Posted on 11/02/2005 4:26:16 PM PST by Gucho
Thank you Lnda.
By Seth Robson - Stars and Stripes Pacific edition
Thursday, November 3, 2005
RODRIGUEZ RANGE, South Korea — Apache attack helicopters from 3rd Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment trained here this week for the first time since joining the 2nd Infantry Division.
Until earlier this year 3-6 belonged to the 6th Cavalry Brigade. But transformation of U.S. forces in South Korea recently shifted 3-6 to 2nd ID’s newly formed Combat Aviation Brigade.
Ten 3-6 Apaches flew Monday at Rodriguez Range beside four 1st Battalion, 2nd Aviation Regiment Apaches, which also belong to the aviation brigade.
The helicopters zoomed across the colorful autumn landscape to unleash dozens of 2.75-inch rockets against a hillside, fire a 30 mm cannon at plywood targets and simulate missile strikes on moving targets at the range.
Capt. Michael Labroad, 27, of Longmeadow, Mass., said the move to 2nd ID was “seamless” with hardly any impact on the unit other than sewing on Indianhead patches.
Labroad, Troop B commander, said 3-6 and 1-2 aviators enjoy a friendly rivalry but don’t compete on a unit-to-unit basis during gunnery.
Instead, the competition is between individual aviators, whose gunnery skills are assessed on a 1,200-point scale.
“They have a big board with everybody’s scores so everybody knows how well everybody else did,” he said.
The reigning 3-6 gunnery champion is the battalion’s commander, Lt. Col. Bernard Banks, who has the honor of wearing a Top Gun patch on his flight suit, Labroad explained.
Aviators who score 90 percent or better during gunnery wear a “Distinguished Crew” patch, he added, showing off his own patch under his flak jacket.
Before heading out to the range each helicopter stopped at a Forward Arming and Refueling Point — or FARP — to take on fuel and ammunition.
Chief Warrant Officer James Wright, 37, of La Porte, Ind., was at the FARP keeping tabs on soldiers pumping fuel and loading bullets and rockets into the helicopters.
Wright said FARP operations have stayed the same since the unit joined 2nd ID. The only changes were with paperwork when soldiers collected ammunition, he said.
He said range operations are controlled and orderly compared to running FARPs during combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, where Wright was with the 101st Airborne Division, he said.
“The operating tempo at the beginning of the (Iraq) war was a lot higher and we were battling the heat as well,” he said, adding that he saw Scud missiles and 500-pound bombs land nearby during his service in Iraq.
The 3-6 soldiers will stay at the range until Nov. 10, Wright said.
A 3rd Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment Apache flies above the trees at Rodriguez Range on Monday. (Seth Robson / S&S)
A 3-6 Apache waits for fuel and ammunition at a Forward Arming and Refueling Point. (Seth Robson / S&S)
A 3-6 soldier from ducks under an Apache helicopter. (Seth Robson / S&S)
Stars and Stripes Mideast edition
Thursday, November 3, 2005
For the second time in a week, American warplanes launched air strikes on suspected insurgent targets in and around the city of Husaybah, officials said Wednesday.
The targets were “several safe houses ... one terror leader ... and an IED cell in the act of emplacing roadside bombs,” according to a U.S. military news release.
One of the strikes was aimed at Abu Asim, reputed to be an al- Qaida in Iraq operative whose role was assisting and arming foreign fighters in Iraq. Abu Asim had recently taken over for another operative reportedly killed by U.S. air strikes in the city.
“Sources report that Asim had contacts across the border in Syria who would arrange the smuggling of foreign fighters and suicide bombers into the Husaybah and al Qaim region,” the release read.
U.S. and Iraqi officials have repeatedly said weapons, fighters and money have poured across the Syria-Iraq border to the west, and then distributed throughout Iraq.
Wednesday’s air strikes were carried out after U.S. forces acted on “multiple intelligence sources and tips from local citizens,” officials said.
The second suspected safe house was occupied by an alleged al Qaida in Iraq operative and several other insurgents, military officials said. During that strike, forward air controllers observed a group of men planting a roadside bomb; another air strike was called in.
