NewsTrust - Department of Defense - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Mainstream)

Healing our troubled vets

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Los Angeles Times - Nov. 11 (Editorial) - The public is kinder to its veterans today than it was during the Vietnam War, when soldiers risked their lives overseas only to face scorn from antiwar activists when they got home. Yet veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan may be having a harder time readjusting to civilian life than previous generations of warriors.

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Shinseki: Veterans' Mental Health a Priority

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

CBS News - By Daniel Carty - Nov. 11 (Interview) - Eric Shinseki, the retired four-star general who currently heads the Department of Veterans Affairs, said his agency is "working diligently" to better aid veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues.

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Zakaria on a Third Surge in Afghanistan

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Newsweek - By Fareed Zakaria - Oct. 26 (Opinion) - The real question we should be asking in Afghanistan is not "Do we need a surge?" but rather "Do we need a third surge?" The number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan in January 2008 was 26,607. Over the next six months, the Bush administration raised the total to 48,250. President Bush described this policy as "the quiet surge," and he made the standard arguments about the need for a counterinsurgency capacity—the troops had to not only fight the Taliban but protect the Afghan population, strengthen and train the Afghan Army and police, and assist in development.

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Reading the McChrystal Report

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New Yorker - By George Packer - Sep. 24 (Opinion) - It’s not the Pentagon Papers. After all the noise and controversy, the assessment of the war in Afghanistan by General Stanley McChrystal that was leaked to the Post’s Bob Woodward turns out to be a singularly unsurprising document. Its emphasis isn’t on more troops (which is what all the discussion in Washington inevitably comes down to) but on a better approach to counterinsurgency. It’s a distillation of all the recent discoveries and rediscoveries made by the military under General Petraeus, with the advice of experts like David Kilcullen.

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12 Shocking Ideas That Could Change the World

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Wired - Sep. 22 (Opinion) - Warning: The people's ideas expressed here may be dangerous. For this year's list, we walked right past the usual suspects and went looking for trouble.

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Fear was no excuse to condone torture

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Miami Herald - By Charles C. Krulak, Joseph P. Hoar - Sep. 15 (Opinion) - In the fear that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Americans were told that defeating Al Qaeda would require us to ``take off the gloves.'' As a former commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps and a retired commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command, we knew that was a recipe for disaster. But we never imagined that we would feel duty-bound to publicly denounce a vice president of the United States, a man who has served our country for many years. In light of the irresponsible statements recently made by former Vice President Dick Cheney, however, we feel we must repudiate his dangerous ideas -- and his scare tactics.

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The Pentagon's New Watchdog - Forbes.com

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Forbes - By Dirk Smillie - Sep. 05 (Interview) - For years, the military has been systematically bouncing reporters from their embed assignments in the middle of their tours simply because they didn't like a particular story a reporter did. The Pentagon established the embedding system to give reporters access to information about what America is fighting for.

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Army stronger

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Times - Jul. 22 (Editorial) - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced Monday that the Army plans to add an additional 22,000 troops to its ranks, growing to 569,000 soldiers. The force will be the largest it has been since the 572,000 in 1993, during the post-Cold War reduction in force, but far below the 1.57 million soldiers under arms in 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War.

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Pentagon, Pakistan No Longer Cooperating in Drone War?

Fri, 15 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Wired - By Noah Shachtman - May. 15 (Opinion) - This much we know: The U.S. military flew some of its drones over Pakistan, and shared the footage with their counterparts in the Pakistani armed forces. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate as much today. After that, things get… kind of confusing.

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Why the United States is (always) over-committed overseas

Tue, 12 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Foreign Policy - By Stephen M. Walt - May. 12 (Opinion) - Why does the United States spend more on national security than the rest of the world combined, and why do so many members of the foreign policy community believe that it is either in our interest or our responsibility to interfere in so many places around the world?

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End the Watada case, discharge him

Thu, 07 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Times - May. 07 (Editorial) - Let the decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to allow the Obama administration to drop a pending appeal of a mistrial at Fort Lewis be the end of the Army case against 1st Lt. Ehren Watada. He refused to join his combat brigade in Iraq. Give him a general discharge and move on. Put the military's energy into the welfare of others.

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Gen. David Petraeus makes the case for Obama's war.

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Trudy Rubin - Apr. 12 (Opinion) - When Gen. David Petraeus testified on Capitol Hill 11 days ago about the new U.S. policy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, the story was relegated to the inside pages of major papers. What a contrast to the media circus when Petraeus testified on the Iraq war. Shell-shocked by the financial crisis, the American public hasn't focused on Obama's war, which calls for 17,000 more combat troops this year, as well as 4,000 new military trainers. Polls show the public is wary about the AfPak conflict, but opposition is more muted than to the war in Iraq. That could change should casualties increase, as is likely over the next year.

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Is Robert Gates A Genius?

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Newsweek - By Fareed Zakaria - Apr. 12 (Opinion) - "When a true genius appears," the English satirist Jonathan Swift wrote, "you may know him by this sign; that all the dunces are in confederacy against him." Genius might be a bit much as a description of the secretary of defense, but Robert Gates's budget proposal has certainly gathered all the right opponents. There are the defense contractors, worried that decades of fraudulent accounting are coming to a halt; the Beltway consultants for whom the war on terror has been a bonanza; the armed services, which have gotten used to having every fantasy funded; and the congressmen who protect all this institutionalized corruption just to make sure they keep jobs in their state.

