SZCZECIN, Poland (AP) — NATO's new rapid-reaction "spearhead" force, meant as a deterrent to Russian aggression, should be up and running with initial capabilities in less than a year, a top alliance official said Thursday.

The creation of a 4,000 to 5,000 troop response force, which will be able to respond to a crisis in eastern Europe within two to three days, was a key decision taken by NATO leaders earlier this month in Wales.

The force represents a calculation by NATO that Russian President Vladimir Putin won't risk going head-to-head with the Western alliance.

Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow, the highest-ranking U.S. civilian at NATO, told The Associated Press on the sidelines of a symposium in Poland that military planners were now "working seven days a week" to finalize details of the force.

Those details should be in place to be approved by at defense ministers meeting in February, and implementation will move quickly ahead after that, he said.

"There's an expectation we will have at least an initial capacity with this much more rapid response time in less than a year from the Wales summit," he said. "It won't be all finished, but we recognize that the threats are here, we can't put this on the slow track."

Meanwhile, NATO's Multinational Corps Northeast headquarters, where the symposium was being held, is being upgraded to a "high readiness" force headquarters under the guidance of Germany, Poland and Denmark as part of the moves being made to reassure allies.

Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine earlier this year, and signs indicate that it has been funneling troops, tanks and artillery to the pro-Moscow separatists who have been fighting government forces in eastern Ukraine over the past five months.

Ukraine is not a NATO member and not directly under its defense umbrella, but three other former Soviet republics have joined the alliance since the end of the Cold War, as well as the former Soviet satellite states of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria.

In the wake of the Ukraine crisis, NATO has already increased the number of aircraft, ships and troops it has operating in the region.

It's not yet determined where the "spearhead" troops will be located, though Vershbow said the "most likely" scenario is that those from eastern Europe will be based in their home countries, while U.S. troops might be in Germany or Italy.

They would train regularly together and be able to rapidly deploy to eastern European NATO countries in time of need, where the alliance will preposition supplies, logistical hubs and command and control operations, Vershbow said.

"Having a forward presence provides a deterrent; a demonstration that if you, Russia, or any other aggressor, cross the border you're not just going to encounter Latvians, or Estonians or Lithuanians or Poles, you're going to encounter Americans, Brits, Germans — in other words you're going to be encountering NATO," he said. "Backing that up with the spearhead, which means forces that can arrive within a matter of days, adds to the deterrent effect that we would be there in time... to deal with all kind of contingencies."

Pauli Jarvenpaa, the former Finnish ambassador to Afghanistan and now a senior research fellow at the International Center for Defense studies in Estonia, told NATO leaders at the Szczecin conference that the spearhead force was a "step in the right direction "

But, he said, NATO countries also need to make good on their commitment to spend at least two percent of their gross domestic product on defense to prepare for the longer term.

"Events in Crimea and Ukraine do represent a game changer," he said.

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BAGHDAD (AP) — For more than 5,000 years, numerous civilizations have left their mark on upper Mesopotamia — from Assyrians and Akkadians to Babylonians and Romans. Their ancient, buried cities, palaces and temples packed with monumental art are scattered across what is now northern Iraq and eastern Syria.

Now much of that archaeological wealth is under the control of extremists from the Islamic State group. The militants have demolished some artifacts in their zealotry to uproot what they see as heresy, but they are also profiting from it, hacking relics off palace walls or digging them out to sell on the international black market.

Antiquities officials in Iraq and Syria warn of a disaster as the region's history is erased.

In Iraq, black market dealers are coming into areas controlled by the Islamic State group or in safe regions nearby to snap up items, said Qais Hussein Rashid, head of the state-run Museums Department, citing reports from local antiquities officials still in the area.

When the militants overran the northern city of Mosul and surrounding Ninevah province in June, they captured a region were nearly 1,800 of Iraq's 12,000 registered archaeological sites are located. They snapped up even more as they pushed south toward Baghdad.

Among the most important sites under their control are four ancient cities — Ninevah, Kalhu, Dur Sharrukin and Ashur — which were at different times the capital of the mighty Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians first arose around 2500 B.C. and at one point ruled over a realm stretching from the Mediterranean coast to Iran.

The heaviest damage confirmed so far has taken place in the grand palace at Kalhu, from which Assyrian King Ashurnasirpal II reigned in the 9th century B.C., Rasheed said. The palace walls are lined with reliefs describing the king's military campaigns and conquests or depicting him hunting lions or making sacrifices to the gods.

Islamic State seizes villages in SyriaPlay video

"They are cutting these reliefs into small parts and selling them," Rasheed continued. "They don't need to excavate. They just need a chain saw to cut the king's head or legs if they want."

Recently they carved off a relief depicting a winged demon holding a sacred plant and sold it abroad, he said. "It is now beyond borders."

