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WASHINGTON, Jan. 7, 2008 – Three U.S. Navy vessels took evasive actions after five Iranian boats buzzed the ships transiting the Straits of Hormuz yesterday, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today. Speaking to Pentagon reporters, Whitman called the Iranian provocation “a serious incident.” The fast Iranian boats approached at “distances and speed that showed reckless, dangerous and potentially hostile intent,” he said. The incident lasted about 15 to 20 minutes, he said. The Navy ships were going into the Persian Gulf when the Iranian boats confronted them. “Small, Iranian fast boats made some aggressive maneuvers against our vessels and indicated...

N.J. Escapees Take Page From 'Shawshank' ScriptPrisoners Left Behind Thank You Note For Unsuspecting Guards NEW YORK (CBS) - What's been the theme of successful movies like "Escape From Alcatraz" and "The Shawshank Redemption" has become an incredible, yet frightening reality at a New Jersey jail. Razor-sharp wire, thick concrete, and jail guards couldn't keep 20-year-old Jose Espinoza, and 32-year-old Otis Blunt -- inmates barred up at the Union County Jail -- from escaping the prison over the weekend. Officials say the pair concocted an elaborate scheme that involved digging through their cell walls, similar to Tim Robbins' method in...

(IsraelNN.com) The Palestinian Authority's semi-official prisoners organization has declared that it will push for human rights charges to be filed in international courts against Israeli prison guards. The organization, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club (PPC), announced their latest campaign following an emergency meeting Tuesday during which the members discussed the Ketziot Prison riot last week. During the riot, one prisoner died and 15 were injured, along with 15 prison guards. According to the PPC, they will be seeking to charge Israeli prison officials with They will be seeking to charge Israeli prison officials with "war crimes" against Arab prisoners. "war crimes"...

BAGHDAD — “Training the Iraqi Army is now the main focus for the British Forces in Iraq,” the Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion Irish Guards said recently, so since their deployment to Iraq in May, training the Iraqis is exactly what the Guards have been doing. Since May, the 1st Battalion Irish Guards have been responsible for delivering training known as ‘Mentoring, Monitoring and Training’ to the Iraqi Army at both Shaibah, south west of Basra, and in Baghdad. The work has seen the Irish Guards forge relationships with the Iraqi Army and train them in order that they...

Henry Dickens - not guilty Charles Enfinger - not guilty Patrick Garrett - not guilty Raymond Hauck - not guilty Charles Helms Jr. - not guilty Henry McFadden Jr. - not guilty Kristin Schmidt - not guilty Joseph Walsh II - not guilty Before the verdict was read, Judge Michael Overstreet asked the people in the courtroom to refrain from expressing emotion. Regardless, weeping came through the courtroom from family members of the drill instructors.

Private security guards working for an American security company have shot dead two women in Iraq, it was reported today. The guards were escorting four vehicles through central Baghdad when the two women were shot dead in the district of Karrada today.

AIKEN, S.C. - White House hopeful Barack Obama on Saturday said private security contractors in Iraq are raising the risk for U.S. troops because Iraqis don't distinguish between the forces. He also criticized the pay disparity between soldiers and private contractors. "You've got young men and women signing up to serve, willing to spill blood for America. How could they be treated less well than private contractors?" Obama told a crowd of more than 1,400 at a high school gymnasium in this early voting state. "And these private contractors, they go out and they're spraying bullets and hitting civilians and...

An American soldier formed an unlikely friendship in the crucible of Abu Ghraib—with an Iraqi detainee who was under his command. Their gripping story is the subject of a new documentary, The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair.

WASHINGTON - Coming on the heels of a controversial “surge” of 21,000 U.S. troops that has stretched the Army thin, the Defense Department is preparing to send an additional 12,000 National Guard combat forces to Iraq and Afghanistan, defense officials told NBC News on Thursday. The troops will come from four Guard combat brigades in different states, the officials told NBC News’ chief Pentagon correspondent, Jim Miklaszewski. They said papers ordering the deployment, which would run for one year beginning in early 2008, were awaiting Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ signature. The deployment is sure to ignite a firestorm on Capitol...

SAN DIEGO -- Last-minute pleas are being made in the case of two former Border Patrol agents who are due to report to prison. Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos were convicted in a court in El Paso, Texas, for shooting and wounding a Mexican drug smuggler. Congressional representatives, including Duncan Hunter and Dana Rohrabacher, have been urging the president to pardon the two.   SURVEY Should the Border Patrol agents be pardoned? Yes No Results | Disclaimer The agents have been sentenced to serve 11 and 12 years in prison, respectively. According to the Washington Times, the agents found 743...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2007 – Five years after the first detainees from the war on terror arrived at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a new state-of-the-art facility there is making duty safer for guards and more comfortable for detainees. Camp 6, which became operational in December and cost $38 million to build, now houses roughly 160 of the 395 or so detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Navy Rear Adm. Harry Harris Jr., commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay, said in an interview here today. The air-conditioned facility, modeled on the most modern and efficient prisons in the United States,...

