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NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube get the skinny on the abrupt cancellation of Barack Obama’s visit to Landstuhl and Ramstein yesterday. The campaign tried to excuse it by claiming that it wouldn’t be appropriate to visit while on a campaign-funded portion of his trip, but that wasn’t the real problem. When Obama found out he couldn’t use the visit as a photo op, he canceled: One military official who was working on the Obama visit said because political candidates are prohibited from using military installations as campaign backdrops, Obama’s representatives were told, “he could only bring two or three...

In a stunning upset, Barack Obama this week won the Iraq primary. When Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki not once but several times expressed support for a U.S. troop withdrawal on a timetable that accorded roughly with Obama's 16-month proposal, he not only legitimized the plan. He relieved Obama of a major political liability by blunting the charge that, in order to appease the MoveOn left, Obama was willing to jeopardize the astonishing success of the surge and risk losing a war that is finally being won. Maliki's endorsement left the McCain campaign and the Bush administration deeply discomfited. They underestimated...

This is from a friend ( so I do not know this brave Captain Jeff) but feel it absolutely necessary to pass this along........ This is a first hand account from the nephew of one of our friends. I don't know each of your personal political convictions, but I thought it was important enough to share. This is Jeff's first hand view of Senator Obama. Tiffany ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Hello everyone, As you know I am not a very political person. I just wanted to pass along that Senator Obama came to Bagram Afghanistan for about an hour on...

"The bad news about the Army’s treatment of wounded soldiers keeps coming. The generals keep apologizing and insisting that things are getting better, but they are not..." "Staff members of the House subcommittee who visited numerous warrior transition units June 2007 to February found a significant gap between the Army leadership’s optimistic promises and reality."

Whistling Past the Graveyard   By John PerazzoFrontPageMagazine.com | Friday, July 25, 2008 Last week, columnist Paul Weyrich reported that there is credible evidence that Osama bin Laden has acquired twenty suitcase-sized nuclear bombs from Chechen rebels in the former Soviet Union and smuggled them into the United States by way of the Mexican border. If that is true, the al Qaeda kingpin has laid the groundwork for an “American Hiroshima” plan that he intends to carry out in the very near future. Once bin Laden gives the signal, his henchmen will proceed to detonate their explosives in a...

Whistling Past the Graveyard   By John PerazzoFrontPageMagazine.com | Friday, July 25, 2008 Last week, columnist Paul Weyrich reported that there is credible evidence that Osama bin Laden has acquired twenty suitcase-sized nuclear bombs from Chechen rebels in the former Soviet Union and smuggled them into the United States by way of the Mexican border. If that is true, the al Qaeda kingpin has laid the groundwork for an “American Hiroshima” plan that he intends to carry out in the very near future. Once bin Laden gives the signal, his henchmen will proceed to detonate their explosives in a...

Gurnee park expects about 1,200 Muslims to attend Saturday On any other day, Sobia Ahmed would opt to forgo many of the snacks on offer at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee. To perform the Islamic prayers she recites five times a day, she likely would slip onto a secluded path at the amusement park or look for solace under a shady tree for a few furtive minutes. But this Saturday Ahmed and her family will eat and pray at their leisure in the park with hundreds of other Muslims from the Chicago area who plan to visit the sprawling...

A U.S. military official tells NBC News they were making preparations for Sen. Barack Obama to visit wounded troops at the Landstuhl Medical Center at Ramstein, Germany on Friday, but "for some reason the visit was called off." One military official who was working on the Obama visit said because political candidates are prohibited from using military installations as campaign backdrops, Obama's representatives were told, "he could only bring two or three of his Senate staff member, no campaign officials or workers." In addition, "Obama could not bring any media. Only military photographers would be permitted to record Obama's visit."...

