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The U.S. Army’s annual unconventional warfare exercise Robin Sage is set to kick off across rural North and South Carolina this month, pitting Special Forces candidates against simulated guerillas fighting for the fictional nation of “Pineland.” The exercise is so realistic and spans such a large area that the U.S. Army has issued notices to local law enforcement agencies warning them not to mistake the exercise for a real insurrection, an error that has cost one soldier his life during a previous Robin Sage event. Robin Sage is conducted annually by the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center...

A series of Special Forces military training exercises -- including gunfire with blanks -- is being staged across 21 North Carolina counties starting Aug. 30, and the Army is telling the public not to be alarmed at the suspicious-looking activity. (Source: Video screenshot | U.S. Department of Defense) August 21, 2019 at 1:34 PM EDT - Updated August 21 at 1:34 PM NORTH CAROLINA (Mark Price/Charlotte Observer) - A series of Special Forces military training exercises -- including gunfire with blanks -- is being staged across 21 North Carolina counties starting Aug. 30, and the Army is telling the...

For those interested and wanting to watch something more tolerable than the Communist(oops!) "Democratic" National Convention, Turner Classic Movies is presently airing all 4 Humphrey Bogart/Lauren Bacall films tonight.

He opposes abortion, including in cases of rape and incest. He thinks Iran could be deterred from aggression by deploying more warships. And he is a proponent of privatized Social Security. But just one topic — his “9-9-9” tax plan — has dominated Herman Cain’s rhetoric in this presidential race, helping to propel him to the top of Republican polls this month. And that has prompted questions about what else he stands for and whether he has the breadth of knowledge — particularly on foreign policy — expected of an occupant of the White House. An examination of Cain’s words...

Hey, did you hear Sarah Palin isn’t running for president? That’s right … I have it on good authority that she’s not running for president because she hasn’t yet hired the brilliant woman hater Ed Rollins to manage her campaign, hasn’t hit up the wealthy donors ethanol cronies in Iowa, or pressed the palms of New Hampshire politicos Romney hacks. Yeah, she’s so not running … I just know it. Sarc tag off now. Seriously. How is it that people who know Palin is unconventional expect her to run a conventional presidential campaign? Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t...

JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will visit the first-in-the-South primary state of South Carolina later this month as part of her nationwide bus tour, RealClearPolitics has learned. According to well-informed sources, Palin's trip is divided into three separate segments, in which visits to each of the first three voting states -- New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina -- will be the geographical centerpieces. Though Palin may work to set up a meeting with Gov. Terry Branstad when she travels to Iowa in the coming days, RCP has learned that she is purposefully bypassing meetings with local...

An Al Qaeda affiliate in Algeria closed a base earlier this month after an experiment with unconventional weapons went awry, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Monday. The official, who spoke on the condition he not be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said he could not confirm press reports that the accident killed at least 40 Al Qaeda operatives, but he said the mishap led the militant group to shut down a base in the mountains of Tizi Ouzou province in eastern Algeria.

WASHINGTON, April 21, 2008 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today challenged military officers to become forward thinkers with the courage to advance new approaches needed to confront current and emerging threats. U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Stephen Lorenz, Commander of the Air War College, presents a memento to U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to commemorate his speech at Polifka Auditorium, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., April 21, 2008. Defense Dept. photo by Cherie Cullen  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “An unconventional era of warfare requires unconventional thinkers,” Gates told Air War College students at Maxwell Air...

More than just a branch of America’s armed forces, the modern U.S. Marine Corps serves as a model that other military forces worldwide have attempted to emulate, with varying degrees of success. Marines are aware of this, and justifiably proud. But that pride has not always been conducive to working and playing well with others.

Specifics have yet to be finalized regarding the Marine detachment, but the prototype unit has been fighting in Iraq, performing raids against insurgent strongholds and conducting special operations missions. Fighting is how they train to fight.

AN Australian port could be attacked or a ferry hijacked by terrorists to transport weapons of mass destruction, because of gaps in the maritime border security net. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has found a lack of awareness from states and the federal Government about the specific threats posed from the sea. "A determined and expert terrorist is still likely to have little difficulty in entering Australia by sea, and will probably only be defeated by advance intelligence of his movements," the institute says in a report titled Future unknown: the terrorist threat to Australian maritime security. "We have high...

