6 October 2011 — Stop NATO
- Sirte: Hospital Repeatedly Hit By NATO Bombardments
- Rasmussen: NATO Ready To Build Libyan Proxy Armed Forces
- Iraq: NATO Deal To Allow U.S. Troops To Remain
- Spain: U.S. Expands Missile System To Both Ends Of Mediterranean
- NATO Chief: Interceptor Missile System Fully Operational By 2018
- Germany: Over 1,000 U.S. Paratroops In Massive Jump For NATO Conventional Warfare
- Syria’s National Transitional Council Mirrors Libyan Prototype
- Three NATO Oil Tankers Destroyed In Balochistan
- U.S. To Deploy First Drone Cargo Aircraft To Afghanistan
- Afghan War: Turkey Extends NATO Command In Capital
Sirte: Hospital Repeatedly Hit By NATO Bombardments
Agenzia Giornalistica Italia
October 5, 2011
SIRTE HOSPITAL HIT BY NATO AND NTC BOMBARDMENTS
Rome: The hospital in Sirte has been repeatedly hit during NATO and NTC forces bombardment, the International Red Cross informed the Catholic Missionary Agency, Misna. ‘The humanitarian situation is dramatic,’ said Steven Anderson, who coordinated a Red Cross mission to Sirte on Monday, ‘parts of the hospital have been blackened by explosions and hit by bullets.’
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Rasmussen: NATO Ready To Build Libyan Proxy Armed Forces
http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=156624
Azeri Press Agency
October 5, 2011
NATO stands ready to help Libya on security reform: Rasmussen
Baku: NATO stands ready to help the Libyan authorities to carry out reforms on defense and security if requested, the military alliance’s chief said on Wednesday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.
‘We agreed that NATO should be ready to assist the new Libyan authorities with defense and security sector reforms…,’ Anders Fogh Rasmussen said after the first session of defense ministers’ meeting.
‘NATO has long experience of supporting the move from dictatorship to democracy. And if asked, we would be happy to share that experience,’ he told reporters.
Rasmussen said although defense ministers hailed the Libya mission operation as ‘a great success,’ they discussed lessons that the alliance should draw from it.
‘The operation also showed we lack certain critical capabilities, especially in Europe,’ he stressed.
European allies and Canada took the lead in the mission. They provided most of the assets. But they had to rely on the United States to deploy critical enablers to get the job done. ‘I’m talking about intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and air-to-air refuelling,’ he said.
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Iraq: NATO Deal To Allow U.S. Troops To Remain
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/05/us-iraq-nato-trainers-idUSTRE7945MC20111005
Reuters
October 5, 2011
Iraq NATO deal may let U.S. troops stay on: lawmakers
BAGHDAD: Iraqi lawmakers on Wednesday said they were discussing a deal to extend a NATO training mission that could allow U.S. troops to stay as trainers beyond the year-end deadline for withdrawal, with the type of legal protections demanded by Washington.
Negotiations on keeping U.S. troops in Iraq to train its security forces have been complicated by questions over whether Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government will give U.S. troops immunities from prosecution in the country.
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Lawmakers said parliament was discussing a draft bill that could allow U.S. troops to operate with the NATO mission, allowing them to be under U.S. legal jurisdiction if they commit certain crimes on duty or on bases.
‘The option is on the table is that they work under NATO’s agreement,’ Sami al-Askari, a senior lawmaker in Maliki’s State of Law coalition, told Reuters.
‘Other options put forward are to rely on other countries to get trained, but the most practical option is to rely on NATO because they were already working in Iraq and have the experience needed by Iraqi forces,’ he said.
The draft has only had one reading and will get a second reading soon before lawmakers debate and vote on it.
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U.S. officials have said they want the same type of legal protections as they have under the current Iraqi security deal.
The NATO bill presented by the Iraqi parliamentary defense and security committee suggests foreign trainers will be prosecuted under their own country’s jurisdiction in the case of certain crimes committed on duty both within or outside agreed bases and areas of operation.
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‘Sure, Americans will benefit from this agreement 100 percent, the United States is part of the NATO and one its prominent leaders,’ Iraqiya lawmaker, Kadhim al-Shimary said.
The NATO draft also proposes the formation of a common committee to rule on crimes of intent and serious negligence crimes. The committee will be formed from military personnel and civilians, grouped under the NATO.
NATO, which has 160 staff on its Iraq training mission, said last month that it will continue in the country until the end of 2013….
(Reporting by Suadad al-Salhy; Editing by Patrick Markey)
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Spain: U.S. Expands Missile System To Both Ends Of Mediterranean
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/10/05/58232451.html
Itar-Tass
October 5, 2011
Spain to harbour US ABM ships
According to sources in Washington, Spain is prepared to allow the US to use its Mediterranean port of Rota for harbouring American destroyers carrying Aegis interceptor rockets on board.
