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Russia eyes new Cuba nuclear bases
Russia is said to be considering the use of bases in Cuba as a refuelling point for its nuclear bombers, in a move reminiscent of the 1962 missile crisis.
The move would be in retaliation for the Bush administration's plan to site a missile defence shield in Europe. Russia says America's proposal for the shield in Poland and the Czech Republic poses a direct threat to its security.
Citing a "highly placed military source", a report in Monday's Izvestiya said the Kremlin wanted to use Cuba as a base for its long-range Tu-160 and Tu-95 strategic nuclear bombers. "While they are deploying the anti-missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic, our long-range strategic aircraft already will be landing in Cuba," the source told the paper. No final decision on landing bombers in Cuba had been taken, it added.
Link to this audio
'Russia is hacked off with Bush'
In 1962 Nikita Khrushchev, Russia's then leader, attempted to site nuclear missiles on the Caribbean island. His aim was to lessen the then strategic nuclear gap with the US. He eventually backed down and withdrew the missiles. The US secretly removed its missiles from Turkey.
Izvestiya is owned by Russia's state gas giant Gazprom and reflects official thinking. It is frequently used by the Kremlin as a vehicle for leaking information. The possible use of Cuba as a nuclear base dominated yesterday's Russian newspapers. Komsomolskaya Pravda said "our bombers" could be stationed under America's "belly", threatening the US in the same way it threatens Russia.
But Russia's defence ministry poured cold water on the report yesterday. "Russia, guided by its peaceful policy, is not creating military bases at the borders of other states," Russian news agencies quoted Ilshat Baichurin, acting head of the defence ministry's information department, as saying.
US and European diplomats also played down the report, saying they did not regard the threat as realistic even though General Norton Schwartz, who has been nominated as the US air force commander, warned on Tuesday that such a move by Moscow would amount to crossing a dangerous threshold.
Russian defence analysts told the Guardian there was little strategic point in using Cuba as a base and the idea seemed to have been floated to irritate the US.
Russia's nuclear aircraft have a range of up to 1,900 miles, allowing them to fire a nuclear missile at the US from much further away than Cuba, defence expert Pavel Felgenhauer said.
It was unclear yesterday whether Cuba had agreed to Russia's proposal. In a brief note on a government website, Fidel Castro said his brother Raúl, Cuba's president, was wise not to respond to the report. Most observers believe that the president would be unlikely to agree to any request from Moscow.
Russia is said to be considering the use of bases in Cuba as a refuelling point for its nuclear bombers, in a move reminiscent of the ... more -
Obama rocks Germany!
BERLIN (AP) - Before an enormous crowd, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Thursday summoned Europeans and Americans together to "defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it" as surely as they conquered communism a generation ago.
"The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand," Obama said, speaking not far from where the Berlin Wall once divided the city.
"The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes, natives and immigrants, Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand," he said.
Obama said he was speaking as a citizen, not as a president, but the evening was awash in politics. His remarks inevitably invited comparison to historic speeches in the same city by Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, and he borrowed rhetoric from his own appeals to campaign audiences in the likes of Berlin, N.H., when he addressed a crowd in one of the great cities of Europe.
"People of Berlin, people of the world, this is our moment. This is our time," he said.
Obama's speech was the centerpiece of a fast-paced tour through Europe designed to reassure skeptical voters back home about his ability to lead the country and take a frayed cross-Atlantic alliance in a new direction after eight years of the Bush administration.
Republicans, chafing at the media attention Obama's campaign-season trip has drawn, sought to stoke doubts abut his claims.
In Die Welt, the German publication, Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., said: "No one knows which Obama will show. Will it be the ideological, left-wing Democratic primary candidate who vowed to 'end' the war rather than win it, or the Democratic nominee who dismisses the progressing coalition victory as a 'distraction'? Will it be the American populist who has told supporters in the United States that he will demand more from our allies in Europe and get it, or the liberal internationalist hell-bent on being liked in Europe's salons?"
Obama met earlier in the day with German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a discussion that ranged across the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, climate change, energy issues and more.
