US military

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Sex Assaults Against Women in Military 'Epidemic'

Lawmaker discovers 41% of female vets at one hospital have been vicitms

(Newser) - A California congresswoman seeking better protection for military women said she was shocked to discover that 41% of women at a veterans hospital reported being sexually assaulted while in the service, CNN reports. "We have an epidemic here," Jane Harman told a House panel yesterday. "Women in...

US Death Toll in Iraq Plummets
 US Death Toll in Iraq Plummets  
Jul 31, 2008 5:36 PM CDT

US Death Toll in Iraq Plummets

Iraqi deaths down 75% from this time last year

(Newser) - The monthly US toll in Iraq fell to its lowest point since the war began, with 10 American deaths recorded as July drew to a close today. Iraqis also are dying at dramatically lower numbers in the sixth year of the war. July saw the lowest civilian toll since December...

Army 'Warned on Wiring' Before Soldier's Electrocution

Sergeant filed work order after being shocked in the shower

(Newser) - A sergeant warned Army administrators about faulty wiring months before a soldier was electrocuted in a shower at the same quarters, CNN reports. "Pipes have voltage, get shocked in the shower," he wrote in a work order. A House committee probing the electrocution deaths in Iraq had previously...

Uncle Sam Short on Sergeants
Uncle Sam Short on Sergeants
Jul 30, 2008 2:26 PM CDT

Uncle Sam Short on Sergeants

Automatic promotions are turning battlefield into a classroom, soldiers say

(Newser) - The US Army, plagued by a shortage of non-commissioned officers, has lowered the bar for promotion so much that it has produced sergeants who are not ready to lead, Salon reports in an investigation of a military stretched thin by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In some cases, soldiers...

US Army Admits Civilian Shootings in Iraq

3 who died in hail of gunfire were unarmed, innocent victims

(Newser) - American soldiers rained gunfire on a carload of innocent civilians in Baghdad, killing three, and the military falsely told news media that the victims were aggressors, the US military admitted last night. Top Iraqi officials had previously denounced the June 25 incident as murder, and used it to call for...

McCain Ad Slams Obama for Skipping Troop Meeting

But 'he had time to go to the gym,' snipes spot

(Newser) - A new John McCain ad goes on the offensive, attacking Barack Obama for canceling a meeting with wounded troops, Politico reports. The clip, which aired in Denver during Saturday Night Live last night, criticizes Obama over his track record with members of the military, sniping: “He made time to...

Military Blocks Iraq Casualty Photos

Journalists complain war is being sanitized

(Newser) - Over 4,000 US troops have died in Iraq but only a handful of photographs of dead Americans have reached the media, the New York Times reports. Military regulations do not forbid taking photographs of casualties, but access to death sites is often denied. Photographers who do publish grim images...

Maliki Pegs Obama as the Most Pliant: Krauthammer

Iraq PM thinks Dem can be manipulated, writes Krauthammer

(Newser) - Nouri al-Maliki's endorsement of Barack Obama's timetable for withdrawal from Iraq this week was "the earliest and most ostentatious absentee ballot of this presidential election," writes Charles Krauthammer. The Washington Post columnist thinks that the Iraqi PM gave Obama an electorial assist for a clear reason: between him...

Obama Declares Afghanistan 'Precarious and Urgent'

Candidate pledges more US troops

(Newser) - Calling the situation in Afghanistan "precarious and urgent," Barack Obama today urged the Bush administration to make Afghanistan—rather than Iraq—"the central front in our battle against terrorism." In his first interview since arriving in the country yesterday, the Democratic candidate told Lara Logan on...

Obama Meets Afghan Leaders, Reiterates Support

Says he's interested in listening, not talking

(Newser) - Barack Obama met today with officials from one of Afghanistan’s most hard-fought regions, the AP reports, and re-iterated his commitment to intensifying US efforts there if elected president. Together with Chuck Hagel and Jack Reed, Obama visited Jalalabad Air Field in Nangarhar province. Nangarhar lies next to the Pakistani...

Americans Now Favor 'Don't Ask, Do Tell'

Acceptance of openly gay military enlistees surges to 75%

(Newser) - In the 15 years since the inception of the US military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gay servicemen and women, public opinion on the issue has shifted dramatically. In 1993, 44% of Americans said openly gay people should be allowed to enlist; a Washington Post-ABC News poll now...

