1st Radio Battalion trains, supports WTI

[thedrifter]

1st Radio Battalion trains, supports WTI
Submitted by: MCAS Yuma
Story Identification #: 2004101517341
Story by Cpl. Michael Nease



Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz. (Oct. 14, 2004) -- A detachment of 16 Marines from 1st Radio Battalion, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., is here supporting Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course 2-05 and getting practical application training on their equipment and role in the aviation side of the Marine Corps war-fighting machine.


"Not many people know much about us," said 2nd Lt. Devin Phillabaum, the officer in charge of the detachment.


When people hear 'radio,' they often think 'communications,' Phillabaum said.


"There's a difference between a communications battalion and a radio battalion," he said. "At Camp Pendleton, we have the 9th Communication Battalion. They're the ones who provide all the communications links for the 1st (Marine Expeditionary Force) over in Iraq. As a radio battalion, we do anti-communications."


1st Radio Battalion Marines provide communications support to Marine Corps intelligence operations and conduct electronic warfare, such as signal jamming and tracing to discover enemy locations. These intelligence functions are especially important considering the type of war the U.S. is currently fighting, said Phillabaum.


The battalion recently reactivated in late July, after splitting from 3rd Radio Battalion at Marine Corps Base Hawaii and moving to Camp Pendleton. 1st Radio Battalion was formerly located in Hawaii.


"They actually deactivated 1st Radio Battalion for quite some time, made Hawaii 3rd Radio Battalion and then, once the bodies, money and facilities became available, they reactivated 1st Radio Battalion in Camp Pendleton," said Sgt. Jed Tuttle


This WTI is the first exercise the battalion has been tasked to support since being reactivated, said Phillabaum.


In addition to the training, the Marines hope WTI will help the air wing better understand radio battalion's role and what they can offer.
"The more aware they are of our capabilities, the more jobs they'll give us and the better tasking we'll get," said Tuttle. "We can do just about anything. Our teams are very versatile, but it's no good if you're on a (Marine Expeditionary Unit) and the MEU commander doesn't have confidence in you doesn't know what you can do. He won't task you properly and there's nothing you can do about it. So it's good for the officers as well as the enlisted guys."


Chief Warrant Officer-3 Sailor Hasting, Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron-1 signal /intelligence officer, teaches airwing intelligence students about radio battalion during the course.


"They get classes on radio battalion capabilities and how to task intel assets radio battalion being one of those assets. So that feeds back to the squadrons, wings and (Marine Air Groups) and later, when they deploy, they have a working knowledge of what (radio battalion's) capabilities are."


The Marines are broken into two teams and perform communications security monitoring during WTI exercises.


"Most of the Marines out here on this detachment are young right out of school so this will provide them with their first operational-type training in the signal/intelligence community," said Phillabaum.


Training in Yuma's desert environment helps prepare the Marines for deployments to the Middle East, said Tuttle.


"Hot places are terrible for (communications), and that's really good practice for these guys practice getting (communications) in places that have bad earth conductivity," Tuttle said. "Our gear is very expensive and sensitive electronic equipment that's been ruggedized, but nothing's Marine proof. Getting a chance to see how it reacts when it gets hot and dirty is very good."


Cpl. Marcus Barahona, a Farsi linguist a language spoken in Iran and parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan trained here during Exercise Desert Talon in June.


"The intense heat here in Yuma the dry heat especially tends to shutdown our equipment," said Barahona. "So we have to find creative ways to make sure everything works. I feel that this is an excellent training opportunity, especially for Marines who have just come out of school."


Because school for these Marines can be very long even two years they don't get much field experience. That makes this training more valuable, Barahona said.


"This exercise is helping us not only to refine our skills, but also to familiarize exactly what we're doing with the units we're working with, and how to work with them properly."


http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/8B972C88A0E1B92485256F2E007678B3?opendocument

Ellie

[thedrifter]

4th LAAD Battalion hosts ranges in Iraqi Desert
Submitted by: 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing
Story Identification #: 2004101216135
Story by Cpl. Joel A. Chaverri



AL ASAD, Iraq (Oct. 4, 2004) -- The Marine Corps has always placed a high importance on the training of their troops.

Especially while in a war-zone, a high standard of excellence is required of the Marines in every aspect of operations.

In order to meet these requirements, it’s imperative that there are proper facilities to conduct the various types of training necessary to get the job done.

With numerous units based on Al Asad, the need arose for adequate training areas. The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing has taken responsibility for controlling and maintaining the weapons ranges for all the units aboard Al Asad.

Run by the Marines of 4th Low-Altitude Air Defense Battalion, Security Battalion, Marine Wing Support Group 37, 3rd MAW, Range Operations and Training has a large area of operations with combat courses that encompass a wide variety of training.

Covering everything from small arms to full-scale bombs, range control Marines ensure that the training is conducted safely and efficiently.

“We do a lot of training out here,” said 45-year-old Yorba Linda, Calif., native Master Gunnery Sgt. Ronnie M. Mejia, operations chief, Range Operations and Training. “Since taking over September 1, we’ve trained almost 5,000 Marines.”

According to Mejia, running the weapons ranges requires a lot more than scheduling times and organizing units.

“We give safety briefs for the ranges we run, place targets, and clean up the ranges,” he said. “We give classes about all factors of weapons and combat.”

Nicknamed “Angles of Death,” the range control Marines have full confidence in their abilities to do their job.

“We’re good at what we do,” said 26-year-old Chicago native Sgt. Jesus E. Villegas, LAAD gunner, Range Operations and Training. “We’re always on time and always motivated.”

Having available over a dozen mission-specific ranges for weapons such as pistols, rifles, heavy machine guns, various rocket launchers, grenades and artillery gives the range control Marines enough work to keep them busy.

“We also try to give (units) as much time as necessary so they can prepare for their missions,” said Mejia. “They have priority.”

Along with organizing the ranges for the units on base, Range Operations and Training also host ranges or the Iraqi Police force and border patrol.

“We’re training the Iraqi boarder patrol how to do fire their weapons, do squad rushes, and engage targets on the move,” said 23-year-old Eric, Penn., native Sgt. Heath A. Fernald, instructor, 2nd Amphibious Assault Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, during a recent training session held at the fire and maneuver range here.

Also located on base is a range used specifically for grenade training. The Marines run through a course with various barriers and throw grenades while their fellow Marines give cover fire with live ammunition.

With all of these tasks, it’s often that the range control personnel don’t get a chance to participate in the training themselves.

“We’re always conducting training for other units,” said 23-year-old Burlington, Wash., native, Sgt. Richard L. Swihart III, LAAD gunner, Range Operations and Training. “As a result, we hardly ever get a chance to do any training.”

“Our mission is support the other units on base,” added Swihart. “Our personal training comes second.”

However that doesn’t mean that they don’t train at all. Occasionally the range control Marines occasionally get the opportunity to mix business with pleasure by participating in the range shoots they conduct.

“Every once in a while we’ll go out and shoot weapons with another unit,” said Villegas. “Firing a machine gun and throwing grenades is pretty motivating.”

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/20041012163327/$file/041002-M-2789C-043-RangeLR.jpg

Marines from Regimental Combat Team 7, 1st Marine Division, conduct live-fire and grenade training at one of the multiple weapons ranges at Al Asad, Iraq, Oct. 02. The ranges aboard the air base are controlled and maintained by the Marines of 4th Low-Altitude Air Defense Battalion, Marine Wing Support Group 37, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. Photo by: Cpl. Joel A. Chaverri

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200410121720/$file/041002-M-2789C-029-RangeLR.jpg

Sgt. Henock S. Hall, low-altitude air defense gunner, 4th LAAD Battalion, Marine Wing Support Group 37, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, and 25-year-old Pasadena, Calif., native tosses a grenade at a range aboard Al Asad, Iraq, Oct. 02. The ranges aboard the air base are controlled and maintained by the 4th LAAD Bn. Marines, who provide support for units utilizing weapons ranging from small-arms to rockets. Photo by: Cpl. Joel A. Chaverri

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/51E5EF8465B1E96C85256F2B006E024B?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

3rd MAW reservists keep perimeter safe at Al Asad
Submitted by: 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing
Story Identification #: 200410148147
Story by Cpl. Joel A. Chaverri



AL ASAD, Iraq (Oct. 6, 2004) -- Driving through miles of seemingly endless desert, many hours have passed and exhaustion has begun to set in.

At one of the largest military installations in Iraq, patrolling around the perimeter of the air base here is no easy task, yet the Marines safeguarding its boundaries remain constantly watchful and take their job seriously.

In a combined effort, reservists from Company P, 5th Battalion, 14th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, based in Spokane, Wash., have been joined with 4th Low-Altitude Air Defense Battalion, Security Battalion, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, to accomplish the mission of protecting Al Asad.

With a constant threat from anti-Iraqi forces, Marines here conduct non-stop patrols that cover a wide radius in every direction around the outskirts of base.

"Doing a patrol around base keeps a buffer between us and the enemy," said Guiana, South America, native Staff Sgt. Leon C. Pilgrim, platoon sergeant, Company B, 4th LAAD Bn. "The further we can keep them from the base, the safer we are."

Performing patrols day and night, each Marine on the patrol is required to be extremely observant of their surroundings.

"The most important thing I tell my Marines before each patrol is to stay alert," said Pilgrim. "You never know what's going on out there, so you have to be prepared for anything."

