Postal improvements in Iraq something to write home about

[thedrifter]

Postal improvements in Iraq something to write home about
Submitted by: 1st Force Service Support Group
Story Identification #: 200491181523
Story by Lance Cpl. Stephen Driscoll



CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq (Sept. 11, 2004) -- In a country which feels impossibly far away, a letter or package can deliver a little piece of home to the field. This year, these special deliveries come to Iraq faster.

During the first year of operations in Iraq, mail could take more than two months to finally reach a Marine in the field. Now, it takes two weeks or less.

"It's a 180-degree turn around from last year," said Staff Sgt. Ramon Arredondo, 34, with the 1st Force Service Support Group's main post office here.

Postal clerks in the Marine Corps were overwhelmed by the amount of mail being sent to Iraq last year. Some units were assigned more clerks than they needed, while others were left lacking. As a whole, there was just too much mail for the personnel to deal with under the war time conditions, said Arredondo.

Additionally, it was difficult for the clerks to anticipate where the mail would be able to catch up to the unit it was intended for because the nature of operations in Iraq last year kept many Marines on the move, said Arredondo, a native of Sanger, Calif.

In 2003, mail sent from the West Coast was forwarded to the East Coast before being sent overseas. This increased both delivery time and shipping costs for the sender, said Arredondo.

This year, mail is sent overseas from both San Francisco and New York. Instead of arriving in Kuwait, as it did last year, mail is now flown directly to the Baghdad International Airport, and then moved along by convoys and cargo planes in order to reach its final destination.

During the combat stages of Operation Iraqi Freedom last spring, convoys sent out of Kuwait were laden with troops, food, water and ammunition. Mail was not the first priority, so mountains of letters and packages piled up waiting to be pushed forward into Iraq, said Arredondo.

Increases in civilian and military postal personnel, transportation improvements, stationary bases of operation and better equipment are the major factors leading to this year's superior service.

The Military Postal Service Agency in San Francisco has provided one of the biggest improvements: a multimillion dollar machine which presorts the mail by location and unit before sending it overseas, said Arredondo. Additionally, civilian contractors with Kellogg, Brown and Root sort the mail even further when it arrives in Iraq, which allows Marine postal clerks to focus on getting bags of mail to the correct unit, vice individual letters.

Mail was often sorted in cramped tents last year, but now, Marines at Camp Taqaddum sort the mail in a warehouse. This allows room for large bins organized by location and unit, helping prevent mail from being misplaced, said Arredondo. Mail is then either delivered on base or sent on to other locations such as Camps Fallujah, Al Asad and Blue Diamond.

Accurate ZIP code assignments for each base further increase speed. Also, the Marines here are the first in Iraq to use hand-held bar-code scanners to track mail by scanning presorted boxes. This ensures the mail is moving where and when it should be, said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Donald Darling, 41, I Marine Expeditionary Force's postal officer from Temecula, Calif.

Upon its arrival on a base, mail is normally delivered within 24 hours.

In 2003, 135 congressional investigations were launched after service members and their families sent scores of letters to Congress complaining about the slow service. This year, not a single investigation into military mail has yet arisen, said Darling.

While mail can always go astray due to incorrect addressing, letters and packages sent to Iraq also have to contend with the possibility of attacks on transport convoys. Arredondo said that so far only two truck loads have been lost to rocket-propelled grenades in transit to and from Camp Taqaddum. Since more than 9.4 million pounds of mail have moved in and out of Taqaddum since March, the losses aren't overwhelming.

"The mail this year is as reliable as the mail back home," said Cpl. Daniel Pertl, 23, a mechanic from Erie, Pa., currently serving his second deployment in Iraq with 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment's Truck Detachment.

"It's good to have a reliable mail service in such an unreliable environment," said Pertl.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/20049118242/$file/MailOnShoulderBlur040911a_low.jpg

A postal clerk with the 1st Force Service Support Group carries boxes to a unit's mail bin Sept. 11, 2004, at Camp Taqaddum, Iraq. Several postal improvements including presorted mail, established bases and scanners that track shipments are resulting in faster delivery to Marines in Iraq this year. In 2003, mail could take as long as two months to arrive in the hands of troops. Currently, mail sent from the United States takes approximately two weeks to arrive. Since March, 1st FSSG postal Marines have shipped approximately 10 million pounds of mail in or out of Iraq. The 1st FSSG is responsible for the Marine Corps' mail delivery in Iraq. Photo by: Staff Sgt. Bill Lisbon

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/876A7DC3888E144B85256F0C004353D0?opendocument

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Three Polish Soldiers Killed in Iraq

WARSAW, Poland - Three Polish soldiers were killed in Iraq (news - web sites) Sunday when they were attacked with grenades and machine-gun fire as they returned to their base from a demining operation, a Polish military spokesman said.


At least three more Poles were injured in the attack, some four miles east of Hillah, said Lt. Col. Artur Domanski, a spokesman for the Polish-led multinational security force in central Iraq.


The deaths raise the number of Polish soldiers killed in Iraq to 13.




http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040912/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_polish_soldiers_1


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Ineffective Iraqi Force in Fallouja Disbanded
The move is a setback to Marines, who hoped the brigade would quell the insurgency in the city.

By Alissa J. Rubin, Times Staff Writer


RAMADI, Iraq — The Iraqi military force formed by the Marines in a last-ditch effort to pacify the restive city of Fallouja has been disbanded in the face of continuing violence, assaults on government security forces and evidence that some members have been working openly with insurgents.

The dissolution of the Fallouja Brigade, created during the spring to avoid an all-out assault on the insurgent hotbed, marked a significant setback for the U.S. military. The Americans had hoped that the brigade, composed of former members of the Iraqi army and Saddam Hussein's special security forces, would work alongside the new Iraqi government and help restore order.

