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January 12, 2008Use of these news items does not reflect official endorsement.

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IRAN1. Iran Encounter Grimly Echoes ’02 War Game

(New York Times)....Thom ShankerThere is a reason American military officers express grim concern over the tactics used by Iranian sailors lastweekend: a classified, $250 million war game in which small, agile speedboats swarmed a naval convoy to inflictdevastating damage on more powerful warships.

2. Admiral: Iranians Get More Aggressive(Philadelphia Inquirer)....Ken Fireman, Bloomberg NewsThe confrontation this week between Iranian and U.S. naval vessels in the Persian Gulf reflects a "strategic shift"toward more aggressive tactics by Iran, the top American military official said yesterday.

3. Objects From Iranian Boats Posed No Threat, Navy Says(Washington Post)....Robin Wright and Ann Scott Tyson...Although Mullen described last weekend's incident, which occurred when five small Iranian speedboatsapproached three U.S. warships in the Strait of Hormuz, as the most "provocative and dramatic" encounter he couldrecall in the area, the Navy announced a few hours later that two other incidents occurred last month in which itsships had close calls with Iranian speedboats.

4. Who's The Voice On Radio In Iran Standoff?(Seattle Times)....Andrew Scutro and David Brown, Navy TimesThe threatening radio transmission heard at the end of a video showing apparently harassing maneuvers by Iranianpatrol boats in the Strait of Hormuz last weekend may have come not from the Iranian crews, but from a locallyfamous heckler known among ship drivers as the "Filipino Monkey."

5. U.N. Nuclear Official Urges Iran To Clarify ‘Outstanding Issues’(New York Times)....Nazila FathiMohamed ElBaradei, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, on Friday urged Iran to move morequickly to clarify questions about its nuclear activities, the Iranian news agency ISNA reported.

IRAQ6. Fire-Safety Concerns At Iraq Embassy

(Washington Post)....Glenn KesslerThe firefighting system in the massive $736 million embassy complex in Baghdad has potential safety problems thattop U.S. officials dismissed in their rush to declare construction largely completed by the end of last year, accordingto internal State Department documents, e-mails and interviews.

7. Iraq's Tribal Sheiks Offer Peace For A Price(Boston Globe)....Farah StockmanA program that pays Sunni fighters who turn against Al Qaeda in Iraq - a cornerstone of US strategy - has channeled

tens of millions of dollars through tribal sheiks who routinely take a hefty percentage for themselves.

8. Iraqi Soldiers In Sunni Militant Area(Los Angeles Times)....Alexandra Zavis...The two companies from the 1st Iraqi Army Division that arrived from Anbar province were the first Iraqi forces topenetrate the former militant stronghold in more than a year.

9. Iraq Bombing Campaign Deemed A Success: U.S.(Chicago Sun-Times)....Bradley Brooks, Associated PressOne of the largest bombing campaigns of the war destroyed extremists' ''defensive belts'' south of the capital,allowing American soldiers to push into areas where they have not been in years, a top commander said Friday.

10. Bush Won't Commit To Troops Reduction(Seattle Times)....Terence Hunt, Associated PressPresident Bush said Saturday that he has made no decision on bringing more U.S. troops home from Iraq, and if histop commander does not want to go beyond the reduction of forces that's already planned, "that's fine with me."

11. Shiite Calls For Peace With Sunnis(Philadelphia Inquirer)....Steven R. Hurst, Associated PressOne of Iraq's most powerful Shiite political and religious figures yesterday issued a stunning call for the governmentto set aside differences with Sunni Muslim politicians and entice them back to help lead the country.

12. U.S. Troops Turn Police Investigators(Los Angeles Times)....Alexandra ZavisDriving out insurgents and assessing accusations, soldiers in Iraq often have to interview suspects and bag and tagevidence.

13. Snow -- Not Bombs -- Over Baghdad(Los Angeles Times)....Kimi YoshinoFor the first time anyone can remember, flakes fall on the capital. Iraqis express joy -- and even optimism -- at thesight.

PAKISTAN14. Pakistan's Al Qaeda Alarms Pentagon

(Washington Times)....Sara A. CarterThe Pentagon is "extremely concerned" about the emergence of al Qaeda in Pakistan, Adm. Michael Mullen,chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said yesterday.

15. Pakistan Warns U.S. On Attacking Al Qaeda On Its Own(New York Times)....Eric SchmittPresident Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan warned in an interview published Friday that any unilateral attacks by theUnited States against Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in his country’s tribal areas would be treated as an invasion.

ARMY16. Guard Effort Draws Recruits For Army

(Chicago Tribune)....Tribune news servicesA new Army program in which the National Guard helps recruit for the active-duty Army has brought more than 500sign-ups in its first three months, officials said Thursday.

17. 3 Buddies Home From Iraq Are Charged With Murdering A 4th(New York Times)....Dan FroschAfter surviving intense combat in Iraq, Specialist Kevin Shields was killed on what he had thought was friendly soil.His bloody, bullet-riddled body was found by a newspaper deliverer, sprawled on a downtown sidewalk here on Dec.1.

MARINE CORPS

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18. James T. Conway: First To The Fight(Wall Street Journal)....Brendan Miniter...But it's the future of the Corps, not its past, that dominates Gen. Conway's thoughts and our conversation. We metat the Pentagon earlier this week -- just a few days before the one-year anniversary of President Bush's decision to"surge" more troops into Iraq.

19. Missing Marine's Body Found, Authorities Say(Los Angeles Times)....Associated PressAuthorities said Friday that they believed they had found the shallow grave of a pregnant Marine in the backyard of acomrade she accused of rape.

20. Marines Testify Two Ambushes Targeted Them(Raleigh News & Observer)....Estes Thompson, Associated PressTestimony this week from several Marines whose convoy was attacked in Afghanistan shows that their unit'sresponse was justified and that troops didn't fire haphazardly at civilians, an attorney said Friday.

21. Marine Becomes Face Above Crowd(San Diego Union-Tribune)....Liz Neely...Kane was decorated for his actions with a Silver Star, the U.S. military's third-highest honor for valor. And hispicture is on a downtown El Cajon billboard – part of the year-old Hometown Marines program, which honorsmilitary heroes in the towns they are from.

DEFENSE DEPARTMENT22. U.S. DoD, Intel Agencies Forge Joint Acquisition

(Defense News)....John T. BennettSenior Pentagon and U.S. intelligence officials are finalizing the first formal agreements governing how the twocommunities work together on major acquisitions.

GUANTANAMO23. Appeals Court Rejects Suit Of Ex-Detainees Against Officials

(Washington Post)....UnattributedA federal appeals court ruled yesterday that four British men have no right to sue top Pentagon officials and militaryofficers over torture, abuse and violations of their religious rights that they allege to have sustained while detainedfor two years at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

24. Global Protests Demand Close Of Guantanamo(Miami Herald)....Carol RosenbergFrom the gates of U.S. Southern Command in Doral to Europe and beyond, activists donned orange jumpsuits in anorchestrated global protest on the sixth anniversary of the establishment of the terror prison at Guantanamo Bay,Cuba.

25. Yemeni Detainees Stuck At Guantanamo(Seattle Post-Intelligencer)....Michael Melia, Associated PressThe number of men held at Guantanamo Bay is declining rapidly, but there is no way out for most of the Yemenidetainees because their homeland's government and Washington are mired in a diplomatic impasse over securityconcerns.

ASIA/PACIFIC26. Doctors' Double Duty In Afghanistan

(Washington Post)....Avis Thomas-Lester...The doctors, who are natives of Prince George's County, had decided in late 2005 to go on their own to treatcivilians in the war-torn country. As members of the U.S. Army Reserve, they initially sought help from the militaryand the State Department but found no interest. So they worked connections until they found a military officer andan Afghan doctor willing to set them up.

27. Japan Approves Bill On Afghan War

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(New York Times)....Norimitsu OnishiThe Japanese government on Friday pushed through a special law authorizing its navy to resume a refueling missionin the Indian Ocean as part of the American-led military effort in Afghanistan.

28. North Korea: Russia Regrets ‘Slow’ Talks(New York Times)....C. J. ChiversRussia regrets the slowed state of progress in talks on North Korea’s nuclear program but will fulfill its commitmentunder the six-nation agreement to provide North Korea with fuel oil this month so as not to slow diplomatic effortsfurther, a senior Russian diplomat said, according to Russian news reports.

MIDEAST29. Syria Rebuilds On Site Destroyed By Israeli Bombs

(New York Times)....William J. BroadThe puzzling site in Syria that Israeli jets bombed in September grew more curious on Friday with the release of asatellite photograph showing new construction there that resembles the site’s former main building.

AFRICA30. AFRICOM Launches Blog So Anyone Can Sound Off

(European Stars and Stripes)....Charlie Coon...The blog began Dec. 21 with a posting by Gen. William E. Ward, the AFRICOM commander. As of Fridayafternoon, “African Dialogue” had received just 15 postings. But like AFRICOM, it’s a work in progress, accordingto command spokesman Vince Crawley.

VETERANS31. Judge OKs Suit Against VA Over Health Care

(San Francisco Chronicle)....Bob EgelkoVeterans' advocates can proceed with a lawsuit claiming that the federal government's health care system for troopsreturning from Iraq and Afghanistan illegally denies care and benefits, a federal judge in San Francisco ruledThursday.

BUSINESS32. Airbus Pitches Its Plan To Make Jets In The U.S.

(Seattle Times)....Dominic GatesAirbus will play a last-ditch trump card Monday in its bid to beat Boeing for an Air Force refueling tanker contractworth tens of billions of dollars.

33. EADS Set On Buying Mid-Sized US Defence Company(Financial Times)....Gerrit WiesmannEADS, Europe's largest aerospace and defence group, is planning to buy a mid-sized US defence company in thecourse of the year - a move intended to boost its presence in the sector and ease dependence on its Airbus aircraftunit.

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New York TimesJanuary 12, 2008Pg. 11. Iran EncounterGrimly Echoes ’02 WarGameBy Thom Shanker

WASHINGTON — Thereis a reason American militaryofficers express grim concernover the tactics used by Iraniansailors last weekend: aclassified, $250 million wargame in which small, agilespeedboats swarmed a navalconvoy to inflict devastatingdamage on more powerfulwarships.

In the days since theencounter with five Iranianpatrol boats in the Strait ofHormuz, American officershave acknowledged that theyhave been studying anew thelessons from a startlingsimulation conducted inAugust 2002. In that war game,the Blue Team navy,representing the United States,lost 16 major warships — anaircraft carrier, cruisers andamphibious vessels — whenthey were sunk to the bottomof the Persian Gulf in an attackthat included swarming tacticsby enemy speedboats.

“The sheer numbersinvolved overloaded theirability, both mentally andelectronically, to handle theattack,” said Lt. Gen. Paul K.Van Riper, a retired MarineCorps officer who served in thewar game as commander of aRed Team force representingan unnamed Persian Gulfmilitary. “The whole thing wasover in 5, maybe 10 minutes.”

If the attacks of Sept. 11,2001, proved to the public howterrorists could transformhijacked airliners intohostage-filled cruise missiles,then the “MillenniumChallenge 2002” war gamewith General Van Riper was awarning to the armed servicesas to how an adversary couldapply similar, asymmetricalthinking to conflict at sea.

General Van Riper said hecomplained at the time thatimportant lessons of his

simulated victory were notadequately acknowledgedacross the military. But othersenior officers say the wargame and subsequent analysisand exercises helped to focusattention on the threat posed byIran’s small, fast boats, andhelped to prepare commandersfor last weekend’s encounter.

“It’s clear, strategically,where the Iranian military hasgone,” Adm. Mike Mullen, thechairman of the Joint Chiefs ofStaff, told reporters on Friday.“For the years that thisstrategic shift toward theirsmall, fast boats has takenplace, we’ve been very focusedon that.”

In the simulation, GeneralVan Riper sent wave afterwave of relatively inexpensivespeedboats to charge at thecostlier, more advanced fleetapproaching the Persian Gulf.His force of small boatsattacked with machine gunsand rockets, reinforced withmissiles launched from landand air. Some of the smallboats were loaded withexplosives to detonatealongside American warshipsin suicide attacks. That coretactic of swarming played outin real life last weekend,though on a much more limitedscale and without any shotsfired.

According to Pentagonand Navy officials, five smallpatrol boats belonging to Iran’sIslamic Revolutionary GuardsCorps charged a three-shipNavy convoy, maneuveringaround and between anAmerican destroyer, cruiserand frigate during a tensehalf-hour encounter. Thelocation was where the narrowStrait of Hormuz meets theopen waters of the Persian Gulf— the same choke pointchosen by General Van Riperfor his attack.

In the encounter lastSunday, the commander of oneAmerican warship trained anM240 machine gun — whichfires upward of 10armor-piercing slugs persecond — on an Iranian boatthat pulled within 200 yards of

the American vessel. But theIranians turned away before thecommander gave the order tofire.

That was not the case inthe simulation, sponsored bythe military’s Joint ForcesCommand. The victory of theforce modeled after a PersianGulf state — a composite ofIran and Iraq — astoundedsponsors of what was then thelargest joint war-fightingexercise ever held, involving13,500 military members andcivilians battling in nine liveexercise ranges in the UnitedStates, and double that manycomputer simulations toreplicate a number of differentbattles.

General Van Riper’sattack was much more complexand sophisticated than anythingthat could have involved theIranian boats last weekend.The broad outline of the 2002war game was reported at thetime, but in interviews sincelast weekend’s episode,General Van Riper and otherofficers have provided newdetails about the simulation.

In the war game, scores ofadversary speedboats andlarger naval vessels had beenshadowing and hectoring theBlue Team fleet for days. TheBlue Team defenses also facedcruise missiles firedsimultaneously from land andfrom warplanes, as well as theswarm of speedboats firingheavy machine guns androckets — and pullingalongside to detonateexplosives on board.

When the Red Team sankmuch of the Blue navy despitethe Blue navy’s firing of gunsand missiles, it illustrated acheap way to beat a veryexpensive fleet. After the Blueforce was sunk, the game wasordered to begin again, withthe Blue Team eventuallydeclared the victor.

In a telephone interview,General Van Riper recalledthat his idea of a swarmingattack grew from Marine Corpsstudies of the natural world,where insects and animals —from tiny ant colonies to wolf

packs — move in groups tooverwhelm larger prey.

“It is not a matter of sizeor of individual capability, butwhether you have the numbersand come from multipledirections in a short period oftime,” he said.

Although Washington andTehran continue to duel overdetails of the encounter,American officials say theIranians may have beenseeking to provoke a violentconfrontation as PresidentBush was about to visit theregion. Or, the officials say,they might have been hoping totest the American reaction. Yetthere is no certainty that theencounter was ordered by thegovernment in Tehran.

Pentagon officials onFriday said there were twoencounters with small Iranianboats in the region last month.In one, a Navy warship firedwarning shots and in the othera warning whistle wassounded. Both encountersended without injury after theIranian vessels turned away.

Regardless, Americansailors have not forgotten howa small boat that hid amongrefueling and garbage vesselsoff a port in Yemen detonatedalongside the Americandestroyer Cole in October2000, killing 17 Americans andcrippling the warship.

Philadelphia InquirerJanuary 12, 20082. Admiral: IraniansGet More AggressiveThe head of the Joint Chiefssaid Sunday's confrontation atsea - a new U.S. video wasreleased - shows the shift intactics.By Ken Fireman, BloombergNews

The confrontation thisweek between Iranian and U.S.naval vessels in the PersianGulf reflects a "strategic shift"toward more aggressive tacticsby Iran, the top Americanmilitary official said yesterday.

A few hours after Adm.Michael Mullen spoke toreporters at the Pentagon, the

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U.S. Navy released a36-minute video of theincident, showing small Iranianspeedboats maneuvering athigh velocity around Americanwarships.

The Sunday incident wasthe third such encounter in thelast month, and in one duringDecember, a U.S. warship firedwarning shots to ward off anIranian vessel, according to amilitary spokesman.

Mullen, the chairman ofthe Joint Chiefs of Staff, saidU.S. commanders had beenconcerned for some time aboutthe prospect of a moreaggressive Iranian approachbecause responsibility forpatrolling the gulf has passedto the Revolutionary GuardCorps from the regular Iraniannavy.

The Sunday incident, inwhich U.S. officials say threeAmerican warships ininternational waters wereaggressively challenged by fiveIranian speedboats, confirmsthose concerns, Mullen saidduring a Pentagon newsconference.

"We have been focused onthis small fast boat concern forseveral years," Mullen said."It's clearly strategically wherethe Iranian military has gone."

The shift of patrolresponsibility to theRevolutionary Guards in thewaterway used by oil tankers"was a big concern to mebecause of the history and thebackground" of thatorganization, he said. Therecent incident "fit that mold."

The earlier incidentsoccurred Dec. 19 and Dec. 22,according to Navy Lt. JoeHolstead, a spokesman for theU.S. Central Command inTampa, Fla. In the Dec. 19incident, one U.S. warship, theWhidbey Island, fired warningshots at an Iranian vessel toturn it away, Holstead said.

Questions have beenraised about the origin of athreatening radio transmissionreceived by one U.S. warshipduring the Sunday incident.Yesterday, Mullen said thateven if the transmission did not

come from one of the Iranianvessels, the boats' behavior was"overt and very threatening."

If the transmission hadcome from a shore stationoperating in coordination withthe boats, that would also because for concern because itwould show a new level ofIranian tactical sophistication,Mullen said.

