Rumsfeld Dismisses Resignation Rumors

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2005 - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld isn't planning to leave his job anytime soon, he said here today.

"I have no plans to retire," Rumsfeld said on Capitol Hill after meeting with several members of Congress to discuss the situation in Iraq.

The secretary's comments came amid rumors and a news report that assert Rumsfeld would soon depart the Pentagon. "Those reports have been flying around since about four months after I assumed my post in 2001," he said.

A New York Daily News article published today speculated that Rumsfeld would leave his post early in 2006 after the new Iraqi government is formed following Iraq's Dec. 15 nationwide election.

Senior DoD officials seconded Rumsfeld's comments in brief remarks to Pentagon reporters here today. "He said he has no plans to do so," chief DoD spokesman Lawrence Di Rita told reporters.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said many of the legislators Rumsfeld met with today had recently visited Iraq.

Biography:

Donald H. Rumsfeld [http://www.defenselink.mil/bios/rumsfeld_bio.html]

_______________________________________________________
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/Dec2005/20051208_3589.html.

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Security Situation Dominates Iraq Discussions

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

BAGHDAD, Dec. 8, 2005 - The security situation in Iraq continues to dominate any discussion of the road ahead in the country, coalition military officials said on background here today.

Terrorists and foreign fighters are a far greater problem than their numbers, officials said. While the number of foreign fighters is actually quite small, they cause a huge number of casualties. Officials said the foreign fighters are primarily suicide bombers whose mission is to disrupt upcoming elections and derail the democratic process.

Embassy officials said the suicide bombers hope to sap the will of not only Iraqis, but of the American people. American resolve is the "center of gravity in the war on terrorism, and the enemy knows that," an official said.

Iraqi citizens see security as a measure of a government's legitimacy. Iraqis will view a government that cannot provide security as ineffective at best. Coalition officials expect that foreign fighters will launch attacks after the Dec. 15 elections in an attempt to detract from the political process and steal legitimacy from the government.

Foreign fighters are seeking to create a civil war. Officials said foreign fighters are launching attacks against civilians in an effort to create sectarian tension, especially between Shiite and Sunni Arabs.

Coalition efforts to combat terrorists and foreign fighters may be having an effect. Attacks in November were down 37 percent from October. Of those attacks, only 24 percent were effective. Terrorists have increased attacks aimed at civilians. Officials attribute some of this to actions along the western Euphrates River Valley -- the route many foreign fighters use to enter Iraq.

The number of suicide attacks is down sharply. While still deadly, the number and coordination of the attacks has dropped, officials said.

This is especially noticeable in the number of suicide car-bomb attacks that have been launched. Increased patrolling and better intelligence have also aided coalition and Iraqi forces. In November, more car bombs were found and cleared than were detonated by suicide drivers, officials said.

Improvised explosive devices continue to be terrorists' weapons of choice. IEDs account for 42 percent of all attacks launched in Iraq, officials said. Still, the number of IEDs found and disarmed continues to rise, as does the number of tips given coalition forces from Iraqis.

_______________________________________________________
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Officials Have Great Hopes for Iraqi Elections

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

BAGHDAD, Dec. 8, 2005 - Iraqi and coalition officials have great hopes for the success of Dec. 15 national elections, officials here said on background today.

Senior American officials said the elections are another important step in the evolution of Iraq from a country beat down by 30 years of tyranny to a functioning democracy.

The elections are another opportunity for the Iraqi people to separate themselves from the terrorists who continue to try to intimidate Iraqis. The Iraqi people understand that al Qaeda in Iraq and other terrorist groups have only an incidental interest in the country, officials said. These groups see Iraq as simply another battlefield in their war against democracy and freedom. Their ultimate goal is a whole world converted to their brand of Islam, officials said.

Officials believe the Iraqi people see through this. They also believe Sunni Arabs in Iraq will not repeat an earlier mistake and boycott the election.

In January 2005, Sunni groups urged Sunni Arabs not to vote. As a result, Shiite and Kurd populations elected the assembly that wrote the new constitution. In October the majority of Sunnis voted against the constitution, but it still had enough votes to pass.

