ISIS

Daesh is an apocalyptic, merciless crusade that employs fear and terrorism to propagate its message and impose its rule.

A pistol is more of a status symbol than a matter of practicality to the Kurds. That’s not to say they don’t serve a purpose, just not the way they do in the West.

Whether the result in Ramadi is a measurable success or a template for future Iraqi operations, the next step will undoubtedly necessitate a greater commitment from the U.S.

We have a habit of keeping good people out and letting bad ones in.  It is all but a memory now, but worth recalling that the leader of the 9/11 hijackers got his immigration paperwork approved and mailed out…six months after his death.

John was the kind of guy who wasn’t afraid to stand by his ideals even if the world was against him. I learned this about him very quickly from early on. We first met early in 2015, in Daquq at the Peshmerga’s 9th Brigade. He seemed eager to get into the action and mix it […]

Okay, so this entire situation is starting to get a little irritating.

After watching him on the campaign trail these past months, and more importantly, seeing him in the various “undercard” Republican debates, I have a newfound appreciation for Lindsey Graham and his political style.

As we go to press, Iraqi Special Operations Forces are entering the city center of Ramadi to liberate it from ISIS.  Despite the daily frantic reports in the media, ISIS is perhaps the most over exaggerated threat of our time.  In this case, they have around three hundred fighters inside Ramadi, many of them reputed […]

Bowe Freaking Bergdahl: Washington (CNN)  U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will face a military court on charges of desertion and endangering fellow soldiers, the U.S. Army announced Monday. Gen. Robert Abrams, the commander of U.S. Army Forces Command, ordered the court-martial on Monday, breaking with the U.S. military officer overseeing Bergdahl’s preliminary hearing who recommended […]

One thing that consistently disgusts me is the blatant racist and intolerant attitudes I constantly see and hear in the media. While some commentators take a moderate view, there are many who pander to xenophobic attitudes and preach hate to middle-aged white people who like to hear that kind of crap. We’re told that Islam is […]

Like most armies in this part of the world, the Peshmerga’s go-to weapon is the AK-47/AKM. Sure, they have the G36 and a few M16/M4s floating around (usually with officers), but the Kalashnikov is the name of the game. What makes it fascinating is the number of variants and origins that you can find in the […]

In a campaign speech, Donald Trump talked about his strategy for dealing with ISIS by saying, “I would bomb the shit out of them. I would just bomb those suckers. I would blow up the pipes. I’d bomb the refineries; I would blow up every single inch. There would be nothing left.” While bombing ISIS’s financial […]