Greg Reeson
Greg Reeson is a Senior Writer for GOPUSA and a Featured Writer for The New Media Journal and The Veteran's Voice. He is the author of the forthcoming "Persistent Conflict: Redefining the War on Terror," due out in 2009.
Articles by Greg Reeson
July 09, 2009
The United States and its European allies have tried for years to negotiate with Iran in an effort to resolve questions concerning Tehran´s suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons. Thus far, those efforts have yielded no progress, and it appears that the patience of some key players is quickly we...
June 23, 2009
Any hope that the result of last week´s presidential election in Iran might be overturned is now, more than likely, gone. More than 200 of the 290 members of Iran´s parliament have endorsed the victory of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has de...
June 03, 2009
The United States is in the early stages of a concerted effort to salvage the war in Afghanistan. A new commander has been charged with executing a fresh strategy, the number of U.S. military personnel committed to the fight is set to nearly double, air strikes by unmanned drones have expanded in fr...
May 06, 2009
Earlier this year I wrote an article in which I offered four steps the United States might take to prevent Pakistan from becoming a failed state. They were to strengthen the Pakistani government through targeted economic aid; to reorient the Pakistani military away from confrontation with India and ...
April 16, 2009
The recent pirate attack on the Maersk Alabama off the coast of Somalia was the first such attack by pirates on a U.S.-flagged ship in more than 200 years. Shortly after the U.S. Navy rescued the ship´s captain, Richard Phillips, pirates responded by seizing three more vessels and firing on an...
April 01, 2009
The United States and its allies are in danger of losing the war in Afghanistan. The level of violence has risen steadily over the past seven years, the Taliban are in control of large portions of the countryside, insurgent elements operate with near impunity from safe havens in Pakistan, the Karzai...
March 19, 2009
The United States is preparing to chart a new course in Afghanistan. The Obama Administration has already made the decision to send 17,000 more American troops to battle Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, with more likely to follow later in the year, and a thorough review of U.S. strategy in the war is ...
March 04, 2009
President Obama entered office promising the American people that he would shift the country´s military focus away from a steadily improving situation in Iraq and toward Afghanistan, where violence and instability have increased each year since the United States launched its bid to oust the Taliban ...
February 13, 2009
The United States and its allies are in danger of losing the war in Afghanistan. A resurgent Taliban is in control of large parts of the country, the central government in Kabul is corrupt and incapable of exerting its authority beyond the capital, a flourishing drug trade is financing criminals, wa...
January 27, 2009
On his first full day as Commander-in-Chief, President Barack Obama met with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen, CENTCOM commander General David Petraeus, and Iraq commander General Raymond Odierno, and directed them to begin planning for ...
January 05, 2009
When Israel agreed to the cease-fire agreement that ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006, it suffered a strategic defeat that the Israeli government now has a chance to correct. The ongoing operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip offer an opportunity not only to restore the pre-2006 balance of po...
December 09, 2008
With security gains made over the past 18 months holding and slow-but-steady political accommodation taking root in Baghdad, it appears the United States is growing closer to the end of its active combat role in Iraq. President-elect Barack Obama, who has consistently expressed his opposition to the...
November 19, 2008
President-elect Barack Obama has been receiving classified, presidential-level intelligence briefings for more than a week now. These briefings, which involve highly detailed, sensitive information not shared with Senators or presidential candidates, are no doubt giving the incoming president a new ...
October 30, 2008
Last weekend, U.S. military forces conducted a raid inside Syrian territory in an attempt to capture or kill the leader of a network that funneled foreign fighters, weapons, and money into Iraq to combat coalition and Iraqi forces. In early September, the United States launched the first known groun...
October 19, 2008
Afghanistan and the Teekell Doctrine
A week or so ago it was revealed that a leaked cable from a French diplomat claimed the British Ambassador to Afghanistan had referred to the current strategy against the Taliban and al Qaeda as "doomed to fail" and had called for the installation of an "acce...
