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 The Pentagon Early Bird 19 Jan 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.) IRAQ
New York Times January 19, 2008 Pg. 8 Despite Deadly Clashes In Iraq, Shiite Pilgrims Spared By Alissa J. Rubin BAGHDAD — Government troops in southern Iraq fought with a millennial religious militia group on Friday in clashes that left more than 40 people dead, but the troops successfully protected millions of pilgrims on the first day of Ashura, the largest religious holiday for Iraq’s Shiite majority and one frequently marred by violence. The holiday, when pilgrims travel to the sacred city of Karbala, coincided with new criticism of the Iraqi government and Parliament from both a leading Shiite party that until now had backed the government and from a former political ally, the anti-American Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr. He signaled that he might allow his militia to become active at the end of February after a yearlong freeze. Lifting the freeze could have troubling consequences for the American military, which has been able to use the calm to focus on those Shiite insurgents, most of whom it believes are linked to Iran, who have ignored the freeze. The Americans have also used the calm to stabilize Sunni and mixed neighborhoods in the Baghdad area. Since the freeze, the number of bodies found daily in Baghdad neighborhoods as a result of sectarian killings has dropped to about three after months of dozens being found. Mr. Sadr’s spokesman, Saleh al-Obaidi, said that in several provinces Mr. Sadr’s militia had been unfairly singled out and that many had been detained but not charged by members of the Iraqi security forces. However, he said no final decision had yet been made to lift the freeze. “Many officers in the Iraqi police and army and have made bad use of the freeze to pressure our people, and hundreds of families have been pushed out of their homes,” Mr. Obaidi said. “We’ve been thinking of renewing the freeze. We understand the situation, we are in a period of trying to rebuild Iraq and bring more security, but unfortunately our people are suffering.” The backdrop to the conflict is the longstanding struggle for power in the predominantly Shiite south of Iraq between followers of Mr. Sadr and followers of the Shiite cleric Abdul Aziz al-Hakim. Both are from clerical families that boast a lineage of revered, martyred ayatollahs. Both have militias linked to them. The party led by Mr. Hakim, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, has a wing of fighters trained by Iran’s Quds Force, an elite element of the Revolutionary Guard. They no longer function as an independent militia, but many have joined the police and have singled out members of Mr. Sadr’s militia, the Mahdi Army. Mahdi militia members had been accused of acting as death squads, ousting thousands of Sunnis from their homes as well as targeting American and Iraqi government soldiers. However, some of the recent fights between them in the south have appeared to be about little more than which one will control a neighborhood or city. The decision to consider lifting the freeze came after a fact-finding tour by several high-ranking members of the Sadr organization in which they visited Samawa, Diwaniya, Kut, Amara and Basra, according to Mr. Obaidi. He said that for Mr. Sadr to remain credible with his followers, he has to stand up for them when they become targets. Mr. Hakim criticized the political process in Baghdad at an outdoor speech commemorating Ashura, which celebrates the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, who is perhaps the Shiite sect’s most revered figure other than his father, Imam Ali. Mr. Hakim called on Parliament to become “real representatives” and hasten to pass legislation on sharing oil revenue and holding provincial elections. While there was calm in Karbala, where the huge religious celebrations were held, in Basra and Nasiriya, farther south, an armed fringe group that calls itself the Soldiers of Heaven attacked Iraqi government forces. At several points during the day in Basra, Iraq’s second largest city, the police said that there were clashes in as much as 75 percent of the city. Last year, during Ashura, the group attacked Iraqi and American forces. The group, which had not previously been seen in Basra, according to the local police, believes that Imam Mahdi, who disappeared in the ninth century, is about to return and save the world from injustice. The colonel of Basra’s police force said 30 of the group’s followers were killed and three policeman and 25 were detained. In Nasiriya, where the group also struck, eight people were killed, mostly civilians. In Baghdad, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq’s national security adviser, was trapped in a mosque by a crowd of angry Shiites in the Shula neighborhood, which is controlled by followers of Mr. Sadr, according to Interior Ministry officials, who could not be identified because they were not authorized to speak to reporters. Mr. Rubaie, who is Shiite, called Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and he sent a force from the Interior Ministry, headed by the minister, Jawad al-Bolani, to extract him. Mr. Rubaie was allowed to leave, and there were no injuries. There were conflicting reports of who was responsible for the incident. Mr. Rubaie told CNN that he had been trapped in the mosque by gunmen, who “I believe were the same people who had problems earlier today in southern Iraq.” He was referring to the Soldiers of Heaven. However, an Interior Ministry source and an official close to Mr. Rubaie said they believed that those who besieged the mosque were supporters of Mr. Sadr. An American soldier died north of Baghdad on Friday when an improvised explosive device exploded near his vehicle during combat, according to a statement from the American military. In Diyala Province, east and north of Baghdad, 11 people were killed in six incidents Friday, including two children who died when an improvised explosive device detonated near their house, police officials said. Mudhafer al-Husaini contributed reporting from Baghdad, and Iraqi employees of The New York Times from Basra, Karbala and Diwaniya. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080119574539.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2130942_AEX PjkQAAINaR5JY%2FgQ52winKoU&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilenam e=e20080119aaindex_concat.html&cred=riIsNy3evvWwRs ORLtQDpaJTmFm4eWNOwTImts1hk3TOQ4y9KDTZapTg2skYtN#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washington Post January 19, 2008 Pg. 14 Dozens Killed In Clashes In S. Iraq Obscure Sect Presents First Major Challenge For Area's Iraqi Forces By Amit R. Paley, Washington Post Foreign Service BAGHDAD, Jan. 18 -- More than 40 people were killed Friday during clashes between Iraqi security forces and an obscure Shiite sect in southern Iraq, the deadliest violence since the U.S.-led coalition handed over control of the region last month, Iraqi officials said. Wearing black uniforms and yellow bandannas, the followers of a group that calls itself the Soldiers of Heaven attacked crowds that had gathered to celebrate one of Shiite Islam's holiest days in Basra, the country's second-largest city, and in the southern province of Dhi Qar, officials said. The attacks represented the first major test of Iraqi security forces in the south since they took over formal control of the area from the British military. Iraqi officials asked for surveillance information and for aircraft flights to intimidate the sect members, which British forces provided, but did not request ground troops. "The Iraqi forces handled themselves extremely well and got the situation under control," said Lt. Col. Derek Plews, a spokesman for the British military. "This is pretty much how we envisioned them dealing with an incident like this when we handed over security responsibility." The group's attacks came as a spokesman for anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said Sadr might allow the Mahdi Army, one of the largest militias in the country, to become active again in February after a six-month freeze. U.S. military commanders believe the freeze has contributed to the drop in violence, but Sadr spokesman Ahmed al-Shaibani said the move "has not been met with a proper response from the government." "The government is still relying on criminal elements among its security forces in the army and the police, especially in the provinces, without taking legal measures against them," Shaibani said. But he said that even if the freeze is not extended, members of the Mahdi Army "should remain disciplined and calm." In Nasiriyah, the provincial capital of Dhi Qar, gunfire was heard on the streets past midnight despite the imposition of a curfew. The situation appeared calmer in Basra, according to witnesses, and Iraqi officials said the assault there by the Shiite group had been repelled. The sect, whose members say it must cleanse Iraq of corruption to speed the return of a revered Shiite figure