Taking the protest against the Gaza blockade to a new level, two boats packed with foreign left-wing activists will attempt to sail from Cyprus to the sealed Gaza harbor in two weeks' time. Slideshow: Pictures of the week The operation is being directed by members of the International Solidarity Movement and the Israeli Commission against House Demolitions. A Web site, FreeGaza, has been set up to collect donations and update the public. The group - which numbers some 40 activists - has purchased two boats, one called SS Free Gaza and the other SS Liberty, named after the USS Liberty...

Just breaking 6 or 7 bombs went off in Banagalore - my home town. A prayer for the city with the liveliest and friendliest of people

London-based Daily Telegraph reports of mysterious blast in military convoy leaving Revolutionary Guards Base last weekend. At least 15 people killed in explosion, but Iranian authorities seeking to silence incident Was sabotage responsible for disrupting a shipment of arms from Iran to Hizbullah? The London-based Daily Telegraph newspaper reported Friday of a mysterious explosion which devastated an Iranian supply convoy intended to reach Hizbullah. According to the report, the strong blast took place in one of Tehran's suburbs as a military convoy left a Revolutionary Guards' ammunition storehouse. At least 15 people were killed in the explosion. Western sources reported...

ATHLETES from Iraq have been banned from taking part in this summer's Beijing Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced. The team was already the subject of an interim ban after the Iraqi Government replaced the country's Olympic committee with its own appointees. Under the IOC charter, all committees must be free of political influence. As a result, the team of two rowers, two sprinters, one archer, one weightlifter and one judo competitor cannot attend the Games. "We sent a letter to the Iraqi Government today saying that as the situation stands, today it is unlikely to have Iraqi...

ALBERT Jacka is regarded as one of Australia's finest soldiers. His exploits at Gallipoli and on the Western Front are legendary, and he was the first Australian in World War I to be awarded the Victoria Cross. Clearly honoured and smiling broadly, his great nephew Simon Jacka, 25, yesterday became the first in the family to join the military since his famous ancestor almost a century ago. "I am proud to serve the nation as a member of the Australian Defence Force," hesaid. "Formally joining the army was a proud moment for the family. I am continuing the association between...

The American Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, is in the Western Australian captial, Perth. She is in the country for a short, unofficial visit after attending a regional security forum in Singapore. Dr Rice touched down on a US airforce jet with the foreign minister, Stephen Smith, and was greeted by the WA premier, Alan Carpenter, the immigration minister, Chris Evans, and the US ambassador. The secretary of state is visiting as a personal guest of Mr Smith, and will not hold any official diplomatic talks while in Australia. Dr Rice will meet troops from the Special Air Services regiment,...

US presidential hopeful Barack Obama was due in Paris on Friday to meet President Nicolas Sarkozy during a fleeting and low-key visit in stark contrast to his crowd-pulling trip to Berlin the day before. Obama's aides did not detail his agenda, but the Illinois senator was expected to land at Le Bourget airport and head into Paris solely for the Sarkozy meeting before leaving for London soon afterwards. "Senator Obama looks forward to meeting with President Sarkozy and discussing areas of mutual interest, including the common challenges of security, transnational threats, and the global economy," his national security spokeswoman Wendy...

Barack Obama concedes that America's troops have contributed to improvements on the ground in Iraq, but he still stands by his vote against the surge. Why not just admit that he was wrong? Come on, senator, this is a lot easier than changing churches. Say: "As a proud American, I'm delighted that the surge has worked so we can move forward with my timetable for withdrawal. Look, if I'd known how successful it was going to be, I would have voted for it. At the time it didn't seem like a good bet, but prognosticators go broke in wartime." See,...

    Major gongs for heroic Our Boys   Award ... Captain Paul Britton is congratulated by Major General Gary Robison    By TOM NEWTON DUNN Defence Editor Published: Today     AN Army officer who led a battle despite a lump of burning shrapnel in his shoulder was one of 19 forces heroes awarded the Military Cross yesterday.   Praise ... Lieutenant General Graeme Lamb  Captain Paul Britton, 28, refused morphine so he could control artillery and air strikes to beat off Taliban attackers in Helmand province, Afghanistan. The Royal Artillery officer was wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade...

