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 The Pentagon Early Bird June 12 2008 Use of these news items does not reflect official endorsement. Reproduction for private use or gain is subject to original copyright restrictions. Item numbers indicate order of appearance only. This is the single print version. Use the PRINT command in your browser to print the entire Early Bird as one document. (NOTE: This single file format is a long document and can use 50 or more pages of paper.) Please scroll down to read Headlines; then to read Entire News Article, further scroll down. URL's will not link out in the format recieved. PAKISTAN
New York Times June 12, 2008 Pg. 1 Pakistan Angry As Strike By U.S. Kills 11 Soldiers By Carlotta Gall and Eric Schmitt ISLAMABAD, Pakistan American air and artillery strikes killed 11 Pakistani paramilitary soldiers during a clash with insurgents on the Afghan border on Tuesday night, a development that raised concerns about the already strained American relationship with Pakistan. The strikes underscored the often faulty communications involving American, Pakistani and Afghan forces along the border, and the ability of Taliban fighters and other insurgents to use havens in Pakistan to carry out attacks into neighboring Afghanistan. The attack comes at a time of rising tension between the United States and the new government in Pakistan, which has granted wide latitude to militants in its border areas under a new series of peace deals, drawing criticism from the United States. NATO and American commanders say cross-border attacks in Afghanistan by insurgents have risen sharply since talks for those peace deals began in March. Although Pakistani government officials softened their response through the day on Wednesday, the Pakistani military released an early statement calling the airstrikes ÅÖnprovoked and cowardly.Æû/P>Shaken by the initial Pakistani reaction, administration officials braced for at least a short-term rough patch in relations with Islamabad. Ūt wonÃÕ be good, said a Pentagon official who followed developments closely throughout the day. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. The precise circumstances surrounding the reported deaths remained unclear, and American officials said an American-Pakistani investigation was expected to begin immediately. But according to accounts from American officials, the incident started when Taliban fighters from Pakistan crossed about 200 yards into Kunar Province, on the Afghan side of the border, and attacked American-led forces with small-caliber weapons and rocket-propelled grenade fire. After coalition forces returned fire, driving the insurgents back into Pakistan, two United States Air Force F-15E fighter-bombers and one B-1 bomber dropped about a dozen bombs mostly 500-pound munitions on the attackers. An Air Force statement said the militants were struck ÅÊn the open and in buildings in the vicinity of Asadabad.Æû/P>A spokesman for the Taliban said their forces had attacked an American and Afghan position near the border, and said eight of their fighters had been killed and nine wounded in the fighting. Before the airstrike, a Pentagon official said, American forces alerted a Pakistani military liaison officer, trying to ensure that friendly troops were out of harmÃÔ way. But the Pakistani officer was either unaware that Pakistani paramilitary forces had moved into the area near the insurgents, or the Pakistani forces never got the word to get out of the way, American officials said. ŵhey got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, the Pentagon official said. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani of Pakistan denounced the attack in Parliament and said he had instructed the Foreign Ministry to make a formal protest to the American ambassador, Anne Patterson. But the Pentagon press secretary, Geoff Morrell, told reporters in Washington that ÅÆvery indication we have at this stage is that it was a legitimate strike in self-defense. American rules of engagement bar American forces from crossing or firing into Pakistan except to protect themselves. By Wednesday afternoon, PakistanÃÔ new ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, had softened his governmentÃÔ reaction, telling Reuters, Ÿe do look upon it as not an act that should cause us to reconsider our partnership but rather to find ways of improving that partnership.Æû/P> Seth Jones, an analyst with the RAND Corporation who was conducting research in Kunar Province last week, said: ŪtÃÔ almost surprising more of this hasnÃÕ happened given the vast amount of traffic across the border. This creates a real serious impetus for the U.S. to coordinate more closely with Pakistan forces.Æû/P>American officials in Pakistan and in Washington, while expressing regret for the Pakistani deaths, said the episode underscored the need to improve the equipping of and coordination with Pakistani security forces operating near the border, including the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force of about 85,000 members recruited from ethnic groups on the border. American and Pakistani officials say the Frontier Corps, which is drawn from Pashtun tribesmen who know the language and culture of the tribal areas, is the most suitable force to combat an insurgency over the long term in the border region, where the regular Pakistani military often is not welcomed. It was unclear whether the Pakistan liaison officer involved in the airstrike on Tuesday was from the Pakistani Army or the Frontier Corps, an important distinction because the two security forces have not always worked together smoothly, American officials said. Gonzalo Gallegos, a State Department spokesman in Washington, said, ŵhis is a reminder that better cross-border communications between forces is vital.Æû/P>The Pentagon has spent about $25 million so far to equip the Frontier Corps with new body armor, vehicles, radios and surveillance equipment, and plans to spend $75 million more in the next year. Over all, administration officials have said the United States could spend more than $400 million in the next several years to enhance the Frontier Corps, including building a training base near Peshawar. Until recently, the Frontier Corps had not received American military financing because the corps technically falls under the Pakistani Interior Ministry, a nonmilitary agency that the Pentagon ordinarily does not deal with. Gen. David D. McKiernan, the new NATO commander in Afghanistan, said last week that one of his first trips as commander would be to meet with the Pakistani ArmyÃÔ chief of staff, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, to try to resurrect a commission created by NATO and the Afghan and Pakistani militaries to address border issues. In recent months, Pakistan has not taken part in the commission. The United States, which has about 34,000 military personnel in Afghanistan, part of an international presence totaling about 60,000, is also in the midst of building six border coordination posts that will be operated by Pakistani, American and other allied forces. At the Pentagon, Mr. Morrell said, Ūt is incumbent upon both of us not to let an incident like this or any other interfere with that fundamental shared goal of making sure the F.A.T.A. is not a refuge for terrorists. He was referring to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the contested border area. