(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...

Depending on which side of the military spending issue one is in, thrills or chills are running up and down the respective spines in light of the debt ceiling deal that now looks quite certain to become law. While to sighs of relief from those for a strong military, it looks like the cuts in next year’s defense budget will probably be small, for the years beyond there is at best uncertainty, at worst some...

Can it credibly be said that George W. Bush and U.S. neoconservatives are partly responsible for the emergence of Norwegian terrorist and mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik? According to columnist K. Selim of Algeria’s Le Quotidien d’Oran, Western media has been careful not to draw the right conclusions about where a man like Breivik really came from. For Algeria’s Le Quotidien d’Oran, K....

Want to cut spending? A good way to start would be to end The Global War On Terror: Ground the U.S. drone war in Pakistan. Rethink the idea of spending billions of dollars to pursue al-Qaida. Forget chasing terrorists in Yemen and Somalia, unless the local governments are willing to join in the hunt. Those aren’t the words of some human rights activist, or some far-left Congressman. They’re from retired...

The “lead” in a Washington Post story this morning reads: The United States is planning to provide the Iraqi government with a wiretapping system to eavesdrop on cellular calls and messages “to assist in combating criminal organizations and insurgencies,” according to a U.S. Air Force contract solicitation. And continues with: The proposed system would allow Iraqi officials to monitor and store voice...

UPDATE: For a more in-depth discussion on how “Struggling with debt, Congress talks defense cuts,” please click here. Starting with the words, “Taking a stance once unthinkable in a time of two wars, Democrats and Republicans alike are insisting that the billions spent on the military can be significantly cut back over the next decade as the nation struggles to reduce its spiraling debt,” the AP article...

Tensions have been growing at the Jones family for quite a while now. Recently, it has been getting downright ugly. A couple of years ago, Mrs. Jones met an attractive, silver-tongued man—we’ll call him simply T.P. —who at first wooed her with compliments and lured her with pied piper tunes. But as their romance grew, so did T.P.’s influence on and demands from Mrs. Jones, including that she...

What does the emergence of a man like Norway’s mass killer and self-professed Tempar Knight Anders Breivik mean? This editorial from Germany’s Berliner Morgenpost outlines the striking similarities between two men that would appear at first glance to be polar opposites. The editorial from Germany’s Berliner Morgenpost says in part: Although he calls himself a Knight Templar, killing and...

Was this tragedy waiting to happen? Are Anders Behring Breivik’s murders another brutal manifestation of the hysteria that started building up post 9/11? George W. Bush and his team in the White House began an era of hatred and revenge, and have added enough fuel to create confusion and fire to last a few decades. We can still see widespread smoke, if not flames, in the West and elsewhere. Was the fire...

The Air Force Times is reporting today on a sweeping proposal by the Defense Business Board—“the wellspring for many cost-saving initiatives adopted by the Defense Department in recent years”—that would drastically overhaul the military retirement system and could affect today’s troops. The new plan “would give some benefits to all troops and phase out the 20-year cliff vesting system that...

As we have seen occur repeatedly over the weekend, the tragedy in Norway sparked a deluge of premature accusations, finger pointing and instant analyses—sometimes followed by retractions and apologies, sometimes not—as journalists and bloggers blamed Islamic militants, religious groups and even “leftist” political thought, movements and parties for the carnage in Norway. Once it became...

Polish-born, four-star general Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, the first immigrant to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs, died yesterday at age 75 in Tacoma, Washington, of complications from a stroke. I always liked the general—the Noble General—with the “unpronounceable” name who Mindful of his history of living through World War II in Poland… was particularly sensitive to the plight of people...

When New York’s law allowing same sex marriages goes into effect this weekend, a host of civil benefits and legal protection will become available to the newly married couples—except for members of the U.S. military. Why? Well, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) “prohibits military officials from granting medical coverage, housing allowances and a host of other married-couple benefits to same-sex...

The world is increasingly brutal, yet when you read something such as this you realize that despite being in the 21st century there are some who have absolutely no compassion — and that we should not forget who we and others are fighting against. Suspected members of the Taliban on Friday hung the 8-year-old son of a local police commander in southern Afghanistan after ordering his father to surrender,...

Many have been offended by Rep. Allen West’s (R-FL) disgusting and unnecessary verbal attack on a fellow, lady Representative—an attack for which he has “steadfastly” refused to apologize. Some were also offended by the Congressman’s sleazy use of these very same insults for fundraising purposes. Others have found quite reprehensible this former military officer’s attempts to blame the military...

Steadily, NATO and the US are digging themselves into a hole in Libya. Six months into the war, victory is far from sight and the anti-Gaddafi fighters recently recognized by Washington as Libya’s legitimate regime are fracturing by the week. The only quick end would be an Osama bin Laden-style assassination of Gaddafi but that it unlikely any time soon. Of course, the US could do the deed quite easily but...

UPDATE: The New York Times: After the shooting the police seized a 32-year-old Norwegian man on the island, according to the police and Justice Minister Knut Storberget. He was later identified as Anders Behring Breivik and was characterized by officials as a right-wing extremist. The man was arrested in connection with both attacks. CNN: [Update: 10:20 p.m. ET, 4:20 a.m. Oslo] At least 80 people are dead as...

Today, the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War actually begins — not that you’d know it from the coverage. It was hotter than hell today at Manassas National Battlefield Park, in Prince William County in Northern Virginia. According to the (Manassas) News & Messenger: Manassas, Virginia 99° Feels Like: 105°. The Civil War started in earnest one hundred fifty years ago, today, with...

The Los Angeles Times reports that: Pentagon officials will announce Friday that the ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military can be lifted without harming military readiness, a step that will likely bring the controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy to an end in September, two Defense officials said, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the...

After calling Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) “vile, unprofessional, and despicable” and “not a lady;” after refusing to apologize for his crude remarks and after using these very same insults for fundraising purposes (below), Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) now blames his boorish conduct on his military service. Appearing on Fox Business Network, West said an apology is “not happening,” and then...

Do Mexicans have a right to feel intruded upon, now that the United States has admitted allowing high-powered weapons to be sold to representatives of the Mexican drug cartels? Excelsior columnist Jesus Ortega Martinez writes that the recent U.S. sting operation ‘Fast and Furious’ undermines the Mexican state, violates international law and endangers innocent people on both sides of the border. For...

UPDATE: Gen. Ray Odierno, who has been nominated to be the next Army chief told Congress during his confirmation hearings, “I think it’s important that we provide [Iraq] the support they think is necessary.” Commenting on recent Iranian efforts to arm Shiite extremist groups in Iraq Odierno said, “It is clear that Iran is attempting to influence this decision with the actions they’ve taken, specifically...

UPDATE 2: The Austin American-Statesman reports that Medal of Honor nominee Dakota Meyer moved back from Austin to his home state of Kentucky in May. According to the Statesman, Meyer worked in Austin for a defense contractor from March to May. The Marine Corps Times had reported earlier that Meyer “now lives in Austin, Texas.” Regardless, whether Meyer lived in Austin one day or three months—or never—we...

There is no denying that too many of our troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are having a very difficult time coping with their lives back home—emotionally, financially, medically, mentally and in so many other ways. Homelessness, suicide, domestic violence, divorce, drug and alcohol addiction and even serious crime are some of the symptoms and consequences. We have read, seen and heard such stories...