"The Fallouja Brigade is done, over," said Marine Col. Jerry L. Durrant, who oversees the 1st Marine Expeditionary Unit's involvement with Iraqi security forces. "The whole Fallouja Brigade thing was a fiasco. Initially it worked out OK, but it wasn't a good idea for very long."

Durrant did not say what the Marines might do next, but U.S. warplanes Friday bombed Fallouja for the fourth consecutive day and the air campaign was expected to continue and possibly intensify. Friday's air attack targeted earth-moving equipment being used by insurgents to build fighting positions, a Marine spokesman said.

With the demise of the Fallouja Brigade — agreed to by the interim Iraqi government and the Marines — the Marines are left with no attractive options for rooting out Fallouja's entrenched insurgency. The rebel movement has spread to surrounding villages and left the interim Iraqi government without control of one of the nation's largest cities west of Baghdad. Marines remain based as close as two miles from Fallouja, but the insurgents — local and foreign fighters backed by firebrand Sunni Muslim clerics — have had several months to dig in and make it more difficult for American troops or Iraqi government forces to launch a ground attack.

The development comes as U.S. forces try to reestablish Iraqi government control in several insurgent bastions, including Samarra, to the north of Baghdad, just months before scheduled national elections.

Gen. Abdullah Hamid Wael, the brigade's latest leader, announced the dissolution Thursday night on instructions from the Defense Ministry.

Speaking at an Iraqi military base west of Fallouja, Wael read from a ministry statement that said "any member of the brigade can, as an individual, join the Iraqi national guard or the Iraqi police."

Discontent rippled through the group, many of whose members had hoped that it would remain intact and eventually become a unit of the new army. Judging by members' comments, it seemed likely that some would openly rejoin the insurgency, in which many had been involved before joining the brigade. In doing so, they would be able to fight with weapons provided to them by the Marines, who also paid them monthly salaries.

That will make it all the more difficult for U.S. troops and Iraqi government forces to retake Fallouja — currently a "no go" area for U.S. forces.

"We don't know where to go now after this dismissal by the American troops and the Iraqi interim government," said Brig. Gen. Tayseer Latief of the brigade. "They leave us no other option but to join the resistance."

Defense Ministry officials declined to comment Friday.

When the brigade was established, Marine commanders acknowledged that many members either were insurgent fighters or had connections to them. The insurgents waged intense battles against Marines for weeks in April.

The goal in forming the force was to avoid a bloodbath by allowing the Marines to withdraw from the city but leaving a proxy force to tamp down insurgent activity and arrest those responsible for the killings of four U.S. civilian security contractors March 31.

Initially, Marine commanders said the brigade would root out anti-American forces and target foreign fighters. The Marines hoped that the brigade members, with their military training and pride in having responsibility for their town, would stand up against those fighting the U.S. military and Iraqi interim government forces.

Empowering a force made up of Iraqis would move "Iraqi stakeholders … to try to contribute to solving some of the challenges and problems," Marine Col. John Coleman said in a July interview.

Coleman acknowledged that the brigade was "a nascent military capability at best," but one that enabled the Marines to get out of the city where their presence had become a rallying call for the insurgency.

In the month after the brigade's formation, "the enemy activity in this zone dropped to almost zero," he said. But it then began to climb back to the level it had been before the killing of the U.S. civilian contractors, whose remains were mutilated.

In the end, most brigade members' prior allegiance to the insurgency proved impossible to sever.

The brigade made no effort to restrict insurgent activities, members and the Marines said. Fallouja became even safer for insurgents, who could take refuge, plot attacks and run manufacturing centers for car bombs and other explosives.

Made up of 1,600 former members of the Iraqi army and Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard, the brigade was formally created April 30.

Four months later, as the brigade is dissolved, its members are better armed, better equipped and better off. Monthly wages ranged from $260 for low-level soldiers to $700 for generals, one of the brigade's staff officers said. The Marines also gave brigade members new semiautomatic rifles and vehicles and furnished a base for them.

For much of the time, the brigade was technically under Marine command and its staff officers were in touch almost daily with Marine officers at Camp Fallouja on the outskirts of town.

"We're trying to go in and recover the stuff we gave them, but I'm not sure it's worth it," Durrant said. "They've already stolen the air conditioners."

He added that when two Marine helicopters inadvertently flew over the Fallouja Brigade base several weeks ago, the aircraft were riddled with bullets and "the pilot was shot in the face."

On a recent trip to Fallouja, it appeared that brigade members were mixing easily with insurgents.

At several checkpoints, one or two Iraqi police officers lounged under small palapa huts with a brigade soldier as a couple of masked men with AK-47s leaned into each car looking for Westerners.

Last week, several Fallouja Brigade members in uniform shot at Marines near the city limits and the Marines returned fire, Durrant said.

From the brigade's inception, many members never fully disentangled themselves from the insurgent movement. Some expressed pride at the role they had played in fighting the Marines and boasted of their prowess in firing weapons. Although the Marines provided them with uniforms, most brigade members eschewed them in favor of the brown or olive green uniforms worn by the Iraqi armed forces under Hussein.

Although the brigade was never expected to remain in place indefinitely, there had been talk of having members join either the Iraqi army or the national guard — either as a unit or as individuals. Brigade members had said they wished to join the army as a unit, but interim Iraqi officials believed that to create a professional army, soldiers had to be loyal first to the country, not to a unit, city or province.

As it turns out, few brigade members appear likely to be welcomed into the army — it was not mentioned as an option in the announcement, although Marine officials said they believed Falloujans were free to sign up.

