Free Republic

9/11 Panel Gives White House Mixed ReviewBy BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer 1 hour, 10 minutes ago Fred Fielding, a member of the Sept. 11 commission, prepares to join other panelists in a progress report on the 2004 recommendations aimed at guarding against future terrorist attacks, at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, Monday, Nov. 14, 2005. Fielding, a former Nixon White House counsel, praised U.S. attempts to integrate the Arab and Muslim world into the global trading system and in fighting terrorism financing. The Bush administration was given a mixed review and was criticized for not...

With a population of 5 million in an area larger than Switzerland or twice the size of New Jersey, it is surprising that this region remains largely undiscovered and commercially untapped. The Government and the peoples of Kurdistan invite you to discover their peaceful region, a place that has practiced democracy for over a decade, a place where the universities, markets, cafes and fair grounds buzz with progress and prosperity and where the people are already sowing the seeds of a brighter future. Update on Developments in the Kurdistan Region in Iraq The Kurdistan Region in Iraq is developing at...

BAGHDAD (Army News Service, Nov. 9, 2005) – Iraqi and Coalition forces detained terrorists and found more than 1,000 rounds of munitions and explosive-device components this past week in and around Baghdad. Iraqi, U.S. forces nab terrorists After a Task Force Baghdad patrol struck an improvised explosive device northwest of Baghdad Nov. 3, two suspicious individuals were detained. U.S. Soldiers secured the site and notified an explosive ordnance disposal team. Three hours after the initial attack, two suspicious trucks driving with their headlights off tried to flee the area. The trucks drove into tangled wire and two terrorists were quickly...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10, 2005 – People who wonder why it's taking so long for Iraqi security forces to become capable of providing for their nation's security need to look at what's happened since coalition forces toppled Saddam Hussein's regime, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said in a Nov. 8 radio interview. Speaking with Samir Nader on Voice of America's Radio SAWA, Rumsfeld pointed to the progress evident today in building Iraq's security forces from scratch. "First of all, it's not taking so long," Rumsfeld said. "It's been two and a half years, and we've gone from zero to 210,000 Iraqi...

E-mail Author Send to a Friend Version November 09, 2005, 8:01 a.m. Not All Negative Progress is being made in Iraq. By Bill Crawford The mainstream media is failing in its reporting on Iraq. The American people are being fed a steady stream of negative stories about Iraq that in no way represent reality, and even if a positive story is reported it can be hard to spot. The New York Times reported on the ratification of the Iraqi constitution by attempting to calculate how many “yes” votes would have needed to change to “no” in order for the...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7, 2005 – Iraq's security forces are in the fight defending their country and are increasingly taking the lead in operations, the U.S. military commander who oversaw Iraqi training for more than a year said here today. Significant progress has been made in training and equipping Iraqi forces over the last year, and many programs are in place to assist the development of a substantial military institution, said Army Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, former commander of Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq. "To defeat an insurgency requires more than just individual police," Petraeus said at the Center for Strategic...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2005 – It's little surprise that October turned out to be one of the most violent months in Iraq, as insurgents stepped up their attacks in an unsuccessful attempt to disrupt the Oct. 15 referendum, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Pentagon reporters today. "It's understandable that the two months that have had the highest casualties were last January and this October," Marine Gen. Peter Pace said. Both were election months during which more U.S. and coalition forces were on the ground in Iraq to help maintain security, he pointed out. "And as we...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 2005 – Despite a desperate media battle in Iraq, terrorists are failing to stop Iraqis from advancing on the political and security fronts, a senior military official in Baghdad told reporters Oct. 30. "To the terrorists, the media is a vital force multiplier," said Air Force Brig. Gen. Donald Alston, director of strategic communications for Multinational Force Iraq during a briefing at the Combined Press Information Center in Baghdad. That's why terrorists targeted Baghdad's Palestine Hotel, a base for many media outlets, during an Oct. 24 car bombing, Alston said. He called the bombing a signature al...

TIKRIT, Iraq — Seeking to lower the visibility of U.S. troops and grant more authority to Iraqi government forces, the American military has now ceded control of 27 of the nation's 109 bases, U.S. and Iraqi officials said. Thousands of U.S. troops have been redeployed in recent months from bases in Najaf, Karbala, Tikrit and other cities, and Iraqis are now in charge of patrol areas that include four districts of Baghdad and the town of Taiji, northeast of the capital. On Friday, American officials announced that the next major military installation expected to be transferred to Iraqi control was...

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Oct. 28, 2005 – The compound within the 10-foot-tall mud walls resembles a basic training-meets-OK Corral ghost town. Barbed wire is snarled around posts low to the dirt, a concrete tunnel keeps vermin out of the sun, and small ramps and stairs to nowhere stand like monoliths. This place is known as Tarnak Farms, a deserted al Qaeda training outpost just outside Kandahar Airfield that was bombed at the beginning of the global war on terror. If the site appears familiar to some, it should be. Released al Qaeda training videos featured anti-coalition militia training there. It...

