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Reporting from Ft. Hood, Texas - President Obama is slated to speak at a memorial service today at this grieving Army base, where a military psychiatrist is accused of killing 13 people in a shooting rampage. The service, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. local time, will be a traditional military affair, with a sermon, a roll call of the dead and a rifle volley. About 3,000 spectators, as well as the families of the 12 soldiers and one civilian killed, are expected to attend. The tribute comes amid new questions about whether the shooting, in which dozens were also...

President Obama came in for growing criticism over the weekend for his “insensitive” handling of the bloody shoot-out in Fort Hood, Texas, where 13 people were killed by a Muslim officer in the US Army. Mr Obama is not scheduled to arrive at America’s largest military base until tomorrow to attend a memorial service for victims of Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who opened fire on a group of unarmed soldiers. The President’s jarring absence from Fort Hood — in contrast to a low-key visit by the former president George Bush on Friday — is not the only...

I just wanted to give some Kudos to MSNBC for coming out in strong opposition against the attack on soldiers at Ft Hood this past week. There is alot of pressure on them probably to support the attack, but they did the right thing and have for the most part covered the attack as a tragedy. And the Obama administration has largely done the same thing to their credit. We have disagreements politically, but it's good to identify positive things when news outlets like MSNBC stand up and do the right thing.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama will attend a memorial service Tuesday honoring victims of the Ford Hood shootings, an attack he described as "all the more heartbreaking and all the more despicable" because it occurred on the nation's largest Army post. He praised those who ended the shootings, which killed 13 and wounded 30 others, and lauded the armed services' diversity—a move designed to calm tensions about the suspected shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. "They are Americans of every race, faith and station. They are Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus and nonbelievers," Obama said in his radio and...

Obama's Frightening Insensitivity Following Shooting A bad week for Democrats compounded by an awful moment for Barack Obama. President Obama didn't wait long after Tuesday's devastating elections to give critics another reason to question his leadership, but this time the subject matter was more grim than a pair of governorships.Photo CBS News via Drudgereport. After news broke out of the shooting at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas, the nation watched in horror as the toll of dead and injured climbed. The White House was notified immediately and by late afternoon, word went out that the president would speak...

Robert George says Obama didn't wait long after Tuesday's devastating elections to give critics another reason to question his leadership, but this time the subject matter was more grim than a pair of governorships. After news broke out of the shooting at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas, the nation watched in horror as the toll of dead and injured climbed. The White House was notified immediately and by late afternoon, word went out that Obama would speak about the incident prior to a previously scheduled appearance. At about 5 p.m., cable stations went to Obama. The situation called...

Barack Obama has tried to calm racial tensions in the US after the Muslim community voiced fears it would face a backlash from the Fort Hood killings. The president's intervention follows two days after Muslim army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire on colleagues at the military base in Texas, killing 13 and wounding 30. Hundreds attended a candlelit vigil last night at Ford Hood, the country's largest army camp, while the investigation into the incident is continuing. Major Hasan, 39, whose spree was stopped when he was shot four times by Police Sergeant Kimberley Munley, remains in a...

White House officials tell ABC News that President Obama will visit with wounded soldiers tomorrow at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The trip was scheduled before the incident today at Fort Hood, officials said. President Obama visited wounded troops at Walter Reed as president-elect in January and has visited wounded troops at Bethesda Naval Hospital as senator. Last week the president made a secret late-night journey to Dover Air Force Base to participate in the dignified transfer of troops and DEA agents killed in Afghanistan. He is in the midst of making up his mind about a new strategy in...

Disgusting example of why Obama will go down in history as the worst Commander in Chief in our countries history. For him to get up and talk for almost two minutes about native american rights and give 'shout outs' to people attending is appalling. The point of his appearance there was changed the instant he found out that men and women at Ft Hood were killed by a crazed gunman. His FIRST duty was to the men and women in uniform, and the fact he seemed so casual and unaffected by the tradgedy was very revealing. The man has no...

