WASHINGTON, April 25 (UPI) -- Eight Iraqi soldiers, mostly privates, have turned in their company commander, a major, and a captain who were supplying army weapons to local insurgents.
U.S. and Iraqi intelligence officers had believed for some time that munitions from the Badush ordnance depot in al Kisik, near Tal Afar, were being purloined and supplied to guerrillas, who used them to manufacture improvised explosive devices.
The Badush munitions depot was established during the reign of deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
Stars and Stripes reported on April 24 that although Iraqi army officers repeatedly assured their U.S. counterparts that the magazine had been secured, U.S. intelligence noted that local guerrillas seemed to have a limitless supply of artillery shells and other military ordnance. The issue strained local relations between Iraqi officers and U.S. military commanders in northwestern Iraq.
The soldiers turned in their commanders last month.
The 1st Armored Division's 1st Brigade liaison officer to the 1st Brigade of the 3rd Iraqi Army Division, Maj. John Stark, said, "It's an incredible story. What makes it great is that it wasn't just one guy who came forward, it was eight, and they did it when they were scared. They had never done something like that before."
On March 6 the soldiers, members an intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance company, were using night-vision equipment to monitor the site when they observed two civilian cars, which they decided to investigate.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, one of the men said, "We went down to question them and they confessed. They told us, 'we have bombs in our car. Don't worry though, we are only going to use them on Americans.'"
A search of the men and one of the cars uncovered a battery, explosive timers and a cell phone. After they summoned their commanding officer, he ordered them away from the vehicles, took out something, and then allowed them to drive off. The commander subsequently told them that he had searched the vehicles and found nothing.
The soldiers then contacted a U.S. liaison officer and some U.S. Special Forces soldiers and informed them about what had happened.
Under interrogation the officers were determined to be lying and imprisoned. Ordnance disposal teams were sent then to the facility to inventory the remaining explosives.
The 3rd Iraqi Army Division's intelligence officer, Col. Khalid Al Murad, said, "I am very proud of the soldiers who told us what happened. It's hard to find faithful men and I'm really proud of them."
For the first time along the Afghan-Pakistani border Afghan, Pakistani and U.S. troops will conduct a joint military exercise, Operation Inspired Gambit.
Geo News reported on April 24 that U.S. military spokesman Col. Laurent Fox said during a press conference in the Afghan capital Kabul that the joint operation would be an "air assault exercise."
Fox said, "We feel that it is important that the only way we will solve the terrorism and insurgency problem is to work closely together with each other."
Since the 2001 terror attacks on the United States, Pakistani and U.S. forces have held a number of joint military exercises. Operation Inspired Gambit marks the first time that Afghanistan has been asked to join what were formerly bilateral maneuvers.
In 2005 a joint U.S.-Pakistan air assault exercise was held at a Pakistani military facility at Cherat, in Pakistan's NorthWest Frontier Province, about 60 miles from the Afghan border, but both Washington and Islamabad have been careful not to inflame local sensitivities by operating within close proximity of the Afghan frontier.
Pakistani, Afghan and U.S. analysts all believe that senior Taliban and al-Qaida militants, including Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, may be hiding in the tribal-dominated region straddling the rugged Afghan-Pakistani frontier.
In a further effort to identify radical imams the Saudi Arabian government will install electronic monitoring devices in mosques in the capital Riyadh.
Alarab Online reported on April 24 that Saudi Islamic Affairs Minister Saleh al-Sheikh stated that the new initiative would establish a Geographic Information System allowing Saudi government security officials "to film the mosque and know all its components and contents."
The daily monitoring will allow Saudi authorities to uncover imams preaching Islamic fundamentalism, permitting them "to see the Imam and the Muezzin while they lead prayers."
All Saudi mosques are due to be outfitted with Geographic Information Systems by mid-2008.
The proposed monitoring system is not the only religious change being considered by Saudi authorities. A week ago al-Sheikh said that the government was studying the possible appointment of female imams.
Former Burmese spy Kyaw Myint Myo has criticized his former employers for recruiting loyal but inexperienced officials to head intelligence departments.
According to Myint Myo, while the new recruits are intensively trained, they have little awareness of the time needed to construct and operate an effective intelligence network, especially the Military Affairs Security. Previously, Burma's military leaders depended heavily on its secret police units to monitor and intimidate the movement of its civilian population, dissidents at home and abroad, foreign missions, and its own government officials and Cabinet ministers.
Military Affairs Security grew out of the country's National Intelligence Bureau and Office of the Chief of Military Intelligence following the October 2004 arrest military intelligence chief Gen Khin Nyunt. Analysts believed that Khin Nyunt was purges after losing a power struggle with army hardliners. After his arrest Khin Nyunt and several of his high-ranking colleagues were put on trial.
The power struggle had consequences -- earlier this year Major Aung Lin Htut, an intelligence officer who worked at the Burmese embassy in Washington, requested political asylum, fearing persecution if he or his family returned to Myanmar.
Myint Myo said that former Rangoon Division Commander Gen Myint Swe, a close ally of General Than Shwe, with little intelligence background now directs Military Affairs Security. Myint Myo says Myint Swe is ignorant about real events in Myanmar, commenting, "The government has no idea who was behind the bombings in May (2004)."
Following the Rangoon explosions the authorities quickly blamed exiled opposition groups. Contradicting the official version of events Myint Myo said many of the Rangoon explosions were done by army and intelligence groups, adding, "It's just to scare civilians and to alert the army."
Myint Myo commented that Military Affairs Security has hired foreign computer specialists to monitor e-mail messages, telephone conversations at home and in neighboring countries. "They (the specialists) are North Koreans, Singaporeans and Russians," Myint Myo said. Myint Myo concluded that Military Affairs Security operatives are still threatening neighboring countries, as "active cells" in India and Thailand are still operating.
