Panetta: Violent Extremism Threatens Latin America

By Cheryl Pellerin

American Forces Press Service

BRASILIA  – Even in a region where some of the United States’ closest military partners are steadily improving national stability and security, the threat of violent extremism is spreading, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said here yesterday.

During a weeklong trip that includes stops in Bogota, Colombia; Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Santiago, Chile, the secretary is meeting with military and political leaders to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to help with common defense challenges.

Increasingly, one of those challenges involves violent extremist organizations and the growing engagement of Iran in the region.

“We always have a concern about, in particular, the [Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps] and efforts by the IRGC to expand their influence, not only throughout the Middle East but also into this region,” Panetta said during a briefing en route to Colombia.

“In my book,” he added, “that relates to expanding terrorism.”

Last month, in written testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Air Force Gen. Douglas M. Fraser, commander of the U.S. Southern Command, detailed the regional activities of Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shi’a Muslim militant group and political party, and Iran.

Southcom’s area of responsibility includes Central America, South America and the Caribbean.

“We do see evidence of international terrorist groups benefitting from the intertwined systems of illicit trafficking and money laundering in our AOR,” Fraser said.

In South America, funding for Hezbollah is raised through charitable donations as well as through drug trafficking and dealing in counterfeit and pirated goods, he said.

In 2011, the U.S. Treasury Department identified the Lebanese Canadian Bank as a “primary money laundering concern” for its role in facilitating money laundering activities of Ayman Joumaa and his Lebanon-based drug trafficking network, which also channeled financial support to Hezbollah.

Joumaa also is accused of smuggling U.S.-bound cocaine through Central America and Mexico and laundering money for a group called Los Zetas, and many Colombian and Venezuelan suppliers.

“In addition to Hezbollah supporters throughout South America, the region is home to a small number of violent extremist organizations, Fraser said.

“We remain vigilant for the potential radicalization of homegrown extremists,” the general added.

For example, a small number of Sunni extremists are involved in the radicalization of converts and other Muslims, Fraser told the panel.

“These efforts can be seen through the influence of public personalities like Jamaica’s Shaykh Abdullah al-Faisal, who was convicted in the United Kingdom for inciting terrorism,” the general said.

Al-Qaida senior operative Adnan el-Shukrijumah has held valid passports for the United States, as well as Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, where he has family and associates, Fraser added.

Despite recent convictions in a 2007 plot to attack the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, one alleged co-conspirator remains at large in Guyana, he said.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has visited the region six times in six years, and Iran continues its overtures to countries there to try to circumvent international sanctions, Fraser said.

Iran has established modest economic, cultural and security ties, the general added, mostly with nations aligned with a group known as the Bolivarian Alliance for the People of our Americas, called ALBA. These include Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Cuba.

Iran also has established 36 Shi’a cultural centers in the region, Fraser said.

The Fundacion Cultural Oriente is an Iranian outreach center dedicated to strengthening Iran’s ties to Latin America, Fraser said.

The center is run by radical cleric Moshen Rabbani, who is on the Interpol Red List for involvement in the 1994 bombings of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires, the general said, adding that Rabbani oversees several media outlets and has recruited students from the region to study in Iran.

“We take Iranian activity in the hemisphere seriously and we monitor its activities closely,” Fraser said.

“The U.S. government’s successful detection and thwarting of the plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States,” he added, “reinforces the importance of that monitoring and the effectiveness of U.S. countermeasures.”

The expansion of terrorism is an area of concern for the region and its partners, Panetta said.

“I hope we can work together,” the secretary added, “to make sure that all the steps are taken to ensure that anything that encourages terrorism can be fought against.”

Undersecretary Urges Continuing Counterterrorism Effort

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2012 – As the counterterrorism strategy is succeeding, now is not the time to abandon the fight in Afghanistan, the acting undersecretary of defense for policy told Congress today.

Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, James N. Miller said the United States is committed to the core objectives of denying safe haven to al-Qaida and preventing the Taliban from overthrowing the Afghan government.

“While we do face serious challenges, our strategy is succeeding,” Miller said. “Our counterterrorism efforts against al-Qaida have been extremely successful.”

The acting undersecretary stressed that Americans should not underestimate the progress that coalition troops -- including thousands of Americans -- have made in the country. “As a result of the surge launched in 2009, we have broken and reversed Taliban momentum in Afghanistan,” he said. “And the Afghan national security forces are increasingly capable and increasingly in the lead.”