Marines conducting vehicle patrols or standing guard duty often have to combat the unseen adversary of complacency, caused by the monotony occasionally encountered during missions.

"Not seeing anything out there is almost worse than seeing something," said Pilgrim. "You can sometimes catch yourself becoming complacent, but you need to snap out of it. Just because there wasn't anything out there today doesn't mean there won't be tomorrow."

A policeman in Atlanta, Pilgrim has had a lot of experience in dealing with security.

"My job as a police officer translates to my security duties out here," said the 33-year-old. "When I have to conduct a search it comes like second nature."

A single patrol can last for hours, so the day before the patrol the Marines involved receive a full brief of the next day's events.

"Everyone shows up for the brief because it's so important," said 21-year-old Spokane, Wash., native, Cpl. Jeremy C. Greenfield, forward observer, Company P. "We get the who, what, where and why of the mission."

Normally functioning as an artillery unit, the reservists from Company P didn't quite expect to be conducting patrol missions here.

"When I first did a patrol I was a little nervous because I didn't know what to expect," said 21-year-old Greenfield. "Now I'm more familiar with what we're doing, and when I go out there, I'm never worried because we've all had the proper training."

Building and maintaining trust between the Marines in a unit has always been an important part of every mission and patrols are no exception.

"When I'm out there I'm confident in myself and the Marines next to me," said Greenfield. "As long as you relax and think about what you're doing, you'll be fine."

With such a large responsibility on their shoulders, it is imperative that the Marines of Company P maintain a vigilant and upbeat mindset.

"Marines can easily get stressed out here doing this job," said Curlaw, Wash., native, Lance Cpl. Haden E. Barkley, field artillery cannoneer, Company P. "The biggest challenge is staying focused and positive," finished the 21-year-old fulltime student at Whitworth College in Spokane, Wash.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/2004101483224/$file/041006-M-2789C-004-PatrolLR.jpg

Reservists 22-year-old Douglasville, Ga., native Lance Cpl. Joshua N. Freeman (left), LAAD gunner, 4th Low-Altitude Air Defense Battalion, Security Battalion, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, and 24-year-old, Pasco, Wash., native Cpl. Jerry T. Zuetrong, field artillery cannoneer, Company P, 5th Battalion, 14th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, stay on the alert during an external patrol around the perimeter of the air base at Al Asad, Iraq, Oct. 6. Now attached to 4th LAAD Bn, the Marines of Company P help conduct vehicle patrols to ensure the safety of the installation. Photo by: Cpl. Joel A. Chaverri

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/A16B9664C77A1DE385256F2D00433620?opendocument

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Pass, Foe!

Illegals clean the pentagon, drive trucks onto bases, and enlist with false documents

By Dr. Martin Brass
Soldier of Fortune Magazine

In the first four parts of this series, we saw how infiltration of our borders by illegal immigrants has turned these no-longer-recognizable boundaries into war zones, and how U.S. citizens are being raped, murdered, and robbed by illegal alien criminals. So, how about our defense and military organizations? Surely, one would think -- would hope -- that those that we look to for protection are secure from these illegal immigrant incursions.

Think again.

"When I was stationed at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico in the Mid-seventies, with the 4449Th Mobility Support Squadron, we were tasked with helping the SP's search for illegal aliens in the West area of the base. Upon our initial briefing, the OSI told us that a small percentage of the ones found on base were Cuban nationals, possibly spying on our installation. Some were actually caught next to aircraft and even hangers! During the last administration it was reported that there were as many as 300,000 illegals a month migrating to the U.S.

"I wonder how many of the ones we have here now are scooping out the country's related installations and strategic areas for our current enemies?" a concerned SOF reader recently wrote to me.

What's the situation three decades later?

The Daily Press recently reported "Some illegal immigrants, including members of a violent Salvadoran gang, got onto the world's largest naval base to do construction work, federal investigators allege in court records.

"No charges have been filed and it was unclear how many illegal immigrants made it onto Norfolk Naval Station. A Navy spokeswoman told the Daily Press that there is no security problem at the base. It is that state of denial that has experts concerned.

"Appropriate security measures are in place at all of the installations in the region," said Beth Baker, a spokeswoman for the Navy's Mid- Atlantic Region Command. "We continuously monitor those, check those, and they're appropriate given the current threat environment."

According to the Press, "Court records allege that construction company owners have conspired with people at the base pass office so the undocumented workers may get through the base gates."

Indeed, the helter-skelter nature of illegal alien infiltration into defense installations has not changed much since the mid-seventies. Illegals are found not only on military bases, but on other high security installations as well.

"I find it really amazing that so many illegal immigrants are working in DOD buildings, including the Pentagon, with security clearances and Pentagon access badges. I see them every day in secure areas of DOD facilities, employed in janitorial and similar functions with security/building clearance badges.

Terrorists, Spies, and Suicide Bombers

"This could make it easy for terrorists, spies, and suicide bombers to infiltrate Pentagon security and commit acts of espionage, or worse, assassinate some of our top Pentagon civilian and military leaders. Of course, this is also the case at other federal government agencies presumably including Capital Hill.

"One can only hope that security is a little tighter at the White House," said David T. Pyne, President and CEO of the National Security Interest Organization.

Michelle Malkin, syndicated columnist, obtained a Department of Homeland Security intelligence report that tracked one Raymond Levesque, an illegal alien, who was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents, as he drove northbound on I-95 near Houlton, MN. Levesque admitted to operating illegally as a truck driver in the United States for fifteen years. He was freed on his own recognizance, under the current catch and release policy.

The report warned, "Taken as an isolated incident, the violation concerning Levesque could be of minor interest, however, a possible terrorism nexus here is clear... There are, at any given time, several hundred military vehicles on site, and security is non-existent. The fact that undocumented foreign nationals are illegally transporting this equipment throughout the U.S. with access to the Limestone facility and other military facilities also would seem to pose a threat."

The U.S. Army's Military Traffic Management Command (MTMC), responsible for contracting surface transportation of military arms, ammunition, explosives, vehicles, and other motorized equipment, refused to respond to queries on what steps it takes to screen frauds, felons, or potential terrorists. "We work very closely with commercial carriers and all defense transportation partners to ensure the safety and security of all of our shipments," MTMC public affairs officer Corenthia Libby informed investigators. "To safeguard these operational security measures I will not elaborate on the details."

Gary Cleaves, general manager of the Maine National Guard maintenance center that refurbishes and ships military Humvees and M109 mobile howitzers, capable of delivering nerve gas rounds and nuclear munitions, gave more detail.

No ID, No Record

"No identification is required from drivers dropping off shipments at the National Guard site," he told investigators. "The trucking company name, and the truck numbers on government bills of lading, often do not match the trucks actually delivering loads, and no records are kept on who actually delivers shipments."

Previously, according to Malkin's research, Border Agents apprehended a Russian illegal alien with a valid New York State commercial driver's license, driving a stolen Humvee from the Limestone facility. His license allowed him to haul hazardous materials, and he had a pass that granted him access to sea ports along the East Coast - including high-level security-bonded Customs areas. Canadian agents intercepted two other Russian nationals, dressed in BDUs, as they tried to sneak into the United States twenty miles south of Limestone.

"A recent Denver Post article reported that over 52,700 non-citizens currently serve in the U.S. military. This number represents more than double the number I had been given last time around," Pyne said in a recent correspondence. "The number of foreign nationals serving in our military equates to 3.7% of the total force. The Army has the highest concentration of foreign mercenaries and infiltrators at about 5.2% of the force.

The U.S. military does not know the citizenship status of over 16,000 active-duty military personnel.

"The Army has the highest number of 'unknowns' - 9,055. The Navy has 6,531, the Air Force 444, the Marines one. Thirty-five thousand, six hundred and sixty-two legal immigrants serve in the U.S. military.

"With Bush's new initiative to match 'any willing worker with any willing employer,' this percentage could easily double in the next ten years alone to the ten percent range," Pyne said.

We're already half-way to Pyne's predictions, according to The National Review. The percentage of legal immigrants in the military has grown by one-third since 2000. Immigrants now make up four to five percent of total new enlistees, and this trend is expected to continue. Illegal aliens are flocking to recruiting offices after President Bush waived residency requirements for non-citizens on active duty.

The U.S. embassy and its consulates in Mexico have been "besieged by young men wanting to join our armed forces as a way of immigrating" according to the Review. Overwhelmed, the embassy posted a notice denying that illegal aliens or residents of Mexico can join the U.S. armed forces.

Enlistment Shortfalls

"There is the real possibility that defending America will become "work Americans won't do…budget pressures, and high recruitment targets, will create strong incentives for the armed services to cut back on pay and benefits, and hope that enlistment shortfalls can be made up by non-citizens seeking the prospect of accelerated citizenship," the Review predicts.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the agency designed to assure internal security, policy is 'hands off'. "If a military branch decides not to prosecute an individual for fraudulent entry, then they are considered eligible to become citizens," Homeland Security spokesman Chris Bentley told the Post.

"The law bars employers from knowingly hiring the undocumented, but does it allow employers to continue to keep the undocumented on their payrolls after they discover their illegal status," an outraged Lt. Col. Matthew Dodd, USMC, Senior Editor of DefenseWatch fumes.

Military officials were unable to explain the 2003 figures to the Denver Post. "Of the number we have that are unknowns, I'm sure that some are citizens and some may not be citizens," said Lt. Col. Stan Heath, spokesman for the U.S. Army Human Resources Command. "We just don't know' how many may be illegal.