Gal Luft is executive director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security in Washington, D.C. He is a specialist on strategic issues and energy policy with a PhD in strategic studies from Johns Hopkins University. A former lieutenant colonel in the Israel Defense Forces, his writings have appeared in Commentary, Foreign Affairs, the Los Angeles Times, Middle East Review of International Affairs, the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. Mr. Luft addressed the Middle East Forum in Philadelphia on October 27, 2004. Introduction In both World War Two and the Cold War, the side best deploying scientific...

Unconventional Protests With the cops cracking down on dissent, will the protests get out of hand? By MICHELLE GOLDBERG If you're a delegate attending the Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden later this month, Jamie Moran knows where you're staying. He knows where you're eating and what Broadway musical you plan on seeing. For the past nine months, Moran has been living off savings earned as an office manager at a nonprofit and working full-time to disrupt the RNC. His small anarchist collective, RNCNotWelcome.org, runs a snitch line and an e-mail account where disgruntled employees of New York hotels,...

GREETINGS, FOLLOWING is a note re todays Alaskan quake. First a comment about this thread. SOME FREEPERS are fascinated with fringe areas of reality. Some of us even think the fringe areas of knowledge, research, anecdotal stories and the like will have very impactful effects on the WAR ON TERROR, WWIII, Biblical end time events etc. WE ALSO FIND FREEPERS FULL OF GREAT CREATIVITY OF THOUGHT, INSIGHT, WORK RELATED EXPERIENCES AND SKILLS ETC. useful in collecting diverse puzzle pieces and in analyzing them. This diversity is priceless and virtually unavailable on any other site. While we are seriously interested in...

U.S. special operations troops have become a key military weapon in the war on terrorism, DoD's top special operations official told U.S. House of Representatives' members here March 11. Special operators are "taking the war to the terrorists before it can be fought on our own soil or that of our allies," Thomas W. O'Connell said in testimony before the House Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee. O'Connell is the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict. He told House members that special operations forces played a front-line role in routing the Taliban and disrupting al Qaeda's...

<p>LONDON (AP) — al-Qaeda is still capable of a deadly attack, and it is only a matter of time before terrorists target a Western city with unconventional weapons, the head of Britain's domestic intelligence agency said Tuesday. "We are faced with the realistic possibility of some form of unconventional attack" that could include chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons, said Eliza Manningham-Buller.</p>

<p>STOCKHOLM, Sweden (CNN) -- Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said Friday that he would be interested to learn whether Iraq has chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.</p> <p>Disarming Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of such weapons was one reason the United States and Britain gave for invading the Persian Gulf nation.</p>

<p>STOCKHOLM, Sweden (CNN) -- Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said Friday that he would be interested to learn whether Iraq has chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.</p> <p>Disarming Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of such weapons was one reason the United States and Britain gave for invading the Persian Gulf nation.</p>

Iraq gives chilling warning of 'unconventional operations'Saddam Hussein appears in broadcast; 2,500 Republican Guards 'surrender'; US 'controls' road to Saddam's home town; 'Iraqi held' over deaths of UK soldiers; Allies cool prospects of onslaught; fresh 'Saddam' message broadcast AP 04 April 2003 Iraq this afternoon delivered a chilling warning of "unconventional operations" tonight.The Information Minister, Mohammed Saeed-al Sahaf, said the operations would be "nothing to do with the military" and there would be no chance for Allied forces to survive unless they surrendered. It would be hard for the US forces to leave Baghdad airport alive, he said. The Iraqis...

AS MARK THOMPSON of Time magzine writes, "Every war has it's wonder weapon. And in an upcoming war aginst Iraq, we are told to "get ready to meet the high-power microwave." The way Thompson describes it, the "HPM" sound almost too good to be true: They "fry the sophisticated computers and electronic gear necessary to produce, protect store and deliver [chemical and biological] agents. The powerful elctromagnetic pulses can travel into deeply buried bunkers through ventilation shafts, plumbing and antennas. But unlike conventional explosives, they won't spew deadly agents into the air, where they could poison Iraqi civilians or advancing...