GOP Hawks Blame Fallujah’s Fall on Obama — But Oppose Inserting US Troops

The White House will speed delivery of weapons to the Iraqi military after al-Qaida fighters captured Fallujah — and congressional Republicans are eager to pin the city’s fall on President Barack Obama Senate GOP hawks John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina were quick to react to reports that extremist forces had…

MRAP: From Symbol of Iraq War to Symbol of Washington ‘Waste’?

The massive 14-ton, blast-resistant vehicles called MRAPs became the symbol of America’s misadventure in Iraq. And now, the Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected trucks are, one US senator says, the symbol of Pentagon and congressional waste. Sen. Tom Coburn, a self-described “fiscal hawk,” on Tuesday unveiled his “Wastebook 2013,” which identifies a long list of federal government…

Chiefs’ Equation: More Sequester Equals More Casualties. Lawmakers Don’t Check Their Arithmetic.

The Pentagon’s top generals continue sending mixed messages about the impacts of pending military spending cuts. The latest instance of the service chiefs’ uneven talking points came during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last Thursday. The chiefs at times said changing the schedule of the cuts would make them mostly manageable. At other times,…

Military Services Don’t Receive Equal Slices of Budget Pie

If you deal with defense spending, you’ve probably had someone tell you that the budgets of the military services are roughly split evenly. Well it’s not true. Todd Harrison, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, busted that often repeated myth Thursday when presenting his latest report called: “Chaos and Uncertainty: The…

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…

Escalating the Sequestration Rhetoric to a Whole New Level

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called sequestration a “doomsday” device. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., once said, before it was triggered, sequestration was a “sword of Damocles” hanging over Washington. Marine Corps Commandant James Amos said in February its effects would be, for U.S. national security, “ruinous.” Air Force Chief of Staff…

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…