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was expected to discuss the event with her Pakistani counterpart on Thursday at the Afghan donors conference in Paris, American officials said. There have been several American strikes recently on insurgents inside Pakistani territory. In March, three bombs, apparently dropped by an American aircraft, killed nine people and wounded nine others in the tribal area of South Waziristan that officials say provides sanctuary to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. In late January, one of Osama bin LadenÃÔ top lieutenants, Abu Laith al-Libi, was killed by two Hellfire missiles launched from a Predator surveillance aircraft. The clash on Tuesday occurred at a border post called Chopara on the frontier with the Afghan province of Kunar, where American and Afghan forces have battled insurgents for several years. The insurgents have been using Mohmand and the adjacent area of Bajaur as a base for attacks into Afghanistan. Fighting has been reported on the Afghan side of the border between insurgents and Afghan and American forces. According to one news report, one militant was killed and three wounded in a firefight on Monday. The dead on the Pakistani side included a major and were all from the Mohmand Rifles, a paramilitary detachment of the Frontier Corps, the force deployed in PakistanÃÔ tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, a security official said, speaking in return for customary anonymity. Officers in the Frontier Corps are generally assigned from the Pakistani Army. The bodies of the dead were being flown to Peshawar on Wednesday morning, the government official said. Among five wounded were three civilians, he said. Local tribesmen with rocket launchers and Kalashnikov rifles gathered Wednesday near the checkpoint to show their outrage after the attack, Agence France-Presse reported. Earlier this month, the American commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan said that Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan were fleeing to the Pakistani border after being routed in recent operations by the United States Marines. Gen. Dan K. McNeill, who stepped down last week as NATO commander in Afghanistan, seemed to warn Pakistan to contain the threat emanating from its land, and said the Taliban and drug traffickers had long used refugee camps across the border as a sanctuary from American firepower. He said that if the Taliban and foreign insurgents continued to enjoy free sanctuary outside Afghanistan, their numbers would continue to grow. The new Pakistani government sought peace deals with the militants after many Pakistanis saw a drastic increase in suicide bombings in Pakistan as being in retaliation for American strikes. Carlotta Gall reported from Islamabad, Pakistan, and Eric Schmitt from Washington. Ismail Khan contributed reporting from Peshawar, Pakistan. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080612607288.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2677005_AEX PjkQAAH4eSFGA7AjekhxIr8c&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080612aaindex_concat.html&cred=qnuMYWlyAzC_AxEH 9uwjULGBib.1t_cEjeAa9oZViYg38n6r06W27H2MEgXpSQKJ#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washington Post June 12, 2008 Pg. 1 U.S., Pakistan At Odds Over Strike In Tribal Area Attack Killed 11 Troops, Islamabad Says By Candace Rondeaux and Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post Foreign Service ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, June 11 -- U.S.-led forces dropped more than a dozen bombs in and near Pakistan's tribal regions Wednesday in an attack that dramatically exacerbated tensions along the Afghan border and, according to authorities here, killed 11 Pakistani paramilitary troops. Many details of the incident remained unclear late Wednesday. A U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan said airstrikes were launched after an incursion by "anti-Afghan forces," and Pentagon officials said the strikes had been coordinated with Pakistan. The Pakistani military, however, said the attack was "completely unprovoked and cowardly" and "hit at the very basis of cooperation" in the U.S.-Pakistani battle against terrorism. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani said Pakistan "vehemently condemned" the airstrikes. While the Pentagon defended the strikes as justified, a statement released by the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan said the United States "regrets that actions . . . resulted in the reported casualties among Pakistani forces, who are our partners in the fight against terrorism. We express our condolences to the families of those who lost their lives." The incident comes at a sensitive time. The United States is seeking to forge closer cooperation with the Pakistani military on curbing insurgent activity, and Pakistan's new government is negotiating with tribal groups, some of which are allied with the Taliban. Taliban fighters have taken refuge in Pakistan's tribal areas, and some Western officials have alleged that members of the country's intelligence services and military are aiding the fighters. A Taliban spokesman said the group's fighters had fought "side by side" with Pakistani paramilitary soldiers during Wednesday's incursion into Afghanistan. The spokesman, Maulvi Omar, also said at least nine Taliban fighters and one child were killed. A Western military official in Pakistan familiar with operations in the tribal region said that officials have become increasingly concerned that Pakistan's Frontier Corps, the paramilitary forces charged with monitoring activities along the border, is not properly trained. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of diplomatic sensitivities, said in an interview a day before the strike occurred that some Western officials had begun to harbor doubts about the paramilitary group's ability to handle the challenges posed by the Taliban. The Frontier Corps' members are recruited from the tribal areas and are known in some instances to have fired on U.S. troops. "The Frontier Corps was sent in to do a job they were not trained to do," the military official said. This month, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited with several top Pakistani officials in Islamabad, including the newly appointed head of Pakistan's army, Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani. While Mullen publicly lauded the Pakistani military's efforts to control the growing insurgency, he privately expressed concern with the Pakistani government's recent moves to negotiate with militants, according to a Western diplomat who was briefed on the meetings. On Wednesday, the clash erupted when U.S.-supported Afghan troops tried to establish a checkpoint near the Sheikh Baba area in the Mohmand tribal region, along the disputed knife's-edge border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to local villagers and Pakistani military officials. Taliban troops then opened fire on the Afghans. According to the U.S. military, two Air Force F-15E jets and a B-1B Lancer bomber then dropped the bombs, which included both precision-guided and unguided munitions and which weighed between 500 and 2,000 pounds. The bombs were used "to destroy anti-coalition members in the open and in buildings in the vicinity of Asadabad," Afghanistan, according to a statement released by the U.S. military's Combined Air and Space Operations Center for Southwest Asia. Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell defended the U.S. strikes as justified because, he said, U.S. troops in Afghanistan were under fire from forces in Pakistan. "Every indication we have at this point is that the actions that were taken by U.S. forces were . . . legitimate, in that they were in self-defense," he said. "Our forces . . . came under fire from forces that had come over from the Pakistani side into Afghan territory, and then retreated into Pakistani territory and continued to fire upon our forces, even though we did not pursue them into Pakistan," he said. Morrell said he did not know who, if anyone, died in the U.S. strikes. "We are going to work to find out who was killed in this attack, and we will be doing so with the Pakistani government," he said. U.S. officials acknowledged that communications along the border are often difficult, despite efforts by all sides to improve the situation. "This a complex attack involving . . . an airstrike and artillery and a number of forces . . . along a border that has traditionally been a problem and is often the cause of some confusion as to who the forces are that are involved," Morrell said. Another U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, put it more bluntly: "This sounds like a mess-up of communication all the way around." Tyson reported from Washington. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080612607353.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2677005_AEX PjkQAAH4eSFGA7AjekhxIr8c&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080612aaindex_concat.html&cred=qnuMYWlyAzC_AxEH 9uwjULGBib.1t_cEjeAa9oZViYg38n6r06W27H2MEgXpSQKJ#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Los Angeles Times June 12, 2008 Pg. 1 Pakistan Says U.S. Airstrike Killed 11 Infantrymen Officials express regret over the incident at the Afghanistan border but do not claim responsibility for the deaths of the Pakistani fighters. By Zulfiqar Ali, Henry Chu and Peter Spiegel, Special to The Times PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN The Pakistani army Wednesday accused the U.S. military of an "unprovoked and cowardly" airstrike that resulted in the deaths of 11 Pakistani infantrymen, threatening the cooperation between the two countries in combating terrorism. In an unusually strong statement, the Pakistani army added that it reserved the right to protect citizens from unwarranted aggression. As American officials expressed regret for the deaths without acknowledging responsibility, the incident threatened to aggravate already tense relations between the U.S. and Pakistan, whose newly elected government has faced accusations from the U.S. military that it has failed to crack down on extremists in Pakistan's western tribal areas. A senior official acting as an intermediary between the two countries said there was a flurry of high-level phone calls and meetings Wednesday attempting to defuse the incident. Top Pakistani officials were so irate that they summoned U.S. Ambassador Anne W. Patterson to the Foreign Ministry to complain, the official said. "Nobody wants this to become bigger than it is," said the senior official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss negotiations publicly. "It is just a bad time for this to happen. You want to just play it down and figure out a way of calming the rage." U.S. airstrikes in Pakistani territory have occurred with some regularity in recent months, and are a source of friction between Washington and Islamabad. Many of the previous attacks have targeted Taliban and Al Qaeda militants, U.S. officials say. But such incidents arouse the anger of Pakistanis who see the strikes as an infringement of their sovereignty. Many in Pakistan accuse President Pervez Musharraf of being too accepting of such U.S. attacks, and the nation's newly elected government is trying to sideline the president and reduce his powers. The U.S. State Department expressed regret for the deaths of the Pakistani infantrymen after a gunfight involving U.S. troops on the Afghanistan border escalated Tuesday night, leading to a U.S. airstrike that Pakistani officials said killed members of the military's Frontier Corps. But U.S. officials also said they had yet to confirm that the strike, in which multiple bombs were dropped, was responsible for the deaths. "This is a complex attack involving an airstrike and artillery and a number of forces . . . along a border that has traditionally been a problem and often the cause of some confusion as to who the forces are that are involved," said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary. Gonzalo Gallegos, a State Department spokesman, called the incident "regrettable" and said it illustrated the need for better cross-border communications between the two militaries. The Pakistani army said 11 members of the Mohmand Rifles, including a major, were killed in the airstrike in the rugged tribal region bordering Afghanistan's Kunar province. The Mohmand Rifles is a unit of the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force deployed to maintain security in the western tribal areas, which are riddled with militant hide-outs. According to U.S. military officials in Washington and Afghanistan, a U.S.-led patrol that had moved into Kunar province as part of an anti- insurgent offensive came under small-arms fire just 200 yards from the Pakistani border. One official said the attackers fled into Pakistan when U.S. soldiers opened fire to defend themselves. A U.S. military spokesman at Bagram air base outside Kabul, the Afghan capital, said the operation in Kunar had been cleared with Pakistani authorities and insisted that coalition forces stopped short of the Pakistani border when pursuing the attackers. The spokesman added, however, that coalition forces began firing artillery and called in an airstrike once they had identified the "anti-Afghan forces" on a live video feed from a surveillance drone. But Pakistani military sources said the U.S. warplanes bombed a Pakistani border outpost northwest of Peshawar. The Pakistani sources said the U.S. forces were working with the Afghan army when the fighting broke out, and accused Afghan troops of crossing into Pakistan to set up a checkpoint. Maulvi Omar, a spokesman for the Pakistan Taliban, told the Dawn newspaper that eight of the group's fighters were killed repelling an attempt by North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Afghan soldiers to push into Pakistan. But the U.S. military denied that account, saying in a statement that "at no time did coalition ground forces cross into Pakistan." Pakistan's new ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, said the Islamabad government would not regard the military strike as an act of intentional hostility. "It is unfortunate what happened and it is certainly not conducive to winning the hearts and minds of Pakistanis at a time when there are not many people in Pakistan who want U.S.-Pakistani relations to progress," Haqqani said. "But we will try to move beyond this and to not let this hold our relationship back." U.S. officials believe attempts by the new Pakistani government to negotiate peace pacts with tribal leaders have enabled militants to flow back into Afghanistan and allowed Al Qaeda leaders to strengthen their support in the region. U.S. Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday that any new Al Qaeda attack on the U.S. probably would originate in the tribal regions. American airstrikes against suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban targets in Pakistan are mostly carried out by unmanned planes that are directed by the CIA, U.S. officials say. In March, an acknowledged U.S. missile strike aimed at Taliban militants in the tribal area of North Waziristan reportedly killed four civilians; the next week, 18 people died in an airstrike in South Waziristan believed to have been carried out by the U.S. A similar raid in late January killed Abu Laith al Libi, a senior Al Qaeda leader. Special correspondent Ali reported from Peshawar, Times staff writers Chu from New Delhi and Spiegel from Washington. Times staff writer Josh Meyer in Washington contributed to this report. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080612607344.