Posted on 05/22/2005 6:56:43 PM PDT by TexKat
A girl who was watching American and Iraqi soldiers on patrol in front of her house smiles when she sees a news photographer as Airman First Class Andrew Pulido is on guard during a foot patrol in a northern neighborhood of Mosul May 10, 2005. He is assigned from the US Airforce to the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment of the Styker Brigade, for the purpose of coordinating air support.
BAGHDAD, May 23 (KUNA) -- Iraqi authorities arrested the nephew of the wanted terrorist Izzet Al-Douri who was Saddam's deputy during the era of the ousted government, said a statement released by the Iraqi Ministerial Council on Monday.
Iraqi security forces captured Mathna Shihab Ahmed Al-Douri, who is the nephew of Izzet Al-Douri in an area near Tikrit, the statement said.
"Mathna Al-Douri is the nephew of the terrorist Izzet Al-Douri who was the deputy president of the ousted Saddam Hussein. Mathna was a lieutenant during Saddam's government," the statement added.
Mathna Al-Douri has been providing protection to Izzet Al-Douri and expected to be the mastermind of roadside bombs in Al-Dour region.
In the meantime and according to intelligence information, security forces found a hiding place in a Baghdad house with weapons and ammunition. The five residents of the house were arrested.
A statement by the Iraqi government said the hiding place relates to Al-Zarqawi's terrorist network. Several mortars and 14 rifles along with loaded sniper-shoot guns were found in the place.
Eight explosive mines, six grenades, three missiles and a large quantity of explosives were found, in addition to propitiatory statements by the terrorist network.
Joint Iraqi-US sweep west of Baghdad nets 285 suspects
BAGHDAD, May 23 (AFP) - Iraqi and US forces captured 285 suspected insurgents in a single day during a massive sweep of Baghdad's western outskirts aimed at stopping a wave of car bombings in the capital, the military said Monday.
"Coalition forces, in conjunction with the Iraqi army and ministry of interior forces, have detained 285 suspected terrorists in the western Baghdad district of Abu Ghraib in less than 24 hours," a statement said.
The military did not specify the number of troops involved in "Operation Squeeze Play" but said the raid was being carried out by four Iraqi army and three police commando battalions, backed by US soldiers.
Battalions generally consist of 300 to 400 troops.
"This is the largest combined operation with Iraqi security forces to date," said Lieutenant Colonel Clifford Kent. "The Iraqi security forces have the lead in this operation while we perform shaping and supporting roles."
The sweep, which was still continuing Monday, was launched on Sunday and jointly prepared during a special briefing the previous day.
One of the main objectives was to "reduce the amount of vehicle bombs in the city", the military said.
"By the end of the summer, the terrorists will be captured, dead or, in the least, severely disrupted, because of Iraqi security forces' efforts in this operation," said Colonel Joseph DiSalvo, a coalition commander in Baghdad.
The area swept by US and Iraqi forces since Sunday includes neighbourhoods where many of the attacks carried out daily on the airport road are thought to originate.
Convoys carrying US troops, private security guards, foreign contractors and journalists are frequently hit on the airport road, a 12-kilometre (seven-mile) stretch nicknamed the "Death Strip".
The month of May has been one of the bloodiest since the 2003 invasion, with relentless car bombings and other attacks that have killed more than 500 people.
http://www.politicalgateway.com/news/read.html?id=3812
DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq said it was behind the assassination of a security official on Monday, according to an Internet posting.
"Your brothers in ... squadron of Al Qaeda Organization for Holy War in Iraq killed Wael Rubaie, head of the operations room in the Ministry of State for National Security, as he headed to work in central Baghdad and his driver was also killed," said a group statement on an Islamist Web site.
Its authenticity could not be verified.
The group, led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has claimed responsibility for many attacks in a wave of insurgent suicide bombings and ambushes that have killed more than 500 people since a new Iraqi government was named late last month.
I see that our guys have been very busy.
Good mornin' TK. A busy day.
Insurgents kill four U.S. soldiers in Iraq
Mon May 23, 4:46 AM ET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Three U.S. soldiers were killed on Sunday in two insurgent attacks in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the U.S. military said on Monday.
A U.S. military statement gave no details of the attacks that killed the three soldiers.
Earlier, the military reported that another U.S. soldier was killed in a car bomb attack on Sunday near the town of Tikrit.
Residents look through the holes of a U.S. armoured vehicle which was hit Sunday night by a roadside bomb in the al-Tamim area of Ramadi, about 113 kilometers (70 miles) west of Baghdad in Iraq Monday, May 23, 2005 wounding three U.S. soldiers. (AP Photo/Omar Aboud)
Renewed attacks leave 15 dead
May 23 2005 at 03:24PM
By Michael Georgy
Baghdad- Guerrillas attacked a Baghdad restaurant and detonated a suicide truck bomb outside a mayor's office, as a deadly campaign aimed at toppling Iraq's new US-backed government killed at least 15 people on Monday.
Police said a car bomb blew up outside a restaurant in northern Baghdad at lunch time, killing at least four people and wounding more than 100.
The truck bomb exploded near the mayor's office in the town of Tuz Khurmatu, south of the oil city of Kirkuk, killing five and wounding 18.
Insurgents also struck in Samarra, targeting a US base with two car bombs and a suicide bomber strapped with explosives, killing four Iraqis and wounding four US soldiers.
Earlier on Monday, gunmen in Baghdad shot and killed Wael Rubaie, an official in the operations room of the Ministry of State for National Security, a government statement said. His driver was also killed.
Al-Qaeda's wing in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said it was behind the assassination.
The bloodshed came as mostly Sunni Muslim insurgents stepped up a campaign of attacks that have killed more than 500 people in the three weeks since a new Shi'ite-led government came to power with the promise of stability.
The wave of suicide bombings, assassinations and ambushes have raised fear that violence could spark civil war.
Among the dead in Tuz Khurmatu was the brother of a senior official in one of Iraq's main Kurdish parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, police said.
The official, Mohammed Mahmoud Jigareti, was wounded in the blast. Both men had been in a car that was entering the mayor's office compound when the bomber struck.
Insurgents also have been targeting the US military.
