TEHRAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hailed his country's armed forces as the "guarantor" of regional security, during a low-profile parade on Saturday marking Army Day in the Islamic republic."Iran's armed forces are the guarantor of security in the region," Ahmadinejad in a televised speech during the parade, refraining from the confrontational tone that has marked previous Army Day addresses. "Today the Iranian nation, with its religious armed forces, is ready to have a wide role in world management and to establish security based on justice across the world," he added. Local media had said that 140 fighter jets and other aircraft would stage an aerial display on Saturday but the show was cancelled due to what the media said was bad weather and poor visibility. In previous years, Iran -- which has long been at odds with the international community over its disputed nuclear drive -- has used army day to display its military might including home-built missiles.
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
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