I am an Iraqi citizen who worked as an interpreter with the U.S. military for two years. It was an honor to serve, and I did it because I believed that bringing freedom to Iraq required brave people to stand up and try to make a difference. Now, as a result of my service, I find myself in a dangerous limbo.
Before 2003, I thought of the U.S. primarily as the home of Bruce Willis, Hollywood and Las Vegas. But it was also a dream, a dream of freedom.
U.S. pullout leaves Iraqi interpreters in 'dangerous limbo'
Keystone XL pipeline decisions to be probed by State Department
The State Department's inspector general's office will launch an inquiry into the department's decisions regarding the Keystone XL pipeline, which would ferry oil from Canada's tar sands formation across the Plains states to the Gulf of Mexico.
The inquiry, in response to a congressional request, will center on whether the department followed laws and regulations in preparing its environmental assessment and statement of national interest for the 1,700-mile-long pipeline.
Fracking May Have Caused 50 Earthquakes in Oklahoma
In a surprising turn of events, Cuadrilla Resources, a British energy company, recently admitted that its hydraulic fracturing operations "likely" caused an earthquake in England. Predictably, this news quickly sent a shockwave through the U.K., the oil and natural gas industries, and the environmental activist community. And it certainly feeds plenty of speculation that the same phenomenon could be occurring elsewhere.
Halliburton sued over Cold War missile casing site
Halliburton Co faces lawsuits over groundwater pollution near a now-closed facility in Oklahoma that cleaned missile casings for the U.S. Defense Department during the Cold War, the company said on Friday.
Halliburton, which now specializes in oilfield services, said one of its units cleaned solid fuel from missile casings between 1965 and 1991 at a semi-rural facility on the north side of Duncan, Oklahoma. It was closed in the mid-1990s.
UK and France vow to halt Palestinian UN bid
Britain, France and Colombia plan to abstain from a UN Security Council vote on Palestinian statehood, in a setback to efforts to secure international support for the Palestinian bid.
The US has pledged to veto the Palestinian attempt if it is brought to the vote in the 15-member council, but the Palestinians had hoped to gather a nine-vote majority, forcing America to cast its veto, which would award the Palestinians a moral victory.
Legalization of medical marijuana won’t encourage teenagers to smoke more: study
Legalizing medical marijuana doesn’t push more teens to light up, new research shows. A study from Brown University compared rates of marijuana use in Massachusetts to those in Rhode Island – where medical use of the drug was legalized in 2006.
Findings suggested the legislation has no influence on teens’ drug habits.
Multiple missteps led to drone killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan
On the evening of April 5, a pilot settled into a leather captain's chair at Creech Air Force Base in southern Nevada and took the controls of a Predator drone flying over one of the most violent areas of southwestern Afghanistan. Minutes later, his radio crackled.
A firefight had broken out. Taliban insurgents had ambushed about two dozen Marines patrolling a bitterly contested road.
Scientist Who Testified In Support Of Mining Around The Grand Canyon Stands To Make $225,000 From It
At a hearing yesterday on the bill in the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forest and Public Lands, Republicans called a witness to the stand who is a retired United States Geological Survey scientist. Dr. Karen Wenrich noted in her testimony supporting the bill that the Bureau of Land Management has “vastly overstated the environmental harm caused by past and potential uranium development.”
However, under questioning from Representative Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), it became clear through public Securities and Exchange Commission filings that Wenrich stands to make $225,000 by selling 61 uranium claims that she owns only if the Interior Department’s withdrawal does not go forward.
Jesse Ventura: 'I will never stand for the national anthem again.'
Former Gov. Jesse Ventura held a news conference today to criticize the dismissal of his lawsuit against the Transportation Security Administration for the agency's pat downs and full body scanners at the airport. Ventura said he was outraged that the court dismissed his case. He called the judge who dismissed the case and the federal courts in general as "cowards."
"They said they don't have jurisdiction," Ventura told reporters outside of the federal courthouse in St. Paul. "Well my question is if the federal courts don't have jurisdiction over a constitutional question then who the hell does?"
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