Military Mission

Atlantis' five astronauts completed a countdown rehearsal inside the shuttle Saturday for their classified military mission later this month. As planned, the test ended five seconds before the clock reached zero to simulate an aborted liftoff in which the three main engines shut down after ignition. "Everything went according to plan," said NASA spokeswoman Lisa Malone. Sources close to the project said the crew will put a spy satellite into orbit.

LONDON - The European Union on Thursday authorized sending a military training mission to Mali to help the African nation fend off the Islamist rebels that have taken over a broad swath of territory. The EU said the mission would provide instruction to the Malian army on matters of command and control, logistics, civilian protection and humanitarian law. It would not involve combat. [Updated 8:05 a.m. Jan. 17: EU foreign ministers said they hoped to launch the training mission to Mali by mid-February at the latest.

Space shuttle Atlantis will lift off early on the morning of Feb. 22 on a secret military mission, NASA announced Saturday. Shuttle managers said after a two-day flight readiness review that launch would occur between midnight and 4 a.m., the fourth after-dark liftoff in 34 missions. Feb. 22 has been the target date for some time. Replacement of a main engine turbopump had threatened a one-day delay, but that work was completed Saturday without affecting the schedule.

Aiming to reclaim the northern stretches of Mali from extremists, the United Nations Security Council on Thursday approved the deployment of African-led forces to the West African nation for a year. However, the resolution stresses that Mali has a second battle to fight: stopping the military from meddling in government affairs and reestablishing order through peaceful elections. Before forces can be sent to oust the Islamist militants, the Security Council said, steps must be taken to put the tumultuous country back on track, continue peace talks and ensure that military forces are adequately trained and equipped for the daunting task.

With Nicaragua's currency in its last throes of death by inflation, word passed through the state-run banking system: 35 workers were needed for an undisclosed military mission. Wearing army fatigues and backpacks, the volunteers reported for duty in early February. But instead of the jungle, they wound up in a vault deep inside the central bank, counting millions of new cordoba notes worth 1,000 times the old denominations.

NASA plans to close out 1989 with a flurry of launch activity, scheduling three flights between Oct. 12 and the end of the year and pushing the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope into 1990, sources said Friday. In a three-paragraph statement, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced a new order for the next seven shuttle missions, which has been under debate for several weeks. Anticipated Dates Although NASA declined to release any launch dates, sources said recent internal planning documents listed these anticipated dates for the mission order announced by the space agency Friday: --July 31: The flagship shuttle Columbia takes off on a classified military mission.

Facing serious shortages of specialist troops, senior U.N. military officers arriving in Haiti this week told U.S. commanders that they will need at least 1,000 more American troops than originally planned for a U.N. force that they now say will not be prepared to take over the U.S. military mission here until well into next year. In meetings with U.S. officers in Port-au-Prince during the last two days, key officers of the future U.N.

In a specially convened summer session, Parliament on Friday endorsed a supreme court decision allowing the German military to take part in international peace missions and approved the deployment of troops on NATO air and sea patrols in the Balkans. The nationally televised vote marked the first time since World War II that Parliament has approved use of German troops in combat abroad, although it was largely symbolic because Germany joined the missions two years ago.

The U.S. military mission in Iraq formally ended Thursday in a small ceremony at Baghdad airport as the last U.S. troops prepared to leave the country after nearly nine years of war, billions of dollars spent and nearly 4,500 lives lost. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and other top civilian and military officials flew in to Baghdad to mark the formal end of the U.S. military effort, one of most divisive wars in American history. Instead of addressing the deep questions about the war, Panetta paid tribute to U.S. troops, arguing that the combat losses and the enormous expenditure of resources since 2003 had not been wasted.

The Clinton Administration is gearing up for a major review of U.S. defense policy next year that could prove crucial in determining how big a force the nation will maintain and how the military will fight in the 21st century. High on the agenda will be whether to abandon the requirement that the military be kept large enough to fight two major regional conflicts "nearly simultaneously"--the basic rationale for keeping up a force of 1.45 million troops.

The U.S. military mission in Iraq formally ended Thursday in a small ceremony at Baghdad airport as the last U.S. troops prepared to leave the country after nearly nine years of war, billions of dollars spent and nearly 4,500 lives lost. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and other top civilian and military officials flew in to Baghdad to mark the formal end of the U.S. military effort, one of most divisive wars in American history. Instead of addressing the deep questions about the war, Panetta paid tribute to U.S. troops, arguing that the combat losses and the enormous expenditure of resources since 2003 had not been wasted.

