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Army orders Lions draft pick Campbell to withdraw
DETROIT (AP)—Caleb Campbell will not get a chance to play for the Detroit Lions because of a change in military policy.
Campbell was a seventh-round draft pick for the Lions in April. At the time, Army policy would have allowed the West Point graduate to serve as a recruiter if he made the team.
But a subsequent Department of Defense policy has superseded the 2005 Army policy.
In a letter to Lions president Matt Millen dated Wednesday, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jonathan P. Liba wrote that Campbell has been ordered to give up professional football for “full-time traditional military duties.”
Liba wrote that 2nd Lt. Campbell may ask to be released from his active duty obligations in May 2010.
Liba said Campbell was allowed to enter the draft “in good faith.”
DETROIT (AP)—Caleb Campbell will not get a chance to play for the Detroit Lions because of a change in military policy. ... more -
Army orders Lions draft pick Campbell to return to service
Caleb Campbell will not get a chance to play for the Detroit Lions because of a change in military policy.
Campbell was a seventh-round draft pick for the Lions in April. At the time, Army policy would have allowed the West Point graduate to serve as a recruiter if he made the team.
But a subsequent Department of Defense policy has superseded the 2005 Army policy.
Caleb Campbell will not get a chance to play for the Detroit Lions because of a change in military policy. ... more -
Military dogs serve as highly versatile soldiers
The dog days of summer are here, but the dogs -- and their handlers -- are taking it in stride. Together, military working dog handlers of every branch of service stand alongside their K-9 companions to make sure no insurgent can disrupt the mission.
"I'm not about to (let) a vehicle get on this base and (have) something happen," said Staff Sgt. Sean Neisen, a military working dog handler with the 407th Provost Marshal Office, who is deployed from Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
Sergeant Neisen and his 8-year-old military working dog, Goro E114, work in cooperation with two Navy dog handlers to search vehicles that drive onto Contingency Operations Base Adder and Ali Base every day.
Their specialty is detecting explosives.
"If you can build a bomb with it, our dogs can find it," said Tech. Sgt. Terry Gilbert, a dog handler here who's finishing his deployment and will soon return to Kadena Air Base, Japan.
Under sweltering heat that can reach almost of 130 degrees, the Airmen, Sailors and their K-9s can be found searching the vehicles. Working side-by-side is natural for Air Force and Navy dog handlers, who train in the same K-9 school, Sergeant Gilbert said.
"We learn the same stuff, so all our jobs are pretty much the same, especially in Iraq," he said.
The military working dog community is by nature combined, Sergeant Gilbert said. The kennels at his home station are a joint operation, with the Air Force and the Marine Corps each operating half of the kennels. Whether at home or in a deployed environment, the Airmen, Sailors, Soldiers and Marines put their joint training and culture to use every day.
"It's a wonderful experience, teaming up and working with the other branches," said Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Ivan Winder, the kennel master. "It's an equal match."
Each of the services varies slightly in terms of its expertise, said Petty Officer Winder, who is deployed from Commander Navy Region Southwest in San Diego.
"The Army is great at pounding the ground, while the Air Force is great with force protection such as flightlines," he said. "The Navy's specialty is buildings, open areas and vehicles. Each (service) learns something from the others, and all entities working together creates a stronger, more cohesive unit."
The Air Force and Navy dog handling team here isn't the only joint team in Iraq. Air Force and Navy dog handlers across Iraq work along side Army units searching for weapons and high-value targets.
"The Army doesn't have enough people or dogs to take care of their mission, so they need us," Sergeant Gilbert said. "The K-9 community is already short-manned, but the Army is extremely short" because of mission requirements.
The manning may lead to long days and nights, demonstrating that some joint missions are just for the dogs. The dog days of summer are here, but the dogs -- and their handlers -- are taking it in stride. Together, military working dog handler... more -
Sexually assaulted female troops struggle to recover
Women who are fighting for our country and the challenges they face.
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Peace Accord Fails to End Killing of Civilians
Murder, Rape, Looting Continues Six Months After Goma Agreement
(Brussels, July 21, 2008) – The killing and rape of civilians in the eastern province of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo continues at a horrifying rate despite the signing of a peace accord six months ago, Human Rights Watch said today. The agreement was supposed to stop such attacks.
In a recent 10-day mission to the most affected territories of Masisi and Rutshuru in eastern Congo, Human Rights Watch researchers documented more than 200 killings of civilians and the rape of hundreds of women and girls since January by all armed groups, including Congolese army soldiers.
