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Welcome to the Dawn Patrol, our daily roundup of information on the War on Terror and other topics - from the MilBlogs and other sources around the world. If you're a blogger, you can join the conversation. If you link to any of these stories, add a link to the Dawn Patrol too and your trackback will be added to the list. Hat Tips to the Dawn Patrol are greatly appreciated.
Fewer Marines needed in Iraq's western province -- [AP]
WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. Marine commandant said Wednesday that his forces in Iraq's once-volatile western Anbar province can be reduced, as the military moves to hand over control of the region to the Iraqis next week. Gen. James Conway, who visited Iraq this summer, told a Pentagon news conference that the two main ground combat units in Anbar, known as Marine regimental combat teams, represent more than enough force to maintain security once the Iraqis take over because violence has continued to drop.
2 Iraqi officials accused of aiding al-Qaida -- [AP]
BAGHDAD (AP) -- A university president and a top local official in a restive province north of Baghdad are suspected of giving weapons and government cars to al-Qaida in Iraq insurgents, according to arrest reports obtained Wednesday....
Soldiers Offer Microgrants, Security While Patrolling Streets of Sha’ab -- [MNF-I]
During a routine patrol around the area, he points to several areas that need improvements – a park here, a new store sign there; even Sons of Iraq (Abna al-Iraq) checkpoints are on his radar for upgrading.
“(We’re) showing the people that we care about them, and we care about the future and trying to put money into the environment – treating them with dignity and respect
Conference Focuses on Future of ISF -- [MNF-I]
As insurgent attacks have slowed dramatically in the past ten months, new IA units have stood up at a rapid pace. The coalition troop surge gave the ISF a chance to accelerate their growth, said Lt. Gen. Frank G. Helmick, commander of Multi-National Security Transition Corp - Iraq.
An ethical dilemma. -- [Rocinante's Burdens - in Iraq]
I have a small sum of money, collected by force from the US taxpayers, given to me for the expressed purpose of spending it on the Iraqi Army in order to improve their performance in some essential way. As General Petraus says, "money is bullets in Counter-insurgency."
No problem. I am all over that. There are lots of things I can spend this money on to make my IA unit more effective. They need everything.
Detainee Release -- [Something on the staff - in Iraq]
One of my many extra duties is to supervise detainee release. For whatever reason, we release individuals from Coalition custody after they’re deemed “no longer a threat to the Coalition or Iraqi people.” So, I get the call that around 50 detainees will land in my little slice of Iraqi heaven, and I need to be out there at fricking midnight to meet the helicopters. Why midnight? Because it’s inconvenient, nothing is ever easy in Iraq…and I hate helicopters. My Iraqi Army partner, and a dozen of his soldiers, sat out by the helicopter landing zone and waited for the detainees.
Child Brides -- [Zen Traveler - in Iraq]
One of our Iraqi security operators took the day off yesterday so that he could attend his brother's wedding in a nice hotel in Baghdad. I asked him how the event went and he said that it was great, even some of the western media showed up for whom his brother works. I asked him, out of curiosity how old his brother was, and he replied 27. Then I asked about the bride, "oh, she's 14". Huh?! This is normal here in the Middle East, and you hear stories all of the time of children even younger than that, some as young as 11-years old, being married off to older men. Our co-worker claims that she loves her new husband, his brother, very much. One of the guys retorted that only last week she loved The Magic Pony. In my opinion the entire practice of child brides is an extreme form of human rights abuse.
U.S. delegation in Falluja to meet officials -- [Voices of Iraq]
ANBAR, Aug. 27 (VOI) – A U.S. congressional delegation on Wednesday arrived in Falluja to meet with several officials over local issues, the head of the city's local council said.
Defense minister arrives in Diala to supervise security operation -- [Voices of Iraq]
DIALA, Aug. 27 (VOI) - Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul Qader Mohamed al-Ubeidi arrived in Diala on Wednesday to supervise Operation Bashaer al-Kheir (Promise of Good), the commander of the operations said.