Here is video of President Obama making remarks about the mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas this afternoon. He made the remarks at an Interior Department event, and prior to commenting on Fort Hood, Obama spoke for about two minutes to the crowd at the event, giving "shout outs" and thank yous to people in the crowd. At the 2:15 mark of the video he begins to comment on the Fort Hood shooting. . . (VIDEO)

Fort Hood Tragedy -- Barack Obama Gives "Shout-Out" Before He Comments on Shooting -- FOX News

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is calling a mass shooting at a Texas Army base a "horrific outburst of violence."He says he doesn't yet know all the details but promised the government would get "answers to every single question."The commander in chief says it's a tragedy to lose a soldier overseas and even more horrifying when they come under fire at an Army base on American soil.Obama also said his thoughts and prayers are with the wounded and families of the fallen.The U.S. Army says 12 people have been killed and 31 wounded in a shooting rampage on the Fort...

What else needs to be said. This man is disgusting! Pure evil.

Barack Obama was nearly denied the photo-op he traveled to Dover Air Force Base for early this morning as all but one of the military and civilian families of the fallen refused permission for the media to report on the return of their loved ones.The sole family to allow media coverage was the family of Sgt. Dale R. Griffin.According to media reports, Griffin's casket was the last to be brought off the C-17 cargo plane that carried the bodies of 15 soldiers and 3 DEA agents killed this week in Afghanistan.That is a stark contrast to the reported 60% approval...

I'm not sure what the bigger story is here... that the troops are feeling less than confident in their new Commander in Chief, or that this story is being reported in the New York Times. But here it is... yesterday's byline by Elisabeth Bumiller under the Military Memo, As the Commander in Chief Deliberates, Frustration Builds Within the Ranks A number of active duty and retired senior officers say there is concern that the president is moving too slowly, is revisiting a war strategy he announced in March and is unduly influenced by political advisers in the Situation Room. “The...

As the debate on Afghanistan comes to the fore, a well respected Democrat has urged Barack Obama to emulate the wartime courage and leadership of former President George W. Bush by implementing the 'surge' strategy recommended by Gen. Stanley McChrystal.Former Sen. Bob Kerrey, a Medal of Honor recipient of the Vietnam war, wrote an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal Friday night that congratulated Obama on his Nobel Peace Prize but then went on to criticize Obama for being "naive" and apologizing for America too much. The news media has ignored this article by the former 9/11 Commission member...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama pledged to end the ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military in a speech Saturday, but acknowledged to a cheering crowd that the policy changes he promised on the campaign trail are not coming as quickly as they expected. "I will end 'don't ask-don't tell,'" Obama said at the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay civil rights advocacy group. He did not give a timetable for the repeal of the law passed by Congress in 1993 and signed by President Bill Clinton, who also promised to repeal the ban on homosexuals...

Title only.

At the conclusion of the 1939 movie, "Gone With the Wind," Vivian Leigh, playing Scarlett O'Hara, defers decision on what to do about the major crisis in her life with the phrase, "After all, tomorrow is another day." Unfortunately, the Obama White House seems to have adopted Scarlett's decision-making process for the war in Afghanistan. Note to the O-Team: Kabul isn't Tara and Americans are dying while the commander in chief dithers. On Wednesday, September 30, a full month after General Stanley McChrystal submitted his "assessment" of the situation in Afghanistan, President Obama convened a three-hour meeting of his "national...

MCLEAN, Virginia (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Tuesday vowed the United States would keep relentless pressure on al Qaeda and ensure extremist networks, which he called a "principle" threat, do not find safe havens overseas. "We know that al Qaeda and its extremist allies threaten us from different corners of the globe -- from Pakistan but also from East Africa and Southeast Asia; from Europe and the Gulf," Obama said in a visit to the National Counterterrorism Center. "And that's why we're applying focused and relentless pressure on al Qaeda," he said, citing intelligence-sharing, disruption of terrorism financing, and...

