Category Archives: US Military

Portland mayor demands Trump remove federal agents from city

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  • People detained far from property agents were sent to protect
  • Trump looking for a confrontation, says governor

Militarized federal agents deployed by Donald Trump to Portland, Oregon, fired tear gas at protesters again late on Friday night, even as the city’s mayor demanded the agents be removed and the state’s attorney general vowed to seek a restraining order against them.

Related: Camouflaged federal agents have descended on Portland. Trump's DHS is out of control | Trevor Timm

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USS Bonhomme Richard fire: US warship rocked by explosion in San Diego – video

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More than 20 people suffered minor injuries on Sunday after an explosion and fire on board a ship at a naval base in San Diego, military officials said. The blaze was reported shortly before 9am on USS Bonhomme Richard, said Mike Raney, a spokesman for the navy’s Pacific fleet. Four civilians and 17 sailors were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries, Raney said.

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Top US general vows response if military confirms reports of Russian bounties

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Gen Mark Milley tells lawmakers Pentagon is investigating reports Russia paid for attacks on US soldiers in Afghanistan

America’s top general has said military intelligence agencies are working to corroborate reports of Russia paying Taliban fighters bounties for killing US soldiers and vowed a response if they were confirmed.

Gen Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, told the House armed services committee, that the Pentagon was committed to discovering whether Russian military intelligence had paid for attacks on American soldiers in Afghanistan.

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Trump views US troops as disposable – the Russian bounty scandal makes that clear | Simon Tisdall

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Time and again, the president has failed to protect military personnel. For Trump, he always comes first, no matter who dies

Donald Trump likes to suggest he has got the back of US soldiers battling America’s foes around the world. It was a big theme of his 2016 campaign and his West Point speech earlier this month. So great was his boundless care for America’s fighting men and women, he said, that he would halt the endless, costly foreign wars prosecuted by his predecessors – and bring them home.

Related: Trump's ties to Putin under fresh scrutiny in wake of Russia bounty reports

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‘Russian bounties’ intelligence was in Trump written daily briefing – reports

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  • Evidence of alleged plot was in a February briefing, say officials
  • Trump claimed he was not told because advisers ‘did not find this info credible’

Donald Trump was given a written briefing months ago about intelligence suggesting Russia offered bounties for attacks on US forces in Afghanistan, multiple US media have reported on Monday night. The president said on Sunday he was not told of the allegations because the information was not “credible”.

The New York Times quoted two sources as saying details were included in a daily intelligence briefing the president received in late February. CNN said an official with direct knowledge told them it was included in the briefing – a written document – briefing “sometime in the spring”.

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Outrage mounts over report Russia offered bounties to Afghanistan militants for killing US soldiers

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Fierce response from top Democrats after US intelligence finding was reportedly briefed to Trump in March, but the White House has yet to act

Outrage has greeted media reports that say American intelligence officials believe a Russian military intelligence unit offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing foreign soldiers in Afghanistan, including targeting Americans.

The story first appeared in the New York Times, citing its sources as unnamed officials briefed on the matter, and followed up by the Washington Post. The reports said that the US had come to the conclusion about the operation several months ago and offered rewards for successful attacks last year.

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German ministers hit back at Trump plan to withdraw US troops

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Foreign secretary says cutting troop numbers will weaken security of both Europe and US

German ministers have criticised Donald Trump’s plans to withdraw about 9,500 US troops from German soil, saying the move is likely to weaken America’s own security architecture as well as European security.

“We think that the US presence in Germany is important for the security not just of Germany but also for the security of the United States and especially for the security of Europe,” Heiko Maas, the foreign minister, said during a state visit to Poland on Tuesday.

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US Air Force jet crashes into North Sea during training mission

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Search and rescue teams deployed after F-15 crashes off English coast near Middlesbrough

A US Air Force F-15 aircraft based in the UK crashed into the North Sea off the coast near Middlesbrough on Monday morning while it was on a training mission.

The status of the pilot onboard is unknown following the crash, which happened on a routine training mission at around 9.40am. UK search and rescue teams were being deployed to try to locate the pilot.

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Why Trump loves the US military – but it doesn’t love him back

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The president’s West Point speech went smoothly but protests have focused a harsh light on his use of the military

Donald Trump attempted to solidify his bond with the US army on Saturday, delivering the graduation speech to cadets at the United States Military Academy and boasting of a “colossal” $2tn rebuilding of American martial might.

