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Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Wednesday that the Occupy Los Angeles encampment outside City Hall "cannot continue indefinitely" and has asked city officials to draft restrictions limiting when people are allowed on city property. "I respect the protesters' right to peacefully assemble and express their views," Villaraigosa said. "City officials have been in a continuous and open dialogue with the organizers of Occupy L.A. However, the protesters must respect city laws and regulations, and while they have been allowed to camp on City Hall lawns, that cannot continue indefinitely." A spokeswoman for the mayor said he has also instructed city officials...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke during Tuesday’s Jerusalem Day celebration at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva in Jerusalem. As he entered the Beit Medrash, over a thousand students sang the words with which Moses blessed the tribe of Binyamin: "And to Binyamin he said: Beloved by God, he will dwell in security." The head of the yeshiva, Rav Yaakov Shapira, welcomed the Prime Minister with warm words for his forthright speech in the US Congress, adding that our "roadmap" is the Bible and that all of the land of Israel stems from Jerusalem and has the same indivisible status as the...

(Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have continued their "vicious attacks" and may have used cluster bombs against civilians. Libyan government troops overnight pounded the rebel-held city of Misrata, where hundreds have died during the siege that began with pro-democracy protests.

KABUL, Afghanistan (Jan. 7) – Afghan National Security and International Security Assistance Forces continued to secure numerous areas in the Gor Tepa region of Kunduz province in ISAF’s Regional Command North yesterday. Denying insurgents freedom of movement and activity, Afghan National Police and coalition forces conducted operations within the vicinity of Larkhabi, Omar Khal and Shinwar. An improvised explosive device was identified and detonated safely by security forces near the Isa Kahn checkpoint. The combined effort between ANSF and ISAF has brought about greater security and has afforded residents the opportunity to travel safely throughout the local area as well...

In first address to nation, Netanyahu says Turkish-flagged ship was large enough to have been smuggling weapons into Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday defended Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, in his first address to the nation since the Israel Navy's deadly raid of a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid convoy earlier this week. Netanyahu, who canceled a meeting in Washington with President Barack Obama due to the raid which occurred just hours before his trip, declared that Israel had no opposition to seeing humanitarian aid brought into the Gaza Strip.

United States officials who spoke to the pan-Arab paper Al-Sharq il-Awsat denied Thursday that America would stop using its United Nations veto to help Israel. The New York Times had reported that US President Barack Obama warned that America would no longer veto anti-Israel resolutions in the UN Security Council.

The ratings declines for Countdown with Keith Olbermann continue. Year over year declines for the first 3 months of 2010 ranged from 40-45% in the cable news advertiser target adults 25-54 demo, and between 21-29% among average viewership.While it’s hard to completely attribute cause and effect to TV ratings, it’s interesting to note that Countdown had better ratings (and a less severe year to year ratings and viewership loss) during the month of March, when Keith wasn’t on the air (he was off from 2/24 until last night) than it did during February (and was approximately on par with...

Another Democrat has seen the writing on the wall and decided to jump ship rather than face the electoral firing squad in November. This time, it is Arkansas Congressman Marion Berry, who openly admits that Election 2010 is going to be an outright "bloodbath" for Democrats...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10, 2008 – Recruiting successes in fiscal 2008 continued into the first month of the new fiscal year, with all active and reserve components meeting or exceeding their October goals, defense officials reported today. Recruiting remained solid across the board, with the Army leading the effort by exceeding its active-duty goal by 1 percent, its Army National Guard goal by 16 percent and its Army Reserve goal by 10 percent, officials said. The Army signed on 5,324 active-duty soldiers in October, as well as 6,487 National Guardsmen and 3,049 reservists. The Marine Corps topped its October active-duty...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 16, 2008 – The U.S. military flights that have delivered humanitarian assistance to Georgia this week will continue in the days ahead, President Bush said today. American C-17 aircraft began delivering aid to Georgia Aug. 14 in the wake of attacks by Russian forces in two breakaway Georgian regions and other parts of the former Soviet republic. “In recent days, U.S. cargo planes carrying humanitarian supplies have arrived in Georgia. In the days ahead, we will continue using U.S. aircraft and other assets as needed to deliver more humanitarian and medical supplies,” Bush said today in his...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Arabs keen to see the end of George W. Bush's presidency fear that a win for likely Republican candidate John McCain will bring little change to U.S. policies they blame for destabilizing the Middle East. For Arab politicians who have gained from U.S. policy in countries including Iraq and Lebanon, continuity may be a good thing. But Bush's many critics in the Arab world worry that McCain will continue current U.S. policies, which they fault for unleashing chaos in Iraq and providing unflinching support for Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians. McCain wants to keep troops...

