Iraq
Satellite images show equipment and materials that could be used to make nuclear weapons have disappeared from Iraq, the United Nations atomic watchdog agency has warned, and it has called on countries to provide information concerning their whereabouts. Entire buildings once monitored and tagged by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have been dismantled, and equipment and materials in open storage areas have been removed, the Agency's Director-General, Mohamed ElBaradei, wrote in a letter to the Security Council.
Researchers have discovered a ''central memory'' form of ''helper'' T cells that can offer immunity to leishmaniasis, a disease that causes considerable death and disfigurement across the globe and has been found in U.S. military personnel returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. The scientists say the discovery can offer immunity to leishmaniasis, even without the persistent presence of the parasite that caused the disease. Their findings encourage a new approach to creating a vaccine against leishmaniasis and other immune cell mediated diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.
Why were so many Americans, as early as the first anniversary of Sept. 11, convinced that Saddam Hussein was behind the terrorist attacks in the United States? Did their mistaken belief that the Iraqi dictator was responsible for the attacks result from the Bush administration's information campaign to convince the public to go to war in Iraq, or was something else at work? A new study -- the first to investigate U.S. public opinion about who was to blame for the Sept. 11 attacks -- finds that there was, indeed, ''something else.'' ''News coverage and presidential rhetoric may have replaced Osama with Saddam over time,'' write the authors of the study, ''but Saddam was on the short list of most-likely suspects from the beginning for most Americans.''
Public support for the war in Iraq was strongest among those who felt that Britain had a moral case for taking part. But opposition was greatest where people felt the war would inflict long-term damage on Britain's interests. These are among the findings of a detailed new study into attitudes towards democracy and participation in modern Britain, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council as part of its Democracy and Participation programme. The study found that there was also particularly strong support for the war among those who had a positive view of Tony Blair or who identified themselves as Conservative supporters.
A skillful mixing of religion and politics helped President Bush silence critics and sell his policies on terrorism and Iraq to the nation, according to a new book that analyzes hundreds of public communications and news reports. As Bush makes his case for a second term, the research by David Domke documents how during his first term the president effectively linked religious terminology with political goals in the turbulent months after the Sept. 11 attacks.
A first-of-its-kind Army medical report that queried Afghanistan and Iraq combat veterans shows that front-line action has adversely affected the mental health of some service members. The report, titled, ''Combat Duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mental Health Problems and Barriers to Care'' appears in the July 1 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. About 6 percent of the soldiers and Marines who participated in the anonymous study say they've experienced mental health problems after combat tours in Afghanistan or Iraq.
Carnegie Mellon University robotics researchers, in conjunction with the U.S. Marine Corps' Warfighting Laboratory, have developed a small, throwable, remote-controlled prototype robot designed for surveillance in urban settings. Several of the robots are being sent to Iraq for testing.
The robot, known as Dragon Runner, has the ability to see around corners and deliver information to Marines while keeping them out of danger in urban settings where human access is impractical, dangerous or unsustainable.
Since the age of 12, Cpl. Kayelee Yazzie knew she wanted to be a communicator in the Marine Corps. Yazzie, a Navajo, comes from a long line of military family members. Her father was an airman in Vietnam; her 77-year-old grandfather served with the Army in Germany during World War II; and his stepbrother was a Marine codetalker in Japan during the same war. ''Code talkers are highly respected people in my tribe,'' the 20 year old said. ''I knew I wanted to follow in their footsteps and carry on their legacy.''
Infantry soldiers suspicious that a truck or box may contain explosives or chemical weapons may soon be able to find out for sure by shooting the target with a sticky little projectile that can detect the danger and report it from afar. The crayon-sized sensor, which users fire from a standard paintball gun, was invented by a team of University of Florida undergraduate engineering students as part of a government- and corporate-supported engineering research and education program at UF. Lockheed Martin's Orlando-based Missiles and Fire Control, which sponsored the project, plans to refine the projectile and put it into production, and there is a chance it could be used in Iraq, Lockheed officials say.
So how do you get soldiers and commanders speaking different languages in a theater of war to communicate effectively and not, for example, blow each other up mistakenly? Take off the shelf instant messaging software and throw in a dose of machine translation. So says the Office of Naval Research.
When their tours of active duty in Iraq or Afghanistan are over, Marines who receive an honorable discharge may be welcomed back by some employers with a higher salary for their Marine Corps experience, Penn State researchers have found. Dr. Kevin Murphy, professor and head of the department of psychology and leader of the study, says, "About one-third of the employers included in the survey data we studied said they see a substantial economic benefit to hiring Marines and would be willing to pay between 10 percent and 50 percent more to get a person with Marine Corps experience."
If ONR's Dr. Michael Given has his way, horrific scenes like those in Columbia Pictures' Black Hawk Down, where an Army Ranger in Somalia's Mogadishu bleeds to death after his buddies desperately try to clamp his gushing femoral artery wound, won't happen again. Given knows the gruesome reality that 50 percent of troops wounded in the battlefield die before they are evacuated to field medical units because they hemorrhage to death (a statistic unchanged since the Civil War). He also knows that 50,000 Americans die each year at the site of auto accidents because of uncontrollable bleeding. As head of ONR's Casualty Care and Management program, Given is providing funding for research on a remarkable granular mineral compound called QuikClot, developed by Z-Medica, Inc. (www.z-medica.com), a small company in Connecticut.
While politicians and generals determine what's next for Iraqis, recent research raises questions about what's next for the families of the American soldiers concluding combat operations in Iraq. Combat veterans' first marriages are 62 percent more likely to end in separation or divorce than other men's, according to a study led by a Brigham Young University professor. "While the war may be mostly over, its effects on the soldiers who fought it may be just beginning," said Sven Wilson, an assistant professor of political science. "We found that combat experience is an important risk factor for divorce or separation."
The successful application of teamwork and technology in Operation Iraqi Freedom marks a turning point in American war fighting, the U.S. military's senior officer said. "What we've done in Iraq has been dramatically different" than how the American military has fought wars since the Civil War, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Navy League audience at a downtown hotel.
Department of Defense military planners are considering operational strategies in response to possible flooding by Iraqi military forces. If the Iraqi military releases water into the Tigris River from upstream reservoirs, extensive flooding between Baghdad and Al Kut could occur. Thousands of Iraqis could be displaced, adding to congestion on roads and requiring extensive humanitarian support.
Despite Saddam Hussein's claims to the contrary, historical precedence indicates Iraqi military strategies include the release of water as a viable option for deterring enemy forces. For example, during the Iran-Iraq war, the Iraqi military created water obstacles to deter Iranian advances.
