Marines, soldiers save lives as fire scorches camp

[thedrifter]

Marines, soldiers save lives as fire scorches camp
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 20047954654
Story by Sgt. Jose L. Garcia



CANP AL ASAD, Iraq(07/07/2004) -- A fire ripped through tents here July 7th, burning the belongings of more than a hundred Marines just days before they were slated to return to the United States.

There were no injuries or fatalities. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The blaze was brought under control by Marine and Army firefighters from Marine Wing Support Squadron 273 and the Army's 767th Engineer Team.

"We saw smoke in the distance so we came just to see what it was and turns out we made a good call," said Cpl. Joseph J. Giasson, 21, from Harlan, Iowa and the P-19A crew chief with MWSS-273.

By the time firefighters arrived, two huge tents used by Marines as a berthing area burned and more were in danger. The smoke was a thousand-feet wide and the flames licked the sky at 75 feet high.

"We had to hurry and get the water lines out to fight the fire close to the other tents," Giasson said.

"Tent fires are dangerous because they burn fast," said Army Sgt. Obie A. Myers, 27, from Dallas Center, Iowa, and a firefighter with 767 Engineer Team. "You have to have respect for it and the first thing to do is find the base of it."

Adding to the danger was ammunition left inside the tent. Rounds cooked off in the searing heat, raising the stakes of gaining control of the fire.

"We had to protect the burning assets and cool of the ammo first," Myers said. "Everyone on duty came as fast as possible and time was a huge factor. Responding quickly helped us control the fire."

"There was a little confusion at first but once we got together on the strategy, we took care of it and did a good job," Giasson said.

Firemen fought the summer desert heat even as they battled the flames. Some paused for water to cool off and hydrate.

"I considered my self in great shape but the heat made it difficult," said Lance Cpl. Matthew D. Richerd, 23, from Covington, La., a firefighter with MWSS-273, "This was definitely the hardest fire I have ever dealt with in these circumstances."

Marines from 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment scurried alongside the firefighters to gather their gear as the flames crept closer. The battalion recently arrived in Iraq and the blaze threatened to consume their gear as well. The flames were as close as 10 feet from reaching their tent.

"I grabbed as much as I could and left. I just ran and got out of the way," said Pfc. Donald A. Bills, 22, from Orlando, Fla. and a machine gunner with the battalion. "I feel bad for the other Marines whose stuff got lost."

Not everyone was fortunate to recover their gear, left standing with just the clothes on their backs. A total of 141 Marines from 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment lost it all.

"I'm glad all the Marines made it out safely and no one was injured despite of all the loss," said Cpl. Cedric C. Jordan, from Abbeville, La., an embark logistics specialist with 3rd battalion, 4th Marine Regiment. "That's all that matters right now.

"I just feel relieved," added the 21-year-old. "It could have been a chaotic situation if someone would have been injured. Materials can be replaced but Marines can't. Our brother companies came together and put in extra gear they had - including cammies - to share with everyone who lost everything in the fire, the way it's supposed to be."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/20047955020/$file/fire1lr.jpg

Marine and Army firefighters fought a fire for more than an hour in the heat and through the smoke in Camp Al Asad, July 7. The flames were as close as 10 feet from reaching other tents. A total of 141 Marines 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment lost all their belongings.
(USMC photo by Sgt. Jose L. Garcia) Photo by: Sgt. Jose L. Garcia

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/A2D4952EADA711EB85256ECC0035BBC5?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

AP: Iraq Insurgency Larger Than Thought

Thu Jul 8, 6:30 PM ET

By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Iraq (news - web sites) insurgency is far larger than the 5,000 guerrillas previously thought to be at its core, U.S. military officials say, and it's being led by well-armed Iraqi Sunnis angry at being pushed from power alongside Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).


Although U.S. military analysts disagree over the exact size, dozens of regional cells, often led by tribal sheiks and inspired by Sunni Muslim imams, can call upon part-time fighters to boost forces to as high as 20,000 — an estimate reflected in the insurgency's continued strength after U.S. forces killed as many as 4,000 in April alone.