"The case of an Army private from Mexico, who enlisted using a fake green card, and then served in Iraq, suggests some of the unknowns could be illegal immigrants. The military has no set procedure for handling these cases. U.S. congressional leaders are looking into the matter," Heath said.

Lt. Col. Dodd's comment on that was, "Someone needs to fire those military officials whose concerns after the 9/11- raised terrorist attacks have resulted in only identifying an unacceptable amount of 'unknowns" in our ranks."

According to the Denver Post investigation, some safeguards are in place. "'Military officials check birth certificates, green cards or Social Security numbers to verify whether new recruits are legally in the country,' said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jane Campbell, a U.S. Defense Department spokeswoman."

"We're trying to clean up the database to make sure we have a good accountability. We are working on it…I haven't heard of any incident where a soldier of unknown origin has done something to be concerned about,'" Heath told the Denver Post.

Such statements are not encouraging, considering that social security cards, passports and other forged documents are readily available.

Dodd doesn't buying Heath's arguments, either.

"Lt. Col. Heath's complacency about the potential threat posed by undocumented persons in the United States is eerily reminiscent of the mindset that helped permit the 9/11 attacks against our homeland," Dodd wrote.

continued..........

[thedrifter]

Terrorists Or Sympathizers

"What if a foreign country decided to infiltrate our Army with a large number of its own agents? Did you know that China has an organization charged with this very purpose. How many of these U.S. military foreign nationals are in fact foreign agents or terrorist sympathizers?" Pyne said. "Shouldn't we require naturalization before enlistment? Don't we want an army of citizens rather than aliens?" demands the Review.

"Newcomers should earn the right to serve in the armed forces by first formalizing their relationship with the United States. Why would we expect a foreigner to 'bear true faith and allegiance' to our Constitution, rather than his own?

"We should go to any length to avoid developing a kind of mercenary army, made up of foreigners loyal to their units and commanders, but not to the Republic. By limiting military service to those who have already become citizens, we are less likely to face instances of desertion and treason."

Although Sgt. Asan Akbar, the Muslim convert who killed two of his comrades in a grenade attack in Kuwait, was not an immigrant, the Washington Times, according to the Review, reported that U.S. officials fear more attacks from the 4,000-plus Muslims, many of them immigrants, in the armed forces.

"The threat of illegal aliens in our country and in our military is serious, and so is the unnecessary risk of literally being stopped dead in our complacent tracks," Dodd warns.

"If they're willing to risk their lives for America, shouldn't they get citizenship?" is the question often asked, according to the Review.

The question should be, "Who are they willing to risk their lives for, and if not for America, who and how many do they plan to take with them?"

Dr. Martin Brass is an international lawyer longtime SOF contributor.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

US Marines pound Fallujah

AP
Saturday, October 16, 2004



BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - US warplanes pounded the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah on Friday, a day after the city's leaders suspended peace talks and rejected the Iraqi government's demands to turn over terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

US troops detained Fallujah's top negotiator in the peace talks, witnesses said. Khaled al-Jumeili, an Islamic cleric, was arrested he left a mosque after prayers on the first day of Ramadan in a village about 15 kilometres (10 miles) south of Fallujah, they said. There was no immediate US comment.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20041015T200000-0500_67707_OBS_US_MARINES_POUND_FALLUJAH.asp


Ellie

[thedrifter]

V Corps Training for Possible Return to Iraq

By Jon R. Anderson,
Stars and Stripes European Edition

HEIDELBERG, Germany — The Army headquarters that led the blitzkrieg invasion of Iraq and the first year of occupation duties there, launched initial field maneuvers this week in preparation to return to the war zone.

“We are operating on the assumption that some or all of us will be going back into the fight,” Col. Sean MacFarland, head of operations for the Germany-based V Corps, told Stars and Stripes.

Exactly when that will be, he said, remains to be seen. Officials are remaining tight-lipped on specific deployment plans.

But with the Army outfitted with only three active corps — the nucleus for the top field command units in Iraq — MacFarland said it’s only a matter of time.

The Fort Hood, Texas-based III Corps replaced V Corps in February and XVIII Airborne Corps, from Fort Bragg, N.C., is preparing to relieve III Corps early next year.

If the cycle of yearlong deployments repeats itself, that would put V Corps on its way to Iraq in early 2006. Army leaders, however, have expressed hope of reducing Iraq tours to six months. That could mean a turnaround back to Iraq for V Corps as early as the summer of 2005.

Regardless, MacFarland said, the corps could be ready to deploy as early as April.

In the meantime, there’s a lot of work to be done.

Victory Start

Involving more than 3,000 troops, the corps began Victory Start on Monday.

The exercise is designed as the first major building block in the reconstitution of the corps’ war-fighting skills since top staff and main support units returned from Baghdad.

Although troops have been setting up for the war games for the past two weeks, the exercise itself runs through Monday, split about 200 miles apart on opposite sides of central Germany. To the west, about 750 troops will work from the 1st Armored Division headquarters in Wiesbaden and 2,400 troops operate from the Army’s main training range in Grafenwöhr, to the east.

The separation will allow commanders to replicate the vast distances units most work across in Iraq.

“We’re taking a crawl, walk, run approach to this, and Victory Start is the crawl-to-walk phase,” said MacFarland.

“We’ll fire up all of our equipment and give the staff some scenarios to work through,” he said.

With about one-third of the staff new to the corps since it returned from Iraq in February, “this gives everyone an opportunity to work together for the first time and establish our battle rhythm.”

Deployment focus

With Victory Start under its belt, the corps staff will shift focus from training to the real-world oversight of pushing Europe-based units deploying to Afghanistan and Iraq. That will include, for example, training assistance for the Southern European Task Force, which is slated to take over command duties in Afghanistan.

“Then we’ll shift back to training ourselves in March,” said MacFarland.

In mid-March, the corps will return to the field for Victory Focus, for the “run level” of the corps’ train-up.

The weeklong exercise will be conducted mostly at Grafenwöhr and be run by the Army’s Battle Commadnd Training Program from Fort Leavenworth, Kan. The program’s staffs operate as a combination of evaluators and a free-thinking “opposing force” in simulations.

“We’ll be in good shape after Victory Focus,” said MacFarland. In terms of what comes next, however, “after that, it kind of gets a little murky, to be perfectly honest,” he added.

The corps has canceled its annual Victory Strike exercise in Poland.

Considered the pinnacle of the corps’ annual training plan, Victory Strike had been slated to run Aug. 15 to Sept. 15 next year.

“We really haven’t been able to shape that time frame very well, due to all the uncertainty,” said MacFarland.

Instead, whenever the corps does get its orders for deployment, the staff and support units will undergo a three-week Mission Rehearsal Exercise to certify the staff is good to go.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

2 Camp Pendleton Marines Die In Iraq

Officials at Camp Pendleton said 2nd Lt. Paul M. Felsberg, 27, of West Palm Beach, Fla., died after fighting in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. Felsberg was a platoon commander assigned to 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton.

Felsberg joined the Marine Corps July 5, 1995. His personal awards include the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and the National Defense Service Medal.

Lance Cpl. Victor A. Gonzalez, 18, of Watsonville, Calif., also died Wednesday after fighting in Al Anbar Province, base officials said. Gonzalez was a rifleman assigned to 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton.

Gonzalez joined the Marine Corps Oct. 27, 2003. His personal awards include the National Defense Service Medal.

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/militaryconnection/3823518/detail.html


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Joe Galloway: Lessons of the Iraq War's "Digital Divide"

WASHINGTON - A senior military official at U.S. Central Command told me last year that one of the main lessons learned in the Iraq war is that the next time the United States fights "we will need 10 percent of the troops and 10 times the bandwidth."

He may have been speaking figuratively and underestimating the number of troops that might be required next time, but he was not overestimating the need for bandwidth (the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted in a fixed amount of time).

Technology Review, a magazine published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this week reported that a largely classified Rand Corp. study of new technology in the Iraq war found that front-line commanders in the shock-and-awe attack had about as much situational awareness of the battlefield as their grandfathers did in World War II.

Which is to say, not very much at all.

A senior Rand researcher said that what the unclassified part of the study discovered was that the new technologies - aimed at ramping up the power of a smaller, smarter military with advanced computer communications - didn't make it down to battalion and brigade commanders who were making the decisions on the battlefield.

The researcher said what we had was a "digital divide" between division and higher commanders who were totally plugged in and watching the war develop in real time on their blue screens while lower echelons were basically operating in the dark.

One battalion commander, Lt. Col. Ernest Marcone of the 69th Armor, 3rd Mech Division, told the magazine that he was sent to take over a key bridge south of Baghdad on April 2, 2003. He was told to expect one Iraqi brigade advancing against him out of Baghdad Airport. Instead he found himself fighting three Iraqi brigades coming at him from three different directions in the largest counter-attack of the war.

The heavily outnumbered Americans won but only because of better weapons, greater firepower and effective air support - not because the new technology gave them a clear picture of what was about to happen.

The Rand Corp. study reports that the delay in getting vital intelligence data to ground commanders was caused by long download times, software failures and lack of access to high-speed communications.

In fact, the Rand study reports, the enemy attacked three American military vehicles when they stopped to download data on enemy positions.