“Sources indicated that, following the air strikes, surviving terrorists from neighboring houses retrieved the bodies of six terrorists killed during the attack. They moved them into a nearby school in an apparent attempt to hide their losses,” the military claimed.
By Fred Zimmerman - Stars and Stripes Pacific edition
Thursday, November 3, 2005
KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — An F-15C from the 67th Fighter Squadron here lost part of the leading edge of its left horizontal stabilizer (tail wing), during a routine training mission Tuesday, Kadena officials announced via a news release.
The incident occurred around 10:30 a.m. over water about 115 miles northwest of Okinawa in the training area dubbed W-179, the release stated. Kadena officials say the loss of the leading edge didn’t affect the aircraft’s stability, and the pilot didn’t experience any aircraft control problems.
The affected pilot’s wingman performed an in-flight visual check to identify the problem. The aircraft took an over-water approach to return to Kadena and landed without problem at approximately 10:50 a.m. Officials said at no time was the local community in danger.
By Tuesday afternoon, maintenance officials had determined the in-flight emergency’s cause: “water incursion into the left horizontal stabilizer,” a base spokeswoman stated in an e-mail. The maintenance personnel determined the water froze and expanded at high altitude, causing part of the stabilizer’s leading edge to break away under the heavy stresses, or ‘g’ loads, that basic fighter maneuvers place upon fighter aircraft.
The spokeswoman stated that maneuvers requiring high ‘g’ loads occur only in training areas far off Okinawa and that normal flight produces too little stress to cause the problem.
She also stated that in-flight visual checks are required after every training mission, and pilots inspect each aircraft prior to departing the training ranges. If any structural problems are noticed, pilots conduct a “standard phased” return to Kadena, which includes decreasing air speed, conducting controllability checks and avoiding populated areas by approaching over water.
The maintenance officials stated the stabilizer could be replaced in about four or five hours, and the aircraft would ready to support Wednesday F-15 training.
And the communist US SINators are doing everything they can to assist the terrorists!
Bump
Hey Gucho - any idea when that photo of the President and Ridge was taken? I particularly like the words above their heads. "WE WILL NOT FAIL."
Okay - thanks!
Al-Qaida claims candidate kidnapping
From correspondents in Dubai
November 03, 2005
AL-Qaida's branch in Iraq claims to have kidnapped a parliamentary candidate and her Iraqi army colonel husband.
"Our brothers in the military branch of the al-Qaida Organization in Mesopotamia on Tuesday captured Issam Khaza'al, a colonel in the Iraqi army, and his wife Majida Yussef Sael, a member of the consultative committee... and a candidate on Allawi's list for the elections," the group said in a message posted on an Islamist website yesterday.
Former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has set up his own list to fight the December general elections, touting it as non-ethnic and non-secular and so better able to preserve the country's unity.
The al-Qaida group, led in Iraq by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said the couple were questioned then placed before an Islamic tribunal to decide their fate.
The website included a photograph of an identity document from the army colonel.
In another statement, the group said it had executed an Iraqi named Falah Issa Zidane, who worked at a US military base.
"Rana had been released after saying he had long stopped working for the crusaders but went back on his word," the statement said.
The same group had announced on the internet on Tuesday that it would release two Moroccan embassy workers who were kidnapped last month
Jordanian-born militant Zarqawi heads al-Qaida's branch in Iraq and was the country's most wanted fugitive with a $US25 million ($33 million) bounty on his head.
His group was blamed for some of the bloodiest attacks against Iraqi and US forces and the country's empowered majority Shiites.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17127112-23109,00.html
Soldiers search for missing Ohio reservist in Iraq
Tue, Nov. 01, 2005
Associated Press
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Members of a U.S. Army unit have been spending their time searching for an Ohio soldier missing in Iraq for more than a year.
To the troops of the Army's 10th Mountain Division, finding Army Reserve Sgt. Keith "Matt" Maupin of Batavia, Ohio, has become a quest that defines their values as soldiers.
