Bounties Offered On Americans In Iraq

[thedrifter]

Grim, Angry Rites as Falluja Buries Its Dead

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - The urban battlefield of Falluja is disgorging its dead. Slowly.


Another truckload of bodies reached the outskirts of the city for burial Friday in a ceremony marked by anger at U.S. troops, who say they killed 1,200 Iraqi and foreign fighters.


With Marines scouring the largely deserted city house by house and occasionally clashing with remnants of the insurgent force, travel in or out is limited but the Americans have allowed local voluntary organizations to retrieve some bodies.


Two dozen arrived on a truck at the dusty outlying village of Saqlawiya Friday, greeted by a crowd of about 150 men who removed the corpses from military body bags to try to identify them and to bury them in shrouds, according to Muslim custom.


Amid the flies and stench of the blackened and bloated bodies, apparently dead for many days, identification was next to impossible but most appeared to be of men of fighting age and at least one wore an ammunition vest.


U.S. commanders say they do not believe civilians were killed during the offensive begun 11 days ago.


Some pits had been dug in expectation alongside several other freshly covered graves bearing simple headstones on a barren stretch of waste ground among electricity pylons.


As onlookers stood in line to hear the traditional prayers for the dead, the preacher also called for revenge on Americans and their Iraqi allies, who believe the assault on Falluja has "broken the back" of the Sunni Muslim insurgency.


"We ask you God to be merciful," the preacher chanted.


"Shake the earth beneath the feet of the Americans, shake the earth beneath the feet of the Crusaders, shake the earth beneath the feet of the hypocrites that help them.


"God grant victory to Iraq (news - web sites)."


Falluja, most of whose population of 300,000 fled before the assault, has been a bastion of revolt against the U.S.-backed Iraqi interim government. Some in the city, just west of Baghdad, fear that planned elections will lead to them being dominated by the long-oppressed Shi'ite Muslim majority.




Ellie

[thedrifter]

November 18, 2004

Combat medic outlines battlefield needs to military surgeons

By Deborah Funk
Times staff writer


An Army medic with a helicopter ambulance company said units like his need new radios like the ones issued to special operations troops, which can be used hands-free and would provide better communication with ground crews.
Sgt. Tomas Chavez described a night in Iraq last year where his helicopter couldn’t reach the ground crew as it was answering a call to pick up a wounded soldier northwest of Mosul, Iraq. But they saw the grid and the marked landing zone and did what they normally do: land.

Chavez had barely jumped off the Black Hawk UH-60 helicopter when it quickly took off again. He saw tracers overhead and saw the troops on the ground waving him to cover.

Speaking at an Army panel discussion on battlefield trauma care at the annual Association of Military Surgeons of the United States being held in Denver this week, Chavez said the radios now used by medevac helicopter crews in his unit have only one channel and allow communication only while in the air.

Chavez said he has no audio communication with the aircraft when he is on the ground and instead resorts to hand signals if he needs something.

“All that takes time and time is what we don’t have,” he said.

The radios Chavez said all 12 medics in the 54th Medical Air Ambulance Company need can plug into their helmets, has multiple channels and can be operated hands-free via a throat microphone.

Chavez also recommended longer training for flight medics and filling those positions with warrant officer jobs so the medics stay in their jobs longer and injured troops benefit from the medics’ experience. Now, the flight medics have to move on to other duties when they reach the E-6 paygrade, he said.

Chavez also said helicopter ambulance crews need small, portable extraction equipment to retrieve soldiers trapped in armored military and civilian vehicles.

The Army flight medics have relied on the Air Force’s “jaws of life” device, but need something of their own, Chavez said.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

U.S., Iraq Plan Major Falluja Rebuilding Program

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Iraq (news - web sites)'s interim government plan to begin a $100 million reconstruction effort within two weeks in Falluja, heavily damaged in an all-out assault against insurgents, officials said on Friday.


The offensive, launched on Nov. 8 and led by U.S. Marines, left numerous buildings destroyed or damaged, and basic services in shambles in the city west of Baghdad that had been a key stronghold for the insurgency.


With Marines still performing building-to-building sweeps for insurgents, Bill Taylor, a State Department official in charge of coordinating reconstruction aid, said the current security situation did not allow for an immediate start for rebuilding efforts.


