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FALLUJAH — Marines geared for war walk in tactical columns through the once mean streets of Fallujah, ready for what may lay around the next corner. “Mister, mister shokalata! Shokalata!”shout exuberant children from a crowded neighborhood as Marines and Iraqi police pass out candy. Marines with Company B, Police Transition Team 8, Regimental Combat Team 1, have been working diligently over the past few months to help train Iraqi police to take over their respective areas and become self-supportive in day-to-day operations in the city. Recent increases in the number of Iraqi police have drastically subdued the violence in the...

CAMP TAJI — Technicians are modifying M1-A2 Abrams tanks to make them more effective in the dense, urban Baghdad environment. For Multi-National Division – Baghdad tankers in the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division these equipment modifications are taking place in the form of the Tank Urban Survival Kit being added to their M1-A2 Abrams tanks. In each of the Striker Brigade’s two previous deployments it operated in more rural areas of Diyala and Salah al-Din provinces. These TUSK additions include an increase to the Soldiers’ safety and the tanks’ effectiveness in operations in this area north of Baghdad....

BAGHDAD, Feb. 13, 2008 – Abas Rashed lives in Arab Jabour, 20 miles southeast of the Iraqi capital, and is a member of the local “Sons of Iraq” security group made up of local residents. He patrols the streets of his community and watches for insurgent activities, he said, because he knows the damage insurgents can do firsthand. Yassen Kodaier Hussein (left), a Sunni living in Arab Jabour, Iraq, and Abas Rashed (center), a member of the local “Sons of Iraq” citizen security group, talk with Alex, an interpreter from the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment,...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29, 2007 – The Baghdad 5 embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team, attached to the 1st “Ironhorse” Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, is closely coordinating with the Inma Agribusiness Program to work with Iraqi farmers in the region here. A local sheik meets with Edgar Ariza-Nino (center) and Robert Dose (right), Inma Agribusiness Program coordinators, during a tour of the market in Taji, Iraq, Nov. 27, 2007. The Inma program was established to stimulate and support agricultural business expansion and help the region become self-sustaining. Photo by Tech. Sgt. William Greer, USAF  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available....

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9, 2007 – Ongoing training efforts, pay reforms and weeding out corrupt individuals have improved the image and performance of Afghanistan’s police, a senior U.S. military officer said today. Today the Afghan police are being successful against the Taliban, Army Brig. Gen. Robert E. Livingston Jr., commander of Joint Task Force Phoenix VI, told Pentagon reporters from Afghanistan during a satellite-carried news conference. Reports filed last year of police stations being overrun by Taliban terrorists is old news, said Livingston, a National Guard officer from South Carolina who has held his current command since May. His task force...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 2007 – The senior leaders of Iraq’s national police are making progress in reforming and improving the country’s law enforcement body, the commander of the Civilian Police Assistance Training Team said today. During a news conference in Baghdad, Army Maj. Gen. Michael Jones told reporters he’s “very impressed” by Iraq’s national police corps’ progress, spurred on by a recent reform program and training regimen overseen by Italian paramilitaries. “It’s actually quite gratifying to see the considerable change and the progress that’s been made,” Jones said of the roughly 27,000-strong force. The National Police Reform Program established by...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2007 – Violence in Iraq’s Diyala River Valley has been slashed in half thanks to citizen volunteers, a coalition commander said today. “Currently in Diyala, we have 4,000 local citizens who have decided to reject al Qaeda and other extremist organizations as well as militia, and they’re now helping in the protection of their own neighborhoods,” Army Col. David Sutherland told online journalists and “bloggers” during a conference call from Forward Operating Base Warhorse near Baqouba, Iraq. Sutherland commands the 3rd “Greywolf” Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, deployed from Fort Hood, Texas, and assigned to Multinational...

