GCOM Summary (only) 2010 Sep 10

[Felix The Assassin]

GCOM Summary 2010 Sep 10
U.S. Joint Forces Command
Global Current Operations Media Summary
Operations Enduring Freedom/New Dawn/Noble Eagle
Current as of September 10, 2010

Ø New Developments
•U.S. Effort To Help Afghanistan Fight Corruption Has Complicated Ties. In the span of several months, U.S.-backed investigative teams have assembled alarming evidence of rampant corruption in Afghanistan and the extent to which it reaches the highest ranks of that nation's government. But the American effort to increase Afghanistan's capacity to combat corruption has also had unintended consequences, aggravating the U.S. relationship with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and producing embarrassing revelations that have undermined attempts to build popular trust in the government in Kabul - a key component of the Obama administration's counterinsurgency campaign. (Washington Post – see attached)
•Karzai Divides Afghanistan In Reaching Out To Taliban. Afghan President Hamid Karzai's recent attempts to placate the Taliban haven't made him many new friends among the insurgents. But they have definitely alienated some crucial old friends: the country's ethnic minorities, who have been a linchpin of Mr. Karzai's American-backed government. After nine years of war, Mr. Karzai has little faith that coalition forces can rout the Taliban, his aides say. The insurgency, which is overwhelmingly waged by Pashtuns – Afghanistan's largest ethnic group – shows no sign of abating despite the surge in U.S. troop numbers. Instead, the Afghan leader, himself a Pashtun, is seeking a negotiated peace deal with the Islamist militants. (Wall Street Journal – see attached)
•U.S. Urges Iraqis To Try New Plan To Share Power. The Obama administration is encouraging a major new power-sharing arrangement in Iraq that could retain Nuri Kamal al-Maliki as prime minister but in a coalition that would significantly curb his authority. The compromise plan was promoted in Baghdad last week by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. The new plan would alter the structure of Iraq’s government by bringing additional restraints to the authority of Iraq’s prime minister and establishing a new committee with authority to approve military appointments, review the budget and shape security policy. American officials said that the approach, which aims to bring Mr. Maliki’s State of Law party, Ayad Allawi’s Iraqiya party and the Kurdish alliance into a governing coalition, represents the best chance to break the political logjam that has left the Iraqi public without a new government six months after voters went to the polls. (New York Times – see attached)
•4 Iraqi Detainees Escape From U.S. Custody In Baghdad. In an embarrassing and potentially dangerous foul-up, four Iraqi detainees with alleged links to the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq escaped from U.S. custody at a Baghdad detention facility late Wednesday. The escape was an example of the challenges the United States faces as it scales back its military force and redefines its mission in Iraq. The identities of the four escapees and the guards who were overseeing their detention were not immediately known. The U.S. military released no details on how the four escaped. Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta, an Iraqi military spokesman, told AP that the four were linked to al-Qaeda in Iraq and were facing the death penalty. (Washington Post – see attached)

