Texas Marine saved his unit from insurgent gunfire

[thedrifter]

Texas Marine saved his unit from insurgent gunfire

By Shia Kapos
Special to the Tribune
Published July 20, 2004

A laid-back Texan who dreamed of being a comedian but planned to work as a chiropractor died saving fellow Marines from gunfire.

As squad leader, it was Cpl. Daniel R. Amaya's job to check the safety of his unit's surroundings before it entered enemy territory.

On April 11, as his squad headed into a building in Al Anbar province, Iraq, Amaya stepped into the doorway and confronted insurgent fighters.

"He called out for the rest of the unit to get back," said his mother, Kacey Carpenter. And then, she said, he shoved the Marine closest to him out of the way, saving his life. Amaya, 22, of Odessa, Texas, was killed in the ensuing firefight.

Amaya, who earned a Purple Heart and Bronze Star, was killed during his second tour in Iraq. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force from Twentynine Palms, Calif.

Friends and family remember "Dan the Man" for his quick wit and for being "the family ham."

Amaya knew at a young age that he wanted to be a Marine like his father and grandfather, Carpenter said.

"He took it very seriously," Carpenter said, recalling how her son refused to chew gum to keep his ears from hurting on the plane trip home from boot camp. "He said, `I can't chew gum in uniform,'" she said.

"Forget the uniform, I told him. Just hug your mother," Carpenter said.

It's an order he followed.


Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...ationworld-hed


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Experienced, elite U.S. soldiers leaving for higher-paying jobs

By: PAULINE JELINEK - Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Just when the U.S. military needs them most, senior Green Berets, Navy SEALs and other elite forces are leaving for higher-paying jobs.

After getting years of training and experience in the military, they leave for other government jobs or for what defense officials said Tuesday has been an explosion in outside contractor work.

"What makes them so valuable to us makes them highly marketable on the outside," said Chief Master Sgt. Robert V. Martens Jr., senior adviser at the U.S. Special Operations Command, which also oversees equipping and training elite Army Rangers and Air Force special operations commandos.


Better salaries, retirement benefits and educational opportunities are among incentives that might help stem the problem, defense officials said as they met with lawmakers to discuss ways to keep forces who have become so crucial to the war on terror.

A soldier, sailor or airman gets $60,000 per year at 18 years of service -- a figure that includes housing allowance and some types of special duty pay. Troops who go to work for civilian contractors can make up to $200,000 a year, one official has said.

The military command that oversees the covert forces "is the nation's single best weapon in the global war on terror," said Rep. Jim Saxton, R-N.J. Saxton opened Tuesday's session before his House Armed Services Committee terrorism subcommittee, saying he fears the military is losing such troops faster than they can be replaced for a counter-terror war that "has no foreseeable end point."

Officials from the command based in Tampa, Fla., didn't give specific numbers but said the Army, Navy and Air Force are all seeing an increasing trend in which senior people are retiring at their 20-year mark, though they could remain on active duty for several more years.

Force Master Chief Clell Breining, senior adviser at the Naval Special Warfare Command, said there has been a decline in people staying beyond the 10- to 14-year mark since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

"We are not looking to retain every single person to their 30-year tenure, but we are looking to retain a key experience base to lead our younger, less experienced troops out into the field into combat," Martens said.

It can take four years just to train a special operations soldier and another few years of field experience before he or she is top-notch.

Martens said troops are taking "the skills that we have trained them with" and starting second careers in the civilian sector or moving into other government agencies.

The special operations command has been working with the services and the office of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to identify incentives to keep senior people, Martens said. Worse retention problems can be averted, he said.

To some extent the government has helped create the growing market outside its doors. Both the Defense Department and the CIA have hired private contractors to cover their own manpower shortages, especially in skills such as linguistics and prisoner interrogation.

The military has contracted out some chores to save troops for soldiering duties. There are some 20,000 private security guards watching over U.S. officials, convoys and private workers in Iraq -- some under government contract and some hired by private companies.

The CIA often uses independent contractors who are hired for short-term assignments. While they sometimes are recruited by and work through a private company, they can also be contracted directly by the agency.

Some of the private companies have been started and are led by retired generals, other military officers and former CIA employees.

Overall spending on federal contracts increased about 42 percent from 2000 to 2003 -- from $205 billion to $291 billion -- according to a report issued in May by Rep. Henry Waxman of California, the senior Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee. The Army, Air Force and Navy accounted for 55 percent of all federal contract spending in 2003, he said.

The work of the military's special operations forces has greatly expanded in recent years, with them playing a central role in efforts to hunt down, capture or kill terrorists and help train other nation's forces in the counter-terror fight.

Special operations forces played a crucial part in helping local Afghan forces topple the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001 and have figured prominently in the war in Iraq.

Since the war on terror started, the Pentagon has gotten extra money to fund additional equipment for special operations as well as to train more forces.

There are currently under 50,000 such troops, including reservists, and there are plans to increase the total by a few thousand over the next several years.

On the Net:

U.S. Special Operations Command: http://www.socom.mil/

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004..._087_20_04.txt

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Three U.S. Allies Face New Threat in Iraq

By RAVI NESSMAN

BAGHDAD, Iraq - New online statements by purported militants threatened attacks against three U.S. allies _ Poland, Japan and Bulgaria _ if they don't pull their troops from Iraq, a day after a Filipino hostage was released because the Philippines bowed to insurgents' demands and withdrew its tiny contingent.

Meanwhile, the death toll of U.S. forces in Iraq since the start of the war rose to 900, including two civilians linked to the military, when a roadside bomb struck a Bradley fighting vehicle in central Iraq, killing one soldier inside.

Maj. Neal O'Brien of the 1st Infantry Division said the soldier, whose name was not released, was on patrol in a Bradley fighting vehicle in Duluiyah, 45 miles north of Baghdad, when the bomb detonated shortly after midnight Wednesday.

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On Tuesday, the military said two U.S. Marines and two U.S. soldiers were killed in action in Anbar Province, a Sunni-dominated area west of Baghdad. The Marines were killed in separate incidents while conducting "security operations;" one soldier was killed Monday, and a second died Monday of wounds.

The five U.S. deaths since Monday came as insurgents were increasingly targeting Iraqi national guard and police, including a fuel truck bomb that detonated Monday at a Baghdad police station, killing nine people and wounding 60. Since the transfer of power to an interim government on June 28, 47 U.S. troops have died in Iraq.

At least 893 U.S. service members and two civilians linked to the Department of Defense have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq in March 2003, according to a count released by the Pentagon. The latest deaths would raise the toll to 900.

The new threats against Poland, Japan and Bulgaria were worrying signs that militants may be emboldened by their success against the Philippines. The United States and other coalition allies had criticized the government for agreeing to withdraw its 51-member contingent to save the life of truck driver Angelo dela Cruz, who was kidnapped two weeks ago.

