tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-175033292011-09-21T18:18:46.328-05:00Col. Dan Smith, USA (Ret.) Talks About Military AffairsDan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.comBlogger5361100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-35363777994322340192010-08-13T09:12:00.004-05:002010-08-13T10:34:48.073-05:00

I regret to inform you that our friend and colleague Dan Smith succumbed to heart failure Monday, August 9, 2010.Dan came to FCNL from The Center for Defense Information in 2002 to be our first Senior Fellow on Military Affairs. Dan was a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He completed a distinguished military career -- one that began with the U.S. war in Vietnam and

Joe Volkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978330647534204620noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-29457083992299744672010-02-02T21:55:00.002-05:002010-02-02T21:58:02.280-05:00

Yesterday President Obama released his proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2011 to Congress and the public.Even before arriving on Capitol Hill it had come under heavy fire from many Members who oppose the Administration’s $3.1 trillion blueprint. The thrust of this submission focuses on domestic affairs, spurring the formation of new or the expansion of existing small businesses that traditionally

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-57797993516928498922010-01-27T20:01:00.003-05:002010-01-27T20:18:01.067-05:00

The following editorial on Haiti and its future was written October 2004. While it may seem as if not much has happened between then and now, the country had in fact slowly been pulling itself up from the violence and economic despair that constitute Haiti's history from the start. I will try to get a 2010 commentary out this week. When Turn About Isn’t Fair PlayPerry in Japan; Dewey at Manila

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-20929054195270293122009-12-02T21:13:00.000-05:002009-12-02T21:15:21.456-05:00

December at West Point in the early mid-1960s. Normally at that time of year, I can remember the air was bitterly cold as invariably a northern wind whipped down the Hudson River, often blowing snow across the parade ground and into the shivering corps of cadets. No time was lost under such conditions once the roster was reported the formation broke as everyone sought shelter from the numbing

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-2821350117477820392009-11-27T21:38:00.004-05:002009-11-28T20:19:22.033-05:00

Bill Moyers' weekly Public Broadcast System (PBS) hour long Journal last Friday (November 20th) was an interesting retrospective by Moyers of the critical 1964-1965 discussions among members of the informal “war cabinet” President Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) assembled to advise him how to continue the U.S. presence in South Vietnam without wrecking the Great Society.The choice and format of that episode

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-53504716418295602112009-11-20T13:59:00.003-05:002009-11-20T14:06:03.919-05:00

I received an e-mail yesterday in which my correspondent mentioned a book written ten years ago by Deborah Tannen, Professor of Linguistics at Washington’s Georgetown University. Titled The Argument Culture: Stopping America’s War of Words, Professor Tannen focused on the decline she had observed in the quality – that is, the tenor – of verbal and written exchanges between prominent persons

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-86237499292114668212009-11-11T21:20:00.002-05:002009-11-11T21:24:02.902-05:00

As the calendar would have it, Veterans’ Day (Armistice Day in Europe) in 2008 fell one week after the U.S. electorate selected the person who would become the nation’s 44th president beginning January 20, 2009.Together with the electoral success of the Democratic Party in the Senate and House of Representatives, many commentators predicted that the election of Barack Obama would mark a

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-88757812625477125992009-10-28T17:08:00.002-05:002009-10-28T17:12:33.390-05:00

The Washington Post on October 27 carried a front-page article describing the career of American Matthew Hoh – a construction engineer by training, a Marine with two tours in Iraq, and until the end of October 2009 a respected civilian working with Foreign Service Officers in Afghanistan.What brought Hoh to the attention of the media was his decision to resign from his affiliation with the State

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-31760490527941858662009-10-24T13:33:00.002-05:002009-10-24T13:36:54.410-05:00

Last week (October 13), television’s Public Broadcasting System aired an examination of the war in Afghanistan on its weekly investigative program “Frontline.” The core of the program, titled “Obama’s War,” focused on a three-week photo journal record of a U.S. Marine Corps company’s operations as a lead unit of the 4,000 strong U.S. force deployed into southern Afghanistan.This was not a “good

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-41027866241207907262009-10-16T16:48:00.003-05:002009-10-16T16:54:06.727-05:00

The Pentagon declared yesterday unconditional success in a 36 year long low-intensity campaign to win hearts and minds to its vision of the future.For the first time since the inception of the all-volunteer military in 1973, the Pentagon succeeded in surpassing the numerical goals it set for the recruiting commands in each of the services. This year’s unexpected run-away winner was the active

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-50280737754915782362009-10-10T20:28:00.002-05:002009-10-10T20:31:53.596-05:00

Some weeks nothing goes as expected.For example: President Barack Obama flew from Washington to Copenhagen last week to push Chicago’s chance to be the host for the 2016 Olympics. However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as the 2016 host. Detractors of the U.S. President called the Rio choice by the IOC “a stinging repudiation” of the president and an

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-41773718559704109112009-09-29T20:37:00.002-05:002009-09-29T20:40:16.511-05:00

“An occupying army cannot expect to find friends but [it must] give the uninvolved population every opportunity to have some kind of a quality of life.” MGEN Yair Naven (ret.), Israeli Defense ForcesOctober 7/8 will mark the eighth anniversary of the opening salvo on the “Taliban” faction of the ruling Afghanistan government, institutions, and people. At that point, there will be only 123