Reservoir Dogs -- [Matel - in Iraq]
Tell those terrorists we're coming ... and hell's coming with us.
No further comment. We just liked the picture and it reminded everybody of that movie.
60 Minutes -- [Matel - in Iraq]
I understand the 60 Minutes episode I saw today about Hadithah originally aired in March 2007 and I suppose it reflected the situation at the time. But it is amazing how much things have changed and some mention of that in the follow up segment might have been nice.
The 60 Minutes segment shows the bad old days in Hadithah. They said that most people in Hadithah are hostile to coalition forces. Back then maybe; today things are different. I walk through Hadithah a lot.
Return from Iraq -- [Ventura County Star’s Scott Hadly, Ben Preston]
As the world has watched the Iraq War drama unfold over the past five years, public interest has dwindled. So too has the number of reporters covering the people whose lives are affected by war. In fact, the number of embedded reporters in Iraq has gone from more than 600 at the war’s outset to less than a dozen as of the end of July. With large newspapers sending fewer and fewer reporters to the Middle East, it is almost unheard of for a local paper to do so, but Ventura County Star reporter Scott Hadly just spent July embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq.
...The experience in Iraq opened his eyes to myriad issues, from the family problems experienced by soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen having to serve multiple tours, to the tenuous political situation in Iraq, to the challenges faced by the individuals whose country has been destroyed by war. “It would be presumptuous to go over there and say, ‘This is the situation in Iraq.’ What you’re really looking at are all these people.”
It may surprise some, perhaps, that Hadly said that being there did not make it any easier for him to understand the big picture in Iraq. But the dynamic between different kinds of people living life there was illuminating. “I think it’s a shame that we don’t do more stories.
Erik Swabb is interviewed about the Back to Iraq Program
Baghdad's misguided crackdown on Sahwa -- [LA Times]
Baghdad's misguided crackdown on the Sons of Iraq
Prime Minister Maliki's Shiite-dominated government risks security gains by taking on U.S.-backed Sunni forces.
Shawn Bryam with the 10th Mountain
The Taliban ‘Advance’: No Time To Wobble -- [RUSI]
This week’s violent encounter in Afghanistan’s Surobi district is a timely example of how a tactical event can have strategic impact. In this case, it brought a Head of State rushing to Kabul and it generated some unscheduled messages of France’s clear determination to support the ISAF mission, an outcome which some may say, cannot be seen as a Taliban victory.
UAV Predator Takes Out Taliban IED Emplacement Team With A Hellfire Missile In Afghanistan
UAV Predator Viporize IED Emplacement Team With A Hellfire Missile In Afghanistan.
Eight killed in Islamabad bombing -- [LWJ - Bill Roggio]
Eight Pakistanis were killed and more than 20 were wounded in a bombing inIslamabad. The Taliban attempted to assassinate the senior US diplomat in Peshawar. Pakistani forces claimed to have killed a senior Taliban leader in Swat. The Taliban banned foreign media from visiting North Waziristan.
The Nangarhar Provincial
The Nangarhar Provincial Reconstruction Team and how they bring supplies to the people in that area
Afghan Police Find Body of Japanese Aid Worker -- [VOA News]
Afghan officials say police have found the body of a Japanese aid worker, kidnapped Tuesday in eastern Nangarhar province.
Officials said Wednesday that it appeared Kazuya Ito was shot to death.
Redemption Song -- [Jules Crittenden]
Hero with a dark past makes good, in Afghanistan and back home. The decorated National Guardsman combat vet who saved a critically injured motorcyclist’s life is an ex-cop who did time for assaulting his girlfriend. Commenters at the Herald site think it’s unfair to note that past, but at least a couple seem to get there’s a bigger story here.
Dear Mom, -- [Embrace The Suck]
[First and foremost someone needs to make sure that my computer illiterate mother reads this entry, I don't really care who, just someone make sure that she sees this after I go...hint, hint, HINT]
Dear Mom,
I am sitting here across the hall from you worried about how you are going to deal with the next year with me being gone and in Afghanistan. There is really nothing that I can do to alleviate the fears that you have for the welfare of your eldest son. All I can really say that will mean much of anything is this...
