Top Military News Headlines | August 20, 2010

U.S. troops continue to rush supplies and help evacuate some of the estimated 20 million flood victims in Pakistan. And, Thais plan to extradite suspected “Merchant of Death” to U.S.

U.S. military continuing supply runs to flooded Pakistan valley

U.S. troops continue to rush supplies and help evacuate some of the estimated 20 million flood victims in Pakistan, but much remains to be done, according to a top military official coordinating the effort.

X2 prosthetic leg now offered to older veterans

WASHINGTON — Vietnam veteran John Loosen has been walking with a prosthetic leg for nearly 40 years, but this week was the first time he could step backward or comfortably shift weight from side to side.

Thais to Extradite ‘Merchant of Death’ to US

BANGKOK — A Thai appeals court ruled Friday to extradite suspected Russian arms smuggler Viktor Bout to the United States, effectively ending a more than decade-long chase for the man dubbed “The Merchant of Death.”

Al-Qaida in Iraq claims army recruit bombing

BAGHDAD (AP) — An al-Qaida in Iraq front group on Friday claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing this week that killed 61 Iraqi army recruits in the deadliest single act of violence in Baghdad in months.

Activists Rally Around Suspected Leaker

HAGERSTOWN, Md. — The Army private suspected in one of the largest unauthorized disclosures of classified information in U.S. history has become a hero to many anti-war activists who have joined an international effort to free him.

Pentagon takes aim at China cyber threat

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. for the first time is publicly warning about the Chinese military’s use of civilian computer experts in clandestine cyber attacks aimed at American companies and government agencies.

Sniper Fire Plagues US, British Troops

Two service members were killed and other U.S. Marines and British soldiers have been hit by snipers in Sangin, Afghanistan, in recent days, Marine officials said.

Retired General Slams NY ‘Mosque’ Critics

A career Soldier and general officer who helped build up Iraqi forces after the U.S. invaded that country says critics of the proposed Islamic community center in New York City are only hurting American military and national interests.

Goodbye, Iraq: Last US Combat Brigade Exits

KHABARI CROSSING, Kuwait — A line of heavily armored American military vehicles, their headlights twinkling in the pre-dawn desert, lumbered past the barbed wire and metal gates marking the border between Iraq and Kuwait early Thursday and rolled into history.

Militant Chief Slain En Route to Iraq

The leader of a Lebanon-based al-Qaida affiliate has been killed while attempting to travel to Iraq to join the insurgency.

Doctor: Pregnant Marine died of skull fracture

GOLDSBORO, N.C. — A skull fracture killed a pregnant Marine whose colleague is on trial for her slaying, the doctor who performed the autopsy told a jury Wednesday.