GWOT Media Summary May 09

[RAMESES the Great]

U.S. Joint Forces Command
GWOT Media Summary
Operations Iraqi Freedom/Enduring Freedom/Noble Eagle
Current as of May 9, 2008

 New Developments
 Al-Qaeda In Iraq Leader Arrested In Mosul, Iraqi Police Announce. Iraqi police announced early Friday the capture of Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, the leader of the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq, but the U.S. military said it could not confirm the report. Iraqi officials said Muhajer was apprehended early Thursday morning after he was found sleeping during a midnight raid of a house in the northern city of Mosul. Muhajer confessed his identity in an interrogation, said Maj. Gen. Abdel-Karim Khalaf, a Ministry of Interior spokesman. Muhajer is believed to be an Egyptian, about 40 years old and an associate of Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. He is believed to have taken over the leadership of al-Qaeda in Iraq after the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a U.S. airstrike in June 2006. (Washington Post – see attached)
 NATO Could End Rotating Command In S. Afghanistan. NATO could change its rotating command of southern Afghanistan and give the role to a single country, amid concern that the current system is boosting the Taliban insurgency, NATO's top U.S. general said Thursday. "Everything is open," General Bantz Craddock told AFP when asked how command of the Taliban hotbed area, which currently alternates between Canada, Britain and the Netherlands, was likely to change. Craddock said he received a letter from the commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, saying "it would be better if we had one country take lead as opposed to rotate." ISAF includes 47,000 soldiers from 40 countries who work alongside a separate US-led coalition numbering about 20,000 and the Afghan security forces to defeat extremist violence. (Google/AFP)
 Congress To Pass Iraq War Funds By End Of May-Pelosi. The U.S. Congress will send President George W. Bush a bill by the end of this month to pay for the war in Iraq through next year, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday. But first she must heal a rift within her own Democratic Party over veterans benefits. The legislation, which would give Bush $162.5 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through mid-2009, had been scheduled for debate in the House of Representatives on Thursday. With its timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq, it already faced a White House veto. But a group of fiscally conservative Democrats scuttled Pelosi's plans, objecting to the cost of an education benefit for veterans that Pelosi wanted to add to the war bill. Pelosi said she hopes to work out the differences over the next few days with the goal of passing war funds – with a December 2009, troop withdrawal timetable – next week. (Reuters)

 Military Coverage
 Pentagon Is Open To Moving More Marines To Afghanistan. The Marine Corps may begin shifting its major combat forces out of Iraq to focus on Afghanistan in 2009 if greater security in Iraq allows a reduction of Marines there, top Pentagon officials said Thursday. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the proposal by the Marine Corps commandant, Gen. James Conway, to focus his force on Afghanistan – which they rejected late last year – could be reconsidered. "Should we be in a position to move forces into Afghanistan, I think that certainly would come back into consideration," Mullen said at a Pentagon briefing. He said that he understands it is challenging for the Marines to have "a foot in both countries" and that Conway seeks to "optimize the forces that he has," but stressed that any shift is likely to occur "down the road." (Washington Post – see attached)
 Pentagon Proceeding Cautiously On Potential Aid Drop. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday the U.S. military was stepping up preparations for a relief mission in Myanmar, but he said he couldn't imagine air dropping aid without permission from the closed regime. His comments followed those earlier Thursday by Ky Luu, director of the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, that an air drop was one option being considered as Myanmar's junta continued to stall on accepting assistance from the United States. Gates said the military was moving aircraft, ships and Marines closer to Myanmar in case permission is granted to deliver humanitarian supplies. (Cleveland Plain Dealer/AP – see attached)

 Homeland Security
 Judge Plans To Review Opinion On CIA Tactics. A federal judge in New York intends next week to review one of the Bush administration's most controversial legal opinions related to detainee interrogations, to decide if it has appropriately been withheld from public view. U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York said in an order Thursday that on Monday he intends to review an Aug. 1, 2002, memo on specific CIA interrogation techniques, marking an unusual review outside the executive branch. (Washington Post – see attached)
 U.S. Man Jailed For 20 Years For Eco-Bombing Plot. A California man described by prosecutors as an "eco-terrorist" was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison on Thursday for plotting to blow up a federal forestry site, telephone towers and other targets. Eric McDavid, 29, was convicted by a federal jury in March after two co-conspirators, Zachary Jenson and Lauren Weiner, pleaded guilty and cooperated with the government. McDavid's sentence of 235 months in a federal prison "should serve as a cautionary tale to those who would conspire to commit life-threatening acts in the name of their extremist views," U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott said in a statement issued in Sacramento, California. Federal prosecutors said the three defendants planned to attack targets including the U.S. Forest Service Institute of Forest Genetics, the Nimbus Dam and Fish Hatchery, cellular telephone towers and electric power stations. (Reuters)
 Report: U.S. Lacks Plan To Counter Terrorist Messages. The United States must develop a communications plan to counter radical Islamic messages on the Internet, according to a Congressional report released Thursday. Because the Internet's easy access makes it possible for al-Qaida and other terrorist sympathizers to spread their beliefs and recruit new followers, the government needs a coordinated and thorough response that it currently lacks, said the senior senators on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said al-Qaida is better at communicating its message to Americans than the U.S. government is at communicating its message. That means people can become radicalized at home, without leaving the country or going to a terrorist training camp, he said, fueling the potential for "homegrown" terrorists. (Charlotte Observer/AP)