Three American soldiers were killed in separate attacks in the northern city of Mosul on Sunday, the military said, and another US soldier was killed by a bomb blast near Tikrit.
More than a dozen senior Iraqi government officials have been killed in Baghdad in well planned attacks in recent weeks.
US and Iraqi forces detained 285 suspected insurgents in the western Baghdad district of Abu Ghraib after a widespread search, the US military said. It said the operation called "Squeeze Play" was designed to kill or capture guerrillas who have been staging attacks in the capital.
Iraqi officials are hoping to give Sunnis a bigger role in politics after they were sidelined in Jan. 30 elections, in a strategy designed to defuse the Sunni-led insurgency.
Tit-for-tat killings between Shi'as and Sunnis have raised fears that violence will push Iraq towards civil war. A senior US official said he didn't think such an outcome was likely, but added it was on his "list of things to worry about".
Leaders of Iraq's two Muslim sects have moved rapidly in the past few days to try to dispel the rising sectarian tensions.
Moqtada al-Sadr, a young cleric who led two armed uprisings against US troops last year, on Sunday sent a delegation to see the Sunni Muslim Clerics' Association, and another team met representatives of SCIRI, the main Shi'a party, and its militia, the Badr Organisation. Officials in Sadr's office said a summit between the two sides may be held.
Zarqawi, who Iraqi officials accuse of trying to spark a full-scale sectarian conflict, has warned Sunnis not to join the political process because it would make them infidels.
Zarqawi's group said on Sunday it killed a US pilot it had captured and posted pictures of his identity papers on the Internet, naming him as Neenus Khoshaba.
But the man's brother, Boulus, said Neenus had never worked for the US military and had recently returned to Iraq seeking business opportunities after studying in the United States.
Neenus was last seen just before heading to a meeting with oil officials.
"All we know is he has been kidnapped," Boulous said. "Today we heard from satellite channels that Zarqawi killed him."
Insurgents have kidnapped over 150 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis over the past two years. Many were released but about a third were killed, some by beheading.
Iraq's government said on Monday it had captured an insurgent related to Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the most-wanted aide of Saddam Hussein still on the run. A government statement said Muthana al-Douri was captured near Tikrit last week.
(Additional reporting by Aref Mohammed in Kirkuk and Faris al-Mehdawi and Waleed Ibrahim in Baghdad)
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=qw1116854101970B262
That statement reflects more truth than just about anything you hear in the mainstream media.
His glass is half full and his eyes are wide open. We need more of those types reporting in theater.
The scene at the site of a car bomb which exploded at lunchtime outside the popular Habayibna restaurant where police officers often meet for lunch, in the Talibia area of northern Baghdad, Iraq Monday, May 23, 2005, killing at least three people and injuring more than 70 according to eyewitnesses and hospital officials. (AP Photo/Mohammed Uraibi)
Busy Baghdad Restaurant Hit by Car Bomb
By PAUL GARWOOD, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A car bomb exploded Monday at a Baghdad restaurant popular with police, killing at least four people and wounding about 70, and militants assassinated a top national security official. Five U.S. troops were killed by roadside bombs and a vehicle accident.
U.S. soldiers survey the scene following a car bomb attack at a restaurant in Baghdad May 23, 2005. A car bomb at a restaurant in northern Baghdad caused more than 50 casualties May 23, Iraqi police said. They did not know how many people had been killed and how many wounded, but said at least 52 people had been caught up in the blast, which struck the restaurant at lunch time. (Ceerwan Aziz/Reuters
U.S. and Iraqi forces detained 300 suspected insurgents in the biggest sweep in the capital to date.
The car bomb in the busy Talibia neighborhood was detonated outside the Habayibna restaurant at a time when police officers usually meet there for lunch, said police Lt. Zaid Tarek.
Casualties were taken to three Baghdad hospitals, and they included four dead and 54 injured at al-Kindi hospital, according to admission records. At least 10 more wounded were taken to Imam Ali hospital and five to the Medical City hospital.
Earlier, two carloads of gunmen killed Maj. Gen. Wael al-Rubaei, a top national security official, and his driver in Baghdad's latest drive-by shooting.
Al-Qaida in Iraq, the group run by Jordanian terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for killing al-Rubaei in a statement posted on an Internet site used by the group. The claim's authenticity could not be verified.
The brother of the driver cries out over his brother's body at Yarmouk hospital, after Maj. Gen. Wael al-Rubaei, director of the National Security Ministry's operations room, and his driver were assassinated by two carloads of gunmen in a drive-by shooting on their way to work, in Baghdad's Mansour district in Iraq Monday, May 23, 2005. State employees and security forces have been prime targets of insurgents bent on disrupting the U.S.-backed Iraqi government. (AP Photo/Mohammed Uraibi)
Al-Rubaei's killing came a day after another senior government official, Trade Ministry auditing office chief Ali Moussa, was killed as part of an ongoing terror campaign that has killed more than 550 people in less than a month.
AP - Mon May 23, 6:42 AM ET The coffin of Ali Moussa, the director general of the Iraqi Trade Ministry who was killed with his driver by gunmen in western Baghdad on Sunday, is carried in the funeral procession in the al-Salam neighbourhood of Baghdad, in Iraq Monday, May 23, 2005. State employees and security forces have been prime targets of insurgents bent on disrupting the U.S.-backed Iraqi government. (AP Photo/Mohammed Uraibi)
The U.S. military said Monday that three American soldiers were killed Sunday and one was injured in two separate attacks in the northern city of Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.
Another two Task Force Liberty soldiers also were killed in separate incidents Sunday. The first was killed when his patrol was attacked with a car bomb just north of Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad. The other was killed in a vehicle accident near Kirkuk.
As of Monday, at least 1,634 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
In other violence around Iraq, a suicide bomber killed five people and injured 13 when he drove an explosives-packed pickup truck into a crowd outside a municipal council office in Tuz Khormato, 55 miles south of Kirkuk, said police commander Lt. Gen. Sarhat Qader.
A US officer secures the site of a suicide car bombing outside Tuz Khurmatu town hall. An insurgent killer squad shot dead the commander of Iraq's new counter-insurgency headquarters as he drove to work in Baghdad, as US and Iraqi troops conducted a massive sweep for insurgents.(AFP/Marwan Ibrahim)
Another two people were killed and two were injured in Kirkuk when a mortar round landed on a house, police Capt. Farhad Talabani said.
