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 The Pentagon early Bird April 20, 2008 Use of these news items does not reflect official endorsement. Reproduction for private use or gain is subject to original copyright restrictions. Item numbers indicate order of appearance only. This is the single print version. Use the PRINT command in your browser to print the entire Early Bird as one document. (NOTE: This single file format is a long document and can use 50 or more pages of paper.) Please scroll down to read the Headline; Then to read that entire Headline's Article, further scroll down. Url's will not link out in this format recieved.IRAQ
New York Times April 20, 2008 Pg. 1 Iraqi Army Takes Last Basra Areas From Sadr Force By James Glanz and Alissa J. Rubin BAGHDAD — Iraqi soldiers took control of the last bastions of the cleric Moktada al-Sadr’s militia in Basra on Saturday, and Iran’s ambassador to Baghdad strongly endorsed the Iraqi government’s monthlong military operation against the fighters. By Saturday evening, Basra was calm, but only after air and artillery strikes by American and British forces cleared the way for Iraqi troops to move into the Hayaniya district and other remaining Mahdi Army militia strongholds and begin house-to house searches, Iraqi officials said. Iraqi troops were meeting little resistance, said Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, the spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry in Baghdad. Despite the apparent concession of Basra, Mr. Sadr issued defiant words on Saturday night. In a long statement read from the loudspeakers of his Sadr City Mosque, he threatened to declare “war until liberation” against the government if fighting against his militia forces continued. But it was difficult to tell whether his words posed a real threat or were a desperate effort to prove that his group was still a feared force, especially given that his militia’s actions in Basra followed a pattern seen again and again: the Mahdi militia battles Iraqi government troops to a standstill and then retreats. Why his fighters have clung to those fight-then-fade tactics is unknown. But American military and civilian officials have repeatedly claimed that Mahdi Army units trained and equipped by Iran had played a major role in the unexpectedly strong resistance that government troops met in Basra. Whether to counter those allegations or simply because, as many Iraqis have recently speculated, Mr. Sadr’s stock has recently fallen in Iranian eyes, the Iranian ambassador, Hassan Kazemi Qumi, on Saturday expressed his government’s strong support for the Iraqi assault on Basra. He even called the militias in Basra “outlaws,” the same term that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has used to describe them. “The idea of the government in Basra was to fight outlaws,” Mr. Qumi said. “This was the right of the government and the responsibility of the government. And in my opinion the government was able to achieve a positive result in Basra.” Strikingly, however, Ambassador Qumi simultaneously condemned American-led operations against the Mahdi Army in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City, where major new clashes broke out on Saturday. He said the American-backed fighting in that densely populated district was causing only civilian casualties rather than achieving any positive result. “The American insistence on coming and having a siege on a couple of million people in one area and striking them with warplanes and shelling them randomly — many innocent people will be killed through this operation,” Mr. Qumi said. “The result of this operation will be the sabotage and destruction of buildings, and many people will leave their homes.” The events in Basra, in contrast with the Mahdi Army’s continued fighting in Sadr City, renewed questions about where the Sadrist movement stands in Iraq’s unstable political landscape. While his faction has often played the spoiler in Baghdad’s Shiite political structure, his followers also represent the poor and disenfranchised, who were battered under Saddam Hussein, making it difficult for the government to write them off. In his statement on Saturday, Mr. Sadr seemed to be claiming the moral high ground despite having to cede territory in Basra. He compared the Iraqi government to that of Saddam Hussein and said that the government had become the enemy along with Sunni extremists and the Americans. “You are using the politics of Saddam and his followers when he banned the Friday Prayer and displaced women and children; when he created divisions among groups of Iraqis; and used the politics of assassination,” the statement said. “If you do not stop we will announce a war until liberation.” Still, at one point he sounded an almost plaintive note, saying, “This government has forgotten that we are their brothers and were part of them.” The combination of the Iranian ambassador’s stance and the retreat of militia fighters in Basra may give fuel to accusations by some American and Sunni Arab officials that Iran has taken a powerful and increasingly open role in Iraqi politics. Mr. Maliki’s abrupt assault on Basra last month has been widely criticized as being poorly planned. But it is believed to have been encouraged by the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a crucial element of his governing coalition. Many members of the armed wing of the council, called the Badr Organization, joined the government’s security forces early in the Iraq conflict, and have been battling the Sadr-led forces. Mr. Sadr’s political movement is also an important rival of the Supreme Council. Because leaders of the council and its armed wing spent years and sometimes decades in exile in Iran during Saddam Hussein’s regime, it was assumed that the silence of the Badr Organization during the Basra offensive indicated that Iran had given at least tacit approval for the move. Mr. Qumi’s statements now give strong support to that view. They also suggest that Iran, which has historically tried to play Shiite groups against one another in Iraq, has decided to pull back on its support for the group that American officials have continually pointed to as an Iranian-trained troublemaker: Mr. Sadr’s Mahdi Army. Whether that means that the stock of Mr. Sadr himself has fallen is unknown, although Mr. Qumi seemed to avoid discussing the cleric and certainly refused to give him any credit for ending the fighting in Basra. At one point during the fighting, members of the Iraqi Parliament traveled to Iran, where Mr. Sadr is believed to be residing, and helped negotiate the terms of a truce. The developments came as sporadic fighting continued to in some parts of Sadr City on Saturday night. Americans continued to strike Mahdi Army positions in the district’s southern sector, which Iraqi and American troops now largely control. The fighting overnight Friday and into Saturday was worse than earlier in the week, and wounded at least 66 people, who were taken to the Imam Ali hospital in Sadr City. Residents described mortar and rocket fire as well as gun battles, with the militias largely initiating the fighting in recent days. And an American reporter traveling with American and Iraqi troops saw that several additional companies had been sent into Sadr City on Saturday. The Iraqi troops began clearing side streets and alleyways in the southern sector with the aim of gaining full control of the area. Meanwhile, the militias continued to try to dislodge them, infiltrating from the more northern part of Sadr City. American forces are supporting the Iraqi Army with attack aircraft, medical care and some help with logistics. And while the Iraqi operation is principally focused on holding ground in southern Sadr City, the American focus in the area is mostly on stopping rocket and mortar attacks on the nearby Green Zone. The latest offensive in Basra started at 6 a.m. Saturday when American and British warplanes and artillery pounded Hayaniya, in northern Basra. The neighborhood had remained a Mahdi Army stronghold after earlier operations had ousted them from the center of the city. “The assault was against known criminal rocket and mortar sites west of Hayaniya,” according to a statement issued in Baghdad by the American military. The bombing campaign, which could be heard throughout the city, according to residents, prepared the ground for Iraqi troops, who by evening were moving through the district doing house-to-house searches for weapons caches and materials for roadside bombs, also known as improvised explosive devices, or I.E.D.’s. Lt. Gen. Mohan al-Freiji, who is one of the officers in charge of the Basra operation, told reporters that “a few days ago, we told the insurgents to give up their heavy weapons and the I.E.D.’s. But until yesterday night they shot mortar shells and planted improvised explosive devices in Hayaniya’s streets. They are gangsters who are fighting under the name of Mahdi Army.” Both Mr. Sadr’s office in Basra and the Iraqi general in charge of the operation said there had been little resistance from gunmen there. Aides to Mr. Sadr said that that was because the cleric had ordered his fighters to withdraw. “The Iraqi Army entered Hayaniya and the Mahdi Army did not resist because they made a commitment to obey Moktada al-Sadr’s order,” said Harith al-Athari, the head of the Sadr office in Basra. The American military said in a statement that British and American military training teams were working alongside Iraqi soldiers and that the Iraqi military consulted with senior British and American officers before undertaking this stage in the battle. The consultation is a contrast to the early days of the Basra operation, personally led by Mr. Maliki, when Iraqi troops moved in on Basra, with little prior consultation with either the Americans the British, the coalition troops who have a base in the area. Later, members of Mr. Maliki’s inner circle conceded that they had a communications problem, especially with the British, that needed to be rectified. Michael Gordon and Ahmad Fadam contributed reporting from Baghdad, and Iraqi employees of The New York Times from Basra and Baghdad. