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Stryker Corp said on Wednesday that federal prosecutors have agreed to dismiss thirteen felony charges against the medical device maker, the company will plead guilty to one misdemeanor charge and pay a $15 million fine under a settlement with the Department of Justice. A federal grand jury in 2009 indicted the company's Stryker Biotech unit and several of its top executives... http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/strykerhip Oct 8, 2009 | Parker Waichman LLP doctors who presented research... weren't always as forthcoming about their financial relationships with the manufacturers of artificial joints. Mar 31, 2009 | Parker Waichman LLP Criminal charges were dismissed yesterday against...

Since Obama’s inauguration in January 2009 there have been several major scandals in which his Administration has been involved, principally, Operation Fast and Furious the government sponsored sale of guns to small time gun sellers along our border with Mexico; the failed ‘Stimulus’ loan of multi-millions to Solyndra and LightSquared, two small businesses that were Obama preferred for loans. All three of these Obama Administration ventures were major failures involving scandalous behavior. ...Is the entire communications arm of our country becoming beholden to Obama and his scandal ridden administration peopled by socialist, communists who break our laws with impunity and...

Next month a Stryker combat vehicle will arrive in the US equipped for testing the Israeli’s Trophy active protection system. The Army has pursued active protection for years, most recently abandoning the Future Combat System’s active protection system developed by Raytheon. We understand at least one M-ATV will also get the radar– directed system. The M-ATV integration is more challenging, given the vehicle’s design. The Israelis have already created a Merkava tank brigade with the Trophy system and plan to install it on all of those tanks. The Israeli system was designed and built by Rafael and is being displayed...

It's such a respectable name for an outfit dedicated to character assassination: Accountability for Colorado. With such respectable men and women behind the respectable front, too. They include two of Colorado's richest citizens, Tim Gill and Pat Stryker, as well as the Colorado Education Association, the AFL-CIO and the corporate leadership of Xcel Energy and Comcast. Gill and Stryker each gave the independent political committee $75,000 in recent months — pocket change for them, perhaps, but serious political money — while the CEA chipped in $105,000, the AFL-CIO $50,000, and Xcel and Comcast 10 grand each. For what purpose? In...

First the medical center at this sprawling joint military base was alleged to have turned away National Guard soldiers seeking help for war wounds on the grounds that they were merely “weekend warriors” who were feigning injuries. Then a dozen soldiers based here were accused of involvement in one of the worst war crimes allegedly committed by U.S. troops in Afghanistan. And then three soldiers associated with the base suffered dangerous public mental breakdowns after returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, leading to confrontations with police and the deaths of two of them. Now multiple criminal and military...

The Army says four more soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state have been charged with premeditated murder in the killing of three Afghan civilians earlier this year. In all, five soldiers have been charged. All are assigned to the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

On a dusty, wind-swept field overlooking the Mediterranean, a small team of researchers is putting the final touches on what Israel says is a major game changer in tank defense: a miniature anti-missile system that detects incoming projectiles and shoots them down before they reach the armored vehicles. If successful, the "Trophy" system could radically alter the balance of power if the country goes to war again against Hezbollah guerrillas in neighboring Lebanon or Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. Its performance could also have much wider implications as American troops and their Western allies battle insurgents in Iraq and...

The Army is working on a new and improved version of its Stryker wheeled vehicle, given the designation Stryker A1, intended to boost its performance with a more powerful engine, beefier transmission and suspension, better brakes as well as adding a new sensor suite, high tech shot detection and location system, an upgraded communications network and an improved remotely operated weapons turret. The Army plans to spend $134 million on the upgraded eight-wheeled vehicle in 2011, according to service budget documents, and nearly $880 million over the next five years. The designation A1 is typically added to Army vehicle names...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE FRONTENAC, Afghanistan, Dec. 18, 2009 – The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff praised the soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry, for their service in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province here yesterday, saying the unit has made a difference. U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, re-enlists 10 soldiers stationed on Forward Operating Base Frontenac in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Dec. 17, 2009. The soldiers are assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division's 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team. DoD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image...

