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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.
Anbar Province Sets the Example for All of Iraq
"Life has improved in the Anbar in all aspects – economics, education, health-wise – and all the offices of the Anbar are functioning." (Ma'amoun Sami Rasheed, Press Conference, 9/3/08)
"So as the citizens of the Anbar saw the progress of the three fronts we were working on – that is, to fight al-Qaida, to build the armed forces, and the reconstruction – they started believing that the belief in democracy and freedom is the right path for us…"
Western Anbar Progress Report - [Matel - in Iraq]
...I often tell my Iraqi friends that partnership does not mean we agree on everything. We are not insulted when they express opinions at odds with ours. Sometimes they are right. In a good partnership, each party benefits from the strengths and compensates for the weaknesses of the others. If they were both identical, there would be no need for the partnership and it would produce no synergy. Partnership is what we want with the Iraqis and I think that is what we are getting.
Iraqi Security Forces Order of Battle: September 2008 update -- [LWJ - DJ Elliott]
Anbar is the eleventh province to go under Iraqi control, the 17th Division takes control of southern Baghdad, and more.
Death Tolls -- [MilBlogs]
Nearly 125 Shot Dead In Chicago Over Summer
Total Is About Double The Death Toll In Iraq
But almost exactly the same as the number killed in Afghanistan over the same period.
Police-hiring feud may have led to Diyala blast -- [Stars and Stripes]
...This week, U.S. soldiers from the 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, headed to Jalula’s police station, near the emergency response force headquarters, to air theories of who they thought was behind the bombing. The incident, one of the worst attacks in Iraq in recent months, highlighted the complicated situation in northern Diyala province, where internal rivalries mix with Kurdish-Arab tension.
Iraq To Turn Abu Ghraib Into Musuem Of Saddam’s Abuses -- [Pat Dollard]
The notorious Abu Ghraib prison is getting a facelift: work to reopen the facility and construct a museum documenting Saddam Hussein’s crimes.
A large section of the 280-acre site just west of Baghdad will be converted into the museum featuring execution chamber exhibits and other displays of torture tools used by Saddam’s regime—including an iron chain used to tie prisoners together.
But Iraq has no plans to document the U.S. military abuse scandal that erupted in 2004. In all, 11 U.S. soldiers were convicted of breaking military laws and five others were disciplined.
Iraq’s deputy justice minister, Busho Ibrahim, told The Associated Press that the actions of a few American soldiers was “nothing” compared with the violence and atrocities of Saddam and his Baath party.
Day 76. Small mysteries -- [Rocinante's Burdens - in Iraq]
A minor mystery. This picture shows a small bit of pound cake from an MRE (pre-packaged field ration). It was originally offered to the starving dog shown in the previous post. After 2 days, it is still uneaten. Ants have been swarming all over this area but have not touched this "cake". Hmmmm...
AN EMAIL FROM MICHAEL YON IN AFGHANISTAN: -- [Instapundit]
"Lots of fighting here. In some areas (for instance where I have been), there is about 80% chance of getting into combat when you step off the FOB. Morale among British soldiers is very high. Even higher, I would say, than I saw in Iraq."
Death Tolls -- [MilBlogs]
Nearly 125 Shot Dead In Chicago Over Summer
Total Is About Double The Death Toll In Iraq
But almost exactly the same as the number killed in Afghanistan over the same period.
Coalition in Afghanistan Hunts Down Leaders of Deadly August Ambush -- [A Battlefield Tourist]
The US military says coalition forces have hunted down and killed at least two of the leaders of the deadly ambush, August 18, that claimed the lives of ten French paratroopers. The attack happened in Sarobi district, Kabul Province, just 40 miles from the capital itself.
U.S. Troops Crossed Border, Pakistan Says -- [WaPo]
...Pakistan filed a formal protest with the U.S. government, which had no comment on what appeared to be a new escalation of U.S. pressure on Taliban and al-Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan's mountainous border regions.
US Confirms Ground Forces Used in Pakistan -- [A Battlefield Tourist]
The Associated Press is reporting that US officials acknowledge that US ground forces carried out a helo-borne attack on Pakistani soil. In recent months, suspected US missle attacks have rocked the frontier but Wednesday’s attack marks a true escalation in the on terror.
Pakistan Turns On Their Taliban - [Strategy Page]
September 5, 2008: Pakistan is finally getting serious about taking down the local Taliban (the TTP, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan), and have hit them where it hurts the most, in the pocketbook. The government has frozen all Taliban bank accounts, at least the ones it knows about. This is a start. But
US navy ship steams into port where Russian troops stationed -- [Times Online]
A US navy flagship has steamed into a Georgian port where Russian troops are still stationed, stoking tensions once again in the tinderbox Caucasus region.
A previous trip by American warships was cancelled at the last minute a week ago amid fears that an armed stand off could erupt in the Black Sea port of Poti.
The arrival of the USS Mount Whitney came as Moscow accused Dick Cheney, the hawkish US vice-president, of stoking tensions during a visit to Tbilisi yesterday, in which he vowed to bring Georgia into the Nato alliance.
Reports In Russia On S-300 Missiles To Iran -- [MEMRI Blog]
The Iranian media are citing a Russian media report that Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, has said that following the increase in tension between Russia and the West, it is logical for Russia to supply S-300 missiles to Iran.
Now the U.S. Is Chasing OBL to His Cave -- [Counterterrorism Blog]
The U.S. has taken the gloves are off: In a first, senior U.S. officials acknowledged that U.S. ground forces entered Pakistan to pursue high-value Al Qaeda targets, and the hunt for Osama bin Laden is moving at full speed before President Bush leaves office. "(A) small team of commandos crossed the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan to go after an al Qaida cell operating out of a village less than a mile from the border. The officials said the cell was using the village as a base to plan and conduct cross border raids into Afghanistan. The leader of the cell - whose name the officials did not release -
Undated video shows Qaeda leader reported killed -- [Reuters]
Al Qaeda issued on Friday an Internet video featuring senior group leader Mustafa Abu al-Yazid who was reported to have ...
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Denies Killing Civilians, Blames Algerian Government -- [MEMRI Blog]
A video message by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, posted September 3, 2008 on Islamist websites, features an address by the group's "media relations officer Salah Abu Muhammad," who appears with his face blurred.
Report: Terror Cell Arrested In Morocco Has Network In Europe -- [MEMRI Blog]
According to sources from the Elaph website, the Fath Al-Andalus terror cell, 15 members of which were arrested this week in Morocco, is part of a larger organization connected to Al-Qaeda and with branches in Spain, Belgium, and Italy, in addition to North Africa (see "Moroccan Security Source: Arrested Terror Cell Planned To Strike U.N. Forces").
A Gov Agency more screwed up than a ..... -- [THE CI-ROLLER DUDE]
He got a letter whilst in Iraq from the Department of Homeland Stupidity...telling him that since he was "out of the country" they were suspending the citizenship process. I asked if the the government assholes understood that he was in Iraq fighting for this great country---something a lot of people who're already US citizens haven't done...and they were screwing with him.
He is now a US Citizen fixen' to go on another deployment for his country. Now, in my mind that man is a hero....oh, there's a few in this class who've deployed to Iraq at least once...one guy has been there twice and is going to Afghanistan next....
8,000 MILES In 3 Days -- [Annex B - home from Iraq]
The trip from Iraq to the front porch takes awhile. It’s a little more than 8,000 miles from my trailer to my house. To get from one to another is somewhat of a pain but the reward at the end of the road is worth it. Here’s how it goes.
Obama and Fox News: 'Tentative Truce?' -- [NewsBusters]
As Fox News prepares to interview Barack Obama tonight during prime time, TV journalist Michael Wolff details a meeting between Barack Obama, Fox News president Roger Ailes, and News Corporation president Rupert Murdoch in which the Fox execs promised to lay off the Democratic presidential candidate.
According to Wolff's telling, this was more than a mere tete-à-tete, this was a full-on diplomatic meeting (initiated at Murdoch's request), conducted only after preparation and with preconditions from the Obama campaign.
The apparent purpose? ...
Hedging your bets -- [Foreign and Domestic]
I'm not a voter from Delaware, but if I was, I would be insulted by Sen Biden's Senate campaign. I would want to walk into the voting booth knowing who my choices were.
Contrast that with Sen Obama's pick of Sen Biden. Rather than all in, or even mostly in, Joe Biden is hedging his bets to ensure a win-win scenario. Joeseph R. Biden, candidate for Vice President of the United States, is the very same Joseph R. Biden who is running reelection to the US Senate from Delaware.
So if Obama/Biden win the election, he becomes VP and by the constitution must resign his Senate seat before taking the oath of office. The vacant senate seat is filled by the governor of Delaware, Democrat Ruth Ann Minner. Thus, the senate seat stays in Democrat hands.
...If Biden is confident in his chances to be elected VP, he could demonstrate that confidence by withdrawing from the Senate reelection bid. Otherwise he is subverting the very bedrock principle of our system of government. He is asking Delaware voters to vote for him fully expecting that he will not serve in the office he is elected to. He is, in essence, running a campaign by proxy for whomever the Delaware Governor will choose.
Dear Mr. Obama
Liveblogging the McCain speech -- [CounterColumn]
...A friend just texted me. She's 27, I think. She said she had no idea of McCain's POW past until she watched the convention tonight. Same goes for another friend in the same age range, as well, who didn't know until I played her a video a couple of weeks ago. So the nattering nabobs are criticizing McCain for bringing it up again. But it's not like the media is doing a great job of communicating that remarkable biography without him and his campaign reinforcing the message.
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