When "Sgt. W. Stott" wrote a message in Top Secret code and attached it to a carrier pigeon, he probably didn't think it would wind up in David Martin's chimney 70 years later.

The BBC reports that Martin was renovating his chimney in Britain when the skeletal remains of a pigeon became dislodged, landing right at his feet.

Attached to the bird's leg, he found a red canister containing a coded message on the same type of paper used for Top Secret communications.

The United Kingdom's top code breakers are now working to break the code, which is, strangely enough, their own code from WWII. The red capsule, they say, signifies a special operations unit which conducted "James Bond-like" war-time espionage.

“The aluminium ring found on the bird’s leg tells us it was born in 1940," Colin Hill, a volunteer for the Royal Pigeon Racing Association and the curator of Bletchley Park’s permanent ‘Pigeons at War’ exhibition, told the UK's SWNS.  "We know it’s an Allied Forces pigeon because of the red capsule it was carrying – but that’s all we know.”

The SWNS reports that Martin's home is located adjacent to a hotel that British General's used for WWII planning. The pigeon could have perched for a seconds rest, or crawled into the chimney for warmth, and become stuck.

UK Code breakers hope to break their own Top Secret code soon. Though deciphering the message is no longer a matter of national security, it could contain a previously unknown tidbit about the UK's war effort against an advancing German Army.

Neville Walbridge, 74, has been trying to crack the code, and told SWNS: “I have come to the conclusion that it’s top secret because the destination was X02 – the commanding officer of Bomber Command."

Carrier pigeons saw service in both WWI and WWII, but ceased their service following the fall of Hitler and Japanese Empire.

NOW SEE: This Legendary Syrian Rebel Sniper Takes His Inspiration From This Jude Law Film About World War II >

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While speaking at a campaign rally for Barack Obama in Virginia Saturday, former President Bill Clinton gave an unorthodox assessment of the incumbent’s ability to unify the nation.

“One of the things the decider-in-chief has to do, is whether we’re going to bring this country together across all its diversity or let it drift apart,” Clinton said. “Look at how much stronger the American military is because it is less racist, less sexist and less homophobic and we’re just looking for people who can do the job.”

Clinton’s “less homophobic” remark is in reference to President Obama’s advocacy for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. The policy was introduced by Clinton in 1993, and barred homosexuals from serving openly in the American military. Since leaving office, Clinton claims he didn’t choose the policy that ended up taking shape, but regrets the move nonetheless.

Despite a litany of criticisms Clinton made towards Obama and his qualifications for office during the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary when Clinton’s wife was a candidate, Clinton has become one of Obama’s strongest surrogates in 2012, attending nearly 30 campaign events for the president thus far.

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As the East Coast recovers from Hurricane Sandy, thousands of people are looking for an essential family member: their pets.

With homes and fences destroyed, numerous animals freaked out and ran or flew away. Animal charities and owners have social networking available, and smartphones filled with photos of their furry friends.

One extremely popular site, with more than 21,500 "likes" as of Monday morning, is the Hurricane Sandy Lost and Found Pets Facebook page. Owners missing pets can upload a photo and information, and those who find lost pets can do the same. The creators organized the photos into albums by state and animal type. They even feature a "Reunited" album, featuring the photos of eight pets successfully reunited with their families.

Other Good Samaritans and owners took to Twitter, using the hashtag #sandypets to alert others and distribute information.

And with an uncanny sense of timing, Stephen Fern and his company E-scape, working with the American Humane Association, released the Lost Petz app on October 23. The app allows owners to upload information about their pets, and then if the pet is missing, send out something similar to an Amber Alert. The app is free to download, but registration cost $0.99 for a one-year subscription.

Before owners and finders get to the web, it's worth keeping a few tips in mind:

• If you find an animal, take it to a veterinarian's office or shelter to have it scanned for a microchip. This could speed up the reunion.
• Likewise, if an animal has a rabies collar, that would be registered with its regular vet.
• If you are able to take in the animal until its owner is found, that would be ideal, since most animal shelters in the area are filled past capacity. 
• Pet owners should fill out a Lost Pet Report on the Animal Care and Control (ACC) page of the New York City website. 
• Lost and/or Found posters are still worth the effort, since power hasn't been fully restored in some areas yet.

Rumors are going around that ACC is euthanizing large numbers of animals, but Jane Hoffman, the president of the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals, which oversees the ACC, said in an e-mail that's all it is--a rumor.

"It is unfortunate that people are spreading inaccurate information at a time when the NYC animal welfare community is struggling to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. It is not helpful and reposting inaccurate information does not make it anymore accurate," Hoffman said.