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-40959968149033860462009-09-22T17:12:00.005-05:002009-09-26T19:32:04.087-05:00

ROE IIIAs the first decade of the 2st century has amply demonstrated, war remains an encountered in which those who command are often confronted with conflicted information -- or even any information – on which to act.Clearly, on the night of September 4, the 12-24 Taliban fighters had completely misread the tractability of the ground at the fording site on the Kunduz River. On finding that the

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-66552127730251622582009-09-14T19:05:00.003-05:002009-09-14T19:30:21.832-05:00

If you were to ask most soldiers whether they believed their “side” would be capable of exercising restraint in war, the answer would probably be “yes” more often than not and regardless of evidence to the contrary. International law , specifically the “institutional” guidelines such as the Hague and Geneva Conventions, dictate the general restraints on violence that all participants in armed

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-53100719985762926972009-09-10T16:02:00.001-05:002009-09-10T16:04:34.400-05:00

Last Friday’s news out of Afghanistan’s northeast province of Kunduz was bad – in fact quite bad. During the night, U.S. warplanes, responding to a request from the senior coalition commander in the province, fired two satellite guided “smart munitions” at as many as 100 men who were trying to free two fuel tankers that were mired in deep mud. The result was predictable: U.S. pilots hit exactly

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-16207127070610890592009-09-01T18:43:00.004-05:002009-09-01T20:26:14.140-05:00

II. When Strategy MiscuesIn the last entry (above), I ended by summarizing the number of troops who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001 or 2003, respectively. While the nation knows the toll in blood and lost lives in Iraq, only recently has the public began to focus on Afghanistan and to ask – again – how many more?Unfortunately, the answer is always the same: how many is as unknown

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-38935330593533529732009-08-31T19:22:00.001-05:002009-08-31T19:25:06.886-05:00

Gender and Arms: Equality in Life and DeathIntroductionIn early August I started on what I thought would be a single-entry update of personnel statistics regarding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. By the arrival of mid-month, however, my original intent seemed out of focus, even overwhelmed, by other issues. Lobbyists and other representatives of “special interests” were clamoring for

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-61448434485802882922009-08-21T16:51:00.002-05:002009-08-21T16:57:43.016-05:00

Afghani MusingsThe Afghani presidential election held yesterday has been deemed an unprecedented success for the people and the process. Afghani officials claim that 95 percent of polling sites were open while only 300 sites were not operating. Total fatalities associated with election violence came to 26, a signal – according to a Kabul administration spokesperson – that the Taliban had again

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-21584003639418813842009-08-13T20:31:00.001-05:002009-08-13T20:34:08.997-05:00

There is now left only one week – a mere seven days – until the people of Afghanistan are to choose their country’s national leader in the very first multi-party and multi-candidate competition in Afghanistan’s history.That is to say that the participation of voters will occur if the nearly 130,000 foreign soldiers, together with the Afghanistan army and national police, are able to secure the

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-75567194851348062182009-08-05T07:06:00.001-05:002009-08-05T07:09:36.293-05:00

Nearly five years ago, on October 9, 2004, the people of Afghanistan participated in an overt political action that few of them had ever expected to see: a national election for a president of their nation.Media coverage of the preparations for the balloting was heavy. As predicted, the winner of the contest, with 55.4% of the vote – a comfortable margin – was Hamid Karzai, who was the head of

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-6393354476974306552009-07-30T20:13:00.001-05:002009-07-31T11:13:59.544-05:00

As agreed in November 2008 between U.S. President George Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, July 1, 2009 was set as the date for transferring sovereignty over military operations in Iraq. As the 130,000 U.S. forces still in Iraq pulled back from cities and towns and settled in temporary base camps in less populous areas, Baghdad took full command and control of decisions on the

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-26251318281244229842009-07-23T15:20:00.003-05:002009-07-23T15:26:04.247-05:00

Somewhere, Dorothy is assured, there is a way for her and Toto to get to Oz and from there to Kansas. It seems so easy, a single, resolute step “over the rainbow” back to her family and friends in Kansas. But there is a catch: the rainbow has no substance, no “materiality.” It is ephemeral, an apparition of the ability (or power) of water to bend the sun’s light and separate that light into

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-92164956187416492642009-07-16T19:10:00.004-05:002009-07-16T19:17:22.726-05:00

Like the proverbial “bolt from a cloudless blue sky” that strikes and kills with no warning, the incidence of lethal political violence generated around the globe in 2009 is rising in frequency and fury. This is particular true over the last five weeks during which national governments seemed surprised if not stunned by the origin and subsequent development of opposition mass movements.During the

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-7812586526068014622009-07-09T16:49:00.006-05:002009-07-09T17:26:07.254-05:00

For a number of months last year and spilling into the first quarter of this year, I co-authored a book that is on the verge of being published. Its principal author is an elderly gentleman who, in the 1970s, joined with like-minded anti-military organizations to lobby Congress against spending billions of dollars to create and deploy a massive nuclear weapons arsenal. Vietnam may have ended

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-56921081605208782242009-07-05T21:17:00.001-05:002009-07-05T21:21:15.973-05:00

