GCOM Summary (only) 2010 Aug 20

[Felix The Assassin]

CGOM Summary 2010 Aug 20
U.S. Joint Forces Command
Global Current Operations Media Summary
Operations Iraqi Freedom/Enduring Freedom/Noble Eagle
Current as of August 20, 2010

New Developments
•No Rejoicing In Iraq As U.S. Combat Mission Ends. Iraqis danced in the streets when U.S. troops withdrew from their cities a little over a year ago. After the last American combat brigade trundled across the border into Kuwait early Thursday, reversing a journey that began more than seven years ago, there was no rejoicing. Instead, a mood of deep apprehension tinged with bitterness is taking hold as Iraqis digest the reality that the American invaders whom they once feared would stay forever are in fact going home, when their country is in the throes of a deep political crisis that many think could turn increasingly violent. (Los Angeles Times – see attached)

•Karzai Aide Part Of Wider Investigation, Afghan Officials Say. A close adviser to President Hamid Karzai, arrested last month on charges of soliciting a bribe, was also under investigation for allegedly providing luxury vehicles and cash to presidential allies and over telephone contacts with Taliban insurgents, according to Afghan officials familiar with the case. The Afghan officials also said that it had been Karzai himself who intervened to win the quick release of the aide, Mohammad Zia Salehi, even after the arrest had been personally approved by the country's attorney general. The new account suggests that the corruption case against Salehi was wider than previously known and that Karzai acted directly to secure his aide's release. (Washington Post – see attached)

•New Afghan Intelligence Chief Aims To Build Trust. Afghanistan’s new intelligence chief said this week that the Taliban appeared to have the upper hand in the insurgency but could still be defeated with better cooperation between Afghan and coalition forces and a stronger government effort to build trust in the rural communities. In his first interview since assuming the post of director general of the National Security Directorate mid-July, Rahmatullah Nabil, 42, a relatively unknown figure in Kabul, said his priority would be to demonstrate that Afghans were capable of taking charge of their own security and, above all, to show the insurgents that the government was determined to defeat them. (New York Times – see attached)

•Afghan Insurgent Leader Captured; U.S. Troop Killed. A deputy commander for an al-Qaida linked insurgent group was apprehended in an overnight operation in eastern Afghanistan that claimed the life of a woman, NATO said Friday. Separately, the coalition reported that a U.S. service member died Thursday in an explosion in the south, bringing to at least 18 the number of American troops killed so far this month. NATO said the deputy commander, who was captured by a joint Afghan and coalition force in Khost province, ran weapons for the Haqqani network and reported directly to the group's senior leaders across the border in Pakistan. U.S. officials have described the Haqqani network as the most potent threat to U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Also in the south, an assistant police chief was killed by a roadside bomb on Thursday and three other policemen were injured when insurgents attacked a police post in the Dihrawud district of Uruzgan province. (Oakland Tribune/AP)

•U.S. And Pakistan Warn Of Militant Plots Over Floods. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and U.S. Senator John Kerry visited flood-hit areas on Thursday and warned that Taliban insurgents were trying to exploit rising anger over the country's worst floods to promote their cause. More than 4 million Pakistanis have been made homeless by nearly three weeks of floods, the UN said on Thursday, making the critical task of securing greater amounts of aid more urgent. Eight million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and many may not care where they get it. The floods began washing away villages and destroying roads and bridges just after the government had made progress in stabilizing the country through offensives against the Taliban. Islamist charities, some with suspected links to militant groups, stepped in to help victims, possibly boosting their image at the expense of the U.S.-backed government. (Reuters)

ØMilitary Coverage
•Kennedy Favors Civilian Courts In Terrorism Cases. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy said Thursday that most terrorism cases should be tried in civilian courts. Kennedy addressed participants in the 9th Circuit Judicial Conference on Maui, where a panel discussion earlier this week reached a consensus in favor of using civilian courts instead of military commissions in most terrorism cases. "Article III courts are quite capable of trying these terrorist cases," Kennedy said, agreeing with the conclusion. Kennedy also praised the hundreds of attorneys attending the four-day conference at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa for taking up "one of the most crucial, dangerous and disturbing issues of our time – terrorism." It was clear, he said, that an "attack on the rule of law has failed," referring to the use of military tribunals to try terrorist suspects, often before panels in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP)

•Pentagon Warns Public About Cyber Attacks By China. The United States for the first time is publicly warning about the Chinese military’s use of civilian computer specialists in clandestine cyber attacks aimed at American companies and government agencies. In a move viewed as a pointed signal to Beijing, the Pentagon laid out its concerns this week in a carefully worded report. The People’s Liberation Army, the Pentagon said, is using “information warfare units’’ to develop viruses to attack computer systems and networks, and those units include civilian computer professionals. The assertion shines a light on a quandary that has troubled American authorities for some time: How does the United States deal with cyber espionage emanating from China and almost certainly directed by the government – despite the fact that U.S. officials don’t have or can’t show proof of those ties? Asked about the civilian hackers, a Defense Department spokesman said the Pentagon is concerned about any potential threat to its computer networks. (Boston Globe/AP)