Knots of bystanders waited along Obama's motorcade route for him to pass. One man yelled out in English, "Yes, we can," the senator's campaign refrain, when he emerged from his car to enter his hotel.
Obama drew loud applause as he strode confidently across a large podium erected at the base of the Victory Column in Tiergarten Park in the heart of Berlin.
This video is from CNN.com, broadcast July 24, 2008.
BERLIN (AP) - Before an enormous crowd, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Thursday summoned Europeans and Americans to... more -
Iran cuts off cooperation with UN nuclear arms probe
VIENNA, Austria - Iran signaled Thursday that it will no longer cooperate with U.N. experts probing for signs of clandestine nuclear weapons work, confirming the investigation is at a dead end a year after it began.
The announcement from Iranian Vice President Gholam Reza Aghazadeh compounded skepticism about denting Tehran's nuclear defiance, just five days after Tehran stonewalled demands from six world powers that it halt activities capable of producing the fissile core of warheads.
Besides demanding a suspension of uranium enrichment — a process that can create both fuel for nuclear reactors and payloads for atomic bombs — the six powers have been pressing Tehran to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency's probe.
Iran, which is obligated as a signer of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty not to develop nuclear arms, raised suspicions about its intentions when it admitted in 2002 that it had run a secret nuclear program for nearly two decades in violation of its commitment.
The Tehran regime insists it halted such work and is now only trying to produce fuel for nuclear reactors to generate electricity. It agreed on a "work plan" with the Vienna-based IAEA a year ago for U.N. inspectors to look into allegations Iran is still doing weapons work.
At the time, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei hailed it as "a significant step forward" that would fill in the missing pieces of Tehran's nuclear jigsaw puzzle — if honored by Iran. He brushed aside suggestions Iran was using the deal as a smoke screen to deflect attention from its continued defiance of a U.N. Security Council demand for a halt to uranium enrichment
VIENNA, Austria - Iran signaled Thursday that it will no longer cooperate with U.N. experts probing for signs of clandestine nuclear w... more -
Sorry We Asked, Sorry You Told
Don't ask, don't tell. And, whatever you do, don't ask Elaine Donnelly to tell you what she thinks about gays in the military.
The House Armed Services personnel subcommittee made just such a miscalculation yesterday. Holding the first hearing in 15 years on the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, lawmakers invited a quartet of veterans to testify on the subject and also extended an invitation to Donnelly, who has been working for years to protect our fighting forces from the malign influence of women.
Donnelly treated the panel to an extraordinary exhibition of rage. She warned of "transgenders in the military." She warned that lesbians would take pictures of people in the shower. She spoke ominously of gays spreading "HIV positivity" through the ranks.
"We're talking about real consequences for real people," Donnelly proclaimed. Her written statement added warnings about "inappropriate passive/aggressive actions common in the homosexual community," the prospects of "forcible sodomy" and "exotic forms of sexual expression," and the case of "a group of black lesbians who decided to gang-assault" a fellow soldier.
At the witness table with Donnelly, retired Navy Capt. Joan Darrah, a lesbian, rolled her eyes in disbelief. Retired Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, a gay man who was wounded in Iraq, looked as if he would explode.
Inadvertently, Donnelly achieved the opposite of her intended effect. Though there's no expectation that Congress will repeal "don't ask, don't tell" and allow gays to serve openly in the military, the display had the effect of increasing bipartisan sympathy for the cause.
Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.) labeled her statement "just bonkers" and "dumb," and he called her claims about an HIV menace "inappropriate." Said Snyder: "By this analysis . . . we ought to recruit only lesbians for the military, because they have the lowest incidence of HIV in the country."
Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.), a veteran of the war in Iraq, called Donnelly's words "an insult to me and many of the soldiers" by saying they "aren't professional enough to serve openly with gay troops while successfully completing their military mission."
Don't ask, don't tell. And, whatever you do, don't ask Elaine Donnelly to tell you what she thinks about gays in the military. ... more -
Is Iran ending cooperation with IAEA?
VIENNA (AP) — Iran signaled Thursday that it will no longer cooperate with U.N. experts probing for signs of clandestine nuclear weapons work, confirming the investigation is at a dead end a year after it began.