"Within a week or two -- again, depending on when the city is cleared of people opposing what we're trying to do -- we ought to be able to get the first of these small projects going," he told reporters at the Pentagon (news - web sites) in a teleconference.


The Falluja offensive was part of a drive to improve security in Iraq and deprive insurgents of safe havens ahead of crucial parliamentary elections set for January.


Taylor said U.S. personnel have begun assessing the condition of electricity distribution lines, sewer lines and water treatment facilities in Falluja ahead of the beginning of projects to restore essential services to a city of 300,000, most of whom fled before the offensive began.


Congress last year approved $18.4 billion for Iraqi reconstruction. Charles Hess, a Pentagon official responsible for most U.S.-funded reconstruction deals in Iraq, said less than $1.8 billion has been spent to date. U.S. contractors have blamed a combination of a dangerous security environment amid a bloody guerrilla war and persistent U.S. bureaucratic delays.


'A HARD TIME'


Taylor said that since early October security has become a greater obstacle to rebuilding efforts in the capital Baghdad, the central Iraq Sunni cities of Falluja, Ramadi and Samarra, and the northern city Mosul.


"We are moving through the areas, the cities where the insurgents have given us a hard time and have kept us from doing reconstruction," Taylor said.


"And, indeed, we're worried that in some areas -- again, not all -- in some areas it would now be difficult to have elections, and it's that kind of work that we need to do between now and January so that we can have elections in the entire country," Taylor added.


U.S. officials said the $100 million in Falluja reconstruction money will be split about evenly between the United States and the interim Iraqi government.


About $8 million has been budgeted for water supply improvements, and $4 million to build four new schools, Taylor said. The United States also will buy new solid-waste equipment and garbage trucks for Falluja, he said.


Hess said security and sabotage remain major problems.


"Again, one of our mechanisms to deal with that, frankly, is to start as many projects as we can, given the fact that we know the insurgents can't be everywhere," Hess said.


Hess said 873 reconstruction projects have been started in Iraq, and the goal is for 1,000 by the end of December.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

6 NATO Allies Refuse to Help U.S. in Iraq

By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON - At least six NATO (news - web sites) allies are refusing to send military instructors to help the United States train Iraqi officers, another impediment in the Bush administration's drive for support for its effort to pacify Iraq (news - web sites).


The six nations — Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg and Greece — had refused to contribute troops to the U.S.-led coalition that overthrew President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and to the postwar campaign against insurgents.


The administration was hoping to forge a consensus on postwar peacemaking. The project to train Iraqi officers will not involve combat duties and is part of a broader security program.


A State Department official close to the dispute said Friday that all 26 NATO allies voted on Wednesday at alliance headquarters in Brussels for the training program and agreed to help fund it. However, at least six held out from playing any active role and refused to send officers to NATO staging areas in Norfolk, Va., and Mons, Belgium.


Still, the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, stressed that all NATO allies, including the holdouts, approved the plan by consensus and were committed to paying a share of the costs.


Meanwhile, the State Department's deputy spokesman, Adam Ereli, said of the holdouts: "It's a decision of the individual countries that does not undermine the importance or value of the overall mission."


Hungary, which is withdrawing its troops from Iraq, will contribute a company to help protect the training officers, the official said. Fifteen other NATO countries will contribute trainers, protect troops, or both.


The United States will bear a large share of the costs and contribute a sizable percentage of the 400 officers and a protective force of about 1,200, the official said. An advance contingent of 60 to 65 officers will go to Baghdad in the four to six weeks to begin the training program.


While NATO long has played a postwar peacekeeping role in Afghanistan (news - web sites), disapproval lingers over the Bush administration's decision to go to war in Iraq.


The decision to use NATO nations to train Iraqi officers is the first collective action on Iraq by the alliance, the official said. By contrast, the official said, NATO might increase its forces in Afghanistan.

