American Heroes

PITTSBURGH — According to the experts, this ought to be “Obama Country.” In the 2008 presidential election, the Obama “Hope and Change” machine scored big in western Pennsylvania, carrying the region with nearly 58…

The Afghan prison in Kandahar is, or was, the largest in Afghanistan’s penal system, holding more than 1,500 inmates from the bloody fighting in the southern part of the country. Many of those held were Taliban fighters and commanders.

But after pulling off an audacious escape yesterday through a half-mile tunnel which was dug under a major highway and several checkpoints, the population of the prison is down by at least a third.

More than 500 Taliban back in the game at the start of the Afghan “fighting season” is very, very bad news for the American-led International Security Force, which was hoping to begin transitioning more control to the Afghan army and police forces this year.

This massive security fail, however, shows that the corruption and incompetence of those same forces may mean the U.S. and its allies will have to carry the load much longer.

You may remember the president’s speech in December 2009 where he telegraphed his intention to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan in July of 2011. Well, that’s about as likely to happen as the closing of Guantanamo Bay by January 2010.

Hopefully the President is learning through these leadership gaffes that one can’t win a war by sheer force of will. Conditions on the ground will always be the key. Nevertheless, Obama and his commanders must do something to speed progress in the war, as the extent of the U.S. budget crunch becomes more and more obvious.

We’re not just broke – at this point, broke would be a good goal to shoot for.

Stepping up the pressure in Pakistan is beginning to cause serious tension in our relations with that country. The Taliban may very well win the war in Afghanistan when the history books are written, but they will have done it by making the war too expensive to win.

And they are doing that by hammering our supply convoys coming in from Pakistan. As of yet, nobody has been able to figure out a better way to get the bulk of the materiel we need to fight the war into the country.

It was reported in 2009 that the Pentagon was paying $400 a gallon to get fuel into Afghanistan, and that number is surely higher now. Add that to the massive cost of each new mine-resistant vehicle being shipped into the country, (about a million apiece, shipping not included) and it becomes clear that we just can’t afford this forever.

We owe it to those who have fought and died there to give them every resource we can to win this war. Unfortunately, much of the fighting will have to be done in places where the U.S. military isn’t – Pakistan and the halls of power in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON — Easter morning sunrise services are part of a long tradition in Christianity. For millenniums, believers around the globe have gathered in the open at dawn on Easter Sunday to celebrate the resurrection of…

U.S. soldiers and Marines will soon be making a new fashion statement on the front lines in Afghanistan, once they receive the first shipments of much-sought-after ballistic underwear.

With the weather in Afghanistan getting warmer, the combat is heating up. Increased patrols means more injuries from IEDs. Because they are almost always placed in the ground, the unfortunate truth is that the number of groin injuries is increasing.

Blasts carry with them lots of dirt and debris, which is then peppered throughout the abdominal cavity, leading to subsequent infections and other trauma.

British troops have been field-testing bulletproof briefs for awhile, and have found them to be very effective. So now the Pentagon is making its first orders of ballistic boxers to keep Marines and Soldiers safer in the field.

I will most likely be headed back to Afghanistan soon, so if anyone wants to donate a pair of these for “field testing,” I’d be happy to report back on their effectiveness once I return. I’ve got all the kids I need, but one can’t be too careful…

WASHINGTON — We finally know how President Barack Obama wants us to handle our nation’s crippling national debt. If we can believe his words, the president intends to ignore the monster under the bed — Social Security…

WASHINGTON — According to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, everything is hunky-dory on America’s southern border. In her public appearances and speeches, Napolitano consistently claims that things along…

Green Beret John Wayne Walding lost a leg in a seven hour firefight with the Taliban on this day, April 6 2008. He treated his own wound and those of his mates, bound his nearly severed leg to his thigh using his boot laces, and hobbled down from the 10,000-foot battle zone under his own steam.

He and nine others of his Green Beret A-team earned the Silver Star that day.

But if our elected officials don’t get their act together, heroes like Walding will have insult added to injury when their paychecks stop coming.

As U.S. politicians bicker over where to shave pennies off our hopelessly overgrown budget, a government shutdown looms around the corner.

But it’s more than the lions at the national zoo and tourists at the Smithsonian who will feel the pinch if the government’s coffers run dry. America’s men and women in uniform, who already put their lives on the line for peanuts, will see their paychecks turn to IOU’s.

I’m all for balancing the budget – and taking extreme measures to do so. But our nation’s defenders’ paychecks should be off limits.

Shut down the (worthless) Department of Education. Shutter the national parks, if that’s what it takes. Cancel (also worthless) USAid. But pay those who protect us.

Yet even if our heroes in uniform have to fight for free, the paychecks of U.S. senators and congressmen will be unaffected by the shutdown.

Anybody else see something very wrong with that?

United States warplanes at bases across the Med stood down Monday as the United States stepped back from offensive military operations against Libya. 

Under criticism at home over the pace of spending on the conflict – millions per day – the Pentagon announced that its role henceforth in the operation would be limited to surveillance, communications jamming, mid-air refueling and search and rescue.

Other NATO countries involved in the operation continued to pound Libyan military forces who have shown little sign of giving up their attacks on rebel forces in the eastern portion of the North African country.

And while calls continue from around the global community for Moammar Ghaddafi to step down, nobody really knows what a post-Ghaddafi Libya would look like, and whether it would be any better than it was before this all started.

What is sure is that the tremendous amount of armament and weapons that has been pilfered from Libyan stockpiles during the conflict will not be simply turned in when the war is over. I think it’s a fair bet to say we’ll be seeing those weapons and explosives again in other venues around the world for many years to come.

Over a dozen people have died so far in violent demonstrations in Afghanistan happening in response to something that happened here in the United States.

I don’t like commenting on actions like this because I don’t believe extremists should be given the object of their stunts – lots of free publicity. In the 1970s and 80s, aircraft hijacking was a weekly event on the evening news. At that time, hijackings were a common way to draw attention to a political cause.  Media coverage was often the sole purpose of hijacking a plane.

Hijacking is now a rare occurrence due to a variety of factors. But extremist publicity-hounds have learned to resort to other measures.

A media organization has a moral decision to make as to how much coverage to give to these kinds of events…because after all, without the coverage, the motivation to pull stunts meant only to inflame is greatly diminished.

I want you all to know that these kinds of conversations go on all the time in the CBN newsroom. CBN News is one media outlet that strives diligently to be responsible in our coverage of world events, and to avoid giving free publicity to people whose only aim is to cause trouble.

So while you may still see coverage of these events on our network, be sure that we’re not reporting without taking into consideration our moral duty as a Christian News organization. I’m proud to be a part of a network like that.

As for the extremist publicity hounds in Florida, I’ll just remind them of this quote from the Holy Book they themselves claim to follow:

1 Corinthians 10

²³“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. ²⁴ Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.

³¹So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. ³² Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, ³³just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.

WASHINGTON — “It’s all unfolding just like you said it would.” This flattering accolade was proffered by a retired military officer this week as we discussed how units loyal to Moammar Gadhafi were pummeling rebel…