WASHINGTON, March 3, 2008 – President Bush thanked the former commander of Multinational Corps Iraq today on behalf of all U.S. troops who have served in Iraq for creating a turnaround that Bush promised to continue to support. Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno left Iraq recently after a 15-month stint in charge of coalition ground forces, serving under Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq. “I appreciate the fact that you really snatched defeat out of the jaws of those who are trying to defeat us in Iraq,” Bush told Odierno following their meeting today...

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The National Marine Fisheries Services issued a final rule Aug. 16 that allows the Navy to continue operating Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active (SURTASS LFA) sonar in the western Pacific Ocean for the next five years, subject to a yearly authorization renewal. SURTASS LFA consists of two separate components. The LFA portion of the system is suspended vertically below the ship and transmits low-frequency sound energy into the water. SURTASS, the passive portion of the system, is towed behind the ship and is made up of a series of underwater microphones that detect natural...

WASHINGTON, July 13, 2007 – Army Sgt. John Keith likes to finish what he starts. So even after a rocket-propelled grenade tore into the door of his Humvee during his deployment to Iraq, leaving his leg dangling, he wasn’t willing to give up his 15-year military career. Army Sgt. John Keith is among a growing legion of severely wounded troops who have opted to continue their military service. Despite losing a leg in Iraq, Keith now serves with the Army’s Program Executive Office Soldier program at Fort Belvoir, Va. Here, he holds an “eagle cane” presented by the Northern...

WASHINGTON, July 1, 2007 – Operation Phantom Thunder and other offensive military operations in Iraq continue to turn up terrorist leaders, enemy fighters and weapons intended for use against Iraqi and coalition forces and Iraqi citizens, military officials reported. Today, coalition forces in Iraq’s Ninewah and Anbar provinces detained 14 suspected terrorists during operations aimed at capturing or killing al Qaeda in Iraq senior leaders and their operatives. In Mosul, coalition forces captured an alleged al Qaeda in Iraq senior leader and three other suspected terrorists during an early morning raid. Coalition officials said the senior leader is responsible for...

WASHINGTON, March 23, 2007 – U.S. and Iraqi security forces continued clearing operations in Baghdad today, while other coalition and Iraqi security forces discovered and destroyed several enemy weapons caches in the past few days, officials said. Nearly 1,600 U.S. and Iraqi security forces teamed up for a second day of anti-terrorist operations in Baghdad’s Mansour district, officials said. During this sweep, U.S. soldiers with the 2nd Infantry Division’s 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team rescued a kidnap victim. The soldiers also found a weapons cache that yielded several AK-47 rifles, ammunition, mortar rounds and other ordnance. Also today, U.S....

CAMP LIBERTY -- A combined force of Iraqi Police and Multi-National Division-Baghdad troops completed a second day of security operations at the eastern Baghdad district of Sadr City Monday. Members of the 82nd Airborne DivisionÂ’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team and the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division conducted security operations with their Iraqi counterparts and reported no hostile contact for a second day in an area known to be a stronghold of Muqtada al-Sadr, the extremist leader of rogue elements known for extra-judicial killings and attacks against Coalition forces. Some residents seemed genuinely pleased to see the...