The Afghans now are in the lead in security for more than 50 percent of the population. Sometime in 2013, the Afghan security forces will have security lead for the entire country, Miller said. “At that time, U.S. and coalition forces will be in a support role, which will take a number of forms,” he added.

U.S. and coalition forces will partner with Afghan units, Miller explained, and U.S. forces will have a smaller footprint in the country as the effort switches to an advise-and-assist role. “By the middle of 2014, the [Afghan national security forces] will be responsible for the security of Afghanistan,” he said.

Once that happens, Miller said, smaller U.S. and coalition forces will focus on counterterrorism and on training, advising and assisting Afghan forces.

The Afghanistan War has been a tough fight, and it continues, Miller acknowledged. The past several weeks -- with the Quran burning incident and the killings of 16 civilians in Kandahar province -- have been particularly difficult, he said.

“We have also been challenged in recent weeks by attacks by Afghan personnel against U.S. and coalition forces, so-called ‘green-on-blue’ attacks,” he said. “We will have to work through these incidents and challenges.”

Miller listed accomplishments in Afghanistan for the representatives. Violence is down in the country, he said. From 2010 to 2011, enemy-initiated attacks in Afghanistan were down 9 percent, and the trend continued this year, with attacks down a further 22 percent from 2011 levels for the same months.

In October 2008, only 140,000 Afghans were serving in the Afghan national security forces. “Today, there are approximately 330,000, and we expect to reach our goal of 352,000 … ahead of the October 2012 target date,” Miller said. Today, almost 90 percent of coalition operations in Afghanistan are carried out in partnership with the Afghan forces, and Afghan forces are in the lead for more than 40 percent of operations, he added.

Miller also discussed talks with the Afghans on the strategic partnership between the United States and Afghanistan.

“This strategic partnership will demonstrate that we learned the lessons from 1989, when our abrupt departure left our friends confused and our enemies emboldened,” he said. “Concluding our strategic partnership will send a clear signal that the United States remains willingly committed to Afghan security. Such an assurance must continue beyond our planned transition in 2014.”

Miller touched on the problem presented by safe havens for terror groups inside Pakistan.

“Pakistan has legitimate interests that must be understood and must be addressed,” he said. “Pakistan also has responsibilities.”

Most importantly, Miller added, Pakistan needs to take further steps to ensure that militant and extremist groups cannot find safe haven within its territory.

Counterterrorism Chief Discusses Efforts to Fight Terrorist Financing

Ralph S. Boelter, acting assistant director of the Counterterrorism Division, today discussed FBI efforts to fight terrorist financing with a Senate subcommittee in Washington, D.C. In particular, he highlighted the role of the Terrorism Financing Operations Section, or TFOS, which was established shortly after 9/11.

“The efforts of TFOS—in close coordination with our federal, state, and local partners; the financial industry; and our international partners—have established an increasingly difficult environment within which terrorist financiers can operate undetected," Boelter said in his statement. "We believe that these efforts have reduced the funding available for terrorist operations and have made the concealment and transfer of terrorism related funds more difficult."

Just in the last year, Boelter said, the FBI has conducted terrorist financing investigations which led to the indictment of individuals for providing funding to the Pakistani Taliban, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and al Shabaab. The al Shabaab indictments involved a network which used teleconferences to raise funds and then remitted the money to al Shabaab terrorists in Somalia.”

Iraqi Chicken Farmers Get Jumpstart With Egg Delivery

American Forces Press Service

April 28, 2008 - Chicken farmers in Mahmudiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad, received the jumpstart their industry needed with the arrival of 45,000 eggs, each ready for hatching. One of many economic projects initiated by Task Force Marne, revitalizing the region's ailing poultry industry ranks as a top priority. Such initiatives play a crucial role in Multinational Division Center's counterinsurgency strategy, officials said.

The Mahmudiyah Poultry Association is one such project. It's used to strengthen the vertical market integration that will ensure the long-term success of the poultry industry in the region. To lay the foundation for sustained growth, profitability and market success, coalition forces are making strategic investments in infrastructure to implement the association's business plan. These investments include refurbishing hatcheries, upgrading feed mills to produce higher-protein feed, and renovating processing plants.