The announcement from Iranian Vice President Gholam Reza Aghazadeh compounded skepticism about denting Tehran's nuclear defiance, just five days after Tehran stonewalled demands from six world powers that it halt activities capable of producing the fissile core of warheads.
Besides demanding a suspension of uranium enrichment — a process that can create both fuel for nuclear reactors and payloads for atomic bombs — the six powers have been pressing Tehran to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency's probe.
Iran, which is obligated as a signer of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty not to develop nuclear arms, raised suspicions about its intentions when it admitted in 2002 that it had run a secret nuclear program for nearly two decades in violation of its commitment.
The Tehran regime insists it halted such work and is now only trying to produce fuel for nuclear reactors to generate electricity. It agreed on a "work plan" with the Vienna-based IAEA a year ago for U.N. inspectors to look into allegations Iran is still doing weapons work. VIENNA (AP) — Iran signaled Thursday that it will no longer cooperate with U.N. experts probing for signs of clandestine nuclear weapo... more -
U.S. shifting aid to upgrade Pakistan fighter jets
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States plans to shift about $230 million in aid to Pakistan from counterterrorism programs to upgrading the nation's aging F-16 fighter jets.
U.S. officials say the Pakistani army is a key ally in efforts to fight terrorism.
"We've shifted money to help the democratically elected government of Pakistan to fight a common foe, a common enemy that we have," said Gonzalo Gallegos, a State Department spokesman.
Pakistan is the largest recipient of payments from the Coalition Support Funds, which gives money to 27 partner countries help combat terrorism.
Last year, Congress mandated that $300 million in aid to Pakistan go toward fighting al Qaeda and the Taliban, partly by beefing up law enforcement and developing tribal areas of the country that are hostile to the United States.
Skeptical lawmakers worry that the F-16 upgrades will divert funding from crucial counterterrorism programs and could be more about helping Pakistan competing with its rival, India, than fighting terror.
Nita Lowey, chairwoman of a House subcommittee on foreign operations, said the request from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to reprogram the funding "raises serious concerns."
Lowey is asking for more information before signing off on the change.
"Congress provided these funds specifically for counterterrorism and law enforcement activities," Lowey said in a written statement.
"It is incumbent on the State Department and Pakistan to demonstrate clearly how these F-16s would be used to fight al Qaeda and the Taliban in order to get congressional support."
It is not the first time U.S. aid to Pakistan has come under scrutiny. In June, the Government Accountability Office and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs released a report that said the United States has not accurately tracked about $6 billion it gave to help the Pakistani government fight terrorism since 2001.
The country, which the Department of Defense considers a key ally in the war on terrorism because of its proximity to large swaths of ungoverned tribal land, has received $5.56 billion of $6.88 billion given out since the September 11 terrorist attacks.
U.S. and Pakistani officials claim that the F-16s are used to fly missions over regions near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, where the Taliban are operating and al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding.
The upgrades, which will bring the old fleet in line with new F-16s Pakistan recently purchased from the United States, will allow Pakistan's F-16 fleet to operate day and night missions and "effectively employ ground operations," Gallegos said.
The funds will be diverted from upgrades on other airplanes used for fighting terrorism, Gallegos said. WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States plans to shift about $230 million in aid to Pakistan from counterterrorism programs to upgrading... more -
House reconsiders 'don't ask, don't tell'
A House panel weighed overturning the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy Wednesday, the first time Congress has considered the rule since it was implemented 15 years ago.
Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Miltary Readiness said having gays in the military would be disruptive.
The policy, adopted in 1993, allows gay and lesbian individuals to serve in the armed forces as long as they do not publicly engage in homosexual behavior. The law also prevents military leaders from asking a service member about his or her sexual orientation.
Congress implemented the "don't ask, don't tell" law after President Clinton backed away from a plan to allow homosexuals to serve openly in the military. The armed forces' most senior officers resisted the plan, saying they feared that homosexuals would disrupt unit cohesion and morale.
The House Armed Services Committee's subcommittee was considering a bill by Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-California, that would repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" law.
