Free Republic

War On Terror: Sen. John Kerry, who was so wrong about Iraq, now says our commander in Afghanistan is "reaching too far, too fast" and that a "good enough" policy should suffice. It won't. Offering his advice on how to micromanage the war against the Taliban, Kerry said Gen. Stanley McChrystal, President Obama's hand-picked general to fight what he called a "war of necessity," is wrong in saying he needs 40,000 more troops to fight and win it. Speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations on Monday, Kerry advocated a "good enough" policy designed not to achieve victory in al-Qaida's...

Note: The following text is a quote: Home • Briefing Room • Speeches & Remarks The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release October 28, 2009 Remarks by the President at the Signing of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 East Room 2:42 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Please, everybody be seated. Good afternoon. I have often said that meeting our greatest challenges would require not only changing policies in Washington but changing the way business is done in Washington; that it would require a government that's more efficient and effective and less...

National Security: On the eve of a visit by China's No. 2 ranking military officer, the Obama administration loosens export controls on technology that will benefit Chinese missile development. It's deja vu all over again. The Pentagon has announced that Chinese Gen. Xu Caihou will visit the United States and meet with Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Oct. 26. Xu is vice chairman of the People's Liberation Army Central Military Commission. While here, Xu will visit American military installations around the U.S., including the U.S. Pacific Command. Perhaps Xu will bring with him a note of thanks for the administration's...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon is speeding up delivery of a colossal bomb designed to destroy hidden weapons bunkers buried underground and shielded by 10,000 pounds of reinforced concrete. Call it Plan B for dealing with Iran, which recently revealed a long-suspected nuclear site deep inside a mountain near the holy city of Qom. The 15-ton behemoth will be the largest non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal. "I don't think anybody can divine potential targets," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said. The administration has been careful not to take military action off the table even as it reaches out to...

Security: After Iran admits building a second enrichment facility inside a mountain, the Pentagon shifts money from other programs to urgently fund the mother of all bunker-buster bombs. Why the need for speed? At the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh last month, President Obama announced, "The Islamic Republic of Iran has been building a covert uranium enrichment facility near Qom for several years." U.S. officials said they knew for some time that the facility existed. The announcement was made after U.S. officials learned Iran had told the International Atomic Energy Agency of Qom's existence. Our knowledge of the facility built in...

Security: After Iran admits building a second enrichment facility inside a mountain, the Pentagon shifts money from other programs to urgently fund the mother of all bunker-buster bombs. Why the need for speed? At the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh last month, President Obama announced, "The Islamic Republic of Iran has been building a covert uranium enrichment facility near Qom for several years." U.S. officials said they knew for some time that the facility existed. The announcement was made after U.S. officials learned Iran had told the International Atomic Energy Agency of Qom's existence. Our knowledge of the facility built in...

The beauty of being a narcissist is that even when disaster stares you in the face, you feel neither doubt nor remorse.” —Carl Vogel, A Field Guide to Narcissism Former Senator Rick Santorum added, “The international community now is beginning to become aware that not only is [Obama] naive in his pursuit of a whole bunch of things including complete nuclear disarmament, but that his ego gets in the way of him learning anything about why he’s wrong on these things. That’s a very dangerous combination - to not know anything and to think you know everything.”

Defense: As the failure of engagement with Iran grows more apparent, the administration that has talked very softly may be getting the mother of all sticks ready. Guess we need high-tech Cold War weapons after all.Western intelligence sources have told London's Times that Iran has perfected the means to develop and detonate a nuclear bomb and is merely awaiting word from its supreme leader to produce its first one. Should the order be given, it would take just six months to enrich enough uranium and another six months to assemble the warhead. Time's up. Recently, and perhaps not coincidentally, Defense...

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...

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...

Sarah Palin, outlying her "common sense conservative" foreign policy views in Hong Kong yesterday, denounced her former running mate's push to cut new F-22 Raptor fighter jets, an efficiency move in which Senator John McCain allied himself with the White House and against many other Republican hawks. "Though we are engaged in two wars and face a diverse array of threats, it is the defense budget that has seen significant program cuts and has actually been reduced from current levels!" Palin said, according to a portion of the private speech I obtained. Defense spending will, in fact, increase this year...

Czechs are used to betrayal by their Western allies. It was at Munich in 1938 that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sealed their doom in exchange for a piece of paper promising "peace in our time." The fact that this further gutting of missile defense came on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland on Sept. 17, 1939, is an eerie coincidence. "Just after midnight I was informed in a telephone call by President Barack Obama that (his) administration had decided to pull out from the planned missile defense shield installations" in the Czech Republic and Poland, the...

