EXperience The Beauty of Indonesia !
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http://photos.ellen.warnerbros.com/galleries/cutest_kisses
Read My Mind
Lisa Z. from Romeoville, Illinois sent this photo of her daughter meeting her boxer for the first time. It looks like this first meeting went very, very well — they’re already communicating telepathically! Send us photos of your cutest kisses!
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By LOLITA C. BALDOR | Associated Press – Fri, Apr 20, 2012
This undated handout image provided …WASHINGTON (AP) — For computer users, a few mouse clicks could mean the difference between staying online and losing Internet connections this summer.
Unknown to most of them, their problem began when international hackers ran an online advertising scam to take control of infected computers around the world. In a highly unusual response, the FBI set up a safety net months ago using government computers to prevent Internet disruptions for those infected users. But that system is to be shut down.
The FBI is encouraging users to visit a website run by its security partner, http://www.dcwg.org , that will inform them whether they’re infected and explain how to fix the problem. After July 9, infected users won’t be able to connect to the Internet.
Most victims don’t even know their computers have been infected, although the malicious software probably has slowed their web surfing and disabled their antivirus software, making their machines more vulnerable to other problems.
Last November, the FBI and other authorities were preparing to take down a hacker ring that had been running an Internet ad scam on a massive network of infected computers.
“We started to realize that we might have a little bit of a problem on our hands because … if we just pulled the plug on their criminal infrastructure and threw everybody in jail, the victims of this were going to be without Internet service,” said Tom Grasso, an FBI supervisory special agent. “The average user would open up Internet Explorer and get ‘page not found’ and think the Internet is broken.”
On the night of the arrests, the agency brought in Paul Vixie, chairman and founder of Internet Systems Consortium, to install two Internet servers to take the place of the truckload of impounded rogue servers that infected computers were using. Federal officials planned to keep their servers online until March, giving everyone opportunity to clean their computers. But it wasn’t enough time. A federal judge in New York extended the deadline until July.
Now, said Grasso, “the full court press is on to get people to address this problem.” And it’s up to computer users to check their PCs.
This is what happened:
Hackers infected a network of probably more than 570,000 computers worldwide. They took advantage of vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Windows operating system to install malicious software on the victim computers. This turned off antivirus updates and changed the way the computers reconcile website addresses behind the scenes on the Internet’s domain name system.
The DNS system is a network of servers that translates a web address — such as http://www.ap.org — into the numerical addresses that computers use. Victim computers were reprogrammed to use rogue DNS servers owned by the attackers. This allowed the attackers to redirect computers to fraudulent versions of any website.
The hackers earned profits from advertisements that appeared on websites that victims were tricked into visiting. The scam netted the hackers at least $14 million, according to the FBI. It also made thousands of computers reliant on the rogue servers for their Internet browsing.
When the FBI and others arrested six Estonians last November, the agency replaced the rogue servers with Vixie’s clean ones. Installing and running the two substitute servers for eight months is costing the federal government about $87,000.
The number of victims is hard to pinpoint, but the FBI believes that on the day of the arrests, at least 568,000 unique Internet addresses were using the rogue servers. Five months later, FBI estimates that the number is down to at least 360,000. The U.S. has the most, about 85,000, federal authorities said. Other countries with more than 20,000 each include Italy, India, England and Germany. Smaller numbers are online in Spain, France, Canada, China and Mexico.
Vixie said most of the victims are probably individual home users, rather than corporations that have technology staffs who routinely check the computers.
FBI officials said they organized an unusual system to avoid any appearance of government intrusion into the Internet or private computers. And while this is the first time the FBI used it, it won’t be the last.
“This is the future of what we will be doing,” said Eric Strom, a unit chief in the FBI’s Cyber Division. “Until there is a change in legal system, both inside and outside the United States, to get up to speed with the cyber problem, we will have to go down these paths, trail-blazing if you will, on these types of investigations.”
Now, he said, every time the agency gets near the end of a cyber case, “we get to the point where we say, how are we going to do this, how are we going to clean the system” without creating a bigger mess than before.
___
Online:
To check and clean computers: http://www.dcwg.org
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By JOHN ANTCZAK | Associated Press – Fri, Apr 20, 2012
LOS ANGELES (AP) — An unmanned hypersonic glider likely aborted its 13,000 mph flight over the Pacific Ocean last summer because unexpectedly large sections of its skin peeled off, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said Friday.
The Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2, launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., atop a rocket and released on Aug. 11, 2011, was part of research aimed at developing super-fast global strike capability for the Department of Defense.
The vehicle demonstrated stable aerodynamically controlled flight at speeds up to 20 times the speed of sound, or Mach 20, for three minutes before a series of upsets caused its autonomous flight safety system to bring it down in the ocean, DARPA said in a statement.
A gradual wearing away of the vehicle’s skin was expected because of extremely high temperatures, but an independent engineering review board concluded that the most probable cause was “unexpected aeroshell degradation, creating multiple upsets of increasing severity that ultimately activated the Flight Safety System,” the statement said.
Initial shockwaves created by the gaps in the skin were more than 100 times what the vehicle was designed to withstand, but it was still able to recover and return to controlled flight, said Kaigham J. Gabriel, DARPA’s acting director.
Eventually the upsets grew beyond its ability to recover.
The 2011 flight was the second time an HTV-2 was launched. The first flight, in April 2010, also ended prematurely.
Data from that flight was used to correct aerodynamic design models for the second test, resulting in controlled flight, and now data from the latest flight will be used to adjust assumptions about thermal modeling, Air Force Maj. Chris Schulz, the DARPA program manager, said in the statement.
“The result of these findings is a profound advancement in understanding the areas we need to focus on to advance aerothermal structures for future hypersonic vehicles. Only actual flight data could have revealed this to us,” he said.
Most specific details of the program are secret. DARPA has released artist renderings showing a craft that looks something like the tip of a spear. After the 2011 flight the agency released handheld video, taken aboard a monitoring ship, that showed a dot streaking across the sky.
