The United States’ relationship with Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI, is complicated because the ISI is considered a counter-terrorism ally (for the most part) who also at some level coordinates with and supports radical elements useful against Pakistan’s rival, India.
Sometimes these relationships become painfully obvious. …
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll says more Americans disapprove of President Obama’s handling of the war in Afghanistan than approve of it, just as the military is looking for a new salesman for continued fighting there. The 49 percent disapproval rating (44 percent still support Obama’s war effort) is the worst of Obama’s presidency …
President Obama late last month told the American people that he would dispatch U.S. military might against Libya’s Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi to avoid the slaughter of innocent civilians, killings that had already “reverberated across the region and stained the conscience of the world.”
That’s a clear standard. President Bashar al-Assad …
“Anyone who approved or participated in the torture of my client should be prepared to take the witness stand.” That’s what Navy Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Reyes told the Washington Post about the upcoming military trial of his client, Abd al-Rahim Al-Nashiri. Nashiri faces a possible death sentence for his alleged role in the October 2000 …
Restrepo director Tim Hetherington is reported killed in Misratah. Photographers Chris Hondros and Guy Martin were with him when the three were apparently hit with a rocket-propelled grenade. Hondros’ wounds are reported as extremely grave.
President Obama, administration, and military officials have insisted for months that the pre-trial confinement conditions of suspected Wikileaker Pfc. Bradley at the Marine Corps brig at Quantico, Va., including effective solitary confinement and periods of forced nudity, were in the best interest of Manning’s apparently frail mental …
Top Pentagon officials announced Tuesday evening that suspected Wikileaker Pfc. Bradley Manning would be moved from the Marine Corps brig at Quantico, Va. to the Army prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Pentagon General Counsel Jeh Charles Johnson and Army Under Secretary Joseph Westphal opened a Pentagon press conference by arguing that …
Here is an eyebrow raiser. The Associated Press is reporting that suspected Wikileaker Pfc. Bradley Manning will be transferred from the Marine Brig at Quantico, Va. to the Army prison at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. According to the AP, an announcement is likely Wednesday and the transfer comes “in the wake of international criticism about …
Mark Thompson noted the Pentagon inspector general’s review of the Rolling Stone article that torpedoed the career of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, so I won’t go over that again here.
I will, however, note my favorite part of the inspector general’s investigation, a probe into McChrystal’s middle finger:
The incident, described in the
…
Media organizations are increasingly worried that they won’t be able to accurately cover the pending military trial of alleged 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-conspirators. Among the concerns are how many reporters will be able to see what is happening in the military courtroom – even through closed-circuit TV – …
President Obama called Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Monday to mark the start of Passover. Netanyahu said thanks for the call — and the rockets, according to a White House readout of the call.
The United States is sending $205 million to Israel specifically for “Iron Dome,” a high-tech rocket and mortar defense system to help …
This is a picture of the Soviet-made BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launching system. According to Human Rights Watch, forces loyal to Col. Moammar Gadhafi are using this thing to fire rockets into Misrata, including one recent attack that killed eight people waiting in line for bread.
It’s deadly. It can launch 40 122-millimeter rockets. …
A House Armed Services subcommittee last week ripped into the new management at Arlington National Cemetery for the continuing burial scandal there. The hearing followed one of my recent articles in TIME that showed how those new managers are sometimes relying on faulty burial paperwork — paperwork that caused the scandal in the first …