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Dec 18, 2003

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TOUCH AND GO — A F/A-18C "Hornet" attached to Fighter Attack Squadron 86 leaves a trail of sparks on the flight deck with its tailhook during a "touch-and-go" in the Arabian Gulf, Dec. 15, 2003. The squadron is deployed with USS ENTERPRISE, currently underway in the Arabian Gulf. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Lance H. Mayhew Jr

Iraqi Legal Profession Trains
To Prosecute Regime Crimes

By John D. Banusiewicz / American Forces Press Service

     WASHINGTON, Dec. 18, 2003 — Iraqi legal community members have completed training that will help them investigate and prosecute alleged crimes committed by Saddam Hussein's regime, the senior spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority said at a Baghdad press conference today.
     Dan Senor said the authority's office of transitional justice and human rights organized and coordinated the program at the Iraqi Governing Council's request. The council selected the participants, which included judges, lawyers, prosecutors and legal professors, for the two-week advanced legal seminar in Baghdad.
     Senor read from an English translation of an Arabic statement planned for release later today in describing the program for reporters. More

101st Airborne Passing Along Knowledge to Successors

By Jim Garamone / American Forces Press Service

     MOSUL, Iraq, Dec. 18, 2003 — The soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division here are working to give their follow-on unit -- a multinational division -- a head start, division commander Army Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus said Dec. 17.
     During combat operations in March and April against Saddam Hussein's regime, the 101st fought from Kuwait up through the west of Baghdad and into the north of Iraq. The unit is due to rotate back to Fort Campbell, Ky. in January and February.
     The soldiers of the 101st have gained some hard-won lessons, Petraeus said, and they already are working to pass those lessons along to the unit that will replace them here. More

Wolfowitz Calls Spread of Mass Terror Weapons 'Urgent Threat'

By U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Doug Sample / American Force Press Service

     WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2003 — "The spread of weapons of mass terror is one of the most urgent threats facing the globe today," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told members of the Proliferation Security Initiative here today.
     Wolfowitz addressed the group, in which 16 nations are represented, during Proliferation Security Initiative's conference at the National Defense University.
     "The threat is global, and our response has to be global as well," he said. "We have to address this threat now, before an attack that would make the events of Sept. 11 pale in comparison." More

4th Infantry Div. Follows Up Big Catch with Samarra Operation

By Jim Garamone / American Forces Press Service

     KIRKUK, Iraq, Dec. 17, 2003 – The Army's 4th Infantry Division is continuing its aggressive fight against enemy cells with a raid in Samarra that picked up 73 men and a significant amount of material useful in making improvised explosive devices.
     Army Maj . Gen. Raymond Ordierno, the division commander, said the operation against the Samarra cell continues. He said the operation acknowledges that despite the division's capture of Saddam Hussein Dec. 13, a lot of work remains in Iraq.
     "We think it was a complete cell we caught at a meeting," Ordierno said during an interview in Kirkuk. He was in the northern Iraqi city to meet with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers. More

Iraq Weekly Progress Update (Governance, Electricity, Education, Oil, Security, Economics, Health Care)

U.S. Defense Dept. slides with facts &
figures on reconstruction efforts in Iraq.

. Maps of Iraq

Pentagon Welcomes Wounded Heroes of Terror War

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Heath Calhoun, who lost both legs in a rocket-propelled grenade attack Nov. 7 in Mosul, Iraq, signs a remembrance book in the Pentagon 9-11 Memorial as his wife Tiffany looks on. Calhoun was one of 50 soldiers getting treatment from Walter Reed Army Medical Center who visited the Pentagon Dec. 17. U.S. Army photo by Joe Burlas

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2003 — Greeted by a loud chorus of more than eight minutes of sustained cheers and applause, 50 soldiers recently wounded or injured in Iraq and Afghanistan visited the Pentagon Dec. 17.
The half-day trip was a break from the medical treatment the soldiers have been receiving for a month or more at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C. More

