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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 various 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.Refresh for updates.
Surreal -- [The Writings of a Man's Man - in Iraq]
Yesterday was quite the experience, sitting in a room surrounded by my Iraqi National Police counterparts tuned into CNN watching reports saying that there were no more US troops in any of Iraq's cities, towns and villages. We watched the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al Maliki, give a speech declaring that this is truly a great day for Iraq, National Sovereignty Day. It was hailed as VI day (Victory in Iraq) by the international media. I am pretty sure they may have their story wrong. I can look around from my Joint Security Station, and still see plenty of built up areas, factories, houses, and markets surrounding us. Thus it was quite surreal to read and watch numerous reports declaring all US forces are out of the Iraqi villages and towns and wonder exactly where I am.
Nothing New Here.... -- [Mungadai Days - in Iraq]
The June 30th deadline has no major effect on us, we're doing the same thing for the next few months as we have done for the past several months. Our role hasn't changed but every kid on the block with an MRAP is trying to muscle into our action. In order for them to roll they need the Mungadai to partner them up with our Iraqis.
A Family's Valor, a Nation's Freedom -- [WSJ]
Why would a 61-year-old civilian surgeon volunteer for Iraq?
When stories had been told, tears wept, and grief expressed, Mr. Bush asked if he could do anything. At that, Bill Krissoff spoke.
"Yes," he said. "I'm a pretty good orthopedic surgeon. When my younger son is deployed to Iraq next March, I would like to be working as a Navy medical officer, but they won't let me because I am 61 years old. Will you give me an age waiver, Mr. President?" ...
July 1, 2009 -- [S4 at War - in Iraq]
As we've been conducting our withdrawal from the cities the phrase of the month has been "holistic change in mindset," meaning we need to entirely shift the way we approach our mission. By in large my unit has been doing this since we got here. We've been doing all we can to try and return some semblance of normalcy to the area throughout our deployment. Part of that has been adjusting the way in which we interact with our Iraqi counterparts, the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Police.
DVIDS Patrol In Abu Ghraib -- [Sour Swinger - in Iraq]
These pictures are from a patrol conducted in Abu Ghraib by my platoon. The Iraqi Army was there to assist. We run so many of these missions they all blur together. The Army has been occasionally embedding Combat Camera in our missions.
Hussein Pointed to Iranian Threat -- [Washington Post]
Saddam Hussein told an FBI interviewer before he was hanged that he allowed the world to believe he had weapons of mass destruction because he was worried about appearing weak to Iran, according to declassified accounts of the interviews released yesterday. The former Iraqi president also denounced Osama bin Laden as "a zealot" and said he had no dealings with al-Qaeda.
Saddam Hussein Considered 'Security Agreement' With U.S. To Counter Threat From 'Fanatics' In Iran -- [Think Progress]
ThinkProgress relied on the Washington Post's interpretation of the recently-declassified FBI files on Saddam Hussein's interviews with the Bureau to make the claim in this post that Saddam "let the world believe he had weapons of mass destruction because he feared appearing weak to what he considered his country's real threat, Iran." However, ThinkProgress has since reviewed the actual documents, and they do not explicitly state that Saddam wanted Iran to think Iraq had WMD. A document dated June 11, 2004 states that Saddam did not want to allow U.N. weapons inspectors into Iraq because he was "concerned about Iran discovering Iraq's weaknesses." According to the document, Saddam describes those weaknesses in conventional military terms, such as specific targets in Iraq open to attack. Therefore, at best, the documents only suggest that Saddam wanted Iran to think Iraq had WMD because another fair interpretation of the "weaknesses" Saddam refers to could be the fact that Iraq did not have WMD.
And then the clouds parted and a single ray of sunshine broke through... -- [Greyhawk]
Hello from Camp Victory just outside of Baghdad. I landed about an hour ago on Vice President Biden's C-17 for what will be the most extensive visit to Iraq by a president or vice president since the war began in 2003. Before we landed Biden called a few of us traveling with him into his aluminum sided airstream trailer strapped to the floor of the C-17.
"This is the moment," he told us, "we have to make sure the Iraqis don't take their eyes off the ultimate prize."
He then explained the latest job President Obama has given him. A few weeks ago he was talking to the president about the challenges Iraq would face after US troops began to withdraw from Iraqi cities on June 30th and what the US needed to do about it. The president got right the point, Biden said, "Quote: Joe, go do it."
Do what exactly?