A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll found that 75 percent of respondents supported allowing gays to serve openly in the military, up from 62 percent in 2001 and 44 percent in 1993. A House panel weighed overturning the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy Wednesday, the first time Congress has considered the ... 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 -
Robot submarine gliding across the Atlantic Ocean
An unmanned submersible operated by Rutgers University's Coastal Ocean Observation Laboratory (COOL) is "flying" -- underwater -- from New Jersey to Spain. The remote-controlled undersea glider will travel more than 3,800 miles, and will collect key scientific information on the temperature and salinity of the Atlantic Ocean.
"The big advantage is, it's totally unmanned," according to Conrad Lautenbacher, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which sponsors the submersible. "It's very efficient and can be used to obtain the same kind of data we gather from ships."
In general, sea gliders are Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) that use small changes in buoyancy in conjunction with wings to convert vertical motion to horizontal, and thereby propel themselves forward with very low power consumption. While not as fast as conventional AUVs with propulsion systems, gliders using buoyancy-based propulsion represent a significant increase in range and endurance compared to vehicles propelled by electric motor-driven propellers. The sea glider has a battery-powered data collection and satellite communication system. The U.S. Navy as well as NOAA have been developing such sea gliders for several years.
During its trans-Atlantic cruise the glider will periodically rise to the surface of the ocean to transmit data up to a satellite. But most of the time the COOL glider will travel at depths between 15 feet to 300 feet below the surface. The COOL researchers will share all collected oceanographic data with the Navy and other interested agencies. The lack of a propulsion system will aid in data collection, alleviating self-noise interference.
The Navy is also looking into glider-type AUVs -- which it calls UUVs for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles -- for several missions, primarily to undertake environmental measurements in areas where surface ships or aircraft (dropping sensors) cannot easily operate. And, of course, flotillas of such unmanned gliders would be much cheaper than manned research ships and craft.
The COOL-developed submersible is yellow, less than 8 feet long, and weighs about 130 pounds. Developed by Rutgers University, the craft will also provide the university with other important information, such as how long the craft’s batteries will last and systems reliability. Larger and more capable AUV/UUVs are being developed by the Navy under the auspices of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command’s systems center in San Diego and the Office of Naval Research.
According to the 2000 Program Guide to the U.S. Navy, the highest priority missions for Navy UUVs, presumably including gliders, are intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; mine countermeasures (i.e., locating and mapping mines); and anti-submarine warfare. Sea gliders could be very useful in collecting environmental information for ASW operations. An unmanned submersible operated by Rutgers University's Coastal Ocean Observation Laboratory (COOL) is "flying" -- underwater -- from... more -
Chavez calls for Russia alliance
Hugo Chavez has called for a strategic alliance with Russia to protect Venezuela from the US.
The Venezuelan president's call came as Moscow and Caracas agreed to extend bilateral co-operation on energy.
Speaking during a two-day visit to Russia, Mr Chavez said oil and military cooperation were vital to guarantee Venezuela's sovereignty.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said three Russian energy companies are to be allowed to operate in Venezuela.
He gave no details of an anticipated arms deal between the two countries. But Mr Chavez seemed upbeat about the prospect of military co-operation.
"If Russia's armed forces want to be present in Venezuela, they will be given a warm welcome," he told a news conference after the meeting.
He said Venezuela would pursue new Russian arms deals "because the North American empire... has plans to invade Venezuela, to disarm Venezuela". Hugo Chavez has called for a strategic alliance with Russia to protect Venezuela from the US. ... more -
Sexually assaulted female troops struggle to recover
Even as women distinguish themselves in battle alongside men, they're fighting off sexual assault and harassment. It's not a new consequence of war.
But the sheer number of women serving today -- more than 190,000 so far in Iraq and Afghanistan -- is forcing the military and Department of Veterans Affairs to more aggressively address it.
