Strike Fighter Squadron 97 personnel along with Japanese Air Self-Defense Force 201st and 203rd Tactical Fighter Squadron personnel celebrate their successful completion of two Aviation Training Relocation (ATR) detachments at Chitose Air Base. Photo by: Navy Lt. Tommy Kolwicz, MCAS Iwakuni, February 28, 2008

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Labels: ATR, Chitose Air Base, Japan, photos, Strike Fighter Squadron 97, USMC

YARMOUK COMMUNICATION - U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Mathew Davies communicates on his radio while providing security during a traffic control point inspection in Yarmouk, Iraq, March 5, 2008. Davies is assigned to the 1st Infantry Division's Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery Regiment. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Sharhonda R. McCoy

Labels: 1st Infantry Division, 2-32 FAR, Iraq, photos, US Army, Yarmouk

News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Al-Maliki Demands U.S. Release 'Chemical Ali', Two Others for Execution
Iraq War to Cost $12B a Month in 2008, Study Finds
Female suicide bomber kills Iraq tribal head: police
AP: Water makes US troops in Iraq sick
East Rashid Goes to Voting Booth
Coalition Forces Discuss Security with Mada’in Qada Leaders
Last Week’s Iraq Ops Leave 10 Terrorists Killed, 16 Captured
Weapons Found Near Babbahhani

Operation Enduring Freedom
Medic Stationed in Afghanistan Becomes 2nd Woman to Be Awarded Silver Star
Afghans Protest Reprint of Muhammad Cartoon - PHOTOS

Homeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah Happenings
WTC Staircase Moved, Will Join Sept. 11 Memorial
Olmert Approves New Construction in West Bank
Israeli army and Gaza militants in uneasy lull
Israel reduces activity in Gaza Strip
Lebanon crisis derails president vote for 16th time
Blast in Sri Lanka capital kills one
China says security not a worry after plots foiled
Democrats criticize Bush's CIA-bill veto

Other Military News
Polish PM, Bush to discuss missile defense

Worldwide Wackos
Socialist PM Claims Victory in Spanish Election
Venezuela: Diplomatic Ties With Colombia Restored
Iran ready to talk nuclear with Europe

Homegrown Moonbats
Southern Baptists Issue Call to Fight Climate Change

Politics / Government
Clintons push a Hillary/Obama ticket - Video (Egads...)
The Delegate Dilemma - Mail-in ballots seen as possible primary fix
Clinton Refuses Money From Donor Labeled Anti-Semitic
Polls: Mississippi Is Obama Country
McCain Competes for Spotlight in Dem-Dominated Race
U.S. missteps weaken influence with OPEC
Malaysian Front regrouping after poll setback - Video
Democrats take high-profile Republican district
Pennsylvania: Safe win for Clinton? - Video
Obama's black support shows its limits
Girl in Clinton ad supports Obama
McCain competes for money, spotlight
Fla. mail-in primary plan gains traction
McCain seeks nomination payoff
'In The Next Election, Will The American Public Be The Losers Again?'
Sarkozy's party trails in local voting
EU sees Serb poll as chance to seal ties
Musharraf Won't Quit; Foes to Form New Government

In the Courts / Crime and Punishment / Law and Order
Police Seek Second Person From ATM Surveillance Photos of UNC Coed's Killing - PHOTOS
Mom of Auburn Slaying Suspect Apologizes to College Student's Family
Virginia Law Takes Aim at Adults Who French Kiss Minors
Oklahoma Teen Faces Porn Charges Over Cell Phone Video
Reports: FBI Opens Fraud Probe Into Countrywide
Interpol Pedophile Suspect on Trial for Sex Act on Boy, 9
"Swirly-face" pedophile suspect on trial in Thailand
Robbery suspect shot at Calif. mall

U.N. News
U.N. envoy meets Myanmar's Suu Kyi again
UN Rejects Burma's Slap at Special Envoy

Media in the Media / Bloggers in the News / Watching the Web
Aussie Magazine Sorry for Breaking Prince Harry Embargo