Defense: A ballistic missile launched from Alaska is shot down by an interceptor launched from California. With threats from North Korea to Iran, it's time to ignore the skeptics and fully fund missile defense.It was the most realistic and most successful missile defense test ever in a Strategic Defense Initiative that could one day save an American city from a rogue missile strike. Yet the "yeah, but" media greeted this triumph with claims the concept is still unproven. It was as if the Wright brothers had announced man's first flight, only to be greeted with cries that they hadn't built...

Defense: The Air Force airborne laser program successfully completes a simulated kill from a plane able to find, track and destroy a live ballistic missile. We can shoot down enemy missiles. Instead, we're shooting down the laser program.The Aug. 10 effort was the third such test — sort of like a sniper sighting the target with the red dot of a laser without actually pulling the trigger. In early June, the airborne laser (ABL) program engaged two un-instrumented missiles. This was the first in-flight test against an instrumented target missile. A modified Boeing 747-400F aircraft took off from Edwards Air...

Security: An Iranian mullah once said "a world without America and Zionism" was a real possibility. Our sellout of Eastern Europe and missile defense brings that dream closer to reality. It would take only one warhead."Is it possible for us to witness a world without America and Zionism?" Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked at a "World Without Zionism" conference in Tehran in 2005. "But you had best know that this slogan and this goal are attainable, and surely can be achieved." He added that Iran had a strategic "war preparation plan" for what it called "the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization." A...

Strategic Defense: With Iran on the verge of a deliverable nuke, the administration tells our allies in the dead of night that we will scuttle missile defense plans in Eastern Europe to please the Russians.Czechs are used to betrayal by their Western allies. It was at Munich in 1938 that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sealed their doom in exchange for a piece of paper promising "peace in our time." The fact that this further gutting of missile defense came on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland on Sept. 17, 1939, is an eerie coincidence. "Just after...

Defense: On the same day a plot to supply Iran with nuclear materials is revealed, Israel conducts a missile defense test. Nothing concentrates the mind quite so wonderfully as the threat of imminent extinction.On Tuesday, word came that the Manhattan district attorney's office had smashed a plot to smuggle nuclear weapons materials to Iran through unwitting New York banks. A 118-count indictment accuses Chinese financier Lei Feng Wei of setting up fake companies to hide that he was selling millions of dollars in potential nuclear materials to Tehran. As the New York Daily News reports, among the materials involved were...

Defense: As we prepare to celebrate our independence, North Korea wants to remind us of Pearl Harbor. Fortunately, we can make use of assets dreamed of by Reagan and deployed by Bush to defend our 50th state. Japan's Yomiuri newspaper reported Thursday that North Korea would launch a long-range Taepodong-2 missile at Hawaii on or about July 4. This would be the anniversary of the first Taepodong-2 test on July 4, 2006. It would also mark the 15th anniversary of North Korean President Kim Il Sung's death.Those who know have stopped laughing at North Korea's increasingly credible nuclear and global...

Security: As Defense Secretary Gates tours our missile defense site at Fort Greely, Alaska, Gov. Sarah Palin calls for restoration of the missile defense cuts. Meanwhile, North Korea points another missile at the U.S.

Key Findings --America’s support for a Missile Defense system continues at an extremely high level (88%), a 2 percentage point increase from 2008 and a 5 percentage point increase from 2007. More than 3 out of 4 adults, 77%, feel “strongly” about their support, also a 2 percentage point increase from 2008 and an 8 percentage point increase from 2007. Currently, support ranges from 82% in the West and 83% in the Northeast to 91% in the South and 94% in the North Central region of the U.S. Men and women are at the identical 88% support level. Republican support...

Defense: President Obama dreams of a world without nuclear weapons. Unless testing and maintenance of our nuclear deterrent is resumed, it will be a world without American nuclear weapons.In his Prague speech this spring, the president spoke of "America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons," ignoring the fact that before 1945 we lived in such a world and it was neither peaceful nor secure. We recently observed the anniversaries of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, actions that brought an abrupt end to the carnage of World War II and arguably...

