Why does the State Department consistently make poor decisions? Everyone makes mistakes, but what we have here is a long, long litany of obvious bad decisions, so obviously bad one cannot help but wonder how smart people made them.
We've been involved militarily in Afghanistan for 10 years. Can we not, however belatedly, draw wisdom from the kind of war we have been fighting there, and have also fought in Iraq and Vietnam? It's time for us to confront and renounce this American way of war
When we stop to consider all we owe to those who sacrifice for our liberty, I doubt that military family members are at the forefront of our thoughts. They should be.
Past sacrifice is a poor justification for continued sacrifice unless it is warranted. The truth is that while the United States still has interests in Afghanistan, none of them, other than opposing al-Qaeda, rise to the level of vital.
Republicans have used national security like a 2-by-4 to the heads of Democrats for decades but the first time a Democratic president tries to use it, everyone's asking -- is it appropriate?
Just because you can take things over the top -- and the Obama administration's made-for-tv events today are just that -- it doesn't mean that you should. Barack Obama promised to be a new and different kind of politician. If any further proof was needed that he isn't, this week -- with Bill Clinton's testimonial to his courage under fire, and with unsubtle attacks on Romney's manhood, not to mention common sense -- should finally be enough. But, in another sense, Obama is a new and different kind of politician. He's a Democrat executing the GOP media playbook better than Bush did.
As a military wife and advocate for healthy eating, I'm concerned about the foods our troops receive while deployed.
Is a war over the day the president proclaims it's over, or when the very last man comes home? Those were the contrasting principles I found myself silently debating while I watched Beth Murphy's latest film The List at this year's Tribeca Film Festival.
Collins's timely trilogy makes it clear that the 1%, having created a system of deeply embedded cruelty, should go, something highlighted by the surly defiance of heroine Katniss Everdeen who refuses to be disposed of.
Israeli generals have had enough of the fear-inducing rhetoric from their prime minister. They want a rational debate in Israel about how best to handle the challenge posed by Iran.
There's growing talk in Washington these days about invading Iran. It's not front and center -- yet. But there are folks in Washington building an under-the-radar case for an invasion right now, so I'm not waiting to speak out.
Why does the transformation process become so hard? As we get older, I think it becomes harder to open ourselves up to change.
More than 40 years after the Vietnam War's Tet Offensive, after more than a decade of war in Afghanistan, even after reviving the counterinsurgency doctrine (only to see it crash-and-burn in short order), the U.S. military still doesn't get it.
The lesson I take away from that stunning debacle in Iraq is this: We can't trust Ivy Leaguers. Why? Because virtually every civilian mistake in Iraq can be traced back to an Ivy League graduate.
What will today's veterans say about their multiple tours in Iraq or Afghanistan? How will they explain to their children and grandchildren, if they are able, why they or their friends sustained their grievous physical or mental injuries?