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080420594978.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_1407727_AEn PjkQAAJQxSAuEBQZKk3kCJYc&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080420aaindex_concat.html&cred=1gk0x6hzW224_rv3 wzMd98JQwhJoF2LRHjvuL25Q7DPa4AUxMaYcdU.4YmQiWEH6#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washington Post April 20, 2008 Pg. 20 Sadr Warns Of 'Open War' If Crackdown Is Not Halted By Amit R. Paley and Ernesto Londono, Washington Post Foreign Service BAGHDAD, April 19 -- Anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr threatened Saturday to launch an all-out war against the U.S.-backed Iraqi government if it continues a widespread crackdown on his followers. In a statement brimming with his most bellicose language in months, Sadr said he was issuing a "final warning" to the government to end the campaign against Shiite militias that has cost hundreds of lives since it began last month. If not, Sadr said, he would declare an "open war until liberation." A full-blown uprising by Sadr's Mahdi Army militia would be a major setback to the security improvements in Iraq over the past year, credited largely to his cease-fire order last summer. The Mahdi Army, which waged two bloody rebellions against U.S. troops in 2004, has shown in the past how quickly it can gather thousands of fighters. "Do you want a third uprising?" Sadr said in the statement. The warning came as Iraqi and U.S. troops continued their offensive against Sadrist strongholds with ground operations and airstrikes that killed at least a dozen people Friday night and Saturday in the southern city of Basra and in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched the campaign last month in Basra with the stated aim of eliminating militias and gangs, though most of the fighting appeared to focus on Sadrists. Maliki demanded that Sadr dismantle the Mahdi Army militia as a condition of being permitted to participate in provincial elections in the fall. Sadr repeatedly urged his followers not to fight back, calling the offensive an attempt to weaken a rival Shiite party before the elections. His aides have accused his chief political foes -- Maliki's Dawa party and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq -- of human rights abuses against Sadrists. "The government is fighting them, shedding their blood, taking their women as hostages and imprisoning their families," Sadr said in the statement. "What mistake have the followers made to escape the injustice of Saddam only to fall under the yoke of assassinations?" Sadr's statement was posted on his Web site just before 10 p.m. The Iraqi government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, was traveling abroad and could not be reached. Other senior Iraqi officials said hours later that they had not seen the statement and would not comment. The U.S. military said it hoped that Sadr, who has been bringing his movement further into the political mainstream, would decide not to end the cease-fire he declared eight months ago. "If Sadr declared an open war, we don't see that as a preferable course of action for anyone," said Maj. Brad Leighton, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad. Sadr's statement did not give a deadline for the government to respond. Nevertheless, rumors swirled among Sadr's followers about when fighting might begin. Sheik Ali al-Suweidy, a spokesman for the Sadr office in Basra, said the government was expected to answer within 14 days. "We are awaiting his order," he said of Sadr. Haider Abu Abdullah, 33, a Mahdi Army company commander in Kufa, said he had been told that the government had only 24 hours to respond. "The entire Iraqi people, including the Sadr movement, will be harmed after this open war, because no one will be able to count how many people will get killed and injured," he said. Leewa Smeisim, the head of Sadr's political bureau, said that the cleric had tried to avoid fighting but that the government had taken advantage of his cease-fire by carrying out mass arrests and executions, particularly in the southern cities of Basra, Diwaniyah, Nasiriyah and Karbala. The threat of Shiite-on-Shiite violence came as the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq called for a new, month-long wave of attacks on U.S. forces and their Iraqi allies. In an audio message posted Saturday on an insurgent Web site, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, believed to be the group's leader, dubbed the campaign the "attack of righteousness" and said it would be a "celebration" of the 4,000 U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq. In Basra, Iraqi officials said that they had taken control of two of the last remaining neighborhoods held by the Mahdi Army. The operation began at 6 a.m. when U.S. and British forces attacked rocket and mortar sites in the area. Iraqi forces then moved into the neighborhoods, Hayaniyah and Jamiat. "We confiscated many cars with no license plates that were used in kidnappings and assassinations," said Maj. Gen. Jalil Khalaf, the Basra police chief. "And we found thousands of roadside bombs in Hayaniyah." Faiz Mohammed, 41, who lives in Hayaniyah, said, "We feel safer now." In a news conference, the Iranian ambassador to Iraq said his government supported Maliki's recent Basra offensive, saying the Iraqi government has a right to target "criminal groups." But the ambassador, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, said the U.S. military operations in Sadr City were ill-conceived. "The American forces bombed the homes of innocent people," he said. "Many people are also being forced to leave their homes." The U.S. military said it targets fighters, not civilians. Qomi's remarks are sure to renew speculation about the ties between Iran and both the Sadrists and the Maliki-led government. His strong endorsement of the Basra operation suggests that Iran may be choosing sides in the Shiite-on-Shiite fighting. It may also bolster the view of some Iraqis that Iran, which the United States has accused of supplying Sadrists with weapons, no longer supports Sadr as strongly as it once did. Sadr's statement Saturday, however, made it clear that tensions between Sadr and Maliki are about to reach a head. "This is the very last threat," said Salah al-Obaidi, a top aide to Sadr. Special correspondents Aahad Ali in Basra, Saad Sarhan in Najaf and Zaid Sabah, Saad al-Izzi and K.I. Ibrahim in Baghdad contributed to this report. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080420595033.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_1407727_AEn PjkQAAJQxSAuEBQZKk3kCJYc&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080420aaindex_concat.html&cred=1gk0x6hzW224_rv3 wzMd98JQwhJoF2LRHjvuL25Q7DPa4AUxMaYcdU.4YmQiWEH6#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Los Angeles Times April 20, 2008 In Iraq, Cleric Muqtada Sadr Threatens War Angered by government raids, he issues a 'last warning.' An end to his militia's truce would pose big problems for the U.S. By Tina Susman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer BAGHDAD — Hard-line Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr threatened "open war" as Iraqi and U.S. forces battled his Mahdi Army militia in two key strongholds Saturday, raising the specter that a truce credited with reducing violence could soon end. The warning was the closest the cleric has come to canceling the truce he called in August, and it coincided with an Iranian denunciation of U.S. airstrikes in support of the Shiite-led government's military offensive. The United States accuses Iran of providing training, arms and other aid to Shiite extremists. The Iranian ambassador's comments, coming on the same day as Sadr's threat, were expected to fuel the U.S. allegations and exacerbate the explosive situation. The statement, which Sadr said was his "last warning," made it clear that, nearly a month into the offensive against Shiite militiamen, the fighting is far from over. It also underscored the deepening rift between Sadr and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, exposing yet another political rivalry, this one among Shiites, that will hamper national reconciliation