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Rise in Attacks on Military Recruiting Centers
(From the May 2008 issue of Newsmax magazine)…

Curious about what the heck is going on with the Presidential race? Check this place out:

Welcome to Presidential Watch 08

Presidential Watch 2008 is pleased to bring you the ultimate set of tools to see, hear and feel what citizens and supporters are saying on the Internet about the 2008 presidential elections. Our non-partisan observatory of the 2008 netcampaign offers to monitor and analyze the important trends of the campaign, the opinions of citizens and the continuously evolving standings of the candidates taking part in the race, from the primaries to the final run-up. The tools and the contents we provide should satisfy your private interest for politics. They will also give you great insight for your posts and articles on the presidential race. Where is the debate happening ? What are the hot topics on the agenda ? Who’s making the news ? Who are the online community leaders ? Here are very simple and comprehensive ways you can answer these questions.

Here is something extremely cool these guys have up on their site - a map of the political blogosphere:

Access our new map of the 533 websites making the debate on the presidential race. See how the different political communities are represented on the Internet. Identify the true opinion hubs and shapers in the debate…

2nd ‘Human Terrain’ Social Scientist Slain in 7 Weeks

By Noah Shachtman (Wired)

For the second time in seven weeks, a social scientist embedded with the U.S. military has been killed on the battlefield. Nicole Suveges, a political scientist serving with the Army’s controversial Human Terrain System, was slain Tuesday in a bombing in Sadr City, Baghdad. Early last month, social scientist Michael Batia suffered a similar fate in Afghanistan.

For nearly a year, American combat deaths have been on a slow, uneven decline in Afghanistan and Iraq. Which makes the slayings of these two social scientists stand out all the more. The Human Terrain System placed researchers into combat units, in an attempt to lower the levels of violence in their districts; instead, these two social scientists have become its victims. Critics of the project claimed that the researchers might help the U.S. military in its warzone targeting; instead, its the social scientists themselves who have been killed. Ironically, these civilian academics, in their attempts to promote cultural understanding, are spending more time outside the protective walls of the American military enclaves than many soldiers…

(Click here for the rest.)

George W Bush nominates first four-star woman general

by Damien McElroy (Telegraph.co.uk)

President George W Bush has nominated a woman to the rank of four-star general, the first time a female officer has been promoted to the highest rank.

Lieutenant General Ann Dunwoody declared herself “humbled” after she was selected to lead the US army materiel command, a key logistics branch of military operations, overseeing supplies to combat troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. A self-declared Army brat, Gen Dunwoody is one of five female three star generals, and women make up 14 per cent of active duty personnel in the military.

American law limits the number of 11 active-duty four-star generals in the Army to just 11.

Traditionally women haven’t reached four-star rank because by law they are excluded from serving in combat roles, which historically have been the path to the highest-ranking positions. That exclusion still applies, but with Dunwoody the Army has chosen to cast aside its customary limitations on promotion…

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For more on this event, click here.

Happy Independence Day!

Click here to experience The Charters of Freedom: A New World Is At Hand!

(And…view the original Declaration of Independence here.)

Image: Pulling Down the Statue of George III at Bowling Green in Lower Manhattan, oil painting (reproduction) by William Walcutt, 1857

Iraq Closeup: The Next Battleground

A closer look at our coverage on Iraq.
(The New York Times) By Eric Owles

Amara is located in a rural, marshy region of Iraq. (Credit: The New York Times)

BAGHDAD — For the fourth time this year, the Iraqi Army has troops assembled around a city dominated by militias. The military is setting up checkpoints and preparing to take control of the southern city Amara. American troops are ready to lend aerial support and logistics. An offer of amnesty for the Mahdi Army militias who surrender is set to expire on Wednesday. Will Amara be the site of the Iraqi Army’s fourth cease-fire in a row?

Why Amara?

Iraqi officials say that militias and weapons smuggling from Iran has created a chaotic situation. The city is also located in the only province in Iraq where the local government is run by politicians aligned with Moktada al-Sadr, the Shiite cleric who is both a political rival of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and the leader of the Mahdi Army militia group. A successful operation in Amara could provide another place where Malaki could declare political and military victories - although whether they will have achieved them is far from clear. In other places where Malaki has undertaken military operations — Basra, Sadr City and Mosul — there is a debate about the factors that ended the fighting. To be sure, the Iraqi Army’s presence was important, but in Basra and Sadr City there were also truces declared and many Mahdi Army fighters withdrew. The same could happen in Amara.

Inside the City

The city of Amara is located 230 miles southeast of Baghdad in a rural, marshy region along the border with Iran. It is the capital of Maysan Province, a region dominated by tribal Shiites. About 350,000 people live in the city, making Amara smaller than the sites of the three previous military assaults.

