News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
New Pentagon chief warns against failure in Iraq
Sen. Clinton opposes troop surge in Iraq
Saddam says responsible for any Iran gas attacks
Attacks in Iraq at record high: Pentagon
Ex-Iraq minister flees police station

Homeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah Happenings
UPS Fighting Rumors of 'Package Apartheid'
Proximity linked to vivid 9/11 memories, study finds
Somali govt lines up peacekeepers, Islamist deadline looms - Video
Fatah, Hamas men abducted freed: sources - Video
Marine to be charged in Haditha case

Welcome Home!!
Buccaneers Return from Afghanistan Tour

Other Military News
Gates Takes Oath as New Defense Secretary
Scottish troops must share scarce kilts

'Tis the Season
Cops: Santa-Clad Man Charged With Kidnapping

Worldwide Wackos
U.S. envoy says no progress in N.Korea talks so far - Video
North Korea insists on nuclear status
Local vote embarrassing Iran president

Homegrown Moonbats
Oh Joy! 'The View' Does It Again

Politics / Government
Laura Bush Had Tumor Removed in November

In the Courts / Crime and Punishment
Marijuana Dubbed Biggest Cash Crop in U.S.
Man Accused in Elizabeth Smart Case Unfit for Trial
British Police Make Arrest in Hooker Murders
Rapist Who Preys on Young Men Stalks Houston
FBI Data Shows Violent Crime Still on Rise in U.S.

Media in the Media / Bloggers in the News
Regan Ripped 'Jewish Cabal' Before Firing

Science / Nature
Swallowed by a Mountain? - Fears that climbers fell into Mt. Hood 'gullies' - VIDEO
VIDEO: Tearful Family Asks for Prayers
VIDEO: Update on Mount Hood Rescue Efforts
Rescue teams widen hunt for missing Oregon climbers
Climber had a passion for adventure
Thirteen states sue U.S. EPA over soot emissions
NASA, Google aim for virtual space travel on Web
Astronauts store space station's jammed solar wing
WWF: 52 new species discovered on Borneo

Oddities
Report: Indian Woman Runner Fails Gender Test

Fox News
Nuggets Coach Fires Off Foul Shot

Reuters: Top News
Stomach virus likely caused Olive Garden illnesses
Libya court to rule in foreign medics' HIV case
Suburban sprawl may create heavier kids
Cartoon legend Joseph Barbera dies at 95
Stocks and oil prices fall
Oracle shares fall after results
Brink's shares up after investor announcement
Dollar steady vs euro, yen on yr-end book squaring
Procrastination no key to retail success
Probe unlikely to dent popularity of GICs
Euronext shareholders to vote on NYSE merger
American Apparel close to being bought: WSJ
Express tops CVS with $26 bln offer for Caremark
Current account gap hits record
Private equity group to buy Biomet for $10.9 bln

AP World News
Graham to decide burial site with wife
Harrah's board said to OK $16.7B offer
Not Melo: Nuggets' Anthony suspended
Dow ends down 4 after barrage of buyouts
Rerouting nerves may aid bladder control
E! anchor engaged to 'Apprentice' winner
Menopause study disputes herb treatment
Online vote says Spears worst dog owner
Trade deficit hits high on oil prices
Reno hotel fire suspect to stand trial
Carbon monoxide feared in 7 Mo. deaths
Mich. to delay affirmative action ban

Military.com
The Gates Era Begins
Op-ed: Surge Troops Now?
Blog: War and the Bush Twins
Defense Tech: Twisty Jet Wings
Complete Info on Military Bases
Find Your Buddies for the Holidays
Ace the ASVAB

CENTCOM: News Releases
IRAQI ARMY, PARATROOPERS DISRUPT TERRORISTS IN TURKI

IRAQI ARMY COORDINATES FOR AIR SUPPORT TO KILL TERRORISTS NEAR BALAD

3-61ST CAVALRY TROOPS FOIL BOMB MAKERS IN EAST BAGHDAD, UNCOVERED AND DESTROY IED

IRAQI POLICEMEN, SOLDIERS LAUNCH JOINT OPERATION

ARMY ENGINEERS WORK TO IMPROVE IRAQ’S OIL EXPORT

USJFCOM
USJFCOM’s new super computer to enhance joint experimentation, training - podcast
Command surgeon hosts joint task force medical seminar - podcast

Department of Defense
NEWS UPDATES
Army, Marines Release New Counterinsurgency Manual - Story
For Top News Visit DefenseLink

