Briefs

Advertiser Staff and News Services

NAVY

Task group's efforts disclosed

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers gave some indication of where at least portions of a new Navy strike group — which includes the Pearl Harbor cruiser Port Royal and submarine Greeneville — are operating: southern Iraq.

Myers disclosed that the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, with about 2,200 Marines aboard the San Diego-based amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu, went ashore in Iraq to halt the smuggling of oil and fuel.

"Operation Sweeney" resulted in the arrest of about 75 people and the seizure of 20 full barges, eight oil boats and 36 petroleum tankers, the Associated Press said.

The new "Expeditionary Strike Group One" left in September without disclosing its mission after making a stop in Hawai'i.

ARMY

Troops engage in virtual exercise

"Warfighter," a division-wide computer simulation exercise, is under way at Schofield Barracks.

Observers and controllers from the Battle Command Training Program at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., represent the opposing force for the command post exercise that the Army says provides essential battlefield management and decision-making skills to battalion staffs and above.

"This exercise will help the (25th Infantry Division) command and control node to prepare for Operation Enduring Freedom-Afghanistan the beginning of next year," said Col. Chuck Cardinal, division chief of staff.

IRAQ

Abercrombie votes against bill

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, called the Bush Administration's Iraq policy a "no-exit quagmire" and voted last week against spending an additional $87 billion for ongoing military and reconstruction operations.

The supplemental appropriation for fiscal 2004 passed the House, 303-125.

"Our troops deserve support for living up to the highest standards of courage, professionalism and patriotism on a daily basis," Abercrombie said. "Supporting our troops does not mean sticking them in a no-exit quagmire, which is exactly what the Bush policy does."

Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawai'i, voted in favor of the measure.