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 The Pentagon Early Bird July 7 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 Headline News Article, Further Scroll down. URL's will not link out i the format Recieved. IRAQ
USA Today July 7, 2008 Pg. 1 Gains In Iraq May Lead To Pullouts U.S. military and Iraqi premier hail progress By Jim Michaels, USA Today WASHINGTON Security in Iraq continues to improve even after the withdrawal of nearly 25% of U.S. combat brigades, increasing the prospects of further cuts in American forces. Although U.S. commanders are cautious about predicting further withdrawals, interviews with military experts and recent official statements indicate growing optimism about the potential to pull out more forces. "I believe the momentum we have is not reversible," said Jack Keane, a retired Army vice chief of staff who helped develop the Iraq strategy adopted by President Bush in January 2007. There will be "significant reductions in 2009 whoever becomes president," said Keane, who regularly consults with Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki echoed Keane's optimism Saturday by declaring that "we defeated" the terrorists in Iraq. U.S. commanders remain cautious. Army Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin, the No. 2 commander in Iraq, said recently that "our progress is fragile, and we continue to work to make this progress irreversible." Such encouraging reports could benefit both presidential candidates. Republican John McCain has been a major supporter of Bush's escalation of U.S. forces in Iraq. Democratic candidate Barack Obama said he wants to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq in 16 months, although he said any pullout would be determined by conditions there. Violence in Afghanistan is growing, increasing pressure to shift more troops from Iraq to there. Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he wants to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, but he doesn't want to sacrifice gains in Iraq by shifting troops too soon. About half of the 60,000 allied forces in Afghanistan are American. Four of the five extra brigades sent to Iraq last year have left the country; the last unit is preparing to leave this month. The extra brigades increased U.S. troop levels to about 160,000 from 130,000. Even after five combat brigades leave, about 140,000 U.S. troops will remain in Iraq. The average number of weekly attacks in Iraq has dropped to 200, an 80% reduction since June 2007, according to Multi-National Corps Iraq. U.S. and Iraqi casualties have also dropped significantly. The State Department said in a recent report that Iraq has met 15 of 18 congressional benchmarks designed to measure progress in Iraq. The improved effectiveness of Iraq's security forces will make it easier to withdraw U.S. troops, said California Rep. Duncan Hunter, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee. "I think it might surprise some people how fast we can come out of Iraq as the Iraqi army matures," Hunter said. "I think we passed the tipping point as far as the Iraqi army maturing." http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080707613335.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_4191387_AEj PjkQAAHR1SHJBMA2iTFI7BqA&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080707aaindex_concat.html&cred=ATPnG4qjshIDa0ua pX0t49uk.nYSLDJyXx9W1hnkorxqLHGrbdN60L7CyM.b1SeB#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washington Post July 7, 2008 Pg. 10 Relative Calm In Iraq Ends As Attacks Take 16 Lives By Zaid Sabah, Washington Post Foreign Service BAGHDAD, July 6 -- A wave of attacks in Baghdad and areas north of the capital Sunday shattered a relative lull in violence, killing 16 people and injuring 15 a day after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared that Iraq's government had defeated terrorism. Also Sunday, the United Arab Emirates announced that it was canceling $4 billion in debt owed by Iraq and restoring full diplomatic relations with the Iraqi government, according to the UAE's official news agency. It was the latest sign that Iraq's Sunni Arab neighbors are easing their diplomatic isolation of Iraq's Shiite-led government, after considerable pressure from the United States. The action coincided with Maliki's visit to the Emirates, which had withdrawn its ambassador to Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, following the kidnapping of one of its diplomats, who was later released. Maliki again stressed that Iraq was becoming more stable. "Our hopes were restricted on improving the security situation, and thank God we succeed in spreading security and direct strong blows to the al-Qaeda and lawbreakers," Maliki told senior officials in the Emirates. Six people were killed in the deadliest attack Sunday, a car bombing in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad. Police said the bomb was detonated by remote control in a popular market. "There still are some sleeping cells operating from time to time, but that doesn't change the fact of the improvement in the security situation," said Maj. Gen. Abdul Karim al-Izzi, a police commander. "Now you can see shops in Baghdad open until late hours at night, unlike before, when they were closing at noon." In Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed a high-ranking member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the party headed by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, along with seven other people, said Maj. Gen. Abdul Karim al-Rubaie, Diyala military operations commander. The incident occurred in the town of Mandily, 60 miles east of Baqubah, the provincial capital. Rubaie said two civilians were killed in Baqubah when police clashed with members of the U.S.-backed Awakening Councils, former insurgents who have turned their weapons against the extremist group al-Qaeda in Iraq. The province is still considered one of the most dangerous areas in Iraq, despite several major offensives by U.S. and Iraqi forces over the past two years. The Kurdish official was the second senior Iraqi political official killed in as many days. On Friday, in the southern oil-rich province of Basra, gunmen fatally shot Sheik Salim al-Darraji, a member of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, one of the most influential Shiite parties, police and officials said. Special correspondent Aahad Ali in Basra and other Washington Post staff members contributed to this report. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080707613383.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_4191387_AEj PjkQAAHR1SHJBMA2iTFI7BqA&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080707aaindex_concat.html&cred=ATPnG4qjshIDa0ua pX0t49uk.nYSLDJyXx9W1hnkorxqLHGrbdN60L7CyM.b1SeB#T OP">RETURN TO TOP New York Times July 7, 2008 Pg. 6 U.S. Helps Remove Uranium From Iraq By Alissa J. Rubin and Campbell Robertson BAGHDAD American and Iraqi officials have completed nearly the last chapter in dismantling Saddam HusseinÃÔ nuclear program with the removal of hundreds of tons of natural uranium from the countryÃÔ main nuclear site. The uranium, which was removed several weeks ago, arrived in Canada over the weekend, according to officials. The removal was first reported by The Associated Press. Although the material cannot be used in its current form for a nuclear weapon or even a so-called dirty bomb, officials decided that in IraqÃÔ unstable environment, it was important to make sure it did not fall into the wrong hands. There are also health dangers associated with concentrated forms of natural uranium, and since little is secure in Iraq, officials wanted to remove it. American military personnel helped move about 600 tons of uranium in the form called yellowcake. It had been stored at Tuwaitha, an installation 12 miles south of Baghdad, which had been the site of IraqÃÔ nuclear program. Cameco, a Canadian company that produces uranium and sells it around the world, bought the material, according to foreign officials knowledgeable about the transaction. ŵhe Iraqi government requested our help; we helped them, said Leslie Phillips, a spokeswoman for the American Embassy in Baghdad. Ūt was their decision and we were happy to assist, at their request. This is a good example of Iraqis working with international companies to get done what they want to get done.