Chairman of the Joint Chiefs: U.S. military ready, if called, in Syria

WASHINGTON - Joint Chiefs Chairman General Martin Dempsey says U.S. forces stand ready to take military action in Syria -- but warns a no-fly zone in the country may not work.

"Whether the military effect would produce the kind of outcome that all of us would desire - an end to the violence, some kind of political reconciliation among the parties and a stable Syria - it's not clear to me that it would produce that outcome," Dempsey said Tuesday at a Christian Science Monitor luncheon. "Options are ready," Dempsey continued. "And if it becomes clear to me or if I'm ordered to do so we will act, but at this point, that hasn't occurred."

While no specific details were provided on those options, Dempsey was clear that despite new intelligence indicating chemical weapons have been used in Syria, America's military posture remains the same.

"Nothing I've heard in the last week or so has changed anything about the actions we're taking as a military," he said. "We've been planning, we've been developing options, [and] we are looking to determine whether these options remain valid as conditions change. That doesn't mean that what's happened over the last week wouldn't change the policy calculus - but militarily our task has been to continue to plan, to continue to engage with partners in the region, and to continue to refine options so that if we're asked to implement any - we'll be ready."

President Barack Obama has said if the Assad regime uses chemical weapons it would be a 'game changer' and such action would cross a 'red line.'

Asked if crossing that line obligates a military response, Dempsey quipped, "You're asking the wrong guy. I don't set red lines. I didn't set red lines on the budget, I didn't set red lines on our military activities across the globe, I simply prepared for options when asked to produce them."

The nation's top military officer is offering a warning of his own -- against comparing the situation in Syria to the conflict in Libya. He specifically cited the challenges posed by Syrian air defense systems, which come from Russia.

"In Syria you've got I think 5 times more air defense systems - some of which are high end air defense systems - and more importantly they're all collapsed into the western third of the country. So [it's] a much denser and more sophisticated system," he said. "Now the United States military has the capability to defeat that system, but it would be a greater challenge, take longer and require more resources."

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Chairman of the Joint Chiefs: U.S. military ready, if called, in Syria

WASHINGTON - Joint Chiefs Chairman General Martin Dempsey says U.S. forces stand ready to take military action in Syria -- but warns a no-fly zone in the country may not work.

"Whether the military effect would produce the kind of outcome that all of us would desire - an end to the violence, some kind of political reconciliation among the parties and a stable Syria - it's not clear to me that it would produce that outcome," Dempsey said Tuesday at a Christian Science Monitor luncheon. "Options are ready," Dempsey continued. "And if it becomes clear to me or if I'm ordered to do so we will act, but at this point, that hasn't occurred."

While no specific details were provided on those options, Dempsey was clear that despite new intelligence indicating chemical weapons have been used in Syria, America's military posture remains the same.

"Nothing I've heard in the last week or so has changed anything about the actions we're taking as a military," he said. "We've been planning, we've been developing options, [and] we are looking to determine whether these options remain valid as conditions change. That doesn't mean that what's happened over the last week wouldn't change the policy calculus - but militarily our task has been to continue to plan, to continue to engage with partners in the region, and to continue to refine options so that if we're asked to implement any - we'll be ready."

President Barack Obama has said if the Assad regime uses chemical weapons it would be a 'game changer' and such action would cross a 'red line.'

Asked if crossing that line obligates a military response, Dempsey quipped, "You're asking the wrong guy. I don't set red lines. I didn't set red lines on the budget, I didn't set red lines on our military activities across the globe, I simply prepared for options when asked to produce them."

The nation's top military officer is offering a warning of his own -- against comparing the situation in Syria to the conflict in Libya. He specifically cited the challenges posed by Syrian air defense systems, which come from Russia.

"In Syria you've got I think 5 times more air defense systems - some of which are high end air defense systems - and more importantly they're all collapsed into the western third of the country. So [it's] a much denser and more sophisticated system," he said. "Now the United States military has the capability to defeat that system, but it would be a greater challenge, take longer and require more resources."

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Military court: Manning documents not its decision

Published April 17, 2013

Associated Press

WASHINGTON –  The U.S. military's highest court says it isn't the right place for a dispute over public access to documents in the court-martial of Pfc. Bradley Manning.

The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights had sued seeking access to documents in the ongoing case. The center was seeking timely access to transcripts, motions, court orders and other documents in the case of Manning, who is charged with giving classified information to the secret-spilling website WikiLeaks.

Three of the five judges for the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces who heard the case, however, said the court doesn't have the authority to consider the question of access. The judges suggested in a ruling Tuesday that the dispute could be heard by a civilian court.

