Pentagon

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Pentagon Quits Cremating Troops Alongside Pets

Military remains had been sent to facility handling animals

(Newser) - The Pentagon will stop sending fallen troops to a crematorium that also handles pets, McClatchy reports. A Delaware Air Force base had been sending the bodies of troops killed in battle to a crematorium that had two separate facilities, one for humans, another for pets. The move was prompted by...

Pentagon May Boost US Troops in Afghanistan

Number would be highest since war began

(Newser) - The Pentagon may send 7,000 more troops to Afghanistan to make up for a NATO shortfall, administration officials say.The move would bring US troop levels there to 40,000 and require relocating American forces from Iraq, the New York Times reports. While NATO countries have promised to send...

Shame On NBC's Williams in Pentagon Flap
Shame On
NBC's Williams in Pentagon Flap
OPINION
Apr 30, 2008 7:18 PM CDT

Shame On NBC's Williams in Pentagon Flap

Anchor's reaction to exposé on 'experts' as absurd as TV complicity

(Newser) - NBC anchor Brian Williams is digging himself an ever deeper, more shameful hole by brushing off a New York Times exposé that questioned the “core credibility” of network war reporting, Glenn Greenwald asserts in Salon. The piece revealed Pentagon propaganda efforts that indict NBC News and others, but when...

Filthy Barracks Video Sparks Clean Up

Dad uploads photos that shock generals

(Newser) - The Pentagon ordered filthy barracks at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and garrisons throughout the US Army cleaned up after a soldier's father posted embarrassing images of foul living conditions on YouTube. The dad welcomed his 22-year-old son home safe from Afghanistan, but was horrified by the living conditions at...

Dead Soldiers Beef Up Iraqis' Troop Count

US audit says many in special forces aren't actually serving

(Newser) - The number of men in Iraq's security forces is estimated to be a healthy 530,000. Trouble is, a "substantial number" of them are injured, dead, or AWOL, a new government audit says. The review casts doubt on Pentagon reports about Iraqi capabilities and questions Baghdad's ability to train...

Pentagon Purse Strings Ensnare TV Military Analysts

Commentators linked to defense contractors

(Newser) - Several so-called "independent" military analysts who often support Defense Department positions on TV news programs have been linked closely to defense contractors and the Pentagon in an extensive New York Times investigation. "We need to stick our hands up your back and move your mouth for you,’...

Rumsfeld to Pen Memoirs
 Rumsfeld to Pen Memoirs 
Apr 15, 2008 6:04 AM CDT

Rumsfeld to Pen Memoirs

Proceeds will go to foundation

(Newser) - Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, one of the architects of the war in Iraq who resigned from the Bush administration when the US became mired in the insurgency, is writing his memoirs, Reuters reports. The 75-year-old former congressman won't take an advance and will donate the book's proceeds to a...

Justice Memo Backed Torture Interrogations

President's wartime powers override law, document argued

(Newser) - Laws banning torture and assault should not apply to US military interrogators overseas, argues a 2003 Justice Department memo released yesterday. The Defense Department was told not to rely on the memo nine months after it was issued, but it established a legal foundation for controversial interrogations, the Washington Post...

Insignia of Our Secret Armies
 Insignia of Our Secret Armies 
Apr 1, 2008 4:44 PM CDT

Insignia of Our Secret Armies

Classified military world comes to light in new book

(Newser) - The men and women who work in our country’s most classified weapons and intelligence R&D programs—the New York Times calls them "stealthy armies of high-tech warriors"—have developed their own culture, complete with inside humor. That's on display in a new a book by Trevor...

Pentagon Big Guns Late, Way Over Budget

Overruns hit $295B, says GAO report

(Newser) - Some 95 of the Pentagon's biggest weapons systems are a total of $295 billion over budget and arrive an average of 2 years late, according to the Government Accountability Office. But GAO auditors say the Pentagon is getting sloppier, not better, reports the Washington Post. "It's taking longer and...