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2677005_AEX PjkQAAH4eSFGA7AjekhxIr8c&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080612aaindex_concat.html&cred=qnuMYWlyAzC_AxEH 9uwjULGBib.1t_cEjeAa9oZViYg38n6r06W27H2MEgXpSQKJ#T OP">RETURN TO TOP NBC; FNC; CNN June 11, 2008 Broadcast News Coverage Of U.S. Airstrike On Pakistani Border NBC Nightly News, 7:00 PM BRIAN WILLIAMS: Now back to this region to the story we mentioned briefly at the top of this broadcast tonight: a U.S. airstrike that was aimed at the Taliban just over the border here that also apparently had some unintended consequences. It looks like American air forces killed Pakistanis fighting in the same fight. For more weÃÓe joined by our Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski tonight. Jim, good evening. JIM MIKLASZEWSKI: Good evening, Brian. As of tonight all of this is still shrouded under the fog of war. ItÃÔ not entirely clear yet exactly what happened, but Pakistan officials claim a dozen of their soldiers are dead and the U.S. military is to blame. The battle began just before sunset along the rugged remote Afghan-Pakistan border. The U.S. says Taliban fighters attacked an Afghan outpost with small arms and grenades. As the firefight raged on for more than three hours, an Air Force B-1 bomber dropped five bombs on the enemy positions. An Army unmanned drone tracked the surviving Taliban as they fled back into Pakistan, where two F-15 Strike Eagles dropped four bombs on several buildings. The Taliban today said eight of their fighters were killed. But Pakistani officials claim the bombings also killed 12 Pakistani military and wounded a dozen more who remain hospitalized tonight. Outraged, Pakistan officials condemn the airstrikes, calling them unprovoked and cowardly. The Pentagon, however, refused to admit that any Pakistani military were killed and strongly defended the U.S. strikes. GEOFF MORRELL, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: Every indication we have at this stage is that our guys acted in self-defense and were within their rights to take the action they took. MIKLASZEWSKI: Both the U.S. and Pakistani military are investigating. But this couldnÃÕ come at a worse time when the U.S. is trying to convince the newly elected Pakistani government to become more aggressive in the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban in that dangerous border region. Brian? WILLIAMS: Jim, how much so confusion in this case, first of all, over friend or foe; and second, given the battle damage assessment capability we have with drones and satellites, kind of figuring out what happened there exactly? MIKLASZEWSKI: Well, you know, itÃÔ interesting because both the U.S. and Pakistan government are supposed to be talking to each other consistently about these kinds of operations. The U.S. says they did have the Pakistan military on the phone. The Pakistan military said they had no idea this was going to happen. Now, interestingly enough, officials here believe that that Army drone that was taking video while circling over the battlespace could provide the U.S. the proof it needs, but itÃÔ not clear yet the military will release it. Brian. WILLIAMS: All right, Jim, thanks. Jim Miklaszewski on duty tonight at the Pentagon. Special Report With Brit Hume (FNC), 6:00 PM BRIT HUME: All right, Jennifer. Thank you very much. What about this incident along the border with Pakistan in which U.S. planes and artillery killed 11 Pakistanis, some of them reportedly Pakistani frontier corps troops. Do you know anything about it? GRIFFIN: Well, yes, I do. In fact, the Pakistani government put out a very scathing statement today calling it a cowardly attack. It raised tensions between the new Pakistani government and the U.S. government. But now we are seeing the Pakistanis already starting to backtrack a little bit. I talked to one Pakistani leader there tonight and he said that he doesnÃÕ think that this incident will interfere with U.S.-Pakistani relations. The incident in question involved in a shooting across the border where, in essence, the U.S. and Afghan forces were setting up a fort on the Afghan side of the border. Both sides agree that insurgents had come in from the tribal areas, in the Pakistani tribal areas, and returned to the Pakistani tribal areas. The U.S. called in airstrikes and artillery fire. Some people were killed in the incident, but Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell would not would not say whether they were Pakistani troops and now we understand there is some discrepancy about who in fact was killed, and weÃÍl know more as this develops further. Brit? HUME: All right, Jennifer, thanks. The Situation Room (CNN), 5:00 PM WOLF BLITZER: An airstrike goes horribly wrong along Pakistan's rugged border with Afghanistan. That's raising serious tensions right now between Pakistan and the United States. Let's go live to our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. Barbara, what's going on? BARBARA STARR: Wolf, there are a lot of questions about what exactly happened in Pakistan. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) STARR: Pakistan says this is where three U.S. war planes dropped more than a dozen bombs, killing 11 Pakistani troops. The U.S. says it was going after militants who had attacked on the Afghanistan side of the border. As the burials began for the soldiers, the Pakistan military called it an unprovoked and cowardly attack. It's all set off new tensions between Washington and Islamabad. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is anger on the Pakistani side. STARR: Relations are already delicate. The U.S. military, which is giving Pakistan millions in aid, is pressuring it to crack down on the Taliban and al Qaeda but the fragile government is moving slowly. Many believe there won't be a real crack down until President Pervez Musharraf, widely seen in Pakistan in as too close to the U.S., is gone from power. Week long nationwide protests are expected to grow. BRUCE RIEDEL, BROOKINGS INSTITUTE: It is a dramatic demonstration of the Democratic forces in Pakistan demanding that Musharraf be removed from power. STARR: Not helping Musharraf, the U.S. had a confused reaction to the bombing. The State Department expressed remorse but the Pentagon wasn't ready to join in. GEOFF MORRELL, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: Every indication we have at this point is that this was indeed a legitimate strike in defense of our forces. (END VIDEOTAPE) STARR: A lot of questions now about whether the U.S. and Pakistan is getting ready for a Pakistan without Pervez Musharraf -- Wolf. BLITZER: And those ramifications, we'll be watching for those as well. Thanks very much, Barbara. Barbara is at the Pentagon. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080612607299.