By now you've probably seen the video of U.S. Marines urinating on dead bodies in Afghanistan. (In case you missed it, we embedded it below.) It's unclear whether the corpses were Taliban or "collateral damage," but Defense Department spokesman Capt. John Kirby says, "Whoever it is, and whatever the circumstances — which we know is under investigation — it is egregious, disgusting behavior." Yeah, this kind of thing isn't exactly ideal for winning hearts and minds, but on the plus side, it's making John McCain feel bad. more ›

The last U.S. soldiers left Iraq ten days ago, as the nine-year, $800 billion-dollar war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives ended quietly. Days later, the country's fragile government threatened to collapse and bombs allegedly detonated by an al-Qaeda affiliated organization killed at least 65 people in Baghdad. Considering the elusiveness of "victory" in the war, the country's enduring turmoil, and the current war in Afghanistan, should there be a parade for the veterans of the Iraq War? more ›

Yesterday, the U.S. military announced the eight soldiers would be charged in the death of Private Danny Chen. The 19-year-old Chinatown resident was found dead at an outpost in Afghanistan, due to a "self-inflicted gunshot wound" but it was revealed that he had been taunted and physically harassed by fellow soldiers. more ›

In October, Private Danny Chen's family was informed by the Army that the 19-year-old killed died of an "apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound" while stationed in Afghanistan. However, his family was also told that he had been bullied and harrassed, and pressed the Army for more information. Now U.S. military officials have charged eight soldiers in Chen's death. more ›

In our modern era of political "analysts" who are paid to scream mindless talking points written by D.C. thinktanks on slick TV sets, Glenn Greenwald is a reasoned laser beam, armed with copious citations and his experience as a constitutional and civil rights attorney. Though he's often hailed by the left, his columns are dense and unsparing of Democrats and Republicans alike. Greenwald is a graduate of NYU Law and currently splits his time between New York City and Rio De Janeiro, where he lives with his boyfriend. more ›

The United States has scrapped plans to leave as many as 5,000 troops in Iraq, and will stick to its year-end deadline to remove all combat and support troops. According to the AP, all but approximately 160 soldiers that are attached to the US Embassy will be removed. A senior military official told the news outlet that the withdrawal would allow for limited combat-training missions if requested by the Iraqi government. more ›

19-year-old Private Danny Chen, a Chinatown native who died last week in Afghanistan, was allegedly bullied and abused by his fellow soldiers prior to his non-combat related death. Now, the Army's Criminal Investigation Division is looking into the matter to figure out exactly what happened. more ›

"Were you wearing yoga pants, the type that are really sexy and tied up top and flare out at the knee?" Colbert asks. more ›

As more details become available on yesterday's helicopter crash in the Wardak Province of Afghanistan that killed 30 Americans and 8 Afghans, authorities have determined that the aircraft was shot down by insurgents aligned with the Taliban, most-likely with a rocket-propelled grenade. The Times points out, "they could have hardly found a more valuable target," as 22 of the dead were members of the elite Navy SEAL Team 6, the same unit that killed Osama bin Laden in May. However, authorities say that none of the SEALs who were on the bin Laden raid were killed in yesterday's incident, which was the deadliest in the decade-long war in Afghanistan. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg, as you know, has no qualms about voicing his opinions, even if they concern issues outside the boundaries of NYC, like Arizona's lax gun laws, or Wisconsin's labor troubles. But according to an article in today's Times, Bloomberg is haunted by one thought: If a billionaire opines in the woods, but no one really cares what he thinks, will they still name shit after him once he dies? Bloomberg wants his opinions to resonate around the globe, and like any good mogul he's willing to pay for all those hearts and minds. more ›

An ambitious three-star general in Afghanistan ordered a team of soldiers specializing in "psychological operations" to help manipulate visiting American lawmakers into kicking more money into the Graveyard of Empires, according to a fascinating article in Rolling Stone. Reporter Michael Hastings, whose fly-on-the-wall profile of Gen. Stanley McChrystal prompted the general’s resignation last June, says that for four months last year, Gen. William Caldwell pressured the psy-ops unit to target visiting senators and other VIPs. His subordinate, Lt. Colonel Michael Holmes, says that after he questioned the legality of the order, Caldwell retaliated with a spurious investigation. more ›

Influential diplomat Richard Holbrooke lived in Manhattan but died in Washington Monday night after two long operations failed to repair a tear to his aorta. For the past two years, Holbrooke served as Obama's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and had worked for every Democratic president since the late 1960s, including a stint as President Clinton's representative at the UN. He was known as a tough, sometimes abrasive negotiator who also made millions as an investment banker on Wall Street. more ›

BSA brings the sad news that Brooklyn street artist "Sure" recently was killed in Afghanistan where he was stationed as an Intelligence Officer in the Marine Corps. Writes his friend "Faust": more ›

While this theater season has seen multiple productions on the Middle East, the spotlight has been almost exclusively on Iraq and Israel. Now the "Graveyard of Empires" has its turn center stage with The Great Game: Afghanistan, a play of epic proportions, transplanted from London's Tricycle Theater to NYC by the Public Theater. more ›

