Here’s our final dispatch from Gayla Romanowsky, who has been filing to Battleland from the new Significant Others Support Group at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. Her husband, Dave, served in Iraq, where he earned a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Gayla attended the sessions, funded by the non-profit Walter Reed Society, to …
Big Risks Lurk in Obama’s Marriage of the CIA and Pentagon
The Wall Street Journal today has a detailed piece on the planning of the raid to kill or capture Osama bin Laden.
Perhaps more importantly, the article uses the planning process as a vehicle to explore the increasingly close relationship between the CIA and the Pentagon’s secretive Joint Special Operations Command, a …
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”: A Gay Officer Witnesses Its End
What a fascinating time to be a gay man in the U.S. military. This time last year, I was sure the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy was here to stay for the next 2 to 3 years. I never thought by now I’d be in a unit where almost everyone has received post-repeal training. While not entirely satisfied with the training …
Pirate Map!
Alas, there’s no X to mark the spot where the treasure is buried. This is the fascinating report — The Economics of Piracy — we cited a couple of weeks ago that noted Somali pirates can make up to $79K annually plying their trade. Finally got a copy of it, here, from the author, Peter Middlebrook of Geopolicity in the UAE.
He …
Sudan Spark Might Ignite Civil War
It’s long been predicted that if Sudan were to degenerate into another bloody civil war it would begin with the hotly contested, oil-rich town of Abeyi, which straddles the border between norther and southern Sudan. Southern Sudan voted for independence from the North early this year, a split that is supposed to take place next month. …
The F-22 Rapture
Sure…we know it’s officially known as the F-22 Raptor. But Harold Camping’s prediction that the Rapture is coming Saturday at 6 p.m. — no matter where you are — has lots of folks in a tizzy. Some of them, no doubt, are looking for clues to the future online by typing “Rapture” into Google and other search engines. If the end of …
GOP Senators Press White House on Legality of Libya War after Friday
Six GOP senators have written President Obama asking if he “intends to comply” with the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which requires the withdrawal of U.S. forces from combat operations within 60 days if Congress has not approved a fight. The war in Libya hits the 60-day mark today.
The letter was signed by Sens. Rand Paul, John Cornyn, …
The Four Horsemen of the Nuclear Apocalypse: In Conversation
In 2007, four elder U.S. statesmen wrote an Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal titled “A World Free of Nuclear Weapons.” Former secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, one-time Defense Secretary William Perry and former Senator Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) had, at various times in their careers, been deeply immersed in the nuclear …
A “Gift of Desperation”: A Marine Reflects on Combat and bin Laden, Who Put Him There
Standing shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the honor graduates from our Officer Candidates School (OCS) class, I accepted my award from the Commanding General with a crisp salute. My transformation from a frat boy trolling Rugby Road at The University of Virginia to a man deemed worthy to lead Marines was finally complete. It was …
Still BUFF at 50!
The B-52H — the last series of the Stratofortress still flying — turns 50 this month. More than 70 of the behemoth bombers continue to fly. “Half a century ago, no one would think this aircraft would be where it is today,” said Maj. Chris Otis, 20th Bomb Squadron assistant operations director at Barksdale Air Force Base, La. “It …
Obama Speech Contains Echoes of Bush Inaugural Address
It is no surprise that both President Bush and now President Obama support the spread of democracy in the Middle East. Still, some sections of Obama’s Middle East speech yesterday and President Bush’s second inaugural address on Jan. 20, 2005 are striking.
Here is President Bush:
Today White House Faces Deadline on Legality of Libya War
The Washington Post argues in an editorial this morning that the White House should follow the law. Specifically, today marks the 60th day of war with Libya. Under the 1973 War Powers Resolution, Obama must begin withdrawing from combat operations today or obtain congressional approval for further military operations.
As I noted …
Painful Chopper Rides: Maintaining Your “Optimal Buttocks Reference Point” Can Kill Your Back — Failure to Do So Can Kill You
A decade of war certainly takes its toll on the brains and minds of those waging it. We’ve seen that in the numbers of troops returning with traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder. Pentagon leaders refer to them as the “signature wounds” of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq because of their prevalence due to …