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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan reiterated that it will not let American forces hunt al-Qaeda and Taliban militants on its soil, after a news report said Sunday that the Bush administration was considering expanding U.S. military and intelligence operations into Pakistan's tribal regions. The Foreign Ministry dismissed as “speculative” a story in The New York Times saying President Bush's top security officials discussed a proposal Friday to deploy U.S. troops to pursue militants along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. “We are very clear. Nobody is going to be allowed to do anything here,” said Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, the top spokesman for Pakistan's...

U.S. forces rescued 41 Iraqi civilians Sunday from an al-Qaida hide-out northeast of Baghdad, including some who showed signs of torture and broken bones, a senior U.S. official said.

NORTH Korea today described US soldiers serving in South Korea as "infected with an abnormal sexual desire" and said sexual abuse was part of their daily routine. The ruling party's newspaper Rodong Sinmun was commenting on the alleged rape by a US soldier of a 67-year-old woman. The 23-year-old private soldier is in a South Korean prison awaiting trial. The 29,500-strong US military in South Korea has issued an apology for the incident this month. "The US forces in South Korea are infected with an abnormal sexual desire and sexual abuses are part of their daily routine," a Rodong Sinmun...

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqi officials said Thursday that multinational forces detained five Iranians in an overnight raid on Tehran's diplomatic mission in the northern city of Irbil.

US-led soldiers and warplanes killed 12 Taliban militants who ambushed coalition forces in mountainous eastern Afghanistan, a US military spokesman said today. Two US soldiers and an Afghan soldier were wounded in Tuesday's battle in the remote province of Nuristan which borders Pakistan, Colonel Tom Collins told a press conference in Kabul. "There was a significant coalition engagement yesterday in Nuristan, in which enemy extremists attacked our forces with rockets and rifle fire," Colonel Collins said. "Through the actions of our forces on the ground and the use of air support we killed 12 enemy extremists," Colonel Collins said. He...

THE top US commander in Iraq foresees a major reduction in US forces there by the end of 2007, with the first cuts in September, the US media has reported overnight. General George Casey, the US commander in Iraq, gave a classified briefing at the Pentagon this week to outline a plan to reduce the number of US combat brigades from 14 to five or six by December 2007, the New York Times reported, citing unnamed US officials. The first reductions would involve two combat brigades that would rotate out of Iraq in September without being replaced, the report said....

WASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats promise to "eliminate" Osama bin Laden and ensure a "responsible redeployment of U.S. forces" from Iraq in 2006 in an election-year national security policy statement. In the position paper to be announced Wednesday, Democrats say they will double the number of special forces and add more spies, which they suggest will increase the chances of finding al-Qaida's elusive leader. They do not set a deadline for when all of the 132,000 American troops now in Iraq should be withdrawn. "We're uniting behind a national security agenda that is tough and smart and will provide the real...

We have an Inkling.... ...that all this Cartoon brouhaha, Iran's bravado on their nuclear capabalities and the governments' indecisions to handle once and for all the problem of Islamic terrorism for what it is, is nothing other than the same old wish that many have in creating a ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT under the United Nations and force the US and Britain to "submit themselves to the same regime of supervision and inspection as everyone else." A penman at The Guardian writes" So whatever we do about Iran, what we need is a new international system for the supervision and inspection...

..that all this Cartoon brouhaha, Iran's bravado on their nuclear capabalities and the governments' indecisions to handle once and for all the problem of Islamic terrorism for what it is, is nothing other than the same old wish that many have in creating a ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT under the United Nations and force the US and Britain to "submit themselves to the same regime of supervision and inspection as everyone else." A penman at The Guardian writes" So whatever we do about Iran, what we need is a new international system for the supervision and inspection of nuclear capacities in...

Appearing on CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday, former presidential candidate and Vietnam anti-war activist John Kerry accused our soldiers of "terrorizing" Iraqi women and children. In making such an absurd allegation, he did an injustice to our service members, just as his distorted congressional testimony did over 30 years ago. It would be enlightening to see how al-Qaeda-in-Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi reacted to Kerry's comments. [ . . . ] Kerry shows tremendous ignorance in the use of tactics and common sense in warfare. He seems to think that rooting terrorists from Iraqi cities should be done as...

