Category Archives: US Military

Far-right conspiracies abound after second apparent Trump assassination attempt

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Baseless theories about suspect Ryan Wesley Routh and his alleged ties to US military spread online after his arrest

After a man who appears to be obsessive about the war in Ukraine was arrested for allegedly attempting to assassinate Donald Trump on Sunday, rumors and conspiracy theories have spread online attempting to tie Democrats to the two assassination attempts on the former president this election.

Ryan Wesley Routh, the suspect charged with gun-related crimes on Monday, previously conducted media interviews about his efforts to recruit volunteer fighters, particularly from Afghanistan, to help Ukraine in its war against Russia. Routh also apparently self-published an e-book on Ukraine in which he said that Iran was “free to assassinate Trump as well as me”, according to media reports.

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US rejects claims of CIA involvement in alleged plot to kill Maduro after Venezuela arrests six

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State department says allegations of American collusion are ‘categorically false’ as US navy member identified among foreign citizens detained

The US state department rejected wild allegations of CIA involvement in an alleged assassination plot against Nicolás Maduro after Venezuelan officials announced the arrest of three Americans, two Spaniards and a Czech on Saturday.

The claims of a plot against Maduro – the Venezuelan president, whose recent re-election is contested – were made on state television by Diosdado Cabello, the interior minister. Cabello said the foreign citizens including a US navy member were part of a CIA-led plot to overthrow the Venezuelan government and kill several members of its leadership. In the television programme, Cabello showed images of rifles that he said were confiscated from some of the alleged plotters.

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US and China hold high-level military talks in effort to stabilise ties

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Washington and Beijing hoping to open new regular communication channels to avoid misunderstandings

The United States and China have held high-level commander talks for the first time, Chinese authorities said, amid efforts to stabilise military ties and avoid misunderstandings, especially in regional hotspots such as the South China Sea.

Washington hopes to open new channels of regular military communication with Beijing after ties sank to a historic low when the United States downed a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon last year.

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US arms advantage over Russia and China threatens stability, experts warn

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Academics say vulnerability of the two countries’ nuclear launch sites makes dangerous mistakes more likely

The US and its allies are capable of threatening and destroying all of Russia and China’s nuclear launch sites with conventional weapons, creating what two experts describe as a potentially unstable geopolitical situation.

Prof Dan Plesch and Manuel Galileo, from Soas University of London, describe a “quiet revolution in military affairs” reflecting increased US military power relative to Moscow and Beijing, particularly in missile technology.

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Two US soldiers assaulted by nationalist youth group in Turkey, authorities say

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Fifteen suspected assailants, members of the Turkey Youth Union, were detained after attack in port city of Izmir

Two US military service members were “physically attacked” in the port city of Izmir in western Turkey on Monday by members of an anti-American youth group, authorities said.

Fifteen suspected assailants were detained in the attack on the two service members, who were dressed in civilian clothing at the time of the incident. Five other US service members joined in the incident after seeing the violent encounter, officials said.

Reuters contributed to this report

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Trump shares posts of Gold Star families praising cemetery visit and criticizing Harris

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Soldiers’ relatives hit out at vice-president after she said Trump ‘disrespected sacred ground’ for a political stunt

Donald Trump shared statements from the relatives of 13 soldiers killed during the chaotic US evacuation from Kabul as they hit out at Kamala Harris after she criticized the former president’s involvement in a ceremony honoring the service members.

The dispute over the ceremony at Arlington national cemetery, during which Trump campaign aides allegedly shoved a cemetery worker so they could film Trump laying a wreath, contravening rules against political activity at the site, escalated after the vice-president said Saturday that Trump “disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt”.

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Kamala Harris says Trump ‘disrespected sacred ground’ on cemetery visit

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Vice-president accuses Republican rival of ‘political stunt’ as Democrats call for inquiry into apparent altercation

Kamala Harris – the Democratic nominee for November’s White House race – has accused Donald Trump of “disrespecting sacred ground” on his recent visit to Arlington national cemetery, as the controversy over an apparent altercation between workers of his campaign and cemetery staff continued to build.