efforts. If Sadr makes good on his threat, it would be the third time his forces have risen up against U.S. forces, and it would be a setback to Gen. David H. Petraeus' efforts to maintain security gains made since the deployment last year of 28,500 additional American troops. The last of those forces is scheduled to leave Iraq in July, and U.S. military leaders had banked on Sadr's truce to keep Shiite extremists pacified while soldiers focused on quelling Sunni militants linked to Al Qaeda in Iraq. Several recent bombings characteristic of Al Qaeda in Iraq have indicated that Sunni militants are regrouping in areas that had been relatively quiet. If Sadr were to call his militia back to action, the United States could find itself in the same situation it was early last year, when the high level of violence prompted President Bush to boost troop levels. At least 12 people were reported killed Saturday in the latest battles in Sadr's Baghdad power base, Sadr City. In Basra, 250 miles to the south, witnesses and military officials reported gun battles in Hayaniya, a western neighborhood that had been held by the Mahdi Army. A police official in Basra said Iraqi forces had seized control of Hayaniya and had detained scores of gunmen and confiscated weapons and ammunition. There was no independent confirmation of the statement. Residents and the British military, which has about 4,100 troops stationed on the outskirts of Basra, said U.S. and British forces launched the offensive about 6 a.m. with barrages of bombs and artillery. Capt. Chris Ford, a British military spokesman, said the initial blasts were intended as "an impressive display of firepower" to show militia fighters what they faced if they tried to resist the Iraqi troops. Ford said the bombs and artillery were fired into an open field, not into residential areas. After that, Iraqi forces began moving into Hayaniya for the first time. Witnesses, who did not want to be identified for security reasons, reported intense fighting. "It was a hard day for us. The sounds of the bombs were terrifying the children and women, from morning until this afternoon," said Radhi Daraji, a Hayaniya resident. By late Saturday, he said, the situation was calm, but most Mahdi Army members had fled the previous night after getting wind of the offensive. "All of them escaped to outside Hayaniya." Iran's ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, weighed in on the latest developments at a news conference at the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad. He expressed support for Iraqi government efforts to get rid of outlaws but said U.S. strikes on Sadr City and other Sadr districts would "aggravate the situation and make things worse." "The U.S. insistence on continuing this military action is a mistake, and it will lead to negative results that the Iraqi government will have to shoulder the responsibility for," Kazemi-Qomi said. The United States has accused Iran of controlling much of the violence in Shiite districts since Maliki launched his offensive in Basra on March 25. As the offensive began, rockets that the United States alleges come from Iran began hitting U.S. military bases across Baghdad, as well as the Green Zone, site of the U.S. Embassy and most Iraqi government offices. Fighting and rocket attacks died down after Iraqi lawmakers traveled to Iran, where Sadr is believed to be, to negotiate a cease-fire. On Friday, Sadr aides and political representatives had hinted at their growing impatience with what Sadr says is an unjust offensive targeting his Mahdi Army. Harith Ithari, a Sadr aide in Basra, said loyalists had been prevented from holding weekly prayers at their downtown office. He said Iraqi and British military vehicles were parked outside the building, which had been an office of the Iraqi National Olympic Committee. The military apparently was acting under Maliki's orders to clear non-political entities who were occupying government buildings, but it served to enrage Sadr's followers. "I think this is wrong and irrational, as prayers are for God only, and not for Sadr or anyone else," said Dakhil Radhi, one of those turned away by a soldier. "The soldier should have prayed with us, and after that they can do whatever they want according to their duties." Two U.S. troop deaths were reported Saturday. One soldier died in Salahuddin province in northern Iraq and another in Baghdad, both in roadside bombings Friday, according to brief statements. At least 4,039 U.S. forces have died in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003, according to icasualties.org. Special correspondent Saad Fakhrildeen in Najaf and correspondents in Basra and Baghdad contributed to this report. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080420595032.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_1407727_AEn PjkQAAJQxSAuEBQZKk3kCJYc&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080420aaindex_concat.html&cred=1gk0x6hzW224_rv3 wzMd98JQwhJoF2LRHjvuL25Q7DPa4AUxMaYcdU.4YmQiWEH6#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Los Angeles Times April 20, 2008 Fear And Dread In Iraq's Holy City Of Najaf Muqtada Sadr’s clash with the Iraqi government could spark violence in the center of the Shiite faith in the country, whose mainstream clerics view him as an upstart. The repercussions could be widespread. By Ned Parker, Raheem Salman and Saad Fakhrildeen, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers NAJAF, IRAQ — Clerics and politicians speak in hushed tones about the names drawn up for assassination. Guards stand outside their compounds clutching assault rifles, and handguns rest on desks. No one can be trusted. All sides fear that dark times are coming to Najaf, the spiritual capital of Iraq's Shiite Muslims. "The situation is mysterious," said Sheik Ali Najafi, the son and confidant of Grand Ayatollah Bashir Hussain Najafi, one of the four senior most Shiite clerics in Iraq, who guide the country's majority faith and counsel its politicians. Like elder statesmen, the four have found themselves ensnared in the conflict between the Shiite-led Iraqi government and an upstart young cleric, son of a revered grand ayatollah: Muqtada Sadr. The poisonous atmosphere of treachery and paranoia has consequences far beyond the alleyways of this ancient shrine city. Najaf may hold the key to Iraq's stability; if it descends into violence, the entire Shiite south will almost certainly follow suit. U.S. forces will be stretched, the chances of a troop drawdown diminished. The Shiite parties involved will probably look to Iran to broker an end to the crisis. And chances for real political process will be on hold. On Saturday night, the fears of a broader Shiite conflict loomed larger after Sadr threatened all-out war against the government if it did not halt military operations against his followers in Baghdad and the southern port of Basra. Like Basra, with its oil, whoever controls Najaf will play a major role in charting Iraq's future. It is here Shiite politicians come for guidance from the grand ayatollahs. It is here the populist Sadr first challenged Iraq's conservative religious establishment. "Najaf is the kitchen, where major decisions are cooked," said Salah Obeidi, Sadr's official spokesman. Obeidi works out of a barren room in a closed-down restaurant and hotel. Bodyguards sit in the lobby, decorated with a mural of Sadr and long-haired Shiite saints gazing austerely at Najaf's roads. Obeidi confesses he has been in crisis mode lately. "We are afraid the situation from now till October won't be stable for the Sadrists," Obeidi said. "Najaf is very important." The city's rewards are huge for Sadr and his competitors: lucrative revenues from the pilgrims who flock here, and the chance to spread one's influence among the faithful. Every year, millions of pilgrims come to Najaf to pray at the Imam Ali Mosque, the tomb of the prophet Muhammad's son-in-law. It was over the question of Ali's succession that the Shiite sect emerged. Believers from across Iraq bury their dead in Najaf's cemetery, named the Valley of Peace. Aspiring clerics flock here to study at the revered hawza, a loose network of illustrious seminaries, rivaled only by Qom in Iran. "Muqtada would covet the kind of Shiites Najaf holds," said Vali Nasr, an expert on Shiite Islam at Tufts University. "Sadr is popular politically, the grand ayatollahs religiously. There is a tense standoff between them. They both hold power and popularity, and that is what makes the situation so tense and volatile." Najaf's merchant elite and clergy have long viewed Sadr as a rabble rouser, able to mobilize the Shiite slums and rural masses for violence. No one in Najaf has forgotten April 2003, when Saddam Hussein fell and Sadr emerged from house arrest to lay claim to his dead father's mantle. That month, Abdel Majid Khoei, the son of another late grand ayatollah, returned from London and was attacked by a mob inside the Imam Ali shrine, dying of his injuries near Sadr's office. Then, in the summer of 2004, Sadr seized the shrine as part of his open revolt against the Americans. The ensuing battle battered the city's cemetery and neighborhoods. Even now, shattered