Israel airstrikes loom over US diplomacy on Syria

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Israel's willingness to hit Syrian targets it sees as threats to its own existence has complicated the Obama administration's internal debate over arming President Bashar Assad's foes and may change the way U.S. approaches allies as it tries to boost the rebels, including with possible military aid.

As Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Russia on Monday for talks with the Assad regime's most powerful ally, the administration remained tight-lipped on both Israel's weekend air strikes and their implications for Washington decision-making.

Israeli warplanes targeted caches of Iranian missiles that were bound for Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based terror group that has threatened Israel. The weapons would have allowed Hezbollah to strike Tel Aviv and as far as southern Israel from inside Lebanese territory.

Still, Israel's actions put Damascus and Moscow on notice that the U.S. and its allies may not wait for an international green light to become more actively engaged. The administration said last week it was rethinking its opposition to arming the rebels or taking other aggressive steps to turn the tide of the two-year-old civil war toward the rebels.

At the same time, Israeli involvement in the war carries risks. Instead of prodding Russia into calling for Assad's ouster, it could bring greater Arab sympathy for Assad and prompt deeper involvement from Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, actors committed as much to preserving Assad as to fighting the Jewish state.

Although Israel hasn't officially acknowledged it carried out the airstrikes, Syrian officials on Monday were blaming Israel, calling it a "declaration of war" that would cause the Jewish state to "suffer."

Russia, alongside China, has blocked U.S.-led efforts three times at the United Nations to pressure Assad into stepping down. Officials said Kerry hopes to change Moscow's thinking with two new arguments: American threats to arm the Syrian rebels and evidence of chemical weapon attacks by the Assad regime.

Kerry, U.S. officials said Monday, hopes that may be enough to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to support, or at least not veto, a fresh effort to impose UN sanctions on Syria if Assad doesn't begin transition talks with the opposition. The officials demanded anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the confidential diplomacy.

"We have consistently, in our conversations with the Russians and others, pointed clearly to Assad's behavior as proof that further support for the regime is not in the interest of the Syrian people or in the interest of the countries that have in the past supported Assad," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

"We have been clear in the past about our disappointment with Russia over their opposition to resolutions at the Security Council with regards to this matter. But this is an ongoing conversation," he said.

U.S. officials said the administration doesn't believe the weekend activity will force President Barack Obama's hand, noting that the U.S.'s main concern is the use of chemical weapons by Assad, while Israel's top concern is conventional weapons falling into the hands of its enemies.

The chemical weapons argument is now under surprising attack, with former war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte saying over the weekend she and fellow members of a four-member U.N. human rights panel have indications the nerve agent sarin was used by Syrian rebel forces, but not by government forces.

Despite a clarification from the UN that it is has not yet made any definitive determination on chemical weapons use, Washington pushed back on del Ponte's assertion, saying it's highly likely that the Assad regime, and not the rebels, has been behind any chemical weapons use in Syria.

"We are highly skeptical of suggestions that the opposition could have or did use chemical weapons," Carney said. "We find it highly likely that any chemical weapon use that has taken place in Syria was done by the Assad regime. And that remains our position."

The State Department said the administration continues to believe that Syria's large chemical weapons stockpiles remain securely in the regime's control.

The Obama administration opened the door to new military options in Syria after declaring last week it strongly believed the Assad regime used chemical weapons in two attacks in March. Two days after that announcement, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said arming the Syrian rebels was a policy consideration.

Before departing for Russia, Kerry visited the Pentagon for a lunch meeting with Hagel. Defense Department press secretary George Little said he expected Syria to be discussed.

Also Monday, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee called for the US. to provide weapons to vetted Syrian rebels. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., introduced legislation that would allow for arms, military training and non-lethal aid to rebels that meet certain criteria on human rights and don't have links to terrorism.

Until now, U.S. efforts to bolster the rebels' fighting skills and gather intelligence on the groups operating inside Syria have been limited to small training camps in Jordan, according to two U.S. officials, who weren't authorized to speak about secret activities and demanded anonymity.

