Another Guantanamo PR disaster

In 2001, Al Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Haj was captured on the Afghan-Pakistan border. He was held as an enemy combatant and taken to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The US military charged al-Haj with being a courier for terrorists, a claim he denies. He didn’t face prosecution.
Al-Haj was just released and returned to his home in Sudan [...]

Afghan soldiers smoking spliffs before battle

[via DANGER ROOM]

Air Force trying to stay relevant - Part 2

As I concluded in Part 1, the Air Force doesn’t have a role in dealing with a rogue leader “who wants to flex his muscles.” So why then are they running an ad suggesting that they do?
I’m sure you’ve seen other variations of the Air Force’s new ad campaign. There’s one where a satellite is [...]

US troop deaths in Pakistan?

Passport posted today on NATO troop commitments in Afghanistan by the numbers. Instead of listing the exact troop numbers, they used a ratio of the members’ population between 20-39/troops. Included in this was the death count:
The Top 5 (troop fatalities per 1,000 people 20-39 years old):

Denmark — 0.0099
Canada — 0.0090
Britain — 0.0056 (includes Ministry of [...]

DoD, Afghan security services get hosed by a 22 year old in Miami

NY Times has the scoop:
With the award last January of a federal contract worth as much as nearly $300 million, the company, AEY Inc., which operates out of an unmarked office in Miami Beach, became the main supplier of munitions to Afghanistan’s army and police forces.
Since then, the company has provided ammunition that is more [...]

Air power in a counterinsurgency

The New York Times Magazine has a revealing article about Americas use of air power in Afghanistan. It tells one particularly striking story which I’ve posted below.
This article once again levels the charge that the US military knows two ways of operating: war and peace and that there is no in between. Obviously there is [...]