Just as the U.S. government’s Iraq reconstruction watchdog formally unveils a proposal to revamp the integration of civilian and military activities in combat zones, opposition from the State Department and the Pentagon threatens to scotch the whole effort.
The Pentagon’s top civilian and military leadership made an unequivocal and at times emotional appeal Tuesday to end the decades-long ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military, and spelled out a year-long process for securing uniformed and congressional support to change the policy.
During his State of the Union speech Wednesday night, President Obama formally unveiled a spending-freeze plan that will exempt the hundreds of billions spent annually on defense and homeland security. Leading defense wonks, particularly on the left, are calling it “ridiculous,” “completely inappropriate” and “a political decision.”
Last week in Oslo President Obama confirmed that “evil does exist in the world.” Now scientists at a lab in Tower say they’ve seen signs deep under the Soudan Mine that something called “dark matter” also…
“Are you in favor of reinstituting the military draft, as Democrats in Congress have proposed?” That’s one of 15 questions the Republican National Commitee uses to drum up funds in a “2010 Obama Agenda Survey” that arrived in Minnesota mailboxes this week. A search of current legislation suggests that no such proposal is pending in Congress.
Rep. Michele Bachmann’s recent choice of words suggests she knew what she saying when she invoked the “sadly ludicrous” Crimean War episode from Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade” at a Capitol Hill anti-health care reform rally.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court dealt a harsh blow on Monday to victims of abuse by U.S. officials during the “war on terror.” The court announced it would not review a federal appeals court ruling that dismissed a lawsuit by four British citizens who claim they were wrongly arrested, detained and mistreated at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. The Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington had ruled in April that government officials were entitled to “qualified immunity” from suit because it wasn’t clear at the time that abusing Guantanamo prisoners at was illegal.
“The Nobel Committee gambled and lost,” says Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, assistant professor of justice and peace studies at the University of St. Thomas. President Obama’s speech accepting the Nobel Peace Prize was “a defense of war and militarism. … With this…
While President Obama’s plan to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan has been met with mixed reactions, one local company sees an upside to troop escalation. Edina-based ATK, formerly Alliant TechSystems, expects to see demand for…
As Congress, and the nation, debate the role that gays and lesbians play in the military, some Congress members are trying to protect those that testify about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” by making that testimony immune from military scrutiny.…
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