who vanished 1,000 years ago, was involved in a major battle with U.S. and Iraqi forces a year ago that left hundreds of its fighters dead. About 10 a.m., sect fighters attacked a procession in Nasiriyah commemorating the anniversary of the death of Imam Hussein, another revered Shiite figure, witnesses said. Safa al-Ghanim, a local journalist, said he saw three policemen burnt to death in a police car that had been struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. A senior official with the provincial police, Naji Rustam, was killed after being ambushed by sect members hurling grenades, Ghanim said. He said two other officers were also killed in the clashes. Nasiriyah police said 13 police officers and civilians were killed and 45 wounded in the attacks in the city, according to Ghanim and Abu Ahsan, another local journalist. They said the number of sect members killed was unknown. Ahmed al-Sheik Taha, the deputy governor of the province, declined to provide a death toll because he said it was still rising. In Basra, the fighting began about 1:30 p.m. and lasted for three hours, said Brig. Gen. Jalil Khahlaf, the provincial police chief. He said 30 fighters were killed, at least 25 wounded and more than 40 arrested. Three police officers were also killed, he said. In restive Diyala province, north of Baghdad, six police officers were killed and six injured in separate incidents involving a booby-trapped house and clashes with militants, according to the Iraqi military. Special correspondents Zaid Sabah, Naseer Nouri, Saad al-Izzi, K.I. Ibrahim and Dalya Hassan in Baghdad, special correspondent Saad Sarhan in Najaf, and other Washington Post staff in Diyala and Basra contributed to this report. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080119574550.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2130942_AEX PjkQAAINaR5JY%2FgQ52winKoU&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilenam e=e20080119aaindex_concat.html&cred=riIsNy3evvWwRs ORLtQDpaJTmFm4eWNOwTImts1hk3TOQ4y9KDTZapTg2skYtN#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Los Angeles Times January 19, 2008 80 Killed In Clashes In Iraq Followers of a Shiite messianic cult clash with police in Basra and Nasiriya as thousands of pilgrims mark Ashura, the most important holiday for the sect. By Alexandra Zavis BAGHDAD — Members of an obscure messianic cult fought Iraqi security forces Friday in two southern cities, leaving at least 80 people dead and scores injured, while spreading panic among worshipers marking Shiite Islam's most important holiday. The clashes, which erupted as Shiites marched, chanted and beat their chests in Basra and Nasiriya, represented the first major test for Iraqi security forces since Britain completed a transfer of responsibility for security in the region last month. They also pointed to dangerous divisions within Iraq's majority Shiite population at a time when U.S. and Iraqi forces are claiming progress in curbing attacks by Sunni militants. Members of the cult, which calls itself the Supporters of the Mahdi, mingled with the crowds in at least three sections of Basra and in Nasiriya, then fired shots at worshipers and the security forces, police and witnesses said. Police said the cult's leader, Ahmed Hassan, who called himself "the Yemeni," was killed along with nearly 50 of his followers in the fighting in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city. About 60 gunmen were arrested and large quantities of weapons were seized from a mosque linked to the group, said the Basra police chief, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Kareem Khalaf. About 20 gunmen were killed in Nasiriya, police said. At least 10 policemen in Nasiriya and four in Basra also died, and at least 90 people were injured in the two cities, they said. The Supporters of the Mahdi is named after a figure most Muslims believe will appear with Jesus and establish peace and justice worldwide. Most Shiites believe the Mahdi is their 12th imam, a descendant of the prophet Muhammad who they say went into hiding in 878 and is still alive and will return. Southern Iraq, which is overwhelmingly Shiite, is home to a number of small doomsday-style cults whose leaders either claim to be the Mahdi, or who believe they can hasten his return by spreading chaos. Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's office said the sect's gunmen targeted government buildings in Basra and a police special forces unit in Nasiriya, whose commander was killed. "This profane group, cloaking themselves in religion, have been exposed to our people, who cooperated with our armed forces to rout those evil schemes," said a statement from Maliki's office. "Our security and military apparatuses were able to take full control and bring tranquillity to the provinces of Basra and Nasiriya." In Nasiriya, however, residents reported hearing mortar blasts and gun and rocket-propelled-grenade fire well into the night. "The situation in Nasiriya is really concerning and frightening," said Naeem Enad, a college student hunkered down in his home as shots echoed in the distance. "I heard from one of the rapid response individuals that they [the sect] are not more than 100 people, however their creed is to fight to the death." Fearful that the bloodshed could spread, authorities imposed indefinite curfews in Basra, Nasiriya and the holy city of Najaf. Last January, U.S. and Iraqi forces fought and killed hundreds of members of Heaven's Army, a messianic group they alleged was plotting attacks on the Shiite religious leadership in Najaf. The group's leader, Dhyaa Abdul-Zahra, claimed to be the Mahdi and was killed in the fighting. The Supporters of the Mahdi believe that Hassan, their leader, is the son of the awaited Mahdi; it was not immediately clear whether the two groups are linked. Last month, security forces detained 12 members of Hassan's group in Basra, eight in Nasiriya and one of its leaders in Najaf, police said. Friday's violence occurred as hundreds of thousands of worshipers across Iraq took part in Ashura rites commemorating the death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of Muhammad who was killed by the army of the Caliph Yazid on the plains of Karbala. Hussein's death in 680 made permanent the schism between Shiites and Sunnis over the succession after Muhammad. The rites culminating late Friday and this morning have become an expression of the ascendance of Iraq's Shiites since the fall of Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime in 2003 -- and a frequent target of Sunni militants. In 2004, nearly 180 people were killed in a series of suicide bombings in Karbala and the Baghdad district of Kadhimiya, home to a key shrine. Beating their chests and whipping their backs with chains, a sea of worshipers converged Friday on the tombs of Hussein and his half brother Abbas in Karbala in an emotional display of mourning. Others held processions in their neighborhoods. People set up tents along the routes, offering tea and a traditional stew of mincemeat and tomatoes to pilgrims. Security was tight, with thousands of additional troops backed by Iraqi helicopters deployed in Karbala and other major Shiite centers. Large vehicles were banned from the road across much of central and southern Iraq. But for all the precautions, authorities were unable to prevent the day's charged emotions from flaring into violence. During a reenactment of Hussein's slaying in Basra, the crowd turned on the actor who was performing the part of his killer and beat the man so badly that he returned with an assault rifle to exact revenge. At least one onlooker was killed in the crossfire when soldiers tried to subdue the man and his relatives, security officials said. In an unrelated incident, at least two Iraqis were killed and four injured in a blast Friday as a U.S. convoy drove through north Baghdad, police said. The convoy escaped harm. Elsewhere in Baghdad, gunmen pinned down national security advisor Mowaffak Rubaie inside a mosque in the northeast neighborhood of Shula, a stronghold of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr. His political office denied followers had anything to do with it. In an interview with state-run Al Iraqiya television, Rubaie blamed members of the same cult that waged the attacks in Basra and Nasiriya. Interior Minister Jawad Bolani drove to the mosque and helped defuse the situation so Rubaie could leave, according to an official in his ministry. Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced the death of an American soldier in a bombing Thursday during operations north of Baghdad. At least 3,926 U.S. personnel have been killed since the American-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, according to the independent website icasualties.org. U.S.-led forces killed 13 suspects and detained three others in raids against militants in central and northern Iraq in the preceding 24 hours, the military said in a statement. Times staff writers Raheem Salman and Saif Hameed in Baghdad, special correspondent Saad Fakhrildeen in Karbala and special correspondents in Baghdad and Basra contributed to this report. