Ireland activists groups planing to buy ship for new Gaza aid flotilla

Pro-Palestinian groups in Ireland launched a fundraising drive Monday to buy a ship for a second attempt to breach Israel’s sea blockade of Gaza.The Irish Ship to Gaza campaign aims to send between 30 and 50 Irish people, including public figures, journalists and activists, to join a flotilla taking aid to people in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.”Preparations are well under way internationally for the Second Freedom Flotilla, which is being assembled by the same groups that organized the Freedom Flotilla in late May,” organizers said in a statement.Between 10 and 15 ships are expected to take part, cargo ships as well as passenger vessels.

Israeli commandos killed nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists in a melee after they boarded a vessel in the previous flotilla, which also included Irish activists. Israel and the United Nations are holding separate investigations into the incident.In response to Western criticism, including from its biggest ally the United States, Israel has since eased a land blockade of Gaza where 1.5 million Palestinians live, allowing some civilian goods through, while continuing to enforce its naval embargo of the coastal territory.

Israeli leaders have said their troops, on boarding the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara, opened fire in self-defense after being set upon by activists wielding cudgels and knives.Turkey, once Israel’s close strategic ally, called the bloodshed Israeli “state terrorism,” withdrew its ambassador from Israel and canceled joint military exercises.(Reuters)

Iran Starts Production of Warship Missile Launchers

TEHRAN – Iran on Monday said the two warships began producing high-speed missile launchers  along the coastline and surrounding sea routes vital Strait Hrmuz. Inauguration of rapid production of ships and Zolfaqar Seraj a day after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated an unmanned bomber aircraft produced in the country, which he referred to would send a “death” to Iran’s enemies. IRNA official news agency announces Seraj (Lights) and Zolfaqar will be produced at the industrial complex naval defense ministry.Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi was inaugurated, said the ships will help strengthen the defense forces of Iran, IRNA said.

“Today, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s defense industries rely on the army and junk (Revolutionary Guards) is strong and the military, with their full strength, can guarantee security in the Persian Gulf, Oman Sea and the Strait of Hormuz,” said Vahidi.IRNA Zolfaqar is preaching a new generation of ship missile launcher that can be used for patrol and attack operations.

The ship was designed for rapid strikes against ships and equipped with two missile launchers, two machine guns and a computer system for controlling the missiles, “says the news.Fars news agency quoted the statement as saying Zolfaqar Vahidi is equipped with a cruise missile Nasr (Victory) “which has a tremendous destructive power.Iran has previously said Nasr missile can destroy targets up to 3000 tons.

IRNA preach, Seraj, specially designed for tropical climates, also serves as a vessel of war for use in the Caspian Sea, the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman and can fire rockets and also used in violent seas,The launch of the productions were done to coincide with the annual activities of a “government week”, a period when the country is usually announced the successful ituh latest technology.

Ahmadinejad, on Sunday inaugurated a small unmanned bomber, a period when the country was generally indicates the success of new technology.Ahmadinejad, on Sunday inaugurated an unmanned bomber aircraft with a cruising range of up to 1.000km he called “the ambassador of death.” State media said the bomber, stable (Striker), can carry four rudat stealth cruise, two bombs each weighing 115kilogram or a sophisticated missile weighing 230 tons.

Tehran claims its military began on Friday when it fired a ground-to-surface missile, named Qiam (Resurrection), and there will be some more announcements in the next few days.The Islamic Republic is also expected to test the third generation missile Fateh (Conqueror) 110, after the exhibit’s version of the missile has a range of 150 to 200kilometer shoot.

Iran recently held four mini-Ghadir submarine built in the DSLAM country, a ship “invisible”, designed to be operated in such shallow peairan Bay.”The latest military activity coincided with warnings against any attack on Iranian territory.

Implacable foe, the United States and Israel, not military action involving Iran’s controversial nuclear program it.Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, where about 40 percent of the oil tanker through those waters in case of a military attack.(AFP)

White House eagerly highlights the departure of U.S. combat troops from Iraq

WASHINGTON As the White House eagerly highlights the departure of U.S. combat troops from Iraq, the small army of American diplomats left behind is embarking on a long and perilous path to keeping the volatile country from slipping back to the brink of civil war.Among the challenges are helping Iraq’s deeply divided politicians form a new government; refereeing long-simmering Arab-Kurd territorial disputes; advising on attracting foreign investment; pushing for improved government services; and fleshing out a blueprint for future U.S.-Iraqi relations.