The Navy said thetransmission may not haveoriginated from the five Iranianvessels. In the broadcast, whichwas received by one of theU.S. ships in the midst of the20-minute confrontation, avoice warns, "I am coming atyou, you will explode in acouple of minutes."

U.S. and Iranian officialshave sparred for days over thenature of the incident. TheIranians have characterized itas a routine request foridentification. The Americanshave called the Iranian vessels'conduct threatening and saidone U.S. ship was on the vergeof firing before the Iraniansbroke off.

Washington PostJanuary 12, 2008Pg. 113. Objects From IranianBoats Posed No Threat,Navy SaysBy Robin Wright and AnnScott Tyson, Washington PostStaff Writers

After passing the whiteboxes, commanders on theUSS Port Royal and itsaccompanying destroyer andfrigate decided there was solittle danger from the objectsthat they did not bother to radioother ships to warn them, theofficials said.

"The concern was thatthere was a boat in front ofthem putting these objects inthe path of our ships. Whenthey passed, the ships saw thatthey were floating and light,that they were not heavy orsomething that would havecaused damage," such as amine, said Cmdr. LydiaRobertson, a spokeswoman for

the Navy's Fifth Fleet in theGulf.

But the chairman of theJoint Chiefs of Staff, Adm.Michael Mullen, said theincident reflects Iran's shift tosmall craft that canaggressively menace largernaval vessels. "It's clearlystrategically where the Iranianmilitary has gone," Mullensaid. The United States has"been concerned for yearsabout the threat of miningthose straits."

Although Mullendescribed last weekend'sincident, which occurred whenfive small Iranian speedboatsapproached three U.S.warships in the Strait ofHormuz, as the most"provocative and dramatic"encounter he could recall in thearea, the Navy announced afew hours later that two otherincidents occurred last monthin which its ships had closecalls with Iranian speedboats.On Dec. 19, the USS WhidbeyIsland fired warning shotswhen a single Iranian boatcame within 500 yards of it inthe strait. On Dec. 22, the USSCarr emitted warning blasts asthree Iranian vessels sped closeby in the same area, a Navyofficial said.

Despite five days ofquestions about the pattern ofencounters in the Gulf, this isthe first time the Pentagon hasmentioned the Decemberevents. At a briefing Monday,Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff saidU.S. and Revolutionary Guardnaval units come across eachother "regularly."

"For the most part, thoseinteractions are correct. We arefamiliar with their presence;they're familiar with ours. So, Ithink in the time I've been here,I've seen things that are aconcern, and then there'speriods of time -- long periodsof time -- where there's not asmuch going on," Cosgriff toldreporters.

Since the incident onSunday, the United States hasemphasized its concern about anew level of Iranian militarysophistication. "The incident

ought to remind us all just howreal is the threat posed by Iranand just how ready we are tomeet that threat if it comes toit," Mullen told reportersyesterday.

The Pentagon released thefull 36-minute video of theencounter yesterday.Additional close-ups on thefootage show the Iranianspeedboats zipping around theU.S. warships provocatively.None of the boats appears tohave more than a four-mancrew, each wearing an orangelifesaving vest. None of theboats appears to have anymounted weapons.

The USS Port Royal, anAegis cruiser, has a crew ofabout 360 and carries missilelaunchers, torpedoes andartillery. The USS Hopper, aguided-missile destroyer, has acrew of about 350 and is armedwith anti-ship cruise missiles,torpedoes and artillery. TheUSS Ingraham, a frigate, has acrew of about 215 and carriestorpedoes, artillery and twohelicopters. The video shows aU.S. helicopter flying over theIranian boats.

The Navy is sensitiveabout small boats because ofthe 2000 al-Qaeda attack onthe USS Cole as it refueled inYemen, which resulted in thedeath of 17 sailors.

Questions remain aboutthe verbal threat picked up on acommon maritime radiochannel. Pentagon officialsacknowledged that they willprobably not be able todetermine the origin of thevoice that threatened to"explode" an unspecifiedtarget, although a forensicexamination has begun to try todetermine the accent of thespeaker and other details.

Middle East experts, Farsispeakers and Iranians in theUnited States insist that thevoice could not have comefrom Iran. The accent "soundedPakistani, South Asian or anAmerican trying to soundIranian, but it definitely didn'tsound Iranian," said KarimSadjadpour, an Iranian-bornAmerican at the Carnegie

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Endowment for InternationalPeace.

Defense Department presssecretary Geoff Morrell saidthe controversy over the radiothreat missed the point. "If theradio transmission came fromelsewhere, it is yet anotherreason why it is imperative forthe Revolutionary Guards tobehave in a responsiblemanner," he said in aninterview. "We want to preventfuture interactions on the seasfrom escalating intoconfrontations based on anymisunderstanding."

Also yesterday, Mullenvoiced "grave concern" aboutthe al-Qaeda and Talibansanctuary in the tribal areas ofPakistan, which he called abase for planning, training andfinancing worldwideoperations. He said that there isa need for "continued pressure"on the region and that U.S.military operations in the tribalareas make "a lot of sense,"although Pakistan would haveto approve them.

On Afghanistan, Mullensaid sending U.S. troops tofight insurgents there wouldhave "a big impact," but hesaid Defense Secretary RobertM. Gates has not made a finaldecision on a proposal todispatch about 3,000 Marinesto train Afghan troops andfight insurgents in southernAfghanistan this spring. Thetop U.S. commander inAfghanistan, Army Gen. DanMcNeill, was in Washingtonyesterday to discussAfghanistan with Gates.

Staff writer Josh Whitecontributed to this report.

Seattle TimesJanuary 12, 20084. Who's The Voice OnRadio In Iran Standoff?By Andrew Scutro and DavidBrown, Navy Times

The threatening radiotransmission heard at the endof a video showing apparentlyharassing maneuvers byIranian patrol boats in theStrait of Hormuz last weekendmay have come not from the

Iranian crews, but from alocally famous heckler knownamong ship drivers as the"Filipino Monkey."

While the threat — "I amcoming to you. You willexplode in a few minutes" —was picked up during theincident, further jacking up thetension, there's no proof yet ofits origin.

The United States onThursday lodged a formaldiplomatic protest with Iranover the incident Sunday inwhich Iranian speedboats madecontact with U.S. warships inthe Persian Gulf.

Adm. William Fallon, thetop U.S. military commanderin the Mideast, said Friday thatIran runs the risk of triggeringan unintended conflict if itsboats continue to harass U.S.warships in the strait.

The Navy is sensitiveabout small boats because ofthe 2000 al-Qaida attack on theUSS Cole as it refueled inYemen, which resulted in thedeaths of 17 sailors.

Also on Friday, a Navyofficial said that the USSWhidbey Island fired warningshots at a small Iranian boatthat was rapidly approaching itin the Strait of Hormuz on Dec.19 during one of two seriousencounters that month.

In another incident thatmonth, the USS Carr sounded awarning by whistle Dec. 22after it encountered three smallIranian craft, two of whichwere armed, the official said.

Since Sunday's incidentwas announced to the public aday later, the Navy has said it'sunclear where the voice camefrom. In the videotape releasedby the Pentagon on Tuesday,the screen goes black at the endand the voice can be heard,distancing it from the sceneson the water.

"We don't know for surewhere they came from," saidCmdr. Lydia Robertson,spokeswoman for Fifth Fleet inBahrain. "It could have been ashore station."

"Based on my experienceoperating in that part of theworld, where there is a lot of

maritime activity; trying todiscern [who is speaking on theradio channel] is very hard todo," Chief of Naval OperationsAdm. Gary Roughead saidFriday.

Indeed, the voice in theaudio sounds different from theone belonging to an Iranianofficer shown speaking to thecruiser Port Royal over a radiofrom a small open boat in thevideo released by Iranianauthorities. Asked if U.S.officials considered whetherthe threats came from someonebesides the Iranians whenreleasing the video and audio,Roughead said: "The reasonthere is audio superimposedover the video is it gives you abetter idea of what ishappening."

In recent years, Americanships operating in the MiddleEast have had to contend witha mysterious but profane voiceknown as the "FilipinoMonkey," likely more than oneperson, who listens in onship-to-ship radio traffic andthen jumps in, shouting insultsand jabbering vile epithets.Navy women are said to sufferparticularly degradingtreatment.

Rick Hoffman, a retiredcaptain who spent many of his17 years in the Gulf, said hewas subjected to the renegaderadio talker repeatedly duringthe so-called "Tanker Wars" ofthe late 1980s when Iran andIraq were at war.

"For 25 years there's beenthis mythical guy out therewho, hour after hour, shoutsobscenities and threats," hesaid. "He could be tied uppierside somewhere or hecould be on the bridge of amerchant ship."

Additional informationfrom The Associated Press

New York TimesJanuary 12, 20085. U.N. Nuclear OfficialUrges Iran To Clarify‘Outstanding Issues’By Nazila Fathi

TEHRAN — Mohamed

ElBaradei, the chief of theInternational Atomic EnergyAgency, on Friday urged Iranto move more quickly toclarify questions about itsnuclear activities, the Iraniannews agency ISNA reported.

“I discussed with Iran howwe can work together toaccelerate the pace of ourcooperation to clarify alloutstanding issues before myreport in March,” ISNA quotedDr. ElBaradei as saying.

Dr. ElBaradei,accompanied by the atomicagency’s deputy directorgeneral, Olli Heinonen,referred to his two-hour talkswith Gholamreza Aghazadeh,the chief of the Iranian AtomicEnergy Organization, as “frankand friendly.” But he said thatIran needed to make its nuclearactivities more transparent.

“I asked Mr. Aghazadeh togive us maximum assurancesabout all present nuclearactivities,” Dr. ElBaradei wasquoted as saying.

This is Dr. ElBaradei’sfirst visit to Iran since 2006.He has played a crucial role inmediating between Iran and theWest regarding Iran’s nuclearactivities. His trip comes aftera United States NationalIntelligence Estimate releasedin early December said thatIran had suspended its nuclearweapons program in 2003.

Mr. Aghazadeh said thatDr. ElBaradei was expected tomeet Saturday with Iran’ssupreme religious leader,Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whohas the final word on all statematters. Dr. ElBaradei alsoplans to meet with PresidentMahmoud Ahmadinejad onSaturday.

Under the terms of a“work plan” concluded lastsummer, Iran was to have meta series of deadlines to resolveall unanswered questions aboutsuspicious nuclear activitiesover the past two decades.

Tehran has been thesubject of two sets of UnitedNations Security Councilsanctions for refusing tosuspend its uraniumenrichment activities. Enriched

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uranium can be used as nuclearfuel and, if it is enriched tohigher levels, for makingbombs.

Iran has rejectedaccusations by some Westerncountries that it has aclandestine weapons program,and says its program ispeaceful. It currently has 3,000operating centrifuges — themachines that enrich uranium— but it says it wants toincrease the program to 54,000centrifuges.

Ayatollah Khameneilinked the country’s nuclearprogram to national prideduring one of his speeches lastweek in the central city ofYazd. He said that he wasresponsible for resuming thecountry’s enrichment programin 2005 after a two-yearsuspension.

“The enemies wanted totake advantage of ourtemporary and volunteersuspension to undermine ournuclear program,” he wasquoted as saying by ISNA. “Iinsisted that I would step in ifthey continued with theirdemands, and I did, and so ourprogress began.”

Ayatollah Khamenei saidthat the country wanted to beindependent in producing itsfuel. “What if the country thatis giving us fuel now refusesone day to give it to us and setsconditions?” he asked. He wasreferring to Russia, which isproviding fuel for Iran’s firstnuclear plant, in the southerncity of Bushehr.

“Don’t we have tosurrender then?” he said,according to ISNA.

Washington PostJanuary 12, 2008Pg. 16. Fire-Safety ConcernsAt Iraq Embassy'Serious' Problems Ignored,Some SayBy Glenn Kessler, WashingtonPost Staff Writer

Some officials assert thatin the push to complete thelong-delayed project,potentially life-threatening

problems have been leftuntouched. "This is seriousenough to get someone killed,"said a State Departmentofficial, who spoke on thecondition of anonymitybecause he feared retaliation."The fire systems are the tip ofthe iceberg. That is the mostvisible. But no one has everinspected the electrical system,the power plant" and otherparts of the embassy complex,which will house more than1,000 people and is vulnerableto mortar attacks.

Other sources involved inthe project, also requestinganonymity, insist that disputesinvolve technical paperworkissues, largely because thecontractor had never built anembassy and did not realizethat under State Departmentrules it needed approval forsubstituting certain materials.Now, much of that work needsto be reexamined and checked,they said, substantiallydelaying the project'scompletion.

The finger-pointing overfire safety is a microcosm ofthe suspicion that hangs overthe troubled project, which isbuilt on acreage almost fourtimes the size of the Pentagon.Originally expected to becompleted by July 1, 2007, at acost of $592 million, thelargest U.S. diplomatic missionin the world has been plaguedby poor planning, shoddyworkmanship and designchanges that have added to thecost. The Justice Department isconducting a criminalinvestigation of the contractand related subcontracts,sources said.

Patrick F. Kennedy, theundersecretary of state formanagement, said he wasaware of the fire-safetyconcerns. He said that althoughthe project managerdetermined last month that thefacility is substantiallycomplete, it will not beconsidered finished untilKennedy signs the certificateof occupancy.

Kennedy said that the firesystem, "as installed, did not

meet specifications" andneeded to be fixed, and that sofar only the main undergroundwater lines have been certified.The rest of the fire-suppressionsystem is still being examined,he said. "That's why we dothese final inspections andaccreditations," he said. "Youcheck and you check and youcheck."

Some of the problemsbecame apparent when plasticpipes burst during anunderground water-pressuretest last fall. The pipes hadbeen installed by First KuwaitiGeneral Trading &Contracting, the firm in chargeof building the embassycompound. State Departmentfire-safety experts said thefailure highlighted a cascade ofproblems in the embassy'sfire-suppression system thatwould take months to fix,including replacing the plasticpipes with cast-iron ones.

The plastic pipes wereripped out and replaced, andtop officials then turned to anoutside consulting firm for areassessment, StateDepartment documents show.When that consulting firmuncovered additional problemsin October and November, topofficials involved in the projecttried to whittle down the list ofpossible repairs. First Kuwaitithen hired its own consultant toassist with the testing.

Just days before heresigned from the StateDepartment, retired Maj. Gen.Charles E. Williams, the headof State's Overseas BuildingOperations, initialed a keydocument on Dec. 12certifying that the water systemwas working properly.

The Justice Departmentprobe is said to focus on JamesL. Golden, a contract employeewho oversaw the project, andMary M. French, the projectcoordinator based in Baghdad,according to sources andcongressional testimony. BothGolden and French wereviewed by many at State asresistant to questions, and bothhave left the project in recentweeks. Officials in Washington

and Baghdad said theirdepartures have greatlyimproved the atmosphere forthe final inspections.

In an e-mail exchangeobtained by The WashingtonPost, French insisted that FirstKuwaiti's fire-safety consultantnot send reports and data toWashington, even after theconsultant received a requeston Dec. 12 from William G.Miner, the State Department'sdirector of engineering. Minerwrote that he was seeking"some assurance from a fireinspector" that the systemswere working properly.

"The data/report will comethru my office," Frenchinstructed the consultant, whoworked for Baltimore-basedHughes Associates. "It shouldnot be sent directly to Mr.Miner."

Golden did not respond toe-mails, and French declined tocomment. Miner did notrespond to e-mails and phonecalls. A spokesman for FirstKuwaiti also declined tocomment, citing restrictionsunder the company's contract.During construction of theproject, the company has facedallegations of poor buildingand labor practices.

As early as October 2006,State Department fireinspectors raised concernsabout the embassy's alarm andsprinkler systems. Severalsources said the inspectorswere denied permission toreinspect the systems afterGolden and French assuredthem that the problems hadbeen fixed.

Then, in September 2007,the pipes burst during apressure test, and theinspectors discovered thatmany of the problems they hadidentified had been ignored.The inspectors documentedhundreds of violations of thecontract specifications and offire codes and regulations,according to portions of thereport made public by theHouse Oversight andGovernment ReformCommittee in October.

Kennedy this week praised

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State's fire-safety experts as"pros, former fire marshals,who had identified problemsout there so that they could becorrected."

One problem theinspectors raised was that FirstKuwaiti had used plastic pipingfor the water mains. Althoughthe firm's contract, dated May13, 2005, called for plasticpipes, according to a copy, theState Department issued newregulations for embassiesworldwide on Feb. 28, 2006,that insisted on cast-iron pipes.Ordinarily, such a changewould be renegotiated with thecontractor, but French did nottell First Kuwaiti of thechange, according to twosources, and so it installed thewrong piping.

When the StateDepartment inspectorsidentified this and other lapsesin construction, Williams, thehead of overseas building,hired another company,Schirmer Engineering ofChicago, to reinspect thefire-safety system. Schirmerproduced reports on Oct. 22,Oct. 29 and Nov. 1 thatuncovered even moreproblems. Williams andGolden appeared to minimizethe issues in e-mails anddirectives, and then Schirmer'scontract was ended. Williamsdid not respond to a request forcomment, and Schirmerofficials declined to comment.

First Kuwaiti then hiredHughes Associates, though itreceived an e-mail on Nov. 8from a top State Departmentofficial saying that hiring sucha consultant "is not a contractrequirement." The Hughesrepresentative signed adocument stating that hewitnessed a test of thefire-safety system on Dec. 7,but that did not mean he said itwas working properly, saidPhilip J. DiNenno, president ofHughes.

"I am aware of some workdone by the State Departmentinspectors and a contractorhired by State," DiNenno said,adding that Hughes ispreparing a report on the fire

systems. "I guess it wasn'tcoincidental that we heardfrom First Kuwaiti inNovember."