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US military company gets contract in Haiti

Published April 09, 2013

Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti –  A leading U.S. military contractor announced Tuesday that it won a contract for up to $48.6 million that will help support a U.S. contingent to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti.

The Falls Church, Virginia-based DynCorp International received the contract from the U.S. State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. It will recruit and finance up to 100 officers to join the U.N.'s police unit affiliated with the mission, known as UN Pol, and 10 U.N. correction advisers.

The contract also means that DynCorp will provide logistical support to Haiti's police academy, along with five French- and Haitian Creole-speaking experts to advise senior police officials.

The firm says it has already trained more than 400 officers with Haiti's National Police Department, a chronically understaffed force that today has only 10,000 officers in a country of 10 million people. Haitian officials hope to bring the total number of officers to 15,000 by 2016.

The DynCorp task order has a one-year base period with three, one-year options that carries a total value of $48.6 million.

The U.N. mission of now more than 9,000 troops has been in Haiti since 2004 with the goal of providing stability following the ouster that year of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

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Annual military exercise in Alaska canceled

Published April 05, 2013

Associated Press

FAIRBANKS, Alaska –  U.S. military officials say the massive Northern Edge exercise held biennially in Alaska has been cancelled this year because of the latest federal budget cuts.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner says this year's exercise had been scheduled to run from June 17 to June 28.

Northern Edge involves thousands of U.S. personnel from various branches of the armed forces.

The Alaskan Command says the cancellation does not mean an end to Northern Edge. It says "Alaska remains an extremely important part" in supporting national interests in the Asia-Pacific region.

The cancellation follows a recent Air Force announcement that the annual Red Flag exercise that had been scheduled for this month in Alaska was being canceled, also because of federal budget cutbacks.

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North Korea warns military cleared to wage nuclear attack against US

Published April 03, 2013

Associated Press

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  April 3, 2013: South Korean Marines pass by K-55 self-propelled howitzers during an exercise against possible attacks by North Korea near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea.AP

PYONGYANG, North Korea –  The North Korean army is warning Washington that its military has been cleared to wage an attack using "smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear" weapons.

The threat from the unnamed army spokesman early Thursday is latest in a series of escalating warnings from North Korea, which has railed for weeks against joint U.S. and South Korean military exercises taking place in South Korea and has expressed anger over tightened sanctions for a February nuclear test.

The spokesman said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency that troops have been authorized to counter U.S. aggression with "powerful practical military counteractions."

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Shooting reported at Fort Knox military post

Published April 03, 2013

Associated Press

FORT KNOX, Ky. –  A spokesman for the Fort Knox Army post in central Kentucky says a shooting has occurred there, but he had no immediate word on whether anyone was injured.

Kyle Hodges says the shooting Wednesday afternoon was near the post's human resources center. He was on his way back to the post after receiving word of the shooting.

WAVE-TV reported the post was on a heightened security alert.

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Military personnel on R&R are now allowed to fly commercial

Published April 01, 2013

FoxNews.com

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  Service members will be issued commercial tickets instead of charter flights to their R&R destination, either within the United States or to an approved destination elsewhere in the world.Reuters

Pull out those peanuts.  Military personnel on rest & recuperation leave will now get to fly commercial.  

As of April 1, troops on leave from the U.S. Central Command --an area stretching from Egypt to Afghanistan-- are no longer required to travel on government charter flights and can instead book seats to their final destinations on commercial carriers, according to a press release from Army News, via the DOD website.

Previously troops were required to take charter flights to Atlanta or the Dallas area from Kuwait.  The change comes amid a scale down of troops in the region.  At peak troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan, about 1,000 passengers a day were flying on charter airlines, according to the release. Today, that number has fallen to only several dozen a day. Also, due to the shortened tours of nine-months, versus 12 months, many military personnel no longer qualify for mid-deployment leave.

The move also gives troops much more flexibility, said Army spokesman Hank Minitrez. Now troops will be able to fly directly to the airport closest to their approved leave destination and don't have to wait for the next available charter flight--which reduces the number of travel days and helps boost morale.

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Peru criticized for 'avoidable' military draft

LIMA, Peru –  Facing a shortage of recruits, Peru's government has reinstated selective, obligatory military service. But it can be avoided by paying a $700 fine, prompting accusations that what is really being imposed is a draft for the poor.

Military service had been voluntary since 1998, but meager wages, scant job training and a lack of other incentives amid an improving economy left Peru's armed forces short 30,000 recruits this year.

So the government of President Ollanta Humala, himself a former army officer and military attache, decided to re-impose the draft by decree.

Military chief Adm. Jose Cueto announced over the weekend that a draft would be held in May. It applies to all 18- to 25-year-old males chosen by lottery. Parents and university students are exempt. So is anyone who can afford the fine.

