Please click here to download or view the complete After Action Report from General [ret.] Barry McCaffrey.
Background
On 11 September 2001, the west had the sympathy of the vast majority of people in the Muslim world, who were against the attacks carried out by a load of nihilist extremists. In the days following those attacks, western Governments—including our own—realised the enormity of the problem that we faced and within months had successfully defeated the Taliban and expelled al-Qaeda from its operating base there. Afghans literally danced in the streets in gratitude for their release from a mediaeval regime and from their hated Arab guests. At that point, there was a massive opportunity to make progress and good will on the part of the Afghan people to accept foreign aid and development. Although General McColl managed to get a tiny £2 million from the Department for International Development for development, the reality in Whitehall was that we were not concentrating on Afghanistan or more generally on al-Qaeda. Instead, we were focusing on a crazy and quite unnecessary invasion of Iraq.
While the war in Iraq seems to be rapidly winding down, Iraqi life becomes more and more interesting: Click Here
Posted: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 7:43 AM
By Jim Maceda, NBC News Correspondent
Dora, in Saddam’s time, had it all – a power station and oil refinery provided jobs and its large bungalows hidden in date palm groves drew rich, powerful Sunnis and their families to this southern suburb of Baghdad.
But Dora fell on hard times at the start of the war in 2003.
When I visited Dora about 18 months ago, it was with the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, before the surge of U.S. and Iraqi forces into Baghdad began. The once bustling "gateway to the South" was a ghost town. It smelled of cordite, an explosive powder.
Friday, June 13, 2008
The names "Thomas and Dorothy" were carved in the bark of one trunk. Another said "Bob and Carma." Other trees were marked with soldiers' home states — Iowa, Maine or Alabama — and several bore hearts and the names or initials of a wife or girlfriend.
Read more: French Chop Down Historic 'Name Trees' Carved by U.S. Soldiers During Normandy Invasion
Military working dog receives Army Achievement Medal
Multinational Division – North PAO
Read more: Military working dog receives Army Achievement Medal
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