Today is July 5.For Americans its significance is straight forward: July 5th is the day after the one on which, 233 years ago, 56 men approved and signed a document they called a “declaration of independence” -- after which a number of them left Philadelphia before agents of King George could detain them. (Overall, during the War of Revolution, five signers of the Declaration of Independence

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-19639070889836108482009-07-01T13:13:00.002-05:002009-07-01T13:19:58.599-05:00

Yesterday, June 30, 2009, may well become known as Independence Day in Iraq. If so, I would expect those who celebrate might be jumping the gun a bit.June 30 is the second milestone on the road of transferring to the Iraqi government full responsibility for the security of their country. (The first milestone centered on creating and sustaining (funding) the indigenous Sunni “Sons of Iraq”

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-67466194765474790852009-06-29T14:14:00.002-05:002009-06-29T14:22:19.739-05:00

Greetings once again to those whose tenacity and persistence have brought them once again to “The Quakers’ Colonel” in the virtual blogsophy.In my last entry at the end of March, I expected to be out of circulation (in surgery this is not a lighthearted observation) for about a combined 30-day hospital and recuperative stay-at-home recovery. As it turned out, that 30 day period was fully devoted

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-45335921502129130252009-03-30T21:04:00.000-05:002009-03-30T21:06:14.924-05:00

The headline read: “Denominations Trim Presence on Capitol Hill.”Daniel Burke, writing for beliefnetnews on the web, relates the paradox facing many faith-based nongovernmental groups that lobby in the public interest. Just as they finally get a seat at the policy and program table and a chance to be heard in governing, the sharp drop in the markets has forced many to severely cut back the number

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-401858641061445752009-03-27T21:37:00.003-05:002009-03-27T21:41:30.917-05:00

(Continued from March 25)Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his radio “Fireside Chats” set a pattern that the nation’s subsequent presidents have used to good advantage in their never ending struggle with the Congress over policies and program funding. The broadcasts on radio, television, the internet, and all the newer technology have also enabled presidents to by-pass the message mediators – whether

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-67286283115817167782009-03-25T20:59:00.003-05:002009-03-26T13:24:16.862-05:00

Barack Obama assumed power with a pledge that his would be the most transparent, open, non-secretive administration in the modern era if not in the entire history of the United States. From 12:01 pm January 20, 2009, there was going to be a fresh breeze blowing through Washington.Well, reality must have hit about 12:02 pm, for after a mere 66 days, there are troubling signs that some of the bad

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-82445264448940070092009-03-22T19:48:00.002-05:002009-03-22T19:52:51.368-05:00

I expect to be tied up all Monday March 23 at the National Naval Medical Center, so there will probably be no Blog.Check back on Wednesday.Regards

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-6514114683839566572009-03-20T15:40:00.000-05:002009-03-20T15:42:00.589-05:00

Last week the Congress finally mustered sufficient political will – not normally over flowing even in prosperous times, let alone when deficits top a trillion dollars every year – to send to the White House the Fiscal Year 2009 (the current fiscal year) Omnibus appropriations legislation for President Obama’s signature.Unlike most recent years, Congress and the administration skated relatively

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-6356020604047785842009-03-18T21:50:00.001-05:002009-03-18T21:53:18.990-05:00

Most references this year to March 19th will note that this is the sixth anniversary of the U.S. –led invasion of Iraq with the subsequent continuous death and destruction inflicted on a people and a land that had not attacked the United States or in any way posed a threat to the nation’s well-being, prosperity, or vital interests.Now this way of reckoning the passage of time is today the more

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-91686953347112576162009-03-16T19:26:00.003-05:002009-03-16T20:01:55.756-05:00

Three days short of the sixth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq on March 19, 2003.Put another way, this March 19 begins the seventh year of the Iraq war.In the interval, 4, 259 U.S. military, 179 UK military, and 139 other soldiers from coalition countries have been killed or otherwise lost their lives for a total of 4,577.Iraqi security forces and reported Iraqi civilians killed in a

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-22725663391390056142009-03-13T21:57:00.002-05:002009-03-13T21:59:49.061-05:00

This March 19 marks the sixth anniversary of “Shock and Awe,” the much ballyhooed opening bombardment of Baghdad by the U.S. Air Force and Navy in a failed bid to kill Saddam Hussein and a select group of Iraqi civilian and military leaders.I have heard more than once the observation that any war in which the United States is a significant factor that lasts more than five years (some reduce

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-7505890143147619752009-03-11T22:20:00.001-05:002009-03-11T22:23:38.429-05:00

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” SocratesWednesday –By the time I begin looking for a substantive item to write about when at the office, it is not unusual for as many as 10 hours of the day to have flown.Six of those hours are spent (or I try to spend them) in a sound, relaxing, rejuvenating sleep – give or take 15 minutes Dressing, eating breakfast, and gathering the stray computer

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-42092909653708540352009-03-09T21:54:00.001-05:002009-03-09T21:57:06.909-05:00

President Obama’s comments last Wednesday on the GAO report that the government wasted $295 billion on contracts that have not stayed within agreed costs and have slipped behind schedule – sometimes by years – has resulted in a flood of articles on government contracting practices in general and on Pentagon contracting in particular.I have participated in this focus, and will do so again for

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-32986392115873235202009-03-06T22:14:00.003-05:002009-03-07T10:50:11.513-05:00

