Free Republic

A 17-year-old Islamic State sympathizer planned to set off a pipe bomb near Ramstein Air Base but changed his mind because he didn’t want to “kill so many people,” according to media reports. The Austrian weekly newspaper Falter reported this week that the 17-year-old, identified only as Lorenz K, told police of the plan after he was arrested in Vienna on Jan. 20 when an acquaintance reported him to authorities. Falter said it had obtained a transcript of the youth’s questioning. German police and Austria’s Interior Ministry refused to comment on the report. “Report Mainz,” a German television show, had...

Obama’s determination to downsize the military — and its catastrophic consequences A bipartisan critique of the Obama administration’s 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) by the National Defense Panel is a devastating takedown of the administration’s determination to reduce America’s military to pre-WWII levels. “Since World War II, no matter which party has controlled the White House or Congress, America’s global military capability and commitment has been the strategic foundation undergirding our global leadership,” the report states. “Given that reality, the defense budget cuts mandated by the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011, coupled with the additional cuts and constraints on...

Foreign and security policy experts discussed the state of the U.S. military and called for more decisive leadership in a dangerous world at the Heritage Foundation on Wednesday. The event took place as President Barack Obama simultaneously explained his national security policy goals during a commencement speech at West Point. Vice Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Mac Thornberry (R., Texas) opened Wednesday’s event, primarily addressing the need for robust leadership amid growing threats to national security. He said among the threats facing the United States, none have been handled with a firm footing by the president. “There is...

In a speech at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on February 26, 2010, Defense Minister Ehud Barak made extensive reference to Iran, its attempts to obtain nuclear capabilities, and the policy ramifications for the major powers and Israel towards Iran. Despite a certain measure of opacity in his address, Barak did make some unequivocal statements of interest. These express the situation assessment prevalent in Israel regarding Iran’s nuclear goal and the gaps between Israel and the American administration and their implications from Israel’s perspective. What follows are highlights: a. Iran is a threat challenging not only Israel but...

The US navy has decided to allow women to serve on submarines, Pentagon officials said on Tuesday, ending one of the last all-male bastions in the American military. Defense Secretary Robert Gates approved the recommendation and sent letters to Congress on Monday informing lawmakers of the plan, officials said. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Admiral Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, had briefed Gates on the change and "he's endorsed it and sent it on to Congress," press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters. Lawmakers have 30 days to comment on the move before it goes into effect, officials said. American...

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon poured more than $1 billion into bonuses last year to keep soldiers and Marines in the military in the face of an unpopular war and battlefield deployments that are getting longer and more frequent. The incentives — including tax-free payments for those who re-enlist while in the war zone — have jumped nearly sixfold since 2003, the year the war in Iraq began. "It helps a lot of guys out," said Sgt. 1st Class Richard Doran, who re-enlisted late last year during his tour in Iraq. "And I think it does sway some of the decisions...

A Minnesota National Guard soldier speaks with a resident of Al Batha, Iraq, last summer before the new construction of the city’s roads. U.S. Army courtesy Photo Minnesota National Guard Improves Roadways Guard soldiers and Iraqi citizens of Al Batha restore city streets. By Spc. Brian D. Jesness Logistics Support Area, Anaconda, Iraq CAMP ADDER, Iraq, April 11, 2007 — Minnesota Army National Guard soldiers and Iraqi citizens of Al Batha recently restored 15 kilometers of Al Batha city streets in southern Iraq. The soldiers of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division's civil military operations team supervised...

FORT HUACHUCA — The Intelligence Center has added another top facility to its list of accomplishments — the Department of Defense’s Human Intelligence Training Joint Center for Excellence. “Fort Huachuca is the natural place for the joint training,” said Army Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Although a class has completed a course at the facility in Tallmadge Hall, the official ceremonial ribbon-cutting opening for the facility was held Tuesday, with a number of senior intelligence officials — military and civilian — in attendance. Maples said the facility is needed because it will enable America’s...

/11/2007 - BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFNEWS) -- Airmen assigned to the 332nd Civil Engineer Squadron's Explosive Ordnance Disposal Flight have a dangerous mission that keeps fellow coalition forces safe. It takes nerves of steel and a steady hand to do the work these Airmen do. After all, getting anywhere near an improvised explosive isn't something most people want to do. Airmen from the EOD flight put their extensive combat training and experience to the test every day in support Operation Iraqi Freedom. When they are not on a mission, they keep busy maintaining their equipment, vehicles and robots for...