Science / Medicine and Health / Technology
Guess What's in the Water — Drugs
Public Strip Search - New surveillance camera sees through clothing
India culls poultry to contain new bird flu outbreak
Japan to make vaccines for multiple strains of flu
Logitech says any Microsoft bid "without sense"
USDA Says Who Ate Recalled Meat Is None of the Public's Business

Mother Nature
Storm Piles Record Snow on Ohio - PHOTOS
Midwest cleans up after record snowfall
Liberia's pygmy hippos survive two civil wars

Oddities
Washington Boy Hospitalized after Being Buried in Sandbox
Thrift Store Worker Returns $30,000 Found in Donated Clothing

Other News of Note
Gasoline prices hit new high

Fox News
Heath Ledger's Will Ignores Daughter

Reuters
Tibetans start torch relay to oppose Beijing Games
Three quarters of Chinese excited about Games: survey
Britons don't trust government building plans
"10,000 BC" a mammoth at worldwide box office
New "Saint" ready for pilothood
Wall Street sees flat Q1, Q2 earnings growth
Carlyle Capital asks for standstill from lenders
Microsoft will not rush Yahoo merger says exec: FT
Global subprime losses hit $215 billion: Japan's FSA
Oil spike to last through 2008: OPEC president
Fannie Mae CEO visits investors in Asia, Europe: report
Chevron to develop two major gas projects in Asia
TSMC February sales rise on year but quarter seen slow
Futures point to flat Wall St; McDonald's reports
Oil steady above $105, supported by U.S. cold snap
Dollar down, low yielders up as risk aversion in play
Nikkei hits lowest close in over two years
Grafton earnings up but weak demand, pound hurting
Credit Suisse cuts Freddie Mac price target
Sasol says half-year earnings rise, sees 2008 growth
Recession and credit woes rattle investors - Video
Bovis warns on UK housing market, urges rate cut
James Saft on Global Finance
Default, the American way

AP World News
Kings hold on to beat Lakers 114-113
Kings edge Lakers on Udrih's free throws
NFL, Walsh eye deal for spygate material
4 die in Bethlehem, Pa., row house fire
Busch beats Junior to Victory Lane
Investing joins 3 R's at unusual school
Favre could be scarce in retirement

News Blaze
Coalition Forces Detain Alleged Special Groups Leader
Ironhorse Tracker Radio Newscast Available
FOB Warhorse Memorial Photos
Videos
Ironhorse Tracker Radio Newscast Available

CENTCOM
Taji rails open for first time since 2003
Afghan police distribute supplies in Nangarhar
Girls study physics in Oruzgan Province
PRT eases link between Ab Kamari villages, Qala-e-Naw
New hope for Baghdad shop owners

USJFCOM
Targeting school revising courses to prepare students - podcast
More about Joint Targeting School
SOCJFCOM continues to ready warfighters for global operations - podcast
More about SOCJFCOM
Phase one of Multinational Experiment 5 wraps up
More about Multinational Experiment 5

Multi-National Force-Iraq
Multi-National Force-Iraq
MND-B Soldiers detain 3 in Rashid
MND-B Soldiers seize weapons cache in Tarmiyah
Al-Qaeda targeted, weapons caches destroyed; five killed, 26 detained
Principle deputy assistant secretary of defense for global security affairs visits Taji
Haditha girl returns home after heart surgery in U.S.

DefenseLink
TOP NEWS
Military Officials in Iraq Praise Soldiers of Redeploying ‘Surge’ Brigade
Cheney Praises Navy Recruits for Volunteering to Serve
Colombia Progresses Against Terrorism; Diplomacy Urged in South American Rift
Policy Bans Image-Gathering On Military Installations
Guantanamo Bay Detainees Get Respectful Treatment, Commander Says
New Center to Boost NORTHCOM, NORAD Capabilities
Young Leaders Visit Pentagon

IRAQ NEWS
Soldiers Bring Water to Iraqi Town
Offensive Leaves 10 Terrorists Dead
Coalition Neutralizes Insurgents in Babil

MILITARY NEWS
Language Institute Aids Deploying Troops, Staff
Sound Finances Enable Troops to Focus on Mission
WWI Vet Welcomes Celebrity of His Generation
Pentagon Honors WWI Veterans With Exhibit - Photos - Video

