Obama wants record $708B for military next year

President Barack Obama will ask Congress for an additional $33 billion to fight unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on top of a record $708 billion for the Defense Department next year, The Associated Press has learned — a request that could be an especially hard sell to some of the administration's Democratic allies. Complete Story...

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Families of disappeared accuse Moscow of dirty war

Aliskhan Pliyev was talking on his cell phone with his girlfriend one autumn afternoon when two dozen masked men in uniforms stormed into his family's house, grabbed him and began to hustle him away.

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Violence expected as Mexican drug lord arrested

It will take more than a few arrests of top drug kingpins to end the vicious cycle of drug violence plaguing Mexico.

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Latest shot in hummus war: Israel doubles record

Israel has taken the upper hand in a new kind of Mideast conflict, one in which bullets are replaced by chickpeas.

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Scoop: Mariah’s behavior raises eyebrows

Mariah Carey’s erratic behavior bar is set high. Topping her 2001 declaration on “Total Request Live” that she would like “one day off when I can go swimming and look at rainbows and, like, eat ice cream” would be difficult. However, her recent behavior is raising eyebrows.

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Envoy: prosecutions spur release of child soldiers

The U.N.'s special envoy on child soldiers said Thursday the prosecution of rebel leaders for exploiting children in war is persuading some groups to release underage fighters.

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US troop deaths soared in Afghanistan in 2009

U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan doubled in 2009 compared with a year ago as 30,000 additional troops began pouring in for a stepped-up offensive and the Taliban fought back with powerful improvised bombs.

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Mexico nabs 3rd brother in reputed drug family

The capture of a reputed kingpin following the death of his brother has knocked out most of a brutal drug trafficking dynasty after a Mexican crackdown on corruption stripped the Beltran Leyva cartel of many snitches within security forces.

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Colombia says coca crop eradication down in 2009

Colombia said Tuesday it has fallen short of its goal for eradicating coca crops this year, blaming it on violent reactions from drug traffickers and budget problems despite having received billions of dollars in U.S. aid.

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El Paso stays safe, though it's next to a war zone

El Paso and its neighbor across the Rio Grande, Ciudad Juarez, are like reverse photographic images of each other.

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Belgian-Israeli dual nationals sue Hamas

Five Belgians living in Israel filed a complaint here Thursday against the Hamas rulers of Gaza, saying militant rocket fire into Israel had violated their human rights.

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Mexico suspends 6 over photos of slain drug lord

Six forensics workers in Mexico have been suspended for altering a crime scene in which slain drug lord Arturo Beltran Leyva was photographed with bloodstained money laid out across his bullet-ridden body, an official said Tuesday.

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Slaying of drug war hero's family shocks Mexico

Assailants on Tuesday gunned down the mother, aunt and siblings of a marine killed in a raid that took out one of Mexico's most powerful cartel leaders — sending a chilling message to troops battling the drug war: You go after us, we wipe out your families.

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Tijuana becomes crucible for Mexican police reform

EDITOR'S NOTE — AP reporter Elliot Spagat followed Tijuana's new public safety chief, Julian Leyzaola, for eight months as he launches the city's most aggressive police reform to date, in the middle of a raging drug war.

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AP IMPACT: Tijuana's drug war focuses on police

EDITOR'S NOTE: AP reporter Elliot Spagat follows Tijuana's new public safety chief, Julian Leyzaola, for eight months as he launches the city's most aggressive police reform to date, in the middle of a raging drug war.

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French WWII babies shed shame, find German roots

Ugly words on the playground were his first hurtful clue.

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In Afghan war, officer flourishes outside the box

You may wonder how Thomas Gukeisen made it to lieutenant colonel, and by age 39 at that. He breaks Army rules and operates by his own rendition of counterinsurgency warfare whose arsenal includes Afghan poetry, chaos theory and the thoughts of a 17th-century English philosopher.

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Pakistan, US at odds on enemies in terror war

Bristling at criticism from Washington, Pakistan's army dismissed U.S. pressure to open a front against Afghan militants operating on its territory, saying Thursday it was stretched to the limit in a bloody war against its own Taliban.

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Veteran Hawaii shipper wins round over upstart

Pasha Hawaii Transport Lines LLC has suffered a setback in its plans to challenge the monopoly Young Brothers Ltd. has on the interisland marine shipping business in Hawaii.

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A timeline of arrests, deaths of Mexican druglords

The death of reputed drug lord Arturo Beltran Leyva in a shootout with Mexican marines is the latest in a long list of Mexican cartel leaders captured or killed by authorities. Some earlier cases:

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AP IMPACT: US drug war crackdown misses the money

Every day, criminals shove proceeds from U.S. drug sales in their shoes, tape it to their torsos, stash it under dashboards — or just wire it electronically to Mexico. It all adds up to $25 billion a year.

