Iraqs Inconvenient Truth :: Iraq War News Updates

Tuesday, 29 April 2008 By Staff Sgt. Tony M. Lindback
3rd BCT, 101st Abn. Div. (AASLT) PAO

PATROL BASE YATES — As part of their commitment to keeping insurgents away, members of the Sons of Iraq built a checkpoint on a narrow stretch of road through Fuhail Mujeer Village, 25 kilometers southwest of Baghdad, April 25.

As recently as December, Rakkasan Soldiers of 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), established a presence in the area, which was previously an insurgent safe haven.

Now Soldiers from 2nd Platoon, Company C, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, assigned to their battalion’s Company D, are living at the newly built Patrol Base Yates and working with the SoI to maintain security in the area.

The first of eight SoI checkpoints was constructed in mid-March approximately 400 meters north of the site where a Rakkasan Soldier was wounded by an improvised explosive device. Working their way toward the patrol base, checkpoints have been placed in strategic locations along the road to deter insurgent activity.

Increasing the SoI’s ability to maintain the security on the road benefits both the Soldiers and the village, said 1st Lt. Michael Nolan, from San Antonio, platoon leader for 2nd Platoon.

With the SoI working to maintain security, there is less need for Coalition Soldiers to patrol the area, keeping the Soldiers safer and the road less congested for traffic. It also brings peace of mind to the Soldiers when they do patrol the village.

“When we first went out there, there weren’t any SoI checkpoints,” Nolan said.  “It was a little nerve-wracking … Now that we have SoI checkpoints nearly 500 meters apart, with clear lines of sight between them, we know it will hinder insurgents’ abilities to plant (IEDs).”

With the SoI improving their hold on security in the village, Nolan is able to increase his platoon’s reach and presence in the area while reducing the enemy’s capabilities.

“Having a presence in (the area) and having SoI checkpoints on the road through the Fuhail Mujeer Village shows we’re taking the area back from the insurgents, pushing them further and further out and giving them no safe havens,” he said.

Tuesday, 29 April 2008 By 1st Lt. Zack Boes
3-7th Inf. Regt., 4th BCT, 3rd Inf. Div. PAO

FORWARD OPERATING BASE ISKAN — Residents of the Hay Jasmen neighborhood in Musayyib, Iraq, will soon walk on improved roads instead of dirt and jagged rocks.

The roads are nearly complete; workers are in the finishing stages of constructing gutters on the sides of the streets.

In addition to the road refinishings, a waste management project is almost complete. Areas that previously appeared carpeted by trash are now nearly spotless.

As a result of these improvements, the neighborhood’s mood has changed from despair to encouragement and guarded optimism, said Lt. Col. Timothy Newsome, from Homerville, Ga., commander of 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division.

Not only has the area been greatly enhanced by new roads and clean up, but approximately 300 people have been employed because of these projects, said Newsome.

The neighborhood leader, or Mukhtar, is so pleased with the outcome that he plans to change the area’s name to “Beautiful Spring,” he said.

Tuesday, 29 April 2008 By Sgt. David Turner
2nd BCT, 3rd Inf. Div. PAO

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — Two Iraqi poultry farmers received 3,000 chicks each April 27 in a bid to jump-start their industry in Hawr Rajab, a rural community south of Baghdad.

The farmers, Mohammed Hussein and Amman Kameers, accepted the chicks from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division and the Baghdad-7 embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team.

“It’s meant as a start-up packet,” said Mike Stevens, the ePRT agriculture adviser. “It’s just to cut back on their input costs so they can make a profit and become self-sustaining.”

Poultry farming in Hawr Rajab, once a thriving industry, suffered at the hands of insurgents. Stevens said insurgents came to the area and stole chickens and destroyed chicken coops as a way to threaten the farmers.

“We had a lot of losses,” said Sheikh Majid Wiese, chairman of the local farmers union. “Since we started working with the (Sons of Iraq) and Coalition forces, we’ve gotten rid of those insurgents. Now we’re gearing toward agriculture.”

Distributing chicks to farmers is just one part of the program, said Stevens. In the coming months, the 2nd BCT and the ePRT will distribute feed and more than 12,000 egg-laying chicks to Hawr Rajab farmers. They are also working to secure funds to complete refurbishment of the al-Ra’ad Poultry processing plant in Hawr Rajab, which could provide much-needed jobs to the region.

Increased capacity in poultry farming is intended to have a trickle-down effect in the local economy, Stevens said. Hatcheries in Baghdad will be able to sell more chicks to farmers, who in turn can supply more poultry products to local markets.

“Providing these chicks will help to increase our capacity about 25 percent,” said Rarad Abd Jalel Rashed, a poultry representative of the farmers union. “If we can get up to 50 percent, we will be able to be on our own and not need any assistance from anybody else.”

