US military

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Pentagon Lifts Coffin Media Ban
 Pentagon Lifts Coffin Media Ban 
Feb 26, 2009 1:39 PM CST

Pentagon Lifts Coffin Media Ban

(Newser) - The Pentagon has lifted the media ban at Dover (Del.) Air Force Base and will allow photos of the coffins of US war casualties returning from overseas—provided the service members' families approve. Under the new rules, the families can withhold permission, CNN reports. Some relatives had lobbied against...

Afghanistan Demands Broader Strategy: Kissinger

Diffuse country calls for localized military approach

(Newser) - The US can no longer afford to follow “traditional anti-insurgency tactics” in such a large, ethnically diverse, and “forbidding territory” as Afghanistan, Henry Kissinger writes in the Washington Post. Instead of focusing on a stronger centralized government, he urges a “coherent” strategy that supports “local and...

Obama to Withdraw Troops From Iraq in 19 Months

(Newser) - President Obama plans to withdraw most US troops from Iraq by August 2010, the AP reports. Insiders say a training force of 30,000 to 50,000 will remain but will be largely evacuated by December 2011, when the security pact between the US and Iraq expires. The US has...

US Secretly Training Pakistani Commandos

Forces help troops to fight Taliban, al-Qaeda

(Newser) - Dozens of American military advisers and technical specialists are secretly working in Pakistan to train armed forces to battle the Taliban and al-Qaeda, reports the New York Times. The Special Forces soldiers are providing intelligence and advising the Pakistani military on combat tactics, although they are not conducting combat operations....

Kyrgyzstan Issues Eviction Notice to US

Forces have 6 months to leave; Uzbekistan offers new supply route

(Newser) - Kyrgyzstan has issued an eviction notice giving US forces six months to depart an air base key to the transit of troops and supplies to the war in Afghanistan, the AP reports. But in spite of its rocky relationship with the US, nearby Uzbekistan has offered an alternative route for...

Let the Coffins Be Seen
 Let the Coffins Be Seen 
OPINION
Feb 19, 2009 2:43 PM CST

Let the Coffins Be Seen

(Newser) - The ban on media at Dover Air Force Base when America’s war dead come home ignores the very rights they died fighting for, and it should be lifted, Connie Schultz writes for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “Supporters of the Iraq war have long argued that media images of...

Girl's Barracks Death May Be Drug-Related

Victim acquainted with soldier; family IDs her on MySpace

(Newser) - Army investigators believe the death of a 16-year-old civilian girl at a barracks on Fort Lewis was possibly drug-related. A spokesman wouldn't say what drugs may have been involved, and toxicology results aren’t expected for at least a week. The dead girl was identified by her family on her...

Obama Approves Afghan Troop Surge

(Newser) - President Obama has approved an increase in troop levels in Afghanistan, which could put 17,000 more soldiers and Marines on the ground in the coming months, the AP reports. Insiders say they should be in place by the volatile summer period, when warmer weather and upcoming elections are expected...

Dead Girl, 16, Found in Army Barracks

Fort Lewis investigating after 1 civilian teen found dead, another unconscious

(Newser) - A 16-year-old girl was found dead and another girl the same age was found unconscious in an Army barracks at Fort Lewis, Wash., early Sunday, the Tacoma News-Tribune reports. The girls were found by emergency personnel responding to a 911 call. A soldier who allegedly knew at least one of...

US Surge Troops See First Combat in Afghanistan

(Newser) - Close to 3,000 American soldiers who recently arrived in Afghanistan to secure two violent provinces near Kabul have begun operations in the field and already are seeing combat, the AP reports. The new troops are the first wave of an expected surge of reinforcements this year. The process began...

Should We Allow Coffin Pics?
 Should We Allow Coffin Pics? 
analysis
Feb 15, 2009 4:26 PM CST

Should We Allow Coffin Pics?

(Newser) - President Obama is reviewing a media ban at Dover Air Force Base, where dead soldiers arrive in flag-draped coffins, but "in truth, it's not an easy issue," John Barry writes in Newsweek. There is widespread support for raising the ban "as a way of reminding the...

US Military Woos Recruits With Citizenship Offer

Armed forces to recruit temporary immigrants

(Newser) - Aiming to swell its ranks as it fights two wars, the US military will offer skilled temporary immigrants who enlist a shot at becoming citizens in just six months, the New York Times reports. Immigrants with temporary visas who have been in the US at least two years will now...

Inquiry Into Iraqi Graft Expands to Top US Officers

(Newser) - The United States' poor track record on rebuilding Iraq has long been chalked up to lousy planning by Pentagon brass. But an expanding investigation by federal authorities adds another element to the mix: possible corruption by the military commanders who oversaw reconstruction in the Wild West days after the invasion,...

Roomba Maker Actually a Big-Time Defense Contractor

(Newser) - It’s common knowledge that the Defense Department is the progenitor of modern conveniences like the Internet. But would you, for a minute, think it has a $286 million contract with the company that makes your Roomba automated vacuum? That fact surprised Owen Thomas, who writes about it on Valleywag,...

Obama Challenges Troop Surge in Afghanistan

Asks for clear strategy before sending more troops

(Newser) - President Obama has called for a review of the planned deployment of up to 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, a nation that some fear will become his “Vietnam,” the Times of London reports. Some 17,000 more troops were poised to head there last week, but defense...

US Funded Failed Attack on Ugandan Rebels

LRA escaped 'poorly planned' attack, massacred civilians

(Newser) - The US military helped fund and plan a disastrous attack on a Ugandan rebel group that resulted in reprisals against civilians, the New York Times reports. Uganda had hoped to rout the infamous Lord’s Resistance Army from the Congolese national park it was hiding in, but it failed to...

Kyrgyzstan Calls Closure of US Base 'Final'

Russia offers help to US with transport to Afghanistan

(Newser) - The decision to close an American air base in Kyrgyzstan was "final," the Kyrgyz government said today, contradicting claims from Washington that discussions are ongoing. The Manas Air Base is a vital stopover for US and NATO flights to Afghanistan, but this week Kyrgyzstan suddenly decided to shutter...

Army Suicides in January Surpass Combat Deaths

(Newser) - As many as 24 US Army soldiers took their own lives in January, an enormous rise over previous years, the Army Times reports. The deaths of seven soldiers have been confirmed as suicides, while 17 pending cases will likely get the same designation, the AP reports. If that happens, the...

Pentagon to Send 30K New Troops to Afghanistan

Heartland strategy seeks to cut off Taliban's supply of fighters, drug money

(Newser) - US commanders are finalizing plans to beat back the resurgent Taliban with tens of thousands of extra American troops in Afghanistan, the Wall Street Journal reports. As part of Barack Obama's emerging strategy, reinforcements will be deployed in rural areas where Kabul's grip is weak, including along the border with...

NATO Chief OKs Attacks on Afghan Drug Producers

(Newser) - NATO's top commander has authorized coalition troops “to attack directly drug producers and facilities throughout Afghanistan,” saying they “are inextricably linked to the Opposing Military Forces,” Der Spiegel reports. The order from US General John Craddock is not going over well with commanders on the ground....

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