SPB News for Sunday.

Rumsfeld's renegade unit blamed for Afghan deaths --Special Forces group implicated in three incidents that claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians/MarSOC was set up by former defence secretary despite opposition from within the Marine Corps A single American Special Forces [terrorist] group was behind at least three of Afghanistan's worst civilian casualty incidents, The Independent has learnt, raising fundamental questions about their ongoing role in the conflict. Troops from the US Marines Corps' Special Operations Command, or MarSOC, were responsible for calling in air strikes in Bala Boluk, in Farah, last week – believed to have killed more than 140 men, women and children – as well as two other incidents in 2007 and 2008. MarSOC was created three years ago on the express orders of Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary at the time, despite opposition from within the Marine Corps and the wider Special Forces community.

McChrystal's Pat Tillman Connection By Dave Zirin When NFL player-turned-Army Ranger Pat Tillman died at the hands of US troops in a case of "friendly fire," the spin machine at the Pentagon went into overdrive... So an obscene lie was told to Tillman's family, his friends and the American public... Today, after five years, six investigations and two Congressional hearings, questions still linger about how Tillman died and why it was covered up. Now the man who greased the chain of command that orchestrated this great deception is prepared to assume total control of US operations in Afghanistan: Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal. It was McChrystal who approved Tillman's posthumous Silver Star, a medal given explicitly for combat, even though he later testified that he "suspected" friendly fire.

Ponzi scammer dies in drive off cliff before Hawaii sentencing --Ponzi schemer drives off cliff in Washington state the day he was to be sentenced in Hawaii A former Kaua'i mortgage broker who admitted to defrauding more than 50 people out of $30 million drove his truck off a cliff into a ravine in Washington state, killing himself yesterday, the day he was due in federal court in Honolulu for sentencing, according to law enforcement officials.

First Lady Speaks to Graduates Who Inspired Her — MERCED, Calif. — Michelle Obama on Saturday encouraged the first full graduating class at the University of California, Merced, to better their communities by using the same determination they had shown in bringing her to campus.