U.S. Submarines Could Retain Nuclear-Armed Cruise Missiles Friday, July 31, 2009 An ongoing review of the U.S. nuclear weapons posture might call for the country to continue arming some of its attack submarines with nuclear-tipped Tomahawk cruise missiles, Kyodo News reported (see GSN, March 24). Washington will look to friendly nations to help decide whether to retire the weapons, a high-level U.S. official told Kyodo News. Japan has asked the United States to consult with partner governments before rolling back any nonstrategic nuclear-weapon deployments, according to the news service. One U.S. ally has expressed support for the missiles' deterrent value,...

Defense adviser says new threats challenge dominance that the U.S. has taken for granted American military dominance is eroding in the face of an ascendant Chinese power, hostile states like Iran and the spread of sophisticated weapons and technology to militant groups, and the Pentagon must reassess its long-term strategy, according to a top defense analyst recently appointed to review Defense Department policy. In a Foreign Affairs journal piece published this month, titled "The Pentagon’s Wasting Assets," Andrew Krepinevich argues that the Pentagon needs to better prepare for this new world order by rethinking U.S. global advantages largely taken for...

America's cyber-security has been described as "broken" by one industry expert and as "childlike" by another. The criticism comes as President Obama prepares to release the results of a review he had ordered. Tim Mather, chief strategist for security firm RSA, told BBC News: "The approach we have relied on for years has effectively run out of steam."

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration on Tuesday approved the purchase of pricey new spy satellites and will buy more commercial imagery from the private sector to plug immediate gaps in satellite coverage. The new program will take the place of one that had been awarded to The Boeing Co. The Pentagon canceled that project in 2005 because it was grossly over budget and behind schedule. An intelligence official, who spoke to reporters shortly after the White House approved the program, said the new spy satellites would offer the same capability of those now in use. Officials were concerned...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 09-75 Governor Palin Stresses Need for Strong Missile Defense Capability April 6, 2009, Juneau, Alaska – Responding to the missile test by North Korea, Governor Sarah Palin today reaffirmed Alaska’s commitment to protecting America from rogue nation missile attacks. “I am deeply concerned with North Korea’s development and testing program which has clear potential of impacting Alaska, a sovereign state of the United States, with a potentially nuclear armed warhead,” Governor Palin said. “I can’t emphasize enough how important it is that we continue to develop and perfect the global missile defense network. Alaska’s strategic location...

Here is video of President Barack Obama dedicating the "Abraham Lincoln Hall" at the National Defense University today . . . . NOTE: Here is an interesting statement by Obama beginning at the 8:52 mark of the video: Finally we know that the United States cannot defeat global threats alone. There is no permanent American solution to the security challenges that we face within any foreign nation, nor can the world meet the tests of our time without strong American leadership. That's why my administration is committed to comprehensive engagement with the world, including strengthened partnerships with the foreign militaries...

National Security: The proposed missile defense system for Europe may be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Russia. Is Ronald Reagan's "We win, they lose" now "Let's make a deal"?When President Reagan began the Strategic Defense Initiative in 1983, the only ones who took it seriously were the Soviets. Their global ambitions depended on an America inhibited and even intimidated by the threat of nuclear war. They still do. Just ask Georgia. When Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev met Reagan in Reykjavik, Iceland, in October 1986, he hoped Reagan would be willing to trade SDI away in exchange for...

There has been some confusing reporting in the past few days regarding President Barack Obama's plans for the Defense Department budget. Officially, the Office of Management and Budget is claiming that it will increase the budget by 8 percent. But because most of the Iraq and Afghanistan war costs have been funded through supplemental appropriations rather than the regular department budget, total military funding remains a mystery. Mark me down as suspicious. I have been told by sources at the Pentagon that they have been told not to expect full funding of all existing programs. And there is evidence that...

<p>One of the principle issues that the Chinese Navy has been experiencing in the development of their many new classes of warships is the ability to defend them adequately, particularly close-in.</p> <p>They have developed verticle launch systms (VLS) for medium and long range engagements, they have developed Phased Array Radars (PARS) and the acquisition and guidance systems for them. They have developed gatling gun Close in Weapons Systems (CIWS), but to date, they had not developed a strong, short range but effective close in weapon missile system that compares with the west.</p>

I'm watching the inauguration mix on DirecTV and on the CBS audio feed they have a reporter who was with President Elect Clinton in 1993 on inaugeration day. She said that at one point Chairman of the Joint Chiefs - Colin Powell took President Elect Clinton into a dining room and gave him the nuclear codes. That made me wonder - if the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs passes the codes along, not the current President, what keeps the military from being able to launch missiles without the President? Anybody have any insight they can share?