"Help the Iraqis resolve what they have to resolve."
Anti-US protest marks start of Biden's Iraq trip -- [AFP]
A fiery protest marked the start on Friday of US Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Iraq, with supporters of the Shiite anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr burning the Stars and Stripes.
Biden met General Ray Odierno, the top US officer in Iraq, and Christopher Hill, Washington's ambassador in Baghdad, who briefed him on the military and political situation, three days after a major US troop pullback.
VP interviewed on Iraq status -- [Politico44]
FAIR TO SAY WHITE HOUSE NOT SATISFIED WITH POLITICAL PROGRESS? "Well, look, I think the Iraqis are not satisfied."...There's a lot left on the agenda and I think all Iraqis acknowledge that."
Missing Soldier in Eastern Afghanistan -- [Afghanistan Shrugged - in Afghanistan]
As many of you may now know from news reports a soldier is missing in
Eastern Afghanistan. No one from Team VAMPIRE is missing and we are
conducting operations in an attempt to locate the missing soldier.
Missing Soldier Update -- [Greyhawk]
I've added multiple updates with quotes from news reports as they become available to the original story below. As you read, bear in mind that first reports are always wrong. Rumors and scuttlebutt are frequently passed on as news - they may or may not turn out to be completely (rare) or partly (often) true. I'll add only that a soldier can't just accidentally wander off a military installation in Afghanistan or Iraq. In fact, one shouldn't be able to exit without authorization for a specific mission. Determination or duress could overcome that obstacle. But any speculation as to how one apparently did get "outside the wire" in this case is just that - purely speculation at this point.
Operation KHANJAR -- [SWJ - Brig. Gen. Larry D. Nicholson, USMC]
Our focus is now and will remain the Afghan people. We have worked closely with local Helmand government officials and many tribal and local leaders in the detailed planning of this major offensive. While the initial focus will be on security, the Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) working with Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and Coalition Forces will rapidly move to introduce the initial essential aspects of governance and economic development into these newly secured areas. These efforts will be focused upon providing immediate assistance to the population, and in setting the conditions for successful elections in August. Today's operation is designed to separate and isolate the Taliban from the population who has long suffered the effects of their presence.
This large scale operation is not without risk to the many thousands of brave and dedicated Afghan and coalition troops participating.
Op Khanjar photos -- [Soldiers' Angels Germany]
...A U.S. Marine from 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, RCT 2nd Battalion 8th Marines Echo Co. takes up a fighting position after off loading from a helicopter during the start of Operation Khanjari on July 2, 2009 in Main Poshteh, Afghanistan.
Russia Opens Route for US to Fly Arms to Afghanistan -- [New York Times]
MOSCOW - The Russian government has agreed to allow American troops and weapons bound for Afghanistan to fly over Russian territory, providing an important new corridor for the United States military as it escalates efforts to win the
US Troops Push Further into Southern Afghanistan -- [Voice of America]
US Marines pushed further into southern Afghanistan Friday, meeting little resistance as they moved to capture villages and population centers controlled by Taliban militants. The US offensive is being led by 4,000 Marines who poured into southern Helmand province on Thursday. The operation is aimed at driving out militants and securing the area ahead of presidential elections August 20. Marine spokesman Bill Pelletier says US troops have engaged in only sporadic fighting, but he warned that could change. He said the US is focused one keeping the Taliban militants out and winning the people's trust.
US marines face a 'hell of a fight' in Helmand surge -- [Telegraph]
United States Marines storming into southern Afghanistan are facing a "hell of a fight" in some districts while others are "suspiciously" quiet,
The Uprising Changes Everything, Part III: Exposing Iranian Treachery In Afghanistan -- [Terry Galvin]
"The Iranian government has finally exposed itself as a theocratic, totalitarian regime," says Afghan student leader Mohammed Faqiri, at Herat University. That's fast becoming the mainstream view among young Afghans, says Faqiri, 23. "Iranian leaders are trying to hang onto power by killing people and destroying their free media." In Kabul, meanwhile, Tehran's malignancy has been coming under increasing fire in mainstream Afghan society, owing to the operations of the sinister cleric in the photograph, Mohammed Asif Mosehni, Tehran's ayatollah in Kabul.
U.S. Uses False Taliban Aid Charge to Pressure Iran -- [IPS]
The Barack Obama administration has given new prominence to a Bush administration charge that Iran is providing military training and assistance to the Taliban in Afghanistan, for which no evidence has ever been produced, and which has been discredited by data obtained by IPS from the Pentagon itself.