After nearly nine years of war, the loss of more than 100,000 lives and hundreds of billions of dollars spent, the U.S. military mission in Iraq has formally ended. But violence continues to roil the Mideast nation, and its political destiny is far from certain. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and other top U.S. officials conducted a low-key ceremony on a military base at the Baghdad airport Thursday, furling the flag to signal the official conclusion of one of the most divisive wars in American history.

A NATO airstrike in the besieged rebel-held city of Misurata mistakenly killed 12 Libyan rebels, an official with the transitional government confirmed Thursday, while new fighting was reported on Libya's western border with Tunisia. The strike Wednesday was at least the third reported friendly fire incident since North Atlantic Treaty Organization fighter jets began pounding forces loyal to Moammar Kadafi more than five weeks ago in a mission to protect Libyan civilians. Leaders of the anti-Kadafi forces have labeled the incidents unfortunate accidents in a worthy cause, reflecting wide support in rebel ranks for the NATO strikes.

President Obama has reached out to congressional leaders to discuss the U.S. military operation in Libya, and will address the American people about the conflict "in the very near future," the White House said Friday. Without offering specifics as to the time or nature of any planned remarks, Press Secretary Jay Carney promised that the president would offer "a very clear explanation" for his decision to involve U.S. forces in the Libyan campaign. "I think that the American people do expect and will get from this president what they have gotten in the past, which is a very clear explanation of the decisions he makes when he makes the significant decision to engage in military action," Carney said at his afternoon briefing.

President Obama on Tuesday defended the United States' involvement in military strikes on Libya, maintaining that the commitment is "limited in time, scope, with a well-defined mission. " As he faces growing dissent at home for the manner in which the operation was launched, Obama said Americans "should be proud" of an effort that averted a major humanitarian crisis. Photos: U.S., allies launch attacks in Libya "We have already saved lives," Obama said during a news conference in El Salvador, where he is continuing a scheduled five-day Latin American trip.

When will we have finished our mission in Iraq? Soon. We have captured Saddam Hussein and have checked out the country for weapons of mass destruction. Thus the Iraqi threat, whatever it may have been, has been dismantled. Soon Iraqis will vote in a free election. That is accomplished also. It has cost America the grief of almost 10,000 casualties, plus hundreds of billions of dollars, which we sorely needed elsewhere; deepened hatred of us in the world of Islam; and tarnished the historical glow of the American halo.

A shocked British press continues to dish dirt about the nation's "perpetual prime minister," who, according to the June Vanity Fair, keeps herself spry with "electrical underwater stimulation and Italian mud therapy." One tabloid has changed the Iron Lady's nickname to "Ion Lady," and a member of Parliament has warned countrymen not to experiment with electricity in their own baths. The beauty revelations are actually among the least interesting aspects of the epic, absorbing profile of Margaret Thatcher by Gail Sheehy.

Aiming to reclaim the northern stretches of Mali from extremists, the United Nations Security Council on Thursday approved the deployment of African-led forces to the West African nation for a year. However, the resolution stresses that Mali has a second battle to fight: stopping the military from meddling in government affairs and reestablishing order through peaceful elections. Before forces can be sent to oust the Islamist militants, the Security Council said, steps must be taken to put the tumultuous country back on track, continue peace talks and ensure that military forces are adequately trained and equipped for the daunting task.

Through most of the modern era, a strong-willed secretary of State has been balanced in the Cabinet by a forceful and experienced Defense chief. When George P. Shultz was in charge at the State Department during the Reagan administration, the president's old friend Caspar W. Weinberger was at the Pentagon. When Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger oversaw foreign policy in the Richard Nixon years, the tenacious Melvin R. Laird had the top job at Defense. But President-elect George W.

Your March 16 article on the police sweep against gangs in Santa Ana read more like a military assault on a foreign enemy rather than a police action against residents of our own country. An army of 400 officers from 21 law enforcement agencies invaded a working Latino neighborhood in Santa Ana. They smashed windows and doors to arrest individuals suspected of being drug or weapon dealers, petty criminals or gang members. Police snipers from nine SWAT teams were perched on nearby roofs in support of the operation.