Pentagon: Budget cuts, layoffs...Desertions way up...Watchdog watched...

[UpInArms]

http://www.kxmb.com/News/181693.asp

PENTAGON (AP) Calling it a "real emergency," a Pentagon spokesman says Defense Secretary Robert Gates has issued a memo advising the Army to plan for cuts and layoffs. Word of the planning follows the failure of a 50 billion dollar stop-gap bill for war funds. It was blocked by Republicans because it called for troop pullout.

CAPITOL HILL (AP) Pressure continues to mount on State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard. The head of a congressional oversight committee says Krongard's brother, Alvin, is disputing Krongard's testimony about his brother's links to the security firm Blackwater. Alvin Krongard resigned from Blackwater today.

PENTAGON (AP) The Army blames the stresses of repeated and lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan for a spike in the number of desertions. The rate has jumped 80 percent since the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003.

Washington (AP) Attorney General Michael Mukasey (myoo-KAY'-zee) says the Justice Department is working with state and local police and civil rights groups to investigate racially motivated crimes, including noose-hangings. The pledge came after thousands of demonstrators held a protest march that encircled the Justice Department.

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