A Seoul American Middle School student will compete in a national math competition in Colorado after her team won first place in a worldwide DODDS competition.

Michelle Roh and three other top-scoring students from Europe will comprise the Department of Defense Dependents Schools “state” team that will compete against other U.S. teams in the national finals in Denver in May. Seoul American Middle School took first place in the Pacific-wide MATHCOUNTS competition in February and advanced to a March 12 DODDS worldwide competition, where it snagged top honors over eight other schools.

The winning team included Roh and teammates Jay Han, Kate Park and Jenna Weida.

SETAF commander tapped for Operation Iraqi Freedom postArmy Maj. Gen. Frank Helmick has been nominated for a third star and assignment as commander, Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Helmick is currently serving as commanding general, U.S. Army Southern European Task Force (Airborne), Italy.

Stars and Stripes reported March 15 that Brig. Gen. William B. Garrett III will get a second star and take over command of the Southern European Task Force (Airborne), based in Vicenza.

Both moves require Senate approval.

Gitmo lawyer says evidence shows war crimes by GIsSAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The military lawyer for an alleged al-Qaida fighter at Guantanamo Bay said Thursday that accounts of the firefight in which the fighter was captured indicate some U.S. soldiers — and not his client — should be charged for war crimes.

During the final moments of a July 2002 raid on an al-Qaida compound in Afghanistan, an American soldier killed one combatant who lay moaning with a rifle at his side, and nearly executed 15-year-old Omar Khadr after shooting him twice in the back, according to eyewitness accounts revealed at Khadr’s pretrial hearings.

The Canadian citizen is expected to be among the first detainees to face a U.S. war-crimes trial since the World War II era.

Report: Iraqi source defends pre-war weapons statementsBERLIN — An Iraqi defector code-named “Curveball” whose false tales of biological weapons bolstered the U.S. case for war says he never talked of weapons of mass destruction, a German magazine reported Thursday.

Rafid Ahmed Alwan, who is living in Germany under an assumed name, said he was “not to blame” for the war on Iraq, according to an interview in Der Spiegel magazine.

“I never said that Iraq had weapons for mass destruction,” the magazine quoted him as saying. “Not at all, not in my entire life.”

In November, CBS’s “60 Minutes” reported his full name, saying he was not the prominent chemical engineer he claimed to be and invented stories to help his case for asylum in Germany.

Actress Tichina Arnold to visit South Korea bases

SEOUL — Tichina Arnold, star of the TV series “Martin” and “Everyone Hates Chris,” will visit the U.S. military community in South Korea this week.

Arnold’s two-day trip is sponsored by the United Service Organizations; Morale, Welfare and Recreation; and Armed Forces Entertainment.

Her schedule is:

March 27:

Camp Red Cloud dining facility, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Camp Casey USO, 1:15 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.

Yongsan Garrison exchange, 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Osan Air Base exchange, 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.

March 28

Camp Walker, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Kunsan Air Base, 1:45 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.

Camp Humphreys, 3:45 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.