Three Choices: Take Your Pick:

 #1: The Taliban Force Includes “Hundreds Of Idiots Running Around Marjah Right Now Waiting To Aggregate” -- USMC Col. George Amland

 #2: “It Is Ignorance And Negligence That Are Unforgivable, Fatal Faults.  You Must Never Underestimate The Enemy”  -- Mubarakshah; The Rules Of War

 #3: “The Maxim In War, That Your Enemy Is Every To Be Dreaded Until At Your Feet, Ought To Be Held Inviolate”  -- Major-Gen. Light Horse Harry Lee; “War In The Southern Department Of The United States: Accounts Of The American Revolution”

April 30, 2009: USMC Col. George Amland at Camp Lejeune, NC before deployment to Afghanistan ahead of the rest of his Brigade on April 30, 2009.  [Getty Images]

Feb. 3, 2010 The Associated Press

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan — U.S. troops and their Afghan and NATO allies are planning their biggest joint offensive since the Afghan war’s start, targeting a town in the volatile south known as a Taliban stronghold and a hub of their lucrative opium trade, officers said Wednesday.

Col. George Amland, the deputy commander of Marines in Helmand province, said the Taliban force includes “hundreds of idiots running around Marjah right now waiting to aggregate” and confront the NATO and Afghan troops.

 He expects the Taliban ranks will “dwindle very quickly into a very manageable number” by the time the fighting begins.

Amland dismissed most of the Taliban force as just “in the Taliban’s employ” and said that local opium poppy growers and opium dealers will abandon the militants quickly.

The militants are believed to include about 100 to 150 foreign fighters, including Arabs, Pakistanis, Uzbeks, Chechens and a few Yemenis, said Maj. Jundish Jang Baz, of the Afghan National Army.

“We think they’re working with al Qaeda in Marjah,” Jang Baz said, adding that he expected the Taliban to “scatter like ants.”

 “The real challenge is to make sure they don’t flee with enough weapons to start another fight somewhere else,” he said.

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

U.S. Mercenary Captured In Baghdad

February 6, 2010 By Ernesto Londoño and Leila Fadel, Washington Post Foreign Service [Excerpts]

Baghdad -- An American contractor working for the U.S. military in Baghdad has been kidnapped by a militant group, U.S. officials said this weekend in response to a statement and video issued by the group.

The incident suggests that reconciliation talks between the Iraqi government and the League of the Righteous, a militant group that split from the movement led by fiery cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, have broken down.

A statement and a short video posted on the militant group’s Web site Thursday demanded the release of militants who have fought U.S. forces and called for punishment of the guards employed by Blackwater Worldwide -- now known as Xe Services -- who were involved in a shooting incident in Baghdad in 2007 that claimed the lives of 14 Iraqis.

The Pentagon said in a statement that [Issa T.] Salomi has been missing since Jan. 23. He was last seen in Baghdad, where he worked alongside U.S. troops. “Search and recovery efforts are ongoing,” the statement said.

Gen. Hussein Kamal, the Iraqi Interior Ministry’s director of intelligence and criminal investigations, said Salomi was kidnapped in Karrada, an upscale district in central Baghdad.  Another Iraqi intelligence official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Salomi, who is of Iraqi descent, was visiting relatives at the time.

In the video, a man wearing U.S. combat fatigues says he is in good health and reports that he is being treated humanely. He calls for the release of “those detainees who have resisted the occupation and that have never been involved in any serious crime against their fellow innocent Iraqis.”

The man also says the Blackwater guards involved in the shooting in the capital’s Nisoor Square should face “proper justice” and “proper punishment” for what he describes as “unjustifiable crimes against innocent Iraqi civilians who were bystanders.”

In the video, the captive speaks calmly and is seen sitting on a chair in front of a banner bearing the name of the militant group.  

“I would also like to relay the justifiable demands of the Iraqi Islamic resistance movement for the complete withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq, so Iraq can become a sovereign nation again,” he says at the end of the video.

Authorities Clamp Down On Baghdad Retail Uniform Trade As Insurgents Use Police, Military Disguise:

Tailor Says “If They Can Manage To Reach The Heart Of Baghdad And Blow Up Government Ministries, Then Getting Hold Of Uniforms Is Hardly Going To Be A Problem”

2010-02-07 Middle East Online

BAGHDAD - Iraq is clamping down on a booming Baghdad retail trade in police and military uniforms amid fears it may have provided insurgents with the disguises that made possible a spate of bombings.

Authorities have told tailors and vendors that in future only authorised security force personnel will be allowed to buy the uniforms which previously they could sell to anybody, both bespoke and off the peg.

Market stallholders said that they had been threatened with prosecution if it emerged that uniforms they had sold were subsequently used in insurgent attacks.

“Ten days ago, government officials came and asked us not to sell uniforms to just anyone. They said in future we have to demand to see an identity card and proof they are in the police or army,” Yahia Atayta, 40, said.

Market stallholder Jabbar Kazem Assad, 45, said the authorities had required him to sign a written undertaking that he would not sell uniforms to any customers who could not prove that they were security personnel.

But he questioned how effective the new restrictions would be.

“If they can manage to reach the heart of Baghdad and blow up government ministries, then getting hold of uniforms is hardly going to be a problem,” he said.

Not even security force personnel seemed convinced the new rules would make much difference.

Resistance Action

Feb 3 (Reuters) & Feb 4 (KUNA) & Feb 5 (Reuters)

Insurgents shot and killed a police officer near his house in southern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Two Iraqi soldiers were killed in an attack against an Iraqi army patrolling vehicle in Mosul, Northern Iraq, on Thursday, according to the Iraq army.  An attacker, driving his booby-trapped car, attacked the vehicle and killed two personnel, an army source told KUNA.

A roadside bomb wounded one Iraqi soldier on foot patrol in western Mosul, police said.

Insurgents killed two policemen in an attack on a checkpoint south of Mosul, police said.

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Two U.S. Soldiers Killed By Zabul IED

February 03, 2010 U.S. Department of Defense News Release February 03, 2010

The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.  They died of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their vehicle with an improvised explosive device Feb. 2 in Zabul province, Afghanistan.  They were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Killed were:

Capt. Daniel Whitten, 28, of Grimes, Iowa; and

Pfc. Zachary G. Lovejoy, 20, of Albuquerque, N.M.

Two British Soldiers Killed By IED Near Malgir

2 Feb 10 Ministry of Defence

It is with great sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm that Corporal Liam Riley and Lance Corporal Graham Shaw from 3rd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (3 YORKS) were killed in Helmand province on Monday 1 February 2010.

The soldiers, who were serving as part of the Coldstream Guards Battle Group, were killed as a result of two improvised explosive device blasts near Malgir, which lies between Babaji and Gereshk.

“Taliban-Style” Bomb Kills U.S. Soldier Friday Somewhere Or Other In Afghanistan

Feb 5 AFP

A Taliban-style bomb attack killed a US soldier on Friday in western Afghanistan, NATO said.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the death was caused by an IED, or improvised explosive device -- the crude bombs increasingly deployed by the Taliban in their insurgency.  “An ISAF service member from the United States was killed in an IED strike in western Afghanistan today,” said the statement.

New Hampshire Soldier Killed In Wardak

January 30, 2010: 19-year-old Spc Marc Decoteau of Waterville Valley, N.H. died of injuries sustained in Wardak province of Afghanistan.   (AP Photo/Courtesy of the Decoteau Family)

Marine From Altoona Killed In Afghanistan

Staff Sgt. Matthew N. Ingham.  Courtesy of the Ingham family

January 15, 2010 By Jon Schmitz, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, touched Matt Ingham and his future wife, Yasmin, in different ways.

Yasmin was inspired to become a social studies teacher “so she could work to build bridges of understanding,” said her mother, Shamim Rajpar.

Matt enlisted in the Marines and was among the first sent into Iraq after the U.S. invasion in 2003.  He served two tours there, and later was deployed with an antiterrorism task force in the African nation of Djibouti, his mother-in-law said.

His most recent deployment to Afghanistan ended Monday in tragedy and heroism.

According to accounts from Helmand province, Staff Sgt. Matthew N. Ingham, 25, weathered gunfire to radio for air support for his comrades, who were under attack. Sgt. Ingham and two others died.  His bravery saved 12 others.

Sgt. Ingham, a 2002 graduate of Altoona High School, was assigned to the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force in Okinawa, Japan, according to the Defense Department.

He was sent to Afghanistan in the fall, his mother-in-law said.

“Loyal beyond belief.  Disciplined. Hardworking. Goal-oriented,” she described him. “But fun-loving.”

An avid outdoorsman, he enjoyed hiking, kayaking and camping, and romping with the couple’s two chocolate Labs, said Ms. Rajpar, a librarian at Mount Aloysius College in Cambria County.

