Monday, June 13, 2005


Two F/A-22 Raptor aircraft assigned to the 1st Fighter Wing taxi down the runway at Langley Air Force Base, Va., on June 8, 2005. DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. Ben Bloker, U.S. Air Force. (Released)

Colorado Army National Guard 1st Lt. Matt Arnold deploys a simulated claymore mine during the Rockies Endurance Challenge at the Peaceful Valley Scout Ranch in Elbert, Colo., on June 4, 2005. The challenge consists of 12 tests of knowledge, strength and endurance and is designed to help prepare these men for the rigorous training that will transform them into Special Operations soldiers. Arnold and his team member 1st Lt. Tom Nypaver, both of the Colorado Army National Guard's Readiness Enhancement Company, 5th Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne), earned first place in the overall challenge. DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. Cheresa D. Theiral, U.S. Air Force. (Released)

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Hillary got off her Duff!

Amanda Swisten


Check out Amanda Swistens web site, She recently returned from Iraq, While your there tell her she needs professional help on that site. Its a mess!

U.S. soldiers from Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, Virginia Army National Guard, cross an irrigation ditch during a morning patrol in the Ajristan Valley of Ghazni Province, Afghanistan, in support of an operation, June 2, 2005. Defene Dept. photo by U.S. Army Staff Sgt Joseph P. Collins Jr.

A U.S. officer, center, assigned to Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, Virginia Army National Guard, questions a villager, left, through an interpreter during a patrol in the Ajristan District of Ghazni Province, Afghanistan, in support of an operation, June 2, 2005. Defene Dept. photo by U.S. Army Staff Sgt Joseph P. Collins Jr.

U.S. soldiers from Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, Virginia Army National Guard, speak to a villager in the Ajristan Valley of Ghazni Province, Afghanistan, during a patrol in support of an operation, June 2, 2005. Defene Dept. photo by U.S. Army Staff Sgt Joseph P. Collins Jr.

An Iraqi soldier helps secure a cordon area alongside American troops during a search operation near Taji, Iraq on May 30. Elements of 1st Battalion, 13th Armor Regiment, 1st Armored Division, worked with the Iraqi troops of the 1st Battalion, 5th Iraqi Army Division, to gather intelligence, and search for weapons and insurgents in the area. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Matthew Wester

A U.S. soldier from the 29th Infantry Division of the Virginia Army National Guard stoops to enter and search the home of a suspected Taliban member in Afghanistan, June 4, 2005. Defene Dept. photo by U.S. Army Staff Sgt Joseph P. Collins Jr.

Feyzabad, Afghanistan � A U.S. military Chinook helicopter stands ready to receive medical supplies and whooping cough vaccine donated by the World Health Organization. U.S. officials approved a request by the organization to carry three doctors and enough vaccine to treat 2,000 people to Badhakshan Province, in northern Afghanistan, where an outbreak of whooping cough had claimed the lives of between 70 and 200 children. Two doctors were from the Afghan Ministry of Public Health and one was from the Aga Khan Development Foundation. Treating the children was complicated by the fact that travel takes three days by horse or mule to get over the mountains to the affected area. The only other way in is via helicopter. However, the altitude is such that most helicopters can�t fly that high because the air is too thin to provide lift. The affected region is 15,000 feet above sea level. Going over the mountains by pack animal was out of the question simply because the vaccine becomes inert after being un-refrigerated for more than 48 hours. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Marie Schult

CAMP BLUE DIAMOND, Iraq - Marines, Sailors and Soldiers assigned to Regimental Combat Team - 8, destroyed a large weapons cache and bunker system in Karmah, north of Fallujah June 5.

