Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases

Daily Mail
By Jamie Mcginnes
March 27, 2012

The Ministry of Defence today revealed that 1,800 defence police and guard jobs will be slashed.

In a written statement to Parliament, Defence Personnel Minister Andrew Robathan said he regretted the uncertainty and anxiety caused to staff affected, but said the Government ‘can and will’ make changes in guarding and civil policing.

Under the measures, the MoD Police is to downsize from a current strength of just under 3,100 to about 2,400 by April 2016.

The MoD Guard Service will be cut from just under 3,300 members today to about 2,200 by April 2015.

The headquarters and management structures of each organisation will see costs slashed by 50 per cent, Mr Robathan said.

This will mean fewer security staff at some sites and a shift to more security being undertaken by staff who do not require police powers. Local police forces will also be utilised more. …

Read on: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2121098/MoD-axes-1-800-police-guard-jobs.html

Citizens for Legitimate Government (CLG)
By legitgov
April 1, 2012

Man whose WMD lies led to over 100,000 deaths confesses all. A man [Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi] whose lies helped to make the case for invading Iraq – starting a nine-year war costing more than 100,000 1,000,000 lives and hundreds of billions of pounds – will come clean in his first British television interview tomorrow. “Curveball”, the Iraqi defector who fabricated claims about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, smiles as he confirms how he made the whole thing up… When it is put to him “we went to war in Iraq on a lie. And that lie was your lie”, he simply replies: “Yes.” US officials “sexed up” Mr Janabi’s drawings of mobile biological weapons labs to make them more presentable, admits Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, General Powell’s former chief of staff. “I brought the White House team in to do the graphics,” he says, adding how “intelligence was being worked to fit around the policy“.

From: www.legitgov.org/Man-whose-WMD-lies-led-over-100000-deaths-confesses-all

Washington Post
By Michael Birnbaum
March 27, 2012

For more than half a century, this garrison town in the rolling hills of southwest Germany has been a small version of America, with Ford Mustangs and pickup trucks from the U.S. Army base next door threading through its medieval streets.

Now, with the Pentagon’s announcement last month of major troop cuts that will slash by a quarter the Army’s presence in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, a long-standing institution of American cultural, political and military influence is slimming down. Thousands of informal U.S. ambassadors are returning home.

Towns whose identities are tied up in red, white and blue are being cut free with the pullback. Four of 12 Army bases in Germany will close, and Baumholder, a town of 4,500 Germans surrounded by 13,500 Americans on base — 4,300 troops, plus their families and other staff members — faces a turbulent future. Many Germans here doubt the base will remain open much longer, although the Army has said it will eventually replace half of the 3,700 troops who will depart by October.

In a town where American uniforms fill dry cleaners’ racks and one restaurant has clocks for three time zones — Baumholder, Baghdad and New York — residents say a closure might shake loose their longtime tilt toward America. …

Read on: www.washingtonpost.com/world/german-town-fears-loss-of-us-army-base/2012/03/23/gIQAoNzzeS_story.html

truth-out.org
By Eric Schmitt, The New York Times News Service
March 25, 2012

The United States military has decided that no service members will face disciplinary charges for their involvement in a NATO airstrike in November that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, an accident that plunged relations between the two countries to new depths and has greatly complicated the allied mission in Afghanistan.

An American investigation in December found fault with both American and Pakistani troops for the deadly exchange of fire, but noted that the Pakistanis fired first from two border posts that were not on coalition maps, and that they kept firing even after the Americans tried to warn them that they were shooting at allied troops. Pakistan has rejected these conclusions and ascribed most of the blame to the American forces.

The American findings set up a second inquiry to determine whether any American military personnel should be punished. That recently completed review said no, three senior military officials said, explaining that the Americans fired in self-defense. Other mistakes that contributed to the fatal cross-border strike were the regrettable result of battlefield confusion, they said. …

Read on: http://truth-out.org/news/item/8087-us-plans-no-charges-over-deadly-november-strike-in-pakistan

Itar Tass
March 23, 2012

A Russia-NATO summit, which was scheduled in May, is cancelled. According to the official version, the summit was cancelled over “an intensive domestic political calendar in Russia.” However, the experts believe that this step is caused by disagreements of the parties concerned over the European missile defence system.

The Russia-NATO summit has stalled over the European missile defence system, the Kommersant daily reported. Experts noted that the decision to cancel a May meeting between Vladimir Putin and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen is linked with the disagreement over the vital issue. This is the missile defence system in Europe. The Russia-NATO summit was scheduled in Chicago in May, the newspaper recalled. However, the NATO general secretary stated that the summit will not be held at the scheduled time. He called as the reason “an intensive domestic political calendar in Russia.” The negotiators have nothing to say to each other, this is why the summit was postponed, director of the Institute of Strategic Planning and Forecasting Alexander Gusev noted.

