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Israel downplayed reported airstrikes against Iran that appeared to hit targets near that country’s suspected nuclear program on Friday, seeming to cast the operation as proof Israel could reach the sites, rather than a full-scale attack. As Breitbart News noted, there were media reports that Israeli drones, or missiles, had hit targets near Isfahan, Iran — close to the Natanz nuclear facility — as well as targets in Syria and Iraq. Israel’s Army Radio repeated these reports. However, there were no reports of what the damage might have been, and one Israeli lawmaker — national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir...

President Biden Thursday night hit rock-bottom as he gave a mean-spirited distortion of the special counsel’s report. And in the process, Biden further embarrassed himself, his toady press, and the country at large. In sum, the press conference disintegrated into an embarrassing free for all. Note that following: 1. To prove that he is cognizant, and does not believe that some dead European leaders are still alive, Biden assured us that President el-Sisi of Egypt was actually the President of Mexico, and almost seemed to believe that the Gaza corridor to Egypt was on our southern border. The more he...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28, 2008 – Iraqi security forces increasingly demonstrate their professionalism and willingness to step up to protect the Iraqi people, a spokesman for Multinational Corps Iraq told reporters yesterday. During a briefing in Baghdad, Navy Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith pointed to numerous signs of progress in training and equipping the Iraqi army and police forces and the greater role these forces now play in Iraq’s security. “We continue to see examples of the increasingly professionalized Iraqi security forces stepping up to protect their people,” he said. Smith noted the gains being made by soldiers, police officers and...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2008 – “Tremendous” growth in the Iraqi air force last year in terms of capability as well as capacity is expected to continue in 2008 as Iraq builds its air force from the ground up, a senior U.S. officer assisting that effort reported today. During 2007, the Iraqis stood up four air force training schools and graduated their first military pilots’ class since 2003, Air Force Col. Lyman “Lewie” Edwards, who also serves as chief of staff and deputy commander for the Coalition Air Force Transition Team, told retired military analysts via teleconference from Baghdad. Last year...

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, Sept. 28, 2007 – The recent speedy landing and launch of one of the world’s largest aircraft promises to bring “tremendous” capability for the movement of critical cargo across the region, according to 455th Air Expeditionary Wing officials here. A C-5 Galaxy, the Air Force's largest airlift platform, landed at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, without interruption to flight operations for the first time Sept. 21, 2007. Photo by Master Sgt. Jamie Cabral, USAF  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. An Air Force C-5 Galaxy transport landed here Sept. 22 without interrupting wing flying operations, a...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20, 2007 – Attacks in Iraq are at their lowest level since before the February 2006 bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, a top U.S. commander in Iraq said today. (Video) In addition to a decrease in attacks, the number of civilian casualties is decreasing, car bomb and suicide attacks are at their lowest levels in a year, and Iraqi and coalition forces have found more weapons caches in the first nine months of 2007 than they did in all of 2006, Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, commander of Multinational Corps Iraq, told reporters in...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5, 2007 – As the Iraqi army is growing into its role of securing Iraq, the country’s air force is making great progress, too, the Coalition Air Force Transition Team commander told Baghdad reporters today. “The Iraqi air force is growing … very quickly in their capabilities,” said Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert Allardice. “It’s very difficult to start with almost nothing, which is where they started in 2004, with about 35 people, to a capability where you can actually fly … the types of missions we’re flying.” The new fleet is flying about 150 sorties a week,...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24, 2006 – Iraq’s military medical system is not equal to its U.S. counterpart, but is improving on a daily basis, the surgeon general of Iraq’s armed forces said here yesterday. “We are in the process of building this system,” Iraqi army Brig. Gen. Samir A. Hassan said. “We have expanded more and more to meet the expansion of the armed forces.” Samir is an orthopedic specialist by training who became surgeon general in June 2004 at the age of 38. His staff of fewer than 80 people serves more than 160,000 Iraqi soldiers, sailors and airmen. Samir...

WASHINGTON, July 26, 2006 – The instant feedback of information supplied by unmanned aerial vehicles is bringing immediate "value added" to U.S. military operations, the Joint Staff's director for strategic plans and policy explained yesterday. "UAVs have become such an important tool for our decision makers -- operational battlefield decision makers and strategic decision makers," Air Force Lt. Gen. Victor E. "Gene" Renuart Jr. said in a Pentagon Channel interview. "They have become an accepted part of our inventory." Unmanned aerial vehicles are remotely piloted or self-piloted aircraft that can carry cameras, sensors and communications equipment that provide an integrated...

WASHINGTON, July 25, 2006 – While the enemy will continue to resist the will of the government and more violence is expected, the Afghan National Army and National Police are gaining capability by the day, a Combined Forces Command Afghanistan spokesman said today. At a news conference in the Afghan capital of Kabul, Army Col. Thomas Collins said Afghan and coalition forces are working with the local government and international aid organizations. The combined forces "continue their efforts to enable the Afghan people with opportunities for a brighter future despite the enemy's futile attempts to stop the march of progress,"...

