Col. Daniel Smith (Ret.)

Had Marla Ruzicka not died, she would be busy visiting survivors of the fifty people found dead in the Tigris River.

The level of trust in the U.S. military seems to have crashed–big time.

An overview of recent developments in global security.

Talking to the general

Conflict resolution will not occur until political and factional leaders re-absorb the lesson that each person’s humanity, while unique, is of equal value.

We have yet to pay the complete costs of the militarization of foreign policy under the Bush administration, and the bill will be high.

The military maxim in Iraq might be summarized inelegantly as, “Do nothing that boosts or gives comfort to the guerrilla cause.”

War and walls have demonstrably failed to make good neighbors in the Middle East. That leaves peace the “road less traveled.”

Look for the Bush administration to push its “Proliferation Security Initiative” (PSI) during the president’s October trip to Asia.

Neither Afghanistan nor Iraq is “under control,” particularly when it comes to monetary costs.

Information emerging from the intelligence community indicates that the Iraq Survey Team looking for Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq is coming up empty.

The further the U.S. and the world move from the fall of Baghdad on April 9th, the more it seems that the administration is correct: Iraq is not a quagmire. It is really a black hole.

In the foreign policy arena, the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush is having about as much trouble making it to first base as Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in their old-time comedy skit “Who’s on First.”

Between May 1, when President Bush declared that major combat in Iraq was over, and August 20, 131 U.S., nine UK, and one Danish military personnel have died in Iraq from all causes.

In fact, with each passing day, it is becoming more painfully obvious that the main categorical accusations against the regime of Saddam Hussein used by U.S. President George W. Bush and other senior administration officials to justify the war on Iraq sim

Congress is set to give the Pentagon more than $400 billion to spend on war preparations and now, it seems, on the “non-wars.”

The Bush administration seems headed toward committing the same mistakes of its Vietnam-era predecessors–plus a number of its own.

ccording to the Bush administration, settling Iraq was to be a prelude to settling the Palestinian-Israeli conflict via the Bush “road map.”

But from all the attention it has received as the fighting in Iraq has diminished, one has the impression that Syria is a major threat to the United States.

While Iraqis want U.S. help, they do not want U.S. influence, particularly in the formation of their democracy and its supporting civil structure.