Reforming How Government Does Business“I don't know what the hell this ‘logistics’ is thatMarshall is always talking about, but I want some of it.”Fleet Admiral Ernest KingCommander of U.S. Pacific ForcesMentioning acquisition, contracting, or logistics to a group of military officers used to produce glazed eyes, yawns, and an almost visible shut-down of brain functions – the same reaction

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-34972586997577116912009-03-02T22:39:00.001-05:002009-03-02T22:42:16.068-05:00

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates yesterday reiterated the administration’s commitment to see the current war through to its end.Appearing on NBCs Face the Nation, Gates was most explicit in describing what the additional U.S. troops were prepared to do to assist indigenous security forces: training, intelligence, equipment, and other resources that might prove useful in trying to regain and hold

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-32455176891429094242009-02-27T20:29:00.001-05:002009-02-27T21:40:29.188-05:00

Euphemistically Ending the War in Iraq“Next month will mark the sixth anniversary of the war in Iraq. By any measure this has already been a long war.”Those were the first substantive words of today’s speech by President Barack Obama at the U.S. Marine Corps base, Camp Lejuene, NC. I listened to/watched the speech and then found the text posted on the New York Times website.There is good news,

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-75155757545072456282009-02-25T17:43:00.004-05:002009-02-25T17:57:10.149-05:00

Near the end of his February 24th address to a joint session of Congress and to the U.S. public – in what would be billed as a “State of the Union” speech in most any other year – President Obama turned from the economic state of the country, the primary subject for the night, to national security.Or so it might have seemed.Obama however, never really strayed from the economic aspects about which

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-76807712783200440852009-02-25T14:59:00.005-05:002009-02-25T15:11:03.719-05:00

Over on FCNL's intern blog, people have been talking about and responding to the president's address to Congress last night.Alexandra was disappointed the president didn't mention immigration. Karyn writes about how Obama is changing bad theology, one word at a time. Stephen calls the speech "one of the most hopeful, promising speeches in a long time."Caroline shares her serious, and less serious

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-40352396467274889942009-02-25T14:51:00.005-05:002009-02-25T14:59:14.770-05:00

Jim Cason, FCNLGuest BloggerThe president last night gave me hope.I don't have a magic wand to fix the economy. Listening to the president's address to Congress on February 24, I did find myself appreciating his comments about the importance of not just reviving the economy, but investing in the economy this country will need a decade from now. The government cannot afford to spend all of these

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-8646177991493760582009-02-25T14:09:00.005-05:002009-02-25T14:49:11.768-05:00

Joe Volk, FCNLGuest BloggerAs I heard him last night, when President Obama addressed a Joint Session of Congress, he spoke truth to power on Wall Street. Basically he said, "Thanks to your greed, narcissism, lack of foresight, short term priorities, and a disregard for the long term, America is not number one anymore; you will change your ways or be replaced." Good for our president.Now, will

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-41792174160768887092009-02-23T22:21:00.002-05:002009-02-23T22:36:28.309-05:00

(Continued from February 20)I suspect Westhusing, like most active duty military officers, generally regarded contractors as non-professionals who were really over in Iraq to make a fast buck. What he could not comprehend was the same lack of professionalism among the uniformed military, among those sworn to defend the Constitution against all enemies even if it meant paying the ultimate price,

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-50540508304056809082009-02-20T21:30:00.002-05:002009-02-23T22:20:38.408-05:00

(Continued from the February 18 Blog)It was June 5, 2005, just over a month before he was due to return home, that the body of Colonel Ted Westhusing is discovered in his trailer at Camp Dublin, Baghdad.Some immediately suspected murder. But this death was neither assassination nor accident. Official Army accounts said nothing about signs of a struggle or thrashing about. Everything was orderly

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-24649462582918031042009-02-18T22:39:00.003-05:002009-02-20T20:34:05.032-05:00

Duty, Honor, Country: When Being Ethical Can Be A KillerThe February 15, 2009 New York Times carried an above-the-fold right-hand side front page story that, before long, may develop "legs."Editors may have been drawn to the account because the circumstances involved Iraq and the dispersal of huge sums of money. Or the editors may have had a hunch that the information available was just the tip

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-44074431047785483042009-02-16T22:57:00.005-05:002009-02-17T14:38:59.553-05:00

Most Americans know and celebrate February 12 as the birthday of A. Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States.Lincoln's presidenc,ymoreso than that of George W. Bush, was linked to war. Even before he reached Washington, the first states of the deep South had declared themselves free of the Union and were banding together to form the Confederate States of America.Lincoln not only

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-14687074855577879042009-02-14T00:05:00.002-05:002009-02-14T00:08:28.673-05:00

In the 2000 and 2004 presidential sweepstakes, politicians cast covetous glances on Ohio. Money poured into the state, one of the so-called “swing states” that politicians and pundits said would decide which party, which presidential candidate, would occupy the White House.Ohio was a swing-state because it was second only to Michigan in the steady rise erosion of the tax-paying manufacturing

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-68853220256906091052009-02-06T23:13:00.003-05:002009-02-06T23:31:23.544-05:00

Six more days -- February 12 -- is the birthday of Abraham Lincoln. It will be the 200th anniversary of his birth.More books have been written about Lincoln than about any other American, according to Bill Moyers. Some believe there are more books on Lincoln than any other historical figure except for Jesus Christ.Listen for some reference to Lincoln in President Obama's speech Monday. How he