The HTV-2 would have splashed down in the ocean regardless of the anomaly. The vehicles are intended to be used once and are not recovered.
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Researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that large doses of vitamin C may help reduce hypertension in adults. The study, which was published in the current issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that the nutrient can cause a moderate decrease a person’s blood pressure.
What are the details of the study?
The study was what is referred to as a “review” study, which means that it looked at and analyzed previous research for patterns and observations. In this case, scientists looked at the data from 29 previous clinical trials involving more than 1,400 people in order to reach their conclusions, according to the Baltimore Sun.
What did the study find?
Preliminary conclusions would suggest that consuming large amounts of vitamin C, in this case, at least 500 milligrams per day for an average of eight weeks, can have a positive, though moderate, effect on someone suffering from hypertension. This amount is the equivalent of roughly five times the current daily recommendations.
How is vitamin C believed to work?
According to Prevention, vitamin C may be able to maintain or protect the body’s levels of nitric oxide. Nitric oxide’s function is specifically to help maintain healthy blood pressure.
Past research revolving around the health benefits of vitamin C have focused on the nutrient’s possible role as a diuretic. As such, it may help the kidneys to more efficiently rid the body of excess sodium and water, which has the effect of lowering blood pressure by relaxing blood vessels.
What are the Johns Hopkins researchers recommending as a result of their findings?
Nothing yet. Dr. Edgar R. Miller III, one of the lead researchers in the study, said in the team’s official press release that it was too soon to recommend a specific course of action. Further study is required to determine the exact effects of vitamin C on blood pressure.
What has been the critical response to the study’s findings?
According to WebMD, the researchers involved in the study have themselves pointed out that the studies that they analyzed were usually small. They also pointed out that some of the patients in question were being prescribed blood pressure medication, which could have skewed the results.
Additionally, this initial study was not designed to prove whether there were any long-term benefits of taking higher doses of vitamin C. In particular, there was no evidence to suggest that taking large amounts of vitamin C would lower a person’s risk of developing cardiovascular issues or having a stroke.
Vanessa Evans is a musician and freelance writer based in Michigan, with a lifelong interest in health and nutrition issues.
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The unusual coin was auctioned off Apr. 19 at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in suburban Chicago.
A 1792 Silver Center Cent is shown on April 18, 2012 in Schaumburg, Illinois. The coin is scheduled to be auctioned by Heritage Auctions on April 19. Online bidding for the coin has already pushed the price over $1 million. The coin, considered the third best example of fourteen known to exist, was last sold at auction in 1974 when it reached a price of $105,000. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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Experts say Natasha Harris Coca-Cola habit probably contributed to her death (AP/New Zealand Herald)
When people attribute someone’s untimely death to a Coke overdose, they’re usually not talking about the world’s most popular soda.
But experts in New Zealand say Natasha Harris’ 2-gallon-a-day Coca-Cola consumption “probably” contributed to her death. The soda company responded to the alleged connection by noting that even water consumption can be fatal in excessive amounts.
“The first thing she would do in the morning was to have a drink of Coke beside her bed and the last thing she would do at night was have a drink of Coke,” Harris’ partner Chris Hodgkinson said in a deposition. “She was addicted to Coke.”
Hodgkinson testified that Harris drank between 2.1 gallons and 2.6 gallons of Coke every day.
The 30-year-old Harris died of a heart attack in February 2010. According to New Zealand’s Fairfax Media, pathologist Dr. Dan Mornin testified on Thursday that Harris likely suffered from hypokalemia (low potassium levels), which he believes was caused by her overall poor nutrition, including the unusually high levels of Coke consumption.
Though in fairness to the soda manufacturer, it was also revealed that Harris made other questionable health choices before her death, including smoking a reported 30 cigarettes per day and having poor eating habits. Dr. Mornin also said Harris had “toxic levels of caffeine” in her blood, though it’s not clear if those levels came exclusively from Coke or from a combination of other sources, including coffee.
Karen Thompson, a spokeswoman for Coca-Cola Oceania, defended the safety of her company’s products in a statement:
“We concur with the information shared by the coroner’s office that the grossly excessive ingestion of any food product, including water, over a short period of time with the inadequate consumption of essential nutrients, and the failure to seek appropriate medical intervention when needed, can be dramatically symptomatic.”
Harris reportedly experienced high blood pressure in the months leading up to her death. Hodgkinson called emergency services and tried mouth-to-mouth resuscitation but was not able to revive Harris after she collapsed in her home.
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By Seth Rosenblatt | CNET.com – Fri, Apr 20, 2012
The Internet companies that power your online life know that data equals money, and they’re becoming bolder about using that data to track you. If they get their way, your every online step would be not only irrevocable, but traceable back to you. Fortunately, there are some positive steps you can take to reclaim your online history for yourself.
The online privacy software company Abine, which makes Do Not Track Plus, also offers a service called DeleteMe, which removes your data from numerous tracking sites and keeps it from coming back. In an unusual gesture, though, they’ve made public how to do for yourself everything that DeleteMe does. Here’s my take on their advice.
Be warned, though. The following are not easy instructions, and it’s not because they’re technically complex. They require a tenacity and wherewithal that is likely to either exhaust you, drive you borderline bonkers, or both. (And no, I haven’t followed the instructions to remove myself because it’s essential to my job that I can be found by strangers.)
Step 1: Prepare yourself: You’re going to have to be polite. These instructions require patience for the antics of others and determination to get the job done. It’s not a bad idea to get something inanimate to take your frustrations out on, because often getting your data successfully removed or changed will require the good faith of the person you’re dealing with. Things are not likely to go your way the first time around.
Step 2: Aggressively track sites that aggressively track you. This is where the DeleteMe service comes in. They currently charge you $99 to un-track you from the tracking data clearinghouses, which in turn sell your data to others entities. You can follow Abine’s list of services and do the deed yourself, and that means writing many e-mails, sending numerous faxes, and placing enough phone calls to make you wish for a time machine so you can go back to the 19th century to do violence unto Alexander Graham Bell.
