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The United States Marines, America’s best and bravest, are about to land in the Town of Marja, southern Afghanistan. The news is already out. Meetings have gone on for weeks to alert the Marja townspeople. The tribal elders know about it. It’s in the Los Angeles Times. It’s all over Afghanistan. Hell and the entire World know it. And the Taliban Soldiers of Allah know it. The Marines have been instructed not to shoot back if there are civilians in the line of fire. Protecting Afghanistan civilians’ lives must count for more than American lives. It’s CIC Barack Obama and...

COMBAT OUTPOST FIDDLER’S GREEN, Afghanistan Sgt. Jefferson Haney is a rarity, and his fellow Marines look at him with just a little bit of envy. The artilleryman with the 3rd Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment is one of few who have done what they spent countless hours training for: firing his howitzer at the enemy. “Two rounds on an enemy bunker,” recalled Haney as he stood near the firing line at Fiddler’s Green, a combat outpost in Helmand province. “The bunker was destroyed.” With new and more stringent rules of engagement imposed by Gen. Stanley McChrystal in an effort to reduce...

A Pentagon probe into the death of Iraqi civilians last November in the Iraqi city of Haditha will show that U.S. Marines "killed innocent civilians in cold blood," a U.S. lawmaker said Wednesday. From the beginning, Iraqis in the town of Haditha said U.S. Marines deliberately killed 15 unarmed Iraqi civilians, including seven women and three children. One young Iraqi girl said the Marines killed six members of her family, including her parents. “The Americans came into the room where my father was praying,” she said, “and shot him.”

THE COLLECTED TALES OF AMERICAN ATROCITIES, WHICH LEFTISTS RELY UPON THE WAY OTHERS SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES FOR SOLACE, is getting shorter. Like allegations of torture at Guantanamo, Koran desecration, and detainee murders in Afghanistan, the Haditha “massacre” is increasingly being exposed as a fairy tale. Unfortunately, this canard was invented and popularized, not by terrorist propagandists to discredit an enemy army, but by American politicians to demonize U.S. soldiers and drain their own nation's will to fight an ongoing war – a war which we are winning and which the same politicians voted to authorize. Last Friday, the government dismissed...

American and British forces poised to assault the Taliban stronghold of Marjah, in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, have begun targeting insurgent leaders for assassination, The Sunday Times reported. "Special forces guys have been going in on assassination missions with the aim of decapitating the Taliban force," a military source told the Sunday Times. The military has widely publicized the upcoming offensive in Marjah — the biggest Taliban-held community in the south — although the precise date for the attack in Helmand province remains classified. Gen. Stanley McChrystal said the element of surprise is not as important as letting Marjah's estimated...

Every once in awhile columnist Diana West writes a piece that makes me want to break things. This is one of those days. Today’s analysis at her blog tells the story of The United States Marines Corps handcuffed in the position of being social workers, civilian police officers – and by the rules of engagement under which they must operate, sitting ducks for the Taliban in Afghanistan. It is a sickening expose’ of how the Politically Correct upper levels of the United States Military Services, under two consecutive Commanders In Chief who grossly and obstinately misunderstand The World of Islam,...

Backdoor taxes to hit middle class Mon Feb 1, 4:09 PM By Terri Cullen NEW YORK (Reuters.com) --The Obama administration's plan to cut more than $1 trillion from the deficit over the next decade relies heavily on so-called backdoor tax increases that will result in a bigger tax bill for middle-class families. In the 2010 budget tabled by President Barack Obama on Monday, the White House wants to let billions of dollars in tax breaks expire by the end of the year -- effectively a tax hike by stealth. While the administration is focusing its proposal on eliminating tax breaks...

A month after Germany surrendered in May 1945, America’s eyes turned to the Far East, where the bloodiest battle of the Pacific war was joined on the island of Okinawa. Twelve thousand U.S. soldiers and Marines would die — twice as many dead in 82 days of fighting as have died in all the years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Within weeks of the battle’s end came Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Three weeks later, Gen. MacArthur took the Japanese surrender on the battleship Missouri. That was 65 years ago, as far away in time from today as the Marines’ arrival...

As a boy in Frederick, Md., David Smith loved to play with his Army and G.I. Joe action figures and spent hours rescuing his older sister Kristen from all manner of imagined peril. As a young man just out of high school, Smith joined the Marine Corps, because he was moved, his friends and family said, to make a difference and put the lives of others ahead of his own. He served in Iraq in 2006 and then volunteered for a tour of duty in Afghanistan. On Tuesday, Sgt. David Smith, 25, died of injuries suffered in a suicide bomber...