President Barack Obama also is banking on the diplomats – about 300, protected by as many as 7,000 private security contractors – to assume the duties of the U.S. military. That includes protecting U.S. personnel from attack and managing the training of Iraqi police, starting in October 2011.The Iraq insurgency, which began shortly after U.S. troops toppled Baghdad in April 2003, is why the U.S. only now is entering the post-combat phase of stabilizing Iraq. Originally, the U.S. thought Iraq would be peaceful within months of the invasion, allowing for a short-lived occupation and the relatively quick emergence of a viable government.Although the insurgency has been reduced to what one analyst terms a “lethal nuisance,” it will complicate the State Department’s mission and test Iraq’s security forces.Much is at stake as the department negotiates with the Pentagon over acquiring enough Black Hawk helicopters, bomb-resistant vehicles and other heavy gear to outfit its own protection force in Iraq.

“Regardless of the reasons for going to war, everything now depends on a successful transition to an effective and unified Iraqi government and Iraqi security forces that can bring both security and stability to the average Iraqi,” says Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In his view that transition will take five years to 10 years.

The question is whether progress will be interrupted or reversed once American combat power is gone.The U.S. will have 50,000 troops in Iraq when the combat mission officially ends Aug. 31; they are scheduled to draw down to zero by Dec. 31, 2011. Until then, they will advise and train Iraqi security forces, and provide security and transport for the diplomats.

Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said in an interview to be broadcast Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that he believes Iraq’s security forces have matured to the point where they will be ready to shoulder enough of the burden to permit the remaining 50,000 U.S. soldiers to go home at the end of next year.”My assessment today is they – they will be,” Odierno said, according to an excerpt of the interview released Saturday by CNN.”We continue to see development in planning, in their ability to conduct operations,” he added. “We continue to see political development, economic development and all of these combined together will start to create an atmosphere that creates better security.”

Once the U.S. troops are gone, the State Department will be responsible for the security of its personnel.Obama administration officials say the diplomats are well prepared for what the State Department expects to be a three to five-year transition to a “normal” U.S.-Iraqi relationship.”We are fully prepared to assume our responsibilities as we move through this transition from a military-led effort to a civilian-led effort,” department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.

Iraq watchers have their doubts.Kenneth M. Pollack, a frequent visitor to Iraq as director of Middle East policy at the Brookings Institution, says the administration is in danger of underestimating the difficulty it faces.”One of the biggest mistakes that most Americans are making is assuming that Iraq can’t slide back into civil war. It can,” Pollack said. “This thing can go bad very easily.”Pollack, who does not consider himself a pessimist on Iraq, said the historical record on civil wars around the globe shows that about half repeat themselves.

“So it is a huge mistake to assume it can’t” happen in Iraq, whose civil strife in 2005-07 was so violent that many Americans assumed the war was lost and believed U.S. troops should give up and go home.Pollack considers the State Department ill-suited for its new tasks – starting with the police training mission and including the complex developmental problems such as improving Iraq’s water system.”What the State Department is being asked to do isn’t in their DNA,” Pollack said.The department has been strongly criticized for its past work in Iraqi police training. An October 2007 report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, Stuart W. Bowen Jr., said the State Department had so badly managed a February 2004 contract for Iraqi police training that the department could not tell what it got for the $1.2 billion it spent.

In May 2004 President George W. Bush put the Pentagon in charge of all security force development.The newly departed U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, Christopher Hill, says he sees brighter days ahead for Iraq, but he also laments “woefully low” supplies of electricity and deeply ingrained tensions among the three main competitors for political power: Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.”There is a mountain of mistrust,” Hill said.The diplomats’ postwar task would have been much easier if, as the administration once hoped, Iraq had formed a new government by now, nearly six months after its March 7 national elections.Instead, the political stalemate   with no end in sight – has created another hurdle to the central U.S. goal in Iraq: translating hard-fought security gains into stability.Still, there is optimism in some quarters.