LEBANON, N.H. - Hillary Rodham Clinton promised Thursday that as president she would improve health care quality by raising standards for providers, educating patients and requiring insurers to reward innovation. While rivals Barack Obama and John Edwards have proposed detailed health care overhaul plans, Clinton is taking an incremental approach. She started with a speech in June on reducing costs, followed by Thursday's address on quality, and will outline her plan for universal health care coverage next month. "My order here is deliberate," said Clinton, a New York senator. "In order to forge a consensus on universal health care, we...

WASHINGTON, July 16, 2007 – Local trust in Iraq security forces is leading to a record number of seizures of weapons caches throughout the country, a spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq said during a press conference yesterday. For example, more than 500 villagers outside the new security outpost near Taji have formed a grassroots movement to run al Qaeda out of the community, said Navy Rear Adm. Mark Fox. Since the outpost was established June 24, neighborhood watch groups have made reports resulting in the discovery of four caches of mortar rounds, makeshift mortar tubes and improvised explosive device timers,...

WASHINGTON, April 5, 2007 – Tangible gains in Baghdad’s security situation have been made possible in part by the cooperation of vastly improved Iraqi security forces, a coalition spokesman said yesterday. Army Maj. Gen. William Caldwell IV, Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, said that with 50 out of 75 planned U.S.-Iraqi joint security stations and combat outposts already in place throughout the Iraqi capital, the sustained, neighborhood-level presence is leading to an “effect that we can actually see.” Speaking from Baghdad to a group of online journalists, Caldwell pointed to a decrease in the number of sectarian murders and assassinations,...

WASHINGTON, March 5, 2007 – Traumatic brain injury, the signature wound of a conflict punctuated by daily bomb attacks on coalition forces and Iraqi civilians, is receiving increased emphasis from Defense Department leaders and the military medical community. DoD has made great strides in treating severe traumatic brain injuries -- those with obvious symptoms like open head trauma or loss of consciousness -- but the challenge lies in better identifying and treating mild brain injury, two top officials in the DoD health care community said. These mild injuries, which can be caused by repeated concussions or indirect exposure to...

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's head of migration on Tuesday pledged to improve the agency's detention centers in response to criticism that Mexico fails to give Central American immigrants the same respect it demands for its own citizens in the United States. Cecilia Romero Castillo, who said many of Mexico's 48 detention centers lack adequate personnel, supplies, medical care and social services, announced a plan to install doctor's offices in 16 centers, upgrade facilities and improve staff training. Romero also said the agency will no longer use jails as detention centers and will fire any supervisor found violating the rules. The...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 2006 -- The improvements in the Iraqi security forces over the next six months will be dramatic, Army Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey said today. Dempsey, the commander of Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq, spoke via teleconference from Baghdad. He said the Iraqi security forces will reach their manning goals this month. But the quality of the soldiers and police will increase as more intensified training kicks in. “There are lead times in procurements and things and even in training, and those things will come to fruition here in the first six months of this next year,”...

ERBIL, Iraq, Oct. 25, 2006 – Law enforcement is one of most urgently needed careers in Iraq, a country rife with insurgent, sectarian and criminal violence. The rush to recruit, train and equip the new Iraqi police forces has gone hand in hand with renovating facilities for offices, headquarters, and training centers, U.S. officials here said. Since conflict began in Iraq in 2003, fatalities among police officers, many of these rookies or men still cueing to enlist, have topped 4,000. One leader in the drive to build an effective Iraqi police force since 2004 is the Air Force Center for...

Two Iraqi girls pose with stuffed animals they received after being treated at the Civil Military Operations Center clinic on the Radwaniya Palace Complex. Photo taken by Spc. Allison Churchill, Fires Brigade, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs. CAMP LIBERTY — In the midst of moving barriers and taking part in other logistics missions throughout Baghdad, Soldiers from one support brigade are working on leaving a personal impression on Iraqi citizens. The Soldiers from 589th Brigade Support Battalion, Fires Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, have collected and delivered clothes, toys and other items to the clinic at the Civil Military Operations Center...