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080119574455.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2130942_AEX PjkQAAINaR5JY%2FgQ52winKoU&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilenam e=e20080119aaindex_concat.html&cred=riIsNy3evvWwRs ORLtQDpaJTmFm4eWNOwTImts1hk3TOQ4y9KDTZapTg2skYtN#T OP">RETURN TO TOP International Herald Tribune January 19, 2008 Sadr's Militia Threatens To End 6-Month Truce By Associated Press NAJAF, Iraq--The anti-American Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr put the United States and the Iraqi government on notice Friday that he might not extend a six-month cease-fire declared by his militia. The cease-fire by the Mahdi army militia, which is to expire next month, has been cited by U.S. commanders in Iraq as a major contributor to the nationwide reduction of violence over the past six months. American and Iraqi forces, however, have stepped up their hunt for the militiamen in recent months, arguing that they are members of rogue cells closely linked to Iran. "The rationale for the decision to extend the freeze of the Mahdi army is beginning to wear thin," Salah al-Obeidi, a spokesman for Sadr, said in a statement. "This is because the government is supporting some criminal gangs operating inside security agencies and which refuse to abide by the law." He did not elaborate, but he was alluding to Shiites from rival groups who have infiltrated security forces. Obeidi said senior security officials remained in their jobs despite arrest warrants issued against them for human rights abuses. "This will force us to reconsider the decision to extend the cease-fire despite repeated public statements in the past that we will." With Sunni militants, the Mahdi army, whose main stronghold is in Baghdad, has long been blamed for the sectarian violence that followed the bombing in February 2006 of a major Shiite shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad. Clashes in south kill dozens Iraqi soldiers and the police fought running battles with gunmen from a Shiite cult in two southern cities Friday, and dozens of people were killed and nearly 100 wounded in the clashes, Reuters reported from Basra, Iraq. The police said that the head of the so-called Soldiers of Heaven cult in Basra had been killed in the fighting, which was reminiscent of clashes between the obscure group and Iraqi and U.S. forces a year ago. Those battles near the holy Shiite city of Najaf left hundreds dead, mainly members of the cult. The latest clashes were the biggest test for Iraqi military and police forces in the south since Britain finished handing back responsibility for security in the oil-rich region last month. Major General Abdul Jalil Khalaf, the Basra provincial police chief, said that dozens of people had been killed in Basra, the second-largest city in Iraq, where gunmen carried out a series of hit-and-run raids, using heavy machine guns. Khalaf did not give a precise number of those killed during several hours of fighting, but he said it included the head of the cult in the city. Fifteen people including a police major general and two colonels were killed in the city of Nassiriya, officials said. Hospital officials said 82 people had been wounded. Witnesses said that gunmen from the Soldiers of Heaven had attacked four police stations in the city. The fighting came as observations for the Ashura festival, one of the holiest events in the Shiite Muslim religious calendar, approached their peak across southern Iraq, on Saturday. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080119574469.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2130942_AEX PjkQAAINaR5JY%2FgQ52winKoU&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilenam e=e20080119aaindex_concat.html&cred=riIsNy3evvWwRs ORLtQDpaJTmFm4eWNOwTImts1hk3TOQ4y9KDTZapTg2skYtN#T OP">RETURN TO TOP London Times January 19, 2008 Surge Is Working But Jobs Are Best Way To Win, Says US Envoy By Martin Fletcher, in Baghdad Iraq’s fragile new peace was being put at risk by the Government’s failure to provide jobs and services to undercut the militias, the US Ambassador in Baghdad has declared. Iraq was “immeasurably better” than a year ago, Ryan Crocker told The Times, but Nouri al-Maliki’s administration continued to disappoint. “Failure to consolidate security gains with progress in other areas would be highly dangerous,” he said. In an interview the Ambassador urged Britain to maintain a force near Basra, saying that it still had an important role in advising Iraqi commanders in that city, supporting reconstruction efforts and guarding US supply routes. “My personal hope is that the UK will decide to maintain a division headquarters beyond 2008 as the Iraqi Government works to extend its authority in Basra,” he said. “That’s where the oil is. It is an important place.” Mr Crocker said that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had asked him to say nothing about the five British hostages seized from the Iraqi Finance Ministry in May. He said that Iran was still training and equipping Shia insurgents, and its interference could be “dangerously destabilising”. As Mr Crocker spoke, more than 50 people were killed in battles between Iraqi security forces and gunmen from the Soldiers of Heaven Shia cult in the southern cities of Basra and Nassiriyah, and a suicide bomber killed 11 people outside a Shia mosque in Diyala province. The previous day a woman suicide bomber killed eight near another Shia mosque in Diyala. This weekend a 48-hour curfew has been imposed on large parts of Iraq to prevent attacks during the Shia festival of Ashura. Mr Crocker, a notoriously understated man, offered an upbeat assessment, describing the drop in violence as “clearly more than a temporary ceasefire”. He spoke of a “fundamental change” in the atmosphere, with a mood now of reconciliation, not retribution. He said he was relaxed about US troops levels returning to pre-“surge” levels by July, and insisted: “We are in an immeasurably better place in January 2008 than in January 2007.” The US military says that Iraqi security forces could be ready to take control of all 18 provinces by the year’s end, and that 75 per cent of Baghdad’s neighbourhoods are now secure — up from 8 per cent a year ago. The American Ambassador expressed confidence that the Mahdi Army, led by the radical Shia cleric Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr, would not return to violence when its six-month suspension of paramilitary activities ends next month. He said that Shias were sickened by the Mahdi Army’s shootout with a rival militia that left 52 dead in the holy city of Karbala in August. The Sunni insurgent threat had receded so dramatically that they no longer needed al-Mahdi Army to defend them. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080119574548.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2130942_AEX PjkQAAINaR5JY%2FgQ52winKoU&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilenam e=e20080119aaindex_concat.html&cred=riIsNy3evvWwRs ORLtQDpaJTmFm4eWNOwTImts1hk3TOQ4y9KDTZapTg2skYtN#T OP">RETURN TO TOP San Diego Union-Tribune January 19, 2008 U.S., Sunni Pacts Are Proving To Be Mutual Bargains Each side benefits from new alliances By Hamza Hendawi, Associated Press HAWR RAJAB, Iraq – They know him as the sheik. But what that really means in this Sunni town is a bit of everything: community leader, public works supervisor, agricultural planner, militia captain. It also helps explain why Maher al-Moaeini and his 500 men threw their lot with the U.S.-led fight against al-Qaeda in Iraq. The U.S. military could deliver the goods – from steady paychecks for the militiamen to seeds for the farmers. Mutual bargains such as these – U.S. aid and respect to Sunnis in exchange for their fighting power – drive the so-called Awakening Council movement that has marked one of the most significant shifts in the power balance in Iraq since the insurgency took root in 2004. But it also exposes possible long-term weaknesses of the pacts. Sunnis across Iraq – more than 70,000 at last count – are turning to the Pentagon as generous patrons and allies. Yet it could all sour quickly if the U.S. assistance to Sunnis dries up or the Shiite-led government resists Washington's pressure to reward the Sunni militiamen with jobs in the security forces. The first Sunni clans made cautious overtures to U.S. commanders last year in the western Anbar province, then the main insurgent staging grounds. As more Sunni tribes joined the uprising, al-Qaeda in Iraq and its supporters found their footholds shrinking. And a delighted U.S. military kept sweetening the pot for more Sunni allies who felt ignored by the Shiite-led government. For many Sunni community leaders, such as Sheik al-Moaeini, these are spoils they cannot easily pass up. The U.S. military pays salaries of $300 a month – good by Iraqi standards – to the more than 500 Sunni fighters in Hawr Rajab, a farming community about six miles southeast of Baghdad. These are crucial forces these days as a major U.S. offensive targets al-Qaeda in Iraq pockets around the capital. The military has provided the town's farmers with seeds and paid to clear irrigation canals and repair water pumps. The Americans offer grants to small businesses and create jobs such as trash collection and street sweeping. Lt. Col. Mark Solomon, the local U.S. commander from the 3rd Infantry Division, wants to build an ice factory for Hawr Rajab before Iraq's suffocating summer arrives in May. To the Sunnis, the projects and posts also represent important signs of honor and hope they say have not been forthcoming from the Shiite leadership that replaced Saddam Hussein's Sunni-centric regime. “The government does nothing for us. It has kept us out of the army, the police and jobs,” al-Moaeini said at an abandoned shoe factory that his Awakening Council fighters use as a headquarters. The U.S. military wants to revive the factory. Baghdad has done little to improve basic services in Hawr Rajab, such as electricity and drinking water, or supply the town with heating fuel sorely needed during one of the harshest winters in years. The Shiite-dominated government remains deeply worried the Sunni fighters will one day again turn their guns against the establishment. The bigger question, however, is whether the U.S.