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PHOENIX - An Army investigator has recommended the death penalty for four soldiers accused of murder during a raid in Iraq. Lt. Col. James P. Daniel Jr. made the recommendation in report obtained Saturday by The Associated Press. Daniel found several aggravating factors that warrant a sentence of death in the case of four soldiers accused of killing three men during the May raid in the Salahuddin province.

SIERRA VISTA — Seized with sorrow as she said goodbye to her four small children, Army Sgt. Alberta Cole resorted to a time-honored trick employed by parents everywhere. "The kids said, 'Mommy, you're crying.' And I said 'No, my eyes are just watering,' " said Cole, a 30-year-old single mom who left for Iraq on Tuesday, her youngest child's first birthday. Hundreds of loved ones waved and wept as members of Fort Huachuca's 86th Signal Battalion boarded a plane bound for Baghdad. Cole is one of 340 Southern Arizona soldiers scheduled to spend a year overseas. A neighbor is watching...

WASHINGTON, July 14, 2006 – More than 115,000 kids have at least one parent deployed in the war on terrorism, and that doesn't include those children affected by routine deployments, according to an organization that supports military children. "War takes its toll on the servicemembers who fight in the field and on the families who wait and worry at home," according to a news release from "Salute Our Services." "In the course of their parents' service to our nation, these children also make many sacrifices." Missed birthdays, holidays and special events top that list of sacrifices, the release said....

WASHINGTON, June 27, 2006 – Servicemembers in uniform can now watch their favorite World Wrestling Entertainment superstars in action free of charge. World Wrestling Entertainment superstar Booker T. performs before thousands of excited servicemembers at the 2004 "Tribute to the Troops" tour in Iraq. Photo courtesy of WWE  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. World Wrestling Entertainment is offering all U.S. military personnel from the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Reserves and National Guard a complimentary ticket to a live WWE event in their local area, provided they come dressed in uniform with a military ID. Tickets are available...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 20 — The American military said today that it had found the remains of what appears to be the two American soldiers captured by insurgents last week in an ambush south of the capital, and a senior Iraqi military official said the two men had been "brutally tortured." SNIP Maj. Gen. Abdul Azziz Mohammed Jassim, the chief of operations of the Ministry of Defense, said that he had seen an official report and that he could confirm the two Americans had been "killed in a very brutal way and tortured." "There were traces of torture on their...

A senior Iraqi military official said Tuesday the bodies of two missing U.S. soldiers have been found near the town where they went missing, but the U.S. military said it could not confirm the report. Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed said the bodies were found on a street near a power plant in the town of Youssifiyah, just south of Baghdad. U.S. Maj. Doug Powell said he could not confirm the report. The two men went missing Friday after an attack that killed one of their comrades. Earlier Tuesday, a parked minivan exploded in a busy outdoor market in a Baghdad...

HONOLULU, May 10, 2006 – A Defense Department program that 64 other federal agencies have adopted sees to it that wounded servicemembers from Iraq and Afghanistan and other people with disabilities have equal access to the information environment and opportunities throughout the federal government, a senior DoD official said here May 8. The Defense Department and other government agencies have the challenges of bringing people with disabilities back to work, Dinah F.B. Cohen told the audience May 8 during DoD''s Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month observance in Honolulu. Photo by Rudi Williams  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Dinah F.B....

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2005 – Becky Campbell's son, David, is in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. After her son returned home safe after a tour of duty in Iraq in 2003, Campbell said she decided to help military families who'd suffered the loss of a loved one. "I wanted to do something," Campbell said. So Campbell founded the nonprofit Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund in October 2003. She said the all-volunteer, nationwide group provides scholarship money to surviving spouses and children of military families from all branches of the armed forces. "We're a grassroots organization not affiliated with anybody...

American troops are developing a hate-hate relation with journalists. The basic problem is that soldiers and marines in Iraq have access, usually via the Internet, to what the mass media is saying about what they think is happening in Iraq. These news reports, all too often, do not reflect what the troops experience. It gets uglier when the troops realize that reporters are spending most of their time in the Green Zone or some well guarded hotel, leaving it to local Iraqi stringers to collect information and photos for the reporters stories. Relations are a bit better with the few...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 2005 – This holiday season, military members serving overseas will have a chance to send their love to their families in a very special way, thanks to a Denver-based nonprofit organization. Operation Hope, a program started two and a half years ago by the Beacon of Hope Outreach Center, is launching a service called Home for the Holidays. This service allows military men and women serving overseas to register their families for gifts, said Leo Pacheco, president and executive director of Beacon of Hope Outreach Center. Servicemembers can register their families via the Operation Hope Web site,...

