Marines Push Iraq Elections

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Marines Push Iraq Elections <br />
Associated Press <br />
January 28, 2005 <br />
<br />
ISKANDARIYAH, Iraq - Bombers had hit one polling place overnight. Iraqi police supposed to be guarding two polling places were...

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Kennedy Calls For Iraq Troop Withdrawal
Associated Press
January 28, 2005

WASHINGTON - Immediately after Sunday's election in Iraq, President Bush should take steps to negotiate a timetable to begin bringing the troops home, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy said Thursday as he described his own plans for a stable Iraqi government.

Saying the American military's continued presence in Iraq is fanning the flames of conflict, Kennedy said at least 12,000 U.S. troops should leave at once, and a complete withdrawal should be finished as early as possible in 2006.

The Massachusetts Democrat said America must give Iraq back to its people rather than continue an occupation that parallels the failed policies of the Vietnam war.

"The U.S. military presence has become part of the problem, not part of the solution," Kennedy said in a speech to Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. "We need a new plan that sets fair and realistic goals for self-government in Iraq, and works with the Iraqi government on a specific timetable for the honorable homecoming of our forces."

While not the first member of Congress to call for withdrawing the troops, Kennedy is the first senator to do so. And his remarks continued his long and blistering assault on the Bush administration's Iraq policies.





Republican National Committee spokesman Brian Jones criticized Kennedy's timing.

"It's remarkable that Senator Kennedy would deliver such an overtly pessimistic message only days before the Iraqi election," said Jones. "Kennedy's partisan political attack stands in stark contrast to President Bush's vision of spreading freedom around the world."

But Democrats applauded his five-point plan, which included a greater role for the United Nations, increased diplomacy in the Arab region and completing the training of an Iraqi security force before the end of the year.

Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., who made a similar call for troop withdrawal earlier in the week, said he and Kennedy will be able to press Congress for a debate on this in the Armed Services committees.

Kennedy said the United States and the insurgents are both battling for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people and the U.S. is losing.

"There may well be violence as we disengage militarily from Iraq and Iraq disengages politically from us, but there will be much more violence if we continue our present dangerous and destabilizing course," said Kennedy. "It will not be easy to extricate ourselves from Iraq, but we must begin."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Navy Adm. Tapped For Pacific Command
Associated Press
January 28, 2005

HONOLULU - President Bush has nominated Navy Adm. William J. Fallon to succeed Adm. Thomas Fargo as commander of the Hawaii-based U.S. Pacific Command, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced Thursday.

Fallon currently is commander of the U.S. Atlantic fleet and the Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk, Va.

In August, the White House chose Air Force Gen. Gregory S. Martin to succeed Fargo, who was to retire this month. But two months later, Martin asked that his nomination be withdrawn after pointed questioning during a Senate confirmation hearing.

Fargo has agreed to remain until another nominee is chosen and confirmed by the Senate. He recently was in Thailand observing the military's humanitarian relief effort following the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean.





Fallon, 60, is a former vice chief of naval operations, the No. 2 Navy job at the Pentagon. He flew combat missions in the Vietnam War, commanded a carrier air wing in the Persian Gulf War of 1991, and four years later led the naval battle group supporting NATO operations in Bosnia.

The Pacific Command, based at Camp H.M. Smith overlooking Pearl Harbor, is the largest of the United States' nine unified military operations. Its commander leads 300,000 Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force troops in an area of more than 100 million square miles that includes flash points such as North Korea, Taiwan and China.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Most Marines Lost Were Based In Hawaii
Associated Press
January 28, 2005

HONOLULU - Most of the troops lost in the U.S. military's deadliest crash of the Iraq war were based in Hawaii, but they came from coast to coast, from Florida to New Hampshire, from Ohio to Oregon. One was a 28-year-old who never got the chance to meet his son born on Christmas Eve.

Some of the families of the 30 Marines and a Navy medic killed Wednesday when a helicopter crashed in a sandstorm shared their memories and their grief after military officials told them of the deaths.

The Pentagon identified the sailor killed as Petty Officer 3rd Class John D. House, of Ventura, Calif., and late Thursday released the names of 16 of the Marines. Families identified seven others.

House, whose first child was born last month, had written letters home describing the camaraderie and responsibility he felt for the Marines in his unit, his parents told the Ventura County Star. His son was born last month.

"In one of the letters he wrote, 'I know all of them ... even in the dark, by their mannerisms,'" Susan House of Simi Valley, Calif., read, choking back tears. "'I don't know how I am going to deal with losing any of them. It is my job to take care of them and keep them safe.'"





The CH-53E Super Stallion went down in western Iraq as troops while transporting troops for security operations in preparation of Sunday's elections.

"We think it's an accident, but we don't know for sure," Lt. Col. Owen Lovejoy, executive officer of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, the unit to which 27 of the dead belonged.

House and 26 of the Marines were based at Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay. It was the single worst loss of Hawaii troops since the attack on Pearl Harbor more than 60 years ago.

The helicopter crew of four was from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego. Three were identified by the military as Capt. Paul C. Alaniz, 32, of Corpus Christi, Texas; Capt. Lyle L. Gordon, 30, of Midlothian, Texas; and Staff Sgt. Dexter S. Kimble, 30, of Houston. Family members identified the fourth as Lance Cpl. Tony Hernandez, 22, of Canyon Lake, Texas.

Ohio lost at least three Marines in the crash: Cpl. Richard Gilbert Jr., 28, of Dayton; Lance Cpl. Jonathan Edward Etterling, 22, of Wheelersburg; and Sgt. Michael Finke Jr., 28, of Wadsworth.

Etterling had just talked to his parents Saturday, telling them he was tired and had lost more than 15 pounds.

When Marines came to the family's house with the bad news, "I prayed, 'Let him be wounded, let him be wounded,'" his father, William Etterling, told the Portsmouth (Ohio) Daily Times. "My heart just fell."

For Cpl. Matthew Smith, 24, military service had been a lifelong dream. As a child, he would talk about joining the Army to protect his family, said his mother, Colleen Parkin.

Parkin, of West Valley City, Utah, became convinced she had lost her son only after the Marines who came to her home to give the news recited his Social Security number.

"He died a hero and brave," said Parkin, choking back tears.

Cpl. James Lee Moore's family heard of the 24-year-old Roseburg, Ore.-native's death Wednesday night, when several Marines came to their door, said his stepmother, Suzanne Moore.

"It still hasn't sunk in," she said. "We can't get past, 'We regret to inform you...'"

Lance Cpl. Hector Ramos, 20, of the Chicago suburb of Aurora, Ill., joined the Marines soon after the 2001 terrorist attacks, his mother said.

"He came home from school and he told me, 'I signed up. I need to do this. I always wanted to,'" Nancy Ramos told WLS-TV of Chicago on Thursday. "I am the proud mother of a Marine."

Cpl. Nathan Schubert, of Cherokee, Iowa, was killed nine days before he was supposed to leave Iraq, his brother, Matt, told the Sioux City Journal. The pair had planned to spend time working on an old Jeep Nathan had bought.

"He was just the kind of person that would be everybody's best friend," Matt Schubert said.

Some families reacted to the news with anger, others with sad acceptance.

Nadine Finke, stepmother of Michael Finke, said she doesn't believe there is any justification for the war that claimed his life.

"I'm sure there are many other parents out there that don't think there is either," Finke, of Wadsworth, Ohio, told WKYC-TV of Cleveland.

But the death of Cpl. Kyle J. Grimes, 21, a native of Bethlehem, Pa., has strengthened his mother's belief in the U.S. mission in Iraq.

"It makes me more convinced that we need to get this job done and have a positive influence there and make things better," Marybeth LeVan told The Express-Times of Easton, Pa., from her home in Louisiana.

Other victims identified by the military: Lance Cpl. Brian C. Hopper, 21, Wynne, Ark.; Lance Cpl. Saeed Jafarkhani-Torshizi Jr., 24, Fort Worth, Texas; Cpl. Sean Kelly, 23, Pitman, N.J.; Lance Cpl. Allan Klein, 34, Clinton Township, Mich.; Lance Cpl. Mourad Ragimov, 20, San Diego; Lance Cpl. Rhonald Dain Rairdan, San Antonio; Cpl. Darrell J. Schumann, 25, Hampton, Va.; 1st Lt. Dustin M. Shumney, 30, Vallejo, Calif.; Lance Cpl. Joseph B. Spence, 24, Scotts Valley, Calif.

Others killed, according to their families, included Cpl. Timothy Gibson, 23, Merrimack, N.H.; Nathan Moore, Champaign, Ill.; Spc. Gael Saintvil, 24, Orlando, Fla.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Veteran Returns To Command U.S. Forces <br />
Associated Press <br />
January 28, 2005 <br />
<br />
KABUL, Afghanistan - A U.S. general who helped rebuild Afghanistan's army has been named as the next commander of...

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Insurgents Continue Attacks
Associated Press
January 28, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents stepped up attacks Thursday against polling centers across Iraq, killing at least a dozen people, including a U.S. Marine, in the rebel campaign to frighten Iraqis away from participating in this weekend's election.

As part of an intensifying campaign of intimidation, an al-Qaida affiliate led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi posted a videotape on the Internet showing the murder of a candidate from the party of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

The tape included a warning to Allawi personally: "You traitor, wait for the angel of death."

To protect voters on Sunday, hundreds of American soldiers began moving out of their massive garrison on the western edge of Baghdad to take up positions at smaller bases throughout the city to respond more quickly to any election day attacks.

Sunni Muslim insurgents have threatened to disrupt the balloting, when Iraqis choose a 275-member National Assembly and governing councils in the country's 18 provinces. Voters in the Kurdish self-governing area of the north will select a new regional parliament.





In the former rebel stronghold of Fallujah, where opposition to the balloting is strong, U.S. Marines drove through the city Thursday, urging people through loudspeakers to turn out Sunday. Spokesman 1st Lt. Lyle Gilbert said the Marines were "encouraging people to capitalize on this opportunity to exercise their voice by voting in the upcoming free elections."

Iraqi newspapers also published for the first time the names of some 7,000 National Assembly candidates, many of whose identities had been kept secret to protect them from assassination.

The interim government will deploy an additional 2,500 troops to help guard the elections, the Defense Ministry said. A total of 300,000 Iraqi and multinational troops will provide security, with Iraq's U.S.-trained forces taking the lead role.

About 9,000 Iraqi troops also are being dispatched to guard oil pipelines, which insurgents repeatedly have targeted.

Iraq's national security adviser, Qassim Dawoud, acknowledged that security remains shaky in four provinces but expressed optimism that extensive security measures would protect voters and encourage turnout.

However, attacks were reported Thursday in at least seven provinces, including relatively peaceful Basra in the south, where militants fired mortar shells at four schools designated as polling stations.

