Someone clue me in here. Are these people in our intelligence agencies complete idiots?
It’s November 10th, 2009, the day before Veterans Day. President Obama visits Ft. Hood to mourn with those military families who lost friends and loved ones at the hands of a domestic “terrorist,” who just happens to be a Muslim and who committed this crime so close to Veterans Day and while Obama is on the brink of making a decision to send tens of thousands more troops to the war in Afghanistan (against Muslims) amidst very strong public opinion to get out of that war. Well it was strong, until this shocking “terrorist” act took place. http://stopwar.lafilmonline.com//?p=166
This is absolutely amazing. We have the most well equipped military and intelligence agencies in the world and yet they can’t stop known terror suspects with simple box cutters who even trained in U.S. flight schools - they can’t stop those guys from hijacking five planes and crashing into the Pentagon and the twin towers; and they can’t stop this guy Hasan, who they have known evidence on as well with his relations with a known terrorist sympathizer and they even employ him on a military base.
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There are those who question the whole legitimacy of 9/11 as a purely terrorist act. There were no aircraft engine parts found at the Pentagon on 9/11. Instead they found what appeared to be a hole in the building made by a missile. Some demolition experts believe the twin towers were destroyed with explosives by demolition experts - like our highly trained military who specialize in such things perhaps? There are questions about flight 93 that crashed in a farm field in Pennsylvania, supposedly headed for Washington D.C. piloted by U.S. military trained “Muslim terrorists” (Was it shot down by the military as is standard military policy when a hijacked aircraft becomes a threat, especially a threat to national security?). Why was there so much media analysis of what happened on that flight, which we couldn’t possibly know of for certain, to the point where a Hollywood movie was made depicting such nebulous speculation and conjecture in vivid high definition detail?
Now we have this highly suspicious terrorist act by Hasan, where we know he was thwarted and harassed to the breaking point, and we know he had an internal conflict between his ethnicity and people versus his military service, while working for a military that slaughters innocent Muslims with extreme ethnic prejudice (if you were a white guy working for an Arab army that did this to Americans, do you think you’d have a few internal conflicts too? How about a few dead collaterally damaged Texan babies? Want to work for those guys?).
Yet our military with its vast resources can’t figure this stuff out until after a great American tragedy happens, coinciding with Veterans day and on our American soil - all the talking points of making a case for war against a foreign enemy. What a great photo op for Obama at Ft. Hood the day before Veterans Day. Can you think of a better commercial for going to all out war?
Naomi Kline’s book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine), points out ever so clearly the history of the United states government in using disasters to make a case for war, not only in our country but first in South American countries which were the proving ground for this policy. And we see this happening over and over again. Here we are with Obama on the brink of sending ten’s of thousands more troops off to fight and die in vain for a war without end, without purpose, without strategy. A war that targets innocent civilians because our crack cutting edge military can’t figure out the difference between civilians and terrorists, and in the process of killing the innocent, proliferates more terrorism.
It is very highly likely, in light of this historical fact, that our intelligence agencies employed persons from the Muslim connections that Hasan had, to his neighbors that harassed him to his wit’s end, with the sole purpose of perpetuating and coercing him to commit these crimes, so that they would have an awesome ongoing news story (one that will now last for months since they went to extreme measures to keep him alive) to make a case for perpetual war in Afghanistan and to sway public opinion away from it’s current sentiment against staying in Afghanistan.Someone clue me in here. Are these people in our intelligence agencies complete... more
Getting caught up on this story from yesterday in the NY Times: Apparently security forces in Iraq are using bomb detecting "wands" that the Pentagon thinks are useless. All those checkpoints that are supposed to keep Iraq's cities safe from car bombs might not be having much of an effect at all.
From the NY Times:
"The Iraqis, however, believe passionately in them. “Whether it’s magic or scientific, what I care about is it detects bombs,” said Maj. Gen. Jehad al-Jabiri, head of the Ministry of the Interior’s General Directorate for Combating Explosives. Dale Murray, head of the National Explosive Engineering Sciences Security Center at Sandia Labs, which does testing for the Department of Defense, said the center had “tested several devices in this category, and none have ever performed better than random chance.”
