GCOM Summary (only) 2010 Sep 01

[Felix The Assassin]

GCOM Summary 2010 Sep 01
U.S. Joint Forces Command
Global Current Operations Media Summary
Operations Enduring Freedom/New Dawn/Noble Eagle
Current as of September 1, 2010


Ø Iraq
•Obama Declares That Combat In Iraq Is Over. Saying it is "time to turn the page" on one of the most divisive chapters in American history, President Obama declared the U.S. war in Iraq over Tuesday night, telling the nation that he was fulfilling his campaign pledge to stop a war he had opposed from the start. He heralded his belief "that out of the ashes of war, a new beginning could be born in this cradle of civilization." In his speech, the president sought to unshackle the nation from a military invasion, begun by his predecessor that was supposed to swiftly depose a dictator, seize hidden weapons of mass destruction and leave behind a democratic government. Instead, it dragged on for more than seven years as U.S. troops battled a growing insurgency. (Washington Post – see attached)
•As Combat Mission Ends, A New U.S. Operation Begins. The U.S. mission in Iraq is set to undergo a major rebranding on Wednesday, when Vice President Joe Biden presides over a change-of-command ceremony in Baghdad marking the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the campaign that began in March 2003, and the beginning of a military assistance mission called Operation New Dawn. But while the formal combat phase may end, U.S. troops aren't all going away. A substantial U.S. contingent will remain in Iraq to advise and train Iraqi security forces, and a civilian-led reconstruction effort will also continue. That new mission is set to expire in December 2011. (Wall Street Journal – see attached)
•Iraqis Are Conflicted As U.S. Combat Mission Ends. Seven and a half years after then- President George W. Bush attacked Iraq, Baghdad is a battered and weary city whose streets still bear the scars of a still inconclusive war, and whose residents are still groping to comprehend the magnitude of the changes that turned their lives upside down. For more than 20 years they endured a dictatorship whose rules most didn't like, but easily understood. Then came the invasion, which many at first welcomed, followed by days of looting, years of insurgency, four governments and a sectarian war, transforming their country in ways that may not be fully resolved for many years, after the dust has settled on the huge uncertainties that still linger. Will Iraqi politicians reach agreement on a new government? Will the insurgency succeed in its efforts to make a comeback? Can the nation's security forces stand alone? (Los Angeles Times – see attached)
•Iraq's Failure To Form A Government Concerns U.S. Spy Officials. With the U.S. officially having ended combat operations in Iraq Tuesday, U.S. spy officials see the country's inability to form a government as the greatest security threat it faces. Other major security concerns include continued Iranian efforts to stoke militant attacks in Iraq and al Qaeda's severely degraded, but not extinguished, affiliate in Iraq, according to a senior intelligence official. "It's important that they get their act together," the official said of Iraqi leaders. Unresolved, the political vacuum could lead to an unraveling of stability and security, he said, though adding that it's unknown when that tipping point might come. (Wall Street Journal – see attached)
•Blair Says Did Not Foresee Iraq "Nightmare". Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Wednesday he could have not have imagined what he called the nightmare that unfolded in Iraq but still did not regret joining the U.S.-led invasion. In extracts of his memoirs released before the book's publication, Blair echoed previous statements that the 2003 invasion was justified because Saddam Hussein posed a threat and could have developed weapons of mass destruction. "I can't regret the decision to go to war ... I can say that never did I guess the nightmare that unfolded," said Blair, referring to the years of political and sectarian bloodshed in Iraq that followed the invasion. "I have often reflected as to whether I was wrong. I ask you to reflect as to whether I may have been right." Blair was the closest ally of former U.S. President George W. Bush over the decision to invade Iraq. (Reuters)