FALLUJAH, Iraq � Two Iraqi soldiers search through a ruined house during �Operation Hard Knock.� The soldiers worked alongside Marines from Company B, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment to search through every house and field in a sector of Fallujah, confiscate numerous weapons and explosive materials, and detain four known insurgent supporters. Photo by: Cpl. Mike Escobar

Sunday, June 12, 2005


AL ASAD, Iraq (June 10, 2005) - Lance Cpl. Edward Martinez,(left) Marine Wing Support Squadron 271 engineer and native of Indianapolis, and Lance Cpl. Edward Hess, engineer and native of Erie, Pa., work to tie barbed wire to one of the remaining fence posts. The MWSS-271 engineers have hung three miles of fence since the project began in late April. Photo by: Cpl. Rocco DeFilippis
hi-res

Saturday, June 11, 2005


CAIRO, April 10, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) � The Pentagon is again coming under fire for smuggling soldiers wounded in Iraq back home under the cover of night to escape the public eye, a leading British newspaper reported on Sunday, April 10.
�[A cover-up] would fit in with everything else they have done. It would be part of an effort to keep the cost of this war away from the American public,� Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Operation Truth, a group set up for veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, told The Independent.
�It is not surprising, but it is depressing. It should piss people off,� he added.
Record show that flights carrying American soldiers wounded or maimed in Iraq only arrive back home from Germany at night.
The media have also been prevented from photographing wounded soldiers when they arrive at hospital, according to the British daily.
American officials argue that the night flights are only the result of flight-scheduling pressures, not an attempt to cover up war casualties.
�Night-time arrivals are beneficial to the patient as they allow for a regular night of sleep and then for doctors in Europe to make the final determination on their ability to make the long flight,� said Lyn Kurkal, a hospital spokeswoman.
It is not even clear how many Americans have been injured since the start of President Bush's so-called war on terror.
The Pentagon says that around 12,000 troops have been evacuated from the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq but the actual total of injured and wounded is believed to be closer to 25,000, according to The Independent.
Kept in Dark
Many American campaigners are accusing the administration of trying to cover up the actual casualities of the Iraq war.
�The American public has very limited information about the real impact of this war,� said Ellen Taylor, a spokeswoman for Code Pink, a peace group.
The group has been protesting outside the Walter Reed military hospital in Washington, where the bulk of the wounded are taken.
�I think that a lot of information about this war is being kept from the public. That is what we are protesting about.�
In 2003, US President George W. Bush issued a presidential order banning the media from photographing the coffins of American troops killed in Iraq as they arrive back home.
�The entire Bush administration has been trying to keep the cost of this away from the public�, said Nancy Lessin of Military Families Speak Out, a group comprising relatives of US troops.
�The whole issue of casualties and the toll has been very much hidden.�



Saturday, June 04, 2005

Second Iraqi ex-minister lined up for corruption grilling

Two Iraqi Baathists detained for 1991 Shiite massacre

Iraqi troops seize militant ‘prince of princes’

Iraqi troops refuse to attend US army training


An Iraqi interpreter for the 2-7th Civil Affairs, translates the morning mission briefing to Iraqi Army troops prior to leaving Forward Operating Base (FOB) Danger for duty outside the FOB in Tikrit, Iraq, on May 26, 2005. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Master Sgt. Kim M. Allain

An Iraqi man gestures after a car bomb exploded at the headquarters of the Tigris River police in the center of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, May 10, 2005. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Kickin Ass!

UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters flown by the 1-150th General Service Aviation Battalion, take off from Mosul, Iraq on May 14, 2005. U.S. Air Force photo by SSgt Suzanne M. Day. 050514-F-9629D-095 (Released)

Iraqi soldiers detain numerous insurgents during OPERATION SQUEEZE PLAY in Abu Grab, Iraq on May 22, 2005. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Ronald Shaw Jr. 050522-A-3240S-024 (Released)

S. Marines patrol along the Iraqi, Syrian border south of Husaybuh, Iraq on February 25, 2005. USMC photo by LCpl Christopher G. Graham. 050225-M-5882G-080 (Re

A platoon in its second week of training at the Iraqi Military Academy performs drill and ceremony, raising their arms and knees high and shouting �yes-yum,� which loosely translates to �left-right� for cadence calling. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. W. Watson Martin

Iraq Ops Yield Suspects, Weapons, Missing Artifacts

WASHINGTON, June 4, 2005 – Operations in Iraq during the past three days yielded a terrorist hideaway, terror suspects, weapons and ammunition stockpiles, and a treasure chest of Iraqi artifacts looted from the Baghdad Museum more than two years ago.
In Anbar province, members of the 2nd Marine Division, operating alongside Iraqi security forces, located about 50 weapons and ammunition caches and a terrorist hideaway within the last 72 hours, Multinational Force Iraq officials said today.