Washington, Sep 6 - Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 1030.    Let me just note that platitudes are not enough. When it really counts, the Border Patrol does need our support, and that includes building a fence, which some people who perhaps would be happy to sing the praises of the Border Patrol are not willing to help them with something that they consider to be essential to securing their job.    Tonight, we are commending the service of 12,000 men and women of the U.S. Border Patrol. They are, in fact, performing an invaluable...

Nun killed as guards gun down refugees from Tibet By Thomas Bell in Kathmandu (Filed: 12/10/2006) At the end of their terrible journey, a group of Tibetan refugees yesterday told how a nun was shot dead and 14 children taken away at gunpoint by Chinese border guards during a 20-day march to escape across the Himalaya. Seventy-five men, women and children started out, often walking at night to avoid security patrols but only 41 made it to the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, leaving the young nun dead in the snow and another man lying wounded. The remainder, including the children, were...

PM to arm border guards March 2008 is too long to wait, union says Doug Ward CanWest News Service Friday, September 01, 2006 VANCOUVER - Canada will start arming its border guards as early as September, 2007, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced yesterday. Ottawa plans to train and arm 4,400 Canada Border Service Agency officers over the next 10 years. The federal government will also hire 400 permanent border officers to eliminate the problem of officers working alone at posts. The Conservatives promised during the election they would hire more guards and also provide them with sidearms. The Tory...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's health minister, who is aligned to a powerful Shiite militia, claimed Sunday that U.S. forces arrested seven of his personal guards in a surprise pre-dawn raid on his office. The reason for the alleged arrests was unclear. Health minister Ali al-Shemari said the soldiers arrived at 3 a.m. Sunday, broke open doors inside the building leading to his office and hauled away the seven men, who were posted there as night guards. U.S. officials did not immediately respond to the claim. "There was no legal warrant, there was no prior warning to the ministry, there was...

A PRIEST is set to install high fences around his church in Blackburn in a bid to combat racist attacks. The move was revealed as a Muslim leader blasted the gang of youths which targeted St Joseph's RC Church, in Audley, Blackburn. Coun Salim Mulla, secretary of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, said the gang were "disgraceful and disrespectful" and he was so angry that when he found out who was responsible he would personally report them to the police. The latest incident happened on Sunday at 11pm and although the church's alarm system prevented the youths from gaining access...

WASHINGTON, May 19, 2006 – A bogus suicide attempt yesterday lured guards into a 10-man detainee bay where an attack awaited them, the admiral in charge of the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, told reporters today. Two other detainees had attempted suicide earlier in the day. One barrack room in Camp 4, the medium-security facility within Camp Delta at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In Camp 4, highly compliant detainees live in a communal setting and have extensive access to recreation. Photo by Sgt. Sara Wood, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The large skirmish in...

Police in Sierra Vista tell us that the added National Guard presence would be a "blessing" and the sheriff in Santa Cruz County also feels good about the plan. "They love to use this, this road." Santa Cruz County Deputy Fernando Ayon says about the illegal immigrants who use the Santa Cruz Wash as a roadway. He used to have picnics there with his family when he was a little boy. "See here, the fence has been damaged," Ayon points out. Now, Ayon says, the area is a well-known hot spot for illegal trafficking. "It's everywhere you go, everywhere you...

2,400 officers made more than $100,000 By Steve Schmidt UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER February 28, 2006 Roughly one out of 10 California prison guards was paid more than $100,000 last year, fueled largely by a jump in overtime. Some 2,400 rank-and-file correctional officers' pay exceeded $100,000 in 2005, compared with 557 the year before, a San Diego Union-Tribune analysis of payroll figures shows. Big bucks in the big house One guard grossed $187,000, making him the highest-paid correctional officer in California, according to data provided by the state controller's office. At the historic San Quentin State Prison near San Francisco, one...

PANAMA CITY, Fla. - Lawmakers and the family of a teenager seen on videotape being kneed and struck by juvenile boot camp guards are calling for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the guards. The Bay County Medical Examiner ruled that Martin Lee Anderson died of internal bleeding caused by a genetic blood disorder. But his family said Friday they believe the boy died because of the 30-minute beating that took place hours before the 14-year-old died. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating possible civil rights violations. Gov. Jeb Bush said he did not support calls to shut down the...