Score one for the Muslim Brotherhood By CLARE M. LOPEZ (Middle East Times) Published: April 28, 2008 http://www.metimes.com/Politics/2008/04/28/score_one_for_the_muslim_brotherhood/9562/ SPECIAL REPORT: The Bush administration has decided that calling the enemy by his name is too risky, too politically incorrect, or oddly, somehow too laudatory. And so, henceforth federal agencies of the United States government are to refrain from identifying the Islamic jihad with words that in any way convey genuine understanding about the links between terrorism and religion in the war that has been launched against Western liberal democratic civilization. The U.S. government seems to think that declaring such links don’t exist will make it so. Score one for the Muslim Brotherhood. As Walid Phares describes in his post-9/11 three-book series on the meaning, structure, and progress of the current jihad, words can be enormously influential in the war of ideas. So, when the White House announces that government employees both at home and abroad must employ euphemisms such as “violent extremists” or “South Asian youths” instead of “Muslim jihadis” because the latter somehow confers legitimacy on the enemy, the entire Islamic world understands that the U.S. leadership has been infiltrated and influenced to a state of almost unbelievable confusion about this war. This serves to encourage the enemies of the United States and dismay its friends and would-be friends within the Muslim world. It also leads the American public to a dangerous misunderstanding of theological motivations that drive jihadis to hate and seek to destroy Western civilization. That the U.S. administration could even suppose that its choice of vocabulary might influence the jihadi enemy betrays a woeful lack of understanding about what actually motivates him. Concern about offending non-jihadi Muslims must not deter the country from conducting a realistic assessment of the Islamic roots of jihadi terrorism. Non-jihadi Muslims are the target and victims of jihadis to a far greater extent than kufar (non-believers in Islam). They welcome the West’s outreach and need the empowerment it could offer, but are weakened when political correctness replaces focus on defining and defeating the enemy that would dominate both societies. What motivates the international Islamic jihad movement is a literal textual interpretation of doctrinal Islam as laid out in the Koran, hadith, and Sunna plus centuries of Islamic scholarship and consensus on the concept of just war. Within this construct, it is true that words such as jihad, mujahedin, and Caliphate carry intensely positive and honorable connotations – for the Muslim jihadis – but hardly for the rest of us, their intended targets for subjugation within the totalitarian system that Sharia would impose. In any case, use or non-use by infidels of the very terms by which jihadis identify themselves, to the extent that it might even be noticed, cannot possibly confer any additional measure of legitimacy on what has been for the mujahedin a centuries-old campaign of duty to spread their faith. What Americans need to understand is that Islamic jihadis, whether part of a formal terrorist organization such as al-Qaida or the Muslim Brotherhood, or merely ideologically driven by the actions and proclamations of such groups, are internally motivated by what they believe is a divine mandate to fight and kill until the entire world comes under the sway of Dar al-Islam (where Sharia law prevails). The only relevance for this enemy that the choice of descriptive words may have is in the area of psychological operations. If the jihadi enemy can achieve such a state of muddled confusion among the top administrative, legislative, and military leadership of its primary enemy (the United States of America) that we no longer even permit ourselves to utter the name of those sworn to our destruction, then truly they are winning the “War of Ideas.” From a series of excellent recent media pieces, as well as extensive documentation entered into evidence in last year’s Holy Land Foundation terror financing trial, we now know the extent of Muslim Brotherhood activity throughout our society. Muslim Brotherhood organizations such as the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), all three listed by the Department of Justice as unindicted co-conspirators, have achieved unprecedented access to the Department of Defense and even the White House. But aware now of the enemy’s stealth and cunning in seeking to influence U.S. national security policy, the nation is obligated to reject his agenda — an agenda that prioritizes concealment until it is too late of the true nature of their campaign of conquest, whether by Dawa (persuasion, including by way of deception) or terrorist attack. Many millions of Muslims, the overwhelming majority of whom have no desire to associate with or support in any way the agenda of Islamic jihadis, are looking for American leadership. They need the commitment of the nation’s enormous national resources to this long war because it is their war for existence, too. Millions of Muslims, both U.S. citizens and others, look to American courage of conviction and the will to defend our common belief in universal human dignity to encourage their own desire to speak out, stand up, and seize back the everyday practice of the Islamic faith from those who now control it — and them. Muslims who are humanists, who abhor the violence jihadis derive from Islamic doctrine, need an ally who will encourage them to set aside that doctrine but still remain faithful to a spirit of Islam that is tolerant, not bent on world conquest. When the world sees American resolve quail in the face of a resurgent, aggressive Islamism, because it refuses to admit it is attacked by an enemy who defines his assault in religious terms and quotes the revealed scripture of his faith to justify his murderous rage, the world loses not just respect but hope. Issuance of a misguided primer on U.S. government usage of those terms does nothing to confront or defeat that rage. Instead, it leaves federal employees and U.S. citizens alike only more confused about who and what they are fighting. Distracting American attention from the enemy’s real identity, persuading the people that it is only some inchoate “extremists” with no connection to the doctrine of Islam who attacked the United States on 9/11, in Nairobi, and Dar Es Salaam, and Aden, and Dhahran must be recognized for what it is: a denial and deception tactic designed to deny the nation the ability to grasp clearly the reality of this menace. The way to win this confrontation with jihadism has less to do with word-smithing than with a candid assessment of the enemy’s capabilities, ideology, motivations, intentions, and scope of operations. To be effective at this, national leadership must first assess the extent of Muslim Brotherhood penetration of the government and society, root it out, and then move forward with a vocabulary that is appropriate to defeating the jihadi enemy. – Clare Lopez is vice president of the Intelligence Summit, a professor at the Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies (CI Centre) in Alexandria, VA, USA, and a private consultant on issues related to the Middle East.

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American Congress for Truth

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Every day, American Congress for Truth (ACT) a 501c3 non-profit organization is on the front lines fighting for you in meeting with politicians, decision makers, speaking on college campuses and planning events to educate and inform the public about the threat of Islamofascism. To maintain and bolster our efforts, we need your continued solidarity, activism and financial support. We are only as strong as our supporters. We thank you for helping us carry on this important work.

