04/29/2005

• Korean Nuclear Advance Is Cited
• Wolfowitz Holds Talks With Top Chinese General
• Iraq's Assembly Accepts Cabinet Despite Tension

Korean Nuclear Advance Is Cited
On Hill, Admiral Says Nation Can Arm Missiles
(Washington Post, April 29, 2005, 2004, Pg. 1)
The Pentagon's top military intelligence officer, Vice Adm. Lowell E. Jacoby, said that North Korea has the ability to arm a missile with a nuclear device, stunning senators he was addressing and prompting attempts by other defense and intelligence officials later to play down the remarks. Although U.S. intelligence authorities have said for years that North Korea possesses nuclear weapons and could probably reach the United States with its long-range rockets, they had stopped short of asserting that Pyongyang had mastered the difficult task of miniaturizing a nuclear device to fit atop a ballistic missile.

Wolfowitz Holds Talks With Top Chinese General
Beijing's Military Buildup Discussed; U.S. Hot Line Bid Rejected
(Washington Times, April 29, 2005, Pg. 3)
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz met with a top Chinese general and other military officials amid growing concern over the rapid buildup of Chinese military forces. The meeting was part of annual defense policy talks and included discussion of a two-year-old proposal to set up a telephone link between the Pentagon and the Defense Ministry in Beijing, which China again rejected, officials said.

Iraq's Assembly Accepts Cabinet Despite Tension
(New York Times, April 29, 2005, Pg. 1)
Almost three months after nationwide elections, Iraq's National Assembly voted overwhelmingly to approve a Shiite-led cabinet, creating the first fully and freely elected government in Iraqi history. But the divisions that delayed the government's formation for so long became apparent almost immediately after the vote, as the leader of the dominant Shiite alliance delivered a fiery speech that hinted at purges to come in the government's security forces.

Was It Murder? A US Marine Faces Scrutiny
(Christian Science Monitor, April 29, 2005, Pg. 1)
Timeless questions on morality in war have surfaced in the first post-9/11 case alleging murder in combat. Marine Corps 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano, 33, faces a military version of a grand jury at Camp Lejeune, N.C., on charges of premeditated murder. Marine prosecutors say he shot two terror suspects in the back during a tense search mission in Iraq and laid a scrawled sign with a unit motto—"No better friend, no worse enemy"—on their bodies

Search For Vietnam MIAs Continues
Pentagon IDs Remains Of 4 U.S. Servicemen
(USA Today, April 29, 2005, Pg. 1)
The Pentagon continues to account for troops missing in Southeast Asia as the nation marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon on Saturday. This week, the Pentagon identified the remains of four more U.S. servicemen, lost in 1967, bringing the total of long-missing Vietnam troops accounted for to 748.

GI Sentenced To Death For Fatal Attack
(Los Angeles Times, April 29, 2005)
A military jury sentenced Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar to death, unmoved by a brief apology he made from the witness stand asking forgiveness for killing two American officers and wounding 14 others in a nighttime grenade and rifle attack in Kuwait as the United States was on the verge of war with Iraq. He is the first soldier since the Vietnam War to be convicted of killing a comrade in wartime.

IRAQ

Iraqi Government Fails To Fill Sunni Posts
Assembly Approves Most Slots, But Shiite Vetoes Keep Rivals Out of Cabinet
(Washington Post, April 29, 2005, 2004, Pg. 1)
Members of Iraq's National Assembly approved a partial cabinet in which top posts set aside for Sunni Arabs remained unfilled, falling short of the national unity government all sides say they had been seeking in nearly three months of talks since national elections. The list left about one-fifth of the new cabinet's 37 positions empty—two deputy prime minister spots and the ministries of defense, oil, electricity, industry and human rights.

Lawmakers Take A Risk In Taking On Their Job
(Los Angeles Times, April 29, 2005)
As the Iraqi National Assembly celebrated approval of the country's first democratically elected government in decades, Lamia Abed Khadouri Sakri's seat was empty save for a bouquet of flowers. The legislator was shot to death by unknown assailants Wednesday afternoon outside her Baghdad home, the first member of the recently elected assembly to be assassinated.

