NOTES FROM THE FRONT LINES: JUST WHO IS FIGHTING IN MARJAH? (NEW YORK TIMES)

Just Who Is Fighting in Marjah?

By C.J. CHIVERS
The New York Times
http://tiny.cc/7IqZC

Last Saturday evening, as the first day of fighting in Marja between the Taliban and the Marines of Kilo Company, Third Battalion, Sixth Marines was ceasing with the approach of darkness, two Marine platoons converged for the night on a small Afghan compound. The platoons took cover behind the mud walls. The company manned its guns for the night and began to plan its missions for the next day.

The compound had several small buildings, some no bigger than sheds. Gunnery Sgt. James McCarver examined each structure, looking for a place to set up the company’s radios. He settled on a one-room mud building about 10 feet wide by 25 feet long, and led the company command group and its radio operators inside.

And there, on an inside wall illuminated by their flashlights, they looked up at a sight out of place: a small poster of battle scenes from Iraq, watched over by the approving face of Saddam Hussein.

The image, a cut-and-paste job, included two American soldiers aiming their rifles from the prone position. Each was bleeding heavily from bullet wounds that had been crudely painted on.
Who had the previous occupants of this room been? Where had they come from? And what about their affinity for the former president of Iraq, and for thoughts of blood-soaked American soldiers, was so strong that the poster was one of the only decorations in the room?

Read more here: http://tiny.cc/7IqZC

MARINES COME UNDER HEAVY FIRE NEAR MARJAH AFGHANISTAN AFTER THEIR VEHICLE IS BLOWN UP BY ROADSIDE BOMB

Video shows a platoon of U.S. Marines coming under heavy fire from the Taliban near Marjah, Afghanistan after one of the vehicles in their convoy is destroyed by a roadside bomb.

TURN UP YOUR VOLUME

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/PU9NFGmD3JY&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY VIDEO

COMPLETE LIST OF AFGHAN CASUALTIES

This is the most comprehensive report you will see on casualties in the Afghanistan war.

You can click on stories listed on the left and receive more details on each GI killed or wounded recently in Afghanistan.

http://icasualties.org/OEF/index.aspx

BREAKING NEWS: SUNNI PARTY DROPS OUT OF IRAQ ELECTIONS

There are growing signs that sectarian violence is about to explode again in Iraq.

The Sunni party has announced they will not participate in next months national elections in Iraq.

Sunni party drops out of Iraq elections
Controversy over legitimacy of vote threatens to re-open sectarian wounds

U.S. troop pullout of Iraq now in doubt.

The Associated Press
updated 10:08 a.m. CT, Sat., Feb. 20, 2010
http://tiny.cc/iecH9

BAGHDAD - Iraq's main Sunni party said Saturday it is dropping out of next month's national elections, seizing on U.S. concerns about Iran's influence in the political process as proof that the vote will not be legitimate.

A statement from the Iraqi Front for National Dialogue stopped short of urging Sunni voters to boycott the March 7 parliamentary election. But the party called on other political groups to join it in withdrawing from the ballot.

Saturday's announcement raises the likelihood that the results of the vote will be called into question. U.S. and United Nations diplomats have expressed fears that a Sunni boycott that hands victory to Shiites would throw the results of the election into doubt. In turn, that could open the door to a new round of violence and delay plans for American troops to leave Iraq.

"The Iraqi Front for National Dialogue cannot continue in a political process run by a foreign agenda," party spokesman Haidar al-Mullah said in a statement, referring to Iran's alleged interference.

He said the party decided to pull out of the vote after U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill and Army Gen. Ray Odierno, the top American military commander in Iraq, each described the Shiite leaders of a candidate-vetting panel as having ties to Iran.

IRANIAN TROOPS CROSS BORDER INTO IRAQ

Iranian troops crossed borders in Diala – source

February 20, 2010 - 12:52:28
http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=127345

DIALA / Aswat al-Iraq: Iranian troops crossed into Iraqi territories and advanced for several meters after removing concrete barricades on the borders with Diala on Saturday, according to the assistant governor of the province.