On Friday, a car bomb exploded near a Baghdad police station, killing four police officers and injuring four other people, police said.

U.S. troops and rebels also exchanged fire Thursday on Haifa Street in central Baghdad, witnesses said.

One Marine was killed and five others were wounded when insurgents fired mortars at their base near Iskandariyah, about 30 miles south of Baghdad in tense Babil province.

Another three Iraqis were killed and seven injured when a roadside bomb missed a U.S. convoy in Mahmoudiya, a religiously mixed area of Babil province, hospital officials said.

Most of the attacks occurred in Salaheddin province in an area of the Sunni triangle north and west of Baghdad that U.S. and Iraqi officials have identified as one of the key trouble spots. Three Iraqi civilians were killed Thursday when a car bomb exploded in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad.

Hours later, mortar shells fell on a designated polling station in Samarra, police said. Armed men in Samarra blew up a school administration building after first ordering the staff to leave, police Lt. Qassim Mohammed said. The destroyed building had been scheduled to be a voting center Sunday.

Sporadic clashes also erupted in Samarra between U.S. troops and armed men, killing one Iraqi civilian and injuring another, Mohammed said. A suicide car bomber struck a U.S. military convoy near the Salaheddin provincial city of Beiji, witnesses said. No casualties were reported.

A roadside bomb targeting a U.S. convoy killed one Iraqi bystander near the Salaheddin provincial capital of Tikrit, police said.

In Tamim province, insurgents attacked seven polling stations in the city of Kirkuk with mortars and machine guns, killing one policeman, authorities said.

An Iraqi army soldier was killed and seven people were injured when a suicide car bomb exploded near an Iraqi patrol in Baqouba in Diyala province, U.S. officials said.

In Ramadi, capital of the insurgent-plagued province of Anbar, an Iraqi national guard soldier was killed when insurgents attacked a joint U.S.-Iraqi force guarding a voting center at a school, police Lt. Safa al-Obeidi said.

A U.S. soldier died Thursday of a gunshot wound on a base near Tikrit in what the American military command said was an accident.

U.S. and Iraqi forces have stepped up security operations throughout the country ahead of the vote. Iraqi army chief Gen. Babaker Shawkat Zebari told The Associated Press that in the past three weeks Iraqi authorities have detained 2,000 suspected insurgents, including foreigners from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen.

Some of those arrested have been identified as members of al-Zarqawi's terror network, responsible for numberous car-bombings, kidnappings and beheadings of foreign hostages.

In the videotape, al-Zarqawi's group showed a man identifying himself as Salem Jaafar Abed, a National Assembly candidate on Allawi's ticket.

"I advise all my brothers, especially the youth to stay away from supporting and cooperating with the occupying enemy," the man said on the tape before he was shot. "I'm ready to work to serve Iraq and the people of Iraq," he added.

A printed message at the end the tape warned: "To Allawi's aides, 'We tell you repent to God before you meet the same fate as your friend. We will not get tired of chasing you as long as we're alive.'"

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Guard keeps Marines, camp safe
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 2005126123634
Story by Lance Cpl. Graham Paulsgrove



CAMP BAHARIA, Iraq (Jan. 23, 2005) -- The shifts are long, the weather is usually bad, but the job they do is very worthwhile.

3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 1, 1st Marine Division, pulled a few Marines from each of its companies to work at Camp Guard to keep the camp and its residents safe.

“Marines are (working hard) all the time in the city and on base,” said Sgt. Timothy W. Campfield, sergeant of the guard, Camp Guard, 3/5. “They need a place to relax and kick up their feet, a place where they don’t have to worry about what is going on around them. If the Marines can’t relax on a firm base, where can they?”

The Marines standing guard are from a wide range of military occupational specialties.

“We have a combination of all MOS’s here,” said Staff Sgt. Ronald C. Hathaway, guard chief, Camp Guard, 3/5. “We have guys who are infantry, drivers, wiremen, radio operators, supply, cooks, and even admin.”

The Marines guarding the camp keep track of the military and civilian vehicles coming through the gates and keep their eyes peeled for anything suspicious.

“I have been standing guard at this gate since we got into country,” said driver turned sentry Pfc. Ronald B. Miller Jr., Camp Guard, 3/5. “We search civilian vehicles for bombs, weapons or anything unusual. So far we have found fake identification cards. Our area around the gate is ready for just about anything. We are here for the safety of the Marines and to make sure no bad guys get inside.”

After a few months of the repetitive job of standing post, the sentries still perform admirably. They know that they may not be kicking down doors in downtown Fallujah, but their job is extremely important.

“Many of the Marines standing post have been doing the job for a few months now and they have been very effective,” said Campfield.

“We are here to protect the base and ensure that this place is safe,” said Hathaway.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

January 31, 2005

Flight cancellation may delay Osprey evaluation

By Christian Lowe
Times staff writer


The commander of the Marine Corps’ MV-22 Osprey test squadron has canceled all flight operations due to recurring problems with a key gearbox component.
In recent months, four of the service’s 14 tilt-rotor aircraft were forced to land when a warning light indicated that metal shavings were running through lubricant in the system that drives the aircraft’s rotors.

The excess metal shavings stemmed from faulty manufacturing of bearings in the “input quill” — the junction between the engine drive shaft and the gearbox — though officials say the problem could not have caused the aircraft to crash.

The commander of Marine Tiltrotor Test and Evaluation Squadron 22, Col. Glenn Walters, ordered the “operational pause” in early January — the exact date was not available as of Jan. 21 — to allow engineers at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., to develop a fix. A limited stock of spare gearbox parts and an already packed schedule of aircraft modifications to prepare the fleet for operational evaluation tests this spring prompted the flight cancellation.

“So I said, ‘Let’s give them time to fix this problem and, in the meantime, while we’re down, we’ll turn to and do all the aircraft mods that we’re going to have to do before the start of [operational evaluation],’” Walters said in a Jan. 19 telephone interview from the squadron’s headquarters at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C.

The squadron was due to begin operational evaluation in late February or early March, the final exam before the Osprey is formally declared fleet ready and deploys for the first time for real-world operations in 2007. This latest snag could delay the start of the tests, officials said.

“We will not begin OpEval until this problem is resolved,” said Ward Carroll, a program spokesman at Patuxent River.

Program officials say bearings were manufactured with too much chrome coating; that extra metal — about .003 inches — was shaving off during flight. In each instance, detectors identified the metal shavings — a potential indicator of more catastrophic problems — forcing a landing as soon as possible each time.

Walters said program engineers were to brief him on potential fixes Jan. 21 and he hoped to restart flight operations soon after.

It is unclear how many Ospreys contain the faulty bearings, Carroll said, and all Ospreys are being checked for the problem, including those still at the Bell-Boeing plant in Amarillo, Texas.

Testing has been relatively smooth since officials gave the Osprey the go-ahead to resume flights in May 2002 after a grounding of nearly 18 months, but manufacturing flaws in the tilt-rotor transport’s delicate parts have been discovered.

In March 2003, for example, the Navy grounded six Ospreys after testers discovered titanium hydraulic fluid tubes that were too thin. The problem was the result of poor manufacturing, so program officials changed tubing suppliers.

A December 2000 crash that killed four leathernecks near Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., was blamed on failed hydraulic lines in the Osprey's engine. A wire bundle in the aircraft’s nacelle — the compartment at the end of each wing that houses the aircraft’s engine components — chafed the thin titanium tubing enough to cause the line to rupture, Marine investigators found. Engineering changes are being made to existing and future MV-22s to avoid such problems.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Tsunami relief effort continues
Indonesian concerns did not limit troops, commander says

By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer


OCEANSIDE, Calif. — With hundreds of Marines and sailors and dozens of aircraft assisting tsunami victims in South Asia, a top Marine commander dismissed reports that the service reduced the number of troops ashore because of Indonesian concerns about having foreign troops in the country.
Brig. Gen. Christian Cowdrey, commander of Combined Support Group Indonesia, said he is not restricted in the number of troops he can have on the ground. About 8,000 Marines and sailors were off the coast on more than a dozen ships, which have served as offshore hubs, with food and supplies coming ashore by helicopters and landing craft.

Several reports from the region also noted that Marines and other U.S. troops came ashore without their usual complement of small arms, raising questions about their safety.

‘‘We recognize the sensitivities. We are concerned about force protection,’’ said Cowdrey, who commands 3rd Marine Division on Okinawa, Japan.

The U.S. mission is expected to run about 90 days at most, continuing into March, although most forces are likely to depart earlier and hand off to a United Nations-supported mission. ‘‘The Indonesian government gave us an end date, at least according to their plans,’’ Cowdrey said. That would be March 26, three months after the disaster.

While much of the operation has been based from ships off the coast, that is expected to change once aid agencies increase their presence.

‘‘There will be a move toward displacement camps. The Indonesian government is planning for that,’’ Cowdrey said.

The U.S. military has relied heavily on Navy and Marine helicopters to carry food and supplies to remote villages and large coastal areas that lack adequate roads. Many supplies come in on C-130 Hercules transport airplanes landing at Banda Aceh and then are taken by helicopter and landing craft to other locations.

On Jan. 17, Marines and sailors with the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group delivered 197,100 pounds of relief supplies to Banda Aceh and Medan, and crews from the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group delivered another 115,600 pounds of supplies ashore, according to Marine Capt. Joe Plenzler, a spokesman for the Indonesia support group.

In all, military forces had delivered 2.5 million pounds of food, water, medicines and supplies to help tsunami victims, Plenzler said.

The work continued even as the Bonhomme Richard group handed off the mission to the amphibious assault ship Essex and headed for the Persian Gulf region.

The group’s ships are carrying the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is expected to deploy to Iraq.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Military Undergoing 'Evolutionary Change' for Women in Service
By Kathleen T. Rhem
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 2005 -- When Carol Mutter joined the Marine Corps nearly 40 years ago, women were not allowed to be admirals or generals and could make up no more than two percent of the U.S. armed forces.

The military changed a lot during her 31 years of service.

"The roles that women … fulfill in the military have changed (and) evolved, and women have always been up to the task," she said today during an interview with the Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service. "They've always responded very, very well to new roles, new challenges, and so on. There've been a lot of changes. The theme I think has been evolutionary change (for women) in my time in the military."

Since she retired as a three-star general in 1999, Mutter has done even more to help advance women's role in the uniformed services. Since 2002, Mutter has been chairwoman of the Defense Department Advisory Committee on Women in the Services. In this role, she chairs a group that studies issues pertaining to women and families and makes annual recommendations to DoD.

