Photos from the Front Line

Unstable Ordnance

A U.S. soldier organizes unstable ordnance for destruction at the demolition range on Forward Operating Base Salerno in Afghanistan's Khost province, Sept. 2, 2012.

Leatherneck Ceremony

U.S. Marine Corps Sgts. Vincent Laughlin, left, Joshua Williams, center, and Cpl. Valentino Nevarez prepare for the raising of the flag during a 9/11 remembrance ceremony on Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan, Sept. 11, 2012. Laughlin, Williams and Nevarez are assigned to Ist Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group.

Dusty Patrol

U.S. Marines begin a patrol from Forward Operating Base Shamsher in Afghanistan's Helmand province, Sept. 6, 2012. The Marines, assigned to 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6, conducted the patrol to disrupt the flow of lethal and illicit aid by the enemy in the area.

NATO’s Rasmussen Discusses Afghanistan, Syria, 9/11 Attacks

By Cheryl Pellerin

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON – NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen discussed progress in Afghanistan, the brutal civil war in Syria and the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks during his monthly news conference.

Rasmussen called the 11th anniversary of the attacks “a moment to remember the citizens of 25 NATO and partner countries who died that day, and all the victims of terrorist atrocities around the alliance and around the world, from Madrid and London to Istanbul, Bali and beyond.”

Speaking from NATO headquarters in Brussels, Rasmussen said terrorism never can be justified or tolerated, and that NATO is determined to play its full role in the fight against it. “It is vital to our own security, and it is vital for the values and principles of international law that we uphold,” he added.

Allies and partners work tirelessly to detect and prevent terrorist acts, the secretary general said, “and that is why we have more than 120,000 soldiers in Afghanistan -- to ensure that country can never again serve as a sanctuary [from which] terrorists can plan and launch attacks against our countries.”

On the months-long civil war being waged between the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Syrian rebels, Rasmussen said NATO has no intention of intervening militarily in the conflict.

“We do believe the right way forward is to find a political solution,” he said, “and we urge the international community to send a strong and unified message to the Syrian leadership to accommodate the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people. So our position remains unchanged.”

Regarding Afghanistan, Rasmussen said the alliance views insider attacks on the coalition by Afghan security forces with great concern.

“We are looking very carefully into each one, and we are doing everything we can, together with our Afghan partners, to reduce the risks as much as we can,” the secretary general said, outlining some of the steps being taken.

“The vetting and screening of recruits is getting stronger. We are seeing better counterintelligence efforts. [International Security Assistance Force] and Afghan forces are getting more training to understand cultural differences. And we are constantly adapting the measures to protect our forces to the situation on the ground,” he explained.

Last week, Rasmussen said, he discussed the attacks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and they agreed to do everything they can to tackle the problem.

“We will simply not allow the enemies of Afghanistan to change our strategy,” Rasmussen said, “and we will not allow them to drive a wedge between us and our Afghan partners.”

Every day, he noted, tens of thousands of ISAF and Afghan troops fight together against the same threat and for the same goal.

“We know that despite these tragic incidents, the vast majority of our forces have a bond of trust with their Afghan comrades and many Afghans have sacrificed their lives for ours.”

Challenges and setbacks should not overshadow the significant progress made so far, Rasmussen added.

“Afghan forces are getting more professional, more confident and better equipped,” he said. “Within weeks, they will reach their full strength of 352,000.”

The Afghan forces are genuinely moving into the lead, assuming more responsibility in the campaign and taking the lead in providing security for three quarters of the population, the secretary general said, and every Afghan province is part of this process.

“The insurgents are being pushed further back from the population,” he said, adding that 80 percent of their attacks take place in areas where just 20 percent of the population lives.

In what Rasmussen called an “unstoppable” process of transition, ISAF will continue to train and support the Afghan forces over the next 28 months so they can assume full responsibility for security.

“It makes a big difference that the face of the defense of Afghanistan in the future will be a very visible Afghan face,” the secretary-general said. “The enemies of Afghanistan will now be faced with their compatriots in the fighting. This will also make it more difficult for the Taliban and others to claim that this is a fight against foreign invaders, which is one of their most popular propaganda claims.