Iraqi Milestone But With Perils
(Los Angeles Times, April 29, 2005)
The new government formed in Iraq is both an important achievement and a serious cause for concern as President Bush pushes his goal of promoting democratic reform in the Middle East. The weak and fractious nature of the new government, which took three months to come together, makes it unclear just how well the interests of the U.S. will be served.

A Crucial Window For Iraq: 15 Weeks To Pull Together
(New York Times, April 29, 2005)
Iraq's new government faces daunting challenges. During the eight-month run-up to elections in December for a full, five-year government, issues basic to Iraq's future and its prospects of emerging as a stable democracy can no longer be papered over by U.S. occupiers.

Shias 'Infiltrated By Iran' To Control Iraqi Police Force
(London Daily Telegraph, April 29, 2005)
Control of Iraq's police force was handed to a Shiite Arab party with historic links to Iran despite warnings by American intelligence that Iranian agents have infiltrated the group's paramilitary wing. The announcement that Baqir Soulagh, a member of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, is to be interior minister risks alienating Iraq's Sunni Arab community whose support is needed if the insurgency is to be defeated.

Army Officer Lends Ear To Iraqis Over Radio
U.S. Colonel Wages Perception War By Fielding Complaints, Questions On Weekly Call-In Show
(Chicago Tribune, April 27, 22005)
On a live call-in radio show in Iraq, the main guest is the head of the U.S. forces in Tikrit, Lt. Col. Todd Wood of the 3rd Infantry Division. The callers are local residents, and their nonstop complaints tell the story of the occupation.

IRAQ—ABU GHRAIB

Rank And File Have Taken Heat For Abu Ghraib
Upper-Level Officials Don't Face Charges
(Boston Globe, April 28, 2005)
With his job on the line over the shocking revelations of torture at Abu Ghraib prison last year, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told the world to "watch how democracy deals with wrongdoing and scandal and the pain of acknowledging and correcting our own mistakes and, indeed, our own weaknesses." Now, exactly one year after the photographs from Abu Ghraib became public, the Defense Department has placed seven low-ranking guards under court-martial. No general—or colonel, or CIA intelligence officer, or political appointee—has faced any charges.

DEFENSE DEPARTMENT

Hundreds Of Photos Of Caskets Released
Pentagon Action Is In Response To Lawsuit
(Washington Post, April 29, 2005, 2004, Pg. 10)
From a row of silhouetted hearses on a rain-drenched tarmac to a convoy of olive-green trucks each bearing a casket, hundreds of images of flag-draped coffins of American service members killed at war were released by the Pentagon this week in response to a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act. The Pentagon said the release of the photographs, which it termed "historical documentation," did not signify a lifting of the ban on media coverage of returning casualties.

Defense IG Cancels Visit To Germany
Letter Warned Against 'Wasteful Conduct'
(Washington Post, April 29, 2005, 2004, Pg. 21)
Pentagon Inspector General Joseph E. Schmitz canceled a ceremonial visit to Potsdam, Germany, after Sen. Charles E. Grassley, a key Republican, complained that the $16,000 trip was the kind of wasteful spending that inspectors general are supposed to stamp out. The trip was to dedicate two bronze plaques for a monument to Baron Friedrich Wilhelm Augustus von Steuben, the former Prussian officer who trained American soldiers during the Revolutionary War and was effectively the first Army inspector general.

Superheroes Deployed To Iraq
(Dallas Morning News, April 29, 2005)
Marvel Comics deployed its cast of superheroes to Iraq and Afghanistan, announcing a new custom comic book that it will distribute free to American military personnel and their families. Marvel executives presented images from the book to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon.

Pentagon Uses Its Spidey Sense For The Troops
(Washington Post, April 29, 2005, 2004, Pg. C1)
It's clobberin' time! How else to explain the appearance of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (normal human strength, no known superpowers), wedged between Spider-Man and Captain America, trying his best to melt that icy glare of his into a boy-am-I-glad-you-guys-showed-up kind of smirk? Either Marvel Comics is really hard up for readers and needs an ultra-dynamic, Pentagon-heavy publicity gimmick to boost its sales, or Rumsfeld is finally ready to admit that only a superhero can extricate us from Iraq.

