ABCDE Mostly sunny. 80/62 • Tomorrow: Sunny. 83/63 • details, B10 Living soldier could
get Medal of Honor Pentagon recommends award that would be first since Vietnam War
by Greg Jaffe and Craig Whitlock
The Pentagon has recom- mended that the White House consider awarding the the Medal of Honor to a living soldier for the first time since the Vietnam War, according to U.S. officials. The soldier, whose nomination must be reviewed by the White House, ran through a wall of en- emy fire in Afghanistan’s Koren- gal Valley in fall 2007 in an at- tempt to push back Taliban fight-
ers who were close to overrunning his squad. U.S. mili- tary
officials said his actions
saved the lives of about half a dozen men. It is possible that the White
House could honor the soldier’s heroism with a decoration other than the Medal of Honor, the na- tion’s highest award for valor. Nominations for the Medal of Honor typically include detailed accounts from witnesses and can run hundreds, if not thousands, of pages. The review has been conducted so discreetly that the soldier’s family does not know that it has reached the White House, according to U.S. officials who discussed the nomination on condition of anonymity because a final decision is pending.
In the spotlight one more time THURSDAY, JULY 1, 2010 Highest honor
No living recipient has been awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military decoration, since the Vietnam War.
Total medals awarded, by war
Iraq Afghanistan Gulf War Somalia Vietnam Korean War World War II World War I
4 2
246 133 464 124
Number posthumous
4 2
No medals awarded 2
2
154 95
266 33
SOURCE: U.S. Army Center of Military History THE WASHINGTON POST Pentagon officials requested
that The Washington Post not name the soldier to avoid influ- encing the White House review.
medal continued on A8 IN POLICY
Move shows nations’ deepening relationship
by Karin Brulliard and Karen DeYoung
kabul — Afghan President Ha- mid Karzai has agreed to send a group of military officers to Paki- stan for training, a significant policy shift that Afghan and Paki- stani officials said signals deep- ening relations between the long- wary neighbors.
The move is a victory for Paki- stan, which seeks a major role in Afghanistan as officials in both countries become increasingly convinced that the U.S. war effort there is faltering. Afghan officials said Karzai has begun to see Paki- stan as a necessary ally in ending the war through negotiation with the Taliban or on the battlefield. “This is meant to demonstrate
confidence to Pakistan, in the hope of encouraging them to be- gin a serious consultation and conversation with us on the issue of [the] Taliban,” Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Karzai’s national security adviser, said of the training agreement. The previously unpublicized
training would involve only a small group of officers, variously
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Some Afghan military officers to receive training in Pakistan A MAJOR SHIFT
described as between a handful and a few dozen, but it has enor- mous symbolic importance as the first tangible outcome of talks be- tween Karzai and Pakistan’s mili- tary and intelligence chiefs that began in May. It is likely to be controversial among some Af- ghans who see Pakistan as a Tali- ban puppet-master rather than as a cooperative neighbor, and in India, which is wary of Pakistan’s intentions in Afghanistan. Some key U.S. officials in- volved in Afghanistan said they knew nothing of the arrange- ment. “We are neither aware of nor have we been asked to facil- itate training of the Afghan offi- cer corps with the Pakistani mili-
afghanistan continued on A8
ALEX BRANDON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
At her hearing, Elena Kagan was surrounded by, among others, Harvard Law School professor Jack Goldsmith, third from left; Thurgood Marshall Jr., the justice’s son, seen over Kagan’s shoulder; White House lawyer Susan Davies, fourth from right; White House lawyer Jonathan Kravis, third from right; Harvard law professor Laurence H. Tribe, second from right; and White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, far right. Story, A3
Part Japanese, part American, and torn apart Two nations’ long alliance has left a legacy of strained families, complicated cultural clashes on Okinawa
of touch. by Chico Harlan
chatan, japan — These days, when Melissa Tomlinson de- scribes her fraught relationship with the United States, she speaks in English, the language she once rejected. She grew up here on the island of Okinawa. Her mother was Jap- anese, and her father was an American who served in the U.S. Army, came to Okinawa, fell in love, fell out of love, then fell out
“I had plans to track him down,
find him and punch him in the face,” said Tomlinson, 22. “I just wanted to figure out my identity.” Tomlinson’s family tensions il-
lustrate the complex cultural clashes that dominate the politics of Okinawa and, lately, relations between what have been the world’s two largest economies as they cope with a rising China and a belligerent North Korea. For the more than 60 years since the end of World War II, na-
tive Okinawans and U.S. troops stationed on nearby bases have developed deep, passionate and generation-spanning ties that complicate political and diplo- matic debates about the future of the U.S. military here. Those passions have recently claimed the job of one Japanese prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, who had called for the Americans to be booted off Okinawa, and caused his successor to sharply tone down his party’s assertive stance toward the United States.
