Free Republic

WASHINGTON — House lawmakers on Thursday blasted a White House decision not to provide money next fiscal year for upgrades to combat-worn equipment, and promised a fight to put billions back into the defense budget. The House version of the fiscal 2010 defense authorization bill already contains about $20 billion for the repair of equipment worn down by desert conditions and purchase of new gear to replace items destroyed in combat. About $11 billion of the total is for the Army alone. But that’s down more than $2 billion from previous years’ requests, and doesn’t include any funds for things...

Today, the Los Angeles Times published a story about how the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced that the "first refurbished W76 nuclear warhead had been accepted into the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile by the Navy," when in fact no delivery was ever made to the Navy. POGO alerted the Times about the story because the NNSA was (mis)using the example of the W76 to promote itself. In March of this year, NNSA's Deputy Administrator boasted of the refurbished W76: "This is another great example of the unsurpassed expertise throughout NNSA's national security enterprise." In fact, it was the NNSA's...

BAGHDAD, Aug. 4, 2008 – The Harat Elementary School in southern Baghdad’s Rashid district reopened July 31 after two months of refurbishment. Hashem Mahmood, deputy district chairman for the Rashid district in southern Baghdad, marks the reopening of the Harat Elementary School July 31, 2008, in the Jazair community. Soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team provided security during the refurbishment efforts, which lasted two months. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. David Hodge, Multinational Division Baghdad  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. More than 1,000 Iraqi boys and girls from 7 to 12 years old and...