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8/23/2007 - ALI BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- Approximately 80 Iraqis from the city of An Nasiriyah interacted for the first time with Airmen and Soldiers at the Ziggurat historical monument Aug. 21 at Ali Base. It has been more than 10 years since any Iraqi native has been allowed to visit the Ziggurat of Ur, which is the most dominant landmark on Ali Base, because during the reign of Suddam Hussein the installation was used by the Iraqi army. The Ziggurat was constructed more than 4,000 years ago by worshipers of the moon god Nanna living near the ancient city...

U.S. intelligence chief says in El Paso he's worried about "terrorist gateway." National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell told the El Paso Times in an interview following his talk to a Border Security Conference last week that he's worried that terrorist groups, such as the newly regrouping al-Qaida organization, are paying more attention to the Southwest border as a way to enter the United States and cause "mass casualties." Recently declassified intelligence summaries show that al-Qaida is regrouping in the mountainous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan and is looking for ways to penetrate the United States, McConnell told the Times....

FALLUJAH, Iraq, Aug. 5, 2007 – Weary of the violence to which their community has been victim, residents of the Andaloos district here have organized a Neighborhood Watch to keep watch against insurgent activity. Iraqi men of the Andaloos district of Fallujah wait in the hot sun July 30, 2007, to be selected as recruits for the new Neighborhood Watch program set up in their community through the efforts of Marines, Iraqi Army, Iraqi police and local community leaders. The program is part of ongoing Operation Alljah to transform the communities within Fallujah to provide security, civil assistance and...

COMBAT OUTPOST CLEARY — Using a school in the city of al Wahida, Soldiers from a Fort Bragg, N.C., Civil Affairs battalion attached to the 3rd Infantry Divsion set up a one-day clinic for Iocal residents July 28. Known as a cooperative medical engagement, the operation requires Coalition and Iraqi forces to come together and provide medical treatment in prescribed areas, said Staff Sgt. Patrick R. Weston, special operations medical noncommissioned officer, Civil Affairs Team Alpha 712th, Company A, 97th Civil Affairs Battalion. Physician assistants and unit medics out of COP Cleary diagnosed and provided medicine to those in need....

Warren Mayor Mark Steenbergh claims the federal government is looking to relocate more than 16,000 Iraqi refugees to Warren and Sterling Heights -- and there's no way his city can handle it.

BAGHDAD —Troops from 3rd Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division (Mechanized), led a combined operation with Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment to bring medical care to the people living in Hor Al Bosh, Iraq, July 15. During the event, more than 400 local citizens were treated at a local school for, primarily, minor ailments. Iraqi Army medics, an Iraqi Army doctor from the 4th Brigade, 9th IA Div., several medics and physician’s assistants from both 2nd Bn., 8th Cav. Regt. and Charlie Medical Company, 115th Brigade Support Battalion treated everything from minor burns to colds, ear infections, headaches...

WASHINGTON - The harder President Bush has pushed to win in Iraq, the closer he has come to losing. The question no longer is whether the U.S. military can fully stabilize Iraq. It cannot. That was a possibility four years ago, immediately after Saddam Hussein's government fell. Before the insurgency took hold. Before U.S. occupation authorities lost any chance to avoid the sectarian strife of today's Iraq. Now only the Iraqis can save Iraq. They need the U.S. military's help, no doubt. But the Bush administration has made no secret of the fact that the U.S. troop buildup in Baghdad...

BAGHDAD - American soldiers rolled into Baghdad's Shiite Sadr City slum on Saturday in search of Iranian-linked militants and as many as 26 Iraqis were killed in what a U.S. officer described as "an intense firefight." But residents, police and hospital officials said eight civilians were killed in their homes and angrily accused U.S. forces of firing blindly on the innocent. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki condemned the raids and demanded an explanation for the assault into a district where he has barred U.S. operations in the past. Separately, two American solders were charged with the premeditated murder of three Iraqis,...

WASHINGTON, June 27, 2007 – Soldiers of Multinational Division - Baghdad saved two Iraqi civilians while discovering two insurgent safe houses, one of which contained two car bombs, in the West Rashid district of the Iraqi capital Monday. Upon entering a building Monday evening, soldiers of Company A, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, rescued a man who was handcuffed to a pipe in a bathroom. Two suspects were detained. The troops had received information from residents that an extremist group was using the house as a base from which to launch a campaign of intimidation in northwest Rashid. Troops from...

WASHINGTON, June 6, 2007 – The Iraqi people are taking a stand against al Qaeda beyond Anbar province, Multinational Force Iraq’s new spokesman said today. Army Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Bergner, who spoke during a phone interview today, called the Iraqis’ stance against the terror group the “Anbar Awakening.” In the past six months, local tribal leaders and sheikhs in the Sunni province have disavowed the terror group’s tactics and have turned to the Iraqi government. Violence in the province has plummeted, and local men are flocking to police and army recruiting stations. Now Iraqis outside Anbar are experiencing their...