“Six months after the peace agreement was signed there has been no improvement in the human rights situation and in some areas it has actually deteriorated,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “While the parties to the peace agreement attend talks in Goma, their troops continue to kill, rape, and loot civilians.”
On January 23, 2008, after weeks of talks, the Congolese government signed a peace agreement in Goma, North Kivu, with 22 armed groups committing all parties to an immediate ceasefire, disengagement of forces from frontline positions, and to abide by international human rights law. Following the signing, the Congolese government set up a peace program, called the Amani Program, to coordinate peace efforts in eastern Congo. Yet the government and international donors have provided limited funds to carry out that work.
The agreement failed to halt the fighting. United Nations officials have documented some 200 ceasefire violations since January 23, the majority between the forces of renegade general Laurent Nkunda’s National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) and a loose coalition of combatants from the Mai Mai Mongol, the Coalition of Congolese Patriotic Resistance (PARECO), and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan armed group whose leaders participated in the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. The FDLR was not a party to the Goma agreement.
Human Rights Watch also found credible evidence that soldiers from the Congolese national army were supporting the PARECO, Mai Mai Mongol, and FDLR coalition, questioning the government’s commitment to the peace process.
Many of the worst human rights abuses were committed in and around the Bukombo administrative area in western Rutshuru, where some 150 civilians were killed between February and May 2008. PARECO and Mai Mai Mongol combatants, many of whom are untrained and poorly equipped, held the area from December to March, supported by FDLR combatants. According to dozens of people interviewed by Human Rights Watch, the fighters repeatedly raided villages for cattle, goats and other goods, raping women and girls, and killing civilians who opposed their activities or whom they accused of being collaborators of their enemies.
For example, on February 9, PARECO combatants raped Marie, a 24-year-old woman from Bukombo who was four months pregnant. “They told me that if I didn’t allow them to rape me, they would kill me,” she told Human Rights Watch. “They grabbed my legs and cut my lower right leg with a machete to show me they weren’t joking.” The rape was so violent that she miscarried her child. The attackers then killed Marie’s brother, cutting him up with machetes behind the house. After the attackers killed at least two others in the village and raped four more women, they fled to a nearby Congolese army position.
In March and April, CNDP combatants launched a military offensive to dislodge PARECO and Mai Mai Mongol fighters from the Bukombo area killing some 100 civilians as they indiscriminately fired on more than a dozen villages. According to information gathered by Human Rights Watch, many of the dead were the elderly or very young who were unable to flee in advance of the attacks.
***Continues, click link to read*** Murder, Rape, Looting Continues Six Months After Goma Agreement ... more -
75% of Americans want to allow openly gay people in the military
A new survey by the Washington Post and ABC News has found that three-quarters of Americans think that openly gay, lesbian and bisexual people should be allowed to serve in the military.
64% of Republicans and nearly two thirds of self-described conservatives backed a change in the current law, as did 57% of white evangelical Protestants and 82% of white Catholics.
It was Republican opposition that forced then-President Bill Clinton to abandon his pledge to allow gay people to serve and signed into law the compromise known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
Since 1993 gay people who do not reveal their sexuality can serve, and commanding officers are not meant to ask service personnel about their sexual orientation.
More than 12,000 gay men and women have been discharged under the current law, at an estimated cost of more than $363 million (£182.6m).
The new poll of 1,119 Americans, taken earlier this month, shows how support for gays in the military has steadily increased, from 44% in 1993 to 62% in 2001 to 75% today.
The current policy prohibits anyone who "demonstrates a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts" to serve in the US Armed Forces.
An estimated 65,000 lesbian and gay service members serve on active duty and in the reserves of the United States military, according to gay advocacy group the Servicemembers Legal Defence Network.
It said it knows of about 500 gay army members who are serving openly without any consequences.
In March US Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama told leading gay publication The Advocate he supports a repeal of the gay ban and is hopeful it can be achieved.
His Republican opponent John McCain does not favour gays serving openly.
With 75% of the population in support, is it time for the American military to finally change its policy?
A new survey by the Washington Post and ABC News has found that three-quarters of Americans think that openly gay, lesbian and bisexua... more -
Timeline of the US Human Lab Rat Experiments....
You will have to have a look at the article yourself and see what you think/feel, I haven't finished reading it and I haven't seen any references so far, but I believe it.
It began, in the US at any rate, with the chicken-pox blankets.
My brother-in-law has signed up to join the army and he knows about the government, he even knows about vaccines. He doesn't vaccinate his kids, but has just joined the army...I can't figure it out.