October 13, 2008
The United States is asking its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to cough up more military forces for the war in Afghanistan. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates just finished making the rounds at a two-day conference of NATO defense ministers in Budapest, Hungary, in an effort to wi...
September 22, 2008
The U.S. – Pakistan relationship is in crisis. Tensions continue to mount between the Bush Administration and a fractured Pakistani government over violations of Pakistan´s sovereignty by American military forces, and Pakistan´s commitment to the war on terror is growing more tenuous by ...
September 04, 2008
The New York Times ran an article September 3rd citing campaign aides as saying the McCain campaign would focus on U.S. successes in Iraq, particularly in the once troubled Anbar Province, as it heads into the final stretch of the election season following this week´s Republican National Conve...
August 28, 2008
An increasing number of reports coming out of Iraq indicate that the United States and the Maliki government are close to completing an agreement for the continued presence of U.S. forces. Reuters even reported August 25 that Prime Minister Maliki, in a speech to tribal sheiks in the Green Zone, has...
August 19, 2008
Late in the day on August 7, Georgian military forces entered the breakaway republic of South Ossetia in Georgia´s north central region in an effort to reclaim control of the hotly contested province. Less than 48 hours later, Russian troops entered the fray, ostensibly to protect Russian peac...
July 29, 2008
As he neared the end of his much-heralded "fact-finding" tour of the Middle East and Europe late last week, Senator and Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama called on Iran to quickly agree to international demands to freeze its uranium enrichment program. His words are ringing hollow in Tehr...
July 02, 2008
As the November presidential election draws near, the issue of Iran´s nuclear program will undoubtedly be thrust to the forefront of the candidates´ debate. Senator Obama has advocated direct presidential diplomacy with Iran without any preconditions whatsoever. Senator McCain has reject...
June 13, 2008
This past weekend on Fox News Sunday, Brit Hume remarked that the upcoming presidential election had little to do with John McCain and was instead a referendum on the Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama. Is the country ready for an African American president? Are Americans searching for somethi...
May 22, 2008
Over the past few months, several factors have contributed to what appears to be a renewed focus by the Bush administration on the war in Afghanistan. Of course, the ongoing violence in Iraq is still center stage at the White House, in the Congress, on the campaign trail, and in the minds of America...
April 21, 2008
Former President Jimmy Carter raised more than a few eyebrows with his Middle East excursion for talks with leaders of the terrorist group Hamas. Many articles have been written about Carter´s motives, his hidden agenda, his bias against Israel, and his demonstrated distaste for all things Bus...
March 28, 2008
In mid-2006, the media was obsessed with the fact that the number of U.S. casualties in Iraq had reached 2,500, a number repeatedly referred to as a "grim milestone" and a "tragic benchmark." By the end of that year, the casualty count had reached 3,000 and the headlines were once again full of catc...
March 24, 2008
You´ve heard them say it over and over again. Certain congressional leaders and presidential candidates repeating the mantra for audiences around the country: "Iraq is not part of the war on terror." "The real terrorists are in Afghanistan." "By going into Iraq, we took our eye off the ball." ...
March 05, 2008
On Sunday, March 2, Russian voters went to the polls and overwhelmingly elected First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to succeed Vladimir Putin as president of Russia. Of course, the election was a farce by western standards. Medvedev was handpicked for the presidency by Putin, faced no substa...
February 15, 2008
Political primary rhetoric aside, it is unlikely that either Clinton or Obama could bring home large numbers of troops from Iraq if elected President.
January 02, 2008
It is, of course, impossible to know for sure what dangers the United States will face in 2008. Russian aggressiveness, Chinese military investment, Pakistani instability, and the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are obvious threats that need to be addressed, but the security problems faced by t...
December 20, 2007
Russia’s recent shipment of uranium fuel rods to Iran has moved the Islamic Republic one step closer to having an operational nuclear power facility in the southern city of Bushehr, and one step closer to shifting the long-standing balance of power in the Middle East. Iran’s continuing nuclear devel...