The new twist in the charge is that it is being made in the context of serious talks between NATO officials and Iran involving possible Iranian cooperation in NATO's logistical support for the war against the insurgents in Afghanistan.
Saying bye to those finishing their deployments -- [Afghanistan my Last Tour -- in Afghanistan]
We said goodbye to the four Air Force individuals in the picture. They were here for almost one year. We and some of the new Air Force personnel who recently arrived are their replacements. During the past year, their ETT team only encountered one IED. But one IED experience is too many. Apparently one of their HMMVWs rolled over the IED and then it activated when the ANA truck passed over it.
U.S. Faces Resentment in Afghan Region -- [NY Times]
The mood of the Afghan people has tipped into a popular revolt in some parts of southern Afghanistan, presenting incoming American forces with an even harder job than expected in reversing military losses to the Taliban and winning over the population.
On mentoring and the ANA -- [Flit]
..."Putting the Afghan face", not vase, on military operations, is pretty much a cliche in Afghan security force mentoring efforts at this point. The chronic lack of Afghan security personnel, for reasons which I will get to downrange, compared to the numbers of Western troops means what is on the books a go/no-go requirement of all kinetic operations has too often reduced in practice to grabbing a couple of Afghan soldiers or police at the last possible minute and throwing them on the helicopter so that it could be said in the press release that Afghan forces were involved in the operation. In 2008-09 in Kandahar Province, any time we on the ANA mentoring side heard someone talking about Afghan faces, we knew we could safely assume ANSF capacity-building, meaning the effort to bring them closer to the day when they won't need us anymore, had long ceased to be a deliverable of the operation in question.
EXCLUSIVE: Taliban buying children for suicide bombers -- [Washington Post]
Pakistan's top Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, is buying children as young as 7 to serve as suicide bombers in the growing spate of attacks against Pakistani, Afghan and U.S. targets, U.S. Defense Department and Pakistani officials say.
China babies 'sold for adoption' -- [BBC]
Dozens of baby girls in southern China have reportedly been taken from parents who broke family-planning laws, and then sold for adoption overseas.
North Korea Fires Four More Test Missiles: Should US Be Worried? -- [FOXNews]
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Four more missiles -- North Korea just shot off four more missiles. They are short-range missiles, but is this a preview
Honduran Democracy Protesters Bash Obama & CNN -- [Gateway Pundit]
Thousands of Hondurans protested in support of democracy, the military and the Micheletti government this week in Honduras. The US media has been ignoring these protests.
Honduras and the Bolivarian Revolution -- [Counterterrorism Blog]
Make no mistake. Giving the military a leading role in a political drama in Honduras may be akin to giving a pyromaniac matches and can of kerosene. It can end badly. I covered Honduras for 20 years and reported extensively both on the military's egregious human rights abuses and voracious economic appetite that sucked the national coffers dry, although the troops have stayed in the barracks for more than two decades. But look at the alternatives. Zelaya was illegally attempting the same political move successfully executed by Chávez and Morales-a constitutional change that would allow him to stay in power indefinitely-always among the first actions of the Bolivarian leaders.
A 'coup' in Honduras? Nonsense. -- [Christian Science Monitor]
Don't believe the myth. The arrest of President Zelaya represents the triumph of the rule of law.
Report: U.S. to block Iran sanctions at G8 summit -- [Haaretz]
The United States is opposed to enacting a new set of financial sanctions against Iran that are due to be discussed in the G8 summit next week, diplomatic officials in New York reported Friday. -- According to officials, sanctions against Iran are expected to top the G8's agenda.
Terror from the Right -- [SPLC News]
75 plots, conspiracies and racist rampages since Oklahoma City
What follows is a detailed listing of major terrorist plots and racist rampages that have emerged from the American radical right in the years since Oklahoma City. These have included plans to bomb government buildings, banks, refineries, utilities, clinics, synagogues, mosques, memorials and bridges; to assassinate police officers, judges, politicians, civil rights figures and others; to rob banks, armored cars and other criminals; and to amass illegal machine guns, missiles, explosives and biological and chemical weapons. Each of these plots aimed to make changes in America through the use of political violence.
