Q: Did Obama propose a 1.4 percent pay increase for the military, the lowest since 1973?
A: Yes. Military pay raises are based on the Employment Cost Index, which grew very little this year.
Issues: military
Homeland Security Adviser?
Q: Was the suspected Fort Hood shooter an "advisor to Obama’s homeland security team" or a member of his "transition team"?
A: This is another false e-rumor. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was merely an audience member at some public events of a university-sponsored group that offered unsolicited advice to the new administration.
Health Care Overhaul and TRICARE
Q: Would health care overhaul efforts eliminate TRICARE health coverage for members of the military and military retirees?
A: No. This claim in a chain e-mail is false. Neither Congress nor President Obama has proposed legislation to that effect.
ACLU and Cemetery Crosses
Q: Is the ACLU suing to have cross-shaped headstones removed from military cemeteries?
A: The ACLU has filed no such suit, and it hasn’t sued to "end prayer from the military" either.
Veteran Visit
Q: Was Obama rude to wounded veterans during a visit to the National Naval Medical Center?
A: A chain e-mail that makes such a claim gets several facts wrong and is disputed by an official who was present at the meeting.
Obama & Naval Academy swords
Q: Did Obama order a "swordless graduation" at the U.S. Naval Academy?
A: This Internet scuttlebutt is false. Graduating midshipmen have gone without swords at graduation for decades, even when Bush and Cheney spoke.
New Army Policy Against ‘Faith-Based’ Events?
Q: Did Obama issue a policy that “no U.S. serviceman can speak at any faith-based public event”?
A: This claim in a chain e-mail is false. Army officials say there has been no change in policy regarding “faith-based” events. And the event the e-mail refers to wasn’t a “faith-based” one.
Georgia Arms
Q: Did the Obama administration shut down a Georgia ammunition supplier? Is it trying to create an ammo shortage?
A: Georgia Arms still is doing a booming business in reloaded military cartridges. The Pentagon quickly reversed a move to stop selling spent casings.
Burned Bibles?
Q: Did the Obama administration burn soldiers’ Bibles?
A: The military destroyed Bibles printed in Afghan languages to prevent distribution to local Muslims. But it happened during the Bush administration.
Selective Edits on Interrogation?
On May 21, President Barack Obama and former Vice President Dick Cheney both gave speeches on national security, specifically focusing on Guantanamo Bay, detainees and interrogation techniques. We combed through the transcripts of both and found a few items worth mentioning from Cheney’s speech.
In defending so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, Cheney quoted Obama’s director of national intelligence, Adm. Dennis C. Blair, as saying that "high value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al Qaeda organization that was attacking this country."