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 The Pentagon Early Bird 7 Nov, 2007 Please scroll down to headlines, then scroll down to that headlines number to read the full story. Use of these news articles does not reflect official endorsement. Reproduction for private use or gain is subject to original copyright restrictions. Story 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.) GATES TRIP
Yahoo.com November 7, 2007 Gates Cautious On North Korean Threat By Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea - The threat from North Korea has not been reduced despite its move this week to begin disabling its nuclear facilities, the South Korean defense minister said Wednesday as he wrapped up meetings with Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Gates was more cautious in his assessment of the threat, however, saying that North Korea has a long way to go on its road to de-nuclearization. "The North Korean nuclear and conventional threat remains the focal point of our alliance's deterrent and defensive posture," Gates told reporters at a news conference after a day of meetings between defense and military leaders from South Korea and the U.S. "We are started on a path (to de-nuclearization), but we are far from reaching our destination." Gates' South Korean hosts were far more critical about their communist neighbor to the North. "Although it's true that North Korea has begun the process of disabling its nuclear program, we cannot say that the threat from North Korea has reduced tangibly or discernibly," said South Korean Minister of National Defense Kim Jang-soo. "We don't have any intelligence to indicate coming to that sort of conclusion." Kim said that conclusion is also bolstered by the fact that it is certain that "North Korea is continuing to pursue the acquisition of asymmetrical weapons." Gates' more diplomatic tone underscores the sensitive nature of the six-nation talks leading to the start this week of North Korea's work to disable three major facilities at the main Yongbyon nuclear complex. And they reflect the U.S. desires to encourage North Korea's de-nuclearization. The meetings also come in the run-up to elections in South Korea next month. Gates was met with protesters at the hotel Tuesday, representing a faction who would like to see the U.S. more quickly transfer military bases to the South Koreans and give Seoul more responsibility for its own defense. Gates also declined to assess the likelihood of North Korea being taken off the U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism, once it disables its nuclear facilities. He would say only that the North will come off the list only after it meets specific criteria. Sung Kim, the State Department's top expert on Korea, said Tuesday that North Korean officials were being "very cooperative" and that work on disablement had begun at Yongbyon, 60 miles north of Pyongyang. That includes a 5-megawatt reactor that can generate plutonium for bombs, and nuclear fuel fabrication and reprocessing plants. North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in October of last year. In exchange for disabling the facilities, North Korea would receive economic aid and political concessions. Gates visit to South Korea is the second stop in a three-country swing through the region. He was in China earlier this week, and will go next to Japan. During the defense meetings here, Gates also told Kim that, "after more than 50 years, U.S. commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea is firm and unwavering." He added that while efforts to improve the alliance are improving, "we still have a lot more work to do." "It is my expectation that we will continue to play a role in the security of the peninsula for a long time, including past 2012," Gates said. So far, 23 of the U.S. camps — vestiges of the 1950-53 Korean War — have been transferred as part of a broader plan to have Seoul take over its own wartime command by 2012. There are 40 more to go. The number of U.S. troops in Korea — which was about 37,500 three years ago — has dipped to 28,000 and will end up at about 25,000 when the consolidation is complete. The South Korean military numbers about 680,000. <A name=e20071107559342.html> New York Times on the Web November 7, 2007 N. Korea Still Threat Despite Rollback: South SEOUL (Reuters) - The military threat posed by North Korea appears not to have decreased even though the reclusive state has taken its first steps to roll back its nuclear arms program, South Korea's defense minister said on Wednesday. "Although it is true that North Korea has begun the process is disabling its nuclear program, we cannot say that threat from North Korea has reduced tangibly or discernibly," Kim Jang-soo said after meeting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates. On Monday, North Korea started to decommission its nuclear complex that produces arms grade plutonium as part of a disarmament-for-aid deal it reached with regional powers. Kim said there was no intelligence to indicate the threat posed by North Korea had changed. "What is certain is that North Korea is continuing to pursue the acquisition of asymmetrical weapons. We cannot conclude that the threat from North Korea has been reduced," Kim said at a joint news conference. Kim and Gates discussed the South Korea-U.S. security alliance and how the allies would counter the threat posed by North Korea's 1.2 million man military. "The North Korean nuclear and conventional threat remains the focal point of our alliance for its deterrent and defense position," Gates said. <A name=e20071107559406.html> Yonhap.com November 7, 2007 S. Korean, U.S. Defense Chiefs Agree N. Korea Remains Security Threat By Lee Chi-dong, Yonhap SEOUL, Nov. 7 -- The defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States said Wednesday that North Korea's nuclear weapons and missiles remain a formidable threat to regional security despite progress in multilateral efforts to denuclearize the North. North Korea is believed to be developing, or have already developed, inter-continental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the west coast of the U.S., and last week U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said North Korea had sold Iran missiles with a range of 2,500 km. North Korea began disabling its nuclear facilities early this week and has pledged to submit a full list of its nuclear programs by the end of the year under a deal signed in October at the six-party talks, which also involve South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan. "My presence here reflects my government's concern for the developments here on the peninsula and how they affect the rest of the region. The North Korean nuclear and conventional threat remains the focal point of our alliance's deterrent and defense posture," Gates said after talks of about two hours with his South Korean counterpart Kim Jang-soo. Kim said he had "in-depth and constructive" discussions with Gates on pending alliance issues at the annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM). Gates, a former CIA director, said it is too early to conclude that the North's military threats have eased, although the communist nation has taken initial steps to abandon its nuclear program. "We have started on the path, but we are far from reaching our destination," Gates said. He emphasized that North Korea will only be removed from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism after it satisfies "all the criteria," including the declaration of all of its nuclear programs and several other steps. The South Korean defense minister agreed with Gates on the issue of North Korean threats, saying Seoul has no intelligence showing signs of decreased threats. Kim said the North is focusing on developing "asymmetric weapons," which the South does not have. In a joint communique released after the press conference, they also said "North Korea's continued development of weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles, along with the danger of the proliferation, were a challenge