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Please scroll down to read Headlines; then to read Entire Headlines Article, further scroll down. URL's will not link out in the format recieved. IRAQ - 1. Attempted Killings Incite Violence In Iraq
(New York Times)...Alissa J. Rubin
Scattered violence struck areas of Baghdad as well as parts of central and northern Iraq on Tuesday, as a trickle of families began to leave Sadr City to escape bombings, and Iraqi security forces raided a hospital suspected of treating militia forces.
- 2. Rockets Hit Baghdad City Hall, Playground
(USA Today)...Associated Press
A rocket slammed into Baghdad's City Hall and another hit a downtown park Tuesday as civilians fled a Shiite militia stronghold where U.S.-led forces are locked in fierce street battles.
- 4. U.S. Fights But Tries Not To Offend
(Los Angeles Times)...Tina Susman
The U.S. military has tied itself into a verbal knot as it tries to avoid further inflaming tensions with Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr while confronting members of his Mahdi Army militia. U.S. forces battle almost daily with Shiite militiamen in Sadr City, including Sadr loyalists, but commanders are careful to avoid blaming the Mahdi Army for the violence.
- 5. U.S. To Trim Forces In Iraq
(Seattle Times)...Bradley Brooks, Associated Press
About 3,500 American soldiers are scheduled to leave Iraq in the coming weeks, the U.S. military announced, as part of the Pentagon's overall reduction in troop strength after last year's buildup.
- 6. Iraq Readies Arms Case Against Iran
(Washington Times)...Sara A. Carter
Iraq's ambassador to the U.S. said yesterday that a high-level committee will investigate Iran's role in arms trafficking across his country's borders, after the discovery of large caches of weapons and explosive devices recently manufactured in Iran.
- 7. Rebuilding Will Take More Time, Envoy Says
(Washington Times)...David R. Sands
Iraq's U.S. ambassador said yesterday that his country still needs time before it can fully finance its own reconstruction effort, despite an oil-export windfall that has lawmakers on Capitol Hill demanding Baghdad pick up more of the tab.
- 8. Town's Residents Determined To Rebuild Now That Al-Qaeda Threat Has Lessened
(San Diego Union-Tribune)...Raviya H. Ismail and Jinan Hussein, McClatchy News Service
...Residents credit the recent security gains to when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces entered Madaen in December and to the formation of an ÅÂwakening council, a U.S.-allied Sunni armed group charged with fighting al-Qaeda in Iraq.
- 9. Daimler Plans A Baghdad Office
(Wall Street Journal)...Gina Chon
Daimler AG says it plans to open an office in Baghdad after a nearly 20-year absence, marking a small victory for Iraqi and U.S. officials who have pushed hard to attract foreign investment in the war-torn country.
AFGHANISTAN - 10. Troops Kill Militants In Eastern Afghanistan
(USA Today)...Unattributed
U.S.-led coalition troops killed several militants during a raid on compounds in Nangarhar province, eastern Afghanistan, a coalition statement said Tuesday. It did not say how many were killed. Troops also detained a militant suspected of involvement in helping foreign fighters and conducting bomb attacks, the statement said.
- 11. Canadian Killed In Afghanistan
(Washington Post)...Unattributed
Taliban insurgents killed a Canadian soldier in a clash in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, bringing the total number of Canadian troops killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 83.
ASIA/PACIFIC - 15. 60,000 Dead Or Missing In Burma
(Washington Post)...Amy Kazmin
...President Bush offered to send U.S. Navy units to help in the operation, and sharply criticized Burma's military-run government for delays in approving visas for emergency teams.
- 16. U.S. Ships Standing By For Myanmar Relief: Pentagon
(Yahoo.com)...Agence France-Presse
US Navy ships, including an amphibious assault ship with helicopters and US marines, are standing by off Thailand awaiting permission to join relief efforts in cyclone-hit Myanmar, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
- 17. Pentagon Puts Brakes On Funds To Pakistan
(Los Angeles Times)...Peter Spiegel and Greg Miller
The Pentagon has rejected or deferred millions of dollars in military aid requests from Pakistan amid criticism that the Islamabad government has squandered U.S. funding and allowed Al Qaeda to rebuild a haven in its western tribal regions.
- 18. U.S. Envoy To Urge Talks In N. Korea
(Philadelphia Inquirer)...Associated Press
A top State Department specialist on Korean affairs is going to North Korea for nuclear discussions, the United States said yesterday, in a flurry of diplomatic activity by American officials working to break an impasse in six-nation disarmament talks.
- 19. U.S. Military Poised To Help Cyclone Victims If Asked
(CNN)...Jamie McIntyre
...Well, you know, the U.S. military really sees this as a chance to set aside political differences and show its ability to deliver humanitarian relief. And the U.S. Navy is uniquely positioned to do that, already having ships in the area, including a couple of aircraft carriers, and the USS Essex strike group.
ARMY - 20. Fort Meade: Army To Renovate Four Barracks
(Baltimore Sun)...Josh Mitchell
The Army will spend $52 million renovating four Korean War-era barracks at Fort Meade, officials at the military post in Anne Arundel County said this week.
- 21. Army Running Out Of Payroll Cash, DoD Says
(ArmyTimes.com)...William H. McMichael and Rick Maze
In an announcement that puts troops and their families in the middle of a political dispute, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday that the Army will not be able to pay soldiers after June 15 unless Congress approves an emergency war funding bill.
- 22. Army Focus On Counterinsurgency Debated Within
(NPR)...Guy Raz
The U.S. military has been retraining to face even more extreme forms of disorder in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. The Army has struggled in recent years to change its focus to worry less about big, conventional battles with rival armies and learn more about counterinsurgency, battles among civilians with irregular groups. Now, an internal Pentagon report is asking if that shift went too far.
NAVY - 23. Death Of Mid Called 'A Complete Mystery'
(Baltimore Sun)...Josh Mitchell
...In a statement yesterday evening, the academy confirmed Dickmann's death and said that the cause was being investigated. Foul play is not suspected. The family was awaiting autopsy results yesterday.
AIR FORCE CONGRESS - 25. Democrats Link Wishes To War Funding
(Washington Post)...Paul Kane
Setting up their last major battle over war policy with President Bush, House Democrats yesterday unveiled a plan to link their favored domestic spending projects and a troop-withdrawal timeline to additional funds for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan requested by the White House.
- 26. New War Spending Bill Would Make Iraqis Pay
(Houston Chronicle)...Anne Flaherty, Associated Press
A new war spending bill proposed by House Democrats would prohibit using U.S. aid to rebuild towns or equip security forces in Iraq unless Baghdad matches every dollar spent, lawmakers said Tuesday.
- 27. Congress Weighs Veterans Adjustment Aid
(New York Times)...Carl Hulse
...An emergency Pentagon spending measure scheduled to be considered by the House as early as Thursday would provide $720 million over two years to set up a program that would essentially underwrite a four-year public university education for anyone who has served on active duty for at least three years.
GUANTANAMO - 31. Detainee Seeks British Secrets
(Miami Herald)...Carol Rosenberg
Attorneys for a detainee held here as an alleged al Qaeda co-conspirator filed suit against the British government on Tuesday, claiming it would violate its own foreign policy by permitting a former resident to face war crimes trial here with evidence allegedly obtained by torture.
EUROPE - 32. Poland: Conditions Set For Planned U.S. Missile Shield
(New York Times)...Agence France-Presse
Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned that Warsaw would block the United States plan to base a missile shield in Poland unless Washington meets Polish demands, including helping to upgrade the countryÃÔ military.
- 33. Gates Urges Full Funding For European Missile Defenses
(National Journal's CongressDailyPM)...Megan Scully
Defense Secretary Gates is urging key House lawmakers to back without restriction the Bush administration's full FY09 request for the proposed European missile defense site, arguing that doing so would send a strong message of congressional support at a critical time for the program.
- 34. U.S., Russia Sign Pact On Nuclear Cooperation
(Washington Post)...Peter Finn
The United States and Russia signed a long-sought agreement Tuesday on civilian nuclear cooperation, which officials said would offer Russia lucrative new business while limiting the risk of material being used for weapons.