People are strange. You will have to have a look at the article yourself and see what you think/feel, I haven't finished reading it and I haven't seen any... more -
PM refuses Iraq troops timetable
Gordon Brown has said he favours reducing troop numbers in Iraq but would not set an "artificial timetable" during talks with Iraqi leaders. Gordon Brown has said he favours reducing troop numbers in Iraq but would not set an "artificial timetable" during talks with Iraqi le... more
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Soldiers killed in Kashmir blast
At least nine soldiers have been killed in an explosion triggered by suspected separatist militants, police in Indian-administered Kashmir said.
At least nine soldiers have been killed in an explosion triggered by suspected separatist militants, police in Indian-administered Kas... more -
US army to shoot live pigs for medical drill
The Army says it's critical to saving the lives of wounded soldiers. Animal-rights activists call the training cruel and outdated.
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Free higher education a possibility for British troops
"Servicemen and women may be able to go to college or university without paying tuition fees when they leave the army, navy or air force under a wide-ranging package of measures announced today.
Under one plan, anyone who has spent six years in the services will have the chance to study for a first foundation or full degree without paying tuition fees when they leave the services. Alternatively, they will be able to study for an A-level equivalent qualification without being charged.
The most severely wounded soldiers will be eligible for compensation worth up to £570,000, up from the previous maximum of £285,000, as well as continuing to receive an annual income, as they do already.
Servicemen and women who suffer less serious injuries during conflicts will receive an increase of up to 80%."
Wow. That is some kind of incentive. Although, with all the stories coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan, is the risk worth a free ride? "Servicemen and women may be able to go to college or university without paying tuition fees when they leave the army, navy or air for... more -
Westboro Baptist Church strikes again
Members of the Westboro Baptist Church stopped by Schofield Barracks, an Army post in Hawaii, for crumpets and tea. Actually, they came to spread hate and hurt whomever they could with nasty words and ugly signs. It's astonishing that these are actually REAL people. Their message is sickening: God hates America, homosexuals, and the military. What is wrong with them?! Members of the Westboro Baptist Church stopped by Schofield Barracks, an Army post in Hawaii, for crumpets and tea. Actually, they ca... more
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Israel Testing Coffins for Missing Soldiers
Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas turned over to Israel two coffins believed to contain the bodies of Israeli soldiers, setting in motion a dramatic prisoner swap between the bitter enemies Wednesday. Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas turned over to Israel two coffins believed to contain the bodies of Israeli soldiers, setting in motion... more
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Bombers Kill Iraq Army Recruits
"Iraqi army sources said the bombers - one dressed in an Iraqi military uniform, the other in civilian clothing - mingled with the crowds of young recruits before blowing themselves up.
"We were about 30 people standing at the entrance," 17-year-old Falah Ali Hussein, who was injured in the blasts, was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.
"They had just called our names when suddenly there was a big explosion."
US military spokesman Maj Gen Mark Hertling told the BBC that Diyala remained a centre of insurgent activity despite US operations.
"We have been very forceful in pursuing al-Qaeda and other insurgents out of the major cities in Diyala," he said.
"They, the enemy, are trying to re-assert themselves into the major cities... But we've pursued al-Qaeda and other terrorists into the more rural areas."
Gen Hertling said that the suicide bombing cell responsible for the attack had been one of two that security forces were watching closely.
"We knew that they were about to strike but it's very difficult as you can understand to prevent something like this from happening.""
How can we help rebuild Iraq and their military when we can't stop bombings even if we KNOW it's going to happen?
Sh*t is going to really hit the fan when we leave! "Iraqi army sources said the bombers - one dressed in an Iraqi military uniform, the other in civilian clothing - mingled with the cro... more -
Twin Bombings Kill Dozens of Iraqi Army Recruits
Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowd of army recruits Tuesday in an Iraqi province where devastating attacks persist despite security improvements in the rest of the country. At least 28 people died, the Iraqi police and military said. Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowd of army recruits Tuesday in an Iraqi province where devastating attacks persist desp... more
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US Not leaving Iraq:No Deal
U.S negotiators have abandoned efforts to conclude a comprehensive agreement governing the long-term status of U.S troops in Iraq before the end of the Bush presidency, according to senior U.S. officials, effectively leaving talks over an extended U.S. military presence there to the next administration.
The failure of months of negotiations over the more detailed accord -- blamed on both the Iraqi refusal to accept U.S. terms and the complexity of the task.
