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On his Fox News show Monday night, Bill O'Reilly suggested using mercenaries to fight the Islamic State (ISIS) instead of U.S. ground forces, which President Obama has repeatedly vowed not to deploy. The use of mercenaries is as old as warfare itself. Alexander the Great used them. King George III hired German mercenaries to fight for the British in the American Revolution. Today mercenaries go by other names, like “contractor." The president is to be commended for assembling a coalition that includes Arab states, but why are our European allies not part of it? Britain hasn't sent planes, though British...

Weeks of U.S. Strikes Fail to Dislodge ISIS in Iraq By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and OMAR AL-JAWOSHY SEPT. 22, 2014 BAGHDAD — After six weeks of American airstrikes, the Iraqi government’s forces have scarcely budged the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State from their hold on more than a quarter of the country, in part because many critical Sunni tribes remain on the sidelines. Although the airstrikes appear to have stopped the extremists’ march toward Baghdad, the Islamic State is still dealing humiliating blows to the Iraqi Army. On Monday, the government acknowledged that it had lost control of the...

In tonight's Talking Points Memo, Bill O'Reilly said he is tired of the phony rhetoric surrounding the ISIS terror threat, tired of hearing the phrase "boots on the ground" and tired of being misled by the Obama administration. 'We Can't Be Waiting for Other Countries': King Says It's in Our 'National Interest' to Hit ISIS in Syria and Iraq 'God, Get Me Home to My Girls': Navy SEAL Shot 27 Times by Al Qaeda Tells His Amazing Survival Story "Here is the truth: Syrian moderates cannot defeat the ISIS terror group," O'Reilly said. "Let me repeat: Even if the USA...

<p>Roughly 500 soldiers from the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division headquarters are headed to the Middle East, with 200 of them to end up in Iraq.</p>

The 1st Infantry Division headquarters will deploy to Iraq soon as the U.S. military steps up its campaign against Islamic State militants, the Pentagon said Thursday. It will be the first division headquarters assigned to Iraq since U.S. forces withdrew from the country at the end of 2011. About 500 soldiers from the Fort Riley, Kan.-based division will be heading for the Middle East next month with about 200 of them going to Iraq, Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said. “They’re going to provide command and control of the ongoing advise-and-assist effort in support of Iraqi and peshmerga...

Yesterday, the Senate approved a bill  to arm and train Syrian rebels, who fight against Bashar Assad, so they can eliminate ISIS, which possesses hundreds of millions of dollars, and no shortage of fighters willing to die for them.  I fail to see the wisdom in this action, or what good can come of this.  It appears cowardly, and even immoral to pay others to fight for you. The New York Times penned almost 1,800 words describing and analyzing this vote, and even got the tally wrong in the original version. Correction: September 18, 2014 An earlier version of this article...

s a de-facto declaration of war. The measure, which was introduced several months ago by Senators Lindsey Graham, Bob Casey and Joe Lieberman, supports continuing to pressure Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program. The resolution advocates using methods other than containment to stop Iran, including exerting economic and diplomatic pressure. Senate Joint Resolution 41 “rejects any United States policy that would rely on efforts to contain a nuclear weapons-capable Iran.” Senators expressed their fears regarding Iran’s nuclear capabilities. “We know that Iran would create access for terrorists – access for them – to these nuclear weapons, making the Middle...

Obama speaking about “no boots on the ground”, turning the sacrifice of our heroes into a cliché is a matter formerly called: “Grasping at straws” grasping at straws: to depend on something that is useless; to make a futile attempt at something. 2. trying to find some way to succeed when nothing you choose is likely to work 3. trying to find reasons to feel hopeful about a bad situation Free Dictionary by Farlex Sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense) isn’t a “true” grass. It’s a member of the sedge family, characterized by sharp teeth along the edges of each blade. Obama is...

Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) thinks folks were hearing things during General Martin Dempsey’s testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee this morning. When asked if he thought Dempsey’s comments, that a limited American troop presence could be required in certain circumstances in the fight against ISIS, meant the general was opening the door to ground troops, Levin looked at reporters as if they were a dog that had just been shown a card trick. “No,” Levin said. “He said they’re not needed.” Levin was pressed on Dempsey’s comments, in which the general said that a specific mission, such as the...

We're at war. We're putting boots on the ground. We're not waiting around for the host nation's government to get its affairs in order, or for a regional coalition to commit first. The president has apparently overcome his reluctance to use the military, his worries about a commitment to intervene without an exit strategy, and his usual reluctance to acknowledge (even implicitly) that his administration was wrong when it assured us that there was nothing much for us to worry about.

