Feral Jundi

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Al Qaeda: AQ’s Top Leadership Have Been Decimated In Iraq

Filed under: Al Qaeda,Iraq — Tags: , , , , , , — Matt @ 1:51 AM

   This is awesome. Nothing like waking up and reading in the news that AQ’s top leadership in Iraq have been decimated.  Two separate attacks, with the top three leaders being al-Masri, al-Baghdadi, and al-Obeidi. Bravo to the SF and Iraqi units involved, and way to stick it to the enemy.-Matt

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U.S. air strike kills al Qaeda in Iraq leaders

Ernesto Londono

April 20, 2010

Two leaders of the Sunni insurgent group al Qaeda in Iraq have been killed in an air strike carried out by American troops, Iraqi and U.S. officials announced Monday.

The deaths of Abu Ayyub al-Masri, as the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq is known, and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the alias of the head of an umbrella group that includes al Qaeda in Iraq, should disrupt insurgent attacks inside the country, officials said. Their slayings could also provide Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki with a decisive political boost at a critical time.

“The death of these terrorists is potentially the most significant blow to al Qaeda in Iraq since the beginning of the insurgency,” Gen. Ray Odierno, the top commander of U.S. troops in Iraq, said in a statement. “There is still work to do, but this is a significant step forward in ridding Iraq (of) terrorists.”

The Saturday night raid was carried out a few miles southwest of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s hometown, U.S. officials said, after a series of Iraqi-led operations led to a safe house used by the insurgent leaders. An American soldier was killed during the operation when a helicopter crashed.

Al-Masri and al-Baghdadi were killed after “engaging the security team,” the U.S. military said. Al-Maliki said their bodies were found in a ditch. “We have found a lot of documents and hand-written letters” that implicated the men, the prime minister added.

Security forces also killed al-Masri’s assistant and one of al-Baghdadi’s sons, the U.S. military said. Iraqi troops took 16 men into custody after the raid.

In Washington, Vice President Joe Biden declared that the operation demonstrated the growing strength of the Iraqi security forces. “The Iraqis led this operation,” Biden told reporters, adding that Iraqis also gathered the intelligence that led to the targeting. “In short, the Iraqis have taken the lead.”

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs described the United States as playing a supporting role.

Al-Masri, an Egyptian, rose to the helm of the al Qaeda in Iraq organization after former leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. air strike in June 2006.

Story here.

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Third High-Ranking Al-Qaeda Figure Killed In Iraq

April 20, 2010

Iraqi and U.S. troops killed a regional leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq today, the third top terrorist reported killed in that country in the past 24 hours.

An Iraqi military spokesman, Qassim al-Musawi, said U.S. and Iraqi joint forces launched a morning attack in the northern province of Niniveh, killing suspected insurgent leader Ahmed al-Obeidi.

(more…)

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Industry Talk: Pentagon Planning More Oversight Of War Zone Contractors

Filed under: Industry Talk — Tags: , , , , , , , — Matt @ 4:15 AM

   Man, I am getting kind of sick of these stories.  How many panels, commissions,  reports and news articles does it take to get these folks off their ass and manage this stuff? How long have we been using contractors in this war, and the Pentagon/government is still trying to figure it out?

   Which leads me to believe that if they can’t even manage contractors, then what does that say about their ability to manage federal workers?  Wait, I already know the answer to that.  I spent plenty of years working for the federal government, and believe me, it does not surprise me that they would be so horrible at managing anything. lol

   Either way, I fully support as I always do, any effort what so ever to get a handle on the whole contracting thing.  Hire more contracting specialists, raise their pay, give them the necessary training, and get them out of the office and into the field to manage this stuff.  If anything, we are all sick of you guys talking about it.  Action speaks louder than words, and we will believe you when we see that action.  So get it done. Pfffft.-Matt

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Pentagon planning more oversight of war-zone contractors

By Dana HedgpethTuesday, April 20, 2010

The Defense Department said Monday that it plans to improve oversight of contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq by hiring more contracting specialists and providing additional training to government employees who supervise work performed by outside firms.

Pentagon officials told a congressionally appointed panel monitoring federal spending on contracts in the two war zones that years of attrition in the department’s acquisition workforce have hampered oversight, particularly as defense budgets have skyrocketed. The Army’s contracting workforce, for example, is only 55 percent of what it was in the mid-1990s, while the dollar value of contracts overseen has jumped from $11 billion to $165 billion, officials said.

“The Army is reversing this 15-year steady decline in its workforce,” said Lt. Gen. William N. Phillips, principal military deputy to the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology. “We project recovery will take at least 10 years.”

(more…)

Monday, April 19, 2010

Iraq: Schlumberger Oil Services Giant Builds A FOB For It’s Operations

Filed under: Industry Talk,Iraq — Tags: , , , , , , , — Matt @ 12:54 AM

    The company is finishing up work on a 40-acre compound near Basra. Earlier this month, several dozen employees moved in and set up a mobile barracks. Schlumberger said it expected to have 300 employees there by July and nearly double that by the end of the year.