Inability to grasp tactical and technical reality leads to sensationalistic and misleading reporting. I am no great fan of the Army's M1126 Stryker infantry combat vehicle (ICV), the eight-wheeled battle taxi hastily adopted by the Army in 2001 to provide an air-transportable vehicle offering more protection and carrying capacity than a HMMWV. It's too big (at 23 feet long and 9 feet wide, it's the size of a bus) and too heavy (about 20 tons in fighting trim) to fit comfortably on a C-130 Hercules transport plane or to be dropped by parachute. Its cross-country mobility leaves something to be...

The men of Bravo Company have a bitter description for the irrigated swath of land along the Arghandab River where 10 members of their battalion have been killed and 30 have been wounded since the beginning of August. “Like Vietnam without the napalm,” said Spc. Nicholas Gojekian, 21, of Katy, Texas. A prime agricultural area of vineyards and pomegranate orchards, the 18 miles of valley that the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment patrols includes Taliban insurgents, booby traps and buried explosives... ...So far, the Army mission has been an uneasy mix of trying to woo elders with offers of generators,...

Indo-US air, army exercises are message to the Dragon Uttara Choudhury / DNA China’s high-profile war games, launched last week by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), with 50,000 troops, have alarmed India and made the US nervous. The US is taking great pains to ensure the joint India-US army and air exercises scheduled to start in October send a message to the Dragon through their sophistication. A military official told DNA the US will move a convoy of eight-wheeled armoured Strykers from its Pacific Command headquarters in Hawaii to Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh for the October war games, billed as...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 21, 2009 – Military transportation experts used ships and planes to deploy an Army combat unit that arrived in Afghanistan last month, marking a notable milestone for U.S. Transportation Command. The 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Fort Lewis, Wash., began departing from nearby Tacoma by ship in early May; the unit’s equipment arrived in southern Afghanistan’s Kandahar province July 25, about five days earlier than requested by U.S. Central Command, Army Lt. Col. John Kaylor, a transportation expert assigned to Transcom’s headquarters at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., said yesterday. More than 3,800 troops and 900 pieces...

Capt. Nathaniel Lantz (right) of Bound Brooke, N.J., commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 2nd Squadron, 104th Cavalry, knights Spc. Andrew Kline of Reading, Pa., Aug. 12. The ceremony marked the squadron's Troopers earning the right to wear gilded gold combat spurs with their uniforms. Photo by Sgt. Doug Roles. CAMP TAJI — Troopers with the 2nd Squadron, 104th Cavalry Regiment, 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, are leaving Iraq with new spurs jangling from their combat boots.In keeping with cavalry tradition, troop commanders conducted award ceremonies, at the "Fiddler's Green" rest area of the squadron's footprint. The area is the...

Iraqi insurgent field manual: "You don't shoot at R2D2. He's a bad ass mo-fo and he will get you"

The remote control turret changed the battlefield more than you might think.  It all began three years ago, when the U.S. Army realized that new remote control gun turret designs actually worked, and suddenly they could not get enough of them. The army ordered over 9,000 CROWS (common remotely operated weapon stations), but for a while could only get 15 a month. By the end of 2006, there were about a thousand CROWS in service by the end of the year. The main issue was that the enemy was no longer able to knock out the turret gunner, early in...

The Iraqi military has ordered equipment for its forces totaling more than $6 billion, according to sales notices sent to the US Congress. The weapons will be used to upgrade the equipment used by Iraqi Security Forces and expand their capabilities for internal and external defense.

CAMP SHELBY, Miss., Dec. 2, 2008 – About 4,000 soldiers representing the National Guard’s only Stryker brigade will deploy to Iraq in early 2009. The Pennsylvania National Guard's 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team has been transforming to a Stryker brigade since October 2004. After they were alerted of their pending deployment in October 2007, the brigade’s soldiers have been training at the Joint Forces Training Center here. They will continue on to Fort Polk, La., for additional training before they make their way to Iraq. "The training we have done at Camp Shelby has been a good building block allowing...

