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U.S. Troops Train Iraqi Civil Defense Corps Soldiers By U.S. Army Spc. Shauna McRoberts1st Armored Div. BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 18, 2004 – Soldiers from 1st Armored Division’s 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment are spending the next month training soldiers from the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps. The Iraqi Civil Defense Corps is a home guard consisting of Iraqi citizens who volunteered to serve their nation and fight terrorist insurgents within their homeland.The Iraqi Civil Defense Corps soldiers of B and C Company, 304th Battalion, 40th Brigade, originally trained with U.S. soldiers from 82nd Airborne’s 2nd Brigade, but after the brigade...

Tuesday, February 17, 2004 No call for U.S. help from Fallujahpolice after station ambush By Seth Robson, Stars and StripesEuropean edition, Tuesday, February 17, 2004 VOLTURNO FOB, Iraq — Iraq’s civil defense force asked U.S. soldiers not to aid a besieged Fallujah police station Saturday to keep the defenders from losing face with locals, according to the U.S. commander of coalition forces in the area.At least 25 people were killed in simultaneous attacks on the police station and an Iraqi Civil Defense Corps compound. On Monday, a team of six U.S. congressmen and several members of the Iraqi Governing Council...

WASHINGTON - The commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan said Tuesday that his troops are stepping up efforts to capture Osama bin Laden and ousted Taliban leader Mullah Omar, maintaining that the "sand in their hour glass is running out." Briefing Pentagon reporters via teleconference from Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan, Army Lt. Gen. David Barno said the United States and Pakistan are improving cooperation in efforts to eradicate al-Qaida elements, using a "hammer and anvil approach" that will drive the terrorists out of Pakistan and across the Afghan border. Barno also confirmed reports that the Pakistani military has entered tribal...

CHEBAYISH, Iraq -- The banner outside declared the occasion: the first free elections in this hardscrabble southern town, battered by President Saddam Hussein and neglected in the disarray that followed. Campaign posters of men in turbans, suits and street clothes crowded for space along the wall of the polling station, peering at the gathering crowds. Inside was Tobin Bradley, a 29-year-old American trying to pull off the vote and, in the process, possibly reshape Iraq's transition from occupation. "Ask them if they read and write," Bradley called out in Arabic to volunteers and staff. He positioned police to keep order....

Feb 14, 10:17 PM ESTIraq Minister Reassures Nations on Unity By SARAH EL DEEBAssociated Press Writer KUWAIT CITY (AP) -- Iraq's interim foreign minister tried to reassure his country's neighbors about his government's commitment to build a united Iraq as officials from its six bordering nations met Saturday in Kuwait City.The meeting of representatives from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Kuwait and Syria plus politically influential Egypt is the first one attended by an Iraqi delegate. The group met four times previously to discuss the repercussions of developments in Iraq on their region.Participants will discuss a proposal by the U.S.-led...

Saturday, February 14, 2004 Iraqi Civil Defense Corps is growing By Marni McEntee, Stars and StripesEuropean edition, Saturday, February 14, 2004 CAMP MULESKINNER, Iraq — For nearly a year, the American G.I. has been the face of law and order in Iraq.In the coming months, that face will gradually change.The Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, trained by the U.S. military, will be the new enforcers in Iraq, working alongside Iraqi police and a newly trained Iraqi army.Members of the civil defense corps, known as the ICDC, already are taking their places in Baghdad. Nearly 10,000 currently stand fast at military checkpoints,...

  82nd Airborne Commander: 'Iraqi-ization' Moving Forward By Kathleen T. RhemAmerican Forces Press ServiceWASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2004 – Iraqi police and other security forces are assuming more responsibility for security in their country every day, the U.S. general in charge of forces in western Iraq said in Baghdad today. Army Maj. Gen. Charles Swannack, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, said his troops are working closely with Iraqi police and Civil Defense Corps members. In the first week of February, Iraqi security forces in the Anbar province conducted 87 joint operations with coalition forces and 109 independent operations, he...

LONDON, Feb. 10 — Prime Minister Tony Blair will meet the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, "as soon as convenient," a British official said after the first formal visit here today by a Libyan foreign minister since 1969. The foreign minister, Muhammad Abdul Rahman Shalgam, met Mr. Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw for private talks this morning that centered on the "good progress" that Mr. Straw said had been made since Colonel Qaddafi announced on Dec. 19 that he was ridding his country of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs. No weapons-related materials have been destroyed, but Western officials...

The war between hostile Iraqis and American troops goes on in ways that are little reported. For example, every attack on American troops is carefully studied and US tactics and procedures modified if it appears that there was a change that could have prevented the attack. For example, when American troops discovered that Iraqis were using radio controlled cars to detonate road side bombs, the lead vehicle in convoys carried a controller for such toys that was continuously broadcasting (all of the these radio controlled toys use the same frequency.) This would detonate any bombs (using this method) when the...

The following information was received by The Federalist from the Commander, 102d Military Intelligence Batallion in December and subsequently verified for publication. Since President Bush declared an end to major hostilities in Iraq on May 1... ... the first battalion of the new Iraqi Army has graduated and is on active duty. ... over 60,000 Iraqis now provide security to their fellow citizens. ... nearly all of Iraq's 400 courts are functioning. ... the Iraqi judiciary is fully independent. ... in October 6 power generation hit 4,518 megawatts-exceeding the prewar average. ... all 22 universities and 43 technical institutes and...

