European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 7, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Pages stars and stripes saturday april 7 2007 guard brigades May see 2nd tour in Iraq by Lolita c Baldor the associated press Washington several National guard brigades Are expected to be notified soon that they could be sent to Iraq around the first of next year according to a senior defense department offi Cial if their assignment to Iraq is ultimately approved by defense Secretary Robert Gates it would be the first time full guard com Bat brigades were sent Back to Iraq for a second tour the units would serve As re placement forces in the regular unit rotation for the War and would not be connected to the re Marine special Ops commander punished stars and stripes the Marine corps has relieved the commander of its first deployed special operations company which Xmas expelled from Afghanistan after members shot at civilians in response to an am Bush the Washington examiner reported Friday the afghan government has said 10 civilians were killed in the incident maj Cliff Gilmore a spokesman for Marine corps forces special operations command confirmed in response to questions from the examiner that the commander a major was relieved Gilmore said the company senior enlisted Marine also was removed tuesday the paper reported he told the examiner that the commands top officer maj Gen Dennis Hejlik this week was in the Central command theater where the company remains but he did not know if the general visited the ousted unit us Central command in Tampa fla5 took the extraordinary step of pulling the 120ma Rine company out of Afghanistan after a March 4 firefight in Nan Gardar province on the Pakistan Border a second Marine officer told the examiner that afghan president Hamid Karzai had complained about the unit and that us commanders in Afghanistan decided the company needed to leave in the incident a company patrol was ambushed by a suicide car bomber on Highway 1 near Jala Labad the explosion slightly wounded one Marine the patrol became involved in a firefight and rushed from the scene firing at afghans the expelled company was the first Marine corps special operations unit to deploy in combat a second one is scheduled to deploy in the coming weeks from Camp Pendleton Calif the examiner reported cent military buildup for Security operations in Baghdad Gates is expected to sign the notices Alert ing the guard troops shortly said the official who requested anonymity because the information has not yet been released you will Start to see Reserve component forces coming Back into the rotation said the offi Cial adding that the notices Are being done now in order to give the guard units As much time As possible to prepare if the troops go overseas they will leave Between december 2007 and August 2008 the official said guard officials told the associated press in february that they had contingency plans to Send at least two guard combat brigades Back to Iraq in 2008 for their Sec Ond yearlong tour of duty while it is not Clear yet which units would be alerted they would Likely include brigades that were among the first to go to Iraq Early in the War some of those include brigade from North Carolina Florida Arkan Sas and Indiana smaller units and individual troops from the guard have Al ready returned to Iraq for longer periods and some Active duty units have served multiple Tours a brigade is roughly 3500 troops the troop alerts come As presi Dent Bush and Congress wrestle Over legislation that would fund the troops but also set time lines for withdrawing from Iraq the guard troops would be sent Only if commanders in Iraq determined the troops were needed about 270000 of the More than 347000 army guard soldiers have served in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars Gates said thursday that the pentagons goal is to give Reserve units five years at Home for every year deployed earlier this year he announced that the reserves will now deploy As full units and Farzana afghan president Hamid Karzai Center with afghan officials arrives to a press conference on Friday at the presidential Palace in Kabul Afghanistan Karzai said Friday he met with Taliban militants in attempts to bring peace to the country and urged supporters of the fundamentalist militia to Lay Down their weapons Afghanistan Leader acknowledges meetings which Taliban denies by Fisnik a Raffl the associated press Kabul president Hamid Karzai acknowledged for the first time Friday he has met with Taliban militants in attempts to bring peace to the country but offered no details of the talks or sign that a serious dialogue is under Way Karrais admission immediately rejected As false by a Taliban spokesman came As a suicide car bomber killed five people and wounded four oth ers in Kabul and militants overran a District in the volatile Southeast in the past Karzai has offered without Success to hold talks with the fugitive Taliban Leader Mullah Omar and renegade warlord Gul Budin Hematyar some officials in his government including Provin Cial governors Are thought to have held informal talks with militants in the South and East but with Little apparent Success to Calm the insurgency we have had representatives from the Taliban meeting with different bodies of afghan govern ment for a Long time Karzai told a news Confer ence in Kabul i have had some Taliban coming to speak to me As Well he said Karzai did not disclose any details of the meet Ings when they took place or with whom hundreds of former members of the Hartline Tali ban regime including a sprinkling of former senior commanders and officials have reconciled with the government since they were ousted from Power in the used invasion in 2001 but current rebels leaders have apparently re fused to hold talks and Over the past year thou Sands More fighters have picked up guns and joined the insurgency which in 2006 alone left some 4000 people mainly militants dead Zabiullahs mujaheed a purported spokesman for the militants said that Taliban do not want to talk Toa puppet government Karrais government has no Power and All their policies Are designed by America mujaheed told the associated press by phone from an Undis closed location if the us wants to negotiate with the Taliban they should first leave our country he said 5 killed 4 wounded in Kabul suicide bombing the associated press Kabul Afghanistan a Sui cide car bomber bit a police checkpoint in Afghanistan Capi Tal Friday killing five people As Taliban militants in the South killed five afghan guards and overran a Southern District officials said the uptick in violence came As the top us general warned nato would Ratchet up its operations in the coming Days to Blunt resistance from the gathering insurgency the suicide attacker in Western Kabul exploded his car bomb when a policeman tried to Stop me vehicle police chief Esmatullah Dau Radzai said five people including the policeman and the bomber were killed and at least four other peo ple were wounded Sam Iulah Ahmad Rahim a wit Ness told the associated press that he heard a big explosion and saw a Large fireball shortly after the blast no one immediately claimed responsibility but remnants of Afghanistan former Taliban re Gime have been blamed for Previ Ous such attacks meanwhile Taliban militants overran shake afghan District in the Southern province Zabul on thursday night forcing the police to flee said Ali Heil a spokesman for Zabulis governor authorities will try to retake the Center still controlled by Mili Tants he said they will go for Only 12 months at a time guard units currently serve about 18 months for each tour of duty including six months of training but Gates told Pentagon report ers that there will be a transition period during which those guide lines would be violated and in which we would be unable be cause of the troops commitments in Afghanistan and in Iraq to meet those goals that transition period could last a year or two he said stars and stripes reporter Lisa Burgess contributed to this report pensions ordered for Saddam officers the associated press Baghdad prime minister Nouri Alma Likis government has ordered that senior officers of Saddam Hussein military receive pensions and requested that Lowe ranking soldiers serve again As part of a sectarian reconciliation plan the government said Friday Albankis office said the Deci Sion was made during a Cabinet meeting late last month Many former top intelligence Security and military officials Are believed to have joined the sunni insurgency after l Paul Bremer the former us administrator Dis banded Iraq 350000member military on May 232003 a month after Saddam regime was ousted the Al Mahltig statement said any former officer above the rank of major would be Given a pen Sion equal to that of officers now retiring former officers above major who wanted to rejoin the army were encouraged to Check with the military command to learn if they were acceptable in the iraqi army that is being re built by american forces those who had the rank of major or lower May voluntarily re turn to the army and will be guaranteed a place lower ranking officers and enlisted men with scientific or medi Cal training would be Given jobs in an appropriate government ministry the statement said Almalik who is the supreme commander of the armed forces issued a 24point reconciliation plan shortly after taking Power last year though never put into place it was seen at the time As an attempt to draw disaffected sunnis into the political fold the prime minister and presi Dent Jalal Talaban were expected to introduce legislation in parliament last week that would allow former members of Sadd am Hussein Rul Kig baath party those in the feared Security and paramilitary forces to regain government jobs