On Dec. 12, Williamsinitialed a statement saying thatthe underground piping for thefire system met requirements.On Dec. 28, project officials inBaghdad notified him thatconstruction of the compound"has been substantiallycompleted in accordance withthe contract plans." Williamsleft the State Department threedays later.

Boston GlobeJanuary 12, 2008Pg. 17. Iraq's Tribal SheiksOffer Peace For A PriceThey skim from top as Sunnisfight Al QaedaBy Farah Stockman, GlobeStaff

WASHINGTON - Aprogram that pays Sunnifighters who turn against AlQaeda in Iraq - a cornerstoneof US strategy - has channeledtens of millions of dollarsthrough tribal sheiks whoroutinely take a heftypercentage for themselves.

US officials tout the factthat the program, credited for adramatic drop in violence, paysformerly unemployed tribalfighters a monthly salary ofabout $300 to secure theirareas against Islamic militants.But US military leaders in Iraqalso acknowledged ininterviews that it is the sheikwho commands the fighterswho initially receives themoney, which can add up to$60,000 a month and $720,000per year for a sheik with 200fighters.

Current and former USofficials privately estimate thatsome sheiks keep 20 percent ormore of the money.

"Some sheiks do takesome off the top," ColonelMartin Stanton, chief ofreconciliation and engagementwith the multinational forces inIraq, acknowledged in atelephone interview. "But that'sjust their cultural model, and

compared to the good its doneand the chance that we have togo forward and bring peace, it'sbeen well worth it."

But as US military forcesdraw down in the comingmonths and make plans to handthe program over to the Iraqigovernment, the funneling ofmoney to Sunni sheiks hasalarmed some US officials andmembers of the Shi'ite-led Iraqigovernment, who fear that theSunnis could resume theirattacks against either thegovernment or Shi'ite militiasif and when the cash dries up.

They say the United Statesneeds to develop a longer-termstrategy to ensure that thesheiks continue to support theIraqi government when the USfunds disappear.

"We're not thinkingthrough the impact of abettingfurther corruption andperpetuating tribal power," saida senior US military adviserwho spoke on the condition ofanonymity.

So far, the US military hasspent $70 million on theprogram, which began lastsummer in the city of Ramadiand swiftly transformed Anbarfrom one of the mostdangerous provinces into oneof the most peaceful. Thepayment program spreadrapidly into other Sunni tribalareas, where Al Qaeda hadformerly found sanctuary. Itnow includes an estimated80,000 individual fighters in300 separate groups known as"concerned citizens councils."

The program has beencredited by US commanders asa key factor in the 60 percentdrop in violence since June, asformer Sunni insurgents joinedUS and Iraqi forces inexpelling terrorists from theirneighborhoods and towns.

But Iraqi officials havelong been wary of the program.Some feel that while the firsttribes to join the program weresincere in their willingness tofight Al Qaeda, many of themore recent ones are simplydoing it for the money.

And US officials haveacknowledged that the strategy

carries the risk of fundingwell-armed Sunni militias thatcould turn against the Shi'itegovernment if the money driesup. To stop that fromhappening, US and Iraqiofficials are now scrambling todevelop a plan to absorb someof the Sunni tribal fighters intoinstitutions controlled by theIraqi government.

So far, the Iraqigovernment has said it wouldaccept about 20 percent of theSunni "concerned citizens" intothe Shi'ite-dominated army orpolice. US officials hope thatas Iraq becomes more peaceful,many of the remaining mencan be transitioned as soon asnext summer into a newlycreated Civilian Service Corpsmodeled after theDepression-era US work crewsof the 1930s. The USgovernment has budgeted $150million to pay the Sunni tribalgroups this year and the Iraqigovernment has pledged asimilar amount.

But critics in both theUnited States and Iraqigovernments note that themoney won't last forever. Andeven if many of the low-skilledfighters are given peaceful jobswith paychecks, the sheiksstand to lose huge amounts ofincome if their fightersdisperse.

"I definitely think thatwould bring some challenges"if the sheiks' funding were cut,acknowledged LieutenantColonel Robert Balcavage,commander of a battalion inthe 25th Infantry Divisionstationed south of Baghdad.

Balcavage said theAmericans have to persuadeShi'ite leaders to accept moreSunnis into the governmentand military. Once the fightersare integrated into the Iraqiforces, the United States canbegin to scale back its funds.

Few places better illustratethe achievements and thepotential for corruption of theprogram than Jurf As Sukhr, aSunni farming town 25 milessouth of Baghdad, whereBalcavage met last fall withSheik Sabah Al-Janabi, a

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former enemy of theAmericans, and signed him upto help secure the area.

For years, the town hadbeen an insurgent stronghold.Last spring, Balcavage'ssoldiers were attacked on adaily basis. The new policestation was bombed byinsurgents two weeks after itopened. The local electricitytower, known as Tower 57,which channels about 10percent of Baghdad's power,was blown up each time it wasrebuilt.

But in late August, Sabahapproached Balcavage. Thesheik complained bitterly thatAl Qaeda militants wereforcing his tribe's daughtersinto marriage and kidnappingtheir sons. He said he hadheard about the funds thatAmericans were giving sheiksin Anbar to fight Al Qaeda.

For two weeks, Balcavagehaggled with Sabah. Finally,the American commanderagreed to pay Sabah theequivalent of $300 a month foreach of 175 fighters - $52,500 -to secure the town and somemain roads. Sabah alsorecruited sub-sheiks who werepaid similar amounts to securetheir own areas. By November,4,000 tribal fighters in the areawere on Balcavage's payroll.

The new forces gave USand Iraqi forces the protectionthey needed to push north intoareas that had previously beentoo dangerous to enter. Theymoved up the Euphrates River,clearing out militants andweapons.

"It was extremelysuccessful," said ThomasTimberman, a former leader ofthe Provincial ReconstructionTeam that was embedded withBalcavage's brigade.

Within weeks, Jurf AsSukhr came back to life,Timberman said. Shops openedand crowds gathered onceagain on the streets. WithBalcavage's help, theShi'ite-led governmentappointed Sabah the mayor.Now, a steady stream ofAmerican visitors marvel at theprogress. Attacks by explosives

fell from 56 last January to sixin October, Balcavage said.Mortar attacks fell from 27 inJanuary to one in October. Andtribal fighters have guardedTower 57, which has remainedstanding for months.

But US officials alsoacknowledge that Sabah wastaking an "administrative fee"for bringing the peace.Timberman said he did notknow the percentage, butadded: "Even 5 percent couldamount to real money."

Balcavage said the sheikwas free to use the moneyhowever he chose. "We toldthe sheiks up front: 'We are notgoing to pay the individuals.This is about Iraqi leaderstaking responsibility for theirareas. It is up to you todistribute the money.' "

He said the payments havesaved lives. "Because itincludes the leadership of thesheiks, I think it is more likelyto succeed than to merelysuperimpose a US governancedirectly onto them," Balcavagesaid.

Joost Hiltermann, aspecialist on Iraq with theInternational Crisis Group, saidpaying off tribal warlords isthey way "things have beendone in Iraq for a long time."But he warned that the strategyhas often backfired - eitherbecause the sheiks become toocorrupt and lose control of thearea, or because they shiftallegiances once the paymentsrun out.

Los Angeles TimesJanuary 12, 20088. Iraqi Soldiers InSunni Militant AreaTroops set up a base in hopesthey can take over securityfrom U.S. forces.By Alexandra Zavis, LosAngeles Times Staff Writer

HEMBIS, IRAQ—Singing and cheering, Iraqisoldiers rolled through snowand sleet in open trucks Fridayto set up a base on the outskirtsof the reputed nerve center ofSunni militants who had forcedthe northern Diyala River

valley into their self-styledIslamic caliphate.

The two companies fromthe 1st Iraqi Army Divisionthat arrived from Anbarprovince were the first Iraqiforces to penetrate the formermilitant stronghold in morethan a year.

U.S. commanders hope theIraqis can quickly take oversecurity responsibility there tofree up their forces, whichlaunched a nationwide pushthis week against the Sunnimilitant group Al Qaeda inIraq.

Meanwhile in Baghdad onFriday, an influential Shiiteleader in Iraq's ruling politicalalliance called for Sunni andsecular parties to rejoin thegovernment and help breakmonths of deadlock.

Ammar Hakim, the son ofAbdelaziz Hakim, the head ofthe Supreme Islamic IraqiCouncil, urged former interimPrime Minister Iyad Allawi'ssecular parliamentary bloc andthe Iraqi Accordance Front, thelargest Sunni political bloc, toretake their place in thegovernment.

Representatives of theblocs denied that they had anyplans to return to thegovernment.

U.S. intelligence reportsindicated that about 200insurgents had been holed upin the Diyala River valley,some of them displaced byU.S. operations in Baghdadand the provincial capital,Baqubah.

As U.S. soldiers went fromvillage to village, residentsidentified Hembis as the basefrom which the militantsenforced their rigid brand ofIslam on surrounding villages.

But by the time thesoldiers of Company I, 3rdSquadron, 2nd Stryker CombatTeam, took control of the townWednesday, most of thefighters had melted away.

Local leaders toldAmerican soldiers that theinsurgents began relocatingafter a number of them werekilled in a U.S. air assault lastmonth.

They left behind bombsburied in the roads and housesrigged to explode. U.S. soldiersfound a car-bomb factoryaround the corner from themosque, and threebooby-trapped housessurrounding a nearbycourtyard. The sites weredestroyed with controlledexplosions that echoed acrossthe town.

U.S. forces believe someinsurgents remain hiddenamong the population. Twofreshly planted bombs werefound Friday along a majorroad through the valley thatU.S. forces had cleared.

Backed by U.S. infantry,the Iraqi soldiers moved intoan abandoned school on theoutskirts of Hembis, a muddytown inhabited by orange,pomegranate and date-palmfarmers.

Within hours, Iraqisoldiers were headed out ontheir first mission: to search amosque that U.S. soldiers saidhad been taken over by themilitants and used to issue theirdecrees.

The Iraqi soldiers got amixed reception. The region ishome to many former officersof Saddam Hussein's army,whose families resent thereligious extremists and areeager to have Iraqi soldiers intheir villages to protect them.

But others in theoverwhelmingly Sunni regionare suspicious of thepredominantly Shiite securityforces.

The soldiers, who saidthey had learned where theywere going only two days ago,appeared to chafe at thesecrecy surrounding their jointoperations with U.S. forces.

The Americans arereluctant to brief their Iraqicounterparts much in advancebecause there have beenfrequent leaks of their plans.

"If we are doing a missionwith you, you need to tell us allthe details," a companycommander, 1st Lt. MulazimMohammed, chided U.S.soldiers when they turned up atthe school asking for two

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platoons to search the mosque.But the Iraqis also

appeared eager to make animpact. Within an hour,soldiers armed with U.S.-madeM-16 rifles and grenadelaunchers were lined up outsidethe mosque, a tan building witha dark green dome. U.S.soldiers in Stryker armoredvehicles guarded the periphery.

Another companycommander, who gave hisname only as 1st Lt. Waleed,knocked three times on thegate before sending his soldiersin to secure the grounds. Themosque attendant was sent forand he arrived, trembling, tounlock the building.

One Iraqi soldieraccidentally discharged hisweapon as he entered thecompound, and anotherdropped a rocket-propelledgrenade, causing some waryAmericans to keep theirdistance.

Nothing was found at themosque or the school nextdoor.

Elsewhere, U.S. soldiersspent much of the day meetingwith community leaders,urging them to set up citizens'forces to help secure theirvillages. The decision of morethan 70,000 Sunni and Shiitetribesmen to help U.S. forcesfight the militants they oncetolerated is credited withhelping reduce violencenationwide by about 60% sinceJune, according to U.S. figures.

In the village of SinsilTharia, the white-beardedimam shook his head withworry. Masked gunmen hadparaded through the villagewith a severed head andwarned the people that theycould meet the same fate ifthey tried to organize their ownsecurity force, he said.

"People here are afraid,"said Imam Abid Hassim. "Theysay the Americans are going toleave and the terrorists will beback."

Also Friday, a car bombexploded near a bakery in eastBaghdad, killing four people.

Times staff writer NedParker in Baghdad contributed

to this report.

Chicago Sun-TimesJanuary 12, 2008Pg. 119. Iraq BombingCampaign Deemed ASuccess: U.S.Shiite leader makes unityappealBy Bradley Brooks, AssociatedPress

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Oneof the largest bombingcampaigns of the wardestroyed extremists'''defensive belts'' south of thecapital, allowing Americansoldiers to push into areaswhere they have not been inyears, a top commander saidFriday.

The day before, two B1-Bbombers and four F-16 fighterjets dropped 48precision-guided bombs on 47targets, U.S. Air Force Col.Peter Donnelly said. Thetargets consisted mainly ofweapons caches and roadsidebombs buried deepunderground -- key defensiveelements for al-Qaida in Iraqinsurgents, said Donnelly andArmy Col. Terry Ferrell.

Extremists were thought tohave controlled Arab Jabour, aSunni district lined with citrusgroves, but Ferrell said ''thepredominant number'' havenow fled to the southwest.

Later Friday, one of Iraq'smost powerful Shiite politicaland religious figures called forthe government to set asidedifferences with Sunni Muslimpoliticians and entice themback to help lead the country.

The appeal by Ammaral-Hakim, the son andheir-apparent to the head ofIraq's main Shiite politicalbloc, increased pressure onPrime Minister Nouri al-Malikito bring Sunni factions backinto the fold as part ofWashington-backed efforts atsectarian reconciliation.

Seattle TimesJanuary 12, 200810. Bush Won't Commit

To Troops ReductionBy Terence Hunt, AssociatedPress

President Bush saidSaturday that he has made nodecision on bringing more U.S.troops home from Iraq, and ifhis top commander does notwant to go beyond thereduction of forces that'salready planned, "that's finewith me."

"The only thing I can tellyou is we're on track for whatwe've said was going tohappen," Bush said, referringto plans to withdraw some30,000 troops from Iraq byJuly. He spoke at a sprawling,dusty brown U.S. military basehere, the largest in Kuwait andhome to 9,000 Americantroops.

Bush said the additionaltroops he ordered to Iraq oneyear ago has turned the countryinto a place where "hope isreturning." And he predicted aU.S. force presence in Iraq thatwould long outlast hispresidency.

"We must do all we can toensure that 2008 will bringeven greater progress," Bushtold reporters.

He said long-term successin Iraq is vital to stability in theMideast, and warned that theUnited States should not turnits back on its friends.

Bush maintained hislong-held stance that a furtherreduction in force levels willdepend on conditions in Iraq,and that he would defer to thetop U.S. commander there,Gen. David Petraeus, who isscheduled to make arecommendation in March.

"My attitude is if he didn'twant to continue thedrawdown, that's fine withme," Bush said.

The top two Americanauthorities in Iraq _ Petraeusand Ambassador Ryan Crocker_ are due to give Congress anew update on the war inMarch.

After their report inSeptember, Bush announced hewould withdraw some troopsfrom Iraq by July _ essentiallythe 30,000 sent as part of a

buildup ordered a year ago _but still keep the U.S. levelthere at about 130,000.

The war remains deeplyunpopular to the U.S. publicand to Democratic leaders inCongress, who have beenunable to force Bush's hand ontroop withdrawals.

U.S. commanders credit aSunni backlash againstal-Qaida in Iraq with helpingreduce violence over the pastsix months. But devastatingattacks persist even as Iraqicasualties are down by 55percent nationwide since June2007, according to anAssociated Press count.

So far, nine of 18 Iraqiprovinces have reverted fromU.S. military to Iraqi securitycontrol, although the handoverhas gone slower than the Bushadministration once hoped,mainly because of obstacles todeveloping sufficient Iraqipolice and army forces. AnbarProvince _ once a hotbed ofinsurgency activity _ isexpected to revert to Iraqicontrol in March, a top U.S.commander said this week.

Bush said he and his topgeneral didn't talk aboutspecific troop levels. Instead,Bush said they discussed theparameters for continuing toassess the situation leading intothe March report, includingBush's edict that "any positionhe recommends needs to bebased upon success."

"That's what happened thelast time," he said.

"It's that same priniciplethat's going to guide mydecision. I made that clear tothe general," Bush said.

He defended his decision ayear to order a buildup oftroops to Iraq, the one that isnow scheduled to essentiallyphase out by this summer.

"The new way forward Iannounced a year ago changedour approach in fundamentalways," he said. "Iraq is now adifferent place from one yearago."

Bush also defended theprogress made by the centralgovernment in Baghdad, whichhas lagged in passing

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legislative reforms seen as keyto tamping down the sectarianviolence that still plagues thecountry and hampers otherprogress.

"What they've gonethrough to where they are nowis good progress," Bush said,adding it still isn't enough.

"I'm not making excusesfor the government," he added."They have got more work todo."

Bush's comments cameduring an eight-day trip to theregion, as he pivoted fromMideast peacemaking to thewar that has defined hispresidency.

Afterward, Bush gaveabout five minutes ofthank-you remarks to cheeringtroops at the base.

"It's hard work that you'redoing. But it's necessarywork," the president told them."There is no doubt in my mindthat we will succeed. There isno doubt in my mind that whenhistory is written, the finalpage will say, `Victory wasachieved by the United Statesof America for the good of theworld.'"

En route to Kuwait onFriday, the United Statesdampened hopes for swiftagreement on a Mideast peacedeal, as Secretary of StateCondoleezza Rice cautionedagainst expecting a "blindingflash" of Arab backing forcooperation with Israel, theirhistoric enemy.