Iraq is in the middle of a delicate transition period. Things have begun to seem more stable, less violent. US troops have pulled back to their bases, out of the cities. And blast walls in the capital have even come down. But with recent bombings in Baghdad - bomb detection is a really critical part of maintaining security. The New York Times described the wands as working on the "same principle as a Ouija board" - by the power of user suggestion.
From the NY Times:
"On Tuesday, a guard and a driver for The New York Times, both licensed to carry firearms, drove through nine police checkpoints that were using the device. None of the checkpoint guards detected the two AK-47 rifles and ammunition inside the vehicle. During an interview on Tuesday, General Jabiri challenged a Times reporter to test the ADE 651, placing a grenade and a machine pistol in plain view in his office. Despite two attempts, the wand did not detect the weapons when used by the reporter but did so each time it was used by a policeman. “You need more training,” the general said."
"KBR, the largest contractor in Iraq, is pulling out of that country so slowly that it could end up costing American taxpayers $193 million more than expected, according to a new Pentagon audit.
Furthermore, during a hearing Monday by the Commission on Wartime Contracting, a legislative body set up to study contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, Commissioner Charles Tiefer said the company’s plodding exit from Iraq could cost even more — up to $300 million.
One reason it’s hard to pin down how fast KBR and other contractors are withdrawing from Iraq is that the Defense and State departments and the Agency for International Development — the three agencies employing the most contractors in the Middle East — can’t agree on how many contract employees they have.
Tiefer released a list of the top contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan in late 2008 and early 2009. According to his list, KBR held four of the 10 largest defense contracts in Iraq, worth about $7 billion. Dyncorp was the largest State Department contractor, with four of the top 10 contracts.
“There’s no authority,” he said. “It’s good faith."
Blackwater retained two of the top 10 State Department contracts, worth $178.1 million. The government of Iraq revoked the company’s license to operate in Iraq last January after its employees were implicated in the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians."
Contractor=Mercenary. They take our tax money and shoot up villages, killing women and children. Then American soldiers get shot in retaliation, while these mercenaries are controlling the prostitution and drug rings. They make so much money exploiting war. There is no accountability while they rape and pillage and they never want it to stop. If the Taliban could pay them as much as we do, they'd come to America and start shooting us. No loyalty to country, just money.http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29052.html
"KBR, the largest contractor... more
Iridium Announces Goldman Sachs As Lead Financing Advisor
BETHESDA, Md. – October 27, 2009 – Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) today announced that it has engaged Goldman, Sachs & Co. as its lead global advisor on the financing of Iridium NEXT, the company’s next generation satellite constellation. The company continues to expect to fund a substantial portion of the cost of Iridium NEXT from internally generated cash flow, as well as revenues derived from hosted payloads on its next generation constellation and from warrant proceeds. In addition, the recent closing of the company’s merger, which substantially strengthened the company’s balance sheet, has enhanced the opportunity to pursue various financing options. Goldman Sachs will lead the initiative to secure the remainder of funding necessary to develop, build and launch the new constellation, which is anticipated to begin launching in 2014.
Iridium has said that it expects to announce the selection of a prime contractor in the coming months. Lockheed Martin and Thales Alenia Space are competing to secure the prime contract for the development of Iridium NEXT.
“Our business performance, including our recent announcement of our entry into the Mexican market, supports our confidence that a substantial portion of the cost of our next generation of satellites will be funded from internally generated cash flow,” said Iridium CEO Matt Desch. “We are pleased to have appointed Goldman Sachs as our lead advisor, and I am confident that we are in the optimal position to secure the best possible support for Iridium NEXT.”
"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military on Tuesday said it met its goal of conducting collision analysis on 800 maneuverable satellites in September, and expects to be able to track 500 more non-maneuvering satellites by year's end.
The U.S. Air Force began upgrading its ability to predict possible collisions in space after a dead Russian military communications satellite and a commercial U.S. satellite owned by Iridium collided on February 10."http://iridium.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=939
Iridium Announces Goldman... more
Youssef: Pentagon officials are going public with plan to set-up indefinitely in the regionYoussef: Pentagon officials are going public with plan to set-up indefinitely in the... more
The home secretary Alan Johnson has "stopped the clock" on the extradition of computer hacker Gary McKinnon after new medical evidence emerged. Johnson told MPs his 11th hour intervention was to allow McKinnon's legal team to consider medical reports and make legal representations.