And some insurgents are highly specialized — one Baghdad cell, for instance, has two leaders, one assassin, and two groups of bomb-makers.


The developing intelligence picture of the insurgency contrasts with the commonly stated view in the Bush administration that the fighting is fueled by foreign warriors intent on creating an Islamic state.


"We're not at the forefront of a jihadist war here," said a U.S. military official in Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity.


The official and others told The Associated Press the guerrillas have enough popular support among nationalist Iraqis angered by the presence of U.S. troops that they cannot be militarily defeated.


The military official, who has logged thousands of miles driving around Iraq to meet with insurgents or their representatives, said a skillful Iraqi government could co-opt some of the guerrillas and reconcile with the leaders instead of fighting them.


"I generally like a lot of these guys," he said. "We know who the key people are in all the different cities, and generally how they operate. The problem is getting actionable information so you can either attack them, arrest them or engage them."


Even as Iraqi leaders wrangle over the contentious issue of offering a broad amnesty to guerrilla fighters, the new Iraqi military and intelligence corps have begun gathering and sharing information on the insurgents with the U.S. military, providing a sharper picture of a complex insurgency.


"Nobody knows about Iraqis and all the subtleties in culture, appearance, religion and so forth better than Iraqis themselves," said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Daniel Baggio, a military spokesman at Multinational Corps headquarters in Baghdad. "We're very optimistic about the Iraqis' use of their own human intelligence to help root out these insurgents."


The intelligence boost has allowed American pilots to bomb suspected insurgent safe houses over the past two weeks, with Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi saying Iraqis supplied information for at least one of those airstrikes. But the better view of the insurgency also contradicts much of the popular wisdom about it.


Estimates of the insurgents' manpower tend to be too low. Last week, a former coalition official said 4,000 to 5,000 Baathists form the core of the insurgency, with other attacks committed by a couple hundred supporters of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and hundreds of other foreign fighters.


Anthony Cordesman, an Iraq analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the figure of 5,000 insurgents "was never more than a wag and is now clearly ridiculous."


"Part-timers are difficult to count, but almost all insurgent movements depend on cadres that are part-time and that can blend back into the population," he said.


U.S. military analysts disagree over the size of the insurgency, with estimates running as high as 20,000 fighters when part-timers are added.


Ahmed Hashim, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, said the higher numbers squared with his findings in a study of the insurgency completed in Iraq.


One hint that the number is larger is the sheer volume of suspected insurgents — 22,000 — who have cycled through U.S.-run prisons. Most have been released. And in April alone, U.S. forces killed as many as 4,000 people, the military official said, including Sunni insurgents and Shiite militiamen fighting under the banner of a radical cleric.





There has been no letup in attacks. On Thursday, insurgents detonated a car bomb and then attacked a military headquarters in Samarra, a center of resistance 60 miles north of the capital, killing five U.S. soldiers and one Iraqi guardsman.

Guerrilla leaders come from various corners of Saddam's Baath Party, including lawyers' groups, prominent families and especially from his Military Bureau, an internal security arm used to purge enemies. They've formed dozens of cells.

U.S. military documents obtained by AP show a guerrilla band mounting attacks in Baghdad that consists of two leaders, four sub-leaders and 30 members, broken down by activity. There is a pair of financiers, two cells of car bomb-builders, an assassin, separate teams launching mortar and rocket attacks, and others handling roadside bombs and ambushes.

Most of the insurgents are fighting for a bigger role in a secular society, not a Taliban-like Islamic state, the military official said. Almost all the guerrillas are Iraqis, even those launching some of the devastating car bombings normally blamed on foreigners — usually al-Zarqawi.

The official said many car bombings bore the "tradecraft" of Saddam's former secret police and were aimed at intimidating Iraq's new security services.