-Sunni alliances will hold as the Pentagon tries to turn over more security responsibilities and policies to the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Al-Moaeini, 37, who wears traditional Arab dress and sports a goatee, said if the Shiite government starts supporting his men, their ties with the Americans will loosen. “But we will still be friends with the Americans and invite them to tea every time they drive through the town,” he added, flashing a smile at Solomon, who was seated next to him on a recent tour of the old shoe factory, where the floors were littered with hundreds of dusty plastic sandals. Al-Moaeini appeared to treat Solomon with respect, but not the kind of lavish welcome shown to the highest-ranking military brass. The two men, however, have grown comfortable in each other's company. Al-Moaeini said as many as 200 residents had been killed – some execution-style – when al-Qaeda in Iraq ruled Hawr Rajab from 2004 until late last year. “They went after the symbols of our town so they could control the simple folks. They killed the educated, the tribal chiefs and former army officers,” he said, rubbing his hands close to a kerosene heater he placed in front of him and Solomon. Al-Moaeini also recounted how he was detained by Americans for 18 months in 2005-06 after an arms cache was found buried near his home. He says he was unjustly imprisoned, but claims he bears no grudge. “I was treated with respect as a clan chief. I was not humiliated,” he said. “It was like a five-star hotel, really. Imagine if I had spent that time in an Iraqi jail?” http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080119574518.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2130942_AEX PjkQAAINaR5JY%2FgQ52winKoU&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilenam e=e20080119aaindex_concat.html&cred=riIsNy3evvWwRs ORLtQDpaJTmFm4eWNOwTImts1hk3TOQ4y9KDTZapTg2skYtN#T OP">RETURN TO TOP New York Times January 19, 2008 Pg. 8 Armored Vehicle Supply Better After Early Delays By Thom Shanker CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Defense Department has now delivered more than 1,500 heavily armored ground transport vehicles to Iraq and Afghanistan in an accelerated program to protect American troops from improvised explosives, senior Pentagon officials said Friday. Production problems initially plagued the effort to speed the mine-resistant vehicles to Iraq and Afghanistan under a program begun last May. Pentagon officials and members of Congress have complained about the delay and about the time it has taken to equip the vehicles with specialized radios and advanced jamming transmitters, ship them to combat zones and train soldiers on how to operate them. But Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who flew here on Friday to inspect the factory that completes the armored troop transports, said he had been told that early glitches in acquiring enough of the vehicles had been resolved. As workers at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in Charleston installed sensitive tracking systems, satellite communications equipment and bomb-jamming antennas into the armored vehicles, Mr. Gates described them as “a proven lifesaver on the battlefield.” The effort to buy what are officially known as Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicles is the largest current one-year acquisition program in the Department of Defense, with $22.4 billion set aside for a fleet of more than 15,000 vehicles. While it initially took 30 days to outfit each vehicle with specialized equipment once it had been manufactured, Mr. Gates was told, that time has been reduced to 7 days in most cases. About 50 vehicles per day now leave the factory here with all of their required equipment. Mr. Gates cited Army reports that there had been 12 attacks on the heavily armored vehicles with improvised bombs since the new push began to send more of them into combat zones, mostly to Iraq. Mr. Gates said all of the soldiers in the vehicles during those attacks walked away afterward. “The need for these vehicles will not soon go away,” he said. John J. Young Jr., the under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, said that civilian contractors and the military built 1,187 of the vehicles in December, finishing the month just eight short of the production target. The basic armored vehicle costs about $500,000, but adding antennas, radios, jammers and other specialized equipment can double that amount. The new vehicles tower over Humvees, the military’s standard troop transport vehicles, and their undercarriages are far higher off the ground. In addition to carrying more armor, they are designed with a V-shaped hull to deflect blasts away from the troops inside. Even armored Humvees have proven far more vulnerable to roadside bombs than the new vehicles. Mr. Gates acknowledged that the Pentagon would continue to assess how to deploy its fleet of tanks, other armored vehicles and Humvees to assure the proper mix and the best tactics to protect the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080119574553.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2130942_AEX PjkQAAINaR5JY%2FgQ52winKoU&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilenam e=e20080119aaindex_concat.html&cred=riIsNy3evvWwRs ORLtQDpaJTmFm4eWNOwTImts1hk3TOQ4y9KDTZapTg2skYtN#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Atlanta Journal-Constitution January 19, 2008 Defense Secretary Lauds Military Truck Project By Richard Lardner, Associated Press Charleston, S.C.--A multibillion-dollar effort to produce bomb-resistant vehicles for U.S. troops in Iraq is moving "as fast as humanly possible," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday after a visit to the military facilities playing a key role in the program. The project to build thousands of mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles--known as "MRAPs"--ought to be a case study for a Harvard Business School class on how to move a major manufacturing project from a concept to reality, Gates said. "For all of the talk about how Washington can't get anything done, this is an amazing example of Republicans, Democrats, the executive branch, the Congress, manufacturers, government bureaucrats, everybody pitching in and doing the right thing," he told reporters during the flight back to Washington. Congress has provided $22.4 billion for as many as 15,000 of the vehicles, which weigh between 19 tons and 40 tons. Lawmakers have complained that the consortium of military agencies and private companies has been moving too slowly to field the lifesaving MRAPs. Gates, who made the speedy purchase of MRAPs the Pentagon's top acquisition priority last May, received briefings from the officers and civilian executives at a Navy facility where sensitive electronic gear and gun turrets are installed on the heavy trucks built by defense contractors. The defense secretary also met with officers at Charleston Air Force Base, where airlifters fly MRAPs to the Middle East. MRAPs cost between $500,000 and $1 million, depending on their size and how they are equipped. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080119574555.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2130942_AEX PjkQAAINaR5JY%2FgQ52winKoU&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilenam e=e20080119aaindex_concat.html&cred=riIsNy3evvWwRs ORLtQDpaJTmFm4eWNOwTImts1hk3TOQ4y9KDTZapTg2skYtN#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Wall Street Journal (wsj.com) January 18, 2008 Gates: Increase In Attacks On US Troops Using Iran Bombs CHARLESTON (AFP)--U.S. soldiers have already been targeted in the first two weeks of January by as many suspected Iranian explosives as in all of December, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday. "During the first half of January there were as many IEDs (improvised explosive devices) as there were in all of December," Gates told reporters aboard a plane after a visit in Charleston, S.C. Gates' military adviser, Peter Chiarelli, said later the secretary was actually referring to explosively formed penetrators (EFPs), which U.S. officials say Iran has been supplying to insurgents in Iraq. Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said Wednesday that EFP attacks had dropped in recent months but increased at the start of January. "The signature attacks that employ Iranian-provided weapons have decreased substantially," he told a small group of reporters accompanying him on his visit to the Iraq-Iran border post at Zurbitiyah. "The EFPs (explosively formed penetrators) had been running at a low level until about the first 10 to 12 days of this month, when we saw a noticeable increase but, in the last several days they have gone down again," he said. US officials said they observed a steady reduction in the use of Iranian explosives between October and November. They said they believed that showed a possible reduction of weapons being sent from Iraq's neighbor. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080119574546.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2130942_AEX PjkQAAINaR5JY%2FgQ52winKoU&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilenam e=e20080119aaindex_concat.html&cred=riIsNy3evvWwRs ORLtQDpaJTmFm4eWNOwTImts1hk3TOQ4y9KDTZapTg2skYtN#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Boston Globe January 19, 2008 Joint Chiefs Will Present Own View Of Iraq Troop Cuts To be independent of statements made by Petraeus By Robert Burns, Associated Press SAN SALVADOR - The Pentagon's top generals and admirals will make their own assessment for President Bush on whether to continue pulling US troops out of Iraq in the second half of the year - independent of what Bush's commander in Baghdad recommends, the top US military officer said yesterday. Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters traveling with him on the last stop of a six-day trip that the Joint Chiefs will take into account a range of issues beyond the security situation in Iraq. They will consider, for example, the effects of growing strain on troops and their families from multiple tours in Iraq, as well as the outlook for troop requirements in Afghanistan and elsewhere, Mullen said. "I've got to look, with the Joint Chiefs, at what we think the best way ahead is in Iraq, in the region and globally," Mullen said. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced at the Pentagon on Thursday that he had asked the Joint Chiefs for their Iraq assessment, to coincide with recommendations from General David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, as well as Admiral William J. Fallon, the commander of American forces in the Middle East. Gates has said he hopes Petraeus will conclude that further troop cuts in the second half of 2008 are feasible. Earlier this week, Fallon said he was encouraged by what he called signs of economic and political progress in Iraq, although he did not say whether he favored more troop cuts in the second half of 2008. He spoke in an interview in St. Petersburg, Fla., while hosting a conference of Middle Eastern defense chiefs with Mullen. "My sense is, they are beginning to get it," Fallon said of Iraqi political figures. "There are good signs." He added, "I'm very pleased with where we are in Iraq," Mullen made his remarks en route to San Salvador from Bogota, where he had met with top Colombian defense officials to discuss their war against rebel forces. The Joint Chiefs intend to have their consensus view ready for Gates and the president by March or April, he said. Bush needs to hear the views from a range of senior military officers, Mullen said, on "the risks that are associated with whatever we're going to do next" in Iraq, where about 160,000 US troops are on the ground in a conflict that appears to be leaning in favor of the US and Iraq governments. Pressed for his view on whether more troop cuts were likely after this summer, Mullen declined to give one. He stressed that Petraeus constantly evaluates conditions on the ground in Iraq and that any number of events - positive or negative - could happen in the months ahead that would influence a troop-cut decision. The current plan, announced last September, is to reduce US forces in Iraq by five brigades, or roughly 30,000 troops by July. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080119574420.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2130942_AEX PjkQAAINaR5JY%2FgQ52winKoU&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilenam e=e20080119aaindex_concat.html&cred=riIsNy3evvWwRs ORLtQDpaJTmFm4eWNOwTImts1hk3TOQ4y9KDTZapTg2skYtN#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Economist January 19, 2008 The militarisation of space Disharmony In The Spheres Modern American warfare relies on satellites. They make America powerful but also vulnerable, particularly in light of China's new celestial assertiveness COMBINED AIR OPERATIONS CENTRE -- A hushed, dimmed hall in the nerve centre that controls America's air operations from Somalia to Afghanistan is dominated by giant video screens tracking coalition aircraft. Blue dots show the location of ground forces, with “troops in contact” highlighted for priority air support. Smaller screens show live black-and-white footage, relayed by satellite from unmanned drones which, in their turn, are remotely controlled by pilots in America. The Combined Air Operations Centre's exact location in “southwest Asia” cannot be disclosed. But from here commanders supervise tens of thousands of sorties a year. Through aircraft surveillance pods they get a god's eye view of operations that range from old-fashioned strafing to the targeted killing of insurgent leaders with bombs guided by global positioning system (GPS) satellites, and emergency air drops to isolated soldiers using parachutes that steer themselves automatically to the chosen spot. These days America fights not in a fog of war but, as one senior air force officer puts it, in a “huge cloud of electrons”. Large amounts of information, particularly surveillance videos, can be beamed to soldiers on the ground or leaders in America. The officer says this kind of “network-centric” warfare is “as revolutionary as when the air force went from open cockpits to jet aeroplanes.” If Napoleon's armies marched on their stomachs, American ones march on bandwidth. Smaller Western allies struggle to keep up. Much of this electronic data is transmitted by satellites, most of them unprotected commercial systems. The revolution in military technology is, at heart, a revolution in the use of space. America's supremacy in the air is made possible by its mastery of space. During the cold war space was largely thought of as part of the rarefied but terrifying domain of nuclear warfare. Satellites were used principally to monitor nuclear-missile facilities, provide early warning should they be fired and maintain secure communications between commanders and nuclear-strike forces. Now, by contrast, the use of space assets is ubiquitous; even the lowliest platoon makes use of satellites, if only to know its position. Space wizardry has made possible unprecedented accuracy. As recently as the Vietnam war, destroying a bridge or building could take dozens if not hundreds of bombing runs. These days a plane with “smart” bombs can blast several targets in a single sortie, day or night, in good weather or bad. Needless to say, precise intelligence and sound judgment are as important to military success as fancy kit. But might this growing reliance on space and cyberspace become a dangerous dependence, a fatal weakness? Air force officers talk of space being America's Achilles heel. Satellites move in predictable orbits and anybody who can reach space can in theory destroy a satellite, even if only by releasing a cloud of “dumb” pellets in its path—using a shotgun rather than a hunter's rifle to kill the orbiting “bird”. The Taliban or al-Qaeda can do little about America's space power except hide themselves from its intelligence-gathering satellites. But the Pentagon worries about what would happen if America came up against a major power, a “near-peer” rival (as it calls China and Russia), able to intercept space assets with missiles and “space mines”, or to disable them with lasers and electronic jammers. “There are a lot of vulnerabilities,” admits an American general, “There are backups, but our space architecture is very fragile.” The precise nature of these weaknesses is a well-guarded secret. But wargames simulating a future conflict over Taiwan often end up with the “Red Force” (China) either defeating the “Blue Force” (America) or inflicting grievous losses on it by launching an early attack in space, perhaps by setting off one or more nuclear explosions above the atmosphere. “I have played Red and had a wonderful time,” says the general, “It is pretty easy to disrupt Blue. We should not expect