buildings dot the landscape. During that uprising, the country's preeminent cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, intervened, offering Sadr's Mahdi Army safe passage from the Imam Ali shrine as a way of ending a monthlong confrontation with the U.S. military. This time, the grand ayatollahs have declined to aid the incendiary cleric. Three days into the Basra campaign, Grand Ayatollah Najafi issued a fatwa, or religious opinion or edict, that declared the Iraqi government as the only force in the country with the right to bear arms. His son, Sheik Ali Najafi, left little doubt that the clergy had backed the Iraqi army operations. "We see this as a positive improvement. . . . The people want the government to control the streets and the law to be enforced. No other groups," he said, sitting in his study, furnished with cushions, a laptop and a clock bearing his father's portrait. Their stance is a gamble. An influential cleric who is knowledgeable about talks between the Sadr movement and the grand ayatollahs described the situation in bleak terms: The government is weak, and Sadr aides now acknowledge privately that they have lost control of members who are receiving support from Iran. "There are groups in the Mahdi Army who are kidnapping, killing and stealing. They don't listen to Muqtada. They are openly operating with Iranian interests," he said. The cleric asked that his name not be used because he feared assassination. Everywhere, he saw Iran's influence. "In the beginning, it was Arab countries playing a negative role. Now after Qaeda has fallen, it is Iran. Iran wants to control Iraq, and change the hawza from Najaf to Qom." Sadr's loyalists are also fearful. The tensions between their mass movement and Najaf's mainstream clergy are evident on the plaza of the Imam Ali tomb, where a yellow-brick building with a marble base rose two years ago. It is a museum for Sadr's father, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq Sadr, who was killed during Hussein's rule. A black banner flutters from the building for Riyadh Noori, a senior Sadr aide who was killed April 11 by gunmen waiting outside his house on a quiet suburban street here. Twenty to 30 young men stand outside in the evening air and study the worshipers heading to the shrine. People avert their eyes. On a recent night, two gaunt men with scraggly beards hobbled into a Sadr office on crutches, one of them missing a leg, blown off fighting the Americans during Sadr's 2004 uprising. The pair waited to meet Haidar Fakhrildeen, a lawmaker loyal to Sadr. Fakhrildeen's cellphone rang, playing a speech from Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah about resistance and sacrifice. A black pistol sat on his desk. Like Obeidi, he said the movement expected more killings. Fakhrildeen spoke with a deep mistrust of the Americans and his Shiite political rivals: "Assassinations will happen because of the elections." The 6-foot-tall lawmaker also has to worry about Mahdi Army fighters co-opted by Tehran. "Iran interferes in everything," he said. "It was able to control a handful of fighters to use them to serve their interests." In the meantime, life goes on in Najaf's ancient bazaar. Merchants cut black and brown fabric for clerics' robes. Families buy deep red pomegranate juice and ice cream for daughters in party dresses. But bazaar owners believe the calm might be fleeting. A bookseller, whose merchandise includes writings by Sistani and Sadr's father, frowned. "The quiet will not continue. There will be disorder," he said confidentially between visits from customers who flipped through his books, with their pictures of the dour-faced clerics. He was sure the turbulence would pass: "After this unrest, there will be permanent stability." http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080420594961.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_1407727_AEn PjkQAAJQxSAuEBQZKk3kCJYc&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080420aaindex_concat.html&cred=1gk0x6hzW224_rv3 wzMd98JQwhJoF2LRHjvuL25Q7DPa4AUxMaYcdU.4YmQiWEH6#T OP">RETURN TO TOP London Sunday Telegraph April 20, 2008 Battle To Retake Basra Was 'Complete Disaster' By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent The British-trained Iraqi Army's attempt to retake Basra from militiamen was an "unmitigated disaster at every level", British commanders have disclosed. Senior sources have said that the mission was undermined by incompetent officers and untrained troops who were sent into battle with inadequate supplies of food, water and ammunition. They said the failure had delayed the British withdrawal by "many months". Their comments came as the Iraqi army, this time directly supported by American and British forces, began a second operation in Basra in an attempt to find insurgent weapons caches. The push, which was met with fierce resistance, took place in the Hayania district of the city, where there were clashes two weeks ago. In the first operation, it is understood that one Iraqi brigade became a "busted flush" after 1,200 of its soldiers deserted. At one stage during the battle, stories were circulating at the British headquarters that Iraqi troops were demanding food and water from coalition forces at gunpoint. "It was an unmitigated disaster at every level," an officer said. Gen Mohan Furayji, the Iraqi commander who was in charge of troops during the operation, was described by a senior British staff officer as a "dangerous lunatic" who "ignored" advice. The British officer, who is based at the coalition headquarters at Basra Air Station, said that the decision to allow Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister of Iraq, to run the operation had been a "disaster which felt as though an amateur was in charge". More than 15,000 Iraqi troops were ordered to seize control of the city last month following an uprising by the Mehdi Army, the powerful militia group which is largely trained and financed by Iran. President George W Bush described the battle for Basra as a "defining moment" for Iraq, while British officials at the time praised the professionalism of the Iraqi army. However, the operation ended in a stalemate, with the Iraqi government agreeing to a ceasefire. Criticism of Britain's involvement in Basra resurfaced last week during Gordon Brown's visit to America. The New York Times reported, incorrectly, that British troops were refusing to help the Iraqi army, which the newspaper said was "deeply embarrassing for Britain". In a devastating critique of the Iraqi military, British commanders have disclosed that "chaos ruled" the operation to retake Basra. One officer said the Iraqi army's 14th Division had only 26 per cent of the equipment necessary to take part in combat operations. He said: "There were literally thousands of troops arriving in Basra from all over Iraq. But they had no idea why they were there or what they were supposed to do. It was madness and to cap it all they had insufficient supplies of food, water and ammunition. "One of the newly formed brigades was ordered into battle and suffered around 1,200 desertions within the first couple of hours - it was painful to watch. "They had to be pulled out because they were a busted flush. The Iraqi police were next to useless. There were supposed to be 1,300 ready to deploy into the city, but they refused to do so. The situation deteriorated to the extent where we [the British Army] were forced to stage a major resupply operation in order to stave off disaster. "The net effect of all of this is that the British Army will be forced to remain here for many months longer." The Sunday Telegraph has also learnt that British commanders had devised a plan for Gen Mohan. The plan came with the caveat that it should not be started until mid-July because Iraqi troops were not ready. But the officer said that the Iraqi general had ignored the advice. He said that a British liaison team was sent to the Iraqi army headquarters during the battle. "They were greeted by a group of Iraqi generals sitting around a large desk, shouting into their mobiles without a map in sight. Chaos ruled." Basra was handed back to Iraqi control last year after the Army withdrew from its last military base in the city. The Ministry of Defence had hoped to reduce the number of troops serving in southern Iraq to about 2,000 this spring, but that plan has been shelved and British troops are once again patrolling the city's streets. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080420594983.