The same group that kidnapped dela Cruz, the Khaled bin al-Waleed Corps, took aim at Japan. The group is the military wing of Tawhid and Jihad, the group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

"To the government of Japan: Do what the Philippines has done. By God, nobody will protect you and we are not going to tolerate anybody," said a statement signed by the group. "Lines of cars laden with explosives are awaiting you; we will not stop, God willing."

A Foreign Ministry official in Japan said Wednesday that Tokyo would not pull its 500 troops, sent here for medical and reconstruction duty. Japan refused in April to withdraw after three Japanese were kidnapped by Iraqi insurgents. They were released unharmed.

"Japan is in Iraq on a humanitarian mission," the official said on condition of anonymity. "The Iraqi people and government are grateful for its efforts."

The veracity of the latest statement could not be determined. A new statement signed Tawhid and Jihad on Wednesday cautioned readers to trust only statements posted on the group's behalf by Abu-Maysara al-Iraqi, the pen name of a frequent contributor to sites known for militant Muslim content. The threat against Japan was not posted by Abu-Maysara al-Iraqi.

While Tawhid and Jihad _ a name referring to the central Islamic tenet of monotheism and to holy war _ has claimed many attacks, it rarely issues threats or warnings. It earlier claimed responsibility for beheading U.S. businessman Nicholas Berg and South Korean translator Kim Sun-il.

An online statement from a previously unknown group that identified itself as al-Qaida's European branch contained threats to carry out deadly attacks in Bulgaria and Poland if the two countries don't withdraw their troops from Iraq.

The statement, signed by the Tawhid Islamic Group, appeared Wednesday on an Islamic Web site known as a clearing house for al-Qaida and groups linked to the terror network. The group identified itself as "al-Qaida in Europe." The authenticity of the statement and the group could not be verified.

The group said Bulgaria and Poland will "pay the price" just like the United States and Spain did, referring to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington and deadly explosions on trains in Madrid in March.

"To the crusader Bulgarian government which is allying itself with the Americans and to the Bulgarian people we demand, for the last time, that you withdraw Bulgarian troops out of Iraq or we swear we will turn Bulgaria into pools of blood if you don't comply," said the statement.

Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov said Friday he won't pull out Bulgaria's 480-strong infantry battalion from Iraq. Last week militants threatened to kill two Bulgarian truck drivers in Iraq, while the fate of the second hostage remained unclear.

The group's statement also had a warning to Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka: "Pull your troops out of Iraq or you will hear the sounds of explosions that will hit your country, at the time we choose."

The Polish Defense Ministry said last week that Poland would cut its troop levels from about 2,400 to between 1,000 and 1,500 next January.

Poland, which also commands a 17-nation force in south-central Iraq, is required by a U.N. resolution to remain in Iraq until the end of 2005, but Polish leaders haven't determined what role their country will play after that.

On Wednesday, Deputy Defense Minister Janusz Zemke said withdrawing troops from Iraq would be a "terrible mistake" that would only encourage terrorism.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004.../d83v4dr03.txt


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Tears greet returning Marine
Submitted by: MCB Camp Pendleton
Story Identification #: 2004719103511
Story by Lance Cpl. Khang T. Tran



Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif. (July 13, 2004) -- Sgt. Andrew Mrozik, 28, of Chicago, receives an emotional homecoming greeting from his daughters Autumn Mrozik, 8, and Dakota Mrozik, 2.

Mrozik, an avionics technician assigned to the Pendleton-based unit Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 369, returned home after a seven-month deployment that took him to Iraq, Japan, Philippines, South Korea and Thailand.

During Mrozik's overseas duty, he kept in touch with his family via phone and e-mail. This was his fifth deployment during his seven years serving in the Marine Corps. "It doesn't get any easier throughout deployments, in fact, it gets harder because your children start to realize you're gone," Mrozik said.

Mrozik said he was afraid his youngest daughter Dakota would not remember him since she was little more than a year old when he left for the lengthy overseas tour. "When the bus pulled up, she (Dakota) was the first one in my family to see me," Mrozik said. "I pushed my face up against the window and she yelled 'daddy.'"

Mrozik said his unit will receive a few days off before returning to work to unpack and get back to business. Mrozik said he plans to reenlist and serve as a recruiter.




Autumn and Dakota Mrozik cry as they reunite with their father, Sgt. Andrew J. Mrozik, an avionics technician, after a seven-month deployment to Okinawa, Japan, conducting flight operations with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 369. During Mrozik's training overseas, he kept in touch via phone and e-mail. This was his fifth deployment throughout his Marine Corps career. "It doesn't get any easier throughout deployments. In fact, it gets harder because your children start to realize you're gone," Mrozik said. Mrozik's unit flew 72,000 hours without accidents participating in exercises through out Iraq, Japan, Phillipines, South Korea and Thailand. Photo by: Lance Cpl. Khang T. Tran

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn20...C?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Reservist is called up for duty in Kuwait, ends run for Congress




By David B. Caruso
ASSOCIATED PRESS
1:29 p.m. July 20, 2004

PHILADELPHIA – Congressional candidate Greg Philips will get a chance to serve his country, but it won't be in Washington.

The suburban Philadelphia Democrat ended his long-shot bid to unseat Republican Rep. Curt Weldon on Tuesday after his Naval Reserve unit was called up for duty in Kuwait.

A lieutenant in the Navy's Civil Engineers Corps, Philips is scheduled to report for duty on July 26, then spend at least a year in the Iraq theater working with a logistics battalion that specializes in unloading military cargo ships.

Defense Department regulations generally prohibit members of the armed forces from running for office while on active duty. The Pentagon can waive the restriction, but Philips said he is ready to "put the politics behind me."

"That was a campaign, this is a real-world military operation, and my focus now is giving it all my effort," Philips said.

Philips was not expected to pose a serious threat to Weldon, a nine-term incumbent. His campaign fund had a balance of $3,059 at the end of June and his candidacy had attracted little notice from Democratic party leaders or the media.

On the campaign trail, Philips had been sharply critical of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. His Web site deplored "the continued loss of American lives in Iraq while the President's friends make large profits." He also charged that the armed forces are underpaid, overstretched and often poorly equipped.

On Tuesday, Philips said he was no longer at liberty to criticize the government or his commander in chief.

"Military folks don't make policy, and we don't talk about it either," he said.

When he ships out, the 42-year-old lawyer and architect from King of Prussia will leave behind three children and a pregnant wife, who is due to give birth in January.