The Us administration wants to secure permanent military bases in the region and have control over the government.
Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), the presumptive Democratic nominee, has said he would immediately begin withdrawing combat troops at a rate of one or two brigades a month, a pledge he has softened recently by saying he would consult with U.S. commanders on the ground. But he has said that after 16 months in office, the U.S. presence in Iraq would be far smaller than the 144,000 troops there now, with only a "residual" number remaining.
The status-of-forces negotiations have been sharply criticized by Democrats, and some Republicans, as an attempt to tie Bush's successor to the president's policy in Iraq. Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, supports the administration position. He has said he hopes to bring U.S. combat troops home by 2013 but has insisted that any timeline or lessening of U.S. control over its own operations would undercut recent military gains and aid U.S. enemies. U.S negotiators have abandoned efforts to conclude a comprehensive agreement governing the long-term status of U.S troops in Iraq befo... more -
Obama Won’t Commit to Event at Military Base
A coalition of military groups is planning a nationally televised town-hall-style meeting with the presidential candidates near Fort Hood, Tex., the largest active-duty military installation in the country. But so far, only Senator John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee, has agreed to attend.
CBS has agreed to broadcast the meeting live from 9 to 11 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, Aug. 11. The candidates would face questions directly from an audience of 6,000 people, made up of veterans, service members and military families from the base.
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has not agreed to participate.
Carissa Picard, managing director of the Fort Hood Presidential Town Hall Consortium, said she had suggested Aug. 11 and asked the campaign to suggest other dates if that was not convenient, but after several conversations she had not been able to work anything out.
“I’m having extreme difficulty getting the Obama campaign to commit to this event, and we do not understand why,” said Ms. Picard, whose husband is deployed in Iraq. “We made it very clear to them that if they would commit to the event, we would work with them on dates.”
The organizers released details about the event in hopes that it would pressure the Obama campaign to agree to the event.
“This was a decision that was made with tremendous difficulty, to publicize it,” Ms. Picard said. “We were at a point where we had no other option. We got the impression that they could talk us to November.”
The meeting would be at the Expo Center in Belton, Tex., about 25 miles from Fort Hood.
A military audience might seem more hospitable to a Republican candidate, particularly one like Mr. McCain, who has made his support for the war in Iraq the heart of his campaign. But the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken a heavy toll on Fort Hood; one of the groups organizing the event estimates that up to 800 of the service people who have died in Iraq have come through the base.
And organizers say many Fort Hood residents — the base serves about 218,000 people, including service members, retirees and military families — have grown tired of the war and agree with Mr. Obama’s declaration that it must end.
A coalition of military groups is planning a nationally televised town-hall-style meeting with the presidential candidates near Fort H... more -
Suicide Car Blast Kills 41 in Afghan Capital
A Taliban suicide bomber killed at least 17 civilians, most of them children, and four police in a bazaar in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, police said.
Taliban suicide bombs have killed more than 230 civilians and wounded nearly 500 already this year, NATO says.
Afghan and foreign forces are stopping a greater proportion of the attacks but the Taliban are attempting many more suicide bombings this year compared to last, security experts say.
In the latest attack the bomber, travelling on a motorcycle, targeted a police vehicle in a bazaar in the Deh Rawood district of Uruzgan province, the provincial police chief told Reuters.
"Seventeen civilians and four policemen died in the attack. Thirty-seven more civilians and five police have been wounded," Juma Khan Himat said by telephone, adding the death toll could rise. Most of the civilian victims were children, he said.
Afghanistan is suffering from a rising tide of violence this year, with a sharp increase in Taliban attacks, especially in the east where NATO says militants have taken advantage of peace deals in Pakistan to cross the border and fight in Afghanistan.
The Interior Ministry in Kabul said 24 people, four of them police, including a senior officer, were killed in the attack.
Growing insecurity has added to the rising frustration of many Afghans more than six years after U.S.-led and Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban government after it refused to hand over al Qaeda leaders behind the September 11 attacks on the United States. A Taliban suicide bomber killed at least 17 civilians, most of them children, and four police in a bazaar in southern Afghanistan on S... more -
British soldiers accused of sickening sex assault on Iraqi boy, 14
"Just days after the MoD has to pay out millions to the father of a man UK soldiers beat to death, fresh claims of abuse emerge.
British soldiers forced a boy of 14 to carry out an act of oral sex on a fellow male prisoner in Iraq, according to shocking new allegations made about the behaviour of British troops.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed yesterday that the Royal Military Police (RMP) have launched an investigation. If the allegations are proved, it would mark a sordid low in the behaviour of British troops in Iraq, and damage further the reputation of Britain in the Middle East.