"As farmers and residents recognize the close association between increased security and their enhanced standard of living relating to poultry farming, it is likely they will reject criminal insurgents in favor of growing prosperity," said Army Maj. Jessica McCoy, a member of the Baghdad-4 embedded provincial reconstruction team, attached to the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team.

This first batch of fertilized eggs arrived at the Qadhari hatchery in Mahmudiyah after a long journey from the Netherlands. Over the next two weeks, the hatchery will receive two additional shipments of 45,000 and 40,000 eggs, respectively. Delicate procedures will help ensure that a maximum number of eggs survive the incubation process.

One of the association's goals is in-country breeding of fertilized eggs. By no longer having to import fertile eggs from abroad, Iraq can become self-sufficient for breeder eggs, generating lower prices over time, officials said.

The chicken farmers' hard work will pay off around May 13, with the anticipated hatching of nearly 35,000 chicks. In the weeks after the initial hatching, farmers hope to hatch another 65,000 eggs. Soon after, members of the association will pick up the young chicks and distribute them to 20 poultry farmers. The chickens will mature for an additional 37 days, at which point they will have grown into fully developed broilers. After a trip to the local processing plant, the broilers will find their way into Iraqi markets and eventually onto dinner plates in Iraqi homes and restaurants.

McCoy, a U.S. Army veterinarian who directs the revitalization of the Mahmudiyah poultry farming industry, anticipates that in one year, more than 50 active broiler farms will operate in the region. This figure represents an enormous improvement from last year, when only four farms existed.

In addition to providing a vital source of nutrition for the region, the initial investment in this industry propagates a trickle-down effect that infuses the regional economy across multiple sectors.

"Breathing life into a dormant poultry farming industry makes great sense all around," McCoy said.

Revitalizing the industry will generate as many as 600 jobs in chicken farms and potentially more than 1,500 related jobs such as employment in feed mills, transportation, processing plants and retailing, McCoy said.

"It's all about capacity building and creating jobs," said Army Col. David Brost, effects coordinator for Multinational Division Center. "To do that, you have to attack the whole poultry value chain.

"Targeting just one area will only benefit that single person and would not be sustainable," he explained. "By attacking the whole poultry value chain, everyone benefits."

(From a Multinational Division Center news release.)

Gates, Rice Support Extension of Security-Assistance Legislation

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

April 15, 2008 - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recommended extending legislation that enables the U.S. military to provide funding for training and equipping foreign forces for global counterinsurgency operations during testimony before the House Armed Services Committee here today. Over the past 15 years, the U.S. government has tried to meet post-Cold War security challenges and pursue 21st-century objectives using internal systems that were designed after World War II, Gates observed.

"Operating within this outdated, bureaucratic superstructure, the U.S. government has sought to improve interagency planning and cooperation through a variety of means," including the introduction of new legislation, Gates said.

Section 1206 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2006 provides authority to the Defense Department to spend up to $200 million of its appropriated funds to train and equip foreign militaries to engage in counterterrorism or stability operations. Gates said that legislation gives U.S. military commanders "a means to fill longstanding gaps in the effort to help other nations build and sustain capable military forces."

American commanders see Section 1206 as a valuable tool to use in the war against global terrorism, Gates said.

The State Department's existent foreign military financing program had long held minimal interest for the U.S. military, Gates said. Prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, few people anticipated that U.S. servicemembers would ever be involved in nation-reconstruction efforts to such a large scale as seen today in Iraq and Afghanistan, he explained.

However, "the attacks of 9/11 and the operations that have followed around the globe reinforced to military planners that the security of America's partners is essential to America's own security," Gates said.

Three years ago, the Defense Department asked Congress for authority to create a global train-and-equip system for foreign militaries, Gates recalled, noting it was recognized this activity should be jointly conducted with the State Department.

The resultant 1206 program has paid dividends, Gates said, citing successful efforts in boosting foreign military capabilities to engage terrorists and other criminals in Lebanon, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and the Philippines. Section 1206 is slated to expire at the end of this fiscal year, Sept. 30.

"We need help from the Congress to sustain this program that military leaders from combatant commanders to brigade level say they need," Gates said.

In recognition of "an enduring Defense Department mission to build partner capacity," Gates asked the panel to make Section 1206 permanent. He also asked legislators to increase program funding to $750 million and to expand its coverage to include foreign internal security forces, such as police.