Ø Military Coverage
•Marines Corps Seeks To Use Buddy Ethic To Stem Rise In Suicides. Last year, 52 Marines killed themselves, compared with 42 the previous year. The 2009 toll is the highest since record-keeping began, giving the Marine Corps the grisly distinction of having the highest rate of suicide of any U.S. military service. The corps, said Sgt. Maj. Carlton W. Kent, the Marines’ senior enlisted man, can't wait five years for a study by an outside agency to propose solutions to the growing problem. The answer, he said, lies within the corps itself. Marines have a solemn duty to rescue other Marines from suicide, just as they would come to their aid in combat, he said. (Los Angeles Times – see attached)
•U.S. Judge Rules Ban On Gays In Military Unconstitutional. The U.S. military rule banning openly gay people from serving in the armed forces violates constitutional rights to free speech and due process, a federal judge in southern California ruled Thursday. U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips said she would issue an injunction barring the government from enforcing the policy, and that the Justice Department would have the opportunity to appeal. "Plaintiff has demonstrated it is entitled to the relief sought on behalf of its members, a judicial declaration that The Don't Ask, Don't Tell Act violates the Fifth and First Amendments," Phillips said. The order came in a lawsuit against the government and Defense Secretary Robert Gates by the Log Cabin Republicans on behalf of some of its members. The "don't ask, don't tell" policy was introduced by President Bill Clinton in 1993, overturning a previous policy of expulsion of gay service members based on the premise that homosexuality was compatible with military service. (Reuters)
•Pentagon Worries About Fallout From Afghan Murder Case. The Pentagon on Thursday said it was concerned about the fallout from a grisly murder case involving a dozen U.S. soldiers accused of killing Afghan civilians and conspiring to cover it up. The allegations against soldiers recently deployed in southern Afghanistan have yet to be proven but are "serious nonetheless," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters. Five soldiers face murder charges, and seven others are accused of joining in a coverup, including beating a comrade who tried to blow the whistle, according to U.S. Army documents released Wednesday. The accused served in the 2nd Infantry Division brigade at Forward Operating Base Ramrod, in the Kandahar province, a Taliban bastion. The case poses a potential nightmare for the U.S. military, which has tried to train its troops to win the trust of Afghans in a troubled counterinsurgency campaign. (Google/AFP)

Ø Homeland Security
•Terror Threat More Diverse, Study Says. The terrorist threat faced by the U.S. nine years after the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington is far more difficult to detect but less likely to produce mass-casualty attacks, according to the former leaders of the 9/11 Commission. A report from a group led by the former commissioners, to be released Friday, finds terrorism is increasingly taking on an American cast, reflected in the growth of homegrown threats and the movement of terrorists recruited from the U.S. to areas like the horn of Africa and Yemen. The report concludes some of the most-feared types of attacks are now unlikely, such as those using nuclear or biological weapons, or attacks on malls and shopping centers in less-populated cities. Despite al Qaeda's long-running interest in mass-casualty weapons, it hasn't shown the capacity to mount attacks with them, the report says. (Wall Street Journal – see attached)
•Florida Pastor Terry Jones Says Imam Lied To Him. Florida preacher Terry Jones on Thursday called off his Sept. 11 plan to burn copies of the Quran. Hours later, he threatened to reconsider. Thursday afternoon, Jones said he was swayed by a call from Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the promise of a face to face meeting with the Muslim leader behind a planned Islamic cultural center, including a mosque, near the World Trade Center site in New York. Later that day, he accused another Muslim leader of lying to him with a promise to relocate that mosque. Jones' plan to burn Qurans had outraged Muslims, and he had been pressured by many, including President Obama, to cancel the plan. (USA Today – see attached)
•Defense: Deal Discussed In Detroit Plane Attack. Lawyers for a Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a plane near Detroit on Christmas said Thursday that they've talked to prosecutors about resolving the case with a deal. The disclosure was made in a court filing seeking a new deadline to challenge evidence against Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who is accused of trying to set off a bomb hidden in his underwear aboard a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit last year with nearly 300 people aboard. The deadline to file motions is Friday. Abdulmutallab is due in federal court Monday for a pretrial hearing. In the court filing, defense lawyers said prosecutors are opposed to extending Friday's motion deadline. The government has said Abdulmutallab has cooperated with investigators since his arrest Dec. 25. (MSNBC/AP)

