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US Military Freed, Protects Iraqi Oil Fields for … the Communist Chinese (+video)

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Photo Credit: AP

China Is Reaping Biggest Benefits of Iraq Oil Boom

By Tim Arango and Clifford Krauss. Since the American-led invasion of 2003, Iraq has become one of the world’s top oil producers, and China is now its biggest customer.

China already buys nearly half the oil that Iraq produces, nearly 1.5 million barrels a day, and is angling for an even bigger share, bidding for a stake now owned by Exxon Mobil in one of Iraq’s largest oil fields.

“The Chinese are the biggest beneficiary of this post-Saddam oil boom in Iraq,” said Denise Natali, a Middle East expert at the National Defense University in Washington. “They need energy, and they want to get into the market.”

Before the invasion, Iraq’s oil industry was sputtering, largely walled off from world markets by international sanctions against the government of Saddam Hussein, so his overthrow always carried the promise of renewed access to the country’s immense reserves. Chinese state-owned companies seized the opportunity, pouring more than $2 billion a year and hundreds of workers into Iraq, and just as important, showing a willingness to play by the new Iraqi government’s rules and to accept lower profits to win contracts.

“We lost out,” said Michael Makovsky, a former Defense Department official in the Bush administration who worked on Iraq oil policy. “The Chinese had nothing to do with the war, but from an economic standpoint they are benefiting from it, and our Fifth Fleet and air forces are helping to assure their supply.” Read more from this story HERE.

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China’s Development a ‘Threat’ to Democracies

By Didi Kirsten Tatlow. When China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, told the United States late on Saturday that it should “correctly treat China’s development,” what did he mean?

The reprimand came after the U.S. State Department on Friday called on China to “fully account for those killed, detained or missing in the 1989 bloody military crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square,” The Associated Press reported. Mr. Hong also told the U.S. to “discard” its “political prejudice” toward China.

China often emphasizes that it seeks peaceful development. But the authors Heriberto Araújo and Juan Pablo Cardenal believe there is more to it.

In an opinion piece in The New York Times, they write that the state capitalist model behind China’s increasingly successful global push threatens the values of the established democracies. Read more from this story HERE.

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Trump: China Gets Iraq Oil; US Gets Nothing

By Courtney Coren. Donald Trump tore into President Barack Obama’s administration Monday for allowing China access to Iraqi oil while, he claimed, the United States gets “nothing” after it lost 4,500 troops in the war there.

“I’m not knocking China; I’m knocking our leadership,” the real estate millionaire said on Fox and Friends. “How can they allow this to happen? Read more from this story HERE.

Remembering What Matters on Memorial Day

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Photo Credit: eddiecoyoteOn Memorial Day, all Americans should think about the sacrifices made by military service members, their spouses, and their children. Instead, many Americans spend it as a day off of work, having a barbeque or watching baseball games. American Thinker asked some former and current members of the military to consider what Memorial Day means to them.

Many military families talk about the importance of the day but do not reflect on the actual meaning of this holiday. As Sam, a military spouse noted, “there are a lot of Gold Star Families in our neighborhood. In seeing that, my children are reminded each and every day that their mom might not come back from Afghanistan. I don’t want the children focusing on the sadness and the specifics of that day.”

A military mom, Lieutenant Colonel Laura Dawson, an Army orthopedic surgeon, currently stationed in Afghanistan, dedicates this holiday to all “the young people who we have lost in this operation as well as the other wars. These are not just young people, but are some of the very best and brightest in America. They willingly go in harm’s way to protect this country, their families, and their fellow soldiers. These are driven young men and women who no doubt would have been successful in our society as civilians: people of strong moral fiber, hardworking, and overall good people who would have continued to contribute to the greatness of this nation after their days of military service were completed. From a medical provider/surgeon perspective, it’s gut-wrenching to see these young people die or become disfigured. It’s crushing to know you could not save them. For me, Memorial Day is dedicated to honor their ultimate sacrifice and reflect on how great a price we have paid with the loss of these incredible young people.”

Jack Jacobs, a retired Army colonel and a Medal of Honor recipient for his actions during the Vietnam War, believes that for a lot of veterans, each and every day is Memorial Day. He was upset that Fleet Week, an outreach to the American people, was canceled because of the budgetary constraints.

Read more from this story HERE.

Japanese Mayor Apologizes for Saying US Troops Should Visit Adult Businesses to Reduce Rapes

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Photo Credit: APA Japanese mayor apologized Monday for saying earlier that U.S. troops should patronize legal adult entertainment businesses as a way to reduce rapes and other assaults.

