The Taliban sheltered Al-Qaeda, and Al-Qaeda organized the massacres on 9/11.  Taliban forces are still strong in Afghanistan, and have taken over entire towns and significant regions.  Carlotta Gall of the New York Times reports that the U.S. Marines have successfully pushed back Taliban forces six miles from an Afghan ...

Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely to be unemployed and underemployed, Stephen Barr reports in the Washington Post.  Many end up in "protective services" in part because of a built-in assumption by employers that returning soldiers can't do much else beyond stand guard.  Barr notes that "many ...

Mark Thompson of Time reports on a $55 billion mistake -- the Marine Corps "new" combat plane that has been under development since the mid-1980s.  The plane has led to 30 deaths in the testing phase alone, and it is now destined for our troops to use in Iraq.  Thompson ...

Excellent reporting helps the public understand where the money goes in government. In the case of the president’s helicopters, it appears there is nowhere to go but up. Jonathan Karp and Scot Paltrow of the Wall Street Journal raise issues (see their article here) about Marine One, the presidential helicopter, that should concern taxpayers, journalists, and public servants. The Navy is ordering twenty-three of these aircraft from Lockheed. Last time I checked we had only one president (two if you count Cheney).