Stryker Mobile Gun System (MGS). In addition to battling insurgents in the cities of Iraq, the soldiers assigned to the armored support vehicle have had to fend off attacks from critics back home, including some in the military itself. The 2008 Pentagon Authorization bill included language to limit funds for MGS until the Army drafts a report detailing fixes to the vehicle. In an annual report that the Army disputed, the Pentagon’s director of operational test and evaluation described the MGS as “not operationally effective.” Media reports quoting crews unhappy with some design elements also surfaced this year, further diminishing...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2008 – A neighborhood formerly overrun by al Qaeda in Baghdad’s Rashid district has been cleared of the enemy and is starting to thrive again, a U.S. commander in Iraq said. The sanctuary al Qaeda had in eastern Rashid’s Hadar neighborhood was “one of the last significant concentrations of al Qaeda in Baghdad,” Army Col. John RisCassi said yesterday during a teleconference with online journalists and “bloggers.” RisCassi is commander of the 25th Infantry Division’s 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, which began conducting operations to remove al Qaeda from eastern Rashid in September. “The regiment had great success,”...

TIKRIT, Iraq – Stryker Brigade Soldiers killed two and detained seven individuals during an operation in Baquba Jan. 1.Three of the detainees are known members of an improvised explosive device cell operating in the Baquba area.Soldiers of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash., conducted the raid in the Baquba suburb of Burhitz.“It was a successful operation in that we captured seven detainees, and when we were engaged by anti-Coalition Forces, our Soldiers returned fire and were able to ward off the attack, killing two of...

Stryker Soldier Awarded Distinguished Service Cross Dec 13, 2007 BY Spc. Vincent Fusco Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey pins the Distinguished Service Cross on Sgt. Gregory Williams for his actions during a firefight after an IED stopped his Stryker in Baghdad. Photo by Staff Sgt. Matthew MacRoberts FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska (Army News Service, Dec. 13, 2007) - A 1st Stryker Brigade Soldier who saved the life of his platoon leader was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross Dec. 12 at Fort Wainwright for his actions during an ambush in Iraq. Sgt. Gregory Williams received the Army's second-highest award...

TAJI — “There will be no walking on my site,” said Sgt. 1st Class Tyroid Weston, a truck driver in the 202nd Brigade Support Battalion, to the new platoon of Iraqi Army (IA) Soldiers recently at CampTaji. “You are Strykers, you are swift and lethal; do you understand?” Weston and his team of four other non-commissioned officers with the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash., graduate a new platoon of IA Soldiers every (10) days from the Iraqi Army Stryker Training Course in Taji. The course is designed to get IA Soldiers ready to...

Anti-war protests have returned to the Port of Olympia with the unloading of a military ship bearing Army gear from a Stryker Brigade that recently returned to nearby Fort Lewis from Iraq. According to an initial news release Sunday from Olympia Port Militarization Resistance, the group at first did not plan to try to block cargo from being sent from the port to the Army post ... Late Monday, however, after the arrival of 950-foot roll-on, roll-off cargo vessel, group leaders said a series of votes and discussions resulted in a change in strategy. "As long as the war in...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2007 – U.S. soldiers are sweeping through a Baghdad neighborhood to clear out explosives and extremists, a coalition commander said today. “We've been working in the East Rashid district going after the bad guys and doing very, very well and trying to give a little hope to the Iraqis … so they don't have to live in fear any more,” Army Col. John RisCassi told online journalists and “bloggers” during a conference call from Iraq. RisCassi commands 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, a rapid response mobile force deployed from Vilseck, Germany, and assigned to Multinational Division Baghdad. He...

BAGHDAD — The essence of an insurgent-dominated neighborhood of the Iraqi capital's East Rashid District is evident as Soldiers weave through the desolate, maze-like streets peppered with improvised explosive devices. Several doors and gates are painted with evidence of a fanatic Muslim stronghold. “In the name of God, I take back this house from the non-Muslim,” a Sunni interpreter reads from a gate. “Signed, al-Qaeda in Iraq.” Despite the dangers that linger behind street corners and on rooftops, the Vilseck, Germany-based 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, currently with Multi-National Division – Baghdad, wanted to send a clear message to...