Weldon issued a statement wishing his opponent a safe and speedy return and praising his decision to serve.


http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...eployment.html


Ellie

[thedrifter]

July 20, 2004


A soldier's view of Iraq

By Dan D'Ambrosio
Herald Staff Writer

IGNACIO - For Marine Lance Cpl. Andrew TwoCrow, the soldiers killed and wounded in Iraq are not numbers to be reported or debated. They are his friends and comrades.

TwoCrow, 22, returned to Ignacio on Thursday after four months of combat duty in the infamous Sunni Triangle, where he and his fellow Marines arrived in Fallujah the day after Iraqi insurgents killed four coalition workers, dragged them through the streets, and hung their mutilated bodies from a bridge.

He talked Monday about his experiences in Iraq while his 3-year-old son, Lakota, played in their home in the Northridge subdivision outside Ignacio. That first night in Fallujah, TwoCrow said, a sniper team led his platoon into the city, where they engaged in a running firefight with the insurgents.

"We went from house to house, looking for terrorists," TwoCrow said. "About 30 minutes into the city, all the fighting started. It was crazy. It was just shooting and running, shooting and running. That's all they did that first night."

About two weeks later, TwoCrow's platoon was ambushed.

"One afternoon there was a guy who was running back and forth and he kept shooting at us, so the platoon leader took my squad and we chased him," TwoCrow said.

In that ambush, one of TwoCrow's friends had both shins shattered by bullets and was shot in the face, the bullet lodging at the back of his neck. Another was shot in the head, through his helmet, and died two days later. Another was shot through his arm as he attempted to throw a grenade. The bullet passed into his body, severing the major arteries to his heart and killing him. Another was hit by a bullet that first went through a 7-inch concrete wall before striking him in the leg.

"The thing that saved him, he had a bandolier with all the bullets for his magazines," TwoCrow said. "The bullet exploded in his bandolier and shattered all his bullets and sent a bunch of shrapnel around."

TwoCrow said most of the insurgents they captured during his time in the Sunni Triangle were Syrians, not Iraqis, and that they also captured fighters from Pakistan, Egypt, Iran and Turkey.

"They were coming from all over," TwoCrow said.

But they all shared something in common: "They've been doing this for years and years," he said.

Consequently, the insurgents made for a challenging enemy.

"They're really smart, they know how to hide," TwoCrow said. "We'd be shot at and have no idea where we were being shot at from. The bullets would be impacting inches in front of us, inches from our heads."

TwoCrow said he and his platoon members finally figured out the insurgents were punching holes in the concrete walls of homes, inserting a long pipe in the hole and firing through it.

"They shoot at you all day and you'll never see the muzzle flash or the gun smoke," he said.

TwoCrow's friend with shattered shins is beginning to walk again after intensive physical therapy at Camp Pendleton, about 40 miles north of San Diego. Despite being involved in nearly nonstop combat for four months, TwoCrow himself was never wounded. He said he'll never forget what he saw and experienced.

"It's good to have friends there you can talk to when something's wrong," TwoCrow said. "We pretty much stick together. They told us, 'Try to be close to the Marine on your left and your right because you never know when your life might depend on him, or his life might depend on you.' That's what I was taught, which I found out is true."

Lakota TwoCrow lives with his mother, Trennie Burch, and Burch's parents, Alan and Estelle Rarick, who own the home in Northridge.

Burch was 16 when she and Andrew, who'd had a troubled childhood, had Lakota. The Raricks took Andrew in, treating him like a son.

"We're like his extended family. He calls us mom and dad," Estelle Rarick said. "We're very proud of him. We kept in touch with him when he was overseas."

Rarick said TwoCrow's decision to go into the Marines had everything to do with his son.

"When he left the (Southern Ute Indian) Reservation to be a Marine, he wanted to be somewhere where he could make a difference," Rarick said. "He's very proud of himself. That's the one goal he did have. I remember him telling me that goal was to make his son proud."

And has he made a difference? TwoCrow believes he has.

"I was glad to be there," TwoCrow said. "These people were living in fear. The terrorists were telling these people how to live their lives. I think we did a good job over there. I know a lot of people disagree with what we're doing over there, but I try not to let it get to me."

After serving his four-year stint in the Marines, TwoCrow, a member of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, hopes to return to Ignacio to work for the SWAT unit of the Southern Ute Police Department. And while he feels good about his service in Iraq, it doesn't mean he's itching to go back.

"It's something I'll never forget," TwoCrow said. "It will always be on my mind, something I never hope I have to go through again and that no one else has to go through."

Reach Staff WriterDan D'Ambrosio here .



http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin...ws040720_1.htm


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Warner: New Report Backs Iraq WMD Claims
By APARNA H. KUMAR
Associated Press Writer
Originally published July 21, 2004, 8:51 AM EDT
WASHINGTON -- An upcoming report will contain "a good deal of new information" backing up the Bush administration's contention that Saddam Hussein pursued weapons of mass destruction, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va., said.

The administration cited Saddam's hunger for such weapons as a main reason to invade Iraq last year.

"I'm not suggesting dramatic discoveries," Warner told reporters Tuesday, but "bits and pieces that Saddam Hussein was clearly defying" international restrictions, "and he and his government had a continuing interest in maintaining the potential to shift to production of various types of weapons of mass destruction in a short period of time."

The report is by the civilian head of the Iraq Survey Group, Charles Duelfer, who reports to the CIA director. Initially the report was expected to be done this summer, but instead it will come out in September, Warner said.

Warner said the new information covers "some weapons that predate the first Gulf War that are still around and were used at the time Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons against the Iranians" as well as "remnants of what he was doing himself here in the last several years." He would not elaborate, saying he didn't want to pre-empt the report.

The senator made the comments after a closed briefing by Maj. Gen. Keith Dayton, who updated the panel on the Iraq Survey Group's progress. Dayton returned from Iraq last month after giving up his post as the military head of the hunt for weapons as part of a routine rotation. Marine Brig. Gen. Joseph J. McMenamin became director of the Iraq Survey Group on June 12.

The intelligence community, meanwhile, hopes the trials and interrogations of "high-level detainees" by the new Iraqi government could yield more information about Saddam's weapons programs, Warner said.

"The Iraqi people are still concerned that some remnants of this program are yet to be found," Warner said.

A defense official speaking on condition of anonymity Tuesday, said the survey group has not yet found any new evidence of Saddam weapons. While there are "all kinds of documents" showing his intent to produce weapons of mass destruction, there is "no treasure map that shows 'Here is where the missing munitions are,'" the official said.

Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nat...,2112601.story


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines pitch in to refit battalion's gear lost in fire
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 200471772512
Story by Sgt. Jose L. Garcia



CAMP AL ASAD, Iraq (July 14, 2004) -- Fitting Marines for a fight is a challenge enough, but supply Marines at Regimental Combat Team 7 are working overtime to refit Marines after losing gear to a fire here July 7.