Sunday, 27 April 2008

KIRKUK — One hundred twenty-two detainees were released in the Kirkuk province of northeastern Iraq, April 21.The detainees were released as part of national reconciliation efforts. This is the largest single detainee release to date in the region.

“This is a victory for the national and provincial judges across multiple provinces who are working together to find solutions in an effort to help bring an end to the fighting and establishing peace and stability to the region,” said Col. David Paschal, 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division commander.

More than 400 family members attended the ceremony at the Kirkuk Police Academy. Many local and provincial leaders also attended the ceremony. Iraq’s Rule of Law Judges Nauman and Farouk, who were responsible for initiating, reviewing and determining the release of the detainees, also attended.

Kirkuk provincial director of police, Gen. Thaker, urged the detainees to take this opportunity to better themselves, rejoin society and to ask God and their families for forgiveness.

“There are no second chances,” Provincial Gov. Abdulrahman Mustafa Feta-eh said.

The 122 men were reminded their freedom was due to the efforts of the Iraqi security forces, the Coalition forces and the government of Iraq working together.

“The fighting must stop. Reconciliation begins now,” Col. David Paschal said.

The ceremony concluded with tearful reunions between family members, many embracing, singing and dancing.

(Story by Staff Sgt. Margaret C. Nelson, 115th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)

Sunday, 27 April 2008 2nd Brigade Combat Team
3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs Office

FOB KALSU — Construction on numerous community buildings in Sayafiyah is nearing completion. A health clinic, middle school, elementary school and community center will be completed by the end of April.

The Sayafiyah Health Clinic will be fully-furnished, funded and controlled by the Mahmudiyah Qada.

A local contractor is also finishing the work on the Sayafiyah Community Center. The center has been completely renovated with the addition of two administrative rooms and four new restrooms.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sponsored the renovation of the al-Inbaath elementary school. They expanded the school by six additional classrooms and two laboratories.

The Musab Bin Omir middle school had new floor tiles installed, classrooms repaired and a new playground constructed.

The improved security developments in Sayifyah’s key infrastructure have made projects like this more prevalent.

“Because of the [al-Qaida in Iraq] threat, the area was neglected,” said 1st Lt. Jonathan Gerson, assistant operations officer for 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). “Now that AQI is gone the local government is beginning to communicate with Sayafiyah.”

Gerson said the schools and clinic will be supported by the government of Iraq while the community center will give the people of Sayafiyah a place to voice concerns to the local government.

Sunday, 27 April 2008 By Pvt. Christopher McKenna
101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)

FOB MAHMUDIYAH — In an effort to deal a blow to al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) west of Mahmudiyah, the 2nd battalion, 25th brigade, 6th Iraqi Army (IA) Division established permanent battle positions in the Sa’id Abdullah Corridor (SAC), April 24.

“Until only a few short weeks ago, this road was an area where American and Iraqi Soldiers only went expecting a fight,” said Capt. Dennis Call, from Albuquerque, N.M., leader of 4th Platoon, Battery A, 3rd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). “In the past, we did a number of air assault raids, dismount patrols – always on the edge, knowing the history of the area.”

No one knows better than Spc. Roy Corpier, a team chief with 4th Plt., Btry. A, 3-320 FA. Corpier, a native of Sedalia, Mo., stepped on a pressure-plate improvised explosive device in November, losing hearing in his right ear.

“Any time we went into the SAC we could expect to get into something,” Corpier said. “The operation over the past couple weeks has silenced AQI in the area.”

After the IA completed clearing operations April 15 in support of Operation Marne Piledriver, they made preparations to control and secure the area on a permanent basis. The Soldiers established battle positions to guard lines of commerce and serve as an operations base for missions into the surrounding area.

“I wouldn’t have expected to be setting up out here,” said 2nd Lt. Mohammed Shakur, 2/25/6 IA Div. “I find it amazing how much safer this area has become, and only in a few weeks time.”

After months of intensive kinetic operations into the SAC, the completion of battle positions throughout the heart of what used to be an AQI area of support is significant, but not the final step.

“This is only the start,” Call said. “For this to actually work, patrols need to constantly move out from the battle position and engage the populace on a regular basis.”

The following weeks will see an influx of IA support to the populace as the area takes advantage of the newfound security and begins to rebuild.

U.S. Representative Sue Myrick, co-founder of the House anti-terrorism caucus, has done America a great service with her call for a 10 point plan to tackle the threat of Islamic terrorism here in America.

Thursday, 24 April 2008 By Maj. Sean Wilson
1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division Public Affairs Office

Governor Mustafa, the provincial governor, Maj. Gen. Jamal Tahir, the provincial director of police, Brig. Gen. Khatab, the emergency services commander, and Lt. Col. Kevin Brown, deputy commander, 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, toured the Irbil traffic control point just north of Kirkuk with the Iraqi police to greet residents as they entered the first city in Iraq to be under the full operational control of the Iraqi police. Photo by Staff Sgt. Samuel Bendet.

KIRKUK — Kirkuk reached a significant milestone as it transitioned the last of its traffic control points from Iraqi army control to the Iraqi police last week, at a check point just north of the city.Governor Abdul Rahman Mustafa, the provincial governor, Maj. Gen. Jamal Thaker Bakr, the provincial director of police, Brig. Gen. Omar Aref Waly Khatab, the emergency services unit commander, and Lt. Col. Kevin Brown, deputy commander, 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, toured the TCP with the Iraqi police to greet residents as they entered the first city in Iraq to be under the full operational control of the Iraqi police.

