Israel Targets 'Terror Tunnels'

Source Article HERE.

BY: Nathan Hodge

From 'Wired Blog': One of the major objectives of the Israeli bombing raids in Gaza, it appears, was to destroy the network of tunnels on the Egyptian border used by Hamas to smuggle weapons and materiel. Israel News says fighter jets targeted as many as 40 tunnels in a carefully choreographed strike:


Masked Palestinian Tunnel Digger.

Destroying the tunnels was one of Operation Cast Lead's objectives. The tunnels, used to smuggle weapons and ammunition into Gaza escaped any major strike for the entirety of the ceasefire between Israel and the militant groups in Gaza, as well as for several months prior to it.

The tunnels, as it happens, were not just a conduit for smuggling weapons. According to a story by Bloomberg's Jonathan Ferziger, the tunnels had become an economic lifeline for Gaza, which has been under Israeli blockade. Residents of Gaza depended on the tunnels for everything from livestock and construction materials to stocks of the erectile-dysfunction drug Viagra and smuggled iPods.

Ferziger presciently adds: "It may also turn into a bombing target for the Israeli air force following the expiration of a six-month cease- fire with the Hamas leaders who rule Gaza, Israeli strategists say."

Diyala SoI Transfer Underway

Source Article HERE.

From 'MNFI': Along with a new year, Iraq is ringing in an important step toward national reconciliation and sovereignty on January 1st, 2009. On that date, the nation’s government will take over control of the Sons of Iraq (SoI) from Coalition forces in four key provinces across the country -- including Diyala, one of the most diverse provinces, where al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) once terrorized and intimidated local residents. In all, 76 percent of the nation’s SoI members will be under Iraqi government responsibility by New Year’s Day. “We are beyond the tipping point with the Sons of Iraq,” said Lt. Colonel Jeffrey Kulmayer, the chief of reconciliation and engagement for Multi-National Corps – Iraq (MNC-I). “They have invested in the future of Iraq. And the Iraqi Government is offering them hope in the future. They’re going to be part of that.”


Sons of Iraq provide security and assist Coalition.
The transfer marks a dramatic turnaround in Diyala province in particular. “Diyala is a small Iraq,” said Iraqi Army Major General Muzhir al-Mawla, vice chairman of the Iraqi Follow-Up Committee for National Reconciliation. Home to Kurds as well as Sunni and Shi’a Iraqis, the region is more varied than Baghdad, where SoI members have already been successfully transferred to Iraqi control. In 2007, this mostly Sunni area northeast of Baghdad had been considered one of the most dangerous provinces in Iraq, and it lacked an infrastructure to support many basic services for its residents. But, as AQI’s targeting of innocent men, women and children in areas like Diyala took its deadly toll on residents, concerned local citizens joined a movement called the Awakening and organized neighborhood watches to roll back terrorist gains in their communities.

The following year, the movement’s members -- who came to be known as the Sons of Iraq -- joined forces with the Coalition to fight AQI, with spectacular results. The addition of more than 100,000 SoI members helped to thicken the security forces and enabled the improved security environment experienced today. “They have been critical to finding caches, bringing down IEDs, keeping al-Qaeda out of the towns, because they know everybody,” Kulmayer said. “They know who’s who in their towns and villages.”

Now, after helping bring greater stability to the region, 20,000 SoI members in Diyala, Babil, Wasit and Qadisiyah provinces will have opportunities to serve their country in new roles. In early December, they began to register with the Iraqi government to receive their regular paychecks. As responsibility for the SoI transfers to the government on January 1st, the group’s members will transition into a variety of meaningful jobs intended to secure the nation’s future. Twenty percent are slated to join the Iraqi Army or Police; the rest will enter public or private employment in a variety of roles, from civil engineering to electrical maintenance to working in the government’s multiple ministries.

“The goal of this program is to eventually hire these people into meaningful jobs,” said Lt. General Lloyd Austin III, commanding general of MNC-I. “While many of them are working in security positions right now, ultimately they’ll transition and go into other meaningful jobs, and that’s the goal.” The program has met with a number of challenges. Before working with the Coalition, many of the SoI actively resisted it. Some members worry that their previous activities might be held against them. So far, though, the SoI and the government have interacted well, confirming that this is “the leading edge of reconciliation,” according to Major General Michael Ferriter, deputy commanding general of MNC-I.