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_1407727_AEn PjkQAAJQxSAuEBQZKk3kCJYc&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080420aaindex_concat.html&cred=1gk0x6hzW224_rv3 wzMd98JQwhJoF2LRHjvuL25Q7DPa4AUxMaYcdU.4YmQiWEH6#T OP">RETURN TO TOP New York Times April 20, 2008 Pg. 1 U.S. Commanders Seeking To Widen Pakistan Attacks By Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt WASHINGTON — American commanders in Afghanistan have in recent months urged a widening of the war that could include American attacks on indigenous Pakistani militants in the tribal areas inside Pakistan, according to United States officials. The requests have been rebuffed for now, the officials said, after deliberations in Washington among senior Bush administration officials who fear that attacking Pakistani radicals may anger Pakistan’s new government, which is negotiating with the militants, and destabilize an already fragile security situation. American commanders would prefer that Pakistani forces attack the militants, but Pakistani military operations in the tribal areas have slowed recently to avoid upsetting the negotiations. Pakistan’s government has given the Central Intelligence Agency limited authority to kill Arab and other foreign operatives in the tribal areas, using remotely piloted Predator aircraft. But administration officials say the Pakistani government has put far greater restrictions on American operations against indigenous Pakistani militant groups, including one thought to have been behind the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. American intelligence officials say that the threat emanating from Pakistan’s tribal areas is growing, and that Pakistani networks there have taken on an increasingly important role as an ally of Al Qaeda in plotting attacks against American and other allied troops in Afghanistan, and in helping foreign operatives plan attacks on targets in the West. The officials said the American military’s proposals included options for limited cross-border artillery strikes into Pakistan, missile attacks by Predator aircraft or raids by small teams of C.I.A. paramilitary forces or Special Operations forces. In recent months, the American military officials in Afghanistan who are urging attacks in Pakistan discussed a list of potential targets with the United States ambassador in Pakistan, Anne W. Patterson, officials said. The requests by the American commanders for attacks on targets in Pakistan were described by officials who had been briefed on the discussions but who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the discussions involved possible future operations. The discussions are the latest example of a recurring problem for the White House: that the place where the terrorist threat is most acute is the place where American forces are most restricted from acting. Officials involved in the debate said that the question of attacking Pakistani militants was especially delicate because some militant leaders were believed to still be on the payroll of Pakistan’s intelligence service, called the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, or another part of Pakistan’s intelligence apparatus. Among the groups thought to be targets was one commanded by Sirajuddin Haqqani, son of the legendary militant leader Jalaluddin Haqqani, as well as the network led by Baitullah Mehsud that is believed to have been behind Ms. Bhutto’s death. For years the intelligence services have relied on a web of sources among Pakistani militant groups to collect information on foreign groups like Al Qaeda that have operated in the tribal areas. A Pentagon adviser said military intelligence officers in Afghanistan had drawn up the detailed list of potential targets that was discussed with Ambassador Patterson. It is unclear which senior officials in Washington were involved in the debate over whether to authorize attacks. One administration official said the internal discussions in Washington involved President Bush’s top national security aides, and took place earlier this year. Military and intelligence officials say Al Qaeda and its affiliates now have a haven to plan attacks, just as they used camps in Afghanistan before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the C.I.A. director, said last month that the security situation along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border “presents clear and present danger to Afghanistan, to Pakistan and to the West in general, and to the United States in particular.” American officials involved in the discussions said that they had not ruled out striking Pakistani militants in the tribal areas. American forces in Afghanistan are authorized to attack targets in Pakistan in self-defense or if they are in “hot pursuit” of militants fleeing back to havens across the border. American-led forces in Afghanistan fired artillery at what they suspected was a Haqqani network safe house on March 12 that an American spokesman said posed an “imminent threat.” But the Pakistani Army said the strike killed only civilians. Administration officials say the risk of angering the new government in Pakistan and stirring increased anti-American sentiment in the tribal areas outweighs the benefits of dismantling militant networks in the region. “It’s certainly something we want to get to, but not yet,” said one Bush administration official. “If you do it now, you can expect to do it without Pakistani approval, and you can expect to do it only once because the Pakistanis will never help us again.” Spokesmen for the White House and State Department declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman for Ambassador Patterson in Pakistan. Intelligence officials say they believe that leaders of the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups have in recent months forged closer ties to the cadre of Qaeda leaders in the tribal areas. Officials have said that they thought the leader of the Taliban there, Jalaluddin Haqqani, may have died last year. But Mr. Haqqani recently released a video denying those reports and made reference to a military attack in eastern Afghanistan that happened this March. Mr. Haqqani’s son, Sirajuddin, has also made aggressive efforts to recruit foreign fighters from the Persian Gulf and elsewhere in Central Asia. “The relationship between the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and Al Qaeda and other groups such as the Haqqani network, are stronger today than they were, and they’re primarily based on the Pakistani side of the border,” said Seth Jones, an analyst with the RAND Corporation, in Congressional testimony this month after his trip to Afghanistan. The Haqqanis are suspected of organizing a suicide attack on March 3 that killed two American soldiers at an Afghan government office. Sirajuddin Haqqani is also suspected of orchestrating a suicide bomb attack in January at the Serena Hotel in Kabul that killed six people. The discussions over how to combat Al Qaeda and Pakistani militant networks in the tribal areas have been going on for nearly two years, as American policy makers have weighed the growing militant threat in the border area against unilateral American action that could politically weaken President Pervez Musharraf, a close ally in the global counterterrorism campaign. A few weeks after Ms. Bhutto’s assassination in December, two senior American intelligence officials reached a quiet understanding with Mr. Musharraf to intensify secret strikes against suspected terrorists by Predator aircraft launched in Pakistan. American officials have expressed alarm that the leaders of Pakistan’s new coalition government, Asif Ali Zardari of the Pakistan Peoples Party and Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League (N), are negotiating with militants believed to be responsible for an increasing number of suicide attacks against the security forces and political figures. The new government has signaled that in its relations with Washington, it wants to take a path more independent than the one followed by the previous government and to use military force in the tribal areas only as a last resort. In Congressional testimony this month, a former top American commander in Afghanistan said the need for more action was urgent. “A senior member of the administration needs to go to Pakistan and take the intelligence we have on Al Qaeda, the Taliban, the Haqqani network inside of Pakistan and lay it out for their most senior leadership,” said the retired commander, Lt. Gen. David W. Barno. He said the American envoy should “show them exactly what we know about, what they don’t know about what’s going on in their tribal areas and say, this is not a tolerable situation for you nor for us.” “And,” he added, “we need to sit down and think through what we can collectively do about this.” Carlotta Gall contributed reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080420594990.