He loved to ride his dirt bike, and was spotted in Japan by members of a professional racing team who recruited him to take part in a motocross event, she said. He finished second.

Matt met Yasmin while the two were eighth-graders at Keith Junior High School in Altoona.  Yasmin earned a degree at Duquesne University in 2006 and the couple lived for a time in Virginia before leaving for Okinawa in 2008.

The sergeant’s parents, Gary and Tammi Ingham, who operate a trophy and awards business in Altoona, were with Yasmin at Dover Air Force Base, Del., yesterday for the arrival of the fallen Marine’s flag-draped casket.

“I was very, very proud of Matthew, proud to be his mother-in-law, and loved him very deeply,” Ms. Rajpar said. “My daughter has lost her best friend in the world.”

Also killed in the attack were Cpl. Jamie R. Lowe, 21, of Johnsonville, Ill., and Cpl. Nicholas K. Uzenski, 21, of Tomball, Texas.

Santella Funeral Home in Altoona was handling arrangements for Sgt. Ingham.

South Carolina Soldier Killed By Afghan Roadside Bomb

21-year-old Pfc. Geoffrey A. Whitsitt, of Taylors, S.C., died Wednesday.

1/16/2010 WLTX.com

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP/WLTX) -- Two soldiers assigned to Fort Bragg have been killed by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. One of these soldiers is from South Carolina.

The military announced Saturday that 25-year-old Staff Sgt. Daniel D. Merriweather, of Collierville Tennessee, and 21-year-old Pfc. Geoffrey A. Whitsitt, of Taylors, South Carolina, died Wednesday.

Whitsitt joined the Army on February 12, 2008 and went to basic and AIT at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. where he graduated as a 31B-Military Policeman. 

Upon graduating from AIT, he attended and completed Basic Airborne School at Fort Benning, Ga. and was later assigned to the 118th Military Police Company (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Whitsitt deployed to Forward Operating Base Airborne, Afghanistan in May 2009 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom IX.  His awards include the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal- Campaign Star, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, NATO Medal, Parachutist Badge, and the Combat Action Badge.

Officials say the men were in a vehicle that was damaged by an explosive device.

The soldiers were assigned to the 118th Military Police Company, 503rd Military Police Battalion, 16th Military Police Brigade at Fort Bragg.

Community Reels From Loss Of Franklin Marine

January 14, 2010 By Jake Palmateer, Staff Writer, The Daily Star

FRANKLIN _ Three young men ran through the streets of Franklin on Wednesday afternoon in honor of a fallen friend.

One wore a faded shirt that belonged to Marine Cpl. Nick Uzenski, who died Monday fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The three men, Austin Babcock, Zach Jordan and DJ Terry, said Uzenski, a 2006 Franklin High School graduate and avid runner, would have beaten them in a foot race.

“He ran every race,” Babcock said. “We’re not as in shape as he was.”

The lettering was wearing away on an old Abercrombie & Fitch long-sleeved shirt worn by Jordan, who touched it reverently after the run as the three men cooled down in the Franklin Fire Department parking lot.

Uzenski was killed along with two other Marines from the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Expeditionary Force based in Okinawa, Japan.

“It just doesn’t seem ...,” Babcock began.

“Possible,” Terry finished.

At 10 a.m. today, bells are set to toll at Aldrich Baptist when the body of the 21-year-old arrives in Dover, Del.

Uzenski’s mother, Lisa Uzenski, was notified of her son’s death in person by military officials Tuesday.  Her mother, Audrey Archibald, is a bus driver for the Franklin Central School District. Archibald informed school officials of Uzenski’s death, which has shocked the school community, Superintendent Gordon Daniels said.

“A lot of my staff are just trying to hold it together,” Daniels said. “He was such a positive young man.”  Although Uzenski graduated 31/2 years ago, students also were affected by his death.  “A lot of the kids really did know him,” Daniels said.

School administrators held a meeting of its crisis team Tuesday and had grief counselors available for staff and students Tuesday and Wednesday.  “He was a wonderful young man that everybody loved,” Daniels said.  Daniels said the use of the school _ the largest gathering place in the community _ has been offered to the family for funeral services.

No funeral arrangements have been made, according to Linda DeAndrea, Archibald’s sister-in-law.

