Monday, November 28, 2005

Ambassador Underscores Significance of Iraq's Upcoming Elections

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 28, 2005 - Iraq's upcoming national elections will have a major impact on the country, forming a new government that "will act like a magnet and draw people in," the Defense Department's representative to Europe and adviser to the U.S. mission to NATO predicted today.

The Dec. 15 elections will create a new government expected to be seated for the next four years, during which it will "stake out the future for Iraq," Ambassador Evan Galbraith said at the Heritage Foundation here.

"It's the most important political event that's taken place in the Middle East ... in some time," he said.

By bringing together the Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis in a unified government with its new constitution and the backing of U.S. military firepower, the new Iraqi government "is going to be a pretty powerful instrument," Galbraith said.

"And that's a fairly awesome thing to think about when you're plotting to engage in its overthrow," he said.

Galbraith predicted that Iraqis "will want to get on the bandwagon" and support the new government. "They will see that this thing is going to work," and recognize that supporting the insurgents is a losing proposition, he said.

While the political progress under way won't completely eliminate the insurgency, it will help persuade those on the fence to support the new government, he said.

Galbraith was quick to note that Iraq's fledgling government may encounter some "stumbles" along the way as it takes its place on the world stage.

"The challenges are myriad, but the preponderance of evidence is one for success," he said. "And this is an ... underappreciated concept: the significance of this new government ... in the Middle East."

Biography:

Ambassador Evan Galbraith [http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2001/b09072001_bt408-01.html]

_______________________________________________________
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Patrol Uncovers Weapons, Bomb Materials

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 28, 2005 - A routine patrol yielded significant results Nov. 27 when Task Force Baghdad soldiers discovered terrorists' weapons and bomb-making materials and detained four suspects in the Abu Ghraib district of western Baghdad, military officials reported.

Soldiers from B Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, were traveling through an area known for attacks with improvised explosive devices when they saw something suspicious in a chicken coop behind a farmhouse.

They discovered what first appeared to be unexploded ordnance buried in the ground but slightly exposed on the surface. Explosive experts were called in and they destroyed the cache.

The soldiers found 19 rocket-propelled grenades, 16 82 mm mortar rounds, seven rifle grenades, six anti-tank mines, five rocket launchers, three rockets, three AK-47 assault rifles with 12 magazines, two hand grenades, two sniper rifles, two 130 mm artillery rounds, a pipe bomb, one mortar tube, one RPK rifle, a 9 mm pistol, one .50-caliber machine gun, 20 primers, 20 SKS magazines, and 10 pounds of various ammunition.

In other operations, after military observers witnessed a group of terrorists with RPGs, a Task Force Baghdad unit dispatched a patrol to investigate the situation, resulting in the capture of two terrorists Nov. 27.

The terrorists were first observed in a vehicle at an abandoned school south of Baghdad.

While en route to the abandoned schoolhouse, the soldiers from Company A, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, were engaged by the enemy in two separate incidents.

The U.S. patrol hit a roadside bomb. Later, the soldiers were engaged with small-arms fire from terrorists in a truck. The soldiers returned fire, forcing the terrorists to flee the area.

When the Company A soldiers reached the school, they spotted the two terror suspects with command wires in their hands. On further inspection, the soldiers determined the wires were connected to a roadside bomb, and detained the two terrorists for further questioning.

An explosive ordnance disposal team was called to the site to assess and detonate device.

Elsewhere, a resident of the Tissa Nissan area of eastern Baghdad flagged down a patrol from the Iraqi Public Order Brigade and provided information on the location of a possible roadside bomb Nov. 27.

U.S. soldiers from 1st Battalion, 64th Armor, responded to the scene to provide more security and to keep civilian traffic at a safe distance from the bomb.

Around 9:30 a.m., a coalition forces explosive ordnance disposal team arrived at the site and removed the device to another location for destruction.

"It's great to have the Iraqi and U.S. forces working together to secure Iraq," said Army Maj. David Fivecoat, battalion operations officer.

The roadside bomb consisted of two 82 mm and one 60 mm mortar rounds with an electronic detonating device.

In other news, Iraqi army troops from the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 7th Iraqi Army Division, and coalition forces discovered and confiscated two weapons caches Nov. 27.

