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"WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has ordered 3,100 troops, mostly based in Fort Hood, Texas, to deploy to Afghanistan as part of President Barack Obama's plan to beef up U.S. forces there. Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said Tuesday the 4th Combat Aviation Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division should arrive in summer. The 2,600 soldiers assigned to the brigade will be accompanied by about 500 support troops. Obama is sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan with the expectation that U.S. troops would start leaving by July 2011. About 25,000 troops have been given deployment orders. Fort Hood was the site of shootings last November that killed 13. An Army psychiatrist, Maj. Nidal Hasan, has been charged in the case."

"January 25, 2010 | LIKE THIS ARTICLE ? Join our mailing list: Sign up to stay up to date on the latest headlines via email. Advertisement One moment there was the hum of a motor in the sky above. The next, on a recent morning in Afghanistan's Helmand province, a missile blasted a home, killing 13 people. Days later, the same increasingly familiar mechanical whine preceded a two-missile salvo that slammed into a compound in Degan village in the tribal North Waziristan district of Pakistan, killing three. What were once unacknowledged, relatively infrequent targeted killings of suspected militants or terrorists in the Bush years have become commonplace under the Obama administration. And since a devastating December 30th suicide attack by a Jordanian double agent on a CIA forward operating base in Afghanistan, unmanned aerial drones have been hunting humans in the Af-Pak war zone at a record pace. In Pakistan, an "unprecedented number" of strikes -- which have killed armed guerrillas and civilians alike -- have led to more fear, anger, and outrage in the tribal areas, as the CIA, with help from the U.S. Air Force, wages the most public "secret" war of modern times. In neighboring Afghanistan, unmanned aircraft, for years in short supply and tasked primarily with surveillance missions, have increasingly been used to assassinate suspected militants as part of an aerial surge that has significantly outpaced the highly publicized "surge" of ground forces now underway. And yet, unprecedented as it may be in size and scope, the present ramping up of the drone war is only the opening salvo in a planned 40-year Pentagon surge to create fleets of ultra-advanced, heavily-armed, increasingly autonomous, all-seeing, hypersonic unmanned aerial systems (UAS). Today's Surge Drones are the hot weapons of the moment and the upcoming Quadrennial Defense Review -- a soon-to-be-released four-year outline of Department of Defense strategies, capabi

"U.S. says Yemen group one of many al Qaeda branches Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON Wed Jan 20, 2010 9:02pm EST Related News * Yemen strikes at al Qaeda, Britain stops flights Wed, Jan 20 2010 * Yemen says strikes house of al Qaeda militant Wed, Jan 20 2010 * U.S. citizens in Yemen may pose threat, report says Tue, Jan 19 2010 * Qaeda denies fighters killed, Yemen vows more strikes Mon, Jan 18 2010 * Yemen in war with al Qaeda, urges citizens to help Thu, Jan 14 2010 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Yemen has made progress in its U.S.-backed fight against al Qaeda, but the extremist group continues to spread elsewhere and has some two dozen affiliates across a swathe of the globe, U.S. officials said on Wednesday. World At congressional hearings, U.S. officials painted a picture of an al Qaeda that has expanded from Afghanistan to Iraq, the Arabian peninsula, Africa and southeast Asia. "Al Qaeda is now difficult to define," Admiral Eric Olson commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, told a House of Representatives Armed Services subcommittee. "More than two dozen associated ... groups have established themselves in Iraq, the Arabian peninsula, the Horn of Africa, the trans-Saharan region, the Maghreb of north Africa, west Africa and southeast Asia, and there are several different groups now operating within and from Afghanistan and Pakistan," Olson said. Olson said al Qaeda's forces have been regenerated in part by extremists who had been detained, were released and then joined militant groups. He said officials estimate about one fifth of former detainees are "somehow re-engaging in activity ... against our interests." Critics of Obama's call to close the prison at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have cited the movement of former detainees to militant groups as reason to keep the facility."

