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Defense: By a narrow margin, a House subcommittee has voted to keep open the F-22 Raptor production line. The future of American air dominance and the fate of the world's most capable fighter hang in the balance.On May 30, with North Korea huffing and puffing about nuclear war, the first of 12 high-tech U.S. F-22 Raptor fighter jets landed at Kadena Air Base on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa. It was just days after North Korea unnerved the region by detonating a nuclear device. There were reasons the F-22 was deployed to Japan. The stealthy, radar-evading fighter jet is...

Defense Spending: The TARP bailout may hit $24 trillion, but the Senate says the F-22 is too expensive to build and maintain. So why are the Japanese so desperate to buy this "unnecessary" Cold War weapon?By a vote of 58-40, the Senate on Tuesday voted to remove $1.75 billion set aside in a defense bill to build seven more F-22 Raptors, adding to the 187 stealth technology fighters already in the pipeline. After some hope the production lines would be kept open, the Senate succumbed to arguments by the administration and others that the fighter was too expensive, too hard...

Federal Spending: With the money spent on honeybee insurance in the stimulus package, the Army could buy nine utility helicopters and employ 1,200 skilled workers. Have we forgotten that the nation's interstate highway system was a defense project?The repairing of the nation's roads, bridges and infrastructure is touted by supporters of the stimulus package as a way of creating jobs that America needs to revitalize its economy. The interstate highway system initiated by President Dwight Eisenhower is cited as the kind of job-creating infrastructure work we need to do. What isn't noted is that when Eisenhower announced the program, he...

There’s a nice little piece over in today’s Wall Street Journal authored by General Merrill McPeak, expressing his dismay at the premature termination of the build-out of the originally-planned fleet of the F-22 Raptor - the kick-*ss air-superiority fighter pictured above. The piece is rather good, so I’ll let you go read the whole thing via the link. I’ll just note a couple of things here: The future air combat capabilities we should build are based on the F-22, a stealthy, fast, maneuverable fighter that is unmatched by any known or projected combat aircraft. …. It’s been more than half...

It’s been more than half a century since American soldiers were killed by hostile aircraft. Let's keep it that way.The United States relies on the Air Force, and the Air Force has never been the decisive factor in the history of war. —Saddam Hussein, before Desert Storm High-end conventional war is characterized by the clash of industrial forces. It’s armored, mechanized and increasingly air-power centric. Few are equipped by training or temperament to understand the phenomenon, especially as it concerns air warfare, a relatively recent aspect of the human experience. (In this regard, Saddam Hussein had plenty of company.) But...

Merrill "Tony" McPeak of Lake Oswego advises the Democratic hopeful on military mattersLAKE OSWEGO -- Somewhere on the scale between swagger and shuffle, gruff and glib sits Gen. Merrill "Tony" McPeak, Oregon's answer to the Great Santini. Santini was a fictional Marine pilot whose intense assessments of right and wrong, duty and cowardice got him crosswise with, well, almost everyone he encountered. But he was one heck of a pilot. McPeak? He's Air Force, for starters, keeps his cool a little more and gets along better with others. But he exhibits the same curt impatience for ineptitude, be it moral...

Turns out the most senior retired general to back Sen. Barack Obama crossed paths with Sen. John McCain during their active-duty years. Gen. Merrill A. McPeak, the Air Force chief of staff during 1991 Desert Storm, told The Washington Times he and Mr. McCain sat in the same National War College class of 1973-74. Mr. McCain, then a Navy commander, had been released by North Vietnam in March 1973 and arrived at the Fort McNair campus in July. "We both graduated," Gen. McPeak said of what is considered a ticket-punching step up the ladder to higher rank. Adm. Michael Mullen,...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Barack Obama is considering former top military leaders among his possible running mates, according to a senator who met Tuesday with the Democratic presidential candidate's vice presidential vetting team. North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad told The Associated Press said the team asked him about potential candidates from three broad categories _ current top elected officials, former top elected officials and former top military leaders. Conrad would not disclose which names they discussed, and the Obama campaign has been keeping the process a closely guarded secret. "We talked about many names," Conrad said, including "some that are out...

Retired Air Force Gen. Merrill "Tony" McPeak of Lake Oswego was once again in the middle of a campaign flap Wednesday when Hillary Clinton's campaign questioned his role as an adviser to Barack Obama because of his views on Israel. McPeak, known for his sharp tongue, stood by his position that U.S. policy in the Mideast is influenced by pro-Israeli voters, but he did apologize for last week's comment accusing former President Clinton of McCarthyism. An Obama spokesman said the senator disagrees with McPeak's comments on Israel but continues to stand behind him as a military adviser and co-chairman of...

Richard Carroll asked my opinion of General Tony McPeak, and his current support of the far, Socialist-Left. He is co-chairman of Obama’s National Election Committee. I have been asked the same question by many others. Rich wrote this and asked for as much coverage as possible, so I am sending it to everyone on my list. I consider this a weak version of how I really feel about Wesley Clark, Tony McPeak, the traitor Army Generals, and the rest of their ilk who are supporting the far-left in this election. Most, if not all, waited until they thought there was...