She added that if people want to help, they can adopt, donate, and volunteer.

Fortunately, unlike when Hurricane Katrina hit, the number of missing animals won't likely reach 250,000, because of the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act of 2006. Pets were allowed onto trains, and all of the New York City evacuation shelters, along with many in New Jersey, welcomed pets.

Now watch how Sandy became such a beast >

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With the U.S. Military reporting a record number of amputations, researchers around the globe are working frantically to find the best way to fill the void left behind.

In a video posted today to the website ProChan, we can all see exactly what kind of answers these researchers have landed.

From the site's post:

Nigel Ackland, 53, has been fitted with the Terminator-like carbon fibre mechanical hand which he can control with movements in his upper arm. The new bebionic3 myoelectric hand, which is also made from aluminium and alloy knuckles, moves like a real human limb by responding to Nigel's muscle twitches.

Ackland lost his arm six years ago to an accident at a metal smelting plant. He has since returned to work in order to support his family, but struggled with only the use of his left hand and a hook where his right ahd been.

As you can see now, he's been restored to some level of normalcy. Ackland says it's not only helped him on the job, but it's improved his morale as well.

“I have been blown away by the robotic hand, I could sit and watch it all day – I feel like the Terminator,” Ackland tells SWNS, a UK-based news site. “When you lose a part of you it can take you into quite a dark place – it is a shame the bebionic3 isn’t available for everyone, it is a whole new quality of life."

Though robotic prosthetics are nothing new, they've come leaps and bounds in the last few years.

In just this past week, with help from the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC), Zac Vawter climbed the stairs of Chicago's tallest building, using his biological leg and a robotic leg in tandem. Vawter's nerves were successfully spliced with circuits, giving him control over the motion of the 'limb.'

RIC, which gets grants from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, also outfitted a female Marine in 2006 with a robotic arm, and even says the nerve/circuit connectivity allows her to 'feel' in a way.

Ackland's arm comes from a robotic prosthetics company called RSLSteeper which is based in both the United Kingdom and the U.S.

NOW SEE: Military Robots Will Be Patrolling The Battlefield Sooner Than Your Think >

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As the east side of Manhattan struggled without power, Victoria Secret serendipitously came to the aid of the National Guard when they showed up at the East Side Armory on 26th and Park with a whole bunch of HUGE generators for their upcoming fashion show.

The lingerie company graciously allowed the National Guard to use the generators to get the armory up and running to aid in relief and recovery efforts. But now, as the show date approaches Victoria's Secret has taken back the generators, and taken over the armory, so that they can have their fashion extravaganza.

The generators are impressive and we stopped by to check them out. While the National Guard based at the armory is heading to the Javits Center, many were still at and around the armory when we stopped by.

The Armory entrance on Lexington Ave, near 26th St. stands quiet as many work inside.

But troop presence weighs heavy around the building.

Across the street, Humvees are lined up and loaded with supplies.

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Today, Russia endorsed an Egyptian-led initiative to establish a peaceful resolution to the civil war in Syria — a sign that the country's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may start coming to an end.

The action isn't totally unprecedented, and is in some ways in line with Russia's prior stance towards the Syria conflict. Russia has cautiously supported the embattled leader and maintained a position of non-intervention. Diplomats and senior officials in Russia have condemned the violence, but have maintained that it is a regional issue, which should be handled by regional powers and foreign states should not intervene militarily..

"Our main task at this stage is to get all the Syrians who are fighting each other to stop shooting and sit down at the negotiating table,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. “It is essential that all outside players use their influence with various Syrian groups, be it government or opposition forces, to send the same signals."Lavrov noted in March that Russia does not support the Assad regime, but rather a specific "philosophy of international relations and the Syrian people’s right to solve their own problems"

The action also is in line with the "pragmatism" that many believe defines Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy. 

Deputy Director of Russian and Eurasian Affairs at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Matthew Rojansky told Business Insider last month that "Putin himself is realistic — he’s a businessman, first and foremost. And I regard him much more as a Russian CEO than a soviet-style party leader."

He added:

[Putin's] interest in spheres of influence, if you use that term, is much closer to home — it’s about the near-abroad and the former Soviet countries that are on Russia’s borders. It’s very much not about playing geopolitical chess in the Middle East. He sees that as a losing proposition ... What [Russia has] done with Assad is they’ve picked a clear red line. But even that line may waver and change as opportunities arise — it’s very opportunistic I think is the key."