AFGHANISTAN NEWS
'New Breed" of Afghan Soldiers Graduates
Taliban Infiltration Decreasing

WHY WE SERVE
Captain Helps Americans Better Understand Troops

AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU
MySpace to Rock Troops

FACE OF DEFENSE
Medic Says ‘Simple Stuff’ Saved Soldier’s Life

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
241BC - Battle of Aegusa: Roman fleet sinks 50 Carthagean ships
0418 - Jews are excluded from public office in the Roman Empire
0483 - St Simplicius ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1624 - England declares war on Spain
1629 - King Charles I dissolved Parliament; he called it back 11 years later
1661 - French King Louis XIV ends office of premier
1681 - English Quaker William Penn receives charter from Charles II, making him sole proprietor of colonial American territory Pennsylvania
1734 - Spanish army under Don Carlos (III) draws into Naples
1791 - John Stone, Concord MA, patents a pile driver
1847 - 1st money minted in Hawaii
1849 - Abraham Lincoln applies for a patent; only US President to do so
1862 - Great Britain & France recognizes independence of Zanzibar; US issues 1st paper money ($5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 & $1000)
1864 - Grant is named commander of the Union armies; Red River campaign, Louisiana
1865 - Battle of Monroe's Crossroads, North Carolina
1876 - 1st telephone call made (Alexander Graham Bell to Thomas Watson)
1880 - General Wolseley opens new legislative council in Pretoria
1893 - Ivory Coast becomes a French colony; New Mexico State University cancels its 1st graduation ceremony, its only graduate Sam Steele was robbed & killed the night before
1896 - After Bob Fitzsimmons KOs much larger Jim Corbett to win world HW championship he says, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall"
1903 - Harry Gammeter, Cleveland, patents multigraph duplicating machine
1905 - Japanese Army captures Mukden (Shenyang)
1906 - Coal dust explosion kills 1,060 at Courrieres France
1910 - China ends slavery
1915 - British expedition Army in Belgium captures Neuve Chapelle
1922 - State of siege proclaimed during mine strike Johannesburg South Africa
1925 - Walter Mittelholzer is 1st to flies over Demawend mountain, Iran
1927 - Albania mobilize by threat of Serbian, Croatian & Slovenes; Bavaria lifts ban on Hitler's speeches
1931 - British Labour party removes fascist sir Oswald Mosley
1933 - Major earthquake in Long Beach, CA; Nevada becomes 1st US state to regulate narcotics
1939 - 17 villages damaged by hailstones in Hyderabad, India
1945 - Germany blows-up Wessel Bridge on Rhine; Japan declares Vietnam Independence; Patton's 3rd Army makes contact with Hodge's 1st Army; Tokyo on fire after night time B-29 bombing; US troops lands on Mindanao
1946 - Train derailment kills 185 near Aracaju Brazil
1948 - 1st civilian to exceed speed of sound-Herb H Hoover, Edwards AFB California
1951 - FBI director J Edgar Hoover declines post of baseball commissioner
1952 - Military coup by General Fulgencio Batista in Cuba
1956 - Peter Twiss sets new world air record 1,132 mph (1,823 kph)
1957 - Thousands of soccer fans riot in Italy
1959 - Uprising against Chinese occupation force in Lhasa Tibet
1960 - USSR agrees to stop nuclear testing
1964 - US reconnaissance plane shot down over East Germany
1966 - North Vietnamese capture US Green Beret Camp at Ashau Valley
1968 - Ferry boat sinks in harbor of Wellington, New Zealand (200 killed)
1969 - James Earl Ray pleads guilty in murder of Martin Luther King, Jr.
1971 - Senate approves amendment lowering voting age to 18
1972 - 1st Black US political convention opens (Gary, IN); General Lon Nol becomes President & prince Sirik Matak premier of Cambodia
1973 - Morocco adopts constitution
1974 - Christian Democrats win Belgium parliamentary election
1977 - Rings of Uranus discovered during occultation of SAO
1978 - Soyuz 28 returns to Earth
1982 - President Reagan proclaims economic sanctions against Libya; Sygyzy: all 9 planets aligned on same side of Sun
1985 - French socialists lose election (National Front 9%)
1987 - Vatican formal opposition to test-tube fertilization & embryo transfer
1988 - Avalanche at Swiss Ski resort "Klosters" nearly kills Prince Charles
1990 - Lieutenant General Avril resigns as President of Haiti
1995 - Car bomb explodes in Karachi at shiite mosque, 17+ killed
1996 - NYC Mayor Guiliani visits Israel

