Saturday, December 26, 2009 WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama on Friday ordered increased security for air travel following a possible attempted airline bombing on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, the White House said. After Obama was informed of the incident he held a secure conference call with his Homeland Security and Counter-terrorism Advisor John Brennan, and National Security Council chief of staff Denis McDonough. "He asked to arrange a subsequent secure call and... instructed that all appropriate measures be taken to increase security for air travel," the White House said. "The president is actively monitoring the situation and receiving regular updates," the statement read.
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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