Peter Beinart makes a good point about our massive defense budget and undeclared wars… In modern times, conservative presidents like Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush have tried to reconcile their efforts to rein in federal power with their support for a large military and an interventionist foreign policy. But both times, the latter has [...]

In a story about a White House adviser being briefed about the underwear bomb technique in October comes this tidbit at the very end… White House officials say President Obama has been keenly focused on the Qaeda threat from Yemen for months. As the NEWSWEEK story reports, the president has authorized a covert war in [...]

He reminds America why we’re fighting, how we almost won in Afghanistan, how we got off course because of Iraq (without laying blame), how we plan to fix it and that this isn’t an open ended commitment. He even goes so far as to talk about when he’ll start bringing people home: July 2011. All [...]

Good evening. To the United States Corps of Cadets, to the men and women of our armed services, and to my fellow Americans: I want to speak to you tonight about our effort in Afghanistan – the nature of our commitment there, the scope of our interests, and the strategy that my Administration will pursue [...]

It’s a little known fact that one of the big reasons Iraq turned around is we simply offered a better price than al Qaeda. Within a month the word got out that we were paying top dollar and the insurgents were turning against the terrorists and the US body count started to drop. Will the [...]

George Will writes today that we should pull out of Afghanistan and instead focus on Pakistan. Even though I still think we should stay (and I’ll get into why), at this point he has my ear… U.S. forces are being increased by 21,000, to 68,000, bringing the coalition total to 110,000. About 9,000 are from [...]

” I think the interrogations were in violation of the Geneva Convention against torture that we ratified under President Reagan. I think that these interrogations, once publicized, helped al Qaeda recruit. I got that from an al Qaeda operative in a prison camp in Iraq who told me that. I think that the ability of [...]

What do George Bush, Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama have in common? Cindy Sheehan. The anti-war protester who used to stake herself at George Bush’s ranch in Texas will now follow the Obamas’ to their vacation at Martha’s Vineyard. Her cause is to protest the continuing wars in the Middle East. She also ran against [...]

During this weekend’s D-Day remembrance ceremony, President Obama urged us not to forget those who fought for our freedom and what they managed to achieve. Many estimate we are losing as many as 1,200 WW II veterans every day in America alone. But there’s no reason we have to lose their stories. For those of [...]

2008 Senator Lindsey Graham seems to disagree with 2009 Lindsey Graham. This is Mike Fritz and David Murdock from ANP. Senator Lindsey Graham was a passionate critic of the Bush Justice attorneys during this past summer’s Armed Services Committee hearings on interrogation. Lately, however, Graham seems to have had second thoughts on the matter. At [...]

While some have worried that the Democratic controlled Congress might strip our war efforts of funding, that wasn’t the case in the House where members passed $97 billion in war funding by a vote of 368-60 — $12 billion more than President Obama requested. The senate is in the process of passing a similar bill, [...]

For those who’ve worried that under the command of President Obama, our military in Iraq won’t be able to adjust to realities on the ground, there’s this story out of Mosul. Conditions in the region are not good and our forces are likely postpone the scheduled withdrawal if Iraqi authorities ask us to stay. Army [...]

The phrase “war on terror” may no longer be in vogue, but the fight against terrorism remains a top priority, as confirmed by President Obama’s announcement today: Obama warned that al-Qaida is actively planning attacks on the United States from secret havens in Pakistan. He said he was setting new benchmarks and sending in 4,000 [...]

Looks like President Obama isn’t the reactionary pacifist some of his critics (and supporters) thought he was. Tomorrow, the administration is expected to announce a major increase in forces in Afghanistan. Confronting an inherited and faltering war, President Barack Obama plans to dispatch thousands more military and civilian trainers to Afghanistan by the fall on [...]

President Obama has decided to relegate the term “enemy combatant” to the waste bin of the Bush era. The Obama administration is abandoning one of President George W. Bush’s key phrases in the war on terrorism: enemy combatant In court filings Friday, the Justice Department said it will no longer use the term to justify [...]

One of my favorite comedians is on his way overseas to entertain our brave men and women and he’s posting a lot of pictures and commentary detailing the whole thing. Here’s the first entry… Last December (2008) I went to Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the Seargent Major Tour for the USO. I [...]

The Department of Defense has altered the policy concerning the photography of America’s returning war dead. Now, news organizations will be allowed to photograph and disseminate photos of flag-draped coffins — as long as the families of the fallen soldiers give permission. While the no-photographs policy has been in place since 1991, the issue became [...]

Barack Obama’s early campaign was fueled, in part, by his opposition to the war in Iraq. Now, as president, he looks ready to live up to his promise to remove our troops from the nation we invaded almost six years ago. Obama’s plan would pull out all combat troops 19 months after his inauguration, although [...]

A U.S. combat outpost in the endless mountains of Afghanistan President Obama said in his campaign that he would shift U.S. attention to the war in Afghanistan and rethink American strategy there.  It’s clear he intends to do just that.  But according to a New York Times story sourced to “senior administration officials,” in a [...]

Kind of an odd statement coming from a guy who accepted a paid gig to be a war correspondent, but hey…it’s not like Pajamas TV is paying Wurzelbacher to be consistent or even correct. AP reports… And here’s a partial transcript just in case you can’t see the video… I’ll be honest with you. I [...]