It also seems unlikely that Falloujans would choose to join the national guard. Many Iraqis in the Fallouja area view the guardsmen as U.S. stooges. Fallouja fighters killed a local national guard commander a few weeks ago and kidnapped another, leading many guardsmen to abandon their positions.

Several members said they were angered by the dissolution.

"This was a great violation to the members of the brigade by the American forces and the Iraqi interim government," said Maj. Ahmed Abed Abaas. "Dissolving the Fallouja Brigade, they broke the truce agreed upon last April when the Americans besieged Fallouja."


http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-fg-fallouja11sep11,1,2459641.story

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Guam ordnance disposal unit returns from Iraq deployment


By Frank Whitman, Special to Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, September 11, 2004


GUAM — A group of Guam-based U.S. sailors recently returned from a six-month Iraq deployment, where they put their explosive ordnance disposal skills to work supporting the Marine Corps.

Four members of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit FIVE returned from Iraq in mid-August after a deployment with the First Marine Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team, which was providing security to the Coalition Provisional Authority headquarters in Baghdad’s Green Zone.

Before the Guam team arrived, the nearest EOD unit was three or four hours from the CPA headquarters — “the place the insurgents really wanted to hit,” said Lt. Will Ranney, the team’s officer in charge. Marines, he said, understandably wanted “in-their- hip-pocket EOD response capability.”

The team responded to improvised explosive devices and ordnance recovery calls, conducted post-blast investigations of rocket and mortar attacks and helped train coalition forces in IED recognition and safety. Although there was little call for working underwater, which is much of the unit’s training, unit members responded to more than 75 calls and disposed of more than 10,000 pounds of high explosives.

During one IED incident, two civilian contract workers leaving an underground parking area at the Al Rasheed Hotel saw an IED drop off a vehicle leaving the area. After calling authorities, the civilians walked back down the parking ramp and found themselves at a dead end 30 feet below street level.

“The first thing we had to do was figure out how to get those guys out of there,” Ranney said. “They refused to walk past the device.” An Army unit assigned to the hotel positioned a Humvee with a winch above the two and lifted them up and off the ramp. “It was like watching ‘Rescue 911.’ I was waiting for William Shatner to show up,” Ranney said.

With the help of a robot and another EOD team, the Guam unit successfully disabled the device.

“What that really drove home for me was that as secure as the Green Zone was, ‘secure’ in Iraq isn’t really saying a whole lot,” Ranney said.

The team also worked on what turned out to be a box containing sheet music for the Iraq Symphony Orchestra. “With the amount of things that happened, you could never really be sure,” Ranney said.

During the deployment the CPA headquarters was rocketed “maybe 20 or 30 times,” Ranney said.

During the attacks, “you’d hear them cut through the air over our heads but you wouldn’t know where they were going to hit. … That’s an experience I’ll never forget,” said Seaman James “Kimo” Makaneole.

After the attacks the team would ensure the device had exploded and posed no further hazard. “There’s so much ordnance over there, it’s unreal,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Tyler Borgwardt. “At one point, we found a garage where an Army unit had been staying through the ground fighting up until two or three months before we got there.”

When a new Army unit moved in, they called the sailors and said, “we have something to show you.”

“They took us over and opened up this garage. It was full, wall-to-wall, with every type of ordnance I’ve ever seen or read about, from large bombs to hand grenades to small arms to rockets, rocket launchers,” Borgwardt said. “Most of it had come in from the previous Army unit who had collected it, didn’t know what to do with it and had just stored it in that garage.”

Iraq presented other challenges for the team. “The heat was crazy,” Makaneole said. Temperatures were in the 40s when the group arrived in February, but that changed within two months.

“In the shade it was 106 degrees and then we’d walk out in the sun and it was 120 degrees or even hotter,” he said. Even water from the cold-water shower tap was unbearable because of the sun’s heat.

Fresh food was scarce. “Sometimes we bought eggs from some of the people that ran Internet cafes there,” Borgwardt said. “We’d just cross our fingers and hope that we’d get a good one.”

Vegetables were less than appetizing. “We saw people eating stuff that was all brown and rotten,” Makaneole said. “When I got back to the commissary in Guam, I just stood there and stared at everything.”

Both Makaneole and Petty Officer 1st Class Jeffrey Gates are married and have young children, which, they said, made the deployment a little more difficult.

“When you’re away from them for six months, they grow up a lot when you’re gone,” Gates said.

Team members agreed that they felt relieved to be back in Guam. “Just not being there is a relief,” Ranney said. “You never knew. One day it was the Iraq Symphony Orchestra and the next day it was a real IED falling off the bottom of a car. You just never knew and you had to treat every one like it was real.”

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=23458&archive=true


Ellie

[thedrifter]

1/2 conducts cordon-and-searches in Haswa, Iraq
Submitted by: 24th MEU
Story Identification #: 2004911123146
Story by Sgt. Zachary A. Bathon and Lance Cpl. Caleb J. Smith



FORWARD OPERATING BASE ISKANDARIYAH, Iraq (Sep. 9, 2004) -- Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, operating in support of Iraqi security forces, conducted a cordon-and-search mission through neighborhoods in the town of Haswa, Iraq, Sep. 9.

The Marines from Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, assisted their counterparts in searching houses and talking to local residents about any suspicious activity in the area.

