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| HIGH FIVE — Tech.
Sgt. Steve Trigg, 506th Air Expeditionary Group Combat Camera, greets an Iraqi
child after documenting an emergency response exercise in downtown Kirkuk, Iraq
Aug. 21, 2003. Defense Dept. photo by Staff Sgt. Lee A Osberry Jr., U.S. Air
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Two U.S. Soldiers Killed, in Separate Bomb Attacks in
Iraq
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| By
John D. Banusiewicz / American Forces Press Service |
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WASHINGTON, Aug. 27, 2003 Two
U.S. soldiers were killed and five others were wounded today in separate bomb
attacks in Iraq.
Four 3rd Armored Cavalry
Regiment soldiers were wounded at about 7:10 a.m. in what a U.S. Central
Command news release described as an improvised explosive device attack in Al
Fallujah. They were taken to a nearby medical facility for treatment, where one
of the soldiers died.
About 35 minutes later, a
similar attack on a military convoy in Baghdad killed one 205th Military
Intelligence Brigade soldier and wounded two others. The soldiers were taken to
a nearby combat support hospital.
CENTCOM
officials also announced two soldiers died in Iraq Aug. 25. A 4th Infantry
Division soldier changing a flat tire that had caused his convoy to stop was
killed when an Iraqi vehicle spun out of control from a traffic accident and
struck him. A 130th Engineer Brigade soldier was the victim of a nonhostile
gunshot wound in a separate incident, which CENTCOM officials said is under
investigation. Both soldiers were taken to the 21st Combat Support Hospital,
where they died.
The names of the dead and
wounded soldiers are being withheld, pending notification of their
families. |
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President Vows 'No
Retreat' in Global Anti-Terror Campaign
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| By
Gerry J. Gilmore / American Forces Press Service |
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WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2003
President George W. Bush vowed today to continue the almost two-year-old war
against global terrorism.
America and its allies
have achieved many victories against global terrorists since the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks on the United States, Bush declared at the American Legion's
national convention in St. Louis.
The president
noted that al Qaeda no longer is using Afghanistan as a haven, and that Saddam
Hussein's brutal and terrorist-friendly regime was kicked out of power in Iraq.
Terrorists, Bush pointed out, hate societies that
promote tolerance and freedom, because "freedom is a threat to their way of
life."
Saddam and his minions, Bush said, will
not return to power in Iraq. Yet, he acknowledged Iraq remains a dangerous
place as Saddam remnants, anti-Western foreign fighters, and criminals continue
to attack U.S. and coalition forces and perform sabotage "to undermine the
advance of freedom."
More
Remarks |
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Reserve Components Play
Critical Role
in Terror War |
| ROTA, Spain, Aug. 25, 2003 In the
last 13 years, there have been eight call-ups of Reservists, according to
Thomas Hall, assistant defense secretary for reserve affairs. With that type of
pattern, we can probably expect another one, he recently told service members
here. For Operation Iraqi Freedom alone, the numbers soared from 53,000
Reservists to 223,000 Reservists serving in support of the operation. Right
now, the numbers have lowered to 186,000 Reservists serving on active duty.
Story |
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Secretary of
Defense
Donald H. Rumsfeld |
| "The war on terror is not a war that our country asked for,
but it is a war we have to fight and we have to win because there is no safe,
easy middle ground. Either we take the war to the terrorists and fight them
where they are – at this moment, to be sure, in Iraq and Afghanistan or
elsewhere – or at some point we will have to fight them here at
home." |
| Lackland
Air Force Base, Aug. 25, 2003 |
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| Navy Cargo Ships Move 82nd Airborne's Combat
Gear |
WASHINGTON (NNS) As the U.S. Armys
82nd Airborne Division begins to replace the Armys 3rd Infantry Division in
Iraq, hundreds of thousands of square feet of the 82nds combat equipment are
being transported to the Middle East aboard three of the U.S. Navys newest and
largest cargo ships.
The equipment will be
used for the 82nds support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
From Aug. 7 to Aug. 20, workers loaded more than
700,000 square feet of humvees, trucks and containerized equipment onto
950-foot large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ships USNS Dahl, USNS Soderman
and USNS Seay at ports in Charleston, S.C., and Beaumont, Texas.
The nearly aircraft carrier-sized LMSRs have a
giant, slewing stern ramp and a movable ramp that services two side ports.
More |
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| Part Six |
| 'The Straight Scoop' |
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A Seabee’s
Firsthand Account of Life in Iraq
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| Senior Chief Art Messer, a Navy Seabee serving with 22
Naval Construction Regiment (Forward) Task Force Charlie in southern Iraq,
shared his perspective on post-war life in Iraq in a series of letters he sent
this spring to American Legion Post 45. With Messer’s permission,
DefendAmerica now shares his views with you. |
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 Hi,
Finally get a quick chance to say something.
