Category Archives: US Military

Diplomacy over Iran is still possible – if only to avoid an all-out war

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Tehran has vowed revenge for the killing of Qassem Suleimani but conflict is not yet certain

The threats emanating from Twitter feeds and podiums in Tehran and Washington might suggest the moment for diplomacy has long passed, and some form of war between the US and Iran following the assassination of Qassem Suleimani is now inevitable.

The only consideration that might hold the two sides back is the possible consequences. Tehran has tasted the unpredictability of Donald Trump and however much the desire for revenge beats in the hearts of Iranians, European leaders are pleading with Tehran’s leadership, saying it has a responsibility to use its head and recognise any direct attack on US assets in the Middle East is likely to be met with a further escalation by Trump.

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Impeachment: Warren accuses Trump of ‘wag the dog’ strike on Suleimani

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Elizabeth Warren has suggested Donald Trump ordered the drone assassination of Iranian general Qassem Suleimani to distract the American public from his own impeachment, taking the country “to the edge of war” for his own political purposes.

Related: Making of a martyr: how Qassem Suleimani was hunted down

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US government agency website crashes amid panic over military draft

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Selective Service System said on Twitter its website was receiving high traffic volume ‘due to the spread of misinformation’

In the aftermath of the US drone strike that killed the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani in Baghdad, the phrase “World War III” began trending on social media.

More startlingly, a US government agency which registers young men for a potential military draft saw its website crash.

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Iraq riots expose an America weaker and with fewer options

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Mobbing of US embassy after US strikes on state-sanctioned militia show America’s plan of maximum pressure only added to chaos

The mobbing of a US embassy has historically served as an emblem of America in decline, so the scenes around the embattled mission in Baghdad are a fitting end to the decade.

Related: Trump accuses Iran over storming of US embassy compound in Baghdad

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Top UN official accuses US of torturing Chelsea Manning

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Ex-Army intelligence analyst jailed over refusal to testify against WikiLeaks reportedly subjected to ‘severe measures of coercion’

A top United Nations official has accused the US government of using torture against Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst currently jailed in the US over her refusal to testify against WikiLeaks.

Nils Melzer, UN special rapporteur on torture, made the charge in a letter sent in November but only released on Tuesday.

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Aftermath of US airstrike on Kata’ib Hezbollah militia in Iraq – video

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The US military carried out airstrikes on Sunday against the Iranian-backed Kata'ib Hezbollah militia in response to the killing of an American civilian contractor in a rocket attack on a US military base in Iraq. An Iraqi militia leader warned of a strong response after airstrikes in Iraq and Syria killed at least 25 people overnight. This footage shows the aftermath of a strike on Kata'ib Hezbollah's headquarters in the Iraqi town of Qaim

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Navy Seal pardoned of war crimes by Trump described by colleagues as ‘freaking evil’

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Eddie Gallagher ‘OK with killing anything that moved’, Iraq veterans told investigators in testimony obtained by New York Times

A Navy Seal platoon leader controversially cleared of war crimes by Donald Trump was a “toxic” character who was “OK with killing anything that moved”, according to fellow Iraq veterans who reported his conduct to military investigators.

Related: 2019: the year US foreign policy fell apart

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Navy Seal accused of war crimes meets Trump and thanks him for pardon

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Eddie Gallagher convicted of posing with dead boy of teenage Islamic State terrorist posts photographs with Trump

A former Navy Seal controversially granted clemency for war crimes by Donald Trump last month was photographed with the president in Florida at the weekend, and handed over a gift to thank him for reversing his demotion.

Chief petty officer Eddie Gallagher, who was convicted of posing with the dead body of a teenage Islamic State terrorist he had just killed in Iraq in 2017, posted photographs to his Instagram account showing himself and his wife Andrea meeting the president and first lady, Melania Trump, at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.

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Donald Trump launches space force for ‘world’s new war-fighting domain’ – video

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Donald Trump launched the US space force, the first new US military service in more than 70 years. ‘Space is the world’s new war-fighting domain,’ Trump said during a signing ceremony of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act that includes the force.

The move is part of a $1.4tn (£1.1tn) government spending package reversing automatic spending cuts to defence and domestic programmes

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Donald Trump officially launches US space force

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US president approves funding for America’s first new military service in 70 years

Donald Trump has launched space force, the first new US military service in more than 70 years.

In signing the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act that includes the force, Trump claimed a victory for one of his top national security priorities two days after being impeached by the House of Representatives.

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Afghanistan papers detail US dysfunction: ‘We did not know what we were doing’

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A key theme of the trove of documents published this week was the lack of coherence in Washington’s approach to Afghanistan from the outset

In the midst of Barack Obama’s much-vaunted military surge against the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2010, Hayam Mohammed, an elder from Panjwai near the Pakistani border confronted an officer from the US 101st Airborne who had come into his village.

“You walk here during the day,” the elder told the soldier bitterly as the Observer listened. “But at night [the Taliban] come bringing night letters” – threats targeting those collaborating with foreign forces.

