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I think General David Petraeus would be a great choice for McCain's VP. It would be the Heroes vs. the Zeroes.

For more than a decade, Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody has delighted in leaping through the doors of military planes and plunging into the night with a parachute on her back. A master parachutist and a former battalion commander, General Dunwoody handled logistics for the 82nd Airborne Division in Saudi Arabia during the first gulf war. As a three-star general, she has flown to Afghanistan and Iraq to ensure the steady flow of ammunition, tanks and fuel to the troops. But one of the biggest joys of her 33-year military career has been jumping out of airplanes and into roles...

FORT HUACHUCA — A car dealership with branches in Sierra Vista, Huachuca City and Tucson has been placed off-limits to thousands of active-duty service members assigned to this Southern Arizona Army post. Ideal Automotive Group, including the company's business in Tucson known as Wildcat Mitsubishi, was informed in a May 20 letter by the fort's leadership that it is being placed off-limits. Fort Huachuca spokeswoman Tanja Linton said, “Today (Wednesday) we got notification that Ideal Automotive Group received the letter from the garrison commander (Col. Melissa Sturgeon) notifying them they had been placed off-limits to military service members.” Making the...

Hello, everyone!! Been to the pumps lately? Well, let me tell you, it is only going to get worse! But the good news is this, we are finally going to have a President, (John McCain) who is open to the new answers to the problem. If the solution talked about in the following article can be speedily developed, we could possible see one dollar a gallon prices again! Researchers have made a breakthrough in the development of "green gasoline," a liquid identical to standard gasoline yet created from sustainable biomass sources like switchgrass and poplar trees. Reporting in the cover...

After all, Hillary doesn’t have much more experience than Barack, doesn’t have great national security credentials, and is perceived, correctly, with having accomplished almost nothing in her adult life without her husband carrying much of the load. But if she has the tenacity to overcome Barack Obama in a race where the mainstream media and many of the elites in her own party have aligned against her, many Americans would give her a certain amount of much needed credit for toughness, grit, and for showing grace under fire. Even most Clinton-loathing conservatives would be willing to admit at this point...

Democratic voters are not as positive about Barack Obama as they were a month ago. Somewhat smaller percentages of Democrats describe Obama in favorable terms, and he has lost his lead over Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination. Nationally, Democratic voters are about evenly divided between Obama and Clinton; Obama holds a slight 47% to 45% edge. In late March, the Illinois senator held a 49% to 39% lead over his New York rival. The tightening Democratic race reflects a modest but consistent decline in Obama's personal image rather than improved impressions of Clinton. Fewer Democrats ascribe...

John Nance Garner, who held the position of vice-president under Franklin Roosevelt, memorably dismissed the job as “not worth a pitcher of warm spit”. Actually, that is the sanitised version of his comment. There are plenty of people who believe that the original version referred to a different bodily liquid. Put it this way: he might have been taking the spit out of this office. John McCain, by contrast, has to regard it far more seriously. He is within a few days of becoming the de facto nominee of the Republican Party. Mike Huckabee is enjoying his swansong, but after...

WASHINGTON - The U.S. military is developing contingency plans to deal with the possibility that a large spy satellite expected to fall to Earth in late February or early March could hit North America. Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, who heads of U.S. Northern Command, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the size of the satellite suggests that some number of pieces will not burn up as the orbiting vehicle re-enters the Earth's atmosphere and will hit the ground. "We're aware that this satellite is out there," Renuart said. "We're aware it is a fairly substantial size. And we...

MONROVIA, Liberia - One of Liberia's most notorious rebel commanders, known as Gen. Butt Naked, has returned to the nation his troops terrorized to confess, saying he is responsible for 20,000 deaths. The civil war, which killed an estimated 250,000 people in this nation of 3 million, was characterized by the eating of human hearts and soccer matches played with human skulls. Drugged fighters waltzed into battle wearing women's wigs, flowing gowns and carrying dainty purses stolen from civilians. Before he led his fighters into battle, wearing only a pair of lace-up boots, Blahyi said he made a human sacrifice...