FORT LEWIS, Wash., Sept. 11, 2007 – When the first planeload of soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division’s 3rd Stryker Brigade returned here last night after their second deployment to Iraq, they didn’t arrive to a darkened, padlocked brigade headquarters. Members of the 2nd Infantry Division’s 3rd Stryker Brigade rear detachment at Fort Lewis, Wash., prepare for the unit’s redeployment from Iraq. From left are: Darlene Pacheco, the brigade’s family-assistant representative; Melissa Townsend, wife of Brigade Commander Col. Steve Townsend; and Army Maj. Kyle Marsh, rear detachment commander. Photo by Donna Miles   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available....

Elite brigade is his to rev up By Tom Infield Inquirer Staff Writer CLEM MURRAY / Inquirer Staff Photographer Pa. National Guard brigade gets a new Fighting Machine Map: Stryker Brigade Combat Team Locations Lt. Col. Marc Ferraro was 6,000 miles from Iraq when six national guardsmen from Pennsylvania were killed by bomb blasts during a four-day period in August 2005. It fell to him, as commander of their home battalion, to notify most of the soldiers' families. He recalls it as the most trying period of his life, except for the two times his younger son had to undergo...

Route Tampa is the major supply route for Coalition forces in Iraq. Billions of dollars’ worth of gear and supplies are pumped up the northbound artery, while rumbling down the southbound vein back to Kuwait are damaged vehicles, units returning from a year or longer at war and convoys of empty trucks. Along the way, thousands of blue, black and clear plastic bags twirl, swirl and skitter in the hot dusty winds. The bags ramble about like so much plastic tumbleweed; aligning along the wind, drifting along the desert currents until they catch on nettles, concertina or the shards of...

Map BAQUBAH, IRAQ — Troops in armored vehicles swept through this city north of Baghdad on Tuesday as the U.S. military launched a major offensive as part of a significant shift of focus from inside the capital to surrounding areas. American commanders say the offensive, which involves about 10,000 U.S. troops in Baqubah and other parts of Diyala province, is designed to stop the flow of bombs into Baghdad.

Overall, the article "U.S. Strykers take beating in Iraq" by Robert H. Reid and Anne Flaherty (World, June 6) presents a fairly balanced view of what some critics view as shortcomings of the Stryker Brigade Combat Team and the Stryker family of combat vehicles. However, as I read through the article, several thoughts occurred to me. First, the Army did more than hope to create a faster, more agile armored unit than those equipped with tanks but with more firepower and protection than light-infantry units -- it did exactly that. The Army's Stryker Brigades are the fastest, most agile, most...

BAGHDAD — A string of heavy losses from powerful roadside bombs has raised new questions about the vulnerability of the Stryker, the Army's troop-carrying vehicle hailed by supporters as the key to a leaner, more mobile force. Since the Strykers went into action in violent Diyala province north of Baghdad two months ago, losses of the vehicles have been rising steadily, U.S. officials said. A single infantry company in Diyala lost five Strykers this month in less than a week, according to soldiers familiar with the losses, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to release...

BAQOUBA, Iraq — Soldiers with 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment continued their systematic attack on terrorist forces in Baqouba with another clearing operation in the city, April 10. In this latest effort, Soldiers of 5-20 Inf. Regt., 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, from Fort Lewis, Wash., spent three days clearing the neighborhood of Buhriz, described by Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Bruce Antonia as “al-Qaida’s battleground.” When the Stryker battalion first arrived in Baqouba in March, it encountered resistance from the neighborhood’s insurgents in the form of roadside bombs, rocket propelled grenade fire and small arms fire.