In the past three months, more than half of the country’s SoI have already been transferred smoothly to Iraqi control, including all the group’s members in Baghdad. SoI registration in Anbar Province is nearly complete, in preparation for a February 1st transfer to Iraqi control. Ninewa, Kirkuk and Salah Ah Din provinces are scheduled to transfer in early spring. Authorities said a rehearsal of the Diyala transfer on December 23rd went off without a hitch. “Diyala is considered to be a very complex province, but in fact the registration of the SoI has gone very well,” said Kulmayer, adding that nearly 9,000 SoI members would register with the government in the province. “We have a very large turnout there. It’s exceeding the expectation of how many would come in and register.”

“The Sons of Iraq feel as if they’re being taken care of,” Austin said. “They’re apprehensive, but that’s to be expected. This is new and building trust takes time.” Civil Service Corps projects continue to be the main focus of non-security job efforts, with more than 4,100 SoI currently enrolled in various apprentice programs. Iraqi-led jobs programs for the SoI, such as CSC and public works projects, remain in development. The government of Iraq is also looking at opening a number of job-training centers around the country to address the needs of unskilled SoI members.

“Those results have come about because of determined leadership,” Austin said. Ferriter echoed those comments, adding that, at the end of the day, all the parties were on the same page. “We have a common goal: We don’t want the Sons of Iraq to turn to al-Qaeda,” he said. “The Coalition forces don’t want that; the Iraqi Prime Minister doesn’t want that. Together, we’ll make this work.”

U.S. Forces Suppress Terror By Hunting Weapons

Source Article HERE.

From 'UPI': Violence is way down in Iraq, but the U.S. armed forces and the Iraqi National Police are continuing to net large quantities of the weapons needed to sustain terrorist attacks and guerrilla war. In one recent operation, U.S. Black Hawk helicopters nosedived, banked hard to the left and then touched down in an open field. Soldiers jumped out, took three steps and then threw themselves on the ground, letting a vortex of dust and debris stirred up by the spinning props wash over them before they could sprint to a tree line.

It was an air assault -- the second in two days by units of the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment -- and ahead of them was five hours of scouring palm groves and fruit orchards on a sliver of land in the Tigris River Valley to unearth any hidden arms and munitions caches terrorists could use to roil nearby Baghdad. The list of bomb materials terrorists use and could be found was long. On it are Iraqi Army munitions left over from the 2003 invasion -- mortars, grenades, rockets and artillery shells. And then there are newer imported devices, primarily the explosively formed projectiles (EFPs) from Iran and their components.

With the 40 Americans were about 30 members of the Iraqi National Police and three bomb-sniffing dogs. "This is one of a series of searches to reduce enemy resources," said Captain Brian Sweigart of 1-27's Alpha Company. "We're in full court press. The elections are coming up and we need to keep them (extremists) from trying to stir things."

Violence in Iraq is at its lowest in years -- a daily average of 10 attacks of all kinds compared with 180 a day a year ago, according to statistics kept by U.S. forces. In East Baghdad, where between 700 and 800 Shiite extremists were killed during street battles last spring, the daily average number of attacks is now about four per day. The amount of explosives used in bomb attacks has also decreased, a sign that terrorists are finding supplies hard to come by. U.S. officials said recently that bombs, whether IEDs or vehicle-borne devices, used 15 pounds or less of explosives compared with the 50 pounds regularly seen in guerrilla attacks that were carried out earlier this year.

"I think the fight we had from March through May certainly is a large contributory factor as to why they (Shiite extremists) are not continuing the operations they were doing prior to that," said Colonel John Hort, commander of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, in charge of East Baghdad and its surrounding areas. "They've been disrupted and on the defensive more than ever before with all the attrition they took. We still search for bad guys, but we've been focusing heavily on their supply operations," Hort told United Press International.

MNFI Press Release - Dec 30

IRAQI ARMY FINDS LARGE WEAPONS CACHE
Iraqi Army (IA) Soldiers discovered a large weapons cache in the Jurf region during a patrol on December 28th. IA Soldiers of the 4th Battalion, 31st IA Brigade reported to Coalition forces the location of a cache consisting of (657) 37 mm anti-armor munitions with cartridge cases. Members of the 760th Explosive Ordnance Disposal responded, cleared the area and disposed of all ordnance in place by controlled detonation.