Gary McKinnon is accused by the US of what they call the biggest military computer hack of all time for hacking into Pentagon networks. McKinnon, who suffers from Asperger's syndrome, says he was just looking for evidence of UFO sightings and meant no harm.
Supporters of McKinnon say he's at suicide risk if he's exported to a maximum security prison in the States. The US government, embarrassed that one man could hack into some of their most secure military networks from his bedroom in London, have been piling on the pressure to get him extradited to America under a terrorism extradition agreement for some time now.
Critics of the 2003 US-UK extradition treaty, which was created to allow terrorism suspects to be sent between the two countries, argue it's lopsided and gives a better deal to the USA.
McKinnon's mother spoke out after this latest announcement and echoed those sentiments, saying “We should not have a Government that is so powerless it cannot stand up against America for the right of its own citizens.”The home secretary Alan Johnson has "stopped the clock" on the extradition of computer... more
The Pentagon has paid anti-war activist Noam Chomsky the highest honor any totalitarian entity can bestow upon an author: they’ve banned his book Interventions at Guantanamo Bay prison.
They won’t say precisely why they “honored” Chomsky, but Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Brook DeWalt told the Miami Herald that Interventions, published by San Francisco-based City Lights Books, might negatively “impact on [Gitmo’s] good order and discipline.”
The Pentagon, of course, insists on “good order and discipline” running its prison camp. Chomsky likes order, too. What he objects to is the Pentagon spreading disorder globally.
Instead of thanking the Pentagon for his “honor,” Chomsky, is said to be angry. The Herald quotes him as saying, “This happens sometimes in totalitarian regimes.”
more at link...The Pentagon has paid anti-war activist Noam Chomsky the highest honor any... more
This is a synopsis of the 28 minute French film by Pascale Bourgau who interviewed US military women raped on duty. It's been seen on European TV but not in the US.
Pascale, a reporter for the Belgian channel RTBF (Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon), while six months pregnant, along with Anne Barrier, toured the United States to meet these women and tell of their pain, rebellion and today, their struggle.
Filmmaker Pascale Bourgaux is available for interviews. Her telephone is 212-982-0684 and 646-2638402.
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Here is the synopsis:
Raped by their comrades, Tina, Jessica, Suzanne and Stephanie have been ignored by U.S. military officials in seeking justice. Though the Pentagon acknowledged receiving 3,000 reports of sexual assault in 2006 alone, and had launched a rape prevention program in 2004, the number of reported sexual assaults has since skyrocketed, but not the number of convictions. Only 2% of accused rapists are ever brought before a courts martial. Very few women have been willing to speak out, with the exception of these four brave women. Unable to stand the nightmarish daily rapes by her commander in Iraq, 21 year old Suzanne refused to report back for mission and was brought before a courts martial. 25 year old Jessica was raped in the U.S. and Korea, yet still dreams of going back to active service and seeing her attackers brought to justice. Stephanie has come to regret never reporting her own rape and perpetuating the law of silence. 20 year old Tina, who was raped in Iraq, is no longer around to recount her nightmare. She supposedly "killed herself." Her mother claims she was murdered. This report tells the story of their pain, revolt, and uphill battle for justice.
Image captions: Left: Pascale Bourgaux interviewing Ann Wright, a former colonel who resigned before the war in Iraq; now a pacifist and defender of the cause of raped female soldiers (Washington, outside the White House).
Right: Jessica and her husband Brendan Brinkman.
