Military Gay couples won't enjoy benefits (AP)

SAN DIEGO – Gay service members from Army soldiers to Air Force officers are planning to celebrate the official end of the military's 17-year policy that forced them to hide their sexual orientation with another official act — marriage.

A 27-year-old Air Force officer from Ohio said he can't wait to wed his partner of two years and slip on a ring that he won't have to take off or lie about when he goes to work each day once "don't ask, don't tell" is repealed. He plans to wed his boyfriend, a federal employee, in Washington D.C. where same-sex marriages are legal.

He asked not to be identified, following the advice of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a national organization representing gay troops, including the Air Force officer, that has cautioned those on active duty from coming out until the ban is off the books.

"I owe it to him and myself," the officer said of getting married. "I don't want to do it in the dark. I think that taints what it's supposed to be about — which is us, our families, and our government."

But in the eyes of the military the marriage will not be recognized and the couple will still be denied most of the benefits the Defense Department gives to heterosexual couples to ease the costs of medical care, travel, housing and other living expenses.

The Pentagon says the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act — which defines marriage for federal program purposes as a legal union between a man and woman — prohibits the Defense Department from extending those benefits to gay couples, even if they are married legally in certain states.

That means housing allowances and off-base living space for gay service members with partners could be decided as if they were living alone. Base transfers would not take into account their spouses. If two gay service members are married to each other they may be transferred to two different states or regions of the world. For heterosexual couples, the military tries to avoid that from happening.

Gay activists and even some commanders say the discrepancy will create a two-tier system in an institution built on uniformity.

"It's not going to work," said Army Reserve Capt. R. Clarke Cooper, who heads up the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay rights group that sued the Justice Department to stop the enforcement of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. "Taking care of our soldiers is necessary to ensure morale and unit cohesion. This creates a glaring stratification in the disbursement of support services and benefits."

Cooper said he also plans to marry his boyfriend, a former Navy officer, in a post-repeal era.

The Obama administration has said it believes the ban could be fully lifted within weeks. A federal appeals court ruling July 6 ordered the government to immediately cease its enforcement. After the Department of Justice filed an emergency motion asking the court to reconsider its order, the court on Friday reinstated the law but with a caveat that prevents the government from investigating or penalizing anyone who is openly gay.

The Justice Department in its motion argued ending the ban abruptly now would pre-empt the "orderly process" for rolling back the policy as outlined in the law passed and signed by the president in December.

The military's staunchly traditional, tight-knit society, meanwhile, has been quickly adapting to the social revolution: Many gay officers say they have already come out to their commanders and fellow troops, and now discuss their weekend plans without a worry.

The Air Force officer says he has dropped the code words "Red Solo Cups" — the red plastic cups used at parties — that he slipped into conversations for years to tell his partner he loved him when troops were within earshot. He now feels comfortable saying "I love you" on the phone, no longer fearful he will be interrogated by peers.

One male soldier, who also asked not to be identified, said after Congress approved repealing the law, he listed his boyfriend on his Army forms as his emergency contact and primary beneficiary of his military life insurance in case he dies in Afghanistan.

He said when he was transferred to South Korea, he and his partner had to pay for his partner's move.

"But we were able to stay together," the soldier wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press from Afghanistan. "During the move, I realized I needed to make sure my partner in life was taken care of if something, the worst, ever happened to me, especially knowing I was about to deploy."

The soldier said when he added his boyfriend's name to the paperwork as a primary beneficiary and identified him as a friend, the non-commissioned officer in charge shut his office door and told him: "Unlike the inherent benefits to being married in the Army, such as housing and sustenance allowances, our life insurance and will don't discriminate."

Same-sex partners can be listed as the person to be notified in case a service member is killed, injured, or missing, but current regulations prevent anyone other than immediate family — not same-sex spouses — from learning the details of the death. Same-sex spouses also will not be eligible for travel allowances to attend repatriation ceremonies if their military spouses are killed in action.

Gay spouses also will be denied military ID cards. That means they will not be allowed on bases unless they are accompanied by a service member and they cannot shop at commissaries or exchanges that have reduced prices for groceries and clothing, nor can they be treated at military medical facilities. They also will be excluded from base programs providing recreation and other such kinds of support.

Military officials say some hardship cases may be handled on an individual basis. Activists warn such an approach will create an administrative nightmare and leave the military vulnerable to accusations of making inconsistent decisions that favor some and not others.

