Blog post

IAVA Daily Brief 12.21.10
Posted by Isabel Black on December 21

Here are some of today's top stories and happenings at IAVA. Prefer to receive real-time updates about major stories and legislation that IAVA is tracking? Follow us on Twitter @IAVAPressRoom or subscribe at www.IAVA.org/DailyNewsBrief. Please note: The IAVA Daily News Brief will be on hiatus this Friday, December 24th through Sunday, January 2nd.

MUST READS

1) Pentagon plan won’t cover brain-damage therapy

Over the past few decades, scientists have become increasingly persuaded that people who suffer brain injuries benefit from what is called cognitive rehabilitation therapy- a lengthy, painstaking process in which patients relearn basic life tasks such as counting, cooking or remembering directions to get home.  But despite pressure from Congress and the recommendations of military and civilian experts, the Pentagon’s health plan for troops and many veterans refuses to cover the treatment.

2) Life and death decisions weigh on junior officers

Far from the generals in the Pentagon and Kabul, America’s front-line troops entrust their lives to junior officers.  These officers, in their 20s and early 30s, do much more than lead soldiers into combat, they must be coaches and therapists one minute, diplomats and dignitaries the next.
 
3) US Military seeks to expand raids in Pakistan

Senior American military commanders in Afghanistan are pushing for an expanded campaign of Special Operations ground raids across the border into Pakistan’s tribal areas, a risky strategy reflecting the growing frustration with Pakistan’s efforts to root out militants there.  The proposal, described by American officials in Washington and Afghanistan, would escalate military activities inside Pakistan, where the movement of American forces has been largely prohibited because of fears of provoking a backlash.

AFGHANISTAN

• The US-led coalition in Afghanistan on Tuesday denied reports that American forces are pushing to expand special operations raids into tribal areas of neighboring Pakistan where Islamist militants are known to find refuge.

• To keep US warplanes flying over Afghanistan, the Pentagon allowed a “secrecy obsessed” business group to supply jet fuel to a US air base in Kyrgyzstan, turning a blind eye to an elaborate fraud involving fuel deliveries from Russia.

 

IRAQ

• Iraq’s prime minister set forward the skeleton of his new government, proposing ministers to fill a majority of cabinet seats and bringing a bitter nine-month impasse one faltering step closer to resolution.

• Iraq’s parliament is due to vote on a new government on Tuesday, nine months after an inconclusive election left politics in limbo and delayed investments to rebuild the country after years of war.

 

MILITARY AFFAIRS

• Given uncertainty over congressional action on pending budget legislation, the Army has cautioned field commands to plan now for annual operations that are funded at levels below those reflected in the service’s fiscal 2011 spending request.

• The Army is warning roops to be careful when using Facebook and other popular social networking sites because their geo-tagging features may show where US forces are located in war zones.

 

INSIDE WASHINGTON

• The deadline to apply for a $500 allowance for being under stop-loss orders has been punted again, as Congress appears to be in no hurry to close eligibility for a benefit that so far has been paid to fewer than half of those who earned the payments.

 

A wide-range of views, positions, and publications are represented in these articles. These views, positions and publications are not endorsed by nor do they necessarily represent the views of IAVA.