The American Idol Round-up for 5/13/06

5/13/06

[Straight Vermonter]

The Real American Idols

U.S. Marine Corps recruit Jonathon Morales, 18, raises his right hand as he and other military recruits are sworn in during an enlistment ceremony as part of Fleet Week activities at Opalocka Airport in Opalocka, Fla., Thursday, May 4, 2006. A total of 144 recruits were sworn in from all branches of the U.S. military. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)	Spc. Joshua Stern, dismount squad automatic weapon gunner, 2nd Platoon, Company B, 1-8 Combined Arms Battalion, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Band of Brothers, wanted to contribute to the Global War on Terrorism and decided to give up the life in the fast lane to come to Iraq to serve his country. Stern took a military leave of absence with HSBC Bank where he worked as a financial analyst and enlisted July 2005.
U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Chad Hashley, of the 437th Security Forces Squadron, holds his daughter after arriving at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C., April 4, 2006, from a deployment to Camp Bucca, Iraq. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Nicholas Pilch	U.S. Marine Sgt. Derek McGee, of Rhinebeck, New York, speaks into his radio during a patrol in Fallujah, the site of the largest U.S. battle in Iraq. (AP Photo/Jacob Silberberg)
Camp Casey : A US soldier salutes during while marching after the change of command ceremony at Camp Casey, the front-line US military base in Dongducheon, north of Seoul. (AFP/Jung Yeon-Je)	U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Josh Stoneman embraces his newborn son for the first time upon his return to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Jan. 9, 2006, after a six-month deployment aboard USS Chosin. Chosin, part of the USS Tarawa Expeditionary Strike Group, deployed to the Persian Gulf in support the global war on terrorism. Stoneman serves a Navy interior communications electrician aboard the guided missile cruiser. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Ryan C. McGinley

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Four wanted for Dahab blasts surrender to police

Four men wanted in connection with bombings that killed 20 people in the Sinai resort of Dahab last month have turned themselves in, security sources said on Friday.

The surrenders came shortly after police killed Nasr Khamis el-Milahi, a man the Interior Ministry named as the leader of a group it blames for a series of attacks in Sinai since October 2004, and the arrest of his assistant in a gunbattle on Tuesday.

"The four wanted men turned themselves in, and they are Naif Ibrahim Saleh Ameira, Abdel Gadr Suweilim Suleiman, Ismail Salama Ouda Hussein, and Hatem Musellem Rasheed el-Atrash," a security official who declined to be named said.

Security sources had previously said el-Atrash had been arrested.

The men were part of a group of 25 wanted people, including farmers and religious leaders, security sources said, adding some of the group were being sought in connection with bombings in Taba and other nearby resorts in 2004.

The security official added that el-Milahi's assistant, Abdullah Alyan Abu Jarir, had given them new leads and names of suspects not on the list of 25 since his arrest on Tuesday.

Authorities have blamed a group called Tawhid wal Jihad (One God and Jihad) for a series of attacks in Sinai since October 2004, and say that 15 of its members are currently on trial. They describe it as a group of Sinai Bedouin with militant Islamist views, though the group itself has never issued a statement or claimed responsibility for attacks.

Excluding el-Milahi, six wanted men have been killed in the last two weeks in gunfights in northern Sinai. Men identified by the authorities as members of the group have come mainly from El Arish, a poor town on the Mediterranean coast in northern Sinai.

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CENTAF releases airpower summary

U.S. Central Command Air Forces officials released today's airpower summary.

Coalition aircraft flew 49 close-air-support missions May 11 for Operation Iraqi Freedom. They included support to coalition troops, infrastructure protection, reconstruction activities, and operations to deter and disrupt terrorist activities.

US Air Force F-16

Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons, Navy F/A-18 Hornets and Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s provided close-air support to coalition troops in contact with anti-Iraqi forces near Al Hawijah, Al Mahmudiyah, Al Taji, Haditha and Tall Afar.

In addition, 13 Air Force, Navy and RAF intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or ISR, aircraft flew missions in support of operations in Iraq. Air Force and Navy fighter aircraft flew in a non-traditional ISR role with their electro-optical and infrared sensors.

In Afghanistan, coalition aircraft flew 22 close-air-support missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. They included support to coalition and Afghan troops, reconstruction activities and presence route patrols.

Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs also provided close-air support to coalition troops in contact with enemy forces near Ghazni and Qalat.