In the former insurgent stronghold of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, three suicide bombers tried to attack an American military base, injuring three soldiers, the military said.
Local residents view a house destroyed by a suicide car bomb attack in the northern Iraq town of Samarra, May 23, 2005. Three suicide bombers attempted to attack a U.S. military base in Samarra, killing two Iraqis and injuring nine people, including four U.S. soldiers, military and civilians officials said. Photo by Stringer/Iraq/Reuters
The joint offensive, dubbed Operation Squeeze Play, appeared to be winding down Monday. It involved seven Iraqi battalions backed by U.S. forces and was centered on western Baghdad's Abu Ghraib district, targeting militants suspected of attacking the U.S. detention facility there and the road linking downtown to the international airport, the military said.
"This is the largest combined operation with Iraqi security forces to date," said U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Clifford Kent. "The Iraqi Security Forces have the lead in this operation while we perform shaping and supporting roles."
Three Romanian journalists who had been held hostage in Iraq for nearly two months arrived home aboard a military plane Monday, a day after their release.
From right television reporter Marie Jeanne Ion, Romanian President Traian Basescu, Romania Libera reporter Ovidiu Ohanesian and cameraman Sorin Miscoci, hold hands shorthly after the three Romanian journalists freed from Iraq descended from a military aircraft in Bucharest Romania Monday May 23 2005.Three Romanian journalists who were held hostage in Iraq for nearly two months arrived home aboard a military plane Monday, a day after their release.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
TV reporter Marie Jeanne Ion and cameraman Sorin Miscoci, and newspaper reporter Ovidiu Ohanesian were kidnapped in Baghdad on March 28 with their guide, American-Iraqi Mohammed Monaf. The four were freed Sunday.
Former hostage Sorin Miscoci is hugged by relatives as he arrives at Bucharest military airport. The three Romanian journalists, Marie Jeanne Ion and Sorin Miscoci of Prima TV and Eduard Ohanesian of the Romania Libera newspaper, along with Iraqi-American Mohammed Munaf, were set free 22 May after being held hostage for nearly two months(AFP/Daniel Mihailescu)
Iraqi insurgents had demanded Romania withdraw its soldiers from Iraq. Bucharest rejected the demand. The three journalists were greeted Monday by Romania's President Traian Basescu and hundreds of journalists and friends.
Separately, Iraqi security forces captured Ismail Budair Ibrahim al-Obeidi, a "terrorist" close to al-Zarqawi's network, in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, a government statement said.
The suspect, also known as Abu Omar, planned car bomb attacks in Baghdad and rigged booby-trapped cars for foreign fighters, the statement said.
Meanwhile, aides to radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr sought to defuse tension between Sunnis and the majority Shiites after a recent series of sectarian killings. Sunnis are believed to make up the bulk of Iraq's deadly insurgency.
The senior aides met Sunday with the Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars, a key Sunni group, in a bid to soothe tensions that have flared and resulted in the deaths of 10 Shiite and Sunni clerics in the past two weeks.
From left, Muqtada al-Sadr's aide Hazim al-Araji, Muqtada al-Sadr's aide Abdul-Hadi al-Daraji and Senior Sunni Cleric Abdul Salam al-Kubaisi leave a meeting between the two religious groups at Baghdad's Sunni Um al-Qura mosque in Iraq Sunday. (AP/Karim Kadim)
The association's leader, Harith al-Dhari, last week pinned the killing of several Sunnis, including clerics, on the Badr Brigades, the military wing of Iraq's largest Shiite party, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. The militia denied the charge and accused the Sunni association of trying to start a civil war.
Al-Sadr said in a television interview broadcast Sunday that the talks were aimed at settling the feud between the association and the Badr Bridges. Al-Sadr has resurfaced after lying low following fierce battles between his supporters and U.S. forces last year in the southern holy city of Najaf and Baghdad's impoverished Sadr City.
Sunni leaders have formed an alliance of tribal, political and religious groups to help Iraq's once-dominant minority break out of its deepening isolation following a Shiite rise to power after the ouster of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni.
___ Associated Press reporter Alison Mutler in Bucharest, Romania, contributed to this report.
Bump Allegra and stay safe.
Associated Press
May 23, 2005
EL PASO, Texas - A military policeman has been sentenced to three months in prison after pleading guilty to assault and two counts of making a false statement in the 2002 beating death of a prisoner in Afghanistan.
In a plea bargain, Army prosecutors agreed not to pursue a charge of maltreatment against Spc. Brian E. Cammack. Cammack also agreed to testify in other cases related to the deaths of two inmates at the Bagram Control Point.
Cammack was sentenced Friday during a court-martial at Fort Bliss. He will be demoted to private, fined more than $3,200 and given a bad-conduct discharge.
"I have come to realize what I did was wrong," Cammack said.
Cammack, a member of the Army Reserve's 377th Military Police Company in Cincinnati, said he was angry when he struck the prisoner, Mullah Habibullah, twice in the thigh with his knee. The prisoner had allegedly spit on his chest.
The technique isn't supposed to be used unless a guard's life is in danger, but soldiers have testified it was used regularly with the knowledge of officers. Cammack told the judge that he didn't feel threatened by the prisoner.
Habibullah died of a pulmonary embolism apparently caused by blood clots formed in his legs from the beatings, according to a 2004 military report.
Prosecutors argued that Cammack should be given the maximum penalty of six months in prison. They declined comment after the court-martial.
"Spc. Cammack made a mistake. He has been punished, and now he is moving on with the rest of his life," said Capt. Robert Leone, the defense attorney.
Cammack testified earlier this year in a hearing for Pfc. Willie V. Brand, who is scheduled to face court-martial on charges of assault, maiming, maltreatment and making a false statement. Brand is accused of assaulting Habibullah and the other prisoner who died, a man identified only as Dilawar.
This month, the Army charged three more soldiers with assault at the detention center where the two prisoners died.
This U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter drops candy for kids near Balad, Iraq.
Posted on Mon, May. 23, 2005
Troops drop sweets, toys for Iraqi children to convey goodwill
MARK WASHBURN
Staff Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - From a high-performance perch above the Iraqi countryside, Johnny Taylor is looking for targets at 145 mph.