In the early days of the war, rival militias would engage in frequents gun battles. Government buildings were overrun after the British military withdrew from the city’s western outskirts in 2006.

The situation wasn’t always so bleak…

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We thought you may like to see a very kind recent email from one of our distinguished customers overseas…

From: Capt Chris McGuire
To: contactus@cigarsstarsandstripes.com
Sent: 6/26/2008 11:46:04 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Contact from CigarsStarsAndStripes.com: : Thank You!

I am the Kilo Company Commander of Task Force 3/4 currently serving in western Iraq. Today I received a box with a humidor from your organization. What a great suprise. We have made used ammo cans into humidors to keep our cigars. This is perfect.

Thank you very much for your support. I wanted to let you know how much it meant to us.

Semper Fi,
Capt Chris McGuire

FROM THE FRONTLINES - A LIVE STREAMING BROADCAST

About From The Frontlines

Participate in a historic effort to send the largest single shipment of care packages to US Troops in history! We are calling it “FROM THE FRONT LINES” a celebrity-packed, 8 hour broadcast streaming LIVE to millions of viewers over the internet with the help of UStream.TV, coming June 26th! (That’s TODAY folks! So click HERE now.)

This special broadcast will be co-hosted by radio personality and Move America Forward Chairman Melanie Morgan and blogger-extraordinaire Michelle Malkin and will feature national radio powerhouses Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Dr. Laura Schlessigner, Laura Ingraham, Ann Coulter, Mark Levin, NBC’s “America’s Favorite Mom” Patti Patton-Bader, reports from our military men and women on the frontlines of Iraq & Afghanistan, music, stars of stage and screen, and many MANY other special guests.

The historic telethon is being organized by Move America Forward, the nation’s largest pro-troop organization. Move America Forward has shipped over 40 TONS of care packages to our troops filled with food for their enjoyment, other necessities and message of appreciation and encouragement from home. Now we’re doing one better by sending over the largest shipment of care packages to our troops in American history.

These care packages will be sponsored by pledges made by viewers during the “From the Frontlines” telethon, and shipped by Move America Forward just in time for the 4th of July holiday. Our troops will receive these special 4th of July care packages, crammed with all kinds of items for their personal care and comfort, just as Americans stateside are celebrating the freedoms and liberties made possible thanks to the service and sacrifice of our noble service men and women.

Guard troops will move south, following the water

BY WILLIAM PETROSKI • wpetroski@dmreg.com (www.desmoinesregister.com)

The Iowa National Guard is shifting troops from northern Iowa to southern Iowa to battle the rising crests of downstream rivers, a Guard spokesman said today.

Some of the 2,500 National Guard troops now on duty will remain in Iowa cities farther to the north to provide security after the rivers have crested, said Lt. Col. Gregory Hapgood Jr., the National Guard’s public affairs officer. But the Guard is focusing on helping communities that face the most critical flood fights, he added

“We need to get ahead of the water to the places where we can help provide mitigation,” Hapgood said. “By the time you get to the recovery phase, that is really a state, county and local job.”

One key area of the Guard’s concern is Ottumwa, where additional troops and equipment are being sent to shore up the city’s water treatment plant, Hapgood said.

“We are also engaged in helping out operations down in Columbus Junction, particularly to assist with potable water and food,” Hapgood said. “They are expecting an extremely significant amount of water in Columbus Junction.”

Assessments are being conducted to determine the level of National Guard assistance needed in Oskaloosa, as well as other southern Iowa cities such as Eddyville, Keosauqua, Burlington and Fort Madison, Hapgood said.

Additional soldiers and airmen are being called to duty this weekend to bolster the 2,500 troops already battling floods, Hapgood said.

A total of about 9,400 men and women serve in the Iowa National Guard. About 850 are overseas, serving in Iraq, Kosovo and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

Guard commanders have repeatedly said the overseas missions have not left them shorthanded to provide troops for disaster relief in Iowa.

US top court rules against Americans held in Iraq

By James Vicini (REUTERS)

WASHINGTON, June 12 (Reuters) - Federal judges cannot block U.S. military officials from turning over two Americans held in Iraq to local authorities who want to prosecute them for involvement in the insurgency or criminal activity, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

The high court’s decision was a defeat for two Americans who say they are innocent and who are being held by U.S. soldiers at Camp Cropper near Baghdad International Airport.

Chief Justice John Roberts said in the court’s opinion that the two lawsuits should have been promptly dismissed.

Their lawyers say the two men might be tortured or even killed if they are transferred to Iraqi custody and that they should have access to U.S. courts to challenge their detention and to stop their transfer to Iraqi authorities.

One case involved Mohammad Munaf, an Iraqi-American with dual citizenship. He was convicted in Iraq and sentenced to death for his suspected role in the 2005 kidnapping of three Romanian journalists…

For the rest, click here.