We suspect this will be less shocking to those of you already familiar with the violent crackdowns taking place in Bahrain, but most will likely find it discomforting nonetheless. Government officials from both the United States and Bahrain have insisted that the ordinance being sold by the Department of Defense couldn’t/wouldn’t be used against the Persian Gulf nation’s civilian population; however, some reports suggest that attacks with American weaponry have already occurred. source
A security team aboard a US Navy vessel has fired on a small boat near the United Arab Emirates after it disregarded warnings, a U.S. Defense official said Monday.
The motor boat had been rapidly approaching the USNS Rappahannock and failed to respond to warnings, the official said. Watch Reuters.com for more.
The official said the boat departed after being fired upon, adding that it’s unclear if there are any injuries or deaths.
» And that’s just the low-end estimates. Analysts estimate that a gradual increase in the Pentagon’s budget to 4% of GDP would cost the United States roughly $2.1 trillion over the next decade. Should Romney win the election, and immediately push spending up to 4%, the subsequent spending could cost an additional $200 billion or more. While Romney is hardly the first to suggest such a plan, with past notable proponents including former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, some have been quick to condemn any plan tying the budget to GDP in any way. “GDP rises and falls. Do you really want your defense budget falling in a recession?” said Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments’ Todd Harrison, adding, “spending should be determined by the security environment — not the size of your economy.”
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One Step Back: Just hours after President Obama voiced his support of same-sex marriage, the House Armed Services committee approved a measure that would ban gay marriage ceremonies on U.S. military bases. The measure was approved late on Wednesday, The Hill reports. The measure was included in the committee’s defense authorization bill for 2013, which now goes to the Republican-led House of Representatives for approval. [Photo: AP]The Hill: Committee votes to ban gay marriage on military bases
Actions speaking louder than words?](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3tbifkufG1qz5ew6o1_500.jpg)
One Step Back: Just hours after President Obama voiced his support of same-sex marriage, the House Armed Services committee approved a measure that would ban gay marriage ceremonies on U.S. military bases. The measure was approved late on Wednesday, The Hill reports. The measure was included in the committee’s defense authorization bill for 2013, which now goes to the Republican-led House of Representatives for approval. [Photo: AP]
The Hill: Committee votes to ban gay marriage on military bases
Actions speaking louder than words?
» Audit time! With the Iraq War’s chapter effectively closed, now’s apparently a good time to look back at all the money we spent there. There’s a problem, however: Of the $3 billion the Iraqi government set aside for the Department of Defense to use for reconstruction between 2004 and 2007, approximately two-thirds of that is unaccounted for. Worse, auditors can’t even find most of the documents: ”From July 2004 through December 2007, DoD should have provided 42 monthly reports,” an audit says. “However, it can locate only the first four reports.” Ever lose track of like $2 billion bucks? It’s fun, right?
Employment: Defending jobs | The Economist
Looking for a job? These are the world’s top ten employers. Welcome to the new global economy.
So, to put this another way: Pick your poison — communism, socialism, military, Big Macs or iPhones. (Hon Hai is better known as Foxconn, the company that builds many of Apple’s products.) It’s fascinating to see this in perspective.
The Department of Defense will release one photo of Osama bin Laden from Sunday evening’s raid that resulted in the death of the terrorist leader, a source with knowledge of the matter told ProducerMatthew.com Wednesday.
The photo was expected to be released within the next week. Earlier…
» Specific and systemic failures: So says a new Senate report investigating the FBI and Department of Defense’s handling of former Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, prior to his executing the Ft. Hood shootings in 2009. The report, authored by Sens. Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins, accuses the agencies of failing to link the information they had between them, and of being negligent of Hasan’s transition to violent Islamic extremism, which they say was “on full display to his superiors and colleagues during his military medical training.”
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