Free Republic

A Yemeni immigrant who was discharged from the U.S. Air Force after expressing sympathy for Osama bin Laden following the Sept. 11 attacks faces trial next week on accusations of lying to land a job as an airport screener. Sadeq Naji Ahmed, 25, a former airman at Eglin Air Force Base in Pensacola, Fla., faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted of making false statements on a questionnaire to get a job with the Transportation Security Administration at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

Air Force testing robot vehicles for guard duty EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla., (AP) -- The Air Force wants to take away Staff Sgt. Miguel Jimenez's job, and that's just fine by him. The Miami airman was plucked from his normal security duties at nearby Tyndall Air Force Base to help test whether a robotic vehicle can take the place of humans in guarding air bases and troops. ``If somebody wants to spend the money and send something like that out there instead of my life, I'm all about that,'' Jimenez said Tuesday of the robots that cost from $200,000...

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AP) - The Air Force conducted a second test Friday of the "Mother of All Bombs," officially the Massive Ordnance Air Blast. The blast occurred early Friday afternoon, Eglin spokesman Jake Swenson said. Air Force officials said the weapon detonated as planned, hit its target area and released a mushroom cloud of smoke that rose more than 10,000 feet in the air. The 21,700-pound bomb, which contains 18,700 pounds of explosives, was first tested March 11, eight days before the United States invaded Iraq. The spring blast shook windows miles away, although some people in...