Defense Secretary Robert Gates is on a trip to Afghanistan, landing in Kabul this morning. Gen. David Petraeus greeted him at the airport and the two immediately engaged in the sort of lighthearted banter you'd expect from two of the country's top military men.

President Obama kept up the American pressure on Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi this afternoon, stating plainly, "Muammar el-Qaddafi has lost the legitimacy to lead, and he must leave." Obama has also authorized military aircraft to help evacuate refugees.

Bradley Manning, the army intelligence analyst accused of leaking reams of classified data to Wikileaks, has been hit with 22 additional charges. One of them is "aiding the enemy," which carries the death penalty.

A bus carrying U.S. soldiers was attacked by a gunman this morning outside the Frankfurt airport. Two people are dead. The Guardian, citing German news reports, says that the bus driver and one soldier are the victims. German reports also say that "police arrested a 21-year-old male suspect from Kosovo following the attack." There's no official word yet on motives or anything else.

Is a handsome young soldier currently professing his love to you on Facebook? He might be real! But probably, he's not. Especially if he's asking you to send him money. The AP reports that the fake-Facebook-soldier (or whatever the snappy conman name is) is "becoming an all-too-common ruse," in one case costing a victim $25,000. It is not a particularly sophisticated ruse, however:

There's not exactly a surplus of news cameras in Libya right now, so plenty of reports are flying around and it's not clear which of them are true. But we can say with enough confidence that it's absolute hell over there. Muammar Qaddafi is pulling out every nasty little trick to protect his regime, assuming he's even in the country. It could always be that smarmy kid of his doing the unconscionable.

The Times of London is reporting that Gen. David Petraeus will leave his spot as the head of the U.S. Afghan Command at the end of the year, not that anyone blames him. Petraeus replaced Gen. Stanley McChrystal in the difficult, thankless job in July of 2010 after McChrystal was fired over a Rolling Stone article; a search is apparently already on for a replacement, who would theoretically be overseeing the withdrawal of American troops and thinking a lot about how great it will be when he can retire and maybe play a little golf. [Times via The Daily Beast]

Egypt has finally dumped its arrogant, paternalistic dictator of three decades in the largest country in the Arab world. That's quite an achievement for a suppressive police state after only two to three weeks of protests that weren't very organized to begin with. But what comes next? Will pure democracy just kind of "appear"? Or does an impossible process of constitutional negotiations between the people, the army, the Muslim Brotherhood, business leaders, and foreign powers need to take place over the next year before anything even approaching a stable and responsive political system emerges? Unfortunately it's that second scenario, the "impossible process of constitutional negotiation" one, that's realistic.

A Sarah Palin appearance can do wonders for a non-profit's convention. Assuming it doesn't get the entire event canceled in the first place, because so many people hate Sarah Palin.

Investigative journalism god Seymour Hersh hasn't been a favorite of the Pentagon since, oh, 1969 or so. That trend continues to this day! Currently, the military is mad that Hersh said they're "crusaders" who wanna "change mosques into cathedrals." And?

Martin Luther King Jr. hated the Vietnam War and spent the last year of his life vociferously arguing against it. But according to the Pentagon's top lawyer, King would've liked America's current wars! How does he know? Well, he doesn't.

Click to viewSecretary of Defense Robert Gates is in China this week to cool military tensions, and to tell Chinese officials that the U.S. military is still king. And today, China tested its new stealth fighter jet. It's just a coincidence, though!

The Navy Times has discovered some more "XO Movie Night" videos from Capt. Owen Honors, the former commander of the USS Enterprise who was suspended for making tasteless and vulgar and unfunny videos. He is totally not gay, guys, OK?

Undersexed Captain Owen Honors will be temporarily removed as commander of the USS Enterprise while the Navy investigates his unsurprising masturbation field guide video that includes anti-gay slurs and odd shower scenes, a Navy source told NBC.

The Air Force has a fancy new camera technology, called "Gorgon Stare," which can "transmit live video images of physical movement across an entire town." Too bad it's basically useless!

Capt. Owen Honors, second-in-command of the U.S.S. Enterprise aircraft carrier, is being investigated for performing in a series of dumb video sketches, which include anti-gay slurs and women showering together. You can watch excerpts below.

Five soldiers inside a Humvee are greeted with the ominous sight and sound of a grenade dropping... in the vehicle. To the delight of those in on the joke, the two in the front seat (rightfully) freak the hell out!

President Obama signed the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" repeal today, without any problems. But it was close! Some Republicans tried to sneak a legislative poison pill into the mix last night, until Mitch McConnell stopped them. Is Mitch getting soft?

Virginia state Del. Bob Marshall is furious over the repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell," and wants to block openly gay people from serving in the Virginia National Guard. He also wants to be a U.S. Senator and needs headlines.

Conservative production company Citizens United has released this post-"Don't Ask Don't Tell" ad, warning effete liberals (and Lady Gaga) that they'll all get drafted after the current Marines quit in protest. Exactly! This was Joe Lieberman's plan all along.