“While there are no guarantees, the prospects for Iraq’s security and stability beyond 2011 look as good or better than they have at any time in the recent past,” John Negroponte, who was U.S. ambassador to Iraq in 2004-05, wrote Thursday in a ForeignPolicy.com blog.Another complication is the shake up of key U.S. players in Baghdad.Odierno leaves Baghdad on Sept. 1 for a new assignment in the U.S., and Gen. David Petraeus, who was Odierno’s boss as head of Central Command, switched last month to take command in Afghanistan. Hill was replaced in Baghdad this past week by James Jeffrey, who was the U.S. ambassador to Turkey.(AP)

57 candidates and Iraqi soldiers were killed and 123 injured after a suicide bomber at army recruitment center in Baghdad

Baghdad At least 57 candidates and Iraqi soldiers were killed and 123 injured after a suicide bomber blew himself up at army recruitment center in Baghdad, Tuesday, two weeks before U.S. combat duty in Iraq ended.The blast, which ravage the ranks recruits, is the one that claimed the most victims of this year and it happens when the unexpected guerrillas also launched a murder of the judges in the Iraqi capital and the restive provinces in northern Iraq.Bloodshed adds to the tension that has got worse after the general elections which did not complete more than five months ago. General elections were not yet produced a new government.

Guerrillas have been targeting Iraqi army and police as they prepared to assume full security responsibilities on 1 September, when the United States end the combat mission 7.5 years.The number of U.S. troops will be reduced to be 50 000 personnel to the mission of training before a full withdrawal is planned for next year.

“We’re waiting in line. Also, there officers and soldiers. Suddenly there was an explosion. Thanksgiving is just my hand injury,” said Aziz Saleh, one of which will be recruited, told Reuters Television, while doctors at al-Karkh hospital care victim injury.As many as 57 people were killed and 123 injured in an attack on an Army base in the field Maidan, the central part of Baghdad, according to information from the media office of the Ministry of Health.

The White House said U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the attack, but U.S. withdrawal timetable has not changed.”Our combat mission ended at the end of the month, but we’re still going to put forces in there that will help support the (Iraqi forces) as needed,” said spokesman Bill Burton told reporters on Air Force One.(AFP)

Israel Will Buy 20 F-35 combat jet

JERUSALEM Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has agreed in principle on Sunday, the purchase of 20 jet fighter that can avoid radar stealth artificial United States under an agreement worth 2.75 billion U.S. dollars, according to several defense officials said.Warplanes F-35 is expected to be delivered between 2015 and 2017, said an Israeli defense official, as quoted from Reuters.Some Israeli officials have been talking about the country’s old enemy, Iran, which potentially has developed nuclear weapons in the mid-decade.Israel gives the impression that the planes F-35 will not be used for preventive action, but rather to bolster the country’s deterrence.A ministry statement said Barak “has been approved in principle the recommendations of the Israel Defense Forces and the Ministry of Defense to move forward” with the purchase.

Stealth fighter planes, made by Lockheed Martin Corp., “will provide a continuing Israeli air superiority and maintain the technological advances in our region,” said Barak was quoted as saying in a statement.The defense officials said Israel had initially planned to buy 20 aircraft, which is expected to reach full price of 2.75 billion U.S. dollars, which will be closed to the granting of annual U.S. defense amounted to 3 billion dollars.Some officials predict that the final approval of the agreement can be given at the end of September by a panel of Israeli government ministers.Israel will become the first foreign country to sign an agreement to buy F-35, or the Joint Attack Fighter aircraft, outside the eight international partners who have helped to develop the plane.

The treaty has been negotiated since September 2008, when the first Pentagon approved the sale of 25 jet fighters with more options in the coming years.F-35 aircraft is designed to avoid radar detection and can play a role in efforts to strike Israel what Israel regarded as a threat to their survival posed by Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran denies Western and Israeli accusations that the country has been trying to produce atomic weapons.