ISF CAPTURE 5 TERRORISTS IN SEPARATE OPS
Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) captured five suspected terrorists during separate operations throughout northern Iraq on December 26-27th. During an operation on December 27th, Baqubah Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team arrested two suspected terrorists while serving warrants. These individuals are allegedly responsible for IED and rocket attacks against Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces. In a separate operation on December 26th in Rabiah, elements from the 3rd Iraqi Army captured three suspected terrorists. The individuals are believed to be extorting money from civilian and commercial traffic then transferring it to other local terrorists’ cells.

IA SOLDIERS FIND IED IN NW BAGHDAD
Iraqi Security Forces from the 3rd Battalion, 54th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division discovered an IED in Baghdad’s Mansour district on December 29th at approximately 10 a.m. The ISF notified Soldiers from the 4th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, operationally attached to the 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division , Multi-National Division – Baghdad, who responded to the scene to search for secondary devices. An Iraqi Army explosives ordnance disposal team was called in and removed the IED, which consisted of a gallon of homemade explosives, ball bearings and a cell phone initiator. “The discovery of this device before its detonation is a victory for the ISF and a testament to their improved capabilities,” said Major Kone Faulkner, spokesman for the 2nd HBCT, 1st Inf. Div. “Each day the ISF prove they are more capable of providing for the citizens of Baghdad and we will continue to provide over watch and support as needed.”

Five Found Guilty In Fort Dix Terror Trial

Source Article HERE.

From 'National Terror Alert Response Center': A jury has found five men guilty of conspiring to kill soldiers at Fort Dix, New Jersey, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office said on Monday, December 22nd. The defendants were acquitted of attempted murder charges but face life in prison. The jury spent six days deliberating. Six men were arrested on May 7, 2007, in New Jersey, as two of them were meeting a confidential government witness “to purchase three AK-47 automatic machine guns and four semi-automatic M-16s to be used in an attack they had been planning from at least January 2006,” according to a criminal complaint. The sixth defendant, Agron Abdullahu, pleaded guilty in October to a reduced charge of providing firearms to illegal aliens and received a sentence of 20 months in prison and three years of supervised release.


Abdullahu told the court in October that, from January 2006 to May 2007, he and Turkish-born Serdar Tatar provided firearms to brothers Dritan Duka, Shain Duka and Eljvir “Elvis” Duka. The Duka brothers, born in the former Yugoslavia, were in the United States illegally. Tatar and Abdullahu are both legal U.S. residents. The other defendant, Jordanian-born Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, is the only U.S. citizen among them. The alleged Fort Dix plot came to light when two men gave an 8 mm videotape to a clerk at a Circuit City store in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, and asked him to convert it to DVD format. Authorities said the tape showed 10 young men shooting at a practice range and shouting in Arabic, “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great.”

Baghdad Celebrates First Public Christmas

Source Article HERE.

From 'CNN': From a distance, it looks like an apparition: a huge multi-colored hot-air balloon floating in the Baghdad sky, bearing a large poster of Jesus Christ. Below it, an Iraqi flag. Welcome to the first-ever public Christmas celebration in Baghdad, held Saturday and sponsored by the Iraqi Interior Ministry. Once thought to be infiltrated by death squads, the Ministry now is trying to root out sectarian violence -- as well as improve its P.R. image.


Poster of Jesus. Caption: "Master of the Soul Festival".
The event takes place in a public park in eastern Baghdad, ringed with security checkpoints. Interior Ministry forces deployed on surrounding rooftops peer down at the scene: a Christmas tree decorated with ornaments and tinsel; a red-costumed Santa Claus waving to the crowd, an Iraqi flag draped over his shoulders; a red-and-black-uniformed military band playing stirring martial music, not Christmas carols. On a large stage, children dressed in costumes representing Iraq's many ethnic and religious groups -- Kurds, Turkmen, Yazidis, Christians, Arab Muslims not defined as Sunni or Shiite -- hold their hands aloft and sing "We are building Iraq!" Two young boys, a mini-policeman and a mini-soldier sporting painted-on mustaches, march stiffly and salute.

Even before I can ask Interior Ministry spokesman Major-General Abdul Karim Khalaf a question, he greets me with a big smile. "All Iraqis are Christian today!" he says. Khalaf says sectarian and ethnic violence killed thousands of Iraqis. "Now that we have crossed that hurdle and destroyed the incubators of terrorism," he says, "and the security situation is good, we have to go back and strengthen community ties." In spite of his claim, the spokesman is surrounded by heavy security. Yet this celebration shows that the security situation in Baghdad is improving.

