CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) — A Marine convicted of kidnapping and conspiring to murder an Iraq man who was killed by troops looking for an insurgent will not serve time in prison, a military jury decided Friday.

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Marine gets bad-conduct discharge, no prison

Given the extreme seriousness and potential punishment for these charges, I believe that young Marine needs to be thanking his lucky stars that he’s not spending the next 15 years making BIG rocks into little ones…

BAGHDAD (AP) - U.S. military commanders said Friday the troop buildup in Iraq must be maintained until at least next summer and they may need as long as two years to ensure parts of the country are stable.

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Generals Plead for Time to Secure Iraq

I hate to keep beating this horse but we either KILL the bad guys in Iraq, ALL of ‘em, and stop any infiltration by bad guys, or we can stay there until hell freezes over and there still won’t be stability in Iraq, and here’s where the catch comes in, how do WE secure THEIR nation when we can’t even secure our own??

HONOLULU (AP) — A tropical depression was forecast to bring heavy rains, blustery winds and waves as high as 8 feet as it passes south of Hawaii late Friday.

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Tropical depression takes aim on Hawaii

Yo, Dudes and Dudettes, surf’s up man, wax your boards, hang 10, put some Beach Boys in the CD player and party til you puke… Cowabunga!!!

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - A heat wave sweeping central and southeastern Europe killed at least 13 people this week, with soaring temperatures sparking forest fires, damaging crops and prompting calls to ban horse-drawn tourist carriages.

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Central and Southern Europe Sizzling

I am almost afraid to even speak of this, it’s 78° here in my part of North Texas, our high today was 86°, and I’m not complaining, not one little bit, but normally by now we’ve had several 100°+ days… I’m guessing August is going to try and make up for June and July…

SUNAPEE, N.H. (AP) - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Thursday the United States cannot use its military to solve humanitarian problems and that preventing a potential genocide in Iraq isn’t a good enough reason to keep U.S. forces there.

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Obama: Don’t Stay in Iraq Over Genocide

If you’ve ever read my blog you know that I was not in favor of going to Iraq, but we are there, we need to give a 100% effort in this matter, and if preventing a potential genocide in Iraq isn’t a good enough reason to keep U.S. forces there, I want this idiot Obama to tell us ALL what IS a good reason, in his highly experienced opinion… I don’t think we’ll ever install a working democracy in Iraq but if we can preserve large numbers of human lives, and possibly make Iraq into an ally of sorts, well, that’s what WE try to do…