Many in the U.S. intelligence community have been making similar points, but have encountered political opposition from the Bush administration, a State Department official in Washington said, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

Civilian analysts generally agreed, saying U.S. and Iraqi officials have long overemphasized the roles of foreign fighters and Muslim extremists.

Such positions support the Bush administration's view that the insurgency is linked to the war on terror. A closer examination paints most insurgents as secular Iraqis angry at the presence of U.S. and other foreign troops.

"Too much U.S. analysis is fixated on terms like 'jihadist,' just as it almost mindlessly tries to tie everything to (Osama) bin Laden," Cordesman said. "Every public opinion poll in Iraq ... supports the nationalist character of what is happening."

Many guerrillas are motivated by Islam in the same way religion motivates American soldiers, who also tend to pray more when they're at war, the U.S. military official said.

He said he met Tuesday with four tribal sheiks from Ramadi who "made very clear" that they had no desire for an Islamic state, even though mosques are used as insurgent sanctuaries and funding centers.

"'We're not a bunch of Talibans,'" he paraphrased the sheiks as saying.

At the orders of Gen. John Abizaid, the U.S. commander of Mideast operations, Army analysts looked closely for evidence that Iraq's insurgency was adopting extreme Islamist goals, the official said. Analysts learned that ridding Iraq of U.S. troops was the motivator for most insurgents, not the formation of an Islamic state.

The officer said Iraq's insurgents have a big advantage over guerrillas elsewhere: plenty of arms, money, and training. Iraq's lack of a national identity card system — and guerrillas' refusal to plan attacks by easily intercepted telephone calls — makes them difficult to track.

"They have learned a great deal over the last year, and with far more continuity than the rotating U.S. forces and Iraqi security forces," Cordesman said of the guerrillas. "They have learned to react very quickly and in ways our sensors and standard tactics cannot easily deal with."


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=4&u=/ap/20040708/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_insurgency


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines sign contract aiding underprivileged Iraqi scholars
Submitted by: 1st Force Service Support Group
Story Identification #: 2004791424
Story by Lance Cpl. Lance Cpl. Samuel Bard Valliere



CAMP HABBANIYAH, Iraq(July 9, 2004) -- Making small steps to repair Iraq's ailing educational system, Marines here signed a contract with a local Iraqi government official July 1, 2004, to give Iraqi school children some of the learning tools they need.

The agreement is part of an ongoing effort by Marines intended to improve the quality of life in Al Kabani, a small fishing village in western Iraq..

The children in the town have been using the same makeshift desks for years. Furniture like blackboards and bookshelves, which the village's teachers said would improve the learning environment for the students, are hard to come by.

The contract paid Thaer Handallah, Al Kabani's government representative, $5,570 for 104 new desks, a refrigerator, chalkboards and shelves requested by the teachers. It brought the total amount the battalion has spent on the village to more than $175,000.

The new desks, which have seats built onto them meant to hold two students, are a far cry from the scrap-wood tables the children currently use.

In March, 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment's troops visited with the community's leaders, who provided a list of improvements the village needed, hoping the Marines would be able help finance them.

The leaders asked the Marines for clean water, a generator to provide power to the people's homes, health care and school improvements, said Maj. Rollin F. Jackson, 37, a company commander in the reserve infantry battalion, elements of which provide security for nearby Camp Taqaddum, the home of the 1st Force Service Support Group's headquarters.

After funding and overseeing the development of a water-purification system and generator in the village, and conducting basic medical assessments during frequent visits to the community, the Marines took the first steps to keep their last promise to the people.

Additionally, the battalion's Marines, who have unofficially adopted the village, will provide more than just money, said Jackson.

The Marines' family members in the United States are joining the cause and shipping school supplies over here, he said. The Marines will pass the donations out during future visits to the village.

To avoid possible looting while the children are on their summer vacation, the furniture won't be delivered until just before school picks back up in August.

Al Kabani's school seems to be a microcosm of the Iraqi education system, which declined after the Gulf War due to the impact of war, sanctions, neglect and isolation, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

According to a June 9 UNICEF press release, most of Iraq's schools need repairs or clean-up, and another 5,000 need to be built to accommodate all of Iraq's 12 million school-age children.