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-10667493474699185002009-02-04T20:53:00.003-05:002009-02-04T20:58:53.273-05:00

Among his many campaign promises, Barack Obama said his administration would be the most transparent the nation has ever had.While some will question whether he (or his immediate aides) are really trying to honor that pledge, there is little doubt that the new administration is far more open than its predecessor. Under the regime of Bush-Cheney, the supposition when an executive department or

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-22500306772825694692009-02-02T22:49:00.002-05:002009-02-02T22:54:40.033-05:00

Four reports over the course of the weekend point to rapid “transformation” of Afghanistan from “the war Bush forgot” to “Obama’s war.” The first wa a short notice that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates would brief the president on troop levels in Afghanistan. The second is the Army’s announcement that once again in 2008, a record number of service members – 128 – committed suicide. No “Pentagon

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-55582793694771185922009-01-31T12:16:00.003-05:002009-01-31T12:21:13.902-05:00

In his campaign to be the Democratic Party’s nominee for president in 2008 and again in the race for the White House, Barack Obama pledged that, if elected, he would remove all U.S. combat forces from Iraq within 16 months of assuming the presidency.Undoubtedly, this promise alone influenced many voters. But what does the promise include – and what does it exclude? First some background.At the

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-16830931456571800482009-01-28T22:25:00.003-05:002009-01-28T22:30:46.874-05:00

Today President Obama went to the Pentagon for a sit-down with what the media like to label “the military brass.” Commentators made much of the fact that the President went to the “home turf” of the military, proclaiming that the president’s journey across the Potomac River (it flows between the White House, located in the District of Columbia and the Pentagon located in northern Virginia) was

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-48016946013672116902009-01-26T23:03:00.002-05:002009-01-26T23:09:18.455-05:00

In the beginning the repetition of the observation and even the tone of wonderment that crept into the voices of the pundits and talk show hosts seemed quite natural. After all, the election of Senator Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th president of the United States of America breached the nation’s last remaining exclusive white male socio-political “club” – the presidency. But by the middle of

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-9191376214051837742009-01-21T14:09:00.002-05:002009-01-21T14:15:00.672-05:00

See what FCNL staff have to say about their experiences attending and observing the inauguration of President Barack Obama:What kind of American is this? - Joe Volk"You were there" - Alicia McBrideBiking the Inauguration - Jim CasonPresident Obama shout out to the Muslim World - Jim Fine

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-47463638801415205972009-01-21T13:12:00.006-05:002009-01-21T14:28:52.844-05:00

Guest blogger - Joe Volk, Executive SecretaryAfter the evening news, we family and friends ate hot soup to take the Inauguration Day chill off our bones at the end of a long cold day outside. Like a couple million others, we had been hours in the below freezing weather to be with the throngs of people who gathered on our "nation's front porch," the mall. Our feelings, thoughts, recollections,

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-28276202958593465422009-01-21T11:55:00.003-05:002009-01-21T13:50:51.880-05:00

Guest Blogger - Jim FineSenator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, my home state, should have been as gratified as I was yesterday when President Barak Obama issued his inaugural call to the Muslim world and pledged “a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.” Senator Specter had told Congressional colleagues last spring that a good bit of recent U.S. foreign policy toward the

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-68511234183003218092009-01-21T10:02:00.005-05:002009-01-21T10:30:58.673-05:00

Guest blogger Jim CasonThe Metro by our house was already standing room at 5:30 am when I first went outside to take a look and decide how we were going to get to the inauguration. In the end, with no ticket promising special access to the event, we decided to ride bicycles through the crowds with our six-year-old daughter in tow. Bicycle riding was pretty easy. Security precautions had stopped

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-78880541080366854492009-01-21T08:40:00.014-05:002009-01-21T14:27:11.896-05:00

Alicia McBride, Director for CommunicationsGuest BloggerAlicia Mcbride with her husband Sam Garman and their daughter, Miranda looking over the parade route.My family and I watched the inauguration from an apartment overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue, along with dozens of other people who couldn't turn down our friend's invitation to share her view over the parade route. We could hear Obama take the

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-78183906256472445102009-01-16T22:27:00.000-05:002009-01-16T22:29:40.128-05:00

With this being the start of the long Inauguration Weekend (in Washington DC this is a four day weekend whereas the rest of the country has only three days), I thought I would give blogging a rest – after two short clips.First, it appears that the more than 24 month-old effort of the West, led by the Bush administration, to stabilize Somalia as an anti-fundamentalist Islamic state is about to

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-22107066752829106352009-01-14T22:32:00.001-05:002009-01-14T22:34:37.674-05:00

FCNL has received a number of queries about the use by Israeli Defense Forces of what appears to be a new, perhaps experimental weapon with the acronym DIME, which stands for Dense Inert Metal Explosive. Medical personnel working in Gaza reported seeing wounds that were consistent with on-line descriptions of DIME munitions. Two years ago, in Iraq, there were reports of unusual fatalities among

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-57597739808697312582009-01-12T22:35:00.004-05:002009-01-14T10:17:18.642-05:00