Æû/P>There has been a continuing international effort to remove nuclear material from countries that are no longer using it. The International Atomic Energy Agency has helped a number of countries, including Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania, get rid of highly enriched uranium and spent nuclear fuel. The yellowcake removed from Iraq which was not the same yellowcake that President Bush claimed, in a now discredited section of his 2003 State of the Union address, that Mr. Hussein was trying to purchase in Africa is used in an early stage of the nuclear fuel cycle. Only after intensive processing does it become low-enriched uranium, which can fuel reactors producing power. Highly enriched uranium can be used in nuclear bombs. The only neighboring country known to have the technology to process yellowcake is Iran, but Iran has its own stores of the uranium. A State Department official said that there was no indication that Iran had been seeking the material or was interested in using it. This was not the first time that the United States intervened to remove potentially harmful nuclear material from Iraq. Just a few days before the Americans formally transferred sovereignty back to Iraq in June 2004, they removed 1.8 tons of low-enriched uranium, as well as other radioactive sources, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The material was taken to the United States. The vast Tuwaitha site has been bombed repeatedly since 1981, when Israeli warplanes destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor there before it could be used to make weapons-grade uranium. American warplanes bombed the site in 1991 during the first gulf war. After the American invasion in 2003, Tuwaitha was looted. Barrels used to store the yellowcake were stolen and sold to local people, who used them to store water and food and to wash clothes, according to a report by the atomic energy agency. Most of the barrels have been recovered, but there is still concern that people might become ill by ingesting food or water stored in the barrels and from contamination in the area around Tuwaitha, where more than 1,000 people live, according to the atomic energy agency. The final step in closing down Mr. HusseinÃÔ nuclear program will be the cleanup of any traces of radioactive contamination at Tuwaitha. In other developments on Sunday, the United Arab Emirates announced that it was canceling nearly $7 billion of Iraqi debt, making it the first Arab nation on the Persian Gulf to do so. The United States has been pressing Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Arab gulf states to forgive Iraqi debt. While most of IraqÃÔ international debt has been forgiven, much of what remains is owed to countries in the gulf region. There was also scattered violence in Iraq on Sunday. A bomb exploded in a parked car in Shaab, a neighborhood in Baghdad, killing six civilians and wounding 14 people, according to the Interior Ministry. The bomb was apparently intended for an Iraqi police convoy, and three police commandos were among the wounded. In Diyala Province, Muhammed Ramadan Isa, a local official for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, was killed by a roadside bomb as he headed to a village in the northern part of the province, a local police official said. The explosion also killed five of Mr. IsaÃÔ family members, including his wife and three children, as well as two bodyguards. And in Salahuddin Province, an Iraqi Army captain was killed by gunmen while on the way home to Dhuluiya, north of Baghdad, according to a local police official. Two suspects were arrested. Iraqi employees of The New York Times contributed reporting from Baghdad, Kut, Baquba and Salahuddin Province, Iraq. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080707613478.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_4191387_AEj PjkQAAHR1SHJBMA2iTFI7BqA&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080707aaindex_concat.html&cred=ATPnG4qjshIDa0ua pX0t49uk.nYSLDJyXx9W1hnkorxqLHGrbdN60L7CyM.b1SeB#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Los Angeles Times July 7, 2008 Pg. 4 Iraq To Get Debt Relief From Emirates A visit by Premier Maliki to improve ties appears to pay off with pledge to cancel more than $4 billion owed. By Doug Smith, Times Staff Writer BAGHDAD -- Prime Minister Nouri Maliki traveled Sunday to the United Arab Emirates, where he won a promise that at least $4 billion of Iraq's debt would be forgiven. The visit was a significant step forward in efforts by Iraq's Shiite-dominated government to improve relations with Sunni Arab nations in the region. Maliki's administration has been criticized for its close ties with Shiite-led Iran and accused of failing to deal firmly with Shiite militias at home. The government's crackdown starting in spring on militias in the southern Iraq cities of Basra and Amarah and the large Shiite district of Sadr City in Baghdad helped clear the way for renewed diplomatic contacts. The principal of the debt owed by Iraq was put at $4 billion. An Emirates diplomatic source told Reuters news service that the total sum that would be forgiven was closer to $7 billion when interest and arrears were included. In addition to canceling the debt, Emirates leader Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan pledged to send an ambassador to Baghdad and help with the reconstruction of holy shrines in Iraq damaged by years of war and civil strife. Iraq's finance minister had said last week that several other Sunni Arab countries were planning to set up embassies in Baghdad. Besides the United Arab Emirates, he named Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait. The embassies of Arab nations were targeted by militant Sunni groups after the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein, to discourage them from supporting the new government. The Emirates withdrew its ambassador after one of its diplomats was kidnapped. He was later released. Meanwhile, after two relatively quiet days, violence resumed Sunday. In Anbar province, a suicide bomber drove a car into a joint Iraqi-American checkpoint near Rawah, about 165 miles northwest of Baghdad, killing five Iraqi police and injuring 18 people, a police source said. He said helicopters took away wounded Americans. The U.S. military said it had no report on any such incident. A roadside bomb targeting a leader of a minor Kurdish political party killed seven people in a part of northern Diyala province that Kurds want to incorporate into their semiautonomous region. Mohammed Ramadhan Esa of the National Kurdistan Party was injured, but the explosion killed his wife, three of his children, his sister-in-law and two guards, police said. Three other people were wounded. A car bomb went off near the entrance of Shaab neighborhood in north Baghdad, killing six people and injuring 14, including three police officers. In Iskandariya, about 25 miles south of Baghdad, a leader of the concerned citizens group, the U.S.-funded neighborhood security force, was killed in a bombing. An area north of Sadr City was sealed off Sunday after gunfire erupted Saturday night. Witnesses said a joint U.S.-Iraqi force conducting an operation in the area, once a stronghold of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada Sadr, exchanged fire with several gunmen. The U.S. military said an American soldier died Saturday of noncombat injuries. The cause of death was being investigated. At least 4,114 U.S. service members have died since the war began in 2003, according to the independent website icasualties.org. Times staff writer Raheem Salman and special correspondents in Baghdad and Baqubah contributed to this report. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080707613319.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_4191387_AEj PjkQAAHR1SHJBMA2iTFI7BqA&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080707aaindex_concat.html&cred=ATPnG4qjshIDa0ua pX0t49uk.nYSLDJyXx9W1hnkorxqLHGrbdN60L7CyM.b1SeB#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Christian Science Monitor July 7, 2008 Iraqi Shiite Party Rises As Sadr Falls The Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq aims to capitalize on the disarray within Moqtada al-Sadr's movement ahead of parliamentary elections planned for October. By Sam Dagher, Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor NAJAF, Iraq - At a teeming rally in this holy city last Thursday, thousands of Iraqi Shiites made an election pledge. "We are at your beck and call, Hakim," they shouted in unison to Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), arguably now the country's most influential and best organized Shiite religious political party. Mr. Hakim told the crowds stuffed inside a soccer stadium: "We call upon you to take part in the upcoming provincial council elections.... Choose competent and trustworthy candidates ... and beware of the return of Saddamists in disguise." The rally to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the "martyrdom" of ISCI founder Muhammad Baqer al-Hakim, killed in a Najaf car bombing, effectively kicked off campaigning for the party ahead of parliamentary elections that are supposed to take place in October. If the enthusiasm of the audience is any indication, ISCI and its affiliates are