Nine Air Force ISR aircraft flew missions in support of operations in Afghanistan.

Air Force C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster IIIs provided intratheater heavy airlift support, helping sustain operations throughout Afghanistan, Iraq and the Horn of Africa. They flew 170 airlift sorties, transported 3,320 passengers and delivered 460 tons of cargo including 7,000 pounds of troop re-supply air-dropped in Afghanistan.

Coalition C-130 crews from Australia flew in support of either OIF or OEF.

On May, 10 Air Force and RAF tankers flew 32 sorties and off-loaded almost 2.2 million pounds of fuel.

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Most foreign insurgents in Iraq come from Iran - report

A staggeringly high proportion of foreign insurgents arrested in Iraq are of Iranian origin, according to an Iraqi daily close to Massoud Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party.

Of the 1,972 infiltrators arrested since May 01, 2005, 1,577 were of Iranian origin, the daily al-Taji wrote on Monday.

The daily, quoting a commander of the Iraqi border guard, said that nine of the detained insurgents were Nigerian, 15 were Iraqi, four were Indian, 364 were Afghani, two were Pakistani, and one was from Dagestan.

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Russian Court Convicts Ex-Gitmo Inmates

A Russian court on Friday sentenced two former Guantanamo Bay inmates and another man to prison terms ranging from 11 to 15 years in connection with a gas pipeline explosion, officials said.

A jury last week found Ravil Gumarov, Timur Ishmuratov and Fanis Shaikhutdinov guilty of terrorism, the Prosecutor General's office said in a statement.

No injuries were reported in the January 2005 explosion in the Volga River republic of Tatarstan, but the pipeline was damaged.

< snip >

Gumarov and Ishmuratov were among seven Russian men detained in Afghanistan by U.S. forces on suspicion of fighting for the Taliban regime and released from the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2004. They were briefly held in jail upon returning to Russia, but were freed after Russian investigators found no evidence of their involvement with the Taliban.

More..

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Two LeT terrorists killed in Kashmir

Security forces foiled an infiltration attempt by gunning down a militant in Poonch district while two Lashker-e-Toiba militants were killed and a module of Hizbul Mujahideen busted with the arrest of four over ground workers in Jammu and Kashmir since last night, a police spokesman said on Friday.

An Indian army officer displays a circuit board of an Improvised Explosive Device recovered from a hideout of Islamic militant group Hezb-ul Mujahedeen. The army conducted various raids in South Kashmir and recovered a large cache of explosives, according to their official. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

A Hizbul militant surrendered before security forces in Bandipora area of Baramulla district, the spokesman said.

A group of seven militants made an infiltration bid via Shahpur Border in Poonch district last night. However, the group was challenged by alert security personnel and in the ensuing gunbattle, one of them was killed while the other managed to flee.

Three AK assault rifles and a large quantity of ammunition and explosive material were recovered from the encounter site, the spokesman said.

This was the second infiltration bid by militants from across the border this week. On Wednesday, two heavily-armed infiltrators were killed by the security forces when they intruded into this side in Mankote sector of Poonch district.

In another encounter, the spokesman said two LeT militants - Pakistani national Abu Saqib and his local accomplice Ghulam Ahmad of Takipora village - were killed during an operation at Narwani-Zainapora area of Pulwama district early today.

The encounter broke out on Thursday evening when the security forces confronted the two militants hiding in a house, he said adding the house was completely damaged in the gunbattle which ended this morning. Two AK rifles, six magazines and a mobile phone were recovered from the dead. More PTI AMS

The spokesman said security forces arrested four over ground workers of Hizbul Mujahideen alongwith a Chinese pistol and a mobile phone in Shopian area of Pulwama district.

They were active in the town and involved in the killing of civilian Manzoor Illahi Ganai, he said adding a hideout of the outfit, established in the house of Farooq Ahmad Ganai at village Katahpora, was busted at their instance.

The mobile phone recovered from them contained contact numbers of H M militants active in the south Kashmir township, the spokesman said.

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Al Qaida Leaders Caught or Killed, Linked to Saddam's Regime
By Mark Eichenlaub

High ranking al Qaeda leaders who have been caught or killed have turned out to be former high ranking military or intelligence officers in Saddam Hussein's regime.

Abdel Fatih Isa - former Iraqi Army officer and al Qaeda emir

Ahmad Hasan Kaka al-'Ubaydi - Ahmad Hasan Kaka al-'Ubaydi is a former Iraqi Intelligence Service officer, and is now believed associated with Ansar Al Islam affiliate.