A TOP US general said there was no reason to believe that al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a recent raid on the Iraqi city of Mosul. Lieutenant General John Vines said, however, that US and Iraqi forces were "relentlessly" pursuing every lead indicating the presence of the Jordanian militant who is blamed for many bloody attacks in Iraq. Media reports have said Zarqawi might have been among a group of insurgents killed in a battle in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Sunday. Lt-Gen Vines told a US Defence Department press briefing from Baghdad...

TOKYO — Basing a U.S. nuclear-powered warship in Japanese waters for the first time will boost stability in East Asia, Japan's government said Friday, hailing an agreement even as it drew protests from the community that will host the aircraft carrier. The U.S. Navy on Thursday announced the deal, under which Japan — which the United States attacked with two nuclear bombs in World War II — dropped its longtime opposition to hosting a nuclear-powered warship in its territory. "Japan believes that the continued presence of the U.S. Navy will contribute to safety and stability in Japan, the Far East...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1, 2005 – Iraqi and coalition soldiers conducted targeted searches for terrorist operatives in Fallujah, Iraq, July 30, military officials reported. Soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Intervention Force, and soldiers with the U.S. Army's 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, searched more than 445 homes during the operation. A cache of bomb-making materials was found, including an artillery fuse, 20 blasting caps and five triggering devices. Officials noted that all of the items were found hidden in an air conditioning duct staged on a pile of trash. An Iraqi explosive ordnance disposal team removed the...

WASHINGTON, July 18, 2005 – Iraqi and U.S. forces established a joint/combined operations center to develop intelligence and track operations during a series of missions July 15, military officials in Baghdad, Iraq, said. This was the first time Iraqi and U.S. forces established such an operations center, Task Force Baghdad officials said. The staffs of each unit worked side by side in the JOC, resulting in the capture of 39 suspected terrorists in several operations. "Coordination between our respective units has never been better," said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. John Basilica Jr., commander of the 256th Brigade Combat Team. "The...

According to Ephraim Halevy, former chief of Israel's Mossad intelligence service and current national security adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, plans have been made for a substantial U.S. military presence in the Middle East lasting decades. “The U.S. campaign in Iraq was perceived [in the Middle East and Washington] as a signal of long-term American commitment to do whatever is required and to ‘stay in the neighborhood’ for as long as needed,” commented Halevy in a lengthy op-ed column carried by the April 24 issue of Ha’aretz. High-ranking U.S. policymakers have “raised the idea of establishing an American...

The U.S. military in Iraq has wrapped up a major offensive in a remote northern desert region near the Syrian border, killing at least 125 insurgents and injuring hundreds more. US Black Hawk helicopters fly over black smoke billowing from the site of explosion in Baghdad, May 14th, 2005. Iraqi insurgents pressed their campaign to undermine the new government, killing at least nine people in bombings, as fierce fighting between US troops and rebels near the Syrian border. It was one of the largest American campaigns since militants were driven from Fallujah six months ago. In a statement issued Saturday,...