Many of the people attending the Christmas celebration appear to be Muslims, with women wearing head scarves. Suad Mahmoud, holding her 16-month-old daughter, Sara, tells me she is indeed Muslim, but she's very happy to be here. "My mother's birthday also is this month, so we celebrate all occasions," she says, "especially in this lovely month of Christmas and New Year."

Father Saad Sirop Hanna, a Chaldean Christian priest, is here too. He was kidnapped by militants in 2006 and held for 28 days. He knows firsthand how difficult the lot of Christians in Iraq is but, he tells me, "We are just attesting that things are changing in Baghdad, slowly, but we hope that this change actually is real. We will wait for the future to tell us the truth about this." He just returned from Rome. "I came back to Iraq because I believe that we can live here," he says. "I have so many [Muslim] friends and we are so happy they started to think about things from another point of view and we want to help them."


Iraqi artist uses oil paint to create portrait of Jesus.
The Christmas celebration has tables loaded with cookies and cakes. Families fill plates and chat in the warm winter sun. Santa balloons hang from trees. An artist uses oil paint to create a portrait of Jesus. In the middle of the park there's an art exhibit, the creation of 11- and 12-year-olds: six displays, each about three feet wide, constructed of cardboard and Styrofoam, filled with tiny dolls dressed like ordinary people, along with model soldiers and police. They look like model movie sets depicting everyday life in Baghdad.

Afnan, 12 years old, shows me her model called Arresting the Terrorists. "These are the terrorists," she tells me. "They were trying to blow up the school." In the middle of the street a dead "terrorist" sprawls on the asphalt, his bloody arm torn from his body by an explosion. Afnan tells me she used red nail polish to paint the blood. A little plastic dog stands nearby. "What is he doing?" I ask. "He looks for terrorists and searches for weapons and explosives," Afnan says.

Her mother, the children's art teacher, Raja, shows me another child's display called Baghdad Today. "This is a wedding," Raja explains. "Despite the terrorism, our celebrations still go ahead. This is a park, families enjoying time. And this is a market where people go shopping without fear of bombings. This is a mosque where people can pray with no fear." In the middle is a black mound that looks like a body bag. Policemen and Interior Ministry forces surround it. "This is terrorism," she tells me. "We killed it and destroyed it, and our lives went back to normal." A Christmas tale perhaps, I think, but one that many Iraqis hope will come true.

11 Taliban Killed In Afghanistan

Source Article HERE.

From 'AFP': The US-led coalition in Afghanistan said Friday it had killed 11 Taliban militants in an operation against a network behind a series of roadside bombings, including some that killed foreign soldiers. Another two suspected militants were arrested in a raid on Thursday in the southern province of Kandahar, the US military said in a statement. It said the head of the extremist cell was among those killed in the district of Maiwand, a Taliban stronghold about 75 kilometres (45 miles) west of the provincial capital of Kandahar.


US Soldiers in Afghanistan - Nov 2008.
Militants barricaded inside a compound had opened fire on the troops who retaliated with gunfire and hand grenades. "After neutralising the threat, the force searched the buildings, discovering 11 militants were killed," the statement said. They also found a wounded woman inside the building who was taken to a military hospital for treatment. The targeted cell had been responsible for "multiple roadside bomb attacks including recent attacks which killed multiple ISAF (International Security Assistance Forces) soldiers," the statement said. There was no independent confirmation of the incident.

The NATO-led ISAF and the coalition under US command have deployed a combined total of nearly 70,000 soldiers here to help the government tackle a Taliban-led insurgency and rebuild a country devastated by decades of war. Troops at the militant compound found dozens of landmines, grenades and machine-guns as well as bomb-making material, which they destroyed, the statement said. One building collapsed in secondary blasts caused by the mines.

MNFI Press Release - Dec 27

IA, INP, MND-B SOLDIERS SEIZE CACHES IN BAGHDAD
Iraqi Army (IA) soldiers, Iraqi National Police (INP) and MultiNational Division – Baghdad (MND-B) soldiers seized weapons caches in the Baghdad area on December 26th. IA soldiers serving with 53rd Brigade, 14th Iraqi Army Division and Soldiers serving with Company A, 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, MND-B, discovered a weapons cache containing (3) 100 mm high-explosive projectiles, (5) 115 mm projectiles, and (1) empty 152 mm projectile at approximately 12:40 p.m. northwest of Baghdad.