Write something or whatever. I sent you some correspondence from the
(Iraqi)archaeologists to UCLA. Boy oh boy, I kind of like being the go between.
I don't know anything about the stuff but I like linking the two worlds
together. It's fun.
Got alot of work done
today on my day off. Took pictures of the Babylon staff to send to UCLA, and of
the small access door being installed on the museum.
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Raid Near Tikrit |
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| U.S. Army Lt. Col. David Poirier, commander, 720th Military
Police Battalion, left, and Mazehr Tah Ahmed, Iraqi chief of police, center,
discuss their plans during a raid on a village northeast of Tikrit, Iraq, Aug.
23, 2003. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Jason Phillips |
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As Marines Begin to
Head Home, Bulgarians Keep City Secure
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By U.S. Army Spc. Benjamin R. Kibbey
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KARBALA, Iraq, Aug. 26, 2003
After more than five months rebuilding the local infrastructure, the Marines of
3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, are preparing to return to home after
handing over to the Bulgarian Army Aug. 26.
The Bulgarian force is in the city to guarantee a secure environment for the
continued work to be done both by coalition members and the various nonprofit
organizations operating in the city.
The
secure situation of the city is among the highest accomplishments by the
Marines, said Lt. Col. Matthew A. Lopez, 39, the battalion commander and
Karbala province military governor.
"The local
people trust that when the coalition forces tell them that they're going to do
something... it will be done," said Lopez, a native of Naperville, Ill.
More |
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U.S. Marines, Seabees
Team Up To Help Employ Iraqi Ex-military
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By Journalist 1st Class Lisa
Keding / Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 7
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AD DIWANIYAH, Iraq, Aug. 26,
2003, 2003 (NNS) On July 7, Marine Lt. Col. Patrick Malay, commanding officer
of 3rd Battalion 5th Marines, requested that Seabees from Naval Mobile
Construction Battalion 7 build a structure to support a payment operation for
former Iraqi military.
A crew of more than
20 men and women from the battalion began working the next day at the Ad
Diwaniyah Textile Mill in central Iraq. Within two days, the Seabees finished a
long wooden building with 30 payment windows that Iraqi and U.S. officials used
to pay monthly pensions to the former Iraqi military.
In addition to the payment building, the Seabees
built several covered walkways inside and outside the gate of the textile mill
that helped the Iraqi payment officials in organizing the operation.
More |
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Ambassadors, VIPs
Visit USS Memphis 'Prowlers of the Deep'
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By Lt. Garrett D. Kasper /
U.S. Naval Forces Central Command / 5th Fleet
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 MANAMA, Bahrain, Aug. 27, 2003, (NNS) We
prowl the sea in defense of human freedom, is the motto of the USS Memphis, and
its by no coincidence theyre deployed to 5th Fleet in support of Operation
Enduring Freedom.
Two members of the King
of Bahrains Shura Royal Advisory Council, four ambassadors, several prominent
businessmen and a U.S. Embassy staff member visited the Memphis, Aug. 23.
Germany, India, Japan and Russia were among the countries represented by their
ambassadors to Bahrain.
It is an historic event
when we can display our submarine fleets capabilities to His Majesty King Hamad
bin Isa Al Khalifas Shura Council members and to other distinguished diplomats,
said Vice Adm. Timothy J. Keating, commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central
Command/ commander, 5th Fleet.
More |
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Officials Plan to
Rebalance Guard, Reserve, Active Forces
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By K.L. Vantran / American
Forces Press Service
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WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2003 The
days of the "weekend warrior" are gone, Thomas F. Hall, assistant secretary of
defense for reserve affairs, said here today.
Guardsmen and reservists are giving much more
than a weekend a month and two weeks of annual training a year, the retired
Navy rear admiral said. Many serve 60 to 120 days a year.
Although only about 2 percent of the 1.2 million
guardsmen and reservists have been called up in eight mobilizations in the past
13 years, Hall said it's the same kinds of specialties civil affairs, air
traffic control, mortuary affairs and force protection that always are needed.
More |
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Gen. Myers Tells Vets
U.S. Making 'Amazing Difference' in Iraq
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By Jim Garamone / American
Forces Press Service
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WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2003
American service members are making "an amazing difference" in the lives of
Iraqis, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said Aug. 25.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told the
veterans and their families that while major combat operations are over, the
coalition is still on the offensive in Iraq to root out the former regime
loyalists.
More |
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1st Armored Division
Dedicates
Dining Facility to Bob Hope |
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BAGHDAD, Iraq Task Force 1st
Armored Division's dining facility was dedicated to Bob Hope in a ceremony Aug.
24 at Baghdad International Airport.
"Today we
honor one of our own, a truly great friend of America's soldiers, Bob Hope,"
said Brig. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, 1st AD commanding general.
More |
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| Global War on Terrorism |
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| On Iraq |
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| Military News |
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