Gunrunner Update: DEA keeping ATF guns; Who is Uriel Patino?

A tempest is brewing in Phoenix, AZ today as agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration are reportedly refusing to turn over an unknown number of firearms recovered in a drug bust last month to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, even though at least one of the guns traces back to the controversial Project Gunrunner and Operation Fast-and-Furious.

http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-seattle/gunrunner-update-dea-keepi...

Article by Dave Workman

While U.S. President Barack Obama has announced his broad vision for American policy in the Middle East, questions remain on his strategy for one country still wracked by political uncertainty, Yemen.

Sudanese armed forces say rival southern forces were behind Friday's attack on U.N. peacekeepers and Sudanese soldiers in the oil rich Abyei region.

But a spokesman for the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) tells Reuters news agency that his forces were not involved in the attack.

U.N. officials say two people were wounded in the incident.

Troops from the north and south had agreed to conduct all patrols jointly in the Abyei area.

The north and south are attempting to settle several key issues before the south becomes independent on July 9, including the fate of Abyei.

NATO says it has hit eight warships used by forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in a series of airstrikes.

A NATO statement says the vessels that were targeted were in the ports of Sirte, Al Khums and the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

An alliance official, Libyan operations Deputy Commander Rear Admiral Russell Harding, says NATO had "no choice but to take decisive action" after pro-Gadhafi forces carried out mining operations and escalated their use of maritime force.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, 87, has dismissed reports his health is failing, saying he is in good shape and exercises regularly to keep fit, adding in an interview with a Zimbabwean-Namibian state media publication that he hopes to live to 100.

President Mugabe has traveled to Singapore five times since December sparking rumors that he suffers from a serious ailment. Reports said he is under treatment for prostate cancer. But a spokesman said he only underwent surgery for an eye cataract.

History has a way of memorializing the image of the American soldier as the brawny, sweat soaked grunt, securing his bayonet and loading his rifle before fearlessly charging into battle.

A private living off prepackaged meals in the jungles of Vietnam, a formation of armored vehicles storming across the desert in Iraq, a Special Forces team moving through the lush Arghandab River Valley in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, radios mounted on their backs.

The sound of an M16 rifle, its functions, parts and operations is anything but unfamiliar to Marines. However, to the Afghan National Army soldiers enrolled in the Small Arms Weapons Instructors Course, they are learning the sound for the first time aboard Camp Leatherneck, May 1 – June 16.

A combined Afghan and coalition security force captured a Taliban leader and killed several insurgents during a security operation in Murghab District, Badghis province yesterday.

The targeted Taliban leader conducted IED and direct fire attacks against Afghan and coalition forces in Darreh-I Bum and Qadis Districts of Badghis province.

More than 30 Iraqi army soldiers showcased their medic skills as part of testing for the Iraqi Field Medical Badge competition, May 2-4 at Al Asad Air Base.

The three-day competition was a culminating exercise modeled after the requirements to earn the U.S. Army's Expert Field Medical Badge. It also highlighted the successes and lessons learned from U.S. Soldiers assigned to the 703rd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Advise and Assist Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division.