Military families enjoy assistance from the Defense Department to compensate for the hardship of having a mother or father or both deployed to war zones and moved frequently.

"It strains a relationship when you're gone for over a year," said Navy medical corpsman Andrew James, 27, who lived two years apart from his same-sex partner, who could not afford to move with him when he was transferred from San Diego to Washington. "But straight couples have support so their spouses are able to be taken care of, with financial issues, and also they are able to talk to the chain of command, whereas gays can't. They don't have any support at all financially or emotionally, and that is really devastating."

He said he was lucky that his relationship survived and now that he is in the Reserves, they are together again in San Diego.

The benefits issue came up repeatedly during training sessions to prepare troops for the policy change.

"There are inconsistencies," Maj. Daryl Desimone told a class of Marines at Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego, after being asked about benefits for gay military personnel. "Anyone who looks at it logically will see there are some things that need to be worked out in the future."

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China raps U.S. over military drills in disputed seas (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) – China's military sharply criticized the United States on Monday for holding military drills in contested waters of the South China Sea, a dispute Beijing has warned Washington not to meddle in.

Chen Bingde, People's Liberation Army Chief of the General Staff, said that if the United States really wanted peace in the South China Sea, then the timing of its recent military exercises in the region was poor.

"The U.S. has said many times that it does not intend to get involved in the South China Sea dispute, but ... is actually sending out the opposite signal," Chen told a joint news conference with the United States' top military officer, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen.

"Despite having conducted them in the past, holding these military drills at this moment is extremely inappropriate." China has been embroiled in a row with the Philippines and Vietnam in recent months over what each government sees as intrusions and illegitimate claims in the stretch of ocean spanning key shipping lanes and possibly rich in oil and gas.

Beijing has called for disputes to be resolved bilaterally, a strategy some critics have described as "divide and conquer.

Others, including the Philippines, have urged a multilateral approach, and Manila has staged naval drills with the U.S. in the region.

The Philippines' foreign secretary said he proposed to China that the dispute be resolved through U.N. arbitration on his visit to Beijing last week, but did not express confidence that China would agree.

China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and Taiwan all claim territory in the South China Sea. China's claim is the largest, forming a vast U-shape over most of the sea's 648,000 square miles (1.7 million square km), including the Spratly and Paracel archipelagos.

China-U.S. military-to-military relations have been rocky. China dislikes U.S. reconnaissance patrols near its coast and is suspicious of its bases in South Korea and Japan.

"America's global unmanned aircraft have conducted reconnaissance only 16 nautical miles from China's border. This is very, very close. I hope our American friends can adopt measures in this regard that will fully consider the feelings of the Chinese people," Chen said.

The U.S. for its part wants greater military transparency from China over its military modernization, and has warned about China's growing missile and cyber capabilities.

Self-ruled Taiwan, claimed by China as its sovereign territory, has been another major irritant. China severed military ties with the United States in early 2010, furious about $6.4 billion in U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

Mullen later met with China's Defense Minister Liang Guanglie and Vice President Xi Jinping, who told the admiral he hoped Washington would stop selling weapons to Taiwan while calling for deeper trust, state news agency Xinhua reported.

"I hope the two countries' defense departments and armed forces will remove obstacles and promote their ties with mutual respect and mutually beneficial cooperation," Xi said.

Mullen's four-day trip to China comes as Washington and Beijing try to patch up relations between their two militaries.

But at the press conference with Chen, Mullen reiterated his earlier pledges that the U.S. would maintain its long-standing military presence in Asia and defended the military drills as inline with international law.

"These flights, these operations, these exercises are all conducted in accordance with international norms, and essentially we will continue to comply with that in the future," Mullen said.

(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Yoko Nishikawa)

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Court orders immediate halt to gay military ban (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO – A federal appeals court ordered the U.S. government on Wednesday to immediately cease enforcing the ban on openly gay members of the military, a move that could speed the repeal of the 17-year-old rule.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said the "don't ask, don't tell" policy must be lifted now that the Obama administration has concluded it's unconstitutional to treat gay Americans differently under the law. The appeals court noted that Congress repealed the policy in December and that the Pentagon is preparing to certify that it is ready to welcome gay military personnel.

Pentagon officials said Wednesday that they will comply with the court order and are taking immediate steps to inform commanders in the field. Col. Dave Lapan, Pentagon spokesman, said the department is studying the ruling.