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Defense Secretary Robert Gates Announces His Strategic Pentagon Blueprint

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - Apr. 11 (Editorial) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a man not known for having his head in the stars, announced his strategic Pentagon blueprint this week, saying his proposals "will profoundly reform how this department does business." We hope he informed Congress, home to 535 procurers in chief.

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With United States on its knees, why are we still at war?

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Seattle Post Intelligencer - By Bob Herbert - Mar. 03 (Opinion) - We invaded Afghanistan more than seven years ago. We have not broken the back of al-Qaida or the Taliban. We have not captured or killed Osama bin Laden. We don't even have an escalation strategy, much less an exit strategy. An honest assessment of the situation, taking into account the woefully corrupt and ineffective Afghan government led by the hapless Hamid Karzai, would lead inexorably to such terms as fiasco and quagmire. Instead of cutting our losses, we appear to be doubling down.

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Will Obama Press For End Of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'?

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

All Things Considered - By David Welna - Dec. 22 (Opinion) - Mr. President-elect, you rarely spoke out as a candidate against the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that excludes openly gay people from the military. But when the group Human Rights Campaign asked you about it a year ago, you said this: "America is ready to get rid of the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy. All that is required is leadership."

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I'm Still Tortured by What I Saw in Iraq

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Matthew Alexander (pseudonym) - Nov. 28 (Opinion) - I'm not some ivory-tower type; I served for 14 years in the U.S. Air Force, began my career as a Special Operations pilot flying helicopters, saw combat in Bosnia and Kosovo, became an Air Force counterintelligence agent, then volunteered to go to Iraq to work as a senior interrogator. What I saw in Iraq still rattles me -- both because it betrays our traditions and because it just doesn't work.

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How to win in Afghanistan

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Asia Times - By Tariq Ali - Nov. 19 (Opinion) - Given a severe global economic crisis and the election of a new American president - a man separated in style, intellect and temperament from his predecessor - the possibility of a serious discussion about an exit strategy from the Afghan disaster hovers on the horizon.

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It's still winnable, but only just

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

New Yorker - By George Packer - Nov. 15 (Interview) - This week, Kilcullen agreed to do an e-mail Q. & A. on Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he’s spent a lot of time, and where the most pressing foreign crisis awaits the new Administration. Though Kilcullen is still an adviser to the State Department, he emphasized that his views are his own. And they are characteristically blunt.

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One Last Bush Doctrine

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Dan Froomkin - Oct. 28 (Opinion) - Belittled domestically, President Bush is flexing his last working muscle: His control over the nation's military. And in so doing, he is adding one last addendum to the ever-changing Bush Doctrine, establishing yet another de facto U.S. policy on his way out the door, and leaving his successor with yet another controversial precedent to wrestle with.

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'Sea-smurfs' on street patrol

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Post Intelligencer - By Amy Goodman - Oct. 03 (Opinion) - In December 2001, in the midst of restricted access to bank accounts due to a financial crisis, respectable, middle-class Argentinians rose up, took to the streets, smashed bank windows and ultimately forced the government out of power, despite a massive police crackdown and a failed attempt to control the media. Here in the U.S., with the prospect of a complete failure of our financial system, the people have spoken and do not want an unprecedented act of corporate welfare. We don't know how close the system is to collapse, nor do we know how close the people are to taking to the streets. The creation of an active-duty military force, the sea-smurfs, that could be used to suppress public protest here at home is a very bad sign

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Military families support Obama

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Post Intelligencer - By Laura Dempsey - Sep. 11 (Opinion) - There was another reason for the convention's emphasis on military families, though, that should not escape anybody's attention. Sen. Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, recognize that a smart, modern defense strategy includes a plan for taking care of the all-volunteer force that executes it. That's why when you hear the Obamas discuss the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, you are just as likely to hear talk of the Veterans Administration and military families as you are likely to hear them discuss troop movements and vehicle armor.

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Caught in the cross-fire

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - Sep. 06 (Editorial) - Afghans once looked on American troops as their liberators, but far too many have come to see them as enemies. Add to that the corruption and incompetence of the government of Afghanistan's American-backed president, Hamid Karzai, and we fear Afghans are being driven back into the hands of the repressive Taliban.

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Don't ask, don't tell; The issue is rather ridiculous

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Post Intelligencer - By D. Parvaz - Aug. 04 (Editorial) - According to Rep. Susan Davis, D-Calif., who chairs the subcommittee, 12,600 men and women have been removed from service since 1993, not because they can't or are unwilling to perform their duties and to serve their country. Some have vital linguistic skills, and others, such as the McChord-based Maj. Margaret Witt, have had exemplary records. These men and women have been discharged because of their sexual orientation.

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Afghanistan: Going backward

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Post Intelligencer - Jun. 23 (Editorial) - The GAO figures that for the $10 billion we've spent on the effort, "only 2 of 105 army units are assessed as being fully capable of conducting their primary mission and efforts to develop the army continue to face challenges." No police units are up to snuff. Without security, there can be no political stability in Afghanistan, and without political stability, it's back to 1989, when the Taliban were in charge.

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