Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases

Mainichi Daily News
November 25, 2011

Japan and the United States have agreed to partly change a bilateral arrangement concerning U.S. military personnel, allowing Japan from now on to have jurisdiction over accidents and crimes involving civilian staff at U.S. bases under certain circumstances, Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba said Thursday.

Until now, the United States had primary authority to try both military and nonmilitary U.S. personnel if they are suspected of committing crimes while on duty.

The agreement to change the operation of the Status of Forces Agreement was struck on Wednesday by the Joint Committee, Gemba told reporters.

Gemba said this is “one step forward” in addressing the concerns of residents in Okinawa and other areas of Japan that host U.S. military bases, who have voiced anger for many years about the way drunken driving and other crimes involving civilian staff at U.S. bases have been handled.

Since 2006, U.S. workers at the bases involved in serious accidents have only been reprimanded by the U.S. military, not prosecuted in court, according Japanese officials. There are around 5,000 U.S. civilian employees at the bases in Japan.

Still, despite the change, the two countries confirmed that primary jurisdiction rests with the United States.

U.S. suspects will only be tried by Japanese courts when the United States decides not to exercise its jurisdiction and gives its consent to Japanese authorities, said the memorandum signed by the two countries. …

Read on: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111125p2g00m0dm026000c.html

New York Times
By Sabrina Tavernise
November 24, 2011

A smaller share of Americans currently serve in the Armed Forces than at any other time since the era between World Wars I and II, a new low that has led to a growing gap between people in uniform and the civilian population, according to a new survey.

At any given time in the past decade, less than 1 percent of the American population has been on active military duty, compared with 9 percent of Americans who were in uniform in World War II. As a result, there is a growing generation gap, with younger Americans far less likely than older ones to have a family member who served. …

The result is a military far less connected to the rest of society, a condition that some academics have said might not bode well for the future of military-civilian relations (the military is run by civilians). Others have warned that less connection between the military and the rest of society could lead to less-informed decisions about whether to go to war, because conflicts and the people who fight them are not part of most people’s everyday lives. …

In full: www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/us/civilian-military-gap-grows-as-fewer-americans-serve.html?_r=1

Fox News
November 16, 2011

President Obama insisted Wednesday that the United States does not fear China, even as U.S. officials acknowledged that a rising China is part of the reason for a new U.S.-Australia security pact created in response to Beijing’s growing aggressiveness.

The plan is to have a Marine, air and ground task force using Australian facilities to act as a “force multiplier” in the region. No new U.S. bases will be built. Marines will rotate into and out of the region, building up slowly from 250. After the buildup is complete, they will total some 2,500.

The number and frequency of U.S. aircraft using Australian air bases will increase and more bases will be in use. …

Read on: www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11/16/new-agreement-will-expand-us-military-presence-in-australia

Reuters
By Tim Castle
November 14, 2011

Britain is ready to use missiles to protect next year’s London Olympics from an airborne attack, Defence Minister Philip Hammond said on Monday, amid reports the United States was unhappy with security plans for the games.

“All necessary measures to ensure the security and safety of the London Olympic Games will be taken including, if the advice of the military is that it is required, appropriate ground-to-air defences,” Hammond told parliament.

It would be the first time surface-to-air missiles have been deployed in Britain since the end of the Second World War, a defence ministry spokesman said, adding that no decisions had been made yet.

Hammond’s announcement came as the Guardian newspaper reported the United States was concerned about security at the games and planned to send up to 1,000 of its agents, including 500 from the FBI, to protect American contestants and diplomats. …

Read on: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/11/14/uk-britain-olympics-missiles-idUKTRE7AD1YR20111114

Reuters
By Steve Gutterman
November 9, 2011

Russia on Wednesday vehemently criticized a U.N. nuclear watchdog report saying Iran appeared to have worked on designing an atom bomb, saying it contained no new evidence and was being used to undercut efforts to reach a diplomatic solution.

Sharpening opposition to any new sanctions against Iran in the U.N. Security Council, where Russia has veto power, senior diplomats said further punitive measures would be “destructive” and urged a revival of talks between Tehran and global powers.

The Russian remarks came during a visit by a senior Iranian official for talks on the program which Tehran says is peaceful but the United States and its allies fear is aimed at developing the capability to build atomic weapons.

They underscored a divide between Russia and the West over a report by the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency that deepened U.S. and European suspicions about Tehran’s intentions.