Rules and Easy Step By Step Instructions -- [The Left Captain - in Afghanistan]
I thought this was amusing-- very specific guidelines on how to use the latrine. These are posted inside each toilet stall. This was taken seriously too-- no one wants to mess with the first sergeant there. He means business.
Aafia Siddiqui’s son in Afghan custody -- [Daily Times]
WASHINGTON: US authorities have confirmed that the 11-year old boy they claim to have captured with Dr Aafia Siddiqui in Kabul is her son Ahmed.
According to a report in the Washington Post, in a letter to Siddiqui’s family, US authorities said that photos and DNA tests strongly suggest that the youngster in Afghan custody is Siddiqui’s son Ahmed. The boy is claimed to have been detained on July 18 when Afghan police arrested Siddiqui near a government compound in Ghazni. Siddiqui and her three children disappeared in 2003 in Karachi. She had set out from her mother’s home on her way to the airport to take a flight to Islamabad, but she never arrived. Inexplicably, her family did not lodge a missing person report with the police. She is now in a federal prison in New York, charged with attempted murder.
World Trade Center Steel From NYC Arrives In Shanksville -- [9/11 Families]
At 7:00 a.m. yesterday morning, the Fire Family Transport Foundation launched from Floyd Bennett Field on Long Island to escort a cross of steel from the destroyed World Trade Center to the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Company. The foundation provides medical transport to firefighters, family members, and wounded warriors.
...Hundreds of current and retired FDNY firefighters left Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field at about 7 a.m. to escort the girder on the 311-mile ride to Shanksville, Pa., where Flight 93 crashed.
New York's 9/11 Site Needed Not a Moses but a Logue -- [WSJ]
As we approach the seventh anniversary of 9/11, it is clear that the rebuilding of Ground Zero has failed. A recent editorial column in this newspaper by Daniel Henninger made the sad and insightful observation that even the coming together inspired by that awful event came apart as the process itself unraveled. He called the rebuilding arguably the greatest political and bureaucratic fiasco in the history of the world.
The Truth About Russia in Georgia -- [Michael Totten - in Tbilisi, Georgia]
Virtually everyone is wrong. Georgia didn't start it on August 7, nor on any other date. The South Ossetian militia started it on August 6 when its fighters fired on Georgian peacekeepers and Georgian villages with weapons banned by the agreement hammered out between the two sides in 1994. At the same time, the Russian military sent its invasion force bearing down on Georgia from the north side of the Caucasus Mountains on the Russian side of the border through the Roki tunnel and into Georgia. This happened before Saakashvili sent additional troops to South Ossetia and allegedly started the war.
US, Russia anchor military ships in Georgian ports -- [AP]
BATUMI, Georgia (AP) - A U.S. military ship loaded with aid docked at a southern Georgian port Wednesday, and Russia sent three missile boats to another Georgian port as the standoff escalated over a nation devastated by war with Russia. The dockings came a day after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recognized two Georgian rebel territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, prompting harsh criticism from Western nations.
Russia threatens military response to US missiles -- [AP]
MOSCOW - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is warning his country may respond to a U.S. missile shield in Europe through military means.
Medvedev says that the deployment of an anti-missile system close to Russian borders "will of course create additional tensions."
Soldier's nonprofit group helps Georgian orphans -- [Soldiers' Angels Germany]
At the Tbilisi orphanage, Gozy wasn’t on official Army business during the Sunday night visit. Instead, the Hohenfels, Germany-based soldier was there as a volunteer to check up on how the children were doing since he last saw them a few days before the trouble started.
For Gozy, a native of Chillicothe, Ohio, the idea of helping out children began in 1994.
...his foundation donated $40,000 worth of school supplies to 20 schools, Gozy said.
