5th Fleet Moves off Somalia

The U.S. 5th Fleet moved the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower into the waters off Somalia in an effort to capture al Qaeda terrorists attempting to flee the country. High Resolution Image

United Nations-recognized Somali government officials said the strikes were aimed at al Qaeda terrorists who planned the attacks against the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

The Ethiopian military entered Somalia Dec. 24 with the mission of neutralizing the Council of Islamic Courts, a Muslim extremist group that took power in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. The Ethiopian forces took the capital in 10 days and terrorists and their sympathizers allegedly moved south toward the border with Kenya to escape.

More U.S. ships are moving in to the waters off Somalia to reinforce the maritime interdiction effort there. "Due to rapidly developing events in Somalia, U.S. Central Command has tasked USS Dwight D. Eisenhower to join USS Bunker Hill, USS Ramage, USS Anzio and USS Ashland (Prisoners are reportedly being held aboard the Ashland) to support ongoing maritime security operations off the coast of Somalia," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Brown, a spokesman for 5th Fleet in Bahrain.

The ships will stop vessels and search them for al Qaeda terrorists attempting to escape from Somalia.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, American Forces Press Service, By Jim Garamone

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Condoleezza Rice, new UN, Iraq, Ambassadors, VIDEO, PODCAST

Announcement on Presidential Nominations for U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, FULL STREAMING VIDEO, Secretary Condoleezza Rice, Washington, DC. January 8, 2007 (1:22 p.m. EST), PODCAST OF THIS ARTICLE

SECRETARY RICE: Good afternoon. Today I would like to formally announce two very important personnel changes that will strengthen our diplomacy. First, I am pleased to announce that President Bush intends to nominate Zalmay Khalilzad to serve as America's Ambassador to the United Nations.

The past year has shown how clearly important the UN is for America and the world and how important American leadership is to the UN. Together with our partners on the Security Council, we have passed important resolutions on major international challenges like the nuclear weapons programs in Iran and North Korea, the ongoing violence in Darfur and the extremist threat to a free Lebanon. Much still remains to be done. We are eager also at the UN to advance UN reform and we look to continue this important work under the leadership of the new UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

This work is a tall order. It demands a skilled and experienced diplomat with proven ability to lead from principle, to build consensus and to get results. And few Americans have distinguished themselves in this regard as much as Zal. As our Ambassador to Iraq these past 18 months, a time of extraordinary change and extraordinary challenge, Zal has performed heroically and at great personal risk to help Iraqi reformers and responsible leaders build a foundation of democracy in their country.

Prior to serving in Iraq, Zal played much the same role as our Ambassador to Afghanistan, where he helped the people of his ancestral homeland to step out of the shadows of conflict and to begin building a new future of hope. Zal has also held senior positions on the National Security Council, where, of course, he worked with me and where he gained my trust and confidence, as well as that of President Bush.

Following Zal is not an enviable task, but there are people who can do it and there's one person who is especially qualified to do that and to lead that challenge and to lead our team in Embassy Baghdad and that's Ryan Crocker, one of our most distinguished Foreign Service officers. So today, it is my pleasure to announce that President Bush intends to nominate Ryan to be our new ambassador to Iraq.

The next two years may well be the most significant ones in this mission so far. New challenges on the ground call for changes to our strategy and in two days, President Bush will speak to the nation and announce a way forward to achieve success in Iraq. There will be new leadership of both our military and our diplomatic efforts. And the man President Bush wants to lead Embassy Baghdad is Ryan Crocker.

Few diplomats have the kind of experience in the broader Middle East that Ryan has amassed in his three decades of service. He has held the position of ambassador four times: in Lebanon, Kuwait, Syria, and most recently in Pakistan. After the fall of the Taliban, Ryan was one of our first diplomats into Afghanistan, where he helped to reopen our Embassy in Kabul. In Baghdad, Ryan rose to the same challenge and to others with equal success after the liberation of Iraq.

Ryan Crocker is known and respected throughout our government, throughout the Middle East, and throughout the world. He knows the language and the culture of the region, as well as the leaders and the societies that they lead. He will work well and effectively with the leadership of our military as he has done in Pakistan. He will work well with our coalition partners and he will work well with the new Iraqi Government. Ryan will be a demanding boss in our embassy, you can be sure of that, but a fair and inspiring one.

If confirmed, Ryan and Zal will have two of the hardest and most consequential jobs in the world, but President Bush and I have the utmost confidence that they are more than equal to the challenges of their posts. They have our unwavering support for the difficult work that lies ahead and President Bush looks forward to submitting their nominations and to early action on their confirmations.

Thank you very much.

2007/008, Released on January 8, 2007

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