“Already now it’s clear that the Taliban can’t prevail on the battlefield,” he continued, “and that’s the reason why the Taliban and others resort to cowardly attacks against civilians, including children, as we have seen recently.”

As Afghans step forward, ISAF is moving into a supporting role, he said. “Planning for our new mission -- to train, advise and assist Afghan security forces -- is already under way, and I expect the initial guidance to be completed in the next few weeks,” he added.

Rasmussen said he will discuss the NATO mission in Afghanistan and other global security challenges in New York when the United Nations General Assembly meets later this month.

“We all know the cost of our mission in Afghanistan, and the investment we have made over the years,” he said. “So let me say this: we have an important goal and a mandate from the United Nations. Our strategy is set, our timeline is clear. And we will stay the course.”

DOD Announces Charges Sworn Against Al Darbi

The Department of Defense announced today that the Office of the Chief Prosecutor for Military Commissions has sworn charges against Guantanamo detainee Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza al Darbi, a Saudi Arabian national.

The charges sworn today allege that the accused committed offenses triable under the Military Commissions Act of 2009, 10 U.S.C. §§ 948a, et seq, including: (1) Conspiracy to Commit Multiple Offenses Triable by Military Commission; (2) Aiding and Abetting the Offense of Attacking Civilian Objects; (3) Aiding and Abetting the Offense of Hazarding a Vessel; (4) Aiding and Abetting the Offense of Terrorism; (5) Multiple Specifications of Attempt; and (6) Aiding the Enemy.  The charges are merely accusations, and the accused is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  The maximum sentence for these charges is confinement for life.

These sworn charges allege that al Darbi joined a terrorist conspiracy with al Qaeda by the year 1997.  In furtherance of this conspiracy, al Darbi is alleged to have attended the Khalden training camp in Afghanistan, to have received personal permission from Usama bin Laden to train at al Qaeda’s Jihad Wahl training camp, and to have worked as a weapons instructor at al Qaeda’s al Farouq training camp, both in Afghanistan.  From approximately 2000 through 2002, al Darbi is also alleged to have committed multiple overt acts in support of a plot to bomb civilian oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and off the coast of Yemen.  These alleged acts included:  receiving large amounts of money from al Qaeda; purchasing GPS devices and other equipment; purchasing a boat intended to be the attack vessel; registering this boat under the name of an unwitting participant; applying for travel documents that allowed potential attack operatives to travel from Yemen to the UAE; training these potential attack operatives; and sailing the boat he purchased towards Yemen in order to meet with these attack operatives.

In addition to the conspiracy charge, al Darbi is alleged to have aided and abetted the completed terrorist attack against the French oil tanker, the MV Limburg, which severely injured multiple civilians and caused a large oil spill in the Gulf of Aden in 2002.

The Regulation for Trial by Military Commission requires that the chief prosecutor notify the legal advisor to the Convening Authority and the chief defense counsel for Military Commissions within 24 hours of swearing charges.  The accused must also be notified of the charges sworn against him as soon as practicable.  The chief prosecutor will not immediately forward the charges to the Convening Authority for action in this case.  Once the chief prosecutor does so, the Convening Authority makes an independent determination as to whether to refer some, all, or none of the charges for trial by military commission.  If the Convening Authority decides to refer the case to trial, he will designate commission panel members (jurors). The chief trial judge of the Military Commissions Trial Judiciary then assigns a military judge to the case.

The Chief Prosecutor, Brigadier General Mark Martins, said upon the swearing of charges, “Mr. al Darbi’s alleged crimes are serious violations of the law of war that were committed to terrorize and wreak havoc on the world economy.  We will be prepared to proceed toward his trial by reformed military commission if the Convening Authority refers charges.”

Judge Postpones 9/11 Hearings as Guantanamo Prepares for Storm

By Cheryl Pellerin

American Forces Press Service

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Aug. 23, 2012 – Lawyers, observers and media are leaving the island today after the base commanding officer recommended their evacuation ahead of tropical storm Isaac’s projected path to Cuba.

Military commissions judge Army Col. James L. Pohl postponed hearings of five accused 9/11 detainees that were scheduled to begin today after an unrelated one-day delay due to technical issues.

No new date was set for the hearings.

