Kuwait to host a significant amount of U.S. troops
By Jennifer Rizzo
The United States has approximately 15,000 troops in Kuwait, according to a Senate report released Tuesday, the first time the number has been disclosed.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee report looked at how to best promote U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf region after the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq last year, the ongoing Arab Spring uprisings and the dispute over Iran's nuclear program.
It concluded in part that a "lily pad" model of having bases throughout the region to allow for a rapid escalation of military forces is a sound approach.
The Kuwaiti bases "offer the United States major staging hubs, training ranges, and logistical support for regional operations," the report said. "U.S. forces also operate Patriot missile batteries in Kuwait, which are vital to theater missile defense."
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Mixed reports about whether Mubarak has died
Reports conflicted Wednesday over whether the 84-year-old former president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, had died.
The state-run Middle East News Agency, citing medical sources, said he was declared clinically dead shortly after arriving late Tuesday night at a military hospital in Cairo, where he was taken after suffering a stroke and cardiac arrest earlier in the day.
But Gen. Mamdouh Shaheen, a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, told CNN, "He is not clinically dead as reported, but his health is deteriorating and he is in critical condition."
Afghan insurgents strike U.S. outpost
By Barbara Starr
A band of Afghan insurgents breached a small U.S. outpost in southern Afghanistan early Tuesday, wounding nine coalition troops before all but one of the attackers were killed, two U.S. officials said.
The U.S. officials said at least eight insurgents somehow made their way into the security perimeter at Forward Operating Base Frontenac, in the Arghandab River valley. The area has been the scene of extensive insurgent activity in recent years.
Seven of the attackers were killed and the lone survivor was wounded, the officials said. Neither official could explain how the breach occurred, but initial reports indicate officials believe the insurgents might have had help from Afghan security personnel.
Tuesday's attack follows an incident Monday in which three gunmen in Afghan police uniforms fired on American troops in another location in southern Afghanistan, killing one and wounding several others.
Court: Pakistani prime minister ineligible to serve
By Reza Sayah in Islamabad
In a move that could reignite a political crisis in Pakistan, the nation's Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is ineligible to hold office.
The seven-member court declared the prime minister disqualified retroactive to April 26, the day he was convicted of contempt charges. Those stemmed from his refusal to call on Swiss authorities to reopen old corruption charges against Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.
"Since no appeal was filed against this judgment, the conviction has attained finality. Therefore, Syed Yousuf Gilani has become disqualified from being a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (parliament)," according to the Supreme Court ruling, read in the court by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
The "whack-a-mole" strategy of pulling terrorist videos offline
By Suzanne Kelly and Pam Benson
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Iranian dissident group warned delisting from US terror not guaranteed
By Jamie Crawford
The United States warned an Iranian dissident group that it may have "over-interpreted" recent events, and should not presume its removal from the U.S. terror list is guaranteed.
The Obama administration has told Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK) an orderly departure from its base Camp Ashraf inside Iraq will be a central condition to any decision regarding the group's removal from the list.
From Camp Ashraf, the residents travel by convoy under United Nations and Iraqi government auspices to a former U.S. base in Iraq where they can be processed and eventually re-settled to countries in Europe and elsewhere.
Some 2,000 MEK members have left Camp Ashraf since the process began, but none have moved since May 5. Some 1,200 to 1,400 still remain at Camp Ashraf.
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