WASHINGTON D.C. (VOA)- A former top U.S. and NATO commander says the Netherlands' inclusion of gays in their military rendered Dutch peacekeeping troops unable to prevent the slaughter of thousands of Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995.

Retired U.S. Marine General John Sheehan led the U.S. Atlantic Command and served as the top NATO commander in the mid-1990s,  the height of ethnic cleansing in former-Yugoslavia.

General (Ret.) John J. "Jack" Sheehan

He told the Senate Armed Services Committee that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the U.S. military would breed friction and undermine unit cohesion in the armed forces.

Sheehan backed his contention that gay soldiers undermined Dutch combat readiness by pointing to the massacre of Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995.  Four-hundred Dutch peacekeepers protecting the area were overwhelmed by Serbian forces, which killed an estimated 8,000 Muslim men and boys.

Linking the massacre to the Netherlands allowing gays in the military prompted this exchange with Senator Levin, who seemed perplexed by Sheehan's assertion.

SHEEHAN: "That [Srebrenica] was the largest massacre in Europe since World War II."
LEVIN: "And did the Dutch leaders tell you it was because there were gay soldiers there?"
SHEEHAN: "It was a combination ..."
LEVIN: "Did they tell you [that gay soldiers were to blame], that is my question."
SHEEHAN: "Yes."
LEVIN: "They did?"
SHEEHAN: "They included that as part of the problem."

Asked for comment, Dutch military officials expressed astonishment.  The spokesman for the Netherlands Ministry of Defense, Roger van de Wetering, told VOA Sheehan's assertions are "total nonsense" and that he "cannot believe that a man of that rank is stating such a thing."  He added that he had never heard Sheehan's allegation before from any source in the Netherlands or anywhere else.

Forum Democratic Underground

(The Atlantic) - Among other items of evidence seized from Timothy McVeigh's car when he was arrested 15 years ago next month outside of Oklahoma City was a papered quote from Samuel Adams. "When the government fears the people, there is liberty," the quote read. "When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."

Lest anyone remain unsure about McVeigh's motivations for the cold-blooded murder of 168 innocents at the Alfred P. Murrah federal building on April 19, 1995, the self-styled "patriot" wore to the attack a t-shirt with the Latin inscription: "Sic Semper Tyrannis" and the Thomas Jefferson line: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

Great seal of Virginia

WASHINGTON - A major pro-Israel US lobby group warned that recent US administration remarks about bilateral ties with Israel were "of serious concern," and urged the White House to ease tensions.

Remarks by President Barack Obama's administration "regarding the US relationship with Israel are a matter of serious concern," said the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in a statement issued Sunday.

CALLS FOR UNILATERAL STEPS

"AIPAC calls on the administration to take immediate steps to defuse the tension with the Jewish State," it added.

The statement came amid diplomatic upheaval between Washington and Tel Aviv after Israel announced new illegal settlement construction as US Vice President Joe Biden visited the region to boost indirect peace talks.

Administration officials including Biden, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and senior Obama advisor David Axelrod have slammed the new construction and the timing of the announcement as insulting and destructive.

AIPAC, considered the most influential pro-Israel pressure group in the United States, has support across the political spectrum in Congress and routinely attracts senior US and Israeli political figures to its annual conference.

This year, both Clinton and hardline Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are due to address the AIPAC conference, scheduled for March 21-23.

KABUL, Afghanistan (New York Times) - Under the cover of a benign government information-gathering program, a Defense Department official set up a network of private contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan to help track and kill suspected militants, according to military officials and businessmen in Afghanistan and the United States.

The official, Michael D. Furlong, hired contractors from private security companies that employed former CIA and Special Forces operatives. The contractors, in turn, gathered intelligence on the whereabouts of suspected militants and the location of insurgent camps, and the information was then sent to military units and intelligence officials for possible lethal action in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the officials said.

While it has been widely reported the CIA and military are attacking operatives of al-Qaida and others through unmanned, remote-controlled drone strikes, some American officials say they became troubled that Furlong seemed to be running an off-the-books spy operation.

WASHINGTON (AP Exclusive) - Two guns used in high-profile shootings this year at the Pentagon and a Las Vegas courthouse both came from the same unlikely place: the police and court system of Memphis, Tenn.

Law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that both guns were once seized in criminal cases in Memphis. The officials described how the weapons made their separate ways from an evidence vault to gun dealers and to the shooters.

The use of guns that were once in police custody to attack police officers highlights a little-known divide in gun policy in the U.S.: Many cities and states destroy guns gathered in criminal probes, but others sell or trade the weapons in order to get other guns or buy police equipment.

