Serco - The biggest uk company you have never heard of
President Obama speech Iraq Crisis ISIS War and Iraqi Government
Romney: Obama's 'Inaction' Is Responsible for Iraq Falling to ISIS
Defense Ammunition Center
ISIS Claims Massacre of 1,700 Iraqi Soldiers!
Daesh Muslim Massacre
“WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: Iraqi 'massacre' as up to 1,000 feared dead
THESE are the shocking images which show a group of Iraqi soldiers being led to their death by the extremist rebels tearing the nation apart.
By: Cyrus Engineer
Published: Mon, June 16, 2014
Locals flee from Mosul as ISIS rebels take control of the city[AP]
One picture shows army personal cowering while men from the Al-Qaeda linked ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) aim Ak-47 assault rifles at them.
Others show dozens of men lying down in a muddy ditch while a firing squad stands behind them.
Iraqi military spokesman Lt Gen Qassim al-Moussawi confirmed the pictures’ authenticity although they have yet to be independently verified.
The disturbing images were posted online by ISIS and were allegedly taken after the Sunni extremist group took control of an army base in Tikrit.
Footage released by ISIS shows hundreds of men being marched from the Speicher army base before being loaded onto trucks.
The ISIS rebels march the military personnel in Tikrit [AP]
These dark images appear to show the ISIS about to carry out a mass execution [AP]
In almost every country in which the West has intervened or even implied support for regime change, the situation has been made worse and not better
Ukip leader Nigel Farage
It is feared as many as 1,000 servicemen from the base may have been executed.
If so it would be the single greatest atrocity to occur in Iraq since the American-led invasion in 2003.
Iraq is on the brink of civil war after ferocious fighting engulfed much of the war-torn country.
Rebels captured another city overnight – Tal Afar, in the north of the country – after a heavy mortar attack.
Several rounds landed on busy areas, reportedly killing at least seven and wounding 33.
ISIS also gained control of two more villages as it pushed into Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad.
Tony Blair has called for strong action over the crisis in Iraq [GETTY]
Nigel Farage has warned against further intervention in Iraq [GETTY]
Earlier the Iraqi military claimed to have killed nearly 280 militants across several regions.
The developments come as Boris Johnson this morning tore into former Prime Minister Tony Blair for denying any responsibility for the "tragic error" of his involvement in Iraq.
The Mayor of London described Mr Blair as "unhinged" and claimed he "sure needs professional psychiatric help".
He said: "The Iraq war was a tragic mistake; and by refusing to accept this, Blair is now undermining the very cause he advocates – the possibility of serious and effective intervention.
"Blair’s argument (if that is the word for his chain of bonkers assertions) is that we were right in 2003, and that we would be right to intervene again."
Related articles
He added: "Somebody needs to get on to Tony Blair and tell him to put a sock in it – or at least to accept the reality of the disaster he helped to engender."
Mr Blair angered many by insisting the invasion he helped mastermind was not to blame for the horrors now taking place in Iraq.
Meanwhile US President Barack Obama has dispatched the USS George HW Bush aircraft carrier, along with two other warships, to the Persian Gulf.
Mr Blair was slammed on Sunday for his essay "Iraq, Syria and the Middle East" in which he called for strong action in response to the worsening situation in the region.
Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: "In almost every country in which the West has intervened or even implied support for regime change, the situation has been made worse and not better.
"This is true of Libya, Syria and of course Iraq. Tony Blair's state of outright denial of the obvious consequences of his disastrous decision-making on Iraq is making increasingly uncomfortable viewing.
"The lesson is not, as Mr Blair implies, that the West should intervene in Syria, let alone once more in Iraq. The lesson is that the West should declare an end to the era of military intervention abroad."
Douglas Alexander has said the Iraqis must decide their own future [GETTY]
Shadow foreign secretary also distanced Labour from the possibility of intervention, insisting the Iraqis themselves must solve the crisis.
"Iraq's prime minister Nour al-Malaki has so far been unwilling or unable to do what is needed for his country and its people," he said.