Defense Ministry Director General Udi Shani declared Israel’s incorporation of technology into the F-35 has played a role in Barak’s decision to buy the planes.Israel, widely regarded as the only country in the Middle East which has a nuclear arsenal, has also been considering a cheaper option – the purchase of fighter version of the Boeing F-15 which has modification. (AFP)

United Nations give warning of second wave of Pakistani flood deaths

Pakistan  The United Nations appealed on Wednesday for $459 million in aid for flood-hit Pakistan, warning of a second wave of death among sick, hungry survivors unless help arrived quickly.Roiling floods triggered by unusually heavy monsoon rain have scoured Pakistan’s Indus river basin, killing more than 1,600 people, forcing 2 million from their homes and disrupting the lives of about 14 million people, or 8 percent of the population.President Asif Ali Zardari, whose government has come in for harsh criticism for its perceived sluggish response to the disaster, defended a decision to travel abroad as the floods began, saying he helped focus international attention on the plight of the victims.The floods, the worst in the region in 80 years, have raised fears for the prospects of the nuclear-armed U.S. ally already battling a deadly Islamist militancy.U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday the U.S. military was tripling the number of helicopters in Pakistan to 19 from six and sending in a landing platform to be used off the coast of Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city.

Washington, which had already committed $55 million to Pakistani flood relief efforts, also announced it was contributing a further $16.2 million to the U.N. refugee agency and International Red Cross for emergency assistance to flood victims.Aid agencies have complained of a lackluster donor response to the crisis, while a U.N. spokesman said help was needed soon.”If we do not respond soon enough to the urgent needs of the population, if we do not provide life-saving assistance as soon as is necessary, there may be a second wave of death caused by diseases and food shortages,” said U.N. humanitarian operations the spokesman Maurizio Giuliano.Hundreds of roads and bridges have been destroyed from northern mountains to the plains of the southern province of Sindh, where the waters have not yet crested, meaning the situation could get worse.

Countless villages and farms have been inundated, crops destroyed and livestock lost. In some places, families are huddled on tiny patches of water-logged land with their animals surrounded by an inland sea.On the outskirts of the city of Sukkur, in Sindh, hundreds of people waited for food supplies at a tent camp.”I can’t find my 12-year-old son. I’ve been to my village with soldiers on a boat but there was no sign of him,” said farmer Mohammad Hassan.”I’m so worried. I don’t know what to do. Should I take care of my family here or go and look for my son?” Hassan, a father of 10, told Reuters before rushing into a throng jostling around a truck that arrived with rations of cooked rice.

ECONOMIC DAMAGE

The International Monetary Fund has warned of major economic harm and the Finance Ministry said the country would miss this year’s 4.5 percent gross domestic product growth target, although it was not clear by how much.Pakistani stocks ended 0.17 percent down at 9,875.68 as the economic costs of the disaster rattled investors. the market has lost 5.37 percent since the floods began.The United Nations says the disaster is the biggest the country has faced and it would cost billions of dollars to rehabilitate the victims and rebuild ruined infrastructure.Giuliano said he was optimistic aid would arrive and $150 million had already been pledged. The U.N. World Food Program needs $150 million to feed 6 million people for three months.Zardari defended his decision to travel to France and Britain at the end of last month.

“Some have criticized my decision, saying it represented aloofness, but I felt that I had to choose substance over symbolism,” he said in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal.The British government had pledged $24 million in aid, following his meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron, the Pakistani leader said.

Pakistan’s military, which has ruled the country for more than half of its 63-year history, has taken the lead in relief efforts, reinforcing the faith many Pakistanis have in their armed forces and highlighting the comparative ineffectiveness of civilian governments.Analysts say the armed forces would not try to take power as they have vowed to shun politics and are busy fighting militants.U.S. military helicopters have been airlifting survivors in an effort that may win Washington some supporters in Pakistan, where anti-American sentiment runs high.

“Let’s not talk about politics. We were trapped here and they came to evacuate us,” said Abdul Rehman, 37, rescued by a U.S. helicopter after being stranded with a new-born baby and wife.”They’re doing good. Let’s appreciate them.”The United States needs a stable Pakistan to help it end a nine-year war by the Taliban in Afghanistan.(Reuters)

Hezbollah militants accuses Israel of Hariri assassination

BEIRUT The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants presented aerial reconnaissance footage Monday that he said implicates Israel in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.But Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, who has been in hiding since his Shiite Muslim group battled Israel in a monthlong 2006 war, acknowledged the material was not absolute proof.