MOSUL, IRAQ: The Battle for Mosul over the past several years has worked as a microcosm for the larger Iraqi conflict, with Coalition and Iraqi forces successfully imposing its will only after Al Qaeda and other insurgent groups held large parts of the city and region for long periods. Control over the city of 1.9 million people and the surrounding Ninewa province have been lost to Coalition and government forces twice since 2003. Only a successful security operation in May has brought attacks to their lowest recorded levels since the conflict began. Operation “Lion’s Roar” in May involved 5,000 Coalition...

BALAD, Iraq – Iraqi Special Operations Forces detained eight suspected members of the Islamic State of Iraq, a front organization for al-Qaeda in Iraq, in Mosul July 22.The ISOF conducted the operation to disrupt an active improvised explosive device cell in Mosul that operates in an area reportedly known to support criminals. Two other suspected terrorists were detained during the operation.-30-

Excerpt - GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba, July 24 (Reuters) - A driver for Osama bin Laden was not told of any rights against self-incrimination under years of interrogation, FBI agents told the Guantanamo war crimes court on Thursday. "Our policy at the time was not to read Miranda rights," FBI special agent Robert Fuller said in testimony at the U.S. military commission trial of Salim Hamdan on charges of conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism. Fuller was referring to the Miranda v. Arizona U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1966, which held that potential criminal suspects in custody...

FORT HUACHUCA — Some of the most dangerous detainees in American custody in Iraq have established sharia courts within the compounds in which they are held and have tried and executed fellow detainees who refused to join them, the Army’s senior military police officer said Wednesday. “Detainees do not stop fighting just because they are detained. Their new environment is merely an extension of the battlefield,” said Brig. Gen. Rodney L. Johnson, the provost marshal general of the Army and the commander of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command. He made his comments to about 300 people attending the first...

TIKRIT — More than 1,100 former fighters have reconciled with Iraqi Security and Coalition forces in the Salah ad Din province since May. Musalahah, meaning reconciliation in Arabic, is a combined effort between the Qadah level Government of Iraq, the leadership of the Iraqi Police, the 4th Iraqi Army Division and the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. By turning themselves into the Joint Coordination Centers across the province, Iraqis are seeking to clear their names. Men who are thought to have committed crimes are given a court date, so they can plead their cases before an Iraqi judge....

A student of the Al Abbas primary school explains locations on a map that is painted on the outside of the newly refurbished school, July 17. Photo by Staff Sgt. J.B. Jaso III. CAMP TAJI — The schoolhouse is run down. Water leaks through numerous cracks in the roof and air conditioners do not operate, effectively causing temperatures inside the building to climb to unbearable lengths.The walls covered with mold, no doors to the classrooms, broken windows, and cracks in the walls large enough to see the surrounding farmlands.Despite all this, approximately 600 students at the Al Abbas primary school,...

7/24/2008 - JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq (AFPN) -- The Joint Base Balad Town Hall filled with brothers and sisters mourning the loss of a military family member July 20. Tech. Sgt. Jackie Larsen, a paralegal working with the Law and Order Task Force of the 732nd Expeditionary Support Squadron, died from non-combat related causes July 17. Sergeant Larsen, deployed from Beale Air Force Base, Calif., operated out of Forward Operating Base Shield and was the NCO in charge of all personnel movements for the LAOTF. The LAOTF trains Iraqi lawyers, paralegals and investigators in proper investigations and documentation of evidence...

WASHINGTON, July 24, 2008 – Al-Qaida terrorists have been largely marginalized in Iraq’s Babil province, thanks to the joint efforts of Iraqi and U.S. security forces, as well as local “Sons of Iraq” citizen security groups, a senior U.S. military officer posted in Iraq said today. “The organization related to al-Qaida is severely disrupted, … as well as the [extremist] militia” in Babil province,” Army Col. Tom James, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, said during a satellite-carried news conference with Pentagon reporters. “Overall, we are extremely optimistic about the security situation in Babil province, because...