poised to do well at the polls, a development that some fear would exacerbate a bitter intra-Shiite struggle for power between ISCI and its allies and the movement of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. "The Supreme Council and its allies are in the forefront now while the Sadrists are absent, but we can see signs already that the struggle among the Shiite religious parties will turn into a violent and armed one again, especially in the south," says Azer Naji, director of strategic and political studies at a research center at Basra University in southern Iraq. "This may happen as we get close to the elections or even after the elections," he says. Already Mr. Sadr's partisans and members of his Mahdi Army militia believe that ISCI and its affiliate party, the Badr Organization previously known as the Badr Brigade and ISCI's armed wing instigated the recent US-Iraqi military operations against the Mahdi Army in southern Iraq and Baghdad. They allege it was part of an ISCI/Badr plot to dismantle Sadr's organization ahead of elections. On Friday, Sheikh Salim al-Darraji, an ISCI official based in Basra, was assassinated in a part of the city traditionally controlled by Sadrists. It comes one week after Basra's chief of military intelligence was killed in a predominantly Shiite part of eastern Baghdad. The ultimate goal of ISCI and Badr is to consolidate their grip on southern Iraq and to create a nine-province Shiite region on par with the semiautonomous Kurdish region in the north. This is a subject of great controversy among many Iraqis, including the Sadrists. "We believe the elections are extremely important. We will run jointly with (ISCI). We both have a significant base of public support," says Hadi al-Ameri, Badr's leader and a senior member of the Iraqi parliament. Mr. Ameri's announcement marks a stark departure from ISCI's strategy during the January and December 2005 elections when it was the pivotal player in assembling a grand Shiite coalition, known as the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA). That bloc swept the largest number of seats in parliament and ushered into power the Shiites and Kurds, who came in second. At that time, Mr. Hakim brought Sadr into the coalition in the second round of elections. Sadr's partisans clinched 32 seats and were instrumental in the selection of Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister. In the end, the Sadrists received six cabinet posts. But acrimonious intra-Shiite disputes precipitated the UIA's unraveling last year. First, the Fadhila Party quit, then Sadrist ministers left the government in April and the UIA altogether in September. Even though fighting between Sadr's Mahdi Army and American and Iraqi forces has largely quieted, ISCI and Badr have not relented from castigating the young cleric's movement. "The Sadrist movement used to cover up its illegal actions with the excuse that they were engaged in a political struggle with (ISCI). They can't say this anymore," says Badr's Ameri. "At the end, it's a struggle between the government and gangs of outlaws that belong to their movement." Ameri, who met with Sadr in Iraq in March during the height of the Basra battles with the Mahdi Army, says he believes that the cleric bowed to intense pressure at the time and that his statement last month urging his militiamen to turn to more charitable activities is "effectively dissolving the Mahdi Army without losing face. In unusually blunt language, Ameri says Sadr would bear the consequences if his militia were to be implicated in any further acts of violence, including action against US troops. "This will be a strategic mistake, and he will be responsible for all the legal and judicial consequences of the actions of these groups." At the stadium rally, as ISCI and Badr leaders exited, throngs of men clamored over an iron fence to touch Ammar al-Hakim, Abdul-Aziz's son and the movement's next presumptive leader. Some managed to grab his hand and kiss it in a sign of extreme deference. ISCI is projecting itself as being uncompromising on security and the one party to be trusted to fight corruption, revive the country's crumbling infrastructure, and elevate the masses, particularly in the south, out of poverty. Badr's Ameri says the sectarian conflict, insurgents, and the Mahdi Army are to blame for why many Iraqis are disillusioned with elected officials. "If there is a lack of services it's because of security. If there is no security, how can we attract foreign investors?" Another big selling point that ISCI and Badr are hoping to make is that they are the wisest and most prudent in protecting the achievements of the once-oppressed Shiite majority population. Ameri says they are the only ones that can balance deep and historic ties with Iran with their relationship with the US for the benefit of Iraq as a whole and the promotion of the political process as opposed to Sadr leveraging links with Iran to fight the US presence in Iraq. "We are trying to strike a balance between the Grand Satan and the Axis of Evil," jokes Ameri, referring to Iran's favored label of the US and President Bush's reference to Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. Ameri says that they, too, like the Sadrists, want to see Iraq fully sovereign and free of US troops. The difference is that ISCI and Badr favor politics and negotiations. There also is no indication that ISCI and Badr will abandon their strategy of overtly associating themselves with Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric, the Najaf-based Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, as they did in the 2005 elections when they used his image on pamphlets and posters promoting the UIA. Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim shrugged off current efforts by some members of parliament to ban the use of images of religious clerics in campaign materials. "These symbols are part of our identity and we want the voter to know who we are. We want to campaign using the religious symbols that both we and the Iraqi people have faith in," Hakim told reporters in Najaf. ISCI, previously known as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, was founded in 1982 in Iran by the late Muhammad Baqer al-Hakim when he was living in exile. Iran trained its armed wing at the time, Badr, to carry out operations across the border against Saddam Hussein's regime, with which it was immersed in war at the time. Mr. Hakim returned to Iraq after the fall of the regime in 2003 and started preaching for a more active role of Iraq's traditionally quietist religious establishment in politics. He was killed along with 84 others on August 29, 2003, as he left Najaf's Imam Ali mausoleum and mosque, one of the world's most revered sites for Shiites. The attack was blamed on extremists linked to Al Qaeda in Iraq. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080707613381.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_4191387_AEj PjkQAAHR1SHJBMA2iTFI7BqA&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080707aaindex_concat.html&cred=ATPnG4qjshIDa0ua pX0t49uk.nYSLDJyXx9W1hnkorxqLHGrbdN60L7CyM.b1SeB#T OP">RETURN TO TOP New York Times July 7, 2008 Pg. 5 Iraq City Has Brittle Calm And War Scars By Alissa J. Rubin BAQUBA, Iraq Less than an hour east and north of Baghdad sprawls Diyala Province, once the garden of Iraq, known for its date and orange orchards, its rice and its barley farms. More recently it has been known as one of IraqÃÔ worst killing fields. The religious and ethnic diversity that made it a microcosm of the country also meant that every lethal division played out within its borders. Sunnis and Shiites, Kurds and Arabs live in close quarters here. By 2006, whole villages were burning. There were months last year when kidnappings were daily occurrences and headless bodies routinely showed up in the fields and floated down the rivers. Intermarriage, once a way of life in the province, was forbidden by many families. The province became the headquarters of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the extremist Sunni insurgent group most associated with suicide bombings and beheadings. The danger was great enough that Western reporters could visit Diyala only while embedded with American troops. But in late June, a New York Times reporter and photographer traveled to the provincial capital, driving in old Iraqi cars with an interpreter to see how much had changed. Military operations here over the past 12 months have curbed the worst of the provinceÃÔ violence, but the situation defines the word ÅÇragile a description often pressed into service by American generals and diplomats to describe all of Iraq. Not many people come to Baquba from Baghdad these days unless they have to. Before the war, many Baghdad families had small farms in Diyala; the sales from the annual fruit crop helped them to make ends meet, and they used it as an escape from the unrelenting heat and dirt of summer in the city. Now, to the north, the road is mostly empty, and miles of drought-parched farmland stretch on each side. A few cargo trucks could be seen carrying supplies. And a handful of cars, packed with the occupants earthly possessions, appeared to be returning home, tables and chairs strapped to the roofs. Å¢t least 25,000 families left, said the provincial council chairman, Ibrahim Bachilan, a Kurd. Å´ome are beginning to come back. But whole villages are empty.