Officials said that Sunni Arab voter registration is up and that many Sunni Arab groups have expressed support for the process.

Officials cautiously forecast a voter turnout of 50 to 60 percent in the Anbar province. This would be an enormous improvement because, even in the October election, only 4 percent of the population in Ramadi -- the capital of the province -- went to the polls. Terror groups launched a concerted campaign of intimidation in Ramadi, but coalition military officials believe that will not be the case this election.

Any new government is going to be pressed to exercise restraint, officials said. The vast majority of Sunni Arabs believe the constitution is too sectarian, and any new government is going to have to deliver concrete results quickly.

Still, various factions will jockey for position following the election and it will take some time for the Iraqis to set up and form the new government. In addition to choosing leaders, the government must appoint Cabinet ministers and begin developing the processes to rule.

This will not be easy, officials said. Following the January elections, it took about four months for the National Assembly to organize. Coalition officials said they expect the new government will take at least as long to form.

In the meantime, officials expect the elections will mean a long stride down the road to democracy. A generation from now, Iraq may be the lead nation of a stable Middle East, just as the victory in Germany ushered in peace following "hundreds of years of dysfunctionality in Europe," an official 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/Dec2005/20051208_3588.html.

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America Supports You: Scholarships Help Fallen GIs' Families

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2005 - Becky Campbell's son, David, is in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division.

After her son returned home safe after a tour of duty in Iraq in 2003, Campbell said she decided to help military families who'd suffered the loss of a loved one.

"I wanted to do something," Campbell said.

So Campbell founded the nonprofit Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund in October 2003. She said the all-volunteer, nationwide group provides scholarship money to surviving spouses and children of military families from all branches of the armed forces.

"We're a grassroots organization not affiliated with anybody in the government. (We're) just a lot of people wanting to help the families," said Campbell, a resident of Gaithersburg, Md.

Thus far, the group has helped six families of deceased servicemembers, distributing more than $26,000 in scholarship funds, Campbell said.

She said her group receives donations from public and private sources from across the United States. She said her group also co-sponsors fundraisers for servicemembers' families, such as 5-kilometer runs.

Campbell said her organization plans to provide more college grants in January, bringing the total of distributed funds to more than $36,000.

People can provide donations through the organization's Web site, www.childrenoffallensoldiersrelieffund.org, or through the mail via an address listed on the site, Campbell said. Churches, schools and businesses also donate to the cause, she said.

"We have a lot of support from the public," Campbell said, noting Americans are eager and proud to show support for U.S. servicemembers deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Our country is built of a lot of heroes that have died in past wars protecting our country or protecting other countries," Campbell said. And many Americans today have family members or relatives in the military and want to do something to help them, she pointed out.

At first Campbell just wanted to provide college money for one or two children of military families in need.

"And then," she said, "I just decided that I wasn't going to stop."

Related Sites:

Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund [http://www.childrenoffallensoldiersrelieffund.org/]

America Supports You [http://www.americasupportsyou.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/Dec2005/20051208_3586.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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Fighting Terrorists Prevents Attacks on U.S., General Says

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2005 - By combating terrorists in Iraq, the U.S. military is helping to prevent another terror attack on American soil, a senior U.S. military officer told reporters at a Baghdad news conference today.

Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch pointed to today's terrorist bombing of a passenger bus in Baghdad that killed almost 30 Iraqis as a key rationale for American forces to be in Iraq. Lynch is a spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq.

"Think about what happened today," Lynch said, noting that innocent civilians, including children, were on that bus when the suicide bomber detonated the bomb.

"We want to defeat the terrorists here in Iraq," Lynch said, "so similar events don't happen in London, in Washington, back in our hometowns."

Lynch provided an update on current Iraq military operations with a week remaining until Dec. 15 voting to select new Iraq national assembly members.

"We believe our operations continue to isolate the insurgents," Lynch said, "and we'll continue to focus these operations to defeat the terrorists and foreign fighters and to disrupt the insurgency."