Last week, I wrote about the Gathering of Eagles (www.gatheringofeagles.org) -- veterans, active-duty troops, bikers, activists and ordinary citizens coming to Washington, D.C., on March 17 to hold a counterprotest against tens of thousands of anti-war extremists demanding immediate withdrawal of our troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. In Washington state this week, the peace brigade held a dress rehearsal at the Port of Tacoma -- where they showed support for our troops by taunting the Stryker Brigade and local police guarding against obstruction of the convoys headed to Iraq. More than 300 Stryker vehicles and other equipment are being moved...

Cpl. Joseph Casiano, a native of San Antonio, and Spc. David Tunstall, a native of Alexandria, Va., both with Company B, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, search through a bag they found on top of a vehicle in Baghdad Thursday. BAGHDAD -- The ramp drops, the sun rises and the troops emerge. The missions vary and everyone has a different, but equally important job. The troops on the ground in Baghdad work every job from quick reaction force to humanitarian missions. The mission for Soldiers with Company B, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry...

FORT KNOX — Fort Knox is on a short list of Army posts being considered as the permanent station for a new Stryker brigade combat team. “We probably could accommodate this, but we haven’t done an analysis and we haven’t been asked to at this point,” said Connie Shaffery, Fort Knox spokeswoman. The unit is being transformed in Hawaii, but opposition from environmental and cultural groups has caused the Army to reconsider. An environmental impact statement completed in 2004 determined Hawaii was a suitable location for the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team. The unit was scheduled to transform from the...

BAGHDAD, Jan 2, 2007 — The 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division headquarters, and two of its battalions, trekked from Mosul to Baghdad over a two-day period recently, performing combat operations along the way. Other elements of the brigade had made the trek earlier. The arrival of the Stryker brigade headquarters in Baghdad marks a reunion for 3-2 SBCT. Two battalions, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment and 1st Squadron, 14th Calvary Regiment, had been detached from the brigade since its initial deployment, in late July and early August. They have been operating in the Baghdad area while there...

FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska, Dec. 15, 2006 – Christmas came early this year for the Skeen family as they celebrated what Joanna Skeen called the best gift she could ever ask for: the safe return of her husband. Staff Sgt. Michael Skeen, his wife, Joanna, and daughter, Lillian, have already started celebrating Christmas now that they’re together again after Skeen’s 16-month deployment to Iraq with the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. Photo by William D. Moss  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Army Staff Sgt. Michael Skeen and his fellow 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team soldiers returned to Alaska this...

FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Dec. 15, 2006 -- Army leaders praised military families here during ceremonies this week for standing solidly behind the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team during its 16-month deployment to Iraq. Ashley McCulloh and her son, Brooke, welcome home their husband and father, Army Capt. Timothy McCulloh, at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, after his 16-month deployment to Iraq with the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. Courtesy photo  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Army Secretary Francis Harvey told families of brigade members during the “Arctic Wolves’” redeployment ceremony here Dec. 12 that the Army recognizes their sacrifices and will...

FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Dec. 13, 2006 – Some 4,000 members of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team gathered here yesterday to celebrate their accomplishments during 16 months in Iraq and mourn their losses as they uncased the unit’s colors during a stirring redeployment ceremony. Servicemembers of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team salute the colors during a redeployment ceremony near Fort Wainwright, Alaska, Dec. 12. Photo by William D. Moss  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The soldiers assembled at the Carlson Community Center, just down the road from Fort Wainwright here, to reflect on their deployment and receive a...

Despite the insistence of the authors of ColoradoPols.com that the site is nonpartisan, during the last election it became increasingly clear the site was nothing more than a vehicle for releasing opposition research on Republican candidates into the mainstream. The reality of the matter is ColoradoPols.com was a stealth project launched with the intention of manipulating media coverage in Colorado to favor Democrats. John J. Miller explained the forces at work behind the scenes in the article “The Color Purple” in the latest issue of National Review: The mini-Soroses of Colorado [Gill, Stryker, & Polis] aren’t merely dabbling in elections...

Michigan Republicans may be playing the ``gay card'' to counter the $5 million impact of Kalamazoo billionaire Jon Stryker's new political-action committee.