Gates said his agency and the State Department have agreed to seek a five-year extension of another piece of legislation, known as Section 1207, that currently allows the transfer of up to $100 million of Defense Department funds to the State Department to bring in civilian expertise to assist U.S. military global reconstruction efforts. Gates also requested that Congress increase that program's top amount to $200 million.

Rice echoed Gates' assertion that waging the global war on terrorism requires new thinking and increased interagency cooperation.

"This is why the ability of the Department of State and the Department of Defense to work together in these environments is so critical to our success," Rice said. Increased numbers of State Department officers now are serving side by side with U.S. military commanders in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq, she noted.

The State Department also is developing a civilian stabilization initiative, that would create a rapid-response force made up of diplomats, interagency federal employees and private citizens to conduct stability and reconstruction operations, Rice reported. Such a force "could be deployed alongside the military with international partners or on its own," Rice said.

Sections 1206 and 1207 have proven invaluable in the battle against global terrorists, said Rice, who described herself as a staunch supporter for continuing and expanding current foreign-assistance legislation.

"We strongly advocate continuing these important contingency authorities, and they are the additional tools that we need to meet emergent, exigent problems that very often emerge out of budget cycle," Rice declared.

Assisting America's partners is "an increasingly critical component of joint operations during the war on terror in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and elsewhere around the world," said Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who accompanied Gates and Rice at the hearing.

At its core, building partner capacity "is about helping solve problems before they become crises and helping contain crises before they become conflicts," Mullen said.

The U.S. military cannot win the war against terrorism all by itself, Mullen pointed out.

"We need partners on the ground, partners in the interagency, partners in the international community, and partners across the spectrum of nongovernmental organizations," the admiral told the panel.

"By building partner capacity, we are, in fact, building global capacity to meet modern, complex challenges," Mullen said.

Leaders Cite Defense, State Department Teamwork in Iraq, Afghanistan

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

April 15, 2008 - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discussed ongoing collaboration between their agencies as part of counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere during testimony before the House Armed Services Committee here today. The war on global terrorism, Gates told the panel, has demonstrated the need for cultural change and teamwork among all federal agencies, not just the Defense and State departments.

"I think the more that we have seen military personnel pressed into service to carry out tasks that they recognize are better performed by civilian experts, even though our folks do a good job of it, they would be the first to admit that when the real experts come in, it is a huge force multiplier," Gates observed.

U.S. national security requirements of the 21st century, Gates said, have brought long-term civil-military challenges such as the stabilization, reconstruction and humanitarian missions in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Real progress has been achieved in those countries, Gates said, thanks in part to recent congressional legislation that provides the Defense and State departments with budgetary and operational leeway to develop political and economic stability, Gates said.

"The requirements of developments in Iraq and Afghanistan have, to a considerable measure, had a huge impact on the culture of the Department of Defense in terms of recognition of the need to seek help elsewhere, that we have neither the personnel nor the expertise to be able to do all that is needed in these areas," Gates said.

Rice echoed Gates' sentiments, noting that many State Department officers today often are deployed overseas and serving alongside U.S. military members.

Provincial reconstruction teams operating in Iraq and Afghanistan are representative of such close collaboration efforts, Rice pointed out.

When State Department employees return from PRT duty, they "do have a different view of a different culture about what it is that we do as diplomats in civilian support in counterinsurgency operations" in Iraq and Afghanistan, Rice said.

Similar interdepartmental team work, Rice added, also is evident during the successful campaign against the Abu Sayyaf Islamic terrorist group operating in the Philippines.

Rice said she wants to incorporate the knowledge gained from such cooperative efforts.

"We're learning a lot on the ground, but we need to take those lessons, capture them, and leave them for future Department of State members," Rice said.

on Terrorism Requires More Than Military Force, Expert Says

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

March 19, 2008 - Winning the war on terrorism will be a long, slow process predicated on earning the loyalty of people insurgents want to control for their own ends, according to one of the U.S. Army's premier counter-insurgency experts. "We are not going to kill or capture our way out of this," Army Lt. Col. John A. Nagl told reporters on Fort Riley, Kan., March 17. The war against terrorism, he said, is a generations-long, global endeavor that requires both economic and political assets to be brought into the fight, as well as military power.

Nagl is the commander of 1st Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 34th Armored Regiment, based on Fort Riley. He and his soldiers instruct U.S. troops on how to advise and train Iraqi and Afghan security forces.