Biographies can take only a few formats – books, plays, serials in magazines, cinema, and “films made for television.”“Based on historical events,” by contrast, may use an event or series of events as the basis for the genre of “historical novel.” Such a product is a fictionalized re-telling of an event or series of events. And despite the time-cost pressures most evident in the electronic media

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-47845692673101912852009-01-09T23:02:00.003-05:002009-01-09T23:12:56.908-05:00

The two stories were dissimilar only in the numbers of people involved.For 96 hours, soldiers of the Israeli Defense Force refused to allow International Committee of the Red Cross/Red Crescent (ICRC) to enter an area that had been shelled to look for survivors. When they finally pushed through the soldiers and found the rubble that had once been home, the ICRC found six children barely still

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-44311206755932945222009-01-07T22:43:00.004-05:002009-01-08T10:27:19.983-05:00

Listening to Israeli Defense Force briefings for the press and then talking to UN and non-governmental organizations that work in Gaza, even the more attentive person might be forgiven for thinking the media are describing two separate conflicts that by some accident of misperception have in common the same territorial boundaries.Israeli Ministry of Defense representatives claim that the IDF (

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-88399509590624347212009-01-05T22:29:00.003-05:002009-01-05T23:23:39.105-05:00

In looking over the offerings on television tonight, I decided to watch the first two hours of a six hour presentation on the origins and the history of India. It is not a new subject for me; I came to the study of the subcontinent first as a major part of the World War II theater "East of Suez." A more in-depth appreciation had to wait a few more years until I studied the religions of India

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-86140780446297878952008-12-31T22:38:00.005-05:002008-12-31T22:45:42.411-05:00

December 31st, 2008 at about 9:00 pm. The New York Philharmonic Orchestra is performing their New Years concert which is being carried live by PBS.The piece the orchestra just finished was “Dance Macabre” by Saint-Saens. With just a little bit of effort, the listener can hear the percussion section mimic the sound of the crash and clash of bone on bone and envision the unrestrained whirling of

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-28133832665739771272008-12-19T20:54:00.002-05:002008-12-19T21:13:19.703-05:00

I am on holiday starting today and running to January 5th. Durinjg this interval, there will be no entry on the usual schedule (Monday-Wednesday-Friday), but I will post items "as the spirit moves me."So thanks for reading this in 2008 and for your comments and views. And of course best wishes for joy and love during the cominng holy days and holidays..The Quakers' Colonel

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-67771485462816865232008-12-17T15:59:00.002-05:002008-12-17T16:00:31.268-05:00

It has been work trying to stay up with President Bush as he makes the rounds on what one wag called “a victory lap without a victory.”Since the election of Barack Obama to succeed Bush as president, the news cycles have been dominated by two stories. The first, understandably, is Obama’s announcements of his selections of those who will occupy top policy-making posts in his administration once

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-25897515878264819452008-12-15T20:58:00.005-05:002008-12-16T16:05:07.595-05:00

I don’t normally read “The Huffington Post,” but over the weekend two emails from quite separate sources (that is to say, one source did not get the posting from the other and pass it on to a similar list of acquaintances) highly recommended it.The immediate subject was President-elect Barack Obama’s choices – both women – for Secretary of State (Hillary Rodham Clinton) and U.S. Ambassador to

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-71323820394829640542008-12-12T21:14:00.002-05:002008-12-12T21:16:40.983-05:00

The signs are accumulating, beyond the individuals named to head the cabinet departments, agencies, and the Executive Office of the President, that the Obama administration is not going to be as radical as many supporters thought would be the case.Central to this conclusion are the statements by key leaders in the House of Representatives advocating continued increases in the funds allocated to

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-3586656939677201402008-12-10T21:41:00.004-05:002009-01-06T09:52:38.191-05:00

It seems as though every newspaper and magazine that comes out or is posted on the Internet features depressing news.Grabbing most attention the last few days has been the plight of the economy, particularly the “big three” U.S.- based automobile manufacturers who asked the federal government for loans and loan guarantees of $36 billion – of which they probably will get $14 billion if they even

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-18649308112240704262008-12-08T20:50:00.001-05:002008-12-08T20:54:21.997-05:00

Last Monday, December 1, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England made it official: irregular warfare is on equal footing with “traditional” warfare – almost.About a year ago – after six years in Afghanistan and still fighting a virulent insurgency (from the perspective of the United States) – the Pentagon decided to increase the amount of time devoted to developing and analyzing war plans and

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-58527548240053858652008-12-05T16:07:00.001-05:002008-12-05T16:10:27.264-05:00

The Seattle Times and a number of other newspapers carried articles in their December 5th editions highlighting the departure from Iraq of the 55-man contingent of marines sent by the Pacific island country of Tonga (not to be confused with the African country of Togo).The choice to highlight the end of Tonga’s participation seems to have been made more on the basis of the colorful departure

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-1587950190727708382008-12-03T22:41:00.002-05:002008-12-03T22:50:36.743-05:00

The judging part of the title has its genesis in a Washington Post article dated November 30 in which a spokesperson for Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted that the Chairman “felt very good, very positive” after his 45 minute meeting with president-elect Barack Obama. Elaborating, the spokesperson noted Mullen’s belief that the next commander-in-chief is a “

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-14829467662686296952008-11-26T21:17:00.003-05:002008-11-26T21:22:25.773-05:00

I had intended to take tonight and Friday off in observance of Thanksgiving, But I must at least make mention of the carnage visited on Mumbai, India. So far, 80 are dead -- and couting.