Higher commanders in Qatar and Kuwait were, if anything, too well plugged in. They were getting so much data from sensors that they couldn't process it all and, at times, had to stop accepting feeds. But when they tried to pass information to the front they found line-of-sight microwave relay systems virtually disabled.

Some who defend the idea that high tech has brought us a new future in warfare - small, agile forces striking swiftly with total situational awareness - argue that problems at the lower echelons were doctrinal, not technological. They say the networking of the Iraq war was incomplete because it was fatally grafted onto an old-fashioned command and control system. In other words, sensor information went up the chain of command where commanders interpreted it, made decisions and issued orders and then tried to pass the relevant data down the chain.

It would be better, they say, if information and decision-making in a war zone flowed horizontally as it did in Afghanistan in 2001 where special operations forces roamed the mountains in small groups, rooting out the Taliban and hunting al-Qaida. Teams and individuals were all linked to each other but no one person was in tactical command.

Curiously, the Army's highest-tech division, wired from one end to the other and fat with bandwidth, didn't make it into the original attack on Baghdad. The 4th Mech Division, the Army's testbed unit for the digitization of warfare, was left floating around in the Mediterranean when Turkey refused to permit passage into northern Iraq.

Once it was on the ground and in Iraq the 4th Division was light years ahead of other units precisely because of bandwidth. Units less well equipped were unable to access such vital information in the counter-insurgency phase of the war as interrogation reports on prisoners they had captured and sent back to centralized interrogation centers.

Maybe the real lesson in all this is if you are going to do high-tech warfare you better make sure the lieutenant colonel's tank can download the goodies and do e-mail on the fly before you wire the general's bunker in the rear.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Paratrooper Who Lost Leg in War Re-Enlists

By ESTES THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer

FORT BRAGG, N.C. - George Perez lost his leg to a roadside bomb in Iraq (news - web sites) more than a year ago, but despite the phantom pains that haunt him, he says he is determined to prove to the Army that he is no less of a man — and no less of a soldier.



"I'm not ready to get out yet," he says. "I'm not going to let this little injury stop me from what I want to do."


Perez, 21, still feels the sweat between his toes when he exercises. He's still plagued with nagging cramps in his calf muscle. And sometimes, when he gets out of bed at night without thinking, he topples over.


He is one of at least four amputees from the 82nd Airborne Division to re-enlist. With a new carbon-fiber prosthetic leg, Perez intends to show a medical board he can run an eight-minute mile, jump out of airplanes and pass all the other paratrooper tests that will allow him to go with his regiment to Afghanistan (news - web sites) next year.


On Sept. 14, 2003, Perez, of Carteret, N.J., and seven other members of his squad were rumbling down a road outside Fallujah when a bomb blast rocked their Humvee. Perez recalls flying through the air and hitting the ground hard.


The blast killed one of Perez's comrades. Perez felt surprisingly little pain, but when he tried to get up, he couldn't. He saw that his left foot was folded backward onto his knee. His size 12 1/2 combat boot stood in the dusty road a few feet away, still laced.


A photograph of Perez's lonely boot transmitted around the world and spread across two pages of Time magazine became a stark reminder that the war in Iraq was far from over.


Doctors initially tried to save part of Perez's foot. But an infection crept up his leg, and Perez agreed to allow the amputation below the knee joint.


"I was going to stay in no matter what," he recalls telling the surgeons. "Do whatever would get me back fastest."


Perez was left with a rounded stump that fits into the suction cup of the black carbon-fiber prosthetic leg.


When he arrived at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., for his rehabilitation, Perez asked a pair of generals who visited his bedside if it was possible for him to stay in the Army.


"They told me, 'It's all up to you, how much you want it,'" he says. "If I could do everything like a regular soldier, I could stay in."


He wasted little time getting started. At one point, a visitor found him doing push-ups in bed. He trained himself to walk normally with his new leg, and then run with it.


Perez has to rise at least an hour earlier than his fellow soldiers to allow swelling from the previous day's training to subside enough for his stump to fit into the prosthetic.


But it is a comfort for Perez to know he's not alone.


At least three other paratroopers in the 82nd have lost limbs in combat during the past two years and re-enlisted. One of them, Staff Sgt. Daniel Metzdorf, lost his right leg above the knee in a Jan. 27 blast. He appealed three times before the fitness board allowed him to stay on.


"I think it's a testimony to today's professional Army," says division commander Maj. Gen. Bill Caldwell. "I also think, deep down, it is a love for their other paratroopers."





In July, amputee program manager Chuck Scoville of Walter Reed told a congressional committee that amputations accounted for 2.4 percent of all wounded in action in the Iraq war — twice the rate in World Wars I and II.

Perez is one of about 160 service members who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan who have passed through Walter Reed's amputee patient program. The military says it does not track the number who choose to stay in the service.

"It isn't something that historically we've had to deal with a whole lot," says Lt. Col. Frank Christopher, the surgeon for the 82nd Airborne.

Today, Perez looks every bit the part of paratrooper — tall, in ripped-ab shape and serious-looking. His uniform is sharply creased, his maroon beret sits at an exact angle above one eye and the black leather boot on his good leg gleams with a mirror shine. The only thing that sets him apart at a glance is the white running shoe on his prosthetic leg.

Perez has to go before another medical fitness board to determine whether he will be allowed to jump again. He also must pass the fitness test for his age — run two miles in just under 16 minutes and do at least 42 push-ups and 53 sit-ups in two-minute stretches.

For now, he must content himself with a job maintaining M-16s and M-4s, machine guns and grenade launchers in his company's armory. But his dream is to attend the grueling Ranger school at Fort Benning, Ga., a serious challenge to even the most able-bodied soldier.

"I got a lot of things to do," he said. "I want to do as much as I can, as much as they'll let me."

___

Editor's Note: Associated Press reporter Allen G. Breed contributed to this report.


http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041017/ap_on_re_us/amputee_re_enlistment


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Webb City to welcome Marines back home

From staff reports

10/17/04
Print this story

WEBB CITY, Mo. - Four Webb City Marines just back from Iraq will be honored with a town parade today.

What: Welcome-back parade for local troops.

When: Starting at 3 p.m.

Where: The parade will begin at the intersection of Washington Street and Daugherty Street in Webb City, proceed to Main Street, and then turn up Main to Third Street.

The Marines with the 3rd Battalion 24th Marine 4th Division Weapons Company in Springfield are Lance Cpl. Adam Minard, Lance Cpl. Aaron Walker, Cpl. Chad Brooks and Cpl. Adam Bryant.

Their company has been stationed in Fallujah for the past seven months, and it probably hasn't been a picnic. That's why Bryant's mother, Shannon Diaz, decided the town should welcome them home with a parade.

"Webb City has always been real good about honoring our sports teams and others with parades," Diaz said. "I just thought we should do it for these boys, too."

Bryant is a machine gunner, Walker and Minard mortar men and Brooks a radio field wireman, according to Diaz. Each will ride in his own convertible at the head of the parade, and then watch the remainder of the parade pass by from a dais at the end of the route, Diaz said.

Webb City's junior-high and high-school band members and the Webb City Singers are slated to participate in the parade, along with students from Webb City High School's Reserve Officer Training Corps unit and the motorcycle group the Rolling Patriots. The Webb City fire and police departments and the Jasper County Sheriff's Department also will be represented.

Staff writer Jeff Lehr can be reached at 623-3480, ext. 7299, or jlehr@joplinglobe.com.



A taste of the grape for a good cause

There's no reason to feel guilty for spending part of an afternoon indulging in some good wines and tasty treats. And Cookie Monster would probably even give the event a thumbs-up.

Ozarks Public Television's 15th annual Wine Feast raises money to benefit the education and children's programming that has been available in the Joplin area since 1987. But the programs broadcast on OPT costs the Springfield station money, and the combination of a slow economy and an increase in programming costs have made it all the more important that the organization get financial support, said Norma Scott, regional support manager for OPT in Joplin.

Though Wine Feast features more than 70 different kinds of vino ripe for sampling, there's plenty to be had for those who don't drink. Almost 30 area restaurants will serve up dishes, piano music will entertain the crowd, and plenty of nonalcoholic beverages will be available. For those interested in paying a few dollars more, they can attend an event beginning at 12:30 p.m. where a chef will prepare appetizers to complement individual wines. Ticket holders can then take part in the rest of the day's festivities.

What: Ozarks Public Television's 15th annual Wine Feast.

When: Sunday, Oct, 24; early event begins at 12:30 p.m.; general event runs 2 to 4 p.m.

Where: Holiday Inn, 3615 S. Range Line Rd.

Cost: $60 for both events; $35 in advance for later event, $45 at the door.

Details: 782-2226.

Several prizes will be sold through a silent auction, including a plasma television and a rare 1986 bottle of Bordeaux. Tickets are available at the OPT office, all Community Bank and Trust locations, Show-Me Magazine and May's Drug Warehouse locations.

Staff writer Dena Sloan can be reached 623-3480, ext. 7263, or dsloan@joplinglobe.com.

Barton County Republicans dishing up a rally

LAMAR, Mo. - If you want to learn more about Missouri and Barton County candidates, or if you just want a free meal, then you might want to check out the Barton County Republican Committee's upcoming "Get Out and Vote" rally.

What: Republican Texas barbecue and rally.

When: 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

Where: Memorial Hall in Lamar.

Cost: Free.