- 35. Georgia: U.S. Criticizes Russian Troop Movements
(New York Times)...Reuters
The Bush administration accused Russia of acting provocatively against Georgia by moving troops to the breakaway region of Abkhazia and shooting down a remotely piloted aerial vehicle, increasing the risk of armed confrontation. A White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino, urged Russia to restate its support for GeorgiaÃÔ sovereignty, and Georgia to show restraint.
TERRORISM - 36. U.S. Aims To Unlink Islamic, Terrorism
(Washington Times)...Shaun Waterman, United Press International
U.S. officials are being advised in internal government documents to avoid referring publicly to al Qaeda and other terrorist groups as Islamic or Muslim, and not to use terms like jihad or mujahedeen, which "unintentionally legitimize" terrorism.
VETERANS - 37. VA Officials Offer Apology For E-Mail
(Houston Chronicle)...Kimberly Hefling, Associated Press
The Department of Veterans Affairs' top mental health official said Tuesday he made a poor choice of words when he sent his colleagues an e-mail about suicide data that started out with "Shh!"
- 38. Suicides Of Iraq Veterans Could Top Combat Deaths
(GovExec.com)...Bob Brewin
Suicides by veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could well top the combat deaths in the two conflicts, according to the top official of National Institute of Mental Health.
- 39. House Committee Hears Testimony On Veteran Suicides
(CNN)...Jamie McIntyre
Protecting America's war veterans, not on the front lines, from taking their own lives right here at home. A House committee is dealing with a tough topic today, veterans' suicides.
ENVIRONMENT - 40. EPA Might Not Act To Limit Rocket Toxin
(Boston Globe)...Erica Werner, Associated Press
...Most perchlorate contamination resulted from Defense Department activities. The Pentagon could face huge cleanup costs if the EPA sets a national drinking water standard for the contaminant, and the department has tussled with the EPA over the issue, according to a report last week by congressional investigators.
BUSINESS - 41. Army Vehicle Order Worth $1.2 Billion
(Chicago Tribune)...Unattributed
Navistar International Corp. said late Monday it received a three-year contract from the U.S. Army valued at $1.28 billion, covering delivery of 7,072 medium tactical vehicles and parts.
MOVIES OPINION - 43. Give Them Sabbaticals
(USA Today)...Laura Miller
In academia and, increasingly, corporate America, sabbaticals are a time-honored way to step aside from the daily grind and intellectually reboot. The U.S. Army should embrace something similar.
- 44. Like Bush, I'd Like 'Guantanamo To End'
(Miami Herald)...Larry Cox
...The discussion about detainee rights reverberating throughout the nation can seem very ivory tower-like and intangible. It is easy to be distracted from the detainees' experience by legal lingo such as 'unlawful enemy combatants' and the complex rulings of the highest U.S. courts. This cell replica helps bring the Guantanamo discussion to a level where it should be easier for more of us to understand and acknowledge the cruelty of indefinite detention.
- 45. Is It Jaw-Jaw Or War-War?
(San Francisco Chronicle)...Patrick J. Buchanan
Is war with Iran inevitable, even imminent? Or is peace at hand? From the public diplomacy of the administration, either conclusion may be reached.
- 46. Guantanamo, Defended -- (Letter)
(New York Times)...Mark H. Buzby
I am insulted by Nicholas D. KristofÃÔ characterizations of conditions at GuantáÏamo. I disagree with his implication that the medical care provided by a highly trained and dedicated staff is not conducted in a humane, professional manner. Sami al-Hajj was near ideal body weight when he left here and walked unsupported onto the aircraft.
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New York Times
May 7, 2008
Attempted Killings Incite Violence In Iraq
By Alissa J. Rubin
BAGHDAD Scattered violence struck areas of Baghdad as well as parts of central and northern Iraq on Tuesday, as a trickle of families began to leave Sadr City to escape bombings, and Iraqi security forces raided a hospital suspected of treating militia forces.
In Baghdad, there were clashes in Abu Dshir, a mostly Shiite neighborhood on the cityÃÔ southern edge. The tensions were between the Mahdi Army, loyal to the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, and the National Police. Three civilians were killed and nine were wounded in the fighting. The area had been one of the most violent until late last summer, when it quieted down and the militia put away its weapons.
Prompting the clashes were the attempted assassinations of two dignitaries in Abu Dshir one a leader in the local Badr Organization, a group linked to the Shiite cleric Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, a rival of Mr. SadrÃÔ who runs the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, and the other the neighborhoodÃÔ imam. Although both men survived, the episodes set off fighting between factions loyal to Mr. Hakim and those loyal to Mr. Sadr, said Sayyid Malik Abadi, , the head of Abu DshirÃÔ security committee.
Two mortar shells exploded Tuesday morning in the Baghdad municipal building, killing three civilians and wounding 15 people. And a rocket landed in Al Mansour University College, wounding five students, according to an official at the Interior Ministry who asked not to be quoted because he was not authorized to speak on the record.
Insurgents often fire mortar shells and rockets toward the Green Zone, headquarters of the Iraqi government and American Embassy, but their misses often harm civilians.
In the Shaula neighborhood, a Sadrist stronghold in western Baghdad, Iraqi forces captured several dozen police officers who were believed to be aiding militia fighters. Some of the officers were captured in a local hospital, which was believed to have been caring for militia fighters, according to a deputy of Qassim Atta, the military spokesman for the Baghdad security plan.
Families have begun to leave Sadr City over the past several days, trickling into the grounds of a sports stadium in Baladiat, which is on the western edge of Sadr City. The families, who lived near the front lines of the fighting and the wall being built by the American military to partition the neighborhood, said they had fled because their children were terrified of the bombing.
As many as 1,500 families are expected to go to the area in the next few days, said Abu WaÃÊl, the informal mayor of the refugees who live in the area. Some came as recently as two days ago and others have been there for several years, squatting in abandoned buildings. The army will provide tents for the refugees, he said, but there appeared to be no latrines and it seemed doubtful that there would be enough water to supply so many families.
In Tikrit, a car bomb exploded in midafternoon, killing two civilians and wounding 26 people, including four policemen. A curfew was in effect on Tuesday evening.
In Nineveh, an American soldier died after his patrol was attacked on Tuesday, the military said in a statement. In a separate incident in the province, Sunni extremists killed three Iraqi women and wounded two others in an attack on Monday, according to a statement from the American military. The local police said the extremists were members of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the statement said.
Iraqi employees of The New York Times contributed reporting from Baghdad, Tikrit and Diyala. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080507598892.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2164863_AEj PjkQAAKWxSCHyWQ70bDyB9CY&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080507aaindex_concat.html&cred=sXTdZ4DXT0AXtkd. 9Lg3OpUFjUJxjnDZwxJzeDpJkKG45.cfzurMNYbKT4ro4480#T OP">
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USA Today
May 7, 2008
Pg. 6
Rockets Hit Baghdad City Hall, Playground
By Associated Press
BAGHDAD A rocket slammed into Baghdad's City Hall and another hit a downtown park Tuesday as civilians fled a Shiite militia stronghold where U.S.-led forces are locked in fierce street battles.
The American push in the Sadr City district launched after an Iraqi government crackdown on armed Shiite groups began in late March is trying to weaken the militia grip in a key corner of Baghdad and disrupt rocket and mortar strikes on the U.S.-protected Green Zone.
The violence came on the same day that the U.S. military announced plans to withdraw 3,500 American soldiers from the country by the summer.
The withdrawal is part of the Pentagon's overall reduction in troop strength following last year's "surge," when 30,000 additional American troops were deployed to help stem growing violence.
The departing soldiers, part of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, will redeploy to Fort Benning, Ga., the military said.
In Baghdad, however, fresh salvos of rockets wounded at least 16 people Tuesday and drew U.S. retaliation.
One rocket apparently aimed at the Green Zone blasted the nearby City Hall. Three rockets hit parts of central Baghdad, including one that destroyed some playground equipment in a park. An Iraqi police station was damaged by a rocket that failed to detonate, the U.S. military said.
More families sought refuge in neighborhoods away from the fighting.