Sources tell Newsmax the Obama administration is muzzling its top military leaders, and keeping them from publicly airing their views on how to fight the war in Afghanistan. The administration's primary target: top Afghanistan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal, whose speech in London last week apparently caught administration officials off guard. In fact, The Daily Telegraph reported that Obama's advisers were "shocked and angered" by McChrystal's speech.

WASHINGTON — Gen. David H. Petraeus, the face of the Iraq troop surge and a favorite of former President George W. Bush, spoke up or was called upon by President Obama “several times” during the big Afghanistan strategy session in the Situation Room last week, one participant says, and will be back for two more meetings this week.

As the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband urged Obama to show some courage: David Miliband urged President Obama to embrace a renewed “hearts and minds” strategy in Afghanistan as ministers indicated that they would not send more British troops unless the US adopted such an approach. The Foreign Secretary did not mention America by name but called on every government in the coalition to back troops, aid workers and diplomats in support of a clear plan. “We came into this together. We see it through — together,” he told the Labour conference in Brighton. His words reflect a growing concern...

Here's the briefing being given to Republican US Senators on Obama's first-of-its-kind meeting with his hand-picked General in Afghanistan:

You might think a posthumous Medal of Honor award ceremony would be a somber occasion, but not everyone would agree with you. Either this is an especially skillful photo shop effort or Michelle Obama has no clue whatsoever about the nature of this event. U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Jared C. Monti’s parents received the award for him. I hope they didn’t notice the first lady’s stunningly inappropriate dress, but that’s unlikely.

Barack Obama has demanded the Pentagon conduct a radical review of US nuclear weapons doctrine to prepare the way for deep cuts in the country's arsenal, the Guardian can reveal. Obama has rejected the Pentagon's first draft of the "nuclear posture review" as being too timid, and has called for a range of more far-reaching options consistent with his goal of eventually abolishing nuclear weapons altogether, according to European officials.

Six months after it announced its strategy for Afghanistan, the Obama administration is sending mixed signals about its objectives there and how many troops are needed to achieve them. The conflicting messages are drawing increasing ire from U.S. commanders in Afghanistan and frustrating military leaders, who are trying to figure out how to demonstrate that they're making progress in the 12-18 months that the administration has given them. Adding to the frustration, according to officials in Kabul and Washington, are White House and Pentagon directives made over the last six weeks that Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. military...

Much has been done in six months to deal with the ongoing war in Afghanistan. We have restated that our aim is to eliminate the threat of Al Qaeda; built a new leadership team, including Special Representative Richard Holbrooke; reinforced our troop strength and adjusted our tactics; and have begun augmenting our force with synchronized diplomatic, political and economic efforts. But can we explain how all of this adds up to an effective strategy that will sustain American engagement in one of the world's least accessible regions? The American people are growing increasingly wary. In a new CNN/Opinion research poll,...

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon presented a grim portrait of the Afghanistan war Thursday, offering no assurances about how long Americans will be fighting there or how many U.S. combat troops it will take to win. Defeating the Taliban and al-Qaida will take "a few years," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, with success on a larger scale in the desperately poor country a much longer proposition. He acknowledged that the Taliban has a firm hold on parts of the country President Barack Obama has called vital to U.S. security.

Seven months after she poured out her heartbreak in a wrenching letter to then President-elect Obama, the mother of murdered Brooklyn Marine Sgt. Jan Pawel Pietrzak finally got a response - a form letter. "Thank you for contacting President Obama," the note to Henryka Pietrzak-Varga begins. "We hope the issue you brought to the President's attention has been resolved." Pietrzak-Varga, whose son and daughter-in-law were tortured and murdered last year allegedly by four other Marines, told a Polish newspaper she doubts Obama saw her letter. "This is a standard response, something that can be sent out to anyone for any...