Wednesday October 25, 2006 By DAVID EGGERT Associated Press Writer LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Republicans have good reason to be worried about an unprecedented and expensive ad campaign designed to help Democrats win control of the GOP-controlled Legislature for the first time in years. Democratic billionaire Jon Stryker of Kalamazoo has given $4.6 million to the Michigan Coalition for Progress, a new political action committee he founded. The committee is targeting Republican incumbents in key legislative races with negative ads and campaign literature. Stryker's sister Pat, who contributed another $500,000 to the PAC as of Wednesday's campaign finance deadline, helped...

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee reserved $630,000 in TV advertising for Angie Paccione’s bid to unseat Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, but has apparently pulled the money. “If this isn’t the final nail in Angie Paccione’s political coffin, it’s pretty close,” Musgrave campaign manager Shaun Kenney said in a press release. “Coming on top of the poll earlier this week showing Marilyn Musgrave leading by 10 percentage points, it is clear that national Democrats have completely given up hope for “Angry Angie”.” Paccione was recently named to the DCCC’s coveted “Red to Blue” program, designed to funnel...

Republicans allege two members of Michigan's Stryker family may have links to a fraud case in South Dakota involving Medicare and the Stryker Corp. Stryker is a medical products company. Jon Stryker has contributed to groups protecting gay rights. Anti-gay rights U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., has called for an investigation into the fraud case to see if it extends further... The fraud case reportedly involves a medical clinic in South Dakota and the Stryker Corp. aggreeing to repay Medicare $345,000. The government says the clinic took money from the Stryker Corp. in exchange for using the company's orthopedic products....

Stryker base here is found illegal Plaintiffs claim the Army must halt related work while preparing a supplemental study » A look at the Stryker situation By Gregg K. Kakesako gkakesako@starbulletin.com A federal appellate court found yesterday that the Army had violated environmental laws by not considering all alternatives in establishing a Stryker Combat Brigade in Hawaii. The 2-1 vote by a three-judge panel assigned to the San Francisco 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was seen as a victory for the nonprofit environmental group Earthjustice. Earthjustice attorney David Henkin said the federal appeals court ruling meant "the Army must...

FORT LEWIS, Wash. (Army News Service, Aug. 29, 2006) – A long wait is over for Stryker Mobile Gun System (MSG) crews of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. The 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry, received its complement of MGS vehicles last month after more than a year of waiting. They are the first vehicles to be fielded in the Army. “I think its going to give the infantry a whole new dimension of what they can do. Armor and infantry have kept each other at arm’s length for years and years," said Sgt. 1st Class David Cooper, an MGS platoon...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27, 2006 – Iraqi security forces, supported by Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers, expanded their combined security effort into the Adhamiyah neighborhood of northeast Baghdad today in support of “Operation Together Forward.” The combined operations are being led by the soldiers of 1st Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division and 2nd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, officials in Iraq said. They are supported by Iraqi National Police from 1st Brigade, 1st National Police Division and soldiers from 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. The operations are designed to reduce the level of murders, kidnappings, assassinations, terrorism and sectarian violence in northern...

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (Reuters) - The wives of soldiers whose duty in Iraq was extended to add troop strength to Baghdad peppered U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with tough questions, some that he could not answer, at a closed-door meeting in Alaska on Saturday. Rumsfeld, who received a mixed reception from a crowd that offered more applause for the questions asked than the answers provided, praised the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. He would not commit to a date for bringing those soldiers home, but told a 12-year-old girl in the audience, "I'd bet your daddy gets home before Christmas." He...

Nine veterans groups in California are criticizing 1st Lt. Ehren Watada for his decision to disobey deployment orders to Iraq. Watada is trying to "make himself a martyr and a hero," said Robert M. Wada, a charter president of the Japanese American Korean War Veterans. He said Watada's actions disrespect a legacy of military service by Japanese-American soldiers dating back to World War II. "No Japanese-Americans did anything like that and that is why Japanese-Americans are so upset," Wada said. "He is doing something that has never been done by Japanese-Americans." The groups expressed their outrage at Watada in a...