A senior member of the municipal council in Sadr City estimated 8,000 families had fled the teeming slum since the battles began six weeks ago. He spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of security reasons. The figure could not be independently verified.
Mulkiya Methour, a woman wearing a black head-to-toe chador, said many families had left Sadr City.
"They fled bombardment. Their houses were destroyed and sewage floated into their homes," Methour told AP Television News outside Sadr City the stronghold for the Mahdi army militia of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
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Washington Post
May 7, 2008
Pg. 10
The Challenge Of Creating A Lasting Peace
In a Baghdad District, U.S. Troops Struggle to Manage Vying Forces
By Sholnn Freeman, Washington Post Staff Writer
BAGHDAD -- The most powerful man in Adhamiyah suddenly appeared out of the darkness, sweeping into the alley behind a wall of bodyguards.
"The sheik," the American soldiers called out.
Sheik Amir al-Azawi had arrived to weigh in on a dispute that had ensnared an American military patrol, Iraqi soldiers, the sheik's son and members of the U.S.-backed Sunni security force known as the Awakening. The sheik's son was demanding that the Americans arrest two Iraqis detained on suspicion of planting a roadside bomb.
The U.S. troops had screened the men's hands for bombmaking residue, but found only dust. The soldiers said there would be no arrests without evidence.
Azawi moved to the huddle to listen and interject, and then over to the two detained Iraqis. Lifting his cane not far from their faces, he issued a warning: "If there is a second attack, I will come and hunt you."
For the American soldiers patrolling this Sunni enclave in northern Baghdad, it was another instance of working through rumors, hearsay and finger-pointing demands to arrest people. "We go through this every night," said 1st Sgt. Craig Patterson of the Army's 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment. "If these guys would have touched bombs, it would come up on the X-ray."
A year ago, Adhamiyah was one of the bloodiest districts in Baghdad. In the past few months, scores of shops have reopened in corners where soldiers remember the stench of rotting corpses. Men crowd outside cafes on streets once prowled by young thugs riding motorbikes and wielding assault rifles.
In the center of Adhamiyah, the Abu Hanifa mosque, one of the most prominent Sunni shrines in Baghdad, glowed under exterior lights. A year ago, soldiers said, gunmen opened fire on U.S. Humvees nearly every time they passed it.
Now, the challenge confronting the Americans is how to cement a peace that will not unravel after they leave.
Friction and Frustration
The Awakening fighters are growing increasingly frustrated that Iraq's Shiite-led central government has been slow to integrate them into the Iraqi police and military services. U.S. officers say the fighters appear to be breaking into factions.
Roadside bombs have suddenly become more prevalent in Adhamiyah. The U.S. military said 21 bombs were found in the area in the last 25 days of April, compared with three or four in all of March. Platoon leaders on patrol at Awakening checkpoints at the end of April sought information about the origins of fresh graffiti in support of the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq.
"It's escalating," said a checkpoint leader who gave his name as Abu Ahmad. "Some of the Awakening are chanting for al-Qaeda and using slogans for al-Qaeda. I think the district will pay the price because of these problems."
Leaders from the Awakening are blaming U.S. troops for not ridding the force of those who previously ruled the district. "The problem is with the Americans," Abu Ahmad said. "They know who the guys are who previously worked with al-Qaeda, but they are not doing anything about it. When we catch someone, we know they are killers and thugs, yet they release them."
The U.S. military acknowledges that many Awakening fighters were once members of al-Qaeda in Iraq. "Naturally there is some distrust and disbelief among these members," said Maj. Michael S. Humphreys, a spokesman for the Army. "But with time and continued cooperation and teamwork they will quickly learn to trust each other as brothers, as many of them already have."
Application Holdup
U.S. military officers in Adhamiyah said they were not sure who was responsible for the growing number of roadside bombs -- extremists sneaking back into the neighborhood or factional leaders jockeying for power. The U.S. military has more than 2,200 Awakening fighters in Adhamiyah and nearby neighborhoods.
Military officers said they have tried numerous avenues to get Awakening fighters hired into the Iraqi security forces, but they say they have no evidence that the vast majority of applications have been acted upon.
"Everyone in our chain of command acknowledges that the government of Iraq would be wise if they were to acknowledge the Sunnis," said Maj. Ike Sallee, operations officer for the 3rd Squadron. "Just give these guys a paycheck, a weapon and ID cards. Just acknowledge them and get them into shape. Hold them accountable."
One Army civil affairs officer in Adhamiyah said applications had been returned because they were submitted in the wrong color of ink. The Americans say they are not sure if it's just bureaucratic fumbling or if the applications are being blocked as sectarian payback.
Many of the people who live in Adhamiyah were affiliated with Saddam Hussein's Baath Party. The last images of Hussein in public, a day before the American military captured Baghdad, show him amid throngs of cheering supporters in front of the Abu Hanifa mosque. Since then, power has shifted to political parties representing the country's Shiite majority.
Even as the security environment in the district improves, Sallee said problems require constant attention. U.S. officers in Adhamiyah said that they expect the military to continue to pay the $300 monthly salaries of the Awakening fighters, and that it's in the military's interest to keep paying.
"All of Iraq is like embers," Sallee said. "Some places just flare up, so you constantly have to keep tending the embers. That's the best we can do, is get them to embers. But Americans can't extinguish the embers."
Reaching a Turning Point
With the Iraqi government sitting on the sidelines, the U.S. Army pays for most reconstruction work in Adhamiyah -- cleaning up sewage, helping to oversee the upkeep of schools and reopening battle-scarred markets. American commanders are hopeful that they have reached a turning point in the district.
Army spokesmen declined to provide details of past casualties in Adhamiyah. The Army Times reported in 2007 that the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, which was posted in the neighborhood before the 3rd Squadron, suffered 31 dead and 122 wounded over a 15-month period, making it the hardest-hit battalion since the Vietnam War.
"The success that we have here was paid for with that unit's blood," said Capt. Ian Claxton, who commands the squadron's Crazyhorse Troop, the cavalry's term for company.
As part of the "surge" of additional U.S. troops in Iraq, the American fighting force in the area doubled. American commanders switched tactics, pushing soldiers off bases and out of Humvees to walk the streets. Still, they say the Awakening gets a large measure of the credit for the security improvements. In Adhamiyah, the fighters appeared to outnumber police officers and Iraqi army soldiers.
"They are allies," said Capt. Erik Kjonnerod, who commands the squadron's Apache Troop. "They listen to us. They do what we tell them."
On a patrol last month, Kjonnerod stopped into an Awakening office on Kem Street, which had been one of the deadliest areas in Adhamiyah.
With soldiers guarding the door alongside Awakening men, he and 1st Lt. Matt Jensen propped M-16 rifles against side tables, took out notebooks and pens and shared sweet bread and tea with the Iraqis. Outside, an Iraqi man tussled at the door in an attempt to get into the office. Once inside, he requested the help of U.S. troops in winning the freedom of his younger brother's wife, who he said was taken by his in-laws.
"What does the man want from us exactly," Jensen asked the interpreter.
He wants you to support him, like he supports you, the interpreter responded.
"I'd rather deal with this than raging gun battles every day," Jensen said.
"Rather than bombs in the street," Kjonnerod said.
"They need to deal with it in the family," Kjonnerod added. "If they need a mediator, I got the perfect person. The sheik. Let the sheik do it."
Special correspondents Zaid Sabah, K.I. Ibrahim and Saad al-Izzi contributed to this report. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080507598998.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2164863_AEj PjkQAAKWxSCHyWQ70bDyB9CY&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080507aaindex_concat.html&cred=sXTdZ4DXT0AXtkd. 9Lg3OpUFjUJxjnDZwxJzeDpJkKG45.cfzurMNYbKT4ro4480#T OP">
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Los Angeles Times
May 7, 2008
Pg. 4
U.S. Fights But Tries Not To Offend
The military battles militiamen loyal to Muqtada Sadr but avoids laying blame on his Mahdi Army.
By Tina Susman, Times Staff Writer
BAGHDAD -- The U.S. military has tied itself into a verbal knot as it tries to avoid further inflaming tensions with Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr while confronting members of his Mahdi Army militia.