However, their support for the newly led initiative is surprising based on the governments involved. The Egyptian led coalition also includes Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran. Of those four states, only Iran has maintained its support for Assad — the other three have called for him to step down.

And today, Lavrov told an Egyptian newspaper that Russia sold $1 billion worth of weapons to the Syrian regime last year. Russia claims that the weapons "were meant for defense against external threats, not to support President Bashar al-Assad."

An arms sale and a continued opposition to a U.N.-backed arms embargo appear to translate to implicit support for the Syrian regime ideologically. However, a profitable arms agreement with a historic ally could be seen by some as a pragmatic step to bring in revenue. But opponents claim that Russia will have trouble collecting payment from the cash-strapped Assad regime.

ALSO: Is Putin in poor health? >

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It's public knowledge now that the U.S. mission in Benghazi was "at its heart" a CIA operation, and there is evidence that U.S. agents—particularly murdered ambassador Chris Stevens—were aware of heavy weapons moving from Libya to Syrian rebels.

But don't expect an confession from the CIA or the Obama administration.

"The CIA can't admit their role because it compromises the cover of the facility, and that's the most important thing," Bob Baer, who spent two decades as a field officer in the CIA, told the Huffington Post. "You can never compromise cover."

Since most of the Syrian opposition's weapons are being handed out by the CIA, it would make sense that the heavy weapons that rebels are now using to shoot down regime aircraft came from a covert CIA operation.

The exposure of such an operation would raise serious issues since transferring arms to anyone associated with al-Qaeda—which may includesome of the best fighters among the Syrian opposition—would violate a binding UN arms embargo that prohibits arms transfers by UN member states to countries or groups including al-Qaeda.

The Obama administration is equally hamstrung because any admission of gun-running would would validate Russia's long-held position that it is arming radicals in Syria.

For months Russia has accused the U.S. of providing support to "terrorists" to topple the government in breach of international law, and recently a top general recently claimed that the U.S. was “coordinating” deliveries of arms—including U.S.-made anti-aircraft missiles—to Syrian rebels.

The State Department contends that the U.S. is not directly providing any lethal assistance to the rebels and that the only heavy weapons seen in Syria were “Soviet vintage.”

That argument is technically true but increasingly weak since most of the weapons going to jihadists in Syria are U.S.-made and the heavy weapons that traveled from Benghazi to Turkey are Soviet-era missiles taken from Libyan government arsenals after the Libyan revolution.

In short, if a covert U.S. operation to divert heavy weapons from Libya to Syrian rebels is now exposed, it would be an international black mark on the U.S. government and its spy agency. But you probably won't hear that from them.

SEE ALSO: There's A Reason Why All Of The Reports About Benghazi Are So Confusing >

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Starting in 2003, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) set up a vast network of what it calls "local data fusion centers," 77 in total (or maybe 68, the DHS isn't even sure) — in the hopes of producing solid intelligence on potential terrorists, who would presumably operate from within the country (ie 'home-grown terrorists).

So, the DHS is using tax dollars to log the personal information of U.S. citizens in order to create a vast spreadsheat. Complex 'potential terrorist' algorithms would then scan these spreadsheets and red flag anyone who might be a potential threat.

It's easy to see why in September of this year, after a congressional investigation, Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) issued a report about these fusion centers basically saying that they're a total waste of money (somewhere between $289 million and $1.4 billion).

Some of the waste includes:

• dozens of flat-screen TVs;
• Sport Utility Vehicles that were then given away to other local agencies; and
• hidden “shirt button” cameras, cell phone tracking devices, and other surveillance
  equipment unrelated to the actual mission of a fusion center.

Also from the report:

The subcommittee investigation found that the fusion centers often produced irrelevant, useless or inappropriate intelligence reporting to DHS, and many produced no intelligence reporting whatsoever.

A photo posted by Kade Ellis, an employee of American Civil Liberties Union, and a popular surveillance blogger, shows what it looks like when you've been entered in to one of these "fusion centers."

If you click on the link, you'll notice it leads to Microsoft. That's because Bill Gate's Company helps fund these centers, in return for their continued business.

In fact, Microsoft helped fund and set up the NYPD's massive surveillance apparatus — The 'integrated intelligence solutions for police departments and security agencies.'

According to Fast Company,"Microsoft has quietly become one of the world's largest providers of integrated intelligence solutions for police departments and security agencies."

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Multiple news outlets are reporting that Israeli military vehicles have occupied the Golan Heights after the region was hit by gunfire coming from neighboring Syria.

No injuries have been reported.

"A military vehicle traveling in the Golan was hit by gunfire from Syria. Apparently they were stray bullets, and there were no injuries", a military spokesman told AFP.

