Eloquent reminder from Erica Payne: Consider this: We are the world’s only superpower. We have 309 million citizens and control 3.79 million square miles of land. At $14.3 trillion, we have the world’s largest economy. We make up two-fifths of the world’s military spending. It is virtually impossible for our enemies to beat us physically. [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 847-10 September 18, 2010 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Spc. Deangelo B. Snow, 22, of Saginaw, Mich., died Sept. 17 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attached his vehicle with a rocket propelled [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 846-10 September 17, 2010 DOD Identifies Air Force Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of an airman who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Senior Airman Daniel R. Sanchez, 23, of El Paso, Texas, died Sept. 16 while conducting combat operations in Oruzgan province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the [...]

After word leaked that one soldier had spoken to military police, several platoon members retaliated, records show. They confronted the informant and beat him severely – punching, kicking and choking the soldier, then dragging him across the ground. As a last warning, the documents state, Gibbs menacingly waved finger bones he had collected from Afghan [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 845-10 September 17, 2010 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Sgt. Aaron K. Kramer, 22, of Salt Lake City, Utah, died Sept. 16 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with small arms [...]

But Yom Kippur is approaching, so I suppose I should at least act like I am. This blog is going dark, as dark as my miserable soul. Then again, I’ve been an absentee landlord lately, so how could you even tell? Something else to atone for and possibly not correct.

Not that this was unanticipated, but behold the Defense Appropriations Committee’s summary of its mark-up yesterday for next year’s defense bill: Includes language which prohibits the transfer, release, or incarceration of any individual who was detained as of October 1, 2009, at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to or within the United States or its [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 843-10 September 17, 2010 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation New Dawn. Sgt. John F. Burner III, 32, of Baltimore, Md., died Sept. 16, in Iskandariya, Iraq, in a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 63rd Signal [...]

Now this is the sort of story that both President Obama and General Petraeus want out: General Petraeus, who led the Iraq surge and was a favorite of Mr. Bush, has slowly worked himself into the good graces of a president who was once wary of him. So far, the two men appear to be [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 839-10 September 16, 2010 DOD Identifies Air Force Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of an airman who was supporting Operation New Dawn. Senior Airman James A. Hansen, 25, of Athens, Mich., died Sept. 15 of wounds suffered during a controlled detonation at Joint Base Balad, Iraq. He was [...]