Bush began the nextchapter of his journey inKuwait, the first of five Arabcountries on an itinerary aimedat pressing them to supportPalestinian leader MahmoudAbbas in any deal he strikeswith Israel. Bush landed hereafter two days of talks in Israeland the Palestinian-governedWest Bank. Traveling with thepresident, Rice said, "Therewill be a period of time,undoubtedly, in which the twosides continue to be very farapart."

But, she said, "There isreason to be hopeful that theycan make a major move to endthe conflict."

Bush will notify Congresson Monday of his intent to sell$20 billion in weapons,including precision-guidedbombs, to Saudi Arabia,moving up the announcementto coincide with the president'sarrival in Riyadh, a seniorofficial told The AssociatedPress in Washington. Theofficial announcement willkick off a 30-day review periodduring which Congress couldtry to block the sale, which hasraised concern among somelawmakers.

Arriving at the airport inKuwait, the president got aceremonial red-carpet welcomeand was presented with abouquet of flowers. But he sawnothing like the torrent ofpublic adulation showered onhis father in a visit 15 yearsago.

The tiny, oil-rich nation atthe top of the Persian Gulf wasinvaded by Iraq's SaddamHussein and liberated by aU.S.-led war ordered by Bush'sfather in 1991. Now, Kuwait isa major hub for U.S. troops andequipment deployed to Iraq.

At a palace surrounded bypalm trees, Bush met with theemir, Sheik Sabah Al AhmedAl Sabah. He told Bush he wasdelighted to have him inKuwait. "We are equallydelighted to see you workingon issues that are veryimportant to all of us here,"Sheik Sabah said. It was notclear what issues he meant.

Like other Gulf Arabnations, Kuwait is nervousabout tensions between theUnited States and Iran, anduneasy with the rise of Tehran.Kuwaitis also fear sectarianviolence in Iraq could spillover their border.

Philadelphia InquirerJanuary 12, 200811. Shiite Calls ForPeace With SunnisThe message of unity puts newpressure on Maliki to have amore inclusive government.By Steven R. Hurst, AssociatedPress

BAGHDAD - One of

Iraq's most powerful Shiitepolitical and religious figuresyesterday issued a stunning callfor the government to set asidedifferences with Sunni Muslimpoliticians and entice themback to help lead the country.

The appeal by Ammaral-Hakim, the son andheir-apparent of the head ofIraq's main Shiite politicalbloc, sharply increasedpressure on Prime MinisterNouri al-Maliki to bring Sunnifactions back into the fold aspart of Washington-backedefforts at sectarianreconciliation.

It also could push Maliki'sgovernment to accelerate stepsto integrate armed Sunnigroups that have joined thefight against al-Qaeda in Iraqand other extremists. TheUnited States has credited theso-called Awakening Councilswith helping uproot insurgentsand has urged Iraq's Shiiteleadership to reward the newSunni allies with security forceposts.

The Awakening Councilsplayed a role in a major U.S.offensive this week, anoperation that included one ofthe most intense air strikes ofthe war. A top U.S.commander said Thursday'sbombing blitz allowed U.S.soldiers to push into areaswhere they had not been inyears.

The United States is alsocounting on political supportfrom Hakim and his father,Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, theleader of the Supreme IslamicIraqi Council. The elderHakim, a close ally to theUnited States since the 2003invasion, has been diagnosedwith lung cancer. His son, amoderate Shiite like his father,has taken an increasingly vocalrole.

"I hope that thegovernment will take allneeded measures to secure" thereturn of key Sunni politicalgroups, Ammar Hakim saidfrom the pulpit of Burathamosque. The main Sunnipolitical organization, theAccordance Front, and the

secular Iraqi List left thegovernment after disputes overMaliki's leadership.

But in a bid to addressboth sides of Iraq'sSunni-Shiite sectarian split,Hakim also said Maliki neededto reach out to "our brothers"in two Shiite parties that aredeeply at odds with the primeminister. One is the religiousFadhilah party and the other isthe powerful movement led bycleric Muqtada al-Sadr. RivalShiite groups have wagedbloody power struggles forpreeminence in oil-richsouthern Iraq.

"Our strength is in ourunity," Hakim said. "Thebigger the circle ofparticipation, the stronger wewill be in solving ourproblems.

"I call on lawmakers tospeed the passage of keylegislation," he said, referringto measures on sharing Iraq'soil wealth, on regionalelections and on the return tothe government of figures fromthe Saddam Hussein era.

His pointed words echoedfrustration voiced by many inIraq and the United States overwhat appears to befoot-dragging by Maliki andthe country's fracturedparliament to adopt reforms.

Los Angeles TimesJanuary 12, 200812. U.S. Troops TurnPolice InvestigatorsDriving out insurgents andassessing accusations, soldiersin Iraq often have to interviewsuspects and bag and tagevidence.By Alexandra Zavis, LosAngeles Times Staff Writer

DIYALA RIVERVALLEY, IRAQ —A stockyman in a dusty dishdasha andred-checked scarf squattedunder a tree as U.S. soldiersdug up his yard looking forweapons or other incriminatingevidence.

Staff Sgt. Mario Cavazosknelt in front of him in thefinger-numbing cold.

"The reason we are here is

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because we have heard fromtownspeople that you havebeen kidnapping people. Is thattrue?" he asked through aninterpreter.

"No, I swear," the suspectsaid, shaking his headvigorously. "If you findanything here you can take meaway or shoot me in the head."

U.S. and Iraqi forcesrolling into the northern DiyalaRiver valley this week haveencountered bombs in theroads and a booby-trappedhouse that resulted in thedeaths of six American troopsand their Iraqi interpreter. Butfor the soldiers of 3rd Platoon,Company H, of the Army's 3rdSquadron, 2nd Stryker CavalryRegiment, the offensive in anotorious insurgent redoubt hasturned into a veritableCSI-Iraq.

In this case, a frightenedfamily grieving over the deathof a kidnapped brother nameda former neighbor as theperpetrator, sending thesoldiers on a murky trailreplete with pent-up bitterness,fears and suspicions in ahamlet long under the sway ofSunni Arab insurgents.

Since U.S.-led forcesinvaded Iraq nearly five yearsago, the job of soldiering hasbeen transformed. Troopstrained to kick down doors andshoot the enemy spend just asmuch time bagging and taggingevidence, photographing raidscenes and grilling suspects.

At the start of the war, anaccusation such as the onemade Thursday might havebeen sufficient for the suspectto be sent indefinitely to aU.S.-operated detentionfacility. But these days, theU.S. military is concerned withensuring there is enoughevidence to obtain a convictionin an Iraqi court, where manysuspects end up. That meansAmerican soldiers oftenassume the job of policeinvestigators, even in the midstof an assault.

Recognizing thatinsurgents are constantlywatching and adapting to U.S.tactics, soldiers are also trained

to do their own investigativework so they can quickly acton leads without waiting for anexpert to reach the scene.

The man accusedThursday of collaborating withSunni insurgents said he wasone of seven brothers who ownorange groves in the isolatedregion north of Muqdadiya,known as the breadbasket ofIraq.

A dump truck parked infront of his compound andsigns of construction caughtthe eye of the soldiers. AlQaeda in Iraq, a Sunniinsurgent group that U.S.intelligence says is foreign-led,is reputed to pay itscollaborators well. But despitethe signs of money being spent,the suspect said he wasn'tearning anything currentlybecause it was winter.

The search of his propertyturned up scant evidence: anempty pistol holder in a car andtwo large daggers buriedbehind the house.

His mother andsisters-in-law said he was agood man who provided forthem all. As a result, theplatoon leader, 1st Lt. DouglasLocke, decided he should askthe man's accusers to identifyhim from a photograph andmake signed statements.

"I still want to make surethis isn't some kind of bloodfeud," Locke said. "You knowhow 'he stole my car' turns into'he's a terrorist.' "

For soldiers trying tonavigate a foreign languageand culture in a region rarelyvisited by U.S. forces, tellingfriend from foe is a constantchallenge. To build the trust ofvillagers who can identify theinsurgents in their midst, thesoldiers need to exercisemaximum restraint. Yet onemistake can cost a soldier's life.

"The problem is you cannever tell -- until you aregetting shot," said Spc. IgnacioHernandez.

The suspect was told to gowith the soldiers for furtherquestioning at the temporarybase they had set up in aspacious villa. Women in long

black robes, huddled with theirchildren in a corner of the yard,wept and pleaded as he wastaken away, but he wentwillingly without handcuffs.

At the base, a militaryintelligence officer conductedmore detailed questioning.Then, the soldiers left in searchof his accusers.

As they walked information along a canal withpaddling ducks, villagers cameout of homes and shops tostare. A few gave thumbs-upsigns and said, "Good, Good."But one young boy in thedistance picked up a stone andthrew it toward them.

The last time many ofthem had seen a U.S. soldierwas more than a year ago, theysaid. In that time, maskedgunmen had taken over,enforcing strict Islamic law andthreatening to behead villagerswho did not cooperate.

"We were afraid to go out.We couldn't work because ofAl Qaeda," said a man at theaccusers' house.

He pointed to a smallblack-and-white photographhanging on the wall. "Theykidnapped and killed mybrother," he said, sittingcross-legged on the carpetedfloor of a sparsely furnishedreception room.

When Locke showed hima digital picture of the suspect,the man nodded, identified himby name and said that he haduntil recently worked for theinsurgents.

He said he had seenmasked gunmen visit thesuspect's home when he livedjust down the road and hadglimpsed him driving in theinsurgents' cars.

The suspect's two brothers,reputed Al Qaeda in Iraqfighters, were killed in a U.S.airstrike on the house, the mansaid. He had also heard that thesuspect was part of akidnapping-for-ransom ring.

The man's brother, asolemn 17-year-old with thehint of a mustache,corroborated the account.Bitterly, he recalled how thesuspect used to threaten their

brother in the street for goingto college. Soon after, thebrother disappeared.

"They never gave us thebody," the elder brother said, aserious affront because Islamictradition requires that a personbe buried within 24 hours.

Both balked when asked togive signed statements,terrified that the militantswould find out.

Locke told them that theonly people who would seetheir statements were theAmericans and the Iraqi courtsystem and that their accountwasn't trustworthy withoutthem. Reluctantly, they agreedto sign.

Before the soldiers left, theelder brother turned to areporter and pleaded inEnglish, "Please, no name." Hethen ran a finger across hisneck to show what he believedwould happen to him.

With the two handwrittendocuments, the soldiersthought they had enough tohold the suspect. But theydecided to make one more stopto seek the opinion of a localleader, known as the mukhtar.

The elderly man wrappedin a fraying tweed coatreceived them on a bench in hisyard.

"His house is far from ourhouses, so the people say manybad things about him," themukhtar said. "But there are noeyewitnesses. So you mustdecide."

His son explained that itcould be dangerous for them tosay more.

That night, more formswere filled in and the suspectwas sent to a U.S. detentionfacility, the first step towardprocessing him into the Iraqicourt system.

"It's kind of like chasing aghost sometimes," Locke said."There wasn't hard evidence,like a machine gun under hisbed. But I think there wereenough people saying he isbad."

Los Angeles TimesJanuary 12, 2008

page 13

From The Blogs13. Snow -- Not Bombs-- Over BaghdadFor the first time anyone canremember, flakes fall on thecapital. Iraqis express joy --and even optimism -- at thesight.By Kimi Yoshino, Los AngelesTimes Staff Writer

BAGHDAD —When Iwalked into the newsroom ofour little Baghdad Bureau onFriday morning, I was greetedby something I had seen littleof since I arrived a couple ofweeks ago: huge smiles and anemotion that seemed a lot likejoy.

"Guess what!" exclaimedone of the interpreters, UsamaRedha. "It snowed thismorning! It's never snowedhere before!"

I yanked open the slidingglass door. It wasbone-chillingly cold, but all Icould see were wet streets androoftops. To my eyes, the viewwas the same: ugly anddepressing. No blankets ofpure white snow. No fallingflakes.

But oh, how little credit Igave the simple act of nature Ihad slept right through.

The guys in the officerecounted their stories.Interpreter Saif Rasheed'smother woke him up to deliverthe good news. Khalid, whocleans the rooms at ourcompound, said it was snowingon his way to work."Dazzling," he said, soamazing that even Iraqisoldiers and police officerssnapped photos with theircellphones.

Usama's friend called himat 7 a.m.: "Wake up! Wake up!Look to the sky. You will beastonished!" Usama, of course,became immediately fearful.After all, just the day before,the U.S. military dropped about49,000 pounds of bombs ontargets on the southern edge ofBaghdad.

"Just go out and see," hisfriend told him.

He walked outside, pasthis 5-year-old son, who was

perched on the windowsill,laughing excitedly. "I alwaysread about it and saw it onTV," Usama said. "I wanted apiece of it to fall on me, just tofeel it."

It never snows inBaghdad. No one canremember the last time. ButIraqis look for hope whereverthey can find it. Our cook,Jameelah, told me it makes heroptimistic about the future. Thesnow is good luck. Someresidents even said it meanspeace is coming.

I asked Jameelah whethershe believed that.

"Inshallah," she said. Godwilling.

Washington TimesJanuary 12, 2008Pg. 114. Pakistan's Al QaedaAlarms PentagonMusharraf warns againstunilateral U.S. actionBy Sara A. Carter, WashingtonTimes

The Pentagon is"extremely concerned" aboutthe emergence of al Qaeda inPakistan, Adm. MichaelMullen, chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff, said yesterday.

"There are concerns nowabout how much [al Qaeda]turned inward, literally, insidePakistan, as well as the kind ofplanning, training, financingand support that the worldwideeffort is," Adm. Mullen said.

"So, [the Pentagon is]extremely, extremelyconcerned about that, and Ithink continued pressure therewill have to be brought," hesaid.

Adm. Mullen added,however, that "Pakistan is asovereign country and certainlyit's really up to ... PresidentMusharraf and certainly hisadvisers and his military toaddress that problem directly."

Pakistan's large tribalregion, situated along theborder with Afghanistan, haslong been a serious concern forU.S. intelligence officials whosuspect al Qaeda is establishingtraining camps in the region

and recruiting fighters from asfar away as Europe and Africa.

U.S. intelligence officialssuggest that the area is anoperational command centerfor al Qaeda's senior leaders,including Osama bin Ladenand his deputy, Aymanal-Zawahri.

In recent months, U.S.officials began putting pressureon Pakistan over mountingconcern that al Qaeda's strongpresence along the border isdestabilizing progress that hasbeen made in Afghanistan.

Recent reports that theCIA and U.S. military want tobegin covert operations inPakistan to target al Qaedahave been criticized byPakistani officials, whocontend that U.S. forces shouldnot enter unless invited.

Pakistan's PresidentPervez Musharraf yesterdaytold the Straits Times, an EastAsian newspaper, that U.S.military presence would not bewelcomed unless assistancewas requested by Pakistan.

"Nobody will come hereuntil we ask them to come.And we haven't asked them,"he said in the interview.

Mr. Musharraf said aunilateral intervention wouldbe seen as an invasion.

"Certainly, if they comewithout our permission, that'sagainst the sovereignty ofPakistan," Mr. Musharraf said.

The United Statescurrently has more than 26,000troops in Afghanistan, morethan 50 percent of the totalforce provided by NATO,according to information fromthe House Armed ServicesCommittee.

On Thursday, Pakistan'sAmbassador Mahmud AliDurrani told editors andreporters at The WashingtonTimes that thwarting terrorismis a core issue for hisgovernment.

He said that despite reportsthat terrorists are enteringAfghanistan from strongholdsin Pakistan, it is in fact a"reverse flow" with terroristsentering Pakistan from theoutside and recruiting members

within.Mr. Durrani added that the

Pakistani military is capable ofhandling the growing threat ofal Qaeda in the region and thatdiscussions to send U.S. troopsinto Pakistan, regardless of Mr.Musharraf's permission, are"not helpful to Musharraf; theyare not helpful to Pakistan;they are not helpful forPakistan-U.S. relations."

"We never said we don'tneed any help," Mr. Durraniadded. "We've defiantly saidwe don't need anyinterference."

There are nearly 100,000Pakistani troops in the vasttribal area, said Mr. Durrani,comparing his nation's troopnumbers with a much smallerU.S. presence in Afghanistan.

"Pakistan has caught,captured, killed the most alQaeda people in this world," hesaid. "We've had the mostcasualties in our region. We'restill having casualties inPakistan. ... We are continuingto battle this."

Meanwhile, Pentagonofficials are debating whetherto send an additional 3,000troops to Afghanistan.

Adm. Mullen said DefenseSecretary Robert M. Gates "isconsidering" the proposal tosend more troops but thedecision has not yet beenmade.

Rep. Duncan Hunter,California Republican andranking member of the HouseArmed Services Committee,warned NATO membersyesterday that the U.S. is doingmore than its share inAfghanistan, and asked NATOmembers to contribute to theeffort or risk losing "lucrativedefense contracts offered byU.S. taxpayers."

He added that the U.S.should not bear the burden ofsending more troops toAfghanistan when someNATO allies fail to followthrough with theircommitments.

"The U.S. Department ofDefense is considering thedeployment of 3,000 U.S.Marines to Afghanistan, as a

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result of our NATO allies'inability to support the combatmission," Mr. Hunter's lettersaid. "In the eyes of Congress,it is unacceptable that theUnited States must continue todig deeper into its militaryforce when some of our NATOallies are unwilling to fulfill ormake robust commitments tothe international effort inAfghanistan."