Pohl said he based the decision on impending weather conditions, concern for the safety and welfare of personnel, and a recommendation by the station’s commanding officer, Navy Capt. John R. Nettleton.

The hearings -- in the case of the United States v. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi -- were originally scheduled to begin yesterday. But in the early morning hours of Aug. 21, a coal-train derailment in suburban Baltimore killed two young women and damaged fiber-optic lines that carry Internet traffic to and from Guantanamo Bay.

The damage caused loss of Internet connectivity for the base and for the Office of Military Commissions, and it hindered the ability of the defense team, according to an emergency motion filed by the team.

“Our hearts go out to the families of the two young women who were killed by the train wreck that resulted in our communications in Guantanamo being cut off,” Army Brig. Gen. Mark S. Martins, chief prosecutor in the Office of Military Commissions, said in a news conference yesterday.

Instances of delay and disruption are nothing new to civilian and military courts, “but we’re going to certainly move forward methodically [and] the court is going to take up these issues,” Martins said.

Pohl said a forthcoming docketing order would set a date for the next sessions in the case.

Around the 45-square-mile naval base, people were busy with preparations for tropical storm Isaac. Some weather models are forecasting that the storm’s winds and rain could make landfall on the island the afternoon of Aug. 25, affecting Cuba’s southeast corner, where the base was established in 1903.

“I recommended that all the lawyers and everybody [who is part of the Office of Military Commissions] leave and come back [at a later date] and restart. But it’s not my decision, it’s my recommendation,” Nettleton told reporters before the postponement. His recommendation for evacuation, he noted, included nonessential personnel and visitors.

The commanding officer, who’s been at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station for about six weeks, said the last major hurricane that affected the base was Inez in 1963. That storm dumped 36 inches of rain onto the island, he added.

“Right now, [Isaac] is a big swath of projected winds,” the captain said. “It’s down from 110 to 115 [knots] to about 60 to 70 knots in the last projection we have. But it could speed up, and the wind speed could go up or it could go down.”

As the storm pushes rain and heavy winds toward Cuba, he said, preparations on the island include cleaning up debris that the winds could turn into missiles, closing the hangars, securing buildings, moving people who are at risk into sturdier buildings, and hauling boats out of the water.

At the wharf yesterday, a 600-ton crane began hauling boats out of the water and rolling on giant tires over heavy concrete tracks to a dry dock several hundred feet away.

Over a 24-hour period, a port operations officer said, they’ll move up to 17 boats and ferries -- from 22-foot center-console oil-spill response boats to 120-foot amphibious landing craft -- out of the water to avoid waves and storm surge.

Dark clouds moved over half the sky as the crane worked and as sailors snugged sandbags up against the walls of Naval Security Forces headquarters, located in a low-lying area near the harbor.

Nettleton said several hundred nonessential personnel and visitors will leave the island, leaving roughly 5,600 residents, including service members, workers and families, and their pets.

“Everybody on the base is pretty good at [storm preparation], because this is one of the things that we drill to constantly. … This is actually one of the best harbors in the Caribbean, so the thing I worry about is a little bit of complacency,” he said. “[But] procedurally, we’re solid.”

As the storm gets close, he said, an orderly shutdown of services will begin.

“We’ll turn the water plant off, we’ll turn the electricity off, [and] we’ll go on backup generators because it’s easier on the system than letting the power fail,” Nettleton said. They’ll also shut down activity on the beaches and on the bay.

Just before hurricane season, he said, base personnel take coconuts off the trees so the hard shells don’t become deadly missiles in a storm.

Isaac may postpone the island’s fresh food flight, which comes in on Saturdays, Nettleton added, and heavy rain on an island made of clay and coral could cause rockslides and close roads.

“But we’ll be fine,” the captain said. “We have massive amounts of support. The U.S. government will make sure everybody’s good.”

Once everything is shut down, the residents will shelter in place, he said. “Once the storm’s passed, the first thing we’ll do is sweep the area and make sure everything’s clear, then slowly open services back up,” he added.

It’s been so long since Cuba experienced a major hurricane, some observers think it’s unlikely that Isaac will be a problem here

The suggestion to evacuate nonessential personnel and visitors was “a conservative call,” he said, “[but] it’s one I’m always going to make, because it’s about lives.”