President Obama has repeatedly declared there will be no combat troops on the ground in Iraq to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. But a Senate hearing Tuesday with top US military officials revealed that pronouncement is on very shaky ground—there is now no question ground troops are under active consideration at the highest levels of government. General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in his opening remarks he isn’t ruling out asking Obama for ground troops. “To be clear, if we reach the point where I believe our advisers should accompany Iraqi...

Testifying on Capitol Hill Tuesday in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey said that although "we're not there yet," the United States may eventually need to deploy U.S. ground troops to fight ISIS if a coalition and airstrikes fail to get the job done against the terror army. “My view at this point is that this coalition is the appropriate way forward. I believe that will prove true but if it fails to be true and if there are threats to the United States then I of course would...

U.S Secretary of State John Kerry has stated that airstrikes alone will not be effective in defeating the genocidal ISIS militants. In an op-ed which appeared in the New York Times, Kerry suggested a global coalition using political, humanitarian, economic, law enforcement and intelligence tools to support military force in order to tackle ISIS, reported the Guardian. The U.S Secretary of State also added that he and defense secretary Chuck Hagel would be using Nato summit-scheduled for next week at Celtic Manor in Wales- to meet European ministers and to seek to "enlist the broadest possible assistance."

NBC News Correspondent Richard Engel, reporting live from Kurdistan in northern Iraq Wednesday night, said U.S. troops are on the ground in Iraq and avoiding reporters. "They are troops who are staying away from reporters, they are embedded with local fighters trying to guide in air strikes, gathering intelligence -- But, Engel added, "The rest of the strategy seemed incredibly fuzzy -- how there was going to be this international coalition that would lend its moral support of Sunni countries, that you would have to rebuild the Iraqi army, which has lost a tremendous amount of credibility so far; and...

Wary of putting combat troops in Iraq, the U.S. government is gauging contractors’ interest in advising the Iraqi Defense Ministry and Counter Terrorism Service in a range of capacities, including force development, logistics and planning and operations. The U.S. Army Contracting Command posted a notice last month seeking contractors willing to work on an initial 12-month contract, who should be “cognizant of the goals of reducing tensions between Arabs and Kurds, and Sunni and Shias.” They would focus on administration, force development, procurement and acquisition, contracting, training management, public affairs, logistics, personnel management, professional development, communications, planning and operations, infrastructure...

President Obama announced that American troops are being deployed to Iraq. Returning nearly three years after the United States withdrew in 2011 Deployed to protect American personnel and embassy staff in Baghdad This comes as John Kerry says Washington is 'open to discussions' with Tehran about military cooperation He also told Yahoo! News correspondent Katie Couric that drone strikes also 'may well be' an option in the coming days Just a year ago, Obama was weighing ever-tougher sanctions against Iran's mullahs ISIS captured Tal Afar, a key northern town along the highway to Syria, early on Monday, with a population...

The United States government has a dangerous penchant for military intervention, so after Vladimir Putin invaded Crimea, it was a relief that no one talked about sending troops or deploying bombers. Sen. John McCain scotched any such notion by acknowledging glumly that "there is not a military option." Silly him. For the most bellicose hawks, there is always a military option. After a brief lull, some of the people who beat the drums for war in Iraq -- and have done likewise for Iran -- now propose that we put American lives at risk on behalf of Ukraine. This comes...

Islamist rebel forces in Syria have killed 45 Christians in the west-central town of Sadad, the largest massacre of Christians yet in the Syrian conflict. In the wake of the killing, an Orthodox archbishop has mourned, “We have shouted aid to the world but no one has listened to us. Where is the Christian conscience? Where is the human consciousness? Where are my brothers?” According to Agenzia Fides, Syrian Orthodox Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh reported that Islamist rebels entered the town on October 21st; a week later, it was re-captured by the Syrian army. “What happened in Sadad is the...

During a hearing in front of the House Foreign Relations Committee Thursday, Secretary of State John Kerry suggested the United States would eventually need to put boots on the ground in Syria in order to secure stockpiles of chemical weapons. When pressed on the issue, Kerry quickly walked back the troops on the ground option and stated he was simply "thinking out loud" when he made the statement. A resolution passed by the Senate Armed Service Committee yesterday, leaving wiggle room for troops to be eventually placed on the ground in Syria. Now, the Daily Mail is reporting the Pentagon...

Secretary of State John F. Kerry refused Tuesday to rule out putting U.S. troops on the ground in Syria, saying the president needs to retain the ability to send in forces in very select circumstances as the Obama administration officially began to make its case for retaliatory military strikes on the Assad regime. Testifying to the Senate, Mr. Kerry accused critics of “armchair isolationism” and said there are risks to acting, but that the risks of inaction are even worse. But asked whether President Obama would accept an authorization from Congress that specifically banned putting U.S. troops on the ground...