In “How much is that F-35 in the window,” I wrote about the difficulty of pinning down the true cost of a single F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft or, for that matter, of the entire Joint Strike Fighter Program. Multiply the uncertainties, vagaries, and red tape of pinning down the cost of this aircraft— this program—a thousand fold and one gets an idea of the complexities of coming up with...

While Germany is regarded as an axis power that has really confronted its behavior and activities during World War II, Japan is not. That is what makes this editorial from Japan’s Asahi Shimbun so eye-opening. According to Asahi, Japan’s failure to acknowledge and alter the organization of Japanese society since its defeat 66 years ago has led not only to economic crisis, but the post-tsunami nuclear...

Have the United States and the West hit such a dead end in terms of economic policy that war, as a way of economic recovery, is inevitable? Columnist K. Selim of Algeria’s Le Quotidien d’Oran warns his readers that given the dire economic state of the world and America’s huge military, it is time to prepare for a new world war. For the Le Quotidien d’Oran, K. Selim writes in part: The colossal...

When it comes to social media, are officials in the United States once again following a policy of ‘do as we say, not as we do’? La Stampa columnist Juan Carlos De Martin warns U.S. and British officials that shutting down cell phone service and social media to prevent protest is precisely what the Chinas and Irans of the world are hoping for. For Italy’s La Stampa, Juan Carlos De Martin writes...

As Gen. David Petraeus steps down from the helm of what is now America’s longest war, a war that according to many is not going well at all and at a time when casualties in that war are on the increase — sadly accentuated by the tragic loss of 30 of our heroes in a single enemy attack just last week — his accomplishments in Afghanistan and his legacy are already being fiercely debated. To...

I’ll begin this essay by declaring that it is my view that President Obama has not been the major disappointment that has left many liberals and blacks shaking their heads. I’ll also note that given the watershed 2008 election and the eight dark years before it, our expectations for the next four were bound to be much too high. Yet I share some of that sense of disappointment. While acknowledging...

As reported here, Dakota Meyer, a former Marine Corps Sergeant, will be the first living Marine Corps recipient of our nation’s highest award for valor since the Vietnam War and the first living Marine to receive a Medal of Honor for actions in Afghanistan. The Obama administration has now announced that Meyer will be honored with the award at a White House ceremony on Sept. 15. The Stars and Stripes has...

Patrick Edaburn reminded us that 50 years ago today, on August 13, 1961, construction started on the Berlin Wall. I don’t remember much about the day or the event. I was too busy completing the last few weeks of Officer Candidate School, and the Berlin Wall itself did not start going up immediately, as I remember. However, barbed wire went up everywhere, streets were dug up, East German military guards...

What will become of Iraq when U.S. forces leave at the end of this year? Is the current Iraqi government capable of dealing with life on its own? And if not, what should Iraqis do about it? Columnist Atheer Al Katib of Iraq’s Kitabat newspaper admonishes his readers to begin a great debate about what kind of government – and what kind of country – they want. For Iraq’s Kitabat, Atheer...

UPDATE: Now we can see the faces, too, of these brave troops. Please click on Photo gallery: Servicemembers who died in the Chinook helicopter crash ****** The Department of Defense announced today the names of all 30 servicemembers who, supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, died Aug. 6 in Wardak province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when their CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed. At this web site one can...

I do a lot of programs for kids and see frequent evidence of their compassion. Here is an example — about a 10 year old boy who wants to make sure that his Navy Seal father, who was taken from him abruptly in the recent helicopter crash in Afghanistan, is not forgotten: Here’s the LINK to his iReport. And here is the text: iReport — My father was one of the 30 US Soldiers killed in Afghanistan...

It was payback time in Afghanistan: An air strike by NATO-led forces in Afghanistan killed Taliban fighters, including a local leader, who were responsible for a weekend helicopter crash that killed 38 troops, the worst single incident in 10 years of war. “The strike killed Taliban leader Mullah Mohibullah and the insurgent who fired the shot associated with the August 6 downing of the CH-47 helicopter,...