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. A Marine Corps general taking over command in Iraq's Anbar province said Wednesday that the decrease in insurgent attacks and decline in casualties is allowing U.S. troops to focus more attention on training of Iraqi security forces. "We want to work ourselves out of a job," said Maj. Gen. John F. Kelly, who is scheduled to take command of Marines in western Iraq. Kelly said the Iraqi army has been successfully patrolling and escorting convoys in the Anbar province without the support of U.S. troops. "Basically, we are taking the training wheels off," the general said shortly...

BAGHDAD - Violence in Iraq is at its lowest levels since the first year of the American invasion, finally opening a window for reconciliation among rival sects, the second-ranking U.S. general said Sunday as Iraqi forces formally took control of security across half the country. Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the man responsible for the ground campaign in Iraq, said that the first six months of 2007 were probably the most violent period since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The past six months, however, had seen some of the lowest levels of violence since the conflict began, Odierno said, attributing the...

WHAT THE MEDIA SOMEHOW MISSED .... CAN'T FIGURE OUT WHY Retired Army General Ricardo Sanchez made a speech to the military reporters and editors in Washington DC last Friday. The media was quick to quote General Sanchez .. but only selectively. You can read the text of General Sanchez' speech right here. http://www.militaryreporters.org/sanchez_101207.html I urge you to do so. After Sanchez finished the speech the reporters couldn't wait to share with the American people his assessment of the war in Iraq. To put it gently, his assessment wasn't mild. Try this quote: "There has been a glaring, unfortunate, display of...

Homosexual Sex "Immoral" and Should not be Condoned in Law - Outgoing US Military Chief By Hilary White WASHINGTON, DC, October 3, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Homosexual acts are immoral and have no place in the US military says the United States' most senior military chief, General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In March Pace, a Catholic who is to retire this week, raised a storm of controversy when he told the Chicago Tribune in an interview, "I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts." The general said...

Retired general backs Clinton on Iraq By JOHN DISTASO Senior Political Reporter A retired U.S. Army general visiting the state to campaign for Hillary Clinton said yesterday she does not oppose the Iraq war -- and she said she's never heard Clinton oppose it, either. Retired Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy, the Army's first woman to reach the three-star rank, said she supports Clinton's promise to withdraw the majority of U.S. troops from Iraq if she is elected President. But Kennedy said she does not consider her position to be opposing the war as it is currently being conducted. Kennedy, 60,...

Virginia Republicans are buzzing over speculation that retired Marine Gen. Peter Pace may be lured into running for the U.S. Senate being vacated by John W. Warner (R). On Sunday, Pace retired as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. He plans to settle in the Fort Myer area. The conservative publication National Review ran an editorial Monday urging Pace to enter Virignia Senate race.

Don't you like a thoughtful straight shooter? Wouldn't it be nice to have as a choice for president in 2008 a seasoned military man who says what he believes? Don't you just have to love the candor and honesty of Gen. Peter Pace, the retiring chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?

A U.S. congressional oversight committee accused the State Department's inspector general on Friday of threatening to fire several of his staff if they cooperated with an investigation into his conduct. In a letter to Inspector General Howard Krongard, Rep. Henry Waxman accused Krongard for the second time in 10 days of interfering with a probe by the House of Representatives oversight committee the California Democrat chairs. The panel is looking into whether Krongard, who acts as an independent internal investigator for the State Department, failed to examine claims of government waste, fraud and abuse in Iraq and elsewhere so as...

WASHINGTON - A day before President Bush's war address, Senate Democrats rejected a four-star general's recommendation to keep some 130,000 troops in Iraq through next summer and sought legislation that would limit the mission of U.S. forces. Their proposal was not expected to set a deadline to end the war, as many Democrats want, but restrict troops to narrow objectives: training Iraq's military and police, protecting U.S. assets and fighting terrorists, Democratic party officials told The Associated Press ...