Troops found a cache north of Sadah, which consisted of one anti-tank mine, 28 122 mm rounds, one 120 mm round, one 100 mm round, eight propane tanks filled with explosives, seven blasting caps and other miscellaneous bomb-making materials.

Later, soldiers discovered a cache of 35 hollowed-out 155 mm rounds north of Husaybah.

In other developments, Task Force Baghdad soldiers stopped terrorists from placing IEDs on a road south of Baghdad Nov. 26.

Soldiers from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, observed two Iraqis tampering with a hole left behind from an earlier IED attack and digging holes in the surrounding area.

The terrorists were positively identified to have been emplacing IEDs in the holes and suspected of collecting explosives from two houses in the surrounding area.

As air support was called in to look closer at the situation, the men dove into a ditch to hide. Attack aviation helicopters engaged the terrorists, killing one and injuring the other.

While clearing the area, soldiers from Company A, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, came across the IED, which had a detonation cord running up the road.

An EOD team called to the site detonated the device.

(Compiled from Task Force Baghdad and Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq news releases.)

Related Site:

Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq [http://www.mnstci.iraq.centcom.mil]

_______________________________________________________
NOTE: View the original version of this web page on DefenseLINK,
the official website of the U.S. Department of Defense, at
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov2005/20051128_3465.html.

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Visit the Defense Department's Web site "America Supports You" at http://www.americasupportsyou.mil, that spotlights what Americans are doing in support of U.S. military men and women serving at home and abroad.

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Southern Command Looking to Upgrade Facilities, Rein in Costs

By Kathleen T. Rhem
American Forces Press Service

MIAMI, Nov. 28, 2005 - U.S. Southern Command has outgrown its leased complex of buildings in northern Miami, and the command's leaders are working on a solution, officials here said in a series of interviews.

When the command moved here from Panama in 1997, the organization took out a 10-year lease for the existing complex on commercial property. That lease currently costs the government $6.8 million a year, a figure expected to rise to $14.5 million a year by 2008, Army Lt. Col. James Marshall, SOUTHCOM deputy public affairs officer, said.

The state of Florida may have the solution. State officials have offered to build a headquarters complex on 40 acres of state-owned land adjacent to the current SOUTHCOM headquarters and lease it to the federal government at a dramatically lower rate than the current arrangement costs, officials said.

"The offer is 'build-to-suit,'" Marshall said. "They will build the headquarters and lease it back to us."

Commercial property values in Miami are soaring, and leasing from the state will save the government a significant amount of money.

Aside from being more cost-efficient, a new headquarters complex will improve quality of life for the organization's 1,200 assigned personnel. Throughout the headquarters, offices are crammed with people. SOUTHCOM Deputy Commander Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard Mentemeyer noted that in some cases three servicemembers share cubicles intended for one workspace. In other sections, staff officers "hot seat" in workstations, meaning two individuals share one work area by working at different times.

"Our enlisted force is pretty satisfied except for the workspace," Mentemeyer told Army Command Sgt. Maj. William J. Gainey, the new senior enlisted advisor to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, when Gainey visited the headquarters Nov. 21.

"We need a quality facility for those folks to work from," Mentemeyer said.

Gainey said he would speak to Marine Gen. Peter Pace, JCS chairman, about the issue and ensure Pace understood the command's concerns.

The concept for the new facility has been approved by the Army, which is responsible for supporting Southern Command, but must still garner Defense Department and congressional approval before plans can be drawn up. However, SOUTHCOM officials are working with state officials on possible scenarios.

One potential plan calls for the headquarters' existing nine buildings to be consolidated into three and joined by covered walkways. The new facility would have a commissary and exchange, which are lacking in the existing headquarters, a conferencing facility, a garrison headquarters, and a more effective security perimeter. Staff parking would be inside the security perimeter with a visitor lot outside the secure zone, Marshall explained.

Mentemeyer said it's important for Southern Command, with operational responsibility for all of Central and South America and the Caribbean, to remain in Miami because the city is often called the "capital of Latin America." For instance, individuals flying from one Central American country to another often have to fly through Miami. Many Latin American countries maintain consulates in the city, as well.

Army Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Balch, SOUTHCOM's senior enlisted advisor, said he believes Florida is offering to help because state leaders understand that it's good for the state to keep defense assets and that Gov. Jeb Bush puts a high priority on supporting defense facilities. Through the "Florida Defense Alliance," Bush meets with leaders of defense facilities twice a year to discuss areas of mutual concern.