The upshot of the Bush Torture Regime — the systematic use of Nazi-like interrogation techniques against foes and friends like — has been deeply dissatisfying. The mainstream news media has been studiously uncurious about the criminal behavior of top administration officials and their lackies, and none have been held accountable. But that may be about to change. A federal district court judge in...

And it’s one, two, three, What are we fighting for ? Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn, Next stop is Vietnam; And it’s five, six, seven, Open up the pearly gates, Well there ain’t no time to wonder why, Whoopee! we’re all gonna die. Country Joe and the Fish Those of us who are old enough to remember Vietnam – yes that includes me, although I was never in Vietnam...

How much is that F-35 in the Window? Some will say, if you have to ask how much it costs, you can’t afford that puppy. But since that question is so frequently and persistently asked, let’s first take a good look at the puppy. It is a pedigree puppy that has been carefully “developed” following years of exhaustive and expensive research and selective breeding in order to make it an...

And so we remember — but never forget there were human beings behind the cold numbers of the 30 who died when insurgents shot down there helicopter. Faces behind the names. And here they are.

The shooting down of an American helicopter carrying the elite Navy SEALs in Afghanistan has been described as the deadliest single loss for U.S. forces in the decade-long war in Afghanistan. See here… A Pakistani newspaper says that the Abbottabad raid by US Navy Seals was not the first venture into Pakistan. The team had surreptitiously entered the country on ten to twelve previous occasions, the influential...

How badly does the United States want to maintain the value of the dollar? According to columnist Nazanin Amirian of Publico, what has been behind most recent U.S. wars is not human rights or weapons of mass destruction, but the imperative of beating back all challengers to the dominance of the greenback as the world’s currency. For Publico, Nazanin Amirian writes in part: When Bush invaded Iraq in...

As we hurriedly walk in the scorching San Antonio heat to the Scottish Rite Auditorium, my thoughts go back to a much cooler day about 50 years ago when I became an American citizen. I wonder if anything has changed in either America or in those who have traveled thousands of miles, who have left loved ones in far-away lands, who sometimes even risk serious repercussions in their native lands in order to come...

On this day sixty-six years ago, the world changed, but now hardly anyone remembers that the first atomic bomb in history was exploded over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. News traveled slowly those days. I was a 21-year-old soldier in southern Germany waiting to be sent to the Pacific for the invasion of Japan, and it was only days later we learned of a new weapon that had been used there. Without TV or Internet,...

A very tragic development in our involvement in Afghanistan. Several news sources are reporting that “dozens” of U.S. soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash near the Afghan capital, Kabul, late Friday night. The New York Times reports that the Chinook helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade launched by insurgents just west of Kabul. It is believed to be the deadliest helicopter crash in the...

FOR THOSE WHO CAME, BUT COULD NOT STAY While you and I were being born, growing “in the little bread oven”… as it was often said back then… there were other little babies across the world, suddenly thrust into real ovens, and they were not allowed to grow any more. Don’t tell me that that is the past and none of our concern. This is in cellular memory, and we are here to make certain that we speak for...

There has been a lot—perhaps too much—written about the debt reduction bill, its potential impact and its implications—long on rhetoric, but short on facts and details. If you are as confused as I am, you may want to read the following concise and straightforward summary I just received from the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA). It is preceded by: The agreement, signed by the...

(PORTIONS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN AUGUST 2007) Shinichi Tetsutani loved to ride his beloved tricycle outside his house in Higashi-Hakushima-Cho, a neighborhood in the Japanese port city of Hiroshima. Shin-chan, as his family affectionately called the three-year-old, was doing just that on the morning of August 6, 1945 when there was a brilliant flash in the sky. The boy was about a quarter mile...

Trying to both caution and reassure his Department’s personnel, and beyond, that Pentagon spending cuts won’t be done in a hasty, irresponsible way at a “time of considerable fiscal challenge in our country”—i.e. at a time when defense hawks are suffering from angst and uncertainty— “Defense Secretary Leon Panetta penned a letter to them today. The letter, titled “Meeting our Fiscal...