Related: Top US military general Mark Milley apologizes for Trump church photo-op

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Trump gives West Point address amid tensions with military leaders

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President’s visit to military academy also faced protest over bringing graduates back during coronavirus pandemic

Donald Trump’s address to graduates at West Point on Saturday was controversial both by its very occurrence and due to tensions between the president and leaders of the US armed forces.

Related: Bolton book claims Trump committed other ‘Ukraine-like transgressions’

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Joining Trump church photo op ‘a mistake’, says Gen Mark Milley – video

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Gen Mark Milley has said it was a mistake to have been present at Donald Trump's photo op in front  of a church in Washington. 'I should not have been there,' he said in a pre-recorded video commencement address to the National Defense University.

Milley and the defense secretary, Mark Esper, were widely criticised for participating in the photo-op during George Floyd protests in Washington, with many former defence officials saying the two were helping Trump’s efforts to politicise the military

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Biden predicts military will intervene if Trump refuses to accept election loss

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  • Biden says biggest fear is Trump will ‘try to steal the election’
  • Democratic challenger leads president in opinion polls

Joe Biden has predicted the military will escort Donald Trump from the White House should the president lose November’s election but refuse to leave office.

Biden, speaking to the Daily Show’s Trevor Noah, said that his single greatest concern is that the president will “try to steal this election”.

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Trump would ‘not even consider’ renaming bases with Confederate links

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President contradicts defense secretary who said he was open to discussing new names for military bases named after Confederates

Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would “not even consider” renaming US military bases that are named after Confederate military leaders, even though the Pentagon has indicated it is open to the idea.

The statement from the US president came amid widespread anti-racism protests that have convulsed the country and were triggered by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month.

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Trump move to take US troops out of Germany ‘a dangerous game’

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UK politicians and military experts warn decision could hand advantage to Russia

British politicians and European military experts have warned that Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw 9,500 troops from Germany risks handing a strategic advantage to the Kremlin and undermining the postwar western military alliance.

It would also affect the United States’s ability to operate in the Middle East and Africa – although there is scepticism as to whether the notoriously fickle president will be able to carry out the threat before November’s election.

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‘What I am thinking about’: African American US air force general reacts to Floyd protests – video

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Charles Quinton Brown Jr shares his thoughts on the events surrounding the killing of George Floyd.

The Pacific Air Forces commander said his nomination to serve as the first African American air force chief of staff created some hope, but was also a heavy burden

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‘Regrettable’: Germany reacts to Trump plan to withdraw US troops

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Reduction of 9,500 personnel criticised by the German right and welcomed by the left

Donald Trump’s plans to withdraw roughly a third of the US troops stationed in Germany have been criticised in the country by conservatives and welcomed by leftwing politicians.

The US president has reportedly ordered the Pentagon to reduce the number of troops by 9,500 from the 34,500 permanently assigned in Germany as part of a long-standing arrangement with Washington’s Nato ally.

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Donald Trump orders 9,500 US troops to leave Germany

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White House says move due to more Nato defence spending, not tensions with Angela Merkel

Donald Trump has ordered the US military to remove nearly 9,500 troops from Germany in a move likely to raise concerns in Europe about the US commitment to the region.

The move would reduce US troop numbers in Germany to 25,000, compared with the 34,500 currently there, a senior US official said.

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‘Slide to illiberalism’: ex-general joins chorus of condemnation of Trump

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John Allen warns that politicisation of the military could be the beginning of the end of ‘the American experiment’

The retired marine general who led the global coalition against Isis and commanded US forces in Afghanistan has warned that Donald Trump’s actions this week could start a US “ slide into illiberalism” and the beginning of the end of “the American experiment”.

In denouncing the president for his response to the George Floyd protests, John Allen became the latest in a string of venerable military figures to have gone public over what they describe as the threat posed by Trump to the non-political nature of the armed forces, and more broadly to US democracy.

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Iran releases US navy veteran detained for nearly two years

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Michael White was detained in 2018 and sentenced 10 years on charges of insulting the supreme leader and posting a private photo

A US navy veteran detained in Iran for nearly two years flew out on Thursday, a day after an Iranian scientist held by US authorities returned home.

“I am blessed to announce that the nightmare is over, and my son is safely on his way home,” Michael White’s mother, Joanne White, said in a statement.

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New York Times under fire over op-ed urging Trump to ‘send in the troops’

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Decision to run opinion piece from Republican senator Tom Cotton sparks criticism from staff who say it puts people in danger

The New York Times’ decision to run an op-ed from the Republican senator Tom Cotton titled “Send in the troops” is drawing widespread criticism, including from Times staff.

In the piece, Cotton called for the use of US military troops to quell civil unrest, and indicated the president would be justified in doing so under the Insurrection Act of 1807.

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