WASHINGTON - A day before President Bush's war address, Senate Democrats rejected a four-star general's recommendation to keep some 130,000 troops in Iraq through next summer and sought legislation that would limit the mission of U.S. forces. Their proposal was not expected to set a deadline to end the war, as many Democrats want, but restrict troops to narrow objectives: training Iraq's military and police, protecting U.S. assets and fighting terrorists, Democratic party officials told The Associated Press. The goal is to attract enough Republicans to break the 60-vote threshold in the Senate needed to end a filibuster. Democrats have...

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned, officials said Monday, ending a monthslong standoff with critics who questioned his honesty and competence at the helm of the Justice Department. Republicans and Democrats alike had demanded his resignation over the botched handling of FBI terror investigations and the firings of U.S. attorneys, but President Bush had defiantly stood by his Texas friend until accepting his resignation Frid(AP) — ay, according to senior administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.The Justice Department planned a news conference for 10:30 a.m. EDT, in Washington. Bush planned to discuss Gonzales' departure at his Crawford, Texas, ranch...

US general blames Britain for Basra crisis By Thomas Harding and Toby Helm Last Updated: 1:26am BST 23/08/2007 The first sign of serious tension between Gordon Brown and President George W Bush over Iraq have emerged as a senior US general said the withdrawal of British troops was creating a security crisis in the south of the country. Gen Jack Keane, who is close to the White House and was the architect of the American troop "surge" in Baghdad this year, said the policy was helping to turn Basra into a city of "gangland warfare". Gen Keane: British withdrawal is...

All charges were dropped Thursday against Marine Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt, who had been accused of killing three Iraqi brothers in response to a roadside bomb attack in Haditha in 2005. "The evidence does not support a referral to a court-martial," Lt. Gen. James Mattis wrote in his written decision. Under military law, a commanding general has total jurisdiction over a case. Sharratt, 22, of Canonsburg, Pa., had been charged with murder in the deaths of three of those killed after the bomb attack on Nov. 19, 2005. The decision to drop the charges followed an earlier recommendation from...

CAMP PENDLETON – A general has cut short the sentences of two Marines imprisoned in the Hamdaniya murder case and might do the same for two others. Pvts. Tyler Jackson and Jerry Shumate Jr. were released Monday by order of Lt. Gen. James Mattis, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton. The base announced Mattis' decision Tuesday. Jackson and Shumate had been sentenced to 21 months in the brig as part of pretrial deals in which they pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice. They were demoted in rank – from corporal to private....

WASHINGTON, July 31, 2007 – The Army’s senior civilian announced today that a retired three-star general will receive a letter of censure as the result of a review of previous military investigations into the death of Army Spc. Patrick D. Tillman. Secretary of the Army Pete Geren said a “perfect storm” of events initially obfuscated the facts regarding the April 22, 2004, death of Tillman, an Army Ranger who was killed by friendly fire near the Afghan-Pakistani border. Tillman, a former National Football League star, was initially reported to have died as a result of enemy fire. After reading...

From the Gavel -- At a House Armed Services Committee Hearing on Iraq Legislation this morning, Kansas Congresswoman Nancy Boyda apparently heard as much good news as she could stand. So she did the old cut-and-run by walking out (as The Gavel explains, "She is responding in part to General Jack Keane, who testified before the Committee but left before Rep. Boyda’s remarks, and was reportedly one of the architects of the escalation policy"; there should probably be a "from" before the second mention of Keane's name): "I was certainly hoping that General Keane would be able to be here...

BAGHDAD - The top U.S. general and diplomat in Iraq warned on Thursday against cutting short the American troop buildup and suggested they would urge Congress in September to give President Bush's strategy more time. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus, in separate Associated Press interviews at their offices in the U.S. Embassy on the banks of the Tigris, were careful not to define a timeframe for continuing the counterinsurgency strategy — and the higher U.S. troop levels — that began six months ago. Still, Petraeus' comments signaled that he would like to see a substantial U.S. combat force...