“The postponement of the Russia-NATO summit is certainly linked with a quite serious political situation, primarily in Europe, over the deployment of the European missile defence along the borders with Russia. The question was certainly not settled. This primarily concerns relations between Russia and the EU states, so, the places, where the European missile defence systems will be deployed,” he noted. “I would like the summit to be held. All parties are interested in this, namely the United States, the NATO leadership, the EU states and Russia in the same way.”

Read on: www.itar-tass.com/c142/373668.html

Foreign Policy
By Robert Haddock
March 23, 2012

What message were U.S. officials trying to send by releasing the results of a CentCom Iran war game?

On March 19, the New York Times described a classified U.S. Central Command war game conducted this month that simulated the outcome of an Israeli attack on Iran. According to U.S. officials who discussed the results with the newspaper, the game “forecasts that the [Israeli] strike would lead to a wider regional war, which could draw in the United States and leave hundreds of Americans dead.” Marine Gen. James Mattis, commander of Central Command, found the outcome “particularly troubling” because an Israeli first strike would have “dire consequences across the region and for United States forces there.”

The article, with its discussion of “dire consequences,” is one more indication of the gap between the Israeli government’s calculations concerning Iran and those of the U.S. government. Why that analytical gap exists should be of interest to policymakers. The military’s conclusion that U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf region could suffer hundreds of deaths following an Israeli strike could be an indication that U.S. commanders and policymakers have not adequately prepared for such a scenario. But perhaps most important, we should examine what goals U.S. officials had in mind when they leaked the results of the supposedly secret war game to the New York Times.

According to the article, the two-week Central Command war game, called Internal Look, was specifically designed to test internal military communications and coordination among battle staffs in the Pentagon, Central Command headquarters in Tampa, and field units in the Persian Gulf. According to the scenario, Iran would conclude that the United States was an Israeli partner and therefore U.S. military forces in the Gulf were complicit in the Israeli first strike. The simulation had Iranian anti-ship missiles strike a U.S. warship killing hundreds of sailors. The United States then retaliated with its own strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

This simulation appears to differ sharply from Israeli expectations. …

Read on: www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/03/23/this_week_at_war_rules_of_the_game

ThinkProgress.org
By Eli Clifton
March 22, 2012

ran hawks and the GOP presidential candidates like Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney have been slow to acknowledge the inherent dangers of U.S. and/or Israeli military strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities while members of President Obama’s cabinet have made the case that sanctions and diplomatic pressure are the best strategy for deterring Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon.

But in remarks delivered last week at the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates — himself a Republican — delivered a stern warning to those who push for the “military option” against Iran.

“If you think the war in Iraq was hard, an attack on Iran would, in my opinion, be a catastrophe,” said Gates, as reported by the Jewish Exponent. Gates, who served as Defense Secretary in both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, warned that Iran’s nuclear facilities would be difficult to destroy and an attack would lead Iranians to “rally behind their mullahs.” …

Read on: http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/03/22/449740/robert-gates-attacking-iran-would-be-a-catastrophe/

Inquirer.net
By DJ Yap, Philippine Daily Inquirer
March 22, 2012

MANILA, Philippines—Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin on Thursday described plans to hold more joint military training exercises with the United States as an “expanded VFA [Visiting Forces of Agreement], but definitely with no bases” involved.

He said the “high value” and “high impact” exercises would benefit the armed forces of both the Philippines and the United States–which would be sending over more troops–although he could not say how many servicemen would be participating on both sides.

“I cannot be definite on the number but definitely there will be more participation of forces from both the US and the Philippines,” Gazmin told reporters at Fort Bonifacio during the 115th anniversary celebration of the Philippine Army.

He said the exercises would be different from those conducted in Mindanao, which American forces traditionally visit as part of the annual “Balikatan” joint exercises.

“We are looking at exercises that will be of value to both countries, those high-impact exercises that can help us in a lot of areas,” Gazmin said. …

Read on: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/30307/more-us-troops-coming-but-no-bases-says-defense-chief

RIANOVOSTY
March 6, 2012

The Russian president is unlikely to attend a NATO summit in Chicago if the missile defense issue is not on its agenda

The Russian president is unlikely to attend a NATO summit in Chicago if the missile defense issue is not on its agenda, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Tuesday.

“Russia has an invitation to the NATO summit; everything depends on the agenda,” he said.

However, if the issue of the NATO missile defense system remains unchanged, then the chances of the Russian president attending the summit “will be even smaller,” he added. …

Read on: en.rian.ru/world/20120306/171790591.html

Metro Business Media
March 19, 2012

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) announced today a firm-fixed-price contract from the U.S. Air Force.

The defense contractor will provide Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasure (LAIRCM) systems and support.

Under the $334 million contract Fairfax county-based Northrop Grumman will have until April 2014 to provide the Air Force with LAIRCM technology that will automatically detect a missile launch. Once detected as a threat, the LAIRCM system will activate a high-intensity laser to track and destroy the missile. …

Read on: metrobusinessmedia.com/article/northrop-grumman-awarded-large-contract-or-us-missile-defense-systems-031912