<p>Al Qaeda is desperately trying to produce an "Iraqi Tet" -- a Middle Eastern repetition of the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong 1968 offensive in South Vietnam. On April 2 and again on April 4, the terror gang led by Al Qaeda's Iraq commander, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, launched "military-style attacks" on the Abu Ghraib prison complex in Baghdad. In the April 4 assault, U.S. forces took 44 casualties (most of them minor wounds). The terrorist gang, however, took 50 casualties, out of a force estimated at 60 gunmen. On April 11, the gang attacked a Marine compound at Husaybah near the Syrian border. As I write, terrorist casualties are unconfirmed, but the assault flopped. While bomb attacks on unarmed Iraqi civilians continue (particularly against Shiites), public opinion now matters in Iraq, and the thugs' public slaughters have killed too many Iraqi innocents. January's election dramatically lifted public morale and changed the media focus -- suddenly, democracy looks possible, and an Arab Muslim democracy is Al Qaeda's worst nightmare. Hence the "Tet gamble." Bombs haven't cowed the Iraqi people -- but perhaps the American people will lose heart and buckle if Al Qaeda concocts a military surprise. U.S. forces, however, are "hard targets" -- unlike civilians standing in line to vote, U.S. troops shoot back. Since 9-11, Al Qaeda has never won a military engagement at the platoon level (30 men) or higher. Coalition forward operating bases are heavily fortified. But the Tet fantasy is so compelling. Though Tet was by most measures a disaster for the communists, as a media and hence political event, Tet snuffed "the light at the end of the tunnel." The Johnson administration had told the American public Vietnam had reached a turning point -- "the light" -- but Tet demonstrated that North Vietnamese Army (NVA) regulars and Viet Cong (VC) guerrillas were still capable of potent action. NVA General Vo Nguyen Giap planned for maximum psychological and political impact. Communist forces simultaneously hit cities and military bases throughout the south. Though they took huge casualties, Giap's real target was President Johnson. Communist attackers managed to break into the U.S. embassy compound in Saigon. The assault was repelled, but the moral damage -- and dramatic photos -- energized Sen Eugene McCarthy's "peace candidacy." Political support for LBJ and the Vietnam War withered. Iraq, however, is no Vietnam. The Vietnam War was strategic defense, a bitter Cold War "battle of containment." The War on Terror is a strategic political and military offensive directed at the dictators and theocrats who rule by death squad and export terror -- and it's a war we are winning. With Iraq's democratic political process gearing up, Zarqawi has decided the risk of facing U.S. troops is worth the reward in headlines. Hitting the Husaybah Marine compound is supposed to generate media echoes of Lebanon 1983 and the U.S. Marine barracks terror bombing that led to American withdrawal. U.S. Navy Capt. Hal Pittman, CENTCOM's senior spokesman, told me Tuesday that the terrorists seek media coverage of these attacks "to empower their cause, break the momentum of representational government (in Iraq) and dissuade the coalition to continue its support." Zarqawi's gang "used a fire truck at Husaybah as a car bomb. That's theatrics if you've ever seen theatrics," Pittman said. "They're trying to create a spectacular event, overrun a patrol or border outpost somewhere, an event with huge media value that would promote their cause and make them seem more powerful than they are." At Abu Ghraib and Husaybah, Zarqawi failed militarily. He didn't get his scare headlines, either. Short of detonating a nuclear weapon in Baghdad, a ground attack on the Green Zone that succeeds in cracking the U.S. embassy and taking hostages is the only "Tet" card Zarqawi has. The Green Zone, however, is Iraq's hardest target.</p>

KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwaiti security forces have detained up to eight Kuwaiti soldiers suspected of plotting to attack U.S. forces in the Gulf Arab state, a security source said Monday. The soldiers, some of whom are high-ranking officers, and several non-Kuwaiti citizens were detained a week ago and are being questioned over an alleged plan to attack U.S. soldiers in Kuwait, the launchpad for the 2003 war on Iraq. Kuwait's official news agency KUNA quoted a military official as saying that Kuwaiti "Army Intelligence's security apparatus is interrogating some members of the military after what surfaced on a plot against...

The top US commander in Iraq has expressed concern about the ability of Iraqi forces to cope with security in the run-up to elections next month. The head of Central Command, General John Abizaid, said Iraqi troops did not have the training or experience to do the job without extra American help. At least 14 people died in bomb attacks in Baghdad and Mosul on Saturday. However, Gen Abizaid said border security had improved, with less infiltration by foreign insurgents. Need for stability Speaking at a regional conference on Gulf security in Bahrain, he called on Iraq's neighbours - in...

ALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 13 - Army tanks and fighting vehicles blasted their way into the last main rebel stronghold in Falluja at sundown on Saturday after American warplanes and artillery prepared the way with a savage barrage on the district. Earlier in the afternoon, 10 separate plumes of smoke rose from southern Falluja, as if etched against the desert sky, and probably exclaiming catastrophe for the insurgents. "It's a broad attack against the entire southern front," said Col. Michael D. Formica, the Army commander in charge of the cordon effort around the city. "We're just pushing them against an anvil."...

http://jb-williams.com/soldier-debate1.htm US soldier in Iraq responds to 1st Debate! By CAPTAIN RON HAYES LETTER TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE BY A SOLDIER IN IRAQ In response to the 1st Presidential debate! The 1st debate in the campaign for presidency of the United States raised some crucial issues that are still a cause for confusion to the American people. I decided it’s time for a viewpoint from someone who is in the middle of this war and has no room for debating this issue. I have been in Iraq almost 9 months and I have seen the good and the bad of...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. forces battled insurgents loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City on Tuesday, the U.S. military said. At least 33 people were killed and 193 injured in the fighting, Iraqi authorities said. U.S. Army Capt. Brian O'Malley said several American soldiers have been injured, but that he did provide the exact figure. The fighting erupted when militants attacked U.S. forces carrying out routine patrols, O'Malley said. "We just kept coming under fire," he said. Residents said loud explosions and gunfire could be heard across Sadr City on Monday night and...