Birthdays
1452 - Ferdinand II the Catholic, King of Aragon/Sicily (expelled Jews)
1503 - Ferdinand I German emperor (1558-64)
1538 - Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk; executed by Queen Elizabeth (1572)
1656 - Adolf H. van Rechteren Dutch diplomat/politician
1809 - William David Porter, Union Navy Commander
1812 - Victor Tesch, Belgian lawyer/minister of Justice
1818 - George Wythe Randolph, Confederate Secretary of War
1824 - Major General Thomas J. Churchill, Confederate Army/Fought at Wilson's Creek, Red River
1832 - William Henry Penrose, Union Brigadier General
1845 - Alexander III [Romanov], Russian tsar (1881-94)
1908 - Carl Albert, US Speaker of the House (1971-77)
1925 - M J J A [Sef], Imkamp Dutch politician (D66)
1928 - James Earl Ray, assassin (Martin Luther King Jr)
1947 - Avril "Kim" Campbell Canada's 1st female Prime Minister/19th Prime Minister (June 25, 1993-November 4, 1993)
1952 - Oupa J. Gqozo, South African warden/army commandant (Ciskei)
1961 - Laurel B. Clark, Lieutenant Commander USN/astronaut

Passings
0037 - Tiberius Claudius Nero, Roman emperor (14-37), dies at 78
0483 - Simplicius, Italian Pope (468-83), dies
1546 - Thomas Elyot, dies at 46
1735 - Dirk T. van Cloon Dutch lawyer/Governor-General of E. Indies, dies at about 46
1792 - John Stuart, 3rd earl of Bute/English premier (1760-63), dies at 78
1826 - Johan VI M L J King of Portugal (1816-26), dies at 56
1864 - Maximilian II Jozef, King of Bayern (1848-64), dies at 52
1865 - William Henry "Little Billy" Chase Whiting, Confederate General-Major, dies at 48
1872 - Giuseppe Mazzini, Italian revolutionary (Giovane Italy), dies at 66
1892 - Otto van Raised, Governor-General of Netherland Indies (1884-88), dies at 69
1910 - Karl Lueger Austrian anti-semite/mayor of Vienna, dies at 65
1913 - Harriet Tubman, abolitionist, conductor on Underground RR, dies in New York
1944 - David Vogel, Ukrainian author, dies in Auschwitz at 52
1948 - Jan Masaryk, Czechoslovakian Foreign minister, commits suicide or is murdered
1953 - Charles Gordon Curtis, inventor of (Curtis-steam turbine), dies at 92
1966 - Frederik "Frits" Zernike, Dutch physicist (Nobel 1953), dies at 77
1973 - Sir Richard Sharples Governor of Bermuda, assassinated
1977 - Willem Schermerhorn, Dutch premier (1945-46), dies at 82
1980 - Scarsdale diet doctor Herman Tarnower, killed by Jean Harris
1985 - Konstantin Chernenko, Communist party leader/President of USSR (1984-85), dies at 73
1990 - Michael Stewart, UK Secretary of State (1965-66, 68-70)
1996 - Lucius E. Burch, Jr., US civil rights leader, dies at 84

Reported Missing in Action
1966
Taylor, James L., US Army SF (WV); KIA, body not recovered

Xavier, Augusto Maria, USMC (CA); A4C shot down, KIA, body not recovered

1967
Luna, Jose D., USAF (CA); F105F shot down - released by DRV March, 1973 - alive as of 1999

1969
Luna, Carter P., USAF (MS); F4D shot down, KIA, body not recovered

1971
Smoot, Curtis R., US Army (LA); OH6A shot down

1975
Smith, Linda; escaped to Saigon March, 1975

Smith, Michelle L.; escaped to Saigon March, 1975

Struharik, Paul A.; released from Hanoi October, 1975

Labels: Headlines, History