The Israeli army is on high alert. Since fighting has inched closer to Israel, Benny Gantz — the chief of Israel's armed forces — stated that his country could be drawn into the Syrian civil war if fighting between the rebels and regime forces moved close enough to Israel. Israel captured the strategically important Golan Heights from Syria during the Six-day war of 1967. Today, the region is a demilitarized buffer zone between Syria and Israel.

Earlier today, Al Arabiya reported that three Syrian tanks entered a demilitarized zone of the Golan Heights. Al Arabiya also reports that Israel has lodged a formal complaint with the United Nations.

An official with the U.N. body supervising the zone could not immediately confirm the entry of the tanks. 

If the report is true, it would be in violation of the disengagement accord between Syria and Israel agreed upon in 1974. It would be the first such violation in the zone since the agreement was made.

The Israeli Defense Force is stressing that it is highly unlikely that the military vehicle was the target, according to the Israeli website Ynet. Some posit that this relatively low-key response — turning to the U.N. — means Israel does not see the situation as an imminently dangerous. 

In October, the conflict in Syria spilled over into Turkey and led to the deaths of multiple Turkish citizens, prompting a military retaliation by Turkish forces.

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On Halloween this year, while the East Coast battled the aftermath of frankenstorm Sandy, soldiers, Marines, Navy special ops, and a number of first responders battled Zombies on an island off of California.

The mock invasion was part of a counterterrorism summit hosted by security firm Halo Corp. In the scenario, a VIP and his detail are surrounded by zombies when a bomb goes off in a village, the Associated Press reported.

The security detail had to get the VIP to safety while fighting off zombies, and get decontaminated if bitten. The responders treated the casualties and rushed people to safety.

Although the exercise might seem silly, the planners said preparation for a zombie apocalypse would leave people prepared for almost any disaster, including a hurricane, as it followed the advice given by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

The CDC's Zombie Blog advises concerned citizens to make an emergency kit, including water, food, medications, tools, clean clothes, documents, and first aid supplies. It also urges people to have an evacuation plan, figuring out a rally point, listing emergency contacts, and planning an escape route. All these tips are very similar to those included in the Ready New York: Hurricane Guide.

Joining the CDC's efforts, the Homeland Security Department released a zombie warning in September.

Brad Barker, president of Halo Corp, said the exercise, which ran from Oct. 29 to Nov. 2, had real law-enforcement applications, as well.

"No one knows what the zombies will do in our scenario, but quite frankly no one knows what a terrorist will do," Barker told the AP. Similarly, someone on a psychotic drug might not react when a cop tells them to freeze — they'll probably just moan like a zombie.

Now check out the robots that could be fighting for the US >

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British Prime Minister David Cameron said he would support granting President Bashar al-Assad a safe passage out of Syria to end the nation's bloodshed, in a television interview Tuesday.

Asked what he would say if Assad requested a safe exit, Cameron told Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV: "Done. Anything, anything to get that man out of the country and to have a safe transition in Syria."

"Of course, I would favour him facing the full force of international law and justice for what he's done," he said, according to a transcript of the interview made available to the press.

"I am certainly not offering him an exit plan to Britain but if wants to leave, he could leave, that could be arranged," he added.

Cameron who is on a tour of the Middle East, arrived on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia after concluding a two-day visit to the United Arab Emirates.

"I am very frustrated that we can't do more," Cameron said.

"This is an appalling slaughter that is taking place in our world today -- 40,000 lives lost already and you can see, on your television screens, night after night, helicopters, airplanes belonging to the Assad regime pounding his own country and murdering his own people," he said.

Cameron's official spokesman in London said the premier was reiterating London's position that Assad should face justice, but that the priority is for a transition in the war-torn country.

"He (Cameron) is reiterating our position which is that we want Assad to face the full force of international law for what he has done but our top priority is to see a transition in that country," the spokesman said.

"That transition cannot happen while Assad is in place and therefore we need him to go," he added.

In the interview, Cameron highlighted the need to help the opposition, without elaborating how.

"We must ask ourselves what more can we do: how can we help the opposition? How can we put the pressure on Assad? How can we work with partners in the region to turn this around?" Cameron said.

But when asked about arming the rebels, he said: "We are not currently planning to do that. We are a government under international law and we obey the law."

"My fear is, firstly, that the slaughter will continue, that the loss of life will continue. That should be our number one concern."

He said that Britain had provided aid to Syrian refugees worth £39 million ($62.3 million).

