Medal of Honor Awarded Today, and Another Take on a Controversial Fight

Later today, former Army Capt. William Swenson will head over to the White House where president Obama will drape the Medal of Honor around his neck. Swenson earned the nation’s highest military honor for actions undertaken during a bloody and controversial 7-hour gunfight between about 60 Taliban fighters and a group of Afghan soldiers and…

Kerry, Karzai Meet, Security Agreement Deadline Looms

Secretary of State John Kerry stopped in Kabul today for talks with Afghan president Hamid Karzai in an attempt to push along the stalled security negotiations between the two countries, which hinge around allowing American troops to stay past their December 2014 withdrawal deadline. While negotiations over the deal have been trudging along since 2012,…

Syrian Officials Pushing Back Against Giving Up Chemical Weapons

The lawyerly wrangling over how to compose documents that would spell out what the international community is to do with Syria’s chemical weapons has begun now that negotiations have kicked off in earnest. With American and French warships prowling the waters of the eastern Mediterranean in the event that diplomacy fails, things continued to move…

A New Revolt of the Generals?

Back in the bloody Iraqi spring of 2006, a group of retired Army and Marine Corps generals including former Central Command chief Gen. Anthony Zinni and several two-star generals who had left the service after commanding troops in Iraq in 2004 and 2005, created a huge stir when they publicly demanded the resignation of Secretary…

French Intel Agencies Detail Further Syrian Chemical Capabilities

On Sept 2, the French government released the executive summary of its declassified intelligence report on Syrian chemical weapons capabilities, and the five-page document adds some intriguing new evidence that the French claim shows the Assad regime continues to explore new ways in which to use its chemical stockpiles against civilian targets. The French intelligence…