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REPORT: What would Russian intervention in Syria look like?

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

infowars.com - Feb. 07 (News) -

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The ‘Stan: An officer’s unvarnished view

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

armytimes.com - By Lance M. Bacon - Feb. 06 (Special Report) - An Army officer is fed up with “rosy official statements” that paint Afghanistan as a picture of progress, and he is demanding military leaders come clean about the “absence ofsuccess on virtually every level.”

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Iraqis Voice Outrage as Haditha Massacre Trial Ends In No Jail Time for Accused U.S. Marines

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jan. 26 (News Report) - The last of the U.S. marines charged in the 2005 Haditha massacre of 24 Iraqi civilians, Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, received no jail time after he pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty and avoiding charges of involuntary manslaughter. Under his sentencing, Wuterich now faces a maximum penalty of a demotion to the rank of private. The victims, including women and children, were killed when the marines burst into their homes and shot them dead in their nightclothes. Wuterich allegedly led the Haditha massacre and was the last defendant to face charges. Six other marines have had their charges dropped or dismissed, while another soldier was acquitted. "[Iraqi] outrage is perfectly understandable," says Tim McGirk, the Time magazine reporter who broke the story on the Haditha massacre. "Here is a case where so many Iraqis were killed, women and children, old men, and yet, what's happened? Most of the charges have been dismissed, and Wuterich was basically given a slap on the wrist." [includes rush transcript]

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Military Intervention vs. Maritime Union Power

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

readersupportednews.org - By Brian Tierney - Jan. 22 (News Report) - For the first time in 40 years, the US Armed Forces will be deployed to intervene in a labor dispute, facilitating a scab operation against union dockworkers at the Port of Longview in Washington.' Brian Tierney, Subterranean Dispatches

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Urging Obama to Stop Rush to Iran War

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Consortium News - By Ray McGovern, Elizabeth Murray - Dec. 31 (News Analysis) - President Obama needs to put an abrupt halt to the game of Persian Roulette about to spin out of control in the Persian Gulf. If we were still on active duty at the CIA, this is what we would tell him:

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As Bradley Manning Hearing Concludes, Military Prosecutors Say WikiLeaks Disclosures Aided al-Qaeda

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Dec. 23 (News Report) - the prosecution "linked Bradley Manning to aiding al-Qaeda... That essentially is criminalizing national security journalism... What they’re saying is anybody who puts this information on the internet—if you do a report on a drone strike, if you do a report on anything related to military operations, and then al-Qaeda reads it, then you could be accused of aiding the enemy."

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U.S. Admits Fault in Fatal Bombing that Killed 24 Pakistani Troops

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Dec. 22 (News Report) - The Pentagon has admitted significant responsibility for an attack on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border last month that left 24 Pakistani solders dead. A military investigation found U.S. and Afghan commandos incorrectly determined there were no Pakistani forces in the area before the air strike. U.S. officials then provided inaccurate data to a Pakistani military representative and missed an opportunity to stop the fighting. Pakistan closed its border after the attack, shutting off a supply line to troops in Afghanistan. New York Times reporter Eric Schmitt, who has just returned from Pakistan, says the report details just the latest in a string of incidents that could hurt Pakistani-U.S. ties

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Iraq Combat Veteran Dan Choi Forcibly Ousted, Barred From Bradley Manning Hearing at Ft. Meade

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Dec. 21 (News Report) - Former U.S. Army Lt. Dan Choi attended the pre-trial military hearing for accused Army whistleblower Private Bradley Manning this weekend, but was barred from returning on Monday. Military security handcuffed Choi, pinned to the ground and ripped off his rank. The military says Choi was heckling, but Choi maintains he never disrupted the proceedings. He is an Iraq War combat veteran, supporter of Manning, and an openly gay service member who was discharged in 2010 under the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. "What Bradley Manning did as a gay American, as a soldier — a good soldier, in fact the only soldier in his entire chain of command who did the right thing and suffers the consequences unjustly — there's no choice but for patriotic Americans to sit there and support Bradley Manning in the dignity and full honor of the uniform of service," Choi says. [Rush transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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Bradley Manning's Defense Strategy on Display as Military Prosecutors Rest Case in Pretrial Hearing

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Ed Pilkington - Dec. 21 (News Report) - "[The defense is] claiming ... that Manning has not been given the right to a fair pretrial hearing, because we think they’re only likely to be able to call three witnesses. Now that’s in addition to 10 witnesses they shared with the prosecution, but it’s still a tiny number compared with the total of 48 that Manning’s lawyer, David Coombs, asked for," Pilkington says. "And if, by contrast, the defense is only allowed to call three of its own witnesses, that looks pretty unequal to me."

