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ABC News
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Jun 18, 08 12:23 PM CDT
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Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John Cornyn are seeking a probe into reports that veterans had been recruited for tests on drugs linked to suicide, ABC News reports. An ABC News/ Washington Times story noted that vets were given the anti-smoking drug Chantix in government tests, but for more than three months, VA doctors did not tell patients about possible serious side effects.
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ABC News
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Jun 17, 08 2:33 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Combat veterans suffering post-traumatic stress disorder were recruited for clinical trials of drugs linked to suicide and mental disorders, ABC reports. In a trial involving the smoking-cessation drug Chantix, the VA did not warn patients of the drug's serious potential side effects until 3 months after the FDA and the drug's maker had issued warnings.
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New York Times
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Jun 17, 08 7:54 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Did a top Army official lose his job for trying to save the Army money? Charles Smith was ousted from his job after refusing to pay then-Halliburton subsidiary KBR more than $1 billion in charges deemed bogus by Army auditors. “They had a gigantic amount of costs they couldn’t justify,” Smith tells the New York Times . “The money that was going to KBR was money being taken away from the troops, and I wasn’t going to do that.” Smith’s successor coughed up the money.
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New York Times
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Jun 17, 08 6:19 AM CDT
(Newser) -
More than four decades after France withdrew from NATO military command, President Nicolas Sarkozy announced today that his nation's military will once again integrate itself with American and European forces. France's first new national defense policy in 14 years constitutes a major shift away from earlier Gaullist ideals of self-sufficiency, the New York Times reports.
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New York Times
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Jun 16, 08 8:24 AM CDT
(Newser) -
A soldier may soon face court-martial in the deaths of two US officers in Iraq, whom army prosecutors say he killed in a rare instance of “fragging”—the murder of a fellow soldier. The New York Times examines the case of Sgt. Alberto Martinez, who prosecutors say detonated a mine in Captain Phillip Esposito’s quarters in 2005, killing him and another officer. “I’m convinced this was 100% preventable,” said Esposito’s widow.
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Associated Press
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Jun 12, 08 12:00 PM CDT
(Newser) -
One Marine is being expelled and another punished for their roles in the YouTube video posted in March that showed a puppy being thrown off an Iraq cliff, reports the AP. Lance Cpl. David Motari is "being processed for separation" from the Marine Corps—he and the Marine accused of taping the puppy's death also received unspecified "non-judicial punishment."
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New York Times
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Jun 11, 08 7:53 PM CDT
(Newser) -
The Myanmar junta’s shameful cyclone response illustrates some global truths we must face, writes Madeleine Albright in the New York Times . Among them: President Bush's ill-advised attack of Iraq has made it all the more difficult for the international community to intervene in the world's trouble spots. Instead, the principle of national sovereignty now rules the day, even when people are suffering.
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Daily Telegraph (UK)
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Jun 10, 08 12:30 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Rupert Everett apologized "without reserve" for calling soldiers “wimps” who join the army to torture prisoners, the Telegraph reports. In a recent interview, the actor said, "The whole point of being in the Army is going to war and getting yourself blown up.” He now says his “flippant and irresponsible behavior arises from a deep frustration” with war.
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Esquire
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Jun 8, 08 5:13 AM CDT
(Newser) -
One soldier's death reveals more of America's pain more starkly than Iraqi war statistics ever could. So one reporter discovered as he followed the remains of Indiana native son Sgt. Robert Joe Montgomery from a pass near the Tigris to a funeral in Scottsburg, meeting all who suffered along the way. At the riveting center of Chris Jones' haunting journey in Esquire is "Joey" himself.
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Time
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Jun 6, 08 3:53 AM CDT
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A growing number of American troops serving abroad are taking Prozac and other antidepressants, Time reports. A survey last year found 12% of troops in Iraq are using the drugs, with 17% relying on them in Afghanistan. The drugs help the military keep stressed combat troops in the field—but the use of the "quick-fix" for mental health is causing concern.
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Newsweek
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Jun 5, 08 4:51 PM CDT
(Newser) -
At the outset of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were little more than nifty, if sometimes helpful toys. They’ve since cemented a key role in US operations, Newsweek reports. Now hundreds of drones, some as small as model airplanes, keep an unblinking eye on militant movements, relaying images instantly to field commanders’ laptops. One battalion commander says 90% of his "kills" have been aided by UAVs.
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Air Force Times
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Jun 5, 08 3:30 PM CDT
(Newser) -
The Secretary of the Air Force and the service's chief of staff were forced to resign today on the heels of a report highly critical of the handling of nuclear weapons and technology, the Air Force Times reports.
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Reuters
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Jun 4, 08 6:04 AM CDT
(Newser) -
US warships laden with aid for Burmese cyclone survivors will sail out of the region tomorrow still carrying their loads, Reuters reports. Burma's military junta has refused 15 requests to allow American forces to deliver aid supplies to the disaster zone, according to the admiral in charge of the operation.
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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Jun 2, 08 1:41 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Ross McGinnis, a 19-year-old private who sacrificed his life in Iraq, was awarded the Medal of Honor today in a White House ceremony. Rather than fleeing a grenade an insurgent threw at his Humvee, McGinnis dived on it, saving four other soldiers, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. His son "had no thought of medals," McGinnis' father, Tom, told the Army Times.
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Associated Press
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Jun 2, 08 4:20 AM CDT
(Newser) -
A careful young Marine has died from bullet wounds 4 months after muggers shot him point blank in the neck while he was on leave home in Cleveland from Iraq, the AP reports. Warned that a Marine could be a robbery target, Lance Cpl. Robert Crutchfield decided to carry only $8 in his pocket, a sum that infuriated his attackers. Two men have been charged in the shooting.
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Associated Press
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Jun 1, 08 8:05 AM CDT
(Newser) -
The death toll in Iraq plunged in May, with 21 US military dead the lowest monthly figure in more than 4 years. Iraqi civilians and troopers also saw a decline, with 532 deaths in May, compared with 1,080 the month before. But in the absence of lasting political agreements, many fear this signals a breathing spell in violence rather than the start of a longer trend.
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