Putting her in the policy shop is like Lyndon Johnson making Jane Fonda a senior adviser on Vietnam.

Having spoken to some SEAL pals here in Virginia Beach yesterday and asking why this thing dragged out for 4 days, I got the following: 1. BHO wouldn't authorize the DEVGRU/NSWC SEAL teams to the scene for 36 hours going against OSC (on scene commander) recommendation. 2. Once they arrived, BHO imposed restrictions on their ROE that they couldn't do anything unless the hostage's life was in "imminent" danger 3. The first time the hostage jumped, the SEALS had the raggies all sighted in, but could not fire due to ROE restriction 4. When the navy RIB came under fire...

Obama Badly Failed the Pirates Situtation And Greatly Emboldened Our Enemies The test of the Somali pirates has come and gone and Obama failed this test very badly. This situation should have been solved easily in the first few hours of the incident by dispatching a Navy Seals team to kill the pirates and prevent anyone from being taken as a hostage. In fact it would have been solved yesterday when the brave Captain attempted to escape but orders were given not to interfere and thus he was recaptured. When the going gets tough the tough gets going but the...

THE opening stanza of the Marine Corps hymn is: "From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, we fight our country's battles in the air, on land and sea." "To the shores of Tripoli" refers to the Marine role in Thomas Jefferson's war against the Barbary pirates. The "Barbary coast" was a collection of Muslim mini-states stretching from present day Algeria to present day Libya. The principal source of revenue for the Barbary states was attacking shipping in the Mediterranean, stealing cargoes, and holding the crews for ransom or selling them into slavery. The European powers of the...

From the UK Telegraph: Barack Obama, concerned about offending Britain and Germany, rebuffed strenuous attempts by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France to persuade the new American president to make a trip to Normandy this week. White House officials travelled to France at the start of March to discuss a visit by Mr Obama to Omaha Beach, the site of the American Cemetery, established in 1944 just after D-Day and where 9,387 American personnel are buried. Among them is Theodore Roosevelt Jr the eldest son of the 26th US President.French officials and senior American military officers walked with White House staff...

Surprise!

President Barack Obama made an unannounced visit to Iraq Tuesday During the campaign season, Obama visited Iraq on a multistop overseas trip. That trip also included stops in Afghanistan, Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. Obama's visit to Iraq was a surprise stop at the end of his first overseas trip as president. Turkey was the last scheduled stop on the president's tour abroad. There, he held a joint news conference with Turkish President Abdullah Gul and addressed the Turkish parliament. The stop marked Obama's first presidential visit to a Muslim country.

Time running out on Afghanistan, US fears White House concerned it only has a year to turn around Afghanistan and Pakistan before US public support wanes * Simon Tisdall and Ewen MacAskill * guardian.co.uk, Thursday 26 March 2009 20.17 GMT A US counter-intelligence Marine and his translator meet with local villagers in Kirta, Afghanistan A US counter-intelligence marine and his translator meet with local villagers in Kirta, Afghanistan Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images The Obama administration believes it has only a small window of opportunity, possibly just a year, to turn around the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan before US public...

WASHINGTON — President Obama rarely, if ever, uses the phrase “war on terror.” Like presidents before him, Mr. Obama has a top-secret intelligence briefing every day, yet it is not necessarily first on his schedule. And when he sent 17,000 troops to Afghanistan, he announced the news in a written statement, not a public address. Mr. Obama Says a Way Out of Afghanistan Is Needed (March 23, 2009) The latest on President Obama, the new administration and other news from Washington and around the nation. Join the discussion. More Politics NewsAs he heads toward his next big decision as commander...

A comprehensive strategy in Afghanistan -- including an exit plan -- is key to America's "No. 1 mission" of preventing an attack on the U.S., its interests or its allies, President Barack Obama said in an interview broadcast Sunday. "What we can't do is think that just a military approach in Afghanistan is going to be able to solve our problems," the president said on CBS' "60 Minutes." "So what we're looking for is a comprehensive strategy. And there's got to be an exit strategy. There's got to be a sense that this is not perpetual drift."