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Obama on war decision: `You feel it viscerally'

President Barack Obama spoke in personal terms Wednesday about the weight of war, calling his middle-of-the-night trip to Dover, Del., to greet the remains of fallen soldiers the most powerful moment of his presidency.

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Drug violence overwhelms Tijuana

This year was particularly tough for the already rough border city of Tijuana, besieged by drug violence and slammed by the economic downturn in the United States.

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Gunmen kill family of Mexican drug war hero

Gunmen mowed down the family of a Mexican marine just hours after the military honored him as a national hero for losing his life during a raid that took down powerful drug kingpin Arturo Beltran Leyva.

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Old school meth: Mexican cartels go back to basics

Mexican cartels are increasingly going "old school" to keep supplying America with methamphetamine despite an ingredient squeeze.

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Congressional negotiators and White House officials are moving forward with plans to add the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell to the upcoming defense authorization bill, Democratic sources tell the Huffington Post.

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The 545 People Responsible For All Of U.S. Woes

545 PEOPLE By Charlie Reese Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them. Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

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In his Dec. 27 column, ["An admiral who found the center," op-ed], David Ignatius distorts the proper role of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He glosses over Adm. Mike Mullen's professional failures, particularly on Afghanistan and his handling of the firing of Gen.

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Most of the media coverage was a romanticized hail-to-the-chief celebration of a majestic figure rather than a realistic examination of what this man did for, or to, the country and the world.

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According to a current NY Times article the Afghans are losing hope after the US has raped their nation and killed as many as three million of them for 8 years. The problem is simple.

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Pakistan and India fought three wars and tere are still chances of a conflagration.

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Aljazeera generally has an anti-Western slant, as should be expected since they tend to pander to the Islamic and Arab world.

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Curiosity Somitimes Gives You the Most Simple Answer.

There are times in your lives that you will pursuit a question to it's limits and gets you the most unexpected answer, or rather the perfect one.

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In her debut as a contributor to Fox News, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin admitted Tuesday that leading up to her 2008 vice presidential debate she thought Iraq may have been behind the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

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CBS Cancels "The Unit"

I don't know about you but I am constantly asking myself...Who makes the desicions on what is to be cancelled and what isn't? I had only watched "The Unit" one time prior to January 1st 2010 and for some reason it just did not capture my attention.

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Remember the Alamo? (fiction)

I was pondering the events of the past year, most of us do at the beginning of a new year. Some of us made mistakes and some of us are perfect! I'm a guy, born imperfect and will die imperfect. My mother already made my reservations in hell.

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US airport security officials will be even more panicked when they learn a jihadist recently tried to assassinate Saudi Arabia's interior minister, Prince Nayef, by detonating a bomb secreted in his rectum. Will we soon bend and spread for security – just like in prisons?

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Lendman: ""Major double-dip downturn should be obvious by mid-year...California - A State in Crisis... Hard Times in Michigan...Detroit - A Dying City..."Hunger and homelessness (are) at record levels in US cities"

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But the al-Asiri case ended very differently from the al-Awfi case. Unlike al-Awfi, al-Asiri was not a genuine repentant — he was a human Trojan horse.

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Allegations that a 62-year-old Iraqi grandmother was tortured and executed by British soldiers after her family home was raided three years ago are being investigated by the Royal Military Police.

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The US military commander for the Middle East and the Gulf region has confirmed that the United States has developed contingency plans to deal with Iran's nuclear facilities.

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A look into the minds of the supporters of Israeli territorial expansion. If you can't see the video try the Youtube Version:

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Republican Lying Point Memos

Is it a prerequisite for the Republican's talking points that they be a complete lie? Well, earlier this week with the "No terrorist attacks during Bush admin/I mean after 9/11 (still a lie)" talking point, now there is a new one.

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"The government's policy is clear," the prime minister said. "Any firing at our territory will be responded to strongly and immediately." There was no immediate response from Palestinians to Netanyahu's remarks.

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War for Oil or War for Power?

*This was originally written as a comment to a blog about the potential for future wars over oil, in keeping with the speculative nature of that article, I wrote my response below. Because I rambled on so long I thought it would be worthy of a post of it's own.

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Foreign Policy magazine has a provocative cover: Mr. Obama next to Jimmy Carter with — gasp — an "equals" sign in the middle. New York Times/CBS polling shows that public approval of Mr.

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This a great article discussing the issues surrounding why suicide bombers do what they do, and why no one in the main stream press will ever be intelligent or thoughtful enough to ask these extremely important questions. They would rather repeat endlessly the same tired robotic …

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Punishing the soilders......... AGAIN!

I am sick and G-DAM tired...... of the goverment punishing the soilders that serve and die...for this country.. I am so angry that I want all those government officals who voted for this.. punished as treasonists!

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We, of course, think of ourselves as something like the peaceable kingdom.

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