Buy a Troop a Jake

By Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.

Mar. 4, 2008--Ever wish, upon hearing that yet another of our soldiers or Marines has been killed or wounded while operating in dangerous areas of Iraq or Afghanistan, that you could do something - anything - to reduce the chances it will happen again?

Such a powerful and understandable sentiment seems to be operating in the minds of millions of Americans currently backing Democratic presidential candidates who promise, if elected, to begin immediately withdrawing our forces from harm's way (at least the Iraqi part). Unfortunately, this approach is not likely to prevent more American forces, or for that matter civilians, from getting hurt. To the contrary, our defeat and retreat under fire from one or both of these fronts in this global War for the Free World will set the stage for vastly worse carnage, certainly abroad and probably at home.

Those who subscribe to that assessment - and even many who do not - hope that, by supporting large and growing defense budgets, the troops will get what they need in the way of equipment to do their missions and receive the protection required to do so safely. To a very considerable degree, that is the case. [more...]

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. is President of the Center for Security Policy, a National Security Expert, and a columnist for the Washington Times. More on Frank...

Sound and Fury Signifying Incompetence
By Caroline B. Glick

The Olmert-Livni-Barak government's latest exercise in saber-rattling has ended with customary haste. Sunday Palestinian terror forces maintained their rocket and missile offensive against Israel, shooting 40 rockets, including upgraded Katyusha missiles at Sderot, Ashkelon, Netivot and surrounding areas. Whereas in 2005, 25,000 Israelis lived within Palestinian rocket and missile range from Gaza, the past week has shown that the number has expanded at least tenfold since then.

Monday morning, the limited IDF ground component that was deployed in Gaza on Saturday abruptly suspended operations and pulled out. The pullout came just hours after senior IDF officials announced that the forces in Gaza were about to be augmented by additional forces and Defense Minister Ehud Barak told senior military commanders, "The time has come for action. Hamas is responsible and will pay a price."

It is obvious that in suspending Operation "Hot Winter" in Gaza, the Olmert-Livni-Barak government essentially crumpled in the face of pressure from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President George W. Bush. Sunday night the White House issued a press release demanding that Israel end its operations in Gaza and return to the negotiating table with Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas. [more...]

Caroline B. Glick is the senior Middle East fellow at the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C., and the deputy managing editor of The Jerusalem Post, where this article first appeared.