Insurgents killed Army Sgt. John Paul Castro April 22 in Afghanistan’s Paktika province. He was on his third combat tour — one to Iraq, two to Afghanistan — in his less-than-seven-year career. Castro’s last mission was “a fight that occurred at distances measured in hand-grenade range, within a complex environment of walled mazes …
Military
Collateral Damage on that Indian Fighter Non-Deal
Colleague Jyoti Thottam reports from New Delhi on Time‘s Global Spin blog that U.S. ambassador to India Tim Roemer, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana, has quit following India’s scratching of both U.S. warplanes from its shopping list:
We are…deeply disappointed by this news. We look forward to continuing to grow and
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Panetta’s Pentagon Challenge
Over the past decade, the Pentagon has been run by a bully, a bureaucrat and, soon, a budget-cutter. Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and incumbent Robert Gates had their pluses and minuses, but neither could wield a budget scalpel like Leon Panetta, who President Obama is slated to nominate as the nation’s 23rd defense …
Chilling Tale from Afghanistan…
…will be on the cover of this Sunday’s New York Times Magazine:
“Ask them, ‘Do they understand why we shot this dude?’ ” the lieutenant told his interpreter. During their last patrol to Qualaday, soldiers in the platoon had attacked Mullah Allah Dad with rifles and a fragmentation grenade that blew off the lower halves of his
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Global Policeman
The last time the Government Accountability Office added up how much the Pentagon and other U.S. agencies were spending building police forces around the world was in 1990. The U.S. government spent $180 million that year. In a new report out today, that total has jumped to $3.5 billion, a nearly 2,000% hike.
Afghan Allies?
On Monday, about 500 prisoners, including more than 100 Taliban commanders, escaped from an Afghan-run jail in Kandahar. On Wednesday, a ticked-off Afghan pilot pulled a gun at Kabul airport, killing eight U.S. troops and a contractor before he was killed, news sources report from Afghanistan. The officer “opened fire on foreign …
CBO Defense Option #4
The Congressional Budget Office suggests combining the Pentagon’s separate grocery stores (commissaries) and department stores (exchanges) into one entity, instead of having four separate retail chains. Sounds like a no-brainer, especially given the domestic competition many of these outfits now face from places like Walmart. …
Military Exercises
Those SEAL commandos — their nickname represents their prowess on SEa, Air and Land — are a tough bunch. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus was out at their training school in Coronado, Calif., recently. He says he was amazed by the strength of even those just beginning the rigorous regimen to become a member of the Navy’s special-ops …
Gaddafi’s Daughter…
Fascinating interview with the Libyan leader’s 36-year-old daughter, Aisha, in Wednesday’s New York Times. This is one special lady: not only is Muammar Gaddafi the grandfather of her three kids, but she also served as a member of Saddam Hussein’s legal team.
“The opposition in Iraq told the West that when you come to Iraq they will
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Libya: Alice in Wonderland, Meet George Orwell
Defense Secretary Robert Gates declared Tuesday that because Muammar Gaddafi’s residential compound serves as a command-and-control node for his military forces, it is a legitimate target for U.S. and NATO aircraft to attack. But the person who actually does the commanding and controlling? Not so much. “We are not targeting him …
CBO Defense Option #3
The Congressional Budget Office offers up another option that won’t affect troops or hardware — force retirees to pay more for their post-military health care. Half the military’s officers and 15 percent of its enlisted force retire from the service, allowing them access to this bargain. The family fee since the system was revamped …
China: Behold the Flying Shark
The Chinese have released new photographs of their J-15 Flying Shark jet fighter, supposedly designed to fly off Beijing’s yet-to-sail aircraft carrier. This is part of a long-standing great-power game of fan-dancing a new capability, in hopes it will instill fear (and perhaps bankruptcy) in potential foes, while helping to keep …
Great Minds &c.
James Dubik makes the same point Tuesday in a New York Times op-ed that I made this morning about the wisdom, or lack thereof, of targeting Gaddafi. He even used the same word: charade. Of course, as a retired Army lieutenant general, he’s leery of airpower’s power:
So far, we have chosen an instrument — airstrikes — that is
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