In 2004, DACOWITS members conducted 70 focus groups during visits to 12 military installations. Their recommendations, based on findings from these focus groups, surveys and studies, focus on three main areas: retention -- particularly of female officers with families, deployment issues and sexual assaults.

Regarding retention, Mutter explained, the committee found that the services are retaining women officers with families at lower rates than other groups. The numbers vary among services and components, but the underlying theme with these officers not staying in the military is a problem with "work-life balance," she said.

In 2005, the committee will delve further into this issue and look more closely at specific items under the umbrella of work-life balance. Specific issues for the committee to explore in 2005 might include more flexible childcare options and ways to add flexibility to career paths. For instance, Mutter said, the Coast Guard offers certain members a two-year sabbatical to deal with family issues such as having a child or caring for an elderly parent.

Issues pertaining to deployments include ensuring military members have sufficient time to spend with their families before deployment, plenty of opportunities for communicating with families during deployment, and enough time to readjust to being part of a family after deployment. "Communication is extraordinarily important," Mutter said.

She said that the committee recommended that 100 percent of redeploying servicemembers undergo screening to identify possible readjustment problems after every deployment. "It needs to be everybody -- from private to general," she said. "Because if there are any exceptions, then people will opt out and there will be people who really need help who will not get that help."

Mutter lauded the work of DoD's Task Force on Care for Victims of Sexual Assaults. In mid-2004, that task force released a 99-page report that included recommendations to help prevent sexual assaults within the military and provide the best possible care for victims.

"We applaud those recommendations and the actions that the department has taken since then to move toward implementing many of the recommendations," Mutter said. "There's a lot of good work that has been done."

Still, she added, more could -- and should -- be done to prevent sexual assaults within the military and to punish those who commit such crimes. Mutter said her committee recommended that all agencies within DoD agree to a single definition of sexual assault to ease reporting and data collecting and that the department issue a firm, clearly worded zero-tolerance policy on sexual assault.

"Zero tolerance against sexual assault needs to be a matter of formalized policy from the leadership in the Department of Defense and at every level of command all the way down to the lowest level," she said.

DoD also needs to do a better job of ensuring confidentiality to victims, Mutter said, adding that this will ensure more people report crimes against them.

The general said the fundamental changes she's seen regarding women serving in the military have come slowly, but she thinks this is the right way to go about fundamental changes.

"It's been very much an evolutionary process," she said. "And I believe evolutionary change is more long-lasting change. If you can change it quick then it can be unchanged real quick, too. So if you do it in steps and make sure the steps are all implemented in a way that makes sense then it will be long-lasting change."


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Hands-off approach proves hard for Marines in triangle <br />
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <br />
By Ellen Knickmeyer <br />
Associated Press <br />
Jan. 28, 2005 <br />
...

[thedrifter]

January 31, 2005

Police: Combat stress not linked to shootout
Marine who killed cop never saw action, was a gang member, they say

By Laura Bailey
Times staff writer


California police investigators ruled out “suicide by cop” in the case of a Camp Pendleton Marine who killed one police officer and severely wounded another before being killed by police in a series of gun battles Jan. 9.
Investigators determined that Lance Cpl. Andres Raya, 19, was also a member of a street gang and had talked about killing police in the past, said Deputy Jason Woodman, a spokesman for the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department.

Woodman also said Raya had a “significant” amount of cocaine in his system at the time of the shootings.

On the night of the shootings, Raya entered a liquor store in Ceres, Calif., with an SKS assault rifle and told an employee he had been shot and to call the police, according to police reports.

Once they arrived, Raya shot two officers, killing one. Sgt. Howard Stevenson, 39, died almost immediately.

Raya, a motor transport operator with 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, then fled and hid in a nearby neighborhood for 2½ hours before he was killed by police in a second gun battle.

Police considered the suicide-by-cop theory early in the investigation, after Raya’s friends and family said that he was having problems dealing with the combat he said he experienced during a 2004 deployment to Iraq and that he was dreading an upcoming second war deployment.

But police say Raya never saw action while in Iraq and was scheduled to go to Okinawa, Japan, not the Middle East.

“He had been telling people that he had seen a lot of friends die and babies die. We discovered he was never involved in combat, none of his friends died, he never even fired a weapon,” Woodman said.

Woodman said Raya’s acts also help discount the suicide theory.

“You don’t have to kill a cop to get them to shoot at you,” Woodman said. “To me, that’s someone who wants to kill cops, not someone who wanted to die. If his sole intention was to die, he could have done that.”

According to Woodman, agents with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service working with the police learned that Raya told Marines in his unit that he wanted an SKS assault rifle because a 7.62mm round would penetrate police body armor.

The Marines never reported it, thinking Raya was just talking tough, Woodman said.

During their investigations, police found a safe in Raya’s bedroom at his home in Modesto, Calif., that contained photographs of him dressed in gang colors and showing hand symbols of the Norteno gang, a Hispanic group with a large following on the West Coast.

Police also found a shopping list from years ago that included AR15 rifles, black clothing and body armor, which police believe Raya had written in preparation for a future assault on police.

During their investigations, police also discovered that Raya may have been involved in a break-in at a high school less than two weeks before the shooting. After the Dec. 28 break-in at Ceres High School, employees of the school found a video camera containing images of Raya.

In the video, Raya is smoking marijuana, making gang signs with his hands and wearing a red belt and red tennis shoes, the Norteno gang’s signature color. The footage also shows him pointing to and taking credit for gang graffiti on the wall of a garage.

While most of the scenes did not take place at the school, Woodman said the camera was used during the break-in to record footage. The night before the Jan. 9 shootout with police, Raya returned to Camp Pendleton from holiday leave, then left again, telling Marines in the barracks that he was going to get something to eat. The next time he was seen was at the liquor store in Ceres.

Woodman said police are seeking information on how Raya got from his base to Ceres, as well as who sold him the rifle.

“If we’re able to identify some of these people, we might be able to come up with a motive. But until then, we just don’t know why he would do this, except to enhance his standing with a criminal street gang,” Woodman said.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

The end of a proud career <br />
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <br />
Dorothy McKnight <br />
dmcknight@dailypress.net <br />
<br />
BARK RIVER - Marine Cpl. Brandon Aker was...

[thedrifter]

Two Live Grenades Found in Soldier's Bags
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ATLANTA (AP) -- Two live hand grenades were found in the luggage of a soldier returning from Iraq on Thursday, halting operations at the international terminal of Atlanta's airport for about a half-hour, a spokeswoman said.

The soldier was aware of the grenades and tried to alert the Transportation Security Agency, "but it was too late. The bags were already being screened," spokeswoman Felicia Browder said.

She said there was no evacuation of the terminal, but people were kept back a safe distance until a bomb unit removed the grenades.

Passengers on a handful of international flights were not able to leave their planes for more than a half-hour during the incident, Browder said.

The soldier, who was not identified, was released to the military, she said.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Posthumous Citizenship Granted to Marine
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By BRETT ZONGKER
Associated Press Writer

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) -- He was born in Vietnam and came to America at age 6. After growing up in northern Virginia, he joined the Marines even though he was not a U.S. citizen.

Cpl. Binh Le became an American on Thursday, but he could not attend the citizenship ceremony held in the shadow of the Pentagon. Last month, he was buried nearby in Arlington National Cemetery, the victim of a truck bomb in Iraq during a voluntary second tour of duty there.

Le, 20, grabbed his rifle when the truck packed with explosives attacked his military post Dec. 3. He had run to a position to fire on the driver and hold back the vehicle when it exploded. His commanding officer recommended him for a Silver Star.

"His final act of bravery saved the lives of others," Capt. Christopher J. Curtain wrote in a letter read at the ceremony. "I will be forever grateful for his heroism."

An estimated 37,000 citizens of other countries serve in the U.S. armed forces. Since the Iraq war began, 54 have been awarded posthumous citizenship.

Le was raised by his aunt and uncle in Alexandria, Va. His parents, Lien Van Tran and Kim Hoan Thi Nguyen, traveled from Vietnam for his funeral. They are divorced but would like to remain in the United States to be close to their son's grave, Nguyen said.

"There's no way to describe the pain," she said.

Rep. James P. Moran, D-Va., said he is working to offer citizenship to Le's parents, which could require congressional action.

"I think this is a compelling enough case that we can get a single bill for citizenship for his parents," Moran said. "They certainly deserve it."

Tran said they didn't have a problem with their son enlisting in the Marine Corps, but they wanted him to have time to attend college.

"His main concern was to join the military so that he could help protect the country he loved so much," Tran said.

---

On the Net: Cpl. Binh Le tribute site: paul.stadig.name/binhle/


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marine besieged by mystery illness faces death
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doug Simpson
The Associated Press
January 28, 2005

Marine Lance Cpl. Christopher Lebleu made it home last year after surviving eight months in one of Iraq's most violent areas. But now the 22-year-old faces a new, deadly enemy.

Lebleu, of Lake Charles, La., was diagnosed with an undetermined form of hepatitis and suffered acute liver failure while in a California hospital earlier this month. Death is likely without a liver transplant: About 15 percent of patients in his condition survive, Lt. Bruce Bornfleth, the surgeon in Lebleu's 3rd Battalion of the 7th Marines, said Thursday night.

"He's been going downhill," Bornfleth said.

Lebleu was being treated at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California.

In Iraq, Lebleu served in Anbar province, along the Syrian border. In his battalion of 800 Marines, 21 were killed and 180 wounded.

"It's a very dangerous area, but we made a lot of progress there, bringing the people some stability," said Lt. Col. Matt Lopez, the battalion's commander.

Lebleu returned home in September and married his fiancé, Melany, the next month.

The two grew up together in Basile until Lebleu's family moved to Lake Charles, where he attended St. Louis Catholic High School.

A soccer player in high school, Lebleu enjoyed snowboarding and played bass and acoustic guitar, his wife said. Lebleu had talked about re-enlisting in the Marines and transferring from Twentynine Palms to the Marine Reserve base in New Orleans, she said.

"He always makes the best of things. He's always smiling, never sad and never gets upset," Melany Lebleu said.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Redeployed Troops Facing Adjustment Issues Are 'Not Crazy,' Official Says
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 2005 -- The Defense Department's senior medical adviser said that troops redeployed from combat zones should suffer no stigma for seeking help for emotional problems.

Some troops who've returned from duty tours in Afghanistan or Iraq are experiencing symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, told Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service reporters during a break Jan. 26 at the annual Tricare Conference held here.

Winkenwerder had told conference attendees Jan. 24 that DoD is expanding its post-deployment health assessment program, which will soon require all servicemembers -- active and reserve components -- to fill out a health questionnaire and visit a care provider within three to six months after redeployment. More than 600,000 pre- and post-deployment health assessments have already been completed, he noted.

