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Commander says
Afghan threats persist

More than a month after the elections in Afghanistan, and despite the absence of anticoalition acts of violence, the commander of Combined Joint Task Force 76 and the 25th Infantry Division says no one should discount the resiliency of insurgent forces.

"I don't think we should underestimate what's left of al-Qaida," Maj. Gen. Eric T. Olson writes from Bagram Air Field. "The al-Qaida itself is still a viable organization. In some instances, members may be more dangerous because of their need to launch some kind of high-visibility success, which may cause some to revert to desperate acts."

One constant threat against soldiers is improvised explosive devices. An IED attack near Deh Rahwod killed two soldiers and wounded one from the 25th Division's 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, on Nov. 24.

Olson said each loss affects him profoundly, but that the mission must go on.

"I have deep emotion when we lose a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine over here," Olson said. "I feel disappointed that there wasn't something we could have done differently that would have saved a life. In some cases, I can point to something, and if we had done it differently we'd still have some of those folks here. But you can't dwell on that."

On Oct. 9, millions of citizens voted in the first-ever presidential elections. Interim President Hamid Karzai won, and was inaugurated Dec. 7. The Afghan government is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections in the spring of 2005.

"If you asked someone in the streets of America about the Afghan war in terms of specifics, they probably couldn't tell you," Olson said. "If you asked them if they knew we had troops over here or asked them if what the troops are doing over here is important, they would say yes, and that's enough for me."

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COURTESY OF RUDI WILLIAMS Army Cpl. Eli F. Cook and his father, Barry Cook, chat with Ginny Bauer, who was widowed in the 9/11 terrorist attack. Cpl. Cook was awarded a Purple Heart on Wednesday.

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While recuperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Maryland on Wednesday, his 23rd birthday, Schofield Barracks Cpl. Eli F. Cook was presented with the Purple Heart medal by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.

"Cpl. Cook was wounded in Afghanistan in August," the deputy secretary said. "It's just as important to be fighting the enemy when they're still out there trying to defeat us. And that's what's happening in Iraq. We had a huge victory in Iraq in April of last year. But the enemy didn't stop fighting when they left Baghdad. In fact, Saddam was still paying people to kill Americans until he was captured."

After visiting war-wounded patients with a group of 9/11 family members, Wolfowitz joined the visitors in a special dining area at lunchtime to award Cook his medal.

Wolfowitz quoted what Karzai said when he was sworn in on Dec. 7: "Whatever we've achieved in Afghanistan -- the peace, the election, the reconstruction, the life the Afghans are living today in peace, the children going to school, the businesses, the fact that Afghanistan is again a respected member of the international community -- is from the help America gave us."

"I went to Afghanistan last April and was hit in August," Cook explained. "I was an infantryman driving a Humvee gun truck with the 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. The truck got hit by three rocket-propelled grenades, a mortar and a .50-caliber machine gun.

"The mortar is what got me," said Cook, who expects to be discharged in a few days so he can return home to Ore City, Texas. "It flipped the truck over and I helped the guys get out who were on the underneath side, and then they helped me get out. I don't know where I was crawling to, but I was crawling, and then they did buddy aid on me."

He said he never really thought he was going to die, even though he was told he had to be revived six times. Joking about a cat's nine lives, Cook said, "I have three more."