War on Terror

Terrorism on the Road

By Justin Katz | November 29, 2008 |

We in Rhode Island, along with most people the world over, are spared the even the passing need to believe that terrorism is a real possibility in our daily lives: U.S. authorities warned yesterday that recent intelligence indicates that al-Qaida may be plotting a terrorist attack on the subway or other transit systems in New…

The Surged Street

By Justin Katz | November 18, 2008 |

Here’s a visual indicator of the success of the surge — as well as a reminder of what stands to be lost if the United States chooses poorly in the coming years.

Forgetting Bits of the Past

By Justin Katz | August 29, 2008 |

Karl Stephens, of Barrington, recalls what many seem to have forgotten: In its Aug. 19 editorial about Iraq’s $79 billion budget surplus from oil revenue (“America the sucker”), The Journal fails to mention the most important aspect of that oil-revenue story. Before Operation Iraqi Freedom, oil money was used by Iraq to sponsor terrorism, build…

Spinning Off Pieces of the Surge

By Justin Katz | July 28, 2008 |

Statements such as this suggest that Obama (probably among many Democrats and some Republicans) either doesn’t think comprehensively when it comes to strategy or is anxious to diminish America’s importance as an agent for change: … the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” contended that the decline was brought about not…

Misunderstanding Maliki

By Justin Katz | July 20, 2008 |

Via Instapundit comes re-reportage that reports of Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki’s support for Obama’s withdrawal plan were over-hyped. From CNN: But a spokesman for al-Maliki said his remarks “were misunderstood, mistranslated and not conveyed accurately.” Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the possibility of troop withdrawal was based on the continuance of security improvements, echoing statements…

Forgetting the Other Paths of History

By Justin Katz | July 4, 2008 |

Mark Patinkin’s column takes a massive military analytical document as a springboard to declare the “incompetence of those” who put our troops in harm’s way: Up to now, that second point has mostly been made by those labeled war critics. But this week, the Army itself came out with a major report essentially saying the…

Bob Kerr, Grim Reaper

By Justin Katz | June 26, 2008 |

Bob Kerr tries to make it seem as if he wants more news coverage of the various war efforts in which the United States is currently engaged: … this week, we learn there is even less effort than before to keep the wars, especially the war in Iraq, in front of the people who pay…

President Bush’s speech in the Israeli Knesset

By Donald B. Hawthorne | May 18, 2008 |

Moving beyond the world of over-reactions and political drama, has anyone actually read President Bush’s speech to the Israeli Knesset? …We gather to mark a momentous occasion. Sixty years ago in Tel Aviv, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed Israel’s independence, founded on the “natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate.” What…

NY Times Digs and Finds a Hole

By Marc Comtois | April 21, 2008 |

Over the weekend, the ProJo ran a NY Times piece that divulged that (gasp) the Pentagon squired around ex-military types–some even with ties to military contractors–in an attempt to get favorable press about the Iraq War. Stunning, no? Both Max Boot and John Podhoretz have a say, with Podhoretz offering up an inside-baseball reason as…

Silencing the Iconic

By Justin Katz | April 18, 2008 |

I see that the following news item on the legendary Brigitte Bardot caught Jay Nordlinger’s eye, as well: The headline was arresting: “Brigitte Bardot on trial for Muslim slur.” She had incited “racial hatred.” Oh my goodness, how? What did she say? I prepared for the worst. BB had said, “I am fed up with…