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SLOWLY AND painfully, the U.S. Army has adapted itself to the unconventional wars the country has faced since Sept. 11, 2001. Following a reorganization of forces, a rewrite of doctrine and the emergence of new commanders such as Gen. David H. Petraeus, American ground troops are winning counterinsurgency wars in Iraq and eastern Afghanistan -- and are recognized as state-of-the-art by NATO allies. In contrast, the U.S. Air Force, which dominated the 1990s with its smart bombs and stealth planes, has lost its way in the new century. Its top leaders have remained stubbornly focused on the production of advanced...

Obama Has Been Highly Critical Of The U.S. Operation In Afghanistan; Said "We Have Taken Our Eye Off The Ball": Obama Said The U.S. Took Its "Eye Off The Ball" In Afghanistan. Obama: "We went into Iraq, a war that we should have never authorized and should not have been waged. ... It has ... allowed us to neglect the situation in Afghanistan. We know right now ... that al Qaeda is hiding in the hills between Afghanistan and Pakistan. And because we have taken our eye off the ball, they are stronger now than any time since 2001." (Sen....

The fourth thing I would do as president would be to pull out of Iraq... but with serious conditions. The US must allow the Iraqis to fight a civil war. We pull out of Iraq, but not out of the area entirely. The US should build, with the help of other nations as well, a coalition base outside of the most dangerous areas in the region. That base should be on the Pakistani border, because the Pakistanis are a shitty ally, are full of bull and need to be watched every moment and their country is a haven for Al...

Military adviser rips Democrats over Iraq bills July 28, 2007 By S.A. Miller - A top U.S. military adviser yesterday rebuked the Democrat-led Congress for ignoring recent success of the troop surge in Iraq and trying to hamstring the war effort with legislation. "Your actions here in the Congress appear to be in direct conflict with the realities on the ground where the trends are up and progress is being made," retired Army Gen. John M. Keane, adviser to U.S. commanders in Iraq, told a House panel that is considering time limits on troop deployments. "Your resolution, like so many...

When it comes to the troop surge in Iraq, a bunch of arm chair generals in Washington are influencing the Bush Administration as much as the Joint Chiefs or theater commanders. A group of military experts at the American Enterprise Institute, concerned that the U.S. was on the verge of a calamitous failure in Iraq, almost single handedly convinced the White House to change its strategy. They banded together at AEI headquarters in downtown Washington early last December and hammered out the surge plan during a weekend session. It called for two major initiatives to defeat the insurgency: reinforcing the...

In a dramatic game of brinksmanship, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered an expanded ground war in Lebanon because of dissatisfaction over an emerging U.N. cease-fire deal, but later Friday indicated he might be ready to accept an amended version. The zigzag reflected Israel's dilemma after a month of fighting. Israel has been unable to defeat Hezbollah by force and is concerned about growing Israeli casualties and international condemnation if the war persists. However, Olmert also fears accepting a cease-fire deal that does not rein in the guerrillas could lead to another war and hurt him politically. The day's tumultuous...

Mr. Murtha, speaking yesterday at a Post-Gazette editorial board meeting, was asked if he favored a cease-fire in the campaign north of Israel's border. "I think so," he said. "I think it would be very difficult to justify continuing on." Referring to the Bush administration's position, he said: "You know, they say, 'Well, we want a long-term cease-fire.' It seems to me you start with a cease-fire, and then you try to work out the details long term. If you don't, and you continue to have heavy-handed military action -- and I support heavy-handed military action because it saves your...

WASHINGTON - the American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will announce Friday the first details of a "diplomatic plan" international for the Middle East, indicated to AFP a high person in charge for the State Department.Mrs. Rice, who prepares to go in the area, "will have something to say this afternoon", declared the person in charge American."We are working in a diplomatic plan which would tackle the violence to which we attend and the roots of this violence", it added. "It will be an international effort".According to the American chain NBC, Mrs. Rice tries to organize a meeting of...

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice should stay home if her mission is to go to the Middle East in an attempt to tell Israel to stop the war against Hezbollah. President Bush's message that Israel should use "restraint" in dealing with Hezbollah is equally off the mark. In his first term, President Bush understood the use of pre-emptive war as a necessary national security strategy designed to deal effectively with terrorists. Would President Bush refrain from going to war if Hezbollah sleeper cells launched a terrorist attack in the United States? Hezbollah committed an act of war when terrorists crossed...

