Every once in awhile a war book – actually written by a soldier – grabs you and won’t let go. The latest is The Yellow Birds, by Iraq war vet Kevin Powers. Nate Rawlings interviewed him here on Battleland more than a month …
Military
Leveraging
See where GOP candidate Mitt Romney has just released a roster of more than 300 retired generals and admirals who are endorsing him for President. They range from former Army general Tommy Franks, who commanded the invasions of …
Converting the Taliban
Air Force Major Matthew Brown served in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, as part of the Afghanistan-Pakistan (AFPAK) Hands counter-insurgency program during the final eight months of 2011. A one-time B-1 pilot, his main mission was …
The Myth of “Surgical Strikes” on Iran
For all the years that the world has focused on the confrontation between Western nations and Iran, oceans of ink have been spilled over many aspects of its nuclear program — the quantity and quality of its enriched uranium, …
First, Stop Digging
U.S. Army Cpl. B.J. Buie, foreground, an infantryman with the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, digs a machine-gun position during Operation Southern Fist in the Spin …
Korresponts Koreedoor
We reported last month about the Defense Department taking down the sign honoring a Pentagon hallway as the “Correspondents Corridor” and replacing it with one highlighting “ASD Public Affairs.” ASD is Pentagon-speak for …
Supersonic Sunday
Empire of the Sunset
Panetta Sounds Alarm on Cyber-War Threat
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta issued what he said is a “clarion call” Thursday for Americans to wake up to the growing threat posed by cyber war.
“The whole point of this is that we simply don’t just sit back and wait for a …
Is the White House Weighing a Military Strike on Iran?
Have some members of the Obama Administration been quaffing a 10-year-old jug of Kool-Aid left in a White House basement fridge by Bush Administration officials? That’s certainly an impression conveyed by one unnamed source …
Exploding Budgets
The government is set to spend $640 billion on nuclear weapons and related programs over the next ten years.
If you didn’t know that, you are not alone. No one has put together a reliable estimate of these future budgets – …
Nation Building: The Fine Print
Sometimes it tough to understand the scope of what the U.S. and its allies are trying to do in Afghanistan. Then the latest batch of contract solicitations in Federal Business Opportunities rolls in and makes it tough to …