"But with the militant threat marching towards Baghdad, he must now act to deliver a strong Iraqi military response alongside a united and determined political front."
As well as the massacre in Tikrit a double-bombing in Baghdad, the nation's capital, killed at least nine people and injured dozens.
The Baghdad attack was a roadside bomb followed quickly by a suicide bombing.
It was carried out by an attacking wearing an explosive vest who detonated outside a shop selling military fatigues in the city centre.”
“Defense Ammunition Center (DAC)
| Contract Type | Fixed Price |
| Period of Performance | 10/1/2008 to 9/30/2013 |
Project Overview:
Since 2008, Serco has assisted DAC with the analysis, design, development, implementation, management/ administration, and evaluation of integrated, enterprise-wide and component-specific training, learning, knowledge management, and strategic human resource management interventions that are critical to achieving their mission. Serco holds an OPM TMA TO with DAC and also a contract through GSA Millenia Lite. When the GSA contract could not support all of DACs needs, Serco recommended the use of the OPM TMA vehicle. Through these contracts, Serco provides training program management support to deliver multi-faceted best practice solutions in training development and delivery, knowledge management, portal technologies, course conversions (ILT and CBT to WBT), mobile performance applications, and Learning Management Systems support. Serco applies the ADDIE model to all course development activities including ILT, WBT, and leading-edge technologies including mobile performance applications. Serco provided LMS support and also developed and continues to manage DAC’s Ammunition Community of Excellence.
….
Types of Solutions Developed:
Serco converted DAC curriculum from predominantly ILT to a blended training environment that provided DL, ILT support, continuous performance support through a CoP, and mobile application tools for approximately 110,000 students annually. To date, Serco has worked with DAC to grow their online curriculum to more than 60 courses representing approximately 240 hours of training. Serco assisted DAC in migrating to the mandated Army Learning Management System (ALMS) in less than six months. Serco also provides ongoing support for the identification of new DL courses while maintaining and updating the spectrum of existing courses. On the ILT front, Serco provides design support and, when required, additional facilitator/instructor support for several courses.
The CoP provides a repository of relevant materials, a forum for collaborative sharing of information, and an “Ask an Expert” capability for soldiers to receive answers to their questions from qualified DAC resources. The CoP enjoys more than 10,000 active members and has received numerous accolades from appreciative members.
Most recently, Serco proposed the inclusion of mobile application tools and games to reinforce training and provide continuous and “in the field” performance support. To date, Serco has developed six mobile apps which have been distributed for both the iOS (Apple App Store) and Android (Google Play) environments. Together, these apps have reached over 15,000 soldiers and have allowed DAC to become a center of excellence in this burgeoning training environment.
Intended or Achieved Result:
Through the design and delivery of customized instructor-led, web-based training and distribution of mobile performance supports, Serco has increased the number of DAC learners by 10–15% year over year. Serco has increased the number of DAC learners reached annually by 10%–15% via varied modalities.
In 2011 alone:
110,000 Soldiers took a Serco-authored DAC Distance Learning course
15,000 Soldiers participated in a Serco-developed, DAC-sponsored ILT course
15,000 people used the Serco-administrated DAC Ammunition CoP to discover information, references or collaborate with other ammunition professionals”
“WND EXCLUSIVE
BLOWBACK! U.S. TRAINED ISIS AT SECRET JORDAN BASE
Described as covert aid to insurgents targeting al-Assad
Published: 10 hours ago
AARON KLEIN About | Email | Archive
Army trainers
JERUSALEM – Members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS, were trained in 2012 by U.S. instructors working at a secret base in Jordan, according to informed Jordanian officials.
The officials said dozens of ISIS members were trained at the time as part of covert aid to the insurgents targeting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. The officials said the training was not meant to be used for any future campaign in Iraq.
The Jordanian officials said all ISIS members who received U.S. training to fight in Syria were first vetted for any links to extremist groups like al-Qaida.