HANDGUN STILL SAVE TO OPERATE

In fact, on the day of the Pentagon shooting, March 4, the Tennessee governor signed legislation revising state law on confiscated guns. Before, law enforcement agencies in the state had the option of destroying a gun. Under the new version, agencies can only destroy a gun if it's inoperable or unsafe.

Kentucky has a similar law, but it's not clear how many other states have laws specifically designed to promote the police sale or trade of confiscated weapons.

Shelby County Sheriff's Office

US Vice-President Joe Biden blahblahblahblahblahblah "moment of real opportunity" blahblahblahblahblahblah peace between the Palestinians and Israel blahblahblahblahblahblah.

Mr Biden welcomed blahblahblahblahblahblah start indirect talks, blahblahblah the US blahblahblahblahblahblah who "took risks for peace".

Blahblahblahblahblahblah US was committed to Israeli security blahblahblahblahblahblah prevent Iran blahblahblah nuclear weapons blahblahblah.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed US attempts to boost sanctions on Iran.

Mr blahblah Biden is blahblahblahblahblahblah administration of US President Barack Obama to visit Jerusalem.

At a joint news blahblahblahblahblahblah Mr Netanyahu, Mr Biden blahblahblahblahblahblah "no space" between the US and Israel on Israel's security blahblahblahblahblahblah.

'Exception'

Mr Biden blahblahblah cornerstone of Washington's relationship with Israel blahblahblahblahblahblah "absolute, total, unvarnished" commitment to its security blahblah.

(BBC News) - Doctors in the Iraqi city of Fallujah are reporting a high level of birth defects, with some blaming weapons used by the US after the Iraq invasion. The city witnessed fierce fighting in 2004 as US forces carried out a major offensive against insurgents.

Now, the level of heart defects among newborn babies is said to be 13 times higher than in Europe. The US military says it is not aware of any official reports showing an increase in birth defects in the area.

BBC world affairs editor John Simpson visited a new, US-funded hospital in Fallujah where paediatrician Samira al-Ani told him that she was seeing as many as two or three cases a day, mainly cardiac defects.

Our correspondent also saw children in the city who were suffering from paralysis or brain damage - and a photograph of one baby who was born with three heads.

OFFICIALS WARN: WOMEN SHOULD NOT HAVE CHILDREN

He adds that he heard many times that officials in Fallujah had warned women that they should not have children. Doctors and parents believe the problem is the highly sophisticated weapons the US troops used in Fallujah six years ago.

British-based Iraqi researcher Malik Hamdan told the BBC's World Today programme that doctors in Fallujah were witnessing a "massive unprecedented number" of heart defects, and an increase in the number of nervous system defects.

She said that one doctor in the city had compared data about birth defects from before 2003 - when she saw about one case every two months - with the situation now, when, she saw cases every day.

"I've seen footage of babies born with an eye in the middle of the forehead, the nose on the forehead."

Ms Hamdan said that based on data from January this year, the rate of congenital heart defects was 95 per 1,000 births - 13 times the rate found in Europe.

Fire Bombs in Iraq: Napalm By Any Other Name

Taking part in two cities it has become the largest party in Almere and the second largest in The Hague. (

Mr Wilders was visibly buoyed by the results and was characteristically combative saying this was the first step in the upcoming campaign for parliamentary elections.

"The national campaign begins today in Almere and The Hague, tomorrow in all of the Netherlands... On 9 June, we'll conquer the Netherlands," said Mr Wilders.

Election results

(The Atlantic) - This has been a week of inside vision into the role of Rahm Emanuel, the charismatic chief of staff, in the Obama White House. Does the president listen to him? Does the president need him? Why did Emanuel take the job? All are questions being asked, most prominently at (and in reaction to) The Washington Post, via Dana Milbank's column and Jason Horowitz's longer piece.

Today, we get another rich, long, voyeuristic look into Emanuel's time at the White House from The New Republic's Noam Scheiber, and, with it, some take-away facts about the chief of staff's tenure: Emanuel didn't get to pick all of his own personnel when he took the job; he favored Larry Summers for Treasury secretary; he wanted to preserve the White House's alliances with health industry players ...

Clinton's planned speech is clearly meant to raise her own profile as well. In her first six months as Barack Obama's top diplomat, the secretary has faced something of an underappreciated challenge: proving that she is a loyal lieutenant to her former presidential primary rival while projecting that she owns the Obama administration's diplomatic portfolio.

Perhaps more than any other member in Obama's "team of rivals," Clinton has had to walk a fine line ...