Maxine Rader, chairwoman of the Barton County Republican Committee, said that the group tries to have a rally every two years but every four years near election time "we go all out."

Conservative songwriter Jeff Parnell from Rogersville, Ark., will be the entertainment. Local and state candidates will also be on hand.

The food will be roast beef, potato salad, coleslaw, baked beans and chocolate cake.

There will also be various door prizes, including a painting of elephants. Bush buttons will be handed out.

Staff writer Jeremiah Tucker can be reached at 623-3480, ext. 7297, or jtucker@joplinglobe.com.

http://joplinglobe.joplinglobe.com/story.php?story_id=137359&c=87

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Troops Take a Gamble on Iraqi Dinars

By Juliana Gittler,
Stars and Stripes Mideast Edition

BAGHDAD — In drawers and footlockers, servicemembers in Iraq are banking on the future by hoarding millions of Iraq’s year- old currency, the dinar.

Many suspect the dinar’s precipitous drop in the past decade could mean a huge rebound ahead. Each dinar was once worth a few dollars; they’re now worth a fraction of a penny apiece.

If post-war Kuwait is any example, they might be right: A Kuwaiti dinar was valued at a about a dime after the war. Each now brings in $3.40.

Still, that’s a big gamble, financial experts say. And Iraq is no Kuwait — a small, politically stable country with massive oil reserves.

Insurgents, a nascent government and extreme poverty still plague Iraq.

“If only the country turns around,” said one investor, Staff Sgt. Matthew Gadbois, a Vermont National Guardsman with the 1st Battalion, 86th Field Artillery at Camp Victory, Baghdad.

“That’s the gamble,” adds another, Sgt. Richard Couture, from the same unit.

The two, and most soldiers they know, have picked up a few hundred thousand dinars — equivalent to a couple hundred dollars. They know others who have bought considerably more.

If the value jumps just a bit — from 1/16th of a penny to 1/8th of a penny for example, investors double their money. If it jumps to a few cents, they can start paying off mortgages, the goal for Gadbois.

He learned of the scheme from a fellow soldier who, he adds, likes to gamble.

“I was skeptical at first,” Gadbois says. “But it’s like playing the stock market. If it takes off, great.”

Iraq has a few attributes that make it attractive. The most obvious is oil, and the fact that it could blossom into a functional country.

Still the government could overspend and weaken the economy despite its oil. And there’s always inflation to dampen the already low value.

“While that is a nice idea, soldiers probably shouldn’t be currency speculators,” said Michael A. Goldstein, associate professor of finance at Babson College in Massachusetts in an e-mailed statement. “All sorts of things could happen, especially inflation in dinars. This is likely a sucker bet — if the major investment banks aren’t speculating, neither should your average GI.”

He points to the example in Eastern Europe after the Cold War. Gains in currency value were eroded by inflation as the country developed.

“One of the easiest ways to finance government expenditures is just to print more money and spend it. When the government prints more money, it causes inflation,” he says.

It might also be difficult or expensive to off-load the dinars down the road. The few banks that buy foreign currency in the States charge fees for doing so, he says.

Many soldiers recognize the gamble and are prepared to wait years to see what happens.

“It’s not really a big investment,” says Capt. Scott Moreland, currently serving with the 1st Battalion, 185th Armor Regiment of the California National Guard in Camp Scania, Iraq. “Most of us have thrown a few hundred bucks at it to see what happens. Your odds are better than they are in Vegas.”

He adds that Department of Defense savings programs are probably a better bet.

Military investors should note that U.S. customs laws require them to declare if they bring home more than the equivalent of $10,000 in any currency.

And post offices in theater forbid mailing currency home. But there is no Department of Defense regulation to stop them, according to military officials.

The get-rich-quick idea isn’t limited to those serving in Iraq.

On the auction Web site eBay, dinars sell for marginally more than the going rate. A recent sale collected $75 for 100,000 dinars. Under the current exchange rate, that amount should cost about $68.

Scores of vendors online have been set up just to sell dinars. In one case, a million dinars, worth about $685, was on sale for $895.

One of these sites sums up the efforts in its name: BetOnIraq.com.

Its Web site adds a caveat: “We sell genuine currency that, in our opinion, stands a good chance of appreciating in value. We can offer no guarantees of a return on investment.”

Goldstein adds that as a gamble the idea isn’t crazy, but it’s certainly not a wise investment.

“Short answer — don’t do this with more money than you usually bet in one evening’s poker game.”

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines' proximity to power plant adds danger

BY RICK JERVIS

Chicago Tribune


ISKANDARIYAH, Iraq - (KRT) - The Musayyab Power Plant sits on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River in this city like a steel giant laboring to breathe. Two of its four towering smokestacks spew a steady stream of white smoke, a sign that the turbine engines attached to them are working. One smokestack puffs out weak wisps. The fourth is dormant.

Like many of Iraq's 30 electrical plants, the Musayyab facility is struggling to return to full capacity. Because of bad parts, outdated technology and the stress of war, the four-turbine diesel plant produces less than half of its designed capacity.

But the Musayyab plant has an added liability: It sits within the razor-wire confines of a U.S. military base. The living arrangements, created to protect the plant, raise concerns from plant officials, who fear mortars aimed at Marines will one day bludgeon the plant, and from military officers, who must monitor the nearly 1,000 mostly Iraqi employees and temporary staffers who come to work in it each day.

"Our job is to make sure Iraq has power," said Capt. Henry Parrish, camp commandant and the Marine in charge of securing the plant. "We do everything we can to make that happen."

Helping restore power plants such as Musayyab, a 1960s-era facility that churns nearly half of Baghdad's power, to full capacity has been a high priority for the U.S.-led coalition and a major step in the rebuilding process - a "tier-one asset" in Marines parlance.

The sprawling base, 30 miles south of Baghdad and home to 1,000 Marines and sailors attached to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, originally was built around the plant to protect it from insurgents.

But securing it has been a challenge. Shrapnel from mortars aimed at the Marines has punched holes in fuel tanks that run the plant. Oil pipelines that once fueled the facility have been ruptured by insurgents. Workers have been threatened and killed. In August, the plant's manager disappeared on his way to work, reportedly snatched by kidnappers.

Marine officials here said keeping the plant safe and running is the central mission of the base, and a task delegated to Parrish.

On a recent afternoon, Iraqi employees smiled and waved as Parrish strode into the lobby of the power plant, flak jacket on. Parrish smiled back and greeted them in Arabic.

"Salaam aleikum," he told a guard at the door, pronouncing the Arabic greeting with a Georgia accent.

"Aleikum essalam," the guard answered.

Married with three children and one on the way, Parrish, 34, has a finance degree from Georgia Southern University, where he also played running back on the football team. In the Marines he completed command training at the Expeditionary Warfare School.

But no amount of training prepared him for his task as plant protector, he said.

"I had no idea what I was getting into until I got here," Parrish said.

The Musayyab plant has been battered by war. During the 1991 Persian Gulf war, U.S. missiles knocked it out of commission, plant officials said. The facility was repaired and went untouched during last year's invasion. But failing parts and outdated equipment have greatly reduced its output.

With all four turbine engines working properly, the plant is designed to crank out 1,280 megawatts per minute, plant officials said. Currently, with one of the turbines out and the rest running under capacity, it is producing 550 megawatts per minute, they said. The lower output accounts for the frequent outages, brownouts and power surges plaguing Baghdad and surrounding cities, the officials said.

But finding spare parts is the least of plant officials' worries, they said. Plant employees have been targeted by anti-American insurgents, and some have been followed as they leave the base grounds and return home. One worker was killed in a car bombing outside the base's front gate, a plant official said. As a result, employees are working fewer hours, cutting back on production, the official said.

On Aug. 18, the plant's top manager was driving to work on a road in the nearby town of Musayyab when gunmen shot out a tire and took him from his car, according to a witness, Marine spokesman Capt. David Nevers said. Military investigators pursued the case but the trail went cold, Nevers said. The manager has not been seen since.

"Everyone in this company is in danger," said Ali Hassan, 25, a chief engineer in the plant's main control room. Piles of employees' shoes line the entrance to the control room. A blinking computer panel, circa 1984, monitors the turbines and boiler rooms, next to a portrait of the green-hooded Imam Ali, the Prophet Muhammad's son-in-law.

"It's dangerous outside every day," Hassan said. "But we try not to think of it too much. Electricity is for all Iraqis. It has to go out."

Another threat for employees and the plant are the rockets and mortars fired almost daily at the Marines on base. Two weeks ago, 15 mortars pounded the base in less than an hour, officials said.

And recently, a mortar shell exploded near a 3,000-gallon tank holding diesel fuel for the plant, Parrish said. Shrapnel from the mortar sprayed across the tank, punching quarter-size holes in its base that leaked fuel.

One plant official, who asked not to be named, said the plant would be safer outside a U.S. base. But that is not an option U.S. military officials are willing to consider.

"(The base) was put here initially because there was a threat," said Lt. Col. Robert Durkin, the base's top commander. "If we leave and something happens, then 40 percent of Baghdad is out of power and everyone's up in arms. We'll stay until the Iraqi government brings in a security force capable of taking over."

One of the first tasks assigned to Parrish when he arrived in June was to improve plant defenses against mortars, he said. He fortified outgoing mortar positions surrounding the plant that were set up by the Army, which previously occupied the base, and set up artillery guns to fire 155 mm rounds in an effort to discourage enemy fire, he said.