New York TimesJanuary 12, 200815. Pakistan Warns U.S.On Attacking Al QaedaOn Its OwnBy Eric Schmitt

WASHINGTON —President Pervez Musharraf ofPakistan warned in aninterview published Friday thatany unilateral attacks by theUnited States against Al Qaedaand Taliban fighters in hiscountry’s tribal areas would betreated as an invasion.

But Mr. Musharraf alsoleft open the possibility ofAmerican and Pakistani forcesworking together in broadercombined operations to kill orcapture senior Qaeda leadersbelieved to be hiding in therugged border area nearAfghanistan.

“You’re talking aboutOsama bin Laden; any actionagainst him will be free, if weknow where he is, if we havegood intelligence,” Mr.Musharraf told The StraitsTimes of Singapore. “Themethodology of getting himwill be discussed together, andwe’ll attack the targettogether.”

Asked in the interviewabout a proposal under reviewby President Bush’s seniornational security advisers toexpand the authority of theCentral Intelligence Agencyand the military to conduct farmore aggressive covertoperations in the tribal areas,Mr. Musharraf said he wouldoppose the conduct ofunilateral strikes by Americanforces without Pakistaniapproval.

“Nobody will come hereuntil we ask them to come, andwe haven’t asked them,” Mr.Musharraf said in his firstpublic statements about theproposal, which was reportedin The New York Times onSunday.

“Certainly, if they comewithout our permission, that’sagainst the sovereignty ofPakistan,” he continued.

“There is a perception inthe United States as if what ourarmy cannot do, they can do,”he said. “This is a very wrongperception. I challenge anyonecoming into our mountains.They would regret that day.”

Mr. Musharraf is not aloneor extreme in this view. Anarray of experts, includingPakistani military analysts andAmerican counterterrorismspecialists, say that UnitedStates troops would be seen asan invasion force by thePakistani public. They arguethat American raids would failand increase public support formilitants, who say they aretrying to free Pakistan fromAmerican domination.

When asked Friday aboutexpanded covert operations inthe tribal areas, Americanofficials publicly deferred toMr. Musharraf and his topadvisers.

“Certainly anything thatthe United States has done andanything the United States willdo will be in full cooperationwith the Pakistanigovernment,” said a StateDepartment spokesman, TomCasey.

But senior military andintelligence officials sayprivately they are eager to gainat least tacit approval fromPakistan to loosen restrictionson the C.I.A., allowingoperations against selectedtargets in the FederallyAdministered Tribal Areas, asthese unruly hinterlands arecalled.

Adm. Mike Mullen, thechairman of the Joint Chiefs ofStaff, told reporters on Fridaythat because extremists usesanctuaries in the tribal areas tomount attacks in both

Afghanistan and Pakistan, theregion “continues to be ofgrave concern to us, both in thenear term and the long term.”Admiral Mullen added that“continued pressure there willhave to be brought.”

Mr. Musharraf alsobristled at the recent suggestionof Senator Hillary RodhamClinton, Democrat of NewYork, that Pakistan’s nuclearstockpile be placed under jointAmerican-British oversight toensure its safekeeping.

“This is an intrusion intoour privacy, into oursensitivity,” Mr. Musharrafsaid. “The whole nation seesthe nuclear weapon as theguarantee of our securityagainst all regional threats.”

American officials andlegislators say that they believethe arsenal is safe at themoment and that they acceptPakistani assurances thatsecurity is vastly improved.

“They have a very strong,multilayered security for theirnuclear weapons,” SenatorJoseph I. Lieberman,independent of Connecticut,said in a telephone interviewon Friday from Madrid afterspending two days in Pakistanthis week. “They’ve gone outof their way to imagine everyconceivable way how someonewould strike at their nuclearweapons.”

In the interview, Mr.Musharraf defended hisgovernment’s investigationinto the assassination ofBenazir Bhutto on Dec. 27,which critics have said wascompromised from the startafter the authorities hoseddown the crime scene, washingaway potentially importantevidence.

Mr. Musharraf said thatforensic experts, includingspecialists from Scotland Yard,are studying a flood ofphotographs of the scene takenby people with cellphonecameras. While no autopsy wasperformed, Mr. Musharraf saidthat hospital technicians tookan X-ray of Ms. Bhutto’swounded skull, whichinvestigators are reviewing.

David Rohde contributedreporting from New York.

Chicago TribuneJanuary 11, 200816. Guard Effort DrawsRecruits For ArmyBy Tribune news services

WASHINGTON, D.C. --A new Army program in whichthe National Guard helpsrecruit for the active-dutyArmy has brought more than500 sign-ups in its first threemonths, officials saidThursday.

The results surpass Armyexpectations of 1,600 beingbrought in during the one-yearpilot program launched Oct. 1,a Guard spokeswoman said.

The Defense Departmentalso announced that all servicesmet or exceeded theirrecruiting goals in December.

Army Secretary PeteGeren said that while recruitingis a challenge, he expects theservice to meet its target for theyear.

New York TimesJanuary 12, 200817. 3 Buddies HomeFrom Iraq Are ChargedWith Murdering A 4thBy Dan Frosch

COLORADO SPRINGS— After surviving intensecombat in Iraq, SpecialistKevin Shields was killed onwhat he had thought wasfriendly soil. His bloody,bullet-riddled body was foundby a newspaper deliverer,sprawled on a downtownsidewalk here on Dec. 1.

Three of SpecialistShields’s buddies, all currentor former soldiers who servedwith him in Iraq before theirreturn last year, have beencharged with murdering him.Details are still emerging, buthis death, and that of an Armyprivate whose killing has nowbeen attributed by theauthorities to two of the threemen charged in the Shieldscase, have shaken thisstaunchly pro-military city and

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Fort Carson, an expansiveArmy base on the edge oftown.

According to courtdocuments released this weekand accounts from his family,on the night of Nov. 30Specialist Shields celebratedhis 24th birthday by gettingtogether with those threefriends: Louis Bressler, 25;Kenneth Eastridge, 24; andPfc. Bruce Bastien Jr., 21. Thefour men, who had servedtogether as members of theSecond Infantry Division’sSecond Brigade Combat Team,based at Fort Carson, wentdrinking at a Colorado Springsnightclub.

Most of what is publiclyknown about the events of thatnight comes from a policeinterview about a month ago inwhich, prosecutors say, PrivateBastien, having earlier deniedknowledge of the killing,declared that he was presentwhen Mr. Bressler committedit. And that was just one ofseveral crimes that PrivateBastien said the three hadcarried out around ColoradoSprings.

Investigators say Mr.Eastridge has confirmed mostof Private Bastien’s account ofthe Shields killing, but haverevealed little else.

In that account, theauthorities say, the four friendshad met at the nightclub whenMr. Bressler and Mr. Eastridgebegan discussing plans tocommit a series of robberies inColorado Springs. Afterleaving the club, the men droveto a park, where Mr. Bresslerand Specialist Shields engagedin a drunken quarrel. The twocame to blows, Private Bastiensaid, but appeared to patchthings up and returned to thecar.

Soon afterward, the fourstopped again, because Mr.Bressler felt ill. But when theygot out of the car, the policequote Private Bastien assaying, Mr. Bressler walkedover to Specialist Shields and,without provocation, shot himfive times with a snub-nosed.38-caliber revolver.

The police say PrivateBastien told them that hethought the attack had beenmotivated by Mr. Bressler’sfear that Specialist Shieldswould tell someone about therobbery plans.

“It’s such a tragic eventthat none of us wereexpecting,” said Capt. BenJackman, who commandedboth Specialist Shields and histhree friends at Fort Carson.“Everyone was shocked to hearabout this.”

J. D. Hill, a Vietnamveteran who manages a localpost of the Veterans of ForeignWars, says the killing hasoutraged many onetimesoldiers in Colorado Springs.“A lot of veterans here can’tunderstand how thishappened,” Mr. Hill said. “Thisman had just returned fromIraq. What these guys werethinking is beyondcomprehension.”

Specialist Shields’s familyfeels particularly stricken at thethought that his death mayhave come at the hands offellow soldiers. “We don’tknow if it was something fromIraq that might have set themoff,” said his grandfather, IvanShields, who raised him in andaround Roscoe, Ill. “We don’tknow what in the world madethem do this.”

The arrest of the threeaccused may have solved thekilling of another soldier here.Mr. Eastridge, officials say,has accused Private Bastienand Mr. Bressler ofinvolvement in the robbery andfatal shooting of Pfc. RobertJames, whose body was foundin the parking lot of a ColoradoSprings bank last Aug. 4, andPrivate Bastien says Mr.Bressler was the triggerman inthat slaying as well. BothPrivate Bastien and Mr.Bressler have now beencharged with murder in theJames case.

Mr. Bressler, from NorthCarolina, was honorablydischarged last summer afterArmy doctors found that hesuffered from post-traumaticstress disorder as a result of his

service in Iraq, says his lawyer,Ed Farry. Mr. Bressler wasframed by his twoco-defendants, Mr. Farry says,because they knew that hismemory had been distorted bythe condition.

Mr. Eastridge, from Ekron,Ky., received a Purple Heartafter being wounded by a minein Iraq. A public defenderrepresenting him would notcomment on the case.

A lawyer for PrivateBastien, a medic fromFairfield, Conn., who receiveda commendation foradministering aid in combat,also declined to comment.

Beyond additional localshootings and a stabbing inwhich investigators say PrivateBastien has implicated himselfand his co-defendants, courtrecords show that he hasaccused Mr. Eastridge of firingwithout provocation on Iraqicivilians while on patrol inBaghdad, using stolen AK-47s.

In that accusation, made toan Army investigator a fewdays after Private Bastien hadgiven details in the Shieldskilling, he “said that he knowsthat an Iraqi civilian was struckon at least one occasion,”according to the court records.

A spokesman for the ArmyCriminal InvestigationCommand, Chris Grey, said themilitary was conducting apreliminary inquiry but had notuncovered any credibleevidence to substantiate PrivateBastien’s account.

At a court hearing in theShields case on Tuesday, Mr.Bressler and Mr. Eastridge,both strikingly youthful,fidgeted nervously with theirshackles, their eyes dartingaround the courtroom, theirlips flashing an occasional grinto the gallery.

Afterward, Mr. Bressler’swife, Tira, said in an interviewthat he had thought ofSpecialist Shields “pretty muchlike his brother.”

“He’s not the person whowould do something like this,”Ms. Bressler said.

Specialist Shields, whosuffered head injuries when a

roadside bomb exploded nextto his Humvee, was haunted byhis time in Iraq, particularly thesearing images of children whohad been killed in cross-fire,his family says.

He was overjoyed to behome and was awaiting thebirth of his second child. Heloved computers, says hisgrandmother, Madlyn Shields,and was preparing for hisArmy discharge and the start ofa new job at Hewlett-Packard.

“If it had happened incombat,” Ms. Shields said, “wewould have understood. Butnot this. This is senseless.”

Wall Street JournalJanuary 12, 2008Pg. 9Commentary: The WeekendInterview18. James T. Conway:First To The FightBy Brendan Miniter

The Pentagon -- WhenJames T. Conway went downto see the draft board at theheight of the Vietnam War in1969, he was told "we're notgoing to draft you. You've gota great number and you don'thave to worry about militaryservice." He responded, "Youdon't understand, I actuallywant to go."

Today, as Commandant ofthe Marine Corps, he's one ofthe nation's leading militarycommanders. He's led tens ofthousands of Marines on twosignificant campaigns in Iraq.The first was the drive onBaghdad in 2003; the secondwas what turned out to be anaborted assault on Fallujah inApril 2004. In 2006 he becamethe steward of a fighting forcewith a history that stretches allthe way back to 1775, beforethere was a United States ofAmerica.

But it's the future of theCorps, not its past, thatdominates Gen. Conway'sthoughts and our conversation.We met at the Pentagon earlierthis week -- just a few daysbefore the one-year anniversaryof President Bush's decision to"surge" more troops into Iraq.

page 16

He was dressed in cammies,combat boots and an opencollar. He's lean and tall and heseemed to envelop the table wewere seated at. He's also a manwho gives the appearance ofsomeone who would muchrather be with his Marines inAnbar province than in anoffice on the outskirts ofWashington.

Two related concernsabout the war occupy his mind:That in order to fight this war,his Corps could be transformedinto just another "land army";and, if that should happen, thatit would lose the flexibility andexpeditionary culture that hasmade it a powerful militaryforce.

The Corps was builtoriginally to live aboard shipsand wade ashore to confrontemerging threats far fromhome. It has long prided itselfin being "first to the fight"relying on speed, agility andtenacity to win battles. It's asmall, offensive outfit that hasits own attack aircraft, but notits own medics, preferring torely on Navy corpsmen to carefor its wounded.

For more than a decade,the size of the active-dutyMarine Corps has been175,000. The Army, bycomparison, has more than500,000 soldiers on activeduty.

Now, however, the Corpsis being expanded to 202,000over the next couple of years.And what's more, the Marinesare being asked to conductpatrols and perform othernon-offensive operations inIraq that are forcing the Corpsto become a more stationaryforce than it traditionally hasbeen.

It's a "static environmentwhere there is no forwardmovement," Gen. Conwaysays. And "that gets more to anoccupational role, and that'swhat the Army historicallydoes and the Marine Corps haspreviously seen very little of."

One way the Marines areclearly changing is in thevehicles troops use to patrol inIraq. "If you look at the table of

equipment that a Marinebattalion is operating with rightnow in Iraq," Gen. Conwayexplains, "it is dramaticallydifferent than the table ofequipment the battalion usedwhen it went over the berm inKuwait in '03, and it isremarkably heavier. Heavier,particularly in terms ofvehicles.

"I mean the Humvees werecanvas at that point for themost part. Today they areup-armored and we're lookingat vehicles even heavier thanthat. We've got a whole newtype of vehicle that we'repatrolling in, conductingoperations in, that's the MRAP[Mine Resistant AmbushProtected], a 48,000 poundvehicle... . these type of things,make us look more like a landarmy than it does a fast,hard-hitting expeditionaryforce."

Gen. Conway commendsthe MRAP's performance:"[W]e had over 300 attacksagainst the MRAP withoutlosing a Marine or sailor."And, he says, "We always haveto be concerned aboutprotecting our Marines. Weowe that to the parents ofAmerica."

"But," he adds, "first wehave to be able to accomplishour mission. And I think thereare a lot of instances where alighter, faster, harder-hittingforce that gets to a scenequickly is more effective than aheavier, more armored forcethat gets there weeks or monthslater."

It is clear that the MRAPcan make it more difficult tomaneuver in a battle zone. "Wesaw some problems with thevehicle once it went off of theroadways," Gen. Conway says."Its cross-country mobility,particularly in western Iraqwhere you have wadis [dryriverbeds] and small bridgesand that type of thing was notwhat we hoped it would be."

And it is something Gen.Conway has decided to havefewer of. He recentlyannounced that the Marines arehalting orders for these

vehicles. The Corps will takedelivery of a total of 2,300 newMRAPs by the end of the year,which it will use to conductmissions in Iraq. But Gen.Conway is canceling orders for1,400 additional MRAPs thathe and his advisors believethey will not need in thecoming years. In the process,Gen. Conway is saving UncleSam $1.7 billion. "Yeah. Imean, that to me was acommon sense kind ofdetermination."

In short, wars have atendency to change the cultureof the militaries that fightthem. For the Marines, thecultural change they fear mostis losing their connection to thesea while fighting in the desert.

Today there are about26,000 Marines in Iraq, manyof them on their second or thirdtour, and tens of thousands ofothers who have either recentlyreturned or who are preparingto go in the coming months andyears. Keeping a force that sizein Iraq has made it difficult forthe Marines to give mid-levelofficers assignments thatwould hone the skills necessaryto conduct what has alwaysbeen a central component ofMarine warfighting -- landingtroops on a beach head.

"If you accept a generationof officers is four years," Gen.Conway says, "that's what anofficer signs on for, we nowhave that generation of officers-- and arguably troops -- thathave come and gone, that arecombat hardened, but that willnever have stepped foot aboardship... . an amphibiousoperation is by its very naturethe most complicated ofmilitary operations; and thatwe have junior officers andsenior officers who understandthe planning dimensionsassociated with something likethat, that have sufficientnumber of exercises over timeto really have sharpened theirskills to work with otherservices to accomplish acommon goal -- these are thethings that concern me with theatrophying of those skills andthe ability to go out and do

those things."Gen. Conway graduated

from Southeast Missouri StateUniversity in 1969, gotmarried, and volunteered forthe Marines at a time when theVietnam War was still raging.He had friends -- fraternitybrothers -- who hadn't kepttheir grades up and who gotdrafted.

Not that he regrets signingup. "I thought about trying tocontact [that recruiter] andthank him for the way he kindof reeled me in," he says.

As a young officer, Gen.Conway didn't end up inVietnam. But he did get a frontrow seat in watching theMarine Corps rebuild itselfafter the war in Southeast Asiaended. And now, looking backthrough history, he has a clearperspective on the turningpoints in the development ofthe modern Marine Corps.

The first turning pointcame in World War I at theBattle of Belleau Wood, wherea few thousand Marines helpedstop a German advance thatotherwise might have takenParis and knocked France outof the war. Marines fought soferociously in hand-to-handcombat in dense French forestin that battle, that the Germansnicknamed them "Devil Dogs."Afterward, Congress expandedthe size of the Marines to morethan 70,000, up from about14,000 at the start of the war.

The second turning pointbrings Gen. Conway back tohis concern for protecting theMarines' institutional culture."Others will cite other battles,"he said, but he sees the Battleof Guadalcanal in World WarII, a six-month campaign in thePacific starting in August1942, as a turning point.