An Iraqi citizen turned in a cache found at his home to IA soldiers serving with 4th Battalion, 22nd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, at approximately 7 p.m. north of Baghdad. The weapons seized included (2) silencers, (4) grenade fuses, 2.5 pounds of propellant, (2) 60 mm high-explosive mortars, (1) heavy machine gun body and (1) machine gun bolt. At approximately 7 p.m., Iraqi National Policemen turned in a weapons cache they found to Soldiers serving with Company A, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd SBCT, 25th ID, MND-B. The cache contained (2) 57 mm mortars. At approximately 11 p.m., an Iraqi citizen turned in a 57 mm and a high-explosive anti-armor round to Soldiers serving with Co A, 1st Battalion, 14th Inf. Regt., 2nd SBCT, 25th ID, MND-B.

IA, MND-B SEIZE HOME-MADE EXPLOSIVES
IA soldiers found a large cache of home-made explosives in southern Baghdad on December 25th. IA soldiers serving with 2nd Battalion, 55th Brigade, 17th Iraqi Army Division discovered a cache that contained approximately 1,500 pounds of home-made explosives, at approximately 3 p.m. An explosive ordnance disposal team transported the explosives to another location and disposed of them.

IA SOLDIERS CONFISCATE WEAPONS IN GHAZALIYAH
Iraqi soldiers from the 4th Battalion, 22nd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division confiscated a cache of weapons at approximately 6:50 p.m. during an operation in the Ghazaliyah district of northwest Baghdad on December 26th. The Iraqi soldiers notified the 5th Squadron, 4th Cavalry regiment, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, which responded to the site to provide assistance. The effort uncovered (2) 60 mm mortar rounds, (15) propellant rods, 2 pounds of propellant and (2) silencers of an unknown caliber. “The confiscation of these weapons highlights the capability of the Iraqi Security Forces and allows Coalition force Soldiers to transition to a mentoring position,” said Major Kone Faulkner, a spokesperson for 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. “The ISF are in the lead and are getting the job done, and we will do everything in our power to support their efforts and provide assistance as needed.”

2,000 IRAQI FAMILIES RETURN TO EASTERN BAGHDAD
Iraqi officials recently reported that more than 2,000 Iraqi families have returned to their homes in eastern Baghdad this year. The 2,084 returning families left their homes in the districts of Rusafa, Karadah and 9 Nissan due to security concerns. Categorized as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), they have returned to a more secure and safe environment. The number of returnees in the area is a sign of vastly improved security conditions, said Lt. Colonel Eric Holliday, deputy team leader of Baghdad-2 embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team (e-PRT). “The more returnees we get back into the neighborhoods from where they were originally displaced tells us these people feel safe enough to return to those areas and they don’t think there is going to be further violence,” expressed Holliday. “When we have them return and we don’t have any incidents of further violence... then it has been fairly successful in our area. That is a measure of effectiveness telling us we are doing our job right."

Iraq’s Ministry of Migrations and Displaced Persons (MOMDP) is responsible for tracking IDPs and IDP returnees. They report the number of Iraqi citizens who register with IDP centers weekly. Holliday said there is an IDP center in Rusafa that issues reports about homeowners returning to eastern Baghdad. “Their job is to register all IDPs that have displaced into our area and also to register all returnees – those are IDPs that were displaced to other areas that are returning to their homes,” explained Holliday of the 308th Civil Affairs Brigade. “They (returnees) receive a stipend from the government. It’s been running somewhere around one million to three million dinars, which equates to about $1,000 to $3,000 per returnee.” To receive stipends and reclaim their homes, IDP returnees must register with the ministry and provide proof of ownership. Other forms of government support also are available to these citizens.

Dispatch From Michael Yon

Source Article HERE.

From 'Michael Yon Online': Michael Yon posted a dispatch at his online magazine on December 1st entitled: "The Art of the End of War". Clearly, Yon seems to suggest that the war in Iraq is essentially finished...

Yes, the war is over. And it will be a great day when the last American division leaves Iraq, and Americans and Iraqis never fire another shot at each other, and we can honestly call each other “friends.”

Here are a few more excerpts from the article...