In February 2012, WND was first to report the U.S., Turkey and Jordan were running a training base for the Syrian rebels in the Jordanian town of Safawi in the country’s northern desert region.
That report has since been corroborated by numerous other media accounts.
Last March, the German weekly Der Spiegel reported Americans were training Syrian rebels in Jordan.
Quoting what it said were training participants and organizers, Der Spiegel reported it was not clear whether the Americans worked for private firms or were with the U.S. Army, but the magazine said some organizers wore uniforms. The training in Jordan reportedly focused on use of anti-tank weaponry.
The German magazine reported some 200 men received the training over the previous three months amid U.S. plans to train a total of 1,200 members of the Free Syrian Army in two camps in the south and the east of Jordan.
Britain’s Guardian newspaper also reported last March that U.S. trainers were aiding Syrian rebels in Jordan along with British and French instructors.
Reuters reported a spokesman for the U.S. Defense Department declined immediate comment on the German magazine’s report. The French foreign ministry and Britain’s foreign and defense ministries also would not comment to Reuters.
The Jordanian officials spoke to WND amid concern the sectarian violence in Iraq will spill over into their own country as well as into Syria.
ISIS previously posted a video on YouTube threatening to move on Jordan and “slaughter” King Abdullah, whom they view as an enemy of Islam.
WND reported last week that, according to Jordanian and Syrian regime sources, Saudi Arabia has been arming the ISIS and that the Saudis are a driving force in supporting the al-Qaida-linked group.
WND further reported that, according to a Shiite source in contact with a high official in the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the Obama administration has been aware for two months that the al-Qaida-inspired group that has taken over two Iraqi cities and now is threatening Baghdad also was training fighters in Turkey.
The source told WND that at least one of the training camps of the group Iraq of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Syria, the ISIS, is in the vicinity of Incirlik Air Base near Adana, Turkey, where American personnel and equipment are located.
He called Obama “an accomplice” in the attacks that are threatening the Maliki government the U.S. helped establish through the Iraq war.
The source said that after training in Turkey, thousands of ISIS fighters went to Iraq by way of Syria to join the effort to establish an Islamic caliphate subject to strict Islamic law, or Shariah.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/06/
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/06/
“Iraq crisis: Barack Obama sends in US troops as Isis insurgency worsens
Obama authorises 275 personnel 'equipped for combat'
White House considers special forces to advise Iraqis
US and Iran rule out military cooperation
Paul Lewis in Washington, Spencer Ackerman in New York and Saeed Kamali Dehghan in London
theguardian.com, Tuesday 17 June 2014 13.51 BST
The Obama administration has ordered the urgent deployment of several hundred armed troops in and around Iraq, after the rampant insurgency in the country forced the first talks between the US and Iran over a common security interest in more than a decade.
Barack Obama discussed the crisis with national security team on Monday night after earlier notifying Congress that up to 275 troops could be sent to Iraq to provide support and security for personnel and the US embassy in Baghdad.
While Obama has vowed to keep US troops out of combat in Iraq, he said in his notification to Congress that the personnel moving into the region were equipped for direct fighting. In addition, officials told Reuters that the White House was considering sending a contingent of special forces to train and advise beleaguered Iraqi troops, many of whom have fled their posts in the face of the insurgency.
The moves were made in advance of any decision Obama may yet make on attacking the Isis fighters currently threatening Iraq.
About 170 US personnel have already arrived in Baghdad – almost as many as those already there – with another 100 nearby outside Iraq to assist, rear admiral John Kirby said in a statement from the Pentagon late Monday. Obama had earlier sent a letter to members of Congress informing them of the decision – a signal that the administration does not want to risk another disaster at an under-guarded embassy akin to the 2012 assault on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya that remains a major controversy on the right.
US and Iranian officials held talks over the crisis on Monday. The discussions in Vienna took place on the sidelines of separate negotiations about Iran’s nuclear program me amid conflicting signals in Washington over the extent of any coordination with Tehran over the crisis in Iraq.
