NATO kills insurgent behind US soldier's death
Miami Herald
BY PATRICK QUINN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KABUL, Afghanistan -- An Afghan soldier-turned-insurgent who was feted by the Taliban for killing an American soldier during an insider attack in eastern Afghanistan last year has been killed in a raid, the U.S.-led international coalition said on Monday.
NATO identified the insurgent as Mahmood and said that he and an accomplice, identified only as Rashid, died in last Wednesday's operation in eastern Kunar province's Ghaziabad district. No other details were provided.
Mahmood is thought responsible for the May 11 killing of U.S. Army 1st Lt. Alejo Thompson, who died during an insider attack on a base in Kunar. The attack also wounded two American soldiers. Mahmood, in his early 20's and who went only by one name later fled. Thompson, 30, a father of two, was from Yuma, Arizona. He was based at Ford Carson, Colorado.
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Monday, February 18, 2013
Fort Carson soldier arrested in connection with death
UPDATE
Army takes over prosecution in soldier slaying March 15, 2013
Army takes over prosecution in soldier slaying March 15, 2013
UPDATE: Carson soldier arrested in connection with Crowne Plaza death
February 17, 2013
MATT STEINER
The Gazette
A Fort Carson soldier turned himself in Sunday afternoon in North Carolina after a dead woman was found in a Colorado Springs hotel room.
Montrell Mayo, 24, is being held in the Pitt County jail in North Carolina on suspicion of first-degree murder.
Colorado Springs police officers were called to the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 2886 S. Circle Drive, before 7 a.m. Sunday to check on the welfare of a woman in a room there. Police checked the room and found a woman dead.
Information about the woman, including her name and what killed her, hasn’t been released.
According to the Greenville, N.C. police, the alleged homicide occurred Thursday or Friday.
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Sunday, February 17, 2013
CIA’s covert drone program may shift further to Pentagon
CIA’s covert drone program may shift further to Pentagon
By Ken Dilanian
Tribune Washington Bureau
Published: February 17, 2013
WASHINGTON — Facing growing pressure to lift the secrecy around targeted killings overseas, the Obama administration is considering shifting more of the CIA’s covert drone program to the Pentagon, which operates under legal guidelines that could allow more public disclosure in some cases.
John Brennan, whom President Barack Obama has nominated to run the CIA, favors moving most drone killing operations to the military, current and former U.S. officials say. As White House counterterrorism adviser for the last four years, Brennan has overseen the steady increase in targeted killings of suspected militants and al-Qaida operatives.
In written comments released Friday by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is considering his nomination, Brennan said coordination has improved between the CIA and Pentagon. If confirmed, he vowed to work closely with Defense officials “to ensure there is no unnecessary redundancy in ... capabilities and missions.”
The proposed shift follows Obama’s vow in his State of the Union speech Tuesday to be “even more transparent” about the “targeting, detention and prosecution of terrorists.”
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By Ken Dilanian
Tribune Washington Bureau
Published: February 17, 2013
WASHINGTON — Facing growing pressure to lift the secrecy around targeted killings overseas, the Obama administration is considering shifting more of the CIA’s covert drone program to the Pentagon, which operates under legal guidelines that could allow more public disclosure in some cases.
John Brennan, whom President Barack Obama has nominated to run the CIA, favors moving most drone killing operations to the military, current and former U.S. officials say. As White House counterterrorism adviser for the last four years, Brennan has overseen the steady increase in targeted killings of suspected militants and al-Qaida operatives.
In written comments released Friday by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is considering his nomination, Brennan said coordination has improved between the CIA and Pentagon. If confirmed, he vowed to work closely with Defense officials “to ensure there is no unnecessary redundancy in ... capabilities and missions.”
The proposed shift follows Obama’s vow in his State of the Union speech Tuesday to be “even more transparent” about the “targeting, detention and prosecution of terrorists.”