WASHINGTON, July 24, 2008 – Coalition and Iraqi forces detained five suspected terrorists and found weapons caches during recent operations in Iraq, military officials said. Yesterday in Baghdad, coalition and Iraqi forces captured five suspected terrorists and uncovered an insurgent rocket-launch site, officials said. Iraqi troops discovered and blocked off the site after spotting a rocket and rail system in the city’s Jihad neighborhood. Soldiers from 4th Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team searched the surrounding communities, eventually detaining the suspects – three in the Saydiyah neighborhood and two in the Zubaida community, officials said. Coalition troops found two roadside...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration has proposed shifting $226.5 million in U.S. counterterrorism aid to Pakistan to upgrade Pakistani F-16 fighters, U.S. officials said on Thursday. The plan has provoked some opposition in the U.S. Congress, where an influential lawmaker questioned how upgraded F-16s, which are widely seen as aimed at countering any threat from India, would be used against al Qaeda and Taliban forces. U.S. officials have long been frustrated at what they view as Pakistan's failure to do enough to combat militants along its border with Afghanistan, where the United States has some 35,000 troops, many of...

Barack Obama recently gave an address on the Iraq war. It was a bizarre speech, as if it had been written two years ago, when it would have made more sense. Liberals ought to hate the speech. It will make their side vulnerable to the common conservative charge that they ignore crucial facts in favor of manufacturing their own reality. The crucial facts in this case – absent two years ago – which have been emphasized repeatedly in recent months even by such bibles of the left as The New York Times and the Washington Post, is that the reconstruction...

BAGHDAD, July 24, 2008 – In another sign of progress in Iraq, 62 tribes and 68 sheiks have organized four private trucking companies to form the Iraqi Transportation Network. A driver for the Iraqi Transportation Network, an Iraqi-owned and operated logistics network, watches as containers are loaded onto his truck July 15, 2008, at Camp Liberty, Iraq. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Andrea Merritt  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The sheiks approached the U.S. military with a proposition for the ITN to haul their cargo throughout Iraq, guaranteeing safe shipment and taking financial responsibility for any loss. They...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER, Iraq, July 24, 2008 – Medics and doctors play a key role in maintaining the health and safety of U.S. soldiers throughout Iraq. A doctor from Montgomery Village, Md., brings especially important skills to the combat theater. Army Lt. Col. (Dr.) Margaret Swanberg, of Montgomery Village, Md., checks the pupils of Army Spc. Michael Woywood, of San Antonio, for dilation during a military acute concussion evaluation demonstration at Forward Operating Base Hammer, Iraq, July 18, 2008. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Michael Schuch, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution...

24 July 2008 Pristina _ The Islamic Community of Kosovo says that many Muslim states are to recognise Pristina’s independence from Serbia in the very near future. Naim Ternava, the head of Kosovo’s Islamic Community, said Thursday that this organisation is lobbying for the further recognition of Kosovo’s independence. “We are working hard, together with Kosovo’s institutions, to make sure many Islamic countries recognise Kosovo,� Ternava said. He made the comment after meeting Kosovo’s Parliament speaker Jakup Krasniqi. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on February 17, an act that has been recognised by 43 countries so far. However recognitions have...

The bodyguard of Benazir Bhutto, who was to be a key witness in an investigation into her assassination, has been shot dead. Khalid Shahenshah, who was the former Pakistan prime minister's security chief at the time of her assassination, was killed in a drive-by shooting as he left his house in the southern port city of Karachi on Tuesday, police said. Mr Shahenshah, 45, was riding in Mrs Bhutto's bullet-proof car when she was killed in a suicide attack in the northern city of Rawalpindi on December 27. He was expected to be called to give evidence at a United...