WASHINGTON, March 2, 2007 – Afghanistan is making progress, but big challenges remain, the man with ultimate responsibility for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan said today. Meeting with reporters at the Pentagon today, Army Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, NATO’s supreme allied commander for Europe, said that in addition to dealing with Taliban fighters and other insurgents in the country, Afghanistan is plagued by problems caused by opium cultivation and the drug trade. ISAF has about 35,000 troops from 35 different nations in Afghanistan. The United States has 15,000 troops serving there under the ISAF banner and a...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22, 2007 – Iraqi and coalition forces killed or detained numerous terrorists over the last two days, and soldiers detained an Iraqi police official suspected of involvement in sectarian violence, military officials reported. Coalition forces killed three terrorists and detained 11 others during operations today targeting al Qaeda in Iraq and foreign fighter facilitators near Taji and Samarra. West of Taji, coalition forces captured six suspected terrorists with alleged ties to al Qaeda and found weapons, including several rocket-propelled grenades, in the targeted building. As coalition forces started to leave the area with the detainees, they saw...

CAMP LIBERTY — The Iraqi Security Force and Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers began clearing operations in the Shaab and Ur neighborhoods of the Adhamiyah security district Wednesday. “We’re conducting detailed searches in areas that are known, or suspected to harbor terrorists,” said Col. Steve Townsend, commander of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. “All areas will get thorough assessments – patrol down every street, talk to every shop owner and engage the populations at every opportunity to get atmospherics of the area.” Soldiers from the 3rd SBCT and elements from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5, 2006 -- While defense secretary nominee Robert M. Gates considers it important to continue searching for Osama bin Laden, he told senators today the al Qaeda leader “has become more of a symbol for jihadist terrorists than an active planner and organizer of terrorist attacks.” Gates, responding to questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing, said he has “no doubt that our forces have been trying their best to find Osama bin Laden,” but that he isn’t familiar with specific details of the effort. Gates assured committee members he “would make it...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6, 2006 – Reconstruction projects continue in Afghanistan with an agricultural extension center being expanded and construction for an urgent care facility beginning, officials in Afghanistan said. The Zormat agricultural extension center is being refurbished and expanded in the Zormat district of Paktya province. The $22,535 project is funded by the U.S. Gardez Provincial Reconstruction Team in conjunction with local officials. The project began in August and will be completed in the spring. “The purpose of this project is to help farmers grow bigger, healthier crops so they can earn an income rather than just support their own...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Rebellious Republicans, who this week broke with the White House over President George W. Bush's plan for treatment and trial of terror detainees, kept up their fight, highlighting US division over the issue of rights versus security. Senator John McCain, who has been leading the battle to stop Bush from redefining the Geneva Conventions, said the United States needed to "hold the moral high ground," on how prisoners, Al-Qaeda or not, are treated. "We can't lower our standards because others do," he told ABC news. "We are not like Al-Qaeda. We're not like the bad guys. We're...

WASHINGTON - The gravy train — make that the sausage, biscuits and gravy train — just kept on rolling in most of America last year, with 31 states showing an increase in obesity. Mississippi continued to lead the way. An estimated 29.5 percent of adults there are considered obese. That's an increase of 1.1 percentage points when compared with last year's report, which is compiled by Trust for America's Health, an advocacy group that promotes increased funding for public health programs. Meanwhile, Colorado remains the leanest state. About 16.9 percent of its adults are considered obese. That mark was also...

WASHINGTON The investigation stemming from the bribery conviction of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., will continue well past the November midterm elections under a federal court schedule set Monday. The development came at a status hearing for defense contractor Mitchell Wade, who is cooperating with federal prosecutors after pleading guilty in February to bribing Cunningham in exchange for government contracts. U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina agreed to delay sentencing proceedings against Wade and set the next status hearing in his case for March 12. That will allow Wade's cooperation to continue in the investigation, which still has several unresolved...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2006 – Iraqi forces captured two wanted men in separate early morning raids yesterday. Iraqi soldiers in Ash Sharqat, Iraq, captured a facilitator of terrorist activity in that area. Soldiers from the 4th Iraqi Army Division, assisted by coalition advisers, conducted a precision raid and captured this facilitator, whose alleged involvement in fraud, local corruption and embezzlement provides support to terrorist operations in the area, U.S. officials said. He also is believed to be responsible for improvised explosive device attacks against coalition forces, including one attack that killed a U.S. soldier. In another operation, Iraqi security forces,...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 14, 2006 – America will remain on the offensive against al Qaeda and nations that support terror groups, President Bush said here today. Bush met with Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Gen. Peter Pace and other members of his national security team at the Pentagon and the State Department. The group discussed progress in the global war on terror and national security transformation during the series of meetings. During a news conference at the State Department following the meetings, Bush said...