Mbeki hails decade of progress Mbeki was upbeat but short on specifics President Thabo Mbeki has hailed great advances made in South Africa since the end of apartheid 10 years ago. In his annual state of the nation address he said the government had delivered on basic needs like housing, electricity and water. However, he admitted there remained challenges to overcome. The issues of Aids and Zimbabwe were almost completely absent from his speech. The country is gearing up for the third fully democratic general elections. Drive In his address to MPs, President Mbeki quoted a line from former President...

NEWS RELEASEHEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND7115 South Boundary BoulevardMacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894 February 6, 2004Release Number: 04-02-10 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FALLUJAH RESIDENTS' DRINKING WATER, HABBANIYAH HEALTH CENTER TO IMPROVE AR RAMADI, Iraq - The Al Kharma Water Department is taking steps to improve the drinking water for approximately 2,000 residents residing five kilometers north of Fallujah. The Al Kharma Water Department decided today to transport clean water to its residents and build a water pumping station for the village. Once the pumping station is operational, water transportation will cease. Presently, residents drink...

In rehabilitating a crucial powerplant, Iraqi engineers are enhancing their skills and broadening their experience under the supervision of a U.S.-based contractor while strengthening their country’s generation base. But the Bechtel-led restoration project at Baghdad’s 640-Mw Daura Powerplant also highlights the difficulties Iraqi contractors face on restoration contracts and the dangers they confront in cooperating with the U.S. occupation. In November 2003, San Francisco-based Bechtel awarded Iraq’s United Co. the $1-million subcontract to provide labor to revamp two steam turbines at the four-unit Daura power station on the outskirts of Baghdad. Fawzi Elia, United’s project manager, explains that the company...

Iraq to produce 5,600 megawatts by June Baghdad, Iraq Press, February 3, 2004 – Iraq’s output of electricity is expected to surge to 5,600 megawatts by June, according to the Minister of Electricity Ayham al-Samarrai The boost in power output will come with the start of the summer months in Iraq during which temperatures often brush 50 degrees centigrade. But Iraqis will still suffer from erratic and long power outages since the projected July output will barely meet half the country’s needs, officials said. Power needs have risen substantially in Iraq due to massive imports of air-conditioners which are a...

<p>BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Iraq's economy is showing signs of progress thanks in part to Iraqis living abroad, who have been sending $5 million a day to the country's private banks, senior officials of the U.S.-led coalition said Tuesday.</p> <p>The officials, briefing reporters on condition they not be identified by name, said the employment rate in Iraq also has fallen significantly, from 50-70 percent at the time of the U.S. invasion last March to mid-20 percent now. That's largely because of new government jobs, the private sector's revival and jobs created by the coalition authority.</p>

International environmentalists finally are being held accountable for the havoc they are wreaking around the world. On January 20, the Congress of Racial Equality — a 62-year-old, New York-based civil rights group — and the Women's National Republican Club convened a Manhattan teach-in to begin educating the public on a problem they call "eco-imperialism." The House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources will explore this issue art a Wednesday-afternoon hearing on Capitol Hill.) Countless third worlders still plunge into darkness every dusk. After they fall asleep, they dream about such things as lights, running water, and the defeat of diseases...

Subject: IRAQ PROGRESS > > Making the rounds of GI e-mail traffic in Iraq these days is the > follwing inspiring missive. It is reproduced below in its entirety and > exactly as written: > > > Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1: > > The first battalion of the new Iraqi Army has graduated and is on > active duty (~60,000 Iraqis providing security to citizens). > > Nearly all of Iraq's 400 courts are functioning. > > The Iraqi judiciary is fully independent. > > Power generation hit 4,518 megawatts (Oct), exceeding...

<p>February 2, 2004 -- AT a radio phone-in program the other day, some listeners took me to task for Iraq's "slide into chaos."</p> <p>"You campaigned for the liberation of Iraq, and now look what has happened." This was followed by a "what has happened" list of events that included Shi'ites demonstrating, Kurds asking for autonomy, Sunnis sulking and various political parties and groups tearing each other apart in the Iraqi media over the shape of the future constitution.</p>

By Tabassum Zakaria BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces plan to reduce their visible presence inside Baghdad in the coming months by moving to the perimeter of the city, leaving the main responsibility for security to Iraqi forces, officials said Sunday. U.S. occupying forces come under daily attack in Iraq and the compound housing the U.S.-led administration in Baghdad has come under mortar attack on several occasions. A suicide bomber killed at least 25 people at a gate to the compound last month. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who arrived in Iraq Sunday, met military commanders on his third postwar visit...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 30 — The Iraqi authorities, with the help of American intelligence agencies, are creating an intelligence service here that will focus on rooting out guerrilla fighters, especially those from outside the country, Iraqi and American officials said Friday. The service will employ some former agents of Saddam Hussein's security apparatus and will probably receive financing from the American government, the officials said. Many of the agents will work in the border towns of Iraq to identify foreign fighters who have slipped into the country and will monitor their activities, said Ibrahim al-Janabi, a senior member of the...