It was there that Marines,later reinforced by Army units,dealt the Japanese their firstsignificant land defeat. "It wasonly our expeditionary abilityto get out there rapidly, asrapidly as we could ... to putthe force out there, smack inthe path of the Japanese [that]was a major capability and onewe're still very proud of."

page 17

So is the Marine Corps theright force to be fighting inIraq now? It's a loadedquestion because in recentmonths Gen. Conway madeheadlines by airing a plan thatwould have had the Marinesrotate out of Iraq and, with asomewhat smaller force, intoAfghanistan. The plan was anonstarter with DefenseSecretary Robert Gates and hasbeen shelved.

"Yeah, I think we are,"Gen. Conway said. "For whatthe nation is now engaged in, itis a major insurgency. Fromour perspective acounterinsurgency. And whenthe nation is as hotly engagedas we are in Iraq, I think that'sexactly where the MarineCorps needs to be.

"Now, it has necessitatedthat we undergo these changesto the way we are constituted.But that's OK. We made thoseadjustments. We'll adjust backwhen the threat is different.But that's adaptability ... . Youcreate a force that you have tohave at the time. But you don'taccept that as the new normand you do the necessarydraw-down at a time when youcan."

As for now, he sees theexpansion of the Corps to202,000 "as good ... We need aMarine Corps that's larger. Weneed an Army that's larger untilwe get through what probablyis going to be, I think will be, agenerational struggle. I think itis absolutely necessary... . ourmilitary today, all the servicesall uniforms, is still less than1% of our great country."

Has the country alreadyforgotten the lessons of 9/11?

Not all of us, Gen.Conway says. "I still hear thata lot, you know, we saw [a]surge [in enlistments] after9/11, but if you talk to a youngMarine out there, even peoplewho were, I don't know, 12, 13,14 at that point, [they] are stillsaying that, you know, thatthey are offended by that, arestill incensed by that and theyrealize that those are stillessentially the people out therethat we're fighting, so it

continues to reverberate... .When I visit Gen. Odierno inBaghdad, he's got a picture, avery large picture of one[World Trade Center] towerburning and the other planeabout to hit. And I think thatour country would do well toremember how we got towhere we are today."

Mr. Miniter is an assistantfeatures editor for The WallStreet Journal.

Los Angeles TimesJanuary 12, 200819. Missing Marine'sBody Found,Authorities SayThe woman's remains areuncovered in the N.C.backyard of another Marine,whom she had accused of rape.By Associated Press

JACKSONVILLE, N.C.—Authorities said Friday thatthey believed they had foundthe shallow grave of a pregnantMarine in the backyard of acomrade she accused of rape.

After some slight diggingin a fire pit in the yard ofMarine Cpl. Cesar ArmandoLaurean, detectives found what"appeared to be burnt humanremains," Onslow County Dist.Atty. Dewey Hudson saidFriday night.

"We think we have foundwhat will [contain] the skeletalremains of Maria Lauterbach,"Hudson said. Authoritiesplaced a tarp and two whitetents over the area and plannedto begin slowly scraping theearth with garden tools today.

Lance Cpl. Maria FrancesLauterbach, 20, went missingthree weeks ago, days after shetalked to military prosecutorsabout a rape case againstLaurean, who remains at large.Authorities said Friday thatinformation from another wo-man, a former Marine, leftthem certain that Lauterbachwas dead.

That witness is Laurean'swife, a person familiar with theinvestigation told theAssociated Press on conditionof anonymity because the casewas ongoing. Before leaving

Jacksonville on Friday,Laurean gave his wife a notethat said Lauterbach cut herown throat, the person said.

Laurean said in the notethat he had nothing to do withher suicide but that he hadburied her body, the personsaid.

Laurean's wife, Christina,is "heartbroken," said hermother, Debbie Sue Shifflet. "Ifeel sorry for the other family,"she said. "It's horrible whatthey're going through. Myheart goes out to them."

Authorities on foot andall-terrain vehicles searchedLaurean's neighborhood nearCamp Lejeune, N.C., onFriday. Megan Melton, wholives nearby, said dozens ofvultures had descended on thearea in the last few weeks.

Although the outdoorsearch was suspended for thenight, investigators from theState Bureau of Investigationmoved indoors and began asearch for evidence insideLaurean's one-story,brown-brick ranch home.

The search continued lateFriday for Laurean, 21, ofClark County, Nev., who hadrefused to meet withinvestigators and apparentlyleft the area without telling hisattorneys where he was going,the sheriff said.

Lauterbach met withmilitary prosecutors inDecember to discuss pursuingrape charges against Laurean,said Kevin Marks, supervisoryagent with the Naval CriminalInvestigative Service at CampLejeune. He said militaryprosecutors believed they hadenough evidence to argue thatthe case should go to trial.

In court papers filed thisweek, prosecutors said theanticipated birth of the baby"might provide evidentiarycredence to charges she lodgedwith military authorities thatshe was sexually assaulted."

Lauterbach reported thealleged rape in April and wasdue to give birth inmid-February, authorities said.

In a brief interview withreporters outside the family's

home in Vandalia, Ohio,Lauterbach's uncle, PeteSteiner, said the alleged rapistwas the father.

Authorities said they werenot concerned that Laureanwould flee because they hadinformation that the paircarried on a "friendlyrelationship" even after shetalked to military authorities.There is no indicationLauterbach asked the militaryto protect her after she leveledthe rape allegations,investigators said.

Raleigh News & ObserverJanuary 12, 2008Pg. B520. Marines Testify TwoAmbushes TargetedThemCourt of inquiry resumes nextweekBy Estes Thompson,Associated Press

CAMP LEJEUNE -Testimony this week fromseveral Marines whose convoywas attacked in Afghanistanshows that their unit's responsewas justified and that troopsdidn't fire haphazardly atcivilians, an attorney saidFriday.

Eleven witnesses havetestified so far before the Courtof Inquiry, a rarely usedfact-finding proceeding underway at Camp Lejeune toinvestigate the shootings thatkilled as many as 19 Afghancivilians. The Marines saidtheir Humvees were targetedby a car bombing followed bysmall-arms fire from both sidesof the road.

"The hearing so far hasconfirmed that in the March 4patrol, the Marine patrol wasactually the target of twoambushes," said civilian lawyerMark Waple, who representsone of the two officers underinvestigation. "The first waspartially successful, andfortunately, the second wasn'tsuccessful at all."

The Court of inquiry isfocusing on two officersinvolved in the shootings: Maj.

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Fred C. Galvin, 38, of theKansas City area, the companycommander, and Capt. VincentJ. Noble, 29, of Philadelphia, aplatoon leader. The court,which is to resume Mondayand is expected hold hearingsthrough the end of next week,will recommend whethercharges should be filed againstthe officers.

Citing witness accounts,Afghanistan's IndependentHuman Rights Commissionconcluded last year that theMarines responded to the carbombing by firingindiscriminately at pedestriansand people in cars, buses andtaxis in six different locationsalong a 10-mile stretch ofroadway.

The Marines have saidthey were attacked in awell-planned ambush thatbegan when a suicide bomberdetonated a van loaded withexplosives near theirsix-vehicle convoy. Aninvestigation by the Armyconcluded 19 people died andup to 50 people were wounded,but attorneys said the death tollis lower. One Marine wasinjured in the incident.

Waple, Galvin's attorney,said Friday the evidencepresented so far doesn't clearup the discrepancy, because itwas "so difficult to do anyreasonable forensicexamination." Some of theMarines testified that they sawonly one or two people whoappeared dead, but they didn'tstop to examine them.

On Friday, Staff Sgt.Mohamed Sheik testified thathe was in the front seat of aHumvee during the carbombing. The convoy was shotat moments after the blast, andat least two machine gunnersfrom the convoy fired back,Sheik said.

Sheik said when theHumvees began moving again,he saw an enemy rifle on theground next to a sport utilityvehicle and a man's slumpedbody.

As the convoy picked upspeed, it again took small-armsfire near a gas station, he said.

Sheik said he saw muzzleflashes and puffs of smokefrom rifle fire on a hill behindthe station, and that tree limbswere shaking from the fire.Marines returned fire again in aspan of roadway about 1 1/2miles long, he said.

Sheik said the gunner inanother Humvee didn't use anautomatic grenade launcherduring the fighting because"more people would get hurtthan necessary."

The unit was on its firstdeployment after the 2006creation of the Marine SpecialOperations Command. Afterthe shooting, eight Marineswere sent back to CampLejeune, and the rest of thecompany was taken out ofAfghanistan.

Maj. Gen. Dennis J.Hejlik, the commander of theMarine Special OperationsCommand, later said hedisagreed with that decisionand that the unit respondedappropriately. Marine Corpscommandant Gen. James T.Conway also criticized anapology issued by an Armybrigade commander, calling itpremature because aninvestigation remained underway.

San Diego Union-TribuneJanuary 12, 200821. Marine BecomesFace Above CrowdIraq war veteran receivedSilver Star for actions inFallujah in 2004By Liz Neely, Staff Writer

EL CAJON – Marine Sgt.Kristopher Kane didn't expectaccolades.

He was just doing his jobthat November day in 2004,when one of his fellowMarines was killed and severalwounded during an intense,five-hour battle with insurgentsin Fallujah, Iraq.

Kane was decorated for hisactions with a Silver Star, theU.S. military's third-highesthonor for valor. And hispicture is on a downtown ElCajon billboard – part of theyear-old Hometown Marines

program, which honorsmilitary heroes in the townsthey are from.

The billboard, unveiledlast month, is one of fewer thana dozen nationwide and thefirst in San Diego County. Itcan be seen on eastbound EastMain Street near the PrescottPromenade.

Kane, a 1998 ValhallaHigh School graduate, ishumbled by the public display.He said it is an honor he shareswith all the Marines who didn'tmake it back from Iraq,particularly those in hisplatoon.

“Everyone wants to honorme for that award, but I alsosee it as honoring every Marinethat serves,” Kane said.

Kane, 27, who lives inMurrieta, is a marksmanshipinstructor at Camp Pendleton.His father lives in El Cajon.Some people have called himor his father about thebillboard, but Kane hasn'tmade a big deal of it himself.

“If people from myhometown see me as somekind of hero, that's great, butthere are a lot more heroes outthere that deserve a lot morerecognition,” he said.

The 12th Marine CorpsRecruiting District in SanDiego arranged for thebillboard, which is paid for byClear Channel. A briefdedication ceremony was heldlast month. Kane told friendsabout it hours beforehand.

“He's a very modest youngman. He doesn't like to blowhis own horn,” said JoanneAntoine, a Jamul resident andthe grandmother of Kane's bestfriend. She was among thosewho attended the ceremony.

Kane's path to the militarywas almost preordained.

“Everyone has served oneway or another,” Kane said ofhis family.

His father was a Marine.His brother is a sergeant in theArmy. Kane, who workedsome odd jobs after graduatingfrom high school, joined theMarine Corps in 2001.

Kane initially wasstationed in Hawaii and spent

years training and working inseveral Asian countries beforebeing sent to Iraq in September2004.

On the morning of Nov. 10that year, Kane and hisplatoon, C Company, 1stBattalion, 3rd Marines, were inFallujah to retake the city frominsurgents. While his platoonwas resting overnight in aguarded building, the buildingnext door was attacked.

Soon his platoon was in afierce battle, according tomilitary documents and anaccount in a Marine Corpsnewsletter.

Kane protected his fellowMarines from gunfire,including some alreadywounded. When the grenadesKane threw failed to stop theinsurgents, his lieutenant,Dustin Shumney, sent in abulldozer to take down aportion of the house.

The house fell downaround Kane, the rubblecrushing his right leg. Hecontinued to fight despite theinjury. He was sent to hospitalsin Germany and then SanDiego before spending a monthrecuperating at his father'shouse.

Two months after thatbattle, many of the Marines inKane's unit died in a Jan. 26helicopter crash in Iraq. ThirtyMarines and a sailor werekilled in the crash, 26 of themfrom Kane's unit.

Kane said he thinks aboutthe November attack daily, butdoesn't dwell on the Januarycrash.

“I still like to think ofthem still living on through allof us who survived,” he said.

Kane heard he was up forthe Silver Star about 1½ yearsafter the fight in Fallujah. Theletter and citation asking thathe be recognized were writtenby Shumney, who died in thehelicopter crash. Thelieutenant's notes were foundon a laptop recovered from theaccident.

El Cajon Mayor MarkLewis said the city is honoredto be part of the HometownMarines program.

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“We're very proud he waschosen, and we think he is afine example of the military,”Lewis said. “We're justthankful he was able to take theheroic action he took. It justshows the kind of people wehave in East County.”

Tricia Kamolnick has agood view of the billboardfrom just outside her shop, theLavender Rose Tea Room, onPrescott Promenade. It'simportant to recognize thecontributions of those such asKane, Kamolnick said.

“I think it's a wonderfulidea,” she said of the billboard.“I think the community at largeneeds to appreciate ourmilitary.”

Kane is enlisted in theMarines until 2009 and expectsto be redeployed in July,possibly to Iraq. In themeantime, he is lookingforward to a personalmilestone: He and hisgirlfriend, Tonya Riley, willwelcome their first child laterthis year.

Defense NewsJanuary 14, 200822. U.S. DoD, IntelAgencies Forge JointAcquisitionBy John T. Bennett

Senior Pentagon and U.S.intelligence officials arefinalizing the first formalagreements governing how thetwo communities worktogether on major acquisitions.

Deliberations over thecontents of the sweeping pactscould be wrapped up in thenext few months, according tosources.

One Pentagon official saidthe thorny issues underdiscussion include howpolicies put forth by the officeof the director of nationalintelligence (DNI) affect theDepartment of Defense’s intelagencies, and how the twoorganizations will makemilestone decisions on jointprograms.

“These MOAs[memoranda of agreement]

will really codify a lot of thingsthat we’re already doing,” thePentagon official said. “Theyshould link decision points,and acquisition, personnel andpolicies from both houses.”

Sources said theacquisition push is a toppriority of defense intelligenceundersecretary James Clapper,a retired Air Force three-stargeneral, and DNI MichaelMcConnell, a retired Navythree-star admiral.

The joint acquisitionguidelines will plug a policyhole left by the 2004Intelligence Reform andTerrorism Prevention Act,which created the DNI’s postand outlined its authority.

“The act didn’t really sayanything about joint DoD-intelcommunity programs.Congress preferred it thatway,” the Pentagon officialsaid.

That’s not uncommon,officials and security analystssaid. Legislation that creates anew federal entity is typicallyvague about implementation.Lawmakers often prefer toallow the executive branch tosort out functions likeprocuring major systems —especially when it comes toheavy Washington hitters likethe Pentagon and the top inteloffice.

The 2004 law gives theDNI broad acquisitionauthorities such as:

*Requiring the intelcommunity to craft andimplement a “programmanagement plan that includescost, schedule, andperformance goals andprogram milestone criteria.”

*Making the DNI the“exclusive milestone decisionauthority” for all intelprograms.

But when an intelligenceinitiative falls under aPentagon agency, the actrequires the DNI to consult thedefense secretary. The actallows the White House to stepin when the two organizationsfail to agree: ‘‘If the Directorof National Intelligence and theSecretary of Defense are

unable to reach an agreementon a milestone decision … thePresident shall resolve theconflict.”

Defense and intelligencecommunity officials hope thenew agreements will avoidsuch situations.

Analysts were mixed onthe prospects.

“This series of MOAsshould finally close a huge,open void that has existed for along time,” said Tim Sample,president of the Arlington,Va.-based Intelligence andNational Security Alliance.“There has never before beenany kind of holistic approachto acquisition.”

Other national securityprocurement experts wereskeptical.

“Unless they addressseveral key issues, that we sooften ignore now, they’re justmessing around in the brushand missing the forest,” saidWinslow Wheeler, a formerSenate aide who is director ofthe Straus Military ReformProject at the Center forDefense Information.

Wheeler said what’sneeded are:

*“An honest accountingsystem” that provides accuratecost estimates, not “nicetiesthat are seen as helping get aprogram started.”

*Rules to prevent officialsfrom adding features after theperformance specifications areset.

“Right now, we refuse tocontrol the baseline; we willchange the baseline wheneverwe want the widget to also doX, Y and Z,” he said.

*A pre-program evaluationfrom an independent entity —nongovernmental or industry— to “get an honest take” onthe initial cost and performanceexpectations for spy satellitesand other major acquisitions.

“If they don’t cover those,this is just another bureaucraticbox-checking exercise,”Wheeler said.

Space Radar, Case inPoint

Among the high-profileintel-military programs that

have struggled is themultibillion-dollar Space Radar(SR), a constellation ofsatellites intended to collecthigh-resolution imagery anddetect moving objects aroundthe clock and in all weatherconditions.

The program is a jointeffort of the Air Force and theNational ReconnaissanceOffice, which have sparred forsome time over funding andrequirements, leaving its fate inquestion. In 2006 and 2007,Air Force officials issuedseveral public threats towithhold funding unless theNRO and intelligence officialsagreed to a new cost-sharingagreement.

Lawmakers joined in thecriticism of the intelcommunity. A 2007 SenateArmed Services Committeereport said the committee “hasnot yet seen a solid cost-shareagreement between theDepartment of Defense and theOffice of the Director ofNational Intelligence to jointlyfund the SR program, nor hasthe committee identifiedfunding for such activities inthe intelligence communitybudget. … The committeeremains concerned about theinability to resolve thisimpasse.”