The 24th MEU is currently conducting security and stability operations in Northern Babil Province.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200491251332/$file/040909-M-7371B-003lores.jpg

Sgt. Kevin R. Scheaffer of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit receives instructions from his platoon commander while conducting a cordon-and-search mission through a neighborhood in the town of Haswa, Iraq, Sep. 9.
Scheaffer is a squad leader with Alpha Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines.
The 24th MEU is currently conducting security and stability operations in Northern Babil Province.
Photo by: Sgt. Zachary A. Bathon

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/252F891907E5610085256F0C005ACC92?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Reserve Marine squadron uses GPS parachutes in Iraq
Submitted by: 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing
Story Identification #: 2004911173012
Story by Cpl. Paul Leicht



AL ANBAR PROVINCE, Iraq (Sep. 8, 2004) -- Reservists with Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 452, Marine Aircraft Group 16, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, are putting a new cargo parachute system to the test during combat operations here.

Recently the New York-based squadron successfully delivered food and supplies to Marines at Camp Korean Village during a combat assault support mission Sept. 7, featuring a Sherpa global-positioning parachute delivery system.

"Doing this type of mission in a combat environment is what we are here for," said Atlanta native Lt.Col. Bradley S. James, commanding officer, VMGR-452. "The tactical capability of the KC-130 gives us a unique ability to even do this at night with (night vision goggles). This mission also took a lot of coordination between us and the supply Marines on the ground."

With a total load weighing more than 23,000 pounds, the VMGR-452 KC-130T reached the camp in less than one hour. However, preparations for the complex mission took a substantial amount of time.

"This is my first time preparing a mission like this and it took me about two to three hours of planning for each hour of flight time," said Sgt. Eric J. Bynum, navigator, VMGR-452, and a native of Waxahachie, Texas. "For a short flight like this one it took me about 8 hours to plan the drop since we are actually performing two drops at two different altitudes."

Dropped at a lower altitude and at high speed, the first batch of supplies was dropped using conventional military parachutes.

"We fly lower during a standard drop so we can ensure accurate delivery, but we have to maintain a higher rate of speed because we are more vulnerable (to enemy attack) being lower to the ground," said Bynum. "Before we drop the supplies using the Sherpas we will climb to a higher, safer altitude."

Making its debut during a similar drop Aug. 9, also above Camp Korean Village, the commercially-produced Sherpa precision-guided parachute system uses a Global Positioning System computer and control lines to steer itself from an altitude of up to five miles down to within a few meters of the designated target area on the ground, said Staff Sgt. Tammy A. Belleville, 1st Air Delivery Platoon jumpmaster, Combat Service Support Battalion 7, 1st Force Service Support Group.

"Basically, the Sherpa is an oversized 900 square foot parachute canopy attached to a servomotor," said the 40-year-old Oceanside, Calif. native. "The GPS computer calculates everything from winds, direction of flight, target coordinates, altitude and other information to steer the load to the designated delivery point on the deck."

The servomotor inside the Sherpa unit steers the control lines that direct the parachute and the load to the designated target point on the ground, said Belleville.

From an altitude of more than 10,000 feet, the Sherpas can guide their loads to other CSSB Marines on the deck below in five to 10 minutes, depending on the conditions, said Belleville.

With the supplies safely on the ground, the Marines aboard the KC-130T returned to their base here with another successful mission behind them.

"The bottom line is the Marines out there at Korean Village have their supplies and that makes us feel good knowing we can deliver what they need quickly under combat conditions," said James.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200491117372/$file/040908-m-0484L-sherpa1LR.jpg

Staff Sgt. Tammy A. Belleville, 1st Air Delivery platoon commander, Combat Service Support Battalion 7, checks a Sherpa self-guided parachute delivery system during a resupply drop from a VMGR-452 KC-130T Hercules over Camp Korean Village, Iraq, Sept. 8. The commercially-produced Sherpa can steer cargo from an altitude of five miles down to within a few meters of a designated drop point. Photo by: Cpl. Paul Leicht

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/ED07AE5D8F331FF285256F0C00761F1A?opendocument

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Issue Date: September 13, 2004

Intelligence gathering heating up after ‘chill’
25 percent decline followed Abu Ghraib scandal, general says

By Nicole Gaudiano
Times staff writer


The “chilling effect” of the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib caused about a 25 percent decline in intelligence gathered from inmates that only recently has fully worn off, according to the general in charge of detainee operations in Iraq.
As investigators probed reported detainee abuses at the prison last winter, military intelligence officers in Iraq who felt “uncomfortable” with being investigated scaled back their intelligence-gathering by roughly a quarter over about a three-month period beginning in February, Army Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller said in an interview Aug. 31.

During that time — one of the bloodiest in Iraq — intelligence dropped off in quantity and, to some extent, in quality, he said.

Speaking from Camp Victory in Baghdad, during a telephone interview with Marine Corps Times, Miller agreed with the recently released findings of an independent panel that the investigations produced a “chilling effect” on intelligence gathering — and for the first time quantified what that means.

But Miller said intelligence officers have “picked up the pace again” since May and are gathering information in excess of the January-February time frame — before the chill set in from investigations of U.S. soldiers sexually humiliating prisoners.

“It’s always uncomfortable for those who are doing this very difficult mission to have someone come in and question them,” said Miller, who took over detention operations in Iraq in March after more than a year as commander of the Joint Task Force-Guantanamo prisons. Hundreds of suspected enemy combatants are being held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, Cuba.

“Some of our intelligence production slowed down a little bit and it’s taken us about 90 days to get back to where we’re producing actionable intelligence at an increasing level,” he said.

The series of investigations into abuses at Abu Ghraib began after a soldier in January turned in a computer disk with images of soldiers flashing the thumbs-up sign next to naked, injured and hooded detainees, some forced to simulate sex acts.

While one report conducted between January and March led to charges against seven military police officers, Maj. Gen. George Fay was asked March 31 to look into misconduct in the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade. His report, released last month, associated 27 members with alleged abuses that occurred between July 25, 2003, and Feb. 6, about the time intelligence production began to drop off, according to Miller.