These ships will be patrolling the Mediterranean and the Eastern Atlantic.
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http://www.expatica.com/es/news/spanish-news/spain-to-host-ships-for-nato-missile-shield_180059.html
Agence France-Presse
October 5, 2011
Spain to host ships for NATO missile shield
-Panetta said the Rota arrangement was a ‘critical step’ in deploying the shield after a key agreement last month with Turkey to host a sophisticated US radar, and deals with Romania and Poland to host land-based SM-3 interceptors.
Spain agreed Wednesday to bolster NATO’s planned missile defence system by hosting four US naval ships equipped with interceptors designed to knock out incoming missiles.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero visited NATO headquarters to announce the deal alongside US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta and NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
‘Spain is a (NATO) member committed to the collective defence of Europe,’ Zapatero told a news conference…
The Aegis-equipped ships will be deployed at the US naval base in Rota in southern Spain by 2013, Zapatero said.
Panetta said the Rota arrangement was a ‘critical step’ in deploying the shield after a key agreement last month with Turkey to host a sophisticated US radar, and deals with Romania and Poland to host land-based SM-3 interceptors.
‘This announcement should send a very strong signal that the United States is still continuing to invest in this alliance,’ Panetta said.
‘We are committed to our defence relationship with Europe even as we face growing budget constraints at home,’ he said after attending his first meeting of NATO defence ministers since taking office in July.
The move will ‘give more weight’ to the missile shield project and cut costs as the naval ship will not have to transit the Atlantic back to US ports, said a senior US defence official on condition of anonymity.
Rasmussen said he expected more announcements in the coming months, adding he hoped the anti-missile system would be ‘fully operational by 2018.’
Leaders of the 28-member NATO alliance gave their backing last year for the Europe-wide ballistic missile shield…
The system, known as the European Phased Adaptive Approach, initially will employ Aegis ships with anti-missile weaponry and eventually expand to include land-based interceptors in Romania by 2015 and Poland by 2018.
One American warship, the USS Monterey, is currently assigned to the missile defence mission, patrolling the Mediterranean.
Under the agreement with Romania, a total of 24 SM-3 interceptors will be deployed at a former airbase in the south of the country, which will host…500 US troops.
The United States originally planned to install an anti-missile shield in Poland and the neighbouring Czech Republic. But that plan, which angered Russia as it saw itself as the target for the system, was scrapped by US President Barack Obama in September 2009.
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NATO Chief: Interceptor Missile System Fully Operational By 2018
http://en.rian.ru/world/20111005/167417252.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
October 25, 2011
NATO’s missile defense program to be fully operational in 2018 – Rasmussen
Brussels: NATO’s Euro missile defense program will become fully operational by 2018, the alliance’s chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Wednesday.
‘We would expect it to be fully operational in 2018,’ Rasmussen said after the meeting of the NATO states’ defense ministers in Brussels.
Later on Wednesday Spain is expected to announce its decision to join the Euro missile defense project along with Romania, Poland, the Netherlands and Turkey, which have already agreed to deploy key components of the future missile defense network on their territories.
Rasmussen said he would not be surprised if there will be ‘further announcements in the comings weeks and months as regards new inputs from other countries.’
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Germany: Over 1,000 U.S. Paratroops In Massive Jump For NATO Conventional Warfare
Associated Press
October 5, 2011
US paratroops stage massive jump
HOHENFELS, Germany: More than 1,000 U.S. paratroops have jumped out over the Hohenfels training area in Germany in a massive airborne training operation.
The exercise Wednesday pitted soldiers from the Vicenza, Italy-based 173rd Airborne Brigade in a mock-battle scenario with a battalion of Slovakian soldiers and other American troops.
The Army says not only are its soldiers now training with former Eastern bloc enemies now in NATO, but the operation also represents a change from exercises designed to prepare for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
As the operations in those countries draw down, the military says it’s starting again to focus some training on fighting conventional enemy forces instead of counterinsurgency operations.
It’s the 173rd’s first brigade-sized operation since they parachuted into Iraq in 2003.
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Syria’s National Transitional Council Mirrors Libyan Prototype
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/10/05/58219790.html
Voice of Russia
October 5, 2011
Syria’s transitional council mirrors Libyan NTC
A new transitional council is now forming in Syria to oppose President Bashar al-Assad.
The council appears to be much like the one in Libya. Prof. Boris Shmelyov, Chief of the Department of Political Studies in the Russian Academy of Sciences, says the Syrian National Council comprises groups of the fractured Syrian opposition.