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, pointedly declined to rule out military cooperation in an interview on Monday, but US and Iranian officials later stressed that there was no prospect of military coordination, and none was discussed in Vienna, where talks were described as short and inconclusive.
“We are open to engaging the Iranians,” said a senior State Department official, who characterised the discussions as brief. “These engagements will not include military coordination or strategic determinations about Iraq’s future over the heads of the Iraqi people,” the US official said, on condition of anonymity.
The Iranians confirmed that military cooperation was not on the cards. “The disastrous situation in Iraq was discussed today. No specific outcome was achieved,” a senior Iranian official told Reuters.
“We are open to engaging the Iranians,” said a senior State Department official, who characterised the discussions as brief. “These engagements will not include military coordination or strategic determinations about Iraq’s future over the heads of the Iraqi people,” the US official said, on condition of anonymity.
The Iranians confirmed that military cooperation was not on the cards. “The disastrous situation in Iraq was discussed today. No specific outcome was achieved,” a senior Iranian official told Reuters.
Fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) have rapidly advanced through mostly Sunni areas of Iraq in recent days, capturing several cities. It was reported on Monday that they had taken Tal Afar, a northern Iraqi city. On Sunday, the insurgent fighters posted images purporting to show the execution of hundreds of Shia fighters.
Obama said in his notification to Congress that the military personnel being sent to Iraq would provide support and security for the American embassy in Baghdad, but was “equipped for combat”.
Obama said in his notification to Congress that the military personnel being sent to Iraq would provide support and security for the American embassy in Baghdad, but was “equipped for combat”.
“This force will remain in Iraq until the security situation becomes such that it is no longer needed,”he said.
In Iraq on Monday, the capital, Baghdad, remained outside the grasp of Isis. But the mayor of Tal Afar, a city of 200,000 people located 260 miles north-west of Baghdad, told the Associated Press that the insurgent group was in control there. A resident said militants in pickup trucks with machine guns and jihadi banners were roaming the streets as gunfire rang out.
Fighting in Tal Afar began on Sunday, with Iraqi government officials saying Isis fighters were firing rockets seized from military arms depots in the Mosul area. They said the local garrison suffered heavy casualties and the main hospital was unable to cope with the wounded.
There were fears that militants would carry out further atrocities in Tal Afar, which is ethnically mixed and made up of Shias and Sunni Turkomen.
Claims at the weekend that the insurgents had killed 1,700 Iraqi soldiers could not be verified. But pictures, on a militant website, appear to show masked Isis fighters loading captives on to flatbed trucks before forcing them to lie facedown in a shallow ditch with their arms tied behind their backs. The final images show the bodies of the captives soaked in blood after being shot at several locations.
Iraq's chief military spokesman, Lt Gen Qassim al-Moussawi, said the photos were genuine and that he was aware of cases of mass murder of captured Iraqi soldiers in areas held by Isis.
Tal Afar's capture came hours after Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, vowed to retake every inch of territory seized by the militants.
“We will march and liberate every inch they defaced, from the country's northernmost point to the southernmost point,” Maliki told volunteers joining up to fight the insurgents.
Fighting in Tal Afar began on Sunday, with Iraqi government officials saying Isis fighters were firing rockets seized from military arms depots in the Mosul area. They said the local garrison suffered heavy casualties and the main hospital was unable to cope with the wounded.
There were fears that militants would carry out further atrocities in Tal Afar, which is ethnically mixed and made up of Shias and Sunni Turkomen.
Claims at the weekend that the insurgents had killed 1,700 Iraqi soldiers could not be verified. But pictures, on a militant website, appear to show masked Isis fighters loading captives on to flatbed trucks before forcing them to lie facedown in a shallow ditch with their arms tied behind their backs. The final images show the bodies of the captives soaked in blood after being shot at several locations.
Iraq's chief military spokesman, Lt Gen Qassim al-Moussawi, said the photos were genuine and that he was aware of cases of mass murder of captured Iraqi soldiers in areas held by Isis.