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2677005_AEX PjkQAAH4eSFGA7AjekhxIr8c&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080612aaindex_concat.html&cred=qnuMYWlyAzC_AxEH 9uwjULGBib.1t_cEjeAa9oZViYg38n6r06W27H2MEgXpSQKJ#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washington Post June 12, 2008 Pg. 13 Bush Says U.S., Iraq Will Come To Terms On Troops By Dan Eggen, Washington Post Staff Writer MESEBERG, Germany, June 11-- President Bush said Wednesday he is confident the United States will reach an agreement on the role of U.S. forces in Iraq, calling opposition to a U.S. proposal part of the "noise" of a freer Iraqi society. Appearing at a news conference here with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bush said that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki "appreciates our presence there" and suggested that much of the Iraqi opposition to a status-of-forces agreement is based on inaccurate media reports and misunderstandings. "There's all kinds of noise in their system and our system," Bush said. ". . . I think we'll get the agreement done." Top Iraqi officials are calling for a dramatic reduction of the U.S. role in Iraq later this year. Bush's remarks followed a meeting with Merkel at Schloss Meseberg, a restored 18th-century Prussian manor house in northeast Berlin that now serves as the German government guest house. Bush conferred with Merkel as part of a farewell tour of Europe that would take him to Rome later Wednesday and then to Paris and London. Standing alongside President Bush here Wednesday, Merkel was asked by a reporter: "Will you miss him?" Merkel, one of Bush's closest foreign allies, never quite answered the question. "There was always . . . openness here between us," Merkel said at one point. "This cooperation is fun, I must say, and as the president said, it is going to be a sprint to the last day of his office." For most other Europeans, it seems, the sprint cannot end soon enough. For years, protesters regularly crippled European capitals with massive anti-Bush demonstrations. Now, the president's last scheduled visit to Europe this week is prompting a continental yawn, as Europeans look ahead to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) or Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as his successor. Aside from some modest demonstrations by antiwar activists in Rome, no significant protests are expected during Bush's week-long visit. The only demonstrators who bothered to show up Wednesday outside Schloss Meseberg, where Bush and Merkel met, were a handful of German dairy farmers protesting the price of milk. "The tire's flat, so to speak," said Christian Hacke, a transatlantic relations specialist who formerly taught political science at the University of Bonn. For more than seven years, opinion polls here have underscored a deep and abiding dislike for Bush among Europeans, based on the war in Iraq, the anti-terrorism fight, climate change policy and other issues. Now, many people here feel the end is in sight. "The USA needs change and I'm impressed with Obama," said Patrick Morcos, 52, an antiques dealer in Paris. Bush's stubborn unpopularity here often obscured notable improvements in relations between Bush and leaders such as Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italy's Silvio Berlusconi. Reginald Dale, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that Bush "has moved towards the Europeans in a number of areas" in his second term. He pointed to U.S. policies on Iran and its nuclear program and the Palestinian-Israeli peace process as examples. Correspondent John Ward Anderson in Paris and special correspondents Shannon Smiley in Berlin and Corinne Gavard in Nice, France, contributed to this report. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080612607376.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2677005_AEX PjkQAAH4eSFGA7AjekhxIr8c&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080612aaindex_concat.html&cred=qnuMYWlyAzC_AxEH 9uwjULGBib.1t_cEjeAa9oZViYg38n6r06W27H2MEgXpSQKJ#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Los Angeles Times June 12, 2008 Bombings, Mortar Fire Kill 8 In Iraq By Associated Press BAGHDAD A bomb planted near a bridge in north Baghdad killed five people on passing minibuses during rush hour Wednesday, Iraqi police said. A woman and a 7-year-old boy were among the dead, and at least 10 people were wounded in the mostly Shiite Muslim neighborhood of Hurriya, an officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. Across town, two mortar rounds hit a busy street in the central district of Karada, killing a civilian and wounding five, police said. Two more roadside bombs targeted a passing police patrol in Kut, south of the capital, killing two officers and wounding five, said another officer who requested anonymity for similar reasons. Despite the violence, the Iraqi army said Wednesday that 350 Shiite Muslim families had returned to their homes in south Baghdad's mixed Dora neighborhood after fleeing earlier attacks. The U.S. military said it captured an Iranian-trained bomb expert southeast of Baghdad during a raid on the man's home. The suspect is believed to have traveled to Iran several times for explosives training and to have numerous Iranian contacts who help him smuggle weapons and bomb-making materials into Iraq, according to a military statement. The military described the explosives expert as a member of a "special group" -- language the U.S. uses to describe Shiite militiamen defying a cease-fire order by anti-American cleric Muqtada Sadr. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080612607298.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2677005_AEX PjkQAAH4eSFGA7AjekhxIr8c&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080612aaindex_concat.html&cred=qnuMYWlyAzC_AxEH 9uwjULGBib.1t_cEjeAa9oZViYg38n6r06W27H2MEgXpSQKJ#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washington Post June 12, 2008 Pg. 13 U.S. Enlists And Arms Patrols In Sadr City 'Neighborhood Guards' Modeled on Program In Sunni Areas of Iraq By Amit R. Paley, Washington Post Foreign Service BAGHDAD, June 11 -- Young men armed and paid by the U.S. military took to the streets of the Iraqi capital's Sadr City area for the first time Wednesday to guard their neighborhoods, part of a new strategy designed to recruit former Shiite militiamen to American-created security groups, U.S. officials said. The program is modeled after a more than year-old initiative, now known as the Awakening movement, to pay men formerly aligned with the Sunni insurgency to turn against it. But the new groups, called "Neighborhood Guards" by the Americans and "Sons of Iraq" by Iraqis, are the first to focus solely on a heavily Shiite area and among the few to acknowledge arming civilians. Toting AK-47 assault rifles for a $300-a-month salary, the young men are viewed by U.S. officials as the best way to address a dearth of security forces in Sadr City, the site of bitter clashes this spring between U.S. forces and militiamen loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The officials hope the initiative will lead some militia supporters away from violence by paying them to protect the area. But even officers helping to create the program acknowledge there is risk in supplying weapons to men who may have recently encouraged violence against U.S. troops. "Are these guys all going to be lily-white angels? No," said Maj. Byron Sarchet, information operations officer for the brigade responsible for Sadr City. "We need to tread lightly." As the orange fog of a dust storm enveloped the capital Wednesday afternoon, 11 young men in the new program stood at the entrance to a street in Jamila, a neighborhood of southwestern Sadr City where they all live. Standing watch from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., they glanced at every car and pedestrian entering the road to make sure they were locals and not strangers who might be up to no good. Qais Ali, 32, a former taxi driver, wore the unusual standard-issue uniform: tan shirt, tan slacks and a tan baseball cap that said "SMIRNOFF" in blue-and-white lettering. "We are here to protect our neighborhood and make sure the militias don't take control," Ali said as he waved on a rusty blue car. "These are our homes and it is our responsibility to protect them." The young men acknowledged, however, that they were all at their posts to collect a wage in a district where unemployment is rampant. The $300 salaries are distributed by their leader, Bassim Abdullah Qassim, who said he was contracted by the U.S. military to hire and oversee 105 men over three months. Lt. Col. Brian Eifler, commander of the U.S. battalion in Sadr City, said there was skepticism initially that Sadr City residents would volunteer to work with Americans. But he said the turnout has been