Opinion Forum

Vietnam and Afghanistan

March 1st, 2012

By Tom Carter This article was originally published in September 2009 — two and a half years ago. Unfortunately, it’s as relevant today as it was then. In late 1965, I was in Kontum, Vietnam as a pilot in a helicopter crew sent there for a few days to support U.S. Special Forces operations. I […]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: Afghanistan, Bernard Fall, failure, Islam, Taliban, terrorism, Vietnam
Categories: History, Military, Politics | Comments (4) | Home

Should Politics and Foreign Policy Affect Our Military Justice System?

January 16th, 2012

By Dan Miller The military justice system demands justice for our troops, not revenge upon them to curry favor with others. The video of U.S. Marines who apparently urinated on Taliban corpses has gone viral and not only the Islamic world is watching.

Articles written by Dan Miller
Tags: foreign policy, justice, Marines, punishment, Taliban, trial, UCMJ, urinate
Categories: Law, Media, Politics | Comments (5) | Home

Rules of Engagement — Show Courageous Restraint, Die

July 19th, 2011

By Dan Miller Afghanistan is a beautiful place for a lovely little war. This report is so incredible that it has to be accurate. A soldier in Afghanistan was blown up and killed by a Taliban improvised explosive device because he and others had been ordered to show “courageous restraint” when seeing IEDs being planted […]

Articles written by Dan Miller
Tags: civilians, hearts and minds, IED, restraint, ROE, rules of engagement, Taliban
Categories: Military, News, Politics | Comments (2) | Home

Book Review: A Thousand Splendid Suns

December 8th, 2010

By Tom Carter I just read Khaled Hosseini’s novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes good fiction. It has everything — strong plot, perfect narrative, great style, and rare insight into the human condition. The subject matter, however, is what makes it an urgently important book. It chronicles the […]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: Afghanistan, Khaled Hosseini, Soviet, Splendid Suns, Taliban, terrorism, war
Categories: Arts, History, Life | Comments (0) | Home

Why Not a Peace Surge?

February 1st, 2010

By Jan Barry Greg Mortenson is a one-man peace wave. While heavily armed soldiers and insurgents clashed and bombs burst across Afghanistan and Pakistan throughout most of the past decade, Mortenson repeatedly trekked into the disputed region—without a rifle or artillery barrages and bombing runs to clear a path—and helped villagers in dozens of communities […]

Articles written by Jan Barry
Tags: Afghanistan, children, Mortenson, Peace Corps, schools, Taliban
Categories: Military, News, Politics | Comments (4) | Home