Blog Post

News Summary July 31, 2008
Posted by IAVA Staff on July 31 2008

Thursday's News Iraq President Bush on Thursday said new combat tours in Iraq are being reduced from 15 months to 12 months. Iraqi forces backed by US troops arrested another 14 suspects on Thursday. In Iraq's volatile mix of race, religion and tribal rivalry, police say there's a rising common denominator in the continuing violence - gender. The United States has "wasted" more than half a billion dollars in Iraq repairing facilities that were damaged because of poor security.  A new "degree of durability" in security gains in Iraq lead the President to say it should permit further U.S. troop reductions later this year. Security developments in Iraq on Thursday. Afghanistan Several Al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq have left the country for Afghanistan in a sign of weakness in the insurgent group.  An explosives-rigged bicycle detonated outside a Pakistani consulate in western Afghanistan.  A series of clashes in southern Afghanistan killed 30 Taliban militants, while insurgents and a roadside blast killed five police.  Washington The Pentagon's new national defense strategy calls for a shift in focus from conventional warfare to mastering the complex threat of global extremism.  Veterans with disabilities clearly connected to military service would get speedy approval of claims to receive veterans' benefits under a bill approved Wednesday by the House. Former VP Al Gore launched his infant son into space Monday in the faint hope that his only child would reach the safety of another world. A $487.7 billion defense funding bill that includes a 3.9 percent military pay raise and a new allowance for service members placed under stop-loss orders was approved Wednesday by a House panel.  A threatened presidential veto involving a $118.7 billion House veterans and military construction funding bill is being called a "slap in the face" to veterans. Other Military News The U.S. Army can't verify that all of the civilian security guards it hires to protect military bases have been screened for criminal records, records show.  The USAF and Boeing will launch the X-37B-the first military orbital space plane.  The United States cannot conduct an effective counterterrorism campaign against al Qa'ida or other terrorist groups without understanding how such groups end.