He spots one, banks his Army Black Hawk in a 180-degree turn, and his machine gunners let loose.
Goal! Soccer ball away.
About 150 feet below, two Iraqi boys quit waving and bolt from a mud-brick farm compound to collect their spoils of war, bouncing high into a crop field.
Taylor, 59, a chief warrant officer with the Salisbury, N.C.-based Bravo Co. of the N.C. Army National Guard 126th Aviation Battalion, has been dropping treats to kids in rural regions since his yearlong tour began in January.
"It doesn't hurt anything, and someday this kid will grow up, and somebody will ask him to be a terrorist and he'll think back on a soccer ball from a helicopter," says Taylor, a Vietnam veteran from Gastonia.
"And how many people will he tell about this?"
In the struggle for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, U.S. soldiers are concentrating on the country's children. It is there, they say, they have the best chance to leave a lasting positive impression.
"We believe changing the attitude of kids, 6 to 12, will benefit us long-term most," says Brig. Gen. Tom Lawing of Matthews, who commands the Charlotte-based N.C. Army National Guard 30th Engineer Brigade at Camp Anaconda in Balad, the helicopter's base.
"We want the next generation of Iraqis to have national pride, but also see the U.S. as a good thing."
Taylor and his machine gunners -- Spc. Andrew Boyce, 23, of Winston-Salem, and Spc. Joe Elmore, 20, of Salisbury -- also drop "candy bombs," zipper-locked bags with Beanie Babies and candies adorned with a flowing red ribbon to mark their landing spot.
To avoid enemy fire, they fly fast and near the ground, so low that the powerful Black Hawk must pull up to avoid high-tension power lines on their mission from Balad to Baghdad.
Kids they spot along the way get the goodies, supplied by a unit in Fayetteville, if it won't interfere the chopper's mission and there's no sign of insurgent activity.
"I'd like to just have a Black Hawk to myself," Taylor says, "and just go around and do candy bombs."
With Our Soldiers
Observer reporter Mark Washburn (right) and Macon (Ga.) Telegraph photographer Nick Oza, both of Knight Ridder newspapers, are in Iraq to report on our troops' humanitarian missions.
Spc David Hayes a 30th Engineering Brigade from N.C., holds a Guidon Banner flag during Combat Shoulder Sleeve Insignia Awards while Brig. General Thomas Lawing greets the soliders at Camp Anaconda in Balad, Iraq. This awards is for the service in combat zone. Photo by Nick Oza
Missions of kindness keep spirits high
Posted on Sun, May. 22, 2005
MARK WASHBURN
Staff Writer
BALAD, Iraq -- Anaconda is a company town and the company loves misery.
Talk to U.S. soldiers and airmen occupying this old Iraqi air base an hour north of Baghdad, and they will tell you that, yes, they miss their families. Yes, it's hotter than Satan's stove. Yes, body armor and helmets are clunky office fashion when there's a mortar alert.
But at Logistical Staging Area Anaconda, a well-gated community of 23,000, they point with pride to their missions.
"The kids were all grabbing and excited," says Sgt. Barbara Tobin, describing a trip to a school where soldiers distributed candy and stuffed animals, the kind of humanitarian mission that U.S. forces conduct daily but rarely makes the news back home.
"I believe in fighting for my country," says Tobin, from Pineville and recently married. "The best country to live in is the United States of America even though we're overtaxed."
Tobin has been at Camp Anaconda since January, a member of the Charlotte-based N.C. National Guard 30th Engineer Brigade, responsible for projects in the northern half of Iraq ranging from school renovations to repairing highways after bomb attacks.
She is on a yearlong rotation at the sprawling base, where American touches like Pizza Hut and Burger King are available, but the most popular attraction is a leftover from the Saddam regime -- two swimming pools, one indoors, where troops slosh off the desert heat.
Even here, money walks
Isolated by danger, language and barbed wire, the 23,000 residents of Camp Anaconda have their own economy and 1st Lt. Michael Worley, of Wilson in Eastern North Carolina, is its overseer and analyst, sort of a far-flung Alan Greenspan.Worley is in charge of the base finance office and explains the tidal action of cash on the soldiers' twice-monthly paydays.
"They get that money and take it straight over to the PX. The next day it comes straight back here."
And goes straight to Sgt. Cynthia Lilly, who rules the vault. She swings open the door on her safe to reveal the camp's treasury, about $1.1 million in cash, much of it worn by the round trips to the military exchange store.
"It doesn't look like much, does it?" she asks, and no, it doesn't. The bills barely fill two shelves in the steel box. A fortune in fives has never been freed from its shrink-wrap.
True grit
Dust is so thick here it dances in headlight beams like a misty fog. Spc. Roderick Simon of Rocky Mount in Eastern North Carolina, has it worse than most. His sinuses are OK, but he fixes the engineering brigade's computers and often finds their delicate innards coated with fine grit.
CD ROMs have a short life here, and floppy discs are beyond redemption. Simon wages a never-ending battle against the ancient sands of Iraq, with cans of compressed air his sword and shield.
Pay for risky job
While no one complains they're overpaid here, war zone duty does have its rewards. Soldiers in Iraq get an extra $225 a month in family separation pay, another $225 a month for hostile fire pay and $100 a month in hardship duty pay, plus tax breaks.Meals and clothing are free, but there are temptations beyond the powers of even hardened soldiers.
"The food in the chow hall is great, but there's something about going by the Burger King and smelling it that makes you want to go in," Worley admits.
Stars and `Star Wars'
Hollywood gets out here, too.
Amanda Swisten, star of the movie "The Girl Next Door," was in camp last week on a morale mission. Blonde, impossibly thin and showcasing it all in nonregulation shorts, she said she liked visiting Anaconda because, "It's not all men like some of the other camps. There, they weren't paying much attention to Dean."
She extended a willowy limb at actor Dean Cain, posing nearby for pictures with passers-by. He starred in TV's "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" and was touring the war zone with her.
Thursday, the third installment of the new "Star Wars" trilogy opened, which included the screen at Anaconda. Because the camp is in a time zone eight hours ahead of New York, Anacondians were among the first U.S. audiences to see the movie.