President Barack Obama insisted on Sunday that military force alone would not end the war in Afghanistan and suggested a U.S. "exit strategy" could be part of a new comprehensive policy he is expected to unveil soon... "What we can't do is think that just a military approach in Afghanistan is going to be able to solve our problems," Obama said. "So what we're looking for is a comprehensive strategy. And there's got to be an exit strategy ... There's got to be a sense that this is not perpetual drift..."

Scores of Taliban fighters and several Afghan officials were killed in fighting throughout Afghanistan. The violence marks the opening of the spring fighting season in Afghanistan as the Coalition and the Taliban surge forces for what is expected to be the toughest year of fighting since the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. The largest battle took place in the Gereshk district in the southern province of Helmand on March 19. Afghan soldiers and their Coalition advisers conducting "combat reconnaissance in an area of known militant presence" took fire from Taliban fighters and engaged, the US military said in a...

[Watch incredible video highlighting contrast] This is a remarkable video. It clearly demonstrates the difference in how two presidents are greeted by the United States Marines. The jarheads’ greeting for President Bush is deafening. The greeting for President Obama is, well, polite. Semper fi, indeed.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki confirmed Tuesday that the Obama administration is considering a controversial plan to make veterans pay for treatment of service-related injuries with private insurance. But the proposal would be “dead on arrival” if it’s sent to Congress, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, said.

From The TimesMarch 12, 2009 US warships head for South China Sea after standoffTim Reid in Washington A potential conflict was brewing last night in the South China Sea after President Obama dispatched heavily armed American destroyers to the scene of a naval standoff between the US and China at the weekend. Mr Obama’s decision to send an armed escort for US surveillance ships in the area follows the aggressive and co-ordinated manoeuvres of five Chinese boats on Sunday. They harassed and nearly collided with an unarmed American vessel.

CQ's Josh Rogin reports: The White House has given the Pentagon guidance to delay procurement of aerial refueling tankers by five years and cancel plans for a new long-range bomber, according to three sources close to the discussions. No final decisions have been made, and the recommendations are part of negotiations between the Office of Management and Budget and the Defense Department over possible budget trade-offs this year, the sources said. The guidance represents two of the offset options that OMB gave the Pentagon last month regarding the fiscal 2010 Defense budget request. If the guidance survives the internal budget...

From: http://www.oath-keepers.blogspot.com U. S. Military, Veterans, and Peace Officers Our oath is to the Constitution of the United States of America. It is NOT to the President..., and that oath will be kept,...... Oath Keepers is a non partisan association of currently serving military, veterans, and peace officers who will fulfill our oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, so help us God. Our oath is to the Constitution, not to the President, not to Congress, and not to any political party. In the long-standing tradition of the U.S. military, we are apolitical. We...

Elaine Donnelly, President of the Center for Military Readiness, predicted today that efforts by liberals in Congress to repeal the 1993 law regarding homosexuals in the military would not succeed. “Members of Congress are starting to take this issue seriously,” she said. “Indications are that repeal of the 1993 law would hurt the ‘Three R’s,’ recruiting, retention, and overall readiness in the volunteer force.” On Monday Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) announced that she will soon re-introduce legislation to repeal the 1993 law, Section 654, Title 10 click here , which is commonly mislabeled “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” In response, Donnelly...

The White House says President Barack Obama has begun consulting his top defense advisers on how to lift a ban on gays serving openly in the military. But the administration won't say how soon that might happen or whether a group of experts will be commissioned to study the issue in-depth, as some Democrats have suggested. The move enables Obama to say he's making good on his campaign promise to reverse the law, but doesn't lock him into doing so anytime soon. The carefully calculated statement, released this week by White House spokesman Tommy Vietor, leaves enough wiggle room to...

Per VFW