Special to WorldTribune.com The Obama administration pledged $500 million to train over 5,000 moderate Syrian fighters to battle Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL). How’s that working out? According to the commander of U.S. Central Command, only “four or five” are currently on the battlefield. Not four or five thousand, or even four or […]
Special to WorldTribune.com The United States’ air strike capabilities against Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) may take a serious hit this fall as the U.S. will be without an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf for the first time since 2007. Adm. John Richardson, the Obama administration’s nominee for chief of naval operations, […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — Congress is concerned that President Barack Obama has failed to draft a policy on Iraq. Leading members of Congress have expressed dismay over the rising U.S. military presence in Iraq. They said Obama was sending more advisers and troops to Iraq without determining U.S. goals amid the advance by Al […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — The United States, bypassing leading contractors, has awarded a border security project to a subsidiary of an Israeli defense firm. The Homeland Security Department awarded a contract worth up to $145 million to Elbit Systems of America for the supply of surveillance systems to integrated fixed towers. Under the contract, […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — Leading members of Congress have accused President Barack Obama of failing to conclude a security cooperation agreement meant to stop Al Qaida in Iraq. Two leading senators said the Obama administration ordered a total U.S. military withdrawal despite the objections of leading Iraqi politicians. The senators said the U.S. pullout […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — The Republican leadership in Congress has pressed President Barack Obama to improve U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia. Leading Republican members of the House and Senate have called on the Obama administration to respond to Saudi concerns over Iran and Syria. They said the U.S. crisis with Riyad reflected the loss […]
Jeffrey T. Kuhner The conventional wisdom is wrong. The mainstream media — and their parrots in the Republican establishment — are claiming that President Barack Obama decisively won the government shutdown battle. The narrative being peddled is that the GOP brand has been badly damaged, paving the way for a possible Democrat takeover of the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — Congress has begun to question the U.S.-Russian accord that suspended plans to attack Syria. Two leading senators have dismissed the U.S.-Russian accord designed to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. John McCain asserted that the CW agreement was meaningless. “I wish I could see the recent […]
John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — The geopolitical chess game over Syria continues as the world enters autumn with the clouds of war swirling in the Eastern Mediterranean. The civil war which has engulfed Syria since 2011 killing 100,000, and now having crossed President Obama’s proverbial “red line” of chemical weapons use allegedly by the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — Congress has challenged the U.S. military assessment on Syria. Leading members of the House and Senate have dismissed the assessment by the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the cost of any U.S. military intervention in Syria. The lawmakers, ranking members of major committees, asserted that the assessment by Joint Chiefs […]