WASHINGTON, June 4, 2007 – Local Iraqis were instrumental in helping coalition and Iraqi forces liberate 42 men from al Qaeda custody in Iraq’s Diyala province, the coalition commander in the area said. Amy Lt. Col. Morris Goins, the commander of the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry, said local Iraqis are getting tired of al Qaeda intimidation and threats and are cooperating more with Iraqi and coalition forces. The operation, south of Baquba on May 27, liberated 42 men, most of whom worked with the Iraqi government. Al Qaeda kidnapped the men and held them in the area. “The men were...

In its first deployment to Iraq, one of the Army's newest modular light infantry brigade combat teams is making its mark under the president's troop plus-up plan, the brigade's top officer said in a May 25 briefing to Pentagon reporters. The 1st Infantry Division's 4th Brigade Combat Team from Fort Riley, Kan., is deployed as part of the troop plus-up to the east and west Rashid security districts in the Multinational Division Baghdad area. It is partnered with the 2nd Infantry Division's 3rd Stryker Brigade from Fort Lewis, Wash., and three Iraqi security force brigades. Together, the troops are clearing...

BAGHDAD — Coalition forces and Iraqi security forces conducted patrols in Al Suleikh Wednesday.For more than three months, U.S. Soldiers have been living and working side-by-side with the Iraqi Police and Iraqi Army at the Joint Security Station to coordinate security efforts in Al Suleikh.“They know we’re here to support them, but at the same time, they’re getting to a point where they know security as a whole is in their hands,” said U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Jesse Bowman, an Alpha Battery platoon leader from Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.The difficult part will...

LSA ANACONDA, Iraq, May 31, 2007 – Rifles, pistols and tanks are a few tools of war. Active listening, patience and cooperation are a few of the tools used by Capt. Glen A. Stambone, a civil affairs officer with the 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary). Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, starting at 8:30 a.m., the Civil Military Operations Center (CMOC) lets the people’s voices be heard. Most of those voices are speaking Arabic. In order to provide good customer service, the civil affairs office here uses two interpreters. Stambone said one is more of a “street smart” interpreter, the other is...

1st Lt. Larry Rubal (kneeling), of Old Forge, Pa., a platoon leader with Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, watches as Lt. Col. Ahmed Abdullah, the local police commander, asks an Iraqi woman some questions during a joint patrol May 18, 2007. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Mike Pryor Iraqis Taking the Security Lead U.S. soldiers maintain a quieter role at Al Suleikh Joint Security Station By Sgt. Mike Pryor Multi-National Division – Baghdad Public Affairs BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 30, 2007 — Capt. James Peay was starting to feel like a third wheel. Peay, a battery...

BASRAH — In an upbeat assessment General Ali Hamadi, Head of the Basrah Emergency Security Committee, has voiced his growing confidence in the Province's security situation and the capability of the Iraqi Security Forces as they assume greater security responsibility and moves towards Provincial Iraqi Control. At a press conference held jointly with Brigadier Tim Evans MBE, Commander 19 Light Brigade, at General Hamadi's headquarters, the Provincial Joint Coordination Centre, in the centre of Basra City, General Hamadi praised the significant progress made to date, but admitted more needed to be done. "I will not say to you there is...

NEW YORK Former Los Angeles Times Baghdad Bureau Chief Borzou Daragahi says he doubts the "surge" in Iraq will work, and describes Iraq citizens as "hostile" and "humiliated" after four years of war. Asked by Brian Lamb, in a forthcoming C-SPAN interview, about his personal views on the war, he replied: "I think at this point, it just – it seems like it’s become a disaster. I mean, I don’t think anyone could dispute that. It’s just going very, very, very, very badly." He said he had mixed feelings about the invasion but "As time wore on, though, as the...

Members of the 1st Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), conducted a medical operation in Khatad Village, Iraq. April 20. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jeffrey Ledesma, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs. KHATAD VILLAGE — U.S. and Iraqi Soldiers teamed up April 20 to provide Iraqi citizens with basic medical care during a medical operation in Khatad Village, Iraq.“The MEDOP allows us to see a perspective very foreign from the battlefield,” said U.S. Army Maj. Dimitri Cassimatis, a surgeon with the 1st Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division...

KIRKUK — The sound of emergency sirens streaked through the K-1 Iraqi Army Base as fire trucks and ambulances escorted by military vehicles rushed outside the base to respond to a simulated catastrophic event with massive casualties. The recent MASCAL training exercise was a joint effort between the Iraqi army and medical personnel and 25th Infantry Division Soldiers from nearby Forward Operating Base Warrior. In addition to providing urgent medical care to actors playing casualties on the ground, the responders had to deal with the real-world risks of operating outside the security of the base. With Iraqi and U.S. military...

WASHINGTON, April 24, 2007 – Coalition forces detained 10 suspected terrorists in Iraq today, and three Iraqi civilians and six policemen were killed and 49 people were injured in car bomb attacks yesterday and today, military officials reported. Coalition forces detained 10 suspected terrorists and uncovered a cache of weapons in several operations in central Iraq today. Three coordinated coalition forces raids apprehended 10 individuals suspected of operating with al Qaeda in Iraq and facilitating foreign fighters southeast of Fallujah. In Baghdad, coalition forces discovered a weapons cache containing rockets, mortars, terrorist propaganda and improvised explosive device-making materials. Explosive...