A fire ripped through the camp, burning several tents and the Marines' gear, everything from packs to uniforms.

Other supply warehouses pitched in and helped equip the Marines with gear and other personal items. Marines from Combat Service Support Battalion 7, Marine Aircraft Group 16, and 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment were among the contributors.

"All this came together within a 24-hour period by word of mouth," said 2nd Lt. Frank Sierra, a 28-year-old supply officer for RCT-7 from Odessa, Texas.

According to Sierra, Marines donated personal items once the word got out and were quick to respond to the crisis.

"All the units were very generous in helping us out," Sierra said. "It just kept raining on us. Our lot was full of stuff we got and more kept coming. We had no place to put it."

Sierra also contacted battalions through e-mails and phone calls and to gather items he didn't have stocked.

"What struck me was how the Marine Corps is a family, a band of brothers," Sierra said. "It really put us to the test. Units showered us with gifts. Marines gave us personal belongings. All the donations came from the Marines. Marines take care of each other."

Supply Marines worked all night issuing gear and making sure the battalion had a complete gear issue.

"The Marines were combat ineffective when they lost all their gear," said Lance Cpl. Ricky Y. Muenzer, 21, from St. Louis, Mo., and supply clerk with RCT-7. "I knew we would be working long hours to get them what they needed. We had to have them combat effective. I was stressed and tired, but angry that I couldn't help them fast enough to get them going."

According to Sierra, the time was the obstacle. Marines from 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment were relieved by Marines from 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment. The incoming Marines were needed on the line.

The problem was identified and fixed. Since one battalion was replacing another, the Marines did a one-for-one swap.

Sierra said he was pleased with the way his Marines responded to the situation and the way it was handled.

"It tested our capability with supply and I was really happy with my Marines and proud of them," Sierra said. "They showed their capability."

Sierra also credited Army and Air Force Exchange personnel for helping out and keeping doors opened late.

"The PX was almost closed, but the Marines and civilians who work there stayed after hours and gave me what I needed," Sierra said.

Sierra and his Marines spent $11,700 for PX items. They purchased items including towels, t-shirts, socks, tennis shoes, shower shoes and hygiene gear.

"I've never seen this kind of teamwork in my shop before," Muenzer said. "Everyone just stopped what they were doing to help the Marines out."

"Everything that a Marine needs to survive out here, they had in a day and a half," said Cpl. Roderick Totton, a 29-year-old from Detroit and the supply warehouse noncommissioned officer-in-charge. "By the end of the week the Marines were out training again."




Lance Cpl. Ricky Y. Muenzer, 21, from St. Louis, (left) and Pfc William P. Miller, 19, from Portland, Ore., both supply clerks with Regimental Combat Team 7, inventories of a shipment of uniforms. Supply Marines worked day and night issuing gear and making sure 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment had a complete gear issue after losing everything to a fire.
(USMC photo by Sgt. Jose L. Garcia) Photo by: Sgt. Jose L. Garcia

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn20...6?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Issue Date: July 26, 2004

‘A soap opera with RPGs’
Marines facing hit-and-run attacks in ‘must hold’ Iraqi city of Ramadi

By Gordon Lubold
Times staff writer

RAMADI, Iraq — It’s this city’s most attacked observation point, but Lance Cpl. Kevin Miller loves the Ag Center. The 19-year-old grunt from Philadelphia is standing post on the balcony of the ornate white building that appears to be a former university; it’s now peppered with holes from sniper fire, mortar rounds and rocket-propelled grenades.
“It’s so fun,” says Miller, with Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, as he stands behind a faded blue minaret at the building’s front. “These morons never learn. They can shoot us all they want, but they’ll never win.”

Miller’s exuberance about standing at a post where a Marine is sure to be shot at is typical of the attitude toward what the mission is becoming for leathernecks in Iraq. And it’s especially true for 2/4.

Accustomed to kicking in doors and taking the fight to the enemy, Marines have assumed a more defensive posture after the June 28 transfer of power to Iraq. Now they’re pulling back and encouraging the Iraqi police and other local forces to take responsibility for law and order.

Their changing stance reflects the complexities of Ramadi, a high-stakes mission with a high cost. The battalion has seen more casualties — including 31 killed in action as of July 15 — than any other Marine battalion in Iraq.

And much of what it’s endured has gone unnoticed in the shadow of more high-profile actions around the country.

When grunts with 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, and 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, went on the offensive in nearby Fallujah following the March 31 slaying of four civilian security contractors, the eyes of the world turned to that fight. In the siege that followed, at least three infantry battalions joined the fray and pundits talked at length about that restive city being critical to winning the peace in Iraq.

But the fight for Ramadi, Marines here say, is a far more important — and dangerous — mission. This battalion has almost single-handedly maintained control in this city of about 400,000 on the Euphrates River. It is a strategic must-have as the seat of government for Anbar province and the nexus of Sunni Arab culture.

In a June visit to Combat Outpost, a small base here that has endured frequent attacks, 1st Marine Division commander Maj. Gen. James N. Mattis made the city’s importance clear. Speaking to Marines gathered in a chow hall, Mattis was characteristically blunt. His message: “Ramadi must hold.”

Marines from 2/4 have conducted security patrols by vehicle and on foot in neighborhoods populated by former Baath Party members and Republican Guard troops, raided homes looking for weapons and insurgents, and continue to engage enemy forces in close combat. Marines here firmly believe that if Ramadi were to fall to the insurgents, the province — and, arguably, U.S. policy in Iraq — would fall along with it.

“If we don’t hold the government center, if we don’t hold the provincial capital,” Mattis was quoted as saying in a July 12 USA Today report, “the rest of the province goes to hell in a handbasket.”

The reality now is that the Marines can’t spend as much time on winning hearts and minds when a determined enemy is still complicating efforts to stabilize the country.

“Nothing is straightforward,” said Maj. J.D. Harrill, 2/4’s operations officer.

“I think we thought they would be more receptive to help, but it’s more like a soap opera with RPGs.”

‘The sixth’

When the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based battalion arrived here in early March for a seven-month rotation in country, they replaced an Army National Guard unit from Florida that had departed two weeks earlier, and although they expected a fight, they also thought handshakes and soccer balls would go a long way toward stabilizing the city.

The battalion’s four line companies each took an area of responsibility and hit the streets. They built sidewalks, painted schools and outfitted hospitals with new equipment.

But during routine patrols about a month later, the city simply broke loose.

Around here, when Marines refer to “the sixth,” or “the seventh,” they’re referring to those days in April when it seemed like everyone in the city was out to get them, when Marines saw some of the most intense close combat since Vietnam.

