Author: Anne Gearan
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Pentagon report urges investigation of officers in Hasan case
WASHINGTON • Several officers failed to use “appropriate judgment and standards” in overseeing the career of U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Hasan and their actions should be investigated immediately, according to an internal investigation into the November Fort Hood massacre that left 13 people dead.A report released today says that commanders must be encouraged to look…
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Helmand town may be first big battle in bigger war
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is openly telegraphing a plan to clear out an insurgent haven in what may be the first major battle since President Barack Obama’s expansion of the Afghanistan war, hoping that all but the most hardcore Taliban will sit out the fight. U.S. military leaders have spoken bluntly in recent weeks…
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Mullen: Most of surge troops will arrive by August
KABUL — The top U.S. military officer said Tuesday that he’s confident that most of the 30,000 additional troops that are being sent to Afghanistan will be there by August. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters traveling with him in Afghanistan that the first 16,000 troops who already have…
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Top U.S. officer fears Taliban-al-Qaida ‘collusion’
KABUL — America’s top military officer expressed concern Monday about the “growing level of collusion” between Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and al-Qaida and other militant groups taking refuge across the border in Pakistan. Adm. Mike Mullen, in Kabul to discuss the upcoming U.S. troop buildup and training of Afghanistan’s security force, told reporters he would…
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No Afghanistan pullout, White House says
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama won’t walk away from the flagging war in Afghanistan, the White House declared Monday as Obama faced tough decisions — and intense administration debate — over choices that could help define his presidency in his first year as commander in chief. The fierce Taliban attack that killed eight American soldiers…
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Gates renews White House veto threat over engine
FORT WORTH, Texas — The Obama administration renewed a threat Monday to veto a $680 billion defense spending bill if it includes money for two separate engines for the next-generation jet fighter, a luxury the Pentagon says it cannot afford. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, touring the Lockheed Martin Corp. plant where the first of the…
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New benchmarks aimed at Afghan war, sources say
WASHINGTON —The Obama administration is preparing a set of about 50 benchmarks for Afghanistan, senior officials said Monday, redefining how to measure success in a war now widely assessed as a stalemate. The benchmarks will test how well the U.S. military and civilian “surges” ordered by President Barack Obama are working. The new measures, ordered…
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Further tests on body of Navy pilot from Gulf War
WASHINGTON — The Navy awaited DNA test results Monday on the skeletal remains identified through dental records as those of pilot Michael “Scott” Speicher, who was called the first casualty of the 1991 Gulf War. The results, due later this week, are not expected to completely solve the mystery of how Speicher died on the…
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Vietnam War architect McNamara dies
WASHINGTON – Robert S. McNamara, the brainy Pentagon chief who directed the escalation of the Vietnam War despite private doubts the war was winnable or worth fighting, died Monday at 93.McNamara revealed his misgivings three decades after the American defeat that some called “McNamara’s war.””We of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations acted according to what…
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U.S. reports activity at N. Korea long-range missile site
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea vowed to retaliate if punitive U.N. sanctions are imposed for its latest nuclear test, and U.S. officials said there are new signs Pyongyang may be planning more long-range missile launches. With tensions rising, the communist nation punctuated its barrage of rhetoric with yet another short-range missile launch today –…