For an organisation that prides itself on being a well-run administrative machine, the leadership of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards is having a rather testing time. It’s not just last Saturday’s mysterious explosion in a suburb of Tehran that killed 15 people that is causing the leadership sleepless nights, although the nationwide news black-out imposed immediately afterwards does suggest the Revolutionary Guards, the storm troops of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, are rattled. Details are only now starting to reach the outside world, and it looks increasingly like sabotage was responsible for devastating a military convoy as it travelled through Khavarshahar. The company responsible...

Iran has signalled it will no longer co-operate with International Atomic Energy Agency experts investigating for signs of nuclear weapons programmes, confirming that the probe - launched a year ago with great expectations - was at a dead end. Coming from Iranian Vice President Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, the announcement compounded international scepticism about denting Tehran's nuclear defiance just five days after Tehran stonewalled demands from six world powers to suspend activities that can produce the fissile core of warheads. Besides demanding a stop to uranium enrichment - which can create both fuel and the nuclear missile payloads - the international...

Editor’s Note: Newsmax Editor Christopher Ruddy is visiting Israel this week and met with Natan Sharansky. The former Soviet dissident spent more than a decade in the communist Gulag. He emigrated to Israel after his release in 1986, became a Knesset member and served in four successive Israeli governments, including time as deputy prime minister. In 2006, he resigned from Israel’s Knesset, but he remains active in the country’s political discourse. He has just authored his latest book “Defending Identity: Its Indispensable Role in Protecting Democracy.” Jerusalem — An Israeli businessman I met described Natan Sharansky as having an “inner...

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Bush administration told the CIA in 2002 that its interrogators working abroad would not violate U.S. prohibitions against torture unless they “have the specific intent to inflict severe pain or suffering,” according to a previously secret Justice Department memo released Thursday.

BERLIN (AFP) - Barack Obama Thursday told a staggering crowd of 200,000 people in Berlin that Americans and Europeans must tear down walls between estranged allies, races and faiths, in a soaring challenge to a new political generation. ... humanity must build "a world that stands as one," before the biggest crowd of his campaign. "The greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another," said Obama, who has scorched through US politics at lightning speed to challenge Republican John McCain for the White House in November's election. --snip-- The crowd was put at...

               Now We Know Jennifer Rubin - 07.23.2008 - 10:50 AM Barack Obama has repeatedly expressed puzzlement at how American Jews could be wary of him. At various shuls and before AIPAC he has brought up the email/whispering campaign, his middle name and even the comments of other African-Americans to explain why Jews haven’t all been smitten by the Great Man. The tone, not just from him, but from his blogoshpere friends has often been one of “But how can it be that they doubt him?” Well, now there are plenty of stories...

Schedule snafus happen. But this... SPIEGEL ONLINE has learned that Obama has canceled a planned short visit to the Rammstein and Landstuhl US military bases in the southwest German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The visits were planned for Friday. "Barack Obama will not be coming to us," a spokesperson for the US military hospital in Landstuhl announced. "I don't know why." Shortly before the same spokeswoman had announced a planned visit by Obama. coupled with this... Obama noted that in a break from his whirlwind schedule, "we've got some down time tonight. What are you guys gonna do in Berlin?...

Senator Barack Obama, the visiting Democratic presidential candidate who is leading the race for the White House, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday evening that, if elected president, he would do "everything in my power" to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Asked about concerns that the Iranians would abuse his stated readiness for "tough diplomacy" to play for time and keep moving ahead toward the bomb, Obama said that his "willingness to negotiate" had "very clear and direct goals" and "a sense of urgency." So "if the Iranians fail to respond, we've stripped away whatever excuses they may have,...

Ramirez's program is part of a growing number of veterans hospitals across the United States making cycling a permanent part of their trauma recovery programs, according to Road 2 Recovery, a national program whose mission is to raise money to support cycling at military and VA locations.

Russia said on Thursday it opposed any artificial deadlines being issued to Iran to force it to respond to incentives from world powers on suspending its nuclear activities. But it also warned Tehran against dragging out the process. Western powers suspect Iran is seeking to build atomic bombs. The Islamic Republic says its nuclear program is a peaceful drive aimed at generating electricity so that it can export more of its oil and gas.

