Free Republic

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- The Navy is naming its next amphibious ship after the late western Pennsylvania congressman John Murtha. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus made the announcement Friday at the Johnstown-Cambria County Airport. Murtha's family and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were in attendance.

May 30, 2006, 6:33 p.m. Men@WarHadithah in context. By Mackubin Thomas Owens The basic aim of a nation at war is establishing an image of the enemy in order to distinguish as sharply as possible the act of killing from the act of murder.—Glenn Gray, The Warriors It seems like only yesterday. It was 1991 and a U.S.-led coalition easily expelled Saddam Hussein’s army from Kuwait, signaling to some the emergence of a “revolution in military affairs” that would “transform the very nature of war.” Americans at home watched their TV screens in awe as precision-guided munitions flawlessly struck...

The Marine Corps has decided not to seek to reinstate criminal charges against a former battalion commander at Camp Pendleton for a 2005 incident in which his troops killed 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq. Chessani Instead, the Marine Corps will convene a Board of Inquiry to hear testimony and recommend whether Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani should be demoted to major for purposes of retirement. Even if such a recommendation is made and then accepted by the Secretary of the Navy, Chessani's retirement pay would still be based on being a lieutenant colonel. The Marine Corps had sought to try Chessani...