U.S. General: Precise Long-Range Missiles May Enable Big Nuclear Cuts
(Inside The Pentagon, April 28, 2005, Pg. 1)
The nation's top nuclear-weapons commander, Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, said he wants to apply to long-range missiles and warheads the kinds of advanced guidance and targeting technologies that have given tactical munitions orders-of-magnitude improvements in accuracy. The improvements could lay the groundwork for a smaller nuclear stockpile, he said in an interview.

Chief Manager Wouldn't Solve Pentagon's Woes, Official Says
(DefenseNews.com, April 28, 2005)
The Defense Department does not need another top-level supervisor; it needs a cadre of competent program-level managers, a deputy undersecretary of defense told a Senate subcommittee which is considering legislation that would establish a chief management officer at the Pentagon. Bradley Berkson, acting undersecretary for logistics and materiel readiness, said appointing a CMO is unlikely to improve the military's ability to operate more like an efficient business.

Weekend Mission: Recruiting
(Miami Herald, April 29, 2005)
The McDonald's Air & Sea Show this weekend at the Opa-Locka Airport aims not only to pay tribute to service people overseas but also to recruit new members back home.

War Nurses Make Quick Adjustment
(Dallas Morning News, April 29, 2005, Pg. 1)
Like the approximately 2,000 Army nurses who have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, Maj. Dawn Garcia has found that the transition from a war zone to stateside normalcy is complicated. Unlike the battlefield soldiers they patch up, combat nurses have less time to readjust to their normal work routines—three half-days of training compared to two weeks for soldiers..

GUANTANAMO

Detainee Questioning Was Faked, Book Says
U.S. Military Denies Staging Interviews
(Washington Post, April 29, 2005, 2004, Pg. 21)
The U.S. military staged the interrogations of terrorism suspects for members of Congress and other officials visiting the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to make it appear the government was obtaining valuable intelligence, a former Army translator who worked there claims in his new book "Inside the Wire." Former Army Sgt. Erik Saar said the military chose detainees for the mock interrogations who previously had been cooperative and instructed them to repeat what they had told interrogators in earlier sessions.

ARMY

Soldier Asks Military Trial In Death Of Iraqi Civilian
Much-Decorated Sergeant Rejects Plea Agreement
(Houston Chronicle, April 27, 2005)
An Army squad leader accused of premeditated murder in the shooting death of an Iraqi civilian requested a military jury trial after withdrawing from a pending plea agreement at Fort Hood, Tex. Staff Sgt. Shane Werst, 32, El Toro, Calif., a 14-year combat engineer with a long list of Army medals and ribbons for service in Iraq, Kosovo and Korea, is accused of killing the Iraqi on orders from one of his commanders, who remains under investigation.

Protein Saves Soldiers' Lives
Clotting Agent Praised At Army Symposium
(El Paso Times, April 26, 2005)
A blood component recently approved by the FDA to help hemophiliacs control bleeding is now helping soldiers survive traumatic injuries that would have been fatal in past wars, according to Army physicians who studied medical techniques and technology used in Iraq. "Fifty percent of combat deaths are caused by hemorrhage," said Maj. Simon H. Telian, who delivered a paper on the subject at an Army surgical symposium. "It's not a magic bullet, but it sure does help."

MARINE CORPS

Accused Marine Hears Comrades Praise Him
(New York Times, April 29, 2005)
On the third day of hearings at Camp Lejeune, N.C., to determine whether a Marine Corps 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano should face charges of premeditated murder for shooting two Iraqis suspected of being insurgents, former comrades praised his leadership and said they would willingly go to war with him again.

AIR FORCE

Group Details Air Force Academy Religious Bias
(Los Angeles Times, April 29, 2005)
Religious intolerance is systemic and pervasive at the Air Force Academy and, if nothing changes, it could result in "prolonged and costly" litigation, according to a report issued by a group advocating strict separation of church and state. The 14-page report listed incidents of mandatory prayers, proselytizing by teachers, insensitivity to religious minorities and allegations that evangelical Christianity is the preferred faith at the institution.

Jumper: Military Must Reorganize UAV Efforts
(Defense Daily, April 29, 2005, Pg. 1)
With unmanned aerial vehicles crowding the airspace over Iraq, the Defense Department needs to better coordinate how it uses the aircraft, according Gen. John Jumper, Air Force Chief of Staff. "We've got a plethora of people out there selling their UAVs out of their back pocket to various entities over there," Jumper told a Heritage Foundation audience. "We're jamming each other in the radio frequency . . . where we're using these things."

