Afghanistan

By March 24, the private security corporation formerly known as Blackwater — last seen in Afghanistan shooting civilians and stealing weapons intended for the Afghan police — may win a new Defense Department contract to train the Afghan police. And nearly no one in the government wants to own up to how it could happen.

Employees of the CIA-connected private security corporation Blackwater diverted hundreds of weapons, including more than 500 AK-47 assault rifles, from a U.S. weapons bunker in Afghanistan intended to equip Afghan policemen, according to an investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The largest group of patients enrolled in New Mexico’s medical marijuana program are those who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, according to the most recent New Mexico Department of Health data. But Albuquerque’s Veteran’s Administration hospital–which many veterans rely on as their only source of health care–doesn’t allow its physicians to recommend the use of marijuana to patients.

Some security experts say the Obama administration is mischaracterizing the terrorist threat to get the public to back escalating the Afghanistan war.

A credit rating agency downgraded the creditworthiness of the country’s largest pension fund yesterday, according to the Los Angeles Times. It’s the latest bad news for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System fund (CalPERS),  which has been beset by scandal this year with allegations similar to those buffeting New Mexico’s investment system tarnishing its reputation.

In a speech on primetime national television from West Point, President Barack Obama outlined his proposal to increase the number of American troops in Afghanistan by 30,000. Obama pledged that the troops would begin leaving by 2011.

New Mexico is one of the growing number of states that allows marijuana for medicinal use. Now New Jersey appears poised to become the next state to allow residents to use marijuana, when recommended by a doctor, for relief from serious diseases and medical conditions, according to the Wall Street Journal. The New Jersey state [...]

Congressman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., was on New Mexico news station KRQE about health care reform this morning, saying he believes the bill has been improved after the August recess. “One of the biggest improvements to the bill, and what we’ve actually helped do, is we’ve decreased the cost,” Lujan said.

As President Obama and his advisers debate strategy for the Afghanistan war and its related crisis in Pakistan, a factor that so far has not intruded on their discussions is emerging: the antiwar movement is showing signs of strength.

U.S. Representative Ben Ray Luján joined 57 other members of Congress in sending a letter to the Barack Obama administration urging against troop increases to Afghanistan.
Last week Obama said he won’t rush any decision on troop increases, butt General Stanley McChrystal, the commanding officer in Afghanistan, is expected to request more troops soon.
Meanwhile, a Gallup poll released [...]

For the first time in Hamid Karzai’s meteoric ascent to the presidency of Aghanistan’s presidency, Afghans are beginning to express disillusionment with Karzai, who is a key U.S. alley. Corruption, instability and tough economic times are starting to turn even Karzai’s fellow Pashtuns against him.