American Heroes

The good news about Moammar Gadhafi’s demise arrived via my cellphone early Thursday morning. A friend from the Reagan administration, remembering the Libyan dictator’s attempt to kill my family, called to let me know…

WASHINGTON — Official Washington — meaning the Obama administration, fellow travelers in Congress and their allies in the so-called mainstream media — here's a quick peek at some recent events, the lead…

WASHINGTON — Ten years ago this week, America went to war in Afghanistan. At 1 p.m. Eastern time on Oct. 7, 2001, President George W. Bush told the world, "On my orders, the United States military has begun…

Mexican President Felipe Calderon took the stage at the UN last week to ask for more help in combatting the violence that has painted his country as a war zone for the last several years.

Even though the violence is actually less widespread than most Americans realize – 85% of the drug violence in Mexico happens in only five cities – four of them along the US-Mexico border.  But that doesn’t make much difference when cartels are dumping dozens of headless bodies in the streets in broad daylight. 

Nevertheless, Calderon went on to claim that the drug problem is mostly America’s fault.  We need to do more to reduce the demand for illegal drugs.  That’s true, though I’m afraid the solution he proffered – legalization – would not help.  There isn’t much likelihood that cartels would suddenly become law-abiding and begin to pay taxes on something they’ve never paid on before.  I could be wrong on that, however, one thing I know for sure – the only thing that will make a lasting difference in the demand for drugs is to change the heart of our nation from a self-indulgent culture back to one of selfless service.

Of course, Calderon couldn’t suggest that.  Instead he fell back to beating his tried and true dead horse – quoting the absolutely false statistic that 85% of firearms found in Mexico are purchased in America.  Do some study about the source of this number, which is often quoted by politicians on both sides of the border – and you’ll see how it is really an attempt to blame our second ammendment for the violence in Mexico. 

In Mexico, while there is a constitutional right to bear arms, that right has been legislated away to the point that owning a firearm legally is all but impossible for the law-abiding citizen.  Criminals can aquire them easily, of course, because they are criminals.  All the laws on the books don’t stop them.

Here in America, your average citizen is still able to defend  himself legally.  I believe this is the biggest reason we don’t yet see the kind of violence they have in Mexico.  An armed citizenry is much harder to victimize.

In mexico, citizens will just have to continue to hope – and wait for their government to get their act together. 

WASHINGTON — When the U.S. State Department announced this week that it finally is going to designate the Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization, it was a nonevent for most of our countrymen. That's…

WASHINGTON — Last week, this column prognosticated that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s appearance at the United Nations General Assembly would be celebrated by those who hate America. That’s certainly true….

If you happened to read my post a week ago about the e-trace scandal waiting to happen, you’ll be interested in these recent developments in Colombia.

I raised the issue of the ATF sharing its e-trace databases with more than 70,000 non-U.S. citizens in more than 30 foreign countries as a huge potential security threat, since these databases contain reams of personal information on millions of American citizens.

Many of these foreign governments are as corrupt as the day is long, and that makes for a huge potential threat of massive identity theft.

Now reports from Colombia (one of the countries with access to E-trace) that government officials have been sharing classified documents with Narco-cartels should make every American shudder. 

The U.S. government should lock down these databases immediately and cut off access to foreign governments. All it takes is one corrupt official who decides to make a little extra income by selling the names, social security numbers, drivers license numbers, addresses, and other personal details to the highest bidder – which may very well be hackers bent on stealing your identity.

Someone needs to do something about this before it’s too late.

When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrives in New York next week to address the United Nations General Assembly, he will present himself as a great "humanitarian." Many of the America haters…

Sergeant Dakota Meyer became the first living Marine in 41 years to wear the nation’s highest award for valor when it was awarded to him on thursday.

But if he could have chosen, he never would have had to do what he did to receive it.

Meyer saved the lives of more than 35 of his fellow Marines and their Afghan counterparts during a horrific firefight two years ago.  He charged into enemy fire again and again, retrieving the bodies of two of his fallen friends in the process.  To do this, he had to disobey orders not to enter the kill zone. 

Three Army officers are likely looking at the end of their careers today for refusing to send reinforcements to aid the beleagured Marine Embedded Training Team and the Afghans they had been training.  Unfortunately, it’s a scenario that is being seen all too often in Afghanistan today – something I’ve referred to as “institutional timidity” on the part of rear-echelon commanders in theater.  As the war has dragged on, it has become more and more apparent with each passing year – too many officers are more concerned with avoiding losses than they are with winning the war – more concerned with following rote procedure than with leading their men to victory.  

This sand in the gears of the military machine has led many junior non-commissioned officers to throw up their hands in disgust, and more than one that I know personally has made the choice to leave the military when they had  previously planned to make it a career.  Worse yet, bureaucratic cowardice has, without a doubt, caused the needless deaths of dozens of American men and women.  And it is a real shame to see.

But the good news is that for every indecisive rear-echelon commander there are dozens, if not hundreds of audacious warriors like Sergeant Dakota Meyer.  Men who are willing to put their fledgeling careers on the line to do what they know is right even when commanded to do otherwise.  This willingness to act of their own accord has always been the hallmark of the American NCO – and it has always been the singular trait that sets our military apart from any other.  Not that they are a bunch of out-of-control yahoos – far from it.  Today’s soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines on the front lines are tough, professional, and best of all, audacious.  And qualities like that give me hope for the future of this war.

Everyone older than 20 remembers whom he was with, what he was doing and how he learned we were at war that beautiful Tuesday morning a decade ago. Most of us recall a gorgeous late-summer morning with blue skies –…