Tal Afar's capture came hours after Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, vowed to retake every inch of territory seized by the militants.
“We will march and liberate every inch they defaced, from the country's northernmost point to the southernmost point,” Maliki told volunteers joining up to fight the insurgents.
The Isis-led insurgency is the worst threat to Iraq since US troops left in 2011. But in an indication of how sensitive in Washington any cooperation with Tehran would be, officials moved quickly to clarify remarks by Kerry, who went further than his administration colleagues in entertaining military cooperation with Iran against a common adversary.
“We're open to discussions if there is something constructive that can be contributed by Iran, if Iran is prepared to do something that is going to respect the integrity and sovereignty of Iraq and ability of the government to reform,” Kerry told Yahoo News.
Pressed by interviewer Katie Couric over whether that would include military cooperation, Kerry replied: “At this moment I think we need to go step by step and see what in fact might be a reality. But I wouldn't rule out anything that would be constructive to providing real stability.”
Less than three hours later, the Pentagon released a series of public statements that firmly ruled out military coordination. “There has been no contact, nor are there plans for contact, between [the Department of Defense] and the Iranian military on the security situation in Iraq,” lieutenant commander Bill Speaks, a Pentagon spokesman, told the Guardian.
Notwithstanding the denials of military collaboration, the advent of joint diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran over the chaos in Iraq represents a dramatic turnaround for the two rival powers, whose relations, frozen for several decades, have only begun to thaw over the past year.
Military experts say any US air strikes in Iraq would will be impeded by the lack of intelligence from the the ground. An Iranian offensive, by contrast, would be expected to involve elite forces of ground troops that would engage in direct combat with Isis fighters, gaining a detailed knowledge of the battle lines.
Yet the notion of a partnership between the longtime foes prompted intense resistance in some quarters of Washington and Tehran on Monday. “It would be the height of folly to believe that the Iranian regime can be our partner in managing the deteriorating security situation in Iraq,” senator John McCain said in a statement.
McCain's remarks contrasted with those of another Republican hawk, Lindsey Graham, who on Sunday expressed support for cooperating with Iran. McCain and Graham are usually in lockstep over foreign policy issues and their dispute revealed the divisions uncovered by the prospect of a collaboration with Iran.
Washington has dispatched some of its most senior White House and State Department officials to the nuclear talks in Austria, including the top deputy secretary of state, William Burns. He was scheduled to meet Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Monday.
Their meeting kicks off five days of negotiations between Iran and the six world powers collectively referred to as “P5+1”. Before arriving in Vienna, Zarif spoke by telephone with the British foreign secretary, William Hague, about the possible role Iran could play in easing the conflict in Iraq.
“We're open to discussions if there is something constructive that can be contributed by Iran, if Iran is prepared to do something that is going to respect the integrity and sovereignty of Iraq and ability of the government to reform,” Kerry told Yahoo News.
Pressed by interviewer Katie Couric over whether that would include military cooperation, Kerry replied: “At this moment I think we need to go step by step and see what in fact might be a reality. But I wouldn't rule out anything that would be constructive to providing real stability.”
Less than three hours later, the Pentagon released a series of public statements that firmly ruled out military coordination. “There has been no contact, nor are there plans for contact, between [the Department of Defense] and the Iranian military on the security situation in Iraq,” lieutenant commander Bill Speaks, a Pentagon spokesman, told the Guardian.
Notwithstanding the denials of military collaboration, the advent of joint diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran over the chaos in Iraq represents a dramatic turnaround for the two rival powers, whose relations, frozen for several decades, have only begun to thaw over the past year.
Military experts say any US air strikes in Iraq would will be impeded by the lack of intelligence from the the ground. An Iranian offensive, by contrast, would be expected to involve elite forces of ground troops that would engage in direct combat with Isis fighters, gaining a detailed knowledge of the battle lines.
Yet the notion of a partnership between the longtime foes prompted intense resistance in some quarters of Washington and Tehran on Monday. “It would be the height of folly to believe that the Iranian regime can be our partner in managing the deteriorating security situation in Iraq,” senator John McCain said in a statement.
