Senate Armed Services Committee

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A Roadmap For 2010 DADT Repeal

Aubrey Sarvis | Posted 11.24.2009 | Politics

Read More: Lgbt, Sen. Carl Levin, Joseph Rocha, President Obama, National Security Council Advisor Gen. James Jones, Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Department of Defense, Senate Armed Services Committee, Rep. Patrick Murphy, Afghanistan, Congress, Iraq, Sen. John McCain, Politics News

President Obama has said he would sign legislation overturning the ban on gays in the military. Here's a roadmap to make sure that happens in 2010.

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Paying Peter to Kill Paul

Jon Soltz | Posted 11.12.2009 | World

Read More: Private Contractors, Blackwater, Afghanistan, President Obama, Senate Armed Services Committee, Defense Contractors, Xe, Taliban, Triple Canopy, Breaking News, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Afghanistan War, Al Qaeda, World News

American and NATO service members deserve better than to possibly die fighting an insurgency that even American contractors admit is being funded by the Department of Defense.

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The Constructive Effects of Public Exposure

Winslow T. Wheeler | Posted 10.20.2009 | Politics

Read More: Senate Armed Services Committee, Defense Spending, Pork, Support the Troops, Earmarks, Defense Budget, House Armed Services Committee, Winslow T. Wheeler, Politics News

After the practice was publicly identified in recent debates, the Congressional Armed Services Committees seem to have reduced one of their own more obnoxious, anti-defense, pro-pork activities.

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The Right Time to Repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell Is Now

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand | Posted 10.05.2009 | New York

Read More: Senate Armed Services Committee, Gays in the Military, Dadt, Don't Ask Don't Tell, Harry Reid, Gay Rights, Barack Obama, Carl Levin, New York News

I've secured the commitment from Sen. Carl Levin, chair of the Armed Services Committee, to hold the first hearing on Don't Ask Don't Tell since it began 16 years ago.

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Who's Leading the DADT Debate?

Aubrey Sarvis | Posted 09.30.2009 | Politics

Read More: Bill Clinton, House of Representatives, Congress, Joint Forces Quarterly, George W. Bush, Harry Truman, Senate Armed Services Committee, Admiral Mike Mullen, Obama Pentagon, Afghanistan War, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, H.R. 1283, Senate, Dadt, George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Politics News

it is one thing to give the Pentagon considerable weight and another thing altogether to let it dictate the timing and terms of the debate, and the final decision.

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Time for Mullen and Gates to Take a Clear Stand on DADT

Aubrey Sarvis | Posted 11.16.2009 | Politics

Read More: Casualties of War, Don't Ask Don't Tell, White House, LGBT Issues, Senator Mark Udall, President Obama, Senate Armed Services Committee, Admiral Mike Mullen, Confirmation Hearing Chairman Joint Chiefs, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Politics News

If Admiral Mullen and Secretary Gates are asked towards the end of the year whether they are prepared to sign off on repeal language of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, what will their answers be?

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Mike Mullen: More Troops Needed For Afghan War

AP | ANNE GEARAN | Posted 11.15.2009 | World

Read More: Afghan War, Mike Mullen, Obama Afghanistan, Afghanistan, War Wire, Senate Armed Services Committee, Afghan War Troops, Carl Levin, Us Troops Afghanistan, World News

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's top military adviser endorsed an increase in U.S. forces for the worsening war in Afghanistan on Tuesday, ...

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Slogging Towards Repeal

Aubrey Sarvis | Posted 09.06.2009 | Politics

Read More: C-Span, Elaine Donnelly, Senate Appropriations Committee, Department of Defense, Colin Powell, Ike Skelton, Ann Coulter, The Rachel Maddow Show, U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, Sen. Dan Inouye, Senate Armed Services Committee, Obama Administration, Admiral Mike Mullen, House Armed Services Committee, Robert F. Kennedy, Defense Secretary Gates, Gays in the Military, Don't Ask Don't Tell, H.R. 1283, Eugene McCarthy, Iraq Veterans, Sen. Carl Levin, Martin Luther King, Human Events.com, "Summer of Love, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Rep. Jared Polis, Politics News

The nation's armed forces are stretched thin, very thin. Repeal of DADT is a national security issue, first and last.

