28/2/09; (3 Items)
Amid complaints from his own party that he is moving too slowly to end the war in Iraq, President Barack Obama was to announce overnight that US combat troops would be withdrawn by August 31 next year, but that as many as 50,000 marines and soldiers would remain until the end of 2011. Senior administration officials said Mr Obama would announce his plans at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where he is visiting troops based there as well as marines who are being deployed to Afghanistan. As Mr Obama starts to wind down the war in Iraq after six years and more than 4200 US dead, he is also stepping up the US military presence in Afghanistan.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25115252-2703,00.html
Obama reveals US troop pullout plan; 27/2/09; http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/02/200922717193479782.html
Obama’s defence conundrum
Rob Reynolds; 26/2/09
As Barack Obama, the US president, sends his budget outline to congress, US defence spending is coming under new scrutiny. Fighting two wars and supporting an enormous global military machine, the US spent almost $700bn on defence in 2008. The Bush administration concealed the true size of its military outlays with budget gimmicks, but Obama says from now on there will be no more tricks. “For too long our budget has not held true about how our tax dollars are spent,” Obama said on Thursday. “Large sums held off the budget, including the true cost of Iraq and Afghanistan.”
See: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/02/2009226164143727554.html
News blackout lifted on return of US war dead
Geoff Elliott’ 28/2/09
One of the most contentious media bans in the US – the prohibition of news coverage of returning war dead – is being relaxed. The Obama administration has promised a new era of transparency and on the day the White House released a budget that included accounting of the financial cost of war – the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have been budgeted separately until now – Defence Secretary Robert Gates announced what some regard as a more transparent accounting of the human cost.The 18-year ban on news coverage of the return of war dead started after president George H.W. Bush was shown laughing with the press corps at the White House while the split screen on TV showed, live, flag-draped coffins returning from the first Gulf War.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25115250-2703,00.html
Tags: Deaths blackout Lifted, Iraq, Terrorism, USA