In a series of what are believed to be coordinated ambushes, hundreds of Iraqis began squeezing rounds from behind windows, down alleys and in the middle of the street. Staff Sgt. Damien Rodriguez, a 27-year-old infantry unit leader from Menifee, Calif., was pinned down in a small building for more than two hours. He calls it “the Battle of Easy Street.”

Other Marines call it “Black Hawk Down Without Helicopters,” a nod to the commonly referenced October 1993 battle in Mogadishu, Somalia, that left 18 service members dead.

“When this was taking place, two hours into it, everyone and their mother was shooting at us,” Rodriguez said.

On April 6 alone, at least 10 Marines were killed. Others would die in the fierce fighting that continued almost unabated in the days that followed. In the end, more than 200 Iraqis were dead and the enemy offensive had ground to a halt.

Waiting for the fight

Enemy forces have not mounted a similar assault since, but smaller, pin-prick hit-and-run attacks have continued as Marines re-engage in the city. They are conducting patrols, helping to guard the government’s headquarters building and manning a dozen or so other observation posts up and down Highway 10, the city’s main drag. Four Marines died defending one such observation post June 21; video footage of their bodies appeared on news channels around the world.

continued...........

[thedrifter]

And as recently as July 14, Marines got a reminder of how hot Ramadi can be. After weeks of relative calm, the city again erupted in gunfire and a six-hour street fight ensued with a group of insurgents with dreadlocked hair, a style the Marines said they hadn’t seen before. Afterward, 21 fighters were dead and another 20 were detained. This time, the battalion suffered no significant injuries.

“It’s very hard in Ramadi to say how things are going to go because every day there is a new wrinkle,” said Maj. Mike Wylie, 35, the battalion’s executive officer.

And with the turnover of power, the Marines are limiting their presence, leaving it to the Iraqi police to keep the city as secure as possible.

“We’re not taking the fight to them, we’re waiting for it,” said Staff Sgt. Dan Duitsman, 29, an infantry unit leader from Boardman, Ore. “We’re forcing the [Iraqi police] to do the job.”

The Iraqi police have become a more visible force in town, and some Marines here said the police are taking more initiative. For example, U.S. forces recently watched from the sidelines as Iraqi police ended a squabble between two rival groups that got into a 20-minute firefight in the middle of downtown Ramadi.

Waiting for the fight to come to them is counterintuitive to Marines, and the battalion’s senior enlisted man, Sgt. Maj. Jim Booker, 42, said he knows some leathernecks get frustrated. However, Booker said, they’re trained to adapt quickly.

“It’s actually more demanding and draining to be doing what we’re doing here,” said Booker, from Waco, Texas. “But it’s more satisfying, and they’ve learned more.”

A seesaw battle

It’s been all about ups and downs for Maj. Ken Lindberg, too, but he’s not on the line with a rifle.

As the civil affairs officer for 2/4, the 36-year-old reservist from Chandler, Ariz., has seen the faces of school children light up after seeing a dingy schoolhouse with poor lighting and leaky plumbing transformed into a clean, bright building complete with overhead fans and a fresh coat of paint.

And by using a program in which nearly a hundred mosques were each given $1,200 to fix up their buildings, the Marines scored another win, as sermons in the subsequent months seemed to take a less hostile tone toward the U.S. occupation.

But the downs are awful, and July 3 was probably the worst. The U.S. is sinking $500,000 into renovating a police headquarters building in downtown Ramadi, but that work has been set back.

Someone placed demolition charges in the building, and although damage was minimal, it’s still frustrating. Police officers trained by the U.S. appeared to have looked the other way.

The difficulties facing Marines and others attempting to reconstruct Iraq reflect the complexities of a culture that so far has been unable to latch onto what the Americans are trying to accomplish.

It’s not completely clear what happened at the police station, but possible motivations run from insurgents wanting to undermine U.S. reconstruction efforts to rival police chiefs vying for power. There’s even the possibility that the Iraqi contractor was simply damaging his own project so he could then charge more money to fix it again, one official said.

“They don’t care about this place,” Lindberg said. “They all pretty much want to change, but they’re not willing to help it happen.”

Othman Al Raws, an Iraqi government engineer, is one of those who appear to want to make it happen — but he’s taking a risk in doing so. Raws is working with the Marines on several infrastructure projects and knows there has to be a brighter future for Iraqis.

Raws is willing to drive to one of the Marine bases here despite the possibility of being followed and attacked like many others who have cooperated with U.S. forces.

“We take risks, but some people with an open mind, we know what we need to do,” said Raws.

Fixing the real problem

The 1st Marine Division’s motto in Iraq is “no better friend, no worse enemy.” But Marines here say that message may have been lost on many Iraqis, most of whom won’t take risks until they believe their safety is guaranteed. Rebuilding schools and building ballparks will only work when the dark cloud of the insurgency is gone. The Marines haven’t lost the battle for hearts and minds — it’s just the wrong battle at the wrong time.

“Until we get rid of these people, or lessen their influence, the good people will essentially have a shadow over them,” Wylie said.

Commanders here firmly believe that any victory will come through the efforts of the junior Marines who make life-or-death decisions every day, on every patrol. If they’re right, then they might listen to one Marine who is bluntly confident about how to win in Iraq. Forget about soccer balls and candy and fix the real problem first, he says.

“Before it was about hearts and minds,” said Pfc. Chris Ferguson, 20, from Aurora, Colo.

“Now it’s about two in the heart and one in the mind.”

Gordon Lubold is covering I Marine Expeditionary Force operations in Iraq.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/stor...ER-3090578.php


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Saudis Say They Found American's Head

1 hour, 33 minutes ago Add World - AP to My Yahoo!


By ABDULLAH AL-SHIHRI, Associated Press Writer

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - The head of slain American hostage Paul M. Johnson Jr., who was kidnapped and decapitated by militants in Saudi Arabia last month, was found by security forces during a raid that targeted the hideout of the Saudi al-Qaida chief. Two militants were killed, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday.


The Interior Ministry said the head was discovered in a freezer in a house, although Johnson's body was not found and a further search was being conducted.


The spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Carol Kalin, said that Saudi authorities had informed the embassy of the discovery and that consular officials in Washington were in the process of notifying Johnson's family.


The Interior Ministry said the raid occurred in the King Fahd neighborhood of Riyadh. An earlier statement from an official at the ministry said authorities were holding the wife and three children of Saleh Mohammed al-Aoofi, the man believed to be al-Qaida chief in Saudi Arabia, after the raid.


Johnson, a 49-year-old engineer who had worked in Saudi Arabia for more than a decade, was kidnapped June 12 by militants in Riyadh who followed through on a threat to kill him if the kingdom did not release its al-Qaida prisoners. An al-Qaida group claiming responsibility posted an Internet message that showed grisly photographs of a beheaded body on June 17. Later, video of the beheading was posted.