Shoddy Electrical Work Killing US Troops in Iraq

Hazard from substandard work worse than Pentagon has acknowledged

(Newser) - Shoddy electrical work by private contractors is making Iraq an even deadlier place for US troops, reports the New York Times. At least 13 troops have died from electrocution and many more have been injured. Others have perished in electrical fires. The problem is worse than the Pentagon has acknowledged,...

Air Force Seeks Anti-Terror $16M for 'Comfort Pods'

Congress nixes funds for high-flying accommodations on military planes

(Newser) - Air Force chiefs have sought $16 million in anti-terrorism funds to build luxurious "comfort capsules" to be installed in military aircraft for VIP officer travel, reports the Washington Post. The project's costs have soared as finicky generals demand changes, with modifications in the plush leather seats—including a switch...

Did Iconic Photo Drive Soldier's Death?
 Did Iconic
 Photo Drive
 Soldier's Death? 
OPINION
Jul 13, 2008 9:48 AM CDT

Did Iconic Photo Drive Soldier's Death?

Photographer reflects on the power of a moment captured

(Newser) - A photo turned an American medic in Iraq into a hero, showing him carrying an Iraqi child to safety. But the photographer, Warren Zinn, wonders whether it also contributed to his suicide. Joseph Dwyer suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from Iraq; Zinn worries, in the Washington Post, whether his...

Pakistan: US Not Hunting bin Laden on Our Turf

Minister: would raise 'sovereignty issues'

(Newser) - Pakistan's foreign minister said yesterday that his country has no plans to allow US or other foreign troops into the country to search for Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda members, AP reports. Shah Mahmood Qureshi says that Pakistani troops, plus "grassroots" efforts to stop terrorism before it can...

US Weighs Faster Iraq Withdrawal
US Weighs Faster Iraq Withdrawal 
Jul 13, 2008 7:29 AM CDT

US Weighs Faster Iraq Withdrawal

Need for troops in Afghanistan may drive unexpected shift

(Newser) - US officials in Washington and Baghdad may pull as many as three brigades from Iraq by the time George Bush leaves office, the New York Times reports. The move, driven in part by a need to bolster the American presence in Afghanistan, could remove far more troops than seemed likely...

Bodies of 2 Missing GIs Found
 Bodies of 2 Missing GIs Found 
Jul 11, 2008 2:59 AM CDT

Bodies of 2 Missing GIs Found

Soldiers were kidnapped by insurgents in 2007 ambush

(Newser) - The families of two US soldiers missing in Iraq for over a year have been informed that their bodies have been found, reports AP. Alex Jimenez, 25, and Byron Fouty, 19, were seized by insurgents in a May 2007 ambush. Four other soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division "Polar...

Vets Slipping Into the Bottle
 Vets Slipping Into the Bottle 
Jul 8, 2008 5:36 AM CDT

Vets Slipping Into the Bottle

Military blames troubled vets turning to booze for rise in misconduct

(Newser) - A rise in alcohol abuse among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is worrying military officials, the New York Times reports. Counseling services for vets suffering post-traumatic stress disorder are stretched to the limit and many tormented former soldiers are turning instead to the bottle. The increase in binge drinking, and a...

Iraq Films Get Army's Attention

Film liaisons offer help; some directors see spin

(Newser) - War films can help shape public perception, and the Army is trying to guide moviemakers away from negative portrayals of the Iraq conflict like the ones that dominated films about Vietnam. Army liaisons to Hollywood offer equipment, expertise—and script alterations that some filmmakers see as spin. The LA Times...

Iraqis Losing Love for al-Qaeda
 Iraqis Losing Love for al-Qaeda 
ANALYSIS
Jul 6, 2008 6:56 PM CDT

Iraqis Losing Love for al-Qaeda

Insurgents reeling from citizen backlash, troop surge

(Newser) - Outsmarted and overwhelmed by allied forces in Iraq, al-Qaeda is getting desperate, Marie Colvin writes for the London Times. The insurgents, masters of organized resistance, are now resorting to small-scale hit-and-run attacks amidst waning support from Iraqis. “Al-Qaeda in Mosul is pretty much not able to do the attacks...

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