Tagged: war

U.S. Senator Carl Levin says success depends on two factors. The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee says the Obama administration should stick to the July deadline to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan, and make sure the country can continue to build up its own security forces.

The committee’s ranking republican Senator John McCain opposes the deadline.

Levin told a gathering in West Michigan Monday the deadline has helped the Afghanistan police and army exceed recruitment goals. He called a large, effective home-grown security force in Afghanistan “the Taliban’s worst nightmare.”

“Because it would demonstrate that contrary to their propaganda the war against the Taliban is not a war of foreign occupiers seeking control, that it is instead a war that the Afgan people believe in.”

Levin told a crowd in Grand Rapids that President Obama's deadline in July to begin transferring power to the government of Afghanistan has put pressure on the situation in a good way.

Officials at the Defense Department's POW/Missing Personnel Office say they've identified the remains of two U.S. airmen from the Vietnam War. The airmen were reportedly shot down in 1969 and have been missing ever since.

The government says the remains belong to 34-year-old Col. James E. Dennany of Kalamazoo and 27-year-old Maj. Robert L. Tucci of Detroit.

In a press release, the Defense Department explains how Dennany and Tucci's plane went down:

Unemployment benefits deal reached

President Obama says he has reached a deal with Republican lawmakers to extend unemployment benefits. 180,000 Michiganders were going to see their benefits expire by April if a deal was not reached. In exchange for the benefit extensions, Obama agreed to extend the Bush-era tax cuts at all income levels, including the wealthy. The New York Times reports that Obama said the deal is "not perfect, but this compromise is an essential step on the road to recovery." But a battle may still remain, congressional democrats say they have not agreed to any deal yet.

City bans medical marijuana

A fourth city has banned medical marijuana. Wyoming, a suburb of Grand Rapids, passed the ban last night in a unanimous city council vote. Michigan Radio's Lindsey Smith reports that Wyoming Mayor Jack Poll says the ban is not a rebuke of medical marijuana rather "this is a vote against the way it is being dispensed."  Medical marijuana dispensaries have been popping up in different parts of the state after voters approved the medical marijuana law in 2008. The dispensaries are often in nondescript storefronts. The Detroit Free Press reports that Mayor Poll, a pharmacist himself, says medical marijuana should be dispensed like other legal drugs, presumably at mainstream pharmacies.

State to honor Pearl Harbor Day

Governor Granholm is asking Michigan residents to lower flags to half staff today to honor Pearl Harbor Day.  Sixty-nine years ago this morning, Japan attacked U.S. Forces stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. 2,334 servicemen and servicewomen were killed. 1,143 were wounded. Granholm says the action also honors current  service men and women:

"We also salute the brave men and women currently stationed around the world, including those fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, who are defending and protecting the freedom our nation holds so dear." 

It's Veterans Day and there are a many articles around the state about those who have made significant sacrifices for our country. Men and women who fought in wars for the U.S. Here's a snapshot of the articles this morning: