Fox News
February 26, 2013
The Obama administration appears to have relied on misleading figures to characterize progress in the war in Afghanistan, as the U.S.-led military coalition acknowledged Tuesday that it had incorrectly reported a decline in Taliban attacks last year.
Throughout the campaign season, President Obama and his top officials claimed the Taliban were on the decline. …
mostlymisiledefense.com
February 25, 2013
According to the Air Force, if sequestration goes into effect, it would have to make cuts in radar operations that would have the effect of “significantly impacting national missile defense, space situational awareness, and the intelligence community.” Specifically, radar operations at Cavalier Air Force Station in North Dakota and at Earecksen Air Station, Alaska and operation the Air Force Space Surveillance System (AFSSS) would be reduced from 24 to 8 hours per day.
Would such reductions actually seriously impact U.S. missile defenses? …
Newsmax.com
By Cyrus Afzali and Kathleen Walter
February 25, 2013
A key domestic policy expert for the Heritage Foundation believes proposed military cuts that could come as a result of the ongoing federal budget impasse could dramatically limit the government’s ability to offset the military hardware that needs replacing as a result of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts…
From: www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/military-spending-cuts-sequestration/2013/02/25/id/491905
CAAB does not support these views expressed by the researcher for the Heritage Foundation (a right wing group) and only shows the video as an example of these entrenched and dangerous views.
PRESS TV
February 26, 2013
Two American sailors have admitted to raping a woman in the Japanese island of Okinawa last October in a case that sparked huge anti-US sentiments in Japan.
Both servicemen, Skyler Dozierwalker and Christopher Browning, pleaded guilty on Tuesday during a hearing in Naha District Court.
The 23-year-old and 24-year-old men told the court that they attacked the woman during a trip to Okinawa in October.
Around 47,000 US military personnel are currently stationed in Japan. Some half of the US troops are stationed in Okinawa, where the soldiers have reportedly committed more than 5,700 crimes since Washington returned the island to Japan in 1972.
The rape in Okinawa provoked outrage and led to a nationwide curfew on all American military personnel.
Multiple cases of misconduct by US forces have raised anti-American feelings among the islanders. …
Read on: www.presstv.com/detail/2013/02/26/290871/us-sailors-admit-raping-woman-in-japan/
RTT News
February 26, 2013
Japan’s Defense Ministry officials on Tuesday held talks with a fishing cooperative of Nago city in the Okinawa prefecture on reclaiming land off the city’s coast for the relocation of a U.S. air base.
The move comes after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promised President Barack Obama that he would take immediate steps to relocate the U.S. Futenma Marine Corps Air Station in accordance with a bilateral agreement between the two countries, Japanese media reported.
Defense Ministry officials met with representatives of the Nago Fisheries Cooperative Association and handed over papers seeking their approval. The Ministry plans to file for a permit with the prefectural government for the land reclamation project. …
Relocation of the Futenma base is a longstanding demand of the people of Okinawa as it was located in a densely populated area. …
Los Angeles Times
By Shashank Bengali
February 25, 2013
The U.S. military has determined that its forces weren’t involved in the alleged abduction and killing of civilians in a troubled province in eastern Afghanistan, officials said Monday.
“In recent months, a thorough review has confirmed that no coalition forces have been involved in the alleged misconduct in Wardak province,” Lt. Col. Les Carroll, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan, said in a statement.
A day earlier, Afghan President Hamid Karzai accused U.S. special forces troops and Afghans working for them of torturing civilians in Wardak, a strategic but violence-wracked province southwest of the capital, Kabul. Karzai ordered the elite U.S. troops to end operations in Wardak and to leave the province within two weeks, dealing a blow to U.S. counterterrorism efforts in an area rife with Taliban and allied insurgents. …
Read on: www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-american-military-afghanistan-20130225,0,2789149.story
The Washington Post
By Craig Whitlock
February 22, 2013
President Obama announced Friday that about 100 U.S. troops have been deployed to the West African country of Niger, where defense officials said they are setting up a drone base to spy on al-Qaeda fighters in the Sahara.
It was the latest step by the Pentagon to increase its intelligence-gathering across Africa in response to what officials see as a rising threat from militant groups.
In a letter to Congress, Obama said about 40 U.S. service members arrived in Niger on Wednesday, bringing the total number of troops based there to “approximately” 100. He said the troops, which are armed for self-protection, would support a French-led military operation in neighboring Mali, where al-Qaeda fighters and other militants have carved out a refuge in a remote territory the size of Texas.
The base in Niger marks the opening of another far-flung U.S. military front against al-Qaeda and its affiliates, adding to drone combat missions in Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia. The CIA is also conducting drone airstrikes against al-Qaeda targets in Pakistan and Yemen. …
Huffington Post
By Michael Rundle
February 22, 2013
The US military has had a robotic space plane in orbit around Earth since December – and no one knows what it’s doing.
The US Air Force’s X-37B space craft is a reusable, currently unmanned vehicle similar – though smaller – than the retired Space Shuttle.
The Boeing-built X-37B is about 30 feet long, 15 feet wide, weighs 11,000 pounds and can carry about the same load as a delivery van.
It took off from Cape Canaveral on 11 December, carried by an Atlas V rocket.
It has now been in space for more than two months, and shows no signs of returning.
It is the same vehicle which spent 225 mysterious days in space in 2010 before landing automatically in California – and as such marks the first time the US Navy has successfully reused space hardware. …
Read on, + more pictures: www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/02/22/us-air-forces-x37b-secret_n_2739384.html
By David Cenciotti, The Aviationist
February 16, 2103
According to the Washington Free Beacon website two Russian Tu-95 Bear-H strategic bombers circled Guam island, in the Pacific Ocean, on Feb. 12.
“Defense officials said the bombers tracked over Guam were likely equipped with six Kh-55 or Kh-55SM cruise missiles that can hit targets up to 1,800 miles away with either a high-explosive warhead or a 200-kiloton nuclear warhead,” reports Bill Gertz in his piece.
The episode happened shortly before President Obama delivered his State of the Union address and prompted U.S. to scramble some Kadena F-15s temporary deployed to Andersen Air Force Base. …
Read on: www.businessinsider.com/russian-nuclear-bombers-us-military-base-2013-2
By Desmond Butler – Associated Press
February 9, 2013
Secret Defense Department studies cast doubt on whether a multibillion-dollar missile defense system planned for Europe can ever protect the U.S. from Iranian missiles as intended, congressional investigators say.
Military officials say they believe they can overcome the problems and are moving forward with plans. But proposed fixes could prove difficult. One possibility has been ruled out as technically unfeasible. A second, relocating missile interceptors planned for Poland and possibly Romania to ships on the North Sea, could be diplomatically troublesome.
The studies are the latest to highlight serious problems for a plan that has been criticized on several fronts.
Republicans claim it was developed hastily in an attempt to appease Russia, which had opposed an earlier system. But Russia is also critical of the plan, which it believes is really intended to counter its missiles. A series of governmental and scientific reports has raised questions about whether it would ever work as planned.
At a time that the military faces giant budget cuts, the studies could lead Congress to reconsider whether it is worthwhile to spend billions for a system that may not fulfill its original goals. …
Read on: http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-flaws-found-us-missile-shield-081826501–politics.html
