LEGIT: 30 March 2007

What’s Happening In Congress?

Senate National Guard Caucus Breakfast
On March 27, the Senate National Guard Caucus held its annual breakfast to present issues facing the National Guard to the attention of caucus members and their staff. In addition to the leaders from the National Guard Bureau, TAGs from Vermont, Delaware and Virginia were also able to attend. Members of the caucus who were there include Senators Leahy (VT), Tester (MT), Casey (PA) and Brown (OH).

HASC Hearing on Guard Readiness
On March 28, the House Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Readiness held a hearing concerning the readiness of the National Guard. As evidenced by Members’ questions, a growing concern for Congress is the state of the Air National Guard in the post-BRAC environment. Representative Solomon Ortiz (TX), chair of the subcommittee, stated that he is especially interested in addressing the 10 percent cut in flying hours that he believes will negatively impact Air National Guard readiness.

NGREA in FY07 Supplemental
Senators Leahy and Bond have once again added funds for Army Guard equipment to the Department of Defense budget, this time in the FY07 Supplemental. The Senators originally requested $5 billion be put in the National Guard and Reserve Equipment Account, and were able to work with their colleagues on the Senate Appropriations Committee to agree that $1 billion was needed this fiscal year for Army Guard equipment.

Congress will be in recess
House: April 2 to 13
Senate: April 2 to 9

During this time, your state could greatly benefit from a visit by your Representatives or Senators. This can be anything from attending an award ceremony or taking them for a ride-along in a vehicle or aircraft. Create opportunities for your Representatives, Senators and their staff to see your operations first hand. NGAUS can help you navigate the process of setting up these visits, both on the NGB/LL side and with the Representative or Senator’s office. You can also contact Lt. Ashley Mitias with NGB/LL at (703) 607-2770 or ashley.mitias@ngb.ang.af.mil for more information. The clock is running for the 110th Congress, take advantage of this program as much as possible.

This will also be a good time to talk with your Representatives and Senators about the Guard Empowerment Act and why it is important to you. Education is the key to victory.

What’s Happening At NGAUS?
Update on “Write To Congress” Stats

Current numbers for messages sent this year are:
585 messages were sent this week.
3410 messages have been sent this year.
994 messages on Guard Empowerment.
2253 messages were sent on TRICARE fee increases.

Top 5 States:
1. Tennessee – 328 messages
2. Missouri – 180 messages
3. Oklahoma – 165 messages
4. Mississippi – 158 messages
5. California – 155 messages

Our Goal for 2007: 54,000 messages

We are 50,590 messages away from meeting our goal! Keep writing your Senators and Representatives. Also, make sure to share the “Write to Congress” tool with your friends and family.

Rich Green, Director
Pete Duffy, Deputy Director
Chris DeBatt, Army Programs
Emily Breitbach, Air Programs
Bernie Phelps, Senior Legislative Analyst

For more information on NGAUS, check out our website: NGAUS.

NGAUS Notes: 3/30/2007

New TFI Phase Focuses on Emerging Air Guard Missions
Air Force officials announced this week the next phase of Total Force Integration (TFI), which includes nearly 140 missions and represents a compilation of all previous TFI phases and efforts.

More than 90 of these initiatives have funds, and approximately 45 percent are associations among active-component, Guard and/or Reserve forces.

The remaining 55 percent are new, emerging or stand-alone missions. In the coming months, officials will announce specific initiatives, as appropriate.

TFI already has impacted the Guard across the country.

For example, the California Air Guard’s 163rd Air Reconnaissance Wing transitioned in just one year from flying the KC-135 tanker to flying operational Predator missions in support of the Global War on Terror from its home station at March Air Reserve Base.

The Air Force Reserve Command’s classic association at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, will bring the active and reserve forces together on the nation’s premier fifth generation fighter aircraft, the F-22A Raptor.