December 10, 2007
It appears increasingly likely that a unilateral declaration of independence will soon be made by Kosovo, perhaps as early as December 10. By that date, negotiators from the European Union, the United States, and Russia will have submitted a report to the United Nations on efforts to reach a consens...
December 03, 2007
Those familiar with my writings know that I expend a considerable amount of time and energy analyzing the Iraq War and our nation’s fight against Islamic extremism. As a soldier who has served in Iraq twice, and who has witnessed the wounding and deaths of friends and fellow soldiers, the war is a s...
November 19, 2007
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s April proclamation that the Iraq war was “lost” and the surge ordered by President Bush last January was not accomplishing anything generated a significant amount of debate about the conflict and America’s prospects for a successful outcome. In fairness to Senator...
October 31, 2007
There’s been a noticeable decrease in the anti-war rhetoric coming out of Washington lately, no doubt because there has been a noticeable lack of bad news coming out of Iraq. Each day, more critics of President Bush’s Iraq policy are being forced to recognize that things on the ground do in fact see...
October 23, 2007
For years, now, the international community has been wrestling with the issue of Iran’s continued development of nuclear technology. Despite a history of deception and obstruction by the government in Tehran, the United Nations has made precious little progress toward its stated goal of halting Iran...
October 12, 2007
Some of the most interesting experiences I have had during my travels to and from the war in Iraq involved the necessary fuel stops in other nations along the route that would take me to Kuwait, the jumping off point for military forces and equipment rotating into the Iraq Theater of Operations. Bot...
September 27, 2007
Strategic Forecasting (STRATFOR), a private geopolitical intelligence company based in Austin, recently published an analysis stating that the United States was attempting “…to make Iran feel isolated, make Iran fear that its foes are on the verge of using military force, make Iran feel like talks w...
September 21, 2007
Over the past two years, there has been a noticeable shift in European politics toward the center and right of the political spectrum. It began with conservative electoral victories in Germany and Poland in 2005, and was followed by similar electoral results in Sweden in 2006 and in Finland and Fran...
September 05, 2007
When conservative Nicolas Sarkozy defeated socialist Segolene Royal for the French presidency earlier this year, media pundits and political analysts alike speculated that we were witnessing the dawn of a new era in U.S. – French relations that had been severely strained when Jacques Chirac was at t...
August 17, 2007
As the U.S. Congress and Iraqi parliament enjoy their summer recesses, reports from military officials and independent analysts in Iraq indicate that President Bush’s so-called “surge” strategy for Baghdad and al-Anbar Province is beginning to have its desired effect. A serious reading of events sin...
July 26, 2007
The recent release of a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) asserting that al-Qaeda has regrouped in Pakistan has resulted in a significant amount of debate about the Global War on Terror and the efforts the United States is undertaking in its prosecution of that war. While congressmen, media pundi...
July 11, 2007
Howard Zinn, writing recently in The Progressive, said that this Independence Day Americans “…would have done well to renounce nationalism and all its symbols: its flags, its pledges of allegiance, its anthems, its insistence in song that God must single out America to be blessed.” His column was an...
July 06, 2007
“We finally got the troops there. Americans have got to understand, it takes a while to mobilize additional troops and move them from the United States to Iraq. We got them there, and now we’re beginning to move.”—President George W. Bush, Speech at the Naval War College, June 28, 2007.
With the...
June 30, 2007
In its just published Third Quarter Forecast for 2007, private intelligence firm Strategic Forecasting (STRATFOR) predicts that the governments of the United States and Iran “…are now closer than ever to reaching an agreement…” on Iraq. If such a deal is indeed finalized, STRATFOR expects Iraq to “…...
June 22, 2007
Private intelligence company Strategic Forecasting, Inc. (STRATFOR) recently published an article describing what it sees as the imminent end of the leftist domination of Europe. Specifically, the article says, “…2007 will see the end of the left as a leading force on the Continent.”
In its anal...
June 19, 2007
It seems that saying the Iraq war was already “lost” was just not quite enough for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). Apparently he and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) sent a letter to President Bush saying, “…the escalation has failed to produce the intended results.” So final judgm...