Gay rights advocates said without an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court — which seems unlikely since the Pentagon already is committed to repealing the rule — the government now is barred from discharging gay or lesbian servicemembers anywhere in the world.

"The ruling ...removes all uncertainty — American servicemembers are no longer under threat of discharge as the repeal implementation process goes forward," said R. Clarke Cooper, Log Cabin Republicans executive director.

The ruling came in response to a motion brought by Log Cabin Republicans, a group for gay GOP members, which last year persuaded a lower court judge to declare the ban unconstitutional.

After the government appealed U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips' decision, the 9th Circuit agreed to keep the policy in place until it could consider the matter. The appeals court reversed itself with Wednesday's order by lifting its hold on Phillips' decision.

"The circumstances and balance of hardships have changed, and (the government) can no longer satisfy the demanding standard for issuance of a stay," the panel said.

Although the stay is lifted, the 9th Circuit scheduled an Aug. 29 hearing to consider whether the government's appeal of the lower court's decision is valid. But it's unclear whether the Pentagon will pursue the appeal, since they have already said they'll stop enforcing the ban.

Still, Dan Woods, the lawyer representing Log Cabin Republicans, cautioned gay military personnel against rushing to declare their sexual orientations until the government declares that it intends to abide by the ruling.

During the eight-day period last fall before the 9th Circuit put Phillips' injunction prohibiting enforcement of "don't ask, don't tell" on hold, several of the estimated 14,000 veterans who had been discharged under the policy unsuccessfully tried to re-enlist. A handful of Air Force members and members of the National Guard have been discharged from the military under the policy since December.

The Pentagon has been moving carefully to implement the repeal of the ban on openly gay troops. Under the law passed and signed by the president in December, final implementation would go into effect 60 days after the president and his senior defense advisers certify that lifting the ban won't hurt troops' ability to fight.

Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, said he was hopeful the Department of Defense would not challenge Wednesday's order.

"This whole matter could have been avoided had we had certification back in the spring. It's time to get on with that important certification, end the DADT confusion for all service members, and put a final end to this misguided policy," Sarvis said.

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Associated Press Writer Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.

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Venezuela's military a key player amid uncertainty (AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuela's military took center stage in the country's bicentennial celebrations Tuesday, and it likely will be a key player in the country's political future if Hugo Chavez is eventually forced out of the presidency by cancer.

Thousands of troops marched beneath thundering fighter jets and helicopters while an announcer's booming voice declared that the nation is "free, socialist, independent."

Top brass appeared alongside Chavez, a former paratrooper, as he saluted and addressed the parade from his presidential palace. The image brought to mind key moments of Chavez's career, such as a 2002 coup against him, in which military loyalists came to his rescue.

Despite the appearance of a fully unified Bolivarian National Armed Force, some analysts and former officers say there are long-standing internal divisions between those who solidly stand behind Chavez's drive for socialism and those who do not. If Chavez's health worsens, some believe latent tensions could erupt within the ranks and the military could end up playing a key role in any transition to new leadership.

"It's going to clearly be an important actor in the days to come," said Diego Moya-Ocampos, a political analyst with IHS Global Insight in London. He said the military is "the only institution that would have the power to put pressure on the political actors to generate outcomes."

Much depends on Chavez's health, however.

In his address to the parade, the president said he was glad to be back after undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in Cuba, but that his treatment prevented him from participating in the festivities.

"Here I am, in recuperation but still recovering. We've begun another long march," Chavez said. He spoke for about 12 minutes under a portrait of 19th-century independence hero Simon Bolivar, for whom his socialist-inspired Bolivarian Revolution movement is named.

One officer stood at attention and addressed the president from atop a tank: "We will get out of the abyss together with you."

Troops in combat fatigues marched in formation, while others in colonial-era uniforms goose-stepped down the parade route outside the country's military headquarters. The parade marked the 200th anniversary of Venezuela's declaration of independence from Spain.

Some analysts say there are multiple factions within the armed forces, including a large contingent of midlevel officers who are professional soldiers, or "institutionalists," with no particular allegiance to Chavez's socialist movement. That has become a source of tension in recent years as Chavez has instituted the new salute repeated by soldiers: "Socialist fatherland or death!"

Analysts believe those midlevel officers would be inclined to insist on a constitutional transition of power in the event of the president's departure.