MOSUL, Iraq (Army News Service, Aug. 21, 2006) – Three towns west of Mosul in northern Iraq are benefiting from several newly completed projects as a result of cooperation between local leadership, and members of the 403rd Civil Affairs Battalion. Local contractors completed construction of a new courthouse for the citizens of Sununi on Aug. 7. The month-long project employed 35 local workers and is expected to make the adjudication of laws easier for the judges in the Sunini sub-district by providing a place for judges to meet and hear cases. When inspecting the work, coalition force personnel assessed the...

The Sulaminiyah province is the last province in Iraq to complete the $161 million border fort construction project funded by Coalition forces. Story by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt Lucia NewmanMulti-National Security Transition Command - Iraq BAGHDAD -- Iraqi forces believe that in order to secure whatÂ’s on the inside, you have to secure whatÂ’s on the outside. IraqÂ’s border forts have been constructed to do just that. According to the Department of Border Enforcement, the forts are in place to deter, disrupt and interdict cross-border movement of contraband, illegal aliens and insurgent support. U.S. Army Lt. Col. Theodore...

Chief Boatswain’s Mate Brian Cissell gives an Iraqi boy some candy. BAGHDAD -- “We’re making a difference, one project at a time,” says a Navy man who is finishing a six-month tour deployed to one of Iraq’s most dangerous areas. “I’m proud of what we were able to accomplish as we worked side-by-side with some truly remarkable and courageous Iraqi people.” Chief Boatswain’s Mate Brian Cissell was responsible for overseeing 55 projects in an area in south Baghdad province, referred to by many as the “Triangle of Death.” He was involved in four separate improvised explosive device detonations. He...

Friday, 04 August 2006 Story and photos by Spc. Jason Dangel4th Infantry Division Iraqi Police from the Doura Police Station and Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers patrol the Doura Market in southern Baghdad on July 25. BAGHDAD – The clamor and the hustle of a Baghdad market is common throughout the city as hundreds of citizens crowd the local streets to purchase necessities for their homes. The thriving venues of vendors are comparable to a mall, with consumers waiting in line to purchase an array of fresh produce, clothing, electronics or other commodities. But here, in a small market...

Iraqi soldiers take the lead during a patrol with U.S. Marines Saturday in Barwanah. Department of Defense photo by Sgt. Roe F. Seigle. BAGHDAD -- Marines in Barwanah, Iraq, say they are making notable progress equipping the Iraqi army with the skills to take over security operations in this city of 30,000 nestled along the Euphrates River northwest of Baghdad. Less than a month ago the Iraqi soldiers and Marines formed a mounted mobile assault platoon, or MAP, capable of responding quickly to enemy attacks against Coalition forces on foot patrols. The new platoon proved to be a big step...

FOB KALSU, Iraq (Army News Service, July 17, 2006) – Living conditions at Forward Operating Base Kalsu, Iraq, continue to improve with the work of Soldiers from Company C, 62nd Engineer Battalion and 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. Under construction are a brigade tactical operations center, two battalion headquarters and four additional buildings capable of holding up to 16 companies. The structures will provide workspace for more than 2,500 Soldiers moving to the FOB from Najaf’s Forward Operating Base Duke this fall. “These new work spaces are cost efficient compared to the tents and old buildings we have...

More National Guard troops went to work Friday on the Arizona-Mexico border, all part of Operation: Jumpstart. Right now, there are about 750 troops working in Arizona. About 300 are from Arizona and another 150 are from New York. 200 just went to work Friday from Kentucky. News 4's Lupita Murillo was there, and shows us just how these fresh troops are helping the Border Patrol. -------------- We're just east of an area known as Smugglers Gulch and this is where members of the Kentucky National Guard are building a road. The 206th Engineer Battallion is clearing the way for...