McCain's remarks contrasted with those of another Republican hawk, Lindsey Graham, who on Sunday expressed support for cooperating with Iran. McCain and Graham are usually in lockstep over foreign policy issues and their dispute revealed the divisions uncovered by the prospect of a collaboration with Iran.
Washington has dispatched some of its most senior White House and State Department officials to the nuclear talks in Austria, including the top deputy secretary of state, William Burns. He was scheduled to meet Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Monday.
Their meeting kicks off five days of negotiations between Iran and the six world powers collectively referred to as “P5+1”. Before arriving in Vienna, Zarif spoke by telephone with the British foreign secretary, William Hague, about the possible role Iran could play in easing the conflict in Iraq.
Iran and the US previously collaborated over military intelligence in the post 9/11 fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan 13 years ago. But a US offical cautioned against reading too much into the latest talks. “No one should expect that all of a sudden, overnight, even if we resolve the nuclear agreement, that everything will change. It will not,” the official said. “The fundamentals remain exactly as they are. Until we resolve the nuclear issue there cannot be any kind of fundamental change in this relationship.”
Additional reporting by Mark Tran”
Additional reporting by Mark Tran”
“Building a State-of-the-Practice Data Communications Network
To create a state-of-the-practice data communications network required Serco to engineer different solutions for each of the AFSCN’s unique locations. Each ground station around the world had to be surveyed in order to develop detailed installation plans, project support agreements and testing plans. Furthermore, to assure communications reliability between the ground station and the operational control nodes, Serco also had to conduct a complete circuit testing exercise. After completing the survey, Serco’s team continued with their due diligence, for developing and implementing a state-of-the-practice solution, by conducting circuit, system verification and integration, installation and checkout testing for each of the ground stations, including those located at Diego Garcia, in British Indian Ocean Territory, the Royal Air Force Base in Oakhanger, England and the Anderson AFB, in Guam
In developing this enhanced voice and data communications network, Serco’s team engineered and implemented an ATM backbone and secure voice system for each of the AFSCN ground stations. The installed network was based on a Wide Area Network (WAN) architecture utilizing IP based network capabilities and proprietary secure communication technologies such as KG-75s, KG-84S and KIV-7s. In addition, Serco ensured Defense Red Switch Network connectivity and operations throughout the AFSCN. [and thereby secured an opportunity to execute presidential-override outsourcing frauds (POOFs)]”
To create a state-of-the-practice data communications network required Serco to engineer different solutions for each of the AFSCN’s unique locations. Each ground station around the world had to be surveyed in order to develop detailed installation plans, project support agreements and testing plans. Furthermore, to assure communications reliability between the ground station and the operational control nodes, Serco also had to conduct a complete circuit testing exercise. After completing the survey, Serco’s team continued with their due diligence, for developing and implementing a state-of-the-practice solution, by conducting circuit, system verification and integration, installation and checkout testing for each of the ground stations, including those located at Diego Garcia, in British Indian Ocean Territory, the Royal Air Force Base in Oakhanger, England and the Anderson AFB, in Guam
In developing this enhanced voice and data communications network, Serco’s team engineered and implemented an ATM backbone and secure voice system for each of the AFSCN ground stations. The installed network was based on a Wide Area Network (WAN) architecture utilizing IP based network capabilities and proprietary secure communication technologies such as KG-75s, KG-84S and KIV-7s. In addition, Serco ensured Defense Red Switch Network connectivity and operations throughout the AFSCN. [and thereby secured an opportunity to execute presidential-override outsourcing frauds (POOFs)]”
Yours sincerely,
Field McConnell, United States Naval Academy, 1971; Forensic Economist; 30 year airline and 22 year military pilot; 23,000 hours of safety; Tel: 715 307 8222
David Hawkins Tel: 604 542-0891 Forensic Economist; former leader of oil-well blow-out teams; now sponsors Grand Juries in CSI Crime and Safety Investigation
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.