A vocal majority of Okinawans still demand closing the Futenma Marine Corps Air Station. Amer- ican officials, citing proximity to North Korea, China and South- east Asia, insist it remain in Oki- nawa. Japan, in its attempt to me- diate, has only frustrated both sides. The current resolution, which
Prime Minister Naoto Kan says his government will honor, calls for Futenma’s eventual relocation
okinawa continued on A9 Conservatives using Pelosi as face of liberalism by Karen Tumulty
Beware! Nancy Pelosi is a colos- sal tax-dollar-engorged monster who ravages small towns and must be brought down by Repub- lican ray guns. Or at least that is what a cartoon version of the House speaker looked like in “At- tack of the 50-Foot Pelosi,” a tele- vision ad that a conservative group called Right Change aired in Pennsylvania last month. A new Web site by the National Republican Congressional Com- mittee portrays her as a malevo- lent puppet master, yanking the strings of 10 vulnerable House Democrats.
And a video on the campaign home page of GOP House candi- date Harold Johnson of North Carolina makes her sound like
someone out of those creepy cable ads for burglar alarms. “If you’re a small-business owner,” Johnson says, “you get up every morning and you put your helmet on, be- cause you think that Nancy Pelosi is going to come into your bed- room and hit you over the head with a baseball bat.” This is the kind of problem that
J. Dennis Hastert, Carl Albert and Frederick Gillett never had to deal with. House speakers, with a few exceptions, have been such col- orless legislative insiders that the mention of their names in most of America would have received no reaction beyond quizzical looks. Not this year, and not this
speaker. “If you go to almost any grass-roots event and you men- tion the speaker’s name,” said Bill
pelosi continued on A4 RIGHT CHANGE
A television ad by the conservative group Right Change features a menacing cartoon version of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
INSIDE
LOCAL LIVING The dark side of the sun When exercising in the summer heat, protect yourself by sweating the small stuff.
OPINIONS David S. Broder: Robert Byrd’s vanished ethic. A15
BUSINESS NEWS............A10 CLASSIFIEDS .....................F1 COMICS..............................C8
EDITORIALS/LETTERS...A14 FED PAGE.........................A13 KIDS POST.......................C10
« STYLE Wonder Woman gets a new look A sleek, urban outfit replaces the all-American costume. C3
Picture this How modern spies embed messages in ordinary-looking photos. C1
LOTTERIES ......................B10 MOVIES..............................C7 OBITUARIES ......................B7
STOCKS............................A12 TELEVISION.......................C6 WORLD NEWS...................A6
TENNIS » At Wimbledon, the king
METRO
is dethroned Roger Federer, six-time champion at Wimbledon, loses before the final there for the first time since 2002 as 12th-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic blasts him out of the quarterfinals. D1
$207 million
That’s the total allocated to the District, Maryland and Virginia by the Obama administration to fund medical care for the uninsured. B1
ECONOMY & BUSINESS House passes financial bill The regulatory overhaul stalls on the way to the president’s desk as the Senate postpones its vote. A10
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The Washington Post Year 133, No. 208
CONTENTS© 2010
Rhee suggests tenure is linked to Fenty’s
Schools chief expresses doubts about Gray’s commitment to reform
by Bill Turque and Nikita Stewart
D.C. Schools Chancellor Mi- chelle A. Rhee has all but ruled out staying in her post if Mayor Adrian M. Fenty loses his reelec- tion bid to council Chairman Vincent C. Gray, who she said lacks Fenty’s commitment to re- forming the city’s public school system. In two interviews Tuesday,
with The Washington Post and WAMU (88.5 FM), Rhee placed herself in the middle of the D.C. mayoral race, shedding her re- luctance to weigh in on the elec- tion. She edged closer than ever to framing the election as a refer- endum on her leadership, signal- ing that a vote for Fenty would be a vote for her tenure in the Dis- trict and that a vote for Gray would place her at risk. Rhee told The Post that she
“could not imagine doing this job without the kind of unequivocal support [Fenty] has given,” standing by her despite criticism over school closures, bruising ne- gotiations with the teachers union, layoffs and tough budget decisions. She also indirectly, but unmistakably, said she could not work for Gray, whom she painted as a candidate who lacks Fenty’s
vision and resolve. “You can do school reform in lots of ways,” Rhee said. “You can have more incremental changes. If that’s the way that a city decid- ed to go, I probably would not be the best person for that. There are probably people that are bet- ter suited toward that different sort of tack.”
Rhee had been circumspect in her public comments about the Sept. 14 Democratic primary. When asked, she has offered her usual effusive praise for Fenty’s leadership but has declined to discuss whether she would serve in a Gray administration if in- vited to stay. Gray has declined to commit to retaining Rhee if he’s elected, saying that the future of school improvement in the Dis- trict should not hinge on one person.
But with Fenty’s campaign foundering in the wake of straw- poll defeats and shaky perform- ances at candidate forums, Rhee appears poised to intervene more forcefully. In an interview with WAMU on Wednesday, she said she thinks Gray lacks Fenty’s commitment to school reform. “I think the chairman is cer- tainly interested in education re- form,” she said. “I think that he is committed to this city and its progress, certainly. But in terms of what I’m talking about with Mayor Fenty and his willingness to make some very difficult deci- sions . . . no, I haven’t seen the
rhee continued on A5
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