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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...