Blog post

Daily News Summary
Posted by IAVA Staff on August 30 2007

Iraq The Government Accountability Office has determined that the Iraqi government has failed to meet the vast majority of political and military goals laid out by lawmakers to assess President Bush's Iraq war strategy. But Iraq's foreign minister is saying that the government had made progress in responding to U.S. goals. Meanwhile, the Pentagon has announced that it will not be making a single, unified recommendation to President Bush during next month's strategy assessment, but instead will allow top commanders to make individual presentations. In other Iraq news, Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has ordered a six-month suspension of activities by his Mahdi Army militia in order to reorganize the force, and it will no longer attack U.S. and coalition troops. Weapons that were originally given to Iraqi security forces by the American military have been recovered by authorities in Turkey after being used in violent crimes there. And Iran is threatening to withdraw its help in restoring security in Iraq if the United States continued to seize Iranian officials in Iraq. Afghanistan According to a top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, military force alone is unlikely to defeat the Taliban. And Taliban militants were expected to release the 7 remaining South Korean hostages today. Washington Sen. Larry Craig has stepped down from his positions on Senate committees, including his important role as ranking Republican on the Veterans Affairs Committee. Meanwhile, Rep. Bob Filner, the chairman of the House VA Committee, is actually thinking of the veterans and will push Congress to open camps that may help prepare veterans for the difficult return to everyday life after deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan. Army Secretary Pete Geren has launched a pair of reviews aimed at battling contracting fraud and irregularities in combat theaters. Meanwhile, the Defense Department is paying private contractors more than $1 billion in more than 30 separate contracts to collect and analyze intelligence for the four military services and its own Defense Intelligence Agency At the Pentagon, there is a rush to develop added protection for its new Mine Resistant Armor Protected vehicles and officials are refusing to deploy a ray gun weapon to Iraq out of concern that it might be seen as a torture device. Troops, Veterans, and Other Military News Hundreds of people lined the streets for a procession carrying the flag-draped casket of Army corporal Nathan Hubbard, the second son in his family killed in Iraq. An estimated 100,000 to 300,000 current and former reservists employed as federal government civilians may be able to recover money for leave days that were improperly charged to them dating back to 1980.