BattlelandCIA
World War II Marine Corps interrogator Maj. Sherwood F. Moran. Moran’s counterpart at the German Luftwaffe, Hans Sharff.
These are two names you probably won’t hear from the Liz Cheneys of the world who have seized on the death of Osama bin Laden as vindication of Bush-era torture. The argument goes that torture produced scrap of …
BattlelandNational Security
Former Nebraska Democrat Sen. Bob Kerrey told Battleland Tuesday that eliminating Osama bin Laden represents a significant national security achievement for President Obama. “On a national security basis, it is an accomplishment that helps him a great deal,” Kerrey said in an interview.
But given the stratified electorate, the …
BattlelandCIA
Cruising the azure waters of the Arabian Sea with the Navy’s Carl Vinson Strike Group in the hours immediately following the daring raid in Pakistan, the SEAL team member who put a bullet through Osama bin Laden’s left eye had some explaining to do. In fact, while they won’t be able to tell their own families much, all of the SEAL …
BattlelandNational Security
Here is the video of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin thanking President Bush for helping to hunt down Osama bin Laden. President Bush probably deserves some credit. So does some other guy, who Palin doesn’t name.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/ktRaCh_Y7GQ]
BattlelandCIA
Highly trained, modern counter-terrorism units like the Navy SEAL team that killed Osama bin Laden grew out of the ashes of a charred RH-53D helicopter that lay resting in the Iranian desert after the disastrous 1980 attempt to free American hostages in Tehran. Navy SEAL Team Six, now called the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, …
BattlelandNational Security
SEAL Team Six, which is actually called the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, is one of a small handful of military detachments deployed to conduct the kind of kinetic counter-terrorism raid the unit pulled off in Pakistan over the weekend, resulting in the death of Osama bin Laden.
Based in Virginia, the unit was established …
BattlelandNational Security
Mark Hosenball has a Reuters story up which raises the question of whether U.S. forces sent to capture or kill Osama bin Laden were essentially dispatched only to do the latter. Did President Obama send out a squad of assassins?
This issue is a non-story. Without getting too much into the web of international treaties that make up the …
BattlelandNational Security
It turns out that Abbottabad, Pakistan is just the sort of town you’d expect to find a character like Osama bin Laden hiding — in just the sort of compound where he was found and killed.
The temperate town in northern Pakistan known for attracting tourists is also apparently a popular destination among suspected terrorists. Pakistani …
BattlelandNational Security
The news of Osama bin Laden’s death unfolded in what is becoming typical for a fast-moving 21st-century story. Keith Urbahn, the chief of staff of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, sent the Washington press corps into overdrive with this tweet about bin Laden’s death. Meanwhile, the Internet is already choc full of folks trying …
BattlelandNational Security
The IAEA says the Israeli air strike in Syria in 2007 did, in fact, hit a secret nuclear facility under construction as the United States has long insisted. The UN watchdog apparently tried to backpedal some, awkwardly, after the announcement.
BattlelandNational Security
Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions has penned an opinion piece in the Washington Post alleging that President Obama’s decision to yank the CIA from the lead role in questioning captured suspected terrorists has made the United States more at risk to an attack. His piece has an ominous tone and some frightening examples. Sessions …
BattlelandVeterans
TIME has published an interactive map to help readers understand and explore the jumbled, confusing, and sometimes-contradictory burial paperwork that lurks behind the scandal at Arlington National Cemetery.
Some background facts on understanding the scandal at Arlington:
BattlelandNational Security
With President Obama expected to tap Gen. David Petraeus to head the CIA and likely move agency director Leon Panetta over to be the new Defense Secretary, expect a crowd of military experts, former intelligence officials and retired generals to prattle on with the supposed inside story about what it all means.
You might hear that …