Lawmakers also criticizedthe program’s leaders forfailing to provide an adequatedefinition of exactly what tasksthe Space Radar constellationwill carry out.

Pentagon intel and DNIofficials have expressedconfidence that the deadlockwill soon be broken, but nocost-sharing pact has beenannounced.

Analysts said theagreements should help avoidsuch impasses, but only if thedirectives put in place newprocedures for planning,funding and conducting jointPentagon-DNI programs.

“A series of MOAs is apositive step,” Sample said. “Itshould bring an even-handedlook to these programs andinitiate a lot of debate …before people are entrenched”

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with certain opinions about ajoint effort.

Officials and legal expertsare haggling over thedirectives’ final language.

“We’ve been spendingmore time with lawyers thanwe ever thought we would,”the Pentagon official said, “aswe try and get these MOAs outthe door and then finally on thestreet.”

Washington PostJanuary 12, 2008Pg. 523. Appeals CourtRejects Suit OfEx-Detainees AgainstOfficials

A federal appeals courtruled yesterday that fourBritish men have no right tosue top Pentagon officials andmilitary officers over torture,abuse and violations of theirreligious rights that they allegeto have sustained whiledetained for two years at theU.S. military prison atGuantanamo Bay, Cuba.

A three-judge panel of theU.S. Court of Appeals for theDistrict of Columbia Circuitruled unanimously that simplyalleging criminal conduct bythen-Defense Secretary DonaldH. Rumsfeld and individualU.S. military officials does notgive the four men a claimunder the Alien Tort Statute.

The four men do not allegethat the defendants "acted asrogue officials or employeeswho implemented a policy oftorture for reasons unrelated tothe gathering of intelligence,"the court said in an opinionwritten by Judge KarenLeCraft Henderson.

"Therefore, the allegedtortious conduct was incidentalto the defendants' legitimateemployment duties," the rulingsaid.

The appeals court alsorejected claims under theConstitution, the GenevaConventions and the ReligiousFreedom Restoration Act.

The latter provides that the"government shall not

substantially burden a person'sexercise of religion."

"Because the plaintiffs arealiens and were located outsidesovereign United Statesterritory at the time theiralleged RFRA claim arose,they do not fall with thedefinition of 'person,' " thecourt ruled.

Joining LeCraftHenderson, who was appointedby President George H.W.Bush, in the opinion wereJudges Janice Rogers Brown,appointed by President Bush,and A. Raymond Randolph,appointed by George H.W.Bush.

Miami HeraldJanuary 12, 200824. Global ProtestsDemand Close OfGuantanamoOrange jumpsuits were theuniform of choice in a globalday of protests, withdemonstrators demandingGuantánamo prison camp beclosed.By Carol Rosenberg

From the gates of U.S.Southern Command in Doral toEurope and beyond, activistsdonned orange jumpsuits in anorchestrated global protest onthe sixth anniversary of theestablishment of the terrorprison at Guantánamo Bay,Cuba.

Amnesty Internationaldeclared the day ofdemonstrations -- a call for theBush administration to closethe prison camps that openedJan. 11, 2002.

And opponents fromcollege students to veterans ofsixties era protests respondedwith street theater.

87th Ave in DoralIn South Florida, about 60

protesters met morningrush-hour motorists withchants of ''Hey-hey, ho-ho,U.S. out of Guantánamo'' andwaved signs declaring ''Tortureis Terror,'' at a busyintersection at Northwest 87thAvenue and Doral Boulevard.

Some drivers hit their carhorns as protester Rae

Newman of Miami waved asign declaring, ``Honk 4Peace.''

''People are somewhatcomplacent,'' she said, addingthat the horn-honking ``goes inwaves, actually. When oneperson honks, it gives othersthe courage to honk.''

In Washington, reportssaid 80-plus protesters werearrested at the Supreme Court-- after chanting ''Shut it down''-- and issued citations forviolating an ordinance thatprohibits demonstration on thecourt grounds.

In Brussels, Belgianactivists crouched over in along line, adopting so-called''stress positions'' approved byformer Secretary of DefenseDonald Rumsfeld as anauthorized interrogationtechnique.

In Istanbul, Turkishwomen in traditional garbstood in protest alongside amock prisoner -- burlap bag onhis head -- wearing trademarkorange and chains.

Near the U.S. Embassy inLondon, Amnesty Internationaldemonstrators set up replicaprison cages at GrosvenorSquare -- and spent the night inthem. Morning there brought aphalanx of protesters in orangejumpsuits guarded by mocksoldiers in battle fatigues, andlive leashed guard dogs.

275 held, 2 chargedThe United States holds

275 foreign men as ''enemycombatants'' at the U.S. Navybase in southeast Cuba --among them alleged 9/11mastermind Khalid SheikMohammed and 14 other menonce held in secret sites by theCIA until President Bush hadthem transferred to the base forpossible trial.

Only two prisoners havebeen formally charged, none ofthem the former CIA helddetainees. A third captive,Australian David Hickspleaded guilty to being an alQaeda conspirator under a dealstruck at Guantánamo that lethim serve a nine-monthsentence, mostly in his nativeAdelaide. He was set free last

month.In Doral, former U.S.

Army resister Camilo Mejia ofSunny Isles said he joined themorning protest not insolidarity with the detainees --but to urge the U.S. to givethem ``due process.''

''It's not about the peoplewho are there. It's about us,''said Mejia, 32. ``Everybody'sentitled to their day in court.Give them an attorney andcharge them with something.''

Mejia served nearly ninemonths in a Fort Sill, Okla.,lockup for refusing a FloridaNational Guard call-up to asecond tour in Iraq in 2004.

He was also busted fromstaff sergeant to private, and ispresently appealing hisconviction.

Code Pink founder MedeaBenjamin led the group on apolice-escorted march to theSouthern Command, thePentagon outpost thatsupervises the prison camps.

''We want the world to seeanother face of the Americanpeople,'' she said, ``one thatbelieves in human rights andjustice for all.''

Seattle Post-IntelligencerJanuary 12, 200825. Yemeni DetaineesStuck At GuantanamoBy Michael Melia, AssociatedPress

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico-- The number of men held atGuantanamo Bay is decliningrapidly, but there is no way outfor most of the Yemenidetainees because theirhomeland's government andWashington are mired in adiplomatic impasse oversecurity concerns.

The jail at the U.S. Navybase in southeast Cuba enteredits seventh year Friday, withYemenis now making up thebiggest group of prisoners.

Of the 275 prisoners whoremain at Guantanamo, nearly100 are from Yemen, replacingAfghans and Saudis as thepredominant detainee group asthe jail population has declinedfrom about 680 in 2003.

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The United States andYemen have refused todisclose details of theirnegotiations. But SandraHodgkinson, deputy assistantsecretary of defense fordetainee affairs, said Yemenmust do more to assure thatany repatriated detainees donot attack the U.S. or its allies.

A key Yemeni officialhinted that Washington seeksto have repatriated Yemenidetainees locked up once theyreach Yemen.

"We demand thatGuantanamo be closed, and wedo not accept smaller prisonselsewhere," Foreign MinisterAbu Bakr al-Kerbi saidThursday at a conference aboutGuantanamo in Yemen'scapital, San'a.

Lawyers for Yemenidetainees criticize Yemen'sleadership, saying that it hasnot applied as much diplomaticpressure on Washington ascountries that have won therelease of their citizens.

Yemen is "trying tocontinually shift the blame onthe Americans," said MarthaRayner, who represents oneYemeni detainee.

Sheila Carapico, a Yemenexpert at the University ofRichmond in Virginia, said it isnot in Yemen's interest to pushfor the return of Guantanamodetainees because repatriatingalmost 100 men with"high-profile security issues"would bring problems.

She said Yemen's jailsalready are overcrowded, butmore importantly, locking upformer Guantanamo detaineescould threaten alliances thatYemeni President Ali AbdullahSaleh has been forging withIslamic fundamentalist parties.

Washington PostJanuary 12, 2008Pg. 126. Doctors' DoubleDuty In AfghanistanTwins Born in Md. HonoredFor Humanitarian WorkBy Avis Thomas-Lester,Washington Post Staff Writer

He turned to his twin

other, Vince, who was juststirring from a nap. "Welcometo Afghanistan," he said. Later,Vance silently said a prayer:Please let us accomplish this.

The doctors, who arenatives of Prince George'sCounty, had decided in late2005 to go on their own to treatcivilians in the war-torncountry. As members of theU.S. Army Reserve, theyinitially sought help from themilitary and the StateDepartment but found nointerest. So they workedconnections until they found amilitary officer and an Afghandoctor willing to set them up.

They secured their visas,purchased medical supplies,found a translator, hired a jetand said goodbye to family andfriends.

Two trips and hundreds ofpatients later, the 36-year-olddoctors will be honored fortheir humanitarian effortstomorrow at a ceremony inAtlanta. The Mosses, actorsDanny Glover and Halle Berryand others are recipients of the2008 Trumpet Awards, whichrecognize African Americanachievement. Past honoreesinclude Sidney Poitier, CorettaScott King and Rosa Parks.

By the end of the month,the twins will head to Iraq withtheir reserve unit to treatwounded troops. In their offtime, they want to treatcivilians and are negotiatingwith the State Department forpermission.

As they tied up loose endsat Crozer Chester MedicalCenter near Philadelphia lastweek, the doctors said they aregrateful for the opportunity."We're ready to do our duty toGod and our country," VanceMoss said.'Innocent PeopleWere ... Dying'

It was the same sad story,and every time they heard it, ittugged harder on their hearts.

Army reservists since theirsophomore year of college, thetwins were called to activeduty at stateside militaryhospitals in summer 2005.

As Vince, a cardiothoracicsurgeon stationed at Fort

Jackson, S.C., worked withsoldiers who had returned fromwar zones, he heard theirstories about the devastationwreaked on civilians. "Innocentpeople were being caught up,injured and were dying becausebasic medical care was notavailable to them," he said.

Vance, a urologist, washearing the same tales at FortBliss, Tex. "But the storiesabout what was happening inAfghanistan were worse," hesaid. "The terrain and theculture were more diverse,which led to problems forcivilians trying to find medicalcare."

Neither remembers whobrought it up first, but thebrothers began to discuss goingover to help.

The doted-on sons ofJosephine and Haywood Mosswere raised in Upper Marlboro,and as Boy Scouts they hadlearned an affinity for thoseless fortunate. They alwaysthought they were put on earthto do something significant,Vince said.

"We had been taught thatwe could do anything wewanted, but when we startedthinking about medicine, wehad a guidance counselor atOxon Hill High School whotold us we should think aboutsomething else because we'dnever be doctors," Vance said.

"After we got into Penn[State], we had an adviser totell us that we should have abackup plan because it wasreally tough to get into medicalschool," Vince said. "All of ourlives, people have been tryingto limit us, so when we decidedwe wanted to go toAfghanistan, we weredetermined to do it."

The Army Reserve said nobut did agree to provide somemedical equipment, thebrothers said.

Then, Col. Gary Davis, anArmy doctor in Afghanistan,set them up with an Afghanphysician who helped find thepeople they would need tomove safely through thewar-ravaged country, they said.

People were found who

would be "translators, escorts,security, intelligence and evenour transportation," Vince said."Once we had everything inplace, we were ready togo."'We Knew We WereNeeded'

As the black smoke waftedover the Kabul airport, thebrothers stepped off the planeto find a crowd watching them.Three of the children weremissing a leg.

"From the very beginning,we knew we were needed,"Vance said.

The first day, they workedout of a hut in a remote regionnear the Pakistani border.

"When we arrived, we sawall of these people lined up,"Vince said. "There weredozens and dozens of them. Itseemed like hundreds. Theyhad heard we were coming andstarted lining up early in themorning to be treated."

There were mothersclutching babies withpain-dulled eyes, men leaningon the arms of grandchildren. Ittook more than 16 hours totreat everyone in line.

The rest of their days weremuch the same. They operatedin caves. They operated inshells of bombed-out buildings.Sometimes they were fortunateenough to work at medicalfacilities, but they were alwaysdirty and never well equipped,the doctors said.

"A lot of the time, wewould do surgery usingcellphones and flashlights tosee because there was noelectricity," Vance said. "Wewould go to the hospital andsee boxes of medical suppliesthat the [U.S. government] haddonated behind the hospital onthe ground, unopened."

To get the job done, theysaid, they often had to tradecash for hospital privileges:walk in with their patients intow, drop $10 on a securityguard here, $20 on anoperating room technicianthere.

Surgical instruments wereoften washed in a basin withsoap and water. Scrubbing forsurgery could mean no more

page 22

than vigorously rinsing handswith bottled alcohol.

"We had to work inconditions that were worsethan anything we everimagined," Vince said.

More than once they wereforced to duck to avoidbullets.'Same-Face Healers'

They thought it was agreeting because everywherethey went, they heard itshouted.

"Doganagy! Doganagy!"boys and girls would call out asthey chased the doctors'convoy. Men and womenwould chime it, grinning, asthey reached out to touch ahand or an arm.

Mothers would whisper it,through tears, as they saw theirchildren sleeping after surgery.

"Doganagy."The brothers said they

worried about how they wouldbe received by the people inremote areas who had neverseen African Americans and insome cases had been taughtthat Americans were theenemy.

As they traveled fromsmall town to rural community,they were constantly warnedabout the insurgents, guerrillashoping to make a point againstthe Afghan defense forces whosupported the doctors' missionand what many perceived as aU.S. occupation of theircountry.

The doctors tried to makethe people they met feelcomfortable. They wore streetclothes and refused to carryweapons.

When trouble occurred,the Afghan defense forces andother volunteers moved swiftlyto protect them. They dodgedambushes by changingitineraries and traveling offroad. They hid the doctors inmountain caves and guardedthem with semiautomaticsweapons.

When the insurgents gotclose, their escorts cut dealswith drug lords who oversawpoppy fields protected bylegions of armed men.

"We would sometimesstore our equipment in the

poppy fields to keep it safefrom the insurgents," Vancesaid.

Everywhere they went,they were treated as celebrities.

"Doganagy! Doganagy!DOO-GON-UH-GEE!!!!!" thepeople would shout.

"We thought it was agreeting, so we said it back tosome people," Vance said.

The people laughed, as didtheir translators. It is the Dariword for "twin."

Their translator describedit as "same-face healers,"Vance said. "They had made anickname for us as twindoctors: same-face healers."

Many of the people theyhelped lamented that they weretoo poor to pay. One day, aman in tattered sandals whosehead was wrapped in ragsreached out a gnarled hand andgave the twins a bunch of whatlooked like stones.

Upon closer inspection,the doctors realized that theyholding emeralds and rubies,both of which are foundnaturally in Afghanistan.

"We were shocked," Vincesaid. "They had whole bags ofprecious stones. In the UnitedStates, they would have beenliving like rich people, butthere, because of the way theeconomy is, they meantnothing. Unbelievable jewelsand people who are too poor toeven have enough food to eat."

They returned to theUnited States, but after 15months at home decided tovisit Afghanistan again.

"The State Departmentnotified us that the people werewaiting for doganagy to comeback," Vince said. "We gotready and headed back."

The day they arrived at theKabul airport on the secondtrip, they were met by a groupof men who held signs andcalled their names. Theycleared customs and headedout with the men.

Suddenly, they wereshoved behind a van, boundand gagged. The medicalsupplies they carried, mostlygauze, bandages and smallequipment, were stolen. Then

they were released.The episode left the

doctors with the samehesitations they faced at thestart of their first visit. Again,they decided to continue.

As they arrived at the firstvillage, children squealed,women cried and old mengrinned.

"Doganagy! Doganagy!"they chanted.

The same-face healerswere back.

New York TimesJanuary 12, 200827. Japan Approves BillOn Afghan WarBy Norimitsu Onishi

TOKYO — The Japanesegovernment on Friday pushedthrough a special lawauthorizing its navy to resumea refueling mission in theIndian Ocean as part of theAmerican-led military effort inAfghanistan.

In an extremely rareparliamentary move, PrimeMinister Yasuo Fukuda’sgoverning Liberal DemocraticParty used its two-thirdsmajority in Parliament’s lowerhouse to override a rejection ofthe law by theopposition-controlled upperhouse, an action not takensince 1951.

The refueling mission,which was suspended inNovember after the oppositionDemocratic Party gainedpower in the upper house lastsummer, is expected to resumeby the end of the month.

“That our country canparticipate again in the ‘waragainst terror’ truly has greatsignificance,” Mr. Fukuda saidin a statement.

A Japanese refuelingvessel and a destroyer hadoperated in the Indian Oceansince 2001, supplying 132million gallons of fuel towarships from the UnitedStates, Britain, Pakistan andother countries. Though themission was not consideredmilitarily significant, it carriedpolitical significance for acountry whose military

activities are severely curtailedby its pacifist Constitution.

The Democratic Party saidit would endorse only missionsled by the United Nations andsaid the Liberal Democratswere slavishly following theUnited States.

In forcing through thelegislation, Mr. Fukuda, whotook over the leadership fromformer Prime Minister ShinzoAbe in September, risks abacklash from a public that isdivided over the mission. Thepublic remains much moreconcerned about the economyand other issues.

J. Thomas Schieffer, theUnited States ambassador toJapan, immediately issued astatement welcoming the law.

Mr. Fukuda’s approvalratings have fallen into the 30sbecause he has been unable topass other legislation inParliament since taking over asprime minister.

The Democratic Party,whose approval ratings havesurpassed the governingparty’s in recent polls, isexpected to press with renewedvigor for a dissolution of thelower house of Parliament anda general election.