to the ROK-U.S. Alliance." ROK stands for South Korea's official name, Republic of Korea. Kim and Gates also emphasized the need to maximize the two nations' joint war readiness amid the "successful readjustment" of their alliance, which dates back to the 1950-53 Korean War. "Secretary Gates offered assurances of firm U.S. commitment and immediate support towards the ROK, including continuation of the extended deterrence offered by the U.S. nuclear umbrella, consistent with the ROK-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty," the joint communique read. While reaffirming Washington's commitment to the security of the Korean Peninsula, Gates indicated that the number of American troops here will be flexible. Currently, about 28,000 U.S. soldiers are stationed in South Korea, and the number will be reduced to 25,000 by the end of next year. "The level of our troops will depend on the security situation," Gates said. It will be decided in joint appraisal with South Korea, he added. The secretary also tried to quell worries over a possible change in the schedule to hand over wartime operational control (OPCON) of South Korean troops to Seoul in 2012. Conservatives here called for a delay in the OPCON transfer until South Korea is capable of taking care of its own security. They expect the next administration to re-negotiate the timetable. "Both sides pledged their fullest commitment to meeting agreed-upon benchmarks and timelines regarding the transition," he said. On the future of the United Nations Command, which monitors the cease-fire that ended the Korean War, Gates said a road map is in the process of being worked out and South Korea will assume the responsibility for maintaining the armistice. <A name=e20071107559351.html> Bloomberg.com November 7, 2007 Gates's China Talks Yield Understanding, No Shifts By Ken Fireman, Bloomberg News Two days of talks between U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chinese leaders in Beijing produced what both sides called a deeper understanding of each other's views. The meetings didn't produce any shifts in those views. Gates and other U.S. officials shrugged off the lack of movement and said progress would be a long-term project requiring patience. The visit was a success, they said, simply because the two sides aired their views in greater depth than ever before. ``I see this as an ongoing process rather than a one-time event,'' Gates told reporters yesterday as he toured the Forbidden City after meeting with President Hu Jintao and before heading to South Korea for talks later today. ``I hope what will come out of it is an ongoing dialogue.'' Such a dialogue will have plenty of issues to resolve. Hu and Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan agreed to future discussions about strategic issues, while offering no immediate answers to questions about the goals and scope of their country's military modernization. While the two countries agree that Iran shouldn't become a nuclear power, the Chinese leadership isn't ready to support a U.S. call for tougher economic sanctions and instead favors resolving the issue through more negotiations. Anger Over Taiwan Chinese officials reiterated their claim to rule Taiwan and their anger over what they regard as Taiwanese leaders' moves toward independence. Gates underscored the U.S. view that neither China nor Taiwan should make any moves to alter the status quo. Gates said he wanted future talks to go beyond ``each side having a set-piece response.'' He called for ``a longer-term dialogue about perceptions of threats, about a world that faces the threat of nuclear proliferation, and perhaps ways of finding some confidence-building measures along the way.'' Hu suggested that both sides profited from an exploration of each others' thinking. ``I believe that through this visit you will be able to have a better understanding and vice versa and it will be conducive for the building of a deeper trust between us,'' he told Gates at the start of their meeting in the Great Hall of the People. Seeking Transparency Gates, 64, came to Beijing for his first visit as defense secretary saying he was seeking clarity about China's decade- long drive to modernize its military. U.S. defense officials have complained for years that what they call China's lack of transparency about its military was giving rise to fears that the modernization program was aimed at changing the balance of power in Asia. U.S. officials addressed China's reluctance to step up pressure on Iran over its nuclear program because of the Chinese need for energy supplies to fuel economic growth. China relies on imports for almost half of its oil. Iran is the Middle East's second-biggest producer of crude, topped only by Saudi Arabia. Gates said he had dealt with the conundrum by telling the Chinese that ``an Iran that is a destabilizing force in the region is not in anyone's interest, including in China's. If one is interested in long-term energy security, then a stable Persian Gulf-Middle East area is a very high priority.'' Iran was China's third-biggest oil supplier through the first nine months of this year. Saudi Arabia and Angola were the top two sources. China's imports of crude from Iran rose 16.6 percent through September, compared with the year-earlier period, according to data from the Beijing-based Customs General Administration. `Dialogue' Needed Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said that China and the U.S. agree Iran shouldn't have nuclear weapons, while adding that China believes the issue should be resolved through dialogue. After concluding his talks in Beijing, Gates traveled to Seoul, where met with South Korean officials and discussed North Korea's nuclear weapons and other issues. After the meeting, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Jang Soo said he would need ``very real and tangible'' evidence that North Korea's nuclear program was no longer a threat, which he had yet to see. Yesterday, North Korea started disabling a nuclear reactor and other machinery at its Yongbon reactor site under the supervision of U.S. inspectors. On the North Korean moves, part of its agreement in February to end its nuclear program, Gates told reporters in Seoul: ``We are started on a path, but we are far from our destination.'' Gates will confer with Japanese leaders in Tokyo on Nov. 8 and 9 before returning to Washington. <A name=e20071107559141.html> Washington Post November 7, 2007 Pg. 4 Conferees Set Pentagon Budget By Walter Pincus, Washington Post Staff Writer House and Senate negotiators yesterday approved a $459 billion Defense Department appropriations bill that pays for weapons systems and annual military expenses but, at the insistence of Democrats, includes only a quarter of the $196 billion President Bush sought to continue fighting next year in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead, the remaining $146 billion for combat operations will be in a second bill that will also contain language about troop withdrawals. Both measures are likely to head to the House floor this week. Saying that the public wants the war to end, Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense, told reporters, "We'll take it step by step." The compromise bill includes $8.7 billion for the administration's missile defense program, but lawmakers eliminated $85 million that would have paid for preparing controversial missile interceptor sites in Poland and a targeting radar in the Czech Republic. The missile defense program has drawn strong objections from Russian President Vladimir Putin and is not popular with either Poles or Czechs. The House and Senate conferees halved money for developing the controversial Reliable Replacement Warhead program, which aims to produce a new nuclear warhead by 2012. The $15 million appropriated is limited to design and cost-study activities, a move that ensures that the next president, and not Bush, will decide whether to seek congressional approval for the new nuclear weapon. Lawmakers approved $11.6 billion to pay for Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles, which