One thing that isn’t clear from Abine’s list is that most of these data aggregators will re-add you within a few months, so I recommend at least bi-annual checks to see if they’ve sucked up your data again. Be tenacious, be polite, and if this is important to you, stick with it until you get what you want.
If you’re concerned about privacy and people making connections between your birthday, your address, and your Social Security number, you owe it to yourself to perform at least one Web search for your name and see what comes up. You might be unpleasantly surprised.
Step 3: To protect your reputation, removal must be done from the source. To get Google, Bing, and other search engines to notice a change in information as it is presented on the Web, the original site hosting that information must change. It doesn’t matter which site is the source. It could be Facebook, or a local blog, or a gaming forum. If it’s showing up in search results, it has little to do with the search engine and everything to do with the site of origin. Once that site has changed, then you’ll see a change in the search results.
Getting something removed from a site is not a scientific process, even though you must be methodical about it. Ask politely, and as I noted above, you’re likely to have to ask more than once and using more than one way to communicate. You likely will have to be a rake at the gates of Hell, but one that uses words like “please” and “thank you”.
Look for the name of a writer, or Web site manager, and if no contact information is listed, do a WhoIs search by typing “whois http://www.site-name.com”. Be sure to include the quotes. That will tell you who registered the site, which is a good place to start on smaller Web sites. Look for phone numbers, e-mail, and fax numbers, and follow up your initial communication.
Once you have a name, even if you can’t find a phone number or e-mail, you can probably take an educated stab at one. Use a site like E-mail Formatto help you out. And in your e-mail, be sure to explain clearly, concisely, and logically why your request ought to be honored.
A willingness to compromise can get you better results, too. If, for example, your initial request to fully remove your name gets refused, see if asking to have your identity anonymized will work. And if one person at the site you’ve contacted keeps stalling you, see if there’s another you can contact instead.
Step 4: Get Google to hustle on search engine changes. If you’ve been successful in changing a site, but Google is still showing the older version, you can use Google’s URL Removal Tool to accelerate the process. Note that this will require a Google account, and that if you get Google to change, you’re going to have to submit requests to other major search engines like Bing separately.
Step 5: Paint over the bad with good. In cases where you can’t get the site to remove the content that’s negatively affecting your reputation, you can create new, fresh, positive content to counteract it. The idea is that the Positive You will bury the Negative You. Rick Santorum is a great example of how this can work in reverse, and no, I’m not going to link to it for you.
You can also use social-networking sites to bury bad news. From About.Me to Flickr to Twitter, social networks tend to rank highly in search results. By creating and maintaining accounts that use your real name, you can elevate the social networking results for your name and, ideally, drop the results you want to bury onto the second page of results. Since studies show that second-page results are viewed significantly less often than first-page, this could be a successful burying strategy.
However, a key component of this is linking the networks, so be prepared to do far more social networking than you had been.
Step 6: Go (politely) nuclear. Get a lawyer. If you suspect something is actually defamatory, seek out legal advice. Gather your evidence, be polite and firm, and seek out someone who can guide you through the thorny legal thicket. This will also depend on your country — England has much broader defamation and libel laws than the United States does — and your budget.
My colleague Declan McCullagh noted a potential complication in hiring a lawyer: SLAPP laws. Although they vary from state to state, they all basically aim to prevent unsubstantiated legal threats. If you threaten someone, that person can turn around and sue you for attorneys fees and damages.
The bottom line: There is no foolproof method for changing how you’re presented on the Internet, whether looking at purely personally-identifiable data or the much more subjective presentation of your personal reputation. However, if these are concerns of yours, you’re not alone out there, and these six steps will give you concrete actions you can take to reclaim your identity and repair how others see you.
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By Andrew Stern | Reuters – Fri, Apr 20, 2012
CHICAGO (Reuters) – A prominent U.S. Catholic nuns’ group said on Thursday it was “stunned” that the Vatican reprimanded it for spending too much time on poverty and social justice concerns and not enough on abortion and gay marriage.
In a stinging report on Wednesday, the Vatican said the Leadership Conference of Women Religious had been “silent on the right to life” and had failed to make the “Biblical view of family life and human sexuality” a central plank in its agenda.
Nuns standing around a cross wait outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Good Friday in Jerusalem’s Old City April 6, 2012. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM – Tags: RELIGION)
It also reprimanded American nuns for expressing positions on political issues that differed, at times, from views held by American bishops. Public disagreement with the bishops – “who are the church’s authentic teachers of faith and morals” – is unacceptable, the report said.
The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a “doctrinal assessment” saying the Holy See was compelled to intervene with the Leadership Conference of Women Religious to correct “serious doctrinal problems.”
The nuns’ group said in a statement on its website, “The presidency of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious was stunned by the conclusions of the doctrinal assessment.”
It added the group may give a lengthier response at a later date.
The conference said it represented 80 percent of America’s 57,000 Catholic nuns. It is influential both in the United States and globally.
Academics who study the church said the Vatican’s move was predictable given Pope Benedict’s conservative views and efforts by Rome to quell internal dissent and curtail autonomy within its ranks.
“This is more an expression of the Church feeling under siege by trends it cannot control within the Church, much less within the broader society,” University of Notre Dame historian Scott Appleby said.
That includes a steady drumbeat of calls to ordain women as priests, which the pope has reasserted was an impossibility.
The Vatican named Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain and two other U.S. bishops to undertake the reforms of the conference’s statutes, programs and its application of liturgical texts, a process it said could take up to five years.
(Additional reporting by Stephanie Simon; Editing by Peter Cooney)
By Stephanie Simon | Reuters – Fri, Apr 20, 2012
(Reuters) – When Pope John Paul II arrived in the United States in 1979, the president of the nation’s most powerful organization of nuns met him with a challenge.
A nun prays inside the Church of Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City, ahead of Easter April 4, 2012. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM – Tags: RELIGION)
In a bold welcoming address, Sister Theresa Kane called on the pope to include women “in all ministries of our church,” including the priesthood. The pope sat silent, his expression stony.
That moment did not change Vatican policy.