Authorities fear other sites will soon face destruction, including Mosul's city museum, which has rare collections of Assyrian artifacts, and the 2,300-year-old city of Hatra, a well preserved complex of temples further south. From both locations, militants ordered out antiquities officials, chastising them for protecting "idols," Rasheed said.

So far, it appears the militants have not done anything with the artifacts at the sites because they are awaiting instructions from their religious authorities, he said.

The Islamic State militants seek to purge society of everything that doesn't conform with their strict, puritanical version of Islam. That means destroying not only relics seen as pagan but even some Islamic sites — Sunni Muslim shrines they see as idolatrous, as well as mosques used by Shiites, a branch of Islam they consider heretical.

In and around Mosul, the militants destroyed at least 30 historic sites, including the Islamic mosque-shrines of the prophets Seth, Jirjis and Jonah. The shrines were centuries old in many cases.

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This undated file image posted on a militant website on Jan. 14, 2014, which has been verified and i …

But their extremist ideology doesn't prevent them from also profiting from the sale of ancient artifacts, either by selling them themselves or taking a cut from thieves who are increasingly active in looting sites.,

The shrine of Jonah was built on top of an unexcavated palace in the ancient Assyrian capital of Ninevah. After blowing up the mosque, thieves burrowed underneath and are believed to have taken artifacts, said Rasheed, citing reports from local antiquities officials who remain in Mosul.

It is unclear how much the militants are earning from antiquities. U.S. intelligence officials said the Islamic State rakes in more than $3 million a day from multiple sources, including smuggling of oil and antiquities, human trafficking, extortion of businessmen, ransoms and outright theft. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss classified assessments, said the militants sell goods through smuggling networks in the Kurdish region, Turkey and Jordan.

In civil war-torn Syria, looting of archaeological sites is believed to have increased tenfold since early 2013 because of the country's chaos, said Maamoun Abdulkarim, Syria's director-general of antiquities and museums. The past year, the Islamic State group has overrun most of the east, putting a string of major archaeological sites in their hands.

In one known case, they have demolished relics as part of their purge of paganism, destroying several Assyrian-era statues looted from a site known as Tell Ajaja, Abulkarim said. Photos posted online showed the gunmen using hammers to break apart the statues of bearded figures.

More often, the extremists seem to have latched onto the antiquities trade.

For example, the 2,300-year-old city of Dura Europos is being pillaged. The site is in one a cliff overlooking the Euphrates near the Iraq border in an area under the Islamic State group's control, and satellite imagery taken in April show it pockmarked with holes from illegal digs by antiquity-seekers.

Images showed hundreds of people excavating on some days from dawn to nightfall, with gunmen and gangs involved, said Abdulkarim. Dealers are at the site and "when they discover an artifact, the sale takes place immediately," he said. "They are destroying entire pages of Syrian history."

Dura Europos is remarkably well preserved cultural crossroads, a city first founded by Alexander the Great's successors and later ruled by Romans and various Persian empires. It boasts pagan temples, churches and one of the earliest known Jewish synagogues. Archaeologists in 2009 found likely evidence of an early use of chemical warfare: During a 2nd century siege, Persian attackers dug tunnels under the city walls and set fires that poured poisonous sulfur-laced fumes on the Roman defenders above.

Alarmed by the militants' advance, the United Nations' cultural agency UNESCO adopted an emergency plan to safeguard Iraq's cultural heritage. It called on art dealers and museums not to deal with Iraqi artifacts and alerted neighboring countries of potential smuggling.

"We are very, very, very concerned that the situation could be aggravated in a way that causes more and more damage," Nada al-Hassan, of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, told The Associated Press.

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Associated Press writer Zeina Karam contributed from Beirut, Lebanon.

Follow Sinan Salaheddin on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sinansm

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq's northwest Nineveh province have created a police force to "implement the orders of the religious judiciary," according to a well-known militant Islamist website.

Photos on the website showed armed men in black clothing with "Islamic Police Nineveh State” printed on the arm. The police forces were in freshly painted police cars and one photo showed militiamen on a river boat.

It was not clear when the photos were posted or when the police force was established.

The text on the website said the force would "maintain order and arrest culprits and the corrupt." The text said it would be different from police forces in other states, which it described as "a tool to suppress dissent."

Residents in Nineveh told Reuters the police's main duty appears to be to detain people they consider opposed to their cause, however.

The police have set up checkpoints on roads and conducted house raids, the residents said. One photo showed a blindfolded man being escorted into a prison.

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This undated file image posted on a militant website on Jan. 14, 2014, which has been verified and i …

Islamic State took the Iraqi cities of Mosul, in Nineveh, and Tikrit in June and has announced an Islamic Caliphate in areas it controls in Iraq and Syria.

