News for 25 November

SAN JUAN DEL SUR, Nicaragua-Sgt. Joshua J. Thomas, a MCTAG trainer-advisor, referees a pugil stick match between two Nicaraguan soldiers in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan soldiers graduated from a two-week Marine Corps Martial Arts Program and Scout Swimming Operations course provided by MCTAG.



Light news day. The leading Early Bird story (Wash. Post) this morning discuss an additional 3,500 U.S. paratroopers who will be deployed to the region around Kabul in January. (Logar and Wardak provinces).
The CSM reports about the rise in entrepreneurial kidnapping and crime in the Afghan Capital.
USA Today reports on a congressional hearing about the rise in IED attacks in Afghanistan.
Reports from Iraq discuss three attacks on the Green Zone in Iraq that resulted in at least 20 dead: a magnetic bomb on a civilian employee bus fuel tank, a female vest-bomber in the security line. An Iraqi guard attempted to stop her when she detonated the vest she was wearing.
Leading Newspaper Headlines: The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal's world-wide newsbox lead with President-elect Barack Obama making it clear that he plans to be ready to tackle the nation's economic woes from his first day in office. At a news conference, Obama instructed his economic team to come up with the details of a new stimulus package large enough to "jolt the economy back into shape."
The WP off-leads word that Osama Bin Laden's former driver will soon be transferred from Guantanamo to Yemen, his home. The Pentagon has decided to allow Salim Ahmed Hamdan the remainder of his prison sentence in Yemen's capital, where he's expected to arrive within the next two days. The Bush administration has long described Hamdan as a dangerous terrorist, but a military commission found he was a minor player and set Dec. 27 as his release date. The Bush administration had said that regardless of the military commission's decision Hamdan could be held indefinitely. By sending him to Yemen the Pentagon not only avoids what would surely have been "a sticky diplomatic situation," as the Post puts it, but also helps Obama since he won't have to make any decisions about the detainee's fate in the first days of his presidency.
The LAT fronts a startling look at how some injured veterans are falling victim to a "little-noticed regulation change" that took place earlier this year that amended the military's definition of what constitutes a combat-related disability. The regulation seems nothing short of nonsensical, not to mention cruel. The Pentagon now differentiates between those injured during actual combat and servicemembers who are wounded in other situations. So someone who is injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq while not participating in actual combat would be entitled to smaller disability payments. Veterans' groups are lobbying to get the rule changed and are getting some support from lawmakers. "I was blown up twice in Iraq, and my injuries weren't combat-related?" said a Marine who estimates he was denied about $16,000 in benefits before he fought the Pentagon and won a change of his designation. "It's the most imbecile thing I've ever seen." http://www.slate.com/id/2205403/
See the KEARSARGE’s Captain’s blog at: http://continuingpromise2008.blogspot.com/