Decade of domestic terror documented by Center (2005) -- -- [SPLC News]
A pre-publication copy of the Intelligence Report's list was provided to the office of Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who is the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Homeland Security. Thompson included many of the incidents compiled in the Intelligence Report into his staff's report, 10 Years After the Oklahoma City Bombing, the Department of Homeland Security Must Do More To Fight Right-Wing Domestic Terrorists, which he released on the 10th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. Signed by all of the Democratic members of the committee, Thompson's report credited the Southern Poverty Law Center for its expertise in monitoring right wing domestic terrorist groups. Thompson's report also called on the Department of Homeland Security to establish an advisory council that would include the Center.
Terrorist Watch: 23 Plots Foiled Since 9/11 -- [Heritage Foundation]
Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, 23 terrorist plots against the United States have been foiled. This report updates a November 2007 report from the Heritage Foundation that described 19 plots that had been foiled to date since 9/11. Less than two years later, the U.S. has foiled four more plots aimed at Americans. While some trials have ended in mistrial and charges against some suspects were dropped, significantly more individuals have been convicted and sentenced for their crimes.
These victories make the case for continued U.S. vigilance against terrorism around the globe. While these particular attacks have been disrupted, the threat remains.
NEFA Foundation: AQIM Threatens Attacks on France over Veil Controversy -- [Counterterrorism Blog]
The NEFA Foundation has obtained a new communique from Al-Qaida Committee in the Islamic Maghreb threatening to carry out terrorist attacks against France in revenge for the recent decision by the French government to ban the niqab (a full body veil worn by some conservative Muslim women).
SecDef at Landstuhl -- [Soldiers' Angels Germany]
Nice writeup of the SecDef's visit to Landstuhl with a lot of other interesting background information, so I'm posting the whole thing. Just one quibble: the person the writer calls Dr. Raymond Funk is actually Dr. Fang. And a big shout out to SFC Lawrence, who has been on staff at the MTD as long as I can remember. Good to see him mentioned here. And how cool that Secretary Gates brought two patients back to the US on his plane!
Heartfelt thanks -- [Misuchan's Milblog - in Afghanistan]
Misuchan and the Soldiers in her unit would like to send out a heartfelt thanks and appreciation for all the things that Soldiers Angels, Operation Shoebox, Adopt-a-Soldier, GI Woodshop, Stacy, Mr. Nordloff and family members of the Soldiers for helping us get through very difficult times by sending us the comforts of home. Without your wonderful caring and support, I know quite a few Soldiers who would have some pretty low morale.
Thank you so much for what you do and it will never be forgotten.
Sailors In A Bad Mood Over New Uniforms -- [Strategy Page]
The U.S. Navy, bowing to loud and sustained complaints, now allows sailors living off base, on their way home from work, to get out of their vehicles to perform short errands (picking up dry cleaning, groceries, day care, and so on), while wearing the new navy work uniform (shirt and pants in a gray, blue and black camouflage pattern). Prior to this, navy personnel were forbidden from leaving their vehicles while outside the base, and wearing the work uniform.
Melbourne soldiers back from Afghanistan -- [Florida Today]
Family members and friends waved American flags and held up welcome home banners as the soldiers arrived about 10:30 am to the Melbourne Armory
Coming home from war is no Independence Day picnic for Iraq soliders -- [NJ.com - Paul Rieckhoff]
For Americans, this means that more troops will be coming home, and for that, we should be thankful. But we must be ready to welcome them.
Early Word: A Snafu at The Washington Post -- [NY Times]
Official Washington business may be closed for the holiday weekend, but the city is still buzzing about the news that The Washington Post made, and then had to cancel, plans to charge lobbyists and trade groups as much as $250,000 off-the-record access to "those powerful few" - a group that included the paper's top reporters and editors as well as members of President Obama's administration and Congress.
Media Swing from Protests in Iran to the Passing of the King of Pop -- [Journalism.org]
...So many Google users searched for information about the dead singer that the popular search engine mistook the interest as a potential malware attack. For a short period of time, Google users were greeted with a message that read, "We're sorry, but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application."
The popular communication site Twitter crashed, and Wikipedia experienced more than 500 edits to Jackson's profile in less than 24 hours. AOL's popular instant messenger service went down for approximately 40 minutes and the company released a statement that read, "Today was a seminal moment in Internet history. We've never seen anything like it in terms of scope or depth."
...There were other stories in the news last week. The fourth largest, at 7%, was health care reform, largely focused on negotiations in Congress over President Obama's proposals. The fifth story (also at 7%) was the U.S. economy,
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