Its fighters have shocked the world with execution-style killings of Sunnis, Shi'ites, Christians, Yazidis and Kurds. Western governments and Islamic countries fear their citizens who are fighting for Islamic State could threaten national security if they return home.

U.S. President Barack Obama has launched air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein urged world powers this month to protect women and minorities targeted by the group, saying its fighters were trying to create a "house of blood."

Islamic State has gradually taken steps to govern since taking over Nineveh this year. In July, Islamic State told Christians in Mosul to convert to Islam or pay a religious tax.

This month the militant group issued an edict to change the school curriculum, scrapping classes in civics, history, fine arts and music. The word "nationalism" is a banned word, under the new rules.

(Reporting by Rahmeem Salman and Oliver Holmes; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

The Central Intelligence Agency’s motto: “And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”

So what truths have we learned from the CIA's declassification of more than 200 articlesthis week from its in-house journal, Studies in Intelligence?

Well, on the lighter side:

- An employee boated to work in the 1970s and '80s as a member of the “CIA Canoe Pool.” From the author’s eight-page essay in the spring of 1984:

“There are other problems that a non-canoeist might not anticipate. Mud, for example. I have an agreement with my wife that my method of commuting will not add significantly to her laundry pile, and my muddy trousers often test the limits of that agreement.”

- The fall of 1982 brought forth the “Bestiary of Intelligence Writing,” described as “specimen samples of clichés and misused or overused word combinations that CIA editors have encountered frequently over the years.”

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From the Bestiary of Intelligence Writing (Screen shot)

The 16-page report — complete with beast sketches — welcomed snitches: “It is hoped that with their new awareness of the Bestiary, analysts and other authors will keep their eyes peeled, noses to the grindstone, and ears to the ground, to call the attention of editors to other candidates for possible inclusion in the collection.”

- Not to be outdone was a compilation of quotes extracted from real CIA performance reviews, where the supervising agent had missed the mark. The writer added a personal commentary above the intended critique. Here’s a sample, but you can read all of the “Par-Faits (and Other Faits)” here:

The officer who kills with kindness:

“He is endowed with a certain lethal gentleness.”

The open-minded supervisor:

“I both like and dislike this officer.”

The successful obscurantist:

“He has a promising relationship with an obscure government official.”

The CIA’s in-house journal is defined as a “collection of articles on the historical, operational, doctrinal and theoretical aspects of intelligence.”

Anyone surprised that each article comes with a caveat?

All statements of fact, opinion or analysis expressed in Studies of Intelligence are those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect official positions or views of the Central Intelligence Agency or any other US Government entity, past or present. Nothing in the contents should be construed as asserting or implying US Government endorsement of an article’s factual statements and interpretations.

Not even canoeing to work?

Follow Jason Sickles on Twitter (@jasonsickles).

The CIA Museum: A Rare Tour of the Top Secret Building (video)

PARIS (AP) — France is back at America's side in conducting military strikes in Iraq.

More than a decade after spurning President George W. Bush's war against Saddam Hussein, France on Friday became the first country to join U.S. forces pounding targets inside Iraq from the air in recent weeks — this time in pursuit of militants of the Islamic State group.

Flying from the United Arab Emirates, two French Rafale jets fired four laser-guided bombs to destroy a weapons and fuel depot outside the northern city of Mosul, part of the territory the militants have overrun in Iraq and neighboring Syria, officials said.

An Iraqi military spokesman said dozens of extremist fighters were killed in the strikes. A French military official said a damage assessment had not been completed, while showing reporters aerial images of targets hit. Officials said it was at a former military installation seized by the group.

One analyst said the French action was more symbolic than substantive — France's military means in the region are limited — but it could give political cover for other allies to join in and show that the U.S. is not acting alone in a country still sown with deadly violence 11 years after Saddam's ouster.

"We are facing throat-cutters," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council that was called to show support for Iraq's government in battling the militants. "They rape, crucify and decapitate. They use cruelty as a means of propaganda. Their aim is to erase borders and to eradicate the rule of law and civil society."

For all his political and economic troubles at home, French President Francois Hollande has again showed he will use force to fight Islamic militants to help a beleaguered government.

Other such operations in Iraq would continue in coming days, Hollande said, "with the same goal — to weaken this terrorist organization and come to the aid of the Iraqi authorities."

"In no case will there be French troops on the ground: This is only about planes that, in liaison with Iraqi authorities (and) in coordination with our allies, will allow for a weakening of the terrorist organization," he said.

Hollande stressed that France's actions were limited to supporting the Iraqi military or Kurdish Peshmerga forces, and wouldn't involve targets in Syria.

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This undated file image posted on a militant website on Jan. 14, 2014, which has been verified and i …

Not so long ago, coordinated French and U.S. military strikes in Iraq might have been unthinkable. But feeding off sectarian strife in Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State group has destabilized the region and become a lure for jihad-minded youths from France, elsewhere in Europe, and beyond.