June 14, 2007
The Washington Times reported June 11 that Democrats in the House and Senate are currently circulating more than forty pieces of legislation that would seek to end America’s involvement in Iraq. The Times quotes Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as saying, “We’re fairly well set up now as to how we’...
June 08, 2007
As the United Nations Security Council prepares to debate a third round of sanctions against Iran for its continuing refusal to stop its uranium enrichment program, it is time for the five permanent, veto-wielding states to get serious about their efforts to curb the ambitions of an increasing power...
May 30, 2007
The Guardian (UK) reported in its May 22, 2007 edition that Iran is working to establish ties with al-Qaeda elements and Sunni insurgents in order to launch a major summer offensive against coalition forces in Iraq. The intent of such an operation, if the factional elements could pull it off, would ...
May 17, 2007
If you were to ask a stranger on the street to name the top talk radio personalities in the country, you would inevitably receive an answer that included the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly. The problem with all of them, according to some Democrats, is that they on...
May 09, 2007
A professional acquaintance of mine, who is affiliated with the Kurdistan National Assembly of Syria, recently forwarded me an article about a speech delivered at a conference of Kurdish leaders from Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran. The author of the article, Dr. Jack Wheeler (who also gave the speech ...
May 01, 2007
Given the steady flow of anti-war and anti-surge rhetoric spewing from the mouths of the Congressional majority and Presidential candidates seeking the Party’s nomination, I have to wonder if key Democratic players suffer from a genuine lack of understanding regarding the threats we face if we fail ...
April 28, 2007
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates revealed a few months ago a plan to form a new African command in response to the increasing strategic importance of the continent in the Global War on Terror. The new command, known as AfriCom, is expected to begin initial operations this fall and should be fu...
April 24, 2007
This past weekend, when I took my family to a nearby amusement park, I noticed several t-shirts worn by park patrons that made me think about a racial double standard that exists in this country, one that was recently highlighted by the firing of radio and television host Don Imus.
Some of the t...
April 09, 2007
There’s general agreement among Americans that when it comes to the subject of bias in the mainstream media, Republicans and Democrats hold very different views. The former often complain that the major news organizations slant considerably to the left, and the latter often counter that the media is...
April 04, 2007
Much of the hype about whether Barack Obama was “black enough” for the African-American community had died down when reports began to surface that the Reverend Al Sharpton had complained about Obama’s “blackness.” Specifically, the reports alleged, Sharpton was concerned that Obama had never been ac...
March 28, 2007
Normally I don’t tune in to 60 Minutes on Sunday evenings, but this past weekend I made an exception so that I could watch the much-publicized Katie Couric interview with Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth. After the interview concluded, I realized that I had neve...
March 19, 2007
As the Senate and House of Representatives continue to work feverishly on measures criticizing the President’s conduct of the war in Iraq and calling for immediate to near-term troop withdrawals, a clear message is being sent to terrorists throughout the world: America does not have the stomach for ...
March 09, 2007
At the beginning of this year, the Multi-National Force-Iraq military command released its annual report on the state of affairs in the war-torn country once dominated by Saddam Hussein’s dictatorial regime. Called “Iraq: 2006 Year in Review,” the 25-page report offers some valuable insight into the...
February 22, 2007
Despite voting to authorize the use of force against Iraq in 2002, Senator and would-be-President Hillary Clinton is now calling for a 90-day deadline to start the redeployment of American troops from what is erroneously called a Sunni – Shiite civil war. Since Mrs. Clinton steadfastly refuses to ap...
February 01, 2007
Well, it’s tax time again. As I try to make some sense of the seemingly bottomless pile of papers required to balance my account with the federal government, it strikes me that now, more than ever, is the perfect time to implement a flat tax.
Let’s face it. Our current tax system is broken. It i...
January 29, 2007
Since the President first unveiled his new strategy for Iraq on January 10th, there has been no shortage of critics claiming the plan was doomed to failure, even before the Defense Department began to work on its implementation. Using the cover of Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution, which ves...
