Senate Armed Services Committee

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GOP's Inhofe: 'I Believe in Racial And Ethnic Profiling'

And 'all terrorists are Muslims or Middle Easterners'

(Newser) - Republican James Inhofe is all for racial profiling, political correctness be damned, he told a Senate committee hearing today on the Fort Hood shootings. Why? Because “all terrorists are Muslims or Middle Easterners.” Check the video above for the Oklahoman’s statement.

Gates: Afghan Failure Means 'Civil War'

Troop surge is necessary to transition to humanitarian role

(Newser) - Defense chief Robert Gates and other members of the Obama administration took to Capitol Hill today to sell President Obama's plan to send 30,000 additional troops. "Failure in Afghanistan would mean a Taliban takeover of much, if not most, of the country and likely a renewed civil war,...

Hasan Sought to Turn in Patients for 'War Crimes'

Senate committee delays briefing on Fort Hood rampage

(Newser) - Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan repeatedly tried to have his patients prosecuted for “war crimes,” raising the issue with Army authorities a final time on Nov. 2—just 3 days before the Fort Hood massacre. In a breach of doctor-patient confidentiality, Hasan asked superiors if he could legally pass...

Obama Looks to Lieberman to Lead 'Don't Ask' Repeal

Conn. independent has opposed policy on gays in military since '93

(Newser) - After President Obama's pledge this weekend to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the White House turned immediately to key senators on the Armed Services Committee—in particular Joe Lieberman. A House bill to repeal the policy has 177 sponsors, but the White House is eager for Senate legislation with bipartisan...

Afghanistan Push Meets Resistance —From Democrats

Levin, Pelosi object to troop buildup; Obama weighs options

(Newser) - Support for the war in Afghanistan is dwindling among Democrats as President Obama mulls increasing US involvement in the region, the New York Times reports. Ahead of an expected request for more troops from the US commander in the country, the chair of the Senate armed services committee says he’...

'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Will Get Senate Hearing

Senate committee to examine consequences of military's gay policy

(Newser) - The Senate Armed Services Committee will convene a fall hearing to examine the US military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy governing gay service members, the Albany Times Union reports. Chairman Carl Levin agreed to hold the hearings at the encouragement of New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand,...

Detainees, Once Acquitted, May Still Die at Gitmo

Like Bush, Obama administration argues for indefinite detention

(Newser) - Detainees held at Guantanamo Bay and other military prisons may not be freed even if a US commission acquits them of all charges, an Obama administration official testified yesterday. The Defense Department rep told a Senate committee that detainees would be assessed on an individual basis and that prisoners might...

US Readied Waterboarding as Early as 2001

Harsh tactics were readied even before suspects captured

(Newser) - The Bush administration prepared to use waterboarding and other harsh tactics widely considered to be torture 8 months before the Justice Department approved them, and even before capturing a high-level terrorist suspect, the Washington Post reports. A Senate investigation reveals these brutal interrogation methods were approved despite warnings that they...

Afghan Insurgency Growing Stronger: Petraeus

(Newser) - Gen. David Petraeus said today that militant insurgents in Afghanistan are growing in strength but will be fought "relentlessly and aggressively" by bolstered American troops. During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, the commander of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan said the United States would take the fight...

Gitmo 'Torture' Modeled on Chinese Grilling of US POWs

Communist methods became US training manual

(Newser) - Guantanamo Bay interrogators learned their techniques from Chinese Communists who used them on American POWs in the Korean War, the New York Times reports. A 1957 Air Force chart labeled Communist Coercive Methods for Eliciting Individual Compliance detailed methods like prolonged standing and exposure to cold, and was used as...

CIA Gave Pentagon Torture Tips
CIA Gave Pentagon Torture Tips
Jun 18, 2008 8:06 AM CDT

CIA Gave Pentagon Torture Tips

Methods were 'reverse-engineered' from manuals

(Newser) - The CIA gave the Pentagon advice about the legality of harsh interrogation techniques to be used on detainees at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere, the Washington Post reports. Documents shown to a Senate committee yesterday reveal that the agency had a bigger role than first thought. Torture is "subject to...

Ex-Pentagon Lawyers Face Grilling in Torture Probe

Defense Department lawyers played bigger role in Gitmo than first thought

(Newser) - Pentagon lawyers had more input than was initially thought into the harsh interrogation techniques used on Guantanamo Bay prisoners, sources close to a Senate investigation have told the New York Times. Documents from 2002 reveal that officials in the Department of Defense, then run by Donald Rumsfeld, researched techniques like...

Senate Homecoming Won't Be Glorious

Power will not fall in losing candidate's lap

(Newser) - If Hillary Clinton does indeed lose the Democratic nomination, her Senate homecoming won’t be a glorious one, the New York Times reports. Clinton is still a junior senator, ranking 36th out of 49 Democrats, and would need to leapfrog a lot of people to become a committee chair—much...

Senate Grills Petraeus on Basra
 Senate
 Grills
 Petraeus
 on Basra 
Updated
Apr 8, 2008 11:42 AM CDT

Senate Grills Petraeus on Basra

McCain mixes up Sunnis, Shiites again

(Newser) - The campaign trail ran through a scheduled Senate Armed Service Committee appearance by David Petraeus and Ryan Crocker today, as John McCain and Hillary Clinton helped grill the general and ambassador on Iraq. McCain zeroed in on the the widespread Iraqi defections in Basra last week, saying, “It was...

Petraeus: Iraq Has Stepped Up; Gains Still Fragile

The surge is working, but things are still rough in places

(Newser) - Iraq's security has greatly improved since September, Gen. David Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee today, thanks largely to Iraqis themselves. “Iraq has also conducted a surge,” Petraeus said, pointing to the improved Iraqi army and the contribution of Sunni Awakening groups. But he warned that those...

Afghanistan Is Out of Control: Intel Chief

Karzai controls just 30% of country, Taliban 10%, tribal leaders the rest

(Newser) - The 6-year NATO campaign in Afghanistan is failing, the US intelligence chief told the Senate Armed Services Committee this week. Mike McConnell said Harmid Karzai’s US-backed government controls only about 30% of the country, with the Taliban holding another 10%, and the rest under tribal rule. Security, meanwhile, is...

Army to Shorten Combat Tours
Army to Shorten Combat Tours
Feb 27, 2008 7:40 AM CST

Army to Shorten Combat Tours

Three years between deployments

(Newser) - The Pentagon aims to trim tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan from 15 months to a year with an eventual three years between deployments, the Army's top general told the Senate Committee on Armed Services yesterday. The change will be made after the military reduces troop levels this summer,...

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