Between that time, the report stated, investigator abuse and investigators’ solicitation of abuse from police included isolation with sensory deprivation in “the hole,” removal of clothing and humiliation and the use of dogs to “fear up” detainees.

Investigators examined whether Miller, while assessing interrogation and detention operations in Iraq in August 2003, gave recommendations that could have contributed to the aggressive techniques. Miller shared a list of interrogation techniques used in Guantanamo to help leaders in Iraq develop their own procedures, but he said it was “very clearly noted” that only techniques covered under the Geneva Convention could be used in Iraq.

Two recently released reports support Miller’s contention that his recommendations were “pulled out of context.”

When he recommended military police go about “setting the conditions” for interrogations, Miller said he meant “passive intelligence gathering, which means to watch the detainees, who they speak to, to see how their attitudes were and provide that type of insight to the military interrogators.”

He also countered statements from Army Col. Thomas Pappas, commander of the 205th, who had told investigators that Miller said working dogs were effectively used at Guantanamo to set the atmosphere for interrogations.

Asked whether in retrospect he could have conveyed his messages on detention and interrogation operations differently, he said it was made “enormously clear.”

To clear up any confusion about the mission when he took over detention operations in Iraq, Miller said he spent about three weeks talking to the 4,000 service members throughout the organization about standards, responsibilities and how to do the job better. In April, rapport-based interrogations became the focus.

“I simply told them that our job was to help win this war over here and we ... had the responsibility to do what was right when nobody was looking,” he said.

Following the scandal, soldiers had to talk with detainees “because the abuse stories had to get corrected,” he said. There was a drop in some cooperation, he said, but “have we gotten through that? Yes, we have.”

About 6,000 detainees are being held at various locations in Iraq, including 2,600 at Abu Ghraib and 2,700 at Camp Bucca near the Kuwait border.

The brigade in charge of Abu Ghraib today — the 16th Military Police Brigade — took over in February and put in place a plan to improve the facility, custody and control and quality of care for detainees.

Among those changes are a detainee medical facility and family visits. Detainees are authorized up to four visits per month from family members.

“You have to demonstrate that you’ll treat people with dignity and respect, and that’s what we do during our interrogations,” Miller said. “When you do a rapport-based relationship interrogation, which is what we do ... that’s when I believe you get the very best intelligence, and it comes more rapidly.”

Nicole Gaudiano covers the Air Force.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-MARINEPAPER-335423.php


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Key General Criticizes April Attack In Fallujah
Abrupt Withdrawal Called Vacillation

By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, September 13, 2004; Page A17

FALLUJAH, Iraq, Sept. 12 -- The outgoing U.S. Marine Corps general in charge of western Iraq said Sunday he opposed a Marine assault on militants in the volatile city of Fallujah in April and the subsequent decision to withdraw from the city and turn over control to a security force of former Iraqi soldiers.

That security force, known as the Fallujah Brigade, was formally disbanded last week. Not only did the brigade fail to combat militants, it actively aided them, surrendering weapons, vehicles and radios to the insurgents, according to senior Marine officers. Some brigade members even participated in attacks on Marines ringing the city, the officers said.

The comments by Lt. Gen. James T. Conway, made shortly after he relinquished command of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force on Sunday, amounted to a stinging broadside against top U.S. military and civilian leaders who ordered the Fallujah invasion and withdrawal. His statements also provided the most detailed explanation -- and justification -- of Marine actions in Fallujah this spring, which have been widely criticized for increasing insurgent activity in the city and turning it into a "no-go" zone for U.S. troops.

Conway arrived in Iraq in March pledging to accelerate reconstruction projects as a way to subdue Anbar province, dominated by Sunni Muslims. But on March 31 he was confronted in Fallujah with the killing of four U.S. security contractors, whose bodies were mutilated or burned by a celebrating mob. Conway said he resisted calls for revenge, and instead advocated targeted operations and continued engagement with municipal leaders.

"We felt like we had a method that we wanted to apply to Fallujah: that we ought to probably let the situation settle before we appeared to be attacking out of revenge," he said in an interview with four journalists after the change-of-command ceremony. "Would our system have been better? Would we have been able to bring over the people of Fallujah with our methods? You'll never know that for sure, but at the time we certainly thought so."

He echoed an argument made by many Iraqi politicians and American analysts -- that the U.S. attack further radicalized a restive city, leading many residents to support the insurgents. "When we were told to attack Fallujah, I think we certainly increased the level of animosity that existed," Conway said.

He would not say where the order to attack originated, only that he received an order from his superior at the time, Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the overall commander of U.S. forces in Iraq. Some senior U.S. officials in Iraq have said the command originated in the White House.

"We follow our orders," Conway said. "We had our say, and we understood the rationale, and we saluted smartly, and we went about the attack."

The Marine assault on Fallujah in April ended abruptly after three days. Conway expressed displeasure at the order he received from Sanchez to cease offensive operations, a decision that culminated in the formation of the Fallujah Brigade.

"When you order elements of a Marine division to attack a city, you really need to understand what the consequences of that are going to be and not perhaps vacillate in the middle of something like that," he said. "Once you commit, you got to stay committed."

Noting that six Marines were killed and six wounded in those first three days, he added: "We were quite happy with the progress of the attack on the city. We thought we were sparing civilian lives everywhere and anywhere that availed itself to us. We thought we were going to be done in a few days. That's the Monday morning quarterbacking."

The Marine encirclement of Fallujah was highly controversial. Iraqi political leaders and U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi accused U.S. military commanders of engaging in collective punishment of city residents.

