GCOM Summary (only) 2010 Aug 26

[Felix The Assassin]

GCOM Summary 2010 Aug 26
U.S. Joint Forces Command
Global Current Operations Media Summary
Operations Iraqi Freedom/Enduring Freedom/Noble Eagle
Current as of August 26, 2010



ØNew Developments
•Car Bombings, Other Attacks Kill 51 In Iraq. Insurgents struck across Iraq on Wednesday, killing more than 50 people in bombing and shooting attacks. The violence hit 11 towns and cities from north to south and appeared timed to undermine confidence in the Iraqi army and police as the U.S. military ends its formal combat mission in the country. The attacks pointed to the enduring capabilities of militant groups when the U.S. military and Iraqi forces have depicted Al Qaeda in Iraq and its brethren as no match for the Iraqi army. The bloodshed came amid Iraqis' frustration over the failure of political blocs to form a new government nearly six months after national elections. (Los Angeles Times – see attached)
•Key Karzai Aide In Corruption Inquiry Is Linked To C.I.A. The aide to President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan at the center of a politically sensitive corruption investigation is being paid by the Central Intelligence Agency, according to Afghan and American officials. Mohammed Zia Salehi, the chief of administration for the National Security Council, appears to have been on the payroll for many years, according to officials in Kabul and Washington. It is unclear exactly what Mr. Salehi does in exchange for his money, whether providing information to the spy agency, advancing American views inside the presidential palace, or both. Mr. Salehi’s relationship with the C.I.A. underscores deep contradictions at the heart of the Obama administration’s policy in Afghanistan, with American officials simultaneously demanding that Mr. Karzai root out the corruption that pervades his government while sometimes subsidizing the very people suspected of perpetrating it. (New York Times – see attached)
•2 Spanish Soldiers In Afghanistan Killed. Two Spanish soldiers were shot dead by their Afghan driver while conducting training of local police forces Wednesday, a Spanish official said, raising fears that the Taliban is employing a new strategy of infiltration to kill Western troops. Spain's interior minister, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, said at a news conference in Madrid that the driver had worked for the Spanish military for five months. But he also suggested that the attack was premeditated and that the driver, who was killed when Spanish troops returned fire at the scene, might be a member of the Taliban who had disguised his affiliation. (Washington Post – see attached)
•Taliban Kill Eight Police In Afghan North: Governor. Taliban rebels killed eight Afghan police officers on Thursday in northern Kunduz, an official said, stepping up strikes in what was once a relatively secure part of Afghanistan. The attack happened just before dawn when the police were asleep, Kunduz Governor Mohammad Omar told reporters. One policeman was wounded and one managed to escape, he said, lowering his earlier death toll of nine. Residents said there were some casualties among civilians, but details were not immediately available. The Taliban, largely active in their traditional bastion of support in the south and east, have increased attacks in recent months in some areas of the north despite the presence of some 150,000 foreign forces in the country. Kunduz has been the focus of attacks in the north and insurgents are increasingly using it as a base to launch attacks elsewhere in the region. (Reuters)
•Militants Plan Aid Worker Attacks In Pakistan: U.S. The Pakistani Taliban is planning attacks on foreigners offering assistance in the aftermath of devastating floods in Pakistan, a U.S. official has warned. "According to information available to the U.S. government, Tehreek-e-Taliban plans to conduct attacks against foreigners participating in the ongoing flood relief operations in Pakistan," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. "Tehreek-e-Taliban also may be making plans to attack federal and provincial ministers in Islamabad," the official warned. The vast floods have affected an estimated 17.2 million people, at least eight million of whom are believed to need life-saving humanitarian assistance. The Pakistani Taliban have previously denounced all foreign aid for victims of the country's catastrophic flooding. The Tehreek-e-Taliban faction is a key architect of extremist violence that has killed more than 3,570 people across Pakistan in three years. (Google/AFP)

ØMilitary Coverage
•Navy Drone Violated Washington Airspace. The skies over the nation’s capital are crowded with presidential aircraft, military flyovers and the Delta shuttle, but this month a strange new bird was briefly among them: a United States Navy drone that wandered into the restricted airspace around Washington before operators could stop it. Navy spokesmen could not say Wednesday if anyone on the ground was alarmed by the drone – officially an MQ-8B Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing unmanned aerial vehicle – which looks like a small windowless helicopter and was flying at 2,000 feet. The Navy did say that the drone got within 40 miles of Washington before operators were able to re-establish communication and guide it back to its base in southern Maryland. (New York Times – see attached)