News Alert: AP: Police said Israeli warplanes attacked a Lebanese army air base near the Syrian border, the first strike on Lebanon’s army in Israel's fight with Hezbollah guerrillas.

10:15 Israel intends to impose sea and air blockade on Lebanon (Army Radio)

WASHINGTON— Gov. Bill Richardson on Sunday said Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld should resign, in part because "our policy in Iraq is just not working." "My view is the secretary should step aside," Richardson said at the outset of a 10-minute interview on "Face the Nation." Richardson, a Democrat who is viewed as a likely presidential contender in 2008, said the fact that six military generals have publicly called for Rumsfeld's resignation...is significant. "We should listen to what these generals are saying," Richardson said. "These are six distinguished military officers who were involved in the invasion and occupation of Iraq....

According to actor and comedian Richard Belzer, American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are too uneducated to be expressing support for the U.S. military mission since they're just "19 and 20-year-old kids who couldn't get a job" and "they don't read twenty newspapers a day." Belzer, who's best known as Detective John Munch on NBC's "Homicide: Life on the Street" and "Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit," is a frequent guest on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher." On one previous appearance, he threatened to walk off the set when told columnist Ann Coulter was also appearing, calling her a...

PASADENA, Calif. (Jan. 15) - Former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite, whose 1968 conclusion that the Vietnam War was unwinnable keenly influenced public opinion then, said Sunday he'd say the same thing today about Iraq. "It's my belief that we should get out now," Cronkite said in a meeting with reporters. Now 89, the television journalist once known as "the most trusted man in America" has been off the "CBS Evening News" for nearly a quarter-century. He's still a CBS News employee, although he does little for them. Cronkite said one of his proudest moments came at the end of a...

I was wrong. Almost three years ago we went into Iraq to remove what we were told -- and what many of us believed and argued -- was a threat to America. But in fact we now know that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction when our forces invaded Iraq in 2003. The intelligence was deeply flawed and, in some cases, manipulated to fit a political agenda. It was a mistake to vote for this war in 2002. I take responsibility for that mistake. It has been hard to say these words because those who didn't make a...

The War on Terror is over. What started as a bold campaign to “bring justice to our enemies” across the globe has been redefined as, essentially, a counter-insurgency action in Iraq, the express goal of which is to prepare the new Iraqi government to defend itself, “and then our troops will come home with the honor they have earned.” As President Bush himself stated during his June 2005 speech at Fort Bragg: “Our strategy can be summed up this way: As the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down.” “Stand down.” In military parlance, this means to stop fighting. But...

MOORPARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 15, 2005--"Enough is enough!" said Delores Taylor, alongside her husband, Tom Laughlin (Billy Jack). The quintessential activist heroine and hero of the 1970's are back with a vengeance. They are determined to end the war in Iraq, by restoring America to her moral purpose, before subway terrorists possess nuclear weapons in suitcases. To reveal this new exciting exit plan, Laughlin will be holding a press conference at Peace House located at 9142 5th Street, Crawford, Texas, on Thursday, August 18, 2005 at 1 p.m. (CT). "This plan is a win/win situation for the Iraqi people, and especially...

A persistent theme of some critics of the Iraq war--again ascendant during the past few weeks of violence--has been the Bush administration's alleged failure to appease the Baath Party and other elements of Saddam Hussein's former regime. One of the more visible exponents of this point of view has been David L. Phillips of the Council on Foreign Relations. But his "Losing Iraq" reveals just how hollow and wrongheaded the critique really is. The book supposedly offers a perspective from, as the subtitle has it, "Inside the Postwar Reconstruction Fiasco." Yet Mr. Phillips's "inside" experience seems confined to trips to...

One of the most experienced and respected figures in a generation of American warfare and peacekeeping yesterday accused the US administration of 'failing to prepare for the consequences of victory' in Iraq. At the end of a week that saw a war of attrition develop against the US military, General William Nash told The Observer that the US had 'lost its window of opportunity' after felling Saddam Hussein's regime and was embarking on a long-term expenditure of people and dollars for which it had not planned. 'It is an endeavour which was not understood by the administration to begin with,'...

A former US diplomat has told the Arab world not to judge America by the current US regime's actions. Madeleine Albright, secretary of state during Bill Clinton's second term in office, said that many Americans are concerned about President George W. Bush's foreign policy.