There are several options for escalation ranging from arming the rebels to targeted airstrikes and imposing no-fly zones. However, arming the rebels is the most likely escalation, officials said.

Officials said targeted strikes are likely to be considered only after uncontested proof emerges of chemical weapons use. And, even the most ardent advocates of U.S. intervention don't want American military boots on the ground while no-fly zones would demand intensive operations to neutralize Syria's Russian-supplied air defenses.

Although Israel seems to have thwarted those defenses with its weekend strikes, U.S. officials say that maintaining permanent no-fly zones will require far more support than specific actions like the airstrikes.

After visiting Moscow for the first time since he became secretary of state, Kerry will travel to Rome for talks with members of the new Italian government as well as Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh to discuss Middle East peace prospects.

___

Associated Press writers Donna Cassata, Jim Kuhnhenn, Josh Lederman, Kimberly Dozier and Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israel-airstrikes-loom-over-us-diplomacy-syria-205537658.html

Melissa Nelson foot locker champs champs calvin johnson calvin johnson sound of music

Three Ohio women found alive after being missing for a decade; 3 men arrested

WOIO TV via AFP - Getty Images

Amanda Berry (right) was reunited with her sister on Monday after Berry and two other women were found alive in a house in Cleveland, Ohio.

By Andrew Rafferty and Matt DeLuca, NBC News

?Help me, I?m Amanda Berry.?

With one frantic 911 call on Monday evening, three women missing for years were found in a Cleveland house where they had been held against their will, police in Ohio said.

?I?ve been kidnapped,? Berry, who disappeared a decade ago, told the dispatcher. ?I?ve been missing for 10 years and I?m out here. I?m free now.?

Officials confirm that one man has been arrested after three Ohio women were found alive after being missing for a decade.

Berry and two other women, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight, went missing between 2000 and 2004 in separate incidents. The women were all between the ages of 14 and 20 when they vanished.

Neighbors and relatives celebrated the happy ending, but for some, the years had taken their toll. Berry?s mother died in 2006, not knowing whether her daughter was alive or dead.

Three suspects are under arrest, the Cleveland Division of Police reported. The men were identified as Hispanic males aged 50, 52, and 54. A search warrant related to the arrest was executed by police at an address on Seymour Avenue in Cleveland, police said. Police are expected to hold a news conference Tuesday to provide more details.

The three women were taken to a hospital and were reported to be in ?fair condition? on Tuesday morning, a nursing supervisor at Metro Health Medical Center said. At a news conference on Monday evening, Dr. Gerald Maloney of Metro Health Medical declined to comment on whether the child brought out of the house by Berry had also been admitted.

The three disappearances had stumped police in Cleveland and shaken the community for years. Berry, now 27, was reported missing on April 21, 2003 after she phoned her sister to say she was getting a ride home from her job at a fast food restaurant. About one year after that, 14-year-old DeJesus vanished while walking home from school.

Neighbor Charles Ramsey said he was at home when he saw a man from across the street running to the house next door. When Ramsey went outside, he said, he saw a young woman who said she was trying to escape the house.

?This girl is kicking the door and screaming,? Ramsey said. ?She says, ?I?ve been kidnapped and I?ve been in this house a long time and I want to leave right now.??

Police in Cleveland made an amazing discovery -- three young women who went missing a decade ago were found alive and safe. Rachel Dissell, a reporter for Cleveland Plain Dealer, who's been following this story for 10 years, shares the latest details in the case.

When the door would not open Ramsey helped kick it down, he said, then allowed Berry to call 911. The young woman carried out a child through the broken door, and told Ramsey it belonged to her captor. Police then entered the house and brought out Dejesus and Knight, according to Ramsey.

Shocked relatives could hardly believe that their missing family members had been found after so many years.

Michele Knight?s mother Barbara told The Plain Dealer newspaper that she prayed police had correctly identified her daughter.

"I'm praying that if it is her, she will come back with me so I can help her recover from what she has been through," the hopeful mother said. "So much has happened in these 10 years. She has a younger sister she still has not met. I missed her so much while she was gone."