Jumper: Make Raptor A Joint Service Program
(Defense Today, April 29, 2005, Pg. 1)
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper suggested that the F/A-22 Raptor fighter program could be operated jointly by the armed services. Jumper did not elaborate on the idea, which he mentioned in closing remarks after fielding questions about plans to cut the Raptor fleet considerably below what the Air Force says it needs.

'War-Fighting Synergy'
Center Will Try To Get Intelligence To Troops Faster
(Colorado Springs Gazette, April 27, 2005)
The Air Force is taking steps to ensure information gathered in space gets to troops on the battlefield—an area that has come under scrutiny during the Iraqi war. Elements of the Space Warfare Center at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo., will be consolidated into the Air Warfare Center at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., to become the new Air Force Warfare Center at Nellis. The consolidation will "create a war-fighting synergy that increases combat effectiveness and peacetime efficiencies," the Air Force said.

USAF Evaluating Role In Future Combat Systems
(Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, April 29, 2005)
The Air Force is taking a hard look at how it will support the Army's Future Combat Systems, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper said, including how to resupply FCS units and how to meet the Army's need to be able to transport the system through hostile territory.

Airman Dies From Fall
(Colorado Springs Gazette, April 28, 2005, Pg. 1)
An airman's death from injuries suffered in a fall from a dormitory balcony at Peterson Air Force Base has prompted Air Force officials to consider bolstering alcohol-abuse training. Airman Eric J. Waller, 19, was the fourth young person to be injured or to die in a fall at a dormitory in Colorado since October.

NATIONAL GUARD/RESERVE

Guard's New Pitch: Fighting Words
As Enlistment Numbers Slide, Recruiters Tailoring Message To War Needs
(Washington Post, April 29, 2005, 2004, Pg. B1)
The Army National Guard has junked its "get your degree tuition-free" recruiting refrain in favor of a more realistic campaign that shows troops with weapons drawn, helicopters streaking and tanks rolling. "The most important weapon in the war on terrorism. You," is one of the Guard's new hard-edged slogans. "Serious Commitment. Serious Rewards," says another.

Soldier Wins Discharge, Drops Lawsuit
(Washington Times, April 29, 2005, Pg. 8)
The Army honorably discharged a reserve officer who had gone to court to challenge his assignment to Iraq, saying he had properly resigned more than a year earlier. Carl A. Petitto, 32, who filed for resignation in February 2004 after serving 14 years of active and reservist duty for the Army and Navy, had faced deployment to Iraq for at least a year and a half

NUCLEAR WEAPONS

U.S. Faces 2 Fronts At Nuclear Treaty Talks
Bush Officials Hope to Shine Spotlight on North Korea and Iran But May Face Criticism, Too
(Wall Street Journal, April 29, 2005, Pg. 4)
U.S. officials will press President Bush's plans to curtail the spread of nuclear weapons at a high-profile arms-control conference that begins in New York next week. But they could spend just as much effort fending off criticism of the president's treaty-averse record.

CONGRESS

Lawmakers Consider Using Military To Seal U.S. Borders
(GovExec.com, April 28, 2005)
After demonstrating in Arizona that a presence of people along the border can curb illegal immigration, border-control proponents came to Washington to try to win over the minds and money of the federal government. The two main organizers of a group in Arizona that set up citizen camps to stop illegal immigration during April presented lawmakers with their ideas, which include deploying the military along the borders, authorizing $12 billion in emergency funding and merging two Homeland Security Department bureaus.

AFGHANISTAN

Afghanistan: Inquiry Into Civilian Shootings
(New York Times, April 29, 2005)
The U.S. military said it was investigating the shooting and wounding of three civilians by coalition forces in eastern Afghanistan. The three were in a civilian minivan traveling behind a military convoy when it ran into an ambush. According to the military, American troops returned fire on the insurgents and hit the civilians, caught in the middle

Karzai Sees Anarchy Without World's Aid
(Boston Globe, April 29, 2005)
President Hamid Karzai warned that without sustained assistance from the United States and other countries, Afghanistan would likely slide back into the kind of anarchy that allowed it to become a haven for Al Qaeda. Afghan and U.S. officials have said they are discussing a long-term "strategic partnership" covering military, political and economic ties. But it remained unclear whether a deal for permanent U.S. military bases in Afghanistan is under consideration.

