Is It Propaganda?

To preface my post I need to include a bit of personal history….I was a grunt in Vietnam…wounded a couple of times….and found NOTHING positive about my experience in combat…with the exception that it gave me a burning desire to see that Americans would not die needlessly for some vague concept issued by the government…my [...]

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Af-Pak Report

Lots of bitching in the news…will we or won’t we send more troops to Afghanistan?  Yesterday Obama said that “staying in Afghanistan is the only option.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said that walking away isn’t a viable option to deal with a war that is about to enter its ninth year.
“I don’t think we have [...]

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Pakistan Flexes Its Muscle

What little muscle they have to flex.
We all know that al-Qaeda is holding up in Northwest Pakistan and the Pakistanis are slow to handle that situation.  The US has said it will pursue the bad guys anywhere, anytime and to do their best to break the terrorists back.
Anti war.com is reporting:
The United States reportedly delivered [...]

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We Need More Troops

First, the teacher in me weants to ask this question, who said the following?
“Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) — while ……. security capacity matures — risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible,”
A) Washington  B) Westmoreland  C) McChrystal  D) Jackson
Since I am [...]

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Afghanistan: What Have We Accomplished?

An Inkwell Institute paper
Subject:  Foreign Policy
Just recently Sen. McCain has called for more troops for deployment to Afghanistan–of all the people in the Congress, I do not understand McCain position.  Did he not learn anything from his deployment to Vietnam?  Does he not recall that an increase in troop strength came with an increase of [...]

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Here We Go Again…….

I recall in the 80’s the uptick of the right wing militias; the standoffs with survivalists, and the violence in the Northwest.  I was thankful that the “fad” died out somewhat, but as usual, I was mistaken, they did not die out, thewy just went on silent running.
Some months ago, the DHS issued a report [...]

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The Story That Is Blackwater

They are baaaack!  You know that “security” firm that hires mercenaries, oh sorry…my bad….ex-soldiers to work as security across the world…..mostly in the armed conflict areas like Iraq and Afghanistan.
Two ex-employees of the company have turned into whistle blowers for the government.  In a report by Scott Horton some of the allegations against Blackwater, oh [...]

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Should We Go Or Should We Stay?

First of all, I would like to thank the Clash for the title.
Now a memo circulating around Washington from an US Adviser says that it is time of the US to pack up and go home. I have heard all the rhetoric from the pundits that say the Right will blame Obama for any [...]

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Did Hell Freeze Over?

I awoke yesterday to a report that Israel’s hard line prime minister, Netanyahu has stated that he is open to the idea of a separate Palestinian state.  My first reaction was, “did hell freeze over?”
After I did some research I found that he had said he would accept a Palestinian state but wioth a few [...]

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USS Liberty Incident

USS Liberty Incident
Recently I visited a local Naval Retirement Home with the hopes of interviewing some WWII vets and to get some interviews for a piece I was working on about the feelings the vets had after the war was over and if there were any problems readjusting to civilian life.  There were 4 vets [...]

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