Æû/P>Families are generally counted as six people, so that means at least 150,000 people left Diyala. But foreign diplomats in the province say the number is probably two to three times that. The litany of ruin is hard to fathom: 73 schools and many government buildings have been destroyed, and BaqubaÃÔ health center was bombed. About 65 villages have been completely emptied, Mr. Bachilan said. He spoke in the government center, a heavily fortified building in the middle of the city. Three cordons of police officers search visitors to his office. Inside, a small crowd demanded his attention. An extended family of two widows with their children were asking him for aid; a group of contractors came looking for approval for plans to rebuild a school. Last year at this time, a major military operation led by the Americans had just got under way to free the city from the grip of insurgents. Before that, people in Baquba had been all but stranded, sometimes unable to get food for days. Shops were closed; residents were unable to leave their homes even to buy food for fear of being caught in a cross-fire. There were fake checkpoints all over the city run by insurgents. Now the first checkpoint, a few miles south of the city, is run by the Iraqi Army. The soldiers stop every car, inspect the trunk, and question the driver about the destination. Beyond the checkpoint lies Al Mufraq, a neighborhood where vicious battles between Sunni extremists and American soldiers have taken place over the past two years. On both sides of the road, the houses were so pitted by machine-gun fire that they looked as if someone had taken a giant ice cream scoop and removed gobs of the walls. The windows were shattered, the upper floors vacant. In some cases, bombs or mortar shells had blasted out large chunks, exposing the rooms within. Yet shops were open again on the ground floors, and children played in the refuse. Shepherds let their flocks graze in the garbage, which smelled as if it had been rotting for months. Traffic was heavy a good sign in this city where for months few people had wanted to drive for fear of roadside bombs. The mood was almost heady, as if people were still amazed and excited that they could walk the streets. A little boy smiled broadly as he offered his wares, boxes of tissues, to cars stuck in traffic. But BaqubaÃÔ relative calm barely reaches the cityÃÔ borders. Nearby, outside the town of Jalawla, eight people were killed Sunday when a roadside bomb exploded near a Kurdish officialÃÔ car, killing him, his family of five and two bodyguards. Barely 20 miles northeast of Baquba, American troops are still fighting battle-hardened gunmen loyal to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia who are hiding in the palm groves. Other areas are just as troubled. Ūn northern Diyala near the Hamrin mountains there are gunmen and militia and Al Qaeda, said Mr. Bachilan, the provincial council chairman. ŵhey have planted the road with improvised explosive devices. The road is closed.Æû/P>Ÿe have asked the government to support military operations and more police for the province, he said. ŵhere are many smugglers, and they move weapons through the border and their weapons are more effective than our weapons, he said. Ÿe just have Kalashnikovs. They have rockets, mines, rocket-propelled grenades. But the government has not answered our request.Æû/P>Across the road, behind concentric rings of concrete barriers, stands the provincial police headquarters, where the police chief, Ghanem al-Khoreishi, has his office. An imposing figure in his uniform, Mr. Khoreishi, who is well over six feet tall, conveyed resolve, but also frustration. A native of the province, he bounced between boasting about the improvements and worrying about the areas where the militants remain strong. He has little patience for politicians in Baghdad whom he sees as oblivious to the sacrifices being made by people on the ground. Ÿe lost 1,585 policemen and had 1,650 wounded, he said. Å®aybe you wonder how I know these numbers: I know because we pay funeral compensation to the families, he said. źou will not find another police force that has lost so many, he said with bitter pride. For Mr. Khoreishi the fight is personal. His home was bombed. For four months he could not leave the police headquarters to visit his family. Then the militants went after his relatives. ŵhey killed my brother last year and my brother-in-law. He was a teacher and he taught in the middle school. He hadnÃÕ done anything except he was related to me, he said. Å®ost of the politicians donÃÕ deal with reality. They do not appreciate the price we pay.Æû/P>The Ameen district on the north side of the city had some of the worst fighting last year and still feels tense, though it has been controlled by the Iraqi government for more than five months. About 100 policemen still fan out there around the clock. They want to be sure Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia does not come back, one police officer said. Even now, more than six months after the last major military operation, the streets are mostly empty. Many shops are shuttered. At the heart of the neighborhood, a former school now bombed to rubble was most recently the local headquarters for the insurgents. The square in front of the building was where gunmen carried out executions, following their own version of Shariah law. An elderly man carrying a straw bag with blocks of ice for refrigeration walked along the desolate street with his two young grandsons. Asked how things were, he shook his head. Ū am too tired to talk, he said softly. Further on, three young men lounged outside a storefront machine shop where two of them repaired motors for electrical appliances. ŵhe situation is very good now, said one, Ammar Khalid. Å£efore, no one could leave their house; all the shops were closed. Now business is good for us because there are not many shops open, but we open at 6 a.m. and stay open until evening. But thereÃÔ no electricity, no water.Æû/P> Is it normal yet? The three young men did not respond. When will it be normal? Ū donÃÕ know how long it will take, said Muath Abbas, 21, a university student who is studying English, although he is not sure where he will use the language. Ūt will take time.Æû/P>This year? Next year? Abu Mohamed, a 21-year-old taxi driver, shook his head. Ūt is in the hands of God, he said. Ten minutes after the conversation, a bomb exploded less than 100 feet away. It destroyed the building and checkpoint of a Sunni citizen group paid by the Americans to watch the neighborhood. In an illustration of the convoluted world of Iraq, the police said that the citizen group was not the target. Rather, the group itself set the bomb to destroy its building rather than give it back to returning Shiites who had renewed their claim to it, the police said. As the afternoon wore on, a dust storm descended on the city, the fine sand coating every brick in the piles of rubble. From the bridge crossing the Diyala River, which cars use as they leave town, dust as thick as fog obscured the city skyline of mosques and low-slung buildings. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080707613445.