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Wounded veteran from Tallahassee robbed in Santa Fe
Vet says money for service dog lost in robbery
By Nico Roesler
The New Mexican via AP
Posted : Sunday Feb 17, 2013
SANTA FE, N.M. — Brian Ryder has undergone 23 surgeries to repair his spine and hips after a nearly fatal accident in July 2009, while he was deployed with the U.S. military in Afghanistan. He was saving his money to buy a service dog that he hoped could change his life.
One day after he moved to Santa Fe last week, however, he lost his savings of about $700 when two men robbed him at gunpoint just north of the city’s downtown.
Ryder, 38, said in an interview Wednesday that he had moved to Santa Fe on Feb. 6 to live with his mother and continue various treatments at the veterans hospital in Albuquerque.
He figured a service dog would help him in every area of his life — mainly with his mobility. He takes falls on a weekly basis, about nine of which have resulted in concussions. “I’m just scared to death of one of these days taking a fall, hitting my head and losing the memory and cognition I have left,” said Ryder, who walks with a cane.
Originally from Tallahassee, Fla., Ryder was walking back to his mother’s house at about 11:20 p.m. Feb. 7, after having a drink at The Rouge Cat bar on Marcy Street. “It was my first time off a base in four years,” he said. “I wanted to celebrate with a beer.”
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By Nico Roesler
The New Mexican via AP
Posted : Sunday Feb 17, 2013
SANTA FE, N.M. — Brian Ryder has undergone 23 surgeries to repair his spine and hips after a nearly fatal accident in July 2009, while he was deployed with the U.S. military in Afghanistan. He was saving his money to buy a service dog that he hoped could change his life.
One day after he moved to Santa Fe last week, however, he lost his savings of about $700 when two men robbed him at gunpoint just north of the city’s downtown.
Ryder, 38, said in an interview Wednesday that he had moved to Santa Fe on Feb. 6 to live with his mother and continue various treatments at the veterans hospital in Albuquerque.
He figured a service dog would help him in every area of his life — mainly with his mobility. He takes falls on a weekly basis, about nine of which have resulted in concussions. “I’m just scared to death of one of these days taking a fall, hitting my head and losing the memory and cognition I have left,” said Ryder, who walks with a cane.
Originally from Tallahassee, Fla., Ryder was walking back to his mother’s house at about 11:20 p.m. Feb. 7, after having a drink at The Rouge Cat bar on Marcy Street. “It was my first time off a base in four years,” he said. “I wanted to celebrate with a beer.”
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Syracuse Veterans Suicide Prevention Hotline answered 193,507 calls in 2012
There is an article on Syracuse.com about the veterans suicide prevention hotline. Aside from getting the number of military suicides wrong leaving off 84 Army National Guardsmen and 42 Army Reservists from the total they used of 349, it is a good read. This part really should shock everyone. Even as the number of suicides has gone up in the military, it has also gone up in the veteran population.
Take a look at the years and the rise in the number of calls this center received.
Do you need any more evidence what the DOD is doing and the VA has been trying has not been working? The fact these veterans reached the point where suicide seemed to be the only way out of the pain they are in should be forcing all of us to demand answers from Congress on what has been fixed and what the plans are to fix what hasn't been fixed. If no plans then they need to be held accountable for all of this. Our taxes pay to send them to war. Our taxes are supposed to fund what they need when they come home. How can they be allowed to produce these results year after year and NO ONE IS HELD ACCOUNTABLE?
Take a look at the years and the rise in the number of calls this center received.
Answering the bell
The number of calls to the national Veterans Crisis Line in Canandaigua in the past six fiscal years:
2007: 9,3792008: 67,3502009: 118,9842010: 134,5282011: 164,1012012: 193,507
Do you need any more evidence what the DOD is doing and the VA has been trying has not been working? The fact these veterans reached the point where suicide seemed to be the only way out of the pain they are in should be forcing all of us to demand answers from Congress on what has been fixed and what the plans are to fix what hasn't been fixed. If no plans then they need to be held accountable for all of this. Our taxes pay to send them to war. Our taxes are supposed to fund what they need when they come home. How can they be allowed to produce these results year after year and NO ONE IS HELD ACCOUNTABLE?
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