WASHINGTON - A federal judge said Wednesday that investigators could examine documents seized in a search of Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record)'s office, denying a request to delay the bribery probe while the Louisiana Democrat appeals the judge's earlier ruling that the search was legal. Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan said granting the delay "would harm the public's interest in a prompt and final outcome of the government's investigation of serious crimes involving a sitting United States congressman running for re-election in November." Last week, Hogan rejected arguments by Jefferson and House leaders in both parties...

WASHINGTON, July 6, 2006 – Inspired by the book "A Treasure Trove," by Michael Stadther, and the Disney movie "National Treasure," 10-year-old Rachel and 8-year-old Kelsi Okun created their own scavenger hunt to raise scholarship money for military children and spouses. Rachel (right) and Kelsi Okun during an event held to promote their organization, "ThanksUSA." The two girls created a national treasure hunt to raise money for scholarships given to family members of active-duty servicemembers. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Their idea, which they dubbed "ThanksUSA," quickly captured the attention of their parents, teacher, neighbors, major...

WASHINGTON, June 30, 2006 – Coalition forces in Afghanistan today killed 14 enemy fighters at a Taliban safe house and killed one enemy fighter and captured eight others in a separate raid, military officials reported. A coalition patrol in the Kamdesh district in Nuristan province tracked a band of 14 extremists traveling with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades and attacked them once they reached their safe house, destroying two buildings in the compound, officials said. Afghan National Army and coalition forces seized the compound and identified 14 dead enemy combatants. No ANA or coalition soldiers or civilians were injured in the...

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, June 29, 2006 – The Supreme Court decision today halting the military commissions of detainees held here will not affect the day-to-day detention operations at the base, defense officials said yesterday. Before knowing the outcome of today's decision, the officials said that operations in the camps holding about 450 detainees will continue, no matter what the court decided, because the ruling applies only to military commissions. The mission at Guantanamo Bay is to provide safe and humane custody and care to detainees while conducting interrogation operations to collect strategic intelligence, Navy Rear Adm. Harry B....

JERUSALEM - Palestinian militants fired about 10 rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip early Sunday, nearly hitting a college in the southern Israel town of Sderot, the army and rescue service said. One Israeli woman was lightly injured, but no other casualties were reported, Israel's army said. The militant wing of the Islamic group Hamas took responsibility for the rocket attacks, saying that they would continue until residents of Sderot evacuated the town in fear. The barrages came after Israeli shelling was blamed for killing eight Palestinian civilians Friday on a Gaza beach. "We have decided to make Sderot...

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, June 6, 2006) – The Army is opening doors for severely wounded Soldiers, allowing them to continue serving. Representatives from 23 U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command agencies offered more than 400 military and defense department jobs to men and women missing limbs and suffering from other injuries at a Wounded Warrior Job Fair at Walter Reed Army Medical Center June. 2. “We want them to know that they are wanted for continuous service in uniform or as a civilian,” said Lt. Gen. Robert Van Antwerp, commanding general of the U.S. Army Accessions Command and deputy...

WASHINGTON, May 10, 2006 – The largest of the services, the Army is also the most heavily deployed, and with its one-year "boots-on-the-ground" deployment policy, it keeps its members away from home for the longest duration. Yet so far this year, more than 160,000 people have enlisted or re-enlisted in the Army - the equivalent to every man, woman and child in Chattanooga, Tenn., noted Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, Army personnel spokesman. April proved to be another strong month, with almost 5,700 soldiers joining the active Army and almost 5,900 joining the Army National Guard, he noted. The Army...