SANTIAGO, Chile -- A massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake capable of tremendous damage struck central Chile early Saturday, shaking the capital for a minute and a half and setting off a tsunami.

Buildings collapsed and phone lines and electricity were down, making the extent of the damage difficult to determine. At least 6 people were killed, President Michele Bachelet said.

"We have had a huge earthquake," Bachelet said, speaking from an emergency response center in an appeal for Chileans to remain calm. "We're doing everything we can with all the forces we have. Any information we will share immediately."

Bachelet said early reports were that six people had been killed, and "without a doubt, with an earthquake of this magnitude, there will be more deaths." She urged people to avoid traveling in the dark, since traffic lights are down, to avoid causing more fatalities.

The quake hit at 3:34 a.m. (0634 GMT; 1:34 a.m. EST) and was centered 325 kilometers southwest of the capital, Santiago, at a depth of  35 kilometers the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

The epicenter was just 115 kilometers from Concepcion, Chile's second-largest city, where more than 200,000 people live along the Bio Bio river, and 60 miles from the ski town of Chillan, a gateway to Andean ski resorts that was destroyed in a 1939 earthquake.

An Associated Press Television News cameraman said some buildings have collapsed in Santiago, where power was out in parts of the city. An important church was among the buildings that came down in the central city of Providencia, where window glass shattered into the streets and people ran from multistory buildings, according to TV Chile.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for Chile and Peru, and a less-urgent tsunami watch for Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and Antarctica. It said a tsunami could also hit Hawaii later in the day.

Qari Mohammad Zafar is wanted for questioning in connection with the March 2, 2006 bombing of the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.

The attack killed three Pakistani citizens and David Foy, a U.S. diplomat. Zafar is suspected of being a key figure involved with this attack.

Al Qaeda-linked suspects emerge in Islamabad Marriott attacks

Two senior al Qaeda and Taliban-linked Pakistani terrorists are suspected of being behind the Sept. 20 (2008) bombing at the Marriott hotel in Islamabad. The deadly attack killed more than 50 Pakistanis and foreigners and wounded more than 270, and destroyed the once-popular hotel.

In recent press reports, Qari Saifullah Akhtar, the leader of the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, and Qari Mohammad Zafar, a leader of the Laskhar-e-Jhangvi, have both been implicated as being the mastermind of the Marriott bombing. Both men have extensive ties to al Qaeda and the Taliban, and have been in Pakistani custody until recently.

Baitullah Mehsud, LJ join hands in Karachi

An Australian man who was held in the Guantanamo Bay US detention camp has won the right to sue his government for complicity in his alleged treatment.

A Federal Court said he was free to sue after rejecting Canberra's claim that an Australian judge could not rule on the actions of foreign officials.

Mamdouh Habib was released from Guantanamo without charge in 2005.

Habib's ordeal began in October 2001, when he was arrested in Pakistan. In U.S. court documents released. Habib's American lawyers report that he was tortured for a week in Islamabad before being transferred to Egypt, where he was detained for six months. The document describe at length a shocking array of torture techniques.

In one hideous example, Habib was suspended from hooks on a wall, his feet on a drum connected to a battery, which would send a shock through his feet. "The action of Mr. Habib 'dancing' on the drum forced it to rotate, and his feet constantly slipped. leaving him suspended by only the hooks on the wall ...

"Inflamed by his protests and indifferent to his screams, the sessions typically ended only when he admitted whatever they were questioning him about at the time -- whatever it was," the documents added. "In the midst of horrendous torture, Mr. Habib 'confessed' to it all."

Such "confessions" were than used to justify his detention in Guanánamo Bay, where he was transferred in 2002, and where the mental and physical torture continued.

Lt. Michael Lohman, a supervisor who led the detective unit that first investigated the shooting of six people on the Danziger Bridge after Hurricane Katrina, has been charged with one count of conspiring to obstruct justice in a bill of information that was unsealed today.

He is expected to plead guilty in a court hearing early this afternoon, after which U.S. Attorney Jim Letten has scheduled a press conference.

Lohman also participated in a plan to plant a gun at the scene, the bill of information says. The investigating officer told him that he planned to place a gun under the bridge, and Lohman "asked whether the investigator knew that the gun was 'clean,' meaning it could not be traced back to another crime." The investigator said it was, and "Lohman went along with the plan."

In addition, Lohman signed off on a report that said the investigator found the gun under the bridge on Sept. 5, the bill of information says. In fact, the document says, Lohman was so "frustrated" with the implausibility of the initial report that he "personally drafted" a 17-page replacement that included "numerous false facts."