Crackdown Doesn't Stop Opium Farming
Afghan Harvest Under Way Despite Big Arrest This Week
(Detroit Free Press, April 27, 2005
Afghan farmers have begun harvesting this year's opium crop, exposing the limits of a U.S.-sponsored crackdown on the world's largest narcotics industry despite claims by President Hamid Karzai that drug cultivation was down sharply.

MIDEAST

In Israel, Putin Defends Syria, Iran Deals
Russian President's Visit Seen As Milestone In Relations, Despite Disagreements
(Washington Post, April 29, 2005, 2004, Pg. 18)
President Vladimir Putin, making the first visit to Israel by a Russian leader, defended his country's plans to sell arms to Syria and participate in the construction of an Iranian nuclear reactor. Neither project is a threat to Israel, he said.

U.S. Plans To Sell 100 'Bunker Busting' Bombs To Israel
$30B Deal Puts Heat On Iran Over Nukes
(USA Today, April 29, 2005, Pg. 20)
In a move that could increase pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear arms program, the Pentagon says it will sell to Israel 100 "bunker busting" bombs designed to destroy deep underground weapons facilities. The proposed deal, which must be approved by Congress, comes just weeks after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned President Bush during a meeting at his Texas ranch that Iran was approaching a "point of no return" in its efforts to build a nuclear bomb.

Web Journal Prods: Go Out And Kill Americans
(Chicago Tribune, April 28, 2005)
An Internet journal purportedly issued by Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia appeared for the first time in several months and asked why Muslims on the Arabian Peninsula have not heeded a call to hunt down Americans. The group "Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," the name used by the Saudi branch of Al Qaeda, posted the journal on an Islamic Web site known as a clearinghouse for militant statements.

ASIA/PACIFIC

Hester: Air Force To Bolster Presence In Asia-Pacific Region
(Inside The Air Force, April 29, 2005, Pg. 1)
The Air Force will not shrink its presence in the Asia-Pacific region despite recent Army plans to pare back ground forces in South Korea, the top Air Force general in the Pacific said. In fact, plans to bolster the Air Force's presence in the region are in the works, said Gen. Paul Hester, commander of Pacific Air Forces.

S. Korea To Cut Troops
(Korea Times, April 29, 2005)
The South Korean Defense Ministry said that it will adopt a "French-style" military reform, which calls for a reduction in troop size among other measures. In 1997, France launched a three-phase plan to transform its military from its traditional role of territorial defense into a force suited for international conflicts.

In Talks, China Dismisses US Proposal For Military Hot Line
No Consensus On How Forces Should Interact In Asia
(Boston Globe, April 29, 2005)
China spurned a U.S. proposal to set up an emergency hot line between their two militaries, and the two countries failed to agree on guidelines about how to avoid military confrontations in Asia, U.S. officials said. The United States also pressed China to help negotiate an end to North Korea's nuclear weapons programs during talks at the Pentagon, they officials said.

EUROPE

Ex-U.S. Diplomat Warns Of Embargo Retaliation
(International Herald Tribune, April 29, 2005)
A prominent American expert on Asia who was a long-serving ambassador to the region warned that Congress would retaliate strongly if the European Union lifted its arms embargo on China. "I am confident there would be retaliation, and it would be designed as strictly as possible if the embargo was lifted in a cavalier way," said J. Stapleton Roy, a former ambassador to China, Indonesia and Singapore and now managing director of the Kissinger Associates consulting firm.

America's Image In Italy Darkens On Death In Iraq
Support For Participation In The War Was Low Even Before The Fatal Shooting
(USA Today, April 28, 2005, Pg. 14)
An incident in Iraq last month in which U.S. forces killed an Italian agent who had just secured the release of a kidnapped Italian journalist is generating new anti-American sentiment in Italy. Small, colorful signs critical of the United States started appearing in store windows around Rome this week. The most popular of the homemade posters resembles an Old West-style "wanted" poster showing the face of President Bush.