 World Developments
 Hizbollah Says Lebanon Has Declared War. Fighting between Lebanon’s opposition and government supporters intensified on Thursday after the leader of the Shia militant group Hizbollah accused the pro-western administration of declaring war against his organization. As the clashes spread in Beirut, security sources said at least eight people had been killed and 16 wounded. With gunmen exchanging fire with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, the violence threatened to degenerate into a broader Sunni-Shia conflict. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the Hizbollah chief, demanded the government reverse decisions taken this week against his group. He said Lebanon had entered a new stage and government moves against a Hizbollah communications network and the sacking of a Shia general had been advocated by the U.S. and Israel. (London Financial Times – see attached)
 U.S. Agrees To EU's Iran Nuclear Plan. The United States has signed off on a European plan that would offer increased incentives for Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program, senior State Department officials said Thursday. Leaders from Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany are expected to join European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana -- the EU's normal contact with Iran -- at a meeting with Iranian officials to present the offer. That meeting has not been scheduled, the officials said. The United States, along with the other nations, has been following a "dual track strategy" with Iran, which includes tightening sanctions on the regime while offering incentives if Iran suspends its enrichment activities. Last week in London, England, the group of nations agreed to sweeten the unspecified offer to Iran if it agreed to suspend its uranium enrichment program. (CNN)
 U.S. Concerned That Tensions Between Russia And Georgia Could Escalate. A U.S. official is expressing concern that tensions between Russia and Georgia could lead to armed conflict. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Daniel Fried used an appearance Thursday before the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe to appeal to both countries for restraint. Fried said the U.S. is concerned that tensions between Russia and Georgia could escalate, although he said he does not believe either of the neighboring countries wants war. At issue are two breakaway regions of Georgia – Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which declared their independence in the early 1990's, sparking fighting and the dispatch of Russian peacekeeping troops to the regions. Georgia has accused the Russian troops of backing separatists and has pledged to bring both areas back under central government control. (Voice Of America)
 Ex-Hostage Helped Qatada Get Bail. Former Iraq hostage Norman Kember has said he helped fund Islamic preacher Abu Qatada's bail. Mr. Kember, 77, a peace campaigner, said he did it in a spirit of "reciprocity and kindness" because Qatada had helped him when he was in captivity. The Muslim cleric made a video calling for Mr. Kember's release while he was being held by a radical group in Iraq. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was "disappointed" at the bail decision and wants Qatada deported to Jordan. He was convicted in his absence in Jordan of terrorist offences in the 1990s. Qatada, a Palestinian-Jordanian, last month won an appeal against deportation. The government is seeking to over-turn that. The home secretary promised to take "all steps necessary to protect the public". Qatada was being held in Long Lartin jail in Worcestershire after he was taken into custody pending his extradition. (BBC)

 Public Opinion
 Nearly Two-Thirds Oppose The War In Iraq. In a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll, over 1,000 Americans were asked simply, "Do you favor or oppose the U.S. war in Iraq?" 68% responded that they oppose the war while 30% said they were in favor of the war. 3% were unsure. (PollingReport.com)


* AP = Associated Press UPI = United Press International KR = Knight Ridder

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Al-Qaeda In Iraq Leader Arrested In Mosul, Iraqi Police Announce
Washington Post
May 9, 2008

Iraqi police announced early Friday the capture of Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, the leader of the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq, but the U.S. military said it could not confirm the report. Iraqi officials said Muhajer was apprehended early Thursday morning after he was found sleeping during a midnight raid of a house in the northern city of Mosul. Muhajer confessed his identity in an interrogation, said Maj. Gen. Abdel-Karim Khalaf, a Ministry of Interior spokesman. Muhajer is believed to be an Egyptian, about 40 years old and an associate of Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. He is believed to have taken over the leadership of al-Qaeda in Iraq after the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a U.S. airstrike in June 2006. Iraqi officials reported in May 2007 that Muhajer had been killed. His capture Thursday, if true, would be an important boost for Iraqi security forces but may not signify the end of al-Qaeda in Iraq's presence in the country.