Three retired military commanders are urging the Government to scrap the plan to replace the Trident nuclear deterrent. In a letter published in The Times today, they said that Britain’s independent deterrent has become “virtually irrelevant”, and they call on Gordon Brown to spend the money saved on cancelling the Trident replacement by providing more funds for the Armed Forces to meet their current operational commitments. Field Marshal Lord Bramall, a former Chief of the Defence Staff, General Lord Ramsbotham, a former Adjutant-General, and General Sir Hugh Beach, former Master General of the Ordinance, said: “Should this country ever become...

Washington - The American public's increased uncertainty about military service, as casualties mounted from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has for the first time in several years begun to abate. It's not exactly clear what is causing the new trend. But military experts and defense officials speculate that the decline in casualties in Iraq and an economic downturn at home mean more Americans see themselves joining the military or supporting someone who does. The changing perceptions could be crucial for the next presidency, as the nation considers expanding the military even more to meet demands around the world. President-elect...

Obama Pledges Cuts in Missile Defense, Space, and Nuclear Weapons Programs February 29, 2008 :: News MissileThreat.com A video has surfaced of Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama talking on his plans for strategic issues such as nuclear weapons and missile defense. The full text from the video, as released, reads as follows: Thanks so much for the Caucus4Priorities, for the great work you've been doing. As president, I will end misguided defense policies and stand with Caucus4Priorities in fighting special interests in Washington. First, I'll stop spending $9 billion a month in Iraq. I'm the only major candidate who opposed...

Representative Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) has proposed H.R. 808, the Department of Peace and Non-Violence Act. The bill would establish a “Department of Peace and Non-Violence...headed by a Secretary of Peace and Nonviolence appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.” H.R. 808 also would establish within the Department an “Intergovernmental Advisory Council on Peace and Non-violence [to] provide assistance and make recommendations to the Secretary and the President concerning intergovernmental policies relating to peace and non-violent conflict resolution; a Federal Interagency Committee on Peace and Non-violence; [and] Peace Day.” While this may sound like a...

ABC News Sarah Palin Defends Experience, Takes Hard Line Approach on National Security Republican VP Candidate Speaks with ABC News' Charlie Gibson in Exclusive Interview By RUSSELL GOLDMAN Sept. 11, 2008— On the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, Gov. Sarah Palin took a hard-line approach on national security and said that war with Russia may be necessary if that nation invades another country. In her first of three interviews with ABC News's Charles Gibson and the only interview since being picked by Sen. John McCain as his Republican vice presidential nominee, Palin categorized the Russian invasion...

Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumb By Burt Prelutsky Timing, as they say, is everything, and not just for baseball players trying to hit a 95-mph fastball. For example, if Hitler had come along 70 years later than he did, I have no doubt that he would have succeeded in conquering all of Europe. One only has to look at how close he came, and that was in spite of all those nations and the U.S. aligned against him. Today, much of Europe has no backbone, and I doubt that, in the wake of Iraq, Americans would have the collective will required to...

What is it with photographers these days? Are they really all terrorists, or does everyone just think they are? Since 9/11, there has been an increasing war on photography. Photographers have been harrassed, questioned, detained, arrested or worse, and declared to be unwelcome. We've been repeatedly told to watch out for photographers, especially suspicious ones. Clearly any terrorist is going to first photograph his target, so vigilance is required. Except that it's nonsense. The 9/11 terrorists didn't photograph anything. Nor did the London transport bombers, the Madrid subway bombers, or the liquid bombers arrested in 2006. Timothy McVeigh didn't photograph...

Build the U.S. Border Fence Now! Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and the Bush administration are deservedly under assault for not keeping their promises. After a long public outcry over promises broken, the government says they have agreed to construct a border fence. But this is Washington, promises aren't meant to actually be honored. Chertoff and the Bush administration are creating needless public controversy about the fence over what must be done to and with the land, and they are exploiting a backdoor Democrat Party and Open Borders Lobby effort that provides a smoke screen for the feds to...

Prosecutors called Chi Mak the "perfect sleeper agent," though he hardly looked the part. For two decades, the bespectacled Chinese-born engineer lived quietly with his wife in a Los Angeles suburb, buying a house and holding a steady job with a U.S. defense contractor, which rewarded him with promotions and a security clearance. Colleagues remembered him as a hard worker who often took paperwork home at night. Eventually, Mak's job gave him access to sensitive plans for Navy ships, submarines and weapons. These he secretly copied and sent via courier to China -- fulfilling a mission that U.S. officials say...