SSG Foust explained that after the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003, his group spent long periods patrolling in the Sinjar mountains in Nineveh where many Yezidis live. He said there was no fighting with Yezidis and that the Yezidis were so friendly that they continuously invited the soldiers to eat with them in the villages...

I said to SSG Foust what I tell our pilots who fly near Yezidis: If your aircraft goes down near Yezidis, you might be sipping tea with your laundry being folded before search and rescue can get to you. And they’ll cook lunch for the rescue team. This is why a lot of Americans who know Yezidis are angered when al Qaeda attacks Yezidi people. Many personal bonds have been formed during this tragic war. We are no longer enemies with the Iraqis, and there is no good reason why Iraq and America should ever fight again...

We rumbled into various neighborhoods in south Baghdad. Nothing was going on. No gun battles. No mushroom clouds from car bombs or IEDs. I wore the headset and the incessant radio alerts about units fighting here or there were completely absent. In the old days, while the Iraq war was hot, there was constant chatter about fighting, car bombs, snipers, name it. Today, there were no alerts at all...

The Baghdad mission with 10th Mountain Division soldiers was uneventful, other than the soldiers being proud to say they haven’t had to fire a single shot in combat this year...

Al Qaeda was handed a vicious defeat in Iraq, and it can be said with great certainty that most Iraqis hate al Qaeda even more than Americans do. Al Qaeda can continue to murder Iraqis for now, but al Qaeda will be hard pressed to ever plant their flag in another Iraqi city. The Iraqi army and police have become far too strong and organized, and the Iraqis will eventually strangle al Qaeda to death...

Yes, the war is over. And it will be a great day when the last American division leaves Iraq, and Americans and Iraqis never fire another shot at each other, and we can honestly call each other “friends.”

You can read the whole article HERE.

HLF Defendants Guilty On All Counts

Source Article HERE.

From 'National Terror Alert': After more than 15 years of investigation and two trials, the Holy Land Foundation and five of its former organizers were found guilty of illegally funneling more than $12 million to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. The verdicts by a Dallas federal jury are a significant victory for the Justice Department, which streamlined its case after a mistrial last year and worked hard to carefully educate jurors on the complex evidence presented in the massive case. Guilty verdicts were read on 108 separate charges.

The verdicts are a major triumph for the outgoing administration of President George W. Bush, whose efforts at fighting terrorism financing have been troubled. Two other similar high-profile prosecutions targeting supporters of Palestinian militants have ended in acquittals, deadlocked juries or convictions on lesser charges. “Today’s verdicts are important milestones in America’s efforts against financiers of terrorism,” Patrick Rowan, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a prepared statement. “This prosecution demonstrates our resolve to ensure that humanitarian relief efforts are not used as a mechanism to disguise and enable support for terrorist groups.”

Peter Margulies, a Roger Williams University law professor who studies terrorism financing cases said, “The government showed in a streamlined case that where special assistance to the families of terrorists is concerned, cash is the moral equivalent of a car bomb.” The jury also said Holy Land should forfeit $12.4 million because of several money-laundering convictions in the case. Prosecutors said the government probably will end up with about $5 million in Holy Land money frozen by federal authorities in 2001.

US Deaths In Afghanistan Drop Sharply In November

Source Article HERE.

From 'AP': One American serviceman died in Afghanistan in November, a dramatic drop from earlier months, which the U.S. military attributed to their campaign against insurgent leaders, operations by Afghan and Pakistani forces and the onset of winter. Twice this year, monthly U.S. death tolls in Afghanistan surpassed the monthly toll in Iraq. U.S. troops suffered an average of 21 deaths in Afghanistan each month this year from May to October - by far the deadliest six-month period in Afghanistan for American forces since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. The Afghan Defense Ministry does not release fatality figures.

Lt. Colonel Rumi Nielson-Green, the spokeswoman at the U.S. base at Bagram, cautioned that one month of data does not make a trend "but may be an indicator." She noted that operations conducted by U.S. forces last summer against insurgent areas and bomb-making networks helped lower November's violence. Those efforts likely contributed to a 40 percent drop in IED attacks in October, compared with September, and may have pushed down troop death last month as well.

In addition, U.S. forces also pressed ahead in November with what commanders call the Winter Campaign. "This campaign is designed to create the conditions of lowering enemy capabilities, diminishing their support areas both by hard-power and soft, and continue strengthening border operations to complement the Pakistani efforts in the FATA," she said, referring to Pakistan's northwestern Federally Administered Tribal Areas. She said Pakistani military operations in Bajur have also helped security in Afghanistan.

