Not only are we hiring too many contractors in Afghanistan — we’re also hiring the wrong ones. A year-long probe into the hiring practices of Afghan private contractors released Thursday has found that some had hired lackeys loyal to warlords involved in kidnapping, murder and the Taliban. “There is significant evidence that some …
The Department of Veterans Affairs has long been viewed as a labyrinth that the nation’s vets have to navigate to get what their country owed them for their military service. In recent years, things have gotten better, due in no small part to a huge increase in its budget. It has soared from $53 billion in 2002 to $125 billion in the …
The smoke is lifting from the air war the U.S. is waging in Pakistan. Yes, a U.S.-Pakistani probe has found, U.S. helicopters did attack and kill two Pakistani Frontier Scouts — members of the Pakistani military — in a border outpost near Afghanistan on September 30. They fired on the outpost because shots came from it, the …
It was nine years ago today that the U.S. launched its war on Afghanistan in retaliation for the 9/11 terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans. Here’s a graf from a file I wrote on the eve of the conflict:
As Pentagon planners chart their next moves into Afghanistan, U.S. special forces have a big decision to make. If they are
…
Good story in this morning’s New York Times on how our military’s thirst for fuel in Afghanistan — and the militants’ success in blowing up trucks carrying it there from Pakistan — is an Achilles’ heel. The Times also focuses on the green push from Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, as we did last April.
The Army this morning details what it …
The military can be a lot like a young, eager-beaver reporter. Sometimes, it feels a need to dump all its data from its notebook to show how hard it’s working, even if the data are worthless. The latest example is from the final report of the Department of Defense Task Force on Prevention of Suicide by Members of the Armed Forces, which …
There’s a call for increased defense spending in this morning’s Wall Street Journal opinion pages. Just as a thunderclap follows lightning, there will soon be a call for more cuts in military spending from the editorial page of the New York Times. There’s no reason you can’t play along with this game at home. To help, here’s a pair of …
Bad luck, they say, comes in threes — and the Navy is getting its trio this morning:
— Some of its $2 billion Virginia-class attack submarines — the most costly sub now being built — are shedding their special stealth coatings, which are designed to make them tougher to detect.
— The new F-35 fighter being developed for its …
…that’s how many contractor personnel we had in Afghanistan and Iraq as of March, according to a Government Accountability Office report released this afternoon. I think I need a drink.
One of the most interesting stories I covered in Washington three decades ago, while working for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, was Texas congressman Charlie Wilson’s effort to help the mujahedeen drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan. It was a heck of a tale, one Hollywood turned into Charlie Wilson’s War, starring Tom Hanks, three years …
Careful readers note that most reporting on military suicides calls them “suspected” suicides, and for a good reason — only after a careful investigation can the authorities make a declaration that someone intentionally took his or her own life. Obviously, errors here can only add to the burden of losing a loved one.
So that’s what …
While the Pentagon’s top military leader spoke of a rash of weekend suicides over breakfast Wednesday, its civilian boss warned in a late afternoon talk at Duke University that the nation and its military are growing apart.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said suicides and war’s other post-combat problems are on the …
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was talking of the military’s ability to fight future wars Wednesday when he suddenly changed gears. “We had five suicides in the Army last weekend,” the nation’s top military officer abruptly volunteered. And, he warned, such horrors are only going to grow.
He almost seemed to …