He said medical officials learned that servicemembers were exhibiting PTSD symptoms such as chronic nervousness, anger or depression months after they'd returned to their home bases after deployments to combat theaters.

"If you've been in a very stressful environment, to have symptoms like that is normal -- you're not crazy," Winkenwerder emphasized.

Yet, if PTSD symptoms aren't identified and dealt with early on, he explained, then, more significant problems could develop. Some "people could turn to alcohol or other things to try to drive away some of the uncomfortable feelings," Winkenwerder said.

Servicemembers with PTSD can be successfully treated with the proper support from the unit in conjunction with medical care and family-services assistance as needed, Winkenwerder said.

Troops who believe they may be having trouble adjusting after returning from combat-zone duty shouldn't be afraid of being stigmatized when they seek help, Winkenwerder said.

"If you've got some emotional things going on or psychological things going on, the best thing to do is to reach out and get some help," he said.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Severe weather at site of deadly copter crash in Iraq
By Terence Hunt
AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON - A top U.S. general said Wednesday there was severe weather at the site of a U.S. Marine helicopter crash in of western Iraq and that he had no reports of enemy fire in the area. President Bush expressed sorrow at the loss of life and said he knew Americans would find the new deaths discouraging.

Army Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central Command, said the helicopter was on a routine mission in support of Sunday's elections in Iraq. Abizaid, in Washington to brief members of Congress on the war effort, said the cause of the crash was still under investigation.

Lt. Gen. John Sattler, the top Marine commander in Iraq, said in a videotaped statement from his headquarters in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, that 30 Marines and one Navy sailor were killed. He made no mention of a possible cause and said a recovery team was at the crash site.

Sattler identified the aircraft as a CH-53E Super Stallion, which is the largest helicopter in the American military. He provided no details about the circumstances of the crash; he said the victims were members of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing and 1st Marine Division but was not more specific.

Relatives of the victims are being notified, he said. Until that is completed the names will not be publicly released, he said.

"All Marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force mourn the tragic loss of our brothers in arms," he said.

The Super Stallion is operated by a crew of three and can be configured to carry as many as 55 people. It normally carries 37.

The CH-53 is a mainstay of the Marine Corps for ferrying equipment and troops in western Iraq. It was the deadliest crash of a U.S. military helicopter in Iraq. Officials said it was flying over the desert.

Bush was asked about the fatal crash during a White House news conference.

"Listen, the story today is going to be very discouraging to the American people. I understand that. We value life and we weep and mourn when soldiers lose their life," he said. "But it is the long-term objective that is vital, and that is to spread freedom."

He said he didn't have details on the crash. "I know that it's being investigated by the Defense Department. Obviously, any time we lose life, it is a sad moment," he said.

Asked about reports that the crash may have been weather-related, Bush said, "I've heard rumors, but let's wait for the facts."

Earlier, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said, "We are saddened anytime there is loss of life of our troops in harm's way."

The death toll was the largest for a U.S. aircraft crash in Iraq since U.S. forces invaded in March 2003.

The Marines fly two main variants: the CH-53D Sea Stallion, which dates to the Vietnam war period, and the newer, more powerful CH-53E Super Stallion, which has three gas turbine engines. Both are made by Sikorsky. Both normally carry as many as 37 combat-equipped troops, but both also can be configured to carry up to 55 passengers.

McClellan refused to discuss the casualty toll or what might have caused the crash.

"I'm going to let the military provide information to you about what they know at this point," McClellan said. "I know they are investigating the matter."


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Iraq Sets Dusk-To-Dawn Curfew Before Vote

By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer

YOUSSIFIYAH, Iraq - Just ahead of the first free balloting in Iraq (news - web sites) in half a century, the nation battened down for the vote, imposing a 7 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew on Friday and closing Baghdad International Airport. Five U.S. soldiers were killed in the capital and insurgents blasted polling stations across the country.


The curfew will remain in effect through Monday and the nation's borders will be sealed for the election period. Medical teams are on alert and nationwide restrictions on traffic will be imposed from Saturday to Monday to try and deter car bombs.


In hopes of discouraging Iraqis from voting in Sunday's election — 21 months after Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s downfall in April 2003 — insurgents have accelerated attacks, sending a message that if Iraqis suffer deaths and injuries on election day, "you have only yourselves to blame."


An American OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter also crashed Friday night in southwestern Baghdad, U.S. officials said. There was no indication of hostile fire and no word on the fate of the crew, the officials said.


About 300,000 Iraqi, American and other multinational troops and police will provide security for the voting at 5,300 polling centers.


Voters will choose a 275-member National Assembly and governing councils in the 18 provinces. Voters in the Kurdish-ruled area will choose a new regional parliament.


Expatriate Iraqis began casting ballots amid tight security in early voting in 14 countries from Australia to Sweden to the United States.


There were few election posters or banners Friday but plenty of graffiti promising death to voters in Youssifiyah, a heavily Sunni Arab area south of Baghdad, where nostalgia for Saddam endures and hostility toward the United States is widespread.


Majority Shiites, who make up an estimated 60 percent of the population, are expected to turn out in large numbers Sunday, as are the Kurds. Iraqis will choose from among 111 lists of candidates for the National Assembly, rather than voting for individuals, and the ticket endorsed by the Shiite clerical hierarchy is expected to fare best.


Here and elsewhere in Sunni strongholds, however, insurgents do not have to do much to persuade people to boycott the election. Many Sunni Arabs, who make up about 20 percent of the population, believe Sunday's balloting will be tainted by the American occupation and Iranian meddling.


Many plan to stay home, threatening the legitimacy of the vote.


U.S. officials say security concerns — rather than political convictions — will largely determine who comes out to vote.


In Baghdad, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte insisted some Sunni Arabs will turn out to vote.


"Sunnis don't only live in some of these beleaguered provinces, they live here in Baghdad, they live in other parts of the country," Negroponte said on CBS' "The Early Show." "I think you're going to see participation across the board."


At the United Nations (news - web sites) in New York, a spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) said "everything has been set in place for a valid election process."


"We're in the middle of a process that will eventually, we hope, produce a democratic system of government, coming out of an autocratic system under Saddam Hussein," spokesman Fred Eckhard said.


A Western election adviser in Baghdad said Sunni turnout could be as high as 50 percent if election day violence is low and if the boycott call is not heeded. But it could also be as low as 15 percent, the adviser said on condition of anonymity.





"We applaud the courage of ordinary Iraqis for their refusal to surrender their future to these killers," President Bush (news - web sites) said in Washington.

To discourage turnout, Sunni-led insurgents have stepped up attacks against polling centers, candidates and electoral workers across Iraq. In response, U.S. and Iraqi forces have accelerated sweeps to detain suspected insurgents. Residents say dozens of men have been rounded up in recent days.

To try to bolster public confidence, Iraqi officials Friday announced the arrests of three more purported lieutenants of Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, including his military adviser and chief of operations in Baghdad.

The arrested al-Zarqawi associates included Salah Suleiman al-Loheibi, the head of his group's Baghdad operation, who met with al-Zarqawi more than 40 times over three months, said Qassim Dawoud, a top security adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

Dawoud said Ali Hamad Yassin al-Issawi, another associate, also was captured. Dawoud said the two arrests took place within the past several weeks.

Al-Zarqawi's military adviser, a 31-year-old Iraqi named Anad Mohammed Qais, 31, also was captured, said Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh.

"We are getting close to finishing off al-Zarqawi and we will get rid of him," Saleh said.

Despite Saleh's assurances, al-Zarqawi's group posted a new Web message Friday warning Iraqis they could get hit by shelling or other attacks if they approach polling stations, which it called "the centers of atheism and of vice."

"We have warned you, so don't blame us. You have only yourselves to blame," it said.

On Friday, a bomb went off near a ballot center in Iskandariyah, the latest sign of electoral violence in the town of 200,000 people south of Baghdad. U.S. soldiers also arrested a prominent Sunni Arab cleric and two of his brothers, raiding their home at dawn.

The cleric, Sheik Abbas Jassim, is a senior member of the Association of Muslim Scholars, an influential Sunni group that has called for an election boycott.

Small cracks, however, have begun to appear in the Sunni shunning of the vote.

In Diyala province, the Iraqi Islamic Party — the country's largest Sunni party — has partially reversed its decision to withdraw from the election, asking supporters to vote for local government candidates, local party leader Hussein al-Zobeidi said.

A Diyala tribal chief, Taha Aziz Hussein, said fear of election day attacks and anger at a wave of U.S. arrests undoubtedly will hurt turnout. But he added: "I am anticipating pockets of success in parts of Diyala."

In Kirkuk, Sunni Arab tribal leaders also urged followers to participate in the local government election, saying they wanted to deny Kurds domination of the oil-rich city.

"We cannot stay home and let the Kurds vote," said one tribal chief, Abdul-Rahman al-Monshid. "We shall participate, so it can never be said that this is a Kurdish city."

Key Shiite candidates repeatedly have sought to reassure Sunni Arabs that, regardless of how they fare in the vote, they will be included in the next government and the drafting of a new constitution.

But that holds little appeal for those who see the U.S.-sponsored political process as just an American scheme to install a loyal, Shiite-dominated government.

"The outcome of these elections has already been decided," Saleh Eid, a landowner from Mahmoudiya, told a group gathered at the house of tribal chief Adnan Fahd al-Ghiriri. "I believe 99 percent of us here will not vote."

Al-Ghiriri, a retired police office, agreed.

"I will stay home on Sunday," he said. "It's the safest place."

___

Associated Press reporter Yahya Barzanji in Kirkuk contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

A list of Iraqi parties on the ballot:

http://www.freewebs.com/tcfactory/iraqelection.htm


Ellie

[thedrifter]

January 31, 2005

We must learn from friendly fire deaths

By Charles A. Jones


Last year, I learned much about fratricide, an often overlooked aspect of war in which lives are taken by comrades, not enemies.
I reviewed and organized fratricide cases at Marine Corps Forces Central Command that were sent by U.S. Central Command for a lessons learned study. The process was a unique learning experience, but it was also sad because I learned about incidents causing deaths or wounds.

After detecting common themes in numerous cases of friendly forces killing or wounding each other, I wrote a long memorandum identifying those themes and offering solutions.

Having read only the short Army press release available at the time, my memorandum noted the fratricide death in Afghanistan of Cpl. Pat Tillman, the former National Football League player turned Army Ranger.

The details of Tillman’s death, reported in comprehensive stories in the Dec. 5 and 6 issues of The Washington Post, did not surprise me. The incident fit the pattern of the typical fratricide case my memorandum identified.

The textbook case of fratricide begins with a mission ordered, followed by initial or subsequent failures in communication or equipment. These failures often lead to events that spur “friendly fire.” Chaos ensues as those firing and receiving fire react. Someone eventually realizes that friend is shooting friend. Unfortunately, people are killed or wounded before that realization, often because combatants fail to positively identify targets as enemy forces before firing.