overwhelming. More than 270 people showed up one day last week looking for jobs in Jamila, he said, suggesting that fear of Sadr's militia, the Mahdi Army, is subsiding in at least some parts of Sadr City. All of the applicants are vetted by the U.S. military and must be vouched for by a tribal leader, Eifler said. But Eifler said he does not inquire whether they belonged to the Mahdi Army. When asked if he hoped former militia members would apply, Eifler said: "Absolutely." "They maybe were out riding the fence and now they have a chance for good solid employment," said Eifler, 39, of Detroit. "I think that's an opportunity." Not all Iraqis agree. Lt. Col. Yehiye Rasul Abdullah, commander of the Iraqi army battalion in Jamila, recoiled at the idea of working with supporters of Mahdi Army fighters who killed his soldiers. "Those who have contributed to the spilling of Iraqi blood, we will never accept them," he said after coming to check on the guards. The 11 men on duty Wednesday were carrying some of the 48 AK-47s that Qassim said the U.S. military supplied him Tuesday. He said that the Americans did not have enough weapons for all of the men at the moment, but that the Iraqi military pledged to provide the rest. "Neither the American military nor the Iraqi army were supposed to hand us weapons -- each volunteer was supposed to bring his own from his house," Qassim said. But at an initial meeting of 65 guards, it turned out that only five owned rifles. "So the Americans realized they had to help." Eifler said the AK-47s came from seized weapons caches and that the U.S. military would continue to provide them as needed to the guards. "Guys can't just go out and buy an AK-47 -- there's no AK-47 store," he said. "So we'd rather make sure these guys are outfitted and give them a job instead of having them turned away." U.S. military officials began planning the new program as early as May, when troops were engaged in deadly fighting in Sadr City. They wanted to base the initiative on a U.S. program known as the Awakening movement among Iraqis but called the "Sons of Iraq" program by Americans. About 103,000 men across the country are involved, and more than 80 percent are Sunnis, the military says. Lt. Col. Frank Curtis, commander of a civil affairs battalion in Sadr City, was put in charge of creating a version of the program tailored to the Shiite area of more than 2 million people. As he prepared last month to present the program to a local Shiite leader, he took a standard proposal used elsewhere in the country and crossed out the words "Sons of Iraq." Underneath it, he wrote: "Neighborhood watch." No one wanted Shiites to boycott the initiative because they thought it was tied to a program dominated by Sunnis. It was just after 6:30 p.m. on May 7 when Curtis and other U.S. officials sat down with the leader of Sadr City's Neighborhood 512, picked as the launching site for the program because it was a peaceful, relatively affluent area. The leader, Kadham Saddam Manshad, nodded in excitement as Curtis described the initiative. But when it was proposed that he lead the group, Manshad looked startled. "Working with the coalition forces is risky," he said. "I do not want to be the public face." U.S. officials began to worry that perhaps no neighborhood leader would participate. "I have to say: That meeting didn't go very well," Sarchet, the operations officer, said after the gathering. "Are we going to get this off the ground?" But they soon found Qassim, 41, a former mobile phone card merchant who is now making nearly $4,000 to run the program. Among the volunteers is Manshad. "I just talked to him today," Eifler said, "and he said, 'I want to be in now!' " The Americans have renamed the program "Neighborhood Guard." Eifler said the Iraqis told him the phrase "Neighborhood Watch" made them sound like spies. But the Shiite men on patrol Wednesday said they call themselves "Sons of Iraq," despite the possible Sunni connotations. "Why would I be embarrassed by this name?" Qassim said. "Sunnis or Shiites, we are all the sons of Iraq." Special correspondent Saad al-Izzi contributed to this report. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080612607246.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2677005_AEX PjkQAAH4eSFGA7AjekhxIr8c&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080612aaindex_concat.html&cred=qnuMYWlyAzC_AxEH 9uwjULGBib.1t_cEjeAa9oZViYg38n6r06W27H2MEgXpSQKJ#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Mideast Stars and Stripes June 12, 2008 Sheiks' Deaths Lead To Questions On Progress By James Warden, Stars and Stripes TAL AFAR, Iraq The assassinations of two Tal Afar sheiks on Monday has prompted some of the cityÃÔ leaders to question the Iraqi armyÃÔ progress in Mosul, where the two men were killed. Tal Afar Mayor Najim Abdullah Al Jabouri said Tuesday that the killings show insurgents are still strong in Mosul despite a major operation the government launched in May that has caused the number of attacks to plummet. The two men were shot to death Monday while they were returning to Tal Afar from a meeting in Mosul. Other details on the circumstances are not yet clear, said Capt. Daniel Bolton, a company commander responsible for the Tal Afar area. "ItÃÔ kind of murky still," he said. Both sheiks had played a large part in Tal AfarÃÔ reconciliation movement. Tal Afar, which sits about 30 miles west of Mosul, has been quieter than its larger neighbor since American forces cleared Tal Afar during pitched battles in 2005. But some residents continue to fear that MosulÃÔ violence will spill over into their neighborhoods. The attackers had good intelligence on how to get to the sheiks and were able to get around security, Al Jabouri noted. He added that most terrorist leaders live outside Mosul some in Syria, but others in Iraqi cities like Tikrit and Kirkuk. Al Jabouri thinks these leaders are pushing their people into Iraqi security forces to act as "sleeper cells." American soldiers have been shot by insurgents dressed as Iraqi security forces in the past, and an insurgent once used an Iraqi police uniform to get close to Iraqi leaders and detonate a suicide vest. As in a traditional army, these terrorists have planning, intelligence and operational leaders who pay attention and react to whatÃÔ happening around them, Al Jabouri said. "The effect will show up in the future," he said. "Their plan is not to fight against all the units because they know they will lose if they ever face the army in Mosul." Al Jabouri who came to the city more than three years ago and will most likely be on the ballot in this fallÃÔ elections, unless he runs for higher office blamed many of MosulÃÔ problems on Iraqi army leaders. "Our biggest problem in Iraq: The wrong person in the wrong place," he said. "The citizens of Tal Afar, especially the Sunnis, they have a lot of respect for the coalition forces more than the Iraqi army." An American Special Forces soldier said the killings actually may be an act of desperation on the part of the insurgents, which proved to be the case when something similar happened in Anbar province. "When the enemy uses an excessive amount of violence against the people, it drives the people away," he told Al Jabouri. Sheik Qasim Muhammad Ameen Farahat, a friend of one of the sheiks who was killed, said he didnÃÕ want Mosul, the provincial capital, to oversee Tal Afar. The smaller city should be administered directly by the prime ministerÃÔ office, as Fallujah now is, he said. "In just six months, we would accomplish something," he said. Al Jabouri said he does not think the attacks will create fresh sectarian tensions in Tal Afar. "The incident here actually gives a clear message that they (the terrorists) will target both parties," he said. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080612607345.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2677005_AEX PjkQAAH4eSFGA7AjekhxIr8c&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080612aaindex_concat.html&cred=qnuMYWlyAzC_AxEH 9uwjULGBib.1t_cEjeAa9oZViYg38n6r06W27H2MEgXpSQKJ#T OP">RETURN TO TOP CNN June 11, 2008 U.S. And Iraq At Odds Over Future Status Of Forces The Situation Room (CNN), 5:00 PM WOLF BLITZER: The United States and Iraq right now seem increasingly at odds over just how many U.S. troops should stay in Iraq, for how long, and what should they be doing there. Let's go live to our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre. He is working this story. We're hearing from more and more of these Iraqi politicians, including Shiite leaders close to the prime minister. Some of them sound very much like some of the political campaigners right here in the U.S. JAMIE MCINTYRE: That's right, Wolf. The latest calls for U.S. troops to leave Iraq sooner rather than later are coming from Iraq itself, and that could change a key dynamic in the U.S. presidential race. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MCINTYRE: Republican John McCain has tied his campaign strategy on Iraq to a simple premise, that America should stay as long as needed to ensure victory, even if it spells his defeat. MCCAIN: I would much rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. MCINTYRE: But, on this issue, Iraqis have a vote. And in the heated negotiations between Washington and Baghdad over a status of forces agreement, some Iraqi politicians are saying, if there's no deal, U.S. troops should just go. That sounds more like Barack Obama, who wants to bring most U.S. troops home in 16 months. In Germany, President Bush insisted Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appreciates the American presence. GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You can find any voice you want on the Iraqi political scene and quote them, which is interesting, isn't it? Because, in the past, you could only find one voice, and now you can find a myriad of voices. MCINTYRE: Talks are stalled over the extent U.S. forces can act without Iraqi permission. For example, Iraq wants U.S. troops to stay in their bases unless their help is requested. The State Department, which is hammering out the agreement, insists it won't tie the hands of the next president. But, in an interview with CNN, Defense Secretary Robert Gates conceded, the scope of the accord could go beyond the kind of routine military agreements the U.S. has with more than 80 other countries and require congressional approval. DEFENSE SECRETARY ROBERT GATES: If it emerges in a way that does make binding commitments that fit the treaty-making powers of the -- or treaty-ratification powers of the Senate, then it will have to go that direction. (END VIDEOTAPE) MCINTYRE: So, Senator McCain can say it's really about casualties, not how long U.S. troops are there, and Senator Obama can say that he plans to bring troops home at the rate of two brigades a month. But the fact of the matter is, Wolf, either president, whoever is elected, may be faced with withdrawing troops on a timetable not entirely of his making -- Wolf. BLITZER: Things are changing rapidly over there. All right, Jamie, thanks very much. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080612607347.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2677005_AEX PjkQAAH4eSFGA7AjekhxIr8c&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080612aaindex_concat.html&cred=qnuMYWlyAzC_AxEH 9uwjULGBib.1t_cEjeAa9oZViYg38n6r06W27H2MEgXpSQKJ#T OP">RETURN TO TOP USA Today June 12, 2008 Pg. 4 Bush Teams With Karzai To Seek $50B In Aid Afghanistan 'is broke,' he says By Jeffrey Stinson, USA Today ROME Afghan President Hamid Karzai goes to a conference in Paris today with his hand out because, as President Bush puts it, the strife-torn country "is broke." Bush, who arrived in Rome on Wednesday, and first lady Laura Bush are also acting as Afghanistan's chief fundraisers. Karzai is asking the United States, Europe and world development banks for $50 billion over the next five years to rebuild his country, seven years after the U.S. invasion to oust Taliban extremists who ruled the country and sheltered al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Laura Bush, who made a surprise visit to Afghanistan last week, will be at the Paris conference to plead on behalf of the embattled nation. The president, on a week-long farewell tour of Europe, has been pushing the need for more troops in Afghanistan as he met Tuesday in Slovenia with leaders of the European Union and on Wednesday in Germany with Chancellor Angela Merkel. Bush is likely to make similar pitches for additional troops while in Italy and France. The request comes as Afghanistan is seeing a Taliban resurgence. More people were killed in Taliban-related attacks last year 8,000 than in any year since the 2001 invasion, the United Nations said. Afghanistan is "the biggest strategic challenge facing the West today," said Alan Mendoza, executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, a pro-democracy think tank in London. "The battle has to be won." Mendoza said Afghanistan needs more troops from NATO countries plus economic aid to keep from sliding backward. Many NATO nations remain reluctant to commit troops. The United States sent 3,200 Marines in April to bolster the numbers. On Wednesday in Meseberg, Germany, Bush lauded Merkel for sending 3,370 troops to Afghanistan, though not to combat zones. "I know this is a controversial subject here," Bush said during a news conference with Merkel. "But I hope when the Afghanistan debates go forward, I hope people here think of young girls who couldn't go to school in the past but now can, or think of mothers who bring their babies to health clinics for the first time." Bush also discussed pressuring Iran to stop its nuclear enrichment program. He said that if diplomacy fails to deter Iran, "all options are on the table." The president's remark, in which he didn't rule out a pre-emptive military strike against Iran, came after a private meeting with Merkel. Bush and Merkel said that diplomatic efforts led by Europe were the first course of action. Merkel didn't go quite as far as Bush in her comments. "I very clearly pin my hopes on diplomatic efforts," she said. Judy Ansley, Bush's chief aide on Europe, said Bush and Merkel did not discuss a military option in their meetings, only the diplomatic route. Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Bush "won't be able to harm even 1 centimeter of the sacred land of Iran" and promised continued defiance over Iran's nuclear activities. Iran says it is enriching uranium to generate electricity, not build a bomb. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080612607396.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2677005_AEX PjkQAAH4eSFGA7AjekhxIr8c&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080612aaindex_concat.html&cred=qnuMYWlyAzC_AxEH 9uwjULGBib.1t_cEjeAa9oZViYg38n6r06W27H2MEgXpSQKJ#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Boston Globe June 12, 2008 Afghanistan Massive Drug Bust Said To Hurt Taliban KABUL - Afghan counternarcotics officials said yesterday that they uncovered 260 tons of hashish hidden in 6-foot-deep trenches in what one US drug official said appears to be the world's biggest drug bust. The hashish, found in the southern province of Kandahar on Monday, was worth about $400 million, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said. The hashish weighed as much as 30 double-decker buses, the group said. The drugs were burned. US General David McKiernan, the commander of group, said, "With this single find, they have seriously crippled the Taliban's ability to purchase weapons." --AP http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080612607421.