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Show DAILY HERALD A8 Sunday, September 9, 2007 Purple Heart Continued from Al S the fourth vehicle in the convoy, concerned himself with some y buildings along the east side of the road. Snipers like to hide in those sorts of buildings and Long's brand-ne5.56mm SAW (squad automatic weapon) panned across t Long, in two-stor- ft -- the area. Behind him, Benton spotted smoke drifting across the road in front of the convoy, though it didn't bother him much. What bothers soldiers are things like cars abandoned, on bridges, like the one they warily passed the day before. "You just kind of take note of it," he said of the smoke. "Not that you do anything different." in In the convoy's second vehicle front of Benton, Long and the jingle truck Faatoafe noticed a small bus bouncing through a field on the west side of the road and brought his machine gun around. "Usually when you point your weapon at them, they stop," he said with a slight shake of his head and a creeping smile. The bus did stop, and Faatoafe swung his SAW back around to cover another area. It was the last thing he remembers before the explosion. 'Ah, crap, I'm on 5 J. f " I ' 't ! ...... 'V K ..,4 ix v :. - r. If fire.' The three men are part of the 405th Civil Affairs Battalion out of Pleasant Grove that acts as a liaison between the military and civilians. The battalion's role, says Sgt. Maj. Wayne Pyle, is to ensure that the rebuilding process is as smooth as possible. They help in the construction of schools, training of civil police and Ambrose Faatoafe, Jeff Long and Robert Benton pose for a picture while serving in Afghanistan. disbursement of money. The battalion typically breaks up into groups of three or four that are then spread out was swelling up and then he pried off Concern over concussions was high. Turned away from the bus, Faaacross a country like Afghanistan to toafe took shrapnel and was immedi-- , his helmet. It was then he saw that a Faatoafe was woken several times help in reconstruction after war has ately knocked out. Long took a fire piece of shrapnel had torn through throughout the night to ensure he torn through an area. it but got caught up in the webbing bath. was OK. "I never even saw that inside after bouncing off his skulL But, as Pyle puts it, "In the context As his friends were being treated in of the modern battlefield, there is no he said. Despite the head wound, he was able Kandahar, Benton was watching Fox front line," and the battalion has been Instead he felt intense heat creepto take stock of the situation and help News. The scrolling ticker reported in plenty of firefights and dealt with with security. the incident as a U.S. raid on insuring up under his helmet. "I was like, 'Ah, crap, I'm on fire.' " Inside his vehicle, Long was soakimprovised explosive devices galore. gents, not the very ordinary mail run it actually was. Particularly Long. ing his hands in saline, relief seeping in. As they all waited for the chopper, "I guess we could have raided the "Any time he goes out anywhere, Chaos all over care packages," Benton quipped. they love shooting at him," Benton Long realized that his injuries meant he was going home. Down the road says. Long dropped into the Humvee, Specifics of attacks are kept as Focused on the buildings, Long, bewhere the vehicle's built-i- n fire suphe saw the charred body of the suiquiet as possible for the first several decked in sunglasses, goggles, gloves pression system put him out. As he cide bomber and tried to walk over days so that family can be contacted and a Kevlar helmet, didn't know checked himself for damage, he saw "to give him a kick or something." thought military channels, said battalFaatoafe had faced down the bus, that much of his clothing had burned "The guy hurt me, and I was ion Sgt. Maj. Henrey Jetty. But Benton did, and his guts told off and his hands were dripping skin. ticked." "He got to call his wife and say him something was wrong. Astride His weapon "jacked up," his hands Some of the other soldiers held him 'The bad news is I almost got blown the Humvee bringing up the rear, he back. and face burned, and his arm squirtup. The good news is I'll be home for told his driver to create some space ing blood, he shook a stunned medic "They told me 'You sit down, have Christmas,' " Jetty said. "Very few between the vehicles. When dealing a shot of morphine and relax,' " Long people come that close and get away riding in the vehicle, saying that he with suicide bombers or IEDs, the needed help. said. with it." more space there is between vehicles, Benton figured everyone was dead. After several more days in Kanthe more soldiers have a chance of "I was just watching things fall out dahar feeling very "crispy," Long Recovery survival if something goes wrong. of the sky and hitting my turret," he was flown to Germany, escorted by Benton checked over his shoulder said, adding that it seemed very quiet Faatoafe. From there, Faatoafe went Despite the explosion, despite in the moments after the blast. to see the bus once again lurch forthe injuries, one thing the soldiers back to Afghanistan, and Long went ward and clamber to the road, right remember vividly is the medical to the burn recovery unit at Brooke Looking up, he saw Long's Humnext to Long's Humvee. vee in tatters and no sign of Faatoafe. helicopter dropping in. Benton had Army Medical Center in San Antonio, It was then that Benton saw the He was scanning for possible follow-u- p cleared an area in the field and set Texas, where he met his wife and flames licking out from under the bus attacks when he saw the two men off smoke to mark the spot, but the three children. start moving around. With officers He did get home for Christmas, just before the IED that insurgents pilots swung down near power lines " are so good at fabricating engulfed either knocked out or too shocked to "and dropped it down fast on the but faced months of treatment afterthe entire vehicle