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Sympathy for the outnumbered and outgunned defenders of Kyiv has led to the exaggeration of Russian setbacks, misunderstanding of Russian strategy, and even baseless claims from amateur psychoanalysts that Putin has lost his mind. A more sober analysis shows that Russia may have sought a knockout blow, but always had well-laid plans for follow-on assaults if its initial moves proved insufficient.

Retiring General Scott Miller is to blame for the bungled US exit from Afghanistan, a military expert who predicted the fall of the nation's capital months ago has claimed. Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, slammed military leadership, telling DailyMail.com he tried to warn the Pentagon of the swift advance of the Taliban towards Kabul in the weeks before they took the city but was 'ignored'.Roggio said President Joe Biden insisted on a reduced force of just 700 troops to both keep the US embassy in Kabul open and secure an airport...

An Iranian-supported Shiite militia that operates under the the Iraqi government-sanctioned Popular Mobilization Committee said that Saudi Arabia is “a legitimate and permissible target” and would it “strike and destroy” the country after the kingdom issued a death sentence for a cleric that has called for partition. The militia, Sayyid al Shuhada, is led by a Specially Designated Global Terrorist who is directly tied to Iran’s Qods Force. Sayyid al Shuhada threatened the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Oct. 26, the same day that the Saudi Supreme Court upheld a death sentence for Sheikh Nimr al Nimr, a prominent Shiite...

US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that “more than 10,000″ Islamic State fighters and commanders have been killed since the air campaign in Iraq began in August 2014 and subsequently in Syria in September 2014. If true, US intelligence estimates on the strength of the Islamic State are grossly underestimated.

A video uploaded to YouTube appears to show a large Hezbollah Brigades convoy transporting weapons, troops, and armored vehicles to the front to fight the Islamic State. Several American-made military vehicles, including an M1 Abrams tank, M113 armored personnel carriers, Humvees, and Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAP), as well as Iranian-made Safir 4x4s and technicals (armed pickup trucks) are in the convoy. The Hezbollah Brigades is US-designated foreign terrorist organization that has been involved in killing American soldiers in Iraq. At one point in the video, a transport truck is shown carrying an M1 Abrams tank. The Hezbollah Brigades' flag...

Two days after repelling an Iraqi military attempt to retake the city of Tikrit, the Islamic State and its allies are said to have overran Camp Speicher, a large base just outside the city that was being used in the failed effort to retake the provincial capital. The Islamic State's Salahaddin Division claimed in an official statement released on Twitter yesterday that it overran Camp Speicher and is in "control of the airport and the base completely." In the statement, the Islamic State claimed it killed "scores" of Iraqi military personnel, including a brigadier general and a colonel. It also...

Islamic State routs Iraqi armored column in Anbar By BILL ROGGIO Iraqi and Syrian towns and cities seized by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham and its allies. Map created by The Long War Journal. Click to view larger map. Fighters from the newly established Islamic State ambushed and destroyed an Iraqi armored column in the western province of Anbar. Islamic State fighters also captured several American-made armored personnel carriers. The ambush highlights the deteriorating state of the Iraqi security forces. The Islamic State's Anbar Wilayat (division or province) released a series of photographs on its Twitter account...

Thomas Joscelyn, Long War Journal senior editor, and Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD, in re: 500 prisoners or more released from Abu Ghraib, the most secure prison in Iraq. Global al Qaeda: Affiliates, objectives, and future challenges Testimony to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade, on al Qaeda, the nature of the group's central command and its relationship with its affiliates, and the future challenges the West faces in battling the terror organization. [more] Are the Iraqi police incapable of contesting al Q? Yes, rhe reality is that they needed our support...

"We've broken the Taliban's momentum in Afghanistan, and begun the transition to an Afghan lead," President Obama said during his weekly address on Sept. 1. "Next month," the president continued, "the last of the troops I ordered as part of the surge against the Taliban will come home, and by 2014, the transition to Afghan lead will be complete." This is not the first time the president has talked about Afghanistan in this manner. And Obama administration officials have repeatedly made the same argument: the Taliban's "momentum" was broken by a surge of forces into Afghanistan beginning in 2010. Consequently,...

Times Square Is Evacuated in Bomb Scare The scene at Times Square on Saturday night after police found a suspicious package inside a Pathfinder on West 45th Street. RAY RIVERA and KARIN HENRY May 1, 2010 A bomb in Times Square led to the evacuation of thousands of tourists and theatergoers from the area on a warm and busy Saturday evening, the police said. There was no explosion. “It appears to be a car bomb left in a Pathfinder between Seventh and Eighth,” said Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman. The device, he said, contained “explosive...