Navy SEAL from Little Creek is killed in combat in Iraq VIRGINIA BEACH -- When his high school football coach asked the players to lift weights three times a week, Clark Schwedler pumped iron five days a week. When his government teacher taught about public service, Schwedler spoke persuasively about the need to give back to the community. Schwedler's fitness and service were tested as a Navy SEAL during two deployments, the latest one to Iraq. On Thursday, Petty Officer 2nd Class Joseph Clark Schwedler was killed by enemy fire in Iraq's Anbar province. Two other East Coast-based SEALs were...

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2007 – “Walter Reed is one of the pivotal academic medical centers and casualty receiving hospitals for the joint medical force,” Army Maj. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker told members of the Defense Health Board assembled at the medical center here for a meeting today. Schoomaker recently became Walter Reed’s chief and commander of North Atlantic Regional Medical Command as part of reorganizations that followed publicized accounts of problems within the facility’s outpatient system. He is the brother of former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker. The Defense Health Board was established Oct. 1, 2006. It...

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2007 – Coalition and Iraqi forces continued to engage suspected terrorists in multiple operations throughout Iraq using ground forces and aircraft over the past several days, military officials reported. Coalition forces captured five suspected terrorists, including the suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq security emir of the Arab Jabour area, during an operation this morning in Baghdad, military officials said. Intelligence reports indicate that the security emir is suspected of involvement in planning attacks against Iraqi and coalition forces in the Arab Jabour area. Officials said forces found several small arms at the targeted area, and these weapons...

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2007 – The United States military is fully committed to its mission of providing the Iraqi people the opportunity for stability and security at home, no matter how long it takes, the top enlisted U.S. servicemember in Iraq said today. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Jeffrey Mellinger, senior enlisted advisor to Army Gen. David Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, told online journalists that even troops redeploying to Iraq for the second and third time “understand the importance of what we’re doing” and accept repeat or extended deployments as a necessary and vitally important function of the...

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2007 – The National Guard force is second to none in terms of the quality of its people, but severe equipment shortfalls are keeping it from being fully ready, the chief of the National Guard Bureau told Congress today. Army Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum urged the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee to support the fiscal 2008 National Guard budget requests to ensure the Guard can continue serving as the country’s “21st century Minutemen and -women.” Guard forces deployed overseas are “superbly equipped and superbly trained, … and we want for nothing,” Blum told the subcommittee. But...

Defense expert Chet Richards on Lebanon, Iraq, and the future of the American militaryFor 17 years, a small tribe of military analysts has explored the rise of Fourth Generation warfare, or 4GW, a term coined in a 1989 article for the Marine Corps Gazette to describe conflicts that pit a state against a transnational, non-state opponent. Unlike traditional guerrillas, who try to overthrow their host government, these non-state groups take on other states. For an example, look no further than the war now unfolding in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel. Chet Richards, 59, has spent more time than most pondering...

Happy Fourth of July - Today We Are All Americans.The Iraqi Conflict. The Media, in an Ideological Confrontation with the Bush administration, of whom, they don't regard as possessing the legitimacy to lead the nation, has framed the Iraqi Conflict as an unjust action, a dispirited cause, a quagmire of bombings and killings among the Iraqi citizenry, and an ever present collection of Grim Milestones of American Soldiers lives forfeited in Iraq: 500 gone; 1,000 killed; 1,500 lost; 2,000 dead; 2,500 extinguished, trumpeted throughout news headlines, in an unceasing meme of death and destruction. But the American Servicemen and women,...

On the Proposed AmnestyFirst of all, I don't think it makes any sense. IED makers and planters kill more Iraqis than Americans, just like the rest of the "resistance". They kill children. They kill motorists. They lack fire discipline and a certain degree of conscience. It is a fallacious belief that there exist Iraqis who make bombs destined only American stryker vehicles and none for Shi'a mosques; and that those making bombs don't collaborate with those recruiting human bombs for Iraqi neighborhoods. Secondly, I don't think it will have the desired effect: ending the insurgency. Because the amnesty is general,...

In a few weeks the total number of deaths of American soldiers in Iraq will reach 2000. As we sit here, you can be sure that the front-page splashes are already being written. What happened when the number reached 1900? Read More

In the substance and presentation of his speech The President has done his work well and effectively. But, the burden of sustaining his policy can't rest on him alone - he has to govern. In the House and Senate there has to be a group with the backbone to reiterate his message each and every day, at each and every opportunity. To say to Senator Kennedy, and Congresswoman Pelosi - repeatedly - that: "When they talk the way they do about the war it encourages the enemy. The enemy knows that the only way they can win is for the...

This video is totally awesome, it shows the power of the gattling gun used on the apache and hueys. Click me to see Movie If you haven't seen the video "Thank You America" then check that video out also, it can get you choked up.