Memorial day is a day to remember – and to honor – those who have sacrificed their lives for the cause of freedom. So few people know what honor means anymore that it bears defining: it means we value what they have done for us.

It means we should take a moment and look inward, thinking about how costly our liberty is and asking if we are making full use of that liberty in a way that shows what a rare, precious gift it really is.

If your parents gave up vacations and evenings out, worked extra hours or even a second job in order to send you to college, it would be incredibly disrespectful if you spent your college years skipping classes to go out partying. In the same way, how we use our freedom indicates the value we ascribe to it.

If, like most Americans, you choose to waste your life as a spectator, a mere consumer, you show by your actions a disdain for the high price paid for your liberty. After all, it doesn’t take much freedom to sit and watch television. Many prison inmates do that.

So ask yourself a difficult question this Memorial day: How can I make the most of the liberty I’ve been given? Chances are you could do more with it by following the example set by Jesus himself, who spent his time on earth improving and redeeming everything around him.

The White House today announced that they had decided not to release photos of Osama Bin Laden’s corpse, something which has been widely called for by people around the world who want proof that the man killed in the daring raid Sunday night was, in fact, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. 

The administration has been very deliberate about everything with regards to this mission.  President Obama reportedly “slept on it” before giving the final go-ahead, waiting sixteen hours to sign the order for Navy SEALS to execute the mission.  Once the target was killed, Osama Bin Laden’s body was treated in accordance with Muslim custom, but the decision was made to bury the body at sea in order to avoid creating a shrine for the continuation of the cult of Osama.

On Monday’s CBN Midday edition, I made the point that by not releasing proof of death, the administration would be fueling the cultural tendency of muslim nations to believe conspiracy theories, and indeed, claims that Bin Laden is not dead already abound.  I still hold to the belief that we must provide some proof to the world, though a photo would arguably be the weakest form of proof we could show, since photos can be made to look like anything these days. 

A much better idea would have been to bring in impartial experts from countries like Jordan and the UAE to view and even perhaps test the body, then report on their findings.  This would have meant disregarding the standard Muslim practice of burying their dead within 24 hours, but if the Muslim street wanted to raise a hue and cry over that, we could simply point out that if Osama was a good Muslim, then Islam is not, in fact, a religion of peace, since Osama Bin Laden was without a doubt an evil murderer of thousands of innocent people.

If there’s one thing that has been made clear about Islamic culture, however, it is that irony is not a concept they understand.  Nevertheless, while I understand the administration’s reasoning behind not releasing the death photo (i.e. not wanting to appear to be “spiking the football,”) I still think that some form of proof should be released, even if it is shown only to select influential people from the Muslim community.

In closing, I would like to stress that the death of any man, even one who is patently evil, is not cause for celebration.  What is worth celebrating is that this man will no longer be able to perpetrate his evil on the world.  It’s a subtle distinction, but as believers, an important one.   If ultimate justice is made sweeter by the decade of waiting in this case, imagine what it will be like when God’s perfect justice is finally meted out, especially for those whose sins have already been paid for.

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.

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…

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.

Naval Air Station Sigonella sits in the shadow of an active volcano – Mount Vesuvius.  Every once in awhile it belches ash and smoke and makes the people of this small Italian island hope that Pompeii was a one-time thing. 

Today, pairs of fighter jets take off and land with frequency in the shadow of the volcano as US F-16 warplanes speed south across the mediterranean to continue to enforce the no-fly zone over Libya.  But something else is rumbling:  calls for the president to lead this mission to a swift conclusion.  Pressure is mounting on Obama from republicans and democrats equally as the hastily assembled coalition of nations begins to break apart.  Yesterday Germany pulled out completely.  Turkey has voiced its unhappiness with the operation, and Russia’s president is getting downright nasty.

The truth is, the Obama administration went into the operation here with less of a coalition that George W. Bush had for the invasion of Iraq.

Here in the Mediterranean, more bad news:  While coalition airstrikes have reduced Libya’s ability to launch attacks from the air, the no-fly zone is  not stopping Ghadafi’s forces on the ground.  His troops are still beseiging the town of Misrata, in what some observers are calling a “massacre.” And while the cost of this war to American Taxpayers has already reached the billions, nobody seems really sure about how this will end if Ghadaffi stays in power.

 And while we’re being assured there will not be American boots on the ground in Libya, the feeling I’m getting is that something is going to blow.

By Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn, Public Affairs

ABOARD USS MOUNT WHITNEY, Mediterranean Sea – Two crew members ejected from their U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle when the aircraft experienced equipment malfunction over northeast, Libya, March 21, at approximately 10:30 p.m. CET.

Both crew members ejected and are safe.

The aircraft, based out of Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, was flying out of Aviano Air Base in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn at the time of the incident.

The cause of the incident is under investigation.

The identities will be released after the next of kin have been notified.

American cruise missiles and warplanes joined forces with a coalition of 12 NATO countries in bombing military targets within Libya, in support of the UN mandate of 17 March calling for the protection of Libyan civilians from attacks by their own government.  The resolution was in response to almost abject begging by the league of Arab Nations, which immediately condemned the attacks on Muammar Gaddafi’s air defenses as soon as they began.

Which kind of leads me to wonder why we’re getting involved at all.  Sure, protecting civilian life from attacks by its own government is a good thing, and something which good nations will feel compelled to do.  But if that’s the reason we’re bombing Tripoli, then why aren’t we also dropping Tomahawks on Burma, Sudan, Somalia and a host of other countries where governments are actively engaged in killing their own people. 

No, I get the feeling that while the politicians are making hay out of the “protect the civilians” part of the mission, perhaps in this case they would really just like to see Gaddafi gone.  And that’s not necessarily a bad thing – the guy has been a nuisance to the west for forty years.  Then again, so has Fidel Castro, but we’re not bombing Havana.

What concerns me about Libya is the vast number of arms that are being distributed (and looted) from its arms depots.  I predict we will be seeing those again in future conflicts around the world.  The global black market for arms thrives on this sort of Chaos – weapons left behind when the US left Vietnam are still popping up today in the drug wars in Mexico. 

Arms are durable goods, and that means they may present more of a danger to world peace than drugs or tyrants like Gaddafi. 

Meanwhile, Hamas fired more than fifty rockets into Israel yesterday while the attention of the world was focused elsewhere.  Don’t be surprised if you see Israeli tanks putting some hurt on Gaza in the near future, and then being condemned for it by most of the world.