Foreign terrorists, who conduct 95 percent of the suicide bomb attacks in Iraq, have been ejected from the western Euphrates River Valley, Lynch said, as the result of recent combined military operations featuring U.S., coalition and Iraqi forces.

"We found that the terrorists and foreign fighters, when attacked, tend to run away if they weren't killed or captured," Lynch said, noting some terrorists escaped over the border into Syria.

Now those displaced foreign fighters and other terrorists have shifted their operations to the center of Iraq, Lynch said. That's why, he said, anti-terrorist operations continue in the Ramadi and Fallujah areas.

In fact, six separate offensives have been conducted against insurgents in the Ramadi area over the past two weeks, Lynch said. Nearly 80 suspected terrorists were detained during those operations, Lynch said, and 28 improvised explosive devices and 20 weapons caches were discovered.

Terrorists had intimidated the people in the Ramadi area not to participate in the Oct. 15 constitutional referendum, Lynch said. Those terrorists, he said, are now in jail.

"The objective is an environment on the 15th of December so the people of Ramadi participate in the election," Lynch said, "and be part of voting for a new Iraq."

Related Site:

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

_______________________________________________________
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/Dec2005/20051208_3585.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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Joint Enlisted PME Becomes Reality

By Tech. Sgt. Sean P. Houlihan, USAF
Special to American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2005 - The enlisted force will now have the same opportunity as the officer corps to receive joint professional military education throughout their careers.

"Senior leadership across the (Defense) Department and services know the backbone of the military is the enlisted corps, and they must be properly educated in the joint environment for the nation to be successful," said Army Command Sgt. Major William Joseph Gainey, senior enlisted advisor to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a Pentagon interview Dec. 6.

"Senior leaders rely on the senior enlisted leadership to take care of enlisted servicemembers," he said. "Enlisted joint PME is a priority for all leaders that needs to be done now, because waiting isn't an option."

Gainey said joint enlisted training not only was one of his top priorities when he began serving in his new position Oct. 1, but also is directly tied to Joint Chiefs Chairman Marine Gen. Peter Pace's second-priority transformation of the force, and the priorities of the combatant commands' and the services' senior enlisted advisors.

The policy calls for the services to incorporate joint topics into their existing enlisted PME programs, and also establishes two chairman-sponsored EJPME programs for enlisted servicemembers assigned or slated to be assigned to joint billets.

"While not mandated by law, as is the case for officers, this policy is a recognition that operating in joint, interagency, multinational, and coalition warfighting organizations and staffs requires that joint learning objectives must be made available to all enlisted personnel," said Army Col. Lawrence Smith, chief, Joint Education Branch, J-7 Operational Plans and Joint Force Development, Joint Staff.

Smith said the Joint Staff, services and combatant commands have been working on this policy for more than two years to ensure the policy put into place will help the armed forces continually transform to meet the uncertain future and the unfolding challenges of the 21st century.

He explained that the goal of the policy is to expand future senior enlisted personnel's knowledge of individual, service and joint core competencies while broadening their understanding of the uncertain strategic and operational requirements.

"Senior enlisted leaders of the future must be well versed in both the art and science of joint operations," he said, noting that a "joint" context will be embedded into existing PME courses for all the services.

Smith said the working group had to look at the existing PME programs and break them into logical educational levels:

- Introductory for E-1 through E-3;
- Primary for E-4 through E-6;
- Intermediate for E-7 (E-6 for the Marine Corps);
- Senior for E-8 and E-9; and
- Executive for E-9 command senior enlisted leaders serving as SELs in general- or flag-officer-led organizations.

Then the group incorporated relevant joint topics into the respective systems to develop future leaders. The consensus was to include two educational levels that span an enlisted member's career and apply to all. A third educational level applies to senior enlisted members assigned to joint billets.

The first phase addresses progressive guidelines that should be completed by E-6. Learning areas will include national military capabilities and organization, and an armed forces overview. Knowledge will be acquired through formal schooling, job aids, promotion guides and Web-based courses.

