DOD reports General Amos to be the new Commandant of the Marine Corps:
In the biggest headline-making comments during the hearing, Amos told questioning lawmakers he personally opposes repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law that prohibits gays and lesbians from openly serving in the military. He vowed, however, to ensure that whatever is decided regarding the law, he would ensure that it is enforced.
Huffington Post talks about private contractors in the AOR.
The Boston Globe has a piece and copy of a letter from Senator John Kerry to the Secretary of Defense. In that letter Senator Kerry says:
Secretary Robert M. Gates
1400 Defense Pentagon
There are lots of reports out there on the Stryker Brigade cases now in the Article 32, UCMJ, process. One of the highlighted issues has been the reports that SPC Winfield’s father made numerous attempts to tell the Army what was going on. Here is an interesting CNN piece:
Charles Keyes, “Father: Frustrated in trying to raise alarm about soldiers (sic)”
Winfield described to CNN’s Chris Lawrence his repeated attempts to warn the military about what was going on in the unit in which his son, Spc. Adam Winfield, was serving.
Kate Wiltrout at Virginia Pilot reports:
The XO of USS SAN ANTONIO
has chosen to go to a court-martial on charges he was negligent on the day a sailor was lost at sea last year.
It is never a good idea to be knowingly looking at and receiving child pornography.
The FBI announced today some results of Operation Predator.
Caught up was a Brandon Hronich, who it appears may have a prior court-martial conviction for being involved in CP.
Along with the list of cert. grants, the Court announced a new policy on releasing audio recordings of oral arguments. The Court will now release such recordings at the end of each argument week, much earlier than the current practice for all but a handful of particularly high-profile cases. As Lyle Denniston reports for SCOTUSblog, the same-day release of high-profile argument recordings will be discontinued under the new policy. The Washington Post, the Blog of LegalTimes, NPR’s The Two-Way blog, Broadcasting & Cable, the Associated Press (via the Washington Post), and Jonathan Adler of the Volokh Conspiracy all take note of the policy change. While C-SPAN’s president is not completely satisfied with the shift, the Volokh Conspiracy’s Orin Kerr is “delighted” that “Supreme Court geeks” will be able to more readily recognize “the flavor and tone of the questions.”
A U.S. soldier in Iraqis accused of fatally shooting two other American service members and injuring a third after an argument in Iraq’s Anbar province last week, the military said.
New York Times piece with a portion of video from Morlock’s confession.
Washington Post on the Ramrod Five.
A U.S. Army staff sergeant dreamed up a plan for fellow soldiers to kill three Afghan civilians this year because he was motivated by “pure hatred,” another soldier accused in the slayings has told investigators
News14 has this piece about the Fort Bragg christian rock concert that is drawing some attention.
Organizations have complained that a Christian rock concert should not be hosted by a government agency. Their stance is that it is a violation of separation of Church and State and displays a preferential treatment of a religion. However Army officials counter that it is a well settled Constitutional law for Chaplains in the Military to offer religious events.
Here is a WITN news link.
The Seattle Times reports the pending court-martial case:
Spc. Jeremy Morlock, a 22-year-old Army soldier from Wasilla, Alaska, will face charges in connection with the murders of three Afghan civilians and other crimes at a hearing scheduled Monday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
And here’s a Foreign Policy note.
Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog