Friendly Conversation
A U.S. Army Soldier with Headquarters Company, 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment speaks with an Iraqi man near Forward Operating Base Rustamiyah in Baghdad, Iraq, Jan. 26, 2008. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Nicholas Hernandez)

Labels: 2CAB, 69th Armor Regiment, Baghdad, FOB Rustamiyah, Iraq, photos, US Army

News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
State Dept. Accused of Wasting Millions, Bringing 'Worst of America' to Iraq
US commanders welcome Fallujah revival
Iraqi, U.S. Soldiers Organize Vaccinations for Farm Animals
Soldiers Provide Aid to Orphanage
Face of Defense: Infantry Soldier Takes Pride in Iraq Service
Macedonians Join U.S. Forces at Gates of Camp Taji
SOF train Iraqi Security Force unit
City of Hit to demilitarize
Joint patrol arrests six, find munitions (Baghdad)
New ‘Sons of Iraq’ lead CF to AQI hideout (al-Mansuriyah)
‘Sons of Iraq’ repel attackers during drive-by shooting (Adhamiyah)
Al Qaeda Leader's Captured Diary Reveals Decline

Operation Enduring Freedom
Commander Cites Need for More Security Trainers - Video

Homeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah Happenings
Uneasy peace reigns on southern Philippine island
Blast at Pakistan election rally, 16 dead - Video
Secret evidence bogs down Gitmo hearings

Fallen Heroes
Roadside blasts kill 5 U.S. soldiers in Iraq
DoD Identifies Navy Casualty

Wounded Warriors
Army Moves Aggressively to Treat Blast-Related Injuries

Supporting Our Heroes...or not
Berkeley, Calif., Mayor Apologizes to Military Members Following Flap Over Council Vote
Toledo Mayor Tells Marine Corps to Get Out

Other Military News
Japan Deploys Fighter Jets After Russian Bomber Violates Airspace
Image of U.S. soldier wins World Press Photo prize
War demands strain US military readiness
Guard Units Respond to Tornadoes, Snowstorms

Religion of Peace??
Sharia law in Britain unavoidable: archbishop

Worldwide Wackos
Chavez vows Venezuela revolution despite Exxon

Politics / Government
Obama Wins Nebraska, Washington Democratic Caucuses, Huckabee Takes Kansas GOP Contest - PHOTOS
BRIEFING BOOK (.pdf) - DELEGATE COUNT
Hillary Furious Over MSNBC Pimp Crack - VIDEO
You Decide '08: Candidates Looking for Momentum
Big Turnout in Washington Dem Caucuses
Texas Governor Wants Huckabee to Quit
Huge Crowds at Nebraska Dem Caucuses
McCain Open to Rove's Advice, Cash
Romney Wins Conservative Straw Poll
Obama, Hillary Both Attend Virginia Gala
Campaigns battle to motivate voters in Louisiana
Conservatives dismayed Mitt Romney quit race - Video
Bush pushes Senate to OK 180 nominees
Australian PM dismisses Japan whaling protests
Putin Slams West in Farewell Speech

Illegal Immigration / Border Control
Anti-immigration fervor may fade in election - Video
Citizenship on hold for many immigrants

In the Courts / Crime and Punishment / Law and Order
Cops: Mom Gave 11-Year-Old Daughter Beer, Marijuana as Birthday Gift
Teen Charged With Manslaughter After Schoolyard Beating Leaves Classmate Dead
Prosecutors: NYC Woman Paid Hitman $20,000 for Killing Dentist Husband
Man Convicted of Murder for Hiding Wife's Body in Australia Backyard for 23 Years
Brian McNamee Told Congress He Injected Roger Clemens' Wife
Town Struggles to Heal After Killings - VIDEO - PHOTOS
Cops Release Sketch of Strip Mall Shooter
Mother: 'Haunted' by daughter's killings
Court: Nebraska electric chair not legal
Lawyer: Clemens wasn't at Canseco party

Media in the Media / Bloggers in the News / Watching the Web
Phoenix Man Turns to YouTube to Catch Thieves
Report: Yahoo Board Plans to Turn Down Microsoft Bid
Guests for the Sunday TV news shows

Science / Medicine and Health / Technology
17-Year-Old Discovers Her Organs Are Failing By Chance
European lab spacewalk delayed for a day - Video
U.S. expresses concern about vaccine as flu cases up
Ecuador peasants seek new life away from volcano
Hitting the high notes: Sax pros tune themselves
Wireless fair set to stage mobile Web battle
CFO brings philosophy of change to Microsoft
Half of UK men would swap sex for 50 inch TV
Atlantis delivers new space lab

Mother Nature
Black Bear Recovering After Facial Reconstructive Surgery
Labrador Survives 6-Story Fall From Tampa Airport Parking Garage
Fire Engulfs Famous London Outdoor Market
Officials assess tornado warnings
Churches vital after deadly storms
Correction: Tornado aftermath story
Long-sundered painting rejoined in NYC

Oddities
Miscarried Fetus 'Mistakenly' Placed in Mom's Bag
Funeral horses stampede, overturn hearse
Ireland debates switch to right-hand driving
Bride dies during marriage's first dance

Other News of Note
Fifth Body Found in Sugar Refinery Blast

Fox News
Tentative Deal Reached in Writers Strike - VIDEO
Pop Tarts: Shakira to 'Lose' Wardrobe, Including Her Bra
Court Lets Spears' Father Fire the Pop Star's Manager

Reuters
Indonesia rock concert stampede kills 10
WITNESS: Rock-steady women build Africa's villas
Family bids farewell to Ledger in hometown - Video
SEC eyes disclosure in subprime probes
For Toyota, success is a bitter-sweet pill
G7 leaders turn pessimistic on global economy - Video
Paris broker released in SocGen trading case - Video
Blackstone considering bid for UK's FKI: paper
Regulators deliver grim assessment on credit crisis
Chrysler to cut models and dealerships
Market braces for another grueling week
Dollar on track for biggest weekly rise since June '06
Wall St stumbles on fresh risk aversion - Video
Fed's Lockhart: Fed actions should steady markets
ADS shares rise as it drops Blackstone suit
CNET shares, options up on Google rumor
Fed rate cuts seen behind equity outflows: report
St Jude unveils ambitious 5-year plan, shares up
FDA reviewing safety of Botox and rival product
Oil clout shifting?
Recession bells ringing

AP World News
Surprise: Zorn hired as Redskins coach
Rebates could stave off long recession
No. 1 Memphis stays perfect, beats UCF
US advances at Davis Cup
Surrendering to tractor pull of love
Gay Mormons seek meeting with new leader

CENTCOM: News Releases

USJFCOM
Newsmaker Profile: Director of Joint Training Army Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya - podcast
Joint fires team, Army training center leaps forward with joint integrated training
Learn more about the Joint Fires Integration and Interoperability Team
Joint Deployment Training Center revs up for the future - podcast

Multi-National Force-Iraq
SOF train Iraqi Security Force unit

DefenseLink
TOP NEWS
Gates: More NATO Troops Needed in Afghanistan - Special
Gates Discusses Missile Issues With Russian Official - Special
Pakistan Now Understands Terror Threat, Gates Says - Special - Photos
Mullen Addresses Security Issues During Pakistan Visit - Video
Transcript: Pentagon Briefing

MILITARY NEWS
Army Reserve Comparable to Active-Duty Force, Enlisted Leader Says

AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU
Scholarship Applications Due for Vets

IRAQ NEWS
U.S. Soldiers Work With Iraqis to Revitalize Hospital
Al Qaeda Recruits Children for Terror Missions - Video
U.S. MPs Help Iraqi Police Improve Performance
Iraqi, U.S. Students Exchange Letters to Bridge Gap
Coalition Kills 4, Detains Suspected al Qaeda Agents

AFGHANISTAN NEWS
New Contracting Office Provides Jobs for Afghans

WHY WE SERVE
Marine Uses Eyes, Video To Watch Over Troops

FACE OF DEFENSE
Soldier Serves Proudly

Weather
Afghanistan
Bost/Laskar Ghurian Herat Kabul Qandahar

Germany
Ansbach Aschaffenburg Berlin Berlin-Tempelhof Berlin/Schonefeld Bremerhaven
Darmstadt Frankfurt Frankfurt/Main Freiburg/Breisgau Garmisch
Garmisch-Partenkirchen Geilenkirchen Gelnhausen Giessen Kitzingen
Hanau Am Main Heidelberg Mainz Mannheim Nurnberg Stuttgart Trier
Wiesbaden Wurzburg