For the US Marines deployed to the battlefields of southern Afghanistan, life is fragile and thoughts focus on the day they see their families again, but something about this war is different. They are preparing for an offensive on Marjah, one of the Taliban's big urban strongholds in the southern province of Helmand, but progress is slow with the militants apparently preferring fight to flight. The Marines will soon be joined by tens of thousands more soldiers, the lion's share of the 30,000-strong troop surge promised by US President Barack Obama in December to try and turn around the grinding...

They were three best friends at Harvard Law School who turned their backs on lucrative careers to follow an exceedingly rare path: Michael Weston, who jogged through Harvard Yard in combat boots and openly scorned corporate life, joined the Marines. Helge Boes and his girlfriend Cynthia Tidler, who shared their friend’s sense of duty and adventure, joined the CIA. Their choices - made out of passion, patriotism, and an urge to live an unconventional life - intertwined their fates. Boes, a covert CIA operative, died when a grenade went off during training in Afghanistan in 2003, leaving Tidler, whom he...

Marine assault vehicles key to Afghan strategy As U.S. and Afghan troops prepare for an offensive in Helmand province, the Assault Breacher Vehicle - a cross between a tank and a bulldozer - is intended to conquer the terrain and roadside bombs. By Tony Perry January 31, 2010 Reporting from Camp Pendleton Weighing 70 tons, traveling up to 45 mph and possessed of a smash-mouth name, the Assault Breacher Vehicle is the Marine Corps' latest answer to a perennial problem of offensive warfare: how to push through the barriers and booby traps of an enemy's outer defenses. Over the decades,...

Republican Vaughn Ward declared his candidacy for the 1st Congressional District of Idaho Tuesday in the Rotunda of the Capitol in Boise Tuesday.

CAMP DWYER, Afghanistan, Jan. 27, 2010 – With large packs and complete sets of personal protective equipment, Marines from Headquarters and Service Company of 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, arrived at the makeshift rifle range here Jan. 23 under rain-threatening clouds. Marines from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, fire rounds at a target while at the rifle range on Camp Dwyer in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, Jan. 23, 2010. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Tommy Bellegarde  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. "There's going to be a lot of pivoting and shooting, facing away from the target and turning...

WASHINGTON: Asserting that its sale to India will "improve interoperability with US Soldiers and Marines," the US defense agency tasked with the transfer of military hardware and promoting military-to-military ties has notified the US Congress of the Obama administration's intention to sell 145 M777 Howitzers to India in a deal worth $ 647 million. The mandatory notification follows a request from India for the light-weight towed Howitzer with Laser Inertial Artillery Pointing Systems (LINAPS), the first major artillery purchase by New Delhi after the star-crossed Bofors deal going back to the 1980s. The $647 million deal will include warranty, spare...

Young Marine foils purse snatching By Robbie Magness Correspondent Published January 26, 2010 A would-be thief ran into a problem — quite literally — after snatching a purse from an elderly woman Friday at the San Jacinto Mall. The thief’s getaway path ran him directly into Baytown’s newest U.S. Marine, Private First Class John Timothy Magness, who tackled the assailant and was able to return the purse and all its contents to the shocked but grateful owner. Magness, 19, a 2009 Ross S. Sterling High School graduate, completed Marine Corps boot camp in October and Marine Combat Training in December,...

The U.S. military missed multiple direct warnings that Major Nidal Malik Hasan was contemplating mass mayhem once he learned he was going to be deployed to Afghanistan but ignored them because of political correctness, an Australian scholar of Islam told Newsmax in Washington, D.C. recently. “At a certain point, someone explained to Major Hasan that he had a duty to fight Americans and that if he didn’t, he would go to Hell,” says Dr. Mark Durie, who has written several books on Islamic ideology. Hi latest is, “The Third Choice: Islam, Dhimmitude and Freedom.” Hasan made a presentation to Army...

RAMADI, Iraq, Jan. 25, 2010 – The 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force transferred authority of Iraq’s largest province to the Army’s 1st Armored Division in a Jan. 23 ceremony here that marked the end of the Marine Corps’ mission in Iraq. A color guard awaits the start of a Jan. 23, 2010, ceremony at Camp Ramadi, Iraq, in which the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force transferred responsibility for Iraq’s Anbar province to the Army’s 1st Armored Division. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Kayleigh J. Cannon  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Before the ceremony, 1st Armored Division’s area of operations, as U.S....