Racing Heroes
Visit Wounded Troops

WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 17, 2003 (Army News Service) – At 14, Reggie Showers lost both of his legs in an electrical accident. More than two decades later, he’s living his dream of being a professional stock bike rider.
Showers, 39, wore his 2003 Pro Stock Bike Champion jacket for a Dec. 12 visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he delivered messages of hope and inspiration to soldiers recovering from injuries suffered while serving in Iraq. More

Defense Dept. Launches
Transformation Web Site

     WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2003 — Transformation is vital to the Defense Department’s war on terrorism, according to Chris Willcox, deputy assistant secretary of defense for public liaison. To provide a more complete picture of transformation initiatives, the Defense Department today launched a new Web site that focuses on transformation policy, equipment, training, people and programs.
     "There is a lot of transformation news out there right now, but it's scattered, and people interested in the topic have to surf many sites to get the total picture,” Willcox said. “Our goal is to provide that total picture and highlight specific areas in the transformation arena."
     To read how new technologies are making life easier and safer for troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, go to the Transformation Web site at www.dod.mil/transformation

Stryker Brigade Encounters
First Combat in Iraq

Soldiers of Battle Company, 5th Battalion - 20 Infantry, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) conduct route reconnaissance, a presence patrol, a civilian assessment and combat operations contributing to the stability of Samarra, Iraq, Dec. 15. Photo by Spc. Clinton Tarzia FORWARD OPERATING BASE PACESETTER, Iraq, Dec. 17, 2003 (Army News Service) — Infantrymen from 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, took to the roads and villages north of Baghdad on Dec. 14, patrolling to keep the peace. More

Defense Officials
Identify Army Casualty

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2003 — Defense Department officials announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Spc. Nathan W. Nakis, 19, of Corvallis, Ore., died on Dec. 16 in Mosul, Iraq. Nakis was in a convoy returning to Mosul when he lost control of his vehicle after driving through an oil-soaked area. Nakis was assigned to Company B, 52nd Engineer Battalion (Heavy), Army National Guard, based in Albany, Ore.

Radio

Television

Myers and USO Visit the Troops More Photo Essays

U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of Combined Joint Task Force 7, greets Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers as he arrives at Baghdad International Airport, Iraq, Dec. 16, 2003. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Lisa M. Zunzanyika 5 More Photos

Capture of Saddam Not Luck, But Skill, Gen. Abizaid Says

By Jim Garamone / American Forces Press Service

     KIRKUK, Iraq, Dec. 17, 2003 — Coalition successes in Iraq – including the capture of Saddam Hussein – are not the result of lucky breaks, but the patient, exacting work of intelligence professionals and the soldiers who act on their information, U.S.Central Command chief Army Gen. John Abizaid said.
     Abizaid met with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers during a stop in this northern Iraqi city. He spoke with the press traveling with Myers.
     Abizaid said the key to fighting any insurgency is isolating the enemy. More

Terror War Continues, Rumsfeld Says, Despite Saddam's Capture

By Donna Miles / American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 16, 2003 — While the Iraqi people were liberated "in fact" in April, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said here today that the Dec. 13 capture of Saddam Hussein liberated them "in spirit."
"When the coalition liberated Iraq, we told the Iraqi people that he would not be returning, except as a prisoner to face justice," the secretary told Pentagon reporters. "And the U.S. forces have now delivered on that promise." More Briefing

. Myers Speaks on Saddam's Leadership, Need for New Iraq

Rumsfeld Asks CIA to Oversee Saddam Hussein Interrogations

By Donna Miles / American Forces Press Service

     WASHINGTON, Dec. 16, 2003 — The Central Intelligence Agency will oversee the interrogations of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told Pentagon reporters today.
     "I have asked (CIA Director) George Tenet to be responsible for the handling of the interrogation of Saddam Hussein and his people," Rumsfeld said.
     The CIA, he explained, will serve as "the regulator" over the interrogations, determining who will conduct them and what questions they will ask, and managing the intelligence that flows from the interrogations. More

