NewsTrust - Department of Defense - Most Recent Stories: News (Independent)

On 20th Anniversary of Killings of 6 Jesuit Priests by US-Backed Salvadoran Forces, Thousands to Protest "School of the Assassins" at Ft. Benning

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Blasé Bonpane, Amy Goodman - Nov. 20 (Special Report) - This year’s protest will mark the twentieth anniversary of the murder of six Jesuit priests in El Salvador by the US-backed Salvadoran military. It comes days after the priests were posthumously bestowed El Salvador’s highest civilian award, marking the first time the Salvadoran government has honored the priests since their deaths. To talk about the priests and the overall state of Latin American affairs, we’re joined by Blase Bonpane, director of the Office of the Americas. A former Maryknoll priest, he has worked for more than four decades to promote human rights in Latin America.

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Endless Obstacles Delay Veteran Benefits

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Miller-McCune - By Aaron Glantz - Nov. 12 (Special Report) - The Department of Veterans Affairs routinely delays disability claims by wounded soldiers for months and years, often shunting them into homelessness. But there’s a simple way for the government to get disabled veterans the help they deserve. It can trust them.

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God, the Army, and PTSD

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Boston Review - By Tara McKelvey - Nov. 11 (Special Report) - During the Iraq war, however, the great difficulty veterans experienced in getting psychiatric care—greater than before—was not a product of cost-cutting, but of conviction: many Bush administration officials believed that soldiers who supported the war would not face psychological problems, and if they did, they would find comfort in faith. In a resigned tone, one prominent researcher who worked for the VA, and asked that he not be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the press, explained that high-ranking officials believed that “Jesus fixes everything.” Benimoff and the others who returned with devastating psychological injuries found a faith-based bureau within the VA. At veterans’ hospitals, chaplains were conducting spirituality assessments of patients.

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Energy Lobbyists Seek Support From Veterans

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Jenna Staul - Nov. 10 (News Report) - Environmentalists on both sides of the fight for climate change legislation are hoping to enlist veterans groups as a powerful lobbying tool.

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Stimulus Contracts Go to Companies Under Criminal Investigation

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

ProPublica - By Michael Grabell - Oct. 26 (Investigative Report) - The Department of Defense awarded nearly $30 million in stimulus contracts to six companies while they were under federal criminal investigation on suspicion of defrauding the government. According to Air Force documents, the companies claimed to be small, minority-owned businesses, which allowed them to gain special preference in bidding for government contracts. But investigators found that they were all part of a larger minority-owned enterprise in Southern California, making them ineligible for the contracts.

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Seymour Hersh: Military Is Waging War Against The White House

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By The Huffington Post News Team - Oct. 23 (News Report) - In addition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States military is also fighting a war against the Obama administration at the White House ... "...and they feel they have Obama boxed in."

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Hill Aides Call For JSF Restructure

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

dodbuzz.com - By Colin Clark - Oct. 23 (News Report) - A preliminary Pentagon cost estimate that the F-35 could cost as much as $17.1 billion more than currently planned is prompting calls from congressional sources for the program to be reassessed and restructured.

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Why Did The DoD, And The White House, Oppose The Franken Rape Amendment?

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Talking Points Memo - By Rachel Slajda - Oct. 21 (News Analysis) - On Oct. 6, the Senate passed an amendment that would guarantee rape victims employed by defense contractors a chance to take their case to court. The 30 Republicans who voted against it have been vilified. (See, for example, RepublicansForRape.org.) But the Department of Defense -- and, by extension, the White House -- also opposed the amendment. Why?

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Afghanistan Surge? Jamal Dajani Weighs In

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Link TV - Sep. 23 (News Report) - The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan has warned that the U.S.-led NATO coalition risks losing the war unless there are fundamental changes in military strategy, including the addition of at least 10,000 more American troops

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WaPo Reporter Misleads In Claiming Interrogation Double Standard

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Scott Horton Read more at: - Sep. 18 (News Analysis) - This suggests that the message that torture enablers really draw from the West experience is this: Political cards played deftly will foil the impartial administration of justice every time. They may even win you a seat in Congress. Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/18/pincuss-double-standard_n_291801.html

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Retired 4-stars repudiate Cheney on torture -

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

airforcetimes.com - Sep. 15 (News Report) - Former Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Charles C. Krulak and former commander of Central Command Gen. Joseph P. Hoar have spoken out against former Vice President Dick Cheney and his support for “enhanced interrogation techniques” in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Back to School: Military Recruiters Increasingly Targeting High School Teens

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Juan Gonzalez - Sep. 04 (Special Report) - As millions of students prepare for the start of another school year, we focus on an issue that concerns many parents: the increasing presence of military recruiters in the nation’s high schools and the military’s ability to gather information about students.

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As Pentagon Cancels Rendon Group Contract, US-NATO Spokesman in Afghanistan Defends Using Company to Profile Journalists

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Amy Goodman, Nir Rosen, Col. Wayne Shanks - Sep. 01 (News Report) - The Pentagon is canceling its contract with the private public relations firm The Rendon Group to produce background profiles of journalists seeking to cover the war. One journalist profiled was Nir Rosen, who got a hold of his profile. The Rendon Group reported to the Pentagon that Rosen’s reporting in Afghanistan was “highly unfavorable to international efforts." The Rendon Group profile also mentioned Rosen’s appearance on Democracy Now!, when he stated his belief that the war is unwinnable and that the US should withdraw. We speak with Col. Wayne Shanks, the public affairs officer for US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

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Gates: Report details highs, lows of Afghan fight

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

seattlepi.com - By Anne Gearan - Aug. 31 (News) - Gen. Stanley McChrystal said the nearly 8-year-old war is winnable, but his report is expected to be a blunt appraisal of the Taliban's increasing tactical prowess and diminishing popular support in Afghanistan for both the foreign-led war effort and the fragile, corruption-riddled central government.