DeAndrea said Archibald and Lisa Uzenski were traveling Wednesday to Delaware under military escort to meet with the Marine’s father, Bill Uzenski. Lisa and Bill Uzenski have been divorced for several years, DeAndrea said.

Uzenski’s father lives in Bozeman, Mont., with his wife and their three sons. Lisa Uzenski still lives in the area and works at Catskill Area Hospice and Palliative Care in Oneonta. Nick Uzenski also has two teenage sisters in Montana.

Uzenski aspired to be a Marine from a young age, DeAndrea said.

“He was doing what he wanted to do,” she said.

Uzenski was the unsung hero of the varsity basketball team, Jordan said.

Not a regular starter, the 6-foot-tall athlete played the role of the sixth man who would be the first to be substituted onto the court and played a lot of minutes, Jordan said.

His basketball coach, Matt Campbell, who is also Franklin’s athletic director, said Uzenski was a committed player.  “He was well-rounded. He was a good shooter. He was very intelligent on the court,” Campbell said. “He did whatever was asked of him. Even if it wasn’t what he was best at, he would try and get it done. From a coaching standpoint, I would love to have 12 Nicks on my team every year.”

That tenacity also transferred to the classroom, Campbell said.

“When you lose somebody as special as Nick, it is difficult,” Campbell said. “He had a glow. A personality that was unique. He was a special young man. He was extremely polite. You couldn’t find anybody that had a negative thing to say about him.”

Uzenski, whose father and uncle served in the Marines, had a way of walking and an aura of discipline while he was in high school that hinted he would someday be a Marine, Campbell said.

Uzenski’s death has shocked the entire community, said Franklin Mayor John Campbell, Matt Campbell’s father.

“It’s very tragic,” Campbell said. “He was a good kid. You hear it every day, of men losing their lives.  But this has really hit home.”

Campbell said he is planning a communitywide effort to place a monument in a local park to honor Uzenski and other Franklin residents who lost their lives in service to their country.

Archibald said military officials told her daughter that Uzenski had died in an ambush. He was killed along with Staff Sgt. Matthew N. Ingham, 25, of Altoona, Pa., and Cpl. Jamie R. Lowe, 21, of Johnsonville, Ill.

The department lists Uzenski’s address as Tomball, Texas, and his friends said he lived there for a short time with his father.

Recon Marines must be screened for the special duty and receive advanced training such as airborne school. They are typically tasked with observing and reporting on enemy activity.

The war in Afghanistan, launched as Operation Enduring Freedom after 9/11, is in its ninth year.

Uzenski had arrived in Afghanistan in late fall and was to be home at about June.

Mother, Wife Mourn Slain Soldier

Jan 16, 2010 By Lori Brown, WMC-TV

MEMPHIS, TN

The wife and mother of a Memphis soldier killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan are remembering their hero.

Pam Finnie, the soldier’s mother, recently returned home from seeing her son’s body return to the United States in Delaware.  Staff Sergeant Daniel Merriweather, 25, died doing what wanted to do since he was a child, protect and serve his country.

Finnie said her son’s death was instant.

“They were the lead truck for the convoy, as they were going out they hit the IED,” Finnie said.  “It was an instant impact, and I was told he didn’t suffer at all.”

Finnie also said that Merriweather was not optimistic about his tour of duty in Afghanistan.

“He told me that it was bad, it was different, and he didn’t think he would make it back,” Finnie said.  “I believe he knew what was going to happen, and he didn’t mind giving himself for us.”

Merriweather, the father of three-year-old Kale, just became a father to Daniel Merriweather Jr. two and a half months ago.  He got to be with his wife at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina when their son was born.

It was the last time Specialist Rachelle Merriweather saw her husband in person.  But she did talk to him by webcam Tuesday, the day before he died.

Merriweather said the last thing she spoke about with her husband was a package she had sent him.

“I told him, ‘Daniel, did you get your box?’  He said, ‘oh, I didn’t get it yet, because I’m in a different place and I have to go a little ways to get it now’,” Merriweather said.  “That’s about the last thing we talked about.”

Finnie is confident that her son is enjoying himself in heaven.

“He’s probably asking God, where is my cowboy hat, my belt buckle, his jeans, his boots?” Finnie said.  “And where is the country music?”

This was Merriweather’s third tour of duty in Afghanistan.  He also served in Iraq.

Two Australian Soldiers Wounded Near Tarin Kowt

February 3, 2010 AAP

A second Australian soldier was wounded in a weekend bomb blast in southern Afghanistan, Defence says.