Saddam Documents Yield Info
On Regime Diehards, Funding

By Jim Garamone / American Forces Press Service

     BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 16, 2003 — Intelligence gathered during the capture of Saddam Hussein already is making Baghdad a safer place.
      Army Brig. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, commander of the 1st Armored Division here, said documents found with Saddam have allowed his forces to attack cells of former regime figures and make significant inroads against the supporting financial network.
     "What the capture of Saddam Hussein revealed is the structure that existed above the local cellular structure – call it a network," Dempsey said during an interview. More

. Search for Saddam Ends in 4th Infantry Division's Backyard

. 4th Infantry Div. Troops Knew 'Something Major' was in the Air

. 4th Infantry Captures Saddam in Remote Village Near Tikrit

Texas Army Reservists Deliver
Medical Supplies to Hospital

By U.S. Army Sgt. Mark S. Rickert / 372nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 16, 2003 — Soldiers with the 490th Civil Affairs Battalion, an Army Reserve unit based in Abilene, Texas, provided some medical supplies to the Al Kadamiya Private Hospital in Baghdad.
According to U.S. Army Maj. John E. Padgett, the officer in charge of the public health team, 490th Civil Affairs Battalion, 354th Civil Affairs Brigade, 1st Armored Division, the public health team’s primary mission is to help restart and re-equip the Iraqi public health care system. More

Global War on Terrorism

. Myers: Transformation Vital to Fighting Global War On Terror

On Iraq

. Task Force Ironhorse Soldiers Repel Ambush in Samarra

. Camp Arifjan Readying For Big Logistics Surge

. Iraqi Cooperation Credited For Precise Coalition Strikes

Military News

. New Benefits Help Families Visit Injured Sailors, Marines

. National Guard Family Programs Offer Tips on Deployment Issues

. National Guard, Reserve Update

Send your 'Best Wishes' to the men and women in uniform supporting the global war on terror.

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Read other messages

Sign an On-line Thank You Note

	U.S. Views — Quotes by President Bush & other U.S. leaders
	Defense Views — Quotes by U.S. defense leaders
	Maps of Iraq — Maps of the nation of Iraq and the region

U.S. Army Gen. John Abizaid
Commander, U.S. Central Command

“There are people who don't want a new government to come forward (in Iraq). There are people who will fight to the death to prevent that from happening. And it's our job that a new Iraq emerges that Iraqis can be proud of, and allows them to live in a relative degree of freedom they've never had before.”

Remarks in Kirkuk, Iraq, Dec. 17, 2003

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, Dec. 17, 2003 - In coordination with the Islamic Transitional Government of Afghanistan, Combined Joint Task Force 180 continues to train the Afghan National Army; provide civil affairs support; and disrupt, deny, and destroy terrorist and anti-Islamic Transitional Government of Afghanistan forces in order to establish a stable and secure Afghanistan. More

More Afghanistan Update Details

. Maps of Afghanistan

U.S. Army Sgt. Jason Harmon, deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, remembers his loved ones at home in the Lone Star State. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Tyrone Walker

Profile

U.S. Marine Corps
Pfc. George K. Bhimji

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO, Calif., Dec. 12, 2003 — Young men in today's American society often choose gangs or drugs over education, work and family.
But Marine Corps Pfc. George K. Bhimji from Platoon 3034, Company K, chose his family despite hailing from Watts, Calif., a less-than-desirable Los Angeles neighborhood, that presented the same troubles that landed his brothers in jail. More

More Profiles

In Iraq

Airmen Keep Water Flowing at Tallil

TALLIL AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) — When airmen here turn on a water faucet to brush their teeth or take a shower, they may not think about where the water comes from. But it takes six airmen working 12-hour shifts to keep the water flowing. More

In Afghanistan

Marine Reservists
Bring Firepower to the Skies

Cpl. Sean Maynard, helicopter mechanic, 'Red Dog' Squadron 773, conducts routine checks on an AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopter at Bagram Air Base. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Greg Heath BAGRAM, Afghanistan, Dec. 17, 2003 — “Don’t shoot at the gray ones,” was the warning stated by Marine Sgt. Clay Farlow, UH-1N Huey Gunship crew chief, and aimed at anti-coalition militants operating throughout Afghanistan. More

'On The Ground' Archive