Almost half of the country's 15- to 24-year-old male population and more than 75 percent of its women in the same age group are illiterate.

United Nations and military efforts have made some progress in rebuilding the learning system. As of March, more than 2,500 of the country's 18,000 schools have seen some improvements.

When the interim government took power it assumed the responsibility of restoring Iraq's debilitated school system. However, Marines are likely to help out where the can with small civil affairs projects.

Marines sign contract aiding underprivileged Iraqi scholars
Submitted by: 1st Force Service Support Group
Story Identification #: 2004791424
Story by Lance Cpl. Lance Cpl. Samuel Bard Valliere



CAMP HABBANIYAH, Iraq(July 9, 2004) -- Making small steps to repair Iraq's ailing educational system, Marines here signed a contract with a local Iraqi government official July 1, 2004, to give Iraqi school children some of the learning tools they need.

The agreement is part of an ongoing effort by Marines intended to improve the quality of life in Al Kabani, a small fishing village in western Iraq..

The children in the town have been using the same makeshift desks for years. Furniture like blackboards and bookshelves, which the village's teachers said would improve the learning environment for the students, are hard to come by.

The contract paid Thaer Handallah, Al Kabani's government representative, $5,570 for 104 new desks, a refrigerator, chalkboards and shelves requested by the teachers. It brought the total amount the battalion has spent on the village to more than $175,000.

The new desks, which have seats built onto them meant to hold two students, are a far cry from the scrap-wood tables the children currently use.

In March, 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment's troops visited with the community's leaders, who provided a list of improvements the village needed, hoping the Marines would be able help finance them.

The leaders asked the Marines for clean water, a generator to provide power to the people's homes, health care and school improvements, said Maj. Rollin F. Jackson, 37, a company commander in the reserve infantry battalion, elements of which provide security for nearby Camp Taqaddum, the home of the 1st Force Service Support Group's headquarters.

After funding and overseeing the development of a water-purification system and generator in the village, and conducting basic medical assessments during frequent visits to the community, the Marines took the first steps to keep their last promise to the people.

Additionally, the battalion's Marines, who have unofficially adopted the village, will provide more than just money, said Jackson.

The Marines' family members in the United States are joining the cause and shipping school supplies over here, he said. The Marines will pass the donations out during future visits to the village.

To avoid possible looting while the children are on their summer vacation, the furniture won't be delivered until just before school picks back up in August.

Al Kabani's school seems to be a microcosm of the Iraqi education system, which declined after the Gulf War due to the impact of war, sanctions, neglect and isolation, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

According to a June 9 UNICEF press release, most of Iraq's schools need repairs or clean-up, and another 5,000 need to be built to accommodate all of Iraq's 12 million school-age children.

Almost half of the country's 15- to 24-year-old male population and more than 75 percent of its women in the same age group are illiterate.

United Nations and military efforts have made some progress in rebuilding the learning system. As of March, more than 2,500 of the country's 18,000 schools have seen some improvements.

When the interim government took power it assumed the responsibility of restoring Iraq's debilitated school system. However, Marines are likely to help out where the can with small civil affairs projects.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/2004797021/$file/Handallah040701_Low.jpg

Thaer Handallah, an Iraqi government representative, schedules a future appointment with Maj. Rollin F. Jackson, a company commander with 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, July 1, 2004, at Camp Habbaniyah, Iraq, after they signed a contract that gave Handallah $5,570 to buy new desks and other furniture for the school in Al Kabani, a nearby fishing village. The agreement is part of an ongoing effort by Marines intended to improve the quality of life of the community’s people. The reserve battalion, which provides security for nearby Camp Taqaddum, the home to the 1st Force Service Support Group’s headquarters, has spent more than $175,000 helping the village through various projects. Jackson is a 37-year-old native of O’Fallon, Mo. Photo by: Lance Cpl. Samuel Bard Valliere

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/26F12BA621335F2085256ECC001BDEAD?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Iraqi Police to Put Old Bulletproof Vests to Use <br />
<br />
Orange County law enforcement agencies donate 740 that would have been destroyed. <br />
<br />
By Sara Lin, Times Staff Writer <br />
<br />
<br />
Bulletproof vests and...