“Total Force Integration incorporates innovative organizational constructs to create a smaller, more capable, force structure leveraging increased capability from new technology and capitalizing on the wealth of talent and experiences across the active duty, Guard and Reserve functions,” said Lt. Gen. Craig R. McKinley, Air Guard director. “Ensuring a seamless capability across our three service components provides America a more lethal and capable air, space and cyberspace force.”

TFI initiatives span the entire Air Force mission spectrum from unmanned aerial systems, intelligence operations, logistics, civil support, training, myriad flying platforms, space and cyberspace.

NGAUS Award Nominations Due May 1
Nominations for the 2007 NGAUS Individual Awards must arrive at the association’s headquarters postmarked by May 1 to qualify for this year’s program.

Award nominees for the 10 separate individual awards should be people who have demonstrated exceptionally outstanding service, committed acts of heroism or who have contributed significantly to National Guard effectiveness.

Honorees numbered more than 100 last year and included members of Congress, governors, state legislators, community leaders and National Guardsmen of all ranks and experience levels.

Most categories require an adjutant general endorsement, but state Guard associations may send their nominations directly to NGAUS.

A five-person standing awards committee will review the nominees and make recommendations to the NGAUS board of directors, which has final approval.

The association will announce award winners in July. Winners may receive their awards during the business sessions at the 129th NGAUS General Conference and Exhibition, Aug. 25 to 27 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. NGAUS reimburses the $125 conference registration fee to all individual award recipients who attend.

NGAUS will present awards not distributed at the conference at a later date. NGAUS mailed complete awards program information – including criteria and nomination forms – to each state headquarters and Guard association and the National Guard Bureau in February.

Nominations should be sent to:

NGAUS Awards Program
One Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20001

Award information is available in the “About NGAUS” section at NGAUS. Contact Richard Arnold for additional questions about the program at (888) 226-4287.

Assessment Says VA Facilitites in Good Working Order
Dr. Michael Kussman, Veterans Affairs’ acting undersecretary for heath says that a review of the 1,400 hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and other facilities where veterans receive health care concludes most deficiencies involve “normal wear and tear.”

“The overwhelming majority of issues identified by this special review are the kinds of items you would expect to find – and see being addressed – in an organization with nearly 150 million square feet of space where 1 million patients come each week,” he said.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson ordered the review March 7 in the wake of news reports about poor outpatient housing facilities at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. – a non-VA health care facility.

Dr. Kussman said the Department’s $519 million maintenance budget for this year, coupled with $573 million proposed for next year, should take care of maintenance shortcomings.

If additional funds are needed, VA pledged to work with congressional committees to identify how to best address those needs.

“VA facilities are inspected more frequently than any other health-care facilities in the nation,” Dr. Kussman said. “We will continue to monitor closely the progress of corrective action identified by this special report.”

VA operates the largest integrated health care system in the United States, with 155 hospitals, nearly 900 outpatient clinics and 135 nursing homes. VA treated more than 5.4 million patients last year, accounting for about 55 million outpatient visits and 600,000 hospitalizations.

Military Intelligence Scholarships Available
The Military Intelligence Corps Association (MICA) is accepting applications through May 15 for undergraduate scholarships for family members of active-, reserve-component and retired soldiers who are MICA members.

Students may use scholarships for attendance at regionally accredited colleges, universities or state-approved vocational schools. Applicants must have acceptance at an institution of higher education and be pursuing their first undergraduate degree or a technical certificate.

Previous MICA scholarship recipients may compete for subsequent scholarships.

Eligible applicants must be a military intelligence soldier or the family member of an MI soldier who is serving in the active or reserve component, or who is a retired MI soldier. Family members are considered spouses, children or immediate relatives living with or supported by the qualifying soldier.

Instructions and application forms are available at MICA. MICA is the professional association of the U.S. Army’s Military Intelligence Corps.

NGAUS History
NGAUS representatives testified to the House Armed Services Committee in the spring of 1956 in support of H.R. 7290, which would allow the appointment of female medical specialists to the National Guard.