But it unveiled growing tensions between the Vatican and American nuns. The conflict would continue to mount for the next three decades, until this week the Vatican finally moved to reassert control over the aging but still ferociously independent conference of Catholic sisters.
In a stinging “doctrinal assessment,” the Vatican accused the Leadership Conference of Women Religious – an umbrella group representing most American nuns – of numerous grave breaches of doctrine and decorum.
The report, four years in the making, found that the nuns promoted political views at odds with those expressed by U.S. Roman Catholic bishops, “who are the church’s authentic teachers of faith and morals.” The Vatican chastised the nuns for airing discussions about the ordination of women, the church patriarchy and ministry to gay people.
The Vatican also rebuked the nuns for spending too much time “promoting issues of social justice” while failing to speak out often enough about “issues of crucial importance to the life of the church and society,” such as abortion and gay marriage.
Determined to cleanse the sisterhood of “radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith,” the Vatican appointed Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle to effectively take control of the Leadership Conference, rewriting its statutes, supervising its meetings, and investigating its relationships with politically active groups.
Officials of the nuns’ leadership conference said they were “stunned” by the crackdown. But Catholics who have studied the growing rift between the church hierarchy and American nuns said it was a long time coming.
‘BREWING FOR 40 YEARS’
“This has been brewing for 40 years,” said Ann Carey, the author of the book “Sisters in Crisis: The Tragic Unraveling of Women’s Religious Communities.”
Many U.S. women’s religious orders began moving away from traditional roles – and their traditional deference to the Vatican – in the early 1970s after the Second Vatican Council, a conclave dedicated to modernizing Catholic religious life, Carey said.
Some stopped wearing the traditional garb known as habits. Some left the teaching and nursing professions to take up grittier work running soup kitchens or homeless shelters. Some moved out of convents to live on their own.
Some even directly defied Catholic doctrine. Donna Quinn, a Chicago nun who calls herself “a feminist and an activist and proud of it,” spent years escorting women through a gauntlet of protesters to a health clinic that provided abortions. She has repeatedly called on the Vatican to reconsider its opposition to contraception and abortion – and she says she will not let any bishop silence her now.
“The institutional church men forget that we are women who are educated, articulate, seekers of truth and very, very holy,” said Quinn, the coordinator of an outspoken group called the National Coalition of American Nuns.
The nuns’ activism and defiance of church doctrine has long angered conservative Catholics. Several orders of nuns left the Leadership Conference to start their own, more traditionalist group. The Vatican, meanwhile, repeatedly signaled and issued at least one formal warning that American nuns must return to the fold.
‘SECULAR FEMINISM’
“The attitudes and values of secular feminism had entered into their mindset” and created an “unhealthy” movement, said Russell Shaw, a church historian, author and former spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
But the nuns were not inclined to back down.
Sister Joan Chittister, a former president of the nuns’ leadership conference, said the nuns saw themselves as helping, not hurting, the church. Their difficult questions must be asked, she said, if the church is to remain vibrant, relevant and respected. “When you begin to suppress that, it’s immoral,” Chittister said. “It’s a mistake for the church. And it’s despair for its people.”
The nuns’ motto, declared on their website: “We risk being agents of change within church and society.”
Fed up, the Vatican in 2008 launched its “doctrinal assessment” of the conference. It also completed a separate investigation of the quality of life for American nuns, but that report has not been made public.
Sister Simone Campbell, who runs a Washington-based Catholic social justice group called Network, said she believed the Vatican’s harsh tone stemmed from anger about the nuns’ support for President Barack Obama’s efforts to get a healthcare overhaul through the U.S. Congress in 2009 and 2010. U.S. bishops opposed the law, signed by Obama in 2010.
The Vatican “clearly got upset that we were effective at communicating our views politically,” Campbell said.
The nuns are not always at odds with the Vatican or U.S. bishops.
Last week, for instance, Campbell joined other nuns and theologians in calling on the bishops to speak out against Republican proposals for the federal budget. The bishops did so, protesting that the budget blueprint violated moral principles by slashing programs for the poor while protecting the wealthy. The nuns have also worked with the bishops on immigration reform.
But the nuns’ Leadership Conference has not expended much energy on other priorities the bishops hold dear, like working to end abortion and gay marriage. The Vatican report said that was unacceptable.
For the most part, nuns did not actively oppose bishops on these issues – “it just was not part of their agenda,” said the Reverend Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, a Catholic university in Washington. “In a sense, they’re being indicted for being silent.”
The nuns’ Leadership Conference has not yet decided how to respond to the Vatican’s rebuke. But some Catholic scholars suggest that the issue will soon be moot.
The generation of nuns that struck out so brazenly in the early 1970s is aging. There are more nuns over age 90 than there are under age 60, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.
In 1975, the United States had more than 135,000 nuns. Now, there are fewer than 56,000.
In recent years, some religious orders have reported a recruiting uptick. But young novices are flocking not to the fiercely independent religious orders that so irk the Vatican but to more traditional orders – those that wear habits, live together in a convent, devote themselves to teaching, nursing and prayer, Georgetown researchers found.
Given that the younger nuns tend to be more traditional, church historian Shaw said he did not think the Vatican should expend too much effort reining in the older generation.
“Look at their median age,” Shaw said. “This is an issue that is going to be settled by actuarial tables, not theologians or canon lawyers.”
Sister Quinn of Chicago disagreed. “There’s an old, old saying,” she said, “that you cannot put the toothpaste back in the tube.”
(Reporting by Stephanie Simon in Denver; Editing by Marilyn W. Thompson and Will Dunham)
By Barbie Latza Nadeau | The Daily Beast – Fri, Apr 20, 2012
For the past three years, Mother Mary Clare Millea has been scouring convents, on the lookout for deviant nuns. The matronly American, who has a doctorate in canon law from Rome’s Pontifical Lateran University, was given this mandate as part of a Vatican-ordered investigation called Apostolic Visitation. She has had no trouble finding sisters on the edge, but the nuns’ main infractions weren’t sins of the flesh or succumbing to vices. Instead, the offending nuns were simply speaking their minds.