ØHomeland Security
•'Secret' CIA Memo On WikiLeaks Is Not Very Revelatory. The latest U.S. government document posted by WikiLeaks is marked "secret," but it contains no new revelations, startling or otherwise. It's a CIA memo that reads like the musings of a Washington think tank, pondering what might happen if the United States began to be perceived as an "exporter of terrorism," as a result of attacks mounted abroad by homegrown radicals. The conclusion: It would not be a good thing. WikiLeaks won fame and notoriety after releasing gun-camera video of a U.S. helicopter attack in Iraq, and more recently about 75,000 classified military documents detailing operations in Afghanistan. (Los Angeles Times – see attached)
•FBI Agent Takes Stand In Bomb Case. The Federal Bureau of Investigation had never heard of James Cromitie before a confidential informant met him at a New York area mosque in 2007, an FBI agent testified Wednesday in the second day of the trial of Mr. Cromitie and three others charged with planning to blow up a synagogue in Riverdale and shoot down Air Force planes. Special agent Robert Fuller's testimony included showing the three inert explosive devices that the FBI built to give to the defendants, as well as two stinger missiles that the government said the defendants planned to use to shoot down Air Force planes. (Wall Street Journal – see attached)

ØWorld Developments
•Ottawa Terror Plot Had al-Qaeda Links: Police. An alleged al-Qaeda bomb plot hatched in Ottawa over the past two years has been dismantled by counter-terrorism police. Two people were arrested without incident Wednesday on undisclosed terrorism-related charges after RCMP and Ottawa police armed with a search warrant converged on a townhouse in Ottawa, at about 7 a.m. A simultaneous and similar low-key raid took place at a highrise apartment in the Bayshore area. There were indications Wednesday night that further searches might take place, including in Gatineau. The suspects’ identities and details about the alleged jihadist plot are to be released at an RCMP news conference Thursday afternoon. An RCMP spokesman would only say the accusations are “very serious.” (Ottawa Citizen – see attached)
•Seoul Says Kim Traveling To China. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is traveling to China, South Korea's presidential office said Thursday, in what would be his second trip there this year. A presidential official who declined to be identified said it's unclear if Mr. Kim is accompanied by his third son, Kim Jong Eun. The official also said he's unaware of the route, destination and purpose of the trip. However, officials and business people in several large Chinese cities along the North Korean border said there were no signs of a train carrying Mr. Kim, who doesn't like to fly, on Thursday morning. News of Mr. Kim's trip to China comes just one day after former U.S. President Jimmy Carter arrived in North Korea on a humanitarian visit seeking the release of a U.S. citizen held in the country. (Wall Street Journal – see attached)
•Survivor Tells Story Of Migrants Massacred By Mexican Drug Gang. A survivor of a massacre in northern Mexico told investigators that the 72 people found dead at a ranch were undocumented migrants who were kidnapped by a drug gang on their way to the U.S. border. Mexican authorities discovered the bodies late Tuesday about 100 miles south of Brownsville, Texas, near the town of San Fernando. The surrounding state of Tamaulipas is the scene of a vicious struggle between rival drug mafias and Mexican forces that has left hundreds dead and important trade cities besieged by gun battles, kidnapping and extortion. The bodies of 58 men and 14 women were discovered after Mexican marines manning a checkpoint were approached by a wounded man who said he had been held hostage and shot by gang gunmen at a nearby ranch. (Washington Post – see attached)
•Gunmen Stop Bus In Southern Philippines, Kill 4. Gunmen wearing police uniforms stopped a passenger bus in the southern Philippines early Thursday and fatally shot four people, including two police marshals, officials said. The attack came just three days after a disgruntled ex-policeman took hostage a busload of Hong Kong tourists in Manila, killing eight of them before he was shot dead by a police sniper. Police said the bus attacked Thursday was traveling from Cagayan de Oro to Zamboanga city in the southern Philippines – where Muslim rebels and criminal gangs operate – when it was flagged down at a road checkpoint by gunmen in police uniforms. They ordered the passengers to get off and then fatally shot four people, including two uniformed police marshals, the driver and the bus conductor, said Orlando Vinas, the Lanao del Norte provincial police chief. The attackers set the bus on fire and fled. (NPR/AP)

ØPublic Opinion
•Public Remains Conflicted Over Islam. The public continues to express conflicted views of Islam. Favorable opinions of Islam have declined since 2005, but there has been virtually no change over the past year in the proportion of Americans saying that Islam is more likely than other religions to encourage violence. As was the case a year ago, slightly more people say the Islamic religion does not encourage violence more than other religions (42%) than say that it does (35%). (Pew Research Center)