The Washington Post reports this morning that repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and letting openly gay men and women serve in uniform would have minimal impact on the nation’s fighting forces, according to a Pentagon group investigating the matter.
Veterans Day
Thank you.
Fort Hood Probe: Army Chooses Its Words Carefully
The Army has just released its internal investigation into the Fort Hood shootings a year ago that left 13 people dead at the hands, according to eye-witnesses, of Maj. Nidal Hasan. He’s the Army psychiatrist and Muslim who shouted — according to some of those witnesses — “Allah Akbar” (“God is great”) as he methodically killed 12 …
Tea Party Fuel
A pair of stories out this morning highlights just how fat and wealthy your nation’s capital has become. It’s the kind of information that’s likely to turbo-charge Tea Party anger as the rest of the nation struggles with its continuing economic woes. In times past, young Americans would head to major manufacturing cities like Detroit, …
Portrait Of A Cash-Strapped Military
Money has become so tight at the Pentagon that the nation’s top military officer has decided he doesn’t need a formal oil portrait, costing tens of thousands of dollars, to commemorate his tenure. Instead, Admiral Mike Mullen is going to basically photocopy the portrait already done of him in his prior job as chief of naval operations. …
Vroom! Boom!
No sooner does Defense Secretary Robert Gates succeed in ending production of the Air Force’s F-22 fifth-generation jet fighter than the service is off into the wild blue yonder developing its sixth. The so-called Next Generation Tactical Aircraft — they always begin with boring names before the marketeers get involved and dub them …
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Reaches High Court
The pro-gay Republican group seeking to overturn the Pentagon’s ban on gay men and women serving openly in the U.S. military has asked the Supreme Court to sweep aside an appellate court’s decision keeping the policy in place while the lower court considers the case. Depending on where you march, there’s both good and bad news …
Future Fact Or Fiction?
A new and striking TV ad, slated to run on cable networks into next year, is produced by Citizens Against Government Waste. The group has maintained for decades has that deficit spending will ruin our children’s future. That apparently hasn’t done the trick: when a founder of the non-partisan group rolled out an anti-deficit TV …
They Don't Like Ike
Rep. Ike Skelton was one of the Democratic heavyweights felled in Tuesday’s election. As chairman of the House Armed Services Committee – and a Missouri congressman for 34 years – I’ve covered him since coming to Washington nearly that long ago. “For my entire life, I’ve had a love affair with the state of Missouri — that love …
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Remains the Law
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals – regarded as one of the most liberal in the land – decided Monday that the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that bars openly gay men and women from serving in the military stays in place, at least for now.
A 2-1 ruling extends a stay preserving the ban as the Justice Department …
"Know The Enemy"
Sun Tzu, the Dave Petraeus of 500 B.C. China, coined the phrase. So just who is the enemy in Afghanistan? As we near President Obama’s promised December review – likely to lead to tweaking, rather than shifting, U.S. strategy there – it’s a vital question. Bill Roggio of Long War Journal has distilled the contents of a newly-released …
"Every Marine Is A Rifleman"
That’s not a boast – it’s the truth. The average Marine is younger than those in the other military services, and more likely to be a trigger-puller. Youth and weapons probably explain this rash of recent shootings at Marine targets in the Washington area, including a second fusillade at the National Museum of the Marine Corps at …
The Littlest Soldiers
The Pentagon always has had an exquisite sense of timing. Take this week, for example. The U.S. military announced Wednesday it has launched a website – myfuture.com – so youngsters can learn more about military careers. “The fact is, we found existing career and/or college exploration websites not affiliated with the DoD provide …