Defence initially said only one soldier was slightly wounded when a Bushmaster armoured vehicle struck an improvised explosive device (IED) on Saturday - the first Australian soldier wounded in Afghanistan so far this year.

It now says another soldier was wounded in the same incident.

“The second soldier received minor head injuries as a result of the blast,” a defence statement said.

“A medical assessment does not class his wounds as serious, and he is reported as being in a satisfactory condition.”

Defence said the second soldier’s wounds only became apparent during subsequent medical checks of personnel involved in the roadside blast.

The incident occurred while the soldiers were on patrol north of the Oruzgan provincial capital Tarin Kowt.

Supply Helicopter Hit, One Wounded

February 5, 2010 By NOOR KHAN, The Associated Press

A helicopter contracted by U.S. forces was hit by small-arms fire Friday in the eastern province of Kapisa.

One person suffered minor wounds, but the helicopter suffered no significant damage and landed safely at a military base, the international force said in a statement.

THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO COMPREHENSIBLE REASON TO BE IN THIS EXTREMELY HIGH RISK LOCATION AT THIS TIME, EXCEPT THAT THE PACK OF TRAITORS THAT RUN THE GOVERNMENT IN D.C. WANT YOU THERE TO DEFEND THEIR IMPERIAL DREAMS:

That is not a good enough reason.

A U.S. Army soldier on patrol outside Kolack, a village in the Korengal Valley, Kunar province, northeastern Afghanistan, Jan. 19, 2010. The soldiers from Task Force Lethal regularly exchange fire with Taliban militants who operate in the hillsides of the Pech and Korengal valleys.  (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

While receiving incoming mortar and machine gun fire, a U.S. Army soldier takes cover inside a guard tower, helping gunners from his unit spot Taliban positions in the hills above Combat Outpost Michigan, in the Pech Valley, northeastern Afghanistan, Jan. 20, 2010. The soldiers from Task Force Lethal at COP Michigan regularly receive small and large-arms fire from Taliban militants who operate in the hillsides overlooking the base.  (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

U.S. Army soldiers of the 2-12 Infantry walk on patrol in Sundray, a village in the Pech Valley, Kunar province, northeastern Afghanistan, Jan. 22, 2010.  (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Covering his fellow soldiers, a U.S. Army soldier acting as Forward Observer watches for threats during a patrol in the Pech Valley, Kunar province, northeastern Afghanistan, Jan. 24, 2010.  (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

PAKISTAN WAR REPORTS

Three U.S. Occupation Soldiers Killed In Pakistan, Two More Wounded:

Dead Americans Served With The Special Operations Command:

“The United States Has About 200 Military Service Members In Pakistan, Captain Hanzlik Said”

[Thanks to Sandy Kelson, Military Resistance, who sent this in.]

February 3, 2010 By JANE PERLEZ, The New York Times & Feb 04, 2010 By NAHAL TOOSI, AP News [Excerpts]

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The deaths of three American soldiers in a Taliban attack on Wednesday lifted the veil on United States military assistance to Pakistan that the authorities here would like to keep quiet and the Americans, as the donors, chafe at not receiving credit for.

The soldiers were among at least 60 to 100 members of a Special Operations team that trains Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps in counterinsurgency techniques, including intelligence gathering and development assistance. The American service members are from the Special Operations Command of Adm. Eric T. Olson.

That training has been acknowledged only gingerly by both the Americans and the Pakistanis, but has deliberately been kept low-key so as not to trespass onto Pakistani sensitivities about sovereignty, and not to further inflame high anti-American sentiment.

The American soldiers were probably made targets as a result of the drone strikes, said Syed Rifaat Hussain, professor of international relations at Islamabad University.

“The attack seems a payback for the mounting frequency of the drone attacks,” Professor Hussain said.

The three soldiers were killed, and two other service members wounded, in the region of Lower Dir, which is close to the tribal areas.

Suspicion intensified Thursday that the car bomber who killed three U.S. soldiers training Pakistani troops along the Afghan border had inside information on their movements.

If confirmed that Wednesday’s attack was aimed at the Americans, it would indicate an increased sophistication in militant tactics, as well as potential infiltration of extremists in Pakistani security forces.

Police official Naeem Khan said Thursday that authorities were investigating whether the bomber knew the soldiers would be passing through Shahi Koto town and which vehicle to target in the five-car convoy, which also included Pakistani troops.