Ellie

[d c taveapont]

Tough call for me to make......but WE have to let our Marines do the job that was started over WMDs that were never found....They should have done this when the war started in the first damn place.......and WHY didn't they(armed forces) take all of the weapons when the iraqi forces surrendered......mistake after mistake had been made by the arm chair quarterbacks.....generals were asked to resign by those who thought that we would be welcomed....these damn people don't want a free democracy sh/t that will never happen anytime soon.....there will be and always be terrorist......the enemy is just the same as in RVN hard core and devoted to their cause....so when does it end for our troops 5, 10, 15 years from now.....just look at how many lives have been screwed up by this war and how many lives have been changed forever.....it just ****es me off.......

[thedrifter]

Supporting Deployed Troops Has Never Been Easier
By Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2004 – One often-repeated question from forward-deployed troops today is some form of: "Does America support what we're doing over here?"

Judging by the number of Web sites devoted to that support, the answer is a resounding, "Yes!"

But as times have changed, so have the ways to support the troops. Just because the old way – no more "Any Servicemember" mail - doesn't work anymore, that doesn't mean that troops can't receive mail and care packages from patriotic souls. It simply means finding an organization to help you get that morale- boosting mail to the troops.

Dozens of independent organizations are ready and willing to help those who want to support the troops. They generally fall into two basic categories. The first is the organizations that collect cash or goods to create care packages to be sent to troops who wish to receive them.

One such organization is Freedom Calls Foundation, which uses state-of-the-art communications technology to keep servicemembers connected with their families. Because of Freedom Calls' efforts, servicemembers have "been there" for milestone events such as weddings (sometimes their own), births and graduations.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars offers a program called "Operation Uplink" that connects servicemembers with family and friends. The program, begun in 1996, provides pre-paid phone cards to active-duty servicemembers and hospitalized veterans.

Again, Operation Uplink accepts cash donations that are used to purchase the pre-paid phone cards. Donations can be made online, via phone or through the mail.

Another supporter of deployed U.S. troops, the United Service Organizations, has a program called "Operation USO Care Package." The program lets well- wishers sponsor a care package for a monetary donation. USO makes the donation part easy too. All it takes is a mouse click, a phone call or a stamp to mail a check.

The second-type organization pairs supporters with servicemembers who have given permission to release their contact information to an individual. Most of the sites offering servicemember "adoptions" require a minimum commitment of one piece of mail a month.

AdoptaPlatoon, not only provides the means to "adopt" an individual servicemember, but an entire platoon. The requirements for each adoption are a little different. Supporters can also ask to be matched with a servicemember as a pen pal.

Operation Military Pride is another group that focuses on care packages. However, to obtain mailing information for a servicemember, supporters are required to sign up through the site. Like many organizations, Operation Military Pride has several different campaigns in the works to support deployed troops.

There also are a smaller number of Web sites dedicated to allowing a supporter to send an electronic greeting to servicemembers and some that have compiled a list of links to various support Websites.

Care packages are always nice, but letters are just as good. And sites like Operation Dear Abby and Letters From Home make that very easy to do. Operation Dear Abby provides the means to send an electronic greeting to a servicemember and Letters From Home works with the old-fashioned variety.

If the legitimacy of a site is a concern, check out the list on the Defend America Web site. While the Department of Defense does not endorse organizations, a DoD official said that the groups listed on Defend America are checked routinely to make sure they are doing what they say they are.

It's also important to remember that some Web sites are easier to use than others. So don't get discouraged, the links are there. It may just take a little looking to find them.

These are just a small sampling of organizations that offer Americans the means to remember and appreciate our troops. There are many, many groups offering many, many ways to show deployed troops that yes, America Supports You!

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Contractor Connects Marines, Families With Secure Web Site
By Sgt. 1st Class Doug Sample, USA
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2004 -- As a Defense Department contractor, Computer Systems Center Inc. has a connection with the military. But now that connection hits home, for Marines and their families.

The Springfield, Va., based information technology company launched a new interactive Web site Nov. 18 that will link Marines at the Jungle Warfare Training Center, located in the dense forests of Okinawa, Japan, to their families and friends back home, and with CSCI employees who have "adopted" the Marines at the center.

Borrowing from the Marines' Latin credo Semper Fidelis, which means "Always Faithful," the new site is called SemperComm, and it allows the Marines to talk to family and friends, send e-mail, stream video and share pictures over a secure private network.

Company officials said the network is the first of several it hopes to create for remote bases like the JWTC.