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En Francais: http://www.capatv.com/?p=2609
Visit the Stop War Project: http://stopwar.lafilmonline.comThis is a synopsis of the 28 minute French film by Pascale Bourgau who interviewed US... more
Remember Senator Al Franken's amendment to the Defense Bill? The one that would "prohibit the Pentagon from hiring contractors whose employment contracts prevent employees from taking work-related allegations of rape and discrimination to court"? Well it turns out that it may not even make it into the final bill. WTF?Remember Senator Al Franken's amendment to the Defense Bill? The one that would... more
US Undersecretary of Defense Shay Assad, the Pentagon’s top contracting official, sent a memo to the commanders and directors of all branches of the military instructing them to cease all business with the embattled community organization ACORN and to take “all necessary and appropriate” steps to prevent future contracts with the organization. Assad’s brief memo [PDF] contained the two-page guidelines issued October 7 by Peter Orszag, the director of the Office of Management and Budget. Orszag’s guidelines were issued following the passage of Congressional legislation aimed at “defunding ACORN.”
Orszag’s guidelines were sent on October 7 to “the heads of Executive Departments and Agencies” and instructed them to “immediately commence all necessary and appropriate steps” to comply with the terms of the Defund ACORN Act. These include: no future obligation of funds, suspension of grant and contract payments and no funding of ACORN and its affiliates through Federal grantees or contractors. “Your agency should take steps so that no Federal funds are awarded or obligated” to ACORN, wrote Orszag.
While the DoD memo sent by Assad is basically a formality initiated by Orszag’s guidelines to all federal agencies, it is nonetheless remarkable given that ACORN is not a Defense Department contractor. According to an ACORN spokesperson, the group has not received Pentagon funds, nor has the community group even considered applying for such funds. “Of course we were hoping to win the contract to build the B-1 bomber, but we didn’t get that one,” says Brian Kettering, ACORN’s Deputy Director of National Operations, sarcastically. “This is all just silly, but the travesty here is that once again the witch-hunt against ACORN continues while there is a total neglect of [the misconduct] of the likes of Blackwater and Halliburton.”
More @ linkUS Undersecretary of Defense Shay Assad, the Pentagon’s top contracting official,... more
WASHINGTON — The US authorities arrested Monday a leading American scientist who had worked for the Pentagon and NASA and charged him with attempted spying for Israel.
Stewart Nozette, 52, was apprehended after a sting operation involving an undercover FBI agent, the Department of Justice said, adding that there was no wrongdoing by Israel.
He is charged with "attempted espionage for knowingly and willfully attempting to communicate, deliver, and transmit classified information relating to the national defense of the United States to an individual that Nozette believed to be an Israeli intelligence officer."
Nozette, who was arrested in the Washington suburb of Chevy Chase, Maryland and taken into custody, could make his first court appearance Tuesday on the charge, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
"The conduct alleged in this complaint is serious and should serve as a warning to anyone who would consider compromising our nation's secrets for profit," said David Kris, assistant attorney general for national security.
Nozette, 52, developed an experiment that fueled the discovery of water on the south pole of the moon, and previously held special security clearance at the Department of Energy on atomic materials.
In addition to stints with NASA and the Department of Energy, Nozette worked at the White House on the National Space Council under then-president George H.W. Bush in 1989 and 1990.
"From 1989 through 2006, Nozette held security clearances as high as top secret and had regular, frequent access to classified information and documents related to the US national defense," the Justice Department said.
...More...WASHINGTON — The US authorities arrested Monday a leading American scientist who had... more
While the Obama administration weighs whether to send additional troops to Afghanistan, the U.S. military is spending billions of dollars on construction projects to ensure the country's infrastructure can support American and coalition personnel in 2010 and years beyond.
The military has already spent roughly $2.7 billion on construction over the past three fiscal years. Now, if its request is approved as part of the fiscal 2010 defense appropriations bill, it would spend another $1.3 billion on more than 100 projects at 40 sites across the country, according to a Senate report on the legislation.
At the main U.S. base in Afghanistan, Bagram, the military is planning to build a $30 million passenger terminal and adjacent cargo facility to handle the flow of troops, many of whom arrive at the base north of Kabul before moving onto other sites. Under the proposed schedule, those facilities will not be completed until late 2010 and go into operation early in 2011, according to military sources.
Officials say such projects are absolutely essential given the inadequate and dilapidated nature of the existing infrastructure.
"The current facilities are inadequate to support the daily volume of approximately 1,000 passengers and 400 short tons of cargo each day," Lt. Col. Dan Krall, 455th Expeditionary Aerial Port Squadron commander, said in a statement.
