Free Republic

As Hillary Clinton heads to Kabul for an international conference on security, a civil war has erupted in the Republican Party over Afghanistan. In recent weeks, Republicans have fought among themselves over the war in Afghanistan. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele ignited the furor by disavowing the war as President Obama's folly. That comment was sharply attacked by Sen. John McCain and others, questioning Steele's ability to lead the party. William Kristol took Steele's remark as "an affront, both to the honor of the Republican Party, and to the commitment of the soldiers fighting to accomplish the mission they've...

While the obverse (heads) continues to bear the familiar Victor David Brenner likeness of President Lincoln that has appeared on the coin since 1909, the reverse features a union shield with a scroll draped across and the inscription ONE CENT. The 13 vertical stripes of the shield represent the states joined in one compact union to support the federal government, represented by the horizontal bar above.

He did discuss COIN principles, which begin with "securing and serving the people." Not the American people, mind you; but local populations within and of the Islamic world. It is the disastrous vacuousness of COIN doctrine that it ignores the existence of Islamic culture, Islamic law, as I've written many, many times, but it is the disastrous vacuousness of COIN doctrine that now, by the general's telling, influences all US military thinking. Worse than thinking, however, is how COIN doctrine manifests itself in unconscionable rules of engagement predicated on "courageous restraint" as a means, COIN theory goes, to make them...

Ten years ago, Colombia faced a security crisis in many ways worse than the one currently facing Afghanistan. On December 1, President Barack Obama laid out his new strategy for Afghanistan.1 After adding 30,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines to the fight in 2010, Obama intends to begin withdrawing U.S. forces in July 2011 and turning responsibility for security over to Afghanistan’s forces. Obama’s plan calls for Afghanistan’s army to be ready to begin taking on this responsibility in 18 months. Yet in spite of years of effort, Afghanistan’s security forces are not ready to take on the Taliban.

Legends of Vietnam: Bronco's Tale One of the most versatile aircraft of the Vietnam War appears on the verge of a comeback. * By William E. Burrows * Air & Space Magazine, March 01, 2010 The U.S. military has been here before:fighting an enemy who wears no uniform, one who hits and runs then disappears, blending in with local villagers. It has pursued before, with overwhelming technological superiority, guerrilla fighters who improvise weapons and use the terrain to hide. The rugged mountains along the Afghanistan-Pakistan frontier, where the Taliban and al Qaeda hide, are as effective at concealment as the...

Afghan Border Police Company Commander Tagh Ali, passes out FM/AM radios to locals in the village of Shabow Khel during a joint humanitarian aid mission in Khost Province, Afghanistan on Jan. 25. (Photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Chlosta, ISAF HQ PAO)   Story by Army SFC Matthew Chlosta, ISAF HQ PAO Task Force Steel employs COIN successfully in Khost Province Counter insurgency strategy, protecting and interacting with the local population, has been mandated in Afghanistan since Gen. Stanley McChrystal arrived in June 2009. The Soldiers from 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division have been implementing COIN successfully since...

The government announced that it will begin implementing a new series of social programs in Ciudad Juarez (Chihuahua state) that will help the police and army battle narcotics cartels. If it sounds a bit like a classic Counter-insurgency (COIN) “political and social warfare” (where social and economic programs integrate with security operations), well, it is. One of the programs will be directed at impoverished Juarez teenagers. The narcotics gangs throw around money and have bought support in several neighborhoods. Some of the kids eventually “move up” and join the gang. The government intends to attack this “recruitment” process. There will...

You know, maybe it’s because I’m just a dumb old small town Texan, but having listened to Sarah Palin speak for a couple of years now, on everything from geopolitics, to energy independence, to eating at Dairy Queen, I’ve never had a problem understanding a single word she has ever said.

It is stunning to read and hear about this “coin controversy.” At a recent speech in Milwaukee I discussed the troubling fact that we too often move God to the side in our public life, and gave as an example the shift of the words “In God We Trust” to the edge of the dollar coin. My comments were not about this President or this Congress – this change predated them. I was merely making a point about a disturbing trend in our country, after which I moved on to discuss some encouraging trends. People who try to read more...