SIERRA VISTA - More than 40 soldiers from Fort Huachuca's 93rd Signal Brigade have deployed to an area north of New Orleans to provide communications support for areas crippled by Hurricane Katrina. The soldiers, mainly assigned to the 67th Signal Battalion, left Wednesday and have set up operations about 100 miles north of New Orleans, at Camp Shelby, Miss.

Soldiers from Massachusetts and Hawaii who work at the U.S. military detention facility at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, gave visiting home-state senators a piece of their mind last week. Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, and Daniel K. Akaka, Hawaii Democrat, met with several soldiers during a visit led by Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John W. Warner, Virginia Republican. Pentagon officials said soldiers criticized the harsh comments made recently by Senate Democrats. Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, last month invoked widespread military outrage when he compared Guantanamo to the prison labor...

Go out of your way to find someone 75 or older, whether you know him or not, and thank him for making this country, and this world, a better, safer place. Sunday was the 60th anniversary of World War II's end in Europe. Those who fought the war, whether abroad or at home, deserve not just our thanks, but our understanding of their sacrifices that made the period since the American (half) Century. It is almost impossible to overstate the enormity of our parents' and grandparents' achievement in stopping Adolf Hitler from forever changing our planet. Baby boomers who lived...

BAGHDAD, Iraq — At least 23 people died and another 80 were injured Friday in a series of car bombs and mortar attacks in Iraq while an Iraqi soldier died in an explosion near the southern city of Basra. Also Friday, an audio tape purportedly from Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (search) urged more attacks on U.S. forces so that President Bush would not enjoy "peace of mind." "You, Bush, we will not rest until we avenge our dignity," the voice said. "We will not rest while your army is here as long as there is a pulse in our...

(AP) President Bush speaks about the War on Terror to troops at Fort Hood, Texas, Tuesday, April 12,...Full Image FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) - President Bush visited soldiers at the largest U.S. military base Tuesday, marking the two-year anniversary of the end of Saddam Hussein's regime by saying it will be remembered along with the fall of the Berlin Wall as one of history's greatest moments.Bush thanked the soldiers at Fort Hood who have recently returned from Iraq or are heading there this fall, but said it isn't time to start bringing U.S. forces home."Iraqis want to be led...

This is what they saw: a handful of American soldiers filmed through the green haze of night-vision goggles. Radio communication between two soldiers crackles in the background before it's drowned out by a heavy-metal soundtrack. "Don't need your forgiveness," the song by the band Dope begins as images unfurl: armed soldiers posing in front of Bradley fighting vehicles, two women covered in black abayas walking along a dusty road, a blue-domed mosque, a poster of radical cleric Muqtada Sadr. Then, to the fast, hard beat of the music — "Die, don't need your resistance. Die, don't need your prayers" —...

Operation Thin Mint Updated: 3:10 PM Mar 9, 2005 Shaun Verbout Girl Scouts of Indian Waters Council are asking if people want to purchase cookies for soldiers overseas. They call the project "Operation Thin Mint". When you buy girl scout cookies, you'll have the option to purchase some for soldiers as well. The Girl Scouts get money, which goes towards projects in the community; and soldiers get a taste of home. The problem is finding the money to ship the boxes over. It costs over ninety cents to ship one box. So, local business are chipping in to pay for...

AMERICAN DREAM Recently I participated in a parade and ceremony at a large Veteran’s Hospital. The event was planned to honor those veterans confined to the hospital. Some who had been wounded so severely that they would spend their entire lives in the hospital. We also planned to attend a barbecue after the parade, put on by a local veteran’s organization for the veterans. The parade consisted of approximately 200 motorcycles and other vehicles plus several marching units. I was driving my fancy SUV with 2 full sized flags, the American and POW/MIA, mounted on a rack on the rear....

The Brooklyn teacher who sent an American soldier demoralizing letters written by sixth-graders apologized yesterday and admitted blame. In a statement issued by the Department of Education, social studies teacher Alex Kunhardt said he regretted offending Pfc. Rob Jacobs. His statement, however, did not address whether he either coached the students or read their missives — which accused soldiers of committing atrocities in Iraq — before mailing them.

It's not a surprise that students are being taught liberalism and anti-war propaganda at a young age. It is quite surprising, however, that they are being taught and encouraged to aid and abet the enemy in a time of war. That's right - students are encouraged to aid and abet the enemy during a time of war by attempting to demoralize our soldiers around the world. (I had to write it twice to make sure you read it correctly.) David Andreatta of the New York Post wrote in an article on Monday about Pfc. Rob Jacobs. Jacobs is a soldier...