"It seems to me completely improvised with the aggravating factor that it directly affects the poor," said human rights activist Wilfredo Ardito.

Ardito called the draft discriminatory on several counts. The poor get hit twice — they cannot afford neither higher education nor the fine, he said.

Adm. Cueto defended the decree as necessary given recent low recruiting results.

He told The Associated Press that Peru's armed forces have long since left behind a past tarnished by human rights abuses in the 1980s and 1990s when it was fighting fanatical Shining Path rebels. "It's a different era," he said.

Cueto said two years of obligatory military service can be beneficial, especially for the poor.

"Military service has been stigmatized as something bad and the exact opposite is true, because it provides a series of benefits to young men, principally those of humble means. It offers instruction, trains them, creates values and, in addition, gives them a profession."

Cueto said draftees would not be sent as "cannon fodder" into Peru's southeastern hot zone, the Apurimac and Ene river valley region where more than 80 soldiers have been killed since 2008 as the military battles cocaine-funded vestiges of the Shining Path. He said only soldiers from elite troops are deployed there.

But the pay for draftees is quite low.

Cueto said it starts at a little more than $100 per month and increases to $146 per month, with room and board included. Peru's minimum wage is $283.

Much of the opinion swirling online in social media and in Peru's news media opposes the draft.

"I'm against it. They would be depriving young people of their right to decide. A lot people here can't afford to pay (the fine)," said Eduard Rodriguez, a 24-year-old gastronomy student. Rodriguez said if he were drafted he would work in order to pay the fine.

Military service is obligatory in some nations neighboring Peru, including Bolivia and Colombia, where the ranks of the armed forces are generally filled by the poor.

In Colombia, students and priests are among those exempt from service but they must pay fees ranging from $278 and $1,000 depending on social class.

In Ecuador, military service is voluntary and also largely attracts the poor.

Chile has a draft only when recruiting falls short, and its armed forces organizes job fairs for soldiers leaving military service.

In Mexico, one year of military service is obligatory for all 18-year-olds. Few are able to get out of serving and avoiding service is punishable by up to a year in prison.

An independent Peruvian security expert, Luis Giacoma, said that Peru's reinstatement of the draft goes against the global trend of volunteer militaries "with fewer members and more technology. Massive armies are by now obsolete. Now, what is being sought is professional solders."

Peru's armed forces have more than 100,000 members.

Defense Ministry spokeswoman Sara Alcantara said she could not provide a more precise number for reasons of national security.

___

Associated Press writers Frank Bajak and Franklin Briceno in Lima contributed to this report.

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China defends booming military spending as official budget numbers to be released

BEIJING –  China defended its booming military spending on Monday, saying vast investments in the armed forces have contributed to global peace and stability, despite concerns among the U.S. and Beijing's Asian neighbors over sharpening territorial disputes.

However, in a break with previous years, no figure for this year's defense budget was presented at a news conference held Monday on the eve of the annual legislative session. Spokeswoman Fu Ying said the figure would appear in the overall budget to be released Tuesday.

Approving the budget is among the key tasks of the session, which this year will see new leaders placed into top government positions after they were elevated at November's Communist Party congress.

Party leader Xi Jinping will take over from Hu Jintao as president, as well as head of the government's Central Military Commission, as part of China's once-a-decade power transition. In addition, the session approves top Cabinet appointments such as the defense minister.

Chinese defense spending has grown substantially each year for more than two decades, and last year rose 11.2 percent to $106.4 billion an increase of about 67 billion.

Only the United States spends more on defense.

Fu said China maintained a strictly defensive military posture and cited U.N. peacekeeping missions and anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden as examples of Beijing's contribution to world peace and stability.

"As such a big country, China's inability to ensure its own security would not be good news for the world," Fu said. "Our strengthening of our defense is to defend ourselves, to defend security and peace, and not to threaten other countries."

This year's legislative session comes amid a continuing standoff with Japan over disputed islands in the East China Sea. Ships and planes from both sides have repeatedly confronted each other in the area, and another Chinese spokesman on Saturday warned that Japan would bear full responsibility for any "unintended clashes."

China's feuds with Vietnam and the Philippines over territory in the South China Sea have also flared periodically in recent months, while Beijing has been unnerved by the U.S. military's renewed focus on the Asia-Pacific, including plans to station marines in northern Australia on training missions.

Outside concerns about China's military buildup are also fed by doubts over the reliability of the defense budget figure, which is widely believed to exclude foreign military purchases and other items. In its 2012 report on China's military, the Pentagon estimated actual spending of $120-180 billion in 2011, well above China's official figure that year of $91.5 billion.

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