Although the order to stop the fighting and seek another solution was made above Conway, he was responsible for placing Iraqis in charge of security. He formed the Fallujah Brigade after the head of Iraq's intelligence service, Mohammed Abdullah Shahwani, brought a handful of former Iraqi army generals to Camp Fallujah, the Marines' base. The generals offered to set up a force of more than 1,000 former soldiers from Fallujah who would control the city and combat the insurgents, including a cluster of non-Iraqi Islamic militants. In exchange, the Marines pledged to withdraw from the city.

But the brigade never developed as planned. Instead of wearing the desert camouflage uniforms the Marines provided, members dressed in their old Iraqi army fatigues. Instead of confronting insurgents, the former soldiers initially manned traffic checkpoints leading into the city. After a few weeks, even that ended.

Marine officials say they believe that threats, tribal ties and other influences led many of the soldiers to tacitly support the insurgents. The leaders of two National Guard battalions, which had been working with the Fallujah Brigade, were kidnapped. One was beheaded and the fate of the other is unknown. A video of the killing has circulated in Fallujah to dissuade people from working with security forces.

Eventually, the 800 AK-47 assault rifles, 27 pickup trucks and 50 radios the Marines gave the brigade wound up in the hands of the insurgents, according to Marine officers. Marines manning a checkpoint on the city's eastern fringe were shot at by gunmen wearing Fallujah Brigade uniforms.

Conway's chief of staff, Col. John Coleman, said he and other senior Marine officers did not foresee the challenges in getting people from Fallujah to police the city. "I'm not sure we fully understood the hardness of the city, the harshness of the elements operating inside," he said.

Conway insisted the brigade was an experiment. "The early success of the Fallujah Brigade was ultimately its downfall," he said. "You had to have a force that came from Fallujah in order for it to be accepted by the people of all. They're very xenophobic . . . but in the end those were the same things I think that dictated the demise of the Fallujah Brigade. Because they were from the local area, they were emasculated as far as their ability to do something very aggressive."

With no security forces in Fallujah now -- U.S. troops do not patrol inside the city limits -- the area has become a haven for insurgents, Marine officers said. Among the foreign-born fighters believed to be holed up in Fallujah is Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian who is alleged to have organized car bombings, kidnappings and other attacks targeting Americans and Iraqis.

Over the past week, U.S. warplanes have bombed suspected insurgent safe houses and other targets in the city. Coleman said those attacks have killed hundreds of insurgents.

Conway's successor, Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, suggested that another incursion into the city would require not just the approval of Iraq's interim prime minister but also likely would involve the joint participation of Iraqi army units. "When we approach it next time, we will approach it a little bit differently," he said.

But Sattler said he was unwilling to tolerate an insurgent-controlled city. "The status quo," he said, "is unacceptable."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16309-2004Sep12_2.html

Ellie

[thedrifter]

ROVER helps Marines gain ground using pilot’s eyes

By Bruce Rolfsen
Times staff writer


Although Air Force reconnaissance planes had been circling over Fallujah, the Marines surrounding the Iraqi city couldn’t view what the cameras onboard the Air Force MQ-1 Predators and C-130H Hercules were seeing.
Then, Lt. Col. Gary Harbin and a tactical air control party showed up with a laptop computer and antenna system.

On the laptop’s screen appeared the video image being taken by a circling Predator.

By using the system’s radio link, the airmen were able to talk with the pilot flying the Predator by remote control.

“This will save lives, because I don’t need to send a quick-reaction force,” Harbin recalled one of the Marines saying.

ROVER, the Remote Operations Video Enhanced Receiver, is one of the newest innovations for troops involved in close-air support.

ROVER has been “very successful, and we’re buying more,” said Lt. Gen. Walter Buchanan, commander of the 9th Air Force and the top Air Force representative in the Persian Gulf.

The idea for ROVER started in the late 1990s when researchers with the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Battlelab at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., began looking at how to relay UAV video images to AC-130 gunships from Air Force Special Operations Command.

Before the ROVER project, live Predator images typically were available only to the airmen flying the Predators and command-and-control centers.

Once ROVER kits began arriving in the field, troops devised their own ideas besides using it for guiding airstrikes.

At Balad Air Base, airmen and soldiers used ROVER to help direct a Predator scouting for insurgents trying to launch mortar attacks on the base.

On April 11, the night after a fatal mortar attack on the base, a Predator spotted two mortars being fired at the base, according to Air Force reports of the attack. Before a third round was launched, the Predator crew scored a direct hit on insurgents.

A main issue now for the 9th Air Force is cutting the weight and the size of ROVER kits so they are practical for troops to carry on their backs, Harbin said.

The fielded kits weigh 43 pounds. The 9th Air Force hopes to cut the weight by finding lighter batteries and reducing the bulk of its connections that wire ROVER with vehicle and building electrical outlets.

Bruce Rolfsen covers the Air Force

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-MARINEPAPER-317256.php

Ellie

[thedrifter]

A US sniper's story: 'Everyone I shot deserved it. It doesn't bother me'

Jason Burke
Sunday September 12, 2004
The Observer

Specialist James Wilks, 25, from Fort Worth, Texas, sits in the searing sun outside his barrack block in Camp Eagle, smoking a menthol cigarette. Beyond the blast walls, sentry towers and barbed wire lies Sadr City, a Baghdad suburb where throughout the summer fighters loyal to a radical Shia Muslim cleric have fought running battles with the American troops based here. A day earlier, fighting had flared again in the narrow, rubbish-strewn alleyways that for months have been Wilks's hunting ground.
Wilks is a sniper and is proud of the three 'kills' he has notched up in the first six months of his year's tour of duty. The first came in early April, during an assault on a position held by Shia militiamen.

'It was night and low visibility,' Wilks said. 'But I saw a guy with an AK-47 lit up by the porch light in a doorway about 400 metres away. I watched him through the sights. He looked like just another Iraqi. I hit him low in the stomach and dropped him.'