A veteran of operations Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom, Nagl is among U.S. military's top experts in counterinsurgency strategy and tactics. He also helped to write the new U.S. Army/Marine Corps field manual titled, "Counterinsurgency," which was issued in December 2006.

Nagl pointed out that the best weapon employed against insurgencies "doesn't shoot bullets." Winning over the populace by providing protection and economic benefits, he said, is a time-proven strategy which the British used to defeat insurgents in what was then known as Malaya.

In contrast, Nagl said, the U.S. military in Vietnam mostly pursued a strategy of attrition warfare against Viet Cong guerrillas. That strategy didn't work, he noted, because it eventually soured the South Vietnamese against U.S. operations and goals, a situation that the enemy was eager and ready to exploit.

Nagl also told reporters that the U.S. Army entered the war against terrorism largely unprepared to take on insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Army hadn't had a new counterinsurgency manual for more than 20 years, he noted, having abandoned its previous counterinsurgency doctrine after Vietnam.

Today, the U.S. military recognizes the necessity of having the right plans and doctrine to confront and defeat worldwide insurgent operations, Nagl said. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, has played a key role in this endeavor, he said.

Radical Islamic fundamentalist teachings are at the heart of al Qaeda and other terrorist groups' efforts in furthering their aims, while taking advantage of the world's pockets of poverty, misery and ignorance to recruit new members, Nagl said.

"To defeat that threat is the core of the problem. That is the source of the poisoned water; we have to dam that up," Nagl emphasized. "And doing that is not a military task. It is an economic development task and an education task."

The single biggest thing the United States can do to defeat global terrorism is to recreate the U.S. Information Agency, a public-diplomacy entity that was dissolved in 1999, Nagl said.

"This war is primarily a war of ideas; secondarily an economic war; and third, a military war," Nagl explained. "We have not, I don't think, put the proper emphasis on economic development and on the power of ideas and education."

After serving in Operation Desert Storm, Nagl earned his doctorate degree at England's Oxford University, focusing on the research themes of insurgency and counterterrorism. His Oxford thesis paper is titled: "Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam."

At Oxford, Nagl recalled reading T.E. Lawrence's book "Seven Pillars of Wisdom," which details the British soldier's experiences on the Arabian Peninsula during World War I. "Lawrence of Arabia" became famous for his military leadership of Arab nationalists during successful guerrilla campaigns against occupying Turkish forces.

Lawrence was "an insurgent leader ... leading an Arab guerrilla army against a conventional western army," Nagl said. Conventional armies tend to have problems fighting insurgents, he pointed out.

The British chieftain understood and even empathized with his enemy, Nagl said, citing some of Lawrence's comments in "Pillars of Wisdom" that illustrate his knowledge of the demoralizing impact that his guerrilla operations were having on Turkish forces.

The hit-and-run tactics employed against the Turks made them feel as if they were fighting a ghost, Lawrence surmised.

Lawrence wrote that his forces' actions against the Turks out in the desert must appear as "'a vapor to them; we rise up out of the sand, congeal and strike, and then we dissolve back into the sand. Making war on us must be messy and slow, like eating soup with a knife.'"

Nagl is slated to retire from the Army. He said plans to take a position as a fellow with the Center for a New American Strategy, a Washington-based think tank.

More NATO Troops Needed in Afghanistan, Gates Says

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

Germany, Feb. 9, 2008 - Numbers do matter, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said at a press roundtable here today. The counterinsurgency lessons of Iraq and the experiences of the U.S. surge into that country last year, proved to the secretary that not only the quality, but the number of troops involved in operations are important.

With that in mind, he has been particularly active in asking NATO allies to dig deep for more troops for the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

Gates is attending the 44th Munich Conference on Security Policy. He said U.S. policy in Afghanistan boils down to, "anything more (that) anyone can do in Afghanistan."

While the alliance has not suffered any military defeats in the country, there are not enough troops to allow the alliance to make progress in all parts of the country, Gates said. There are about 43,250 international troops in ISAF, according to the NATO Web site.

In the "clear, hold, build" counterinsurgency strategy, the forces are able to clear, but are too few to hold, Gates said, which makes it close to impossible to reach the build section of the strategy.

"So we need to have enough troops there, that once these areas are cleared we can hold them, so economic development and civil development can proceed," the secretary said. "Ideally, those that hold the territory will be Afghan police and Afghan army," but they are not ready yet.