Based on a summary of her findings, which she submitted to Cardinal William Levada, head of the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for a final, yet-unpublished, report approved by Pope Benedict XVI, the vast majority of American nuns are pushing “radical-feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.” But rather than preaching against church doctrine, the sisters are often just staying silent on the hot-button issues of abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, and the ordination of women. Their silence is interpreted as endorsement, so by not speaking out against such “evils,” the report says the sisters are effectively showing their approval.
As part of her survey, Mother Millea visited scores of religious houses and convents and interviewed hundreds of mothers superior who oversee the nearly 400 religious congregations in the United States. She excluded nuns living in cloistered or contemplative convents and instead focused on the 57,000 religious women who work in schools, agencies for the poor, universities, and churches. Aside from the fact that only a small fraction of the American nuns wore a religious habit to distinguish them from other women, she found that most were doing little to spread the key social doctrines of the church. In particular, Mother Millea says that the Leadership Conference of Women Religious or LCWR, an umbrella group of American nuns that represents around 55,000 sisters—over 80 percent of the entire population of nuns in the United States—is most at fault. “The current doctrinal and pastoral situation of LCWR is grave and a matter of serious concern,” she concluded, according to a summary of the report. “While there has been a great deal of work on the part of LCWR promoting issues of social justice in harmony with the church’s social doctrine, it is silent on the right to life from conception to natural death, a question that is part of the lively public debate about abortion and euthanasia in the United States.”
Millea’s report also blasted the LCWR for its lack of guidance on homosexuality and same-sex marriage. “Further, issues of crucial importance in the life of the church and society, such as the church’s biblical view of family life and human sexuality, are not part of the LCWR agenda in a way that promotes church teaching.”
The Vatican concludes that the fact that some LCWR leaders question church doctrine in the context of the modern world is of primary concern, but so is their silence on other issues. “The second level of the problem concerns the silence and inaction of the LCWR … given its responsibility to support a vision of religious life in harmony with that of the church and to promote a solid doctrinal basis for religious life.”
The Vatican’s investigation was launched in 2009 as part of an overall study into the reason behind the dwindling number of American nuns. The number of Catholic women choosing religious life in the United States has declined steadily since 1965, down from 180,000 to fewer than 60,000 today. When the investigation was launched, many American nuns were skeptical that they were being targeted. Sister Beth Rindler of Detroit, who is part of the National Coalition of American Nuns as well as a member of the LCWR, says she is shocked by the report. She believes it is a gender issue between the Vatican men and the American nuns. “The church in Rome believes in the patrimony of God. But we believe that God created men and women equally,” she told The Daily Beast. “That’s where we clash.”
Sister Rindler believes the Vatican is focused on the American sisters because they tend to be more independent than their European, Latin American, and African colleagues. While nuns in the rest of the world still wear conservative habits and head covers, the majority of American nuns stopped the practice shortly after the Second Vatican Council reforms. Many American nuns also live independently and reach high education levels—all while still serving the church. Rindler says she believes that the hierarchy in Rome is really worried that the American nuns will influence other sisters around the world. “That’s why the men in the Vatican want control, what they see as influence, we see as enlightenment,” she says, adding that some nuns are brainwashed into thinking they are lesser beings than their male counterparts. “What woman truly believes she is not equal to a man?”
The Vatican has given the LCWR five years to clean up their sister act or face harsh consequences. Among the suggestions rumored in Rome is that the American nuns must rewrite some of the basic tenets of their organization, considering everything from a more appropriate dress code that distinguishes them from other women to incorporating the church’s teachings on homosexuality, abortion, and the ordination of women into all of their religious activities—even those that are not directly affiliated with a Catholic church. The archbishop of Seattle Peter Sartain has been assigned by Rome to offer guidance, and when necessary, approval, of the work of the LCWR.
The American nuns are not pleased. A statement on their website says, “The presidency of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious was stunned by the conclusions of the doctrinal assessment of LCWR by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.” They plan to huddle next month to formulate a response.
Sister Rindler believes that without real dialogue, the two entities—the men at the Vatican and the nuns in America—will stay in a stalemate. “I hope we can continue prayerfully and that somehow the priests will have true dialogue with us,” she says. “Otherwise it will just continue to be ‘we’ and ‘them’. But I think ultimately that’s going to be up to God, not Rome.”
Post 2.656
“Operation Enduring Freedom” (OEF) is the official name used by the U.S. government for the War in Afghanistan, together with a number of smaller military actions, under the umbrella of the global “War on Terror” (GWOT).
The operation was originally called “Operation Infinite Justice” (often misquoted as “Operation Ultimate Justice”), but as similar phrases have been used by adherents of several religions as an exclusive description of God, it is believed to have been changed to avoid offense to Muslims, who are the majority religion in Afghanistan. U.S. President George W. Bush‘s remark that “this crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take a while”, which prompted widespread criticism from the Islamic world, may also have contributed to the renaming of the operation.
The Operation comprises several subordinate operations:
The term “OEF” typically refers to the war in Afghanistan. Other operations, such as the Georgia Train and Equip Program, are only loosely or nominally connected to OEF, such as through government funding vehicles. All the operations, however, have a focus on counterterrorism activities.
Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan, which is a joint U.S., UK and Afghan operation, is separate from the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which is an operation of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation nations including the USA and UK. The two operations run in parallel, and although it has been intended that they merge for some time, this has not yet happened.
| Operation Enduring Freedom | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the War on Terror | |||||||
 U.S. Marines from Alpha Co., Battalion Landing Team 1st Bn., 6th Marines, startle the owner of a compound who refused to open his door for a search during Operation EL DORADO. |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
In Afghanistan:
In Georgia: (completed)
In Kyrgyzstan: (completed)
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In Afghanistan:
In the Philippines: In Somalia:
In Sahara: |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 GEN Tommy Franks (CENTCOM commander 2001–2003), GEN John Abizaid (CENTCOM commander 2003–2007), ADM William J. Fallon (CENTCOM commander 2007–2008), LTG Martin Dempsey,  Air Chief Marshal Sir Graham Stirrup, GEN David Petraeus (CENTCOM commander). |
 Mohammed Omar,  Osama bin Laden†, Ayman al-Zawahiri,  Khadaffy Janjalani†, Riduan Isamuddin (POW) |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||
 10,000+killed 158 killed  3,800+ killed  82 killed[ 53 killed  450+ killed  1,120+ killed 397 killed 1,891 killed Others 300 killed |
Afghanistan-List of Taliban fatality reports in AfghanistanHorn Of Africa- 212-242 total killed[
Trans Sahara- at least 261+ killed, 333 non-combat fatalities Philippines- at least 100+ killed |
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Overview
On 7 October 2001, early combat operations including a mix of strikes from land-based B-1 Lancer, B-2 Spirit and B-52 Stratofortress bombers; carrier-based F-14 Tomcat and F/A-18 Hornet fighters; and Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from both U.S. and British ships and submarines signaled the start of Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan (OEF-A).
GULF OF ADEN (April 9, 2012) A close-in weapons system (CIWS) is test fired aboard the guided-missile cruiser USS Vicksburg (CG 69). Vicksburg is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility conducting maritime security operations, theater security cooperation efforts and support missions for Operation Enduring Freedom. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nick C. Scott/Released) http://media.photobucket.com/image/operation%20enduring%20freedom/bdpopeye/TPMigration6/3-107.jpg?o=1
The initial military objectives of OEF-A, as articulated by Former President George W. Bush in his 20 Sept. Address to a Joint Session of Congress and his 7 Oct. address to the country, included the destruction of terrorist training camps and infrastructure within Afghanistan, the capture of al-Qaeda leaders, and the cessation of terrorist activities in Afghanistan.
In January 2002, over 1,200 soldiers from the United States Special Operation Command Pacific (SOCPAC) deployed to Philippines to support the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in their push to uproot terrorist forces on the island of Basilan. Of those groups included are Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah.
ARABIAN SEA (April 10, 2012) Quartermaster Seaman Shelbey Croy takes visual bearings on the bridge aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65). Enterprise is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility conducting maritime security operations, theater security cooperation efforts and support missions as part of Operation Enduring freedom. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Harry Andrew D. Gordon/Released) http://media.photobucket.com/image/operation%20enduring%20freedom
The operation consisted of training the AFP in counter-terrorist operations as well as supporting the local people with humanitarian aid in Operation Smiles.
In October 2002, the Combined Task Force 150 and United States military Special Forces established themselves in Djibouti at Camp Lemonnier. The stated goals of the operation were to provide humanitarian aid and patrol the Horn of Africa to reduce the abilities of terrorist organizations in the region. Similar to OEF-P, the goal of humanitarian aid was emphasised, ostensibly to prevent militant organizations from being able to take hold amongst the population as well as reemerge after being removed.
ARABIAN SEA (April 13, 2012) Members of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) chiefs’ mess grill ribs during no-fly day festivities on the ship’s flight deck. Abraham Lincoln is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility conducting maritime security operations, theater security cooperation efforts and support missions as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jonathan P. Idle/Released) http://media.photobucket.com/image/operation%20enduring%20freedom/
The military aspect involves coalition forces searching and boarding ships entering the region for illegal cargo as well as providing training and equipment to the armed forces in the region. The humanitarian aspect involves building schools, clinics and water wells to enforce the confidence of the local people.
Since 2001, the cumulative expenditure by the U.S. government on Operation Enduring Freedom has exceeded $150 billion.
ARABIAN SEA (April 10, 2012) Lt. Patrick O’Neill, flight deck shooter aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65), directs the launch of an F/A-18E Super Hornet assigned to the Checkmates of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 211. Enterprise is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility conducting maritime security operations, theater security cooperation efforts and support missions as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Scott Pittman/Released) http://media.photobucket.com/image/operation%20enduring%20freedom
The operation continues, with military direction mostly coming from United States Central Command.
Seizing upon a power vacuum after the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan after their invasion, the Taliban assumed the role of government from 1996–2001. Their extreme interpretation of Islamic law prompted them to ban music, television, sports, and dancing, and enforce harsh judicial penalties (See Human rights in Afghanistan). Amputation was an accepted form of punishment for stealing,and public executions could often be seen at the Kabul football stadium.Women’s rights groups around the world were frequently critical as the Taliban banned women from appearing in public or holding many jobs outside the home. They drew further criticism when they destroyed the Buddhas of Bamyan, historical statues nearly 1500 years old, because the buddhas were considered idols.
ARABIAN SEA (April 8, 2012) A Marine assigned to the Thunderbolts of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 251 performs preventative maintenance on the wing of an F/A-18C Hornet on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65). Enterprise is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility conducting maritime security operations, theater security cooperation efforts and support missions as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Scott Pittman/Released) http://media.photobucket.com/image/operation%20enduring%20freedom/
In 1996, Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden moved to Afghanistan upon the invitation of the Northern Alliance leader Abdur Rabb ur Rasool Sayyaf. When the Taliban came to power, bin Laden was able to forge an alliance between the Taliban and his al-Qaeda organization. It is understood that al-Qaeda-trained fighters known as the 055 Brigade were integrated with the Taliban army between 1997 and 2001. It has been suggested that the Taliban and bin Laden had very close connections.
ARABIAN SEA (April 11, 2012) An aviation boatswain’s mate prepares to stow a fuel hose after refueling an MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to the Saberhawks of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 77 on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). Abraham Lincoln is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility conducting maritime security operations, theater security cooperation efforts and support missions as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Joshua E. Walters/Released) http://media.photobucket.com/image/operation%20enduring%20freedom
On 20 September 2001, the U.S. stated that Osama bin Laden was behind the 11 September attacks in 2001. The U.S. made a five point ultimatum to the Taliban:.
On 21 September 2001, the Taliban rejected this ultimatum, stating there was no evidence in their possession linking bin Laden to the 11 September attacks.
