Panetta: Troops in Graphic Video Will be Punished

Marine Corps officials said Wednesday they’re investigating a graphic viral video circulating online that appears to show four Marines urinating on a trio of corpses in Afghanistan.

Video Depicting Urination On Corpses Won’t Derail Peace Talks, Taliban Says

Though experts are warning it will inflame anti-American sentiment in Afghanistan and hurt efforts to start peace talks with the Taliban, a video that appears to show four U.S. Marines urinating on the corpses of three Afghan men will not affect efforts to begin such negotiations, a Taliban spokesman tells Reuters.

Group Targets Military’s ‘Religious Preference’

A support group for atheist servicemembers has launched a petition drive to have President Obama end the requirement that the services solicit the religious affiliation of personnel, including recruits.

Iran urges UN to condemn nuclear scientists’ killings

Iran has issued an impassioned letter to the United Nations Secretary General charging that the killings of Iranian nuclear scientists were terror attacks that followed a clear pattern — an assertion the country’s ambassador to the United Nations repeated to CNN in an interview Wednesday night.

Intelligence report: Taliban still hope to rule Afghanistan

WASHINGTON — A new top-secret U.S. intelligence assessment warns that Taliban leaders haven’t abandoned their goal of reclaiming power and reimposing harsh Islamic rule on Afghanistan, raising doubts about the success of any peace deal that the Obama administration tries to broker between Kabul and the insurgents.

Intelligence study glum on Afghan war, at odds with DOD portrayal

WASHINGTON — The U.S. intelligence community says in a secret new assessment that the war in Afghanistan is mired in stalemate, and warns that security gains from an increase in American troops have been undercut by pervasive corruption, incompetent governance and Taliban fighters operating from neighboring Pakistan, according to U.S. officials.

4 Killed as US Drone Strikes Resume in Pakistan

The deadly U.S. drone campaign in Pakistan’s tribal zone resumed with a missile strike that killed four militants, two months after a NATO raid that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

Medical Schools to Increase Focus on PTSD, TBI

WASHINGTON — Medical schools will soon include more course work on post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and other common military ailments as part of a White House-led effort to prepare future physicians for the next generation of veteran patients.

What’s ahead for Guantanamo camps in new decade?

MIAMI — Ten years ago Wednesday, U.S. troops marched 20 men in chains off a military cargo plane at Guantanamo Bay to launch America’s war-on-terror experiment in offshore detention and justice. Now, the prison camps enter their second decade with death penalty tribunals on the horizon and President Barack Obama still struggling to find a formula for closure.