HOLY HELL!: WHAT IS THIS THING?

I'm sure there is an English version out there, but this is a Turkish report about a weapon the U.S. is developing and/or already using against the Taliban. You don't need to understand what they're saying to know that whatever this is, it's pretty damn scary.

WAR PORN: STRYKER MOBILE GUN SYSTEM

"NGS is the big slugger".

I JUST HAD TO POST THIS AGAIN

It just makes my day every time I watch it

TEHRAN TIMES: PAKISTAN FORCES ORDERED TO HIT BACK AT US FORCES

This is from the Tehran Times, so take it for what it's worth. But if it's true, by all means, let's get it on.

The Pakistani Army has been given orders to retaliate against any unilateral strike by the Afghanistan-based U.S. troops inside the country.

Army Spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas confirmed the orders in a brief interview with Geo News on late Thursday night.

The decision was made on the first day of the two-day meeting of Pakistan's top military commanders to discuss the U.S. coalition's ground and air assault in Waziristan region which killed dozens of civilians.

Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani chaired the meeting which began in Rawalpindi on Thursday at the Army General Headquarters.

Pakistan's military commanders expressed their determination to defend the country's borders without allowing any external forces to conduct operations inside the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, sources said.

A senior official said the military commanders also discussed the implications of the American attacks inside Pakistan and took stock of the public feeling.

“In his statement, Genral Kayani has represented the feeling of the entire nation, as random attacks inside Pakistan have angered each and every Pakistani,” he said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Kayani rebuffed the American policy of including Pakistani territory in their operations against the al-Qaeda and Taliban linked militants hiding in the areas near Afghan border.

Also, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani noted that Kayani's remarks on country's defense were true reflection of the government policy.

The army decision followed bloody incursions by the U.S. ground troops into tribal belt as well as a string of missile strikes by CIA-operated drone aircraft.

The reaction also comes after U.S. President George W. Bush approved U.S. military raids on militants inside Pakistan without Islamabad's agreement.

The development also brought into the open the increasing mistrust between the Americans and the Pakistanis over how to handle the Taliban and al-Qaeda linked militants in Pakistan's tribal areas.

ROBOT SOLDIERS A THREAT TO HUMANITY

Robot arms race? Let's get it on!

Increasingly autonomous, gun-totting robots developed for warfare could easily fall into the hands of terrorists and may one day unleash a robot arms race, a top expert on artificial intelligence told AFP.

"They pose a threat to humanity," said University of Sheffield professor Noel Sharkey ahead of a keynote address Wednesday before Britain's Royal United Services Institute.

Intelligent machines deployed on battlefields around the world -- from mobile grenade launchers to rocket-firing drones -- can already identify and lock onto targets without human help.

There are more than 4,000 US military robots on the ground in Iraq, as well as unmanned aircraft that have clocked hundreds of thousands of flight hours.

The first three armed combat robots fitted with large-caliber machine guns deployed to Iraq last summer, manufactured by US arms maker Foster-Miller, proved so successful that 80 more are on order, said Sharkey.

But up to now, a human hand has always been required to push the button or pull the trigger.

It we are not careful, he said, that could change.

Military leaders "are quite clear that they want autonomous robots as soon as possible, because they are more cost-effective and give a risk-free war," he said.

Several countries, led by the United States, have already invested heavily in robot warriors developed for use on the battlefield.

South Korea and Israel both deploy armed robot border guards, while China, India, Russia and Britain have all increased the use of military robots.

GERMAN SPECIAL UNITS IN WORLD WAR II (PART 2)

MOOKIE WANTS TO MAKE A DEAL

Mookie promises to disarm the remaining 5 members of his army if the US withdraws. Something the US is going to do anyway. Memo to Mookie. You got no street cred.

The Mehdi Army of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr would disarm if the United States withdraws troops according to plan, a spokesman said.

Iraqi negotiators have proposed a timetable of US troop withdrawal by October 2010, although Washington has not yet agreed to it, a senior Iraqi official said on Friday.