Career EJPME for E-7s and above, or E-6s and above for the Marine Corps, will build on the basic skills and incorporate foundations of joint operations and a national security overview.

Senior EJPME will have two chairman-sponsored, assignment-oriented educational opportunities beginning with the senior enlisted leaders.

The first is a senior EJPME stand-alone Web-based course for those slated to serve or currently serving in joint organizations. This education consists of the same learning areas as the career EJPME, but provides more in-depth learning objectives applicable to severing in a joint organization and environment.

The second tier of the senior EJPME course is the Keystone course that will prepare command-level SELs for service in a flag- or general-officer joint headquarters. Keystone emphasizes national military capabilities and organization; joint doctrine; service, joint, interagency and multinational capabilities; and defense acquisition and resourcing. The first Keystone course is scheduled for February at the National Defense University, with a short stint at the U.S. Joint Forces Command Joint Warfighting Center in Suffolk, Va.

Gainey said that now that the policy is in place, it's up to the services to educate their enlisted force for joint challenges.

"With the chairman signing the policy, the challenge is up to the services to get EJPME done for our enlisted force," he said. "What we don't want to do is rush to failure. (We should) spend enough time to get it done right, because this will affect the next senior enlisted leaders for the services. We owe it to our young folks to educate and train them right, because pride is contagious."

(Air Force Tech. Sgt. Sean Houlihan is assigned to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Public Affairs Office.)

Biographies:

Gen. Peter Pace, USMC [http://www.defenselink.mil/bios/pace_bio.html]

Command Sgt. Maj. William J. Gainey, USA [http://www.jcs.mil/bios/bio_gainey.html]

Related Site:

Joint Chiefs of Staff [http://www.jcs.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/Dec2005/20051208_3584.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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New Insurgent Tactics in Afghanistan Show Weakness, General Says

By Sgt. Sara Wood, USA
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2005 - As Afghanistan's security forces grow and the country's political process moves forward, the Taliban has suffered major setbacks and has begun using more roadside and suicide bombs out of desperation, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan said here today.

"If you're on (the Taliban's) side and looking at the trends that are out there right now, the tide of history is moving against you," said Army Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, commanding general of Combined Forces Command Afghanistan. "So a shift in tactics is not necessarily a sign of strength. My belief is that a shift in tactics right now is very much a sign of weakness."

At a Pentagon news conference, the general said Afghan security forces, working with coalition forces, are now able to operate in areas they previously couldn't gain access to, such as extremely mountainous areas with a strong Taliban influence. Because they now have access to these areas, there is naturally an increase in fighting, he said, but Afghan and coalition forces, not the Taliban, have initiated more of that fighting and.

The Afghan National Army now numbers about 30,000 and is a nationally recognized institution with a nationwide presence, Eikenberry said. Although challenges lay ahead for the army, the progress should not be overlooked, especially because before Sept. 11, 2001, Afghanistan had no national security institutions and no military traditions, he said.

"One of the important effects that they're achieving on the ground is that they are a very respected institution, and their national presence gives the Afghan people tremendous hope and confidence that their nation is coming back together," he said.

Further proof that the country is coming back together is in the political progress made in the last four years, Eikenberry said. The country has gone from two decades of brutal warfare, including the Soviet occupation, civil war and the Taliban regime, to having a constitution, a democratically elected president, a representative national assembly and provincial councils, he said. Roads, wells, schools and clinics are being built around the country, and millions of children are going to school for the first time, he added.

"Clearly there's ample reason to be both proud and to be optimistic," he said.

As progress continues, U.S. and coalition forces still face some challenges, Eikenberry acknowledged.

The first challenge for U.S. and coalition forces is, working alongside the Afghan security forces, to continue the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda, he said. Second, they must continue to build the Afghan security forces, emphasizing quality over quantity, he said. Third, the U.S. must continue to work with the Afghan government and the international community to improve governance and develop the nation's infrastructure, he said.

An important aspect of rebuilding the infrastructure is stopping the production and trafficking of illegal narcotics in Afghanistan, the general noted.

As U.S. forces work with their coalition partners and the Afghan security forces to overcome these challenges, they are preparing to transfer responsibility for Regional Command South to NATO's International Security Assistance Force, Eikenberry said. NATO already is a large contributor to the fight in Afghanistan, and this transfer will mean an expansion of their forces, he said. The U.S. will continue to support the NATO force, he added.

Eikenberry said U.S. officials have no reason to believe Osama bin Laden was killed in the Oct. 8 Pakistan earthquake. It is important for the American people, the international community and the Afghan people to capture bin Laden, so the U.S. will not rest until he is found, Eikenberry said.

But he urged people to look beyond the one terrorist leader. "This is not about one man," he said. "This is about a network; it's about a movement. And we've continued to make progress over the last several years, and we've continued to make progress over this past year in Afghanistan."

Biography:

Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, USA [http://www.cfc-a.centcom.mil/BIOS/Lt%20Gen%20Eikenberry%20Biography.htm]

Related Site:

Combined Forces Command Afghanistan [http://www.cfc-a.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/Dec2005/20051208_3583.html.

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Roadside Bomb Claims Soldier; Suicide Bomber Kills 19 Civilians

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2005 - A Task Force Baghdad soldier was killed today when a convoy he was riding in struck an improvised explosive device in eastern Baghdad, military officials said.

The soldier's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Also in eastern Baghdad today, at least 19 civilians were killed and 13 others were injured when a suicide bomber detonated a vest packed with explosives on a bus loaded with about 40 passengers, officials said.

Soldiers from 2nd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, secured the site and immediately began evacuating the wounded to local hospitals, officials said.

Elsewhere, Iraqi soldiers detained two military-aged men Dec. 7 after local citizens pointed them out as being responsible for placing two hand grenades on the ground.

Soldiers with the 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st Iraqi Intervention Force, had surrounded a munitions site in central Fallujah when several citizens approached them about the men. The suspects are being detained pending further investigation by authorities.

Based on intelligence reports, a man suspected of conducting attacks on coalition forces was detained Dec. 7 by soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 7th Iraqi Army Division, near Hit, officials said.

Air Force officials reported today that coalition aircraft flew 62 close-air-support missions Dec. 7 for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Also, Air Force Predator -- an advanced concept technology demonstration aircraft -- fired a Hellfire missile, destroying an enemy improvised explosive device location near Rawah, officials said.

Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons, Navy F/A-18 Hornets and an EA-6B Prowler provided close-air support to coalition troops near Ramadi.

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

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

Related Sites:

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

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

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/Dec2005/20051208_3582.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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and information about America's response to the war against terrorism: "Defend America" at http://www.DefendAmerica.mil.

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Terrorists Won't Quit After Dec. 15 Iraq Voting, Official Says

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2005 - Al Qaeda's top leader in Iraq likely will try to stop Iraq's Dec. 15 election of a permanent government, and failing that, terrorists will continue their campaign of violence to try to unseat the new government, a senior U.S. military officer told reporters at a Baghdad news conference today.

"No one should believe that on the 15th of December, when there's a safe and secure election, the insurgents will go home," Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, a spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, said.

Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaeda affiliated forces in Iraq and remnant Saddam Hussein regime supporters will remain active, Lynch said.

Bolstered security that protected more than 6,000 polling places for the successful Oct. 15 constitutional referendum seemed to discourage terrorist attacks that day. A similar protective screen will be in place for the Dec. 15 election, Lynch said, consisting of an inner ring of Iraqi police and an outer cordon of Iraqi military.

U.S. troops, Lynch said, will stand by in a reaction mode.

"Zarqawi knows that in the area around the elections there'll be intense security in those polling sites," Lynch said. "So he could make a decision to defer any acts of violence until after the elections."

But, Zarqawi is determined to discredit the new Iraqi government and derail the democratic process, Lynch said.

"And if he can't stop it by the elections he will continue," Lynch said. "He knows -- he's a thinking enemy -- that the security situation around the elections is going to be very tight."

_______________________________________________________
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/Dec2005/20051208_3581.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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