Former Prisoner to Detail Torture on 60 Minutes

Pentagon rips 'outlandish' claims of shocks, hanging

(Newser) - A former terror suspect will reveal details of tortures he suffered in 5 years of US custody tonight on 60 Minutes, reports CBS News. American authorities seized the ethnic Turk in Pakistan and continued to torture him even after determining he was innocent, he charges. The Pentagon refutes his claims....

Nuke Fluke: US Sent Missile Parts to Taiwan

Defense Dept. didn't realize error through nearly 2 years of Taiwanese queries

(Newser) - The US accidentally shipped components used in nuclear missiles to Taiwan in 2006, CNN reports. Instead of helicopter batteries, the Defense Department sent fuses designed to allow 1960s ballistic missiles to detonate; no actual nuclear material was involved. Taiwan quickly alerted the US to the error, but it wasn’t...

Sun Banks on Lasers to Make Next Speed Leap

Using light, not wires, to connect chips could make computers 1,000 times faster

(Newser) - Sun Microsystems is moving toward connecting computer chips using lasers instead of wires, a move that could make computers 1,000 times faster. The company snagged a $44 million Pentagon contract to continue work that could also mean smaller, more energy-efficient machines. It won’t be easy, though: A Sun...

Saddam's Files Provide No 'Smoking Gun'

Iraqi docs cast doubt on al-Qaeda link and Bush, Sr. murder plot

(Newser) - The Pentagon has rifled through 600,000 pages of Iraqi intelligence docs and found no sign of:
  • a plot to kill George Bush, Sr. in 1993.
  • a Saddam Hussein-al-Qaeda link.
  • a connection between Baghdad and Abdul Rahman Yasin, an alleged Sept. 11 plotter.
In fact, Hussein and his ministers are...

Congress Will Nix Airbus Deal, Boeing Says

US firm blasts 'unfair' award of Air Force contract to Europeans

(Newser) - Boeing isn't taking its loss of a $35 billion military contract to Northrop Grumman and Airbus lying down, Reuters reports. A company vice president said he was "as confident as he could be" that Congress would overturn the Air Force's decision to buy refueling tankers from Boeing's European rival....

Pentagon Delayed Brain Scans for Returning Troops

Brass feared troops would blame health woes on TBI

(Newser) - Seeking to duck controversy, the Pentagon did not screen returning US troops for brain injuries for more than 2 years. Top brass feared that soldiers would blame minor health woes on brain trauma—which could spark another Gulf War Syndrome, Air Force Col. Kenneth Cox told USA Today. But one...

Qaeda Suspect Held by CIA, Moved to Gitmo

Bin Laden aide has been in CIA custody since last year

(Newser) - A top al-Qaeda suspect who has been in secret CIA detention for at least 6 months was moved this week  to Guantanamo Bay, the Pentagon said yesterday. Muhammad Rahim, described as a "tough, seasoned, jihadist," is said to have been a close associate of Osama bin Laden's who...

Wounded Warriors Saluted at Pentagon

Quiet indoor ceremony honors injured

(Newser) - A poignant and little-known ceremony featuring wounded vets is held privately indoors at the Pentagon every six weeks, reports the Wall Street Journal. It's called the "Wounded Warrior March." Hundreds of Defense Department employees line the corridors of the Pentagon to applaud, cheer, shake hands, or hug servicemen...

McCain Sucked Into Boeing Battle
McCain Sucked
Into Boeing Battle
Mar 12, 2008 4:30 AM CDT

McCain Sucked Into Boeing Battle

Campaign boss lobbied against Boeing for European Airbus

(Newser) - John McCain is being dragged into the feud between Boeing and the Air Force, reports AP. A firm headed by McCain's campaign finance chairman, Tom Loeffler, was paid $220,000 to lobby on behalf of the Airbus, the successful European rival to Boeing's 767 fuel tanker. McCain had helped block...

US General: China Is Hacking Us
US General: China Is Hacking Us
Mar 11, 2008 6:05 PM CDT

US General: China Is Hacking Us

Commander follows up on report that China has denied

(Newser) - Following up on a Pentagon report, a US commander said today that Chinese hackers increasingly target American military networks, the Wall Street Journal reports. Kevin Chilton, the general in charge of cyberspace, fell short of accusing Beijing but said, "You can kind of connect the dots." China has...

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