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Marines want to show how safe and versatile the Osprey is, countering critics and helping to persuade allies to buy their own.
• Anger over the decision to base the aircraft on the Japanese island of Okinawa, the only place in Asia where they are permanently deployed, has made the aircraft the poster boy of anti-military sentiment there. Opponents cite noise problems and high-profile crashes in the early days of the Osprey, though its safety record since then has been better than any other helicopter-type aircraft.
• With its unique design, the Osprey can fly faster and farther and carry heavier loads than the helicopters it replaced.
• "Anything that's different generates criticism. And the Osprey is different," says Capt. Travis Keeney, who has been flying the aircraft for six years. "There's nothing like it in military history."
• ___

• CAPE CORAL, Fla. (AP) -- Florida Republican Rep. Henry "Trey" Radel, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of cocaine possession and received a year's probation, is taking a leave of absence from Congress and donating his salary to charity.
• Radel made the announcement Wednesday at a crowded news conference in Florida.
• "I'm not going to sit here and make any excuses for what I've done," he said. "I have let down our country. I've let down our constituents. I've let down my family, including my wife. And even though he doesn't know it, I've let down my 2-year-old son."
• He said he takes responsibility for what he did, adding, "I want to be a better man."
• At a court hearing earlier Wednesday in Washington, Radel told a judge, "I've hit a bottom where I realize I need help" in acknowledging that he purchased 3.5 grams of cocaine from an undercover police officer.
• ___

• FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- On a gloomy November afternoon, I helped carry

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