U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Brett Bartels hands out toys to children in a market in Barwana, in western Iraq, June 15, 2006. Multinational Force-Iraq photo by Sgt. Roe F. Seigle Marines’ Goal: Gain Trust, Improve Community The Marines' "gifts for grades" incentive encourages Iraqi schoolchildren to earn good grades. By U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Roe F. Seigle 1st Marine Division BARWANA, Iraq, June 28, 2006 -- As U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Brett Bartels stood in front of a military vehicle handing out hundreds of stuffed animals and soccer balls on a road in Barwana, his goal was simple -...

U.S. soldiers from Company D, 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, supervise Iraqi police officers as they plot grid coordinates on a map at the Mussayyib Iraqi police headquarters, June 12, 2006. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Edgar Reyes U.S. Troops Help Iraqi Police Improve Map Skills The block of instruction was used as refresher training to supplement the map reading course taken by the Iraqi police during their initial training at the Iraqi police Academy. By U.S. Army Spc. Edgar Reyes 2nd Brigade Combat Team 4th Infantry Division FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU,...

Iraqi Troops’ Mortar Know-How to Improve Security Iraqi soldiers guarding a key checkpoint will be able to respond more effectively to nighttime insurgent attacks, as mortar fire will provide needed illumination on the desert floor. By U.S. Army Spc. Lee Elder 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment MUQDADIYAH, Iraq, June 6, 2006 — Iraqi army soldiers guarding a key checkpoint here will soon be able to fight fire with fire - mortar fire, that is. To ensure Iraqi soldiers with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 5th Division know how to use these weapons, U.S. soldiers assigned to C Company, 1st Squadron,...

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio, May 16, 2006 – The U.S. Air Force recently awarded a $180-million contract to the Boeing Company to upgrade the fire-control radar on the service's fleet of 67 B-1B long-range bomber aircraft. The nine-year Reliability and Maintainability Improvement Program, or RMIP, will replace two, high-failure rate line-replaceable units that make up the current AN/APQ-164 radar system in an effort to improve its R&M performance.According to U.S. Air Force Col. Paul Clark, commander of the B-1 Systems Group at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, the RMIP System Development and Demonstration is the first significant radar...

The Al Jwahiri High School in Saab al Bour, Iraq, held its grand opening, as part of a continuing effort to improve the community. The high school and the Taha Hussen Primary School, also in Saab al Bour, have undergone $790,000 worth of refurbishing. U.S. Army photo by Maj. Dave Olson Joint Effort Works to Improve Saab al Bour Saab al Bour is getting an extreme makeover from the Iraqi army, locals and Multinational Division–Baghdad soldiers. By U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Brent Hunt 1st Brigade Combat Team 4th Infantry Division CAMP TAJI, Iraq, May 2, 2006 — Iraqi...

/26/2006 - FORWARD OPERATING BASE MAREZ, Iraq (AFPN) -- In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, Airmen from the 332d Air Expeditionary Wing are using their construction expertise to help the U.S. and Iraqi governments and the U.S. Army. The 557th Expeditionary Red Horse Squadron is deployed in support of the Army's 555th Combat Support Brigade (Maneuver Enhancement) here. Red Horse stands for Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operations Repair Squadron Engineer. "Red Horse is a heavy construction outfit that directly supports combat air power worldwide," said Senior Master Sgt. Brian Richardson, Red Horse airfields manager. "They provide air component commanders...

4/3/2006 - MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan (AFPN) -- Airmen are working to improve the lives of patients at two Bishkek medical facilities. Last week, volunteers from the Manas Air Base Outreach Society, or MABOS, visited patients in a children’s heart ward and a burn unit in medical centers in Bishkek. They delivered donated medical supplies, linen, toys and treats for the children. They also met with doctors to make arrangements for helping improve capabilities for the long term; paid for a doctor’s advanced training from the heart ward, and worked toward creating an in-house rehabilitation training program and improving medical...

WASHINGTON, March 29, 2006 – The Defense Department is working on ways to use technology to save lives on the battlefield, and has created a full scholarship program to increase its talent pool of scientists, engineers and mathematicians, a top official said here recently. During DoD's Women's History Month observance at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial here earlier this month, Sue C. Payton, DoD's deputy undersecretary for advanced systems and concepts, spoke of technologies provided by "the best and brightest female scientists and engineers in DoD and the world." She noted that "dozens of exceptional women scientists...