He also began meeting with plant officials, listening to their concerns and adjusting security plans, he said. The daily meetings fostered friendships and sometimes stretched into long conversations about the differences between Islam and Christianity, among other topics, said Parrish, a devout Baptist.

"Everyone just wants peace," he said, "so they could work."

Another concern for Parrish was the nearly 1,000 plant workers who entered the base each day - people who could relay the base's layout to insurgents or bring in bombs.

Each morning, every person who enters the plant is patted down for bombs and other weapons, Parrish said. Mobile phones, which could be used as detonation devices or to help pinpoint targets for mortar teams, are not allowed, he said. And every vehicle that enters the base is searched by bomb-sniffing dogs.

"You have to be diligent," Parrish said. "But you have to be courteous. These people work here. It's their livelihood."

Marine officials said a team of U.S. military personnel recently visited the base to assess plant security and eventually train and establish an Iraqi security force to take over protection of the plant.

Until that happens, it's Parrish's job to help keep Baghdad neighborhoods lighted.

"Our goal is to get them up to capacity," he said. "The sooner that happens, the sooner we leave."

---

© 2004, Chicago Tribune.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/9906913.htm

Ellie

[thedrifter]

In Iraq military hospitals, all patients — friend and foe — are treated equally


By Ward Sanderson, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, October 17, 2004


BAGHDAD — The light was the sad blue-green that all hospitals seem to have, and Capt. Batina Sundem smiled through it toward Mohammed.

Mohammed was wrapped in yellow plastic that kept his protruding intestines from drying out. Sundem seemed sunny despite the pallid light.

Chirpily, she asked Mohammed if he was her friend. He weakly shook his head no. Would he be her friend if she gave him water? Yes. That he would do.

Mohammed had blown a hole in his belly trying to build a bomb to kill U.S. soldiers.

“It went off in his face,” Sundem said. “It was really a bad day for him.”

This is normal for the nurses of Ibn Sina Hospital, once Saddam Hussein’s private center and now the Army’s busy facility in Baghdad. Caring for American troops and the insurgents with whom they fight drains nurses and twists their insides around like gauze.

They must treat all patients the same.

The most severely injured must be treated first, regardless of nationality. The nurses work 12 hours a day, six days a week. And some struggle with fears that time spent mending enemies might deplete energy they could use to heal their own soldiers.

Nurses who work exclusively with prisoners rotate to the GI ward after six months; it’s just too much. Nurses in the emergency room and intensive care unit see all patients before they’ve ever been sorted into bad guy or good.

Sundem tries to stabilize patients before they can go home, to prison or to another hospital. Sometimes she sends terminal soldiers back to Germany, and there they will die. But at least they will see their families one last time.

To cope with the insurgents behind that, Sundem focuses on the Golden Rule and on her husband, a Ranger deployed to the Middle East six times since Sept. 11, 2001. She hoped a nurse would take care of him were he ever captured.

She looked at Mohammed, the failed bomber. She said he, too, could be someone’s father, someone’s husband.

“I’ve been a nurse for 14 years, and I’ve never seen the devastation that I’ve seen here,” Sundem said. “It’s a downer. It’s literally man’s inhumanity to man. It’s war.”

Down the hall padded the small feet of another local. Dihar Aljazy, 5, struggled behind her walker. She moved slowly but she did not strain.

“You’re doing good,” Capt. Leslie Goodwin said, waving a floppy dolly in front of the girl.

Bandits shot Dihar in the back seven months ago.

“The doctors here, they made this little kid walk,” said her grandmother, Jammala, draped in black. “… You people are helping us a lot. You deserve more gratitude from our side. We haven’t seen help from anyone else. We wish you were here five, 10, 20 years ago.”

Nurse Goodwin has seen other sentiments.

Children have made bombs and acted as decoys for insurgents. In the hospital, “They seem so passive. And here you were, making a bomb.”

Ramadan is beginning, and the nurses are worried. Any special date could bring more bombs, more bullets, more business.

Maj. Patricia Born, acting head nurse in the emergency room, treats troops and locals just off the streets of urban warfare. When they arrive she doesn’t know who locals are and how they were hurt.

“I think it’s difficult because we see a lot of mortal injuries, and people who will be disabled, soldiers and Marines,” she said. “I didn’t know how I’d respond to seeing the person who shot them.”

Others are locals injured in the crossfire.

Some of the Iraqi injured who later turn out to be insurgents come in looking angry and hard. The eyes of the young, though, go wide with fear.

“They come as young as 9 years old,” said Born, who is 57 and a grandmother.

Other children may be members of Iraqi families who drove through military checkpoints and were shot by soldiers fearing suicide bombers.

On a busy day, emergency nurses must treat the queued injured in the hallway.

“Sometimes,” Born said, “it’s overwhelming.”

Though their mission is to treat everyone the same, feeling the same about everyone is not easy. If patients survive the ER they may see Spc. Steve Hodgkins, who works in intensive care. After a few moments, Hodgkins’ voice loses its clinical detachment and takes on an aching note of conflict over the cost of being so humane.

“When it comes to taking care of insurgents, bad guys, I think I’m part of the process that returns them to what doing whatever they were doing,” he said.

He’s heard stories of insurgents recovering, somehow being released, then winding up attacking troops again. Some bite, spit and throw containers of urine at nurses.

Other times, an insurgent does a 180, telling Hodgkins he now loves America, he can’t believe how well they treated him here, he’s so sorry.

Hodgkins, who often lowered his eyes as he spoke, nonetheless fears the following scenario: He spends several units of a type of blood trying to save an Iraqi who dies anyway. Then a GI comes in, needing 12 units of that same type. Only 10 remain.

This evokes Hodgkins’ memory of the shattered soldier who, after being bombed, needed not shrapnel removed from his arm, but shards of bone that were once his friend.

This can harden a man. Then Hodgkins will treat an Iraqi child who witnessed his parents machine-gunned to death, and he melts again. Or he remembers the thief shot while robbing a mosque, and how the thief was relieved to discover the object of surgery was to fix his wounded leg, not to cut off his hand.

These feelings clash. They don’t compute.

“I try not to think about it that much,” Hodgkins said, “because I’m a good nurse, and I will not compromise my humanity.”

Capt. Laura Ricardo, who wears hats from spokeswoman to clinic head nurse, said she could relate. She’s held a broken soldier’s hand and felt anger toward those who hurt him. Then she asked herself, what if I were born poor and in Baghdad? How would I behave? What would I believe?

“That person is just as important in God’s eyes,” Ricardo decided.

The nurses, though, are tired.

“You can’t go full-tilt, boogie-woogie, six days a week and not burn out,” Hodgkins said.

An officer agreed.

“Just about every day we were holding an American who was dying,” said 1st Lt. Jill Schroeder, sniffing as she remembered April, when the fighting was especially terrible.

Recently an insurgent complained that Schroeder hadn’t fanned him enough in the heat. She said she treats three or four Iraqis for every American.

“They shouldn’t be here,” she said of the locals. “They should go to the Iraqi hospital. Granted, it’s crap.”

Everyone wants to be treated by the Americans, she said. But after nearly a year here, the healers who treat insurgents like Mohammed, the failed bomber, may need healing themselves. The pain of the heart is less apparent than that of an opened belly, but it aches all the same.

“All of us are sick,” Schroeder, said, voice breaking. “In the past 21 days, I’ve had two days off. For a nurse, that’s too much.”

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=24949


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Troops pound Fallujah; nine Iraqi policemen killed in ambush
ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer

Sunday, October 17, 2004

U.S. troops pounded the insurgent stronghold Fallujah with airstrikes and tank fire Sunday, and the Iraqi government appealed to residents of the city to expel "foreign terrorists" and "murderers" to prevent an all-out attack.

A mortar shell exploded Sunday at a Baghdad sports stadium minutes before Prime Minister Ayad Allawi arrived to inspect a cash-for-weapons program for Shiite fighters. Insurgents, meanwhile, ambushed and killed nine Iraqi policemen as they were returning home from a training course in Jordan.

Throughout the day, the crackle of automatic weapons fire and the thud of artillery echoed across Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, as fighting between American troops and insurgents raged on the eastern and southern edges of the city, witnesses said.

Clashes blocked the main road leading to Baghdad, and plumes of smoke rose above the flat-roofed houses in the city's Askari and Shuhada neighborhoods in eastern and southern Fallujah.

Witnesses said a Humvee was seen burning in the eastern edge of the city, and hospital officials reported three civilians were killed. There was no casualty report from the U.S. military.

American forces have stepped up attacks around Fallujah since peace talks between the Iraqi government and Fallujah clerics broke down last Thursday after city leaders rejected Allawi's demand to hand over "foreign terrorists," including Jordanian-born extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Fallujah clerics insist al-Zarqawi, whose Tawhid and Jihad movement has claimed responsibility for multiple suicide car-bombings and hostage beheadings, is not in the city. Fallujah fell under the control of hardline Islamic clerics and their armed followers after U.S. Marines lifted a three-week siege in late April.

As the Iraqis try to reach a peaceful end to the Fallujah standoff, the U.S. military is believed to be drafting plans for an all-out assault on the city if negotiations fail.

In London, the British Defense Ministry said the United States has asked Britain to redeploy hundreds of troops from southern Iraq amid reports the soldiers will back up the Americans in the event of a major attack on Fallujah.