Real Pravda About Russia in Georgia, Part II -- [BlackFive - Laughing_Wolf]
This is part two of Mzia's guest post on her experiences, and her family's experiences, with Russia in Georgia. Please read this, then go back and re-read Michael Totten's piece again. My thanks to Mzia, her husband, and her family for this.
Iran And the Paper Submarine -- [Strategy Page]
Iran has announced that is has begun production of a new class of submarines that can fire both torpedoes and missiles. Iran has, as far as anyone can tell, no submarine building capability. Over the last few years, Iran has announced several new submarine construction projects. But no one can find any evidence that any of these subs exist. But all this is nothing new for the Iranians.
Bad Day to be a Terrorist -- [Jawa Report]
Yesterday was a bad for terrorists worldwide. 110 MILF terrorists killed in the Philippines, clashes between the taliban and Afghan security forces left 40 taliban dead after air-strikes were called in. And almost 50 taliban were killedby Pakistani security forces near the Pakistan-Afghan border.
Belliraj: I Delivered Bin Laden’s Letters -- [MEMRI Blog]
Abdelkader Belliraj, the Moroccan suspected of being terror cell leader, has acknowledged holding talks with Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman Al-Zawahiri before 9/11 on a new strategy for operating sleeper cells.
He also said that he had met with an Al-Qaeda emissary in Europe and given him letters from bin Laden on structural change in Al-Qaeda and on the Salafi Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) joining Al-Qaeda.
Terrorism Financing Is Still Big Business Even If Terrorist Attacks Sometimes Are Carried Out on the Cheap -- [Counterterrorism Blog]
There is a common misperception that terrorism can be carried out on the cheap and that small terrorist cells simply raise their funds locally making it extremely difficult to detect. This seems to be the thesis of a number of recent articles, including one a few days ago in the Washington Post. They maintain that terrorist groups simply avoid bank transactions, making current financial controls inutile. Nothing could be further from the truth!
Al Qaeda Media Massacre -- [Strategy Page]
August 27, 2008: Over the last few months, al Qaedas Internet propaganda department has been virtually destroyed. The most visible evidence of that is the sharp decline in al Qaeda press releases (often accompanied by vids of attacks on U.S. or Iraqi troops). Last year, there were as many as 200 of these items a month. Over the past few months, this fell over 90 percent.
Google Earth Maps & Terrorism -- [ROFA Six]
Google Earth has been a boon for the average person who wants to take a look at some place in the world. When something newsworthy happens in the world, there is nothing that lets one get a feel for the ground quicker than a closer look using Google Earth. For instance, when the Russian-Georgia Conflict kicked off, one blogger mapped the conflict using Goggle Earth. It put tactical aspects of the conflict and challenges to relief efforts into perspective so much faster than reading about it.
But Google Earth also has a potential darkside. It provides a means for a terrorist to have free overhead surveillance of a place they want to attack. Surprisingly, it took until 2006 before it was confirmed that Al-Qaeda terrorists were using Google Earth for attack planning in Iraq and Yemen.
Vietnam Vet honors families of those serving today -- [Soldiers' Angels Germany]
...by learning to sew and making Blue Star and Gold Star Service Banners which he sends to the families. He's former Marine Rod Robeson who was chosen by ABC News as Person of the Week back in March.
...I would also like to give a big shout out to this chapter of the Blue Star Mothers, for their generous, enthusiastic, and ongoing support of our mission at Soldiers' Angels Germany. Thank you Tina, Treasurer Linda Tackett, Vice President Rosemarie Annese, President Sharon Bouchard, and all of the members of this wonderful chapter. You rock!!
Nominate an Outstanding Military Spouse to Be 2009 Honoree -- [Soldiers Angels Network]
PITTSBURGH, August 18, 2008 - Military Spouse magazine (MSM) today announced that it is now accepting nominations for its 2009 Military Spouse of the Year (MSOY) award, sponsored by USAA. The MSOY honoree represents the millions of military spouses who are unsung heroes maintaining the homefront, giving back selflessly to their communities, and providing support to our nation's troops. Often, these spouses also have full-time jobs and raise families.