“Today’s handover demonstrates that Kirkuk is operating under the Rule of Law, not martial law and that is what we are marking here today,” said Brown.

The ceremony was held at the Irbil traffic control point just north of Kirkuk and was the last one to complete a four-week transition with the 15th Iraqi Army Brigade. The Iraqi police have maintained the day to day security responsibilities of the city for almost two years. This day marks the complete transition. Governor Mustafa praised the hard work of the Iraqi army and Iraqi police. He gave a special thanks to the coalition forces for helping to set the conditions that made this day possible. Maj. Gen. Jamal and Brig. Gen. Khatab, whose police officers now man the check-points, highlighted that their officers are ready and capable of their new responsibilities and that the Iraqi army now has the additional forces to focus on the insurgents outside the city.

“Today is a matter of duty – the duty of the Iraqi police to protect and serve their people and this day marks their assumption of that duty. It is a humble ceremony, but it should be cause for celebration for all of the people of Kirkuk that they have taken control of their future - a future that they do not fear - and that their police are fully capable of providing them safety and security.” said Brown.

The eye-opening commentary below illustrates why a government focus on terrorism to the exclusion of “Cultural Jihad” is foolish and dangerous. It illustrates why the purveyors of political correctness, who go to great lengths to tolerate Islamic intolerance, are helping to plant the seeds of our own destruction. Lastly, it illustrates why it is so important that concerned, informed citizens in democratic societies like ours rise up in a unified, organized voice within the civic and political process – before we lose the right to express that voice.

Published: April 24, 2008 The Muslim Brotherhood and Voting

Douglas Farahhttp://www.familysecuritymatters.org/terrorism.php?id=1387347
If one wants to get a more realistic picture of how the Muslim Brotherhood and its international legacy organizations view voting and the democratic process than the usual platitudes of their public discourse, it is well worth reading the Guide to Voting in Islam, posted by the Muslim Association of Britain.

Thursday, 24 April 2008 By Staff Sgt. Brent Williams
1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division

Staff Sgt. Koke Pomele, an infantry squad leader attached to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division - Baghdad, answers questions of a resident Son of Iraq (Abna al-Iraq) during cordon and search operations around the Saha apartments in the southeastern Rashid District of Baghdad. Photo by Staff Sgt. Brent Williams.

FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON — Knocking on doors; greeting the family; talking about politics, the neighbors or just the weather over a hot cup of overly sweet chai – a pleasant side of operations for Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers who have operated in the southeastern Rashid District for the past eight months.For Soldiers of “Fox,” Company F, 2nd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, attached to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, MND-B, interpersonal relations, consensus information and the pictures they create are the biggest contributors to the safety and security of the citizens living in the Saha and Abu T’shir communities of southern Baghdad.

“We want to build a relationship to give the people a normal life – to bring the resources into the community,” said Lt. Col. Scott Reineke, commander, 2nd “Cougars” Sqdn., 2nd Stryker Cav. Regt., MND-B.

“This is about building relations in Abu T’shir and Saha,” said Reineke to his commanders and staff officers during the unit’s final rehearsal for a three-phase operation that began, April 16, in support of 1st BCT’s Operation Raider Typhoon.

Stationed at Vilseck, Germany, and deployed as part of the “surge” force sent to reinforce security in support of MND-B and Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Stryker infantry unit, will handover their areas of responsibility to the troops of 7th Sqdn., 10th Cav. Regt., 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div., in May.

In the meantime, the Soldiers of Co. F, occupying a combat outpost in northeast Rashid, want to take a few more bad guys off the streets before they leave Baghdad.

“We are conducting point operations to improve security for the people of Iraq,” said Capt. Kevin Ryan, commander, Co. F, 2nd Sqdn., 2nd Stryker Cav. Regt. “Once security improves, we can focus on improving the quality of life for the people of Abu T’shir and southeastern Rashid.”

The ongoing clearing operations are part of 1st “Raider” BCT’s first effort since assuming its mission, April 13, to deny terrorists and criminal elements a safe haven in the area that is home to approximately 1.2 million citizens in Baghdad.

The three-phased operation is reminiscent of the same work that the squadron has undertaken since the unit assumed responsibility for the area in August, said Ryan, a native of Quincy, Mass., and a graduate of the Citadel Military Academy, S.C.

Soldiers conducted pinpoint raids, April 16-17, acting on military intelligence and information from Sons of Iraq (Abna al-Iraq), to capture some of MND-B’s most wanted terrorists and criminals, said Ryan, who is on his third deployment to Iraq.

The units then transitioned into the second phase of their operations, conducting ongoing atmospherics in the neighborhoods, working with the SoI, the sheiks, and members of the local community, to gather data with the intent to build better relations with the predominately Shia and mixed Sunni-Shia communities, he explained.

“People who are sitting on the fence, and don’t know which way to go, will go our way just because we talked with them,” Ryan explained. “If we do this right, we will build relationships with the people which will empower them to be able to keep these bad guys from coming back into their neighborhoods.”

Conducting census operations, checkpoint inspections, joint patrols, combined operations and traffic control points with Iraqi security forces is nothing out of the ordinary for the Stryker Soldiers, said Sgt. 1st Class Roberto Huie, a platoon sergeant assigned to Co. F, 2nd Sqdn., 2nd Stryker Cav. Regt.