U.S. forces battle almost daily with Shiite militiamen in Sadr City, including Sadr loyalists, but commanders are careful to avoid blaming the Mahdi Army for the violence.
"This is focused on the criminal groups," the chief U.S. military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner, said at his most recent news briefing on April 30. When U.S. commander Gen. David H. Petraeus alluded to violence in Sadr City during a visit to London on Thursday, he did so without naming any group, only referring to "the militia in and around Sadr City."
The evolution in words used, or not used, by military officials when discussing Sadr and his fighters reflects the United States' turbulent relationship with the Shiite cleric and his own reinvention of himself as a political player. The United States, which in 2004 considered arresting Sadr in connection with the killing of a rival Shiite leader, began softening its tone early last year after Sadr agreed to not confront extra U.S. troops deployed by President Bush to Baghdad to quell violence.
The U.S. rhetoric took an ingratiating turn shortly after Sadr issued a formal cease-fire Aug. 29 that contributed to a sharp drop in the number of U.S. troop deaths.
In a statement released Oct. 1, Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker referred to Sadr on first reference as "sayyid," an Arabic honorific usually reserved for male descendants of the prophet Muhammad.
Thereafter, the honorific was used routinely in public statements by U.S. military officials here. A U.S. military official in Baghdad said it was in recognition of the role the United States thought Sadr was playing at the time to encourage "peaceful, non-criminal activity."
"It was an important way to recognize his position and his authority," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing politics.
Last month, "sayyid" dropped from the public lexicon of the U.S. military here, a sign of what officials consider Sadr's crossing of the line from budding peacemaker to potential troublemaker after he threatened "open war" against U.S. forces.
"We began seeing him looking much more divisive again," the official said.
During an unannounced visit to Baghdad last month, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke scornfully of Sadr, commenting that he remained safe in Iran while his followers were fighting and dying in Iraq.
But even if U.S. rhetoric seems to be shifting, the military still insists that Sadr's Mahdi Army is not its main problem, saying it is "special groups" that have broken away from Sadr's control. Those groups are trained and armed by Iran and not bound by Sadr's directives.
However, military officials acknowledge that mainstream Mahdi Army elements took part in the initial fighting that erupted March 25 against an offensive launched by U.S.-backed Iraqi security forces.
When Sadr called a halt to fighting March 31, his most loyal followers responded, officials say. Since then, they say, Sadr's mixed messages have been interpreted by some militiamen as a signal that it's OK to take up arms again. They cite Sadr's statement last month that his threat of "open war" applied only to American troops.
"Sure enough, we were in a firefight within a couple of hours" of that statement being issued, said Sgt. Erik Olson, an Army reservist in Sadr City.
The military says politics has nothing to do with its shift away from publicly blaming the Mahdi Army. It denies that it is a political maneuver aimed at trying to sway Sadr to maintain his truce, frayed though it may be.
At a recent news briefing, Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, whose area of operation includes Baghdad, said calling the "lawless criminals who chose to start shooting rockets and mortars" anything else, such as Mahdi Army militiamen, would be to give them unwarranted respect.
"They're thugs," he said, when asked who was involved in the violence. "They don't deserve to be identified as anything other than that."
Other military officials see the political and social role of Sadr's group as a reason to avoid pointing a finger at him.
The Mahdi Army has roots in Baghdad and serves as a local social service organization. Sadr loyalists hold 30 seats in the national parliament, and the Mahdi Army is part of the political movement known as the Sadr Trend.
"The Mahdi militia is a political organization," said Army Capt. Alan Boyes, whose base is a former butcher's shop in Sadr City's Jamila neighborhood. "Now, do I believe political groups should have militias? No, but that's the way things are in Iraq."
Whatever their commanders call Sadr supporters, U.S. troops on the battle-worn streets of Sadr City are not as inclined to steer clear of blaming the violence on Sadr and the Mahdi Army, commonly referred to by its Arabic-based acronym, JAM.
They say the political roots cited by military officials as a positive element of JAM are what make the group dangerous.
"They're in the government. They're amongst the people you work with every day," said Army 1st Lt. Matt Vigeant, who considers the Mahdi Army a far greater challenge to U.S. forces than the Sunni insurgent group Al Qaeda in Iraq. "JAM has that popular base that AQI does not."
Cracking that, soldiers say, is virtually impossible as long as Sadr is able to sustain support either through coercion or through genuine public admiration for his policies.
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Seattle Times
May 7, 2008
U.S. To Trim Forces In Iraq
By Bradley Brooks, Associated Press
BAGHDAD About 3,500 American soldiers are scheduled to leave Iraq in the coming weeks, the U.S. military announced, as part of the Pentagon's overall reduction in troop strength after last year's buildup.
The U.S. plans to trim its forces in Iraq to about 140,000 soldiers by the summer from a peak of about 170,000 in October at the height of the troop buildup in Baghdad and surrounding areas.
The departing soldiers, part of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, will redeploy to Fort Benning, Ga., the military said.
The United States sent some 30,000 additional troops into Iraq last year to help stem growing violence. The troop increase, a truce by a key Shiite Muslim militia and the rise of Sunni fighters who allied with the United States in the battle against al-Qaida were credited with a sharp decrease in bloodshed during the past 10 months.
The soldiers are part of the third of five brigades scheduled to leave the country. The other two are expected to return to the United States by the end of July. There now are about 159,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq.
"The continued drawdown of surge brigades demonstrates continued progress in Iraq," Brig. Gen. Dan Allyn said in the statement released late Monday. "After July, commanders will assess our security posture for about 45 days and determine future force requirements based on these conditions-based assessments."
Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, has pushed for a so-called "pause" in further redeployment of U.S. troops.
Critics have called for a quicker withdrawal of U.S. soldiers, but commanders on the ground insist the slowdown is needed so a sharp increase in violence is not seen when U.S. forces leave.
Meanwhile, at least four civilians were killed overnight in the Baghdad Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City, which has seen fierce fighting between the Mahdi Army militia and U.S. and Iraqi troops.
Clashes in the sprawling slum of 2.5 million people that serves as a power base for radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi fighters have raged for five weeks, since the Iraqi government began a crackdown on the fighters in southern Iraq.
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Washington Times
May 7, 2008
Pg. 1
Newsmakers interview
Iraq Readies Arms Case Against Iran
Panel to probe recent trafficking
By Sara A. Carter, The Washington Times
Iraq's ambassador to the U.S. said yesterday that a high-level committee will investigate Iran's role in arms trafficking across his country's borders, after the discovery of large caches of weapons and explosive devices recently manufactured in Iran.
"It's a bit disingenuous to believe such quantities of up-to-date weapons manufactured this year, last year, can flow into the country without the knowledge of the Iranian government," Ambassador Samir Sumaida'ie told editors and reporters at The Washington Times.
"However, I understand that the prime minister ordered the formation of the committee only in the last 48 hours to put facts together, to establish where the connection is between these weapons and evidence of training so that we can basically confront our Iranian neighbors," he said.
Mr. Sumaida'ie said the Iraqi investigative committee, appointed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, will include the ministers of interior and defense and will gauge the full facts of the situation.
The committee was established on the heels of a parliamentary delegation that traveled to Tehran last week claiming to have evidence that Iran was providing mortars, rockets, small arms and armor-piercing roadside bombs known as explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, that troops have discovered in recent months.
Iranian officials have denied accusations that they are supplying weapons to militias in Iraq.
U.S. counterterrorism officials said Iran has increased weapons supplies in recent months, adding that the Iranian government wants to diminish U.S. and Iraqi coalition efforts in the region.
"There continues to be a disturbing flow of arms from Iran to Iranian-backed groups inside of Iraq and there are some indications that the flow is increasing," the counterterrorism official said.
However, the fact that the al-Maliki government is investigating Iran is a sign of "increasing maturity," the official added.
Mr. Sumaida'ie said that, despite an eight-year war with Iran during the 1980s under the Sunni-dominated regime of Saddam Hussein, the current Iraqi Shi'ite militias and specifically anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have formed close ties with Tehran.
But he said the majority of Shi'ites in his country maintain strong nationalistic ties to Iraq.