Ø World Developments
•Russia Vows To Hunt Down ‘Mutant’ Bombers. Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, pledged that law enforcers would ruthlessly hunt down and punish terrorists after a car bomb exploded in the city of Vladikavkaz in Russia’s troubled North Caucasus on Thursday, killing at least 17 people. The attack in the capital of the mostly Orthodox Christian region of North Ossetia comes amid an escalating Islamist-linked insurgency in the region that is threatening security on Russia’s southern flank. “We will definitely do everything to capture the mutants, the blackguards, responsible for this act of terrorism against ordinary people,” the Russian president said. “They will be found and punished according to the laws of our country and, if there is resistance, they will be killed.” (London Financial Times – see attached)
•U.S. Marines Free Ship From Pirates. Marines stormed a ship held by pirates in the Gulf of Aden before dawn Thursday in the first U.S. action of its kind, freeing the crew and detaining a heavily armed gang of Somalis, the Navy announced. The pirates had threatened to open fire on the Americans, but after the Marines boarded the German-owned freighter, most of them dropped their AK-47 assault rifles. The others hid in spaces throughout the ship. With the help of an interpreter, the Marines on the amphibious transport ship Dubuque, part of an international anti-piracy task force, had communicated for several hours with the pirates, who demanded a ransom. Marines used cutting torches, saws, hammers and other tools to break into various ship compartments to ferret out the hiding pirates. Nine Somalis were captured without a shot fired. (Los Angeles Times – see attached)
•Dissidents Claim Iran Is Building A New Enrichment Site. A dissident group that had previously revealed the existence of several hidden nuclear sites in Iran claimed Thursday that it had evidence that the country was building another secret uranium enrichment plant. The group, the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, showed satellite photographs of an extensive tunnel-digging operation near a military garrison northwest of Tehran. But the group had no pictures of the interior and no evidence to back up its claim that the site was intended to hold several thousand centrifuges, the machines used to enrich nuclear fuel for power production or weapons. The Obama administration, which publicly revealed evidence a year ago of a hidden nuclear facility near the holy city of Qum, reacted cautiously to the group’s announcement. (New York Times – see attached)
•Iran To Release Female U.S. Hiker 'Very Soon'. The Iranian United Nations mission has confirmed that Tehran will release American hiker Sarah Shourd "very soon." In a statement Thursday, the second counselor to the Iranian mission, Bak Sahraei, said that "he would like to confirm that Iran will be releasing Sarah Shourd very soon." Iran had earlier announced that one of the three Americans captured by Iran in July 2009 would be freed Saturday morning in Tehran. Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal were arrested on July 31, 2009, while hiking in northern Iraq along the border with Iran. Their families say the three accidentally strayed across the border into Iran. Iranian officials accused them of spying. The State Department said it had no confirmation of the planned release. Spokesman Mark Toner said the United States was trying to getting additional information from Swiss diplomats, who handle U.S. interests in Iran. (Voice of America)
•Suicide Attack On Somali Airport Kills As Many As 14. A suicide car bomber exploded at the gate to Mogadishu’s airport Thursday, and suicide bombers in a second vehicle rushed toward the terminal before exploding themselves short of their goal, officials said. Up to 14 people were killed, including five attackers. The coordinated assault by al-Shabab fighters was the latest in a surge of attacks by Islamist insurgents, who last month declared a new, stepped-up effort to oust the country’s weak government. The barrage took place about 40 minutes after Somalia’s president flew out of the country. After the suicide car bomber exploded at the front gate, 500 meters from the terminal, between two and four suicide bombers exited a second vehicle and battled security forces. At least two of the suicide bombers – who were wearing Somali military uniforms – forced their way into the airport grounds and ran toward the terminal. (Toronto Star/AP)

Ø Public Opinion
•At 9th Anniversary Of 9/11, Sense Of Safety Declines. Americans approach the 9/11 anniversary with a lower-than-usual sense that the country is safer today than it was before the terrorist attacks, with the drop-off sharply partisan in nature. Just 48% of Americans in this ABC News/Washington Post poll say the country is safer now than it was before Sept. 11, 2001, down from 62% two years ago to the lowest (albeit by a single point) level in polling since 2003. Views that the country is safer have fallen by a huge 34 points among Republicans, but also by 17 points among political independents, while holding essentially steady among Democrats. Similarly, only 44% overall express confidence in the government's ability to prevent terrorist attacks, the fewest since 2005. Compared to the question's last asking in 2007, when a GOP administration was in power, confidence is down by 32 points among Republicans and a scant 5 points among independents, but up by 18 among Democrats. (ABC News)