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_1407727_AEn PjkQAAJQxSAuEBQZKk3kCJYc&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080420aaindex_concat.html&cred=1gk0x6hzW224_rv3 wzMd98JQwhJoF2LRHjvuL25Q7DPa4AUxMaYcdU.4YmQiWEH6#T OP">RETURN TO TOP New York Times April 20, 2008 Pg. 14 Pakistani, Abducted, Cites Taliban On Video By Carlotta Gall KABUL, Afghanistan — Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan, who was abducted in Pakistan two months ago, has appeared on a video that was shown on Pakistani television on Saturday saying he was being held by Pakistani Taliban militants and calling on his government to meet their demands. The ambassador, Tariq Azizuddin, was shown in the video sitting in a rugged mountain setting beside his driver and his personal guard, both of whom had been abducted with him. Three masked gunmen stood behind them. Mr. Azizuddin called on Pakistan’s foreign secretary, two friends who are Pakistan’s ambassadors to Iran and China, and his brother, Tahir Azizuddin, to do all they could to meet the demands of the Taliban. “I appeal to them to try to do their best to protect our lives and accept whatever the Taliban mujahedeen demand as soon as possible,” he said in the video. “To my family members and my children, I am telling you I am O.K.; my health right now is in a stable condition,” he said. “I appeal to you to pray for us that our health remains stable.” Mr. Azizuddin, who has grown a white beard since his capture, did not specify the Taliban’s demands. He said the video was made March 8 and that the three were being treated well. He said he was concerned about his health because he had high blood pressure and a heart condition. Muhammad Naeem, a spokesman at the Pakistani Embassy in Kabul, said the embassy had learned about a month ago that the ambassador was being held captive by a group and that the militants were demanding the release of some of their own colleagues who were being held by Pakistan. He said the video was 40 days old, but was a good sign in that the militants were making contact. “It seems they want to open negotiations,” he said. In the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammed Sadiq, said the government had assurances that Mr. Azizuddin was unharmed. The Taliban militants have demanded the release of a senior Afghan Taliban figure, Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, who served as defense minister in the Afghan Taliban government, as well as five or six others who were Pakistanis and Afghans, said a Pakistani government official with knowledge of the case. Mullah Obaidullah has been an important figure behind the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and was reported to have been arrested in Pakistan in March 2007. The government official also said that the men who abducted the ambassador had passed the captive on to the Pakistani Taliban, namely the Tehrik-e-Taliban, an umbrella organization of Pakistani militant groups. In the video, the ambassador said he was taken into custody by “Taliban mujahedeen,” or holy warriors, in Khyber, one of Pakistan’s tribal regions, on Feb. 11. “Since then until now, we have been their guests,” he said. At the time of his abduction, Mr. Azizuddin was on his way from Peshawar in a private car to the Afghan border, where an escort was waiting to take him to the embassy in Kabul. His abduction, at a time of escalating militancy in the weeks after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister, and just before national elections, was acutely embarrassing for the government of President Pervez Musharraf and was another sign of the increasingly brazen militant attacks against his government. The violence has ebbed in Pakistan since a new government, formed from parties opposed to Mr. Musharraf, was sworn in last month, yet the Pakistani Taliban, which encompasses tribal militias and radical militant groups linked to Al Qaeda, have continued attacks and kidnappings in the semiautonomous tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Al Qaeda often uses Arab television stations to release videos of news from its leaders, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri, who are widely believed to be hiding in Pakistan’s tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan. The use of the same pipeline for this video suggests a possible link between the ambassador’s captors and the Qaeda network. The government official said that Tehrik-e-Taliban is led by Baitullah Mehsud, who is wanted for organizing dozens of suicide bombings in Pakistan. The militants in the video were Pakistani Taliban and wore turbans wrapped around their faces and carried Kalashnikov rifles. Ismail Khan contributed reporting from Peshawar, Pakistan. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080420594999.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_1407727_AEn PjkQAAJQxSAuEBQZKk3kCJYc&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080420aaindex_concat.html&cred=1gk0x6hzW224_rv3 wzMd98JQwhJoF2LRHjvuL25Q7DPa4AUxMaYcdU.4YmQiWEH6#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washington Times April 20, 2008 Pg. 6 Pakistan Government Will Not Impeach Musharraf ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's new government is avoiding a showdown with President Pervez Musharraf because it lacks the support needed to impeach him, the head of the ruling coalition's leading party said in remarks released yesterday. But Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, did not rule out confronting the unpopular former army strongman if the new government manages to muster the necessary two-thirds parliament majority in the future. "For the sake of the country, we don't want confrontation. But this doesn't mean we accept him [Musharraf]. If we get the two-thirds majority, we will think about making him accountable," Mr. Zardari told the British Broadcasting Corp.'s Urdu language service. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080420595047.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_1407727_AEn PjkQAAJQxSAuEBQZKk3kCJYc&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080420aaindex_concat.html&cred=1gk0x6hzW224_rv3 wzMd98JQwhJoF2LRHjvuL25Q7DPa4AUxMaYcdU.4YmQiWEH6#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Columbia (SC) State April 20, 2008 Pg. 1 Exclusive from Afghanistan Troops Reach Out One Last Time S.C. Guard soldiers say goodbye to orphans they adopted, after giving as much aid as they could By Chuck Crumbo KABUL, Afghanistan — The boys waved and offered a triumphant thumbs-up as five S.C. National Guard Humvees rolled through the orphanage gates. When the vehicles stopped, the children surrounded them and pressed against the doors, barely giving the soldiers enough room to open the doors. “Pen. Pen. Pen,” the boys shouted in English. “Soccer ball. Volleyball.” The Palmetto State soldiers, on their final visit to the Tahai Maskan Orphanage, did their best to oblige. Members of the Guard’s 218th Brigade Combat Team — which next week ends its yearlong tour of duty in Afghanistan — adopted the orphanage in August as one of several civil affairs projects. The troops brought the children clothing, blankets, school supplies and sports equipment. They also fixed things at the orphanage — a roof on one building, electrical wiring, a pump, a floor, a drain. The troops hope their good works will make life a little better for the 350 boys at the orphanage. But the soldiers also concede there’s much more that needs to be done. “It’s great that we can bring a smile to the kids,” said Chief Warrant Officer Michael Byrd of Orangeburg, a grandfather of two. “I just wished we had more to give.” Helping the children at Tahai Maskan has been a rewarding — and humbling — experience. “It’s pretty remarkable,” said 1st Sgt. Ervin Capers of Eastover. “You look at what our kids have,” Ervin said, offering a laundry list of electronic games, computers and cell phones. “Here, these kids are just praying to get a pen to write with.” Big problem, few resources Thirty years of war have left more than 1 million Afghan orphans, said Soraya Abdulla Hakim, president of the country’s Department of Orphanages. The country, though, has few resources to cope with a problem of that magnitude. Tahai Maskan is just one of 27 orphanages that the Afghan government operates, Hakim said. Only 10,000 children — about 1 in 100 orphans — live in government-sponsored orphanages. The rest are in orphanages sponsored by charities and non-governmental organizations or live on the streets. Hakim’s agency estimates there are more than 38,000 homeless orphans in Kabul alone. “We want to help every child over here,” said Sgt. 1st Class Terry Wessinger of Cayce. “But if we can help a few, we can help build a better nation for them and their children.” 'Here, I'm happy' Although Spartan by U.S. standards, the orphanage’s buildings and grounds are lavish compared to the way most Afghans live. There’s an orchard and garden, where the children grow fruits and vegetables. In stark contrast to the barren, rocky playgrounds found at the typical Afghan school, grass covers the soccer field. The boys live in dormitories. Their bunks are made every morning and clothes hung up neatly in lockers. The exteriors of the orphanage’s buildings are undergoing a major paint job. The orphanage also has a learning center and computer lab. While most would consider the Ulhaq brothers unlucky, the three boys from Badakhshan province — in the county’s far northeast corner — think they’re fortunate to be at Tahai Maskan. Six years ago, their father died when Taliban fighters attacked the mosque where he was praying, said 16-year-old Faz, the oldest. Because their mother had died earlier, the boys and their two sisters were orphaned. First, the children went to live with an uncle, said Faz, who hopes to be a civil engineer “and help build our war-torn country.” But the uncle, a farmer, couldn’t support all the children. The brothers wound up at the Tahai Maskan; their sisters remained with the uncle, Faz said. Faz thinks things worked out for the best. “When I lived with my uncle, I had to help on the farm all the time, herding cattle,” he said through an interpreter. “Here, I’m happy. I have freedom. I get to play. I’m getting a good education.” Younger brothers, Zai, 13, and Noor, 12, also agreed they are better off. “The happiest part of being here is that we’re living together,” said Zai, who wants to be a doctor. Other boys, including Kamal Din Madyar, don’t remember living anywhere else. Kamal was just a tot when his father, a colonel in the mujahedin, died fighting the Russians. His mother remarried, but her new husband would not take in Kamal or his older brother. The boys were left at an orphanage. At the time, Kamal was just 2. Now 18, Kamal doesn’t feel sorry for himself. He’s looking forward to completing his education, finding a job as a computer programmer and, maybe, getting married. He stays in touch with his brother, who is 20, and living on his own. Stretching out his arms as if he were hugging the whole orphanage, Kamal said, “These are my brothers, too, all of these persons.” Finding family In August, when the S.C. troops made their first visit to the orphanage, Cayce’s Wessinger spent time talking with the boys, playing a little soccer and taking pictures with his digital camera. One of the boys he took a picture of was Zai Ulhaq. Back at his base that night, Wessinger made a print of Zai’s picture. He looked into the boy’s face and started to cry, realizing just how much he missed his three sons, ages 10, 8 and 7. “I don’t know why, but when I looked at him, I saw my middle son,” Wessinger said. “There was something in his eyes, the way he held himself that reminded me of my boy.” The next time he went to the orphanage, Wessinger looked for Zai but couldn’t find him. The same thing happened on Wessinger’s third visit. On the last trip, which was Friday, Wessinger took along the boy’s picture, asking around if anyone remembered Zai. “I was worried that he was gone or that something had happened to him,” Wessinger said. The orphanage’s teachers quickly recognized Zai and pointed him out to Wessinger. That’s when Wessinger discovered that Zai had two brothers. Wessinger spent time Friday with Zai and his brothers, posing for pictures and retelling the story of how he searched for the boy and found a family. There were no tears, just smiles. In a few weeks, Wessinger will leave Afghanistan and reunite with his wife and sons. But he said Friday, “This experience has helped me cope with being away from my family. “And it’s made me realize how much I have.” http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080420594964.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_1407727_AEn PjkQAAJQxSAuEBQZKk3kCJYc&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080420aaindex_concat.html&cred=1gk0x6hzW224_rv3 wzMd98JQwhJoF2LRHjvuL25Q7DPa4AUxMaYcdU.4YmQiWEH6#T OP">RETURN TO TOP London Sunday Times April 20, 2008 Bullets, Blood And Bravery On The 999 Run In Afghanistan Stuart Webb joins Britain’s elite combat medics on a relentless series of dangerous flights to rescue the injured – both friend and foe There’s a battle under way in the Helmand desert and we are flying straight into it. I would normally worry about hitting turbulence; now I’m worried about being hit by ground fire. An injured American special forces soldier needs rescuing urgently, but he is stuck in the middle of the firefight. “We’d fly in under fire to save one of the guys,” says RAF pilot Dan Padbury. But as we approach he is told to hold his Chinook helicopter close by while US special forces fight the Taliban on the ground and clear the airspace for an assault by “fast air” – military slang for the jet fighters that are about to attack. The battle rages on. Meanwhile, we are kept in an extreme holding pattern. In fact, the Chinook is circling so low that you could almost stick your hand out of the open windows and touch the ground. There are 16 people in here with me – members of the forces’ medical emergency response team (MERT) – risking their lives in the hope of saving one. Among them are a paramedic, a trauma nurse and two doctors – one of whom is also an anaesthetist. Their skills and equipment make the MERT the most advanced first-response airborne combat medical team in the world. Today’s team leader, trauma nurse Squadron Leader Charlie Atherton, tells me that she was called out on Christmas Eve to rescue a Royal Marine commando who had stepped on a mine. She found him lying in the crater caused by the explosion. He had lost three limbs, so Charlie’s first instinctive response was to hold his one remaining hand. For Surgeon Commander Dan Connor, it’s his first day on this tour. He’s a military doctor, but normally works in a National Health Service hospital in Portsmouth. I wonder what his civilian counterparts would say if they could see him now, preparing drips in the cabin of a twisting helicopter on the edge of a firefight with the Taliban. As we continue to circle, an Apache attack helicopter rides shotgun. A quick response force of British soldiers ready their weapons and steel their nerves. They know that when the Chinook lands they will be first out of the door, protecting the helicopter and crew from whatever is out there. Most wear white surgical gloves which contrast oddly with the black barrels of their guns. These soldiers often help with the stretchers – and it can be a bloody business. Finally, after 45 minutes of circling, the fighting eases and the Chinook is ordered in. The rescue is over in seconds but there’s no time to waste: some civilians in a car have hit a roadside bomb. Two are considered “critical”; up to seven are dead. As the helicopter lands, a pile of bodies comes into view. Once the survivors are loaded aboard, the team immediately swing into action. But with the quick response force, the bomb disposal team and the Chinook’s RAF gunners in the cabin, there’s barely space to move. It’s also extremely cold. The daytime temperature in the helicopter during the winter is around -5C and at night it often drops another five. It’s so cold that equipment often becomes brittle and breaks and the drips need to be preheated before coming aboard. On top of this, there’s all the deafening noise. By the time we land at the British military hospital at Camp Bastion, all three patients have been stabilised. Later the crew find out that the two civilians they have rescued are in fact Taliban, blown up while planting their own roadside bomb. The crew have already missed lunch and as we prepare to go for dinner, the “red phone” in the MERT’s “ready room” rings again. Night has fallen as the hungry crew race to the helipad. A man has been shot four times and is bleeding to death. He will die within the hour if we don’t take off – and even though he is a Taliban fighter, the team decide to launch. Though these are military rescue flights, the MERT team are just as likely to be out saving a member of the Taliban as one of their own troops. We are now flying in an area strewn with hills, cliffs and mountains – in total blackout conditions. The risk of ground fire means that no cabin lights are allowed as we skim through the darkness. I can only just make out the soldiers sitting in front of me in the cabin and can see nothing through the windows. As we get closer I feel the sensation of the helicopter dropping for the final run in. Two US special forces soldiers come along to guard their captive, but he’s not going anywhere; in fact, he has almost bled to death. He has been shot three times in the leg and once in the arm, the high velocity rounds shattering his thigh bone and severing the artery. Unable to find a vein for the drip, the medical team use a new method, perfected in combat medicine, which involves drilling directly into the hip bone to administer fluids straight into the marrow. By the time they get the Taliban fighter to Camp Bastion, they have stabilised him, effectively saving his life. The damage to his leg is so severe, however, that it will later have to be amputated. The next morning, Lieutenant-Colonel Mark Sheridan, one of the other MERT doctors, visits the Taliban fighter – who could be a commander and therefore useful for intelligence. “It’s amazing what Afghans can survive,” he says. “They’re really tough. I’m constantly seeing them survive injuries that would kill people back home.” I can see what he means. Despite being a whisker away from death last night, the Taliban fighter is now awake and alert. “The first thing he asked for when he woke up was his mobile phone,” says Sheridan. We both know he will never get it back. The intelligence people will already be scanning it for Taliban contacts. Surgeon Commander Ben Siggers now joins the helicopter team. I had already bumped into him last night as he came out of surgery, just after operating on an Afghan National Army soldier who had accidentally shot himself three times in the foot. The Afghan’s gun had been set to automatic. Siggers had tried to hide a smile as he told me about it. “I don’t suppose he’ll do it again,” he said. As the new day passes, the team manage to have breakfast and lunch without being interrupted by a call. But the red phone rings again in the afternoon and I soon find myself in the back of a Land Rover with