When Talal Abdulqadir woke up on March 5, he probably didn’t expect his farm in northern Iraq would end up crawling with American troops guarding a crashed aircraft. In an instant, the green field outside the town of Kawrgosk put on full display some of the more shadowy elements of Washington’s fight against Islamic State….
Military Weapons From the Past: French MAC-47/1 Sub-Machine Gun
The Pistolet Mitrailleur des Manufactures d’Armes de Châtellerault Modele 47/1 was one of a number of French compact submachine gun designs that various arsenals and private companies developed during the late 1940s. It was a product of the government arsenal Manufactures d’Armes de Châtellerault, an institution best known for its FM M24/29 light machine gun. The Pistolet Mitrailleur…
Cartel Corner #64: Retraction of Previous Cartel Corner #62 Story
It appears the basis for this article was false. I want to apologize and print a full retraction of Cartel Corner #62. -SF The Guardian Duped by Fake El Chapo’s Daughter, Says Drug Lord’s Wife The wife of billionaire Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman claims that the recent interview The Guardian conducted with one…
ISIS Corner: The Islamic State’s Tunisia Strategy
Bottom Line Up Front: • Armed militants are suspected to have crossed into Tunisia from Libya on March 7, carrying out attacks on Tunisian security forces in the border town of Ben Gardane • The assault comes less than a week after five militants crossed the border from Libya and were killed in a shootout with Tunisian…
Crusader Corner: Number of Gitmo Detainees Suspected of “Returning to the Fight” Has DOUBLED
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) on Monday released its latest biannual report on Guantanamo recidivists — detainees who the intelligence community says are confirmed or suspected of re-engaging in terrorist activity after being released from the detention facility. The new report says that as of January 15, 2016 the number of Guantanamo…
What the 2016 Presidential Candidates Get Wrong About the Future of War
They fail, they lack, they misunderstand, they pander, they don’t get, and they just don’t know national security – not according to our Future of War roster of experts. “The President shall be Commander in Chief…” This clause that leads Article Two, Section II of the U.S. Constitution is without a doubt the most important of…
Inside “Eligible Receiver”
The NSA’s disturbingly successful hack of the American military Excerpted from Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War by Fred Kaplan. Out now from Simon & Schuster. On Wednesday, March 9, Kaplan will discuss his book in New York; for more information and to RSVP, visit the New America website. On June 9,…
Cartel Corner #63: Peru Is Turning Into A Top Narco-State
Peru has long vied with Colombia as the world’s top producer of cocaine, but has only periodically produced high profile drug lords. Gerson Gálvez Calle — alias “Caracol” or Snail — is one of these. Caracol sprung to the nation’s attention late last year after news emerged that he was heading Peru’s largest and most violent…
World War Two History: Los Aliados – The Latin Americans Who Helped Defeat the Axis
“While their contributions to the final victory may seem miniscule when compared to those of other world powers, their participation is nonetheless noteworthy.” THE NATIONS OF LATIN AMERICA are not often counted among the foremost contributors to the Second World War. Countries like Chile and Uruguay largely stayed on the sidelines until the war’s final…
Brush-Up On Your History: The Crusades and Syria
[Taken from the blog Bionic Mosquito.] The Battle for Syria Part I There ran down the edges of the desert a string of cities and their connecting road – Aleppo, Homs, Damascus…. As long as these cities remain in enemy hands, the seacoast (Lebanon and Israel) will not be secure. But this isn’t…