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-16830538905104627802008-11-24T22:21:00.002-05:002008-11-24T22:23:45.283-05:00

Late this past September the Senate did something unusual. With very little debate and no fanfare, it ratified three protocols to the “Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects” – the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) for short.The Convention, together with three

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-31631821829311470082008-11-21T22:11:00.002-05:002008-11-22T15:30:58.648-05:00

“An army marches on its stomach Napoleon Bonaparte“I don't know what the hell this ‘logistics’ is that Marshall is alwaystalking about, but I want some of it.”Admiral E. J. King, U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander World War II“Battles are decided by the quartermasters before the first shot is fired.” Erwin Rommel “The Desert Fox”Upon first glance at the news headline –“Pakistan truck

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-28138079268157722942008-11-19T22:22:00.003-05:002008-11-19T22:25:45.458-05:00

The Washington Times carried a page one “above-the-fold” story today about a soon-to-be-released quadrennial report entitled “Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World.” Of the various conclusions reached in this assessment, the Times highlights two: by 2025 the current U.S. economic and military dominance will be in the past; and as a consequence (or perhaps as a catalyst), the combination of the

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-13929328297700759202008-11-17T18:52:00.002-05:002008-11-17T19:01:04.230-05:00

In A Beginner’s Guide to Small Arms Proliferation, published by OneWorld in March 2006, I wrote the following in the opening of the book’s Prologue: “Life in prehistoric times was anything but a fairy tale. Yet somewhere within this “once upon a time” hunter-gathererslearned that hurling ordinary objects such as stones andpieces of trees could stun or even kill outright the animalsand fish that

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-30760578206734384632008-11-14T17:20:00.003-05:002008-11-14T22:43:48.138-05:00

I had a query from a Vietnam Vet living in Ireland about a piece I wrote for Counterpunch on November 11th. In it I spoke about the need to create some kind of substitute for war that would make people pause before plunging into armed conflict. What follows is an expansion of that Counterpunch article and of my reply to her.The intent of my suggestion has less to do with a particular substantive

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-5809626192911542092008-11-12T16:35:00.003-05:002008-11-12T16:42:21.129-05:00

Nothing is more ludicrous to observe nor more pitiableto hear than the gait and the quack of the proverbial lameduck.A mere eight days ago voters in the United States elected Illinois Senator Barack Obama to be the nation’s 44th president. He assumes that title and responsibility on January 20th, 2009 at 12:00 pm when, as specified in the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, he takes the oath of

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-18240236482021790652008-11-10T22:39:00.001-05:002008-11-10T22:41:19.121-05:00

November `10th, the day before Veterans Day (originally Armistice Day) is observed as the birthday of the United States Marine Corps.This might seem an odd topic for “The Quakers’ Colonel, given the prominent place and the practice of the “peace testimony” in the development of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). But it is precisely because war and peace are a touchstone of Quaker belief

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-1115002148739684132008-11-07T22:40:00.001-05:002008-11-07T22:43:44.663-05:00

On October 28 of this year, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates visited the Carnegie Endowment For International Peace to speak on the subject of “Nuclear Weapons and Deterrence in the 21st Century.” The speech broke no new policy ground nor did it propose new programs. What was noticeable was his repeated call for the next Congress to fund completion of a study by the RAND Corporation on the

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-38700461642681713972008-11-05T17:00:00.003-05:002008-11-07T13:38:35.011-05:00

I've invited my colleagues at the Friends Committee on National Legislation to join me in responding to the 2008 election. In the next few posts you'll hear fromKathy GuthrieTommy BoboLauren Bladen-WhiteRuth FlowerSam GarmanAlex MartinAlicia McBrideBridget MoixJoe Volk

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-83916448078600952602008-11-05T16:23:00.000-05:002008-11-07T13:35:55.247-05:00

Kathy GuthrieField Program Secretary, FCNLGuest BloggerI am a Hoosier, born in Terre Haute, Indiana. I learned to demonstrate for social justice and sing "We shall overcome" when I was at Indiana University in 1964. I carried a sign protesting George Wallace's sweep through Indiana, the state where the KKK had a very healthy existence. I feared that my grandfather would see my face on the TV

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-40261684814804020382008-11-05T16:22:00.000-05:002008-11-06T11:54:00.229-05:00

Tommy BoboDevelopment Associate, FCNLGuest BloggerFirst things first I am not a parent nor do I have any immediate aspirations to have a child. Though some time from now, I will be sitting in a much too small chair and talking to teacher about my child. This room will probably look similar to my third grade classroom. There will be drawings and poems on the walls; multiplication tables and a list

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-92148489548027113122008-11-05T16:21:00.000-05:002008-11-06T11:54:26.914-05:00

Lauren Bladen-WhiteBusiness Manager, FCNL Guest BloggerI was excited to come to work today because when I woke up this morning, and saw our future first lady on television, I realized that I know her. She is my mother, she is my cousin, she is my college roommate and she is the fellow parishioner on the pew next to me at church on Sundays.As a 32-year-old African-American woman, who was born and

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-69835198363759791312008-11-05T16:20:00.000-05:002008-11-06T11:54:56.168-05:00