January 25, 2007
When President Bush unveiled his new strategy for dealing with the ongoing violence in Iraq, he made it a point to reinforce a fact that he and the rest of the world have known for some time now: that Iran and Syria are directly responsible for fomenting violence in Iraq to further their regional in...
January 19, 2007
In November of last year, I wrote an article speculating about whether or not the Israelis would take the matter of Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons into their own hands by launching a preemptive strike against the Islamic Republic. That column was written in response to a quote by Israeli Prime Mi...
January 16, 2007
In the January 11th edition of The New York Times, published the morning after President Bush announced his new “surge” strategy for Iraq, Sheryl Gay Stolberg wrote the following passage: “By stepping up the American military presence in Iraq, President Bush is not only inviting an epic clash with t...
January 12, 2007
It was fascinating to see the mainstream media’s obsession with the death toll in Iraq as the “grim milestone” of 3,000 U.S. soldiers killed in the war approached toward the end of the year. It was a macabre scene, with most cable and major news networks, along with their print media peers, anxiousl...
January 09, 2007
With all the recent reports about the President’s soon-to-be-unveiled Iraq troop surge strategy, there has been much speculation about exactly what a surge would like, with estimates ranging anywhere from 10,000 to 50,000 additional soldiers. To get an idea of where the President might be heading, w...
January 09, 2007
No sooner had the grainy cell phone video of Saddam Hussein’s execution been broadcast across on the Internet than angry mobs began to fill the streets of Iraq, protesting not only the hurried nature of the act, but the manner in which it was conducted. Both objections are crucial to understanding t...
January 08, 2007
Even before the rise of the post-Saddam government in Iraq, Sunni leaders in Egypt and Jordan warned of a “Shiite Crescent,” a zone of influence and power by Islam’s second largest branch that stretched across the Middle East from Beirut to Tehran. The push for Shiite dominance, which has been led b...
January 04, 2007
With the passing of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1737 on December 23, the world moved ever closer to an all-out war in the Middle East. The resolution, which reaffirmed the commitment of the United Nations to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, imposed a regime of weak sancti...
January 03, 2007
The war in Iraq is going badly. That’s what the news media tell us. That’s what the Iraq Study Group said in its “bipartisan” report. Even former Senator John Edwards, who just threw his hat into the ring for President after falling into political obscurity after the 2004 election, and Democratic up...
January 01, 2007
Almost immediately after the hanging of Saddam Hussein, media pundits and political analysts began speculating about whether or not the execution of the former Iraqi dictator would do anything to stem the sectarian violence that is ripping Iraq apart. The journalists and “experts” debating the topic...
December 26, 2006
When an Islamic militia first established a foothold in Somalia by capturing the capital of Mogadishu in June 2006, the United States initially withheld judgment until the intentions of the group could be determined with some certainty. While the militia rejected the label of “terrorist organization...
December 18, 2006
With the passing of the November elections, which were generally interpreted as an expression of the American public’s dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq, strategies for changing direction in the war-torn country have been offered by several individuals and groups, with the most notable being Sena...
December 14, 2006
Now that the media hype over the Iraq Study Group’s report is finally starting to die down a bit, attention is quickly turning to the President’s upcoming national address in which he is expected to lay out his new strategy for dealing with the ongoing insurgent and sectarian violence.
Many anal...
December 11, 2006
As Iran continues to position itself as the most powerful nation in the Middle East, a new Shiite dominance is emerging in a region traditionally controlled by Sunni Muslims. With the deposing of Saddam Hussein’s Sunni regime in Iraq, a Shiite majority has begun to consolidate power within a governm...
December 08, 2006
In a recent question-and-answer session with Rotary Club members, Incoming Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden said that he wanted to take a tougher stance with Mexico over the problem of illegal immigration and that Americans who employ illegal immigrants should be punished. Se...
December 04, 2006
When Democrats take control of the House and Senate in January, they will have the opportunity to push through Congress the many legislative promises that they campaigned on in the run-up to the midterm Congressional elections.
Of course, those legislative promises have to be paid for, and the p...