One fundamental tenet of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's controversial Afghanistan strategy aims at avoiding precisely the kinds of attacks that killed eight American soldiers Sunday. In what is being described as one of the boldest attacks of the Afghan insurgency, an estimated 300 militants sustained a day-long siege against a coalition outpost in Nuristan Province – a place where the rule of law is so tenuous and the terrain so forbidding that it is seen as one of the likeliest hiding places for Osama bin Laden. It is also has fewer people than Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Beyond the request for more...

Top Egyptian Daily: Joseph’s Era Coins Found in Egypt (IsraelNN.com) "...discovered many charms from various eras before and after the period of Joseph, including one that bore his effigy as the minister of the treasury in the Egyptian pharaoh's court…" An Egyptian paper claims that archaeologists have discovered ancient Egyptian coins bearing the name and image of the Biblical Joseph.

Have you ever flipped a coin as a way of deciding something with another person? The answer is probably yes. And you probably did so assuming you were getting a fair deal, because, as everybody knows, a coin is equally likely to show heads or tails after a single flip—unless it's been shaved or weighted or has a week-old smear of coffee on its underbelly. So when your friend places a coin on his thumb and says "call it in the air", you realize that it doesn't really matter whether you pick heads or tails. Every person has a preference, of course—heads...

Last night, Freedom Radio talked with Blackfive's James "Uncle Jimbo" Hanson about victory in this long war, what it will take to achieve it in Afghanistan, and why President Obama is uncomfortable with talking about it. Eight years into this fight, our nation's defense seems but a talking-point towards the "greater" victory in the next election cycle: The discussion continued. Uncle Jimbo expanded upon the appropriateness of members of our military using their standing to interject themselves into the controversy about Obama's birth certificate, the major contribution military blogs have made to the reporting on Iraq and the War on...

18:1010/07/2009 L'AQUILA, July 10 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday he had been given an example coin of a possible global currency at the G8 summit in Italy, adding that all aspects of reserve currencies were under discussion. "We are discussing both the use of other national currencies, including the ruble, as a reserve currency, as well as supranational currencies," the Russian leader said at a news conference following the G8 summit. Medvedev showed reporters an example of a coin of a supranational currency, which he called a "united future world currency." "This is a symbol...

NORTH TRURO — As Truro celebrates its 300th birthday, one of its residents has unearthed a silver coin that's even older. Peter Burgess, who owns a house next to Old North Cemetery and the site of an early church and meeting house, found a thin coin in his yard a year ago. He was moving dirt in his garden. He picked up the brown disc, which is about the size of a dime and bears markings near the edges. The story of Burgess' find comes at a fortuitous moment, as this seaside village commemorates its incorporation on July 16, 1709....

SAN DIEGO — An armed man attempting to rob a North Park coin shop Friday morning was killed after he and at least one of the store's employees exchanged gunfire, police said. The man and an accomplice went into the Old Coin Shop on El Cajon Boulevard, just east of Texas Street, at 9:16 a.m. and confronted two employees who were both armed with handguns, said San Diego police homicide Lt. Terry McManus. About the same time police received a 911 call about the robbery and while en route, shots were fired inside the business, McManus said. Officers found the...

Two ancient coins, one used to pay the Temple tax and another minted by the Greek leader the Jews fought in the story of Hanukka, have been uncovered amid debris from Jerusalem's Temple Mount, an Israeli archeologist said Thursday. The two coins were recently found in rubble discarded by Islamic officials from the Temple Mount. It is carefully being sifted by two archeologists and a team of volunteers at a Jerusalem national park. The first coin, a silver half-shekel, was apparently minted on the Temple Mount itself by Temple authorities in the first year of the Great Revolt against the...

I just saw this on HSN and couldn't believe it . . ..

One of the smallest artifacts recovered during the latest dive expedition at the shipwreck presumed to be Queen Anne's Revenge is getting big attention. The circular, dime-sized piece has been resting on the ocean floor for 300 years, but early examination indicates it may be the first coin to come from the site believed to be the flagship of the pirate Blackbeard... QAR Conservation Field Supervisor Wendy Welsh said.. a coin weight with a bust of Queen Anne was recovered from the site during a 2006 dive but no actual coins. Shanna Daniel, assistant conservator at the QAR lab in...