Aafia Siddiqui—a neuroscientist and wife of accused 9/11 plotter Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali—was sentenced to 86 years in prison on Thursday after being found in Afghanistan with two pounds of "poison" and plans to attack New York City. The hearing was filled with theories about plotting jailers, "terrorists posing as Hispanics," and Israel being behind the 9/11 attacks. Siddiqui eventually pleaded for forgiveness, saying, "This may shock the Muslims, and I don't mean disrespect...but I do love America, too, and there is no harm." After her sentencing, angry protests broke out at the courthouse and in Pakistan, where protesters yelled, "Down with America!" and threw shoes at pictures of President Obama. more ›

While U.S. Commander in Afghanistan General David Petraeus warned that a Florida pastor's plan to burn the Koran on September 11 "could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort in Afghanistan," Mayor Bloomberg says that Terry Jones has a right to do so, even if the plan is "distasteful." Bloomberg, whose eloquent defense of the proposed mosque two blocks from the World Trade Center site has been praised (and damned!), said today: more ›

The 21-year-old SVA student who stabbed cab driver Ahmed Sharif after finding out he was Muslim has been moved to Bellevue Hospital's psychiatric ward from Rikers Island after being evaluated by medical staff. Michael Enright recently spent 35 days in Afghanistan filming a documentary with the Marines, and mentions in his journals that he has a drinking problem and is a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. However, the military says Enright showed no signs of trauma with the experience of traveling with combat troops overseas. Col. Hans Bush told the Post, "There was nothing in the packet to indicate (a lack of) robustness to face exposure to our operations." more ›

Last night WikiLeaks dumped 91,000 classified U.S. military documents detailing our current Quagmire in the Graveyard of Empires. Most of the documents, which were reviewed in advance by the Times, are low-level field reports detailing the daily grind in Afghanistan, where officers, unsurprisingly, complain of "poorly equipped Afghan forces and corrupt Afghan government officials." Other documents suggest that Pakistan's spy service, ISI, is helping Afghan insurgents attack U.S. forces. more ›

Thanks to some bad publicity, the MTA has decided to re-hire Sgts. Alvin Taylor and Anddy (Angel) Moreno, who were laid off from their bus driving jobs while serving overseas. The two had originally lost their jobs because of MTA downsizing, and though federal law guarantees members of the military may resume their civilian jobs upon return from deployment, they can't guarantee jobs in companies that have downsized or collapsed. But the MTA pulled some strings, and the two are now under payroll at MTA Bus, an authority where there are job vacancies. more ›

Rep. Charles Rangel, who has repeatedly called for bringing back the draft, was at it again yesterday outside the military recruiting station in Times Square. Rangel believes Congress should stop funding the war and any further expenditure should go toward bringing the troops home. Spoke the Rangel: more ›

CIA Director Leon Panetta gave a sobering interview with ABC's "This Week" yesterday, in which he said the US has had no solid intelligence on Osama bin Laden's whereabouts for years. While being interviewed on the program, Panetta summarized the difficulties with the war in Afghanistan, and with the hunt for bin Laden, saying that the last "precise information" US officials had on the terrorist leader was in "the early 2000s": "Since then, it's been very difficult to get any intelligence on his exact location. He is, as is obvious, in very deep hiding ... He's in an area of the tribal areas of Pakistan." But in that case, maybe the CIA should be outsourcing their intelligence to the Osama Hunter. more ›

Gary Brooks Faulkner, the American detained in Pakistan while he was looking for Osama bin Laden, had a stopover in LA on his way home to Colorado. He told reporters he "absolutely" was going to return to Pakistan and said received dialysis for his kidney issues adding,", "This is not about me. What this is about is the American people and the world. We can't let people like this scare us. We don't get scared by people like this. We scare them. And that's what this is about. We're going to take care of business and we will take care of business very soon." Faulkner has served "five separate stints for burglary, larceny and parole violations" in Colorado, according to KTLA. more ›

After an incredibly candid interview with Rolling Stone, General McChrystal, who headed the U.S.'s war efforts in Afghanistan, offered his resignation today (as predicted) and President Obama accepted it. McChrystal was critical of the administration's actions in the interview (Rolling Stone's journalist spent a lot of time with the general, partly thanks to the ash-spewing Icelandic volcano) and he admitted to White House officials that he "compromised the mission." Now General David Petraeus, the head of Central Command, will take over. Last December, Obama said that he wanted to start withdrawing by July 2011. more ›

Guess what: Pakistani authorities have conducted psychological tests on the American man apparently on the trail of Osama bin Laden who was arrested near the Afghanistan border. Gary Brooks Faulkner, a 50-year-old Colorado resident, was found armed and a source told the AFP, "They are asking him a lot of things, especially about the sword and dagger that look like ceremonial weapons. He said he wanted to kill Usama but killing Usama with a sword and dagger is not child's play. Carrying a pistol and such a long sword is definitely a crime but we need a lot more clarifications." more ›

Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born cleric whose radical views have forced him into hiding in Yemen, released a new video promising harm to Americans, "Oh, America, if you transgress against us, we will transgress against you, and you keep killing our people, we will kill your people. This is the image that we need to present. These American soldiers heading to Afghanistan and Iraq will be killed. We will kill them if we can, there in Fort Hood, or we will kill them in Afghanistan and Iraq." more ›

President Obama made a surprise trip to Afghanstan today. This is his first visit to the country since becoming president, and he said, "One of the main reasons I'm here is to just say thank you for the incredible efforts of our U.S. troops and our coalition partners. They make tremendous sacrifices far away from home, and I want to make sure they know how proud their commander-in-chief is of them." more ›