Iraqi SWAT training nears halfway point

[Barrett808]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service, March 22, 2005 -- Iraq, with some assistance from U.S. trainers, is approaching the halfway point in fielding its Special Weapons and Tactics teams to each governorate.

Seven teams are now trained and equipped; two others are currently in training, according to officials from the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq. The MNSTC-I Civilian Police Assistance Training Team plans to provide a SWAT team for each of 20 major Iraqi cities, with at least one in each governorate.

SWAT teams in several major cities are already making a difference, according to reports. SWAT teams were used as quick reaction forces in Najaf and Al Kut during the national elections and in Basra for a major British-sponsored meeting of Shia and Sunni clerics with local officials and tribal leaders.

The Basra SWAT team was also a major player in a successful raid on a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device factory in the city.

(more)

http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/read.php?story_id_key=7048

[NNN0LHI]

1. I bet every other one of these guys is a Blackwater mercenary

An Iraqi Police commando patrols in the area around the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad, Iraq (news - web sites) Monday, March 21, 2005. Iraq and neighboring Jordan are engaged in a diplomatic spat, announcing a tit-for-tat withdrawal of high-level representatives Sunday in a growing dispute over Shiite Muslim claims that Jordan is failing to block terrorists from entering Iraq. Sunday's events capped a week of rising tensions that included a protest in which Shiite demonstrators raised the Iraqi flag over the Jordanian embassy, where it was still flying Monday.(AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

How common is it for Muslims to wear wedding bands?

[Barrett808]

2. On an infiltrating insurgent sleeper n/t

[NYC]

3. I've seen wedding bands in Egypt.

Other than that, I don't know.

[seriousstan]

4. Where do you see a wedding band?

[NNN0LHI]

5. On his ring finger n/t