In Tillman’s case, troops’ preoccupation with a disabled vehicle set the stage for disaster. Tillman’s unit divided so that one section could handle the disabled vehicle and the other could proceed to an objective; each took separate routes. Failures in communication and an unexpected event followed, with deadly results.

The Air Force considers various factors when investigating mishaps, and many are relevant to both ground and air fratricide cases. Three were present in the Tillman case.

One was the oddly termed “necessary rushed action,” meaning participants hurry unnecessarily. In Tillman’s case, a commander’s unwarranted desire to hurry to an objective, which meant dividing the command, was “necessary rushed action,” creating a “false sense of urgency” that required dividing forces and contributed to fratricide.

Another was “changing the briefed mission,” an open invitation to fratricide when the change is not communicated or is communicated inaccurately or incompletely, with friendly force locations not re-evaluated in light of the change. In Tillman’s case, the soldiers with the disabled vehicle changed the plan and drove to rejoin their comrades but failed to communicate that change. This set the stage for disaster.

A third factor is “expectancy,” in which individuals have expectations that predispose them to certain actions in spite of environmental clues indicating the actions are inappropriate.

When enemy forces ambushed the soldiers with the disabled vehicle, the other team moved to the scene expecting enemy troops, not fellow soldiers. ;Geographic features blocked the approaching team’s attempted communications to relay its location. The ambushed soldiers fired at their would-be rescuers, failing to identify them positively before shooting — despite attempts by the approaching soldiers to identify themselves as friendly. The resulting fire from the ambushed team killed Tillman.

In an essay in the November issue of Proceedings magazine, I outlined 10 tips for avoiding fratricide. One is particularly relevant in the Tillman case: location, location, location. For the military, this real estate dictum translates to situational awareness. Commanders must know their own location and those of subordinate and friendly units. Also, unmonitored or unwise command separation invites fratricide. Both were factors in the Tillman case: The two teams lacked situational awareness of friend and foe locations after splitting up.

Fratricide is and has been inevitable in warfare. But if all levels of the chain of command pay attention to lessons learned from cases like the death of Pat Tillman, friendly fire deaths can be minimized through training that realistically simulates the “fog of war.”

Technology may help as well, but it presents risks in that it works only if all parties have anti-fratricide devices and the devices work properly. Too much or too little reliance on technology is a problem.

For example, “expectancy” occurs when devices display information inconsistent with what operators observe. If operators ignore those observations and unquestioningly rely on technology, fratricide may result.

Ultimately, the human element remains key: Humans can learn, technology cannot. We must not ignore the painful lessons we learn from the friendly fire deaths of our comrades

The writer is a lawyer and Marine Corps Reserve colonel in Norfolk, Va. This column is based on an essay that won second place in the Naval Institute’s Marine Corps Warfighting Excellence Essay Contest and that appeared in the November issue of Proceedings magazine.



Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines respect traditions of Iraqi people
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 2005126121037
Story by Cpl. Randy L. Bernard



FALLUJAH, Iraq (Jan. 23, 2005) -- Safety and stability within Fallujah is of the utmost importance for the Marines working in and around the city as people begin to move back home. Before any one can enter the city they must be searched including women and children.

In order to respect the traditions and ethics of the Iraqi people, Regimental Combat Team 1, 1st Marine Division, has established the Female Searching Force.

The FSF is a group of 20 female Marines from different military occupational specialties assigned to work at the city’s checkpoints and humanitarian aid stations, ensuring no female civilians are trafficking weapons, drugs, illegitimate passports or identification, and excess amounts of money.

“We have to search everyone, and men aren’t allowed to search the women. So, we are here to make sure that nothing comes in,” said Lance Cpl. Kimberly D. Taylor, 20, a native of Alma, Ga., and member of the FSF detachment. “Some of the women will start crying when we bring them over to the searching area, because they don’t know that we are females. But once they find out that we are, they are surprised because they don’t expect women to be here doing this.”

Since the city reopened to civilian traffic last month, each of the cities checkpoints has been assigned a FSF team of three to four women to increase security measures.

“We pick the females up when they get off the bus, or when they walk into the city, and bring them over to the searching area,” said Cpl. Erin D. Black, 27, a team leader with the detachment, and a resident of Smyrna, Tenn. “We are also making sure that the males aren’t using the females to bring stuff in because they think that we won’t search the females.”

Cpl. Erica R. Steele, the only female radio operator with Battery L, 4th Battalion, 14th Marine Regiment, didn’t know what to think when she was told that she would be working in the city of Fallujah.

“I was kind of timid at first, because I didn’t know how safe the city was, and there is no way you can really train for this,” said Steele, 28, a native of Tuscaloosa, Ala. “But my first day was exciting. It was like I was looking forward to actually doing the searching part.”

The Iraqi culture has made it difficult for the women to understand that they are going to be searched, but the smiling Marines usually break the barrier, and the Iraqi women usually warm up to the Marines quickly.

“They were scared, because they are not used to being touched in that manner,” said Steele. “But now they will give you things like bread and fruit, and the older women will kiss you on the cheek. They are starting to be very friendly.”

Although there are many barriers, the Marines try their best to bridge the culture and language gap.

“We have to know a little bit of Arabic to work with them. The women will tell us that we are very strong because we are women and we are out here doing this,” said Taylor.
According to Black, who originally came from a military police company, the citizens of Fallujah pretty much know why Marines are there, and she enjoys working with the Iraqis. But most of all, she enjoys the chance to work with the infantrymen.

“Working with the grunts is one of my favorite parts of this job,” said Black. “I like learning their mentality because I want to be one, and be out in the city doing something productive.”

The Marines working with the FSF hope that working alongside the infantrymen is just one of the first steps of breaking into combat operations.

“I feel like we are changing the way that females are (being utilized) in the Marine Corps,” said Steele. “We are out in the hot zones with the grunts, and maybe this will open the doors for women in (artillery batteries).”

These Marines work closer to combat than most females will ever get the chance to in their careers, and according to their commander, they do a phenomenal job.

“They are by far the most outstanding and motivated group of Marines I have ever worked with,” said 1st Lt. Sara E. Hope, 25, a native of Dorset, Vt. “They came from all over the area of operations and all have different MOS’s. Some are active and some reservists, and they came together to do something that had never been done before.

“We were only supposed to be out here for three weeks, but now we are pushing an extension to two months, and I am very proud of the work they do,” said Hope, who not only is the commanding officer for the FSF, but is the adjutant for 2nd Radio Battalion.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

America Supports You: 'Until They All Come Home' Bracelet Symbolizes Thanks
Submitted by: American Forces Press Service
Story Identification #: 200512764754
Story by Mr. Rudi Williams



WASHINGTON (Jan. 23, 2005) -- Bracelets engraved with "Until They All Come Home" were passed out to everyone close by at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here Jan. 21.

The plastic yellow bracelets serve as a symbol of patriotism as well as a symbol of thanks and support to the troops, according to their producer, Joe Spano Jr.

He collaborated on the bracelet idea with Marine Corps mom Elizabeth Johnston. Her son, Lance Cpl. Joseph C. Paul served in Iraq in 2003.

In a touching moment before he deployed in January 2003, Paul, now in the Marine Corps Reserve, said he told her, "Mom, just support all of us."

Johnston, of Longview, Wash., promised she would. In February 2003, she founded Mothers of Military Support, known as M.O.M.S., a non-profit organization to support troops and their families during deployment.

Spano, president of Buy-Rite Inc., said he was so overwhelmed after reading about Johnston and her son on the M.O.M.S. Web site that he wanted to do something to support the troops too. So he called Johnston and told her he wanted to produce a bracelet with the words "Until They All Come Home."

During his Jan. 21 Walter Reed visit to distribute the bracelets, Spano said Johnston's words "promised her son, Joe, that she would continue to help the service men and women until they all come home."

"Although that was not a tag line, I saw it as one," Spano noted. "I thought it just had a great ring to it. I think for someone to wear that on their wrist and see it every day is a reminder that they're not all home yet and it's going to be a long time before they are and let's not forget about them. It's too easy in our prosperity here to forget."

Armed with two large boxes of the yellow plastic wristbands, Spano said his mission to Washington was to attend to the "real important issue ... to get the message out."

"Right now, Iraq and Afghanistan are in the media every day, but there's going to come a day where something else is going to happen," he said. "And all of a sudden we forget very quickly, especially here in America where we have so much happening around us every day that it's very simple to forget people out there protecting us and allowing us to have those successes and prosperities in this country.

"My interest in doing these bracelets came from Elizabeth," he emphasized. "She comes to any conversation on any topic and it comes right back down to a discussion about our men and women in the military. Her passion for that is absolutely intoxicating, and you can just not help but want to help out in some way, if at all possible."

"Let's remember the troops, he added, "until they all come home."

At Walter Reed's physical therapy department, Spano gave a bracelet to Army Spc. Joey Banegas, 22, of Hatch, N.M., who was wounded in Afghanistan on Oct. 14.

"I'd seen people with them, but I wasn't sure of what they were," said Banegas, who was serving with the 25th Infantry Division. "It's good that people recognize and realize that the troops are out there and are actually waiting for them to come home," he noted. "It shows that we have a lot more support than we expected to have in the beginning.

"It makes you feel good inside because it shows that you're appreciated and that people respect you for doing what you do."

Tammy Johnson, mother of Army Spc. Chad Johnson, 21, of Lockhart, Texas, said, "I haven't seen these bracelets before, but I have mine (now)."

As she put the yellow plastic bracelet on her left wrist, she noted "this means that somebody is looking out for our soldiers and they really care. If our soldiers over there know that we really care, they can do their job a lot better and maybe protect themselves more and come home to us."

Her son arrived at Walter Reed on Oct. 9 from Landstuhl (Germany) Regional Medical Center. He had served with the 1st Cavalry Division in Iraq.

The bracelets represent support to the troops, he said, and are "a consistent reminder when you look at it on your wrist to remember where you are, where you live and who supports the freedom."

"When Joe approached me about doing the bracelets," M.O.M.S' Johnston noted, "he said he believes in M.O.M.S., and that working as a team would be much more powerful than working separately to show our support for the troops nationally."

She said Spano's company has produced 480,000 bracelets. Spano explained that M.O.M.S. gets 10 percent of all proceeds and he also contributes funds personally to support the troops. "This has become a personal passion for him," she noted.