Insurgents in Afghanistan, particularly in mountainous areas, typically scale back their operations during the winter months, and that may have contributed to the declining trend, U.S. military spokesman Colonel Jerry O'Hara said. "That's some of it," he said. "But really we attribute it more toward our improvement in our tactics and techniques and procedures, along with the increased capability of the Afghan security forces."

O'Hara said the number of attacks in the Kabul region was 50 percent lower in January to October this year than during the same 10-month period in 2007. "And again, we attribute that to not only the Afghan security forces, but you have to give credit to the Afghan people for their personal involvement in the form of tips and their reports to Afghan security forces," he said.

Eleven U.S. troops died in Afghanistan in November 2007, meaning the year-on-year drop is also significant. The U.S. still has about 150,000 troops in Iraq, but violence there has fallen off dramatically in recent months. Over the past six months it has become more dangerous to serve in Afghanistan, where the death rate among U.S. troops has been higher than in Iraq. A near-record 32,000 American forces are deployed in Afghanistan. Despite the vastly greater number of Americans deployed in Iraq, in two months this year more U.S. forces died in Afghanistan than Iraq. Sixteen U.S. troops died in Iraq last month.

O'Hara said the military mourns every death and that the number of casualties is not a measure of effectiveness for the military. "Our measures of effectiveness are increased security, increases in development, increases in people's attitudes toward their own well being," said O'Hara. "And certainly we're always adjusting our tactics based on what we see on the battlefield and what we are able to learn through intelligence about the insurgents."

The commander of NATO, General John Craddock, said last week that the Taliban insurgency was growing more "virulent," saying violence jumped by 40 percent this year. More than 5,900 people (mostly militants) have died in insurgency related violence in Afghanistan this year, according to an Associated Press count of figures from Afghan and Western officials.

Taliban Commander Killed In Afghanistan

Source Article HERE.

From 'Xinhua': Continued violence claimed the life of a Taliban local commander in Afghanistan, officials said Monday. Afghan security forces raided the hideout of a Taliban commander named Ghazi in Sarobi district 60 km east of capital city Kabul and eliminated him. "Security forces stormed Ghazi's hiding place late Saturday night and killed him along with some of his armed men," police chief of Sarobi district Abdul Jamil Shamal said. Taliban insurgents have yet to make comment.

MNFI Press Release - Dec 1

IA, MND-B SOLDIERS SEIZE WEAPONS, MUNITIONS
Iraqi Army (IA) soldiers and Multi-National Division - Baghdad (MND-B) Soldiers seizee weapons caches near Baghdad on November 30th. Soldiers serving with 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 63rd Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armor Division, found two caches south of Baghdad at approximately 2 p.m. The first cache included (63) mortar rounds, (12) rockets, (1) rocket launcher, (60) boxes of ammunition, (2,000) loose rounds of ammunition, (15) bipods, (1) anti-aircraft mount, (15) fuses and an unknown amount of homemade explosive. The second cache consisted of (6) mortars, (39) rocket-propelled grenades, (2) rifle grenades, and (1) anti-tank warhead. At approximately 5:30 p.m., IA soldiers serving with 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 9th IA Division, discovered a cache north of Baghdad, where (3) rockets and (1) rocket motor were turned over to 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, to be destroyed.

ISF CAPTURES CELL LEADERS
Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), with Coalition force advisors, captured two suspected AQI cell members and a Jaysh al-Mahdi Special Groups (JAM-SG) cell leader during separate operations in Iraq on November 29th. Hillah Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) conducted an operation capturing a JAM-SG cell leader. The individual is believed to be the leader of the A-Imam JAM-SG cell operating throughout the Babil province. The cell is allegedly responsible for conducting numerous attacks against Coalition force bases as well as IED attacks on Coalition convoys.

In Balad, elements from the 4th Iraqi Army captured two Ansar al-Sunna (AAS) cell members during an operation. One of the individuals is believed to be the AAS Central Northern Regional Commander whose cell conducts attacks against Coalition forces. “These series of operations are directed toward thwarting terrorists and criminal activities as the Government of Iraq demonstrates a determination to bring those operating outside the law to justice,” said Lt. Col. Neil Harper, spokesman for Multi-National Corps – Iraq.