Maintenance
man
Spc. Joel Grissom, patriot maintainer operator, B Btry., 1st Bn.,
7th ADA, scrapes accumulated grease away from his HEMTT. See story
on Page 15.
Crash
kills 4 Marines
Reservists were
part of JTF-6 mission
Master
Sgt. Steve Miller
Public Affairs Chief
Four
U.S. Marine Corps reservists were killed Jan. 22 when two AH-1W
Super Cobra helicopters crashed in South Texas as the Marines
assisted the U.S. Border Patrol in carrying out a counter-drug
operation.
Dead
are Lt. Col. Robert J. Theilmann, 47, of Suffolk, N.Y.; Maj. John
M. Walsh, 36, of Oakland, Mich.; Maj. Steven G. Palombo, 36, of
Sterling Heights, Mich.; and Capt. David C. Cross, 34, of Centre,
Pa. All four were assigned to Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron
775, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
According to a Marine Corps Reserve press release, the crash occurred
near the U.S.-Mexico border about 9:27 p.m. Jan. 22 over Falcon
State Park, midway between Laredo and McAllen, Texas. The location
is a remote state park near the Rio Grande and some 700 miles
southeast of El Paso.
The
Marines were helping with a Joint Task Force 6 surveillance mission
over Falcon Lake, a binational reservoir that straddles the U.S.-Mexico
border and an area known for the smuggling of drugs and undocumented
immigrants, sources from the Cable News Network said. JTF-6 is
the military's counter-drug task force, composed of about 160
active-duty and reserve members of all services.
The
Marines were conducting a nighttime aviation reconnaissance mission
using night-vision goggles and forward-looking infrared sensors,
the Marine Corps release said. Each Super Cobra that crashed has
a crew of two - a pilot and a co-pilot. The aircraft are capable
of land- or sea-based operations.
A
detachment of six helicopters and 53 Marines from the squadron
was deployed Jan. 17 to Laredo to participate in the JTF-6 mission,
Marine sources said, and the group refueled at Fort Bliss en route
to Laredo. The detachment's work in Texas has been suspended,
and the unit returned to Camp Pendleton last weekend.
Armando
Carrasco, JTF-6 public affairs officer, said the unit's self-deployment
from Camp Pendleton and setup of its own operations center in
Laredo were the culmination of the squadron's training.
"These
missions don't just happen overnight," Carrasco said. "They take
six months to a year of planning."
During
that time, the unit undergoes training and certification to understand
their role in support of the Border Patrol or other law-enforcement
agencies, Carrasco said.
"They need to understand the restrictions set by law. They only
provide support," Carrasco said. "The missions É provide law-enforcement
agencies with unprecedented support (for) their counter-drug activities
and provide military personnel with tremendous training opport
unities
that are directly related to their war-fighting skills." On such
missions the military aircraft act as the "eyes in the sky" in
the search for illegal activity, Carrasco said.
JTF-6,
established in 1989, provides operational, technological, training
and intelligence support to local, state and federal law-enforcement
agency counter-drug efforts in the continental United States to
reduce the flow of illegal drugs.
The
cause of the accident remains under investigation.
Bush discusses
Iraq, Korea
in State of Union
Jim
Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON,
- "Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not
a strategy, and it is not an option," President George W. Bush
told Congress and the nation Jan. 28 during his State of the Union
speech.
The
president answered questions about why Iraq is a crisis now. He
said the Iraqi dictator has weapons of mass destruction and will
share them with terror groups.
"Before
Sept. 11, many in the world believed that Saddam Hussein could
be contained," he said. "But chemical agents, lethal viruses and
shadowy networks are not easily contained."
The
president asked Americans to imagine the suicide terrorists who
attacked the United States if they had been armed by Iraq. He
said terrorists armed with weapons of mass destruction could "bring
a day of horror like one we have never known."
The
president said the United States will ask the U.N. Security Council
to convene on Feb. 5 to consider Iraq's continuing defiance. He
said Secretary of State Colin Powell would present information
and intelligence about Iraq's illegal weapons of mass destruction
programs, its attempts to hide those weapons from inspectors and
its links to terrorist groups. Bush stated that the United States
will consult with allies and the United Nations, but he said if
Saddam Hussein does not disarm, "for the safety of our people
and the safety of the world, we will lead a coalition to disarm
him."
Bush
also spoke directly to the members of the armed forces. "Some
crucial hours may lay ahead," he said. "In those hours, the success
of our cause will depend on you. Your training has prepared you,
your honor will guide you, you believe in America, and America
believes in you."
Bush
also attempted to reassure the Iraqi people that the United States
separates the regime from the population. "I have a message for
the brave and oppressed people of Iraq: The enemy is not surrounding
your country; the enemy is ruling your country," he said. "And
the day he and his regime are removed from power will be the day
of your liberation."
As
is fitting in a State of the Union address, Bush spoke about many
other programs and proposals. He also reported on the global war
on terrorism. "There are days that our fellow citizens do not
hear news of the war on terror," he said. "There is never a day
that I do not learn of another threat or receive reports of operations
in progress or give an order in this global war against a scattered
network of killers. The war goes on, and we are winning."
Bush
cited a number of terrorist plots that have been foiled and terror
groups left leaderless. He said more than 3,000 terrorists have
been arrested around the world, and many others have been killed.
Within
the United States, homeland security has been strengthened and
Bush thanked the Congress for its support of fielding a limited
ballistic missile defense beginning this year. The president also
said he is asking for $6 billion to fund Project BioShield. If
approved, the project would be a major research and production
effort to guard Americans against bioterrorism. The money would
go to make effective vaccines and treatments available quickly
against such agents as anthrax, botulinum toxin, ebola and plague.
"We
must assume our enemies will use these diseases as weapons, and
we must act before the dangers are upon us," he said.
Bush
told Congress that he had instructed the leaders of the FBI, the
CIA, the new Department of Homeland Security and the Defense Department
to develop a Terrorist Threat Integration Center to merge and
analyze all threat information in a single location. "Our government
must have the very best information possible, and we will use
it to make sure the right people are in the right places to protect
all our citizens," he said.
The
president stressed a number of times that the greatest dangers
to freedom are rogue nations possessing weapons of mass murder.
He said those countries could use those weapons for blackmail,
terror and mass murder. "They could also give those weapons to
terrorist allies, who would use them without the least hesitation,"
he said.
Last year, the president lumped Iraq, Iran and North Korea together
as an "axis of evil." He spoke of U.S. efforts to influence the
other two countries of the axis.
He
said that different threats require different strategies. "In
Iran, we continue to see a government that represses its people,
pursues weapons of mass destruction and supports terror," he said.
"We also see Iranian citizens risking intimidation and death as
they speak out for liberty and human rights and democracy. Iranians,
like all people, have a right to choose their own government and
determine their own destiny - and the United States supports their
aspirations to live in freedom."
The North Korean leaders continue to starve and oppress their
people. "Throughout the 1990s, the United States relied on a negotiated
framework to keep North Korea from gaining nuclear weapons," Bush
said. "We now know that that regime was deceiving the world and
developing those weapons all along. And today the North Korean
regime is using its nuclear program to incite fear and seek concessions.
America and the world will not be blackmailed."
He
said the United States would work with South Korea, Japan, China
and Russia to find a peaceful solution. "The North Korean regime
will find respect in the world and revival for its people only
when it turns away from its nuclear ambitions," he said.