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, who is also the co-head of an emerging nationalistic party, said his remarks two weeks ago rose from a “sense of crisis” about cases of sexual assaults by U.S. military personnel on Japanese civilians in Okinawa, where a large number of U.S. troops are based.

“I understand that my remark could be construed as an insult to the U.S. forces and to the American people” and was inappropriate, he said at a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Tokyo.

Hashimoto had created another uproar when he said that Japan’s wartime practice of forcing Asian women, mostly from South Korea and China, to work in front-line brothels was necessary to maintain discipline and provide relaxation for soldiers.

Read more from this story HERE.

‘Gay’ Sex Assaults in Military Skyrocket Since 2004

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Photo Credit: mikebairdA recent military report on sexual assault in the military shocked many in Washington and around the nation, but a leading expert on military personnel revealed the prevalence of men assaulting other men is one of the major headlines in this study.

The extended analysis of the report first appeared in Monday’s edition of the the Washington Times.

The Defense Department survey of sexual assault in the military during fiscal 2012 estimated 26,000 assaults took place in the armed forces. Nearly 3,000 of them were formally reported. Just more than 6 percent of women reported being victims of assault and 1.2 percent of men said the same. Given the much larger number of men in the military, those numbers suggest 14,000 of the assaults in the Pentagon study happened to men.

Among the assaults formally reported, 88 percent of reports came from women and 12 percent from men. The numbers are getting dramatically worse.

“The number of reports of sexual assaults among military personnel have actually increased by 129 percent since 2004,” said Center for Military Readiness President Elaine Donnelly, who pointed out the number of formal reports of sexual assault jumped from 1,275 to 2,949 in just eight years.

Read more from this story HERE.

More Than 34,000 Male Veterans Treated for Military Sexual Assault

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Photo Credit: familymwrMore than 85,000 veterans were treated last year for injuries or illness stemming from sexual abuse in the military, and 4,000 sought disability benefits, underscoring the staggering long-term impact of a crisis that has roiled the Pentagon and been condemned by President Barack Obama as “”shameful and disgraceful.”

A Department of Veterans Affairs accounting released in response to inquiries from The Associated Press shows a heavy financial and emotional cost involving vets from Iraq, Afghanistan and even back to Vietnam, and lasting long after a victim leaves the service.

Sexual assault or repeated sexual harassment can trigger a variety of health problems, primarily post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. While women are more likely to be victims, men made up nearly 40 percent of the patients [34,000] the VA treated last year for conditions connected to what it calls “military sexual trauma.”

Read more from this story HERE.

House Passes Bill on Lying About Military Medals

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People who falsely claim they have received a military medal in order to obtain money or government benefits could face up to a year in jail under legislation that easily passed the House Monday.

The Stolen Valor Act, sponsored by Nevada Republican Joe Heck, is a second attempt by the House to revive a law on fraudulent claims to medals that was struck down by the Supreme Court in June last year. The legislation is identical to a measure that passed the House overwhelmingly last September but saw no Senate action before the last session of Congress ended. The vote Monday was 390-3.

The Supreme Court, in invalidating the Stolen Valor Act of 2006, ruled that while making false statements about receiving a military medal might be contemptible, such lies were protected by First Amendment free speech rights.

Read more from this story HERE.

9/11 Military Force Bill to Authorize Drone Strikes For Another 20 Years

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Photo Credit: APThe fight against al-Qaida could continue for another 20 years, a top Pentagon official told Congress Thursday as the administration warned against any changes to the 2001 law giving the president broad authority to use military force in the war on terror.

Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Assistant Defense Secretary Michael Sheehan said the Authorization for the Use of Military Force bill passed in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks still serves its purpose and will continue to be effective until al-Qaida is in “the ash heap of history.”

“In my judgment, this is going to go on for quite a while, yes, beyond the second term of the president . . . I think it’s at least 10 to 20 years, ” Sheehan told the panel.

Many lawmakers, however, have questioned whether the military force authorization bill should be rewritten, or perhaps even thrown out, given the increased use of drone strikes in places that some say are not true war zones. President Barack Obama has pledged to be more transparent about the drone program, which has included the use of nearly 400 CIA and military drone strikes, reports the Washington Post. But Sheehan told lawmakers that there are still no geographic boundaries on future drone use, noting that they would continue to take place anywhere that al-Qaida or other terrorist groups are considered a threat to U.S. national security interests.