Homeland Security
•Government To Overhaul Bioterror And Pandemic Flu Plans. Acknowledging that the development of medical countermeasures against bioterrorism threats and pandemic flu is lagging, federal authorities Thursday announced a $1.9-billion makeover of the system for identifying and manufacturing drugs and vaccines for public health emergencies. The overhaul includes refinements to manufacturing aimed at shaving weeks off the time it takes to produce pandemic flu vaccine, and a series of steps aimed at more quickly spotting promising scientific discoveries and getting them to market. (Los Angeles Times – see attached)

•'Hijack' Threat Grounds Plane At San Francisco Airport. U.S. aviation authorities grounded and evacuated an American Airlines plane as it prepared for take-off at San Francisco airport on Thursday after receiving a telephone threat. The plane was blocked by the Transport Security Administration after police received an anonymous threat that a hijacker was on board the New York-bound flight, local KTVU television reported. The TSA did not immediately confirm that the threat was to do with a hijacking but said the plane had been moved to a secure location and all the passengers were safe. Passengers interviewed by local television stations or communicating on the micro-blogging website Twitter confirmed the evacuation of the aircraft was in progress and said it was being conducted in a calm manner. (Google/AFP)

World Developments
•Mideast Peace Talks ‘Close’ To Start. Israel and the Palestinians are “very, very close” to restarting direct peace talks for the first time in more than 18 months, the Obama administration said on Thursday, amid rare signs of progress that could lead to an announcement as soon as Friday. The U.S. and by the Middle East Quartet – which brings together the U.S., the UN, the European Union and Russia – were still working on the precise wording of statements that would form the basis for any negotiations. “We think we are very, very close to a decision by the parties to enter into direct negotiations,” said P.J. Crowley, the state department spokesman, as he declined to give any further details. “We think we’re well positioned to get there.” (London Financial Times – see attached)

•Thais To Extradite Arms Dealer To U.S. A Thai court on Friday ordered the extradition to the United States of Viktor Bout, a Russian businessman and suspected arms trafficker arrested in a sting operation in Bangkok two years ago. The decision overturns a lower court’s ruling in August 2009. Mr. Bout stood after the verdict was announced and embraced his wife and daughter, who wept. He said nothing to reporters in the courtroom as he was being led out in leg irons and an orange prison uniform. The court ordered his extradition within three months. The decision is a victory for the Obama administration, which this week summoned the Thai ambassador in Washington to the State Department to “emphasize that this is of the highest priority to the United States,” a spokesman said. (New York Times – see attached)

•Tensions Rise In Bahrain Amid Shiite Arrests. Political tensions have risen in recent days in the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain, where Shiite Muslim clerics and a prominent activist have been arrested as the island kingdom gears up for parliamentary elections in October. Activists, mostly Shiites protesting government policies and the recent arrests, blocked roads near the capital Wednesday night, and set fires to trash cans. The latest troubles began last weekend when Bahraini authorities arrested four Shiite activists, including Abduljalil Singace, a key figure in the Shiite opposition group Haq, on vague security accusations. Singace was reportedly detained at the airport in Manama, the capital, upon his return from London where he had spoken at a conference on human rights issues in Bahrain. Another four activists were detained during the week. (Los Angeles Times – see attached)

•China: Two Suspects In Xinjiang Blast, One Dead. Authorities in China's restive Xinjiang region believe two suspects, a man and a woman, were behind an explosion that killed seven people and injured 14 others, state media reported Friday. The pair allegedly tossed explosives from a three-wheeled vehicle into a crowd on Thursday in the suburbs of the city of Aksu, not far from the border with Kyrgyzstan, the Xinhua news agency and Global Times newspaper said. Five people died at the scene and two others died later in hospital, the report said. The female suspect died in the incident, though it was not immediately clear if she was included in the death toll of seven. Regional government spokeswoman Hou Hanmin told AFP that the injured male suspect, who was detained at the scene, was a member of Xinjiang's Uighur minority. She said Friday it was "still not clear" whether more than one suspect was involved. (Google/AFP)

•Don't Celebrate Lockerbie Bomber's Release, Libya Urged. The UK government has urged Libya not to celebrate the first anniversary of the release of the Lockerbie bomber. Scottish ministers released Abdelbasset Ali al-Megrahi, who has cancer, citing medical advice that three months was a "reasonable" life expectancy estimate. He got a hero's welcome in Tripoli and the Foreign Office said similar scenes would be deeply insensitive to families of the 270 people killed in 1988. And U.S. senators have repeated calls for information about the medical evidence. The decision by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill to release Megrahi, who was jailed in 2001, prompted widespread criticism from political opponents and many of the U.S. relatives of those who died. U.S. president Barack Obama has described the decision as "a mistake", while UK Prime Minister David Cameron has also questioned the move. (BBC)

Public Opinion
•Poll: Majority Says U.S. Should Help Israel If It Attacks Iran. Iran’s first nuclear plant is expected to go online within the next few days, and some speculate that Israel will take military action to prevent it. Fifty-one percent (51%) of U.S. voters believe the United States should help Israel if it attacks Iran. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 35% say the United States should do nothing in the event of an Israeli attack on Iran, and two percent (2%) think America should help the Iranians. Support for helping Israel is up nine points from two years ago when just 42% believed the United States should help the Jewish state if it launched an attack on Iran.