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Predictable Chaos as Guantanamo Trials Resume

Andy Worthington | Posted 08.18.2009 | Politics

Read More: War on Terror, Cmdr. Suzanne Lachelier, Ramzi Bin Al-Shibh, David Hicks, President Obama, 9/11, Guantanamo, Omar Khadr, World News, Politics News, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Lt. Rich Federico, Col. Morris Davis, Ali Hamza Al-Bahlul, Guantanamo Bay, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, World, Human Rights First, Walid Bin Attash, Terrorism, Guantanamo Detainees, Senate Armed Services Committee, CIA Torture, Mohammed Kamin, Salim Hamdan, Justice Department, Barack Obama, Military Commissions, Osama Bin Laden, Capt. John Murphy, Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Federal Court, Mustafa Al-Hawsawi, Politics News

With no visible progress this was another dismal outing for the Commissions, and another warning for the Obama administration that any kind of revival of the wretched trial system will remain fraught with insoluble problems.

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Detainees in Wonderland

Elizabeth Goitein | Posted 08.16.2009 | Politics

Read More: Guantanamo, Senate Armed Services Committee, Preventive Detention, Barack Obama, Habeas Corpus Guantanamo, Al Qaeda, Politics News

If the government intends to incarcerate suspected criminals regardless of the verdict, then the trial is just a show. As the Queen of Hearts said in Alice in Wonderland: "Sentence first -- verdict afterwards."

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Former Insider Shatters Credibility of Military Commissions

Andy Worthington | Posted 08.11.2009 | Politics

Read More: Aclu, Preventive Detention, Mohamed Jawad, David Kris, Department of Defense, War on Terror, Harsh Interrogations, President Obama, Guantanamo, Obama Administration, John Hutson, World News, Dick Cheney, Habeas Corpus, Politics News, Sen. Carl Levin, Robert Gates, Jeh Johnson, National Security, Habeas Corpus Guantanamo, Guantanamo Bay, World, Terrorism, Guantanamo Detainees, Senate Armed Services Committee, Susan Crawford, David Addington, Justice Department, Barack Obama, Military Commissions, House Committee on the Judiciary, Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld, Capt. John Murphy, George Toscas, Federal Court, Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, Torture, Politics News

Lt. Col. Vandeveld said, "I simply could not in good conscience continue to work for an ad-hoc, hastily created apparatus whose evident resort to expediency and ethical compromise were so contrary to my own."

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Military Commissions: Government Flounders, As Admiral Hutson Nails Problems

Andy Worthington | Posted 08.08.2009 | Politics

Read More: Geneva Conventions, Preventive Detention, Department of Defense, David Kris, World, War on Terror, Terrorism, Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, President Obama, Guantanamo Detainees, Guantanamo, Senate Armed Services Committee, US District Court, Justice Department, John Hutson, Barack Obama, World News, Military Commissions, Politics News, Enemy Combatants, Jeh Johnson, National Security, Col. Morris Davis, Guantanamo Bay, Federal Court, William J. Haynes II, Politics News

A legal quagmire that lacks legitimacy and maintains key policies of the Bush administration's "War on Terror" is almost too awful to contemplate.

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Is The Recession Over Now That Gonzo Has A Job (No.) (And The Rest Of Your Scritti Politti)

HuffingtonPost.com | Jason Linkins | Posted 08.07.2009 | Media

Read More: Mark Knoller, U.S. Senate, Alberto Gonzales, Ana Marie Cox, Twitter, Nico Pitney, Media Criticism, Senate Armed Services Committee, Guantanamo Bay, Gitmo, Media News

What a frabjous day for former Bush Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who have finally surmounted what seemed to be his most insurmountable object --...

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Congress, the F-22 and the Monkey on Our Back

Lorelei Kelly | Posted 07.24.2009 | Politics

Anybody who has lived with an addict knows about denial. So it goes with Congress and defense spending. Case in point this week is the F-22, a gold-plated Cold War barnacle.