The US military killed 18 terrorists during two airstrikes in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan. The first airstrike occurred in Datta Khel, a region near the main town of Miramshah. A Hellfire missile fired by either a Predator or a Reaper unmanned aircraft slammed into a vehicle parked outside a home. Two insurgents were reported killed in the attack. The second strike took place in the towns of Degan and Ambor Shaga, also the the Datta Khel region. Five or six unmanned strike aircraft fired upwards of 10 Hellfires at Haqqani Network hideouts. According to Reuters, the strikes...

Join Honest Conservative tonight, Sunday, Sep 27, 2009, 8 PM EDT, on Freedom Radio as she discusses Afghanistan with her guests Bill Roggio and MG Paul Vallely. Click Freedom Radio to visit the web site, listen in, and even chat if you like. The call in number is 646-478-5613 Bill Roggio is the Managing Editor of The Long War Journal. He is also the president of Public Multimedia Inc., a nonprofit media organization with a mission to provide original and accurate reporting and analysis of the Long War, an Adjunct Fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a...

Join Honest Conservative this Sunday, April 5, at 8 PM Eastern time, on Freedom Radio. Her guests this week are David Bellavia and Bill Roggio. 'House to House' author David Bellavia is a former Army Staff Sergeant who served in the First Infantry Division for six years. He has been recommended for the Medal of Honor by his leadership, and has been nominated for the Distinguished Service Cross. He has received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Conspicuous Service Cross (New York State's highest combat valor award) and was recently inducted into the New York State Veteran’s Hall of...

Scores of Taliban fighters and several Afghan officials were killed in fighting throughout Afghanistan. The violence marks the opening of the spring fighting season in Afghanistan as the Coalition and the Taliban surge forces for what is expected to be the toughest year of fighting since the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. The largest battle took place in the Gereshk district in the southern province of Helmand on March 19. Afghan soldiers and their Coalition advisers conducting "combat reconnaissance in an area of known militant presence" took fire from Taliban fighters and engaged, the US military said in a...

President Barack Obama has often said that America should comply with the "rule of law." While it would be a violation of federal law to allow the 17 Uighurs at Guantanamo released into the United States, that is what lawyers and advocates are asking him to do in the wake of yesterday's court decision, according to the Los Angeles Times: The U.S. government may continue holding a group of 17 Chinese Muslims instead of releasing them in the United States, even though they are no longer considered dangerous, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday in reversing an earlier decision. ......

They have two different podcasts over there covering the War on Terror specifically Iraq. Bill Ardolino talks to Dennis Miller here. Bill Roggio talks to Michael Reagan here. Both have embedded several times and really know their stuff. If you like podcasts enjoy!

Iraq. Click map to view. Iraqi police in Anbar province scored a victory against al Qaeda in Iraq's leadership in Anbar province on Monday. Iraqi police killed Abu Tiba al Karbuli and two aides and captured another during an engagement north of Ramadi. "A police patrol came under fire from two civilian cars carrying al-Qaeda members," said Colonel Salan al Gi'ud, a senior police official in Anbar province. Police returned fire, and killed al Karbuli and two aides. Abu Hamza al Iraqi, another aide, was captured and is said to be providing intelligence information on al Qaeda's operations in...

Banner announcing Osama bin Laden's audiotape. Click image to view animated version. Recent report from US commanders in Iraq have stated al Qaeda in Iraq has been set back by a combination of the latest offensive and the willingness of local Iraqis to turn on the terror group. Based Osama bin Laden's latest audiotape, al Qaeda central command agrees that the fight against the US and the Iraqi government is not going well. A clearer picture of Osama bin Laden's view on the state of jihad in Iraq emerges after the release of the full transcript of Osama bin...

Iraqi and Coalition forces remain on the offensive in the Baghdad Belts of eastern Anbar province, northern Babil and Diyala, as the bulk of the major suicide and bombing attacks have shifted to the northern regions of Iraq. Kirkuk has seen a massive suicide attack during the past week, while insurgents targeted two bridges in western Anbar province, where U.S. and Iraqi forces have launched a multi-brigade operation. Diyala Arrowhead Ripper in the provincial capital of Baqubah has now expanded into the eastern sector of the city, called Old Baqubah. The eastern portion of Baqubah has been cordoned, and Iraqi...

Fallujah Today, and on Route Mobile Patroling one of the two main arteries through the Fallujah region The city of Fallujah and its surrounding environs has both a symbolic and strategic importance to the security of Iraq. Fallujah is the city where al-Qaeda fought the U.S. forces toe-to-toe and lost. Fallujah is a rallying call to al-Qaeda. The city also serves as the gateway to Baghdad, the end of the line of al-Qaeda's Syrian ratlines which are used to run foreign fighters, money and weapons into the capital. Fallujah was where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi set up his first infamous Islamic...