In August, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain would give Syria's rebels £5 million ($8 million) in assistance, including body armour and communications equipment, to use in their fight against Assad's forces.

Hague said at the time that weapons would not be provided but that Britain would step up contacts with opposition groups to lay the ground for a political solution.

The Syrian National Council umbrella opposition group is holding intensive talks in Qatar to broaden its membership to include other opposition factions as Washington mounted pressure for a wider representative body.

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Three years ago yesterday, I was four days away from separating from the Army. I stayed in the barracks at Fort Hood while I waited for my medical records to get officially copied so I could turn them into Veterans Affairs.

A week earlier, sirens went off around the base to warn everyone about a severe thunderstorm. So on that particular Thursday morning, that's what I thought we were getting warned about.

It wasn't a thunderstorm. On the other end of Fort Hood, Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan was shooting his way through the Soldier Readiness Processing (SRP) center, killing and injuring fellow soldiers who had either just returned from or were on their way to overseas deployments.

When he was done, 13 people were dead and 32 were injured. A delay in information meant parents didn't know if their children in on-post schools were safe. Quickly tightened security meant no one could get on or off post until after 8 p.m.

It was, and still is, the most deadly shooting ever to occur on a U.S. military base.

A lot has happened in with the case over the past three years. But most significantly Hasan has repeatedly delayed his trial by refusing to shave for religious reasons; the judge, Col. Gregory A. Gross, repeatedly finds him in contempt of court for failing to meet Army grooming standards.

Even though he shaved before the shootings, in August, the LA Times reported that Hasan had a premonition telling him he was close to death, and that shaving would therefore be a sin. On October 19, a panel of judges on the US Army Court of Appeals ruled he would have to shave before appearing in court, for which no new date has been set.

In the meantime, the victims are fighting to have the shooting ruled an act of terrorism. The change in designation would make the victims--including those too injured to continue serving in the military--eligible for the same benefits they'd receive if injured in battle.

The incident was referred to as a "terrorist attack" in several letters, but the Department of Defense claims changing the designation at this point could put the trial at risk.

I still feel a little guilt in being glad that I only knew one of the injured people at the SRP that day, a chief warrant officer who worked across the hall from me on my first deployment. It was a much more terrible day for so many people. Hasan's court martial needs to start so the victims and their families can get some closure.

Now: See a father's new "Terminator" arm > 

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A new Microsoft patent will allow the company to remotely surveil, and effectively count American citizens as they order online or cable pay-per-view from the comfort of their own homes.

From the patent:

A content presentation system and method allowing content providers to regulate the presentation of content on a per-user-view basis ... Consumers are presented with a content selection and a choice of licenses allowing consumption of the content. The users consuming the content on a display device are monitored so that if the number of user-views licensed is exceeded, remedial action may be taken.

The patent, submitted on April 26, 2011, and passed on Nov. 1, 2012, essentially allows the company to remotely turn on any cameras, be they mobile or from something like the XBox Kinect, and count the number of 'consumers' watching licensed content.

What Microsoft dubs 'complex algorithms' will not only count how many people are consuming that Mixed Martial Arts Championships, but also for how long they consumed the content, paving the way for charging users for half or even quarter uses of content.

From the patent:

In the case of the mobile display device, the display 105 is generally designed for use by one person but it is possible that more than one person may be able to view content on the display 105. As such the consumer detector uses data from the camera or capture device 102 to determine the number of consumers. In one example, camera 102 is an RGB imaging camera and the consumer detector analyzes one or successive images from the camera to ensure that the licensed number of users per view is enforced.

"Enforced" means the patent also gives licensers using Microsoft's surveillance 'product' the right to 'shut off' content if an unauthorized amount of users start to watch.

So you may want to tell the folks you invite over for the next fight to shut off their cell phones and remove the batteries prior to beginning the show.

NOW SEE: Here's One Of The Ways Microsoft Is Becoming An Integral Part Of The Military's Surveillance Apparatus >

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Urban explorer Darmon Richter was able to get inside the nuclear bunker and offered us these pictures from his site The Bohemian Blog.

Richter titled the following slides himself to take BI Military & Defense readers on a personal tour of what he saw.

In Richter's own words:

Skip To The Pictures >

My guide Svilen Slavov is a keen photographer and filmmaker. He had already paid numerous visits to the site, and had explored extensively in the bunker beneath. 

On previous visits I had followed the flight of austere stone steps that form the main approach up to the imposing monument above; instead Svilen led me around the side of the hill, following a footpath that skirted a circumference beneath the dappled shade of thick green canopies. Pausing at a clearing in the bushes roughly a quarter of the way around, he gestured towards the mound itself - and there, set deep into the vegetation that bordered our path, I spied the rocky opening.

