The U.S. is sending a pair of Patriot anti-missile batteries, and some 400 troops to operate them, to protect NATO ally Turkey from any stray missiles from Syria. German and the Netherlands are slated to do the same.
This is …
The New, Improved Earmarks
Good-government groups and others without financial stakes involved have long criticized lawmakers for adding “earmarks” to defense bills – boosting certain accounts, or at least ordering the Pentagon to spend money on this …
“The most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam, if it's carried out.”
— Then-Senator Chuck Hagel, R-Neb, responding in January, 2007, to President George W. Bush’s plan to send a “surge” of 30,000 U.S. troops to Iraq. Nonetheless, the troops went. Under the command of General David Petraeus, they would help reverse the chaos bordering on civil war then enveloping the country, following the U.S. invasion three years before. Hagel is among the top candidates to succeed Leon Panetta at the Pentagon.
Of Shipmates, On and Off the Water, Pens, and Holidays
I got my Christmas cards out early this year. I had some time after Thanksgiving to write short notes, and I mailed them the end of November. A little early, but I still think it is fun to send and receive, and heaven knows, the …
Red-Winged Greybirds Heading for Home…
The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower steams across the Atlantic Ocean headed for its homeport in Norfolk, Va., Dec. 10, after supporting missions in Afghanistan.
OK in Iraq, But Wounded at Home
Army National Guard Major Selina Herndon recently did an interview with the Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where she was asked how well her unit did once back home following a year-long deployment to Iraq …
Pakistan: Ally or Killer?
Sometimes, like blind men feeling the elephant, you can get a markedly different sense of a situation depending on who is speaking, Check out these two statements, made within hours of one another on opposite sides of the world …
P4: Pulling No Punches on Petraeus and Paula
Sarah Chayes served as a special adviser to then-Army General David Petraeus as he settled into his final Army assignment: running the war in Afghanistan. Over at Foreign Policy, she pens her recollection on how the relationship …
Dedicated Link
The Pentagon’s Cable Guy – you know, the Defense Information Systems Agency – is seeking someone to install a “10 MB fast Ethernet circuit between Tel Aviv, Israel, and Patch Barracks, Germany.”
That’s pretty much …
The War of 1812: Setting the Course for a Superpower
We think of the War of 1812 as one of the nation’s lesser wars (2,260 U.S. KIA), perhaps on par – in our collective memory, at least – with the Spanish-American (385) and Mexican-American (1,733) conflicts. But in this, the …
Election Set to Boost Japan’s Military — Honestly
TOKYO – A stronger military, a more assertive foreign policy and a bunch of new headaches for everybody – that’s what’s likely to come out of this weekend’s elections in Japan. Oh, and maybe a little more honesty about …
National Guard
An anonymous soldier, known but to G — oops, the the photographer — stands guard during a meeting of U.S., allied and Afghan officials in Farah province Dec. 3.