and ripped it in half. act, Benton directed an Afghan army road. ward that left obvious scar patches The explosion was strong enough to "It was awesome watching those on his face. Those were mostly due patrol that had been nearby to do stunt Benton's 15,000 pound Humvee some crowd control and then called in guys come in," Benton said. to a piece of cloth he had wrapped in its tracks. a medical helicopter. rolling at 45 mph around his head that Nov. 1 to keep Remarkably, Long had the worst He managed to spin in his turret and Faatoafe came to, staring up at of the injures in the convoy. Another the dust out. The engulfing fire soldier was strapped to a stretcher drop down as a sea of flames washed his gun. He put up with a pounding burned it off and cooked the skin over the convoy. headache until it felt like his head after he passed out a second time. with it. ," European intelligence officials now agree that abilContinued from A 1 ity to launch operations around the globe did not diminish after the invasion of AfghaniOperatives are organized into cells with separate misstan as much as previously g or sions, such as thought. Further investigation has shown, for example, that logistics, and may know the identities of only a few individleadership, with uals in their circle to prevent bin Laden's direct blessing, infiltration, Pakistani officials made the decision to activate said. Most leaders are based in sleeper cells in Saudi Arabia Pakistan, although many travel in 2003, prompting a wave of to Afghanistan and occasioncar bombings and assassinaally farther afield, to Iraq, Tur- tion attempts that the Saudi key, Iran, the Caucasus region government has only recently and North Africa. brought under control. Al-Qai- da fund-raisin- Counter-terroris- officials were slow to grasp the From hideouts in Pakistan, according to court testimony rection of Central. For and interviews, bin Laden's years, many U.S. and Eurodeputies ordered attacks on a pean intelligence officials char- Tunisian synagogue in 2002, a acterized it as a spent force, British consulate and bank in limited to providing inspiration Istanbul in 2003, and the Lonfor loosely affiliated regional don transit system in 2005. networks. Bombings in Europe US intelligence officials also and the Middle East were blame the brain trust blamed on homegrown cells of for orchestrating dozens of militants, operating indepenother failed plots, including a dently of bin Laden. plan to blow up transatlantic On June 24, 2003, President flights from Britain in August resur- 7 not among them, but Pakistani officials soon said the fatalities g included several other leaders. Musharraf identified one of the dead as Midhat Mursi Umar, an Egyptian who had overseen research into chemical weapons and carried a $5 million U.S. government bounty on his high-rankin- head. Musharraf and other Pakistani officials said those buried in the rubble also included Abu the Egyptian Obaidah chief of the military wing that plots attacks in the West; Khalid Habib, a field in commander for Afghanistan; and Zawahiri's Abdul Rahman son-in-la- U.S. and Pakistani officials now say that none of those leaders perished in the strike and that only local villagers were killed. The $5 million reward for Umar's capture remains on offer. Masri has continued to rise in the Bush declared lead2006. structure, U.S. officials "All this business about them say, and six months after his ership largely defunct. At a Camp David summit, Bush being isolated or cut off is supposed death was helping in praised Pakistan's Gen. Pervez whistling past the graveyard," the failed effort to put bombs Musharraf, crediting his coun- said Michael Scheuer, a foraboard airliners flying from mer CIA analyst who led the try with apprehending more Britain. than 500 members of Mahmood Shah, who at agency's unit assigned to track and the Taliban. bin Laden. "We're looking at the time of the strike was "Thanks to President Mushan organization that is extraor- Pakistan's security chief for arraf's leadership, on the the region, said intelligence for dinarily adept at succession front we've dismantled the Predator mission stemmed planning. They were built to the chief operators," Bush said. survive, like the Afghans were in part from the interrogation Although bin Laden was still at against the Russians." of another leader, Abu A Failed Strike large, his lieutenants were "no who had been Faraj longer a threat to the United After nightfall on Jan. 13, captured eight months earlier States or Pakistan," Bush 2006, an unmanned Predator in the city of Mardan, also in added. aircraft guided by the CIA Pakistan's northwest. Six months later, Musharraf fired missiles at two houses in At the time, Shah said, U.S. was nearly killed in an assassithe northwestern Pakistani vil- and Pakistani officials thought nation attempt by oplage of Damadola, a few miles merely that the timing of the eratives. Shortly afterward, a from the Afghan border. strike was slightly off and that leaders held The target was a dinner group of they had barely missed Zawaa summit of their own in the celebrating the Muslim holiday hiri Now, he said, he thinks Pakistani region of Waziristan, of Eid CIA officials Zawahiri and the others were had received intelligence that where they plotted fresh atnever there. "I just think the tacks thousands of miles away Ayman information was not correct," in Britain, including targets in deputy leader, had been invited he said. London and financial instituto attend. The only publicized success . The missiles destroyed the tions in the United States, acin the nearly 20 months since houses and killed more than the Damadola attack came on cording to Pakistani officials. a dozen people. Zawahiri was Many U.S., Pakistani and April 12, 2006, when Muhsin Jeff Long Medals On Friday, a long way from Kandahar and suicide bombers, Long received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his actions as a member of the 405th Civil Affairs Battalion