FORT BELVOIR, Va., June 13, 2006 – A system initially adopted to help the Army Corps of Engineers detect invasive vegetation growing in coastal waterways is giving warfighters an edge in the global war on terror. "Buckeye," a digital imaging system that's installed on an aircraft, gives ground commanders a bird's-eye view of the area in which they're operating, Army Capt. Jed Richards, research and development coordinator for the Army's Topographic Engineering Center here, told American Forces Press Service. Featuring a high-quality digital camera with an extra-large focal frame, Buckeye "looks" nearly straight down from an aircraft and captures images...

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio, May 16, 2006 – The U.S. Air Force recently awarded a $180-million contract to the Boeing Company to upgrade the fire-control radar on the service's fleet of 67 B-1B long-range bomber aircraft. The nine-year Reliability and Maintainability Improvement Program, or RMIP, will replace two, high-failure rate line-replaceable units that make up the current AN/APQ-164 radar system in an effort to improve its R&M performance.According to U.S. Air Force Col. Paul Clark, commander of the B-1 Systems Group at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, the RMIP System Development and Demonstration is the first significant radar...

WASHINGTON, May 4, 2006 – Over the past year, the National Guard has demonstrated not only its ability to be the nation's "minutemen" and respond to calls immediately, but also its ability to sustain several different missions at once, the chief of the National Guard Bureau said here yesterday. "It is a different National Guard than existed five or six years ago," Army Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum said at the second hearing of the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves. "It is not only not your grandfather's National Guard, it's not your older brother's National Guard. It's not...

KABUL, Afghanistan, May 3, 2006 – A unique Afghan National Army communications unit reached a milestone recently by demonstrating its capability to plan, deploy and establish a communications station. Maj. Abdul Anan (left) and Capt. Gul Mohammed, officers with the Afghan National Army's Communications Support Element, perform radio checks during the unit's first deployment recently. Courtesy photo   The Communication Support Element is providing ANA leadership with the capability to extend command and control systems to a deployed operations center anywhere in Afghanistan. The battalion-sized unit is being developed to support the needs of the National Military Command Center in...

WASHINGTON, April 14, 2006 – As the Iraqi security forces grow in number and capability, so too does the logistical support system that will sustain them, the commander of 3rd U.S. Army Corps Support Command told Pentagon reporters today from Balad, Iraq. Army Brig. Gen. Rebecca S. Halstead reported progress in building the Iraqis' logistics capability - ensuring that the proverbial "tail" can support the "teeth" of the fighting force. The 3rd COSCOM, deployed to Logistics Support Area Anaconda from its Weisbaden, Germany, headquarters, is carrying out its traditional logistics support mission for U.S. forces at more than 50 bases...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6, 2006 – The U.S. military performed admirably as it responded to Hurricane Katrina during the largest, fastest civil support mission in U.S. history - but it needs to do better in the future, according to the Pentagon's chief of homeland security. Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland security, praised the military response to the catastrophic hurricane in an address to civilian leaders who recently visited the Pentagon. The civilians were past participants in the DoD Joint Civilian Orientation Conference that gives business, civic and academic leaders a weeklong immersion into military operations. Within 10 to...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26, 2006 – The Marine Corps Special Operations Command, the newest addition to the special operations community, will be a complementary force that will ease the strain on other services' elite units and will contribute to the nation's readiness in the global war on terror, the new unit's commander said here today. "I firmly believe that this is the right thing to do for the country at this time," said Marine Brig. Gen. Dennis J. Hejlik, commander of Marine Corps Special Operations Command. "This irregular warfare is here to stay. If we don't start to go that way,...

F-14 Program Builds Historic Business Bridge to Poland PATUXENT RIVER , Md., Dec. 6, 2005 – For a people who first heard of it while they lived under Soviet influence, this U.S. Navy fighter aircraft is of great public interest. Polish citizens invariably know it by name. Employees of PZL-Swidnik even refer to it with a hint of ownership – the F-14 Tomcat. " The recent agreement paves the way for the eventual creation of long-term technical and economic benefits that will produce dividends for both the U.S. and Poland." -- Czes Covington A business bridge between the U.S. Navy’s...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22, 2005 – U.S. and coalition maritime forces in the northern Persian Gulf are working to develop the fledgling Iraqi navy and bring it to a level where it can sustain itself, a U.S. commander in the area said today. In a news briefing live from Bahrain, Navy Vice Adm. David C. Nichols Jr., commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and U.S. 5th Fleet, said the Iraqi navy, though small, is already integrated into maritime security operations in the gulf. "Because the Iraqis know the lay of the land and understand what they're looking at up there...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20, 2005 – The U.S. military is fully capable to fulfill all its responsibilities, including homeland defense and relief efforts, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a Pentagon news briefing today. After deploying more than 50,000 National Guard troops to help with Hurricane Katrina recovery, Army Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, reported that there were still hundreds of thousands of troops available for deployment, Rumsfeld said. The active-duty force also has capabilities to support relief efforts and sustain...