“Us walking through the neighborhoods – that is an everyday thing,” he explained.

Early morning operations hunting down 1st BCT’s most wanted criminals is just an added bonus for the ‘Fox’ Soldiers, said Huie, a 19-year veteran, who hails from Brooklyn, N.Y., and is the company’s acting first sergeant while his senior non-commissioned officer is on environmental leave.

“Our preferred method is to knock, and 90 percent of the people are more than willing to let us in,” stated Huie. “Conversely, if we find a house that looks suspicious to us, or a family that looks suspicious to us, and they don’t want to let us in their house, sometimes we have to cut their locks.

“We may not see the results in the next three weeks, but I think this (operation) is going to generate a lot of tips and a lot more leads … and eventually we will get them,” added Huie. “Whether the people like it or not, we are coming through their whole neighborhood to get these criminals off the streets.”

The company’s mission has varied greatly during their time as a “surge unit” operating in southern Baghdad since August of 2007, said Huie.

The Fox Soldiers have worked throughout Saha and Abu T’shir in southeastern Rashid to assist with essential services, force protection for Iraqi contractors to fix sewage or electricity issues in the Iraqi mulhallas (neighborhoods), as well as providing over watch for ISF and SOI manning checkpoints, providing security for the local communities, he said.

Staff Sgt. Scott Campbell, squad leader, Co. F, 2nd Sqdn., 2nd Stryker Cav. Regt., said that he hopes to see more changes for the better as the unit prepares to leave Baghdad for the unit’s future mission in Baquaba.

“There’s a better peace now, than there was before the ‘surge,’” said Campbell, a native of Orlando.

Campbell a veteran of 11 years, said that in three deployments in support of OIF, from 2003 to today, he has seen many changes, especially in the security situation around southern Baghdad.

“I think that when we go around and meet the locals and get to know them better on a personal basis, they become more at ease with us,” he explained. “The more we get to talk with them the better they trust us; the more they like us.”

Campbell said that in addition to improving security, units must continue to work to improve the infrastructure to better meet the needs of the Iraqi people.

“They need to improve faster,” he said. “Iraqis need to start pushing a lot more effort into rebuilding their infrastructure; power, water, medical treatment, jobs, ways to create jobs. Stuff that could be making them money is not making them money right now, and I believe that we need to pursue those endeavors more.”

The Cougars will begin their third phase of the operations in May, as they begin to transition the Abu T’shir and Saha neighborhoods to 7th Sqdn., 10th Cav. Regt., 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div., MND-B.

One of the principal reasons why today’s threat of Islamofascism is so explosive is due to the unprecedented power of global communication. Never before in history have militant Muslims bent on jihad had the ability to recruit, radicalize, and train on the scale they can today. 

As the story below notes, a very popular jihadist website in France got over 3 million visitors from France alone. The jihadists understand that the internet is their door to the entire world and they are actively using it.

And so are we. The internet is a neutral tool, a means of communication that can be used for good or for evil. Brigitte Gabriel built the foundation of this organization from her home, sending emails to hundreds and eventually to thousands of people. That would not have been possible 20 years ago.

As you saw yesterday, we can reach out to tens of thousands of you instantaneously to tell you how you can get a copy of Brigitte Gabriel’s DVD, “Militant Islam’s Threat to America.” (If you missed that one please check yesterday’s email).

Every time you forward our emails, or sign a petition, or direct people to our website, you are helping us use this powerful tool to combat the evil of Islamofascism. We cannot afford to let our enemies use the internet more effectively than we do.

That’s one reason why we are currently working on plans for both the ACT! for America and American Congress for Truth websites that will improve security, reliability, efficiency and information delivery. We will be implementing numerous changes over the next few months to serve you better!

A few months ago Bernard Squarcini the head of the DST (Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire), the French equivalent of the FBI, told the French daily Libération regarding Islamic radicalization: “An ideological transformation can be done in three months on the Web. An individual can at night auto-radicalize himself via the Web and get in touch with leaders of terrorist organizations.” This assessment shows how dire the situation is in Europe when it comes to al-Qaida’s use of the Web.

Al-Qaida uses the web for four different tasks: propaganda; communication, mostly to instruct those in the field; training future combatants, a kind of online university of terrorism; and to send messages to the enemy, mostly to the West.

For instance, one of the most popular jihadist sites in France is one which translates books on the jihad in French and gives lessons on urban guerilla tactics. (This site got more than 3 million visits from France alone). Another Web site explains how to get weapons in the West (hide, assemble and breakdown) and how to manufacture bombs from products found in supermarkets.

The propaganda primarily targets youngsters. Some of them join the virtual jihad or “webtifada”, i.e. cyber criminality.

In March 2006, the DGSE (Direction Générale de la Sécurité Exterieure), the French equivalent of the CIA, tracked down a forum where jihadists recruited hackers to destroy “infidels’” Web sites and government sites. The jihadists recommended: “If you can’t slash their throats, then at least destroy their sites.” And on May 15, 2006 the Metz, France police arrested a young man who, under the alias Yanis, had attacked 1,161 sites including 710 linked to the Muhammad cartoons controversy.

Fortunately in Europe, even though the number is growing only a minority is actually joining the virtual jihad. According to Louis Caprioli, ex-boss of the anti-terror unit of the DST, the number of French volunteers in Iraq is in the tens. Confirming this, expert Walter Akmouche states that statistically, to get one jihadi, you must contact an average 45,000 people.