"Florida appreciates that defense-related spending is directly or indirectly responsible for $44 billion, or 9.8 percent, of Florida's gross state product," officials noted on a state Web site. "The mission of the alliance is to promote base efficiencies and to further military missions in this state."

Biography:

Maj. Gen. Richard Mentemeyer, USAF [http://www.af.mil/bios/bio.asp?bioID=6447]

Related Sites:

U.S. Southern Command [http://www.southcom.mil/]

Florida Defense Alliance [http://www.floridadefense.org/index.asp]

_______________________________________________________
NOTE: View the original version of this web page on DefenseLINK,
the official website of the U.S. Department of Defense, at
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov2005/20051128_3464.html.

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Visit the Defense Department's Web site "America Supports You" at http://www.americasupportsyou.mil, that spotlights what Americans are doing in support of U.S. military men and women serving at home and abroad.

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Saddam Hussein Trial Faces Second Delay After Brief Resumption

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 28, 2005 - The trial for former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein resumed briefly today, but an Iraqi judge granted another delay to give the defense team more time to prepare, an official in Baghdad confirmed today.

Saddam and seven other former aides are charged with crimes against humanity associated with a July 8, 1982, massacre in Dujail, Iraq. Acting on Saddam's orders, Iraqi security forces allegedly massacred about 150 villagers in retaliation for a failed assassination attempt against the former ruler.

The trial initially opened Oct. 19, but the judge granted a defense motion for more time to prepare.

When the proceedings reconvened today after a five-week break, Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin granted a one-week delay, until Dec. 5. The decision followed three setbacks for the defense team: Two members were killed and another wounded since Oct. 19, officials confirmed.

Sadoon Janabi, who was representing Awad Hamad Bandar, the former chief judge of Saddam's Revolutionary Court, was killed Oct. 20 after he refused protection from the Iraqi government. Adil Muhammed al-Zabaidi, who was representing Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, was murdered Nov. 8. Another defense attorney was wounded in that incident and reportedly has fled Iraq.

Saddam's defense team now has two new members: former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark and Najib al-Nueimi, a former Qatari justice minister. News reports said the two were called in to help give international credibility to the proceedings, which State Department officials described as "a completely Iraqi-led process."

Saddam arrived several minutes late for today's session, complaining about having to walk up several flights of stairs because of a broken elevator and refusing to appear in court wearing handcuffs, news reports said. During the brief proceedings, he also complained about Iraq's "occupiers."

In addition to Bandar and Ramadan, other defendants are Barzan Ebraheem al-Hassan, Abd Allah Kadhem Ruaid, Ali Daeem Ali, Mohammed Azawi Ali and Mizher Abdulah Rawed, according to the Iraqi Special Tribunal Web site.

The Dujail incident is not the most egregious of atrocities the former dictator has been accused of, State Department officials said on background, but it does represent the most straightforward case and as a result, the first one ready to take to trial. Rather than waiting for investigations on nearly a dozen other cases to conclude, the Iraqis opted to move forward with the Dujail trial, officials said.

Meanwhile, Iraqi investigators are continuing to pursue other allegations against Saddam and his disciples. Among them are the 1988 Anfal campaign against the Kurds, including chemical attacks on the village of Halabja; the brutal crushing of a Shiite revolt in southern Iraq in 1991; and repression of the Faylee Kurds, officials said.

U.S. forces captured Saddam, who was hiding in a "spider hole" near his hometown of Tikrit, in December 2003. The Iraqi government maintains legal custody of the former dictator, although Multinational Force Iraq officials have physical custody of him at the Iraqi government's request, defense officials said.

_______________________________________________________
NOTE: View the original version of this web page on DefenseLINK,
the official website of the U.S. Department of Defense, at
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov2005/20051128_3462.html.

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Visit the Defense Department's Web site "America Supports You" at http://www.americasupportsyou.mil, that spotlights what Americans are doing in support of U.S. military men and women serving at home and abroad.

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Exhibition Focuses on Joint Operations, Disaster Preparation

By Capt. Steve Alvarez, USA
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 28, 2005 - The Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference opened its doors today to showcase technological developments in military training and provide a forum for industry professionals to share knowledge in the area of force preparation.