Yukio Hatoyama, theopposition party’s secretarygeneral, said his party enjoyeda greater popular mandatebecause it had won in the upperhouse election last summer.

“The bill that was rejectedby the upper house, based onthe people’s will, should havebeen abandoned,” Mr.Hatoyama said, condemningthe override.

Mr. Fukuda does not haveto call a general election untilthe fall of 2009. But with theimpasse in Parliament, he willprobably be forced to do so andseek a popular mandate laterthis year.

New York TimesJanuary 12, 200828. North Korea: RussiaRegrets ‘Slow’ TalksBy C. J. Chivers

Russia regrets the slowedstate of progress in talks on

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North Korea’s nuclear programbut will fulfill its commitmentunder the six-nation agreementto provide North Korea withfuel oil this month so as not toslow diplomatic efforts further,a senior Russian diplomat said,according to Russian newsreports. The announcementcame as Christopher R. Hill,the chief United States envoyfor North Korea, visitedMoscow to discuss diplomaticapproaches to North Korea’snuclear program. North Koreadid not meet a year-enddeadline to disclose its nuclearactivities. Mr. Hill again urgedNorth Korea to make acomplete declaration and saidanother meeting of the twoKoreas, the United States,China, Japan and Russia couldbe held soon.

New York TimesJanuary 12, 200829. Syria Rebuilds OnSite Destroyed ByIsraeli BombsBy William J. Broad

The puzzling site in Syriathat Israeli jets bombed inSeptember grew more curiouson Friday with the release of asatellite photograph showingnew construction there thatresembles the site’s formermain building.

Israel’s air attack wasdirected against what Israeliand American intelligenceanalysts had judged to be apartly constructed nuclearreactor. The Syrians vigorouslydenied the atomic claim.

Before the attack, satelliteimagery showed a tall, squarebuilding there measuring about150 feet long per side.

After the attack, theSyrians wiped the area clean,with some analysis calling thespeed of the cleanup a tacitadmission of guilt. The barrensite is on the eastern bank ofthe Euphrates, 90 miles northof the Iraqi border.

The image released Fridaycame from a private company,DigitalGlobe, in Longmont,Colo. It shows a tall, square

building under constructionthat appears to closelyresemble the original structure,with the exception that the roofis vaulted instead of flat. Thephoto was taken from space onWednesday.

Given the internationaluproar that unfolded after thebombing, “we can assume it’snot a reactor,” said DavidAlbright, president of theInstitute for Science andInternational Security, a privategroup in Washington that hasanalyzed the Syrian site.

If international inspectorseventually get to the site, headded, they will have a moredifficult time looking fornuclear evidence. “The newbuilding,” he noted, “coverswhatever remained of thedestroyed one.”

Skeptics have criticizedthe nuclear accusation, sayingthe public evidence that has sofar come to light wasambiguous at best. They noted,for instance, that at the time ofthe attack the site had noobvious barbed wire or airdefenses that would normallyring a sensitive militaryfacility.

The International AtomicEnergy Agency in Viennarecently became aware of thenew construction, a Europeandiplomat said Friday.

“Obviously, they’rekeeping an eye on the site,” hesaid, speaking on the conditionof anonymity because of theissue’s diplomatic delicacy.

As a signer to anagreement with the atomicagency, Syria is obligated toreport the construction of anuclear reactor to internationalinspectors. Nuclear reactorscan make plutonium for thecore of atom bombs, andtherefore secretive work onreactors is usually interpretedas military in nature.

Senior Syrian officialscontinue to deny that a nuclearreactor was under construction,insisting that what Israeldestroyed was a largely emptymilitary warehouse.

Mohamed ElBaradei, whodirects the atomic agency, this

week told Al-Hayat, anArabic-language newspaperbased in London, that hisagency wanted to inspect thesite.

“So far, we have notreceived any information aboutany nuclear programs inSyria,” he said, according to atranscript posted on thenewspaper’s Web site. Dr.ElBaradei said he had askedfor the Syrians’ permission “toallow the agency to visit thefacility and to verify that it wasnot nuclear.”

He added: “The Syrianbrothers did not allow us tovisit and inspect the location.”

While some analysts havesuggested that the new buildingmight slow down internationalinspectors, Dr. ElBaradei saidin the interview that his agencyhad sensitive “technologies toassure that the location did nothost a nuclear facility.”

The satellite photographs,he added, led experts to doubt“that the targeted construction”was in fact a nuclear reactor.

European Stars and StripesJanuary 12, 2008Pg. 330. AFRICOMLaunches Blog SoAnyone Can Sound OffBy Charlie Coon, Stars andStripes

STUTTGART, Germany— With all due respect,AFRICOM is not neededwhatsoever in Nigeria oranywhere else in the WestAfrican sub-Sahara.

That is according to“Olaopin in Unspecified,” andit says so on the recentlylaunched blog on the U.S.Africa Command’s Web site.

The blog began Dec. 21with a posting by Gen. WilliamE. Ward, the AFRICOMcommander. As of Fridayafternoon, “African Dialogue”had received just 15 postings.

But like AFRICOM, it’s awork in progress, according tocommand spokesman VinceCrawley.

“We’re consulting with

people at the diplomatic leveland at the military-to-militarylevel, and this is a way to hearfrom the public level,”Crawley said.

AFRICOM wasannounced in February as away to consolidate U.S.military activities on thecontinent under one command.

Ward himself initiated theidea for a blog, according toCrawley, who said it reinforcesWard’s goal for AFRICOM tobe a “listening organization.”

“It’s interesting to see theinternational voices in this,”Crawley said. “It’s not just abunch of soldiers saying, ‘Wayto go.’”

But there are a few.Heidelberg-based Chief

Warrant Officer 3 ValerieBrooks, for example, who iscurrently deployed toAfghanistan, called the11-month-old command a“great and much needed moveto help assist with making thelives of the people of Africabetter and safer.”

Michael Noonan,managing director of thePhiladelphia-based ForeignPolicy Research Institute’snational security program, saidthe blog likely represents aneffort by AFRICOM to be“quasi-transparent.”

He added that the blogalso could serve as aclearinghouse for innovative,outside thinking.

“Perhaps they’re trying toestablish more open lines ofcommunications, especiallywith some African states waryof what kind of command it isgoing to be,” Noonan said.

Government agencies havebeen slower than privatecompanies to adopt blogs,according to Rob Atkinson,president of the InformationTechnology and InnovationFoundation, aWashington-based technologythink tank.

“But they (governments)are catching on, partly as a wayto help government leaders gettheir messages across,”Atkinson said in an e-mailedresponse.

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“One advantage of blogs isthat they provide a way fororganizations to get theirmessage out quickly — oftenin response to some otherinformation that is beingpresented or some event that ishappening — and in an easy touse, informal way.”

San Francisco ChronicleJanuary 11, 2008Pg. B531. Judge OKs SuitAgainst VA Over HealthCareBy Bob Egelko, ChronicleStaff Writer

Veterans' advocates canproceed with a lawsuitclaiming that the federalgovernment's health caresystem for troops returningfrom Iraq and Afghanistanillegally denies care andbenefits, a federal judge in SanFrancisco ruled Thursday.

U.S. District Judge SamuelConti, a conservative jurist anda World War II veteran,rejected Bush administrationarguments that civil courtshave no authority over theDepartment of VeteransAffairs' medical decisions orhow it handles grievances andclaims.

If the plaintiffs can provetheir allegations, Conti said,they would show that"thousands of veterans, if notmore, are suffering grievousinjuries as the result of theirinability to procure desperatelyneeded and obviously deservedhealth care."

He said federal courts arecompetent to decide whetherthose injuries were caused byflaws in the health care systemand the VA's grievanceprocedures.

Conti did not rule on theadequacy of the treatmentsystem, which will beaddressed in futureproceedings. But he decidedone disputed issue, finding thatveterans are legally entitled totwo years of health care afterleaving the service. Thegovernment had argued that it

was required to provide only asmuch care as the VA's budgetallowed in a given year.

A lawyer for the plaintiffs,Melissa Kasnitz of DisabilityRights Advocates, said thejudge had rejected the VA's"shameful effort to keep thesedeserving veterans from theirday in court."

The next step is a hearingon the plaintiffs' request for aninjunction that would requirethe federal agency to provideimmediate mental healthtreatment for veterans whosuffer from stress disorders andare at risk of suicide, saidSidney Wolinsky, anotherDisability Rights Advocateslawyer. That hearing isscheduled for Feb. 22.

The suit claims that thefederal government's failure toprovide timely treatment iscontributing to an epidemic ofsuicides among returningsoldiers.

The suit was filed in Julyby two organizations, Veteransfor Common Sense andVeterans United for Truth, as aproposed class action on behalfof 320,000 to 800,000 veteransor their survivors.

The groups said the VAarbitrarily denies care andbenefits to wounded veterans,forces them to wait months fortreatment and years forbenefits, and gives them littlerecourse when it rejects theirmedical claims. Thedepartment has a backlog ofmore than 600,000 disabilityclaims, the suit said.

A Pentagon study groupreported in June that thesystem was understaffed,prompting the VA to announcestaffing increases in July. Thestudy group also found that84,000 veterans, more thanone-third of those who soughtcare from the department from2002 through 2006, had beendiagnosed with post-traumaticstress or another mentaldisorder.

In seeking dismissal of thesuit, the Justice Departmentargued that Congress hadbarred federal courts fromhearing complaints about the

VA system when it establisheda special Court of Appeals forVeteran Claims in 1988 toreview grievances overtreatment and benefits. ButConti said the special court canexamine only individual casesand has no power to consider"systematic, constitutionalchallenges." He said thosebelong in regular courts.

Conti also said the VAsystem, originally intended asan informal procedure to helpveterans resolve their claims,has morphed into anadversarial process in whichclaimants have to comply withformal legal rules, oftenwithout a lawyer.

"It is within the court'spower to insist that veterans begranted a level of due processthat is commensurate with theadjudication procedures withwhich they are confronted,"Conti said.

Efforts to reach the JusticeDepartment were unsuccessful.

Seattle TimesJanuary 12, 200832. Airbus Pitches ItsPlan To Make Jets InThe U.S.By Dominic Gates, SeattleTimes aerospace reporter

Airbus will play alast-ditch trump card Mondayin its bid to beat Boeing for anAir Force refueling tankercontract worth tens of billionsof dollars.

Chief Executive TomEnders plans to announce thatif Airbus wins the tankercompetition, it also willassemble commercial airplanesin the U.S.

Enders and Alabamapoliticians are to announce theplan in Mobile, where thetankers would be assembled.

The prospect of gaining aU.S. commercial widebody jetplant — comparable only toBoeing's Everett operation —is sure to galvanize Southernpoliticians, and could shift thepolitical calculus in Congresswhen it evaluates how the AirForce awards the huge contract

as early as next month.And while Airbus

contemplates building only upto 15 tankers and another 30widebody commercial jets ayear at the Alabama plant, thatfoothold in the U.S.commercial and defensesectors could expand in time.

"Boeing could find it has acancer growing in the heart ofits most important market,"said Loren Thompson, aveteran defense analyst withthe Lexington Institute.

The Air Force contract isworth about $40 billion for theinitial set of 179 airplanes.Potential follow-on orders toreplace the entire Air Forcetanker fleet could add up to$100 billion over thedecadeslong service of thetankers.

The Airbus proposalenvisages up to four aircraft amonth rolling out of a plant atBrookley Field in Mobile, aperson familiar with the plansaid.

Airbus parent companyEADS has already promised1,000 direct jobs in Mobile tobuild the tanker, and theproposed expansion for A330Fcommercial cargo planeswould add 300 more.

Large commercial jets areassembled today at only twolocations in the world: Boeingin the Pacific Northwest, andAirbus in Toulouse, France.

A regional battleThe proposal raises the

political stakes in thisalready-bitter contract fight.

"Obviously this movestrengthens EADS' politicalhand in competing forAmerican military business,"Thompson said.

The Airbus A330 fromEADS and its U.S. partnerNorthrop Grumman is upagainst Boeing's 767 for theAir Force next-generationrefueling tanker.

Boeing has repeatedlypromoted its bid innationalistic terms: "America'stanker" versus a Europeancontender to supply the U.S.military.

Lawmakers such as Rep.

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Norm Dicks, D-Bremerton,vice-chairman of the HouseDefense AppropriationsSubcommittee, have lobbiedhard for Boeing. Because laborunions are weak in Alabama,Boeing has also had fulsomesupport from national unionsthat hold sway primarily withDemocrats.

Alabama Gov. Bob Rileyand U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions,both Republicans, arescheduled to appear alongsideEnders on Monday. In October,the governors of five Southernstates wrote to President Bushsupporting the EADS bid.

"This is mainly a regionalbattle, the Pacific Northwestagainst the South. Mainly apartisan battle, primarilyDemocrats versus primarilyRepublicans. And also unionversus nonunion," said LarrySabato, director of theUniversity of Virginia's Centerfor Politics.

Sabato said that withDemocrats in control ofCongress, Boeing has thepolitical advantage.

"A Hail Mary at best"Dicks was dismissive of

Airbus' play."All it does is give them a

little bit of political cover.Most of the assembly I thinkwill still come from othercountries," Dicks said,"Overwhelmingly in Congress,they want this plane built byBoeing."

"I think it's a Hail Mary atbest," said Dicks, who playedmiddle linebacker for theUniversity of Washington."Not a good one. If you'redesperate and you're behind,and it's the fourth quarter, itdoesn't work."

But to defense analystThompson, the Airbus movelooked more shrewd.

"This is not a merit-baseddecision. The customer for thetanker is a political system thatmust reach a minimalaccommodation of regionalinterests for any transaction togo forward," Thompson said."This will become an intensepolitical battlefield."

He said the Alabama

congressional delegation isunusually tenacious. It couldblock money for the Air Forceto force Congress to split thetanker buy and giveEADS/Northrop a portion ofthe contract.

Broader implicationsAnd the impact will stretch

beyond the defense sector.Aerospace analyst Scott

Hamilton said that it wouldn'tmake economic sense to builda new factory for tankers alone,producing perhaps as few asjust one airplane a month.

Further down the road, hesaid, it's possible Airbus couldmove all A330 production —including passenger jets as wellas cargo — to Alabama.

Moving somecommercial-jet assembly to theU.S. has multiple benefits forEADS:

• It spreads thecapital-investment costs ofbuilding its tanker factory overmany more airplanes, allowingit to reduce the tanker price.

• It positions EADS to bidfor future military contracts onmore level terms with U.S.rivals Boeing and LockheedMartin.

• It enables Airbus tomove a big chunk of its costsinto dollars, at a time when thestrength of the euro is badlyhurting its bottom line.

As with other Airbus jets,the A330 is built in largesections at plants aroundEurope. These are then flownin large transport airplanes forfinal assembly in Toulouse,France. The proposal is that theA330 freighter sections wouldinstead be shipped by sea forassembly in Mobile.

Monday's announcementis not a surprise, but its timinghad been uncertain as Airbusconducted sensitivenegotiations with its unionsback in Europe aboutoutsourcing.

Boeing declined tocomment ahead of the officialAirbus announcement Monday.

Washington, D.C., bureaureporter Alicia Mundycontributed to this report.

Financial TimesJanuary 11, 200833. EADS Set OnBuying Mid-Sized USDefence CompanyBy Gerrit Wiesmann

EADS, Europe's largestaerospace and defence group,is planning to buy a mid-sizedUS defence company in thecourse of the year - a moveintended to boost its presencein the sector and easedependence on its Airbusaircraft unit.

The strategy, which wasoutlined by chief executiveLouis Gallois yesterday, is alsodesigned to reduce thecompany's exposure to risingmanufacturing costs through astrong euro, with newproduction sites likely to belocated in the US and low-costAsia.

EADS aims to raise itssales margin to 10 per centbefore 2015 and double salesto Euros 80bn (Dollars 118bn)by 2020. Airbus's share of saleswill fall to half from 65 percent as defence and aircraftservices grow - in part byacquisition - to each render aquarter of revenues.

Mr Gallois said he wassure EADS would buy amedium-sized defence oraircraft services contractor inthe US as early as this year -the modesty of his ambitionreflecting a desire "not todestabilise" finances hit bycostly aircraft productiondelays. He said the strength ofthe euro had forced Airbus, introuble for the past two yearsafter delays to the A380 jumbo,to draw up cuts for 2011 andbeyond to complement itsPower8 cost-reduction scheme,designed to cut Euros 2.1bn offannual costs by 2010.

The current programme,said to be on target, is based onan exchange rate of Euros 1.35to the dollar. New cuts woulduse a rate of Euros 1.45-1.50,Mr Gallois said, stressing theywould be felt only in threeyears' time as EADS was

"hedged" until then by Power8.He said the supplemental

plan would be presented at theearliest in March, at whichtime EADS and Airbus are alsoscheduled to publish results for2007, a bumper year for civilaircraft orders, and give firstperformance forecasts for thiscurrent year.

Airbus had sold about1,300 aircraft at"better-than-expected prices",he said, making 2007 "clearlyour best performance inhistory." But he left it toAirbus chief executive TomEnders to reveal, next week,whether it also outsold USrival Boeing.

After years of bumperorders driven by a sprightlyworld economy, Mr Galloiswarned that Airbus would"certainly not" see this year'sorders exceed those booked in2007 - in part because carriersrecently had ordered so manynew aircraft.

He warned that the creditsqueeze in the US could rippleinto the wider economy there.This and the effects of a highoil prices could lead USairlines, which have beenexpected to come into theaircraft market, to shy awayfrom buying, Mr Gallois said.

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