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Pentagon suspends military training of Saudi students after Pensacola shooting

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  • Decision grounds more than 300 military aviation students
  • Three US military members were killed in shooting Friday

The Pentagon announced on Tuesday it was halting operational training of all Saudi Arabian military personnel in the United States until further notice in the wake of the deadly shooting by a Saudi air force officer.

The decision will have far-reaching impacts, including grounding more than 300 Saudi Arabian military aviation students.

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US lies and deception spelled out in Afghanistan papers’ shocking detail

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The tranche of documents show that in trying to paint the best pictures, those involved delivered the worst

During the Vietnam war, the daily US military briefings were known to journalists as the Five O’ Clock Follies, described by one of the AP reporters who attended them as “the longest-playing tragicomedy in south-east Asia’s theatre of the absurd”.

The Pentagon Papers, the Department of Defense’s secret history of that war, leaked by Daniel Ellsberg in 1971, only underlined the level of that deception under subsequent US presidents.

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Pensacola shooting: FBI working with presumption it was ‘act of terrorism’

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No arrests made, FBI said, while Mark Esper instructed US armed forces to review security at military bases

Three days after a Saudi air force lieutenant shot dead three people at a naval base in Pensacola, Florida, the FBI said it was working “with the presumption that this was an act of terrorism”.

The gunman who struck in a classroom at Naval Air Station Pensacola on Friday morning was killed by sheriff’s deputies, two of whom were among eight people wounded. All were expected to survive.

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Pensacola: suspect watched mass shooting videos at dinner party, official says

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  • Three killed before gunman shot at US navy base
  • Student who attended dinner party filmed outside building where shooting took place, official says

The Saudi student suspected of killing three people at a US navy base in Florida hosted a dinner party earlier in the week where he and three others watched videos of mass shootings, a US official told the Associated Press on Saturday.

Related: Pensacola shooting: Saudi student kills three at Florida naval air station, says official

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Pearl Harbor: several reported injured in shooting at US military base

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Suspect said to have taken his own life after attack at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, near Honolulu

A gunman opened fire at the historic military base in Pearl Harbor on Wednesday afternoon, authorities said, with local news media reporting several people were wounded before the suspect took his own life.

Security forces responded to reports of a shooting at the Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickham, the US navy and air force base near Honolulu, Hawaii, around 2.30 pm, the base said in an announcement on Twitter.

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Trump’s military meddling fuels growing tension with leadership

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Amid strategic U-turns and elevation of war crimes defendants, president’s military support weakens – but Fox pundits back him

On Thursday night, a besuited Donald Trump appeared at a US airbase in Afghanistan, serving Thanksgiving turkey to the troops, complaining half-jokingly about the length of his surprise trip, and drawing attention to all the money he had spent on the military.

“You’ll come back,” the president told soldiers at the Bagram base – a remark interpreted by the reporters covering the event as a reference to the quality of the food he was giving them, rather than warning of further tours of duty in a war that is already 18 years old.

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Donald Trump says Taliban talks back on in surprise Afghanistan visit

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  • President makes Thanksgiving visit to airbase near Kabul
  • Confirms talks with extremists have resumed

Donald Trump made an unannounced visit to US troops in Afghanistan on Thursday, his first visit to the country where the US has been at war since late 2001.

Related: Fired navy secretary blasts Trump over 'shocking' handling of Navy seal case

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Vindman tells impeachment hearing he reported ‘improper’ Trump call immediately – live

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Key witness testifies publicly on Trump’s Ukraine call and says ‘vile’ character attacks on those testifying ‘reprehensible’ – follow the latest live

Republican representative Chris Stewart pressed Lt Col Alexander Vindman on why he corrected Devin Nunes after the GOP ranking member incorrectly called the Iraq war veteran “Mr Vindman.”

“You always insist on civilians calling you by your rank?” Stewart asked. Vindman, a Purple Heart recipient, replied that he considered the correction appropriate given that he is in his military uniform and because he has been the subject of attacks meant to “marginalize” his service.

Okay guys can we please stop making this a thing? Active duty service members are literally required to wear their dress uniforms when appearing on Capitol Hill in an official capacity. https://t.co/DWXD9LchoU

Lt Col Alexander Vindman testified that after he reported his concerns on Trump’s July call with the Ukrainian president, he was excluded from several meetings he usually would have attended in his capacity as the top Ukraine expert on the NSC.

Vindman says that after he reported on the July 25 call he was excluded from several meetings & “it was out of the course of normal affairs” to not have him participate.

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Nuclear missile bunker: yours for less than $400k

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Decommissioned nuclear silo accessed 40ft staircase leading underground was once home to US’s largest intercontinental ballistic missile ever deployed

One local newspaper described the sales listing, with calculated understatement, as a “mid-century fixer-upper”: an underground bunker built to withstand a nuclear attack, and to house the fire power to retaliate.

The decommissioned nuclear silo in southern Arizona was once home to the Titan II, the largest intercontinental ballistic missile deployed by the US Air Force.

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