“This is evidence, indications … that open new horizons for the investigations,” Nasrallah said at a lengthy press conference in which he spoke to reporters via satellite link.The speech comes as pressure is mounting on Hezbollah over a Netherlands-based tribunal investigating Hariri’s assassination, which is set to issue indictments this year. If Hezbollah is indicted, there are fears it could spark riots between the Sunni supporters of Hariri and Shiite followers of Hezbollah.The two sides have clashed before following political power struggles. In May 2008, Hezbollah gunmen swept through Sunni pro-government neighborhoods of Beirut, raising the threat of a new civil war.

Israel immediately dismissed Hezbollah’s accusations.

“The international community, the Arab world, and most importantly, the people of Lebanon all know that these accusations are simply ridiculous,” a senior Israeli official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because no government statement was made.Hariri was killed in a massive Valentine’s Day truck bombing in 2005 that many in Lebanon blamed on Syria, which backs Hezbollah. Syria denies any involvement in the assassination.

Hariri, a billionaire businessman credited with rebuilding Lebanon after its 15-year civil war, had been trying to limit Syria’s domination of Lebanon in the months before his assassination.

The killing sparked massive anti-Syrian protests in Lebanon, dubbed the “Cedar Revolution,” which led to Syria’s withdrawal.Nasrallah said the tapes shown Monday were intercepted by Hezbollah between the 1990s and 2005, and showed Israeli reconnaissance footage of areas frequented by Hariri, including where he died. He said this proved Israel was tracking his movements for purposes of assassination.

Asked why he was presenting the material at a press conference as opposed to the tribunal, Nasrallah said: “I do not cooperate with parties that I do not trust.”

The tribunal has not said who will be charged, but Nasrallah said last month he already knows that Hezbollah members will be among them. His July 22 announcement appeared to be an attempt to soften the impact of any charges.He has said the tribunal has no credibility and is simply an “Israeli project,” and that his group will not turn over any of its members for trial.

In response to questions about why Nasrallah chose to offer the material five years after Hariri’s assassination, he said the recent arrests of scores of Lebanese agents who were spying for Israel since last year has yielded information proving Israel’s deep involvement in a number of assassinations in the country.Nasrallah said his group also has just learned of an Israeli spy who had been scouting the area of the assassination just a day before the truck bomb that killed Hariri exploded. The spy, however, fled before authorities could arrest him. (AP)

Netanyahu Give Testimony In Assault in the Ship

Jerusalem  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to testify Monday on his version of events that led to deadly attacks against aid ships Gaza purposes. Testimony prime minister will be delivered in front of an Israeli commission investigating the deadly attack in late May that. Netanyahu became the first of three high officials who will give sworn testimony this week about the incident, which the Israeli navy commandos stormed the six vessels that help to break through the blockade against the Gaza Strip, which killed nine Turkish activists and injuring dozens of other passengers.

May 31 operation that sparked a diplomatic crisis and global calls for an investigation.Investigative panel that will hear sworn testimony from high-level decision makers involved in the commando raid, including the Prime Minister of Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, in a series of public hearings that began on 9 August.

However, the committee’s mandate would be limited to the study of international legal issues, and they will not investigate the decision-making process that led to the deadly operation.Public hearings will be held in a hall in Jerusalem.Israeli officials said the panel will listen to Barracks sworn testimony on Tuesday and Ashkenazi in the next day. Israeli commandos raided ships in the fleet assistance to the Gaza Strip on 31 May. Nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activist killed in the attack on one ship.

Israel-Turkey relations plunged to its lowest level since the two countries reached a strategic partnership in the 1990s due to the incident.Turkey summoned its ambassador from Tel Aviv and canceled three planned military exercises after the raid. Turkey also twice rejected the Israeli request for military aircraft using the airspace.

Severe violence in the pre-dawn raid Monday (31 / 5) by Israeli troops occurred on the boat Turkey, Mavi Marmara, who led the fleet of aid to Gaza.Israel argued that the passenger-passenger ship was attacked the troops, but the organizers claimed that the fleet of the Israeli troops started shooting as soon as they landed.

After the attack, Egypt, who reached peace with Israel in 1979, it opened the Rafah border to allow aid convoys into Gaza – widely seen as an effort to counter critics of the Egyptian role in the blockade.Cairo, in coordination with Israel, allowing only limited in its border crossing since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.

Under increasing pressure, Israel then launched an investigation along with two international observers for the attack. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon encourages a separate investigation into the UN with the participation of Israel and Turkey.