Destiny Berry, cousin to Amanda, told WKYC: "I just want to see her; I just want to see what she looks like. I just want to hold her."

Destiny and her sister were best friends with Amanda before her disappearance. "We were so close, inseparable. And when she came up missing it killed us. Going 10 years without knowing what happened to her, not knowing anything tears us apart,? she said.

Another of Berry?s cousins, Tasheena Mitchell, told WKYC that she was "so excited.?

The Cleveland Plain Dealer file

Amanda Berry (left) and Gina DeJesus (right) went missing about a decade ago.

"I thought about her every day. I prayed about her every night. I?m just so excited that we?re here. And we?re so close but so far away because they won?t let us in," she said. "I knew that she would come one day. I just don?t understand why it took so long. I?m just happy that she?s here."

The DeJesus family continued to hold out hope, holding vigils for her. DeJesus' mother, Nancy Ruiz, told WKYC at one in April: "She's still out there, and we need to bring her home.?

Earlier this year a prison inmate was sentenced for admitting he gave authorities fraudulent tips about Berry's remains.

Robert Wolford, who is serving time for killing a homeless man, told police the woman was buried under a Cleveland lot, which was then dug up by backhoes.

And two men arrested for questioning about DeJesus' disappearance were released in 2006 after police failed to find the woman's remains during a search of their house.

NBC News' Ian Johnston and John Newland, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

?

This story was originally published on Mon May 6, 2013 10:54 PM EDT

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2b9b4afa/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A50C0A60C180A912110Ethree0Eohio0Ewomen0Efound0Ealive0Eafter0Ebeing0Emissing0Efor0Ea0Edecade0E30Emen0Earrested0Dlite/story01.htm

hungergames bagpipes aspirin aspirin 21 jump street illinois primary results acapulco mexico

Missing Teens Found Alive After 2002-2004 Kidnappings; Three Brothers Arrested

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/missing-teens-found-alive-after-2002-2004-kidnappings-three-brot/

vanessa williams nicklas backstrom discovery shuttle allure jane goodall saturday night fever glamping

Case Study: How Content Marketing Saved this Brick-and-Mortar ...

At this point, we hope you?re seeing how content marketing can transform an online business into a runaway success story.

It?s probably less obvious how you might go about doing that with a more traditional brick-and-mortar business. But those under-explored territories can be
particularly fertile ground for a solid content strategy. Today we?ll talk about just one example.

Marcus Sheridan?s pool company was hit hard by the recession in 2008. He and his business partners discovered that in order to save their business, they had to get creative ? fast. They decided to try blogging, and they started writing content for their site by simply answering their customers? questions through their blog posts.

Today, his pool company website gets more traffic than any other pool company site in the world.

River Pools is thriving, and Marcus has now expanded his business to include providing social media coaching for other businesses.

I heard Marcus speak at the 2013 Social Media Marketing World in San Diego, and was blown away by his hilarious speaking style. I was delighted to join the rest of the audience in giving him a standing ovation for his speech.

Let?s hear a little more from Marcus about how he saved his pool company by embracing content marketing, and about what he?s up to today.

What?s your site and what do you write about??

My pool company, River Pools, is a fiberglass swimming pool construction company in the Virginia/Maryland area of the US. On our site, we literally answer every question a consumer could possibly have about buying a fiberglass pool.

With my online marketing consulting business, The Sales Lion, I help companies solve their marketing problems in a way that?s applicable, frankly written, and personable ? with an emphasis on content marketing, messaging, and powerful communication.

Ultimately, it?s my goal to help individuals and businesses reach their potential, online and offline.

Who are your readers and how do you serve them? Was there a pressing problem you were trying to solve?

My readers are mainly small to medium-sized companies, marketers, and business owners who are looking to embrace this new world of digital marketing but aren?t quite sure where to start or how to go about it effectively.

