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The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

November 24, 2004 Release Number: 04-11-84 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ENGINEERS OPEN NEW WATER TREATMENT PLANTLSA ANACONDA, BALAD, Iraq -- Marines from the 372nd Engineer Group joined local contractors, village leaders and the 13th Corps Support Command Civil Affairs staff in opening a new water treatment plant in Albu Bali today. The Marines worked with local contractors to bring clean water to this small village to improve the quality of life for the residents. Clean drinking water is a priority request from most local sheiks to the civil affairs officers. The project cost $36,000 and will provide clean water to more...

SOME 6000 Iraqi Army troops - the first batch of quick-reaction forces - graduated today from a southern military base, a military spokesman said. The new graduates are the first group trained as quick-reaction forces, in charge of launching defensive and offensive operations in emergencies, said the spokesman. A delegation of the Iraqi Defence Ministry and US military officers attended the graduation ceremony at Al-Nuimiyah base is 140km south of Baghdad.

Editor's note: Readers may also be interested in Moderate Islam or Fata Morgana? and freemuslims.org Speaks Out.There is good news to report: The idea that "militant Islam is the problem, moderate Islam is the solution" is finding greater acceptance over time. But there is also bad news, namely growing confusion over who really is a moderate Muslim. This means that the ideological side of the war on terror is making some, but only limited, progress.The good news: Anti-Islamist Muslims have found their voice since September 11. Their numbers include distinguished academics such as Azar Nafisi (Johns Hopkins), Ahmed al-Rahim (formerly...

No kidding. That's how delusional this man has become. In this morning's edition of the New York Times, there is a sympathetic story of how tough of a position the Secretary-General of the UNI (United Nations of Irrelevance) finds himself in, even among Americans normally friendly to the global body. Link to story here. "I have tried to be as helpful as possible, and I have stated at every opportunity that the stabilization of Iraq is everyone's responsibility," Mr. Annan said. "I have argued that regardless of one's position on the war, we must all come together to stabilize Iraq."Helpful?...

Letter from an Army Chaplain in Iraq: Dear Friends and Family: I am addressing this letter to you to express a frustration that I know has been voiced time and again, yet is met with little change. It concerns the media coverage of this war and the effect of that coverage on the morale of our troops. As a battalion chaplain I hear the comments and complaints of soldiers who, while performing an incredibly difficult job under hostile and stressful conditions, constantly see their efforts portrayed as futile. NBC's coverage this morning (your Thursday evening, 16 September 2004) is a...

This weekend I interviewed Richard Miniter, author of the new book Shadow War: The Untold Story of How Bush Is Winning the War on Terror, out by Regnery Publishing. He also wrote the New York Times bestselling Losing Bin Laden, which is now out in paperback. We discussed his new book as well as other issues pertaining to the war on terror and this election. Are we winning the war on terror? Richard Miniter gives us some valuable insight to help answer that question: MATT MARGOLIS, BLOGS FOR BUSH: We are now just days away from the election. Americans have...

Iraq these days is a land of queues. People line up to pass through checkpoints, to enter a school or hospital, and even to buy food. Some of the longest queues are formed by men, aged between 18 and 40, who want to join the Iraq National Defense Force (INDF), the country’s renascent army. Here and there one can even spot young women in the queues. Often tempted by wages of $40 a month, thousands have enrolled in the past eight months. The recent series of massacres of which over 800 recruits to the new Iraqi Army and police have...

With polls showing a tight Presidential race, it's possible John Kerry could be our commander-in-chief soon. So it would be nice to think he's paying enough attention to what's going on in Iraq to know that conditions there aren't, as he said a few days ago, "getting worse each week." The kidnappings, mortar attacks and roadside bombs continue--and will until the insurgency is defeated. But recent weeks have actually seen progress by American and Iraqi forces toward reasserting control over Saddam's old stronghold in the Sunni Triangle. That, in turn, means credible nationwide elections in January are more likely than...

THE US army is training more than 8,000 Iraqi troops to be at the forefront of the coalition’s threatened assault to wrest back control of the rebel stronghold of Falluja.A division made up of three brigades of special counterinsurgency troops from the new Iraqi army is being prepared to join an attack on the city of 300,000 people. America believes its most wanted man in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist mastermind, is sheltering there. “The key to a successful capture of Falluja and holding it secure is the use of well trained Iraqi forces. The people there will never...

NEWS RELEASEHEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND7115 South Boundary BoulevardMacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894   October 16, 2004Release Number: 04-10-43 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BAYJI POWER PLANT BREATHES LIFE INTO IRAQ BAYJI, Iraq -- As part of its efforts to bolster security and the economy in Northern Iraq, the 1st Infantry Division partnered with civilian companies and the Army Corp of Engineers to repair the Bayji Power Plant complex. The facility, which is comprised of three power plants, once generated 1,300 megawatts of power. But after Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Iraqi officials were unable...

