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Ex-Saddam colonel fights to remain in Yorkshire Last Updated: 1:43am BST 12/04/2008 A former lieutenant colonel who served under Saddam Hussein's regime has been living in Yorkshire for the past two years. Jafa'ar Ali Hassan, 60, trained soldiers during the Iran-Iraq war and claims his uncle was a personal adviser to the tyrant. He fled his homeland via Kurdistan and is understood to have paid £12,500 to reach the UK via Turkey. Mr Hassan has been living with his wife in council accommodation in the village of Worsbrough near Barnsley, since 2006. He is now fighting deportation to Iraq after...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2008 – Over the past year, NATO members have been working to train the Iraqi navy and its petty officers, a U.S. Marine involved in that training said yesterday. The training is focused on developing leadership skills in Iraqi noncommissioned officers, Lt. Col. David L. Coggins, who is in charge of NCO training and mentoring for the NATO Training Mission in Iraq, said during a teleconference with online journalist and “bloggers.” “The NCO corps is truly the backbone of any military branch, especially small-unit leadership,” Coggins said. Coggins and two others, a Danish sergeant major and a...

An Iraqi air force colonel disappeared recently from an Alabama Air Force base and is being sought in a regional manhunt by federal and military agents, defense officials say. The colonel, who was not identified, was studying at the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base, near Montgomery, since last winter in a leadership training course that is part of U.S. efforts to rebuild the Iraqi air force. The officer disappeared along with his family, who were living either on the base or in the Montgomery area. He left a note stating that he was leaving the...

PRIESTS, PROSTITUTES, psychologists, cops, jazz musicians, poker players. Every trade has its jargon and "insider lingo." ... ..."Embrace the suck" isn't merely a wisecrack; it's an encyclopedic experience rendered as an epigram, gritty shorthand for "Face it, soldier. I've been there. War ain't easy. Now deal with the difficulty and let's get on with the mission."... ...Dynamic truth: Basically means "this is the plan when my supervisor gave it to me, but change is already in the works."

12/17/2006 - LOS ANGELES (AFPN) -- Retired Lt. Col. Roy White picked up the phone and on the other end was an opportunity to contribute to the military again. The phone call was from Michael Kerr, the founder of Snowball Express, and he wanted to get every military family who had a lost a loved one in the war on terror to California for a magical weekend. To make that possible he needed a lot of airplane tickets. Colonel White, now a captain with Southwest Airlines, was in a position to help. The colonel said he found gathering support for...

PATERSON - For Father Joseph Orlandi, a U.S. Army chaplain recently stationed in both Afghanistan and Iraq, the potent declaration "War is hell" is no hollow cliche.  Over the past year, this tough-as-nails Army colonel, who also is pastor of St. Michael Parish here, lived in real time the horrors and stresses of war that TV cameras can't begin to capture adequately. While tending to the spiritual needs of U.S. troops in the deserts of the Middle East, Father Orlandi witnessed unspeakable images - like the carnage strewn across a Baghdad street after a car-bomb blast.  In both war-torn nations,...

BLOOMINGTON -- U.S. Army Col. Dirk Spanton lived with the possibility of dying every day during the 32 months he served with Special Forces in Iraq. The Bloomington man was shot at by insurgents, sent to minefields to disarm explosives and once had a rocket-propelled grenade come within feet of ending his life. After three tours of duty in the desert, the 50-year-old former ROTC instructor finally returned home to his wife and five children on Memorial Day. Within days, the family’s joy turned to sorrow as Spanton was hospitalized with a mysterious illness. Doctors later diagnosed him with cancer...

WASHINGTON, July 31, 2006 – In separate operations over the last three days, Iraqi forces captured gang members suspected of involvement in kidnappings, freed an Iraqi man being held by terrorists, and detained a police colonel believed to be involved with terrorism, U.S. military officials in Iraq reported. Iraqi policemen from 7th Brigade, 2nd National Police Division, captured two gang members suspected of involvement in several kidnappings in the Bayaa district of southwestern Baghdad at about 8:50 a.m. today. Information from unidentified sources pointed to the gang members’ location, assisting in the success of the mission. Elsewhere, an Iraqi man...

N.Korea 'Spending Hand Over Fist While People Starve' A Grand National Party lawmaker and member of the National Assembly's Intelligence Committee on Friday said North Korea’s budget structure means it can pour money into its missile program while its people are starving. The comments from Chung Hyung-keun came at a meeting of leading party members a day after the North slammed the South’s refusal to continue food aid until it returns to disarmament talks. "We understand that North Korea intends to build up to 17 more Taepodong-2 missiles,” Jung said. "Some people say each Taepodong-2 costs W60 billion (US$1=W954), but...

Col. David Hunt of Fox News fame is filling in for Howie Carr today _and all next week_...You can listen online (including a 1 am online streaming rebroadcast) 3-6 pm at howiecarr.com Col. David Hunt of Fox News Channel, and author of "They Just Don't Get It : How Washington Is Still Compromising Your Safety--and What You Can Do About It" From his bio: "Most recently, Colonel Hunt served as Tactical Advisor in Bosnia where he facilitated all national intelligence matters for the Commander in Chief. He has served as a security advisor for the Federal Bureau of Investigation as...

WASHINGTON, May 26, 2006 – The morale of U.S. soldiers in Baghdad is "absolutely tremendous," a U.S. Army commander there said today. "When I talk to my soldiers on the ground, they're absolutely committed to what we're doing here," Army Col. Michael Beech, commander of 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, told Pentagon reporters via teleconference from Forward Operating Base Prosperity in central Baghdad. He said this high morale is reflected in his unit's re-enlistment rate -- 116 percent of goal for first-term soldiers. "They volunteered knowing they were coming to Iraq," he said. "A hundred and sixteen percent...

Female colonel becomes first base commander for Camp Lejeune Submitted by: MCB Camp Lejeune Story Identification #: 200612391028 Story by Lance Cpl. Brandon R. Holgersen MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Jan. 23, 2006) -- Colonel Adele E. Hodges will become the first female colonel to command Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune Jan. 23, replacing Maj. Gen. Robert C. Dickerson who was appointed the commander of Marine Corps Installations-East. “I am very excited,” said Hodges. “It’s a large base and a large facility, and I am excited to be the first colonel assigned to this challenge.” Hodges plans on upholding...

Excerpt - BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Col. William Wood, commanding officer of the 184th Infantry Regiment, died last week, becoming the highest-ranking U.S. officer to be killed in combat in the Iraq war, the U.S. military said Monday. Wood, based at Forward Operating Base Falcon in the northern province of Babil, had responded to a roadside bomb Thursday and was giving orders to his men as they secured the area when a secondary explosion blew him backwards into a canal, killing him instantly, the military said. Wood, 44, was based at Fort Stewart, Georgia. A memorial service will be held...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service, Aug. 24, 2005) – The Distinguished Service Cross – second only to the Medal of Honor in military decorations – has been awarded to U.S. Army Col. James H. Coffman Jr. for his role in leading Iraqi Special Police Commandos through a 5 ½-hour battle against insurgents trying to overrun an Iraqi police station. Flanked by the commando unit Coffman fought with, U.S. Army Gen. George Casey, commander of Multi-National Forces–Iraq, pinned the cross and eagle medal on Coffman’s body armor during an Aug. 24 ceremony at Adnon Palace in Baghdad’s International Zone. Iraq’s Minister...

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Eugene J. Holmes, a retired Army colonel who accused Bill Clinton (news - web sites) of deceiving him in order to dodge the Vietnam War draft, has died at age 88. Holmes, who survived the Bataan Death March during World War II, died Saturday at his Fayetteville home, Moore's Chapel funeral home said. Holmes was director of the University of Arkansas Reserve Officers' Training Corps program in 1969 when Clinton — then a Rhodes scholar attending Oxford University in England — applied to the program to satisfy draft deferments. He never actually enrolled in the program. In...

Freepers - I just got an email from an old friend asking for some help in writing Congress about a bureaucratic regulation dispute that is apparently hurting a lot of military servicemen in getting recognized for their promotions and rank when they reach the mandatory retirement date. I do not know much about the laws or procedures in this area so bear with me, but here is the situation my friend described: He is a life-long serviceman and reservist who participated in both Afghanistan and Iraq as well as many other missions all over the world. Late last year, not...

There have been comments attributed to General Giap and Colonel Tin mentioning and thanking the anti-war movement for victory in Vietnam. even saying they might have surrendered. Giap was claimed to have made the comments in his book "How we won the war" but it appears to not be the source. Though other similiar comments seem to have been made, but not mentioning surrender. Does anyone have reliable sources for commments on this topic from Giap and Colonel Tin? Trying to get the definitive source for these guys on what exactly they said when and where. Anyone have something handy...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks has been told "a very prominent member" of al Qaeda served as an officer in Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s militia, a panel member said on Sunday. Republican commissioner John Lehman told NBC's "Meet the Press" program that the new intelligence, if proven true, buttresses claims by the Bush administration of ties between Iraq (news - web sites) and the militant network believed responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America. "We are now in the process of getting this latest intelligence," Lehman said. Commission Chairman Thomas Kean...

KFC Says: 'You're Hired!' -- The Colonel 'Trumps' Trump Offering One Career-Minded Entrepreneur a Secret Recipe for Success LOUISVILLE, Ky., April 6 /PRNewswire/ -- KFC Corporation (KFCC) announced today that it is extending an offer to one of the nation's best and brightest business minds -- the runner-up from this season's hottest new reality show. After seeing the "out-of-the-bucket" thinking exhibited during the most publicly grueling job interview of all time, the company has a real challenge in mind for this would-be corporate titan.No mere "trumped up" tasks; KFC raises the stakes with the offer of a one- week stint...

Colonel wins libel damages A British Army colonel has won substantial undisclosed libel damages against two newspapers that made allegations about his conduct during the Iraq war. Tim Collins won damages against the Sunday Express and Sunday Mirror newspapers at the High Court in Belfast on Friday. The newspapers withdrew allegations that he had been involved in war crimes including the murder of an Iraqi prisoner. The Northern Ireland army officer achieved fame for his speech to troops of the Royal Irish Regiment on the eve of the Iraq War. Belfast-born Col Collins, 43, was widely praised when he told...