M.O.M.S. has sent hundreds of "care packs" to servicemembers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Each 1-gallon plastic bag is loaded with such things as lip balm, phone cards, disposable cameras, beef jerky, anti-bacterial soap, dental floss, music CDs, playing cards and a host of other items.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marine veteran, 51, re-enlists for Iraq
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PHILADELPHIA - A 51-year-old Marine veteran is returning to the military to serve along with his son in Iraq and fulfill a dream of serving overseas, he said yesterday.

Jim Flaherty put in 24 years in the Marines, retiring in January 2001. He got an e-mail last month from a military contact in Iraq inviting him to sign up for a 12-month tour working on the rebuilding of Fallujah.

Flaherty, married for the second time with 18-month-old twins, had doubts about whether to go but figured this was a last chance to satisfy a dream to serve overseas.

"I'm thinking, 'What am I? Nuts, when I've got two little kids?' " he said.

Flaherty, whose stint in Iraq is expected to start next month or in March, has a son, James, a sergeant in the Marines who has been on active duty for about eight months. He may also be joined there by his daughter, Shannon, also a Marine, who expects to be deployed in April.

Flaherty, director of facilities for Arcadia University in Glenside, Pa., played down the danger of his mission, pointing out that he will be working on construction projects rather than being in combat.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Glory Road: Iraq’s Day of Decision
January 28, 2005



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
by Bob Newman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was driving in my truck when the news of the fall of the Soviet Union reached me via my vehicle’s radio. My jaw, like so many others, dropped open and stayed there for a while. Few saw that coming.

Back in the 1970s and ‘80s, the idea of democracy coming to Mother Russia and bloody places like Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, Chile, Argentina, South Africa and other backwaters of tyranny and despotism, was a ludicrous concept to many Americans on the screaming, wild-eyed left. Yet today, assorted forms of democracy are living and breathing there.

No one should be surprised that the likes of Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry and Ted Kennedy want democracy to fail in Iraq. These hateful radicals are much more interested in solidifying their purchase on the tree of divisiveness by seeing President Bush’s Iraq policy collapse than they are in seeing a bunch of Arabs acquire freedom for the first time in Iraq’s painful history. When these professional, unrepentant hate mongers say they are pro-democracy and pro-freedom for Iraqis, they are lying, for if democracy and freedom take hold in Iraq, President Bush wins and the leftists lose.

The turnout for Sunday’s election will be larger than the naysayers hope and claim, and we will see more Sunnis voting than what the complicit media insists we will see. There will be great violence between now and Sunday, of course, which is typical of burgeoning democracies in the Third World. But the election will come off and for the first time in the history of the Arab world, democracy will have been born. Naturally, this doesn’t sit well with the dictators and tyrants of the region, such as those in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Syria, because they know history tells of democracy spreading like a nasty rash. That’s why countries such as the aforementioned not only have no genuine interest in seeing a free Iraq, but are actually doing whatever they can get away with to foment terrorism there. Even Jordan’s supposedly enlightened and educated king is predicting disaster in Iraq if freedom takes hold. Funny how Kennedy, Kerry and their cowardly click say the same thing.

Is Sunday’s election a guarantee Iraq will remain a democracy? Of course not. No country is guaranteed democracy forever, as forms of government come and go, at least according to the history books. But there is hope, even though hope is a concept that makes the Boxer brigade cringe and fret.

And we must also consider our own history. Our birth was a gruesome mess, with battlefields far and wide scattered with the bodies of new Americans. But we believed and the dream came to pass. Robert Emerson Newman, my ancestor and the sexton of the Old North Church in Boston, was in cahoots with a local silversmith one evening during what would become known as the Revolutionary War. When he hung two lanterns in the church steeple, he knew full well that there would be a price to pay for his actions. But he did it anyway.

The Iraqis know, too, that there will be hell to pay. And despite the most fervent hopes for failure of Pelosi and party, the Iraqis will go to the polls and make history, just like the democracies before them.

Bob Newman

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Iraq Attacks Continue, 27 Dead
Associated Press
January 30, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqis voted Sunday in their country's first free election in a half-century, defying insurgents who launched deadly suicide bombings and heavy mortar strikes at polling stations, killing 27 people. After a slow start, women in abayas - often holding babies - and men formed long lines, although there were pockets with little or no turnout.

Casting his vote, Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi called it "the first time the Iraqis will determine their destiny."

Despite heavy attacks that struck about two hours after polling stations opened, turnout was brisk in some Shiite Muslim and mixed Shiite-Sunni neighborhoods, both in Baghdad and in southern cities like Basra.

Even in the small town of Askan in the so-called "triangle of death" south of Baghdad - a mixed Sunni-Shiite area - 20 people waited in line at each of several polling centers. More walked toward the polls.

"This is democracy," said an elderly woman in a black abaya, Karfia Abbasi, holding up a thumb stained with purple ink to prove she had voted.




The election is a major test of President Bush's goal of promoting democracy in the Middle East. If successful, it also could hasten the day when the United States brings home its 150,000 troops. More than 1,400 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, including a U.S. Marine killed in combat Sunday in Iraq's restive Anbar province. No details were released on the latest death.

Security was tight. About 300,000 Iraqi and American troops were on the streets and on standby to protect voters, who entered polling stations under loops of razor wire and under the watchful eye of sharpshooters. Private cars were mostly banned from the streets, forcing suicide bombers to strap explosives to their bodies and carry out attacks on foot.

In a potentially troublesome sign, the polls at first were deserted in mostly Sunni cities like Fallujah, Ramadi and Samarra around Baghdad, and in the restive, heavily Sunni northern city of Mosul.

By midday, however, several dozen people were voting in Samarra and several hundred people - mostly Kurds - were voting on Mosul's eastern side, witnesses said.

Yet in Baghdad's mainly Sunni Arab area of Azamiyah, the neighborhood's four polling centers did not open, residents said.

A low Sunni turnout could undermine the new government and worsen the tensions among the country's ethnic, religious and cultural groups.

Final results will not be known for seven to 10 days, but a preliminary tally could come as early as late Sunday.

In Ramadi, U.S. troops used loudspeakers to urge people to vote. But in Beiji, a Sunni insurgent stronghold in northern Iraq, polling centers were all but deserted.

The governor of the mostly Sunni province of Salaheddin, Hamad Hmoud Shagti, went on the radio to lobby for a higher turnout. "This is a chance for you as Iraqis to assure your and your children's future," he said.

One U.S.-funded election observer said early reports pointed to smoother-than-expected voting, despite the violence.

"We're hearing there has been fairly robust turnout in certain areas," said Sam Patten, a member of the Baghdad team of the International Republican Institute, a U.S.-funded organization that has done some opinion polls in Iraq.

Across the country, women in abayas - often holding babies - waited in long lines to vote, along with men.

At one polling place in eastern Baghdad, an Iraqi policeman in a black ski mask tucked his assault rifle under one arm and took the hand of an elderly blind woman, guiding her to the polls.

In the most deadly attack Sunday, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a polling station in western Baghdad, killing himself, three policemen and a civilian, officials said. Witness Faleh Hussein said the bomber approached a line of voters and detonated an explosives belt.

In a second suicide attack at a polling station, a bomber blew up himself, one policeman and two Iraqi soldiers. In a third suicide attack at a school in western Baghdad, three people and the bomber died, police said.

And in a fourth, at another school in eastern Baghdad, a suicide bomber killed himself and at least three others. Another four people died in other suicide attacks.

Also, three people were killed when mortars landed near a polling station in Sadr City, the heart of Baghdad's Shiite Muslim community. In addition, two people were killed when a mortar round hit a home in Amel, and a policeman died in a mortar attack on a polling station in Khan al-Mahawil, 40 miles south of Baghdad.

Despite the attacks, there was brisk turnout in the poor Shiite community of Jisr Diyala in eastern Baghdad, with the number of voters increasing as the morning wore on.

"I don't have a job. I hope the new government will give me a job," said one voter, Rashi Ayash, 50, a former lieutenant colonel in the Iraqi force. "I voted for the rule of law."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines Come Under Fire
Associated Press
January 29, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. Marines and Iraqi forces came under fire early Saturday as they placed concrete barriers around polling places south of the capital, in an effort to protect them a day before the country holds historic elections.

Iraqi election officials have begun delivering ballots to polling places in the region, near Iskandariyah, 48 kilometers (30 miles) south of Baghdad, the Marines said.

It was not immediately known if anyone was hurt in the attacks early Saturday. Iraqi police have taken up positions around the polling stations as scheduled before Sunday's election, the Marines said.

Insurgents have vowed to disrupt the elections, and in recent days have attacked U.S. and Iraqi forces and blasted schools serving as polling centers. Gunfire and mortars could be heard across parts of Baghdad early Saturday and U.S. fighter jets occasionally flew overhead.





An Iraqi man was found dead early Saturday north of Baghdad, near Tikrit, apparently killed when a bomb exploded as he placed it on a road, said Army Maj. Neal O'Brien. A patrol found the man's body and a weapon, O'Brien said.

In the north, four schools serving as voting centers in Beiji, 145 kilometers (90 miles) south of Mosul, also were hit with explosives late Friday, slightly damaging them, according to city police.

The Army also announced Saturday that two soldiers had been killed in the Friday night crash of an Army OH-58 Kiowa helicopter. Their names were being withheld until their families could be notified.

The cause of the crash was under investigation. It came two days after a U.S. helicopter transporting troops went down in bad weather in the western desert, killing 30 Marines and one sailor - in the deadliest single incident for U.S. forces in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Leathernecks, sailors are glad to be back after a 68-hour trip from Iraq
January 30,2005
ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF

Cheers erupted Saturday as eight buses of Marines and sailors pulled up to the crowd assembled at Camp Lejeune's Area One gymnasium.

About 850 troops from the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, returned from Iraq in waves over the past three days. Their seven-month deployment included intense fighting in the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

Marine mom Julie Steele had tears streaming down her face as she hugged her son, Lance Cpl. Timothy Steele, 21, from New Windsor, Md. The infantryman was wounded during one of the early operations in the city west of Baghdad.

"They were blowing a door off a building, and the explosion was more than normal - they think it was rigged," said Julie Steele, detailing the circumstances that led to the shrapnel wound her son sustained to the back of his right leg. "We heard that he was wounded on Veterans Day."

Timothy Steele had surgery, spent three weeks recovering and then rejoined his company, according to his father, Bob Steele.

"The Marines always get the short end of the stick to clean out the dirty places," Bob Steele said. "Those insurgents are some nasty folks. They don't want freedom to take hold."

After nearly three days of traveling, Timothy didn't have much on his mind except getting back to his life in the United States.

"The first thing I'm going to is get something good to eat," he said.

Emily Jane Munday, an art teacher at Swansboro High School, waited under a big sign announcing the reunion of "Dick and Jane" - she and her husband, 21-year-old Cpl. Richard Munday, from Muscatine, Iowa.

During the deployment, as the situation in Fallujah intensified, she stopped watching the news - instead relying on the Key Wives volunteer network for information.

"A lot of things on the news change," Emily Munday said. "You hear it's 1/8, and it turns out to be 3/8."

Like Lance Cpl. Steele, Cpl. Munday, a mortarman with Weapons Platoon, Charlie Company, had little to say.

"It's great to be home," he said. "I'm going to go Â… take a long shower."

Lance Cpl. Evan Bledsoe, 21, of Morgantown, W.Va., and his wife, April, will celebrate their first wedding anniversary Feb. 13. On Saturday, April Bledsoe anxiously bounced on her toes while she waited for her husband's bus to arrive.

"When they were in Fallujah, I cried every single day. It was very, very scary," she said. "He told us (Fallujah) was really hard. They trained for all experiences, but I can't imagine going through it."

Evan Bledsoe, a machinegun team leader with Weapons Platoon, Charlie Company, was blissfully unaware of the others. Cuddled with his young wife, he held a cell phone to his ear and spoke to his parents - fulfilling a promise to call them as soon as he returned.

To say he was counting the time for this moment to arrive would be an understatement.

"It's been 68 hours, 28 minutes and 30 seconds from the time we boarded the bus at Al Asad air base until we got off the bus here," Bledsoe said.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marine unit glad to be home from war zone
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Michael Stetz
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
January 29, 2005

CAMP PENDLETON - There are homecomings and then there are homecomings.

Last night, members of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment returned from seven months of duty in Iraq. Their deployment included the storming of an Iraqi city - a place called Fallujah.

"It was weird. Weird and difficult, and long and intense," said Lance Cpl. John Blanda, 23, of Houston.

To a man, the Marines said they saw bad things - very bad things. And to a man, they said they were thrilled, overjoyed, grateful, lucky, happy, ecstatic, relieved and very ready for a beer.

As said, there are homecomings . . .

This one came on a cold, raw night at Camp Pendleton. But that didn't seem to matter to the dozens of family members waiting for the return of their Marines.

They left in June, and, over the months that followed, nothing came easy. This indeed was war.

"Everybody had a close call," said Lance Cpl. Marshall Eason, who was returning from his first tour in Iraq.

"It was kind of crazy. One minute, the people are smiling at you. The next, they're trying to kill you. You can't trust them."

It wasn't easy for the Marines, and it wasn't easy for family members. This deployment sapped them, too.

"He was one of the first people in," Beverly Pierce said of her son, Sgt. Jack Pierce, when it came to invading Fallujah, which had become a hotbed of Iraqi resistance.

She worried, and the worrying only intensified when the news hit of a downed helicopter earlier this week. Thirty Marines and a Navy hospital corpsman were killed. It was the deadliest incident yet in Iraq for U.S. forces.

Last night, Pierce finally felt at ease. She had come from Springfield, Miss., to see her son.

"It's just nice to know that he's back here in the States," she said.

It was a festive atmosphere, to say the least. There was food, beer, balloons, smiles, hugs, whoops, cheers - and reflection.

The 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment is known as the "Thundering 3rd," and it's not because it sits on the sidelines. This deployment will, no doubt, add more luster. But it comes with a cost. The Los Angeles Times reported that the unit lost 33 men and 400 were wounded.

Lance Cpl. Gerald Spencer, 22, saw a buddy get shot in the mouth. Lance Cpl. Otis Rutter, 24, saw a couple of buddies die.

"When we went in, it was like a ghost town," he said of Fallujah. "Then things would happen out of nowhere."

Sgt. Cam Weatherford, 32, who returned last week after this, his third tour, called it "hell on Earth, pretty much."

Most of the Marines wouldn't give opinions about the upcoming Iraqi election this weekend. Geopolitical debates weren't exactly the order of the day.

Most were just glad to be out of there. Morale is good, and they did good work, they said.

"I'm glad I went," said Navy corpsman Nathan Tagnipez. "I joined to do this."

It wasn't just family members eager to greet the returning Marines. Some of the regiment's wounded had come back earlier.

Lance Cpl. John Klug, 20, got hit on the first day of the attack on Fallujah and was badly wounded in the left arm. He rolled off a bandage to show the thick, deep scar.

Klug said he hated to leave his unit, adding, "I missed these guys."


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Educators taught Marine Corps 101
Submitted by: 9th Marine Corps District
Story Identification #: 2005126102331
Story by Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Janowiec



Marine Corps Recruiting Station Lansing (Jan. 26, 2005) -- Every day, the Marine Corps fights battles, not only in the distant Iraq deserts or Afghanistan's jagged mountains, but also here at home. The Corps is fighting for the hearts and minds of its most precious asset - the American people.

A decorated campaign of this conflict is the Marine Corps’ Educators Workshop. Each year, more than 300 teachers, principals and influencers within the 9th Marine Corps District travel to a recruit depot for a brief glimpse at the transformation process.

In April, 40 Michigan educators will briefly abandon their civilian mentality and receive a taste of how young people can benefit from the Corps.

John Ekken, a teacher and coach at Creston High School, Grand Rapids, Mich., attended Recruiting Station Lansing’s workshop last year, said he was really interested in seeing what they really could do without their parents around telling them what to do.

He said he was impressed with many things during the trip, noting he saw great racial harmony, and that no one from the Marines ever had any negative comments toward one another.

Ekkens planned to leave his teaching position in 2004 after 36 years, but because of the trip he changed his mind and called his school to sign on for another four years.

“The one thing that really impressed me was the swimming pool,” said Ekkens. “I asked the drill instructor how many passed the test and he said 100 percent.”

As a swim coach, Ekkens said he knew how some students are afraid of water and that many of them skip his class to dodge their fear, but the Marine Corps makes them face the challenge and pass the test.

“Everywhere I go, I tell people about the Marine Corps,” said Ekkens.

His is one of many hearts touched and ultimately changed by the workshop’s power. The trip isn’t for anyone, however; there are specific people who should be picked. Among these are people in positions who have direct influence on young people who may benefit from joining the Marine Corps.

“The Educators’ Workshop caters to educators and counselors who may not know (about the Marine Corps),” said Sgt. Ryan A. Smith, community relations non-commissioned officer, Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego.

Going on the trip isn’t meant to form opinions. It provides information for the participants about the Marine Corps, Smith said. It is up to them to inform their students based on what they learned during the workshop.

To help explain the Marine Corps during the trip, each recruiting station sends four Marines with 40 participants. Their job is to spread knowledge around and make sure all educators receive what they need, especially equal attention.

If a recruiter sits in one area on the bus ride to Camp Pendleton, he should sit somewhere else on the trip back, Smith said. “It could be tough because there are some educators that latch on, but you need to break away.”

“Recruiters benefit by using this program," said SSgt. Scott M. Day, recruiter, Recruiting Substation West Branch. "It builds rapport in the community and can give credibility to what the Marine Corps’ intentions are. It gives the community a chance to see what we’re trying to do, what we’re trying to accomplish by putting them in the environment the recruits are in.

They’ll get a better understanding of what the recruiter is trying to accomplish.

“It dispels a lot of myths that you hear out here,” he said. “It has opened up doors like you wouldn’t believe.”

Since going on the trip, Day is received more openly in schools and homes as he uses a teacher who went on the trip to help tell the Marine story.

One way to present the workshop is by word of mouth through peers who attended. Anita J. Entingh, teacher, Hudsonville High School, said she heard many good things about the trip from her colleagues.

Only a small number of people attend this perspective-changing visit. It is meant to dispel rumors and myths about boot camp training and is open to anyone in an influential position of individuals 17-24 years old. This is a valuable tool at the recruiters’ disposal that has the momentum to help in their communities recruiters say.

In this recruiting battle, victory – for some – is measured in the contracts these trips produce. Eventually, those who advise America’s youth will be fighting alongside recruiters.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Al Asad Iraqis vote on historic Election Day
Submitted by: 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing
Story Identification #: 200513041936
Story by Cpl. Paul Leicht



AL ASAD, Iraq (Jan 30, 2005) -- Today for the first time in half a century, the Iraqi people voted in free elections after national polls opened at 7 a.m.

Iraqi security forces and U.S. Marines overseeing the democratic process raised security levels and officials expect the elections to go smoothly at local polls throughout Al Anbar Province.

Initially hesitated by fears of scattered violence at the polls, Iraqi locals overcame their worries and turned out to cast their vote enthusiastically for a positive future of their country.

Helping to set the stage for a peaceful election, Marines with the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing were congratulated on their efforts to support a democratic Iraq.

“The entire Wing team has done a terrific job setting the stage for elections (in Al Anbar Province) with truly all-star decision making, planning and execution at every level,” said Maj. Gen. Keith J. Stalder, commanding general, 3rd MAW.

Some Marines made a special effort to help encourage local Iraqis to cast their votes.

“I explained to them that it is important to vote,” said Lance Cpl. Mediya Abakar, Arabic-speaking supply clerk, Marine Wing Headquarters Squadron 3, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, who, as an interpreter, met with Iraqi election workers at Al Asad before Election Day.

Abakar also reassured the workers that the Marines are committed to ensuring security at the polls and that any fears of violence should not deter them from the overall importance of exercising their democratic rights to choose their own leaders.

“Most of them want to vote, but have security concerns,” said Abakar. “I told them that the Marines would be there to protect them.”

Encouraged by Marines like Abakar, one Iraqi election worker explained that his vote would also be one for peace.

Before the Al Asad poll closed, more than 100 Iraqis who work on the base cast their vote and celebrated the historic occasion with dancing, clapping and flag waving.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

31st MEU meets with local Iraqi leaders
Submitted by: 31st MEU
Story Identification #: 200513074849
Story by Cpl. Matthew R. Jones



AR RUTBAH, Iraq (Jan. 25, 2005) -- While the upcoming elections are the talk of the town in many of the larger cities in Iraq, Marines of Task Force Naha with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit are explaining the concept of a free and fair elections to the locals in this remote city, hoping to enable their voice through voting.

The Marines held a meeting with religious leaders, members of the town council, sheiks and the leader of Iraqi Security Forces in the area and took the opportunity to explain the electoral process and listen to concerns the Iraqis had.

“The most important thing (we) will discuss are your elections,” said Col. Walter L. Miller, commanding officer, 31st MEU. “I can not stress enough how important it is for you to vote.”
Miller emphasized to the members that this is not only a national election but also a provisional one.

The Iraqis asked questions about how and where the elections will be held and what security measures will be in place at the polling sites.

“(Multi-National Forces) are here to ensure you have a safe place to vote,” said Major Carl W. Simons, team leader, 4th Civil Affairs Group, 31st MEU.

An outer cordon manned by Marines will secure the polling stations said Simons.