Army Secretary Peter Geren is expected to recommend that a retired three-star general be demoted for his role in providing misleading information about the death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman, military officials say, in what would be a stinging and rare rebuke. Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger, who headed Army special operations, is one of six high-ranking Army officers expected to get official reprimands for making critical errors in reporting the circumstances of Tillman's purported friendly-fire shooting in Afghanistan in April 2004. The officials requested anonymity because the punishments under consideration by Geren have not been made public. The Army said...

7/11/2007 - ST. LOUIS (AFPN) -- A once-young usher who worked at Busch Stadium, home of the World Series multi-champion Cardinals, is now a man who now ushers in technologies which go way out of the ballpark. Nearly 40 years after his days of ushering people to the stands at Busch Stadium, Maj. Gen. Thomas F. Deppe, the 20th Air Force Air Force commander at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., returned to the ballpark July 8 to throw out the "first pitch" during the Cardinals vs. (San Francisco) Giants' game. It was part of the Air Force Week St....

US must stop yelling at Iraqis, says general By Tim Shipman in Washington, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 12:36am BST 24/06/2007 The US troop "surge" in Iraq is being jeopardised by the failure to launch an equivalent offensive on the hearts-and-minds front, according to the general in charge of working with the civilian population. A US trainer takes the traditional drill sergeant approach to Iraqi troops In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Lieutenant General Jack Stultz, the head of the US Army Reserve, gave a stark warning that not enough use was being made of civilian affairs officers under his...

NORFOLK, Va., June 15, 2007 – Although he would never voluntarily leave the battlefield while troops are at war, Marine Gen. Peter Pace said he accepts the decision to not renominate him for a second term. On June 8, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced that he was going to recommend that President Bush nominate Adm. Michael G. Mullen as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff rather than nominate Pace for another two-year term. Pace discussed that decision process in response to a question posed following an address to students, faculty, and local military and community leaders at the...

SINGAPORE (AFP) - China's military build-up is purely defensive, the deputy chief of the world's biggest standing army said Saturday, amid US concerns over Beijing's intentions. "Strategically, we adhere to self-defence and would win only by striking after the enemy has struck," Lieutenant General Zhang Qinsheng, deputy chief of the general staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), told an international defence forum in Singapore. "China shall never fire the first shot. Such an approach is consistent with the ancient Chinese thought to use caution before getting into a war, use force only for a just cause, put people first...

VIENNA, Va. — A former commander of the main Signal Corps unit on Fort Huachuca and of the post in the 1970s died Saturday at Walter Reed Medical Center, in Washington, D.C. For nearly five years Maj. Gen. Jack A. Albright commanded the Army Strategic Communications Command beginning on Oct. 29, 1971. STRATCOM was renamed the Army Communications Command in October 1973, which he headed until his retirement on April 29, 1976. Maj. Gen. Albright Albright, who was 86 when he died last week, was assigned to the fort as brigadier general and the deputy commander of STRATCOM in December...

LONDON --Britain's Prince Harry will not be sent with his unit to Iraq, Britain's top general said Wednesday, citing specific threats to the third in line to the throne. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Sir Richard Dannatt said the changing situation on the ground exposed the prince to too much danger.Prince William and Prince Harry, right, parade in suits and bowler hats with the Combined Cavalry Old Comrades' Association, in Hyde Park, London, on Sunday, May 13, 2007. The tradition of officers wearing black bowler hats and carrying umbrellas goes back to the First World War.

WASHINGTON - President Bush is "squandering" American lives in Iraq and should sign legislation to begin pulling out U.S. troops on Oct. 1, retired Army Lt. Gen. William Odom said yesterday. "I hope the President seizes this moment for a basic change in course and signs the bill Congress has sent him," Odom said, delivering the Democrats' weekly radio address. Odom, an outspoken critic of the war who served as the Army's top intelligence officer and headed the National Security Agency during the Ronald Reagan administration, delivered the address at the request of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). He said...