Soldiers were gathering outside the post playhouse in the afternoon for a good spot in line for the 6 p.m. premiere.
Several dozen were in queue by 4:05 p.m. when a siren wailed, signaling that the camp was under attack by mortar or rocket fire. Everyone had to move into a bunker until the all clear was sounded 25 minutes later.
Thursday's was the 39th mortar alert this month. Sensitive radars often pick up the arc of the incoming round, and if there is enough data to triangulate its source, eager specialists in mortar huts send one back.
Fired from distances of 10 miles or more, the insurgents' mortars are the equivalent of pitching a dart onto a football field while blindfolded in the parking lot and trying to nail someone in the helmet.
They usually fall harmlessly into the vast open spaces of the base, which has a 23-mile perimeter, though one mortar round recently burrowed into a latrine. The structure was unoccupied. It would have been a bad way to go.
An upgrade in housing
What used to be a tent city has been transformed in the last year into a giant trailer park. Most soldiers live in mobile housing units, modest but comfortable compartments, many adorned with satellite TV dishes.Ambiance of highway construction is the camp's decorator motif. Jersey barriers, like those lining road projects, surround dwellings, eating halls and offices.
But these Jersey barriers are on basketball scholarship, reaching about 10 feet in height to shield against shrapnel blasts. Locals call them Texas barriers.
Hangars still house wings
Concrete humps measle the air base side of the post, old hangars for Saddam Hussein's air force. One of the vast bunkers has been transformed into a sorting center for mail, with boxes and letters destined for remote bases packed up and made ready for transport by truck or plane.
"We have a word here: fascuracy," says Maj. Ephraim Grubbs of High Point, meaning that the mission is to move the mail fast but accurately to its target. It's a complicated job in a military that is constantly on the go, and Grubbs' team takes pride in tracking down soldiers on the move and getting them their care package from home.
When military records fail to pinpoint the location of the addressee, Grubbs' unit does not admit defeat. "We've even e-mailed people to ask where they are so we can get them their stuff," he says.
In the cool cavern of the hangar where Saddam's mighty MiGs used to nest, a new generation of wings are found, something pleasant in the harsh desert. Entertaining mail sorters all day with giddy song are tiny birds in the rafters, making the best of their new quarters.
With Our Soldiers
Observer reporter Mark Washburn (right) and Macon (Ga.) Telegraph photographer Nick Oza, both of Knight Ridder newspapers, traveled with an N.C. National Guard unit to Iraq. 
President Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai hold a joint news conference, Monday, May 23, 2005, in the East Room of the White House. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
Bush rebuffs Karzai's request on troops
Posted on Mon, May. 23, 2005
JENNIFER LOVEN Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush said Monday that U.S. troops in Afghanistan will remain under U.S. control despite Afghan President Hamid Karzai's request for more authority over them.
"Of course, our troops will respond to U.S. commanders," Bush said, with Karzai standing at his side at the White House. At the same time, Bush said the relationship between Washington and Kabul is "to cooperate and consult" on military operations.
There are about 20,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, costing about $1 billion a month. That is in addition to approximately 8,200 troops from NATO countries in Kabul and elsewhere.
Bush also said that Afghan prisoners under U.S. control in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and elsewhere, would be slowly returned to their home countries.
"We will do this over time," he said. "We have to make sure the facilities are there."
Bush had high praise for Karzai as a valued anti-terror partner and credited the Afghan leader with "showing countries in the neighborhood what's possible."
Karzai thanked Bush for helping to put his country on the path to democracy. But he also came to their meeting with a long list of grievances.
Karzai wants more control over U.S. military operations in his country, custody of Afghan prisoners held by the United States and more assistance in fighting opium trade.
As for the opium-heroin trade, Bush said, "I made it very clear to the president that we have got to work together to eradicate the poppy crop."
Karzai commented on recent reports of abuse of Afghan prisoners by their American captors. "We are of course sad about that," he said, speaking in fluent English. But, he added, "It does not reflect on the American people."
Similarly, a report - later retracted - in Newsweek magazine earlier this month that alleged mistreatment of the Quran by American prison guards does not reflect American values, Karzai said.
While claiming the original report was not responsible journalism, Karzai said, "Newsweek's story is not America's story. That's what we understrand in Afghanistan."
Saying that he himself had been to a mosque in Washington, Karzai noted that many thousands of Muslims are going on a daily basis to mosques in America, without incident.
The two leaders addressed reporters in the East Room of the White House.
Bush welcomed his guest as the "first democratically elected leader in the 5,000- year history of Afghanistan."
"And your leadership has been strong," Bush added.
Bush and Karzai pledged to work more closely together amid continued instability and protests in Afghanistan.
"It's important for the Afghan people to understand that we have a strategic vision about our relationship with Afghanistan," Bush said.
He said the United States and Afghanistan had signed a "strategic partnership" that establishes "regular high-level exchanges on ... economic issues of mutual interest. "
"We will consult with Afghanistan if it perceives its territorial integrity, independence or security is at risk," Bush said.
Karzai said that he hoped Afghanistan would be free of opium poppy crops within five to six years and that Afghan farmers could find alternative crops like honeydew melons and pomegranates.
Opium poppies are the raw material for heroin. Their cultivation has rocketed since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Last year, cultivation reached a record 323,700 acres, yielding nearly 80 percent of world supply.
"Indeed, Afghanistan is suffering from the cultivation of poppies, which is undermining our economy," Karzai said. "It's giving us a bad name, worst of all."
Ahead of their meeting, Karzai said that he wanted more control of U.S. forces in his country and to take over custody of the hundreds of Afghans detained in military jails in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during and after the 2001 U.S. invasion that ousted the repressive Taliban regime.
Karzai began his U.S. stay by sharply denying a reported State Department cable that said he has not worked strongly enough to curtail production of opium, the raw material for heroin. The cable, from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said the U.S. crackdown there has not been very effective, in part because Karzai "has been unwilling to assert strong leadership," The New York Times reported Sunday.
Recent anti-American protests across Afghanistan killed at least 15 people and threatened a security crisis for Karzai's feeble central government.
The White House blamed the May 9 Newsweek report for igniting the violence.
