Weapons Given to Iraq Are Missing
From the Washington Post
Excerpt: The Pentagon has lost track of about 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols given to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005, according to a new government report, raising fears that some of those weapons have fallen into the hands of insurgents fighting U.S. forces in Iraq.

The author of the report from the Government Accountability Office says U.S. military officials do not know what happened to 30 percent of the weapons the United States distributed to Iraqi forces from 2004 through early this year as part of an effort to train and equip the troops. The highest previous estimate of unaccounted-for weapons was 14,000, in a report issued last year by the inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.

The United States has spent $19.2 billion trying to develop Iraqi security forces since 2003, the GAO said, including at least $2.8 billion to buy and deliver equipment. But the GAO said weapons distribution was haphazard and rushed and failed to follow established procedures, particularly from 2004 to 2005, when security training was led by Gen. David H. Petraeus, who now commands all U.S. forces in Iraq.

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Labels: iraq, military

House rejects cuts to notorious school
From AP via the Miami Herald
Excerpt: Congress has turned back the latest attempt to cut funding for an Army school that trains military officers from Latin America and has a tainted past.

Just before midnight Thursday, the House voted 214-203 against a bid to eliminate the money used for foreign military officers to attend the controversial Army facility at Fort Benning, formerly called the School of the Americas.

The amendment, sponsored by Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., is similar to one that the school's critics have tried to pass for years. It failed 218-188 in a House vote last year.

The school is best known for training Latin American soldiers who fought communist insurgencies in the 1980s and 1990s. Critics have long charged that the Defense Department teaches abusive and illegal tactics there, citing allegations that many graduates later became involved in corruption, murder and human rights violations. Large protests are held annually outside the school near Columbus, Ga.

In the mid-1990s, the Pentagon acknowledged that training manuals previously used at the school recommended bribery, blackmail, threats and torture. In 2001, the Army changed the school's name to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, and officials say its curriculum now includes a renewed emphasis on human rights. The school also offers classes for civilians and police officers.
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Labels: congress, military, torture

Guantánamo defense lawyer forced out of Navy
From the Seattle Post Intelligencer
Excerpt: The Navy lawyer who took the Guantánamo case of Osama bin Laden's driver to the U.S. Supreme Court — and won — has been passed over for promotion by the Pentagon and must soon leave the military.

Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, 44, said last week he received word he had been denied a promotion to full-blown commander this summer, "about two weeks after" the Supreme Court sided against the White House and with his client, a Yemeni captive at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba.

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Labels: guantanamo, law, military, pentagon, prisoner, supreme court

Bush's Guard Service may affect Miers Nomination
From the Austin American Statesman
Excerpt: A former Texas lottery official, who claimed that then-Gov. George W. Bush's desire to cover up his National Guard record helped steer decisions about a key lottery contract, said he wants to talk to senators about Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers' possible role in that effort. ...

... Littwin claimed in a federal lawsuit that lottery operator GTECH held sway over the Texas Lottery Commission because former GTECH lobbyist Ben Barnes was involved in helping get Bush into the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War.

GTECH, which settled the suit in 1999 and paid Littwin $300,000 without admitting wrongdoing, said in court filings that Littwin's Guard-related claims were "preposterous." More

Labels: bush, law, military, supreme court