[thedrifter]

In the middle of nowhere, 1st FSSG makes village home <br />
Submitted by: 1st Force Service Support Group <br />
Story Identification #: 20047410238 <br />
Story by Sgt. Matt Epright <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
CAMP KOREAN VILLAGE,...

[thedrifter]

IRAQ IN TRANSITION: IRAQI HEARTS, MINDS <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Army's propaganda war collides with reality <br />
<br />
By Deborah Horan <br />
Tribune staff reporter <br />
Published July 9, 2004

[thedrifter]

Issue Date: July 12, 2004

Reserve to set up security battalions

By Christian Lowe
Times staff writer

The Marine Corps Reserve has received the go-ahead to fold up the equivalent of two artillery battalions and create two security battalions, the Reserve’s chief said.
The security battalions will be similar to the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade’s anti-terrorism infantry battalion. Once up and running, the battalions will conduct the kind of specialized security missions increasingly required in the war on terrorism.

“The security battalions will be unique to the Reserve in that they won’t have a direct opposite number on the active-component side,” said Lt. Gen. Dennis McCarthy, Marine Forces Reserve commander, in a June 30 interview.

“They will be made up of individually deployable security platoons that will have many of the same capabilities — but not all — as the platoons in the 4th MEB” anti-terrorism battalion.

The move is part of McCarthy’s ongoing initiative to restructure the Reserve, shifting manpower from rarely deployed units to high-demand units. In its latest mobilization, the Reserve called up hundreds of reservists from artillery, tank and low-altitude air defense units to deploy to Iraq or Djibouti for convoy protection, base and airfield security, and even as provisional military police detachments.

“The fact that we’re seeing a need for more security-type units reinforces my belief that we need to shift some structure into our security forces,” McCarthy said.

The plan to create the two security battalions had been in the works for nearly two years, McCarthy said, but Commandant Gen. Mike Hagee authorized the restructuring just two months ago.

“We delayed the implementation because we were deeply into mobilizations and we didn’t want to start changing things in a way that would interfere with our ability to mobilize,” McCarthy said.

Marine officials have not decided which artillery battalions will be affected by the formation of the security units. But McCarthy said Marines who lose their jobs as artillerymen will have the chance to fill out the new unit and receive specialized training.

The Reserve likely will not disband battalions for the initiative, but instead will deactivate firing batteries within battalions.

It is unclear when the new units will be formally established; McCarthy estimated the units won’t be deployable this year.

IRR call-up not likely

McCarthy said he does not see the need for another large-scale call-up of Individual Ready Reserve Marines in the near future. The Army announced it will involuntarily activate 5,600 IRR soldiers July 6 to compensate for a Guard and Reserve force stretched thin by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

So far, the Corps has involuntarily activated 2,211 IRR Marines — mostly for force-protection jobs guarding Marine Corps installations in the United States. Those mobilization orders were issued early last year in the run-up to Operation Iraqi Freedom.

But the Corps isn’t following the Army’s lead. “Currently, we do not plan on any involuntary call-ups from the IRR,” McCarthy said.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=0-MARINEPAPER-3060892.php


Ellie

[thedrifter]

IRAQ IN TRANSITION: CASUALTIES



Top student sought world experience

By Shia Kapos and Maria Kantzavelos
Special to the Tribune
Published July 9, 2004

When he and his brother weren't peeling potatoes or doing dishes in their mother's restaurant in Banning, Calif., Marine 1st Lt. Joshua M. Palmer was reading about the world.

"He had shelves and shelves of books," said his mother, Jackie Palmer. "He loved to talk about and debate whatever he read."