When people are frustrated about making content marketing successful to build traffic, leads, and sales, they come to me. When they are tired of being invisible online, they come to me. When they want to be a thought leader and voice of their industry, they ?come to me. And when they want to do things digitally that have never been done in their field, they come to me.

What kinds of content are most important to your business? Blog? Email list? Podcast?

I see all content as intricately connected. I may write a blog post today. Tomorrow, I may take that blog post, combine it with five others, and call it an ebook. The next day I might take that ebook and send it ?to my email list (a list that was built by giving away another free ebook). I might also talk about the thoughts from that blog post through video or during my podcast.

But again, everything is intricately connected ? but to definitively answer your question, everything starts with a single blog post and grows from there.

What was your situation before you started blogging? Were you always a business owner, or did you have a more traditional career?

I started River Pools with two partners in 2001, and when the housing market collapsed in 2008, we were in big trouble. That?s when we discovered content marketing and decided to be the best teachers in the world about our business ? which was inground fiberglass swimming pools. This decision saved our company.

How do you use social networking in your business?

For River Pools, we don?t use it much. We have found there is a much higher return on investment when we focus our time producing more content on the site.

With The Sales Lion, social networking is much more important, because marketing is a very ?social? industry. Mainly I use Twitter as a means of thanking my readers, and also gauging what content resonates with them and what does not.

What were some of the main tipping points or ?a-ha!? moments (if any)? How did they come about?

I realized early on that the golden rule of content marketing is simple: ?They Ask, You Answer.?

My philosophy is that if anyone has asked me a question about my business, regardless of what it is, it?s my job to answer that question ? preferably on my website. This philosophy is what made River Pools so incredibly successful, and is also what drives much of the growth of The Sales Lion.

What were your biggest mistakes, or biggest wastes of time/money?

For The Sales Lion, it was the fact that I waited so long to start building my email list.

Subscription rates went up about 500% once I put up an opt-in form and started giving away my ebook, Inbound and Content Marketing Made Easy.

After that, my ability to communicate and market to my audience improved drastically.

Why do you think you became an independent business owner and blogger, when most people just stick with the career they have, even if it?s unsatisfying? What?s different about you?

Looking back, I realize I started blogging with River Pools because, at my core, I?m a teacher. That?s what I do. I distill information in a way the rest of the world can understand it and run with it. This is what drives me daily to do what I do.

What does your business look like today?

River Pools is incredibly successful and an industry leader.

The Sales Lion brand grows and grows. Today, I speak around the world about content marketing and share my story of ?pool guy turned marketing guy.? I strive to find success stories similar to mine with all the clients I now engage with.

Financially, as you can likely imagine, I?ve never been better. I?ve got four incredible kids. My wife can go to the grocery store and buy whatever she wants. That may sound silly, but knowing this is very, very satisfying.

What?s next for you? What are your next goals?

I plan on writing a New York Times bestseller. Recently, I signed with Seth Godin?s literary agent and we are in the process of finding the right publisher.

Currently, it looks like the title of the book will be The Honest Economy: How Truth and Transparency will Change Everything. That will be the title of my upcoming TED talk, as well.

Looking ahead, I want to continue to speak to the world through my words on the screen or from the stage, so as to help businesses and individuals reach their greatest potential.

Beyond that, I want my wife and children to feel happy, protected, and loved.

What advice would you give to bloggers and content creators who are trying to build an online audience?

Be gutsy.

Write about stuff your competition won?t write about. Don?t be afraid to push thought in your industry.

Embrace teaching in a way that doesn?t have the goal of making you seem intelligent, but rather strive to help everyone you come in contact with have an ?a-ha? moment where their inner light bulb comes on.

About the Author: Beth Hayden is a Senior Staff Writer for Copyblogger Media. Get more from Beth on Twitter and Pinterest.

Source: http://www.copyblogger.com/brick-and-mortar-content-marketing/

att libya engadget twin towers gizmodo cnet iPhone 5

Islanders rally past Penguins 4-3 to even series

PITTSBURGH (AP) ? Sidney Crosby did what he always seems to do in big moments, scoring two quick goals in his return from a broken jaw.

