Word: colonels
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Some combat-hardened soldiers in Iraq have bristled at having to perform workaday rebuilding tasks, but for now they are needed in those roles. "This job takes someone who can stand up in front of 60, 70, 80 people screaming at you," says Lieut. Colonel P.J. Dermer, a civil-affairs officer in Baghdad. "The military adds a bit of backbone. The Kumbaya part comes later." Captain James Ogletree, a Marine civil-affairs officer in Karbala, says his units are carrying out orders that come directly from Bremer's staff. "They will say, 'See how many orphanages there...
...potent in eastern Afghanistan. Afghan government officials, including President Hamid Karzai, and members of the U.S.-led Joint Coalition Task Force have downplayed recent attacks. Karzai tells Time that the Taliban are not regrouping: "Any internal danger is from terrorism and from al-Qaeda organizing from outside." Coalition spokesman Colonel Rodney Davis agrees: "The coalition has degraded what was a formidable force." True enough. But the Taliban have taken what was left of their own army and morphed it into a guerrilla-and-terror outfit. Their goal, says Afghanistan expert Professor Barnett Rubin of New York University's (NYU) Center...
...coalition forces are also trying to adapt?by increasing their humanitarian efforts. Four Provincial Reconstruction Teams have been deployed by U.S. and British forces. They patrol, liaise with local leaders and work with NGOs to distribute school and building supplies, dig wells and repair bridges. "It is crucial," says Colonel Davis, "that we show measurable, visible progress in terms of stability and reconstruction." A school or clinic built by the coalition, NGOs or local government can have a huge impact on a village, providing not only services but also a rebuttal to the Taliban's call to jihad. In Tani...
...terror suspects. They point out that the global threat posed by al-Qaeda is novel and particularly dangerous. They're confident lengthy detention without the chance to pass messages through lawyers can break up terror cells and prompt confessions. "We're getting a great deal of useful information," says Colonel Barry Johnson, spokesman for U.S. forces at Camp Delta. Antiterror officials in other countries say they're also glad of the gleanings from interrogations there. Pierre de Bousquet de Florian, head of France's counterterrorism and counterespionage service dst, told Time that "our American colleagues are telling us important things...
...counterinsurgency campaign seemed to provide a jolt of resolve for U.S. commanders. "We are going to crush these folks," says Lieut. Colonel Nate Sassaman of the 4th Infantry Division's 3rd Brigade. At the same time, there is a new sobriety at the Pentagon concerning the tasks ahead in Iraq. Senior Pentagon officials did not quarrel when a lawmaker publicly suggested last week that U.S. forces are likely to remain in the country for a decade, a far cry from the Administration's prewar implication that troops would not stay long. "As long as we are here," says Hicks...