"He needs to go home to his family," First Sgt. Joseph Sanford told an Iraq-based reporter for The Post-Standard of Syracuse, N.Y. "And there needs to be closure for his family. Those are the two things we're trying to bring: closure to his family, and a way to send this young man home."
Maupin has been missing since April 9, 2004, when his fuel truck convoy was ambushed by insurgents west of Baghdad after leaving camp. A week later, Arab television network Al-Jazeera released a videotape showing Maupin sitting on the floor surrounded by five masked men holding automatic rifles.
That June, Al-Jazeera released another tape purporting to show a U.S. soldier being shot. But the tape was dark and grainy and showed only the back of the victim's head, and did not show the actual shooting.
The Army ruled it inconclusive, saying it could not determine if the man was Maupin or even if it was an American soldier.
The Army lists Maupin as "missing-captured."
"We will not stop looking," Army spokeswoman Maj. Elizabeth Robbins said Tuesday.
Thirty-two members of the Fort Drum, N.Y.-based unit spent seven hours Saturday inching over terrain, overturning rocks and probing bushes on a stretch of land between two highways in the Abu Ghraib section west of Baghdad.
A tip had suggested that Maupin's body might be there, so they parceled the tract into sections and moved systematically through them. It was the third day of searching the area.
They had dug 45 holes and bagged and tagged 10 items that could hold the answers to Maupin's fate, including a scrap of military clothing. Each will be shipped to a lab for analysis.
"The physical search is the key," said Sanford, 38, a native of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. "It's all hands-on. It's picking up every rock, it's looking under every bush, it's turning over every piece of clothing or trash that we find out there."
Sanford cited the Warrior Ethos, in which a soldier vows never to leave a comrade behind.
"When it all comes down to it, it's about the man on your left and the man on your right," Sanford said. "It's all about protecting their flanks and making sure they get home."
Sgt. Bryan Hatfield, 27, of Oklahoma City, said hope of finding Maupin keeps him searching.
"We may go out there day after day, time after time, scouring the grounds ... then comes that one time, you might find something, and it'll be worth it," Hatfield said. "The hope is always there that, yeah, he could be here. So I'll go and look."
The search was welcome news to Maupin's father, Keith.
"It makes me feel better to know they are looking," he told The Cincinnati Enquirer on Monday night. "I believe they were looking the whole time, but they don't say much, they always say it's classified."
Keith Maupin said his Army contact told him it wasn't yet known if anything found was connected to his son. "But we remain hopeful and pray for the best," he said.
Sanford said he will continue to look for Maupin as long as he is deployed in Iraq.
"I never met Sergeant Maupin, but I've looked at his picture, and I've read the reports about him," Sanford said. "He's got a family. He's got a mother and a father, and they love him, and they want him to come home. His parents haven't given up, and I don't think we have the right to."
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/13047892.htm
Thu Nov 3, 2005 - 8:32 AM ET
DUBAI (Reuters) - The al Qaeda group in Iraq said on Thursday it shot down a U.S. helicopter in Ramadi on Wednesday, according to an Internet statement.
"Your brothers in the military wing of al Qaeda in Iraq brought down a Super Cobra helicopter in Ramadi with a rocket," said the brief statement issued on a Web site often used by Iraqi insurgents.
Two U.S. Marines were killed when their Super Cobra helicopter crashed around Ramadi west of Baghdad on Wednesday, the U.S. military said.
The cause of the crash was under investigation but witnesses reported it had come under fire from the ground.
U.S. forces have conducted a series of offensives in western Iraq to choke off what they say is a supply route for foreign fighters coming through Syria into Iraq to fuel the insurgency.
© Reuters 2005
Thu Nov 3, 2005 - 11:31 AM ET
By Adam Entous and James Vicini
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney's former aide, Lewis Libby, pleaded innocent on Thursday to charges stemming from the CIA leak probe, setting the stage for a politically damaging trial that could put a spotlight on the White House's use of prewar intelligence on Iraq.
"With respect, your honor, I plead not guilty," Libby told federal Judge Reggie Walton after being asked what plea he would enter to the charges during a 10-minute arraignment.
Walton, who did not schedule a trial date, set the next hearing in the case for a full status hearing on February 3.
