It’s been almost a month since his arrival in Texas.  Have his parents or family talked to him yet ?   It sure sounds like the military is going to let this guy skate through without punishment for desertion; and that’s wrong.   

(CNN Blog) Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. soldier held captive for five years by militants before his release a month ago, has ventured several times off an Army base in Texas as part of the effort to get him used to everyday life in America, a military spokeswoman said.
His release on May 31 in exchange for five Taliban being held by the U.S. military has rankled some, including former members of his unit, who said he was a deserter who endangered colleagues searching for him.
Yet while investigating circumstances surrounding his departure, the military has also said it’s focused on making sure Bergdahl gets better mentally and physically, so he can gradually readjust to normal life. (more…)

Note: President Obama says they are not “combat troops”.    So, what other kind of troops are there, other than “combat troops”?   What’s the mission if they are not there to provide security, carry weapons and shoot things?….  a division of #HashTag troops? 
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says he’s sending about 200 more U.S. troops to Iraq to protect Americans and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
The announcement will bring to nearly 800 the total number of U.S. forces in and around Iraq to train local forces, secure the embassy and protect American interests.

Obama notified House and Senate leaders in a letter on Monday. Obama says the additions include security forces, rotary-wing aircraft, and support for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. (more…)

(VIA CNN) — The bodies of three Israeli teenagers who authorities said were kidnapped this month have been found in the West Bank, Israel’s Channel Two and Channel Ten reported Monday, citing sources in the Israeli military.

The Israeli military said Monday that it found three bodies northwest of Hebron and that the bodies are “going through forensic identification.” The military also said it has informed the families of the three missing teens about the discovery.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called an emergency security Cabinet meeting about the issue Monday; an announcement from the Cabinet is expected shortly, according to the Israeli military. (more…)

Don’t know much about him, we’ll probably find out more in the coming days…

WASHINGTON DC – President Obama on Monday will nominate Bob McDonald, a West Point graduate who served as the chief executive of Procter & Gamble, to take over as head of the troubled Department of Veterans Affairs, according to White House officials.
The un­or­tho­dox pick of a retired corporate executive whose former company produces iconic household products such as Tide detergent and Charmin toilet paper — rather than a former military general — underscores the serious management problems facing the agency charged with serving more than 8 million veterans a year. On Friday, White House deputy chief of staff Rob Nabors submitted a report to the president finding “significant and chronic system failures” and a “corrosive culture” at the Veterans Health Administration, which has come under fire for skewed record-keeping in an effort to cover up the long waits it has imposed on former soldiers seeking medical care. (more…)

Pilot Marine Captain William Mahoney

BREAKING NEWS: Benghazi terror suspect pleads not guilty http://t.co/b9JgqwAznv

— Fox News Alert (@foxnewsalert) June 28, 2014

WASHINGTON DC – Ahmed Abu Khatalla, the Libyan militant accused of directing the 2012 attack on Benghazi, was indicted Saturday on a charge that could lead to the death penalty, the Justice Department said.
Abu Khatalla pleaded not guilty on Saturday, the Associated Press said, after being flown to Washington by helicopter early Saturday morning and then taken to the federal courthouse. U.S. special forces captured him about two weeks ago, and authorities have since been questioning him offshore aboard the USS New York. (read more)

Note – interesting choice of venue to hold the Benghazi terror suspect “Washington DC”. 

WASHINGTON – Ahmed Abu Khatallah, one of the men accused the deadly Benghazi attack is now on U.S. soil, officials confirmed Saturday to Fox News.
Khatallah is being held at a federal courthouse in D.C. amid tight security, Department of Justice spokesman William Miller said.
Khatallah is accused of being involved in the Sept. 11, 2012 attack in Libya that lead to the deaths of former U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, information officer Sean Smith, and former navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. (more…)

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – A U.N. expert panel has concluded that a shipment of rockets and other weapons that was seized by Israel came from Iran and represents a violation of the U.N. arms embargo on Tehran, according to a confidential report obtained by Reuters on Friday.
The finding comes just days ahead of the next round of negotiations in Vienna between Iran and six world powers aimed at securing a deal that would gradually lift international sanctions on Tehran — including the arms embargo — in exchange for curbs on the controversial Iranian nuclear program.
Despite Israel’s public statements that the seized arms were destined for Gaza — an allegation that Gaza’s governing Islamist militant group Hamas dismissed as a fabrication — the experts said the weapons were being sent to Sudan.
The experts do not speculate in the report about why the arms were being sent to Sudan, a country which Western diplomatic and intelligence sources have told Reuters has in the past been a conduit for Iranian arms shipments to other locations in Africa, as well as the Gaza Strip. (more…)

This will throw a pickle in the grand scheme of Ketchup Kerry.  With al-Qaeda essentially conceding the more radical ISIL Army is the more powerful Islamist force – the Ideological alignment within Syria leaves barely a ‘smidgen’ of room for moderation.   Of course this merge begs the question how long will Russia stay de-facto aligned to Assad? 

SYRIA – A Syrian rebel group closely aligned with al Qaeda’s official central leadership has switched sides and is now supporting an ultra-violent offshoot, following the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant’s blitzkrieg attack on Iraq, according to U.S. officials and reports from the region.
A local unit of the Al Nusra Front—the official rebel group of al Qaeda in Syria—agreed to back the ISIL on Wednesday.
The merger of one portion of al Nusra with ISIL is being viewed by government intelligence analysts and others as a troubling indicator that the inner battle between the two groups may be shifting in ISIL’s favor. (more…)

TUCSON, Ariz. (CBS Las Vegas) — Border Patrol agents in Arizona were reportedly fired upon by a Mexican military helicopter that traveled across the border.
KVOA-TV reports that Mexican authorities were conducting a drug interdiction operation when the incident happened early Thursday morning on the Tohono O’odham Indian Nation. The Mexican chopper fired at the agents and then flew back into Mexico.
Art del Cueto, Border Patrol Tucson Sector union president, tells KVOA that they called and apologized for the incident. (more…)

For *this* specific White House to make such a claim, against the visible history of their previous positions, one can only reasonably conclude the “Bathtub Principle” is being applied to the current al-Qaeda situation in Iraq.
This administration only feigns ignorance when feigning ignorance benefits their position and is part of their larger strategy.  “Wha,.. who… us”?  
WASHINGTON DC – Senior Obama administration officials’ closed-door briefing to senators Tuesday night revealed that the White House did not anticipate and was not prepared for the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS), which has wreaked havoc in Iraq and seized many key cities in recent weeks.

Top State Department and Defense Department officials joined senators Tuesday evening for a briefing on the quickly developing chaos in Iraq and future U.S. plans for a response.
Sources familiar with the brief said that the administration officials repeated talking points issued over the past several days in both open and closed door meetings and had trouble communicating a concrete plan for response. (more…)