This is a tragic story, and my sympathies go out to the family and friends. But what struck me about it is the last paragraph here. Not to take away from the story itself, but I’ve wondered about this before, and it’s come to mind again after reading this story. I’ve read “120 day tours” often. During Viet Nam a TDY was 90 days. These guys weren’t counted as boots on the ground. A numbers game. I believe if they died while there on a TDY, they weren’t counted. If they were there on a TDY, it wasn’t listed on their DD214’s that they served in Viet Nam. Is the new TDY 120 days? I wonder how many troops we actually have in Iraq, if you count the TDY’s. Here’s one guy, 2 TDY’s to Iraq in a year. Any Viet Nam vets and Iraq vets out there who can enlighten me on this subject???

NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AP) — A veteran of three Air Force tours in Iraq and Afghanistan was killed in a double shooting outside a baby shower in a residential neighborhood.

Senior Airman R’Chardrick Markray, 22, and another man were shot outside a house not far from Nellis Air Force Base, where Markray was stationed, police and military officials said.

The second man was treated and released.

No suspects were identified and police did not immediately have a motive for the Saturday night shooting. Police withheld the identification of the wounded man.

A memorial service is planned for Friday at the base chapel.

“For it to happen here in town contributes to the shock,” said Lt. Col. Brian Fox, Markray’s commanding officer.

Markray was assigned to the 763rd Maintenance Squadron, which maintains helicopters, and was the lead technician for HH60 helicopter gun systems, Fox said.

He was deployed to Afghanistan for 120 days in 2005, and served two 120-day tours at the Balad Air Base in northern Iraq in 2006.

More at CNN

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“Messin With the Kid”
Junior Wells and Buddy Guy

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Four JetBlue employees and a New York City corrections officer were arrested on Tuesday on charges of splurging with credit cards forgotten by passengers rushing to catch their flights, prosecutors said.

The arrests come as the low-cost airline struggles to rebuild customer confidence after a February storm triggered the cancellation of some 1,200 JetBlue flights and left passengers stranded or fuming on grounded planes for hours.

An probe by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau found that the five, who included three customer service agents and a flight attendant, went on shopping sprees using credit and debit cards that belonged to JetBlue customers.

The cards, one of which the employees gave to the corrections officer, were used to make purchases at liquor stores, restaurants and shops, including Bloomingdale’s and Victoria’s Secret.

Continue reading at Reuters

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BAGHDAD - U.S. and Iraqi officials chased reports Tuesday that the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq was killed by rivals north of Baghdad. But U.S. authorities urged caution and warned that even if the claim were true, the death of the shadowy Abu Ayyub al-Masri would likely not spell the end of the terror movement in Iraq.

Reports of al-Masri’s death first emerged from the Interior Ministry, which said the al-Qaida leader was gunned down by rivals in his movement Tuesday at a bridge near Lake Tharthar just north of Baghdad, where the U.S. military believes al-Qaida operates training camps.

Later, however, ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said al-Masri’s death had not been confirmed. Another senior official, Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal, told The Associated Press that “we are trying to investigate and confirm the report.”

More at YahooNews

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The U.S. Defense Department announced Monday that Claude M. Kicklighter has been sworn in as the department’s inspector general replacing Thomas F. Gimble who has been acting inspector general since Sept. 10, 2005.

Kicklighter would report directly to the defense secretary on matters relating to fraud, waste and abuse in the programs and operations of the department, the Pentagon said in a statement.

Kicklighter would also act as the department’s representative on the president’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency and chair the Defense Council on Integrity and Efficiency.

Previously, Kicklighter directed the Iraq/Afghanistan Joint Transition Planning Group, a joint team of the Defense Department and the State Department that has provided analysis and recommendations for coordinating efforts to address transition challenges in Iraq and Afghanistan, the statement said.

Kicklighter retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant general in 1991 after serving 35 years in the military, and has since held a number of senior positions in the departments of Defense, State, and Veterans Affairs.

Source

A little more on the subject here, here and here

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How ironic……

WASHINGTON: A study ordered by the Pentagon warns that the rising cost and dwindling supply of oil - the lifeblood of fighter jets, warships, and tanks - will make the US military’s ability to respond to crises around the world “unsustainable in the long term”.

The study, produced by a consulting firm, concludes that all four branches of the military must “fundamentally transform” their assumptions about energy, including taking immediate steps towards fielding weapons systems and aircraft that run on alternative and renewable fuels.

The Pentagon must “apply new energy technologies that address alternative supply sources and efficient consumption across all aspects of military operations”, the report says.

