9th/12th Royal Lancers, Leicester, 2009 — RTT News reports: A NATO soldier, shot dead while on patrol in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, has been identified as British. “An individual wearing an Afghan National Army uniform turned his weapon against International
I went to the ISAF website this a.m. to see if there was any further information on yet another NATO soldier’s murder at the hands of yet another Afghan army member, this one not to be confused with last Saturday’s
Eureka! COIN has “borne fruit” in Afghanistan! Who cares what it means. So says Petraeus Maximus in yet another exit interview, this one with American Forces Press Services and posted at the Pentagon website: During his last full week commanding
Gen David Petraeus: “No country has suffered more from Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida than Afghanistan.” That comment from a June interview with Military Times stopped me cold. Partly, it was the pat sweep of the superlative. But it was
In his slim book on Churchill, Paul Johnson unearthed a highly instructive quotation to highlight the foundation of some of Churchill’s greatest strengths as a wartime leader: He didn’t worship, defer to, and otherwise treat military men as the Oracle
Wen Jiabao taking in a little Hamlet in Stratford-on-Avon this week. Or: To censor or not to censor; that’s not the question…. — It’s not that anyone believes Chinese dictator — sorry, “premier” — Wen Jiabao when he says, as
“There Goes the Neighborhood,” Shariah Finance Watch reports. What does that mean? From the must-read story: In downtown Washington, there is a major real estate development known as CityCenterDC. This $700 million development is described as a combination of office
Believe me, they’re celebrating at the Weekly Standard over this “get”: Matthew Continetti writes: In a speech tonight, President Obama is expected to announce the staggered withdrawal, over the course of the next year, of the surge troops in Afghanistan.
Grand Ayatollah to US troops: Here’s your turban, what’s your hurry? — One of the strangest (unique?) national spectacles ever is that of the US apparently begging Iraq ro allow US troops to remain in Iraq after the 2011 deadline
Photo by Paul Avallone — The debate over Afghanistan — which this week comes down to how many troops Barack Obama will announce he is withdrawing from that wretched country beginning in July through 2012 — is being conducted with
What should we take away from the following story? Once upon a time, the man who was given charge of all the secrets of the nation was then given charge of all of its soldiers and weapons. And none of
News Flash: Since the killing of Osama bin Laden, the Obama administration has engaged in a trust-building effort with Pakistan…. I’m trying to be calm. What this means after the US zeroed in on OBL living in plain Pakistani sight,
My best guess is the sun is hot. I feel its heat. I see by its light. I understand its role in the growth of crops and other living things. If I were to come across scholarly data attesting to
Over the weekend, Drudge posted an alarming story from CNSNews.com high on the page: “China Divests 97% of Holdings in US Treasury Bills.” What does that mean? I checked with financial hawkeye George Ford for his take. As I read
I greatly appreciate this blog (below) by British commentator Nile Gardiner on the president’s crummy decision to get in a golf game after fufilling his presidential duties at Arlington on Memorial Day. It’s not that anyone begrudges the president his
The Army honored a fallen hero of the Ft. Hood Jihad Massacre with a medal this week. Not, of course, that the Army describes the November 2009 attack in such meaningful terms. Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan may have shouted
The poppy harvest in A-stan is in; is it time for Thanksgiving? Nah. It’s IED-increase-time. As USA Today reports: “Pentagon expexts IED hits to rise” From the story: “We’re at the front edge of the fighting season,” said Lt. Gen.
Drudge, correctly, is trumpeting the White House shut out of the Boston Herald from pool coverage of a Boston fundraiser the President is attending today because the tabloid ran an op-ed by Mitch Romney on its front page ON MARCH
Cutest story of the day comes from Iran’s PressTV. Headline: “Iraq to expand military ties with Iran.” Isn’t that cute? Meanwhile, American officials have been in and out of Iraq begging Maliki, pretty please, to let our roughly 47,000 troops
When (if) future historians look back to early 21st-century America, they should examine two cultural controversies of May 2011 for a quick read on Establishment sensibilities. One involves the bestowal, revocation and re-bestowal of an honorary degree on playwright Tony
In the small newspapers and TV stations around the country, in what are known as “local interest” stories, the national scandal of Afghanistan is being documented, article by article, segment by segment. These are the stories of our returning heroes,
AP photo: Pakistani “ally” driving US stealth helicopter secrets to China? — Stirrings of life on Capitol Hill: Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, has introduced a bill to stop distribution of $3 billion in aid that Congress appropriated for Pakistan this
After I watched this ABC report on the secrets which the hulk of the helicopter wrecked and left behind during the bin Laden raid have revealed, I couldn’t stop thinking about the situation. Because of the crash, the world now
Separated at birth? — I’ve had a sneaking suspicion that the Obama White House would ultimately nix the release of Dead Bin Laden, and here it comes, the prepatory rumblings: Gates and Hillary, ABC’s Jake Tapper reports (via Drudge) are
… Geert Wilders made his final statement in court yesterday where he is still on trial for telling the truth about Islam. This, as often noted, is a judicial outrage, a public nightmare, and an existential threat to liberty as