Of the women veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who have walked into a VA facility, 15 percent have screened positive for military sexual trauma, The Associated Press has learned. That means they indicated that while on active duty they were sexually assaulted, raped, or were sexually harassed, receiving repeated unsolicited verbal or physical contact of a sexual nature.
from the Navy Reserves, said people typically think of sexual harassment as someone making a comment about someone's appearance, but it goes well beyond that. In a war environment, living and working with someone exhibiting harassing behavior can potentially have long-term effects on troops' health and performance.
"There's automatically this thing that sexual harassment is not a big deal, it's not as bad as rape, and indeed it often is not as distressing as a completed sexual assault, but it still can be something that highly affects a person," Best said. Research also has found that working and living environments where unwanted sexual behaviors take place have been associated with increased odds of rape.
It's unknown whether incidents of rape and assault are higher in the military population than the civilian population. One study, however, of 1991 Persian Gulf War veterans found incidents of assault, rape and harassment were higher at war than in peacetime military samples, according to the VA's PTSD center.
It's only in recent years that the military and VA have kept comprehensive statistics, and even the two agencies define military sexual trauma differently.
What is known is that the effects of a military sexual trauma can be long lasting -- particularly for those who don't seek early help.
The VA still sees veterans who experienced sexual attacks in Vietnam -- and even World War II.
Even as women distinguish themselves in battle alongside men, they're fighting off sexual assault and harassment. It's not a new conse... 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 -
Who is Obama trying to disarm America for?
Obama, one scary dude! This is an uninterrupted 51-second video of Obama speaking; he’s telling us exactly what he will do to the military ... watch it before this too is removed off the web site. Pass it on ... the USA needs a wake-up call. Obama plans to disarm America by Macsmind. This is absolutely shocking & reprehensible. He plans to unilaterally disarm our nation. The question is … for what? And more specifically, for whom ?! [...] At times I can't post the URLs due to the fact it will be deleted if you speak out against Obama ... is this another Hussein? But if you type this title in your browser ... you can get it ...
Obama, one scary dude! This is an uninterrupted 51-second video of Obama speaking; he’s telling us exactly what he will do to the mil... more -
75% of Americans say gays should serve openly in military
Seventy-five percent of Americans believe that gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve in the US military, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
The Washington Post reported that the number of Americans who support gays in the military is up from 62% in 2001 and 44% in 1993.
Eighty percent of registered Democrats support the repeal of "don’t ask, don’t tell," a policy barring gay service men and women from serving openly in the military. Enacted 15 years ago under the Clinton administration, the push for the repeal of DADT is gaining momentum. The Post reported that support from Republicans has doubled from 32% to 64 percent since DADT was enacted.
The Post-ABC poll, conducted between July 10 and July 13, also showed that more than 80% of women support gays in the military, compared with approximately 67% of men.
(The Advocate) Seventy-five percent of Americans believe that gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve in the US military, according to a new Was... more -
2008 Keanu Reeves in The Day The Earth Stood Still
This movie trailer and website is really awesome.
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B-52 bomber Crashes in Guam kills at least 2
HONOLULU (AP) — The Air Force says at least two crew members are dead after the crash of a B-52 bomber off Guam.
Rescue teams are searching a vast area of the Pacific Ocean on Monday for the remaining four airmen.
The Coast Guard says six vessels, three helicopters, two F-15 fighter jets and a B-52 bomber are involved in the search.
The military says the B-52 was en route to a flyover in a parade when it crashed about 9:45 a.m. about 30 miles northwest of Apra Harbor. The plane was based at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
HONOLULU (AP) — Rescue crews were searching a vast area of floating debris and a sheen of oil Monday for crew members of an Air Force B-52 bomber that crashed off the island of Guam, officials said.
At least two people from the bomber's six-man crew were recovered from the waters, but their condition was not immediately available, the Coast Guard said.
Maj. Stuart Upton, a Pentagon spokesman, said the aircraft was unarmed.
Six vessels, three helicopters, two F-15 fighter jets and a B-52 bomber were involved in the search, which had covered about 70 square miles of ocean, said Coast Guard spokeswoman Lt. Elizabeth Buendia.
"We have an active search that's going to go on throughout the night," she said Monday. The Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force and local fire and police departments were involved.