are being rushed to Iraq to better protect U.S. troops from makeshift bombs. Such weapons -- commonly known as improvised explosive devices, or IEDs -- have been a particularly lethal threat to U.S. soldiers. <A name=e20071107559202.html> New York Times November 7, 2007 Military Bill Approved, But Without Iraq Increase By Robert Pear WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 — House and Senate negotiators approved a $459 billion military spending bill on Tuesday, but rejected a Republican bid to provide $70 billion more to continue fighting the war in Iraq without any restrictions. Senior Democratic lawmakers said they would provide less money for the war, for a shorter time, with certain restrictions that are to be decided in the next few days. Senator Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska, urged the House and Senate negotiators to provide the $70 billion for six months of combat in Iraq, money separate from the regular Defense Department budget. Senator Robert C. Byrd, the West Virginia Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said: “This amendment would send to the president additional funding for his horrible, misguided war in Iraq without any Congressional direction that he change course. No strings attached. That would be a tragic mistake.” “No more blank checks for war funding,” Mr. Byrd declared. The new Democratic leaders of Congress have repeatedly been stymied in their efforts to bring troops back from Iraq or to force a change in President Bush’s war policies. But the Democrats made clear on Tuesday that they would try again to change course by using the power of the purse — what James Madison called “the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people.” Representative John P. Murtha, Democrat of Pennsylvania and chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, said: “The public wants this war over with. Many Democrats were elected because they said this war ought to end.” Mr. Murtha said he and Mr. Byrd would recommend “goals or timelines” for curtailing American military operations in Iraq. “Our goal,” he said, “would be to get everybody out” by the end of next year. Mr. Byrd said he had drafted legislative language that would send “a clear message to the president that we must transition the mission in Iraq to encourage Iraqis to take a much greater role in securing their future.” The restrictions would be added to a bill providing money — a maximum of $50 billion — to continue the Iraq war to next spring, Mr. Murtha said. The president has requested nearly $200 billion for the full year, but Democrats said they were unwilling to provide the full amount in a lump sum, without conditions. Short-term financing for the Iraq war is not included under the military spending bill that pays for weapons systems and the far-flung operations of the Defense Department in the budget year that began Oct. 1. Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Congress has approved some $412 billion for the Iraq war, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Most of the money has paid for military operations. In May, Mr. Bush vetoed a war spending bill on the ground that it would “set an arbitrary date for beginning the withdrawal of American troops” from Iraq. Military commanders, he said, should not have to take “fighting directions from politicians 6,000 miles away in Washington, D.C.” The White House could raise similar objections to the restraints now contemplated by Congressional Democrats. Republicans said the Democrats were trying to establish a “slow bleed strategy” in Iraq. “It’s just a political ploy to try to end the war by starving the troops,” Mr. Stevens said. The bill includes a 3.5 percent pay increase for all military personnel. That is one-half of a percentage point more than Mr. Bush requested. Congress has not completed work on any of the 12 annual appropriations bills. Attached to the Defense Department spending bill is a measure that would provide a short-term infusion of cash for other agencies, to allow them to continue spending at current levels through Dec. 14. In late September, just days before the start of the current fiscal year, Congress passed a stopgap spending bill for the entire government, but most of its provisions expire Nov. 16. Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, the Republican whip, predicted that most of the unfinished appropriations bills would be packed together in “a bloated omnibus money bill.” <A name=e20071107559336.html> Washington Post November 7, 2007 Pg. D4 Federal Diary Pay Raise For Military By Stephen Barr House and Senate negotiators yesterday approved a 3.5 percent pay raise for the military, slightly more than the 3 percent requested by the White House, as part of the fiscal 2008 defense appropriations bill. The negotiators dropped a House amendment that would have denied funds for the National Security Personnel System, which would more closely link raises for Defense civilians to their job performance ratings. The new system is opposed by unions, which contend it will gut collective-bargaining agreements. Any modifications to the system will be left to lawmakers who are preparing a bill that authorizes weapons and other Defense programs for next year, congressional aides said. <A name=e20071107559345.html> Arizona Daily Star (Tucson) November 7, 2007 House OKs Tax Benefits For Military Personnel By Associated Press WASHINGTON — Military personnel would receive tax benefits and access to low-interest home loans under legislation unanimously approved Tuesday in the House. The $2.3 billion bill, passed 410-0, is one of several expected to be taken up by the House this week to recognize veterans before Veterans Day. On Monday, the House approved legislation to protect the credit ratings of ser- vice members deployed overseas. The bills also need Senate consideration. The legislation makes permanent current law to include combat pay as earned income for purposes of the Earned Income Tax Credit, which refunds payroll and income taxes to low-income people. It also makes permanent Internal Revenue Service provisions to permit active-duty reservists to make penalty-free withdrawals from retirement plans and to allow employers to make retirement-plan contributions for an employee killed or disabled in combat. Recipients of military death benefit gratuities are allowed to roll over those amounts, tax-free, to Roth IRAs or education savings accounts. Thousands of veterans would be eligible for low-interest loans to become homeowners. The breaks also extend to other public servants such as Peace Corps and AmeriCorps volunteers, emergency responders and volunteer firefighters. <A name=e20071107559437.html> Washington Times November 7, 2007 Pg. 1 Security Review Changes Panned Foreign-firm order rebuffed By Bill Gertz, Washington Times Lawmakers from both parties yesterday challenged the Bush administration over a draft presidential order that they say will undermine a law designed to improve security reviews of foreign companies seeking to buy U.S. firms. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney said the draft executive order "seems to flatly contradict the law" passed to give security concerns more weight before the Treasury Department-led Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). "Our bipartisan bill gave significant direction to the agencies, including Treasury, charged with implementing it to ensure that the voice of each agency received proper weight in the consensus process," said Mrs. Maloney, the bill's sponsor. The New York Democrat's comments came in response to the disclosure of the order by The Washington Times, which would make the Treasury secretary the "sole authority" for CFIUS. Security officials said that limits the authority of the Justice and Homeland Security departments and the Pentagon to require security "mitigation agreements." Rep. Peter Hoekstra, a Michigan Republican who was active in the CFIUS reform legislation, said the draft order is "problematic" because of its lack of national-security focus. "This doesn't mirror or follow the law," Mr. Hoekstra said. "While the draft order is preliminary, if it comes out in this final format, I think there will be considerable issues [in Congress] with what they're proposing." The draft executive order will provide implementing rules for the Foreign Investment and National Security Act, a response to the failed bid last year by United Arab Emirates-based Dubai Ports World to take over operations at six major U.S. ports. The Justice, Defense and Homeland Security departments outlined their concerns that the draft order is not security-focused, despite the requirement of the law. The three agencies listed 11 issues and recommendations to correct the draft order so it reflects national-security concerns. In the Senate, a spokesman for Sen. Richard C. Shelby, Alabama Republican and ranking member of the banking committee, said the proposed implementing rules are being watched closely. Jonathan Graffeo, the spokesman, said it was premature to comment on the order but noted that "we are being kept abreast of the situation and will continue to closely monitor the implementation of the law." A Bush administration national security official said the new order, if signed by the president in its current form, would undermine the current CFIUS review of the planned merger of 3Com and Huawei Technology. Huawei, a Chinese firm that is linked to that country's military, had been involved in violating U.N. sanctions against Iraq. Under the current process, Dan Price, the White House deputy national security adviser for economic affairs, would have the power to resolve all issues related to the 3Com-Huawei deal over any objections from security agencies, the official said. The 3Com deal was submitted to CFIUS and is expected to be opposed by the Defense, Justice and Homeland Security departments and some U.S. intelligence agencies over concerns that the merger will boost Chinese military computer network attack operations, defense officials said. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. was forced to recuse himself from the CFIUS review of the merger, which also includes Bain Capital Partners, because Mr. Paulson's former firm, Goldman Sachs, is advising 3Com. White House spokesman Tony Fratto had no comment yesterday. Mrs. Maloney said Treasury officials have been asked to "come up to Capitol Hill and explain to me in person what is going on with the implementation of the new CFIUS law." "It was Congress' intent that this law be quickly implemented," she said. "And, if the administration is impeding that, we need to find out why." S.A. Miller contributed to this report. <A name=e20071107559350.html> Inside Missile Defense November 7, 2007 Senate Rejects Millions In Foreign Assistance To Czech Republic The United States has quietly scrapped plans to provide millions in foreign assistance to the Czech Republic, a NATO ally that Defense Secretary Robert Gates thanked last month in Prague for supporting U.S. policies. The Senate Armed Services Committee last month rejected the Pentagon’s plans to spend $14.6 million on chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) incident-response equipment and communications gear for the Czech Republic, arguing these projects were not “urgent and emerging military needs.” The panel similarly blocked plans to spend $250,000 on teaching English to Croatian troops. These rejections are part of a wider debate between the Bush administration and Congress over how to use the Pentagon’s relatively new “global train and equip” authority, the proposed funding source for the projects. This authority, also known as the Section 1206 program, lets DOD boost the capacity of foreign militaries, a task traditionally handled by the State Department. But DOD is also required to get permission for each project from Congress. Lawmakers see the account as a way to address urgent and emerging military needs -- which is exactly how the Pentagon promotes it. The program is an “investment tool to respond to current threats before they become full-blown crises,” according to a DOD budget appeal sent to Congress this month. Capitol Hill granted the vast majority of the Pentagon’s fiscal year 2007 requests for the program, including projects in Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans and the Caucasus. But the committee decided the proposals for the Czech Republic and Croatia were not urgent needs in countries lacking the capacity to conduct counterterrorism operations. Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Karen Finn confirmed the panel “identified three programs as not meeting their interpretation of the intent of the legislation.” The committee saw no reason, for instance, to pay millions for CBRN-response capabilities that the Czech Republic has committed to develop for NATO. The post-Communist state is the lead nation for all CBRN efforts within the alliance. The Pentagon wanted to spend $6 million to buy the Czech Republic two mobile detection vehicles, two all-terrain vehicles, medical support gear, systems to decontaminate personnel and equipment, heavy protective suits and robots to deal with explosive devices, logistics equipment and a mobile decontamination training facility, according to documents reviewed by sister publication Inside the Pentagon. DOD also wanted to spend $8.6 million on secure, tactical communications gear for the Czech Republic. This would have included 130 multiband radios and contractor-provided training. In both cases, the department wanted to have the items under contract or ordered for the Czech Republic by Sept. 30. But in a Sept. 10 missive to DOD, the committee rejected the two efforts in the NATO country, as well as plans to fund English language training for Croatian troops. On Sept. 11, the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee cut $19.9 million from the Pentagon’s $105 million reprogramming request for Section 1206 projects, permitting DOD to use the remaining $85 million. DOD implemented that cut by deleting the projects in the Czech Republic and Croatia and trimming funding slightly for approved projects in Bahrain, the Philippines, Mexico and Kazakhstan. Under current law, DOD, in conjunction with the State Department, can spend $300 million annually on the program. The Bush administration has sought unsuccessfully to get Congress to increase the spending cap to $500 million and grant permanent authority for the program in the FY-08 budget. House and Senate appropriators, as well as House and Senate authorizers, have opposed those ambitions. The House version of the FY-08 defense appropriations bill deletes all funding for the program. The Senate version of the bill provides $300 million, but strongly recommends moving the program into the State Department’s budget. In an appeal sent to Congress last week, DOD argues it needs the full $500 million and the program should remain in the defense budget. --Christopher J. Castelli <A name=e20071107559157.html> USA Today November 7, 2007 Pg. 1 Troops at Risk -- IEDs in Iraq Destroy Or Investigate? A Commander's Choice New 'blow and go' policy complicates push to track bombmakers By Blake Morrison and Peter Eisler, USA Today During their last six months in Baghdad last year, Navy Lt. Sarah Wilson and her team of explosive ordnance disposal technicians said goodbye to each other more than 70 times. Each time they were called to dismantle a roadside bomb, they'd bump fists. Then, Wilson says, "we'd all say we love each other because if we never got to say anything else" — if the bomb ended up exploding — "we wanted to be able to say goodbye." After they arrived at the scene, they would often begin a perilous, painstaking task: taking apart the bombs, bagging the components and sending the parts back to a unit that analyzes them, much as investigators do on the television show CSI. They were willing to take such risks, Wilson says, because "it's the best shot our guys on the ground have of … catching the bad guys." If forensic teams can lift a fingerprint or identify materials used in a series of bombs, "we