Rafid Ibrahim Fattah - He traveled throughout Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq for the last 15 years, forming a relationship with al-Qaida in 1999. He served as a liaison between terrorist networks, as an operations officer coordinating the activities of the various terrorist groups, and as a security chief for a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. military. Kurdi moved to Iraq in 1992, joining the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan.

Muhammed Hila Hammad Ubaydi - aka Abu Ayman, Until his capture, Abu Ayman, the former aide to the Chief of Staff of Intelligence during the Saddam Hussein regime for 30 years, was the leader of the Secret Islamic Army in the Northern Babil Province . Abu Ayman has strong ties to terror leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, still considered the head of Al-Qaeda in Iraq .

Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri - possibly dead, "The former vice chairman of Saddam's Baathist Revolutionary Command Council. He swore fealty to Zarqawi last year and commands a significant element of the Baathist/al Qaeda converts. H has significant links in Syria and is an important source of funding for al Qaeda in Iraq."

Unidentified man - "The man who was killed was later identified as a retired officer in the Iraqi Air Force serving under the Saddam Hussein regime. The male who initiated the gunfire is a suspected al-Qaeda terrorist for whom the troops were searching, as well as the retired officer's son. "

Abu Asim - A former Special Republican Guard officer under Saddam Hussein, authorities believe Abu Asim has been active within the insurgency since the fall of the former regime. Associate of Abu Musab al Zarqawi

Fadhil Ibrahim Mahmud Al-Mashadani, "the former leader of the Military Bureau in Baghdad during the Saddam Hussein regime, was apprehended by security forces in a military operation conducted at a farm in the northeast of Baghdad," a government statement said."

Abu Talha, also known as Mohammed Khalaf Shkarah al-Hamadani , a key facilitator and financier for al Qaeda, the purported head of Abu Musab Al Zarqawi's terror cell and former member of Saddam Hussein's once ruling Baath Party and a warrant officer in the former Iraqi army

Abed Dawood Suleiman and his son, Raed Abed Dawood, - Abed was a former Iraqi general believed to be Jordanian extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's "military adviser", his son Raed was a former Army captain in the Iraqi army

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2 slain after planting bomb in mall
By Jhunnex Napallacan

Two suspected members of a terror group linked to the Jemaah Islamiyah were killed in a clash with police on Thursday night shortly after they allegedly left a box containing two rifle grenades with a timing device outside SM City at the North Reclamation Area here.

Supt. Paul Labra, chief of Cebu City’s Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Bureau (CIIB), said Ali Usop and Datu Niel Ulama were identified through the ID cards found inside their wallets.

He said based on the information forwarded to them by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-National Capital Region, Usop and Ulama were part of a group whose hideout in Marikina City was raided by the CIDG-NCR last April 27.

Chief Supt. Eduardo Gador, police director for Central Visayas, confirmed that the two were members of the Rajah Sulayman Group (RSG), which the military links to the Jemaah Islamiyah.

In a separate interview, Supt. Nelson Yabut, one of the team leaders of the CIDG-NCR that raided the hideout in Marikina, said they were coordinating with police in Cebu City to identify the two slain suspects.

He, however, said only his boss, Senior Supt. Asher Dolina, CIDG-NCR chief, knew the background of the two suspects. He added they failed to arrest anyone during the raid but their targets were RSG members.

The RSG is composed of Christians who became Muslims. The group has ties with the Abu Sayyaf and the Jemaah Islamiyah, an Indonesia-based regional terror group, which has been linked to the al-Qaida international terrorist network.

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales earlier said a group of Muslim converts with ties to the Jemaah Islamiyah was the biggest “headache” in the antiterror campaign.

Last April 27, a team from CIDG-NCR raided a one-story bungalow at No. 21 Champagne St. in SSS Village, Marikina City. Although no one was arrested, the police team recovered six grenades, an improvised explosive device and other bomb materials.

Labra said mall goers saw Usop and Ulama leaving a box outside the glass entrance of SM City at 8:53 p.m. The security guard then called the attention of SM management, which in turn alerted the Mobile Patrol Group (MPG).

A team from the MPG arrived and saw the box. The group then called the Special Weapons and Tactics team.

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Troops eliminate militants in Kyrgyz mountains

Kyrgyz troops have eliminated a militant group thought to have killed at least six people in a spree that led them into the Central Asian republic from neighboring Tajikistan early Friday, the Kyrgyz frontier service said.