General Merrill "Tony" McPeak, Senator Barack Obama's military advisor and co-chair of his presidential campaign is a longtime anti-Israeli critic who has slammed Israel harshly during his career, according to an inquiry by conservative American media outlets. McPeak, who served as the chief of staff o the US Air Force before retiring in 1994, made headlines over the past week after accusing former President Bill Clinton of McCarthyism. Yet as it turns out, over the years he has criticized Israel for failing to withdraw to the 1967 borders and charged American Jews were preventing American pressure that would lead to...

Retired Air Force Gen. Merrill "Tony" McPeak's recent comparison between Sen. Joseph McCarthy and former President Bill Clinton is factually wrong and politically misleading ("Obama aide compares Clinton to McCarthy," Page A7, Saturday). Mr. McCarthy was a Marine Corps officer who served his country faithfully and patriotically. As a senator, he staunchly defended the United States against communism. Records revealed after the end of the Cold War indicate he was correct. Mr. McCarthy was vehemently attacked by the left wing in this country, primarily by Democrats, who continue to attack him. Mr. Clinton was a draft dodger who signed an...

A week that started with the good news (from this campaign's point of view) coming out of a Gallup poll (see Jewish Democrats: Half pro-Clinton, half pro-Obama) will end on a sour note. Obama's military adviser and national campaign co-chairman, Merrill "Tony" McPeak, is the new celebrity-suspect, having said four years ago that the peace process is not going well because of "New York City and Miami. We have a large vote here in favor of Israel. And no politician wants to run against it." ... First thing first: the credit goes to Robert Goldberg of the American Spectator. He...

Also compares Muslim terrorists to religious 'radicals' in Oregon JERUSALEM – Sen. Barack Obama's military adviser and national campaign co-chairman has implied U.S. politicians are afraid of Jewish voters in Miami and New York City and that American Jews are the "problem" impeding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Merrill A. McPeak, a former Air Force chief of staff, also compared the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist organizations to what he described as religious radicals in Oregon and claimed "born-again [Christians]" supported the war in Iraq to help Israel. Discussing Middle East politics during a 2003 interview with the Oregonian newspaper...

The Clinton campaign is distributing an article in the American Spectator (!) about Obama foreign policy adviser Merrill McPeak and his penchant for.. well, the article accuses him of being an anti-Semite and a drunk. Principally, the author takes McPeak to task for supporting a Middle East map that would require Israel to withdraw to its pre-1967 border. It also makes the case that McPeak supports the Walt-Mearsheimer view of the influence of the Israeli lobby on foreign policy.

More trouble for presidential hopeful: Inquiry by conservative US media outlets reveals that Obama advisor Merrill 'Tony' McPeak is a longtime anti-Israel critic who slammed American Jews for acting against US interests Yitzhak Benhorin Published: 03.26.08, 01:24 / Israel News WASHINGTON - General Merrill "Tony" McPeak, Senator Barack Obama's military advisor and co-chair of his presidential campaign is a longtime anti-Israeli critic who has slammed Israel harshly during his career, according to an inquiry by conservative American media outlets. McPeak, who served as the chief of staff o the US Air Force before retiring in 1994, made headlines over the...

Last week, Barack Obama's military adviser and national campaign co-chairman Merrill "Tony" McPeak accused former President Bill Clinton of "using divisive tactics and unfairly trying to question Barack Obama's patriotism." McPeak, a former chief of staff of the Air Force, previously supported Howard Dean and then John Kerry. He has campaigned for Obama and cut commercials claiming that Obama has the "right stuff" to be Commander in Chief... Well, it is likely that Obama will soon be having to retract Merrill McPeak. McPeak, who was arrested last year for driving under the influence, apparently has a problem controlling more than...

Republican Jewish group wants Obama adviser cannedBy Sam Youngman Posted: 03/25/08 03:41 PM [ET] The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) called on Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) Tuesday to remove military adviser and national campaign co-chairman Gen. Tony McPeak from his team, citing past statements McPeak has made about the Middle East that the RJC finds troubling. Matt Brooks, executive director of the RJC, said in a statement that in keeping McPeak as a surrogate and campaign spokesman, “serious questions and doubts are once again being raised about Sen. Obama’s positions and judgment on Middle East issues.” In its statement, the RJC...

"Merrill 'Tony' McPeak said he was astonished and disappointed by recent comments Bill Clinton made while speculating about a general election between Obama's Democratic rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Republican John McCain. Standing next to Obama on stage at a campaign stop in southern Oregon, the retired Air Force chief of staff repeated Bill Clinton's comments aloud to a silent audience...McPeak also had made off-the-cuff remarks to reporters Friday in comparing the former president's comments with the actions of Joseph McCarthy, the 1950s communist-hunting senator. 'I grew up, I was going to college when Joe McCarthy was accusing good Americans...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Supporters of both Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton agree on at least one thing -- that Obama's campaign shouldn't have let a retired general accuse Bill Clinton of McCarthyism. The fracas started when the former president spoke last week in North Carolina, saying it would be great to have an election between "two people who loved this country" and focused on the issues instead of other distractions. Retired General Merrill McPeak accused Clinton of questioning Obama's patriotism, and likened the comments to communist-hunting Senator Joseph McCarthy. On "Fox News Sunday," Obama supporter and New Mexico governor...