Presenters, attendees and exhibitors will partake in a series of discussions, seminars and demonstrations over the next three days that promote cooperation among the armed services, industry, academia and various government agencies in pursuit of improved training and education programs, identification of common training issues and development of multiservice programs. The conference, convention officials said, is the world's largest military exhibit.

Conference officials said the U.S. military is amid a revolution in how it trains its forces to face complex and dangerous environments. Technology has enabled trainers to surround the trainee with total sensory immersion, creating situations that are virtually indistinguishable from reality.

"Tricking" the trainee into thinking he or she is in the real world causes the trainee to experience all the emotions, instincts and reactions that experienced in that environment. This mental state is invaluable for training, officials said, as it is the prerequisite for learning how to cope with a given challenge, regardless of its nature.

Military services also are transforming in the application of training technology, ITSEC officials say. The challenges of the post-9/11 world require new approaches in training to meet these threats, they added.

The solution, conference personnel said, is joint training, not only across the lines of each service within the Defense Department, but also with security forces of other nations. The complexities facing today's military, officials said -- natural and man-made obstacles -- demand concerted preparation that is coordinated across organizational, institutional and cultural boundaries.

Conference's highlights include a simulation of an international crisis, presented on a 30-foot jumbo screen, involving low-intensity conflict, search and rescue, and humanitarian assistance. More than 50 agencies and organizations from Europe, Asia and North America will participate in real time, providing coordinated responses to the many challenges faced in the scenario.

A multivehicle convoy trainer, designed to teach improvised-explosive-device avoidance techniques, combined tactics and urban warfare will also be showcased. This series of vehicles will be virtually linked to air support and other assets that can be drawn into a given scenario, including environments representing actual towns and cities in Iraq.

Also to be showcased are a virtual medical emergency facility, demonstrating civilian and military mass-casualty treatment, and the Army's Future Combat System, which links advanced communications and networking systems with soldiers, platforms, weapons and sensors.

The conference started in 1966 as the Naval Training Device Center/Industry Conference and later changed to its present name to reflect continued growth and changes in the industry, especially with more participation by the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and industry organizations.

Related Site:

Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference [http://www.iitsec.org/]

_______________________________________________________
NOTE: View the original version of this web page on DefenseLINK,
the official website of the U.S. Department of Defense, at
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov2005/20051128_3463.html.

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Visit the Defense Department's Web site "America Supports You" at http://www.americasupportsyou.mil, that spotlights what Americans are doing in support of U.S. military men and women serving at home and abroad.

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Soldiers Capture 20 Terrorists; Weapons Cache Found Near Kirkuk

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 28, 2005 - Soldiers from Multinational Division Central South captured 20 men suspected of terrorism in northern Iraq's Babil province today, military officials reported.

Soldiers also seized machine guns, ammunition and other equipment.

Elsewhere, U.S. soldiers discovered more than 2,700 mortar rounds near an abandoned Iraqi army base south of Kirkuk Nov. 27.

Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division's 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, and explosive ordnance disposal experts began the task of unearthing the weapons from a mound in a field. Iraqi and U.S. forces are securing the site and preparing to excavate the rest of the field in search of more weapons.

This cache alone has yielded as much explosive material as the brigade had gathered in its area over the past two months, according to the on-site EOD team.

In the air war over Iraq, coalition aircraft flew 46 close-air-support missions Nov. 27. These missions included support to coalition troops, infrastructure protection, reconstruction activities and operations to deter and disrupt terrorist activities.

In addition, 15 U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft flew missions in support of operations in Iraq. Also, U.S. Air Force fighter aircraft performed in a nontraditional ISR role with their electro-optical and infrared sensors.

(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and U.S. Central Command Air Forces Forward news releases.)

Related Sites:

Multinational Force Iraq [http://www.mnf-iraq.com/]

U.S. Central Command Air Forces [http://www.centaf.af.mil/]

_______________________________________________________
NOTE: View the original version of this web page on DefenseLINK,
the official website of the U.S. Department of Defense, at
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov2005/20051128_3461.html.

====================================================

Visit the Defense Department's Web site "America Supports You" at http://www.americasupportsyou.mil, that spotlights what Americans are doing in support of U.S. military men and women serving at home and abroad.

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Visit the Defense Department's Web site for the latest news
and information about America's response to the war against terrorism: "Defend America" at http://www.DefendAmerica.mil.

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