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_4191387_AEj PjkQAAHR1SHJBMA2iTFI7BqA&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080707aaindex_concat.html&cred=ATPnG4qjshIDa0ua pX0t49uk.nYSLDJyXx9W1hnkorxqLHGrbdN60L7CyM.b1SeB#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Arizona Daily Star (Tucson) July 7, 2008 More Power In Iraq, But Shortages Linger By Sally Buzbee, Associated Press BAGHDAD Don't try to convince Taha Yassin that Iraq's power shortages are finally easing: His children cry each night when the fan cuts off and the house heats up. Iraq is producing on average 11 percent more electricity this year than a year ago, officials announced Sunday. Improved security allowed repair crews to finally get the upper hand, fixing damaged lines and stations, some sabotaged by extremists. But demand continues to exceed the country's supply and the distribution network is old and rundown, said British Brig. Carew Wilks, who heads energy operations for U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq. "It will take many years and major investment to fully meet the needs of the Iraqi people," Wilks said at a news conference in the Green Zone. In Baghdad, despite the improvements, many people still get only three to four hours of city power and they are bitter. "It is a tragedy that has turned our life into a nightmare," said Yassin, a minibus driver whose house in Baghdad's Baladiyat neighborhood gets four hours of city power a day. U.S. officials say the current average in Baghdad is about 10 hours of power a day and nationwide, nearly 11 hours. Iraq's government is likely to earn $70 billion in oil revenues this year, Yassin noted sourly, "and yet it cannot solve our problems." The shortages force many people to buy power from private generators run by neighbors or small businessmen. Baghdad's neighborhood streets and alleys often are topped with a tangled ceiling of electrical cables connecting homes to such generators. Nevertheless, officials stressed Sunday, there has been sharp improvement. At this point last summer, nine critical power lines nationwide were down and in need of repair because of sabotage, said Wilks. Not a single one is down now, allowing work crews to focus instead on new construction. The country suffered 11 major nationwide blackouts from last December to this May, but has suffered none in recent weeks, he said. Overall, Iraq's electricity production jumped 11 percent in the first six months of 2008 compared to the same period a year ago, Wilks said. Some weeks are even better depending on minor fluctuations this week, 25 percent more power was generated than during the same week a year ago, he said. Officials do give priority to critical buildings, said Wilks, making private dwellings a lesser priority. Big hospitals like al-Kindi and Yarmouk in Baghdad, for example, have special lines from city plants, guaranteeing power most of the day, said Deputy Health Minister Adel Muhsin. Iraq's electrical woes have long been a source of discontent among the public. Improving the grid was a major focus of U.S. Army engineers immediately after the war, but the effort ran into immediate problems. Officials found barely operating power plants, lacking spare parts and suffering from years of neglect brought on by wars and U.N. trade sanctions. The decline had begun during the 1991 Gulf War, when U.S. warplanes targeted the grid. Damage also occurred during the 2003 invasion and in the looting afterward. Insurgents also quickly began attacking facilities. As security worsened, more than $1 billion was shifted from power projects to security spending. The drop in violence to its lowest level in more than four years turned the momentum the last six months, Wilks said. With acute repairs now done, coalition officials will next turn toward helping Iraqi officials distribute power more fairly and in a stable fashion to avoid blackouts, he said. Many Sunni Arabs accuse the Shiite-led government of sending more power to Shiite neighborhoods than to them. Government officials have denied that sectarian bias is involved. Wilks said U.S. and coalition officials also will work with Iraq's electricity ministry to also increase generation. Iraq recently signed a contract with General Electric for eight large gas turbines to be delivered next year, he said. None of that satisfies Raed Muhsen, 35. His eastern Baghdad neighborhood of Habibiya gets only three hours of power, forcing him to spend more than a third of his government salary on power from private generators. "The poorest country in the world does not have electricity problems like us. We are living in big misery because of the government's failure," he said. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080707613482.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_4191387_AEj PjkQAAHR1SHJBMA2iTFI7BqA&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080707aaindex_concat.html&cred=ATPnG4qjshIDa0ua pX0t49uk.nYSLDJyXx9W1hnkorxqLHGrbdN60L7CyM.b1SeB#T OP">RETURN TO TOP USA Today July 7, 2008 Pg. 6 Baghdad Park A Unique Refuge For Young Couples In Love Men, women get rare time alone under U.S. guard By Charles Levinson, USA Today BAGHDAD A riverside park closely guarded by a U.S. security company has become the hottest make-out spot in town for young Iraqi lovers who would otherwise be harassed or worse by Islamic extremists. Many of the couples sneak away from university lectures and sit arm-in-arm, whispering and kissing under the shade of eucalyptus trees each morning. On many days, there's not a single empty bench. Four checkpoints manned by guards from the Sandi Group security company control access to Abu Nawas Park. Every car is searched. Anyone with a gun, including Iraqi police, is kept out. For some of Iraq's conservatives, the park is a symbol of the poisonous effect the U.S. occupation is having on Iraq. For young Iraqis, it's a unique refuge in a society that has become more restrictive in recent years. "This is the safest single place in Baghdad," said Enas Saleh, 26, a schoolteacher who lied to her family and ditched her computer training class to sneak off to the park with her boyfriend. "Anywhere else in Baghdad, I would be in danger if they saw me sitting here with a boy like this." The couple met two years ago, but this is only the third time they've met in person, underscoring the difficulties that young Iraqis face as they try to live a normal life. "It's very hard for a boy to find a way to be alone with his girl," says Saleh's boyfriend, Hussein Dia, a 27-year-old cab driver. "In the West, this would be normal, but our people don't understand this." Abu Nawas Park was reopened in 2007 after a $5 million U.S.-funded renovation. Rebuilding public spaces and then keeping them safe has become a centerpiece of the security plan launched last year by Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq. The Sandi Group, which protects the area under a contract with the U.S. Army, has ordered its guards to let the young lovers be, said Saadi Abdel Aziz, a supervisor for the company, which is based in Washington, D.C. "The couples are free to come and do whatever they want," Aziz said. "We have orders from our company and from the American Army. They told us don't interfere even if you see them touching and kissing." Zeinab al-Kanani, a lawmaker loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, says this is the latest outrage committed by foreign security companies in Iraq. "This is the biggest evidence that they are trying to spread their Western culture and corruption in our country," said al-Kanani. Youth activist Basema al-Khatib, who has two teenage daughters of her own, says it's too bad Sandi Group can't be everywhere in Baghdad. She recalls her own college years when she wore short skirts, ran around town with boys and lived a carefree life. "If a boy and a girl are walking down the street together today, any sicko extremists could come and just kill them at any moment," said al-Khatib. "To be young and in love in Iraq today is a very brave thing to do." http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080707613308.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_4191387_AEj PjkQAAHR1SHJBMA2iTFI7BqA&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080707aaindex_concat.html&cred=ATPnG4qjshIDa0ua pX0t49uk.nYSLDJyXx9W1hnkorxqLHGrbdN60L7CyM.b1SeB#T OP">RETURN TO TOP London Times July 7, 2008 General David Petraeus Beats Megastar Angeline Jolie As Iraq Crowd-Puller By James Hider, in Baghdad If Santa ever set up his Christmas grotto in a war zone, it might look something like this. Hundreds of men and women, many of them armed, line up in a marble hall inside one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces, waiting patiently for more than half an hour for their hero to turn up. The object of so much adulation is General David Petraeus, the 55-year-old commander of US and allied forces in Iraq. General Petraeus, widely credited with the military strategy that has clawed Iraq back from civil war to a semblance of stability, is in such demand for photographs that his aides have had to organise special mass photo-ops every six weeks inside the Green Zone and at the other huge US base at Baghdad airport. Å©e's a real leader at a great time, said Master Sergeant John Fife of the US Air Force, who had brought a group of comrades and local Iraqi staff across the vast fortified compound for the chance to have their picture taken with the general, who devised Iraq's counter-insurgency strategy. Ūt's like being at Macy's again when I was nine with the Easter Bunny, the sergeant admitted. Beside him one of his Iraqi staff, who for security reasons identified himself only as Salaam, described the occasion as a great honour. Ū just want to say, Áµhank you.' This man has done great things for my country, he said, although he confessed that for his own safety he would hang the