The victim, now 19, whom The Independent on Sunday has agreed to identify only as Hassan, says he was rounded up with a friend while trying to steal milk cartons from a food distribution centre. He was whipped, beaten and forced to strip naked.
"They made us sit on each other's laps," he said. "They were enjoying humiliating and abusing us, I wished I was dead at this moment. Then they made me sit with Tariq ... where I was forced to put Tariq's penis in my mouth. The other two were made to do the same."
Court action is ongoing over a series of allegations surrounding the British base Camp Breadbasket and incidents that took place there in May 2003. There have been allegations of simulated sexual abuse of Iraqis by British troops, but this, if true, would be the first example of actual sexual abuse.
Soldiers rounding up looters as part of an operation codenamed Ali Baba took photographs of prisoners suspended in nets from forklift trucks and others forced to strip naked and adopt simulated sex positions.
The photographs caused outrage around the world when they were published, after a British soldier took them to be developed at a high-street shop. An RMP investigation led to just four soldiers being jailed for up to two years in 2005. A number of the alleged victims, including Hassan, are suing the MoD for damages.
The MoD last Thursday reiterated its official line that abuse was isolated to just a few rogue soldiers, after agreeing to pay nearly £3m compensation to the father of Baha Mousa, 26, a hotel receptionist beaten to death by British soldiers while in custody in a separate incident in September 2003, and nine other Iraqis beaten at the same time.
Mazin Younis, of the Iraqi League, who has travelled in Basra collecting witness statements of allegations of abuse, says he now has "more than 80" cases involving allegations against British troops.
"Every single time I uncover a personal story of torture and humiliation in Iraq, I think to myself that I have seen the worst there is," Mr Younis added. "Then I hear the next story.
"Hassan shook with emotion and humiliation as he described to me the treatment he suffered at the hands of British soldiers five years ago. It had taken constant prompting and repeated reminders about the importance of detail before Hassan felt brave enough to describe how he was forced to engage in oral sex with his friend Tariq while their British captors laughed raucously and took photographs."
Such is the culture in Iraq that Hassan fears for his life if identified. It has taken him four years to find the courage to talk about the incident, Mr Younis said. He fled Basra after the incident, giving up his education and staying indoors for fear that someone may recognise him.
Mr Younis added: "There is, of course, no case as bad as a killing or murder. But the fact that this is sexual ... It can lead to suicide because it is so humiliating. Hassan fled Basra because he couldn't face his friends, the people who had seen this" ..."
By Andrew Johnson
Click link to read rest. "Just days after the MoD has to pay out millions to the father of a man UK soldiers beat to death, fresh claims of abuse emerge. ... more -
Indonesia funded 'E Timor abuse'
The Indonesian army funded militias that committed human rights abuses in East Timor, according to a truth commission report seen by the BBC.
The commission has been investigating human rights violations committed as Indonesia withdrew from East Timor nine years ago.
It says the Indonesian army was responsible for gross human rights abuses carried out by militias there.
The report says the crimes included murder, torture and sexual violence.
It also suggests that the United Nations police at the time allowed civilian militias to be rearmed.
Crimes against humanity
The contents of the report have been kept largely secret.
It is due to be handed over to the presidents of both Indonesia and East Timor next week.
The report was never meant to name individuals, but among the institutions it lists there is little doubt which one comes off worst.
Indonesia's army, it says, armed and funded pro-Indonesian militias in a highly organised way.
These militias were the main perpetrators of the crimes against humanity that occurred in Timor in 1999.
They carried out murders, rapes, torture and forced deportations which amounted to a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population, according to the report.
Army commanders knew these crimes were happening, it says, but kept on arming and organising militia members.
Taking responsibility
Indonesia's civilian authorities also bear institutional responsibility.
The report says they also continued to fund militias despite knowing about the gross human rights violations they were committing.
Pro-independence groups also committed violations, it says, though far fewer and less serious in nature.
Some of this has been said before - part of the commission's task was to analyse previous data - but this is a bilateral body, commissioned not by the UN, but by the two governments themselves.
Indonesia has traditionally said the violence in 1999 was sporadic - the result of the actions of a few individuals.
The question now is whether an admission of responsibility be enough for every Timorese - and whether it be too much for some in Indonesia. The Indonesian army funded militias that committed human rights abuses in East Timor, according to a truth commission report seen by t... more
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