In July 1956, Congress passed Public Law 845, authorizing female officers in the Guard. New York Air Guard Capt. Norma Parsons became the Guard’s first female member. The Army Guard’s first woman soldier was 1st Lt. Sylvia Marie St. Charles Law in January 1957.

By the end of 1957, the Air Guard had 42 female nurses, and the Army Guard had 11.

This Week in Guard History
March 26, 1952: South Korea – Guardsmen in various units (the 40th and 45th infantry divisions and artillery, engineer, maintenance and other mobilized Army Guard units) receive word that they will soon be going home.

The first increments mobilized for the war in August and September 1950, and the existing authority allowed them to be on active duty for only 21 months. Though later increased to 24 months, this increase did not apply to the first men called up.

While the units remained in place filled with draftees, Guardsmen began returning home. When they got back, however, those wishing to stay in the Guard had no unit to rejoin, as they were still in Korea.

The Guard and Army came up with a novel approach and created “holding” units with the same designations as those still deployed.

Produced weekly by the NGAUS communications department. Comments and questions should be directed to NGAUS. NGAUS members can sign up for electronic delivery of NGAUS Notes at NGAUS.

French Total oil boss under formal investigation

Source: Middle East Times.

AFP March 23, 2007

PARIS — A French judge has placed the chief executive of the Total oil group under formal investigation on suspicion of paying bribes to secure a major gas field deal in Iran.

Christophe de Margerie, who is already under investigation over the Iraq “oil-for-food” bribes scandal, was officially warned of the new accusations Thursday night after he had spent more than a day in detention.

The judge placed Margerie, who has only been Total’s chief executive since February, under investigation for suspected “corruption of foreign public agents and misuse of corporate assets,” a legal source said.

Margerie was given conditional release.

The French oil company is suspected of paying top Iranian officials nearly 100 million Swiss francs ($80 million) through two Swiss bank accounts to win a contract for the South Pars offshore gas field in 1997.

Margerie was detained by French police Wednesday before being transferred to a serious financial crime unit a day later, judicial officials reported. Four other serving and former Total executives were also detained but later released without charge.

In a statement, Total said that its chief executive had been placed “under formal investigation in proceedings related to the development of the South Pars project in Iran.”

Being placed under judicial investigation is one step short of being charged with a crime in the French legal system. It does not necessarily mean that 55-year-old Margerie is heading for trial.

A case can be dropped if a judge is unable to sustain his accusations against an individual.

In the statement Total expressed “its full support for its employees and confirms that the agreements for the development of the South Pars project were entered into in compliance with applicable law.”

It also said that the company was “confident” that the “investigation will establish the absence of any illegal activities and reaffirms that Total adheres to a strict code of conduct regardless of the difficulties linked to its activities and the environments in which it operates.”

The suspicions center on a contract Total won from the Iranian oil company NIOC for the South Pars field.

The French judge is partly relying on testimony given by an employee of Norwegian oil company Statoil who revealed the existence of a corruption system in Iran during an investigation in Norway.

According to sources, money was paid to Iranian officials between 1996 and 2003 when Margerie was Total’s Middle East director.

Last year he was charged with complicity with fraud and corruption by the same judge as part of an investigation into a French link to the “oil-for-food” scandal in Iraq.

Companies were said to have paid money to get oil deals from Iraq while it was under UN sanctions during the Saddam Hussein years.

Several other Total executives and former executives, including Patrick Rambaud, who was also questioned over the Iran deal, have also been put under investigation as part of the “oil-for-food” scandal.

Known in the company as “Big Moustache,” Margerie was promoted to head of Total in February in succession to Thierry Desmarest who had overseen huge expansion of the group and is president of the supervisory board.

Margerie studied at the elite ESCP business school in Paris, joining the finance department of Total in 1974, rising to the managing committee in 1992, and becoming director for the Middle East region in 1995.