Since Zarqawi's death, the organization has continued a campaign of killing while pushing its strict interpretation of Islam. In recent weeks, suicide bombers acting in a manner consistent with previous attacks by al-Qaeda in Iraq have struck funerals, wedding parties and police and military checkpoints. The attacks chiefly target Sunnis who have joined forces with the U.S. military. Also Thursday, militia leaders loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr vowed to resist efforts by Iraqi and U.S. forces to relocate residents of some of the most violent parts of Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood to camps. For a month, the densely populated Shiite enclave on the capital's eastern edge has served as a battleground in clashes between Sadr's Mahdi Army militia and the joint fighting force drawn from the U.S. military and Iraqi security agencies. The battles have generally been taking place in the southwestern quadrant of the rectangular district, an area believed to be the launching site of most rockets targeting the heavily fortified Green Zone.

Abu Mustafa and Abu Bader, local Sadrist leaders and militia fighters, said Iraqi soldiers were telling people to leave Sadr City and go to tents set up at two nearby soccer stadiums. They also said soldiers had distributed leaflets telling residents in certain sectors to clear out. Abu Bader, who spoke on the condition that he was identified only by his nickname, said people were resisting. "We have tribal tradition," he said. "We are not going to send our families to stay in stadiums and soccer fields. There is no way we are going to put our people at the mercy of Americans and the Iraqi national guard." Abu Bader cited American detention practices, and the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in particular, as the source of people's fears. Maj. Mark Cheadle, a U.S. military spokesman, denied knowledge of a campaign to remove residents from Sadr City. "We don't know anything about that," he said. "If they are doing it with loudspeakers, they are doing it quietly, because we are not hearing it."

Abu Mustafa reported "light clashes" with American and Iraqi forces Thursday, saying that patrols had been sent deeper into the district from multiple directions. The patrols turned back, he said, after being confronted by Mahdi Army fighters. Abu Mustafa said American helicopters were also firing on houses in the area. American and Iraqi commanders have said they are taking precautions to limit the impact on innocent civilians and property. Also Thursday, fighters launched two rockets from Sadr City that struck a home in central Baghdad, killing two Iraqi civilians and wounding eight others, the U.S. military said. An Iraqi police official said at least four fighters and 22 other people were wounded in the district when militiamen clashed with Iraqi forces backed by U.S. helicopters. In Salahuddin province, north of Baghdad, a suicide bomber killed Mulla Nadhum al-Aswadi, a leader of the U.S.-backed Sunni force known as the Awakening, who was traveling in a convoy with the police chief in the town of Duluiyah. In Samarra, about 65 miles north of Baghdad, U.S. forces backing the Awakening fighters killed five senior members of al-Qaeda in Iraq in a pre-dawn offensive, according to Mohammed al-Nesani, a local Awakening leader.

Pentagon Is Open To Moving More Marines To Afghanistan
Washington Post
May 9, 2008

The Marine Corps may begin shifting its major combat forces out of Iraq to focus on Afghanistan in 2009 if greater security in Iraq allows a reduction of Marines there, top Pentagon officials said Thursday. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the proposal by the Marine Corps commandant, Gen. James Conway, to focus his force on Afghanistan -- which they rejected late last year -- could be reconsidered. "Should we be in a position to move forces into Afghanistan, I think that certainly would come back into consideration," Mullen said at a Pentagon briefing. He said that he understands it is challenging for the Marines to have "a foot in both countries" and that Conway seeks to "optimize the forces that he has," but stressed that any shift is likely to occur "down the road."

Gates said he agrees that the Marine Corps shift is "a possibility" for next year. He explained that when he earlier said the change "wouldn't happen on my watch," that was not an unchangeable policy decision -- he meant it would not unfold until 2009, when he plans to step down. Gates said that the Pentagon is still looking at options to increase U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan in 2009, but that there is no plan to extend the seven-month deployment of about 3,200 Marines dispatched there this spring. "I'd be loath to" extend the Marines beyond November, when they are scheduled to leave Afghanistan, he said. A senior military official said this week that after a "vigorous debate," Mullen, Conway and other members of the Joint Chiefs recently hammered out their priorities for employing stretched U.S. ground forces: first, Iraq; next, Afghanistan; and finally, bringing troops home to increase the amount of time they have in the United States to train and recuperate.

