Maj. Gen. Dana Pittard commands Fort Bliss, one the nation’s largest Army bases, so his blunt comments about suicide raised eyebrows throughout the military.

There will never be a perfect time to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, President Obama said on Monday at the close of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit. But after ten years at war, the timetable the U.S. and it’s allies have established is “a responsible one.”

A suicide bomber dressed in military garb blew himself up in Yemen's capital on Monday, killing 96 soldiers who had gathered for a military parade dress rehearsal, the Associated Press reported.

Thousands of people, led by veterans, gathered in Chicago's Grant Park on Sunday for the largest demonstration at the NATO summit, The Chicago Tribune reported.

Though Italy’s unemployment rate is at an almost 12-year high and its economy continues to contract, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti struck a hopeful tone on Sunday, asserting that the austerity measures undertaken by the country had put Italy in a more competitive position within the EU.

Iran’s economic minister said on Sunday that, despite increasing sanctions, Iran will not give up its nuclear program and warned that the upcoming EU embargo on Iranian oil will have an adverse effect globally. He said oil could reach $160 a barrel this summer.

The man convicted in the 1988 bombing of an aircraft flying over Lockerbie, Scotland, died on Sunday, almost three years after his discharge from prison, the Associated Press reports. Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer, was 60.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen weighed in on one of the biggest issues likely to be addressed at this weekend's NATO summit in Chicago, saying on Sunday that he is "optimistic" about the international commitment to fund the Afghan forces that will take over security after the U.S. leaves the country in 2014.