Free Republic

You may ask yourself, is it worth one of the best American non-fiction writers producing a book of just under 600 pages on an arrogant and abrasive egotist whose highest sustained rank in the State Department was that of a lowly assistant secretary? The answer is unabashedly yes. This is a remarkable work about a remarkable, if deeply flawed, statesman whose career was intimately intertwined with the 50 years of American decline from Vietnam to Afghanistan. Nearly all biographies have long, boring stretches you want to skip. This one has none. The access to Richard Holbrooke’s papers and to the...

While the tragic end to the War in Afghanistan is an insult to the ultimate sacrifice of American soldiers like Adam Brown, we cannot lose hope. After 20 years, the War in Afghanistan has ended tragically. President Joe Biden’s incompetent exit strategy has left 13 service members dead and an unknowable number of American citizens and allies stranded in a country now under the rule of Islamic terrorists. The unfolding disaster has left many Americans in despair, fearful that thousands of American soldiers, who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan, died for nothing. In spite of the self-interested and short-sighted...

Joe Biden’s emergency Afghanistan press conference Monday accomplished exactly the opposite of instilling confidence in the American regime, by neither promising accountability for this catastrophic failure nor releasing a plan to stabilize the situation, reassure our allies, and recapture at least some deterrence against our watching enemies. This is a disaster with evil consequences that will reverberate long and far.The lack of accountability worsens the debacle by teaching Americans, our friends, and our foes that things this grossly incompetent will happen again. As Ben Domenech pointed out Monday, “Whoever Biden doesn’t fire, their performance Biden believes is acceptable. If this...

After 19 years, $2 trillion, more than 20,000 wounded, almost 2,000 killed, and layer upon layer of lies, itÂ’s time to end the war in Afghanistan. On September 26, 2001, CIA teams infiltrated Afghanistan to seek out and organize Afghanis willing to topple the Taliban-controlled government. U.S. Army Special Forces advised and assisted Afghani allies in taking back their country, and by December 6, Taliban forces left their last stronghold in Kandahar.A little more than two months after the United States began its retaliation campaign against those who harbored the terrorists responsible for September 11, Afghanistan was no longer a...

June 22) -- Gen. Stanley McChrystal, America's top commander in Afghanistan, has been ordered home to explain himself for a magazine article in which he criticizes senior White House aides and his assistants poke fun at administration officials overseeing the war, including Vice President Joe Biden. Earlier, McChrystal apologized for the Rolling Stone article, "The Runaway General," in which he comes across as frustrated with the White House and most top civilian leaders. The magazine hits newsstands Friday but was released to reporters in advance and excerpted by several news outlets. Charles Dharapak, AP Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S....

Several hundred Bundeswehr soldiers, backed by heavy “Marder” tanks and fighter jets, are currently helping about 1,200 Afghan National Army forces conduct major anti-terrorist operations near the Taliban stronghold of Chahar Dara, southwest of the city of Kunduz, where the bulk of Germany’s roughly 4,000 troops are stationed. The fighting--which started on Sunday and involves looking for Taliban / Al Qaeda fighters “village by village and house by house”--is expected to go on until at least next week. The Bundeswehr soldiers are part of the German-led NATO Quick Reaction Force (QRF), which provides force protection and serves as emergency back-up...

A friendly reminder that the war in Afghanistan continues. No amount of bi-partisan bickering can hender the reality of these pictures.

LUBBOCK -- Less than two years ago, Roy Velez got the worst news a father could get: His oldest son was dead, killed during combat in Iraq. This week, his pain only deepened with news that his youngest son had died in Afghanistan. Military officials notified the Velez family Tuesday of the death of Army Pfc. Andrew Velez, 22. His brother, Army Spc. Jose A. Velez, 23, died in November 2004 in Fallujah when his unit came under fire while clearing an enemy stronghold. "I can't be angry. I feel like my heart's been pulled out," Roy Velez said Tuesday....

Spec. George Perez, 21, a paratrooper with the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division, is on his way to Afghanistan, a year and a half after a bomb destroyed his left leg and killed his best friend. Perez, who grew up in Carteret, N.J., called home yesterday during a stopover in Germany on his way to catch up with his unit, already deployed to Afghanistan, his proud father told the Daily News. George Perez Sr. said he's "100%" behind his soldier son's decision to return to combat. "I worry about him a little," he said, "but I have a lot of...

WASHINGTON - President Bush will propose a dramatic increase to $100,000 in government payments to families of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and in future combat zones. The plan to increase the tax-free "death gratuity," now $12,420, will be part the 2006 budget proposal submitted to Congress next week, the Pentagon's personnel chief said in an Associated Press interview. Veterans groups and many in Congress have been pushing for such an increase. "We think the nation ought to make a larger one-time payment, quite apart from insurance, should you be killed in a combat area of...