in the Army Reserve. Dozens of friends and family gathered at the Orem city offices to watch Battalion Commander William Florig pin the medals on while praising Long's actions throughout his career. The Purple Heart, which is given to those who die or are wounded in battle, was for the mail run. The Bronze Star, awarded for bravery and service, was for his entire stay in Afghanistan. Faatoafe, 25, received a Purple Heart as well, in February. The UVSC student would like to go into nursing but has had a hard time getting into classes that are packed full from demand. Benton, 27, received a Bronze Star for his time in Afghanistan and is now at the University of Utah majoring in international studies. He's ready to go overseas again if called up. "Somebody has to go," he says eagerly. That somebody won't be Long, who at 42 is retiring from the Army Reserves next week after two dozen years. He will, however, be back to his normal job as an Orem police detective. ' "I had my new boss come up to me and say 'Vacation's over, pal.' " Musa Matwalli Atwah, an in 1998. One Egyptian who has taken Egyptian operative indicted for involvement in the on a bigger role is Mustafa 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies Abu an accountant in East Africa, was killed in by training who served as bin North Waziristan. Laden's financial manager Otherwise, the search for during his exile in Sudan in leaders in Pakistan has the 1990s. In May, anhit a wall. Shah said informanounced that Yazid had been tion concerning their whereappointed its overall leader in abouts has grown scarcer and Afghanistan and liaison with less reliable. By his account, the Taliban. Pakistani security officials Yazid, 51, was an original have not come across a single member of Shura trace of bin Laden in the tribal Council and served time in an areas. Occasionally, they have Egyptian prison with Zawahiri received tips regarding Zain the early 1980s after both wahiri and others, he said, but were convicted of participating only several weeks after the in tne assassination ot tgyp-tia- n trail has run cold. President Anwar Sadat. "We'd hear about their presAlthough he disagreed with ence two months after the fact. bin Laden over the Sept. 1 1 It's just not actionable intelattacks calling them a tactiligence," Shah said. "This inner cal mistake that resulted in core has absolutely stopped the Taliban's f all from power Yazid remains close to the using electronic technology to communicate with each other. Saudi emir and is trusted by That is why the Americans other jihad groups, said Yasser have such trouble finding an Egyptian political them." exile and director of the LondonOn Jan. 30, 2006, two weeks -based Islamic Observation after the Damadola missile Center. released a vid"Bin Laden appointed him strike, eotape on the Internet in which as a conciliatory figure," Sirri Zawahiri taunted his pursuers. said in an interview. "It's be"Bush, do you know where cause of his credibility. He gets I am?" the Egyptian radical along well with the Pashtuns, said. "I am among the Muslim with the Taliban he gets masses!" along well with everybody." Several other fresh faces 'Deep Bench' A major factor in in the leadership are former resurgence has been hs ability members of the Libyan Islamic to swiftly replace fallen or cap- Fighting Group, a tured commanders. network that used to operate CIA Director Michael V. at arm's length from Hayden told Congress in Among them is Abu Laith November that the core leadthe nom de guerre of a ership had benefited from a longtime jihadist who fought g Soviet troops in Afghanistan, "deep bench of personnel capable of stepspent two years in prison in Saudi Arabia for covert acping up to assume leadership responsibilities." Many are vet- tivities there and organized a eran jihadists who have fought failed plot to overthrow Libyan in Afghanistan and conflicts ruler Moammar Gaddafi in the elsewhere for decades. He began to work closely Intelligence officials and central with bin Laden in 1999 and analysts said command remains dominated command impressed by Egyptians, primarily associ- by leading the retreat from ates of Zawahiri, who formally Kabul in 2001 after the U.S. merged his Egyptian Islamic Ji- invasion of Afghanistan, said had organization with Noman Benotman, a former now-defun- lower-rankin- mid-1990- s. member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. "The Saudis and others said, 'Who the hell is this guy? They were impressed," Benotman said in an interview in London. "He can create operations. He can lead on the front lines. He knows when to attack, when to withdraw." Abu Laith has run training camps in Afghanistan in recent years for and orchestrated a suicide attack on the U.S. air base in killing 23 people, during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney in February, according to U.S. military officials. a Atiyah Abd Libyan believed to be in his late 30s, has meanwhile acted as a liaison between leadership in Pakistan and in Iraq, a predominantly Sunni insurgent movement that is believed responsible for some of the deadliest bomb attacks on Shiite civilians in Iraq and is one of the U.S. military's fiercest foes. The group professes loyalty to bin Laden; intelligence analysts are divided as to whether he exercises real control over H. Rahman has also operated as a bin Laden emissary to militant groups in North Africa that joined forces in January in the Islamic to form Maghreb. Words From "The Clouds' Much remains unknown about the internal workings of Central. As with the old Soviet leadership in the Kremlin, U.S. analysts scrutinize public statements issued by the network for clues on who wields influence. One figure attracting interest is a Libyan known as Abu who gained noYahya toriety after he and three other prisoners escaped from a U.S. military prison in Bagram in July Ba-gra- high-securi- ty 2005. Since then, he has appeared on more than a dozen videos media produced by arm |