The B-52 bomber based at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana was en route to conduct a flyover in a parade when it crashed around 9:45 a.m. Monday about 30 miles northwest of Apra Harbor, the Air Force said.
The Liberation Day parade celebrates the day when the U.S. military arrived on Guam to retake control of the island from Japan.
The Air Force said a board of officers will investigate the accident.
The accident is the second for the Air Force this year on Guam, a U.S. territory 3,700 miles southwest of Hawaii.
In February, a B-2 crashed at Andersen Air Force Base shortly after takeoff in the first-ever crash of a stealth bomber. Both pilots ejected safely. The military estimated the cost of the loss of the aircraft at $1.4 billion.
The B-52 is a long-range, heavy bomber that can refuel in mid air. Since the 159 foot-long bomber was first placed into service in 1955, it has been used for a wide range of missions from attacks to ocean surveillance. Two B-52s, in two hours, can monitor 140,000 square miles of ocean surface.
According to the Air Force's Web site, the B-52 Stratofortress has been the backbone of the manned strategic bomber force for the United States for more than four decades. It is capable of dropping or launching the widest array of weapons in the U.S. inventory, including cluster bombs and precision guided missiles. HONOLULU (AP) — The Air Force says at least two crew members are dead after the crash of a B-52 bomber off Guam. ... more -
McCain owns first foreign policy gaffe during Obama's Iraq trip
As Barack Obama began his trip to the Middle East and Europe, the media was already speculating about the possibility of a gaffe. Obama's travel "carries political risk," the New York Times reported, "particularly if Mr. Obama makes a mistake."
But the only foreign policy error made in the last few days came this morning on ABC's Good Morning America, when John McCain made ANOTHER geography gaffe while trying to criticize Obama's visit to Iraq. (Just last week, McCain repeatedly referred to Czechoslovakia, a country that hasn't existed since 1993.)
Asked by Diane Sawyer whether the "the situation in Afghanistan in precarious and urgent," McCain responded: "I think it's serious. . . . It's a serious situation, but there's a lot of things we need to do. We have a lot of work to do and I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border."
But as ABC's Rick Klein noted: "Iraq and Pakistan do not share a border. Afghanistan and Pakistan do."
As Barack Obama began his trip to the Middle East and Europe, the media was already speculating about the possibility of a gaffe. Obam... more -
First Guantanamo war crimes trial under way
The first U.S. war crimes trial since World War Two began on Monday at the U.S. navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, nearly seven years after the September 11 attacks prompted President George W. Bush to declare war on terrorism.
Osama bin Laden's former driver, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, faces charges of conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism and could face life in prison if convicted by a jury of U.S. military officers.
"This military commission is assembled," judge Keith Allred said after the potential jurors were sworn in.
"You must make your determination whether or not he is guilty based solely on the evidence presented here in court and the instructions I will give you," Allred instructed jurors. "You must impartially hear the evidence."
The first trial in the controversial war crimes court got underway 6-1/2 years after the United States opened the prison camp in Cuba to jail suspected al Qaeda and Taliban fighters.
Prosecutors contend Hamdan, a Yemeni in his late 30s, was close to al Qaeda's inner circle and was on the way to a battle zone with two surface-to-air missiles in his car when he was captured in November 2001, shortly after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.
Hamdan's lawyers say he is not a member of al Qaeda, and was merely a driver and mechanic in bin Laden's motor pool who needed the $200 monthly salary.
Hamdan is being tried in a hilltop courthouse overlooking Guantanamo Bay by a jury selected from a pool of 13 U.S. military officers flown in from around the world. The panel must be comprised of at least five members. The first U.S. war crimes trial since World War Two began on Monday at the U.S. navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, nearly seven years ... more -
Chavez Goes Weapons Shopping in Russia Amid Arms Race (Update2)
July 21 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez heads to Moscow today to shop for air defense systems, submarines and other weaponry as Latin America's arms race quickens amid signs that his regional influence is waning.
Past Venezuelan arms purchases from Russia have strengthened ties with Moscow as its rivalry with the U.S. intensifies over President George W. Bush's plans for an Eastern Europe missile defense system and other issues. Chavez, 53, also plans to visit Belarus, a Russian ally that the U.S. considers a dictatorship.