picture on his office wall in the Green Zone, rather than in his house in the ųed Zone? the military term for the rest of Baghdad. Despite the progress Iraq has made under General Petraeus, Salaam said it would be a long time before he risked hanging such a memento at home; if neighbours knew he worked for the Americans he could be killed by militias or kidnapped by criminals. The crowd of more than 500 people was a cross-section of life in the Green Zone, the complex that has occupied the heart of the capital for the past five years: American soldiers with assault rifles; British, Australian and Italian troops; security contractors in wrap-around sunglasses; embassy officials in suits; cleaners; men in running gear with .45 automatics on their hips; and a woman dressed as though for cocktail party. All file past the commander, who shakes their hands and poses for the army photographer. One Green Zone veteran said General Petraeus drew bigger crowds than almost any other celebrity visitor, including Angelina Jolie, Dick Cheney, the vice-president, and Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of State. Only the right-wing talk show host Bill O'Reilly, known for shouting down liberal guests on his Fox Channel programme, drew similar crowds. General Petraeus has often said that he has no ambition to run for public office, but this would be perfect training for any campaign trail. His smile never wavers throughout the 45-minute ritual, which, with military precision, gets more than 500 people across the wooden podium in a cafeteria of the Republican Palace. Only at the very end does he look slightly bemused, when he finds himself posing in a group photo with eight Sri Lankan waiters, far from home and looking for a little celebrity action to relieve the tedium of their daily grind. Then he steps off the stage and marches briskly back to the business of running the war. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080707613358.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_4191387_AEj PjkQAAHR1SHJBMA2iTFI7BqA&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080707aaindex_concat.html&cred=ATPnG4qjshIDa0ua pX0t49uk.nYSLDJyXx9W1hnkorxqLHGrbdN60L7CyM.b1SeB#T OP">RETURN TO TOP NBC July 6, 2008 Wounds Of War NBC Nightly News, 6:30 PM LESTER HOLT: From Iraq tonight, we have a heroic story of an American soldier fighting to heal the wounds of war and as a result one young Iraqi girl can walk again. HereÃÔ NBCÃÔ Jim Maceda. JIM MACEDA: Baqouba was a hot frontline and Staff Sgt. Luis Falcon and his squad were patrolling house by house, seeking out insurgents. But when the native New Yorker entered a dingy courtyard and saw ten-year-old Shahad Abbas, his mission changed for good. STAFF SGT. LUIS FALCON [U.S. Army]: I noticed that she had blood below her knees. So my first reaction was you know, this little girl was hurt. You know, let me go check her out. MACEDA: Months before, Shahad had stepped near an IED, walking to school. She lost both legs below the knee and with poor follow-up medical care, her limbs became infected. FALCON: It was really bad. It was really bad. MACEDA: Even worse, Falcon believed the bomb that shattered ShahadÃÔ legs were meant for his squad. FALCON: ThatÃÔ how I look at it. She suffered for me, my men, my soldiers. And thatÃÔ why I owe her the world. MACEDA: From that moment, a bond began to grow. Ū waited for them every day, she says. Ÿhenever I heard a tank, IÃÅ go outside.Æû/P>It started with some proper medicine, a new wheelchair, school supplies, and toys. Until one day Falcon asked Shahad what she wanted most. Ū told him I just want to walk to school again with my friends, she said. On the spot, Falcon promised to grant her her wish and so began Operation Magic Legs. The mission? Finding a pair of prosthetic limbs for a very special victim. Not easy from the frontlines, but after dozens of pleading letters, e-mails and setbacks, limbs were found. Shahad was going to Baghdad Êû/P>CHRIS CUMMINGS [Prosthetist]: Now, I want the weight even on both feet. MACEDA: to a U.S.-funded clinic that treats Iraqi soldiers run by Chris Cummings, a former sergeant from Florida. After some adjustments, the first magic steps. FALCON: Oh, wow. Look at that, look at that. ThatÃÔ beautiful. MACEDA: Shahad was moving forward again. Ū want to study prosthetics now, she says. ŵhese limbs helped me. Now I want to help others.Æû/P>Falcon says heÃÅ like to bring Shahad back to America someday, but for now sheÃÔ back home in the heart of the war, taking her new life one step at a time. Jim Maceda, NBC News, Baghdad. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080707613531.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_4191387_AEj PjkQAAHR1SHJBMA2iTFI7BqA&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080707aaindex_concat.html&cred=ATPnG4qjshIDa0ua pX0t49uk.nYSLDJyXx9W1hnkorxqLHGrbdN60L7CyM.b1SeB#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washingtonpost.com July 7, 2008 Bomb At Indian Embassy Kills 41 In Afghanistan By Samar Zwak, Reuters KABUL--A suicide car bomber rammed two diplomatic vehicles entering the Indian Embassy in Kabul on Monday, killing 41 people and wounding 141, Afghan authorities said. The Taliban have vowed to step up their campaign of suicide bombings this year, graphically demonstrating that despite the increase in foreign troops in Afghanistan and more trained Afghan forces on patrol, the militants are far from defeated. "I saw wounded and dead people everywhere on the road," said Danish Karokhil, the head of the independent Pajhwok news agency, whose offices are close by. "The target was the diplomatic vehicles. They were trying to get inside the embassy when the suicide car bomber attacked them," he said. Health Ministry spokesman Abdullah Fahim said 28 people were killed and 141 wounded, but a senior police official later revised this to 41 dead.. "More than 10 people are in a very critical condition. At least one woman and one baby were killed. At least three babies were wounded and women, children, military personnel and civilians are among the casualties," Fahim said. The two embassy vehicles were destroyed by the blast, but it was not clear if those inside were among the casualties. India has close relations with the Afghan government and is funding and building a number of large infrastructure projects, but had no diplomatic ties to the Taliban when they ruled the country. India condemns The gates of the embassy were blown off and the walls and buildings inside the compound were also damaged by the force of the blast, said an Indian diplomat who declined to be named. "We fear that there may be casualties among our personnel and are ascertaining full details," the Indian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "The government of India strongly condemns this cowardly terrorist attack on its diplomatic mission in Afghanistan. Such acts of terror will not deter us from fulfilling our commitments to the government and people of Afghanistan," India said. Security guards, a line of people waiting for visas and those shopping at a nearby market were likely the main victims. Two women were among five dead at Kabul's Emergency Hospital. One of the dead women had a baby with her at the time of the blast, the woman's sister said. The baby was now missing. Grey smoke and dust poured from the scene of the blast. Police cordoned off the area as ambulance crews raced the wounded to hospital. Several U.S. soldiers were also at the scene. U.S. troops later shot dead the driver of another car and wounded a passenger, witnesses said. U.S. military vehicles were driving through the city at high speed after the bombing, soldiers shouting angrily at drivers to get out the way. Afghan officials have repeatedly accused India's rival Pakistan of allowing the Islamist Taliban to operate from sanctuaries inside Pakistan, a charge Pakistan denies. --Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080707613382.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_4191387_AEj PjkQAAHR1SHJBMA2iTFI7BqA&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080707aaindex_concat.html&cred=ATPnG4qjshIDa0ua pX0t49uk.nYSLDJyXx9W1hnkorxqLHGrbdN60L7CyM.b1SeB#T OP">RETURN TO TOP New York Times July 7, 2008 Pg. 6 Afghans Say New U.S. Strike Killed Civilians By Abdul Waheed Wafa KABUL, Afghanistan Local officials in eastern Afghanistan said Sunday that an American airstrike killed at least 27 civilians in a wedding party, most of them women and children and including the bride. Officials of the American-led coalition disputed the report, saying that the airstrike killed militants and that there was no evidence of women and children at the scene. The attack early Sunday in the Deh Bala district of Nangarhar Province was the second in the past three days in which many civilian deaths were reported. The president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, has ordered an investigation into a helicopter strike on Friday in Nuristan Province in which the provincial governor said 22 civilians had been killed and 7 wounded. The United States military has also disputed that account, saying that only people who had been firing on coalition forces were hit. The governor of Deh Bala district, Hamisha Gul, said the airstrike on Sunday came while a group of women and children were walking from the brideÃÔ village, Kamalai, to the groomÃÔ home. Tradition holds that women and children walk with the bride separately from the men. Mr. Gul said residents had reported finding ÅÔo far 27 bodies, including two men, and the others are all women and children.