US General Sorry For Blaming Massacre On Gay Soldiers

The cemetery at the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial and
Cemetery to Genocide Victims. Photo from Wikipedia

US General Apoloises For Blaming Gay Dutch Troops At Srebrenica -- Times Online

A retired US general has apologised for saying that Dutch troops failed to prevent the Srebrenica massacre because openly gay soldiers were included in their UN peace-keeping force.

John Sheehan, a former Nato supreme commander, wrote a letter to a senior Dutch general accepting that he was wrong to name him as the source of the claims and putting the blame for the atrocity on political guidance given to officers.

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More News On General John Sheehan's Anti-Gay Comments

US ex-general apologizes for Dutch gay comments -- AP
US general apologises for anti-gay remarks -- AFP
US general apologises for gay Dutch troops slur -- The Telegraph

My Comment: Case closed .... time to move on.

US Marines Embrace Web 2.0

[Photo: USMC; Linker: MY]

In About-Face, Marines Embrace Web 2.0 -- The Danger Room

Last summer, the U.S. Marine Corps took a draconian approach to Web 2.0, issuing a sweeping ban on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other social media sites from its networks.

In an order issued yesterday, the service changed course, issuing guidelines to encourage “responsible and effective use” of social networking technology. “The Marine Corps embraces and strives to leverage the advances of internet-based capabilities,” the directive states. “Effective immediately, internet-based capabilities will be made available to all MCEN [Marine Corps Enterprise Network] users.”

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My Comment: I call this a positive direction. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc. they all add to the morale and well being of our soldiers.

Assault Breacher Vehicles Beat Bombs In Afghanistan

From Popular Mechanics:

Marine corps engineers in Afghanistan have a new beast of a vehicle to help them defeat explosive booby traps.

The civilian mechanics at Anniston Army Depot in Alabama usually only fix vehicles for the Army, not design them for the Marine Corps. But as Marines push into contested areas of Afghanistan, their engineers face a persistent threat from roadside bombs. The mechanics at Anniston saw they could build a safe ride for these military engineers by adding off-the-shelf equipment to an M1A1 Abrams battle tank. The result, called the Assault Breacher Vehicle (ABV), maximizes the depot staff’s experience at fixing the M1A1 and their ability to mount heavy engineering equipment, including a 12-foot plough, onto its hull. The Army donated excess tank parts from its inventory to create the ABV.

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My Comment: This is truly a monster vehicle.

On The Ground Report From Afghanistan

HELPING AFGHANS - U.S. Army soldiers help injured Afghan villagers onto a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during an operation to transport patients in Uruzgan province, Afghanistan, March 28, 2010. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Nicholas T. Loyd

Afghan Front Feels Little Obama Effect -- Washington Times

Focus is Taliban, not corruption.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan | Surrounded by gravel-filled buttresses and manned 24 hours a day by alert American and Afghan gunners, Combat Outpost Kowall appears like an outpost under siege. It is one of the frontline posts in Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal's expanded campaign to flush out a resurgent Taliban militia ahead of the major offensive on Kandahar expected in the coming months.

President Obama's surprise trip to Afghanistan was an opportunity to express U.S. displeasure with the rampant corruption in the government of President Hamid Karzai. But for the soldiers of Alpha Company of the 82nd Airborne Division, Kabul's conference halls and money-

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My Comment: This article focuses on President Obama's trip to Afghanistan, but in outposts like Combat Outpost Kowall it is clear that President Obama's visit has zero if any impact.

I feel for the Afghan soldiers who must operate in this part of Afghanistan even though they are from a different ethnic group, and I feel for the Americans who find themselves in the middle of all of this.

Afghanistan's Top General Has Declared War Against Junk Food

Fast food in Afghanistan: This is the equivalent of a military flatpack. Pizza Hut comes complete within a haulage container. It's a little bit of home cooking for soldiers serving overseas. (Photo from The BBC)

Army Food: The Battle Of The Bulge -- Times Online

The top general in Afghanistan has banned junk food for the troops. In Kabul report on a clash of culinary traditions.

It was visions of Ambrosia that sustained the Spartans, while GIs in the Vietnam War imagined the culinary and sensual pleasures of Saigon. For the troops fighting in the Helmand desert, fantasies tend to focus on chilled milkshakes and Double Whoppers served up on a neon-lit strip of Kandahar airbase known as “The Boardwalk”.

Or they did until yesterday, when the famously ascetic commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, ordered that the Boardwalk — an ever-expanding cluster of fast-food joints at the sprawling airbase — be closed.

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My Comment: General McChrystal is going a "little bit" overboard. I can understand the alcohol prohibition .... but Burger King and Pizza Hut?

Meet The Man Who Has Been Spilling Iran's Nuclear Secrets To The CIA

Shahram Amiri, a nuclear physicist in his early 30s, went missing last June three days after arriving in Saudi Arabia on a pilgrimage, according to the Iranian government. Photo from Press TV

EXCLUSIVE: Iran Nuclear Scientist Defects to U.S. In CIA 'Intelligence Coup' -- ABC News

Shahram Amiri Disappeared Last June in Saudi Arabia, Reportedly Now Resettled in the United States.

An award-winning Iranian nuclear scientist, who disappeared last year under mysterious circumstances, has defected to the CIA and been resettled in the United States, according to people briefed on the operation by intelligence officials.

The officials were said to have termed the defection of the scientist, Shahram Amiri, "an intelligence coup" in the continuing CIA operation to spy on and undermine Iran's nuclear program.

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My Comment:I would love to know what he knows .... but I suspect that the information that he is providing will probably remain classified for a very long time.

Canada Confirms That They Will Be Leaving Afghanistan In 2011

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton looks towards Prime Minister Stephen Harper as he makes an opening statement at the G8 Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the Chateau Cartier in Gatineau, Que., on Tuesday, March 30, 2010. (Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Tories Firm On Afghan Exit Plan Despite Clinton's Plea -- CTV

The Canadian government insists it will not back down from its intention to pull its troops out of combat in Afghanistan next year, despite a not-so-subtle hint from the U.S. Secretary of State that Washington wants its closest ally to remain there.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told CTV's Power Play on Monday that Washington values the work of Canadian soldiers and would "obviously like to see some form of support continue" beyond 2011 -- the year that Ottawa has pledged to pull the Canadian Forces off the Afghan battlefield.

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More News On Canada's Exit From Afghanistan

Harper firm on Afghan withdrawal despite U.S. appeal -- Vancouver Sun
Canada rebuffs U.S. on Afghan extension -- UPI
PM Harper: Canadian Troops To Withdraw From Afghanistan In 2011 -- RTT
Canada Tells Clinton Troops Are Leaving in 2011 -- New York Times
Canada confirmed army forces withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2011 -- The Examiner
No means no, PM tells Clinton -- Globe And Mail
Clinton wants continued Canadian Afghan presence -- Washington Post

My Comment: As a Canadian .... I say good riddance .... and not soon enough.