European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 1, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                May 2007 stars and stripes Mideast edition pages officers firings traced to Almalik by Joshua Partlow the Washington Post Baghdad a department of the iraqi prime ministers office is playing a leading role in the arrest and removal of senior iraqi army and National police some of whom have apparently worked too aggressively to com Bat violent shiite Accord ing to military officials in since March at least 16 army and National police commanders have been detained or pressured to resign at least nine of them Are according to military documents shown to the Washington although some of the officers appear to have been fired for legitimate such As poor performance or several were considered to be among the better iraqi officers in the the dismissals have angered and iraqi leaders who say the shiite led government is sabotaging the military to achieve sectarian their Only crimes or offences were they were successful against the Mahdi a pow Erful shiite said Dana commanding general of the Iraq assistance which works with iraqi Security the White House said monday it plans to query iraqi prime minister Nouri Alma Likis government about the re the Issue strikes at a Central question about Alma Likis fledgling government whether it can put sectarian differences aside to deliver Justice during earlier Security crackdowns in Bagh Almalik was criticized for failing to target shiite in particular the Mahdi which is led by Hartline shiite cleric Muntada one of Alma Likis political iraqi government officials denied that Security Force commanders have faced political pressure and said Almalik is committed to getting All criminals the associated press contributed to this report British soldiers of the Royal Anglian regiment look at a map at the town of South of Afghani after coming under fire from Taliban militants afghan and other nato troops launched opera Tion the latest in a series of offensive Maneu vers in the volatile South against a resurgent Taliban Fisnik new nato operation targets Taliban in South Afghanistan by Fisnik Abrashid the associated press Sangin Afghanistan British troops on monday pushed into a Taliban stronghold awash with opium drawing mortar and a Chin gun in the latest nato drive to help the government take control of Southern As operation Silicon got under the Mili tary reported killing 136 rebels during three Days of clashes in the once stable the deadliest fight ing in the country since the operation in the Southern province of Hel Mand and the bloodshed in the Western province of Herat show How Taliban militants have been Able to regroup in the five years since a invasion drove them from but it also shows How the growing number of for eign troops and Western trained afghan forces Are confronting the militants in their Rural the British soldiers quickly came under fire As they filtered among the mud walled compounds and deep irrigation ditches of the militant held lower Sangin Valley in there were no immediate reports of casualties in what nato said was the latest instalment of opera Tion its biggest Ever anti Taliban Maneu which began in the separate coalition forces said they killed 87 militants during a 14hour in including airstrikes on Taliban in the Zerkow Valley of Herat province on another 49 suspected Taliban were killed two Days earlier by a combination of gunfire and an air it one Soldier also the casualty figures could not be independently although police said a Large number of people had died in the the fighting appeared to be the bloodiest in the West since the ouster of the Taliban regime in late it was also the deadliest nationwide since nato said it killed about 150 suspected Taliban crossing from Pakistan in nearly mostly have died in violence so far this according to an a based on figures from Western and afghan of Alliance commanders say it is vital to secure Hel Afghanistan most volatile where a Lack of local established Taliban sympathies and record opium production have hard ened resistance to the Sangin Effort involves More than troops British 600 americans and others from the Estonia and Cana As Well As More than afghan officials before a column of armoured vehicles brought several Hundred British soldiers to the san Gin near the town of Gershk and Afghani stans strategic ring Road that links the cities of Kan Dahar and some of the soldiers fanned out on drawing regular fire from militants armed with rocket propelled grenades and machine oth ers inched through the overlooking Hills in armoured British troops responded with mortars and Artil and Apache helicopters aimed several Short bursts of fire at unidentified targets on the a nato statement said the operation has al ready successfully destroyed several positions used by the Taliban extremists to launch harassing at it provided few other results in rebuilding Iraq found wanting by Dana Hedgpeth the Washington Post Washington the project to rebuild Iraq remains far Short of its leaving the country plagued by Power inadequate Oil produc1 Tion and shortages of clean water and health according to a re port to be issued monday by a government oversight Agen the 232page quarterly review by the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction presents a sobering picture of the challenges of reconstruction in a War even some successful in Deavors for the completion of More than 800 school projects and training for thou Sands of teachers Haven realized their potential because of Security 92 of 98 projects to repair rail stations around Iraq were but the coun try rail system remains Trou at least in part because of at tacks and intimidation by insure the report found that almost All of the nearly billion in re construction funds appropriated by Congress in 2003 has been al More than half of the projects to be undertaken with that Money have been compleat and Many More Are still under in the medical for Only 15 of 141 primary healthcare centers have been completed and Only eight of those Are open to the Public but 126 projects Are ongoing and Are slated be completed by the end of the As in past the inspector generals office found some of the most significant reconstruction shortfalls were in electricity electricity has the longest Way to special inspector general Stuart Bowen said in an interview in other the report cites Bank officials were trained in distributing smal Busi Ness automated tax collect Tion and accounting systems were veterinary clinics were and 114 Border forts have been military services we do what we say say what we do group from construction to maintenance from supplies to installation weve got it All located at Afghanistan Qatar Kuwait Iraq email us