Æû/P> He added, ŵhe new bride is among the deaths.Æû/P>A member of Parliament from the area, Babrak Shinwary, said in an interview in Kabul that he had received phone calls from his constituents with similar reports. Dr. Ajmal Pardis, director of public health in Nangarhar Province, said the hospital in Jalalabad, its capital, had received five patients, three women and two men, wounded in the airstrike. A statement from the coalition forces in Afghanistan said several militants were killed in the airstrike, which was ordered after the forces received intelligence reports of a large gathering of combatants in Deh Bala. Ÿe have no reports of civilian casualties, and there were no women and children there, Capt. Christian Patterson, a coalition spokesman, said. Mr. Gul, the district governor, said that he had heard reports of militants being in the area but that all of the dead were civilians. Civilian casualties have been a continuing issue in Afghanistan, and President Karzai has rebuked American and NATO forces for what he has called carelessness in their military operations. Sangar Rahimi contributed reporting. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080707613481.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_4191387_AEj PjkQAAHR1SHJBMA2iTFI7BqA&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080707aaindex_concat.html&cred=ATPnG4qjshIDa0ua pX0t49uk.nYSLDJyXx9W1hnkorxqLHGrbdN60L7CyM.b1SeB#T OP">RETURN TO TOP USA Today July 7, 2008 Pg. 6 U.S. Military: Taliban Skews News Of Deaths U.S. commanders said Sunday that the Taliban is making up stories of accidental killings of civilians in Afghanistan to discredit the NATO effort to defeat Islamist militants. Army Gen. David McKiernan, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, told the Associated Press that two allegations of civilian deaths in battle were being investigated, but he and other U.S. officials said Taliban militants often hide among civilians and press them to make false claims. "Whenever we do an airstrike, the first thing they're going to cry is 'Airstrike killed civilians' when the missile actually struck militant extremists we were targeting," said a U.S. spokesman, 1st Lt. Nathan Perry. "We don't believe we've harmed anyone except for the combatants." The chief government official in the Deh Bala district of Nangarhar province, Haji Amishah Gul, said Sunday that villagers in a remote area he could not reach called his office to say 27 people in a wedding party were killed in a bombing. The U.S. military said its missiles killed a column of militants. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation into allegations that missiles from U.S. helicopters struck civilians Friday. The Afghan Defense Ministry said Sunday that the attackkilled or wounded 20 militants, not civilians. Perry said military reports thus far show the airstrike hit two vehicles carrying militants. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080707613390.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_4191387_AEj PjkQAAHR1SHJBMA2iTFI7BqA&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080707aaindex_concat.html&cred=ATPnG4qjshIDa0ua pX0t49uk.nYSLDJyXx9W1hnkorxqLHGrbdN60L7CyM.b1SeB#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Pittsburgh Tribune-Review July 6, 2008 Pg. 1 Report from Afghanistan A Fight For Their Hearts Afghan war is about winning 'human terrain' By Betsy Hiel, Tribune-Review This is the sixth in a series of articles on the state of the war in Afghanistan. SENEKY, Afghanistan -- Capt. Nick Howard picks his way over rocks and boulders along a dirt road that skirts mountains and the Pakistani border. His blue eyes scan the landscape, assessing the risks of a combat outpost where 150 "bad guys" operate. Taliban border infiltration is growing, and the Delta Company commander wants to reposition a platoon to block the "rat line," or insurgent trail. "Here, you're too close to the mountains -- they could shower mortars down on you," Howard, 27, of Reston, Va., says. Wild marijuana covers the ground at his feet. Later, he walks a wadi, a dry riverbed, nearer the mountain passes, searching for two militants reportedly hiding there. To his left are stone-tiered wheat fields. Green mulberry trees, plump with ripe dark berries, shade two fields of purple, white and red poppies. "Small amounts" of poppies, refined into heroin, are grown locally, Howard says. A provincial counter-narcotics task force is supposed to "destroy it, and we go back and verify. So far we haven't had any problems. None has been harvested, to our knowledge." For American soldiers, the war in Afghanistan isn't just firefights and roadside bombs. On any given day, they face myriad problems -- poppy fields and drug trafficking, feuding tribes, villages without water, power or schools, a weak central government requiring constant support, a populace unsure which side it wants to be on. U.S. Army brass and soldiers on the ground here are hopeful -- but candidly admit the situation could turn bad overnight. 'No one will live this long' Back at the combat outpost of 1st Platoon, Golf Company, 4/320th Field Artillery of the 101st Airborne Division, Howard meets with a Tani District sub-governor, Badi Saman. He learns more about the dizzying array of local tribal names and relations, sub-tribes, and clans too tiny to be included in either group. Saman says his father, a tribal elder, lived to be 120 years old. Asked if he will live so long, Saman -- with one attempt on his life already -- laughs. "Hopefully, I want to. But with all these suicide attackers, no one will live this long." Howard mentions that Taliban fighters are "moving through Narizah and Seneky," two local villages, from havens in Pakistan. "If we move down there, do you think we will be effective in stopping them?" "I think it will be very helpful," Saman replies. "... The terrorists are either going to attack Tani or the checkpoint on the road to Khost," the provincial capital. Howard thanks the Afghan for his information, then invites him to dinner: "It has been too long since I have seen you -- we must break bread together." At age 27, Howard commands four platoons of the 2/506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, along with seven of Khost Province's 13 districts. A decade ago, Khost hosted al-Qaida training camps; until recently, it was considered one of the least governable, most dangerous provinces. The U.S. Army says a successful counterinsurgency plan has turned all that around. Yet, now, that progress seems threatened. Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser, who heads NATO's Regional Command East, one of five in Afghanistan, says Taliban attacks rose 40 percent in the past six months. He cites two factors for the increasing violence. Afghan, U.S. and NATO forces are deploying "into areas that previously, if not sanctuaries, they were ... support areas for the Taliban," he explains. Meanwhile, more insurgents than ever are crossing into Afghanistan. "It is quite clear to me that the border that we have" -- 450 mountainous miles in the Regional East Command alone -- "is ... potentially more porous than it has been in some time," says Schloesser, who also commands the 101st Airborne Division and the U.S.-led coalition known as Enduring Freedom. "We are seeing, on a daily basis, more activity crossing that border ... and then attacking the Afghan people," as well as U.S. and coalition forces. 'Big guys' vs. 'school bullies' Delta's Capt. Howard, one of the 40,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines deployed here, is a well-read West Point graduate. Books on warfare, strategy and Afghanistan, such as Steve Coll's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Ghost Wars," fill his outpost office. "I'm not that old, but on a daily basis I deal with 50- or 60-year-old sub-governors (who) have seen 30 years of war. ... And dealing with them is humbling at times. But at the same time, you know, they answer to me." He admits U.S.