Belgians Bill U.S. For War Wounded
(New York Daily News, April 29, 2005)
The American military led the war in Iraq, so the U.S. should get the medical bills of civilians who were injured, some Belgian physicians have decided. They have asked the U.S. Embassy to pay for nearly $67,000 worth of treatment for a 15-year-old Iraqi girl hurt in a 2003 bombing attack brought to Belgium for surgery. There was no immediate response from the embassy.

BUSINESS

Air Force To Rebid $3 Billion Contract To Upgrade C-130 Planes
(Wall Street Journal, April 29, 2005, Pg. 14)
The Air Force will hold a new competition for $3.3 billion of cockpit upgrades on C-130 cargo planes, setting up what could become the biggest contract reversal for Boeing in the wake of a Pentagon procurement scandal. The decision upholds the recommendation by the Government Accountability Office to reopen the bulk of a tainted contract awarded to Boeing in 2001. The cargo-plane upgrade was one of a number of contracts that former Air Force official Darleen Druyun admitted steering to Boeing out of gratitude for hiring two relatives and eventually herself.

Defense Firms Report Hefty Profits
Northrop's Net Soars 73%, Raytheon Posts 30% Jump On Strong Pentagon Orders
(Wall Street Journal, April 29, 2005, Pg. 6)
Northrop Grumman's first-quarter profit soared 73 percent and Raytheon's rose 30 percent as the defense contractors benefited from continued strong Pentagon demand and leaner operations.

Military Praises Employers
(Miami Herald, April 29, 2005)
A group of Florida employers was honored for going above and beyond federal standards for maintaining jobs for military reservists while they are deployed. Companies and agencies such as the Broward County Sheriff's Office, Baptist Health South Florida and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. were recognized for signing the "5-Star" Statement of Support for the Guard and Reserve.

OPINION

Tyranny To Democracy
L. Paul Bremer
(Wall Street Journal, April 29, 2005, Pg. 16)
The former administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq writes: "Iraq has a cabinet at last—in other words, an elected government. Despite the frustrating delays, this is a triumph for Iraqis—and a tribute to the sacrifices that Iraqis, Americans and other Coalition citizens made to build the New Iraq."

It's Called Nonproliferation
Henry Sokolski and George Perkovich
(Wall Street Journal, April 29, 2005, Pg. 16)
The executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center and the vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace write that Iran believes it has the inalienable right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and that the activity can be monitored to prevent quick diversions to make bombs. In fact, there is no such right and nuclear fuel-making of the sort Iran is planning to engage in still cannot be safeguarded in any meaningful way.

EDITORIAL

Iraq's New Cabinet
(New York Times, April 29, 2005)
While the formation of an elected Iraqi government is a historic moment, its makeup is far from ideal. Crucial choices have been needlessly delayed, and an incomparable opportunity for drawing patriotic Sunni Arabs away from the insurgency was largely squandered. Many Iraqis, particularly supporters of secularism, women's rights and national unity, will greet this government warily.

This Is Winning?
(Los Angeles Times, April 29, 2005)
"This week's declaration by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that insurgents are as able to wreak havoc now as a year ago calls into question the credibility of his other assertion that the United States and the Iraqi people are "winning" this fight. More than 100,000 American troops patrol the nation and more than 100,000 Iraqi security forces have supposedly been trained, yet guerrillas show increasing coordination in their attacks. We'd hate to imagine what "losing" this fight would be like."

From Military Bases To Oil Refineries
(Washington Times, April 29, 2005, Pg. 22)
President Bush's idea of converting closed military bases into oil refineries will not solve the nation's energy woes, but it is a welcome complement to the administration's existing energy initiatives in a time of rising oil prices and an unseemly dependence on foreign energy sources.

Tongue Tied
(Wall Street Journal, April 29, 2005, Pg. W13)
The proposed U.S. Civilian Linguist Reserve Corps, a voluntary registry of Americans willing to use their foreign language skills in public service, has been languishing for months while Congress attends to business presumably more urgent than national security. That is too bad, because an important resource for a linguist reserve is already in place. Among nations of the world, America is uniquely rich with immigrants and their descendants. If Johnny can't speak Spanish, let alone Pashto, many of his classmates can.

Source: Defense News