Pentagon Kept Humvees Despite Known IED Threat

David Hickman, 23, was last of some 4,500 to die

(NEWSER) - On Nov. 14, just a month before the final US troops left Iraq, a 23-year-old soldier lost his life to an improvised explosive device. David Emanuel Hickman was the last American to be killed in a war that cost some 4,500 Americans their lives, the AP reports. With the US mission over, his family and friends are remembering him as a jokester with the nickname "Zeus" (because, he playfully said, his physique was so impressive the gods would be envious); as an outside linebacker who was the linchpin of a defense so complicated his high school had to scrap it after he graduated because no other teen could figure it out; as someone with a goal of one day joining the Special Forces, and who, in the words of a friend, "didn’t sign up to get his life on track. He wanted to be a physically and mentally elite soldier." More»

Overdue containers can cost $2,200 each

(NEWSER) - The Pentagon has racked up a few late fees for metal containers it has rented and failed to return on time. Nothing serious—just a little more than $720 million during the past 10 years. Used for storage, building material, and shelter in Iraq and Afghanistan, the 20-foot containers can generate more than $2,200 each in late fees. "These are the kinds of things that happen when people are asleep at the wheel," a defense analyst tells USA Today . More»

A look back at the retiring defense secretary's career

(NEWSER) - With Robert Gates, who has served eight presidents over four decades, about to retire, the Washington Post looks back at how Gates operated in the Pentagon. He’s been “careful, conservative, and consensus-oriented,” writes Greg Jaffe, and he’s “earned a reputation as the most ruthlessly efficient defense secretary in decades.” So what can we learn from his tenure?

• Buy time. Defense Department reviews following troop surges in Iraq and Afghanistan gave Presidents Bush and Obama a sense of the military’s trajectory—and they bought time against critics calling for quick drawdowns.

Memoir unapologetic, but he wishes president accepted resignation in '04

(NEWSER) - Reviewers have gotten an early peek at Donald Rumsfeld's memoir, Known and Unknown, with the Washington Post and New York Times noting these highlights:

• Biggest regret: Not insisting that President Bush accept his resignation after the Abu Ghraib allegations in 2004. He says the abuse was the work of rogue soldiers, but thinks his resignation might have blunted the "drumbeat of torture" allegations by "partisan critics of the war."
• On Bush: He was a "far more formidable president than his popular image,” but Rumsfeld thinks his loose management style led to an unfocused war strategy.

Bradley Manning only worked on Iraq war

(NEWSER) - Who could've given nearly 1 million classified Afghanistan war documents to WikiLeaks? The military is taking a close look at Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst already charged with leaking documents to the site. Manning would be a perfect suspect, except for one fact: He was stationed in Iraq and had no access to Afghanistan documents. Nonetheless, investigators are examining his computers to see if he could have hacked other military computers to gain the files, the Wall Street Journal reports. More»