“That look really hurts when you see it in your wife’s eyes.”

I had an impromptu conversation last night with a vet who served in Iraq, I thought it was worth sharing:
[Spence] : not to wallow but 6 years military with a deployment goes a long way to explain divorce. was is rough on marriages.
[Spence] : war is rough on marriages
[Doug]: Understood, it’s rough on all the [...]

Iraqis fake celebration of fake US withdrawal, Obama interview, and other news of the week

Well, I got my Internet connection back, and I got my cable TV back, all is right with the universe. At least my little corner of it. Lots of news this week, though it’s more and more apparent to me that what passes for news in the mainstream media is little more than talking points [...]

The Four Horsemen: War, Plague, Depression, and Obama

It appears we aren’t all going to die of the swine flu just yet. That pretty much covers that topic. A few points to reiterate. The reason this was such a big deal, though the media did overreact, was that this is a new and and contagious disease. Yes, it is a flu, but it [...]

Obama, Iraq, Af-Pak, history, French prostitutes win a battle, and other random and insightful thoughts

There have been a few posts getting some comments back and forth. Maybe there is some way I can include this in a sidebar, but for now I’ll just mention them here. The first is the “1 shot 2 kills” post and the other is the “World’s First Eyewitness” post. Join the discussion if you [...]

Six years in Iraq, another proud milestone for freedom and democracy

“My fellow citizens, at this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people, and to defend the world from grave danger.”    —George Bush 2003
It’s been six years since former President Bush announced that US forces were entering Iraq to defend us from the [...]

Changes

Friday was a peculiar day, I had to run out the door first thing in the morning to take a client’s cat to an emergency veterinary appointment. Thus, no blog Friday morning. I run out the door, and the last thing I do is check on my cats to make sure they are safely locked [...]

“Another victory like this, and we’re done for.”

OK, presidential candidate Barrack Obama is taking a whirlwind tour of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Europe. Accompanied by a world class entourage of reporters, creating a world wide media frenzy, and no doubt creating an unprecedented security headache for the Secret Service and the US military. I don’t recall a candidate who created such a populist [...]

Would You Agree to This?

Imagine this: A powerful foreign nation has presented your government with a treaty to be signed. They propose a long term alliance with your nation. Among its many provisions, the treaty includes the following:

The foreign power would get a dozen or more permanent military bases in your country.
Their troops and contractors would enjoy complete immunity [...]

Was Iraq Invaded for its Oil?

The left confidently states that Iraq was invaded for its oil, implicit in the argument that this is a bad thing. The right usually insists that invading and occupying Iraq was nothing of the kind, it was about removing a despot who was also a threat to the United States. I see a lot of [...]

We Could Have Won Vietnam

Pursuing a line of thought inspired by yesterday’s post, I think I finally understand what people mean when they say the USA could have won the Vietnam War if we hadn’t fought with our hands behind our backs. That’s the beauty of age and wisdom, if one thinks about other people’s viewpoints long enough [...]