As the troops and police train, a short-term solution is a larger NATO-led ISAF. "Any additional numbers from any country are most appreciated," Gates said.

The secretary pointed out to the European reporters that the alliance had a very successful year in 2007 in terms of military operations. He said the press made a big thing, this time last year, about a Taliban spring offensive. "The offensive in the spring was NATO's offensive," he said. "There was no Taliban offensive."

He said one of the reasons he is sending 3,200 more Marines in Regional Command—South is to hold the military advantage in that area. "One of the reasons in seeking more troops is not because I worried that we may have setbacks or that we're not doing well, it's because I believe we need more troops in order to accelerate our progress and lock in our gains, and to make them permanent," he said.

Gates wants to remind Europeans what is at stake for them in Afghanistan. He said one reason why more Europeans are not supporting operations there is because many people cannot separate the fights in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Europeans who are opposed to what the United States has been doing in Iraq, have projected that to the operation in Afghanistan. So there probably has been some spillover in that respect," he said.

But he also believes there hasn't been enough discussion in Europe over the danger al Qaeda and extremists groups in the area pose to Europeans.

"I think we need to remind Europeans of the attacks that have taken place here, but also the attacks that have been thwarted and what the targets were," Gates said.

"There is a direct threat to Europe out of (Afghanistan)," he said. "I believe the governments of Europe understand this fully and so I hope to add my voice to the number of political leaders to be more explicit to the threat to Europe itself."

Defense officials have estimated that NATO forces in Afghanistan are roughly 7,000 to 8,000 soldiers short. U.S. Army Gen. Dan McNeill, the ISAF commander, said he needs three maneuver battalions, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, and trainers – especially trainers for the Afghan police.

Mullen Says Colombia Making Progress Against Narcoterrorists

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

Jan. 24, 2008 - The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia is a terrorist organization and should remain so, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said during a Pentagon news conference today. Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, who recently returned from a trip to Colombia, said he is concerned with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's comments that the FARC, as the group is known, is a legitimate guerilla movement and that the nations of the world should stop treating the group as a terrorist organization.

The FARC is a narcoterrorist group that has killed thousands in Colombia and uses kidnapping and the drug trade as a way to fund itself. The group is still holding three American contractors captured in 2003.

FARC started in 1964 as a Marxist anti-government group. In the intervening years, it turned to drug trafficking. It has been years since the group had any ideological underpinning, State Department officials said.

The visit was Mullen's first to Colombia. "I was taken aback with the progress that they've made to really return the Colombian country to its people," he said. "They've had a significant impact on the FARC. The FARC is a declared terrorist organization and remains so."

He said he was impressed by counterinsurgency tactics the Colombian government uses against FARC and other rebel groups. "There is concern with what Mr. Chavez is doing with respect to trying to have them recognized as a legitimate organization," Mullen said.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe told Mullen that "in his entire life ... he has not seen a peaceful day and that (the FARC) has been a threat of great and continuing concern," the chairman said.

The United States has worked closely with the country, Mullen said. Plan Colombia has helped the Colombian government and military train in counterinsurgency warfare and has had "a very, very positive impact."

Colombia still needs help, the admiral said. They lose a soldier a day in fighting against the FARC, and more than 750 Colombian soldiers a year are wounded.

"We've got some areas we can continue to assist them in, with some really positive results," Mullen said.

The admiral said there are lessons that can be learned from Colombia that may be transmitted to Afghanistan because both countries face narcoterrorists

Economic Program Builds on Concerned Citizens' Success

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

Jan. 18, 2008 - The concerned local citizens groups in Iraq have made a huge impact in areas that were once al Qaeda fiefdoms, and the program is expanding to include the economic aspects of the counterinsurgency fight, Army Col. Wayne W. Grigsby Jr. said today during a phone interview from Iraq. Grigsby commands the 3rd Infantry Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team. He is responsible for an area east of Baghdad that is the size of Rhode Island.

Grigsby's area of operations contains a mix of Shiia and Sunni neighborhoods, and the concerned local citizens program has brought security. With 1.2 million people, the murder rate is now about equal with that of Detroit, the colonel said.

Coalition and Iraqi officials want to provide a means to continue progress made by the area's concerned citizens groups by establishing the Iraqi Civilian Conservation Force, Grigsby said.