British media reports say the United States wants British soldiers to replace units of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines in Iskandariyah, about 30 miles south of Baghdad.

Defense Minister Geoff Hoon will confirm the American request Monday before the House of Commons and say Britain has not made a decision, a ministry spokesman said.

On Sunday, Allawi's government renewed its call for Fallujah to surrender al-Zarqawi and others, saying their presence in "some areas and cities" is "something the government cannot accept or tolerate."

"We call upon the sons and tribes of Fallujah to immediately expel foreign terrorists and evacuate all the city's neighborhoods from these murderers and their criminal supporters who want to hamper plans of reconstructing Iraq," National Security Adviser Qassem Dawoud said in a statement.

Dawoud said "the door is still open before any initiative or effort to avoid having to use the military option."

Elsewhere, police said Sunday that nine Iraqi policemen returning from training in Jordan were ambushed and killed Saturday in Latifiyah, an insurgent stronghold 25 miles south of Baghdad. The attackers escaped. Latifiyah is part of a belt of towns just south of the capital where kidnappings and ambushes have been common.

Along the Syrian border, overnight clashes between U.S. troops and insurgents left four people dead and 13 others wounded, Dr. Wael al-Duleimi said Sunday from the border town of Qaim. The city is a hotbed of insurgent activity and is believed to be a major route for smuggling weapons and fighters into Iraq.

In hopes of sparing Fallujah further violence, the city's clerics have offered to resume peace talks if the Americans stop their attacks. But the talks have deadlocked over the alleged presence of Zarqawi and other foreign fighters.

"We are still ready to go back to the talks and open new channels of dialogue," said negotiator Abdul Hamid Jadou. But he said Allawi is "responsible for each drop of blood being spilled in Fallujah. This government sided with the Americans in bombing the innocent people who are fasting in Ramadan."

Meanwhile, a military prosecutor in Jordan indicted al-Zarqawi and 12 others for an alleged plot to attack the U.S. Embassy in Amman and Jordanian government targets with chemical and conventional weapons, government officials said. The alleged plot was first revealed by Jordan in April.

Iraqi officials hope that Fallujah leaders can be persuaded to negotiate a deal similar to one struck with Shiite radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to end clashes in the Sadr City district of Baghdad. Under the deal, al-Sadr's fighters have been turning in weapons for cash.

On Sunday, a mortar shell exploded at a sports stadium about 15 minutes before Allawi was to arrive to inspect the guns-for-cash program. The itinerary was quickly changed and Allawi visited several other sites before arriving at the stadium.

"I am very thrilled and pleased that things are moving in the right direction and arms are being surrendered to the Iraqi government," he said.

Allawi also called on Iraqis throughout the country -- whether in Basra, Nasiriyah, Fallujah, Ramadi or Mosul -- to surrender their weapons and to respect the rule of law and to be part of the political process.

More than 200 detainees were released Sunday from Abu Ghraib prison after a security review deemed them no longer a threat, the U.S. military said.

It was the fifth round of releases since a review board set up by coalition forces and the interim Iraqi government began work in August following a torture scandal at the detention facility.

Also Sunday, the 1st Cavalry Division said an investigation had not yet determined what caused two Army OH-58 helicopters to crash Saturday night in southern Baghdad, killing two soldiers and injuring two others. The division spokesman, Lt. Col. James Hutton, said it "could be days" before the cause is officially determined.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Press correspondent Rawya Rageh in Baghdad and an AP employee in Fallujah contributed to this report.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/10/17/international1343EDT0466.DTL


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Gen. Vows Review of Iraq Safety Measures

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. Army will study protective measures for supply vehicles and add steel plating to vehicles if necessary, a general said Sunday, after members of a Reserve unit refused to deliver supplies down a dangerous route in Iraq (news - web sites) partly because they were concerned their vehicles were in poor shape.


Brig. Gen. James E. Chambers, commanding general of 13th Corps Support Command, said all soldiers involved in the incident had returned to duty and it was "too early" to determine whether any of them will face disciplinary action.


Chambers told reporters the command will "assess armor" on supply vehicles, which are often subject to insurgent attack, and add steel plating if necessary.


He denied claims by some of the soldiers to their families that the fuel they were to deliver was contaminated.


The Army announced last week it was investigating up to 19 members of a platoon from the 343rd Quartermaster Company based in Rock Hill, South Carolina after they refused to transport supplies from Tallil air base near Nassiriyah to Taji north of Baghdad.


On Wednesday, the 19 did not show up for a scheduled 7 a.m. meeting in Tallil to prepare for the fuel convoy's departure a few hours later, a military statement said.


The mission was carried out by other soldiers from the 343rd, which has at least 120 members, the military said.


Chambers has since ordered the 343rd to undergo a "safety-maintenance stand down," during which it will conduct no further missions as the unit's vehicles are inspected, the military said.


The platoon has troops from Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina, Mississippi and South Carolina.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=3&u=/ap/20041017/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_unit_investigation_26

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Military Reports the Capture of 17 Insurgents in Ramadi

By EDWARD WONG

Published: October 17, 2004

RAMADI, Iraq, Oct. 17 — American officers here said marines captured 17 men suspected of working with the insurgency in a night raid early today, including a couple of midlevel leaders and a senior aide to a man believed to be organizing guerrillas in this city, the restive capital of Anbar province.

The aide is a lawyer for Muhammad Daham Abid, one of the most wanted men in Ramadi. Officers say Mr. Abid is an Iraqi who has organized insurgent cells and is in close contact with the mujahedeen in the rebel stronghold of Falluja, just 25 miles to the east. Mr. Abid was once detained by American troops but was let go after he agreed to stop recruiting men to fight the occupiers, said Lt. John McKinley of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines.

Mr. Abid reneged on his promise, and "we've been after him for a long time," Lieutenant McKinley said.

The search of nine houses in the Meelab district of Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad, was initiated by Special Forces. It was one of the most successful raid operations by Golf Company of the 2-5 Marines and tightened the circle around Mr. Abid, said Lt. Brian Iglesias of the 4th Platoon.

After the detainees were brought back to a forward base east of the downtown area, an Iraqi informer named all 17 men as "bad guys," Lieutenant McKinley said. The Marines rarely have someone on hand who can immediately identify detainees and are forced instead to rely on photographs to tell whether they have detained a sought-after fighter, the lieutenant added. He declined to identify the informer.

Lt. Col. Randall P. Newman, the battalion commander, said his men had "good intel" before the raid.

Special Forces soldiers and marines also confiscated cell phones, desktop computers and about $600 in American dollars, as well as a lot of Iraqi dinars, Lieutenant McKinley said. He added that the Marines were hoping to find more dollars, because insurgent leaders pay about $150 to impoverished young men to take part in a single attack on American forces. The midlevel leaders detained this morning are suspected of being financiers, the lieutenant added.

Interrogators found that one of the detainees was partly deaf in his left ear and had burn marks on the right side of his neck, signs that he had fired rocket-propelled grenades, Lieutenant McKinley said.

Mr. Abid is one of three men on a "most wanted" poster that hangs in a base cafeteria here. The others are Muhammad Mahmoud Latif and Abdul Aziz Mahmoud al-Fahadawi, both believed to be insurgent leaders. In the poster, the words "Detain on Sight" are written in red below separate photographs of the three bearded men.

The First Marine Division operates out of several bases ringing central Ramadi, a city of at least 300,000 in the heart of the dusty, parched Sunni triangle, where resistance to the American occupation has reached a fever pitch. Fighters move with ease between Ramadi and Falluja, where Islamist insurgents have established strict fundamentalist rule and are bracing for an expected ground invasion by the Marines. The Americans have been pounding Falluja with virtually daily airstrikes, including one on Saturday night, possibly driving some insurgents toward Ramadi, officers here said.

Marines here have been bracing for a surge in violence during Islam's holy fasting month of Ramadan, which began on Friday. Combat Outpost, the base on the eastern edge of Ramadi, was attacked with nearly a half-dozen mortar rounds and at least one rocket on Saturday. One of the mortars destroyed a red water tank by the showers, and another landed right outside the cafeteria, sending marines rushing out toward the roofed garage area with plastic plates of food in hand.

The marines bunked down to get a few hours of sleep, then suited up to roll out at 2 a.m. As the convoy rolled west through the city center, the 100 or so marines of Golf Company crouched down in the back of open-backed armored trucks, not daring to even peek out at the empty streets. It was a clear night, with scores of stars visible overhead and silhouettes of palm along the road.

The armored vehicles set up perimeters along corners of the Meelab district, a neighborhood that officers say is rife with fighters and safehouses. The Marines rarely enter except on specific raids such as this one or to do a full patrol about once a week, Lieutenant McKinley said. Special Forces soldiers and marines dismounted and started moving along the rows of cinder-block two-story homes, the stink of open sewage heavy in the air.

A group of marines from 2nd Platoon rushed up to a house on a corner lighted by dim street lamps and prepared to break through the front gate, their M-16's raised. "Wrong house," Staff Sgt. Brice Bartlette yelled. "We've gone one house too far."

The marines reversed course and raced to the house next door. One man broke through the front metal gate with a hand axe and rushed into the courtyard. An orange-and-white taxi sat in the driveway.

They found six men, a teenage boy, a woman and a young girl sleeping on thin mattresses on the living room floor. No one spoke English. The woman rocked back and forth in a yellow robe.

