As the USS Thomas Jefferson and USS Bayfield pulled into Inchon harbor, the young Marine Fire Team Leader peered toward the dock area and the city beyond.  What had been a bustling seaport and center of commerce with 250,000 residents had been rendered unrecognizable.  Eleven days before,... More

This June 6th we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the allied landings on France's Normandy coast, the largest amphibious assault in history. It was the supreme effort of World War Two, the forces of freedom and democracy launching themselves at Hitler's 'Fortress Europe', one that led to the... More

The small town of al—Khobar, Saudi Arabia became the focus of a seemingly amateur terrorist attack on an expatriate compound. Khobar is a small town that borders the headquarters of Saudi Aramco, a city called Dhahran. The small town of Khobar hosts luxury Western apartments and businesses... More

This Memorial Weekend edition of the Battle Blog provides the opportunity to focus on the heroic actions of our service men and women fighting in the War on Terror.  As President Bush has said several times, their operations may not be fully revealed until some time in the distant future, due... More

A recent poll reveals that Californians support Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's performance in office by almost a 2—to—1 margin. Startling as this enthusiasm in a dispirited state may be, it is only part of the story of his extraordinary success in office, and probably understates... More

The Baehr Essentials   Howard Fineman reported that the Kerry campaign is leaning strongly towards John Edwards for his VP pick. Edwards was a favorite of the media during the primary season —— he is a fresh face, a smooth speaker (performer, really), and apparently polls well... More

"May I please have some more arsenic in my water, Mommy?", asks a darling little blonde girl in a blue shirt, who's holding a glass up to the camera as she awaits its filling with poison by the monstrous, killer—of—children Bush Administration. "More salmonella in my cheeseburger,... More

There's an air of contentment surrounding me. I feel warm, well fed, and comfortable in a sea of fluid. The light thumping inside my form is the only perceptible sound in my tiny universe. I don't know how I got here or what forces operated to create me, but I sense I'm experiencing the beginning... More

The latest retired general to voice his concerns over the strategy to topple Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq has been Anthony Zinni.  Naturally, the good general has co—authored a book with (surprise!) Tom Clancy, criticizing the war with Iraq.  The anti—Semitic undercurrent... More

Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please, especially you BCCs — belief—challenged conservatives.  I beg your indulgence and your patience while we run through a brief refresher course on the war in Iraq, on why we are fighting there, in Afghanistan, and elsewhere... More

A few months back, leftist Jewish critics, such as Frank Rich, Abraham Foxman and Leon Wieseltier, trashed Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ, for what they called its blatant anti—Semitism, warning of the danger the movie could create for Jews wherever the movie was shown. So far,... More

Posterity was once a central concept of American Civilization. We sacrificed our welfare, even our lives, for the sake of future generations, especially for our descendants More

On a bitter cold December night in 2000, five people were brought to a deserted soccer field where they were forced to kneel down in the snow as their abductors shot them in the back of the head, execution style. Then, as the naked bodies lay bleeding to death in the snow, a pickup truck was driven... More

'We are rapidly approaching a moment of truth for ourselves as human beings and for the life of our nation. Now, truth is not always a pleasant thing, but it is necessary now to make a choice. To choose between two admittedly regrettable, but nevertheless distinguishable, post—war... More

The Baehr Essentials We are over five months away from the Presidential election, and supporters of both candidates continue to behave in a manic—depressive fashion, as their candidate first pulls away and then falls behind. For several weeks, the story line of the race was that Democratic... More

On Monday, the first legal gay marriages took place in Massachusetts.  Tuesday was another 'coming out' day — for Jewish Republicans.  I attended the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, as I have for the last 14 years.  Israeli Prime Ministers  Yitzhak Rabin, Ariel... More

The mind will seize an image, often powerless to shed it. Music, poetry, a scent, a taste or a feeling will all linger. But  an image can be unsurpassed in its power to freeze and distill an experience, an event or even the struggles of an era. A newspaper clipping of an Associated Press story... More