With the transit of service personnel expected to grow to 1,650 a day, Krall said the terminal needs 1,000 seats in the terminal for personnel awaiting space on flights. Currently, the terminal has a 250-seat capacity.
...More...While the Obama administration weighs whether to send additional troops to... more
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- More than 3,000 U.S. troops scheduled to deploy to Iraq won't go after all, as the military tries to draw down troop levels in the war-torn country, a Pentagon spokesman said Saturday.
The 1st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division will not replace a North Carolina National Guard unit already in Iraq, Lt. Col. Eric Butterbaugh told CNN. The 3,500-troop combat team, based in Fort Drum, New York, was to leave in January, he said.
"[The cancellation] reflects a thorough assessment of the security environment in Iraq and continued improvement in the ability of the Iraqi security forces to safeguard Iraqi citizens and institutions," Butterbaugh said.
The National Guard unit is still on schedule to return home, which will speed up the drawdown of forces, he said.
The troop withdrawal in Iraq coincides with a debate in the Obama administration on whether to send as many as 40,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan. As of Friday, 250 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since the start of the year, according to a CNN tally based on Pentagon numbers.
The United States plans to withdraw all its combat troops from Iraq by August, leaving 50,000 in advisory roles. Those advisers are to leave by the end of 2011.
Concerns that a delay in the upcoming Iraqi elections could put a dent in scheduled withdrawals was rejected Friday by U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Chris Hill.
...More...WASHINGTON (CNN) -- More than 3,000 U.S. troops scheduled to deploy to Iraq won't go... more
Congress is set to allow the Pentagon to keep new pictures of foreign detainees abused by their U.S. captors from the public, a move intended to end a legal fight over the photographs' release that has reached the Supreme Court.
Federal courts have so far rejected the government's arguments against the release of 21 color photographs showing prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq being abused by Americans.
The Obama administration believes giving the imminent grant of authority over the release of such pictures to the defense secretary would short-circuit a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act.
The White House is asking the justices to put off consideration of the case until after a vote on the measure in the House and Senate, as early as this coming week. The provision is part of a larger homeland security spending bill and would allow the defense secretary to withhold photographs relating to detainees by certifying their release would endanger soldiers or other government workers.
The ACLU said the court should not disturb a ruling by the federal appeals court in New York ordering the photographs' release. The pending congressional action "does not supply any reason for delay," Jameel Jaffer, director of ACLU's national security project, told the court.
The dispute is on a list of cases the Supreme Court could act on Tuesday.
Lower courts have ruled that a provision of FOIA allows documents to be withheld from the public for security reasons only in instances where there are specific threats against individuals.
President Barack Obama initially indicated he would not fight the release of the photographs. He reversed course in May and authorized an appeal to the high court.
The president said he was persuaded that disclosure could further incite violence in Afghanistan and Iraq and endanger U.S. troops there.
The photographs at issue were taken by service members in Iraq and Afghanistan and were part of criminal investigations of alleged abuse. Some pictures show "soldiers pointing pistols or rifles at the heads of hooded and handcuffed detainees," Solicitor General Elena Kagan said in the appeal to the high court.
In one, "a soldier holds a broom as if 'sticking its end into the rectum of a restrained detainee,'" Kagan said, quoting from an investigation report prepared by the Pentagon. Two investigations led to criminal charges and convictions, she said.
Kagan said the military has identified more than two dozen additional pictures that could be affected by the court's ruling.
The government made much the same argument to prevent the release of 87 photographs and other images of detainees at detention facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, including Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
International outrage resulted when photographs from the Iraqi prison showing physical abuse and sexual humiliation of inmates that took place under the Bush administration were revealed. One picture showed a naked, hooded prisoner on a box with wires fastened to his hands and genitals.
The government dropped its appeal related to those photographs after they were made public and posted on the Internet.