KIRKUCH, Iraq –– US soldiers turned over a base in eastern Iraq on Saturday to the Iraqi army's 5th Division in a ceremony designed to underscore the country's growing capability to ensure its own security. "US armed forces are leaving the base, and turning it over to Iraqi troops," said General Abdel Kader Mohammad Kassem, commander of Iraq's ground forces. The US army had announced the handover on Wednesday, saying that "more than 3,000 soldiers from Task Force Liberty and the 278th Regimental Combat Team will conclude their mission in eastern Diyala Province with a departure ceremony on Forward Operating...

TIKRIT, Iraq — Seeking to lower the visibility of U.S. troops and grant more authority to Iraqi government forces, the American military has now ceded control of 27 of the nation's 109 bases, U.S. and Iraqi officials said. Thousands of U.S. troops have been redeployed in recent months from bases in Najaf, Karbala, Tikrit and other cities, and Iraqis are now in charge of patrol areas that include four districts of Baghdad and the town of Taiji, northeast of the capital. On Friday, American officials announced that the next major military installation expected to be transferred to Iraqi control was...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28, 2005 – Considerable progress has been made in bolstering security across north-central Iraq as increased numbers of trained Iraqi forces are taking the fight to insurgents, a senior U.S. military officer told Pentagon reporters here today. "One thing we are certain of: progress in every line of operation has been realized," Army Maj. Gen. Joseph J. Taluto, who commands Multinational Division North-Central, Task Force Liberty and the 42nd Infantry Division, said from Baghdad during a video-teleconference. Taluto said his New York State Guard unit, nicknamed the "Rainbow Division," is getting ready to redeploy back to the states...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Final results indicate that Iraq's draft constitution has been adopted by Iraqis voting in the Oct. 15 referendum.

SAQALAWIYAH, Iraq (Oct. 24, 2005) -- The room is small and furnished with only a desk, two small sofas and a few file cabinets, but this doesn’t stop the police chief here from conducting daily business. A new Iraqi flag hangs behind his worn desk on a wall desperately in need of repairs. Yet, he selflessly speaks only of his concerns for a safer and better Iraq. “Baghdad is only 30 miles away, but we are about 70 years behind in growth,” said the police chief. The Saqalawiyah Iraqi Police are currently working with members of the 6th Civil Affairs...

Eager to demonstrate success in Iraq, the U.S. military has abandoned its previous refusal to publicize enemy body counts and now cites such numbers periodically to show the impact of some counterinsurgency operations. The revival of body counts, a practice discredited during the Vietnam War, has apparently come without formal guidance from the Pentagon's leadership. Military spokesmen in Washington and Baghdad said they knew of no written directive detailing the circumstances under which such figures should be released or the steps that should be taken to ensure accuracy. Instead, they described an ad hoc process that has emerged over the...

Americans have spread free matchbooks and pamphlets in Pakistan offering vast sums of money to get information about Osama bin Laden and his cohorts. Nothing has worked. But dropping food, tents, and a helping hand in the aftermath of the Oct. 8 earthquake is buying the US some newfound goodwill here that some hope may eventually yield important leads in the war on terror. The area worst hit by the quake also happens to be the epicenter of Pakistan's extremist community, a place dotted with camps training jihadis to fight in Indian Kashmir. Al Qaeda has used this militant infrastructure...

Sen. George Allen said Sunday that last week's vote on the Iraqi constitution shows that the U.S. is making "great progress" in the war on terror - contrary to claims of Bush administration critics who say the White House has no plan for success in Iraq. "There has just been a monumental benchmark achieved," Allen told NBC's "Meet the Press." "Now, they're still counting the votes, but it appears that the people of Iraq, in stronger numbers that even in January of this year, have come out and voted for this constitution. The Virginia Republican noted that the Iraq constitution...

As I See It From the Combat Zone Special to The Star Editor’s note: This is the first in an occasional series of As I See It articles by men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. MOSUL, Iraq — I am told by friends and family that they are often informed of the disappointments that we experience in Iraq. While these disappointments are real, I wanted to share with my fellow Missourians the many successes the Iraqi government and the coalition forces are experiencing in Mosul. Thanks to the efforts of many top military and civilian professionals, Mosul’s provincial...

BAGHDAD — U.S. and Iraqi forces have carried out some 1,600 patrols and 700 road checkpoint operations in the days since the constitutional referendum, officials said Thursday. Iraqi forces undertook about 1,000 of the missions on their own, officials said to highlight the training and fielding of local security forces. Another 100 of the raids included both U.S. and Iraqi soldiers, who have been operating in tandem for months. In one incident, U.S. soldiers found a pickup truck in south Baghdad loaded with 600 sticks of commercial explosives. Nearby, Task Force Baghdad soldiers discovered a 250-pound aerial bomb rigged with...