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Even For Cheney, The Al Qaeda-Iraq Torture Story Is A New Low

Andy Worthington | Posted 05.30.2009 | World

Read More: Dan Coleman, Jack Cloonan, War on Terror, Abu Zubaydah, Guantanamo, Fbi, Ibn Al-Shaykh Al-Libi, Maj. Paul Burney, Dick Cheney, Politics, Newsweek, New Yorker, Vice President Dick Cheney, Jose Padilla, Guantanamo Bay, David Rose, Colin Powell, Terrorism, Vanity Fair, Guantanamo Detainees, Arkan Al-Karim, Senate Armed Services Committee, CIA Torture, Al Qaeda, Paul Wolfowitz, Iraq War, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Al Qaeda Iraq, Saddam Hussein, Cia, Jane Mayer, New York Times, Waterboarding, Iraq, Vice President Cheney, War Wire, World News

Coercive and illegal techniques were used widely at Gitmo in an attempt to secure information linking al Qaeda to Saddam Hussein.

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Who Authorized The Torture of Abu Zubaydah?

Andy Worthington | Posted 05.25.2009 | World

Read More: Thailand, George W. Bush, Abu Zubaydah, Guantanamo, Donald Rumsfeld, Fbi, Steven Bradbury, Dick Cheney, Office of Legal Counsel, Politics, Jay Bybee, Sere, Condoleezza Rice, Vice President Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft, R. Scott Shumate, Sleep Deprivation, Cia Music Torture, Colin Powell, Music Torture, Afghanistan, Terrorism, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Senate Armed Services Committee, CIA Torture, David Addington, FBI Director Robert Mueller, Jane Mayer, George Tenet, American Torture, Ron Suskind, James Risen, Breaking Politics News, New York Times, Waterboarding, William J. Haynes II, International Committee of the Red Cross, Torture Memos, Torture, World News

For the defendants of the use of torture by U.S. forces -- still led by former Vice President Dick Cheney -- this has been a rocky few weeks.

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New Report: Bush Officials Tried to Shift Blame for Detainee Abuse to Low-Ranking Soldiers

Sen. Carl Levin | Posted 05.22.2009 | Politics

Read More: Senate Armed Services Committee Report, Bush Administration, Department of Defense, Sere, Afghanistan, Senate Armed Services Committee, Guantanamo, Waterboarding, Iraq, Abu Ghraib, Torture, Politics News

If we are to retain our status as a leader in the world, we must acknowledge and confront the abuse of detainees in our custody. A new declassified report makes significant progress toward that goal.

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Senate Report: Harsh Tactics Used In Attempt to Establish Non-Existent Iraq-al Qaida Link

Huffington Post | Posted 05.22.2009 | Politics

Read More: Senate Armed Services Committee, Harsh Interrogation Report, Carl Levin, Torture Memos, Torture, Iraq, Politics News

A report released Tuesday by the Senate Armed Services Committee presented new details regarding Bush administration officials' approval of the milita...

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As Report Shows Bybee's Torture Culpability, Conyers Says: 'We're Coming After These Guys'

HuffingtonPost.com | Ryan Grim | Posted 05.22.2009 | Politics

Read More: Senate Armed Service Committee Report, Senate Armed Services Committee, Jay Bybee, John Conyers, Waterboarding, Iraq, Afghanistan, Politics News

Bush administration attorney Jay Bybee, now a judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals serving a lifetime appointment, crafted legal justifications...

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Please, Mr. President, No More Studies

Aubrey Sarvis | Posted 03.05.2009 | Politics

Read More: Pentagon, House of Representatives, DADT.Congress, President Obama, Senate Armed Services Committee, Straight, Senator Levin, Tinky Winky, Don't Ask Don't Tell, Gay, Senate, Military Readiness Enhancement Act, Boston Globe, National Security, Senator Kennedy, Military, Teletubbies, Politics News

Obama is telling gay rights activists that he "will have to study the implications for national security and enlist more Congressional support" before trying to overturn "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

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Gates: Afghan War Is America's "Greatest Military Challenge"

AP | ANNE GEARAN | Posted 02.27.2009 | World

Read More: Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Gates Afghanistan, Gates Congress, Afghanistan, Taliban, Gates, Robert Gates, Senate Armed Services Committee, World News

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday "we are lost" unless the United States can find a way not to kill so many civilians in ...

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The Ten Lies of Dick Cheney (Part One)

Andy Worthington | Posted 01.24.2009 | Politics

Cheney's version of the truth on interrogations does not stand up to scrutiny, and features ten lies that should not be allowed to pass without further comment and analysis.

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