The ACLU, in seeking the other pictures, said the government had long argued that the abuse at Abu Ghraib was isolated and was an aberration. The new photos would show that the abuse was more widespread, the ACLU said.Congress is set to allow the Pentagon to keep new pictures of foreign detainees abused... more
To whom it concerns, i.e., everyone:
In 2006 Citizen Investigation Team launched an independent investigation into the act of terrorism which took place at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. This exhaustive three-year inquest involved multiple trips to the scene of the crime in Arlington, Virginia, close scrutiny of all official and unofficial data related to the event, and, most importantly, first-person interviews with dozens of eyewitnesses, many of which were conducted and filmed in the exact locations from which they witnessed the plane that allegedly struck the building that day.To whom it concerns, i.e., everyone:
In 2006 Citizen Investigation Team launched an... more
Desperate 'officialists' concede that no airliner fuselage was found at the Pentagon. It 'vaporized', they 'explain'. Nonsense! The fuselage is of Aluminum and according to every scientific or university source I have found, aluminum will not 'vaporize' at temperatures less than 11000 degrees F. According to NASA, 11000 degrees is 1000 degrees hotter than the surface of the sun. So --you can rule that out!Desperate 'officialists' concede that no airliner fuselage was found at the Pentagon.... more
Congressional pressure is increasing on the Department of Defense to investigate the apparent electrocution death of Adam Hermanson, a 25 year old DoD contractor who died September 1 in a shower at Camp Olympia inside the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq. Hermanson is an Air Force veteran who did three tours in Iraq before joining Triple Canopy, the firm the Obama administration has chosen to take over much of Blackwater’s major “security” work in Iraq.
This week, New Hampshire Representative Carol Shea-Porter, a member of the House Armed Services Committee and Illinois Representative Jan Schakowsky, a member of the Intelligence Committee, called on Defense Secretary Robert Gates to “fully investigate the circumstances” surrounding Hermanson’s death.
“We are appalled by the Pentagon’s failure to pursue answers to the questions surrounding this tragedy,” they wrote in a September 17 letter to Gates. “Since Mr. Hermanson was in Iraq working on a DoD contract, we believe that the Pentagon has a responsibility to fully investigate.” Citing comments from Major Shawn Turner to The Nation that there is “no indication that US forces will be launching a formal investigation” because Hermanson’s death took place at a facility that “does not fall under DoD responsibility,” the lawmakers told Gates: “it is disturbing that the Department of Defense apparently wishes to distance itself, now that a fatality has occurred.”
Shea-Porter and Schakowsky’s letter to Gates comes after a September 14 letter from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, calling for an investigation. “I am outraged that Americans who have chosen to brave the extreme challenges and risks of supporting our mission in Iraq have been killed or injured as a result of negligence by KBR or other government contractors,” Reid wrote in a September 14 letter to Gates provided to The Nation. “Adam Hermanson’s recent death is even more troubling when one realizes that Army experts warned as early as 2004 that shoddy electrical work had created potentially hazardous conditions for American personnel.”
Noting allegations by Hermanson’s family that Triple Canopy misled them about the circumstances of Adam’s death, including telling them that Adam collapsed near his bed (he reportedly died in the shower) and had no marks on his body (his family took photographic evidence of apparent wounds and burns on his left arm), Shea-Porter and Schakowsky say they are “extremely concerned by the reaction of both Triple Canopy and the DoD, and we strongly believe that the family of this Air Force veteran deserves real answers about Mr. Hermanson’s death… A full Pentagon investigation would not only give them the truth… but it could also help prevent further deaths by electrocution.”
Hermanson is the 19th US soldier or contractor to die from electrocution in Iraq since 2003. “While war zones are inherently dangerous places,” Shea-porter and Schakowsky wrote, “the DoD must take critical steps to ensure that U.S. troops and the contractors employed by the pentagon do not risk electrocution within their own quarters.Congressional pressure is increasing on the Department of Defense to investigate the... more
The U.S. Coast Guard will review its security training procedures after media reports misinterpreted a routine training exercise in the Washington, DC, area Friday for a real threat.Training Exercise Confusion
The U.S. Coast Guard will review its security training... more
Twenty minutes with the President discussed, as well as the first sign Obama isn't willing to have that sit down with Charlie...Sheen interviewed on 9/11....
Twenty minutes with the President discussed, as well... more