Which vehicle do the jihadis use on the Web? According to the DST, the chat room Paltalk is regularly used to hide operations. They also use Instant Messaging services such as Messenger or Skype and “dead e-mail boxes” which allow them, with the username and password, to retrieve unsent messages. But they also exchange information and coded files on forums devoted to soccer, music or any topic totally unrelated to Islam.

It is important to note that to access true terrorist sites; one has to be an insider and needs to know the real number-coded URL address, which often changes.

Also after years of research, al-Qaida has developed software called “Secrets of Mujahedin,” that allows secure exchange in Arabic on electronic networks. It has allegedly been in use for over a year on clandestine forums close to al-Qaida, especially for jihadist groups in Iraq and al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb. This has been a formidable weapon for al-Qaida and numerous intelligence services and private companies have been trying to break it.

How is Europe facing this threat? First by closely monitoring jihadist Web sites. For instance, last year, Holland devoted 10 million euros (about $15 million) to fighting extremism. Thus, more than 150 Internet sites broadcasting extremist ideology were the subject of complaints and were restricted.

In France, about 30 potentially dangerous sites are monitored by some units of the UCLAT (Unité de Coordination de la Lutte antiterroriste), the French counterterrorism coordination unit. Software allows them to trace back the origin of a server or the IP address of a user and if they act fast, they can trace the network and use it against the Islamists using it. For instance, the recent monitoring of a forum allowed the unit to trace a couple of Salafist groups in the suburbs of Paris that were recruiting jihadis and organizing their trip.

One of the main problems facing European authorities is that simply shutting down Web sites is not very efficient since these sites just end up operating under new names.

European countries are also using the legal tool to fight al-Qaida’s use of the Web in Europe. In a first, a Swiss court last summer sentenced several individuals including the widow of the killer of Ahmad Shah Massoud, Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance’s leader killed by al-Qaida on September 9, 2001, and her boyfriend, for having created and operated four Web sites and chat rooms for extremist propaganda and exchange of information by terrorist groups.

European authorities are taking this issue very seriously. On Feb. 1, France’s interior minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie told the French daily Le Figaro that the use of the Web by terrorists was “one of my major concerns, and one of the priorities assigned to the [security] services. This requires additional material, forces specialized in fighting cyber-criminality, legal resources. I want us to be able to stop the terrorist propaganda, find the operational networks, track them down and prevent them from acting.”

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Olivier Guitta, an adjunct fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and a foreign affairs and counterterrorism consultant, is the founder of the newsletter The Croissant (www.thecroissant.com).

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Monday, 21 April 2008 By Sgt. 1st Class Kevin Doheny
1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)

BAYJI — After several months of combat operations in the northern Iraqi city of Bayji, tribal leaders and local officials have shifted their focus.

Full-scale U.S. and Iraqi-led operations have cleansed the area of numerous “high-value individuals,” crippling terrorist organization’s capacity to operate here.

The result of these combined operations has led to positive economic and infrastructure changes for one of Iraq’s biggest oil hubs.

Located in the Salah ad Din Province, the city of Bayji is 130 miles north of Baghdad and is home to the country’s largest oil refinery. It processes a vast amount of the country’s petroleum products that sustain the energy needs for millions of Iraqis.

Bayji also houses one of the largest power plants in Iraq. This power plant generates a large portion of power to Iraq’s electrical grid.

The Bayji Train Station, which connects Baghdad to Bayji, is considered by many to be a, “state-of-the-art facility.”

Protecting key infrastructure such as these, and the people working inside them, has proven to be difficult for both U.S. and Iraqi forces.

Since 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division assumed responsibility of the Bayji area in October 2007, much of the focus has been directed toward protecting infrastructure in the city and providing the people a sense of security.

The “Bulldog” Soldiers, along with Iraqi army and police, have fought to take back the embattled city from enemy extremist.

According to the leaders in and around the city, a defining moment for the Bulldog Battalion occurred during a recent meeting in Bayji between appointed city officials. For the first time since they arrived in Iraq, the focal point of a large gathering of senior officials wasn’t the security of the population, but rather meeting their basic needs.

“The focus has shifted,” said Lt. Col. Peter Wilhelm, commander of U.S. forces in Bayji. “Our efforts with Iraqi security forces have delivered a newfound sense of security for the people here. It is now time to build on that foundation.”

Discussing issues concerning basic needs of the people, the meeting was a forum for each of the city-department director generals to enlighten the province’s top elected official, Gov. Hamad Hamood Shekti and Bayji’s mayor, Mayor Husseein Ahmed Majhub, on the city’s potential and ongoing infrastructural issues.

Many topics were discussed during hours of deliberation, to include problems with water, sewage, electricity, agriculture, health, education and communication.

“We all need to work together as brothers,” said Shekti, in an effort to promote full cooperation between departments. “Don’t just be tribal.”

There are 14 different tribes in and around the city of Bayji. Wilhelm said tribal disputes have been a primary cause for procrastination on certain infrastructural issues.

“It is crucial to the people in this city, and its surrounding communities that appointed officials put aside tribal affiliation,” said Wilhelm. “A meeting like this can only encompass positive impacts, if all parties involved put aside personal issues for the good of the people.”

After the meeting, the group toured the water treatment plant and Market Street in Bayji. This tour allowed the governor the opportunity to view the sewage problems that are indicative throughout the city.