Such convoys usually include green military vehicles carrying armed troops who are clearly visible.  The Pakistani forces could also have been the target as they have frequently been over the past several years.

According to police officials in the region, the armored vehicle in which they were traveling was hit by a bomber driving a car. Earlier reports from Pakistani security officials said the soldiers had been killed by a roadside explosive device.

To disguise themselves in a way that is common for Western men in Pakistan, the American soldiers were dressed in traditional Pakistani garb of baggy trousers and long tunic, known as shalwar kameez, according to a Frontier Corps officer. They also wore local caps that helped cover their hair, he said.

Their armored vehicle was equipped with electronic jammers sufficient to block remotely controlled devices and mines, the officer said. Vehicles driven by the Frontier Corps were placed in front and behind the Americans as protection, he said.

Still, the Taliban bomber was able to penetrate their cordon.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban called reporters hours after the attack against the Americans and claimed that his group was responsible.

The Pakistani Army currently occupies Swat, and in an effort to strengthen the civilian institutions there and in Dir, some of the American service members on the Special Operations team have been quietly working on development projects, an American official said.

The presence of the American military members in an area known to be threaded with Taliban militants would also raise questions, said Khalid Aziz, a former chief secretary of the North-West Frontier Province, which includes Swat and Dir.

Mr. Aziz said it was odd that American soldiers would go to such a volatile area where Taliban militants were known to be prevalent even though the Pakistani security forces insisted that they had been flushed out.

The usual practice for development work in Dir and Swat called for Pakistani aid workers or paramilitary soldiers to visit the sites, he said.

The Americans’ involvement in training Frontier Corps recruits in development assistance was little known until Wednesday’s attack.

“People are going to be very suspicious,” said Mr. Aziz, who is now involved in American assistance projects elsewhere.

“There is going to be big blowback in the media.”

Whether American soldiers are based in Pakistan is often raised by Pakistani politicians, students and average Pakistanis, many of them suspicious of American motives.

Capt. Jack Hanzlik, a spokesman for the United States Central Command in Tampa, Fla., said 12 other service members had been killed in Pakistan since Sept. 11, 2001. The three soldiers who died Wednesday had been assigned to a Special Operations command in Pakistan.

The United States has about 200 military service members in Pakistan, Captain Hanzlik said.

The three names of the soldiers killed were not released Wednesday because United States military officials were still notifying the next of kin.

SOMALIA WAR REPORTS

Somali President Comes Under Attack

Feb 4, 2010 GAROWE ONLINE

At least 2 people are reportedly killed and few others injured after insurgents carried out attack on Somalia’s President’s plane that landed in Mogadishu’s Aden Adde International airport.

President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was returning from an official visit to Ethiopia on Wednesday when insurgents fired mortars at his plane, according to reports.

African Union peacekeeping [translation: U.S. government- backed occupation] troops which guard the airport returned the fire.

Insurgents In Somalia Have “Full Control Of The Country’s Most Economical Sites Including Seaports And Airports”

Feb-06 Mareeg.com

Somali Transitional Federal Government stated that armed groups in Somalia controlled key economical locations where former Somali military used to run.

Speaking to Al-sharqal awsad in Egypt ‘s capital, Cairo, Somali information minister Dahir Mohamoud Ghele said that armed Islamists in Somalia had the full control of the country’s most economical sites including seaports and airports where they daily obtain much income to finance their war against Somali transitional federal government in Somalia .

The minister stated that Armed groups importing arms by airports under their control.

Somalia To Close Its Foreign Embassies, Says Foreign Minister

Feb 5, 2010 GAROWE ONLINE

Somalia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Ahmed Jama Jengeli has announced that his government is planning to close down several of its foreign embassies.

Jengeli said the embattled government is taking the plan, which was passed by the cabinet, due to lack of resources and would be reopened once the government is financially capable.   

“The cabinet has passed this plan and we are already implementing it.  We can’t maintain the cost of running the embassies,” he said.  He adds, “They will be reopened once the government is financially able, we are also looking for monetary backers to pay the embassy’s bills.”

He said the affected embassies include France with the few remaining ones taking up the work of the effect ones, adding that its unfortunate to ‘close the key gateways of diplomacy’.

The plan to close embassies has been an issue within the UN-backed transition government, which was formed barely a year ago and the implementation will have huge impact on its diplomatic missions abroad.