Sen. John McCain called Sheehan’s testimony on drone policy and the use of force military force bill “disturbing.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Congress Now Investigating Obama Admin.’s Hostility to Religion in the Military

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Photo Credit: APFollowing 59 Members of Congress sending a letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel regarding Pentagon officials meeting with an anti-Christian extremist, another group of 56 House Members has sent a second wide-ranging letter, exploring whether these infringements on religious liberty violate both federal law and the Constitution.

The first letter demanded that Hagel explain why Pentagon brass met with anti-Christian extremist Mikey Weinstein. It highlighted various disturbing statements Weinstein has made—most of which were first reported by Breitbart News—such as calling Christians “monsters,” and claiming sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ an act of “treason” and equating it with “rape.”

Now a second letter has gone to Hagel, co-sponsored by Congressmen Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Doug Lamborn (R-CO). The letter reminds Hagel that—as Breitbart News previously reported—Congress enacted Section 533 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to protect freedom of religious belief and conscience for all men and women serving in uniform, with a special focus on military chaplains:

Upon signing the NDAA into law, President Obama said the conscience protections were “unnecessary and ill-advised.” This statement, coupled with recent events, raises concerns that the military is developing a culture that is hostile to religion. A recently revealed power point presentation used in equal opportunity training in an Army reserve unit in Pennsylvania included evangelical Christians, Catholics, Mormons, Sunni Muslims, and some Jews on a list of religious extremist groups alongside groups like Al Qaeda and Hamas. A memo regarding visitation policies at Walter Reed issued in December 2011 prohibited visitors from bringing Bibles and other religious materials on the premises. A particularly concerning memorandum issued on September 1, 2011, General Norton A. Schwartz prohibited commanders from notifying Airmen about Chaplain Corps programs, stating that only Air Force chaplains are trained to provide leadership on religious matters.

Read more from this story HERE.

Did Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lie to Congress?

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Photo Credit: APSen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., issued a sharp and unusual challenge to the truthfulness of the nation’s top uniformed military commander on Thursday, demanding that U.S. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, return to Capitol Hill to provide fresh testimony on the Benghazi attacks.

The point of contention involved whether any military officers issued an order to U.S. armed forces personnel on the night of Sept. 11, when the U.S. consulate and a nearby annex came under terrorist attack, to “stand down” from providing assistance.

“I asked [Gen. Dempsey] directly,” Graham said in an exclusive interview with Fox News. “Were there any military assets in motion, to help folks in Benghazi, [that were] told to stand down? And what did [State Department whistleblower] Greg Hicks say? That Lt. Col. [Steve] Gibson — a DOD employee, a member of the Army — was in Tripoli, ready and willing to go to Benghazi, preparing to go to Benghazi, and was told to stand down.”

“Clearly,” Graham added, “our chairman of the Joint Chiefs’ rendition that no one was told to stand down is now in question.”

What’s more, Graham lumped the chairman into a group of prominent Democrats whom the Senate Republican said he would like to see summoned, or recalled, to the witness chair to testify on Benghazi. These included former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Cheryl Mills, Clinton’s former chief of staff.

Read more from this story HERE.

Benghazi Witness: US Military Response Could Have ‘Scared’ Off Attackers, Prevented Mortar Strike

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Photo Credit: TheBusyBrainThe U.S. military could have prevented one wave of the deadly attack on American personnel in Benghazi if fighter jets had been promptly deployed, a top diplomatic official who was in Benghazi during the Sept. 11 assault told congressional investigators.

The account, contained in a transcript obtained by Fox News, was given by Gregory Hicks during an interview last month with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Hicks, a whistle-blower who is preparing to testify Wednesday before that committee, was deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya — after Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed that night, he became the highest-ranking diplomat on the ground.

Hicks, in his interview, argued that after the first wave of attacks on the U.S. consulate, the U.S. military could have prevented additional violence with a quickly scrambled flight — after the first wave, terrorists would go on to launch a pre-dawn mortar assault on the CIA annex.

“And so, in my personal opinion, a fast-mover flying over Benghazi at some point, you know, as soon as possible might very well have prevented some of the bad things that happened that night,” Hicks said, according to the transcript…

“I believe if we had been able to scramble a fighter or aircraft or two over Benghazi as quickly as possible after the attack commenced, I believe there would not have been a mortar attack on the annex in the morning because I believe the Libyans would have split,” he said. “They would have been scared to death that we would have gotten a laser on them and killed them.”

Read more from this story HERE.