can connect him," says Wilson, 27. "We know he's a bombmaker." When roadside bombs became the insurgency's weapon of choice in Iraq, explosives disposal teams became increasingly important in efforts to protect U.S. troops and crack the bombmaking networks. But now, top military officials appear to be compromising efforts to catch bombmakers in favor of expedience and mobility, a USA TODAY investigation shows. A classified order, issued May 30 and reviewed by USA TODAY, gives commanders the authority to forgo calling in explosives technicians like Wilson to glean intelligence from improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. Instead, commanders may use engineers traveling with their regular units to simply detonate the bombs — without gathering evidence from them. Engineers receive about 10% of the explosives training of technicians, and they're not allowed to dismantle bombs. Commanders and others see the process, dubbed "blow and go," as a way to keep convoys and combat teams moving and safe from snipers and ambushes. But the Army's new approach also runs counter to military doctrine — and to the Pentagon's long-term goal of getting one step ahead of the insurgency by learning about the networks that build, plant and trigger IEDs. The weapon is responsible for at least 60% of U.S. casualties in Iraq. "The blow-and-go strategy undermines and compromises those overall efforts by losing key biometrics and evidence needed to identify and capture the network of insurgents," says Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Texas, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee and chairman of the subcommittee on military readiness. "This is a huge step backward in the long-term effort to prevent IED attacks from occurring in the first place," Ortiz says, "and puts the troops at risk of facing more IED attacks for a long time to come." The head of the Army Asymmetric Warfare Office, which helps combat forces counter IEDs, also is concerned. "What are we accomplishing by blowing and going?" asks Col. Dick Larry. "You rid yourself of that one device, but the problem is … you have not gotten any kind of exploitative information off it." In July, a USA TODAY investigation showed that, until last year, the Pentagon balked at pleas from officers in the field for safer vehicles to protect against IEDs. One of the explanations offered by Defense officials for not spending more money on the life-saving armor: that the military's focus was on stopping bombmaking networks before they planted the explosives. In its annual report last year, the military's Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), called attacking the networks "the lynchpin of our success." Its deputy director, Robin Keesee, estimated last month that as many as 160 such insurgent cells have been identified in Iraq. And the organization's report listed forensic analysis of bombs — determining how the devices were manufactured, and what parts and types of explosives were used — among the efforts that were providing "unprecedented" intelligence capability. Among the successes touted by the Pentagon: linking Iran to a particularly dangerous incarnation of the IED, the explosively formed penetrator. "Iranian TNT blocks removed from their packages have been seen on numerous occasions as IED components," according to a Feb. 11 Pentagon PowerPoint presentation in Baghdad. "I don't want to give away the king's secrets here, but yes, (forensic analysis) was fruitful," says Paul Plemmons, a retired Army colonel who used to command a task force that dismantled bombs. "A bomber is a bomber, and they leave signatures. We saw patterns. We could track patterns." "We know the engineers are not going to collect forensic data, and the way you defeat that weapon is getting at the forensics," Plemmons says. "We may lose the one device that will lead us to take a whole cell down if you blow and go." JIEDDO spokeswoman Christine DeVries would not characterize the importance of such analysis, saying that the group is wary about giving too much information to the enemy. But she did say it is "one of the tools that have enabled forces in theater to eliminate a significant number of IED cells." When U.S. forces invaded Iraq in March 2003, few foresaw how prevalent or deadly roadside bombs would become. But by that fall, IEDs had emerged as the biggest threat to troops, and the teams that would dismantle the bombs — the explosives technicians — were stretched thin. In the first months of the war, only a few dozen technicians were in Iraq. Today, including commanders, more than 500 are deployed, many embedded within units. "When we were first there, the rules of engagement were, 'Let's just destroy all these IEDs,' " recalls Marine Master Sgt. Michael Burghardt, an explosives technician. During the past two years, Burghardt says, that approach changed. When he was working in Ramadi, Burghardt says, he was collecting intelligence from about 90% of the IEDs he handled. Today, explosives technician teams try to collect evidence from "every scene," says Army Col. Karl Reinhard, who commands the Army, Navy and Air Force explosives disposal teams in Iraq. From December 2006 through September 2007, he says technicians have handled more than 6,000 IEDs. Since the war began, he says, records show about 80,000 such bombs were planted. "Some of the information we would glean would be negligible. Other times, it would be important," Reinhard says. The danger of blowing and going, he says, is that "you never know which needle in the haystack is going to be an important needle." Military doctrine — specifically, a publication titled Barriers, Obstacles and Mine Warfare for Joint Operations and prepared by the Joint Chiefs of Staff — reinforces the unique role of explosives disposal teams. The document, dated April 26, characterizes the work of those teams as "an essential part of the overall effort to develop a detailed forensic database to target centers of gravity in the IED system." "In addition to developing actionable intelligence to support future operations," the document says, reports from explosives disposal teams have "an immediate impact on refining unit level force protection-related tactics, techniques and procedures." Since 2006, the military has taken significant steps to get more explosives disposal teams throughout the war zone. Col. Kevin Lutz, an explosives technician set to replace Reinhard next year, says the military has tripled the number of explosives disposal teams in Iraq during the past 18 months — going from about 50 to about 150 three-person teams. Even so, when the tech teams are called to an IED, getting them to the site and letting them gather the intelligence often takes time. Sometimes, the delay is 30 minutes. Occasionally, it extends for hours. Engineers have been lobbying to take a more active approach in destroying roadside bombs for the past few years, Lutz and others say. The engineers' traditional mission — to breach obstacles to keep units mobile — was arguably more important during the invasion of Iraq than it is now, given the military's current role policing the country. Nevertheless, officials set up a training course, taught by explosives technicians, to help prepare engineers to detonate IEDs. Reinhard says those engineers receive less than 100 hours of training. Explosives technicians train for more than 1,100 hours, he says. On May 30, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the second-ranking U.S. commander in Iraq, issued the order that empowers commanders to let engineers blow and go. "The intent of the order was to allow qualified individuals to detonate explosives rather than waiting for others who may not be readily available," explains Brig. Gen. Michael Silva, an Army engineer who says he lobbied Odierno for the change. "It was a way to improve the efficiency of the route clearing team operations so we were actually enabling the soldiers to do the job that they needed to get done." An instructor who teaches engineers at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri says the