If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The Blog
Knowledge may indeed have its risks, but how many civilian deaths can actually be traced to the WikiLeaks revelations? How many military deaths? To the best of anyone's knowledge, not a single one.
The implications of Iran's growing bellicosity are increasingly more difficult for the United States.
Proclaim it from the rooftops: No, America is not "over." Yet a growing accumulation of evidence suggests that America today is not the America of 1945. Everyone else on the planet understands this. Perhaps it's finally time for Americans to do so as well.
In the world of weaponry, they are the sexiest things around. Others countries are desperate to have them. Almost anyone who writes about them becomes a groupie. They are, of course, the pilotless drones, our grimly named Predators and Reapers.
When he received the 2011 Liberty Medal at the National Constitution Center last Thursday night, former Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates had some scathing comments about the state of our democracy.
No single individual or organization brought about the tremendous feat of dismantling "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT). In the best military tradition, repeal was a team accomplishment.
Let us examine Obama by the standard of his cabinet members, advisers, and favored influences. His taste in associates at these extremes may tell us something about the moral and political personality in the middle.
Iraq is ending like most wars -- far more costly in blood and treasure and far worse in geopolitical effects than expected. The U.S. should not have invaded Iraq. President Obama can't undo the ill effects of the war, but he can avoid the costs of a permanent occupation.
As the rest of Washington is bracing for cuts, the funding spigot for nuclear weapons and delivery systems is about to get thrown wide open. What does this say about our security priorities?
We still don't know if he did it or not, but if the 24-year-old Army private from Oklahoma actually supplied WikiLeaks with its choicest material, then he deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom instead of a jail cell at Fort Leavenworth.
Gates has often spoke of a "sacred contract" between the American people and our military. But the burden of caring for our wounded cannot and should not be borne by our government alone.
Today, the post-9/11 fever finally shows signs of abating. Despite the urges of some in the Obama administration, after nearly a decade of self-destructive flailing about, American recovery has become a distinct possibility.
Go figure: today, our "covert" wars are front-page news. What follows are nine common terms associated with our present wars that probably don't mean what you think they mean.
Does the president's troop withdrawal from Afghanistan represent a qualitative change in official American thinking about its stakes in the region and in the wider 'war on terror'?
By providing a model for effective Pentagon administration suitable for emulation, Gates has accomplished far more, under more challenging circumstances, than virtually all of his predecessors.