NORFOLK, Va., March 23, 2006 – The concept of a standing joint force headquarters core element is proving its value in Iraq and elsewhere around the world, senior officers at U.S. Joint Forces Command said. The standing joint force headquarters seemed revolutionary to many when Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld approved it five years ago. Since then, officials said, the concept has contributed to the military's speed in responding to disasters along the U.S. Gulf Coast and in Pakistan, and the nearly transparent transfer of authority from one Army corps to another in Multinational Force Iraq. The headquarters core elements...

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – (Army News Service, March 7, 2006) – To an American Soldier, stepping into Mollai is like stepping back in time -- mud huts with no indoor plumbing or electricity, built into the side of a mountain across from their main source of water – a mountain stream. This is everyday life for the people of Mollai, a small village in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. Mollai is made up of six small hamlets that are self-sustaining but life is still far from easy. While the villagers have their own water resources, agriculture, religion and educational system,...

3/2/2006 - KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. (AFPN) -- In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, people here don’t take things like electricity, drinking water, housing, offices and plumbing for granted. Thanks to a team effort, each day brings improvements in base infrastructure, facilities and utilities, as the base braces for the next hurricane season. “Infrastructure is the blood and guts of the base,” said Maj. Jeff Szatanek, 81st Civil Engineer Squadron Operations Flight commander. Alfred Watkins, base infrastructure manager, described the challenges civil engineers faced both during and after Katrina’s fury struck Keesler nearly six months ago. “When the base...

Police inquiries into Islamic threat must improve, says Clarke By Duncan Gardham (Filed: 10/02/2006) Charles Clarke accepted yesterday that there had been a "lack of confidence" in the case against the radical cleric Abu Hamza and pledged to improve the way the police conducted investigations. The Home Secretary's remarks followed a claim by his predecessor, David Blunkett, that he had been accused by police and security services of exaggerating the threat posed by Hamza. The former imam of Finsbury Park Mosque in north London was jailed for seven years this week for incitement to murder, stirring up racial hatred and...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2006 – Humanitarian efforts continue in Afghanistan as coalition forces helped remove snow from impassable roads and built "hygiene facilities" at a small school. In addition, international diplomats visited a provincial reconstruction team Jan. 21. U.S. troops from Task Force Sword have stepped in to help clear roads that are nearly impossible because of snow and ice, Combined Forces Command Afghanistan officials said. "It's a joint effort between the (U.S.) military, Afghan government and contractors hired by the provincial reconstruction teams," Lt. Col. Jud Cook, Task Force Sword deputy commander, said today. This joint team has successfully...

Signal Soldiers Improve Lines of Communication The 44th Signal Detachment, with some help from local Afghans, work to construct a new cable network on Forward Operating Base Salerno. By U.S. Sgt. 1st Class Curtis Matsushige Task Force Devil Public Affairs FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan, Dec. 6, 2005 — Can you hear a pin drop over the phone lines here? No, not quite, but soon you may be able to. U.S. Army soldiers assigned to the 44th Signal Detachment are digging deep into the earth to improve the lines of communication on Forward Operating Base Salerno by protecting cable...

WASHINGTON - A private commission trying to restore public confidence in national elections recommended on Monday requiring a free photo ID for voters, drawing opposition from Democrats and some voting rights activists. Critics suggested that having to acquire the ID cards in order to vote could be an obstacle for minorities, the poor and older Americans and might intimidate some people. "We believe such a requirement would constitute nothing less than a 21st century poll tax," said a letter from Reps. John Conyers, D-Mich., and John Lewis, D-Ga. Poll taxes were once used in some states to prevent black citizens...

