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Complete Headline: The face of defeat: A weary-looking Hillary Clinton makes her first appearance since her concession and admits that 'coming here wasn't the easiest thing for me' and she wanted to 'never leave the house again' Hillary Clinton attended the Children's Defense Fund's gala in Washington, D.C on Wednesday evening It was the failed presidential candidate's first public appearance since she conceded to Donald Trump a week ago She considered cancelling her speech, saying she 'wanted to curl up with a book or our dogs and never leave the house again' Said she drew inspiration from the organization's founder...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Five years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, the US military is flagging under long and repeated deployments that have taken a toll on troops and hurt its readiness to deal with other crises. "People are tired," is the way Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, summed it up at a congressional hearing last month. The third longest war in US history -- after the Revolutionary War and Vietnam -- has forged a battle-hardened ground force with bitterly won experience in counter-insurgency warfare. But military leaders and experts say it also has left...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2007 – Iraq’s citizens are weary of insurgent-generated violence and are now looking to homegrown security forces to provide long-term peace and stability, a senior U.S. military officer posted in the country’s Diyala province said today. And although Iraqi soldiers have tended to demonstrate better capabilities than local constabulary forces, Iraqi police working within his sector are quickly catching up, Army Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek, deputy commanding general for operations of Multinational Division North, told reporters during a conference call from his headquarters in Baqubah. “We have seen steady increases in the police, not only from a...

WASHINGTON, July 16, 2007 – Troops on the ground in Iraq are not as much tired of the war as they are of those who are not in the fight saying that no progress has been made, a top commander in the region said today. The troops there see progress every day, said British Army Lt. Gen. Graeme Lamb, deputy commander of Multinational Force Iraq and senior British representative in Iraq, speaking to Pentagon reporters via satellite. “They see the water going to people who didn't have it before. They see electricity coming on line. They see stability to the...

Air Force Tech. Sgt. James Fisher, who until recently was at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, will send regular dispatches from Afghanistan. Excerpts will run on Sundays in the Star. Find Fisher's blog at http://go.azstarnet.com/kabulHello, I must be going (Jan. 5) My name is Jim Fisher. I am a technical sergeant in the Air Force, assigned to Davis-Monthan, and I'm on my way to Afghanistan. I have been stationed in Tucson for less than a year, but I have family here, and I've been coming here to visit for years. I'm 16 years into a 20-year career (hopefully), and...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Oct. 5, 2005 – Long layovers between flights can be challenging, but servicemembers passing through Ted Stevens International Airport here can seek refuge in the Atwood Military Lounge. Whether it's for a few minutes or a few hours, the lounge, operated by the Armed Services YMCA of Anchorage, welcomes weary military travelers from 8 a.m. to midnight every day. "Just having a place to throw your luggage and meeting other military people, ... I think it's great," retired Army Master Sgt. Pauline Knauf said as she and her husband relaxed in the lounge before a recent flight to...