DoD Identifies Army Casualty

No. 126-07 February 02, 2007
DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Cpl. Stephen D. Shannon, 21, of Guttenberg, Iowa, died January 31st, in Balad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his vehicle was hit by a rocket during combat operations January 30th in Ramadi, Iraq. Shannon was assigned to the 397th Engineer Battalion, Wausau, Wis.For further information in regard to this release the media can contact the Army Reserve 88th Regional Readiness Command public affairs office at (312) 371-8024.

DoD Identifies Navy Casualty

No. 125-07 February 02, 2007
DoD Identifies Navy Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a sailor who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Hospitalman Matthew G. Conte, 22, of Mogadore, Ohio, died February 1st while his unit was conducting combat operations against enemy forces in the Al Anbar Province, Iraq.
Conte was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii serving as a hospital corpsman in Iraq under the command of I Marine Expeditionary Force (forward).
For further information in regard to this release the media can contact the Navy public affairs office at (703) 697-5342.

DoD Identifies Marine Casualty

No. 123-07 February 02, 2007
DoD Identifies Marine Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Gunnery Sgt. Terry J. Elliott, 34, of Middleton, Tenn., died February 1st while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. Elliott was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
For further information in regard to this release the media can contact the Hawaii public affairs office at (808) 257-8870.

American and Iraqi Forces Prepare to Snag Insurgents Fleeing Baghdad

February 02, 2007
American and Iraqi forces posted north of Baghdad are preparing checkpoints to net any insurgents who flee Iraq's capital city to avoid an expected anti-terrorist dragnet there, a senior U.S. military officer told Pentagon reporters today.

"Because of the pressures in Baghdad, we believe that the threat forces will try to move to Saladin (province) and find safe havens and try to wait out the operations down in Baghdad," Army Col. Bryan Owens, commander of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team with headquarters in Tikrit, Iraq, told reporters here during a satellite-enabled news conference.

President Bush has authorized deployment of more than 21,000 additional U.S. soldiers and Marines to Baghdad and parts of western Iraq to assist in stemming sectarian violence. Most of those troops will be posted to Baghdad to help Iraqi forces round up insurgents.

Owens' unit, part of the 82nd Airborne Division from Fort Bragg, N.C., was deployed for its second tour in Iraq in August. The 3rd Brigade is assigned to Multinational Division North and works with Iraqi security forces and U.S. State Department provincial reconstruction teams in Salahaddin province to provide stability and resuscitate the local economy, he said.

Owens' troops are establishing fortified traffic checkpoints across his area of operations that will be manned by Iraqi soldiers and police, he said.

The 3rd BCT's soldiers also are conducting "operations into known and suspected safe havens to try to find these threat forces," the colonel said.

Salahaddin province encompasses an area about the size of Vermont and is home to 1.2 million Iraqis, mostly Sunni Arabs with some Shiias and Kurds, Owens said. Major cities in the province include Tikrit, Balad, Samarra and Bayji, he said.

Violence in the province has decreased since the outbreak of sectarian strife that followed the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra last February, Owens noted. Today's relative peace, he said, can be credited to the province's governor, who secured an anti-violence agreement from local tribal sheiks last fall.

The 3rd BTC and its Iraqi partners have been preparing for an inflow of insurgents from Baghdad during the past several days, Owens said. So far, he noted, things are relatively quiet.

"I wouldn't say we've had a significant flow (of insurgents) from Baghdad," Owens said, "but we continue to work and monitor according to our plans."
(Taken from news article by DoD - American Forces Press Service and was written by Gerry J. Gilmore)

Senator Clinton Calling Iran a Danger to the U.S. and Israel

Calling Iran a danger to the U.S. and one of Israel's greatest threats, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday that "no option can be taken off the table" when dealing with that nation... "U.S. policy must be clear and unequivocal: We cannot, we should not, we must not permit Iran to build or acquire nuclear weapons," Clinton told a crowd of Israel supporters. "In dealing with this threat … no option can be taken off the table."
Read the rest of the story at ABC NEWS - Politics
(Note: This Story is also posted on my NEW BLOG ‘White House Race 2008 - AubreyJ.org’)

PENTAGON TELLS FOX NEWS IT IS INVESTIGATING TWO SENIOR IRAQI GENERALS FOR POSSIBLY AIDING MILITANTS IN DEADLY ATTACK LAST WEEK

FoxNews.com has this troubling story today that goes in part like this... Two senior Iraqi generals are being questioned in connection with last week's attack in Karbala that left five U.S. soldiers dead, military officials told FOX News Thursday... Military officials also said the level of sophistication of the attack — where militants posed as U.S. soldiers to pass a number of security checkpoints — suggested possible Iranian involvement...
Read the rest of the story at link below...
Two Senior Iraqi Generals Eyed in Brazen Attack on U.S. Soldiers

Some Say Flagship Project At The Baghdad Police Academy Has Turned Into A Hall Of Horrors

Read this story at MSNBC titled...
Did Iraq contractor fleece American taxpayers?

When is the last time you heard anything from the MSM on Reconstruction Projects going on in Afghanistan and Iraq??? Yep... yesterday is the first I’ve heard anything on this topic from them too.

Sadly... just like everything else they report on in Iraq... it is all bad... terrible... we’re losing or look at all of this misuse of funding that’s going on.

Funny how the MSM has only reported this story, (and don’t get me wrong, it’s a story needing to be told,) out of all the good stories of the many a thousands of projects that went very well in both Iraq and Afghanistan. But that isn’t the picture they are trying to send to the American People... is it...?

AubreyJ.........

DoD Identifies Marine Casualty

No. 120-07 February 01, 2007
DoD Identifies Marine Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Lance Cpl. Adam Q. Emul, 19, of Vancouver, Wash., died January 29th from wounds received while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. Emul was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif.For further information in regard to this release the media can contact the Twentynine Palms Public Affairs Office at (760) 830-5476.