U.S. President George W. Bush shakes hands after a joint press availability with the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai (L), in the East Room at the White House in Washington May 23, 2005. REUTERS/Shaun Heasley
President Welcomes Afghan President Karzai to the White House
U.S. first lady Laura Bush, right, is given a tour of the pyramids of Giza by egyptologist Dr. Zahi Hawass on Monday, May 23, 2005 in GIza, Egypt. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Mrs. Bush endorses Mubarak election plan
Posted on Mon, May. 23, 2005
NEDRA PICKLER Associated Press
GIZA, Egypt - First lady Laura Bush on Monday endorsed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's plan for presidential elections as "bold and wise" despite complaints from opposition groups that the voting is designed to keep Mubarak in power.
"I would say that President Mubarak has taken a very bold step. He's taking the first step to open up the elections and I think that's very, very important," Mrs. Bush said. She spent a day in Egypt, much of the time with Egyptian first lady Suzanne Mubarak.
Speaking to reporters in front of the Giza pyramids, Mrs. Bush noted that the United States' democracy also took time to fully develop.
"As you know, you have to be slow as you do each of these steps," Mrs. Bush said. "You know that each step is a small step, that you can't be quick."
Egyptians are deciding in a referendum whether to accept changes to the constitution that would allow for the country's first multi-candidate presidential election in September. Mubarak, Egypt's president for 24 years, has been regularly re-installed in yes-no referendums in which his name is the only one on the ballot. He hasn't formally announced he will run again but is widely expected to do so.
Opponents say the new system is being set up to ensure Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party still controls the election outcome.
Last week, the White House said President Bush supports Mubarak's plan to hold free and competitive elections for president and urged Egypt to allow for full campaigning as well as international observers.
Winding up her five-day trip to the Middle East, Mrs. Bush echoed her husband's praise of the Egyptian leader.
"I think he's been very bold and wise to take the first step," she said.
Earlier Monday, Mrs. Bush said she was not surprised to encounter protesters over the weekend during her tour of Mideast holy sites and pledged the United States will do all it can to help resolve age-old conflicts.
"As we all know, this is a place of very high tensions and high emotions," the first lady said while standing in the garden courtyard of the Church of the Resurrection in Abu Ghosh, Israel, a predominantly Muslim town where some believe Jesus appeared on Easter. "And you can understand why when you see the people with a deep and sincere faith in their religion all living side by side."
Mrs. Bush visited sites sacred to all three major religions born in the region. As she toured the 12th century church, nuns and monks sang Psalm 150 in Hebrew as a symbol of the religious cultures coexisting in the region.
President Bush talked with his wife by telephone Monday and she told him the trip was going well, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. McClellan dismissed the protests as "a little commotion" and said the demonstrators were few although they got a lot of coverage.
From Israel, Mrs. Bush traveled to Cairo, where she met with Mrs. Mubarak at Ittihadiyya Palace. The two women then taped a segment for "Alam Simsim," the Egyptian version of "Sesame Street," with a peach-colored puppet named Khokha. "Mama Suzanne" and "Auntie Laura," as Khokha called the first ladies, talked about the importance of reading to children.
US First Lady Laura Bush chats with Egyptian Sesame Street character Khokha before a segment taping at Alam Simsim Studio in Giza, just south of Cairo.(AFP/Jim Watson)
U.S. first lady Laura Bush (L) and Egypt's first lady Suzanne Mubarak tour the set of 'Alam Simsim', the Egyptian version of the popular U.S. children's show 'Sesame Street' in Cairo, Egypt May 23, 2005. U.S. first lady Bush is on a Middle East tour to counter anti-U.S. sentiment in the region. REUTERS/Hasan Jamali/Pool
Mrs. Bush's low-key travels Monday were in contrast to her stops Sunday at sites sacred to Muslims and Jews.
Asked about the protests during an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America," Mrs. Bush said she understands resentments that have been built up, in part because of reports and pictures of prisoner abuse.
"I know from visiting Afghanistan ... that many, many people are glad our troops are there, that we are giving them a chance to rebuild their country," she said. "All of us, everyone ... deplore the photographs that we've seen, the reports that we've heard of prisoner abuse, but that's not really not what happens (with U.S. forces) ... This is a handful of people."
She said she feels that the American presence in the Middle East and Southwest Asia "is really wanted and is needed" to ensure nation-building and peacemaking.
Asked on NBC's "Today" show if she had felt endangered during the tours in the Middle East, the first lady replied, "No, I did not at all. I think maybe the reports that you all have seen have been slightly exaggerated. ... I have never felt at all unsafe."
Mrs. Bush's five-day visit was intended partly to help defuse anti-American sentiment in the region. Strains have arisen because of the U.S.-led war in Iraq and allegations that American interrogators have mistreated Muslim prisoners.
ON THE NET
Laura Bush: http://www.whitehouse.gov/firstlady
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wants his first White House visit this week to yield assurances from George W. Bush of pressure on Israel to start heeding a 'road map' peace plan, aides and diplomats say. But Abbas has scaled back expectations of concrete promises from Bush of 'final-status' negotiations on a Palestinian state once Israel evacuates the occupied Gaza Strip in three months. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas talks to the media after his arrival at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah May 21,2005. (Loay Abu Haykel/Reuters)
Abbas heads to U.S., wants Bush to pressure Israel
By Wafa Amr
RAMALLAH (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wants his first White House visit this week to yield assurances from George W. Bush of pressure on Israel to start heeding a "road map" peace plan, aides and diplomats say.
But Abbas has scaled back expectations of concrete promises from Bush of "final-status" negotiations on a Palestinian state once Israel evacuates the occupied Gaza Strip in three months.
Thursday's meeting has great symbolic importance as the first by a Palestinian president since 2000, when Middle East peace negotiations collapsed into violence for which U.S. officials often blamed Abbas's late predecessor Yasser Arafat.
Washington, keen to embark on the long-stalled "road map," has welcomed Abbas's vow to seek statehood by peaceful means as well as a ceasefire he declared with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in February and persuaded militants to respect.
But diplomatic momentum has diminished.
A spate of truce violations by Gaza militants, who say they are avenging Israeli assaults, have exposed Abbas's shaky grip. Meanwhile, Israel has suspended ice-breaking gestures like military pullbacks in the occupied West Bank.
