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WASHINGTON (MSNBC/AP) March 30 — Soldiers will no longer be allowed to wear body armor other than the protective gear issued by the military in the latest twist in a running battle over the equipment the Pentagon gives its troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Digna Nieves cries over the coffin containing her husband, U.S. Army Spc. William Lopez Feliciano during his funeral in Qebradillas, Puerto Rico in January. Lopez, 33, had served in Afghanistan before being sent to Iraq, where he was killed on Dec. 22 in a bomb attack. The number of Puerto Rican-born soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan climbed to 50, leading some islanders to question whether the deployment of the troops was worth it.
AP Photo/Brennan Linsley
“We’re very concerned that people are spending their hard-earned money on something that doesn’t provide the level of protection that the Army requires people to wear. So they’re, frankly, wasting their money on substandard stuff,” said Col. Thomas Spoehr, director of materiel for the Army.
“We know of no reason the Army may have to justify this action,” Neal said. “On the surface this looks to be another of many attempts by the Army to cover up the billions of dollars spent on ineffective body armor systems which they continue to try quick fixes on, to no avail.”
Spoehr said he doesn’t recall any similar bans on personal armor or devices. Such directives are most often issued when there are problems with aircraft or other large equipment.
Some veterans denounced the decision. Nathaniel R. Helms, editor of Defense Watch, the online magazine for the group Soldiers for the Truth, said he has already received a number of e-mails from soldiers complaining about the policy.
Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who wrote legislation to have troops reimbursed for equipment purchases, said soldiers “haven’t been getting what they need in terms of equipment and body armor. That’s totally unacceptable, and why this directive by the Pentagon needs to be scrutinized in much greater detail.”
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According to a U.S. Government website last year.
EMPHASIS ON SECURITY PARTNERSHIPS
With an estimated 25 percent of 400 foreign fighters captured in the insurgency in Iraq coming from Africa, according to the Defense Department’s European Command (EUCOM), security partnerships with African nations are becoming more important.
In Africa, according to the security strategy document, “the struggle against militant Islamic radicalism” is being waged with new security partnerships like the Global Peace Operations Initiative, launched at the 2004 G8 Summit “to train peacekeepers for duty in Africa.”
● War on terror Africa-style
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Qui, welcome back. Long time no see and, we missed you. Hope all is well with you and family.
This is an old post and quite frankly is making me a bit nervous. Oui? Did you repost this diary? If so where have you been?
I am so glad you asked this – could anyone but Oui repost? I have no idea what is possible or not.
I have been wondering this for over a week? ANyone know what is going on? I worry about Oui.
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Family and personally we’re doing fine. With close relatives we’ve seen just some health issues and passing away of an in-law that needed our attention and support.
Anyway, I could use a political spring break to get a clear view of recent frog-marches, trying to keep track of the Abramoffs, Cunninghams, DeLays and Scooter Libby: who is in prison and who is out.
I should be posting comments and diaries soon.
This particular diary is on the world list again, due to a recent recommendation that was added!
Thank you all for concern, I missed all of you too.
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I am so sorry for your loss Oui. Take all the time you need. Just know that your outstanding work and thoughts have been missed. Good to see you my friend.
“The number of Puerto Rican-born soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan climbed to 50, leading some islanders to question whether the deployment of the troops was worth it. “
It’s nice that the Supreme Court lately ruled that Puerto Rican residents should not be allowed to vote in US presidential elections. But apparently they are allowed to fight and die for Bush’s wars.
I can’t remember the point when I fully realized that the concept that “America’s number one in all things” is little more than propaganda. Now that my eyes are open it is a constant source of pain.
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Bergenheim said that neither the Monitor nor Carroll’s family was involved in negotiations for her release. Her captors, calling themselves the Revenge Brigades, had demanded the release of all women detainees in Iraq by Feb. 26 and said Carroll would be killed if that didn’t happen. The deadline passed without word of her safety.
“Neither we, nor the family, nor anyone that we know of were involved with negotiations. This really was a bolt out of the blue,” Bergenheim told ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
A scene soon to be repeated ...Her twin sister, Katie Carroll, described in the Monitor the wake up call she got at about 5:45 a.m. Thursday.
“Katie, it’s me,” said the voice on the other end of the line. “I’m free.” Then she burst into tears and I did, too, Katie Carroll said.
January 18 – Iraq’s ministry of justice has told the BBC that six of the eight women being held by coalition forces in Iraq are to be released early.
● ‘Wonderful day’: Journalist Carroll freed in Iraq
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Bergenheim said that neither the Monitor nor Carroll’s family was involved in negotiations for her release. Her captors, calling themselves the Revenge Brigades, had demanded the release of all women detainees in Iraq by Feb. 26 and said Carroll would be killed if that didn’t happen. The deadline passed without word of her safety.
“Neither we, nor the family, nor anyone that we know of were involved with negotiations. This really was a bolt out of the blue,” Bergenheim told ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
A scene soon to be repeated ...Her twin sister, Katie Carroll, described in the Monitor the wake up call she got at about 5:45 a.m. Thursday.
“Katie, it’s me,” said the voice on the other end of the line. “I’m free.” Then she burst into tears and I did, too, Katie Carroll said.
● January 18 – Iraq’s ministry of justice has told the BBC that six of the eight women being held by coalition forces in Iraq are to be released early.
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BERLIN (ABC/AP) 30 minutes ago — Journalist Jill Carroll arrived in Germany on Saturday, the first stop as she headed home to the United States from Iraq where she was kidnapped and spent 82 days in captivity.