In contrast, Chavez's high command is openly in favor of his socialist project and loyal to him.

"We're going to see the high military command become increasingly politicized," said Rocio San Miguel, who leads a non-governmental organization that monitors security and defense issues in Venezuela.

Venezuelan military leaders "have historically shown that they have a keen sense of smell to know the real alternatives of power, and to know when is the decline or fall of other powers," San Miguel said. She added that she isn't suggesting Chavez is in decline, and said much will depend on how his condition evolves.

"The armed forces in Venezuela have historically shown movement when there is a possibility of a real alternative in power," San Miguel said.

Prominent Chavez opponent Diego Arria, a former Venezuelan ambassador to the United Nations, said in an email that he believes Chavez was forced to return from Cuba "upon seeing the internal conflict in his own party with the main civilian leaders and in the armed forces."

Chavez's allies have strongly denied any such divisions, saying the military has been firmly behind the government during Chavez's nearly monthlong absence in Cuba.

While Chavez wasn't at the parade, he made his presence felt on Twitter, where his account posted 10 messages Tuesday by 2 p.m., including seven within an hour during and after the ceremony.

One message thanked Russia "and its government and support," referring to the Russian-made fighter jets that streaked over the parade ground outside Fort Tiuna. "Today, yes, we have a truly armed Armed Force! How moral! How mystic! Congratulations!"

Another message read: "Thanks to the People's Republic of China for its invaluable support in having our Armed Forces well equipped and trained."

China is Venezuela's biggest creditor, having agreed to more than $30 billion in loans to be paid back in oil, and has helped train Venezuelan troops.

Cuba has also taken a bigger role in Venezuela, sending military advisers in recent years.

Chavez counts many current and former military officers among his closest confidants, some of them fellow participants in a failed coup that Chavez led in 1992. Following his surprise return from Cuba on Monday, Chavez wore the fatigues and red beret of his army days as he rallied thousands of supporters from a balcony of the presidential palace.

Chavez also has taken steps in recent years to ensure tighter control, making sure loyalists are in charge following a failed 2002 coup. Dissident generals briefly ousted Chavez then until he was restored to power amid street protests with the help of other generals who backed him.

In the past few years, Chavez has built up a parallel force of civilian militias, enlisting tens of thousands of men and women who go through regular boot-camp training. Government opponents have criticized the militias, calling them a force aimed at ensuring Chavez stays in power.

"If President Chavez indeed starts to recover and continues being the strongman, the caudillo, the center of all the political dynamics in Venezuela, those tensions are going to be dissipated ahead of the presidential election of 2012," Moya-Ocampos said.

"If President Chavez again shows signs of weakness in a way which could open up again a behind-the-scenes debate over the succession of President Chavez, which is a very sensitive matter ... within the armed forces itself, then that could be another issue."

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Associated Press writer Jack Chang contributed to this report.

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French military confirms arms drops to Libyan rebels (AFP)

PARIS (AFP) – The French military confirmed on Wednesday that earlier this month it had air dropped arms shipments to Libyan rebels fighting Moamer Kadhafi's forces in the highlands south of Tripoli.

The NATO military operation in Libya was launched under a UN Security Council resolution authorising world powers to take action to "protect civilians" and this was the first time France has admitted arming rebels.

The news came as a surprise even to France's closest allies, and Britain -- which has joined Paris in spearheading the air campaign against Kadhafi -- distanced itself from the move and said it would not follow suit.

The Le Figaro newspaper and a well-placed non-government source said that France had dropped several tonnes of arms including Milan anti-tank rockets and light armoured vehicles to the revolt.

But Colonel Thierry Burkhard, spokesman for the French general staff, told AFP that the shipments were essentially of "light arms" such as assault rifles to help civilian communities protect themselves from regime troops.

Mahmud Shamman, a spokesman for the rebel National Transitional Council, the revolutionary high command, visiting Paris, told reporters he could not comment on the reported arms shipments.

The British foreign ministry was also cautious, telling reporters: "Our position is clear: there is an arms embargo on Libya.

"But at the same time UN Security Council Resolution 1973 allows all necessary measures to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack," it said in a statement.

"We do think the United Nations resolutions allow, in certain limited circumstances, defensive weapons to be provided but the UK is not engaged in that. Other countries will interpret the resolution in their own way."

In New York, a UN diplomat speaking on condition on anonymity, told AFP that while there is an arms embargo a "close reading of the resolution would suggest air drops of arms are not illegal if they are to protect civilians."

Burkhard said France had become aware in early June that rebel-held Berber villages in the Djebel Nafusa highland region south of the capital had come under pressure from the Libyan strongman's loyalist forces.

"We began by dropping humanitarian aid: food, water and medical supplies," he said. "During the operation, the situation for the civilians on the ground worsened. We dropped arms and means of self-defence, mainly ammunition."

Burkhard described the arms as "light infantry weapons of the rifle type" and said the drops were carried out over several days "so that civilians would not be massacred".

According to Le Figaro, which said it had seen a secret intelligence memo and talked to senior officials, the drops were designed to help rebel fighters encircle Tripoli and encourage a popular revolt in the city itself.

"If the rebels can get to the outskirts of Tripoli, the capital will take the chance to rise against Kadhafi," said an official quoted in the report.

"The regime's mercenaries are no longer getting paid and are scarcely getting fed. There's a severe fuel shortage, the population has had enough."

A well-placed non-government source told AFP that 40 tonnes of weapons including "light armoured cars" had been delivered to rebels in western Libya.

According to Le Figaro the French arms shipments were dropped from planes across the Djebel Nafusa region, where Berber tribes have risen to join the revolt against Kadhafi's rule and seized several provincial towns.

The crates hold assault rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, it said, and also European-made Milan anti-tank missiles, a powerful addition to the rebel arsenal that can destroy a tank or a bunker.

Qatar has also reportedly been involved in sending weapons to the rebels, and the Figaro report said that opposition fighters control two small desert air strips south of Djebel Nafusa where its planes have landed.

France has taken a leading role in organising international support for the uprising against Kadhafi's four-decade old rule, and French and British jets are spearheading a NATO-led air campaign targeting his forces.

Rebel forces are based in Benghazi in the east of the country, and hold a besieged enclave supplied by sea in the western coastal town of Misrata, but have been unable to mount a convincing advance on the capital.

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NATO says hit military targets in Libya's Brega (Reuters)

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – NATO missiles have hit a site in Libya used by Muammar Gaddafi's forces to stockpile military supplies and vehicles, the alliance said on Saturday, adding it was unaware of 15 civilian deaths reported by state media.

The attack late on Friday was the second within hours on what NATO said were clearly identified military targets in the coastal city of Brega, around 200 km (130 miles) west of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

Libyan state television said a local bakery and a restaurant had been hit, wounding 20 people in addition to the 15 dead. State news agency Jana said a strike in the same area earlier on Friday had killed five civilians.

"We have no indications of any civilian casualties in connection to these strikes," a NATO official said.

"What we know is that the buildings we hit were occupied and used by pro-Gaddafi forces to direct attacks against civilians around Ajdabiya," the official said of a nearby rebel-held town.

"Unlike the pro-Gaddafi forces, we go to great lengths to reduce the possibility of any civilian casualties."

Separately, a Reuters correspondent in the capital Tripoli heard a total of four loud explosions as jets flew overhead on two occasions on Saturday. The blasts appeared to come from the eastern suburb of Tajura. Several other explosions shook the city late on Friday.

CREDIBILITY

NATO acknowledged for the first time last week that one of its raids in a three-month campaign could have caused civilian casualties, prompting concerns within the alliance.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said NATO's credibility was at stake and called for a suspension in the campaign -- an appeal that was swiftly knocked down at NATO headquarters and by allies, including France and Britain.

In a televised address this week, Gaddafi branded NATO "murderers" and vowed to fight to the death to stay in power.

The bombing campaign of the NATO-led coalition is into its fourth month in support of Libyan rebels seeking to end Gaddafi's 41-year-old rule.

Recent progress has been slow and rebels have taken many casualties, but there are signs Gaddafi's forces are also being stretched and the local economy hit by international sanctions.

In what would be a morale-booster for rebels if they hear about it, four members of Libya's national football team and 13 other football figures defected to rebels, the BBC reported.

It said national goalkeeper Juma Gtat and Adel bin Issa, the coach of Tripoli's top club al-Ahly, announced the defections in the rebel-held Nafusa Mountains in western Libya.

(Reporting by Ben Deighton in Brussels; Joseph Nasr in Berlin; writing by Mark John; editing by Alistair Lyon)

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