ON THE GROUND
Iraqis Donate Clothing to Displaced Sunni Muslims - Story
Cooks Hone Skills, Prepare Hot Meals for Troops - Story
Soldiers Create System to Handle Holiday Mail - Story
'Ironhorse' Troops Serve as Escorts - Story

IN IRAQ
Fallen Engineer Missed Not Forgotten
Power Transfer Over Multinational Corps Iraq
Baghdad Counts on Local Improvements
Iraqi Police Return Home
Ceremony Focuses on Stryker Brigade Journey
'Arctic Wolves' Honor Fallen Comrades

IN AFGHANISTAN
Patrol Trucks to Increase Security in Afghanistan
Flight Surgeons Certify Afghan Army Aviators
Military Policemen Prepare for Return to States
Afghan Farming Communities to Receive Tractors

BACKGROUND
IRAQ
Renewal In Iraq
Iraq: Security, Stability
Fact Sheet: Progress and Work Ahead
Report: Strategy for Victory in Iraq
Iraq Daily Update
This Week in Iraq
Multinational Force Iraq
State Dept. Weekly Iraq Report (PDF)
'Boots on the Ground' Audio Archive
Weekly Reconstruction Report (PDF)
Iraq Reconstruction
Maps

AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan Update
Maps

WAR ON TERRORISM
Fact Sheet: Budget Request
Fact Sheet: War on Terror
Fact Sheet: Terror Plots Disrupted
Waging and Winning the War on Terror
Terrorism Timeline
Terrorism Knowledge Base

Weather
Iraq
Al Azamiyah Al Basrah Al Hillah Al Karkh Al Kazimiyah Al Kut
An Nasiriyah Baghdad Baqubah Mosul Najaf Nineveh Tall Kayf

Afghanistan
Bost/Laskar Ghurian Herat Kabul Qandahar

Gitmo

Today in History
0401 - St Anastasius I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1055 - Seldjuken under Toghril Beg occupy Baghdad
1154 - King Henry II of England crowned
1562 - Battle at Dreux: Anne de Montmorency & huguenots under Condé captured
1686 - Robinson Crusoe leaves his island after 28 years (as per Defoe)
1688 - King James II's wife & son flee to France
1732 - Benjamin Franklin (under the name Richard Saunders) begins publication of "Poor Richard's Almanack"
1776 - Thomas Paine published his 1st "American Crisis" essay, in which he wrote, "These are the times that try men's souls"
1777 - Washington settles his troops at Valley Forge PA for the winter
1788 - Chinese troops occupy capital Thang Long Vietnam
1795 - 1st state appropriation of money for road building, Kentucky
1823 - Georgia passes 1st US state birth registration law
1828 - South Carolina declares the right of states to nullify federal laws
1835 - HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin approaches New Zealand
1842 - US recognizes independence of Hawaii
1843 - Charles Dickens publishes "A Christmas Carol" in England
1854 - Allen Wilson of Connecticut patents sewing machine to sew curving seams
1861 - Battle of Black Water
1862 - Skirmish at Jackson/Salem Church TN (80 casualties)
1867 - Victims of "Angola Horror" burned to death (Angola NY)
1871 - Albert L Jones (New York NY), patents corrugated paper
1884 - Italy recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State
1888 - Stanley's expedition reaches Fort Bodo, East-Africa
1907 - 239 workers die in a coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek PA
1910 - 1st city ordinance requiring white & black residential areas (Baltimore); Rayon 1st commercially produced, Marcus Hook PA
1918 - Robert Ripley began his "Believe It or Not" column (New York Globe)
1919 - American Meteorological Society found
1928 - 1st autogiro (predecessor of helicopter) flight in US
1934 - Japan agress to fleet treaty of 1922 & 1930
1939 - Russian air & ground attack against Finnish positions near Summa
1941 - German submarine U-574 sinks; Hitler takes complete command of German Army; US Office of Censorship created to control info pertaining to WWII
1943 - Military coup in Bolivia
1945 - Austrian Republic re-establishes
1946 - War breaks out in Indochina as Ho Chi Minh attacks French in Hanoi
1948 - 2nd political action of Java/Sumatra
1950 - General Eisenhower named NATO commander; Tibet's Dalai Lama flees Chinese invasion
1951 - Nazi General Christiansen leaves Netherlands
1958 - 1st radio broadcast from space (recorded Christmas message by President Eisenhower: "To all mankind, America's wish for Peace on Earth & Good Will to Men Everywhere")
1960 - Fire aboard USS Constellation, under construction in Brooklyn (50 die); Mercury-Redstone 1A reaches 210 km in test flight
1961 - British government begins decimal coin system; Indonesian President Sukarno proclaims general mobilization
1962 - Nyasaland secedes from Rhodesia & Nyasaland; Transit 5A1, 1st operational navigational satellite, launched
1963 - Zanzibar becomes independent from UK
1965 - French President De Gaulle re-elected (Mitterrand gets 45%)
1971 - NASA launches Intelsat 4 F-3 for COMSAT Corp
1972 - Grenada adopts constitution
1974 - Nelson A Rockefeller sworn-in as the 41st Vice-President
1975 - John Paul Stevens becomes a Supreme Court Justice
1976 - President Brezhnev receives his 5th Lenin order
1980 - Iran requests $24 billion in US guarantees to free hostages
1985 - STS 61-C scrubbed at T -13 seconds because of SRB auxiliary power problem
1986 - USSR frees dissident Andrei Sakharov from internal exile
1988 - NASA unveils plans for lunar colony & manned missions to Mars; Unexploded WWII bomb found in Frankfurt, Germany-5,000 evacuated
1991 - Boris Yeltsin takes control of Kremlin