order makes sense. "If you look at IEDs as just an obstacle, one of the engineer functions is just to remove obstacles," says Maj. Eric Goser, executive officer of the Counter Explosive Hazard Center. "Bottom line: The IED to an engineer is no different than a log obstacle," Goser says. "A log … is an obstacle. You deal with that obstacle in a certain way." Goser's logic troubles explosives technicians. "The difference is, the log obstacle won't kill you," says Reynold Hoover, a former explosives technician who worked as a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and served in the first Gulf War. "You're gaining mobility," Hoover says, "but what you're losing is the ability to find the bombmaker and the supply chain." Moreover, the amount of time saved by blowing and going may not be much, Reinhard says. He says a study done this year by his task force estimates "the expected value of the time they could save would be 20 minutes, on average." "Nobody wants to sit out on the battlefield for three to four hours," he says. "Two or three years ago, they were waiting that long. It's definitely not like that any more." Statistics on response times are classified, but Reinhard says explosives technicians are now able to arrive relatively quickly at IED sites. "For instance, in the north, 85% of the responses in the last week of September were 90 minutes or less," he says. Lutz says a long wait for explosives technicians today is "an outlier." Engineer Silva, who is no longer on active duty, is skeptical. He believes information released by the explosives technicians may be "skewed" against giving engineers more of a role. "My belief is that there was a parochialism engaged there — parochial in the fact that they want to be the only ones … blowing" IEDs, Silva says of explosives technicians. It's unclear how often commanders have used the blow-and-go approach. Reinhard says records he reviewed showed engineers detonated "approximately 120" IEDs from June through mid-October — about one a day. But Army Col. Peter DeLuca, commander of the 20th Engineering Brigade, estimates engineers he oversees blow and go at least three or four IEDs each day — far more than the records reviewed by Reinhard indicate. "There's been a ramp-up," Reinhard explains. "They may both be true" he says of the figures. Others aren't certain. "No one is keeping good track of that," says Larry, who heads the Army's anti-IED efforts. "How do we know what they're doing," he says of engineers, "if they don't report it?" Odierno's order specifies that engineers can only detonate relatively simple IEDs, using devices such as robots and the robotic arm of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles — machines that keep troops out of harm's way. "We have very, very strict limitations about what we are and what we're not supposed to blow up," says Army Spc. Walter Hayden, the 1st Platoon team leader with the 1203rd Engineer Battalion. "If I ever have any kind of doubt," he says, he calls in explosives technicians. Silva says he can see the amount handled by engineers growing — and the limitations on engineers being lifted as training improves. To date, neither DeLuca nor Reinhard believes any engineers have been hurt while blowing and going. Despite reservations, Reinhard says he doesn't "object to the engineers doing this provided that they can live within the bounds that sometimes you need to pause and take the time to exploit." But some explosives technicians fear that engineers will overstep their mission — and make deadly mistakes. Burghardt says he and his team dismantled more than 900 IEDs during his three tours in Iraq. The one that detonated — the one that left six holes in his body, cracked his tailbone, threw him 10 feet and knocked him unconscious in September 2005, despite the protective gear he wore — was unlike any he had seen. "It was the first time we saw the tactic of where they double stacked it," says Burghardt, 37, now stationed at Camp Fuji, Japan. "I was standing on top of the device when I was clearing it … and they just leave enough earth in between" that the device beneath the other IED was difficult to spot. Burghardt's experience is what makes explosives technicians wary of the new order — particularly, the idea that engineers will be able to discern a simple IED from a more sophisticated one. "What's simple?" Burghardt asks rhetorically. "You're not going to know that until it's too late." Such mistakes put troops and civilians at risk. In a 2005 paper for the Marine Corps War College, Lutz chronicled cases in which mistakes by engineers cost lives. Two different cases during the first Gulf War in 1991 "led to the massive chemical exposure and contamination of thousands of coalition forces and non-combatants, and the loss of seven United States soldiers," Lutz wrote. The reason for one of the mishaps at As Salman Airfield in Iraq: "Engineers were clearing munitions they were unfamiliar with and that turned out to be some of the most deadly unexploded ordnance our inventory can produce." He wrote that, "buried within the … investigations, point papers, after-action reports, lessons learned from the various units (now in Iraq) … one can find repetitive incidents where the improper destruction of (explosives) led to severe contamination of the surrounding area and caused injury, death and destruction of equipment and facilities to both United States Armed Forces and to the local Iraqi civilian population." Explosives technician Plemmons put it more tersely. He says the difference between an engineer and an explosives technician handling an IED is like the difference between "your physician's assistant" and "an orthopedic surgeon." Contributing: Tom Vanden Brook <A name=e20071107559187.html> New York Times November 7, 2007 2007 Is Deadliest Year For U.S. Troops In Iraq By Damien Cave BAGHDAD, Nov. 6 — Six American soldiers were killed in three separate attacks in Iraq on Monday, the military said Tuesday, taking the number of deaths this year to 852. The toll makes 2007 the deadliest year of the war for United States troops. Military officials announced the discovery of a mass grave holding 22 bodies in a rural area north of Falluja. They also said that nine Iranians being held in Iraq would soon be released, including two of the five who were detained during a January raid of a consulate office in Erbil. Five of the American soldiers died in two roadside bomb attacks on Monday near Kirkuk, said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, director of the communications division of the Multinational Force-Iraq, the formal name for the United States-led forces. A sixth soldier died Monday during combat operations in Anbar Province, according to a military statement. The deaths occurred only a few days after the military announced a steep drop in the rate of American deaths this year. In October, 38 American service members died in Iraq, the lowest monthly tally since March 2006, according to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count (icasualties.org), an independent Web site that tracks military deaths. November’s total, if the current pace continues, would be higher, but still below the war’s average of 69 American military deaths per month. Despite the decline, American commanders acknowledged that 2007 would be far deadlier than the second-worst year, 2004, when 849 Americans died, many of them in major battles for control of insurgent strongholds like Falluja. Military officials attribute the increase this year to an expanded troop presence during the so-called surge, which swelled the American force to more than 165,000 troops in Iraq, and sent units out of large bases and into more dangerous communities. Commanders contend that despite the cost in terms of lives lost, the strategy has improved security in the country and created a “tactical momentum” that could stabilize Iraq permanently. The pending release of the Iranians may reflect American approval of some signs that Iran is cooperating with the United States’ demand that it stanch the flow of materials into Iraq used to