Thursday, October 12, 2006

Enemy Fighters 'Punching Back, Hard' After Iraqi Government Crackdown

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2006 - A recent spike in Baghdad violence is the insurgents' response to Iraqi, U.S. and coalition efforts to rein in sectarian murder squads and gangs that operate in some sectors of the city, a senior U.S. military officer said today.

For example, in Baghdad's violence-prone Dora neighborhood, "there's no question that the anti-Iraqi force elements are punching back, hard," Army Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, told reporters at a Baghdad news conference.

Through stepped up bombings, murders and kidnappings, insurgent leaders seek to sow fear and instability among Baghdad's citizens as part of their efforts to discredit the new Iraqi government, Caldwell said.

The insurgents want to disrupt Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's stabilization plan and demonstrate that security cannot be maintained in Baghdad or elsewhere in Iraq, Caldwell said. The insurgents, he said, will go to any length, no matter how horrific, to prove their point.

Since July, when Operation Together Forward began, U.S., Iraqi and coalition forces have moved into several Baghdad areas that were formerly the domain of anti-Iraqi groups, Caldwell explained.

There've been increased attacks in and around Baghdad because the insurgents "are trying to get back into the focused areas," Caldwell said. Total attacks in the Baghdad area have increased about 15 percent since August, he said.

Caldwell said officials predicted an up tick in violence in Baghdad and some other parts of Iraq during the Ramadan period, running this year from late September until mid-October. The general said the violence was likely to continue in the near term.

However, "operations have been effective in the neighborhoods we've cleared and continued to protect, where attacks have decreased by approximately 11 percent," Caldwell said.

Maliki and his government are determined to fight back against insurgent violence as United States' and coalition forces' -- numbering about 25,000 in the Baghdad area -- continue to provide assistance, Caldwell said.

As Baghdad neighborhoods and other areas in Iraq are secured, Iraqi forces will move in to keep the peace, followed by targeted, Iraqi-recommended reconstruction projects designed to revive local economies, he explained.

"The multinational force and the U.S. mission in Iraq supports the efforts of Prime Minister Maliki's government to diligently work to stabilize the security situation, increase prosperity and unite this fractured population," Caldwell said.

Iraqi government efforts to promote the cessation of violence between tribal factions in western Iraq appear to be working, Caldwell said. Several tribal groups in western Iraq have decided to cooperate to fight al Qaeda and other insurgents "because they're finding they don't want them out there in their area anymore," Caldwell said.

"We're very optimistic that this political track that the prime minister's working will, in fact, bear some fruit and show some results here over time," he said.

[Web Version: http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=1571]

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Army Experts: Unconventional Conflicts to Dominate Future Operations

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2006 - Irregular, unconventional conflicts like those under way in Iraq and Afghanistan are likely to dominate U.S. military operations for the foreseeable future, Army officials agreed this week at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual convention here.

"I don't see conventional challenges to be dominant for a long time," said Conrad Crane, director of the U.S. Army Military History, during a panel discussion on irregular warfare and counterinsurgency operations.

"Our enemies are going to make us fight this kind of war until we get it right," Crane said. "This is our future."

The Army is rewriting its doctrine and incorporating lessons learned in the terror war into its operations so it's better postured to confront this new threat, Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff, during an Oct. 10 luncheon address.

He pointed to the new counterinsurgency manual, Field Manual 3-24, developed jointly with the Marine Corps, as a big step toward preparing the force for the challenges associated with irregular warfare.

In addition, transformational changes taking place within the Army -- in terms of equipment, training, technological advances and new approaches-are also helping ensure its ability to address unconventional threats.

But fighting irregular conflicts and helping new democracies get on their feet isn't something the military can do alone, said Kalev Sepp, assistant professor of defense analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School, in Monterey, Calif.

"This is revolutionary" -- building democracies and helping them establish capitalist economies and open and public police forces and judicial systems, Sepp pointed out. "The mission is too broad to put on the shoulders of the military alone," he said. "It has to be interagency."

"We will not prevail with the force of arms alone," Schoomaker agreed.

Schoomaker warned about the stakes of the current conflict and expressed concern that the American people have lost the focus they demonstrated immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

"This is perhaps the most dangerous period in our lifetime," he said. "We are in the midst of a long war and the stakes could not be higher."

Schoomaker noted that al Qaeda and other terror organizations hate all that America stands for and show no signs of wavering in their commitment to spread their hateful ideology. The Sept. 11 terror attacks "were not the war's first salvos," he said, but rather, the continuation of a long string of attacks against the United States and its interests.

Yet five years into the terror war, Schoomaker warned that American response to this threat -- one against which he acknowledged, "victory is not assured" -- has been largely "tepid."

That's a concern, he said, because the conflict is far from over. "We are much closer to the beginning than the end of this long conflict," he said, emphasizing the need for public support and financial backing to ensure the mission succeeds.

"Ultimately, victory requires a national strategic consensus, evident in both words and actions," he said. "While such a common strategic foundation, understood and accepted by the American people, existed during the Cold War, ... it is not yet evident that such common understanding exists today."

Schoomaker said it shouldn't take another attack like the United States experienced on Sept. 11, 2001, "to shake us into action."

[Web Version: http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=1570]

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NORTHCOM Officials Reacted Immediately to NYC Aircraft Incident

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2006 - When Navy Adm. Timothy J. Keating first heard that a plane had hit a high-rise building in New York yesterday, his first thought was: "Let us get busy as quickly as we know how to make sure it's not another 9-11," the admiral said in a news conference later that day.

Keating, the commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, immediately scrambled fighters and support aircraft to protect U.S. and Canadian cities. He said combat-loaded aircraft were over New York and Washington within 10 minutes of the small plane hitting the building in New York.

A small aircraft owned and piloted by Yankee pitcher Cory Lidle took off from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and was flying around the island of Manhattan. Keating said the pilot probably got disoriented and crashed into a 50-story high-rise on New York's East Side.

Keating, who was in his office at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., at the time, received notification and immediately launched jets from a number of bases around the United States and Canada. He said that within 20 minutes of the plane hitting the building all the aircraft were on station. "These are armed aircraft capable of conducting offensive operations," Keating said. "We're much more alert, much more ready and much more capable of providing air patrols over the United States and Canada" than in the past.

As NORAD commander, Keating has the authority to launch fighters from alert status. He then notifies the chain of command in the United States and Canada. He said the aircraft patrolled over cities on the east and west coasts, but did not announce more specific details for security reasons. In addition to fighter aircraft, NORAD launched Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft and tankers.

Shortly after the combat air patrol launched, Keating said, he received notification via the Federal Aviation Administration on where the airplane came from and its type. The operation ended after about five hours, he said.

Keating said he was pleased by the way the interagency process worked and the ease of communications among the various organizations. He said the bottom line for NORAD is: "We're ready. In a real world event, the system responded quickly and appropriately."

[Web Version: http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=1568]

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