The real General Patton would be mighty proud.

Self-reliance, self respect and being all that we can be - it’s the American way. That’s why we are Americans.

Marines pushed deeper into Taliban strongholds today after suffering the first fatality of their massive offensive against Afghanistan’s hardline Islamist militia.

Ferried in by relays of helicopters Thursday, Marines were on the ground in Helmand province’s districts of Garmsir and Nawa, and also helped Afghan forces take Khanishin, towards the border with Pakistan, officers said.

“Today Marines are continuing to move towards those objectives that are still out there and they are going to work to stabilise security in these areas,” spokesman First Lieutenant Kurt Stahl said today.

The nearly 4,000 Marines are spearheading President Barack Obama’s aggressive new war plan for Afghanistan’s bloody insurgency with an emphasis on protecting the population ahead of presidential elections on August 20.

“When Marines go out into towns, they are always looking for opportunities to talk to village elders and explain why they are here,” Stahl said.

“The intention is to understand each other, elders can express their concerns and an open flow of communication is secured.”

On Thursday troops quickly overran Khanishin district, where the Taliban had set up a proxy government and justice system, within hours of the launch of the Marines’ biggest operation since Fallujah in Iraq in November 2004.

But they also recorded their first death in an air and land assault that is one of the biggest joint campaigns in post-Taliban Afghanistan.

“One Marine has been killed in action, and several others have been injured or wounded throughout the day,” a statement said. There was no confirmation of civilian casualties or damage to property, it said.

Stahl said late Thursday that helicopters had put all troops on the ground in Garmsir and Nawa, districts that are key targets of the desert assault.

But the Taliban reportedly dismissed the mobilisation, with the Afghan Islamic Press quoting a spokesman as saying that previous military operations in vast and rugged Helmand had not yielded success for the armed forces.

“We are resisting but would adopt all kinds of war tactics to the situation,” spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi was quoted as telling the agency.

Taliban’s hardline Haqqani faction claimed it was holding a U.S. soldier who had been missing since June 30, before the current offensive kicked off.

“We are using all of our available resources to find him and provide for his safe return,” U.S. military spokeswoman Captain Elizabeth Mathias told AFP, declining to go into further detail.

Called Khanjar, which means “dagger” in Dari and Pashtu but was translated by the Marines as “Strike of the Sword”, the new U.S. offensive also involves about 600 Afghan police and soldiers.

“What makes Operation Khanjar different from those that have occurred before is the massive size of the force introduced, the speed at which it will insert,” Marine commander Brigadier General Larry Nicholson said Thursday.

The forces pushed south down the Helmand River valley, deep into insurgent-held areas where foreign troops have failed to establish a presence despite ousting the Taliban from power nearly eight years ago.

Commanders said they would persuade locals that the Afghan security forces — backed by Western troops — offered them a better long-term future than the fundamentalist militia.

Afghan army corps commander General Shair Mohammad Zazai told AFP the operation would establish security “so that people can go and vote with confidence and without fear”.

Authorities have fretted that Taliban violence and intimidation could undermine Afghanistan’s second-ever presidential vote, and so set back efforts to move the destitute nation on from its turbulent, war-filled past.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Iraq on Thursday to visit U.S. soldiers, just two days after all American combat troops withdrew from Baghdad and all of Iraq’s cities and towns.

During his visit, Biden will meet with Iraqi leaders, including President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

A White House statement said Biden will reiterate the U.S. commitment to carry out President Barack Obama’s plan to withdraw combat forces. He also will press Iraqi leaders to make more progress toward political reconciliation. It was his first trip to Iraq as vice president.

Al-Maliki named the day U.S. combat troops withdrew, June 30, as “National Sovereignty Day” and declared it a public holiday.

On that same day, the White House said that Biden will oversee the administration’s Iraq policy and work with its government to overcoming their political differences and achieve reconciliation.