Hours after the pictures of the beheading appeared on the Internet, Saudi security forces shot and killed Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, alleged mastermind of Johnson's kidnapping and killing.


Last week, U.S. authorities announced the search for Johnson's body had been called off.


Paul Johnson III, reached by telephone in Washington by The Associated Press, said he has received no official confirmation about the discovery. The younger Johnson, from Port St. John, Fla., had flown to Washington for a news conference with Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., at which they planned to press the Saudi Embassy for more information about the search for the body.


The elder Johnson was an engineer for Lockheed Martin who worked on Apache helicopters and grew up in Eagleswood Township, N.J.


The Saudi Interior Ministry said the discovery was made after a search of one of three locations following the late Tuesday raid. Weapons, including an anti-aircraft SAM-7 missile that appeared in previous militant videotapes, explosives, chemicals, video cameras and cash were among items seized.


One of the militants killed in the raid, identified by the Interior Ministry as Issa Saad Mohammed bin Oushan, is on the Saudi government's list of wanted militants. The statement declined to identify the wounded who are in custody.


Pan-Arab news station have reported that al-Aoofi, who is believed to have succeeded al-Moqrin, may be among the casualties.


A Saudi Interior Ministry official, quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency, said three members of the security forces were wounded in the gunbattle that erupted when security forces came under "heavy fire" from hand and rocket-propelled grenades while inspecting a residence suspected of being used by militants.


Another group of militants fired on policemen engaging the first group of militants in an attempt to distract members of the security forces, the Interior Ministry official said. Authorities are still pursuing those gunmen.


Two more suspects were seized after security forces searched three other locations, the ministry said.


The shootout was the most serious since Saudi forces killed al-Moqrin.


King Fahd last month offered militants amnesty if they turned themselves in before Friday. He said he wouldn't seek the death penalty for those who surrendered.





Four militants have come forward, and security forces have stepped up efforts to capture the rest.

In the past year, Saudi Arabia has been rocked by suicide bombings, gunbattles and kidnappings targeting foreign workers. The attacks have been blamed on al-Qaida and sympathizers of the anti-Western terror network headed by Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden (news - web sites). Al-Qaida wants to topple the Saudi royal family and replace it with its own Islamic government.

A monthlong amnesty offered by Saudi King Fahd to militants who turn themselves in has failed to attract hard-core militants responsible for the killings of scores of Saudis and foreigners in waves of the attacks that began in May 2003.

Since the amnesty was announced on June 23, however, four wanted men have surrendered to Saudi authorities, including Khaled bin Ouda bin Mohammed al-Harby, a confidant of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden, and 27 others have been repatriated from a number of countries. Under the amnesty, which ends Friday, the government pledged not to seek the death penalty against militants who turn themselves in.

Saudi officials have stressed that they have not let up on the hunt for militants who don't take up the offer.

___

Associated Press writer Mike Schneider in Orlando, Fla., contributed to this report.




http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...di_militants_7


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines train Iraqi Border Police for duty
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 20047176182
Story by Cpl. Macario P. Mora Jr



CAMP AL ASAD, Iraq (July 14, 2004) -- Marines with 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion's Company B have begun training new recruits to serve as Iraqi Border Policemen.

The 10-day course, the first of its kind at the Al Asad Police Academy, began July 8, with five Marine instructors teaching 15 volunteer recruits a variety basic policing skills, such as weapons handling and search and seizure methods.

"We're giving them the basic tools they need to survive out there and defend their own country," said Staff Sgt. Yaphet A. Grimes, a 31-year-old assistant chief instructor from Virginia Beach, Va. "They have little if no military experience, so we're taking them step-by-step, but already it's paid off."

The academy will continue to grow as the weeks go on, according to Capt. Carlos T. Jackson, the 31-year-old company commander and officer-in-charge of the academy from Detroit. Every 10 days, a new batch of volunteer recruits will enter Al Asad to become Border Policemen.

Training here begins at 7:30 a.m. every morning with physical training and ends at 6:30 p.m.

"We put them through a variety of classes and have them do practical application," Jackson explained. "We took the curriculum for National Guard academies and police academies and combined them with our own criteria to make the best training schedule possible."

Jackson said his Marines were prepared for the task. They recently finished training Iraqi Special Forces two weeks before the opening of the academy.

"They had much more military experience then these guys, so we weren't really instructing then," said Sgt. Jeremy P. Petersen, a 27-year-old communication technician from Gainsville, Fla. "The Iraqis here though are really willing to learn and want to be here so they're picking up quickly."

Jackson said two of the top students were also selected to be instructors for the future classes.

"We identified two Iraqis capable of learning how to instruct," Jackson said. "Our goal is to teach them well enough to eventually be able to instruct each other, so that soon they'll be using Al Asad as a place to train, but without the Marine's assistance. We would like to work ourselves out of a job."

Marines said they've taken as much from the experience as they've given to the students. The instructors had a sense of doing something greater than themselves.

"This is great," Petersen said. "When we came here, all I wanted to do was help the Iraqi people. Now that we're doing this, I know what I do will help with them securing their country. What we do now will continue to have an effect on future Iraqis."

"This is a very rewarding experience," Grimes added. "It's different from what we're used to and I think it benefits everyone, them and us."

The western borders of Iraq have been a problem area for Coalition Forces. Anti-Iraqi forces cross the borders, supplying enemy forces with men and equipment.

"I think once they have the right skills they'll be able to patrol the borders as well as we do," Jackson said. "They know the language and the people, so it will be easier for them to identify the bad guys. All they need is proper training and equipment."




1st Sgt. Octaviano Gallegos Jr., 37, Company B, 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, instructs a new Iraqi Border Police recruit on how to properly handle his weapon during a search and seizure mission July 14. Gallegos, also the chief instructor, along with four other Marines are training the first class of Border Police students at Camp Al Asad's Police Academy.
(USMC photo by Cpl. Macario P. Mora Jr.) Photo by: Cpl. Macario P. Mora Jr.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn20...2?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Fallujah council hesitates

Group suspicious of government, leader says

By PATRICK PETERSON


Editor's note: Patrick Peterson has just returned from his third reporting assigment in Iraq. He covers South Mississippi military affairs for your Sun Herald.

FALLUJAH, Iraq - The City Council is suspicious of the new government of Iraq, which took power on June 28, said the president of the Fallujah City Council last week in an exclusive interview with The Sun Herald.

"We want to watch until we are convinced they are new and good guys," Sheik Mahammed Hamed Sheihan said through an interpreter.

