Since it doesn’t have nuclear weapons yet, Iran is playing the lone trump card in its hand: threatening to shut down the Strait of Hormuz through which Persian Gulf oil flows to fuel much of the world’s economy. Iranian navy …
Military
War Costs Too Much
To find out why, check out this Army solicitation seeking five Top Secret-cleared security-guard slots staffed 24/7 for the Combined Joint Intelligence Operations Camp in Kabul, Afghanistan. It clocks in at 117 pages. Something …
“Clintonizing” Perpetual War
In the winter of 2002, a close friend, a liberal staffer on Capitol Hill, asked me if I thought the crazy fulminations of the neocons and the tough-guy rantings of an insecure President [1] could result in a war with Iraq? My answer was something like ‘read the Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August and you will get a good idea of …
Sexual-Harassment Reports at Military Academies Jump 59%
What better time than the dead week between Christmas and New Year’s to whisper to the world that reported allegations of sexual assault and harassment at the nation’s military academies soared from 41 during the 2010 academic year to 65 in the school year that ended in May?
The increase has triggered a policy change …
A Right Jolly Old Elf
General Newt
Former – and missed! — colleague Karen Tumulty takes a look at GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s military bonafides in Tuesday’s Washington Post. Just not sure getting Doug Feith — the No. 3 official at the …
Lost & Found Department: Iraq
“Fog of (NATO) War”
Last week, the Pentagon blamed both the U.S. military and Pakistan for the Nov. 26 Afghan-Pakistan frontier snafu that killed 24 Pakistani troops. On Monday, U.S. Central Command released a written report that added NATO to the …
Hope — If Not Home — For the Holidays
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Absent momentous news, this is likely to be Battleland’s final pre-Christmas post. Given the lack of sources in D.C. through New Year’s, we’ll be scaling back on our posts in the coming week, too. But before we start our holiday shopping, let’s end …
Mettle of Honor?
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Texas Governor Rick Perry has a new TV spot featuring a pair of Medal of Honor recipients endorsing his candidacy for President. Not sure if Americans will view this as a reason to vote for him – for the heroes’ heartfelt feelings — or against him, for turning the nation’s …
“We Had to Destroy the Airport In Order to Save It.”
As we finish, so to speak, our military mission in Iraq – and are looking toward the exit in Afghanistan – it’s worth noting that some war costs surface long after the fighting is over, and the U.S. troops who did that fighting have become grandparents:
$1,827,659,806
Is “Don’t Ask” to Blame for Bradley Manning and WikiLeaks?
No single man has made gays in the military look worse than Army PFC Bradley Manning: alleged leaker of hundreds of thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks. Anyone found guilty of intentionally weakening our nation’s security is deplorable and deserves harsh punishment. The one thing still irking me about …