The main doorway to the nuclear bunker, located deep beneath the monument, was welded shut and impossible to pass. However, we found a secondary entrance hidden in bushes halfway up the hill.

The text painted onto the iron door reads: "СТРОГО ЗАБРАНЕНО": Bulgarian for "ENTRY STRICTLY PROHIBITED". We took it more as a recommendation, than an instruction.

Making our way into the tunnels, we passed through a series of cylindrical passages separated by concrete bulkheads.

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The United States military goes through a lot of gear. A unit might deploy with one type of protective gear, and have a new model issued while in theater.

An artillery unit might have their mission changed to one that involves guarding a prison, requiring completely different equipment. In short, anything can happen, and a ton of materiel gets scrapped before it's even broken in.

To get back some of the money that would otherwise be wasted, the military's been turning to Government Liquidation, and has put more than $500 million back in the government coffers.

Some of the site's offerings are a bit odd. If you have Food and Drug Administration certification, you can buy a sterilizer, currently going for $50. You can buy a 1988 Navistar truck, currently going for $150, if you fill out an End User Agreement and describe how you plan to use the vehicle. The agreement is intended to keep countries like Iran or North Korea from acquiring sensitive gear.

The site doesn't currently offer any live animals, but according to Stars and Stripes, it's previously sold everything from hovercraft to a nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser. 

Liquidity Services, a contractor, runs the auction site. It also stores the equipment and disposes of whatever doesn't sell. Buyers can go to physical locations to check out the available lots—at Fort Dix in New Jersey, a training stop for a number of reserve troops before they head overseas, they have a number of ammunition cans, air compressors, and a stationary bike.

Scrap metal is a huge draw to the site, with lots of anywhere between 4,000 to 100,000 pounds of metal currently going for $150. The metal comes from sources such as spent ammunition casings, office equipment, and power supplies.

And, of course, buyers can get uniforms and field gear, a.k.a., camping equipment. A lot of 15 cozy, 3-piece, modular sleeping bags is going for $330. Another lot with an assortment of cold weather clothing is up to $170 from an opening bid of $150.

For people who don't quite need 15 sleeping bags, Government Liquidation links to Uncle Sam's Retail Outlet. It isn't an auction site, but it does sell issued gear, like goggles and duffel bags, close to or below the list price.

Now check the most expensive piece of military equipment ever built >

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Martha Raddatz, the Vice Presidential Debate moderator, and a foreign policy expert, told Jon Stewart of The Daily Show that she found the lack of political and journalistic conversation around Afghanistan to be "heart breaking."

"We have 68,000 troops in Afghanistan right now, we have people fighting for this country, but no one talks about it," said Raddatz. "We are a nation at war."

Raddatz went on to say that a war which lasts so long is increasingly difficult to cover, as the public becomes saturated with war stories.

Stewart commented that other things seemed to have taken precedent, like Benghazi, which he said had become largely "politicized."

He also asked Raddatz, somewhat jokingly, if we'd know if whether the U.S. is at war with Iran by the end of election night.

"It may be a couple months," said Raddatz, "but Iran going to be right there is at the top of the list."

Jump to the 3:55 mark to get right to the foreign policy portion of the interview.

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Seldom do you find Arabs anywhere in the Middle East who have warm feelings about America’s most recent war with Iraq, especially in Syria where many people were actively involved in supporting the Iraqi insurgency.

Yet as Syria’s upheaval nears the two-year mark, many of those who are increasingly desperate for a foreign intervention to end the conflict now reference Iraq as a seemingly positive example of why America might decide to help. With an eye on the US elections, they say they hope the party that brought them the Iraq war might also bring America to Syria.

“The Republicans prefer using the military. Like Bush, he entered Iraq and Afghanistan. They use the military in all cases so maybe they will try to intervene here,” says Mustafa Abu Abdu, who used to be a psychology student before the war. “Obama will keep saying that [President Bashar] Assad must stop and that America is sorry about civilian deaths, but he will not do anything to help here.”

A number of Syrians like Mr. Abdu say they hope Tuesday’s election in America will bring Mitt Romneyinto the Oval Office because they say he is more likely to change the US policy in favor an intervention in Syria.

Though Romney is an unlikely candidate for long time enemies of Israel to favor – he maintains close ties to Israel and promised to move the US embassy to Jerusalem – the potential for him to take military action in Syria trumps any other controversial stances he has for many Syrians.