make deadly roadside bombs known as explosively formed projectiles, or E.F.P.’s. Admiral Smith said that the E.F.P. components found recently during raids “do not appear to have arrived here in Iraq after those pledges were made,” suggesting that Iran has limited trafficking of the weapon parts across the border after promising to do so. American commanders have stopped short of declaring that Iran has in fact complied with the United States’ demands, and Admiral Smith on Tuesday described the plan to release nine Iranian prisoners not as a diplomatic reward, but rather as the perfunctory end to a criminal investigation. “These individuals have no continuing value, nor do they pose a further threat to Iraqi security,” he said. Admiral Smith did not say why the two Iranians who were among five captured in January at an Iranian Consulate office in Erbil had been held for nine months, after Iran insisted that they were harmless government workers. The military did not identify any other Iranians who were released or still being held. Iraqi officials welcomed the announcement of the prisoners’ release. Muhammad al-Haj Hamud, Iraq’s deputy foreign minister, said the release would “improve the relations between” Iraq, Iran and the United States before another round of planned meetings on security. “We want good relations with Iran and for Iran to avoid conducting any actions inside Iraq,” he said. “At the same time, the Iraqi government is keen to maintain its relationship with its first and strongest ally, the United States of America.” Violence against Iraqis continued Tuesday. The mass grave was found Saturday during a joint American-Iraqi operation in the Tharthar Lake area, a desolate rural region near the site of another grave, holding 25 bodies, that was found less than a month ago. Local police officials said the bodies had been dumped in and around an abandoned building. “Some were buried in wells, and some were left in rooms used as prisons,” said a police officer who helped clear the graves. “These corpses are part of what we expect to find more of in the future.” Just south of Kirkuk, the police said that clashes with Iraqi and American forces on Tuesday left four gunmen dead. In a separate attack, gunmen killed the mayor of a small village about 30 miles south of Kirkuk, and wounded his son, as they drove to a neighboring town. A member of the governing council in Mosul was assassinated in a neighborhood on the city’s outskirts, the authorities said, and six police officers died when they were ambushed while driving to work. In Baghdad, the police found four dead bodies: two east of the Tigris River, and two to the west. A roadside bomb exploded near an American patrol near Zawra Park in western Baghdad, and a second bomb exploded in Karada, a central Baghdad neighborhood, an Interior Ministry official said. The official said it was unclear if there were any casualties. South of the capital, in Latifiya, a bomb set for a joint Iraqi-American foot patrol killed one Iraqi soldier. North of Hilla, the authorities found the body of a man in his 20s floating in a small river. He had been stabbed to death. Ahmad Fadam contributed reporting from Baghdad, and Iraqi employees of The New York Times from Falluja, Kirkuk, Mosul and Hilla. <A name=e20071107559142.html> Washington Post November 7, 2007 Pg. 14 2007 Toll A Record For U.S. In Iraq But Casualties Have Plummeted Since the Summer By Amit R. Paley, Washington Post Foreign Service BAGHDAD, Nov. 6 -- The U.S. military announced Tuesday that five soldiers and a sailor had been killed a day earlier, making 2007 the deadliest year for American troops since the start of the war in Iraq. The record death toll of at least 852 U.S. military personnel killed this year underscores the high cost of the American troop increase, launched in February, which has begun to drive down the sectarian violence that once gripped much of the country. "The strategy was to interject our soldiers between the Iraqi citizens and the terrorists, insurgents and militias," Lt. Col. Douglas A. Ollivant, chief of plans for American forces in Baghdad, said in an interview. "A regrettable consequence of that is your casualties go up." But the grim milestone belied a more optimistic trend: Troop casualties have declined sharply since early summer. In October, the death toll for U.S. troops fell to 38, its lowest level since March 2006, according to Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, a Web site that tracks military fatalities more rapidly than the Pentagon makes its numbers public. Lt. Col. Dale Kuehl, a battalion commander in western Baghdad, said fighting in the spring had helped secure local neighborhoods. He said there had not been a roadside bomb attack in his area of operations for three months and no mortar or rocket attacks since July. "In general, the area is quiet," Kuehl wrote in an e-mail. "The past year has been an emotional roller coaster. I have had some of the worst days of my life . . . but I also have felt a strong sense of accomplishment." "I am confident that we have established a much more secure environment for the people we have been tasked to protect," Kuehl added. "However, a part of me is afraid to believe what we have accomplished, knowing what it has cost to get us to today." The deaths of the six troops Monday served as a collective reminder of the dangers the U.S. military still faces in Iraq. In the northern province of Tamim, four soldiers were killed by an explosion near their vehicle while they conducted combat operations, the military said. In nearby Salahuddin province, a sailor was killed by an explosion, it said. And in western Anbar province, once a stronghold of Sunni extremism but now relatively calm, the military said a soldier was killed while conducting combat operations. The attacks brought the total death toll for American troops in Iraq this year to 852, higher than the 849 killed in 2004, when most of the casualties came during large-scale conventional battles, according to Iraq Coalition Casualty Count. Col. J.B. Burton, commander of the Dagger Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, based in northwestern Baghdad, said pitched fighting in May and June was a necessary part of the U.S. counterinsurgency plan. "We had to get off these bases and get into the neighborhoods where the enemy was," he said. "We saw an increase in violence, but it enabled us to talk to citizens and cause al-Qaeda to lose control of their sanctuaries to the point where they're ineffective." The Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq has asserted responsibility for some of the worst violence in the country. In June, Burton's unit was seeing up to 600 violent events a day and more than 50 U.S. soldiers killed or wounded every month. Now the numbers are dramatically lower. "Our last combat-related death -- knock on wood -- was in September," Burton said. Across Baghdad, the number of American troops killed has plummeted from 58 in both May and June to 14 last month, according to Ollivant, the chief of plans for the U.S. military in the capital. "It looks like the beginning of a long-term trend to us, and we are, as we always say, cautiously optimistic," he said. "We suspected we were going to have to pay a price up front as the cost of implementing" the counterinsurgency strategy, Ollivant said. "That is regrettable, and we miss every one we lost. But from where we sit now, it looks like those sacrifices have paid off." At a news conference in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith said the violence would be far worse were it not for U.S. troops' success in discovering stockpiles of weapons. "Simply put, it's the fuel that drives the insurgency that has led to the death and destruction witnessed here in Iraq for the past several years," said Smith, a U.S. military spokesman. Because of the troop increase this year, the number of weapons caches discovered has more than doubled, from 2,667 in all of 2006 to 5,364 so far this year, Smith said. In other indicators of a decline in violence, Smith said, mortar