Signs of progress amid turmoil in Iraq By Scott Peterson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor BAGHDAD - The deadly attack Thursday on the well-guarded Green Zone here may mark the launch of a new insurgent offensive during the holy month of Ramadan, which began Thursday night. Two explosions in the central Baghdad zone - the seat of Iraq's interim government and US and British Embassies - left five dead. But despite continued insecurity, the steady US military pressure against insurgents, coupled with efforts of the Iraqi interim government to negotiate, may be gaining at least some degree...

NEWS RELEASEHEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND 7115 South Boundary Boulevard MacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101 Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894 October 14, 2004Release Number: 04-10-41 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MNF-I STRIKES SAFE HOUSE OF SENIOR ZARQAWI ASSOCIATE FALLUJAH, Iraq – Multi-National Force-Iraq struck a key planning center for Zarqawi network meetings and gatherings, hitting a safe house belonging to a high-level Abu Musab al Zarqawi associate. The strike occurred at 2:22 p.m. local time today in an area of north central Fallujah. Secondary explosions were reported. The strike was the third today on the Zarqawi network as the...

An old Army friend in Iraq forwarded this to me with the message that it is accurate and needs to be spread around. He did not write it. A thought from Iraq - "Doom & Gloom about Iraq's future....I don't see it from where I'm sitting." [For those of you who haven't gotten my "Thoughts" before, I'm a Major in the USMC on the Multi-National Corps staff in Baghdad. The analysts and pundits who don't see what I see on a daily basis, in my opinion, have very little credibility to talk about the situation - especially if they have...

by Ray Reynolds, SFC Iowa Army National Guard 234th Signal Battalion I wanted to say thanks to all of you who did not believe the media. They have done a very poor job of covering everything that has happened. And just so you can rest at night knowing something is happening in Iraq that is noteworthy, I thought I would pass this on to you. This is the list of things that has happened in Iraq recently: (Please share it with your friends and compare it to the version that your paper is producing.) * Over 400,000 kids have up-to-date...

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- Despite a spate of mass-casualty suicide bombings, insurgency attacks against the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq have dropped significantly over the last five months. A study by Special Operations Consulting-Security Management Group Inc., a private firm that operates in Iraq, said the average number of daily attacks in Iraq has been 80 during September. This marked a decrease of 33 percent since April 2004, when 120 daily attacks were reported. April marked the peak of violence in Iraq with the U.S.-led coalition fighting both a Sunni and Shi'ite revolt. The worst violence took place in Faluja as well...

NEGOTIATIONS IN SADR CITY REALIZED POSITIVE OUTCOMES ALLAWI: WE SEEK TO END FIGHTING TO PREPARE FOR SAFE ELECTIONS Baghdad, As-Sabah, Oct 6, Page 1 Dr. Iyad Allawi the Iraqi premier said that the military operations will be escalated and continued to end he fighting and violence in some cities to prepare for safe elections scheduled in the advent of 2005.Allawi unveiled the underway meetings between the government and the representatives of the city of Al- Sadr , affirming that the atmospheres of the dialogue were positive to solve the problem and prevent of bloodshed , describing the military operations held...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 6, 2004 – Work to restore a dilapidated Tashree neighborhood playground was finished Sept. 28 as a part of multi-national force efforts to improve the quality of life for local residents. The project took two weeks to complete, cost $30,000 and employed 10 local laborers. “This project is two things … a soccer field-slash-basketball court,” Capt. Alexander Rasmussen, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, projects officer said. “The other half of this project was streetlights in the complex for security.” Home to thousands of Iraqi citizens and completely enclosed within the International Zone, Tashree...

BAGHDAD, Oct. 6 -- Iraqi insurgents from Fallujah are in intense negotiations with the country's interim government to hand over control of the city to Iraqi troops, in hopes of averting a bloody military battle for the city of 300,000 that has become a haven for foreign guerrillas and a symbol of the limits of Baghdad's authority, according to representatives of both sides. "We have met representatives from Fallujah," the interim deputy prime minister, Barham Salih, said Wednesday. "We have had detailed discussion with these representatives, and we have agreed on a road map or a framework to facilitate the...

GUEST OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Washington The assault on Samarra by coalition forces over the weekend was probably the first step in a broader offensive intended to quell insurgent hot spots before the Iraqi elections in January. It was a promising start, as American and Iraqi forces quickly swept through the city, in the Sunni triangle north of Baghdad. Now comes the difficult part: establishing an effective government to prevent the return of the insurgents. Yet even before the initial sweep of Samarra was completed, some officials, military commentators and pundits called for stepping up the wider offensive to "clean out" other...