While conducting a combat air patrol Sunday afternoon, crewmembers from an F-15 observed 20 men arrive in four vehicles at the crater site of a previously-detonated IED which had killed five U.S. and two Iraqi Soldiers east of Ramadi Oct. 15. The terrorists were in the process of emplacing another IED in the same spot when the F- 15 engaged them with a precision-guided...

<p>BAGHDAD — Two Marines and a soldier were killed Thursday in incidents north and west of the Iraqi capital, the U.S. military said early today.</p> <p>Four Marines were injured in addition to the two who were killed during combat operations in Al Anbar province. That province includes the militant stronghold of Fallouja, which U.S. troops pounded Thursday with airstrikes and artillery ahead of an expected assault.</p>

Turkish police seize weapons-bound uranium 28/09/2002 - 11:04:38 Paramilitary police in Turkey have seized 15.7 kilograms of uranium and arrested two Turks who they said planned to sell the weapons-grade substance, the Anatolia news agency reported today. Police, acting on a tip, stopped a taxi near the south-eastern city of Sanliurfa, Anatolia said. They found the uranium in a secret compartment under one of the car seats. Police in Sanliurfa confirmed the arrests but refused to give further information. Anatolia said the uranium was enriched for use in weapons. Police believe it was smuggled from an eastern European country. The...