Ø New Developments
•U.S. Toll Rising In Afghanistan: 22 Soldiers Killed Since Friday. U.S. forces lost 22 soldiers in Afghanistan, mostly to roadside bombs, since Friday, marking a bloody step-up in the insurgency as a major U.S.-led offensive seeks to capture the spiritual homeland of the Taliban movement in Kandahar. The U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan said it is gaining ground against the insurgents, but violence is rising across the country, including in areas that were considered relatively safe. Five more U.S. soldiers were killed Tuesday, while three Afghan workers for the British charity Oxfam were killed by a roadside bomb in Badakhshan, which had been one of the safer places in the country. (Miami Herald – see attached)
•Afghan Ambassador Said T. Jawad Leaving His Post In Washington. After serving as Afghanistan's top diplomat in Washington for seven years, Ambassador Said T. Jawad said Tuesday that his government has ordered him to vacate his post in September. Jawad, a dapper and eloquent advocate for his war-torn nation, has been the subject of what he called a "smear campaign" in Afghanistan during the past few weeks. Several Afghan Web sites published photographs that purported to show people consuming alcohol and women dancing in sleeveless dresses at an embassy party to celebrate the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Embassy officials insisted that there was no Ramadan party and that Jawad was on a trip to South America when the bash is alleged to have occurred. They said the pictures appear to have been taken at an Afghan independence day party a year ago. (Washington Post – see attached)
•Afghan Bank's Bosses Ousted To Avert Meltdown. Authorities have reportedly intervened to try to avert the potentially disastrous collapse of Afghanistan's biggest bank after uncovering a web of shady transactions involving well-connected insiders. The suspect dealings at Kabul Bank, whose shareholders include a brother of President Hamid Karzai, have sparked huge losses that could bring down the lender and undermine the U.S.-led war against the Taliban, U.S. press reports said. The central bank threw out Kabul Bank's two top executives and installed its own temporary managers in a move that was blessed by Karzai himself, according to the reports. The central bank on Monday ordered Kabul Bank chairman Sherkhan Farnood to hand over 160 million dollars' worth of property including luxury villas bought in Dubai for his personal use and for cronies. (Google/AFP)
•Pakistan Raid Kills 45 Militants And Their Families. Pakistani government air raids have killed up to 45 militants and their family members in hideouts in the northwestern Khyber region on the Afghan border, security officials said on Wednesday. The strikes targeted militants in their stronghold, the Tirah Valley, on Tuesday night. "We have reports that 40 to 45 terrorists were killed," a security official told Reuters. Taliban militants often deny official death tolls of militants. A security official said those killed included families of the militants who had fled military offensives in the Swat Valley and other northwestern regions. "Some of the families were living in the vicinity of these hideouts and they were also among the dead," he said, adding he did not know how many non-combatants were among the casualties. Another security official confirmed the incident. (Reuters)

Ø Military Coverage
•Gates Speaks Cautiously On Iraq. Speaking somberly about the end of combat operations in Iraq, Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned that now is not the time for "premature victory parades." In a speech to the American Legion's national convention in Milwaukee, Mr. Gates eschewed any triumphant declaration that the mission in Iraq had been accomplished. The uneasy peace of Baghdad, Mr. Gates said, had come at great cost, with 4,427 U.S. service members killed and another 34,265 wounded. And the mission, he said, was incomplete. Iraq is still without a coalition government months after its election and political compromise remains elusive. "Sectarian tensions remain a fact of life, al Qaeda in Iraq is beaten, but not gone," Mr. Gates said. "This is not a time for premature victory parades or self-congratulations." (Wall Street Journal – see attached)
•Appeals Court Backs Away From War Powers Ruling. A federal appeals court on Tuesday unanimously upheld the detention of a Guantánamo prisoner from Yemen. But lurking just beneath the surface of its ruling was a sharp disagreement among the judges over the scope and limits of presidential power. At issue, beyond this single case, is whether international laws of armed conflict can restrict the wartime power of the president. In January, two of the most conservative judges appointed by President George W. Bush – Janice Rogers Brown and Brett M. Kavanaugh – declared that international law does not restrict presidential power. (New York Times – see attached)

Ø Homeland Security
•Yemeni Passengers Expose Strengths, Weaknesses Of Airport Security, Experts Say. As U.S. officials announced that two Yemeni men arrested in Amsterdam after a flight from O'Hare International Airport face no charges in this country, experts said the case exposed both strengths and weaknesses of U.S. aviation security. U.S. Homeland Security officials, who allowed the men to fly despite suspicious circumstances, concluded that the system worked properly. A suitcase containing strange items was scrutinized, and the men were monitored as they continued their trips, officials said. But counter-terrorism experts said U.S. authorities, unable to sort out exactly what they had on their hands, should have taken more time in their searches and questioning of the men, one of whom was in this country on an expired visa, a law enforcement source said. That in itself would be a crime. (Chicago Tribune – see attached)
•Muslims Debate FBI Presence At Mosques. Muslim leaders are debating the wisdom of inviting FBI agents to mosques to provide protection at a time of rising anti-Muslim rhetoric and debate about the proposed Islamic community center near Ground Zero. The issue surfaced Tuesday as word spread of a Nashville mosque's decision to host two FBI agents at a prayer service last Saturday night. The agents discussed the investigation of a fire, suspected to be arson, at a planned mosque in nearby Murfreesboro, a project that has also triggered vehement opposition. The agents then silently observed prayers from the back row. The dispute reflects the tensions between the FBI and some Muslims since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The FBI has reached out to Muslims but also tried to keep tabs on their community, staying alert for signs of terrorist plots. (Washington Post – see attached)
•U.S. Jails Accused bin Laden Aide For Life. An accused former top aide to Osama bin Laden was sentenced on Tuesday to life in prison for stabbing a guard through the eye with a sharpened comb while awaiting trial for conspiring with al Qaeda to kill Americans. Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, 52, pleaded guilty in 2002 to attempted murder and conspiracy to murder a federal official. Salim was sentenced in 2004 to 32 years in prison, but the case was sent back to U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts for resentencing after an appeals court ruled the judge had failed to take terrorism-related factors into account. U.S. prosecutors say Salim, who trained as an engineer in Iraq, was a founder of al Qaeda who issued religious decrees for bin Laden and operated training camps and safe houses in Pakistan and Afghanistan. (Reuters)
•N.Y. Terror Plot Suspect Caught On Tape Planning Attack. James Cromitie, the alleged leader of a plot to blow up New York City synagogues, told undercover informant Shahed Hussain he wanted to kill Jews and send a message “bigger than the World Trade Center” in two days of secretly recorded talks played for jurors in his trial. The excerpts played for jurors during the past two days ranged in length from less than a minute to a half-hour and detailed conversations between the two men in cars, hotel rooms and restaurants as Hussain posed as a member of the Pakistan- based terrorist group Jaishe-e-Mohammad, trying to lure Cromitie into planning a terrorist attack. Tuesday was the sixth day of the trial of Cromitie and three co- defendants before U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in federal court in Lower Manhattan, and the third day of Hussain’s testimony. The trial is scheduled to resume Sept. 7 following the Labor Day holiday in the U.S. (Bloomberg)
•Maine Detainee Says NYC Bomber Liked To Party. A Pakistani man detained during an investigation of a botched car bombing in New York City’s Times Square says he knew the plotter years ago as a partying college student — not as the radical Muslim who later said he received explosives training from the Pakistani Taliban. Mohammad Shafiq Rahman told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he was a computer programmer working 18-hour days in Connecticut when he met Faisal Shahzad through his employer’s brother. Rahman said he and others joined Pakistani students on weekends at Shahzad’s dorm in Bridgeport, Conn. He recalled Shahzad as a typical student who drank and partied. Rahman, who last saw Shahzad in 2002, distanced himself from Shahzad and terrorism in his first public remarks since being released from federal detention last week. (Bangor Daily News/AP)