Whenever we hear about the futility of the death penalty from the liberal oracles of neo—modernism, they always conclude by saying that capital punishment has been around for a long time but has not stopped people from committing murder. A common tactic of liberals is to use every dilatory... More

[Memorial Day approaches, soon followed by the sixtieth anniversary of the D—Day invasion of Normandy. Military historian John B. Dwyer, author of  last week's article on John Kerry's Swift boat service in Vietnam, presents an inspiring story of military intelligence... More

The recent find in Iraq of a binary Sarin projectile that was rigged as an improvised explosive device (IED), has produced a large amount of press on the nature of this WMD, and even bizarre attempts to define this weapon as something other than one of mass destruction. More sophisticated... More

John Kerry has finally started to unveil his views on energy. He just yesterday pronounced that we should stop filling up our Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), and instead feed crude oil into the market so gasoline prices would moderate. Since he was on a run, Senator Kerry also mentioned that... More

Twenty—three years ago, a police officer was brutally murdered on the cold, dark streets of Philadelphia. Patrolman Daniel Faulkner, making a routine traffic stop at about three o'clock on the morning of December 9, 1981, was knocked to the ground and shot several times in his upper body and... More

As Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld looked at the faces of the young soldiers before him, you could see him hesitate for an instant. Should he mention the Civil War? Should he draw the comparisons which seemed to obvious to him? After all, many of the young soldiers attending the Town Hall... More

'Do you, George, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?' Does that sound right to you? How about: 'Do you, Alice, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?' Something about those questions appears to be out of sync with centuries of religious and moral underpinnings, and, I hasten... More

Is the investigation into the United Nations Oil—for—Food Program degenerating into chaos? Disconcerting news reveals that Coalition Provisional Authority head Paul Bremer has appointed a second auditing firm, Ernst & Young, to begin auditing Iraqi documents, some of them already... More

Unbelievable nonsense has been uttered about what took place at the Abu Ghraib prison. I say nonsense, because my sense of those activities is that they were more like fraternity hazing pranks than abuse, humiliation, torture, and, least likely, atrocities.  All those adjectives, and many... More

What do you do if you're a left wing newspaper, and you have hyped—to—the—limit a leftist propaganda venture, which goes on to become a disaster? Admit that you were wrong? Not if you are the Minneapolis Star—Tribune, perennial contender for the title of worst major daily... More

As American troops continue the battle against terrorism in Iraq, Afghanistan and neighboring countries, how do they protect themselves (and us) from homicidal fanatics who are willing to sacrifice their lives, in order to take large numbers of their enemies with them? It is often said that we must... More

Even before the savage display by Arab terrorists of body parts of six Israeli soldiers —— including a severed head —— Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made clear that he may have plans to consign terror leader Yasser Arafat to the fate of other barbarians like Ahmed... More

The Baehr Essentials A new Ohio Poll by ARG, released Thursday, gives Senator Kerry a 7 point lead over President Bush in a three way race, with Ralph Nader at 2%.  The President is highly vulnerable in Ohio, a state he won by just under 4% last time, and where manufacturing job losses have... More

Disinformation is information disseminated primarily by intelligence organizations or other covert agencies designed to distort information, or deceive or influence United States decisionmakers, United States forces, coalition allies, key actors, or individuals by indirect or unconventional... More

Senator Ted Kennedy bellowed this week that Saddam's torture chambers never closed; they are just under new American management.  The comment was so outrageous that John Kerry tried to create some distance from Kennedy, saying he understood the sentiment but would have 'framed it'... More

Is there anyone out there who still thinks we should play nice with the terrorists? Does anyone feel that taking photos of naked prisoners is on the same level as cutting off a prisoner's head? I suppose if you're Ted Kennedy, you'll find a way to spin the latest savagery by our enemies as merely... More