“The Iranian forces entered Iraqi territories from al-Munzheriya district, the area bordering Iran and belonging to Khanaqin district, (155 km) east of Baaquba city,” Hafez Abdulaziz told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

However, an official security source in the Diala Operations Command (DOC) denied the reports.
“Security conditions n the borders are stable and there are no encroachments by the Iranian side on the Iraqi borders,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq.

Baaquba, the capital city of Diala province, lies 57 km northeast of Baghdad.

An Iranian force had occupied the Fakka oilfield in Missan on December 18, 2009 and planted the Iranian flag there, triggering tension between the two neighboring countries

DUTCH GOVERNMENT COLLAPSES IN DISPUTE OVER AFGHANISTAN MISSION

There are troubling signs in Afghanistan that some of the NATO countries are pulling their troops out of the country. The Dutch and Canada are making plans to leave Afghanistan.

Dutch government collapses in dispute over Afghan mission; war contribution in doubt

ARTHUR MAX
Associated Press Writer
9:29 AM CST, February 20, 2010

www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-eu-netherlands-afghanistan,0,7095712.story

AMSTERDAM (AP) — The Dutch coalition government collapsed Saturday over whether to extend the country's military mission in Afghanistan, leaving the future of its 1,600 soldiers fighting there uncertain.

An early election is now expected.Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende announced that the second largest party in his three-party alliance is quitting, ending an uneasy partnership."Where there is no trust, it is difficult to work together. There is no road along which this cabinet can go further," Balkenende said.

The Dutch debate comes as opinion polls in many troop-providing European countries indicate growing public opposition to sending more soldiers to Afghanistan amid a global financial crisis and shrinking defense budgets.

Any Dutch withdrawal would be a worrying sign for NATO, which has struggled to raise the 10,000 additional troops that its top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has demanded to accompany the 30,000 American reinforcements being deployed there.

In another sign of the weakening commitment to the war, Canada is planning to withdraw its entire 2,800-strong unit from Afghanistan by the end of 2011. The Canadian contingent, the third-largest after the U.S. and Britain, serves with the Dutch in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan.Balkenende made no mention of elections as he spoke to reporters after a marathon 16-hour Cabinet meeting that ended close to dawn.

200 PLUS FT. EUSTIS SOLDIERS LEAVE FOR AFGHANISTAN

A company of U.S. soldiers are seen in this video in a gymnasium at Ft. Eustis, Virginia as they say good-bye to family and friends as they prepare to deploy to Afghanistan.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://news.yahoo.com/video/local-15749667/18239655;_ylt=AjppV.4zoWMTKPpHriNqJpoBS5Z4

GUT-WRENCHING VIDEO OF FRENCH TROOPS IN BATTLE IN ALASAY VALLEY AFGHANISTAN

This video follows a company of French soldiers as they prepare and go into battle against the Taliban in Alasay Valley, Afghanistan. Watch as one French soldier sees his wife and baby girl on a video before the battle.

This is a moving video and should put to rest the snide comments by Fox News commentators who are constantly mocking the French soldiers as too frightened to fight.

If there is anyone who is too frightened to fight it is the chicken-hawks at Fox News who ALL managed to avoid military service.

TURN UP YOUR SOUND

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/j07VMqM40vY&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY VIDEO

BREAKING NEWS VIDEO: TALIBAN HAS U.S. AMMO AND WEAPONS

The New York Times reports the Taliban have been using U.S. ammunition and arms in the recent battles held in the Korengal Valley and also in Marjah, Afghanistan.

An investigation has been launched in an attempt to find out how the Taliban was able to obtain such a large cache of U.S. ammo and weapons.

TURN UP YOUR SOUND

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/O-nrAtyWNhE&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY VIDEO

U.S. MARINE CORPS---FIRST TO FIGHT---AFGHANISTAN

The United States Marine Corps have a long and storied history of being the "first to fight" in the many wars the United States has been involved in and Afghanistan is no different. The Marines are leading the new offensive on the city of Marjah, Afghanistan.

TURN UP YOUR SOUND

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/Rm6TnzexP5U&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY VIDEO