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Four members of a Camp Pendleton squad convicted of taking part in the kidnapping and murder of an Iraqi civilian in 2006 have been ordered by the Secretary of the Navy to be removed from the military. Secretary Ray Mabus also directed the Marine Corps to demonstrate why a lieutenant who oversaw the unit and acknowledged abusing detainees should be allowed to stay in the service. The sweeping order requires the administrative separation within 10 days of "Pendleton 8" defendants Marine Corps Lance Cpls. Tyler Jackson, Jerry Shumate and John Jodka III. Mabus, who has the authority to remove enlisted...

http://www.dvidshub.net/media/thumbs/img/0909/202681.jpg CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq – On the road between Ramadi and Fallujah lies the sediment of six years of violent conflict. The concussive forces of war, insurgency and terrorist brutality have turned much of the mason block construction into what must surely be the dictionary description following the word rubble. If this to block and mortar, what then to the lives of the Anbaris who lived here? It is Sunday morning, Sept. 6. A man runs hose water over his shiny green sedan. A shopkeeper props open the doors with jugs of juice. Barefoot children play in the dusty streets...

On July 21 Gustafson was manning the turret of the lead vehicle, a mine resistant ambush protected vehicle, or MRAP, during a four-vehicle mounted patrol riding through the streets of Shewan, Afghanistan. That’s when things got ugly. The patrol came under heavy fire from machine guns as well as rocket-propelled grenades from hidden insurgent positions. One of the RPGs hit Gustafson’s MRAP, piercing its armor, rendering the driver unconscious and partially amputating Gustafson’s right leg. Despite his injuries, Gustafson remained vigilant on his M240B machine gun, locating and accurately firing on several insurgent positions, some as close as 20 meters...

Live Video beginning at 11 AM http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/40318747.html jdnews.com He will deliver an address that could touch on future military strategy in Iraq.

Jones should resign or at the very least switch party affiliation to the Democratic Party. He is not a Republican, definitely not a conservative and has misled voters by running as a Republican. Leaders of the Pitt County Republican Party should be ashamed to have put out info that Jones had made amends with his voting record and was now on the straight and narrow with conservative views.

bigheadfred's nephew, Sgt. Evan Vela Curtis Carnahan bought a shirt he bought in Washington, D.C., that for him, says it all -- "I love my country, it' s the government I'm afraid of."

The package matched the description of 11 other suspicious packages found at military bases around the country since Friday.

Sen. John McCain gets a D when it comes to veterans issues, according to a new congressional report card released Tuesday by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Sen. Barack Obama fares better - he earned a B. The New York-based national veterans advocacy group graded every member of Congress on how he or she voted on major issues affecting 1.7 million vets from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

President Bush on Monday approved the execution of an Army private, administration officials said. It was the first time in over a half-century that a president has affirmed a death sentence for a member of the U.S. military.

With this documentary, photo exhibit and book our aim is to raise funding for and awareness of the men and women warriors that have given so much to protect our freedoms. Freedom is not free. www.freedomisnotfree.com

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Prosecutors will call a top NATO general to address a potential conflict of interest in the case of a Marine officer charged with failing to investigate the killings of 24 Iraqi men, women and children, defense attorneys said Friday. Defense attorneys say Marine Gen. James Mattis, currently NATO's top commander in charge of military modernization, is scheduled to take the stand Monday during a hearing to address a military judge's finding that there was evidence of unlawful command influence in the case of Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani.

AMP PENDLETON – Seeing the corpses of 24 Iraqi men, women and children – all killed in a short span Nov. 19, 2005, in the city of Haditha – made a powerful impression on Marine Sgt. Justin Laughner. A squad of fellow Marines had done the killing. Laughner, an intelligence analyst, took pictures of the bodies and stored them on his personal laptop computer. Then one day in February 2006, he said, an intelligence officer told him to get rid of the images. In a Camp Pendleton courtroom yesterday, Laughner identified that officer at 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson. “He told...

...newsroom managers talked about the realities of life in a rapidly changing media market, including smaller newsholes...

From America's Founding, to the sacrifices of her sons and daughters, we remember.

President Bush will nominate Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander of U.S. troops in Iraq, to become the next overall commander of American forces in the Middle East as part of a personnel shuffle to take place by early fall, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced today.

CINCINNATI -- A two-day schedule of memorial services for a fallen Clermont County soldier will require military precision to successfully pull off. Sgt. Matt Maupin’s remains will arrive Saturday morning around 8 a.m. at the main runway at Lunken Airport, where his family will spend some private time together on the tarmac. A procession will bear his remains along state Route 32, which has already been decorated with yellow ribbons, through Newtown.

CAMP PENDLETON ---- A military judge on Tuesday again refused to dismiss charges against the highest-ranking officer accused of wrongdoing in the slaying of 24 Iraqi civilians following a roadside bombing in the city of Haditha in 2005. The judge, Col. Steven Folsom, ruled there was sufficient cause for Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani to proceed to trial by court-martial at Camp Pendleton. Folsom made a similar finding last month. The judge's latest refusal to dismiss charges of dereliction of duty and violating a lawful order by failing to order an investigation into the civilian deaths was followed by a series...

Hearing will set stage for start of court-martial of Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani CAMP PENDLETON ---- The highest-ranking U.S. Marine officer accused of wrongdoing in the wake of the slaying of 24 Iraqi civilians in the city of Haditha in 2005 is due to appear in a Camp Pendleton courtroom on Tuesday. The officer, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, 44, is charged with dereliction of duty and violating a lawful order for failing to order a full-scale investigation into the civilian deaths. He faces up to 30 months in jail and dismissal from the service if convicted and sentenced to the...

The charges against him had been reduced to involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and aggravated assault for what prosecutors said was his role in shooting a group of unarmed women and children.

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