The largest of the caches was found in an insurgent hideaway in an old rock quarry north of Karmah, officials said. There, a complex of underground bunkers contained four fully furnished living spaces, a kitchen with fresh food, two shower facilities and a working air conditioner. Officials said other rooms within the complex were filled with weapons, ammunition, black uniforms, ski masks, compasses, log books, night-vision goggles and fully charged cell phones.

Tips from local residents as well as information garnered from detainees have provided valuable intelligence on the locations of weapons caches, officials said.

On the Kharkh peninsula, a joint Iraqi-U.S. raid early June 3 recovered more than 30 artifacts that had gone missing following the initial liberation of Iraq in 2003, as well as five suspected terrorists, according to Multinational Force Iraq officials.

Iraqi soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, and 6th Iraqi Army Division detained the suspects and turned the artifacts over to Iraqi authorities for safekeeping, officials said. The brigade recovered additional artifacts two days earlier.

Also in Iraq, soldiers from Task Force Baghdad unearthed a substantial weapons cache June 3 as part of Operation Lightning, focused on minimizing terrorist activity in the Iraqi capital. The operation involves 10 Iraqi Army battalions, 11 special police battalions and five U.S. brigades.

During the June 3 operation south of Baghdad, soldiers from A Company, 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, discovered the stockpile of weapons. It included 80 mortar fuses, 53 120 mm rounds, 16 60 mm rounds and a wide range of bombs, rocket-propelled grenade rounds, rockets, rifles and mortars, officials said.

An explosive ordnance disposal team detonated the unexploded munitions, officials said.

In north-central Baghdad, Iraqi police responded quickly and established order June 3 after a mid-afternoon mortar attack failed to cause significant damage when a round struck a hospital's respiratory center, officials said.

Shortly after 2 p.m., terrorists fired multiple mortar rounds at the respiratory center in the Baghdad Medical City Complex. One mortar round exploded on the respiratory center and another round exploded on the roof of a nearby house, officials said. The terrorists then sprayed the hospital with automatic rifle fire, killing one local citizen.

The incident is under investigation.

In south Baghdad, Iraqi Army soldiers detained several suspected terrorists June 2 on the first day of Operation Lightning South.

Officials said soldiers from the 1st Iraqi Intervention Force, 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, and 3rd Brigade, 3rd Iraqi Army Division, detained 12 suspected terrorists. Among those detained were a terrorist cell financier and a known informant.

The detainees are being held for further questioning, officials said.

"The Iraqi army is proving each day that their performance and ability to coordinate operations is improving," said Army Capt. Brendan Hobbs, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division battle captain. "They are able to execute their tasks and accomplish all of their assigned missions."

Also in Baghdad, Iraqi soldiers and coalition forces captured 15 terror suspects, including three targeted individuals, during a series of early-morning combat operations conducted throughout the capital June 1. The raided also yielded weapons, propaganda, plans and money, officials reported.

Iraqi soldiers conducted the largest operation, a cordon-and-search mission in west Baghdad that netted two detainees, a large amount of foreign currency, an AK-47 assault rifle and two handguns. The soldiers also found a computer with its hard drive intact and a large number of read/writeable CDs and floppy disks thought to contain terrorist propaganda and attack plans, officials said.

Iraqi soldiers also led four raids that led to the capture of two more terror suspects in the Hurriya district of central Baghdad, officials reported.

"The Iraqi Forces are clearly in the fight," said Army Lt. Col. Clifford Kent, a Task Force Baghdad spokesman. "They are fighting aggressively, capturing and killing many terrorists despite threats of retaliation. The extremists' efforts to intimidate Iraqis are failing."

In west Baghdad, Task Force Baghdad soldiers arrested an explosives expert believed to be responsible for attacks along a major highway in the area and captured eight more terror suspects, officials said.