“According to our initial evaluations, there is no fundamentally new information in the report,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“We are talking about a compilation of known facts, given a politicized tone,” it said, adding that interpretations of the report brought to mind the use of faulty intelligence to seek support for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. …

Analysts say Moscow may have calculated that it has little to gain from supporting new sanctions against Iran. This would further hurt ties already damaged by Russia’s backing of the most recent measures in June 2010, when President Dmitry Medvedev also scrapped a deal to deliver air-defense missiles to Tehran.

Those sanctions were adopted at a time of improving relations between Russia and the United States, after President Barack Obama downsized a European missile defense plan that Russia opposed and signed a nuclear arms limitation treaty with Medvedev.

Read in full: www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/09/us-nuclear-iran-russia-idUSTRE7A857620111109

Florida Times-Union
October 28, 2011

Corruption is part of the culture in Afghanistan, and the United States has been the great enabler.

That is the only conclusion that can be reached by an impressive report from the Commission on Wartime Contracting, the result of three years of work.

A total of $12 million every day for 10 years has been lost in fraud and waste.

In an era when the United States is facing great financial challenges, this is an outrage.

At least $31 billion has been lost in waste and fraud, perhaps as much as $60 billion. Why the great disparity? Because the financial controls are basically nonexistent. And the actual documents of the investigation have been sealed for 20 years as if this is the investigation into the assassination of a president. …

This is like doing business with Tony Soprano.

For instance, the U.S. pays Afghan contractors to provide trucking services. Then they hire subcontractors. The subcontractors then pay insurgent groups for protection because insurgents either control the roads or have the ability to attack. …

http://jacksonville.com/opinion/editorials/2011-10-28/story/breathtaking-fraud-afghanistan

Press TV
October 27, 2011

An American general says there are only 15 US military bases left in Iraq, which were once up to 505, as the foreign forces prepare to leave the Arab country by the end of the year.

“US Forces-Iraq (USF-I) now resides on 15 bases — nine of those are US, and six are partnered (with Iraqi forces),” said Brigadier General Rock Donahue, head of USF-I’s engineering directorate, AFP reported.

All of the remaining bases must be handed over to Iraqi forces and US troops must leave Iraq by the end of the year, under the terms of the 2008 bilateral security accord, known as the Status of Forces Agreement.

However, the US looks unwilling to leave the Middle Eastern country and its officials are searching new pretexts to prolong their stay in Iraq.

Twelve US lawmakers on Wednesday wrote to the chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services that the complete withdrawal of American troops from Iraq will be seen as a “strategic victory by our enemies in the Middle East.”

The letter was signed by top Republican Senator John McCain, Independent Joe Lieberman and 10 other Republican senators.

There are currently about 39,000 US soldiers in Iraq, according to the US military.

US President Barack Obama announced on October 21 that all US troops will leave Iraq by the end of 2011. …

Read on: www.presstv.ir/detail/206848.html

Washington Post
By Associated Press
October 25, 2011

US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,481 Tuesday, according to Associated Press count

As of Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011, at least 4,481 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The figure includes nine military civilians killed in action.

At least 3,525 military personnel died as a result of hostile action, according to the military’s numbers.

The AP count is three fewer than the Defense Department’s tally, last updated Tuesday at 10 a.m. EDT.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 32,219 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department’s weekly tally.

www.washingtonpost.com/national/us-military-deaths-in-iraq-war-at-4481-tuesday-according-to-associated-press-count/2011/10/25/gIQAbhpPGM_story.html

ABC News
By The Associated Press
October 25, 2011

As of Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011, at least 1,700 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to an Associated Press count.

The AP count is six less than the Defense Department’s tally, last updated Tuesday at 10 a.m. EDT.

At least 1,425 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action, according to the military’s numbers.

Outside of Afghanistan, the department reports at least 102 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 12 were the result of hostile action.

The AP count of total OEF casualties outside of Afghanistan is the same as the department’s tally.

The Defense Department also counts three military civilian deaths.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 14,611 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-military-deaths-afghanistan-1700-14811327

BBC News
October 25, 2011

The last of America’s most powerful Cold War-era nuclear bombs – the B53 – has been dismantled in Texas.

Experts have separated around 300lb (136kg) of high explosives from the bomb’s uranium “pit”.

Weighing 10,000lb, the B53 was the size of a minivan and said to be 600 times more destructive than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.

It was first put into service at the height of the Cold War in 1962, and remained in the US arsenal until 1997.

The bomb was designed to hit targets deep underground, such as bunkers in which military and civilian leaders might be sheltering.

Carried by B-52 bombers, the “bunker busters” used five parachutes to land softly on their targets before detonating a nine megaton explosion, in effect simulating an earthquake.

They have been superseded by bombs that burrow into the ground and then explode.

The first B53s were destroyed in the 1980s but several remained in service until 1997, when they were all retired. …

Read on: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15453872