In the News: Apr-30

Britain ends combat operations in Iraq - 30 Apr 2009 at 8:02am - British troops ended six years of combat operations in Iraq on Thursday, beginning to withdraw from the southern city of Basra after a bloody and costly mission that was deeply unpopular at home. Prime Minister Gordon Brown praised his military's accomplishments and sacrifices, speaking after meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at Brown's Downing Street office in London.

Iraq war wanes; military families' struggles don't - 30 Apr 2009 at 7:16am - HAMLET, N.C. -- Spc. Jobel Barbosa had spent the past hour with his family in a parking lot after a public ceremony marking his unit's deployment to a war that's coming to an end. It was time to go.

Thought for the day:
Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions. -Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)