and rocket attacks across Iraq have decreased from more than 1,000 a month in May and June to fewer than 400 in October, and the number of roadside bombs has tumbled from about 65 a day in the fall of 2006 to less than 30 a day now. Meanwhile, violence against Iraqis continued across the country. A mass grave containing 22 bodies in the Lake Tharthar region of Anbar province was discovered over the weekend by Iraqi soldiers, the military said. Near Samarra, a suicide bomber driving a car filled with explosives blew up near a police commando checkpoint, killing five policemen and one civilian, police Lt. Haidar Kadhim said. Twelve other people were wounded. And in Mosul, a member of the governing council, Aref Youssif al-Shabki, was assassinated, an Interior Ministry official said. Three of his bodyguards were also seriously wounded. Staff writer Josh White and staff researcher Robert E. Thomason in Washington, correspondent Sudarsan Raghavan in Madrid and other Washington Post staff in Iraq contributed to this report. <A name=e20071107559144.html> Washington Post November 7, 2007 Pg. 14 U.S. Says It Will Release Nine Of 20 Iranians Captured In Iraq By Robin Wright, Washington Post Staff Writer The United States will release nine of 20 Iranians captured in Iraq on the grounds that they no longer threaten American or Iraqi forces, Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith said in Baghdad yesterday. But the U.S. military will continue to detain 11 other Iranians, including the highest-ranking or "most troubling," and three detained in a controversial U.S. raid in the northern city of Irbil in January, a senior U.S. official said. All 20 detainees are known or suspected members of Iran's elite Quds Force, the arm of the Revolutionary Guard Corps responsible for Iran's foreign operations and recently sanctioned by the Bush administration as a supporter of terrorism, the officials said. Until yesterday, the United States had acknowledged holding only eight Iranians. The status of the captured Iranians is so diplomatically and militarily sensitive that it has been reviewed by the White House. President Bush was briefed on the decision, which was made on the recommendation of military officials after weeks of deliberation, U.S. sources said. The move follows a recent pledge by Iran to the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to stop arming, funding and training extremists in Iraq. It also comes at a critical juncture in the standoff between Washington and Tehran over Iran's suspected nuclear program, its intervention in Iraq and its resupply of arms to Lebanon's Hezbollah militia. In Baghdad, the U.S. military also briefed reporters on about 5,300 weapons caches discovered by U.S. and Iraqi forces this year -- twice the number found in all of 2006 and much of the material from Iran, Smith said. The caches include roadside bomb components, rockets, mortars, C4 explosives, land mines and rocket-propelled grenades. Smith noted that the two latest caches appear to have arrived before Iran's assurances to Iraq. "We hope in the coming weeks and months to confirm that Iran has indeed honored its pledge through further verification that the flow of munitions and other lethal aid has stopped," he said. U.S. officials also said that they expect a new round of U.S.-Iran talks in Baghdad this month between mid-level diplomats, possibly followed by a meeting between the U.S. and Iranian ambassadors. The talks had been put on hold since summer because of the earlier lack of progress. A senior Iraqi official said the Iranians' release reflects growing recognition that Iran has been playing a less provocative role in Iraq recently, evident in fewer U.S. deaths caused by roadside bombs and in restraint by Shiite militias on U.S. targets. "There is wide acceptance of the notion that over the past month or two, they have been less problematic in Iraq," he said. Last month, 18 U.S. troops were killed by roadside bombs, more than a 50 percent decline from the same month last year, when 37 died from materiel linked to Iranian suppliers, the U.S. military said. The U.S. death toll has also abated since radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has been in Iran for much of this year, ordered his forces in August to stop attacks against U.S. and Iraqi troops for as long as six months. The administration is reserving judgment. "If Iran is changing its strategy and trying to play a productive role in Iraq, then we'd welcome that, and we hope to see that," said National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe. "But we think it's too early to tell whether Iran is willing to play a more constructive role inside Iraq. They have made pledges before. "These Iranians were released because they were no longer of intelligence value, nor did they pose continued risk, and so it was decided in Baghdad that they should be released and returned to Iran," he said. The decision to release nine Iranians reflects a shift. Last month, Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the top commander of day-to-day operations in Iraq, said he would urge that the five Iranians captured in Irbil not be freed. "Militarily, we should hold on to them," he told reporters and editors at The Washington Post on Oct. 5. But last week, Odierno said there had been a sharp decline in one type of roadside bomb, known as an explosively formed penetrator, or EFP, that can shatter the steel of armored Humvees. Three of the Iranians who will remain in U.S. custody were among five picked up during the raid in Irbil in January. Iran and Iraq said the raid was on a recognized Iranian diplomatic facility. The United States will also not release Mahmudi Farhudi, who was recently captured on charges of importing Iranian arms to Iraq. U.S. officials allege that he is a senior Quds Force commander. Correspondent Amit Paley in Baghdad contributed to this report. <A name=e20071107559170.html> USA Today November 7, 2007 Pg. 16 Calmer Anbar Means U.S. Forces May Take Trim Plan calls for cut of 4- 5 battalions; some could go elsewhere in Iraq, others home By Jim Michaels, USA Today WASHINGTON — The U.S. command in Anbar province has plans that could cut one-third of the coalition's combat battalions by next spring, reflecting improved security in what was among the deadliest regions in Iraq. "We'll see forces start to rotate out pretty soon," said Marine Brig. Gen. John Allen, deputy commander of Multi-National Force-West. "We'll be significantly smaller this time next year." The plan is based on successes against al-Qaeda and improved capabilities of Iraqi security forces in the region, Allen said, rather than any pressure to reduce U.S. forces. Allen said the current plan could lead to a reduction of four or five battalions. There are a total of 13 battalions, including Army and Marine units, in the province. Battalions are generally about 1,000 troops. Some of the Army battalions could be sent elsewhere in Iraq. Marine battalions would have completed their tours and would return home without being replaced, if the plan goes into effect. "They're not a peace dividend," Allen said. "There's a lot of work still to be done in that province." There are thousands of support troops in the area in addition to the combat battalions. Altogether, there are about 36,000 U.S. troops in Anbar. The command said it expects the province will be turned over to Iraqi control in March, a sign that the region's governance and security forces have matured. Eight of Iraq's 18 provinces have been returned to Iraqi control, according to the coalition headquarters in Baghdad. U.S. combat deaths in Anbar have dropped to an average of about one per week since June from about one a day for the same period last year, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Pentagon data. Allen was in Washington recently with Anbar Gov. Maamoun Sami Rashid al-Awani, who met with President Bush last week. The governor said he was in the United States in an effort to attract investment and build cultural ties. Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. |