On 22 September 2001 the United Arab Emirates and later Saudi Arabia withdrew their recognition of the Taliban as the legal government of Afghanistan, leaving neighboring Pakistan as the only remaining country with diplomatic ties.
ARABIAN GULF (April 14, 2012) Sailors assigned to the French navy anti-air frigate FS Cassard (D 614) ride in a rigid-hull inflatable boat to the guided-missile cruiser USS Vicksburg (CG 69) during a visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) exercise. Vicksburg is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility conducting maritime security operations, theater security cooperation efforts and support missions for Operation Enduring Freedom. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nick C. Scott/Released) http://media.photobucket.com/image/operation%20enduring%20freedom/
On 4 October 2001, it is believed that the Taliban covertly offered to turn bin Laden over to Pakistan for trial in an international tribunal that operated according to Islamic shar’ia law. On 7 October 2001, the Taliban proposed to try bin Laden in Afghanistan in an Islamic court. This proposition was immediately rejected by the U.S. Shortly afterward, the same day, United States and British forces initiated military action against the Taliban, bombing Taliban forces and al-Qaeda terrorist training camps.
On 14 October 2001, the Taliban proposed to hand bin Laden over to a third country for trial, but only if they were given evidence of bin Laden’s involvement in the events of 11 September 2001. The U.S. rejected this proposal and ensued with military operations.
The UN Security Council, on 16 January 2002, unanimously established an arms embargo and the freezing of identifiable assets belonging to bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the remaining Taliban.
Combat operations start
5-country multinational fleet, during “Operation Enduring Freedom” in the Oman Sea. In four descending columns, from left to right: MM Maestrale (F 570), De Grasse (D 612); USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), Charles De Gaulle (R 91), Surcouf (F 711); USS Port Royal (CG-73), HMS Ocean (L 12), USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67), HNLMS Van Amstel (F 831); and MM Durand de la Penne (D 560)
On Sunday 7 October 2001, American and British forces began an aerial bombing campaign targeting Taliban forces and al-Qaeda.
The Northern Alliance, aided by a joint Special Operations team consisting of Green Berets from the 5th Special Forces Group, aircrew members from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR), and Air Force Combat Controllers, fought against the Taliban. Aided by U.S. bombing and massive defections, they captured Mazari Sharif on 9 November. They then rapidly gained control of most of northern Afghanistan, and took control of Kabul on 13 November after the Taliban unexpectedly fled the city. The Taliban were restricted to a smaller and smaller region, with Kunduz, the last Taliban-held city in the north, captured on 26 November. Most of the Taliban fled to Pakistan.
The war continued in the south of the country, where the Taliban retreated to Kandahar. After Kandahar fell in December, remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaeda continued to mount resistance. Meanwhile, in November 2001 the U.S. military and its allied forces established their first ground base in Afghanistan to the south west of Kandahar, known as FOB Rhino.
The Battle of Tora Bora, involving U.S., British and Northern Alliance forces took place in December 2001 to further destroy the Taliban and suspected al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. In early March 2002 the United States military, along with allied Afghan military forces, conducted a large operation to destroy al-Qaeda in an operation code-named Operation Anaconda.
The operation was carried out by elements of the United States 10th Mountain Division, 101st Airborne Division, the U.S. special forces groups TF 11, TF Bowie, and TF Dagger, British Royal Marines, the Norwegian Forsvarets Spesialkommando (FSK), Hærens Jegerkommando and Marinejegerkommandoen, Canada’s 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, Canada’s Joint Task Force 2, the Afghan National Army, the German KSK, and elements of the Australian Special Air Service Regiment and of the New Zealand Special Air Service.
After managing to evade U.S. forces throughout the summer of 2002, the remnants of the Taliban gradually began to regain their confidence. A Canadian and U.S. led operation (supported by British and Dutch forces), Operation Mountain Thrust was launched in May 2006 to counter renewed Taliban insurgency.
Since January 2006, the NATO International Security Assistance Force undertook combat duties from Operation Enduring Freedom in southern Afghanistan, the NATO force chiefly made up of British, Canadian and Dutch forces (and some smaller contributions from Denmark, Romania and Estonia and air support from Norway as well as air and artillery support from the U.S.) (see the article Coalition combat operations in Afghanistan in 2006). The United States military also conducts military operations separate from NATO as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in other parts of Afghanistan, in areas such as Kandahar, Bagram, and Kabul (including Camp Eggers and Camp Phoenix.)
operation enduring freedom 2005 http://media.photobucket.com/image/operation%20enduring%20freedom/
The United States was supported by several nations during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan in 2001–2003 and in subsequent coalition operations directly or indirectly in support of OEF. See the article Afghanistan War order of battle for the current disposition of coalition forces in Afghanistan.
The U.S.-led Coalition initially removed the Taliban from power and seriously crippled al-Qaeda and associated militants in Afghanistan. However, since the 2001 invasion little success has been accomplished in quelling the Taliban insurgency in the southern parts of the country, many believe the Taliban cannot be defeated as long as it has sanctuary in neighboring Pakistan and that Operation Enduring Freedom has transformed into a continuing full fledged war with no end in sight.
On 9 October 2004, Afghanistan elected Hamid Karzai President in its first direct elections. The following year, Afghans conducted the Afghan parliamentary election, 2005 on 18 September. Since the invasion, hundreds of schools and mosques have been constructed, millions of dollars in aid have been distributed, and the occurrence of violence has been greatly reduced.
While military forces interdict insurgents and assure security, Provincial reconstruction teams are tasked with infrastructure building, like constructing roads and bridges, assisting during floods, and providing food and water to refugees. Many warlords have participated in an allegiance program, recognizing the legitimacy of the Government of Afghanistan, and surrendering their soldiers and weapons, though some of their subsequent actions have led to serious questions about their true loyalties.
The newly activated Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, and Afghan Border Police are being trained to assume the task of securing their nation. However, the Taliban still wields strong influence in many regions.