Inside a series of trailers set up near a former tomato plant at Camp Pendleton, Marines are learning the deadly business of roadside bombs. In an exercise that hones their skills at detecting the explosives responsible for most U.S. troop deaths and injuries, one group acts as insurgents, using a video program to choose their weapons, the number of attackers and when they will strike. And because they have the advantage ---- surprise ---- the would-be insurgents usually prevail. While it may be a game played on video screens, the exercise is an important lesson in the reality of combat...

If luck is the battlefield’s final arbiter — the wild card that can trump fitness, training, teamwork, equipment, character and skill — then Lance Cpl. Ryan T. Mathison experienced its purest and most welcome form. On a Marine foot patrol here through the predawn chill of Friday morning, he stepped on a pressure-plate rigged to roughly 25 pounds of explosives. The device, enough to destroy a pickup truck or tear apart several men, was buried beneath him in the dusty soil. It did not explode. Lance Corporal Mathison’s weight triggered the detonation of one of the booby trap’s two blasting...

The Venezuelan Navy is doubling the size of its Marine Corps, by adding another two brigades. The marines also contain two brigades of river police, which used to be a separate organization. The two new marine brigades will take a few years to get trained up to a standard close to that of the existing two brigades. It's possible that the entire Marine Corps may become less effective, as president Hugo Chavez has been forcing the military to undergo a series of reforms that place less emphasis on traditional training and readiness, and more on political correctness and loyalty to...

RAMADI, Iraq (AP) - The U.S. Marine Corps wrapped up nearly seven years in Iraq on Saturday, handing over duties to the Army and signaling the beginning of an accelerated withdrawal of American troops as the U.S. turns its focus away from the waning Iraqi war to a growing one in Afghanistan. In Baghdad, meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden held talks with Iraqi leaders amid rising tensions over plans to ban election candidates because of suspected links to Saddam Hussein's regime. The White House worries the bans could raise questions over the fairness of the March 7 parliamentary elections, which...

Americas: Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has gone off the deep end again, claiming the U.S. engineered the Haiti earthquake. It's a laughable malevolence, of course. But given the spectacular U.S. aid effort, it's also a threat. Right now, the dictator's No. 1 foreign policy aim is to discredit the U.S. aid effort in Haiti. Shortly after Haiti's Jan. 12 earthquake, Chavez, trying to whip up paranoia, accused America of seeking a "military occupation" there. When that didn't work and U.S. aircraft carriers and hospital ships steamed in to rescue ravaged Port-au-Prince, Chavez told Spanish newspaper ABC that the earthquake was the...

An atheist group is objecting to coded references to New Testament passages that a Michigan manufacturer is inscribing on rifle sights it provides to U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Trijicon has a $660 million contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marines, and other contracts with the Army. ABC News reported Monday that the manufacturer, founded by a Christian, had long marked its products with what ABC News called “secret ‘Jesus’ Bible codes:� One of the citations on the gun sights, 2COR4:6, is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: "For...

HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan, Jan. 19, 2010 – Two men donned flak jackets and Kevlar helmets here Jan. 15 -- one set coyote brown, the other forest green, each with an emblem of their nation. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Galen P. Hafner and Afghan National Army Staff Sgt. Gulwazir Harin pose for a photo before setting out on a patrol in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, Jan. 15, 2010. Marines and Afghan soldiers train, eat, work and fight alongside one another. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. James W. Clark  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Stepping out of their tent and...

Marine Corps News #Marines w/22nd MEU have arrived of the coast of #Haiti and the USS Bataan Amphibious Ready Group will begin relief operations immediately 2 minutes ago

The base loudspeaker no longer wakes them up with calls for blood donors; armored trucks sit idle in neat rows. The U.S. Marines who stood at some of the bloodiest turning points of the Iraq war are packing up and leaving.

Desperate Haitians scrambled Sunday to find food and water and guarded their meager possessions against the advance of looters as the U.S. and other nations struggled to jump-start a sluggish relief effort. Even as Navy and Coast Guard ships arrived offshore, a round-the-clock airlift intensified and additional dignitaries appeared, the frantic victims of last Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude earthquake were growing more fearful as they pleaded for help and security in a lawless city. *** "We need the Haitian forces to protect us," said Cledanor Sully, owner of a small Port-au-Prince hotel called the Seven Stars. Sully sleeps in a park across...

There is something seriously wrong with the execution of this nation'scode of military justice - it is being used against the very people it is meant to protect. Case in point: the imprisonment of an heroic Army officer for killing a murderous Iraqi insurgent who had killed two of his men in a cowardly attack that wounded 2 others. This case is reminiscent of the disgraceful prosecution of officers and enlisted United States Marines for having killed 24 Iraqis, among them armed terrorists, in a confrontation in Haditha which resulted in all charges being dropped in eight of the cases....