Gitmo

Guam
Agana Agana Heights Agat Andersen AFB Asan Barrigada

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

Japan
Kadena Air Base Okinawa Tokyo Yokohama

Philippines
Baler Radar Site Catanduanes Radar Site Manila

South Korea
Cheju Upper/Radar Chonju Chunchon Inch'on Kunsan Masan Mokp'o
Osan Pusan Seoul Suwon Taegu Taejon Tonghae Radar Site Ulsan Yosu

Today in History
1267 - Synod of Breslau orders Jews of Silesia to wear special caps
1499 - France & Venice sign treaty against Milan
1554 - Battle at London Sir Thomas Wyatt defeated
1574 - Louis of Nassau ends siege of Maastricht
1621 - Alexander Ludovisi is elected Pope Gregory XV
1667 - Treaty of Andrussovo Russia/Poland signs peace treaty
1674 - English re-conquer New York from Netherlands
1742 - British ex-premier Walpole becomes earl of Orford
1744 - Battle at Toulon (French/Spanish vs English fleet of Admiral Matthews)
1775 - English Parliament declares Massachusetts colony is in rebellion
1788 - Austria declares war on Russia
1799 - USS Constellation captures French frigate Insurgente off Nevis, West Indies
1801 - France & Austrian sign Peace of Lunéville
1807 - French Sanhedrin convened by Napoleon
1822 - American Indian Society organizes
1825 - House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams 6th US President
1849 - Roman Republic declared
1861 - Jefferson Davis & Alexander Stephens elected president & Vice President of CSA; Tennessee votes against secession; Confederate Provisional Congress declares all laws under the US Constitution were consistent with constitution of Confederate states
1863 - Fire extinguisher patented by Alanson Crane
1867 - Nebraska becomes 37th US state
1870 - Grant signs the bill establishing Federal Meteorological Service
1871 - Federal fish protection office authorized by Congress
1885 - 1st Japanese arrive in Hawaii
1886 - President Cleveland declares a state of emergency in Seattle because of anti-Chinese violence
1891 - 1st shipment of asparagus arrives in San Francisco from Sacramento
1893 - Canal builder De Lesseps & others sentenced to prison for fraud
1895 - Volleyball invented by W G Morgan in Massachusetts
1904 - Japan declares war on Russia
1906 - Natal proclaims state of siege in Zulu uprising
1913 - 10 Day Tragedy of Mexico-City; 3,000 die
1916 - Britain's military service act enforced (conscription)
1920 - International treaty recognizes Norwegian sovereignty over Svalbard
1922 - Snow on Mauna Loa, Hawaii; Italian government of Bonomi falls
1923 - Soviet Aeroflot airlines established
1924 - Nakhichevan ASSR constituted within Azerbaijan SSR
1925 - German Minister Stresemann proposes security treaty with France
1926 - Teaching theory of evolution forbidden in Atlanta, GA schools
1929 - USSR, Estonia, Latvia, Poland & Romania sign Litvinov Pact
1932 - America enter Olympics 2-man bobsled competition for 1st time; US airship Columbia crashes during storm (Flushing NY)
1934 - Balkan Entente alliance forms (Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey & Romania)
1939 - Belgian Spaak government falls
1941 - British troops conquer El Agheila; Nazi collaborators destroy pro-Jewish café Alcazar Amsterdam (Alcazar refused to hang "No Entry for Jews" signs in front of cafe)
1942 - Daylight Savings War Time goes into effect in US; Japanese troops land near Makassar, South Celebes
1943 - Japanese evacuate Guadalcanal, epic battle ends; FDR orders minimal 48 hour work week in war industry; German riots at "plutocratenzoontjes", 1,200 in Vught Camp; Nazis arrest Dutch sons of rich parents
1944 - U-734/U-238 sunk off Ireland
1945 - Germany destroys Ruhrdammen; WAAF-corporal flies along the tail of a Spitfire
1946 - Dutch Labor Party (Dutch Social Democratic Party) forms
1950 - Senator Joseph McCarthy charges State Dept infested with 205 communists
1953 - General Walter Bedell Smith ends term as 4th director of CIA; Allen W. Dulles, becomes acting director of CIA
1954 - Mario Scelba forms new government in Italy
1955 - US federations of trade unions merge into AFL/CIO
1961 - Joseph Ileo appointed premier of Congo
1962 - Jamaica signs agreement to become independent
1963 - 1st flight of Boeing 727 jet
1964 - GI Joe character created
1969 - Boeing 747, makes 1st commercial flight
1971 - Apollo 14 returns to Earth; Satchel Paige becomes 1st negro-league player elected to baseball HOF
1972 - British government declares state of emergency after month-long miners' strike
1975 - Soyuz 17 returns to Earth
1979 - Nigeria amends constitution
1983 - Belgium buys 44 F-16s
1986 - Haydar Bakr al-Attas appointed President of South Yemen
1987 - Former national security adviser Robert McFarlane attempts suicide
1990 - Galileo flies by Venus; Namibia's constitution ratified
1991 - US Supreme Court agrees to hear Joseph Doherty case; Voters in Lithuania vote for independence
1994 - Israeli minister Shimon Perez signs accord with PLO's Arafat
1997 - Fox cartoon series "Simpsons" airs 167th episode, making it the longest-running animated series in cartoon history
1998 - Failed assassination attempt on Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze
2002 - XIX Winter Olympics opens in Salt Lake City UT/Québec City