U.S. Forces Kill Scores in Iraq But Najaf Truce Holds 14 minutes ago Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo! By Matthew Green BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces killed scores of insurgents in two Iraqi towns Saturday, but a truce appeared to be holding in the holy city of Najaf despite a radical cleric's threat to fight to the death. The fresh violence erupted on the eve of a national conference aimed at advancing Iraq (news - web sites)'s progress toward democracy, already overshadowed by a 10-day Shi'ite Muslim uprising led by radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The U.S. military said...

U.S. Forces Kill 13 Insurgents Near Baghdad Associated Press BAGHDAD, Iraq - American and Iraqi forces clashed with insurgents north of Baghdad early Sunday, killing 13 Iraqi militants, the U.S. military said. There was no immediate word on U.S. casualties from the fighting in Buhriz, about three miles south of the city of Baqouba. U.S. and Iraqi National Guard forces entered Buhriz about 3:30 a.m. to search an area of palm groves and destroyed a suspected staging ground used by insurgents for attacks on coalition and Iraqi troops, said Maj. Neal O'Brien, spokesman for the 1st Infantry Division. During the...

Rumsfeld hopes US forces will hunt terrorists in Southeast Asia soon 1 hour, 59 minutes ago Add World - AFP to My Yahoo! SINGAPORE (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he hoped US forces would be hunting terrorists in Southeast Asia "pretty soon," warning that Islamic extremists are targeting moderate Muslim states the world over. Rumsfeld made the remarks as he visited marines and sailors aboard the helicopter carrier USS Essex against a backdrop of oil tankers and freighters that ply the Strait of Malacca, gateway for a third of the world's trade. "When are we going to...

Donald Rumsfeld, defence secretary, on Sunday said the bloodiest single day for American forces in Iraq since the start of the military campaign to oust Saddam Hussein would not deflect the US from its purpose of stabilising the country. Rejecting criticism of inadequate postwar planning, Mr Rumsfeld said "tragic days" would be inevitable. But, he told ABC's This Week, they were a necessary part of a "war that is difficult and complicated." Fifteen US personnel were killed and 21 injured when their Chinook helicopter was shot down near Falluja, to the west of Baghdad. Another three US soldiers and two...

The US-chosen government of Iraq declared today that it does not want peacekeepers from other countries to replace US-led forces, ending days of disputes over proposals by Turkey to commit peacekeeping troops.Instead, members of the Iraqi Governing Council told a news conference at the Organization of the Islamic Conference summit in Malaysia that they were seeking a formula under which Iraq could take charge of its own security as soon as possible. The United States is seeking troops from other countries to relieve its 130,000 forces in Iraq. The statement by members of the Iraqi Governing Council, including rotating President...

<p>My friends and family back in the states are frustrated because every time Najaf - the city in southern Iraq where my unit has been stationed - is in the news, the reports are of conflict between the U.S. forces and armed militias. To hear the media tell it, America has done nothing to improve the infrastructure or security, and the Iraqi public is volatile and seeking revenge.</p>

U.S. troops in Iraq are not currently holding any American or British citizens in custody, the commander of coalition forces said Thursday. An official said earlier this week that six people held on suspicion of guerrilla activity had claimed to be Americans and two others claimed to be British. The coalition has been investigating the claims. Asked on Thursday about the claims, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez said, "We currently have no Americans under arrest in our detention facilities." Asked if any Britons were being held, he replied: "None." At least one American was arrested around the end of major combat...

Seoul, 1 June: Visiting US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz reaffirmed Sunday [1 June] plans to enhance US Forces in Korea (USFK) as part of efforts to improve the deterrence of the threat from North Korea, the USFK said. No decision has been made on the relocation of US military bases in Korea, Wolfowitz was quoted as telling some 500 US servicemen during a visit to a US camp near the Demilitarized Zone. However, Wolfowitz also said that any relocation of US forces would be directed towards enhancing the USFK capability to stave off the threat from North Korea. The...

Iraq's Former Information Minister Mohammad Said Al Sahhaf, who denied to the very end the presence of United States Forces in Baghdad, has been unsuccessfully trying to turn himself in.A Kurdish official claims ex-Minister Sahhaf has been hiding at his aunt's house in Baghdad for the past four days, and has asked United States troops to arrest him so he can be 'protected.'Adel Murad, of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, says United States troops have refused to arrest Sahhaf because he is not on their 'most wanted' deck of playing cards.Ex Minister Saahaf daily breifings during the US lead war...