Many people live extraordinary lives. Many have extraordinary deaths. But very, very few can hope to save the world 90 years after they have passed away. One such man was the remarkably colourful Sir Tatton Benvenuto Mark Sykes, one of those larger-than-life Victorians who lived in an era when great men really could, and did, change the shape of the world. Sir Mark Sykes was a baronet, a diplomat, a father of six children, Tory MP, a senior general in the Army and a skilled negotiator. A close friend of T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) and Chaim Weizmann - who went...

OVER THE ATLANTIC OCEAN - The long U.S. effort to stabilize western Iraq, a hotbed of the Sunni Arab insurgency, has reached a turning point with new prospects for success, the top Marine general said Monday. "I think, in that area, we have turned the corner," Gen. James T. Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps, said in an Associated Press interview as he flew back to Washington after four days in Iraq. His assessment of Anbar province marks a sharp departure from the view that prevailed for much of the past four years, a time of deadly battles with the...

Yesterday, cheap David Letterman look-alike and Miami Vice-wardrobed Brigadier General Robert Holmes--one of the top Generals at Central Command--gushed over Muslim Arab extremists he met with in Dearbornistan. And you--the American taxpayer--paid for the trip. It's very important that we involve Arab Americans. Arab Americans play a huge role today, and play a very important role in where we have got to go. But Holmes didn't meet with Christian Arab leaders in town. Instead, he carefully chose only the most extremist Muslim Arabs in town--the ones who openly endorse terrorist groups and homicide bombings. Brig. Gen. Holmes met with Osama...

BEIJING, March 23, 2007 – Military-to-military contacts will help China and the United States avoid misunderstandings and help build greater stability and prosperity in Asia, Marine Gen. Peter Pace said here today. ... The chairman said he enthusiastically supports Liang’s proposals and will work with Chinese officials to speed their implementation. One is an exchange program for young officers and military academy cadets and midshipmen. Another proposal will expand search-and-rescue exercises between the nations. A third looks toward cooperating in humanitarian operations. ... President Bush has succinctly expressed American policy in regard to Taiwan, and the chairman reaffirmed that policy...

The top U.S. military officer, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, doesn't plan to apologize for telling a newspaper that homosexuality is immoral. Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Chicago Tribune on Monday that he supports the "don't ask, don't tell" policy banning openly gay people from serving in the U.S. armed forces. The general also compared homosexuality to adultery -- behavior that is prosecuted in the military, he said. "My upbringing is such that I believe that there are certain things, certain types of conduct that are immoral," Pace told the Tribune. "I believe that military members...

WASHINGTON, March 8, 2007 – Sensational attacks like the March 6 suicide bombing that killed more than 100 religious pilgrims in Karbala, Iraq, illustrate insurgents’ lack of respect for human life, the top U.S. military officer in Iraq told reporters today. Those “Shiite pilgrims were killed in a barbaric manner by thugs with no soul,” Army Gen. David H. Petraeus said today in Baghdad during his first news conference as the chief of Multinational Force Iraq. Petraeus took command of MNFI on Feb. 10. However, new security initiatives instituted as part of Operation Law and Order should assist in...

"According to part of the information, his wife and children managed to leave Iran before his disappearance," Mr Amir told Israel's Army Radio, without elaborating on his sources. Gen Azkari flew to Istanbul from Damascus, the Syrian capital, and checked into a hotel. But after leaving his possessions in the room he never returned.

Iran says West may have seized ex-defense official 54 minutes ago Western intelligence services may have kidnapped a former Iranian deputy defense minister who went missing in Turkey, Iran's police chief was quoted as saying on Tuesday. Ali Reza Asgari was on a personal trip and vanished after arriving in Turkey from Damascus, Iranian police chief Ismail Ahmadi-Moghaddam was quoted as saying by the Iranian ILNA news agency. "It is possible that former deputy defense minister Asgari was kidnapped by Western intelligence services because of his Defense Ministry background," Ahmadi-Moghaddam said. "He went missing after three days stay in Turkey....