“Obama has had almost two years to help here. What more can he do?” says Abdul Kareem Islami, a tile shop owner in Aleppo. “Obama didn't help us so maybe Romney will be better.”

Romney has said the US should help to organize the resistance and work with allies to supply arms to those fighting President Bashar al-Assad who share "our interests and values," according to his website. However, he seemed to rule out any US military intervention in the final debate on foreign policy. 

"[S]eeing Syria remove Assad is a very high priority for us," Romney said, but added that "we don’t want to have military involvement there. We don’t want to get drawn into a military conflict."

Disillusionment with Obama

Many Syrians had hoped that under Obama’s leadership the US would do more to help turn the tide in their struggle against President Assad. Shortly after taking office, Obama was seen throughout the region as a long-desired shift in American policy in the region. Obama’s middle name and youth spent in Muslim-majority Indonesia – which many Obama critics in the US seize upon – are seen as a positive in Syria.

During the past two years in Syria, however, Obama has done little to please those struggling to overthrow Assad's government. While Obama has condemned Assad’s brutal crackdown and called on him to leave office, he’s stopped short of offering any direct military assistance, particularly something to help rebels counter Assad’s air force.

“We know how Obama deals with us so we hope Romney will be different,” says Zakarai Hassan Eshowi, an FSA fighter who was a painter before the war. “If Obama wins it will just stay the same. Nothing will change with Obama.”

Still, there are many others who say that American policy is unlikely to change whoever wins on Tuesday.

“I don't think it will make a difference who is president. We don't care who is the president. If it is Obama or Romney, he will be like Assad just following orders,” says Mahmoud Nadoum, a Free Syrian Army commander in Aleppo. “The US president is just implementing a policy.”

SEE ALSO: The CIA's Benghazi Operation May Have Violated International Law >

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Military prosecutors told a preliminary hearing that they will seek the death penalty in the case of the U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers after they present evidence proving "chilling premeditation," Bill Rigby of Reuters reports.

But there are legitimate uncertainties surrounding the worst case of civilian slaughter blamed on an individual U.S. soldier since Vietnam.

Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales is accused of twice leaving U.S. Camp Belambay in the Kandahar province before dawn on March 11, entering homes in two villages, gunning down nine children, four men and three women, then burning some of the bodies.

In March Bales' civilian lawyer, John Henry Browne, said the defense team was "facing an almost complete information blackout from the government" and suggested Bales may not have acted alone.

Witness reports and circumstantial evidence corroborate that idea.

An Afghan woman told the GlobalPost that she heard helicopters fly overhead as a uniformed soldier with a radio antenna on his shoulder and a walkie-talkie "he was speaking into" entered her home and killed her husband. She said both her and her children "saw at least 20 Americans, with heavy weapons, searching all the rooms in our compound."

Afghan lawmaker lawmaker Naheem Lalai said that all the villagers the Afghan investigative team spoke with said "15 to 20 men had conducted a night raid operation in several areas in the village" that some of the murders took place.

Even the initial report from Reuters refers to multiple shooters as they cite neighbors and relatives of the dead who said they saw a group of U.S. soldiers arrived at their village at about 2 a.m., entered homes and opened fire.

"They were all drunk and shooting all over the place," neighbor Agha Lala, who visited one of the homes where killings took place, told Reuters.

The lead prosecutor, Lt. Col. Jay Morse, told the court that Bales had been drinking with two fellow soldiers before going to the village where he committed the first killings. Morse said Bales then returned to the camp and told a drinking buddy that he "just shot up some people" before leaving for the second village, Rigby reports. Morse called Bales' actions "deliberate, methodical."

Several Afghans of a village near where the murders took place were convinced that the massacre was in retaliation for a roadside bomb detonated in the area a few days earlier. 

The residents told The Associated Press and Afghan government officials that after the bombing U.S. troops lined up men from the village against a wall and told them they and their families would pay for the attack. Browne has said that Bales was upset because a buddy had lost a leg in an explosion a few days before the shootings. 

SEE ALSO: This Army General Is Accused Of Forcing Sex On His Troops And Threatening Their Lives > 

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Where there is often audacity in U.S. domestic politics, foreign policy requires a of subtlety and guile in combination with military and economic projection.

The challenges for 'President Romney' would be similar in the beginning, but Romney's foreign policy certainly differs from Barack Obama's in a few key ways—most notably, he has promised to add $2 trillion to the military budget.

We found the difference, subtle and otherwise, in how 'President Romney' would approach ten countries at the forefront of American international relations.