"In fact, the Iraqi Shi'ite presents a threat to the Iranian state rather than the other way around," he said.
Mr. Sumaida'ie said that a warrant for the arrest of Sheik al-Sadr in 2004 may have avoided the current militia uprising. He said the United States was only moments away from arresting Sheik al-Sadr when "somebody in Washington got cold feet."
"Maybe that was a mistake because, had he been taken out at that time, specifically in April 2004, he would not have had the time to build up this huge capability," Mr. Sumaida'ie said.
He added that the Iraqi government could not carry out Sheik al-Sadr's arrest after the U.S. backed down because it did not have the necessary strength at the time.
Mr. Sumaida'ie said the Iraqi government is trying to recover from mistakes and must deal with many complex social, political and economic issues.
He said American military forces were sufficient to topple the former regime but insufficient to keep the peace.
"The disbanding of the police was much more catastrophic than the disbanding of the army because at the level of local neighborhoods we lost control of law and order," he said.
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Washington Times
May 7, 2008
Pg. 11
Rebuilding Will Take More Time, Envoy Says
Hill Democrats eye $70 billion from oil
By David R. Sands, The Washington Times
Iraq's U.S. ambassador said yesterday that his country still needs time before it can fully finance its own reconstruction effort, despite an oil-export windfall that has lawmakers on Capitol Hill demanding Baghdad pick up more of the tab.
Ambassador Samir Sumaida'ie put the cost just of rebuilding his country's shattered basic infrastructure in the hundreds of billions of dollars, arguing that U.S. critics should not attack his country's budget choices in a "populist manner."
"We are willing to pay more and more and, ultimately, to pay all our reconstruction costs," Mr. Sumaida'ie told reporters and editors at The Washington Times yesterday. "We are not shying away from our responsibility."
The funding issue has come to the fore as Congress takes up President Bush's latest spending bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. With Baghdad projected to run up a massive budget surplus this year, thanks to $70 billion in oil revenues, congressional Democrats have sharply questioned the administration's request for some $3 billion in reconstruction, training and equipment funds for Iraq.
Bills now under consideration in both the House and Senate would put new conditions on U.S. reconstruction aid in light of the surplus.
The Senate Armed Services Committee approved a measure last week that would prohibit the Pentagon from funding any Iraqi reconstruction project costing more than $2 million. The bill would also require Iraq's government to pay the salaries and training costs of Sunni militias that have been funded by the U.S. military after they turned on al Qaeda and other extremists groups.
"It is unacceptable that U.S. taxpayers continue to bear a burden that the Iraqi government can and should assume," said committee chairman Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat.
House Democrats have drafted a separate funding bill that would prohibit U.S. aid for rebuilding towns or equipping Iraqi troops unless the Iraqi government matched every dollar, the Associated Press reported yesterday.
While pushing hard for the overall funding bill, the administration already has beat a strategic retreat on some of the issues.
The Pentagon last week deleted a $171 million request to help pay for new police stations in Iraq.
"I heard the committee loud and clear on the need for Iraq to pay for economic and civilian infrastructure," Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said in a letter to Mr. Levin.
But Mr. Sumaida'ie said even with the oil profits, Iraq faces financing, logistical and security problems just in restoring health, sanitation and basic utility services that "collapsed" under Saddam Hussein and the chaotic postwar period.
"Iraq is a completely shattered country," he said. A political exile from his homeland for more than two decades, Mr. Sumaida'ie said, "I did not even recognize Baghdad, the city where I was born, when I returned."
Iraq's $14 billion federal budget this year will be devoted largely to paying the salaries of government employees.
"All the funds we can spend are likely to go just to create the basic foundations to rebuild the country," he said.
A report by Special Inspector General for Iraqi Reconstruction Stuart Bowen last week found that Iraq's ministries spent barely more than half of their capital budgets for 2007, or about $4 billion. The figures were even lower at the provincial level, where officials spent an average of 31 percent of budgets.
Mr. Sumaida'ie acknowledged that billions of dollars of Iraqi reconstruction funds remain unspent, but said government ministers have to balance getting the money out the door against the need for oversight and safeguards against waste and corruption. The country's shaky security situation has also left many international companies unwilling to bid on contracts the government does offer, he said.
"We have to prepare the ground to make sure we get good value," he said.
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San Diego Union-Tribune
May 7, 2008
Town's Residents Determined To Rebuild Now That Al-Qaeda Threat Has Lessened
By Raviya H. Ismail and Jinan Hussein, McClatchy News Service
MADAEN, Iraq Just a few months ago, two to three people a day were dying in Madaen, once a stronghold of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Ammer Abdulrazaq Hamod never left the area, in the southeastern part of Baghdad province, but he was concerned about safety especially for his three children. But now Madaen residents are coming out of their homes. Children ride their bikes, and residents mingle downtown.
Å®y children, they live a normal life, Hamod said. ŵhey are in the street, playing soccer games, going here and there.Æû/P>Residents credit the recent security gains to when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces entered Madaen in December and to the formation of an ÅÂwakening council, a U.S.-allied Sunni armed group charged with fighting al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Now all the area needs is better services, residents say: cleaner water, regular electricity, better-equipped hospitals and schools.
Å¢fter only one month, terrorist attacks stopped, said Hamod, a member of the council, which is mixed with Sunni and Shiite Muslims, rare among the awakening councils.
Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi, the head of the government's services committee, visited Madaen last week as part of a publicity tour. ŵhe task is monumental, but we have money. We have the support of the U.S. to make it work, Chalabi said.
Residents complained that of the 25 schools in the area, 10 have been destroyed. There are no beds in the hospital, little equipment and most of the clinics are closed, they said.
Safety in Madaen has been shaky for the past few years. A bus targeting awakening council members exploded and killed three people in February. Suicide bombers also have killed people, and insurgents bombed a building, killing several civilians. Several bodies have been found in the area.
But the streets of Madaen are now full of energy, with vendors lining the streets selling food, clothes and toys.
On a recent day, a men waited for haircuts at a barbershop. Women and girls were wandering the streets. Children were playing together all over downtown. Also filling the streets were men, and even young boys, carrying AK-47 rifles.
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Wall Street Journal
May 7, 2008
Pg. 10
Daimler Plans A Baghdad Office
Firm Is One of Few From West to Come Without Oil in Mind
By Gina Chon
BAGHDAD -- Daimler AG says it plans to open an office in Baghdad after a nearly 20-year absence, marking a small victory for Iraqi and U.S. officials who have pushed hard to attract foreign investment in the war-torn country.
The plan also is significant because it involves a big Western company interested in the country for reasons other than its big oil reserves. Major companies like BP PLC and Royal Dutch Shell PLC have for years courted Iraqi officials with the hope of winning contracts here.
Daimler AG is looking into the commercial-truck business in Iraq.
The German auto and truck maker will establish a representative office this year to develop contacts and talk to interested partners about possible projects, said spokeswoman Ursula Mertzig-Stein. She said Daimler hasn't committed to any investment figures, but that the company usually operates in countries with "a long-term perspective."
Ms. Mertzig-Stein declined to give further details of the project, but people familiar with the matter said Daimler is looking at the commercial-truck business in Iraq, where Mercedes-Benz trucks are popular. Daimler has its Middle East headquarters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The Kuwaiti government is Daimler's biggest shareholder, and the company -- like many big industrial conglomerates -- sees the Middle East as an area of growth.
Outside the oil patch, most other international companies operating here are related to the war effort or the reconstruction of Iraq, such as security contractor DynCorp International LLC or KBR Inc.
"This shows that we believe in the advancing normalization of Iraq," said Ms. Mertzig-Stein on Tuesday.
Paul Brinkley, head of the U.S. Defense Department's Task Force to Improve Business and Stability Operations in Iraq, approached Daimler and about 30 other international companies last year to look at Iraq.
When Daimler was first approached, the company said it wasn't ready to do business here. At that time last summer, the violence in Iraq was at its peak with almost 1,600 attacks per week.
But when the violence began tapering off in the late summer, Daimler was ready to take another look, and Daimler Middle East Chief Executive Nicholas Speeks visited Iraq in August and again in December, meeting with Iraqi officials and U.S. military personnel.