Abbas wants to ensure there is movement toward talks on a state after Israel scraps Jewish settlements in Gaza -- slated for August -- and for that he needs Bush's support.
But Abbas's aides said he did not now anticipate a Bush pledge of talks on "final-status" peace issues like borders. Israel rejects such talks until Abbas subdues militant factions, a precondition for carrying out the "road map."
"Abbas doesn't have high expectations that Bush would commit to push Israel to enter final-status negotiations after it pulls out of Gaza," a senior Palestinian official said.
"But he does want assurances from Bush that he will make Israel implement the road map after the Gaza pullout (to set the stage for) a sovereign, territorially contiguous state."
He meant mainly a halt to Israel's expansion of large West Bank settlements. This contravenes the road map, but Sharon cites a Bush pledge to him in 2004 that Israel would not have to cede all the West Bank under any realistic peace deal.
POSSIBLE MILITANT THREAT
Abbas is expected to impress on Bush the threat he believes he will face from militants, especially the growing Islamist Hamas movement, if Palestinian hopes for a viable state through negotiations are dashed after a Gaza pullout.
Palestinians welcome the prospect of taking over Gaza. But Sharon has made clear Israel will keep larger tracts of the West Bank as the trade-off, absorbing what Palestinians say would constitute the center of a future state.
Many analysts say that if Sharon slams the door to talks after uprooting all 21 settlements from Gaza and four of 120 in the West Bank, militants will resume major attacks.
Israel says no road map process is possible without an end to Palestinian militant activity. Palestinians say Abbas will have difficulty stopping it unless Israel also meets obligations under the plan, such as freezing West Bank settlement activity.
Washington has praised new Palestinian security reforms and wants Israel to help Abbas weaken the appeal of militants by doing more to ease restrictions on civilian movement in the West Bank. Both matters are initial "road map" requirements.
"But the Americans are not ready to confront Israel on other sensitive broader issues that could pose a problem for Sharon or disrupt the disengagement plan," one Western diplomat said.
Nationalist Jews are escalating a protest campaign against the pullout, denouncing it as "a reward for terrorism," and opinion poll support for the plan has slipped a little in reaction to fresh barrages on Gaza settlements by militants.
ISRAEL TO PRESS BUSH
Sharon's top security adviser Dov Weisglass will precede Abbas to Washington on Tuesday to urge the White House not to promise the Palestinian leader any concrete steps toward statehood, a senior Israeli political source said.
"Weisglass will explain to the Americans that there are growing fears in Israel of 'Hamas-stan' in Gaza after we leave, and that giving Abbas a prize before he has stamped out terrorism would damage Sharon's case for proceeding with disengagement," the source told Reuters.
Abbas will bring Bush up to date on reforms, praised by U.S. officials, in which he has retired force commanders who ignored his orders to rein in militants, merged feuding security agencies and tried to recruit militants as policemen.
"President Abbas will try to get the message across that changing the culture of terrorism works better than (forcibly) dismantling the infrastructure of militant groups. Luring those groups into the mainstream will moderate them," Rafiq Husseini, chief of staff of Abbas's office, told Reuters.
At a contemporary worship service at Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul, Iraq, participants greet each other during “fellowship time” in the Transformation Chapel. Almost everyone is from the Stryker Brigade, which is also known as the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division from Fort Lewis. The brigade is deployed here and at other bases around Mosul.
Soldiers find faith in the face of fire
MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
Last updated: May 23rd, 2005 10:45 AM
MOSUL, Iraq – Gathered together in the renovated shell of an old Iraqi Army pistol range, a few dozen Fort Lewis soldiers and civilian military workers joined in singing Hymn No. 212 from the Baptist Hymnal. “Souls in danger, look above, Jesus completely saves.
He will lift you by his love, out of the angry waves.
Love lifted me, love lifted me
When nothing else could help, love lifted me.”
It was a declaration of religious faith and an acknowledgement that they can’t go it alone. And on a day when they would learn two of their Stryker Brigade comrades had been killed overnight, they could use the lift they get each week at Transformation Chapel.
Sitting in church on Sunday morning provides a spiritual sanctuary but not a physical one for these men and women who deployed from Tacoma in October. Twice last fall, enemy mortar rounds struck near the chapel during services, peppering the side of the building with shrapnel and breaking eight window panes. Sheets of plywood with cutout crosses now cover those gaps.
Sgt. Anita Shaw is still amazed that no glass shards fell on worshippers inside. She says it was “God’s way of showing off.”
“You know he’s here to protect you,” said Shaw, who works in the 25th Brigade Support Battalion’s supply shop. “Even though you always have your buddy on your left and your buddy on your right, God gives you overall protection.”
Transformation is one of four chapels operated by Stryker Brigade ministry teams at Forward Operating Base Marez, the most populous U.S. installation in northern Iraq. Army chaplains and lay religious leaders seek to give comfort and spiritual counsel to soldiers, many of them young and confronting questions of life and death for the first time.
The 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment – the unit known as “The Bobcats” – has many soldiers who identify themselves as Christians. There are also two Jews, two Muslims and a handful of Wiccans among the battalion’s 700-some infantrymen. Then there is the vast middle ground.
“A huge chunk is ‘no preference’ – I’d say about 30 percent – which is what you’d expect with 18- to 20-year-olds who haven’t worked out their religious life yet,” said Capt. Donald Carrothers, the chaplain for the 1-5.
“I call them the superstitious ones,” he added. “They’ll come by and ask me for Celtic-style crosses. Some of the Stryker drivers really like carrying those. But you won’t see them at chapel.”
Officials with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division – Fort Lewis’ second Stryker brigade – have taken steps to accommodate the religious needs of soldiers outside of the mainline Protestant denominations.
A Catholic priest roves among the U.S. bases in Mosul and celebrates Mass at Marez on Saturdays and Sundays. A reconciliation booth, or confessional, is set up at Transformation Chapel, behind the stage where a contemporary praise band plays.
A group of Mormons meets on Sunday afternoons. And the support battalion recently converted a building into a place for Muslim soldiers to practice their beliefs, complete with prayer rugs.
