BattlelandTerrorism
Word from Afghanistan that a suspected key enabler of the attack on Kabul’s Intercontinental Hotel Tuesday night was killed in a precision air strike Wednesday:
KABUL, Afghanistan – The International Security Assistance force confirmed today a top Haqqani Network leader suspected of providing material support to the Kabul suicide
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BattlelandVeterans
Two new voices here on Battleland — both important. Both historic. Both women.
Our newest Battleland crew member is retired U.S. Navy commander Darlene Iskra. Not only was she the first woman ever to command a Navy ship, she’s also been an answer — or is that a question? — on Jeopardy (check it out here — she’s the $1,600 clue …
BattlelandWeapons
Departing defense secretary Robert Gates is the 10th military chief I have covered since Harold Brown was running Jimmy Carter’s Pentagon. After a private dinner at the White House on Wednesday night, and a final ruffles and flourishes sendoff at the Pentagon on Thursday, Gates will fly off for his home in Washington state and never …
BattlelandWeapons
Fascinating series of photographs of Tuesday night’s attack — and counter-attack — on Kabul’s Intercontinental Hotel by Nazir Ekhlass, and posted on war blogger Michael Yon’s website.
BattlelandWeapons
OK. It’s not much, but every little bit helps. Thanks to a new airspace access deal with Russia — with Russia! — a U.S. KC-135 refueling tanker was able to fly from Washington state to the big U.S. base in Kyrgyzstan via the North Pole last week. The Manas base in Kyrgyzstan is a major support hub for the war in Afghanistan. The …
BattlelandPentagon
BattlelandNational Security
War remains forever about perceptions, absent the signing of instruments of surrender.
Last week: “We’ve inflicted serious losses on the Taliban,” President Obama declared as he announced U.S. troops will start coming home next month.
Last night: nine Taliban suicide bombers stormed one of the most posh and protected hotels in
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BattlelandNational Security
Last week, the Pentagon told you the costs of the war on terror had eclipsed $1 trillion. Wednesday morning, a panel of academics experienced in war accounting says that’s only a down payment — and that its real, total cost is around $5 trillion.
Five trillion dollars: that’s $16,000 per American; $64,000 for a family of four.
BattlelandPentagon
Gallup is out with its periodic poll on which military service is the “most important” to national defense. Makes about as much sense as pointing to a toolbox and asking: what tool in there is most important? It all depends on the job at hand. A hammer makes little sense when you need to cut a 2-by-4. But common sense like that might …
BattlelandTroops
BattlelandPentagon
Former USA Today military reporter Kirk Spitzer finds the recent uptick in chatter about U.S. forces leaving Afghanistan and Iraq just a little bit funny — because he now lives in Japan:
The wars are over. The occupations are done. It’s time to bring the troops home. But anyone who thinks US forces will depart Iraq or Afghanistan any
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BattlelandWeapons
While the Pentagon stresses the need for new weapons to defend the nation, contractors — and their congressional representatives — know that the need for new armaments alone doesn’t keep them rolling off the assembly line. That takes jobs. Contractors aren’t being coy about it anymore. Check out this nifty map of the United States …
BattlelandVeterans
The Pentagon — surprise! — has been unable to find who leaked word to the Washington Post last November that an early Defense Department assessment concluded there would be “little risk” if the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ban on openly gay men and women serving in uniform were scrapped. While Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered that the …