Cheney and other top White House officials could be called to testify at a trial and Libby faces a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison.
Libby resigned last week as Cheney's longtime chief of staff after he was indicted on five counts of obstructing justice, perjury and lying in the two-year investigation into the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.
Plame's identity was leaked to the media in July 2003 after her diplomat husband, Joseph Wilson, accused the Bush administration of twisting intelligence on weapons of mass destruction to justify the war in Iraq.
Before any trial, Libby could still try to cut a deal with special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald on lesser charges, lawyers involved in the case said.
President George W. Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, was not indicted on Friday along with Libby. But lawyers involved in the case said Rove remained under investigation and may still be charged in the case. Fitzgerald is expected to inform Rove of his decision in coming weeks.
Libby's indictment was a damaging blow to the White House, which was already reeling from the mounting U.S. death toll in the Iraq war, the bungled response to Hurricane Katrina and the withdrawal of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers under fire from Bush's conservative power base.
PROMINENT LAWYER
Hours before his arraignment, Libby brought in prominent criminal defense lawyer Theodore Wells, according to court documents.
Wells, who is known for his trial work, has defended former Agriculture Secretary Michael Espy, former Labor Secretary Raymond Donovan, former Sen. Robert Torricelli and financier Michael Milken.
Libby also brought in Washington lawyer William Jeffress, who is also known for white-collar criminal defense work.
Libby walked into the courthouse near the U.S. Capitol using crutches because of a foot injury. His wife whispered in his ear and gave him a light pat on the bottom before Libby took his chair and the judge entered the courtroom.
After the hearing, Libby was taken for processing, a procedure in which defendants typically are fingerprinted and have their photograph taken, a courthouse source said.
Fitzgerald estimated that it would take his team of prosecutors about two weeks to present its case at trial.
Before any trial, Jeffress told the judge that there "may be protracted litigation" about classified information and First Amendment issues. He did not elaborate.
After the hearing, Jeffress declined to say how long a trial might take. "It's too early to say," he told reporters. "I'm not worried about anything at this point."
Wells added, with a touch of irony in his voice in commenting on the estimate by Fitzgerald, "Two week trial.
OK."
Libby waived his right to a speedy trial, and Wells during the hearing called it a "complex case." He said the earliest the defense team would get clearance for classified material will be in 60 days, and then they will start to go through a "significant volume of documents."
The judge said he wanted the case resolved as expeditiously as possible.
© Reuters 2005
Bush to Visit Latin American Nations
11/3/05
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - President Bush and the thousands of demonstrators protesting his visit to Argentina that will begin Thursday have a common goal of reducing poverty, but the test for Bush will be whether he can convince others in the hemisphere to support his solution.
Bush says nations can band together to create jobs through free trade but he needs to overcome tough resistance from other nations in the Americas. Working to resolve their differences will be a major thrust of his first trip to Argentina, Brazil and Panama.
It'll be a tough sell. He hasn't been able to achieve a Western Hemisphere trade agreement, thousands of anti-American demonstrators have gathered for his arrival Thursday and leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is waiting to challenge him on the issue at the Summit of the Americas.
Bush, Chavez and leaders of 32 other nations are gathering in the seaside resort of Mar del Plata, Argentina, for the summit that begins Friday. Chavez has indicated he plans to lead a "final burial" of Bush's plan for a giant free trade area that would include all countries in the Western Hemisphere except Cuba.
Bush acknowledged this week that the Free Trade Area of the Americas, once one of his highest trade priorities. But Bush said he is still committed to free trade as a way to lift people out of poverty.
"Grants and loans pale in comparison to the amount of good that can be done as commerce develops at all levels of government, at all levels of society, as a result of trade," Bush said Tuesday in an interview with Latin American journalists.
While Bush appeared resigned to the obstacles stopping the FTAA, he said he is shifting his focus to world trade talks. Those negotiations also are being held up by thorny farm trade policies, which Bush acknowledged is a very difficult issue.
