Free Republic

In his new book, Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies—And What It Means to Be Human, (Random House, 2005), author Joel Garreau describes research so cutting edge it seems mind-boggling: • A telekinetic monkey at Duke University in North Carolina uses its mind to move a robotic arm 600 miles (a thousand kilometers) away in Cambridge, Massachusetts. • At a Pentagon R-and-D facility in Virginia, program managers aim to create the ultimate warriors—soldiers that can fight without sleeping, tell their bodies to stop bleeding, and regrow lost hands and limbs. Garreau notes that regular...

KABUL, Afghanistan - A NATO-led international force is set to expand and will be ready to assume responsibility for security across all of Afghanistan by the end of next year, freeing up many of the 17,600 American troops battling militants here, a NATO general said Thursday. The announcement follows a surge in fighting between U.S.-led forces and Taliban rebels ahead of elections next month. The bloodshed has led the military to rush in an airborne infantry battalion of about 700 troops on standby in Fort Bragg, N.C.

DALLAS, Aug. 3, 2005 – Air Force personnel worldwide have been filling nontraditional roles to contribute to the fight against a multifaceted, adaptive insurgency, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said here Aug. 2. Addressing a meeting of the Air Force Sergeants Association, Rumsfeld highlighted the different jobs Air Force personnel have been doing in the war on terror. Airmen have been manning gun trucks, guarding supply convoys, and working on Army vehicles, among other things, he said. On a recent trip to Balad Air Base, Iraq, Rumsfeld said, he was impressed by the work of these airmen, especially the Air Force...

What a Difference a Year Makes By Col. John Ottenbacher Baghdad , Iraq - From a bloody battlefield and one of the most dangerous places in Iraq to a safe, prosperous and growing community of over one-half million, the Najaf Teaching Hospital reflects the changes of the city of Najaf . One year ago on August 27 the battle for Najaf ended. A year ago the Najaf Teaching Hospital was closed. It had been looted and its medical equipment destroyed by the Sadr Militia who had used its eight floors as a military fortress. Its basement flooded, windows and walls...

Baghdad neighborhood shows signs of recovery Spc. Christopher Mallard 4th Brigade Combat Team PAO BAGHDAD -- Along Market Street in the Abu Dschir area of south Baghdad , shop owners are open for business. Appearing at times more like a promenade with long pedestrian walkways, the old dilapidated stucco shops are set far back from the street. Color-tiled planters line the meridian and separate oncoming traffic. Snarled power lines, propped in some places by leaning poles, bring electricity to these same shops. In the heat of mid-day, Iraqis gather from the surrounding neighborhoods. They are not surprised to find new...

As Congress wraps up for the summer recess, President George W. Bush can look back with satisfaction at a month in which he and his allies regained the political initiative and scored some notable legislative successes. Weighed against the big domestic story of the year - the president's failure to make headway on reform of social security - these achievements come up light. But they show it is far too soon to write off Mr Bush's second term or cast him as a lame duck president. The impasse over social security and the failure to win confirmation of John Bolton...

foreign reporter recently asked Monsignor Rabban al Qas, Chaldean bishop of Amadiyah and Arbil, whether there is any good news coming out of Iraq. "Twenty-three Iraqis are killed every day in Iraq," the interviewer observed. "Nearly two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, there is no security as yet. Is there still hope in Iraq?" To which the monsignor replied: What the media portray is true: explosions, killings, attacks. But if you see how much order, discipline, transport, displacements, and work have improved, there is a change for the better compared to one or two years ago. Now people...

Iraqi Pride & Patriotism: Iraqi security forces courage and confidence growing as they look to the future.. Read the entire weekly publication.. http://www.mnstci.iraq.centcom.mil/docs/advisor/currentissue.pdf

WASHINGTON, July 30, 2005 – Iraqi Army soldiers showed continued progress in demonstrating their capabilities, Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq officials reported today. Iraqi Army soldiers conducting a traffic control point detained suspected anti-Iraq forces in Mosul, Iraq, July 29, according to a multinational forces report. Soldiers with 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division detained 10 suspected insurgents, five of whom attempted to escape before they were transported to Al Kindi for further questioning, officials said. Elsewhere, Iraqi Army soldiers detained six suspects. Soldiers with 5th Battalion, 1st Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division conducted a joint cordon-and-search operation...

July 25, 2005 Release Number: 05-07-14 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TASK FORCE BAGHDAD UPDATES RECONSTRUCTION PROGRESS BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Since the transfer of sovereignty, a total of 1,451 projects valued at $1.4 billion have been completed. Large-scale capital projects like power plants, water treatment plants and oil infrastructure facilities are being reconstructed and, in some cases, built anew. Demand for electricity is currently growing faster than it is able to be supplied; however, new power lines of 33 kilovolts have been completed. Generation plants are being built and transmission lines are being constructed to replace a decades-old, neglected electrical power system....

Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have thought about leaving Britain after the London bombings, according to a new Guardian/ICM poll. The figure illustrates how widespread fears are of an anti-Muslim backlash following the July 7 bombings which were carried out by British born suicide bombers. The poll also shows that tens of thousands of Muslims have suffered from increased Islamophobia, with one in five saying they or a family member have faced abuse or hostility since the attacks.

CAMP SHIELD,IraqDistinguished police and military leaders turned out to watch 931 new Iraqi Police officers graduate from their training course at Baghdad Police College on Camp Shield July 21. The graduating IPs stood in formation as their senior leaders praised the hard work and dedication the students demonstrated during their training. The eight-week course covers the basics of policing, including communications, patrols, domestic violence, lawful use of force, stress management and ethics. It also includes instruction in learning English. The IP band played as the entire group marched past the reviewing stands, showing off both their new uniforms and status...

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The Iraq Army continues to be plagued by absenteeism and equipment shortages, but at a far lower level than that during 2004. A U.S. Defense Department report said Iraqi military and security forces have achieved significant progress over the last year. The report said this has included the easing of equipment shortages and absenteeism. "Although there is variance in the rate of absenteeism, AWOL [Absent-without-leave], attrition, and desertion among the Iraqi Army, rates have diminished significantly and are now around one percent for some divisions," the report said. "Still, unitsthat are conducting operations and units that relocate...

AP MILITARY WRITER WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon told Congress on Thursday that progress toward establishing democracy in Iraq is on track despite an adaptable and deadly insurgency, but it offered no estimate of when U.S. troops would start withdrawing. In its most comprehensive public assessment yet of conditions in Iraq, the military released a 23-page report that described progress and problems on the political, economic and security fronts. Some Democrats were quick to criticize, saying the accounting fell short of helping the public understand when U.S. troops can leave. "They missed an opportunity," said Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, the...

WASHINGTON, July 22, 2005 – A strong partnership with coalition forces is improving the capability of Iraqi security forces and encouraging political development in Iraq's Anbar province, the area's top commander said today. About 10,000 Iraqi soldiers are in the province, all at various stages of readiness, said Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Stephen Johnson, commander of Multinational Force West and 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward). These forces have played an increasingly important role in security operations and are gaining valuable experience by fighting with coalition forces, he said. "They've been into combat with our forces, side by side," he said....

WASHINGTON, July 21, 2005 – Terrorists in Iraq have been unable to derail the political process, a new Defense Department report on Iraqi stability and security states. Still, the report contends, insurgents "remain capable, adaptable, and intent on carrying out attacks." The report to Congress on measuring stability and security in Iraq says the inability of insurgents to derail political progress is a "noteworthy strategic indicator of progress toward a stable security environment." "It's important that the political dimension is covered in this report, because, in an important sense, the strategic prize in Iraq is the political process," Peter Rodman,...

WASHINGTON, July 20, 2005 – Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld today condemned the July 19 assassination of two Sunni Arab members of the commission drafting Iraq's new constitution as a "terrible act of violence" that demonstrates the insurgents' brutality and their low regard for the Iraqi people. Mijbil Sheikh Esa and Dhamin Hussein Ubaidi were ambushed while on their way to work at a U.S. military base in Khalis, about 40 miles northeast of Baghdad. "The coalition countries and much of the civilized world mourns the assassination of Iraqi officials involved in drafting the Iraqi constitution," Rumsfeld told Pentagon reporters....

In south Tehran there is a huge walled cemetery dedicated to the martyrs, the young men who died fighting in the 1979 revolution and the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988. This vast city of the dead, complete with its own subway station and shops, does not share Arlington National Cemetery's sublimely stoic aesthetic of identical tombstones, row upon row. In Tehran's war cemetery, each of the fallen is remembered individually with his own martyr's shrine, a sealed glass cabinet on a stand. The cabinets are filled with faded photos of men forever young, some in helmets or red bandannas, some carrying...

Phase Two of Oil Terminal Security Turnover Begins MANAMA, Bahrain: The Iraqi military has begun the next phase in the security turnover process to assume responsibility for the Khawr Al Amaya and Al Basrah oil terminals. In an interview July 12 aboard USS Normandy (CG 60), Royal Australian Navy Commodore Steve Gilmore, commander, Task Force 58 said that the process will be complete when Iraq's military takes command and control of the oil terminals. "We’re beginning phase two of a three-phase process, which will transition the point-defense of the Iraqi oil terminals to the Iraqi Marines," said Gilmore.

WASHINGTON, July 15, 2005 – Iraqi forces are shouldering more of the security burden in north-central Iraq, the coalition forces commander there said today. Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Taluto, the commander of Task Force Liberty and the New York National Guard's 42nd Infantry Division, said U.S. troops in north-central Iraq are working to build independent and self-sustaining Iraqi security forces and to maintain pressure on the insurgency. "Our work is protecting the process that will allow Iraqis to develop their new government and build their own sustainable security forces," Taluto said. The region, from Kirkuk to outside Baghdad, is about...