"Tell the men to get against the wall, hands behind their backs," Sergeant Bartlette said to an Iraqi interpreter in Marine uniform whom the Americans called Barry.

A Special Forces soldier rushed through the rooms with a green duffel bag, stuffing equipment into it. A marine watched over four women and four children who had been herded into a dark room in the rear. In the front room, Barry told Sergeant Bartlette that the boy was 12 years old.

The sergeant told his men to leave the boy behind. The marines put plastic handcuffs on the adult men and strips of white cloth over their eyes. A white-haired man collapsed to the ground outside the house and began sobbing, saying he could not walk, but two marines dragged him to his feet and sat him in the back of a truck, alongside the other detainees.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/international/middleeast/17CND-RAMA.html?ex=1098676800&en=ffa6a50c29dee0f0&ei=5006&partner=ALTAVISTA1

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Anti-War Americans Send Photos To Iraq
Associated Press
October 16, 2004


NYACK, N.Y. - More than 2,000 people opposing the war in Iraq, including the father of an American beheaded by terrorists, are sending Iraqis personal photos with protest messages to show "what Americans are really like."

The pictures, from all around the country, are meant to be a counterpoint to the infamous images of Americans abusing Iraqi prisoners. Each photo shows at least one sign, usually handmade. Some specifically criticize U.S. actions in the war while others simply extend sympathy to Iraqi civilians.

"With deep shame, we apologize for the suffering our country has brought to the people of Iraq," says a banner in a photo showing 11 people in Vancouver, Wash. Three elderly people in Minneapolis declare, "All our children long for a new day."

Michael Berg, whose son Nicholas was executed last spring by an al-Qaida-affiliated group, holds a sign in his photo that says, "I am sorry and ashamed for the tremendous loss my government has caused the Iraqi people."

"I truly feel that what the United States government has done to the once-sovereign nation of Iraq is atrocious and shameful," he said in a phone interview. Berg, whose opposition to the war predates his son's execution, will be in Washington on Wednesday when the project is formally unveiled by the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

The peace group, which organized the project, said it wants Iraqis to know that most Americans were shocked by the photos of U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqis prisoners and many regret a war being waged in their name.

A veterans' group, however, believes the project undercuts U.S. soldiers.

Jerry Newberry, spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said, "This type of thing only serves to undermine the effort and the sacrifice of our military in Iraq. These people on the face of it seem to have a political agenda. ... It implies that what we're attempting to do in Iraq is shameful."

The White House had no comment, spokesman Ken Lisaius said.

The project was sparked by Kaia Svien, a 57-year-old Minneapolis teacher, who said she was "just dumbstruck" when she saw the Abu Ghraib prison photos.

"It was the power of the photographs that brought home the message," Svien said. "So I thought, 'Can't we use photos in another way to respond to this and hope they will be as powerful? Maybe we can show them what Americans are really like.'"

She took the idea to the Nyack-based Fellowship, a 90-year-old group with a history of pacifism and activism. Staffer Hossein Alizadeh made it a national project, asking local peace groups to spread the word.

About 400 pictures came in from more than 100 cities and towns. Half of them are being burned onto CDs for distribution Wednesday to news media that reach Iraqis, said Fellowship spokeswoman Jennifer Hyman.

"We thought it would be great if we could speak as ordinary Americans to ordinary Iraqis," said Alizadeh. "Since the United States went in there, the Iraqis have seen nothing but violence, so they have a very negative opinion of Americans. We hope that after they see these photographs, they will pause for a second and think, 'At least we have a few friends, there are people who care about what's happening.'"

He said that despite the signs in the pictures, the project is "not about condemning any government." Hyman said the peace group wants to stop the deaths of U.S. soldiers as well as Iraqis.

There is no official figure for the number of Iraqis killed, but some non-governmental estimates range from 10,000 to 30,000. As of Friday, 1,086 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to the Defense Department.

Bruce Hawkins of Northampton, Mass., a retired physics professor who sent in a photo of 16 people in a Quaker meeting house, said, "The intent was to send a friendly message to people. We're not their enemies and they're not ours."

The sign in his photo says, in part: "We pray for the humane treatment of all prisoners and the continuing healing of human hearts."

A group of 27 people stood for their portrait on the steps of St. Francis Xavier College Church in St. Louis after their weekly anti-war vigil. One of their signs says, in Arabic, "Our hearts are full of pain and sorrow for the Iraqi prisoners."

William Quick, a lawyer from Lincoln Heights, Mo., who took the picture, said the church was used as the background to show that "being Christian does not mean being anti-Muslim."

Mimi Pukuma, 29, of Philadelphia, posed with three friends and a sign that says, "We apologize from our hearts for the suffering our government is causing innocent Iraqi people."

"I've been writing letters to the government, going to anti-war vigils and so on but that's impersonal in many ways," she said. "This seemed like I could in some small way express my sadness to Iraqi citizens."


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Zarqawi Movement Vows al-Qaida Allegiance

By RAWYA RAGEH, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The most feared militant group in Iraq (news - web sites), the movement of terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, declared its allegiance to Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) on Sunday, saying it had agreed with al-Qaida over strategy and the need for unity against "the enemies of Islam."


The declaration, which appeared on a Web site often used as a clearinghouse for statements by militant groups, began with a Quranic verse encouraging Muslim unity and said al-Zarqawi considered bin Laden "the best leader for Islam's armies against all infidels and apostates."


The statement, whose authenticity could not be independently confirmed, said the two had been in communication eight months ago and "viewpoints were exchanged" before the dialogue was interrupted.


"God soon blessed us with a resumption in communication, and the dignified brothers in al-Qaida understood the strategy of Tawhid and Jihad," the statement said.


The Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi is suspected of about a dozen high-profile attacks in Iraq, including last year's bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, and the beheading of numerous foreign hostages.


His relationship to bin Laden and the al-Qaida leadership has long been the subject of considerable speculation. Although many experts believe al-Zarqawi had longtime ties to al-Qaida, others suspected that al-Zarqawi considered himself a rival to bin Laden for the mantle of chief defender of the Muslim faith.


The statement affirmed the "allegiance of Tawhid and Jihad's leadership and soldiers to the chief of all fighters, Osama bin Laden." It said the announcement had been timed for the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan when "Muslims need more than ever to stick together in the face of the religion's enemies."


"It's good tidings for our nation ... to spite the infidels and frighten the enemies of Islam."


The statement also endorsed bin Laden's goal to "expel the infidels from the Arabian peninsula" — a reference to American influence in the al-Qaida leader's native Saudi Arabia, birthplace of the Islamic faith.


Al-Zarqawi's declaration appeared two days after the U.S. government formally declared Tawhid and Jihad a terrorist organization. The listing imposes several restrictions on the group, including a ban on travel to the United States and a freeze on the group's assets in U.S. banks.


The United States, Britain and Iraq are asking the U.N. Sanctions Committee to list the al-Zarqawi group as well, which would impose identical sanctions worldwide.


Al-Zarqawi also was indicted Sunday in his native Jordan along with 12 other alleged Muslim militants on charges of plotting a chemical attack that could have killed thousands of people.


Al-Zarqawi and three of the others will be tried in absentia on charges including conspiring to commit terrorism, possessing and manufacturing explosives and affiliation with a banned group, according to the 24-page indictment made available Sunday to The Associated Press.


U.S. and Iraqi officials believe al-Zarqawi's movement is centered in the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, where U.S. troops clashed Sunday with militants. However, Tawhid and Jihad banners have been seen recently in Samarra, Ramadi and even on the streets of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.


In Cairo, Mohammed Salah, an expert on Islamic militancy, said the claim that bin Laden and al-Zarqawi were in regular contact was "more or less a media stunt to frustrate" their common opponent, the United States.


It appeared the announcement also was aimed at enabling al-Zarqawi, who has a background as a common criminal, to profit from bin Laden's stature among radical Muslims.


Bin Laden, believed to be hiding in Afghanistan (news - web sites) or in the border areas of Pakistan, has faded somewhat from public view and recent declarations by al-Qaida's leadership have been made by his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.





On the other hand, al-Zarqawi's group has become highly visible, posting videos on the Web showing the beheading of foreign hostages and bloody attacks against American troops in Iraq.

"By virtue of his location, al-Zarqawi has more access to the Americans, which will make it easier for al-Qaida to carry out operations without logistical complications or time delays," Salah said. "Bin Laden is on the run and hiding. He's become a symbol, as opposed to al-Zarqawi's actual presence on the ground that has made him a definite planner and executor."

The indictment in Jordan alleged that al-Zarqawi sent more than $118,000 to buy two vehicles that would be driven into Jordan's General Intelligence Department by suicide bombers armed with explosives and chemicals.

The indictment said the defendants had collected geographical data indicating thousands of people would be killed in the chemical blast.

Nine other men who are in custody in Jordan face the same charges, while a 13th suspect faces lesser charges of helping two of the fugitives. If convicted in the military court, 12 of the men face the death penalty.

U.S. officials said they intercepted a letter in January from al-Zarqawi to the al-Qaida leadership in which the Jordanian terrorist complained that his fighters were under strong pressure from U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq.

Al-Zarqawi claimed in the letter, which was released by the Americans, that he was responsible for about 25 attacks in Iraq. Since then the number of attacks claimed by or attributed to al-Zarqawi has risen sharply.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041017/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_al_qaida&cid=540&ncid=716


Ellie