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Former Minister of Defense for Israel, Moshe Yaalon, just wrote a major opinion piece United States Policy in the Middle East: The Need for a Grand Strategy which was published by Institute for National Security Studies in which he claimed: “The first year of the Trump administration has been characterized by the lack of clear policy guidelines vis-à-vis the Middle East. The great hopes that many countries in the region hung on the change of administration and a new proactive president in the White House have slowly been eclipsed by a sense of confusion, given United States behavior that shows little...

*** ..... In 2008, the Institute for Defense Analyses released a more thorough report on Iraq's involvement in terrorism between the two gulf wars that was based on more than 600,000 captured Iraqi documents. The report says, "In December 1998, the IIS developed a new resource in the form of a small, radical Kurdish-based Islamist movement. In a series of memoranda, the IIS, the Iraqi Intelligence Service, reported being impressed with the new terrorist organization's 'readiness to target foreign organizations . . . . Iranian border posts, and Kurdish parties." *** In addition to the IDA report, which I think...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2007 – Iraq’s aging infrastructure, which suffered decades of neglect under Saddam Hussein’s rule, is being upgraded sporadically in “fits and starts,” a Joint Staff official said today. Coalition efforts to improve Iraq’s power grid, water and oil systems are hampered by the infrastructure’s deteriorating 1960s technology, Army Maj. Gen. Richard Sherlock, an operations specialist on the Joint Staff, said during a conference call. “If Iraq was a used car, Saddam got rid of it at the right time,” Sherlock said. “It was ready to fall apart.” During Saddam’s rule, the amount of electrical output was capped...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 1, 2007 – A group of public health experts gathered in the Pentagon Aug. 30 to focus on rebuilding the Iraqi health care system. Dr. S. Ward Casscells, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, (seated right in white shirt) convened a meeting of public health experts at the Pentagon, Aug. 30, 2007, to discuss reconstruction of Iraq's health care system. Defense Dept. photo by Jim Garamone  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Dr. S. Ward Casscells, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, convened the meeting in part to help the new health attaché to the...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30, 2007 – The general who oversees training for Iraq’s security forces called the country a “mosaic,” and said each of Iraq’s regions poses unique challenges to security efforts. “I think every one of the provinces could be rated as having places that are pretty difficult fights,” Army Lt. Gen. James M. Dubik, commander of Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq, told military analysts during a conference call. “The country is not a one-size-fits-all, a one-description-fits-all. It’s much more a mosaic.” Dubik dismissed “blanket assessments” that predict how long it will take Iraq’s entire security force to function independently...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7, 2007 – Joint Defense and State Department provincial reconstruction teams in Iraq are guiding Iraqis through the intricacies of forming local governments and generating economic development, a U.S. State Department official said. “The basic goal of these teams is to expand out into the provinces,” U.S. Embassy spokesman Philip Reeker told online journalists and “bloggers” Aug. 3 from Baghdad. “Iraq is not a small country, and it has no tradition, really, of local or diffused leadership or governance. It’s been very centralized.” Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship quashed local governments in the country’s 18 regions, Reeker said. The...

Improvements Keep Coming at Iraq’s Busiest Trauma Center Corps of Engineers oversee $21 million in repairs, improvements at Ibn Sina Hospital By Norris JonesGulf Region Central DistrictU.S. Army Corps of Engineers BAGHDAD, June 4, 2007 — It’s the U.S. military’s busiest trauma center in the world. Ibn Sina Hospital, built in 1964 and located in Baghdad’s International Zone, has been operated by the U.S. Army since October 2003. It has handled more than 13,000 emergency room visits, air evacuated more than 10,000 patients, taken more than 60,000 X-rays, accomplished 14,500 surgical hours, and given more than 33,000 units of...

If America agrees with President George W. Bush that failure in Iraq is not an option, then the adviser mission there will clearly be a long-term one. The new Iraqi Army (IA) will need years to become equal to the challenge posed by a persistent insurgent and terrorist threat, and U.S. support is essential to this growth. Having spent a year assigned to the multi-National security Transition command-Iraq (MNSTC-I) equipping and training a new Iraqi armored brigade, I offer some recommendations to future advisers as they take on the job of working with the IA to build a professional and...

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Gulf Region South District Outdated and non-functional transformers fill the electrical maintenance yard of the Ministry of Electricity in An-Nasiriyah, awaiting disposal. Recent efforts by the U.S. Army's Gulf Region South District helped to provide 50 new transformers on short notice. Department of Defense photo by Tim Salthouse. Reconstruction in Iraq is not without its challenges, as members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Gulf Region Division, learn everyday. Many are aware of the media criticism concerning IraqÂ’s recurring problems of electrical power outages and rationing throughout the country. But seldom is the overall...

BAGHDAD -- As Iraq slowly recovers from more than 30 years of bondage and dictatorship, honorable citizens, dedicated to changing the face of their nation, continue to step forward to serve their people. Two such Iraqis were chosen to complete a two-week internship with the 10th Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad, after recently graduating from the Iraqi Army Service and Support Institute ‘s Basic Medic Course in Taji.The medics spent their time in the trauma center working 12-hour days, assisting Coalition forces with the care of patients suffering from gunshot wounds and other penetrating and blunt battlefield trauma.Iraqi Army Pvts....