Long, 15-month deployments and troop increases in Iraq and Afghanistan have severely stretched the Army and Marine Corps. That has led to more soldiers under "stop-loss," which means they are required to stay in service beyond their contractual departure date. As of the end of March, the number of active-duty, National Guard and reserve soldiers on stop-loss had risen to 12,100, Army officials said. Gates asked the Army last year to minimize the number of soldiers on stop-loss, and said yesterday he is "troubled" by the trend, detailed for him in a briefing yesterday by Army leaders. "It is an issue. It troubles me. And I think it is a strain," he said. Still, he said the practice is important to maintain "unit cohesion," noting that about half of soldiers under stop-loss are sergeants. "If they left a unit, it would leave a pretty gaping hole, while still deployed," he said. Gates said Army leaders told him they expect the number of soldiers prevented from leaving because of stop-loss will begin to decline in September, after five Army combat brigades return from Iraq by July. Turning to another key troop morale issue -- proposals in Congress to increase benefits under the GI Bill -- Gates said he supports more generous benefits but wants to link them to a longer mandatory term of service, six years compared with three under the leading Senate legislation.

Pentagon Proceeding Cautiously On Potential Aid Drop
Cleveland Plain Dealer/AP
May 8, 2008

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday the U.S. military was stepping up preparations for a relief mission in Myanmar, but he said he couldn't imagine air dropping aid without permission from the closed regime. His comments followed those earlier Thursday by Ky Luu, director of the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, that an air drop was one option being considered as Myanmar's junta continued to stall on accepting assistance from the United States. Gates said the military was moving aircraft, ships and Marines closer to Myanmar in case permission is granted to deliver humanitarian supplies.

"I cannot imagine us going in without the permission of the Myanmar government," Gates said at a Pentagon press conference with Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Asked if it would be helpful to victims for the U.S. to drop supplies, Mullen said: "We could. Typically, though, it's sovereign airspace and you'd need their permission to fly in that airspace." "It's all tied to sovereignty, which we respect whether it's on the ground or in the air," Mullen said.

Luu told a State Department press conference earlier that air drops are often inefficient, could have broader international legal implications and that the best option would be for Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, to accept the aid. Still, "anything that might have a positive impact is being looked at and is being discussed," he said, adding that air drops would be a last resort. The comments came as the United States and other donor countries continued to wait for permission to enter with tons of assistance and disaster relief personnel to assess what the needs are and move toward distributing the aid.

Among other countries considering air drops are Italy and France, whose foreign minister has suggested the possibility of forcing assistance into Myanmar, officials said. Pentagon officials have said they are wary of such a scenario because it could be considered an invasion. But French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said this week that air drops could be allowed under the U.N.'s "responsibility to protect" mandate, which applies to civilians.

Officials said there were several problems with unauthorized air drops, especially if there are no experts on the ground to monitor the distribution of aid. Desperate people could riot over the assistance and there is the possibility that security forces might confiscate it and keep it out of the hands of the needy, they said. The government has reported more than 20,000 deaths and more than 40,000 missing from Cyclone Nargis that hit Myanmar, particularly the Irrawaddy River delta, last weekend. A U.S. diplomat said Wednesday that the death toll in the delta could exceed 100,000. The U.N. estimates that a million people have been left homeless.

Meanwhile Thursday, the U.S. military stepped up preparations for any humanitarian mission to Myanmar, readying ships and Marines that were in the region for a multinational exercise. The U.S. Air Force moved more airplanes to a staging area in Thailand and the Navy transported Marines of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and helicopters into Thailand from an aviation combat element of the USS Essex expeditionary strike group, officials said. The Essex and other Navy ships began heading later Thursday toward waters off Myanmar, a journey that Mullen said would take five days.

The Navy happened to have ships and thousands of service members in the Gulf of Thailand for a multinational exercise on humanitarian missions — an exercise called Cobra Gold that started Thursday. "The Essex group ... either has or is (still) offloading some helicopters to be available in Thailand, because they could reach Myanmar in a very short — in a matter of hours from Thailand — with relief supplies," Gates said. "There are also I think six C-130s available."