TROOP NEWS

THIS IS HOW OBAMA BRINGS THE TROOPS HOME:

BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW, ALIVE

The casket of Spc. Christopher J. Coffland at Arlington National Cemetery Dec. 1, 2009. Coffland, 43, of Baltimore, died Nov. 13, 2009 in Wardak province, Afghanistan, after enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 323rd Military Intelligence Battalion, Fort Meade, Md.  (AP Photo/The Baltimore Sun, Karl Merton Ferron)

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

“At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed.  Oh had I the ability, and could reach the nation’s ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke.

“For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder.

“We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”

Frederick Douglass, 1852

Staggering

From: Mike Hastie

To: Military Resistance

Subject: Staggering

Date: Feb 4, 2010

                           Staggering

Californians alone will pay $89.2 billion for total

defense spending this year, money that could be

used to pay for health care for 36,723,380 people.

National Priorities Project

This photograph was taken in Portland, Oregon

after an anti-war rally in November 2002.

On March 19, 2003, the United States Government

launched a preemptive war on the health of the

Iraqi people, and as a result of that war, the

American people are going to suffer a staggering

loss of health care to its own people.  You

always reap what you sow.

Mike Hastie

U.S. Army Medic

Vietnam 1970-71

February 4, 2010

OCCUPATION HAITI

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

CLASS WAR REPORTS

Welcome To The Occupied U.S.A.:

Filth In Blue Attack Fund Raising Party To Defend Students Arrested By Filth In Blue:

A Scum-Sucking Cop Piece Of Shit Tells Silly Stupid Lie About “A Large Fight Outside” To Justify Breaking Down Doors Without Warrant & Applying “Pain Hold” Without Cause

[Instead of dying in vain in Afghanistan and Iraq for the Washington DC Imperial government, we need all our troops home now to sweep the scum in blue off our streets and out of our neighborhoods once and for all.  T]

February 5, 2010 By Emily Caruso, Socialist Worker

POLICE ATTACKED a political fundraising event on January 30, bringing chaos to a peaceful evening in San Francisco.

Due to the number of student occupations erupting in California, many students have risked arrest and are in need of defense fees. In an effort to fundraise for multiple defense campaigns across the Bay Area, student activists from University of California-Santa Cruz, University of California-Berkeley and San Francisco State University organized a benefit party in San Francisco.

The peaceful benefit took place in a rented two-tier gallery space. In the bottom level, a sound system was set up, and the area was converted into a dance hall. Above, people were enjoying the social atmosphere and mingling with other students from around the Bay.

Students from San Francisco State University volunteered to promote and run the event, but unfortunately, security wasn’t tight enough, for police abruptly ended the party.

Around 1 a.m., police arrived at the door of the space and ordered an immediate evacuation. Within five minutes of their arrival, they busted through the main doors, which had previously been closed and locked. When the owner of the gallery space asked to see a warrant, he was put into a pain-hold, thrown on the ground and arrested.

A younger female officer, who was dressed as a civilian with just a badge hanging around her neck, was pushing and shoving people out of the gallery and into the street.

“I was, as I believe everyone else was, completely unprepared for the amount of unnecessary force used,” said San Francisco State University Freshman Carolina Hicks.

“It was police storming in on a dance party put together by students for the benefit of other students.”

Officer Samson Chan of the San Francisco Police Department justified the intervention by claiming, “Initially, we had numerous complaints about a large fight outside of the venue.” However, partygoers recall the night continuing peacefully until police arrived.

While the space was being vacated, people began yelling at the police for their use of violence.  When people screamed, “Fuck the police!” officers responded with brutality, and arrested people for “inciting violence.”

Chan claimed that “police officers were highly outnumbered. It got to a point where officers called for emergency assistance.”

“Emergency assistance” consisted of more than 10 police cars speeding to the gallery, with sirens blaring, from all directions simultaneously.

This sparked fear among those in attendance, so most people ran from the scene as fast as they could--with some officers chasing the students on foot.

“I think that because the party was advertised so openly on the streets as well as on campus, my suspicion is that (the police) were well-informed of the political nature of the party and its purpose,” Hicks said.

“Why else would they have reacted so strongly to some group of college kids?

“I felt that something really positive and peaceful turned very ugly, very fast...Within a matter of minutes, the attitude turned from a great party, where people were socializing and making positive connections, to a very genuine fear of ‘Where should I hide from the police chasing after me?’ and ‘Why am I even having to run?’ The police did nothing but provoke.”

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