In recognition of their countless contributions, MSM will honor one exemplary military spouse from each service branch and also select one overall winner.
Deomgraphics in the Military: If You're Uncomfortable, You're the Problem -- [The Tank - Steve Schippert]
Via The Armorer at Argghhh!!!, a bit of truth about exactly who serves, dispelling the commonly held and media-driven myth that we are more often than not just barefoot hicks unable to find work elsewhere or poor saps just looking for college money. From the Heritage Foundation's latest report, "Who Serves In The U.S. Military: The Demographics of Enlisted Troops And Officers":
Ranking All Armed Forces -- [Strategy Page]
August 25, 2008: We recently updated the Armed Forces of the World database. The regional charts there give evaluations of the quantity and quality of each nation's armed forces in that region. The quantity of each combat unit has been derived from various open sources. Quality has been determined by evaluating historical performance. All armed forces are not equal, and this inequality has been expressed numerically.
Kid Rock, Earnhardt featured in Army Guard advertising campaign
The National Guard has enlisted two superstars to attract new members and remind those already serving what the Guard is all about through a new nationwide theater advertising campaign that debuts today.
The new “Warrior” campaign includes music from Kid Rock and features Dale Earnhardt Jr., the National Guard-sponsored NASCAR Sprint Cup driver.
Over the next two months, the “Warrior” video will appear in more than 3,000 theaters and on over 27,000 screens around the country.
Kid Rock song for the Army National Guard.
Army opens prep school for dropouts to fill ranks -- [AP]
FORT JACKSON, S.C. - Austin Swarner left high school to care for his mother while she fought a losing battle with cancer. Tony Brown wanted to begin supporting himself and left two classes shy of a diploma. Haelee Holden got tired of trying to make it through school while flipping burgers until 1 a.m.
But the U.S. Army, eager to fill its ranks amid wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, doesn't see them as dropouts. They are recruits who only need a GED before they're ready to begin basic training.
Retirement Party for the MH-53J PAVE LOW -- [Blackfive]
While we like to kid about the USAF at times, you will not get away with bad mouthing the 20th in our presence. The pilots, crew chiefs, and operators have pulled our men off of mountains, jungles, deserts - mostly at night during stressful conditions.
Cav Coming Home -- [Blog-ah]
Fort Lewis release – The 4th Squadron, 6th Air Cavalry Regiment will return from a 15-month deployment to Iraq on Tuesday, Aug. 26. About 270 Soldiers from the unit will be reunited with their families, at a ceremony currently scheduled for approximately 12:30 p.m. Tuesday afternoon in hangar 3063 at Gray Army Airfield.
In the U.S.A.!!!!! -- [Vince's experiences in Iraq]
He called at 1 a.m. to say he had landed in Baltimore! Yeah!!!!! A group of 15 to 20 people from a local organization meet every plane carrying returning troops. They take pictures, have posters and cheer. Vince was very moved and had a chance to talk with several of the folks there about what they do. He mentioned how all the Iraqis he had worked with were so appreciative of U.S. efforts there. They said they hear the same thing from all the soldiers returning. We don't get that report here!
Abrams Overlooks Ayers's Terrorism and Connection to Obama -- [NewsBusters]
During the 11 a.m. EDT hour of Tuesday’s MSNBC “News Live,” host Dan Abrams interviewed Reuters Washington correspondent John Decker about Senator Obama’s campaign seeking a criminal investigation against the American Issues Project over an ad which links Obama to terrorist Bill Ayers.
Boil Over at MSNBC Surrounding Iraq Timetable
Andrew Sullivan Mints a New Swift Vet -- [Patterico’s Pontifications]
Two-tour Green Beret Ted Sampley of the 2004 “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” is now targeting the Republican nominee with the group “Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain.” For some reason, Fox News is less eager to have him on the air than they were four years ago.