The visits included stops at an Iraqi state-owned auto and truck factory in Iskandariyah, south of Baghdad. The factory is producing vehicles for the U.S. military, among other customers. (The lull in violence was broken in late March as Iraqi forces, backed by Americans, battled Shiite extremist groups in Basra, Baghdad and elsewhere.)
Daimler had a presence in Iraq in the past. It was looking into truck production in the country when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in August 1990, which scuttled the talks. At that time, Mr. Speeks was head of commercial-vehicle sales of Daimler-Benz Services in Baghdad.
"We take this area very seriously," Ms. Mertzig-Stein said.
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USA Today
May 7, 2008
Pg. 6
Troops Kill Militants In Eastern Afghanistan
U.S.-led coalition troops killed several militants during a raid on compounds in Nangarhar province, eastern Afghanistan, a coalition statement said Tuesday. It did not say how many were killed. Troops also detained a militant suspected of involvement in helping foreign fighters and conducting bomb attacks, the statement said.
In southern Afghanistan, Canadian Brig. Gen. Guy Laroche said a Canadian soldier was killed when a coalition patrol was ambushed on a road outside Kandahar. Also, a bomb placed on a bicycle hit a car carrying police outside Kandahar, wounding three officers and two civilians, police official Mohammad Shoaib said.
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Washington Post
May 7, 2008
Pg. 11
Canadian Killed In Afghanistan
Taliban insurgents killed a Canadian soldier in a clash in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, bringing the total number of Canadian troops killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 83.
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Yahoo.com
May 7, 2008
No US Troop Increase In Afghanistan Without Deeper Cuts In Iraq: Pentagon
WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The Pentagon has said that any sizeable increase in much-needed US forces in Afghanistan will depend on deeper troop cuts in Iraq than currently planned.
Military commanders, worried about a persistent and growing Taliban challenge, have said they require up to three more brigades, or about 10,000 troops, to fill gaps in a NATO-led force in Afghanistan.
But Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell made clear that relief in Afghanistan can only come from Iraq, where US forces now find themselves embroiled in a bloody struggle with Shiite militias.
"We really have to get down in Iraq below 15 brigade combat teams for us to consider adding multiple additional brigades to Afghanistan," Morrell told reporters Tuesday.
"So, not until we get to that point can we even consider that prospect," he said.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates had said after a summit of NATO leaders in Bucharest last month that he expects the United States to make a significant addition of its forces in Afghanistan next year.
Gates also has expressed hope that US force levels in Iraq can be drawn down below the 15 brigades, or roughly 130,000 troops, that will be left there when the last of the "surge" forces return home at the end of July.
But General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, has insisted that there be no further troop cuts until he assesses the impact on security of the current drawdown.
After a sharp decline at the peak of the surge, levels of violence appear to be on the rise again in Iraq.
The US military death toll spiked in April to 52, its highest point in seven months, as US forces fought Shiite militias in Sadr City, a bastion of forces loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Petraeus will be responsible for both Iraq and Afghanistan after he is confirmed to head the US Central Command. He is expected to assume that role in mid-September.
Currently, there are 158,000 US troops in Iraq. The United States has 34,000 troops in Afghanistan, 16,000 of which are under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
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San Diego Union-Tribune
May 7, 2008
Marines Ignore Poppies In Goodwill Gesture To Afghan Locals
By Jason Straziuso, Associated Press
GARMSER, Afghanistan The Marines of Bravo Company's 1st Platoon sleep beside a field of poppies. Troops in the 2nd Platoon playfully swat at the heavy opium bulbs while walking through the fields. Afghan laborers scraping the plant's gooey resin smile and wave.
Last week, the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit moved into southern Helmand province, the world's largest region for growing opium poppy, and now they find themselves surrounded by green fields of the illegal plants that produce the main ingredient of heroin.
The Taliban, whose fighters are exchanging daily fire with the Marines in Garmser, derive up to $100 million a year from the poppy harvest by taxing farmers and charging safe-passage fees money that will buy weapons for use against U.S., NATO and Afghan troops.
Yet the Marines are not destroying the plants. In fact, they are reassuring villagers the poppies won't be touched. U.S. commanders say the Marines would only alienate people and drive them to take up arms if they eliminated the impoverished Afghans' only source of income.
Many Marines in the field are scratching their heads over the situation. Ūt's kind of weird. We're coming over here to fight the Taliban. We see this. We know it's bad. But at the same time we know it's the only way locals can make money, said 1st Lt. Adam Lynch, 27, of Barnstable, Mass.
The Marines' battalion commander, Lt. Col. Anthony Henderson, said yesterday that the poppy crop ÅØill come and go and that his troops can't focus on it when Taliban fighters around Garmser are ÅÕerrorizing the people.Æû/P>Ū think by focusing on the Taliban, the poppies will go away, said Henderson, 41, of Washington, D.C. He said that once the militant fighters are forced out, the Afghan government can move in and offer alternatives.
Khan Mohammad, an Afghan born in Helmand province who lives in Pakistan and came to work the fields, said he makes $2 a day. He said the work is dangerous now that Taliban militants are shooting at U.S. positions. Ūf we go over there those guys will fire at us. If we come here, we're in danger, too, but we have to work, said the 54-year-old Mohammad, who said he supports a family of 10.
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Houston Chronicle
May 7, 2008
Call To Voice Mail Puts Parents In Afghan Battle
By Associated Press
OTIS, ORE. An Oregon couple checking their voice mail found a frightening three-minute recording of their son caught in a battle in Afghanistan.
Stephen Phillips, 22, and other soldiers in his Army MP company were battling insurgents when his phone was pressed against his Humvee. It redialed and called his parents.
Most of the sounds were gunfire, but shouts could be heard, including, "More ammo! More ammo!" After more shouting, the call then cut off.
"I finally got ahold of him," his mother, Sandie Petee, said. "He was embarrassed, he said, 'Don't let Grandma hear it.' "
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Washington Post
May 7, 2008
Pg. 1
60,000 Dead Or Missing In Burma
Bush Offers Navy Units as Aid Begins to Reach Rangoon
By Amy Kazmin, Washington Post Foreign Service
BANGKOK, May 6 -- The number of dead and missing in the Burma cyclone soared past 60,000 Tuesday amid signs the toll will rise even higher, as much of the disaster zone remained flooded by seawater, threatened by disease and out of reach of an international relief operation that is taking shape.
President Bush offered to send U.S. Navy units to help in the operation, and sharply criticized Burma's military-run government for delays in approving visas for emergency teams. Burmese dissident groups took issue with the timing of the administration's criticism, suggesting it could complicate the relief effort.
Emergency supplies began arriving by air in wind-battered Rangoon, the largest city in Burma. But little or no aid reached the Irrawaddy Delta, a vast and low-lying rice-producing region that absorbed the storm's worst fury. Satellite photos showed catastrophic flooding of fields and villages as far inland as 35 miles.
A tidal wave that accompanied the cyclone was more deadly than the winds, Minister for Relief and Resettlement Maung Maung Swe told reporters in Rangoon. "The wave was up to 12 feet high, and it swept away and inundated half the houses in low-lying villages," he said. "They did not have anywhere to flee."
Speaking at a brief ceremony in the Oval Office to honor Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's detained democracy advocate, Bush said: "Our message to the military rulers is, 'Let the U.S. come and help you help the people.' "
"We're prepared to help move U.S. Navy assets to help find those who have lost their lives, to help find the missing and to help stabilize the situation," Bush said. Two Navy ships are conducting disaster response exercises -- loaded with drinking water and temporary shelters -- two days' sailing from the disaster area.
The United States also offered $3 million in emergency aid Tuesday, up from $250,000 pledged on Monday. In addition, the Treasury Department loosened restrictions on charity groups to allow them to go into Burma without prior U.S. permission.
The president's statement came shortly after Burma's state television reported that 22,000 people had been killed and more than 40,000 people rendered missing by Tropical Cyclone Nargis, which smacked into the country over the weekend. An estimated 1 million survivors are said to be in urgent need of relief supplies, notably in the delta.