3rd Armored Cav. troopers continue to serve By Sgt. 1st Class Donald Sparks Cavalry troopers from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment raise their right hand to repeat the Oath of Reenlistment during the unit's mass reenlistment ceremony recently held at Fort Carson, Colo. A total of 640 Soldiers participated in the event.Sgt. 1st Class Donald Sparks FORT CARSON, Colo. (Army News Service, May 8, 2006) – Soon after his arrival back home from Operation Iraqi Freedom, Spc. Aaron Ziegler knew exactly what he wanted to do – stay in the Army and continue to serve. A food service specialist...

5/5/2006 - DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. (AFPN) -- One month after a C-5 Galaxy crash-landed less than a mile short of the runway here, recovery operations are proceeding on schedule, officials said. All 17 people on board survived the April 3 crash. “We started the recovery effort the same day of the mishap and have been working every day since,” said Maj. Rob Triplett, the 436th Maintenance Squadron commander and director of the mishap recovery effort. “Safety has been our number-one priority. Our team’s primary focus, besides safety, was to preserve vital evidence for the safety investigation board.” An...

WASHINGTON, May 2, 2006 – When the premier medical centers from the Army and Navy merge into one joint facility in Bethesda, Md., in 2011, the rich heritage and world-class treatment reputation of Walter Reed Army Medical Center will continue under the same name at a different location, the hospital's commander said here April 30. The Base Realignment and Closure Commission announced the Defense Department initiative to close Walter Reed on May 13, 2005. The famed military medical facility, which is a monument to a long tradition of patient care, medical research and educational development, will continue its legacy...

WASHINGTON, April 20, 2006 – Iraqi security forces continue to play an increasingly larger role in the fight against terrorism, with many units taking responsibility for their own areas and making connections with citizens, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad said today. In a marked improvement over last year's three battalions, the Iraqi army now has two divisions, 16 brigades and 58 battalions that have the lead in counterinsurgency operations in their areas, Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, said at a news conference. Also, at least 25 percent of daily company-level and above operations are independent...

Following ten Kassam rockets since Wednesday, the IDF barraged the Gaza Strip with shells and leaflets warning Gaza residents to stay away from Kassam launchers. Palestinian terrorists in Gaza fired two Kassams at the Negev last night (Thursday), following eight other rockets in the previous 24 hours. One Kassam hit the city of Sderot, causing no damage. Rocket fire from Gaza towards Israel has continually increased ever since Israel withdrew from Gaza last summer. The IDF reports that 430 Kassams have been fired since last summer, including 85 in March and 50 so far this month. Other reports have cited...

HUNTINGTON PARK - Waving Mexico flags and wearing white T-shirts denoting peace, several hundred high school students walked out of class Monday as protests against an immigration crackdown continued on California's Cesar Chavez Day. Students climbed over a chain-link fence at Huntington Park High School to join marchers in this Hispanic and heavily immigrant community south of downtown Los Angeles. The school had locked the gates after classes started. At least 800 students walked out from at least eight schools ranging from the San Fernando Valley to the wealthy coastal enclave of Pacific Palisades, said Monica Carazo, spokeswoman for the...

U.S. Army Capt. James Watt, an occupational therapist, (right) helps Senior Airman Dan Acosta through some prosthetic arm warm-up drills Feb. 23 in the amputee rehabilitation clinic at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. U.S. Air Force photo by Steve White U.S. Air ForceSenior Airman Dan Acosta Airman Recovers from Bomb Blast, Hopes to Continue to Serve By Michael Briggs 12th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas, March 1, 2006 — He stirs every few minutes as he sits talking in the living room of his base housing unit. He doesn't show it with...

Nigerian religious riots continue About 10,000 are still sheltering in an army barracks in Onitsha Violence is continuing across Nigeria where religious riots have claimed more than 100 lives this week. A number of deaths were reported and churches and shops burned on Friday in the towns of Kontagora and Potiskum in the north and Enugu in the south-east. Some 10,000 people are still sheltering in barracks in the south-east town of Onitsha after violence there killed 80. Nigeria's 120m people are about equally divided between northern Muslims, and Christians and animists in the south. The violence began last weekend...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23, 2006 – Iraq now has 123,000 trained and equipped police officers, but numbers don't tell the whole story, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman said during a briefing from Baghdad today. "What we're seeing across Iraq is that the police forces are indeed gaining capability and gaining public confidence," Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch told reporters, adding that police forces are the coalition's focus this year. "They continue to grow in not just quantity, but in quality and capability." The capability of all 232,000 trained and equipped Iraqi security forces -- including soldiers, border guards and police --...