He gave the Pittsburgh Penguins an early two-goal lead over the New York Islanders on Friday night. Then the Islanders responded, doing something they hadn't managed in six years: win a playoff game.

Kyle Okposo provided his teammates some inspiration with a well-timed fight in the second period, and he capped a compelling New York rally with winning goal with 7:37 to play. The Islanders' 4-3 win evened the playoff series at one game each.

Game 3 is Sunday at New York. And instead of heading to Nassau Coliseum in danger of being swept, the Islanders have the momentum after a resilient 60 minutes.

"Our guys, they're relentless," New York coach Jack Capuano said.

The Islanders needed to be after Crosby ? wearing a plastic shield to protect the jaw he broke on March 30 ? found the back of the net twice in the first 7:37.

For a moment, the Islanders bench flash backed to an ugly 5-0 loss in Game 1 when Pittsburgh struck for three early scores to take any drama out of the proceedings.

Capuano kept telling his players all it took was a bounce here or there to get back in it.

The critical bounce came in the third period. Okposo fired a shot wide of the net that caromed back to the crease, then rolled off Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and across the goal line to give New York its first playoff win since April 14, 2007 against Buffalo.

"We're in the series," Okposo said. "We just wanted to come out and let them know that we're not going away."

Matt Moulson, Colin McDonald and Matt Martin also scored for the Islanders. Evgeni Nabokov overcame a sloppy start to make 30 saves as the youthful Islanders weathered the comeback of the NHL's best player.

Doctors cleared Crosby to play late Thursday and the arena erupted when his familiar No. 87 skated onto the ice. Adding the league's third-leading scorer to the lineup figured to make New York's task all the more daunting.

Instead the Islanders counter-attacked effectively all night, providing the Penguins with an ugly reminder of their first-round collapse against Philadelphia last spring when the Flyers lit them up for 30 goals in six games. New York peppered Fleury for 42 shots. Fleury turned aside 38, though that number doesn't include the 18 Islanders shots that missed the net or the 19 that Pittsburgh blocked, numbers that kept Fleury busy all night.

"It's the playoffs; you lose games sometimes," Crosby said. "But I think we've got to make sure we learn from this one pretty quickly. It's not the way we want to play, and we definitely have a lot of room to improve."

The Penguins couldn't muster much after Okposo's first career playoff goal, and the Islanders spilled over the boards after toppling the Eastern Conference's top seed as a solemn crowd trudged to the exit.

The end played in stark contrast to the beginning, when Evgeni Malkin staked Pittsburgh to a 1-0 lead 43 seconds into the game when he poked in his own rebound over a sprawled Nabokov.

Crosby, who memorably scored on a breathtaking end-to-end rush in his comeback from concussion-like symptoms against the Islanders in November 2011, did not provide any magic on his first shift.

Instead, he waited for his second.

Standing all alone on the post, Crosby tapped in a simple pass from Jarome Iginla to make it 2-0 before the game was four minutes old. The Islanders cut the lead in half when Moulson chipped a power-play goal past Fleury 7:04 into the period, but the momentum lasted all of 18 seconds.

That's how long it took for the Penguins to win the next faceoff and have Crosby skate behind the net, then roof a shot by Nabokov from just above the goal line.

Yet the Islanders, unlike in Game 1, did not succumb. Even as the Penguins were scoring, New York continued to generate quality opportunities of its own.

In the second period, those opportunities turned into goals.

McDonald pulled the Islanders within one 5:12 when he stuffed a backhand underneath Fleury's pads from a bad angle. Martin tied it just past the game's midway point when he collected a wayward shot off the end boards and slammed it by Fleury.

The surge seemed to unnerve the Penguins. Iginla drew a boarding penalty for attempting to retaliate after New York defenseman Brian Strait dumped Crosby, and Pittsburgh's Matt Niskanen found himself fighting Okposo after Okposo took exception with a Niskanen check on Moulson.