Hollande says France is operating independently in Iraq, based on a request for airstrikes from Baghdad and in coordination with its allies. The U.S. Central Command said Thursday the U.S. military has conducted 176 airstrikes in Iraq since Aug. 8.

Broadly unpopular at home, Hollande has nonetheless drawn praise for a muscular foreign policy. Iraq is the third country in which he has authorized firepower: French troops largely purged al-Qaida-linked militants from Mali in 2011, and have sought to end sectarian violence in Central African Republic.

In 2011, France and the U.S., as well as Britain, did the heavy lifting in the NATO-led airstrikes in Libya. Last year, France was ready to join possible U.S. military action against President Bashar Assad's forces in Syria, before President Barack Obama stopped short. In recent weeks, French authorities have ruefully suggested that the U.S. inaction fostered the rise of jihadists in the region.

On Monday, Hollande hosted U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and top diplomats from more than two dozen countries that pledged to help Iraq fight the extremist group, which has drawn widespread condemnation for its brutality — including the beheadings of Western hostages.

The U.N. Security Council condemned the Islamic State group in a presidential statement approved Friday by all 15 members in a session chaired by Kerry.

The statement expressed "deep outrage" at the killing, kidnapping, rape and torture of Iraqis and citizens of other countries by the Islamic State group. It noted that some of those acts might constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Since January, at least 8,500 civilians have been killed and more than 16,000 wounded in Iraq, according to U.N. estimates given to the council by Nikolay Mladenov, the top U.N. envoy in Iraq. Since June, he added, the toll had been 4,700 killed and 6,500 wounded.

Iraq's new, foreign minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, called for military, economic and financial assistance to help Baghdad fight the Islamic State group.

US welcomes news France to join Iraq air strikesPlay video

The fall of Mosul on June 10 was a turning point in Iraq's war against the group. The U.S.-trained Iraqi military, under pressure for months by small-scale attacks, buckled quickly when the militants advanced on the city.

The first French airstrikes in Iraq have additional significance: France, one of America's oldest allies, was among the most vocal critics of Bush's decision to conduct military action in 2003 that toppled Saddam.

Qassim al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Iraq's military, said the French airstrikes hit the town of Zumar, killing dozens of the group's fighters. Hollande said France has taken precautions to prevent civilian casualties, and the French military official said the depot was located in a remote area.

Zumar and surrounding towns have remained heavily contested by Islamic State fighters, even as Iraqi and Kurdish security forces have managed to make headway in nearby regions with the support of U.S. airstrikes.

The French bombs fell within minutes of a ceremony in which Gen. Martin Dempsey, the U.S. military commander, laid flowers at a Normandy cemetery honoring thousands of U.S. troops who died in France in World War II. Dempsey said he was told of the attack by French counterpart Gen. Pierre de Villiers, and he praised the French action.

"The French were our very first ally and they're with us again now," Dempsey told reporters traveling with him in Normandy. "It just reminds me why these relationships really matter."

At Friday prayers in the Iraqi holy city of Karbala, a representative for the most revered Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, said foreign help in the fight against the Islamic State group should not lead to a violation of Iraq's sovereignty.

"The international efforts on this regard should not be used as a pretext to allow the foreigners to control the course of events in Iraq, especially in the military field," Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalaie said. "It is true that Iraq is in need for the help of brothers and friends in combating the black terrorism, yet safeguarding its sovereignty and independence should be highly considered. This should be taken care of."

France is conducting the operations in Iraq from French Air Base 104 inside Al Dhafra base near Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. French jets began flying reconnaissance missions Monday over Iraq.

The base, with about 750 French service personnel and six Rafales, is 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) from Mosul, meaning that the planes need refueling in flight to strike in Iraq.

For future operations, France could also mobilize its only aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, which is docked in southeastern France and would need at least five days to reach the eastern Mediterranean. The ship can carry about 30 planes including Rafales, Super-Etendards and U.S.-built E-2C Hawkeye surveillance aircraft.

Retired French Gen. Vincent Desportes said the French involvement, alongside far greater U.S. firepower, was more symbolic than militarily significant. But he said it could have a "snowball effect" by drawing in allies such as Australia or Canada to think more about participation.

"Three or four (French) airstrikes doesn't change much," said Desportes. "But it changes things in that it shows that the Americans are no longer alone."

He also pointed to France's tradition of supporting the U.S. in military ventures, including the deployment of more than 20,000 troops in the U.S.-led Gulf War in 1991.

"Aside from the case of the Iraq war — which was a stupidity — we have always been alongside the Americans," Desportes said. "In this case, it seems to me very good that we're cooperating."

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Sylvie Corbet in Paris; Robert Burns in Caen, France; Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations; and Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Sameer N. Yacoub and Vivian Salama in Baghdad contributed.