Siggers, hurtling towards the helipad. His smile has been replaced by a look of intense concentration: “We’re being told it’s a mine strike,” he says, “and there are two casualties, both serious.” This time an American convoy has hit a roadside bomb. As soon as the casualties are stretchered aboard, it’s clear that one of the soldiers is in a very bad way. Ground medics have incorrectly inserted an airway tube into his stomach instead of his lungs. The team immediately replace the airway and frantically battle to save his life. But he’s quiet and motionless. Seeing him splayed out at my feet, I am hit by a wave of sadness. His life seems to be slipping away, but the team fight for him all the way back to base. As the helicopter lands in a cloud of dust, Siggers jumps out and then accompanies the stretcher the short distance to the hospital, where he quickly briefs the waiting surgeons. They lift the American onto the treatment table and try to resuscitate him. Despite everyone’s best efforts, it soon becomes evident that he is dead. The medics are deflated as they slowly make their way out of the hospital. They know that, thousands of miles away, an American family will soon be told that they have lost their son. A life cut short; a family shattered. Next to me, Siggers stands with the blood of the dead soldier on his uniform. Outside in the peace and quiet, away from the noise of the helicopter, I start to feel a little shell-shocked. I’m not the only one. The trauma nurse who fought so hard to save the soldier starts to cry. This is her first day in the job. Atherton sums up the feelings of the team: “Not a good day for us, but we did everything we could.” We make our way back to the MERT ready room and have just gone through the door when the red phone rings again. For a moment, everyone is open-mouthed in disbelief. Then they all run for the helipad. Stuart Webb is a journalist for Channel 4 News. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080420594995.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_1407727_AEn PjkQAAJQxSAuEBQZKk3kCJYc&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080420aaindex_concat.html&cred=1gk0x6hzW224_rv3 wzMd98JQwhJoF2LRHjvuL25Q7DPa4AUxMaYcdU.4YmQiWEH6#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washington Post April 20, 2008 Pg. 21 Afghanistan Rare Disease Kills 10 As many as 10 people have died in western Afghanistan from a rare liver disease believed to be caused by contaminated wheat, officials said Saturday. At least 161 people were also hospitalized with Gulran disease in Herat province, said Peter Graaff of the U.N. World Health Organization. A local toxic weed called charmak contains chemicals that can cause the disease, officials said. The agency was sending an epidemiologist to Afghanistan to investigate whether wheat or other foods were contaminated and whether people might be eating the weed deliberately as a flavor enhancer, Graaff said. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080420595000.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_1407727_AEn PjkQAAJQxSAuEBQZKk3kCJYc&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080420aaindex_concat.html&cred=1gk0x6hzW224_rv3 wzMd98JQwhJoF2LRHjvuL25Q7DPa4AUxMaYcdU.4YmQiWEH6#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washington Times April 20, 2008 Pg. 6 Germany German Held By U.S. In Afghanistan BERLIN — U.S. authorities in Afghanistan have been holding a German citizen in custody since early January over accusations that he was on a U.S. base without authorization, Germany's Foreign Ministry said yesterday. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is in contact with U.S. authorities on the issue and is working to secure the release of the German, a man of Afghan origin. The weekly Der Spiegel reported that the man, whom it identified as 41-year-old Gholam Ghaus Z., had traveled to Kabul to visit relatives and was arrested as he tried to buy a razor at a U.S. military supermarket. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080420594985.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_1407727_AEn PjkQAAJQxSAuEBQZKk3kCJYc&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080420aaindex_concat.html&cred=1gk0x6hzW224_rv3 wzMd98JQwhJoF2LRHjvuL25Q7DPa4AUxMaYcdU.4YmQiWEH6#T OP">RETURN TO TOP New York Times April 20, 2008 Pg. 1 Message Machine Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon's Hidden Hand By David Barstow In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded “the gulag of our times” by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure. The administration’s communications experts responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired military officers on one of the jets normally used by Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of Guantánamo. To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as “military analysts” whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world. Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found. The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air. Those business relationships are hardly ever disclosed to the viewers, and sometimes not even to the networks themselves. But collectively, the men on the plane and several dozen other military analysts represent more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants. The companies include defense heavyweights, but also scores of smaller companies, all part of a vast assemblage of contractors scrambling for hundreds of billions in military business generated by the administration’s war on terror. It is a furious competition, one in which inside information and easy access to senior officials are highly prized. Records and interviews show how the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform the analysts into a kind of media Trojan horse — an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks. Analysts have been wooed in hundreds of private briefings with senior military leaders, including officials with significant influence over contracting and budget matters, records show. They have been taken on tours of Iraq and given access to classified intelligence. They have been briefed by officials from the White House, State Department and Justice Department, including Mr. Cheney, Alberto R. Gonzales and Stephen J. Hadley. In turn, members of this group have echoed administration talking points, sometimes even when they suspected the information was false or inflated. Some analysts acknowledge they suppressed doubts because they feared jeopardizing their access. A few expressed regret for participating in what they regarded as an effort to dupe the American public with propaganda dressed as independent military analysis. “It was them saying, ‘We need to stick our hands up your back and move your mouth for you,’” Robert S. Bevelacqua, a retired Green Beret and former Fox News analyst, said. Kenneth Allard, a former NBC military analyst who has taught information warfare at the National Defense University, said the campaign amounted to a sophisticated information operation. “This was a coherent, active policy,” he said. As conditions in Iraq deteriorated, Mr. Allard recalled, he saw a yawning gap between what analysts were told in private briefings and what subsequent inquiries and books later revealed. “Night and day,” Mr. Allard said, “I felt we’d been hosed.” The Pentagon defended its relationship with military analysts, saying they had been given only factual information about the war. “The intent and purpose of this is nothing other than an earnest attempt to inform the American people,” Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said. It was, Mr. Whitman added, “a bit incredible” to think retired military officers could be “wound up” and turned into “puppets of the Defense Department.” Many analysts strongly denied that they had either been co-opted or had allowed outside business interests to affect their on-air comments, and some have used their platforms to criticize the conduct of the war. Several, like Jeffrey D. McCausland, a CBS military analyst and defense industry lobbyist, said they kept their networks informed of their outside work and recused themselves from coverage that touched on business interests. “I’m not here representing the administration,” Dr. McCausland said. Some network officials, meanwhile, acknowledged only a limited understanding of their analysts’ interactions with the administration. They said that while they were sensitive to potential conflicts of interest, they did not hold their analysts to the same ethical standards as their news employees regarding outside financial interests. The onus is on their analysts to disclose conflicts, they said. And whatever the contributions of military analysts, they also noted the many network journalists who have covered the war for years in all its complexity. Five years into the Iraq war, most details of the architecture and execution of the Pentagon’s campaign have never been disclosed. But The Times successfully sued the Defense Department to gain access to 8,000 pages of e-mail messages, transcripts and records describing years of private briefings, trips to Iraq and Guantánamo and an extensive Pentago |
