Poor Obama have to face this

[Slim_10_Sg]

<h4>Iraqi soldier kills 2 US troops in dispute</h4>


BAGHDAD – An Iraqi soldier opened fire on U.S. troops after a quarrel broke out Wednesday in northern Iraq, killing two American soldiers and wounding six in a military compound before he was shot to death, officials said.

The shooting took place as a series of bombings shook Baghdad for the third consecutive day, killing 23 people and wounding about 90, police said.

In the face of newly heightened violence in Baghdad, the Iraqi military said it was taking measures to curb "the increasing number of terrorist attacks" in the city.

Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the measures would include stepped up intelligence gathering and pre-emptive strikes on suspected extremists.

The U.S. military said the attack on the American soldiers occurred in an Iraqi army compound in Mosul, which has been the focus of intensive joint U.S.-Iraqi operations against al-Qaida in Iraq.

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Chris Stagner said the assailant was believed to be an Iraqi soldier, but the U.S. military confirmed no other details pending an investigation.

The Iraqi soldier opened fire on the Americans after a quarrel broke out between them in a volatile Sunni neighborhood in central Mosul, Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Askari said.

He said the Americans then killed the Iraqi soldier, who was identified as Barzan al-Hadidi.

It was the second such shooting in Mosul in a year.

In Baghdad, the first car bomb ripped through a bustling section of downtown Baghdad during the Wednesday morning rush hour, killing four people and injuring 15. The blast occurred off Nasir Square in the heart of the city — a busy neighborhood of shops, pharmacies and photography stores.

A second car bomb exploded near a secondary school in the Shiite-dominated neighborhood of Shaab in north Baghdad. Iraqi police said five people were killed and 12 wounded.

Two bombs blew up within moments of each other in the Shiite district of New Baghdad, with the second explosion occurring just after police arrived to investigate the first.

It was not immediately clear how many were killed in each explosion, but police and hospital officials gave an initial total of 14 dead, including three children and two women.

Hassan Rahim, a 42-year-old barber who lives in the neighborhood, heard the blasts as he fixed his rooftop satellite dish.

"I do not know why Iraqi officials keep talking about the improving security in Baghdad everyday. We are fed up with such lies and we will hope that the security file in the capital will not be handed over to Iraqi government," he said.

Wednesday's attacks underscore the challenge facing the Iraqi security forces as they take a leading role in providing security and the U.S. military pulls back.

Wednesday's attacks follow two days of morning rush hour blasts in Baghdad that have killed more than 30 people and wounded some 70 others.

The recent uptick in bombings has occurred despite security gains in recent months that have seen violence drop sharply in the capital. Many of the attacks have targeted Iraqi police and army patrols, as well as government officials heading to work and commuters.

In the first nine days of November, there were at least 19 bombings in Baghdad, compared with 28 for all of October and 22 in September, according to an Associated Press tally.

The rise in attacks also comes as U.S. and Iraqi officials try to hammer out a final agreement on a security deal that would keep U.S. troops in Iraq until the end of 2011.

___

Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub and Saad Abdul-Kadir contributed to this report.

 

[yblzh]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081113/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan

21 killed in attack on US convoy in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan – A U.S. military spokesman says that a suicide car attack on a U.S. military convoy in Afghanistan has killed 20 civilians and a coalition soldier.

Lt. Cmdr. Walter Matthews says the bomber attacked the convoy Thursday in the Bati Kot district of the eastern Nangarhar province.

Ajmal Pardes, an Afghan health official, says 74 civilians have been wounded in the attack.

The attack happened as the convoy was passing through a crowded market.

Taliban militants regularly use suicide attackers and car bombs in their assaults against U.S., Afghan and other foreign troops in the country.

 

[yblzh]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081113...fense_obama;_ylt=AvGZ0AJvyLTLE172ELXmptCs0NUE

US general urges Obama to keep missile defense

WASHINGTON – The Air Force general who runs the Pentagon's missile defense projects said Wednesday that American interests would be "severely hurt" if President-elect Obama decided to halt plans developed by the Bush administration to install missile interceptors in Eastern Europe.

Lt. Gen. Henry A. Obering III, director of the Missile Defense Agency, told a group of reporters that he is awaiting word from Obama's transition team on their interest in receiving briefings.

During the campaign, Obama was not explicit about his intentions with regard to missile defense. The program has tended to draw less support from Democrats over the years, particularly during the Reagan presidency when it was seen as a "Star Wars" effort to erect an impenetrable shield against nuclear missile attack from the Soviet Union. More recently the project has been scaled back, although it has again created an East-West divide by stirring Russian opposition to the proposed European link.

Obama has said it would be prudent to "explore the possibility of deploying missile defense systems in Europe," in light of what he called active efforts by Iran to develop ballistic missiles as well as nuclear weapons.

But Obama expressed some skepticism about the technical capability of U.S. missile defenses. He said that if elected his administration would work with NATO allies to develop anti-missile technologies.

Obering, who is leaving his post next week after more than four years in charge, said in the interview that his office has pulled together information for a presentation to the Obama team, if asked.

"What we have discovered is that a lot of the folks that have not been in this administration seem to be dated, in terms of the program," he said. "They are kind of calibrated back in the 2000 time frame and we have come a hell of a long way since 2000. Our primary objective is going to be just, frankly, educating them on what we have accomplished, what we have been able to do and why we have confidence in what we are doing."

Asked whether he meant that Obama or his advisers had an outdated view of missile defense, Obering said he was speaking more generally about people who have not closely followed developments in this highly technical field.

A key question for the new president will be whether to proceed with the Bush administration's plans to install 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a missile-tracking radar in the Czech Republic. That system is on track to be ready for use by 2014, Obering said. It is strongly opposed by Russia, which sees it as an unwelcome military threat close to its borders; the Bush administration says it is needed to defend European allies against an emerging missile threat from Iran.

Obering said he is confident in the technology needed to make the European leg of the missile defense system work.

"In terms of any recommendations for the future, I would say that if we were to walk away from these proposed deployments to Europe, that it would severely hurt, number one, our ability to protect our deployed forces in that region and our allies and friends from what we see as an emerging threat. Number two, I think it would severely undermine U.S. leadership in NATO."

___

On the Net:

Missile Defense Agency at http://www.mda.mil/mdalink/html/mdalink.html

Lt. Gen. Henry A. Obering's bio at http://www.defenselink.mil/bios/biographydetail.aspx?biographyid84

 

[annexa]

Poor?! Come on, he stood for erection on voluntary basis! He lusts for these!

 

[DIVISION1]

LKY can face anything so Obama must learn to do so too.