The vice-president on Saturday accused the former president and Republican nominee of staging a “political stunt” after the US army accused the Trump campaign of turning a wreath-laying ceremony on Monday to mark the deaths of US soldiers in Afghanistan into a photo opportunity. The army also accused two campaign workers representing Trump – who said he was invited to the ceremony by the family of one of the honored soldiers – of pushing aside an official who told them it was forbidden to take pictures at the graves of military members who had recently died.

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US and Iraq launch joint raid killing 15 Islamic State militants

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Seven American troops injured during battle in Anbar desert, says central command

The US military and Iraq launched a joint raid targeting suspected Islamic State group militants in the Iraqi western desert that killed at least 15 people while seven American troops were hurt, officials said on Saturday.

The US military’s central command said the militants were armed with weapons, grenades and explosive belts during the battle on Thursday, which Iraqi forces said happened in the Anbar desert.

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Trump denies exploiting visit to US soldiers’ graves: ‘I don’t need publicity’

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Ex-president hits back at Pennsylvania rally after US army rebuked him for turning Arlington ceremony into photo op

Donald Trump has denied exploiting a controversial visit to soldiers’ graves at Arlington national cemetery for political ends by saying he does not need the publicity.

The US army publicly rebuked Trump campaign officials for turning a ceremony on Monday to mark the deaths of American soldiers in Afghanistan into a photo opportunity for the Republican presidential candidate. The army accused two campaign workers of pushing aside an official at the cemetery who told them that it was not permitted to take photographs at the graves of recently deceased soldiers.

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Democrats seize on Trump cemetery photo op ‘disgrace’ as election issue

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Politicians and veterans say episode was on par with ex-president’s history of disrespecting service in armed forces

Democrats are trying to turn Donald Trump’s clash with staff at Arlington National Cemetery, the hallowed final resting place of America’s war dead, into a broader election issue by highlighting it as an example of his history of disrespecting military veterans.

Congressional Democrats with military records and liberal-leaning veterans groups say the episode is consistent with past instances of the Republican presidential nominee flagrantly denigrating service in the armed forces.

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US army confirms Arlington cemetery worker ‘pushed aside’ by Trump staff

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Strongest official criticism yet over altercation with ex-president’s staff during photo op at military cemetery

US army officials issued a strongly worded rebuke of Donald Trump’s campaign on Thursday as they confirmed a worker at Arlington national cemetery was “abruptly pushed aside” during an altercation with members of the former president’s staff.

The statement was the strongest official criticism yet of Trump’s controversial visit in which he gave a thumbs-up over graves as a photo opportunity and there was an alleged physical assault by two of his staffers on the army official. It came as outrage continued to mount from veterans and families of some of the service members buried there.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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Trump staffers reported over altercation at Arlington cemetery during photo op

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Officials at military cemetery say two campaign members ‘verbally abused and pushed’ a representative

Officials at Arlington national cemetery have filed a report over the behavior of members of Donald Trump’s campaign staff who reportedly shoved and verbally abused an employee during a “crass” photo opportunity for the Republican presidential candidate.

The officials confirmed that a confrontation took place at the Virginia cemetery on Monday after the former president participated in a wreath-laying ceremony for 13 US servicemen and -women killed in a 2021 suicide bomb attack outside Kabul airport in Afghanistan.

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US military announces $20m grant to build cobalt refinery in Canada

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Pentagon investment would make North America’s first cobalt sulfate refinery as US looks to diversify supply chain

The US military has made its largest investment in Canada’s mining sector in decades, spending millions amid a looming battle among nations to control the supply of cobalt.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon announced a $20m grant to help build a cobalt refinery in the province of Ontario, saying the investment will “create a more robust industrial base capable of meeting growing demand across both the defense and commercial sectors”.

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Ex-US air force specialist with Christian nationalist ties leads combat trainings

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Michael Caughran’s history raises questions about extent to which his far-right and survivalist activities overlapped with his enlistment

A former US air force survival expert with militia and Christian nationalist connections is running survival and live-fire combat trainings in remote locations throughout the Pacific north-west, boasting on his website that the training incorporates trained law enforcement officers, “church security” operatives, and current and former US military members.