Task Force Baghdad soldiers also seized two targeted suspects officials said are thought to be members of a south Baghdad terror cell involved with kidnapping local citizens. Officials said the suspects were taken into custody for questioning.

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




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Friday, June 03, 2005


Patrol

Night mission

Iraqi bonfire

Propaganda

map of Iraq

Iraqi weapon of choice

Special Delivery

OVER THE RAINBOW � Three U.S. Air Force A-10 "Thunderbolt II" aircraft are parked on the flightline at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, after a rain shower, May 10, 2005. The A-10s, from Pope AFB N.C., are assigned to the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Catie Hague

Banking in accordance with the Koran

The ties that bind China, Russia and Iran

The failed siege of Fallujah

Bases, bases everywhere


One thing these terrorists are good at is blowing themselves up.

Showing off the New Police truck

Our boys helping out with some Urban renewal.

Iraqi men doing the traditional Sunni stretch.

Young Iraqi men posing for the Photographer.

Some Hot Iraqi women showing off their chickens

CAMP BLUE DIAMOND, Iraq -- Marines and Sailors from Regimental Combat Team �2 and members of the Iraqi Security Forces continues operations in and around the city of Haditha May 26.
Marines from 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines and Iraqi Forces continue to spearhead Operation New Market (Souk Jadeed), successfully disrupting terrorist activity in the vicinity of Haditha. The purpose of this mission is to maintain pressure on terrorists that began with Operation Matador, conducted in Western Iraq May 7-14.
�The operation is successful to this point," said Col. Stephen Davis, commanding officer of Regimental Combat Team-2. "We were able to achieve what we believe is total surprise, and we continue to do our series of coordinated searches for insurgents and for caches of munitions and weapons."
Five men, with possible information on terrorist activity in the area, have been detained for questioning.
Approximately 120 kilometers away, in the city of Ubaydi, Multi-National Forces rescued a local Iraqi man yesterday morning during a raid on a suspected terrorist safe-house.
The construction worker, recently employed to build an animal hospital, was found blindfolded and beaten in a house. The house also contained various IED making materials and communication devices. He explained to his rescuers that while driving to pick up medication for his young child, terrorists kidnapped him from his vehicle; and while being held hostage, terrorists repeatedly beat and whipped on his exposed back, legs and arms. <34b_hires.jpg>

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Coalition forces are treating his wounds and will return him to his home once his wounds have received proper medical attention. After analyzing his wounds, doctors believe he was held for nearly three days.
Terrorist presence and activity have recently increased in the area. During the last three months, since the arrival of coalition and ISF, numerous roadside bombs have been discovered in the vicinity of Haditha and numerous indirect fire attacks have been launched against Coalition forces assigned to protect the Haditha area.

U.S. Army Maj. Andy T. Johnson, right front, Capt. Robert J. Baker, right-center, and Maj. Muhammad with the Iraqi Highway Patrol, conduct a safety briefing at Camp Bucca, Iraq, before heading out on a convoy to pick up vehicles for the Iraqi Highway Patrol, May 19, 2005. Baker, with the 503rd Military Police Battalion, Fort Bragg, N.C., and Johnson, with the 18th Military Police Brigade, both civil military operations officers with their respective units, are tasked with assisting the Iraqi Highway Patrol with supply and training concerns. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jeremy D. Crisp

NORTH ARABIAN SEA �A coalition effort involving ships from Commander Task Force (CTF) 150, under the Coalition Forces Maritime Component Command, led to the seizure of more than 4,200 pounds of hashish here in international waters May 20.

New Chevrolet pickup trucks to be distributed to the Iraqi Highway Patrol await delivery to various Iraqi Highway Patrol stations throughout Iraq, at Umm Qasr, Iraq, May 19, 2005. Through training and logistical support from the 18th Military Police Brigade, Mannheim, Germany, and the 503rd Military Police Battalion, Fort Bragg, N.C., the Iraqi Highway Patrol is gradually assuming more responsibility from the military police. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jeremy D. Crisp