*****

There are 36,000 oil field workers in Iraq, according to R. P. Eddy, chief executive of emerging markets consultant Ergo, and he expects that number to rise to 76,000 by 2015. 

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   So if anyone knows what security company they are working with, go ahead and put that in the comments or send me the stuff and I will make an edit. My guess is that this will provide a ton of jobs for Iraqis and expats–both for security work but all just oil industry work.  Something to keep an eye on. –Matt

Edit: 4/21/2010- This recent article in Businessweek details even more companies that are moving into Iraq.

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Schlumberger Gambles on Iraq Work

APRIL 16, 2010

By RUSSELL GOLD

(See Corrections & Amplifications item below.)

Schlumberger Ltd., the world’s largest oilfield service company, has begun staffing an Iraqi business operation, one of the first such moves by a western energy company in decades.

The company is finishing up work on a 40-acre compound near Basra. Earlier this month, several dozen employees moved in and set up a mobile barracks. Schlumberger said it expected to have 300 employees there by July and nearly double that by the end of the year.

Chief Executive Andrew Gould said in an interview from his office in Paris that he believes the security situation has improved considerably in the past year, and the opportunity to provide support to major oil firms is building. If security improves and oilfield work increases, a $3 billion to $4 billion market annually is possible by mid-decade, he said.

The situation in southern Iraq no longer resembles the chaos that engulfed the country five years ago. It has become “more traditional risk of tribal disturbance and banditry rather than any politically motivated security incident,” he said.

Unlike companies working in Iraq under government or military contract, Schlumberger symbolizes the nascent return by western corporations to the country, where many of the world’s largest oilfields are being opened up to foreign oil companies for the first time in a generation.

(more…)

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Fish And Game: Feral Pig Explosion In Iraq?

Filed under: Fish and Game,Iraq — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 3:28 AM

   I read this thing and got a chuckle out of it. So the Christian hunters used to keep the pig population in check in Iraq back in the day? Interesting.

   My only message to the folks in Kirkuk is that if you want those pigs eradicated, then issue hunting licenses and tags.  Then allow the hunters to sell the pigs to someone who wants them for food. You could create an entire industry out of it, and harvest some pig.

   You could also bring in some folks to eradicate the pigs for you.  I know plenty of hunter/contractors out there that could easily take a dent out of your feral hog population.

   If you turned it into an exotic hunting reserve type deal, you might attract some tourists looking for something interesting.  Rich hunters go all over the world for safaris in places like Africa.  Iraq would be a very unique experience for this class of hunter.

   Another idea is to let your soldiers hunt and kill these things.  They can work on their marksmanship skills and squad movements through the mountains and flat lands.  Turn hunting the pigs into a military exercise of sorts, complete with navigation and tracking. Take lemons, and make lemon aide out of the deal. –Matt

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In this war, pigs are besting Iraqi farmers

By Michael GisickApril 13, 2010

KIRKUK, Iraq — Of all the calamities war has loosed upon Iraq, pigs are not among the most obvious.

Yet, there they are, across a growing swath of northern farmland, a scourge of feral swine risen from the reeds to root among the furrows and wreak havoc on the fields.

“We farmers don’t even want to plant anymore because the pigs just eat it all,” said Abdullah Abdullah, a farmer southwest of Kirkuk whose fields have been trampled by swine. “And this animal, he is not just eating like other animals. He also destroys.”

In better times their numbers were checked, in part, by hunting parties of Christians from Kirkuk who, unlike the Muslim farmers of the countryside, wanted the pigs for food.

(more…)

Friday, April 2, 2010

Legal News: DoJ Witch Hunt Continues–Now KBR Is In Trouble For Using Security Guards

Filed under: Industry Talk,Iraq,Legal News — Tags: , , , — Matt @ 4:02 AM

   The shock of it all. Pffft.  KBR actually contracted security services in Iraq, because the Army and military was too busy with other things….. like fighting a massive insurgency in Iraq.  The DoJ witch hunt continues….. –Matt

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KBR Charged With FCA Violation for Unauthorized Security Guards

By Joe Palazzolo

April 1, 2010

Defense contractor Kellogg Brown & Root Services billed the federal government for unauthorized private security guards in Iraq, the Justice Department alleged in a lawsuit.

The complaint, filed Thursday in federal district court in Washington, said 33 KBR  subcontractors, as well as the company itself, used armed guards from 2003 to 2006 without approval from the Army. The company also failed to ensure that the guards were registered with the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior, as required, the department said.

Justice Department lawyers said in the complaint that the amount of taxpayer dollars lost to the alleged fraud would be determined at trial.

KBR was under contract to provide logistical support for military operations, including food services, transportation, laundry and mail. KBR and it subcontractors were required to use military protection, according to the complaint.

In addition to allegedly submitting bills with “impermissible costs” in violation of the False Claims Act, KBR is accused of flouting subcontract terms requiring travel only in military convoys, the department said.

(more…)

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