-led forces cannot "achieve a physical separation between" villagers and the Taliban, so they strive for "a psychological separation." "The insurgents are like a big schoolyard bully ... trying to beat up on the little kid ... we're the big guy who is going to stand behind that small guy, so he feels strong enough to stand up to that bully. "The key is a balance of going after the enemy on the one hand" -- what he terms "kinetic operations" -- and "the non-kinetic part (of) talking to elders, understanding the tribal dynamics and working the reconstruction piece, which is extremely critical." All of those, he says, must "go hand-in-hand" in order to win this war. "Our ability to shoot and kill the enemy is only a very small part of our ability to succeed in this fight," he explains. "Our ability to understand the culture and the human terrain is far more important. "... If we can't understand them, we are never going to win them over." Linking government to people Howard's words closely echo Schloesser's description of U.S. strategy here. U.S. combat outposts work closely with Afghan officials, police, soldiers and villagers in order to forge a link between them, the general explains. "I believe, at the end of the day, the enemy understands that if you connect government at the lowest level to the villager ... and (Afghans) have a quality of life that's improving, the whole reason for their insurgency is evaporating." Saman, the sub-governor, agrees. He wants to erase the line between people and the government. "We have a lot of problems -- we don't have potable water, we need schools and an irrigation system, roads," he says. But rebuilding those will bring jobs to an area of rampant unemployment. "When people are jobless," he adds, "they start smoking hash, and a mullah can take advantage of them." The sub-governor, comparable to an American county executive, hopes to launch a television and radio campaign to spread his message, to explain why foreign forces are here, and to "talk about the Taliban and al-Qaida and what the bad guys are doing." A promise to bring shoes In the stone-and-mudbrick village of Turqel, cows and donkeys graze, a camel lopes by, and Afghans gather around as U.S. soldiers pull up in four Humvees. Sgt. 1st Class Dustin Horn, 35, and his men from 1st Platoon, Golf Company, 4/320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne, greet the villagers and ask for the local elders. Horn wants to talk about construction projects. The villagers say they were promised a school, months ago. Sakhi Gul, 30, is a blue-eyed, dark-bearded day laborer in white loose trousers and tunic and a tan pakol, the traditional Afghan wool hat with a rolled brim. He is frustrated with the local government. "Generally, I trust the government, but I don't know why they forget our area," he says. "Our government is always promising things but they never do anything. We need water and electricity." Horn, pleased by Gul's frankness, asks permission to quiz him about Afghan officials, soldiers and police, as well as U.S. forces. He asks about the villagers' tribal affiliation and what they need most. Gul is unhappy with the Afghan police; the army is another matter. "The ANA (Afghan National Army) are great, they are loyal ...we never hear anything bad about the ANA." He gives some of the soldiers a tour of the village, pointing to an area he says was destroyed by Soviet troops in the 1980s. Before leaving, Horn gives Gul and another villager two hand-crank radios. He promises to return with children's shoes. Tribe trumps police work Americans and Afghans alike feel the Afghan army is improving but the police remain plagued by corruption. Howard says the police have invaluable expertise in villages, but "they can't arrest people because of ... tribal rivalries and Pashtunwali," the Pashtun code of honor. "That's a huge problem for us right now." He hopes to mix police throughout the province, so they are not too far from home yet distanced from tribal complications that can allow a captured insurgent to go free. On most days, U.S. soldiers travel with Afghan policemen on missions, in order to train by example. The police presence can build rapport with villagers, too. "Putting an Afghan face on it makes it easier when you roll into the village," says Horn, so that "we are not just there ... looking like an occupation force." A new U.S. National Guard police-training team -- all law enforcers in civilian life -- is rotating through Khost Province's seven districts. Explaining the strategy, Howard quotes T.E. Lawrence, the British army officer known as "Lawrence of Arabia," who helped lead the 1916-18 Arab Revolt: "It goes back a little bit to what Lawrence said -- 'Better they do tolerably than we do it perfect.' " 'Some real bad people here' The biggest threat in this area is a network run by ailing warlord Jalauddin Haqqani and his son, Siraj, who is said to be training suicide bombers across the border. While providing security may be only part of the task here, "it is the foundation ... and cannot be underplayed," says Schloesser. Lately, Delta Company's 3rd Platoon is running a lot of counterinsurgency operations. First Lt. Shane Oravsky leads one such mission to the village of Dakhi in a district known to be a haven for Taliban and criminals. The Taliban reportedly are massing there to attack an Afghan police checkpoint. Two trusted Afghan police commanders, named Arafat and Akhtar, knock on the wooden door of a mud-brick house suspected as a Taliban hideout. With the soldiers, they begin to search the house as chickens cluck, birds chirp, roosters crow, and several cows, donkeys and goats shift nervously at the back. In minutes, the men find suspicious items, including large hunks of hashish, old rifles, a shotgun, ammunition, binoculars, an old Pakistani passport. "Hey, we just found a box of blasting caps!" shouts Staff Sgt. Dave McNeil, 26 of Milwaukee, Wis. "We have some real bad people here." More searching uncovers batteries and wiring -- materials fit for roadside bombs, the No. 1 killer of U.S. soldiers here. Staff Sgt. Mac Blocker, 39, of Abilene, Texas, orders the three men in the house to be detained. Oravsky, 25, of Catskill, N.Y., orders the men to be photographed with the evidence, as McNeil begins testing their skin for explosive residue. "It's pink," says McNeil, meaning one of the men tests positive for such military-grade explosives as C4 and Semtex. Another man tests positive for black power, used in fuses. The three suspects are handcuffed, blinded and escorted to the waiting Humvees. The soldiers are pleased with the mission. "We found a lot of stuff," says McNeil. "It looks like, with all we have here, we are going to put these guys away for a while so they won't be able to hurt any coalition forces ... and hopefully bring some stability to the area." He predicts the number of attacks locally will go down -- in a year. Until then, he plans to give the enemy no rest. "It's a never-ending process, but we're all excited about it," he says. http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20080707613332.html <A href="http://68.142.200.12/us.f318.mail.yahoo.com/ya/securedownload?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=1_4191387_AEj PjkQAAHR1SHJBMA2iTFI7BqA&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename= e20080707aaindex_concat.html&cred=ATPnG4qjshIDa0ua pX0t49uk.nYSLDJyXx9W1hnkorxqLHGrbdN60L7CyM.b1SeB#T OP">RETURN TO TOP Washington Post July 7, 2008 Pg. 11 Fine Print GAO Cites Spiraling Costs Of New Weapons Programs By Walter Pincus The major weapons systems being developed and produced by the Defense Department will require $1.6 trillion to complete and $335 billion over the next five years -- money that may not be available because of the continuing cost of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office. In a follow-up to a report conducted last year, which found that the Pentagon "consistently commits to more programs than it can support," the GAO presses for more effective management of weapons systems. The current ones have "cost increases that add up to hundreds of millions of dollars, schedule delays that add up to years, and capabilities that fall short of what was promised," the report concludes. The GAO also found that funding problems were largely the result of accepting unrealistic original cost estimates -- in some cases 30 to 40 percent below current projections -- caused mainly by "optimistic assumptions about system requirements and critical technologies." Global Hawk, for example, is an unmanned, remotely piloted, high-altitude surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft. It can operate as much as 3,000 nautical miles from its launch area and can loiter over a target for 24 hours at altitudes greater than 60,000 feet. The original development estimate for the newest version, now called the RQ-4B, was $900 million; the first review incre |
