Yahoo! News: U.S. Military

U.S. Military

• Denver appeals court upholds military impostor law (AP)

  AP - The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that a federal law making it illegal to lie about being a war hero is constitutional and making false statements is not always protected free speech.

• U.S. has "no desire" for new military bases in Asia: admiral (Reuters)

  Reuters - The United States is placing renewed priority on Asia as it winds down wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no desire for new bases in the region, the head of U.S. forces in the Asia-Pacific said on Friday.

• German Angst as U.S. troops bid "Auf Wiedersehen" (Reuters)

  Reuters - Walter Brunner, a lively 82-year old whose blue baseball cap matches the color of his eyes, leans across a red leather booth at the American-style diner in this southern German town and tries to make light of the looming pullout of U.S. troops.

• Army chief lays out Army cuts in Europe (AP)

  AP - The Pentagon's decision announced Friday to take two heavy armor brigades out of Europe in 2013 and 2014 will not necessarily force NATO allies to shoulder more of the load if ground forces are needed for a large-scale conflict in the region, Gen. Raymond Odierno, the Army chief of staff, said Friday.

  
  

• FedEx employee charged for bomb joke on Army base (AP)

  AP - Prosecutors in Utah charged a FedEx Corp. driver with a threat of terrorism count over allegations he joked that a package he was delivering to a Utah Army base was likely a bomb.

• Pentagon: Army, Marines to shrink as budget slows (AP)

  AP - The Pentagon outlined a plan Thursday for slowing the growth of military spending, including cutting the size of the Army and Marine Corps, retiring older planes and trimming war costs. It drew quick criticism from Republicans, signaling the difficulty of scaling back defense budgets in an election year.

  
  

• Baltimore man tricked by FBI pleads guilty to trying to bomb recruiting site (The Christian Science Monitor)

  The Christian Science Monitor - A Baltimore man entered a guilty plea on Thursday to attempting to use a car bomb to destroy a military recruiting office and kill the six service members in the building in an effort to wage Islamic holy war on US soil.

• US seeks military ties, not base, in Philippines (AP)

  AP - The United States says it shares a common interest with the Philippines in protecting freedom of navigation in the South China Sea but is not seeking to re-establish a military base on the territory of its Southeast Asian treaty ally.

• US team due in NKorea in March (AP)

  AP - U.S. military personnel will travel to North Korea in March to restart efforts to recover thousands of servicemen missing from the 1950-53 Korean War, the Defense Department said Thursday.

• Pentagon cuts reshape military, trim costs (Reuters)

  Reuters - The Pentagon unveiled a 2013 budget plan that would cut $487 billion in spending over the next decade by eliminating nearly 100,000 ground troops, mothballing ships and trimming air squadrons in a bid to create a smaller, agile force with a new strategic focus.

• Accused Pentagon shooter Melaku pleads guilty (AP)

  AP - An ex-Marine from Virginia pleaded guilty Thursday and has agreed to serve a 25-year prison sentence on charges that he fired a series of overnight pot shots in 2010 at the Pentagon, the Marine Corps museum in Quantico and other military targets as part of what prosecutors called a campaign to strike fear throughout the region.

  
  

• Md. man caught in sting pleads guilty in bomb plot (AP)

  AP - A Maryland man pleaded guilty Thursday to trying to detonate what he thought was a car bomb outside a military recruiting center in suburban Baltimore, saying he was motivated by what he saw as an American war on Islam.

  
  

• Carl Levin: Mitt Romney criticism of Obama defense budget not factual (+video) (The Christian Science Monitor)

  The Christian Science Monitor - Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin says Mitt Romney’s tough criticism of the Obama defense budget is “just a political statement which is not borne out by the facts.”

• US, Philippines eye more war drills, but no bases (AP)

  AP - U.S. and Filipino defense officials will discuss how to intensify joint war drills in the Philippines without re-establishing vast U.S. military bases, as America tries to reassert its presence in Asia, a Manila official said Thursday.

• Lockheed order backlog to cushion tough 2012 (Reuters)

  Reuters - Lockheed Martin Corp , the Pentagon's largest supplier, forecast broadly flat sales and operating profit for 2012, with a record high order backlog helping it to cope with cuts in U.S. defense spending.

• Pentagon to cut Air Force drone program (AP)

  AP - Officials say Pentagon budget cuts will end the Air Force's long-range surveillance drone known as the Global Hawk, but keep the Navy's version of the unmanned aircraft.

• Convicted Marine apologizes to Iraqi civilians (AP)

  AP - When Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich finally spoke in court, he did not address the judge but instead directed his words at the Iraqi family members who survived his squad's attacks in 2005 that left 24 unarmed civilians dead.

  
  

• U.S. Marine spared jail time in Iraq killings (Reuters)

  Reuters - A U.S. Marine sergeant accused of leading a 2005 massacre of 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq, was spared jail time on Tuesday for his role the killings that brought international condemnation of American troops.

  
  

• U.S. shipbuilder welcomes Navy decision on carriers (Reuters)

  Reuters - Huntington Ingalls Industries on Sunday welcomed news that the U.S. Defense Department would not cut its fleet of 11 aircraft carriers to help trim the budget deficit, but naval experts say they are still awaiting details about work on the next such vessel.

• No simple explanation in AF Academy sex crime data (AP)

  AP - Nine years after a sexual assault scandal at the Air Force Academy sent shock waves across the military, the Defense Department last month announced a spike in reported assaults at the school — and days later the Air Force filed sex-crime charges against three cadets.