More at the Sydney Morning Herald

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Anyone who saw last week’s testimony given by Jessica Lynch and the Tillman family should be as livid as I am. The exploitation of these young troops’ stories, and the terrible and unnecessary additional suffering the Pentagon caused their families, is simply unconscionable. That those at fault still haven’t been held responsible makes it even worse.

On the fourth anniversary of the “mission accomplished” speech, it is no wonder less than half of Americans believe that the military is giving the public an accurate picture of the war.

But the most infuriating part of this scandal is the fact that the military brass and Pentagon PR consultants thought they needed to invent stories at all.

Over 1.5 million troops have served with honor in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their stories are rarely caught on film in time for the evening news, so they aren’t easily packaged for a ratings bounce or a public distraction from an unpopular and poorly-planned war. I wrote about the thirty-eight heroes I had the honor of leading in my book, Chasing Ghosts. At IAVA, I have had the privilege of working with thousands of these heroes, and I’d like to share two real-life stories with you.

More at the Huffington Post

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Good read……

04/30/07 “SFGate” — – - For all the talk about timetables and benchmarks, one might think that the United States will end the military occupation of Iraq within the lifetimes of the readers of this opinion editorial. Think again.

There is to be no withdrawal from Iraq, just as there has been no withdrawal from hundreds of places around the world that are outposts of the American empire. As UC San Diego professor emeritus Chalmers Johnson put it, “One of the reasons we had no exit plan from Iraq is that we didn’t intend to leave.”

The United States maintains 737 military bases in 130 countries across the globe. They exist for the purpose of defending the economic interests of the United States, what is euphemistically called “national security.” In order to secure favorable access to Iraq’s vast reserves of light crude, the United States is spending billions on the construction of at least five large permanent military bases throughout that country.

A new Iraq oil law, largely written by the Coalition Provisional Authority, is planned for ratification by June. This law cedes control of Iraq’s oil to western powers for 30 years . There is major opposition to the proposed law within Iraq, especially among the country’s five trade union federations that represent hundreds of thousands of oil workers. The United States is working hard to surmount this opposition by appealing directly to the al-Maliki government in Iraq.

The attack upon, and subsequent occupation of, Iraq can be seen as a direct result of the 2001 National Energy Policy Development Group (better known as vice president Cheney’s energy task force) that was comprised largely of oil and energy company executives. This task force — the proceedings of which have been kept secret by the administration on the grounds of “executive privilege” — recommended that the U.S. government support initiatives in Middle Eastern countries “to open up areas of their energy sector to foreign investment.” As Antonio Juhasz, an analyst with Oil Change International wrote last month in the New York Times, “One invasion and a great deal of political engineering by the Bush administration later, this is exactly what the proposed Iraq oil law would achieve.”

Read more at Information Clearing House

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Joe Biden at the April 07 Fish Fry, answers a question about Bush’s impending veto

“We’ll shove it down his fault.”

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President Bush vetoed legislation to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq Tuesday night in a historic showdown with Congress over whether the unpopular and costly war should end or escalate.

In only the second veto of his presidency, Bush rejected legislation that would require the first U.S. combat troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by Oct. 1 with a goal of a complete pullout six months later.

He vetoed the bill immediately upon his return to the White House from a visit to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., the headquarters of U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, including Iraq.

Democrats made a last-minute plea for Bush to sign the bill, knowing their request would be ignored. “The president has put our troops in the middle of a civil war,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. “Reality on the ground proves what we all know: A change of course is needed.”

Lacking the votes to override the president, Democratic leaders quietly considered what might be included or kept out of their next version of the $124 billion spending bill.

It was a day of high political drama, falling on the fourth anniversary of Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech and his declaration that major combat operations in Iraq had ended. Democrats held an unusual signing ceremony of their own before sending the bill to the White House.

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Is it just me or is Rudy talking out of both sides of his mouth? He says Chavez is a danger to the United States, yet, his law firm represents U.S. subsidiaries in Chavez’s companies.

WASHINGTON - Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, whose law firm represents an American subsidiary of a Hugo Chavez-controlled oil company, said Tuesday that the socialist Venezuelan president is dangerous to U.S. interests.

In a speech to Hispanic small business leaders, the Republican brought up Chavez while discussing ways the United States could become free from its reliance on foreign oil.

“Isn’t it annoying, upsetting and even in some cases a matter of national security that we have to send money to our enemies?” Giuliani asked. “We need a president who knows how to get things done so we don’t have to be sending money to Chavez.”

Giuliani called for the United States to develop alternative energy sources and take advantage of oil already in its control. He said that antagonistic leaders of oil-rich nations, like Chavez,
would have “little power” if the United States could stop buying oil from them.