an enemy to play by established norms in space. They will play dirty pool.” One shot China has been practising became clear a year ago, on January 11th 2007. In a nuclear-proof air force command centre, built on giant shock-absorbing springs within Cheyenne Mountain, outside Colorado Springs, officers tracked a missile fired from a mobile launcher deep inside China. It followed what one American official said was a “strange” trajectory, designed neither to land a warhead nor to put a payload into orbit. Instead it intercepted one of China's ageing weather satellites. The impact about 850km (530 miles) above Earth created a huge field of space debris, contributing about 28% of the junk now floating around in space (see chart). Litter louts do their worst Creating all this rubbish seems a bit irresponsible for a country seeking to be a great space-faring nation. It is true that both America and Russia carried out scores of similar anti-satellite (ASAT) tests during the cold war. Then they stopped, not least because the celestial shrapnel was endangering their hugely expensive satellites. They also accepted that spy satellites provided a degree of mutual reassurance in nuclear arms control. The last piece of American ASAT debris fell back to Earth in 2006, say Pentagon officials. China's shrapnel, created in a higher orbit, could be around for a century to come. The missile shot put America on notice that it can be challenged in space. The Chinese routinely turn powerful lasers skywards, demonstrating their potential to dazzle or permanently blind spy satellites. “They let us see their lasers. It is as if they are trying to intimidate us,” says Gary Payton, a senior Pentagon official dealing with space programmes. The only conclusion, he argues, is that “space is no longer a sanctuary; it is a contested domain.” In a report to Congress in November, a commission examining America's relations with China gave warning that “the pace and success of China's military modernisation continue to exceed US government estimates.” China's principal aim, the report said, is to develop the wherewithal to delay or deter American military intervention in any war over Taiwan. The ASAT test intensifies the concern of those who already find plenty to worry about in Chinese military literature. A study for the American Enterprise Institute, a think-tank, cites a Chinese theorist who argues that China should adopt a policy of overt deterrence in space. Other Chinese argue that their country's territorial sovereignty extends to space. This kind of thing reinforces the hawkishness of American hardliners. Ashley Tellis, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment, another think-tank, believes China ultimately seeks to build a “Sinocentric order in Asia and perhaps globally.” Any attempt to negotiate arms-control agreements in space would be futile, he argues, and America “has no choice but to run the offence-defence space race, and win.” Other experts, such as Michael Krepon, co-founder of the Henry L. Stimson Centre, a security think-tank, play down the Chinese peril. Mr Krepon says that though similarly alarming conclusions could have been drawn from American or Soviet military literature in the cold war, a space war never took place. What is more, the greater China's economic reliance on satellites, the keener it will be to protect them. Even those who doubt that America would really go to war against China for the sake of Taiwan worry about the dangers posed by the growing number of countries that have access to outer space. Ten countries (or groups of countries) and two commercial consortia can launch satellites into orbit. A further 18 have ballistic missiles powerful enough to cross space briefly. By the end of 2006, 47 countries and other groups had placed satellites in orbit, either on their own or with help from others. In its crudest form, any object can become a space weapon if directed into the path of a satellite. In testimony to Congress last year, General James Cartwright, a former head of America's Strategic Command, said that “intentional interference” with all types of satellites, “while not routine, now occurs with some regularity”. GPS signals are relatively weak and easy to jam. For several months in 2006 electronic jammers in Libya interfered with the Thuraya satellite telephone system, apparently because the Libyan government wanted to make life difficult for smugglers in the Sahara desert. Satellites are not just military tools; they have also become a vital part of globalised civilian life. It is hard to disentangle military from civilian uses of space. Military GPS satellites support a myriad of civilian uses, including road directions for taxi drivers, navigation for commercial airliners, tracking goods in transit and time signals for cash dispensers. But the armed services' hunger for electronic data means that four-fifths of America's military data is transmitted through commercial satellites. A single Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft flying over Afghanistan can eat up several times more satellite bandwidth than was used for the whole of the 1991 war against Iraq. Star wars delayed Space provides the high ground from which to watch, listen and direct military forces. But the idea that countries would fight it out in space has so far been confined to science fiction. International law treats outer space as a global common, akin to the high seas. Countries are free to use space for “peaceful purposes” but may not stake territorial claims to celestial bodies or place nuclear weapons in space. “Peaceful” has been interpreted to mean “non-aggressive” rather than non-military. Space is highly militarised but for the moment nobody has placed weapons there, not openly at least. During the cold war, under Ronald Reagan's presidency, America worked on plans for space-based weapons designed to shoot down ballistic missiles. But this “star wars” programme faded with the collapse of Soviet communism. Before being appointed defence secretary in 2001, Donald Rumsfeld chaired a special commission to review America's space policy. It issued a stark warning that America could suffer a crippling surprise attack on its space systems—a “space Pearl Harbour”—and argued that America “must develop the means both to deter and to defend against hostile acts in and from space.” America then broke out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, freeing itself to pursue a slimmed-down version of missile defence. The latest official statement on America's space policy, issued in 2006, affirms the country's freedom of action in space, the right of self-defence and the right to “deny, if necessary, its adversaries the use of space.” At the UN General Assembly, America has stood alone in voting against a resolution supporting negotiations on a treaty to prevent a space arms race, an idea pushed by China and Russia. Yet the Bush administration has stopped short of taking the fateful step of “weaponisation” in space. Perhaps it is too preoccupied with Iraq, and certainly the downfall of Mr Rumsfeld removed a powerful champion of space weapons. A year after China's ASAT shot, the defence budget passed by the Democrat-controlled Congress did not provide any money for a missile defence “space test-bed”. One of the big disincentives to placing weapons in space has been the technical difficulty and cost of such an enterprise. A recent study by the Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), a defence think-tank, concluded that ground-based systems were almost always more cost effective and reliable than space-based weapons, whether used to attack missiles, enemy satellites or targets on land. America is still hedging its bets. With some tweaking, say experts, the ground-based interceptors for shooting down ballistic missiles could be used against satellites. A host of technologies under research, such as high-powered lasers to destroy missiles rising through the air, could be applied to anti-satellite warfare. A game of celestial dodgems The core fear is that any conflict in space would cause the most injury to America since America has the most to lose. Damaged planes crash to the ground and destroyed ships sink to the bottom of the sea. But the weightlessness of space means that debris keeps spinning around the Earth for years, if not centuries. Each destruction of a satellite creates, in effect, thousands of missiles zipping round randomly; each subsequent impact provides yet more high-speed debris. At some point, given enough litter, there would be a chain reaction of impacts that would render parts of low-Earth orbit—the location of about half the active satellites—unusable. As matters stand, ground controllers periodically have to shift the position of satellites to avoid other objects. This month, NASA was tracking about 3,100 active and inactive satellites, and some 9,300 bits of junk larger than 5cm, about 2,600 of them from the Chinese ASAT test. Given their speed, even particles as small as 1cm (of which there may be hundreds of thousands) are enough to cripple a satellite. For