French Judge grills Total chief over corruption accusations

Source: Yahoo News.

A French judge on Thursday questioned Total oil chief executive Christophe de Margerie over corruption suspicions surrounding a major gas deal in Iran, bringing formal charges a step closer.

The French oil giant is suspected of paying top Iranian officials nearly 100 million Swiss francs (60 million euros, 80 million dollars) through two Swiss bank accounts to win a contract in 1997

Margerie was detained by police on Wednesday and on Thursday was transferred to the serious financial crime unit, legal sources said.

He was later taken to the office of magistrate, Philippe Courroye, who has spent three months investigating the South Pars contract that Total secured with the Iranian oil company NIOC.

Courroye could place de Margerie under judicial investigation which would be the first stage toward formal charges.

Four other Total executives, including financial director Robert Castaigne and a former senior executive, Patrick Rambaud, who was in charge of Total’s negotiating section, were also detained on Wednesday but released late in the day without charge.

Total has confirmed that the executives have been questioned over the South Pars offshore field deal. But a spokesman said the group, France’s biggest company in terms of turnover, supports Margerie and “confirms that the agreements signed respected the law.”

If Margerie is not charged he could still be warned that he is needed as a witness or given an unconditional release.

According to sources close to the inquiry, the money was paid to Iranian officials between 1996 and 2003, when Margerie was Total’s Middle East director. The Swiss accounts belonged to a suspected intermediary in the deal. Switzerland has frozen some 9.5 million euros from the accounts.

The oil group’s chief executive is no stranger to controversy.

Last year he was charged with complicity with fraud and corruption by the same judge as part of an investigation into a French link to the “oil-for-food” scandal in Iraq.

Companies were said to have paid money to get oil deals from Iraq while it was under UN sanctions during the Saddam Hussein years.

Several other Total executives and former executives, including Rambaud, have also been charged as part of the “oil-for-food” scandal.

Known in the company as “Big Moustache,” Margerie was promoted to managing director of Total in February in succession to Thierry Desmarest who had overseen huge expansion of the group and is president of the supervisory board.

Adm. Fallon interviewed by ABC’s Raddatz–Exclusive

ABC’s Martha Raddatz Talks with Adm. William Fallon in Iraq – Exclusive!

Reopened Iraqi Factories Take Aim at Insurgency

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 28, 2007 – With straight unemployment running at 20 percent nationwide, there is no wonder that Iraqi men would be sympathetic to violence and insurgency, the Defense Department’s point man for Iraqi reconstruction said today.

Paul Brinkley, deputy defense undersecretary for business transformation, acquisition, technology and logistics, said Iraqis want work, normalcy and security. He is working with the Iraqi government and coalition officials to open factories and create jobs for those unemployed and those underemployed, said during a Pentagon news conference today.

Getting Iraqis back to work, he said, takes groups of people out of the recruiting pool of al Qaeda in Iraq and insurgent factions.

“It is the belief of our command … that this economic factor goes hand in hand with security, and as security is established, it is critical to follow and to restore economic opportunity for the population,” Brinkley said.

The coalition already has helped open three factories in Iraq, and officials plan on opening dozens more in the future. Brinkley said that in 2003, 200 large factories were doing business in the country. For a variety of factors – including security, lack of raw materials, lack of transportation and lack of electricity — these factories have closed.

DoD has undertaken a comprehensive effort to engage industrial operations — some idle, some state-owned, some private sector — across Iraq in an effort to identify potential sources of goods and services, he said. This survey will allow Iraqi factories to reopen and connect Iraq with the rest of the Middle Eastern and international marketplace.

Most of the 200 large factories were state-owned, he said. Restoring these factories will spur growth in other related areas, Brinkley said. Secondary benefits will accrue to the economy not just for large factories, but also for all of the surrounding private businesses.

“This will begin to create an uplift of economic opportunity for the Iraqi people,” he said. And that uplift will take potential recruits out of terrorist or insurgent recruiting pools, he added.