Michael Patrick Caughran’s new training business, American Reconstruction Concepts (ARC) shows organizational and personnel continuities with an earlier organization that explicitly offered “biblical training on war” to young people. That organization, Team Rugged, was directly connected with both a neo-Confederate pastor and a former Washington state legislator who has advocated for Christian nationalism, who a state house investigation found to have participated in “domestic terrorism”.

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US air force avoids PFAS water cleanup, citing supreme court’s Chevron ruling

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EPA says Tucson’s drinking water is contaminated but air force claims agency lacks authority to order cleanup

The US air force is refusing to comply with an order to clean drinking water it polluted in Tucson, Arizona, claiming federal regulators lack authority after the conservative-dominated US supreme court overturned the “Chevron doctrine”. Air force bases contaminated the water with toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” and other dangerous compounds.

Though former US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials and legal experts who reviewed the air force’s claim say the Chevron doctrine ruling probably would not apply to the order, the military’s claim that it would represents an early indication of how polluters will wield the controversial court decision to evade responsibility.

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Israel prepares for likely retaliatory attack by Iran as tensions mount

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US says it has prepared for significant attacks by Iran or proxies as Tehran stresses right to respond to assassinations

Iran has insisted on its right to an “appropriate and deterrent response” against Israel as the White House said it had prepared for what could be significant attacks by Iran or its proxies as soon as this week.

The comments come as the US announced it had ordered the deployment of the USS Georgia, a nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine, to the Middle East, amid mounting concern over the determination by Iran and its proxies to retaliate for Israel’s assassination of Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran. Iran’s acting foreign minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, made the comments to his Chinese counterpart on Monday, according to state media.

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Plea deal for accused 9/11 plotters revoked by Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin

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US secretary of defense pulls rank and withdraws agreements for trio accused of involvement in 2001 terror attacks

The US secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, has revoked a plea deal for the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and two other defendants, reinstating them as death-penalty cases, according to a memo sent to Susan Escallier, who is overseeing the war court proceedings.

The short-lived deal came 16 years after prosecution of the three men began.

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William Laws Calley, face of My Lai massacre in Vietnam War, dead at 80

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Lieutenant Calley was the only person convicted over the largest killing of civilians by US army in the 20th century

William Laws Calley Jr, the only person convicted over the notorious My Lai massacre by US soldiers during the Vietnam war, has died at the age of 80.

A lieutenant during the war, Calley was a member of Company C, which alongside his superior, Ernest Medina, he commanded during the search for Viet Cong combatants in the south Vietnamese village of My Lai and its neighbouring hamlets on 15 March 1968.

This article was amended on 30 July 2024. An earlier version stated that Seymour Hersh’s reporting led to Calley and other officers being court martialed. An internal military investigation was already underway when Hersh reported on the story.

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US military to dismantle ill-fated Gaza aid pier, saying it is ‘mission complete’

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Although Central Command praises operation, scheme announced by Biden cost $230m and only operated 25 days

The US military-built pier for carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza will be dismantled and brought home, ending a mission that has been fraught with repeated weather and security problems that limited how much food and other supplies could get to starving Palestinians.

Vice Adm Brad Cooper, deputy commander at US Central Command, told reporters in a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday that the pier had achieved its intended effect in what he called an “unprecedented operation”.

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Israel risking disastrous war against Hezbollah for political reasons, says former US official

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Harrison Mann, military expert who quit over Gaza, says ruinous war in Lebanon would pull US into regional conflict

Israel risks going to war against Hezbollah to ensure Benjamin Netanyahu’s political survival, but it would be a miscalculation that could lead to mass civilian deaths in both Lebanon and Israel, a former US military intelligence analyst has warned.

Harrison Mann, a major in the Defence Intelligence Agency who left the military last month over US support for Israel’s war in Gaza, also told the Guardian that such a disastrous new war would pull the US into a regional conflict.

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