Ruth FlowerAssociate Executive Secretary for Legislative Program, FCNLGuest BloggerThere was a little African American boy in the bank the other day – couldn’t have been more than 5 years old – he pointed to the television which was tuned to CNN, and tugged on his mother’s coat. “Look Mommy,” he said. “Barack Obama.”Now no one can ever tell that little boy that he can’t be president of the

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-72171699847141819332008-11-05T16:19:00.000-05:002008-11-06T11:55:26.993-05:00

Sam GarmanGrants Manager, FCNLGuest BloggerI have two reactions to the results of the 2008 elections. One is personal, and one has to do with my work at FCNL.On a personal level, I was delighted to see a man named Barack Obama from the South Side of Chicago elected President of the U.S. The political pundit Fareed Zakaria said it best: “I have a 9-year-old son named Omar. I firmly believe that

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-33154370602475602272008-11-05T16:18:00.000-05:002008-11-06T11:55:50.561-05:00

Alex MartinPublications Manager, FCNLGuest BloggerThroughout Washington, DC on the day after the election, horns were honking and people were running down the street with banners, exchanging cheers and smiles with everyone they passed. Young people and African Americans make up the majority of the population in this city, which voted 93 percent for our new president-elect. For whichever candidate

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-18004665431604242532008-11-05T16:17:00.000-05:002008-11-06T11:56:08.732-05:00

Alicia McBrideDirector for CommunicationsGuest BloggerOn Election Day I stood in a line with my husband and 2-year-old daughter for nearly 90 minutes. The line snaked halfway around my local elementary school. The sight of all those people wanting to make their voice heard about the direction our country is headed was awe-inspiring. That experience makes me excited to come to work today, because

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-68563252484810959772008-11-05T16:16:00.000-05:002008-11-06T11:56:38.591-05:00

Bridget MoixLegislative Secretary, Peaceful Prevention of Deadly ConflictGuest BloggerLet's see, I think I'm suppose to write something particularly insightful about all the policy opportunities ahead for our peaceful prevention of deadly conflict work. And of course there is that. After all, the platform (PDF) of our new president-elect includes:Engaging diplomatically with friends and

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-7981245228919916702008-11-05T16:15:00.010-05:002008-11-06T11:44:09.045-05:00

Joe VolkExecutive Secretary, FCNLGuest blogger8 AM Election Day: "What's the question?!" the guy yelled at me as I pedaled my recumbent bike past him on the Pentagon City sidewalk. Due to traffic, I couldn't stop, turn around, and reply. That was ok, though, because his question was probably rhetorical.He'd seen my "War Is Not the Answer" flag. If war is not the answer, then, he wanted to

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-33811499946473398922008-11-04T16:00:00.000-05:002008-11-06T11:48:24.521-05:00

It is a truism that no man (or woman) can be everything to everyone all the time -- or for that matter even part of the time.That is the danger in the Obama win -- that the priorities he might want, the priorities those who elected him might feel he needs to address first, are not the priorities that events will allow him to focus on in the first three to six months of his presidency.Joe Biden,

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-24943742044933694442008-11-03T14:26:00.000-05:002008-11-03T14:28:46.355-05:00

The Washington Times for November 3 has an article by Nicholas Kralev (“U.S. weighs U.N. option to stay in Iraq”) detailing the latest moves by Washington and Baghdad over the status of forces agreement (SOFA) for U.S. troops in Iraq after December 31, 2008.The Bush administration has been in discussions with the Iraqi regime headed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki since March. Ostensibly, what

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-56483629690180764602008-10-29T17:25:00.002-05:002008-10-29T19:02:53.025-05:00

First, an anniversary observation unrelated to the rest of the blog.Seventy-nine yeats ago today, October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed, bringing on the Great Depression.Democrat vice-presidential candidate Senator Joe Biden is coming in for a great deal of criticism from other Democrats on his “validating inexperience” comments. Indeed, on first hearing what Biden said – or rather on

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-77893163557499941302008-10-27T13:55:00.000-05:002008-10-27T13:56:10.934-05:00

As this is written, there remains, unfortunately, still a full week before the calendar finally turns to the official date for balloting in the 2008 general election... When that blessed day finally arrives, it will mark the completion of the longest political campaign season – ten months and one day – when measured from the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucus to the general election. Yes, iPods and

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-88747844732379698822008-10-24T21:36:00.003-05:002008-10-24T22:07:18.180-05:00

FCNL was closed today as October 24 is the birth date of William Penn.However, to ensure your vist was not time wasted, I offer the following: From History: October 24 1648 was the date the Treaty of Westphalia was signed, ending the 3o Years War.Ascribed to John Adams: In my long years of obseving men, Ihave concluded that oneuseless man is a shame, two are a law firm, and three or more are a

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17503329.post-32120305040697193662008-10-22T21:39:00.001-05:002008-10-22T21:41:29.599-05:00

Some months it’s as if nothing happens like it should – which is a less egotistical statement of the ancient conceit that sets the achievement of my desires, will, and expectations as the measure of or the standard for judging the relevance of events and relationships.You will immediately recognize where this is headed: the distinction between an objective reality that is “out there” as it is

Dan Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08705512943099791992noreply@blogger.com0