"That type of rocket launcher has been used in Iraq and Afghanistan. The renter of the apartment didn't want to talk to KPRC Local 2. "This is my house," the woman said. " Get away from here. I don't want to talk to nobody." The woman did tell police that the rocket launcher belonged to Nabilaye I. Yansane, someone whom she allowed to store items at her apartment. Police records show that she didn't want Yansane at her apartment, so she called them. According to court documents, officers also found Jihadist writings that allegedly belonged to Yansane. The woman didn't want to talk to KPRC Local 2 about that, either. "I don't know," she said. "You'll have to ask the police." Yansane was charged with criminal trespassing and pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to three days in jail, which he has already served. No charges related to the rocket launcher or writings were filed. "Other people could have had access to the apartment, so maybe if a rocket launcher was located there, as is stated in the offense report, maybe it belonged to somebody else," attorney Garl Polland said. Prosecutors said there are no state charges for having the unarmed launcher or possessing Jihadist writings, unless they contain some type of threat. The former director of Houston's FBI office said rocket launchers can be dangerous if they're in the wrong hands."

"The State Department is planning to welcome thousands of immigrants from terror-watch list countries into the United States this year through a "diversity visa" lottery -- a giant legal loophole some lawmakers say is a "serious national security threat" that has gone unchecked for years. Ostensibly designed to increase ethnic diversity among immigrants, the program invites in thousands of poorly educated laborers with few job skills -- and that's only the beginning of its problems, according to lawmakers and government investigations. "There are a lot of holes in this program in terms of security and in terms of fraud," said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., who has written legislation aimed at killing the lottery. Now, in the wake of the botched Christmas Day terror attack that emerged from Nigeria and Yemen, members of Congress are worried the system could be vulnerable to radicals looking to "play" the visa lottery as a means of reaching the U.S. Here's how it works: to avoid getting stuck with 3.5 million others on a visa waiting list, hundreds of thousands of people put their names into the separate diversity lottery, which rewards countries that typically see low levels of immigration to the U.S. Immediate family are allowed to join lottery winners. Countries like China, where lots of immigrants originate, are excluded. Then a computer in Kentucky picks names at random from the qualified applicants, who need only a high school degree or two years at a job that requires two years of experience. The program accounts for about 10 percent of all immigrant visas each year. Included in the lottery are all four countries the U.S considers state sponsors of terror -- Iran, Sudan, Cuba, and Syria -- and 13 of the 14 nations that are coming under special monitoring from the Transportation Security Administration as founts of terrorism. Pakistan is excluded because, like China, it sends over tens of thousands of immigrants each year and doesn't need to be in the lottery

"The raids carried out by at least 10 gunmen, including suicide bombers, were well coordinated and bold even for Afghanistan and paralyzed the capital for several hours. However, while the militants spread out across a strategic area near government ministries and a luxury hotel, they failed to seize any of their declared targets and instead holed up in a poorly defended shopping center. "They just want to show their power, it was an 'attack show' from the Taliban, not a military-based action. I think there was not a military goal," said Wahid Mudjah, a Kabul-based writer and political analyst. "They just wanted a show for the international community." The attacks were perfectly timed. They came as Afghan President Hamid Karzai was swearing in cabinet members inside the presidential palace only hundreds of meters away, and after days of media chatter about a new "reintegration" drive to lure insurgents away from the battlefield. They were also dramatic, with an exploding ambulance adding to compelling images of a city under siege. Gunfire and loud explosions shook Kabul as black smoke billowed from the shopping center where fighters battled security forces for hours."

"KABUL - The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan plans to tighten the rules on night raids, The Associated Press has learned, in a new step to curb public anger over perceived violations against civilians. Such raids have emerged as the No. 1 complaint among Afghans after Gen. Stanley McChrystal curbed the use of airstrikes and other weaponry last year. NATO spokesman Rear Adm. Gregory Smith told the AP a new directive would be issued soon to set down new rules for night raids. "It addresses the issue that's probably the most socially irritating thing that we do and that is entering people's homes at night," he said Wednesday. He would not elaborate pending a formal announcement. The U.S.-led force has become increasingly sensitive to complaints by Afghan civilians as part of a renewed effort to win support among the public and lure people away from the Taliban. Last year McChrystal curbed the use of airpower and heavy weapons if civilians could be put at risk. Smith said complaints about civilian deaths from airstrikes had dropped sharply after McChrystal's order last year but Afghans are "not seeing enough difference in our nighttime operations." He acknowledged the possible tactical difficulties but said the problem needed to be addressed in the effort to win the confidence of Afghan civilians and keep them from supporting the Taliban."