While the 20-member Fallujah council has no real authority, the appointed body, organized last year by the U.S. Army, has influence with citizens and insurgents. Its disapproval of the new national government could prolong the fighting and illustrates the potential problem of unifying modern Iraq, which was created by the British after World War I, and remains divided by tribal and regional loyalties.

Fallujah's leaders have traveled to Baghdad at least three times to meet with government officials, Sheihan said. However, city leaders remain resentful of the U.S. and the new Iraqi government.

They focus on a list of demands that includes a 400-bed hospital, payment of $9 million in individual damage claims and release of political prisoners from Fallujah, Sheihan said.

The defiant city has endured at least six air strikes targeted at terrorist safe houses. Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi in Baghdad said Iraqis supplied information for at least one of those air strikes. Allawi approved the most recent strike.

In mid-April, U.S. Marines backed off from a siege of the city to pursue a politically oriented strategy. They have organized a city council, an Iraqi Police force and an Iraqi military to quiet insurgent fighters in the city.

Fallujah, as most of Iraq, has no government infrastructure, such as public works or sanitation departments. The police and army have been unwilling to confront the tribal militias, which often battle U.S. forces.

Armed insurgents have been reported driving through Fallujah, packed four or five to a car. They have threatened Iraqis who cooperate with Americans.

Nevertheless, dozens of Iraqi contractors from Fallujah and surrounding areas have signed contracts with Marine and Seabee engineers. They report they can work in and around the city without trouble from insurgents.

"There is a progress toward peace, and the city is quiet," said Sheihan, who denied knowledge of insurgents and how they operate.

"I don't know their numbers, and I don't know where they are," he said.

Sheihan also denied that foreign fighters are the main force destabilizing Fallujah.

"I have not seen any foreign fighters in Fallujah," he said. "I heard that a bunch of guys from Baghdad came to help Fallujah people after the Marines surrounded Fallujah.

"We refute terrorism," Sheihan said. "Islam is peace, and these terrorists are not representatives of Islam, even if they are Muslim."

Marine negotiators say foreign fighters unquestionably inhabit Fallujah and likely are there at the invitation of citizens.

Negotiations between the council and Marine civil affairs officers have often been tense, due to several issues.

Marines authorized $3 million in individual damage claims to Fallujah citizens but stopped paying claims when they detected a large number of false applications, as citizens presented repeated claims for the same damage. Money has been set aside to cover the $9 million in disputed claims, mentioned by Sheihan.

However, the money will be spent on public works that benefit all Fallujah citizens.

A tribal sheik without a profession, Sheihan is described as an "entrepreneur" who has solicited kickbacks from builders who signed contracts with the U.S. military to work in his neighborhood.

He has recently taken a larger role on the council and has been council president for about a month, a job he could lose in January 2005, when the first local elections are scheduled.

While he has no direct authority, Sheihan's power and value lie in his willingness to let both sides speak and then to push the discussion toward a compromise.

"All in all, he's a man we can work with," said Marine Capt. Ed Sullivan, an Arabic-speaking foreign area officer with Regimental Combat Team 1.

Marine negotiators are frustrated that Fallujah officials have made no progress toward fulfilling the three U.S. requirements set forth for halting offensive action in mid-April. Fallujah officials agreed to turn over the killers of four U.S. private security guards, force insurgents to surrender heavy weapons and turn in foreign fighters.

Sheihan said that agreement was made with the Iraqi Police and the Iraqi military, not with the City Council. He, apparently, does not feel obligated to work toward these goals.

"I didn't hear about this agreement until this moment," he said.

He gave an account of the murder and mutilation of the four private security guards on March 31. He said the unpremeditated killing occurred near a labor market, where uneducated, unemployed workers had gathered.

A vehicle carrying Iraqi civilians, obviously insurgents, fired on the U.S. security contractors and drove away. Then, a mob of the unemployed workers descended on the disabled vehicle, mutilating the security contractors.

"We are feeling what happened is a mistake," he said. "This kind of activity is not acceptable to our Islamic religion."

As a result of continued danger in the city, Seabee and Marine engineers have signed rebuilding contracts in the areas around Fallujah, but little work has been contracted inside the city.

Col. John Toolan, commander of RCT 1, said he hopes that if surrounding communities receive rebuilding contracts, Fallujah's citizens will be encouraged to cooperate.

Instead, Sheihan confirmed that strategy has created some resentment, and Fallujah residents feel they have been denied a share of the $100 million in rebuilding money handed out by the U.S. military.

"They didn't finish any projects in Fallujah," Sheihan complained. "There is no money for the city."

Fallujah has power shortages, a shortage of hospital beds and its schools need repair, he said. Additionally, safe drinking water is scarce, and the city of 250,000 has no garbage pickup or wastewater treatment.

Marines, however, do not feel they can enter Fallujah without a fight. Attacks from improvised explosive devices have not relented in al-Anbar province, even though Marines and Seabees have found fewer firefights and have endured fewer mortar attacks on their camps.

Uninterested in joining the new government, the Sunni residents of Fallujah, where unemployment is high, apparently want reconstruction money, which would boost their economy. But they also want the Marines to go away, leaving the city in their control.

"If there is real rebuilding, there will not be bombing," Sheihan said. "Peace is not a fruit of force. Where is the freedom?"


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patrick Peterson can be reached at 896-2343 or at pfpeterson@sunherald.com

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/9202546.htm


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Bracing for the next atrocity in Iraq


By Nathaniel Fick
Originally published July 20, 2004
AS A MARINE officer in Afghanistan and Iraq, I learned one of the Corps' cardinal rules: Marines don't leave their own behind.
This culture of selflessness is among the U.S. military's greatest assets - but leaves it especially vulnerable to the Iraqi insurgency's tactic of kidnapping and killing Westerners.

The beheadings of captured contractors and foreign aid workers have already been beamed around the world, but this horror would have truly strategic resonance if the target were an American soldier. The insurgents have not yet capitalized on this vulnerability, but they show every sign of learning quickly.

During the first week of the war in Iraq last year, a Marine sergeant was captured in the southern town of Ash Shatra. He was reportedly dragged through the streets and strung up to die in the central square. Part of my unit entered Ash Shatra to recover his body and avenge his brutal death.

We had battled daily in a netherworld of human shields, armed children, false surrenders and suicide bombers, learning to trust only one another. Despite all this, the sergeant's death rattled my Marines and me. The execution of one of our own fueled our most paranoid fears about the people whose hearts and minds we were supposed to be winning.

The next American serviceman or woman to be captured in Iraq will likely be exploited by an increasingly media-savvy insurgency. Consider the impact if viewers, over their morning coffee, were to confront the horror of a baby-faced 18-year-old Marine, or perhaps a petite female soldier, blindfolded and pleading for life.

Abu Musab Zarqawi's terrorist network specifically seeks to capture American military personnel, particularly one of at least 14,000 women serving in Iraq.

His organization's capacity for depravity surpasses anything we have yet seen, so the psychological value of such a prize is almost limitless.

Because U.S. policy rightly forbids negotiating with terrorists, we should expect to witness the televised butchering of an American soldier. The intent of this shock tactic would be twofold: to provoke an irrational response by our troops and to demoralize the American public.

Certainly we can all envision visceral and destructive reactions to publicized executions of Americans serving in Iraq. So what should the military - and Americans generally - do in response to this new type of warfare, fought less on the ground than in the psyche?

We can all learn something from the daily responses of our men and women in uniform. Soldiers and Marines in Iraq already know the costs of war. Each day, my platoon struggled to maintain its humanity in scenes too graphic for broadcast on the nightly news.

Despite the injustice and brutality, we knew that our enemies won whenever we responded indiscriminately. The best of our small-unit leaders know they must refuse to play into the hands of their provocateurs. Emotional responses to isolated acts of barbarity are no way to make policy.

And that's the lesson for the American people. The war in Iraq will be lost if hysteria or despondency gains the upper hand.

The insurgents cannot hurt us where we are strong, so they will hit us where we are weak. We must be ready for it.

On the third morning of the invasion, my battalion commander gave his officers advice that bears repeating: "Hope is not a method, nor is luck - hard work is."

We cannot merely hope the insurgency will fail to capture another American. Nor can we rely on luck to make it so.

Instead, all Americans must steel themselves for a new kind of work, girding our own hearts and minds against this latest horror.


Nathaniel Fick, a Baltimore native, served as a Marine Corps captain and is writing a book about his combat experiences.


http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opi...,1723758.story


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Iraq intelligence probes prove Bush, Blair weren't fibbing

July 20, 2004

BY JOHN O'SULLIVAN





When President Bush and Prime Minister Blair agreed to official investigations into the intelligence failures in the runup to the war, they did so reluctantly. They had to assume that there just might be something in the files that, once exposed, would damage them. In fact, the two reports -- the Senate Intelligence Committee Report in the United States and the Butler Report in Britain -- have rescued both leaders.



What tipped observers off to the fact that the Senate report would help Bush was that Democrats on the committee began undermining their own report as soon as it was published. They had signed unanimously onto two conclusions that exculpated the president. First, that all the other intelligence services, including the French and the Russian, had believed Saddam Hussein to be building a WMD arsenal. And, second, that the Bush administration had not put pressure on the intelligence services to conclude that Saddam had WMDs. Democrats, such as Illinois's Dick Durbin, attached notes to the report, effectively retracting the latter conclusion. They advanced such ingenious arguments as the administration's public statements on Saddam constituted pressure on the CIA in themselves. Or that the administration should have pressured the CIA -- but been more skeptical of reports of Saddam's arms control violations!

These second thoughts, however, were too late. With the publication of the unanimous report, the Bush administration and the Senate Democrats were in the same boat. They had both voted for the war on intelligence that, even if it proved to be false, was the conventional wisdom of the entire intelligence world.

Following the Senate report, "Bush Lied" would have to be changed to the much less dramatic "Bush Was Sadly Misinformed (Just like Us.)" Even better news awaited Bush in the report of the senior British mandarin, Lord Butler, on the record of the British intelligence before the Iraq war. Butler's report is a typical British establishment product. It seems to exonerate everyone while making some extremely sharp criticisms under the mellifluous civil service prose.

Thus, the famous MI6 is praised for operations that revealed and destroyed the secret nuclear cooperation between Libya and Pakistan -- but damned for relying on single-source, dubious, out-of-date and thus false intelligence on Iraq.

Similarly, Blair is cleared of any deliberate exaggeration of Saddam's WMD stockpiles before the war, but implicitly criticized for treating highly uncertain intelligence data as definite and certain. (In the House of Commons Blair produced a brilliant riposte: How was it that critics thought that Washington and London were wrong to act on fragmentary and uncertain intelligence in the case of Iraq -- and wrong NOT to act on fragmentary and uncertain intelligence in relation to Sept. 11. It is a line Bush might want to memorize.)

But the main significance of the Butler report may be the degree to which it has defined exactly what the intelligence services got wrong about Saddam's WMD program. They were wrong to claim that Saddam retained substantial WMD stockpiles -- and Blair was wrong to claim that WMDs could be launched against Britain in 45 minutes. But that is the extent of their error.

According to Butler, Saddam had earlier built up WMD stockpiles. He had programs in place to reconstitute them. He was seeking uranium from other countries (including Niger so that, as Mark Steyn pointed out here on Sunday, "Bush Lied!" would have to be replaced by "Wilson Lied!"). And he would almost certainly have restored the WMD threat once the sanctions regime against him broke down or was abandoned -- as was happening in the period running up to the war.

These conclusions may be excessively modest. Saddam's restoration of his WMD threat would likely have been even faster than Butler thinks since, as we know from the U.N.'s Oil for Food scandal, the sanctions regime against Saddam was extraordinarily porous -- if porous is the right word to describe a system where the sanctions enforcers accepted a cut of the profits in return for assisting in the sanctions-busting.

And it may be the case that Saddam did possess WMD at an early stage of the crisis and that the intelligence services were not wholly wrong. Some new evidence suggests something along these lines. A report to the U.N. Security Council in June this year by the acting executive head of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission claims that before, during and after the war, Saddam shipped WMD and medium- range ballistic missiles to countries in Europe and the Middle East.

U.N. officials say they do not yet have a full accounting of exactly what weapons passed out of Iraq in this way, but that entire factories were among the items transported abroad. If that is so -- and this report may turn out to be exaggerated -- then our current conventional wisdom will have to be overturned.

In recent times, it has become commonplace to assert that the war on Iraq was launched solely in order to tackle the imminent threat of WMD that we now know did not exist. That was never true. There were always several overlapping reasons for the Iraq war:

Saddam was a threat to his neighbors, and if he possessed WMD, to the wider world. He was a tyrant who was guilty of terrible crimes against his own people. He had invaded several of his neighbors without serious penalty. And he had violated innumerable U.N. resolutions and international law, not least the Gulf War cease-fire. None of those reasons depend on WMD stockpiles.

But maybe we have to qualify the belief that Saddam's WMD stockpiles never existed as well. As a result of two official investigations and recent U.N. discoveries, we have reason to believe that if Saddam did not possess WMD at the moment of the invasion, he had possessed them only months beforehand and was in a position to do so a second (or third) time if he had succeeded in bluffing himself out of trouble.

Durbin is right: the Bush administration should employ a little more skepticism on these matters -- but not just in the one direction.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/osull...dt-osul20.html


Ellie