Palmer was 17 when he decided to join the military, choosing the Marines because the branch offered the best leadership responsibility, his mother said.

The 25-year-old marinedied April 8 in a firefight with Iraqi insurgents in Al Anbar province, where he had led a platoon trying to capture snipers. Palmer was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton.

Palmer was an A-student and played football for Banning High School before joining the military. He served in the Marines part-time while attending the University of San Diego, where he earned a history degree. He also spent time in China teaching English in a teaching-abroad program.

Palmer knew he didn't want to work in restaurants, his mother said, so he learned about the world through books and school before his first-hand experience in the Marines.

Still, she said, "He was convinced nothing would happen to him. He believed his duty was to take care of the United States and then come home. He promised he would be home."

Like father, like son: Frank K. Rivers Jr. was his father's first-born son, but the two related to one another much as peers do.

"We loved playing sports together. We'd act like big kids. We loved to have the competitions, the rivalry with each other," said Rivers' father, Frank. "He made me feel like we were around the same age, so carefree. We were more like friends than we were father and son."

When Rivers was growing up in Newark, N.J., he and his father were inseparable. His mother died when he was 10, leaving his father to raise him and his younger brother.

"We both liked the same things and lived the same way. We learned things from each other," his father said. They were about the same age when they joined the Army. The father, a former Army specialist, was 20 when he enlisted. His son signed up when he was 19, after graduating with honors in 1999 from Potomac High School in Dumfries, Va.

Spec. Rivers, 23, died April 14 in Mosul, Iraq, when he collapsed during physical training. His father was told he apparently died of a heart attack after a 2-mile run.

Rivers was assigned to the Army's 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash.

The soldier, who worked with youth at his church and had a natural flair for drawing, was planning to enter college to study computer graphics when he decided to enlist.

"He wanted to follow me and do the military thing," his father said.


Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0407090220jul09,1,7819438.story


Ellie

[thedrifter]

60,000 foreigners captured as they tried to enter country illegally



Baghdad, Iraq Press, July 9, 2004 – Iraq’s nascent border police have apprehended more than 60,000 foreigners in the past seven months.



The foreigners, most of them Iranians, were trying to enter Iraq illegally, according to major-general Nadhim al-Haj, commander of Iraqi border guards.



Iraq’s borders with Iran stretch for more than 1,000 kilometers and successive governments have found it hard to control.



The former regime of Saddam Hussein reportedly had six military divisions besides a special border force to guard the frontier against Iranian infiltrators.



Officially, there are three entry points on the border, one in Basra in the south, the second in Diyala, in the center, and the third in Sulaimaniya, in the north.



And Iranians had to obtain visas before traveling to Iraq.



Iranian pilgrims were handled carefully and only let to visit the shrines in Najaf and Karbala and stay at designated hotels.



The disbanding of the Iraqi border force and customs police by the US occupation authorities encouraged the Iranians to cross the border in hundreds of thousands.



It is estimated that more than three million of them have entered the country in the six months following the fall of Baghdad last year.



Al-Haj said his forces were tightening security along the country’s borders but it was still hard for them to have the situation fully under control.



The flow of Iranians has slowed due to fighting in holy Shiite centers of Karbala and Najaf.



The shrines in the two cities are among the most sacred for Muslim Shiites in the world.



Interim government officials have repeatedly accused neighboring countries of allowing foreigners to cross the border and carry out sabotage and terror attacks.



The officials have hinted that terrorists captured recently might have entered the country through Iran.



They have urged the country’s neighbors to cooperate with Iraqi authorities to put a halt to illegally entry.



The Iraqi border force commander, al-Haj, said Pakistani and Afghani nationals were among the foreigners captured recently on the Iranian frontier.



Iraqi courts have now a backlog of cases of illegal entry.



Under a new tough security law passed early this week, foreigners caught entering the country illegally face a prison term of at least six months and expulsion.

http://www.iraqpress.org/arabic.asp?fname=ipenglish\2004-07-09\2.htm


Ellie