Officials said that although the military junta has not agreed to allow U.S. humanitarian assistance, it did ask for some other U.S. help — satellite pictures of the cyclone-devastated areas. "They asked our defense attaché at the embassy in Rangoon for some imagery and we provided it," said Marine Maj. Stuart Upton, a Pentagon spokesman. Separately, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution urging humanitarian aid to Myanmar's people and asking Myanmar's government to remove restrictions on international aid groups. Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts said in a statement that the cyclone "could be remembered as the moment when the United States and the world came to the aid of the Burmese people and made it clear that while we loathe the junta that has isolated Burma from the world and oppressed its citizens, we find common cause with the people of Burma and we will be there by their side at this difficult time."

Judge Plans To Review Opinion On CIA Tactics
Washington Post
May 9, 2008

A federal judge in New York intends next week to review one of the Bush administration's most controversial legal opinions related to detainee interrogations, to decide if it has appropriately been withheld from public view. U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York said in an order Thursday that on Monday he intends to review an Aug. 1, 2002, memo on specific CIA interrogation techniques, marking an unusual review outside the executive branch. The 2002 memo from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel accompanied a broader document on the definition of torture that has already been released publicly and disavowed by the administration.

The second, still-classified memo focuses on the specific interrogation techniques that were deemed legally permissible at the CIA, according to court documents and intelligence officials. The memo was authored by then-OLC deputy John C. Yoo and includes discussion of waterboarding, a type of simulated drowning that the CIA has acknowledged using on three al-Qaeda suspects in its custody, officials have said.

Hellerstein had previously ruled that the memo could be properly withheld by the government because it was subject to attorney-client privilege. But Hellerstein said in his order yesterday that he had not given "sufficient consideration" to several factors, including evidence from the American Civil Liberties Union that all or part of the memo may have been "incorporated into official practice and policy." The ACLU is suing the administration under the Freedom of Information Act seeking records related to the use of harsh interrogation tactics. Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the government was reviewing the order. ACLU attorney Jameel Jaffer called the ruling "encouraging" and said it could lead to the release of one of the most important documents in the debate over whether the government sanctioned torture. The CIA declined to comment.

Hizbollah Says Lebanon Has Declared War
London Financial Times
May 9, 2008

Fighting between Lebanon’s opposition and government supporters intensified on Thursday after the leader of the Shia militant group Hizbollah accused the pro-western administration of declaring war against his organization. As the clashes spread in Beirut, security sources said at least eight people had been killed and 16 wounded. With gunmen exchanging fire with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, the violence threatened to degenerate into a broader Sunni-Shia conflict. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the Hizbollah chief, demanded the government reverse decisions taken this week against his group.

He said Lebanon had entered a new stage and government moves against a Hizbollah communications network and the sacking of a Shia general had been advocated by the U.S. and Israel. The pro-western government raised the stakes this week in its 18-month political struggle with the Iranian and Syrian-backed Hizbollah by declaring the group’s communications network illegal. The government also removed a general close to Hizbollah from his post as head of airport security amid charges cameras had been set up to monitor runways.

Saad Hariri, Sunni leader and head of the parliamentary majority, called on Mr. Nasrallah Thursday night to take his fighters off the streets and end the “siege” of Beirut, after opposition members maintained a blockade around the airport. Mr. Hariri appeared willing to roll back on the government’s two decisions, proposing that the army evaluate the need and timing of their execution. But he also demanded that Hizbollah agree to the immediate election of the army chief, General Michel Suleiman, as president – a move the opposition has been blocking. Mr. Nasrallah argued Hizbollah’s telecommunications network was a key part of its “resistance” operations and was essential to its leaders’ security. He accused the government of turning the airport into a base for U.S. and Israeli intelligence. “The government decisions amount to a declaration of war against the resistance, for the benefit and on behalf of the U.S. and Israel,” he said. “I’ve said the hand that targets the resistance will be cut. A war has started and we have to defend our resistance.”

The government and opposition have been locked in a political stand-off for nearly two years but both sides have sought to prevent the crisis from turning into the sort of civil war that has torn Lebanon in the past. The current confrontation, however, appears more difficult to contain, not least because each side has pushed itself into a corner. Moreover, the army, the only national institution remaining in the country, has stayed on the sidelines, refusing to move against Hizbollah as the group blocked roads and erected barriers. On Thursday, the army said the crisis was threatening its unity. A government spokesman told the FT Hizbollah – seen in much of the Arab world as a resistance movement against Israel – had gone too far in taking advantage of the political vacuum and expanding on the ground, forcing Fouad Siniora, Sunni prime minister, to take action. “We had to say no. We can’t take it any more,” he said. Hizbollah’s opponents have long assumed it would avoid a civil war. But Mr. Nasrallah warned Thursday this calculation was wrong. He was not afraid of a Sunni-Shia conflict and Hizbollah’s weapons would be used to defend the resistance.