US forces thundered into the heart of Baghdad on Monday, storming a presidential palace and briefly placing tanks outside the Information Ministry, a message to President Saddam Hussein's faltering regime that coalition forces could enter the Iraqi capital at will. US tanks briefly also surrounded Al-Rashid Hotel, where Iraqi snipers fired on US soldiers. US tanks returned fire with their main guns and .50 caliber machine guns. A US commander said resistance coming into the city was heavier than expected as Iraqi troops laid new minefields and set up new firing positions. Monday afternoon, nearly 10 hours after the battle...

US Marines say they have captured an Iraqi army general in Nasiriya, in southern Iraq. Sporadic fighting continues in and around the town, although not as severe as in recent days. US aircraft and artillery are continuing to attack targets in Nasiriya. The man the US says is a general was captured on Thursday as US Marines stepped up their offensive against Iraqi units. According to Marine officers with Task Force Tarawa, he was found at his home. Documents and a large safe have been taken away for examination. More than 300 Iraqis have been taken prisoner since the fighting...

The proposal, put forward by the military alliance's top commander, would involve a cut in American troops in Germany STUTTGART (Germany) - Nato's top commander has laid out his vision for a radical overhaul of how US forces are deployed in Europe, which would reduce the American presence in Germany in favour of smaller, less costly bases in eastern Europe. General James Jones said the plans, which were still at an 'embryonic stage', would shift the weight of US forces from western Europe to countries farther east such as Poland, Bulgaria and Romania, which are closer to the post-Cold War...

Tue Mar 4,12:55 PM ET The U.S. Navy (news - web sites)'s unique Joint Venture HSV-X1, a high-speed, sealift catamaran designed to transport and insert a broad range of military equipment and personnel, is seen docked in Kuwait February 28, 2003. The Pentagon (news - web sites) announced on March 3 that it will move another 60,000 troops into the Gulf region despite signs that a war on Iraq (news - web sites) might be delayed until April, as big powers and ally Turkey persisted on Tuesday in complicating its military plans. (Joseph Krypel, US NAVY/Reuters) Tue Mar 4,...

KUALA LUMPUR, February 20 (IslamOnline.net) – The Abu Sayyaf group said it was preparing a “welcome party” for American soldiers who will take part in the Balikatan exercise (war games) in Sulu Island, a top leader of the group told the local press in the Philippines on Thursday, February 20. "We will welcome them in our little way . . . and that could be big," said Abu Soliman who has a five-million-dollar bounty on his head, the Inq7 news portal reported. The United States is negotiating details of a major new counter-terror operation against the Abu Sayyaf that could...

Always First — Always Ready! UNITED STATES ARMY FORCES CENTRAL COMMAND Coalition Forces Land Component Command (CFLCC) Today Forces further North of Camp Doha A United States Army Bradley tank with the 3rd Infantry Division based in Ft. Stewart, Ga., drives past the setting sun after the conclusion of urban warfare training in the Kuwaiti desert Sunday, Feb. 2, 2003, in Kuwait. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian) United States Army soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division based in Ft. Stewart, Ga., run with the mortar tube as they train in urban warfare in the Kuwaiti desert Sunday, Feb. 2, 2003, in Kuwait....

The build-up could include nearly three dozen bombers and an aircraft carrier, sent as a warning to Kim Jong Il, the North Korean dictator, not to exploit Washington’s focus on the Gulf. The request for reinforcements, made by the Commander of US Forces in the Pacific, Admiral Thomas Fargo, highlights the delicate balance the Pentagon is facing as it confronts a possible war in Iraq and events unfolding on the Korean Peninsula.

Today on the Sean Hannity show, Col David Hackworth gave out some highly sensitive information on the air about US Forces deployed in the Middle East. I won't quote the location, so as not to further compound Hackworth's mistake. He is accusing our Military Leaders of not protecting some forces deployed in the Middle East.

Pentagon sources are hinting that U.S. forces in and around the tiny but strategically-positioned Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti may soon be moving on. The troops were originally deployed to Djibouti for possible anti-terrorist operations in nearby Yemen as well as Somalia. It was only this past week that the Pentagon finally confirmed that U.S. forces were being allowed to use a base in Djibouti and that a U.S. amphibious assault ship was stationed in the Red Sea off the coast of the small country. But a senior Defense official now hints those forces - some 800 Special Operations...