When an earthquake ravages a country as poor and urbanized as Haiti, it produces the cruelest kind of synergy, as poverty breeds cramped living quarters that are left even more vulnerable by substandard construction work.

Send in the Marines! Six years after the U.S. dispatched the fighting force to Haiti to prevent a civil war, the Leathernecks are heading back Monday to keep anarchy from breaking out in the earthquake-ravaged country. And not a moment too soon. The United Nations reported that its warehouses in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince had been looted and it didn't know how much of its pre-quake stockpile of 15,000 tons of food aid remained. Haitian police "are not visible at all," because many fled their posts after the quake hit Tuesday, UN officials said.

The US is sending up to 3,500 soldiers and 2,200 marines to Haiti to help rescue efforts in the wake of the devastating earthquake. President Barack Obama pledged one of the biggest relief efforts in recent US history and said Haiti would "not be forgotten" in its hour of need. The search for survivors continues but rescuers lack heavy lifting equipment and many are using their bare hands. The Red Cross estimates 45,000-50,000 people are dead and up to 3m affected. BBC correspondents say the situation is increasingly desperate, with aid only trickling in. Mr Obama confirmed that some US...

Here is a brief video report saying that Navy ships loaded with "thousands of U.S. Marines" and supplies is headed to Haiti to help the people in their desperate situation following a 7.0 Earthquake that struck there on Tuesday. The Marines will reportedly assist in rescue efforts and with security. . . . (VIDEO)

DELARAM, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Hundreds of U.S. Marines were engaged in a second day of fighting on Monday with Taliban insurgents as they tried to clear a militant stronghold in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, U.S. officials said. Thirteen insurgents were killed in the early hours of Monday when the Marines called in a Hellfire missile strike from an unmanned Predator drone, U.S. Marine Major Dale Highberger, second in command of the operation, said. Around 10,000 U.S. Marines moved into Helmand in spring last year, more than doubling the numbers of other NATO forces in the province, who had reached what...

CAMP DWYER, Afghanistan, Jan. 7, 2010 – During mid-afternoon on New Year's Day, a sea of men in green, brown and black camouflage uniforms shuffled awkwardly inside a crowded beige tent here. Marines with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, attend a briefing with Afghan soldiers at Camp Dwyer, Afghanistan, Jan. 1, 2010. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. James W. Clark  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Men with thick, black beards and hard faces sat next to clean-shaven youths with full smiles. Each one wears the uniform of his nation's military, and each one carries a...

A new punitive general order concerning the use of uncontrolled or un-regulated psychotropic substances by servicemembers has been disseminated by Commander Marine Corps Forces, Pacific (MARFORPAC). According to the order, the substances known as Spice and Salvia Divinorum are hereby prohibited to all servicemembers assigned within the MARFORPAC chain of command.

CAMP DWYER, Afghanistan, Jan. 4, 2010 – Adjusting his body armor, a designated marksman with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, tracked the progress of a patrol of Marines from his perch atop a rocky hillside. The marksman followed the line of tan figures as they plodded along toward the platoon attack course at Range 3 here Jan. 2. A Marine advances toward targets during a training exercise at Camp Dwyer, Afghanistan, Jan. 2, 2010. The targets marked with yellow represent civilians, while the solid green silhouettes are enemies. The platoon attack course focused on the positive identification of...

I understand the Board of Inquiry (BOI) results are mixed and the recommendation is that LtCol Jeff Chessani is permitted to retire with his rank intact. I am truly happy that General Carparotto and his other two board members submitted that recommendation. I am very concerned, however, that this small crumb is a political accommodation to cover the possible administrative, political deception and trickery yet to come.

When you leave Wal-Mart after making a purchase, you walk past a scanner that sets off an alarm if you haven't paid for something.And if the alarm goes off at this Wal-Mart, Ed Bauman will want to talk to you.Ed Bauman, Wal-Mart greeter, says "I'm getting too old for this stuff."Too old to be punched in the head by a customer who exception to Bauman's questions.Ed says "when he swang, he got me right here," pointing to the back of his head.The 69-year-old greeter was at the entrance when a man in red shorts, identified as Skyler Lowery set...

HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan, Dec. 28, 2009 – Marines of 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion are serving in southern Afghanistan with pride, despite the hardship of being away from their families during the holidays. Marine Corps Cpl. Jonathan Lehman, a combat engineer, cuts down a tree to make room for the construction of an observation post in Helmand province, Afghanistan, Dec. 18, 2009. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Walter Marino   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The Marines are working hard, building observational posts, searching for improvised explosive devices and providing route clearance. “I didn't join the Marine Corps...