Ø World Developments
•4 Israelis Killed In West Bank As Peace Summit Nears. As Israeli and Palestinian leaders headed to Washington for a much-anticipated peace summit, four Israelis were killed Tuesday near the disputed West Bank city of Hebron after their vehicle came under fire from unidentified gunmen. The militant Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, later took responsibility for the attack. Drive-by shootings on the roads near the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba adjoining Hebron and the Gush Etzion settlement block to the north are not uncommon, though Tuesday's attack was one of the deadliest in months. In June, a police officer was killed and two others were wounded when their vehicle came under fire. (Los Angeles Times – see attached)
•Ex-Islamists Walk Free From Libyan Jail. Libya freed 37 prisoners late on Tuesday, including at least one former detainee at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, who had been jailed for links to radical Islamist groups but have since renounced violence. The prisoners were kissed and hugged by waiting relatives when they walked out of the Abu Salim prison near Tripoli, in the latest in a series of releases designed to draw a line under radical Islamist violence in Libya. "These releases come in the context of national reconciliation and social peace," said Mohamed al Allagi, chairman of the human rights committee of the Gaddafi Foundation, the charity which helped organize the release. The charity is headed by Saif al-Islam, a reform-minded son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi who some analysts say could eventually succeed his father. (Reuters)
•Mexico, U.S. Open Joint Office To Combat Drug Gangs. Mexican and U.S. officials opened a first joint office to manage the distribution of more than 1.3 billion dollars in U.S. security aid to help fight brutal drug gangs. The office will oversee transfers of equipment and training under the so-called Merida Initiative, a 1.6-billion-dollar three-year plan for Central America and mainly Mexico which the U.S. is seeking to extend, a Mexican foreign ministry statement said. It will allow permanent contact between the two neighbors, the ministry said, as escalating drug violence, which has seen more than 28,000 deaths since 2006, raises increasing concern on both sides of the border. U.S. officials in the new office would not carry out intelligence or operations work, in compliance with Mexican law, the statement added. Mexican officials have complained about long delays in the delivery of the Merida aid, and frequently urge U.S. officials to do more to stop U.S. drug consumption and illegal weapons trafficking to Mexico. (Google/AFP)

Ø Public Opinion
•Poll: Most Americans Say Iraq War Was A Mistake. With combat operations in Iraq coming to an end, most Americans believe the war is going well for the United States, a recent CBS News survey finds. But nearly six in ten say it was a mistake to start the battle in the first place, and most say their country did not accomplish its objectives in Iraq. 57% now say the war is going well for America, including majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents. That reflects improved perceptions since July 2007, when just 22% said things were going well. 38% say things are going badly. 35% predict more violence in Iraq because of the troop withdrawal, while 60% say the violence will lessen or stay where it is now. Asked who should get credit for how things are going in Iraq, one in three say both the Obama and Bush administrations. 26% credit the Bush administration, 20% credit the Obama administration, and 19% say neither deserves credit. 52% approve of how President Obama is handing the situation in Iraq. (CBS News)