Thomas Wright was one of John F. Kerry's fellow Swift boat officers in Vietnam.  Since Wright outranked Kerry, he was Kerry's sometime boat group Officer—in—Charge, so Wright had occasion to observe Kerry's behavior and attitudes, and the circumstances surrounding his early... More

How do we account for the continued strength of President Bush in the polls, relative to his presumptive Democratic opponent, despite the stream of bad news from Iraq? Much of the journalistic and intellectual establishment is plainly baffled ...and dismayed. The answer is not that complex: the... More

The U.N. recently passed another blatantly anti—Israel resolution in support of extremist Arab Palestinian claims. There is no longer any point in entering into any serious dialogue with this organization. In countless ways, over many years, the U.N. has proven to be a discredited... More

Fanatic opponents of George W. Bush and the war in Iraq are running headlong into a cul—de—sac. The prisoner abuse pictures at Abu Ghraib have given them a tool with which to attack, and they are intoxicated with the potential they sense. Gleeful that they at last have a hammer which... More

While watching the House and Senate Armed Services Committee hearings regarding the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, I was filled with admiration for the greatness of our country. Here we are, fighting a war against terrorists who have no regard for human life, yet we don't hesitate to penalize any of... More

The pathological distaste that New York Times columnist Tom Friedman has shown for President Bush is well—known. He is just one of the many columnists at the Times who feel obligated to disparage George Bush at every turn (think Paul Krugman, Maureen Dowd). Perhaps Friedman has tired of his... More

Hillary Clinton is ambitious, audacious, and fully capable of creating devious, multi—step strategies. Blindsiding her fervent opponents, she may yet shock the world and realize her longstanding ambition to win election as President —— in the year 2004. Doing so would only require... More

Thirty years of socialist policies have finally taken their toll.  In an attempt to reverse the inevitable slide into economic disaster, Germany is adopting massive cost—cutting reforms.  Of course, under left—wing Chancellor Herr Schroeder's (Social Democratic Party of... More

While the American and world press obsess about photographs of abusive behavior by soldiers assigned to be prison guards, Kofi Annan and his minions at the United Nations are covering up the paper trail of what appears to be the largest bribery scandal in history. The corrupt administration of the... More

The Baehr Essentials There are very mixed messages in the most recent polling for the Presidential election. Several surveys, particularly those that include Ralph Nader, continue to show a Bush lead of from 2 to 6 points. These include NBC News/Wall St. Journal, CBS, Quinnipiac, and Sacred Heart... More

The higher education industry has ruthlessly exploited its privileged role as the assigner of prestige to young adults beginning their professional lives, in order to grab a larger share of national income. Tuition has increased substantially faster than inflation for the last half century, rising... More

I've been watching the late night talk shows since Johnny Carson began in the early sixties, after Jack Paar left the Tonight Show and was replaced by the man that would rule the night for thirty years. Carson was an original, and a first class stand up comedian. He could crack me up with a simple... More

During the past century, the left managed to seize the commanding heights of those institutions which generate and grant prestige in American society. Control over higher education, arts organizations, charities, publications and broadcasters, as well as most major foundations and... More

Israel's Likud party members voted overwhelmingly Sunday to reject Prime Minister Sharon's plan to evacuate 21 settlements in Gaza and 4 in the West Bank.  Generally, a high percentage of voters turn out in Israeli elections, but the day before yesterday, barely half of the Likud Party's... More

Marking the fiftieth anniversary of its debut in Japan, a crisp clean print of the original uncut Japanese version of the first Godzilla movie is being released in the United States. What a long strange journey it has been for the beast. First came monstrous box office success in the 1954 Japanese... More

The University of Notre Dame, the elite university founded by the Holy Cross Order, (thanks to numerous readers for the correction of the founding order) in South Bend, Indiana, has offered a three—year professorship to the 'moderate' Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan, a resident and citizen of... More