Category: Politics

Since the Iranian Revolution began in 1978, the United States is known among protestors as the “Great Satan.” “Death to America” is the favorite chant of pretty much anyone who wishes to display his or her anti-American credentials, whether it’s an al-Qaeda terrorist or an Iranian politician. Now, the Iranian supreme leader finally offers some […]

Recently, the intelligence community released an unclassified national threat assessment. In testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Dan Coats, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), offered some rare insight on the top challenges to U.S. and international security. The DNI described the current and future threats as “a toxic mix of strategic competitors, […]

Allow Russia to do as they please in Africa or partner with African leaders with a history of war crimes and a tendency toward genocidal behavior? That is the conundrum American military and diplomatic leaders face. Cameroon, specifically, is one of the better examples of the struggle between geopolitics and human rights concerns. Recently, General […]

British media reports state that Special Air Service (SAS) operators were ordered to remove all Punisher patches and other similar insignias from their kits. SAS received the removal order after military VIPs visited the unit’s headquarters in Hereford, saw the skull-like emblems on troopers’ combat kits, and considered them controversial. The rationale behind the decision […]

Two U.S. congressmen penned a letter to President Trump on behalf of Special Warfare Operator Chief Officer Edward Gallagher, asking that he directly intervene in the court-martial proceedings of the Navy SEAL. U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-FL sent the request in an obvious attempt to turn a military trial into […]

Complicated topics like the decision to withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty are challenging to address in the modern media. As the comments under many of my analysis pieces on Facebook repeatedly show, most Americans are interested in debating inferences they can derive from headlines, rather than the nuances of a complex […]

The ongoing trial of Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher over alleged war crimes is shedding light on the Naval Special Warfare (NSW) community and its cultural practices. With the trial in full swing, more details are emerging about SEAL Team 7’s Alpha Platoon deployment in Iraq in 2017. Chief Gallagher’s arrest seems to have originated by […]

In the early hours of May 2, 2011, two specially-designed stealth Black Hawk helicopters full of Navy SEALs from SEAL Team 6 infiltrated Abbottabad, Pakistan. Their mission was to kill or capture the world’s most wanted man: Osama bin Laden. Shortly after they landed, the leader of al-Qaida and mastermind behind the terrorist attacks of […]

Last year, former Secretary of Defense James Mattis issued a call-to-arms to increase the lethality of the U.S. military’s close-combat units. His initiative resulted in the creation of the Close Combat Lethality Task Force (CCLTF). The CCLTF seeks ways to improve the combat effectiveness of troops engaged in close-combat roles. Despite these units’ disproportionate role […]

Early yesterday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit struck down the VA’s policy of denying disability benefits to Vietnam-era blue-water Navy veterans for exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides on a presumptive basis. In a case called Procopio v. Wilkie the court decided that veterans who served within the “territorial waters” […]

After many years of waiting, the Army has finally published its official history of the Iraq War. The authors of the two-volume history are retired Colonels Joe Rayburn and Frank Sobchak. Their comprehensive study, which amounts to around 1,300 pages, begins with the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and concludes with the withdrawal of troops […]

It’s common knowledge the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have cost the American taxpayer an exorbitant amount of money. The U.S. government’s lack of transparency to determine the true expense fuels wild speculations. So far, estimates vary between $1 and $2 trillion. Since there are so many different agencies and departments involved makes it even […]