How many fingers is commander in chief Obama holding up? He has flushed every one of his promises to wind down our wars all the way to the mess tent, yet he insists that we nod in eager agreement when he tells us he’s keeping them. Like many citizens, I voted for Obama twice. When …
Continue reading “Strategic Patience, Camille”
When the Barack Obama administration unveiled its plan last week for an improvised State Department-controlled army of contractors to replace all U.S. combat troops in Iraq by the end of 2011, critics associated with the U.S. command attacked the transition plan, insisting that the United States must continue to assume that U.S. combat forces should …
Continue reading “Obama Plays Down Plan for Post-2011 Iraq Troop Presence”
The war in Iraq is over. Or so the government and most media outlets will claim on Sept. 1, by which time thousands of U.S. troops will have departed the land of two rivers for other assignments. With this phase of the drawdown, says President Barack Obama, “America’s combat mission will end.” The Pentagon is …
Continue reading “Rebranding the Iraq War”
At least 13 Iraqis were killed and 28 more were wounded in attacks across the country. One of the casualties came from an Iranian artillery attack launched into Iraqi Kurdistan. Meanwhile, the political deadlock over the next prime minister continued, but U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called for a resolution soon.
Is the controversy over building a mosque near Ground Zero a grand distraction or a grand opportunity? Or is it, once again, grandiose demagoguery? It has been said, “Nero fiddled while Rome burned.” Are we not overly preoccupied with this controversy, now being used in various ways by grandstanding politicians? It looks to me like …
Continue reading “Mosque Demagoguery Is Bipartisan”
“If I was president Ahmadinejad’s national security adviser, and he asked me what to do, I would tell him to acquire a nuclear deterrent.” – Professor John J. Mearsheimer, July 7, 2010 John Mearsheimer’s imagined advice to Ahmadinejad leads to a simple and obvious conclusion. A country like Iran, which has been placed on the …
Continue reading “Countdown to Zero – or to War on Iran?”
The smear campaign targeting Julian Assange and WikiLeaks isn’t very subtle, nor is it very effective. First the Pentagon refuses Assange’s request to vet the tens of thousands of secret files WikiLeaks put online, expunging material that might cost American or Afghan lives – and then turns around and declares Assange and his organization have …
Continue reading “Dirty Tricks”
The first U.S. soldier to die since the withdrawal of combat troops this week was killed in during a rocket attack in Basra today. At least four Iraqis were killed and 43 more were wounded in other attacks.
At least three Iraqis were killed and one more were wounded in light violence. Despite a general decrease in attacks, women in Baghdad are arming themselves for protection.
In response to the March 26 sinking of the South Korean ship, the Cheonan, allegedly by a North Korean submarine, the United States is poised to adopt even more stringent sanctions against North Korea. Robert Einhorn, the U.S. State Department’s special advisor for nonproliferation and arms control, recently announced in Seoul that after legal and other questions …
Continue reading “Sixty Years of Failed North Korea Sanctions” 