“The sewage in this area is substandard,” said Wilhelm. “The DGs, along with our civil affairs teams and commanders, are working with city officials to fix sewage problems within Bayji.”

As the tide begins to turn in the city, Iraqi leaders are realizing that the ball is in their court.

“It is up to them,” said Wilhelm. “I attend these meetings to show support for them for coming together to solve problems. I am not involved in much of the decision process. I think this meeting confirms the data we have assembled in regards to the security situation here. We are making progress.”

Monday, 21 April 2008 By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON — Increased security brought about by military success against insurgents in the western portion of Iraq’s Anbar province is enabling a drawdown of U.S. forces there as well as enhanced regional reconstruction efforts, a senior Marine commander told Pentagon reporters last week.

“The insurgents, by and large, have been marginalized in western Anbar,” Marine Corps Col. Pat Malay, commander of Regimental Combat Team 5, told Pentagon reporters during a satellite-carried news conference from Camp Ripper, Iraq. Malay’s area of operations comprises about 30,000 square miles, an area about the size of South Carolina.

During a previous Iraq tour in Fallujah two years ago, Malay recalled, multitudes of foreign fighters were entering western Iraq from Syria. Today, there are very few foreign fighters in his area of operations, he observed.

“Quite frankly, I think we’ve killed a lot of them, and I think that the enemy is having a more difficult time recruiting to the numbers that they have in the past,” Malay said. In addition, foreign fighters no longer are transiting across the Syrian border into Anbar province, the colonel said.

With insurgents “on the run” in western Anbar province, the resultant reduced violence has enabled a drawdown of U.S. forces in his sector, Malay said. Three of his command’s five battalions have rotated home over the past three months, he noted.

Meanwhile, the numbers of Iraqi security forces in western Anbar continue to grow, Malay said, noting his area of operations now has 5,000 police, 1,000 highway patrolmen and 7,000 Iraqi soldiers.

Iraqi soldiers and police are increasingly taking the lead in security operations, Malay said. Recent Iraqi-led operations have achieved successes against insurgents in Hit, Haditha and Qaim, he pointed out.

The drop in violence also has enabled a larger focus on reconstruction programs such as building needed schools and providing water and electricity needs for the local populace, the colonel added.

Citing recent humanitarian assistance efforts in Anbar province, Malay pointed to the story of Amenah, a 2-year-old Iraqi girl from Haditha who was flown to the United States in February for surgery on her ailing heart. Surgeons at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., were able to correct Amenah’s congenital heart defect, Malay said. Today, Amenah is a healthy little girl, he noted, while the Haditha hospital is now receiving much-needed upgrades so it can attend to other sick children.

The American public should be very proud of U.S. servicemembers’ efforts in Anbar province, Malay said.

“They’re the next great generation, and they are winning here,” Malay said of the Marines, sailors, airmen and soldiers serving in Anbar. “It’s mind-boggling; the changes that have taken place here.”

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Sunday, 20 April 2008 By Staff Sgt. Margaret C. Nelson
115th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

HAWIJAH — A young man beginning a business to support his new family is not necessarily headline news. However, for Kusai, 24, his dream would be realized in the heart of what was once considered an extremists’ stronghold only six months prior - Hawijah, Iraq.

Hawijah, located approximately 60 miles south of Kirkuk City in the Kirkuk province, historically held center stage to the region’s worst violence against civilians, Iraq security forces, and coalition forces by extremists. The residents here faced anywhere from 10 to 15 attacks per day, according to military records. Soldiers report that day-time patrols were targeted with small arms fire throughout the city and routinely upon exiting the confines of Forward Operating Base McHenry where Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division are located.

Since the establishment of Sahwah - meaning “reconciliation” or “awakening” to locals, overall violence in this predominantly Sunni-Arab populated region of northeastern Iraq, has experienced nearly an 80 percent drop in violent activity, according to Lt. Col. Christopher Vanek, commander, 1-87 Regiment.

While isolated incidents do occur, “the crucial element to the ongoing successes here are the concerned citizens of Hawijah who are effectively identifying those responsible … expeditiously,” Vanek said. The citizens that Vanek refers to are the Sons of Iraq that number over 7,000 in Hawijah alone.

“Sahwah has made it possible for me to open my shop and provide for my family. There is business. People feel safer. You see the security,” Kusai, said, pointing to the five SoIs that have stopped by to investigate and converse with the Soldiers of Bravo Company, 1-87 Regiment.

“These men are very good. They are always stopping by to see if everything is okay,” he said.

Kusai is not the only merchant who has benefited from the outcome of Sahwah. An ice cream parlor across the street that resembles a scaled-down version of a fountain shop in the U.S., is stocked with soft drinks, cookies, cakes, and an ice cream machine.

Masmoud Wasif, 17, welcomes the Soldiers as they enter to purchase some canned drinks, handing them out to the children that have gathered there. The shop is owned by Wasif’s parents who have operated the store for around three years. “Business is much better since Sahwah,” he said. “People are not afraid to come to the market place and shop.”

He credits the Sons of Iraq for the increased security.

“I am very happy they are here,” he said and inquires if they could stay until midnight so that he can earn more money.

In addition to providing over watch on the city’s security, SoI’s are seen clearing debris and sweeping the streets during this visit. A day later on a return trip from another mission, Vanek remarks that he has never seen the streets of Hawijah so clean.