A military transport plane brought Carroll from Balad Air Base near Baghdad to Ramstein Air Base in western Germany.
Carroll was riding in the cockpit as the U.S. Air Force C17 Globemaster came to a stop. She cast a bemused look at the line of television cameras waiting on the tarmac. She got off the plane smiling and wearing jeans, a gray sweater, and a desert camouflage jacket.
Col. Kurt Lohide, commander of the 435th Air Base Wing, greeted her briefly before escorting her into an Air Force van.
“Welcome to Ramstein,” he said he told her.
“I’m happy to be here,” was her answer.
Jill Carroll was scheduled to leave Frankfurt at 10:25 a.m. local time on a Lufthansa flight bound for Boston, with a stopover in Washington, officials at Ramstein said.
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The manipulation of the MSM is getting so obvious. In addition to the article anbout troops not wanting the extra armor, the same site posted this AP article from 3/27 “Marines Decline Extra Armor”. Only the planted people they interview have really changed.
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Okay, I know we can’t talk about this bozo Howard Kaloogian forever. But this is just too good to pass up.
The San Francisco Chronicle has a piece about about Kaloogian’s bamboozle. And it includes his latest excuse …
The candidate said he hadn’t recognized the error because “the military asked us to use our discretion and put things on the Internet that were nondescriptive … (because) if we posted something that was easily identifiable, it could be a target.”
In other words, it’s the Army’s fault. Or maybe the Marines. Who knows?
Perhaps follow Bush’s advice: “It’s Sad..damn Hussein.”
Bush left Stanley Adelstein's question unaswered● Presidential Letter to Sistani Left Unopened
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“The candidate said he hadn’t recognized the error because “the military asked us to use our discretion and put things on the Internet that were nondescriptive … (because) if we posted something that was easily identifiable, it could be a target.”
So that’s why we never hear the good news because if we show it someone will blow it up. I’m getting really confused here.
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Rolls-Royce today awarded contracts to DutchAero, the AVIO and Philips joint venture company based in Eindhoven, for the manufacture of components for the F136 engine which is being developed in partnership with General Electric to power the Joint Strike Fighter.
The GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team (FET) comprises: GE Aircraft Engines in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Rolls-Royce plc in Bristol, England; and Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
DutchAero, part of the Avio Group, will be responsible for producing a huge 1.1m diameter component known as a bladed disk or “blisk”.
A single engine for the JSF● Hmmm … A Carlyle Investment?!
● Avio Group – 70% Ownership by Carlyle
● Avio LM2500+G4 Turbines Formally Selected to Power FREMM Frigates
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understand. I do not understand why our soldiers weren’t being purchased and wearing “Dragonskin” armor a long time ago except that there were no retired Generals working for the company that designed it and sells it. It is so exceedingly superior to what our soldiers are purchased and wear that it isn’t even funny. All of these different types of body armor weigh a lot though. It is hard to dodge bullets while running for your life humping an extra 70 lbs around and the extra plates for side and neck protection that most people want added would hike the weight up and they limit the mobility of arms and heads, and that can be a matter of life and death all its own right there. Here’s the nasty truth….lots of troops go into combat zones without putting certain ceramic plates into their vests because they are heavy. One soldier that I know very very well….Ahem…..often leaves certain plates out of his vest because he feels they disable his ability to stay alive more than they help. War is ugly, trying to murder each other is not an exact science.
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BLACKBURN (BBC News) March 31 — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has admitted the US has made thousands of tactical errors in Iraq, but said it was right to remove Saddam Hussein. “This could have gone that way, or that could have gone this way,” said Ms Rice, adding that the US-led invasion was “the right strategic decision”.
Ms Rice’s comments came after she delivered a major foreign policy speech in Blackburn during her tour of the UK.
Her visit has sparked anti-war protests in the north-western town.
Rice: "I have no problem with peopleexercising their democratic rights."
While democracy may take time, it’s always worth it – it’s going to take time in Iraq. “I know we’ve made tactical errors – thousands of them, I’m sure,” Ms Rice said in a session of questions after her speech, organised by BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and Chatham House international affairs institution.
“But when you look back in history, what will be judged is did you make the right strategic decisions,” she said. “I believe strongly that it was the right strategic decision, that Saddam (Hussein) had been a threat to the international community long enough,” Ms Rice added.
During her speech Ms Rice touched on a number of key issues of US foreign policy, saying that:
– no-one should doubt America’s commitment to justice and the rule of law.
BLACKBURN (The Guardian) March 31 — Muslim leaders yesterday withdrew an invitation to the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, to visit a mosque in the Blackburn constituency of the home secretary, Jack Straw. Ms Rice was due to go to the Masjid al-Hidayah mosque tomorrow during her two-day tour of Blackburn and Liverpool as a guest of Mr Straw.
“The invitation to Ms Rice to visit the mosque came, as I understand it, from officials in Jack Straw’s office,” said Hamid Qureshi, chairman of the Blackburn-based Lancashire Council of Mosques. “They might not have consulted with the congregation and members were very angry and decided she should not come.”
● Rice – U.S. Open to “Bantam” Division Palestinian Land
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BBC World Radio Assignment :: De Menezes London Subway Shooting
Order Given to Kill?
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necessary to protect the interest of companies who worked hard to secure the contract to provide armor for US expendables.
The expendables and their families should not take it personally, it in no way reduces the privilege they enjoy of defending the interests of the armor contract winners, but the freedom of many key US corporations to enjoy additional revenues.
Remember many of these expendables are young and unsophisticated in the ways of freedom, and probably neither they nor their families realized that their actions could negatively impact profits of important defense companies!