Packing winds of about 120 mph, Nargis was the deadliest cyclone to strike in Asia since a 1991 storm killed 143,000 in Bangladesh.
"When you look at the satellite picture of before and after the storm, the effects look even worse than Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in how it inundated low-lying areas," Ken Reeves, director of forecasting operations for AccuWeather.com, said in a statement. "It took the worst possible path in terms of sustaining strength. . . . The interaction of water and land lying right at sea level allowed the tidal surge to deliver maximum penetration of seawater over land."
Relief supplies from India, Thailand and other Asian neighbors have begun to arrive in Burma. A Royal Thai Air Force C-130 transport landed in Rangoon on Tuesday carrying bottled water, emergency meals and other badly needed items.
Richard Horsey, a spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said that while the Burmese military has made some helicopters and boats available, far more transportation, including trucks and boats, will be needed. "The major bottleneck will be the local delivery, rather than getting stuff into the Rangoon airport," Horsey said. "We need distribution channels."
In New York, Rashid Khalikov, director of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said storm victims need plastic sheeting, mosquito nets, water purification and cooking kits, and food. He expressed concern as well over a possible spike in waterborne diseases and spiraling costs of food and other commodities.
U.N. relief officials in Burma are scrambling to make do with poor communications equipment and limited supplies stored in U.N. warehouses, Khalikov said. The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees was trying to transport supplies across the Thai border into Burma.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and other senior U.N. officials have been privately trying to nudge the Burmese leadership to waive its visa policies, ease restrictions on the import of humanitarian supplies and allow a U.N. assessment team into the country to determine the extent of destruction and need. "We have applied for visas, and we have not got the visas," Khalikov said. "They are on standby and ready to go."
He noted that Tuesday was a holiday in Thailand, so the Burmese Embassy there was closed. It also was unfamiliar with U.N. operating practices, he said: "I'm not trying to justify it, but I would not go into saying that it was absolutely shocking or unacceptable" that the Burmese weren't issuing visas to the relief workers.
The American Red Cross has shipped supplies such as kitchen sets, plastic sheeting and hygiene kits from its warehouse in Malaysia to Burma. The U.S. disaster relief charity is waiting to hear from aid workers on the ground assessing the damage and expects to help Burma pay for more supplies.
With the magnitude of the disaster growing more apparent, the government said Tuesday that it would postpone a vote on a new military-sponsored constitution in the storm-ravaged areas until May 24. But the charter, which opposition figures have denounced as a tool to legitimize military rule, will be put to a vote as scheduled on Saturday in the rest of the country.
The reclusive rulers of Burma -- which they call Myanmar -- are mistrustful of the outside world's intentions. They are also resented by millions of their own citizens following a bloody crackdown on a democracy movement last September. Now the storm is forcing them to make uncomfortable choices at a sensitive political moment.
With the number of dead and missing soaring, the generals have dropped their usual theme that Burma must be self-reliant and have requested international help.
Foreign governments, including Western countries that usually spurn the generals as pariahs, have responded to the rare appeal with offers that could presage the largest foreign engagement with Burma in its troubled history since it achieved independence from Britain in 1948.
"There is a real potential for this to be a game-changing moment," said Sean Turnell, a professor at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, and editor of Burma Economic Watch. He noted foreign offers to help Indonesia after its Aceh province was devastated in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. "After the tsunami, the whole conversation changed," he said. The U.S. Navy helped with the effort in Aceh.
Some analysts praised the tough talk against the junta by Bush and, on Monday, by first lady Laura Bush, who said the military government had failed to issue a timely warning to people in the storm's path.
"It's hard to speak honestly about what's happened without pointing to the fact that the government is responsible for a large part of this disaster," said Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. "Burma's willingness or unwillingness to accept . . . aid won't have anything to do with whether they are offended by the first lady."
But exiled Burmese political analyst Aung Naing Oo, who fled Burma in 1988 and is now based in Thailand, labeled Laura Bush's attack as "totally and utterly inappropriate."
"She is trying to score political points out of people's disaster," he said. "That will clearly not go down well with anyone in Burma. This is about humanitarian issues -- people are dying. This is a time for the U.S. government to say, 'We are giving you money.' They don't need to score political points here."
Ye Htut, a Burmese government spokesman, also accused the first lady of politicizing the tragedy. "I would like to say that what we are doing is better than the Bush administration response to the Katrina storm in 2005, if you compare the resources of the two countries," he told reporters.
He said the government issued a cyclone warning two days before the storm struck.
In this environment of hostility, the prospect for effective and timely cooperation between the junta and Western governments -- let alone U.S. military personnel deploying on the ground -- remains uncertain.
"At one level, the regime worries that events could move out of their control if they let in Western aid groups, and lose that really tight control that they have had," Turnell said. "But they must also be extraordinarily mindful of the potential that this could cause unrest in the country," he said. "People are already jumping onto the fact that the army was out on the streets so quickly in September and asking, 'Where are they now?' "
Thant Myint-U, a Burmese historian and former U.N. official, said that "the problem is that everything, including aid, has been politicized, with suspicions on all sides." But he noted that "if in response to this tragedy, the aid community and the Burmese authorities can work well together, keep politics entirely away and show that effective and impartial aid delivery is possible, I think that would be a great step forward."
Staff writers Dan Eggen and Philip Rucker in Washington and Colum Lynch in New York contributed to this report. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080507598962.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2164863_AEj PjkQAAKWxSCHyWQ70bDyB9CY&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080507aaindex_concat.html&cred=sXTdZ4DXT0AXtkd. 9Lg3OpUFjUJxjnDZwxJzeDpJkKG45.cfzurMNYbKT4ro4480#T OP">
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Yahoo.com
May 6, 2008
U.S. Ships Standing By For Myanmar Relief: Pentagon
WASHINGTON (AFP) -- US Navy ships, including an amphibious assault ship with helicopters and US marines, are standing by off Thailand awaiting permission to join relief efforts in cyclone-hit Myanmar, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
The Pentagon and the State Department have begun planning for a humanitarian relief mission even though Myanmar has yet to respond to US offers of aid, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.
"But that's all we can do at this point, is to plan, because we have not received a request from the Burmese government," Morrell said, using Myanmar's former official name.
Myanmar's military government said an estimated 22,000 people were killed by a cyclone that struck the southeast Asian country four days ago.
The nearest US navy ships to Myanmar were a four and a half day sail away taking part in an exercise in waters in the Gulf of Thailand, navy officials said.
They were led by the USS Essex, an amphibious assault ship that carries 23 helicopters, three landing craft, and a contingent of 1,800 marines.
"I know it's a very capable ship for an operation of this nature. It's in the vicinity," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman.
He said the Essex was "one of any number of assets that could be used if directed to do so."
Also with the Essex were the USS Juneau, an amphibious transport dock, USS Harper's Ferry, a dock landing ship, and USS Blue Ridge, a command ship and flagship of the US Seventh Fleet.
The amphibious naval group carries enough supplies to support the marine contingent for 30 days, officials said.
The marines also can be deployed ashore to set up clean water stations with portable reverse osmosis water purification units, they said.
Two US aircraft carrier groups also are in the Pacific -- the USS Kitty Hawk and the USS Nimitz. They are near Okinawa, a navy official said.
An expeditionary strike group led by the USS Tarawa, another helicopter-carrying amphibious assault ship, is in waters off western Australia, the navy official said.
"There hasn't been a request for assistance and the president made it clear the offer was out there, if they are so inclined," Whitman said.
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Los Angeles Times
May 7, 2008
Pg. 11
Pentagon Puts Brakes On Funds To Pakistan
Amid criticism of lack of oversight, U.S. has denied some requests.
By Peter Spiegel and Greg Miller, Times Staff Writers
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon has rejected or deferred millions of dollars in military aid requests from Pakistan amid criticism that the Islamabad government has squandered U.S. funding and allowed Al Qaeda to rebuild a haven in its western tribal regions.
In February, the Defense Department turned down or delayed more than $81 million requested by Pakistan, according to a report issued Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.