Four militants were killed and one wounded, the service said adding that one border guard had been killed and two wounded.

Kyrgyz border guards said earlier that a group of six gunmen had attacked the Lyakkan border post in Tajikistan's northern Isfarin district, killing two border guards, injuring a customs officer, and seizing 19 automatic rifles, a machinegun and cartridges. The group was then reported to have entered Kyrgyzstan.

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Coalition helicopters stop IED emplacers, kills one
By MULTI-NATIONAL DIVISION - NORTH, 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION (AIR ASSAULT) TIKRIT, IRAQ (FOB SPEICHER)

One insurgent was killed and one was wounded by coalition aircraft May 11 while attempting to emplace an IED east of Hawija, in the Kirkuk Province.

During a nighttime aerial reconnaissance mission, helicopters from the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, discovered two insurgents digging near a road in an effort to place an IED. The aircrews shot both insurgents.

A ground team of Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division and 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division moved into the area and confirmed that one insurgent was killed. The second was wounded and was not found at the site. The ground team also discovered two AK-47s, two hand grenades and several magazines.

The IED was made up of artillery rounds and was destroyed in a controlled blast.

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Terrorists killed, hideout destroyed
By MULTI-NATIONAL DIVISION - NORTH, 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION (AIR ASSAULT) TIKRIT, IRAQ (FOB SPEICHER)

Iraqi Police killed two terrorists when the two men attacked a police patrol in Tal Afar May 11.

Task Force Band of Brothers Soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division arrived on scene to assist the police and conducted a search of the building the terrorists were using.

The Soldiers uncovered a false wall that led to a tunnel system and another hidden door that opened into a room used as clandestine sleeping quarters.

The "Ready First" Soldiers discovered a variety of weapons and munitions scattered about the tunnel and underground room. A Katusha rocket, 10 rifle grenades, four mortar rounds, three IEDs and two mortar tubes were seized.

An explosive ordnance disposal team conducted a controlled detonation of the weapons and munitions, destroying the house and tunnel system to prevent terrorists from using them again.

Three police officers were wounded in the initial attack and transported to the Tal Afar hospital.

[Straight Vermonter]

Please bump the thread.

Let me know if you want on/off the terrorist roundup ping list

Proud member of the:

[Straight Vermonter]

Ping

[Echo Talon]

add me to the list please.

[MEG33]

05/01/06 - U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Aydt embraces his daughters upon returning from deployment aboard the USS Jefferson City (SSN 759) at Naval Submarine Base Point Loma, Calif.

Welcome Home!

*Thank You To All Who Serve Our Country*

[Straight Vermonter]

Beautiful!

Have you seen this?
http://defendamerica.mil/homecoming/archive.html

[MEG33]

Thank you! I just bookmarked! I get mine off the DOD site but somehow missed this.

Thank you for the thread.

[BlueSky194]

Most foreign insurgents in Iraq come from Iran -

Notice how Sistani says nothing about this.

[Stentor]

A great morning pick-me-up. Thanks.

[Valin]

Russian Court Convicts Ex-Gitmo Inmates

Looks like someones going to be counting trees.

[PGalt]

Thanks. The finest men and women the world will never know.

[Coop]

Great work! I love the "American Idol" photos. I'll be back to read the round-up later.

[gate2wire]

SV-Great thread. Please add me to your ping list. Coop-Thanks for the ping.
All-Look at this picture again. This is what it's all about.

[Smartass]

 

 

[freema]

Alright you two, now I must re-do my makeup.

[MEG33]

Amen

[Ciexyz]

Haha, the title's misleading, but it's a cool thread!

[La Enchiladita]

I shook hands with several soldiers today, SA!

I was at a nearby Classic Car Show and the Army had a big truck there and a recruiting booth.

It was really nice to be around the military. They're wearing a new camo design now, too.

[Smartass]

God Bless America and
Our Great Military

God Bless America and
Our Great Military

[patriciaruth]

bttt!

[patriciaruth]

Anybody who likes to know what's going on in the War on Terror should sign up for Straight Vermonter's Terrorist Roundup ping list.

Today's thread has some great pictures and this interesting information:

... of the 1,972 foreign infiltrators arrested in Iraq since May 01, 2005, 1,577 were of Iranian origin, the daily al-Taji wrote on Monday.