Three years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the fall of Saddam Hussein, confusion and controversy still surround the insurgency in Iraq's Sunni Triangle. Part of this is due to the nontraditional character of the Sunni Arab insurgency, which is being waged by amorphous, locally and regionally based groups and networks lacking a unifying ideology, central leadership, or clear hierarchical organization.1 The ambiguities inherent in insurgent warfare also make insurgencies difficult to assess. In conventional military conflicts, we can compare opposing orders of battle, evaluate capabilities, and assess the fortunes of belligerents using traditional measures: destruction of enemy forces,...

Iraq’s western border becoming more secure by Norris Jones Gulf Region Central District US Army Corps of Engineers (GRD Photos) Al Asad, Iraq -- Iraq’s western border with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia will now be more secure thanks to a continuous line of outposts that will be completed this month.U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region Central District (GRC) was responsible for overseeing that work which included 23 border forts overlooking nearly 600 kilometers of Iraq’s remote western frontier. The final fort, Border Fort 32, located along the Saudi Arabian border, was recently completed. Each of those castle-like,...

HADITHA, Iraq (July 7, 2006) -- In Iraq, a country where temperatures often soar above 110 degrees and terrain is mostly fine grains of sand, Cpl. Derek Metallo never thought he’d find himself patrolling Al Anbar province in a boat when he arrived three months ago. Metallo, a 27-year-old Marine reservist from Jacksonville, Fla., is part of a team of Marines who patrol the Euphrates River by boat, providing security to the Haditha Dam – one of the country’s largest sources of electrical power and home to the Hawaii-based 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment’s headquarters. The dam provides electricity to...

Overcoming Iraq's desert By Claude D. McKinney Gulf Region North U.S. Army Corps of Engineers The operations technician checks gages in the Al Maman pump house. In the foreground is the generator engine and pump, center is the well-head and water pipe running through the wall to the water tank, in the corner is the chlorinator. (USACE Photo) Mosul, Iraq — Iraq is a desert. That should come as no surprise to anyone. However, Iraq is also blessed with water. Between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, Iraq has more surface water than many of its neighbors. Because of the...

Iraq's uncertain marshland revival By Andrew North BBC News, Hammar Marshes, southern Iraq Marsh Arabs lead hard poor lives despite the end of Saddam's rule The Iraqi government says it has successfully restored large parts of the country's unique marshlands over the past three years. Large areas were drained in the 1990s under the orders of Saddam Hussein - turning some sections to near desert. Thousands of the region's Marsh Arabs - who can trace their ancestry back thousands of years - fled to neighbouring Iran. But after the invasion, the Iraqi authorities began to tear down the dams that...

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq (May 31, 2006) -- The sound of a cement mixer breaks up the darkness on a lone Iraqi road near the city of Fallujah. Marines are working in what is known as "black out" condition - no light other than the moon and the occasional glimmer of a flashlight. It's 6 a.m. on May 24, and the lazing Iraqi sun will soon be rising. This is the time many Americans get up for work, but for the combat engineers of Charlie Company, they've already put in an eight-hour day. The Marines of Charlie Company, commonly referred to...

WASHINGTON, May 21, 2006 – President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today hailed yesterday's seating of Iraq's unity government as an important milestone for the Iraqi people and the Middle East. President Bush, joined by first lady Laura Bush, prepares to provide statement on Iraq's new unity government formation to waiting news media in the White House's Diplomatic Reception Room May 21. Photo by Kimberlee Hewitt   "The formation of a unity government in Iraq is a new day for the millions of Iraqis who want to live in freedom," Bush said at the White House this morning....

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2006 – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accepted the credentials of Iraq's first ambassador to the United States in 15 years yesterday at the State Department. Ambassador Samir Shakir Mahmood Sumaidaie told Rice he was "honored and delighted to be here today as the first ambassador for the state of Iraq in 15 years and the first ambassador since we got rid of the regime of Saddam Hussein with your help." Sumaidaie, who was appointed Iraq's permanent representative to the United Nations in August 2004, said he looks forward to working with the United States on behalf...

U.S. Army Pfc. Jana Rutherford Soldier Wants to Help Iraq’s Quest for Democracy By U.S. Army Spc. Michael Pfaff133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment KIRKUK, Iraq, April 4, 2006 — It’s 1989 in Czechoslovakia, and the children have the day off from school for a mandatory “fun day.” Only, instead of drawing chalk lines on the sidewalk for a game of hopscotch, or climbing through the iron web of a jungle gym, they spend the day donning gas masks, throwing plastic grenades, and navigating through the wilderness with a compass. Long before she went through basic training for the U.S....

CAMP AL QA'IM, Iraq (March 24, 2006) -- Marines from 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment never thought they’d see the Al Qa’im region of Iraq again when they departed their military camp here in March last year. One year later, the Twentynine Palms, Calif.-based unit has returned to this remote forward operating base here, located just east of the Syrian border in western Al Anbar Province, to continue to keep insurgents at bay and provide stability in the region. But this time, they’ve got a new mission — assisting an Iraqi Army unit to eventually take control of the area....