December 02, 2006
The midterm Congressional election results have been widely interpreted as a public rejection of the Bush Administration’s handling of the ongoing war in Iraq. Democrats swept to victory promising a change in course, although their “New Direction” has yet to reveal itself to the American people. Rec...
December 01, 2006
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton recently said that he believed a vote by the full Senate would confirm him in the position he has filled for nearly a year. The problem, though, is that such a vote likely will never occur.
Bolton, who is a career U.S. diplomat, was first nominat...
November 30, 2006
For the last several years, the world has been witness to the rapid shift of influence in a Middle East traditionally dominated by Sunni Muslims. The ascendance of the Shiites, who make up only 20% of all Muslims, is led by an increasingly aggressive Iran, and complete control of the Persian Gulf re...
November 27, 2006
As Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert prepared to leave the Middle East for a meeting with President George W. Bush in Washington, he warned that Israel had “various” options for dealing with Iran, options that he was not prepared to discuss. Of course, the use of such diplomatic language immediatel...
November 22, 2006
Democratic Representative Charles Rangel of New York has renewed his long-time quest to reinstate the military draft. While all signs from the incoming Democratic leadership indicate that the issue is dead in the water, Mr. Rangel’s arguments still warrant examination and refutation. His points, and...
November 19, 2006
Now that the midterm elections are finally over, debate is really heating up in Congress over what steps should be taken next in Iraq. The debate is intense because of the incredible divisiveness over the issue among members of the House and Senate. You see, no one really knows what to do next.
...
November 14, 2006
Strategic Forecasting, a private intelligence company based in Austin, Texas, recently reported that jihadist groups in Iraq are attempting to create an independent region in Sunni-dominated areas. The jihadists recognize that there is a concerted drive among the Shiite and Kurdish ethnic groups in ...
November 10, 2006
It has been a full three months since United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, passed in early August, was unanimously agreed upon as a mechanism for ending the Israel – Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon. Key provisions of the cease-fire deal included the immediate cessation of hostilities, an i...
November 06, 2006
The latest television campaign ad in the Virginia Senate race features two of the primary election approaches engineered by Democratic strategists for this November’s mid-term contest: attacking the President’s judgment and competence and appealing to the patriotism and dedication to service of curr...
November 06, 2006
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed El Baradei, warned recently that more than 30 countries could soon have the technological know-how to produce nuclear weapons. As North Korea and Iran push forward with their atomic programs, it seems that going nuclear is becoming f...
November 03, 2006
News reports about Democratic Senator Harry Reid’s Las Vegas land deal had just begun to fade into the distant memories of most Americans when new allegations surfaced about the Nevada Congressman’s possible illegal use of campaign funds. With two reports of alleged impropriety in less than two week...
October 30, 2006
The federal government announced recently that it was creating a new law enforcement task force that will be charged with cracking down on violators of U.S. trade and travel sanctions against the island nation of Cuba. As part of the task force, personnel from the Departments of Commerce, Homeland S...
October 25, 2006
The Armed Forces Press Service recently quoted Army Chief of Staff General Peter J. Schoomaker as saying that the current level of soldiers in Iraq could remain constant through 2010. Naturally, this sounded alarms in the mainstream media, which had been reporting for some time that the Army planned...
October 23, 2006
When the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1718 on October 14, it agreed to impose economic sanctions against North Korea for testing a nuclear device earlier in the month. The resolution condemned the atomic test, demanded that the DPRK conduct no further tests or ballistic missile ...
October 19, 2006
As the mid-term election cycle comes full circle, it seems as though everyone in the country has all but conceded that the Democratic Party will win the House of Representatives, and possibly the Senate. Of course, in light of recent news stories about our elected officials in Washington, this is ha...
October 16, 2006
Watching the photo opportunity between U.S. President George W. Bush and French President Jacques Chirac, as the various leaders of the world gathered in New York at the United Nations a few weeks ago, I could not help but reflect on the differences the two men exhibit as they head their respective ...