The Russian reset would have been reset

During an interview with CNN in March, Romney called Russia the United States’ “number one geopolitical foe” and continued to rip Russian policies on the campaign trail.

"Mitt Romney will pursue policies that work to decrease the reliance of European nations on Russian sources of energy."

"A Romney administration will be forthright in confronting the Russian government over its authoritarian practices. Mitt Romney will support measures to increase the flow of information into Russia that highlights the virtues of free elections, free speech, economic opportunity, and a government free of corruption."

Source: MittRomney.com

Weapons free on Libya and the 'terrorists' who killed Christopher Stevens

Now keep in mind this is just talk, which is a far cry from action. Nonetheless talk has been a huge focus of the Romney campaign with regard to Libya, in regard to exactly what Obama said. Terror attack or not?

The truth is that the words do, in fact, matter. Romney's legal justification for further military action hinges on an 'act of terror' committed upon U.S. citizens on, technically, U.S. soil (consulate or embassy).

But expanding a, in all likelihood, drone bombing campaign into Libya has its diplomatic drawbacks as well.

The U.S. would have doubled down on the Drug War in Mexico

"Mexico and the United States must take immediate action on the problem of violent drug cartels operating across our shared border… In light of the severity of the cartel problem and the sheer firepower and sophistication of the criminal networks we are facing, the United States and Mexico should explore the need for enhanced military-to-military training cooperation and intelligence sharing."

Source: MittRomney.com

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Britain is to increase its involvement in Syria's bloody civil war by offering to organise the rebels fighting President Bashar Al Assad into a stronger force.

In a significant departure MPs will be told today that the UK will directly deal with the armed opposition in Syria for the first time.

Previously Britain has only held talks with the political leaders outside the country over a conflict that has left tens of thousands civilians dead and over 1 million people displaced.

Britain yesterday vowed to step up its efforts to bring about an end to a regime that has presided over a civil war that has cost as many as 40,000 people lose their lives.

The first National Security Council meeting after the US presidential election which is likely to be chaired by Prime Minister David Cameron, will be dedicated to the crisis in Syria.

That meeting is likely to look at ways to bring America on board with a more direct strategy towards Syria now that the next US president has been elected for a four year term.

Britain is not allowed by a European Union arms embargo to supply weapons to Syria - a fact which Mr Cameron signalled was "frustrating" during a three day visit to the Middle East.

William Hague, the foreign secretary, will tell an opposition conference in Doha today that he "has authorised diplomats to have direct contact with military figures on the ground" through secure communication links with armed rebels.

The man favoured to win western backing for a new opposition front at the Qatar conference told The Daily Telegraph he planned to establish an interim government inside the 'liberated' parts of northern Syria.

It would seek international recognition, request a fund of "more than a billion dollars", and military support to "defend ourselves from the regime's war planes".

A written ministerial statement is due to be laid in Parliament outlining the new initiative, which will be coordinated by the team led by Jon Wilks, a senior official at the Foreign Office.

Downing Street said Britain wanted to also help the rebel fighters within Syria to work together to topple Assad, as happened in Libya to face Col Muammar Gaddafi's brutal regime.

A Number 10 source said: 'At the moment there are lots of different groups. They haven't come together and coalesced in the way in Libya all with the shared aim of toppling Gaddafi. This is all about helping them to do it.

"We are engaging with the opposition to try and encourage them come together much more on the ground.

"The point of it will be to talk to the leaders of the local armed groups. What we've concluded is that it's too hard to do this by only talking to people outside the country.

"The opposition have been very clear that they want help from the international community."

Britain will also stress to the rebels the need to respect the human rights of captured Government, the source added.

Britain is prevented from physically arming the rebels by a European Union arms embargo which prevents any military hardware being supplied to any Syrians.

But Mr Cameron signalled that he was frustrated by the embargo and the inactivity of the United Nations.

He told British newspaper reporters: "On Syria, I'm frustrated that we aren't able to do more, either at the UN where I'd like us to push harder for clearer resolutions calling on Syria for a clear political transition. But we'll keep pushing.

'Obviously we're part of an EU arms embargo so we're not able to take that step."

Asked what he would say if Assad said today he was ready to leave and wanted a safe exit, the Prime Minister said: "Done. Anything, anything to get that man out of the country and to have a safe transition in Syria.

"Of course I would favour him facing the full force of international law and justice for what he's done. I am certainly not offering him an exit plan to Britain but if wants to leave he could leave, that could be arranged."

The Prime Minister will pledge an extra £14 million to refugees in Jordan today as he visits a refugee camp which has been set up for Syrians.

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