Niskanen may have won the fight, but Okposo drew blood, a fitting symbol for what the Islanders were able to do while giving the Penguins a reality check.

"Kyle just stepped up for a teammate and anytime you see somebody do that this time of year, it goes a long way," New York center John Tavares said. "It just seemed to keep pushing our game to get better."

NOTES: The Penguins scratched F James Neal, who left Game 1 with an injury in the second period and did not return. Neal did not skate with the team on Friday morning and it appears unlikely he will play Saturday ... Pittsburgh D Brooks Orpik missed his second straight game with a lower body injury. Orpik had played in 75 consecutive playoff games coming into the series ... Tavares, who did not have a shot in Game 1, had six on Friday and picked up an assist.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/islanders-rally-past-penguins-4-3-even-series-015334181.html

chipper jones chipper jones mickael pietrus heart transplant the international preppers geraldo

Tony Stark is Back in Form with - Triangle Arts and Entertainment

The demons of Tony Stark?s past will not stop haunting him. In the first ?Iron Man,? it was his exploitation of the weapons business that got him in trouble. In the second, it was his father?s legacy. In ?Iron Man 3,? the latest film from Marvel, Tony must grapple with Aldrich Killian, a nerdy scientist he jilted in favor of spending a drunken New Year?s Eve with Rebecca Hall. Honestly, who could blame him? Hall is gorgeous and Aldrich has bad hair, worse teeth and probably some nasty body odor. Regardless, the sins of Tony?s past have reared their ugly heads yet again.

The first in Marvel?s planned Phase 2 of films designed to lead up to a ?The Avengers? sequel, ?Iron Man 3? finds Tony Stark struggling to cope with the events that transpired in ?Avengers.? He can?t sleep, has panic attacks and he?s cut himself off from everyone to work on more Iron Man suits, even his girlfriend Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow). Stark returns to the land of the living when his friend/bodyguard Happy (director of the previous ?Iron Man? films) is injured in an explosion, bringing the billionaire face to face with the mysterious terrorist known as The Mandarin, played by a woefully underused Ben Kingsley. The film needed more of Kingsley?s intimidating rants.

Director and co-writer Shane Black, who wrote the ?80s action classic ?Lethal Weapon? and the more recent ?Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,? the film that probably won Downey Jr. the role of Stark, infuses ?Iron Man 3? with his trademark style of dialogue, with characters hurling witticisms back and forth at each other in that fun, playful way films used to do before everything was watered down by the quest to please the masses and get more box office receipts. One of the most entertaining segments in ?Iron Man 3? isn?t even an action sequence. It involves Tony bantering back and forth with a child in small town Tennessee as he tries to discover the truth behind The Mandarin. A good chunk of ?Iron Man 3? plays out like this, as if the film were masquerading as a buddy cop picture. Few know how to use Downey Jr. like Black, who brings Tony Stark back from the brash side he fell into with ?Iron Man 2? and closer to the fun-loving, charismatic version in the original ?Iron Man.?

?Iron Man 3? really almost plays as a character study in Tony Stark, who spends most of the movie without his precious suits as he battles a group of ex-soldiers powered by regenerating technology, developed by a now good looking and suave Killian (Guy Pearce). Stark is almost craftier without his suits, using every day items to build makeshift weapons to defend himself.

After the disappointment of ?Iron Man 2,? which traded Stark?s charm in favor of a bloated action film, Marvel needed to renew moviegoer?s faith in the popular character. While not as good as the original ?Iron Man? or ?The Avengers,? ?Iron Man 3? leans on story and character development instead of pointless action scenes, making it succeed as the rarest of entities; a smart, character-driven blockbuster.

Tagged as: Film, gwyneth paltrow, iron man, Iron Man 3, iron patriort, mandarin, marvel, movies, Robert Downey Jr, summer, war machine

Source: http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/2013/05/tony-stark-is-back-in-form-with-iron-man-3/

kevin costner budweiser shootout animal house invincible jesse jackson whitney houston funeral video tyler perry whitney houston

Why the Air Force Flies 50-Year-Old Tankers

The cause of the U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker crash in northern Kyrgyzstan today?and the fate of the crew of three?is unknown at this time. But today?s news is likely to reopen questions over why the United States is dependent on aircraft that were developed in the 1950s to extend the range of its warplanes, and what is being done to replace an aircraft that the Air Force acknowledges uses obsolete parts and aged avionics.

