Missing Marine reported captured by terrorists

[seruriermarshal]

Missing Marine reported captured by terrorists

FALLUJAH, Iraq - A Marine assigned to the I Marine Expeditionary Force has been reported captured by the international media, June 28.

Cpl. Wassef Hassoun did not report for duty June 20 and was last seen June 19.

His current whereabouts are unknown.

This incident is under investigation.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From (http://www.mnf-iraq.com/media-information/june2004/040628e.htm)

God bless him .

Other news :

Soldiers capture suspected cell leader

TIKRIT, Iraq - Soldiers captured a suspected Fedayeen cell member and weapon's smuggler near Jalula around 11 p.m., June 27.

The suspect, Yarob Saleh Hasson, also known as Yarob Geresha, was detained for questioning.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From (http://www.mnf-iraq.com/media-information/june2004/040628d.htm)

[He219]

*psst* (you're a little late (http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18398&start=0))

good thing on the capture!
:D

[seruriermarshal]

*psst* (you're a little late (http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18398&start=0))

good thing on the capture!
:D

Thank you , This is a confirmation . and I will send other news in this post .

:(

Explosion damages defense ministry building in Turkish capital: media

ANKARA (AFP) Jun 28, 2004
An explosion late Monday damaged a defense ministry building in central Ankara, but police said the blast was not the result of a bomb.
There were no casualties, said Ankara police chief Ercument Yilmaz.

The blast came amid heightened tensions in Turkey as NATO leaders, including US President George W. Bush, met at a summit in Istanbul.

Yilmaz said the explosion was not the result of a bomb but was caused by an electrical fault in a surveillance camera, Anatolia said.

Turkish media said the blast, which occurred at around 9:45 pmin a courtyard, shattered windows in the ministry complex and surrounding buildings and damaged cars parked in the street.

The complex, about one kilometer (half a mile) from the defense ministry headquarters, is used as an operations centre for the supply of oil to the Turkish army as well as to NATO, the semi-official Anatolia news agency said.

Police sealed off the site, near the Turkish capital's central Kizilay Square.

Turkey, fearing terror attacks, has enacted massive security measures for the Istanbul summit, drafting in more than 25,000 police officers, as well as armed forces on land and at sea backed by AWACS early warning aircraft patrolling the skies of the city.

On Thursday, four people died and 21 were injured when a bomb exploded on a crowded bus in Istanbul. Hours earlier three people were injured when a bomb went off outside a hotel in Ankara where Bush stayed on Saturday night.

No one has claimed immediate responsibility for the bombs but police believe the attacks are the work of underground left-wing organizations opposed to the United States and NATO.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



From (http://www.spacewar.com/2004/040628203001.91xro0u3.html)

[seruriermarshal]

Coalition concludes Iraqi Army officer training

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Eight-hundred forty-three Iraqi Army officers graduated June 17 from the Jordan Armed Forces Military Academy in Zarqa, Jordan, as part of the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team's ongoing effort to train and equip Iraq's armed forces.

Graduation from the Jordanian academy marks the second class of Iraqi Army officers to complete instruction at the school and the completion of officers training for the Iraqi Army's three programmed divisions.

The graduation marks the culmination of three six-to-eight week courses at the school including a company and platoon leader's course, a brigade and battalion staff course, and a brigade and battalion commander's course, that trained junior officers to field grade lieutenant colonels.

Iraqi officer and enlisted initial entry training will now almost entirely be conducted by Iraqi Army trainers.

"This marks the completion of training the Iraqi Army officer leadership for three divisions," said Coalition Military Assistance Training Team Chief of Staff, U.S. Army Col. James R. Mulvenna.

"Graduates will form the last four full brigades from the brigade commander and staff down to platoon commanders," Mulvenna said.

In addition to teaching officers the leadership principles and traits in a volunteer force, the school runs leaders through the military's role in a democratic society, international law, the law of armed conflict, unit training development, training strategies, roles and development of noncommissioned officers, problem solving, staffing principles, physical fitness and weapons training.

Early on, Jordan, as a member of the Coalition, had offered to conduct the training in-country to ease logistical, cultural, and language concerns.

"Rebuilding the Iraqi Army required a modular approach to training given the quantity of personnel who needed to be cycled through," said British Army Col. Kim Smith, a liaison officer with the Office of Security Transition in Amman.

"The initial focus was on the leadership," Smith said. "And the technical and tactical training of junior personnel was centered on Kurkush and other bases in Iraq, but Jordan was seen as having the optimum location."

"The key difference for the Iraqis ... was the more democratic approach of the Jordanians," Smith said.

"The Jordanians put massive effort and many of their own resources behind the project and were a major factor in its tremendous success," Smith said. "The successful graduation of female officers has been a particular triumph."

Following graduation, officers will take a brief period of leave before linking up with Iraqi Army NCOs to begin preparations for recruit reception at the various training base locations scattered throughout Iraq as the country completes the Iraqi Army's initial 27-battalion force generation plan in the coming months.

"The training is designed to produce officers to lead men in a free country," Mulvenna said.

Other officers will also be assigned to the Iraqi armed force's joint headquarters, Iraqi Military Academy, and Iraqi Training Battalion.

CMATT, the military arm of the Office of Security Transition, will oversee training and equipping the Iraqi armed forces.

"From here in," said Mulvenna, "the Iraqi military will train their own officers."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From (http://www.mnf-iraq.com/media-information/june2004/040629a.htm)

[seruriermarshal]

Iraqis support Japanese troops but haven't seen their work: poll

TOKYO (AFP) Jun 29, 2004
Iraqi people in southern Iraq overwhelmingly support the presence of Japanese troops in the region even though a majority have not seen the troops carrying out humanitarian work, a survey said Tuesday.
Some 85 percent of those polled in Muthanna province in southern Iraq said they approved the presence of Japanese troops in the provincial capital of Samawa, according to a poll conducted jointly by the Asahi Shimbun national daily and the al-Samawa newspaper June 19-22.

Thirteen percent of those surveyed said they were opposed to the deployment of Japanese troops' in Samawa while 68 percent of the 1,189 people polled said they had never or rarely seen the troops do anything, the Asahi said.

Only 32 percent of those surveyed said they either frequently or occasionally had seen the Japanese troops work, the Asahi said.

The poll also showed that 70 percent of those surveyed said they were against occupation by the United States and other forces.

The Asahi attributed the high support rate for the Japanese troops to Japan's "good image as a high-tech nation with pacifist policy."

Japan, one of Washington's staunchest backers over the Iraq war, has maintained around 550 troops in Samawa providing post-war humanitarian assistance in its most controversial and dangerous mission since 1945.

Japanese soldiers in Samawa have provided clean water, rebuilt schools, repaired roads and provided medical assistance.

But the troops have frequently stopped their work and stayed inside the camp, citing safety reasons.

In mid-June, Koizumi's cabinet approved a plan to allow Japanese troops to join a UN-sanctioned multinational force in Iraq.

Of those who gave valid answers, 486 were men and 703 were women, all aged 18 or above, the Asahi said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From (http://www.spacewar.com/2004/040629052954.2f0h5p2b.html)

[Jack Mehoff]

I just realized that Marine's family only lives a few blocks from where I live.