“We need your help to get the word out,” said Lt. Col. Robert L. Manion, commanding officer, Task Force Naha. “There will be safe places to vote.”

Members of the Iraqi Security Forces will provide the security element and search vehicles as well as the people entering the polling stations; they will provide both male and female searchers, added Simmons.

The polling stations will be operated completely by the Iraqi election officials.

The Iraqis expressed concern regarding the lack of knowledge of their people regarding the upcoming elections.

“When I talk to the people, the ask me what an election is and when will it be held,” said one local sheik through an interpreter.

The Multi-National Forces have been distributing election education materials explaining the election process throughout the area.

“We have been handing out materials to Iraqis on our patrols,” said Manion.

Similar brochures explaining the election process were handed out to the members of the meeting to be given to the citizens of the city.

“It’s up to you if you want a better Rutbah and a better Iraq,” said Miller. “It is up to you to get the word out.”

The voting will take place at nine polling stations throughout western Al Anbar Province and the citizens will be able to vote at any of the stations.

Iraqis citizen in other countries have voted through the absentee ballot process, and on Jan. 30, the people here will have that opportunity to vote. Though all elections are important, this election will express the will of the Iraqi people in choosing their own government that will provide the foundation for a better Iraq.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Camp Pendleton Marines return from Iraq

Associated Press


CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - About 200 Marines who fought to secure the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah last year were given a hero's welcome by family and friends Friday after finishing a seven-month tour in Iraq.

Hundreds of people cheered as members of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, known as the "Thundering Third," walked onto a field at Camp Pendleton.

"It's indescribable," said Lance Cpl. Jose Ceja, of Sacramento, who held his 5-month-old son for the first time after returning.

The battalion left in June to provide security and help transfer authority to Iraqi forces. At least 44 of its members died after seeing some of the heaviest fighting in and around Fallujah, said Capt. Jeff McCormack.

He said the situation in Iraq has improved despite daily scenes of violence and troop deaths.

"I know it looks bad, but things are improving," McCormack said. "When we were there Iraqis were fighting and dying with us."

Family members said they were relieved to have their loved ones home.

"It's never easy," said Cyndi Lugo of San Diego, while waiting for her husband, Master Chief Melvin Lugo, who has served twice in Iraq. "It's like a roller coaster."

While some troops were looking forward to a vacation, others said they were ready for their next assignment.

"It was difficult, but it's our job," said McCormack, who was heading to Virginia for military training. "We learn to lean on each other."


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Bush lauds Iraqi election
Last Updated Sun, 30 Jan 2005 13:22:54 EST
CBC News
BAGHDAD - Polls have closed in Iraq in the first multi-party election in more than 50 years, as an estimated eight million people rejected calls by insurgents to boycott the ballot.

The vote began violently with insurgent attacks that killed at least 22 people, although the attacks tapered off by midday.

Iraq's Electoral Commission said voter turnout has exceeded expectations, with about 60 per cent of eligible voters casting ballots, down from an earlier estimate of 72 per cent.

U.S. President George W. Bush praised the Iraqis for "a resounding success" and "a great and historic achievement."

He also mentioned the U.S. and British role, and the UN support for the election in a short statement read in Washington early Sunday afternoon.

"The Iraqis have firmly rejected the anti-democratic ideology of the terrorists," Bush said.

Many Iraqis agreed, saying the vote would give the government the authority to fight the insurgents, CBC correspondent Don Murray reported.

Unofficial results are expected early this week. Official results could take up to two weeks.

Suicide bombings struck polling stations in eight cities. A group linked to al-Qaeda says 13 of its bombers took part in the attacks.

Few voters turned out in Sunni areas west and north of Baghdad and some polling stations remained shuttered, reports say.

Iraq's Sunni Muslim population makes up about 20 per cent of the country. It appears many heedied the call of clerics and militants to stay home because the vote will create a Shia-dominated political system.

Assembly will write constitution

The 275 people elected from a list of more than 100 parties will draft a new constitution. Once that is done, there will be another election, scheduled for December.

Voters are also electing members for 18 provincial assemblies and the autonomous Kurdish government.

Observers say a low Sunni turnout could undermine the credibility of Iraq's first election since Saddam Hussein was toppled in a U.S.-led invasion in April 2003.


FROM JAN. 29, 2005: Fear grips Iraqis on election eve

In an effort to intimidate possible voters in Mosul, leaflets were handed out Saturday threatening injury to those showing up to vote.
In Khanaqin, a suicide bomber wearing an explosives belt killed at least eight people outside a police station, and in Ramadi, five Iraqis were found slain on a city street, their hands tied behind their backs.

One of them was decapitated by militants who accused the five of working for the Americans.


FROM JAN. 28, 2005: Iraq ramps up security before election

In a direct appeal to voters, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi told a press conference that Iraqis should defy the threats and cast their ballots.
"All of them should participate because this is the future in the making," said Allawi. "The people have to take faith into their own hands and decide for themselves what kind of future they want to see."

For the first time, names of the roughly 7,700 candidates have been published. Many of them, fearing murder by extremists, had kept their names secret until Iraq's electoral commission published the candidates' list online on Wednesday.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Home From the War in Iraq, Marine Faces the Fight of His Life
The lance corporal based at Twentynine Palms has but days to live unless he receives a liver transplant, doctors say.

By Hugo Martín, Times Staff Writer


Four and a half months after returning from the battlefields of Iraq, Lance Cpl. Christopher R. LeBleu lies in a hospital bed in Loma Linda, hooked up to machines and monitors working to keep him alive.

LeBleu, 22, stepped off a transport plane in September, lucky to have survived seven months in Fallouja and other treacherous corners of Iraq. Twenty soldiers from his battalion based in Twentynine Palms have died in that country.







A month after returning to California, LeBleu decided it was time to get on with life, and he married his hometown sweetheart.

But now LeBleu, a native of Lake Charles, La., is in critical condition at Loma Linda University Medical Center after a mysterious ailment shut down his liver. Doctors say he needs a liver transplant.

A partial liver from a living donor won't help; LeBleu needs an entire organ from a deceased donor, doctors say. Without one, he may only live a few more days, they say.

LeBleu returned Sept. 9 from Iraq where he was a rifleman, conducting operations in Fallouja and provinces near the Syrian border. In October, he married Melany.

Complaining of fatigue, he visited his doctor in December and learned of his condition.

"This came real suddenly," said Marine spokesman Gunnery Sgt. Arnold Patterson.

Dr. Donald J. Hillebrand, director of liver transplants at Loma Linda University Medical Center, said doctors have yet to determine the cause of LeBleu's liver failure. He said it is likely that the Marine is suffering from a form of hepatitis. "Whether or not this is related to his time in Iraq is not clear," he said.

Hillebrand and Marines at the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center were scrambling Friday to get the word out about LeBleu's condition in the hope that more people will register to donate organs, thus increasing the chances that a donor with LeBleu's blood type — O-positive — can be found.

But finding a donor will not be easy. Nearly 4,000 people in California are currently waiting for liver transplants, about 900 of whom have been waiting five years or more, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, a nonprofit organization dedicated to matching donors and patients.

Nationwide, an average of five people awaiting liver transplants die each day, Hillebrand said.

"We need to get him transplanted soon for this to be a happy ending," he said.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Bush Declares Iraq Election a Success

By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) called Sunday's elections in Iraq (news - web sites) a success and promised the United States will continue trying to prepare Iraqis to secure their own country.


"The world is hearing the voice of freedom from the center of the Middle East," Bush told reporters at the White House on Sunday, four hours after the polls closed. He did not take questions after his three-minute statement.


Bush praised the bravery of Iraqis who turned out to vote despite continuing violence and intimidation. Bush said voters "firmly rejected the antidemocratic ideology" of terrorists.


Iraqis defied threats of violence and calls for a boycott to cast ballots in their first free election in a half-century Sunday.


Insurgents struck polling stations with a string of suicide bombings and mortar volleys, killing at least 44 people, including nine suicide bombers.


"Some Iraqis were killed while exercising their rights as citizens," Bush said. He also mourned the loss of American and British troops killed Sunday.


Bush cautioned that the election will not end violence in Iraq, but said U.S. forces will continue training and helping Iraqis "so this rising democracy can eventually take responsibility for its own security."


In a statement Sunday, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass, said Bush "must look beyond the election."


"The best way to demonstrate to the Iraqi people that we have no long-term designs on their country is for the administration to withdraw some troops now" and negotiate further withdrawals, Kennedy added.


Earlier Sunday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) said Iraqi will now work to reduce ethnic or sectarian differences, and the United States will discuss the continued need for outside security forces with the newly elected Iraqi government.


"We all recognize the Iraqis have a long road ahead of them," Rice said on CBS' "Face The Nation."


"The insurgency is not going to go away as a result of today," Rice added.


Rice would not say whether U.S. forces will leave the country in great numbers after the vote, and Bush did not mention any U.S. military withdrawals.


So far, more than 1,400 U.S. troops and many thousands of Iraqis have lost their lives. The United States is spending more than $1 billion a week in Iraq.


Rice said the election went better than expected, but did not elaborate on U.S. predictions for turnout, violence or other measures.


In Iraq, officials said turnout among the 14 million eligible voters appeared higher than the 57 percent they had predicted. Complete voting results are not expected for days.


Polls were largely deserted all day in many cities of the Sunni Triangle. In Baghdad's mainly Sunni Arab area of Azamiyah, the neighborhood's four polling centers did not open at all, residents said.





A low Sunni turnout could undermine the new government and worsen tensions among the country's ethnic, religious and cultural groups.

"It is hard to say that something is legitimate when whole portions of the country can't vote and doesn't vote," Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites), D-Mass., said on NBC's "Meet The Press."

The Bush administration has a great deal riding on the election. Strong turnout and results that the world views as legitimate could speed the departure of American troops.

A stable Iraqi government could help mend alliances frayed by international opposition to the U.S.-led invasion, and Republicans on the ballot in 2006 and 2008 also would be relieved. Success could also buttress Bush's long-term goal to promote democracy across the Middle East, where family dynasties and authoritarian rulers outnumber democracies.

Problems with the election could complicate Bush's foreign policy aims, as well as the success of costly items on his second-term domestic agenda, such as partially privatizing Social Security (news - web sites).

Iraq's Shiite majority was widely expected to dominate the government that emerges from Sunday's elections, and some of the highest initial turnout reports came from overwhelmingly Shiite areas.

Even with lower turnout among Sunni Arabs, the government can be representative of all Iraqis, Rice said. She also downplayed concerns that a Shiite-dominated government will morph into a theocracy.

"I'm sure that they will have a healthy debate about the role of Islam, about the role of religion in that society," Rice said on CNN's "Late Edition."


Ellie