A reopened Iraqi clothing factory is making uniforms for the Iraqi army and Iraqi police. It also is producing goods for export, and Brinkley said some of these clothes should be on shelves in the United States in time for Christmas. “We have major American retail distributors who have engaged in that operation,” he said.

Another reopened factory near Baghdad manufactured buses. It now makes armored vehicles for the Iraqi security forces.

Another reopened factory in Ramadi illustrates a different problem. The factory made bathroom fixtures and ceramic tile, but has no one to sell the goods to.

“It’s hard to put U.S. government contracts for ceramic tile; we don’t buy a lot of ceramic tile in the DoD,” he said. “These Iraqi factories used to sell to other Iraqis. Sunnis sold to Shiia; Sunni sold to Kurds; Shiia sold to Kurds; businessmen did business with each other. It’s the same anywhere in the world.”

As the factories were idle, the commercial ties died, he said. “In this particular case, Kurdish construction firms have committed to buy anything that particular factory can make,” he said. “Why? Because they need these goods, and they’re having to import them from outside the country today, and they can get them cheaper.”

Brinkley said this type of success breeds other successes and that he expects to see acceleration in factory opening and concurrent employment.

The Iraqis obviously want this to happen also, Brinkley said. He said that even in areas of the greatest unrest, idled factories have been untouched. “We’ve gone to factories where literally gunfire has been going off in the surrounding neighborhood, and one would expect the factory to have been looted,” he said. “Yet you go in and there’s computer equipment, robotics, brand new production machinery sitting idle.

“The doors are chained and dust has settled over everything and the workers aren’t working, and yet the factory hasn’t been damaged, which is indicative of the fact that there is a level of control and a level of awareness even in areas of great unrest that future economic prosperity is critical to the population.”

Long-Term Iraqi Stability Requires Rule of Law, Officials Say

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service.

WASHINGTON, March 28, 2007 – Security progress in Baghdad requires more than military success; it also requires advances in Iraq’s institutions, including its criminal justice system, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman said today.

“We can and will win every battle, but we cannot win the peace alone,” Navy Adm. Mark Fox said during a media roundtable in Baghdad. “Even-handed justice is an essential part of every democratic society.”

After decades under Saddam Hussein’s repressive regime, “the Iraqi government is creating an independent judicial system to ensure that the rule of law applies to everyone,” he said.

James Santelle, Justice attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, joined Fox in sharing perceptions after a visit yesterday to the Central Criminal Court of Iraq and speaking about steps under way to continue advances being made.

“Rule of law is a critically important part of the united Iraqi-coalition force effort to preserve the peace and to ensure the safety and security for all Iraqis,” Santelle said.

Rule of law requires confidence in the institutions of government, provincial and city governments, elected officials and police. That is a tall order, Santelle acknowledged, because Saddam’s brutal police force left widespread, lingering fear and distrust.

As they look toward the future, the Iraqi government and coalition are focusing on what Santelle called the three touchstones of a good rule of law operation: courts, prisons and police.

He said his visit to the Central Criminal Court gave him optimism that it’s possible to break beyond past wrongs.

“If there is any illustration of rule of law in operation here today in Iraq, it is just that,” he said, citing the CCCI’s operations and its combined staff of police, law enforcement agents and officers, judicial officers, and corrections officers. All are working together in Baghdad and other Iraqi providences to ensure rule of law is promoted, he said.

Santelle cited the facts that crimes are being investigated fairly and that courageous judges are hearing evidence of crimes as examples of positive strides.

“That is a reflection of a civilized society,” he said. “That is a reflection of a rule-of-law operation that does, in fact, work.”

Joint training programs are ensuring that the principles of rule of law go to all levels of the criminal justice system, and new courthouses and other facilities are being built or renovated to support this system, he said.

As these efforts take shape, Santelle said he’s been impressed by the many courageous Iraqi leaders — judges, prison officials, police officers, non-governmental organizations and entities among them –pursuing rule-of-law principles while operating in the midst of violence.