"We feel there's a serious intention by the American forces for a withdrawal timetable at the very least," Sadr's spokesman Salah Al Ubaidi said on Friday.

"It should not be considered an end to the Mehdi army, but it's a halfway step to dissolving the Mehdi Army. If the US began to implement a withdrawal timetable we shall complete the path to dissolution," Ubaidi said.

At least 144,000 US troops remain in Iraq.

OBAMA WANTS CIVILIAN MILITARY AS STRONG AS THE ACTUAL MILITARY

Shades of Hitler...shades of Stalin...Shades of The Music Mafia:

Obama promised to increase AmeriCorps slots from 75,000 to 250,000 and pledged to double the size of the Peace Corps by 2011.

Obama repeated his pledge to boost the size of the active military. But he also said the nation's future and safety depends on more than just additional soldiers.

"We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set," he said Wednesday. "We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded."

Obama...Obama ueber alles.

MOOKIE IS BACK: SAYS "THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET BUTT WILD UP IN HERE"

Mookie's talking smack again. This time he means it.

Commanders of the Mahdi Army are still finalising plans for an elite resistance unit that will target US troops in Iraq.

The leader of the Sadr movement, Muqtada al Sadr, announced more than two weeks ago that a specialised armed group would be set up to carry out guerrilla attacks on American troops. The rest of the movement’s Mahdi Army militia – thought to number about 100,000 – were to put down their weapons and concentrate on political and spiritual resistance to the US presence in Iraq, he said.

The militia commander said Sadr would personally oversee who was selected for membership and would chose only the most capable, most loyal of his followers.

“The goal is to fight and expel the Americans from this land and we will be thinking of that every day,” Khafagy said. “But it will be a fight that takes place at certain times and places, according to the right circumstances.”

The last gasp effort of man trying desperately to be relevant. Let us know how that works out for ya Mook.

MEHDI ARMY IS WHOOPED: NOW TURNING INTO LAME ASS SPY TYPES

Cya Mookie...

The Mehdi Army of Moqtada Sadr is evolving into a clandestine movement following Iraqi military operations targeting the group, intelligence suggests. The military wing of the Sadrist Movement, the political party loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, is "turning itself into a secret armed organization," an Iraqi intelligence official told the Gulf News on condition of anonymity.

Iraqi intelligence reports suggest the group's numbers have dwindled from around 50,000 to as few as 150 in the past few years.

Intelligence officials said the latest operations in Maysan province would signal "the end of the Mehdi Army."

WAR PORN

OH-58 Engage Insurgent Car With Missiles And Rockets In Iraq.

FRENCH ARMY HAS COLLAPSED

I wasn't sure they still had an army. Apparently, they do. But it's not so well off.

According to confidential defence documents leaked to the French press, less than half of France's Leclerc tanks – 142 out of 346 – are operational and even these regularly break down.

Less than half of its Puma helicopters, 37 per cent of its Lynx choppers and 33 per cent of its Super Frelon models – built 40 years ago – are in a fit state to fly, according to documents seen by Le Parisien newspaper.

Two thirds of France's Mirage F1 reconnaissance jets are unusable at present.

The disclosure comes just ten days before President Nicolas Sarkozy announces a major reform of the armed forces, with a defence white paper outlining France's military priorities for the next 15 years.

He is expected to argue that the situation can only improve by reducing the number of France's operational troops from 50,000 to 30,000, and its fighter aircraft, as well as closing military bases.

He will also use the occasion to push for greater military integration in Europe, an issue that France will highlight when it takes over the EU's six-month rotating presidency in July.

Meanwhile, the Germans are massing on the border.

MEMORIAL DAY SHOUT OUT

China This, Mideast That, China This, Mideast That, Don't forget. We own the skies!!!!!!!!!

THE CRUSHER - UNMANNED GROUND COMBAT VEHICLE (UGCV)

My kids are gonna want this for Christmas...