The concerned local citizens man checkpoints and have developed a good working relationship with the Iraqi National Police, Iraqi army and coalition forces in the area, Grigsby said. There are roughly 4,600 members of the concerned local citizens groups in the area, all organized by local sheikhs.

Coalition officials think about 25 percent of the concerned local citizens will transfer to the local police departments or the national police.

"We have to create gainful employment for the rest," Grigsby said. "In this culture, providing for one's family is a grave matter of honor. We've known all along that the CLCs were a temporary expedient."

The Iraqi Civilian Conservation Force is based on the U.S. version formed in the early 1930's to put unemployed young men to work during the Great Depression. The Iraqi version will pave roads, conduct neighborhood sanitation and work on other infrastructure improvements.

"They will accomplish civil works projects as determined by the mayor's council and the sheikhs, and provide a way to earn an honorable living without resorting to the extremists," the colonel said.

There are around 320 men in the group now in Grigsby's area. "They will provide the template for other groups when they are ready to transfer out of the security role," he said.

In addition, the program aims to provide scholarships to concerned local citizens to attend vocational schools. Grigsby said the command is also providing funding to a local brick factory that will potentially employ 7,000 more people by spring, and they are sponsoring a small-business program that provides training and loans for people to start businesses.

With unemployment in the area around 40 percent, "We have to increase the employment rate because idle hands will attract insurgents," Grigsby said.

All of this is done in close coordination with local tribal leaders. "In this country, if you cut the sheikhs out, you might as well tell them to go work for the extremists," Grigsby said. "They have to be part of this."

The program is also beginning in other parts of Iraq.

Iraqi Air Force 'Coming on Strong,' U.S. Commander Says

By Kristen Noel
Special to American Forces Press Service

Jan. 15, 2008 - Iraq's new air force passed its infancy in 2007 and will continue to build and grow over the next few years, a U.S. unit commander in Iraq said yesterday. Air Force Lt. Col. Cy Bartlett, commander of 770th Air Expeditionary Squadron, is finishing a 12-month deployment at Taji Air Base, Iraq, and said he witnessed the Iraqi air force "getting off the ground" over the past year.

"The Iraqi air force is coming on strong. They have limited resources right now, but they're building and they're growing, and this is going to be the case over the course of the next couple of years," he told online journalists and "bloggers" in a conference call.

Bartlett's squadron, which trains and advises Iraqi helicopter operations, is part of the Coalition Air Forces Transition Team that is rebuilding Iraq's air force. When the squadron started its mission a year ago, Iraqi helicopter pilots were involved in very few operations -- "just a couple of training missions a week," Bartlett said. However, by the end of 2007, the squadron had amassed "almost 3,000 flying miles and over 500 combat missions" with Iraqi pilots, he said.

The increase, he said, is due largely to training efforts by the coalition and Iraqi pilots.

"The Iraqi air force is focused on building (a) system of capabilities to fight counterinsurgency. A key piece to that is being able to train their ... pilots and their support personnel and to be able to have the capability to make that training self-sustaining," Bartlett explained.

The 770th Air Expeditionary Squadron initiated a course in which beginning pilots learn basic skills in Bell 206 helicopters, then are transitioned into flying Bell UH-1 and MI-17 helicopters and participating in combat missions with coalition forces, Bartlett said. Another unit in the coalition transition team offers full undergraduate pilot training to the Iraqis, he said.

"We have the first Iraqi trained pilots, modern-era, to come through our UH-1 course, to graduate there, and to go out and fly combat missions over Baghdad," he said. "We've also reached the point this year where the Iraqis have been able to fly combat missions by themselves."

The increased numbers of Iraqi aircraft in flight have had a positive effect on the attitudes of the country's people, Bartlett said.

"People have come to recognize the sound of the Iraqi helicopters, and the mothers are actually bringing their children outside to see the helicopters. Kids are looking up from the soccer fields, and there's a lot of waving going on," he said. "There is a lot of pride in the fact that the Iraqi air force is flying. It is a visible symbol of the government of Iraq, and this is very valuable in the counterinsurgency campaign."

To provide for long-term sustainment, the coalition is recruiting qualified individuals from the old regime to gradually take over training of the "new generation" of Iraqi air force members, Bartlett said.

"Over the course of the next few years, some of these individuals from the old regime will be very valuable to help bring that experience in," he said.

(Kristen Noel works for the New Media branch of American Forces Information Service.)