“Who would listen to Chavez if he didn’t have all this oil money? Nobody would listen to him,” Giuliani said.

He said Chavez’s social programs and those of Cuban leader Fidel Castro “keep people in poverty” and “keep people dependent.”

Giuliani argued that “astounding” unemployment levels show that the Venezuelan president isn’t using his oil revenues to help his own countrymen.

More at YAHOO! NEWS

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LOS ANGELES -Tom Poston, the tall, pasty-faced comic who found fame and fortune playing a clueless everyman on such hit television shows as “Newhart” and “Mork and Mindy,” has died. He was 85.

Poston, who was married to Suzanne Pleshette of “The Bob Newhart Show,” died Monday night at home after a brief illness, a family representative, Tanner Gibson, said Tuesday. The nature of his illness was not disclosed.

Bob Newhart remembered Poston as a “versatile and veteran performer and a kindhearted individual.”

“Tom was always the `go-to guy’ on `Newhart’ in addition to being a good and longtime friend,” Newhart said in a statement Tuesday.

Poston’s run as a comic bumbler began in the mid-1950s with “The Steve Allen Show” after Allen plucked the character actor from the Broadway stage to join an ensemble of eccentrics he would conduct “man in the street” interviews with.

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PUERTO PIRITU, Venezuela (Reuters) — President Hugo Chavez’s government took over Venezuela’s last remaining privately run oil fields Tuesday, intensifying a decisive struggle with Big Oil over one of the world’s most lucrative deposits.

Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez declared that the oil fields had reverted to state control just after midnight. Television footage showed workers in hard hats raising the flags of Venezuela and the national oil company at a refinery and four drilling fields in the oil-rich Orinoco River basin. Chavez planned a more elaborate celebration Tuesday afternoon with red-clad oil workers, soldiers and a fly over by Russian-made fighter jets.

The companies ceding control include BP Plc (Charts), ConocoPhillips (Charts, Fortune 500), Exxon Mobil (Charts, Fortune 500)., Chevron (Charts, Fortune 500), France’s Total SA (Charts) and Norway’s Statoil ASA (Charts). All but ConocoPhillips have agreed in principle to state control, and Venezuela has warned it may expropriate that company’s assets if it doesn’t follow suit.

Despite the fanfare, these companies remain locked in a behind-the’scenes struggle with the Chavez government, and appear to be taking a decisive stand, demanding conditions - and presumably compensation - to convince them that Venezuela will continue to be good business.

More at CNN

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Isn’t this special…..

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Iraq’s prime minister has created an entity within his government that U.S. and Iraqi military officials say is being used as a smokescreen to hide an extreme Shiite agenda that is worsening the country’s sectarian divide.

The “Office of the Commander in Chief” has the power to overrule other government ministries, according to U.S. military and intelligence sources.

Those sources say the 24-member office is abusing its power, increasingly overriding decisions made by the Iraqi Ministries of Defense and Interior and potentially undermining the entire U.S. effort in Iraq.

The Office, as it is known in Baghdad, was set up about four months ago with the knowledge of American forces in Iraq. Its goal is ostensibly to advise Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki – the nation’s new commander in chief — on military matters.

According to a U.S. intelligence source, the Office is “ensuring the emplacement of commanders it favors and can control, regardless of what the ministries want.”

Ali Dabbagh, spokesman for the Iraqi government, would not respond directly to questions about what authority the Office exercises within the Iraqi government. He denied allegations that the prime minister’s advisers were trying to push a Shiite agenda.

More at CNN

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NEW YORK - Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, said Tuesday it has received an unsolicited bid from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. to buy the company for $60 per share, or $5 billion.

Shares of the financial news publishing company soared after the cable news channel CNBC reported news of the offer earlier Tuesday.

After opening at $37.12, the shares jumped $20.95, or 58 percent, to $57.28 before being halted on the New York Stock Exchange for news pending. They had traded in a 52-week range of $32.16 to $40.08 before Tuesday’s news.

Dow Jones said in a brief statement that its board had received the proposal from News Corp. to buy the company with either cash or a combination of cash and News Corp. stock.

Dow Jones is controlled by the Bancroft family through a special class of shares and cannot be taken over without their consent. The company said in its statement that its board and members of the Bancroft family were evaluating the proposal, and that there was no assurance it would lead to a transaction.

Spokesmen for Dow Jones, News Corp. and the Bancroft family did not immediately return calls seeking additional comment.

Like other newspaper publishers, Dow Jones’ shares have been beaten down over the past few years amid sluggish advertising and as more readers and advertising dollars move to the Internet.

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