The answers to both questions are troubling. The Pentagon tried to replace its aging fleet of tankers in 2001, but scandal and industrial disputes derailed the effort. Even now, a dozen years later, we?re not even close. The Air Force now has 418 KC-135 tankers in its inventory, but only 178 replacements will be ready to fly in 2028. That means these old birds will be flying for quite some time?until 2040?a fact that forced the Air Force to embark on a recently concluded upgrade to extend the life of the KC-135 fleet.

That effort, which ended in April, added a digital flight director, a radar altimeter, an electronic engine instrument display, and Automatic Flight Control System to the aircraft. None of these safety enhancements were on the KC-135 that crashed this week. But if weather or visibility was a factor, the radar altimeter could have been particularly helpful to provide ground proximity warning.

Here?s what?s at stake. The United States is a powerhouse of power projection?the ability to move people and material across the globe exactly when needed. Every branch of the military uses KC-135s operated (mostly) by National Guard units to extend the range of their aircraft, because fuel is the true limit on an aircraft?s range and ability to stay overhead. Need an A-10 Warthog to stay overhead long enough to support Army units on the ground? Want a B-2 Spirit to take off from Missouri and spook North Korea? Require an MV-22 Osprey to bring Marines far inland without fighting for a beachhead? You need a refueling tanker.

The U.S. has known for years that an aging fleet of tankers could be a weak link in American defense planning. In a 2004 report, the General Accountability Office?noted that its investigators "reviewed the aerial refueling fleet in 1996 and found that KC-135 aircraft were aging and becoming increasingly costly to maintain and operate." At the time, the Air Force had a plan to keep the KC-135s flying until about 2030. But once Congress expressed an interest in the airplanes, the Air Force?s mood shifted from complacency to urgency?it wanted the refuelers in service by 2013.?"The Air Force stated that the urgency was due to growing operating and support costs, declining aircraft availability, and an increasing possibility that a fleet-wide grounding event would prevent continued operation of the KC-135," the GAO report said.

Then, during the 2000s, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan showed that urgency was founded. Twin wars demonstrated how vital tankers are to an extended fight program, and showed the heavy toll that a fast pace of operations could place on the fleet. Congress backed the tanker replacement program as a no-brainer, but something terrible happened on the way to the flight line?the Washington, D.C., procurement process.

Boeing won the contract for a new tanker, but in 2003 the deal fell apart amid allegations of crooked contracting. One former Air Force official and the Boeing executive who hired her were both given jail sentences. The contract was reopened, closed, reopened, disputed by others in the industry who?d lost the contract, and subjected to General Accountability Office review and political speeches. At the end of the day?and at the end of the decade?the KC-135s were still flying with no replacement in sight. (Amazingly, the Air Force keeps them at about an 80 percent mission readiness level.)

Boeing, the original victor, emerged as the winner of a $35 billion contract for 179 new tankers, called the KC-46. (That amount does not include future maintenance and parts, which could reach $100 billion.) ?"Our number one acquisition priority in Air Mobility Command?and it remains the Air Force?s number one priority?is making sure the KC-46 tanker delivers on time," USAF Gen. Paul Selva, head of AMC said recently. "And on cost."

With luck, the new aircraft will be ready in 2028. That leaves hundreds of KC-135s still in the fleet, serving as the aged backbone of future military operations until 2040. And all the while, the cost to maintain and repair the aircraft rises, not to mention the cost of keeping them safe to fly.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/aviation/military/why-the-air-force-flies-50-year-old-tankers-15427304?src=rss

the band perry grammy awards whitney houston autopsy dobie gray bruce springsteen grammy nominations lil boosie