He believes the Syrian National Council is like Libya’s NTC in that it is struggling to achieve the same goals.
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Three NATO Oil Tankers Destroyed In Balochistan
http://tribune.com.pk/story/267388/three-nato-oil-tankers-torched-in-balochistan-2/
Express Tribune
October 5, 2011
Three NATO oil tankers torched in Balochistan
By Shehzad Balcoh
QUETTA: Armed men on Wednesday torched three NATO oil tankers in Bolan district on Wednesday.
Balochistan Levies officials said the Afghanistan-bound oil tankers were en route to Chaman from Kandkot when armed men on motorcycles opened fire on them on the national highway in the Hark area of Bolan. The drivers fled when the gunmen attacked.
The assailants sprinkled petrol on the oil tankers when they were set on fire. Thick black smoke covered the area, disrupting the flow of traffic for an hour.
A heavy contingent of Levies and security forces reached the spot after the incident.
‘The assailants were eight to ten and armed with sophisticated weapons. They escaped on motorbikes and a manhunt has been mounted in the area,’ the assistant commissioner said.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack.
NATO oil tankers are often targeted on the national highway in Balochistan.
Though allied forces use alternative routes for supplying military hardware and fuel, hundreds of containers and oil tankers still enter Afghanistan through the Chaman border.
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U.S. To Deploy First Drone Cargo Aircraft To Afghanistan
http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=63107
Navy NewsStand
October 5, 2011
Cargo UAS to Deploy, Keeping Trucks off the Road
From Program Executive Office for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons Public Affairs
PATUXENT RIVER, Md. – The Navy and Marine Corps announced Oct. 5 its plan to deploy the service’s first cargo unmanned aircraft system to Afghanistan next month.
Adm. Bill Shannon, program executive officer for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons, approved Lockheed Martin/Kaman’s K-MAX unmanned helicopter for a six-month deployment to augment Marine Corps ground and air logistics operations.
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Prior to Shannon’s decision last week, Commander Operational Test and Evaluation Force released a report documenting the system’s favorable performance during a quick reaction assessment in Yuma, Ariz., in August. Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron (VMU) 1, Cargo Resupply Unmanned Aircraft System (CRUAS) Det. conducted the QRA, which replicated a week in the life of operations in Afghanistan with temperatures, flight profile and terrain almost identical to those planned for deployment.
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Results from the QRA confirmed that K-MAX exceeded the Navy and Marines’ requirement to carry 6,000 pounds of cargo per day over a five-day period. The system carried a total of 33,400 pounds of cargo during the assessment period, with nearly 3,500 pounds delivered in a single mission.
‘K-MAX has the capability to deliver a tremendous amount of cargo over the course of the deployment,’ said Maj. Kyle O’Connor, VMU-1 CRUAS Det. officer in charge. ‘We witnessed firsthand its ability to carry multiple loads to separate locations in a single sortie without being affected by harsh conditions.’
Test coordinators developed scenarios that would demonstrate the system’s ability to operate in severe conditions. For example, K-MAX flew one mission in a dusty zone, similar to the Afghan environment. The successful mission validated the system’s auto drop function, proving the aircraft’s ability to deliver cargo at any location.
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O’Connor is confident the deployment will be a success if the system operates as well as it did during its assessment. He will lead the Marine detachment in Afghanistan next month along with Lockheed Martin contractors, many of whom have prior military experience.
The majority of personnel will operate two K-MAX helicopters from a central main operating base. AVOs will reside at smaller forward operating bases, where cargo will be delivered.
‘Most of the missions will be conducted at night and at higher altitudes,’ said Marine Capt. Caleb Joiner, mission commander. ‘This will allow us to keep out of small arms range.’
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‘Every time this aircraft delivers a payload, we’re taking one more truck off the road,’ said Cpl. Ryan Venem, Det. AVO. ‘That’s our goal, reducing IED (improvised explosive device) strikes and taking convoys off the roads.’
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Afghan War: Turkey Extends NATO Command In Capital
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=turkey-extends-isaf8217s-command-one-more-year-2011-10-04
Hürriyet Daily News
October 4, 2011
Turkey extends ISAF’s command one more year
ANKARA: Turkey said it would extend its command of the Kabul-based International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, for another year starting from Nov. 1.
The decision was announced by the Turkish Armed Forces on Tuesday, the same day Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu met with Marc Grossman, the U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Turkey took over the ISAF’s command first in 2009. The Turkish unit is responsible for security in the capital…
Davuto?lu and Grossman discussed the substance of the upcoming international summit on Afghanistan on Nov.1 and 2, and Grossman thanked Turkey for its leadership and highlighted the importance of the initiative, sources said…
The New Dark Age 