October 11, 2006
Several months ago I wrote a column in which I defended the right of Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church to stage protests at the funeral sites of soldiers killed in the Global War on Terror. Despite many legal efforts to restrict these demonstrations, Phelps and his flock continue to rally ...
October 09, 2006
Iran’s supreme leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, recently told Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that the best way for him to end the ongoing violence and ensure stability and security was to begin the withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Iraq. Khamenei was explicit in his desire to see the ...
October 02, 2006
If you pay attention to the New York Times, the leadership of the Democratic Party, or the left wing pundits filling the airwaves, you get the impression that the U.S. Army is struggling to find men and women willing to volunteer in the service of their country. Recently released statistics, though,...
September 24, 2006
It has now been almost a month since the United Nations demanded that Iran cease it’s enrichment of uranium or face sanctions from the world community. Sadly, the united front demonstrated during the passing of the U.N. Security Council’s resolution has quickly faded as the United Nations is showing...
September 21, 2006
United States Marine Corps General James L. Jones recently called upon member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to send an additional 2,000 to 2,500 troops to Afghanistan to supplement the nearly 20,000 already taking part in military operations against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda fig...
September 20, 2006
Since the beginning of the war in Iraq, virtually everyone from U.S. government officials to Washington think tanks to the mainstream media has subscribed to the idea of a national government seated in Baghdad. As the war drags on, though, the idea of an Iraq divided into three autonomous states, ba...
September 18, 2006
Following the visit to the United States of Serbian President Boris Tadic, news reports have surfaced alleging that a deal is in the works for the turning over of wanted war criminal Ratko Mladic to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. If true, the deal would represent a compromise between...
September 13, 2006
As the mid-term election cycle enters the home stretch, Democratic congressional candidates, party leaders, and left-wing pundits are taking to the airwaves in a vigorous assault on the Bush administration’s handling of the Global War on Terror. By criticizing President Bush for diverting military m...
September 09, 2006
Although not a participant in this year’s mid-term election cycle, but perhaps in anticipation of another White House run, former Democratic Presidential hopeful and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry last month re-released his plan for health care coverage for all Americans. I say re-released because...
September 04, 2006
Army News Service reported recently that Sergeant Keith “Matt” Maupin had been promoted to Staff Sergeant, his third promotion since being captured as a Private First Class after his convoy was attacked by insurgents near Baghdad, Iraq on April 9, 2004. News reports about Staff Sergeant Maupin get a...
August 30, 2006
As Rhode Island communities prepared to celebrate Victory Day on August 14 in recognition of the allied triumph over the Japanese Empire during World War II, “concerned” citizens opposed to the holiday began lobbing criticisms at event organizers around the state. Rhode Island, which is the only sta...
August 25, 2006
As the Israeli offensive into southern Lebanon unfolded in painstakingly slow fashion, reports of discontent from the troops on the ground made their way into news stories on several of the major cable news networks. The grumblings of the soldiers were reminiscent of the sentiments of U.S. Marines a...
August 16, 2006
As I watched the various cable news channels cover the latest terrorist plot to blow up commercial aircraft, I immediately began thinking about a question that has been on the minds of many Americans since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001: why do we waste our time and efforts at airport s...
August 13, 2006
After weeks of intense fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution designed to end the current conflict in the Middle East. The cease-fire deal represents a clear victory for Hezbollah and a defeat for Israel on both the tactical and strategic level...
August 10, 2006
In a September 2002 speech to the UN General Assembly, President Bush asked a pointed and crucially important question to the national representatives who had gathered to hear him talk about the looming war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq: Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding, or wil...
August 07, 2006
Amid the never-ending stream of news stories about the Israeli offensive in Lebanon, the Hezbollah rocket attacks on Jewish civilians, and the frantic UN efforts to forge a cease-fire agreement to end the latest violence in the Middle East, CNN’s Late Edition aired a brief interview this past weeken...
August 04, 2006
A flurry of activity has erupted in the wake of Cuban leader Fidel’s Castro’s recent, though most likely temporary, surrender of power for the first time in nearly half a century of dictatorial rule. The Cuban-American population in Miami is celebrating in the streets, the White House has developed ...