"The Marines are really attached to us, right now," said Linda LaRoche, the company's chief executive officer. "I think they really feel the sense of family that CSCI really provides. Family is our business, as far as I'm concerned."

She said company employees, many of whom are retired military people, have contributed to the military in the past, but this year "we wanted to bring it a little closer to home."

Last year, the company donated tickets for servicemembers returning from the war to attend hockey games here, but this year, she said, employees "stretched their capabilities to reach out even more."

"They deemed this a very exciting project, because it's something different," she said. "And from a personal perspective, just knowing that we can do something is important."

LaRoche said it took CSCI software engineers and Web developers more than six months to develop the interactive site for the center.

Marine Sgt. Tim Ferguson, the communications chief for the center, said the new Web site will provide a "tremendous boost" to the morale of Marines in Okinawa.

"The morale has just shot through the roof at JWTC. It's been unbelievable," he said. "(Morale can be) one of the big problems out there because we are so isolated. There is no (post exchange) or commissary there; we have a PX that comes up three times a week for three hours a day. Our barber comes up every Wednesday. There's no Burger King or Taco Bell," he said. "So this contribution by CSCI is enormous."

Meanwhile, LaRoche said any company contribution to servicemembers and their families is important, especially during times of war.

"It's very important at this time," she explained. "I think that some of them are sitting out there and not realizing all the support that they have back here. And that's very important."

Earlier this year, CSCI joined the United Service Organizations as a world partner, and donated money, movie projectors, laptop computers and televisions to the center. The company also wants raise funds to help the USO provide a mobile canteen that will provide refreshments, books and games for the center.

Edward A. Powell, USO president, thanked CSCI for joining his organization and said the USO has but one goal: "To convey the message of appreciation, love and thank you to the men and women of this country that serve our armed forces."

"And it makes me really excited to come to an event like this today and see a group of people who so clearly 'get it.' It's affirming, it's exciting and from our hearts to yours and from your heart to theirs, 'Thank you.'"

During the Nov. 18 event, CSCI employees tested SemperComm by talking to Marines at JWTC.

LaRoche appeared pleased to see the result of her company's work. One of her goals for the project was to make sure that Marines there could talk to their families during the holiday season. A week before Thanksgiving, they did just that.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov2...004111904.html

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines blame stress for kill
Reuters
18nov04

US marines have rallied around a comrade under investigation for killing a wounded Iraqi during the Fallujah offensive.

They say the soldier was probably under combat stress in unpredictable circumstances.
Marines said the shooting was not a scandal, but the act of a comrade under intense pressure during the effort to quell the insurgency in the city.

"I can see why he would do it. He was probably running around being shot at for days on end in Fallujah. There should be an investigation but they should look into the circumstances," Lance-Corporal Christopher Hanson said.

"I would have shot the insurgent, too. Two shots to the head," said Sergeant Nicholas Graham, 24, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.









"You can't trust these people. He should not be investigated. He did nothing wrong."

Military command launched an investigation after video footage showed a US marine shooting a wounded and unarmed man in a mosque in the city on Saturday.

The man was one of five wounded left in the mosque after marines fought their way through.

A pool report by NBC correspondent Kevin Sites said the mosque had been used by insurgents to attack US forces, who stormed it, killing 10 militants and wounding the five.

The wounded had been left for others to pick up, Sites said.

A marine can be heard saying on the pool footage, "He's f---ing faking he's dead."

The marine then raises his rifle and fires into the man's head. A second marine said immediately after the shooting, "Well, he's dead now."

Marines have repeatedly described the rebels they fought against in Fallujah as ruthless fighters who did not play by the rules. They say the investigation is politically motivated.

"It's all political. This marine has been under attack for days. It has nothing to do with what he did," Corporal Keith Hoy, 23, said.

A human rights group said the killing could be a war crime and US forces needed to be better trained in the laws of war.

"If it is what it appears to be, then obviously it would be a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions. It would probably be a war crime," said Joe Stork, Washington director of the Middle East division of Human Rights Watch.

Amnesty International said on Monday both sides in the Fallujah fighting had broken the rules of war governing the protection of civilians and wounded combatants.


http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/com...55E663,00.html


Ellie