The rejection represents a small portion of the nearly $1 billion a year Pakistan has received through a program called Coalition Support Funds, launched after the Sept. 11 attacks.
But it marks a sudden change in U.S. policy toward Pakistan, which for years has spent American military aid without having to show results in the fight against Al Qaeda and other militant groups. Even some officials in the Pentagon have acknowledged shortcomings in U.S. funding strategy.
The program was set up to reimburse the Pakistani military for offensives against insurgents along the Afghan border and assistance given to the U.S. military operating in Afghanistan.
The Government Accountability Office study says the U.S. has sent more than $5.5 billion to Pakistan under the program, making it the largest portion of the $10.8 billion in U.S. aid Islamabad has received since 2002.
The study was the second by the GAO in a month to criticize U.S. policy in Pakistan. In April, the agency said the Bush administration had not drafted a comprehensive plan to counter the resurgence of Al Qaeda and other militant groups in Pakistan's border areas.
Charles Michael Johnson Jr., who wrote the GAO report, said the agency was still examining why the aid rejections have risen so sharply in recent months. But he noted that the Pentagon's representatives at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad had begun playing a larger role in the oversight of payments to the Pakistani military in the last year.
About a year ago, Army Maj. Gen. James R. Helmly took over as head of the embassy division, known as the Office of the Defense Representative to Pakistan.
A spokesman for U.S. Central Command, which helps oversee disbursements, said he had not seen the report and could not comment on the program.
In a formal comment submitted to the GAO, James J. Shinn, the assistant secretary of Defense responsible for Asia, said the Pentagon had been taking a tougher line on Pakistan's aid requests for some time.
Of more than $85 million requested by Pakistan in September 2006, Shinn said, $6.2 million was turned down.
Coalition Support Funds has come under scrutiny because the massive payouts to Pakistan have not been matched by significant progress against militant groups. In private, U.S. officials have acknowledged that they had little oversight of Pakistan's spending.
Under the program, the U.S. aid has paid Pakistan for costs incurred in staging military operations in the country's Federally Administered Tribal Areas -- operations that have been deadly for both sides, but have not significantly weakened Al Qaeda.
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that the terrorist network has been able to use its haven in the remote tribal lands of northwestern Pakistan to regroup and rebuild its ability to plan attacks against targets in the West.
U.S. officials have said that Pakistan used much of the U.S. military aid to pay for heavy equipment better suited for a regional conflict with its archenemy India than for anti-insurgency operations in the frontier territories.
Johnson, the author of the GAO report, said the agency was still examining where the military aid went and planned a more detailed account next month.
One congressional official who tracks U.S. aid said that the increase in aid denials suggested that U.S. officials had become more rigorous.
"But I wouldn't necessarily say 'problem solved,' " said the official, who discussed the politically sensitive program on condition of anonymity. The deferred or rejected amounts still represent only "a small fraction of the total that was allowed," the official said.
Congressional Democrats said the GAO report showed mismanagement of the Coalition Support Funds.
"The Bush administration has basically been shoveling taxpayer money to Pakistan, no questions asked, crossing its fingers and hoping that our Al Qaeda problem goes away," said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who heads a subcommittee that has been investigating the program. "Our funding to Pakistan can no longer be a blank check."
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Philadelphia Inquirer
May 7, 2008
U.S. Envoy To Urge Talks In N. Korea
WASHINGTON - A top State Department specialist on Korean affairs is going to North Korea for nuclear discussions, the United States said yesterday, in a flurry of diplomatic activity by American officials working to break an impasse in six-nation disarmament talks.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters that Sung Kim was scheduled to have meetings in Pyongyang, the North's capital, tomorrow. He called the meetings part of discussions to rid the North of its nuclear- weapons programs.
A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations, said Kim was expected to pick up documents from the North Koreans, including some related to the country's plutonium program.
-- AP
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CNN
May 6, 2008
U.S. Military Poised To Help Cyclone Victims If Asked
CNN Newsroom, 2:00 PM
BRIANNA KEILAR: From Myanmar, the numbers are mind-numbing. State radio and opposition forces say more than 22,000 people were killed in Friday's cyclone. That has more than double yesterday's count. At least 41,000 may be missing. As many as a million people, if you can imagine that, homeless.
Now, we don't know for sure, since many villages are virtually cut off from the rest of the world. But food, shelter and safe drinking water are urgently needed, and many nations are offering it all. That includes the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our message is to the military rulers, let the United States come and help you, help the people. Our hearts go out to the people of Burma. We want to help them deal with this terrible disaster. At the same time, of course, we want them to live in a free society. (END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: President Bush mentioned the U.S. Navy was standing by ready to respond. So let's bring in now or senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre.
This is a really sensitive situation. What might the Navy's role be here realistically, Jamie?
JAMIE MCINTYRE: Well, you know, the U.S. military really sees this as a chance to set aside political differences and show its ability to deliver humanitarian relief.
And the U.S. Navy is uniquely positioned to do that, already having ships in the area, including a couple of aircraft carriers, and the USS Essex strike group. That's an amphibious assault ship that has on board 1,800 Marines aboard several ships, along with 23 helicopters -- 19 of those are capable of lifting and transporting things. And also, three amphibious landing craft that could bring relief supplies ashore.
But the Pentagon says right now all they can do is plan, until they get some sort of formal invitation from the government of Myanmar.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEOFF MORRELL, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: We're now working with the State Department and with U.S. Pacific Command to at least begin the planning for a possible humanitarian assistance. But that's all we can do at this point is to plan, because we have not received a request from the Burmese government. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: And it's not clear that that request is going to come, even though the military junta in Myanmar has indicated that it would be open to outside aid.
Right now, those U.S. ships are taking part in an exercise off the coast of Thailand, and they are not moving any closer to Myanmar, we are told by officials at the U.S. Pacific Command, but they would be ready to do that as soon as they get any indication at all that their help would be welcome. We're told it would take anywhere from a couple of days, perhaps as many as three or four days, for the ships to get there, but they do have a tremendous capacity.
That USS Essex, for instance, has hospital facilities on board, it has the ability to generate pure drinking water from ocean water, and of course those 1,800 Marines, if they were able to go ashore, could do all kinds of humanitarian tasks -- Brianna.
KEILAR: All right. Jamie McIntyre, our senior Pentagon correspondent. Thanks for that.
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Baltimore Sun
May 7, 2008
Fort Meade: Army To Renovate Four Barracks
The Army will spend $52 million renovating four Korean War-era barracks at Fort Meade, officials at the military post in Anne Arundel County said this week.
The four buildings were each built to house about 166 service members in training. Renovations are scheduled to begin on two of the buildings this year and be completed by 2010, said Tom White, Fort Meade's housing officer. Renovations will start on the two others by 2010, he said.
He said Fort Meade recently inspected all of its barracks and relocated several soldiers who occupied rooms in need of repairs. Problems included mold, leaky pipes and windows that do not open, White said.
The announcement followed a controversy last month involving rundown housing conditions at barracks in Fort Bragg, N.C.
White said the renovation plans at Fort Meade were in place long before media coverage of the Fort Bragg conditions.
-- Josh Mitchell
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ArmyTimes.com
May 6, 2008
Army Running Out Of Payroll Cash, DoD Says
By William H. McMichael and Rick Maze, Staff writers
In an announcement that puts troops and their families in the middle of a political dispute, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday that the Army will not be able to pay soldiers after June 15 unless Congress approves an emergency war funding bill.
The claim drew a quick rebuke from Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, who is working on such a bill.
Murtha said there is no threat to military paychecks and that it is inappropriate for the Pentagon to try to involve soldiers and their families in a political dispute over how much money is needed to pay for ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and exactly when the money is needed.
However, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell was very clear in a meeting with reporters.
Å«une 15th is the last payroll the Army at this point can make without congressional action, he said.
Morrell said the Pentagon has ÅÇor months been funding the wars by borrowing from personnel budget accounts. But those accounts ÅÂre about to run dry, he said.
Morrell also said Army payroll accounts ÅÂre just running dry faster and that if Congress does not act by May 26, ÅØe will have to come back to them and ask them for permission to reprogram money so that w
The Pentagon Early Bird May 7, 2008