Chavez is trying to use his disagreements with Bush to boost his profile internationally. The constant critic of the "imperialist" U.S. government that he claims is plotting to kill him or overthrow his government has praised plans for massive anti-Bush protests that organizers hope will draw 50,000 to the streets outside the summit.
Chavez said the street marches will mark the demise of the Free Trade Area of the Americas. "I'm sure it will be a historic event because it's the final burial of the FTAA," Chavez told the Venezuelan TV channel Telesur.
Chavez said the United States is trying to include an article in a summit declaration to revive the FTAA. He said some other South American countries wanted to recognize the FTAA effort for diplomatic reasons, but he would object if they do.
Chavez and his close ally, Cuban leader Fidel Castro, contend Bush's proposal would help large U.S. companies at the expense of Latin American workers. They have instead proposed a trade pact based on socialist ideals.
"The left is back, and it's the only path we have to get out of the spot to which the right has sunken us," Chavez said. "Socialism builds and capitalism destroys."
National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said Wednesday that although differences between Chavez and Bush are getting attention from the press, they are nothing new and that "this summit, is not about Hugo Chavez."
"The purpose of the summit is for democratically elected leaders to get together and reaffirm the fact that there is really a shared vision for the hemisphere that is based on democracy and free markets and free trade," said Hadley.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051103/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_latin_america_9
Bush to Visit Latin American Nations
11/3/05
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - President Bush and the thousands of demonstrators protesting his visit to Argentina that will begin Thursday have a common goal of reducing poverty, but the test for Bush will be whether he can convince others in the hemisphere to support his solution.
Bush says nations can band together to create jobs through free trade but he needs to overcome tough resistance from other nations in the Americas. Working to resolve their differences will be a major thrust of his first trip to Argentina, Brazil and Panama.
It'll be a tough sell. He hasn't been able to achieve a Western Hemisphere trade agreement, thousands of anti-American demonstrators have gathered for his arrival Thursday and leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is waiting to challenge him on the issue at the Summit of the Americas.
Bush, Chavez and leaders of 32 other nations are gathering in the seaside resort of Mar del Plata, Argentina, for the summit that begins Friday. Chavez has indicated he plans to lead a "final burial" of Bush's plan for a giant free trade area that would include all countries in the Western Hemisphere except Cuba.
Bush acknowledged this week that the Free Trade Area of the Americas, once one of his highest trade priorities. But Bush said he is still committed to free trade as a way to lift people out of poverty.
"Grants and loans pale in comparison to the amount of good that can be done as commerce develops at all levels of government, at all levels of society, as a result of trade," Bush said Tuesday in an interview with Latin American journalists.
While Bush appeared resigned to the obstacles stopping the FTAA, he said he is shifting his focus to world trade talks. Those negotiations also are being held up by thorny farm trade policies, which Bush acknowledged is a very difficult issue.
Chavez is trying to use his disagreements with Bush to boost his profile internationally. The constant critic of the "imperialist" U.S. government that he claims is plotting to kill him or overthrow his government has praised plans for massive anti-Bush protests that organizers hope will draw 50,000 to the streets outside the summit.
Chavez said the street marches will mark the demise of the Free Trade Area of the Americas. "I'm sure it will be a historic event because it's the final burial of the FTAA," Chavez told the Venezuelan TV channel Telesur.
Chavez said the United States is trying to include an article in a summit declaration to revive the FTAA. He said some other South American countries wanted to recognize the FTAA effort for diplomatic reasons, but he would object if they do.
Chavez and his close ally, Cuban leader Fidel Castro, contend Bush's proposal would help large U.S. companies at the expense of Latin American workers. They have instead proposed a trade pact based on socialist ideals.
"The left is back, and it's the only path we have to get out of the spot to which the right has sunken us," Chavez said. "Socialism builds and capitalism destroys."
National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said Wednesday that although differences between Chavez and Bush are getting attention from the press, they are nothing new and that "this summit, is not about Hugo Chavez."
"The purpose of the summit is for democratically elected leaders to get together and reaffirm the fact that there is really a shared vision for the hemisphere that is based on democracy and free markets and free trade," said Hadley.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051103/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_latin_america_9
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