“This is incredible,” he said upon receiving the news that the SoIs were responsible. “Incredible.”

Sunday, 20 April 2008

BAGHDAD — Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers observed the policemen from the 7th brigade, 2nd national police division, in action first-hand during a free medical clinic April 9-11 for the citizens of the Doura community in the Rashid District of northern Baghdad.The national police battalion, charged with providing security for the residents of the mulhallas located in southern Baghdad, took time in a gesture of community service to provide free medical screening and treatment for the citizens of Doura from their joint security station, which is the headquarters of the 7th NP brigade.

During the three-day event, the Iraqi medical staff, working from the medical facilities located at the Joint Security Station Doura, treated more than 100 patients and further extended their gesture of kindness by offering free gifts to the patients as they waited.

Each patient was personally escorted to a nurse for evaluation before being seen by the resident NP brigade’s physicians.

The doctors treated the local Iraqi residents – men, women and children alike – for a variety of medical ailments and the base’s physician provided the appropriate medication.

The 7th national police brigade plans to host free medical clinics at JSS Doura each month as part of a recurring program to assist the government of Iraq, as well as district and national advisory councils in Baghdad, to meet the needs of its people.

Soldiers of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, currently operate at the combat outposts and JSS sites in southern Baghdad to maintain relations with the local Iraqi security forces and provide additional guidance as necessary.

(1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division)

Saturday, 19 April 2008

FORT SAM HOUSTON TEXAS — A robot, normally used by doctors to perform work remotely, recently allowed a Soldier in Baghdad to virtually interact with his newborn son in Texas for the first time.An RP-7 Remote Presence Robotic System, a wireless, mobile, remote-presence robot that allows a doctor to be in two places at once, allowed Army Staff Sgt. Erik Lloyd to meet his seven-day-old boy Blake, April 10.

The RP-7 can move untethered, allowing a remote physician seated at a control station to freely interact with patients, family members and hospital staff from anywhere, anytime.

In this case, the robot gave Lloyd the opportunity to interact with Blake and with his wife, Kristie. Because of his deployment, Lloyd had missed Blake’s April 4 birth.

Lloyd is assigned to the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research here, and he is currently serving with the Deployed Combat Casualty Research Team, located with 86th Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad.

While Lloyd looked through a computer screen in Iraq, his wife and members of the institute’s staff gathered around an RP-7 in a conference room at Brooke Army Medical Center here, to introduce the Soldier to his baby boy.

“So, who do we have here?” said Lloyd from Baghdad, panning the monitor of the robot around to see everyone gathered around the 5-and-a-half-foot tall robot.

Lloyd used a joystick connected to a laptop to control the robot’s advanced digital camera to zoom in and focus on his son. The camera’s high resolution, which normally allows a physician at the control station to read monitor screens or printouts, allowed the Soldier to clearly focus on his son’s features.

“Hey! Is he asleep? Poke him to wake him up. Hold his head so we can get a picture from our end,” said Lloyd playing with the controls and making the most of the robot’s capabilities.

Between the “ooohs” and “aaahs” over the 2-week-old infant, Lloyd kept a grin on his face and eyes on his son. He asked Kristie questions about his son and conducted conversations with other members of the group in the room, while using the robot’s controls to look at people around the room.

“He’ll be walking and potty trained by the time I get back, right?”, joked Lloyd, who is due to return home in six months.

Lloyd said he was delighted to have the opportunity to see his son in a way that allowed him to have control over the interaction.

“It was such a wonderful experience to be able to actively interact with my wife while she was able to show me our son for the first time,” Lloyd said. “I was able to control the robot and actually move around the room a bit to get a different perspective than what a conventional video camera would have allowed.”

Lloyd said he was grateful to his leadership and his units for allowing him to have this experience.

“I am very appreciative of the command groups, both here at the 86th CSH and the Institute of Surgical Research, for allowing me to utilize this amazing piece of technology. It is really a wonderful feeling to be part of two commands that know how to take care of their Soldiers and their families in a time of need.” Lloyd said.

“It was an awesome experience. I am far from the first father in this conflict who has missed the birth of their child … however, with this technology I was in a small way allowed to feel more like I was part of a family than I had been … since he was born,” Lloyd said.

Kristie said she was also impressed with the robot’s capabilities and what it allowed her husband to experience.

“I talk to him every day, and he demands pictures all the time. We use a Webcam but the connection isn’t good,” Kristie Lloyd said. “But this was great. Erik was playing with the controls and trying to figure out how to use the robot.”

Unlike Lloyd, Army Maj. Kevin Chung, medical director for the Burn Intensive Care Unit at Brooke, is an expert on using the robot. So much so, in fact, that members of the staff have nicknamed the robot “Chungbot”.  Chung uses it from home, while on leave, temporary duty assignments, or while at conferences from outside the state in order to have access to the Intensive Care Unit. When outside the ICU, Chung is available to the ICU via the robot.

Chung said Lloyd was “amazed at the technology and the clarity of the video link” and really benefited from the experience.

“The interaction they had was amplified by his ability to move the robot around and zoom in and out with the camera. He was able to see his son close up. Granted nothing is better than being there in person, but given the circumstances with him being half a world away, this technology allowed him to be ‘remotely’ present with his newly expanded family.”

Chung added that “the entire session was very emotional for all those who had the opportunity to witness the remote interaction.”

(Story by Cheryl Harrison, Fort Sam Houston Public Information Office.)

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