“That is a sign of tremendous promise and future for this country … (that) speaks well, not only for the present generation, but also those to come,” he said.

Ethiopian offensive spurs deadly violence in Somali capital

AFP picture by Mustafa Abdi.
Smoke rises in the horizon above the Towfiq neighborhood in Mogadishu. Seven Ethiopian soldiers have been killed in Mogadishu, and two of their bodies dragged through the streets amid heavy fighting sparked by an Ethiopian offensive against insurgents.

MOGADISHU (AFP) — Seven Ethiopian soldiers were killed on Thursday in Mogadishu, and two of their bodies dragged through the streets amid heavy fighting sparked by an Ethiopian offensive against insurgents.

Dozens of men and women pulled the bodies of two soldiers in the street, shouting “We will kill the Ethiopian troops”, while five other bodies in Ethiopian uniforms lay on the ground in the southern district of Shirkole.

They were the first Ethiopian soldiers reported killed in Mogadishu since Somali-Ethiopian troops drove out Islamists from the capital three months ago.

The scenes echoed deadly violence last week, when angry crowds burned the bodies of two dead Somali soldiers and dragged another through the streets.

In the early 1990s similar treatment was meted out to US troops during a failed UN-backed peace operation in Somalia.

Loudspeakers on Thursday transmitted calls for residents to come out and fight the Ethiopian troops backing Somalia’s interim government, after the Ethiopians launched a heavy offensive in tanks and helicopters.

As the fighting continued, AFP correspondent witnessed a plane leaving Mogadishu airport with around a dozen wounded Ethiopian soldiers on board. The same plane had brought in around 60 Ethiopian soldiers on Thursday morning.

Ethiopian helicopters dropped deafening bombs and fired heavy machine gun fire in the first airborne attacks since the start of the year.

An AFP correspondent saw helicopters fire missiles near the Ethiopian forces’ base in the former Somali defence ministry headquarters — a common target for insurgent attacks.

A thick cloud of black smoke also rose up from fighting around Mogadishu stadium and helicopters fired rockets near the main Bakara market.

“The idea is to clear Mogadishu of gunmen,” an Ethiopian diplomat in Somalia told AFP, requesting anonymity.

“The military operation will continue until all the objectives are fulfilled. We are urging the people of Mogadishu to stay at home, not to panic or join attacks against the Ethiopian troops,” he said.

“The military operation will immediately cease when there are no gunmen and troublemakers in that part of Mogadishu,” he added.

Five people died after being brought wounded into Medina hospital, out of a total of 130 injured there, bringing an earlier death toll to 15.

AFP picture taken by Jose Candon.
Helicopters of the Ethiopian army arrive at Mogadishu’s airport. Ethiopian helicopters fired missiles on southern Mogadishu on Thursday as heavy fighting across the Somali capital left 10 people dead in an offensive against insurgent fighters.

The fighting mainly took place in the south, but there were also attacks in Mogadishu’s Ramadan district in the north of the city.

At least 10 civilians were killed caught in crossfire in earlier fighting, which shattered a shaky six-day ceasefire with the powerful Hawiye clan, which has largely controlled the Somali capital since 1991.

As his troops fought in Mogadishu, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told parliament in Addis Ababa that he had withdrawn two-thirds of his forces from Somalia.

“As the situation in Somalia unravelled differently than expected, we had to withdraw troops gradually in two rounds. Hence, two-thirds of our troops have been withdrawn so far,” Meles said in a speech to parliament.

“Our mission was to destroy the fundamentalist threat posed on us and we have succeeded in achieving this.”

Islamists who ruled southern and central Somalia for six months from June last year had threatened to attack neighbouring Ethiopia.

But Meles said a second round of withdrawal had been delayed because the African Union’s deployment of peacekeepers has not taken place “as desired.”