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2677005_AEX PjkQAAH4eSFGA7AjekhxIr8c&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080612aaindex_concat.html&cred=qnuMYWlyAzC_AxEH 9uwjULGBib.1t_cEjeAa9oZViYg38n6r06W27H2MEgXpSQKJ#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washington Times June 12, 2008 Pg. B1 The Gift Of Life U.S. military hospital cares for children wounded in war (caught in the crossfire) By Sara A. Carter, The Washington Times BAGRAM, Afghanistan - The plastic breathing tube helped keep 1 1/2-year-old Latifa alive after a rocket-propelled grenade exploded near her home during heavy fighting between Taliban insurgents and U.S. forces. During the battle several weeks ago, shrapnel tore through her skull and damaged her trachea. Complications from surgery followed, but Latifa is expected to survive. "Thanks be to God," said her grandfather, Sharaf, an ethnic Pashtun from Kapisa province north of Kabul. "She is blessed to be here. Everything here is more than what I can imagine doing for her at home - she is like a flower. IŽ´m very poor, and we cannot afford to take her to Pakistan for help. The doctors and nurses here have treated us like family." Sharaf, who like many Afghans uses one name, spoke through an impromptu translator, Dr. Walayat Shah, an Afghan physician working alongside U.S. military personnel at the Craig Joint Theater Hospital at Bagram Air Base. Just then, Sharaf turned toward Latifa with a smile, put her tiny soft hands in the rough fold of his. "We call her Queen Latifa," said Capt. Tiffanie Rampley, 36, a registered nurse from Spokane, Wash., who has been a primary care nurse for the little girl. "SheŽ´s beautiful." Latifa is one of the lucky ones, said Air Force Maj. Phylis Jones, the nurse in charge of the hospital's intensive care ward. "For each kid that we see thatŽ´s injured like this, there are maybe thousands more that donŽ´t get the same care throughout the country," she said. "And itŽ´s not just the children, but U.S. soldiers, Afghan security forces and other villagers from around the country that are treated here," Maj. Jones said. With Afghanistan among the world's poorest countries, the ability of villagers to reach health care providers is many times impossible. For soldiers on the front lines of the war, the Bagram hospital - which conducts nearly 200 surgeries a month and has about 38 beds - is a "godsend" as well, say medical personnel at the facility. The new facility for U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force was completed in March 2007, and from the inside, it resembles almost any hospital in the United States. Beyond the number of children, Tuesday night was no different from any other night. The beds were filled with the injured, both U.S. troops and Afghan soldiers. Also in intensive care was a child who had burned nearly 40 percent of his body in an accident with a kerosene lamp. Another child, Mohammed, 7, had just had a lifesaving surgery to remove a large benign tumor from his lung. Mohammed spent the day watching the movie "Night at the Museum" and playing with his stuffed toy cat, "Pishak." Every child was accompanied by a guardian at the hospital, and sometimes, the U.S. military offers jobs to those on base who cannot afford to be without work while their children are seeking treatment, Maj. Jones said. The three operating rooms, which can turn into six surgical rooms, in the case of a "dire emergency," are most always in use, said Air Force Col. Charles E. Potter, the hospitalŽ´s administrator and deputy command surgeon for Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia. "Originally, the Afghani people had a lot of fear when it came to accepting help from us at the hospital," Col. Potter said. "Now that these guardians have been here and see the kind of care we take and work weŽ´re doing, they have spread the word through their villages. It is part of reaching out to the hearts and minds. WeŽ´ve found a way to come together." As Latifa lay recovering from war wounds, so were a number of U.S. soldiers, some of whom preparing to fly to Germany and then to the United States for additional treatment. There are roughly 200 scheduled medical evacuation flights a month from Bagram carrying battle-injured troops and other troops with serious medical conditions out of the country, Col. Potter said. The hospital's Task Force Med consists of a combat surgical staff and the Air Force 455th Expeditionary Medical Group. Down the hall from Latifa, another victim of a separate rocket-propelled grenade attack, Army Sgt. 1st Class Pablo Cadena, of San Diego, who looked off into the distance as nurses checked the wound on his leg. On Tuesday, he received the Purple Heart in a ceremony at the hospital. His convoy had been attacked Monday, shortly after he and others stepped outside their vehicle, he said. Sgt. Cadena still hadnŽ´t informed family members of his injuries. "I just donŽ´t want to call them yet," the young soldier told the nurse, who was preparing him for a flight to Germany. "I know I can use the phone, I just donŽ´t want them to worry." She complied, respecting his wish not to notify his two brothers. One of his best combat buddies, whose name is withheld pending notification of his family, lay in the intensive care unit just up the hall from him. His injuries - from the same attack - were so severe that he could only move his eyes. Sgt. Cadena asked the nurses to take him over to the intensive care unit so that he could speak to his fellow soldier before both were to be air lifted to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, in Ramstein, Germany. Four nurses rolled his sergeant's bed to intensive care. They dropped the bedside bars and pushed the two beds together so the soldiers could be close. Sgt. Cadena took his friend's hand into his. The gravely wounded soldier opened his eyes when he heard the sergeant's voice. "IŽ´m glad to see you man," Sgt. Cadena said as tears swelled in his eyes. "Just think, we get to go home tomorrow. WeŽ´re flying out. ... Take care of yourself." http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080612607419.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_2677005_AEX PjkQAAH4eSFGA7AjekhxIr8c&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080612aaindex_concat.html&cred=qnuMYWlyAzC_AxEH 9uwjULGBib.1t_cEjeAa9oZViYg38n6r06W27H2MEgXpSQKJ#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washington Times June 12, 2008 Pg. B1 Inside The Ring By Bill Gertz China missile test China recently conducted a test of its newest submarine-launched ballistic missile, the Julang-2 (JL-2), which will be deployed on Beijing's fleet of new missile submarines, according to U.S. defense officials. The test launch took place May 29 from a submarine in Bohai Bay, off northern China, and landed in the Yellow Sea. The missile has an estimated range of about 5,000 miles and represents a new generation of strategic nuclear-capable weapons being outfitted on the Type 094 submarine, dubbed the Jin-class by the Pentagon. One defense official said the new JL-2 "shares features with the land-based Dong Feng-31 missile," another new Chinese nuclear missile system. Officials confirmed the JL-2 after it was first reported last week in two Japanese newspapers that quoted Japanese military sources. "While the U.S. government provides insufficient informational warning about the JL-2's capabilities, Asian sources have long commented it may eventually carry three to four warheads or a number of decoys," said Richard Fisher, a military affairs specialist with the International Assessment and Strategy Center. "This means that five Type 0 |