An AH-1W Super Cobra with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 261 (Reinforced) stays close to his wingman, a UH-1N Huey also from HMM-261 (Rein.) during a recent mission near Hit, Iraq. The squadron is the aviation combat element for the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit SOC (Special Operations Capable) which is conducting counterinsurgency operations with the 2nd Marine Division in Iraq’s Al Anbar province. Photo by: Sgt. Richard D. StephensAL ASAD AIR FIELD, Iraq (Feb. 15, 2006) -- In the early stages of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Marine AH-1W Super Cobra attack and UH-1N Huey utility helicopters prowled the skies of the Iraq...

TAORMINA, Italy, Feb. 10, 2006 – Terrorists have racked up failure after failure in their efforts to keep democracy from taking root in Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said here today. The secretary spoke at a news conference wrapping up two days of informal meetings among NATO defense ministers. "The terrorists tried to stop them from having an election in January (2005), and they failed," Rumsfeld said. "They tried to stop them from drafting a constitution, and they failed. They tried to stop them from having a referendum on the constitution, and they failed. They tried to stop them...

AL ASAD AIRFIELD, Iraq (Feb. 9, 2006) -- By the time Lance Cpl. Blake Rowe was born in 1983, the aircraft on which he today so carefully labors had already been flying for nearly two decades, and shows no sign of touching the ground. Like the Colt .45 pistol (introduced in 1911) and the M-2 .50-caliber machine gun (around since 1919), the venerable CH-46E Sea Knight medium lift assault helicopter has become one of those tools of war whose dependability and utility has ensured its lifespan exceeds the careers of those who use it. Used primarily in the assault support...

SEOUL, South Korea, Feb. 3, 2006 – Changes that have taken place in the U.S.-Republic of Korea alliance are meant to find a "better balance" in the very successful pact, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here today. The balance between U.S. and Korean capacity allows each country to focus on those things that each country can contribute best to the alliance, Marine Gen. Peter Pace said. Pace spoke to reporters about the U.S.-Korean Alliance and regional matters following a ceremony in which Army Gen. B.B. Bell took the reins of Combined Forces Command Korea and U.S....

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HIT, Iraq, Jan. 23, 2006 – Eight days of back-breaking searches through villages and fields along the western Euphrates River Valley have yielded thousands of pieces of ordnance as Iraqi soldiers and U.S. Marines continue Operation Koa Canyon in Iraq's Anbar province. Aimed at isolating insurgents and their weapons, the combined Iraqi and U.S. force began the latest sweep Jan. 15 and have uncovered a staggering amount of weaponry. The soldiers and Marines are making their way inch by inch through caves, fields, wadis and islands in an attempt to disrupt the insurgents. So far, the combined...

AL ASAD, Iraq (Jan. 9, 2006) -- Continuing with the tradition of Marines taking care of business no matter the climate, the Moonlighters of Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 332 are working through Iraq's cold nights. The Moonlighters said although everything might be difficult in the dark, nothing will stop them from having their F/A-18D Hornets ready to fly out of their base at Al Asad, Iraq, to ensure Marines on the ground receive their support. “No matter what the conditions, the Marines don’t complain,” said Maj. Lance Muniz, the maintenance officer with VMFA(AW)-332 and a Centreville, Md., native. “They’re...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2006 – The war on terror has been a fight unlike any the United States ever has experienced, but the country has proven its resolve and will continue to do so as it faces the challenges that lie ahead, Vice President Dick Cheney said today at the Heritage Foundation here. "The United States will keep our commitment," Cheney said. "We will continue the work of reconstruction; our forces will keep going after the terrorists; we will continue training the Iraqi military so that Iraqis can eventually take the lead in their country's security and our men and...