Chavez ``regularly refers to us as an `empire,' opposes our initiatives in the Americas and seeks out our adversaries as friends and allies,'' Assistant U.S. Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon said July 17 in testimony to a congressional committee.
Chavez will order $2 billion worth of weapons, including Project 636 diesel subs, Mi-28 combat helicopters and airplanes made by Ilyushin Co., the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported May 12, without saying how it obtained the information. The Russian Interfax news service, citing an unnamed defense ministry official, said today Chavez may order $1 billion of weapons, including three Varshavyanka subs and up to 20 Tor-M1 air-defense systems.
`Some Shock'
``What Chavez likes to do is to shock, and this will create some shock in Washington,'' said Riordan Roett, a professor of Latin American studies at Johns Hopkins University.
Chavez, who plans to meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev tomorrow, has bought more than $4.4 billion of Russian arms since 2003. He says the hardware, including jets and submarines, is needed to counter a military threat from the U.S. and its main regional ally, Colombia.
Russia last year announced plans to build two factories to make Kalashnikov assault rifles in Venezuela.
Russia has used Venezuela to diversify its arms-selling business beyond China and India, said Dmitry Vasiliev, an analyst at the Center for the Analysis of Strategies & Technologies, a Moscow-based defense research center. Venezuela was Russia's third-biggest arms customer last year, he said.
Trade between the two countries surged to $1.13 billion in 2007 from $517 million the previous year, according to a statement published on the Venezuelan Information Ministry's Web site.
`Ideal Partner'
``Russia is trying to be good friends with Chavez because he is an ideal partner in arms trade,'' said Fyodor Lukyanov, an analyst at the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy in Moscow.
The Venezuelan president said this month he'll also discuss the creation of a joint development bank and an investment fund with Russia.
Latin American countries have gone on a military spending spree in recent years as their governments collect record income from commodities, including Venezuela's oil windfall. Regional arms spending jumped 55 percent over four years to $38.4 billion in 2007, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies
July 21 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez heads to Moscow today to shop for air defense systems, submarines and other we... more -
UK trains dogs to parachute into warzone
Fearless German Shepherds are being trained to jump from aircraft at 25,000ft wearing their own oxygen masks and strapped to special forces assault teams.
Once down in hostile terrain in Iraq or Afghanistan, the dogs will be sent in first to seek out insurgents’ hideouts with tiny cameras fixed to their heads.
The cameras will beam live TV pictures back to the troops, warning of ambushes or showing enemy leaders’ locations.
Three SAS troopers have been shot dead on raids in Iraq in two years and at least eight seriously wounded.
An SAS source said: “The dogs will be exposed to very high levels of danger on these operations and you never know what’s going to be behind a door. Nobody wants to see the dogs get killed but if it’s their life or a man’s it is obvious which the CO would prefer.”
The dogs will be used in a highly-skilled technique called High Altitude High Opening, jumping as much as 20 miles from their targets and gliding towards them for up to 30 minutes.
America’s most elite unit the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, commonly known as Delta Force, has pioneered the skills for jumping with dogs from heights over 20,000ft and its instructors have been sent over to 22 SAS headquarters in Hereford.
Dogs were first trained to parachute in the Second World War by the British on rescue missions. But they have never jumped from high altitude, the best way for small groups of men to get behind enemy lines undetected. The dogs have big advantages over soldiers in that they arouse less suspicion approaching targets, can squeeze into tighter spaces and can sniff out booby-trap explosives.
Two have been issued to each of the regiment’s four squadrons with troopers specially selected to be their handlers.
The squadrons’ job is to hunt down High Value Targets – insurgency leaders and old Saddam henchmen – but they are also on permanent standby to carry out rescue missions for hostages.
In line with special forces policy the MoD would not comment on the dogs. But The Sun was given clearance to run the story by security officials. Fearless German Shepherds are being trained to jump from aircraft at 25,000ft wearing their own oxygen masks and strapped to special f... more
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