Author Archives: Team VCS

Pentagon Memo: Trying to Redefine Role of U.S. Military in Iraq

December 22, 2008, Washington, DC — It is one of the most troublesome questions right now at the Pentagon, and it has started a semantic dance: What is the definition of a combat soldier? More important, when will all American … Continue reading →

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Up to 30,000 New U.S. Troops in Afghanistan by Summer

December 20, 2008, Kabul, Afghanistan – The United States is aiming to send 20,000 to 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan by the beginning of next summer, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Saturday. Washington is … Continue reading →

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Editorial Column: Make Sure War is Worth the Price Soldiers Must Pay

December 22, 2008 – In a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a panel of U.S. Army psychiatrists reported that one in every five active-duty soldiers has developed mental health problems after coming home from … Continue reading →

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‘Lethal Warriors’ in Iraq, Linked to String of Crimes Back Home

December 21, 2008 – Reporting frоm Orange County аnd Colorado Springs — Thеу nicknamed thеmѕеlvеѕ thе Lethal Warriors, аnd durіng twо tours іn Iraq, thе soldiers оf thе Army’s 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry regiment confronted ѕоmе оf thе war’s cruelest … Continue reading →

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Brother: Torture Drove Shoe-Hurler to Apologize

December 22, 2008, Baghdad, Iraq – The apology letter from the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush was written against his will after he was tortured in detention, his brother said Monday. Muntadhar al-Zeidi was … Continue reading →

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Editorial Column: Will Obama’s War Strategy Produce a Peace Dividend?

December 22, 2008 – When The father of President George W. Bush was in the White House, the end of the cold war in the early 1990s gave him a “peace dividend” – a drop in military spending that opened … Continue reading →

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Mystery Illness Still Plagues 210,000 Gulf War Veterans

A scientific panel chartered by Congress released a report in November acknowledging the Gulf War Syndrome for the first time in 17 years. Gulf War.  December 21, 2008, Lawton, Oklahoma — Recollections are increasingly harder for Gulf War veteran Gary … Continue reading →

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Editorial Column: Deterring Torture Through the Law

December 21, 2008 – “First, let’s kill all the lawyers” may have made sense in that Shakespearian scene, but there is a far simpler solution to the legal ambiguities regarding what to do now about the torture approved by President … Continue reading →

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Harvard University Sends Basic Necessities to Marines in Iraq

A contact drawn by a Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) faculty member’s research has led to the filling of an unmet need for U.S. Marines in Iraq: Harvard-insignia gear. Linda Bilmes, an expert on government budgeting and public finance and co-author … Continue reading →

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Editorial Column: 8 Years on the Dark Side

December 20, 2008 – Vice President Dick Cheney said this week that he directly approved waterboarding to torture terror suspects. “I was aware of the program, certainly, and involved in helping get the process cleared,” Cheney told “ABC News.” Asked … Continue reading →

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