The second kill was in July. Camp Eagle has been hit by more than 700 mortar rounds, usually fired at night.

From the roof of the barracks block, Wilks picked out a group of men behaving suspiciously nearly 700 metres away.

'We watched them for an hour. When I was sure one guy had a weapon on his back, I squeezed a shot off and he went down.'

Killing from long distance is 'weird', says Wilks, who joined the army after six years as a poorly paid waiter. 'It's not like in a firefight, when it is really scary and you don't think about it. When you are looking down the scope and no one knows you are there, it gives you a sense of power. You get an adrenalin rush, though I'm not sure if it is in a good way.'

Wilks's comrades are proud of his success. Almost all the men of the First Cavalry's Task Force 12 have seen combat. Scores have been injured and several killed. Long routine patrols are broken by moments of intense fear and excitement when units come under attack.

The Observer joined an eight-hour patrol along Route Predator, a key road leading into Sadr City that has been the site of regular bomb attacks and ambushes.

Apart from some wayward mortar shells early on, the patrol was uneventful - though the following one suffered two killed and three injured when two roadside bombs exploded. Sergeant Herman Groombridge, 35, and his men drive slowly up and down the pitted tarmac.

Groombridge points out a mosque from where gunmen opened fire a few weeks earlier. Jesus Sales, a 21-year-old who joined the army to pay for college fees, is the unit's reserve sniper. He shot a man a few weeks earlier: 'I didn't feel anything weird. I just felt satisfied.'

Wilks is equally phlegmatic: 'Sometimes I feel like I should feel guilty, but I don't. Everyone I shot deserved it. It doesn't bother me.'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1302697,00.html


Ellie

[thedrifter]

1st BCT rolls up colors as 2nd BCT takes lead
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 20049135537
Story by Lance Cpl. Graham Paulsgrove



CAMP RAMADI, Iraq (Sept. 11, 2004) -- When they came, it was run down and neglected. As they leave, a prosperous future is visible on the horizon.

After 12 months of firefights, humanitarian efforts and providing support for the 1st Marine Division, the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division is headed home to Fort Riley, Kansas, and is being replaced by 2nd BCT, 2nd ID.

In the past 12 months, the brigade has been responsible for the detention of over 2,000 enemy fighters, to include 18 high value targets and has sponsored over $23.8 billion dollars on civil projects in the Al Anbar province.

"When we got here, nothing was developed," said Col. Arthur W. Conner Jr., commanding officer, 1st BCT. "The area had been largely neglected. Now, shops are open, roads have been paved and the people are arguing about their government and how it should be run. That is what democracy is all about."

"We have brought hope to people who had none," said Conner.

While forward deployed, the soldiers were integrated at a battalion level with the 1st Marine Division.

"It was an honor to work with the highest decorated unit in the Military," said Conner. "The integration was seamless and our mission never missed a beat."

First BCT transferred their authority to 2nd BCT during a Transfer of Authority ceremony at Camp Ramadi, Iraq.

"We brought a good team from Korea, and we have a tough mission ahead of us replacing a great BCT," said Sgt. Maj. Marvell R. Dean, command sergeant major, 2nd BCT. "We are here to help the Iraqi people have a democracy."

The mission carried out by the 1st BCT made headway for the people of Iraq, and the 2nd BCT has stepped up to the plate for their turn.

The 2nd BCT has been preparing for Operation Iraqi Freedom since June 2003 and is "definitely ready," according to Col. Gary Patton, commanding officer, 2nd BCT.

"We have an adaptive enemy but regardless, we are here to pave the way for a safe and free Iraq," said Patton.

To accomplish this task in Iraq, the 2nd BCT will fall under the 1st Marine Division, just like their predecessor.

"It will be a great honor and privilege to work side by side with Marines," said Patton.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200491355813/$file/TOA1lr.jpg

Colonels Arthur Connor Jr., (foreground) and Gary S. Patton (background) sing the Army's song during the Transfer of Authority ceremony Sept. 11 at Camp Ramadi, Iraq. Connor, commanding officer, and the 1st Brigade Combat Team were replaced by the 2nd BCT and their commanding officer, Patton. Since the 2nd BCT will be attached to the 1st Marine Division, Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski, commanding general, 1st Marine Division, was present to observe the ceremony.
(Official USMC photo by Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Garcia)
Photo by: SSgt. Nathaniel Garcia

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/2004913620/$file/TOA2lr.jpg

Colonel Arthur Connor Jr., commanding officer, 1st Brigade Combat Team and Sgt. Maj. Robert Moore, command sergeant major, 1st BCT, roll up the brigade's colors during the Transfer of Authority ceremony in Camp Ramadi, Iraq. 1st BCT transferred authority to Col. Gary S. Patton and 2nd BCT. In March 2004, 1 BCT was attached to the 1st Marine Division to continue its offensive in the area. The 2nd BCT will also be attached to the 1st Marine Division.
(Official USMC photo by Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Garcia)
Photo by: SSgt. Nathaniel Garcia

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/2004913673/$file/TOA3lr.jpg

Soldiers salute the colors during the Transfer of Authority ceremony at Camp Ramadi, Iraq Sept. 11. During the ceremony, the 2nd Brigade Combat Team replaced the 1st Brigade Combat Team. The team will be attached to 1st Marine Division.
(Official USMC photo by Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Garcia)
Photo by: SSgt. Nathaniel Garcia

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/799DE84D156E457B85256F0E00364D33?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Issue Date: September 13, 2004

Corps uses GPS gear to avoid convoys

By Christian Lowe
Times staff writer


“Hey, Gunny. Is that manna from heaven?”
“Nah, it’s just our MREs.”

As danger festers along Iraq’s undefended roadways, the Corps is turning to Global Positioning System-steered airdrops to supply some Marines with food, and eventually with ammunition and other essentials.

Using a still-experimental automatic system that flies the supplies into a landing zone beneath a 900-square-foot parachute, the Corps can supply units — sometimes situated in the remote western Iraqi desert — with food and other equipment without exposing convoys to the lethal improvised explosives that plague Iraq’s highways and have killed or wounded hundreds of U.S. troops in the 16-month occupation.

The Corps has been given two of the new, Army-developed parachute delivery systems in response to an urgent request in May from coalition commanders in Iraq. And more are on the way.

“That huge land mass makes airdrop and aerial resupply a combat multiplier,” said Maj. John O’Regan, assistant product manager for Army aerial delivery systems. “Any time you can do an airdrop mission, you just prevented one convoy being put on the roads.”

The guided parachute delivery system, called Sherpa, uses GPS technology to navigate a parachute that is steered by motors to its programmed drop point. The Sherpa can be dropped from 25,000 feet and up to 10 miles away from a landing zone, keeping the transport plane well away from the danger of ground fire.

The parachute can guide itself autonomously or be remotely piloted from the ground by using a hand-held controller.

Some experts admit this tactic could be seen as ceding Iraq’s main supply routes to the enemy, but others argue that airdrops are just another way to deliver supplies.

“That’s the wave of the future; that’s what we’re pushing the whole services to,” O’Regan said. “If you’re able to reduce one or two convoys per day, that way you keep Marines out of harm’s way.”

Still, the vast majority of the 5 million pounds of supplies delivered to Marines in Iraq since March has been delivered by convoys, Corps officials say.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-MARINEPAPER-334810.php


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Lt. Gen. Sattler takes command of I MEF
Submitted by: I Marine Expeditionary Force
Story Identification #: 200491295743
Story by Sgt. Robert E. Jones Sr.



CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq. (Sep. 12, 2004) -- Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler took the helm of 1st Marine Expeditionary Force from Lt. Gen. James T. Conway at 9 a.m. during a Change of Command ceremony here.

The I MEF, home-based at Camp Pendleton, Calif., is comprised of approximately 30,000 Marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen, who are currently deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“It’s very unusual for a staff to be able to create two ‘A’ teams,” said Sattler. “There is an ‘A’ team at Pendleton and when I first arrived at Pendleton I started to think, ‘Wow, they left all the talent back here, I wonder who’s forward fighting the war,’” said Sattler. “Now that I have arrived forward (Iraq), I realize that the talent pool is deep within this MEF.”

Sattler, who was also promoted to his present rank today, previously served as the Director of Operations, U.S. Central Command. Conway will assume duties as the Director of Operations, J-3, at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C.

The ceremony, traditionally practiced within the Marine Corps, is unique in the world today. It is a transfer of total responsibility, authority and accountability from one individual to another. The event was attended by approximately 300 guests. Highlighting the event was the Reviewing Officer, Lt. Gen. Wallace C. Gregson, Commander, U.S. Marine Forces Pacific; Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force; and Pacific Commander, U.S. Marine Corps Bases, Pacific.

“Optimized by the motto, ‘no greater friend, no worse enemy,’ the Marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen assigned to this MEF exercise exceptional professionalism and discipline, separating the enemy from the friendly and the neutrals,” said Gregson. “They simultaneously are winning the hearts and minds of this country while ridding it of the bandits and terrorists.”

Gregson didn’t pass up the chance to add a little humor to the ceremony.

“Let me thank General Conway in the theme of the National Anthem for the rockets red glare at 0600 this morning,” said Gregson, referring to a round of indirect fire on Camp Fallujah this morning.

Sattler took an opportunity to speak on his views of Conway and expressed his thoughts about his new venture.

“The toughest thing you can do is replace a warrior, or attempt to replace a warrior, with the caliber of leadership of Lt. Gen. Conway,” said Sattler. “Gen. Conway, I accept the challenge and I promise to take care of your Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen.”

Lt. Gen. Conway was presented the Distinguished Service Medal by Lt. Gen. Gregson for combat operations against the government of Iraq, from Nov. 15, 2002 to April 24, 2003, signed by the Secretary of the Navy, for the President of the United States. His award cited that his leadership, guidance and personal drive were essential during meticulous planning and precise execution of combat operations in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Lt. Gen. Conway assembled a Marine Expeditionary Force that numbered 90,000 U.S. and coalition military personnel and trained it to become one of the most lethal combat forces in the history of the United States Marine Corps.

Conway showed compassion and dedication to those who structured I MEF and expressed his wishes to Sattler.

“Generals must remain habitually with their men, have industrious intent to instruction and comfort, and in battle, lead them well. John, that’s my challenge to you today…lead them well in battle,” said Conway. “Take care of my Marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen.”

Sattler spoke about the contribution and leadership he will devote to I MEF.

“I promise you we will continue to conduct counter-insurgency in operations with our Iraqi warrior friends and the Iraqi government officials,” said Sattler. “We will continue to turn the heat up on those thugs, criminals and terrorists who must use intimidation and murder to accomplish their goals because they can’t accomplish them legally.”

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/2004912101810/$file/sattler.low.jpg

Lt. Gen John F. Sattler watches the parade at his Change of Command. Sattler took the helm of 1st Marine Expeditionary Force from Lt. Gen. James T. Conway during a Change of Command ceremony at Camp Fallujah, Iraq, Sept. 12. Photo by: Sgt. Robert E. Jones Sr.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/D8D0C94C7D0C915A85256F0D004CB20D?opendocument


Ellie