AU troops plan to take over from Ethiopian forces to allow them to withdraw but have yet to make their mark in the volatile Somali capital as only 1,500 Ugandan troops have been deployed.

The AU force is supposed to number 8000 but only 4000 have been committed. The Uganda troops are the only ones to have been deployed.

The government last week announced a crackdown on Islamist insurgent fighters in a bid to bring calm to the capital ahead of a national reconciliation conference set to start mid-April.

Dozens of people have died and thousands of residents have fled Mogadishu since the start of the year.

A bloody power struggle that followed the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre exploded into inter-clan warfare that has defied more than 14 attempts to restore a functional government in Somalia

Source: KeepMedia.

U.S. Army Soldiers Ward Off Attack by al Qaida

The release date by the US CENTCOM Press Release for this article is 3/27/2007. The release number is 07-01-03P.

FALLUJAH, Iraq – Soldiers from Regimental Combat Team 6 repelled a coordinated attack on a Coalition post, including two suicide truck bombs, approximately 4 km north of Karmah March 26[, 2007].

The attack started at about 2 p.m. when a Soldier from 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment (Airborne), attached to 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment (Airborne), engaged a water truck attempting to enter the compound without authorization, causing it to detonate.

Immediately following the explosion, approximately 30 terrorist fighters engaged the compound with small-arms fire, rocket propelled grenades and mortars.

The Soldiers returned fire with small arms, mortars and artillery from Regimental Combat Team 6.

Approximately five minutes into the attack, Soldiers engaged a dump truck following the same path as the previous suicide attacker, causing it to also detonate.

Initial estimates indicate as many as 15 terrorists were killed.

Eight U.S. Soldiers were wounded in the attack. One was evacuated to a nearby Coalition medical facility and the remaining seven were treated on site and returned to duty.

-30-

15 dead on their side. 8 injured on our side. Great job, guys. Get well soon.

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR FOR HIGH-RES PHOTOS, CONTACT MULTINATIONAL FORCE
- WEST, PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER BY E-MAIL AT MNF.

Attack in Tal Afar Condemned – Iraqis, CF stick Together

TAL’AFAR, Iraq – Late Tuesday afternoon, a large explosion ripped through a busy marketplace in the Al Moalameen neighborhood of Tal Afar causing extensive damage to buildings and homes, killing and wounding dozens.

“This was an act of cowardice and only demonstrates to the world how desperate this enemy is,” said Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek, deputy commanding general of Task Force Lighting and Multinational Division North. “The Iraqi people must stand united against these forces so the country can continued on its path to a free and democratic state,” he continued.

Iraqi Security Forces responded immediately to the scene and began setting up triage and facilitating evacuation of wounded civilians caught in the blast area. Soldiers from the 3rd Iraqi Army Division immediately dispatched medical assets from their headquarters in Al Kisik to aid the wounded.

Immediately following the attack, Iraqi and Coalition Forces from Forward Operating Bases Marez and Sykes began working together to help the victims of this attack. 3rd Iraqi army provided ambulance support and heavy excavation equipment to remove rubble. CF responded to the scene providing security of the site, medical support to the victims and evacuation of the wounded via helicopters to CF and Iraqi medical facilities. Additionally, CF explosives experts were on the scene gathering evidence for the investigation into the attack and the hunt for the terrorist criminals.

Tal Afar officials have implemented a curfew in the city, restricting vehicle movements except for emergency transportation.

“The Iraqi police and army have come together with the Iraqi people in a true showing of solidarity against the terrorists in the aftermath of this horrific bombing,” said Maj. Rodger Lemons, executive officer of 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. “Every Iraqi in the area has offered everything they have to help those injured here, regardless of affiliation or differences. No effort is being spared and Coalition Forces are assisting where needed.”

No CF Soldiers were injured during the attack.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT MULTI-NATIONAL DIVISION – NORTH AT: TFLIGHTNING.PAO AT US.ARMY DOT MIL.