James H. Coffman, Jr.
Colonel James Henry Coffman Jr. (born 1954) is a retired United States Army officer who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for valorous conduct while serving as an advisor with the Multi-National Security Transition Command – Iraq attached to the Iraqi Special Police Commandos in Mosul, Iraq in 2004. Early life and education Coffman grew up in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1978. Coffman subsequently earned a Master of Science degree in National Security Affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School. He was also a United States Army Fellow at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and attended the Boston University Overseas Program for Master of Science in International Relations in Vicenza, Italy. In the course of his formal education Coffman has authored papers on ethnic conflict in the post- Cold War world. Iraq war counter-insurgency activities Coffman served durin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Great Barrington is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,172 at the 2020 census. Both a summer resort and home to Ski Butternut, a ski resort, Great Barrington includes the villages of Van Deusenville and Housatonic. History 1676–1995 The Mahican Indians called the area ''Mahaiwe'', meaning "the place downstream". It lay on the New England Path, which connected Fort Orange near Albany, New York, with Springfield and Massachusetts Bay. The first recorded account of Europeans in the area happened in August 1676, during King Philip's War. Major John Talcott and his troops chased a group of 200 Mahican Natives west from Westfield, eventually overtaking them at the Housatonic River in what is now Great Barrington. According to reports at the time, Talcott's troops killed twenty-five Indians and imprisoned another twenty. Today, a plaque for John Talcott ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of Geopolitics, geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term ''Cold war (term), cold war'' is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two superpowers, but they each supported major regional conflicts known as proxy wars. The conflict was based around the ideological and geopolitical struggle for global influence by these two superpowers, following their temporary Allies of World War II, alliance and victory against Nazi Germany and Empire of Japan, Imperial Japan in 1945. Aside from the Nuclear arms race, nuclear arsenal development and conventional military deployment, the struggle for dominance was expressed via indirect means such as psychological warfare, propaganda campaigns, Cold War espionage, espionage, far-reaching Economic sanctions, embargoes, rivalry at sports events, and technolog ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Civil War In Iraq (2006-07)
Iraqi civil war may refer to: * Iraqi–Kurdish conflict (1918–2003), wars and rebellions by Iraqi Kurds against the government ** First Iraqi–Kurdish War (1961–70) ** Second Iraqi–Kurdish War (1974–75) * 1991 Iraqi uprisings, rebellions in Iraq during a ceasefire in the Gulf War * Iraqi Kurdish Civil War (1994–97), a conflict between rival Kurdish factions in Iraqi Kurdistan * Iraqi conflict (2003–present). See also: **Iraq War (2003–11), a war that began with the U.S. invasion of Iraq ***Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011) *** Occupation of Iraq (2003–2011) *** Iraqi Civil War (2006–2008), a civil war between Sunni and Shia militias including the Iraqi government and Al-Qaeda in Iraq (now known as ISIL) ** Iraqi insurgency (2011–2013), an escalation of insurgent and sectarian violence after the U.S. withdrew ** War in Iraq (2013–2017), a war between ISIL and the Iraqi government and allies ** 2017 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict The 2017 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict, a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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General David Petraeus
David Howell Petraeus (; born November 7, 1952) is a retired United States Army general and public official. He served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from September 6, 2011, until his resignation on November 9, 2012. Prior to his assuming the directorship of the CIA, Petraeus served 37 years in the United States Army. His last assignments in the Army were as commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and commander, U.S. Forces – Afghanistan (USFOR-A) from July 4, 2010, to July 18, 2011. His other four-star assignments include serving as the 10th commander, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) from October 13, 2008, to June 30, 2010, and as commanding general, Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF-I) from February 10, 2007, to September 16, 2008. As commander of MNF-I, Petraeus oversaw all coalition forces in Iraq. Petraeus has a B.S. degree from the United States Military Academy, from which he graduated in 1974 as a distinguished cadet (top 5% ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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James Steele (US Colonel)
James Steele is a consultant and retired United States Army officer whose military career and work as a military contractor from Vietnam to the War in Iraq drew controversy for allegations of abuse and war crimes. Steele's military career began during the Cold War, assigned to postings in Central and South America. He was involved in the "dirty wars", training counter-insurgency commandos who later carried out violations of human rights. He later served in the Vietnam war. From 1984 to 1986, during the Salvadoran Civil War, Steele operated as a counterinsurgency specialist and was a member of a group of United States special forces advisers to the Salvadoran Army. In 1986 he was implicated in the Iran contra affair. In 2004, early in the Iraq War, Steele was sent by Donald Rumsfeld to serve as a civilian adviser to Iraqi paramilitary Special Police Commandos known as the Wolf Brigade. Iraq war counter-insurgency activities In 2004, during the US occupation of Iraq, Steele ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Theater (warfare)
