The Bush administration turned the U.S. military into a global propaganda machine while imposing tough restrictions on journalists seeking to give the public truthful reports about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Associated Press chief executive Tom Curley said Friday.
AP CEO: Bush Turned Military Into Propaganda Machine
Charges dropped against suspect in USS Cole bombing
Al-Nashiri is accused of planning the October 2000 bombing of the Cole while it was in the Yemeni port of Aden. The attack killed 17 American sailors and crippled the vessel, which returned to service in 2002.
When prosecutors asked for a continuance in the trial, Pohl denied the request, saying the government's "argument for continuances were unpersuasive," according to a copy of his opinion. Pohl noted there had been no previous requests for a delay, and that the public's interest in a speedy trial would be harmed by further delay.
Another soldier who signed critical Iraq war column dies
A third soldier who signed onto a newspaper column nearly a year-and-a-half ago criticizing the war in Iraq has died, and his peers are mourning their friend as an “outstanding soldier” with “a thirst for knowledge and intellectual curiosity.”
Seven soldiers signed the column. In September 2007, two of the other U.S. soldiers who signed the piece were killed in a truck accident outside Baghdad.
Book gets Boston talking about RFK's search for JFK's killers
Robert F. Kennedy, the Attorney General and President Kennedy's younger brother, never did believe the Warren Commission despite his public refusal to contradict the official version of events.
The younger Kennedy began his own investigation the day of the murder convinced that members of the U.S. government were responsible for the shooting in Dallas. Author David Talbot perhaps sums it up best in his book Brothers. "Robert Kennedy did not resign himself to the lone gunman theory. On the contrary, he immediately suspected that President Kennedy was the victim of a powerful conspiracy. And he spent the rest of his life secretly searching for the truth about his brother's murder."
Pentagon clashes with media over control of information
The black-and-white video starts with a mini-van locked in the crosshairs and the sound of a missile launching. A ball of fire suddenly consumes the van and a palm grove somewhere in Iraq.
"Good shot," says a voice squawking over what sounds like a military radio. Before the one-minute video clip is over, two more SUVs are destroyed by Apache helicopters.
The video is one of dozens brought to viewers around the world by Maj. Alayne Conway, the top public affairs officer for the 3rd Infantry Division. When her unit was in Iraq, her office sent out four to six videos a day to media outlets around the world, as well as posting them on YouTube.
Cheney warns of new attacks
Former Vice President Dick Cheney warned that there is a “high probability” that terrorists will attempt a catastrophic nuclear or biological attack in coming years, and said he fears the Obama administration’s policies will make it more likely the attempt will succeed.
TVNL Comment: Cheney should know, he will be one of the people who will orchestrate such an attack. His appearances should be treated like the are al Qada videos, because they are!
Report: Air Force units failed 2 more nuke surety inspections
The failures took place at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming from Dec. 2 to Dec. 17 and Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., from Oct. 26 to Nov. 10, according to the report.
F.E. Warren was at the center of one of the two prior mishaps that cast embarrassment on the Air Force, the Times noted. Nuclear-missile units there mistakenly transported four Minuteman III forward sections containing sensitive components to Taiwan on two occasions, in October and November 2006.
Protests as US warship docks in Nagasaki
A US warship docked Thursday in Nagasaki to the protests of residents and a boycott by local leaders who said the visit was in poor taste in a city obliterated by a US atomic bomb.
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The USS Blue Ridge, which is stationed in Yokosuka near Tokyo, sailed to Nagasaki with a stated goal of promoting friendship between Japan and the United States.
"We don't want to see the US flag flying at this port and this feeling will not change until the United States takes a policy towards the elimination of nuclear weapons," Osamu Yoshitomi, an official at Nagasaki city, told AFP.
TVNL Comment: Only America would send a WAR ship to promote friendship. Open, obvious idiocy.
Army reports alarming spike in suicides last month
The Army is investigating an unexplained and stunning spike in suicides in January. The count is likely to surpass the number of combat deaths reported last month by all branches of the armed forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the fight against terrorism.
"In January, we lost more soldiers to suicide than to al-Qaida," said Paul Rieckhoff, director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. He urged "bold and immediate action" by the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. According to figures obtained by The Associated Press, there were seven confirmed suicides last month, compared with five a year earlier. An additional 17 cases from January are under investigation.
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