Birthdays
1036 - Su Tung-p'o China, poet/essayist/painter/calligrapher
1683 - Philip V Versailles France, King of Spain (1700-24, 24-46)
1814 - Edwin M[cMasters] Stanton Ohio, US Secretary of War (1861-65)
1817 - James Jay Archer Brigadier-General (Confederate Army) died in 1864
1819 - James Clifford Veatch Brevet Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1895
1821 - Mary Ashton Livermore American reformer/women's suffrage leader
1824 - Hercules Robinson Ireland, South Africa Commissioner (1880-89, 1895-97)
1837 - John Carpenter Carter Brigadier-General (Confederate Army), died in 1864
1852 - A[lbert] A Michelson Strelno Prussia, US physicist (Nobel 1907)
1884 - Antonín Zápotocky premier/President of Czechoslovakia
1891 - Edward Bernard Andre Maria Raczynski Poland, president-in-exile (1979-86)
1906 - Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev Ukraine, 1st Secretary of the Community Party/President of the USSR (1964-82)
1926 - Jeanne Kirkpatrick US ambassador to UN
1943 - William De Vries Brooklyn NY, surgeon-inventor (Symbion artifical heart)
1951 - Fred W Leslie Ancon Panamá, PhD/astronaut (STS 73)

Passings
0401 - Anastasius I Bishop of Rome (399-401)
1370 - Urban V [Guillaume de Grimoard] 1st Avignon Pope (1362-70)
1804 - Mary Bright British PM Rockingham
1915 - Alois Alzheimer German neurologist (first described Alzheimer's Disease), dies at 51
1953 - Robert A Millikan US physicist (Nobel 1923), dies at 85
1968 - Norman Thomas founder (ACLU)/Socialist Party (1926-55), dies at 84
1977 - Nellie Taylor Ross 1st woman governor, dies at 101

Reported Missing in Action
1968
Payne, Norman, US Army SF (OH); disappeared after his unit was ambushed

1971
Forame, Peter C., US Army (VA); OH6A shot down (w/Skiles)

Johnson, Kenneth R., USAF (MN); F4D shot down (w/Vaughan)released by DRV March, 1973 – retired as a Lt. Colonel - alive as of 1998

Poynor, Daniel R., USAF (OK); F4D shot down (w/Thomas), remains ID’d June, 1995

Skiles, Thomas W., US Army (WY); OH6A shot down (w/Forame)

Thomas, Leo T., Jr., USAF (KY); F4D shot down (w/Poynor), remains ID’d June, 1995

Vaughan, Samuel R., USAF (SC); F4D shot down (w/Johnson), released by DRV March, 1973 – alive and well as of 1998

1972
The following USAF personnel reported MIA when their B52D was shot down:

Alexander, Fernando (TX); released by DRV March, 1973 – retired as a Lt. Colonel - alive and well as of 1998

Barrows, Henry C., (NJ); released by DRV March, 1973 – retired as a Lt. Colonel - alive and well as of 1998

Brown, Charles A., Jr. (MA); released by DRV March, 1973 – retired as a Lt. Colonel - alive as of 1998

Cooper, Richard W., Jr., (MD); navigator, presumed KIA

Poole, Charlie S., (LA); tailgunner, presumed KIA

Wilson, Hal K., (NY); released by DRV March, 1973 – retired as a Major - alive and well as of 1998