Egypt has banned a book by a British journalist about Egyptian politics and society entitled "Inside Egypt: The Land of the Pharaohs on the Brink of a Revolution," the author said on Wednesday. "According to my publisher, The American University in Cairo bookstore ordered 50 copies of Inside Egypt a few days ago, only to cancel the order a few hours later after being informed by Egyptian government censors that the book is banned in Egypt," John R. Bradley said. The book's New York-based publishers Palgrave Macmillan confirmed the book had been banned in Egypt. The book "examines the junctions...

During the run-up to the primaries, Senator Obama did not appear in the Senate to vote on the (Kyl-Lieberman Amendment)calling on the government to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist entity and thus suffer the imposition of sanctions. On the day of the vote on the amendment, however, Obama issued a statement announcing that he would have voted against it. In the statement, the closest he came to addressing the merits of the amendment was his assertion that "he does not think that now is the time for saber-rattling towards Iran." The amendment passed the Senate 76-22 on...

ARLINGTON, VA -- Today, Barack Obama will sit down with NBC News for an interview to be aired on NBC's "Nightly News." Please find below a reminder that while Barack Obama was trying to score political points in the Democratic primaries by calling the surge a failure, NBC News was reporting the progress being made in Iraq because of the surge: BARACK OBAMA ON THE SURGE In January 2007, Barack Obama Opposed The Surge: Barack Obama Said The Surge Would Actually Worsen Sectarian Violence In Iraq. Obama: "I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going...

"And then we sat down with [Barack Obama] to talk about what has become an open disagreement between military commanders here and Obama, over his plan to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq on a 16-month timetable." -- Terry Moran Barack Obama ABC Interview July 21, 2008 ABC's Terry Moran: "And then we sat down with [Barack Obama] to talk about what has become an open disagreement between military commanders here and Obama, over his plan to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq on a 16-month timetable. Did General Petraeus talk about military concerns about your timetable?" Barack...

1:42 p.m.: SPIEGEL ONLINE has learned that Obama has cancelled a planned short visit to the Rammstein and Landstuhl US military bases in the southwest German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The visits were planned for Friday. "Barack Obama will not be coming to us," a spokesperson for the US military hospital in Landstuhl announced. "I don't know why." Shortly before the same spokeswoman had announced a planned visit by Obama.

Russia to give Iran new anti-aircraft defenses John VI Cantacuzenes Alert: "Iran to get new Russian air defences by '09 -Israel," by Dan Williams for Reuters, July 23 (thanks to Mackie):TEL AVIV, July 23 (Reuters) - Iran is set to receive an advanced Russian-made anti-aircraft system by year-end that could help fend off any preemptive strikes against its nuclear facilities, senior Israeli defence sources said on Wednesday. First delivery of the S-300 missile batteries was expected as soon as early September, one source said, though it could take six to 12 months for them to be deployed and operable --...

Two years ago, we wrote about "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against The West." This awarding-winning flim uses images from Arab TV rarely seen in the West to provide an inside view of the hatred Islamic Radicals are teaching, their incitement of global jihad, and their goal of world domination. It also pointed to parallels between the Islamic Radicals and the Nazi movement. The folks who brought us "Obsession" are attempting to revive attention to the film and to the issues it raised. Their efforts are certainly timely. As Gregory Ross of the Clarion Fund, points out, recent events in Lebanon...

The Israeli army chief of staff has said in Washington that all options must be prepared to counter Iran's controversial nuclear programme, in remarks relayed on Thursday. "We are all united over the understanding that Iran must not be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon and that there is no doubt that diplomacy must be given priority," Major General Gabi Ashkenazi said on Israeli public radio. "But we all realise, both the Americans and us, that all options must be prepared," said the chief of staff, who is on his first visit to Washington since taking office last year.