Israel also relax the blockade of Gaza by allowing the majority of civilian goods into the coastal territory.Gaza Strip, a densely populated coastal regions, blockaded by Israel and Egypt after Hamas to power nearly three years ago.

Group Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June of 2007 after defeating Fatah forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a deadly battle for a few days.Since then, these poor coastal blockader by Israel. Any Palestinian entity into two separate areas – the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and West Bank under Abbas government. European Union, Israel and the U.S. enter into the Hamas terrorist organization list.( AFP)

Mavi Marmara pull out of Israel

Haifa, Israel  Turkish passenger ship that became the center of deadly violence during the raid against the Israeli navy ships aim assistance Gaza Strip Israel pulled out of port, on Thursday, an AFP correspondent said.Mavi Marmara taken out from the port of Haifa by a large Turkish tugboat sent to bring back the ship.Two other ships were also detained by the navy during the attack on May 31 would also be withdrawn from the port of Ashdod, southern Israel, on Thursday, the defense ministry said.

Repatriation of the ships were made after a decision taken by the political leaders after a request from Ankara, the ministry said in a statement.”Three Turkish tugs will arrive in Israel today. The crew they will receive three ships moored in Israel along with personal equipment on top of existing ships,” the ministry said, without explaining when the transfer is made. The ships were part of a fleet of six ships which attempted to penetrate the Israeli naval blockade against the Gaza Strip on 31 May. Unclear whether the other three ships were still in Israeli ports.The ship is also believed to aid Rachel Corrie, was arrested at an Israeli port, but the legal steps taken to set him free.Israel became the international spotlight after deadly attacks against aid ships.

Israeli commandos raided ships in the fleet assistance to the Gaza Strip on May 31, which killed nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists in the attack on one ship.Israel-Turkey relations plunged to its lowest level since the two countries reached a strategic partnership in the 1990s due to the incident.

Turkey summoned its ambassador from Tel Aviv and canceled three planned military exercises after the raid. Turkey also twice rejected the Israeli request for military aircraft using the airspace.Severe violence in the pre-dawn raid Monday (31 / 5) by Israeli troops occurred on the boat Turkey, Mavi Marmara, who led the fleet of aid to Gaza.Israel argued that the passenger-passenger ship was attacked the troops, but the organizers claimed that the fleet of the Israeli troops started shooting as soon as they landed.

After the attack, Egypt, who reached peace with Israel in 1979, it opened the Rafah border to allow aid convoys into Gaza – widely seen as an effort to counter critics of the Egyptian role in the blockade.Cairo, in coordination with Israel, allowing only limited in its border crossing since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.

Under increasing pressure, Israel then launched an investigation along with two international observers for the attack. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon encourages a separate investigation into the UN with the participation of Israel and Turkey.Israel also relax the blockade of Gaza by allowing the majority of civilian goods into the coastal territory. Gaza Strip, a densely populated coastal regions, blockaded by Israel and Egypt after Hamas to power nearly three years ago.

Group Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June of 2007 after defeating Fatah forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a deadly battle for a few days.Since then, these poor coastal dibloklade by Israel. Any Palestinian entity into two separate areas – the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and West Bank under Abbas government.The AFP report, the European Union, Israel and the U.S. enter into the Hamas terrorist organization list.(AFP)

Departing US troops pack millions of items in Iraq

JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq Everything from helicopters to printer cartridges is being wrapped and stamped and shipped out of Iraq. U.S. military bases that once resembled small towns have transformed into a cross between giant post offices and Office Depots.Soldiers who battled through insurgents and roadside bombs are now doing inventory and accounting. Their task: reverse over the course of months a U.S. military presence that built up over seven years of war.”We’re moving out millions of pieces of equipment in one of the largest logistics operations that we’ve seen in decades,” President Barack Obama said in a speech Monday hailing this month’s planned withdrawal of all U.S. combat troops from Iraq.

The orderly withdrawal is a far cry from the testosterone-fueled push across the berm separating Kuwait and Iraq, when American Marines and soldiers pushed north in the 2003 invasion, battling Saddam Hussein’s army while sleeping on the hoods of their vehicles and eating prepackaged meals.”I think it’s probably more challenging leaving, responsibly drawing down, than it is getting here, because you just have to figure out where everything is and getting it out of here. Are there enough airplanes, ships, containers, and do we have enough time to do that and meet the president’s mandate?” said Col. David F. Demartino, who is responsible for infrastructure and support services at Balad, which is home to 25,000 troops and civilians.