KABUL (Reuters) - In the final hours of British General David Richards' command of NATO forces in Afghanistan, a much-vaunted and equally criticized truce with tribal elders fell apart as the Taliban overran a key southern town. His U.S. replacement General Dan McNeill who took over the 33,000 NATO-led troops on Sunday as part of a regular command rotation is expected to place a heavier emphasis on fighting than peace deals, analysts say. McNeill's command comes as the United States doubles its ground combat troops in Afghanistan in what is likely to be the decisive year in the battle for...

A Palestinian source has said that the Iranian general nabbed in Gaza by Palestinian security officers supervised the manufacturing weapons and explosives for Hamas. The source told Ynet on Friday that the expert was in charge of several labs in the university, mainly chemistry labs in which he instructed Hamas activists, most of them women, manufacturing the explosives. At least five Iranian citizens were arrested during a raid at the Islamic University, a Hamas stronghold in Gaza City. One of the Iranians committed suicide during the raid. Six to nine Palestinians were killed in the raid, sources said. The raid...

Friday will mark the 200th birthday anniversary of future Confederate Gen. Robert Edward Lee. Lee was born Jan. 19, 1807, at Stratford House in Westmoreland County, Virginia, the son of "Light Horse" Harry Lee and Ann Hill Carter Lee. Lee would be educated in the schools of Alexandria, Va., and in 1825 he entered West Point Military Academy. He graduated from West Point in 1829, second in his class and without a single demerit, a record that still stands today. In June 1831, Lee wed Mary Anna Randolph Custis, the daughter of George Washington Parke Custis, who was the grandson...

Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is sponsoring the "End Racial Profiling Act. The proposed bill is said to have been prompted by the recent removal of six imams.... The other co-sponsor is of the bill is Rep.John Conyers (D-MI) who is also preparing documents to lead to Articles of Impeachment against President Bush.

Last updated at 15:17pm on 13th October 2006 [familyop: Originally posted on the 12th according to the Daily Mail search engine.] A blistering assessment of British policy in Iraq from the country's top soldier left Tony Blair reeling today. General Sir Richard Dannatt said troops should come home within two years - flatly contradicting the Prime Minister's policy that the military will stay "as long as it takes". In unprecedented comments he warned that the Army could 'break' if British soldiers are kept too long in Iraq. "I want an Army in five years time and 10 years time. Don't...

BRITAIN'S top soldier spoke out against the government's handling of the campaign in Iraq because he feared Britain was being "held hostage" by US policy in the region, friends claimed last night. General Sir Richard Dannatt sparked a furious row over Tony Blair's foreign policy last week when he warned that British troops should leave Iraq soon because they were "exacerbating the security problems" there. Allies of Sir Richard last night claimed he had been expressing deep concerns shared by colleagues in the highest ranks of the military - and that the real target of his attack was Washington, not...

The call from General Sir Richard Dannatt that British forces should leave Iraq "sometime soon" has met with overwhelming support on the unofficial Army Rumour Service website, which includes forums where officers can air their views anonymously. Many express shock about the frankness of his words and there are several references to Sir Richard’s "moral" courage in speaking his mind, as well as calls for the Prime Minister to take heed of his remarks. "...I am thoroughly heartened by this and have the beginings [sic] of a thaw in the cynicism which has dogged my service thinking since 2003," admits...

General Sir Richard Dannatt came under fire last night for his outspoken comments from sections within the Army, of which he is in overall command."I think that his remarks about us being part of the problem are a little inaccurate," said one senior serviceman in Basra. Another senior officer who returned from Basra in the past few days could barely hide his anger."In the past few weeks we are beginning to have a positive effect on the local population but we realise our time here now is limited," he said. "These comments are hardly good for morale." But Sir Richard...