America, then, avoiding a space war may be a matter of self-preservation. The air force has adopted a doctrine of “counterspace operations” that envisages either destroying enemy satellites in a future war or temporarily disabling them. But for the most part, America's space security relies on passive measures: sidestepping an attacker by moving out of the way of possible strikes; protecting the vital organs of satellites by “hardening” them against laser or electromagnetic attack; replacing any damaged satellites; or finding alternative means to do the job, for example with blips or unmanned aircraft. More esoteric space research has ideas such as sending small satellites to act as “guardian angels”, detecting possible attacks against the big birds. It also includes plans for breaking up satellites into smaller components that communicate wirelessly, or deploying “space tugs” that would repair and refuel existing satellites. Few of these options are cost-free. More manoeuvrable satellites are heavier, as they have to carry more fuel; protective equipment makes satellites cumbrous and more expensive; placing a satellite farther away from Earth, where it is more difficult to attack, means it will broadcast a weaker signal or require more costly sensors and antennae. The promise of cheap, reuseable launch vehicles has yet to materialise. All this makes it hard for America to achieve its goal of “operationally responsive space”: the ability to place satellites in orbit quickly and inexpensively. The essential prerequisite for better space security is to improve “situational awareness”: that is, to know what is in space, who it belongs to and whether it is acting in a threatening manner. America already has the world's most developed space monitoring system with a network of radars and telescopes. But its surveillance is patchy. Objects in orbit are catalogued periodically rather than tracked continuously. Space surveillance is not really like air-traffic control: it is more akin to trying to track ships at sea with the naked eye, watching them leave port and predicting when they will next come in sight of land. There are gaps in coverage, particularly over the southern hemisphere, and much of the antiquated surveillance system cannot fuse the data to create an overall picture. Space surveillance would seem to be ideally suited to international co-operation. Yet the Americans, Chinese, Russians and Europeans all seem intent on doing their own monitoring. They are frightened of giving away their space secrets to rivals. Accurate and timely information on space objects is vital for defending a satellite, but also necessary for attacking one. Coming back down to Earth Many strategists argue that the most vulnerable parts of the American space system are closer to home. Ground stations and control centres, particularly those of commercial operations, are exposed to conventional bombing, whether by armies or terrorists. Communication links to and from satellites are open to interference. In cyber-warfare, critical parts of the space system could be attacked from distant computers. Even without external meddling, notes Tom Ehrhard, a senior fellow at the CSBA, American forces struggle to find enough bandwidth and to prevent the myriad of electronic systems from jamming each other. Some remedial action is being taken. Backup ground stations are being set up in case the main GPS control centre outside Colorado Springs is disabled. New satellites will have a more powerful GPS signal that is harder to block. America is experimenting with satellite-to-satellite communication by laser, which can carry more data and is less prone to interference than radio waves. And the armed forces are starting to train for warfare with few or no data links. Simulated attacks by both space and cyberspace “aggressors” are being incorporated into events such as the regular “Red Flag” air-combat exercises over the Nevada desert. But, said an officer at one recent wargame, there are other ways of doing things. “If you really want to take us down, why go to space? You could just try to take out the control tower or bring down the electricity supply to the base.” http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080119574549.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2130942_AEX PjkQAAINaR5JY%2FgQ52winKoU&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilenam e=e20080119aaindex_concat.html&cred=riIsNy3evvWwRs ORLtQDpaJTmFm4eWNOwTImts1hk3TOQ4y9KDTZapTg2skYtN#T OP">RETURN TO TOP New York Times on the Web January 18, 2008 Bush Names General To Head Afghan Mission WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush has named the head of U.S. Army forces in Europe, Gen. David McKiernan, as the new leader of foreign forces in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said on Friday. McKiernan will head the 42,000-member NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. ISAF is responsible for fighting insurgents, training Afghan troops and reconstruction in northern and eastern Afghanistan. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates on Tuesday ordered an additional 3,200 U.S. Marines to Afghanistan, including 1,000 who will conduct training with ISAF. With the new Marine deployments in March and April, the United States will have around 30,000 troops in Afghanistan, about half in ISAF and the rest conducting missions ranging from counter-terrorism to training Afghan soldiers. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080119574473.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2130942_AEX PjkQAAINaR5JY%2FgQ52winKoU&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilenam e=e20080119aaindex_concat.html&cred=riIsNy3evvWwRs ORLtQDpaJTmFm4eWNOwTImts1hk3TOQ4y9KDTZapTg2skYtN#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Financial Times January 19, 2008 Call To Woo 'Moderate' Afghan Rebels By James Blitz, in London The international community must try to attract “moderate” Afghan insurgents away from the Taliban by giving them financial support that encourages them to support the Kabul government, according to a new report. As Paddy Ashdown, the former British politician, prepares to take over as the new United Nations envoy in Afghanistan, the report, written by one of his former political aides, suggests the European Union should fund a “reconstruction benefit package” that could win over insurgents. With Nato continuing to struggle against the Taliban, some western leaders, such as Gordon Brown, the British premier, have talked about the need for the international coalition to encourage insurgents to change sides. The new report – to be published next week and written by Daniel Korski of the European Council on Foreign Relations – goes further. Mr Korski, who was political adviser to Lord Ashdown when he was UN high representative in Bosnia, suggests the EU should fund a €50bn ($73bn, £37bn) pilot scheme under which money can be paid in instalments to local leaders who want to develop clinics and schools. He says: “The international community must encourage President Hamid Karzai to engage mid-ranking ‘moderate’ insurgents by developing a package of financial and other incentives which could encourage them to support the government rather than the Taliban.” Mr Korski says the EU needs to step up its security activity in Afghanistan. It should commit to meeting the shortfall in police trainers. Only 93 are currently working in Afghanistan compared with the 434 originally pledged. He also notes that, in the short term, an extra 2,000 to 2,500 Nato troops are probably required for operations in the south, alongside the expected deployment of 3,500 more US marines. The European council’s report argues that EU governments should agree to lift the operational restrictions on existing deployments of troops to Afghanistan. Mr Korski believes that European states should begin to move their troops from the west to the east. This would allow the US to transfer its forces to the south, where fighting is heaviest, in support of the British, Canadians and Dutch. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080119574533.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2130942_AEX PjkQAAINaR5JY%2FgQ52winKoU&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilenam e=e20080119aaindex_concat.html&cred=riIsNy3evvWwRs ORLtQDpaJTmFm4eWNOwTImts1hk3TOQ4y9KDTZapTg2skYtN#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Defense News January 21, 2008 Pg. 8 Australian PM Pushes Stronger Line In Afghanistan By Gregor Ferguson Sydney — Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has committed to a long-term military presence in Afghanistan, but he wants greater political and military coordination among the eight NATO member nations operating there to defeat the Taliban. Rudd, in a lightning pre-Christmas visit, was one of three coalition heads of government to reassure Afghan President Hamid Karzai that Australia will stay the course. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi visited Kabul at the same time to deliver the same assurances. Rudd also visited the 515-strong Australian Overwatch Battle Group in southern Iraq and told them they will be withdrawn by midyear. But another 1,000 Australian troops, ships and patrol aircraft serving in Baghdad, Kuwait and the Arabian Gulf will remain to train Iraqi forces, provide security in Baghdad, conduct airborne and maritime surveillance of southern Iraq and the gulf, and protect Iraq’s offshore oil fields. A spokesman for Australian Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon declined Jan. 15 to discuss reports that he would attend a meeting in Canada later this month of defense ministers of the eight NATO nations with forces in Afghanistan. The ministers will discuss a review of NATO’s strategy in Afghanistan, which will be presented for formal endorsement during a NATO meeting in Bucharest, Romania, in April. On his return to Australia, Fitzgibbon reaffirmed his country’s commitment to its mission in Afghanistan’s Uruzgan province, despite the news that the Netherlands will withdraw its 1,600-strong force from the area in 2010. The force includes Apache attack helicopters and self-propelled artillery, which have played an important role supporting coalition operations and protecting Australian troops. But Fitzgibbon said the Australian Defence Force would be unable to take a more prominent leadership role in Afghanistan because it is already thinly stretched and because NATO’s current strategy isn’t delivering results. “We just can’t be playing a lead role in Afghanistan, particularly when we are already so overstretched and there are so many potential contingencies in our own backyard where we will need to play a lead role,” he told The Australian newspaper Dec. 28. “If we can demonstrate that we have a strategy and things are going well in Afghanistan, sometime in the near future, then the Netherlands parliament might take a different view and stick around [after 2010]. Alternatively, it will be easier to get alternative participants.” Dutch and Australian troops have worked well together, said Ross Babbage of the Kokoda Foundation think tank, Canberra. The practical problem on the ground is that other European nations aren’t operating as effectively against the Taliban as U.S., British, Canadian and Australian forces, he said, all of whom, except the Australians, have sustained heavy casualties. Defense analyst Alan Dupont of the University of Sydney’s Centre for International Security Studies, said the NATO players in Afghanistan know their current strategy isn’t coherent and effective. “We need to change things or we’re heading for defeat,” he said At the purely military level, each country with a force in Afghanistan is working under different rules of engagement. Like Babbage, Dupont believes many of the European NATO contingents have significant political constraints on effective combat operations. These differences are caused and compounded by the different aims and domestic political issues driving each government. Moreover, nobody can agree on a common political strategy beyond the obvious so-called “motherhood statements,” Dupont said. For example, how should the Afghan government and its Western allies deal with farmers producing the opium poppies that underpin the global narcotics trade? How can poppy-growers be weaned off their dependence on poppy production and onto other cash crops? What is the plan for transforming Afghanistan’s economy from near-subsistence level into that of a modern state? The military problems are most pressing, Dupont said, and “NATO governments must make the case to their own electorates that this [Afghanistan] is a cause worth fighting and dying for. It’s in Europe’s interests as well as that of the broader Western world.” Some key European NATO members haven’t been prepared to take the political risks necessary to address the challenges in Afghanistan, Dupont said, pointing out that the United Kingdom’s willingness to do so highlights what he termed “a degree of hypocrisy and lack of political courage among some NATO members.” http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080119574552.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2130942_AEX PjkQAAINaR5JY%2FgQ52winKoU&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilenam e=e20080119aaindex_concat.html&cred=riIsNy3evvWwRs ORLtQDpaJTmFm4eWNOwTImts1hk3TOQ4y9KDTZapTg2skYtN#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Financial Times January 19, 2008 US To Offer Pakistan Help Against Attacks By Farhan Bokhari and Demetri Sevastopulo A senior American military commander will visit Pakistan this month to discuss the growing unrest in the country and possible deeper US military engagement, according to senior Pakistani and western officials. Admiral William Fallon, head of US Central Command, will hold discussions on whether the US could provide training to help Pakistani forces deal with the increasing attacks from militants inside its borders. The US was already concerned about the regrouping of al-Qaeda in the mountainous border region of Pakistan and Afghanistan. More recently, it has become concerned about the growing threat deeper inside Pakistan's borders. On Wednesday, more than 20 Pakistani paramilitary soldiers were killed when Taliban militants attacked a remote fort in the south Waziristan region along the Afghan border. Yesterday, the Pakistani military retaliated when it killed at least 90 militants in two separate encounters. Adm Fallon on Wednesday said the Pakistani military had begun switching from its traditional focus on the threat from neighbouring India to a counter-insurgency campaign internally. "My sense is there's an increased willingness to address these problems, and we're going to try to help them," Adm Fallon told Agence France Presse. The clashes on Wednesday and yesterday took place in a region ruled by Baitullah Mehsud, a Taliban militant linked to al-Qaeda. General Michael Hayden, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, this week told the Washington Post that he agreed with the Pakistani assessment that Mr Mehsud was responsible for last month's assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Gen James Cartwright, vice-chairman of the joint chiefs, this week said the US was evaluating whether the Pakistanis were able to handle the growing threat from militants inside Pakistan. "Is it a threat that the Paks are ready to handle? Do they need training help? Do they need other types of help? That's what we're trying to assess right now," said Gen Cartwright. Senior western defence experts in Islamabad believe that the Pakistani military, supported by the Bush administration in the war on terror, needs training and equipment to strengthen its capacity to fight insurgencies. "This is an army whose focus has traditionally been to fight territorial battles, primarily against the Indians," said one expert. Shaukat Qadir, a Pakistani defence commentator, said that while the Pakistani forces knew the local terrain better than American forces, "the psychological dimension will be very important, the idea that there are US trainers on the ground helping Pakistani forces". http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080119574505.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2130942_AEX PjkQAAINaR5JY%2FgQ52winKoU&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilenam e=e20080119aaindex_concat.html&cred=riIsNy3evvWwRs ORLtQDpaJTmFm4eWNOwTImts1hk3TOQ4y9KDTZapTg2skYtN#T OP">RETURN TO TOP New York Times January 19, 2008 Pg. 8 C.I.A. Says Militant Was Behind Bhutto's Death By Mark Mazzetti WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency has concluded that the assassins of Benazir Bhutto, the former Pakistani prime minister, were directed by Baitullah Mehsud, a Pakistani militant leader in hiding, and that some of them had ties to Al Qaeda. The C.I.A.’s judgment is the first formal assessment by the American government about who was responsible for Ms. Bhutto’s Dec. 27 assassination, which took place during a political rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. “There are powerful reasons to believe that terror networks around Baitullah Mehsud were responsible,” said one American intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. The official said that “different pieces of information” had pointed toward Mr. Mehsud’s responsibility, but he would not provide any details. Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the C.I.A. director, discussed the agency’s conclusion in an interview with The Washington Post published Friday. Some friends and supporters of Ms. Bhutto questioned the C.I.A. conclusions, especially since the former leader was buried before a full forensic investigation had been conducted. The British government has since sent a team from Scotland Yard to participate in the investigation into the assassination. “The C.I.A. appears too eager to bail out its liaison services in Pakistan, who are being blamed by most Pakistanis,” said Husain Haqqani, a former adviser to Ms. Bhutto and a professor at Boston University. “Given the division inside Pakistan on this issu |
