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The 30-year aviation plan that the Pentagon presented to Congress hints at expectations for commissioning a new long-range bomber fleet for the Air Force and Navy. This is also the first time that the Pentagon submitted a joint plan for the Air Force and Navy, according to the Air Force Times. According to the plan, there are no bomber purchases planned over a 10-year period. Instead the Defense Department will spend “considerable sums on modernizing legacy air mobility and long-range strike platforms. The picture will change in the 2020s, when priority will likely shift to buying long-range strike and strategic...

WASHINGTON, May 23, 2006 – The U.S. welcomes the rise of a peaceful and prosperous China, but is taking note as the Asian nation systematically modernizes its military capabilities, a Defense Department report on Chinese military power released today states. "China is beginning to develop the capability to project power. This is worth noting," Peter Rodman, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, told reporters via telephone today. According to an executive summary of the "2006 Annual Report on the Military Power of the People's Republic of China," the People's Liberation Army is in the process of a long-term...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15, 2006 – The U.S. Army needs the support of Congress to win the long war against terrorism and to meet other 21st century threats, Army officials said during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee here yesterday. "In order to sustain the current missions and continue to posture for future commitments, the Army needs the full support of the Congress," Francis J. Harvey, secretary of the Army, said. The Army secretary said the 2006 Army posture statement - the Army's plan to address current and future challenges - "provides a roadmap to first build a more capable...

A FEW weeks ago, in an article written in response to the London bombings, I wrote about the urgent need for a “reform movement to bring the core concepts of Islam into the modern age Naturally there were those who rushed to dismiss my arguments because they came out of my mouth. “The man who lost his personality and beliefs should not speak about the great religion of Islam,” wrote Anna Tanha, of Glasgow. However, there was an encouraging flood of more positive commentary, much of it coming from Muslims. “Absolutely right; it is time Muslims accepted that it is...

Among the many distinctive expressions Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has offered as gifts to the media is the following: “I don’t do quagmires,” referring to the mantra-like repetition by some war critics that Iraq has become a quagmire. The media, however, especially its Official Rumsfeld-Hating Clique, remains mired in the viciously viscous putrid muck of all-consuming loathing of the Secretary of Defense. That same media currently has its puerile knickers in a twist about President Bush awarding Tommy Franks, Paul Bremer and George Tenet the Medal of Freedom. Or, as liberal columnist Richard Cohen, speaking for many media colleagues,...