Ted Sampley was a member of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth?? That’s news to me!!
I followed the link, and I think Excitable Andy misread the following passage:
Two-tour Green Beret Ted Sampley, who helped “Swift Boat” Democrat John Kerry in the 2004 presidential race, is now gunning for the GOP White House hopeful.
That’s hardly the same as saying that Sampley is a member of the Swift Vets.
Let’s dig a little deeper, shall we?
Bush steps up fight over congressional authority -- [AP]
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is raising the stakes in a court fight that could change the balance of power between the White House and Congress....
Petraeus For VP? -- [Dean's World - Dave Price]
I hadn’t thought that was even a remote possibility, but apparently his name is being bandied about.
Perhaps coupled with a one-term pledge from McCain, essentially making this a Petraeus for President campaign, he would certainly be a potent VP choice, especially given the current exceptionally high regard for the military among the public — if he accepted it.
Charlie Wilson's Slip -- [Real Clear Politics] HT: Glenn
Former Texas Rep. Charlie Wilson -- yes, that Charlie Wilson -- was speaking at an anti-war rally when he, um, flubbed a line: "We should be led by Osama bin Laden," he said, then quickly corrected himself. "I mean Obama and Biden."
John McCain on Leno
Attacking McCain on the P.O.W. Issue -- [Media Blog - Greg Pollowitz]
The latest you hear from the Left is that John McCain is using his P.O.W. story as a crutch to answer every attack, for example, when he used the line on Leno last night when asked about his houses:
...John McCain reminds voters that there are harder things to endure than scraping ice.
McCain: Vietnam and suicide
CNN's John King reports on Sen. John McCain's time as a POW in a Vietnamese prison camp. August 19, 2008
Ayers Unrepentant for Radical Group’s Violence in 1960s, 1970s -- [FOX News]
In the interview, conducted three years after the September 11 attacks, Ayers argued the U.S. government had carried out “many other acts of terror … even recently, that are comparable,” and claimed he and his bomb-planting comrades were “restrained” in their actions.
Ayers, now a professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago, served with Barack Obama on the board of the charitable Woods Fund of Chicago for three years and helped launch Obama’s political career in Illinois by hosting in his Hyde Park home an informal campaign event for the future state senator in 1995.
Ayers claimed the Weathermen were driven by “hope and love,” not despair, and said he did not think the group’s violent acts, targeting federal officials and local law enforcement officers, were “a big deal.”
Obama Camp Threatens TV Stations For Showing Obama-Ayers Ad (Updated) -- [Gateway Pundit]
The Obama Camp is threatening television stations for airing an anti-Obama ad that links the Chicago politician to his associate and friend of 20 years, terrorist Bill Ayers.
Do You know Enough to Elect Barrak Obama?
Bill Ayers: Unrepentant LYING Terrorist -- [The Corner - Andy McCarthy]
As I noted back in April in this article about Obama's motley collection of radical friends, at the Weatherman “War Council” meeting in 1969, Ayers' fellow terrorist and now-wife, Bernadine Dohrn, famously gushed over the barbaric Manson Family murders of the pregnant actress Sharon Tate, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, and three others: “Dig it! First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them. They even shoved a fork into the victim’s stomach! Wild!” And as Jonah recalled yesterday, "In appreciation, her Weather Underground cell made a threefingered “fork” gesture its official salute." They weren't talking about scratching up the wall-paper.
BREAKING NEWS: ‘I Am The Surge’ Debuts at Democrat Convention -- [FSM - Pete Hegseth]
David Bellavia and I are at the Democratic National Convention informing delegates and the media about the dramatic success we witnessed in Iraq, and the need for victory on all fronts of the Global War on Terrorism.
Today we released a new television advertisement as part of our grassroots and media effort to educate the American public about the success of the surge in Iraq. The ad--"I am the Surge"--hits airwaves tomorrow and will run in the Denver media market this week,
I AM THE SURGE:
(Need more? Dawn Patrols Archives are here.)