ITOMAN, OKINAWA, Japan (Aug. 15, 2005) -- Twenty-six students from 3rd Material Readiness Battalion, 3rd Force Service Support Group's corporals course volunteered their time to make some improvements at Tai Chu En orphanage Aug. 2. The Marines painted a mural of a landscape on a wall that is 6 feet tall and 35 feet long, cleared a 6 feet wide strip of sugar cane from the wall with gas-powered trimmer garden tools and played with the orphans. The orphanage has more than 100 residents and was established 23 years ago. It is named after a Buddhist monk who brought Buddhism...

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - During a tour of the U.S. prison for suspected terrorists on Saturday, House Republicans and Democrats, including one who has advocated closing the facility, said the United States has made progress in improving conditions and protecting detainees' rights. The U.S. lawmakers witnessed interrogations, toured cellblocks and ate the same lunch given to detainees on the first congressional visit to the prison for suspected terrorists since criticism of it intensified in the spring. A Senate delegation also was visiting this weekend. "The Guantanamo we saw today is not the Guantanamo we heard about a few...

MOSCOW, April 29 (RIA Novosti) - The federal Agriculture and Regional Development ministries are eager to modernize the Russian countryside. Vladimir Yakovlev, Regional Development Minister, and Alexei Gordeyev, Agriculture Minister, attended today's conference on the concepts of rural settlement development. Pilot projects will be launched in several parts of Russia next year for up-to-date villages to rise, said Mr. Gordeyev as he was summing up the conference for the media. The efforts will base in the Non-Black-Earth Belt in European Russia's heartland, in Siberia and the Russian Far East, he added. "We want to pool in the two ministries' efforts...

JERUSALEM (AP) - The new Palestinian leadership has embraced nonviolence, deployed police to keep the peace in Gaza and won pledges from militants to halt attacks on Israel. Israel has promised to release hundreds of prisoners, stop offensive military operations and gradually pull out of five West Bank towns. While still characterized by great distrust, Israeli-Palestinian relations are improving dramatically ahead of Tuesday's historic summit between Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas' landslide election last month as Palestinian Authority president, Sharon's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, growing fatigue on both sides, and - perhaps most important of all -...

<p>One of Reagan's Reinecke-boosting actions was to create a new Commission on Economic Development, make Reinecke the chairman, and charge the commission with securing the nascent Space Shuttle project for California.</p> <p>Reinecke not only didn't become governor, he didn't even last as lieutenant governor, becoming entwined, rather foolishly, in one tentacle of the Watergate scandal. But the Commission on Economic Development has continued as an adjunct of the lieutenant governor's office, performing no vital function but giving the occupant of the office some extra expense money and some political staff slots.</p>

Oversleeping 'can improve brain power' People who regularly oversleep now have a perfect excuse for being late for work, scientists have found. A study found that sleep appears to boost creativity. The discovery helps explain why "sleeping on it" often helps us solve unfathomable problems. Volunteers were asked to carry out a task which involved cracking a code made of strings of eight numbers. The German scientists found that after sleeping, participants were twice as likely to work out a rule that enabled the solution to be found much more quickly. They wrote in the journal Nature that sleep restructures...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryAugust 30, 2003 President's Radio Address      Audio THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. On this Labor Day weekend, Americans pay tribute to the spirit of hard work and enterprise that has always made this nation strong. Every day, our workers go to factories and offices and farms and produce the world's finest goods and services. Their creativity and energy are the greatest advantage of the American economy. Worker productivity accelerated last year at the fastest rate in more than a half century. This higher productivity means our workers receive higher wages, our nation's exports get a...

PORTO CARRAS, Greece (AP) - European leaders must reach out beyond New York and Washington and tell the American heartland about ``our brand of democracy'' to improve Europe's image in the United States, according to a memorandum submitted for discussion at the European Union summit. The memorandum, obtained by The Associated Press, will be submitted Friday by Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou to the 15 EU leaders and those of the 10 countries set to join next year. Greece holds the current rotating EU presidency. The memo says that the EU's goal at next week's U.S.-EU summit in Washington will...