Rowan Scarborough

‘Arab Spring’ dreams dying amid violence

The hopes for democracy that bloomed in the "Arab Spring" are drying up in a long, hot summer of crackdowns, civil war and continuing protests.

July 25, 2011

Liberals see opportunity for big cuts in defense

The political left is pressing the White House and Congress to inflict a wave of Pentagon budget cuts not seen since the post-Cold War 1990s.

July 18, 2011

Pakistan hesitates to eradicate U.S.-mapped militant camps

The U.S. has compiled a wide body of intelligence on the locations of militant training camps in Pakistan, but has been unable to persuade Islamabad to shut them down, current and former officials say.

July 11, 2011

Afghan pullout seen as too much, too soon

Former battlefield commanders are warning that President Obama's accelerated troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in time for the 2012 presidential election risks reversing major gains made against the Taliban.

July 5, 2011

Gates’ tenure successful, contradictory

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates leaves office Thursday popular with the liberal Washington establishment, but not so with conservatives chafed by his budget cutting and his enthusiastic support for open gays in the ranks.

June 26, 2011

Panetta to carry political baggage to the Pentagon

Defense Secretary-designate Leon E. Panetta faces an early test when he takes office July 1, as the White House pushes for deeper cuts in defense spending and congressional Republicans say no way.

June 22, 2011

USDA gay-sensitivity training seeks larger audience

U.S. Department of Agriculture activists want to impose their intense brand of homosexual sensitivity training government-wide, including a discussion that compares "heterosexism" — believing marriage can only can be between one man and one woman — to racism.

June 17, 2011

Rumbles on Hill as Gadhafi hangs on

Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi's tenacious hold on power forced NATO on Wednesday to extend its mission to protect civilians and caused consternation on Capitol Hill over U.S. involvement in the North African conflict.

June 1, 2011

Navy too politically correct for ‘old salts’

The U.S. Navy is sailing into politically correct waters, sometimes at a speed too fast for the Obama administration to keep up.

May 28, 2011

WikiLeaks bolsters argument for ‘enhanced’ interrogation tactics

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's ongoing release of the Guantanamo Bay prison files, and large numbers of classified State Department cables, attempts to expose what he calls American corruption.

May 19, 2011

Couriers enabled bin Laden to hide

Tracking terrorist messaging systems and clandestine couriers became a critical U.S. intelligence mission years before an al Qaeda courier led U.S. special operations forces to Osama bin Laden's hide-out in Pakistan.

May 11, 2011

SEALs are standing taller after secret raid

After the U.S. responded to the Sept. 11 attacks by investing billions of dollars to revive neglected special operations forces, it was only fitting that Navy SEALs earned the glory of killing the most wanted terrorist in history.

May 2, 2011

Pentagon team seeks new ways to foil buried explosives

A Pentagon agency has set up a team of experts to find ways to foil buried homemade explosives that increasingly are killing and maiming troops in Afghanistan.

April 21, 2011

Pro-Gadhafi forces changing tactics

Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi's armed forces have shifted tactics to adapt to NATO'S limited airstrikes in support of poorly organized rebels who don't think the European allies are flying enough missions.

April 18, 2011

Afghanistan ‘death squad’ killings fail to get media, political attention

Reports of a U.S. "death squad" in Afghanistan, complete with the publication of gory photographs, have failed to attract the intense political or media attention afforded a previous war scandal — the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

April 17, 2011

Taliban alters its deadly IED tactics

Insurgents in Afghanistan have changed tactics in how they place deadly improvised explosive devices (IEDs), prompting a war-veteran congressman to propose a relatively simple technique to find and detonate them.

April 6, 2011

Europe relies on U.S. power again

Even under NATO command, the U.S. military will do the bulk of the fighting in Libya — even as the Obama administration argues that this is Europe's conflict to lead, not America's.

March 31, 2011

Military indoctrinated on gays kissing, behavior

Four branches of the military have begun sending training material to 2.2 million active and reserve troops as a prelude to opening the ranks to gays, with instructions on, for example, what to do if an officer sees two male Marines kissing in a shopping mall.

March 22, 2011

Diversity panel wants military to look like U.S.

Just as the U.S. military is indoctrinating troops to accept open gays in their ranks, a federal commission is pressing the Pentagon to make the force more diverse by, among other ideas, opening infantry and armor units to women.

March 17, 2011

U.S., allies assisting Libya need awareness of nation’s driving forces

A decision by President Obama and NATO to use its militaries to aid rebels in Libya would have the alliance siding with factions that it does not fully understand and not knowing what type of government they would bring to Tripoli.

March 8, 2011