In Washington, President Barack Obama said that he has always reserved the right to adjust the U.S. troop withdrawal timetable in Iraq based on changing circumstances. But he said he was confident the U.S. will be able to abide by agreements it made with Iraqis.

In a White House interview with The Associated Press, Obama also said he believes Iraqis do not want to return to spiraling violence of past years but added that he has not seen sufficient reconciliation among Iraq’s political factions.

He also praised U.S. commanders for handing over security to Iraqis in cities and urban areas this week.

Biden arrived as violence flared for another day in the Iraqi capital, with bombings killing at least three people in the Baghdad area in the first significant violence since Iraqi forces assumed responsibility for securing cities after the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from urban areas earlier this week.

North Korea has test-fire two short-range missiles from its eastern coast. It is unclear what type of missiles were launched. This latest test comes just six weeks after the communist North set off an underground nuclear test

U.S. Marines and Afghan security forces are continuing Operation Khanjar in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, NATO officials said today.

Almost 4,000 personnel from the Marine Expeditionary Brigade Afghanistan have moved into cities and towns along the Helmand River and are digging in for the long haul.

The addition of nearly 22,000 American personnel in Afghanistan will allow the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force to institute a “clear, hold, build” counterinsurgency strategy. Before, small numbers of coalition forces would enter an area and clear it of Taliban, but the shortage of forces meant that when they pulled out, the Taliban flowed back in.

Now, Marines and Afghan personnel are clearing the region of Taliban and establishing bases among the people. They will stay to ensure the Taliban or other terrorist groups do not move back in.

The strategy calls for experts to move into the region and work with local residents to build the economy and governance.

The forces are operating in the districts of Nawa and Garmsir in central Helmand province. The Marines are operating as far south as the vicinity of Khan Neshin, the capital of Rig district in the region of the Helmand River valley known as “The Fishhook.”

The effort is part of a larger strategy in Regional Command South. British and Afghan forces also are operating in Helmand and Kandahar provinces.

Few coalition or Afghan government forces have been in Helmand province. It is a center for the poppy trade, and has been a safe haven for the Taliban who used violence and other methods to intimidate the people.

“The Marines and Afghan forces are continuing to patrol and have begun engaging with key leaders in the districts to better understand the concerns and needs of Afghans in the area,” said Marine Corps Capt. Bill Pelletier, a spokesman for the command. “Once security is established, civil affairs personnel and other nongovernmental organizations and agencies will begin establishing programs aimed at building long-term governance and development throughout the Helmand River valley.”

One Marine has been killed in action, and several others have been injured or wounded since the operation began. Officials in Kabul said the Taliban have not directly confronted the massive operation, but rather are melting into the populace.

Also, an Afghan man was wounded when he failed to heed warnings to halt as he approached a Marine position south of Garmsir. No need has arisen for close-air support, officials said.

Source: Department of Defense

Just got this in.  Alaska Governor Sarah Palin announced on Friday that she will not seek a second term as Governor of Alaska and would soon step down.

*MORE TO FOLLOW*

*UPDATE*

To update, Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, announced she will step down on July 26.

*MORE TO FOLLOW*

Palin made the announcement on Friday morning at a news conference at her home; the following statement from her tells only a part for her resignation:

“Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional Lame Duck status in this particular climate would just be another dose of politics as usual, something I campaigned against and will always oppose.”

Assuming she sticks to her resignation, Lt. Governor Sean Pernell will be inaugurated at the Governor’s Picnic in Fairbanks at the end of the month.  What is not clear is true reason for her sudden resignation, other than Palin  saying she plans to make a “positive change in government” without going into specifics.

I am not a political pundit on a par of Sean Hannity or Rush; however, anyone who has followed Palin and her career up to this point probably has this notion that she may run for the Presidency in 2012.  Or perhaps she has something else in mind; who knows?  No matter what she ultimately decides, she will be successful at it, as her popularity can attest to.