WASHINGTON – The U.S. needs a new, modern arsenal of nuclear weapons to use as a deterrent to attacks from other nations for the remainder of the 21st century, the top military commander for strategic warfare said Tuesday. Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, head of the military's Strategic Command, said if the Pentagon develops an improved, more reliable nuclear weapon, the U.S. will be able to reduce the number of warheads it keeps on hand. “So long as there are other countries in the world that possess enough nuclear weapons to destroy the United States of America and our way...

In last week's space spectacular, a U.S. missile did more than turn a dead satellite into bits of space scrap. It also blew another hole in hopes that the world's nations could forge a treaty making outer space a weapons-free realm, analysts say.Wednesday's orbiter shootdown by a U.S. Navy missile came just eight days after Russia and China, at the U.N. Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, submitted a draft treaty to ban weapons from space.

U. S. Defends Self by: Jeremy Hempel, February 05, 2008 The national defense budget is split up into two accounts; the base defense budget for the year, at $507 billion, and the special war-time budget at $141.8 billion. The U. S. Senate Committee on Armed Services moved $12 billion dollars from the war-time budget to the base budget in order to supply for ongoing programs. Some intriguing big- ticket items: • “Adding approximately $300 million to the budget request to provide increased space situational awareness capabilities to address concerns raised as a result of the recent Chinese kinetic anti-satellite weapons...

WASHINGTON - The U.S. military isn't ready for a catastrophic attack on the country, and National Guard forces don't have the equipment or training they need for the job, according to a report. Even fewer Army National Guard units are combat-ready today than were nearly a year ago when the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves determined that 88 percent of the units were not prepared for the fight, the panel says in a new report released Thursday. The independent commission is charged by Congress to recommend changes in law and policy concerning the Guard and Reserves. The commission's...

The West must be prepared to carry out pre-emptive nuclear strikes to halt the spread of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, a radical new manifesto argues. The document - written by five of the West's most senior military officers and strategists - has been presented to the Pentagon and NATO's secretary-general. They argue there is a need for urgent and comprehensive reform of NATO, The Guardian reports. A new pact - involving the United States, NATO and the European Union - was also essential to face the challenges ahead, they said. The manifesto is likely to be discussed...

Fred on the Issues (from www.Fred08.com) National Security The first responsibility of government is to protect the American people, the homeland, and our way of life. Today we face the urgent threat of radical Islamic terrorists. Al Qaeda is committed to attacking us here at home, and wants to use weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to kill millions. We must never give them that opportunity. We must defeat the terrorists abroad, and that begins in Iraq and Afghanistan—the central fronts in this global war. We must show the world we have the will to fight and win. A weakened America...

Fred Thompson or Ron Paul? Like Perry and some others, I would rather see a big government Democrat elected than a big government Republican. At least that would bring back some opposition. Republicans in Congress have a much better record of reining in the Democrats' presidents than their own. And as I explain later, I think that one of these two is the only Republican candidate capable of winning the national election. Ron Paul answering the What programs? question by naming three cabinet level departments ... Wow. Good answer. If there was no rest-of-the-world, he would possibly have my vote....

HARRIS FAULKNER : Senator, your reaction, first, to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. FRED THOMPSON : It is a tragedy, of course. It reminds us that things can happen in faraway places of the world that can affect the United States. I think this should be of great concern to us. It is almost a perfect storm in a very bad sense because two forces are operating against each other that are both desirable. One is democracy: they were making progress in that regard in that country. Former prime minister Bhutto was an important part of that process. But the...

Depending on how you look at it, I am either blessed or cursed with an analytical mind. So when making big decisions I’ve long attempted to quantify the relative merits of the choices available to me. One simple tool I have found useful is the decision matrix. Even my wife has become a convert to its utility. We’ve used decision matrices to buy three different cars, select a dog breed, and choose our vacation destinations. And so, I have again turned to a decision matrix to help determine who I support for President. I’ll spare you the suspense regarding the...

Presidential-primary elections can be an ugly season for anyone who actually loves politics. It is a time when friendships can be strained — or worse — over a candidate. It is a time where political couples can find themselves frequently split up. It is a time where coalitions are strengthened or torn asunder. It’s the latter that Mike Huckabee is on the path to doing. Almost a year ago, when I talked to him about his book, From Hope to Higher Ground: 12 Stops to Restoring America’s Greatness, no one seriously thought the former Arkansas governor would be anywhere near...