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Bradley Manning Faces Life Sentence, While Criminals WikiLeaks Exposed Have Suffered No Consequences - Glenn Greenwald

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - Dec. 19 (News Analysis) - "Presumably, his lawyer believes that one of the best ways that they have to keep him out of prison for the next six decades is to argue that he had diminished capacity by virtue of emotional distress over the gender struggles that he had over his sexual orientation being in a military that had a policy of banning those who were openly gay. And so, part of this emotional distress that they’re raising is designed to say that he should be excused from his actions because they were not the byproduct of full choice," says Greenwald, who is openly gay and has been writing extensively about this aspect of Manning’s case. "He is—and I don’t blame him at all—trying to do whatever he can to avoid having his life destroyed, either being killed by the state or locked up in a cage for the rest of his life."

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Inspector General: Army Retaliated Against Whistle-Blower

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

readersupportednews.org - By Stephen Losey - Dec. 10 (News Report) - 'After being wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2004, Army counterintelligence specialist Mike Helms endured a bureaucratic nightmare trying to get treatment for traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder and other injuries. He wrote or called numerous congressmen, Defense Department executives, newspapers (including Federal Times, a sister publication to Army Times), even then-President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. According to an inspector general's report obtained by Federal Times, the Army then retaliated against Helms for blowing the whistle on the poor treatment he received.' Stephen Losey, Army Times

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Undaunted, Senator Still Trying to Close Decrepit Schools on Military Bases

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

nationofchange.org - By Rachael Marcus - Dec. 10 (News Report) - The Defense Department runs about 60 schools on military bases in the U.S., many of which are run-down, too small, and pose health and safety risks to children, as the Center for Public Integrity’s iWatch News reported in a series, “The Military Children Left Behind.” Three out of four Pentagon-run schools are beyond repair or require major renovation, the news organization found.

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US Senate passes its version of NDAA bill, which would allow military to detain anyone on US soil - OpenGlobe

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

OpenGlobe - By Tempodivalse, OpenGlobe contributors - Dec. 02 (Special Report) - The US Senate on Thursday passed its version of a bill that, among other provisions, would enable the US military to indefinitely detain anyone who is deemed to be engaging in terrorist activities.

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"Hancock 38" Defendants Found Guilty for Bold Army Base Protest Against U.S. Drone Attacks Abroad

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Dec. 02 (News Report) - Thirty-one of 38 accused activists were found guilty on Thursday for their role in a protest against U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The activists were arrested on April 22 at the New York Air National Guard base at Hancock Field near Syracuse, New York, after trespassing to protest the MQ-9 Reaper drones, which the 174th Fighter Wing of the Guard has remotely flown over Afghanistan since late 2009

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Iraq Veterans at Occupy Wall Street Decries Financial Crisis Soldiers Face Returning Home

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Oct. 11 (News Report) - Protesters at Occupy Wall Street include veterans of the U.S. military, many of whom are struggling with their multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, mental and physical trama and illness, and the hardships of pulling their lives back together when returning to civilian life. "It's no secret that a lot of veterans are facing unemployment, homelessness, and a lot of other issues that are dealing with the economy," says Jose Vasquez, executive director Iraq Veterans Against the War. [Transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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How Washington Creates Global Instability

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Tomdispatch.com - By Nick Turse - Sep. 19 (News Analysis) - It’s a story that should take your breath away: the destabilization of what, in the Bush years, used to be called “the arc of instability.” It involves at least 97 countries, across the bulk of the global south, much of it coinciding with the oil heartlands of the planet. A startling number of these nations are now in turmoil, and in every single one of them -- from Afghanistan and Algeria to Yemen and Zambia -- Washington is militarily involved, overtly or covertly, in outright war or what passes for peace.