In essence the drawdown has been happening since late 2008. That’s when the U.S. started to reduce its numbers following the surge, which raised the American presence to about 170,000. Now the U.S. has just under 65,000 troops in the country, and the withdrawal is reaching a more furious pace as the August deadline approaches.Only 50,000 U.S. service personnel will remain after August. All troops are supposed to leave and all bases close by the end of next year, unless Iraq asks the U.S. to renegotiate their agreement to allow a continued American presence.In mid-July, JSS Mahmoudiya – once a U.S. position just south of Baghdad in one of Iraq’s most dangerous areas – was a ghost town. Tents were abandoned, covered with foam to retard fire, and the white-walled cafeteria was barren except for a few refrigerators holding drinks. The joint operations command was stripped of almost everything, including the big-screen TVs on which military personnel once watched operations.

The next day, it was handed over to the Iraqi government to become an army facility.Each handover involves a painstaking process of inventorying everything on the base that the soldiers aren’t taking with them. Every item is assessed to see if it can be moved and if so, whether it is needed anywhere else in the country. Many of the materials – water tanks, generators, and furniture – are eventually donated to the Iraqi government. As of July 27, $98.6 million worth of equipment has been handed over, most to the Iraqi army and Interior Ministry.More than 400 bases are being closed down or handed over to the Iraqi military. By September, the American military will have fewer than 100 bases in the country, down from a high of 505 in January 2008.

Some of these bases look somewhat like small towns with elaborate dining facilities serving tacos and crab legs and gyms with rows of treadmills.About half the vehicles – what the military describes as “rolling stock” – that have left Iraq have gone to Afghanistan. More than 180,000 items like weapons or communications equipment have also been sent to Afghanistan over the past year.In the past, when troops rotated into Iraq they brought some weapons and other equipment with them. But they inherited most of their equipment – including Humvees and other armored vehicles – from the unit they replaced.But now as troops aren’t being replaced, the last guys out must leave their equipment at the door to be redistributed, whether back to the U.S., other units in Iraq or to Afghanistan.

That makes places like the Central Receiving and Shipping Point at Balad “the center of the universe,” as one visiting officer nicknamed it. Equipment such as howitzers and helicopter blades or shipping containers and pallets arrives for redistribution.Sgt. 1st Class Stephen Latch runs the CRSP. He spent his first tour in Iraq with the infantry kicking down doors and hunting down members of Saddam’s regime. The only time he really thought about logistics was to wonder when his ammo and food would arrive.Now he’s at the center of the logistical version of a major offensive, helping ensure that the equipment goes south to Kuwait, the main exit point. Most material is driven down the heavily guarded main highway from Baghdad to the border, a more than 300-mile route. So far there have been no reports of significant attacks on any convoys.

Latch said when he started his deployment last summer, they moved an average of about 2,500 items a month. Now he’s moving almost six times that amount, and it’s mostly going south.And people want it faster. It used to be something could sit in the CRSP yard for 45 days before heading to Kuwait, Latch said. But now if it’s there for five days, people start calling and want to know why.”We have a very, very aggressive attitude,” Latch said. “Everybody knows the stuff is going south. It’s going to move no matter what. You can either fight the current or you can just push as hard as you can to get that stuff down there fast.”The drawdown has not been without hiccups. The military was embarrassed by a report in the Times of London that contractors did not properly dispose of environmental waste removed from U.S. military bases.But U.S. commanders say they are addressing problems and are confident they will be able to meet the president’s deadline.

Demartino said that while going through shipping containers, buildings and offices at Joint Base Balad, soldiers have been stunned at the materials hoarded over the years in nooks and crannies all over the base.The biggest surprise was the thousands of printer cartridges tucked away by soldiers worried they would one day run out.”I walked through a few of these buildings, and I was thinking this is like Office Depot, and it’s just people going ‘I don’t want to run out. Let’s get them!'” he said. “I think it’s the mindset of ‘We’re never going to leave.'”(AP)