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Obama Administration to Confront Syria Crisis on Capitol Hill
Tweet Share on Facebook February 29, 2012 CommentThe Obama administration, after months of carefully worded statements, is sending senior officials to Capitol Hill for hours of testimony about the unrest in Syria. But when they arrive, they will find lawmakers who are all over the place about what-if anything-Washington should do.
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Key General: White House Briefed on Iran Target Options
Tweet Share on Facebook February 29, 2012 CommentThe Air Force has provided the White House with options for a strike against Iran's nuclear weapons sites, but a former top Pentagon official is warning that America and Israel lack the weaponry to halt Tehran's atomic arms program. "Our obligation is to provide options" to the defense secretary and the president, "and we have done that," Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz told reporters Wednesday.
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Senators: U.S. Forces at Risk Due to Syrian Chemical Weapons
Tweet Share on Facebook February 28, 2012 Comment (112)Several senators are raising concerns that unrest in Syria could allow that nation's chemical and other weapons to be used against U.S. forces and allies in the region.
"The growing breakdown of order and security in Syria could place its significant stockpiles of poison gases and operational chemical weapons at risk," Maine Republican Susan Collins, New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, and New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen wrote in a February 17 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. DOTMIL obtained a copy of the letter.
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Top Dem Seeks Faster Afghan Withdrawal
Tweet Share on Facebook February 28, 2012 Comment (1)Obama administration officials and lawmakers on Capitol Hill will consider bringing U.S. forces out of Afghanistan faster amid new and deep tensions between the two nations, says Carl Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Service Committee.
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Koran Burning May Be Beginning of the End for Afghan War
Tweet Share on Facebook February 27, 2012 Comment (9)Holy books were mistakenly burned. American military personnel were murdered. Thousands of Afghans poured into the streets. Several days of unrest and violence in Afghanistan reveals a U.S. military focused on getting the job done and what experts say is an Afghan population that is simply fed up.
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Three Reasons U.S. Military Might Is Unlikely to Erode
Tweet Share on Facebook February 24, 2012 CommentHawkish Republican presidential candidates and lawmakers have painted cataclysmic portraits of what will happen as a result of Pentagon spending cuts. But a closer examination of Defense Department officials' comments and Pentagon budget documents suggests much of the current force will remain in place for around another half decade.
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Culture War: U.S., NATO Troops Got Koran Training
Tweet Share on Facebook February 23, 2012 Comment (3)The NATO forces who burned Korans at a major U.S. base in Afghanistan received cultural training that included an explanation of the importance of the holy Koran in Afghan life, an alliance spokesman says.
U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings, a NATO spokesman in Afghanistan, told DOTMIL that "for sure" Western troops from all alliance member nations receive "cultural awareness" training "prior to deployment."
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Back To The Future: Candidates Revive Bush Pre-emption Doctrine
Tweet Share on Facebook February 23, 2012 CommentThought former President George W. Bush's embattled war doctrine of striking a potential foe before it strikes the U.S. or its allies died in Iraq last decade? Think again. The leading Republican presidential candidates are channeling Bush by hawkishly vowing to strike Iran before it fields a nuclear weapon. What is more, a University of Texas at Austin international relations scholar says "serious people" close to each GOP presidential hopeful see no other option. Read more here.
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Proposal to Give Special Ops Boss More Sway Faces Scrutiny
Tweet Share on Facebook February 22, 2012 Comment (1)The top U.S. Army commander said Tuesday that a recent push to give special ops troops more authority to deploy worldwide was unnecessary and that the commanders of regional forces should maintain control.
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Special Ops: Obama's Election-Year Gamble
Tweet Share on Facebook February 22, 2012 CommentPresident Obama and his national security team plan to rely more on special operations forces in Afghanistan and around the globe, which will allow them to get out of one war and step up U.S. military influence in numerous spots across Africa, South America and Asia. But it also is a risky election-year gamble.