Birthdays
1404 - Constantine XI Dragases, last Byzantine Emperor
1826 - John Alexander Logan, Union Major General
1830 - Abdül Aziz Istanbul Ottoman, 32nd sultan of Turkey (1861-76)
1854 - Edward Carson, 1st Baron Carson, lawyer/leader (Irish Unionist Party)
1857 - Johannes T. de Visser, theologist/Dutch 1st minister of Education
1884 - Frederik Gerretson [Geerten Gossaert], Dutch poet/politician)
1891 - Pietro Nenni, socialist/minister of foreign affairs (1946-47)
1909 - Dean Rusk, US Secretary of State (1961-69)
1912 - Hubert William Dean, air armaments specialist
1914 - Max Manus, resistance fighter
1921 - B.M. Ducat-Amos, Air Commandant/director (RAF Nursing Service)
1926 - Garret FitzGerald, Prime Minister of Ireland
1928 - Roger Mudd, news anchor (CBS Weekend News, NBC Evening News)
1929 - Bill Barrett (Representative-NE)
1941 - Sheila James Kuehl politician/actress (Zelda-Dobie Gillis)
1951 - Jay Inslee (Representative-WA)
1953 - Gary Franks (Representative-CT)
1954 - Ulrich Walter, German cosmonaut
1960 - Peggy A. Whitson, Ph.D./astronaut

Passings
1555 - John Hooper, deprived Bishop of Gloucester, burnt for heresy
1567 - Henry Stuart, earl of Darnley/Consort of Mary Queen of Scots, murdered
1588 - Marquis of Santa Cruz, Spanish Admiral
1617 - Hans Christoph Haiden, composer, dies at 44
1640 - Murad IV, sultan of Turkey (1623-40), dies in Baghdad at 27
1670 - Frederik III, King of Denmark/Norway (1648-70), dies at 60
1751 - Henri F D'Aguesseau, Chancellor of France (1717-50), dies at 82
1811 - Nevill Maskelyne, 5th Astronomer Royal of England (1765-1811), dies
1860 - Edmond Willem van Dam van Isselt, Dutch military/liberal politician, dies at 63
1932 - Junnosuke Inouye, Japanese minister of Finance, murdered
1943 - ... Reydons, wife of General Reydons, shot to death by resistance
1945 - George J.L. Maduro, resistance fighter (Madurodam), dies in Dachau; Jan Bakker, resistance fighter, executed at 26
1957 - Miklós Horthy von Nagybanya Hung, Admiral/regent (1920-44), dies at 88
1977 - Sergei Ilyushin, Russian airplane builder (Ilyushin), dies at 82
1984 - Yuri Andropov, General Secretary of Soviet Communist Party (1982-84), dies at 69
1995 - J. William Fulbright (Senator-AR)/anti-Vietnam War, dies at 89
1996 - Adolf Galland, General (Luftwaffe), dies at 83
2002 - Princess Margaret, sister of Queen Elizabeth II of England, dies from a stroke at 71

Reported Missing in Action
1965
McLean, James H., US Army (CA); capture confirmed

1969
Meyers, Roger A., USN (IL); A4E crashed into water shortly after takeoff, Killed, body not recovered

1973
Boyles, Howard, Civilian - Air America; C123 shot down - remains recovered
April, 1973 - ID refuted

Cavil, Jack W, Civilian - Air America; C123 shot down - remains recovered April, 1973