Even so, Carrothers conceded that resources for many religions are lacking, and Islamic and Jewish faith leaders only pass through a few times a year.
“There are only about 5 or 6 Muslim chaplains in the whole Army,” said Carrothers, whose background is Southern Baptist. “The same with rabbis; they are in very short supply.”
Saihou Jobe, a 22-year-old Stryker mechanic, is believed to be the only devout Muslim in the 1-5 Infantry. He said that his superiors in the vehicle shop have been good about giving him the time he needs for his five-times-a-day prayers. In fact, sometimes they remind him to pray.
Jobe’s unit took part in the coalition offensive in Fallujah last fall, which coincided with the holy month of Ramadan. His bosses offered to give him downtime in his tent during the day so that he could observe the pre-sundown fast, but he chose to keep working because his colleagues needed him.
“I would wake up in the middle of the night to eat just so I would be strong the next day,” said Jobe, who was raised in the African nation of Gambia, where his grandfather was an imam.
Jobe carries his red prayer rug – the same one he’s had since basic training – in his CamelBak backpack. His Holy Quran is stored safely in a black zippered bag.
“This is where I go for answers,” he said, holding the book gently in the break room of the Stryker shop. “This is my guide.”
Many Christians on base are equally committed to practicing their beliefs in a combat zone. Spc. Edwin Gonzalez, 28, a supply specialist from Puerto Rico, even waited to come to Iraq to be baptized. Outside Transformation Chapel last fall, he and three other soldiers were immersed in a 3,000-gallon canvas bag used for storing water.
“I just have this feeling that Jesus walked somewhere around this part of the world,” Gonzalez explained Sunday morning, after packing up the bass guitar he plays in the praise band.
And with that, he put on his armor vest, picked up his rifle from the chapel gun rack and walked out into the morning sun.
Matt Misterek: mtmisterek@hotmail.com
Baghdad raids net 22 terrorists, weapons, $6 million
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Task Force Baghdad units nabbed 15 terror suspects during six early-morning raids conducted throughout Baghdad on May 22.
One of the raids, in central Baghdad, netted two suspected terrorists and $6 million dollars in US currency.
Later in the day, an Iraqi citizen told Iraqi Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division about two people suspected of planning and carrying out a car-bomb attack near a military base in central Baghdad. An Iraqi patrol went to the site, cordoned off the area and detained two suspects. Both suspects were taken into custody for questioning.
Another Iraqi citizen's tip helped Task Force Baghdad Soldiers find 14 mortar rounds in east Baghdad.
In other combat operations May 22, a dismounted Iraqi Army patrol from the 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division found another weapons cache in east Baghdad. The Iraqi Soldiers found three mortar rounds, one rocket, three grenades and AK-47 rifles. The cache also contained one chemical mask, 135 anti-aircraft rounds, machine gun ammunition, a police radio and speaker and six fuses.
Iraqi Soldiers from the 3rd Muthana Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division uncovered a third weapons cache containing a number of rockets buried in Abu Ghraib. Explosives experts checked for booby traps, and finding none, removed an undetermined number of rockets from the site.
In north Baghdad, a Task Force Baghdad observation team investigating an earlier mortar attack saw a suspicious vehicle parked in front of a house. When the Soldiers searched the house they found a male disguised as a woman in an apparent effort to avoid detection. The man was arrested and taken into custody for further questioning.
Later, a U.S. convoy hit a roadside bomb in western Baghdad. No Soldiers were injured in the attack, but an Iraqi citizen was hurt. While Army medics treated the injured civilian's wounds, they saw a taxi cab start to leave with four occupants trying to hide. The Soldiers stopped the cab and detained all four occupants. The injured citizen was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Text for release and opsec review provided by the TASK FORCE BAGHDAD Public Affairs Office. contact david.abrams@id3.army.mil.
Release A050523c
BAGHDAD , Iraq – Local commanders from the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defense, and Coalition Forces met May 21 to discuss how to deal with terrorist actions in Baghdad 's Rusafa neighborhood.
“This is just the beginning of a new era of cooperation between the Iraqi Police, Public Order Brigades and the Iraqi Army. From now on, forces from the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defense and Coalition Forces will work together to defeat the terrorists in Baghdad,” said US Army Col. Joseph DiSalvo, commander of Coalition Forces in Rusafa, eastern Baghdad, to open the meeting.
One of the Iraqi commanders said it was important to note this was the first time all the different MoI/MoD units were meeting to talk about an operation. “This will go a long way toward making all of our groups more effective and unified,” he said.
DiSalvo briefed the Iraqi commanders on a plan to reduce the amount of vehicle bombs in the city. “The operation is a combined mission; we need the Iraqi Forces to work together to make it a success,” he said.
Iraqi commanders seemed very interested in planning the operation and offered advice on how to identify vehicle bombs. They offered comments on who they think are making the bombs, how to seal off Baghdad from terrorist infiltration and how to improve communications among themselves and with the Coalition Forces.
One Iraqi general provided some observations he has made about vehicle bombs. He said citizens need to be on the look out for vehicles with tinted windows; vehicles riding low or tilted to one side due to carrying a heavy load of explosives; religious writing on the side of a vehicle, so a terrorist photographer will be able to recognize the vehicle; vehicles with usually only one occupant; and vehicles driving very fast.
The Iraqi general said actions by security forces alone are not enough to defeat the terrorist threat. “It is important for the citizens to report suspicious persons or vehicles to the police and army. This is not something the Iraqi security force can do on its own,” he said.
US Army Maj. Daniel Cormier, an operations officer with 2nd Brigade Combat Team, briefed the concept of the operation and roles of both the US and Iraqi units. He stressed the need for crosstalk and coordination between all forces involved. He emphasized that through cooperation, “the Iraqi people will see a surge of Iraqi security force presence and need to understand we are doing this for their safety,” he said.
“It is very important for the Iraqi people to know that the Iraqi security force is here to help,” DiSalvo said. “By the end of the summer, the terrorists will be captured, dead or, in the least, severally disrupted, because of (security) efforts in this operation,” DiSalvo said.
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FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONCERNING THIS RELEASE, CONTACT THE TASK FORCE BAGHDAD PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE AT: TaskForceBaghdadPAO@id3.army.mil .
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