President Barack Obama is playing basketball and working out at the gym at the Marine Base near his rented vacation home. The president arrived at the gym at shortly before 7 a.m. Sunday. He's playing basketball with friends and staff. Some of people Obama played golf with Saturday are expected to shoot hoops with him

Here is video of President and Mrs. Obama taking time out from their $9 million Hawaiian vacation estate for a brief visit with U.S. Marine families at the Kaneohe Base. This raw video shows the President and Michelle talking with Marine families. . . . (VIDEO)

HONOLULU – Amid a federal investigation into an attempted terrorist attack on Christmas Day, President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama visited with service men and women who were having dinner Friday afternoon at the Marine Corps Base Hawaii. The Obamas spent about half an hour in the mess hall shaking hands with Marines and their families as they ate traditional holiday fare of turkey, ham, stuffing, corn and broccoli. “Hi guys, Merry Christmas,” President Obama said as he entered the mess hall from a side door. The president and the first lady went from table to table, reaching roughly...

Despite his inability to walk or even talk, a young man still obtained an honor typically reserved for the elite. GALLIA COUNTY, Ohio (WSAZ) -- The few, the proud, the Marines - it's a badge of honor many strive for, but only a few achieve. But for one young man fighting for his own life, he never lost his dream of fighting for his country. Despite his inability to walk or even talk, this young man still obtained an honor typically reserved for the elite. Ernie Stumbo is like most dads -- proud of his son's achievements and eager to...

HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan, Dec. 15, 2009 – When Marines hear they must live at a small patrol base for a long time, many think of primitive facilities, dirty conditions and bland, packaged meals coming from brown bags. Navy Seaman Timothy Wienke and Marine Corps Cpls. Carlos Martinez and Carlos J. Orellana chop vegetables, season meat and cook sides at the Patrol Base Jaker custom field kitchen in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, Dec. 5, 2009. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Brian Tuthill  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. But for Marines with the police mentoring team assigned to the 1st Battalion,...

NAVAL AIR FACILITY ATSUGI, Japan — It all started four years ago with a Tickle Me Elmo doll. Petty Officer 1st Class Nathan Grant figured he’d do his part to support the Toys for Tots drive at Whidbey Island, Wash., and he tossed the doll into his shopping cart. Then he eyed a few more toys, thinking he could help more children. "If you give one toy to one kid in an orphanage, that can change that child’s world," said Grant, now working for Commander Fleet Air, Western Pacific. "But if you can give hundreds of toys, that can have...

Hard to trust our warriors to CinC By GREG SCHARF December 11, 2009 Like most Americans, I listened intently to the president's speech last week regarding our strategy in Afghanistan. I was hoping for a Reagan moment, but all I could think was, "Crud, Carter's back!" Only worse. The step up makes sense, but when he started talking about the exit strategy like many, I shook my head. But to listen to his hand-wringing about Gitmo and waterboarding made me realize we're in big trouble. It hits home as my son-in-law, Marine Sgt. David Hall, is deploying to Afghanistan come...

The highest-ranked Marine accused of bungling the military's response to the slayings of two dozen Iraqi civilians after a lethal 2005 roadside bombing displayed substandard performance, but he should not be demoted, a three-member Board of Inquiry ruled Friday. The military board said it will recommend to the secretary of the Navy that Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, with 22 years of service and three tours of duty in Iraq, be allowed to retain his rank and not be demoted to major. "It's been a long four years, but it hasn't been a miserable four years," Chessani told the North County...

The Marine officer who commanded the Camp Pendleton troops responsible for killing two dozen Iraqi civilians after a roadside bombing in 2005 denied Thursday trying to cover up the killings or failing to report what he knew to the chain of command in Iraq. "I was told it was a bona fide combat action and no investigation was required," Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani said of the response he got from his superiors after he reported the incident. Chessani also said his later removal as commander of Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment "was the most professionally devastating day of...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11, 2009 – A battalion of Marines in southern Afghanistan now has the upper hand in a city they believed to be a Taliban stronghold, a senior Marine Corps officer in Helmand province said today. Marines with 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, conduct combat operations in Now Zad, Afghanistan, during Operation Cobra's Anger, Dec.4, 2009. Cobra's Anger disrupted enemy supply lines and communication in Now Zad, once a safe haven for Taliban forces in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Walter Marino   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. For many months, Now Zad,...