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Pentagon Hires Rendon Group to Profile and Rate Journalists Covering Afghanistan War

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Charlie Reed, James Bamford, Juan Gonzalez, Amy Goodman - Aug. 28 (News Report) - The U.S. Army in Afghanistan has admitted it pays a private company to produce background profiles on journalists covering the war. The Pentagon has been on the defensive ever since the Army newspaper Stars and Stripes revealed this week that journalists were being screened by the Washington-based public relations firm, The Rendon Group, under a $1.5 million dollar contract with the military. Documents obtained by the paper reveal journalists were evaluated with pie charts breaking down their coverage into percentages of “positive,” “neutral” or “negative.”

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Flushing Blackwater

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - By Jeremy Scahill - Aug. 26 (Investigative Report) - Blackwater, the private mercenary company owned by Erik Prince, has been thrust back into the spotlight by a series of stunning revelations about its role in covert US programs. Since at least 2002, Blackwater has worked for the CIA in Afghanistan and Pakistan on "black" contracts. On August 19, the New York Times revealed that the company was, in fact, a central part of a secret CIA assassination program that Dick Cheney allegedly ordered concealed from Congress. The paper then reported that Blackwater remains a key player in the widening air war in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where it arms drone aircraft. These disclosures follow allegations--made under oath by former Blackwater employees--that Prince murdered or facilitated the murder of potential government informants and that he "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe."

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Sometimes It’s Not Your War, But You Sacrifice Anyway

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

ProPublica - By T. Christian Miller - Aug. 17 (News Report) - These low-paid foreign workers face many of the same risks soldiers do. Mortars have killed Filipinos who served meals in mess halls. Assassins have targeted Iraqis translating for soldiers. Roadside bombs have ripped into trucks driven by Turkish

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Lost in Military Limbo

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Tomdispatch.com - By Dahr Jamail, Sarah Lazare - Aug. 09 (Investigative Report) - In April 2008, the Rand Corporation, a military-affiliated think-tank, released a study stating: "Nearly 20 percent of military service members who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan -- 300,000 in all -- report symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression

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Declassified Docs Reveal Military Operative Spied on WA Peace Groups, Activist Friends Stunned

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By ANJALI KAMAT, Amy Goodman, - Jul. 28 (News Report) - Newly declassified documents reveal that an active member of Students for a Democratic Society and Port Militarization Resistance in Washington state was actually an informant for the US military. The man everyone knew as “John Jacob” was in fact John Towery, a member of the Force Protection Service at Fort Lewis. The military’s role in the spying raises questions about possibly illegal activity. The Posse Comitatus law bars the use of the armed forces for law enforcement inside the United States.

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Obama’s Military Is Spying on U.S. Peace Groups

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthDig - By Amy Goodman - Jul. 28 (News Report) - Anti-war activists in Olympia, Wash., have exposed Army spying and infiltration of their groups, as well as intelligence gathering by the Air Force, the federal Capitol Police and the Coast Guard. The infiltration appears to be in direct violation of the Posse Comitatus Act preventing U.S. military deployment for domestic law enforcement and may strengthen congressional demands for a full-scale investigation of U.S. intelligence activities, like the Church Committee hearings of the 1970s.

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Casualties of War, Part II: Warning signs

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

gazette.com - By Dave Philipps - Jul. 28 (Investigative Report) - After coming home from Iraq, 21-year-old medic Bruce Bastien was driving with his Army buddy Louis Bressler, 24, when they spotted a woman walking to work on a Colorado Springs street. Bressler swerved and hit the woman with the car, according to police, then Bastien jumped out and stabbed her over and over.

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Casualties of War, Part I: The hell of war comes home

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

axisoflogic.com - By Dave Philipps - Jul. 26 (Investigative Report) - Before the murders started, Anthony Marquez’s mom dialed his sergeant at Fort Carson to warn that her son was poised to kill. It was February 2006, and the 21-year-old soldier had not been the same since being wounded and coming home from Iraq eight months before. He had violent outbursts and thrashing nightmares. He was devouring pain pills and drinking too much. He always packed a gun.

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Gates Grounds the Airborne White Elephant Laser

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Joe Cirincione - Jul. 17 (News Report) - Under President George Bush, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates resolutely defended every dime of last year's $11 billion budget for anti-missile weapons programs. Now reporting to President Obama, who favors weapons programs that are operationally effective and affordable, he is free to say what military officials have known for years: many of these programs don't work. He has trimmed $1.6 billion from the budget and axed three of the worst projects, infuriating the high priests of the missile defense cargo cult.

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Vietnam War Architect Robert McNamara Dies at 93

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Howard Zinn, Marilyn Young, onathan Schell, Amy Goodman - Jul. 07 (News Analysis) - Over half a million Americans went to war on his watch, a war that ultimately killed over 58,000 American soldiers and at least 3 million Vietnamese. ... Less well-known is McNamara’s key involvement in the firebombing of 67 japanese cities shortly before the end of World War II that destroyed 50 to 90 percent of the cities. He described the bombing operations he analyzed under the general Curtis Lemay in a 2003 documentary by Errol Morris, “The Fog of War.” In a single night on March 10th, 1945, he told Morris, quote, “We burned to death 100,000 Japanese civilians in Tokyo—men, women, and children.”

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Where's My Flying Tank?

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Rachel Morris - Jul. 06 (Special Report) - A quick primer on the problem programs Gates wants to cut and the ones he left intact.

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