PAGE 4 � S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S � Saturday, November 21, 2009
BY ANNE GEARAN
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary
Robert Gates said any new U.S. forces
that President Barack
Obama might send
to Afghanistan could
move into the country
swiftly, despite logisti-
cal hassles that force
almost all major de-
liveries of troops and
supplies to go by air.
His wording sug-
gested that, as ex-
pected, Obama soon
will approve an in-
crease in the already
record U.S. force of 68,000 in Afghanistan.
Months of deliberations over the flagging
war are ending, with an announcement of
a substantial troop increase expected in
the next two weeks.
"I anticipate that as soon as the presi-
dent makes his decision, we can probably
begin flowing some forces pretty quickly
after that," Gates said Thursday.
Gates and Vice Adm. Mike Mullen,
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said
at a Pentagon news conference that the
coming troop infusion is a bigger logisti-
cal challenge than the Iraq "surge," which
added forces at the rate of roughly one bri-
gade a month.
Afghanistan's forbidding terrain, lack
of roads and other infrastructure and that
forces and equipment are still tied up in
Iraq are all complicating factors.
"It's not going to be a brigade a month
because of the infrastructure piece, the
ability to receive it, literally, in Afghani-
stan, as well as all the other moving parts,"
Mullen said.
Gates did not give
a direct answer to a
question whether the
United States could
hold out more troops
as leverage toward an
overhaul of Afghani-
stan's shaky, corrupt
government. Afghan
President Hamid
Karzai, inaugurated
Thursday for a second
five-year term, wants
more U.S. help to se-
cure his country against the Taliban-led
insurgency.
"My personal view is that you do have
to exercise what leverage you have," Gates
said.
Earlier Thursday, Germany's visiting
defense chief told Gates that Germany will
maintain its military commitment in Af-
ghanistan but did not promise to increase
it for now. Germany's force of more than
4,000 is among the largest from any nation
apart from the United States.
Germany will hold off on any decision
about adding troops to Afghanistan at least
until the United States makes a move, Ger-
man Minister of Defense Karl-Theodor
zu Guttenberg said after meetings at the
Pentagon.
"We are, eagerly probably as you all are,
waiting for the president's speech and ...
waiting for the new concept, the new stra-
tegic ideas from our American friends,"
Guttenberg said.
Gates replied that the United States "can
use all the help we can get" from Europe-
an nations and others in Afghanistan. He
said also that asking for anything specific
is premature until Obama announces his
plans.
BY JUAN A. LOZANO
The Associated Press
HOUSTON -- A woman who
claimed she was raped in 2005
while working in Iraq for a for-
mer Halliburton Co. subsidiary
has been awarded nearly $3 mil-
lion by an arbitrator to settle her
case.
Tracy Barker sued U.S. con-
tractor KBR Inc., its former par-
ent company Halliburton and
several affiliates in May 2007,
claiming she was sexually at-
tacked by a State Department
employee while working as a ci-
vilian contractor in the southern
Iraqi city of Basra.
A federal judge in Houston dis-
missed Barker's lawsuit in Janu-
ary 2008, ruling she had to abide
by an employment agreement
she signed that said any claims
she made against the companies
would have to be settled through
arbitration and not the courts.
Court records filed this week
show Barker was awarded a judg-
ment of $2.93 million to settle her
arbitration claim against KBR.
"It took me a long time to get
here. I'm happy about the award,"
said Barker, 38, who lives in
Yuma, Ariz.
In a statement, Houston-based
KBR said Thursday it disagreed
with the interim ruling from the
arbitrator and it has filed a mo-
tion to modify the award.
"However, the decision vali-
dates what KBR has maintained
all along; that the arbitration pro-
cess is truly neutral and works in
the best interest of the parties in-
volved," the statement said.
Barker said she was upset KBR
is trying to modify the award.
"They are still dragging it
out," she said. "They didn't win
and now they want to amend the
award. You can't with binding ar-
bitration. How is that fair?"
In her lawsuit, Barker claimed
while working in Baghdad she
was housed in mostly male bar-
racks and consistently subjected
to sexually explicit comments and
verbal and physical threats. Bark-
er claimed she and other employ-
ees complained to the companies
but they did nothing and instead
retaliated against her.
The Associated Press
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- In-
creasing numbers of English-lan-
guage Web sites are spreading
al-Qaida's message to Muslims in
the West.
They translate writings and ser-
mons and often feature charismatic
clerics like Anwar al-Awlaki, who
exchanged dozens of e-mails with
the U.S. Army psychiatrist accused
of the shootings at the Fort Hood
military base in Texas.
"The point is you don't have
to be an official part of al-Qaida
to spread hatred and sectarian
views," said Evan Kohlmann, a se-
nior investigator for the New York-
based NEFA Foundation, which
researches Islamic militants.
Most of the radical Islamic sites
are not run or directed by al-Qaida,
but they provide a powerful tool
for recruiting sympathizers to its
cause, experts who track the activ-
ity said.
The number of English-language
sites sympathetic to al-Qaida has
risen from about 30 seven years
ago to more than 200 recently, said
Abdulmanam Almushawah, head
of a Saudi government program
called Assakeena, which works to
combat militant Islamic Web sites.
In contrast, Arabic-language
radical sites have dropped to
around 50, down from 1,000 seven
years ago, because of efforts to shut
them down, he said.
BY KATHY GANNON
The Associated Press
KABUL -- A suicide bomber
killed 16 people and wounded at
least 23 others Friday in a busy
city square in western Afghani-
stan, while near Kabul a powerful
former warlord narrowly escaped
an assassination attempt, officials
said.
The attacks came a day after
Afghan President Hamid Karzai
took the oath of office for a sec-
ond term. Karzai said he has put
national reconciliation with Tal-
iban insurgents at the top of his
agenda.
LawmakerAbdulRasulSayyaf,
aformerNorthernAllianceleader
who has been accused by Human
Rights Watch of war crimes, was
in a convoy with his bodyguards
when a remote-controlled bomb
hidden in an irrigation canal
beside the road exploded in the
Paghman district north of the Af-
ghan capital, said district chief of
police Abdul Razaq.
One car in the convoy was de-
stroyed, and Razaq said five of
Sayyaf's bodyguards were killed.
Sayyaf was not injured.
In the suicide bombing ear-
lier Friday in western Afghani-
stan, a man on a motorcycle blew
himself up in a crowded square
yards from the Farah provincial
governor's compound, said Gov.
Rohul Amin. The dead included
two children and a police officer,
he said.
Gates: Afghan surge could happen swiftly
Despite logistics, Gates confident new troops could deploy soon after Obama order
Gates
Mullen
Ex-employee awarded
$3M in sexual assault
claim against KBR
Suicide bomber kills 16 in Afghanistan
Scores of Web sites spread al-Qaida's message in English
Afghan
soldiers secure
a street in Kabul
on Thursday. A
suicide bomber
killed 16 people
and wounded at
least 23 others
Friday in a busy
city square
in western
Afghanistan.
RAHMAT GUL/AP
U.S. to probe own
role in Afghan graft
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia
-- Defense Secretary Rob-
ert Gates says the U.S. will
examine its own contracts
and projects in Afghani-
stan. He says the place
where the U.S. has the most
leverage is where it is sign-
ing the checks.
Afghan President Hamid
Karzai has promised more
effort to head off corrup-
tion that outside analysts
say is rampant.
From The Associated Press
Abdulmanam Almushawah
is the head of a Saudi
government program
aimed at combating Islamic
militant Web sites.
HASSAN AMMAR/AP

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