AFP, reporting on a news story in the Sunday, 3 April 2004, issue of The New Yorker, wrote that retired Army Colonel Hy Rothstein, “who served in the Army Special Forces for more than 20 years, … commissioned by The Pentagon to examine the war in Afghanistan concluded the conflict created conditions that have given ‘warlordism, banditry and opium production a new lease on life’ ….”
The conduct of U.S. forces was criticised in a report entitled Enduring Freedom – Abuses by U.S. Forces in Afghanistan by U.S.-based human rights group, Human Rights Watch in 2004. Some Pakistani scholars, such as Masood Ashraf Raja, editor of Pakistaniaat, have also provided a more specific form of criticism that relates to the consequences of war on terror on the region.
Noted linguist and activist Avram Noam Chomsky, “Noam”, pointed out the inherent irony of an operation titled “Enduring Freedom”, as the word “endure” is defined[ as to suffer something difficult or unpleasant in a patient way over a long period of time.
The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) Al Harakat Al Islamiyya, is deemed a “foreign terrorist organization” by the United States government. Specifically, it is an Islamist separatist group based in and around the southern islands of the Republic of the Philippines, primarily Jolo, Basilan, and Mindanao.
Thompson http://media.photobucket.com/image/operation%20enduring%20freedom/
Since inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, and extortion in their fight for an independent Islamic state in western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago. Its claimed overarching goal is to create a Pan-Islamic superstate across the Malay portions of Southeast Asia, spanning, from east to west, the large island of Mindanao, the Sulu Archipelago (Basilan and Jolo islands), the large island of Borneo (Malaysia and Indonesia), the South China Sea, and the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar).
Jemaah Islamiyah is a militant Islamic terrorist organization dedicated to the establishment of a fundamentalist Islamic theocracy in Southeast Asia, in particular Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, the south of Thailand and the Philippines.
Financial links between Jemaah Islamiyah and other terrorist groups, such as Abu Sayyaf and al-Qaeda, have been found to exist. Jemaah Islamiyah means “Islamic Group” or “Islamic Community” and is often abbreviated JI.
Jemaah Islamiyah is thought to have killed hundreds of civilians. Also, it is suspected of carrying out the Bali car bombing on 12 October 2002, in which suicide bombers attacked a nightclub killing 202 people and wounding many more. Most of the casualties were Australian tourists. After this attack, the U.S. State Department designated Jemaah Islamiyah as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Jemaah Islamiyah is also suspected of carrying out the Zamboanga bombings, the Metro Manila bombings, the 2004 Australian embassy bombing and the 2005 Bali terrorist bombing.
In January 2002, 1,200 members of United States Special Operations Command, Pacific (SOCPAC) were deployed to the Philippines to assist the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in uprooting al-Qaeda, Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf. The members of SOCPAC were assigned to assist in military operations against the terrorist forces as well as humanitarian operations for the island of Basilan, where most of the conflict was expected to take place.
http://media.photobucket.com/image/operation%20enduring%20freedom/
The United States Special Forces (SF) unit trained and equipped special forces and scout rangers of the AFP, creating the Light Reaction Company (LRC). The LRC and elements of SOCPAC deployed to Basilan on completion of their training. The stated goals of the deployment were denying the ASG sanctuary, surveiling, controlling, and denying ASG routes, surveiling supporting villages and key personnel, conducting local training to overcome AFP weaknesses and sustain AFP strengths, supporting operations by the AFP “strike force” (LRC) in the area of responsibility (AOR), conducting and supporting civil affairs operations in the AOR.
The desired result was for the AFP to gain sufficient capability to locate and destroy the ASG, to recover hostages and to enhance the legitimacy of the Philippine government. Much of the operation was a success: the ASG was driven from Basilan and one U.S. hostage was recovered.[33] The Abu Sayyaf Group’s ranks, which once counted more than 800 members, was reduced to less than 100. The humanitarian portion of the operation, Operation Smiles, created 14 schools, 7 clinics, 3 hospitals and provided medical care to over 18,000 residents of Basilan. Humanitarian groups were able to continue their work without fear of further kidnappings and terrorists attacks by the Abu Sayyaf Group.
Unlike other operations contained in Operation Enduring Freedom, OEF-HOA does not have a specific terrorist organization as a target. OEF-HOA instead focuses its efforts to disrupt and detect terrorist activities in the region and to work with host nations to deny the reemergence of terrorist cells and activities. Operations began in mid-2002 at Camp Lemonier by a Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force (CJSOTF) augmented by support forces from Fort Stewart, Fort Hood, and Fort Story. In October 2002, the Combined Joint Task Force, Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) was established at Djibouti at Camp Lemonier, taking over responsibilities from the CJSOTF. CJTF-HOA comprised approximately 2,000 personnel including U.S. military and Special Operations Forces (SOF), and coalition force members, Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150). The coalition force consists of ships from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Pakistan, New Zealand, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom. The primary goal of the coalition forces is to monitor, inspect, board and stop suspected shipments from entering the Horn of Africa region.
CJTF-HOA has devoted the majority of its efforts to train selected armed forces units of the countries of Djibouti, Kenya and Ethiopia in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency tactics. Humanitarian efforts conducted by CJTF-HOA include the rebuilding of schools and medical clinics, as well as providing medical services to those countries whose forces are being trained. The program expands as part of the Trans-Saharan Counter Terrorism Initiative as CJTF personnel also assist in training the forces of Chad, Niger, Mauritania and Mali.
Anti-piracy operations were undertaken by the coalition throughout 2006 with a battle fought in March when U.S. vessels were attacked by pirates. In January 2007, during the war in Somalia, an AC-130 airstrike was conducted against al-Qaeda members embedded with forces of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) operating in southern Somalia near Ras Kamboni. U.S. naval forces, including the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, were positioned off the coast of Somalia to provide support and to prevent any al-Qaeda forces escaping by sea. Actions against pirates also occurred in June and October 2007 with varying amounts of success.
Since 2002, the United States military has created military awards and decorations related to Operation Enduring Freedom:
NATO also created a military decoration related to Operation Enduring Freedom:
ISAF
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