They have a way of slipping under the radar, whether heading into Pakistan looking for Osama bin Laden, Central Africa looking for Joseph Kony, or Yemen presumably to direct local military action against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. I’m talking, of course, about U.S. special operations forces. These days, from Somalia to the Philippines, presidential …
Continue reading “The Golden Age of Special Operations”
The recent massacre by the Syrian government of 108 people, mostly women and children, will inevitably put intense pressure on a reluctant Obama administration to take out President Bashar al-Assad using force. As was obvious when the United States evicted Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi after he threatened to kill lots of his compatriots, hawks thirsting for …
Continue reading “Hands Off Syria”
Prime Minister Maliki is attending a Council of Ministers conference in Mosul, where claims over disputed territories could be the main topic of discussion. Over 100 political and tribal leaders are expected at the meeting, except for Kurdish leaders. Meanwhile, at least two Iraqis and two Pakistanis were killed and another four Iraqis were wounded.
After taping John Stossel’s show on May 15 in New York, the Mrs. and I took the 10 a.m. Acela back to Washington. Once we had boarded the train, who should come waddling up the aisle but Bill Kristol. The Weekly Standard editor seemed cheerful, and we chatted about the surge in Mitt Romney’s popularity …
Continue reading “How Bill Kristol Purged the Arabists”
Washington’s foreign policy elite loves to mock the overuse of the cliché “graveyard of empires,” but it seems as though the last decade of our increasingly failed bid in Afghanistan is littered with lackluster epitaphs for American generals, envoys and diplomats. In other words, they come, they go, and Afghanistan still stands as a paradox …
Continue reading “Ryan Crocker Slips Quietly Away”
Here in Kabul, Voices co-coordinator Buddy Bell and I are guests at the home of the Afghan Peace Volunteers (APV), where we’ve gotten to know four young boys who are being tutored by the volunteers in the afternoons, having “retired” from their former work as street vendors in exchange for a chance to enter a …
Continue reading “No One Hears the Poor”
According to Baghdad Police Command, Baghdad Provincial Council member Laith al-Dulaimi has admitted to being an al-Qaeda member and running a terrorist cell, while Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani accused the central government of wanting to ethnically cleanse Iraq. Four Iraqis were killed in new attacks.
The “race riots” in Tel Aviv last week — a mass demonstration that turned into a pogrom against about 60,000 asylum seekers, an overwhelming majority of them from Eritrea, the rest mostly from Sudan (Darfur and South Sudan) and a few other African countries — gives a revealing glimpse into Israeli realities under the current …
Continue reading “Tel Aviv ‘Race Riots’ Reveal Much About Israel”
We might as well get rid of Memorial Day, for all the good it does us. Originally “Decoration Day,” the last Monday in May has been the designated time for us to remember the war dead and honor their sacrifice – while, perhaps, taking in the lessons of the many conflicts that have marked our …
Continue reading “Abolish Memorial Day”
If the founding fathers were spinning in their graves like centrifuges over recent assaults on the Constitution, their RPMs slowed down a bit last Wednesday when U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest ruled that Section 1021 in the latest National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), allowing military detention of American citizens without due process, is unconstitutional. The …
Continue reading “One Foot Off the Slippery Slope: NDAA Ruled Unconstitutional” 
