The conflict features issues Republicans tend to be fond of — cutting spending, the military and NASCAR — against one another. 

The Pentagon does not see Turkey's recent military buildup along its border with Syria as a precursor to war between the neighboring countries, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Friday. 

Military leaders in Tehran have begun to outfit Iranian warships patrolling the Straits of Hormuz with short-range missiles, a sign that tensions along the highly-contested waterway could be coming to a head once again. 

A group of defense analysts told the House Armed Services Committee on Friday that the plan to reduce the size of the Afghanistan National Security Forces (ANSF) to 230,000 was misguided, urging the Obama administration and NATO to change course.

The analysts, Max Boot of the Council on Foreign Relations, Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution and former Army Vice Chief of Staff retired Gen. Jack Keane, all said that the added cost of maintaining the ANSF force at 350,000 beyond 2014 was worth the expense to keep things from deteriorating once NATO troops are mostly gone.

“I mean, this makes no sense,” Keane said of the reduction, planned to occur by 2016. “How can we expect the ANSF to protect the people with one-third less force only a year after we almost zero-out the U.S.-NATO force of 100,000?

“Why, after all these years of investing, would we gut that force and put the entire security mission at risk?” he said.

House Republicans tell Senate Leader Harry Reid to put forward own plan or stop obstructing vote on GOP legislation

The Defense Department is pressing forward with plans to station a number of V-22 Ospreys at various U.S. bases in the Pacific, despite concerns by Tokyo over recent accidents involving the aircraft. 

A record 74 percent of people in Pakistan consider the United States more of an enemy than a partner.

The State Department's top official for Africa on Friday shot down proposals to reunify the West African country of Mali by force following a rebellion by nomadic Tuaregs and Islamist militants.

The comments by Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson come as several multinational organizations — notably the United Nations, the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) — are discussing the viability of a peacekeeping mission in Mali. A military coup overthrew the country's government in March, and rebel groups in the north grabbed the opportunity to seize control of the northern part of the country and declare an Islamic breakaway state last month.

“We are coordinating closely with our mission in the United Nations to press the African Union and ECOWAS to define a clear mission for their proposed ECOWAS peacekeeping mission in Mali,” Carson said in written testimony before the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Africa. “That said, we think an ECOWAS mission to militarily retake the north is ill-advised and not feasible.”

The Topline: Forgive yourself for missing the news Thursday that the Supreme Court issued rulings on more than just the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act — minutes before the healthcare decision was announced, the high court first said that the Stolen Valor Act, which makes it a crime to falsely claim military honors, was not constitutional.

The court found that the law, passed in 2006 and signed by former President George W. Bush, did not comply with the First Amendment, striking a victory for free-speech advocates and a blow to military groups that backed the law. But the justices who were in the majority of the 6-3 decision also said Congress could try again with new legislation that was written more narrowly, to show actual harm from the deception about military medals.

That’s likely to happen in the near future. Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.) has a bill for a new Stolen Valor Act he introduced last year, which would make it illegal to benefit from lying about military honors and medals. Heck issued a statement on the court’s ruling — before his statement on healthcare, even — saying he plans to push his bill forward now because it would “pass constitutional scrutiny.”

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