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| Iraq |
| US using surveillance to protect Iraqi mosques |
| 2006-03-05 |
| American troops have avoided confrontations with Iraqi mobs and religious militias, but a top Air Force commander said the military has bolstered its surveillance and intelligence efforts to protect mosques from attack. U.S. troops have largely stayed out of the fray in days of deadly sectarian violence fueled by the bombing of the Shiite Askariya Shrine in Samarra, leaving Iraqi troops to confront mobs and try to stanch their attacks. American military leaders say this strategy was aimed at avoiding an anti-American element to the sectarian violence. Meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force has sent more spy planes to check on Iraqi mosques, which have always been intelligence targets but have taken on increasing importance since the shrine bombing, said U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Allen G. Peck, deputy commander of U.S. air operations in the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters. "We're putting more emphasis on these places," Peck said on Thursday. The U.S. has too few surveillance assets to watch all vulnerable mosques, but it has sent unmanned Predator spy planes and manned Joint STARS surveillance planes to check out intelligence tips pointing to imminent sectarian attacks on mosques and religious buildings. "It can't be random. It has to be intelligence-based," Peck said. The information is quickly relayed to U.S. ground commanders, Peck said. On Thursday, five RQ-4 Predator unmanned aerial vehicles droned over Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq, feeding live video to U.S. and allied air controllers watching the black-and-white aerial footage for signs of hostile crowds or militia attackers. "That has become a serious issue and we're using the Predators to try and prevent a repeat incident," said Royal Air Force Wing Cmdr. Russell Walters-Morgan, the British chief of combat operations at U.S. Central Command's giant air command post. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 Brilliant Skidmark. Just what we should be doing. A great opportunity. |
| Posted by: SOP35/Rat 2006-03-05 12:09 |
| #1 Let's put webcams on the doors and windows as a announced security measure. That should steam them up when we begin to catch the arms loading and unloading. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2006-03-05 08:45 |