Ten Democratic Senators led by Presidential-hopeful Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts penned a letter to leaders of the Senate Budget Committee to protest the 2.2 percent military pay raise included in President Bush’s 2007 defense budget proposal. They say it is the smallest since 1994. They wrote: “Such a paltry increase neglects the value of their service and the very real challenges of recruiting and retaining an all-volunteer military in time of war.”
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.