Blog post

IAVA Daily Brief 8.25.10
Posted by Isabel Black on August 25 2010

Here are some of today's top stories and happenings at IAVA.  Prefer to receive real-time updates about major stories and legislation that IAVA is tracking?  Follow us on Twitter @IAVAPressRoom or subscribe at www.IAVA.org/DailyNewsBrief.

MUST READS

1) Suicide task force faults services for lack of coordination
 
A lack of coordination by the Pentagon and the rush by each service to develop suicide prevention programs has led to scattershot initiatives that overlap in some areas and have significant gaps in others, according to a report released Tuesday by a task force on suicide prevention in the military. The yearlong review culminated in 76 recommendations that range from specific actions, such as creating an overarching Defense Department suicide prevention office, to sweeping, wistful suggestions like "decreasing operational commitments."
 
2) A milestone in Iraq as US ends combat phase. How to mark it?
 
As the last US combat brigade left Iraq last week, and the official end to combat approaches next week, questions are arising about how the United States should mark the end of combat and honor those that have served.  Most are more concerned with soldiers getting their promised benefits than ticker-tape parades- more than a million soldiers have returned from Afghanistan and Iraq and many still need jobs, housing, education and health care.
 
3) Dozens killed in wave of attacks across Iraq
 
Insurgents launched what seemed to be a coordinated wave of attacks on police forces across Iraq, intensifying their onslaught as the American military prepares to switch from combat operations to a training and assistance role at the end of the month.  Two car bombs in Baghdad and Kut killed at least 30 people and wounded more than 120.
 
AFGHANISTAN

• The immense floods that have inundated swaths of Pakistan and cut roads and railways have also disrupted the main supply lines for United States and NATO military forces in Afghanistan.
• The head of NATO's training mission in Afghanistan wouldn't predict when the Afghans would take control of their own security and warned that NATO needs at least another year to recruit and train enough soldiers and police officers.

IRAQ

• The number of US soldiers in Iraq dipped to 49,7000, dropping below the 50,000 threshold ahead of the end-of-the-month deadline set by President Obama; but the war is not over for the remaining troops.
• In the disputed city of Kirkuk, Kurdish forces are being trained by Iraqi Army instructors in what officials call a breakthrough aimed at easing tensions between the two sides and securing Iraq's vulnerable border with Iran.

MILITARY AFFAIRS

• US Marines will be fighting in the southern Afghan provinces of Helmand and Kandahar for years beyond the White House's July 2011 target date to start withdrawing American troops and transitioning power to local forces across the country, according to the Marine Corps commandant.
• The Army's annual Phillip A. Connelly Awards brings together some of the best Army cooks to learn how to better present and prepare food to troops.

INSIDE WASHINGTON

• House Minority Leader John Boehner will deliver a major address on national security and the Iraq war next week on the same day as President Obama.
• The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing on Defense Secretary Robert Gate's proposal to close the Joint Forces Command based in Virginia.

A wide-range of views, positions, and publications are represented in these articles. These views, positions and publications are not endorsed by nor do they necessarily represent the views of IAVA.

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