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Gay Marines worry about coming out

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Asbury Park Press - By Tony Lombardo - Sep. 19 (News Report) - Marine Cpl. AJ Garcia, a veteran of two deployments in Iraq, plans to tell his fellow Marines that he is gay when official policy changes on Tuesday. He's apprehensive about making his sexual orientation known. / NONE/PHOTO COURTESY OF Cpl. AJ GARCIA Written by Tony Lombardo | Marine Corps Times FILED UNDER News Nation/World Cpl. AJ Garcia has deployed twice to Iraq, and he wants to make a career out of the Corps. He's also about to share something with his fellow Marines that he hasn’t told too many people before: He’s gay.

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Defense Secretary Panetta Plays on Job Fears But Military Spending Is the Worst at Creating Jobs

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Robert Greenwald, Derrick Crowe - Sep. 16 (News Analysis) - Panetta and his counterparts in the war industry can play Chicken Little all they want about war budget spending cuts, but they can’t change the simple fact that military spending is terrible at creating jobs, according to a 2009 study by the Political Economy Research Institute

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FedEx and Pepsi Are Top Defense Contractors? 5 Corporate Brands Making a Killing on America’s Wars

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Nick Turse - Sep. 06 (Special Report) - tens of thousands of “civilian” companies, from multi-national corporations hawking toothpaste and shampoo to big oil behemoths and even local restaurants scattered across the United States, all supply the Pentagon with the necessities used to carry on day-to-day operations and wage America’s wars. And they’ve made a killing doing it since 9/11.

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Jesus Loves Nukes But They Have to Cool It

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - By Abby Zimet - Aug. 04 (News Report) - The Air Force has suspended a decades-long training course, commonly dubbed Jesus Loves Nukes, that taught "ethics" to nuclear missile launchers by referencing Biblical figures like Abraham, John the Baptist and other "believers engaged in wars."

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Why Is the Most Wasteful Government Agency Not Part of the Deficit Discussion?

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By David Morris - Jul. 18 (News Analysis) - When debt ceilings and deficits seem to be the only two items on Washington’s agenda, it is both revealing and tragic that both parties give a free pass to military spending. Representative Paul Ryan’s much discussed Tea Party budget accepted Obama’s proposal for a pathetic $78 billion reduction in military spending over 5 years, a recommendation that would only modestly slow the rate of growth of military spending. Indeed, the Republican government battering ram appears to have stopped at the Pentagon door.

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Fiscal FactCheck

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

FactCheck - By Brooks Jackson - Jul. 15 (Fact Check) - Washington's spending has recently been higher as a percentage of the nation's economic output than at any time since World War II. But by the same measure, Washington's revenues are the lowest in more than 60 years. So does the U.S. have "a spending problem," as Republicans keep repeating in the current debate over how to reduce the nation's record deficits? Or is the problem that taxes are not high enough? Those questions frame a long-running partisan debate, and as usual we won't offer an opinion one way or the other. But for those seeking their own answers, we can offer some fiscal history and factual context.

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Church-state Groups Seek Equal Play For Atheist Concert At Fort Bragg

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Jack Jenkins - Jul. 08 (News Report) - Three church-state activist groups criticized the Army for allowing an evangelical concert at North Carolina's Fort Bragg but not making similar provisions for a "Rock Beyond Belief" concert for nonbelievers. The three groups -- Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina -- on Tuesday (July 5) complained to the Secretary of the Army about events that appear to give "selective benefits" to religious groups.

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Why Do the Police Have Tanks? The Strange and Dangerous Militarization of the US Police Force

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Rania Khalek - Jul. 06 (News Analysis) - Local police departments are being supplied with military uniforms, weaponry, vehicles, and training.

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Debt Hawk GOP Wants Big Boost For Pentagon Budget

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Amanda Terkel - Jul. 06 (News Report) - As it considers steep cuts to domestic programs in an effort to slash the deficit, the House is set to consider a defense spending bill on Wednesday that increases the Pentagon's budget by $17 billion.

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