August 01, 2006
Prior to departing Washington for a 5-week recess, the House of Representatives passed a bill authorizing an increase in the minimum wage for the first time since 1996. The bill, which was supported by 230 Representatives, is typical of election year politics that do more to benefit our lawmakers th...
July 29, 2006
Almost two months ago, when European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana presented an incentives package to Iran to encourage the Islamic Republic to curb its nuclear activities, I wrote a column questioning what, if anything, the world community would do in the event that Iran rejected the pro...
July 27, 2006
Recently, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) pulled an internet video ad from its web site after receiving bipartisan criticism over images of flag-draped coffins returning to the United States from overseas.
Using pictures of our war dead to achieve political objectives is i...
July 25, 2006
Watching broadcast reports about the efforts to evacuate American citizens from Lebanon reinforced my belief that we, as a society, are rapidly becoming consumed by an entitlement mentality that threatens to seriously undermine every principle that this country was built upon.
Evening news stori...
July 21, 2006
In an article published July 13, MosNews.com quoted former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev as saying the United States was arrogant and wanted to impose the American way of life on other nations. Other media outlets quickly picked up the story and painted the ex-Communist chief as the man responsibl...
July 18, 2006
In a July 17 piece on Townhall.com, columnist Robert Novak wrote about a press release issued by Senator Joe Lieberman that outlined $2.5 billion in future transportation projects for Connecticut, the state he has represented in Washington since 1988. According to Novak, Senator Lieberman, who is fa...
July 14, 2006
As the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues to spiral out of control, the best the United Nations Security Council has been able to come up with so far is a failed resolution that demonstrates once again the impotence of that body when it comes to matters of global peace and security.
An Arab-...
July 11, 2006
I recently read several articles from online news sources that reported some schools were banning games at recess because school officials feel that the games are dangerous.
Elementary schools in Cheyenne, Wyoming and Spokane, Washington were reported to have recently banned the popular child’s...
July 08, 2006
When President Bush spoke to the soldiers and civilians at Fort Bragg on Independence Day, he called on all Americans to make some kind of contribution to our servicemen and women “…because every one of us owes our freedom to these courageous Americans.”
Supporting the men and women who dedicate...
July 03, 2006
Last night I went with my wife to the local Super Wal-Mart to pick up a few items that we needed for the house. Our short trip confirmed a suspicion that I have long had: that common courtesy is a thing of the past.
The trip started rather uneventfully, at least until we got on the two-lane road...
June 30, 2006
God hates the United States and America is doomed. God is killing American soldiers for the sins of their country. That is the message being spread by a small Kansas church that has gained national notoriety since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The Westboro Baptist Church, founded in 1...
June 30, 2006
It has long been said that the mainstream media focuses only the bad things happening in Iraq and often, if not always, glosses over any reports of progress or positive news. By adhering to the “If it bleeds, it leads” mentality, the major news organizations miss many opportunities to share with the...
June 30, 2006
The Department of Defense has reported that the number of U.S. deaths in Iraq has reached the 2,500 mark, a fact that many of the main stream media news organizations have characterized, as USA Today says, as “a grim milestone” that “underscored the continuing violence in Iraq.”
But why is the n...
June 30, 2006
I almost couldn’t believe it when I watched the news reports about the speech made by Mr. Mark Malloch Brown, the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. In his speech at a conference sponsored by the Center for American Progress and The Century Foundation, the second highest ranking officia...
June 30, 2006
Reports concerning the purported massacre of Iraqi civilians at the hands of U.S. Marines have created quite a firestorm in the media, and in the United States Congress as well. Most of the headlines that I have read have convicted the Marine unit in question while official investigations are still ...
June 07, 2006
The latest proposal for resolving the nuclear impasse with Iran was recently delivered on behalf of the European Union by its foreign policy chief, Javier Solana. The proposal, which has reportedly been agreed to by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (Great Britain, Ch...