In warfare, a theater or theatre is an area in which important military events occur or are in progress. A theater can include the entirety of the airspace, land and sea area that is or that may potentially become involved in war operations. Theater of war In his book '' On War'', Carl von Clausewitz defines the term ''Kriegstheater'' (translating the older, 17th-century Latin term ''theatrum belli'') as one that: Theater of operations ''Theater of operations'' (TO) is a sub-area within a theater of war. The boundary of a TO is defined by the commander who is orchestrating or providing support for specific combat operations within the TO. Theater of operations is divided into strategic directions or military regions depending on whether it is a war or peacetime. The United States Armed Forces split into Unified Combatant Commands (regions) that are assigned to a particular theater of military operations. A strategic direction is a group of armies also known as a task ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Guardian
Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, United States, an unincorporated community in Webster County * Guardian Nunatak, a landform on Antarctica's Dufek Coast * Guardian Rock, an islet off the Antarctic Peninsula in Bigourdan Fjord * Guardian telephone exchange, Manchester, England * Wonder Mountain's Guardian, a roller coaster at Canada's Wonderland, Vaughan, Ontario People * GuardiaN (Ladislav Kovács; born 1991), Slovak professional video-game player * Angel Guardian (born 1998), Filipina actress and singer * Don Guardian (born 1953), mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Guardian (comics), characters from various comics * Guardian (DC Comics), a DC Comics superhero * Guardian (''Highlander''), a charac ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Republican Guard (Iraq)
The Iraqi Republican Guard ( ar, حرس العراق الجمهوري ''Ḥaras al-ʿIrāq al-Jamhūrīy'') was a branch of the Military history of Iraq#Saddam Hussein (1979–2003), Iraqi military from 1969 to 2003, which existed primarily during the President of Iraq, presidency of Saddam Hussein. It later became known as the ''Republican Guard Corps,'' and then the ''Republican Guard Forces Command'' (''RGFC'') with its expansion into two corps. The Republican Guard was disbanded in 2003 after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, invasion of Iraq by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, U.S.-led international coalition. The Republican Guard were the military elite, elite troops of the Iraqi army directly reporting to Saddam Hussein, unlike the paramilitary force Fedayeen Saddam, and the ordinary Iraqi Army. They were better trained, disciplined, equipped, and paid more than ordinary Iraqi soldiers, receiving bonuses, new cars, and subsidized housing. Formation Formed in 1969, it was ori ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, and later, the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party and its regional organization, the Iraqi Ba'ath Party—which espoused Ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism—Saddam played a key role in the 1968 coup (later referred to as the 17 July Revolution) that brought the party to power in Iraq. As vice president under the ailing General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, and at a time when many groups were considered capable of overthrowing the government, Saddam created security forces through which he tightly controlled conflicts between the government and the armed forces. In the early 1970s, Saddam nationalised the Iraq Petroleum Company and independent banks, eventually leaving the banking system insolve ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was founded by Arthur B. Sleigh in 1855 as ''The Daily Telegraph & Courier''. Considered a newspaper of record over ''The Times'' in the UK in the years up to 1997, ''The Telegraph'' generally has a reputation for high-quality journalism, and has been described as being "one of the world's great titles". The paper's motto, "Was, is, and will be", appears in the editorial pages and has featured in every edition of the newspaper since 19 April 1858. The paper had a circulation of 363,183 in December 2018, descending further until it withdrew from newspaper circulation audits in 2019, having declined almost 80%, from 1.4 million in 1980.United Newspapers PLC and Fleet Holdings PLC', Monopolies and Mergers Commission (1985), pp. 5–16. Its ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Death Squad
A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in which they are formed by an insurgency, domestic or foreign governments actively participate in, support, or ignore the death squad's activities. Death squads are distinct from assassination from their permanent organization and the larger number of victims (typically thousands or more) who may not be prominent individuals. Other violence, such as rape, torture, arson, or bomb, bombings may be carried out alongside murders. They may comprise a secret police force, paramilitary militia groups, government soldiers, policemen, or combinations thereof. They may also be organized as Vigilantism, vigilantes, Bounty hunter, bounty hunters, Mercenary, mercenaries, or Contract killing, contract killers. When death squads are not controlled by the state, they may co ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts carried out by the state, but others include non-state organizations. Torture has been carried out since ancient times. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Western countries abolished the official use of torture in the judicial system, but torture continued to be used throughout the world. A variety of methods of torture are used, often in combination; the most common form of physical torture is beatings. Since the twentieth century, many torturers have preferred non-scarring or psychological methods to provide deniability. Torturers are enabled by organizations that facilitate and encourage their behavior. Most victims of torture are poor and marginalized people suspected of crimes, although torture against political prisoners o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |